Ancestral "Orginial" Sin

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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ANCESTRAL ("ORIGINAL") SIN

In the Old Testament account of creation, God created mankind and established a place for him called Paradise. He also gave him a commandment regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. "And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, 'You may eat food from every tree in the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat; for in whatever day you eat from it, you shall die by death' (Genesis 2:16,17). In that, Adam and Eve did not physically die the day they ate from the tree, the words "you shall die" indicate a spiritual death through the separation from God.

Ancestral sin is the disobedience of Adam to God's command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam willingly disobeyed the commandment and diverted himself, or fell, from God's path to perfection, thus separating himself from His Creator, the Source of Life.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL

1. This Fall of Adam caused mankind to become subject to mortality. While this is often seen mainly as a punishment or penalty, the emphasis concerning God's judgments on Adam and Eve at the Fall is best understood in terms of His mercy. So, for example, concerning man's mortality (Genesis 3:19), Saint Gregory the Theologian states, "Yet here too He provides a benefit--namely death, which cuts off sin, so that evil may not be everlasting. Thus His punishment is changed into a mercy."

2. We who are in Adam's race are not guilty because of Adam's sin, But because of our own sin. However, because all of mankind fell away from the grace of God through Adam's disobedience man now has a propensity, a disposition, an inclination towards sin, because just as death entered the world through sin, now sin enters through fear of death.

3. Mankind's strong propensity to commit sin reveals that in the Fall, the image of God in man (Genesis) is also fallen. However, the ancient Holy Fathers emphasize that the divine image in man has not been totally corrupted or obliterated. Human nature remains inherently good after the Fall; mankind is not totally depraved. People are still capable of doing good, although bondage to death and the influences of the devil dull perception of what is good and lead them into all kinds of evil.

4. Adam's Fall not only brought mortality and sin into the world but also sweat, toil, hunger, thirst, weariness, sorrow, pain, suffering, sickness, tribulations, tragedy and tears.

5. Even after the Fall, the intellectual, desiring and intensive (forceful or driving) aspects of the soul are natural and therefore neutral. They can be used in a good way, or in a bad, harmful way. For instance, desire is very good when one directs it towards God. But when desire is out of control, one may use it in very inappropriate ways, such as becoming gluttonous or desiring another person's spouse. The classic analogy is that these powers of the soul are like iron, which can be made into a plow to help grow food, or into a sword to be used to kill someone.

Christ, by His Death and Resurrection, conquered the devil and death, freeing mankind for the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15) and mankind possible a more complete communion between god and man than was ever possible before. This communion allows people to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pt. 1:4), to transcend death and, ultimately, all the consequences of the Fall. (Source: The Orthodox Study Bible)

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On the 3rd of the month, Memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia.

Saint Anthimus was bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia (Asia Minor). His Church was set on fire in 288 A.D., at the command of Emperor Maximian, and twenty thousand (20,000) Christian perished (+ 28 December). Under the protection of God, Saint Anthimus was among those who escaped the conflagration and took refuge in the surrounding mountains. He was captured not long after and brought before Maximian who questioned him amid all the frightful instruments of torture. Saint Anthimus was unshakeable in his confession of faith in Christ. He suffered many cruel torments. He was beaten with rods, made to walk in red hot bronze sandals and finally fixed to a wheel that broke his limbs, while the executioners burnt his body with flaming torches. Strengthened by Divine Grace, he remained steadfast and, like gold refined in the fire, shone more brightly in the midst of torments. He prophesied to the Emperor Maximian the approaching end of the pagan empire and the triumph of Christianity. The sight of his patience and confidence drove Maximian mad with rage. He rent his purple cloak and ordered Anthimus to be beheaded. After the Saint's death, the hair of his head continued to grow miraculously. (The Synaxarion)

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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 Beginning of the Church Year and the Feast of Saint Simeon the Stylite - September 1

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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ON SEPTEMBER 1st THE BEGINNING OF THE INDICTION (CHURCH NEW YEAR) AND ALSO OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE FEAST OF SAINT SYMEON THE STYLITE

