In the beginning was grammar . . .

Not sure where this originally comes from, but I really appreciate it, having majored in English Ed and Spanish and having been a Spanish teacher for five years...

In the beginning was grammar . . .

1. In the beginning my English teacher created nouns and verbs.

2. And the verbs were without form and voice; and darkness was upon the face of the deep—my teacher.

3. And she said, “Let there be grammar”, and there was grammar

4. And Teacher saw the verbs and laughed and said that it was good; and she divided the bright students from those who remained in darkness.

5. And Teacher gave the bright students A’s and kept the others after school. And the homework and the bell were the first day.

6. And Teacher said, “Let there be a sentence in the midst of the words, and let it divide the nouns from the verbs.”

7. And Teacher made the sentence and diagrammed it on the board; I looked and saw that it was so.

8. And the Teacher called the sentence declarative. And the capital and the period were the second day.

9. And Teacher said, “Let the noun words in the sentence be gathered together unto one piece, and let the verb words appear; and it was so.

10. And the Teacher called the verb words predicate; and the gathering together of noun words called she the subject; and Teacher was that it was good.

11. And Teacher said, “Let the predicate bring forth modifiers, the transitive verbs yielding objects, and the intransitive verbs yielding complements after their own kind, whose place is in itself, within the predicate.” And it was so.

12. And the predicate brought forth modifiers, and transitive verbs yielding objects after their own kind, and intransitive verbs yielding a complement whose place was in itself, after their own kind. The Teacher saw that it was good and confusing.

13. And the active and the passive were the third day.

14. And Teacher said, “Let there be modifiers in the firmament of the subject to further confuse and divide the students in the classroom; and let them be for proper nouns, concrete nouns, mass nouns, collective nouns, pronouns, and abstract nouns.”

15. “And let them give meaning in the subject and enhance the predicate.” And it was sooo . . . confusing.

16. And Teacher made two great words: the greater word, adjective, to rule the noun, and the lesser word, adverb, to rule the verb; she made the conjunction also.

17. And Teacher set them in the sentence in order to make it difficult to diagram.

18. And to make it easier for her to divide the bright students from those who remained in darkness; and Teacher saw that her system was good.

19. And the phrase and the clause were the fourth day.

20. And Teacher said, “Let the verbs bring forth abundantly the many verb forms, the gerunds, infinitives, and participles; the subjunctives; the auxiliary verbs, the linking verbs, and the phrasal verbs.”

21. And Teacher created moods for every living creature that moveth, and tenses for all time, and voices after their own kind. And Teacher saw that it was indeed good.

22. And Teacher blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply in complexity, and fill young minds with bewilderment, and let the bewilderment multiply into chaos in their minds.”

23. And the lecture and the English test were the fifth day.

24. And Teacher said, “Let the nouns and verbs bring forth living sentences after their own kind, book reports, essay questions, and English themes for the students to write”, and it was very so.

25. And Teacher made all these things for the freshman English student to do, and everything that creepeth into her mind she gave to them to do; and Teacher saw to it that it was good.

26. And Teacher said, “Let us make one project in our image, after our likeness: and let the product have dominion over the other projects, and over every subject of the college student.”

27. So Teacher created the research paper in her own image, in the image of Teacher created she it; boring and difficult created she it.

28. And Teacher blessed it, and Teacher said unto the research paper, “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the supply of dropouts, and subdue the remainder of the college students, and have dominion over the other projects, and over the other subjects, and other every single grade that the students receive.”

29. “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth into the classroom, wherein there is life, I have given every rule and principle for good English”, and it was so.

30. And Teacher saw everything that she had made, and behold it was very good.

Five Years and a Scotsman Saint

Celebrated five years of marriage with the love of my life last night. The little stinker spent the night at my mom's (BIG fun!) while Mommy and Papi went out for Salvadoran food and a movie. A great, kid-free and (best of all) grown-up time was had by both. Thanks be to God for declaring marriage an honorable estate.

Today is Gary's namesday, so this saint to the right, Columba of Iona, is thus commemorated. God grant Gary many years!

By your God-inspired life
You embodied both the mission and the dispersion of the Church,
Most glorious Father Columba.
Using your repentance and voluntary exile,
Christ our God raised you up as a beacon of the True Faith,
An apostle to the heathen and an indicator of the Way of salvation.
Wherefore O holy one, cease not to intercede for us
That our souls may be saved. (Troparion, Tone 5)

Article for Posterity

In case anybody missed the "Faith and Works" post from a little while ago (as well as the huge discussion the followed in the combox), the content of said post is now available as an online article, courtesy of OC.net, and is now listed in the sidebar of this blog as "Harmonious Salvation."

More Grumbling from Texas

Oooookay...rant comin' up....

Things have been up in arms lately here in North Texas regarding some decisions made in some (very) small towns. One decision in Farmers Branch looks to deny illegal immigrants the "right" to rent apartments and is being contested by a federal (no surprises there) Texas judge. Another proposition in Oak Point aims to make English the official language of the city, though it may not have enough council support to make it through.

I enthusiastically support both of these measures, wish their proponents all the luck in the world, and hope that more and more cities here in the South follow suit. Yes, it may sound a little strange coming from me, the Spanish teacher, but I am enthusiastic about closing our borders to illegal activity (as well as streamlining legal immigration processes -- see here, here, and here for past posts on this), as well as making English our defining language as a nation.

You see, I've worked with latino immigrants--legal latino immigrants--helped them find transportation, apartments, jobs. I have absolutely nothing against latinos, Russians, Irish, whatevers coming here legally to contribute to the growth and cultural enrichment, as we are a nation of immigrants. What bothers me--no, what infuriates me--are the ideas that

1. individuals can come in "under the radar" and receive free health care, shelter, government assistance in WIC or foodstamps, free education, and freedom from paying taxes, while those seeking to do things the honest way are punished by not being able to work, sometimes for up to two years, without a green card;

2. said lawbreakers feel no remorse but rather entitlement to all of the above benefits simply by virtue of their being (in the most prominent case) Mexican, and (adding insult to injury) legal Americans of Mexican descent--not to mention many liberal whites working under a false sense of White Man's Guilt and fear of the "r" word--add to said sense of entitlement through their continued support for this illegal activity in the name of "compassion," "tolerance" "open-mindedness" and even "multi-culturalism";

3. our country leaves our borders and our ports wide open so that any José or Abduhl can just waltz right in undocumented, carrying God-knows-what either into our out of this country scot-free (hey, why not put troops on the border? Oh...right...they're all...overseas...making us...safer...yeeah...thanks, George/Dick/Karl et al); and

4. no part of our government--state or federal--is doing anything to punish businesses (as in, fine them so heavily that they're summarily put out of business) who knowingly hire undocumented persons, and so the major incentive to the immigrant flow continues to go unchecked for the simple want of cheap labor and our sad, continued love affair with big business.

