Thursday, September 16, 2004
The Great Martyr Euphemia the All-Praised
Kellia: Jeremiah 7:21-29 Epistle: Ephesians 1:1-9 Gospel: St. Mark 7:24-30
Jeremiah 7:21-29, especially vs. 23: "But this
command I gave them, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and
walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' But they did not obey...."
Consider the following wise testimony concerning obedience from St. John of the Ladder:
"Obedience is absolute renunciation of our own life, clearly expressed in our bodily actions....
Obedience is unquestioning movement, voluntary death, a life free of curiosity, carefree danger,
unprepared defense before God, fearlessness of death, a safe voyage, a sleeper's progress.
Obedience is the tomb of the will and the resurrection of humility."
If we consider St. John's counsel along side God's judgment concerning the disobedience of His
ancient people, it is evident that they would not renounce their wills, act as He directed them
without question, mortify their personal desires, place their individual wills in the tomb of
submission to their Father in heaven, nor be raised from that "tomb" in glad humility. As a
result, God let them go, handed them over to wrath (vs. 29). What the Lord revealed to Jeremiah
is sobering for any serious Christian, and helpful at the same time; for God discloses herein ten
marks of true obedience which can guide us in "a safe voyage" to our true home.
"Walk in all the way that I command you" (vs. 23). Whether the renunciation of one's will is
"absolute" is "clearly expressed in bodily actions." The Hebrew idiom for bodily actions is
"walking," walking in the path delineated by God versus walking on the path of our own desires
and wants. A careful, illumined observer soon knows which path a person is following.
"Incline the ear" (vs. 24). "The ear of the heart" must be attuned to the voice of the Lord,
constantly bent to detect what the Lord is saying, choice by choice, step by step.
"Walk in God's counsels," rather than in one's "own counsels" (vs. 24). It is necessary to admit
God to the inner conversation we carry on inside, and to let His voice prevail.
"Repent," rather than plunge on ahead in "the stubbornness of [our] evil hearts" (vs. 24).
Obstinate reactions to God's leading are like out-of-control children running pell-mell through a
store beyond parental control, "getting into" everything. To repent is to turn back.
"Purify the heart," rather than let it continue to be evil (vs. 24). Notice how mortifying personal
desire accomplishes this counsel. The pure heart invariably turns in a godly direction.
"Go forward," not backward (vs. 24). Relationship with God is progress, movement toward
"godliness," which the Apostle teaches us to "pursue" (1 Tim. 6:11). To go backward from
godliness, as Isaiah warns, is to "be broken and snared and caught" (Is. 28:13).
"Meekly bow and do not stiffen the neck" (Jer. 7:26). The Hebrew idioms pertaining to the neck
provide clear images of obedience and disobedience. In every Orthodox service there is a
"bowing" prayer. The one at Vespers speaks of God "bowing the heavens and coming down for
the salvation of mankind" and entreats His mercy on them that incline their necks to Him.
"Accept discipline," (vs. 28) and do not disobey nor resist. What can come to us in life that we
do not deserve? Only in human terms is life "unfair." As the Apostle teaches, "whom the LORD
loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:6).
Let truth flourish and not perish nor be "cut off from [our] lips" (Jer. 7:28). St. Paul has
admonished us: "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one
another" (Eph. 4:25). Obedience before God never lies to one's self nor to others.
In the night season our soul awaketh early unto Thee, O God, for Thy precepts are a light. Teach
us Thy righteousness, Thy commandments and Thy statutes, O Master.
Friday, September 17, 2004
The Martyrs Sophia & Her Daughters Faith, Hope, & Love
Kellia: Jeremiah 8:4-13 Epistle: Ephesians 1:7-17 Gospel: St. Mark 8:1-10
Jeremiah 8:4-13, especially
vs. 9: "The wise men shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; lo, they have
rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" In Jeremiah's Temple Message,
we find the Lord deploring the failure of His own People to return to Him: "When I would gather
them, says the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are
withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them" (vs. 13). Holy Scripture uses a
variety of images to express the morass into which sin plunges us - hardness of heart, failure to
heed, refusal to obey, darkness, confusion, slavery, and more. In Jeremiah 8:5, the Lord puts the
matter as a question:"Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding?" In
answering, God reveals four obstructions that block repentance: 1) rejection of the word of the
Lord, 2) following one's own course, 3) holding fast to deceit, and 4) refusal to return to God.
Observe that the Lord identifies the primary factor which always blocks repentance in mankind in
saying of the people of Judah, "they have rejected the word of the Lord" (vs. 9). Since the word
of the Lord "is a lamp unto [our] feet and a light unto [our] paths" (Ps. 118:105 LXX), therefore
whenever men reject God's word, by their own choice they thrust themselves into darkness.
Without God's word, we are bound to wander far from the truth of our very being. The
ideologies and philosophies which men conceive, promulgate, and even force upon other men,
are simply expressions of humanity's overweening trust in our own capacity to grasp the meaning
of reality. God's Seers and Prophets, like Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah and others, as well as the
Apostles who were taught directly by God Incarnate, received true knowledge of the world by
Divine revelation; truth was disclosed to them by God Himself. He Who created all things and
holds all things in existence, showed, told, and illumined them concerning the true purpose of
life, and He gave commands by which all men should live. Rejecting His revelation has proven
to be the primary, fatal error from the dawn of creation when Adam and Eve believed the
serpent's lie - that knowing good and evil was "to be desired to make one wise" (Gen. 3:6).
Once we refuse God's word, we are cast loose, as the reading states, on our "own course, like a
horse plunging headlong into battle" (vs. 6). The ocean of life is vast, and without the reliable
compass and sextant of God's word to locate ourselves, we are bound to sail endlessly and
aimlessly, and only by accident make any beneficial landfalls.
The nature of sin being what it is - separation from God, darkness, and bondage - it is no wonder
that we men cling to deceits so fiercely. We are like drowning swimmers, ready to grasp at
anything to keep afloat. The Lord describes our state as "perpetual backsliding" and as holding
"fast to deceit" (vs. 5). No wonder, for there is a real element of desperation in the human
condition. No wonder the Christian message is described as "salvation."
We are desperate for salvation, to get an answer, to find a means of coping, to secure a solution to
this life in which we find ourselves. Desperation makes us fierce in holding on to deceit (vs. 5),
driving us to find something tangible. Never mind about unseen spiritual realities in this
existence into which we are cast! Having rejected God and relationship with Him, desperation is
the sure result. The Lord's question, "What wisdom is in them?" (vs. 9) makes the Apostolic
answer electrifying: "We have seen...and declare to you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested to us...is with...His Son, Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:2,3).
Lord, strengthen me that I may want that which Thou wantest, because Thou wantest it, and as
much as Thou wantest. As Master of my will, enlighten and sanctify me, body and soul.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Eumenios the Wonderworker, Bishop of Gortyna
Kellia: Jeremiah 9:2-16 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Gospel: St. John 8:21-30
Jeremiah 9:2-16, especially vss. 13,
14: "...they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, or
walked in accord with it, but have stubbornly followed their own hearts...." In the opening
verse of this passage, note that God seems to long for a "desert a wayfarers' lodging place, that I
might leave My people and go away from them!" (vs. 2). God would seem to be disgusted with
us. In fact, in the history of mankind, the Lord God has proven Himself patient with mankind, so
much so that He permanently assumed our humanity from the Virgin's womb, being "born under
the law to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" and
have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, thus being able to cry out to Him, 'Abba, Father' (Gal. 4:4-6).
The true God is not exasperated, but, rather, very persistent in trying to win us back to Himself.
In this same vein, also in this same passage, the Lord continues using human expressions to
restrain His People: "Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Behold, I will refine them and test
them'" (Jer. 9:7); and to this He adds the intent to "punish" them and "avenge" Himself (vs. 9).
Then, becoming very graphic, the Lord portrays His coming retribution: "the pastures of the
wilderness...are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not
heard...the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone...Jerusalem [is] a heap of ruins, a
lair of jackals; and...the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant" (vss. 10,11).
What is going on here? Why the use of such linguistic and anthropomorphic devices? Yes, the
people are "heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know Me,
says the Lord" (vs. 6); but looking back over the whole of human history, our benighted race has
been oppressing and deceiving each other and flaunting God through all time. Love is God's
supreme answer, a truth we know from the Gospel, that "God so loved the world that He gave
His only Son" (Jn. 3:16). God knows that sin has consequences, as He pointed out to Adam and
Eve in the garden (Gen. 2:17). His love naturally wishes to save us pain, like the good Father He
is. What we have in this passage, along with God's warnings and appeals, is a catalog of offenses
that cover all of the Ten Commandments, with perhaps two exceptions.
Of the first four commandments, those that deal with our relationship with God Himself (Ex.
20:1-11), only the Commandment concerning the keeping of the Sabbath seems not to be among
the sins which God names. The other three were being blatantly violated - having no other gods,
making graven images, and taking the Name of God in vain (Jer. 9:14,6).
With respect to the other six Commandments, those dealing with relationships between men,
only the one touching on parents (Ex. 20:12) is not specifically named by God in the reading.
However, given the self-serving and the treachery of the people, one can easily imagine that
parents did not fare well in the social and cultural climate in which everyone was warned to
"beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother" (Jer. 9:4). Murder (vs. 8), adultery (vs.
2), theft (vs. 4), bearing false witness (vs. 5), and coveting (vs. 4) all appear to have been the
norm of the day. God's message through Jeremiah deals with history's long list of men's sins.
Beloved, we know the prevalence of all these sins in our society, but what should concern us are
the loving cautions of the Lord - the commission of these sins is bound to result in a "land ruined
and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through" (vs. 12). God will stave off these
outcomes if only we men will repent, yet it seems we are "too weary to repent" (vs. 5).
O God, implant in me the fear of Thy blessed Commandments, that I may trample down all
carnal desires and lead a godly life, thinking and doing such things as are pleasing unto Thee.
Sunday, September 19, 2004 (Tone 7)
The Sunday after the Elevation of the Holy Cross
Kellia: Jeremiah 9:17-24 Epistle: Galatians 2:16-20 Gospel: St. Mark 8:34-9:1
Jeremiah 9:17-24, especially vss. 19, 24:
"For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How we are ruined!'.....let him who glories glory in
this, that he understands and knows Me." Today's reading includes two portions of the Temple
message: 1) a call for lamentation complimenting the repeated prophecies of invasion and
destruction found throughout the Book of Jeremiah (vss. 17-22), and 2) an appeal from the Lord
to trust in Him, the One, lasting, true and certain Good in this world (vss. 23-24). Although God
addresses two different topics in this passage, He has a single message for His audience, the
ancient citizens of Judah. Hence, the two portions form a single message: ruin is coming which
makes lamentation entirely appropriate, yet there remains hope for those who will shift the focus
of their lives away from the wisdom, power, and riches of this world to knowing God truly.
Such a message is timeless for all men, for death is coming in the windows of every one's life
and entering his palaces (vs. 21), but for those who have committed themselves to understand and
know God the Lord, He Who practices "steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth"
(vs. 24), there is unimaginable glory. As the Psalmist teaches: "For better is one day in Thy
courts than thousands elsewhere....for God will give grace and glory" (Ps. 83:10,12 LXX).
Yes, the lamentation to which God calls us in the first part of the reading is right and good; for, as
Archimandrite Sophrony would have us know, "seeing ourselves unable to overcome this death
by our own efforts, we despair of our salvation. Strange as it may seem, it is essential that we
experience this painful state - experience it hundreds of times that it may be engraved on our
consciousness. This first hand knowledge of hell is profitable for us." The grappling with the
reality of death that permeates our existence, that exposes the ruin of all that this world holds
dear, invites the soul to long and faint "for the courts of the Lord" (Ps. 83:1 LXX), where, as
Archimandrite Sophrony says, "even a whisper of the Divine Spirit is glory beyond compare to
all the content of life lived apart from God."
