Friday, April 16, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Friday of Bright Week
4th of the Paschal Vigil: Jonah 3 Apostle: Philippians 2:5-1 Gospel: St. Luke 1:38-42; 11:27-28
Jonah 3:1-10 LXX, especially vs. 5: "And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a
fast, and put on sackcloths, from the greatest of them to the least of them." The Book of Jonah is so terse that readers are
regularly forced to imagine much of the development from event to event. For instance, we are told nothing of Jonah's
prophecy, only that what he said was "according to the former preaching" to which God had directed him (vs. 2). Referring
back to the first Chapter, to discover what God's "former" instructions were, we find only God's command, "rise and go to
Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it; for the cry of its wickedness is come up to Me" (Jon. 1:2). Aside from these slight
clues, the passage only reports that the Prophet said, "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (Jon. 3:4 LXX).
Such a clipped narrative enhances our appreciation of the response of the Ninevites: "the men of Nineveh believed God"
(vs. 5).
The account that follows reveals that the Ninevites response was quite genuine, for they manifested all the elements of true
repentance: they affirmed that God's judgment concerning their spiritual state was correct (vs. 5); cried for their sins (vs.
8), evinced true sorrow for their wrongs (vss. 5 -7), and effectively ended wrong doing, for "they turned every one from
their evil way" (vs. 8). They took full responsibility for "the iniquity that was in their hands" (vs. 8) and in no way
attributed their faults to God, but, rather, they gave themselves over to His will (vs. 9).
God, Who is not deceived by show, perceived that they had turned from their evil ways, and He stayed His hand from the
judgment for which the Ninevites had readied themselves.
Our knowledge of prevailing conditions in the Assyrian Empire support the reality of the kind of swift and genuine
repentance shown by the citizens and national leadership in Nineveh in response Jonah's announcement of the city's
imminent overthrow (vs. 4). The records disclose that the country's weakened military condition had recently been
exposed by the loss of the forts at Carchemish, Militene, and Commagene. On a day in June during this time, the Assyrian
records show that there was a total solar eclipse. Among the omen texts of Nineveh itself, it was said that following a solar
eclipse, "the King will die, rain from heaven will flood the land. There will be famine" [and] "a deity will strike the King
and fire consume the land."
Let us be attentive to what the Lord is teaching in this passage: the people of Nineveh did not believe Jonah; rather, they
took God at His word. The Prophet fulfilled his duty by going to the great city and declaring God's word to its pagan
people - as God instructed him - and the Ninevites believed God. There is no record of any discussion between the
Ninevites and Jonah; they believed God. Let us note carefully how they trusted in the word of God.
Remember: it is no accident that the Orthodox Christian life is characterized as a life of repentance. Even at Pascha, with
all the joy of the Feast, the Paschals still command us: "be illumined for the Feast, and embrace one another. Let us speak,
brothers, even unto those that hate us, and forgive all for the sake of the Resurrection." We are called away from every
unforgiving and "evil way, and from the iniquity" of our hands (vs. 8), just as were the Ninevites.
Should we be careless enough to think that God is impressed by the blazing solemnity of our celebration of Great and Holy
Pascha, and, thereby, permit ourselves not to forgive nor to put away our evil ways, we will be missing the message of
Jonah. Why did the Ninevites believe God? Because they knew that He saw into their hearts. Let us also repent and be
saved.
Make us worthy, O Master Who lovest mankind, to partake of Thy terrible Mysteries: unto remission of sins, unto
forgiveness and unto inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Saturday of Bright Week
4th of the Paschal Vigil: Jonah 4 Apostle: Acts 3:11-16 Gospel: St. John 3:22-33
Jonah 4:1-11 LXX, especially vs. 3: "And now, Lord God, take my life from me; for it is better
for me to die than to live." In the last chapter of the Book of Jonah, the flawed character of the famous son of Amittai is
exposed. We see a dark bitterness in the heart of God's reluctant Prophet. Jonah fled rather than preach in the Assyrian
city of Nineveh. Yes, even when God forgave him for disobedience, even when God saved him from drowning by sending
a great fish to swallow him and cast him up onto dry land miraculously, and even when God blessed him with great success
in his preaching, still Jonah was peevish and angry.
For us, the Book of Jonah is a warning - to not be like the prophet Jonah. God relented from carrying out His plan to
overthrow Nineveh when He saw that the people of the city "turned from their evil ways" (Jon. 3:10), and the opening line
of today's reading tells us that, in turn, "Jonah was very deeply grieved, and he was confounded" (Jon. 4:1). Strange that a
man so blessed by God should be distressed when his mission was accomplished so very easily.
Let us examine the opening verse of chapter four more carefully. The verbs in the LXX are "lupe" and "synecho." While
the first verb, "lupe," can express grief, it also may well suggest "vexation" and "anger." Similarly "synecho" can mean
either "confusion" or "frustration." The versions based on the Hebrew text favor "angry frustration." Hence, the RSV has,
"...it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry" (vs. 1) - yes, annoyed and petulant, because the result of his
preaching was not to his liking. Hence, as we envision the Prophet climbing the hill and setting up his watch "over against
the city...until he should perceive what would become of the city" (vs. 5), let us remember that he climbed and sat there
grumbling.
Jonah's petulance is most blatantly displayed in his virtual scolding of God: "I made haste to flee to Tarshish; because I
know that Thou art merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in kindness, and repentest of evil" (vs. 2).
We may easily complete his railing against the Lord: "So, of course, Thou forgavest them! How couldest Thou forgive the
Ninevites, of all people?" Jonah had neither love nor compassion for the Ninevites - but God did.
Historically, the Prophet was reflecting the common view of the people of Israel who, in the eighth century BC had
repeatedly chafed under the superior and subjugating power of the Assyrian empire. His outburst matches the Psalmist's
cry to God: "Lift up Thy hands against their pride at the end, against the things which the enemy hath wickedly done in Thy
holy place....How long, O God, shall the enemy utter reproach?" (Ps. 73:4,11 LXX).
The vignette of the gourd that shades the Prophet for a moment and then withers when eaten away by a worm reinforces the
portrait of a bitter, unforgiving man (Jon. 4:6-10). Observe him: he flees to Tarshish to avoid any potential for complicity
in God's compassion, mercy, and forgiveness toward the Assyrian whom he finds utterly repugnant. Even when Jonah
himself receives God's compassion and mercy and then obeys and preaches as God instructs him (Jon. 3:1-11), still he
clings to the loathing in his heart. Finally, God makes His message explicit: "shall not I spare Nineveh, the great city, in
which dwell more than twelve myriads of human beings, who do not know their right hand or their left hand; and also
much cattle?" (Jon. 4:11).
Beloved of the Lord, let us be ready always to forgive, even them that hate us. As St. Gregory the Great has said: "We
must not allow any malice at all to remain in our hearts. May almighty God have regard for our love of our neighbor, so
that He may pardon our iniquities!
Remember what He has taught us: 'Forgive, and you will be forgiven.'"
Our Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Christ is Risen!
The Sunday of Thomas: New Sunday
5th of the Paschal Vigil: Joshua 5:10-15 Apostle: Hebrews 13:7-16 Gospel: St. John 20:19-31
10-15 LXX, especially vs. 10: "And the children of Israel kept the Passover on the fourteenth day
of the month at evening, to the westward of Jericho on the opposite side of the Jordan in the plain." Consonant with the
words of St. John Chrysostom's Paschal homily: "Ye that have kept the fast and ye that have not, rejoice today; for the
Table is richly laden," this fifth Vigil reading anchors us in the Divine provision that is ours at the Great Paschal Feast by
reason of the grace and triumph of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the Pascha of the Lord. "Christ is risen,
and life is liberated." The reading exhorts us, just as do the words of St. John: "Fare ye royally on it. The calf is a fatted
one. Let no one go away hungry. Partake ye all of the cup of faith. Enjoy ye all the riches of His goodness."
Visualize the historical setting of this reading. The Israel of the Lord, His holy People, are in the land promised to them by
the almighty and saving God. They just have crossed the Jordan river and now are encamped on the plain before the
fortress of Jericho. The celebration of Passover described in this passage strikes a note never known before. In Egypt, the
Passover meal was eaten by slaves on the run, on a dark night when death swept the land of the Egyptians and yet passed
over Israel. But the food at this Passover meal is eaten without labor either in planting or in harvesting: "they ate of the
grain of the earth unleavened and new corn" (vs. 11). Whereas during forty years of wandering in the wilderness they had
been sustained by divinely provided manna, now they are tasting the fruits of the Kingdom that shall be their own.
The reading prompts us similarly to celebrate our Passover in Christ: "Let the peoples give Thee praise, O God: let all the
peoples praise Thee." Every Orthodox Christian should know that our name for this Great Feast of Pascha is simply the
Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word for Passover, Pesach. Hence, those whose hearts are unfettered celebrate Pascha
knowing that they are 'in the Promised Land,' that they have passed through the waters of Jordan to partake of the glorious
Table of the Lord. "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the Feast" (1 Cor. 5:7,8). We eat with
the risen Christ, but not a meal eaten in slavery to sin and death. "Christ is in our midst! He is and He shall be!" We share
in this Feast that the Lord spreads before us. "Fare ye royally on it," indeed!
The reading describes events that took place "on the plain of Jericho" (Jos. 5:10,13), and reminds us that all the battles to
conquer the land still lay before ancient Israel. They ate Passover under the walls of the fortress of Jericho that would be
their first victory. Many battles would follow, a few ending in failure, most in success. So, Beloved Faithful in Christ, the
battles lie ahead of us in time. Nevertheless, we eat and celebrate in the knowledge that the tide of the campaign has been
turned against our greatest enemies. "O Christ our Savior, we were but yesterday crucified with Thee: glorify us with Thee
in Thy kingdom."
Observe Joshua, the human leader of the People of God. He encounters "the chief captain of the host of the Lord" (vs. 14).
The great Archangel Michael, "drawn sword in his hand" (vs. 13) stands before the mortal captain of the Lord's People
who boldly draws near and asks, "Art thou for us or on the side of our enemies?" (vs. 13). As St. Nikolai of Zica reminds
us: we "must not rely on...our own equipment, but on Him Who fights for us." The powers of Heaven are arrayed before us
and with us, to fight for us, if we will, like Joshua, reverence them and seek, as they do, to know nothing else but the will of
God (vs. 15).
"Let us cleanse our senses that we may behold Christ shining like lightning with the unapproachable light of
Resurrection...while we sing to Him the hymn of victory."
Monday, April 19, 2004
Christ is Risen!
The Hieromartyr Paphnoutios of Jerusalem
7th of the Vigil of Pascha: Zephaniah 3:8-15 Apostle: Acts 3:19-26 Gospel: St. John 2:1-11
Zephaniah 3:8-15 RSV, especially vs. 8: "'Therefore wait for Me,' says the Lord, 'for the day
when I arise as a witness.'" The Prophet Zephaniah was a fourth generation descendant of one of the Kings of Judah and
a contemporary of Jeremiah. Like his fellow Prophet of the seventh century BC, he saw gathering signs of certain
judgment building up against the kingdom of Judah. His prophetic declarations reveal the cause: "Her princes within her
are roaring lions, her judges are wolves at evening; they leave nothing for the morning. Her prophets are reckless,
treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the Law" (Zeph. 3:3-4 NAS). What
was God's word for all these evils? "Therefore, wait for Me, for the day when I arise as a witness" (vs. 8) to expose these
evils.
