Homo Adorans

Jesus Christ is the sum total of our existence. We live and move and have our being by His grace (Acts 17:28). Every thing we have belongs to Him (1 Chronicles 29:14). Every power or strength we have is given to us by Him (John 19:11). We are created, as Fr. John Breck shared with us on Sunday night, “homo adorans”, that is a worshipping people, a praying people. Our two main tasks in life are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves. After summarizing the whole law into these two “Great commandments”, Jesus also went one step again and said, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

So, every single facet of our lives is to be marinated in this love of and for God, and by extension to the neighbor. Consider how this plays out in everyday life. Why not ask ourselves these questions:

With boyfriend/girlfriend/fiancé/spouse/ex: What words do we use when speaking? Are they words which build up or tear down? Are we speaking as if to Christ Himself?

With children: What example are we setting? Do we treat them with dignity and respect? Are we acting as if to Christ Himself?

With neighbors: Are we kind and loving? Do we help them as if helping Christ Himself?

With money: Are we generous? Do we give and spend with Christ in mind? Do we offer our first and best to Him and take care not to spend frivolously and selfishly?

With possessions: Do we treat our things as if they belonged to God Himself (since they do!)? Do we share them with those in need without possessiveness?

With punctuality: Do we arrive on time for church services? Do we treat business appointments, soccer games, music lessons, or movies with more care than appointments with God who gives us life?

With animals, plants, and the environment: Do we take care to see that all of creation is God’s and to treat it as such?

Great Lent is a time to re-orient (literally, ‘to face east again’!) ourselves to God. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is not yet here. God grant us today to love him and our neighbor, and at the last, God grant us His Kingdom!

Science and faith meet on the date of Easter

found online at http://www.charleston.net/stories/default_pf.aspx?newsID=78924

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SUNDAY, APRIL 02, 2006 12:00 AM

BY FR. JOHN PARKER
Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of columns leading up to Easter.

Science and faith so often are pitted against one another. The polarization does not come from one direction or the other alone, but rather often from both sides.

Many scientists claim that faith is simply a blind exercise in futility in which the "believer" seeks to impose some unintended meaning on his life, or to console herself with unprovable prayer. Most of these folks fail to recognize that science can never quantify or prove "love," for example.
On the other hand, numbers of "faithful" claim that science is a sham, especially with regard to the heated debates about creation.

Most of these folks fail to understand, for example, that Genesis 1-11 is neither textbook science nor textbook history, and therefore have very little, if anything, to do with the number of "actual" days God took to make the Earth and everything in it.

The Christian faith has to do with the truth, and we Christians believe first and foremost that Jesus Christ is the truth. He said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). For us, then, the truth is the most important quest, and facts, when we have them, contribute to that knowledge and understanding, and in and of themselves expose further the majesty of God, who is way beyond our grasp and comprehension.

But science and the Christian faith always have been related. At least in the West, science has been an incredible effort to find out how God's creation works and is ordered. With respect to the feast near at hand, most people, I think it is safe to say, are unaware that Pascha (Easter) is dated at least partially according to science - astronomy, to be more precise. When asked, "How do we know the date of Pascha?", some might even reply, "We ask Hallmark!"

In fact, Pascha is dated for scientific reasons, which tell theological truth. In the early days of Christianity, the Resurrection was celebrated in two differing ways. The first was the way of the Quartodecimans (a term which means "14-ers"). This group commemorated the resurrection of Christ on the day of the Jewish Passover, regardless of what day of the week that was. The Passover was celebrated on 14 Nisan, a date according to the Jewish calendar, established with Moses (see Exodus 12). Since Christians believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover, this feast was "Christianized" in this way. The second group celebrated Pascha on the first Sunday after the Passover, since Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. So in this view, Sunday is the new Lord's day, on which Jesus conquered death. These two varying celebrations lasted until the fourth century, at least officially.

By the year 325, Emperor Constantine saw the church bombarded by various heresies, and the lack of a unified celebration of Pascha was a poor witness to the pagan world. So, at the First Ecumenical Council, a decisive meeting of all the bishops of the church, the universal dating of Pascha was established to be the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox -"Sunday," with reference to the Resurrection and Lord's day, and "full moon after the vernal equinox" because this was the "Passover" moon. (The Jewish calendar was lunar; our present calendar is solar.) To this day, Pascha is calculated according to this reckoning.

Besides the scientific data used to calculate Easter, which are directly related to the biblical dating of the Passover, astronomy teaches very important theological truths, which are made evident in the Gospel reading for Pascha in every Orthodox church in the world on this feast of feasts: John 1:1-17.

This Gospel lesson is read at Christ's resurrection with special reference to Jesus' eternal existence with the father and his being "the light."

"The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world" (Verse 9), and, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (Verse 5).

At Christmas, astronomically speaking, the "true light ... was coming into the world" as we celebrate the nativity of Christ just after the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Thereafter, light literally increases with each passing day, pointing to Christ, now increasing on the Earth from infant to man.

At Pascha, the darkness no longer overcomes the light. At the vernal equinox, day and night are the same length, and thereafter, each passing day contains more light than darkness. Consider the passage again in that light: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us remember always how great God is! Indeed, the Scriptures show us the Word written, and "the heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1).

Fr. John Parker is priest-in-charge of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in I'On. E-mail him at frjohn@ocacharleston.org or at 881-5010.

This article was printed via the web on 4/3/2006 2:48:11 PM . This articleappeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Sunday, April 02, 2006.

Saint a symbol of penitence

found online at http://www.charleston.net/stories/default_pf.aspx?newsID=77694

By Fr. John Parker
Editors' Note: This is the first in a series of guest columns leading up to Easter.

A prostitute she was not, since she didn't accept payment for her sexual services. She chose to seduce and please her men at no cost for two apparent reasons: the hunt and the pleasure. She rejected payment not on any moral ground (what morality?) nor because she was rich (in fact she lived by begging). She "contrived this so that [she] could seduce many more men, thus turning [her] lust into a free gift."

Her "greatest" exploit was also to become her downfall - or rather her salvation. One summer day, she witnessed a crowd of men running toward the port, where they were to board a ship heading on a pilgrimage, of all places, to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast - still celebrated around the world to this day - is second in solemnity only to Good Friday and is the commemoration of when St. Helena, in the fourth century, found the cross on which Jesus was crucified at Golgotha.

Our protagonist saw this trip not as an opportunity for a holy moment, but as a chance to wallow further in filth and uncontrollable lust. She was able to board the ship, though she mostly was rejected in her efforts once aboard. She made up for missed opportunity when they reached Jerusalem, though. In her own words, "... During the days that I stayed in the city before the feast, I engaged in the same practices or even worse. For I was not contented with the young men who were at my service at sea and on the road, but I also corrupted many other men, both citizens and foreigners, whom I picked up for this purpose."

Something miraculous then happened to her. Picture it! As she joined the crowds in an effort to enter the church for the festal celebration, some divine power, as she describes it, repelled her from entering. She made many attempts to cross the threshold of the door, and four times she was met with the same force resisting her entrance. As she stood in the courtyard trying to make sense of it all, she was struck to the core with the realization that she was not able to enter and to gaze upon the true cross because of her licentious behavior and the filth of her existence.

Just then, she noticed an icon of the mother of God and was reduced to sobs, wailing and deep conviction of sin by Mary's most pure example. After a conversation and confession of sorts, our traveler was able to gain entrance into the church. Once inside, she gazed upon the life-giving cross, fell to the floor in worship and kissed the holy ground. Thus St. Mary of Egypt, as she is known, repented and devoted her life entirely to renunciation of "this world," exchanging her former life for one of ongoing prayer, repentance and union with God.

On that day, St. Mary moved to the desert, where she battled against her sins. Despite her magnificent conversion, her trials were far from over, as is the case also for us today.

One account says: "For forty-eight years she dwelt in the desert beyond the Jordan, and when temptations befell her and memories of her former sinful life ... beckoned her to leave her voluntary sojourn in the desert, she lay on the ground, cried to God for help and did not get up until her heart was humbled. The first years were hard; she sometimes had to lie this way for many days; but after seventeen years came the time of rest."

Seventeen years! St. Mary learned what many of us miss: that true return to Christ can take a long time. More often than not, repentance doesn't end simply with "naming it" and moving on. Often the full return takes longer than it took to make the sinful mess in the first place. Temptations, memories of impassioned failures and fatigue from the battle against sin fill our minds and souls constantly as the devil attempts to lure us away from the only One in whom there is salvation. Sometimes we, like St. Mary, will need to lie face down on the ground for days at a time to fight the temptation to return to our former delusion.

