Commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council

Painting of the First Ecumenical Council by Vasily Surikov

(Source)

The commemoration and praise of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council is held on the Sunday before Pentecost or on the Seventh Sunday after Easter. This Council was held in Nicaea in the year 325 A.D. during the reign of the saintly Emperor Constantine the Great. This Council was convened to eliminate the confusion which Arius, a priest of Alexandria, had created by his false teaching. Namely, he spread the teaching that Christ was created in time by God and that He is not the pre-eternal Son of God, equal in being [essence] with God the Father. Three hundred and eighteen Holy Fathers participated in this Council. The Council condemned the teaching of Arius and Arius, since he refused to repent, was anathematized. The Council finally confirmed the Symbol of Faith [The Creed], which was later augmented at the Second Ecumenical Council [381 A.D.]. Many distinguished saints were present at the First Ecumenical Council among whom the most notable were: St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia, St. Spyridon, St. Athanasius,

St. Acillus, St. Paphnutius, St. James of Nisibis, Macarius of Jerusalem, Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, Eusebius of Caesarea, Metrophanes of Constantinople, John of Persia, Aristarchus of Armenia and many others from the East. From the West, the following were present: Hosius of Cordova, Theophilus the Goth, Cecilianus of Carthage and others. The most important work of this Council was the confirmation of the Symbol of Faith [The Creed]. The Council also established the time of the celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ [Pascha] and issued twenty various canons.

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How Great Was Her Repentance!

(Repost from last year)

St. Cassiane (commemorated on September 7) is one of few female hymnographers in the Church. She was born into an aristocratic family some time before 805 and lived during the height of the iconoclastic period. From an early age she desired to become a nun and by the grace of God managed to pursue the monastic life. She was tonsured around 820 and founded a monastery on one of the seven hills in Constantinople. Despite her responsibilities as abbess, she wrote countless hymns and poems, many of which were sung by her nuns, and eventually incorporated into the Church’s liturgical books.

Many of St. Cassaine’s hymns are famous; one of her most famous hymns is sung during the Matins service of Holy Saturday. It foreshadows Christ’s glorious victory over death: “Weep not for me, O Mother, as you now see me buried whom you conceived within your belly seedlessly, your Son, for I shall rise from the dead and shall be glorified and as God shall in glory unceasingly exult those who longingly praise you in faith…” But the most famous of all her hymns is sung on Holy Tuesday evening. This hymn tells the story of “the sinful woman” from the Gospel of St. Luke and often leaves its many listeners in tears.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining at table in the house of a Pharisee, brought an alabaster of perfumed ointment, and she stood beside His feet behind Him, weeping; and she began to wet His feet with her tears, and was wiping them off again with the hairs of her head, and she was kissing His feet ardently and anointing them with the perfumed ointment (Luke 7: 37-38).

The above woman’s identity is disputed. Some think she is St. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Sts. Martha and Lazarus, others think she is St. Mary Magdalene, still others think she is someone else. We know she cannot be St. Mary of Bethany, however, for her story of anointing Christ’s feet is told in the Gospel of St. Matthew (26:6-7). It is unlikely that she is St. Mary Magdalene, for it would have been unnecessary to keep her name hidden when she is later revealed to be one of Christ’s disciples. No, this sinful woman is unknown, and yet one of the most well remembered penitents in all of history. Her story, as told poetically by the nun and hymnographer Cassiane, paints a story of sin and salvation:

Lord, O Lord, when the woman, who had fallen into many sins, perceived Your divinity she assumed the role of a myrhh-bearing woman, and lamenting brought ointment to anoint You before Your burial. “Woe is me,” she said “for night is forming a frenzy without restraint.” Very dark and moonless, a passionate love affair with sin. “Accept the fountain of my tears, You who draw out from the clouds the water of the sea, take pity on me and incline to the sighing of my heart, You who bowed the heavens by Your ineffable self-emptying. I shall cover your unstained feet with kisses and wipe them dry again with the locks of my hair. Those feet whose sound at twilight in Paradise of old echoed in Eve’s ears whereupon she hid herself in fear. The countless number of my sins and the depth of Your Judgment, who can fathom? O my life-saving Saviour. Do not despise me Your servant since without measure is your mercy!” (To hear this hymn in its original language, go here. Or listen to the English version below.)

What can I say about such spiritual poetry? St. Cassiane saw the sinful woman’s repentance with clear sight. When she read the words in the Gospel she understood their spiritual potency and conveyed it in her hymn. And her poem reveals her own repentant heart. For how can one express the piercing, redemptive pain of repentance without having been wounded by it themselves?

The imagery she uses surpasses any praise I could offer. How profound to equate sin with night, “very dark and moonless” indeed! Not even the moon is able to suffer shedding light upon our sins. And what is the moon? What is its source of light? – the sun. The light of the moon is merely a reflection of the light of the sun, the source of light. Like our Panagia (the All-holy Mother of God), reflecting the light of her Son and our God, how often does she hide her face from us when we sin? Where is the light of God to be found illuminating those dark moments?