The subsequent vision which the Lord gave Zephaniah revealed a "day" when God would correct what had gone wrong
with His People. That "day" of the Lord God's making would be notable in four ways: it would be a gathering for all
nations (vss. 8,10); God's People would be purified (vs. 9); only a remnant, "humble and lowly," would be left (vss. 12,13);
and the true "King of Israel" would appear in the midst of His renewed People. It is a portrait of the present age which
Christ's Resurrection ushered in and which provides at least a foretaste of Judgment Day when our victorious Lord Jesus
shall return to complete this work of His.
"For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms...." (vs. 8). After two millennia, we still are seeing nations in
the process of being gathered by the Lord. In 1860 a newly ordained Hieromonk, Nikolai was assigned to serve as chaplain
for the small Russian consular Community in Hakodate on the southernmost tip of the Northern Island of Japan. By 1875,
the first Japanese were ordained to the Holy Priesthood as a result of Father Nikolai's work. By 1884, sixteen years after
the first catechumens were baptized, the Faithful in Japan had grown to 10,000. Twenty years later the number was 29,000.
Despite a war between Japan and Russia, converts joined the Church at a rate of 1,000 a year. In 1879 Archimandrite
Nikolai was consecrated Bishop of Japan, then elevated to Archbishop in 1906, celebrating fifty years of ministry in 1910.
The Japanese Church had reached a membership of 40,000 just before he reposed in January of 1912. Examples of such
growth are being repeated today in Indonesia, India, Latin America, Africa and across the globe. The nations still are being
gathered.
"Yea, at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the Name of the
Lord" (vs. 9). As converts come into the Church, prayers are then offered up in their languages, and despite such cultural
divisions, they serve "the Lord with one accord" (vs. 9). The Lord's "dispersed ones" are bringing Him their offerings (vs.
10). People by people, God is taking away "their disdainful pride" (vs. 11 LXX).
"For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly" (vs. 12). When the majority of ancient Israel would not
accept the Lord Jesus as the Christ, still there was a small remnant who sought refuge in the Name of the Lord, "those who
[were] left in Israel" (vs. 13). These were transformed, Apostolic men and women who left a legacy to "do no wrong and
utter no lies," who enabled many to "pasture and lie down" (vs. 13) in the Lord's keeping without fear.
Beloved, let us recognize the vibrant Orthodox Church in this portrait of Zephaniah given over 600 years before the Lord's
birth! "Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!" Let us wait upon the King of Israel in our midst and "fear evil no
more" (vs. 15).
"Thou didst come in to Thy Disciples, O Christ our God, Resurrection of all, renewing in us through them an upright
spirit, according to the greatness of Thy mercy."
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Christ is Risen!
The Apostle Zaccheos of Caesarea
8th of the Paschal Vigil: 1 Kings 17:8-24 Apostle: Acts 4:1-10 Gospel: St. John 3:16-21
I Kings 17:8-24 RSV, especially vs. 24: "And the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know
that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.'" When Orthodox Christians declare the
foundational commitment of their lives in the Nicene Creed, they say, successively, "I believe in one God, the Father....And
in one Lord Jesus Christ....And...in the Holy Spirit....And...in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." Only after those
avowals do we add, "I look for the Resurrection of the dead...." What we Orthodox expect concerning Resurrection
depends on our prior commitment to God the Holy Trinity and His Church. As with the widow of Zarephath, commitment
to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is tantamount to affirming that "the word of the Lord...is truth" (vs. 24).
In taking the words of the Nicene Creed in our mouth as a life-declaration, we cross over from believing "that" there is a
God to "believing in" the God Who made heaven and earth, Who became Incarnate for our sake, and Whose Spirit is active
in this world. The Church is no longer "interesting," but a way of life and worship from which we will not withdraw.
To believe "that" God exists may be engaging; but to say that we "believe in" God is quite another matter. To "believe in"
is commitment of "ourselves, each other, and all our life unto Christ our God." One makes this latter sort of statement only
when submitting himself wholly to Him in Whom he believes. He acts so only after careful consideration, having good
reasons, yes; but, above all, by trusting. In committing, we take the risk of being wrong as to our facts when we submit to
Him. In saying, I "believe in" we stake "our whole life."
After committing the fabric of our life "unto Christ our God," of course we "look for the Resurrection of the dead." That is
natural; it follows as a consequent. Look at the experience of the widow of Zarephath. She had gone outside the city gates
to gather a little firewood to cook a final meal. She would not need a great deal of wood, for her larder had dwindled down
to "only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a cruse" (vs. 12). After eating she anticipated the wasting of famine to
death. Nevertheless, she had not lost her sense of hospitality. Water she had, and to share with a thirsty stranger, and this
gift she set about to bring to Elijah (vs. 11).
The Prophet Elijah challenged her with a tiny gospel of life including an assurance that she need not fear (vs. 13).
Furthermore, he gave her reasons to risk even the tiny bit of food that remained for her and her son: "The jar of meal shall
not be spent, and the cruse of oil shall not fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth" (vs. 14). Observe the
first evidence of "belief in!" She "did as Elijah said" (vs. 15). His faith was a contagious gift to her.
God supplied abundant reasons to strengthen her faith in Him.. She and "her household ate for many days," and "the jar of
meal was not spent, neither did the cruse of oil fail" (vss. 15,16). Such is the way the Lord works. We trust a little, and He
supplies a great deal - an abundance of reasons to "believe in" Him. However, there came a shock. Her child died. What
had gone wrong? Notice that death awakened her guilt and her knowledge of her sin (vs. 18). To all this not even Elijah
had an answer. He took the child, retreated to his room, and "cried to the Lord" (vs. 20). Having committed his whole life
to God, he did what he could (vss. 20-22).
Behold! The mother received her child back alive (vs. 23). Then she affirmed her "belief in" God: "Now I know that you
are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth" (vs. 24). God the life-Giver gives us abundant
reason to "look for the Resurrection!"
As Thou didst appear to Thy disciples, the doors being shut, O Life-Giver, so lift the locks from the doors of our
faithlessness that we may shout, "Thou art our Lord and our God!"
Wed., April 21, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Hieromartyr Januarios, Bishop of Benevento
12th of the Paschal Vigil: 2 Kings 4:8-37 Apostle: Acts 4:13-22 Gospel: St. John 5:17-24
2 Kings 4:8-37 RSV, especially vs. 28: "Then she said, 'Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say,
Do not deceive me?'" When the miracle child of the Shunammite unexpectedly and suddenly died, his mother hastened to
the Prophet Elisha and "caught hold of his feet" (vs. 27). This ancient custom of clasping the feet, which denotes both
submission to higher authority and urgent petition, is worthy of our study. The wife of the arrogant Nabal falls at the feet
of the guerrilla chieftain, David, begging for the life of her husband (1 Sam. 25:23-31). Queen Esther falls at the feet of her
husband, King Ahasuerus, seeking his interdiction to prevent the genocide of her people (Esth. 8:3-8). A minor slave seeks
redress for a small debt from his fellow slave, a highly trusted servant of their lord and master (Mt. 18:23-34). The Prophet
Isaiah, looking forward to the Messianic age, tells God's People that "Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens
your nursing mothers; they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you
will know that I Am the Lord..." (Is. 49:23).
The most striking discovery can be gleaned from an extended study of this custom. The vast majority of instances of this
behavior reported in Scripture are centered on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ: the lame, the blind and the maimed are
laid at His feet (Mt. 15:30), the Myrrh Bearers clasp His feet outside the empty tomb (Mt. 28:9). In addition, this same
behavior is recorded of Jarius, a ruler of the Synagogue (Mk. 5:22), a Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk. 7:25), a sinful woman
(Lk. 7:36 ff), a liberated demoniac (Lk. 8:35), and twice by Mary of Bethany (Lk. 10:39; Jn 11:32). But most astounding,
as the disciple Peter's reaction makes evident, is the account of the role-reversal by the Lord Jesus when He washes His
disciples feet (Jn. 13:5-11).
In the account of the Shunammite woman, note that she fell at the feet of the Prophet Elisha twice (2 Kngs. 4:27,37). The
first time she clasped his feet because she experienced the death of a vision which she had received by the grace of God
through the Prophet's intervention. In this act, the element of petition is dominant, though not the only feature of the
woman's action. The second time, her act is nothing but a beautiful outpouring of gratitude to God and His Holy Prophet.
Gratitude, of course, is the dominant feature of several of the New Testament records associated with those who fall at the
Lord's feet. Especially let us note the sinful woman (Lk. 7:35 ff), a leper who was cleansed (Lk. 17:16), and supremely the
Myrrh Bearers (Mt. 28:9).
In all these cases, we may note a rich measure of gratitude because a vision from God, previously lost, is resurrected. The
Shunammite woman initially was in despair seeing the vision of a son and heir wasted by cruel death. She points out to
Elisha, "I never even dared to ask you for a son, and yet, as a man of God, you not only gave me the vision of an heir, but
your intercession resulted in a living flesh and blood child" (2 Kngs. 4:28). The leper who returned to give the Lord Jesus
thanks discovered in his healing that God had not abandoned him. He fell at the Jesus' feet because the vision of a caring
God was rekindled in his heart. Let the other nine go their way; he had to give thanks to God in the one sure way he could
(Lk. 17:15-16).
Beloved of the Lord, we who are united to Christ know in the depths of our hearts what transpired for the Myrrh Bearers.
To encounter a radiant angel, a stone rolled back from the door of the tomb, and military guards stricken like dead men, the
women had to reconsider the vision that God had given them. They had believed in Christ, but He had died on the Cross
(Mt. 28:2-7). Now, He Himself stands before them in the flesh - the vision restored (Mt. 28:9)!
Come let us worship and fall down before Christ. Save us, O Son of God, Who art risen from the dead, who sing to Thee,
Alleluia!
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Christ is Risen!
The Holy Apostle Nathanael
13th of the Paschal Vigil: Isaiah 63:11-64:5 Apostle: Acts 4:23-31 Gospel: St. John 5:24-30
Isaiah 63:11-64:5 LXX, especially vs. 11: "Where is He that brought them up from the sea the
Shepherd of the sheep? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit in them?" The present reading rehearses a group of burning
questions that deeply troubled Isaiah, the great Prophet of God. However, at the same time, it presents to the Orthodox
Christian a joyous prophetic icon of the Resurrection. The Prophet Isaiah asks God how He, Who had "led Moses with His
right hand, and the arm of His glory" (vs. 12), could have allowed His people to fall so low: "where is Thy zeal and Thy
strength? where is the abundance of Thy mercy, and of Thy compassions, that Thou hast withheld Thyself from us?....Why
hast Thou caused us to err, O Lord, from Thy way? and hast hardened our hearts, that we should not fear Thee?" (vss.
15,17).
The opening verses of the passage find Isaiah questioning how God could have abandoned His own People (vss. 63:11-17).
Afterwards, having stated his questions, the Prophet begs the Lord to "return for Thy servants' sake, for the sake of the
tribes of Thine inheritance, that we may inherit a small part of Thy holy mountain" (vss. 63:17-18). Then, as if to remind
the Lord, the Prophet mentions that God is fully able to act as He did of old. If He should choose to "open the heavens"
and come among His people, then "trembling will take hold upon the mountains" (64:1). In the end, Isaiah admits, yes,
"we have sinned; therefore we have erred" (vs. 64:5). Still, he says, we believe that "Thou wilt perform to them that wait
for mercy," for "from of old we have not heard, neither have our eyes seen a God beside Thee" (vs. 64:4).