But St. Mary realized the promise of God: salvation. He gave her the strength to find him and to be healed. What can we learn from her? At least we can see what she gleaned from Ezekiel 18:32: God has "no pleasure in the death of any one ... so turn, and live." Like Moses the murderer, Saul (later Paul) the chief persecutor of Christians, like the repentant thief on the cross who said, "Remember me ... ," like St. Mary of Egypt, the repentant prostitute, like you and I: No one is beyond redemption.

St. Mary of Egypt is commemorated on the fifth Sunday of Great Lent in the Orthodox churches for her supreme example of true repentance.

Fr. John Parker is the priest-in-charge of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in I'On. He can be reached at 881-5010 or by e-mail at frjohn@ocacharleston.org.

This article was printed via the web on 3/26/2006 5:15:35 PM . This articleappeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Sunday, March 26, 2006.

Holy Season 40 Days with a Purpose

BY FR. JOHN PARKER

Revelers. Drunken stupors. Fuzzy memories. Gratuitous nudity. Dangerous liaisons. This is Mardi Gras (French for "fat Tuesday"), at least as it is celebrated in the streets of places such as New Orleans, Rio and other major cities around the world.

What is the purpose of such a day? According to mardigrasneworleans.com/history.shtml, "Human nature being what it is, people are inclined to go on a bender immediately before a period of deprivation, prayer, and fasting. Hence: Fat Tuesday."

With the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, many wondered if New Orleans would host this year's party. As it turns out, the show will go on, aided by generous neighbor Mobile, Alabama. Parties, bands, costumes, floats, one-night stands and free-flowing alcohol: this is the cultural celebration of Mardi Gras, bearing little resemblance to its Christian heritage.

Shrove Tuesday

Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Western Christian Church. Remnants of the true nature of Fat Tuesday still are visible in many churches, even locally. More often called "Shrove Tuesday" (from "to shrive," to hear the confession of and to absolve a penitent of sins), this is the day on which folks empty out their cabinets of fats - meat, cheese, butter, etc. - items from which Christians traditionally have fasted during the 40 days prior to Pascha (Easter).

In many Western Christian churches, Ash Wednesday still is kept as some sort of fast, and portions of the more ancient practice are evident on Fridays in Lent in the Roman Catholic Church, where meat is not eaten in remembrance of Christ's death on the cross on Holy Friday.

Orthodox Christians enter Great Lent differently, still following the most ancient pattern of prayer and fasting. Rather than a single day of pantry-emptying, the Orthodox first abandon meat on Meatfare Sunday, and then dairy, wine and olive oil on the following, so-called "Cheesefare," Sunday, which happens to be today, allowing for a gradual entrance into what we call the Great Fast. In the Orthodox tradition, this fast is kept daily during all 40 days, with a few festal exceptions. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving, along with confession of our sins, remain the central focuses of Lent, as we prepare for the most glorious Christian feast of the year: Pascha, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

A feast of forgiving

The Great Fast, as the Orthodox also call it, begins not with parties, suppers or benders, but with one of the most moving services in all of Christianity. In the evening of Cheesefare Sunday, the church serves Forgiveness Vespers. At the tail end of this sung service of evening prayers, every individual in the parish, beginning with the priest, asks of and offers forgiveness to every other individual present. During this solemn and often deeply emotional portion of the service, the choir sings the bright, joyous hymns of Pascha, a foreshadowing of the glory to come.

Even still, it is easy to see, from a popular cultural perspective, why many, even Christians, see Lent as "deprivation" or some sort of dark period marked in ancient days by hair shirts, and even today by intentional discomfort, sadness, guilt and gloom. The switch from having what we want on a moment's notice all the time to living merely with what we need, and in measured portions, comes as a shock to our bodies, wills and lifestyles.

But Great Lent is the opposite of doom and guilt. It is our return from exile. It is the joy of forgiveness, which is our release from true guilt in repentance. It is our return from what has become a regular life of loose or riotous living in a far-off land, as it is described in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. If New Orleans' famous Mardi Gras has any relation to the Christian Shrove Tuesday and the ensuing fast of Great Lent, it is this: It is a prime-time, public, regular and celebrated example of the way we live our day-to-day life: drunk, stuffed, self-interested, careless and promiscuous.

From a Christian perspective, this is true actually as much as figuratively, if statistics are even remotely accurate with respect to alcoholism, obesity, divorce, crime and the like. Sadly and embarrassingly, the Christian statistics are the same as or worse than the secular culture in many of these areas.

What we should be

So following the example of our Lord, who entered the wilderness to pray and fast and to face the devil, we, too, do the same for 40 days. Our task is twofold: first, to see who we have become when left to our own devices: sinners who have distorted God's creation, beginning with ourselves; and second, to become who we are called to be by the grace of God: merciful saints as we see in Matthew 5:48 and Luke 6:36.

We fast from certain foods and drinks because by our sin, we abuse these in gluttony and drunkenness, not because food and drink are inherently bad. In the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom went so far as to say that the food in our pantry (paraphrased) is to our damnation since it belongs to the poor and hungry who have no daily food. Our fasting is not for God, like some cosmic payoff scheme ("I've been bad, so I'll be good for sometime; please don't punish me!"). Rather, it is for us to see that food and drink are merely fuel that keeps our bodies running so that we can live godly lives in the short time we have on this Earth. Along with our fasting, we put on moderation and sharing.

We fast from entertainment in order to see the world as it truly is, not how Hollywood portrays it. How horribly are our eyes tainted by television and movies! In our daily lives, we have come to accept murder and violence as forms of diversion. Gross language, perversion, adultery, lying, betrayal and lust are seen as normal and normative. By abstaining from watching shows and movies that flaunt such behavior while at the same time engaging ourselves in real life with real people, we can see more clearly how such living is actually vacant and damaging to all involved, not to mention far from the life Jesus Christ demonstrated for us. Along with our fasting, we put on mercy and compassion.

During the Great Fast, married couples are challenged to fast, by mutual consent, from nuptial relations following 1 Corinthians 7:5ff. (It is assumed that this is the daily practice at all times for all Christians who are not married.) Once again, this is not because sex is bad - au contraire! But even in marriage, we fall into the sin of treating one another as objects, and such an "agreement for a season" is to re-establish our godly love for one another. Along with our fasting, we put on abstinence and self-control.

Great Lent is a return to spiritual, emotional and physiological training. It is an intense time reorienting ourselves to the life God has established for us.

One significant facet to this season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is lifted right out of the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah: "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?"
This is not a call to generic social justice or a longing for some unattainable better society; rather, it is a Christian imperative to stop thinking about ourselves alone and to start loving our neighbors, especially those who are in need.

But to begin to love our neighbor requires us to know that he or she exists. Lent is a time for us to venture out of our living rooms and comfort zones, to move away from the television, to suspend the mail-order DVDs and endless, mindless video games in order to worship God, live life and serve others by giving those in need what we have in spades.

All of this effort we call Lent is beautifully summarized in a fourth-century prayer still prayed daily during Lent in the Orthodox churches. The prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian reads: "O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother. For blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen."

God help us all so to live, beginning afresh today.

Fr. John Parker is priest-in-charge of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in the I'On Community. He can be reached at frjohn@ocacharleston.org or by phone at 881-5010.

This article was printed via the web on 3/6/2006 9:33:38 AM . This articleappeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Sunday, March 05, 2006.

Churches show unity best by servitude

http://www.charleston.net/stories/default_pf.aspx?newsID=70081

By Father John Parker

From the beginning, it has not been so. A group of churches - among them Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and others - organize a sunrise Easter service to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At Thanksgiving, a group of churches prays together annually. On Saturday evenings, a Roman Catholic Church offers Mass in a Lutheran church's sanctuary. An Episcopal priest serves as the pastor of a Presbyterian church.

At a certain level, these are unbelievable signs of generosity and Christian love - like a situation where two church groups pray together, the second of which exists historically and theologically in reaction against the first. These are all attempts to bring unity to the churches, waving the banner of John 17:11, Jesus' prayer to his father, "that they may be one, even as we are one."
But do these services and activities foster unity? Or are they outward and visible efforts, however sincere, that lack interior substance? Can "ecumenical" activity - as highlighted and encouraged, for example, by the World Council of Churches' "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," marked this year Jan. 18-25 - "work" today?

Christians always have had both an essential call to, and existence in, unity. Since the earliest days following Jesus Christ's death, resurrection and ascension, this unity has been outward in form and inward in essence. Christians believed and dogmatized "that which is from the beginning." In the book of Acts, we read of Christians living and dying together, even holding all their possessions in common. We find in the letters and writings of those who learned personally from the disciples of Jesus - saints such as Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus and others - unity of faith and belief.

