Resources

Many informative articles were published in our parish newsletters in the years prior to Covid. Email to the friends and faithful of Holy Cross has replaced our newsletters, but many of the articles are collected here. Use the indexes below to find the topic or author you’re interested in. (Once you click on a topic or author, scroll to the bottom of the page to see the search results.)

Also, have a look at the Recommended Readings on the OCA (Orthodox Church in America) website for a list of books covering a wide range of topics. Essential Orthodox Christian Beliefs: A Manual for Adult Instruction is also available for free download on the OCA’s website.

(Speaking of our parent jurisdiction, the OCA traces its origins to the arrival in Kodiak, Alaska in 1794 of eight Orthodox missionaries from the Valaamo Monastery in the northern Karelia region of Russia. Today, the OCA includes some 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries, and institutions throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.)

We hope you’ll find these suggested readings to be both edifying and encouraging!

Holy Friday, The Cross Fr Alexander Schmemann Holy Friday, The Cross Fr Alexander Schmemann

Great and Holy Friday: The Cross

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Alexander Schmemann
April 2008

From the light of Holy Thursday we enter into the darkness of Friday, the day of Christ's Passion, Death and Burial. In the early Church this day was called "Pascha of the Cross," for it is indeed the beginning of that Passover or Passage whose whole meaning will be gradually revealed to us, first, in the wonderful quiet of the Great and Blessed Sabbath, and, then, in the joy of the Resurrection day.

But, first, the Darkness. If only we could realize that on Good Friday darkness is not merely symbolical and commemorative. So often we watch the beautiful and solemn sadness of these services in the spirit of self-righteousness and self-justification. Two thousand years ago bad men killed Christ, but today we -- the good Christian people -- erect sumptuous Tombs in our Churches -- is this not the sign of our goodness? Yet, Good Friday deals not with past alone. It is the day of Sin, the day of Evil, the day on which the Church invites us to realize their awful reality and power in "this world." For Sin and Evil have not disappeared, but, on the contrary, still constitute the basic law of the world and of our life. And we who call ourselves Christians, do we not so often make ours that logic of evil which led the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers and the whole crowd to hate, torture and kill Christ? On what side, with whom would we have been, had we lived in Jerusalem under Pilate? This is the question addressed to us in every word of Holy Friday services. It is, indeed, the day of this world, its real and not symbolical, condemnation and the real and not ritual, judgment on our life... It is the revelation of the true nature of the world which preferred then, and still prefers, darkness to light, evil to good, death to life. Having condemned Christ to death, "this world" has condemned itself to death and inasmuch as we accept its spirit, its sin, its betrayal of God -- we are also condemned... Such is the first and dreadfully realistic meaning of Good Friday -- a condemnation to death...

But this day of Evil, of its ultimate manifestation and triumph, is also the day of Redemption. The death of Christ is revealed to us as the saving death for us and for our salvation.

It is a saving Death because it is the full, perfect and supreme Sacrifice. Christ gives His Death to His Father and He gives His Death to us. To His Father because, as we shall see, there is no other way to destroy death, to save men from it and it is the will of the Father that men be saved from death. To us because in very truth Christ dies instead of us. Death is the natural fruit of sin, an immanent punishment. Man chose to be alienated from God, but having no life in himself and by himself, he dies. Yet there is no sin and, therefore, no death in Christ. He accepts to die only by love for us. He wants to assume and to share our human condition to the end. He accepts the punishment of our nature, as He assumed the whole burden of human predicament. He dies because He has truly identified Himself with us, has indeed taken upon Himself the tragedy of man's life. His death is the ultimate revelation of His compassion and love. And because His dying is love, compassion and cosuffering, in His death the very nature of death is changed. From punishment it becomes the radiant act of love and forgiveness, the end of alienation and solitude. Condemnation is transformed into forgiveness...

And, finally, His death is a saving death because it destroys the very source of death: evil. By accepting it in love, by giving Himself to His murderers and permitting their apparent victory, Christ reveals that, in reality, this victory is the total and decisive defeat of Evil. To be victorious Evil must annihilate the Good, must prove itself to be the ultimate truth about life, discredit the Good and, in one word, show its own superiority. But throughout the whole Passion it is Christ and He alone who triumphs. The Evil can do nothing against Him, for it cannot make Christ accept Evil as truth. Hypocrisy is revealed as Hypocrisy, Murder as Murder, Fear as Fear, and as Christ silently moves towards the Cross and the End, as the human tragedy reaches its climax, His triumph, His victory over the Evil, His glorification become more and more obvious. And at each step this victory is acknowledged, confessed, proclaimed -- by the wife of Pilate, by Joseph, by the crucified thief, by the centurion. And as He dies on the Cross having accepted the ultimate horror of death: absolute solitude (My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!?), nothing remains but to confess that "truly this was the Son of God!..." And, thus, it is this Death, this Love, this obedience, this fulness of Life that destroy what made Death the universal destiny. "And the graves were opened..." (Matthew 27:52) Already the rays of resurrection appear.

Such is the double mystery of Holy Friday, and its services reveal it and make us participate in it. On the one hand, there is the constant emphasis on the Passion of Christ as the sin of all sins, the crime of all crimes. Throughout Matins during which the twelve Passion readings make us follow step by step the sufferings of Christ, at the Hours (which replace the Divine Liturgy: for the interdiction to celebrate Eucharist on this day means that the sacrament of Christ's Presence does not belong to "this world" of sin and darkness, but is the sacrament of the "world to come") and finally, at Vespers, the service of Christ's burial the hymns and readings are full of solemn accusations of those, who willingly and freely decided to kill Christ, justifying this murder by their religion, their political loyalty, their practical considerations and their professional obedience.

But, on the other hand, the sacrifice of love which prepares the final victory is also present from the very beginning. From the first Gospel reading (John 13:31) which begins with the solemn announcement of Christ: "Now is the Son of Man glorified and in Him God is glorified" to the stichera at the end of Vespers -- there is the increase of light, the slow growth of hope and certitude that "death will trample down death..."

When Thou, the Redeemer of all,
hast been laid for all in the new tomb,
Hades, the respecter of none, saw Thee and crouched in fear.
The bars broke, the gates were shattered,
the graves were opened, the dead arose.
Then Adam, thankfully rejoicing, cried out to Thee:
Glory to Thy condescension, O Merciful Master.

And when, at the end of Vespers, we place in the center of the Church the image of Christ in the tomb, when this long day comes to its end, we know that we are at the end of the long history of salvation and redemption. The Seventh Day, the day of rest, the blessed Sabbath comes and with it -- the revelation of the Life-giving Tomb.

(This article was taken from the DRE publication Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation from the Orthodox Church in America.)

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Confession, Sin, Salvation Fr Christopher Foley Confession, Sin, Salvation Fr Christopher Foley

Confession: Hospital or Courtroom?

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Christopher Foley

November 2006

“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

James 5:16

“Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

John 20:22-23

Much has been said about the need for confession of sins in the Church and the need to be reconciled to God. There is a tendency to think of confession in some type of legalistic way - where one recounts their trespasses and gets the due punishment and forgiveness and goes on their way. There has also been a tendency to see confession as a type of yearly obligation in order to have a "pass" to come to communion. Unfortunately, these views of confession have done great damage to this "sacrament of reconciliation." So, what is confession exactly? Is it a legal transaction that takes place in a "courtroom?" For the Orthodox Church, confession has always been understood more in terms of hospital language, rather than a courtroom.

