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Imagine that your world is falling apart around you: you are receiving failing grades at school; you are about to lose your after-school job; you learn that someone you do not like has been spreading lies about you. As you look at your circumstances, a question comes to your mind: whom can you trust to stand by you through this? Even more, who can help you overcome the most serious problems, such as your own pull toward sin and death?
It was on Miodrag's account that he and Drazen visited our church on this sad day. Miodrag's brother, Aleksandar, a long-time resident of Mt. Pleasant, had died-alone-and Miodrag had just arrived from his home in Europe to tend to the affairs of his departed brother.
I had not known Aleksandar in this life. Still, it is our custom to care for the dead and their survivors, the weeping and the grieving, who are looking for the consolation of Christ. We put a plan together and agreed to meet at the morgue on that Monday, in order to wash Aleksandar's body.
The traditional Christian preparation of a corpse for burial is quite a moving, beautiful, and holy experience, even in the sterile environment of a morgue. After the first few Psalms, one really doesn't take much notice of the room. In this case, our parish deacon and his wife, with the ever gracious assistance and direction from the head of mortuary services, humbly, delicately, carefully washed Aleksandar's body, all the while I chanted Psalms, prayers and hymns for the departed, in addition to reading relevant passages on death and resurrection from the Epistles and Gospels. We finished our sacred philoxenia (biblical Greek for "hospitality"-and literally "love of strangers") by anointing Aleksandar's body with fragrant Myrrh, one of the three beautiful gifts given to Jesus at his Nativity-precisely with reference to his impending death for our sake. Our last act in preparation for his memorial service was to clothe him in white. It is what he would have worn at his first, and more eternally significant death: his baptism. The Panikhida (memorial service) was simple and beautiful-a small gathered choir and a few dozen of Aleksandar's coworkers and friends, in addition to his brother and sister-in-law.
I think my favorite service, as a priest, to serve, is the baptism of an infant. It's one of the most magnificent events in all of the life of our Church. To add another member to the Body of Christ; to call on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide this new person through their whole life and eventually into the Kingdom of Heaven. Every time we're present for a baptism, in thinking about the transformation that the baptized has just undergone [so wonderfully spoken of by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, read at the baptismal service], we're given a chance also to reflect on our own entrance into the life of Christ and the Church.
Our baptisms and chrismations should not be seen by us as simply starting points from some time in the past (perhaps even not remembered by us consciously). Our baptisms also are not the end-our decision for Christ is not finished in baptism. Newly baptized infants will grow up, and they will be faced with the same decisions all Christians face, to live for Christ each day (take up your cross daily, the Lord commands), or to live for something else (ourselves, world, pleasure). Instead of viewing our baptisms as static moments in the past, our baptism should have a living significance for each us at this present moment (and at every moment in our Christian lives).
We said that baptism isn't simply an initiation, and it's also not the end of all things-but St. Gregory of Nyssa writes that the baptismal font is both a womb and a tomb (beginning and an end). In baptism, we die to the old man-to the man of the world, of the flesh, to the man of sin. And in baptism, we're re-born a new man-in Christ, filled with the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit. We're a new creature, by the grace of God, as St. Paul clearly explained in our Epistle reading this morning. There is a baptismal dimension to our whole life-baptism is the beginning and the foundation of ALL Christian life. This baptismal dimension that runs throughout our lives is unfolded for us by Sts. Kallistos and Ignatios in the Philokalia-they write "the aim of the Christian life is to return to the most perfect grace of the most Holy and life giving Spirit originally conferred on us in baptism."
Click here to listen to this week's episode of Jason's Get Wisdom podcast, and click here to download the free study guide for this episode.
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Overcoming the passions is one of the central foci of the Orthodox life. St. Maximos the Confessor defines passion as “an impulse of the soul contrary to nature, as in the case of mindless love or mindless hatred for someone or for some sensible thing.” The passions are, for lack of a better term, our corrupt impulses; they are the lusts and emotions that turn our attention away from God and onto ourselves. Christ listed some of the passions: “From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” [Mark 7:22]. St. Peter of Damascus — using the Bible as his basis — created a list of 298 passions, summarizing them as “a falling away from God in all things, utter destruction.”
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In Romans chapter six, St. Paul presents the issue of being either dead to sin or alive in Christ. He is very clear that Christians should no longer be slaves to sin (Romans 6:6). At the same time, however, he tells us to “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin” and to “not let sin reign in your mortal body” (6:11, 12); this tells us that sin is still alive in us, and that we must continually work to overcome sin.
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In Romans 5:13, the Holy Apostle Paul abruptly stops discussing the entrance of sin and death into the world; in fact, he stops in the middle of a sentence and leaves the thought uncompleted. He then discusses how sin was judged before God gave the Law before returning to his original subject. Fr. Lawrence Farley explains that St. Paul briefly changed subjects because “his mind overflows with new insights.”
My family members are Evangelicals of the Pentecostal variety. I was raised in that faith, but being Orthodox for almost 10 years has distanced me quite a bit from the world of megachurches and televangelists. Still, visiting home frequently means coming face-to-face with it, as my retired dad usually watches several hours of televangelism a day. He's good about keeping the TV off when my kids are awake, but after they are in bed, he often turns on programs he's recorded during the day.
St. Paul begins this morning's Epistle reading, a letter to the Christians of Corinth, with a plea-"We then as workers together with Him (Christ), beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1). The Corinthian Christians are workers together with Paul and the Apostles with Christ; all sent out (which is the meaning of the word ‘apostle') into the world to gather the harvest. The Church is sent into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost, and to gather them into the fold of Christ. This also is our task-it's not only the duty of the priest to share the Gospel, and to make a way for people to come to know Christ, and to become members of His Holy Church. This is duty laid on all of us by Christ; since we are possessors of the Truth, we have an obligation to share that Truth with others.