For these Christians, like their spiritual progeny especially found in the Orthodox Church, when some facet of faith and belief was questioned, councils were convened to determine what had been believed from the beginning. Throughout history, there have been many such councils, though seven have been called "ecumenical," meaning "from the whole Christian world." The first and last were convened in Nicaea in 325 A.D. and 787 A.D., respectively. Each of these councils dealt specifically with theologically pressing issues such as: Was Jesus both God and man? Or how does the incarnation of God affect our view of material things?

By 1054 A.D., the Christian East and West parted ways over a number of issues, the most important of which was authority: Who decides what and how? To this day, the Orthodox Church maintains that doctrine, biblical interpretation and other matters of the church are determined in council together (as described above), with reference always to "that which is from the beginning." Five hundred years later, more fractioning of the Christian West ensued with the Protestant Reformation, and such splintering continues to occur even to this day. I recently heard the most petty of such examples, where a congregationally run church actually divided over a disputed phone bill. Yes, truly.

Especially since the 16th century, schisms have run rampant in the Christian West, mostly over matters of authority. In almost all of these cases, splits occurred as a result of one group's insistence on its interpretation of Holy Scripture over the other's. Should babies be baptized or only adults? Is the Lord's Supper a memorial or a reality? Do the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Christ or not? Is the church hierarchical or local? The Bible speaks to all of these concerns. The trouble is, one can read just about anything he wants into the Scriptures. So who decides who is right? A question of authority.

Enter the contemporary ecumenical movement. At some point in the past century or so (the details of which are not within the scope of this writing), Christians of a variety of "flavors" have come to realize that their separation is not good. This is a noble insight. Not only is it not "biblical," but it also serves as a poor witness to non-Christians, who are not likely to be convinced of the truth of Christianity as a result of the squabbles and schisms of some of its adherents. And so there have been organizations founded, such as the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches, as well as scores of local organizations and initiatives, each of which has made efforts at re-establishing "unity" among the churches.

But is the church disunited? From the Orthodox Christian perspective, the answer is plainly "no." The church is one - still one - and professes to be so actually and truly when we recite the Nicene Creed (formalized nearly 1,700 years ago): "We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church." The gates of hell, according to the Scriptures, cannot prevail against the church; neither is the body of Christ severed from the head. Nor are there many "bodies" of Christ. What makes the church one is that it believes, teaches and practices that which is from the beginning. And those who believe such show the same by their profession of faith and receive Communion together as a sign of that faith, demonstrating the essential oneness of the church. Anything else is bickering over personal interpretations of things.

From the earliest days, Christians have taught and recognized that a Christian cannot pick and choose what he or she believes. "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). As a servant (or "slave" to be more accurate) of Christ, we voluntarily lay down our will for his.

The question Jesus asked St. Peter we also are asked: "Who do you say that I am?" And there is an answer. Since those days, Orthodox Christians have continued to believe and proclaim the earliest answer to that question. Consider the opening words of the First Epistle of St. John: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life ... that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." Or the words of St. Paul: "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you." (1 Corinthians 11:23). We believe what was passed along was what was received from the beginning.

Prayer services and "Weeks of Prayer for Christian Unity" will prove empty and lacking until every separated Christian and ecclesiastical group asks the hard question: "Who do you say that I am?" Or more specifically, "What have Christians always believed about Jesus?" Once answered, individuals and groups then must act on that finding.

In reality, as "nice" as joint sunrise Easter services seem, as pleasant as it may be to share an annual, generic Thanksgiving service and as amazing as it is that Roman Catholics serve Mass in a Lutheran church's sanctuary, these all share one fatal flaw: no unity of faith. After the sunrise, the groups all go to their churches to celebrate in their own way. At Thanksgiving, the Great Thanksgiving - the Eucharist of our Lord - cannot be celebrated together. A Lutheran may attend the Roman Catholic service in her own church building, but may not receive Communion. Because the groups do not believe together that which is from the beginning, their unity is and can only be external and temporary, a mask covering their persistent, fundamental divisions.

The church is one. It is the holy body of Christ, living and breathing from Pentecost to this day. Every person's task is twofold. First, one must find out for himself what he believes but shouldn't, or what he doesn't believe but should, about Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Second, he must unite himself to the church, wherein we find the beginning of our salvation while we breathe on this Earth, remembering that Jesus Christ left us a holy body, not a book.

There is, in truth, hope, and we need not despair. This is a narrow way; in fact, it is "the" narrow way. And yet, in the midst of the struggle, God is with us. If there is one "ecumenical" activity that can always and immediately bear fruit, it is serving those to whom Jesus referred to as "the least of these." All self-professing Christians need to serve the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the needy and the imprisoned together. In the end, our judgment on the last day will depend on it (John 5:28ff). Lord have mercy.

Father John Parker is priest-in-charge of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in the I'On Community. Reach him at frjohn@ocacharleston.org or 881-5010.

This article was printed via the web on 2/13/2006 9:16:18 AM . This articleappeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Sunday, February 12, 2006.

Great Lent is Coming! Great Lent is Coming!

The Paul Reveres of Orthodoxy are passing through town: the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee (yesterday), this week which is FAST FREE (!), the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (2/19), etc. These are all announcements to us that the “end is near”. What end? The end of the routine of winter’s spiritual slothfulness (do I speak only for myself?) wherein I have grown lazy and self-indulgent in the pleasures of much food, the warmth of a cozy bed, and thoughts most centered on “what about me?”

These weeks hang a flashing yellow warning light over the highway of our routine life, and soon we will find ourselves at the crossroads of self and selflessness, first and last, greatest and least. More so, we will once again find ourselves at the intersection of salvation and self. Self so often seems to have the ‘best’ short term benefits, but ends in death—spiritual and actual. But will I choose salvation? Will I choose Christ? He stands at the door, always knocking. Will I let Him in? (Revelation 3:20)

Great Lent is the Christian School of Repentance, the academy which teaches us—through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and the reading of Scripture—precisely both who we are (actually) and who we are called to be. If we don’t think we need a doctor, why go to the hospital—or as St. John puts it “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8ff).

Will we face the reality that we desperately need spiritual surgery? Will we finally submit to doctor’s orders? Consider some of the hymns we sing this time of year, and let’s help each other onto the stretchers!

"Brothers, let us not pray like the Pharisee; he who exalts himself will be
humbled! Let us prepare to abase ourselves by fasting; Let us cry aloud with the
voice of the Publican. O God, forgive us sinners!"

"The weight of my transgressions burdens my eyes; I cannot lift my gaze to the heights of heaven, O Lord! Accept me in repentance, as Thou didst accept the Publican. Have mercy on me, O Savior!"

"Where shall I begin to lament the deeds of my wretched life? What first-fruit shall I offer, O Christ, for my present lamentation? But in Thy compassion grant me release from my falls."

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

This is my sermon for the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday as celebrated on January 22, 2006, by the Orthodox Church in America

Today Orthodox Christians celebrate the Sanctity of Human Life. As our own Fr. John Breck has made ever-memorable by his book title: The Sacred Gift of Life.

The Sanctity of Life extends from cradle to grave, and includes every millisecond in-between the two. Our beliefs, then, relate to conception, contraception, abortion…wellness and health, sickness and disease, “a Christian ending to our lives, painless, blameless, and peaceful” (as we pray), capital punishment, euthanasia, suicide, and death in general.

God alone has granted us life. He is the Author and Sustainer of it. It is He who breathes life into our existence (Genesis 1, 2). It is our task to be good stewards of it.

Let us be clear: we are not called to be determiners of who lives or dies. Rather, once alive, we are called to be good stewards of our own lives as well as defenders of the lives of those who begin, live, and die around us.

The Church believes that life begins at conception. This is not an optional concept for us. It is fundamental.

• We celebrate Christ’s conception on March 25 (Annunciation)
• Mary, the the Theotokos—the mother of God— by Joachim and Anna on December 9
• St. John the Baptist, The Forerunner, by Zechariah and Elizabeth on Sept. 23.

By these feasts, by celebrating these events on these days, we show our belief about when life begins. There is no Christian option otherwise.

The One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus Christ, shows us the sanctity of all life by the way He spends His time with people, by his association with the ‘outcasts’, (Ones whom some today would call “worthless people” who have no ‘significant’ or measurable, or ‘meaningful’ life, and who ‘might should’ be put to death.)

Jesus had direct contact with lepers—many lepers—in one episode, 10 at once. And yet he had compassion on them, the outcasts of society. And even healed them—even the ungrateful ones!

