A Darkened Candle-lighted Church - a Cave in Bethlehem

A darkened Church, illuminated but by the flickering of candles lighted for the salvation of our souls and the souls of others. The sweet smell of incense, reminiscent of heaven itself. And the quiet chanting of the Akathist of the Holy Nativity of Christ.

Who could ask for more, for surely in such a time as in our little Mission tonight, as in the cave in Bethlehem, Heaven itself descended upon us and illumined out hearts and minds - illumined our hearts and minds so that we can pray with the utmost compunction the Prayer of the Akathist:

“And we have come to realize that this dread sentence (what would befall Israel if they departed from the Way of the Lord) hath been directed against us and our fathers as well.  For, failing to fear Thy threat and paying no heed to Thy loving-kindness, we have forsaken the path of Thy righteousness and walked in the will of our own hearts, and have made no attempt to hold Thee, the God of men’s understandings and hearts, in our mind. Moreover, treating the traditions of our fathers as of no import, we have abandoned Thee for others…… But do Thou, O compassionate and merciful God, Who art long-suffering, greatly merciful and true, Who maintainest justice and workest mercy among the thousands, Who takest away iniquities, injustices and sins, having abandoned us for a little time, have mercy upon us according to Thy great mercy, and having visited our unrighteousness with a rod, as a compassionate father doth his children, so do Thou spare us.”

 From the Final Prayer  of the Akathist of the Nativity

On the Eve of the Memorial of the 14,000 infants slain by Herod it is all the more fitting that we recognize in ourselves the same greed and pride and malice that led to that slaughter and repent.

Herod, the enemy of God, showeth himself to be a pillar and wall of God-opposing malice and a spawn of great iniquity, who tried to slay Him Who giveth life unto all, and at his command innocent babes were reaped by the sword, like unripe grain; wherefore, having driven all malice from our hearts, let us glorify Him Who came to save us, crying:

Glory to Thee, Who didst show Herod’s intention to be in vain!

Glory to Thee, Who hast numbered with the angels the babes he slew!

Glory to Thee, O Destroyer of malice!

From Ikos 10 of the Akathist of the Nativity

 

Christ is born! Let us glorify Him!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 

Mysteries Beyond Mind and Speech

What mysteries beyond mind and speech! God in His compassion is born on earth, putting on the form of a servant that He may snatch from servitude to the enemy those who with fervent love cry out: Blessed art Thou, O Savior Who lovest mankind.

1^st Stichera at The Praises, Orthros of Christmas Eve

 As we approach the great Feast of the Holy Nativity, the Church’s hymns help us to prepare for the feast. During the Pre-Feast, a joyful and wonderful preparation is announced: what is about to happen is good news! 

Several years ago – it seems like a lifetime ago now – I read a book called “The Kingdom of God is a Party”, by Tony Campolo. I’m not necessarily recommending the book, but I have always found the title striking. And it is so wondrously true at this time of year!  The very Kingdom of the heavens, the Kingdom of our God, is bursting upon us – gate-crashing the petty concerns of our lives (Thanks to Philip Turner for that remarkable line from his passion play, "Christ in the Concrete City!) and as the Kingdom of the Heavens gate-crashes our live this Nativity Season, everyone, without exception, is invited!

As I have mentioned in my last two posts, the Pre-Festal theme is joyful anticipation and, even more important, joyful invitation. But that invitation is not just to us, but to the entire cosmos!

Come, Israel slow of heart, cast from thee the mist that lies upon thy soul; recognize the Maker Who is born in a cave. He is the expectation of the nations; He shall destroy thy feasts: for thou wilt not consent to cry aloud: Christ the King of Israel is come.

 “O Sun, my Son, how shall I wrap Thee in swaddling clothes? How shall I give Thee milk, Who givest food to all creation? How shall I hold Thee in my arms Who holdest all things? How shall I look upon Thee without fear, on Whom the cherubim with many eyes dare not to lift their gaze?” So spake she who knew not wedlock as she held Christ.

O ye shepherds, shout aloud in new songs: O ye Magi, cast away your magic spells. Let the mountains and the hills rejoice exceedingly. O ye daughters of kings, come unto the joy of the Theotokos. O ye people, let us say: Blessed art Thou, our God Who now art born: glory to Thee.

Come, O Bethlehem, prepare for the birth. Come, O Joseph, and be enrolled with Mary. O most sacred manger! O swaddling clothes that carry God! There the Life was wrapped, even Christ our God, Who shall tear to pieces the bands of death, and bind fast mortal men to incorruption.

