The Mystery of Man's Heart (Part III)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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THE MYSTERY OF MAN'S HEART (Part III)
By Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex

Question 5: In the monastic life it is easy to see who might be your elders (gerondes), but how can we identify these persons in our life in the world? From what sources can we find our elders outside of that life?

Answer 5: This has always been an important question in the life of the Church, and I remember Saint Symeon the New Theologian saying that one must seek for an elder (geronda) with tears. Pray to God that He gives you one and, if you do not find one, then speak to God directly, pouring out your heart to Him with tears, and the Lord Himself will be your Teacher.

What I say now is a bit risky and dangerous, but it is easy to suppose that there are no such elders anymore. I believe that if we are humble, it is easier to find one. If we are humble, we can make anybody a prophet, because if we approach with a humble heart and trust, then God will speak to us. I remember Father Sophrony saying to us, "Make your spiritual father a prophet!" That is to say, approach with faith and trust, and God will inspire him to give you a word.

As I have said earlier, true repentance proves that God is just, righteous and blessed in all His ways and that we are liars. If often happens that we, the spiritual fathers, do not know what we are saying. People come and ask a word of us. Sometimes the word comes naturally without our realizing it; at other times, nothing comes. It does not depend only on us; it depends also in the faith of the person who asks.

A little girl, twelve years old, came to me and said, "Sometimes I have proud thoughts; tell me what to do." And I said to that little girl, "Give thanks to Him for every breath and air He gives you." And that little girl grabbed my word and ran away happily. Forgive me for talking about myself, but it is the only way to speak concretely about these things. There is a dangerous side to it, because we can spoil the ethos of our life and of the Church, but I am now speaking among my fellows, among priests, and I feel I can be more specific and open. We must do everything in such a way as not to usurp the spiritual space of the other, of our fellows. And if we are to succeed in this, we have to be careful not to lose our humility. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)

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ON THE DORMITION OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS
By Saint John of Kronstadt

"Magnify, O my soul, the honorable Translation of the Mother of God from earth to heaven" (Refrain for the 9th Ode of the Canon).

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Today the Holy Church solemnly glorifies the honorable Dormition (Koimisis) or Translation (Metastasis) of the Mother of God from earth to heaven. A wonderful translation--she died without serious illness, peacefully. Her soul is taken up in the Divine hands of Her Son and carried up into the heavenly abode, accompanied by the sweet singing of Angels. And then, her Most Pure body is transferred by the Apostles to Gethsemane where it is honorably buried, and on the third day it is resurrected and taken up to heaven. You see this on the holy icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos. On it is represented the Life-bearing of the Theotokos laying on a bier, surrounded by the holy Apostles and hierarchs, and in the center of the holy icon the Lord Himself holding in his hands the most pure soul (depicted as an infant) of the Theotokos. The Translation of the Mother of God is a paradigm of the Translation in general of the souls of Christians to the other world.

We say that our dead have "fallen asleep" or "passed away." What does this mean? This means that for the true Christian there is no death. Death was conquered by Christ on the cross. But there is a translation, i.e., a rearrangement of his condition, i.e.., his soul is in another place, in another age, in another world beyond the grave, eternal, without end, that is what it means by "falling asleep." It is as if it were a temporary dream after which, by the voice of the Lord and the fearful yet wonderful trumpet of the Archangel, "and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (St. John 5:29). This is what the Christian means by translation. We should be ready for this translation, of the day of the general resurrection and judgment, for this indescribable world event, recorded in the Holy Scripture.

This preparation for the meeting of the Heavenly King before the Dread Judgment Seat, after death, is essentially the person's preparation throughout the whole of his life. This preparation means a change in all his thoughts, and the moral change of all his being, so that the whole man would be pure and white as show, washing clean everything that defiles the body and spirit, so that he is adorned with every virtue: repentance, meekness, humility, gentleness, simplicity, chastity, mercifulness, abstention, spiritual contemplation, and burning love for god and neighbor.

