The Spiritual Fruits of the Cross

My beloved brothers and sisters 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 SPIRITUAL FRUITS OF THE CROSS

On the holy Feast-Day of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14th, we call to mind as Orthodox Christians Christ's Life-Giving death on the Cross, which He underwent for the salvation of each one of us.

The Orthodox dogma of our salvation--which includes the doctrine concerning Christ's Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection--is the most significant dogma of our Faith, together with the dogma of the Holy Trinity.

Our salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ began with His Incarnation. When He took flesh, He became like us in everything except sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15). In assuming human nature, He deified (theosis) it. Since human nature is one, this gave us the potential of being deified (theosis) as well: not deified by nature and Sonship, as Christ was, but deified (theosis) by grace and adoption.

"But with Christ's Incarnation, man was still not able to actualize for deification (theosis). Because of his spiritual corruption, man was an impure vessel. Because of the barrier of sin, man could not receive and keep the grace of the Holy Spirit within himself. So Christ, having overcome the barrier of nature at His Incarnation, now had to break down the barrier of sin. He would do this through His death. As Saint Nicholas Cavasilas says, Christ broke down the three barriers that separated man from God: the barrier of nature by His Incarnation, the barrier of sin by His death, and the barrier of death by His Resurrection.

Through his single spiritual death (at the Fall), Adam brought a twofold death into the world--spiritual death and bodily death. Saint Gregory Palamas goes on to say, "The Good Lord healed this twofold death of ours through His single bodily death, and through the one Resurrection of His body, He gave us a twofold resurrection. By means of His bodily death, He destroyed him who had the power over our souls and bodies in death, and rescued us from his tyranny over both."

Our Savior Jesus Christ paid the debt of sin that man himself could never pay. The holy Apostle John writes in his First Epistle (Letter): [Christ] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). And the holy Apostle Paul says, "You are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23) being totally without sin, He bore the penalty of sin on our behalf so that we would be forgiven and purified of sin and freed from its curse. Saint Gregory Palamas wrote, "since Christ gave his blood, which was sinless and therefore guiltless, as a ransom for us who were liable to punishment because of our sins, He redeemed us from our guilt. He forgave our sins, tore up the record of them on the Cross and delivered us from the devil's tyranny."

Out of his infinite love for us, Christ died "in place" of us that we could be given life. Saint Paul writes "...That He [Christ] by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9); and elsewhere he says, God "commendeth His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Saint Athanasius the Great explains this as follows: "taking a body like our own, because all our bodies were liable to corruption and death, He surrendered His body to death, "in place" of all, and offered it to the Father. This He did out of sheer love for us, so that in His death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished."

The devil thought he could destroy Christ by inciting people to put Him to death. But Christ's death proved to be the devil's undoing because, unlike every other person who had ever lived, Christ did not deserve death. Saint John Chrysostom offers us a clear image to highlight this teaching: "it is as if, at a session of a court of justice, the devil should be addressed as follows: 'Granted that you destroyed all men because you found them guilty of sin; but why did you destroy Christ? Is it not very evident that you did so unjustly? Well then, through Him the whole world will be vindicated".

"Man's salvation consists in the acquirement of eternal life in God, in the Kingdom of Heaven. "But nothing unclean can enter the Kingdom of God" (c.f., Ephesians 5:5, Rev. 21:27). God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him, and those who enter the Kingdom of God must themselves be sons of the Light. Therefore, entrance into it necessarily requires purity of soul, a garment of "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).

The Son of God came into the world in order (a) to open the path" to mankind in its entirety for the personal salvation of each of us; and in order by this means (b) to direct the hearts of men to the search, to the thirst for the Kingdom of God, and "to give help, to give power on this path of salvation for the acquirement of personal spiritual purity and sanctity." The first for these has been accomplished by Christ entirely. The second depends upon ourselves, although it is accomplished by the "activity of the grace of Christ" in the Holy Spirit." (Orthodox Dogmatic Theology)

(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

In Anticipation of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (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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IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EXALTATION OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS (Part III)
On the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
By Saint Gregory Palamas

As the psalmist says, "My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned" (Psalm 39:3). One of our God-bearing Fathers taught us about this, saying, "Strive as hard as you can to ensure that your inner labor is according to God's will, and you will conquer the outward passions." The great Paul, urging us on in the same direction, says, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Elsewhere he exhorts, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth" (Ephesians 6:14). For the contemplative part of the soul strengthens and supports the part concerned with desires, and chases away fleshly lusts...

