First Sunday of Great and Holy Lent - Sunday of Orthodoxy

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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FIRST SUNDAY OF GREAT AND HOLY LENT - SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY

"Rejoicing today in the triumph of Orthodoxy on this first Sunday of Lent, we joyfully commemorate three events: one event belonging to the past; one event to the present; and one event which still belongs to the future."

Rejoicing today in the triumph of Orthodoxy on this first Sunday of Lent, we joyfully commemorate three events: one event belonging to the past; one event to the present; and one event which still belongs to the future.

Whenever we have any feast or joy in the Church, we Orthodox first of all look back -- for in our present life we depend on what happened in the past. We depend first of all, of course, on the first and the ultimate triumph--that of Christ Himself. Our faith is rooted in that strange defeat which became the most glorious victory -- the defeat of a man nailed to the cross, who rose again from the dead, who is the Lord and the Master of the world. This is the first triumph of Orthodoxy. This is the content of all our commemorations and of all our joy. This Man selected and chose twelve men, gave them the power to preach about that defeat and that victory, and sent them to the whole world saying preach and baptize, build up the Church, announce the Kingdom of God. And you know, my brothers and sisters, how those twelve men -- very simple men indeed, simple fishermen -- went out and preached. The world hated them, the Roman Empire persecuted them, and they were covered with blood. But that blood was another victory. The Church grew, the Church covered the universe with the True faith. After 300 years of the most unequal conflict between the powerful Roman Empire and the powerless Christian Church, the Roman Empire accepted Christ as Lord and Master. That was the second triumph of Orthodoxy. The Roman Empire recognized the one whom it crucified and those whom it persecuted as the bearers of truth, and their teaching as the teaching of life eternal. The Church triumphed. But then the second period of troubles began.

The following centuries saw many attempts to distort the faith, to adjust it to human needs, to fill it with human content. In each generation, there were those who could not accept that message of the Cross and resurrection and life eternal. They tried to change it, and those changes we call heresies. Again there were persecutions. Again, Orthodox bishops, monks, and laymen defended their faith and were condemned and went into exile and were covered with blood. And after five centuries of those conflicts and persecutions and discussions, the day came which we commemorate today, the day of the final victory of Orthodoxy as the True faith over all the heresies. It happened on the first Sunday of Lent in the year 843 in Constantinople. After almost 100 years of persecution directed against the veneration of the holy icons, the Church finally proclaimed that the truth had been defined, that the truth was fully in the possession of the Church. And since then all Orthodox people, wherever they live, have regarded this Sunday to proclaim before the world their faith in that truth, their belief that the Church is truly Apostolic, truly Orthodox, truly universal. This is the event of the past that we commemorate today...

"...Today, gathered here together, Orthodox of various national backgrounds, we proclaim and we glorify first of all our unity in Orthodoxy. This is the triumph of Orthodoxy in the present. This is a most wonderful event: that all of us, with all our differences, with all our limitations, with all our weaknesses, can come together and say we belong to that Orthodox faith, that we are one in Christ and in Orthodoxy. We are living very far from the traditional centers of Orthodoxy. We call ourselves Eastern Orthodox, and yet we are here in the West, so far from those glorious cities which were centers of the Orthodox faith for centuries--Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow. How far are those cities? And yet, don't we have the feeling that something of a miracle has happened, that God has sent us here, far into the West, not just in order to settle here, to increase our income, to build up a community. He also has sent us as apostles of Orthodoxy, so that this faith, which historically was limited to the East, now is becoming a faith that is truly and completely universal...

