Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Our Father among the Saints, Vincent of Lérins, celebrated May 24

(Oh boy, although I missed it on the 24th, here it is anyway. Ask Father Bernard and some of the founding members how St. Vincent helped them enter Holy Orthodoxy.)



A leading theologian of the Church of Gaul in the 5th century, St. Vincent settled in the island monastery of Lérins off the southern coast of France in order that "avoiding the concourse and crowds of cities... I can follow without distraction the Psalmist's admonition, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Here he wrote his celebrated Commonitorium, a "Reminder," where he wrote down "those things which I have truthfully received from the holy Fathers ," which they "have handed down to us and committed to our keeping." Among these things is the celebrated definition of orthodoxy as quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus: that which has been believed in the Church "everywhere, always, by everyone." St. Vincent lived in an age of great historical uncertainty; barbarian tribes were a constant menace and although four hundred years of Christian tradition had already passed, the foundations of the faith had been only recently clarified by decisions made in the Ecumenical Councils--the Council of Nicea (325), the Council of Constantinople (381) and the Council of Ephesus (431). It is, therefore, not surprising that St. Vincent was so concerned to preserve the authority of Christian tradition. This is not to say that he was opposed to progress or doctrinal development; each age must face its won particular problems and develop a Christian response in answer to them. "But it must be progress in the proper sense of the word, and not a change in faith. Progress means that each thing grows within itself, whereas change implies that one thing is transformed into another .... The growth of religion in the soul should be like the growth of the body, which in the course of year develops and unfolds, yet remains the same as it was."
"In ancient times, our forefathers sowed the seeds of the wheat of faith in that field which is the Church. It would be quite unjust and improper if we, their descendents, gathered, instead of the genuine truth of wheat, the false tares of error. On the contrary, it is logically correct that the beginning and the end be in agreement, that we reap from the planting of the wheat of doctrine the harvest of the wheat of dogma. In this way, none of the Characteristics of the seed is changed, although something evolved in the course of time from those first seeds and has now expanded under careful cultivation. What may be added is merely appearance, beauty, and distinction, but the proper nature of each kind remains."

His defense of the traditions of the Fathers and his condemnation of innovation and novelty in the Church are as appropriate today as they were in his time:

"The Church of Christ, zealous and cautious guardian of the dogmas deposited with it, never changes any phase of them. It does not diminish them or add to them; it neither trims what seems necessary, nor grafts things superfluous; it neither gives up its own nor usurps what does not belong to it. But it devotes all its diligence to one aim: to treat tradition faithfully and wisely; to nurse and polish what from old times may have remained unshaped and unfinished; to consolidate and to strengthen what already was clear · and plain; and to guard what already was confirmed and defined. After all, what have the councils brought forth in their decrees but that what' before was believed plainly and simply might from now on be believed more diligently; that what before was preached rather unconcernedly might be preached from now on more eagerly."

Read more, here, and read his commonitory here

The abbey of Lérins on the isle of St. Honarat, as it appears today. This current abbey was built long after the time of St. Vincent. The original monastery, founded by St. Honorat had become "immense" by the year 427 according to St. John Cassian. Even the great St. Patrick was reputed to have visited it.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Every Mystery and holy virtue is a little Pentecost




What is Christ the God-Man? What in Him is God and what man? How is God known in the God-Man, and how is man? What has God given to us men in and with the God-Man? The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, tells us all the truth there is about Him, about God in Him and man in Him and all that is given us through Him. All this immeasurably transcends everything that the human eye has ever seen, the ear has ever heard, or has ever entered into the heart of man (I Cor. 2:9; cf. Jn 15:26; 16:13; I Cor. 2:4; Eph. 3:5).

