Commemoration of the Three Holy Hierarchs

Today, January 31, the Holy Orthodox Church commemorates the three holy hierarchs: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom.

In contemplating the lives and works of Basil, Gregory and John we realize, more than anything else, how a small group of faithful people can do much for the edification of the Church and the salvation of souls. We see also how no one can live in isolation, how even the greatest of the saints needed other saints to inspire and encourage them, to instruct and support them in their service. We see as well that intelligence and learning are not enough. Peoples' minds must be devoted to God and to divine wisdom and truth, but one must love God not only with all one's mind, but with one's heart, soul and strength as well. The three holy hierarchs were men of ascetic discipline and fervent prayer. They were men of the Church, and not of the academy. Andy they were men who were willing not only to preach, but to practice what they preached; not only to talk but to work and not only to work but to suffer for the Word of God Who came himself into the world not only to preach, but to suffer an die for the sake of the salvation of all.--Fr. Thomas Hopko, The Winter Pascha, p. 168

Let us who love their words come together with hymns,
To honor the three great torch-bearers of the Triune Godhead,
Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom,
These men have enlightened the world with teh rays of their divine doctrines.
They are flowing rivers of wisdom,
Who have filled all creation with the springs of heavenly knowledge.
They ceaselessly intercede for us before the Holy Trinity.--Apolytikion of the Feast

Taking Muslim Sensitivity Way Too Far

In this post-Christian world there have been numerous attempts to ensure that Muslims or any other non-Christian faith, but particularly Muslims, are shown an excessive amount of deference and sensitivity. We all have seen and know what happens whenever cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad are printed or Korans are burned (or just threatened to be burned). Of course, rather than condemn the Muslims who get offended over just about anything with regards to their religion (FYI: anti-Christian depictions in art, literature and in media far exceed any negativity that is shown to Muslims), the solution is to prevent such acts which trigger the violent responses from Muslims usually be judicial fiat or making such acts criminal.

This is not a piece about liberties in the modern world, though I strongly believe that people should have the right to speak about and think about and write about anything whether in positive or negative terms, no matter how offended people may be. My belief: if you're expecting to go through life and not be offended, you're going to be miserable. And if you're offended because someone believes differently than you, you're going to be in even worse shape.

Now, to the point. The Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are all publishing Bibles which excise the terms "Father", "Son" and "Son of God" because those terms would offend Muslims and how they conceive of God.

So, Bibles now have to be sensitive to Muslim theology and their concepts of God? What's the point? If the Scriptures are the witness to the Revelation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and that is all excised, the Trinity, the bedrock of Christian orthodoxy is thrown out. God still retains His essence but not the Hypostases. This opens up the way up to modal-ism or Sabellianism, which has been rightly condemned. But what it really does is try to communicate to Muslims that there is no difference between the God they worship and the God Christians worship. Then, if that's the case, then Christians should be Muslims and Muslims Christian--there's nothing that divides us. Patently ridiculous.

We must be mindful that the struggle to consistently teach God as One Essence in Three Hypostases was vigorously fought for nearly three hundred years. Even the adoption of the Nicaeo-Constantinopolian Creed by the whole church did not bring everyone back into the fold. The Arians who believed that Jesus was a created being continued to thrive, the Nestorians who believe that there are two persons of Jesus Christ are still around and various sects of Monophysites and Miaphysites still can claim adherents. These struggles were bitter, violent and reprehensible in that it caused many to depart from Christian orthodoxy. What is even more ironic is that the passages in Scriptures referring to Jesus as Son of God and any other Trinitarian references, used by all sides to defend their respective positions, are the ones being thrown out. We should be mindful of the painful history in which these passages were argued over again and again, but they should not be replaced. They should be understood in proper context.

The persons behind this effort, I'm sure, have good intentions. But such good intentions will only further divide the divided Christian confessions. And it will do absolutely no good to seek understanding with Muslims. Muslims aren't going to see these efforts as attempts to develop new relations. In fact, I'd wager that the Muslims would probably laugh and say "we've won. The Christians don't even believe in their own theology anymore." Also, if there is some lofty expectation on the side of the translators that the Muslims would reciprocate in some way, don't bet on it.I doubt they will take out the passages about the Muslims' responsibility for killing Christians or Jews or saying that Christ was the product of a rape.

