The Forerunner - January 3, 2021 - Sunday Before Theophany
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January 1 - Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Eight (8) days after His Divinity, our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to be circumcised. He submitted to circumcision, first of all, to fulfill the Law. "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law," said He; "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew, Chapter 5). He subjected Himself to the Law to free transgressors subject to the Law, as the holy Apostle teaches: "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made a woman, made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law" (Galatians, Chapter 4).
My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!
ON JANUARY 1ST OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH CELEBRATES THE CIRCUMCISION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Homily on the Circumcision of the Lord
Eight (8) days after His Divinity, our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to be circumcised. He submitted to circumcision, first of all, to fulfill the Law. "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law," said He; "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew, Chapter 5). He subjected Himself to the Law to free transgressors subject to the Law, as the holy Apostle teaches: "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made a woman, made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law" (Galatians, Chapter 4). By being circumcised, He demonstrated also that He had truly assumed human flesh, silencing heretics who taught that His birth was an illusion. Christ's circumcision clearly showed that He had put on our nature, for how can a fleshless being undergo circumcision? Saint Ephraim the Syrian asks, "If Christ was not in the flesh, who was it that Joseph circumcised? Verily, Christ was incarnate as the Son of man, was reddened by His own infant blood; He suffered and cried from pain, in accordance with human nature" (Saint Ephraim, Homily on the Transfiguration of the Lord). Furthermore, His physical circumcision foreshadowed our spiritual circumcision. Fulfilling the ancient, external Law, He ushered in the new, spiritual law. The Old Testament commanded that fleshly men be circumcised according to the flesh, but the spiritual man of the New Testament is taught to cut off the passions of the soul: anger, jealousy, pride, unclean desires, and other sinful inclinations. Christ was circumcised on the eighth day to indicate that we are enrolled as inheritors of the future life by being marked with His Blood, for the Eighth Day is the symbol of eternity, according to the divine teachers (Holy Fathers) of the Church. In the Fourth Ode of the Canon for the feast, the Venerable Stephen of Saint Savvas' Lavra writes, "The Eighth Day, whereon the Master was circumcised, is an image of the Everlasting Life of the age to come." And Saint Gregory of Nyssa tells us, "The Law dictated that a child be circumcised on the eighth day, the number eight being symbolic of the future age" (Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Homily on the Lord's Circumcision. The number seven in the Holy Scripture indicates the fullness of time, so that all the millennia from the beginning of creation till the present are spoken of as "seven days"; the eighth day then, is the age to come.)
Circumcision was the Old Testament fore-type of the Holy Baptism and of the expurgation of ancestral sin by Christ's Blood shed willingly at the Passion...Circumcision was a punishment, as it were, for ancestral ("original") sin, and a reminder that children are conceived in iniquities, as David says. The brass serpent which Moses fashioned in the wilderness resembled a living snake, but had no venom; similarly, Christ, while possessing our nature, was born supernaturally and without sin of a blameless, unwedded mother. He had no need of enduring the painful wounds of circumcision, being sinless and Himself the Giver of the Law nonetheless, He underwent the rite like a sinner. In coming to us, He assumed the transgressions of the whole world, as the Holy Apostle says, "The Father "made him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin" (2 Corinthians, Chapter 5). By His circumcision the Master showed even greater humility than by His Nativity, for at the Nativity He "made himself of no reputation, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians, Chapter 2), as Saint Paul confesses, but at the circumcision the Blameless One appears as a sinner, enduring pain, the penalty for sin. The Innocent One suffered innocently and could say with David, "Then did I restore that which I took not away" (Psalm 68) that is, "I suffered for sins I did not commit." Circumcision was the beginning of Christ's sufferings on our behalf, a foretaste of the cup from which He drank the bitter dregs on the Cross, when He cried, "it is finished" (John, Chapter 19)...
"...On this day the Divine Babe also received the name Jesus. (Please note: As Orthodox Christians we follow His example, and Hebrew tradition, by the Priest giving the Christian name to the babe on the 8th day following birth. We do not wait until the day of the baptism to give the child's name.) When the Archangel Gabriel descended from heaven and appeared to the Most Pure Virgin Mary, he made known that her Son would be called thus; whereupon, she consented to the tidings and cried, "Behold the handmade of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy Word" (Luke, Chapter 1). Immediately, the Logos/Word of God assumed flesh and took up His dwelling in her immaculate, most sacred womb...