But for most of us, who are not ordained as members of the clergy to perform this task in the Churches, we sometimes wonder exactly how it is that we carry the Gospel to the world. St. Paul really answered that question in last Sunday's Epistle-we carry always in our flesh the dying of Christ. In other words, by our lives, by our words, and by our actions we carry Christ into the world. In the New Testament there's even mention of people wanting to hear about Christ because they wondered what was so different about these people who were Christians. By their presence, by their lives, the Christians witnessed to the Resurrection and to the defeat of sin and hell and death. St. Paul, this morning, gives us a bit of list that paints for us at least a partial picture of what a life that would call others to Christ might look like. A picture of the life that we're striving to as well. We certainly can't mention all of these things, but we can make a beginning.
The bar is set high; St. Paul writes, "Giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed" (2 Cor. 6:3). So the goal is that our lives would never offend (this refers not only to not offending the people around us, but most importantly, that our lives never offend the word of God, that we live consistent with what we preach). And this is our aim, so that the ministry of the Gospel be not blamed. Throughout the ages, Christians have not done such a good job with this-many people today refuse to be Christians because of the actions of Christians in the past, and because of the failings of Christians today. One of the main reasons people don't consider Christ, and the most damning reason for the Church, is because of us, the lives of Christians drive people away from Christ. I know I've used this example before, but it's terribly powerful-Ghandi was very attracted to the Christian faith, but he said he would never consider conversion because no Christian he knew actually lived the commandments of Christ, and many didn't even try. This is exactly what St. Paul's addressing in this verse-our lives are not to cause offense, because that sin will do harm to the preaching of the Gospel. Christ says, "Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea" (Mark 9:42). Whether we cause a weaker brother to stumble, or we cause someone outside of the Church never to seek salvation in Christ, we've caused a little one to falter-and we hear what Christ says would be better.
St. Paul then goes on to list some positive attributes of a life well-pleasing to God, a life that will further the ministry, and not harm it. [Again, we can't mention everything.] The first thing he mentions is patience. We get in more trouble because of our impatience than perhaps anything else. Of course, impatience often comes from our pride and our judging others. But we have to learn to be patient. Be patient with God-His timeline, His ways, are not ours, and impatience with God is a grave sin, because it's essentially not trusting in God. Be patient with others-we have to learn to let other people be themselves. One of the greatest helps I ever heard here was the idea of having no expectations for other people. If we don't expect someone else to do or say or be what we want, then our temptations to be impatient with them for failing will be greatly reduced. Be patient with ourselves-for our entire lives we'll be works in progress. If we insist on controlling this work, then the results will always be disastrous. If we allow God to control our lives, then as He wills and as we cooperate, we'll get to the places He wants us to be.
Riot shields. A ray of light beaming from the dome of the Church of the Resurrection down into the nave. A Berlin-ish Wall running over the hillside, dividing families. The Great Walls of the Old City. Women bearing machine guns in the streets. The angelic voices of the nuns at the Russian monastery at En Kerem. A late night talk with an Orthodox Rabbi who has a well-known radio program broadcast world-wide. A Palestinian Roman Catholic guide on our trip. An hour with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, successor to the brother of our Lord. Walking-if we can call it that-in a crowd of 10,000 (literally) Muslims leaving the Dome of the Rock on a Friday during Ramadan. Receiving communion at the hand of the Archbishop of Jerusalem at the tomb of Jesus Christ in the middle of the night. These are a just a few of the sites and experiences of my two-week pilgrimage to the Holy Land from September 8-20. Our local host, a newly ordained Anglican deacon, began to describe all this to us before we would experience it: "If all the world is a stage, Jerusalem is an Opera." Opera indeed.
The religious and political history and situation in Israel is as varied as its terrain. Rocky here, desert there, lush and tropical in another spot. Never the same for 40 miles in a row. Jerusalem seems to be a police state. Everywhere we went, the presence of small bands of armed officers were walking about. In order to enter the temple mount, one must go through airport-type security. And yet, despite the military and police presence (or perhaps because of it), I felt entirely comfortable walking the streets of Old Jerusalem at 11pm, 1230am, and 445am.
The only time I ever felt threatened at all was at the Wailing Wall, the remnants of the Western Wall of the Temple, to which many people come to pray, most numerously Orthodox Jews. As we entered the area, Metropolitan Kallistos, Fr Marcus Burch, and I were confronted by a very angry (and I suspect disturbed) Orthodox Jew who came practically belly to belly with our Bishop. He had a very hateful (I use such a term very sparingly, yet intentionally) look in his eyes as he continually pointed the way out, and blocked Metropolitan Kallistos' every effort to move forward. Finally, Israeli police moved in and escorted the man back towards the wall, in order to leave us in peace. Still, the fellow kept an eye on us from a distance-and I likewise kept an eye on him. He had obviously identified us as Christians by our dress (cassocks and hats), though we were forbidden to wear our pectoral crosses there. Forbidden were all "ritual objects". Apart from being spat upon by a few Jewish teenagers and receiving the Arabic equivalent of the middle finger by a few Muslim boys, we were generally well received in public. I guess pubescence is a universal suffering.
My family members are Evangelicals of the Pentecostal variety. I was raised in that faith, but being Orthodox for almost 10 years has distanced me quite a bit from the world of megachurches and televangelists. Still, visiting home frequently means coming face-to-face with it, as my retired dad usually watches several hours of televangelism a day. He's good about keeping the TV off when my kids are awake, but after they are in bed, he often turns on programs he's recorded during the day.