The Holy Fathers observed that the questions which burned in the heart of Isaiah were fully answered by the coming of
Christ. Listen, for example, to Theodoret of Cyrus: "The prophetic text...is making mention of the event that was the
crossing of the Sea: foreseeing that they [ancient Israel would] be deprived of the divine solicitude...according to the
prediction," that God would "forsake [His] vineyard" (Is. 5:6).
However, says Theodoret, the questions raised should lead the Faithful in Christ to realize that "just as the people, pursued
by Pharaoh and the Egyptians, passed through the sea under the leadership of Moses, in the same way, when the devil and
the demons were waging war, Christ our Master broke the gates of death and passed through them Himself first, but is now
leading our human nature out. Hence," Theodoret continues, "the divine Apostle applies these words to Christ: 'He Who
brought up from the earth the Great Shepherd of the sheep'" (Heb. 13:20). He urges those who are united to Christ to
perceive that Moses was the servant and the type, and that the Lord Jesus is "the true 'shepherd Who gave His life for the
sheep'" (Jn.10:11).
Observe: the questions of Isaiah are answered for the Faithful when we perceive that they form a verbal icon of the
Resurrection: "Where is He that brought them up from the sea [of the grave]?"(vs. 11). Christ Jesus, the Shepherd, is risen
from the dead. "Where is He that put His Holy Spirit in them?" (vs. 11). We answer, "Christ is among us; He is and He
shall be," baptizing His own with water and the Holy Spirit. "He forced the water [of death] to separate from before Him"
(vs. 12). "He [leads His own] through the deep...and they [faint] not" (vs. 13).
In the Pentecostal fire, "the Spirit came down from the Lord" [and guides us] (vs. 14). Thus, the Lord has led His people
and made Himself "a glorious Name" (vs. 14). God Incarnate has revealed His "zeal and strength" (vs. 15). He has shown
us "the abundance of [His] mercy and of [His] compassion, not withholding Himself from us!" (vs. 15)
Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered; and let them who hate Him flee from before His face. Today a sacred
Pascha is revealed to us: Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer.
Friday, April 23, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Holy Great Martyr George the Trophy Bearer
14th of the Paschal Vigil: Jeremiah 31:31-34 Apostle: Acts 5:1-11 Gospel: St. John 15:17-16:2
Jeremiah 31:31-34, especially vs. 31: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." In the seventh century BC, the Prophet Jeremiah
foretold days to come when God would "make a new covenant," but, in the night in which the Lord "was betrayed, - or
rather, gave Himself up for the life of the world," He proclaimed "to His holy disciples and Apostles" the arrival of those
days and the launching of the New Covenant, saying: "Drink ye all of this: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins."
It is noteworthy that the Apostle Paul, who himself tasted the Holy Cup (I Cor. 11:25), embraced Christ's saving death
upon the Cross (Rom. 5:8), and knew the risen Lord (I Cor. 15:8), chose to quote this entire prophecy of Jeremiah into the
body of his Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 8:8-12). In doing so, he declared that Christ mediates the New more excellent
Covenant, one enacted on better promises than the former covenant (Heb. 8:6). Note: Jeremiah's prophecy reveals 1) what
the fault was under the old covenant, 2) the Divine remedy for that fault, and 3) the means by which God achieves that
remedy in those who embrace the New Covenant.
What was the problem, the weakness, of the former Covenant? Of itself, the Law and the worship which Moses received
on Mount Sinai, even though God was its Author, still could not "perfect the conscience of the worshiper" (Heb. 9:9). The
former Covenant, as moral and social law and as directives for the performance of worship, did not deal inwardly with the
souls and hearts of God's People. They could carry out the form of the Covenant and yet be very far from God and their
fellow members of God's People. Laws and rules do not provide for inner formation but only tell what to do, how to
behave, and actions to take. Being impersonal, statutes and instructions are subject to interpretation, evasion, and outright
infraction. As the Lord observed to Jeremiah, His People "abode not in [His] covenant" (Jer. 31:32), even as they lived
with the Covenant. Rather, it was a matter of pride for them and a badge to disdain others.
Notice what God promises through the Prophet Jeremiah: "this is My covenant which I will make with the house of Israel;
after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put My laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts." Interiorizing the
purpose of God's law is the basis for the New Covenant. That is exactly what we find in the teaching of the Lord Jesus.
He directs His disciples toward change of heart and mind, repentance, and inward renewal, but not to the annulment of
what God had commanded for His people through the Law and the Prophets (Mt. 5:17). To be in covenant with God, one
needs to turn within, to address one's inward life and there to purify the state of one's heart and soul. The whole of the
Lord Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" is concerned with this precise need (Mt. 5-7) - as was the whole of His ministry.
There is, of course, a major problem with the greater covenant which God promised and the Lord Jesus taught so
vigorously: fallen men and women simply are bound to fail in being perfect as God their heavenly Father is perfect (Mt.
5:48). Ah, but notice - in the New Covenant God declared that He would "be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I
will remember no more" (Jer. 31:34). This of course is what we who live under the New Covenant know and perceive as
the other facet of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Forgiveness of sins is what He forcefully and regularly offers. Listen to
His Eucharistic words: "this is My Blood of the New Covenant [or Testament], which is shed for you and for many, for the
remission of sins."
Forgive me all my sins, O God, that with a pure heart, I may partake of Thy deifying mysteries, wherewith every man who
eateth and drinketh thereof with a pure heart is enlivened.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Venerable Elizabeth the Wonder-Worker
15th of the Paschal Vigil: Daniel 3:1-23 Apostle: Acts 5:21-33 Gospel: St. John 6:14-27
Daniel 3:1-23 LXX, especially vs. 23: "Then these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell
bound into the midst of the burning furnace, and walked in the midst of the flame, singing praise to God and blessing the
Lord." Among the hymns of the Church are a number of Canons, which regularly are sung in Orthros (or Matins) after the
intercessions following the reading of Psalm 50 LXX. Canons traditionally are divided into nine odes, or songs of praise,
eight of which are taken from the Old Testament. The Seventh and Eighth odes are the two songs which the three righteous
youths sang as they walked about in the burning fiery furnace (Song of the Three vss. 3-22 and 29-68 - RSV's versification.
These are found in Chapter 3 of Daniel in the Septuagint, LXX). Further, because of the great length of the odes when sung
with all their katabasia (accompanying songs of descent) usually one hears a Canon only in abbreviated form, consisting of
the irmoi (leading -first- verses).
The present reading from Daniel actually omits the Seventh Ode as found in the Septuagint, recording only the events
prior to the casting of the three youths into the furnace. The odes, in the various irmoi, contain, in rich typology, a great
deal of the Church's teaching - especially as these relate to the Gospel message. Hence, the irmoi of the Seventh and
Eighth odes from the various Canons foreshadow our knowledge of the Holy Trinity, the Lord's Nativity, His Baptism in
the Jordan, the calling upon us as Christians to repent and purify our lives, the fervor of true worship, the Lord's Passion
and Burial, and His glorious Resurrection.
The Canons, both of the Elevation of the Holy Cross and the Feast of the Ascension, eloquently draw our hearts and minds
to the Holy Trinity: "O ye youths, equal in number to the Trinity, bless the Father, the God Creator; praise the Word which
did condescend and turn the fire to a dewy breeze; and exalt more and more the all-holy Spirit, Who giveth life to all for
evermore," for the three serve as types of the "tri-radiant sign of divine headship...."
At the Nativity we learn that "the youths who were cast of old into the fire and remained unburned, were a sign of the
womb of the Maiden who gave birth supernaturally...."
The Theophany Canon reveals that "the furnace of Babylon [held] a strange secret when it overflowed with dew....Jordan
was about to receive in its courses the immaterial Fire, and was to contain the Creator baptized in the flesh...."
As we prepare for the Great Fast, the Canon of Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican impels us to deeper repentance just
as Nebuchadnezzar was constrained by the miracle of the Three Youths "to shout, crying, Blessed art Thou, God" (see Dan.
3:28 RSV).
Then, by God's grace, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the First in Great Lent, the vision of the flames "in the land of Persia"
should ignite a "fervor of true worship" in us to join with the Abrahamite youths to sing, "Blessed art Thou in the temple of
Thy holiness, O Lord."
As we enter into the events of the Lord's Passion, may the Eighth irmoi of Great and Holy Friday give us a valor like that
of Joseph of Ramah who "beholding the God of all dead and naked...sought Him and arrayed Him, shouting, O ye youths,
bless Him. Praise Him ye Priests; and ye nations, exalt Him more and more unto the end of ages."
Our Lord Jesus Who saved "the children from the furnace, when He became Man, suffered like unto a mortal, and, with
His sufferings, invested the mortal with the beauty of incorruption, Who is the God of our fathers. To [the risen Lord]
alone be blessing and glory."
Glory to Thee, Who hast shown us the Light. We worship Thee O Lord, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty; O Lord
the Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Christ is Risen! (Tone 2)
The Myrrh Bearers, Joseph, & Nicodemos
15th of the Paschal Vigil: Song of the Three 1-23 Apostle: Acts 6:1-7 Gospel: St. Mark 15:43-16:8
Song of The Three 1-22 RSV, especially vs. 5: "Thou hast executed true judgments in all that Thou hast
brought upon us and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers, for in truth and justice Thou has brought all this upon us
because of our sins." St. John Chrysostom noted a profound truth in the prayer offered by Azariah when the three young
men were thrown into the fire: "And the Three Children were in the fire, and in the midst of the furnace, and what did they
say? 'We have sinned and committed iniquity with our fathers.' This it is to have a contrite heart....So even after they had
fallen into the furnace they were exceedingly humbled, even more so than they were before. For when they saw the miracle
that was wrought, thinking themselves unworthy of that deliverance, they were brought lower in humility."
What sort of inner realization illumined the heart of Azariah that in the face of a God-given miracle of survival he could
say, "Thou hast brought all this upon us because of our sins" (vs. 5)? As St. John notes: "This it is to have a contrite
heart;" yet the question concerning the sort of inner process of heart remains even as we acknowledge that, indeed, Azariah
showed a profoundly "contrite heart." What characterizes such a heart? Let us look with prayer into this reading that we
may discern the essentials of what God teaches here about contrition, keeping in our hearts the petition that He would grant
us the grace of this same humility before Him.
First, let us conclude and then admit to God that He only is blessed, just, glorified, and true (vss. 3,4). As St. John
Chrysostom warns us: "Many are elated on account of their humility, but let us not be so affected....Such was the
Pharisee...but not so the Publican (Lk. 18:13)." Let us also be wary, as St. John of the Ladder warns, for "The spirit of
despair rejoices at the sight of increasing vice, and the spirit of vainglory at the sight of increasing virtue."
Second, without evasion, let us affirm that no calamity, deprivation, or misfortune befalls us in this life that is not just and
right. This proposal may not 'go down easily' in us, which indicates how far we have to travel before we can say without
reservation as did Azariah, "Thou hast brought all this upon us because of our sins" (Sng. of 3:5).