"...The power of Jesus' wondrous name has been revealed causing Angels to marvel, mankind to rejoice, and demons to tremble; for "the devils also believe, and tremble" (James, Chapter 2). Hades is shaken by this Name; the foundation of the abyss are undermined; the prince of darkness flees; idols are toppled; the gloom of idolatry is dispelled; and the light of piety is shed abroad, illuminating "every man that cometh into the world" (John, Chapter 1). "Every knee of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Philippians, Chapter 2).
"...We lovingly praise and fervently revere Thy sweetest and Most Holy Name, O Most sweet, All-Compassionate Jesus! We fall prostrate...Keep and preserve Thy servants, and receive us into Thy Kingdom, that with the Angels we may hymn and glorify Thy Most Honorable and Majestic Name 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 agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George
December 29 - 14,000 Innocents Slain at Herod's order in Bethlehem
My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!
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ON THE 29th OF DECEMBER OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY 14,000 INFANTS SLAIN AT HEROD'S ORDER IN BETHLEHEM
When Herod "saw that he was mocked of the wise men" (Matthew, Ch. 2), he became "exceedingly wroth," both with them and the newborn King of the Jews. Herod in his rage attacked the blameless infants because those who had aroused his fury were out of reach. He sent soldiers armed as if for battle to Bethlehem, with orders to slay every child that was "two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Theophylact (as was said in the Narrative of the Adoration of the Magi) informs us that the Star was first seen quite some time before the Nativity. If it appeared at the moment of the Annunciation, it would have been visible for nine months prior to the Savior's birth. The Wise Men arrived in Jerusalem on the day of the Nativity, worshipped Christ in Bethlehem before the purification of the spotless Theotokos, the "departed into their own country another way." Herod did not immediately realize that he had been mocked by the Magi, but at first thought that they had failed to find Him Whom they sought, and not wishing to become a laughing-stock, had secretly slipped away in shame.
"...The slaughter of the innocents took place twenty-one months after the Star appeared, in the year following the Nativity, on the 29th of December; therefore, the Holy Church commemorate these blameless sufferers on this day. Because he wished to be certain he had achieved his aim, fearful Herod slew "all the children form two years old and under to death," says the holy Chrysostom. The raging tyrant was a coward, so his order was intent to allow the soldiers no possibility for error."
Some of the innocents were run through with the sword, others smashed against walls or with rocks, others hurled to the ground and trampled underfoot, others had their limbs torn off, others were speared, others cleaved asunder. Their mothers wailed pitifully, piercing heaven with their cries. They ripped out their hair, and tore their flesh and clothing. On that day the saying of the Prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not" (Jeremiah, Chapter 31; Matthew, Chapter 2). Rama was a city on a hill within the allotment of the Tribe of Benjamin. Rachel is another name for Bethlehem, since Rachel, mother of Benjamin and wife of the Patriarch Jacob, was buried there. When the infants were slaughtered in Bathlehem, that is, in Rachel, "the lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning" of the mothers could be heard in Rama, which is not far away.
Both, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint John of Damascus describe how the mothers mourned their slain babes. Saint John Chrysostom writes: "The mothers pleaded with the murderers, 'Why do you butcher our children? What offense have they committed against you or your king? What if these were your children? Have compassion on us; slay us rather than our little babies...
"...Soon after the massacre of the holy children, Divine retribution overtook Herod. According to Saint Theophylactos, he "came to a miserable end, with fever, spasms of the bowls, itching, swelling of the feet, rotting of the private parts, breeding of worms, difficulty in breathing, trembling, and spasms in every member until he spat out his wicket soul." (Source: The Collection of The Lives of the Saints)
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PLEASE NOTE: The slaughter of the Innocence is still continuing today by those who are committing abortion and killing their innocent children. The Christian Church condemns it as murder. Over 65 million innocent children have been murdered in the U.S. alone. Just think how many more millions are killed throughout the world including so called "Christian" countries in Western Europe, including Greece.
The killing of the innocent must stop immediately! Those who believe in abortion are not Christian believers. And those who commit this horrific crime have brought condemnation to their souls.
There is Divine Justice which no one can escape. Jesus said, "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and be thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42-43).
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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,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George