Then there is the blind man in today’s lesson. There was even the blind man who was believed by many to be blind because of his or his family’s sins. (He wasn’t.) Jesus took pity on him, too.
And then there is the woman with the flow of blood. The unclean one. And the demoniacs in the graveyard.

Their lives were also sacred. Created by God. And tended to by Jesus personally.
With regard to ‘end of life’ issues, as we might call them today, there is the instance of the woman caught in adultery, who, together with the guilty man, should have been stoned to death according to the law. But Jesus showed mercy and spared her. Jesus is the Author of Life and the Sustainer of it.

Neither was Paul put to death, who as Saul was the leading killer of Christians before his conversion. Rather, as the ‘chief of sinners’ as we heard today, he repented and became the first great theologian, authoring the majority of the New Testament writings.

In all of these Gospel examples, we find that the Sanctity of human life is not an ‘optional view’ or an ‘opinion’ of the Church, but rather is the very essence of Jesus Christ. The sanctity of life is the undeniable God-revealed truth.

It must also be said that issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment are neither political issues nor women’s or human rights concerns. Rather they are serious moral considerations. Any Orthodox Christian who teaches, believes, or counsels others towards abortion, capital punishment or euthanasia teaches or believes that murder is a human option and denies that God alone is the Author and Governor of Life. As such, he or she is out of communion with Jesus Christ in the Church and must repent and change his/her mind.

NONE of this is simply ‘believe this or else’. We must always remember that as Christians we voluntarily take up the teachings of the Church because they are God-revealed. No one among us can create life ex-nihilo, and none of us can take life willy-nilly.

The teachings of the Church in this regard can be seen clearly among the ranks of the clergy. No one may be ordained to the ranks of the clergy who has ever taken a life. Likewise, any member of the clergy who takes a life—even by accident—forfeits his ministry. This is part of what we mean when we say “blameless” as when we pray for a “Christian ending to our lives, painless, blameless, and peaceful, and a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ”.

Lest we, who have had not direct link to any form of murder about which I have already spoken, believe that we are free from today’s teaching—let us also remember the finer points of the Gospel:

“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.”

Who among us stands uncondemned?

We must likewise remember that, according to the Scriptures, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, we take part in the desecration of human life—our own and those around us!—when we

• Live an overly sedentary life.
• We do not exercise.
• We eat horribly or excessively.
• Are addicted to much wine or liquor or to smoking or drugs

These, too, require repentance and amendment of life! We must care for the life God has given!
All of life is sacred, and we are stewards of life!

We do and will fall short a thousand times in our lives, and we must deal with and accept the consequences of our actions. But the Author of Life, Jesus Christ, “the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). And, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

This mercy has extended throughout time to murderers and sinners alike—remember among them:

• Cain who killed his brother and was spared by God
• Moses—who killed the Egyptian when he was young—and still was called to lead God’s people.
• King David—who not only had Uriah killed, but committed adultery with his wife.
• And many, many more—including St. Paul, whom I have already mentioned.

Hear what the Lord says through the Prophet Ezekiel (18:32), “…I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

And let the words of today’s Epistle from St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy be our own:

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; 16 but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Storm before the Calm

WhatamIgoingtobuyformydad? WhenamIgoing-tofindtimetoruntheselasterrands? Icannotstandthe-trafficanylonger! Ohno!DidIgetsomethingformy-sisteryet? RunaroundRunaroundRunaround. Rush
RushRushRush. Does this seem familiar? This is the storm before the calm.

But, it can be fought, and conquered! Tuesday through Friday nights we will celebrate the Vespers and Canon of Compline of the Prefeast of the Nativity. Don’t get caught in the whirlwind of the details of shopping, cooking and planning. So often, we create the storm around Christmas by our own frenetic pace. Be still! Be at peace! B R E A T H E! Take a moment. Take 45 moments. Enter into the feast calmly with us…

Enter into the vesperal light of the quiet Church and pray with us as we anticipate the Nativity of our Lord.

O come, all you faithful,
Begin the celebration:
Sing with the magi and
the shepherds:
Salvation comes from the Virgin's womb,
Recalling the
faithful to life!

(Stichera from Lord I Call, December 20)


Schedule of Services this Week
Tuesday-Friday 5:30pm Vespers and the Canon of Compline
Saturday 5:30pm Vigil of the Nativity (Compline/Matins)
Sunday 9:10 (hours) 9:30 Liturgy of the Nativity

Letter to the Editor, published in the Post and Courier 12/14

Christian principles

Hopefully, the Dec. 3 article about the execution of Shawn Humphries appeared on Page 7B of The Post and Courier (as opposed to a more prominent place) because we are ashamed to publish it as news. But, to quote an ancient saint, "Fie on the outrage!"

How many times a year do we read about citizens incensed that the Ten Commandments are not posted here or there or are removed from public view, and yet we consent, at least by our silence, to state-sanctioned murder? We do a fine job of "cleaning the outside of the vessel," as did the Pharisees, but we are morally bankrupt inside. On what Christian grounds do we defend capital punishment? And in South Carolina!

"An eye for an eye" is no Christian principle. Jesus himself made this clear: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well." (Matthew 5:38-44)

Jesus also said something about murder: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire." (Matthew 5:21)

Who stands uncondemned? Let him inject the first needle.

If we so fervently desire the "monuments" of Christianity - or at least of so-called "Judeo-Christian values" - to be displayed in public, perhaps we ought first to demonstrate that we are truly Christian people, as St. James, the brother of the Jesus, urges in his epistle: "Be doers of the word and not hearers only." (James 1:22)

Otherwise, we may find ourselves more than doubly damned. Lord, have mercy.

The Rev. John Parker
Priest-in-Charge
Holy Ascension
Orthodox Church
816 High Battery Circle
Mount Pleasant

What shall we offer Him?

What shall we offer Him?

What shall we offer Thee, O Christ,
Who for our sakes hast appeared on earth as man?
Every creature made by Thee offers Thee thanks,
The angels offer a hymn; The heavens a star;
The wisemen gifts; the shepherds, their wonder;
The earth, its cave; the wilderness, a manger.
And we offer Thee a virgin mother.
O pre-eternal God, have mercy on us!
(Lord I Call, Vespers of the Nativity)

As online stores warn us of the final days after which “Christmas delivery” is not possible and local marketers tempt us to buy from them “the perfect gift for the person who has everything” (something that will wind up in a drawer or a closet and then at a yard sale as just some thing), we pause as we prepare for the Nativity of our Lord.

Rampant capitalism urges us in a relentless tide to buy, buy, buy, and to give gifts, to splurge. “You deserve it”. But the simple hymn listed above, from the Vespers of the Nativity, beckons us to something much different, far deeper, and of infinitely more value: The question, “What shall we offer Thee, O Christ?” Everything made gives thanks in some way, and humanity offers the Virgin Mother of God for this miracle. But what thanks do I myself give?

The Icon of the Nativity shows an ox and an ass peering into the manger. These animals do not appear in the Gospel accounts in Matthew and Luke. Rather, they are found in Isaiah 1:3, “The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand.” Do we recognize our Master as the dumb animals do? Will we be found on Christmas Day, peering into the manger, giving thanks to the King of Glory, receiving Him in the Eucharist as we give Him the only thing we can: ourselves?

40 Days of Simplicity

By Father John Parker

With Rick Warren’s visit to Charleston still fresh in the minds of the multitudes that his appearance attracted, Orthodox Christians around the planet have begun, once again, a season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in preparation for the Nativity of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. “Little Lent” or the “Nativity Fast” as it is variously called has been an annual Christian season for over 1500 years, and has been practiced in its present form for the past 900 years. The recent frenzies of “40 days” of this, that, and the other are perhaps well-intended (if not ingeniously marketed) efforts to (re)create a spiritual discipline which has not only been assumed, but has been a part of Christianity from the first days. Forty day cycles and spiritual efforts are no novelty to Orthodox Christians. Rather, they have always been a regular, and needed, spiritual discipline in the life of the Church.

A wise Christian once said, “he who does not know how to fast does not know what it is to feast.” And the practical life of the Church, in her calendar, reflects this verity. Easter, “Pascha” as we call it, is the chief celebration of the Christian year, at which we celebrate Jesus Christ’s holy Resurrection, His “trampling down death by death”. No one knows feasting better than Orthodox Christians on the night of Pascha. In the middle of the night after the celebration of Holy Communion, the tables are set as we feast on the delicious contents of baskets fat with meats, cheeses, cakes, and other delights from around the world. (Since our calendars are sometimes different, come and see this year—we celebrate the Sunday after Western Easter in 2006.)