Though Muslim sensitivity may be the "official" reason behind these new translation, I suggest that there are other more clandestine motives. Many Christians, especially post-modern ones, have finally come to the conclusion that their scholarship and research and "insight" into the Scriptures which justify things like ordination of women to the priesthood, making abortion a sacrament, fornication (whether heterosexual or homosexual) cannot be justified by the Scriptures. So, when that fails, the only recourse is to change what the words say. They're not creating a new translation or even interpretation, they're creating a new text. Right now words like Son of God, Father and Son are excised. How soon until whole chapters or even books, especially those of St.Paul, are excised from the canon altogether by such groups. Keep in mind that this is hardly a novel idea: Marcion tried this in the second century and his ideas didn't catch on.

Defending the Truth is a hard thing, but to throw up one's hands for the sake of unity and harmony and everyone getting along leaves one adrift with no anchor. Christ is no longer an anchor, He's not even a plank of wood to grab on to when you're overboard. He only becomes the hope for one of those things.

On Mozart's birthday we do this?

Some of you may have already seen this commercial recently released by JC Penney:



The music is from selections of Mozart's Requiem Mass, K. 626, the last work he ever wrote which he never completed (It was completed, however, by his pupil Franz Sussmayer; what you see in the movie Amadeus is not fact). It is one of the most famous Requiems of all time. So today, as we celebrate Mozart's birthday which occurred 257 years ago, we are reminded of his great enduring works as they are used to promote sales at JC Penney. Sadly, this is not the first time a requiem mass has been used to promote a particular store or brand. The Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem has been used in car commercials.

I doubt anyone realizes what the text says. If they understood Latin and their audience understood Latin, maybe they would hesitate. The text of the Dies Irae was written in the middle ages perhaps between 1200 and 1300. The traditional author is Thomas de Celano though others have been suggested such as Bernard of Clairvaux. The Latin Text is a seuquence hymn which is centered around the day of judgment.

The text reads:

Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeculum in favilla
teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando iudex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus.

The translation:

The Day of Wrath, that day
When the earth is consumed in ash
As David prophesied with the Sibyl.

How great an earthquake there will be
When the judge is seated
about to reveal all hidden things.

I doubt this is the case, but if JC Penney had done any bit of homework, could they conclude that perhaps it is a bit over the top to play a hymn of the last judgment and equivocate it with missing a sale? Again, I doubt it.

One thing I find interesting even more is that as much as many Christian churches are seeking to incorporate the tunes of the world into their version of "heavenly" worship, the advertisement community largely looks to the classical world, and especially its religious music, to sell its wares. I'm sure Mozart would be most relieved to know that his music written for the church was now being used to promote a store. Is it any wonder then that the youth of this country are confused when it comes to "church music?" The church music they are hearing is what they are hearing on TV and hearing on radio.

I really doubt that the persons behind this commercial put any more thought into it than thinking about a work that is, even by today's musically illiterate population, still known and that it is in minor key, conveys the sense of depression that so many people feel whenever they miss a sale. But, does anyone remember when good church music was actually used in the church?

Happy birthday, Mozart. A fine tribute to your great contributions to mankind.

What if this were really done?

Consider this news story which my wife forwarded to my inbox this morning:

Mega-church downsizes, cuts non-essential members

WINSTON-SALEM — Julie and Bob Clark were stunned to receive a letter from their church in July asking them to “participate in the life of the church” — or worship elsewhere.

“They basically called us freeloaders,” says Julie.

“We were freeloaders,” says Bob.

In a trend that may signal rough times for wallflower Christians, bellwether mega-church Faith Community of Winston-Salem has asked “non-participating members” to stop attending.

“No more Mr. Nice Church,” says the executive pastor, newly hired from Cingular Wireless. “Bigger is not always better. Providing free services indefinitely to complacent Christians is not our mission.”

