The Treatment – Page 4 – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

May 31, 2018

72. In the Silence

Grass Panorama Landscape Nature Meadow Mountain

Always pray silently with your heart wherever you are as often as you can. Pray at home, pray while traveling, pray at work, pray while you eat, pray when alone, pray when in the midst of a crowd.

During focused times of prayer, find a silent place fee from distraction. Begin your time of prayer by calming your body and your mind. Disconnect from the distractions around you. Still the thoughts swirling in your mind. If a thought arises, calm it down. Take advantage of the external silence to seek internal calmness through prayer.

By your prayer, seek to acquire the fulness of inner stillness (hesychia), which is only possible through the work of Grace. One who has acquired this inner stillness possesses the gift of unceasing prayer. The interior silence we seek is not passive emptiness, but the fulness of the Holy Spirit at work within us.

When you find a place of silence, pray. Speak to God with your heart and listen carefully.

Read: 1 Kings 19:11-13; Psalm 46.8-10; Psalm 131; Matthew 14.13, 22-24; Mark 1:35; Luke 5.15-16; Acts 10.9; Romans 8.22-27

May 30, 2018May 30, 2018

71. Breathe (Pray)

Slowly, take a deep breath and exhale. Repeat. Repeat once again.

Now, continue to breathe normally, naturally.

Your life depends upon your breathing. If you stop breathing, your body will die.

Prayer is breathing for the soul. When you pray with your heart, you invite the Life-Giving Energy into your soul. Your soul is then nurtured with Life.

Everything that you have been taught to be and to do as an Orthodox Christian assumes that you are regularly and actively praying. If you do not neglect to give your body oxygen, do not neglect to attract God’s Grace through prayer mingled with humility and repentance.

Consider a fish swimming in the water. If the fish jumps out of the water, it cannot breathe or move freely. If you do not pray, you are like a fish out of water. Without prayer, you cannot live as an Orthodox Christian naturally should live.

Your body normally breathes on its own, involuntarily, without you having to think about it. May your heart likewise learn to (noetically) pray continually, keeping your soul and body always in harmony with the Way, even as your mind attends to your daily tasks. This unceasing prayer is a gift from God.

Remember always to pray everywhere.

Read: Philippians 4.6-7: 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18

May 30, 2018August 1, 2018

70. Traveling through Time

Time and Prayer

When God created the universe, time began. The universe had a beginning and will have an ending. We know the Story well because God has revealed to us the start of the Story at the creation of the universe, the middle of the Story (that is, how He has worked and is working in human history), and the end of the Story, when Christ returns.

You were born into this world and you will experience death in the body (unless Christ returns before your death). Your time in this life is a time for repentance. There is no opportunity for repentance after this life. This is the time to become, through the Grace of God, who you want to be after this life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The wheels of a moving bicycle demonstrate our relationship with time. The wheels rotate over and over again, but they do not spin aimlessly in the air like a wheel on a stationary bike or a ferris wheel. The rotation of the wheels propels the bicycle forward on the road toward its destination. Though the cycles of services in the Church may seem repetitious, the whole Church is moving though time and history toward the return of Christ and the fulness of the kingdom of heaven. If you dedicate yourself to living the Way fully each day, week, and year, the cycles of services in the Church will move you toward a greater experience of healing, growth, and transformation. The rotating cycles of time in the Church carry you on the road toward spiritual progress.

The Church makes use of time to teach us the Way, remind us of the Way, and lead us along the Way. Use this time wisely for prayer and repentance.

The Yearly Cycle

The Church’s annual cycle of services begins with the first day of the new Church year every September 1st. The rhythm of the year is primarily provided by the 12 Great Feasts of the Church, spread out from September to the end of each year in August. The greatest feast is Holy Pascha, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Paschal Feast is so great that it is not counted with the 12 Great Feasts, but ranks above them. Here are the central feasts of the year:

1. The Nativity of the Theotokos (September 8th)
2. The Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th)
3. The Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple (November 21st)
4. The Holy Nativity of Jesus Christ or Christmas (December 25th)
5. Holy Theophany or Epiphany (January 6th)
6. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (February 2nd)
7. The Annunciation of the Theotokos (March 25th)
8. Palm Sunday or The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Sunday before Pascha)

GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA or Easter – The Feast of Feasts

9. The Holy Ascension of Jesus Christ (Forty days after Pascha)
10. Holy Pentecost (Fifty days after Pascha)
11. The Holy Transfiguration of Jesus Christ (August 6th)
12. The Dormition or Falling Asleep of the Theotokos (August 15th)

These feasts help us to remember the central events in our Story as Orthodox Christians. If we forget what God has accomplished for us in history, we forget who we are and what we are called to do. Make this cycle of services the center of your life throughout the year and, therefore, the most important events on your personal calendar.

Weekly Cycle

Every week in the year provides its own cycle of services. The days of the week hold their own special commemorations:

Monday – The Bodiless Powers of Heaven

Tuesday – The Holy Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John

Wednesday – The Precious and Life-Giving Cross

Thursday – The Holy, Glorious, All-Laudable Apostles and St. Nicholas of Myra

Friday – The Precious and Life-Giving Cross

Saturday – The Holy, Glorious, and Right-victorious Martyrs and our Venerable and God-bearing Fathers

Since Christ was betrayed on a Wednesday and Crucified on a Friday, we typically observe Wednesdays and Fridays as strict fast days (abstaining from meat, dairy, wine, and olive oil). Each week leads up to Sunday, the Eighth Day or the Lord’s Day, when we celebrate the Divine Liturgy. During the week, individually pray, fast, and repent in preparation for our family celebration of the Holy Resurrection on the approaching Sunday.