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On the beginning of the Indiction, we also commemorate Christ's entrance into the midst of the synagogue of the Jews and His proclamation of the acceptable year of the Lord, spoken of in the Book of Isaiah the Prophet. Thus, no longer do we celebrate the feast of the ancient law; we now celebrate the feast of the new dispensation of grace on this first day of the present month, on which the very Lawgiver Christ has revealed Himself to the world, having come down from on high, bearing the Spirit of the Father in Himself and inscribing the Law of God not with His finger, but with His blessed tongue and most sweet lips, and "not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of our heart" (2 Corinthians Ch. 3). He has established the noetic Tabernacle of the Church; offering to God the Father the sacrifice for our sins not without His own blood, being Himself the Great High Priest that is passed into the heavens" (Hebrews, Ch. 4), Who has cleansed us from our sins by His blood poured forth, making us to be His holy temples, according to the word of the Apostle: "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Corinthians, Ch. 3).

Therefore, offering Him thanksgiving, let us celebrate the acceptable year of the Lord, for we have received many and ineffable good things form His hand. Let us make haste to be well-pleasing in His sight. Let us celebrate, not the Indiction enacted by the Roman Emperors, but that which has been ordained for us by Christ, the Heavenly King of Glory. The tribute due to Christ from us on the occasion of the Indiction is the keeping and the fulfillment of His Holy Commandments, for Christ Our King does not ask of us iron and brass. Neither does He exact silver nor demand gold, as David has made clear, saying to Him, "Thou art my Lord; for of my goods, no need hast Thou" (Psalm 15). That we might with an upright heart piously believe in Him, He requires of us not iron and brass but the virtue of faith, grounded firmly and strongly in Orthodox Christian piety, which is founded upon the bloodshed by the holy Martyrs, who were tortured for the Christian faith with weapons of iron and implements and vessels of brass, as it is said, "His life was spent in irons" (Psalm 104). "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Romans, Ch. 10), and with this faith we shall overcome the adversary (Satan) as though armed with a weapon of iron and a shield of brass after the manner of our holy forefathers, "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped sharp swords, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Hebrews, Ch. 11).

Instead of silver, Christ Our King requires of us the virtue of undoubting trust in God, which is more than silver assures a man of a prosperous life. For if a man enriches himself with much silver and hopes to receive all the good things of the world through his riches, how much more greatly has he been enriched who has undoubting trust in God? Having set all his hope in the Lord, he shall receive that which he desires and shall live in happiness, counting as nothing all the misfortunes and sorrows proceeding from the world, the flesh, and the devil which may befall him and enduring all these things with delight for the sake of the future reward. Silver frequently seduces its owner, or vanishing suddenly, leaves him poor. Having hoped to live in abundance till his death, he is deprived even of bread when he unexpectedly becomes impoverished; however, he who trusts in the Lord "Shall be as Mount Zion; nevermore shall he be shaken" (Psalm 124); his "hope maketh him not ashamed" (Romans, Ch. 5)...

"Instead of gold, Christ Our King demands the most precious virtue, unfeigned love for God and our neighbor, always represented by the teachers of the Church as gold because of its great value...He commands that we not only believe in Him with our hearts and confess Him with our lips but that we manifest in deeds our love for Him, that is, we must be ready to lay down our life for Him, and accept death for the sake of his divine love.  In like manner we are to love our neighbor (fellow man) as the beloved disciple of Christ, St. John the Theologian, teaches us: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 John, Ch. 3). (Source: The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints)

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On September 1st we commemorate the God-bearing Father Symeon Stylites the Elder.

