New Year, New Day

A wonderful sermon by Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock:  New Year, New Day.

May everyone have a wonderful 2010, filled with God's blessings.

Tears

From my Spiritual Father:

 

"Tears give me:

• penitence
• the Lord's mercy
• help at the Last Judgment
• saves my soul from the power of the enemy
• compunction
• consolation
• sonship
• lifts me to my inheritance
• warms me in the love of God
• anointing of the feet of Jesus
• a washing and purification
• presence before the joy of my life
• assurety and boldness
• repentance and confession and thanksgiving
• the ability to lift my eyes to heaven
• medicine against idleness
• the knowledge of God's will
• hope
• purification and a good conscience
• softening of the soil of my heart"

Parable of the Ten Drachmas

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' "  Luke 15.8-9

"The mystery of the universe is revealed in this simple parable.  If we take it literally, it evokes bewilderment.  The woman lost only one drachma.  But even ten drachmas do not represent a great sum; in fact, a woman who has only ten drachmas must be very poor indeed ...How is it that if she is such a poor woman she lights lamps and sweeps the house and - strangest of all - calls in all her friends and neighbors to share her joy?  And all because of one drachma! ...But then, if she invites her neighbors, according to Eastern custom, she is obliged to offer them something to eat and drink, no small expense for a poor woman ...She invited many friends and neighbors, and even if she entertained them modestly, the expense would far exceed the value of the drachma she found...

"So let us try to find [the parable's] hidden meaning.  Who is the woman?  And why is it a woman and not a man ...Whose house is it? ...Who are her friends and neighbors? ...The Lord said, Seek ad you shall find! ...

"The woman represents Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God.  The ten drachmas are His.  It is He Who has lost one of them and sets out to look for it.  The drachmas are not coins of gold or silver.  According to Orthodox theology, the number ten represents fullness.  The nine unlost drachmas are the nine orders of angels.  The number of angels is beyond the grasp of mortals, for it exceeds our power of calculation.  The lost drachma represents mankind in its entirety.  Therefore, Christ the Saviour came down from heaven to earth, to His house, and lit a candle, the light of the knowledge of Himself.  He cleaned out the house - that is, He purified the world of diabolic impurity - and found the lost drachma:  erring and lost humanity.  Then He called His "friends and neighbors" (after His glorious Resurrection and Ascension), that is to say, all the countless hosts of the Cherubim and Seraphim, Angels and Archangels, and revealed to them His great joy ...That means:  I have found men to full the void in the Kingdom of Heaven caused by the fall of the proud angels who apostasized from God.  At the end of time the number of these found and saved souls will have grown to billions, or in the language of Scripture, will be as countless as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

"Our Lord describes Himself as a woman because women are more careful than men in looking after property, in keeping the house in order and in receiving guests.  If this short parable, which consists of only two sentences, is explained in this way, whose heart will not be touched?  For it contains the whole tragedy of the world, visible and invisible.  It explains why the Son of God came to earth.  It sheds a bright ray of light on the history of mankind and the tragedy of every separate individual's existence.  It confronts us with an urgent decision, because our life is swiftly passing - a decision as to whether we want to be the lost drachma found by Christ or not.  Christ is looking for us.  Are we going to hide from Him or let ourselves be found by Him before death hides us from Him, from the world and from life?  It is a vital question and it lies within our will to accept or reject Him.  After death it will cease to be an open question, and then no one will expect an answer from us."

    Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic.  The Ten Drachmas.  B#18

St. Matthew

According to the Julian Calendar, today is St. Matthew's Feast Day (and my Name's Day).

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, was also named Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27); he was one of the Twelve Apostles (Mark 3:18; Luke 6:45; Acts 1:13), and was brother of the Apostle James Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). He was a publican, or tax-collector for Rome, in a time when the Jews were under the rule of the Roman Empire. He lived in the Galilean city of Capernaum. When Matthew heard the voice of Jesus Christ: "Come, follow Me" (Mt. 9:9), left everything and followed the Savior. Christ and His disciples did not refuse Matthew's invitation and they visited his house, where they shared table with the publican's friends and acquaintances. Like the host, they were also publicans and known sinners. This event disturbed the pharisees and scribes a great deal.

Publicans who collected taxes from their countrymen did this with great profit for themselves. Usually greedy and cruel people, the Jews considered them pernicious betrayers of their country and religion. The word "publican" for the Jews had the connotation of "public sinner" and "idol-worshipper." To even speak with a tax-collector was considered a sin, and to associate with one was defilement. But the Jewish teachers were not able to comprehend that the Lord had "come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mt. 9:13).