I hope I've made it clear that the key distinction here is legal vs. illegal. I make this statement across the board, regardless of whether the person immigrating is Mexican, Irish, Polish, Greek, Russian, Somalian, Filipino or Lebanese. I personally welcome any and all people who simply seek to come and find a better life for themselves, and I'd like to see us able to legally accommodate them more easily. My only stipulation is that said persons do the honorable thing and obey the laws of the nation from which they seek to benefit--i.e., enter legally, register for taxation of wages, obtain a social security card and state driver's license, carry minimum liability insurance (if they are to be driving)--and, yes, learn the English language to at least a minimally proficient degree.

It is my profession to teach the Spanish language to Americans who do not know it, and some may see this, at first glance, as a way to accommodate and enable those coming in from Spanish-speaking countries so that they might not have to acquire the English language very quickly, if at all. Yet this is not the case; legal immigrants who are recently-arrived will have a learning curve, and thus should have some provision in emergency situations (hospital, police, fire, etc) in their native languages. What is more, our nation trails behind the rest of the world to a sad degree in the number of people who speak multiple languages and, thus, are able to compete more aggressively in the global market. Our determination to be a multilingually-proficient society is not as high as it could or should be, and can only do us good.

Yet "multilingually-proficient" does not necessitate "officially multilingual"; in other words, we can have a citizenry that seeks to communicate with the rest of the world and still have one lingua franca (no pun intended) that serves both to identify and unite us as one country. China's official language is still Chinese, in spite of the many students of English there; Germany still has German as its official language, France has French, Britain has English, and Mexico has Spanish. Other languages undoubtedly exist in each of these countries, but their respective official languages serve to unify all nationalities within said country. Refusal to learn and use said language--insisting, rather, that the country one has moved to in order to benefit cater to you and provide you with your language on a regular basis--is the height of cultural arrogance and should be treated as such.

People do not have the "right" to benefit from a country whose laws they don't respect; to the right you'll see the side of the house of Farmers Branch's mayor, lovingly inscribed thus for calling lawbreakers what they are. Way to win some hearts and minds, compa's. I could go into how meddling Feds are once again getting involved where they ought to butt out, but suffice it to say that if Farmers Branch is using federal guidelines to determine the legality of prospective tenants, then the kowtow to Washington, D.C. has been made and no further intrusion is necessary on the part of those boys north of the Potomac. The folks down here have done what needs to be done--made a law with teeth in it--and it stands to reason that only the folks from 'round here would really get what's led up to the passing of a law like this--and now folks from "way far 'way" are trying to dictate how (or even if) this'll go down. Seems we've seen that somewhere before...but y'all know where I'd go with that...

Two Swim the Tiber for Apostolic Faith

Almost a month ago, I was alerted to the fact that Francis J. Beckwith, former President of the Evangelical Theological Society, had converted to Roman Catholicism; I've just been told (hat tip to EYTYXOΣ) that Rob Koons, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas in Austin, has done the same, as well as provided a lengthy and thorough case for the Catholic side of the Catholic/Lutheran justification debate. Good reading for the theologically-inclined with the time to spare. The rest of us have to skim where we can and make up for it later...

Professor Koons' reasons for choosing Rome over the East are, by his own admission, shallow and based on his own cultural inheritance as well as theological exhaustion, but the very comment itself is charitable in its recognition of our shared apostolic heritage -- indeed, the issues that separate the Orthodox from the Catholics are not clear-cut to objective observers, and understanding needs to be given on both sides. The post, though, has me thinking a lot about the fast in which we find ourselves for the next 25 days. Father Stephen stresses that we remember our Apostolic Faith during this time. Of particular recommendation is the quote by Irenaeus, as well as the work from which it comes (books I, II, III, IV, and V -- more reading for theology buffs).

Bit of a segue...re: the faith of the Apostles... Now that I've reconciled myself to this, it's actually comforting to know that God is glorified in His saints. Not just by His saints, through their praises, but in the actions of His saints for the good of the Church and all mankind...not the least of which are, we Orthodox believe, their holy prayers ascending before Christ on our behalf. The power to forgive sins, given to God alone in former times, was passed to these mere men by the Holy Spirit, men who were then led by that same Spirit into all truth in order that we could worship in Spirit and in Truth.

Holy Foremost of the Apostles Peter and Paul, pray to Christ our God for us.

Prayer...

For the military in Lebanon fighting against islamic militants in a refugee camps. The linked article says this is the worst (internal) fighting Lebanon has seen since its Civil War.

Yarob Burham...

Excited...

Tomorrow (Lord willing), I'll go up to Denton for the introductory class in an ongoing course in NT Greek that is being offered out of St. Maximus' taught--free of charge!--by our very own EYTYXOΣ. Very much looking forward to this. The books shown above shall be our texts.

Li'l Sweetie Tastes Immortality

We were blessed to be present at St. Sava's first liturgy on their new property -- outdoors, tent over our heads, hay under our feet -- and much BBQ-ed sausage and Shiner Bock in our bellies afterwards.

But this right here to the right is what it's all about (hint). That li'l one that looks an awful lot like my beautiful wife is such a big girl now, taking communion by herself... Thanks to Mary Bethany for the heads up. You can see the rest of the slideshow here.

Forgotten Sons of the South

This article--written by an African-American professor, as the page states at the bottom--details the ranks of black soldiers--slave and free--who took up arms and fought valiantly against the North.

Forwarded to me also was this article, also on black Confederates, with many documented instances of blacks fighting, not out of obligation or conscription, but out of love for their homeland--and many doing so as already-freed men.

UPDATE: While doing a search on the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma (my native American ancestry comes from one of these, though we're not sure which), this incredibly thorough article jumped out at me from the search results. Deo Vindice.

I Don't Believe in Organized Religion--I'm Orthodox!

(The following is my response to a private email regarding this post at the Triablogue blog. Parts pertaining to the other party's private questions and comments have been removed.)

Evangelicals who interact with Orthodox--particularly converts TO Orthodoxy from Evangelicalism--have to put up with a lot. Specifically, they hear a refrain from us that "sola scriptura leads to doctrinal chaos!" and "Scripture plus tradition leads to wonderful doctrinal unity!" Now, while I personally agree with what we as Orthodox mean by all this, that's just sloppy apologetics on our part...it needs to be unpacked in more than just a sound byte, since Evangelicals reckon themselves to have just as much "unity in essentials" as the Orthodox claim to have.

For me, the difference lies in this: ecclesiology mattered desperately to the early Church, so much so that they put an article in the Creed that the Church was One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic...that "One" part meaning that only one, visible communion would comprise it. Granted, it was never cut and dry which group it was when controversy came up, but the understanding was there--even among heretical groups of the first 300 years or so!--that groups which held to contradictory teachings on certain issues could not share the same chalice, and therefore could not both comprise the One Church.