Our preparation for meeting the Heavenly King, and for the inheritance of Eternal life in heaven, should consist of these things. The Heavenly King desires souls adorned with immutable virtue, souls prepared so that the Very Lord Himself could abide in them. Do not marvel that the Very Lord wants to live in us. In fact, the human soul is more spacious than the heavens and the earth, for it exists in the image of God. And if one removes sins from the soul, the Lord of All will settle in it and will fill it with Himself. "we will come to him and make our dwelling with him" (Saint John 14:23), says the Lord about the souls who love Him.

And so, ye participants in the Christian feasts, and especially the present feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, ye who are brightly adorned with every virtue and Translated to the Heavenly Kingdom, to Her Son and God, proclaim to each and every one about preparing their souls to be the dwelling place of the Lord, about continual repentance, and about the incorruptible adornment of Christian virtue. Let your death also be unashamed and peaceful, serving as the pledge of a good answer at the Dread Judgment Seat of Christ. Amen. (Orthodox Heritage)

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Divine Service of the Paraklesis (Supplication) at the Holy Dormition on Monday, and Tuesday at the chapel in New Carlisle at 7:00 p.m.

Great Vespers on the Eve of the Feast at 7:00 p.m. followed by Artoklasia (Blessing of the Loaves) and the Lamentations (Encomiah and Epitaphios) to the Ever-Virgin Mary.

On Sunday, August 18th: Holy Dormition Chapel (Saint Andrew closed)

Orthros (Matins) at 9:00 A.M.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

Immediately following:

16th Annual Parish Picnic

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Mother of God

Icon of the Mother of God “of the Seven Arrows”

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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THE MOTHER OF GOD
By His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

The Mother of God. Among the Saints, a special position belongs to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom Orthodox Christians reverence as the most exalted among God's creatures, 'more honored than the cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the seraphim.'

In Orthodox services Mary is often mentioned, and on each occasion she is usually given here full title: 'Our All-Holy, immaculate, Most Blessed, and Glorified Lady, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.' Here are included the three chief epithets applied to our Lady by the Orthodox Church: Theotokos (God-bearer, Mother of God), Aeiparthenos (Ever-Virgin), and Panagia (All-Holy). The first of these titles was assigned to her by the Third Ecumenical Synod (Ephesus, 431 A.D.), the second by the Fifth Ecumenical Synod (Constantinople, 553 A.D.). The title Panagia, although never a subject of dogmatic definition, is accepted and used by all Orthodox Christians.

The appellation Theotokos is of particular importance, for it provides the key to the Orthodox Christian devotion to the Virgin. We honor Mary because she is the Mother of our God. We do not venerate her in isolation, but because of her relation to Christ. Thus the reverence shown to Mary, so far from eclipsing the worship of God, has exactly the opposite effect: the more we esteem Mary, the more vivid is our awareness of the Majesty of her Son, for it is precisely on account of the Son that we venerate the Mother.

We honor the Mother on account of her Son: Mariology is simply an extension of Christology. The Holy Fathers of the Council (Synod) of Ephesus insisted on calling Mary THEOTOKOS, not because they desired to glorify her as an end in herself, apart from her Son, but Because only by honoring Mary could they safeguard a right doctrine of Christ's person. Anyone who thinks out the implications of that great phrase: "The Logos/Word was made flesh," cannot but feel a profound awe for her who was chosen as the instrument of so surpassing a mystery. When people refuse to honor Mary, only too often it is because they do not really believe in the Incarnation.

But Orthodox Christians honor Mary, not only because she is God's creature, she is the Supreme example of synergy or cooperation between the purpose of the deity and human freedom. God, Who always respects our liberty of choice, did not wish to become Incarnate without the willing consent of His Mother. He waited for her voluntary response: 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be as you have said' (Luke 1:38). Mary could have refused; She was not merely passive, but an active participant in the mystery  As Nicolas Cabasilas said:

"The Incarnation was not only the work of the Father, of His Power and His Spirit...but it was also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin...Just as God became incarnate voluntarily, so He wished that His Mother should bear Him freely and with Her full consent.'

If Christ is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve, whose obedient submission to the will of God counterbalanced Eve's disobedience in Paradise. 'So the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed through the obedience of Mary; for what Eve, a virgin, bound by her unbelief, that Mary, a virgin, unloosed by her faith.' 'Death by Eve, life by Mary.'  