Let us receive into our souls the image which the Lord is placing before us in the first portion of
His prophecy. Facing death, which "has come up into our windows" (Jer. 9:21), we may indeed
look at it squarely and perceive that "all mortal things are vanity and exist not after death. Riches
endure not, neither doth glory accompany on the way: for when death cometh, all these things
vanish utterly." It is fitting to "call for the mourning women to come" (vs. 17).
In many of the cultures of Middle East, professional mourners assist the bereaved, often too
numb from the shock of loss to embrace grief-work, that "our eyes may run down with tears, and
our eyelids gush with water" (vs.18). In the Temple message, the Lord calls the mourners to
come now and help in the grief-work because death, which His People are pushing away from
their consciousness, is about to become ubiquitous and literal, with "the dead bodies of men...like
dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them" (vs. 22).
Unimaginable ruin was about to descend on God's ancient People.
Beloved, let us heed the Lord from the depths of our souls: if we are wise, let us not glory in our
wisdom; if we are mighty, let us not glory in our might; and if we are rich in the things of this
world, let us not glory in our riches (vs. 23); for all these things will soon enough be in ruin.
Rather, let us understand and know the Lord, for, as Archimandrite Sophrony says, the moment
the Spirit "touches the heart...there is naught on earth to compare with it." He is glory. Yea, O
Lord, by Thy Holy Spirit, grant me to know Thy truth before I go down into the grave that I may
prepare my soul to come before Thee.
Monday, September 20, 2004
The Great-Martyr Eustathios and His Family
Kellia: Jeremiah 13:15-27 Epistle: Ephesians 1:22-2:3 Gospel: St. Mark 10:46-52
Jeremiah 13:15-27, especially vs. 17: "But if you
will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run
down with tears...." By means of today's reading the Lord seeks to save us from the shame and
destruction that inevitably accompany pride. In this prophecy, the Lord illumines seven of
pride's traps, and reveals seven actions we can take to keep out of these traps. Let us listen to the
Lord and do good (vs. 23) and be made clean (vs. 27).
Pride infects the one who will not "hear and give ear" (vs. 15). His confidence is "encapsulated"
in pride, and foolishly he thinks he has the capacity to "look for light" and to find it. Hence, he
searches for light in the "twilight" of human reasoning, and, in due course, God "brings
darkness" and "turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness"(vs. 16). Since the proud man's
encapsulated confidence cannot admit that "the Lord is my Light and my Savior" (Ps. 26:1 LXX),
he stumbles "on the twilight mountains" (Jer 13:16).
What is the way out of this? "Give glory to the Lord your God" (vs.16), for, after all, any light
we have is from Him. Any capacity we have to look for light is given by Him. Because Christ
our God is "the light of the world," those who are united to Christ give glory to Him, follow Him
and do not "walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (Jn. 8:12).
Second, the "king of pride" scorns the "peasants" from his high throne and does not know that
soon his "beautiful crown [will] come down from [his] head" (Jer 13:18). Let us listen to the
Lord: "when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place" (Lk. 14:10), "for whoever
exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Lk. 14:11).
Consider the question: "Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?" (Jer.
13:20). What is the final destiny of all your good looks, your strength, your wealth and your
position? Have the invaders "from the north" come yet and taken them from you? In time, they
will ravage you! Have no doubt, for "all are dust, all are ashes, all are shadows." Do not waste
time training your "friends" to feed your ego and inflate your pride. Rather, listen to the Lord
Who says, "deny [yourself], take up [your] cross, and follow Me" ( Mt. 16:24).
When bitterness strikes, pride asks, "Why have these things come upon me?" (Jer. 13:22). St.
Symeon the New Theologian teaches us why: "temporal chastisements have been laid upon the
whole human race for the transgression of...Adam." Pride prevents us from receiving
punishments with thanksgiving, but induces us brazenly to "murmur because of them." Let us
confess the "greatness of [our] iniquity" (vs. 22) in repeating Adam's sin and falling into pride.
The Lord not only reminds us that we "are accustomed to do evil" (vs. 23), but also jolts us so
that we shall see how deeply the habit is ingrained, as firmly as the color of our skin. Pride, like
a fixing agent, has hardened us in the greatness of our iniquity. Without God's help there is no
hope of breaking our sinful habits. Let us pray to the Lord to free us, help us, and save us.
Shame is the portion God measures out when we have forgotten Him and "trusted in lies" (vs.25).
Here the Hebrew literally reads, "trusted in the lie," that is in the lie of the serpent, the lie which
evokes pride when we believe in it: "you will be like God" (Gen. 3:5). Let us "trust in the LORD
with all [our] heart, and lean not on [our] own understanding" (Prov. 3:5).
God tells us plainly in this prophecy: "I have seen your abominations" (Jer. 13:27). Is it not time
to seek His grace for making ourselves clean, a work He alone can complete in us? Cleanse my
soul, O my Creator. Sanctify my mind. Make firm my knees and likewise my bones. Enlighten
my five senses. Establish me wholly in fear of Thee, and purify me, O Lord.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
The Holy Prophet Jonah
Kellia: Jeremiah 14:1-9 Epistle: Ephesians 2:19-3:7 Gospel: St. Mark 11:11-23
Jeremiah 14:1-9, especially vs. 7: "Though our iniquities
testify against us, act, O Lord, for Thy Name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have
sinned against Thee." The present reading, like other passages in Jeremiah, divides into two
distinct sections: in the first, the Lord describes the havoc a prolonged drought wreaked in the
land of Judah. In the second, God notes His People pleading for relief, openly confessing that the
drought is "testimony" against them for their iniquities and freely admitting their many
backslidings (vs. 7). They ask God to act, to relieve them, mentioning that He is the "hope of
Israel, its Savior in time of trouble" (vs. 8). They emphasize God's presence among them,
pointing out that they are "called by His Name" (vs. 9). It is on the basis of "Who God is" and
"who they are in relation to Him," that they ask - not, "send us rain," but "leave us not" (vs. 9).
Let us observe: there was no hint that they interpreted the drought naturalistically. The Lord's
word "concerning the drought" (vs. 1) was factual enough, though described in poetic style.
Clearly, that ancient drought was what today would be called "a natural disaster." God, however,
always focuses on the inward, emotional, and spiritual response of His People. In this passage,
He uses words such as "mourning, lamenting, crying, and languishing" (vs. 2), and loads onto
these, in addition, references to the People's "shame" and to their being "confounded" when they
discover there is no water even in their reserve systems - in their cisterns (vs. 3).
Consider what is implied when a society experiences a physical "disaster" primarily as a spiritual
and penitential event, as an occasion to be ashamed and to "cover their heads" in grief before the
Lord (vss. 3,4). This was not superstition. Yes, the People felt shame, but not so much at being
out of water. Rather, the drought served to confront them with their sins by "testifying" to their
iniquities. Notice that it was only after God had described the spiritual dimension of the drought
that He then described its physical effects on the land, the fields, the grass, and the domestic and
wild animals (vss. 4-6).
God's Holy Scriptures teach us to see an entirely different dimension in so-called "natural
events." How different is the contemporary idiom! It describes upheavals in nature without
mention of God. We speak of wind speeds, temperature inversions, fronts, upper-level
disturbances, cyclonic effects, tides and the like. Modern man simply makes no provision for
guilt when faced with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or droughts. Truly, who thinks of confessing
his iniquities, of being ashamed, or of covering his head in sorrow for personal and social failures
in the face of destructive natural events? What can we make of this?
A recent National Weather Service broadcast advised that any rainfall, "for those lucky enough to
receive" precipitation, would be "very slight." Does God have no part in the course of nature? Is
our relationship to the physical world just a matter of random luck and fate? Do we Christians
merely mouth the words of another age when we say, "He watereth the mountains from His
chambers?" Have we lost all wonder "that the earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of [His]
works" (Ps. 103:14 LXX)? How sad if our perception of the physical world has shriveled!
However, the Church, the ground and pillar of Truth, teaches us in many ways that God is always
intervening in nature: "when Thou openest Thy hand, all things shall be filled with goodness;
when Thou turnest away Thy face, they shall be troubled" (Ps. 103:30 LXX). The Lord Jesus
stilled "a great windstorm" with a word (Mk. 4:39). O God, enlarge our vision!
O all-good Master, bless us with gentle showers unto fruitfulness of the earth. Send healthful
and seasonable weather for man and beast; and may Thy kingdom come upon us.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
26 Martyrs of Zographou Monastery on Mount Athos
Kellia: Jeremiah 14:10-21 Epistle: Ephesians 3:8-21 Gospel: St. Mark 11:23-26
Jeremiah 14:10-21, especially vs. 14: "And the
Lord said to me: 'The prophets are prophesying lies in My Name; I did not send them, nor did I
command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless
divination, and the deceit of their own minds.'" On every occasion when a Bishop or Priest of
the Church ventures to preach the word of the Lord and you are present, pray to God for him. Do
not passively wait for the message and assume that he will easily speak the truth of the Gospel.
Pray to God for him, that he may proclaim the truth of the Lord in God's Name, moved by the
Holy Spirit, and without delusion in his own mind and without counting the cost to himself.
Our Bishops are closely examined and chosen for their capacity to proclaim and defend the truth
of the Gospel, but even they are fallible men. Pray to God for them. At ordination, most of our
Priests are vested with the epigonation, the oblong vestment suspended on the right hip,
symbolizing that they bear "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17) and
are trusted with "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). Still, these men have human
limitations and need prayerful support and Divine grace to preach. Pray to God for them!
Today's reading portrays a submitted and proven Prophet, a man who unflinchingly obeyed God
and was proven true, for God "let none of his words fall to the ground" (1 Sam. 3:19). The
portrait of Jeremiah in this passage discloses five difficult aspects of the struggle of godly
preachers to resist wavering in proclaiming the truth. Few in Jeremiah's congregation prayed or
"held him up before the Lord" in the trials of his ministry.
Jeremiah was a man who was required to preach severe judgment on a people who not only
"wandered" into sin, but also loved it (Jer. 14:10). Who finds a "hell and brimstone" preacher
lovable? Especially among people who enjoy their sins, there is little openness to hearing that
God disapproves and will punish them. "Who is he to tell me that?" is the more likely response.
Not only was Jeremiah's message unpopular - true though it was - but God also restrained him
from praying "for the welfare of this people" (vs. 11). Still, his was an active congregation: they
attended services, made offerings, and kept the fasting seasons, but God found their religion
superficial and without moral and spiritual substance. Therefore, Jeremiah was to avoid praying
that God would withhold the consequences of their behavior. A loving pastoral response was
forbidden: what must come was not to be inhibited by a righteous man's prayer (Jas. 5:16).
Here was a Prophet who preached against the prevailing milieu of false teaching by prophets who
were doomed to receive exactly what they said would not happen: "famine and sword, with none
to bury them" and their families (Jer. 14:16). God made him a 'lone wolf.'
In his loneliness, Jeremiah was required to grieve openly before the people, to "let [his] eyes run
down with tears night and day, and let them not cease" (vs. 17), so that people would see him
sorrowing for the wounds that were coming on them. This kind of behavior only served to
alienate him further from those to whom he carried God's message.
Finally, Jeremiah had to live knowing that only terror was coming for his people despite their
fondest hopes and even though they acknowledged their wickedness (vs. 20). Only one bit of
their prayer would be heard. While they would feel the consequences of their sins, God would
not break His covenant with them. They would go into exile, but their descendants would return.
