Sin

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

+

SIN (Αμαρτία)

We are created for God, and only in Him do we find the paramount bliss for which our heart is constantly yearning. Nothing other than God can make our souls happy! Give a man everything which he desires. He will enjoy it for a while, but afterward, he will become indifferent to it, because he feels that something else, much more elevated, is missing. Is it not in that way that the child, too, enjoys every new toy until it grows hungry? Then it abandons the toy and looks for food. A certain inextinguishable inner hunger for truth, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit (cf. Romans 14:17) torments our soul and does not give us peace, even among the best pleasures of life and among the most enviable achievements in the world.

The blessed hunger is a hunger for God. Blessed Augustine is right in his Confessions before God: "Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it repose in Thee."

The only guest who can make our soul happy is God. And if God is our paramount bliss, it is clear that that which obstructs the way to God must be the greatest of evil for us. Such an evil is sin (Αμαρτία).

It is in vain that some unenlightened people seek this greatest evil for man somewhere else, rather than in sin. Some consider disease to be the greatest evil, others--poverty, and other--death. But neither disease, nor poverty, nor death, nor any other earthly disaster can be such a great evil for us as sin is. These earthly misfortunes do not separate us from God if we are seeking Him sincerely, but, on the contrary, they bring us closer to Him...

"Disease is not the greatest evil for man, because the disease of the body endured with humility, faith, and patience can cure the soul sick with sin and bring it closer to God--the greatest good for man.

And death is not frightening for the believer, because through it, as through a door, one goes to the beloved and loving God Who hath prepared for them that love Him that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (cf. I Corinthians 2:9).

But sin is the most wretched poverty of the heart--poverty blocking the treasure of grace. Sin is a deadly sickness of the soul, a sickness which deprives us both of the joys of earth and the joys of heaven. Sin is a terrible and most lamentable spiritual death which separates us eternally from the joy of the heavenly inhabitants in Paradise and buries us in the darkness of hell.

There is no greater evil for man than sin. It destroys both body and soul. It makes both this life and eternal life bitter. It causes discord in families, quarrels among neighbors and disagreements among relatives. It starts the fire of malice among people. It makes the soul proud and embittered. It poisons the heart with envy. It drives out holy feelings from the breast and invites the demons to settle there. It separates us from God. It extinguishes everything bright in our hearts. It teaches us to lie, to be gluttonous, and to be selfish and greedy. It makes us slander and judge our neighbors. It incites our hand to steal. It fills us with anger and rage. It whispers to us to seek revenge. It commits all outrage, debaucheries, and crimes. It causes all disease, suffering, injustice, violence, bloodshed, and war. It has filled the souls of all of us with an unbearable spiritual stench. It pours this stench into the relationships among us.

Have you asked yourself why is it so stifling in the world? Why is it hard to live? Why can we not put up with each other? The answer is: because sin has poisoned the atmosphere of life. We are all sick with sin. And if untreated body wounds emit an intolerable stench, how much more terrible is the stench of sin!

Just as the diseases of the body can be external (visible) and internal (hidden) so, the sins, as diseases of the soul, can be visible and invisible. We often comfort ourselves with the fact that we can hide the sinful wounds of our soul from the eyes of those around us. We pass for good and respectable people in their eyes. But we cannot hide anything from God. His eyes are brighter than the sun and penetrate everywhere. If we could take pictures of, or, with the help of some spiritual x-rays, see the hidden spiritual condition of each of us or of the whole of mankind as God sees it, we would be terrified!

Sin is an infinite evil because it is an insult to the infinite God.The Lord has commanded us not to sin. But we sin, and thus we insult the infinite greatness of the Creator. (Source: The Forgotten Medicine. The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev)

(To be continued)

__________________________

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

+++

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

+Father George

Cheesefare Sunday - Forgiveness

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

+

CHEESE-FARE SUNDAY - FORGIVENESS

The last of the preparatory Sundays has two themes: It commemorates Adam's expulsion from Paradise, and it is also the Sunday of Forgiveness. There are obvious reasons why these two things should be brought to our attention as we stand on the threshold of the Great Fast. One of the primary images of the Triodion is that of the return to paradise. Lent is a time when we weep with Adam and Eve before the closed gate of Eden, repenting with them for the sins that have deprived us of our free communion with God. But Lent is also a time when we are preparing to celebrate the saving event of Christ's Death and Rising, which has reopened paradise to us once more (St. Luke 23:43). So sorrow for our exile in sin is tempered by hope of our re-entry into Paradise.