Third, let us confess that our whole life is laced with sin, and that even in our best actions we have "sinfully and lawlessly
departed from" God and His highest and best (vs. 6).
Fourth, should we receive the grace to see our entire life and all our motivations through God's eyes, let us wholly admit
that we "have sinned in all things and have not obeyed" His commandments (vs. 6). Now, then, let us pull away the layers
of self-justification and approval.
Fifth, let us frankly concede that truly we have nothing to say in self-defense before God, that "we cannot open our mouths;
shame and disgrace have befallen" (vs. 10) us all our days on this earth. As the Prophet Isaiah says, "But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Is. 64:6). That is our true condition.
Sixth, affirming all that we have said above, let us confess, because of God's mercy and lovingkindness, that we have only
one plea before Him: "May we be accepted" before the Great Judgment Seat of the Lord (Song of 3:16).
Finally, we are ready, without hesitation, to beseech God, concerning those who have done us wrong, that He would
graciously bring them to the knowledge that He alone is "the only God, glorious over the whole earth" (vs. 22). These
seven actions of the heart are the primary steps for achieving a contrite heart, which God assures us He "will not despise"
(Ps. 50:17 LXX). Behold my weariness. Forgive me all my sins, O God of all, that with a pure heart and fearful mind and
contrite soul, I may partake of Thine all-pure mysteries and be enlivened.
Monday, April 26, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Hieromartyr Basil, Bishop of Amasea
15th of the Paschal Vigil: Song of the Three 23-68 Apostle: Acts 6:8-15; 7:15, 47-60 Gospel: St. John 4:46-54
"Bless the Lord, all works of the Lord, sing praise to Him and highly
exalt Him for ever." St. Nicholas Cabasilas, reflecting on the sheer delight of the Saints in heaven as God is glorified,
taught that the holy ones "can never praise God enough; they do not consider their own thanksgiving sufficient." Further,
he pointed out, "they desire that men and angels should unite with them in praising God, so that their debt of gratitude to
Him may be a little more worthily paid, owing to the increase in the number of those who praise Him."
St. Nicholas also mentioned that "the holy sons of Azariah, who by the grace of God overcame the flames of the fiery
furnace, bear witness to this" same truth. Which prompted him to say, "It was fitting that they should give thanks to God
for their miraculous and unexpected delivery; but they did not consider their own praise and acclamation sufficient - they
called to their aid the angels and every race of man, the heavens, the sun, the stars, the earth, the mountains, inanimate
beings - in short, the whole creation."
Embracing the truth that we are blessed to be among those called to give thanks to God, let us, as the Church always has
done, take the praises of the Three Holy Children upon our own lips for they "teach us to cry out in reverence: O only
Trinity, Equipotent and beginningless, blessed art Thou." Indeed, the Apostle Paul admonishes us: "in everything give
thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:18). Likewise, St. John Chrysostom somewhere
cautions us not to be spectators in the Divine Liturgy, nor in any aspect of this present life. In truth, all voices of the
Church: angels, archangels, priests, archpriests, deacons, men, women, and children are meant to unite in the praise of God.
The Song of the Holy Children divides into three natural parts: first, an offering of praise, exalting Him Who alone is
worthy of all glory, honor and worship (Song of 3:29-34), and calling to remembrance, as does the Divine Liturgy, that
throughout all time God has not ceased "to do all things until He should bring us back to heaven and endow us with His
kingdom which is to come." These verses of the prayer join our praises to those of the heavenly tabernacle where God is
seated upon the cherubim on "the throne of [His} kingdom" (vss. 32,33).
The next longer section of the prayer is an invocation to all creation to join in the praise of God (vss. 35-60). Is this
possible for all creatures - for the stars of heaven, the rain and dew, wind, fire and heat? Let us learn from these verses that
the whole created order is actively, not passively, engaged in God's praise. Created things are not, as the contemporary,
materialists imply, mere matter to be manipulated for our wants, but fellow creatures who, even in the times when we
forget, are ever extolling God's wonder. As St. Hippolytus of Rome says, "the three youths in the furnace....showed
[created things] to be all the servants of God" with us. Let us, then, orient ourselves to approach all matter with the
reverence due fellow worshipers of God.
In the concluding verses, the three Holy Children call to the Church: "Bless the Lord, O Israel, sing praise to Him and
highly exalt Him for ever" (vs. 61). Praise is not for her Priests alone (vs. 62), but for all of us who are "servants of the
Lord" (vs. 63), the living as well as the "spirits and souls of the righteous" (vs. 64). Let us truly "give thanks to the Lord,
for He is good, for His mercy endures for ever" (vs. 67). Indeed, Beloved of the Lord, "It is meet and right to worship
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: the Trinity, one in Essence, and undivided," and let us also ever lift our hearts and voices to
the Lord, "for His mercy endures for ever" (vs. 68).
We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory, O Lord,
heavenly King and God on high.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Hieromartyr Simeon, Kinsman of the Lord
Kellia: Deuteronomy 1:1-5 Apostle: Acts 8:5-17 Gospel: St. John 6:27-33
Deuteronomy 1:1-5, especially vs. 5: "Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to
explain this law." Beginning today, we turn from the Old Testament readings upon which we reflected during the first
sixteen days of Pascha - all from the Vigil of Great and Holy Pascha - and we undertake a course of readings through the
fifth book of the Prophet Moses, that "divinely instructed servant of God" (Heb. 8:5; Rev. 15:3).
The book commonly called Deuteronomy is not a second or new Law given to the ancient People of God, despite the fact
that the word translates as "Second Law." Rather, it is an expounding of the essential contents of the ancient covenant
revelations found in the first four books of Holy Scripture. This is the point of the leading verse quoted above. Having
served God in transmitting His Law to the People of Israel, Moses, in Deuteronomy, undertakes to explain the Law,
focusing on its underlying spiritual principles. One could well characterize this book as Moses' farewell address or
deathbed instructions on the already given Law.
The brief opening selection for today gives the context for the explanations and exhortations of Moses that follow. The
five verses 1) identify where he gave the teaching, 2) provide the briefest review of how Israel came to be encamped there,
and 3) disclose when it was that the Prophet gave these final teachings. The verses are important contextual notations
given for the careful reader as he reflects on God's word - to seek the Lord's will for his own life.
Jewish Rabbis and Christian scholars alike agree that most of the place names, with the exception of the imprecise "beyond
the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah....in the land of Moab" (vss. 1,5), seem to allude to critical locales dating back
to the wilderness journey of Israel over the forty years following their flight from Egypt.
Hence, "Suph," which means "reed," appears to refer to the earliest stage of the flight from Egypt even before the crossing
at the Red Sea (compare Ex. 12:37 and Is. 19:1-6). Kadesh-barnea lies 50 miles below Beer-sheba, a town far south in the
Holy Land on the edge of the Negev wilderness. Kadesh seems to have served as the headquarters for the Israelites during
most of their forty years of their time in the desert (Num. 13:26-14:36; 32:8-12). Paran is the name of the desert around
Mt. Sinai (Num. 10:12) where God gave the Law. Tophel and Laban apparently were specific locations within that region.
Hazeroth was the place of encampment in the Paran desert where Miriam and Aaron stumbled in rebellion against Moses
(Num. 12). Dizahab, suggesting "gold," appears to refer to the incident of the golden calf (see Ex. 32).
Today's reading states: "It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea" (Dt. 1:2).
Horeb is an alternate name for Mt. Sinai, which is far south in the Sinai Peninsula. By proceeding northward parallel to the
Gulf of Aqaba, one comes into the ancient territory of Edom or Seir, which, on an east-west plane, adjoins Kadesh-barnea
and would be the eventual, final route of the People as they continued north into Moab.
The mention that it was "the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month" when "Moses spoke," alerts the reader to
the fact that these words were given at the end of the wilderness era, shortly before God commissioned Joshua to assume
leadership (Dt. 31:14-23), and shortly before the Prophet Moses reposed. Deuteronomy is Moses' final word to the People.
As we read through this last commentary on the Law for ancient Israel, let us esteem in reverence the great Prophet who
helped shape the descendants of Israel into the People for God.
O Holy Prophet Moses, who led Israel through the Sea, gave them the Law of God, and didst appear on Mt. Tabor with the
Lord Jesus, intercede with Christ our God to save our souls.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Christ is Risen!
The Nine Martyrs of Kyzikos
Kellia: Deuteronomy 1:5-18 Apostle: Acts 8:18-25 Gospel: St. John 6:35-39
Deuteronomy 1:5-18 RSV, especially vs. 8: "Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and take
possession of the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to
their descendants after them." For the Faithful in Christ, the admonitions of the Prophet Moses must ever be read through
the lens of that higher vision revealed by the Lord and His Holy Apostles. Hence, when the Lord Jesus was asked by the
Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, His answer led away from a materially measurable kingdom with
boundaries on this earth, even from one that might encompass the entire planet. God has lifted the eyes of faith from the
sort of observations made by geographers and the border patrol. As the Lord reveals, "the kingdom of God is within you"
(Lk. 17:21). This is the land that must be purified for God and wrested from the enemy.
Possession of the land as promised to the Holy Forefathers, being misconstrued by ancient Israel, repeatedly has defeated
those who will only think in "measurable" categories, with the result that for those who cling to the Old Covenant alone,
"the word which they heard did not [and does not] profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it" (Heb.
4:2), nor does it result in the "rest" promised by God to those who did and who now possess the physical land.
Nevertheless, as the Apostle was wont to point out, "it remains that some must enter" (Heb. 4:6), and the Lord Jesus Christ
has amply pointed out the Way by which all men may possess the land.
As the present passage indicates, the process of possessing the Kingdom of God begins when one meets the living God.
For Moses and the people of ancient Israel this occurred at Horeb (Mt. Sinai). It was there that God, Whose rule extends
from His Heavenly Kingdom over all creation, revealed His Commandments to His People. There they entered into
covenant with Him Who ever reveals Himself, His all-Holy will and His unalterable Law. Let us who have united
ourselves to Christ in His Holy Church, the true Israel of God, also accept His rule in heart, soul, and body so that His
Kingdom may come "on earth as it is in heaven" (Mt. 6:10).
Ever following the Prophetic admonition, let us "turn and take [our] journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites"
(Dt. 1:7), into the pagan, unconverted world that accepts iniquity and self-will as good and normal (Gen. 15:16). Moses'
counsel was to possess "all" the land, and its boundaries he described in detail: from the Negev desert in the south all the
way to the Euphrates river in the north, and from the sea east into the area that now constitutes the populous region of the
present-day Kingdom of Jordan.
For Christians, in pursuing the Kingdom within, the struggle for purity must cover every aspect of our life, something the
Holy Fathers of the ascetic life describe in detail. All must be possessed, cleansed, and brought under the rule of God with
no aspect of one's life avoided.
Let us take up the struggle for possession, praying that God may "make [us] a thousand times as many as [we] are, and
bless [us], as He has promised [us]!" (Dt. 1:11). To have any hope of success in the endeavor of "possessing the land" for
the Lord, we must learn from the Prophet Moses and submit ourselves to "wise, understanding, and experienced men" (vs.
13) in our parishes, dioceses, archdioceses all over the world. May our leaders who guide us in possessing the Kingdom
"judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien" (vs. 16). Pray for them that they "shall not be partial in
judgment [but]....shall hear the small and the great alike...shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's"
(vs. 17).
Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy Holy Orthodox, Catholic and Apostolic Church; confirm and strengthen it, increase it and
keep it in peace, and preserve it unconquerable forever.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Apostles Jason and Sosipater of the Seventy
Kellia: Deuteronomy 1:19-25 Apostle: Acts 8:26-39 Gospel: St. John 6:40-44
Deuteronomy 1:19-25 RSV, especially vs. 25: "And they took in their hands some of the fruit
of the land and brought it down to us and brought us word again, and said, "It is a good land which the Lord our God
gives us." As one will see in reading the preceding verses of Deuteronomy (1:5-18), the call of God upon us is to possess
the inner land of the self, and requires interior cleansing and submission of the will to the rule of God. Like our forerunners
of the ancient covenant, we have met God at His Holy Mountain. Still, we are far more blessed than were the People of
ancient Israel who faced the Lord at Mt. Sinai, for we "have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned
with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who
heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore" (Heb. 12:18-19).
Rather, we have "come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of
all, to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Heb. 12:22-23). We come from an encounter with God in the flesh, with the
Lord Jesus Christ Who came into the world to save sinners and not to condemn (Jn. 3:17). The whole of the New
Covenant known in the Church is incomparably finer and better. Still, let us learn from the type of those who preceded us
under the Old Covenant.
Even to reach the edge of the Promised Land, the People of ancient Israel had to pass through a "great and terrible
wilderness" (Dt. 1:19). We also know a spiritual wilderness only too well, where the passions assault and the cravings of
the body cry out for the satisfactions of this life (Num. 11:10-14). We, as did ancient Israel, encounter bickering, even
within the Church (Num. 12). Beloved of the Lord, listen to St. John of Kronstadt: "Our heart continually flatters us,
secretly exalting ourselves and depreciating others. But we must constantly see our innumerable sins in order to judge
ourselves, to weep over ourselves, as for the spiritually dead....laying aside all passions and every worldly care, and let us
stand....with faith and reverence, with understanding attention, with love and peace in our hearts." Such is the route before
us through the great and terrible desert of this present age and its clamorous appeals.
As we brave this passage of the desert in the Church with the guiding help of the Lord at each step, we shall reach the
borders of the Promised Land; we shall come to our Kadesh-barnea. Ahead is the unknown. Ahead is the struggle to
possess what God promises. The dark occupants will not surrender without a fight. Still, hear the Gospel message. Its
type is clearly stated for us in today's reading: "Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up, take
possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you; do not fear or be dismayed" (Dt. 1:21). The Risen Lord
stands in our midst saying these very words to us (Lk. 24:36-37).
Like the company of Israel at Kadesh-barnea, we have available to us glowing reports from many who have gone before us,
walked the Promised Land, taken its fruits, and held them up to us to behold with our own eyes (Dt. 1:25). St. John of the
Ladder, recognizing that we "lie in the deepest pit of ignorance, in the dark passions of this body and in the shadow of
death," nonetheless encourages us to consider the dispassionate man who has attained the Promised Land, who "while still
in the flesh, always has God dwelling within him as his Pilot in all his words deeds and thoughts," and "apprehends the
Lord's will as a sort of inner voice."
Lighten, O Lord, my supersensuous eyes, made blind by the gloom of sin. Anoint them, O Compassionate One, with
humility; wash them with the tears of repentance.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Apostle James, Brother of John the Theologian
Kellia: Deuteronomy 1:26-46 Apostle: Acts 8:40-9:19 Gospel: St. John 6:48-54
Deuteronomy 1:26-46, especially vs. 26: "Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the
command of the Lord your God." The choice to possess the Kingdom of God through unwavering trust in God when He
calls upon us to take up the struggle is never forced on anyone of God's People, neither under the Old Covenant nor under
the New. There were even Disciples who knew the Lord in the flesh and followed Him only for a time. Then, at a certain
point some "did not believe" when they found His words "too hard." As the Evangelist records, many of them "went back
and walked with Him no more" (Jn. 6:64,60,66).
Today's reading reveals with abundant clarity that without God's grace and blessing, no one can possess His promised
Land (vs. 36). The passage also reveals that the choice to possess is given freely, but must also be assumed freely. The
tragedy in the discipleship of many is well-identified in the opening line of these verses: rebellion "against the command of
the Lord your God" (vs. 26). We choose or refuse. Notice: in terms of 'real time,' Moses gave this entire teaching to the
children of those who forty years earlier had refused God's promise and command to possess the land (Deut. 1:3). Every
generation of the People of God and every individual decides for himself. Caleb and Joshua believed the Lord and were
willing to struggle, and they outlived the generation that rebelled and made "excuse with excuses in sins" (Ps. 140:4 LXX).
Rebellion always is marked by excuses. Listen to the murmuring: "the Lord hated us" (Deut. 1:27). "He has brought us
forth out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us" (vs. 27). "Our brethren have made
our hearts melt" (vs. 28). The excuses, the pleadings, the shifting of blame are well-worn. We have heard it all, perhaps
spoken by our own lips. God forbid! "Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth (Ps. 140:3 LXX).
Despite Moses' reassurance (Deut. 1:29-31), the rebellion prevailed. They "did not believe the Lord your God" (vs. 32).
The Gospel is set before us in all its radiance in every Divine Liturgy and the promise is proclaimed, yet too often we turn
back and fail to believe the Lord our God. When God assures us, then the choice is joined. Always the issue is trust or
mistrust. Tragically, the People's mistrust even corrupted Moses (vs. 37). See chapter twenty of Numbers for the details:
the community lacked water and God directed Moses to take his staff and "speak" to the rock, but in his anger he "struck"
the rock. God gave them water, but He told Moses: "Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the
People of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land" (Num. 20:12).
Often mistrust is attended by presumptuous self-reliance. Commanded not to go up on their own against the Amorites but
to "turn and journey" into the wilderness (vss. 34,40), the People "thought it easy to go up into the hill country" without
God "in the midst" (vss. 41,42). Of course they were defeated (vs. 44). Furthermore, "the Lord did not hearken to [their]
voice or give ear to [them]" (vs. 45) when they pouted in their defeat. Observe how the worldly character of their
repentance was manifest even as they wept in their tents: once again, in rebellion to the direct command of God, they did
not "journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea" (vs. 40), but "remained at Kadesh many days" (vs. 46).
As the Apostle Paul teaches us, "godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow
of the world produces death" (2 Cor. 7:10). Beloved of the Lord, let us heed His warning against rebellion, murmuring,
mistrust, presumption, and pouting. Rather, let us humble ourselves before God that He may forgive and refresh to possess.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, teach me Thy statutes!
Thursday, April 1, 2004
Lenten Fast
The Venerable Mary of Egypt
6th Hour: Isaiah 65:8-16 1st Vespers: Genesis 46:1-17 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 23:15-24:5
Isaiah 65:8-16 RSV, especially vss. 15, 16: "His servants He will call by a different name. So that
he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth." St. Nikolai of Zica gives us the following eye-witness description of a Paschal Liturgy at Jerusalem: "When the Patriarch sang 'Christ is risen,' a heavy burden fell from
our souls. We felt as if we also had been raised from the dead....Coming out from the service at dawn, we began to regard
everything in the light of the glory of Christ's Resurrection, and all appeared different from what it had yesterday;
everything seemed better, more expressive, more glorious."
At the end of today's reading, the Lord describes the age to come: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind" (vs. 17). Consider: today each Christian in fact blesses
"himself by the God of truth" (vs. 16), for in the Divine Liturgy he enters the timelessness of the new heaven and the new
earth in which everything is "better, more expressive, more glorious." Beloved of the Lord, it is this glorious and radiant
greater life which impels us to embrace the "joy-creating sorrow" of the Holy Fast. Therefore, let us strive to complete the
Lenten Fast, and come to Great and Holy Week blessing the true God, and saying, "Christ is risen!"even as we share in the
ages of ages with Him.
Today's prophecy from Isaiah ends by describing the unmerited inheritance prepared for God's New Covenant People
"who have sought Me" (vs. 10). Also, it reveals the cause of the bitter-sweet history of lost opportunity by the ancient
People of God. In addition, the prophecy explains why they have survived historically through centuries of affliction. The
reading also reminds the Faithful in Christ of our legacy from the Jews through the Apostles. While the ancient chosen
People hunger and thirst, we, through no merit of our own, are blessed to "sing for gladness of heart" (vs.14) to Him Who
has named us "My servants" (vss. 14,15).
In the Septuagint version (LXX), this prophecy begins: "Thus says the Lord, as a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster,
and they shall say, 'Destroy it not; for a blessing of the Lord is in it,' so will I do for the sake of Him that serves Me, for His
sake I will not destroy them all" (vs. 8 LXX). By this the Holy Fathers understood that Christ, that "stone" or Seed from
which the New Vine has come, was born of the former People of God, the Old Vine. The prophecy is accurate, for God
Himself led "...forth the Seed that came of Jacob and of Judah" (vs. 9 LXX). The Lord Jesus was a physical descendant
both of Jacob and of the tribe of Judah - "inheritors of My mountains; My chosen shall inherit it, and My servants shall
dwell there" (vs. 9).
Especially take note of the radical reversal of circumstances for 'the People of God.' In vivid metaphors, the prophecy
describes the flowering of the Church, "My servants." At the same time, the Lord interweaves this portrait of flourishing
with images of worsening conditions for the Jews, prophetic images which history has borne out: beginning with two
disastrous and failed revolts against the Roman empire, the Jews subsequently faced dispersion, exile, inquisitions,
persecutions, marginalizing, and death camps - century upon century after their rejection of Christ. Even their recent return
to the Holy Land remains fraught with violence and disorder. They appear destined "to the sword, and [to] bow down to
the slaughter" (vs. 12). Why? "because, when I called, you did not answer, when I spoke, you did not listen" (vs. 12).
Let us not be foolish, as some have, and despise Israel after the flesh, "but consider the goodness and severity of God: on
those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off"
(Rom. 11:22).
O Lord of hosts be with us for we have none other help but Thee. Have mercy on us!
Friday, April 2, 2004
Lenten Fast
The Venerable Titos the Wonder-worker
6th Hour: Isaiah 66:10-24 1st Vespers: Genesis 49:23-50:26 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 31:8-31
Isaiah 66:10-24 LXX, especially vs. 10: "Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and all you that love her hold in her
a general assembly: rejoice greatly with her, all that now mourn over her...." Pascha is eternal salvation. The Life-Giver
is our Pascha, and this prophecy of Isaiah is flooded with the radiance of God's eternal Pascha - with grace that comes upon
us from on High. Therefore, let us never conceive of the Lord's Paschal victory as a mere, past event.
In fact, all that we celebrate in Great and Holy Week transforms and transcends the limits of time. The Cross, the nails, the
spear, and death are eternal along with the glorious Resurrection. The Lord's Resurrection is an eternal, active promise, a
hope and earnest of the Life to come. Let us arise, day by day, more and more, into His timeless glory, until finally on the
night of Pascha, the uncreated Light shall break upon us to our great exultation and joy.
In addition, let us be aware, in all sobriety, that the vision of Isaiah also is a warning. For, at the end of this age, the Lord
shall execute judgment on all mankind, "all the earth shall be judged, and all flesh with His sword: many shall be slain by
the Lord. (vs. 16) and "their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched," (vs. 24). Brethren, let us cry, "Lord Have
Mercy!"