“Freeloading” Christians were straining the church’s nursery and facility resources and harming the church’s ability to reach the lost, says the pastor.

“When your bottom line is saving souls, you get impatient with people who interfere with that goal,” he says.

Faith Community sent polite but firm letters to families who attend church services and “freebie events” but never volunteer, never tithe and do not belong to a small group or other ministry. The church estimates that of its 8,000 regular attendees, only half have volunteered in the past 3 years, and a third have never given to the church.

“Before now, we made people feel comfortable and welcome, and tried to coax them to give a little something in return,” says a staff member. “That’s changed. We’re done being the community nanny.”

Surprisingly, the move to dis-invite people has drawn positive response from men in the community who like the idea of an in-your-face church.

“I thought, ‘A church that doesn’t allow wussies — that rocks,’” says Bob Clark, who admires the church more since they told him to get lost.

He and Julie are now tithing and volunteering. “We’ve taken our place in church life,” he says. •

Now, before you let out gasps of disbelief or give a cheery "right-on", this is satire. This never happened. I actually had to have my wife tell me that after I read it; so if you fell for it as fact, you're not the only one.

But, what if this were really the case? What if a church decided to tell members who did not show up or tithe or volunteer or any combination of other things that they should go somewhere else where there apathy may be more appreciated? Frankly, I doubt any church really reaches out by saying "Are you apathetic or just lazy? You're welcome here."

Christianity is not a do ut des religion unlike the religions of ancient Rome and Greece. There, the creed was "I give so you give." Tit for tat; quid pro quo. Christ said "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." He did NOT say "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest provided you come to church regularly on Sundays (that's the day of my Resurrection; we'll get to that later) and contribute 10% of your income to the needs of the church all while going out and making disciples of all nations and leading a small group Bible study (what's a Bible? We'll get to that in a few hundred years)." Reductio ad absurdum, I know. We all talk of the need for church workers, but those are few, though many are called.

Instead, I think we have great need for church resters. These are the people that maybe come to church only 2 times a month if not less or maybe only for Nativity and Pascha. They don't participate in many ministries and may contribute significantly less money to the operating costs of the church than anyone else. But, they are there. They hear the Word and receive the Lord Himself in the Eucharist. And rather than work for a church sponsored ministry, they work for the greatest job one can ever have in the spiritual life--working for their own salvation with fear and trembling, as St. Paul wrote.

Yes, we want people who call their church a home to work to maintain it. You don't buy your own house to have guests come and clean it (though some do). What's more important is that the house be filled as Christ reminds us in his parable. Excuses aside, Christ wants his Church, his banquet table to be filled and never at a price save for love of Him. And that never costs a cent.

Commemoration of St. Mark of Ephesus

In the late 1300s through the mid 1400s, the Eastern Roman Empire (i.e. Byzantine Empire) was under constant threat from the Turks. Year after year, more and more territory was lost, church lands were confiscated by the infidels, hierarchy, priests and monastics were killed on mere suspicion of treachery against their new masters. The promises of the first Crusades were hollow resulting in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Western armies under Venetian leadership which set up a Latin Empire and a Latin Patriarchate. Three new Empires were carved out of that: the Nicaean, the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus. Even after the Latins were kicked out, the Nicaean Emperors were legally recognized as the Eastern Emperors but the territories controlled by Trebizond and Epirus were lost forever.

Ecclesiastically and culturally, the Empire was suffering. The Hesychast Controversy was eventually settled and St. Gregory Palamas was vindicated as was doctrine of the distinctions between energies and essence of God as well as the Hesychastic method of prayer. Still, with this triumph, there was cultural loss. Many Greeks, such as Bessarion (who later became a Catholic Cardinal) and Pletho (the foremost Platonist of his day) who were not in the Hesychast camp fled to Western Europe, often taking scholarly positions at Western Universities as well as all sorts of books and manuscripts from the ancient Greeks with them.

The Eastern Emperors, who were the only legitimate Roman Emperors, seeing the sunset of their kingdom did what they could to delay and even prevent the fall of their Empire. In the past, their skilled diplomatic maneuvers and arrangement of marriages had prevented invasions from the West and East. But time was no longer on the Emperors' side. In the past, aid was requested from the Western nations and also the Pope. But there was always a price tag attached: submission to the Pope and acceptance of various Latin doctrines.