At least since the early 300s AD, if not certainly before that, Christians have celebrated a season of fasting to prepare for this Feast of Feasts. Increasingly lengthy prayer services, long periods including whole days of strict fasting, and more focused almsgiving and service to the “least of these” are the marks of such a repentant season. By our prayer and fasting, we begin to see ourselves for who we truly are: selfish, angry, short-tempered, self-promoting, judgmental sinners. The spiritual discipline of fasting joined to prayer cleanses the soul. A fourth century monk described it this way, “If a king wanted to take possession of his enemy’s city, he would begin by cutting off the water and the food, so his enemies, dying of hunger, would submit to him. It is the same with the passions of the flesh: if a man goes about fasting and hungry, the enemies of his soul grow weak.”

We also learn, by our reading of the Scriptures and singing of special hymns precisely who God is: the Almighty, all-merciful, all-loving Creator of everyone and everything who welcomes home and forgives all those who turn back to Him from their wicked, sinful ways. The parable of the Prodigal Son comes to life for us, as we return to see ourselves as the “prodigal” and God as the benevolent Father.

For us Orthodox Christians, the preparation for Christmas—the Nativity of our Lord as it is more commonly called—is a mirror of the preparation for Pascha. Hence the name “little Lent”. So on November 15 every year, we begin together to forego meat, dairy, wine (alcohol), and oil, as a common fasting discipline which teaches us slowly, but surely, that our stomachs have begun to govern us. Pride and gluttony, along with self-satisfaction have taken us over. By our voluntary hunger and the rumbling of our stomachs, we begin to see our tempers flare and our sinfulness rear its ugly head. When we see our true selves in this way, we can reconvene our surrender to Christ. By such surrender, we begin anew to see our neighbor with God’s eyes, to serve with God’s hands, to hear with God’s ears. And thus we can also reconvene our plea for Grace. When our stomach rumbles, we make our prayer something like this, “Lord, I thank you that today I have the blessing to choose to be hungry. Help me in my bounty to serve those who are hungry today not by choice of their own…” This is the true meaning of the 40 day fast.

The Nativity Fast, like Great Lent, is not “40 days of individuality” where Johnny chooses to give up beer (which he doesn’t drink anyway) and Suzie gives up chocolate. No, inherent in the Fast is the understanding that no one is saved alone. One can only be saved in community. The Orthodox Church has been living ‘40 days of community’ for nearly two millennia.

During this season, we might even ask the question in contemporary terms, “40 days, what’s the purpose?” The purpose is Communion with God, and love of neighbor, epitomized in holiness—the Christian perfection to which our Lord Himself has called us, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).

God has taught us, through the prophet Isaiah, not only what the true meaning of fasting is, but has revealed Himself to us as the very fulfillment of it:

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Isaiah 58:6ff).

And so, on December 25, we will once again celebrate the Nativity of Jesus Christ, the One who has loosed the chains, who has offered His very self as the Bread of life, and who offers life to those dead in sin. Our fasting, having come to an end, turns into feasting, as the light overcomes the darkness since the True light, Jesus Christ, has come into the world.

Thanksgiving 2005

By Fr. John Parker
Appeared in the Moultrie News on 16 November 2005

If your household is like mine when I was growing up, Thanksgiving Day was an occasion of significant liturgy—a sacred family ritual repeated annually. At least from the time of my early teens, I remember arising on that Thursday every November as if it were a Sunday. Already my parents would have been working for a few hours preparing and stuffing the turkey which would begin to cook while we were off at church. Because of the inherent Christian themes of the holiday, without question we would attend the church service where we would sing those hymns which have become so famous around this celebration: “Come, ye thankful people, come…” The priest would wear his stole with the wheat and wine motif, evidence of our thanks for the harvest, with overt theological reference to the bread and wine of communion.

After church we would race home to check the turkey, whose pleasant, basted aroma had already filled the house in our absence. My mother would prepare the rest of the ritual meal, which remains nearly unchanged to this day: candied sweet potatoes served with marshmallows; green bean casserole topped with crispy, Durkee fried onions; curried fruit, cranberry sauce, and pitted black olives. There were only three times a year that we used my great-grandmother’s fine china: Christmas, Easter, and today. My younger brother and I were even given the privilege of drinking our milk or soda from the beautiful antique crystal glasses, whose rims were encircled in real gold. (They never went in the dishwasher!)

Equally a part of all this ritual was the watching of football, the removing of the electric carving knife—still in its original 1968 box, the sampling of the hot turkey put out to cool, and the pilfering of olives one by one before dinner (between my father and me). This, of course, was always followed by the rhetorical question, “Okay, who has eaten all the olives?”

Once the meal was served, we were seated. My father always said grace, beginning with his oft repeated words, “We thank Thee, Heavenly Father for all the many blessings…” Thereafter we would gorge ourselves, as if there weren’t going to be 10 pounds of turkey-and-fixins left over for tomorrow. Following supper, we would make room for two or three varieties of pie, topped with ice cream. The inevitable statement would finally be made: “I’ll never eat again.”

More and more in these United States, we know what it is to feast. Whether it be a Thanksgiving meal as I have described above (which is probably ‘average’) or a regular meal at a restaurant (where one plate could serve two or three), indulgence is on the rise. It is seen in our meals, in our house and car purchases, in our discretionary spending—feasting on ‘prosperity’. Indeed, even flat-screen and plasma televisions are becoming the norm, along with paying upwards of $100 a month for varying cable or satellite tv service.

But do we know truly what it is to feast? There is a teaching which says that one cannot know what it is to feast unless he or she knows what it is to fast—to lack, to be in need, especially voluntarily. If the plate is always more than full, if the cup always ‘runneth over’, if there is never a need, do we actually feast? Or has our feasting, once rooted in true thankfulness, morphed ever so subtly into gluttony in all facets of life?

Fasting—self-denial in general—is an all-but-forgotten practice in our society today. We are told by clever marketers that we “deserve” all kinds of things: a bigger house, a newer car, a fuller plate, a more lavish vacation. And to assist us in obtaining all that we “deserve”, sly money-lenders will give us all the credit we want in order to buy things now. I even noticed that one can use a ‘pay-pass’ at McDonald’s, originally designed to help streamline traffic on heavily traveled toll roads. One doesn’t even have to wait the short amount of time we once had to for a fast food burger.

Fasting and self-denial are not ends in and of themselves. The purpose of fasting is not to diet or to drop a few pounds, even though with fasting comes a certain weight loss. The goal of self-denial is not to pat oneself on the back and say, “hey, I went 40 days without eating meat.” Believe it or not, though, there is much that we truly can go without! Rather, the aims of these disciplines are these: to soften the heart, to open our eyes to see true need, to teach our tongue to speak words that build up and don’t tear down, to teach us that we control our stomachs and bodies—rather than our stomachs and bodies governing us.

If we are truly thankful, especially at this sacred time on our secular calendar, then let us show such gratitude not in word only, but also in deed. Yes, let us gather together in families and neighborhoods, enjoying one another’s company and thanking God, from whom all blessings flow. But let us not forget to fast in all sincerity—to deny ourselves for some length time, to break the bonds of instant gratification, in order to have our eyes and ears and hearts and wallets open to those in need—those who have no full choice regarding hunger, clothing, shelter, and basic human needs. And the occasions of such self-denial, let our prayer be, “O Lord, I thank you today that I am hungry by choice. Grant me through your abundant grace to go into my community and to share freely all that You have freely given me, that I may know truly what it is to feast, at the never ending Heavenly Banquet in your Kingdom. Amen.”

Building Holy Ascension

November 15, 2005

Will you help us build?
See the renderings at www.ocacharleston.org/building.html

Christ is in our midst! God grant us a blessed fast. This week’s newsletter is a summary of Sunday’s all-parish meeting. Please contact Fr. John Parker or Chuck Bates if you have questions, concerns, ideas, suggestions, or corrections. In order to keep it as brief as possible, it is written in a rather staccato fashion. Please forgive me!

Building Status: building permits expected end of November, 1st week in December. Mike Colarusso to be our contractor. To sign not-to-exceed contract of $950,000. We expect construction to be less with value-engineering and gifts-in-kind at construction. Bank willing to loan us $500,000. Present building fund: $197,000.

Goal: We are seeking to raise an additional $300,000 by the Nativity of our Lord, December 25. Our efforts coincide with our 40 day fast beginning today.

The Plan: Chuck Bates and others have proposed to have each ‘giving unit’ (as the bank calls a family or single individual. I don’t like the term, but we’ll use it for sake of ease.) who is of a willing heart (see Exodus 35) take responsibility for raising an additional $10,000. This is not a contract or requirement; it is a mutual request of all of us. Some may raise more, some less. Some will participate, some will not. We are asking for willing hearts. By Christmas, we hope that, with everyone taking responsibility for a piece, we can finish with the full amount needed to build. We are not asking one another to give this money from our own pockets, although some may choose to do so. Rather, we are asking the whole parish to dig deep, think hard, and participate together to this end. Several ideas will be attached to this report.