Whereas earthly kings require those who follow them to be prepared to die for them, the Lord Himself over to death for our sake and command us to be ready to die not for His sake, but for ours. To make it clear that it is for our own sake, He adds, "For whosoever will save his soul shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his soul for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it" (St. Mark 8:35). What does this mean, that anyone who wants to save it shall lose it, and anyone who loses it shall save it? Man is twofold, consisting of our outward man, the body, and our inward man, the soul. When our outward man gives himself over to death, he loses his soul, being separated from it.  But when someone loses his soul for Christ and the Gospel, he clearly saves and gains it, because he has procured for it eternal life in Heaven. In the resurrection, he will recover it, and by means of it, he will become, even in his body I say, just as heavenly and eternal as it is. Anyone, by contrast, who clings to life is not prepared to lose his soul in this way, because he loves this fleeting age and everything to do with it...

Even if a man could gain the whole world, brethren, it would be of no benefit to him because he would have lost his own soul. In reality, each person can only acquire an infinitely small share of this world. What a disaster, then, if someone loses his soul in his efforts to acquire this tiny share, rather than choosing to take up the sign and word of the Cross and to follow the giver of Life. Now both the sign which we reverence and the word concerning it are, in fact, the Cross.

As the word and the mystery came before the sign itself, we shall expound them to your charity first. Or rather, Saint Paul expounded them before us. Saint Paul who boasts in the Cross, determined not to know anything save the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). What does he say? Do you think he is referring only to the passions of sensual pleasure and gluttony? In that case, he would not have written to the Corinthians, "Since there is among you strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men?" (1 Corinthians 3:3). Consequently, anyone who loves glory or money, or simply wants to impose his own will in his eagerness to prevail, is carnal and walks as men, since such things are the source of divisions. As Saint James, the Lord's brother, says, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not: ye fight and war" (St. James 4:1-2). Crucifying the flesh with its passions and longings means stopping all activity which is displeasing to God. Although our body may pull us down and exert pressure on us, we must still lift it up urgently to the height of the Cross. What I am trying to say? When the Lord was on earth He lived a life of poverty, and not just lived but preached poverty, saying, "whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple" (St. Luke 14:33)...

Saint Paul ranks those who do not believe this, and prove their faith by their actions, with the lost, or with the Greeks. "We preach", he says, "Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block", because they do not believe in the saving passion, "and unto the Greeks foolishness", as they value transitory things above all else because of their complete disbelief in God's promises, "but unto them that are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:23).

This is the wisdom and power of God: to be victorious through weakness, exalted through humility, rich through poverty. Not only the word and the mystery of the Cross are divine and to be reverenced, but so also is its sign. For it is a holy, saving and venerable seal, able to hallow and perfect all the good, marvelous and indescribable things which God has done for the human race. It can take away the curse and condemnation, destroy corruption and death, bestow eternal life and blessing. It is the wood of salvation, the regal scepter, the divine trophy of victory over visible and invisible enemies, even though the heretics' followers are insanely displeased...

The heretics say that because Christ died nailed to the Cross, they cannot bear to see the form of the wood on which He was put to death. But where was the handwriting nailed which was drawn up against us because of our disobedience, when our forefather stretched out his hand to the tree? How was it taken out of the way and obliterated, enabling us to return to God's blessing? Where did Christ despoil and drive completely away the principalities and powers of the evil spirits, which had taken a hold on our nature since the time of the tree of disobedience? Where was the middle wall of partition broken down and our enmity towards God abolished and put to death?  By what means were we reconciled with God and how did we hear the good news of peace with Him? Surely it was on the Cross and by means of the Cross. Let those who doubt listen to what the Apostle writes to the Ephesians, "For Christ is our peace, Who hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Ephesians 2:14-16)...