Matthew, acknowledging his sinfulness, repaid fourfold anyone he had cheated, and he distributed his remaining possessions to the poor, and he followed after Christ with the other apostles. St Matthew was attentive to the instructions of the Divine Teacher, he beheld His innumerable miracles, he went together with the Twelve Apostles preaching to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt. 10:6). He was a witness to the suffering, death, and Resurrection of the Savior, and of His glorious Ascension into Heaven.

Having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, which descended upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, St Matthew preached in Palestine for several years. At the request of the Jewish converts at Jerusalem, the holy Apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel describing the earthly life of the Savior, before leaving to preach the Gospel in faraway lands.

In the order of the books of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew comes first. Palestine is said to be the place where the Gospel was written. St Matthew wrote in Aramaic, and then it was translated into Greek. The Aramaic text has not survived, but many of the linguistic and cultural-historical peculiarities of the Greek translation give indications of it.

The Apostle Matthew preached among people who were awaiting the Messiah. His Gospel manifests itself as a vivid proof that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold by the prophets, and that there would not be another (Mt. 11:3).

The preaching and deeds of the Savior are presented by the evangelist in three divisions, constituting three aspects of the service of the Messiah: as Prophet and Law-Giver (Ch. 5-7), Lord over the world both visible and invisible (Ch. 8-25), and finally as High Priest offered as Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind (Ch. 26-27).

The theological content of the Gospel, besides the Christological themes, includes also the teaching about the Kingdom of God and about the Church, which the Lord sets forth in parables about the inner preparation for entering into the Kingdom (Ch. 5-7), about the worthiness of servers of the Church in the world (Ch. 10-11), about the signs of the Kingdom and its growth in the souls of mankind (Ch. 13), about the humility and simplicity of the inheritors of the Kingdom (Mt. 18:1-35; 19 13-30; 20:1-16; 25-27; 23:1-28), and about the eschatological revelations of the Kingdom in the Second Coming of Christ within the daily spiritual life of the Church (Ch. 24-25).

The Kingdom of Heaven and the Church are closely interconnected in the spiritual experience of Christianity: the Church is the historical embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven in the world, and the Kingdom of Heaven is the Church of Christ in its eschatological perfection (Mt. 16:18-19; 28:18-20).

The holy Apostle brought the Gospel of Christ to Syria, Media, Persia, Parthia, and finishing his preaching in Ethiopia with a martyr's death. This land was inhabited by tribes of cannibals with primitive customs and beliefs. The holy Apostle Matthew converted some of the idol-worshippers to faith in Christ. He founded the Church and built a temple in the city of Mirmena, establishing there his companion Platon as bishop.

When the holy apostle was fervently entreating God for the conversion of the Ethiopians the Lord Himself appeared to him in the form of a youth. He gave him a staff, and commanded him to plant it at the doors of the church. The Lord said that a tree would grow from this staff and it would bear fruit, and from its roots would flow a stream of water. When the Ethiopians washed themselves in the water and ate the fruit, they lost their wild ways and became gentle and good.

When the holy apostle carried the staff towards the church, he was met by the wife and son of the ruler of the land, Fulvian, who were afflicted by unclean spirits. In the Name of Christ the holy apostle healed them. This miracle converted a number of the pagans to the Lord. But the ruler did not want his subjects to become Christians and cease worshiping the pagan gods. He accused the apostle of sorcery and gave orders to execute him.

They put St Matthew head downwards, piled up brushwood and ignited it. When the fire flared up, everyone then saw that the fire did not harm St Matthew. Then Fulvian gave orders to add more wood to the fire, and frenzied with boldness, he commanded to set up twelve idols around the fire. But the flames melted the idols and flared up toward Fulvian. The frightened Ethiopian turned to the saint with an entreaty for mercy, and by the prayer of the martyr the flame went out. The body of the holy apostle remained unharmed, and he departed to the Lord.

The ruler Fulvian deeply repented of his deed, but still he had doubts. By his command, they put the body of St Matthew into an iron coffin and threw it into the sea. In doing this Fulvian said that if the God of Matthew would preserve the body of the apostle in the water as He preserved him in the fire, then this would be proper reason to worship this One True God.

That night the Apostle Matthew appeared to Bishop Platon in a dream, and commanded him to go with clergy to the shore of the sea and to find his body there. The righteous Fulvian and his retinue went with the bishop to the shore of the sea. The coffin carried by the waves was taken to the church built by the apostle. Then Fulvian begged forgiveness of the holy Apostle Matthew, after which Bishop Platon baptized him, giving him the name Matthew in obedience to a command of God.

Soon St Fulvian-Matthew abdicated his rule and became a presbyter. Upon the death of Bishop Platon, the Apostle Matthew appeared to him and exhorted him to head the Ethiopian Church. Having become a bishop, St Fulvian-Matthew toiled at preaching the Word of God, continuing the work of his heavenly patron.