The Orthodox Church calls Mary 'All-Holy'; it calls her 'immaculate' or 'spotless' (in Greek Achrantos), and all Orthodox Christians are agreed in believing that our Lady was free from actual sin. But was she also free from ancestral sin? In other words, does Orthodoxy agree with the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed as a dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854, according to which Mary, from the moment she was conceived by her mother Saint Anne, was by God's special decree delivered from 'all stain of original sin'? The Orthodox Church has rejected the doctrine, for several reasons. The Church feels it to be unnecessary; it is felt that, at any rate as defined in Roman Catholicism, it implies a false understanding of original sin; the doctrine seems to separate Mary from the rest of the descendants of Adam, putting her in a completely different class from all the other righteous men and women of the Old Testament. (Source: The Orthodox Church)

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"One must note that the acknowledgment of this Latin dogma of the immaculate conception preceded in the West by a long period of theological dispute, which lasted from the 12th century, when this teaching appeared, until the 17th century, when it was spread by Jesuits in the Roman Catholic world.

In 1950, the so-called Jubilee Year, the Roman Pope Pius XII triumphantly proclaimed a second dogma, the dogma of the Assumption of the Mother of God with her body into heaven. Dogmatically this teaching was deduced in Roman theology from the Roman dogma of the Immaculate Conception and is a further logical deduction from the Roman teaching on original sin. If the Mother of God was removed from the general law of original sin, this means that she was given from her very conception supernatural gifts: righteousness and immortality, such as our first ancestors had before the fall into sin, and she should not have been subject to the law of bodily death. Therefore, if the Mother of God died, then, in the view of the Roman theologians, she accepted death voluntarily so as to emulate her Son; but death had no dominion over Her.

The Orthodox Church does not accept the Latin system of arguments concerning original sin. In particular, the Orthodox Church, confessing the perfect personal immaculateness and perfect sanctity of the Mother of God, whom the Lord Jesus Christ by His birth from her made to be more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim--has not seen and does not see any grounds for the establishment of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the sense of the Roman Catholic interpretation, although it does venerate the conception of the Mother of God, as it does also the conception of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner John...

The Most Holy Virgin was born as subject to the sin of Adam together with all mankind, and with him, she shared the need for redemption ("Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs," par. 6). The pure and immaculate life of the Virgin Mary up to the Annunciation by the Archangel, her freedom from personal sins, was the fruit of the union of her spiritual labor upon herself and the abundance of grace that was poured out upon her. "Thou has found Grace with God," the Archangel said to her in his greeting: "thou hast found," that is, attained, acquired, earned. The Most Holy Virgin Mary was prepared by the best part of mankind as a worthy vessel for the descent of God the Logos/Word to earth. The coming down of the Holy Spirit ("the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee") totally sanctified the womb of the Virgin Mary for the reception of God the Logos/Word.

As for the tradition concerning the assumption (translation) of the body of the Mother of God: the belief in the assumption (metastasis or translation) of her body after its burial does exist in the Orthodox Church.  It is expressed in the content of the service for the feast of the Dormition (Koimisis) of the Mother of God, and also in the confession of the Jerusalem Council of the Eastern Patriarchs in 1672.

Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem said that in accordance with ancient tradition, the body of the Mother of God has been taken to heaven, and he joined to this reply the well-known account of how the Apostles had been assembled in miraculous fashion for the burial of the Mother of God, how after the arrival of the Apostle Thomas her grave had been opened and her body was not there, and how it had been revealed to the Apostles that her body had ascended to Heaven (See On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies, pp. 224-26.--3rd Ed.) Written Church testimonies on this subject date in general to a relatively late period (not earlier than the 6th century, and the Orthodox Church, with all its respect for them, does not ascribe to them the significance of a dogmatic source. The Church, accepting the tradition of the ascension of the body of the Mother of God, has not regarded and does not regard this pious tradition as one of the fundamental truths of dogmas of the Christian faith." (Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Mystery of Man's Heart (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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THE MYSTERY OF MAN'S HEART (Part II)
By Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex

Question 3: In our journey to the heart, as we come to know God more, there is spiritual growth. Part of our journey is also learning and studying, and I was wondering if you could comment on the balance between the knowledge and growth of the mind versus the knowledge and growth of the heart. How do we know whether they are growing together or whether they are growing apart? And as we learn, we realize that we will never truly learn anything anyway, and it seems that the heart goes one way and the mind realizes that it will never know it at all.

