"The Ancient Church" documentary

The following is a short documentary on the history of the ancient Orthodox Church. For more information on the people, places, and events mentioned in the videos, click on the links below.

5:16 Ecumenical Councils
6:20 Papal Supremacy
6:23 The Filioque
6:28 The Great Schism of 1054 (also here)

00:13 Luther & 95 Theses, Protestant Reformation
2:00 Patriarch Ignatius IV
2:18 St Ignatius
3:11 Churches of Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria & Georgia
3:19 Churches of Cyprus, Greece, Poland & Albania
3:25 Churches of Sinai, Czech Republic, Finland, Japan & China
4:36 Metropolitan Philip
5:49 Fr Peter Gillquist
6:03 Fr Gordon Walker

00:31 Mysteries
00:42 Fr. Jon Braun

Church Tagged With Anti-Arab Graffiti

"I agree that this is a sad and ignorant act. I am an Antiochian Orthodox Christian who happens to be 100% Irish. Our church here in VA is made up of a diverse group of Christians who have come to the Orthodox faith from many other faith traditions. Sadly, we have yet to find an Arab individual or family. Perhaps God will bless us with this gift, and the gift of an Israeli individual or family as well. May the peace of God be with you!"
Ed, comment from Washington News website

Q&A

Q: Orthodox churches are getting a significant number of converts from Western Christian traditions. Is that a reflection on Orthodoxy, on Western churches, or both?

A: To a great extent, many of the other churches are falling apart. The mainline Protestants, the Methodists, the Presbyterians. The Episcopalians have lost half their membership. The Baptists, even. The evangelical movement is already coming to an end. It's only about 100 years old in American culture, and it's kind of come to the fulfillment of its potential. The Orthodox Church is the fullness of the apostolic faith and the apostolic tradition. People find in it what they always thought Christianity should be.


From a USAToday interview with Met. Jonah, 12/10/2008

The Veneration of the Venerable Shackles of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Peter

On the orders of Herod Agrippa, in about the year 42 the Apostle Peter was thrown into prison for preaching about Christ the Saviour. In prison he was held secure by two iron chains. By night, on the eve of his trial, an Angel of the Lord removed these chains from the Apostle Peter and miraculously led him out from the prison (Acts 12: 1-11). Christians who learned of the miracle took the chains and kept them as precious keepsakes. Those afflicted with illness and approaching them with faith received healing. The Chains of the holy Apostle Peter were kept at Jerusalem until the time of Patriarch Juvenalios, who presented them to Eudocia, spouse of the emperor Theodosius the Younger, and she in turn transferred them from Jerusalem to Constantinople in either the year 437 or 439. Eudocia sent one Chain to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia, who built a church in the name of the Apostle Peter and put within it the Chain. At Rome were also other Chains, in which the Apostle Peter found himself before his death under the emperor Nero.

On 16 January [O.S. Jan 29] the Chains of the Apostle Peter are brought out for veneration by the people.

From Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

Russia Welcomes New Patriarch

As I rise from sleep I thank Thee, O Holy Trinity, for through Thy great goodness and patience Thou wast not angered with me, an idler and sinner, nor hast Thou destroyed me in my sins, but hast shown Thy usual love for men, and when I was prostrate in despair, Thou hast raised me to keep the morning watch and glorify Thy power. And now enlighten my mind's eye and open my mouth to study Thy words and understand Thy commandments and do Thy will and sing to Thee in heartfelt adoration and praise Thy Most Holy Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
(Prayer of St. Basil the Great to the Most Holy Trinity)

Salt v. Sugar IV

My heart breaks for the people of New Spring Church in South Carolina.

It is clearly a "seeker friendly" church, so their intention--which, apparently, is to fulfill Matthew 29.19--is correct. But when seekers find this body of Christians, to what kind of God are they being introduced?

Is it the same God Whose holiness permeated the very ground on which Moses stood? The God in Whose presence Moses "trembled with fear" on Mt Sinai; at the sight of Whom the Prophet Isaiah became "undone"?