"...As we approach the most important moment of the Eucharist, the priest says, "Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess..." What is the condition of the real triumph of Orthodoxy? What is the way leading to the real, the final, the ultimate victory of our faith? The answer comes from the Gospel. The answer comes from Christ Himself and from the whole Tradition of Orthodoxy. It is love. Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess...confess our faith, our Orthodoxy. Let us, from now on, feel responsible for each other. Let us understand that even if we are divided in small parishes, in small dioceses, we, first of all, belong to one another. We belong together, to Christ, to His Body, to the Church. Let us feel responsible for each other, and let us love one another. Let us put above everything else the interests of Orthodoxy in this country. Let us understand that each one of us today has to be the apostle of Orthodoxy in a country which is not yet Orthodox, in a society which is asking us: "What do you believe?" "What is your faith?" And let us, above everything else, keep the memory, keep the experience, keep the taste of that unity which we are anticipating tonight...

Today is the triumph of Orthodoxy, and a hymn sung today states solemnly and simply: "This is the Apostolic faith, this is the Orthodox faith, this is the faith of the Fathers, this is the faith that is the foundation of the world." My dear brothers and sisters, this is also our own faith. We are chosen. We are elected. We are the happy few that can say of our faith, "Apostolic," "universal," the faith of our fathers," "Orthodoxy," "the truth." Having this wonderful treasure, let us preserve it, let us keep it, and let us also use it in such a way that this treasure becomes the victory of Christ in us and in His Church. Amen. (Source: Orthodox Church in America)

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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

Adult Orthodox Religious Education Ministry (Diakonia)

Saint Nikolai Velimirovic

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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ADULT ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS EDUCATION MINISTRY (DIAKONIA)

Saint Nikolai Velimirovic emphasized the significance of the continuing adult education and how crucial to the spiritual health of the faithful and community around us when he said, "The better one knows our Orthodox faith, the more he loves it." (Missionary Letters)

We, at Saint Andrew, take adult education seriously. For years there has been an online adult religious education on a daily basis, we have a weekly Adult Bible Catechetical Class, we have an Orthodox Parish Library, all of our faithful are able to purchase religious items and books on the various aspects of our Faith from the Saint Andrew Bookstore, and various Orthodox pamphlets free of charge on spiritual topics as well as synopsis of the Mysteries (Sacraments), Church History, and the numerous traditions, social issues, etc.

I congratulate all of you who show such great interest and willingness to enrich your knowledge of our Christian Faith. "The gate by which we enter the Kingdom of God is increasingly becoming narrow, and we need to have ongoing instruction, guidance, encouragement, inspiration, support and, where necessary and importantly, correction."

Many of our Christian converts to the Orthodox Faith have described the discovery of Orthodoxy as "discovering gold". Other converts have described finding "the light of the early Church" that still shines in Orthodoxy." Others have described Orthodox Christianity as the "fullness of the Christian faith."

It is my hope that these classes and the religious education offered to our people will afford them the opportunity to discover this "gold", this "light of Christianity", this "fullness". Our goal at Saint Andrew is not only one of discovery, but also one of learning how to experience this fullness of life in Christ through the fullness of the Christian faith retained without alteration in the Orthodox Christian Church, the authentic Church of Christ.

Saint Peter the Holy Apostle writes, "...you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10).

A blessed Great and Holy Lent to all.

With agape in Christ God,

+Father George

Rules for a Saving Confession

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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RULES FOR A SAVING CONFESSION

All Christians without exception must go to Confession if they wish to be saved. But how should the truly faithful Confession occur? Many do not know this, and that is why is necessary to discuss this question more thoroughly. Here we will look at the following three parts of Confession:

a) What we should do before we go to the confessor.

b) What we should do when we are with the confessor.

c) What we should do when we come out of Confession.

What should we do before we go to the confessor?

The first and the last of the Apostles of Christ sinned gravely. Peter denied Christ; Judas betrayed Him. But Peter was forgiven and Judas perished. Peter regained his Apostolic dignity, but the condemnation of the ages is still weighing on Judas. What saved Peter, and what destroyed Judas? What should have this wretch done? Should he have confessed the sin after he committed it? But, technically speaking, he confessed when he went to the scribes and elders and told them, "I have sinned in that i have betrayed the innocent blood" (St. Matthew 27:4), and with the confession gave back the thirty silver pieces to them. Is this not enough? Alas, no! A confession by itself does not save. Besides a broken heart, a live faith in God's grace is needed. Judas despaired of his salvation; that is why he hung himself after his confession. His body hung on a tree, and his soul went to hell for eternal torment.