O most blessed womb of the Maid of God, thou hast been shown forth as spiritually vaster than the heavens. For Him Whom heaven cannot contain, thou dost carry and hold within thee. O most blessed breasts of the Virgin, that Christ has sucked Who feeds all that has breath! He has built flesh for Himself in the womb of the Maiden that knew not a man.

2^nd – 4^th Stichera and Doxostika from the Praises, Orthros on Christmas Eve

Again, the theme is joyful anticipation and, even more important, joyful invitation, not just to us, but to the entire cosmos! It is not just you and I and our families and friends who have received the invitation and are almost ready to celebrate the Great Feast – it’s all! 

Those who have rejected Christ (represented in the hymn by Israel) are invited.

The Holy Theotokos, who in the heavenlies celebrates with us, amazed and filled with wonder at what has been wrought through her, is included!

All who have ever gazed upon and all who will ever gaze upon Him before whom the angelic hosts cover their eyes are enticed to participate.

The very city of Bethlehem and even the inanimate objects such as the manger and the swaddling clothes – all that was, is, and ever shall be - is not excluded, but is now coming to celebrate with us  the Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord, God and Saviour!

No matter how we may feel at Christmas – and for many it’s a lonely and grief-filled time of year – whether we’re surrounded by friends and family, or even if we have no one with which to share the Feast, we are not alone. The whole of the Cosmos, the bodiless powers of heaven, all peoples who are, who have been, and who will be, are now are invited with the very rocks and stones of this wondrous Creation to join in the Feast!

Christ is born! Let us (all) glorify Him!

A Dearth of Daily Worship

The other day I shared how I felt a deep sadness that the most common experience of North American Orthodox Christians in the closing days of the Nativity Fast is the burden of an intensified fast.  This is because the remedy for the burden of the ascetical discipline of the Fast is participation in daily worship. 

Sadly, the traditional practise of daily worship is all but lost in North American Orthodoxy, not that it was ever truly practised on any large scale, although there are notable examples of such practise. Were we to attend daily Orthros and/or Vespers we could not help but to be confronted with the joy and lightness of the Pre-Feast of the Nativity.

Triumph, O Zion!

Make glad, Jerusalem, city of Christ our God!

Receive the Creator contained within a cave and a manger.

Open the gates to me;

I will enter to see a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes Who upholdeth the creation in the palm of His hand,

Whose praise the angels sing with unceasing voice: The Lord and Giver of life who doth save the human race.

Dec 21 Doxastikon at “Lord, I Have Cried”

The unapproachable God in His tender mercy approacheth me; 

He willeth to be born in the flesh in the city of Bethlehem.

He receiveth human nature from a Virgin maiden.

Let us eagerly run to greet Him, crying out in fear:

Glory to Thee, O Lord!

He who hast bowed the heavens and hast made His abode within the Virgin,

cometh in the flesh to be born

in the cave of Bethlehem, as it was written,

to be seen as an Infant, imparting life to babes in the womb.

Therefore let us rejoice,

and greet Him now with upright hearts!

Dec. 21 1^st Sessional Hymns at Orthros

Confronted with such hymns as these, fasting – even the strictest fasting – become more of a joy than a burden. But we cannot enter into this reality without our participation in the daily worship cycle of the Orthodox Faith.

The real question is what can be done about what I have called a dearth of daily worship? 

I do not suggest that folks fail to say their daily prayers, although I know that I do from time to time. Nor will I infer that there is a lack of desire to grow in Christ in the hearts of Orthodox Christians in Canada and the States. In my experience most of the Orthodox Christians I have got to know - in person, but also through social media and the wonder of the internet – most Orthodox Faithful I have got to know are just that: faithful! They truly love God and desire to grow in union with the Triune God – even when they are not able to express that desire in traditional theological language. And even when they fail, as I do all too often, to match actions to desire.

The reality is that Orthodox Faithful can not attend daily worship that is not offered, and they will not attend daily worship until it is offered!And they probably won't immediately start making daily worship services part of their lives the very moment we priests decide to give it a try! We are talking about a complete change in the way most of us in North America think. To move to daily worship in an Orthodox Temple will require on the part of both clergy and laity a "coming to one's self" as deep as that of the Prodigal Son.

When I was converting to the Orthodox Faith one of my pastoral colleagues remarked that he couldn't belong to a church where most of the saints commemorated were monastics and un-connected with "real life". There are many things that can be said in response to this misunderstanding. But one advantage that monastics do have over those who are non-monastics is that they are expected to participate in daily worship - and thus their minds are shaped and their souls enriched by the beauty of holiness that is present in our daily services. 

But daily worship services are not the sole domain of the monastery! They can be served in our parishes and missions, and even in our homes. More and more the resources are available. 

All that remains is our hearts and minds.