 Troparion - Tone 3

With zeal, you followed Christ the Master,
who in His goodness, appeared on earth to mankind.
Summoning you from the custom house,
He revealed you as a chosen apostle:
the proclaimer of the the Gospel to the whole world!
Therefore, divinely eloquent Matthew,
we honor your precious memory!
Entreat merciful God that He may grant our souls remission of transgressions.

Kontakion - Tone 4

Casting aside the bonds of the custom house for the yoke of justice,
you were revealed as an excellent merchant, rich in wisdom from on high.
You proclaimed the word of truth
and roused the souls of the slothful
by writing of the hour of Judgment.

Prayer for Nativity Fast

The Orthodox Church does a lot of fasting, and one of the major fasts is the Nativity Fast, which runs from 28Nov - 06Jan (Julian Calendar, or 15Nov - 24Dec on the Gregorian Calendar).

The following prayer is taken from Daily Mediations and Prayers for the Christmas Advent Fast and Epiphany by Pres. Emily Harakas and Fr. Anthony Conaris:

Lord Jesus,

You have come so many times to us and found no resting place, forgive us for our over-crowded lives, our vain haste and our preoccupation with self.  Come again, O Lord, and though our hearts are a jumble of voices, and our minds overlaid with many fears, find a place however humble, where you can begin to work Your wonder as you create a peace and joy within us.  If in some hidden corner, in some out-of-the-way spot, we can clear away the clutter, and shut out the noise and darkness, come be born again in us, and we shall kneel in perfect peace with the wisest and humblest of men.

Help us to enter into this Christmas Fast with humility, yet with joy.  And finally, Lord, give us Christmas from within, that we may share it from without, on all sides, all around us, wherever there is need.  God help us, every one, to share the blessing of Jesus, in whose name we keep Christmas holy.

Amen

Holy Scripture and the Church, Part 2

This excerpt addresses why we shouldn't rely on our own interpretation of Holy Scripture:

 

"But is it reliable to be guided by one's common sense in interpreting Holy Scripture?  Who has not encountered situations where the common sense of different people evaluate one and the same occurrence differently?  In interpreting the Gospel, Tolstoy often refers to common sense.  But you would need the naiveté and obstinacy of that uncommonly arrogant man to identify as psychologically abnormal all those who cannot and do not accept his interpretations, which are based on common sense.  But I think - and it is perhaps indisputable - that in understanding and interpreting Holy Scripture, our sense, left to itself, can in no way be 'common.'  After all, he who observes his own moral life and has the courage to tell himself the bitter truth will no doubt notice how at times our mind is weighted down by the pressure of the passions and how we sometimes timidly and sometimes daringly and brazenly give excuses for our weak will.  We usually agree with each other more or less easily on issues that do not affect our lives or that do not concern the orientation of the will.  That is why in the field of mathematics there are so many universally recognized and uncontested truths.  In fact, why should we not recognize that the sum of the angles in a triangle is always 180 degrees, or that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, as affirmed by Pythagoras' theorem?  Is there any reason not to accept these mathematical truths?  Accepting them does not obligate me to do anything.  The same can also be said about other such so-called scientific truths.  'Why should I contend here, why break spear over it?  Isn't it all the same to me whether the learned specialists tell me, for example, that matter is built out of Mendeleyev's atoms or out of electrons and ions; whether the world is an undulating vibration of ether or whether the sun is not in fact passing through the constellation of Hercules, but, let us say, through Cancer, Scorpio, or Lyra?  If learned men have found that it is so, let it be so.  Nothing is changed by it.  It is the affair of the specialists, their domestic affair.'  But the brilliant [Gottfried] Leibniz said with wit and insight:  'If geometry took up arms against our passions and our vital interests in the same way that morality does, we would dispute it and transgress it despite all the proofs of Euclid and Archimedes, which would be slighted as fabrications and be considered to completely violate the principles of valid reasoning, while Joseph Scaliger, Hobbes, and others, who wrote against Euclid and Archimedes, would not have so few followers as they do now.'  But Holy Scripture is directed precisely against human passions.  Everything in it speaks about life and the One Who said of Himself:  'I am the Life' (cf. John 11.25, 14.6).  This is why our minds, left to themselves can remain neither pure nor sound when interpreting the Word of life."

...