Peter did not do so. In the yard of Caiaphas he denied Christ, his Benefactor, and Teacher, three times: "I do not know the man" (St. Matthew 26:74). But at the third denial, when he heard the rooster crow, he remembered what Christ had prophesied, realized his sin, and humbled his heart. He went out of that yard, got out of the bad company of the servants of the high priest, and, most importantly, began to shed bitter tears--tears of sincere, heartfelt, deep repentance. According to one tradition, throughout his whole life, whenever he heard a rooster crow Peter remembered his heavy sin, and his eyes turned into two springs of most repentant tears. Peter did not despair; he believed in God's mercy and thus saved himself.

Saint Peter has left us a living lesson: to turn again to God after our fall into sin. It is faith in God's mercy which drives away ever despair. God is love (agape). However grave our sin may be, He will forgive it, provided we repent from the heart. Even if our sins are as high as the mountains, they will sink in the ocean of God's mercy. However, if a man despair, he is lost. Despair is the triumph of the devil. In short, let us protect ourselves from despair because if we despair no one can save us.

We should imitate the holy Apostle Peter in another respect, as well. As he realized his sin, he immediately went out of the accursed yard of the high priest where he had denied Christ. And you, brother or sister when you want to confess and come back to God, come out of that accursed yard of sin where you have been until now and where you have denied Christ not three times, but thirty-three times. Come out with your body, with your heart, and with your mind! Peter went away from the servants of the high priest. You, too, abandon the friendship with those who teach you to sin or who unwittingly serve as a temptation to you.

What should we do when we are with the confessor?

We have to do the following:

1)     Remember that we have come to Christ's infirmary. Here, the visible doctor is the priest, and the invisible--Christ Himself; 

2)     Confess our sins without false shame;

3)     Not seek excuses for our sins;

4)     Consciously conceal absolutely nothing;

5)     Do not confess with general phrases which have no meaning;

6)     Confess briefly, but precisely, the character of each of our sins;

7)     Not reveal other people's sins, and conceal, whenever possible, the names of the persons who have tempted us or who have sinned with us through our fault;

8)     Not to boast before the priest of any virtues of ours;

9)     Not to transfer the blame on others, but only on ourselves; and

10) Have a sincere desire not to sin again.

(Source: The Forgotten Medicine: The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev)

(To be continued)

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THIS EVENING:

The Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete at 6:30 p.m.

Chapel of Saint Nektarios

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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

Reflections on the Mysterion (Sacrament) of Confession

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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REFLECTIONS ON THE MYSTERION (SACRAMENT) OF CONFESSION
By Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

For each conscientious priest, Confession is without any doubt one of the most difficult and frustrating aspects of his ministry. It is here, on the one hand, that he encounters the only real object of his Pastoral care: the human soul, man, as he stands sinful and miserable, before God. But it is here, on the other hand, that he realizes to what degree nominal Christianity has pervaded our Church life. The basic Christian notions of sin and repentance, reconciliation with God and renewal of life, seem to have become irrelevant. If the terms are still used, their meaning is certainly quite different from that, on which our whole Christian faith is based.

Another source of difficulties is the theoretical, or even theological, confusion as to the nature of the Sacrament of Penance. In practice, a purely formal and juridical understanding of it, clearly Western and "romanizing" in its origin, coexists paradoxically with an equally doubtful reduction of confession to psychology. In the first case, the man comes to the priest, confesses transgressions of Christian law, and receives absolution which entitles him to the second sacrament "of obligation" - Holy Communion. Confession proper is reduced here to a minimum, and in some churches even replaced by a general formula to be read by the penitent. If the first case reveals "romanizing" tendencies, the second can be termed "protestantizing". Confession is regarded as "counseling," as helping and solving difficulties and problems and is a dialogue not between man and God, but between man and a supposedly wise and experienced advisor with ready answers to all human problems. Both tendencies, however, obscure and deform the truly Orthodox understanding and practice of Confession.