As our clergy share Jeremiah's burdens in their ministry, how much they need our prayers!
O God, uphold our Bishops and Priests that they may stand in innocency before Thy Throne,
proclaim the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and rightly minister the word of Thy truth.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
The Conception of the Forerunner and Baptist John
Kellia: Jeremiah 15:1-9 Epistle: Ephesians 4:14-19 Gospel: St. Mark 11:27-33
Jeremiah 15:1-9, especially vs. 3: "I will
appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear,
and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy." In the present
passage, as previously, the Lord announces severe judgment against His ancient People, for, He
says, "I have stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you;--I Am weary of relenting"
(vs. 6). The images of His judgment are horrifying (vs. 4) and certain of coming; for His own
chosen ones "have rejected Me, says the Lord, [and] keep going backward" (vs. 6). The "four
kinds of destroyers" (vs. 3) which God appoints not only will bring death, but also will mutilate
their dead bodies, making them into carrion "for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth"
(vs. 3).
Considering the Lord's words in light of the Mosaic injunction against contact with the dead, one
gains a little taste of the revulsion which this prophecy conveys: "whoever in the open field
touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be
unclean seven days" (Num. 19:16). There is none of the reverence known among Christians for
the bodies of the dead in Christ and for the blessed relics of the Saints. All is loathing and
repugnance. Instead, we are allowed to view human sin from God's perspective: "My heart
would not turn toward this people. Send them out of My sight, and let them go!" (Jer. 15:1).
Still, who does not know the enticement of sin? Who fails to understand all too well how easily
Eve's heart was turned in one moment by the lie, "You will not die" (Gen. 3:4)? Solomon in
great wisdom warns that "the lips of a loose woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than
oil," to which he adds, most significantly, "but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a
two-edged sword" (Prov. 5:3,4). Certainly sin attracts, and it subtly closes off the ears of the
heart from hearing the godly caution, "Keep your way far from her" (Prov. 5:8).
First and foremost, sin is the embracing of death as symbolized by the sword. After the fall of
our first parents, when the Lord God had driven man out from Paradise, "at the east of the garden
of Eden He placed cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to
the tree of life" (Gen. 3:24). There followed from sin the labor, sweat and thorns of existence
outside of Paradise. But as St. Symeon the New Theologian reminds us, "fortunate is he who
endures all these temporal chastisements with gratitude, confessing that he has been justly
condemned in them, for....by reason of these chastisements, the All-good God has given death to
men, so that those who bear them with gratitude might rest from them for a time and then be
resurrected and glorified in the day of judgment through the new Adam...."
In addition, sin tears into our souls like a dog, savaging every scrap of honor and true dignity
from us, leaving the barest traces of the image of God. Beloved of the Lord, recall that when
judgment came to Jezebel, "some of her blood spattered on the wall," yet "they found no more of
her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands" for the dogs had eaten her as the
Prophet foretold (2 Kngs. 9:33,35). However, now there is "no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). The true reason for
godly and virtuous living is gratitude to Christ for all that He has done for us.
If we persist in sin after so great a gift, what hope will there be for us? What the dogs of sin
leave in us of the Divine image, the carrion birds and beasts will take away; yet remember:
"where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17). We are free to do the will of God.
O Thou Who hast given us grace, fulfill now the desires and petitions of Thy servants, and grant
us in this world the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting.
Friday, September 24, 2004
The Protomartyr Thekla of Iconium
Kellia: Jeremiah15:10-21 Epistle: Ephesians 4:17-25 Gospel: St. Mark 12:1-12
Jeremiah 15:10-21, especially vs. 18: "Why is
my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt Thou be to me like a
deceitful brook, like waters that fail?" Anyone who reads progressively through Jeremiah
appreciates the burden that was the Prophet's lot: to proclaim to his contemporaries an
overwhelming military invasion that soon would sweep down on the land "from the north" (vs.
12), take the wealth of the nation, deport the majority of the population, and force them to "serve
[their] enemies" in a foreign land (vss. 13,14). Historically, this appalling message from the
Lord, the burden of Jeremiah's repeated prophecies, eventually proved to be absolutely correct.
It is no surprise that this word of God did not make Jeremiah popular in his daily life. In fact, it
brought persecution on him (vs. 15), isolated him from those around him (vs. 17), and left him in
the personal pain of being ostracized by everyone. Who wanted to hear some grim warning over
and over? In effect, his lot as a Prophet, with the hand of God on him, filling him with
indignation, created a full-blown personal crisis for him. Jeremiah actually began to wonder if he
was confused and whether he truly was hearing from the Lord. He began to doubt God,
considering Him to be "like a deceitful brook, like waters [of a spring] that fail" (vs. 18).
To every person who has faced a personal struggle of faith when standing up for the truth, to all
who have known self-doubts and questioned the validity of their personal relationship with God
in battling for what is right, this passage is an invaluable support and guide. It provides an
example of a great Saint experiencing personal woe for being "a man of strife and contention"
with everyone around him, even to the point of wishing he'd never been born (vs. 10). It assures
us in our times of trial to take up again the blessed path of repentance, and it reveals the
conditions which God requires for receiving the grace to advocate for the truth.
Who does not understand the pain Jeremiah went through - his loneliness and self-doubt and his
questioning even of God? We are able to empathize with his longing to see God's judgment fall
on his opponents "right now" (vs. 15). In our prayers during times of struggle, which of us also
has not "reminded" the Lord of our labors on His behalf - as if He did not know of them. How
easily our minds recall "better times" when "Thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my
heart" (vs. 16). The passage leaves us with no doubt that Jeremiah was a real, flesh-and-blood
human being who knew all the convolutions of the best and the worst in us. The Prophet's
honest sharing encourages us to seek his intercession in our struggles.
The passage also reveals that God directs His beloved in their times of doubt and questioning to
"return," that is to repent, that He may "restore" (vs. 19). All the negative cries of the Prophet
arising from his flesh, he offered to God without hesitation. Yes, even doubts about God Himself
should be voiced in our prayers; but let us never cease to pray! Jeremiah clearly shows us the
truth of such desperate prayer, for when he had finished all his complaints, the Lord called him to
"return" to Him that He might restore him.
Finally God reveals to us His conditions for being "as [His] mouth" so that others turn to us, and
that we "not turn to them" (vs. 19). We must "utter what is precious, and not what is worthless"
(vs. 19). The priceless truths of God supported by Holy Revelation and the clear teachings of the
Church are what we must utter, as best as we can. He promises, in turn, to make us a "fortified
wall of bronze" and to "deliver [us] out of the hand of the wicked (vss. 20, 21).
O Jeremiah, thou minister of the Highest, who never turned from the Lord, seek thou His
forgiveness and strength for our souls that we may likewise be faithful witnesses of His truth.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Repose of the Venerable Sergios of Radonezh
Kellia: Jeremiah 16:1-13 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 14:20-25 Gospel: St. Matthew 25:1-13
Jeremiah 16:1-13, especially vs. 9: "For
thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will make to cease from this place,
before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride." The present passage is a shock both to read and to
contemplate, since the directives of God to Jeremiah serve only further to isolate the Prophet
socially from friends and neighbors. God effectively turned Jeremiah into a strange, lonely figure
withdrawn from participation in all normal events and joys of life. He is not to marry. He is not
to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15). Rather, he is
to pour all his energy and attention to the message of judgment for which he is so well-known;
and if he is challenged about the unrelenting message that he has as a God-given task, he is to
repeat the same message from God yet again: "every one of you follows his stubborn evil will,
refusing to listen to Me; therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land [to] serve other gods
day and night, for I will show you no favor" (Jer. 16:12,13).
Why does God require celibacy and isolation of some of His servants? Why are some called by
the Lord to undertake the monastic way or step out of the 'mainstream" in other ways? Why are
some called to serve as clergy and yet restrained from marrying and having families? Why are
none who are called to the Episcopacy married? Three of God's reasons will be found in this
passage: because the Lord calls some to the celibate way, to focus their energies solely in His
service and, thus, to call the rest of the People of God to consider their lives and how they may
best serve our one and good Lord and Master.
Notice the wording of the text when God directed Jeremiah not to marry: "the word of the Lord
came to me: 'You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place'" (vs.
1,2). God told him not to marry. Celibacy was a Divine calling upon him. The word came from
the Lord. While Jeremiah was free not to keep this command, yet his whole life was attuned to
God. Hence, while marriage was taken as man's natural state (Gen. 1:28; Deut. 7:14) and a joy
given by God for life and celebration (Jn. 2:1-10), yet for Jeremiah, the Lord gave another path.
Monastics and the unmarried clergy are called of God not to marry, and their way of life should
be seen primarily as a Divine vocation and only secondarily as an accepted choice.
The entire separation of Jeremiah from normal social relations, a life to which God called him,
went beyond a vocation to celibacy. It also embraced the very unusual requirement to withdraw
from weeping with mourners and celebrating the normal joys of life (Jer. 16:5-9). God had a
purpose for this special sort of life. He wanted all of Jeremiah's energies dedicated to
proclaiming His word to His People. Jeremiah was to be "as My mouth" (Jer. 15:19) everywhere
and at all times, wholly withdrawn from life's special occasions and requirements so that all his
vitality could be devoted solely to God's word that the Lord was withdrawing His
"peace...steadfast love, and mercy" (Jer 16:5) from His People.
The situation facing God's ancient people was gravely serious. By radically separating Jeremiah
from "normal" life, the Lord meant to engage the Prophet in a serious dialog with all His People
concerning their lives, their sins, and their need for repentance (vss. 10-13). The whole purpose
of the dialog was to help them hear the cause of the impending disaster. Why? That they might
understand their need to be fully committed to God, as was Jeremiah.
Grant, O Lord, in Thy love and mercy, that we may complete the remaining time of our life in
peace and repentance, having a good defense before Thy dread Judgment Seat.
Sunday, September 26, 2004 (Tone 8)
John the Theologian and Evangelist
Kellia: Jeremiah 17:5-14 Epistle: 1 John 4:12-19 Gospel: St. John 19:25-27; 21:24-25
Jeremiah 17:5-14, especially vs. 12: "A
glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." The holy Prophet
and Psalmist, David, in the same spirit as Jeremiah, declares that "Our God is refuge and
strength, a helper in afflictions which mightily befall us. Therefore shall we not fear when the
earth be shaken, nor when the mountains be removed into the heart of the seas" (Ps. 45:1,2 LXX).
Both Prophets look to God as the true and reliable point of safety in the flux of this present life.
In the present passage, Jeremiah explores mankind's too-frequent alternative: trust in mankind -
in making "flesh his arm" (Jer. 17:5). While he says that trust in mankind is "cursed" (vs. 5), he
reveals why primary or ultimate reliance on human beings and institutions is both foolish (vs.11)
and certain to bring us shame and the dust of the grave (vs.13).
Note Jeremiah's analysis: the problem is the human heart which "is deceitful above all things,
and desperately corrupt" (vs. 9). The passage effectively becomes a confession by the Prophet,
including an appeal for the healing of his own heart: "heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed" (vs.
14). It is his realization of the human condition that brings him to his personal need for salvation:
"save me, and I shall be saved" (vs. 14). Let us follow the Prophet's teaching concerning the
human heart that, from him, we may learn to cry out for our healing and salvation.
Jeremiah says that the human heart is "deceitful above all things" (vs. 9). Animals use
camouflage to hide themselves from their predators or to deceive prey while stalking. Before the
battle at Ai, Joshua set a contingent of five thousand men lying behind the city in ambush to
deceive the people of Ai. The same verbal root for deceive appears in that narrative (Jos. 8:12).