Through His life in the flesh on earth, the God-Man founded His theanthropic Body, the Church, and in this way prepared the earthly world for the Holy Spirit’s coming into the world, and His life and activity in the Body of the Church as the Soul of that Body. On the holy Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven into the theanthropic Body of the Church and remains eternally in it as its life-giving Soul (Acts 2:1-47). This visible theanthropic Body of the Church was constituted by the holy apostles with their holy faith in the Theanthropos, the Lord Jesus, as the Savior of the world, as perfect God and perfect Man. The descent and activity of the Holy Spirit in the theanthropic Body of the Church is because of, and for the sake of, the Theanthropos (cf. Jn 16:7-13; 15:26; 14:26). “For His sake the Holy Spirit entered into the world.” Everything in the dispensation of salvation is brought about by the theanthropic Person of the Lord Christ, and everything comes about in the framework of theanthropy. This is also the case with the activity of the Holy Spirit. All His activity is of one essence with the theanthropic ascesis of the salvation of the world by the Lord Christ. Pentecost is, with all the immortal gifts of the Triune Godhead, of the Holy Spirit Himself, intended for the holy apostles; the holy apostolic Faith and Tradition, the hierarchy and everything that is apostolic and theanthropic.

The Day of the Holy Spirit, which began on the Day of Pentecost, is ever present in the Church in the inexpressible fullness of all the divine gifts and the life-giving powers (Acts 10:44-48; 11:15-16; 15:8-9; 19:6). Everything in the Church comes about through the Holy Spirit, from the least to the greatest. When the priest blesses the censer before censing, he prays to the Lord Christ to “send down the grace of the Holy Spirit.” The clearest testimony that the entire life of the Church comes from the Holy Spirit is at the consecration of a bishop, when God’s indescribable miracle, holy Pentecost, is repeated and the fullness of grace is given. There is no doubt that the Lord Christ is in the Church through the Holy Spirit, and that the Church is in the Lord Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Lord Christ is the Head and Body of the Church; the Holy Spirit is its Soul (cf. I Cor. 12:1-28). From the very beginning of the theanthropic dispensation of salvation, the Holy Spirit has made Himself a part of the foundation of the Church, the foundation of the Body of Christ, by “bringing about the incarnation of the Logos in the Virgin.”

In fact, every holy mystery and holy virtue is a little Pentecost; in them, the Holy Spirit descends upon us, into us. He descends in His energies, He, “the richness of the Godhead,” “the grace of the open seas,” “from Him come grace and life for every creature.”

The Lord dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, and we in Him. This is testified to us by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. We live by the Holy Spirit in Christ, and He in us. We know this “by the Spirit which He hath given us” (I Jn. 3:24). Through the Holy Spirit, our human spirit is brought to a true and a right knowledge of Christ. That which is in God, and in the God-Man, we know by the Holy Spirit that “He hath given us” (cf. I Jan 4:13; I Cor. 2:4-16).

To come to the knowledge of Christ the Theanthropos, one of the Holy and Divine Trinity, we need the help of the other Holy Two: God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (cf. Matt. 11:27, I Cor. 2:12). The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of wisdom” (Eph. 1:17); if we receive Him, we are filled with the wisdom of God. The Holy Spirit is also “the Spirit of revelation” (Eph. 1:17). By God’s wisdom, He reveals and proclaims the mystery of Jesus the Theanthropos in the heart of the believer, and thus the spirit-bearer acquires real knowledge of Christ. No human spirit can, by any imaginable effort, comprehend the mystery of Christ in its divine and saving perfection and completeness. This is revealed to the human spirit only by the Holy Spirit, and this is why He is referred to as “the Spirit of revelation” (Eph. 1:17; 3:6; I Cor. 2:10). The Apostle, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, therefore proclaims: “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit” (I Cor. 12:3). The Holy Spirit, “the spirit of truth” and “the Spirit of revelation,” leads us into all the truth of Christ’s Person and His theanthropic dispensation of salvation, and teaches us all that is Christ’s (Jn. 16:13 14:26; I Cor 2:6-16). This is the reason why the entire Gospel of Christ, with all its theanthropic realities, is called the Revelation. This is the reason why every office, labor, service, sacrament and act in church in performed with the invocation of the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.

The entire life of the Church, in its innumerable theanthropic realities and aspects, is led and guided by the Holy Spirit, who is ever the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Theanthropos. This is why it is said in Holy Scripture: “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). Saint Basil, angelically immersed in the theanthropic mystery of the Church as the loveliest and greatest of God’s mysteries, proclaims the truest good tidings: “The Holy Spirit builds up the Church of God.”

The newly-canonized Justin Popovich from his book, “The Orthodox Church and Ecumenism” via John Sanidopoulos

Friday, May 21, 2010

J. Craig Venter

Here is something I had heard about a few years back, but when it actually happened I missed it, which is not surprising considering the how these things are now treated in the media.