The existing situation is due to many factors. And, although it is obviously impossible to enumerate all of them here and to even outline the very complicated historical development of the Mysterion (Sacrament) of Penance/Confession, a few remarks are necessary before we discuss possible solutions.

a) Originally the Sacrament of Penance/Confession was understood and practiced as reconciliation of those excommunicated, i.e., banished from the "Ecclesia" -the Assembly of the People of God and its fulfillment in the Divine Eucharist which is the "Koinonia" of the Body and Blood of Christ. The excommunicated is the one who cannot offer and, therefore, cannot receive. This reconciliation was a long process and the absolution -- its final seal, the sign or "image" of repentance, i.e., of the rejection and condemnation by the penitent of his sin and alienation from God, of its real confession (manifestation, recognition) as sin. The power of absolution was not thought of as a "power in itself", virtually independent from repentance. It was indeed the Sacramental sign of an acceptance and that God has accepted it, has "reconciled and united" the penitent with the Church. Whatever changes occurred in the practice of the Sacrament, this first and essential meaning, is still the starting point of its Orthodox Christian understanding.

(To be continued)

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

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

+Father George

The First Week of Great and Holy Lent: Monday to Friday

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 FIRST WEEK OF GREAT AND HOLY LENT: MONDAY TO FRIDAY

At Compline (Apodeipnos) on the first four days of Holy 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 upon 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 Holy Scripture, embracing all the sinners and all the righteous from the creation of the world to the second coming 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, the historical and personal, are skillfully interwoven. 'The events 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 Monday that follows Cheese-fare Sunday is the first day of Great and Holy Lent itself. We have now begun on this succession of forty days which prepare us for the time of the Passion and for the time of Pascha. But before going into the details of these weeks of Holy Lent, let us give a little time to the consideration of some of its general characteristics.

The first of these characteristics is, of course, the fast. One cannot ignore or treat the question of fasting from food lightly. The Holy Fathers of the Church and the collective conscience of the faithful Orthodox Christians have discerned clearly the spiritual value - a value which is both penitential and purifying -- of abstention from certain foods. It would, however, be a serious mistake to think that this abstention constituted the only observance necessary to Holy Lent. Bodily fasting must be accompanied by another fast. In the first centuries, the discipline of the Church prescribed conjugal abstinence during Holy Lent; it forbade the participation of feasts and attendance at public festivals. This discipline has perhaps become weakened and is not presented to believers quite as forcefully as in the times of the Holy Fathers. All the same, it remains as a precious indication of the spirit, the intention of the Church. But most surely, this intention is that during Holy Lent we exercise stricter control over our thoughts, our words, and actions, and concentrate our attention on the person of the savior and what He requires of us. Almsgiving (charity) is also one of the forms of Lenten observance that the Holy Fathers of the Church recommended most highly. A fast that is pleasing to god is therefore a 'whole' which cannot be separated into inner and outward aspects; of the two the former are certainly the most important.

Furthermore, the Divine Liturgy which is celebrated on Sundays during Great and Holy Lent is not the Liturgy attributed to Saint John Chrysostom. It is the Divine Liturgy to Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesaria, in the 4th century. This Divine Liturgy is longer than that of Saint John Chrysostom and the text is sometimes slightly different.

On Wednesday and Friday during Great and Holy Lent, the liturgy called the 'Presanctified' is celebrated, that is to say, the liturgy for which the Holy Gifts have been consecrated in advance. It is not a Eucharistic liturgy in the full sense, as there is no consecration. It is a communion service in which the priests and congregation take Holy Communion with the elements which were consecrated during the previous Liturgy of Saint Basil or Saint John Chrysostom, and which have been preserved since then. The Liturgy of the Presanctified is added on to Vespers. That is why, in principle, it should be celebrated in the evening.  It includes certain psalms, certain special biblical readings, and certain prayers borrowed from the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. The latter is celebrated every Saturday morning.

