Mission of Church awaits

 It is my prayer that we become the Mission of the Church - Each of us as Individuals ,Families and Communities in where the Lord has brought us to remain.  Sharing an extract from 'Building Up the Body of Christ -The Treasure of the Armenian Church for Our People Today ' by Bishop Daniel Findikyan to the Armenian Eastern Diocese.(Pages 13,14)

Building Up the Body of Christ: The Treasure of the Armenian Church for Our People Today

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"..Only in the last thirty years did the diocese frame an official mission statement to guide the ministry of the Eastern Diocese: The mission of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church is to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to proclaim its message of salvation. This mission is realized through worship, education, witness, service, and the common life in Christ as expressed in the distinctive faith-experience of the Armenian people. All members of the Armenian Church—both clergy and lay—are called to participate fully in its mission.." 

A much more theologically refined formula is attributed to St. Gregory our Illuminator in his extraordinary catechism, known as 'The Teaching of St. Gregory'

To bring light to all people who come into this world [John 1:9, 3:19, 9:5]; 

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

To offer repentance of salvation to all [John 3:17]; 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

To wash all people and deliver them from the chains of darkness by means of baptism.  [Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 3:21]; 

"..Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her  to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. " 

But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared,  He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit

In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 

To seal all nations as Christ’s inner circle [2 Corinthians 1:22] 

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,  set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

To make the Spirit of God dwell in people’s hearts [Romans 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Galatians 4:6]

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,  set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

To unite and join them to the love of the Son of God [Ephesians 4:16], so that the heart of all might shout out as one, and to unite all the world in saying: “Abba, Father,” so that the name of enslavement might be taken away, and the name of adoption be placed on them by the grace of Christ; [Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6-7] 

From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.

Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

To enable them to eat the Body of the Son of God and drink the life-giving Blood, [John 6:54] so that thereby they escort the entire world into the inheritance of Christ , to become “heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ.” [Romans 8:17]

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

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August 6, 2022

Feast of Transfiguration

On Purgatory in the Indian Orthodox Christian Tradition

On Purgatory in the Indian Orthodox Christian Tradition.  

Protestants would like us and our children to admit as having believed in Purgatory like the Roman Catholics . We don't have a tradition of Purgatory or Toll Houses . The Eastern Orthodox & Roman Catholics have a tradition of Toll Houses . To further define it, the Roman Catholics brought out a teaching called Purgatory as a temporary place where the souls of the departed stay before final judgment.   

Our faith calls us not to delve on such teachings , but pray for the Faithful departed and the faith that God's love and mercy is beyond human comprehension. 

" In the Funeral Service of the Syriac Orthodox Church there is a Madrosho (teaching) Hymn; with the title O'umarod Sabno. This hymn is sung from the perspective of the departed soul.

You tempted me with material things.you trapped me, like a bird is trapped.Now when I am departing, you have come and held on to my fingers. I am agitated, as if I have seen a nightmare.With the Holy Cross as my companion, I have approached this fearful harbour. Let these evil forces of the dark be driven away. With the Holy Cross as the key,Let me enter through the doors of Paradise, and praise Your great mercy."

The Armenian Funeral rites (the unabridged old versions, found in 1905 edition of Mashtots, the official Book of Rites of the Armenian Church), ask to help the departed soul pass through the demonic attacks peacefully, by the help of the accompanying good angel. This teaching can be found in the writings of many Armenian Fathers. Even the songs and the famous prayer of St Nerses the Grace-filled (that which has 24 chapters) mention this, and these songs and prayer are part of our official Book of Common Prayers (the Book of Hours, Zhamagirk).Just pay attention on the 20th chapter of the above-mentioned prayer of St Nerses:

20. Bounteous Lord, commit me to a good angel, who may deliver up my soul with sweetness, and convey it undisturbed through the malice of wicked spirits who are under the heaven.Have mercy on Your creatures and on me, a grievous sinner.