Sin as Sickness

It is important, first of all, to remember that sin is not the breaking of a moral code of conduct. Sin means literally, to "miss the mark," like an arrow that is shot and misses its intended target. The target here is man being what he was intended to be - created in the image and likeness of God. When we sin, we cease to be fully what God intended for us to be. It is we who break communion with God through our sin. We all sin and "fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). There is a story from the desert fathers about a disciple who came to a certain elder one day and said, "Father, I have fallen!" The elder said to him, "Get up!" Again and again he came to the elder and said, "I have fallen!" And invariably the elder responded, "Get up!" The disciple then asked, "When will I have to stop getting up?" "Not until the day you give your soul up to God," the elder replied. Thus it is not a matter of if we sin, but when we sin, what are we going to do about it? In the First Epistle of St. John we read, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So the first step in confession is the acknowledgment of our sins. In hospital language, sin is a parasitic sickness or wound that needs to be cleaned out. Before it can be healed, one must acknowledge that there is a wound in the first place. Christ, as the Divine Physician, came to heal the sick. Christ Himself said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick ... For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Confession as Surgery

Confession is primarily naming and taking responsibility of the illness in order for the spiritual hospital (the Church) to prescribe a remedy to aid in the healing process. This is just one of many metaphors that the Fathers of the Church have used to speak of confession and reconciliation. In the charge that the priest says prior to the confession of sins we find a strong injunction about not hiding anything, "lest you depart from the Physician unhealed." Confession of sins is the rooting out of the infected wound. It is surgery that prepares the wound for the healing balm of penance and Holy Communion. This medicine of the Church comes from the same root as pharmacy (pharmakon). This medicine is given so that healing would continue to take place within the wound and not become infected again. This is how a penance is understood. It is not a punishment or an earning of forgiveness, but a prescription from the doctor for the sake of healing and restoration. Fr. John Romanides, a well-known 20th century Orthodox theologian says, "Having faith in Christ without undergoing healing in Christ is not faith at all. Here is the same contradiction that we find when a sick person who has great confidence in his doctor never carries out the treatment which he recommends."

Recovery

It is impossible to be saved on our own. It is only when we are able to admit our complete powerlessness over sin that we can be open to Christ's healing in our lives. We need the Church in order to root out this sickness. Think of how silly it would be for a surgeon to operate on himself. A Father of the Church has said, "he who sees his owns sins is a greater miracle than raising the dead." This means that it is a miracle when we are truly willing to see ourself as we really are, to see the infection, and be willing to submit to the "knife" of the Church for the sake of true healing and restoration. Fr. Alexander Schmemann said, "It is when man is challenged with the real 'contents' of the Gospel, with its divine depth and wisdom, beauty and all-embracing meaning, that he becomes 'capable of repentance,' for the true repentance is precisely the discovery by man of the abyss that separates him from God and from his real offer to man. It is when the man sees the bridal chamber adorned that he realizes he has no wedding garment for entering it." This recalls the story from Matthew 25 about the virgins who had prepared their lamps with oil for the meeting of the bridegroom and how he came at midnight to claim those who were prepared. The bridegroom is Christ and the bridal chamber is the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what we sing during Holy Week on the first three days at Bridegroom Matins, "Thy bridal chamber I see adorned, O my Savior, but I have no wedding garment that I may enter. O Giver of Light, enlighten the vesture of my soul, and save me." Let us be ever open to a vision of Christ who desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of Thy Truth. He has given us His Holy Church as a place for recovery - that intensive care unit for our sinful souls where we are given medicine to aid us in our healing.

Note: See also "Preparation for Holy Communion" by Fr. Thomas Hopko, an article from Orthodox Education Day Book October 7, 2000

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Worship Fr Christopher Foley Worship Fr Christopher Foley

How We Worship: The Struggle of the American Experience

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Christopher Foley

December 2006

Fr. George Florovsky once said that “Christianity is a liturgical religion” and because of this “worship comes first.” If worship is primary, then how we worship determines and expresses what we believe, and what we believe determines and expresses how we worship. This is summed up in the expression “the rule of faith is the rule of prayer and the rule of prayer is the rule of faith” – lex orandi lex credendi est. The Church has always understood itself as a worshiping community. We are not a “mystery cult” that does liturgical actions on behalf of itself or to remember certain events from the past. Nor is our worship simply one of many things that we do as part of our weekly activities. The word liturgy comes from the word, leitourgia, which literally means “the work of God’s people.” We come together to be what we can never be alone, the body of Christ, the Church. It is in our corporate worship that we become who we truly are - members of one another in God’s Kingdom (Ephesians 4:4,15,16). From early on in the history of the Church, this corporate worship was centered around Christ’s Body and Blood offered and distributed at the Eucharist.

We live in the United States of America at the beginning of the 21st century. We are a product of a modern secularized society that prides itself on individual rights. There are many wonderful things about being raised in America, but also many problems. As Orthodox Christians living in the West, we are faced with many complex ethical and moral dilemmas. The beauty of our Orthodox Tradition is that it has always engaged the cultures it found itself in always trying to find a way for Christ to be incarnated (contextualized) in a particular culture. This being said, how do we properly engage our culture with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? How much do we allow our culture to dictate how we worship, live, and conduct ourselves? Where should we draw the line between “relevance” and drawing people to a "higher" standard. What is the proper balance? This can be a hard road to navigate, but I think there are some specific things we can say that can aid us in contemplating this question.

There are no individuals in the Church. We are not autonomous beings who come to Church in order to get our needs met. This is an aspect of our Orthodox self- understanding that sets us apart in our American Christian culture. We are connected to one another. We worship together. We are saved together in the Church. We are members of one another in the body of Christ. Mainline Christianity in America assumes that we are selfsufficient individuals and all we need is "me, God, and the Bible." This is very different than our historical, Orthodox Christian Faith. The Church is made of persons created in the image and likeness of God that come together to be what they cannot be alone, the body of Christ, which is the one body, confessing the one Christ, celebrating the one Eucharist at the one altar, worshiping with one voice.

What does it mean to be American and Orthodox? Do we have a responsibility to communicate this Faith to an American audience? What does that look like? Yes, we need to be concerned with a uniquely American Orthodox Church that takes the best that this culture has to offer (language, architecture, music, etc.), BUT we need to be very careful to differentiate what in this culture is also at odds with our Orthodox worldview (secularism, individualism, commercialism, materialism, etc.). Our worship should first and foremost reflect this. We are not individuals who come to Church as spectators to be entertained by a talented and aesthetically-pleasing choir (even though we have one). We don't come to Church to watch a spiritual "professional" do the services for us. We don't come to Church as "non-spiritual lay people" that just sit and watch a "spiritual" play and performance. We don't come to hear a skilled orator talk for 45 minutes and give us an inspiring and talented talk. Our worship is quite the opposite. It is communal and corporate. We worship together as the "priesthood of all believers" offering up with one voice our sacrifices of praise, doxology, and thanksgiving, eucharistia. We are all concelebrants in this heavenly worship. We all are participants in this angelic worship around the Throne of God. This is precisely why we stand for worship. We come together to worship with one voice in the presence of God. Scripturally speaking, the two postures for worship are on one's face in prostration or standing with faces turned towards the great I AM with arms outstretched.

Our worship is corporate, free, and involves the whole community. Everyone, including small children, participates for the Eucharist is our family meal. In the early second century there was a document in the Church called The Shepherd of Hermas, in which the Church is compared to a tower built of stone. From far away it looks as if it is built of one large stone, but on close inspection it is made up of little jagged stones all fit together to build one tower. All perfect round stones were rejected because they would not fit together with the other jagged stones. Round stones could represent in our time rugged individualism, or people that are self-sufficient and do not need others. No tower can be built with these stones. The Church is built of persons, or jagged stones, fit together in order to build a strong tower, a beacon of light in this darkened world. The point here is that the tower is not one stone carved to look like tower, but it is many stones that constitute the one tower.

