December 12 - Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker

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.

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ON DECEMBER 12th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY AND GOD-BEARING FATHER SPYRIDON THE WONDER-WORKER, BISHOP OF TRIMYTHOUS IN CYPRUS

Spyridon, our Holy Father among the Saints, the boast of the inhabited world, and the adornment of the faithful, flourished during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.). He hailed from the famous island of Cyprus. The Saint's virtue and divine conduct were such that his accomplishments shone forth brightly throughout the inhabited world, leaving no adult Christian who is not acquainted with his life. This is the same God-bearing Holy Father who had taken part in the First Ecumenical Synod (325 A.D.). Who has not heard of his renowned demonstration at Nicaea?  But his participation at that First Synod shall be triumphantly recounted later.

Our great Father Spyridon from his youth was simple, open, unpretending, and humble. He always kept as models, worthy of emulation, the blessed Prophet David for meekness, Jacob for being natural and unaffected, and Abraham for his hospitality. He was in the habit of distributing his goods and expending his means on the poor. On account of his virtue and generosity, he inherited an imperishable land, one that was blessed and perpetual, in accordance with the unfailing promise of the Lord Who said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (St. Matthew 5:5), and "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy" (St. Matthew 5:7). By means of transitory wealth, which he held in contempt during his lifetime, he now receives for unending ages the incorruptible treasure, that is, the Christ, the Pearl of great price. He was also enriched by a river of miracles, which were energized in him at all times and places, and from which he was never drained.

Saint Spyridon was sanctified from his mother's womb and was born in Askia, Cyprus. From his youth, he was adorned with all the virtues and loved true simplicity and serenity. Though the holy man started out as a shepherd of sheep, yet he was neither a rustic in character and disposition nor one uncommunicative. Indeed, he diligently conducted his life in an orderly manner. He attended to the needs of the indigent and strangers with such mercy and compassion that he received all with love into his home.

According to the sacred canons, he was lawfully wedded to an honorable and prudent woman with whom he begat children. After her premature death, he continued to comport himself in a venerable and temperate manner, He did not go about seeking pleasure and the desires of the flesh, but instead continued laboring in every virtue. He applied himself conscientiously to the study of the law of God, which further implanted in his soul love for his fellow man, together with moderation, tolerance, and fairness. Consequently, he came to be a true icon and archetype of virtue, having all the virtues exactly impressed in himself, to such a degree that very few can imitate his grace-filled practices and goodwill. When the Great Constantine became Emperor of the Christians, Spyridon the Wonder-Worker of Trimythous, a notable city on the seacoast near Salamis of Cyprus, was universally revealed. His attainment of virtue before his elevation to the episcopacy (was consecrated a bishop) is clearly evinced by the miracles which he performed.

The First Ecumenical Synod was comprised of 318 holy Fathers. The Synod was assembled against Arius the heretic, who kept spreading his blasphemy saying that the Son and Logos/Word of God was not coessential (homoousios) with the Father.  Thus, Arius, the heretic was declaring that Jesus is not true God but a creature (ktisma), a Greek word meaning anything that is built.  This Synod, rejecting Arius' ontological subordination of the Logos/Word to the Father, defined the Incarnate Logos/Word as coessential.

In the midst of this company of luminaries was the humble-minded Spyridon, whose indwelling of the Holy Spirit and virtue empowered him to surpass the worldly philosophers who were given permission to attend. The Saint asked to speak. Saint Spyridon took up a tile in his hands and went on speaking: "One is God Who made the heaven and the earth, the Creator of all things. The same one created the heavenly powers and fashioned man, so that 'all things came into being through Him, and without Him, not even one thing came into being that hath come to be. And 'by the Logos/Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the might of them by the Spirit of His mouth (Psalm 32:6).' The Logos/Word made, the heaven and the earth; and the firmament, which He called the heaven (Genesis 1:1, 7-8), and divided the water which was under and above the firmament...

 "...Again, we know Him to be coessential with the Father, coequal in dignity, honor, and glory. The Holy Trinity, though One, in essence, is tri-hypostatic, Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is an ineffable and incomprehensible mystery, and the mind of man is not able to compass or comprehend the greatness of infinite divinity. How is it possible to put the open sea of the incomprehensible Divinity. That you mightest be assured of the Truth of these things, attend to this small and common roof-tile. Though it is not proper that we should liken the uncreated and superessential nature with this created and perishable creation, nevertheless, the eyes are deemed more credible witnesses to us than our ears.  For all those of little faith, such as thyself and others who do not believe easily unless they see with their bodily eyes, I shall demonstrate before your very eyes the truth with this here clay tile, which is compounded of three elements though it is one in essence and nature."