Some Notable Moments: At the request of one parishioner, we passed around papers to all who would make an educated guess at what each could raise by 12/25. With sixteen of eighteen or twenty ‘units’ reporting, $84,200 was ‘offered’. A number of parishioners and friends were unable to join us Sunday. We are confident that we all will be pleasantly surprised by the end results. Let’s remember the end of the Exodus 35 story: so many were generous of heart and interested in helping that Moses had to ask the people to stop because they had too much to complete the tabernacle! Imagine!

These questions were raised: If finances are a struggle at this level, is this the building to build? We believe, after much prayer and many, many months of diligent labor that this is the building to build. Many hours have been spent by numbers of parishioners to choose this design over others. For practical as well as architectural reasons, it is neither wise nor possible to build the parish hall first, and then the church later. We would have to redesign the present plans to do so, which would likely cost at least $20,000. In the end, we would have a parish hall not much bigger than our present storefront, and thus would have paid a lot of money out and be no further along than we are today.

Is now the time? We believe that the time is now for many reasons. For much of this year, we have averaged 40 on Sundays, with attendance as high as 61 at Pascha. 57 attended this past Sunday. Statistically, we cannot grow beyond this in this size space. One option is to move, but we chose I’On because this is where the church will ultimately be. And presently, we are spending $1700/month in rent. This would be better spent in a mortgage of our own. Additionally, the cost of construction will not decrease, and the price of money will likely not decrease either. Two years from now, the struggle would be the same, proportionately to today. But we need the space today!

A Time to remember our past and think about the future: Many, many of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were called to the same holy task: those who are generous and willing of heart, draw near to build the temples of God in this country. It was not easy then—dollars were hard to come by and materials were expensive. Our relatives toiled long hours in mines and mills. They made thousands of dollars by selling hand-made comestibles. They dedicated immeasurable amounts of their free time to lay brick, pour concrete, paint walls, install tile, paint icons, etc. They gave large sums of what little they had to the glory of God. The legacy of their labors of love are sprinkled about the northeast and in other parts of the USA. Many of us visit, worship, and serve in these churches still when we return to our hometowns.

We are now the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We have come to a ‘new’ land—the South (new to Orthodoxy, not us!). We have before us the same holy task that faced our forebears: to build the most beautiful Orthodox possible, to the glory of God, in which to worship Him, and by which to help introduce our neighbors to the fullness of the Christian Gospel. It is not easy, like it was not easy then. For a number of us, dollars are sparse and materials are costly.

We have put forth and incredible effort which has produced much fruit thus far. Already our small parish has raised over a quarter of a million dollars, of which over $196,000 remains in our bank account (the other has been spent on costs like architectural and engineering work, rent, etc.). There remains before us still a significant amount of work, especially as we prepare to take the step of faith to build.

I ask us all to take this fast more seriously and soberly than ever. We prepare ourselves to welcome the King of Kings into the world. We anticipate the moment of “God with us”—the coming of Emmanuael, Jesus Christ our Lord. On Sunday, we heard the lawyer in the Gospel ask, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” The central, communal way in which we love the Lord our God is by worshipping Him in the most beautiful place we can offer. The second is by serving Him through in the ‘least of these’—the poor, the suffering, the needy, the hopeless. The former we strive for in our building efforts and in our prayerful devotion in our present space. The latter is to be the fruit of the true fast. Let us not aim for one and neglect the other, but strive to Love God and Neighbor together!

God be bountiful to us and bless us, and let the light of His countenance shine upon us, and be merciful unto us!

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. John+

Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast begins on Tuesday, November 15, continuing for the 40 days which are completed with the Divine Liturgy on Christmas Day, December 25. “Little lent” is a time for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as we reorient our lives once again to “the Orient from on High”, Jesus Christ. Prayer without fasting is incomplete. Fasting without prayer is dieting. Prayer and fasting without almsgiving is spiritual selfishness. Below are some very helpful sayings from the Desert Fathers which will help us to see the true nature and purpose of fasting:

Amma Syncletica said, “Just as bitter medicine drives out poisonous creatures, so prayer and fasting drive away evil thoughts” (#4).

Abba Poemen heard of someone who had gone all week without eating and lost his temper. The old man said, “He could do without food for six days, but could not do without anger” (#203).

Abba John the Dwarf said, “If a king wants to take possession of a city he begins by cutting off water and food and so his enemies, dying of hunger, submit to him. So it is with sinful passions. If a person goes about fasting and hungry, the enemies of his soul grow weak and surrender” (#3).

“It is better to eat meat and drink wine, and not eat the flesh of one’s neighbors through slander” (Hyperechius, 2).

One day St. Epiphanius…sent someone to Abba Hilarion with this request, “Come, let us see one another before we depart from this life.” When the old man came, they rejoice together in each other’s company. During their meal, they were brought a fowl. Epiphanius took it and gave it to Hilarion to eat. The old man said to him, “Forgive me, but since I received the habit, I have not eaten meat.” Then the bishop answered, “Since I took the habit, I have not allowed anyone to go to sleep with a complaint against me, and I have not gone to rest with a complaint against anyone.” The old man replied, “Forgive me, your way of life is better than mine” (#4).

Death, Halloween, and Christianity

Ancient Christianity Confronts Death and Halloween
By Fr. John Parker

I remember well walking the streets of our cozy steel-mill suburb of Pittsburgh with our two and four year-old sons in a wagon, flanked by our neighbors and their children as we went off trick-or-treating. Without leaving even the first block I thought, “Toto, we aren’t in Kansas anymore!” Whole front yards had been dug up and were re-made to look like cemeteries with carved headstones. Adults lay in the homemade graves with chainsaws, jumping up and revving their power tools, scaring children to death. Others would hide in bushes with plastic (thank God) machetes, wearing ripped clothing and dripping with fake blood. When the children would approach, they’d stumble out. Of course other houses had the standard cobwebs, skulls and goblins. Any number of them had those yard decorations which look like a half-buried man trying to free himself from the crypt. Halloween there was all of this---not to mention the costumes of folks going house to house.

Lest we pridefully suggest that this doesn’t happen here—take a look around in your neighborhood. Such ‘decoration’ is on the rise even in the beautiful low country. One doesn’t even have to go outside. Just read the mail. How about the front page of a local costume store advertisement: “Angel of Darkness”, modeled by a teenage-looking girl, boasting a scant miniskirt—all black—with a mesh-like, low cut, v-neck top, complete with shimmering red lipstick and a 4 inch crucifix. All of this and more will be seen here in our town—children of all ages parading the streets, many dressed in the most gruesome, ‘realistic’ costumes.

Contrast this to the average contemporary funeral. Many adults won’t even let their children even go to the viewing of a deceased parent, grandparent, or friend. Others won’t let their children go to a burial. “I don’t know how they would handle death,” they explain. Or, more often, “they are too young to face death.” Today, strangely enough, most embalmed corpses look more alive than they did in the last months and years of their lives—an ironic contrast to the zombies and un-dead we’ll see on Halloween.

What is the lesson we learn from our society? It is okay to play dead. It is acceptable and fun to masquerade in gruesome costumes, to scare even the smallest child—or to subject one’s small child to such fright. And it is normal to pretend that real death doesn’t exist.

But from the most ancient times, this is not the Christian view. Death was never a ‘market niche’, as Halloween and funeral choices have become today. Halloween is the second most lucrative shopping ‘season’ of the year, while funeral options now range from putting one’s favorite sports team on a custom casket to having one’s dead relative or pet turned into a diamond. (How far we’ve come—from, “the ring was my grandmother’s” to “the ring is my grandmother”.)

Death was never entertainment. Consider a show advertised on primetime television on 10/13 showing a young woman referring to another woman’s attempted suicide by drowning in a tub “the most romantic” idea she’d heard of recently. The woman was attempting to be ‘one’ with her dead boyfriend. What does this teach the viewer about death? About life?

In the ‘old days’, two things were sure: death and taxes. Today, some evade taxes, and most attempt to evade death. Americans spend billions of dollars each year attempting to make the dead look living and the living look dead in late October.

Not a market niche. Not entertainment. No, death was, and is, a sad reality. Everyone who is born is guaranteed to die. Death is to be hated. According to St. Paul, “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). Death is the ultimate enemy of man.