The Septuagint (LXX) reveals that the prophecy opens with a call to the People of God to assemble. The phrase is used:
"and all you that love her hold in her a general assembly" (vs. 10 LXX). As Father Schmemann taught: "Christ came to
'gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad' (Jn. 11:52), and from the very beginning the eucharist was
a manifestation and realization of the unity of the new people of God, gathered by Christ and in Christ." As the Church, we
have fasted in Christ. Now, therefore, let us travel to Lazarus' tomb and enter Jerusalem to join the Lord in the Upper
Room, in Gethsemane, and at Golgotha. Now let us mourn that soon we may rejoice with the New Jerusalem, with our
Mother, the Church.
Indeed, let us come gladly to our Mother, for from her we shall receive the nurturing milk of eternity and shall delight in
"the abundance of her glory" (vs. 11). As the Apostle Paul said, "in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been
brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace" (Eph. 2:13,14). However, for while "the Lord shall be
known to them that fear Him...He shall threaten the disobedient" (Is. 66:14). Hence, let us come in pure repentance.
Heed the Prophet's warning: "For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and His chariots like the stormwind, to...execute
judgment, and by His sword, upon all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many" (vss. 15,16 RSV). Let us not be
counted among those "who sanctify and purify themselves" fraudulently while they "go into the gardens" to delight their
passions, follow the latest fads of self-indulgence, and eat the "swine's flesh" of immorality, for those who embrace
"abomination...shall come to an end together, says the Lord" (vs. 17 RSV).
When the Lord says, "they shall bring your brethren out of all nations for a gift to the Lord...to the holy city Jerusalem"
(vs.20), He is speaking of all the Apostolic laborers who are making "disciples of all nations" (Mt. 28:19). Let each one
acknowledge before the Lord that His commission is laid upon all of us in the Church, every one of us. We are to "bring
[our brethren as] sacrifices to [God] with psalms into the house of the Lord " (vs. 20). Today, overseas, in our own cities,
among our neighbors and friends, let the missionary work continue.
Beloved of the Lord, let us consider well the alternative the Lord sets before us in this reading. "The new heaven and the
new earth" shall remain (vs. 22). Let us labor for that which will endure and not be counted among them that have
"transgressed against" the Lord (vs. 24).
Grant us in this world the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the age to come, life everlasting.
Saturday, April 3, 2004
Last Day of the Lenten Fast
Saturday of the Righteous Lazarus
2nd Vespers (Palm Sun): Zephaniah 3:14-19 Epistle: Hebrews 12:26-13:8 Gospel: St. John 11:1-45
Zephaniah 3:14-19 RSV, especially vs. 16: "On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear,
O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God is in your midst. A warrior Who gives victory...." When the
Lord Jesus came into Bethany, there were two prevailing opinions in the village: first, if the Lord had arrived prior to
Lazarus' death, He could have healed him and prevented his dying (Jn. 11:21,32,37); and second, since Lazarus was now
dead four days, there was no possibility of restoring him to life (Jn. 11:23-24,39).
During three years of ministry, the Lord had convinced many that He was able to reverse illness and prevent death (Jn.
11:37). However, none could imagine the possibility of Lazarus' revival after four days, because of the manifest power of
corruption after death (Jn. 11:39). Even though the Lord had told His disciples that Lazarus was dead and had assured
them, "I go that I may wake him up" (Jn. 11:11-15), they simply followed in silence. An aura of futility enervated hope in
everyone; their hands had grown weak (Zeph. 3:16).
In considering the Gospel for this day, we may imagine ourselves running through the streets of Bethany and shouting at
everyone, "The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a Warrior Who gives victory" (Zeph. 3:16,17). In all honesty: how much
of such an impulse is generated by one's familiarity with the narrative outcome of St. John's Gospel, and how much of
such a thought is the result of truly knowing the God Who is able to "remove disaster" from us? Let us consider this issue
more carefully and heed the Prophet's word to us.
When Zephaniah exhorts God's People to sing, shout, rejoice, and "exult with all your heart" (vs. 14), he gives them
reasons to do so. In addition, in raising Lazarus after the man had been dead for four days, the Lord Jesus gave ample
reason for people to shout, "Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord! The King of Israel!" (Jn. 12:13).
Among them were "the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead"
(Jn. 12:17). But, St. John tells us that others, who were not present at Lazarus' tomb, also met the Lord "because they
heard that He had done this sign" (Jn. 12:18). Like them, Beloved, we have the testimony of reliable witnesses - not just to
the raising of Lazarus, but to the reality of Resurrection demonstrated by the Lord Himself a few days later.
Examine the reasons why the Prophet urges the People to such exuberant celebration. "The Lord has taken away the
judgments against you" (Zeph. 3:15). Why do all men die? Because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
(Rom. 3:23). Hence all of us are under God's judgment of expulsion from Paradise (Gen. 3:3,24). The Apostle agrees with
Zephaniah: "There is...now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). Are we not united to Christ if
we "walk according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1)? The Prophet further declares that God "has cast out your enemies" (Zeph.
3:15). Not only at Lazarus' empty tomb but from His own Light-filled tomb, the Lord Jesus has cast out death, corruption,
and all tears. Finally, to cap off his reasoning, Zephaniah reminds us that "The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear evil no more" (vs. 16). Christ is among us. He is and He shall be!
What evil can we fear now? Loss of income? Social ostracism? Incurable cancer? Aging and death? The only evil that it
is reasonable to fear is the loss of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen to Him: "I will remove disaster from you
so that you will not bear reproach for it" (vs.18). The disaster of Paradise may be reversed in one moment by humble
repentance. Christ is the Victor over our oppressor, death. He has changed our shame to praise.
O Vanquisher of death, Hosanna in the highest. Glory to Thy might, O Savior!
Sunday, April 4, 2004
Fish, Wine, & Oil (Daylight Savings)
Palm Sunday
3rd Vespers (Palm Sun): Zechariah 9:9-15 Epistle: Philippians 4:4-9 Gospel: St. John 12:1-18
Zechariah 9:9-15 LXX, especially vs. 9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim it aloud, O daughter
of Jerusalem; behold the King is coming to thee, just and as a Savior; He is meek and riding on an ass, and a young foal."
This exhortation of the Prophet is repeated in the words of the Church's Liturgy for the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem:
"Feast thou, carrying branches in thy hands, and praise Him, singing, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh,
King of Israel." And this same message, to "rejoice in Him," appears throughout the prophecies of the Old Testament
whenever reference is made to Christ, the Anointed Messiah (cf.: Ps. 2:11 LXX; Ps. 34:9 LXX; Is. 9:3; Zeph. 3:14).
Zechariah reveals the reasons for this rejoicing by describing the King Who will come. His portrait perfectly matches the
Lord Jesus. Thus, Christ Jesus is a just ruler, the true Savior, meekness Incarnate, and the Author of salvation. In His
Kingdom, implements of war will be destroyed, prosperity shall abound, captives will be freed, and worldly wisdom will be
defeated.
First, then, let us consider the King Himself, Christ our God. Above all, He is righteous, equitable in His all judgments,
able to discern the inner thoughts of all (Mk. 12:43,44). Recall His perception of the treachery of Judas (Lk. 22:21), of
Peter's capacity to love and serve despite moments of weakness (Jn. 21:17), or of Thomas' ability to overcome doubts (Jn.
20:27). At the same time, He is the King Who will gather all nations "before Him, and He will separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats" (Mt. 25:32).
In joining Himself eternally to our humanity, the Lord Jesus manifests perfect meekness, a virtue to which He calls His
servants, promising them that "they shall inherit the earth" (Mt. 5:5). With all power available to Him to shape any
moment, He stood mute and meek before His accusers and submitted to the power of the Roman Imperial government (Mt.
27:13,14).
Supremely, the Lord Jesus is salvation. Jesus was born to be the Savior as the Gospel teaches us (Mt. 1:21). Furthermore,
we are saved from wrath by His blood and reconciled by His indestructible risen life (Rom. 5:9-10). He Himself declares,
"I Am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (Jn. 14:6). Still, He came into time,
space, and the limitations of our life that He might raise us to unbounded, Eternal Life with Him. "For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God
did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (Jn. 3:16-17).
In the present description of Christ's reign, the Prophet Zechariah describes the Kingdom of God in the age to come, an
eternal Dominion that already is influencing the present world order within time. The Lord's Kingdom is at work in the
hearts and souls of the Faithful within whom He reigns and through whom His presence in this world is felt and perceived.
However, let our rejoicing be modest, for the Lord warns us: "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not
come to bring peace but a sword" (Mt. 10:34). Only in the end shall He "command peace to the nations" (Zech. 9:10).
Still, the Holy Spirit of the Lord is now at work. Therefore, there are times when the weapons of war are destroyed (vs.10),
the wealth of this world is shared with those in need (vs. 12), men and women captive to sin are set free (vs. 11), and the
modern day sons of the Greek Philosophers (vs. 13), purveyors of worldly wisdom, are confounded by the power of God to
heal and restore lives. Rejoice People of God!
Upborne upon the heavenly throne, and seated upon the earthly foal, O Christ our God, receive the praise of angels and
our hymns as we exclaim, Blessed is the King Who comes!
Monday, April 5, 2004
Great and Holy Week Fast
Great and Holy Monday
6th Hour: Ezekiel 1:1-20 1st Vespers: Exodus 1:1-20 2nd Vespers: Job 1:1-12
Ezekiel 1:1-20 LXX, especially vs. 13: "And in the midst of the living creatures there was an
appearance as of burning coals of fire, as an appearance of lamps turning among the living creatures; and the brightness
of fire, and out of the fire came forth lightning." We begin this Holy Week of the Lord's Passion with three lessons that
describe a vivid theophany through which God called Ezekiel to be a Prophet: 1st) surrounded by Cherubim, God appears
on a glorious throne amidst light, fire, and lightning (vs. 1:13). 2nd) He commands Ezekiel to "speak My words" to the
"House of Israel" (2:3,7), which are a bitter "Lamentation" (vs. 2:10). 3rd) Strangely, God's words taste "as sweet as
honey" to Ezekiel (vs. 3:3).
God calls Ezekiel to reveal a great truth to the ancient People of God: both to those deported with their king and enslaved in
Babylon, and to those still in Judah. The latter, though not yet deported, soon would either die or be enslaved for rebellion
against the Babylonians, thrusting the entire nation into affliction. The Church reads these lessons at the beginning of our
devotions to the Lord in His Passion to remind us of His great faithfulness to His People - that even in times of unspeakable
anguish He will bring salvation. This is why these lessons are read at Sixth Hour and followed immediately by a reading
from the Passion narratives, thereby making a connection between the heavenly glory of God and the Passion of the
Incarnate Christ.
The first reading, the one for today, focuses on God's glorious throne, a massive chariot (vss. 13-20) escorted by four
radiant Cherubim, who here are called "living creatures" (vss. 5-12, 15-20). The Prophet begins by identifying himself, his
age, his status as a Levitical priest, and as a deported slave in captivity (vss. 1-3). Then he describes the heavenly throne
and Cherubim in great detail, as coming with wind and cloud, "gleaming fire" and "brightness in it" (vs. 4), accompanied
by the four majestic beings (vss. 5-12) and moved by the Spirit of the Living God (vs. 20). What can we make of this
mystical vision of God's throne?