So much is made of the fact that the Orthodox, being (as we see it) that One Church established by Christ, is doctrinally consistent. This is why the "Churches in Resistance" like the Athonite monasteries and Russian splinter groups that have broken communion with so-called "World Orthodoxy" ( i.e., the four historical patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem and all those in communion with them) are either now themselves the One Church, or have separated themselves from the One Church. It's hard to tell until 20/20 hindsight clears things up (thanks being given to the Holy Spirit), but this sort of excommunication/reestablishment of communion is what has plagued/blessed the Church for 2,000 years. It's a "plague," for it's never pleasant--often, really, it's downright ugly and folks have lost it, calling folks all kinds of names they shouldn't have--but it's a blessing, overall, because these guys erred on the side of caution: they absolutely refused to believe that the Church could be divided on something that was seen as a major christological dogma and still be seen as "One."

Enter Evangelicalism, specifically (bear with me, those of you who read this blog who adhere to sola scriptura) those declaring sola scriptura to be their bond of unity. Well, all right, Christ is ultimately the bond of unity they claim, but you get me. Here we have groups that believe all kinds of different things re: baptism, the Eucharist, the nature of the Church, the nature of salvation, the means of acquiring said salvation, the operation of the Holy Spirit--even what it means to adhere to sola scriptura. Much could be made of the fact that the Early Church Fathers (hereafter ECFs) were absolutely unified on the nature of these issues--they were even more unified on these than they were regarding the canon of Scripture--but unity or disunity on this or that doctrine will only get an Orthodox and an Evangelical so far in a debate, in my experience.

It has been suggested that we Orthodox compare apples to apples and acknowledge that Southern Baptists (for example) have just as much unity amongst themselves as the Orthodox do amongst themselves (if not more, thanks to detailed systematic theology on the part of the Evangelical). Granted, readily. But this is not my problem with comparing the doctrinal cohesiveness of these two confessions. My problem is the fundamental difference between said confessions' respective beliefs regarding who or what constitutes the One Church of Christ. Whereas the Orthodox see the One Church of Christ as being necessarily doctrinally consistent on all declared matters of faith ("declared" being the key word here), and thus have no problem with Orthodoxy alone comprising the One Church, sola scriptura Evangelicals (it is my opinion--corrections are welcome) are satisfied with saying that groups can be diametrically opposed to each other regarding all the things I listed one paragraph above this one and still, as a group of contradicting confessions, comprise the One Church of Christ. If there's one thing that was made clear through my extensive readings of the ECFs (almost all Ante-Nicene authors), it was that, without exception, no one who did not hold to the Real Presence, Baptismal Regeneration, Infant Baptism, or Apostolic Succession (to name the most prominent four teachings that stand in opposition to most sola scriptura adherents' beliefs) could be said to be in the One Church of Christ, as these were seen to directly oppose the christology of the early Church.

In other words, for the statement that "Baptists have as much unity as Orthodox" to hold any water with an Orthodox Christian whatsoever, the one making said statement would also have to say that "Baptists alone constitute the One Church; they alone are the Body of Christ on Earth." The fact that (some) Lutherans, Church-of-Christers, Presbyterians, and Five-Pointers are included as members of the One Church along with Baptists is what drains the efficacy out of the whole argument. The One Church has more than One Faith in this latter version, it seems.

Still, many an Evangelical remains faithful to sola scriptura because he sees the controversies in Roman Catholicism and/or Orthodoxy as "the proof in the pudding" of their comparable fallibility--in a word, said Evangelical thought he was no worse off in Protestantism than he'd be in the Roman Catholic Church or Eastern Orthodox Church regarding doctrinal confusion, and, hey, at least he could unambiguously point to where his concrete, written-down (and leather-bound), rule of faith was....as opposed to trusting in a sometimes more nebulous "tradition"...

Whence, then, the Orthodox distinction betwen the disunity among the various groups identifying themselves with Orthodoxy and that sola scriptura adherents? In a nutshell, the issues sola scriptura folks disagree on are not only major doctrines in the Early Church, but also major doctrines that enjoyed universal accord among these ECFs. In contrast, the issues of Calendar and Reception of Converts in their current contexts were not directly dealt with by the ECFs, yet are seen by the "Synods in Resistance" in this day and age as major christological affronts, and thus threats to the doctrinal unity of the One Church. In their minds, separation is the only choice if doctrine is different.

God has seen fit to reconcile the Russian Church over the last couple of weeks. May the others who are taking these stands against what they see as false union enter into true (re)union with the rest of the world calling itself Orthodox, and--just as we have experienced for 2,000 years, let God be true; let His truth conquer all men's lies, regardless of what side of the conflict they came down on.

Vote for the Cover!

Go here to vote for the cover of the Orthodox Study Bible that you most like. Be sure to tell me which one you chose! (I voted for number one!)

(I'm hoping this means a soon-coming release date...?)

The Apple iRack

And, on a lighter (yet sardonic) note...

The Apple iRack

What kind of beloved is your beloved?

The Canticle of Solomon records the maidens of the Shulamite woman asking her this question (Song 5:9), and it is surely a question solely asked to prompt praise for the Beloved. The Greek Septuagint differs only slightly, as the maidens ask, "What is your kinsman more than another kinsman?" This idea of a kinsman redeemer, a kinsman lover, which is brought out so vividly in Boaz's saving of his near relatives Ruth and Naomi, sheds a stronger, more christic light on the Canticle's question -- for we as Christians immediately identify our kinsman redeemer as Christ Himself. For us, then, the question would be thus: how is Christ Jesus--our kinsman who shares in our nature while remaining God, our lover who consummates His relentless love for mankind in a way that proves stronger than Death itself--how is this Christ Jesus more than any other kinsman? How is He more than any other God, more than any other man?

I pose this question for a specific reason, yet mine is slightly different than the ones that are usually seen in print. I have seen many a book, podcast, blog, website--you name it--devoted to an apologetically-based answer for others regarding this question--"How do the Old Testament prophecies establish Him as our kinsman redeemer?" "How is Christ different from and superior to other deities?" "How does the atoning sacrifice of Christ establish His payment as kinsman redeemer?"--yet my question, I think, is somewhat more fundamental, as it seeks not to justify an already established image of our Kinsman Lover within our own lives, our own hearts, but rather asks how we ought to discover our Beloved fully, how we ought to seek to develop said image in the first place.

In other words, how do we know what kind of beloved our Beloved is? And, secondly, how can extremes on either side of, well, my particular religious experience (as an example) rob one of this discovery?

