Right Glory

February 5, 2012 - Sunday of Departed Priests

2012-02-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

February-5: Sunday of All Departed Priests

Evening : St.Matthew 25:13-30 , Morning :St.Luke19:11-28

Before Holy Qurbana
Numbers 20:23-29 ,Deuteronomy 34 :1-8 ,Isaiah65:13-20

Holy Qurbana
Acts 20:26-38 ,I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 ,St.Matthew 24:42-51

From the Nativity , we moved to Sundays of the Theophany with the last Sunday being how God does not reveal Him self if we are not cooperating with His grace and working with Him. With the Ninevah lent, we moved towards Holy Lent and Pascha (Easter) . This Sunday , May we remember in Holy Qurbana all departed Fathers and seek their prayers. Our Achen told today the the Church commemorate the two Sundays the Departed Priests amd all faithful predominantly before the Holy Lenso that we seek their solace as we go along with them to battle during Holy Lent.

Some Fathers that come to immediate mind

Saints:- Saint Severus of Antioch, St. Gregorios of Parumala , Saint Geevarghese Mar Dionysius
Departed Bishops of Malankara :Bishop Philoxenos (Delhi), Bishop Makarios, Paulos Mar Gregorios
Departed Priests : V.C Samuel of Blessed Memory, Fr. P.C Eapen and Fr. Thomas Mundukuhy from ICON days , Our Kottathuvila Achen of Alleppey

Nativity Thoughts

2011-12-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Nativity Thoughts - Christ is Born! Glorify Him!!

Today we join together with the Church to glorify and honour and commemorate the birth of Him our God. Our Church following the Syrian tradition brought to India prescribe the fast of 25 days and come together as Church and celebrate the feast of Nativity.

Scripture Readings
Evening: St. John 1: 1-18
By the Fire Pit: Hebrew 1:1-12, St. Luke 2:1-14
Morning: St. Luke 2:15 -20
Before Holy Qurbana: Genesis 21: 1-8, Micah 5: 1-8, Isaiah 9:1-7
Holy Qurbana: 1 John 1:1-10, Galatians 3:23- 4:7, St. Mathew 2:1-12

Once again, I am amazed at how wonderfully how the Fathers have arranged the Scripture readings noting for the first time this year how the very essence of the theology of Incarnation is brought out through the Gospel and the Epistle reading from St. John the Theologian. Need to remind myself to memorize it.

Faithfulness

As we go forward to another year, a reminder that strikes out is need to remain faithful and be a channel for this generation to reflect and live out the teachings now as the fathers have proclaimed and lived in the past. This year, I was blessed to read of how the Church had used this wonderful Anaphora of St. Timothy of Alexandria in the Liturgy to teach and affirm its Christology against Chalcedon. Pray it will be used by each of us to know whom we believe

“In truth you are Holy and Blessed by all, O God the Father, and Holy and Blessed by all is your Only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born ineffably before the world, who eternally holds the throne at the right hand side of your majesty, and your Holy Spirit who is Holy and Blessed by all, through whom all things of earth and heaven are sanctified.
And those who are near to you in Heaven offer glory and honour, to your name and [you are] honoured by all, O King of the worlds. We therefore, your servants, [who have] many sins, while answering with the heavenly armies, We praise, glorify, and bless and ask you for mercy - Our Savior and God, Have mercy upon us, Reveal your merciful face to us and save us. For you are the one who had mercy upon our race and sent your only begotten Son, Lord, who is our Saviour Jesus Christ, Illuminator, Benefactor and Redeemer of our souls and bodies, Who was proclaimed by His prophets in the ancient days, when He was about to dwell among us, came in the end of time and took Himself our humanity ; the Word became flesh; He neither took change nor alteration, but by the Holy Spirit He was conceived by Mary , The Ever Virgin and Holy Mother of God. He took a body having a rational and intelligent soul, in True and Hypostatic unity, which was not an imaginary apparition. Without Separation, or Division, He truly took a human Body and Soul and all that a man has and in all things He resembled us except Sin. He did not merely dwell among men, but while being perfectly God the Word, He perfectly took flesh and became man. His Divinity did not become Humanity, but He remained in His Divinity and took completely the Human nature. He was not two, but One King, One Christ, One Lord, One God the Word Incarnated who is revealed to us. He dwelt among men, affirmed the earth and blessed it; He restrained the waves of the sea. He was known with His deeds, revealed in power, conquered the human passions and put an end to the transgressions of the law, converted the erring, and destroyed the power of death from us, which had man in the beginning and showed Him to be invincible in the end. Through the [human] body He caught hold of [death] and that which was caught was destroyed. Through His death, he restored the glory of man who was destitute from glory.”

Belief

This year with my usual critical view of Christmas programs only for parents using as opportunity to mere showing off the talents of children and the boisterous and stylish, I am being led to be more and work together to understanding and caring within the family and foster such thoughts to the Church as a whole.
I believe a part of it is the reminder sent through this wonderful prayer sent by my brother and the message of the Nativity Homily by Fr. Binny Kuruvilla to go even beyond that is our calling.

“Heavenly Father, I know that I have sinned against you and that my sins separate me from you. I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my sinful past and turn to you for forgiveness. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died for my sins, that He was raised from the dead and is alive. I invite Jesus to become my Savior and the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey you and to convict me when I sin. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.”

“For a Christian the Nativity of Christ is not limited to December 25, but each day and every moment that we allow Christ in our lives as affirmed by Gospel reading to “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord “This was the experience of the wise men and witness of the Church who allowed to be guided to Him unlike King Herod.

I pray this will be the experience of each of us and in all our encounters

Feast of Nativity - 2011

West Syrian Liturgical Theology by Fr. Baby Varghese - Book review

2011-04-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

West Syrian Liturgical Theology by Fr. Baby Varghese - Book review

This book is so useful in my eyes to the Church in India than Fr. Alexander Schmemann of eternal memory could write for the OCA.

It made me realize how sinful as a people we the two factions of Malankara with the only difference being who they chose as their Prelate - The Patriach at Syria or the Catholicose of the East in India have become. Our Church from 16th Century atleast could have put to use wonderful experience of the Syrian Church in Liturgy which Fr. Baby Varghese portrays wonderfully in this book. The future on how we live as Church is up to us and pray this book encourages.

For reflection a quote from Introduction and Concluding chapters of the book

" The West Syrian fathers have not given a definition of liturgy. Perhaps it is felt unnecessary to define something self evident, and so intimate to one's experience. For the West Syrians, worship is the vocation of man, the very purpose for which he was created. He was created to live in communion with God, as a liturgical being . This idea is fundamental to understanding the meaning of leitourgia, as lived and expressed by the West Syrian tradition. Liturgy is not something external to Christian witness. It is not an accessory, but an essential element of Christian tradition. It is the very expression of Christian identity. According to West Syrians , to be a Christian means to be a liturgical being. Worship is not a supplementary or practical discipline in the life of a Christian. It is the realization of his vocation.."

" Liturgy is an eschatological act, for the ultimate unity of all in Christ has been manifested in it. Christian eschatology is not future-oriented. It implies that something has been ' restored' in Christ and that it bears the presence of the Spirit. Church and its liturgy are eschatological,because they imply a new relationship in Christ sealed with the permanent presence of the Spirit. It is the presence of the Spirit - a unique characteristic of Christian liturgy,according to the New Testament - that makes liturgy an eschatological act. It is an act in Christ, in the Spirit - an act of the new humanity. Liturgical assembly manifests the Church as the community that incorporates the entire creation,the entire culture and brings them back to God. It manifests the ultimate destiny of each and everything in relation to Kingdom of God. Material objects,gestures, movements,music,art,architecture,poetry and literature serve as 'symbols that reveal the Creator and His infinite wisdom. Liturgy express a whole network of relationships. It celebrates the interdependence and interrelatedness of God, man and the world. The task of liturgical theology is precisely to bring out the implications of these relationships in man's search for the meaning of life "

North America Seminary Education , Culture and Indian Church

2011-01-28T02:00:00.000-08:00

This posting is an offshoot from the recent postings in ICON on aspiring priests being educated in Eastern Orthodox seminaries and influence on future of the Indian Orthodox Church.

First and foremost on some things that I consider to focus for the basis of futher discussion.

1. Our faith is that by baptism by an Indian Orthodox priest and by that first communion thereafter , we each have become part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

2. The Indian Orthodox Church with it's prelate the Catholicose of the East in Devalokam , founded by St. Thomas, with it's Catholicate established in 1912 , presently follows a major portion of liturgical forms of worship adopted from the contact with the Syrian Orthodox Church since 17th Century.

3. There existed some forms of worship used by the Church in India prior to the 17th Century unique to the Kerala culture and traditions that the Church adapted of which a few is being used by us presently like Kaiasthuri, Manthrakodi, Minu kettu etc.

4. The ancient communities in the mediteerenian area had a unique opportunity of being in close proximity , constant interaction due to trade and within the same empire. The Indian Church , unlike the Syrian , Coptic , Ethiopian , or Armenian Church , was not part of the Byzantine empire or the Mediteranian locale where the Ecumenical Councils of the Church were held . It has not played an active part prior to 17th Century , in the development of the Orthodox Theology when it was formulated in the three Councils or it's defence against the innovation perceived then against council of Chalcedon on the One Incarnate Nature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ( In short we got to know of Chalcedon after 17th Century interaction with the Syrian Church).

5. In the development of the two Christian communities in the immediate two centuries after the council of Chalcedon , amidst local persecutions ,attempts were made by each to explain their position as right and failure to come to consensus resulted in each calling the other as heretics.

6. The naming of Christian communities as Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox is a development in the last two centuries to show the distinction between those who accept the existence of Seven (7) Councils as Ecumenical including the council of Chalcedon and those who consider only the first three councils of Nicea, Constantinopole and Ephesius. This is the situation that the Indian Orthodox Church finds itself ifacing the Eastern orthodox and others with whom we share communion with called the Oriental Orthodox in 20th Century.

7. The life of the Church as examplified by the Church Fathers common to all be they Syrian, Armenian etc. is not only be confessing in words its theology but by living the Orthodox Christian Faith. (( Here clarity required - Orthodox is referred to it as Right Glory (God's glory) or Right Worship))

8. The Indian Church unlike the others that we share in communion did not have a history of martyrs and suffering from the first Centuries till it's major persecution from others who consider themselves as Christians - the Portuguese Roman catholics and have no record of calendar of saints like the Coptic , Syrian Church or the Ethiopian Church have. ( In fact these Calendars were edifying tools to guide members of the Church of the path followed by others previously to emulate ) . It should not be away from our focus that potential of persecution is yet to come for us if it is for God's glory through us.

9. It took the Orthodox community as a whole centuries for the Liturgical forms and Worship amidst differing situations in the past to develop prior to us the Indian Church adapted from the Syrian Church. Similarly it took centuries for the forms used by the Armenian , Coptic or Ethiopian Church for them to use it like they do now in their Church life. This is applicable to the Greek or the Russian Church which are the bulk of the Eastern Orthodox community.

10. Orthodox Christian communities in the past has always exercised the independent freedom on how it used the knowledge of the faith they have gained from others to edify the community as a whole to live out the Orthodox Christian faith. It is recorded that classical Greek Christian Scripture used to preach in one community were also used the other communities and each community had translated the texts for it's common people to understand . The forms of worship were different but the essence of faith remained un changed and coming to consensus was the norm and faith that the Holy spirit is guiding the Church to fulfill it's destiny.

Examples :

-Ethiopian Church while it has close connnection to Coptic Church has developed their form of worship in their native language , musical instrumentals adapated to glorify God as part of the liturgy.

- Russian church which never knew of Orthodoxy of any form till Prince Vladimir sent emmisaries in 10th Century A.D to Greece has adapted the forms they received specific to produce Holy men like St. Seraphim of Sarov and living it out from with the persecutions of communism.

- The OCA ( Orthodox church in America) which came about an offshoot from the Russian church during communism has adapted to translate the Russian liturgy ( St. John Chrysostoum Liturgy which has found it's way to Russia from Greece and thereafter to U.S) and attracted quite a few biased to western prostestant thought to turn to it , formed the St. Vladimir Seminary ( One of the seminaries where our aspiring priests in U.S have been accused ofbeing educated in Eastern Orthodox than the Oriental Orthodox or Indian Orthodox )

11. Due to it's significance to the topic , not to mention to above list is our Indian Orthodox Church in India (mostly isolated to state of Kerala and migrants from Kerala to other places thereof) which has in the last two centuries translated a lot of the Syrian prayers into native language of Malyalam , building up a community since 1912 that has a potential to grow in glory and witness to the present time and facing up to heresies and persecutions and produce martyrs ( here clarification martyrdom does not signify only by dying to torture at hands as shown by early Christians facing up to Romans , but no to sin , no to focus on a life away from God prayer worship amidst the many distractions including blogs and social media )

12. The community formed from Indian Orthodox Church in America , it's interaction with the Culture it finds itself in North America based on western model should be seen as unique and focus should not turn from these which I consider important.

-It's interaction with the Easten Orthodox in America , -Education by teaching by many of Eastern Orthodox in America noted in the native English language publications as only the Orthodox Christian community which has held it's faith since first century and preached in pulpit of the Atar by their priests ( knowingly or unknowingly the ancient Churches like Syrian Orthodox Church , Coptic Armenian or Ethiopian are potrayed as either heretical or trying to get in communion with them and one should be kind to them and try to offer help to accomodate them) , welcoming with open arms immigrant community to join them in worship and not explaining that there are theological differences and that some whom they consider as saints are labelled as heretics or robbers.