Let us be attentive enough to understand the subtle ways that our culture can influence even how we think of Church, especially our worship. The Church is to change us and provide a place where we realize our true vocation, which is a priest of creation offering the world back to God in thanksgiving, our participation in Christ. The Church is our life in Christ and should shape and inform every area of our life. We are Orthodox Christians who live in North America and uniquely experience the Orthodox Church in an American context. We are not American Orthodox. We are not hyphenated Orthodox Christians who define ourselves primarily by an ethnic identity and then try to fit our Orthodoxy into that designation. The Church has even condemned as heresy the identification of Christianity primarily in ethnic terms - phyletism. There is nothing wrong with saying "American Orthodox Church", "Greek Orthodox Church". etc., as long as one understands that this is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Orthodox Church as found in a particular geographic area (America) and incarnating itself in that area for the sake of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people from that area. Thus an American Orthodox Church should be able to bring in things appropriate from the culture in order to communicate the Gospel in a culturally appropriate way. This also means that, prophetically speaking, it would reject anything from the culture that is inappropriate in communicating the Gospel.

Let us be mindful of the subtle ways that American secularism can creep in and influence even the Church. We are to be a light to the culture, not the other way around. On the other hand, we can bless and name Truth wherever it may be found. Uniting our worship to our beliefs is of the utmost importance for what we believe influences how we worship and how we worship influences what we believe. Lord, help us and guide us.

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Giving, Stewardship, Practices Fr Christopher Foley Giving, Stewardship, Practices Fr Christopher Foley

Stewardship & The Gospel

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Christopher Foley

January 2008

This is from the homily given on 12/9/07. This is good food for thought as we prayerfully contemplate our tithes and offerings to the Church this year.

All discussion on giving to the Church must begin with the Gospel. In the Gospel we hear many passages dealing with being good stewards of the gifts that God has given us. As Christians we are to be good stewards of everything: our gifts, talents, the earth, our families, our possessions, and yes, even our finances. Christian stewardship, as everything in the life of the Church, needs to be founded on the truths of the Gospel. We tend to think of our financial contributions only in material terms. The Church needs money and we need to make the budget, and no Orthodox Christian would ever dispute the reality of the fact that the Church exists in the world and needs money to conduct its business and operating costs, however, we need to make sure that this is not the basis for a discussion on Christian stewardship and giving. Christian stewardship is not "fundraising" and should not be thought of only in utilitarian terms. The Church budget should be seen as an opportunity to edify the body of Christ, an opportunity to grow givers hearts who generously respond to the Gospel.

The theology of giving rests in these two principles from the Gospel:

  1. We are created in God's image. God reveals Himself as love and pours out His mercy upon us. He is a God who gives of Himself to us for our salvation. Then Christian stewardship is a loving response to a giving God. We offer up all of ourselves to Him in a loving response. The whole thrust of out liturgy is offering. We offer up ourselves, each other, and our entire lives unto Christ our God. "Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all and for all." The center of the Liturgy is an offering up to God, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving that is returned to us as Christ Himself in the consecrated gifts. Thus, to give is to offer up all that we have in praise and thanksgiving to God for His wonderful mercy towards us.

  2. We are subject to the law of love as Orthodox Christians. We have a need to give for the sake of others and our own salvation. Our giving benefits others. There are many places in Scripture where we see this. The Gospel is full of Christ's injunctions that we are to care for others and provide for those in need. We have a responsibility in love for our neighbor. But giving also benefits us spiritually. The Lord knows our needs and he promises to take care of us, but we need to give of what we've been given.

The Fathers often speak of the three pillars - fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. These 3 pillars are necessary for Christian growth. Christ links these three together in the sermon on the mount. One priest has commented,

This means that we give for the same reason that we pray or fast. We do not pray because God or the Church needs our prayers. We do not fast because God or the Church needs our fasting. Why then should we imagine that we give for the benefit of the Church's needs! We pray because we have a need to experience the communion with our heavenly Father that prayer provides; we fast because our development of Christians requires that foundation of discipline that fasting provides. W e also need to give because it is only through expressing our Christian love that this love can grow and mature. It is only through giving that we can cultivate the proper Christian attitude toward the world and toward that part of the world's bounty which God has entrusted to us, our material possessions.

Thus, we do not give only out of the need that the church has to "meet the budget", this would be thinking only in material terms. This leads to a "scarcity" mentality that only leads to emergency appeals and continually begging for money.

Giving is a spiritual discipline and we should give out of a need to grow spiritually. We rob ourselves of the benefit of spiritual growth by not giving. Thus, we see that giving is intimately connected to how we actualize the Gospel in our lives. It is part of our answer to the question, "Who do you say that I am?" that Christ asked His disciples. Giving to the Church is a participation in the mission of the Church which is to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." To think first of the Church's "needs" and then decide how much you want to give is backwards. We need to think first of all about the Gospel and our response to the salvation offered to us in Christ.

Christian stewardship is a loving response to a loving God. It is generosity based in response to a vision and faith. The goal of financial stewardship in the Church is not so much about "funding" as it is growing the hearts of Christians in response to the love of Christ. "Success" then should be judged on how much a Christian is maturing in His life in Christ in the Church so that their whole life becomes one all-embracing act of worship. Only growth in Christ produces true generosity.

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Worship Fr Christopher Foley Worship Fr Christopher Foley

Worship in the Church: The Sanctification of Time

Fr. Christopher Foley

October 2006

“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

2 Cor. 6:2

“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord , our maker!”

Ps. 94:1,2,6

Why do we go to Church? Why make an effort to attend the services and stand for long periods of time? Certainly there are more entertaining ways to spend a Sunday morning. What is it about our worship particularly that gives one a reason to "go to Church?"

We have been given an incredible legacy of beautiful services that celebrate the sanctification of time. Each year we journey through the cycle of the Church year in order to enter in to the reality of the events commemorated. The Greek word for symbol means just that - "to bring together." We remember these events in the present. There is a technical word in the Greek for this "remembrance" - anamnesis. This word denotes much more than recalling an event from the past, it is a remembrance that brings the event into the present. It is a participation in the event in the present. Many of the hymns for each feast and service begin with the word "Today..." This is the sanctification of the present day in order for us to participate in the reality of what we are commemorating. This is seen in our Divine Liturgy where we thank God for the "cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, and His second and glorious coming." We are "remembering" events from the past and the future at the same time. This sanctification can only happen in its fulness in the life of the Church - the gathered community with the priest around the altar upon which the Gospel, which is Christ, is present. Fr. Alexander Schmemann states, "We can only worship in time, yet it is worship that ultimately not only reveals the meaning of time, but truly 'renews' time itself. There is no worship without the participation of the body, without words and silence, light and darkness, movement and stillness - yet it is in and through worship that all these essential expressions of man in his relation to the world are given their ultimate 'term' of reference, revealed in their highest and deepest meaning." Our worship is our real participation in the future Kingdom. We begin every Divine Liturgy with the words. "Blessed is the Kingdom..." It is in and through our leitourgia, our liturgical work, that we enter into and experience this world as encounter, an encounter with Christ in the midst of "our time."

The secularism in our culture works against this idea of all of creation as epiphany. Secularism is the denial of worship. Symbols are reduced to a means of communicating relevant ideas in order to convince or sell something to someone. Symbols become mere illustrations rather than something that "makes present" a reality. There is a strong preoccupation with "relevant" worship and "relevant" churches. This has led to an implosion of worship. Worship has become so individual centered and consumer driven. One goes to Church in order to "get something out of it for myself." All of worship is to be grounded in the Incarnation of our Lord. He who became matter for our sakes, now invites us to participate in Him through matter. All of creation becomes an epiphany, a manifestation of God to us. Worship is epiphany, it is our tangible experience of the love and mercy of God. Again Fr. Schmemann says, "Being an epiphany of God, worship is thus the epiphany of the world; being communion with God, it is the only true communion with the world; being knowledge of God, it is the ultimate fulfillment of all human knowledge." This is why we place such a strong emphasis on our liturgical worship and try to do everything with a spirit of excellence. This is how our worship is "relevant." It reveals to us who God is, and we participate in Him through matter. Now the world becomes transparent, enabling us to see a glimpse of the Glory of God, rather than opaque, reduced to colorful rites and ceremonies at best, or worldly entertainment at worst.

