In praise of God, the Creator of the world, Psalm 74:16 extols:
Yours is the day, and Yours is the night;
You created the light and the sun.
(Psalm 74:16)
(Psalm 74:16)
3 Holy Hierarchs
“But I must explain myself a little more clearly. A good many men do not draw their conclusions from the very nature of reality, but merely consider the way men have lived before them; and so they fall completely short of an accurate judgment about reality, and they take, as their criterion of what is good, irrational custom instead of sober reason. Hence they force their way into political office and power, they make a good deal of merely external show since they are unaware of the fact that all this will come to an end after this life. For custom is no sure guarantee for the future, for very often this may lead us to the goats and not to the flock of sheep. My meaning will become clear if you will consider the words of the Gospel. If you consider that which is proper to man, that is, his reason, you will despise the force of custom as irrational, and you will never choose as good that which brings no advantage to the soul. We must not then seriously consider the footprints of those who have gone before us like so many cattle leaving their trace upon the world. For what is best to choose is not clear from sense phenomena – nor shall it be until we depart from this life; then we will know whom we have followed. The man then who merely follows in the tracks of those who have lived before, and takes the custom of this world as his guide in life, and does not distinguish good from evil on the basis of actual reality, very often makes a mistake, and in the day of that just Judgment he becomes a goat instead of a sheep.” (Gregory of Nyssa, From Glory to Glory, pg. 161)
“And afterward Joshua read all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the aliens who resided among them.” (Joshua 8:34-35)
Jean Danielou in his book FROM SHADOWS TO REALITY: STUDIES IN THE BIBLICAL TYPOLOGY OF THE FATHERS notes that for Origen (The most prolific biblical commentator and theologian of the 3rd Century – some of his teachings were condemned in later centuries by the Church as heresy) there is a typology in the Joshua 8:34-35 passage. This typology if very obvious in the Septuagint which refers to Joshua as Jesus, using the same name that is applied to the Christ:
“Joshua reading the law is the type of Jesus explaining the Law and the Prophets to his disciples at Emmaus, and it brings home to us that we understand the Law only when Jesus himself explains it and we find him in it: ‘I think that when Moses is read to us, the veil of the letter is lifted by the grace of the Lord and we begin to understand that the Law is spiritual…’” (p 282).
Origen understands Joshua’s “reading” not as simply reading aloud but as explaining the meaning of the text for the people to enable them to actually keep Torah. Reading Torah – explaining its meaning and offering help for keeping Torah - was the didactic purpose of rabbis. The conflict of Jesus as rabbi with the other rabbis comes over Christ’s interpretation of Torah. [Jesus asks the teachers of Torah: "have you not read...? (Matthew 12:3, 5; 19:4; 22:31). He is not asking them about reading aloud, but rather is asking 'how do you understand and what do you teach about the text....?"]. Christ is ‘reading’ to His disciples Torah whenever He teaches them. Origen accepts the typology already common in his day which sees Joshua being a type of Christ:
Jesus and Moses
“Jesus it is who reads the Law, when he reveals the secrets of the Law. We, who belong to the Catholic Church, do not reject the Law of Moses, but receive it if and when it is Jesus who reads it to us. For it is only if Jesus reads the Law in such wise that through his reading we grasp its spiritual significance, that we correctly understand the law. Do not think they have grasped the meaning who could say: ‘Was not our heart burning within us when he opened to us the Scriptures, and, beginning at Moses and the Prophets and expounding them all show that they wrote of him.’ … By linking Joshua’s reading of the Law with Jesus’ reading to the disciples of Emmaus, Origen … emphasizes the profound continuity of the Old Testament, the Gospel and of the interior Christ who instructs each disciple.”
It is Jesus who reveals to us the meaning of the Old Testament texts. We cannot understand the Old Testament apart from Christ. To be faithful disciples of Jesus we must read His Gospel teachings Christologically and Christocentrically. Those denominations and scholars who advocate reading literally the Old Testament without any reference to Christ are in fact emptying the Old Testament Scriptures of their full power. We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and should use it!