 After the Saint, inflamed with love for the Trinity, made the sign of the honorable Cross with his right hand, while holding the tile in his left hand, he pronounced: "In the name of the Father," and instantly--lo, thy wonders, O Christ our King! --the fire which had baked the tile flared upward. Then he said, "and of the Son," and at once, the water wherewith it had been mixed ran down. Immediately following, he said, "and of the Holy Spirit," and he opened his hand in which only the clay from which it was made remained. This miracle was especially the philosopher, who was awestruck to the depths of his soul and fell silent. Thus, the Saint put to shame the disputers reputed to be wise. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

(To be continued)

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DIVINE SERVICES FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 12th:

Orthros at 9:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Repentance and Confession: An Orthodox Christian Perspective

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.

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REPENTANCE AND CONFESSION: AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
By Archbishop Ioannis Tsaftaridis of Zambia and Malawi

The Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance is an act of reconciliation with the Church body. It is the possibility, granted by the Church to those who have alienated themselves from the body because of sin, so as to be able to return to it. Repentance is then a complete about-turn or a change of life. It is a sacrament of regeneration as it establishes for us a share in the death and Resurrection of Christ. That is why it is a sacrament through which our baptism is renewed. The Sacrament of Penance or Confession is then a new baptism and is referred to as the Mystery (Sacrament) of the second baptism because it involves the Forgiveness of sins committed after baptism.]  However not every sin needs the necessity of sacramental forgiveness since no human is ever completely without sin. There are two distinct types of confession in the Orthodox faith, namely, private confession and then sacramental confession. The Church maintains that Divine forgiveness may be received either by private prayer or by the Sacrament.

In general terms, repentance and confession were the new experiences of man with the love and grace of God the Father. He who repents and confesses offers the Church gathering his personal failure, as well as his sins, and asks for and receives in return the possibility of eternal life.

That is why there is no place for feelings of pity or even the legal remission of sins. It is thus the sacrament of grace and a gift of the transformation of an estranged person into the image of the Son of God (Yannaras, 1984). The Sacrament of Repentance and Confession is a repeatable sacrament in the life of the Church since it is the continual therapy of the spiritual illness which the members of the Church body can incur. It revolves around the issue of the constant remembrance of God and for mourning due to the loss of God in one's life and ultimately the rediscovering of the love of God. The Sacrament is one of the most healing and most active as far as healing the 'suffering body' is concerned. It is also the Sacrament upon which ascetic and monastic life is based (Matsoukas, 1964).

Father Alexander Schmemann states the following concerning the Sacrament of Repentance:

 "However, for us who ceaselessly depart from Christ and excommunicate ourselves from His life, it is necessary that we return to Him and receive again and again the gift which He gave us once and for all. Remission is the sign that this return has been realized and completed. And, as the Eucharist is not simply a single repetition, but our elevation and reception to the same eternal feast, so the Sacrament of Repentance, is not a repetition of our baptism, but a return to the newness of life which God offered us once and for all" (Fr. A. Schmemann, 1963).

The Mysterion (Sacrament) has its origin in the ancient Church. Public Confession was the norm at that time and it constituted a part of the Holy Eucharist. The Confession of sins was an imperative aspect before the Holy Eucharist. The aim of this ancient ecclesiastical practice was the return of the sinful person to the body of the Church and naturally has an essentially liturgical character. It was in a sense a readmission to the Liturgy and life of the Eucharist gathering.

The meaning of the Greek word, 'metanoia' for 'repentance' means, making amends (for guilt, including changing our attitudes) and effecting positive change. We are called to consider the moral implications of sin in our life, which includes a reformation of our ways. This is what it means to be truly repentant. Our heartfelt and mindful awareness is in accordance with God's will and will result in salvation. When we have come to this place of unhappiness due to our actions, and reflect upon what we have done, we repent of our sins, and we should then confess our sin to God.

