Sanctity is the reality of communion with the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the whole question of the Church comes down to its sanctity, its being filled with the Holy Spirit, the individuals of whom the Church consists, being filled with the Holy Spirit. (Sergei Fudel, At the Walls of the Church)
The Feast of Pentecost draws together many of the most important themes of scripture and also of our own spiritual life. On the one hand, it shows the Mystery of the Church as the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation. On the other it grounds our life - the lives of believers - in the reception of - and the striving for - the acquisition of - the Holy Spirit and our conscious entry into the world of Divine Grace.
Old Testament prophecies strain towards their fulfillment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Lord promises to speak to his people (Isaiah 28:11) by means of strange men - disciples, now apostles - and in new, stammering tongues. Stammering? Perhaps flickering, like flame? Stammering - such that observers thought the apostles drunk? In the rushing mighty wind we remember the movement of the Spirit of God upon the waters, the breath of God in the creation of Adam, the east wind that divided the Red Sea so that God's people could pass over 'dry-shod'. That the house into which the Pentecostal energy erupts is 'filled with the Spirit' - this reminds us of the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, filled with the Glory, the Divine Presence or Shekinah, of which the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel also speak. The flames of fire sitting on the heads of the apostles remind us of the fire maintained in the Tabernacle and Temple (Exodus 40:38; 2 Chronicles 7:3). The Pentecostal flames signify the fulfillment of the prophecies of the restoration of Solomon's Temple: here in the gathering of the disciples is to be found the new, true and spiritual Temple, the Presence of God. The new assembly of the People of God is the Church. Keeping with this temple theme, with the disciples turned apostles is the spiritual fulfillment of the inner meaning of the Ark - the heart of the Temple - in the person of the Mother of God, the Mother of the new and living Covenant, before whom the Forerunner leaped and danced in his mother's womb, like David before Ark (Luke 1:41; cf. 2 Samuel 6:14,16).
Remember those 'dry bones' on Holy Friday evening? That reading anticipates the Resurrection, Pascha, but it also anticipates Pentecost. The Lord's promise to give a new heart and a new spirit to His people (Ezekiel 36, 37) is realized in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew feast of the giving of the Law, the establishment of the old covenant, is fulfilled in the new Pentecost, for the Spirit poured out writes the law on the heart and makes the new, renewed, covenant an inner, personal reality, as Jeremiah foretold: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31:33). Moses had sighed: Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them (Numbers 11:29). We were as dry bones, abandoned in the grave, but in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are clothed in a new humanity, made alive by Grace, raised up, gathered, sanctified.
We sing at Pentecost: ... now harmony is restored... The gathering in Jerusalem at Pentecost of pilgrims arriving from many nations, speaking many different languages, is the reversal of the destruction of Babel (Genesis 11: 1 - 9). There, in that story, mutually unintelligible tongues and the fragmentation and dispersal of the people were the result of and punishment for overweening arrogance. The coming of the Spirit undoes the confusion, enabling the word of God to be spread to the ends of the earth, creating a new unity, a harmony, among all peoples tuned into the Gospel.
Do we seek the grace of the Holy Spirit? Do we desire to learn, to be illumined, to be filled with the Spirit, to open ourselves to holiness? To have Christ formed in us? To live, not as dry bones - and they were very dry - but with hearts alive to God? On the feast of Pentecost we begin to pray the great prayer for the Holy Spirit which we had laid aside for the Paschal season, while the Bridegroom was still with us. We pray: O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth; who art everywhere and fillest all things; Treasury of blessings, and giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One. From the texts for the feast we can also pray, as Fudel notes: O Comforter, having washed away the defilement of my mind, in that Thou art good, show me forth as full of Thy holiness (Canon to the Holy Spirit, Tone 1. Ode 1, Troparion 2); O Holy Spirit...grant holiness unto all who believe on Thee (Ode 8, Troparion 1); Come Thou unto us, O Holy Spirit, causing us to partake of Thy holiness, of never-waning light, divine life and most fragrant effusion; for Thou art a River of divinity proceeding from the Father through the Son (Ode 6, Troparion 2).
Come, O Holy Spirit!