Enter St. Mark of Ephesus. In one last ditch effort to gain military aid from the Western nations and have it sanctioned by the Pope, a council was convened at Florence in 1439. It was attended by John VIII Palaelogus, Emperor of New Rome, Pope Eugenius V, Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople, Metropoltian Mark of Ephesus, Bessarion of Nicaea, George Scholarius who would later become Patriarch of Constantinople (with the name Gennadius) amid many others. It was clear from the beginning that the Latins would have the upper hand. John VIII Palaelogus, so eager for military aid to defend his faltering kingdom, forbade the theologians in the Orthodox camp from arguing against the Latins for fear of offending them and, thus, not gaining the military hope he desperately needed. St. Mark would have nothing of it.

Despite being hamstrung, St. Mark consistently and forcibly defended the Holy Orthodox faith and decried all sorts of heresies propagated by the Roman Catholics such as the filioque, purgatory and the supremacy of the Pope. Though he was clearly getting the better of his Latin counterpart, John VIII Palaelogus silenced him and the Latin position was then, by default, proclaimed as the true expression of the faith. A decree of union was crafted. St. Mark, even in the presence of both allies and the schismatic Catholics, was the only one who refused to sign. He returned back to his See of Ephesus where he died in 1444 after a long bout with intestinal illness.

History was to vindicate St. Mark. Many of the Orthodox prelates who signed the decree of union were banished by their own flock because, in their eyes, these prelates had "sold out." For example, Isidore, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, returned home to proclaim the union and commemorate the Pope during the Divine Liturgy. But the clergy and monastics, often who are the real defenders of Orthodoxy, rose up in rebellion against him and forced him into a monastery as a prisoner and had a new Metropolitan elected in his stead. The people even knew their faith was being sold out. The nature of the church being conciliar, the people are often the last defense against heresy and schism.

Thus, St. Mark's stand was the stand of True Orthodoxy. His stances were politically inconvenient and hostile to the Romans as they should have been. St. Mark should be our patron saint in our current world of ecumenism when the Orthodox are routinely called upon by other christian confessions to abandon the faith which Christ has left and has been preserved by us for the sake of unity. There can be no unity without unanimity of the faith. As St. Mark once said, "We seek and we pray for our return to that time when, being united, we spoke the same things and there was no schism between us." To be unified when so much still divides does no glory to Christ or His Church.

Holy Saint Mark, intercede before Christ's dread judgment seat that we may keep the faith as steadfastly as you!

By your profession of faith, O all-praised Mark
The Church has found you to be a zealot for truth.
You fought for the teaching of the Fathers;
You cast down the darkness of boastful pride.
Intercede with Christ God to grant forgiveness to those who honor you!

--Troparion of St. Mark, Tone 4

WARNING! Triodion starts in 3 weeks

I was looking ahead on the calendar for the next few Sundays and to my surprise and also to my satisfaction, we start Triodion on February 5!

We have just taken leave of Theophany. The Christmas gifts are still being appreciated and though there is no snow right now, the weather has been getting colder again to make it seem like winter! Now, in three weeks time we will begin the preparation for Lent which prepares us for Pascha.

That's what I love about the Church calendar. It keeps you on your toes and does not allow you to be complacent about repentance for too long!

I guess I had better start preparing "Do thou open for me the Gates of Repentance" for Orthros!

New link

On the left side of the web-page, you will notice the "My Blog List" containing some other blogs that I follow and often read, some more than others. The most recent edition is Roads from Emmaus authored by Fr. Andrew Damick, an Orthodox Priest in Pennsylvania. Fr. Andrew is also author of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, a book which contrasts the tenets of the Holy Orthodox Church's faith with that of other world religions and the other confessions of Christianity.

I've read Fr. Andrew's book and his blog and I ask you to visit it as you are able for some very good insights. DISCLAIMER: The site is from the Orthodox perspective. Don't say I didn't warn you!