The second theme, that of forgiveness, is emphasized in the Gospel reading for this Sunday (St. Matthew 6:14-21) and in the special ceremony of mutual forgiveness at the end of vespers on Sunday evening. Before we enter the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another. A fast without mutual love is the fast of demons. As the commemoration of the ascetic Saints on the previous Saturday has just made clear to us, we do not travel the road of Lent as isolated individuals but as members of a family. Our asceticism and fasting should not separate us from our fellow men but link us to them with ever stronger bonds. The Lenten ascetic is called to be a man for others. (The Lains Triodion)

The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans (Romans 13:11-14, 4), read at the Sunday Divine Liturgy, exhorts us to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of Light, to walk honestly as in the day, fleeing drunkenness, debauchery and the lusts of the flesh. Saint Paul links this theme of the flesh to the theme of fasting. One person believes that he may eat all things; another eats only herbs. Let not him that eats despise him who does not, and let not him who does not eat judge him who does. Who are you to judge another? Both you and he are dependent on the same Master.

The Lord Jesus advises those who fast not to look gloomy or to be of a sad countenance like those hypocrites who want to be noticed when they fast. "Thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face.' The Father, Who sees in secret, shall reward thee openly. Let thy treasure and thy heart be not on earth, but in heaven.

The chants for Vespers (Esperinos) and Matins (Orthros) contrast the blessedness of Paradise with the wretched state of man after the fall. But Moses, through fasting, so purified his eyes that they were able to see the Divine Vision. In the same, may our fasting, which will last forty days as did that of Moses, help us to repress the passions of the flesh and free us so that we may 'with light step...set out upon the path to heaven'. Let us pay attention to the words with 'light step'. Our penitence must not be something heavy and burdensome. We must go through Great and Holy Lent lightly, and airily, in a way that somehow makes us kin to the Angels.

(To be continued)

_________________________

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

+++

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

+Father George

Great and Holy Lent: The Forty Days (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.

+

HOLY AND GREAT LENT: THE FORTY DAYS (Part II)

Saturday in the First Week. After the penitential fasting of the first five days of Lent, Saturday and Sunday are kept as feasts of joyful thanksgiving. On Saturday we commemorate the Great Martyr and Saint Theodore Tyron or Tire, we commemorate the 'Recruit', a Roman soldier in Asia Minor, martyred in the early 4th century under the pagan emperor Maximian (286-305 A.D.). Here may be seen at work a rule applied by the Church since the 4th century: as the full Liturgy cannot be offered on weekdays in Lent, Saints' memorials which in the fixed calendar occur during the week are transferred to Saturday or Sunday. So the memorial of Saint Theodore, whose feast falls on 17 February, has been transferred to the First Saturday. The texts for the day in the Triodion make frequent reference to the literal meaning of the name Theodore, "Gift from God'.

There is a specific reason why Saint Theodore has come to be associated with the first week of Lent. According to the Tradition recorded in the Synaxarion, the emperor Julian the Apostate (reigned 361-3), as part of his campaign against the Christians, attempted to defile their observance of the first week of Lent by ordering all the food for sale in the market of Constantinople to be sprinkled with blood from pagan sacrifices. Saint Theodore then appeared in a dream to Evdoxios, Archbishop of the city, ordering him to warn his flock against buying anything from the market; instead, so the Saint told him, they should boil wheat (kolyva) and eat this alone. in memory of this event, after the Presanctified Liturgy on the first Friday, a Canon of intercession is sung to Saint Theodore and a dish of kolyva is blessed in his honor.

But, quite apart from this historical association of the Great Martyr Theodore with the first week of the Fast, it is also spiritually appropriate that he should be commemorated during these days. The Great Fast is a season of unseen warfare, of invisible martyrdom when by our ascetic dying to sin we seek to emulate the self-offering of the martyrs. That is why, in addition to such commemorations as that of Saint Theodore n the First Saturday, there are also regular hymns to the martyrs on all the weekdays of Lent. Their example has a special significance for us in our ascetic efforts during the Great Forty Days.  (Source: The Lenten Triodion)

(To be continued)