- Mind set of the Immigrant Indian Orthodox community of the past in North America - a) Not missionarries ,but first priority as who feel lost missing the support system of Church and Culture in India , looking to hold on to something of the past establishing congreggations and parishes with liturgy services in Malyalam . b) The ignorance of not knowing indepth the theology or the practise of the Orthodox Christian faith of merely having continued in simplicity the tradition common in India. c) Fear of losing children as they grow up using predominantly English language normally outside , being exposed to the fast western culture - forcing to attempting to hold back change by actually changing themselves using translations of liturgical books in English for Qurbana and singing in Malyalam tunes ( Emphasis so much on tunes and not meaning - The words and tune together to uplift the worshipping community as a whole and each individual as a participant was what the ancients prescribed and proved) d) The furstations by nuances of human fraility of pride , arguments on who should be Secretary , are they Jacobites will our church building be taken away and infighting within parish leading some youth brought up in America thinking they don't belong here and/or from pride again impatient sighs -Oh these are ignorant people and this is my Church and I must do something to change like going to Eastern Orthodox seminary or parishes to learn and help it ( An anology that comes to mind would be like some Orthodox Christians in India following a pattern without actually understanding or participating in worship jumping ship to protestant missions to learn the Bible and they come back trying to change the Church and their parents)

- Breakway from past and moving forward-

It is important to focus beyond the walls of the Indian Orthodox Christian community and see that mission of the Church in North America India continuing in the footsteps of our Lord and God Jesus Christ ,the Apostles and the Church fathers , is for all people all inclusive on every activity of their lives . The immigrant community culture issue in North America is not limited to us and would cite these diverse examples from my personal observation to elaborate

a) Ukranian community of glorious past in America where greater emphasis on Culture and language was emphasised , with limited youth from present generation even participating in liturgical services and limited members planning to enter into seminary training

b) OCA offshot of the Russian Church which have come a long way in very limited time centuries producing it's own seminaries with many caucasian converts joining to it's members and even inspiring cradle Indian or Ukranian Orthodox.

c) Common to all of the Oiental Orthodox Christian community in America - Coptic , Armenian, Indian , Syrian , Ethiopian and Eritrean

- each living out their life as Church within their culture and language limitations ( Copts get together with Copts only, Indians having liturgical service in Malayalam , Ethiopians only within their community etc.) and limited interaction together as Church. Isolated cases of interaction might be happening but not on a continuous basis to grow . ( An organization which seem promising to me is the SCOOCH even within the limitation of facing others from within our faith labelling us as heretics because of our unfortunate past relation with the Syrian Church)

d. Relationship with the Church from which it had its roots -

Syrian and Kerala traditions

I believe it is important to prove the past wrong which our young seminarians in U.S show promise on going back to find out how the Church existed in India and the situation they had to face in the past and learn from it. It is a shameful scandalous truth facing the Church in India with our Sister Orthodox adapting almost 90% of their liturgical forms forgetting the fact that many fathers of the Church whose work we have come to be blessed with lie in isolated unmarked graves of Antioch without any one there to do Doopa prarthana on their behalf. It is my prayer that the future Indian Orthodox in America would be foremost to go back to establish the relationship with seminaries and study organizations in India and other places to go back to studying old scripts of Syrian prose and Malayalam translate for common man to use in their prayerful lives in English or Malayalam as their preference and offer Doopa prarthana the fathers of old Antioch and Church Fathers of India who had stood up to persecutions from Dutch, Anglican , Syrian a like on the faith. Another aspect not to forget is grasping without offering - The practical usage of the Indian Church on traditions it had got the forms of Syrian traditions translated how much is being used on personal lives - Are we for convenience not going to confession , breaking away from 7 times of prayer ? . Here again I wish to draw a parallel on the use of Jesus Prayer which is now being labelled as part of Eastern Byzantine tradition when it is not as they originated from arrow prayers places like Nitrea and is even shown in our Ninevah prayer ( Yeshuve nee njangale sahaiyikename - ) It is just that the publicity and wide spread usage by Eastern Orthodox ( Not sure if they teach this in the seminaries of OCA)

Balanced focus on Syrian ,Other traditions that formulated Oriental Orthodox Christian Faith English language and potential in North America

Here I should emphasise us not to forget not only Syrian but also other traditions recorded in Geez , Coptic , Armenian and Greek etc. which would show a glimpse of past and formulated our common faith of Oriental Orthodox. In the past due to distance , language and cultural barriers the Indian Church could not interact with these Church communities. However the potential to interact has tremendously improved with internet, immigration policy in North America (In most major cities in U.S there exist Ethiopian , Armenian, Coptic and/ or the other three communities for us to interact and learn to edify together as Church. There exist seminaries and monasteries of Oriental Orthodox and monasteries in U.S ).

The fast pace of Globalization and English language influence in every aspect of life should also not be forgotten and unlike in the past what affect in US affect the very core in India too , it is a responsibility of Church as a whole and each of us as individuals by virtue of our membership to encounter. The question is How sincere are we and what will we be willing to sacrifice and how much encouragement we will give to some who want to attempt ?

Some thoughts to conclusion in future :

This past Sunday ( the reading of the Church - 4th Sunday after Epiphany ) focus on unbelief in God and each of us should not forget that We believe that God is guiding the Church to it's destiny with the Holy Spirit in it's fullness and the expectations of each of us shown in the Epistle reading of I Corinthians 12:12- 27. The Apostles and Church fathers including those Fathers labelled as Oriental Orthodox have lived it. Let us take time to cry out for His help and mercy in our lives to find use of us for Right Glory.

January 31, 2011

Scripture Reading January 09, 2011

2011-01-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

First Sunday after Danaha

Scripture :

Evening : St.Mark1:14-34

Morning : St.John1:18-28

Before Holy Qurbana : Genesis25:19-34,30:36-31:2 , IIKings5:1-14 ,Isaiah49:7-13

Holy Qurbana : Acts2:37-47 , Ephesians1:3-14 , St.Matthew4:12-22

Synaxarium

Mor Aggai , Episcopa of Edessa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Aggai

Lukios Martyr , Mor Paule Episcopo and his brother Yuhanon , King Maximus

Saying

"Therefore, through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures may we also have hope of consoling ourselves after the afflictions of our distress when we too have been patient in tribulation and call to mind the actions of those who have far excelled us in righteousness and merit and borne far greater trials of adversity than we. For they, on account of the righteousness in which they were quite exemplary, often suffered the persecution of the unrighteous, in order that, by their exercise of righteousness, they might receive the crown of invincible patience, and might, moreover, leave behind for all who followed them the glorious footprints of their perseverance to mark their way."
The Venerable Bede.

Scripture Reading January 3, 2011

2011-01-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

Scripture : St. John 1: 1 - 18 , Psalm 1: 1-16
Synaxarium : HG Baselius Mar Gevarghese II
http://www.malankaraorthodox.tv/H.%20H.%20Geevarghese%20II/Baselios%20Geevarghese%20II%20Catholicos.html
HG John III of Antioch
Lazarus of Turabdin,Turkey
Simeon of Harran
Lazarus of Sarug
Mar Yaqub Tel ada
Departure of St. John Khame
http://www.copticchurch.net/classes/synex.php?g_month=1&g_day=3&g_year=2011&btn=View&lang=
Saying
"Let pure faith, therefore, have this confidence, and doubt not that amid the persecutions at the hand of man and the dangers to the soul, it still has God for its helper, knowing that, if at length it comes to a violent and unjust death, the soul on leaving the tabernacle of the body finds rest with God its upholder; let it have, moreover, perfect assurance of the requital in the thought that all evil deeds return upon the heads of those that work them. God cannot be charged with injustice, and perfect goodness is unstained by the impulses and motions of an evil will."
St. Hilary of Poitiers.

Prayer in the name of Jesus in Orthodox Christian tradition of Indian Church

2010-12-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

The accusation of one close to you , just as you are making vey small steps in learning to live the faith in the life of the Church that the Church is full of hypocrites, those who are like the pharisees , those who follow rituals and traditions without knowing the person Jesus Christ, is a very painful and often traumatic event that leaves it's scar etched into one's very fibre a feeling of hoplessness.

It is during such a time that we seek support and a reassurance from others , from our family , from the Clergy and whatever we hold dear to tell us this is not the case . It is possible then to find the help we get lacking in conviction and tell tale signs to make us assume the accusation to be true .

However this is when we members of Church fail to grasp the very true eternal truth proclaimed and lived out by the Church Fathers that as individuals we are mere men with no strength on our own with nothing to our own merit , but precious to One , and our help is from Him and Him alone the very God who became man Jesus Christ - who art one of the Holy Trinity. It is to Him that we should turn for solace and indeed He surely loves us and will not leave us to lose hope and let us realize the lie that the evil one is using to bring us to despair .

The short prayers to turn the attention of their lives to God was used by the early Church fathers in Nitrea turning to the desert spending time in caves raising their hearts in prayer seeking His help. I believe that this tradition became part of the worshipping community coming together as Church the reason why in our Eucharist service we repeatedly hear the Church proclaiming Kuriyelaison - 'Lord Have Mercy'. Alternatively the Greek , Russian Church traditions adapted the cry for help of the blind man ' Lord Jesus Christ Son of God Have mercy upon me a sinner' become part of ceaseless personal prayer and witness the great saints like St. Seraphim of Sarov.

If we have such a great history of well troden and proven path in the Church then you and me need not feel discouraged but rather take the step the effort to ask of Him, ask of His help in prayer and perhaps be the instrument to turn our accuser too to not look at his brother's sins, the brother who knows his sins are too many . Let us be thankful edified by this prayer in the name of Jesus in Orthodox Church tradition of the Indian Church found in Moonu Noyambu prayer very similar to the prayer of closing on each Holy Qurbana.

"Jesus, Be our Helper
Jesus Be our Shelter
Jesus, strengthen us-
Jesus guard us
lJesus, remove thewicked from us
lJesus, absolve oursins and our evil deeds
Jesus, have mercyon the judgement day"
http://orthodukso.blogspot.com/2010/06/orthodox-service-closing-prayers.html

Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity -5

2010-12-12T05:14:00.000-08:00

This article was shared by Dr. Roy Cherian at ICON . May it be edifying.
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The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity-- by Bishop Kallistos Ware ( Part 5)

In the Absence of a Starets And what is one to do, if he cannot find a spiritual father? He may turn, in the first place, to books. Writing in 5th-century Russia,St. Nil Sorsky laments the extreme scarcity of qualified spiritual directors; yet how much more frequent they must have been in his day than in ours!Search diligently, he urges, for a sure and trustworthy guide. "However, if such a teacher cannot be found, then the Holy Fathers order us to turn tothe Scriptures and listen to Our Lord Himself speaking." [31] Since the testimony of Scripture should not be isolated from the continuing witness ofthe Spirit in the life of the Church, the inquirer will also read the works of the Fathers, and above all the Philokalia. But there is an evident danger here. The starets adapts his guidance to the inward state of each; books offer the same advice to everyone. How is the beginner to discern whether or not a particular text is applicable to his own situation? Even if hecannot find a spiritual father in the full sense, he should at least try to find someone more experienced than himself, able to guide him in his reading.It is possible to learn also from visiting places where divine grace hasbeen exceptionally manifested and where prayer has been especially concentrated. Before taking a major decision, and in the absence of other guidance,many Orthodox Christians will goon pilgrimage to Jerusalem or Mount Athos,to some monastery or the tomb of a saint, where they will pray for enlightenment. This is the way in which I have reached the more difficult decisions in my life.

Thirdly, we can learn from religious communities with an established tradition of the spiritual life. In the absence of a personal teacher, the monastic environment can serve as guru; we can receive our formation from the ordered sequence of the daily program, with its periods of liturgical and silent prayer, with its balance of manual labor, study, and recreation. [32]This seems to have be en the chief way in which St. Seraphim of Sarov gained his spiritual training. A well-organized monastery embodies, in anaccessible and living form, the inherited wisdom of many starets. Not only monks,but those who come as visitors for a longer or shorter period, can be formed and guided by the experience of community life.It is indeed no coincidence that the kind of spiritual fatherhood that we have been describing emerged initially in 4th-century Egypt, not within thefully organized communities under St. Pachomius, but among the hermits andin the semi-eremitic milieu of Nitria and Scetis. In the former, spiritual direction was provided by Pachomius himself, by the superiors of each monastery, and by the heads of individual "houses" within the monastery. TheRule of St. Benedict also envisages the abbot as spiritual father, and thereis no provision for further development of a more "charismatic" type. Intime, of course, the coenobitic communities incorporated many of the traditions of spiritual fatherhood as developed among the hermits, but the need forthose traditions has always been less intensely felt in the coenobia,precisely because direction is provided by the corporate life pursued under theguidance of the Rule.

