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The inner meaning of Palm Sunday. 2009. Audio Homily.

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

The events of Palm Sunday are momentous, but they cannot be understood without understanding the words of the Apostle Paul and contrasting them to the actions of the people who received Jesus joyfully and with shouts of praise as he rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass.
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Philippians 4:4-9 4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

John 12:1-18 1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. 9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. 12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. 14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, 15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. 16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. 17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. 18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.


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5th Sun GL, St Mary of Egypt 1999. “This kind cannot come forth by anything but by prayer and fasting”

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

(Original link:http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-05_1999.html )

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

This kind cannot come forth by anything but by prayer and fasting.[1] 

 

So we read last week.  What is this kind that cannot come forth?  The demoniac boy was made by the demons to fall into fire and water, the fire being impurity - the lusts of the flesh, all manner of anger, meanness, murder and strife, envy, and all other such things.  And the water means a distraction with worldly things - avarice, desire for things, distraction.  Fire and water: this kind comes out not but by prayer and fasting.

 

But today we see indeed, that this kind will come out - if prayer and fasting and labor are applied.  We see this because we have the example, the spectacle, before us of holy mother Mary of Egypt - a woman that knew whom Zosimas was from afar, who knew God’s will for Zosimas to fulfill one last wish of hers that she would have the Mysteries the following year; a woman who, when she prayed, stood in the air. We can’t even lift up ours eyes to heaven, and she was standing in the heavens when she prayed.  She walked upon water as if on dry land.  And she called herself a miserable sinner. 

 

She struggled for many, many, many years.  If you read her life, you will learn she spent 17 years in great, terrible struggles after she had repented.  She was about 30.  She had lived a life of total, complete debauchery and depravity.  Her modesty precluded her from completely fulfilling the command of Zosimas and she couldn’t tell him everything that she did, but suffice it to say that she was a most wretched and sinful one.  Everything that is possible to do to defile one’s self she did.  But when she repented, she understood something that we would do well to understand.  Labor.

 

Labor!  This is the key to the Christian life: Laboring in Christ.  And the church understands this.  The church makes the connection between St. Mary and the sinful woman who was also a prostitute, a repentant prostitute of whom our Savior would later say, "The harlots and the tax-collectors are coming into heaven before you"[2], when speaking to the Pharisee.

 

He is in the home of the Pharisee and a prostitute comes in, and she begins to anoint his feet with her tears, and with ointment.  Why?  Because of love.  Because previously she had been forgiven.  She knew this in her soul.  It changed her.  She lived with this reality.  And she was thankful in the depths of her being.  That’s what made her anoint His feet.  Love.    But this anointing, this coming to the house — is labor!  Without labor you can’t be saved.  Without demeaning yourself and remembering what God has done for you, you won’t be saved. 

 

St Mary of Egypt realized what God had done, and what the Mother of God had done, by praying to her Son, and helping her.  She spent 48 some years in the desert alone, coldness, nakedness, hunger, longing, desire, that could not be fulfilled. She said she would even go and bite the ground and lay on the ground until these feelings would go away from her.  Oh, yes, she still had impure feelings, for many, many years.  But she had great love, and labored because of this love.  Like this woman who anointed our Lord’s feet. 

 

This is the key to the Christian life.  This is why the Church presents this woman, great among women, and St. Mary of Egypt, great among the saints, as examples for us.  And we’ve been given everything they’ve been given.  Read what our Savior says about "he who has little forgiven, loveth little, but he who has much forgiven loveth much"[3].  Then He refers to the sinful woman. 

 

We can take this two ways. If you have very little forgiven, then you don’t have much to be thankful for.  We have little forgiven if we do not repent and strive to learn the commandments, and live the Christian life. But when you realize what’s been done for you, then you realize that you have had much forgiven.  For really everyone, everyone — has had much forgiven them.  And so he should love much.  He should turn to His Savior.  But a man who doesn’t turn to our Savior is not a Christian whether he calls himself a Christian or not. I don’t care about all the "trappings" - I don’t care how many songs you know - I don’t care about any of that. It’s all part and parcel of the life of the church.  It’s critical for our salvation - but the knowledge of things doesn’t save.  Action based on knowledge - that’s what saves.  

 

So when a man knows what Christ has done for him, he loves much.  When a man doesn’t care, when he’s all filled up with pride, or filled up with the life that he’s living, or filled up with lust or avarice or whatever else, then how can he love?  He has no room in his heart to love.  He’s already chosen the object of his love.  And he will have his reward, right here, such as it is[4].  And even the richest man is a pauper, compared to the lowest in the kingdom of heaven. 

 

This woman and St. Mary sealed their repentance by action, by activity.  We just read a couple nights ago the great canon[5], and St. Andrew compares Leah and Rachel to activity and contemplation.[6]  He said without these two you cannot be saved.  This woman who anointed our Lord’s feet, she contemplated what our lord had done for her; He had forgiven her.  Perhaps she was the one who had been caught in adultery and was about to be stoned[7].  Perhaps she was just another nameless, faceless prostitute that saw Divinity and cleaved to it and changed.  And when she contemplated what He had done her heart was filled, and this is what caused the activity, action, desire, longing to be with her Savior, to caress him, to kiss his feet, to be close to Him, to be in His presence. 

 

Do we have this longing?  If we don’t then we should fear greatly for our souls.  The church presents us extravagance here, extravagant repentance, and without it we can’t be saved.  Without it we cannot be saved.  Not partial repentance.  If you have something that ails you, then you must lament it, you must pound your breast about it.  You must prostrate with tears over it.  You must do whatever you have to do, labor in order to eradicate it, and in the process of doing that, at the same time, you must renew yourself with Who God is. 