The first extreme I often see reminds me (you'll have to bear with me on these admittedly unusual metaphors, along with all the inherent limitations therein) of an online dating service. To set up the example, imagine the following: A person signs up for a dating service and, after a while, finds a profile that appeals to--we'll say--her. She emails this young man, who emails back quickly with an interest that impresses the young woman. She and her new contact exchange daily emails, and it's quickly obvious that there is an intense, mutual attraction between these two that goes far beyond physical (having never actually seen or met each other in person, physical attraction can't really enter into the situation) -- shared interests, goals in life, his life seeming to complete hers -- all this leads to increased intimacy, increased disclosure, more of the emotional trust flowing back and forth along the modems...yet, for all of the love that is undoubtedly there, these two people never meet, never touch, never fulfill all the longing they most certainly feel with an actual marriage and consummation thereof. I know that this will more than likely offend many who may read this--and, for that, forgive me; I've tried to be as charitable as possible here--but I see non-sacramental approaches to Christianity as a spiritual version of this scenario; so much is learned about Christ through diligent (and admirable!) study of the Scriptures that it is obvious that a vision for who Christ is, gratitude for what He's done, longing to be in His presence--all these things are very often present in the lives of such Christians. Yet, for one to say that this is enough--for one to claim that all that is needed is the re-reading of Scriptures (God's "email correspondence" with us, if you will) and the subsequent, "long distance" relationship that is fostered through that reading, apart from any sacramental contact--is to claim that the woman should be completely satisfied that, in this life, all that she can expect is a constant longing with absolutely no fulfillment, no resolution of tension, no consummation of desire. Such a relationship can hardly be called complete; truly, after a while, it can hardly be considered healthy.

To turn the extreme to the other side, however, is the ancient idea (which nonetheless has most likely been the source of much marital grief in times past, at least by our standards) of arranged marriages, done completely apart from the desire or preference of those (or at least one of those) involved in said arrangement. Here exists a couple who, though united through the sacrament of marriage, have lived their entire lives in close proximity to one another--even to the extent of sharing the same bed and bearing children together--but have not had an experience--or, better yet, a continuous lifetime of experiences--speaking with each other, communing with one another, sharing the marriage bed as a means of union, of blessedness. The bride, in this case, may be able to tell you how the household runs--down to the daily schedule of how the husband likes dinner, how she, the wife, has her nightly talk on the phone with friends--in other words, much familiarity with the household is established, but little is actually known or appreciated about the Spouse Himself. Were the wife and husband so inclined, a conversation could be started which would shed new light on all kinds of things that were done (for reasons heretofore unknown) for years within the household, would usher in new levels of appreciation for Who the Spouse is and why He does what He does within His Household. This, as you may have already guessed, is my take on those who, having grown up in Orthodoxy, are intimately familiar with the rites, the sacraments, the sounds, the hymns, the icons, the prayer cycles, the motions of worship, yet who are almost wholly unaware of the Scriptural significance of all of these gifts. These are they who, though they devoutly show up for the lengthy Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at the beginning of Lent (and for this they are to be commended!), they are unaware of the history of salvation leading up to St. Andrew's preaching: the Covenant with Abraham and his shameful lies concerning his wife Sarah; the passing of the covenant to Isaac instead of Ishmael; the deceitful Jacob and impulsive Esau; the romance of Jacob with Leah and Rachel, the drama of Joseph and the other sons of Jacob, the line of David, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, etc...in short, a systematic, intentional study of the Scriptures as a whole, is lacking. And, while I will add quickly that Scripture is not sufficient by itself to provide the ideal, holistic experience of Christ intended for the Church, it is, in and of itself, an indispensable part of having said experience. Father Patrick Henry Reardon has recently said as much, and I believe this to be a truth that bears repeating, ad nauseam (and it may nauseate some unaccustomed to the idea), until it takes hold within the grass-roots life of Orthodox parishes...until, basically, it is no longer a rare, refreshing exception to find regular, well-attended Bible studies thriving within Orthodox parishes. As my friend Alan is fond of mentioning, Scripture is θεοπνευστος -- literally "God breath" -- so, in the words of Rich Mullins, "let's breathe this as deeply as possible."

Matter of fact, let's hear the quote in context (taken from here):

"I don't think you read the Bible to know truth. I think you read the Bible to find God, that we encounter Him there. Paul says that the scriptures are God's breath and I kind of go, wow, so let's breathe this as deeply as possible. And this is what liturgy offers that all the razzmatazz of our modern worship can't touch. You don't go home from church going, "Oh I am just moved to tears." You go home from church going, "Wow, I just took communion and you know what? If Augustine were alive today, he would have had it with me and maybe he is and maybe he did."

While writing this, the only part of the quote that came to me initially was the "deep breathing" part; it was interesting to go back and see that Rich, in saying this, puts the context of "breathing in Scripture" squarely in the context of liturgical, sacramental worship of the καθολικη εκκλησια --the "catholic" (universal, complete) Church. Let us know not only the New Testament through the daily lectionary readings, but let us also revel in the types and shadows of the Old Testament, so rich with foreshadowing of our Bridegroom. Let us pore over the epistles of St. Paul by the light of the apostolic worship, let us hear the apostles James, Peter, and John--let us read the very words of our Lord, over and over, so that when we commune in that most intimate manner--with His Body and Blood fusing and becoming one with ours, so that we may be bearers of Christ in the world and multiply His presence as His Body throughout the nations--we will thus have both the knowledge that comes from intellectual study of a thing and the experiential knowledge that comes from living in the presence of a person--γνοσις in its most complete sense.

Congrats to Wifey!

My lovely wife is now a proud alumn of Texas Women's U, having just finished her Masters of Library Science. She's pictured here with the little stinker, who was just about as happy to see Momma again (after her long time of sitting down on the ground level with the other graduates) as she was to wear Momma's big, flat, funny hat.

So proud of her. Congrats, baby.

Church School - Fasting

Another great session - in preparation for the upcoming (and, this year, long!) Apostle's Fast, we went over this article in depth (unfortunate spelling errors included).

Lots of good things in there to think about.

Glory be to God!

Moscow and ROCOR end schism

New Article of Mine

...titled "The Unbiblical Doctrine of Sola Scriptura" has been published on OC.net. There's a link in the sidebar, or you can just click here, if you like.

Should be a follow-up to this one sometime soon (summer's comin'!).

Thinker?

So John tags me for this "Thinking Blogger" thing that's been going around (his tag's here). Pot and kettle, sir. Pot. And. Kettle. Thanks all the same, however.

Rules for this:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;
2. Link to this post [already done above -- Me.] so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme;
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog). [Mine's at the bottom of the sidebar.]

My five (I tried to go with folks I haven't seen tagged elsewhere):

1. Sober Joy
2. La joie de Dieu est folie
3. Now and Ever
4. Pithless Thoughts
5. Unmitigated Nonsense

Four Saints Meme

The Faith and Works post has kept me busy as of late -- read with pleasant surprise that I'd been tagged here by Owen to answer a meme regarding a favorite blessed saint, four favorite saints, and someone I'd like to see glorified as a saint.

1) My favorite blessed saint would be the blessed Augustine of Hippo. This, I know, will scandalize some, but I see in Bl. Augustine a true grasp of divine Justice and Mercy, a love of God's sovereignty and an understanding of the divine humility. In the words of Patrick Barnes, "There is unfortunately within the Orthodox Church a minority of teachers who, in their zeal to guard the Faithful from some of the errors in St. Augustine's teachings, have gone to the extreme of maligning him and impious heresy-hunting. In their often legitimate criticism of the writings of this blessed Church Father from Hippo, they irreverently seek to prove that he was never, nor should be, considered a Saint of the Orthodox Church. They admonish the Faithful to disavow him as a Father. Moreover, they often wrongly attribute heretical teachings of later "Augustinians" to St. Augustine himself. In this way a few of these people even try to show that he was a heretic. This is shocking and absolutely incorrect..."