Not only is the heart "deceitful," it also is "desperately sick" (Jer. 17:9). Therefore, the Prophet
asks, who can understand it? (vs. 9) Obviously, only God, Who alone can "search the mind and
try the heart" (vs. 10). As the Apostle Paul says, "I know nothing against myself, yet I am not
justified by this; but He Who judges is the Lord" (1 Cor. 4:4). How does the heart come to be
troubled "above all things" (vs. 9)? The Prophet tells us at the very beginning: the "heart turns
away from the Lord" (vs. 5). When this happens, a chain reaction occurs. Apart from God, man
becomes "desperately ill" in a spiritual way because he becomes "a salt waste" where "no good
can come" (vs. 6). He is caught by his own deceit, and believes that he can get riches, "but not
by right" (vs. 11). He deceives and is deceived so that "at his end he will be a fool" (vs. 11).
What is the answer to this sad, universal condition of the human heart? Is it not to take refuge
before the throne of God? This is the first step taken at Holy Baptism, when a candidate is
received. The Priest says, "I lay my hand upon Thy servant who hath been found worthy to flee
unto Thy Holy Name, and to take refuge under the shelter of Thy wings. Remove far from him
his former delusion." The plea is identical to that which Jeremiah uttered.
Only when we reject trust in ourselves, repent, and trust in the Lord will we be able to send out
roots into the stream of Life that flows from the Lord, and thus "not fear when heat comes," nor
be "anxious in the year of drought," but always "bear fruit" (vs. 8). It is the Lord Who heals the
desperate sickness of the heart, being Himself "the fountain of living water" (vs. 13) - exactly
what the Lord Jesus said of Himself (Jn. 7:38). May the Lord heal us so that we may be truly
healed. May He cleanse our hearts and save us with an eternal salvation, so that He is our only
praise. Then shall our sanctuary be His glorious throne on high.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy
of Thy salvation, and with Thy governing Spirit establish me" (Ps. 50:10,12 LXX).
Monday, September 27, 2004
Martyrs Kallistratos and Forty-nine Companions
Kellia: Jeremiah 20:7-13 Epistle: Ephesians 4:25-32 Gospel: St. Luke3:19-22
Jeremiah 20:7-13, especially vss.
9, 10: "there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with
holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side!" The Apostle
Paul, based on his own turbulent life as a Christian, once said, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). In the present passage, we find Jeremiah revealing this
same truth. Simply consider the range of experiences and emotions that he expresses in this one
short passage as a result of committing his life to God. There are at least twelve outbursts.
The Prophet begins by accusing the Lord of having "deceived" him (Jer. 20:7). The Hebrew verb
is one used when a virgin is seduced. Often a person committed to God wakes up in his
relationship with the Lord and realizes that he has "signed on" for more than he understood at
first: "no one ever told me it would be like this! that I would have to....." God is demanding.
Jeremiah reveals that he struggled against undertaking the commitment to be a Prophet: "Thou art
stronger than I" (vs. 7). Like Jacob of old, he wrestled against God's call. God won!
The comment that God proved "stronger" is followed immediately by the further remark that God
"prevailed" (vs. 7). God won and Jeremiah lost, yet in giving in he accepted God's assignment.
Notice the undertone of resignation expressed here: "Thou hast prevailed."
Earlier, we saw an inkling of the price that the Prophet paid for declaring God's message of
"violence and destruction" (vs. 8). He wound up being "a man of strife and contention" with
everyone (Jer. 15:10). Hence, he was constantly laughed at and mocked by all (Jer. 20:7).
Worse still, Jeremiah was constantly reproached and derided (vs. 8). It is one thing for people to
laugh at our faith or at God's truth. It is another when they attack and criticize us.
The burden of the public and private reactions against Jeremiah prompted him to try to "resign,"
to get out of the Prophet business and of living faithfully for God (vs. 9). If one faces up honestly
to the task of living the Faith, pain and weariness loom all too powerfully (vs. 9).
One of the most painful aspects of a rigorous practice of the Faith is isolation from friends who
do not want any part of one's religion (vs. 10). In the Prophet's case, the break in friendship had
a sinister side: his "friends" had reached the point of wanting to catch him in some treasonable
remark and "denounce him" to the governing authorities (vs. 10).
The public and private resistance to Jeremiah's constant proclamation of impending doom for the
country turned into surveillance. People began "watching for [his] fall," some slip of the tongue
which they could use to "overcome him, and take...revenge on him" (vs. 10). This sort of
constant scrutiny soon infects many a man with paranoia and caution.
However, under constant public pressure, Jeremiah proved to be a true Saint and Prophet of God.
Inundated with mocking, laughter, criticism, surveillance, and hostility, how did he respond? He
announced that "the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble,
they will not overcome me" (vs. 11). Here was a truly committed man of God.
Still, notice his imperfection, that desire for revenge. Unlike the Lord Jesus Who chose silence
and forgiveness, Jeremiah begged God, "let me see Thy vengeance upon them" (vs. 12).
However, also notice that he bursts out singing in praise to the Lord (vs. 13).
Why? His triumphant outburst clearly arose from a direct personal experience of God's
deliverance: "He has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers" (vs. 13).
O glorious Prophet, who can describe thy tribulations in proclaiming God's truth? Intercede
with our Lord and God that we too may preserve a good confession of the Faith.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
The Holy Prophet Baruch
Kellia: Jeremiah 22:10-23 Epistle: Ephesians 5:20-26 Gospel: St. Luke 3:23-4:1
Jeremiah 22:10-23, especially vss. 15, 16: "Do you think
you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice
and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then
it was well." In today's reading, the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of three different kings of Judah:
Josiah (639-609 BC) and two of his sons who reigned successively after him, Shallum-Jehoahaz
(609 BC) and Eliakim-Jehoiakim (609-597 BC). In his prophecies, Jeremiah reveals God's
standards for evaluating human rulers. As you will notice, he speaks according to the word of the
Lord, providing us in clear portraits three of the standards used by the Lord to measure kings.
The first of God's standards for leaders concerns faithfulness to the bond of love between ruler
and people. To be separated from his land and people is the worst of destinies for a king, as
Jeremiah says: "Weep not for him who is dead, or bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who
goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land" (vs. 10).
In speaking thus, the Prophet was referring specifically to two of Judah's kings and the manner in
which their reigns abruptly ended: first, of the godly King Josiah who was slain during the battle
of Meggido in 609 BC by the forces of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necco, and, second, of Josiah's son,
Shallum, who reigned after him for three months before being dethroned. The young prince
Shallum was elevated to the throne taking the royal name, Jehoahaz. Although chosen by the
people, yet, after only three months, he was removed as king by his overlord, Pharaoh Necco and
taken into exile in Egypt, ultimately to die there. Why? He violated the bond of love with his
people, doing what was "evil in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kngs. 23:32).
"Weep bitterly for him," says Jeremiah (Jer. 22:10); for, unlike his father, whose body was taken
from the battlefield "in a chariot from Megiddo...to Jerusalem, and buried...in his own tomb" (2
Kngs. 23:30), Jehoahaz was torn from throne, native land and people. While the body of King
Josiah remained in the land and care of his people, Jehoahaz went into oblivion.
God's second standard for a ruler evaluates a leader's policies and practices on a scale stretching
between justice and injustice, between care for the defenseless and its opposite - self indulgence.
Hence, the Prophet declares, "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his
upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing, and does not give him
his wages" (Jer. 22:13) - this word applied to Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz..
The entire second section of the passage (vss. 13-23) is a scathing condemnation of this other,
self-indulgent son of Josiah. Called Eliakim before becoming king, he was put on the throne by
Pharaoh Necco with the name Jehoiakim when the Egyptian monarch jailed and permanently
exiled his half-brother Jehoahaz (2 Kngs. 23:34). Concerning a king's efforts to render judgment
for the poor, the Lord asks, "Is not this to know Me?" (Jer. 22:16), after which He excoriates
Jehoiakim for his injustice, "But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for
shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence" (Jer. 22:17).
A ruler's breach of love for his people and his failure to "do justice and righteousness" have a
common link to the third of God's measures for rulers, for when the Lord speaks, does a ruler
listen? (vs. 21). Rulers attune to the voice of the Lord, to His righteous ways, readily follow the
Lord's dictates. Jehoiakim never did. Therefore, the Lord prophesied that, "with the burial of an
ass he [would] be buried, dragged and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (vs. 19).
O Lord our Governor, have mercy upon the leaders of every nation in which Thy People dwell;
may they rule with justice, love and mercy, and walk humbly with Thee in all their ways.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Venerable Kyriakos the Hermit of Palestine
Kellia: Jeremiah 28:1-2, 10-17 Epistle: Ephesians 5:25-33 Gospel: St. Luke 4:1-15
Jeremiah 28:1-2, 10-17, especially vss. 12,
13: "...the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 'Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You
have broken wooden bars, but I will make in their place bars of iron.'" History is a record of the
unexpected: how could Rome, the great center of "The Empire," fall? Yet in 410 AD, the Goths
ravished the eternal city. How could Constantinople fall to the forces of the Ottoman Turks
under Mehmet II, a mere youth of 21 years? Still, on Tuesday, May 29th, 1453, the last heir of
Constantine the Great lay dead and the city came under the power of the infidel. How could it be
that Paris, safely behind the impregnable Maginot Line could fall to the Nazis storming in from
the Siegfried Line? Yet, swiftly, in May of 1940, the German blitzkrieg swept around the Line,
through the Low Countries, and took Paris on June 14th. How could Nebuchadnezzar sustain
another campaign in Syria and reassert his control over the new Pharaoh ruling in Egypt? The
court of the new King of Judah, Zedekiah, pondered this issue.
Into this confused situation, "this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord....Make yourself thongs
and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck" (Jer. 27:2). The Prophet gave the King and his
courtiers and the envoys from the neighboring nations around Judah a solemn charge from the
God of Israel: "It is I Who by My great power and My outstretched arm have made the earth, with
men and animals...and I give it to whomever it seems right to Me. Now I have given all these
lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon" (Jer. 27:5,6). Judah and its allies
were to submit to the yoke of Babylon, and not to rely on any coalition with Egypt.
During "that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah," another prophet challenged
Jeremiah's word to submit to the Babylonians. In the presence of the priests and the people, he
said, "Thus says the Lord...I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon" (Jer. 28:1,2). Did
Jeremiah's dramatized and submissive word from the Lord come from the Prophet's
imagination? Was Jeremiah wrong? Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the
Prophet and broke them, saying, "Thus says the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years" (Jer.
28:10,11). Note: Jeremiah did not counter his word, but simply "went his way" (vs. 11).
How does a man have the boldness to say, "Thus says the Lord" - whether the man was Jeremiah
or Hananiah? The temerity of a puny creature - mortal and finite, a limited human being - to say,
"Thus says the Lord" and to state that his message is "from the Creator of Heaven and earth!" It
is bold in the extreme! Jeremiah was quite aware of his limitations in such a role. He had
questioned the Lord's call to be a Prophet: "I do not know how to speak..." (Jer. 1:6).
Nevertheless, he reveals an extraordinary confidence that words in his mouth were the words of
the Lord "over nations and over kingdoms" (Jer. 1:10). However, had he been wrong all this
time? In the end, it seems not, for sometime after Hananiah broke the yoke-bars from off his
neck, "the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah," and this time it was for Hananiah (Jer. 28:13).