Fr Andrew
Monday, May 28, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
our weakness, a gift
8. “I am nothing. Forgive me,” said ________________.
Said Job, of course, who would have said anything at that point. Apparently it all worked out well for him. He got a new house, new kids, patched things up with the wife. His boils healed and he lived 140 more years. What I think is, he just could not hold on to a sadness that size. That is the one gift we have against all this trouble: our weakness. Things go wrong, people are dopes, your body is fragile, the ones you love can’t help, even your children are crushed in the unfeeling vise of time. But if you don’t kill yourself or become a hopeless addict or die some other way, you go on and more things happen. Eventually, some of them are good things. Ask the Jews. Ask anyone. Someday, when we are 140 years old, I will ask my friend Ellen.
- from Marion Winik, 'The Story of Job: A Readers’ Quiz'
http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/the-story-of-job-a-readers-quiz/
Said Job, of course, who would have said anything at that point. Apparently it all worked out well for him. He got a new house, new kids, patched things up with the wife. His boils healed and he lived 140 more years. What I think is, he just could not hold on to a sadness that size. That is the one gift we have against all this trouble: our weakness. Things go wrong, people are dopes, your body is fragile, the ones you love can’t help, even your children are crushed in the unfeeling vise of time. But if you don’t kill yourself or become a hopeless addict or die some other way, you go on and more things happen. Eventually, some of them are good things. Ask the Jews. Ask anyone. Someday, when we are 140 years old, I will ask my friend Ellen.
- from Marion Winik, 'The Story of Job: A Readers’ Quiz'
http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/the-story-of-job-a-readers-quiz/
Friday, May 25, 2012
true simplicity; creating a whole
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/1b87a53e-9ef7-11e1-a767-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1vgspQ2rd
..... One problem is that there is an ambiguity in the very notion of a simple life. There is the zealous desire for a life reduced to the bare minimum that leads to an austere minimalism. But there is also the more modest ideal of a life stripped of excess, which only requires avoiding the superfluous.
The medieval scholastic friar William of Ockham provides another way of becoming clearer about simplicity with the help of his metaphysical razor. Often glossed as the principle that simpler explanations are preferable to more complicated ones, it is more accurately described as the injunction not to multiply entities beyond necessity – an apt message for a consumerist society if ever I’ve heard one.
.... true simplicity in life is not necessarily a matter of having or doing less, but creating a whole in which the different elements do not jar and scrape against each other.
- Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini, 'Is a simpler life a better life?'
..... One problem is that there is an ambiguity in the very notion of a simple life. There is the zealous desire for a life reduced to the bare minimum that leads to an austere minimalism. But there is also the more modest ideal of a life stripped of excess, which only requires avoiding the superfluous.
The medieval scholastic friar William of Ockham provides another way of becoming clearer about simplicity with the help of his metaphysical razor. Often glossed as the principle that simpler explanations are preferable to more complicated ones, it is more accurately described as the injunction not to multiply entities beyond necessity – an apt message for a consumerist society if ever I’ve heard one.
.... true simplicity in life is not necessarily a matter of having or doing less, but creating a whole in which the different elements do not jar and scrape against each other.
- Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini, 'Is a simpler life a better life?'
Many are desires turned to dust
Should we live on, we shall patch up
The garment torn from separation
Should we not, accept our apology
Many are desires turned to dust.
- Mehdi Akhavan Saless
The garment torn from separation
Should we not, accept our apology
Many are desires turned to dust.
- Mehdi Akhavan Saless
Thursday, May 24, 2012
*That* Miracle takes place in the Liturgy
Divine life on earth begins to celebrate its
victory with Pentecost, but that victory is a hidden one, a victory to
be revealed beyond the bounds of history. And to participate in that
victory, one must create courageous warriors within the confines of
history. Christianity is a battle, all the more terrifying in the
fact that, according to the Apostle, it "is not against flesh and
blood," i.e. not against people and governments, but against
invisible, dark, mystical forces. While still here on earth,
specifically here on earth, the Christian must enter the invisible
world of Divine life; otherwise he is impotent before the world of
invisible evil. He must recognize not only the full breadth, but also
the full depth of Christianity, for only that will give him "the full
armor of light" against the full armor of darkness. It is the Liturgy,
Holy Communion, that best leads us into the Mystery of Christianity,
into its Mystical Supper. St. Cyprian of Carthage, a 3rd Century
bishop and martyr, wrote that it is impossible to leave undefended and
without weapons those who we send into battle; they must be surrounded
by the protection of the Body and Blood of Christ... they must be
armed by being frankly filled to satiation with Divinity." (St.