 

St. Mary of Egypt knew.  This was a woman who could neither read nor write.  This was a woman who, the only time she had darkened the door of the church was at her baptism, save two other times, the day she saw the holy cross, and received the holy mysteries at the monastery of the Forerunner before she went into the desert.  And in the end of her days, she knew the entire scripture by heart, and she lived the entire scripture by heart.  The church speaks of her as an angel.  She had so transcended the flesh that she previously had lived with in such a base way.  None of us probably can claim to have been as sinful as she was.  That’s the truth.  But none of us can claim to have one tiny grain or repentance compared to her. 

 

The Christian life is simple.  If you know that which you’ve been forgiven of, you should love much, but the only way to know is to open your eyes and to pray with your heart.  God will fill you.  He will show you.  You will be overwhelmed by it.  You won’t want anything but … Christ.  The key to the Christian life.  Contemplating what God has done for you, and acting upon it. 

 

These women are the examples we have before us today.  But what does the world tell us?  It tells us all manner of garbage. Probably all of us have had this secular saying said to us, when one or the other of our parents said, "I don’t care what the other kids do.  You don’t do it that way."  The world tells you so many things, and the church says, "I don’t care what the world tells you.  God your Savior tells you to do something else."  In fact, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said this to His apostles, didn’t he, when they had been jousting about who would be greatest?[8]  They had forgotten Who He was.  He tells them a very important saying:  "He who will be greatest must be the servant."  But before then what did He say?  He described the way the world is, how the greatest, the chiefest among people are the ones who grind people in the mud, and lord things over people, and the boastful pride of life in the extravagance of power and authority.  And then He said that it "shall not be so among you."[9]  Instead, the church gives us the example of the sinful woman, formerly sinful woman - two formally sinful women, the unnamed woman who is great among the saints, and Mary, who is great among the saints.  Don’t listen to the world.  Listen to what the church says.  Be renewed.

 

 



 

The Gospel for St Mary of Egypt

Luke 7:36-50

 

 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. {37} And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, {38} And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. {39} Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. {40} And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. {41} There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. {42} And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? {43} Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. {44} And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. {45} Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. {46} My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. {47} Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. {48} And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. {49} And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? {50} And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.



 

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St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

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[1] Mark 9:29

[2] Mat 21:31 - "Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."

[3] Cf. Luke 7:77

[4] See Matthew 5:46 and onwards.

[5] The complete Great Canon, and the Life of St Mary of Egypt, is always read in the matins service for 5th Thursday of Great Lent. This service is usually served Wednesday evening.

[6] St Andrew makes a reference to Gen 29:16-30,31-40: "Because of his crying need the Patriarch endured the scorching heat of the day, and he bore the frost of the night, daily making gains, shepherding, struggling, slaving, in order to win two wives  By the two wives understand action and direct knowledge in contemplation: Leah as action, for she had many children, and Rachel as knowledge, which is obtained by much labor. For without labors, my soul, neither action nor contemplation will achieve success. Clean Monday or the 5th Thursday of Great Lent: The Great Canon, Ode 4 Troparia 7,8

 

 

[7] John 8:4-11

[8] Mark 9:33 and onwards

[9] (Mat 20:25-27)  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. {26} But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; {27} And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

 

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Sunday of St Mary of Egypt, 2009. Audio Homily: A perfect description of any true Christian

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Sunday of St Mary of Egypt, 2009. A perfect description of any true Christian: LISTEN NOW

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After the Great Canon service. 5th Wednesday of Great Lent 2009.

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

A happy heart.

Fasting creates simple pleasures.

Lentil Curry, & cooking oil and onions.

“Yummy” Black Cherry soda.

The Theme of the Great Canon.

St Mary of Egypt.

Irony.

 

It made my heart “enlarged”[1]  to see so many of you at the Great Canon service Wednesday night, and also surprising to me, so many at the meal we had in between Presantified and Matins. I also received by email from some that you were not able to come for various reasons, but the very fact that you wanted to come made it feel to me as if you were standing with us in prayer all the time.

 

It was also a pleasure to provide the main course for our meal, and to cook it with oil which was allowed Wednesday because of the rigor of the services. It is also allowed Thursday & Friday. It was even an added benefit to see that Raissa appreciated it. I assure you, I can do much better. I was disappointed in the lentils. I think the lentils were a little old and dried out. Although I cooked them for a long time, they did not get soft. When they soften, they take up the flavor of the curry so much better. When I get a chance, I will post the recipe.

 

It is such a simple but very satisfying pleasure to have a little oil in the middle of the week. It can be as edifying to not fast (or fast less) as to fast, but only if we fast in the first place! Self-indulgence is a great enemy to the soul. We are not against pleasure, or legalistic about fasting, as some non-Orthodox and even Orthodox slander our rules, but the temperate man actually has MORE pleasure than the indulgent one! When I was a kid, we did not routinely have soda at home, but occasionally, my mother would buy a six-pack of “Yummy” store brand Black Cherry soda from the local Jewell. What a great pleasure that was, as I LOVED Black Cherry soda. I am sure it would not have been so pleasurable if she bought me a “big gulp” of it every day. The novelty would wear off, and there would have been toxic side effects – I would not have learned about simple pleasures, and the high fructose corn syrup might have made me get fat, and predisposed me to diabetes. We have an epidemic of these afflictions in the Western world, because of the cheap, easy availability of toxic, tasty foods, such as high fructose corn syrup, and our addiction to them.