How are we to know confidently when men "speak the word of the Lord?" The reading today
teaches us not to say a word but to wait as Jeremiah did (vs. 11). Scripture shows us that we are
to watch and see if the word was founded on a lie or on authentic revelation from God (vs. 15).
Finally, we are taught to trust God that He will expose every false word and every false prophet -
showing the errors plainly (vss. 16,17).
O Heavenly King, the Comforter, by Whom light riseth up in darkness for the godly, save us from
all false words, that in Thy light we may see light and may not stumble over falsehood.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia
Kellia: Jeremiah 30:12-17, 23-24 Epistle: Ephesians 5:13-6:9 Gospel: St. Luke 4:16-22
Jeremiah 30:12-17, 23-24, especially
vs. 17: "For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, says the Lord, because
they have called you an outcast...." The present reading is the first of four passages taken from
what commonly is called, "The Book of Consolation" (Jer. 30-33). The historical moment in
which Jeremiah received these prophecies from the Lord was "in the tenth year of Zedekiah king
of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of
Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard
that was in the palace of the king of Judah. Zedekiah, king of Judah, had imprisoned him, saying,
'Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord: Behold I am giving this city into the hand of
the king of Babylon, and he shall take it?'" (Jer. 32:1-3; LXX 39:1-3).
Jerusalem was in the final days of an eighteen month siege by the Babylonians. Other Judean
cities had already fallen. Recently, "the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt; and when the
Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem"
(Jer. 37:5; LXX 44:5), but only to drive the Egyptians back to their land, after which the siege
was resumed until "in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month on the ninth day of the
month, a breach was made in the city" (Jer. 39:2; LXX 46:2). King Zedekiah fled the city at that
point only to be overtaken in the plains of Jericho and captured. The dire prophecies of Jeremiah
that comprise the early chapters of his book were being fulfilled.
The Book of Consolation, written as it was in these last days before the breach into the city,
introduces another aspect of the Lord's relationship to His People. God assures His People that
they will not perish utterly (see Jer. 30:17 quoted above). Readers should appreciate that, after
months of siege, the populace of the city was stricken by intense famine, disease, and the
gnawing realization that very soon Jerusalem would be taken. Should any reader think to give up
on Jeremiah, believing he could only predict doom and disaster, these chapters reveal another
side of his prophecies - declarations of the love and faithfulness by God for His People.
The Lord does not mince words in this passage. The warnings He had given through His Prophet
Jeremiah are now coming to pass, for "there is none to uphold [the nation's] cause, no medicine
for [their] wound, no healing for [them]" (vs. 13). The Egyptian army had fled for their own
lives and "have forgotten you; they care nothing for you" (vs. 14), says the Lord.
Our Lord is the God of historical consequences. From ancient times to the present, disobedience,
apostasy, and immorality among the People of God has resulted in judgment after a certain point,
when "guilt is great" and "sins are flagrant"(vs. 15). As St. Tikhon of Zadonsk says: "our
compassionate God promised to show us His grace and mercy, but He did not promise us the
morrow. Let us pay close attention to this, and let us awake from sleep."
God reveals that in times of utter defeat, as we experience His wrath in our souls and bodies, the
hammers with which the Lord strikes will come under judgment: "those who despoil you shall
become a spoil, and all who prey on you I will make a prey" (vs. 16). All men and nations are
accountable before God. He will cause the "whirling tempest [to] burst upon [our] head" (vs. 23)
when we pursue wickedness, but yet He remains faithful to His People forever. He promises:
"your wounds I will heal" (vs. 17). In the pain of judgment, let us remember that "in the latter
days you will understand" (vs. 24). The purpose of the Lord is in all that happens.
Teach us, O Lord, to treat all that comes to us with peace of soul and with the firm conviction
that Thy will governs all. In unforeseen events, let us not forget that all are sent by Thee.
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The Ecclesiastical New Year: Indiction
3rd Reading at Vespers, Indiction: Wisdom 4:7-15 Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7
Gospel: St. Luke 4:16-22
Wisdom 4:7-15 RSV, especially vss. 13: "Being perfected in a short time, he
fulfilled long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord...." One year has drawn to a close - a
measurable cycle of days and months upon earth has passed and is gone forever. Today we stand
at the start of another cycle of days and months, and this recognition ought to prompt us, as
Christians, to consider how to spend life within the incessant, forward movement of time - to find
and know true "rest," completion, or fulfillment in this medium that flows on and on (vs. 7).
At the start of each business year, accountants turn to the balance sheet to see if income and
expenses have resulted in profit or a loss. At the beginning of a civil year, many seek to assess
whether or not they have attained the social goals of their family, community, and nation. Today,
however, is the New Year of the People of God, of the Orthodox Church, of the Ecclesia - those
men and women whom God has called from preoccupation or fascination with this present world
and its attractions that can so easily bewitch and captivate our time and energy (vs. 12).
By naming this day "The New Year," the Church bids us lift ourselves up out of time
momentarily and consider whether we are moving toward the highest and eternal or still have
"understood not, neither laid...up this in [our] minds, That [God's] grace and mercy is with His
Saints, and that He hath respect unto His chosen" (vs. 15 LXX). Now lies before us another Year
of Our Lord, another Anno Domini (AD), to be devote to Christ's glory and our great good, or to
be counted as just another anno mundi, one more revolution of the earth around the sun to be
wasted within the scope of eternity. On this Feast of Joshua the son of Nun, God and His Prophet
challenge us: "choose to yourselves this day whom ye will serve" (Josh. 24:15 LXX). Should
not godly New Year's resolutions be undertaken to strengthen our resolve to please the Lord
while we continue living in this present fallen world (vs. 10)? Thus, let us read this passage from
the Wisdom of Solomon that we may choose to pursue God-pleasing goals all through the
coming year of our temporal life, and not lose the things of eternity. To accomplish this we must
be well-rooted in true understanding from which flowers a blameless life, which is unchanged by
evil and guile and is firmly opposed to all "roving desire" (vss. 11,12).
The understanding spoken of in this passage is not just any understanding, for we humans can err
and resist, as the Lord declared through Isaiah: "This people draw nigh to Me with their
mouth....but their heart is far from Me" (Is. 29:13 LXX). "Therefore," God declared, "I will
remove them: and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will hide the understanding of the
prudent" (Is. 29:14 LXX). It is critical to seek true understanding, a godly discernment which St.
Paul links indissolubly with the Lord's will "in all...spiritual understanding" (Col. 1:9).
The Lord Jesus loves all who are like a Scribe who came to Him asking about the foremost
commandment. When Christ our God quoted two of the commandments - to love God
wholeheartedly and one's neighbor as oneself - the Scribe was delighted, and he hastened to say
that to love God "with all the heart, with all the understanding.....is more than all the whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices" (Mk. 12:33). St. Mark notes that "when Jesus saw that he answered
wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God" (Mk. 12:34).
Right understanding leads naturally to God-pleasing action: one lives a blameless life (Wis. 4:9),
discerning "between good and evil" (3 Kings 3:9 LXX), and chooses the good. Thus, one can
live in such a way among sinners so as to remain pleasing to God (Wis. 4:10).
Ever assist me, O Lord, and direct me to divine wisdom and understanding, that I may
accomplish whatever I undertake according to Thy will and to the profit of myself and others.
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004
Martyr Mamas & His Parents, Martyrs Theodotos & Rufina
Kellia: Jeremiah1;1, 4-19 Epistle: Galatians 1;1-10, 20-24 Gospel: St. Mark 15:1-20
Jeremiah 1:1, 4-19 LXX, especially vs. 10:
"Behold, I have appointed thee this day over nations and over kingdoms, to root out and to pull
down, and to destroy, and to rebuild, and to plant." With this passage we begin a course of
readings through one of the four major Prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and Daniel). Jeremiah's opening chapter reveals how God authenticated the awesome task which
He gave to the Prophet: "to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to rebuild, and to
plant." Realize that being God's Prophet in the late seventh and early sixth centuries before
Christ obliged Jeremiah to speak God's truth in an epoch of vast historical changes including
realignment of power among the empires adjacent to his own small kingdom of Judah, sweeping
reforms within his country, and, in the end, his nation's subjugation to Babylonia.
First, let us look closely at the Lord's call to Jeremiah, a young man late in his teens. Observe the
opening divine declarations: "I knew thee...I sanctified thee...I appointed thee" (vs. 4). The
Hebrew word to "know" implies intimate, personal knowledge, something the Lord alone could
have, as He says, "before I formed thee in the belly," that is, before conception. Then, via the
word "sanctified," God advanced His call one step more, for this verb conveyed the reality of
being "set apart" or "consecrated." In ancient Hebrew, the verb signified "dedication solely
within the religious sphere of life," with the implication that abandonment of prophesying would
be tantamount to blasphemy, that is, to using what was given by God for other purposes. Finally
there is the verb "appointed," the same word used when God "set" the sun, the moon and the stars
in their courses (Gen 1:17), or when He "made" Moses "as God to Pharaoh" (Ex. 7:1).
By God's declarations, Jeremiah was wholly committed to the Lord - to proclaim whatever words
God might place in his mouth - however popular or unpopular might be the prophecies. It is not
difficult to imagine that the young man hesitated in the face of God's call; but the Lord would
have none of it: "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all to whomsoever I shall send thee,
and according to all the words that I shall command thee, thou shalt speak" (Jer. 1:7). Yet, God's
requirement was not given unkindly or without concern for the man: "Be not afraid before them:
for I Am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord" (vs. 8). Most important of all, the Lord
equipped Jeremiah for the task: "I have put My words into thy mouth" (vs. 9).
First in the manner of a test, and then to reassure His Prophet, the Lord placed three visions
before Jeremiah, all with the purpose that he should "gird up [his] loins, and stand up, and speak
all the words that I shall command thee," not being afraid of his countrymen's face nor being
"alarmed before them" (vs. 17): the first vision was an almond "rod" (vs. 11), that is, a branch
from the first of the trees that flower in the Spring. This was a sign that if Jeremiah spoke God's
words faithfully, the Lord, for His part, would make the prophecies come true (vs. 12).
The vision of the cauldron on fire in the north summarized the divine message that would
dominate Jeremiah's preaching: the coming judgment of God against the iniquity of the people of
Judah who were idolatrously forsaking Him by sacrificing "to strange gods" (vs. 16). The last
vision concerned Jeremiah's own person: God would make him "a strong city, and as a brazen
wall, strong against all the kings of Judah, and the princes thereof, and the people of the land"
(vs. 18), even if they should fight him, for the Lord solemnly promised that "they shall by no
means prevail against thee; because I Am with thee, to deliver thee" (vs.19).
O Christ our God Who didst sanctify Thy Holy Prophet Jeremiah before he was conceived that
he might speak Thy words faithfully: by his intercessions keep us from all deceit.
Friday, September 3, 2004
Nektarios of Pentapolis, the Wonderworker
Kellia: Jeremiah 2:1-13 Epistle: Galatians 2:6-1 Gospel: St. Mark 5:23-24, 35-6:1
Jeremiah 2:1-13, especially vss. 1, 2: "The word
of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the
Lord, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the
wilderness, in a land not sown.'" The role of a Prophet of God in ancient Israel continues in the
Church today through the preaching ministry of all Bishops and most Priests. The visual
reminder of the preaching ministry appears in the priestly vestment called the "epigonation,"
which is an oblong piece that Bishops and many Priests wear suspended on the right hip. It
symbolizes the "sword of the Spirit" which St. Paul defines as "the word of God" (Eph. 6:17).