St. Paul with Old Testament Teachers of the Law
During any Baptismal Serivice or during the Great Blessing of Water in the Orthodox Church we pray that the waters before us – and any water we are blessing – might become imbued with the blessing of the Jordan. We pray that the waters in our church might become those of the Jordan River.
This petition in prayer is based upon an ancient Christian idea about what the Jordan River really is (and here we again see how theology takes us beyond any literalist thinking into the realm of poetic theological reality). St. Gregory of Nyssa writes about the River Jordan (the reference to Jesus Son of Nave is to Joshua Son of Nun. Jesus Son of Nave is how Joshua is called in the Septuagint and thus the Patristic writers readily saw Joshua as a type of Christ. In our English translations of the bible we lose this typological reference because we use the name Joshua):
“For indeed the river of grace flows everywhere. It does not rise in Palestine to disappear in some nearby sea: it spreads over the whole earth and flows into Paradise, flowing in the opposite direction to those four rivers which come from Paradise, and bringing in things far more precious than those which come forth. … Imitate Jesus, the son of Nave. Bear the Gospel, as he bore the ark. Leave behind the desert, that is, sin: cross the Jordan, and hasten to the life according to the commands of Christ; hasten to that land which brings forth fruits of joy, where flow, as was promised, milk and honey. Overturn Jericho, your former way of life, and do not let it be built up again. All these things are types for us, all prefigure truths which are now revealed…”
Jean Danielou commenting on the above quote of St. Gregory writes:
But there is another interesting point in St. Gregory of Nyssa. The Jordan is shown in a new light. It is no longer through as the river which flows into the Dead Sea, but as a mythical river, which encircles the whole world and is contrasted with the mythical rivers of Paradise. We are brought up against the junction of the idea of the Jordan as the source of Baptism . . . the idea found in all Christian ligurgies that all baptismal water is the Jordan … Jordan, as the frontier between the world of the sense and the spiritual world…” (Jean Danielou, FROM SHADOWS TO REALITY: STUDIES IN THE BIBLICAL TYPOLOGY OF THE FATHERS, pp 271-272)
Thus our Orthodox liturgical prayer preserves an idea that was common in the ancient Church. When we pray over water to bless it in the Church we are praying that the water, and thus ourselves, might be lifted beyond this world into the world as God intended it to be. This means freeing our thinking from the limits of literalism into the truth of theology. For theology reveals to us the spiritual world which is ever present on earth, yet often hidden from our eyes.
In the generation of Christians which followed the first apostles, we can find some of the ethical teachings and concern which were emphasized by these new converts to Christianity.
The Didache (1st C AD) teaches:
“Commit no murder, adultery, sodomy, fornication, or theft. Practise no magic, sorcery, abortion, or infanticide. See that you do no covet anything your neighbor possesses, and never be guilty or perjury, false witness, slander or malice. Do not equivocate in thought or speech, for a double tongue is a deadly snare…you must resist any temptation to hypocrisy, spitefulness, or superiority. You are to have no malicious designs on a neighbor.”
In the Epistle of Barnabas (2nd C AD) we are taught:
“ Practise singleness of heart, and a richness of the spirit….Abhor anything that is displeasing to God, and hold every form of hypocrisy in detestation. Be sure that you never depart from the commandments of the Lord. Do not exaggerate for your own importance, but be modest at all points, and never claim credit for yourself. Cherish no ill-natured designs upon your neighbor. Forbid yourself any appearance of presumption. Commit no fornication, adultery, or unnatural vice…Never be in two minds…Love your neighbor more than yourself. Never do away with an unborn child.” (Frances Young, Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture, pg.132)
The Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (2012)
The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
(Psalms 116:6)
St. John Chrysostom in his commentary on the Psalms notes that some in his day believed that in the above verse “the simple” refers to “ fetuses not yet emerged from the womb.” (St. John Chrysostom COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS Vol 2, pp 95-96) This interpretation was aided by the fact that the version of the Psalms he used was read as
“The Lord protects infants;
I was brought low and he saved me.”
Chrysostom notes that infants and children do not have the skills necessary to survive in this world and all would parish if not for the care of their parents, and the provision of God who loves them. Chrysostom notes that it is not enough for us to feed and nourish children, they must be protected from animal predators and problems. That is when he makes his comment that some think Psalm 116:6 refers to fetuses – children are totally dependent on the protection of their parents and of God for they are totally incapable of protecting themselves from all the harmful forces in the world including the abortionist.