 

I made the curry with oil, but I actually rarely do. It is just as easy to sauté the onions in plain water or vegetable broth. This is actually healthier, and I do not really taste any difference. If the oil is allowed to get too hot (and this is really EASY to do), it breaks down, and forms many carcinogenic compounds, plus some of the really beneficial micro-nutrients in the oil get broken down by the heat and we lose their benefits. Anytime oil is heated a lot (such as frying) it forms toxic compounds (some oils are especially susceptible to this, such as most margarine). Over the long term, these compounds cause disease, especially cardiovascular disease. For this reason, I never fry, and only occasionally use only oil to sauté. Sometimes I use oil AND water, and keep adding water, so that the temperature of the oil does not exceed the boiling point of water (the chemistry course you may not  remember teaches us that when water reaches boiling, the temperature does not increase past the boiling point, unless the steam is trapped and increases the pressure of the “system”. Since my pan has a relatively loose fitting lid, the steam can at least partially escape, and therefore the gas pressure inside the pan does not increase much, and the temperature stays constant. See Boyles Law and the properties of water. Class dismissed!)

 

By the way, when you cut onions or garlic, wait 20 minutes before cooking them. This allows time for the enzymes to cause very beneficial compounds to form. In onions especially, these healthy usually sulphur containing compounds make you cry. As soon as the onions or garlic are heated, the enzymes denature, and the manufacture of the healthy compounds ceases, although, as long as the heat is not way too high or prolonged, the ones produced will still retain their healthy properties.

 

I think the main theme of the Great Canon is that we are broken because of sin. Our understanding of sin is so different from the West that I wish we did not use the same word. For the Orthodox, sin arises out of our brokenness and confusion. The greatest penalty of sin is the confusion and pain it causes us. This pain DOES NOT go away when we are forgiven! Our brokenness and pain will go away only when we stop being sinners – when we are freed of sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ became man in order to conquer sin, not just forgive it. We long for being free of sin – and if you listen closely, this theme is present in every line of the Great Canon.

 

I don’t like to be broken. I want to be whole. This is the entire reason that I am a Christian; there is no other way to become whole. I became a priest because seeing pain, the vast majority of which is self-inflicted, in others, makes me mad. My prayer for my flock is that they each feel acutely their brokenness and cling to Christ in every way to become healed. If you do not feel broken, you will not ask to be fixed; you will not be fixed!

 

I can think of no other prayers in our vast lexicon which express the feeling of brokenness better than the Great Canon.

 

When combined with the Life of St Mary of Egypt, which we read last night, we see the “before” and “after” picture. It can be our picture too.

 

St Mary was terribly broken and full of sin in her early life. Like most sinful people, such as the ones we see in the mirror, she was not acutely aware of her sins. I think we can surmise from her own description of her early sinfulness that she was actually completely unaware of her brokenness; however, by God’s grace, through the intercession of the Mother of God, beyond all expectation, she came to her senses and repented.

 

I always take great comfort in her words to St Zosimas:

 

“Know, holy father, that I am only a sinful woman, though I am guarded by Holy baptism. And I am no spirit but earth and ashes, and flesh alone."

 

St Mary was part of the “hatch em, match em and dispatch em” crowd (seen in church on the day of their baptism, their marriage, and for their funeral). I have had some of these types of baptisms. I call them “bungee baptisms”, after the Dilbert cartoon where the “bungee boss” comes into the office as the new boss (attached to a bungee cord), only to be reassigned so quickly that is was as if he was never there. I suppose that is not the most pious way to refer to the problem of people that baptize their children and then never come to church, but sometimes I gotta laugh to keep from crying.

 

I have all these people in my dyptichs[2], although I never see them. I often think of St Mary’s words about baptism when I commemorate them . May the grace of baptism guard these dear children even though their parents cannot or will not show them a good example in the Christian life, and attend services and partake of the mysteries regularly.

 

I think our presence in all the services, and especially such ultra compunctionate ones such as the Great Canon, is always touched by irony.

 

Speaking for myself (but also knowing human nature and realizing that my weaknesses are by no means unique):

 

I stood in prayer reading a story about a woman who prayed with such fervor and detachment from worldly things that she stood suspended a “forearm’s length” in the air[3], while not only my feet but also my mind remained firmly rooted to the ground as I flitted from one useless, trivial thought to another.

 

I read verses in the canon that clearly elucidated St Andrew felt keenly his brokenness, while my inattention, shuffling feet and “counting of verses” showed clearly how broken I am.

 

I read poetic words of wisdom, and with some of them I simultaneously thought: “I have no idea what this really means, and I should!”

 

I read about St Mary laying on the ground for a full day and a night, watering the ground with her tears, trying to stave off lustful thoughts, and illicit songs and images[4], and the Internet brings these things to me as I sit on my couch, from the ads in my email or Facebook page. 

 

Truly, when we pray, in our thoughts and actions the words of the Psalmist are fulfilled:

 

“I believed wherefore I spake; I was humbled exceedingly. As for me, I said in mine ecstasy: Every man is a liar.” (Psalm 115:1[5])

 

So what are we to do, as we pray weakly, live haphazardly, and lie by calling ourselves Christians while not living in every way as one? There is only one solution, and we know it will work, because God has promised it will. Immediately after the Psalmist proclaims radically his sinfulness, he confidently replies to himself:

 

“What shall I render unto the Lord for all that He hath rendered unto me? I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 115:2)

 

 


[1] When I called upon Thee, O God of my righteousness, Thou didst hearken unto me; in mine affliction Thou hast enlarged me. (Psalm 4:1 Sept)

[2] The word means “list”. Every priest has dyptichs, which are lists of the living and dead for commemoration in the Divine Liturgy. It is important that we also have a smaller list for daily prayer for those we love.