Unquestionably, the word of God, when proclaimed faithfully by His ministers, is "living and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
For this reason, as the Priest puts on the epigonation, a vesting prayer is said reminding him that
he is clothed by the Lord with a most urgent seriousness to carry out the proclamation of God's
word. Like the Prophet of old he is to "go forth, and prosper, and reign, because of truth, and
meekness, and righteousness" (Ps. 44:3 LXX).
Today's reading reveals how Jeremiah received and understood the preaching ministry with
which God invested him. His task came directly from the Lord in a command ordering him to
"Go and proclaim" (Jer. 2:2). Similarly, the word of the Lord impels His clergy with urgency,
seriousness, and full authority to proclaim the message which God sends them to declare. In the
Church, the divine command to "go and proclaim" is described as "apostolic," a word that
derives from the verb "to send." Every preacher who rightly understands the word of God
accepts the fact that he is sent to deliver God's message "in the hearing" of God's People (vs. 1).
To best understand Hebrew prophecy, one should note how the Prophet "disappears" in the
process of delivering the Lord's message. Observe Jeremiah: he begins by saying, "The word of
the Lord came to me" (vs. 1), but, thereafter, only a hint of his presence flickers here and there,
and only in incidental phrases such as, "Thus says the Lord" (vss. 2,5) or simply "says the Lord"
(vs. 12). Otherwise, the Speaker is the Lord Himself. In this lies the authentic mark of all true,
apostolic preaching: the hearer barely notices the preacher, but clearly hears God speaking.
Even the relationship between the Prophet and those who hear is determined by God. It is He
Who sends Jeremiah to proclaim "in the hearing of Jerusalem" (vs. 1). The reference to the
capital city has a double sense, as the principal place where the message is to be delivered, but
also as a shorthand way of speaking of the entire People. This latter usage of "Jerusalem" is
especially evident when the Prophet says, "Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all
the families of the house of Israel" (vs. 4). This exclamation of God's call to listen becomes the
opening of an extended section in the reading within which the Lord indicts His People.
The Lord reviews all that He has done for His People (vss. 6-8). He especially emphasizes their
ingratitude and short-lived memories (vss. 5,6) and also their outright "transgressions" through
blatant idolatry. They even dare to prophesy through false gods and by going "after things that do
not profit" (vs. 8). Hence, the Lord warns them, "I still contend with you...and with your
children's children" (vs. 9) on two counts: for abandoning Him, "the fountain of living waters"
and for hewing out "broken cisterns that can hold no water" (vs. 13).
Illumine our hearts, O Master Who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge,
and open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Thy gospel teachings.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
The Holy Prophet Moses the God-Seer
Kellia: Jeremiah 3:11-18 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 Gospel: St. Matthew 23:1-12
Jeremiah 3:11-18, especially vs. 17: "At that time
Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the
presence of the Lord in Jerusalem...." For Orthodox Christians, living under the New Covenant
in Christ - as those illumined with light by the Holy Spirit - we are blessed, if we "behold the
good things of Jerusalem all the days of our life." Hence, in reading this passage, the Orthodox
Christian perceives the Church in the words of the Prophet's foresight when he speaks of that
time when "Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord" (vs. 17).
After all, Orthodox churches are deliberately designed, both in structure and in furnishings, to
awaken one to the presence of God. Visitors, as well as the Faithful, upon entering one of our
churches, often exclaim, as did the Patriarch Jacob long centuries ago: "How awesome is this
place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Gen 28:17). The
experience of God's presence in our churches is a true, spiritual fact given to us. It is further
reinforced by the liturgical greeting: "Christ is in our midst: He is and He shall be." We even call
the altar in our churches, "the Throne." In other words, for Orthodox Christians, now is that time
when Jerusalem, the Church, is actively being called the throne of the Lord, and all nations are in
fact gathering to it, to the presence of the Lord (Jer. 3:17).
Notice how the Lord directed Jeremiah to prepare His People to awaken to His presence. At the
time God spoke these words through Jeremiah, the Lord's People in the ancient kingdom of
Judah still remembered their sister kingdom of Israel, for only recently it had flourished to the
north of them in Palestine. Israel, however, had been conquered by the Assyrian empire and its
people deported, scatted, and lost eastward into the Mesopotamian valley. The Assyrians
replaced the deportees from Israel and settled other peoples among the few whom they did not
remove, thus forming a mixed population that became known as the Samaritan people.
God told Jeremiah to announce to the Samaritans and to any of the exiles from Israel now living
further east who might still be aware of their heritage as the People of God, to "return" to Him
and acknowledge their "guilt" and "rebellion" against Him (vss. 12,13). Notice, however, that
God's message was prefaced by the remark that the remaining kingdom of God's People, Judah,
was more guilty than Israel had been before her demise within the Assyrian empire (vs. 11).
While God was appealing to the remnants of Israel, He was also strongly imploring His People in
Judah to "return" to Him. Truthfully, He longs to have all His "faithless children" come back to
their Master and Lord (vs. 14) - even we, His People under the New Covenant.
God recognizes that repentance - awakening to His presence and returning to Him - must be a
change within each person, a divine work that prepares one person here, or a couple there, or a
family as a whole, to quit stubbornly following "their own evil heart" (vs. 17) and to come under
good shepherds whom God provides to "feed [them] with knowledge and understanding" (vs.
15). Beloved of the Lord, let us, indeed, observe God's appeal today.
Do you see how much the Lord's entreaty through Jeremiah actually is the "familiar teaching" of
Orthodoxy? The Orthodox life in Christ is, after all, repentance and returning to God, for we
know our Father's mercy in Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Lord's presence is no longer
vested in the "Ark of the Covenant" that once lodged in the Jewish Temple (vs. 16). Today, He
is received directly in the Holy Gifts of our risen Master's own Body and Blood.
I pray Thee, have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions...and make me worthy to partake
without condemnation of Thine immaculate Mysteries...unto life everlasting. Amen.
Sun., Sept. 5, 2004
Tone 5 Prophet Zachariah & Righteous Elizabeth
Kellia: Jeremiah 4:1-10 Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4 Gospel: St. Matthew 22:1-14
Jeremiah 4:1-10, especially vss. 2, 10: "...if you
swear, 'As the Lord lives,' in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall bless
themselves in Him....Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely Thou hast utterly deceived this people
and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you'; whereas the sword has reached their very
life." Historic acuity was a striking attribute of the Prophets of God, especially evident in
Jeremiah. So attuned were they to the mind of the Lord that they readily extrapolated from
present social conditions to predictable outcomes. In today's reading, Jeremiah reveals this
special prophetic capacity to foresee results from present behavior. He knew that his native land
of Judah stood on the brink of radically opposite alternatives: to be a blessing to the nations
around them (vs. 2), or to find the destructive sword of invaders pointed at their very lives (vs.
10). Jeremiah offered his compatriots no middle ground. Looking back from a vantage point
centuries later, the modern reader can plainly see the accuracy of his God-inspired intuitions.
In an earlier passage (Jer. 3:19-25), the Prophet indicated the path toward genuine return to the
Lord - toward effective repentance. Continuing with that theme, he makes clear in the present
passage, how pure a true "return" to God must be, with no temporizing or religious show. "If you
return, O Israel, says the Lord, to Me you should return" (Jer. 4:1). There is no true relationship
with God so long as one merely carries out the formalities of faith, but does not face up to the
Lord before Whom one says he bows and prays. The acid test of honesty before God is to
remove one's "abominations from [His] presence, and [not to] waver" (vs. 1).
Honesty of this sort is readily measured by applying "truth...justice, and...uprightness"as serious
standards (vs. 2). The Lord is explicit about what He expects of those who say they worship
Him. The Ten Commandments are straightforward. Each of us can even look at his own life and
discern the extent to which we live the Beatitudes: poverty of spirit, mourning for sins, meekness
of life, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity lived from the heart, peacemaking and
joy when persecuted for God. Admittedly, the measuring rod of truth, justice and uprightness is
stringent, yet who can deny this is God's standard?
Christian history affirms that when the People of God live by truth, justice, and uprightness -
accountable before God - their influence on events is extraordinary. When the Church lives in
this manner, she richly blesses nations and peoples across the face of the earth. Conversely,
when the Faithful do not live up to what they avow before the Lord - have not broken up the
"fallow ground" of their daily lives and allowed the Holy Spirit to cleanse their actions and the
thoughts of their hearts, then the dire alternative which Jeremiah outlines has come upon them
and on the nations in which they have resided. Make no mistake, the "destroyer of nations has set
out; he has gone forth from his place to make [their lands] a waste" (vs. 7). On the basis of the
covenant of Circumcision, the Prophet begs his fellow believers: "remove the foreskin of your
hearts" (vs. 4). Unquestionably, real choices are made in the heart, in the deep place within
where we do or we do not keep covenant with God. There is no middle ground for Christians
anymore than there was for God's People under the old covenant.
God does not temporize. He will allow us to believe false prophets, trust in our own delusions,
and pursue our own lusts with "great destruction" as the outcome; but He longs for us to follow
the alternative - to return to Him "in truth, in justice, and in uprightness" (vs. 2). Grant, O
Master that we may live in steadfast peace and harmony, and, by the light of Thy commandments,
graciously pass our days with a seemly disposition and in virtuous living.
Monday, September 6, 2004
Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Colossae
1st at Vespers, Nativity of Theotokos: Genesis 28:10-17 Epistle: Galatians 2:11-16
Gospel: St. Mark 5:24-34
Genesis 28: 10-17 LXX, especially vs. 15: "And behold I am with thee to
preserve thee continually in all the way wherein thou shalt go; and I will bring thee back to this
land; for I will not desert thee until I have done all that I have said to thee." Where is that land
in which the living God visits us in our extremities, assures us that He will never desert us and
will preserve us in all our ways, and reveals that it is He Himself Who will bring us home after
He has done everything for us? Truly, we find that land neither in the comfort of settled places
we have called home - not in any Beersheba of our past, and, likewise, in no far-away land
toward which we journey - not in any future Haran in which we might seek earthly rest. The
promised land lies along the way, in a place where sleep is fitful and where there is only a stone
for a pillow. It is there that God meets us in Person, reveals the ladder that connects heaven and
earth, and dismisses our fear with a promise of His continual presence and our preservation.
This Feast Day in celebration of the Nativity of Mary, the Birth-giver of God, is an occasion for
us to consider how, in the mystery of God, His relief and promises often come wrapped in other
promises - promises within promises. The birth of the Pure One fulfilled a promise to Joachim
and Anne, relieving them from the reproach of barrenness. What is more, within that fulfilled
promise, in the person of infant maiden Mary, came a greater promise - that in time would come
the birth of God as man, a promise for the whole universe. Enfolded in the disgrace of
barrenness removed, came the foreshadowing of the end to the curse of Adam and Eve - that dire
wound upon all mankind. Life was given twice: a child was born beyond expectation, fulfilling
the promise of God to a righteous old couple, and, even more, in the birth of that infant girl was
the coming of the Birth-giver of Life, restoring eternal hope to our whole benighted race. Yes,
there is a Promised Land that is worth the journey, worth the uncomfortable sleep, even though it
is a fearful place. It is "none other than the house of God, and...the gate of heaven" (vs. 17) when
the Lord reveals it to us and fulfills His promise.
Many years before Jacob's journey to Haran, when Jacob's father first settled in Beersheba, a
place-name which the Septuagint translates as "the well of the oath" (vs. 10), God had appeared
to the older man there and promised Isaac His presence and blessing (Gen. 26:24). Hence, at that
earlier time, Isaac had dug a well and made an oath of peace with his long-standing enemy,
Abimelech (Gen. 26:25-33). Notice here a pattern we should expect of God: the Lord comes
when His beloved ones are dislocated and searching for a better life, often when they have
virtually lost all hope of any solution to the worldly troubles they are facing. Often, the very land
where God's People have struggled and found no resting place becomes the precise place where
God makes and keeps His promises. Isaac's experience, his son Jacob's experience, and the
experience of Joachim and Anne, are further examples and types of the Promised Land toward
which the People of God are journeying in this present existence.