Is it the God at Whose appearance Abraham, the Prophet Ezekiel, and John the Evangelist fell on their faces? Whose holiness so filled the House of the Lord that "the priests could not stand to minister"? In worship of Whom Joshua "fell on his face to the earth"?

Is it the God Who is "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises," Who "art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity"?

Are they encountering the God Whose glory fills the whole earth, Who is to be served with fear, Whose ways and thoughts are as above ours as the heavens are above the earth, Who is "greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him"?

Sadly--tragically!!--no. The god whom these seekers at New Spring Church are being shown is one whose worship can be postponed in favor of professional sports.



If this is the extent of the holiness that they attribute to their god, then how much holiness can they truly believe is expected of them? (Ex 19.6; Lv 11.44; 19.2; 20.7, 26; 21.8; 1Pt 1.16; 1Th 4.7)

Met. Jonah at March for Life, 1/22/09

Some comments by Metropolitan Jonah at the March for Life on Thursday (the second video cuts off near the end)

Typology

Genesis is about Christ. Exodus is about Christ, and so forth. Read any other way, the books are interesting, but they will not be read in a manner that has been received by the Orthodox Christian Church.
Father Stephen Freeman, Glory to God For All Things

I have found that, without a doubt, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Orthodox understanding of Scripture is a thing called typology, which, as the name suggests, is the study of types. According to the Antiochian Archdiocese website, a type is,

a historical event that has a deeper meaning, pointing to our salvation in Christ. For example, the three days that Jonah spent in the belly of the fish is a type of the three days that Christ would spend in the tomb (Matt. 12:40). The serpent that Moses lifted up on the staff is a type of the lifting up of Christ on the Cross (John 3:14-16). The burning bush, aflame but not consumed, is a type of the Virgin Mary, who carried the incarnate God in her womb but was not consumed by His presence (Luke 1:26-38). Noah's ark, which saved Noah and his family from death in the flood, is a type of baptism, which brings the believer from death to life (1 Pet. 3:18-22).

I have been discovering that the Bible is far richer and more complex and enthralling than I ever imagined. The Old Testament is more than a collection of loosely related stories and poetry and historical accounts with a few important events thrown in for good measure: It is the very story of our salvation. Never had I imagined how many times and in how many ways the Old Testament foretold our salvation through Christ. The Orthodox liturgical texts bear witness over and over to these foretellings.

The following are a few examples of Old Testament types with their New Testament fullfillment (antitypes):

Scripture	Type	Antitype
Rom 5	Adam	Christ, the head of a new race
1Thes 4	Enoch	Christ's ascension and a pledge of ours
1Pet 3	Noah	Christ preaching and saving believers
Heb 7	Melchizedek	Christ the Great High Priest
Gen 22	Abraham	God the Father
Heb 11	Isaac	Christ (miraculous birth, sacrifice)
Ps 105	Joseph	Christ in suffering and exaltation
Ex 3	Moses	Christ delivering us from slavery
Josh 1	Joshua	Christ bringing us into rest
Jdg 16	Samson	Christ in strength, suffering and death
1Kgs 4	Solomon	Christ in wisdom and dominion
Matt 17	Elijah	John the Baptist, the forerunner
Matt 12	Jonah	Christ's death, burial and resurrection
Ezra 5	Zerubbabel	Christ leading out of captivity
Zec 3	Joshua (the High Priest)	Christ restoring purity of worship
Isaiah 49	The Jewish nation	Christ who is called Israel
Gal 6	The Jewish nation	The Church which is also called Israel
Rom 8	The firstborn	Christ: “the firstborn among many brethren.”
Heb 12	The firstborn	“the Church of the firstborn.”
Num 6	The Nazarite	Christ, separated unto God
1Pet 2	The Nazarite	the Church, a holy people
Deut 18	Prophets	Christ, who taught the will of God
1Cor 14	Prophets	the Church, with its gift of prophecy
Heb 5	Priests	Christ, our great High Priest
1Kgs 2.19-20	Queen Mother	Theotokos as Mother and Intercessor
Ex 12; Ps 105	Deliverance out of Egypt	baptism
Ex 14-15	The passage of the Red Sea	baptism
Josh 3-4	The passage of the Jordan	Christ’s baptism and death
Deut 11; Josh 5	Entrance into Canaan	Christ leading his people to the age to come
Gen 28	Jacob's ladder	Theotokos and Christ connecting heaven and earth
Ex 3	The burning bush	the Theotokos and the Church
John 6	Manna	Christ, the Bread of Life and the Eucharist
1Cor 10	The smitten rock	Christ, the Water of Life
Num 21	The brazen serpent	Christ lifted up on the Cross
Gen 17; Mk 16	Circumcision	a seal of admission to the Covenant (baptism)
Ex 38	The altar of burnt offering	atonement
2Ch 4	The molten sea and lavers	cleansing, baptism
Ex 30	The altar of incense	the prayer of the saints
Ex 25.31-40	The golden candlestick	Christ, the Light of the World
Ex 25.23-30	Showbread	the Eucharist
Ezk 43-44	The Gate of the Temple	The Theotokos, Ever-Virgin