Our first mother Eve is woven into the story. She, being naked – no longer wearing the garment of illumination – hid herself in fear. She hid herself because she was guilty of sin. In contrast, the sinful woman reveals her nakedness. She reveals it to Christ, and not just Him alone, but also to the Pharisse (in whose house Christ was staying) and all those present. Why does the one woman hide her nakedness and the other reveal it?

Eve was guilty of sin, and thus, out of shame (not humility) she hid her nakedness, her sin. The sinful woman, burning with repentance and love for our life-saving Saviour hastened to reveal her nakedness so that Christ would be pleased to look upon her sincerity and forgive her sins.

I admire the sinful woman’s bold repentance, to purchase costly ointment, to enter the house of a pharisee with no regard to what others would think of her, and “ardently kiss” the Lord’s feet! What humility, what repentance, what love! I hope that through the prayers of the sinful woman, and those of St. Cassiane the Hymnographer, we might inherit the same humble-mindedness, and celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection with contrite hearts.

May God make us worthy!

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Lazarus Saturday: Baking Lazarakia

For my dear friend Anna who was skeptical of the cuteness of Lazarakia.

I used this recipe and it was much simpler than the one my friends and I have used in the past.

To listen to Matins for St. Lazarus’ feast day check out this video:

Fr. John liturgized for the first time today here in Halifax. It was beautiful, and I brought the Lazarakia – they must have been edible because there were none left – though perhaps they were just being polite to the new “matushka”.

Tonight we’re off to St. John’s, Newfoundland for two weeks of near non-stop services. Pray for us!

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Newly Ordained Priest John: A Living Sacrifice

Your Grace, Reverend Fathers, Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

Today, by the prayers of a great many, I present myself as a candidate for ordination to the Holy Priesthood and thus I stand on the verge of the most fearful of Christian mysteries.

In the words of Saint Paul, a priest is one who acts, “on behalf of men in relation to God,” offering, “gifts and sacrifices for sins.”[1]  Thus, when the very Word of God, the second person of the holy, consubstantial, and life-creating Trinity, took on the fullness of humanity in the Incarnation and then willingly offered himself up to death upon the Cross for the salvation of all humanity he became for us the “Great High Priest”,[2] who had been prefigured in the Old Testament – first in the Levitical priesthood, and then in the mysterious figure of Melchizedek.  And now, “…that the mystery of this Divine priesthood has descended to human agency, it runs not by line of birth, nor is that which flesh and blood created chosen, but without regard to the privilege of paternity and succession by inheritance those men are received as its rulers whom the Holy Ghost prepares.”[3]

The grace of participation in Christ’s own priesthood was first bestowed upon the Apostles, who went forth into the world, baptizing men into his death,[4] absolving their sins in accordance with Christ’s declaration that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatever they would loose on earth would be loosed in heaven,[5] and celebrating the mystery of the Lord’s body and blood, whereby Christ’s death is proclaimed, “until he comes.”[6]  The Apostles, in accordance with the will of God, “prayed and laid their hands,” on men, “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom,”[7] who would succeed them in exercising Christ’s priesthood.  In turn, these bishops – or archpriests – would share a portion of their ministry with the men they ordain to the order of priests, again through the laying on of hands in ordination. 

Much is required of one whom God has called to be, according to Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis, “…the visible organ of the Holy Spirit which is at work invisibly within the Church.”[8]  The picture of the priest is painted vividly within the various facets of our tradition; within the scriptures for example, Saint Paul, who has left us nothing short of a textbook on the priesthood in his epistles to Saints Timothy and Titus, teaches that a candidate for ordination must be “beyond reproach”.[9] 

Saint Paul’s description is then elaborated upon with the texts of our Holy and God-bearing Fathers; in the Celestial Hierarchy attributed to Saint Dionysios the Areopagite,[10] the priest is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the second phase of the spiritual life – that of illumination. In other words, he is to lead men to the very cusp of union with God himself, a responsibility made all the more fearful when one considers the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian, who reminds us that, “It is necessary first to be purified, then to purify; to be made wise, then to make wise; to become illumined, then to illumine”.[11] 

Finally, Saint Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain reminds us that the priest is to be, “…counselor of the people, appointed by God to serve them and to advise them what is the right way and to convince them of this rather than to order them.”[12]  To do this effectively, however, to prove that the Gospel is more than, “plausible words of human wisdom,” he must, again in the view of Saint Gregory the Theologian, either possess the ability to work miracles on account of his holiness, or he must possess deep knowledge of the Church’s holy tradition:   “Just tell me one thing,” he writes, “can you exercise devils, deliver a man from leprosy, or the dead from the tomb; does the paralytic have his limbs restored by you, or does the touch of your hand on the ailing drive out disease?  It is by those means that you will persuade me to hold learning in small esteem.”[13]

Our very dear friends flew up from West Virgina to be with us and Matthew, the sub-deacon you see in the photo, was asked to hold the book for the Bishop during the ordination. It was very significant because my whole family’s conversion to Orthodoxy began when my brother got to know Matthew Long, who was at that time an Orthodox convert (together with his wife) in Nova Scotia.