Finally, before we leave the subject of the absence of the starets, it is important to recognize the extreme flexibility in the relationship between starets and disciple. Some may see their spiritual father daily or even hourly, praying, eating, and working with him, perhaps sharing the same cell,as often happened in the Egyptian Desert. Others may see him only once a month or once a year; others, again, may visit a starets on but a single occasion in their entire life, yet this will be sufficient to set them on path. There are, furthermore, many different types of spiritual father;few will be wonder-workers like St. Seraphim of Sarov. There are numerous priests and laymen who, while lacking the more spectacular endowments of the startsi, are certainly able to provide others with the guidance that they require.Many people imagine that they cannot find a spiritual father, because they expect him to be of a particular type: they want a St. Seraphim, and so they close their eyes to the guides whom God is actually sending to them. Often their supposed problems are not so very complicated, and in reality they already know in their own heart what the answer is. But they do not like the answer, because it involves patient and sustained effort on their part:and so they look for a deus ex machina who, by a single miraculous word,will suddenly make everything easy. Such people need to be helped to an understanding of the true nature of spiritual direction.

Contemporary Examples In condusion, I wish briefly to recall two startsi of our own day, whom I have had the happiness of knowing personally. The first is FatherAmphilochios (+1970), abbot of the Monastery of St. John on the Island of Patmos, andspiritual father to a community of nuns which he had founded not far from the Monastery. What most distinguished his character was his gentleness,the warmth of his affection, and his sense of tranquil yet triumphant joy.Life in Christ, as he understood it, is not a heavy yoke, a burden to be carried' with resignation, but a personal relationship to be pursued with eagerness of heart. He was firmly opposed to all spiritual violence and cruelty.It was typical that, as he lay dying and took leave of the nuns under hiscare, he should urge the abbess not to be too severe on them: "They haveleft everything to come here, they must not be unhappy." [33] When I was to return from Patmos to England as a newly-ordained priest, he insisted thatthere was no need to be afraid of anything.My second example is Archbishop John (Maximovich), Russian bishop in Shanghai, in Western Europe, and finally in San Francisco (+1966). Little more than a dwarf in height, with tangled hair and beard, and with an impedimentin his speech, he possessed more than a touch of the "Fool in Christ." From the time of his profession as a monk, he did not lie down on a bed to sleep at night; he went on working and praying, snatching his sleep at oddmoments in the 24 hours. He wandered barefoot through the streets of Paris, and once he celebrated a memorial, service among the tram lines close to the port of Marseilles. Punctuality had little meaning for him. Baffled by hisunpredictable behavior, the more conventional among his flock sometimes judged him to be unsuited for the administrative work of a bishop. But with his total disregard of normal formalities he succeeded where others, relying on worldly influence and expertise, had failed entirelyas when, against allhope and in the teeth of the "quota" system, he secured the admission of thousands of homeless Russian refugees to the U.S.A. In private conversation he was very gentle, and he quickly won theconfidence of small children. Particularly striking was the intensity of his intercessory prayer. When possible, he liked to celebrate the Divine Liturgy daily, and the service often took twice or three times the normal space of time, such was the multitude of those whom he commemorated individually by name. As he prayed for them, they were never mere names on a lengthy list, but always persons. One story that I was told is typical. It was his custom each year to visit Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville, N.Y. As he left,after one such visit, a monk gave him a slip of paper with four names of those who were gravely ill. Archbishop John received thousands upon thousands ofsuch requests for prayer in the course of each year. On his return to the monastery some twelve months later, at once he beckoned to the monk, and much to the latter's surprise, from the depths of his cassock Archbishop John produced the identical slip of paper, now crumpled and tattered. "I have been praying for your friends," he said, "but two of them"he pointed to their names"are now dead and the other two have recovered." And so indeed itwas.Even at a distance he shared in the concerns of his spiritual children. One of them, superior of a small Orthodox monastery in Holland, was sitting one night in his room, unable to sleep from anxiety over the problems which faced him. About three o'dock in the morning, the telephone rang; it was Archbishop John, speaking from several hundred miles away. He had rung to say that it was time for the monk to go to bed.Such is the role of the spiritual father. As Varsanuphius expressed it, "I care for you more than you care for yourself."

Endnotes:
1. On spiritual fatherhood in the Christian East, see the well-documented study by I. Hausherr, S. L., Direction Spintuelle en Orient d'Autrefois(Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 144: Rome 1955). An excellent portrait of agreat starets in 19th-century Russia is provided by J. B. Dunlop, StaretzAmvrosy: Model for Dostoevsky's Staretz Zossima (Belmont, Mass. 1972); comparealso I. de Beausobre, Macanus, Starets of Optina: Russian Letters ofDirection 18341860 (London, 1944). For the life and writings of a Russian starets in the present century, see Archimandrite Sofrony, The UndistortedImage.Staretz Silouan: 18661938 (London, 1958).
2. Apophthegmata Patrum, alphabetical collection (Migne, P.G., 65, pp.37-8).3. Les Apophtegemes des Pres du Desert, by J. C. Guy, S.jj. (Textes deSpiritualit Orientale, No. 1: Etiolles, 1968), pp. 112, 158.4. A. Elchaninov, The Diary of a Russian Priest, (London, 1967, p. 54).5. I use "charismatic" in the restricted sense customarily given to it bycontemporary writers. But if that word indicates one who has received thegifts or charismata of the Holy Spirit, then the ministerial priest, ordainedthrough the episcopal laying on of hands, is as genuinely a "charismatic"as one who speaks with tongues.6. The Life of St. Antony, chapters 87 and 81 (P.G. 26, 965A, and 957A.)7. Quoted in Igumen Chariton, The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology(London, 1966), p. 164. [Webmaster Note: I could not determine where thisfootnote appeared in the original article.]8. Apophthegmata Patrum, alphabetical collection, Theophilus theArchbishop, p. 2. In the Christian East, the Patriarch of Alexandria bears the title"Pope."9. Ibid., Antony p. 27.10. Ibid., Antony, p. 24.11. Compare Ignaty's contemporary, Bishop Theophan the Recluse (+l894) andSt. Tikhon of Zadonsk (+l753).12. Three of the great banes of the 20th century are shorthand, duplicatorsand photocopying machines. If chairmen of committees and those in seats ofauthority were forced to write out personally in longhand everything theywanted to communicate to others, no doubt they would choose their wordswith greater care.13. Evergetinos, Synagoge, 1, 20 (ed. Victor Matthaiou, I, Athens, 1957,pp. 168-9).14. Apophthegmata Patrum, alphabetical collection, Poemen, p. 8.15. For the importance of a spiritual father's prayers, see for exampleLes Apophtegmes des Peres du Dsert, tr. Guy, "srie des dits anonymes", P.160.16. The Book of Varsanuphius and John, edited by Sotirios Schoinas (Volos,1960), pp. 208, 39, 353, 110 and 23g. A critical edition of part of theGreek text, accompanied by an English translation, has been prepared by D. J.Chitty: Varsanuphius and John, Questions and Answers, (PatrologiaOrientalis, XXXI, 3, Paris, 1966). [Webmaster Note. This and many other finebookson spiritual direction are available from _St. Herman Press_(http://www.stherman.com/) .17. Apophthegmata Patrurn, alphabetical collection, Antony, p. 16.18. Ibid., John the Theban, p. 1.19. Mystic Treatises of Isaac of Nineveh, tr. by A. J. Wensinck,(Amsterdam, 1923), p. 341.20. "_Conversation of St. Seraphim on the Aim of the Christian Life_(http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/wonderful.aspx) ," in A Wonderful Revelationto the World (Jordanville, N.Y., 1953), pp. 23-24.21. Apophthegmata Patrum, alphabetical collection, John Colobos, p. 1.22. Ibid., Mark the Disciple of Silvanus, pp. 1, 2.23. Ibid., Joseph of Panepho, p. 5.24. Ibid., Saio, p. 1. The geron subsequently returned the things to theirrightful owners.25. Les Apophtegmes des Peres du Desert, tr. Guy, "serie des ditsanonymes," p. 162. There is a parallel story in the alphabetical collection,Sisoes, p. 10; cf. Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 22).26. Fr. Andr Scrima, "La Tradition du Pre Spirituel dan l'Eglise d'Orient."Hermes, 1967, No. 4, p. 83.27. Apophthegmata Patrurn, alphabetical collection, Poemen, p. 174.28. Ibid., Isaac the Priest, p. 2.29. The Book of Varsanuphius and John, pp. 23, 51, 35.30. Quoted by Thomas Merton, Spiritual Direction and Meditation. (1960), p.12.31. "The Monastic Rule," in G. P. Fedotov, A Treasury of RussianSpirituality, (London, 1950) p.96.32. See Thomas Merton, op. cit., pp. 14-16, on the dangers of rigidmonastic discipline without proper spiritual direction.33. See I. Gorainoff, "Holy Men of Patmos", Sobornost (The Journal of theFellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius), Series 6, No. 5 (1972) pp. 341-4.From Cross Currents (Summer/Fall 1974), pp. 296-313.**************************************

Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity -4

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The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity-- by Bishop Kallistos Ware ( Part 4)

Obedience and Freedom

Such are by God's grace, the gifts of the starets. But what of the spiritual child? How does he contribute to the mutual relationship between fatherand son in God?Briefly, what he offers is his full and unquestioning obedience. As a classic example, there is the story in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers about the monk who was told to plant a dry stick in the sand and to water it daily. So distant was the spring from his cell that he had to leave in the evening to fetch the water and he only returned in the following morning. For three years he patiently fulfilled his Abba's command. At the end of this period, the stick suddenly put forth leaves and bore fruit. The Abba picked the fruit, took it to the church, and invited the monks to eat, saying,"Come and taste the fruit of obedience." [21] Another example of obedience is the monk Mark who was summoned by his Abba,while copying a manuscript, and so immediate was his response that he did not even complete the circle of the letter that he was writing. On another occasion, as they walked together, his Abba saw a small pig; testing Mark,he said, "Do you see that buffalo, my child?" "Yes, Father," replied Mark."And you see how powerful its horns are?" "Yes, Father", he answered once more without demur. [22] Abba Joseph of Panepho, following a similar policy,tested the obedience of his disciples by assigning ridiculous tasks tothem, and only if they complied would he then give them sensible commands.[23] Another geron instructed his disciple to steal things from the cells ofthe brethren; [24] yet another told his disciple (who had not been entirelytruthful with him) to throw his son into the furnace. [25]Such stories are likely to make a somewhat ambivalent impression on the modern reader. They seem to reduce the disciple to an infantile or sub-human level, depriving him of all power of judgment and moral choice. With indignation we ask: "Is this the 'glorious liberty of the children of God'?"(Rom.8:21)Three points must here be made. In the first place, the obedience offered by the spiritual son to his Abba is not forced but willing and voluntary. It is the task of the starets to take up our will into his will, but he can only do this if by our own free choice we place it in his hands. He does not break our will, but accepts it from us as a gift.

A submission that is forced and involuntary is obviously devoid of moral value; the starets asks of each one that he offer to God his heart, not his external actions.The voluntary nature of obedience is vividly emphasized in the ceremony ofthe tonsure at the Orthodox rite of monastic profession. The scissors areplaced upon the Book of the Gospels, and the novice must himself pick them up and give them to the abbot. The abbot immediately replaces them on the Book of the Gospels. Again the novice take the scissors, and again they are replaced. Only when the novice him the scissors for the third time does the abbot proceed to cut hair. Never there after will the monk have the right to say to the abbot or the brethren: "My personality is constricted andsuppressed here in the monastery; you have deprived me of my freedom". No one has taken away his freedom, for it was he himself who took up the scissors and placed them three times in the abbot's hand.But this voluntary offering of our freedom is obviously something that cannot be made once and for all, by a single gesture; There must be a continual offering, extending over-our whole life; our growth in Christ is, measuredprecisely by the increasing degree of our self-giving. Our freedom must be offered anew each day and each hour, in constantly varying ways; and this means that the relation between starets and disciple is not static but dynamic, not unchanging but infinitely diverse. Each day and each hour, under the guidance of his Abba, the disciple will face new situations, calling for a different response, a new kind of self-giving.In the second place, the relation between starets and spiritual child is not one- but two-sided. Just as the starets enables the disciples to see themselves as they truly are, so it is the disciples who reveal the starets to himself. In most instances, a man does not realize that he is called to be a starets until others come to him and insist on placing themselves under his guidance. This reciprocity continues throughout the relationship between the two.

The spiritual father does not possess an exhaustive program,neatly worked out in advance and imposed in the same manner upon everyone. Onthe contrary, if he is a true starets, he will have a different word fo reach; and since the word which he gives is on the deepest level, not his ownbut the Holy Spirit's, he does not know in advance what that word will be.The starets proceeds on the basis, not of abstract rules but of concrete human situations. He and his disciple enter each situation together; neither of them knowing before hand exactly what the outcome will be, but each waiting for the enlightenment of the Spirit. Each of them, the spiritual fatheras well as the disciple, must learn as he goes.The mutuality of their relationship is indicated by certain stories in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, where an unworthy Abba has a spiritual son far better than himself. The disciple, for example, detects his Abba in the sin of fornication, but pretends to have noticed nothing and remains under his charge; and so, through the patient humility of his new disciple, the spiritual father is brought eventually to repentance and a new life. In sucha case, it is not the spiritual father who helps the disciple, but the reverse. Obviously such a situation is far from the norm, but it indicates that the disciple is called to give as well as to receive.In reality, the relationship is not two-sided but triangular, for in addition to the starets and his disciple there is also a third partner, God. OurLord insisted that we should call no man "father," for we have only onefather, who is in Heaven (Matthew 13:8-10). The starets is not an infallible judge or a final court of appeal, but a fellow-servant of the living God;not a dictator, but a guide and companion on the way.