Answer 3: I think it is true that intellectual work is not very favorable for the activity of the heart, but it is necessary and we have to go through it, at least for a number of years. It is necessary for the life of the Church, especially if we are to serve people. The only thing that can protect us is if we do it in obedience to the Church--to a bishop or a spiritual father. That will protect us and keep us for a time.

I remember when I was studying theology, I was trying to keep the prayer. It was not possible. One week I kept the prayer, but the following week I could not keep up with my work. When I tried to catch up with the work, I lost the prayer. I did not have any stability in those years. Sorry to speak of my personal experience, but looking back, I can say that it was very profitable because I was told to do it and I did it, and the prayers of the one who asked me to do it protected me.

Once I said to one of my elders at the monastery, "Nowadays, the work of a spiritual father is so difficult and dangerous; you have to be incorruptible to do it." And he replied, "No, that is wrong. You do not have to be incorruptible; you have to have a point of reference." And he was right: a point of reference in the person of an elder (geronda) in the Church keeps the spirit of humility, that is to say, it protects us from danger. We do not have to be incorruptible, but we have to have a trustworthy point of reference. Nobody is incorruptible.

Question 4: In our modern culture that is so materialistic, scientific and focused on biology and the natural sciences, how can we even become aware that the heart is something more than just a muscle? How can we become aware of ourselves as being something more than just a brain or a circulatory system?

Answer 4: We must learn the language of God. I wanted to talk to you about this later, but I will say a few words now.

Since all of us have sinned, we all have a common language, the language of pain. When we come to God, we will inevitably have to suffer in order to be purified. If we speak to God with that pain, if we pour out our heart to God with that pain, then God will listen to us, and the heart will be activated.

I have an example from the First Book of Samuel. The Prophetess Hannah was childless, but she had had a servant who had many children. This servant despised her; she was very proud and arrogant because she was so vainglorious about her family. Hannah did not take any revenge, although she was the mistress, she went to the temple and she poured out her heart to God in pain. Of course, God heard her and answered her prayer, and the following year she came back to the temple with her newborn son, Samuel.

When we suffer tribulation, pain or illness in our life, we must remember to pour out our heart to God rather than seek human consolation, by going from one person to another and talking about it. This might give us some psychological consolation, but we lose all the tension of life, that energy of pain which is so precious when we direct it towards God. This is one way.

The other way, as I have said before, is to find someone who can teach us how to speak to God. In the temple, little Samuel was sixteen or seventeen when he heard a voice calling him and he ran to Eli, the priest of the temple, and the priest said to him, "Go back to sleep, nobody called you." The same thing happened a second time. Again he ran to Eli, saying to him, "Did you call me?" and the priest sent him back to sleep once more. When the same thing happened a third time, Eli, who had been initiated into the life of the Spirit, understood that this was a prophetic calling from God, and he advised him, "Go, and if you are called again say, 'Here am I, speak for Thy servant heareth" (cf. 1 Samuel 3:1-20). Indeed, the voice called again and Samuel received the prophetic anointing.

Similarly, we learn to speak to God with our heart through obedience to our elders (gerondes) and, in fact, the ministry of a priest is to teach his people this language of God in the same away as Eli taught Samuel. We all have a common language of pain, of suffering: one way or another we all go through it in this life because God loves us.

(Source: Orthodox Heritage)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

The Mystery of Man's Heart

Icon of the Mother of God of Tolga

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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THE MYSTERY OF MAN'S HEART
By Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex

Question 1: Forgive this very naive question: Where is the heart? Not "What is the heart?"