[3] “And with these words she turned to the East, and raising her eyes to heaven and stretching out her hands, she began to pray in a whisper. One could not hear separate words, so that Zosimas could not understand anything that she said in her prayers. Meanwhile he stood, according to his own word, all in a flutter, looking at the ground without saying a word. And he swore, calling God to witness, that when at length he thought that her prayer was very long, he took his eyes off the ground and saw that she was raised bout a forearm’s distance from the ground and stood praying in the air. When he saw this, even greater terror seized him and he fell on the ground weeping and repeating may times, ‘Lord have mercy.’” (Life of St Mary of Egypt)

[4] “And how can I tell you about the thoughts which urged me on to fornication, how can I express them to you, Abba? A fire was kindled in my miserable heart which seemed to burn me up completely and to awake in me a thirst for embraces. As soon as this craving came to me, I flung myself on the earth and watered it with my tears, as if I saw before me my witness, who had appeared to me in my disobedience, and who seemed to threaten punishment for the crime. And I did not rise from the ground (sometimes I lay thus prostrate for a day and a night) until a calm and sweet light descended and enlightened me and chased away the thoughts that possessed me.” (Life of St Mary of Egypt)

[5] Psalm 115 (Septuagint numbering) is one of the Psalms we say in the “Preparation for Communion” prayers

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5th Week of Great Lent – Tuesday. Counting our blessings.

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

 

Better is an entertainment of herbs with friendliness and kindness, than a feast of calves, with enmity. (Proverbs 15:17, from the selection Prov 15:7-19, Vespers, 5th Tuesday of Great Lent)

 

 

The Scriptures should be very personal to us and evoke deep emotions when we read them. Everything in the scriptures is about us, whether directly or indirectly. The human condition, good and bad, how to live morally in almost any conceivable situation – it’s all in there.

 

One of the most personal aspects of Scripture is how it gently (and otherwise!) reminds us of things we should be mindful of, whether by example of direct instruction.

 

This proverb from today is particularly timely for me, as I participate in or Diocesan Assembly in Des Plaines. IL. It reminds me of the one thing needful and gently rebukes me concerning the things I grumble about.

 

We are a very small and poor diocese. Likewise our parish is small and poor, and yet both are rich, and I am constantly enriched by them. There is a profound peace in our Assembly. There is complete freedom to express our opinions, but all has been done with “friendliness and kindness”.  

 

Perhaps many do not know this, but there is serious unrest, malfeasance, distrust and fear in many quarters in the Orthodox world at this time, and especially in our own “backyard” in North America, but in our small diocese, and likewise, our small parish, there is calm.

 

We have man good and kind (and energetic and creative) priests, and a bishop who listens and does not rule us with a stick. This does not mean that we are “democratic” – but we are conciliar, and it is joy “for brothers to dwell together in unity”.

 

It is good to “count our blessings”. I have a wonderful parish, at peace, and am part of a wonderful diocese that is ruled in peace. There are many things to be done, and with God’s help we are doing them at the parish and diocesan level. I will try, despite the fact that I have always been a poor historian, to report on these things when I get back, however, the most important thing is that in our church, our dioceses, with our bishop and my fellow clergy, there is “friendliness and kindness”.

 

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/ great-lent-week-05-tuesday_2009-03-31+counting-our-blessings.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/ great-lent-week-05-tuesday_2009-03-31+counting-our-blessings.doc

 

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Daily Lenten Meditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

 

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!

 

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The Fourth Sunday Of Great Lent. The Healing of the Boy with a dumb and deaf spirit

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is the fourth Sunday of Great Lent and on this day we read about the healing, at the request of his father, of the boy who is possessed of a demon. There are many things to understand about this scripture, but we can only touch on a few of them now. For now I want you to consider what it was that this demon did to the boy. The father comes to Christ and describes his plight, a pitiable plight. This boy is cast into the fire and into the water by this demon, this deaf and dumb demon. According to the fathers, deaf because he would not allow the boy to hear the word of God, and dumb because the boy could not speak out in praise of God.

And what is the fire? It’s not just material fire as it was for this boy, but also the fire of anger, lust, those hot sins in which we seem to have so much pleasure partaking, and that seem to have such a hold on us. That is fire. Jealousy, hatred, rage. Those kind of things are fire.

And what is the water? Well, the water is equally pernicious to the soul. It is to be thrust into worldly cares - as blessed Theophylact says, "the crushing waves and billows of worldly care." That’s what the water is. There’s not a sin that you can think of that is neither fire nor water. Nothing.

Now this boy was completely possessed. He was incapable of free thought. He was incapable of free action because this demon controlled him. It took him where it wanted, it made him fall down where it wanted, it threw him towards the water or towards the fire, and the boy’s father could only with great difficulty save him from being burned or being drowned. It’s not too much different, really, for us. We unfortunately addict ourselves to sins — fire and water. Our plight is also a terrible one. We’re addicted, we must admit this. We must admit that we need help. We must see ourselves for who we truly are and then we can come to Christ for healing.

Christ says to the man who wants his son to be healed, "All things are possible to him that believeth." This is true. We understand this. We accept this. We’re Christians. We say, " Absolutely, God can do everything. God can heal any man, God can raise a corpse from the dead, make the lame to walk and the blind to see." Ah, but then we lose our faith when it comes to fire and water, as this man did as well. Because when we look at ourselves , we doubt. We doubt that God can heal us . He can heal somebody else, and He can certainly do physical things. We believe that. We read the lives of the saints, we read the scripture, we believe that when Tabitha was raised from the dead she really was. We believe that when Lazarus came out of the tomb, God had brought the breath of life back into him. We believe.

