Uncategorized – Page 9 – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

April 29, 2018April 29, 2018

60. The Mystery of Holy Marriage

God created men and women equal in their humanness. He also designed them different from each other and complementary to each other. Notice that maleness and femaleness is not the same. Instead, the difference between male and female allows them to complete each other.

Through the Mystery of Holy Marriage, also known as Holy Matrimony, God joins together a man and a woman in the bond of Love as exclusive lifelong companions. This great Mystery can only be accomplished by the work of the Uncreated Energy (that is, the Divine Grace). The Presence of God unites the man and woman into one. The depth of this unity of husband and wife lies beyond rational comprehension. An Orthodox marriage, then, is far more than two people making a legal contract, declaring positive intentions, or exchanging promises. Rather, in the Mystery of Marriage, the Creator God makes something new by His Power, a sacred Christ-centered marriage, for the benefit of His creatures.

Standing together before God, the man and the woman are crowned as husband and wife. The crowns placed on their heads symbolize the crowns of martyrdom. God bestows the martyric crowns to the faithful who selflessly demonstrate their loyalty and devotion to Him even to death. The married couple is called to maintain such faithfulness to God and also to each other. The married life involves each dying to personal self-love, self-will, and self-interest for the good of the beloved.

God created and blessed marriage as a path of salvation. Do not be surprised when you encounter difficulty. Marriage requires mutual asceticism. Monastics struggle apart from others in isolation or with fellow monastics in communal monasteries. A married couple enters into spiritual struggle together as a team. The Way of the Cross is the path of self-denial and self-sacrifice. Marriage is the training ground where, through their mutual practice of the art of love, the husband and wife learn to become better disciples of Jesus Christ.

Pray for your spouse. Be your beloved’s steady support, empathetic listener, comforter when wounded, wise counselor before decisions, encourager in the struggle, advocate to God, and defender against spiritual attack. Remember that the two of you share everything. Carry each other’s concerns, difficulties, and sorrows as well as each other’s joys, blessings, and successes. In marriage, no problem is an individual problem. Reinforce each other. When one is weak, let the other offer strength.

Never turn your heart against your spouse. This will create disharmony and chaos in the relationship and within your own soul. Do not fall into the deception that your spouse is a problem. If a problem arises, keep in mind that your spouse is not the problem. The problem is the problem. Your greatest problem is within your own soul – your pride, your thoughts, your emotions, your assumptions, your expectations, your attitudes, your opinions, your passions, your distractions, your failures, and all of your sins. Seek to improve your marriage and progress on the Way by changing yourself. Become a more perfect partner in marriage. Repent of your sins and let your spouse be concerned with repenting from his or her own. Contribute to the solution, not the problem, by fulfilling your own duty to love.

Here is a secret to a joyful marriage: Do not judge your spouse. As a husband and wife you are co-disciples of Jesus Christ, complementary helpers to each other, and the most intimate confidants. If you judge your spouse, you create imbalance by assuming a self-righteous position of authority as a judge, an accuser, and a prosecutor. This fosters disharmony and imbalance in the soul and in the relationship. When you set yourself up as judge, you will likely self-justify your own sins and be distracted from your own work of repentance. Love your spouse. Forgive your spouse. Show empathy, understanding, and tender compassion.

Marriage is the only sacred temple, constructed by God from a man and woman, within which the most intimate physical union of a man and woman is permissible and blessed. The physical marital union, an outward expression of inner union and intimacy, serves to build a strong, shared bond between husband and wife. Through this union, the husband and wife bring forth children, physical symbols of the Mystery of Marriage through which two become one.

Always remain faithful to each other in your thoughts, words, and deeds. Guard your marriage as the most precious treasure and fountain of Grace. Do not let even the hint of temptation toward adultery enter your mind. When encountering even the most subtle suggestion of sin, stubbornly reject the idea as a deceptive scam, a deadly trap, an insult to your own spouse (who is part of you), and a threat of violence against your family. Keep your hearts close together and united as one in your pursuit of salvation on the Way. Secure your marriage as an impregnable fortress around your shared sacred private garden.

