DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SHANGHAI AND SAN
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ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 412-260)
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MARCH, 2007, VOL. XLI, No. 3 (1570)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. ON HOLY AND GREAT FRIDAY, Saint Philaret of New York,
2. ON PURITY OF SOUL, St. Paissy Velichkovsky
3. WHAT IS HERESY?
4. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
It was love of human honour that distanced the Pharisees from faith in
the Lord, which is why He said to them, "How can ye believe, which
receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from
God only?" (Jn. 5:44). Others were prevented from drawing hear by
lands, weddings, or worries about the affairs of this life (Lk.
14:18-20), but the paralysed man's physical weakness put an end to such
things and removed them from his thoughts. There are times when illness
is better for sinners than good health, because it helps them towards
salvation and blunts their inborn evil impulses.
The Homilies of St. Gregory Palamas, Vol. I, On the Second Sunday of
Great Lent.
1. ON HOLY AND GREAT FRIDAY,
A Sermon by Saint Philaret of New York,, 1973 (slightly edited)
Two exclamations of our Saviour.
Last night, in the reading of the Ninth Gospel
concerning the suffering of our Saviour, and this morning, when the
Gospel of St. John was read during the Ninth Hour, we heard the
Conqueror of Hades, death, and the devil exclaim from the Cross, "it is
finished" (John 19:30).
What was finished? Finished was that which the Lord
God Omnipotent knew at the time of the creation of the world. Finished
was that which the whole world had long been awaiting; finished was
that which was prophesied even in Paradise to our forefathers who had
sinned; finished was that which was foretold to the Prophets-that which
the Old Testament prefigured; finished was the redemption of the human
race, its salvation from sin, death, and condemnation. Christ the
Saviour made this exclamation, as already a Conqueror, Who had
fulfilled the purpose for which He had been sent.
Before this, however, there was heard from the Cross
an exclamation of an entirely different nature: "My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me?' (Matt. 27:46). This exclamation was that of a
sufferer, not yet a conqueror. It is one of extreme torment and shows
us with what terrible sufferings the act of redemption was
accomplished. But, as the God- inspired Holy Fathers of the Church tell
us, and as our great father of the Church Abroad and renowned
theologian, His Beatitude Metropolitan Antony, expresses with
particular clarity, our redemption consisted of two parts, so to speak:
First, the Lord Saviour accepted upon Himself all the weight of our
sins; then He nailed them to the wood of the Cross on Golgotha.
At first, in the garden. When He walked with the
Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane, they who were accustomed to
seeing Him immovably calm, the Master of all creation, the King and
Conqueror of the elements, and the Master of life and death, heard with
horror words they had never heard from Him before: "My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." The Saviour then asks His
beloved spiritual children, the disciples, during those unbearably
difficult and decisive moments of the Passion, "Tarry ye here, and
watch with Me" (Matt. 26:38).
Then the prayer in Gethsemane begins. -in this
prayer we see that the Lamb, Who was ordained at the time of the
creation of the world for the salvation of mankind, recoils as if
terrified before what is approaching Him and what He has to accept and
suffer. Is He so much afraid of the physical suffering? Is it that
which causes Him to recoil? No, it is not!
How Christ reacts to physical suffering.
From the narration of His suffering, we see
how calmly, how majestically, and with what wonderful and truly divine
patience He endured the terrible bodily torments. One has to keep in
mind that He was pure and sinless. Suffering is characteristic of
sinful nature, but He did not have to suffer because there was no sin
in Him. Therefore, suffering was for Him unnatural, and consequently,
incomparably more sharp and difficult than for us. And yet, in what
manner did He endure the physical torments?
Let us consider one moment of these torments: He is
laid on the Cross, and His most pure hands and feet are pierced by
dreadful nails. What a terrible moment! But not concentrating on
Himself, the Saviour, Who came into the world to save sinners, even
here thinks of them and prays to His Father for His slayers, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). At that
moment, He does not think of Himself, He forgets His own suffering; He
prays only that the Father would be merciful and would forgive the sin
of His own crucifers. This is yet another example of the way He
fulfilled His act of serving and saving sinners. Later on, after a few
more hours, He was to lead yet another soul to salvation-the soul of
the wise thief.