It is vital for us to catch a vision for this, so that we may know why it is we come to Church. It is not to understand God deeper, or to feel better about ourselves. Church is not an aesthetic experience, or a psychological boost. We don't come to Church to "get" anything. We come in order to participate in the joy of the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is "made present" in our worship. "The Liturgy, we may say, is something that happens to us," says Fr. Schmemann. It is our entrance into the Kingdom, our participation in the eternal worship around God's throne in the heavens. May God help us to "see" our worship as a participation in the future kingdom surrounded by angels and archangels who unceasingly praise and glorify Him.

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Eucharist, Practices Fr Thomas Hopko Eucharist, Practices Fr Thomas Hopko

Preparation for Holy Communion

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Thomas Hopko

November 2006

An Article from Orthodox Education Day Book October 7, 2000

Committed Orthodox Christians order and measure their lives in this world from communion to communion.

We greet the Lord’s Day each week with the eager expectation of entering into holy communion with God by the action of His Holy Spirit in the Church, through Jesus Christ, God’s Son and Word, who is also the Lamb of God and the Bread of Life. Following each Lord’s Day, we live in memory of the blessed experience of holy communion, and we begin immediately to anticipate this divine gift in the next divine liturgy.

Christians live from Sunday to Sunday, and, throughout the year, from Pascha to Pascha. We also live from liturgy to liturgy, from eucharist to eucharist, from communion to communion. Our lives are measured and tested by this sacred event. All that we are and do finds its beginning and end, its meaning and fulfillment, in Gods gift of holy communion through Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Church.

Continual Preparation for Holy Communion

Committed Christians remember what God has done in history and anticipate what God is yet to do. We live in function of Christs first coming as a slave to be crucified and glorified, and His final coming at the end of the ages to establish God’s kingdom.

The Church’s eucharistic worship unites and embraces the Lords two comings, together with all of Gods mighty acts in history. It makes them present for our participation, here and now, for the forgiveness of sins, for the healing of soul and body, and for life everlasting.

Every moment of a Christian’s life is a preparation for the encounter with God which is sacramentally realized in holy communion. Every moment we are making ready to enter God’s kingdom which is coming with observation and power at the end of the ages. We live every moment in constant awareness of the Lords presence in our lives here and now, preparing us in hope for unending communion with Him in the age to come.

In this perspective, everything that we Christians think, say and do in every moment of our lives is a preparation for holy communion -- in this life in the holy eucharist, and without end in the age to come at the end of the world.

General Preparation for Holy Communion

Because we Christians living in this world are inevitably caught up in earthly activities, afflictions, trials and temptations, and because we are so easily overcome by sinful passions, God gives us ways by which we are enabled never to forget Him. He provides practices by which we can keep ourselves constantly prepared to meet Him at His coming. He offers rules of spiritual and physical discipline for us to practice so that we can remain constantly alive to His presence and power in our lives and so to be ready to receive Him when He gives Himself to us in holy communion.

The general disciplines for preparing for holy communion are the disciplines of Christian life itself. They are the practices which keep us alive to God, the actions which open our minds, hearts and bodies to the presence of God s grace and power in our lives. They basically include:

  • regular participation in the Church’s liturgical worship

  • regular practice of a rule of personal prayer

  • regular practice of a rule of ceaseless mental prayer, or "prayer of the heart," to insure our constant remembrance of God

  • regular practice of periods of silence

  • regular practice of fasting and abstinence

  • regular reading of the Bible and spiritual writings

  • regular confession of sins (and thoughts, feelings, temptations and dreams) to our pastor, or to someone whom our pastor authorizes and blesses for this purpose

  • regular giving and receiving of forgiveness of sins with all the people in our lives regular donations of money to the Church, and to those in need regular sharing of our time, energies, and possessions with others

  • constant effort to do our daily work as well as we can, to Gods glory, for the good of people, and

  • constant striving not to sin in the smallest way in the routine activities of our everyday life and personal relationships.

The words regular and constant are repeated and emphasized because our spiritual practices and activities must be done according to a rule (regula, kanona, pravilo). They must be done constantly and consistently with conscious attention and discipline. They cannot be left to whim, caprice or feeling.

What a person does in regard to liturgical worship, personal prayer, fasting, reading, contributing, working and serving will be shaped according to the conditions of his or her life. It will be different for each person according to age, strength, health, available time, and personal capabilities. The saints say that rules of prayer, reading and fasting should be brief but frequent, simple, pure, uncomplicated and keepable. They should be determined and established with spiritual advice and counsel in ways which permit them to be easily included within the real possibilities of ones actual life.

Specific Preparation for Holy Communion

In addition to the Christians general spiritual discipline, each believer must make specific devotional efforts in preparing for holy communion. These efforts will also differ from person to person. They will include a set number of specific prayers and readings, a specific practice of confession and reconciliation with others, and specific good deeds, such as almsgiving and financial contributions. They will depend on the conditions of one’s life.

A monastic person or clergyman, for example, will normally have a longer rule of specific preparation for holy communion than a lay person. A person with fewer duties will also be freer to spend more time and effort in concentrated preparation for eucharistic communion than someone who has more tasks to perform (for instance, a mother of small children).

People with disciplined spiritual lives who partake regularly and frequently of the sacraments will have less specific preparation for holy communion than those with undisciplined spiritual lives who seldom partake of the holy mysteries. The latter will surely have to make extraordinary efforts to read special prayers, keep special fasts, do special good deeds, give special contributions, and make special acts of sacramental confession when these practices are not a regular, constant and consistent part of their lives.

Prayers Before and After Holy Communion

The usual psalms and prayers for Orthodox Christians before and after partaking of holy communion are contained in Orthodox prayer books of various editions. Literate believers must decide with spiritual counsel how they will, as a rule, use these prayers of preparation and thanksgiving. When this decision is made, every effort must be made to keep one’s rule until it must be adjusted or altered, again with spiritual counsel and advice, because of the changing conditions of one’s life.

When we believers fail to keep our rules, we must find the reasons for our failures, and take appropriate action, once again with the assistance of our pastors and spiritual guides. In this way our participation in the Lords Mystical Supper will be done in a worthy manner. It will be for the forgiveness of our sins, for the healing of our souls and bodies, and for our eternal salvation, and not for our condemnation and judgment.

May the Lord convince us of our unworthiness to partake of holy communion. May He teach us that nothing we can say or do makes us worthy of this divine gift. May He convince that only the heartfelt confession of our unworthiness to partake permits us to participate in a worthy manner. And may He empower us to obey His Word and receive His Body and Blood in godly fear, with faith and love, so that we may really see the true light, find the true faith, receive the heavenly Spirit, and worship the Undivided Trinity Who has saved us through holy communion with Himself.

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Forgiveness Fr Alexis Trader Forgiveness Fr Alexis Trader

Forgiveness Requires Courage

It all begins with an idea.

Archpriest Alexis Trader

October 2017

Anyone who has experienced forgiving another human being recognizes that the act of loosening our grip and extending our hand that has recently been bitten requires courage, courage to act like Christ when our impulses drive us to act like wounded beasts. We know this on an experiential, intuitive level. Psychologists, however, have confirmed that fact in their study of forgiveness.

In his dissertation, John W. Beiter writes, “Thoresen (2001) highlighted that forgiveness was difficult, demanding and requiring courage.” Courage can be defined as a willingness and ability to face fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, hardship, death, or public disapproval. Courage is also required in order to let go of anger and the desire for revenge when one has been wronged or offended by another, to leave behind the dog-eat-dog world where we usually live, and to step into the unfamiliar terrain of the Gospel of Christ.

That forgiveness requires courage means that forgiveness is not a moral calculation or a balance on the scales of justice. Courage means we leave those calculations and balances on the side. Courage is required to forgive our brother without reflecting upon whether he deserves it. Forgiveness is, moreover, a courageous act of love that requires patience. Saint Ephraim the Syrian once said, “The life of the righteous was radiant. How did it become radiant if it wasn’t by patience? Love patience, O monk, as the mother of courage.” Patience in keeping God’s commandments provides the courage to do so in times of trial and temptation.