The crowns of the marriage service also represent the husband and wife as rulers of their own home. As models of Christian virtue, they preside together over their family. Make your home a domestic church where God is worshipped with thanksgiving and the Way of Christ is expressed daily. This is the training academy where children primarily learn how to live the Way from the words and example of their parents. When you are a parent, you are responsible for passing the precious treasure of the Apostolic Way on to your children whole and undefiled.

If you are not yet married, but desire to be, prepare yourself to be the best spouse possible. Keep your body and soul pure. Continually repent. Acquire maturity by living the Way of Christ fully. Pray for God to make you worthy of marriage. Also, pray that He will bring a faithful Orthodox believer into your life to be your suitable complement, one who will walk beside you, hand in hand, on the Way of salvation.

Read: Genesis 1.27-28; Genesis 2; Song of Songs 1-8; John 2.1-12; Matthew 19.1-15; Ephesians 5; 1 Corinthians 7; Hebrews 13.4-7

April 20, 2018April 20, 2018

59. The Mystery of Holy Confession

Restore the purity of your Baptismal robe by entering into the Mystery of Holy Confession, also called the Mystery of Repentance. Stand before God. Your Priest will stand with you as a brother (a fellow sinner) and as a spiritual father. Confess your sins to God with honesty, humility, sincere sorrow, and a firm desire to leave your sins forever behind. Keep in mind that God already knows everything you have done. By confessing your sins, you admit your shameful failures to yourself and to God, and allow God to release you from the heavy chains that bind you and weigh you down.

During Confession, it is important that you only confess your own sins, not the sins of another. You are not responsible for someone else’s sins against you, but your own behavior. You do not need to tell a story during Confession. Simply confess the sins by specifically naming those sins that you have committed in thought, word, and deed, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Remember, you do not sin generally, but you commit specific sins.

Do not wallow in despair because of your failure, but be quick to repent. God’s love and forgiveness is always greater than your sin. God does not want to punish you for your sin, but He desires for you to be healed, for you to grow closer to Him and to become more like Him, and for you to be full of joy and peace. Turn away from your failure, leave your sin behind you in the past, and return to the Way that leads to Life. Through the prayers of your Priest, walk away from the time of your Confession purified and forgiven with the strength to make progress on the Way.

During your Confession, your Priest may offer guidance to help you heal and avoid falling into the same treacherous behaviors again. As a physician becomes acquainted with a patient through repeated clinical visits over time, the Priest can get to know you and your struggles over time. Be attentive to his spiritual guidance for the benefit of your salvation.

Read: Psalm 50 (51); 104 (103); Ezekiel 33.11; Matthew 6.14-15; Luke 11.1-4; 15.11-32; John 20.19-23; James 5.16-20; Galatians 6.1-2; 1 John 1.1-2.29

April 20, 2018April 20, 2018

58. The Mystery of Holy Communion

After Adam and Eve fell into the experience of death, God exiled them from Paradise so that they would not take and eat from the Tree of Life. Why did God make them leave the Garden? The Creator did not want human beings, the pentacle of His creation, whom He loved, to live forever as mortals in a perpetual condition of disease, afflicted by sin and death. In order to save us, God set in motion His plan to heal us from death and reopen the Gates of Paradise so we could live forever as immortals in the eternal heavenly Kingdom.

To accomplish our salvation from death, the God-Man Jesus Christ took the Cross upon which He was crucified and turned it into the Tree of Life. Hanging upon the Tree, His Body and Blood became the Fruit of the Tree, the Divine Medicine of Immortality. Having established His Church as the Garden of Paradise on Earth, Christ planted the Tree of His Cross in the midst of the Church. Now, through the ministry of the Church, God calls every human being back to the Garden of Paradise through the waters of Holy Baptism so that everyone may take and eat the Fruit of the Tree of Life and live forever with Him.