Firstly, he has provided me with you, Your Grace, who with much trust ordained me to the Holy Diaconate now almost two years ago.  It was by your permission, and with your blessing, that I was allowed to spend this time in the blessed Orthodox country of Greece for my spiritual improvement.  Throughout which time I never felt bereft of your prayers and fatherly care and concern.

I have been given a spiritual father, who has walked the narrow path of Christ’s commandments, and who has thus been for me the surest of guides.

While in Greece, I was blessed to serve at the Church of Saint Anthony the Great in Thessaloniki, under the careful eye of the Emeritus Professor of Patristics, Protopresbyter Theodoros Zisis.  In Fr Theodoros I found one who not only knows the Orthodox tradition, but one who also gives it living expression.

Two particular friends also warrant acknowledgement for their significant roles in today’s events; Fr Dn Matthew Penney, my brother-in-law, and his wife Diakonissa Catherine’s lives have been deeply intertwined with mine in a manner which might only be understood as belonging to God’s Providence.  We were undergraduates together, beginning our Christian struggle at roughly the same time, my wife and I then followed them to Korea where we spent a year together after my Master’s Studies, and then they followed us to Greece where were again together for 3 of our six years.  Each in their own way has been for me both a support and source of humility.

I must thank God for the family environment within which I was raised.  I grew up in a home of boundless love, under the watchful eye of conscientious parents who encouraged me to learn God-pleasing virtues, and who sought to shield me from soul-destroying vices.

Finally, and most importantly, God has given me a wife who is my constant support and inspiration.  She knows the responsibilities of the clergy better than I do myself and is ever exhorting me to live a manner befitting of my calling.  In countless moments of darkness, despair and temptation, it is she who has played the role of consolatrice.

It is impossible, then, that I claim to be anything but the first among sinners, for there is no one who has done less with such a bounty of gifts.  

Adding to my apprehensions are the stern warnings found within our Tradition for those who do not succeed in their high calling, having approached it ill-equipped.  For example, Saint John Chrysostom writes:  “What severe punishment, then, must be expected by one who has not only to render an account of the offenses which he himself has separately committed, but also incurs extreme danger on account of the sins committed by others?”[14],  while Saint Kosmas the Aetolian warns that a priest ought to, “Imagine that the buttons on his stole represent the souls of Christians; should he lose any of these he will answer for it on the day of judgement.”[15] 

Ought I not, then to flee ordination as so many in our Tradition have done?  What do I have to offer to justify my approaching so great a mystery?

All I can offer is my burning desire – now over a decade old – to be a steward of God’s mysteries,[16] to serve Christ as a priest, combined with a firm conviction that my very salvation is bound up with this calling.  It is my belief that in not taking this step, despite my unworthiness, I would be somehow denying that which God has asked of me.  Therefore, it is on this ground, in confidence that God’s, “power is made perfect in weakness”, in prayer to Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and begging the intercessions of the Most Holy Lady Theotokos, of Saint John the Theologian, that I stand now prepared to present myself as “a living sacrifice”[17]: 

May God have mercy on me,

Fathers, brothers, and sisters forgive me,

“Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be unto me according to thy word.”[18]

The fathers at the reception we held afterward.

_____________________________________

[1]               Hebrews 5:1.

[2]               Hebrews 4:14.

[3]               St Leo the Great. Sermon III.  [1].

[4]               Romans 6:3.

[5]               Matthew 18:18.

[6]               1 Corinthians 11:26.

[7]               Acts 6:3-6.

[8]               Pastoral Handbook. 2.[2], 23.

[9]               1 Timothy 3:2.

[10]             The Celestial Hierarchy. 5.1.[7].

[11]             Second Theological Oration. [71].

[12]             Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, 181.

[13]             Poem Twelve:  On Himself and the Bishops. [211-215].

[14]             On the Priesthood.  3.[17].

[15]             Third Teaching, 161.

[16]             1 Corinthians 4:1.

[17]             Romans 12:1.

[18]             Luke 1:38.

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Metropolitan Hierotheos On Anathemas and Acclamations

(The following is taken from Chapter Nine [The "Synodikon of Orthodoxy"] of Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos’ book The Mind of the Orthodox Church)

Anyone who reads the “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” will discover at once that, on the one hand, the heretics are anathematised and on the other hand the holy Fathers and confessors are acclaimed. For the former those present proclaim “anathema” three times, for the latter the people proclaim “eternal memory” three times at each proposal.