We need to acknowledge the Sacrament of Repentance in the dimension of one's free admission of one's failures when it comes to accepting fully the love and grace of God. We essentially participate in the death and resurrection of the Lord and it becomes one of our personal struggles to be transformed into the image of God. It is only then that we can truly experience the Sacrament which is far removed from the Western notion which uses it as a simple implementation of legal justification and it becomes a place of judicial demands and is not the sacrament of a return to the Kingdom of God. The Orthodox perspective of the Sacrament (Mysterion) emphasizes that the love of God is necessary and that our approach to this should be therapeutic, as we request the 'medication of healing' and not merely seek to obtain impressive penalties or punishments.

Christ desires us to return to Him and that is why the Sacrament can be nothing other than the Sacrament of ineffable attrition as well as great joy as we return to the embrace of God the Father. Repentance must be experienced as a mystery in which Divine grace and human freedom operate with one another. The sinner's intention or admission of guilt is simply not enough. Sacramental remission is required, by grace, which destroys evil and brings forth purity, which removes guilt and offers healing (Kardamakis, 1993). The Sacrament of Repentance is important as it is sin plunges that the soul into the abyss and into darkness. Saint John the Evangelist, tells us that if we have no sin, we mislead ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8), for everyone sins and falls short before the glory of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand" (St. Matthew 3:2). He expects from us a sincere earnest faith and true repentance. Our heartfelt remorse is, according to Saint Paul, a godly grief that produces a repentance that leads to our final salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). Prayer and fasting, and especially agape (love) soften our hardened hearts and dispose of our soul to true repentance. When we repent we can, without shame or fear, confess our sins with faith to our Father God.

Repentance and confession are indeed necessary today and needs to once find its true content.  It needs to cease being viewed as a simple remission of sins and a prerequisite for Holy Communion, and once again, assume an important role in one's constant struggle for internal transformation, spiritual rebirth, and of course, reconciliation with God. It is also an essential aspect for a return to the Church. Repentance and Confession need to become a participation for us in the Cross, the Death and the Resurrection of our Lord. This fact is not the only one for contrition for our fall and our many failures, but rather the prayers and triumph for a true reconciliation with the Risen Christ.

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Our Spiritual Journey to the Holy Nativity of our Savior Jesus Christ

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.

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OUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY TO THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

According to Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos "The incarnation (taking human flesh) of the Son and Logos/Word of God shows how Good, Wise, Just and Powerful God is: good, because He did not overlook the weakness of the creature, but gave him a helping hand; wise, because He found the most fitting solution for that which seemed impossible; just, because after the fall He did not form another man to wrestle with the devil, nor did He forcibly detach man from death, but made him the victor by assuming the death and suffering of the flesh Himself; powerful, because He was able to do this, to become man while at the same time he would be true God, consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Saint John of Damascus).

Therefore man's deification (theosis) is not a luxury in the spiritual life, but his purpose and end. Through the Godman Christ, man can pass from the image to the likeness, which is deification (theosis). In Christ, the assumed human nature was deified, and when a man is united with Him, he can deify his own hypostasis. Since the medicine of salvation has been found, every man can take it and be cured of his illness.

The deification (theosis) of man is called a cure, a therapy because this is how man is cured of being subject to decay and mortality and is released from the tyranny of the devil. In the early Church, there were heretics who taught that Christ assumed the soul and body of man, but not the nous as well. In answer to this, Saint Gregory the Theologian says that Christ assumed the whole human nature, body, soul, nous and all the constituents of human nature, because otherwise, He could not have cured them. That is to say, if He had not assumed the nous, then the nous would have remained uncured. "What is not assumed is not cured; what is united to God is saved."

"When a person lives sacramentally and ascetically, in harmony with the spirit of the Orthodox Christian Tradition, then he is experiencing spiritually the events of the Divine Incarnation in his heart, and more generally in his whole being. Saint Symeon the New Theologian says that when a man purifies his heart and is illuminated, then he receives Christ within himself and understands His infant-like leaps. Christ is conceived as an Infant in him and is born through the virtues, and now the man is living all these events in his being. To be sure, it is only in Christ that the Divine was united with the human nature hypostatically. But the deified (theosis) person also receives God's energy in his nature and becomes a member of the Body of Christ. Thus he comprehends how the grace of God works in his nature, what kenosis is, what deification (theosis) of human nature is."