The Mystery of Holy Communion is also called the Holy Eucharist, which means thanksgiving. The Eucharist lies at the center of our primary worship service, the Divine Liturgy. Prior to the Divine Liturgy, we take elements of the creation which God has given us – wheat, water, and grapes – and use our human energy to make something – bread and wine – to be offered to God with thankful hearts in the Liturgy. In return for our simple gift of love and thanks to God, He lovingly gives us the Holy Gift of Himself. This is an exchange of love. We give God created gifts of bread and wine, which symbolize that we are offering God our whole lives, and God gives us in return greater Gifts from heaven. Every time we enter into this heavenly worship of the Divine Liturgy, we experience a miracle. We not only see Jesus Christ and touch Him, but we receive Him into ourselves as Medicine. By partaking in the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we experience the Uncreated Energy of the Holy Trinity. As I have explained, the Uncreated Energy is the Living Presence of the God Himself, what we also call the Divine Grace. Through Holy Communion, we are each united in communion with Christ Himself and are united in communion with each other as the Church, which is mystically the pure Body of Christ.

In short, Jesus Christ is both our Great Physician and our Divine Medicine. His Church is the Hospital where the Divine Medicine is administered and the Garden of Paradise in which the Fruit of the Tree of Life is consumed. Since you have become a natural-born citizen of the heaven, you need to nourish your soul and body with the healing, strengthening, and transfiguring Divine Food.

In preparation for the reception of Holy Communion, completely abstain from all food and drink from midnight until the time that you receive Holy Communion the next morning. This is called the Eucharistic fast. If the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the evening, you may begin the fast after your noon-hour meal. If you are sick, you do not need to fast since your body is already humbled. If you need to take medicine, take your medicine and only as much of water or food as necessary. If you are pregnant or nursing, you do not need to fast since your body is humbled and you require nourishment for the sake of your child. In addition to keeping the Eucharistic fast, pray the Pre-Communion prayers in order to prepare your soul to receive the Divine Gifts so that the Medicine may effectively heal your soul. These are not Pharisaic requirements, but helpful therapeutic practices.

When you approach the Chalice, keep your arms crossed over your chest. (Remember the Seraphim, who cover themselves with their wings in humility before God.). Allow the Priest’s assistants to place the communion cloth under your chin. Open your mouth to receive the Divine Gifts on a spoon from hand of the Priest. When the spoon is in your mouth, close your mouth and lips so that nothing remains on the spoon when the Priest withdraws it. If necessary, you may then very carefully wipe your lips with the communion cloth before you step away.

If you are partaking in one of the Western Rite Divine Liturgies of the Orthodox Church (that is, the Liturgy of St. Gregory the Dialogist or the Liturgy of St. Tikhon), the Priest will place the Holy Gifts on your tongue with His hand instead of by spoon. In such a case, observe the same reverence and care.

Read: Genesis 3.1-7; 4.1-5; 8.18-21; 9.1-4; 14:18-20; 22.1-19; 28.10-22; Exodus 12; 13.3-10; 20.22-26; 24.7-8; Leviticus 16-17; John 6; Luke 22:7-38; 24.30-32; John 19.17-37; Hebrews 5-10; Colossians 1.1-23; 1 John 1.5-7; 1 Corinthians 11.23-32; Revelation 19.6-9; 22.1-3

April 13, 2018

57. Take Up Your Sword and Armor

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We are all affected by two dimensions of the same universe. We live in an age that acknowledges the most obvious one of these – the physical (material) dimension. The physical aspect of reality can be studied by the scientific method, which investigates the created world through the senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

The other aspect of the created world is the invisible spiritual (immaterial) dimension, inhabited by the heavenly bodiless powers. These invisible beings include the Holy Angels, the Archangels, who serve as chief messengers and commanders of the heavenly armies, the Principalities, the Powers, the Virtues, the Dominions, the Thrones, the many-eyed Cherubim, and the six-winged Seraphim.