But do we believe that God can deliver us from our sins, from our passions, from things that we have been doing "of a child"? Most of our sins are from childhood. They’re built from childhood. We’re built into little sinning-machines when we’re little, and it’s very, very hard to extricate ourselves from our passions and our difficulties later. This boy was of a child being thrown into the fire and into the water, and it’s the same with us. Now do we believe that God can deliver us from our passions? Do we really believe? The evidence that I have as a pastor is to the contrary. Most of us struggle mightily with this disbelief. And because of that, we don’t make the progress we should. We must believe.

We have the examples of the lives of the saints to show that God has taken people who have sinned sometimes much worse even than we, and made them great, made them perfect and holy. We have the example of St. Mary, which, unfortunately, so many of you will not hear this coming week. (Note: The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete, with the life of St Mary of Egypt, is chanted on Wednesday evening, the fifth week of Great Lent, which follows the Sunday of St John Climacus, the Sunday on which this sermon was preached. At St Nicholas, this service is at 6:30 PM , year after year, and too many miss this service, and have despondency over their sins, and continue to have weak faith, year, after year) Because … I don’t know why you won’t. But many of you will not be present on Wednesday night to listen to an example of how God can completely heal a person. Mary didn’t doubt. This was a woman who’d been a prostitute, and worse than a prostitute. She’d had thousands of lovers. Every impurity possible that can be imagined and many that, I’m sure, we could not even imagine, she had partaken of and defiled herself over and over. And what did she do when she came to repentance? She believed that God could change her. She believed that God could deliver her from fire. She didn’t have too much trouble with water; for her it was the hot passions that were going to destroy her and burn her up. But she believed.

Now we must believe. These words are difficult words because it’s difficult for us to believe, to really think we can change. Over and over we doubt ourselves. Over and over we doubt that God can remove from us a certain sin. Or sometimes, to be perfectly frank about the matter, sometimes there is a sin that we like and that we don’t really want to let go of. And when we do that, there’s this guilt in us that pushes us away from holy things and then causes disbelief.

Now these are hard words, and our Lord knows this. So because of that, the words of this man are recorded. Mark these words well, because they give hope. "Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief." What is that - a riddle? No, this is what God does to the soul. He takes our unbelief, and if there’s the merest, slightest seed of belief in us, he makes it grow. In St. Matthew’s Gospel, He explains after the healing that if your faith is as a mustard seed, God will do anything. A mustard seed is tiny; you can barely see it. It’s like a celery seed - very, very small. But it’s very pungent and it seasons the whole dish, and it grows into a great, great tree, from a very small beginning. So if you have unbelief, beg God to help you believe. Now you must also do the other things as well. There’s an important example of the Christian life, really in microcosm the entire importance of the incarnation, at the end of the healing of this boy. Be careful now with Scripture! It often teaches an incredible depth of knowledge in two or three words. Very laconic. Not like me; it takes very little space to say great things!

What happened to the boy after he was healed? The father had a small amount of belief, and God said, "I will heal him. I charge thee, deaf and dumb spirit, come out of him, and don’t ever come back." Very important. We’ll talk about that another time. But the boy falls to the ground. It’s like he’s dead. The people think he’s dead. But Christ takes him by the hand and raises him up. God becoming man raises us up. God takes on our infirmities and makes us able to live. This you must understand. This is the implication of the incarnation. This is why we can be saved. God has made our flesh able to live - He lifts us up. The whole meaning of the incarnation - it makes us able to live!

Then what happened when the boy was lifted? It says, "he arose." The boy stood up, he was helped and then he stood up. And this is our work in the Christian life. This is our labor in response to God’s help. Now if you do not labor you will have troubles with disbelief , because belief, or purity and belief, are tied perfectly together with labor. This is why when the man came to him with the boy, our Lord said, "Oh faithless and perverse generation." He says that in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Faithless and perverse. From perversity, acting unnaturally - sin is perversity by the way - comes disbelief and faithlessness. From purity comes faithfulness . They’re in a circle, either in the vicious circle, the spiral ever downwards because of lack of purity and faithfulness, or in this blessed circle, where God, when He sees our desire to stand up, helps us and fills us more with knowledge. And our faith is increased, and our knowledge is increased. And we are so thankful when we have God revealed to us that we become better. And we become more pure. And as we become more pure, God, who reveals Himself to the pure, further reveals Himself to us.

You must understand this mechanism of salvation if you are to be saved. You must believe, and you must act upon your belief. God will raise you up, but then you must stand. Now I can only exhort you to stand - I cannot make you stand. God will help you to stand, but He will not make you. It is an act of your will that you must stand, and you must work, and you must walk in the Christian life. Now if you have trouble with belief, you can look into yourself and see the core of this disbelief. You will see, if you look carefully, it is because you are not living the Christian life. Not effectively, not as much as you should. It’s a lot of laziness, a lot of inactivity as far as fulfilling the commandments. This is why you’re having trouble with belief.

Now, maybe you have trouble with some passions and you desire to change. All right, God has an answer for you. The man said, "Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief." We all doubt. It is unfortunately part of our human nature. We see so much that’s wrong with us, and it’s hard for us to believe we can be changed. To me, this is the sweetest thing about Christianity. God will change us. We won’t be like this in the other life. We’ll change. There will not be suffering. There won’t be problems with anger, with lust. There won’t be sadness. There won’t be dysfunction. God will change us. We must believe this.