_________________________

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

+++

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

+Father George

Great and Holy Lent: The Forty Days

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

+

HOLY AND GREAT LENT: THE FORTY DAYS

The two preceding Sundays, of the Last Judgment and of Forgiveness, together constitute - albeit in reverse order - a recapitulation of the whole range of sacred history, from its beginning point, Adam in Paradise, to its end-point, the Second Coming of Christ, when all time and history are taken up into eternity. During the Forty Days that now follow, although this wider perspective is never forgotten, there is an increasing concentration upon the central moment in sacred history, upon the saving event of Christ's Passion and Resurrection, which makes possible man's return to Paradise and inaugurates the End. Great and Holy Lent is, from this point of view, a journey with a precise direction; it is the journey to Pascha. The goal of our journey is concisely expressed in the closing prayer at the Liturgy of the Presanctified: '... may we come uncondemned to worship at the Holy Resurrection'. Throughout the forty days, we are reminded that we are on the move, traveling on a path that leads straight to Golgotha and the Empty Tomb. So we say at the start of the first week:

Let us set out with joy...Having sailed across the great sea of the Fast, May we reach the third-day Resurrection of our Lord. Let us hasten to the Holy Resurrection on the third day...While our journey proceeds, as travelers we regularly call to mind  how far we have progressed: As we begin the second day...

During each week of Great and Holy Lent, our faces are set towards the objective of our journeying: the Savior's suffering and triumphant Passover.

The Forty Days' journey of Great and Holy Lent, in particular, the forty years in which the Chosen People journeyed through the wilderness. For us, as for the children of Israel, Lent is a time of pilgrimage. It is a time for our liberation from the bondage of Egypt, from domination of sinful passions; a time for progress by faith through a barren and waterless desert; a time for unexpected reassurance, when in our hunger we are fed with manna from heaven; a time when God speaks to us out of the darkness of Sinai; a time in which we draw near to the promised land, to our true home in paradise whose door the crucified and Risen Christ has reopened for us.

The weekdays of Great and Holy Lent. A characteristic ethos is given to the weekdays of Lent by the frequently repeated prostrations, used especially in conjunction with the Prayer of Saint Ephraim, 'O Lord and Master of my life...' Brief, sober, yet remarkably complete, this prayer takes us to the very heart of what Lent means.

Another distinctive feature of Lenten weekdays is the Liturgy of the Presanctified, celebrated according to present practice on each Wednesday and Friday, but at one time on every weekday of Lent. Strictly speaking, the term 'Liturgy' is a misnomer, for there is no Eucharistic consecration at this service; it is simply the office of Vespers, followed by the distribution of Holy Communion from elements consecrated on the previous Sunday. The full celebration of the Divine Eucharist, being always a festive and triumphant event, is felt to be inconsistent with the austerity of the weekday Lenten Fast; and so already in the 4th century, it was laid down that there should be no complete celebration of the Liturgy during Lent except on Saturday and Sunday. But so as to enable the faithful to receive Communion on weekdays in Lent - for in the ancient Church it was normal to communicate frequently, and in some places even daily - the order of the Presanctified Liturgy was devised.

Many moments in the Presanctified Liturgy recall the period when Lent was a time of final training before the reception of Baptism, the sacrament of light or 'illumination'. Thus between the two Old Testament lessons, the priest, holding the censer and a lighted candle, blesses the congregation, saying: 'The Light of Christ shines upon all'; and, following the Litany for the Catechumens and their dismissal, there is a second half of Lent an additional Litany 'for those who are ready for illumination'. Each time we take part in the Liturgy of Presanctified, we should ask ourselves: In a world that is increasingly alienated from Christ, what have I done since last Lent to spread the light of the Gospel? And where are the catechumens in our Orthodox churches today?

On Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, as indeed throughout the year, the normal hymns to the Mother of God knowns as 'Theotokia' are replaced by 'Stavrotheotokia', that is, hymns referring both to the Cross and to the Theotokos, and describing the Mother's grief as she stands beside the Cross of her Son. Through these hymns, we are made conscious of the Blessed Virgin's participation in our observance of Lent.

Let us now consider the sequence of the forty days in greater detail:

(a) The first week of Lent: Monday to Friday. At Compline on the first four days of Lent, the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is read, divided into four sections; on Thursday in the fifth week, it will be read again, this time in continuous form. With its constant refrain, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, have mercy on me', the Great Canon forms a prolonged confession of sin, an unremitting call to repentance. At the same time, it is a meditation on the whole body of Scripture, embracing all the sinners and all the righteous from the creation of the world to the coming of Christ. Here, more than anywhere else in the Triodion, we experience Lent as a reaffirmation of our 'Biblical roots'. Throughout the Great Canon the two levels of the sacred history are revealed as events of my life; God's acts in the past as acts aimed at me and my salvation, the tragedy of sin and betrayal as my personal tragedy.' The appeal of the Great Canon is very wide: the Scots Presbyterian Alexander Whyte found it 'very finest thing; the thing, at any rate, that I most enjoy in all the Office-books of the Greek Church'. (Source: The Lenten Triodion by Mother Mary and Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)

(To be continued)

______________________

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

+++

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

+Father George

Tradition in the Orthodox Church (Part V)

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.