Our Holy Father Symeon was born about 390 A.D., in the village of Sissa on the borders of Syria and Cilicia. When he was a boy, his devout parents would send him into the wilderness to find pasture for the sheep. One day, when the snow lay so deep it was impossible to find anything for his flock, the young boy went into a church and heard these words read: "Blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are the pure in heart..." and the rest of the Beatitudes (St. Matthew 5). Having found out what to do in order to fulfill these commandments of Christ, Symeon abandoned his family and every worldly tie and entered a nearby monastery where he stayed for two years. Then, as he wanted to lead a more ascetic life than he found there, he made his way to the Monastery of Teleda near Antioch, where the monk Heliodorus directed more than eighty brethren with great wisdom and strict observance. Symeon spent ten years there, but from the beginning of his stay, he overtook everyone in ascetic rigor. Whereas the other monks ate every two days, Symeon took a meager repast but once a week. So great was his wish to suffer for Christ that he wore a belt of palm leaves under his clothes so tightly girded that it bit into his flesh. Seeing that his warfare was above human strength and could be harmful to others who, talking it as a model, might attempt labor above their ability, the elders (gerondes) of the Monastery ordered the blessed man to leave them. Symeon accordingly made his way to the wildest part of the neighboring mountain and, finding a dry well, went down into it and stayed there singing the praises of God day and night.

Like Moses, Elias and our Savior Christ, he wanted to spend the forty days of Lent without eating anything at all, so he asked his friend Blassos to wall up the entrance of his cell. The latter would only agree on conditions the athlete of Christ took a little bread and water with him lest he be reduced to the last extremity of hunger. At the end of the forty days, Blassos entered the cell full of anxiety. He found the bread and water just as he had left them and the Saint lying motionless on the ground, too weak to utter a single word. He only regained some strength after partaking of the Holy Mysteries. Trained by experience, Symeon spent every Lent after that without eating and, strengthened by grace, remained on his feet throughout the time with the incomparable liveliness of spirit...

"Saint Symeon sought for nothing but solitude to draw near to Heaven in pure contemplation. He decided to build a pillar (a stylo) with a little platform on the top where he could install himself so as to escape from and troublesome adulation. His first pillar was ten feet high; he made a second of nineteen feet and a third of thirty-six feet. He settled finally on a column 58 feet high, where he remained for twenty years until his death, living nearer heaven than earth. Saint Symeon attracted yet greater crowds and, like a brilliant light on high lampstand, illumined with the light of faith many of the barbarians who came to wonder at the extraordinary sight.

Saint Symeon fell asleep in the Lord while deep in prayer, in 459 A.D. at the age of 69, having spread all around him the peace that reigned in his heart. His precious holy relics were taken to Antioch accompanied by a huge crowd and continued them with faith. (Source: The Synaxarion)

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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,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

September 1 - The Beginning of the Indiction, that is, the Church New Year

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

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ON THE 1ST OF SEPTEMBER, THE HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE BEGINNING OF THE INDICTION, THAT IS, THE CHURCH NEW YEAR.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Indiction. Second Tone

O Maker of all creation, Who hast established the times and the seasons in Thine own power: Bless the crown of this year with Thy goodness, O Lord, and keep our rulers and Thy flock in peace, by the intercessions of the Theotokos, and save us.

Saints commemorated on September 1st: Our Righteous Father Symeon the Stylite. The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos of Miasenae. The Righteous Jesus of Navi (Joshua, Son of Nun).

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The Holy Church of God celebrates on September 1st the Indiction. The Hebrews of old observed March as the beginning of the year, but for the Romans, the beginning of the year was September, even though they previously observed the 1st of January. According to Archbishop Gregory of Taormina, when Julius Caesar defeated Anthony it was in the month of September.  Being made exceedingly proud by this triumph, he transferred the Roman custom of celebrating in January to September. "Indiction" is a Latin word meaning "to proclaim," which in The Great Synaxaristes is given the signification of orismos, that is, a decree or edict, which more specifically was a tax imposed by the Emperor in order to meet the needs of the Empire. A chronological unit or cycle of fifteen years was introduced into the calendar at Rome on the 12th of May in the first year of Julius Caesar, though in Antioch it was reckoned from the 1st of September. It was regularized on a yearly basis by Diocletian (ca. 240-316) with a five-year cycle. It was in 312 when Constantine (ca. 285-337) beheld the sign of the Cross in the sky and gained the victory over the Western autocrat Maxentius (ca. 279-312), that the official Indiction of the inhabited world was initiated with a 15-year cycle starting in September of that year, which also agreed with the fiscal and calendar years, which coincide (1st of September-31 of August). The Feast of the Indiction was enacted by the Holy Fathers at the First Ecumenical Synod of Nicaea. Gradually, the word "indiction," acquired a chronological definition that it maintained after losing its determination of fiscal boundaries. Indiction dating became mandatory after Justinian I's novel 47 of 537. The first day of the Indiction was not identical in the various traditions. The Greek or Constantinopolitan Indiction began on the 24th of September, and the Sienese Indication began on the 8th of September.

