Food for the Soul

“Prayer is food for the soul. Do not starve the soul, it is better to let the body go hungry. Do not judge anyone, forgive everyone. Consider yourself worse than everyone in the world and you will be saved. As much as possible, be more quiet”. -St. Joseph of Optina

God is the Pilot of the Whole Universe

Just as the soul in man is not seen, being invisible to men, but is perceived through the motion of the body, so God cannot indeed be seen by human eyes, but is beheld and perceived through His providence and works. For, in like manner as any person, when he sees a ship on the sea rigged and in sail and making for the harbour, will no doubt infer that there is a pilot in her who is steering her; so we must perceive that God is the pilot of the whole universe, though He be not visible to the eyes of the flesh, since He is incomprehensible.  – Theophilus of Antioch

A Monk and A Wolf

Read the story at Fr. Milovan Katanic’s blog “Again and Again” before watching the video.

Orthodoxy is not a Religion of Fear

After Archimandrite Robert Taft’s presentation at the ROCOR Women’s conference last summer, I was told by one of our clergymen that non-Orthodox people should not offer instruction to the Orthodox on matters of faith. Would you please comment on this idea?
This is a very important issue, and since it disturbs many people I will try to answer in some detail.

Let me first comment on the fear of the non-Orthodox that appears to have inspired the comment of our clergyman. It seems that some of our faithful experience Orthodoxy first and foremost as fear, while their faith remains largely uninspired, uncurious, and hence uninformed. Such an Orthodoxy often has no idea about its own tradition, about the wealth of history behind the liturgy one attends every Sunday, or even about scripture itself. At the same time, a fearful Orthodox is often willing to spend hours in the Internet, feeding on church politics and dulling the theological senses all the more. To such a culture of ignorance and fear, even the most brilliant non-Orthodox scholars of our Byzantine liturgy are seen as threats, rather than a humbling admonishment to our own negligence of Orthodox tradition.

Let me recall the lecture to which you are referring. At the ROCOR Women’s conference Professor Taft gave a talk on the topic “Women at Worship in Byzantium: Glimpses of a Lost World,” in which he described the liturgical life of women in the Byzantine Empire based on 5th-14th c. historical witnesses. The participants of the Women’s Conference learned that there was a women’s choir in Hagia Sophia; that Byzantine women once took part in all-night vigils; that there were barriers in the church restricting the mingling of men with women in the church; that several Church Fathers admonished the Byzantines for their misbehavior in church etc. If the clergyman you mentioned intended to say that this lecture was an example of “non-Orthodox instructing Orthodox on matters of faith,” I would have to ask: exactly which “matters of faith” were touched upon in this lecture? Does our clergyman consider the history of women in Byzantium “a matter of faith”? Would an “Orthodox” description of a women’s choir in Hagia Sophia differ from a “Roman Catholic” description?

Be that as it may, I would nonetheless agree that history is generally a “matter of faith.” Especially because there is no such thing as completely impartial, objective history. However, a knowledge of history requires education. And in the past the Church has hardly been self-sufficient in matters of education, utilizing not only non-Orthodox, but completely secular and even pagan institutions/systems of thought when needed. Beginning at least with the Gospel of John, the Church turns to the terminology developed by pre-Christian philosophers to formulate her own dogmas. An openness toward secular education – with a firm grasp and love for one’s own faith – characterized later apologists and teachers of the Church as well. Saints Gregory the Theologian and Basil the Great took pride in having been educated in a pagan school at Athens. The great Chrysostom was taught by Livanius and Theodore of Mopsuestia – the one a pagan, the other a heretic. Although these Holy Fathers lived in times of rampant heresies and dogmatic confusion, they did not cultivate an Orthodoxy of fear. It was rather an Orthodoxy of responsibility and dogmatic awareness, inspired and fortified by a thirst for education.