The only true"spiritual director," in the fullest sense of the word, is the Holy Spirit.This brings us to the third point. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition at its best, the spiritual father has always sought to avoid any kind of constraint and spiritual violence in his relations with his disciple. If, under the guidance of the Spirit, he speaks and acts with authority, it is with theauthority of humble love. The words of starets Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov express an essential aspect of spiritual fatherhood: "At some ideas you stand perplexed, especially at the sight of men's sin, uncertain whether to combat it by force or by humble love. Always decide, 'I will combat it by humble love.' If you make up your mind about that once and for all, you can conquer the whole world. Loving humility is a terrible force; it is the strongest of all things and there is nothing like it."Anxious to avoid all mechanical constraint, many spiritual fathers in the Christian East refused to provide their disciples with a rule of life, a set of external commands to be applied automatically. In the words of acontemporary Romanian monk, the starets is "not a legislator but a mystagogue."[26] He guides others, not by imposing rules, but by sharing his life with them. A monk told Abba Poemen, "Some brethren have come to live with me; do you want me to give them orders?" "No," said the Old Man. "But, Father,"the monk persisted, "they themselves want me to give them orders." "No",repeated Poemen, "be an example to them but not a lawgiver." [27] The samemoral emerges from the story of Isaac the Priest. As a young man, he remained first with Abba Kronios and then with Abba Theodore of Pherme; but neither of them told him what to do. Isaac complained to the other monks and theycame and remonstrated with Theodore. "If he wishes", Theodore repliedeventually, "let him do what he sees me doing." [28] When Varsanuphius was asked to supply a detailed rule of life, he refused, saying: "I do not want you tobe under the law, but under grace." And in other letters he wrote: "You know that we have never imposed chains upon anyone... Do not force men's freewill, but sow in hope, for our Lord did not compel anyone, but He preached the good news, and those who wished hearkened to Him." [29]Do not force men's free will. The task of the spiritual father is not to destroy a man's freedom, but to assist him to see the truth for himself; not to suppress a man's personality, but to enable him to discover himself, togrow to full maturity and to become what he really is. If on occasion thespiritual father requires an implicit and seemingly "blind" obedience fromhis disciple, this is never done as an end in itself, nor with a view to enslaving him. The purpose of this kind of shock treatment is simply to deliver the disciple from his false and illusory "self", so that he may enterinto true freedom. The spiritual father does not impose his own ideas and devotions, but he helps the disdple to find his own special vocation. In thewords of a 17th-century Benedictine, Dom Augustine Baker: "The director is not to teach his own way, nor indeed any determinate way of prayer, but to instruct his disciples how they may themselves find out the way proper forthem . . . In a word, he is only God's usher, and must lead souls in God'sway, and not his own." [30]In the last resort, what the spiritual father gives to his disciple is not a code of written or oral regulations, not a set of techniques for meditation, but a personal relationship. Within this personal relationship the Abba grows and changes as well as the disciple, for God is constantly guiding them both. He may on occasion provide his disciple with detailed verbal instructions, with precise answers to specific questions. On other occasions hemay fail to give any answer at all; either because he does not think that the question needs an answer, or because he himself does not yet know what the answer should be. But these answers or this failure to answerare always given the framework of a personal relationship. Many things cannot be said in words, but can be conveyed through a direct personal encounter.

(To be Continued....)

Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity -3

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This article was shared by Dr. Roy Cherian at ICON . May it be edifying.
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The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity- by Bishop Kallistos Ware ( Part 3)

The Three Gifts of the Spiritual Father

Three gifts in particular distinguish the spiritual father. The first is insight and discernment (diakrisis), the ability to perceive intuitively the secrets of another's heart, to understand the hidden depths of which theother is unaware. The spiritual father penetrates beneath the conventional gestures and attitudes whereby we conceal our true personality from othersand from ourselves; and beyond all these trivialities, he comes to grips with the unique person made in the image and likeness of God. This power is spiritual rather than psychic; it is not simply a kind of extra-sensory perception or a sanctified clairvoyance but the fruit of grace, presupposing concentrated prayer and an unremitting ascetic struggle.

With this gift of insight there goes the ability to use words with power.As each person comes before him, the starets knows immediately and specificallywhat it is that the individual needs to hear. Today, we are inundated with words, but for the most part these are conspicuously not words uttered with power. [12] The starets uses few words, and sometimes none at all; butby these few words or by his silence, he is able to alter the wholedirection of a man's life. At Bethany, Christ used three words only: "Lazarus, comeout" (John 11:43) and these three words, spoken with power, were sufficient to bring the dead back to life. In an age when language has beendisgracefully trivialized, it is vital to rediscover the power of the word; and this means rediscovering the nature of silence, not just as a pause between words but as one of the primary realities of existence. Most teachers and preachers talk far too much; the starets is distinguished by an austere economy of language.But for a word to possess power, it is necessary that there should be not only one who speaks with the genuine authority of personal experience, but also one who listens with attention and eagerness. If someone questions a starets out of idle curiosity, it is likely that he will receive little benefit; but if he approaches the starets with ardent faith and deep hunger,theword that he hears may transfigure his being. The words of the startsi are for the most part simple in verbal expression and devoid of literary artifice; to those who read them in a superficial way, they will seem jejune and banal.

The spiritual father's gift of insight is exercised primarily through the practice known as "disclosure of thoughts" (logismoi). In early Eastern monasticism the young monk used to go daily to his father and lay before him all the thoughts which had come to him during the day. This disclosure of thoughts includes far more than a confession of sins, since the novice also speaks of those ideas and impulses which may seem innocent to him, but in which the spiritual father may discern secret dangers or significant signs. Confession is retrospective, dealing with sins that have already occurred;the disclosure of thoughts, on the other hand, is prophylactic, for it lays bare our logismoi before they have led to sin and so deprives them of their,power to harm. The purpose of the disclosure is not juridical, to secure absolution from guilt, but self-knowledge, that each may see himself as he truly is. [13]

Endowed with discernment, the spiritual father does not merely wait for a person to reveal himself, but shows to the other thoughts hidden from him.When people came to St. Seraphim of Sarov, he often answered theirdifficulties before they had time to put their thoughts before him. On manyoccasions the answer at first seemed quite irrelevant, and even absurd and irresponsible; for what St. Seraphim answered was not, the question his visitor had consciously in mind, but the one he ought to have been asking. In all this St. Seraphim relied on the inward light of the Holy Spirit. He found it important, he explained, not to work out in advance hat he was going to say;in that case, his words would represent merely his own human judgment whichmight well be in error, and not the judgment of God. In St. Seraphim's eyes, the relationship between starets and spiritual child is stronger than death, and he therefore urged his children to continue their disclosure of thoughts to him even after his departure to the next life. These are the words which, by his on command, were written on his tomb:"When I am dead, come to me at my grave, and the more often, the better. Whatever is on your soul, whatever may have happened to you, come to me aswhen I was alive and, kneeling on the ground, cast all your bitterness upon my grave. Tell me everything and I shall listen to you, and all the bitterness will fly away from you. And as you spoke to me when I was alive, do so now. For I am living, and I shall be forever."

The second gift of the spiritual father is the ability to love others and to make others' sufferings his own. Of Abba Poemen, one of the greatest ofthe Egyptian gerontes, it is briefly and simply recorded: "He possessedlove, and many came to him." [14] He possessed love this is indispensable in all spiritual fatherhood. Unlimited insight into the secrets of men's hearts,if devoid of loving compassion, would not be creative but destructive; he who cannot love others will have little power to heal them.Loving others involves suffering with and for them; such is the literal sense of compassion. "Bear one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law ofChrist" (Galatians 6:2). The spiritual father is 'the one who par excellence bears the burdens of others. "A starets", writes Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov, "is one who takes your soul, your will, unto his soul and hiswill. . . . " It is not enough for him to offer advice. He is also required to take up the soul of his spiritual children into his own soul, their life into his life. It is his task to pray for them, and his constant intercession on their behalf is more important to them than any words of counsel. [15] It is his task likewise to assume their sorrows and their sins, to taketheir guilt upon himself, and to answer for them at the Last Judgment.

All this is manifest in a primary document of Eastern spiritual direction,the Books of Varsanuphius and John, embodying some 850 questions addressed to two elders of 6th-century Palestine, together with their written answers. "As God Himself knows," Varsanuphius insists to his spiritual children,"there is not a second or an hour when I do not have you in my mind and in my prayers . . . I care for you more than you care for yourself . . . I would gladly lay down my life for you." This is his prayer to God: "O Master,either bring my children with me into Your Kingdom, or else wipe me also out of Your book." Taking up the theme of bearing others' burdens,Varsanuphius affirms: "I am bearing your burdens and your offences . . . You have become like a man sitting under a shady tree . . . I take upon myself the sentence of condemnation against you, and by the grace of Christ, I will not abandon you, either in this age or in the Age to Come." [16]

Readers of Charles Williams will be reminded of the principle of'substituted love,' which plays a central part in Descent into Hell. The samelineof thought is expressed by Dostoevsky's starets Zosima: "There is only oneway of salvation, and that is to make yourself responsible for all men'ssins. . . To make yourself responsible in all sincerity for everything and for everyone." The ability of the starets to support and strengthen others ismeasured by his willingness to adopt this way of salvation.Yet the relation between the spiritual father and his children is not one-sided. Though he takes the burden of their guilt upon himself and answersfor them before God, he cannot do this effectively unless they themselves arestruggling wholeheartedly for their own salvation. Once a brother came to St. Antony of Egypt and said: "Pray for me." But the Old Man replied:"Neither will I take pity on you nor will God, unless you make some effort of your own." [17]

When considering the love of a starets for those under his care, it is important to give full meaning to the word "father" in the title "spiritual father". As father and offspring in an ordinary family should be joined inmutual love, so it must also be within the "charismatic" family of the starets. It is primarily a relationship in the Holy Spirit, and while thewell spring of human affection is not to be unfeelingly suppressed, it must be contained within bounds. It is recounted how a young monk looked after his elder, who was gravely ill, for twelve years without interruption. Never once in that period did his elder thank him or so much as speak one word of kindness to him. Only on his death-bed did the Old Man remark to the assembled brethren, "He is an angel and not a man." [18] The story is valuable as an indication of the need for spiritual detachment, but such an uncompromising suppression of all outward tokens of affection is not typical of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, still less of Varsanuphius and John.

A third gift of the spiritual father is the power to transform the human environment, both the material and the non-material. The gift of healing,possessed by so many of the startsi, is one aspect of this power: More generally, the starets helps his disciples to perceive the world as God createdit and as God desires it once more to be. "Can you take too much joy in your Father's works?" asks Thomas Traherne. "He is Himself in everything." The true starets is one who discerns this universal presence of the Creator throughout creation, and assists others to discern it. In the words of William Blake, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything will appear to man as it is, infinite." For the man who dwells in God, there is nothing mean and trivial: he sees everything in the light of Mount Tabor. "What is a merciful heart?" inquires St. Isaac the Syrian. "It is a heart that burns with love for 'the whole of creation for men, for the birds, for the beasts,for the demons, for every, creature. When a man with such a heart as this thinks of the creatures or looks at them, his eyes are filled with tears;An overwhelming compassion makes his heart grow! small and weak, and he cannot endure to hear or see any suffering, even the smallest pain, inflicted upon any creature. Therefore he never ceases to pray, with tears even for the irrational animals, for the enemies of truth, and for those who do him evil, asking that they may be guarded and receive God's mercy. And for the reptiles also he prays with a great compassion, which rises up endlessly in his heart until he shines again and is glorious like God."' [19]

An all-embracing love, like that of Dostoevsky's starets Zosima,transfigures its object, making the human environment transparent, so that the uncreated energies of God shine through it. A momentary glimpse of what thistransfiguration involves is provided by the celebrated _conversation betweenSt. Seraphim of Sarov and Nicholas Motoviov_(http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/wonderful.aspx) , his spiritual child. They were walking in the forestone winter's day and St. Seraphim spoke of the need to acquire the HolySpirit. This led Motovilov to ask how a man can know with certainty that he is"in the Spirit of God":Then Fr. Seraphim took me very firmly by the shoulders and said: "My son,we are both, at this moment in the Spirit of God. Why don't you look at me?""I cannot look, Father," I replied, "because your eyes are flashing like lightning. Your face has become brighter than the sun, and it hurts my eyes to look, at you.""Don't be afraid," he said. "At this very moment you have yourself become as bright as I am. You are yourself in the fullness of the Spirit of God at this moment; otherwise you would not be able to see me as you do. . . but why, my son, do you not look me in the eyes? Just look, and don't be afraid; the Lord is with us."After these words I glanced at his face, and there came over me an even greater reverent awe. Imagine in the center of the sun, in the dazzling lightof its mid-day rays, the face of a man talking to you. You see the movement of his lips and the changing expression of his eyes and you hear his voice, you feel someone holding your shoulders, yet you do not see his hands,you do not even see yourself or his body, but only a blinding light spreading far around for several yards and lighting up with its brilliance the snow-blanket which covers the forest glade and the snowflakes which continue to fall unceasingly [20].
(To be Continued....)

Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity -2

2010-11-28T07:52:00.001-08:00

This article was shared by Dr. Roy Cherian at ICON . May it be edifying. ...........................................................................................................................................................