Let us not despair if life is difficult, if we cannot sleep, if there is no end in sight, if there is no
lasting comfort. Rather, let us heed the words of St. Basil the Great: "To him who believes, a
promise is given by God: 'I will give you hidden treasures, unseen ones' (Isa. 45:3). When we
have been deemed worthy of knowledge face to face, we shall see also the depths in the
storehouses of God." Truly, is not this life a journey? Let us not fear to lay our heads on the
stones along the way to take a momentary rest, for God may bless us here with a Promised Land.
Be renewed, O Adam, and be magnified, O Eve, and ye Prophets exchange glad tidings; for there
is universal joy in the world for angels and men, for God is faithful to His promises.
Tuesday, September 7, 2004
The Venerable Kassiane the Hymnographer
2nd at Vespers, Nativity of Theotokos: Ezekiel 43:27-44:4 Epistle: Galatians 2:21-3:7
Gospel: St. Mark 6:1-7
26-44:4 LXX, especially vs. 27: "....from the eighth day onward the priests shall
offer upon the altar your burnt offerings; and I will accept you says the Lord God." The
Church, being illumined by the Holy Spirit, carefully selected three Old Testament lessons for
our meditation at the Vespers of the Nativity of the Theotokos. The selected readings should be
received with open hearts for the transforming teaching which they offer concerning the birth,
person, and work of the most Holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary. The reading from Ezekiel is
part of a vision of a perfect Temple, a divinely created place of worship for the People of God in
the last age. Though Ezekiel's description relied upon the structure and furnishings of the ancient
Jewish Temple for the various elements of the vision, what the Prophet disclosed has immediate
application for the Church as the earthly Temple of the Holy Trinity.
Only one small step more and faith perceives that, for the brief months between the Annunciation
of the Theotokos (March 25) and the Nativity of Christ (December 25), the Virgin herself served
as that ideal Temple for God-with-us. Even before the coming of Christ into the world - from her
own Nativity as an infant to her Annunciation as a young women - the years of maturing and
preparation were much like the very early hours immediately before the dawn of any day; for the
approach of "the true Light which gives light to every man" (Jn. 1:9) was already manifest in the
Virgin's life, the details of which are provided to us by Holy Tradition and Prophets like Ezekiel.
For now, let us see what Ezekiel teaches us.
It was clear to God's Prophet that the Temple and all its furnishings must be pure and consecrated
(Ezek. 43:26), and as a priest himself, he described how this would be carried out. Similarly, the
miraculous birth of an infant to a barren couple, both well past the child-bearing age, required the
intervention of God and provided grace for the child to live a pure life. The child Mary, like the
child of the parents of the Forerunner and Baptist, John, clearly was a consecrated vessel from
birth. At the Feast of the Presentation of the three-year-old child Mary (November 21st), the
Church reminds us that "the fruit of Joachim and Anne the righteous...[was] offered to God in
His holy Temple as a babe in the flesh whom the noble Zachariah blessed." Ezekiel knew that
for the People to be accepted of God, they would have to offer themselves fully to God, like the
"burnt offerings" of ancient Temple worship. Likewise, in the perfect Temple, God would accept
His people as they gave themselves to Him as holocausts, as total offerings holding back nothing
(vs. 27). At every juncture of her life, the Theotokos did offer herself in this way, as a holocaust,
placing herself fully as a vessel in the Lord's hands to carry out His will. Thus at the
Annunciation by Gabriel the Archangel, she naturally said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord!
Let it be to me according to your word" (Lk. 1:38).
The Prophet Ezekiel continued his description of the perfect Temple by noting that the East
vestibule and Temple gate, which alone would be used by "the Lord, the God of Israel," would
ever remain shut thereafter, since "only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord...[and]
enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and...go out by the same way" (Ezek. 44:2-3). Here,
again, we have a foreshadowing of the ever-virgin state of the Theotokos, who "remained
incorruptible after giving birth to Immanuel."
Not surprisingly, Ezekiel saw "the glory of the Lord [fill] the temple of the Lord; and [he] fell
upon [his] face (vs. 4). Of course the Church, in her iconography now reveals the Theotokos
filled with the glory of the Lord and, accordingly, offers her its praise in hymns and songs.
O thou who hast given birth in the flesh to thy God, intercede for those who praise thee.
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
The Nativity of the Theotokos
3rd at Vespers, Nativity of Theotokos: Proverbs 9:1-11 Epistle: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel: St. Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28
The Perfect Servant: 1-11, especially vs. 6: "Leave folly, that ye may reign for
ever; and seek wisdom, and improve understanding by knowledge." The Church always has
understood that the Wisdom spoken of in this reading, Who sends forth "servants with a loud
proclamation" (vs. 3) is none other than Christ our King and our God. What often hides the
Lord's identity from the minds of some who read today's passage is that the pronouns referring to
Wisdom are feminine - "she, her, and herself." Hebrew and Greek speakers know that hokma or
sophia are feminine nouns, and they tend to read past the feminine gender of the nouns which
their languages require, attending strictly to the Person of Wisdom Who speaks in these verses.
The Prophet Solomon, under whose provision we have this passage, rightly perceived the
Divinity of the Person of Wisdom - feminine pronouns aside. Notice (in vss. 4-6) that Wisdom's
proclamation urges all who hear what His servants declare to leave folly and seek Wisdom that
they "may reign forever" (vs. 6). After all, only God Himself can make the offer of eternal life
and dominion. Thus, Solomon was not troubled by feminine pronouns for hokma or wisdom.
When the passage is read as Solomon intended, Christians perceive the house of Wisdom, built
with its seven pillars, to be the Body of Christ, whether referring to Wisdom Incarnate of the
Virgin or to Wisdom in His Body, the Church (vs. 1). The feast which Holy Wisdom spreads for
the Faithful (vs. 2) is His Eucharistic banquet. Wisdom's servants, whom He sends forth with His
proclamation (vs. 3), are "every righteous spirit made perfect in faith, especially our all-holy,
immaculate, most blessed and glorious Lady Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary." The Virgin
herself, we should note especially, is the perfect Servant, for she left folly, sought Wisdom in her
Son, and now reigns forever to make intercession for us before His throne (vs. 6).
In the concluding verses of this present passage (7-11), Wisdom briefs each servant of His who
would consider taking on the task of inviting mankind to His Eucharistic feast. Divine Wisdom
carefully warns each servant what awaits him or her as a herald of His proclamation. Dishonor,
disgrace, and hatred may be one's lot, when evil and ungodly men hear what Christ's servants
offer on His behalf. On the other hand, His servant may have the joy of seeing others grow in
wisdom and eagerly "receive more instruction" (vs. 9). For there will be those who will hear the
message of Wisdom's servants, and, having already attained a "fear of the Lord," will readily
receive "the counsel of the Saints,"and struggle to acquire a truly "sound mind" (vs. 10). Our
Lady, the most holy Theotokos, was born to serve Wisdom, both with the expectation of potential
scorn and of eager acceptance. Gross public opprobrium would certainly have been her lot had
not God intervened with Joseph, her Betrothed, "when she was found to be with child of the Holy
Spirit" (Mt. 1:18). However, Joseph "being a just man" and a good servant himself, and not
wanting "to make Mary a public example" (Mt. 1:19), when he was "aroused from sleep, did as
the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her till she had
brought forth her first born" (Mt. 1:24, 25).
Mary, for her part, revealed that from the day of her miraculous birth to barren parents she was
ever the perfect servant of God. At the Archangel's announcement, she showed what a
unblemished handmaid of the Lord she was, for she accepted unquestioningly the prospect of the
Holy Spirit overshadowing her so that the "Holy One" might be born of her - "the Son of God"
(Lk. 1:35). Hence, after her Son's Ascension, she had years added to her life (Prov. 9:11).
In thy womb, O virgin Mother, thou didst hold the Holy Wisdom Whom all creation doth praise
and before Whom the celestials tremble. Wherefore, beseech Him to save our souls.
Thursday, September 9, 2004
Holy & Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim & Anna
Kellia: Jeremiah 4:11-22 Epistle: Galatians 3:23-4:5 Gospel: St. Mark 6:30-45
Jeremiah 4:11-22 RSV, especially vs. 14: "O
Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil
thoughts lodge within you?" An important stylistic feature of the prophetic books is the frequent
change of "speakers," often occurring abruptly and without notice being made in the text. The
translators sometimes are able to help us identify these rapid shifts between voices by certain
clues - starting a new sentence (e.g., between vss.18 and 19) or using punctuation (e.g., the dash
in vs.13), or changing from lower case to capital letters (e.g., between vss. 21 and 22).
The wonderful benefit of paying close attention to the change of speakers is that the reader is
introduced to the thought-life of the Prophet himself. Hence, in this passage, because the scribe
captured the Prophet's words just as they flowed forth, one may glimpse inside the mind of the
godly Jeremiah and appreciate the rich qualities of his personality. One can discern how he felt
and what he experienced as he was hearing the Lord speak within his heart and mind.
Earlier, in Jeremiah 4:1-10, the Lord told Jeremiah that a time was coming when "a destroyer of
nations [would] set out...to make [Judah] a waste" (Jer. 4:7). In today's reading the Lord
continues to speak of this approaching moment in history: "at that time...." (Jer. 4:11). Hence,
the Lord is the first speaker: "Now it is I Who speak in judgment upon them" (vs. 12).
See how the Prophet feels the anguish of the future which God reveals, as if it were happening
already: "woe to us, for we are ruined!" (vs. 13). He speaks of his own nation and people, of his
native land; and the burden of what God is revealing is painful and terrible; and so Jeremiah cries
out to his countrymen: "O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved."
He knows the mind of God - that the coming doom (vs. 18) could be forestalled.
Yet Jeremiah cannot shut out what the vision has shown him of what is developing and will come
sooner or later unless the people repent and dislodge their "evil thoughts" from within them (vs.
14). In rapid succession there will be a sweep by the armies of the "destroyer" crossing the
border into the northernmost region of Dan (vs. 15), passing Mount Ephraim near the city of
Jerusalem (vs. 15), overwhelming the cities of Judah (vs. 16), and surrounding the capital for a
final siege against the royal city with its national shrine, the Temple of God (vs. 17). The last
phrase of the last verse in this sequence reveals that God was the actual speaker (vs. 17)
In the next verse, the Prophet himself speaks to his countrymen (vs. 18): "Your ways and your
doings have brought this upon you" (vs. 18). Nonetheless, the pain of it for Jeremiah is very
personal: "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!" (vs. 19). We are allowed to share the
troubled thought-life of a deeply godly man living in a corrupt and doomed society.
Who among us, calling himself an Orthodox Christian, does not identify with the inner tugging
and wrenching of Jeremiah? Look out on the contemporary society in which we live! Are there
not times when our hearts are "beating wildly" (vs. 19)? Our world, like his, is filled constantly
with "the alarm of war" (vs. 19), as "disaster follows hard on disaster" (vs. 20). The media thrust
dread and inescapable images before us with words and pictures. We do not live apart from the
battle "sound of the trumpet" on every continent (vs. 21).
The link between us and Jeremiah is mankind's common problem - exactly that which God
declares: the people of our land and of all nations are majoring in evil and minoring in good (vs.
22). Still, however "stupid" we are, we remain God's "children" (vs. 22). That is our hope.