The celebration of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is all about the salvation of all of mankind. "The dogma of salvation in Christ is the central dogma of Christianity, the heart of our Christian faith."

We call Christ Himself our "Savior" and in our Symbol of Faith, we confess our belief in "One Lord Jesus Christ...Who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried..." By these words, the Orthodox Church teaches that the salvation of the human race is achieved by the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ, Who said about Himself, "the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (St. Matthew 20:28; Saint Mark 10:45).

Why do we call Christ "the Savior"? Likewise, we can also ask: what is salvation? Salvation from what? If we talking about salvation, someone must be in danger. The answers that the Orthodox Church gives to these questions are tied to the Orthodox teaching about the "ancestral sin" and its consequences.

From the beginning, the Church's teaching has been that the nature of man was profoundly corrupted as a result of the fall. Adam and Eve sinned by violating God's order and breaking their connection with God -- Who alone is Life. "The breaking of this communion with God can be consummated on in death because nothing created can continue indefinitely to exist of itself. Thus, by the transgression of the first man, the principle of "sin (the devil) entered into the world and through sin death, and so death became completely dislocated. Our wholesome essence got split into three parts -- mind, heart, and body -- that got in conflict with each other. We inherit that damaged nature, with its pre-disposition to sin. "Ancestral ("Original") sin is understood by Orthodox Christian theology as a sinful inclination which has entered into mankind and becomes its spiritual disease."

Salvation is not for the "elect", or "chosen people". God "will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). Furthermore, "in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted in Him" (Acts 10:35). Christ said: "I...will draw all men unto Me" (St. John 12:32). He "died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again..." (2 Corinthians 5:15). From Christ, the Apostles "have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations..." (Romans 1:5). With the Apostles "we trust in the Living God, Who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe" (1 Timothy 4:10).

Faith is only the beginning. "Faith only reveals to one the truth that for his prior sins God will not punish him, that, on the opposite, He is ready to accept him and pardon him and recognize him as His son. But this...only clears for one path to God but does not do anything with him. Before that, he was afraid to turn to God, but now he got to know God and stopped fearing Him, and, on the opposite, grew to love Him. But he is still the same man. It is necessary for him not just to begin loving God but actively, really turn to Him."

In order to believe truly, it is necessary for one to understand the magnitude of his sins forgiven by God, to realize that he is a sinner worthy of death. One can only have a true love for God when he realizes the true horror of his sins that God forgave him for free. This state -- repentance (metanoia) -- can even be called "the beginning of faith." Without judging himself, one will not ask God for forgiveness -- and without asking for forgiveness, one will not receive it and thus will not be saved. One's return to God starts with repentance. Seeing it, God, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, runs to meet us: "when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (St. Luke 15:20).

The Church is the keeper of the tradition of personal salvation, "the life in Christ." All the Holy Fathers are considered the Teachers of the Church not because they were the most learned and knowledgeable but because they were holy -- that is, they, through the life of asceticism, repentance and prayer, cleansed themselves from their sinful passions and reached theosis (deification). The example of such life was given to the Church by Christ Himself.

Christ said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (St. John 14:6). And in His Own Person, Christ showed us salvation -- that is, 'what the true "likeness to god" is..." (Sources: The Feasts of the Lord by Metropolitan Hierotheos and The Orthodox Teaching on Personal Salvation by Deacon Victor E. Klimenko, Ph.D.)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Proselyte (Part VI)

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.

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THE PROSELYTE (Part VI)

Life After Death...Mysteries Beyond the Grave

With death comes the separation of the soul from the body. The body returns to the earth from which it was taken. It decomposes but it is not lost. The time will come when it will be resurrected, spiritualized and made incorruptible, at the time of the just judgment. And then it will be reunited with the soul to be judged along with the soul. In the meantime, the soul which was separated through death, from the body, lives in a middle state. It undergoes the Particular Judgment. "It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). This means that immediately after death the soul is judged individually. It remains after this particular judgment until the Final Judgment, at the Second Coming of Christ, having a foretaste of paradise or of hell.