The Lord loves the simple, including the infant and the unborn child. Like God, we are to preserve the life of those that cannot defend themselves.
To view a most wonderful video about the formation of human life in the womb go to From Conception to Birth.
“Bulgakov chose to follow the formulation, ‘the humanity of God’ (Bogochelovechestvo), a theological perception dear to the Russian tradition. First expressed by Soloviev, it insists on the material, historical, in short the human qualities of God’s work. God’s humanization in the Incarnation has as its goal the corresponding divinization of humanity, our becoming ‘very similar,’ our becoming like God. The saying attributed to Athanasius the Great is: ‘God became human so that humans could become God-like.’ Turn it around, Bulgakov in effect said, and wonder what it might mean for God to become human. What would this mean to God? What would it mean for us human beings? This bold claim is the theological foundation for any understanding of holiness.” (Michael Plekon, Hidden Holiness, pg. 45)
Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that suspended Archbishop Seraphim of Canada will stand trial for sexual abuse. Mike McIntyre of the Free Press reports:
“A high-ranking former orthodox archbishop has been ordered to stand trial on historical Manitoba sex-abuse charges.
Seraphim Storheim appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday for the conclusion of a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. A court-ordered ban prevents specific details from being published.
Provincial court Judge Rocky Pollack ruled the Crown had met the standard of proof required to move the case along. The case will return to court in March for the setting of a trial date.
Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing two teenaged boys while he was a priest in Winnipeg 30 years ago. He remains free on bail with several conditions, including having no contact with children.”
You can read the entire story at http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Former-archbishop-to-stand-trial-for-sex-abuse-137687378.html
Sometimes when we focus so carefully on each detail of a Gospel story, especially to glean every literal detail from it, we can lose sight of a bigger picture that is also present in the Gospel. It is a matter of not being able to see the forest because of the trees.
For example in the Gospel of Mark there is a theme of the “secret messiah” – Jesus does not want people to proclaim who He is (see for example Mark 1:25 and 1:44). And yet at every turn in the Gospel, Mark is presenting to us the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” (See for example Mark 1:24, 2:7, 4:41). In fact, Mark 8:27-29 in which Jesus asks the question, “Who do people say I am?”, seems to be a crucial point to which the Gospel narrative has been moving all along.
Who is Jesus that he can heal the sick, cast out demons, feed the masses, calm the storm, and speak with the wisdom of God? These are questions that are being asked throughout the Gospel, yet Mark tells us from the very first verse who Jesus is: the Messiah, the Son of God. Mark doesn’t keep the secret from the readers – it is only the people in the Gospel narrative, the ones living with Christ, who are having a difficult time figuring out who Jesus is. [Note that within his Gospel Mark sees all of this misunderstanding as in fact fulfilling Old Testament prophecies. In Mark 4:12 Jesus warns about those who see yet don't perceive...]
Mark’s Gospel is in fact the evidence for his thesis that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. Yet Mark as storyteller presents through his narrative the slow revelation of who Jesus is. Mark’s method of presenting the Gospel in this way makes for an interesting weaving between storytelling and theology.
Mark has told us the readers who Jesus is and continues to prove his point through the stories he tells. Yet the characters in the stories often are not able to understand the fullness of the truth that Mark is making so obvious to us his readers. We the readers of (or listeners to) the Gospel have an advantage that the original disciples did not! The “secret” is really something the characters in the story are experiencing, but we the readers of Mark’s Gospel are not suffering this same disadvantage.
The disciples themselves are confused and don’t fully understand the Messiah, though Peter does confess Jesus as one point, but then so did some demons. We who are not able to be there to witness Christ personally, however, have great advantage over those who were there – Mark is helping us to see, perceive, hear and understand who Jesus is.
I would also like to suggest that if we stepped back even further from the Gospel of Mark and considered the entirety of the Scriptures, we would recognize the question about identity playing itself out in Moses life, when he encounters the burning bush from which God speaks. Moses wants to know who the Lord is – what is His Name? Then when Moses goes to Egypt, Pharoah too wants to know who Moses is and who is this God he represents because Pharoah who is considered a god, has never heard of this “new” God.