Cyprian of Carthage. To Cornelius. Works. Kiev, 1891 Book 1, pp.
283-284). We are not directed to seek after miracles. To the
contrary: "This evil and adulterous generation seeks after signs."
This attraction to wonders [is condemned] both in religious literature
and in life. We are directed to seek not after wonders, but the
Miracle, the greatest Miracle in human experience: partaking of life
by partaking of the Divine Body. That Miracle takes place in the
Liturgy.
- Sergei Fudel
victory with Pentecost, but that victory is a hidden one, a victory to
be revealed beyond the bounds of history. And to participate in that
victory, one must create courageous warriors within the confines of
history. Christianity is a battle, all the more terrifying in the
fact that, according to the Apostle, it "is not against flesh and
blood," i.e. not against people and governments, but against
invisible, dark, mystical forces. While still here on earth,
specifically here on earth, the Christian must enter the invisible
world of Divine life; otherwise he is impotent before the world of
invisible evil. He must recognize not only the full breadth, but also
the full depth of Christianity, for only that will give him "the full
armor of light" against the full armor of darkness. It is the Liturgy,
Holy Communion, that best leads us into the Mystery of Christianity,
into its Mystical Supper. St. Cyprian of Carthage, a 3rd Century
bishop and martyr, wrote that it is impossible to leave undefended and
without weapons those who we send into battle; they must be surrounded
by the protection of the Body and Blood of Christ... they must be
armed by being frankly filled to satiation with Divinity." (St.
Cyprian of Carthage. To Cornelius. Works. Kiev, 1891 Book 1, pp.
283-284). We are not directed to seek after miracles. To the
contrary: "This evil and adulterous generation seeks after signs."
This attraction to wonders [is condemned] both in religious literature
and in life. We are directed to seek not after wonders, but the
Miracle, the greatest Miracle in human experience: partaking of life
by partaking of the Divine Body. That Miracle takes place in the
Liturgy.
- Sergei Fudel
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Anscombe: Twenty Opinions Common Among Modern Anglo-American Philosophers
Twenty Opinions Common Among Modern Anglo-American Philosophers
Analytical philosophy is more characterised by styles of argument and investigation than by doctrinal content. It is thus possible for people of widely different beliefs to be practitioners of this sort of philosophy. It ought not to surprise anyone that a seriously believing Catholic Christian should also be an analytical philosopher.
However, there are a number of opinions which are inimical to Christianity which are very often found implicitly or explicitly among analytic philosophers. A seriously believing Christian ought not, in my opinion, to hold any of them. Some analytic philosophers who have no Christian or theistic belief do not hold any of them or hold very few of them. But it is so frequent for at least some set of them to be found in the mind of an analytic philosopher, that it is worthwhile to give as complete a list of them as I can. This may be useful as suggesting warnings to some who have not always realised that certain views are inimical to the Christian religion. It may also be helpful to have these opinions collected together so that they can be surveyed together.
1 . A dead man — a human corpse - is a man, not an ex—man. This opinion rejects the understanding of being alive as what existing is for living things.
2. A human being comes to be a person through development of the characteristics which make something into a person. A human being in decay may also cease to be a person without ceasing to be a human being. In short: being a person is something that gets added to a human being who developes properly, and that may disappear in old age or imbecility. The concept of a person becomes an instrument in propaganda for murder. Persons must be respected; not so human beings who are not yet or are no longer persons.