How is courage linked to forgiveness? In so far that it takes courage to be a Christian, in so far that it takes courage to be a person of faith, in so far that it takes courage to be obedient to the Gospel of Christ in a world that runs on the basis of other laws and criteria, it requires courage to forgive. After all, Saint Paul described the Christian as a courageous warrior of light: “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17). Is courage useful in forgiveness? In so far as it is linked to doing all to stand, meaning doing all to be bearers of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, benevolence, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:23), courage is undoubtedly most useful for those who long to forgive.

Consider for a moment, the absence of courage. In such a condition is forgiveness even possible? Saint Isaac the Syrian writes in Homily 40, “Faintness of heart is a sign of despondency, and negligence is the mother of both. A cowardly man shows that he suffers from two diseases: love of his flesh and lack of faith; for love of one’s flesh is a sign of unbelief. But he who despises the love of the flesh proves that he believes in God with his whole heart and awaits the age to come. . . A courageous heart and scorn of perils comes from one of two causes: either from hardness of heart or from great faith in God. Pride accompanies hardness of heart, but humility accompanies faith. A man cannot acquire hope in God unless he first does His will with exactness. For hope in God and manliness of heart are born of the testimony of the conscience, and by the truthful testimony of the mind we possess confidence towards God.”

Saint Isaac makes the important point that Christian courage is the courage of the humble and soft-hearted, not the courage of the proud and hard-hearted. To have a humble and soft-heart after being wounded requires more courage than the most lion-hearted soldier, a super-human courage that can only be attained and sustained through faith and hope in God. To stop nursing one’s wounds and to start turning to God are acts of courage that are also antecedents to forgiveness, turning to our neighbors and nursing their wounds. The notions of courage, faith, hope, patience and a strengthened heart are expressed most beautifully in psalm 26: “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be thou manful, and let thy heart be strengthened, and wait on the Lord.”

Since forgiveness is central to the Christian life, courage is an indispensable virtue. It is not possible to live the Christian life without the heroic courage of the righteous. Saint John Chrysostom remarks, “Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes Him bold” (St. John Chrysostom, On the Statues, VIII. 2).

The more we forgive, the more courage we gather within our heart which in turn makes it easier to forgive the next time, and the time after that, and seventy-times seven that follow. When we begin living according to a life in Christ, our world changes, we perceive those around us differently. We begin to see them as Christ sees them. Most importantly, we recognize the grace of Christ operative in our lives. We can then echo the words of Saint Paul, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phillippians 4:13) and that includes forgiving everyone, even those who have wronged us greviously.

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The Theotokos Mtk Deborah Belonick The Theotokos Mtk Deborah Belonick

Rediscovering Mary at the Mall

It all begins with an idea.

Matushka Deborah Belonick

August 2011

At the Celebration of Faith fair sponsored by our local council of churches and held at our local mall, we Orthodox were permitted the standard evangelization tools of an 8-foot table, three sample pamphlets, and some AV equipment. Food, our usual drawing card, was not allowed. As an extra visual, we displayed a large icon of the Mother of God and Child. The tender affection shown in this icon seemed to shed peace over the bustling mall scene. We were soon to find, however, that for some people the image of Mary is not peaceful, but contentious.

I made small talk with the Slovak Lutherans, Lutherans, and Episcopalians whose tables completed the square our section formed in the middle of the mall walkway. Shoppers, like sprinters off a mark, sped to their destinations. We would-be evangelists soon realized our Orthodox booth scarcely attracted a glance from these schools of busy shoppers and that we had fewer lures to hook them than other faiths. The Messianic Jews were more fascinating. The Lutherans were giving away crayons and coloring books. The Pentecostals were burning up center court with tambourines and Christian rock. Despite the no-food rules, the Islamic Society was giving away candy, and even we were absorbed by their pamphlet, “Why the Bible Says Jesus Can’t Be God.”

It was our icon of the Virgin Mary leaning toward her Child in the traditional “sweet kiss” pose that saved us from total oblivion among this buffet of beliefs. Was it just the beauty of the image, or was there something more? Why is it that Mary evokes such a strong reaction?

Certainly the image itself was powerful. Immediately recognizable, Mary’s tender face and embrace of Jesus evoked gut emotion from the crowds. Two Orthodox Christians of Egyptian and Syrian ethnic background were drawn to her familiar motherly gaze, took all three of our pamphlets, and warmed to the idea of visiting our parish. A slight, young Asian woman glanced toward the icon, locked eyes with the virgin, and stretched toward a pamphlet. Through the crowd a beefy hand grasped her back into the throng, and the voice of her companion snapped, “You don’t want that, that’s all about God.” Someone inquired how much such a hand-written icon would cost. Another woman stopped, registered a noticeably indignant toss of her bob and huffed off. Finally three young men, a trinity from the local Bible college, stopped to argue.

“You know she’s a sinner,” one of the young men challenged, as he pointed to Mary’s nose.

“If you claim to be a scholar of the Bible, tell me where it says that,” I replied.

“Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’.”

“Luke 1:48 For he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed’. Mary had our sinful human nature, but there is a great difference between having a sinful nature and personally sinning. Mary found favor with God; do you call her blessed?”

“That painting is blasphemy. You make Mary greater than God because she is larger than Jesus in that painting.”

“Sir, do you have a nativity set in your home? Is the figure of Mary larger than Jesus? Are you larger than your children?”

End of discussion. Disgruntled and unconvinced, the three went to argue elsewhere, while I pondered the tremendous mystery of Mary and her ability to elicit such a storm of reactions, not just at our local mall, but throughout Christendom.

There is a constant debate between Protestants and Catholics regarding the “size” of Mary. Catholics tend toward picturing her as Co-Redemptress, an indispensable Mediatrix and an immaculately conceived human. Protestants react to such excess honor by diminishing her to a vessel used for the Incarnation. Recently, evangelical delegates to the General Synod of the Church of England insisted that the traditional text of the Nicene Creed be changed to reflect a subordinate role for Mary. They wanted to replace the traditional phrase of the Nicene Creed, “was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,” to “was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,” asserting that Mary had a lesser part in the miracle.

We Orthodox avoid this constant false dialectic. We believe the Virgin, conceived in a manner like us, possessed a fallen human nature that was given to Jesus Christ to save. At the same time we believe that her resounding “Let it be with me according to your word” linked our human race to the divine will and inaugurated our salvation. She is the daughter of Zion, the pinnacle of Israel’s training under the law, and in her wake all nations are drawn to God. Jesus is our Savior, but she is the image of our salvation, the icon of what occurs when a human being says “Yes” to God’s grace. Without her free assent and equal action there is no connection between the divine and human.

The sweet kiss is between Mother and Son. The Son freely expresses God’s love toward humanity. The Mother freely expresses gratitude and love toward the Divine. At Christmas we proclaimed that Christ is Emmanuel, God himself with us. During this season of Theophany, let us remember that the Light dawned on us because a young woman, ever-blessed, said “Yes.” 

Taken from http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2000/01/Rediscovering-Mary-At-The-Mall.aspx?p=1#ixzz1U4yBDuwp

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Conciliarity, OCA Fr Michael Oleksa Conciliarity, OCA Fr Michael Oleksa

On Conciliarity, the Emperor and the Laity

It all begins with an idea.

By V. Rev. Michael Oleksa

April 2010

(Note: During the recent Metropolitan Council meeting Fr. Michael Oleksa, Chancellor of the Diocese of Alaska, spoke about the role of the clergy and laity in the Church. At the request of many present - hierarchs and delegates - Fr. Michael was asked to put his extemporaneous remarks in the form of a public letter to the Metropolitan so that his comments could be considered by a wider audience. Here is that letter, printed with permission of Fr. Oleksa.)

Your Beatitude! Most Blessed Master, Bless:

Your Beatitude asked me to write some thoughts and reflections on the situation of our Church, of Orthodoxy in the New World, to continue thinking about who we are and what we are doing, and perhaps where we've been and should go. I have no pretensions to being a learned theologian, still less in any way adequate to offering any "brilliant insights" or "ultimate solutions," to anything. But since Your Beatitude asked me, I am writing this morning, the day after our Metropolitan Council sessions adjourned, to offer some observations on our history and the work that lies before us as Church.