2a) I must ditto Own here and offer first place among the four saints to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin, Mary. Not only do I honor her as the new Eve whose "yes" loosed the knot that the first Eve's "no" tied around our race (Saint Irenaeus), but I thank God that she was there--a bit of a shock for me, admittedly--to greet me in the icon you see to your left. The first Divine Liturgy I ever attended was on Sunday, November 21st, 1999 -- a date many will recognize as the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple. She greeted me on my entrance into one temple on the day she entered another. Her virtue of keeping and cherishing within her heart the amazing story of the angel stands to convict this loquacious rambler, as does her absolute fidelity to Christ when few others remained. May I remain at the foot of the Cross--may I remain on the Cross her Son and our God has given me--even when the sky is dark, the earth quakes, and all seems abandoned. Most holy Theotokos, save us.

2b) Again following Owen's example, my next favorite saint goes to my patron saint, the Prophet David, the holy one for whom I was named by my God-fearing mother and whose name I (re)took upon being tonsured a reader. My birth was two and a half months premature, and happened to be very close to the day David is commemorated in the Church (Sunday after Nativity). I am honored beyond words to read his God-breathed psalms in the Assembly of the faithful. He was called a man after God's own heart -- I'm not sure what else would need to be said about him after that. The man was subject to his passions at times, but knew how to repent, and repent gloriously. The psalm that lauds him most, imo, is Ps. 131 (LXX), and speaks much of the call that we as parents, as those who have been blessed with fruitful marriages, have: The LORD has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. If your sons will keep My covenant And My testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore." Indeed, we are called to pass on the faith to our progeny, so that the humanity we've given them will continue on its path of redemption through incarnation and purification. This is only possible, of course, through the One that came from David's loins: "There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish." Holy Prophet, pray for me, a sinner.

2c) Long-time readers of my blog will find the icon to your left very familiar. Said readers will also most likely remember that the name of this blog was not always "Oh Taste and See," but was originally "Stumble on Water," dedicated to my original heavenly patron, the chief of the Apostles, Simon Peter. I find it ironic that this post comes on the heels of a lengthy and much discussed post on faith and works, for, like many Evangelicals looking into Orthodoxy, this was the issue I had so much trouble with in coming to grips with the faith. I still remember the night in the ORU tower dorms when, while walking down the hallway to the elevators that would take me to my room and contemplating the whole faith-and-works issue, I stopped dead in my tracks. I still distinctly remember my mouth falling wide open as something dawned on me: as we seek to exit this sinking world and journey out to where Christ is, we are called to do what is impossible for man to do. For those sharing in a fallen human nature to attempt to undergo self-deification is as futile as said fallen humans attempting to walk on water. We must exit the boat, and yes, we must walk towards Christ, but St. Peter is not known for being someone walking on water under his own power, stumble or no. His cooperation with grace, perfect or not, has served as a literal icon of theosis for me and was an immense help in my embracing of this doctrine he preached.

2d) Finally, there is a saint who exemplifies, in my opinion, all that is good about missionary endeavors. St. Herman, the Wonderworker of Alaska, labored for years in the Kodiak islands, cultivating prayer out of a joyous heart, living a life of radical self-denial, and defending the poor and needy amongst the indigenous Alaskan Aleuts against the indifference of the Russian traders. My favorite story, which is partially quoted on the scroll held by St. Herman on the right, is as follows: "Father Herman gave [all the Russian officers] one general question: 'Gentlemen, What do you love above all, and what will each of you wish for your happiness?' Various answers were offered ... Some desired wealth, others glory, some a beautiful wife, and still others a beautiful ship he would captain; and so forth in the same vein. 'Is it not true,' Father Herman said to them concerning this, 'that all your various wishes can bring us to one conclusion - that each of you desires that which in his own understanding he considers the best, and which is most worthy of his love?' They all answered, 'Yes, that is so!' He then continued, 'Would you not say, Is not that which is best, above all, and surpassing all, and that which by preference is most worthy of love, the Very Lord, our Jesus Christ, who created us, adorned us with such ideals, gave life to all, sustains everything, nurtures and loves all, who is Himself Love and most beautiful of all men? Should we not then love God above every thing, desire Him more than anything, and search Him out?' "

All said, "Why, yes! That's self-evident!" Then the Elder asked, "But do you love God?" They all answered, "Certainly, we love God. How can we not love God?" "And I a sinner have been trying for more than forty years to love God, I cannot say that I love Him completely," Father Herman protested to them. He then began to demonstrate to them the way in which we should love God. "if we love someone," he said, "we always remember them; we try to please them. Day and night our heart is concerned with the subject. Is that the way you gentlemen love God? Do you turn to Him often? Do you always remember Him? Do you always pray to Him and fulfill His holy commandments?" They had to admit that they had not! "For our own good, and for our own fortune," concluded the Elder, "let us at least promise ourselves that from this very minute we will try to love God more than anything and to fulfill His Holy Will!"

3) Finally, there's this man. Fr. Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, has done more for Orthodoxy in America and the world, in my opinion, than just about anyone else in recent years (Although honorable mention should go to Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, also of blessed memory, who came in a close second for this spot in my meme). Fr. Alexander's absolute devotion to Christ revealed in sacrament and Eucharist above all else has proven to help make the Body and Blood we're given every Sunday the very center of my life. His adamant belief in frequent communion and confession--indeed, in active and vibrant participation in the whole life of the Church!--is something that was absolutely needed in our day and age...still is in places, sadly...

I've quoted several journal entries from the man -- most notably here w/regard to the "one thing needful," and here regarding Christ as the center of our Faith. A quote from the latter post:

"In our world, any religion without Christ (even Christianity and Orthodoxy) is a negative phenomenon, even frightening. Any contact with such a religion is dangerous. One can study it to better understand Christianity, or Christ. But by itself, it cannot be salvation, however one understands this word.

"For the early Christians, the Body of Christ is on the altar because He is among them. For the contemporary Christians, Christ is here because His Body is on the altar. It seems to be analogous, but in fact, there is an essential difference between the early Christians and us. For them, everything is in knowing Christ, loving Him. For us, everything is in the desire to be enlightened. The early Christians came to Communion to follow Christ, whereas now Christ is not the unique reason for partaking of Communion."

May his memory be eternal.

Whom to tag, whom to tag...Oh, heck, let's just go for broke...Fr. Joseph, Fr. Stephen, Sky, Barnabas, Dixie, Joshua, Mimi, John, Eric, Stacy, and Steven.