The Orthodox Church's Daily Cycle of Prayer and Worship

Worship and Devotion in Daily Life

An Incredible Lightness

Today is the beginning of the Pre-Feast of Christmas – that is to say, the time when we get even more serious about our preparation for the celebration of the Holy Nativity of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It’s sad that so many Orthodox Christians only experience the most difficult part of the Pre-Feast – the ascetical discipline – the intensifying of the Nativity Fast. Most of the Nativity Fast is fairly relaxed when compared to the requirements of Great Lent, but these last four days, December 20^th through the 23^rd, along with the Paramon – Christmas Eve – are as strict as any Lenten days.

Today at Orthros there were Sessional Hymns (Kathismata), a Canon by St. Romanos the Melodist, hymns at The Praises, and Aposticha hymns dedicated to the Pre-Feast, that is, dedicated to helping the ordinary Christian (there really are no other kinds) enter into the joy of the days leading up to the celebration of Nativity.

 

Proceed, O angelic powers!                                                    

go to Bethlehem; prepare the manger,                                          

for the Word cometh to be born.                                                

Wisdom proceedeth from the mouth of the most high!                              

Receive, O Church of God, the announcement of salvation; 

enter into the joy of the Theotokos!                                          

Let us sing with gladness, O people:                                       

Blessed is He Who cometh:  O our God, glory to Thee!                           

                                                                              

Out of Jacob the star ariseth, illumining the cave!                            

Come, let us celebrate in anticipation!                                       

Let us run with the Magi;                                                     

let us assemble with the shepherds;                                            

let us see God wrapped in swaddling clothes;                                  

let us behold the Virgin giving milk to the Lord!                             

O fearful sight!                                                            

Christ the King of Israel, draweth near!                                        

                                                                              

Let the hills drop down sweetness from on high!                               

Behold, God cometh from the dark and shady mountain! 

Let the nations submit themselves!                                            

Rejoice, O prophets; leap for joy, O patriarchs;                              

dance, O families of the nations,                                             

Christ, the great Ruler, cometh to be born;                              

the King of heaven appeareth on earth!                                          

                                                                               

Let us rise up from the earth!                                                

He Who fashioned mortals cometh now to renew His royal image! 

Rejoice and make merry, ye powers on high! 

The light dawns for those who await salvation!                                

The middle wall of partition shall be destroyed!                   

Christ, the King of Israel, draweth near!  

December 20 - Praises at Orthros

I left Orthros this morning with a sense of lightness that I don’t usually associate with strict fasting days. That sense of lightness came from having sung these wonderful hymns in preparation for the Feast. There is a sense of being able to endure anything for the sake of the joy that is coming on the 25^th and which, even now in the Pre-Feast, has begun.

 

Today is also the Feast of St. Ignatius the God-bearer of Antioch. He, too, knew what it was to endure suffering for the sake of the joy that was set before him. Because he was united to Christ our God he no longer feared death – even death at the hands of sinful men enacted by the teeth and claws of wild beasts. His hymns – Sessional Hymns and a Canon – bear witness to his joy in Christ Jesus, a joy which turned away fear and displaced pain and suffering. In several of his hymns he is compared to the Holy Spostle St. Paul, who penned these words:

 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12. 1-2

May we be filled with joy even before the joy of the Nativity, for He comes that we may know joy that has no end. Glory be to God!

Some facts about and quotes from St. Ignatius of Antioch the God-bearer . 

Reflecting The Light As More Than Tinsel

OK, Christmas decorations are up almost everywhere.

Some folk started decorating right after Halloween.

Others waited until the middle of November.

Some families kept Christmas at bay until after the American Thanksgiving, while still others started in the first week of December or so.

And some, God bless them, Christmas purists that they are, wait until after the Sunday before Christmas.

When I grew up, the finishing touch for our tree was always the tinsel – thin bright strips of metallic ribbon that never stay quite straight but twist and turn and reflect the light in thousands of ways. I don’t know about you, but for me it just isn’t a Christmas tree and the task of decorating for Christmas isn’t complete without tinsel.

My family had a special tradition about the tinsel. You see, we never threw it out. After the celebrations of Christmas were over – usually about the second Sunday in January, we took down the tree, and each little strip of tinsel was taken off individually and straightened out and laid in our tinsel box!

 

(I’m not going to tell you about the time I gathered it all in a ball and stuffed it away before my folks noticed. Actually, I am not going to tell you about what happened eleven months later – when my Mom opened the tinsel box!)