The hymnographers of the Church composed hymns for the Christians. We ask the Logos/Word, Who made all things in wisdom and appointed the seasons and times for our salvation, "to bless the crown of the year, preserving the multitude of the Orthodox in peace, through the prayers of the Theotokos and of all thy Saints (Vespers, Mode Plagal Two). "The faithful also entreat Christ God, who wisely renewed all that He brought into existence, for forgiveness of sins and setting aright the work of their hands, victory over their adversaries, the setting at naught of heresies, the fertility of the earth, and seasonable weather."

The month of September was also the time to gather the summer fruits and prepare for winter. On the first day of the seventh month, the Hebrews kept the Feast of Trumpets: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a rest, a memorial of trumpets: It shall be to you convocation. Ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall offer a whole-burnt-offering to the Lord (Leviticus 23:24-25).  (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

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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

"Preaching a Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins" (St. Luke 3:3)

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

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"PREACHING A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS" (St. Luke 3:3).

"From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (St. Matthew 4:17).

Our Lord Jesus Christ's first word, like that of Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner, is "repent", because repenting is necessary to enter and continue in His new way of life. Repentance is man's turning from himself to God. Repentance always accompanies belief, is a total about-face. It is a radical change of one's spirit, mind and heart, a complete reorientation of the whole of one's life and being. It is the necessary first step on the way of the Lord.

"The end result of sin is an ultimate separation from God. And since God is the happiness of the human heart, separation from God is the deprivation of that happiness or eternal sorrow...there is no sin which weighs more than the weight of God's mercy. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (St. John 3:16). "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (St. John 1:29).

"Take courage, sinners! There is deliverance for us! Jesus Christ, Who carried on His shoulders the sin of all humanity and Who paid debts to God with His death on the Cross, can take our sin on His shoulders as well. Is it not because of this that Saint Andrew of Crete prays in the name of all of us who sin before God: "Take my heavy sinful burden away from me and give me tears of repentance!" We must shed tears of repentance because there are only two kinds of water which can wash away the filth of sin: the water of baptism and the tears of repentance. Furthermore, as Saint John Climacus asserts: "Greater than baptism itself is the fountain of tears after baptism, even though it is somewhat audacious to say so. For baptism is the washing away of evils that were in us before, but sins committed after baptism are washed away by tears. As baptism is received in infancy, we have all defiled it, but we cleanse it anew with tears. And if God in His love for mankind had not given us tears, those being saved would be few indeed and hard to find" (St. Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent)."

The Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance is a grace-giving sacred rite to which, after the faithful offer repentance of their sins, the remission of sins is bestowed by the mercy of God through the intermediary of a pastor (priest) of the Church, in accordance with the Savior's promise.

In the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance/Confession, the spiritual afflictions of a man are treated, impurities of soul are removed, and a Christian, having received forgiveness of sins, again becomes innocent and sanctified, just as he came out of the waters of baptism. Therefore, the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance/Confession is called a "spiritual medicine." One's sins, which draw a man downward, which dull his mind, heart, and conscience, which blind his spiritual gaze, which makes powerless his Christian will--are annihilated, and one's living bond with the church and with the Lord God is restored. Being relieved of the burden of sins, a man again comes to life spiritually and becomes able to strengthen himself and become perfected in the good Christian path" (Dogmatic Theology)

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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

August 29--Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner (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.

ON AUGUST 29th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST AND FORERUNNER

[Strict Fast)

SAINT JOHN BORN AND NAMED (Saint Luke 57-66)

"Now Elizabeth's full time came to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbor and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, 'No; he shall be called John.' But they said to her, 'There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.' So they made signs to his father--what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, 'His name is John.' So they marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them, and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, 'What kind of child will this be?' And the hand of the Lord was with him."