3. We aren't (mere) members of a biological species, but selves. The nature of ‘the self‘ is an important philosophical topic. The notion of a 'self' hangs together with that of a person. Every person is a self . These opinions are assisted by (4) :
4. There is no such thing as a natural kind with an essence which is human nature. This opinion is an effect partly of the philosophy of John Locke and partly of confused thoughts about evolution and a theory of natural selection which is accepted as explaining evolution. Note here that 'biological' has become a despised term. We hear of the ‘merely biological‘ fact of someone‘ s being alive. (And among unfaithful Catholics we hear that the 'biological' virginity of Mary is of no importance for faith. )
5. Ethics is formally independent of the facts of human life and, for example, human physiology. This shews the influence of Kant. There is a touch of this in (6) too:
6 . Ethics is ‘autonomous ' and is to be derived, if from anything, from rationality. Ethical considerations will be the same for any rational being. The strongest note this strikes is: "Who is lord over us? Our lips are our own."
7. Imaginary cases, which are not physical possibilities for human beings, are of value in considering moral obligation. Thus it may be imagined that a woman gives birth to a puppy or that 'people—seeds' float about in the air and may settle and grow on our carpets; this will have a bearing on the rightness of abortion. (7) together with (5) has a parallel in thought about God. No matter of fact about the world implies or follows from anything theological.
8. There are no absolute moral prohibitions which are always in force. This is connected with consequentialism. For you can always imagine circumstances in which actions that Christians know are forbidden seem to be for the best.
9. The study of virtues and vices is not part of ethics. This connects with (5) and the exclusive study of terms like 'right' , ‘wrong’ , 'ought' etc. The student learns to look back and forth between imaginary situations and those terms without intermediate ones such as 'brave', ‘dishonest’ etc.
10. Calling something a virtue or vice is only indicating approval or disapproval of the behaviour that exemplifies it. The behaviour is a fact, the approval or disapproval is evaluation. Evaluations or ‘value judgments‘ are not as such true or false.
11 . It is a mistake to think that 'ought' has properly a personal subject, as in "X ought to visit Y". It properly governs whole statements, as in "It ought to be the case that X is visiting Y". - This is strongly connected with the impersonal conception of moral obligation as related to bringing about the
best state of affairs.
12 . If there is practical reasoning of a moral kind, it must always end in a statement of the necessity of doing such-and—such. So there is no such thing as saying that one thing (e.g. marriage) is good and another (e.g. consecrated virginity) better. — It is noticeable that analytic philosophers often find the notion of mercy incomprehensible and that of desert nearly so.
1 3 . It is necessary, if we are moral agents, always to act for the best consequences.
14 . There is never any morally significant distinction between act and omission as such. This is shewn by producing an example where that difference does not make any difference to the badness of an action.
15. Causation = necessitation, and is universal: so determinism is true. A consequence of this is (16):
16. Either there is no such thing as freedom of the human will, or it is compatible with determinism. (15) and (16) connect with the desire to have complete naturalistic explanations of everything in the world. This naturally leads to (17):
17. Past and future are symmetrical . There is no sense in which the past is determined and the future is not determined.
18 . A theist believes that God must create the best of all possible worlds. This belief about what any theist believes is a great piece of ignorance and a great curiosity.
19 . God, if there is any God, is mutable, subject to passions, sometimes disappointed, must be supposed to make the best decisions he can on the basis of the evidence on which he forms his opinions.
20. The laws of nature, if only they can be found out, afford complete explanations of everything that happens. (20) expresses a belief in the truth of what (15) , (16) and (1 7) manifest a desire for. I put it after (1 8) and (19) because God is not thought of, in the new anthropomorphism, as not subject to the ultimately ruling laws of nature.
In saying these opinions are inimical to the Christian religion, I am not implying that they can only be judged false on that ground. Each of them is a philosophical error and can be argued to be such on purely philosophical grounds.
G E M Anscombe
Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge
Analytical philosophy is more characterised by styles of argument and investigation than by doctrinal content. It is thus possible for people of widely different beliefs to be practitioners of this sort of philosophy. It ought not to surprise anyone that a seriously believing Catholic Christian should also be an analytical philosopher.
However, there are a number of opinions which are inimical to Christianity which are very often found implicitly or explicitly among analytic philosophers. A seriously believing Christian ought not, in my opinion, to hold any of them. Some analytic philosophers who have no Christian or theistic belief do not hold any of them or hold very few of them. But it is so frequent for at least some set of them to be found in the mind of an analytic philosopher, that it is worthwhile to give as complete a list of them as I can. This may be useful as suggesting warnings to some who have not always realised that certain views are inimical to the Christian religion. It may also be helpful to have these opinions collected together so that they can be surveyed together.