The acceptance of our sins. But here in the garden,
we see that He is so struck with awe at the horror, that He prays to
His Father, "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me" (Luke
22:42), and even more strongly according to St. Mark, "Abba, Father,
all things are possible unto nee" (Mark 14:36). All things are possible
unto Thee; Thou mightest find yet another way. Let this cup pass from
me. It is so terrible, that He prays it will somehow pass from Him.
The Church tells us that Christ the Saviour is the
Lamb of God Who takes upon Himself the weight of the sins of the whole
world. Yes, He took upon Himself, He accepted as His own, all our
sins-all the sins of mankind from the fall of Adam until the end of the
world. And remember that this fact is not merely something written down
here on paper, it is not just a vibration of the air which we term a
sound as we say the words; this is reality-the very truth!
In the Garden of Gethsemane during this
unimaginable, terrible struggle, the Lord received into His soul the
whole of humanity. As the All-knowing God, for Whom there is no future
and no past, but only one act of Divine omniscience and understanding,
He knew each one of us; He saw each one of us and received each one of
us into His soul, with all our sins, our cold unwillingness to repent,
with all our weaknesses and moral defilement. So, in order to save us,
whom He loved so much and whom He received into His soul, He had to
take upon Himself all our sins as if He Himself had committed them. And
in His holy, sinless, and pure soul every sin burned worse than fire.
It is we who have become so accustomed to sin that we sin without
hesitation. As the prophet said, man drinks unrighteousness as a drink
(Job 15:16), and does not count his sins. But in our Saviour's holy
soul every sin burned with the unbearable fire of Hades, and He took
upon Himself the sins of the whole human race.
What a torment, what agony it was for His all-holy
soul to contemplate this act! But He sees that if He does not
accomplish it, if He refuses to take upon Himself the weight of human
sins, then humanity will perish for endless eternity. His human nature,
stricken with horror, recoils before the fathomless abyss of suffering,
but His endless, His boundless, His inexpressibly compassionate love
will not consent that humanity should perish; so within Him there
occurs a terrible struggle.
Finally, exhausted, He goes over to the disciples,
from whom He was seeking compassion, and whom He asked to tarry and
watch with Him, but instead of receiving commiseration from them, He
finds them sleeping.
He speaks to them-according to one of the
Evangelists, he addressed Simon directly, thus: Thou steepest, thou who
but a short while ago swore that thou wouldst follow Me everywhere,
even unto death; thou steepest, thou couldst not watch with Me even one
hour? "Watch and pray," He tells them, for "the spirit truly is
willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38). He moves away and
continues His lonely prayer. And in the end, His boundless love and his
complete obedience prevail, and He takes upon Himself the sins of all
humanity.
Love has wounded Thee.
It is obvious how much this struggle has cost Him.
The Heavenly Father sends an angel from Heaven to support Him because
His human strength had reached its limit, and we see that He is
exhausted and covered with a terrible bloody sweat which, as medical
science states, occurs as a result of an inner spiritual struggle which
shakes a man's whole being.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov, meditating on the
sufferings of the Saviour, says, "Lord Saviour: why art Thou all in
blood? There is yet no terrible Golgotha, no crown of thorns, no
scourging, no Cross, nothing Re unto this as yet, yet Thou art all
stained with blood. Who dared to wound Thee?" And the saintly bishop
himself answers his own question: "Love has wounded Tlhee." Love
brought Him to torment and suffering; from this struggle He is covered
with blood, but comes forth as Conqueror. And in His redeeming, heroic
deed, he took upon Himself our sins and carried them on the Cross to
Golgotha, failing under its weight.
And there began that other, central part of our
redemption, when He suffered for all those sins which He took upon
Himself in Gethsemane, in the terrible torments on the Cross.
The suffering on the Cross.