Saint John's Messengers Inquire of Jesus (St. Matthew 11:2-19)

"When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitude concerning John: 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garment? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in king's courts. But what did you go out to see? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. This is He of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.' But I say to you, among those born of a woman there is not a great prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he" (St. Luke 2:24-28).

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The solemn admonitions of Saint John the Baptist, added to his sanctity and the marks of his divine commission, gained for him veneration and authority among the Jews, and some began to look upon him as the Messiah himself. But he declared that he only baptized sinners with water to confirm them in repentance and a new life: that there was One ready to appear among them who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit, and who so far exceeds him in power and excellence that he was not worthy to untie His shoes. Nevertheless, so strong was the impression which the preaching and behavior of Saint John made upon the minds of the Jews that they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to inquire of him if he were not the Christ. And Saint John "confessed, and not deny; and he confessed, I am not the Christ", neither Elias, nor a prophet. He was indeed Elias in spirit, being the herald of the Son of God, and excelled in dignity the ancient Elias, who was a type of John. He was likewise a prophet, and more than a prophet, it being his office, not to foretell Christ at a distance, but to point Him out present among men. So, because he was not Elias in person, nor a prophet in the strict sense of the word, he answers "No" to these questions and calls himself "the voice of one crying in the wilderness"; he will not have men have the least regard for him, but turns their attention to the summons which God has sent them by his mouth. Saint John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah at His baptism; and, the day after the Jews consulted him from Jerusalem, seeing Him come towards him, he called Him, "the Lamb of God". Like an angel of the Lord ", He was neither moved by blessing nor cursing", having only God and His will in view. He preached not himself, but Christ; and Christ declared Saint John to be greater than all the saints of the law, the greatest that had been born of woman.

Saint John's disciples as soon as they heard of his death came and took his holy body and laid it in a tomb, and came and told Jesus. "Which when Jesus had heard, He retired... into a desert place apart". Josephus, in his Jewish Antiquities, gives remarkable testimony to the sanctity of Saint John, and says, "He was indeed a man endued with all virtue, who exhorted the Jews to the practice of justice towards men and piety towards God; and also to baptism, preaching that they would become acceptable to God if they renounced their sins and to the cleanness of their bodies added purity of soul." He adds that the Jews ascribed to the murder of Saint John the misfortunes into which Herod fell.

The misfortune which befell Herod after the death of Saint John the Baptist, the Jews said were a punishment from God for the murder of his servant, as their historian, Joseph Flavins, records. Aretas, the king of Arabia, and the father of Herod's first wife struck a deadly blow at the army of the Galilean ruler. Soon after this, the Roman emperor banished Herod into exile. The holy relics of Saint John did not remain for all time in their tomb at Sebastia. When in 956 A.D. the Mohammedans took possession of Antioch, a deacon by the name of Job carried the holy relic to Halcedon, from which place it was brought, on the eve of the Epiphany, to Constantinople. The Turkish sultan, Bajazet, desiring to please the Latin Crusaders, presented the Knights of Malta with the arm of the great Baptist. In 1799 A.D., this order of knights sent the holy relic of Saint John to the Emperor Paul I of Russia, and the great prophet's arm may be seen to this day in the royal palace in the "Chapel of the Savior's Uncreated Image."

As we said the holy body of Saint John the Baptist was buried in the Samaritan city of Sevaste. The holy Evangelist Luke, who went preaching Christ in various cities and towns, came to Sevaste, where they gave him the right-hand hand of the holy Prophet John, the very hand with which he had baptized the Savior. The Evangelist Luke took it with him to his native city of Antioch. From Antioch he was taken to Constantinople. When Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, sacred objects were gathered up at the conqueror's orders and kept under lock in the imperial treasury.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of Saint John The Baptist. Tone Four

O Prophet and Forerunner of the coming of Christ, in spite of our eagerness to render you due honor, we fall short when singing our praise. Your glorious birth saved your mother from the shame of barrenness, returned to your father the power of speech, and proclaimed to the world the Incarnation of the Son of God.