With the arrival of St. Herman and the Valaam monks at Kodiak in 1794, the holy task to which the Mission devoted itself has been to bring Orthodox Christianity to Americans in North America. Initially, the "Americans" meant the indigenous Alaskan tribes, but this was later expanded to include immigrants who came to the New World seeking a permanent home in the USA and Canada. Later still, the Mission also welcomed additional communities, both indigenous and immigrant in Mexico, into the Household of Faith. Never, not even when the majority of parishes were Slavic and Eastern, did the Metropolia lose sight of its Alaskan origins and identity (as "Nasha Missiya," as Metropolitan Leonty of blessed memory used to reflect), as a continuous mission to North America and Americans.

Following the Council of the Church in Russia at Moscow in 1917-18, where the former bishop "of the Aleutian Islands and North America," Tikhon (Bellavin) was elected Patriarch, the American Mission attempted, perhaps more intentionally than anywhere else, to implement the decisions of that council, particularly embracing the concept of "sobornost," (catholicity as conciliarity) specifically by organizing itself in a conciliar structure, with parish, diocesan and church-wide councils, a pattern instituted by St. Patriarch Tikhon before his return to Europe.

The ninth century genius of the Greek missionaries, SS. Cyril and Methodius, presented the Slavic Orthodox the opportunity to develop this concept of catholicity as conciliar, from the translation of the Symbol of Faith, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, stating that we believe in "edina, svyataya sobornaya i apolstolskaya Tserkva”--one, holy catholic-as conciliar, apostolic Church. The notion that the Faith, preached by the Apostles and delivered to the Church, is proclaimed and preached by the ordained clergy, bishops and priests, but is defended by the whole People of God, who remain responsible for it, was reaffirmed by the Eastern Patriarchs in their reply to the Pope of Rome in 1848. The whole Body, the whole People of God are the guardians of the Faith, not just the professional theologians or the hierarchy. Thus, in a certain way, the whole Orthodox Church has affirmed its commitment to catholicity as conciliar. The commitment to offering the Orthodox Faith, to opening the Orthodox Church to all peoples of North America, and to a polity of conciliarity in its governance and decision making structures at the parish, diocesan and continental levels, characterize and define the particular identity of the Orthodox Church in America.

The process by which the Metropolitan Council and its Strategic Planning subcommittee is employing to develop a church-wide consensus on the identity, condition and future development of the OCA exemplifies this continuing commitment to conciliarity. Each successive draft of the Strategic Plan has been edited, augmented, and reconsidered following hours and even days of discussion. In fact, the process by which each level of the Church becomes engaged in this task may, in the long run, prove to be more signficant and potentially transformative--healing and uniting the faithful, the parish clergy, and the hierarchy-- and fosteringa renewal of faith, of mutual trust and respect, and ultimately of love, out of which our evangelical mission flows.

What is unique to Orthodox mission? What lies at its source? Where is its "heart"? Over twenty years ago I was invited to reflect on this for an issue of the International Review of Mission, published by the World Council of Churches. I entitled the essay, "Overwhelmed by Joy," and wrote in an uncharacteristic first-personal way, of my luminous Paschal experience of love, joy, peace, during Holy Week and culminating at the glorious Bright Night of the Resurrection vigil at St. Vladimir's when I was a college student. I don't have to explain to any Orthodox Christian who has shared this encounter with the Risen Lord, for indeed there are no words. But I am certain that many of us know exactly what this experience is, though we seldom speak of it, even to each other. There are those unexpected moments when the significance of what we are remembering and celebrating simply overcomes us.

We can do nothing to instill or incite it. It is not deliberately sought or induced. But it comes: the overwhelming sense of joy, love and peace which passes, precisely, all understanding. The only sadness one can feel after such moments pass, is that there are those who have never known such encounters. And it is the inward compulsion, the burning desire to share this experience, this encounter with others that inspires and impels us to declare what our eyes have seen, our ears have heard, our hands have touched--the reality here, in this world, of the age to come, the Kingdom of God revealed and accessible, the eternal present in time, the ineffable and uncontainable with us and in us.

For us, as Orthodox, this experience is offered to us in and through the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church. We must say to the whole world, and for our mission, to all North America, "Come and see!" For this invitation to be at all successful, I believe our public worship must embody three elements. First the services must be intelligible to anyone who attends. This means the use of whatever language predominates in that location-- Unangan Aleut in the Aleutian Islands, Tlingit in Sitka and Juneau, Yup'ik Eskimo in the Yukon- Kuskokwim Delta, Slavonic for Eastern European immigrants, Greek for Greeks, Romanian for Romanians, French in Quebec, Spanish, Mayan and Aztec for the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Guatemala. And if we look back on the last half century, we realize that this is precisely what we have attempted to do. The entire liturgical heritage of the ancient Church is now available in English and daily published on our website. We cannot do mission in "unknown tongues," but we are truly "pentecostal" in the great number of languages and cultures employed in our churches across this continent.

Second, our Tradition must be explicable. We cannot expect visitors or even our own people to understand intuitively the meaning of our worship. Its foundations are ancient. Its texts are Biblical and patristic. The structure may be difficult to discern. Full participation with understanding requires more than an intelligible translation: we need to teach and preach, to explain and more, to challenge those who have ears to hear with the substance, the eternal truths of our Faith. There should never be a service, no matter how brief, without a few words of instruction. Woe to us all if we do not preach the Gospel!

Thirdly, our services must be as solemn and beautiful as possible. Beauty and Truth, in our Tradition, are intimately linked. I realize that we can be rightfully criticized for perhaps exaggerating, for over-emphasizing this dimension to the exclusion of other Christian duties, but the necessity of beauty cannot be neglected. If our goal, our mission, is to witness to the Kingdom of God which has come upon us, to testify to our encounter with the Risen Christ, iconography, architecture, music and even landscaping are essential components of our witnesss to the world. We need art, as well as words, that is "adequate to God." And if a parish, no matter how humble, celebrates its services in an intelligible language, with regular and meaningfull preaching, in an environment of artistic beauty and solemnity, it will, at least liturgically, be adequate to the mission of the Church--to offer Paschal Joy to all who enter and, with attention, participate in its worship. The rest, the encounter, the experience of the Risen and Triumphant Lord, is up to God.

In this sense, I believe Orthodox religious education must be fundamentally distinct from other Christian approaches. The goal of our church schools must be to inform and equip our children to participate meaningfully and attentively in the Liturgy and the liturgical life of the Church. For if they simply attend with some knowledge and "eager anticipation" of the coming Feast, and observe the cycles of fasting and fulfillment in joy, as their (often illiterate) ancestors did, they will know that overwhelming Joy into which we have baptized them. Simply knowing the biblical stories and commandments is not sufficient to bring a person into the Church and retain them as a committed Orthodox Christian. One "good" Pascha will.

And from this encounter, this conversion, we can anticipate an overflow of precisely that very love, joy and peace, the Presence of Christ, which will impel that person to acts of mercy, kindness charity and generosity, to the love of God and neighbor which are the natural fruits of such a conversion. Preaching "good works" without this experience may have some positive influence, but we are doing very little more than the local chapters of the the Red Cross or the Rotary Club. Christ did not command us to make improvements, to raise living standards, to lobby for political reforms, necessary though these may be. He revealed to us His Kingdom and He insists that we reveal and proclaim it. We are not here, ultimately, to transform this world into God's Kingdom: there is no biblical evidence that the world will evolve gradually to some better, higher "improved" condition and finally metamorphasize into God's Reign. In fact, Christ expresses some doubt whether or not He will even find faith on earth when He returns. We have no confidence in some evolutionary upward progression by human effort. The Kingdom will simply come as a decision and act of God. All we can do as witness to it and prepare for it. Our acts of charity and outreach, like all our evangelical efforts, are inspired and energized by Paschal Joy.