The Holy Gospel draws aside somewhat the veil
covering the Saviour's suffering on the Cross by including the
exclamation I mentioned earlier: "My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46; also see Ps. 2 1: 1). For this was the
principal terror for Him. It was probably because of this that He
recoiled in terror in the Garden of Gethsemane when thinking of what
awaited Him. He knew that when He was covered with the stain of human
sin, the Father would forsake Him-that for a time, as part of the act
of redemption, He would endure that separation from God that we all
endure as a result of the Fall. By His uttering this exclamation, the
abyss of His measureless suffering is partly revealed to us. If we were
able to look into this abyss, not one of us would remain alive, because
from this immeasurable superhuman suffering our soul would perish.
But at last, through His unimaginable suffering, our
Saviour achieved everything for which He had come. As the new Adam, He
becomes the forefather of the new, renewed, spirit- filled-humanity,
and then as Conqueror He exclaims, "It is finished." Now the suffering
is ended, and He, surrenders His spirit unto His Heavenly Father:
"Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luke 23:46).
As one of our great Russian preachers said, "The
suffering is finished, let the wounds be healed, let the blood stop
flowing; approach now ye Josephs of Arimathea and ye Nicodemuses, and
also ye reverent Magdalenes, come to the Deceased in order to show Him
the last honors.' . .
And now, while worshipping the Saviour entombed on
this Great Friday evening, let us remember that the Lord suffered for
our sins, that all these wounds were inflicted by us. And as we
reverently kiss the wounds of the Crucified One with repentance and
thanksgiving, let us pray to Him that by His grace He will teach us to
be faithful to Him in all the aspects of our lives. Amen.
Taken from Saint Cosmas Orthodox Church Monthly
Bulletin, 6315 Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, MD 20707.
_______________________________________________________________________
2. WHAT IS HERESY?
There are not a few Orthodox who are confused about the place of
their Church in the 20th century and the religious milieu through which
She is passing. Part of their concern (i.e., those who think seriously
about their religion) is the question of what ought to be our
relationship with the non-Orthodox. For such a long time, the Church
was friendly towards but not ever intimate with the various Christian
denominations. But now many Orthodox bishops and priests are saying and
doing things which some of us do not understand and, some of us, do not
wish to hear and see.
No longer are the Orthodox told that their Church is the true Church,
the Catholic Church, the Church of the Prophets, Apostles and Fathers.
And, indeed, we are no longer given the advice,
"Keep away from all heretics and schismatics, neither pray with them
nor attend their religious meetings and services." [1]
There appears to be a contradiction here. Beliefs which have been held
to be true and unchangeable are now suddenly being challenged by those
sworn to uphold them. New ideas seem to be entering a Church which had
always boasted that She has never added to nor subtracted from the
Apostolic Faith.
In part, our present confusion is the result of worldly temptations,
but more unhappily it is the consequence of ignorance: the Orthodox do
not know what the Church is nor what Her relationship with non-Orthodox
ought to be. Many of us do not know that the Church the Lord
established is One, because God is One and there is but one Messiah;
Her Faith is one, because Christ did not leave humanity numerous and
conflicting sets of belief; and there is but one Baptism, because there
is but one Church into which a man is incorporated.
Of course, there are those who insist they are members of the Church of
Christ despite the fact that, if their claim were true, the Church
would no longer be trustworthy nor worthy of obedience. Why obey what
cannot be trusted? Why believe what is doubtful? Why belong to a
fellowship which could mislead us? To be sure, if the teachings of the
Church are wrong, then, why not find "my own truth?" But Jesus Christ
did render His Church incapable of error and He gave Her the Holy
Spirit to that end (John 15: 26). It follows, then, that all those who
disagree with the religious teachings of Orthodoxy are "heretics" and
their false ideas "heresy."
This language may "turn off" some people, but it is only because they
do not know what is meant by the terms "heretic" and "heresy" and the
necessity for them. The explanation above is only partial; perhaps, a
few more details will help us to understand why these words have been
in the theological glossary of the Orthodox Church from the beginning.