At the Final Judgment, which will take place at the Second Coming of Christ, all people will be presented before Him to be judged. The Evangelist Matthew tells us the following: "Before Him will be gathered all nations" (St. Matthew 25:32). At the Final Judgment, the souls will not be the only ones to be presented. We will be presented wholly, with our body and soul--with all our personhood, body and soul will be judged. Saint Paul tells us: "For we must all appear before the judgment of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

At the Final Judgment, everyone will be judged according to their faith and their works. Christ will then separate the just from the unjust or sinners. "Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (St. Matthew 25:34), and to the sinners, He will say: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (St. Matthew 25:41). Then "they [sinners] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (St. Matthew 25:46). This will be the Final Judgment. The just will be grounded in their righteousness and will always be righteous, and will live eternally. The sinners will be stabilized in their sin. They will not be able to change. They will live in hell. They too will live. They will not vanish, as some fools say. The above verse makes that vividly clear.

This will occur to man after death. In order for this to happen, two things must come first: The resurrection of the dead by which the soul will be reunited with the body, and the Second Coming of Christ.

The Holy Scripture is our basic authority of faith and is the witness of what the Christian faith is, and our tradition is an interpretation and understanding of Holy Scripture. Our Tradition is a way of understanding the Scripture and has a sense of which even the Scripture itself is a testimony to the tradition of faith or the Kanona Pisteos (the rule of faith) that even antedated the writing of Scripture.

It is beyond any doubt that we Christians are convinced that we are created for life; it is not God's will that we die. God doesn't want death; He wants life. In the Scripture, death is the enemy. The Apostle Paul even calls death, "the last enemy." Death is not natural, not a natural part of our life and not willed by God. The Wisdom of Solomon, which for us is part of the Holy Bible, says very clearly, "God did not create death." Death comes into the world as a rebellion against God. Death comes into the world because people do not choose life, but choose death, darkness, and themselves over God.

Saint Athanasios said, "if you choose yourself you are choosing nothing because that is what you are without God", since we are created out of nothing. For God gives our whole life to us, Who is the Living God, and the only One Who lives.

In the Orthodox funeral service, we hear the fifth chapter of Saint John's gospel. It says, "...the hour is coming in which all who are in the grave will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father Who sent Me". This part of the gospel is extremely important, which says all and everyone will be raised. Not just good people, but everyone. The Universal Resurrection is our teaching because death is destroyed.

Jesus is raised and glorified...He says, 'he who can believe in Me cannot die". Saint Paul, 'I will gladly die and be with Christ, but if I have to hang around here let it be fruitful work.' However, Christ is risen and glorified and is at the right hand of the Father. That is the most repeated sentence of the Old and New Testaments and is found in Psalm 109 (110). The Psalm says, "That the Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool". The last enemy to be put under is death. When death is destroyed, everything is subject to Christ. He subjects everything to God the Father and God will be all in all. This then will be the Messianic age, when the dead will be raised and God with glory will fill all creation. There will then be life for all those who repent and want to be righteous with God and there will be torment for those who do not repent and do not want the righteousness of God.

The teaching of the Holy Scripture is that death is a cathartic process even for the most righteous person. Perhaps the only person for whom death was a shear transition was the Holy Theotokos, who was so full of God, life, faith, and grace that her death is a pure entrance into paradise. All the rest of us are not the Theotokos and we are not pure. There is sin and rebellion in us where our desire is for God and our prayer is for God and we want to repent still there is that in us that cannot enter into the presence of God or the very heart of the Father (which is everlasting life). This impediment must be burnt away. I believe that our teaching is that this process of dying is this cathartic process where at the end of which you are either with God forever or away from God forever tormenting yourself with the demons and being tormented by the love of God that is still upon you even though you are an unrepentant sinner. In fact, many of the Saints say that the greatest torture of hell is not only the tortures of the evil but the torture of the mercy and love of God that is still upon you (because God loves you no matter what).  Saint Isaac the Syrian said that there is no greater torment than to be scourged with the scourge of love.

When you die and enter the presence of love and you resist it that becomes torture to you. Saint Mark of Ephesus said that our Church tradition has no teaching on material-hellfire. God is not a punisher. Jesus on the Cross was not punished for our sins. Jesus on the Cross loved and trusted God so He can destroy death by death. The punishment comes from our own evil and the love of God upon us when we reject it. God is not torturing or punishing us. We must conquer the devils as He did. We must resist the temptations as He did. We must destroy death the way that He did. Jesus said, "He who believes in Me will do the work I do." Our Lord gives us the power to do through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Mysteries (Sacraments) and the life of the Church. (Sources: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada and a homily of Fr. Thomas Hopko of blessed memory)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Life of our Holy Father Patapius - December 8

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.