+

TRADITION IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH (Part V)
By George Bebis Ph.D.

The Living Tradition of the Eucharist

It is interesting to emphasize another form of the Synodical System, which accentuates the importance of Holy Tradition: the Eucharist itself. In the Divine Eucharist, all Orthodox Christians meet together and in absolute agreement, in Doctrine and practice witness the presence of the Holy Trinity on the altar of the Church. The bishop and the priest pray to God the Father to send the Holy Spirit and transform the bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ. All the faithful believers present are called to receive Holy Communion and become members of the Body of Christ in the Liturgy, as it was instituted by the Lord Himself, the whole Church meets every day to proclaim and live in the oneness and the unity of faith in Jesus Christ. In the Orthodox liturgy, we see all the history of Tradition embodied in the Body and Blood of Christ. Saint Gregory Palamas writes the following in connection with the Holy Eucharist.

"We hold fast to all the Traditions of the Church, written and or unwritten, and above all to the most mystical and sacred celebration and communion and assembly (synaxis), whereby all other rites are made perfect." (Letter to Dionysius, 7).

This emphasis on the Divine Eucharist shows that Holy Tradition is a dynamic way of life unfolding continuously in the liturgical framework of the Church. By participating in the Holy Eucharist, we proclaim our Tradition as living and active members of the Church.

Of course, to live according to the Traditions of the Orthodox Church, to participate, fully, in the life of Tradition is not an easy task. We need the imparting of the Holy Spirit, in order to live in a mystical and mysterious way the life of Christ. As Saint Gregory Palamas wrote:

"All those dogmas which are now openly proclaimed in the Church and made known to all alike, were previously mysteries foreseen only by the Prophets through the Spirit. In the same way the blessings promised to the Saints in the age to come are at the present stage of the Gospel dispensation still mysteries, imparted to and foreseen by those whom the Spirit counts worthy, yet only in a partial way and in the form of a pledge" (Tomos of the Holy Mountain, Preface.)

Thus, the Holy Tradition of the Church is a living reality, which the Orthodox Christians must live daily in a mystical way. By adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scripture, the Ecumenical Councils, and the Patristic writings, by observing the holy Canons of the Church, by frequently participating in the Holy Eucharist, where Tradition becomes an empirical reality, we are the members of the Body of Christ and are led to the "contemplation of God" to repeat a beautiful expression of Saint Neilos (5th century), Saint Gregory Palamas, in summing up the Patristic Doctrine of Christian life, suggests that the ultimate purpose of man's life is theoptia that is, seeing God. (In Defense of the Hesychasts, 1,3, 42) or to use Saint Gregory of Nyssa' s words, man's life is a strenuous and endless ascent towards God, that is, deification (theosis). (On the Life of Moses, ed. by W. Jaeger, 112ff.).

Orthodox Holy Tradition, therefore, is not a dead letter, a collection of dogmas and practices of the past. It is the history of salvation. It is the life of the Holy Spirit, who constantly illuminates us in order for all Orthodox Christians to become sons and daughters of God, living in the Divine Light of the All-Blessed Trinity. (Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)

_______________________

Please note: It is most important that no one is allowed to modify, marginalize or change our Holy Tradition. There are those who want to raze or level our Holy Orthodox Church so that it is the same as every other religion. These enemies of the Orthodox Church consider her as a "relic", "outdate", "backward-looking", "living in the past", "inflexible", "too dogmatic", "unyielding", "anachronistic", etc. This threatening, radical, and most dangerous element within the Church is attempting to change forcefully and deviously the Orthodox Church from within so that it will fall in line with all other Christian and non-Christian religions. 

We only need to look at the destructive results of other religions who have attempted to so-called "modernize" their tradition. Do we need to follow their failed attempts and therefore sacrifice the true identity and authenticity of our Holy Orthodox Church? What will that accomplish? Our Holy Orthodox Church does not need any "improvements" or changes to conform to a gentile, paganistic, and secular world and society. The Orthodox Church enjoys the fullness of the Christian faith and truth. That is why it is the only Orthodox Christian church in the world.