Answer 1: The heart is within our chest. When we speak of the heart, we speak of our spiritual heart which coincides with the fleshly one; but when man receives illumination and sanctification, then his whole being becomes a heart. The heart is synonymous with the soul, with the spirit; it is a spiritual place where man finds his unity, where his mind is enthroned when it has been healed of the passions. Not only his mind, but his whole body too is concentrated there.

Saint Gregory Palamas says that "the heart is the very body of our body", a place where man's whole being becomes like a knot. When mind and heart unite, man possesses his nature and there is no dispersion and division in him anymore. That is the sanctified state of the man who is healed. On the contrary, in our natural and fallen state, we are divided; we think one thing with our mind, we feel another with our senses, we desire yet another with our heart. However, when mind and heart are united by the grace of God, then man has only one thought--the thought of God; he has only one desire--the desire for God; and he has only one sensation--the noetic sensation of God. That is why repentance and tears are so much appreciated; they help us to find that healing, that state of integrity because no human being can weep having two thoughts; we weep because of one thought that hurts us. If we are hurt by the thought that we are separated from God, that "salvation is far from the sinner" and all those things that inspire this pain in our heart, then, of course, we can cry; but if we have two thoughts, we cannot cry.

The Saints do not have two thoughts, they may have only one thought, but through that thought, they see the whole of cosmic being, heaven, and earth. That thought becomes a pair of binoculars through which they see and discern everything. Tears are much appreciated in spiritual life because, sooner or later, they make the heart surface. If we have tears because we desire God and we want to be reconciled with Him, surely the heart will be found and the mind will descend into it and God will reign there with grace.

Question 2: If a person arrives at that sate of having acquired a humble heart, it is possible then to fall back to the old state, and if so, is it harder to get back or is it easier?

Answer 2: We go up and down all the time, but we never stop seeking and "fishing" for those humble thoughts that unite the mind with the heart. For example, all the thoughts of the Holy Scriptures can help us, because they come from the humble Spirit of God. Therefore, any thought expressed in the Holy Scripture can become a 'burning coal' that will touch the heart as it touched the lips of Isaiah. That is why we should always study the word of God and have it dwelling richly in our heart, as Saint Paul says: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16).

It is easy for grace to ignite one of these thoughts at the time of prayer, and then we have one verse from the Scripture to pray with for a long time. And the Holy Spirit prays with us because this particular word is given by Him. This single thought that brings tears and repentance may come from the Holy Scripture, quickened by grace; it may come directly from God Himself, through prayer; it may come from the hymnology of the Church, from a word of an elder (geronda) or a brother; it can come from anywhere. God is constantly seeking our heart, and He can provoke it with whatever is at hand. We only have to be ready to "snatch" it.

Prayer of self-condemnation is especially helpful. The prayers before Holy Communion are full of these thoughts of self-condemnation before the thrice-Holy God. I think that if we read them carefully we would always receive great help; one day one sentence from those prayers will stay with us and work repentance, another day another one, and so on. Prayer of self-condemnation helps a lot because it follows the path of Christ, which goes downward. He is the One Who first went down, and He then "ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men" (Eph. 4:8). For this reason, Father Sophrony says that those who are led by the Holy Spirit never cease to blame themselves before God and this leads them downwards.

But we must be careful because not everybody can bear this. Those who are healthy psychologically can do so and find great strength and consolation, but for those who are less strong, there is another way which involves giving thanks to God continuously and balancing the prayer by ending it with the words "although I am unworthy", O Lord." Saint Maximus the Confessor says that true humility is to bear in mind that we have our being "on loan" from God. We find humility if we thank God continuously for everything. If we thank Him for every single breath He gives us. In one of the prayers before the Sacrament of Baptism, we say that God has spread out the air for us to breathe, and we find a similar idea in one of the prayers of the kneeling service at Pentecost.  Consequently, if we thank God for everything and for every single breath of air that He gives us, we will maintain a humble spirit. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Dogmas Concerning the Most Holy Mother of God

Valaam Icon of the Mother of God

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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DOGMAS CONCERNING THE MOST HOLY MOTHER OF GOD ACCORDING TO THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Two dogmas concerning the Mother of God are bound up, in closest fashion, with the dogma of God the Logo's/Word's becoming man. They are (a) her Ever-virginity, and (b) her name Theotokos. They proceed immediately from the dogma of the unity of the Hypostasis of the Lord from the moment of His Incarnation--the Divine Hypostasis.