Troparion - Tone 3

You were a pillar of Orthodoxy, Hierarch Athanasius,
supporting the Church with divine doctrines;
you proclaimed the Son to be of one Essence with the Father,
putting Arius to shame.
Righteous father, entreat Christ God to grant us His great mercy.

Kontakion - Tone 2

You planted the dogmas of Orthodoxy
and eradicated the thorns of false doctrine;
you propagated the seeds of the Faith watered with the rain of the Spirit.
Therefore, we praise you, Righteous Athanasius.

Holy St. Athanasius, pray to God for us!

Life of St. Athanasius

Faith and Works, Paul and James

Much is made in the literature/blogs/podcasts of Evangelical converts to Orthodoxy about how faith alone does not save, but faith and works does. This catch phrase is usually accompanied by a pseudo "counterattack" of the Evangelical prooftext of Eph. 2:8-9 --

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

-- with corresponding prooftexts from the second chapter of St. James' epistle (vv. 14, 17, 20, and 26, in particular). The resulting fights (for that is what they usually are; few discussions of this topic seldom ascend into the realm of true, civil, reasoned argumentation) rarely amount to anything more than people taking these two supposedly opposing sides and beating each other over the head with the aforementioned prooftexts. My problem with this scenario isn't even in the use of prooftexts (at least not primarily, though I do find the practice abhorrent--context should always be provided, elaboration always made); rather, the problem I have with this technique is how it takes two great saints of our Church and makes them appear to be "versus" one another. My friend and fellow blogger Alan asked me if I would elaborate on the idea that, while both serious Evangelicals and serious Orthodox would agree that it is impossible for apostles of the Lord to be divided dogmatically, differences lie in our understanding of where exactly they harmonize in their doctrine (I agreed to go into that in this post, in the comments). So, without further ado, I shall attempt (that being the key word here) to set forth the Orthodox position on the insanely broad topic of the harmony of Ss. Paul and James in regard to faith and works in our salvation.

I would posit, first of all, that our central point of reference for this topic should be from the third chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Philippians. He opens this chapter with warnings against those who would have the Jewish Christians follow the observance of the Mosaic Law in order to be in good standing before God. He outlines his own credentials within his pre-Christian, Jewish life, then states the following:

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (vv. 7-14).

This passage will be referenced in several places in order to clarify the Orthodox position on the role of "faith" and "works" within the works of St. Paul and St. James. Suffice it to say that we believe that both Ss. Paul and James confess that

1. faith in Christ is absolutely necessary for our salvation,
2. the objective establishment of the reality of our salvation rests solely and squarely in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ,
3. the subjective application of that reality to individuals requires effort, within the context of that faith, for as long as God grants the person life, and
   
4. the ultimate state of the believer is not assumed to be one of salvation, as the believer's striving within the grace of God is not yet finished.

The context of St. Paul's epistle to the Christian Hebrews living in Rome is one of contrasting those who seek to be made right before God by the fulfilling of the Mosaic Law with those who seek to be made right before God, or justified, through faith in Christ Jesus. As St. Paul told the Philippians, "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ," and again, "Yet indeed I also count all things [in pre-Christian Judaism] loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (3:7-9). The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews--we attribute the epistle to St. Paul along with Romans, so it works out consistently for my purposes here--clearly states that the Mosaic Law is inferior in every way to the coming of the New Adam, Christ (3:5-6). Christ has fulfilled the Old Law in Himself and has brought it to a whole new level of reality; thus, to go back to the old ways--i.e., following the Mosaic Law before the coming of Christ--would be to shun all that was done to usher in this new Kingdom, this new life. St. Paul, then, is dealing with the question of whether works done outside of union with Christ will save you. It is clear that St. Paul believes that, without union with Christ through faith in Him, no man will be saved. Yet, it would be a mistake to say that St. Paul subscribes to "easy believe-ism," or a salvation apart from working out your salvation (Phil. 2:12) in any way.

We are told to "make every effort to enter into the rest" God has prepared for us (Heb. 4:11), or "lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of [us]," as St. Paul told the Philippians, yet while all this is done with the understanding that the grace of God undergirds, surrounds, and permeates all things at all times, we must, within the context of this grace made available to us apart from anything we might have tried to do to deserve it, beat our bodies and make them our slaves so that we will not become disqualified after beginning our life in Christ (1 Cor. 9:27). Again, St. Paul makes his goal knowing Christ "and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." He states that, in his quest to share in the sufferings of Christ and thus apply them to himself towards the reward of the future resurrection, he does not consider himself to "have already attained, or...have apprehended" the objective reality that was established, unshakably, by Christ, but he presses on towards the goal of that union with God. We would say, then, as Orthodox, that St. Paul was not so much preaching against works of any kind as being efficacious in helping us journey further into our salvation, but rather against works apart from union with and faith in Christ Jesus. Such works apart from Christ, in his estimation, were the very works outlined in the Old Testament Law, which had been made null and void, useless to save since the coming of grace in the person of Christ.

This idea--that men must work within the context of their faith in order to perfect it--is perfectly consonant, then, with St. James' injunction that "faith without works is dead." In the context outlined above, where Christ laid the groundwork for our salvation in His crucified, buried and risen flesh, and we then "fill up in [our] flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church" (Col. 1:24), we see that not only is St. James telling us that by our works we will be justified and seen to be holy in the eyes of those around us (an important part of being a light in this world, cf. Matt. 5:16), but that only such a faith that is active will be salvific for the person who has said faith. Indeed, St. James asks rhetorically if faith, apart from any works, will be enough to save the person who claims the faith (2:14). Obviously, St. James says that no man will be justified by faith alone (v. 24), and that faith is made perfect through the works a man does (v. 22). It is not, therefore, a foregone conclusion to St. James that everyone who professes faith in Christ will automatically perform the works appropriate to such faith. There is no direct link between "those who profess faith in Christ" and "those who actually do what is required of them by God." Many may agree with this at first, but this declaration of St. James would have much to say to those who profess to know with assurance, based on their current profession of faith in Christ, that their eternal destiny is secure. Indeed, our Lord showed through the parable of the two sons of the vine dresser (Matt. 21:28-31) that our initial reaction to something can be misleading, for the end result of our response may be totally contrary to said response. Thus, St. James says, we are only fully justified when we act on what we say we believe--otherwise we only have the theology of demons: assent without deeds. This, both Ss. Paul and James affirm, is why it is absolutely essential to "press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." Christ has laid the groundwork of our salvation out by taking our flesh upon Himself, dying in that flesh, being buried and rising again in that same flesh. The potential to be saved is something no one can take away from us; God's rest spoken of in Hebrews 4 has been forever established, and the apprehension of our race by Christ's victory spoken of in Philippians 3 is now unshakable. Yet it is not enough for that to happen; we must strive to enter the rest, and press on to apprehend the reality which Christ has already made available (but not necessarily actualized) for us.