The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity-- by Bishop Kallistos Ware ( Part 2)

Flight and Return: the Preparation of the Starets Although the starets is not ordained or appointed for his task, it iscertainly necessary that he should be prepared.The classic pattern for this preparation, which consists in a movement of flight and return, may be clearly discerned in the liyes of _St. Antony of Egypt_(http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/vita-antony.aspx) (+356) and St. Seraphim of Sarov (+1833).St. Antony's life falls sharply into two halves, with his fifty-fifth year as the watershed. The years from, early manhood to the age of fifty-five were his time of preparation, spent in an ever-increasing seclusion from theworld as he withdrew further and further into the desert. He eventually passed twenty years in an abandoned fort, meeting no one whatsoever. When he had reached the age of fifty-five, his friends could contain their curiosity no longer, and broke down the entrance. St. Antony came out and, 'for the remaining half century of his long life, without abandoning the life of ahermit, he made himself freely available to others, acting as "a physician given by God to Egypt." He was beloved by all, adds his biographer, St.Athanasius, "and all desired to 'have him as their father." [6]

Observe that the transition from enclosed anchorite to Spiritual father came about, not through any initiative on St. Antony's part, but through the action of others.Antony was a lay monk, never ordained to the priesthood. St. Seraphim followed a comparable path. After fifteen years spent in the ordinary life of the monastic community, as novice, professed monk, deacon,and priest, he withdrew for thirty years of solitude and almost total silence. During the first part of this period he, lived in a forest hut; at one point he passed a thousand days on the stump of a tree and a thousand nights of those days on a rock, devoting himself to unceasing prayer. Recalled by his abbot to the monastery, he obeyed the order without the slightest delay; and during the latter part of his time of solitude he lived rigidlyenclosed in his cell, which he did not leave even to attend services inchurch; on Sundays the priest brought communion to him at the door of his room.Though he was a priest he didn't celebrate the liturgy. Finally, in the last eight years of his life, he ended his enclosure, opening the door of his cell and receiving all who came. He did nothing to advertise himself or to summon people; it was the others who took the initiative in approaching him,but when they came sometimes hundreds or even thousands in a single dayhe did not send them empty away.

Without this intense ascetic preparation, without this radical flight into solitude, could St. Antony or St. Seraphim have acted in the same 'degree as guide to those of their generation? Not that they withdrew in order tobecome masters and guides of others. 'They fled, not, in order to prepare themselves for some other task, but out of a consuming desire to be alone with God. God accepted their love, but then sent them back" as instruments of healing in the world from which they had withdrawn. Even had He never sent them back, their flight would still have been supremely creative and valuable to society; for the monk helps the world not primarily by anything that he does and says but by what he is, by the state of unceasing prayer which has become identical with his innermost being. Had St. Antony and St.Seraphim done nothing but pray in solitude they would still have been serving their fellow men to the highest degree.
As things turned out, however, God ordained that they should also serve others in a more direct fashion. But this direct and visible service was essentially a consequence of the invisibleservice which they rendered through their prayer."Acquire inward peace", said St. Seraphim, "and a multitude of men aroundyou will find their salvation."

Such is the role of spiritual fatherhood.Establish yourself in God; then you can bring others to His presence. A man must learn to be alone, he must listen in the stillness of his own heart to the wordless speech of the Spirit, and so discover the truth about himself and God. Then his work to others will be a word of power, because it is a word out of silence.What Nikos Kazantzakis said of the almond tree is true also of the starets:"I said to the almond tree, 'Sister, speak to me of God,' And the almondtree blossomed."Shaped by the encounter with God in solitude, the starets is able to healby his very presence. He guides and forms others, not primarily by words ofadvice, but by his companionship, by the living and specific example whichhe setsin a word, by blossoming like the almond tree. He teaches as much by his silence as by his speech. "Abba Theophilus the Archbishop once visited Scetis, and when the brethren had assembled they said to Abba Pambo,'Speak a word to the Pope that he may be edified.' The Old Man said to them,"if he is not edified by my silence, neither will be he edified by my speech.'" [8]
A story with the same moral is told of St. Antony. "It was the custom of three Fathers to visit the Blessed Antony once each year, and two of them used to ask him questions about their thoughts (logismoi) and the salvation of their soul; but the third remained completely silent, withoutputting any questions. After a long while, Abba Antony said to him, 'See, you have been in the habit of coming to me all this time, and yet you do not ask me any questions'. And the other replied, 'Father, it is enough for me just to look at you.'" [9]

The real journey of the starets is not spatially into the desert, but spiritually into the heart. External solitude, while helpful, is not indispensable, and a man may learn to stand alone before God, while yet continuing to pursue a life of active service in the midst of society. St. Antony of Egypt was told that a doctor in, Alexandria was his equal in spiritual achievement: "In the city there is someone like you, a doctor by profession, whogives all his money to the needy, and the whole day long he sings the Thrice-Holy Hymn with the angels." [10] We are not told how this revelation came to Antony, nor what was the name of the doctor, but one thing is clear.
Unceasing: prayer of the heart is no monopoly of the solitaries; the mystical and "angelic" life is possible in the city as well as the desert. TheAlexandrian doctor accomplished the inward journey without severing his outwardlinks with the community.

There are also many instances in which flight and return are not sharply distinguished in temporal sequence. Take, for example, the case of St.Seraphim's younger contemporary, Bishop Ignaty Brianchaninov (t1867). Trained originally as an army officer, he was appointed at the early age of twenty-six to take charge of a busy and influential monastery close to St.Petersburg. His own monastic training had lasted little more than four yearsbefore he was placed in a position of authority. After twetity-four years as Abbot,he was consecrated Bishop. Four years later he resigned, to spend the remaining six years of his life as a hermit. Here a period of active pastoral work preceded the period of anachoretic seclusion. When he was made abbot,he must surely have felt gravely ill-prepared. His secret withdrawal into the heart was undertaken continuously during the many years in which headministered a monastery and a diocese; but it did not receive an exterior,expression until the very end of his life. Bishop Ignaty's career [11] may serve as a paradigm to many of us at the present time, although (needless to say) we fall far short of his level of spiritual achievement. Under the pressure of outward circumstances and probably without clearly realizing what is happening to us, we become launched on a career of teaching, preaching, and pastoral counselling, while lacking any deep knowledge of the desert and its creative silence. But through teaching others we ourselves begin to learn. Slowly we recognize our powerlessness to heal the wounds of humanity solely through philanthropic programs,common sense, and psychiatry. Our complacency is broken down, we appreciate our own inadequacy, and start to understand what Christ meant by the "onething that is necessary" (Luke 10:42). That is the moment when we enter upon the path of the starets. Through our pastoral experience, through our anguish over the pain of others,' we are brought to undertake the journey inwards, to ascend the secret ladder of the Kingdom, where alone a genuine solution to the world's problems can be found. No doubt few if any among us would think of ourselves as a starets in the full sense, but provided we seek with humble sincerity to enter into the "secret chamber" of our heart, we can all share to some degree in the grace of the spiritual fatherhood. Perhaps we shall never outwardly lead the life of a monastic recluse or a hermitthat rests with God but what is supremely important is that each should see the need to be a hermit of the heart.

(To be Continued ....)

Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity -1

2010-11-27T07:07:00.000-08:00

This article was shared by Dr. Roy Cherian at ICON . May it be edifying
............................................................................................................................................................
The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity-- by Bishop Kallistos Ware

One who climbs a mountain for the first time needs to follow a known route;and he needs to have with him, as companion and guide, someone who hasbeen up before and is familiar with the way. To serve as such a companion and guide is precisely the role of the "Abba" or spiritual father whom theGreeks call "Geron" and the Russians "Starets", a title which in both languages means "old man" or "elder". [1]

The importance of obedience to a Geron is underlined from the first emergence of monasticism in the Christian East. St. Antony of Egypt said: "I know of monks who fell after much toil and lapsed into madness, because they trusted in their own work . . . So far as possible, for every step that a monk takes, for every drop of water that he drinks in his cell, he should entrust the decision to the Old Men, to avoid making some mistake in what he does." [2]

This is a theme constantly emphasized in the Apophthegmata or Sayings ofthe Desert Fathers:"The old Men used to say: 'if you see a young monk climbing up to heaven by his own will, grasp him by the feet and throw him down, for this is to his profit . . . if a man has faith in another and renders himself up to him in full submission, he has no need to attend to the commandment of God, but he needs only to entrust his entire will into the hands of his father.Then he will be blameless before God, for God requires nothing from beginners so much as self-stripping through obedience.'" [3]

This figure of the Starets, so prominent in the first generations of Egyptian monasticism, has retained its full significance up to the present day in Orthodox Christendom. "There is one thing more important than all possible books and ideas", states a Russian layman of the 19th Century, the Slavophile Kireyevsky, "and that is the example of an Orthodox Starets, before whom you can lay each of your thoughts and from whom you can hear, not a more or less valuable private opinion, but the judgement of the Holy Fathers.God be praised, such Startsi have not yet disappeared from our Russia." And a Priest of the Russian emigration in our own century, Fr. Alexander Elchaninov (+ 1934), writes: "Their held of action is unlimited... they are undoubtedly saints, recognized as such by the people. I feel that in our tragic days it is precisely through this means that faith will survive and be strengthened in our country." [4]

The Spiritual Father as a 'Charismatic' Figure What entitles a man to act as a starets? How and by whom is he appointed?To this there is a simple answer. The spiritual father or starets isessentially a 'charismatic' and prophetic figure, accredited for his task by thedirect action of the Holy Spirit. He is ordained, not by the hand of man,but by the hand of God. He is an expression of the Church as "event" or"happening", rather than of the Church as institution. [5]

There is, of course, no sharp line of demarcation between the prophetic and the institutional in the life of the Church; each grows out of the other and is intertwined with it. The ministry of the starets, itself charismatic,is related to a clearly-defined function within the institutional framework of the Church, the office of priest-confessor. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the right to hear confessions is not granted automatically at ordination. Before acting as confessor, a priest requires authorization from his bishop; in the Greek Church, only a minority of the clergy are so authorized.Although the sacrament of confession is certainly an appropriate occasion for spiritual direction, the ministry of the starets is not identical with that of a confessor. The starets gives advice, not only at confession, but on many other occasions; indeed, while the confessor must always be a priest, the starets may be a simple monk, not in holy orders, or a nun, a layman or laywoman. The ministry of the starets is deeper, because only a very few confessor priests would claim to speak with the former's insight and authority.But if the starets is not ordained or appointed by an act of the official hierarchy, how does he come to embark on his ministry? Sometimes an existing starets will designate his own successor. In this way, at certain monastic centers such as Optina in 19th-century Russia, there was established an"apostolic succession" of spiritual masters. In other cases, the starets simply emerges spontaneously, without any act of external authorization. As Elchaninov said, they are "recognized as such by the people". Within the continuing life of the Christian community, it becomes plain to the believing people of God (the true guardian of Holy Tradition) that this or that person has the gift of spiritual fatherhood. Then, in a free and informal fashion,others begin to come to him or her for advice and direction.
It will be noted that the initiative comes, as a rule, not from the master but from the disciples. It would be perilously presumptuous for someone to say in his own heart or to others, "Come and submit yourselves to me; I am a starets, I have the grace of the Spirit." What happens, rather, is that without any claims being made by the starets himself others approach him,seeking his advice or asking to live permanently under his care. At first, he will probably send them away, telling them to consult someone else. Finally the moment comes when he no longer sends them away but accepts their coming to him as a disclosure of the will of God. Thus it is his spiritual children who reveal the starets to himself.

The figure of the starets illustrates the two interpenetrating levels on which the earthly Church exists and functions. On the one hand, there is the external, official, and hierarchial level, with its geographicalorganization into dioceses and parishes, its great centers (Rome,Constantinople,Moscow, and Canterbury), and its "apostolic succession" of bishops. On the other hand, there is the inward, spiritual and "charismatic" level, to whichthe startsi primarily belong. Here the chief centrs are, for the most part,not the great primatial and metropolitan sees, but certain remote hermitages, in which there shine forth a few personalities richly endowed withspiritual gifts. Most startsi have possessed no exalted status in the formal hierarchy of the Church; yet the influence of a simple priest-monk such as St.Seraphim of Sarov has exceeded that of any patriarch or bishop in 19th-century Orthodoxy. In this fashion, alongside the apostolic succession of the episcopate, there exists that of the saints and spiritual men. Both types of succession are essential for the true functioning of the Body of Christ,and it is through their interaction that the life of the Church on earth is accomplished.

(To be continued...)

October 31, 2010- Kodosh Etho Thoughts

2010-11-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

1) God created us in His likeness and image.
2) Adam by disobedience caused this world to be fallen and He who cares for us provided us this opportunity to reenter that relationship through the Church.
3) We are baptised and anointed with the Holy Spirit into the Church where the Holy spirit dwells in it's fullness and we reunite to that relationship with God within it.
4) We are to live in genuine repentance approach confession before the priest who is the living image of God and partake of the Holy communion knowing that whatever we are, we are not to despair and doubt His mercy knowing that He is a just judge.
5) Also we are not to be looking at others but look within ourselves our short comings and we are to grow in Holiness together as Church as one body, His body
6) All the fathers who lived in the Church who have lived this have shown us if we are willing to look within the Church, we will know what we each are to do.
7) We out of our unwillingness are the cause of our hell here and we read of the fathers that even at death bed pleading 'Lord have mercy" knowing they need it and without Him nothing is possible

Christ in Us - (From grade V1 Sunday school text Lesson -31)Jesus Christ abides in us.

