Uncategorized – Page 5 – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

June 5, 2018

80. The Bee

800px-Bees_Collecting_Pollen_2004-08-14

Today, we can easily connect to a seemingly endless ocean of information. Consider how scientific and technological advancements have changed our lives in the past few decades. Books, articles, movies, videos, images, and music are accessible in an instant.

We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, yet we are not isolated from the society wherein we live. God loves us and we have a responsibility to love the people around us. We should use all knowledge with beneficial application to help others in the Name of Jesus Christ.

God is the source of all knowledge. All beneficial knowledge in the world belongs to us because we worship the Uncreated One Who made the universe. We belong to God, Who reveals all knowledge to human beings. Sometimes, rational knowledge is revealed to unbelievers. God loves them, too. Just as God would send rain to the crops of an Orthodox farmer and an atheist farmer, God may choose to bestow knowledge to humanity through the faithful and the faithless.

Every scientific discovery, movement in scientific and technological progress, and production of valuable literature and film is a gift from God. The physical and rational abilities we possess to successfully reach these accomplishments are likewise gifts from God. We should use our skills and abilities to nurture our souls, benefit others, and glorify God, Who loves mankind. The right response to acquiring knowledge of the universe is to give thanks to God and to use that knowledge for good according to the Way.

Although our society possesses so many good and useful resources for gaining knowledge, some of the resources available to us are harmful to the soul. So, need to use careful discernment to evaluate the content of available resources. An image may show you how to build a water purification system or an image could tempt you toward anger. A particular movie could help to soften your heart or inspire you toward faith, but another movie could tempt you toward the passion of lust. In fact, a single movie could contain a combination of beneficial and harmful elements. Much of written content available to us promotes opinions contrary to the Way, others express ideas in harmony with the Way, and still others present a mixture of truth and falsehood. When reviewing material, attentively pay attention to what is good and useful, while avoiding and disregarding what is bad and harmful.

A honey bee flies from flower to flower seeking the sweet nectar that is beneficial. It avoids the stinking rot of useless things. A fly, on the other hand, ignores the fragrant flowers and heads for the decaying garbage. In your encounter with information, behave like the bee. Be attracted by the helpful and repelled by the destructive. Rightly separate what is useful from what is harmful. Keep the good and discard the bad.

Read: Isaiah 5.20; Matthew 5.43-48; Philippians 4.4-9; 1 Thessalonians 5.16-22; James 1.17

June 4, 2018June 4, 2018

79. The High-Flying Eagle

birds-eagle-62655

A flying eagle sees the world below clearly with sharp long-distance vision. If we see the world through the lofty Divine perspective of the Way, we will view our history, society, culture, and fellow human beings with clarity. We will see reality as it truly is, not as it is thought or imagined to be based on the observation of the fallen world, rational reflection, and creative speculation.

Our society is full of different ideologies, philosophies, religions, and political notions. We offer the world a different, other-worldly perspective. Instead of advocating another set of human opinions, we present the universal Truth revealed by the Most High God, the Uncreated One Himself.

Keep working to further clarify your own vision through the humility, prayer, and repentance that invites the purifying Grace to work within your heart. Also, as a member of the Church, do your part to bring others into the eye-opening experience of the Way.

Read: John 14.1-18; Acts 9.1-31; Romans 12.1-2; 1 Corinthians 2.9-16; 2 Corinthians 4.1-8; 1 Peter 1.3-12; 2 Peter 1.1-20

June 4, 2018

78. The Butterfly

800px-Iphiclides_podalirius butterfly

A crawling caterpillar emerges from its cocoon as a colorful fluttering butterfly. The butterfly reminds us of our ultimate change from mortality to immortality through resurrection from the grave by the Power of God. Also, be reminded by the butterfly that the Orthodox Path is the Way of change. The Way leads to metamorphosis of the soul and body.