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ON DECEMBER 8th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE LIFE OF OUR HOLY FATHER PATAPIUS

In Egypt, there is a city named Thebes, situated alongside the Nile River. It was here that the blessed Patapius was born, the son of Christians who reared him in piety and the fear of the Lord. Reaching manhood, he came to despise the vanity of this world, so he forsook his home, parents, and friends to become a monk. He went into the desert, where he began to live for God alone, fasting, praying, and undertaking other ascetic labors. In time his place of seclusion became known, and many people began to visit him and extol his virtuous way of life. Grieving because his silence was lost and because he was praised by men, Patapius left Egypt and went to Constantinople. He built himself a hut next to the city wall near the Vlachernae quarter and lived as a recluse there. Patapius conversed in solitude, praying without ceasing. Guided by the Lord's hand, a Christian youth who was blind from birth found his way to the hut of our holy father. He entreated the blessed one to pray to the Lord for him, asking that he be granted to see the visible creation, and through things created come to know more perfectly the Maker of all. The venerable Patapius felt compassion for him and declared, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Who gives life to the dead and sight to the blind: see!" At that very moment, the blind youth opened his eyes. He could see clearly and began to glorify and thank God.

He performed many miracles i.e., a prominent citizen suffering from dropsy after blessing him with a cross and anointing him with oil was healed; a young man possessed by a cruel demon who had tormented him, the evil spirit went out of God's creature like smoke and was healed; He made the sign of the Cross over a woman who had sores on her breasts and was in great pain and was healed.

Having worked these and many miracles, our venerable father Patapius reached his end, departing in great old age unto the Lord Whom he had pleased throughout his life. Saint Patapius was reverently buried by the faithful in the Church of the Forerunner. Unto Christ our God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory and worship forever. Amen. (Source: The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Proselyte (Part V)

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.

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THE PROSELYTE (Part V)

Question: Is your conversion to Orthodoxy a total conversion or partial? Is it conditional? Is it selective? What kind of conversion is it? These are important and serious questions that should be answered by the one who is considering converting to Orthodox Christianity.

If one desires to be a member of the Body of Christ, the Orthodox Church, he or she must make a total commitment without conditions or to believe that he/she has an option to be selective and to approve or disapprove, accept or reject, like or dislike certain beliefs and traditions of Orthodoxy and to do it before they enter the Church. Otherwise it is not a true conversion but a false one.

How can a Christian of another tradition or a non-Christian become a member of the Body of Christ through deception? One enters the Holy Orthodox Church through either Baptism or Chrismation or both. Nevertheless it is through of the Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Church and not a handshake. If one is not sincere and truthful it means that he/she is willing to violate the Sacrament, Christ Himself, the Holy Spirit Himself, just to say 'I am now an Orthodox Christian'. Is this not a dishonest way for someone to enter the Holy Church of Christ? Is this not a sin?

For a convert to feel as a genuine member of the Church he/she must be obedient to her, to trust her, to believe her, and not to constantly question her integrity, or to analyze the faith, her dogmas and her traditions. If one has a doubt about her authenticity of Orthodoxy then, simply do not join. No one will compel you to join the Orthodox Church.

There are some important beliefs in Orthodox Christianity which Christians that come out of Protestantism find it very difficult to adhere to i.e., Theotokos (Mother of God), Saints, holy veneration of holy icons and holy relics, and is some cases the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. If one cannot believe what the Orthodox Church teaches then one must never attempt it. Otherwise that person is not an Orthodox Christian but an imposter.

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The Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary

Among all the Saints, Our Holy Orthodox Church reserves a special position of honor for the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is venerated as the most exalted among God's creatures, "more honorable than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim." (The Axion Esti which is chanted in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and other divine services). Orthodox Christians venerate or honor the Mother of God, but in no sense do the members of the Church regard her as a fourth person of the Trinity, nor do they assign to her worship due to God alone.