In HIM we live a new life of the kingdom of God.Through Holy Baptism we are born anew as God's own children and heirs of the Kingdom of God. From a life of death and decay we are raised to anew life that is eternal and imperishable.We are anointed and are made temple of the Holy Spirit, (1 Cor 3:16)who dwells in us, guiding and renewing us, that we might be transformed to the perfect image of God in Jesus Christ.

The purity and holiness that we all aim in Baptism is to be kept till the end of our life.The garment of purity, we are given in Baptism may be stained by the dust and dirt of the world in which we live in. We are living in a world where evil forces work. We must renew ourselves again and again through genuine repentance and confessions. The sacrament of Holy Confession cleanses us of all our sins and re-establishes our broken relationship with God, the Father.The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that we participate in the Holy Eucharist make us abide in Him and He in us (Jn. 6:56)

The sacrament of Holy Matrimony unites man and woman together to form a new little Kingdom of God where they live together in a bond of selfless love and affection, reflecting the great love that the Lord showed toward His beloved Church.Thus the Church, through the sacraments, helps us grow into full stature and maturity in Jesus Christ.

The saints lived the new life of the Kingdom. They were the living presence of God on earth. Their thoughts words and deeds were in conformity with God's will. For them life in the Church and life in the world had no contradictions. They participated in the Holy Sacraments constantly and kept their lives always pure and renewed.They worked for the Church and for the people of the society to which they belonged without any selfish motives. They poured out their lives for others. Their mere presence had a sanctifying influence.Devotion to the Lord and commitment to the uplift of the people of God; this was all their life. These words of St. Paul were quite true in the life of the saints:" Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come."

In Jesus Christ we too have put on a new nature. As God's holy and beloved ones, we have put on the virtues of compassion and kindness,lowliness and meekness, forbearing and forgiveness and above all love that binds everyone with perfect harmony. Anger, wrath, malice,slander, foul talk, all these do not have any place in us. We have put of all these practices of our old nature. Again, among us there is no distinction between man and man in the name of caste, colour or wealth because Christ is all, and in all (Read Col 3:8-12)St. Paul says, " If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.For you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God."We are raised with Christ to the new life in the Kingdom. Therefore,our words and deeds should be in accordance with this new life. Every aspect of our life should be holy and sanctified.

For Memorization I Cor 3:16" Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are."

For furstration on seemingly unanswered prayer

2010-10-17T04:41:00.000-07:00

“Therefore be sure that every prayer that is not fulfilled is certainly harmful; but a prayer that is answered is beneficial. The Giver of gifts is just and good and will not leave your prayers unanswered, for in His goodness there is no malice and in His truth there is no envy.”

(St. Ephraim the Syrian)

Remembering the Fathers

2010-10-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

One is remembered as a Church Father not because they are infallible with no short comings, but through their actions, words and thoughts, long after they departed this world bring more clarity and could edify others to live out the Orthodox Christian faith.

The Malankara Orthodox Church lists a multitude of Saints and Church fathers in the fifth diptych of it’s Holy Eucharist Service, when the community comes together as ‘Church’ and worship God. The list include the Church Fathers of the past 2000 years outside of India - those who live and declared the common faith of the Orthodox Church, those who particularly had interacted with the Church in India like St. Eldho Mar Baselios, those from Indian origin who taught by example to live out a life of prayer like St. Gregorios of Parumala, the beloved Saint of the Church in India – Vattasheril Gee Varghese Mar Dionysius Thirumeny.

A key point which we often miss out during the worship is that the list is endless – The Diptych ends with these words that we remember and beseech the Lord that prayers of the fathers listed – “... and those before them, and with them, and after them, those who have kept and handed down and entrusted to us the One genuine and undefiled faith” be a refuge to us the Church.
This compel us to remember that that for the Church the Fathers are live, continuing in their prayers, and we join them in our prayers. Also, there is a very serious responsibility entrusted to us - The Fathers have kept, handed down the Orthodox Christian faith and is entrusting to keep and hand it down to others.

A Father of the Malankara Church that comes to my mind today during our own times- exemplary in encouraging one another, strengthening each other to see with our eyes open what our faith entails is the departed Fr. V.C. Samuel of Memory Eternal. Some know him, many don’t, and some might have come across him at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._C._Samuel
To me what encouraged me to remember him today was reading this response from his book - ‘An Orthodox Catechism on the Faith and Life of the Church’ on the ‘Need of Divine Economy for Human Salvation ‘
“Man is a creature of God, endowed with creaturely freedom. As a creature, he has a beginning and the possibility of an end. Yet, unlike other creatures, he/she is created to attain eternal life, which God grants. To gain this goal, man is called to live on earth in communion with the Creator and follow His way, using his creaturely autonomy. However, man took advantage of his personal freedom to follow his own plan in life. This led to his fall from the Source of Eternal life, to which he had to be restored. This restoration required an absolute surrender to God on the part of man, which was possible only by God Himself helping man to do it. Therefore the coming together of God the Son and man into union was necessary, and God accomplished it in Jesus Christ”

Lord forgive us and have mercy on us, for while the Fathers knew you and lived You- We have fallen away . Strengthen us to seek you in our lives like the Church Fathers

Maneeso of St. Severus

2010-09-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Manisa or Maneeso of St. Severus is found as the heading of one of the first songs sung at Holy Qurbana . In Malayalam the hymn starts of like ' Nin Maathave vishudhanmar... ' . For the Malankara Orthodox Christians , We spend so much time in ensuring every one sings together in harmony and do not take time enough to really understand what we are singing about. This song descibes the fundamental faith on ' Who is Jesus Christ ' and it is so fitting that the song is attributed to one of the greatest Church father of the Orthodox Christians that did not see Chalcedon as ecumenical and spent a life time teaching the true faith.
This caught my attention today seeing it at the back of fourth standard Sunday school text book and found from the net that ' Manisa' mean ' Song of Praise '. This is so fitting, for is it not this - 'Sing Praise to God 'that we are to do most when we come together to worship God as Church . I am posting the English translation from the text book and hope this will be edifying.

"By the prayers of your mother who bought you forth and by those of all your saints: My Lord and King! I will magnify You, Only begotton Son, Word of the Heavenly Father, Immortal by nature; who by your grace did come down for the life and redemption of all mankind ,who did become incarnate of the Holy and glorious pure Virgin Mary, Mother of God,and who became man without changing your divinity, and was crucified for us. O Christ our Lord, who by your death did trample down our death and destroy it ,being One among the Holy Trinity, You are worshipped and glorified in the unity of Your Father and your Living Holy Spirit ; Have mercy on us. "

Books on Shelves!!!!

2010-08-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

"The fathers...kept the commandments; their successors wrote them down; but we have placed their books on the shelves. And even if we want to read them, we do not have the application to understand what is said and to put it into practice; we read them either as something incidental, or because we think that by reading them we are doing something great, thus growing full of pride. We do not realize that we incur greater condemnation if we do not put into practice what we read..."
St. Peter of Damaskos

Feast of Pentecost - May 23, 2010

2010-05-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

With the feast of Pentecost .
In the scripture, every single one who have been baptized are saints .To this sainthood are we called . Christians should take up the challenge to live in obedience to the Spirit. ( HG Mar Ivanios , Kottayam)

Read the message of our Bishop - http://www.ds-wa.org/thirumenis-message.htmlScripture

Readings - : ◦Evening ■St. John14:15-31 ◦Morning ■St. John 15: 20 -25
◦Before Holy Qurbana ■Numbers11: 16 - 35 ■I Samuel 10:9-15 ■II Kings 2:14 -17 , 12: 1-27 ■Ezekiel 11: 17-20, 36: 25 - 27 ■Isaiah42: 1- 27 ◦
Holy Qurbana ■Acts 2: 1-13 ■Galatians5 : 16 - 26 ■St. John 15: 1 - 14

◦Service of the First kneeling ■Genesis11: 1-9 ■II Kings 2 ; 14 - 17 ■Acts 19:1-7 ■I Corinthians 14: 20-25 ■St. John14: 1-17
◦Service of the Second Kneeling ■Ezekiel 37: 1 - 14 ■Joel2:25-32 ■Acts10: 34 - 48 ■I Corinthians 12: 12 - 27 ■St. John 14: 25 - 31
◦Service of the Third Kneeling ■Judges13 : 24- 14: 7 ■Ezekiel 47: 1-12 ■Isaiah47: 1- 1 ■Acts 2: 1-21 ■I Corinthians 14: 20 - 33 ■St. John 16: 1 - 15

Towards a direction

2010-02-13T05:35:00.000-08:00

I remember today my grandmother , Mariamma Varghese, of eternal memory ,of her praying the 7 times daily prayer , of her continuing perserverence of keeping the Lents and fasts by living the life of the Church day by day each year of her life.

As I think of her today , the question comes to mind on what kept her going day by day, while for me it is an anticipation that on the coming Monday , Holy Lent begin ,and I must try to keep away from what binds me during this Lenten period.

I regret not getting the answer from her while growing up ,but think for her was not the goal of getting to heaven after this life ,but an attempt to a Christ centred life, right here ,begining here by focusing and living it out by what the Church taught .

I pray that strengthened by the faith that the fathers and mothers departed this life , each of us instead of thinking of what we will be after 50 days of Lent , begin the journey in the direction a direction oriented on our Lord and God Jesus Christ knowing that He is the Way and in Him is the journey of the Church and each of us .

May God bless you
February13,2010

December 27 - 'Feast Of The Slaughter Of The Infants'

2009-12-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

In between the Nativity of our Lord and God, and New Year celebration, the significance of this feast sometimes its importance.

However as the Church consider it very important to be included as a feast in the liturgical life of the Church, It bothers me every year and try to ask others to reflect too a bit on it.

Today the world suffers with many innocent children killed by Hunger and Famine, slaughtered by War, Murdered by mothers even in wombs by Abortion, Mothers forced to have no choice than Abort, and while political agendas continue on just as it was for King Herod.
And
In the agenda of our Shepherds of the Church is the rush to built orphanages, are we turning a blind eye by not looking at the root cause? Should not these questions be thought through by each of us ?

• How did we as individuals and together as Church in which the Holy Spirit dwells in it's fullness contribute to this?
• How did we fail to respond to mend the broken and strained tension this world torn with sin and bearing the consequences of disobedience is facing?
• How did we the Church whose sole purpose, as His instrument for existence is to continue the Saving MISSION of Jesus Christ the Savior and God of all fail to guide those who by Baptism and Chrismation are its members?
• How have we become so complacent to become so secular hypocritical, unfaithful adulterous pretenders, failures who cannot raise eyes to ask God for Mercy and be sanctified by full participation in the liturgical life of Church lest alone become points of light and a royal priesthood separated out of the world, in the world yet not of the world?

Though this season is a time to be thankful to God for all the blessings we each have received by His mercy, it is also time we have reflect and cry out for the innocent victims today in this world, in our midst. For the children murdered by abortion, for children of female infanticide, for the innocent children of women assaulted & abused by men, for innocent children of those that we call fallen woman, for those children helpless to have been born from Aids parents, for those innocent children having to suffer cancer or other deadly diseases and for the orphans and for those children who become victims due to famine, war and conflict. Also, let us pray for the traumatized having to give up their children by abortion, for those who had to live bearing shame for their children day by day.
This is also a time when as individuals and Church we show ourselves totally against abortion, against killing of innocent children even if in the name of compassion, even for medical research like stem cell research.

Lord Have mercy on us

Studying , Reading without acually Living!!!!

2009-12-05T02:51:00.000-08:00

To try to discover the meaning of the commandments through study and reading without actually living in accordance with them is like mistaking the shadow of something for its reality. It is only by participating in the truth that you can share in the meaning of truth. If you search for the meaning without participating in the truth and without having been initiated into it, you will find only a besotted kind of wisdom. (St. Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines 22, in The Philokalia, Vol. IV)

Oh God, Direct our will to live !!

Sanctification Sunday November 1, 2009

2009-11-01T05:14:00.000-08:00

In the Orthodox Church from the Indian and Syrian tradition , the Liturgical Cycle starts on the First Sunday in November or 30th or 31st October should they fall on a Sunday. This is intentional with 8 Sundays,each having a significance, before the Church come together to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and God.

This Eucharist reading the fathers chose for this Sunday are
Mathew 16:13-23, I Peter 2:1-12, I Corinthians 3:16-16,6:15-20

The Epistle reading points out to us how we may grow up in our salvation as a people of God and how we and the Church are consectrated 'Set apart' as Holy and pure with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in it's fullness . The Gospel reading points us on true confession of our God on who He is is by His revealation and when we donot have in our mind His will and things we can become stumbling blocks and be worthy to called 'Satan'

Now that we have known this, let us seek His help and encourage one another as we celebrate the Feast of the Church to live out our lives for His Glory

Elevation of The Life Giving Cross

2009-09-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

In our Malankara Orthodox Church prayer book , we see two different versions of the prayers before Holy Qurbana called Sleebah ( Cross )and Kymtha ( Ressurection)

It is believed that St . Helena mother of Emperor Constantine found the Cross in which our Lord and God was crucified and when it was raised up elevated by St. Macarius the Patriach of Jerusalem, all the people bowed down and cried out Lord have Mercy.