Some people are scandalized when they see and hear such action, particularly when they hear “anathema”. They consider it very harsh and say that the spirit of hatred of other doctrines which the Orthodox Church has is being expressed in this way.

But the facts are not interpreted in this way. The anathemas cannot be regarded as philosophical ideas and as states of hatred for other doctrines, but as medical actions. First of all the heretics by the choice which they have made have ended in heresy and in their departing from the teaching of the Church. By using philosophy they have opposed themselves to theology and the Revelation. In this way they demonstrate that they are ill and in reality are cut off from the Church. Then excommunication has the meaning of showing the separation of the heretic from the Church. The holy Fathers by this action of theirs confirm the already existing condition, and besides this, they help the Christians to protect themselves from the heresy-illness.

There is a characteristic extract from the records of the Fourth congress of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. It says there that the holy Fathers fulfil the word of Christ, in order to set the lamp of divine knowledge “on the lampstand” to shine on all those in the house and not to hide it from them “under a bushel”. In this way those who confess the Lord are helped to travel unimpeded the path of salvation. The holy Fathers “push away every error of heretics, and if the rotten limb is incurable they cut it off; and possessing the shovel, they cleanse the threshing-floor; and the grain, or the nourishing word, that which supports the heart of man, they store up in the warehouse of the Catholic Church, but the chaff of the heretical wrong teaching they throw out and burn in unquenchable fire”.

Thus the heretics are incurably rotten limbs of the Church and are therefore cut off from the Body of the Church. The heretics must be examined in this light. In this way one can see the Church’s love for mankind. For, as we have emphasised elsewhere as well, when someone employs erroneous medical teaching, there are no therapeutic results, one can never achieve the cure. The same is true with the doctrines or the erroneous teaching. An erroneous teaching which is based on a wrong methodology can never lead man to deification.

It is in this light that we must examine the fact that the anathemas as well as the acclamations are referred to particular persons, because these particular persons are the ones who shape these teachings and as a result win adherents. And indeed it is characteristic that dreadful epithets are used for the heretics. We must add that the awful epithets which are used must not be examined in a moral sense, but in a theological sense, for many of the leaders of heresies were “moral” men. In what follows I would like to look at a few such epithets and some very indicative characterizations.

The iconoclasts who inveighed against the holy icons are called in the “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” “damaging” to the glory of God, “ventures against the icon and insolent, cowardly and fleeing”. Those who started the heresy of iconoclasm, in the time of the Isaurians were called “sacrilegious and leaders of perdition”. The Gerontios is anathematised for “the poison of its abominable heresy… with its perverse dogmas”. Heresy is an illness and the heretical dogmatic belief is perverse, because it twists the truth of the revelation of the Church. Anathema is given to “the raging gathering against the venerable Icons”.

As we said, all the heretics are mentioned in the “Synodikon of Orthodoxy”. By this it seems, on the one hand, that all the heretics used the same method and in essence coincide with one another, and on the other hand, that both the Seventh Ecumenical Council and what is taken to be the Ninth Ecumenical Council regard themselves as expressing the Church and as a continuation of the earlier Ecumenical Councils. Arios is called a fighter against God and ringleader of the heresies, Peter the Purifier is called mad. The same characterization “mad” is used of many heretics. Of course they are called mad not in a biological sense, but first and foremost in the theological sense. Barlaam, Akindynos, leaders of the anti-hesychastic teachings and all their followers are called an evil gang. By contrast, for the defenders of the orthodox teachings such adjectives as devout, most holy, and unforgettable are used.

And again I must point out that heresy reverses the true way of man’s cure for reaching deification. If we think that purification of the heart, illumination of the nous is therapy in order for man to take the path to deification, then we understand that heresy reverses this way and leaves man permanently without a cure, without hope of cure and salvation.

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“Good War” and “Bad Peace”: Love According to the Church

(A translated excerpt from the second chapter of Protopresbyter Theodore Zisis’ book Inter-religious Gatherings: A Denial of the Gospel and an Insult to the Holy Martyrs)

Ecumenistic and Syncretistic attempts to define the love which we ought to have for others demonstrate a lack of discernment and confuse that which is clear – that is to say, the unanimous view of the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers.  It is certainly true that God is Love and that He shows this love to all, both the righteous and the sinful, and it is also certainly true that this universal, all-embracing love ought to be manifested in our lives since this is the chief mark of a Christian.  This love, however, must not contradict truth and piety – it must be united to the truth – for any other love is false and hypocritical.  It must embrace its neighbour not solely as a bodily, biological being, but as a spiritual entity; it must embrace him with a view to eternity, and must be concerned above all for eternal things and not for worldly and transient things.  This love must, then, concern itself with the salvation of the other.