A. The Ever-Virginity of the Mother of God

The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ from a Virgin is testified to directly and deliberately by two Evangelists, Matthew and Luke. This dogma was entered into the Symbol of Faith (Creed) of the First Ecumenical Council, where we read: "Who for the sake of us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man." The Ever-virginity of the Mother of God is testified by her own words, handed down in the Gospel, where she expressed awareness of the immeasurable majesty and height of her closeness: "My soul doth magnify the Lord...For, behold, from henceforth all generation shall call me blessed... For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name" (Luke 1:46-49).

The Most Holy Virgin preserved in her memory and in her heart both the announcement of the Archangel Gabriel and the inspired words of righteous Elizabeth when she was visited by Mary: "And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? (Luke 1:43); both the prophecy of the righteous Symeon on meeting the Infant Jesus in the Temple and the prophecy of the righteous Anna on the same day (Luke 2:25-38). In connection with the account of the shepherds of Bethlehem concerning the words of the Angels to them, and of the singing of the Angels, the Evangelist adds: "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). The same Evangelist, having told of the conversation of the Most Holy Mother with the twelve-year-old Jesus after their visit to Jerusalem on the Feast of Pascha, ends his account with the words: "But His mother kept all these sayings in her heart" (Luke 2:51). The Evangelists speak also of the understanding of the majesty of her service in the world by the righteous Joseph, her espoused husband, whose actions were many times guided by an Angel.

When the heretics and simple blasphemers refuse to acknowledge the Ever-virginity of the Mother of God on the grounds that the Evangelists mention the "brothers and sisters of Jesus," they are refuted by the following facts from the Gospel:

(a) In the Gospels, there are named four "brothers" (James, Joses, Simon, and Jude), and there are also mentioned the "sisters" of Jesus--no fewer than three, as is evident in the words: and "His sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matthew 13:56).

On the other hand, (b) in the account of the journey to Jerusalem of the twelve-year-old boy Jesus, where there is mention of the "kinsfolk and acquaintances" (Luke 2:44) in the midst of whom they were seeking Jesus, and where it is likewise mentioned that Mary and Joseph every year journeyed from faraway Galilee to Jerusalem, no reason is given to think that there were present other younger children with Mary: it was thus that the first twelve years of the Lord's earthly life proceeded.

(c) When, about twenty years after the above-mentioned journey, Mary stood at the Cross of the Lord, she was alone, and she was entrusted by her Divine Son to His disciple John: and "from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home" (John 19:27). Evidently, as the ancient Christians also understood it, the Evangelists speak either of "half" brothers and sisters or of cousins."

B. The Most Holy Virgin Mary is Theotokos

With the dogma of the Son of God's becoming man is closely bound up the naming of the Most Holy Virgin Mary as Theotokos (Birth-giver of God). By this name the Church confirms its faith that God the Logos/Word became Man truly and not merely in appearance; a faith that, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God was joined to man from the very instant of His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and that He, being perfect man, is also perfect God.

At the same time, the name of Theotokos is the highest name that exalts or glorifies the Virgin Mary.

The name "Theotokos" has a direct foundation in Sacred Scripture. The Apostle Paul writes:

(a) "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman" (Galatians 4:4).

(b) "God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16): the flesh was woven for God the Logos/Word by the Most Holy Virgin Mary.

At the meeting of the Virgin Mary, after the Annunciation, with the righteous Elizabeth, "Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she spake out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?...And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord" (Luke 1:41-45). Thus Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, calls Mary the Mother of the Lord, the God of Heaven; it is precisely the God of Heaven that she is here calling "Lord," as is clear from her further words:  "She that believed...those things which were told her from the Lord"---the Lord God.