Returning to the work of the Strategic Planning committee and the final document the entire Church will produce, I might contradict somewhat what I just wrote: the final product may be of some lasting importance, depending on how the Church in North America develops. We may be unique in our commitment to clergy and laity cooperating in the administration of the Church, in our focus on conciliarity. The medieval tendency toward aristocratic and even autocratic structures had its impact on the Church which imitated, in many ways the top-down, lord to servant, social organization of their societies. In this system, the bishop sits as prince and the clergy his immediate servants, the laity as peasants with no voice or responsibility except obedience. Our recent tragic experience in Alaska with a hierarch who attempted to impose this sort of understanding as canonical and traditional there, however, indicates that conciliarity has become endemic among us, not only among Alaska Natives but across the entire Church. When a few heroic Yup'ik clergy defied specific orders from their bishop as detrimental to the well-being and salvation of their flocks, dozens and eventually hundreds of others supported them. The Holy Synod was initially reluctant to intervene, but the whole church, clergy and laity, rose to their defense. Confusion, hesitation and even betrayal of our own highest ideals did not prevent the whole People of God from expressing their love, their commitment, their dedication to precisely the identity of the Orthodox Church in America as essentially conciliar and missionary. Alaska represents the missionary foundation of the Church in North America, and in defense of its fundamental missionary identity, affirming its conciliar nature, priests and laity and ultimate the entire hierarchy eventually spoke "with one heart and one mind."

Much has been said about the internet and its use in Church life. Some consider this technology inherently evil, others see it as a great blessing. The internet is a human tool. It can certainly be used diabolically. The power of words of language, can be powerful and poisonous. But like any human tool, any invention or technology, it can also be put to positive and effective use. Like a knife or ax, the internet is neutral-- neither good nor evil in itself. It's goodness or wickedness are not in the object itself, but in the use to which human beings will put it. And we should note, with gratitude, that the instant communication that emails permit, the proper use of the internet, saved Alaska.

When our final Strategic Plan document is adopted, I hope it will be a milestone for us and for Orthodoxy in the New World. I expect it to be an historic statement that, for however long it survives, whether that be five years or five thousand, there is in America a fully canonical and historical Orthodox Church, a community that has sought to adapt Orthodoxy to the new conditions and to face the challenges of modern life, structuring itself in a conciliar fashion to bring Orthodoxy to America, for Americans. Whether this vision, by the Grace of God, spreads and inspires other Orthodox communities in this hemisphere or the other, whether it endures or disappears temporarily, I have no doubt that, if this is the work, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, our continuously evolving Strategic Plan, will have lasting meaning and significance for Orthodox Christians yet unborn. That is my hope and prayer.

Ancient Byzantium's flag, adopted by other Orthodox nations and incorporated into the flag that flew over Alaska for 127 years, depicted a double-headed eagle, representing the two dimensions our Greek Orthodox forebearers understood as complimentary and necessary to the proper governance and wellbeing of society, Church and State. In that era, of course, the State was but one person, the Emperor or Tsar. The Church was represented by its Patriarch, and the ideal of harmony, the "symphonia" between him and the secular ruler was envisioned as the ideal balance of responsibility and authority in the Empire. There were, of course, situations in which the Emperors sought to impose their will, even their theology on the Church, particularly during the iconoclastic controversy. In Russia, there was a time when the Patriarch dominated secular as well as religious life. There were frequent conflicts between the two "heads," but the symphony they were intended to produce remained the ideal.

Some observers have noted that there is very little in the canonical tradition of the Church to justify the participation of laity or even parish clergy in the administrative governance of the Church. I would note however, that the Church historically and even canonically, recognized a role for the Emperor, precisely in the administrative life of the Church and even accorded him certain liturgical prerogatives. The Church depended on the Emperor to grant it land, to recognize its moral and canonical decisions as legal and binding, to support many of its monasteries, even to build and maintain its temples and chapels. Other wealthy benefactors, princes and even "business men" erected and funded churches in the days of these empires, and no one considered this inappropriate or abnormal.

Part of the process of adaptation to the new circumstances of life without an empire, without an emperor requires the Church to find another benefactor, a replacement for the role fulfilled by the Imperial government in its affairs. And who serves that function in a democracy. If in an autocracy an autocrat did, then in a democracy, the demos must. The place of the Emperor has been taken by O Laos tou Theou, the People of God.

I realize this concept requires deeper theological and canonical reflection and elaboration, but I would submit that as the Church, changing only to remain the same, as Father Alexander Schmemann so often declared, adapts to the new conditions in a new society, she needs to recognize that without an Emperor to support and defend her, must rely on the Laos collectively to fulfill the necessary role of the Tsars. The bishops of the old world were not educated in law, engineer and architecture, finance and accounting, medicine, education, mathemetics, biology, or physics. They relied on the expertise the government and court could provide. Today these areas of expertise are the offering the laity bring to the Church. While understanding and accepting, welcoming and rejoicing in the hierarchial leadership of the bishops as archpastors and teachers, the guardians and embodiment of the Orthodox Tradition, the laity also have their responsibilities and functions within the Body, just as St. Paul wrote so many centuries ago. As the Strategic Plan develops therefore, we expect that these basic principles will not only be further defined and articulated but exemplified by the very process we seek to follow in our discussions.

And to be conciliar is not simply to decide by majority vote, as "Roberts Rules of Order" suppose. In this respect, we need to consider whether this format is altogether appropriate for our purposes. I have no problem with the "order" it imposes, the need for speakers to be recognized by the Chair, for motions to be filed and for voting to occur. But if we are committed to conciliarity, the Rules will need to be adjusted first to insist, not just permit, that everyone be given an opportunity to contribute to the discussion. This requires the Chair to call upon all those who have not spoken to speak before any vote has been taken. This seems to me to be a simple but necessary adjustment. And the opportunity to reconsider a decision should be more easily and widely offered. A narrow majority is not consensus. If, because some participants are more vocal or simply more agile or successful in securing the Chair's attention, they dominate the conversation, it is incumbent on the Chair to allow those who move less quickly or who speak more softly, an equal opportunity to express their views. In particular, women should not be deprived of their voice because the men are speaking faster or louder, not deliberately or consciously of course, but simply because different cultures and even genders within cultures have different patterns of speaking, especially in public. In a multi-cultural and international Body, these variations must be taken respectfully into account.

Well, Your Beatitude, those are my immediate thoughts and reflections as we conclude this extraordinary week. I think we should all rejoice in each other, delighting in the gifts God has given each member of the Holy Synod and to each member of our Council. They listened with respect and patience to each other this week, appreciating that everyone present sincerely loves God, loves Jesus Christ, loves His Church. If we can enlarge this circle now to include more clergy and laity, in the parishes and dioceses of North America, if we can bring the quetions and challenges we face before the entire People of God, and with the same respect and love hear their voice, our Church will heal and regain her strength, her voice. And then we will, in whatever canonical governing structure, have the renewed commitment to our mission, bringing the Joy of Pascha, the Reality of the Kingdom of God and His Righteous, to the people of this continent which we also deeply love.

In Christ,

the unworthy archpriest

Michael Oleksa

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The Cross Fr Christopher Foley The Cross Fr Christopher Foley

“O Most Strange Wonder”

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Christopher Foley

September 2006

O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance.
Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians
over their adversaries, and by virtue of Thy Cross,
preserve Thy habitation.

(Troparion Tone 1)

This is the first line from one of the stanzas of the Praises sung at Vigil of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This sums up the totality of the message of the cross. It is the convergence of many things. Over the centuries the Cross has been the center of our Christian faith, and, unfortunately has also been sorely misunderstood by some. What is this Cross that we sing hymns to on this blessed feast? What is this Cross that St. Paul preaches and says is the power of God? Why would the Church commemorate the finding of this Cross by Sts. Constantine and Helen and sing hymns to a device of torture, an inanimate object?