This spiritual dimension is also inhabited by the evil one (that is, the Devil) and his demons, who were once among the heavenly powers. Led by the Devil, the demons misused their freedom of choice to rebel against God. Although they sometimes deceitfully appear as beings of goodness and light, they always intend to harm you, draw you away from the true God, and lead you toward sin and death.

These two aspects of reality – physical and spiritual – are two sides of the same coin. We can distinguish between the two, but they are not separate. They are intertwined with each other. Throughout history, Archangels and Angels have appeared to human beings. Similarly, the Devil and his demons have made their presence known by visibly appearing to people.

As a human being, you possess both a physical body and a soul. Therefore, you bridge the physical and spiritual worlds. You once belonged to the fallen world, under the dominion and influence of the prince of this world, the Devil. Through your Baptism and Chrismation, you have now been set free and empowered. As an Orthodox Christian, you are a well-equipped solider. Remain aware of the conflict, be watchful for the tactics of your enemy, and know how to win the battle by the Power of God.

Put on the full armor and take up the sword that God has provided you by His Grace. The Holy Angels and Archangels guard and protect us, but our greatest defense and weapon in the war against the created energy of the demonic powers is the Uncreated Energy, that is, the Presence of God Himself. We are weak, but God is stronger than our enemies, whether visible or invisible.

Real Enlightenment (Illumination), Power, and spiritual riches only come from the True and Living God Himself. Do not be seduced by magical arts, the false gods of foreign religions, fraudulent spiritual practices, or secular ideologies. They may seem to offer divine enlightenment or some other kind of benefit, but the power behind these practices is nothing more than created energy, that is, the power of invisible demons. Do not be seduced by temptations suggested by demons. The attractive promise that following the sinful passions will bring lasting peace, joy, personal growth, and fulfillment is a lie. This blind path often leads to temporary pleasure and superficial happiness, but pollutes the soul with toxic poison. Likewise, do not believe the ego-feeding lie that you are already such a good person, intelligent enough, and spiritually mature enough that you do not need to pray, or to repent, or to practice asceticism, or to hold fully to the Tradition, or to worship with the Church, or to receive the Holy Mysteries, or to be obedient to God. The demons desire to pull you off the ladder stretching toward heaven and to entice you from the Way of salvation.

The more you progress on the Way, the more you can expect to be attacked by the demons. Victory in war is not easily obtained. Clothing yourself with all that is good, according to the Way, be triumphant in the spiritual battle through prayerful action, in harmony with the will of God and by His Power.

Read: Isaiah 14.12-15; Luke 10.17-18; John 8.31-59; 12.27-33; Ephesians 6.10-20; 2 Corinthians 10.3-6; 1 Timothy 4.1-11; 1 Peter 5.8-9

April 13, 2018

56. The Mystery of Holy Chrismation

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As you will personally participate in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ through Holy Baptism, you will also personally participate in Pentecost through the Mystery of Holy Chrismation. Immediately following your Baptism, you will be anointed with the Holy Chrism to give you the Gift and Seal of the Holy Spirit. Having been purified through Baptism, you are now consecrated as a living temple indwelled by the Holy Spirit. After the anointing, the Priest will wash away the Holy Chrism from your body with a natural sponge dipped in pure water. With this wiping away of the Chrism be reminded that your Chrismation is not just an external sign placed on your body, but the Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit implanted within your soul.

When you have received the Grace of Holy Baptism and Holy Chrismation, walk the Way daily so that the Grace within you may grow and bear fruit. Fulfill your calling to be a living temple, body and soul, in whom the Holy Spirit is pleased to dwell.

(Since our Antiochian churches in the United States are part of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, our Chrism has been consecrated by our chief bishop, the Patriarch of Antioch. The Chrism is kept by our Metropolitan of North America for distribution to the churches as necessary.)

Read: Exodus 30.22-33; Acts 2; 8.14-17; 1 Corinthians 3.16; 6.19-20; 2.1-12; Ephesians 1.1-23; Revelation 7.1-3; 22.4-5