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute have created the world's first synthetic cell. What this means is that for the first time life has been created artificially, not from pre-existing DNA, but completely from scratch.




Does this finally destroy the "myth" of our creation as described in Genesis?

Here is a quote by St. Macarius the Great used in an earlier post: "You are created in image and likeness of God; therefore just as God is free and creates what he wants ... so you are free."

Some in the Catholic church have called this "playing God", which is, if I might say, another way of saying "anti-Christ".

Other than that, I'm not sure what to think. I would be happy to hear from others on how to interpret this.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

An Intern’s Reflection On the Great Fast and the Great Feast at the Mission




(Here are some reflections from one of our parishioners on Lent and Pascha, even if it is a little belated. Naomi Funk is now in Toronto, working at the St. John the Compassionate Mission.)

"I think we all groaned when we learned that Lent followed so closely on the heels of the Nativity Fast this year. Winter was wearing on us, we were longing for sunlight, and BAM! Here comes the Fast of all fasts.

But, quickly, the idea of Lent settled with me, as I knew I was in great need of it. There is a sort of comfort in the barrenness of Lent that reminds us that God is near and we are beckoned to come nearer as well.

On Cheesefare Sunday Fr. Roberto urged us not to begin the fast alone, but to come together that evening for the Vespers of Forgiveness. So we crowded into that little church that night, and began Lent together, and hearing those familiar Lenten words and melodies. Then we had the rite of Forgiveness. As I see the rite of Forgiveness, it is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over with everyone, acknowledge that we all sin against each other, knowingly or unknowingly, and that we are aiming for the same thing. And from there we proceeded into the Desert of Great Lent. ..."

Read more...

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sunday of the Holy Fathers



Arianism.

At the beginning of the fourth century, a certain presbyter of Alexandria, Arius by name, a man of strict morality, but more attached to profane learning than to Gospel truth, preached that Christ was created by God the Father as a tool by means of which He might create the Universe; that He was the first of all created things but had not existed eternally; that there had been a time when He was not, and He was, therefore, inferior to God the Father. These platonic theories came to the notice of his bishop, Alexander, who summoned a local Synod in Alexandria in 321, and condemned them as contrary to the Gospel. But Arius, who believed that only the adoption of his theories could preserve monotheism in Christianity, not only continued to uphold his personal opinions, but — by means of hymns and other methods of popularization — disseminated them among an ever-widening circle. Other churchmen joined him, and as the unity of the Church was in peril, in order to calm men's minds and restore peace among them, Constantine the Great summoned to Nicaea in 325 a great Synod, which was attended by representatives from every part of the world, and was therefore known as an Ecumenical, or Universal, Synod.


The First Ecumenical Synod.

There were present at this Synod many distinguished men, some famous for their learning and virtue, some for their ascetic life, and others for the marks of martyrdom which Diocletian's persecution had inflicted on them. But in theological skill they were all overshadowed by Athanasius the Great, who was still only a deacon to the Bishop of Alexandria. On the basis of Holy Scripture and Tradition, he demonstrated that the Son of God, far from being created by the Father, was born of Him, of His own substance, before all the ages, and that consequently the Son does not differ in His nature from the Father, but forms with Him a single Godhead. Nearly all those present approved him, and the following formula was inserted in the Creed: "And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father only-born, that is of the essence of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, Very God from Very God, begotten, not made, of one and the same essence of the Father; through Whom all things were made." This Creed was signed by all the Fathers present, over 300 in number, and was ordained as the exact expression of the Church's doctrine on her divine Founder. Arius and two of his supporters who refused to sign the Creed were sent into exile.

Fr. Constantine Kallinikos

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Unbelief and Spriritual Reading

"Several years ago a friend of mine declared himself an atheist, and that was after having been an Orthodox Christian and a teacher of the faith for many years.

My own experience is that often I think that I live like an atheist. If I truly believed the Gospel I would act in a much different way then I do now. The times I live least like an atheist is when I'm regularly reading the Gospels and spiritually nourishing books. The temptation to unbelief is stayed when I am being spiritually nourished."

-Fr. Bernard