Many centuries later the Russian Church had no formal system of theological education until it was imported from the Roman-Catholic West via Kiev around the middle of the 17th c. It is an historical fact that St. Peter Moghila organized his theological schools according to Jesuit models, and it was this educational system that was instituted in Muscovy. The reason for importing our educational system from the West was very simple: this was not only the best educational system at the time, it was the only one at the time. The alternative to learning from the West was remaining uneducated. Should the Russian Church have rejected Western education and preferred to remain uneducated? Let me put it differently: If given a choice, would any of us prefer for our children to remain uneducated rather than giving them an education? So the Russian Church chose to learn from the West, demonstrating common sense and, I might add, humility.

Today we have a similar situation. Many Orthodox families in the West send their children to Catholic schools and universities, or to non-Orthodox public or private schools. In these institutions our youngsters are taught, among other things, history, literature, philosophy – subjects that could involve “matters of faith.” In school the children have contact with non-Orthodox in religious matters: for example, they recite the Pledge of Allegiance, pronouncing the name of God together with non-Orthodox, Muslims, Jews, and perhaps atheists. Many of us allow our children to watch movies such as “The Passion” by Mel Gibson, a non-Orthodox. Indeed, we allow ourselves and our children to have contact with non-Orthodox in “matters of faith” on various levels and on a daily basis.

Is it the will of God that we find ourselves in this situation, surrounded by this non-Orthodox world? The Church has never taught us otherwise. The Founder of the Church left His disciples in this world, having said, “Take heart, for I have defeated the world.” And so the Church sings, “Take heart, ye people of God, for He has defeated the enemies… (Derzayte lyudie Bozhii, ibo toy pobedi vragi…).” This is not a religion of fear.

Of course the faith of the Church is exclusive, and we owe our loyalty to her alone: we embrace one faith, and not many different faiths at once. But this does not mean that we have no contact with people of other faiths. Marriage is also exclusive, but a married couple does not lock itself in a closet, excluding all contact with other men and women. That would be absurd and unhealthy, and the same would be true of the Church if it ghettoized its everyday life.-From Sister Vassa Larin: Orthodoxy Is Not a Religion of Fear at Rocorstudies.org .

HT:Fr. Benedict

Fr. Seraphim Rose in Greece

Listen to what Fr. Peter has to say about the growing appreciation of Fr. Seraphim Rose in Greece on his podcast Postcards From Greece.

“Over the last ten years, a great interest has arisen in Greece in the writing and life of America’s own Fr. Seraphim Rose.” AFR

On Giving Advice

“If  someone asks your advice, answer what you know, but pray inwardly beforehand and put yourself under God’s will. Speak simply, do not philosophize, do not try to influence the person”.- Christ is in our Midst:Letters From a Russian Monk by Fr. John

Podcast: “Be Attentive to Yourself”

These three podcasts by Fr Dcn Matthew Steenberg concerning St. Basil’s meditation on the words of Moses, “Be Attentive to yourself”, are very rich and practical. The “Apostles Fast” seems to be a great opportunity to try and put some of these fine words into action. Let us attend!

St. Basil the Great on Moses’s Words: “Be Attentive

to Yourself” – Part 1

St. Basil the Great on Moses’s Words: “Be Attentive to Yourself – Part 2

St. Basil the Great on Moses’s Words: “Be Attentive to Yourself”- Part 3

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What is Orthodoxy?

In order to answer this question, another must first  of all be asked. It is the same question which Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself asked His disciples. It is the most important question that has ever been asked.

“What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?” (Mt. 22:42) ‘Who do men say that I am?” (Mt. 16:13) This is the question which must be answered in order to know what Orthodox is.

St. Peter answered the question rightly when he replied, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Mt. 16:16, for then Jesus declared that this truth had been revealed to Peter, not by men, but by the heavenly Father.

Christ’s whole Life and the body of His teachings answered this question for all people and for all times. Who Christ is, and what His mission is, was the truth that he conveyed to His Apostles. The Apostles in turn preserved this teaching intact. Without adding or subtracting, without emphasizing one part of it over another, they passed it on to the next generation in the Church. Even unto the present time, the Church has preserved this truth down through the centuries.

The reason the Church has labored from the beginning to combat errors and to give the doctrine of Christ to every generation in all its purity is because Orthodoxy is, more than anything else, the right doctrine about Christ.All of this effort has been made because Christ’s teachings about himself are necessary for the salvation of man and the world.