So, for 2000 years, the holiest Christians have taught us always to keep our death before us—to remember that we are going to die. An ancient Christian evening prayer says, “O Master who loves mankind, will not this couch [bed] be my grave?” Some monks throughout the centuries have even slept in coffins. But let it be understood that this wasn’t a game or a fettish. These prayers and actions were to remind a Christian that we have this life only (and in an unknown-to-us amount) to love and serve both God and our neighbor—to live life well, and in so doing, to prepare for our judgment. Do we live like this?

Halloween, in its present day state, links death with fear and fear with death. It is an evening, now prepared for as a ‘season’, which scars the mind, the memory, and the soul by its adrenaline-rush ‘thrills’ of haunted maize mazes, skeletons in the yard, and increasing gore. Whatever its connection is or was to ancient pagan rituals or baptized Christian fetes (the eve of Western Christianity’s All Saints Day, hence “All Hallow’s Even”—Halloween), this is no more. The simplicity of walking through the neighborhood dressed as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to collect candy in an old pillowcase is rapidly being supplanted by horror, pranks, and in numerous places even a gruesome eve of Halloween often called “Mischief Night”. That evening is filled with violence, arson, looting, and crime.

Many funerals now, instead of being the committal of a family member into the hands of God, are now further displays of decadence and individuality, if not attempted ‘immortality’. Thousands and thousands of dollars are buried in the ground in high-end caskets, trimmed in the finest metals, sealed almost hermetically in lead or stainless vaults. So much for “dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return”.

Christians are called to remember death, not to fear it or commercialize it. In fact, Jesus Christ conquered death by his own death and resurrection. Orthodox Christians hymn this joyous truth every year, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” We all die, but that death does not have to be permanent. This is the Gospel. It is precisely this remembrance of death which leads Orthodox Christian to pray so frequently in their services, “for a Christian ending to our lives, painless, blameless, and peaceful, and for a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ”.

More and more, our society is replacing reality with ‘virtual reality’, death with faux life, truth with lies. Perhaps, once again, we can recapture a night and even an industry devoted to imitating and commercializing death to a remembrance of this inevitable end to each of our lives, and in so doing, to live the virtuous life, loving God and neighbor.

Fr. John Parker is priest-in-charge of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in Mt. Pleasant. He can be reached at frjohn@ocacharleston.org or by phone at 843-881-5010.

Purity

Buried in Sunday’s Epistle reading from 2 Cor. 6 are two simple words, ways in which Christians are to commend themselves: “by purity”. Has purity been lost today? How do the following demonstrate or reject purity? Today’s fashion. Today’s movies. Today’s television. Today’s music.

Purity is a divine trait, a characteristic of holiness, to which every human being is called, especially Christians. We accept as willing servants of Christ to lay down our will and our sinful desires to be in communion with God.

Purity is a state of the heart. Purity is the deep desire to know nothing but God. To serve no one but Him. The pure inner state of heart is to be reflected outwardly in our dress, in our words, in our deeds—in every facet of our lives as a witness to the Purity of God.

To whom do the saints in the Icons point? To themselves? No icon of the Mother of God, or of any other saint, indicates, “look at me!” How much more are we who are living called not to point or draw attention to our selves, but rather to point to Christ? So, how do we dress? Do we call attention to ourselves? Are our clothes tight and revealing? Subtly or overtly seductive? On the other end of the spectrum, are they sloppy and torn? By our piercings and hairstyles are we trying to gain an image for ourselves? (These questions are for men and women alike!) Purity does not attract attention to itself. Consider even the words of the Prophet Isaiah, speaking of the coming Messiah, Jesus: “he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). Jesus didn’t come as some macho, super-buff sports star. He came as one we might (and do!) miss, if we weren’t looking for Him. The Mother of God was not a super-model, bone thin, in low-cut clothes, attracting attention to herself. Rather, she was humble, simple, unassuming and submitted to the Divine will in purity, chastity, and holiness. Should we be any different?

Garbage in, garbage out. Who are our models? Our Lord? His mother? The saints? More often than not, not these, but rather some stellar athlete, a diva, a supermodel or a Hollywood actor. When we fill our lives—our minds, our eyes and ears, our souls with secular media which promotes porneia (unchastity), adultery, gluttony, sloth, selfishness, lust, and pride, how can we expect to be made pure in an instant at the Chalice or at confession?

Purity is not a rejection of the body, or of sex, or of being in shape or of music or tv or movies in general. These all can be good. Rather, purity is the body, sex—life—rightly understood. It is the self—indeed the whole life—offered first in total innocence to God, and then, in measured ways to others. Measured both in quantity and type.

Where has purity gone? God grant is to recognize our rejection of it, and to turn and live in manners holy and pleasing to Him.

Put out into the deep

“Put out into the deep…” (Luke 5:4b)

In Sunday’s Gospel, we heard of those who “pressed upon” Jesus to “hear the word of God.” We learned of the fisherman, who despite having done things their way, put down their nets “At [Jesus’] word,” and finally how, “having brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

In the midst of this passage (Luke 5:1-11), Jesus tells Peter, “put out into the deep…” Jesus had taught the multitudes in the shallows; now he was going to demonstrate his power and authority to the few in ‘the deep’.

Now, as a rule, the saints counsel against the measuring of progress in the spiritual life—as such can lead to pride which, in turn, leads to deeper sin. Nevertheless, it is important for us to take spiritual inventory of our lives from time to time in order to grow. One might consider this ‘pruning’ as is necessary for trees to produce fruit. This sort of inventory is often a part of the preparation for confession, wherein we look back over the last days or weeks to take special note of our sin—in order to confess it and be made whole and clean. At a more basic level—the level of spiritual growth—we might simply look at our spiritual disciplines to ask questions and to set goals, just like in other areas of our life. Am I in the shallows? Was I in the deep and have drifted into the shallows by neglect, apathy, or sin? How can I, as St. Peter was instructed, put out into the deep?

How can I deepen my prayer life? How can I help my spouse to grow in Christ? How can I teach my children to love God more? Growth is the question. Someone once said, if we are not growing, we are dying…and there is a certain truth to that even with regard to our faith. Better though, is to see the Love and Blessings of God as a bottomless treasure chest. The deeper we dig, the more spectacular the jewels. Every time we think we have experienced the fullest amount of love from God, there is always another layer of depth. And always another after that. To return to the Gospel passage, there may be no fish, or few, in the shallows, but when the disciples put out into the deep, their catch strained their nets and nearly sank their boats. The pure marvel of it all is that despite our sinfulness, God continually invites us to that place. Which of us has tried life our own way and succeeded? Like these fisherman-disciples we have toiled ‘all night’ and caught nothing. Hearing Jesus’ call, let us, at His word, put out into the deep.

TRADITION!

In the Post and Courier, Charleston, SC, Sunday Sept. 18, 2005

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=40832&section=faithvalues

Orthodox style of worship steeped in tradition
BY JOHN PARKER

EDITOR'S NOTE: While Michael Gartland is away on an international reporting fellowship, Faith & Values will feature occasional columns from Lowcountry writers.

From the outside, one hardly would know it is a church: an unassuming storefront in a local neighborhood. Once inside, however, things are different. Incense hangs in the air. To one side, there is a tall stand filled with lighted beeswax candles that flicker in front of holy images of Jesus, biblical figures and saints.

From aged to infant, most folks stand, attentively facing deep inside the room. After some period of silence, a man in golden vestments lifts his hands and prays an ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit. He raises a large book and sings, "Blessed is the Kingdom, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages!" The choir chants robustly, "Amen!"

Shortly, after a sung litany of prayers (to which the gathered fervently chant, "Lord, have mercy!"), all begin to sing Psalm 104 a cappella.

Throughout the service, this sort of interaction continues. It is solemn, yet not stuffy. It is majestic ... ancient ... awe-inspiring. It calms; it does not excite the emotions. This is the worship of the ancient, undivided church, which St. Paul likely would recognize. It is a service that a fourth-, 12th- or 18th-century Christian would know, served in every Orthodox Church on Earth on Sundays and holy days.

The difference between the liturgy here in Mount Pleasant and in Greece, Serbia or Russia is basically the language in which one prays and the type of chant by which the faithful sing the hymns. It's universal across time and geography.

Coffee and the comfort of chairs are saved for afterward. The posture of prayer, especially on Sundays, always has been to stand. In fact, from ancient times, it has been forbidden to kneel on Sundays because we celebrate every Sunday as a little "Pascha" (Easter) and stand in eager anticipation of the second coming of Christ. (Although those who must sit, ought to. As one saint says, it is better to pray sitting down than to stand and think about your feet.)