A "heretic" is simply one who maintains a "heretical doctrine." The
sincerity and good will of the "heretic" is not in question.
Nevertheless, "heresy" is evil, because it is a powerful means by which
the Devil seeks to "prevail" against the Church — something he will not
do, according to the Lord’s promise (Matt. 16:18). It must be
distinguished from "splitting", "factions", and "disputes" which occur
within the Church (Gal. 5: 20). Heresy, at first, is a "leaving" or
"falling away" from the Church (apostasia) and eventually hardens into
a "sect" (hairesis). One may also be expelled from the community of
believers on account of false teachings. The Scriptures call "heretics"
"false teachers," "denying the Master," "deceivers." [2]
Listen to what Saint Ambrose of Milan says about "heresy" and
"heretics":
"Or, like some dread and monstrous Scylla, divided into many shapes of
unbelief, heresy displays, as a mask to her guile, the pretense of
being a Christian sect, but those wretched men who she finds tossed to
and fro on the waves of her unhallowed strait, amid the wreckage of
their faith, she, girt with beastly monster, rends them with cruel fang
on her blasphemous doctrine" (On the Christian Faith, book I, chapter
6, 46).
And St. Cyril of Jerusalem says:
"For men have fallen away from the right Faith... And formerly the
heretics were manifest, but now the Church is filled with heretics in
disguise, for men have turned from the truth and have itching ears (II
Tim. 4:3)." (Catech. Lectures XV, 9).
In other words, heretics are those who cling to false doctrines. They
have always existed and always will (Matt. 17:7). Some have left the
Church and formed a sect." The "sect" becomes a historical entity which
propagates itself, standing as a rival to the Church. The Church takes
names— "catholic," "orthodox," "true," "apostolic," etc.—in order to
distinguish Herself from them. She generally gives those "sects" the
name of their leader or first principle (e.g., the Arians after Arius,
the Nestorians after Nestorius, the Iconoclasts after Iconoclasm,
Papists after the followers of the Pope, Calvinism after John Calvin,
Lutheranism after Martin Luther, etc.) "Protestantism" is the
collective name of those "sects" which emerged from Papism in the 16th
century.
There are, too, heretics who act as if they were members of the Church,
the Orthodox Church, while in fact they are not. They are "wolves in
sheep’s clothing," "tares among the wheat," "heretics in disguise."
These are most common in an age of social, political and theological
turmoil (e.g., during the 4th century merger of the Church with the
Roman Empire, the Crusades, the Turkish domination, the Bolshevik
Revolution, post-World War I and II, etc.). In our own day, we have
"ecumenists" who have denied that the Orthodox Church is the Church of
Christ. Although they masquerade as bishops and priests (and laymen),
they are really no longer members of the Church. They can be recognized
by their conduct contrary to the canons and an attitude contrary to the
spirit of the Fathers. They have not departed or been expelled, because
they are deceived and deceiving.
Now that we have learned, in very general terms, what "heresy" and
"heretic" are, what specifically is their crime? St. Cyprian compares
heretics to "the sons of Aaron, who placed strange fire (heresy) upon
the Altar of God," that is, "despising God’s Tradition, seek after
strange doctrines and bring in teachings of human appointment" (On the
Unity of the Church, 18-19). Similarly, St. Irenaeus says that heretics
do not follow the Apostolic Tradition, Christ’s teachings "derived from
the Apostles" and delivered, "to our time by means of the succession of
bishops" (Against Her. III, 3:2). And, indeed, there are no bishops
without that Tradition and no Tradition without bishops.
What is the Tradition of the Apostles? It is the religious truth
revealed by God to the Prophets which foretold Jesus Christ; and when
He came, fulfilling the prophetic types and beliefs, the Lord taught
the fullness of truth to His Apostles. They gave that truth to the
Church. The Fathers witnessed to it, the Councils formulated it, the
Liturgy embodied it for worship, the bishops taught it and the Faithful
defended it. The Apostolic Tradition is, then, "the faith of Jesus
Christ" handed over, continuously and unchanged, from one generation of
Orthodox Christians to another, the Holy Spirit guiding its
transmission and protecting its contents—despite the malice of Satan
and the weakness of men.