In the first centuries of the Church of Christ, the Truth of God the Logo's/Word's becoming man and His birth of the Virgin Mary was the catholic faith. Therefore, the Apostolic Fathers expressed themselves thus: "Our God Jesus Christ was in the womb of Mary"; "God took flesh of the Virgin Mary" (Saint Ignatius the God-bearer, Saint Irenaeus). Exactly the same expressions were used by Sts. Dionysius and Alexander of Alexandria (3rd and 4th centuries). The Holy Fathers of the 4th century, Sts. Athanasius, Ephraim the Syrian, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Gregory of Nyssa, called the Most Holy Virgin the Theotokos.

The Third Ecumenical Council, accepting and confirming the following words of Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "If anyone will not confess that Immanuel is very God and that therefore the Holy Virgin is Theotokos, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Logos/Word of God made flesh: Let him be anathema" (Seven Ecumenical Council). (Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God 

+Father George

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DIVINE SERVICE OF THE PARAKLESIS (SUPPLICATION) SERVICE TO THE THEOTOKOS:

Holy Dormition (Koimisis) of the Theotokos Chapel in New Carlisle at 7:00 p.m.

The service is conducted both in English and Greek. Please remember to bring me the names of the living members of your family, your friends and others.

O HOLY MOTHER OF GOD SAVE US

The Tradition of Blessing Fruit on the Transfiguration

My beloved spiritual children in Christ God,

On the Holy Feast-Day of Transfiguration (Metamorphosis) on August 6th our tradition calls that the Orthodox Christian faithful bring fruits and even vegetables to be blessed on this day. The most common fruit to be blessed are grapes.

The blessing of fruits i.e., grapes, apples, etc., as well as vegetables on this day, is one very beautiful custom of our Holy Church. The practice signifies the final transfiguration of all things in Christ our Savior. "It signifies the ultimate flowering and fruitfulness of all creation in the Paradise of God's Kingdom of Life where all will be transformed by the Glory of the Lord".

This is an early Christian tradition. The first week of August, on the sixth of August, the farmers used to gather the first fruits of their summer harvest (grapes, figs, etc.) and to offer thanks to God and offer them to the Church to be blessed and then to give them to the faithful present at the Divine Liturgy as a blessing to them. These fruits are called the "beginnings".

In a text from the 7th century ("the laws of the kingdom") by Emperor Constantine Porfirogenitos this tradition is described clearly: "The Emperor of Constantinople gathers the "beginnings" ("aparches") in Chalcedon, where there are many vines, and then he waits for the Patriarch of Constantinople to come on the Holy Day of the Transfiguration of Christ, to bless the fruits and to personally hand out the grapes to the faithful.

This tradition is adhered to in various parts of Greece where they grow grapes.

Saint John Chrysostom wrote: "Plowman receives fruit from the earth not so much for his labor and diligence, as out of the goodness of God Who grows this fruit, because neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters, but God that gives the increase".

Grapes are brought to church because they are directly connected to the Holy Eucharistic Mystery (Sacraments); that is why in the prayer for the blessing of grapes the priest says, "Bless, Lord, this new fruit of the vine which reached ripeness because Thou kindly provided god weather, drops of rain and stillness. Let eating this fruit of vine makes us joyful.  And give us the honor of offering this fruit to Thee, as the gift of purging of sins, altogether with the Holy Body of Thy Christ.

In the first centuries of Christianity, the faithful brought forth to the church the fruit and crops of the new harvest: bread, wine, olive oil, incense, wax, honey, etc. Of all these offerings, only bread, wine, incense, olive oil, and wax were taken to the altar, while the rest was used for the needs of the clergy and the poor whom the church was caring for. These offerings were to express gratitude to God for all goods, but at the same time help servants of God and people in need. Until today, the consecration of bread and wine, eggs and milk and other food has been kept in the consecration of artos (bread) in the church and meals at home on Pascha. Consecration of flowers and tree branches is performed now on Palm Sunday, the days of the Holy Trinity and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and on Sunday of the week of the Veneration of the Cross. Rice with raisins and honey are used as offering in services for the dead and remembrance repast. Prosphora is brought forth to church for proskomide (Credence) in order for the priest to perform the Offertory Service. Source: Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church)

I ask all of you to learn and appreciate the Orthodox Christian tradition and to practice them.  

With sincere agape,

+Father George