Kontakion Hymn of Saint John the Baptist. Tone Three

The woman who had been barren becomes fertile and gives birth today to the Forerunner of Christ. He is the greatest and last of the prophets, for standing in the waters of the Jordan River, he placed his hands on Christ whom all the prophets had announced, and in so doing he became a prophet himself, a preacher and a forerunner of the Logos/Word of God.

A PRAYER TO SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

O Baptist of Christ, Holy Forerunner, last of the prophets, first of the martyrs, instructor of fasters and desert-dwellers, teacher of purity and close friend of Christ! I pray thee; I run to the thee. Do not reject me from thy protection, but lift me up who am fallen in many sins; renew my soul by repentance, as by a second Baptism. Purify me, corrupted by sins, and compel me to enter therein where no corruption can enter: into the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

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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

Augst 29 -- Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner

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.

ON AUGUST 29th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE BEHEADING OF SAINT THE BAPTIST AND FORERUNNER

(A strict fast day)

Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner was the son of the Priest (Rabbi) Zacharias and his mother Elizabeth, a blood relative to the Most Holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary. This righteous Hebrew couple was childless, for Elizabeth was barren. They constantly prayed to the Almighty God to grant them a child. Their prayers were heard on high, an Angel was sent to them with the message telling them that the Lord God had been pleased with their faith and patience and that He was to fulfill their desire and supplication. Accordingly, Elizabeth bore unto her husband Zacharias a male child, who was given the name John.

John's Birth Announced to Zacharias
Gospel of Saint Luke 1:5-27

"There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for our prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.' And Zacharias said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.' And the angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.' And the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months, saying, 'Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."

According to the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition of the Church, the Virgin Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and when they embraced John leaped in his mother's womb, which is considered his first acknowledgment of Christ as the Messiah.

After his birth, Saint John's father Zacharias was murdered in the temple. He and his mother fled to the desert and he was raised there by the angels of God. Thus he lived as an ascetic from the earliest part of his life. He ate plants and roots and wore rough clothing. When he grew, he baptized people in the Jordan river, teaching repentance, but also saying that someone greater would come after him and baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Saint John exhorted all to charity and to a reformation of their lives, and those who came to him in these dispositions he baptized in the river. The Jews practiced religious washings of the body as legal purifications, but no baptism before this of Saint John had so great and mystical a signification. It chiefly represented the manner in which the souls of men must be cleansed from all sin to be made partakers of Christ's spiritual Kingdom, and it was an emblem of the interior effects of sincere repentance; a type of that sacrament of baptism which was to come with our Lord. So noteworthy was this rite in Saint John's ministration that it earned for him even in his own life the name of "the Baptist", i.e. the baptizer. When he had already preached and baptized for some time our Redeemer went from Nazareth and presented Himself among the others to be baptized by him. The Baptist knew Him by a Divine revelation and at first, excused himself, but at length acquiesced out of obedience. The Savior of sinners was pleased to be baptized among sinners, not to be cleansed Himself but to sanctify the waters, says Saint Ambrose, that is, to give them the virtue to cleanse away the sins of men.

Herod Antipas, son of the Herod who slew the young children in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus, was the ruler of Galilee when St. John the Baptist was preaching. But Herod, married to the daughter of Aretas, an Arabian prince. But Herod, an evil branch of evil stock, put away his lawful wife and took Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, to live with him while Philip was still alive. St. John the Baptist stood up against this lawlessness and strongly denounced Herod, at which Herod threw him into prison. At the time of some feast at his court in Sebastia in Galilee, Salome, the daughter of Herodias and Philip, danced for the guests. Herod, in his cups and carried away by her dancing, promised her whatever she asked, even to the half of his kingdom. Instructed by her mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod commanded that John be beheaded in the prison and his head brought on a platter. John's disciples took the body of their teacher by night and buried it, but Herod tore out John's tongue with a needle and then buried his head in an unclean place.

(To be continued)

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AUGUST 28th: THE SERVICE OF GREAT VESPERS AT 4:30 P.M. 

DIVINE SERVICES ON AUGUST 29TH AT SAINT ANDREW:

Orthros (Matins at 9:000 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

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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