Since salvation cannot be achieved when one is found in delusion and heresy (and particularly if one remains there egotistically), the Church, following the example of Christ and the Apostles and acting out of love, not hatred, prohibits communion with those in heresy, thereby pedagogically leading them to a consciousness of their delusion while at the same time protecting others.  It is, then, out of love for those who have fallen into heresy that we deride heresy and delusion, which are impersonal, while we manifest this derision with pain of soul.   The sweet and gentle Jesus Himself – the friend of harlots and tax collectors, the Prince of Peace and love – took a whip and drove from the temple those who had changed it into a profiteering venture, just as the Pope has twisted the spiritual character of the Church, changing it into a worldly, economic power…

Let us stop hiding other agendas behind the word ‘love’ – agendas which cannot be reconciled with the word itself.  A wide variety of ways exist for us to exercise our love. We can feed those who hunger, clothe the naked, give hospitality to foreigners, and visit those in prison and the sick.[1]  We will not change the Gospel and the Holy Canons which teach us not to associate with heretics.  Are we the ones who are to teach Christ and the saints what love is?  The saints are the ones who know how to define these things: we are the ones who confuse them.  And this, the highest of all virtues!  On the basis of this virtue, then, the Church teaches that a “good war” exists, when it is waged against the impious, heretics and blasphemers.

Similarly, “bad peace” exists when it comes from an indifference and contempt of faith and piety.  This “good war” for virtue and piety was taught by Christ Himself when he declared that the Gospel will divide and distinguish men.  Those who follow Him must be ready to confront hostility even within one’s own family.  We must not deny Christ, the Truth, simply to avoid conflict which in this case is feigned and false since it does not include the agreement on the most important issues, that is, of spiritual things.  In what other way are we to interpret Christ’s saying:  “Never think that I came to cast peace on earth; I came not to cast peace, but a sword.  For I came to divide in two a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies shall be those of his own household”?[2]

Saint John Chrysostom says that peace and harmony are not always good when these are directed against God, fostering vice and sin.  For true peace to prevail the diseased portion must be cut off, that which rebels must be set apart.  God wants the harmony of all with piety as the foundation.  When men are irreverent, they provoke war:  “Since the physician too in this way preserves the rest of the body, when he amputates the incurable part; and the General, when he has brought to a separation them that were agreed in mischief. Thus it came to pass also in the case of that famous tower [Babel]; for their evil peace was ended by their good discord, and peace made thereby.”[3]  Saint Gregory the Theologian praises the clear and brazen “good war” even against clergy when it comes to matters of the faith.  He numbers himself among the combatants and he summarizes this with his well-known saying concerning “good war” and “bad peace”:  “Yea! Would that I were one of those who contend and incur hatred for the truth’s sake: or rather, I can boast of being one of them. For better is a laudable war than a peace which severs a man from God.”[4]  Therefore, love without piety and truth is false, pseudo-love.

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[1]               Matthew 25:34-36.

[2]               Matthew 10:34-36.

[3]               [T.N.]  Chrysostom. Homilies on Matthew. 35.[1].

[4]               Gregory the Theologian.  Oration 2. [2].

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Sunday of Orthodoxy and A Week of Posts Celebrating the Truth of our Faith

Romania

Today, the first Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy – often called the Victory of Orthodoxy – in which we commemorate the re-installment of holy icons after 100 years of the heresy of iconoclasm. Today we celebrate the victory of truth over falsehood.

The Church prescribes anathemas to be read out today in Orthodox parishes and monasteries against many and various false teachings (heresies) concerning Christ, the Church, the Godhead, the Mother of God, etc. These anathemas are said not out of hatred, but love. All persons and teachings that preach falsehood and turn others away from the Truth fight not only against truth but against love. And so, the Church in her great wisdom, announces the names and heresies of those who have turned away from Christ, His truth and His love, those who have separated themselves from God.

Unfortunately in our modern climate of syncriticism, such traditions, practices and teachings are swept under the rug. These days we have somehow gotten the idea that we have more love than the Fathers of the Church, than Christ Himself who said: “I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” Christ, the true Light came to enlighten “every man that cometh into the world.”  But unfortunately “the light shineth in darkness” and the darkness comprehends it not.

Some, however, do indeed comprehend the Light and work to share it with us, to help enlighten us and draw us out of the darkness of unbelief and false doctrine. And since the Church also prescribes the reading and remembrance of a long list of confessors of the Faith today I want to take this week to honour such ones. Everyday this week I will post an excerpt from an article or book concerning false teachings and the Church’s victory over heresy. These posts are meant to honour the Orthodox faith, explain some difficult or uncomfortable views on heresy, and to be a sort of proverbial “voice in the wilderness” proclaiming  “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God”.

Abba Agathon being virtuous.