Again, departure from the Apostolic Tradition is "heresy" and,
therefore, along with the ancient "sects," the Orthodox Church counts
Papists and Protestants as "heretics"—the recent declaration of some
Orthodox "ecumenists" notwithstanding. One need only read the sermons
and treatises of Orthodox theologians from St. Photius to St. Mark of
Ephesus. Likewise, the rejection of Lutheranism by The Three Answers of
Patriarch Jeremiah II (1567) or the condemnation of "all Western
innovations" by the Councils of Jassy (1642) and Jerusalem (1672). The
Orthodox Councils of the 18th and 19th century make it clear that
Protestants and Papists are heretics as do the encyclicals of the
Eastern Patriarchs (1848, 1896). In 1904, the Holy Russian Synod urged
Western Christians to come to the Orthodox Church, "the Ark of
Salvation." Two years before, the famous Joachim II, the Ecumenical
Patriarch declared, "Our desire is that all the heterodox [heretics]
shall come into the bosom of the Orthodox Church of Christ which alone
is able to give them salvation." Until very recently, the Church has
made the same statements at WCC meetings (e.g., Oberlin).
To summarize, then, "heresy" is an error in theological teachings, a
turning away from the Apostolic Tradition, which involves a loss of
membership in the Church of Christ whether by "falling away" or
"expulsion." Heretics usually form "sects" which become historically
competitive to the Church. From these "sects" others may or may not
emerge. "Heresy" must be distinguished from "schism" or internal
disputes, factions or groups within the Church which have seceded from
the lawful government of the Church. "Heresy" and "heretics" have
existed from the time of the Apostles and exist today whether as
"sects" outside the Church or "heretics in disguise" within the Church
(or so it appears). Yet, to use the words of St. Ambrose, both
"apostates" and "sectarians" are veritatis inimici (inimical to the
truth) and impugnatores fides (assailers of the faith). They are not
just those who leave the Church, but those who are born in heresy long
after the first dissenter departed with his private theological
opinions.
[1]The 4th Commandment of the Eastern Orthodox Church as stated in The
Prayer Book for Eastern Orthodox Christians, compiled by the Rev. Peter
H. Horton-Billard and the Rev. Vasile Hategan; translated and edited by
the Very Rev. Michael C. H. Gelsinger. New York, 1944, p. 15. This
collection of Orthodox prayers and devotions was distributed to the
Orthodox in the Armed Forces of the United States during World War II.
This commandment is a summation of admonitions from the Bible, the Holy
Fathers and the Canon Law of the Orthodox Church.
[2}On "heresy" and "heretics", see Tit. 3:10; Gal. 1:8-9; Heb. 13:9; II
Peter 2:1; II John 7; Jude 4.
________________________________________________________________________
3. ON PURITYOF SOUL
by St. Paissy Velichkovsky
(1722-1794)
Starets Paissy, responsible for the spiritual reawakening that swept
Russia during the last two centuries and gave rise to an abundance of
as yet uncanonized saints, is introduced here by a passage from his
book, Lilies of the Field, taken from Archbishop Vitaly's Pochaev
periodical The Russian Monk.
Purity of heart, mind, and soul is attained by a life of much labor,
through spiritual effort; for the heart is purified by sorrows, by the
most difficult spiritual and bodily virtues: by hunger, thirst, vigils,
and other means... From filthy, passionate desires are born bodily
passions, that is, lust. But from purity of soul and fasting with
prayer, the mind is purified of filthy thoughts and fantasies. Through
purity of mind the soul is liberated from its passions and is
enlightened; and from purity of soul comes mental sight. Unless we have
purity of heart, mind, and soul, that is, passionlessness, the demons
venture to enter into us, they disturb us and display in, us deception
(prelest) in place of truth. For only by a pure heart, soul, and mind
may the Mental Sun be contemplated.