Let us begin with Ezekiel: by heredity, through his father, Buzi, he was a descendant of Aaron; and he was eligible to serve
as an Aaronic priest (vs. 3). He was close to his thirtieth birthday, the age at which a priest could first assume his duties.
But how could he begin to serve God? The only place God's ancient priests could serve was in the Temple in Jerusalem,
but, as a deported captive, Ezekiel was in slavery in pagan Babylon, far away from the Temple.
Consider, my soul, how thy Lord and God, Who reigns upon His glorious throne, made Himself a slave with thee in the
land of sin and death to make thee His spiritual priest. Behold, the depth of the glory of God! Priests of the former
Covenant, like Ezekiel, offered "repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (Heb. 10:11), but we have
the "boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus"(Heb. 10:19). Our Savior has chosen us as "a royal priesthood...His
own special people that [we] may proclaim the praises of Him Who called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1
Pet. 2:9). Praise God on His glorious throne!
Consider also, my soul, the glory of God disclosed to Ezekiel in vivid images - sweeping wind, a great cloud, brightness
and gleaming fire (vss. 4,13) - the same Uncreated Light revealed on Tabor - to show thee the One Who died on the throne
of the Cross for thee. Bow before Him!
Consider the four "living creatures" (vss. 5-20). Ezekiel shared his vision of the Cherubim surrounding the glorious throne,
moved by the Spirit of God (vss. 12,20). Recall also the Lord on His Throne of the Cross with angels worshiping Him.
Worship thou Him!
The whole creation, beholding Thee crucified, trembled; and the foundations of the earth shook for dread of Thy might.
Glory to Thee Who wast crucified and rose from the dead.
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Great and Holy Week Fast
Great and Holy Tuesday
6th Hour: Ezekiel 1:21-2:1 1st Vespers: Exodus 2:5-10 2nd Vespers: Job 1:13-22
Ezekiel 1:21-2:1 RSV, especially vs. 1:28-2:1: "I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of One
speaking. And He said to me, 'Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you.'" We continue with Ezekiel's
account of the vision he received "while in the midst of the captivity" (vs. 1:1). The portion read yesterday focused
attention on the setting of the wondrous theophany which was manifested to Ezekiel. Today, the account turns toward the
Person of the Lord. The Prophet now integrates the description of the "four living creatures,"or Cherubim (vss.1:5-21),
with a description of God enthroned in His heavenly majesty.
As careful readers, we shall seek to grasp the whole of this vision spread over two lessons (vss. 4-26). The heavens open to
Ezekiel through a cloud (vs. 4). The Prophet sees four radiant Cherubim, living creatures who fly beneath the great throne
of God (vss. 5-14). The throne itself is set up on a vast expanse of awesome crystal, called, in the translation, a
"firmament" (vss. 22-26). It is akin to the pavement described in Exodus (24:9) or the sea of crystal in the Revelation
(4:6). The famous "wheels" move in perfect concert with the Cherubim (Ezek. 1:15-21). The throne is a massive royal
chariot, by which we understand that God moves freely everywhere.
Certain truths concerning God emerge from this vivid imagery. He is "everywhere present and adored" by the angelic hosts
(vs. 21). He is Almighty, awe-inspiring in His majesty (vs.2:1). Man is made in His image (vs. 1:26), yet men rightfully
ought to fall down before His majesty (vs. 2:1). We are faced with an awesome vision of God. So then, as we did
yesterday, let us consider how we may relate this vision to the Lord's Passion.
Remember, the Church reads the account of this vision immediately before reading from the Passion narrative - to help us
understand that we are confronting One and the same God. Only the mortal darkness which falls over men's hearts clouds
our vision (Rom. 1:21). A godless view of life blinds the worldly men and women of this age so that they fail even to
glimpse God in the broken man on the Cross, yet He is the same One Who sits on the throne of sapphire (Ezek. 1:26). "For
the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1
Cor. 1:18). As the Liturgy states: "The whole creation, O Christ, hath been transfigured by fear at beholding Thee
suspended on the Cross." Beloved, let us cry out to Him Who willingly endured the Cross, "O Lord, glory to Thee."
The Prophet's vision also teaches us to see power in the Cross, unimaginable power from the source of Power - from God
Himself. What glorious irony there is in the Passion! The frail figure of God in the flesh stands before Pilate. He appears
as the mere victim of overwhelming forces. Realize that these powers still seek to frighten men today. So let us name and
disarm them: they are demonic powers working through political, social, and physical entities. They joined together
"against the Lord and against His Christ" (Ps. 2:2 LXX), but "He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn"
(Ps. 2:4 LXX). The One Who is surrounded "...with the appearance of fire all around..." (Ezek. 1:27) "shall herd them with
a rod of iron" (Ps. 2:8 LXX).
Finally the figure of Ezekiel prostrate before the "glory of the Lord" incites us to humble ourselves before the Holy Lord
Jesus. "O come, let us worship and fall down before Him" (Ps. 94:6 LXX). When Great and Holy Thursday comes, let us
come forward to the icon of the Cross and kiss the feet of the Almighty on His majestic throne. Is it not He Who speaks to
us and says, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you" (Ezek. 2:1)?
When Thou comest, O God, to earth with glory, and the river floweth before the Altar, deliver me then from that
unquenchable fire and make me worthy to stand at Thy right hand.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Great and Holy Week Fast
Great and Holy Wednesday
6th Hour: Ezekiel 2:2-3:3 1st Vespers: Exodus 2:11-22 2nd Vespers: Job 2:1-10
Ezekiel 2:3-3:3 LXX, especially vs. 3:3: "And He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your belly,
and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.' So I ate it, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness." The
vision of Himself that the Lord revealed to Ezekiel in "the midst of the captivity," came five years after he and those with
him had been enslaved. Further, it came shortly before the final destruction of Jerusalem and would subject the rest of
God's People still in Judah variously to death, deportation, and bondage.
As the vision began (Ezek. 1:1-2:2), heavenly wonders and glory were revealed to the Prophet. Today's portion of the
theophany turns to the commissioning of the Prophet. Now the purpose of the vision becomes pointed: the Lord will send
Ezekiel to proclaim bitter truths to His chosen People. The task will be burdensome. God tells the Prophet that he will
meet resistance, just as the People have resisted the Lord already. Ezekiel can expect to encounter hard looks, fearsome
words, and even threats against his life (vs.2:6). As so often happens with hard truths, the messenger as well as his
message will face resolute opposition.
Beloved of the Lord, let us note, as the vision reveals Ezekiel's life work, he becomes a type of the Lord Jesus, his ministry
foreshadowing the Passion of Christ. As Ezekiel was born for a life of affliction, so also the Lord by His taking on our
flesh, assumed a ministry that ended in His Crucifixion and Death, but with the surprising final sweetness of Resurrection.
God calls Ezekiel, "Son of man" (vs. 2:3), a common Hebrew form of address which the Lord Jesus adopted to refer to
Himself (cf. Mt. 8:20, Mk. 14:41; Jn. 3:13). In Ezekiel's case, the infinite God uses this form of address to communicate
across the immeasurable gap between His Divine nature and the finite, created being of His servant, the Prophet Ezekiel.
The Lord Jesus' use of this term, as His preferred way of referring to Himself, precisely expresses His chosen
condescension to mankind and His unity with our nature.
Further, notice God's words commissioning the Prophet: "I send thee forth to the house of Israel" (vs.2:3). How often the
Lord would remind those to whom He spoke that He was sent from His Father (cf. Mt. 10:40; Mk. 12:6; Lk. 4:18; Jn.
5:23). Further, Ezekiel's life beautifully foreshadowed St. Paul's description of Christ: born into the dignity of the
Priesthood, events "humbled" the man, made of him one of "no reputation," reduced him to being a "slave," all of which
Ezekiel accepted and urged his fellow countrymen to accept (see Phil. 2:7-8).
Ezekiel was also a type of the Lord Jesus because when God called the Prophet to speak for Him, He directed him to
"speak My words" (vss. 4,7), to "hear" only the word of God - in the sense of "heed"or obey (vs. 8) - and above all to
digest the word of God inwardly (vs. 3:1). Observe how the Prophet Ezekiel prefigured the Lord Jesus, for Christ said, "I
can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous; because I do not seek My Own will but the
will of the Father Who sent Me." (Jn. 5:30).
Finally, the Prophet stands as a type of Christ because the message which God "spread before" him on the heavenly scroll
was filled, front and back, with "lamentations and mourning and woe" (vs. 10), yet Ezekiel willingly received it, and it was
sweet to him. In his servile existence in Babylon, the Prophet consistently obeyed God - even in facing death (vs. 2:6). In
this, the ear of faith hears Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, saying, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Mt. 26:39). He takes on the Passion with the honey of Resurrection in
His mouth, for all who will follow Him.
O Compassionate Lord, I magnify Thy Passion, with Thy Resurrection: Glory to Thee!
Thursday, April 8, 2004
Great and Holy Week Fast
Great and Holy Thursday
3rd Vespers: Isaiah 50:4-11 1st Vespers: Exodus 19:10-19 2nd Vespers: Job 38:1-23
Isaiah 50:4-11 LXX, especially vs. 10: "Who is among you that fears the Lord? Let him
hearken to the voice of His Servant: you that walk in darkness, and have no light, trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay
upon God." The disciple who is well read and trained in the Faith reads this passage and hears the account of the Passion
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The words stir the fires of his devotion. He is amazed at the foresight of the Prophet.
Likewise, St. Nikolai of Zica encourages us: "Examine, my brethren, how exact this prophecy is, word for word. Examine
with amazement how the discerning man of God foresaw through the barrier of several hundred years more clearly than the
ordinary eye sees the clear bottom in shallow water." Yes, the Prophet truly was used of God to foretell what would be.
However, after further reflection, Isaiah's words prompt "the obedient son to go into the vineyard," himself and labor for
his salvation as the Father has bidden (Mt. 21:29). We do best to read Isaiah's words, grasp how the Lord obeyed, and
follow Him. He "turned not away [His] face from the shame....but set [His] face as a solid rock"(Is. 50:6,7). The Holy
Fathers, being good teachers and pastors, value application most of all. Let us likewise learn from the Lord and follow in
faith, not merely observing Christ's saving acts as an awesome Divine gift, but allowing the Lord's Passion to prompt us to
take up our own cross and follow Him.
The first two verses of the lesson reveal the inner mindfulness of the Lord Jesus during the Passion. St. Justin Martyr
observed about the Master that always before He had confuted the Pharisees and scribes, but in the Passion He "kept
silence, and chose to return no answer to any one in the presence of Pilate...." What was the reason for His silence? Was
Christ silent merely to prove that Isaiah was a true Prophet? Of course not! The Lord Jesus challenges us to seek
composure in Him. As St. Ambrose says, "How many have I seen fall into sin by speaking, but scarcely one by keeping
silent; and so it is more difficult to know how to keep silent than to speak. He is wise, then, who knows how to keep
silent." In His humanity, the Lord "knew when it was fit to speak" and had "an ear to hear, not to disobey nor to dispute"
(vss. 4,5).
In the next four verses (6-9), our Lord and Master models the virtue of embracing affliction, shame, and humiliation: "I
gave My back to scourges, and My cheeks to blows; and I turned not away My face from the shame of spitting" (vs. 6). St.