The question “Who are you?” is central to the Exodus story, and Pharoah and his army are in darkness because they refuse to accept the answer Moses offers and proves through the plagues/miracles he performs. When we read Mark’s Gospel, we are reminded to think back to the Exodus to another time in which the miracles of God were witnessed, yet not understood. God is working out His salvation in Jesus Christ, will we see light or darkness in Christ’s activities? It depends upon whom we think Jesus is.
Prophet Moses
But it is not only God’s enemies who don’t really understand who the Lord is. In Deuteronomy 29:1-9, it is the Israelites themselves who Moses claims don’t have the eyes to see or the mind to understand the basic truth about God though they have witnessed His miracles through the Passover/Exodus events. This is the same charge that the prophet Ezekiel brings against the house of Israel (Ezekiel 12:1-2). These are words and charges that Jesus brings against the people of Israel in his own day, and even against His own disciples (Mark 8:16-21, see also John 12:40).
Basically, the Scriptures present to us that everyone sees the same reality, but not everyone understands what they see. In Exodus, there was a cloud between Israel and the Egyptians. They are both looking at the same event, and yet for one, the Jews, it is a guiding light while to the other, the Egyptians, it is darkness. This idea of encountering the same reality from God yet seeing it so differently is described well in the Wisdom of Solomon commenting on the Exodus experience:
For the whole world was illumined with bright light and embraced unhindered works, while over those men alone heavy night was spread, an image of darkness that was about to receive them; but they were heavier than darkness to themselves. Light Shines on Israel. But for Your holy ones there was a very great light. Their enemies heard their voice but did not see their form; and they considered them blessed because they had also not suffered, for Your holy ones did not harm those Who previously wronged them. So they were thankful and begged for grace for being at variance with them. Therefore You provided a flaming pillar of fire as a guide for their unknown journey, and a harmless sun for their glorious exile. For their enemies deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, those who imprisoned Your children, through whom the incorruptible light of the law Was to be given to the world. (Wisdom of Solomon 17:19-18:4, OSB)
Mark gives us an advantage that those who actually witnessed the life of Christ didn’t have. They were often not thinking about the Messiah when they saw Jesus, especially if He didn’t fit their preconceptions about the Messiah. It is the old adage that miracles will not help the non-believer come to faith. You have to believe in God to witness a miracle. Miracles are for believers, not the unbelievers. Our task as Christians is to help people believe so that they too can see Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
Certainly the Gospel writers suggest to us that actually being present with Christ at the time He walked on earth was not a total advantage in recognizing Jesus as Messiah. We actually have advantages that the original disciples did not – we know the Gospel story, where it is headed, what will happen, we know 2000 years later that people in fact did believe in Christ and have tried to follow Him. We know of His resurrection and glorification. We glorify Him ourselves.
“The Divine Liturgy is a sublime creation which enables man to abide without despair in spite of his distance from God, because it is God’s own good pleasure to overshadow him each time he enters into His presence. We bring the best we can offer before God in the Liturgy.[…]
Throughout the history of the Church, the Liturgy has been the ‘place’ where Christians have learned to dwell in the presence of God and thereby to receive the life of God, Who is ‘the Bread of Life which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world’.
Created in God’s image and likeness, man’s deepest desire is for contact with his Creator: divine worship is therefore the main preoccupation of the spiritual person. It is in divine worship that man fulfils his true purpose, and in this he joins the feast of ‘the spirits of just men made perfect’ in the heavenly Jerusalem. He is sanctified and united to God in the Holy Eucharist through his partaking of the perfection of divine grace. Christ Himself is present in divine worship, according to His promise, especially in the Divine Liturgy. He dwells among His anointed and makes them His Church, His Body, of which He is the Head Who imparts life and the gifts of His Spirit to His members.” (Archimandrite Zacharias, Remember Thy First Love: The Three Stages of the Spiritual Life in the Theology of Elder Sophrony, pgs. 211-212)
Fr. Ted on GoodReads.com
|