____________________________

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

+++

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

+Father George

Tradition in the Orthodox Church (Part IV)

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.

+

TRADITION IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH (Part IV)
By George Bebis Ph.D.

The Ecumenical Councils

As has already been noted, the authority, the power, and the impact of Holy Tradition are found in the Holy Scripture and the Patristic teaching as a total and unified expression of the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the world. Christ, as the ultimate and Supreme Teacher, Shepherd and King, exercises His authority in the Holy Spirit through the holy Apostles and their successors. The holy Apostles, their successors and the whole people of God are the Body of Christ extending throughout the ages. "There is no private teaching save the common doctrine of the Catholic Church," wrote Saint Maximos the Confessor (7th century; Migne PG. 90, 120C). In the reply to Pope Pius IX in 1848, the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs wrote that "the Defender of the faith is the very body of the Church, that is the people, who want their faith kept constantly unvarying and in agreement with the Fathers." Thus the clergy and the people (laity) are both responsible for the preservation of the authentic and genuine Holy Tradition in and through the life of the Church. In this context, particularly, the Ecumenical Councils of the Church, and more generally, the Local Churches of the Church are of great importance. The first Council Synod of the Church was the Apostolic Synod, which took place in Jerusalem in 51 A.D. Later, bishops used to meet either locally, or on the "ecumenical" or "universal", the all-encompassing level of the universal Christian empire, the oikoumene, in order to discuss and solve serious Dogmatic and Canonical issues which had arisen.

The Orthodox Church accepts the following Seven Ecumenical Councils:

1. The Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., which discussed and condemned the heresy of Arianism.

2. The Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. which principally condemned the heresy of Apollinarianism.

3. The Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. which condemned the heresy of Nestorianism.

4. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., which condemned the heresy of Monophysitism.

5. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 A.D., which condemned Origen and other heretics.

6. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680-81 A.D., which condemned the heresy of Monothelitism.

7. The Second Council of Nicea, in 787 A.D., which condemned the heresy of Iconoclasm.

The Orthodox Church also assigns ecumenical status to the Council in Trullo in 692 A.D., which took place in Constantinople. Eastern bishops took part in it, and they passed disciplinary Canons to complete the work of the Fifth and the Sixth Ecumenical Councils and, thus, it is known as the Fifth-Sixth (Quinesext o penthekti).

These Ecumenical Councils became instruments for formulating the dogmatic teachings of the Church, for fighting against heresies and schisms and promoting the common and unifying Tradition of the Church which secures her unity in the bond of love and faith. Although convened by the Emperors, the Church Holy Fathers who participated came from almost all the local diocese of the Roman Empire, thus expressing the faith and practice of the Universal Church. Their decisions have been accepted by the clergy and the laity of all times, making their validity indisputable. The holy Fathers followed the Holy Scripture as well as the Apostolic and Patristic Tradition in general, meeting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Saint Constantine the Great, who convened the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, wrote that:

"...the resolution of the three hundred holy bishops is nothing else than that the determination of the Son of God especially of the Holy Spirit, pressing upon the minds of such great men brought to light the Divine purpose." (Socrates, Church History, 1:9).

In the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, it was stated that:

"The Fathers defined everything perfectly; he who goes against this is anathema; no one adds, no one takes away" (Acta Council, II, 1.)

Saba, the bishop of Paltus in Syria in the fifth century, speaking about the Council of Nicea

said:

"Our Fathers who met in Nicea did not make their declarations of themselves but spoke as the Holy Spirit dictated".

"Following the Fathers" becomes a fixed expression in the minutes and the declarations of the Ecumenical Councils as well as of the local ones. Thus, the Ecumenical Councils and also some local councils, which later received universal acceptance, express the infallible teaching of the Church, a teaching which is irrevocable.

Are the Ecumenical Councils of the Church the only infallible and correct instruments in proclaiming and implementing the faith of the Church? Certainly, no bishops by themselves, no local councils, no theologians can teach the faith by themselves alone. The Ecumenical Councils are among the most important means which inscribe, proclaim, and implement the faith of the Church, but only in conjunction with Holy Scripture, and the Tradition. The Ecumenical Councils are an integral part of the ongoing Tradition of the Church. Thus the Orthodox Church claims that she has kept intact the faith of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. (Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)

(To be continued)

______________________________________

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

+++

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

+Father George