Below is a short article on the Cross by a 20th Century contemporay saint of the Russian Church .

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The Life- Giving Cross - On the three components of the Life-Giving Cross and our own cross.

We are now glorifying the Life-giving Cross of our Lord. On this occasion it would be quite fitting, dear brethren, to remember how the Church and the Holy Fathers and spiritual instructors teach us to look upon the Life-giving Cross and the bearing of our own cross.

The great spiritual instructor in faith, Saint Theophanus the Recluse, said that the Cross of Christ was threefold. The cross which each Chris-tian must bear in his life is also threefold, similar to the Life-giving Cross which, according to prophecy, was composed of three tree varieties (cypress, pine and cedar). Thus, in bearing our own cross, we see three sides to it, three crosses which merge into one.

The first of these crosses is the cross of fallen mankind. This cross was described briefly but accurately and powerfully by the Apostle Paul, who said of himself: “I know not what I do: the good which I wish to do - I do not; the evil which I do not wish to do - I do.” And man is a captive of his sin - this is the sin of fallen mankind from which no one can escape, and of which the same Saint Theophanus said: “Imagine a man who has a rotting and foul-smelling corpse firmly attached to his back: wherever he goes, wherever he runs, he is unable to escape from this horrible foul decay. It follows him persistently, pursues him relentlessly.”

The second cross is the one which we usually understand as being our own cross: this is the combination of all the sorrows, all the misfortunes, all the difficulties of which our lives are composed. This, precisely, is what is meant by bearing one’s cross. But that is not yet all.

The holy fathers say: here is a man surrounded by affliction, illness, misfortune. As soon as he gives himself up completely into the will of God, saying that the Lord does everything well and, therefore, whatever may be sent to him on this path of the cross, he accepts it all as being good - as soon as he says this in his heart (says Saint Theophanus) - everything will disappear as if by magic. Everything around him remains the same: the same afflictions, the same worries, but it is he who has changed and sees everything differently. Thus must a man have the firm conviction that the Heavenly Father will not give him a stone in place of bread.

If God sends us difficulties, that means they are needed and are to our benefit. The elder Ambrose of Optina said: “Whatever will be, will be, and what will be, will be whatever God gives us, and God gives us everything for our good.”

The last component of our cross is such that Saint Theophanus spoke of it with his usual deep humility. He said: “That cross is known only to those who have attained a high spiritual level. Such a person has already overcome all temptations, has easily overcome all difficulties. But there are higher temptations - the temptations of pride, the temptations of vainglory, the temptation to consider oneself, through one’s spiritual labors, as being better and higher than others. This cross is the heaviest to bear and is known only to those who, albeit with great difficulty, have overcome it.”

Saint Theophanus says that each Christian must be a cross-bearer. The life of each Christian begins with a cross: he is baptized and a cross is placed around his neck at the very moment of his entering the bright sacrament of baptism. When he is buried, the cross remains with him, and a cross is also placed over his grave, indicating that a faithful Christian is buried there.

Let us keep that in mind, my beloved, and let us always wear a cross, which strengthens us and saves us in difficult circumstances. Do not forget, Christian soul, of the strength of the cross, and that with the power of His Cross the Lord will always save you from all possible misfortune. Amen.

Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky )

Wholeness & Contemporary Orthodox Christian Dilemma

2009-09-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

Very often, born in to a family of Orthodox Christians from India, We are not taught to live and grow in life of the Church. When the realization hits us straight on of our ignorance , we run delusional ,confused not knowing where to turn and go through a hurt filled life affected by trauma that the Church has fallen short and is lacking.

Yes we have fallen short, but it is not the Church .It is merely us not taking the time to seek the depth of our faith and see how the fathers have lived this life in the Church for the last two millennia and not trusting God is present in our own times and who remains who He is to St. Paul as this God Who is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things ,may have an abundance for every good work.

This article was shared by Fr. John Brian and I pray that by posting it here would encourage another person who read it not to lose heart and go through the trauma I have had to go through and make me to follow this through in my life. Please pray for me and Let us seek Him who is God as members of the Church by earnestly crying out - "Lord Have Mercy"
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WHOLENESS – AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Bishop Kallistos Ware
Excerpts from an interviewed in Parabola Magazine, February 1985

In the Orthodox spiritual tradition we often use the word “heart.” By heart we mean not just the emotions or feelings but the deep center, the true self. Our aim is to discover the place of the heart, to unite the brain with its knowledge to the heart; and in the heart also feeling is found. Our aim, then, is to integrate them on the level of the deep heart. And the body is also involved in this, because the body is not a piece of clothing but out integral self. The body plays its part through ascetic effort, by which I don’t mean just self-denial, but self-control. It plays its part through symbolic actions. There are ways also in which the rhythms of the body, the rhythm of the breathing, for example, can be used in prayer and meditation. The body is not just a piece of matter to be ignored, and still less something evil to be hated. The body is an aspect of our self, which we are to live to the full.

The whole person is not just a self-contained, self-centered unity. The whole person is a person who is on the one side open to God, and on the other side open to other human persons. The human being without God is not truly human. We were created to enter into a relationship with God, to be in dialogue with Him, and if that relationship is not present something essential is lacking from our personhood. Equally, we are created to relate to other human persons. It has been said that there is no true man unless there are two men entering into communication with one another. The isolated individual is not a real person. A real person is one who lives in and for others. And the more personal relationships we form with others, the more truly we realize ourselves as persons. This idea of openness to God, openness to other persons, could be summed up under the word “love.” We become truly personal by loving God and by loving other humans. By love I don’t mean merely an emotional feeling, but a fundamental attitude. In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of God Himself in us.

For me, as an Orthodox Christian, the journey towards wholeness involves prayer, in the sense of personal, private prayer, standing in silence before God; but also in the sense of communal prayer, sharing in the services of the Church, sharing in the Sacraments. It involves, beyond prayer, joining in all the other practices of the Church; in fasting, in the reading of Holy Scripture. Is it possible to grow without these things? God is very generous. Man people who have no religious practice do grow in self-understanding, do show creative love towards others. They are open to their fellow humans. And there are many people who are open towards God who do not belong to any particular church. I do not wish to judge them. I accept the authenticity and integrity of their inner life. Yet, I believe that in its fullness, the growth of the human person towards wholeness is intended by God to take place within church life.

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A prayer by St. Nerses the Graceful of Armenia

2009-09-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

St. Nerses the Graceful, A hymnic prayer to the Suffering Christ

Restorer of the universe, who clothed us with your glorious light, on whom the soldiers spread the crimson mantle of reproach; remove from me the rags of sin stained with the horrible blood and clothe me anew with my former robe.
They bent the knee mocking you, heavenly King, they inflicted blows on your crowned head and hit you with the reed, and so did I stoop down to earth, obeying the will of the evil one. Let me not become the object of his game but lift me up again.
The mob surrounded you physically following the verdict of the judge, and you received blows on your skull for the sake of the skull of the first-born man. By virtue of the baptismal font restore me to health, the one needlessly afflicted from head to toe.
In lieu of the sacred and shining ornament which you placed on Aaron’s head, the tillers of Israel’s vineyard placed a crown of thorns on you. Take away from me, the thorn of sin with which the enemy has inflicted me, and heal the lacerated wound so that the scars of sin may be eradicated.
They gave you the gall to drink, the vinegar to the thirsty. You drank of it willingly, so that the fruits of bitterness of the venom which has been injected in the recesses of my soul and thus may your love be sweetened therein.
In lieu of the tree that ushered in death, once planted in paradise, you lifted the wood of the Cross, raising it on Golgotha. Lift up my soul submerged in sin, O Lifter of the heaviest burden, as you lifted up the sheep upon your shoulder. Take my soul up from earth to its promised place.
At the third hour on Friday you, Lord, were nailed to the Cross, loosening the shackles of the first-born man and binding the enemy. Strengthen me beneath the shadow of your life-giving Sign [referring to the Cross] and enlighten me with its light from the rising of the sun.
The gates of the Edenic paradise were opened to the blessed thief, his petition being granted according to his faith. Grant me also, Lord, with him to hear the same response: ‘Today you shall be with me in Eden, your first homeland.’

Each day as it Proceeds - Morning Prayer

2009-09-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since any post 'Each day as it Proceeds', I move away from doing what I should do to merely searching to Know what I should do and not doing.

Here I remember this two wonderful prayers of the Church and may He guide you to use it too

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Oh Lord , Grant me to greet this coming day in peace.Help me in all things to rely upon you . In every hour of the day reveal your will to me. Bless my dealings with all that surround me. Teach me to treat everything that comes to me through out the day with the peace of soul and firm conviction that your will governs all . In all my deeds and words,guide my thoughts and feelings . In unforseen events,Let me not forget all are sent by you.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely without embittering or embarassing others.Grant me strength to bear the faitigue of this day . Direct my Will. Teach me to Pray and you Yourself Pray in me. Amen

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Oh Lord, Thanks be to Thee for letting me wake up comfortably. I dedicate myself to Thee so that I may be able to live for Thee and in Thy Love. O Lord Jesus Christ, Please come to my Help Amen

Orthodox Christian Worship in First Century

2009-04-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Justin Martyr on Christian worship
c. 150 AD from chapters 61-67 of Justin's First Apology

Christian Baptism

I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

And for this rite we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the layer the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.

Its imitation by demons

And the devils, indeed, having heard this washing published by the prophet, instigated those who enter their temples, and are about to approach them with libations and burnt-offerings, also to sprinkle themselves; and they cause them also to wash themselves entirely, as they depart from the sacrifice, before they enter into the shrines in which their images are set. And the command, too, given by the priests to those who enter and worship in the temples, that they take off their shoes, the devils, learning what happened to the above-mentioned prophet Moses, have given in imitation of these things. For at that juncture, when Moses was ordered to go down into Egypt and lead out the people of the Israelites who were there, and while he was tending the flocks of his maternal uncle in the land of Arabia, our Christ conversed with him under the appearance of fire from a bush, and said, "Put off thy shoes, and draw near and hear." And he, when he had put off his shoes and drawn near, heard that he was to go down into Egypt and lead out the people of the Israelites there; and he received mighty power from Christ, who spoke to him in the appearance of fire, and went down and led out the people, having done great and marvellous things; which, if you desire to know, you will learn them accurately from his writings.

Baptism and the consecration of the Eucharist

But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized illuminated person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to genoito so be it. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.

The Eucharist

And this food is called among us Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn.

Weekly worship of the Christians

And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration

(This is from chapters 61-67 of the First Apology of Justin Martyr. You can read the whole document here.)

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Visit to Baselius Dayara ,Vakathanam India

2009-02-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

As you are aware going to a monastery by Laity is frequent among other Orthodox all over the world,even among some of my friends at OCA here in Canada. Infact I heard the Bishop has made it mandatory that the priest serving in Calgary St. Peter the Aleut parish must find time yearly to take time off to spend in Monastery.

I have been wanting to visit a monastery in India and spent a day and in my trip 4 years back I could go to Sastankota Dayara but had only afew hours there.

My curiosity of visiting this Dayara began from George Abraham's (GA) series (Walk the Talk) in ICON on Ivanios Thirumeny and had made plans that defenitely this time I will find time to go there and if possible even stay there. Coincidentally I could get in touch with George Abraham in India who gave me the phone info. and thought it will be worthwhile for me to go there as we don't know how long Thiumeny will be there before we not even undrstand his thoughts or teaching.I kept thinking how long do I have in life and when I phoned was told Thirumeny was admitted in hospital and whenever I need to visit, I just have to show up and get Thirumeny's permission.

Anyway, when I reached there by about 9:00 am, I was given coffee and told by a young preseminarian to wait for Thirumey who will be back before noon. we got to talking for a little while and he mentioned they practise the 'Jesus Prayer' here and the chapel has ICON's here with seperate buildings for pre seminarians , monks with a new wing built for guests with some college students renting I was told by the gardner while walking about the grounds that Thirumeny himself oversees the gradening and would know even if a single plant is removed.

I had already heard from one of my cousins that Thirumeny stands out from others in not paticipating in Moonimel Qurbana and sure enough the Chapel has only one altar ( Which I personally agree must be the norm not having seen a mooninmel altar arrangement in any Coptic or Ethiopian or Eastern parishes here and Theologically I would think correct for How can be three bodies when we are to come partake as one body to parake of one God? )

I found it also strange that there were lots of Icons typical of what one would find in a Byzantine parish like the Russian.The icons were done mostly by a Fr. Zacharia and on speaking to him, He told he donot have any formal training in writing ICONs. They looked beautiful but I wished there could be more interaction specifically on writing ICONS with the Churches who have been using them like the Coptic , Armenian ,Syrian ( not the Jacobite on in Kerala , but the one in old Antioch or Syria where ICONs are venerated and possibly still written - For example I have been trying to find from internet from that tradiion if anyone writes the ICON of St.Severus of Antioch ),Ethiopian etc. They were all Byzantine Icons by the way. This is a matter which I pray in time God will open more opportunities. Thirumeny was very open when he came and told and told I could stay as long as I wanted.