The Apostolic Tradition, that is, the life of the Orthodox Church, indwelled and guided by the Holy Spirit, does not change. We hold to the teachings of the Apostles and remain in harmony with the mind (phronema) of the Church. This unchanging Holy Tradition, kept whole and undefiled, has produced many varied changing expressions throughout history. Consider how the music of the Church has varied with Plainsong and the development of Gregorian Chant in the Orthodox West and Byzantine chant in the Orthodox East, each expression faithful to the Tradition. Compare Byzantine Chant to the different styles of Orthodox Church music in Russia from simple Znamenny Chant to complex Western-influenced choral music. Iconographers working faithfully within the stream of the Tradition used their creative skill in their own places and times to produce many different styles of Orthodox icons (Cretan, Macedonian, Novgorod, and others), all in harmony with the Tradition. In the early Church, a diversity of liturgical rites emerged throughout the East and West within the one single Tradition. Encompassed by Holy Tradition, a multiplicity of cultural traditions have developed. These cultural traditions reflect the particular societies and cultures where Holy Orthodoxy has taken root. The particular cultural traditions vary, but they are all within the stream of the ancient Tradition all Orthodox Christians hold in common. The same Holy Spirit which keeps the Apostolic Way unaltered in every generation is the same One Who guides the Church’s creative expressions of the Tradition. The most significant change caused by this unchanging Tradition is the change that will occur within your soul when you internalize the Tradition entirely and live it with your whole being.

Let the butterfly remind you that the Orthodox life is the unchanging Way of change. We are constantly being changed through repentance and the work of Grace in our lives. Embrace the Way entirely and fully, without change or alteration, so that you may continually experience healing and renewal in this life, and, after your participation in this life is finished, be physically resurrected to eternal life in the Kingdom which never ends.

Read: 2 Corinthians 3.18; Ephesians 4.17-24

June 3, 2018

77. The Frog

800px-Bufo_periglenes2

The experience of a frog is very different from the life of a tadpole. The frog breathes air through lungs, but the tadpole absorbs oxygen through gills. The frog would come to know a very different and wider world than the limited scope of the tadpole. If they were rational creatures, the frog would have a very difficult time trying to explain what the outer world is like above the water. The only way the tadpole could really understand what the frog described is to grow up into a frog, leave the pond, and explore himself.

Be humbled by the realization that when you read the Holy Scripture, the writings of the Fathers, and the lives of the Saints, you only understand partially. You can only fully grasp the depth and height of their descriptions of the spiritual life when you have the same experience of God that they do. The reality of the Kingdom of Heaven is far beyond the capacity of our rational thought or creative imagination. Reading about the spiritual life and work of the Saints is not enough. Read the wisdom of the Saint so that you may follow their path, the Way of Christ, and become like them (which is to join them in being like Christ) through the Divine Grace.

Keep in mind also that you cannot fully convey the meaning of the Way to those who are in the world, separated from Christ and His Church. By communicating the Truth of the Holy Gospel and by inviting them on the Way, you give others an opportunity to know God with their hearts and to personally participate in His salvation.

Read: 2 Corinthians 12.1-6; Colossians 2.1-10

June 2, 2018

76. Secure the Door

SLNSW_27138_Sliding_grille_at_the_entrance_to_the_Rural_Banks_vault_Martin_Place

Silence provides a condition of rest and prayer, but also an occasion for distraction and conflict. Keep your heart focused on God and the door to your heart secure. Be attentive so that your mind does not wonder off into temptation.

If a tempting thought presents itself, disregard it. If you pay attention to it, you are beginning to unlock the combination lock on the door by your own actions. If you begin meditating on the tempting thought, then you move toward considering acting on the thought. If you continue entering the combination numbers to the lock by taking one step at a time toward accepting the temptation, you open the door for sin to enter. Do not allow the enemy to convince you to open the locked defensive door from the inside.

Do not allow despair over tempting thoughts to take root. Spend no time wondering why you are having bad thoughts or attempting to psychoanalyze yourself. Simply, reject the thought quickly and return your focus to prayer.

Read: Proverbs 4.23-27; James 1.12-15