Click here for more

Q&A

Q: Why are Orthodox priests allowed to marry?

A: Technically speaking, we ordain married men — neither priests nor deacons may marry once they are ordained (in some traditions, this applies to ordination of SubDeacons as well). The decision to marry or not must be made prior to ordination, and in the event of the death of his wife, an ordained clergyman may not remarry.

Specifically, It was at the First Lateran Council in 1123 that celibacy became mandatory for Roman Catholic priests. A local council in the West in Elvira, Spain in 316 declared that celibacy was mandatory for clergy, and the practice began to spread in the West over the following centuries under the encouragement of various Popes.

Orthodox have always insisted that celibacy had traditionally been optional for clergy since the first century, citing scriptural and other evidence for married priests and bishops (see for example Mark 1:30, Timothy 3:1-5). And the decisions of local councils are not binding on the church as a whole; only the decisions of ecumenical councils, when accepted by the community as a whole, are binding. Note that as is the case in the West, bishops have been celibate in Orthodoxy since the fifth century, a canon law instituted to halt the loss of land holdings to the descendents of married bishops.

Note, too, that all monastics are celibate in the Orthodox Church. Also, celibacy has always been understood as a tradition rather than as unchangeable doctrine in the West, which is why there have been exceptions made to Roman Catholic priestly celibacy, especially in recent years. There are no doctrinal reasons why a married priesthood could not be restored in the West.

Courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Church

Detroit News: Royal Eagle offers taste of Eastern Europe

The food at the Royal Eagle really is wonderful.
And the worship that takes place a few steps away isn't bad either...

History buffs in particular will be fascinated by what is surely the metro area's most unusual restaurant, tucked away on a quiet Harper Woods side street on the grounds of St. Sabbas Orthodox Monastery.

But anyone who appreciates a true hideaway with a distinct personality should savor this meticulously appointed place.

The Royal Eagle restaurant presents linen-covered tables under graceful chandeliers in a high-ceilinged room with tall, arched windows offering a view of the gardens that seem almost as beautiful covered in snow as they do in summer.

Read the rest here.

Message from Met. Jonah on Sanctity of Life Sunday, 1/18/2009

Dearly Beloved in Christ:

The Lord Jesus Christ emerged from the waters of Baptism, and heard the Word of the Father: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The Lord's word to each and every human being, to each and every being which bears the image and can actualize the likeness of God, is the same: You are my beloved. It is the very Word of God who, by His incarnation and assumption of our whole life and our whole condition, affirms and blesses the ultimate value of every human person--and indeed of creation as a whole. He filled it with His own being, uniting us to Himself, making us His own Body, transfiguring and deifying our lives, and raising us up to God our Father. He affirms and fulfills us, not simply as individuals seeking happiness, but rather as persons with an infinite capacity to love and be loved, and thus fulfills us through His own divine personhood in communion.