St Gregory of Tathev even brings an apocryphal story about the Holy Mother of God Mary who before her dormition or passing away tells those virgins that surrounded her what happens to the soul when it is to depart from this world. How angels come to take the soul, how it passes through the demonic attacks etc. Nerses of Lambron writes on this topic amply in his Commentary on the Story of Dormition of St John the Evangelist.Vardan of Aygek writes on this topic too, Sargis Shnorhali, Arakel of Syunik etc.

One must note that the apocriphal story of the Dormition of St John the Evangelist was part of the Armenian Bible for many centuries. And in that story there is a prayer by St John in which he asks the Lord to send the attacking demons away during his departure from this world. St John prays:

"Now, O Lord, when I have accomplished Thy stewardship with which I was entrusted, make me worthy of Thy repose, having wrought that which is perfect in Thee, which is ineffable salvation. And as I go to Thee, let the fire withdraw, let darkness be overcome, let the furnace be slackened, let Gehenna be extinguished, let the angels follow, let the demons be afraid let the princes be broken in pieces, let the powers of darkness fall, let the places on the right hand stand firm, let those on the left abide not, let the devil be muzzled, let Satan be laughed to scorn, let his madness be tamed, let his wrath be broken, let his children be trodden under foot, and let all his root he uprooted; and grant to me to accomplish the journey to Thee, not insulted, not despitefully treated, and to receive what Thou hast promised to those that live in purity, and that have loved a holy life."

It is this prayer that is explained in details by Nerses of Lambron in his above-mentioned Commentary.In a song for the departed ("Astuats anegh"), found in the Night Service of the official Book of Common Prayers and authored by St Nerses the Grace-filled, there are such words:

Let the princes of the air be shattered,Let them not be a hindrance to this soul,Give rest to our reposed in the mansions of Your Father of Light.

(Source - OCNET)

Divisions and Unity - HG Marthoma I & HG Gregorios Abdal Jaleel

The Christian community from Kerala has been united to point out that they were evangelized at the first century itself by none other than our St. Thomas the Apostle through Lord & God Jesus Christ.  Yes, the very one who was first to confess and cry out ‘My Lord and My God !”.

 The united Christian community  in 17^th Century from Kerala stood up to the interference  of the Portuguese Roman Catholics who were trying  to subjugate them and patiently awaited a change in their status for almost 50 years sending emissaries across the globe to come to their aid. The trust was that the same Lord and God who demonstrated His  love by becoming Man ,died and rose again for our Salvation will bring it about it in peace. The Christians in Malankara knew many such lived across the world and had encountered such in the history of the Church.

When matters were beyond any possible of reconciliation with Roamn catholics ,  Coonan Cross Oath (Koonan Kurishu Satyam) was taken on 3 January 1653 as a public avowal that they would not submit to Roman Pope and Latin Catholic Portuguese dominance in ecclesiastical and secular life.

Four months after Coonen Cross Oath, on 22 May 1653, Twelve kathanars (priests) ordained Thoma Kathanar as the first spiritual and temporal head of the Church by the act of laying hands on him together. The Roman Catholics   argued that his consecration by 12 priests was irregular . It was timely that in the person of the aged Bishop  Gregorios Abdal Jaleel from Jerusalem under the Syrian Orthodox Church in  1665. Thus started the intimate relation with the West Syrian Church of Antioch. During the succeeding centuries (18th and 19th) the Church slowly accepted West Syrian liturgical traditions.

Over the last three centuries the community adopted the  faith but the suspicion of foreign influence of the Church lingered on and led to division and two groups sharing the faith. History has shown as well that this suspicion was not without cause .The two groups - one under the Syrian Patriarchate and those under the Catholicate in Kottayam share the same Orthodox Christian faith in principle, but has a future that has to live it more fully this life with help of God.