The ancient prayers don't change from week to week, but rather stand as timeless requests to God. Rather than binding us by some rote series of words, we are actually freed up to pray truly, fully ... because we know what is coming every week. The prayers change us.
But it isn't just about having the same service. It is about believing the same exact things about Jesus Christ and our lives related to him. The universality of our prayers, hymns and services, as well as our beliefs concerning "faith and values," morals and the like testify to this common faith, universal across time and geography.

How? Why candles and incense? Why chanting? Why not a big-screen TV and a band? Skits and movie clips? Why not varying opinions and practices on the use of vestments or the singing of services? Why no coffee during the service?

We would answer with a single word -- a word that many now eschew, one that ruffles feathers. A word that many today reject outright -- but a word that describes something that everyone has. Everyone. Not a Christian on the planet operates outside of its definition. Not one. The word: tradition.

Everyone has a tradition and worships, prays and studies from within it. There is no such thing as nontraditional -- only the question: What is the font of your tradition?

What I have described above is the most ancient and unchanged Christian tradition on Earth: Orthodoxy. Many others come from later traditions (16th century and after), all of which arose in contrast to what they didn't believe here or there.

Tradition, in the biblical sense, is "from zee Greek": paradosis, to hand down, to hand over.
According to the Scriptures, tradition can be good (that which we should believe and teach) and bad ("traditions of men" that distort the Gospel). Since the beginning, the difference has been determined by a universal comparison to the rule of faith: Does it match the "faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3), what Christians have always believed? Or, rather, is this a tradition of men, a reaction against something they couldn't or wouldn't believe? In fact, this is the main difference between the Orthodox tradition and all other traditions: The Orthodox tradition has handed down -- by the grace of God -- the fullness of the Christian Gospel, unchanged by the tide of popular opinion. Others have handed this down in larger or smaller parts but tainted by all sorts of additions and deletions.

When Jesus was alive, he charged his disciples to "go into all the world" and baptize and teach others what he commanded. Each Christian's task, especially the bishops (the ones in charge), was to teach only what they were taught. I compare the process to a FedEx delivery. A certain message (the Christian Gospel) was placed in an envelope (the tradition) and given to the FedEx workers (the disciples). Their task was to deliver it (the tradition) to the next generation. There was even a way to trace the package: the bishop. From the earliest days, he has been the guardian of the faith. If anything changed, the traced teaching was compared to the original, and if found false, it then was rebuked. And the heretic was cast out. Thus, the Orthodox Christian tradition was both handed down and guarded -- what St. Paul urges in 2 Thessalonians 2:15: "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter."

How does architecture demonstrate this point?

Picture two buildings: the first a massive structure, several stories high, situated on the plot of land in the most convenient way. Inside, one passes through a set of doors into the main room that contains hundreds of chairs, even in the balconies. If a service weren't going on, it might be confused for the auditorium at the local high school or the IMAX Theatre. It is designed to fit scores of people and to offer a message using modern media. The architecture tells such a story.
The second is cruciform and faces East. One enters the West end, from "the world." In the central dome, an imposing image of Jesus gazes down, blessing with one hand and holding that which tells the life of Christ in prophecy, parable and event.

Moving eastward, one ascends a few steps as toward heaven. The priest faces the people only to speak to them. Otherwise, he prays with them, facing East, the direction from which we expect our Savior to return. The architecture tells such a story.

Both are traditional. One is ancient, as old as the oldest Christian Church. Its task is to teach by its shape and adornment -- "the very stones cry out!' The other is a convenient container for services, inspired by the entertainment industry. The question remains: whose tradition?
But just like with worship, the Christian's purpose is not about having the same buildings across time and geography, it is about making people, places, even time, holy, bringing everything that we say, do and even build into the presence of God for his purposes.

Tradition! The Christian Church has never been about innovation. Its very task is tradition -- to hand on what it has received.

But we must be careful to pass on the original tradition! The next generation's task is to receive it, as is, and then to pass it on in the same way. No, it is not the teachings, the prayers, the services or even the architecture that we are to modify. Rather, it is we who are to change, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Father John Parker is priest-in-charge of Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, in the I'On community in Mount Pleasant. He can be reached at 810-9350 or by e-mail at frjohn@ocacharleston.org.

Universal Exaltation of the Holy and Life Giving Cross

When Adam and Eve had fallen prey to the serpent and broken communion with God by choosing their way over God’s (Genesis 3:1ff), in the end, God expelled the Two from the Garden, in part to take from them the Tree of Life, “lest [Adam] put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (Gen. 3:22). This was excommunication by Adam and Eve’s own choosing, but was also a mercy by God’s grace. Imagine being full of sin and immortal. Endless suffering. (See the difficult but poignant film “The Green Mile” for an example of this.)

In the Garden, Adam and Eve were free to eat from every tree—presumably including the Tree of Life—with the exception only of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Having crossed the only barrier, which was there for their own protection, they now “see”, and as a result, die. We follow daily in their path.

But through the Crucifixion and subsequent Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, the true Tree of Life is once again offered to us—the Cross. The Divine irony is that by partaking of it, we too, must die, but by partaking in it, we find the only true Life. In fact, if we choose not to partake of it, death is all the more final. This Tree—the Cross—is offered to us both to cleanse of our sins, to cure our ‘sight’, and to offer us life everlasting with God, again.

Jesus Christ offered himself fully and completely for our sins, dying on the Cross. In so doing, he did not do away with our own suffering and death, but rather, partook of and sanctified the same. By His descent to the dead, He began to free the righteous captives (see the Icon of Pascha); by His Resurrection, Christ has trampled down death by death. Only by sharing in this: “Deny thyself, take up thy cross daily, and follow me” will we truly live.

Come, O people! Let us fall down in worship before the blessed tree!
For by the cross, eternal justice has come to pass.
The Devil deceived Adam by the tree. Now he has been deceived by the cross!
He held the royal creation in bondage.
Now he has been cast down with an amazing fall!
The serpent’s venom is washed by the blood of God!
The curse is destroyed by the righteous sentence
Of the just One, who was condemned unjustly!
The tree has been healed by the Tree!
The passion of the passionless God has destroyed
the passions of the condemned!
Glory to Thy dispensation, O Christ,
Our gracious King and the Lover of man! (Verses on Lord I call)

Katrina and Orthodox Teaching

As the situation in New Orleans and surrounding areas continues to grow in magnitude, we have each surely read a dozen emails (as was the case with the Tsunami) asking “Where is/was God?” Some actually claim that God did this as a punishment to New Orleans, a city of sin. Please understand our teaching:

First of all, whether one or a city of 100,000 dies, God is ‘there’. Not a sparrow falls from the sky falls without his knowledge. In truth, when one or 100,000 perish, it is the same to God: a disaster. Mankind was created to live—in communion with God, not to die. Our Lord is the Great Shepherd who leaves the flock of 99 to save the one; it is surely the case that in a disaster like this, God is in the midst of it. And who knows more about suffering than sinless Jesus Christ who bore all of humanities suffering and shame on the Cross?

Second, God does not ‘send’ hurricanes, plagues, tsunamis, AIDS, or any other natural or unnatural disasters to “punish” people. New Orleans is no more or less ‘sinful’ than Charleston. Why? Because cities aren’t sinful, people are. And if we are to be true to our faith and to the Scriptures, I am more sinful than anyone in any town. This is what we profess at every Divine Liturgy: “I believe, O Lord, and I confess, that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first” (cf. 1 Timothy 1:15). There is a long line of sinners, and I am at the front of it. But, remember the Gospel, even forespoken by the Prophet Ezekiel thousands of years ago: “For God desires not the death of a sinner, but that he should turn from his wickedness and live” (precommunion prayers, cf. Ezekiel 18:32).

God was there when the storm was coming. God is there in the grim mess which remains. God did not ‘send’ this storm to punish anyone. What this storm does do is the following: It shows that the whole cosmos, the whole of creation is ‘out of whack’, in need of salvation. Christ’s second coming, according to the Scriptures, is a renewal of the whole creation. But as for now, the whole universe is as St. Paul writes: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22ff). The whole earth, the whole universe needs Jesus Christ. The sins of Adam and Eve on down to your sins and mine contribute to the ‘groaning’ of the universe, where the winds and the waves now destroy. But remember, our Lord created them “good” (see Genesis 1 and 2) and is still Lord over them as He was when He himself walked on water and calmed the storms. This storm also allows us to be the presence of the Living, Saving Jesus Christ whom we proclaim fully in the Orthodox Church. An opportunity to be His compassion for the destitute, His hands and feet for the weary, His home for the homeless, His cloak for the naked, etc. If God is to be seen in this tragedy, it is through us who remain personally unharmed by the storm, but who know the One, True God.