It is said concerning Abba Agathon that some monks came to find him, having heard tell of his great discernment. Wanting to see if he would lose his temper, they said to him, “Aren’t you that Agathon who is said to be a fornicator and a proud man?” “Yes, it is very true,” he answered. They resumed, “Aren’t you that Agathon who is always talking nonsense?” “I am.” Again they said, “Aren’t you Agathon the heretic?” But at that he replied, “I am not a heretic.” So they asked him, “Tell us why you accepted everything we cast at you, but repudiated this last insult.” He replied, “The first accusations I take to myself, for that is good for my soul. But heresy is separation from God. Now I have no wish to be separated from God.” At this saying they were astonished at his discernment and returned, edified.

(From The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG, Cistercian Publications, 1984).

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Observing the Three-Day (A Repost)

(Originally posted here last year)

Fr. Joahcim of Mt. Athos

I don’t know the practices and customs of other Orthodox countries, but in Greece many laity try to observe what is called the “three-day” (trimero), the first three days of Great Lent, by abstaining from all food and drink. From what I gather it is a custom always practiced in Orthodox monasteries. I’ve been told it used to be kept for the first six days in earlier times.

The idea behind it is to enter the Fast as strictly as possible, fasting from all food and drink the first three days then on Wednesday communing at the first Pre-sanctified Liturgy of Great Lent. In Greece the Pre-sanctified Liturgies are celebrated on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

For those who are unable to abstain from all food and drink I know it is also customary to eat flat bread (something the bakers make special for “Kathara Devtera”, Clean Monday) and halva. Others who try to keep the three-day a bit more strictly eat some nuts and drink some juice in the evenings. Others fast from food but take drink throughout the three days. I’ve heard that it is common to at very least not eat cooked food on Clean Monday, (hence the flat bread and halva). I suppose people fast as strictly as their strength and health allows them. But as our priest said this morning, “For those who can keep the ‘three-day’ they will find it makes the rest of the Fast much more manageable.”

However you observe the first three days of the Great Fast I wish you all good strength and a productive Lent! May we contend well so that we will be found worthy to ascend with Christ to Golgotha, and see His Glorious Resurrection!

And on this day of Forgiveness Sunday I’d like to take the chance to say forgive me.

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Interview with Matushka Vera Serdyuk (Part Two)

(Source)

Readiness and Respect as the Prerequisites of a Happy Family

It may appear quite obvious but a man and woman who decide to marry must be mature and ready to discuss everything with one another. Ready to be happy in spite of the drawbacks of their spouses. Ready to accept as many children as God sends them (an average woman who does not use contraception is able to give birth to no more than five or six children. This number is quite easily imaginable. The exclamation, “So what?! Will I have to deliver ALL those babies?” reveals one’s fear that “all children” means fifteen, thirty, or fifty kids. This has no bearing on reality and the common sense.)

One has to practise self-control, good manners, respect towards others (spouses and kinds), and a good sense of humour (for humility). One has to be ready to treat their spouse as their best friend! One has to be ready to discuss very personal issues, to tell their spouse about their pain and expectations. After all, one should be ready to be loyal to their spouse like to God.

On faith in God and the image of a “modern day matushka/papadhia”

I cannot tell you when I became a believer. I continue to grow in my faith, little by little. My family has always been Christian. My great-grandmother has prayed during her entire life, my grandmother hid icons in a shelf from the authorities, our parish priest would often come to our house to have lunch with us. Even now, I have these pangs of shame when I remember how he reacted to my teenage-style short mini-skirt. When I was thirteen, my father started going to church actively, and I followed him. I simply started to sing in the church choir and continued to do that until I got my maternity leave.

Christianity helps me to remain a normal decent person. It allows me not to plunge deep into filth and sin, into something that makes you hate yourself afterwards. I remember how I felt ashamed that I committed a sin when I was just five years old and how I asked God and my Guardian Angel to forgive me. My faith helps me not to reconcile with my inclination to sin. It also helps me not to be afraid of death. When you have given birth to four children, you somehow begin to understand that the border between the world of the dead and the world of the living is very thin. My faith helps me in my pro-life activities to accept everything as it is, without anger and with humility. I understand than an individual who is not guided by God is capable of such lawless actions and of such devilishly logical self-indulgence that it is meaningless to blame him or her. When I face this inhumane infanticide machine as a volunteer, I always feel how weak I am and how badly I need constant prayer, confession and communion.

As far as helping the people around us is concerned… I will reveal no secret that often volunteers help themselves by helping others. They help themselves to remain human, to overcome their personal crises and to redeem their sins. An individual cannot survive without doing good to people from outside of their families. Otherwise, s/he loses the meaning of his/her life and ceases to feel its taste.