It is perhaps no coincidence and  our Lord is calling out as  the need of the hour for Malayalee Orthodox Christians to see the positive in light of these trying times and make an united  effort in living the faith trusting in God . May the prayers of our Fathers Mathoma I and Abdal Jaleel whom we remember on April 25 and  April 27 be a solace and the Lord in His mercy guide us

In Christ,

George Varghese

May 3, 2020

Discipleship Course by Fr. Peter Farrington

It might not be possible to have a Spiritual guide / Father to help us . Nevertheless the Lord in His Mercy will provide opportunities and resources that will push to heed the call to lead a life as an Orthodox Christian. One such offering is a Three (3) month course on Discipleship By Fr. Peter Farrington. 

http://www.stgeorgeministry.com/discipleship-course/

Introduction to the course by Fr. Peter , Praying we make use of this offering. 

'..To discover Orthodoxy for the first time, or to increase our knowledge and experience of Orthodoxy, must be the same as becoming more completely Christian in accordance with the life of the first and the original and the Apostolic Christian community. It is not understood by Orthodox Christians as the expression of one denomination among many, but as representing the fulness of the Christian Gospel proclaimed by the Apostles themselves and preserved through the ages to the present time.

We cannot be born into Orthodoxy, or be Orthodox by accident, since it is Christianity itself. We are born again into Orthodoxy and must make a definite decision, even day by day, to embrace more completely this Apostolic life in Christ. The one who seeks to discover Christianity for the first time, the believer in Christ who is interested in the Orthodox understanding of Christianity, and the one who became a member of an Orthodox Church even in their infancy through sacramental baptism, must all follow the same determined investigation and increasing participation in the experience and understanding of Orthodoxy as the invitation to fulness of the Christian life even without knowing that is what they are doing, but knowing always that they desire more of God.

All of us are called and invited to become more Orthodox, more completely Christian, by a true, personal experience of the spiritual life which the Orthodox Churches have received from the Apostles, and by the grace and activity of the Holy Spirit, despite the weakness of men. It is by participating in Orthodoxy, in the fulness of Christianity itself, that we come to understand Orthodoxy as the life in Christ, the abundant life he offers. Each one of us begins where we find ourselves in this common journey. But the goal for all is the overwhelming, transforming and transfiguring experience of union with God in Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is what it means to become truly Orthodox, to become truly Christian, to experience and participate in the life of God by grace according to the Apostolic teaching, still taught in the Orthodox and Apostolic Churches as a present possibility and reality.  

This three month course is intended to present a programme of Scripture, Spirituality, Theology, History and other aspects of the Orthodox Christian life in a developing structure. By the end of the three months of the course it is hoped that a person who has tried to follow the instructions and study the short materials provided will have a better practical understanding and experience of Orthodox Christianity, not only in a theoretical sense but through their own participation. It is expected that an Orthodox person will have deepened their own spiritual life, and an enquirer into Orthodoxy will have a very good sense of what Orthodoxy is about.

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Morning Prayer - A Communion of the Faithful

In Orthodox Christian Tradition, every Divine Liturgy begins with the preceding Evening Vespers in light of the Scripture account of Creation, when Evening precedes Morning to form a Day. 

(Genesis Chapter 1). 

In Liturgical Homily this week, our Priest emphasized again the importance of the Liturgical Order and Prayers, to come prepared knowing with whom we are participating in Holy Communion. To illustrate further, He used the verses of morning hymn of the Holy Qurbana - ' Nishthayil  Ninne Petta .." to show how we are participating together with St. Mary, the Prophets, Apostles, the Saints and fathers, the  Faithful departed  and the Angels to worship and sing praises to our Lord and God. Achen asked each of us to reflect how carelessly and complacent we have become in our weekly participation, coming much later after the service has started when it the only time available for us all to come together and pay our tithe in Prayer.

The question points whether as an individual and as a whole we of the Malankara Orthodox Church could have used more appropriately the resources our Orthodox Christian faith and traditions of the West Syrian Church we inherited from the 17th Century for our use. I wish someone was there to explain these in my childhood while singing these hymns in Malayalam without realizing the true meaning while at the same time wonder even if such resources were available would have the temperament to be receptive.

Ministry of Liturgical Resource Development from our Diocese was initiated in 2015 to ensure future generations participate more fully in English and grow in knowledge and faith for His glory. With Prayers,Sharing the Morning Hymn from the English the Service Book of the Holy Qurbono by this Ministry, authorized by Holy Synod for Publishing in 2017.