As we reverence and greet the Cross with faith, let us draw and keep the abundant sanctification flowing from it. Then, at the sublime glorious future advent of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, as we see Him come in glory, we shall rejoice and skip for joy unceasingly, having attained to a place on His right hand and heard the promised joyful words and blessing, to the glory of the Son of God crucified in the flesh for us.

For to Him belongs all glory, together with His Father without beginning and the All-Holy, Good, and Life-Giving Spirit, and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (From Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies, Mount Tabor Publishing.)

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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

In Anticipation of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (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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IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EXALTATION OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS (Part II)
September 14th

On the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
By Saint Gregory Palamas

The Cross of Christ was mysteriously proclaimed in advance and foreshadowing from generations of old and no one was ever reconciled with God except by the power of the Cross. After our First Parents transgressed against God through the tree in Paradise, sin came to life, but we died, submitting, even before physical death, to the death of the soul, its separation from God. After the transgression we lived in sin and according to the flesh. Sin "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:7-8).

As the holy Apostle says, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Galatians 5:17). God, however, is Spirit, absolute Goodness and Virtue, and our own spirit is after His image and likeness, although sin has made it good for nothing. So how could anyone at all be spiritually renewed and reconciled with God, unless sin and life according to the flesh had been abolished? The Cross of Christ is this abolition of sin. One of our God-bearing Fathers was asked by an unbeliever if he really believed in Christ crucified. "Yes", he replied, "I believe in Him Who crucified sin." God Himself has borne witness that there were many who were His friends before and after the law when the Cross had not yet been revealed. David, the king, and prophet, says, as if there were definitely friends of God in his day, "How precious also are Thy friends unto me, O God!" (Psalm 139:17 LXX). I shall now show you, if you listen attentively for the love of God, how it was that people were called friends of God before the Cross.

Although the man of sin, the son of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:3), by which I mean the Antichrist, has not yet come, the theologian whom Christ loved says, "Even now, Beloved, there is antichrist" (1 John 2:18). In the same way, the Cross existed in the time of our ancestors, even before it was accomplished. The great Paul teaches us absolutely clearly that Antichrist is among us, even though he has not yet come, saying, "His mystery doth already work in you" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). In exactly the same way Christ's Cross was among our forefathers before it came into being because its mystery was working in them.

Leaving aside Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, and all those up until Noah who was pleasing to God, and their contemporaries, I shall begin with Abraham, who was called the father of man nations, the Jew's father after the flesh and ours by faith. As I am to start with this spiritual father of ours, his good beginning and God's initial call to him, what were the first words God spoke to him? "Get thee out of thy country, and form they kindred, unto a land that I will show thee" (Genesis 12:1). This utterance certainly bears within it the mystery of the Cross, for it is exactly what Paul says when he glories in the Cross: "The world is crucified unto me" (Galatians 6:14). When someone had fled his home country of the world without turning back, for him his country according to the flesh and the world have been put to death and ceased to exist, and this is the Cross...

The first mystery of the Cross is a flight from the world, and parting from our relatives according to the flesh, if they are a hindrance to piety and devout life, and training our body, which Paul tells us is of some value (1 Timothy 4:8). In these ways, the world and sin are crucified to us, once we have fled them. According to the second mystery of the Cross, however, we are crucified to the world and the passions, once they have fled from us. It is not, of course, possible for them to leave us completely and not be at work in our thoughts unless we attain to the contemplation of God. When, through action, we approach contemplation and cultivate and cleanse our inner man, searching for the Divine treasure which we ourselves have hidden, and considering the Kingdom of God within us, then it is that we crucify ourselves to the world and the passions. Through meditation of this, a certain warmth is born in our heart, which cleanses away evil thoughts like flies, instills spiritual peace and consolation in our soul, and bestows sanctification on our body.