I often disappoint people. They may see me on TV or hear that Matushka Vera is such-and-such: she has many children, she wrote a book and she runs a charity. They imagine a super-matushka but when they meet me, they see a fat and rough woman with abrupt speech. They are surprised, “We thought you’d teach us how to be superwomen!” I’m just a common woman. It is just that I was brought up in a family of a journalist and a teacher, that is why I teach and write.

I do things that are interesting to me. I find answers to my own questions when I support other mothers. A woman who stays on such a long maternal leave as I do cannot wait until it is over in order to fulfil her dreams. I have to learn to combine everything. Praise the Lord, I have incredible parents and a remarkable husband who take part in caring for the children (by the way, a woman has to be humble and grateful for that). “There is no big oak tree with small roots!” it is said.

From my studies as a film director, I picked up “the circles of attention”: it’s when you control several circles at the same time (such as, your private life, your closest relatives and friends, the more remote ones…) By the way, this is a markedly feminine quality so women are cut out to be mothers of large families and to take care of lots of children without damage to their mental health. A mother’s work is often compared to the work of a long-haul driver, with one difference: a mother has no days off and no breaks for a decent nap. One has to bear this in mind and sympathize with all mothers…

I withdrew my papers from the graduate school at the university last week. It was a little sad because it is unpleasant to feel like a “house hen”. As far as the occupation of a priest’s wife is concerned… I think that only a sinful profession does not suit her. I know many priest’s wifes: they are directors, public servants, artists, and simply charming women (it is sometimes harder to be a charming woman than to be a lawmaker). I think that the most important characteristic of a matushka is piety and love and respect towards her husband. Well, the same holds true for every good wife. If she is merciful in addition to all that, then she is certainly an ideal matushka. What is a “modern” priest’s wife (matushka)? Short-haired, on high heels and driving a car? Well, I am afraid to drive, I do not wear high heels because of my constitution, I cut my long hair after I gave birth to my third baby because it receded. So you are welcome to choose for yourself whether I am a modern or not-so-modern type of a priest’s wife. There are matushkas who are more modern than I am.

In the future, I plan to be working on several projects: we are going to develop the ministry we currently do – this Centre for support of families and mothers “Matulia”. I would also like to publish two new books but I do not want to reveal anything about them now because they are not ready yet.

Interview by Christina Odesenko

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Interview with Matushka Vera, Founder of “Matulia” (Part One)

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Interview with Matushka Vera Serdyuk

Every woman dreams about a good and happy family. But are we always ready for the problems that might arise? In the modern world, even the conception and birth of a child may turn out to be a serious problem…

The Centre for Support of Families and Mothers “Matulia” provides assistance to every pregnant woman in times of despair when no one else supports her. The head of this centre, Matushka Vera Serdyuk, told us about the problems that young families and pregnant women have to face, provided an insight into the history of the centre and gave her own definition of the term “an Orthodox priest’s wife of today.”

On the Idea to Establish the Centre and the Stereotypes of the Modern Society

By establishing the centre “Matulia”, I helped myself. I was in a severe crisis after I had given birth to a child, I was simply shattered by that drastic change of my entire life. I was looking for somewhere I could get understanding and support. I did not find such a place so I had to establish one. “Matulia” does not only help the pregnant women get over their crises, we do not only distribute baby carts and beds, nor do we only explain that one should protect her child and not murder him/her. Well, all this is a part of our ministry but our goal encompasses much more: we would like to help re-create the culture of maternal love and care, and assist women who are willing to implement this culture in their lives.

I did not avoid the temptation of trying to squeeze mothers into the totally artificial schemes of success stories, with constant demonstration of love and affection towards their children. When such a perfectionist-type mother faces the harsh reality and figures out that she is not as loving and tender as she used to imagine, she often becomes disappointed. There are some women who are simply unable to take care of their newborn babies (such as, for instance, mothers who suffer from neurosis or schizophrenia). Such women need support of their families, they need enough sleep and might even consider stopping of breastfeeding.

For some reason, our society thinks that “motherhood is holy” but nobody thinks that father-hood or brother-hood or grandmother-hood is holy. As if a woman automatically becomes a saint as soon as she gives birth to a baby. This is a grave mistake. Women look for that alleged “holiness” and that immense love towards children within their hearts – and they cannot find it, and they are upset. Nobody tells them that love is not always comfortable, that children are not flowers or angels but a thorny path instead. See what Apostle Paul says about motherhood, “she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1 Tim. 2:15). Some scholars interpret this as “notwithstanding her childbearing” rather than “thanks to childbearing”. The most important is the second part of this verse about faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

At the same time, our society has unnecessarily high expectations on the material well-being of the family which plans to have a baby. Women often choose abortion because, “I’ll be unable to provide higher education for my child when s/he is 17,” or, “… I want my child to have cool toys and eat bananas every day but now I cannot afford that.” People are afraid to have children because they fear poverty. The would-be mothers are afraid that they will be abandoned by their boyfriends/bridegrooms/husbands. We teach them how to spare and distribute means and resources, and how to strengthen their relationships with their husbands. Sometimes they succeed. The problem is that in the majority of the cases, we work with women who are passive and weak, irresponsible or co-dependent. Such women need to be inspired to believe that their own strength and their own choices do matter, and that they are capable of choosing their own life and bearing the burden of motherhood.