Our life as human beings is not given to us to live autonomously and independently. This, however, is the great temptation: to deny our personhood, by the depersonalization of those around us, seeing them only as objects that are useful and give us pleasure, or are obstacles to be removed or overcome. This is the essence of our fallenness, our brokenness. With this comes the denial of God, and loss of spiritual consciousness. It has resulted in profound alienation and loneliness, a society plummeting into the abyss of nihilism and despair. There can be no sanctity of life when nothing is sacred, nothing is holy. Nor can there be any respect for persons in a society that accepts only autonomous individualism: there can be no love, only selfish gratification. This, of course, is delusion. We are mutually interdependent.

First as Christians, but even more so, as human beings, we must repent and turn to God and one another, seeking forgiveness and reconciliation. Only this will heal the soul. Only by confronting our bitterness and resentment, and finding forgiveness for those who have hurt us, can we be free from the rage that binds us in despair. Repentance is not about beating ourselves up for our errors and feeling guilty; that is a sin in and of itself! Guilt keeps us entombed in self-pity. All sin is some form of self-centeredness, selfishness. Repentance is the transformation of our minds and hearts as we turn away from our sin, and turn to God, and to one another. Repentance means to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean to justify someone's sin against us. When we resent and hold a grudge, we objectify the person who hurt us according to their action, and erect a barrier between us and them. And, we continue to beat ourselves up with their sin. To forgive means to overcome that barrier, and see that there is a person who, just like us, is hurt and broken, and to overlook the sin and embrace him or her in love. When we live in a state of repentance and reconciliation, we live in a communion of love, and overcome all the barriers that prevented us from fulfilling our own personhood.

All the sins against humanity, abortion, euthanasia, war, violence, and victimization of all kinds, are the results of depersonalization. Whether it is "the unwanted pregnancy", or worse, "the fetus" rather than "my son" or "my daughter;" whether it is "the enemy" rather than Joe or Harry (maybe Ahmed or Mohammed), the same depersonalization allows us to fulfill our own selfishness against the obstacle to my will. How many of our elderly, our parents and grandparents, live forgotten in isolation and loneliness? How many Afghan, Iraqi, Palestinian and American youths will we sacrifice to agonizing injuries and deaths for the sake of our political will? They are called "soldiers," or "enemy combatants" or "civilian casualties" or any variety of other euphemisms to deny their personhood. But ask their parents or children! Pro-war is NOT pro-life! God weeps for our callousness.

We have to extend a hand to those suffering from their sins, what ever they are. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, save the one we refuse to accept forgiveness for. Abortion not only destroys the life of the infant; it rips the soul out of the mother (and the father!). It becomes a sin for which a woman torments herself for years, sinking deeper into despair and self-condemnation and self-hatred. But there is forgiveness, if only she will ask. We must seek out and embrace the veterans who have seen such horrors, and committed them. They need to be able to repent and accept forgiveness, so that their souls, their memories, and their lives, might be healed.

Most of all, we must restore the family: not just the nuclear family, but the multi-generational family which lives together, supports one another, and teaches each one what it means to be loved and to be a person. It teaches what forgiveness and reconciliation are. And it embraces and consoles the prodigals who have fallen. In this, the real sanctity of life is revealed, from pregnancy to old age. And in the multi-generational family each person finds value. This is the most important thing that we can possibly do.

The Blessed Mother Teresa said that the greatest poverty of the industrialized world is loneliness. Let us reach out to those isolated, alienated, alone, and in despair, finding in them someone most worthy of love; and in turn, we will find in ourselves that same love and value, and know indeed that God speaks to us in the depths of our souls, You are my beloved in whom I am well pleased.