1 . A dead man — a human corpse - is a man, not an ex—man. This opinion rejects the understanding of being alive as what existing is for living things.
2. A human being comes to be a person through development of the characteristics which make something into a person. A human being in decay may also cease to be a person without ceasing to be a human being. In short: being a person is something that gets added to a human being who developes properly, and that may disappear in old age or imbecility. The concept of a person becomes an instrument in propaganda for murder. Persons must be respected; not so human beings who are not yet or are no longer persons.
3. We aren't (mere) members of a biological species, but selves. The nature of ‘the self‘ is an important philosophical topic. The notion of a 'self' hangs together with that of a person. Every person is a self . These opinions are assisted by (4) :
4. There is no such thing as a natural kind with an essence which is human nature. This opinion is an effect partly of the philosophy of John Locke and partly of confused thoughts about evolution and a theory of natural selection which is accepted as explaining evolution. Note here that 'biological' has become a despised term. We hear of the ‘merely biological‘ fact of someone‘ s being alive. (And among unfaithful Catholics we hear that the 'biological' virginity of Mary is of no importance for faith. )
5. Ethics is formally independent of the facts of human life and, for example, human physiology. This shews the influence of Kant. There is a touch of this in (6) too:
6 . Ethics is ‘autonomous ' and is to be derived, if from anything, from rationality. Ethical considerations will be the same for any rational being. The strongest note this strikes is: "Who is lord over us? Our lips are our own."
7. Imaginary cases, which are not physical possibilities for human beings, are of value in considering moral obligation. Thus it may be imagined that a woman gives birth to a puppy or that 'people—seeds' float about in the air and may settle and grow on our carpets; this will have a bearing on the rightness of abortion. (7) together with (5) has a parallel in thought about God. No matter of fact about the world implies or follows from anything theological.
8. There are no absolute moral prohibitions which are always in force. This is connected with consequentialism. For you can always imagine circumstances in which actions that Christians know are forbidden seem to be for the best.
9. The study of virtues and vices is not part of ethics. This connects with (5) and the exclusive study of terms like 'right' , ‘wrong’ , 'ought' etc. The student learns to look back and forth between imaginary situations and those terms without intermediate ones such as 'brave', ‘dishonest’ etc.
10. Calling something a virtue or vice is only indicating approval or disapproval of the behaviour that exemplifies it. The behaviour is a fact, the approval or disapproval is evaluation. Evaluations or ‘value judgments‘ are not as such true or false.
11 . It is a mistake to think that 'ought' has properly a personal subject, as in "X ought to visit Y". It properly governs whole statements, as in "It ought to be the case that X is visiting Y". - This is strongly connected with the impersonal conception of moral obligation as related to bringing about the
best state of affairs.
12 . If there is practical reasoning of a moral kind, it must always end in a statement of the necessity of doing such-and—such. So there is no such thing as saying that one thing (e.g. marriage) is good and another (e.g. consecrated virginity) better. — It is noticeable that analytic philosophers often find the notion of mercy incomprehensible and that of desert nearly so.
1 3 . It is necessary, if we are moral agents, always to act for the best consequences.
14 . There is never any morally significant distinction between act and omission as such. This is shewn by producing an example where that difference does not make any difference to the badness of an action.
15. Causation = necessitation, and is universal: so determinism is true. A consequence of this is (16):
16. Either there is no such thing as freedom of the human will, or it is compatible with determinism. (15) and (16) connect with the desire to have complete naturalistic explanations of everything in the world. This naturally leads to (17):
17. Past and future are symmetrical . There is no sense in which the past is determined and the future is not determined.
18 . A theist believes that God must create the best of all possible worlds. This belief about what any theist believes is a great piece of ignorance and a great curiosity.
19 . God, if there is any God, is mutable, subject to passions, sometimes disappointed, must be supposed to make the best decisions he can on the basis of the evidence on which he forms his opinions.