Tinsel is bright but basically lifeless. It reflects light and colour, but has none of its own. The expression “Tinsel-Town” captures the shallowness, superficiality, and skin-deep glamour of the place it refers to – Hollywood. And too often, our fast-paced and busy lives become like tinsel – bright on the outside, but shallow, lifeless and lightless. Peer-pressure, the compulsion to conform to others’ standards, and political correctness are some of the forces that can make us tinsel-like. Not to mention the variously sized flat-screens we spend far too much time watching, which exude shallowness and superficiality. Like the common cold, “tinsel-ness” is all too easy to catch and pass on to others.

Instead of having lives that merely reflect things on the surface – like tinsel – you and I are called to lives that shine radiantly from within. Christians tend to think that the light with which we are to shine is reflected light – that by copying Christ (What Would Jesus Do?) we will shine with His light reflected from His radiance. After all, Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. [John 8.12; 9. 5]

But such reasoning does not take into account the intimate union we are to have with Christ. We are called to actually partake of His nature, so that we become by His Grace what He is by Nature. In pursuing such union – and deliberately opening ourselves to it – we become little “Lights of the world”, much as the pagans in ancient Antioch referred to the followers of Jesus in that city as “little christs” – “Christians”. He Who is the Light of the world has declared

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  [Matthew 5. 12-14]

We are called to be more than tinsel, reflecting a light that is outside of ourselves, while possessing none of our own. We are called to shine with a light that takes root in our innermost being – through our participation in the fullness of life in the Church. By partaking of the Mysteries of Christ, by practising the grace-filled disciplines of the Faith, we discover Christ within us, the hope of glory! [see Colossians 1.27]

This is an important part of the message of Christ’s nativity in the cave over 2000 years ago. We do more than just commemorate an event which happened in ancient times. In our celebration of the Nativity (including the preparation which leads up to it) we are blessed to actually participate in it and Christ our true God is born in us, as He was born in a cave. Indeed, in receiving His precious Body and Blood in the Chalice, you and I can become the cave in which He is born and from which He shines radiantly!

When we receive Him – when we welcome Him – not just for a day or a season, but for our whole lives, He begins to shine forth from within us, transforming our lives from tinsel-like existence unto something radiant and bright.

Christ is born! Let us glorify Him!

 

Morphing St. Nicholas into Santa

Tomorrow (Tuesday, December 6th) is the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas of Myra, known as "The Wonder-worker" because of the miracles attributed to him, both during his lifetime and after his repose in the Lord.

I love Saint Nicholas, but I must confess to being disturbed by the way he's been overlooked, forgotten and almost entirely eclipsed by his modern name's sake, Santa Claus.

Not that I have anything against dear old Santa.  I love the kid's excitement when they see him (and I think Fort Saskatchewan’s resident "Santa" is one of the best!), but, let's admit it, Santa Claus today means whatever people want him to mean!  The changes in what Santa has represented and stood for over the past century could make an interesting study about how a society's values and beliefs change. Today's Santa reflects today's values - not yesterday’s. And I suspect that in the next generation he will be "re-invented" to reflect those values and beliefs!

How unlike this was Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was real, and would never have dreamed of changing what he stood for. In fact, the real "Santa" - Bishop Nicholas of Myra - was imprisoned and tortured because he refused to go along with the prevailing values of his day and age. He was a Christian's Christian, if you know what I mean! He refused to compromise on the things he knew to be true, even when everyone else, it seemed, was going the opposite direction. He refused to compromise on the Christian Faith no matter what the cost.

Many of us may remember the story of three poor girls and how Bishop Nicholas secretly placed gold coins in their stockings as they hung on the line drying after being washed.

But few of us know how he spent long years in prison, hungry, beaten and humiliated. Few of us know how he grew so incensed that someone (a charistmatic fellow named Arius) could tell lies about His Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, that at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD he not only verbally assailed Arius, but punched him in the nose! His fellow bishops (many of whom had also suffered persecution for Christ's sake) were so distressed that Nicholas had resorted to violence that they stripped him of the emblems of his office as bishop and expelled him from the council. But that night many of them had a vision in which they saw the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother presenting Nicholas with a book of the Gospels, an omophorion (bishop's stole) and staff - the very emblems the bishops had taken from him that afternoon.

Nicholas' position concerning the liar Arius prevailed and after the Council he spent the rest of his life teaching the Faith to others and correcting the errors that people had fallen into. He was generous with all he had – some might say overly generous – often leaving himself with nothing to live on (which is perhaps the root of the idea of Santa giving gifts).

Perhaps tomorrow you might like to tell your kids or grandkids about what a great fellow this Santa really is, and how hanging out in malls and shopping centres is just - let's say it's his "day job", while his real love is for Jesus and the Christian Faith and his real “job” is interceding for the salvation of souls!

An excess of good material concerning Nicholas of Myra, Wonderworker in Lycia

Synaxarion for St. Nicholas from "LIVES OF THE SAINTS" published by Chrysostom Press