With love in Christ,
+JONAH
Archbishop of Washington and New York
Metropolitan of All America and Canada

From oca.org (emphases added)

When You, O Lord were baptized in the Jordan
The worship of the Trinity was made manifest
For the voice of the Father bore witness to You
And called You His beloved Son.
And the Spirit, in the form of a dove,
Confirmed the truthfulness of His word.
O Christ, our God, You have revealed Yourself
And have enlightened the world, glory to You!
(Theophany Troparion)

Peter Gillquist

One of the most important books I've read during my investigation of Orthodox Christianity has been Becoming Orthodox, by Father Peter Gillquist. It is the story of how he and a couple thousand of his friends found the Ancient Church.

Father Peter accepted Christ in college, and in the 1960's was a major player in Campus Crusade for Christ, which is an evangelical college ministry. He and his Campus Crusade colleagues eventually became dissatisfied with what they saw in Christianity at large, and decided that they would set out to recreate/rediscover the ancient Christian Church. They soon realized, however, that their knowledge of the Church was incomplete: As Evangelicals, they were familiar with the Church of the first century, and as Protestants, they knew all about what had taken place since 1517. But, whatever happened between the end of the New Testament era and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, they had no idea.

So they decided to break off into teams to research what exactly happened to the early Church; what did it look like? What did it teach and believe? How did it worship? How was it administered?

They were shocked at what they found.

They discovered that Christian worship was liturgical and sacramental from the very beginning; that the early Church was made up of bishops, priests, deacons, and laity; that it did not have a book called "The Bible" for the first 350 years of its existence, and yet still managed to preserve the "faith which was once delivered unto the saints." They learned that the early Christians venerated Mary and the Saints, and made the Sign of the Cross over themselves and their meals and their beds.

Furthermore, they discovered that the church they sought to restore, the Church of the first century, the Church described in the book of Acts, the Church established by Christ Himself, still exists, and still teaches the Faith of the Apostles, unaltered, unadulterated, untainted. They learned that the very church of Antioch, whose parishioners were the first to be called Christians, is alive and well today, and that its Patriarch lives in Damascus on the street called Straight.

Their search for the Church of the Apostles led Peter Gillquist and his colleagues straight to the Orthodox Christian Church, into which they and two-thousand of their friends and family members were received in February of 1987. Father Peter was eventually ordained a priest and works today in the Mission and Evangelism department of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

I'll give my copy of Father Peter's book to whoever wants it, on the condition that you pass it along to someone else when you're done with it.

For more information:
Reverend speaks on his conversion (newspaper article)
An Hour with Father Peter Gillquist (Our Life in Christ--audio)
Fr Peter's articles on Beliefnet.com

Kenyan Orthodox Church

Photos courtesy of Fourth Night

Q&A

Q: How is the Orthodox Church organized and how is it held together as one worldwide Church?

A: The Orthodox Church as a whole is the unity of what are called local autocephalous or autonomous churches. These words mean simply that these churches govern themselves, electing their own bishops and organizing their own lives.

Each of these churches has exactly the same doctrine, discipline and spiritual practices. They use the same Bible, follow the same canon laws, confess the authority of the same Church Councils and worship by what is essentially the same liturgy.

It is nothing other than this communion in faith and practice which unites all Orthodox Churches together into one world-wide body. In this sense, there is no one dominating authority in the Orthodox Church, no particular bishop or see or document which [rules] over the churches.

In practice, the Church of Constantinople has functioned for centuries as the church responsible for guiding and preserving the worldwide unity of the family of self-governing Orthodox Churches. But it must be noticed that this responsibility is merely a practical and pastoral one. It carries no sacramental or juridical power with it and it is possible that in the future this function may pass to some other church.


From OCA.org

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Romans 6:3-5).

It is worth noting that such statements by St. Paul are as far removed from Baptism as an “Ordinance,” a mere sign of obedience, as is possible. His language is clearly the language of union. We are saved through our union with Christ. Indeed, the whole of our Christian life, in every aspect, is a life lived in union with Christ. Union with Christ is our salvation.

From the Glory to God for All Things blog. Read the rest here.

Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

I cannot recommend this highly enough.
It is a series of lectures given recently by Father Andrew Damick of St George Cathedral in Charleston, WV on the many differences (and a few similarities) between Orthodox Christianity and the many other religions--Christian and otherwise--that are out there.

It is a fascinating and thorough and fair examination of the history and core beliefs of these religions and I strongly suggest that you take the time to listen.

Clicking on each title below will link directly to the audio file. They take a little while to download (each lecture is over an hour long), but, believe me, it's worth it.


Lecture 1: Heterodoxy & Heresy (series introduction)

Lecture 2: Roman Catholicism

Lecture 3: Churches of the Classical Reformation (Lutherans, Calvinists, Reformed, Zwinglians, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Wesleyans)

Lecture 4: Churches of the Radical Reformation (Anabaptists, Baptists, Brethren, Amish, Mennonites, Restorationists, Adventists)

Lecture 5: Modern Revivalism (Pentecostalism, Charismatics, Evangelicalism)

Lecture 6: Non-Christian Religions (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Sikhism, Wicca, Neo-paganism, Zoroastrianism, Modern Gnosticism, Animism)

Lecture 7: Non-Mainstream Christians (Swedenborgians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarian Universalists, Christadelphians, Christian Science, Unification Church ("Moonies"); also includes series conclusions)


From Christ in the Mountains by Fr. Andrew Damick

Q&A

Q: What is Theophany and why is it important?

A: One of the greatest feasts of the Orthodox year [is] the Feast of Theophany, Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan river. Across the world Orthodox Christians will gather after the Liturgy to bless the waters: the ocean, a river, a spring, etc.

Every feast day in Orthodoxy is connected to the Feast of Pascha [i.e. Easter], because Pascha is God’s great act of salvation. However, some feasts show this connection more clearly than others. Three feasts in the year share the same pattern of services: Pascha, Nativity, and Theophany. Each has a Vesperal Liturgy on its Eve and a Vigil the night before (with occasional variances).

The icons of the three feasts are strikingly similar, with Christ descending into a background that is usually rendered with darkness. At Pascha the darkness is the darkness of death and Hell where Christ has gone to raise the dead.

(click images to enlarge)

At Nativity the darkness is the cave in which he is born. This darkness is the darkness of the world that is caught in sin and death – but it is the same darkness as Hell.

At Theophany the icon depicts Christ standing on the waters of the Jordan – but the waters themselves are depicted as dark, or at least highlighted with a dark background. The darkness at this feast is precisely the same darkness as that pictured in the icon of Pascha. For Theophany is the feast of Christ’s baptism – and baptism, St. Paul tells us is a baptism into the death of Christ. His Baptism is a prefigurement of His death.

Thus the waters of the Jordan become symbolic of Hades. Christ’s descent into the waters becomes his descent into Hades where he “leads captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:8) and sets free those who have been held in bondage to death. The vigil of Theophany, like the vigil of Pascha, includes the reading of the book of the prophet Jonah – the reluctant messenger of God who was thrown overboard by his companions and swallowed by a great fish. This book is read because it contains the same image as the icons – the descent into the depths of Hades.

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

At the Vespers of Theophany we hear this phrase:

Thou hast bowed Thine head before the Forerunner and hast crushed the heads of the dragons. Thou hast descended into the waters and hast given light to all things, that they may glorify Thee, O Savior, the Enlightenment of our souls.

The phrase, “crushed the heads of the dragons,” comes from Psalm 74:

Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy might; thou didst break the heads of the dragons on the waters. Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

In this Psalm, God is recalled both as Creator, but also as the one who has brought order into the chaos of the world. He not only creates the waters, but crushes the heads of the dragons that dwell there. The “dragons” in the Psalm are an old English translation of the Hebrew word for whales. But the word “dragon” is an apt description of the demonic forces that are defeated in Christ’s death and its prefigurement in Baptism.

In the prayer over the waters, the priest says:

Thou didst sanctify the streams of Jordan, sending down from heaven Thy Holy Spirit, and didst crush the heads of the dragons that lurked therein.