20. The laws of nature, if only they can be found out, afford complete explanations of everything that happens. (20) expresses a belief in the truth of what (15) , (16) and (1 7) manifest a desire for. I put it after (1 8) and (19) because God is not thought of, in the new anthropomorphism, as not subject to the ultimately ruling laws of nature.
In saying these opinions are inimical to the Christian religion, I am not implying that they can only be judged false on that ground. Each of them is a philosophical error and can be argued to be such on purely philosophical grounds.
G E M Anscombe
Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge
Monday, May 21, 2012
that into which we are taken up
What H-GG says of language is true of prayer and liturgy as language, as a way of living.
The more language is a living operation, the less we are aware of
it. Thus it follows that from the forgetfulness of language that its
real being consists in what is said in it. What is said in it
constitutes the common world in which we live. … The real being of
language is that into which we are taken up when we hear it — what is
said.
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, Man and Language (1966)
The more language is a living operation, the less we are aware of
it. Thus it follows that from the forgetfulness of language that its
real being consists in what is said in it. What is said in it
constitutes the common world in which we live. … The real being of
language is that into which we are taken up when we hear it — what is
said.
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, Man and Language (1966)
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Ascension and Pentecost
The most powerful means of pastoral service (2011)
God has gone up with a shout! The Lord with the sound of the trumpet!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ -
We begin June with two great feasts - first the Ascension and then ten days later Pentecost. I have always thought it interesting how the movement from the Ascension to Pentecost mirrors in time our personal experience in the Divine Liturgy. In our celebration of the eucharist we ascend liturgically, mysteriously, sacramentally into the realm of heavenly worship, the Kingdom of God - and then there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us and the gifts of bread and wine that we have offered. In short: we ascend with Christ; we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our participation in Communion is like a personal Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit makes Christ present in and for and of us. This is a very deep and rich mystery and deserves much continued spiritual reflection. It is something that can be unpacked, so to speak, in many ways. It is at the heart of Christian life.
Our pre-Communion prayers touch on this personal, eucharistic appropriation of the Ascension and Pentecost:
Through Thy glorious ascension Thou didst make the flesh which Thou didst assume divine, and placed it on a throne at the Father's right hand. Grant me to receive a place at the right hand with the saved through communion of Thy holy mysteries.
Through the coming of Thy Spirit, the Comforter, Thou didst make Thy consecrated disciples to be honorable vessels. Show me also to be the receptacle of His coming.
I am thinking of this movement as I write today as something profoundly connected with priestly ministry, since it is the ordained priest who leads the faithful in ascending to the heavenly places and distributes to them the holy, sanctified gifts.
Perhaps this priestly, liturgical theme is why June used to be called 'Seminaries Month' in the Orthodox Church in America and we regularly took special collections for our seminaries and seminarians.
....
Recently I have been asked many questions about my own understanding of priestly ministry, and I would like share with you a text and teaching that, along with many liturgical texts, has shaped my priestly sensibility. It comes from a great teacher closely connected with the pastoral formation of clergy at the famous St Sergius Institute in Paris, Archimandrite Kyprian (Kern). He was very much admired by my own beloved teacher Fr Alexander Schmemann.
He writes: The priestly service includes many responsibilities. The priest must satisfy all the requirements of his rank. They include the duties of teaching, spiritual guidance, missionary work, and divine service, taking care of the sick, prisoners, sorrowful, and many other things....
However, God can give or not give certain talents to a priest as to anyone. A priest may prove to be a poor speaker or incapable administrator of his parish, a dull instructor of the Holy Scripture. He can be an insensitive or even too demanding a confessor. He can be at a loss socially. But this will be forgiven him and will not blot out the worth of his spiritual work, if only he possesses a feeling for the Eucharist, if his main occupation is the stewardship of the Mysteries and service at the Divine Liturgy for the mystical union of himself and his flock to the body of Christ, for the sake of being partakers of the divine nature in the words of the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 1:4). A priest is given no greater authority or mystical means than this service to the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. This must be the life's work of the priest.... Nowhere and by no method are prayer and spiritual exploit so realised in a priest as in the sacrament of the Eucharistic sacrifice....