On Friday evening during Great and Holy Lent the Hymn called the 'akathist' is recited or sung. It is a long poem of praise to the Most Holy Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos. It comprises twenty-four stanzas set out in alphabetical order and broken up into our portions. These portions are read one after another -- one each Friday -- during the First Four Fridays of Great and Holy Lent. On the fifth Friday, the Akathist is chanted in its entirety.

Finally -- and perhaps above all -- the admirable prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian must be mentioned. In this, neither poetry nor rhetoric plays any part. We are here faced with upsurge of the soul - short, sober, and full of ardor. This prayer, accompanied by prostrations (metanoies), is said for the first time on the evening of the Sunday which immediately precedes Great and Holy Lent (the evening service being counted as already belonging to Monday, the First Day of Lent ). It is repeated during most of the Lenten services, especially in the Liturgy of the Presanctified. The prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian is widely known by Orthodox Christian believers; this is it text:

'O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, vain curiosity, lust for power, and idle talk.  But give to me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.

O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.'

The prayer of Saint Ephraim sums up all that is essential in spiritual life. A Christian who used it constantly, who nourished himself from it during Great and Holy Lent, would be at the simplest and best school. Even someone who restricted himself to repeating and meditating on these words. 'Lord and Master of my life', would enter deeply into the reality of the relationship between God and the soul, the soul and its God. (Source: The Year of Grace of the Lord)

(To be continued)

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DIVINE SERVICE THIS EVENING (CLEAN MONDAY [KATHARA DEFTERA] ): THE CANON OF SAINT ANDREW OF CRETE AT 6:30 p.m.

Place of worship: Chapel of Saint Nektarios

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

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

+Father George

Sin (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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SIN (Αμαρτία) [Part II ]

The Word of God says: "Sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4). This means that sin is a violation of God's law. Every violated law, be it civil or natural, entails punishment. Sin, as transgression of the highest law--the will of God, leads to most heavy punishments. These punishments can be temporary or eternal. The temporary ones are sent by God to bring us to our senses and for correction. If we repent and are reconciled with God, we will save ourselves in our sins, if we do not want to repent of them, if we persist in our rebellion against God, He will let us go our own way.

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. If sin is such a terrible evil, why do all of us commit sin so carelessly? How have we gotten to the point of befriending our sins most intimately, of getting used to them to such a degree that most of us today think that sin is unavoidable in life? How have we been able to stand, and still stand, the filth, dust, and cobwebs in the rooms of our hearts, living with a dull insensibility in this disorder, amid the stench of our lawlessness? All this is simply inexplicable. But it is a fact. Hardened, morally dulled, we have become indifferent toward the call of our own conscience and toward the concern for our salvation....And this indifference has come to the point where we underestimate the weight and the fatefulness o four wickedness. We think that we are not doing anything really bad when we sin. Oh, if we could measure the whole weight of our sins and if we would feel clearly that this weight is pulling us toward the bottom of hell, we would rather agree that the earth swallow us and that the rocks bury us than for us to sin and anger God.

If we picture a pair of scales and put human sins on one of the dishes and on the other--the holiness of all the bright spirits of heaven and of all the righteous people who have lived on earth, then all the holiness in heaven and earth would not be able to lift up the dish of human sinfulness. Only the power of God can lift it up. That is why God sent to earth His Only-Begotten Son Who was to atone for human sin with His Sacrifice on Golgotha. Since then, all the sins of man from all times can be forgiven if repentance for them is offered. Since then, 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" (John 3:16). "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (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 our 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 sins: 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." (Source: The Forgotten Medicine. The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev)

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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