What the Cross Is Not

What does it mean when we pray for the Lord to "grant victories to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries?" There has been a tendency in modern times to disregard any allusions to the cross having to do with smashing enemies. Unfortunately, if we take all of these out of our hymnody and worship we miss an important element of the cross - the cross of our Lord has the power to crush sin, death, and the Devil. This is what we mean when we sing hymns about destroying our enemies by the cross. Everything is to be understood in a Christo-centric way. When we think of the Psalms of David, we can also apply this same way of reading. Though David may have been writing about real experiences of enemies trying to hunt him down and where he prays for deliverance from those enemies, we now read them in the Church as God delivering us from our enemies that wage war against our souls and bodies - the passions - pride, lust, greed, and all manner of evil. This is what we mean when we pray for deliverance over our adversaries and the preservation of our life, or habitation.

Nor is the cross some sort of talisman or good luck charm that we use as some sort of magic to bring us blessings, wealth, deliverance, or power. The cross is always tied to a personal encounter with the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord, as well as our co-crucifixion with Him. As St. Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ, . It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). Christ Himself says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mk. 8:34). There is no Christianity without the cross, and no cross without voluntary suffering. Christ bids us to come and die: die to our sins and be killed, or co-crucified, with Him. It is here that we participate in His death and are resurrected to true life in Him. It is through our baptism that we die to our sins and are raised to newness of life. This is actualized in our real life on this earth in the Church. The power of the cross lies in the revelation of the God-man, Christ, suffering and transforming this into life. Death has lost its power.

What the Cross Is 

The cross of our Lord is so central to our salvation. It is on this tree of shame that the God-man willingly and voluntarily went to His passion and death for our sakes. He reversed everything that mankind had messed up. It is the reversal of the sin of Adam. We continue in this sin because we choose to miss the mark of the image and likeness of God every day. When Adam partook of the fruit of the tree, man died. The wood of the cross is often compared to the tree in the garden of Eden. "The tree has been healed by the Tree." Now in Christ, the heavenly fruit who hung on another Tree, has made it possible our salvation. This is seen in the hymns from this feast:

O most strange wonder!
The cross which carried the most high as a
cluster of grapes full of life
is seen today exalted high above the earth.
Through the cross we are all drawn to God
and death has been forever swallowed up.
O undefiled wood, through thee we enjoy the
immortal fruit of Eden as we glorify Christ.

The cross is always linked to Christ, the one who triumphed over death and weakness in order to save the world. It is here that God is revealed in His glory. In icons of the crucifixion the plaque above Christ reads: the King of Glory. We hymn, glorify, praise, and venerate the cross at this feast for what was accomplished and revealed on this life-bearing wood. We pronounce with boldness the Gospel - through death, resurrection - through suffering, life. This is
the preaching of the Holy Apostles that has been preserved through the Holy Spirit in the life and worship of the Church. We actualize this in our own lives.

Thanks be to God who has deemed to save us and reveal Himself to us! "But now the cross is exalted! Today the power is realized in us” (from Litya Stichera at Vespers)!

Various quotes to dwell on with this feast:

"For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God!" I Corinthians 1:18 

"But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." I Corinthians 1:23,24

"When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM." John 8:28

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." John 3:14,15

"And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly." Mark 8:31, 32a

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before it shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth... Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Isaiah 53:7,10

"O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Luke 24:25-27

"Thus if you wish to see the mystery of the Lord look at Abel who is likewise slain, at Isaac who is likewise tied up, at Joseph who is likewise traded, at Moses who is likewise exposed, at David who is likewise hunted down, at the prophets who likewise suffer for the sake of Christ." St. Melito of Sardis

"St. Gregory of Nyssa argued that the Passion of Christ is not 'evidence of his weakness,' but evidence of 'the surpassing act of power, by which this was possible,' so that 'it is necessary to honor the God revealed through the Cross just as the Father is honored.' So far is the Passion from being a mark of weakness, for St. Gregory, that 'the God revealed through the Cross' is not only honored, but honored equally with the Father." Fr. John Behr.

Titles for the Cross from the Hymns of the Feast:

  • banner of godliness

  • gate of paradise

  • protection of the faithful

  • might of the Church

  • enemy of demons

  • invincible weapon of peace

  • sign of true joy

  • help and strength of the faithful

  • power of the righteous

  • majesty of priests

  • shepherd's rod

  • guide to the blind

  • physician of the sick

  • resurrection of the dead

  • hope of Christians

  • guide to the lost

  • haven of the bestormed

  • confirmation of the universe

  • guardian of the whole earth

  • beauty of the Church

  • strength of kings

  • support of the faithful

  • glory of angels

  • wonder of demons

  • life-giving tree

  • strange wonder

  • undefiled wood

  • Divine ladder

  • life-creating wood

  • redemption of Adam

  • confirmation of sufferers

  • glory of the faithful

  • protection of the righteous

  • salvation of all the saints

  • Divine footstool

  • blessed tree

  • healing tree

  • driver away of demons

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Fasting Fr Christopher Foley Fasting Fr Christopher Foley

On Fasting

It all begins with an idea.

Fr. Christopher Foley

August 2006

Since we are currently in one of the four fasting periods of the Church year questions always arise about what is the proper approach to fasting as well as what is the actual prescribed fast. According to the Holy Canons of the Church, the Dormition fast calls for an ascetic fast which means no meat or meat products, fish, dairy products, wine, oil, or oil products. Wine and oil are permitted on Saturday and Sunday and fish, wine, and oil are permitted on Transfiguration. While this is the strict definition of the fast each one must prayerfully take into consideration their health, family concerns and spiritual considerations when approaching any fast. One should ask his or her Father Confessor when undertaking any fast. The main point to remember is the fast is not an end in itself, but a means towards an end which is continual abiding in Christ. 

We fast for a number of reasons, one of which is so we can learn to eat properly. This may sound strange, but we fast from food in order to learn how to feast properly. We learn to be thankful to God for every good thing including our food. It is through food that Adam fell, and we all continue in this sin of Adam by seeing food as an end in itself. The root of all sin lies primarily in our appetites. We spend most of our time living "by bread alone." Food, and all of creation was meant for a means of communion with God, but we mistakenly see it as an end in itself, thereby making it out to be a god. Christ was also tempted by food in the wilderness and he refused to believe the lie that man lives by bread alone. Fasting restores our spiritual nature that has been corrupted by sin. Sin has mutilated and disfigured the image and likeness of God in man so much that when we feed our appetites as ends in themselves we have the impression of being alive, when in fact we are dead in sin.

Fasting helps to restore that image and likeness. We begin to see life as it truly is - in Christ. There is a tendency to either explain away the fast and reduce it to "giving something up", or to reduce it to a set of dietary laws that we follow in order to earn God's favor. According to Fr. Alexander Schmemann:

Fasting is our entrance and participation in that experience of Christ Himself by which He liberates us from total dependence on food, matter, and the world. By no means is our liberation a full one. Living in the fallen world, in the world of the Old Adam, being part of it, we still depend on food. But just as our death-through which we still must pass-has become by virtue of Christ's death a passage into life, the food we eat and the life it sustains can be life in God and for God. Part of our food has already become "food of immortality"- the body and blood of Christ Himself. But even the daily bread we receive from God can be in this life and in this world that which strengthens us, our communion with God, rather than which separates us from God. Yet it is only fasting that can perform that transformation, giving us the existential proof that our dependence on food and matter is not total, not absolute, that united to prayer, grace, and adoration, it can itself be spiritual.

God grant us the strength to fast and grant us the transfigured vision of life as communion with the one thing needful - which is Christ Himself.

St. John Chrysostom on Fasting:

Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works.

If you see a poor man, take pity on him. 

If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. 

Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all members of our bodies.

Let the hands fast, by being free from avarice.

Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.

Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.

Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil and gossip.

Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.

For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?

May He who came to the world to save sinners strengthen us to complete the fast with humility, have mercy on us and save us.

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