It is the concern of the Apostles and of the Fathers of the Councils that Christ’s teaching about Himself be kept untarnished. Thus, the Scriptures were written, the Creed was composed, and the definitions were given in order that this might be so. The Church when referring to the Scriptures, or to the councils and this creeds and definitions, declares “This is the Orthodox Faith”…..

As history and experience have shown, anything less than the whole truth about Christ ends up in utter confusion and the multiplication of the denominations. …..Most of them have been founded on some novel idea about the Lord Himself…..

Following the teaching of the Apostles and of the Fathers, there are many other things that need to be said and studied. All of the things that are so characteristic of our Church, the rites, the icons, the veneration of the Mother of God and of the Saints, have as their most important function the support of this very doctrine of Christ. Hence, those who would deny any one of these teachings and practices, in effect, deny one part or another of the doctrine of Christ.” -The Doctrine of Christ by Archbishop Dmitri

St. John Chrysostom on Fasting

With the “Apostles Fast”  approaching,  I thought it may be helpful to hear some of St. John Chrysostom’s thoughts on fasting on a podcast by Dr. Jeannie Constantinou.

Dr. Jeannie Constantinou reads excerpts from St. John Chrysostom’s homily #10. Here we learn that fasting in itself is not a virtue; thus, not fasting is not a sin, provided we compensate for it in some way with other spiritual works. Click to listen.

Theology Above Fashions

The preaching of the Apostles and the doctrines of the Fathers sealed the one Faith of the Church; and, wearing the garment of truth woven from the theology from on high, She, the Church, rightly divides and glorifies the great mystery of piety.- Kontakion of the Holy fathers of the Ecumenical Councils

In the time ahead the devil will be using every chance to get true Orthodox Christians upset at each other over matters big and (mostly) small. We must firmly try not to take the bait. – Fr. Seraphim Rose

In 1976, a month after the tenth anniversary of Archbishop John’s repose, Fr. Seraphim gave a talk to his assembled brothers on what he called the ‘Chief characteristic’ of Archbishop John’s theology: freedom. “He is entirely immersed in the Orthodox tradition,” Fr Seraphim said, “and he is himself a source of true Orthodox theology. He has no kind of foreign influences or any overemphasis on one part of tradition because of some controversy…..The important thing we learn from the writing of Archhbishop John, whether a sermon or a long article, you see that there is absolutely no controversy. Even when he is “fighting” someone like Fr. Sergius Bulgakov, and has to show where he is quoting the Fathers wrongly and where his teaching is not Orthodox- even there do you not  get the impression that he is fighting, like our academic theologians. On the contrary, he is very calm. There is a certain teaching of the Fathers- he presents it; and where Fr. Sergius Bulgakov goes off, he shows it. His words are convincing not by virtue of logical argumentation, but rather by his presentation of the Patristic teaching in its original texts.

“Some people who go to academic schools are very fond of ‘proving’ that someone else is way off and thus ‘triumphing’. It’s like undergraduate fighting. Archbishop John was above that, showing calmly and clearly what is the true teaching of the Church, and not getting excited over small points. This freedom of his theological spirit is very important to us…..

For Archbishop John, the teaching of the Church was first of all what we read in the Kontakion of the Holy Fathers: something ‘woven from the theology from on high’. It comes from God; there’s a different flavor to it; its not simply what you read in books. What you read in books helps you; it’s good to learn it. But we must first remember that above that is a theology that comes from on high, from God.

This is what makes Archbishop John so inspiring for us today, and actually and example for us not to get involved with small points, with small controversies, but to remember that theology is something which comes from above, from God. He himself, being present every day the the Divine services, used above all this source when presenting theology. Probably more than any theologian of modern times, he quotes the services of the Church, because for him theology was not a matter of just reading books and writing things out, but was first of all absorbing the teaching of the Church  in the services. And that is why the attitude of controversy, of polemics is absent in his works, even when he is proving what’s right and what’s wrong.” – Fr. Seraphim Rose in Fr. Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene, CH 92.