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 On Harmony of Thunder Orthodox podcast: This week starts a three week series looking at one particular sermon, "An Encomium on the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever Virgin by our Father the Holy Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem." This Orthodox podcast series will help Orthodox Christians as we prepare for the Theotokos fast, and the feast of the Dormition. In the first program, we'll explore the ways in which a sermon can address the Dormition of the Theotokos using the whole text of scripture. It takes a great preacher to do this, and Patriarch Modestus… well, was certainly a great preacher!
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Harmony of Thunder, Program 16 : Theotokos series #1
It might still be July, but I find myself already looking forward to the fast of the Theotokos and the glorious feast of the Dormition on August 15. Today we're going to start a four part series on the Theotokos – the first three programs will all focus on one particular sermon, entitled, “An Encomium on the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever Virgin by our Father the Holy Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem” as found in the wonderful little book On the Dormition of Mary, Early Patristic Homilies, translation and introduction by Brian E. Daley, S.J., published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press in 1998. This sermon is just that wonderful that three programs will be needed to take a descent look at it.
And what will the fourth part of our four part series be? Well, if you've read my book Mary Worthy of All Praise, you know that this time of year always makes me want to read poetry. I'm not sure why, other than that the breathtaking spiritual benefits the Theotokos holds for all Christians can best be expressed in verse. I was just given a great collection of the poetry of a Roman Catholic writer, and if I muster enough courage over the next three weeks, I just might read you one of the poems. Why would I need courage? Well, it's because I know that poetry is not for everyone, and besides, this is a program about sermons, and the poem I have in mind is certainly not a sermon.
Hi, welcome to Harmony of Thunder, where we explore and enjoy the rich tradition of Orthodox preaching. I’m your host, Fr. David Smith. Each week, Harmony of Thunder chooses a sermon from scripture, from the works of a saint, or from a contemporary source, and we spend our time together looking at the style, the illustrations, and the spiritual message of the preacher.
Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of Your Most Holy Mother and of all the saints, bless your Holy Orthodox Church with great preachers and people who want to hear them. Amen.
The Patriarch Modestus of Jerusalem died in the first half of the seventh century. Where does that put him in terms of the development of the honor given to the Theotokos in the church? Well, this was the time when churches throughout the world were starting to solidify their theology of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a result of this, they had also started to look carefully at His mother, knowing that she was the central figure in the mystery of the Incarnation, and that she could not simply be dismissed as having a minor or insignificant role. This particular preacher is clearly settled in the traditions that were starting to promulgate around the Theotokos at the time, but he says at one point that he has not heard very much about her Dormition: “But for some reason they have revealed nothing about her glorious falling asleep, nor have those who came after them explained it to us. Therefore on the day of the falling asleep of the Mother of God, most people who are eager for knowledge, most disciples of Christ and wise persons who love to listen to divine things, intensely yearn to know something of this unspoken mystery that surrounds her. And because of this eager interest of theirs, so pleasing to God, I have most gladly made this holy and welcome project my own.”
The preacher's exploration of this subject uses three great preaching techniques, and we'll devote one program to each of them, and to the points he makes while using them.
The first is that he surveys the whole of scripture in order to locate all those passages that relate to one particular topic. Now in terms of the scriptures related to the Dormition of the Theotokos, well, there are none, so what Modestus does is to show how our Lord's incarnation through Mary, her life on earth, and her death as a sign to the world is present throughout the scriptures. For instance, listen to this part of the sermon: “The life that is the fountainhead of the universe she received from God and made a spring for this world, the light of mortal beings; for it is written, 'The life was the light of men and women' (Jn 1:3 ff), which enlightens the world, which has become flesh through her by the Holy Spirit, 'enlightening every man and woman who comes into the world' (Jn. 1:9).” The inclusive language is in the original.
In other words, the light of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, had to have a source, but Modestus points out that the source has different parts. i might say that the light in this room comes from a light bulb, whose power comes from electricity, which in this part of the world is generated by moving water, a natural phenomenon borne of, well, gravity. If Patriarch Modestus were using my illustration, he would say that God is the hydroelectric grid, and the bulb producing the light is Christ, and there has to be a whole series of wires and connections between those two things in order for light to actually be produced. The Theotokos received life from God, but not simply her own life, she received the life which is the light of the world.
The question that comes to my mind is this: how do we come from this passage of scripture found in the first chapter of St. John's gospel to the picture of God as the fountainhead, Christ as the light, and the Theotokos linking the two? Here we see the scriptures quoted deductively, not inductively. When this is the case, hearers must trust the preacher to have seen truths that we ourselves cannot, we must trust that the preacher is acting under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Inductive preaching means we only say what the scripture says and nothing more. Deductive preaching happens when the preacher is teaching us a truth of the church, of the Spirit, and uses the scripture as a support for that truth, but not necessarily as a source of that truth. You have to trust the preacher and the church. Christ is the light of the world, this particular scripture passage teaches, but the church further clarifies the text by teaching us that the light was given to us by his mother.
Now the fact is that all preaching is deductive. But the truth is also that we need to trust that the Holy Spirit speaks truth to us in the church, not only in the scriptures, but in the entire theology, tradition, and hymns of our faith. This is especially true when we're discussing the Theotokos.
Let's look at another passage like this: “The Lord of Hosts rejoices, who became flesh from her without ceasing to be what he is, who sanctified her as a field ready to receive God, where God the Father graciously willed to be the farmer, and the Holy Spirit the workman who planted the seed. Christ, God's only Son, grew up and bore fruit in her as the true vine, providing joy for the holy powers of heaven and salvation for mortals on earth; for he says in the gospel, 'I am the true vine and my father is the farmer' (Jn 15:1). The Mother of God has come to this true vine that she brought forth, to harvest the grapes of incorruption and immortality, rejoicing over her new fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God.”
What a beautiful passage, but one which presents a whole different perspective on the text from the gospel. Modestus is quoting the passage from St. John's gospel, chapter 15, which is part of our Lord's last extended teaching to the disciples before His arrest and crucifixion. He describes Himself as a vine, and the disciples themselves are the branches that grow out of the vine. Some will be pruned by the farmer, and others will be completely cut off, so that the fruit will be plentiful. Jesus tells the disciples to abide in Him so that they are not cut off, and so that they will remain fruitful. And how do we abide in Christ? We love Him and accept love from him, as the scripture says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved, you; abide in my love (15:9).
How does the preacher look at this passage? For him, the soil in which the vine grows is the Theotokos, the seed having been planted by the Holy Spirit. God is the farmer, that much he holds in common with St. John, but the fruit is named specifically, “The Mother of God has come to this true vine that she brought forth, to harvest the grapes of incorruption and immortality, rejoicing over her new fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God.”
Now, I don't want to imply that the Patriarch Modestus has taken liberties with the scriptures that should not be taken. Not at all. But what he has done must be done very carefully, and must be done under the direction of the Holy Spirit. As for those of us who listen to the great sermons of the fathers of the church, we must allow the ever present truth of God to reveal itself to us through their preaching. One of the most important teachings of the scriptures is that yu must submit to your spiritual authorities, even when you believe that the scriptures, or reason, or whatever, has something different to say.
I hope you join me again next week. We're going to continue to look at this same sermon, but at a very different part of it where the preacher uses a very different preaching technique. I guarantee you won't want to miss it.
Oh Lord, help us to hear and heed the words of the great preachers of Orthodoxy, that we may glorify you with our faith and lives, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
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