If we do not believe, we’re not really Christians, and God won’t change us if we don’t believe. Or at least, if we don’t have that small mustard seed of belief. Cultivate it well, brothers and sisters. Cultivate this seed. Feed it with activity, with fasting, with prayer, with desire, with forcing yourself to pray when you don’t want to, to come to church when you don’t want to, to make time for confession when it’s too easy to be, shall we say, drowned in the water, in worldly cares. Cultivate this seed of belief. Then God will hear your prayer. When you say, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief," He will hear it. And He will strengthen your belief. And then when you feel His hand in yours, stand. Amen.

 

Original post at http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-04_2001+demoniac-boy.html

Mark 9:17-31 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; {18} And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. {19} He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. {20} And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. {21} And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. {22} And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. {23} Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. {24} And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. {25} When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. {26} And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. {27} But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. {28} And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? {29} And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. {30} And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. {31} For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

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Old Testament references to the Cross. 4th Week of Great Lent – Friday Matins

Friday, March 27th, 2009

During the entire fourth week of Great Lent, the precious cross is a constant subject of the services.

 

This is typical of the way we celebrate our feasts. It is not “one and done”, like so many people, in (lamentably) and out of the church tend to mark Christian holidays: there is always a period after a commemoration where we continue to ruminate on its implications in our services.

 

For instance, we consider the time of Pascha to not only include the Sunday of Pascha, but the entire week following (“Bright Week”), through Saturday, is considered to be as one day – for us “Pascha” is a week long feast. Since Pascha is the greatest of feasts, we continue to refer to it and use Paschal hymns all the way until the Ascension – a full forty days. In like manner, although not for as long a period, there are “after feast’ periods for all the great feasts the church celebrates.

 

This week is the period after the celebration of the precious cross on the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent. Our hymnology this week is particularly filled with OT references to the cross, some of which may seem obscure to those who are not well versed in the Orthodox understanding of the scriptures and our services.

 

Perhaps some would wonder how we know these OT scriptures refer to the cross, Christ, and other New Testament things. After all, some references are not immediately obvious, and there is no place in NT scripture that refers to them.  The reason is simply because all that is to be known about God and the scriptures is not in scripture! Even Protestants tacitly recognize this, because they believe interpretations of OT prophesies that are not discussed in the NT, because, after, all,

 

“… There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one … even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” (John 21:25)

The Scripture itself tells us that there are many truths that Christ explained to the Apostles after the resurrection:

 

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)

 

Not all of them were written down in the Gospels or Epistles.  These were all passed down orally, and many made their way into our highly complex, theological, and beautiful services texts.[1]

 

In the following examples, a hymn for the services of today is quoted, followed by the scriptures it references.

 

 

Today the words of the prophet are fulfilled; for see, we worship at the place where Thy feet have stood, O Lord; and, tasting from the tree of salvation, we have been delivered from our sinful passions at the intercessions of the Theotokos, O Thou Who lovest mankind (Sessional Hymn, Friday matins in the 4th week, Tone 6)

 

Let us enter into his tabernacles: let us worship at the place where his feet stood. Psalm 132:7  (131:7)

 

Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy. Psalm 99:5  (98:5)

 

I always think of this prophesy when I prostrate before the cross. There are two kinds of prostrations: penitential, and adoration. Most of the time we are making a prostration in a penitential manner. We are remembering that we are sinners, and the physical act of getting on the ground and then back up is a non verbal prayer, whose basic content can be summed up as “Lord have mercy”.

 

A prostration before the cross is different. We are “worshipping at His footstool”, with profound gratefulness and awareness of the resurrection. In this context, going down reminds us of death, and getting back up is a physical proclamation of the resurrection. Things will not always be as they are; we will someday get up and stay up, and all this is possible because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Many Protestant commentators totally miss the Messianic context of these Psalms. They are smart people, and very learned, and no doubt many are sincere believers, but they have learned things outside of the eternal wisdom of the church. We in the church have understood these Psalm verses to be a reference to the cross over two millennia!

 

 

In the middle of the fast we see exalted in our midst the precious cross, on which Thou wast lifted up by Thine own choice in the middle of the earth, O Lord supreme in goodness and love. Through its veneration the world is sanctified and the hosts of demons put to flight. (Matins Canon, Ode 4, 4th Friday of Great Lent)

 

But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. Psalm 74:12  (73:12)

 

When our Lord was put upon the cross, it was thrust into the “midst of the earth” in order to stand upright. The Psalms are full of obscure references to Christ and the cross like this one. This reference is not “intuitively obvious” to the casual observer, but it is a theme that is repeated many times in our services throughout the year.

 

We must read the scriptures; this book should not gather any dust in your house! We also must also read the scriptures with understanding. One a few are scholars and have the time, temperament, education and resources to search out the Holy Fathers for scripture commentary. We all have the time to stand in prayer in the holy services, and listen and learn. It’s all there, in our services, for those who will stand still, like Elias, and have ears to hear the wonderful story of our salvation, recounted in many different ways.

 

 

Thou was crucified, O Son of God, on the pine, the cedar and the cypress; Sanctify us all, and count us worthy to look upon Thy life-giving passion (Matins canon, Ode 4, 4th Friday of Great Lent)

 

And the glory of Lebanon shall come to thee, with the cypress, and pine, and cedar together, to glorify my holy place. Isaiah 60:13 

 

Here is one of the most obscure references to the cross in all of scripture, and here also is another “name” we have for our Lord Jesus Christ: “the glory of Lebanon”.