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"

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

+Father George

In Anticipation of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14)

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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IN ANTICIPATION OF THE EXALTATION OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS (+ September 14th)

[The following paragraphs are taken from an ancient sermon for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross attributed to Saint John Chrysostom)

Let us consider what great blessings for us Christ's Cross has become the cause. For though the Lord's Cross sounds sad and bitter, it is in reality full of joy and radiance. For the Cross is the salvation of the Church; the Cross is the boast of those who hope in it; the Cross is the reconciliation of enemies to God and conversion of sinners to Christ. For through the Cross, we have been delivered from enmity, and through the Cross, we have been joined in friendship to God. Through the Cross, we have been freed from the tyranny of the devil, and through the Cross, we have been delivered from death and destruction. 'When the Cross was not proclaimed, we were held fast by death; now the Cross is proclaimed, and we have come to despise death, as though it did not exist, while we have come to long for everlasting life. 'When the Cross was not proclaimed, we were strangers to paradise; but when the Cross appeared, at once a thief was found worthy of paradise. From such darkness the human race has crossed over to infinite Light; from death, it has been called to everlasting Life, from corruption it has been renewed for incorruption. For the eyes of the heart are no longer covered by the darkness that comes through ignorance, but through the Cross, they are flooded with the light of knowledge. The ears of the deaf are no longer shut by unbelief, for the deaf have heard the word of the Lord, and the blind have recovered their sight to see the glory of God. These are the gifts we are given through the Cross. What blessing has not been achieved for us through the Cross?

The Cross is proclaimed, and faith in God is confessed and truth prevails in the whole inhabited world. The Cross is proclaimed, and martyrs are revealed and confession of Christ prevails. The Cross is proclaimed, and the resurrection is revealed, life is made manifest, the Kingdom of Heaven is assured. The Cross has become the cause of all these things, and through the Cross, we have been taught to sing. What then is more precious than the Cross? What more profitable for our souls? So let us not be ashamed to name the Cross, but let us confess it with total confidence.

Christ is hung on the Cross, and the devil has become a corpse. Christ has been stretched on the Cross, and a standard of salvation has been given to the world. Christ has been nailed to the Cross, and every soul has been released from bonds. Christ has been fixed to the Cross, and all creation has been set free from the slavery of corruption. Christ has breathed His last on the Cross, and a new marvel has been shown to the world; for the sun's light is darkened. This what a prophetic saying cries out, "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that the sun will set at midday, and the light will become dark in the daytime, and I will change all your feasts into grief and all your song into laments" (Amos 8:9). Do you see, beloved, how great a mystery the prophetic saying holds? For here the deeds of both are intimated: I mean of the Jews, who are under the law, and of the nations, who are outside the law, who both practice iniquity. For those who feast according to the law will grieve as they celebrate their feasts, and instead of songs, they make lamentations over Jerusalem. For Jerusalem will no longer hold solemn rites, and no feast will be celebrated in it. While pagan nations will mourn, making confession for their sins, and mourning is the cause of blessedness. Scripture says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (St. Matthew 5:4). They will mourn, then, over their empty feasts and lawless songs that they performed for the unclean demons. Take note then today how a pagan, repenting for the evil things he has done, laments and says with the Prophet, "We have erred and strayed in our shame, and our sins have covered us, for we have been filled with our impiety. We have acknowledged the iniquities of our fathers". So then let us too lament and mourn for the evils that have been laid to our charge; let us cling to the Cross, placing all our hopes on the Cross, so that taught through the Cross, fixing our thought on heaven, being brought close to Christ our Savior, we may be found worthy to be near God in the Kingdom of Heaven, in Christ Our Lord Himself, to Whom be glory and might to the ages of ages.  Amen.

[Introduction and translation of the text by permission of copyright of the Very Rev. Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne Ephrem Lash.]

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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

Where Did the Holy Bible Come From? (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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WHERE DID THE HOLY BIBLE COME FROM? (Part III)

The Holy Bible and the Church

To what kind of conclusion does this drive us? Obviously, the Holy Bible came to be what it is, came into existence, only in the context of the living, dynamic Church of Christ, which had its origin at Pentecost (although its antitype, of course, was to be found in the Chosen People whose history led to the Incarnation of the Son of God). It was the life of the Church throughout the first 70 or so years of her existence which, guided by the Holy Spirit, gave rise to the written texts which in due course were to complete the New Testament. And it was the continuing life of the Church for more than another 300 years which was required to refine and define the exact contents of the Holy Scripture.

