Redeeming the Time

From time to time during our church services we hear the words "LET US ATTEND!" … In ordinary language we might say "let us pay attention", "let us be attentive.’ These are ‘minor words" which are often repeated during our services but which can easily escape our attention. Strange, is it not, that the very words which urge us to be attentive should escape our attention. These are minor words but words of great meaning and responsibility.

Attentiveness is one of the important qualities even in our everyday life. From childhood we have been taught to pay attention - by parents, by teachers, by superiors. Yet it is not always easy to pay attention. Our minds tend to wander, to be forgetful. It is difficult to force oneself to be attentive. Church recognizes this weakness and so tells us every now and again "LET US ATTEND", let us pay attention, be attentive.

This text is excerpted from "Minor Words in Orthodox Divine Services," by Archpriest G. Benginson. For more of this excellent and edifying article, see:

http://www.stjohndc.org/Russian/liturgy/e_minor_words.htm.

In today’s adult Church School class, we talked about the following selection from Chapter 2 of St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians:

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (NKJV)

According to St. Theophan the Recluse (as recorded in Archbishop Averky’s commentary on Ephesians), this passage gives us St. Paul’s (and the church’s) answer to the contemporary "faith vs. works" controversy which rages in other christian confessions. We are saved by grace through faith. Nothing we have done or can do can save us.

But that does not mean that good works are not necessary for salvation; St. Paul immediately goes on to say that we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works." So our salvation consists in our resurrection as it were from the dead, and in our new, living state we cannot but do good works out of love and gratitude to Him Who has saved us. Resurrected in His image, we must naturally do His works.

One of the participants in the class pointed out the one of our standard morning prayers more-or-less recapitulates what the Apostle is saying here:

My most merciful and all-merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ, through Thy great love Thou didst come down and take flesh to save all. And again, O Saviour, save me by Thy grace, I pray Thee, for if Thou shouldst save me for my works, this would not be grace or a gift, but rather a duty. Indeed, in Thy infinite compassion and unspeakable mercy, Thou O my Christ hast said: Whoever believes in Me shall live and never see death.

If faith in Thee saves the desperate, save me, for Thou art my God and Creator. Impute my faith instead of deeds, O my God, for Thou wilt find no deeds which could justify me, but may my faith suffice for all my deeds. May it answer for and acquit me, and may it make me a partaker of Thy eternal glory. And may satan not seize me, O Word, and boast that he has torn me from Thy hand and fold. O Christ, my Saviour, whether I will or not, save me. Make haste, quick, quick, for I perish. Thou art my God from my mother’s womb.

Grant me, O Lord, to love Thee now as once I loved sin, and also to work for Thee without idleness, as I worked before for deceptive satan. But supremely shall I work for Thee, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Here are some statistics for the blog. I am pleased to see that readership has increased. The highest entry is a bit of a mystery to me, but then the angels are mysterious!

Following the link which contains a portion of the title is the number of hits for this year. These are all entries above 100 hits.

There are other ways the blog gets read – via RSS, email and via the parish email list. None of these readers are reflected by these statistics.

Once upon a time (about 2000 years ago), in a land not so far away (Israel), there lived an old man and woman by the name of Joachim and Anna. They had lived their whole life in faith and the fear of God, observing his commandments faithfully. It is said that, being wealthy, they gave 1/3 of their income to God and 1/3 to the poor.

The holy couple had hoped for a child all their life, but were childless, and Anna had passed the age for bearing children. In ancient Israel, children were considered God’s greatest blessing to a couple, and childlessness was considered a great curse. Because of this Joachim was reproached by others, and even turned away by the priest when he traveled to Jerusalem to make his offering to God. But on one such occasion, an angel of God appeared to Joachim and promised him a child. At the same time, another angel appeared to Anna, bringing the same news. This child, they were told, was to be great in the sight of God.

