Uncategorized – Page 10 – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

April 13, 2018

55. Your Baptismal Cross

Chain_with_Pendant_Cross,_500s_AD,_Early_Byzantine,_gold,_glass,_pearl,_garnet,_and_sapphire_-_Cleveland_Museum_of_Art_-_DSC08334

When you are baptized, you will wear a cross around your neck as a sign that you are an Orthodox Christian. You bear the Cross because you belong to Jesus Christ and have become a faithful member of His Holy Church. Follow Christ as an obedient disciple. In a world full of death and darkness, be an agent of Life and Light in the lives of others.

Let the chain around your neck that holds the cross remind you of all the Saints who have gone before you. Throughout history, Saints have walked the same Way that you now walk. Through their prayer and repentance, they knew Christ with their hearts and acquired the mind (phronema) of His Church. This golden chain of Saints linking generation to generation through history is why the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church does not change. Since there is One True God, everyone who knows the True God with their hearts, through the personal experience of Divine Grace, holds and expresses the same Orthodox theology.

In your generation, strive to know Christ, to acquire the mind of the Church, and to boldly serve as a faithful living witness of Jesus Christ in the world.

April 2, 2018

54. The Mystery of Holy Baptism

water with flower

I have said that the Holy Mysteries will be open to you after you enter into Christ’s Holy Church. More accurately, you will be joined with Christ and initiated into His Church through one of the Mysteries – Holy Baptism.

Sickened by sin and burdened by your past wounds, you will be washed clean by the healing, Grace-indwelling waters of purification. Your Baptism is your personal participation in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Baptism, you will die with Christ, be buried with Him, and be raised with Him to newness of life – life as an Orthodox Christian. Through Baptism, you will be reborn.

You will be immersed three times in the sacred waters in the Name of the Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Once enslaved to darkness, you will die to sin and death through Baptism and emerge as child of God within His family, a member of the Body of Christ, and a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. United with the Tao, you will be one of the Faithful within His own Church. Your journey as a catechumen ends with Holy Baptism, yet Holy Baptism is just the beginning of your life – your new life – on the Way.

Having been purified, reborn, and clothed in the Light of Divine Grace, dedicate yourself to growing that Grace given to you. Fulfill your calling to live as one dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ. Remain faithful to the Way so that you may keep the bright illumined robe of your soul pure and radiant.

Read: Genesis 1.1-10; 6.1-8.19; 17-1-14; Exodus 14-15;17.5-6; 30.17-21; Psalm 50 (51); Isaiah 1; Luke 3.1-20; John 1.1-13; 3.1-21; 4.1-15; Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 8.26-40; 22.1-16; 2.37-41; Romans 6.3-11; 8.13-17; 1 Corinthians 12.12-13; 2 Corinthians 5.14-21; Galatians 3.23-29; Ephesians 4.3-5; Colossians 1.3-18; 2.1-15; 3.1-17; 1 Peter 3.13-22; Revelation 22.1-5, 14-15

March 19, 2018

53. Holy Mysteries & Unity of the Church

hands unity

When you are brought into union with Christ and into communion with His Church, you will enter into a kind of spiritual marriage. You will be integrated into His faithful Bride, the Church. As physical marital union between a husband and wife is only permissible, pure, and blessed between two who have united together through marriage, sharing in the Holy Mysteries is only permitted, pure, and blessed by those who have entered into union with the Holy Orthodox Church.

In right order, a marriage between a man and woman should be established first, then the benefits of marriage, including physical marital union and having children, are enjoyed. To use the image of the Hospital again, only individuals who first have been admitted to the Hospital under the care of the Physician receive the benefits of being patients, that is, receiving the full medical treatment, including the prescribed Medicines. Therefore, those outside of the Orthodox Church are forbidden from receiving the Holy Mysteries of the Church. They are neither the Bride nor patients in the Hospital. They are not yet ready to enjoy the benefits of the spiritual marriage nor the benefits of a patient by receiving the Medicine. As Adam and Eve, those separated from the Holy Orthodox Church are not yet ready to partake of the fruit of the Tree.