Thus, it is pointless and misleading and even dangerous to discuss the Holy Scripture apart from the life of the Church. If the Holy Scripture as we know them could only come into existence through the action of the Holy Scripture upon and in the Church over a period hundreds of years, then obviously the rest of the experience of the Church during those same centuries (and subsequent ones as well) is of vital importance to their understanding.

And what is this "Church"? It is the same Church which was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, governed by the Apostles in the earliest decades, later guided and shepherded by their successors, the bishops. It is the same Church which suffered intermittent persecution for 300 years, which finally attained freedom under the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, which by the guidance of the Holy Spirit defined the meaning of the Holy Scripture as it confronted the perpetrators of the various heresies. It is the same Church which in the Holy Councils (Synods) wrote the Nicene Creed (Confession of Faith) summarizing the very essence of the Faith and the Holy Scripture, which in these same Councils wrote the Holy Canons which are the guidelines even to this day for its life.

This is the same Church which teaches us to venerate the Saints and their holy relics. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Church learned how to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, the Lord's Supper, with dignity and splendor long before the time at which we can identify a final agreement concerning the contents of the Holy Bible.

And so...we are forced, if we confront the facts with honesty and integrity, to one inescapable conclusion: it is only through the Church that we have access to the Holy Bible at all. And it is likewise to the Church that we must turn for its understanding.

WHICH CAME FIRST...THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?

This classic riddle is very much to the point here. In point of time, it should be apparent that the Church long precedes the Holy Bible as an integral collection of books, and considerably precedes even the individual books of the New Testament. Thus, it is quite, certain that the Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ was not "based on the Holy Bible". The Church created by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost had no Bible as we know it...and did not have to have it to be truly the Church. It can be said with some justification that if every single copy of the Holy Bible in existence were destroyed, the effect upon the Church would be minimal (although the context in which such an event could occur might not be!).

 But the converse is not true. If there were no Church (but we are assured this will never come to pass..."the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Saint Matthew 16:18), the Holy Bible would not be sufficient to provide what is needed for our salvation. If we doubt the Truth of this, we need only cast our glance over the spectacle of what happens when people attempt to create their own "churches" based upon their own, private interpretations of the Holy Scripture.

HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE HOLY BIBLE

We must, then, look to the Church if we are to have any correct understanding of Holy Scripture. Saint Peter insists: "no prophesy of the Scripture is of private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:29). But we must not expect to find this understanding by acquiring some compendium of the "true meaning" of the Holy Bible. It is of wisdom, Divine wisdom, that we speak...and this is not to be reduced to a series of sentences and paragraphs and books of merely human writing, inspired or otherwise. No...it is to the life of the church that we must turn if we are to understand the Holy Bible.

This life cannot be ours except by participation. We must be saturated in it through the prayers of the Church, through reading in the wisdom of the nearly two years' writings of the Holy Fathers of the Church, through the daily life of the Christian community. Apart from this life, there can be no real understanding, but only misunderstanding and perversion. The annals of the Church's history are filled with such...as are the shelves of any large library. Wherever man tries to rely upon his own "reason", rather than upon God's Wisdom as imparted in the Holy Church, heresy is the certain outcome...separation from the Truth.

There is only one Church. That Church has always been at one with the teachings of the Holy Apostles, and always in genuine historical and spiritual continuity with them. That Church first had to define itself as "catholic" ...as universal, in distinction from the "particular" or partial understandings of some of the early heretics. Later, it had to define itself as "orthodox", as of the same Faith as the Holy Apostles and the Church throughout the ages...in distinction from those who were "heterodox", accepting "another faith". From the very beginning, there has been much tolerance for sinners (even though not for their sins), but none for false teachings, for heresy. "If a man preach any other Gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).