 

The Hebrew version of the scriptures makes this prophesy even more exact, by adding the words “I will make the place of my feet glorious”. I am not sure why there is this textual difference between the Septuagint (which is quoted above and used in our services) and the Masoretic text (the Hebrew text translated into “typical”  English bibles, such as the King James, Revised Standard, etc). This does not really matter; I have the holy services to guide me and teach me about the holy scriptures. Maybe after I get a doctorate in Hebrew and Greek I will look into this textual question!

 

 

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-friday_2009-03-27+old-testament-references-to-the-cross.doc

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-friday_2009-03-27+old-testament-references-to-the-cross.doc

 

New commentaries are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

 

Daily Lenten Meditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

 

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!

 


[1] Thank you to Deborah, whose comment when this article was originally posted on the blog Redeeming the Time inspired much of this short discussion of Scripture and Tradition. It is wonderful when excellent comments cause these articles to be modified!

Posted in Cross, Great Lent | 3 Comments »

4th Week of Great Lent – Thursday Vespers. The Tower of Babel.

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

 

Once when He descended and confounded the tongues…

 

Today we read in Genesis the story of the tower of Babel. In this story, we learn how the human race was scattered over the face of the earth because, in our pride, we wished to build a tall tower reaching unto heaven. Thus, the confusion of our language was a great mercy of God, as it kept us from banding together for evil, so that, scattered abroad, we could learn humility and return to God.

On Wednesday, Father Seraphim mentioned how a Christian cannot think of the expulsion from paradise without thinking of the remedy - the holy Cross. Likewise, we should not think of the confusion of tongues without thinking of the remedy - the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. While the division caused by the confusion of tongues was for our benefit, it was not in line with God’s plan for us. Made in His image, we are made to be united to Him and to one another, as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one within the Godhead.

And thus, the Holy Spirit comes down on the day of Pentecost to unite us to Christ and to one another in the Church. Moreover, we each received this very same gift on the day of our baptism, being united to Christ’s Body in the Church, and we renew this union each time we partake of the Holy Mysteries.

Father Tom Soroka, speaking of this in his daily scriptural commentary (http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/thepath), quotes in particular the following hymn from the Pentecost service:

 

"Of old the tongues were confounded / because of the audacity in the building of the tower, / but now the tongues are made wise / because of the glory of Divine knowledge. / There God condemned the impious because of their offense, / and here Christ hath enlightened the fishermen by the Spirit. / At that time the confusion of tongues was wrought for punishment, / but now the concord of tongues hath been inaugurated // for the salvation of our souls" (Aposticha for Pentecost).

 

Let us give thanks to God for His great mercies! And let us strive to come together, through prayer and repentance uniting ourselves to the Holy Church, and thereby to each other, that we may see fulfilled Christ’s last with for us: "that they may be one, as we [the Holy Trinity] are" (John 17).

 

 

 

 

Gen 10:32 - 11:9

 

These are the tribes of the sons of Noe, according to their generations, according to their nations: of them were the islands of the Gentiles scattered over the earth after the flood. 1. And all the earth was one lip, and there was one language to all. 2. And it came to pass as they moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Senaar, and they dwelt there. 3. And a man said to his neighbor, Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire. And the brick was to them for stone, and their mortar was bitumen. 4. And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name, before we are scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth. 5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men built. 6. And the Lord said, Behold, There is one race, and one lip of all, and they have begun to do this and now nothing shall fail from them of all that they may have undertaken to do. 7. Come, and having gone down let us there confound their tongue, that they may not understand each the voice of his neighbor. 8. And the Lord scattered them thence over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city and the tower. 9. On this account its name was called Confusion, because there the Lord confounded the languages of all the earth, and thence the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth.

 

 

 

 

Reader Nivholas Park 2008.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-thursday_2008+vespers+the-tower-of-babel.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-thursday_2008+vespers+the-tower-of-babel.doc

 

 

Original Post: http://stnicholasdallas.blogspot.com/2008/04/once-when-he-descended-and-confounded.html

 

New commentaries are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

 

Daily Lenten Meditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

 

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!

 

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4th Week of Great Lent – Thursday. Proverbs 13:21

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Your time is gonna come!

 

Evil shall pursue sinners; but good shall overtake the righteous.

(Proverbs  13:21, from the selection Prov 13:19 - 14:6, Vespers, 4th Thursday of Great Lent)

 

The Proverbs are good to read every day. They are good reminders; they help keep us on track. I suppose that they are read during all weekdays in Great Lent precisely because inculcating their wisdom into our daily life enables us to realize the power of the resurrection, which we are pointing to the entire fast.  The resurrection is powerful, life changing, but it does not affect everyone. Only those who attempt to change will be affected by it. Many of the changes we must make are elucidated in the Proverbs.

 

This proverb is an excellent word picture of the entire life of the righteous, and by this is meant the sinner who, with God’s grace helping, aspires to love the law of God and follow it, and become righteous. 

 

There are four pursuits described here. Sinners pursue evil; those who wish to be righteous pursue the following of all the commandments. Evil pursues sinners, and will surely overtake them (read the Psalms and Proverbs especially, you will find dozens of examples), and God pursues the righteous, and surely His good and mercy will ultimately prevail.

 

The Proverb does not tell us when these things shall happen, but we know – the absolute end of these pursuits is at the end of all things, when the Lord will come to judge the living and the dead.

 

We are not without consolation until this time; in various ways, we slowly change, and good “overtakes” us. We are commanded to pursue God, but we do this poorly. What a great consolation it is that He is always pursuing us!

 

Many times in confession I remind someone of the progress they have made – this is very important! We cannot go on very long in any pursuit without consolation.

 

Perhaps you formerly cursed a great deal, now you do not curse, or do so rarely when overtaken with anger.