And so it was. Anna soon bore a child, whom she named Mary. In a very real sense, this event marked the beginning of our salvation, for Mary was to be  the Mother of our Savior. Through the grace bestowed on her by God, through her parents’ decision to dedicate her to the Lord, and through her own choice - hour by hour and day by day - to seek only Him, she became a fitting vessel for the Incarnation of God and the salvation of mankind.

On Monday, September 21st, the Church celebrates the Nativity (Birth) of the Most Holy Theotokos. At the Vigil service at 6pm on Sunday, we will sing and read the praises offered to her by the Church’s great hymnographers, joining in the heavenly celebration of our own salvation, and then we will celebrate of the Divine Liturgy at 9am on Monday. This is one of the 12 great feasts of the Church, and we should all make an effort to attend as many of the services as possible, and to spend the day — to the extent possible — in prayer and reflection on the life of the Holy Virgin.

The Church’s great hymnographers write that no words are sufficient to sing the praises of Mary, the Theotokos and Mother of God. But in the spirit of love and thanksgiving, and for our edification, many of them tried anyway, and some of their words can be found here:
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/09/on-nativity-of-theotokos-various-church.html.

The following account of the birth of the Theotokos is taken from the Prologue from Ochrid

(http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/prolog.cgi):

The Holy Virgin Mary was born of aged parents, Joachim and Anna. Her father was of the lineage of David, and her mother of the lineage of Aaron. Thus, she was of royal birth by her father, and of priestly birth by her mother. In this, she foreshadowed Him Who would be born of her as King and High Priest. Her parents were quite old and had no children. Because of this they were ashamed before men and humble before God. In their humility they prayed to God with tears, to bring them joy in their old age by giving them a child, as He had once given joy to the aged Abraham and his wife Sarah by giving them Isaac. The Almighty and All-seeing God rewarded them with a joy that surpassed all their expectations and all their most beautiful dreams. For He gave them not just a daughter, but the Mother of God. He illumined them not only with temporal joy, but with eternal joy as well. God gave them just one daughter, and she would later give them just one grandson-but what a daughter and what a Grandson! Mary, Full of grace, Blessed among women, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Altar of the Living God, the Table of the Heavenly Bread, the Ark of God’s Holiness, the Tree of the Sweetest Fruit, the Glory of the race of man, the Praise of womanhood, the Fount of virginity and purity-this was the daughter given by God to Joachim and Anna. She was born in Nazareth, and at the age of three, was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem. In her young womanhood she returned again to Nazareth, and shortly thereafter heard the Annunciation of the Holy Archangel Gabriel concerning the birth of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, from her most-pure virgin body.

Yesterday we celebrated Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the enlighteners of the Slavic people. I have cross-posted here from logismoi a excerpt from a Prologue to St. Cyril’s translation of the Gospel from Greek into Slavonic.

This is a Prologue to the Holy Gospels.
Just as the Prophets had foretold before,
Christ is coming to gather the nations,
For He is a Light to the whole world.
Now they said: the blind will see,
And the deaf will hear the written word;
They will know God as they should.
Therefore, listen all Slavs:
For this gift is given by God,
A divine gift for the right side,
A divine gift for souls, never decaying,
For those souls that accept it.
And this is the gift: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
They teach all the people, saying:
Those of you who see the beauty of your souls
Love one another and rejoice.
And those of you who wish to cast off the darkness of sin
And to put aside the corruption of this world,
And who wish to attain life in paradise
And to escape the burning fire,
Pay attention now with all your minds!
Hear, all you Slavic people,
Hear the Word, for it comes from God,
The Word which nourishes men’s souls,
The Word which strengthens hearts and minds,
The Word which prepares all to know God.
[...]
Naked are all nations without Scriptures,
Weaponless, unable to fight
With the adversary of our souls,
Ready for the prison of eternal torment.
But you nations that don’t love the enemy,
And truly intend to fight against him,
Open diligently the doors to your minds,
Having received now the sturdy weapons
Forged by the Scriptures of the Lord,
[...]

(read the rest here)