Daily Cycle

The Church commemorates the lives of different Saints or historical events every day of the year. Specific hymns and Scripture readings are prescribed each day. Every day also includes a complete cycle of services. The daily cycle begins at sundown, which is the beginning of the next liturgical day, and includes the following services:

Vespers (Evening prayer near sundown)

Compline (Prayers in the night)

Midnight Office, also called Lauds

Matins, also called Orthros (Morning prayer near sunrise)

The 1st hour (6am)

The 3rd hour (9am), when we remember the Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost

The 6th hour (Noon), when we remember Christ’s Crucifixion

The 9th hour (3pm), when we remember Christ’s Death on the Cross

The Divine Liturgy, the central worship services of the Church, is not part of the cycle of services. This is because the Divine Liturgy involves participation in the heavenly worship outside of our experience of time.

In a monastery church, the monastics may observe a full daily cycle of services. In parishes, few of these services may be held. If your Priest does not lead these services in your parish, you may (with his blessing) pray modified versions of at least some of these services at home or when you are traveling out of town. Whether or not you pray the home-versions of these services, be mindful of the particular times of day traditionally set aside for prayer so that you may be reminded to pray throughout the day, even if briefly.

Use your time wisely in this life. As your time began, your time will end. You do not know when your life in this world will end any more than you know when time itself will end. Walk the Way daily so that you will be accounted worthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Make use of the annual cycle of fasts and feasts, weekly cycle of services, and daily cycles of prayer for the benefit of your salvation. Be reminded through the cycle of services who you really are, who you have been called to be, what you have been entrusted to do, and how to fulfill your destiny. Bring your life into harmony with the regular rhythm of the annual, weekly, and daily cycles of the Church. Allow the Church’s calendar to provide the heartbeat of your daily life.

Read: Genesis 1.1; Psalm 55.17; 103.8-18; Ecclesiastes 3.1-15; Daniel 6.10; Matthew 25.1-13; John 1.1-5; Acts 1.10-11; 2.15; 3.1; Hebrews 9.27-28; 2 Peter 3.8-9; 1 John 2.15-29; Revelation 22.12-21

May 20, 2018

69. Holy Relics

Reliquary with Apostles

The bones of the Saints are kept as precious treasures within our Holy Altars and in reliquaries. Why is this?

The human being is a unity of soul and body. God became Incarnate in a human body with a human soul and raised up the physical human body with the soul to an immortal existence. We participate in the mystical and ascetic life of the Church with both soul and body. Our salvation is not complete until we receive our resurrected physical immortal bodies at the end of the age.

Since the human being is a unity of body and soul, the experience of Divine Grace affects both the soul and the body. Remember how Christ’s body shined with Divine Glory on Mt. Thabor. Even after the Saints end their lives on earth, the Divine Grace remains within their bones while their souls rest with Christ until they receive their immortal bodies at the resurrection.

The Presence of God preserves some bodies of the Saints so entirely that they do not decay. The bones of some Saints miraculously flow with fragrant oil, used for anointing the Faithful. God works wonders through His Saints, even through their bones long after they have completed this life in faith. Since the Grace of God remains in these holy bodily temples, we venerate the relics and pray that the Grace of God dwelling in them may touch, heal, and sanctify us.

You are called to participate in the Grace that makes Saints so that your soul and body may become holy, a true temple where the Holy Spirit is pleased to dwell.

Read: 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) 13.20-21

May 16, 2018

68. Cooperating with Grace (Synergy)

hold strawberry-plant

To establish a garden, take what God has created and nurture it. God has given us the earth. Prepare the soil, dig holes, place the plants in the ground, and gently cover them up. God has given us water. Saturate the roots with the water. God provides the sunshine to feed the plants. Make sure your plants receive the proper amount of light. God waters the garden with rain. Make sure the garden drains properly. During dry periods, water the plants with what God has already given. The plants will grow as God has designed them. Fertilize, weed, and prune them to promote growth. Collect the harvest, give thanks to God, and enjoy your food. A garden offers an image of synergy, that is, God working together with us for our own benefit.

Physical therapy requires synergy between two human beings. The patient in therapy must consent to the therapy and use his energy to participate in the work. The therapist uses her energy alongside the patient, supporting him, strengthening him, and helping him in his effort so that he will heal and recover his own strength.

God desires to heal and transform you by participation in His Grace. Self-effort alone will never take you far enough. You need to use your created energy to do your part in cooperation with God’s Uncreated Energy at work within you. This is synergy.

God has called you to participate in salvation. He has created you with the free will to choose whether or not to respond to His invitation. By aligning your will with God’s will, by living a virtuous life according to His instruction, and by your effort to pray and repent, you open your heart to the Divine Grace. When you turn away from sin and focus the attention of your heart on Christ, you invite God’s Presence into your soul and give Him permission to work in you.

Read: Philippians 2.12-13; 4.13; 2 Corinthians 12.1-10