On Volunteers

As far as planning and management of workforce is concerned, our centre has almost absolute self-organisation. Every volunteer usually has his or her own vision of what is to be done. Some pray, some provide advice to the pregnant women, some print posters and brochures and distribute them in clinics, some sort and pack humanitarian aid for the mothers, and some deliver this aid to their homes.

Our volunteers are remarkable people! They are very successful in their professional fields and at the same time eager to help rescue the lives of the unborn kids. I am fond of our counsellors because they have managed not only to help many pregnant women but also to find mutual understanding with the medical staff, which is a difficult task. Some of our volunteers are truly irreplaceable as lecturers, or comforters, or organisers. For example, when I was thinking how to provide all prenatal clinics with brochures and booklets, one volunteer typeset and printed it, then drove to each of the thirty-three clinics and finally found helpers to restore the supply of the booklets when the clinics run out of them. Our volunteers also created a handout with prayers “For the Life’s Sake” for reading of the Incessant Psalter; our psychologists created a study course for counsellors and teach them during seminars. All this is possible because we do it for God’s sake. “Deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death forbear not to deliver.” (Prov. 24:11). There’s a war going on for our souls and the souls of our kids, for the survival of our country and our faith. I am glad that more and more people come to realise that.

Material Help and Seminars for Young Parents

Material assistance is not the most important thing that we do, it is just sort of a bonus to the feeling that all problems may be resolved (even though the entire ‘crisis apartment’ is packed with that material aid). The crisis apartment is a small shelter where a mother can stay for some time if she has nowhere to go – and we have already encountered cases like that!

We also have the warehouse of humanitarian aid and print handouts there. By the way, sometimes we encounter women who think that we owe them something. Once we received a call from a young mother who said, “So what? You convinced me not to make abortion but now, who’s going to help me?” “What do you need?” “I need a baby cart, but it must be new so that I would not be ashamed of riding it…”

However, most of the women we care for are simply very unhappy and weak. If we had a patriarchal society where women are surrounded with men’s care and protection, where every pregnancy is a joyful event (because each child is a member of a clan), where a new mother is never left alone without love and care, would we ever have such problems with demography?

This is why the most important point that we always try to get across to the youth: “You guys ought to be real men, you should not allow anyone to harm your woman and your child, you should never abandon them,” and as far as girls are concerned, we always speak about chastity, moral purity and the dignity of a woman. And only in the second place we speak about demographic gap and that it is normal to have many children.

By the way, there is nothing more dangerous for the pro-life worldview than the stereotype that a ‘normal’ family must have no more than two kids. Neither young families, nor their parents are ready to embrace the fact that a physically fit couple can give birth to more than two children. Adolescents do not readily accept the fact that “children are a natural and expected result of a sexual intercourse.” There is a split in the perception of love, loyalty, childbirth, and sexual relations. For modern people, sexual intercourse is possible even outside of the bonds of marriage (fornication), a child may be born without a father, or even without a mother and without sexual intercourse (in vitro fertilization and surrogacy). We aim at re-uniting these concepts and reminding the society about God’s plan for families, children and love.

We suggest an alternative to the IVF (which is, incidentally, unacceptable from the point of view of the Christian faith because it involves murder of several brothers and sisters of the new baby) for low-fertility couple: a method of pregnancy identification which is 88 per cent effective, according not only to our observations but also to the WHO data!

We also tell our audience about the family hierarchy, about the right place for the husband, the wife and the children according to the teaching of the Church, about God’s commandments with regard to parenthood.

It is forbidden to speak openly about God’s commandments in public schools. This is why we have designed a study plan “Secrets of a Happy Family” with an emphasis on the traditional Belarusian culture where there is plenty of sayings and fairy tales about respect to one’s parents, obedience to one’s husband and premarital chastity. The problem is that teenagers often reject it because they have already been brainwashed, not only by aggressive mass media but also by their own parents. The majority of family scenarios include emphasis on money, on “having fun while you’re single” (forgetting about one’s responsibility for the conceived child), on “there’s going to be many boyfriends/girlfriends like him/her” (instead of faithfulness and chastity), on “all women make abortions, and you’re no exception” (no comments!) and “if you are pregnant, I’ll kill you” or “our sonny is good, it’s your girl who is immoral, and it’s not his child, after all.” We have to do something about it. Girls often come to our volunteers after the lectures and say that the volunteers of Matulia were the first adults who told them about chastity and loyalty as the rule and an essential condition of a happy marriage.

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