One must apply oneself with special diligence to fasting and unceasing
prayer, so that prayer may descend to the depths of the heart and
purify it from the passions of the soul and body and enlighten the
soul, bringing delight, assuagement, and joy, and driving away filthy
thoughts and mental fantasies. When in such a way a man's heart, mind,
soul, and body are purified, grace comes to dwell in him; the door is
closed to demons and passions, and he begins to sense a spiritual
sweetness. As long as the natural movements of the body are
undiminished and arouse in the heart sinful pleasure and prevent the
bodily senses from being purified in this life; as long as the mind has
not been liberated from dark, filthy fantasies and the soul has not
been delivered from passions, -- for so long will the sweetness of
grace fail to be awakened in a man, and he will not perceive the Divine
in his soul.
The beginning of purity is non-acquiescence to sin of [the] mind, and
its end is mortification, a being dead to sin of [the] body. Impurity
of the heart consists of lustful pleasure and sinful excitement in the
heart; impurity of the body, of a falling into sin in act. Impurity of
mind consists of filthy thoughts; and impurity of soul, of various
passions of the soul, when the soul loves something immoderately and is
beguiled by it.
If a person labors with his body and achieves certain virtues, but
neglects the ordering of his heart, does not fervently devote himself
to mental activity (mindfulness) and does not concern himself with
sobriety of soul -- then he is like someone who gathers with one hand
and scatters with the other; for bodily labors are only the beginning
of the spiritual path, while internal sobriety of the heart, activity
of the mind,* and an ordered soul are its end. Bodily labors without
internal ordering and mindfulness are like dry leaves. Therefore we
neither reach perfection nor receive grace if we do not know where to
begin the spiritual life, what constitutes its middle and its end, and
in what consists the essence and foundation of the virtues; and until
we realize this we shall continue at one and the same time to labor and
to undo the results of our labor.
Understand, O man, where the spiritual life begins,. whence the virtues
arise, and through what it is that the passions find easy entry into
us; and then your soul will be soon enlightened. But without this
beginning you will be sowing seed into the sea, and it will always be
wasted.
* I.e., the Jesus Prayer (trans. note).
(Reprinted from The Ordthodox Word, May-June, 1965
________________________________________________________________________
4. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
(NEK2) ST. NEKTARIOS: Vol. 2 CHRISTOLOGY. Translated by
St. Nektarios Monastery, Roscoe, NY. This is a wonderful work on
our Saviour. Chapters include The Expectation of the Nations, the
Divinity of Christ, God’s revelation to the world, the Brilliance of
the Christian Faith. It has several color illustrations of the
monastery.. Paper 273pp d$22.00
(ICR) ICONS OF THE CRETAN SCHOOL (FROM CANDIA TO MOSCOW
AND ST. PETERSBURG) Introduction by Manolis Chadzidakis, edited by
Manolis Borboudakis. Icons from the Cretan School collected from Candia
to Moscow to St. Petersburg for an exhibition in Heracleion, Crete. 217
full-color illustrations of many famous icons, mostly 15th to 17th
century. with explanatory notes for each in a separate section. Sewn
paperback. Large format. 591 pp. e$98.00 . $2.00
surcharge for expedited shipment.
(TAM) TAMAMA: The missing girl of Pontus. George
Andreadis. A powerful work which describes the ordeal of a young girl
taken from her parents in Turkey. If you are interested in Greek
history and the sufferings of Orthodox Christians in Turkey
during the past century, you will want this book.(The book sold over
250,000 copies in Turkey and has been translated into English, Chinese,
Russian, Turkish and French. It received a Gold Medal from the Athens
Academy.) pp135 e$16.00;
(UG)
UNDER THE GRAPEVINE: A Miracle by Saint Kendeas of Cyprus by Chrissi
Hart, illus. by Claire Brandenburg. The true story of the
miraculous healing of a young girl in Cyprus. A beautifully illustrated
book for children 4 and up. 32pp. Hard
cover d$16.00