This same prayer is prayed over the waters blessed on the day of Theophany. The service for the blessing of the waters usually takes place by a local body of water.. At the very heart of the blessing a hand cross is thrown out into the water three times and retrieved with the singing of the festal troparion:

When Thou O Christ wast baptized in the Jordan,
the worship ofthe Trinity was made manifest.
For the voice of the Father bear witness to Thee,
and called Thee His beloved Son.
And the Spirit in the form of a dove,
confirmed the truthfulness of His word.
O Christ, our God who hast revealed Thyself,
and hast enlightened the world glory to Thee!

The same troparion is sung throughout the homes of the faithful during the season after Theophany as the priest carries the same blessing into our homes. Theophany is a proclamation to nature itself of Christ’s salvation. Our lives have plenty of “dragons,” in all shapes and sizes. But Christ is victorious over everything that would destroy his creation – particularly the people who are His own.


Courtesy of Orrologion

Please pray for safety and well-being of the Christians in Gaza.

"Conflict in Gaza Kills Hundreds: Help IOCC Speed Relief to Families Caught in Attacks"

"Palestinian Christians Afraid to Leave Homes in Gaza"

"Trouble for Christians in Gaza"

Nativity, Part 2

Yesterday, Christians of Israel, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Greece began the celebration of the birth of Christ. A few Old Calendar churches in the U.S. and elsewhere did as well, including the church Kathryn and I attend.

Christmas on the Orthodox Old calendar is, like everything else in Orthodox Christianity, unlike any other Christmas celebration I've previously experienced. "Western Christmas," as it is sometimes called by those who observe the old calendar, takes place as the culmination of a two-month-long exercise in market-driven chaos. It's not difficult under the circumstances to forget why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Old calendar churches are able to celebrate Christ's birth long after the noise has died down. As it turns out, it's easier to refocus on what's important when one isn't reminded every other second that "Santa Claus is coming to town." So, Tuesday evening we enjoyed a delightful twelve-course Lenten (meaning that it is in keeping with the fasting guidelines, i.e. no meat or oil) meal at the church, and then celebrated the Nativity Vigil. Then yesterday morning was the Nativity Divine Liturgy. It was as celebratory and dignified and worshipful as ever; and totally, completely focused on Christ, free of clutter, free of distraction.

I like old calendar Christmas because it pays no attention to what is important to the world.

And I learned yesterday that the Orthodox Church is the only church that, to this day still worships Christ with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Nativity

Ode I.
Christ is born; glorify Him!
Christ comes from heaven; go to meet Him!
Christ is on earth; be exalted.
Sing to the Lord, all the earth, and praise Him with gladness,
O people, for He has been glorified.

Ode III.
To the Son, begotten of the Father before all ages and
Incarnate of the Virgin without seed in these latter days, to Christ our God, let us cry out!
Thou hast raised up our horn; Holy art Thou, O Lord!

Ode IV.
Stem and flower of the root of Jesse,
Thou hast blossomed from the Virgin, O Christ.
From the mountain overshadowed by the forest
Thou art come, made flesh from her that knew no man.
O God, not formed from matter -- Glory to Thy power, O Lord!

Ode V.
O God of Peace, Father of mercies,
Thou hast sent Thine angel of great counsel to grant us peace.
We are guided to the light of the knowledge of God,
And keeping watch by night we glorify Thee, O Lover of man!

Ode VI.
The sea monster cast forth Jonah as it had received him,
Like a babe from the womb, and when the
Word came to dwell in the Virgin and was made flesh,
He came forth preserving her incorrupt.
For as He Himself was not subject to decay,
He kept His mother free from harm.

Ode VII.
The children brought up together in godliness
Scorned the impious decree of the tyrant.
They were not afraid of the threat of fire;
But standing in the midst of the flames they sang:
Blessed art Thou, O God of our Fathers.