The most spiritually compelling priests always took great joy in their celebration of the eucharistic service and its prayers...
Summing up what has been said about the pastoral gift, we must draw the following conclusion. A special gift is given to the pastor in the laying on of hands... the joyous responsibility of renewing and enlivening souls for the Kingdom of God. This renewal can be accomplished in part through a moral influence upon the personality of those guided, through compassionate love for the guilty, through a sympathetic encounter with their personalities, but, mainly, through the Eucharistic service and joining the faithful, through it, to the mysterious Body of the Church. Anyone beside a priest can influence a neighbour. A mother and educator can commiserate. A close friend can share one's sorrows. But the leading of the celebration of the Eucharist is the responsibility of the priest. The Divine Liturgy is the most powerful means of pastoral service... A priest must always remember that he is called to bring God's mysteries into the heart of the community... [this] is the most powerful means of pastoral influence through which to bring about the moral and mystical revival of the faithful and the parish. (Archimandrite Kyprian Kern, Orthodox Pastoral Service).
God has gone up with a shout! The Lord with the sound of the trumpet!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ -
We begin June with two great feasts - first the Ascension and then ten days later Pentecost. I have always thought it interesting how the movement from the Ascension to Pentecost mirrors in time our personal experience in the Divine Liturgy. In our celebration of the eucharist we ascend liturgically, mysteriously, sacramentally into the realm of heavenly worship, the Kingdom of God - and then there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us and the gifts of bread and wine that we have offered. In short: we ascend with Christ; we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our participation in Communion is like a personal Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit makes Christ present in and for and of us. This is a very deep and rich mystery and deserves much continued spiritual reflection. It is something that can be unpacked, so to speak, in many ways. It is at the heart of Christian life.
Our pre-Communion prayers touch on this personal, eucharistic appropriation of the Ascension and Pentecost:
Through Thy glorious ascension Thou didst make the flesh which Thou didst assume divine, and placed it on a throne at the Father's right hand. Grant me to receive a place at the right hand with the saved through communion of Thy holy mysteries.
Through the coming of Thy Spirit, the Comforter, Thou didst make Thy consecrated disciples to be honorable vessels. Show me also to be the receptacle of His coming.
I am thinking of this movement as I write today as something profoundly connected with priestly ministry, since it is the ordained priest who leads the faithful in ascending to the heavenly places and distributes to them the holy, sanctified gifts.
Perhaps this priestly, liturgical theme is why June used to be called 'Seminaries Month' in the Orthodox Church in America and we regularly took special collections for our seminaries and seminarians.
....
Recently I have been asked many questions about my own understanding of priestly ministry, and I would like share with you a text and teaching that, along with many liturgical texts, has shaped my priestly sensibility. It comes from a great teacher closely connected with the pastoral formation of clergy at the famous St Sergius Institute in Paris, Archimandrite Kyprian (Kern). He was very much admired by my own beloved teacher Fr Alexander Schmemann.
He writes: The priestly service includes many responsibilities. The priest must satisfy all the requirements of his rank. They include the duties of teaching, spiritual guidance, missionary work, and divine service, taking care of the sick, prisoners, sorrowful, and many other things....
However, God can give or not give certain talents to a priest as to anyone. A priest may prove to be a poor speaker or incapable administrator of his parish, a dull instructor of the Holy Scripture. He can be an insensitive or even too demanding a confessor. He can be at a loss socially. But this will be forgiven him and will not blot out the worth of his spiritual work, if only he possesses a feeling for the Eucharist, if his main occupation is the stewardship of the Mysteries and service at the Divine Liturgy for the mystical union of himself and his flock to the body of Christ, for the sake of being partakers of the divine nature in the words of the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 1:4). A priest is given no greater authority or mystical means than this service to the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. This must be the life's work of the priest.... Nowhere and by no method are prayer and spiritual exploit so realised in a priest as in the sacrament of the Eucharistic sacrifice....
The most spiritually compelling priests always took great joy in their celebration of the eucharistic service and its prayers...