Likewise, Orthodox Christians refuse to participate in the rituals or sacraments of heterodox (non-Orthodox) religious groups that are separated from the Orthodox Church. As a pure Bride, always reject spiritual adultery, instead remaining faithful to Christ and in unity with His Holy Church. The Mystery of the Church holds everything you need for your salvation.

March 15, 2018April 27, 2018

52. Divine Medicine: The Holy Mysteries

Life medicines

As a catechumen, you have been engaged in a period of intensive training to prepare you for entrance into the Holy Orthodox Church, the Hospital established by Christ, our Physician. Only when you are admitted to the Hospital under the care of the Bishop and Priests will you receive the full treatment to cure your soul.

When you have been received into the Church, the Divine Medicines will be open to you. We call these various Medicines the Holy Mysteries. They are also called the Holy Sacraments. We list these seven Mysteries, but we do not limit their number:

Holy Baptism
Holy Chrismation
Holy Communion
Holy Confession
Holy Marriage (Matrimony)
Holy Unction (Anointing of the Sick)
Holy Ordination

Through the Holy Mysteries, your body and soul will encounter the Divine Grace, that is, the Life-Giving Presence of God. Each of the Holy Mysteries works effectively, not because it contains an active ingredient derived from the creation, but because God works through the Mystery to heal us. See in the Holy Mysteries how the Uncreated One works through His human creatures and simple components of His creation, like water and oil, to touch us, change us, and unite us with Himself.

You can only really know the Holy Mysteries with the heart by experiencing them. Medicines are meant to be taken by the sick. They are not objects of curiosity. Yet, your rational mind can learn about the meaning and use of the Holy Mysteries by reading Holy Scripture and the history of the early Church. Since the Mysteries are inseparable from our prayer and worship, the liturgical services and prayers can likewise help you reach a basic understanding of those Divine Mysteries beyond comprehension.

Most importantly, continue to repent and prepare yourself for receiving the Life-Giving Medicines. May God give you good strength!

March 10, 2018March 10, 2018

51. Your Name, Patron, and Sponsor

Saint_Anastasia Public Domain

As you are received into the Holy Orthodox Church, you will be given a new name. You will bear the name of your new Patron Saint, who will be assigned to pray for you as your guardian and protector. If the Apostle John became your Patron Saint, for example, you would receive the name John as your new Christian name. Likewise, if the Great Martyr Anastasia became your Patron, you would receive the name, Anastasia. The Priest may give you a new name and assign a Patron Saint without consulting with you, but he will likely involve you in the process of making the decision.

If your birth name is already the name of a Saint, like Luke or Catherine, your birth name may be kept as your Christian name as well. You are not expected to use this new name daily as though it were a legal name change. Rather, you will be called by your Christian name when the Church prays for you and during other specific occasions.

Your Priest will also speak with you concerning a Sponsor, that is, an adult Godparent who will stand beside you as you are received into the Church. After you are received, your Sponsor may serve as an important resource for answering basic questions and as a model for how to live an active Orthodox Christian life. If the Priest allows you to choose your Sponsor, choose wisely and, of course, receive the blessing of the Priest regarding your choice. If you are male, your Sponsor must be male. If you are female, your Sponsor must be female. Through the Mystery that unites you to the Church, a new spiritual relationship will be created between you and your Sponsor.

(Keep in mind that as marriages are forbidden between people having certain blood relationships, marriages are also forbidden between two people who are spiritually related. Your relationship as a spiritual son or daughter of your Godparent/Sponsor may also create new spiritual brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews. For purposes of marriage, the Church treats these spiritual relationships very much like biological kinship.)

By your entrance into the Holy Orthodox Church, you will not only gain a new name and a Patron Saint, but also new family members.

Read: Genesis 17.1-5; 15-16; 32.28, John 1.40-42