Throughout, it is one and the same Church. Today, the True Church, the Orthodox Church, is once again present in the West. But it is our responsibility as Orthodox Christians to see to it that the Truth is not only present but available to those who thirst for it. If we are to attain the end which God intends for us, we must submit ourselves and our lives and our minds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, of the Church. Only in the life of the Church is it possible for the Holy Bible to be for us the living, life-giving Logos/Word of God. Torn away from the Church, as a child ripped untimely from his mother's womb, the Holy Scripture brings not life, but death--whether the death of rationalism or that of private "inspiration". Only in the Church can we become one with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...He in us, and we in Him, that we all may be One in Him (cf. St. John 17:22-23).  (Source: The Saint John of Kronstadt Press)

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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 Holy Nativity 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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THE HOLY NATIVITY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
A Name Destined for Greatness

What is the etymology of the name, and what is its significance? There have been numerous explanations put forward as to the meaning of the Virgin's name, in contrast to those of her parents. It is nearly unanimous that her parent Joachim's name (in Hebrew Jehoiakim) was understood to mean "the Lord's restoration" or "may the Lord raise up"; whereas Anna's name means "grace." Their names are indicative of their characteristics and qualities. But the name Miriam has been translated as "Lordless," "Hope," "Myrrh of the Seas, "Star of the Seas" (Jerome), "Illuminated," "Beloved one," "Lady," "Lady of the Sea," "Drop of the Sea," "Exalted," "Highness," "Excellency," "One who surpasses" or "One who dominates." Some translators give the name the meaning of a "bitter sea," but this explanation has met with certain obstacles in Hebrew grammar, for it places the adjective after the noun, and the meaning seems to go against the positive attributes which ascribed to the Virgin Mary. The interpretation preferred by Saint John of Damascus is "Lady," "Kyria," thus he writes, "Accordingly it was grace (for this is the interpretation of Anna) that bore the Lady and Mistress (in Greek Despina), for that is the meaning of the name Mary: for she became truly the Mistress of all creation, since she was vouchsafed to be the Mother of the Creator."

THE OVERTHROW OF THE ANCESTRAL DEFEAT

Saint Photios, in a homily on the present feast, speaks of the divine maternity and explains: "After God had bestowed on man the enjoyment and mastery over everything in the Garden, it was meet for him who was entrusted with such great authority to be disciplined and trained with some command. However, after this command had been transgressed, the Creator did not overlook His creatures, though they had plunged themselves into such great error. The Logos/Word of God, in His love for man, became Man. Now the Incarnation entailed a pregnancy and a mother, so it was needful that a mother should be prepared down below for the Creator, for the re-creation of fallen man. She was to be a virgin, just as the first man had been formed of virgin earth, that the re-creation, too, should be carried out through a virgin womb, and that no transitory pleasure, even lawful, should be as much as imagined in the Creator's birth; for the Lord suffered to be born for the deliverance of him who was a captive of pleasure.

"Who then was worthy? Clearly, it was she who this day strangely issued from Joachim and Anna, the barren root. It was needful, yea very needful, that she who from the very cradle had by a superior reason preserved her body pure, her soul pure, her thoughts pure, should be marked out to be the Creator's Mother.

"It was needful that she who had been brought to the temple as an infant, who had trodden the untrodden places, should appear as a living temple for Him Who gave her life. It was needful that she who had been born in a wonderous (miraculous) manner from a sterile womb, and had removed her parents' reproach, should also make good the failure of her forefathers; for she, the descendant, was able to repair the ancestral defeat, who brought forth the Savior of our race by a husbandless birth, and molded His body."

Saint Photios also comments, "The Lord's Throne (Mary) is being prepared on earth, earthly things are sanctified, the Heavenly Hosts are mingled with us, and the wicked one, who first deceived us and was the contriver of the plot against us, has his power crushed, as his wiles and devices rot away."

Thus, we chant with Saint John of Damascus, "The holy parents of the Mother of God received from heaven a gift worthy of God, a throne higher than the very cherubim (Isaiah 6:11)--she who in childbirth would bear the Logos/Word and Creator." (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