Knowing his interest in the Jesus Prayer gave him a copy of the book on 'Jesus Prayer by Lev Gillet' , which I never got to use or practise because of my lethargic habit. Another book, which I think Thirmeny could have on this is by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. The practise at the Dayara is at morning, noon and night after the prescribed prayers are repeated chanting each of about 7 or 8 one line prayers including the classical Jesus Prayer line , each either 25 or 50 times. Whenever Thirumeny is there, he would be one leading the prayers. I think this was typical of the 'Arrow Prayers' which was in practise used by the desert monastries of Nitrea in early 4th century . I think this practise is being re introuduced to the Church in India only here at this Dayara.

When Thirumeny is at the Dayara, He would share the meal with the Preseminarians at his residence.The preseminarians would take turns on who will be serving the tales and I think the preseminarians use the door from the dining room door quiet a lot to Thrmeny to speak to him. It is so wonderful that the young minds have so ready access to such an elder .

One of the highlite of the visit was the conversation with Thirumeny when asked on on how I know quite a lot of the theory of our faith but very little practical experience and not making the effort to living it out. His answer which I had alraedy guessed, but too lazy to act on was something like this- 'Prayer is not in the standing but in the moving ,in the rememberence and trying to converse with God through crying out and reaching out whenever posible with prayers like Jesus Christ ,Son of God Have mercy upon me to a state of Prayer.'

I told him also my disappointment with what we the Indian Orthodox christian community have become, with how our choirs ,noise and how much useless stuff takes precedence in our weekly qurbanas and our churches. He agreed and told that there is only so much he could do and his effort now is concentated here to aid the two stream of future priests - those who want to become monks or go to seminary to get an ascetic base before venturing out . I think not having this monastic discipline and the Priest hood with those who are not worthy of it's calling are really the root cause of our problem which is exacly what I recall the original more known Mar Ivanios - St. John Chrysostoum had to say on it.

Thirumeny has a wonderful library of many books from St. Vlad's seminary and other places , which alone can spiritually uplift, and alot of people from far visit Thirumeny. I was given to take home free when I left the Dayara ,the Malayalam translation facilitated by Dr. Cherian Eapen of the classical 'Way of the Pilgrim'. He by the way spends a lot time at Pampadi dayara and manage his business in Russia, where he first came in contact with the Russian monks, and is trying to make vailable free copies of the Philakolia translated in Malyalam. So the visit If I were to summarize really did tell me to examine myself and try to change with God's grace, Have the strong conviction that that the Church is not just in the hands of men but with God for whom nothing is impossible and woul recommend every one to spend a few days there.

ELDER CLEOPA ON PRAYER

2008-10-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is what was translated of the interview with elder Cleopa of Eternal memory which by His providence I could watch from youtube. Pray it will be of use to you who read .

Part 1

We should be with God at all times
Listen to what Psalm 33 says “I will bless the Lord at all times” “His praise shall continually be in my mouth” For prayer is the life of our soul. We must pray to God at all times! You have seen what Psalm 102 says “In all places of His dominion; bless the Lord, O my Soul!” You have seen that the great Apostle Paul says more clearly: “Pray incessantly”!
For How many hours do you pray in the morning? And How many hours in the evening? St. John the Chrysostom says: One should pray for three hours both in the morning and evening and at least for one hour at midnight!
How many hours do you pray to God, in the morning when you awaken?
Hours, no…
We should, but we don’t pray for hours… You see?! And death comes tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Our Savior said:” Be alert and pray since you know neither the day nor the hour…” We leave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow! We all leave! Nobody remains, we just don’t know when!
Rotten old man, rotten old man! That’s me!

Part 2

There are 9 stages of Prayer: We should at least just pray with the lips, just our mouth, the lowest stages.
What does Holy Apostle Paul say? Bring to God the fruits of your lips! What does the Holy Spirit say in Psalm 33? “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth. What does the Psalm 102 say? “Bless the Lord, all ye His works, in every place of His dominion” What does the Apostle say? “With my voice I cried unto the Lord …” You see ?! These four types of prayer: of the lips, of the mouth, of the tongue and of the voice are at the bottom of the stages of prayer. These, one learn as a child! After you have prayed for at least 10 years with the tongue, the lips, the mouth and the voice you will see that at some point you need, what the mouth says, to be comprehended by the mind. Not just to say them, pointlessly! And when the man begins to comprehend with the mind what he says with the mouth, he has reached the fifth step, the prayer of the mind.
Is this stage of the prayer of the mind a perfect stage?
No! The prayer of the mind is simply a “bird with one wing”, or half a prayer. Prayer with one leg! Can you walk with one leg? Can you fly with one wing?
There too the mind is attacked by the devils… The 6th Step is needed, the prayer of the heart! To descend with the mind into your heart! And when you descend with the prayer in the heart, with: “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!”
The mind encounters 2 toll houses: First is the one of imagination, delusion. Do not imagine anything! God was not imagined, Neither the Cherubim, Nor the Seraphim! He does not have a delimited glory. The second toll house is Reason at the hearts gate.
When the mind has descended into the heart, the first sign is a nail of fire in the left nipple, where the heart is for both man and woman! A nail of fire… The heart warms up strongly! A Godly sweetness begins. From the heart, in the chest, the spinal cord, the entire body is fire! And the eyes start shedding tears, but not just tears… One elder, with whom I communicated in the wilderness, was telling me “I descended with the mind into the heart for 2 hours and 10 minutes …and so much godly sweetness came…”Christ met our soul! We have Him in our heart since Baptism. And then the rational side talks to our soul. He told me “In 2 hours and 10 minutes I had five handkerchiefs that I wrung of tears!” That is prayer, with so many tears! That is purity! That is pure prayer of the heart reached by one in 10,000! Among the ones who strive, says St. Isaac the Syrian. And then there are greater prayers, the active prayer, the all–seeing prayer, contemplative prayer… There are no more! I am tired! Contemplative prayer is not even called prayer anymore, it is called Godly vision! With that Saint Paul was raised up to the third heaven! And he didn’t know weather he was inside or outside of his body… That is enough brother! Go away with that fangled toy!

Fourth Sunday after Sleebah Perunaal

2008-10-06T04:31:00.000-07:00

October-12: Fourth Sunday after the Festival of Holy Cross

Evening
St. Mark 10: 1-16

Morning
St. Luke 9: 37-45

Before Holy Qurbana
Numbers 29: 35- 4 0 ; I Kings 8: 22-30 ;Psalms 42

Holy Qurbana
Acts 21: 17 - 26 ; I Corinthians 1: 21-29 ; St. Luke 16: 9 -18

"Hearers of the Holy Gospels, let us listen to John the Divine. For he who said, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (John 1:1), went on to say. 'and the Word was made flesh' (John 1:14). For neither is it holy to worship the mere man, nor religious to say that He is God only without the Manhood. For if Christ is God, as indeed He is, but took not human nature upon Him, we are strangers to salvation. Let us then worship Him as God, but believe that He was also made Man. For neither is there any profit in calling Him man without Godhead, nor any salvation in refusing to confess the Manhood together with the Godhead. Let us confess the presence of Him who is both King and Physician. For Jesus the King when about to become our Physician, 'girded Himself with the linen' of humanity (John 13:4), and healed that which was sick. The perfect Teacher of babes became a babe among babes, that He might give wisdom to the foolish. The Bread of heaven came down on earth that He might feed the hungry."

St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

These weekly Scripture readings are provided by members of the St. Mary's Parish of our Indian Orthodox Church in North Virginia who not only have it posted at thir website,but kind enough to send the readng by mailing list
http://www.stmarysnova.org/indian-orthodox-lectionary#now

For readings on other days - I have started to trying th Armenian calendar
http://66.208.37.78/index.jsp?sid=1&id=9708&pid=32

Mark sadek of the Coptic Church has a google group - which sends by email daily Scripture reading according to Coptic Calendar, Sayings of the Fathers and the Coptic Synaxarium reading
He has been faithfully sending Spiritual words to the various discussion groups since 2001 .

http://groups.google.ca/group/SpiritualWords/about?hl=en

Catholicate Vision and Mission

2008-08-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Catholicate Vision and Mission

As we commemorate 100 years of the Spiritual wing of the Church to assist students MGOCSM and in four years 100th year of the Catholicate, it is high time that we turn our minds to understand what its mission and the tasks the Catholicate should undertake as priority.

I am planning to write a few articles fashioned by reading about some thoughts shared on it by Fr. V.C Samuel of eternal memory through his book “Truth Triumphs” published in 1986 on the life and achievements of Metropolitan Mar Dionysius VI. It will have shortcomings on the basis of my person, but pray it will be corrected with hope of better understanding and living out our faith by those who read these.

Please keep in prayer

First Sunday after Holy Pentecost

2008-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

May 18 : First Sunday after Holy Pentecost

Evening
St. Luke 8: 4-15

Morning
St. Matthew 11: 20- 24

Before Holy Qurbana
Genesis 41: 38-40 ; Exodus 12: 31-40 ; Joshua 5: 9-12 ; Jeremiah 29: 10-16

Holy Qurbana
Acts 17: 10-15 ; II Corinthians 5: 14 - 6:10 ; St. John 6: 26-35

Labor together with one another; strive in company together; run together; suffer together; sleep together; and awake together, as the stewards, and associates, and servants of God. Please Him under whom you fight, and from whom you receive your wages. Let none of you be found a deserter. Let your baptism endure as your arms; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as a complete panoply. Let your works be the charge assigned to you, that you may receive a worthy recompense. Be long-suffering, therefore, with one another, in meekness, as God is towards you.

St. Ignatius of Antioch – Epistle to Polycarp, Chapter 6

Fourth Sunday after New Sunday

2008-04-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

April-27: Fourth Sunday after New Sunday

Evening
St. John 14: 1-16

Morning
St. John 16: 16-30

Before Holy Qurbana
Deuteronomy 16: 1-8 ; Joshua 8: 30-35 ; Isaiah 54 : 1-8

Holy Qurbana
I Peter 3: 17-22 ; Hebrews 11: 32-40 ; St. Luke 9 : 51 - 62

"If our thoughts suggest something to us to be done we must handle it with utmost scrupulosity. It must be placed on the scales of the heart and weighed with the most exacting care.

Is it filled with what is good for all?
Is it heavywith the fear of God?
Is it genuine in the feelings which underlie it?
Is it lightweight because of human show or because of some thrust toward novelty?
Has the burden of vainglory lessened its merit or diminished its luster?

This prompt testing will be done as something public. That is, it is measured against the acts and the witness of the Apostles. If it looks to be whole, complete, and inconformity with these latter, then let us hold on to it. Or if it seems defective, dangerous, and not of equal weight with these, let us cautiously andcarefully reject it."

St. John Cassian.

Third Sunday after New Sunday

2008-04-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

April-20: Third Sunday after New Sunday ((New Sunday is the first Sunday after the Resurrection of our Lord and God )
Evening
St. Luke 5: 27-39
Morning
St. John 6 : 47-58

Before Holy Qurbana
Exodus 34: 4-12 ; Micah 4: 1-7 ;Zachariah 8: 4-9 ;Isaiah 37: 8-17

Holy Qurbana
I John 5: 13 - 21 ; Hebrews 11: 3-6 ; St. Luke 24 : 13 - 35

" Donot approach the mystery-filled words of the Scriptures without prayer and a request for assistance from God. Say 'Lord gramt me to become aware of the power in the words ' Consider prayer to be the key to insights into Truth in the Scriptures. "

St. Issac the Syrian

Second Sunday after New Sunday

2008-04-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

Scripture Readings This Week

April-13: Second Sunday after New Sunday (New Sunday is the first Sunday after the Resurrection of our Lord and God )

Evening St. John 6: 16-29
Morning St. Matthew 14: 22-33

Before Holy Qurbana
Exodus 40: 1-16 ; Joshua 2: 1-6 ; Isaiah 49 : 13 -21

Holy Qurbana
Acts 4: 8-21 ; Hebrews 3: 1-13 ; St. John 21: 15 -19

"Our own determination and intention together with the help of God come into play in every spiritual act of ours, visible or not,and the latter is unlikely to operate without the former.

"St. John Climacus.

Liturgical Scripture Reading 2008

2008-04-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

http://stgregorioschurchdc.org/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=1

The site contains daily Scripture reading for 2008 developed by MGOCSM.

In the venerable Orthodox Christian tradition of the Fathers , Scripture are to be read not as isolated individuals,but as members of Church with the mind of the Church . To discover and use by daily seeking out the Scripture , as the Fathers have shown, for God's glory requires one to be clear on how we are to discover this 'Mind of the Church' - By How Scripture is used in Liturgy (Liturgical) and How the Fathers have interpreted and lived by them as Shining beacons before us (Patristic).

It is more difficult to get now when English language is norm to find Bible commentaries within Orthodox Christian tradition,based on the sequence of the daily readings in Liturgical Calendar .
and more especially for the Church in India, which had it's Liturgical Calendar changed in 1952 from the rest of the the Church. (Presenly for this year while the rest of the Orthodox Christian Church be the in Coptic Egypt, Ethiopia, Greek , Russian and even OCA in America traditions are yet to celebrate Holy Pascha in April 27 , the Indian Church had the celebration in March 23 like the Roman Catholics)

It is prayer that we dont forget to take up and use resources like this daily reading to begin and tun back to what we are called to do. In time the administrator of this blog will share some reflections. Please keep in prayer

Right Glory

2008-04-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

The very meaning of our faith , I found centres on that what is rightfully owing from creation to offer and give "Right Glory " to the Creator God .
This blog is an attempt to reflect and force to turn our minds to this what is rightfully expected of us.