"Just how odd interpretations of the Gospel text can sometimes be apparent in the following example.  The well-known V. V. Rozanov once interpreted Matthew 16.18 thus:  'Saying Thou are Peter, and upon this rock (the desert) I will build My Church is as if foreseeing that the entire Church, or almost all of her, would be built with a desert, eremitic character.'  But in another place, someone of like mind with Rozanov interprets the same verse in a different way:  Why was the Church founded upon Peter?  Because he was married, had children, and passionately loved his wife and children, not parting with them even during his evangelizing journeys.  Thus, the Church is based on the principle of the family. ...  Is it not clear that there will be as many meanings to Holy Scripture as there are people and the moods they have?"  Holy Scripture and the Church by St. Hilarion (Troitsky), the New Hieromartyr

Holy Scripture and the Church, Part 1

NOTE:  By posting this, it is not my intent to bash the faith of my Protestant friends, but I post it as a reminder to myself and to allow those who will accept it, a differing point of view than that of Protestantism.

"Perhaps the saddest thing in our times is the distortion of Christ and the Church.  Christianity is seen not as the new life of saved humanity, united in the Church, but as the sum of certain theoretical and moral positions.  They have begun now to talk too much and too often about Christian teachings and have begun to forget about Church life.  At the same time they have also begun to forget that the most important part of Christ's work is His Incarnation.  They have begun to regard Christ more as a wise teacher, while the truth of His Divine Sonship has receded into the background.  To be a teacher it is not necessary to be the Only-begotten Son of God, One in essence with God the Father.  They are willing to recognize as Christians not only the Arians, but even those who, like the ancient Jews, regard Christ as the ordinary son of a Nazareth carpenter, or at best, as a brilliant religious teacher like the Buddha, Confucius, and others. ... To the contemporary religious consciousness, it is only the teaching of Christ that is necessary and understandable, but there is no need for Christ the God-man and the new life brought down to earth by Him, which has been preserved in the one grace-filled organism of the Church.  In the contemporary religious consciousness, Christ has been brought down from His throne at the right hand of God the Father and placed in a preacher's pulpit.

"If we have before us a teacher, then every word of his, every literary text in which his teaching is reflected in any way, must be accorded special significance.  Something similar has happened with Holy Scripture.  It was accorded special significance in itself and independently of the Church when the bright ideal of the Church grew dim.  Holy Scripture has become the object of special attention and many-sided study since the time of the German Reformation, when the individual person was put in place of the Church and the door to rationalism was opened wide, thus deadening any authentic Church life.  Having killed all Church life, Protestantism has in principle proceeded solely under the banner of Holy Scripture, proclaiming each letter to be divinely inspired.  Even today Protestantism comes out with speeches about special reverence for Holy Scripture, although even for pastors, faith in the divinity of Christ is no longer considered obligatory...  For the Protestants, it is as if the Gospel were the work of Christ the Teacher, which has to be studied in order to be a Christian.  Thus, Protestantism tries to replace the entire deep river of grace-filled Church life with but a single current, taken separately and in isolation."  St. Hilarion (Troitsky), the New Hieromartyr

This is an excerpt from the article Holy Scripture and the Church in the latest edition of The Orthodox Word, and deals with the proper role or function of Holy Scripture within the Christian's life.  Holy Scripture, St. Hilarion explains, is to be an aid for spiritual enlightenment, and that "if things were the way they should be, we would not need Holy Scriptures" and that "the need for Holy Scripture arose when some turned aside from true doctrine and others from purity of life."  St. John Chrysostom is quoted in St. Hilarion's text, "[I]t would be indeed meet for us not at all to require the aid of the written word, but to exhibit a life so pure, that the grace of the Spirit should be instead of books to our souls, and that as these are inscribed with ink, even so should our hearts be with the Spirit.  But, since we have utterly put away from us this grace, let us at any rate embrace the second best course", agreeing with St. Paul's writing to the Corinthians:  "...which hath not been inscribed with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in stony tablets, but in the fleshly tablets of the heart" (II Corinthians 3.3).

I titled this blog "Part 1" as I haven't yet finished the article, and I am sure there will be other gems I'd like to pass along.

In Christ,

Mat

15 Things About Me

This is a repost from my Facebook account, updated and shortened.  I'm basically just using this as a test.

1. I am a pescatarian.
2. I would have become a monk had I not gotten married.
3. I enjoy moments of depersonalization.
4. I find opening a door for a handicapped individual or an elderly person more rewarding than a week's worth of work.
5. I am a coffee snob.
6. I have a great dislike for the shallowness of the American society, and the greatness of the American ego.
7. I feel corporate America sucks the life out of the soul.
8. I have an unconscious habit of pulling tangled hair out of my beard (it's the main reason I sometimes must start over).
9. I would live a life of voluntary poverty if I didn't have a student loan payment.
10. I believe having "stuff" clutters the mind and distracts the soul.
11. I don't believe in jinxes.
12. I wish the U.S. would adopt the metric system, the 24-hr clock, and the centigrade scale.
13. I do not enjoy the great expectations people have for me.
14. I get easily overwhelmed by sound and activity.
15. I sometimes doubt the principle of object permanence. Seriously.