Let us rejoice, then, in the sure knowledge that heaven has been made available to us, that our path to return to the House of the Father has been cleared, and the doors have been flung open for us. However, "since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of [us] seem to have come short of it." The reality is there, and only by trusting in the steadfastness of that reality fashioned for us by God will we ever be saved, yet an indispensable part of participating in that salvation is our continual response to the grace that makes it so possible. The response is hard, and we are given grace to help in time of need, so that, somehow, we may attain on the last Day to the resurrection of the righteous dead to life everlasting.

(For a more comprehensive analysis of the Orthodox view of asceticism in salvation--one that incorporates the entire New Testament, see Fr. Georges Florovsky's lengthy but excellent essay, "The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament: Reflections on the Critique of the Theology of the Reformation")

Paloozahead...or..."If You've Got Nothing Better to Do..."

And, yes...that's me rockin' in there...


Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

UPDATE!!! - Here's another one of me -- the decidedly mellower side...

COME!

Come, O true light!
Come, O eternal life!
Come, O hidden mystery!
Come, O indescribable treasure!
Come, O ineffable thing!
Come, O inconceivable person!
Come, O endless delight!
Come, O unsetting light!
Come, O true and fervent expectation
of all those who will be saved!
Come, O rising of those who lie down!
Come, O resurrection of the dead!
Come, O powerful one,
who always creates and re-creates and transforms
by your will alone!
Come, O invisible and totally intangible and untouchable!
Come, O you who always remain immobile
and at each moment move all,
and come to us, who lie in hades,
you who are above all heavens.
Come, O desirable and legendary name,
which is completely impossible for us
to express what you are or to know your nature.
Come, O eternal joy!
Come, O unwithering wreath!
Come, O purple of the great king our God!
Come, O crystalline cincture,
studded with precious stones!
Come, O inaccessible sandal!
Come, O royal robe
and truly imperial right hand!
Come, you whom my wretched soul
has desired and does desire!
Come, you who alone go to the lonely
for as you see I am lonely!
Come, you who have separated me from everything
and made me solitary in this world!
Come, you who have become yourself desire in me,
who have made me desire you,
the absolutely inaccessible one!
Come, O my breath and life!
Come, O consolation of my humble soul!
Come, O my joy, my glory, and my endless delight!
I thank you that you have become one spirit with me,
without confusion, without mutation,
without transformation, you the God of all;
and that you have become everything for me,
inexpressible and perfectly gratuitous nourishment,
which ever flows to the lips of my soul
and gushes out into the fountain of my heart,
dazzling garment which burns the demons,
purification which bathes me
with these imperishable and holy tears,
that your presence brings to those whom you visit.
I give you thanks that for me
you have become unsetting light
and non-declining sun;
for you who fill the universe with your glory
have nowhere to hide yourself.
No, you have never hidden yourself from anyone
but we are the ones who always hide from you,
by refusing to go to you;
but then, where would you hide,
you who nowhere find the place of your repose?
Why would you hide,
you who do not turn away from a single creature,
who do not reject a single one?
Today, then, O Master,
come pitch your tent with me;
until the end, make your home
and live continually, inseparably within me,
your slave, O most-kind one,
that I also may find myself again in you,
at my departure from this world
and after my departure may I reign with you,
O God who are above everything.
O Master, stay and do not leave me alone,
so that my enemies,
arriving unexpectedly,
they who are always seeking to devour my soul,
may find you living within me
and that they may take flight,
in defeat, powerless against me,
seeing you, O more powerful than everything,
installed interiorly in the home of my poor soul.
Yea, O Master, just as you remembered me,
when I was in the world
and, in the midst of my ignorance,
you chose me and separated me from this world
and set me before your glorious face,
so now keep me interiorly,
by your dwelling within me,
forever upright, resolute;
that by perpetually seeing you,
I, the corpse, may live;
that by possessing you,
I, the beggar, may always be rich,
richer than kings;
that by eating you and by drinking you,
by putting you on at each moment,
I go from delight to delight
in inexpressible blessings;
for it is You, who are all good and
all glory and all delight
and it is to you,
holy, consubstantial, and life-creating Trinity
that the glory belongs,
you whom all faithful venerate, confess, adore, and serve
in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Saint Symeon The New Theologian (949- 1022)

Stuff to Read, Stuff to Listen to

My sidebar changed a little bit ago; you can read some other stuff I wrote during Lent (it was published on the OC.net forum) on baptism; another one is due to be published either this weekend or early next week on sola scriptura. Check it out if you like.

The Our Life in Christ boys, Steve and Bill, have put up parts one and two of a yet-to-be-finished series on prayer (specifically the Jesus Prayer), which is mostly a lengthy interview Steve did with Fr. Jonah (Paffhausen) of St. John's Monastery in Manton, CA.

Good interviews, imo.

And, yes, before you ask, I AM fond of the hyperlink function, thankyouverymuch...

Bright is the New Clean

The glow of Bright Week--the week following Pascha--has receded; the regular cycles of the Church have resumed (though, mercifully and gloriously, the refrains of "Christ is risen!" still punctuate our liturgical conversations)...'twas strange indeed, after so seemingly long a time, to actually fast on a Wednesday...and not even a total fast, which would hearken even further back to the weeks in which we did so in preparation for reception of the Presanctified Gifts, but rather the "plain," three-squares-of-grains-fruits-and-veggies that mark our weeks during the rest of the year.

And then Vespers tonight...(on a random note, met John's son, which was an unexpected treat)...All of it seems to be settling in to the part of the year that is, ironically enough, actually referred to often as "Ordinary," while still retaining the echoes gleaned from the walls of an empty Tomb. Last week I was wanting to blog about the subject in the title--Bright Week functioning as Clean Week--but was detained...end of grading period, business at home, general feeling of "not now; not yet"...I always tend to think of that "forced silence" as a mercy. Perhaps I should dread the fact that I'm up typing now, but things seem more "open" I suppose...Lord, have mercy...

Clean Week is interesting, because it offers us a chance to engage, wholeheartedly (wholebodily?) in the sweeping clean of the body of the rule of the passions. It's often marked by the total absence of food in monasteries (Monday-Wed. night, at least ime), a bodily discipline which takes away the compliance with the demand of the belly for food, and thus makes us aware of the food the world knows not of: doing the will of our Father in Heaven. Yet, as one is sanctified, so one must be glorified, else a vacuum of sorts is left in place; the cleansing or purging of Clean Week would not only be useless, but even dangerous (I would even go so far as to say demonic) were it not filled and fulfilled with the glory found in the Resurrection of Christ, wherein we wait for our (final) adoption as sons, the redemption of OUR bodies. Fasting without this hope, without this contact with the risen, immortal, God-man, still-circumscribed yet seated at the Father's right hand--such a "fasting" is little more than starvation, and in its weakening of the flesh nothing more than a door for the enemy.

Indeed, they come out not only by fasting, but by prayer and fasting--the former being communion with the One who is risen. Our cries of "Let begin the fast with joy; let us prepare ourselves for spiritual effort. Let us purify our soul and cleanse our flesh; let us abstain from passion as we abstain from food" are effectual because they are done in relation to our desire and need "to see the solemn Passion of Christ our God, and with great spiritual gladness to behold His holy Pascha.”