 

Perhaps you formerly had many unclean thoughts and actions and now control yourself much more than in the past.

 

Perhaps you have finally excised the worm of bitterness that formerly overtook you with the memory of someone who hurt you deeply.

 

All these things are consolations; they are examples of good overtaking us.

 

God is with us, even when we do not feel Him. Evil is with sinners, even if they do not feel it.

 

It is a great consolation to know that are we run the race, and often stumble, and even go in the wrong direction for a time, God is with us, running with us, pursing us. What we see in the world now will not always be. The evil will be punished, the good will be rewarded. Which will we be?

 

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/ great-lent-week-04-thursday_2009-03-26+vespers+evil-shall-pursue-sinners-but-good-shall-overtake-the-righteous.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/ great-lent-week-04-thursday_2009-03-26+vespers+evil-shall-pursue-sinners-but-good-shall-overtake-the-righteous.doc

 

 

New commentaries are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

 

Daily Lenten Meditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

 

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!

 

Posted in Great Lent, Proverbs | No Comments »

The Connection between abstinence and understanding. 4th Week of Great Lent – TUESDAY

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Illumined in our souls through abstinence, let us venerate the saving cross upon which Christ was nailed, and let us cry aloud to it: Hail the delight and sure help of those that fast; Hail, destroyer of the passions, adversary of the devils; Hail blessed wood! (Matins Sessional Hymn, Tone 8, from the Triodion, Tuesday in the 4th week of Great Lent)

 

Why do we fast? If a person fasts because it is a rule, he does not understand, is not “illumined”. We fast precisely because of the human condition, which needs fasting in order to be “illumined”. This is a biological/spiritual “law”, as binding upon the human body and soul as, for instance, the law that if one drinks a liter of alcohol they will not be able to reason well, or if more calories are ingested than are used in activity, a person will become fat.

 

There is a connection between the body and soul; each affects the other. We do not understand how this interaction occurs, but we know from experience various ways that each affects the other.

 

Our Lord told us that “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Mat 17:21). He was using the occasion of the exorcism He had just performed to compare our passions to demons and teach us a principle weapon we must use to expel them. This understanding has been present in the church from the beginning but one will not find it understood well outside of Orthodoxy, or even by most in the church.

 

Since fasting for too many is a “rule”, and they do not understand its purpose, like most rules that are not understood, it is not well followed and loses its power to effect change. People foolishly argue whether strict fasting is for monks or not, and all kinds of minutia, when they should be pursuing abstinence in order to gain understanding.

 

Adam and Eve fell from understanding because they were not abstinent. All kinds of gluttony – for food, drink, pleasure, power, prestige, money, entertainments and everything else – darkens our understanding. The things we desire are not (usually) forbidden in principle, but our desiring them in excess measure is a type of impurity, and only the pure can know God, because they have become like him.

 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Beatitudes)

 

Why do you fast? If it is for any other reason than to illumine the dark parts of your soul, you fast weakly, without power and proper purpose.

 

If you do not understand this connection between fasting and understanding, you must explore it first with faith, and you will learn. “Come and see” said Philip to Nathaniel, and this advice applies equally well to all spiritual and ascetic endeavors.

 

Half hearted measures are unlikely to help you. Neither is sometimes fasting and sometimes not, or making up your own rules about fasting. Do not do this alone. Your confessor should know about your fasting. If your confessor does not fast[1], or belittles fasting, then find a new confessor! A confessor will help a person to fast according to their abilities. A person who does not follow the letter of the fasting “rules” but tries to follow them in spirit will spiritually ascend.

 

Abstinence is hard. It is directly opposed to our self-centeredness, our wayward desires. This is precisely why it is so powerful and so necessary.

 

Some time ago I read an article that made me very sad. A person who was new to Orthodox had trouble with fasting. particularly irritability and an obsession with and confusion about the rules. Not receiving sound counsel, this person, in the darkness of his understanding reasoned that “over emphasizing” fasting was the cause of his problems, and finding a church that was more “relaxed” (his words) about fasting. he thought he found a better way. The only thing that we ALWAYS “over-emphasize” is our own desires, and this ALWAYS darkens our understanding.

 

The only solution for indulgence is abstinence, with proper measure and resolute purpose. In so doing, with God’s great help, we will be “Illumined in our souls through abstinence.”

 

 

Post Script.

 

This simple hymn, sung only ONE day in the entire church year, is illustrative of the vast wealth that is on our services. If one listens carefully, all of our theology, and with it, our practices and the reason for them, are fully explained. Theology is beautiful, precise and pristine. When it is sung, it penetrates the soul. It is good to read service texts, but even better to stand in long services and listen to them. Even if in a three hour service there is only enough attention and lucidity to understand, even for a brief moment, one of our hymns, the time is well spent. Attempting to stand in the services and pray is a kind of abstinence too, and it bestows rich rewards upon the expectant hearer. As in all things, spiritual, this must be experienced to be understood.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

The most important reference on fasting for an Orthodox Christian is a confessor who fasts.

 

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-tuesday_2009-03-24+abstinence-and-understanding.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-tuesday_2009-03-24+abstinence-and-understanding.doc

 

New commentaries are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

 

Daily Lenten Meditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

 

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!

 


[1] Of course, there are proper reasons to eat “non-fasting” food during a fast season, but they only involve the needs of the body, and should not involve the gluttony of the soul. A person may eat non-fasting food for medical reasons, but in every case, the “spirit of the fast” can be followed, and the person is then “fasting”. A confessor who does not understand and practice fasting is incompetent and spiritually dangerous.

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