The titles given to the Ever-Mary by the Orthodox Church: Theotokos (Mother of God), Aeiparthenos (Ever-virgin) and Panagia (All-Holy) serve a theological purpose. Far from elevating her to a position as a fourth person of the Trinity, such titles seek to protect and proclaim the correct doctrine of Christ's Person. The Mother is venerated because of the Son and never apart from Him. Too often a refusal to honor the Theotokos goes hand in hand with an incomplete faith in the Incarnation, i.e., the mystery of God becoming man in the Person of Jesus Christ. Nicholas Cavasilas has written: "The Incarnation was not only the work of the Father, of His Power and His Spirit...but it was also work of the will, faith and consent of the Virgin...Just as God became incarnate voluntarily, so He wished that His Mother should bear Him freely and with her consent." Mary stands as the greatest example of man's free response to God's offer of salvation. She stands as an example of synergy, or cooperation between God and man. God does not force His will on Mary but waits for her free response which she grants with those beautiful words: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word" (St. Luke 1:38). Thus, Eve's disobedience is counterbalanced by Mary's obedience. She becomes the New Eve as Christ is the New Adam, lifting by her obedience the curse that the first Eve brought upon the human race by her disobedience.

In the words of the Greek Orthodox theologian, Dr. N.A. Nissiotis:

"As shown in the icon, Mary is never alone but always with Christ. Thus prayer to her is the prayer of the Church with her to the Incarnate Son. One should rather see in Mary, the 'Most Holy' (Panagia), the first and fullest of the Saints, leading them in a continuous intercessions to her Son. The worshiping Church is not praying to the Theotokos but praying with her to God. She is the animating power, the Leader of this continuous intercession of the Community of saints to the Trinitarian God."

The Holy Orthodox Church calls Mary "All=Holy"; it calls her "immaculate" or "spotless" in Greek, achrantos); and all Orthodox Christians are agreed in believing that our Lady was free from actual sin.

Orthodox Christians do not worship the Theotokos and the Saints; rather they venerate them. God alone is worshiped. The Saints are reverenced as reflections of the Christ image. It is God Who is glorified through His Saints.  They are praised for what our Lord has done in and through them.

For the first time she appears in the story of the Annunciation and naturally figures very prominently in the Birth stories of Saint Matthew's Gospel (Chapters 1 and 2), but especially in Saint Luke's Gospel (Chapters 1 and 2). But though she is mentioned several times during the years of Christ's Public Ministry, she remains in the background. She appears prominently at the foot of the Cross (Saint John's Gospel 19:25) to sorrowfully witness the Passion of her Son and be entrusted by the suffering Christ to His beloved Disciple John, later to become the Evangelist and Theologian. She witnessed the inception and growth of the infant Church in the Upper Room at Jerusalem under the action and guidance of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). Her Divine Maternity and her virginity are clearly stated in the Gospels: she has really conceived and given birth to Jesus, the Son of God, without losing her virginity. Her perpetual virginity ("ever-virgin") was first asserted by Didymos the Blind (about 313-98 A.D.), the teacher of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, and Jerome, who gave her the well-known name Ever-Virgin. Her supreme dignity as the Mother of God was praised by many famous Eastern and Western Holy Fathers. In the 8th century, Saint John of Damascus calls her 'mediator" and Saint Andrew of Crete calls her "mediator of grace."

The veneration of Mary received considerable impetus by her name 'Theotokos' being officially adopted by the Third Ecumenical Council in 431 A.D.

According to Metropolitan of Diokleia Kallistos Ware in his book "The Orthodox Church" states the following: "Orthodoxy...firmly believes in her Bodily Assumption. Like the rest of mankind Our Lady underwent physical death, but in her case the Resurrection (Translation) of the body occurred and her tomb was found empty. She has been passed beyond death and judgment, and lives already in the Age to Come. Yet she is not thereby utterly separated from the rest of humanity, for that same bodily glory which Mary enjoys now, all of us hope one day to share. However, the bodily Assumption (Translation) of Mary to heaven is not a dogma in the Orthodox Church."

Reverence for Saints is enhanced through the use and veneration of holy icons which are ever-present in Orthodox Christian churches and homes. The holy icon becomes a meeting place, an existential encounter, a window through which we look on the Saints not as shadowy figures from a remote past but as members of the same household of God. We feel free to call on them through prayer from family support as they intercede to God in our behalf. Saint Basil the Great writes, "I accept the saintly Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs, and in my prayer to God I call upon them and through their prayer I receive mercy from our God Who loves all humanity" (Epistle to Amphilochios).

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George