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With Mary, Who carried You nine months in her womb by Your will, Make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God . With the Holy Virgin , Who bore You in purity , Make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God.

With the True Prophets, Who prophesied of Your coming , Make us worthy to sing praise to You, O Lord God. With the Holy Apostles, who proclaimed Your Gospel among the peoples, make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God.

With Martyrs and Confessors, Who endured torments and pain, Make us worthy To sing praise to You, O Lord God. With the Holy Fathers and Doctors of Orthodox Faith , Make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God.

With  Saint Basil the Great and Noble Saint Gregory, Make us worthy to sing praise to You, O Lord God. With the Just Men and the Priests, who loved You, Make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God.

With Saint Gregorios and Saint Divanasios, Make us worthy to sing praise to You,O Lord God.

With the Five Wise Virgins, Who were ready with their lamps , make us worthy to sing praise to You, O Lord God.With the sinful woman who approached you and received from You forgiveness, Make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God.

With the Thief who believed ,Whom You promised Paradise, Make us worthy to sing praise to You, O Lord God. With the Departed , Who believed in You and were clothed in You by Water and the Spirit , Make us worthy to sing praise to You, Lord God.

With Angels in Heaven , Who praise You unceasingly , Make us worthy to sing praise to You, O Lord God.

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Lord , Have Mercy Upon us to be Worthy !!

October 14, 2019 

Weekly Scripture Readings August 4 – August 11, 2019

Weekly Scripture Readings August4 – August 11, 2019

August-6:  Feast of Transfiguration/Koodaara Perunnal

Evening: St. Matthew16:27-17:13, Morning: St. Mark8:38-9:13
Before Holy Qurbana
Deuteronomy16:13-17, Psalms24
Isaiah60:12-15,61:1-3
Holy Qurbana
IJohn2:23-3:1, Romans11:25-36
St. Luke9:27-36

August-11: First Sunday after the Feast of Transfiguration
Evening: St. Mark4:21-34, Morning: St. Matthew13:44-52
Before Holy Qurbana
Deuteronomy25:13-16, Psalms27
Ezekiel7:1-4
Holy Qurbana
St. James4:7-5:6, Philippians4:8-20
St. Matthew21:28-32

Suggested Readings based on Lectionary

August 4, 2019- St. Matthew16:27-17:13, Psalms24

August 5, 2019 - St. Mark4:21-34, Psalms27
August 6, 2019 - St. Mark8:38-9:13, Isaiah60:12-15,61:1-3
August 7,2019 - St. Matthew13:44-52, IJohn2:23-3:1
August 8, 2019 - St. Luke9:27-36, Romans11:25-36
August 9,2019 - St. Matthew21:14-21, St. James4:7-5:6
August 10,2019 - St. Matthew21:28-32 , Philippians4:8-20

Weekly Scripture Readings - July 28- August 4, 2019

Weekly Scripture Readings July 28 – August 4, 2019
August- 4: Eight Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost
Evening: St. Mark 4:1-23 , Morning: St. Matthew 13:10-23
Before Holy Qurbana
Exodus 3:9-15, Jeremiah 7:21-25
Isaiah 52:1-6
Holy Qurbana
1 Peter 2:4-10, Hebrew 4:14- 5:5
St. John 6:47-59
 
Suggested Readings based on Lectionary
July 28, 2019 – St. Mark 4:1-9. Hebrew 4:1-7
July 29,2019 – St. Mathew 13:10-17 , Hebrew4:8-13
July 30, 2019 – St. Mark 4: 10-20, Exodus 3:9-15
July 31 ,2019 St. Mark 4:21-24, 1 Peter 2:4-10
August 1, 2019 St. John 6:32-46, Jeremiah 7:21-25
August 2, 2019 St. John 6:47-52, Isaiah 5:1-6
August 3, 2019 St. John 6:52-59, Hebrew 4:14-5:5