Ode VIII.
The furnace moist with dew was an image
Prefiguring a wonder beyond nature,
For it did not burn the children whom it had had received.
Nor did the fire of Divinity consume the Virgin’s womb when it entered it.
So let us raise the song:
Let all creation bless the Lord and exalt Him throughout all ages.

Ode IX.
A strange and most wonderful mystery do I see:
The cave is heaven;
The virgin the throne of the cherubim;
The manger a room, in which Christ,
The God whom nothing can contain, is laid.
Him do we praise and magnify.

(Nativity Canon, Odes 1-9)

Heaven and earth are united today, for Christ is born.

Today has God come upon earth and man gone up to heaven.

Today for man's sake is seen in the flesh He who by nature is invisible.

Therefore let us also give glory and cry aloud to Him:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace!

Which Thy coming has bestowed upon us O Savior, glory to Thee!
("Heaven and Earth are United Today," Nativity Hymn)

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone to the world the light of wisdom!

For by it, those who worshiped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness and to know Thee, the Orient from on high.

O Lord, glory to Thee!
(Christmas Troparion).

Valaam Monastery

Music and photos courtesy of Valaam Monastery

St Ignatius of Antioch

From oca.org:

The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, was a disciple of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, as was also St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (February 23). St Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch, and successor to Bishop Euodius, Apostle of the Seventy (September 7).

Tradition suggests that when St Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: "Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18:3).

As Bishop of Antioch, St Ignatius was zealous and spared no effort to build up the church of Christ. To him is attributed the practice of antiphonal singing (by two choirs) during church services. He had seen a vision of the angels in heaven alternately singing praises to God, and divided his church choir to follow this example. In the time of persecution he was a source of strength to the souls of his flock, and was eager to suffer for Christ.

In the year 106 the emperor Trajan (98-117), after his victory over the Scythians, ordered everyone to give thanks to the pagan gods, and to put to death any Christians who refused to worship the idols. In the year 107, Trajan happened to pass through Antioch. Here they told him that Bishop Ignatius openly confessed Christ, and taught people to scorn riches, to lead a virtuous life, and preserve their virginity. St Ignatius came voluntarily before the emperor, so as to avert persecution of the Christians in Antioch. St Ignatius rejected the persistent requests of the emperor Trajan to sacrifice to the idols. The emperor then decided to send him to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts. St Ignatius joyfully accepted the sentence imposed upon him.

On the way to Rome St Ignatius visited several churches, teaching and guiding the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles: to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna. He also addressed a letter to St Polycarp, who mentions a collection of the letters of St Ignatius in his letter to the Philippians (Ch. 13). St Irenaeus of Lyons quotes from St Ignatius's letter to the Romans (AGAINST HERESIES 5:28:4). All these letters have survived to the present day.

The Roman Christians met St Ignatius with great joy and profound sorrow. Some of them hoped to prevent his execution, but St Ignatius implored them not to do this. Kneeling down, he prayed together with the believers for the Church, for love between the brethren, and for an end to the persecution against Christians.

On December 20, the day of a pagan festival, they led St Ignatius into the arena, and he turned to the people: "Men of Rome, you know that I am sentenced to death, not because of any crime, but because of my love for God, by Whose love I am embraced. I long to be with Him, and offer myself to him as a pure loaf, made of fine wheat ground fine by the teeth of wild beasts."

After this the lions were released and tore him to pieces...

After his execution St Ignatius appeared to many of the faithful in their sleep to comfort them, and some saw him at prayer for the city of Rome. Hearing of the saint's great courage, Trajan thought well of him and stopped the persecution against the Christians. The relics of St Ignatius were transferred to Antioch (January 29), and on February 1, 637 were returned to Rome and placed in the church of San Clemente.

Happy New Year!

With the depressing appearance of more and more dried-up and discarded Christmas trees on curbs all over town, it's nice to attend a church whose celebration of Christmas is still nearly a week away...

This is a Christmas carol from "the Christians of the Middle East who have been witnessing to faith in the Saviour since His incarnation in their midst."