My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
LIVING THE TRADITIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LIFE (Part II)
You might feel that keeping the mind in the heart before God and controlling all of our inward movements is too much to ask. That's fine for Monasticism, but what about those of us who must work, raise children, and pay our taxes. What do we do? Consider the vision of Saint Marcarius:
"The inhabitants of the world, the children of this age, are like wheat in a sieve. They are being sifted by restless thoughts of this world. They are constantly tossed to and fro by earthly care, desire and absorption in a variety of material concerns. Satan tosses such souls as a sifter sifts wheat...By these concerns he disturbs men, keeps them anxious and in a state of nervous motion…"
Saint Macarius lived in the 4th century, but he clearly describes our situation today. An Orthodox Priest looks out upon his congregation and sees the tired, the nervous, the harried, the hurried, the fearful and the sifted. You see joyless faces at the Divine Liturgy and you no longer wonder why non-orthodox observers argue that our piety is external, unnecessary, and detrimental to a true life of faith.
Does Orthodoxy really have an answer for the tired, frazzled, fearful and sifted people who enter her doors?
The Hospital
I am sure that most of you are familiar with the works of His Grace, Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos. In the journal, Divine Ascent, he reflects upon an important image of the Church.
The true Church's existence is demonstrated by its success in curing man. We know from the teaching of the Holy Fathers that the Church is the spiritual health center, the spiritual hospital that cures man.
The Church is a spiritual hospital. It is exactly the place where the tired and fearful and sifted need to be. What it offers is a cure with therapies, which we call the spiritual disciplines. Doing them helps to make us well. Does this therapy work? Each Sunday when I enter the Sanctuary, pictures of former patients who were cured surround me. This hospital has a record of almost 2000 years of successfully curing the sick in heart.
When I am ill and I arrive at the hospital, I expect that there will be certain procedures and services that will be performed to help me get better. There will be doctors and nurses, food service, the cleaning staff, the pharmacy, physical therapist, and so on. Don't you think that it would be a bit odd that when I checked in, I informed the hospital staff that all such services were externals and not necessary to my recovery? The psychiatric floor would be my next stop!
We do the same things when we neglect our spiritual therapies. Often, in confession, we go over the same old laundry list of sins. I hear folks say that they just aren't getting any better. Is it because the spiritual disciplines don't work? Well, I think of how infrequently they have attended Vigil, how often they have broken or forgotten the fast, how little they pray, how little Holy Scripture is read, how little they tithe or give alms, and how infrequently they receive the medicine of Heaven, the Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
Traditional Orthodox Christians know that this is a foolish and dangerous thing to do. Through our baptism, we have checked into the Spiritual Health Center. All of the therapies necessary for wholeness and spiritual well-being are available to us. Successfully using these therapies is entirely up to us.
Traditional means, then, "to guard" or "to protect." What we protect is our hospital and is mission to heal the sick. Traditional does not mean conservative. Conservative means "to stop the flow, to create an image and maintain it, to archive it. Church is a hospital, not a museum.
(Next: The Narrow Way)
Please note: Admitted to a hospital does not immediately mean that we are cured of our illness. There is no such a thing as instant cure because we are admitted. It is the same way with the Spiritual Hospital, the Church. Needless to say, before an Orthodox Christian believer enters the church, he knows that he must make the necessary spiritual preparation. What is the spiritual preparation? Prayer, fasting, repentance, confession, alms giving, forgiveness, reconciliation with enemies, and the willingness to abide by the commandments of Christ. And yes, obedience to the will of God. Remember, "...Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."
Some Orthodox Christians who may have been influenced by Protestantism may ignore entirely the significance of the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Eucharist, and make the sermon the reason for being there. Orthodox Christian worship centers around the Divine Eucharist and not the Sunday sermon. The Divine Medicine for all spiritual illnesses is the Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The so called "good feel gospel" is a Protestant idea. Others are looking for "instant gratification". Illnesses can be severe or simple. They can threaten one's life or be a temporary discomfort. It is the physician that must always determine how serious our illness is, and what kind or type of therapy we need to bring about good results. We must trust the physician!
In the Orthodox Christian Tradition the physician of our soul and body is the Divine Physician, Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. We come to Him willing to surrender and to trust Him to bestow upon us healing and salvation.
There are those who receive Holy Communion frequently and yet they do not experience the grace of God. Why? What is missing? Faith! That is what is missing! They do not believe that upon the consecration of the Holy Gifts by the Holy Spirit that the bread and wine are changed and become truly the Body and Blood of Christ. They do not hear the words: "Take, eat; this is My Body, which is broken for you, for the remission of sins. And, "Drink of it all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament, Which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins." They do not even hear the words inviting them to receive Holy Communion: "With fear of God, with faith and love draw near."
The Priest continues the prayer: "Therefore, remembering this command of our Savior and all that He had endured for us: the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into Heaven, the Session at the Right Hand of the Father, and the Second and Glorious Coming again."
The Priest kneels and continues the Prayer: "That to those who partake thereof, They may be unto cleansing of soul, unto remission of sins, unto the communion of the Holy Spirit, unto the fulfillment of the Kingdom of heaven, unto boldness toward thee, and not unto judgment or unto condemnation..."
This is why the Orthodox Christian believer is at the Divine Liturgy and not for "instant gratification!"
_____________________
"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
+++
With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George