And so comes Bright Week--the Bridegroom is still with us in these 40 Days!--and the grasping at the mere hem of His garment yields nonetheless the Power that is within Him; our feeble obedience ("When you fast...") meets the harbinger of what will fill the space we clear for Him, and a joy that truly is inexpressible and full of glory (yet not what I'd call emotional) truly is there, a taste of love that makes the darkness of this deathly world the foil it must be seen as, rather than the foreground it's often made out to be. St. Maximos the Confessor said once that this life is a clash of loves; how wonderful that, here in Bright Week we have a divine eros in our incorruptible Bridegroom that is sufficient to clash (and prevail) against the eros of this world.

One last anecdote that will bring this rambling and most likely hopelessly naïve and triumphalistic post to a close: Fr. Tom Hopko once mentioned a young lady who was a member of his parish and confided in him that, at one point while she was away (I think at college?), she was on the verge of engaging in some form of immorality. She refrained from doing so, yet (so she told Father Tom), the reason she refrained was not because she remembered that "The Church said 'no'," or that "The Seventh Commandment said, 'no'," or whatever else...the image that stopped her--and I love the fact that it was a mental icon that did it--was her remembrance of Fr. Tom on Pascha night crying out, "Christ is risen!" At that moment, the pull of what she knew to be darkness and death was too weak to topple the purity, the piercing reality of the blessed cleansing that is the risen Christ.

Prayers for me during this Paschal season are appreciated.

Christ is risen!

Fr. Tom Ponders the Scriptures

Fr. Thomas Hopko, one of my favorite voices in the Church today (if not the favorite), was interviewed (and answered excellently, imo) here about the Church, the Scriptures, Orthodox and Evangelical interaction...good stuff.

Thanks to the newly-illumined Jacob for the heads-up.

¡Cristo ha Resucitado!

The gates of death opened to You from fear, O Lord!
When the guards of hell saw You they were afraid,
for You demolished the gates of brass and smashed the iron chains!
You have led us from the darkness and the shadows of death, and have broken our bonds!

¡Cristo ha resucitado de entre los muertos,
La muerte por la muerte pisoteando,
Y a los que yacían en los sepulcros,
Otorgando la vida!

Following Nonsense

I truly wanted to get the previous post up before Lent, yet I think, as Benjamin of "Unmitigated Nonsense" has done, I will take my leave of absence from the blogosphere a bit earlier than anticipated. Your prayers are most appreciated. A blessed fast to all.

Judgement

I've mentioned before how amazingly spoiled/blessed I am to conduct a church school class of such bright, insightful young people. This past Saturday, I got to (as opposed to "had to") teach a combined class of Jr. High/Sr. High kids, due to the absence of the Sr. High teacher. The topic was appropriate--the Last Judgement--seeing as how yesterday was the day we commemorated it...

"When You, O God, shall come to earth with glory,
all things shall tremble
and the river of fire shall flow before Your judgement seat;
the books shall be opened and the hidden things disclosed!
Then deliver me from the unquenchable fire,
and make me worthy to stand at Your right hand, righteous Judge!

Hardly "God made you special and He loves you very much" subject matter.

We read the gospel reading for the next day (along with this for comparison regarding what "the work of the Lord" is that the sheep will accomplish, as well as the surprised attitude and identity of both the sheep and the goats), and the sense of "the least of these" came out--the poor, the homeless, the sick, the hungry/thirsty, the lonely, the incarcerated--and ideas came up of visiting the sick in our parish, as well as carrying around food or gift cards to restaruants--the latter prompted by a quote from the Didache which speaks of those who take alms without need, how God is mindful of this, and how, to paraphrase Rich M., God hasn't called us to be saviors; He's merely called us to be lovers, regardless of the response of the beloved.

(Funny moment worth mentioning: when I asked, after reading the Didache quote, "Who do you think is a group in society that might take alms without needing them?" I was expecting the automatic answer to be "the homeless/beggars, etc." One young man, however, immediately chimed in with "Televangelists!" Like I said, these kids are insightful, and their comments often poignant...)

Talk of the Resurrection--as we lived, so shall we be judged: in the body. All those impulses which our bodies gave into, nurtured, became enslaved to, will be present with us on the Judgement Day if not put in submission to Christ beforehand. Thus we saw the nature of the Great Fast--"Let us abstain from passions as we abstain from food...let us purify our souls and cleanse our flesh"--which is the calming of our impulses, the breaking of the enslavement thereto, and the attaining of the freedom to approach our God passionlessly (dare I say "apathetically?"), in silence, stillness and worship.

Read the vesperal hymns from the Triodion (the liturgical book containing all the Orthodox songs of Lent) that we would be hearing that night; you can find them in this Word Document, with everything marked with (from the Lenten Triodion) as one of the hymns discussed. I asked them why the tone was so dark, why we should insist on praying in this manner, when the A of G, CofC, etc congregations which were a stone's throw away were so much more "celebratory" and "hopeful"? To prompt some thought, I threw out Our Lord's parable given to the well-to-do invitees at a party (I have to wonder where the Lord sat as He told this). They immediately picked up on the fact that worship, recognizing our individual (and corporate!) sinfulness, as well as our inability to determine, ultimately, whether we will be accounted as a sheep or a goat, (per the two readings linked above), should prompt us to "take the low seat"--presuming nothing, asking only that our Lord have mercy on us and save us, for He is good and loves mankind, and were we to be condemned, it would, we know, be just, if unexpected and tragic. How much better is this mindset that the presumption that one will "be in that number" followed by the literally "rude awakening" that the Universal Resurrection and Judgement will be.

We ended with the corresponding section of the truly extraordinary seasonal standard Great Lent by Fr. Alexander Schmemann, wherein we saw in the Saturday of Souls commemoration of all the departed and its juxtaposition to the Sunday of the Last Judgement an act of love par excellence: that of the connectedness of the Body in its concern one for another--both those in this life and those departed from it--and for said members' growth in grace and ultimate union with God, to be accomplished, finally, before the Great White Throne. Also noted was the difference between the Christian's care for the poor as illustrated in the Sunday Gospel as opposed to our culture's social activism:

"The parable answers: love--not a mere humanitarian concern for abstract justice and the anonymous "poor," but concrete and personal love for the human person, any human person, that God makes me encounter in my life...To a "social activist" the object of love is not "person" but man, an abstract unit of a not less abstract "humanity." But for Christianity, man is "loveable" because he is person."

Our committment to prayer, fasting and almsgiving (an oft-forgotten third aspect of Great Lent), then, is put in stark relief on this much-needed Lord's Day and (I hope) taken to heart by those wonderful youth.

Lord, that we would all take it to heart...

Random Rock: Pachelbel's Canon

Not much to say as of late, so this one's for all my fellow guitar lovers...this kid's got talent.