Summing up what has been said about the pastoral gift, we must draw the following conclusion. A special gift is given to the pastor in the laying on of hands... the joyous responsibility of renewing and enlivening souls for the Kingdom of God. This renewal can be accomplished in part through a moral influence upon the personality of those guided, through compassionate love for the guilty, through a sympathetic encounter with their personalities, but, mainly, through the Eucharistic service and joining the faithful, through it, to the mysterious Body of the Church. Anyone beside a priest can influence a neighbour. A mother and educator can commiserate. A close friend can share one's sorrows. But the leading of the celebration of the Eucharist is the responsibility of the priest. The Divine Liturgy is the most powerful means of pastoral service... A priest must always remember that he is called to bring God's mysteries into the heart of the community... [this] is the most powerful means of pastoral influence through which to bring about the moral and mystical revival of the faithful and the parish. (Archimandrite Kyprian Kern, Orthodox Pastoral Service).
congregations growing like fast-food franchises
From the Association of Religious Data Archives:
Diversity rising: Census shows Mormons, nondenominational churches, Muslims spreading out across U.S.
http://blogs.thearda.com/trend/featured/diversity-rising-census-shows-mormons-nondenominational-churches-muslims-spreading-out-across-u-s/
U.S. Congregational Membership: Reports
Explore congregational membership in every county, state and urban area in the United States. Based on the Religious Congregations and Membership Study this is the most complete census available on religious congregations and their members.
http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/index.asp
And then there is this, somehow sad-making, in the Diversity Rising story:
.... In secular terms, Hartford Seminary sociologist Scott Thumma compares the nationwide growth of groups such as the Mormon Church and nondenominational congregations to successful fast-food franchises starting out locally, finding they meet a need and then expanding regionally and nationally until you can find one at almost every rest stop.
Nondenominational churches, in particular, have become “an alternative to denominational religiosity in every market,” Thumma said.
Diversity rising: Census shows Mormons, nondenominational churches, Muslims spreading out across U.S.
http://blogs.thearda.com/trend/featured/diversity-rising-census-shows-mormons-nondenominational-churches-muslims-spreading-out-across-u-s/
U.S. Congregational Membership: Reports
Explore congregational membership in every county, state and urban area in the United States. Based on the Religious Congregations and Membership Study this is the most complete census available on religious congregations and their members.
http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/index.asp
And then there is this, somehow sad-making, in the Diversity Rising story:
.... In secular terms, Hartford Seminary sociologist Scott Thumma compares the nationwide growth of groups such as the Mormon Church and nondenominational congregations to successful fast-food franchises starting out locally, finding they meet a need and then expanding regionally and nationally until you can find one at almost every rest stop.
Nondenominational churches, in particular, have become “an alternative to denominational religiosity in every market,” Thumma said.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
unable to accept the fact
.... He subscribed to what I and most of my contemporaries judged to be a tissue of absurdities: Christ risen from the Dead and Things of that sort. There was no reason why he shouldn't. He shared those beliefs, after all, with plenty of people much cleverer than I was, including the Provost and (presumably) the Archbishop of Canterbury. But unlike these more experienced wayfarers in an infidel world, he was simply unable to accept the fact that anybody he knew could be without some vital spark of faith deep in his soul.
- J. I. M. Stewart in Young Patullo (the second volume in A Staircase in Surrey)
- J. I. M. Stewart in Young Patullo (the second volume in A Staircase in Surrey)
positions for knowing
Not in the isolated freedom of being - over - against, but in everyday relation - to - world, in letting oneself in for the conditionings of the world does man win his own self. So, too, does he first achieve the right position for knowing.
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, Kleine Schriften, vol 2 (94)
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, Kleine Schriften, vol 2 (94)
hallowing
... so then after having carefully hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it.... And while the moisture is still upon thy lips, touch it with thine hands, and hallow thine eyes and brow and other organs of sense.
- St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis XXIII.22, 22
- St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis XXIII.22, 22
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Try to grow straight and life will bend you
In everything that yields gracefully there must be resistance. Bows are beautiful when they bend only because they seek to remain rigid. Rigidity that yields, like Justice swayed by Pity, is all the beauty of the earth. Everything seeks to grow straight and happily nothing succeeds in so growing. Try to grow straight and life will bend you.
G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
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