Hear us, O God our Savior, the Hope of all the ends of the earth and of those who are far off
upon the sea, and be gracious, be gracious O Master, upon our sins, and have mercy on us.
Friday, September 10, 2004
The Empress Pulcheria
Kellia: Jeremiah 4:23-31 Epistle: Galatians 4:8-21 Gospel: St. Mark 6:45-53
Jeremiah 4:23-31 RSV, especially vss. 27, 28: "For
thus says the Lord, 'The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. For this
the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I
have not relented nor will I turn back.'" The year 605 BC was fateful for the peoples of Syria,
Lebanon, and Palestine, for on the west bank of the Euphrates River, close to the point where
today it flows south out of Turkey into Syria, a major battle took place at Carchemish between
the armies of Egypt and the forces of Babylon. Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar, the eldest son of
the Babylonian king, leading his nation's army, threw the Egyptian troops into a total rout,
although a few were able to flee south to Hamath, in present day Syria; but there the Babylonians
overtook them and massacred the last remnants of the Egyptian army. This crushing defeat of
Egypt allowed the Babylonians to begin the conquest of the whole Hatti [Syrian] territory.
Nebuchadnezzar's father died during this first Syrian campaign, and the crown prince had to
return to Babylon and assume the throne. In the years following, he launched a new campaign
against Lebanon and brought it into his expanding empire. The king of nearby Judah readily
submitted to Nebuchadnezzar and paid tribute as the price of national survival (2 Kngs. 24:1).
Nebuchadnezzar's real target was Egypt. Hence, in the fourth year of his reign, the Babylonians
and Egyptians fought another major battle just south of Byblos, close to the modern Beirut. That
battle produced many casualties on both sides and resulted in a standoff. That stalemate induced
the king of Judah to rebel against the Babylonians, trusting in the nearby power of Egypt.
Jeremiah, with his keen historical acuity, foresaw the error of the king of Judah's decision. The
Prophet's visions of utter desolation, portrayed in the present passage, foretell the coming doom
of Judah (Jer. 4:23-26). He understood well that Nebuchadnezzar would come back and settle
accounts with the rebellious little nation and its "independent" king. Notice, as you read the
visions, that each of the four sentences begin: "I looked...." a phrase aptly expressing the
visionary character of the revelation which the Prophet received.
The next section of the reading is a direct word from the Lord confirming what Jeremiah "saw"
(vss. 27-29). In the final verses, the Lord chastises the leadership of Judah, the king and his
advisers, for "flirting" like a seductress with the Egyptians: "in vain you beautify yourself. Your
lovers despise you; they seek your life" (vs. 30). In the end, the nation was to perish like a
woman dying in childbirth as the Lord asserts (vs. 31). The whole reading makes clear how the
people are the victims who suffer in the shoals of national "power politics." Judah might not
have gone through the utter destruction that followed, when Nebuchadnezzar finally took full
revenge on them, had they remained as a vassal state under his dominion and protection.
Jeremiah's visions of desolation not only were accurate predictions of what eventually happened
across the Judean countryside, but also are reminiscent of other devastations that have occurred
as a result of wars and revolutions. One account of the Ukrainian Holocaust, created by Stalin in
1933, matches the Prophet's foresight that "there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert" (vss. 25,26): "Death from starvation mowed down
the villages....At first they dug graves...and then, as things got worse, they stopped. Dead people
lay there in the yards, and in the end they remained right in their huts. Things fell silent. The
whole village died." When God permits desolation, innocent and guilty alike suffer.
O Lord, all trials of this life are given by Thee for our chastisement when we drift away from
Thee. Deal not with us after our sins, but according to Thy bountiful mercies.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Euphrosynos the Cook
Kellia: Jeremiah 5:1-9 Epistle: 1 Corinthians2:6-9 Gospel: St. Matthew 10:37-11:1
Jeremiah 5:1-9, especially vss. 7, 8: "When I fed them to the
full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots. They were well-fed lusty
stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife." In his prophetic proclamations, Jeremiah
repeatedly warned his countrymen that their refusal to accept correction and to repent (vs. 3) was
inviting certain punishment from the Lord (vs. 9). With many vivid images, he forecast a
massive national destruction, that, as God revealed to him, would come from the north at the
hand of Babylonia, an expansionist empire marching out from Mesopotamia to consume other
nations all along its borders (vs. 6). To reinforce his proclamation of disaster and help the People
of God understand that their sins were leading directly to Divine judgment, Jeremiah explicitly
exhorted his fellow citizens against a number of specific offenses. Today, we begin a series of
meditations on the Prophet's exhortations against a variety of sins, considering first sexual lust.
The Prophet, like the Holy Fathers after him, provides Divinely inspired insight into the source of
the fires of lust - gluttony and idolatry. The Lord says, "When I fed them to the full they
committed adultery" (vs. 7). St. John of the Ladder confirms this cause-effect relation when he
writes that "we have heard from that raving mistress gluttony...that her offspring is war against
bodily chastity." Not that fasting and abstinence from food are sure guarantees of victory in the
fight against lust, for we should remember that Satan "who had never eaten was cast from
Heaven." Still, as St. John observes, "with beginners, falls usually occur by reason of luxury."
We will do well in our battles against the flesh to keep the two days of abstinence diligently each
week, enter heartily into the seasons of fasting, and especially observe the days of strict fasting.
Notice that God immediately precedes His declarations against lust by condemning those who
"have forsaken Me, and have sworn by those who are no gods" (vs. 7). Let us remember that the
people of Judah were surrounded by Canaanite neighbors who practiced sacred prostitution as an
almost invariable accompaniment of the cult of the fertility goddesses. The women who were
called harlots by the Prophets were called "holy women" by the Canaanites. Reading between
the lines, one easily surmises that cult prostitution attracted the people of Judah (2 Kngs. 21:3),
and, even though king Manasseh and king Josiah who followed him, made rigorous efforts at
reform, such indulgence seems to have been pursed in brothels (Jer. 5:7).
We certainly can take no comfort in the delusion that contemporary society is better than the one
against which Jeremiah wrote. The 2000 census report discloses that "households headed by
unmarried partners grew by almost 72 percent during the past decade, most of them involving
people living out of wedlock. A third of all babies were born to unmarried women (33%) which
compares to 1940 figures when the percent was 3.8. Between 1960 and 1990, cohabitation
increased nearly 1,000 percent. The problem is that we have grown accustomed to such realities,
facing them among our own family members; and so we are tempted to say, along with one
President's Domestic Policy Adviser in response to the census report: "Who cares?"
The soaring divorce rates and promiscuity of western cultures lead one to modify slightly, for a
modern fit, the descriptive portrait of Jeremiah's world, and to characterize what we see as a herd
of "well-fed lusty stallions and mares, each neighing for each other's spouses" (vs. 8). Beloved
of the Lord, let us not overlook the Lord's conclusion: "Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord; and shall I not avenge Myself on a nation such as this?" (vs. 9).
O Lord, do Thou maintain Thy married servants in peace and concord, and grant them to lead an
upright and blameless life, walking in Thy commandments to a ripe old age.
Sunday, September 12, 2004 (Tone 6)
The Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross
1st at Vespers, Elevation of the Cross: Exodus 15:22-16:2 Epistle: Galatians 6:11-18
Gospel: St. John 3:13-17
Exodus 15:22-16:2 RSV, especially vs. 25: "And
[Moses] cried to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and
the water became sweet." As the Church confronts the Mystery of the Cross, she continuously
returns to the motif of trees, calling upon "all the trees of the wood, planted from the beginning of
time, [to] rejoice; for their nature hath been sanctified by the stretching of Christ on the Tree."
The Church especially holds up certain trees for meditation, since God gave them a wondrous
role in the history of His People. Such is the case of the tree which Moses threw into the bitter
waters at Marah to make them sweet. Let us heed the call to rejoice in this, for the Lord did not
leave the bitterness of the "tree of knowledge" to overshadow us, but "didst remove it completely
by the Cross." As that ancient tree "made the waters of Marah sweet, anticipating the act of the
Cross," should not we praise God together with all the powers of heaven who magnify the Lord
for His healing and His mercy toward His People?
Three days into the wilderness from the Red Sea, the people found no water. The Sinai peninsula
mostly is an unrelieved, barren waste. Think of the disappointment "when they came to Marah,
[and] they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter" (vs. 23). They faced death
by thirst. However, the Lord in His mercy revealed how their deadly thirst could be removed.
"The Lord showed [Moses] a tree" (vs. 25). Although that tree already was visible to Moses'
physical eye, God revealed to the eye of his heart that the tree could sweeten the water.
Beloved, may the Lord show us the sweetness in the Cross, that Tree which can end the bitter
thirst of sin that drives us to find relief somehow in this world! How many alcoholics have
imagined that their deep thirst could be assuaged in a bottle! How many of us are overweight
vainly trying to feed the inner thirst that is killing us? The honeyed kisses of illicit lovers in this
world do not hold true sweetness. The Lord reveals the Cross. Christ our God has taken away
that terrible dry burning within our hearts "having nailed it to the Cross" (Col. 2:14).
God sweetens the unyielding bitterness of sin. It was not some property of the tree which made
the waters potable. God performed a miracle using the tree; He Himself sweetened the water. He
led Moses to cast in the tree, after which "the water became sweet" (Ex. 15:25). There was no
chemistry available to remove the bitter poison that rendered the spring at Marah more than
distasteful, but actually dangerous. God made the bitter poison wholesome.
Likewise, there is nothing that will remove the bitter poison of sin except a miracle from Him
Who has removed the bane of sin by The Tree of His Cross. "For the message of the Cross...to
us who are being saved...is the power of God" (1 Cor.1:18). Brethren, let us embrace His words:
"he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (Jn. 6:35). Christ has removed the poison!
Having quenched the thirst of Israel, God "made for them a statute" (Ex. 15:25): "If you will
diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and
give heed to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon
you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I Am the Lord, your healer" (vs. 26). Then He led them
"to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees" (vs. 27). Likewise,
our Healer provides the Cross to lead us on to true Life. Let us welcome the Cross with joy and
fear, as the Church teaches us: "with fear because of sin, being unworthy; with joy because of the
salvation which Christ Who was nailed thereon....granted to the world." O our Savior, Thou
hast been nailed to the Cross, though Thou art God Incarnate, in order that Thou mightest save
those in affliction, since Thou art all powerful and good.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Cornelius the Centurion and Martyr
2nd at Vespers, Elevation of Cross: Proverbs 3:11-18 Epistle: Galatians 4:28-5:10
Gospel: St. Mark 6:54-7:8
Proverbs 3:11-18 LXX, especially vs. 18: "She [wisdom] is a tree
of life to all that lay hold upon her; and she is a secure help to all that stay themselves on her, as
on the Lord." We have been taught that in Paradise of old "the Lord God made to grow every
tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food," and, more specifically, that there was also
"the tree of life...in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen.
2:9). There was one proviso we cannot forget: God commanded the man: "you may freely eat of
every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in
the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen. 2:16,17).
Let us also recall how sin and death came. Our mortal enemy dangled a lie before the woman's
mind: "You will not die" (Gen. 3:4). Then, as St. John Chrysostom has pointed out, when "she
not only failed to turn away" from Satan, she even revealed "the whole secret of the Lord's
direction, thus casting pearls before swine....She exposed to swine, to that evil beast, that is, to
the demon acting through it, the divine pearls" of God's mysteries. As a result, and exactly as the
Apostle teaches, since "evil company corrupts good habits" (1 Cor. 15:33), she also saw that
which she had not perceived before: "tha