Athanasios pleads with us: "O, my dearly beloved, if we shall gain comfort from afflictions, if rest from labors, if health
after sickness, if from death immortality, it is not right to be distressed by the temporal ills that lay hold on mankind." Like
the Lord, and only by His aid, we are called to gain the grace of giving our backs to scourges and our cheeks to blows. But,
oh, how we are wont, in our flesh, to dodge the badges of shame. As St. Isaac the Syrian says: "God for your sake humbled
Himself, but you, for you own sake, do not humble yourself." Nevertheless, St. Isaac adds: "By your labors your wounds
are healed." Let us not fear but follow, even if we cry, "Lord, save me!" (Mt. 14:30).
The last two verses are a call from Him Who made Himself a Servant for our salvation. He invites us to "trust in His name
and stay upon God" (Is. 50:10). He expects us to translate His acts into our own lives, to accept the risks of faith. Think of
the Paschal invitation: "Come take the Light which can never be overtaken by night." Let each one "kindle a fire," and
"feed a flame" that he may "...walk in the light...of the flame which [he has] kindled" (vs. 11). God will not fail us, though
He allow affliction and sorrow "for [His] sake" (vs. 11).
O Christ our God, Thou alone seest the weakness of each one of us. Help us, that we may discover that which is necessary
to our eternal salvation. To Thee be glory and praise.
Friday, April 9, 2004
Strict Fast
Great and Holy Friday
6th Hour: Isaiah 52:13-54:1 1st Vespers: Exodus 33:11-23 2nd Vespers: Job 42:12-16
Isaiah 52:13-54:1 LXX, especially vs. 6: "All we as sheep have gone astray; every one has gone
astray in his way; and the Lord gave Him up for our sins." In the Church, from earliest times, this astounding passage of
prophecy has been numbered as "the Fifth Gospel." It is the Church's custom to read this crown jewel among the riches of
Isaiah on Great and Holy Friday. Are you surprised that this Prophetic passage, read at Sixth Hour, recalls that portentous
moment in 33AD, in the month of Nissan, at noon "until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land" (Mt. 27:45)?
Even to comment on these inspired words evokes a deep dread in the heart - that we not repeat the mortal error of the
benighted Uzzah who stretched out his hand to steady the Ark of God (2 Sam. 6:6).
Fr. Paul Tarazi observes that this passage has a "chiastic" structure. That is, its ideas are set down in an order which may
be likened to a cross such as the Greek letter, Chi - "X:"
A/52:13-15: the servant is glorified before kings;
B/53:1-3: the servant suffers and is humiliated
C/53:4-6: the servant's suffering is for the sin of his fellows;
B'/53:7-9: the servant's humiliation and suffering are unto death;
A'/53:10-12: the servant is glorified before the great and strong.
The crossing occurs at the letter "C." About these verses Fr. Tarazi comments, "The new idea can be found at the
center....Its theme was not even hinted at by the previous poems" in Isaiah. While we should not dwell long on the inherent
cross structure, the fact that this prophecy of the Lord's Crucifixion is chiastic does warm the heart and call forth praise to
God. Following Isaiah's Chiasm, let us examine the three elements which form it, the A, the B, and the C.
A. Christ our God has been "exalted and glorified exceedingly" (vs. 13) through all ages since that day when He offered
Himself up for our iniquities. He has been the wonder of nations wherever His Gospel has been proclaimed (vs. 15).
Isaiah begins with the glory which men and nations have raised to Him, and the Holy Prophet ends with a similar
announcement: "...the Lord also is pleased to purge Him from His stroke...to take away from the travail of His soul, to
show Him light and...to justify the Just One Who serves many well..." (vss. 10,11). As a result, "Therefore, He shall inherit
many, and He shall divide the spoils of the mighty; because His soul was delivered to death...and He bore the sins of many"
(vs. 12).
B. In verses 1-3, the Lord's earthly ignominy is highlighted for us. In verses 7-9, the cost of His humiliation becomes clear,
"for His life is taken away from the earth...because of the iniquities of My people He was led to death" (vs. 8). St. Nikolai
of Zica says, "...He clothed Himself in simple garments, so that He might impress us, not by His garb but by the power of
His spirit....By tradition, His face was swarthy and His hair chestnut-colored." Think of this: Christ transformed shame and
humility into virtues, not with words, but by offering His life.
C. It is in verses 4-6 that the "Fifth Gospel" is proclaimed purely. Theodoret of Cyrus pronounces an eternal judgment:
"We each fall under the blow of chastisements for having sinned, but He, although He Himself was free from sin, bore His
chastisements for our sake....it is He Who has taken the chastisement on Himself and Who has granted us the peace."
Christ, the uncreated Divine Light, Himself illumines every word of this Crown Jewel of Prophecy!
A salvation Thou produced in the midst of the earth, O Christ our God, when Thou didst stretch out Thy pure hands upon
the Cross, calling together all the nations, who cry to Thee, O Lord, glory to Thee.
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Great and Holy Week Fast
Great and Holy Saturday
9th of Vigil: Isaiah 61:10-62:5 3rd of Vespers: Exodus 12:1-11 Orthros Gospel: St. Matthew 27:62-66
Isaiah 61:10-62:5 LXX, especially vs. 5: "...and it shall come to pass that as a bridegroom will rejoice
over a bride, so will the Lord rejoice over you." The Great and Holy Week services of the Orthodox Church are filled with
anticipation. Expectancy is encouraged in two ways: first, the services occur in advance of their normal order. Hence, at
each evening of Great and Holy Week, the next morning's office is offered in anticipation, i.e., the usual morning services
are celebrated the evening before. Thus, on this Holy Sabbath, Great Vespers, which usually would be sung at sunset that
Saturday, is offered in the morning with a Divine Liturgy.
Second, the language of these services fully anticipates the coming Paschal celebration, so that mention of the Resurrection
occurs repeatedly in the hymns, the Scriptural readings, and in the attendant liturgical texts. For example, as far back as
Lazarus Saturday, such language appears in the Ninth Ode of the Canon at Orthros: "When Thou wentest before, O my
Savior, and verified Thy glorious Resurrection, Thou didst deliver Lazarus from hades." Such anticipatory mention of
'what is coming' permeates even the most solemn of these great and holy days, so that during Sixth Hour on Great and
Holy Friday, just before the Suffering Servant passage is read - that glorious "Fifth Gospel" (Is. 52:13-54:1) - one hears:
"And as our Savior was suffering, He cried, saying, Father, forgive them this sin, that the Gentiles may know My
Resurrection from the dead." Today's reading from Isaiah shares in this quality of "yearning to enter fully into that which
is certain to come." The Prophecy is a Resurrection proclamation in every respect.
The message of joy and salvation bursts upon the reader from the first two. Observe: grammatically the lines are present
tense, and speak of a reality being experienced "out of due time." What shall be true when the Lord rises from the dead, the
Prophet describes as present and fulfilled centuries before, in a prophetic present tense. Already, Isaiah says, I am clothed
"with the robe of salvation" and adorned "with ornaments as a bride" (vs. 10). Careful reading disclose that Isaiah is not
speaking of himself, but has become the voice of the future and joyful Church gathered around her risen Lord. For out of
the post-Resurrection Church, the Lord has caused "righteousness to spring forth, and exultation before all nations" (vs.
11).
As the reading continues, the triumphant Lord of the Church affirms His People's acclamations. "Not holding His peace,"
Christ asserts that, for the sake of the Church, He shall not rest "until her righteousness go forth as light and My salvation
burn as a torch" (vs. 1). All of the Lord's subsequent remarks are then directed to His Church (vss. 2-5).
Beloved of the Lord, as the Church, we live, like Isaiah, both in time and beyond time. So we mourn at His death and
burial, but beyond the boundaries of time, we rejoice because He is risen. The Gentiles, the multitude of the world's
nations who are not in the Church, shall one day see righteousness in the Church, for righteousness is our heritage in Christ.
Furthermore, the People of God now have a new name: we are no longer called "Israel and Jerusalem," but the Holy
Church, the Body of Christ, God's People gathered to Her Lord (vs. 2). Isaiah speaks of our royalty in Christ calling us "a
royal diadem in the hand of...God" (vs. 3), thereby anticipating what the Apostles taught - that we are "a royal priesthood"
(1 Pet. 2:9). The Bridegroom to Whom we sang earlier this week comes tomorrow to rejoice over us (vs. 5). We shall no
more be "Forsaken" and a "Desert," but rather, His "Pleasure" and the "Inhabited Land" (vs. 4).
The King of the ages, having fulfilled the mystery of the Passion, hath rested, keeping the Sabbath in the tomb. Let us hail
Him: Arise, O God and Judge the earth; for Thou dost reign for evermore, O Thou Who possesseth the countless and Great
Mercy.
The Day of Resurrection
Christ is Risen!
Great and Holy Pascha, April 11, 2004
1st of Vespers/Palm Sunday: Genesis 49:1-2, 8-12 Apostle: Acts 1:1-8 Gospel: St. John 1:1-17
Genesis 49:1, 2, 8-12, especially vs. 10 (RSV): "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the
ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples."
This Old Testament passage is one of three readings provided by the Church for the Vespers of Palm Sunday. Its vision of
the Lord as the Anointed ruler of the People of God to Whom "shall be the obedience of the peoples" (vs. 10), makes it a
worthy starting point for a meditation upon the triumphant Person of the Risen Lord Jesus, the King of Glory and the
Vanquisher of Death.
In His trampling down of death by death, the Lord Jesus has already fulfilled many of the words of the Genesis prophecy;
for "He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?" (Gen. 49:9). The Apostle answers:
"He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross" (Phil. 2:8); and "God also
has highly exalted Him" (Phil. 2:9). Recall the icon of the "Harrowing of Hell:" the Victorious Christ stands astride the
gates of Hades, death is bound under His feet, and He raises Adam and Eve from their tombs, bestowing life upon them.
"Who dares rouse Him?" Death itself is appalled.
In the verses of the present reading, we are looking at an extract from a Genesis narrative which describes the final hours of
the Patriarch Jacob - also called Israel (Gen 47:27-50:14). As father of twelve sons whose descendants would become the
ancient nation of Israel, the dying Patriarch calls his sons to him (Gen. 49:1,2). From eldest to youngest, in prophetic
manner, Israel pronounces the destiny of the tribes that will follow from these, his sons. When his prophecy reaches the
fourth son, Judah, it provides a glimpse, five-hundred years in the future, of the first King of Judah, David the Prophet,
whose brothers did praise him, whose hand was on the neck of his enemies, and whose father's sons did in fact "bow down
before" him (Gen 49:8).
However, the Patriarch's prophecy goes further. It describes the end of the age when all nations will bow before the Lion
of Judah, a descendant of King David. This One will be known as the Lamb of God and the Root of David, and He will be
the victorious Lord of all history as well as Divine Ruler. Christ Jesus alone will be worthy to open the seals of the great
scroll to usher in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 5:5-14). The Genesis prophecy is appropriate to Him alone, for no monarch in
all history ever has claimed obedience from the peoples of all the nations of earth, nor shall any until He comes to Whom
"the ruler's staff truly belongs" (Gen. 49:10).
Let us not pass from this aspect of Israel's vision, from the image of Judah's greatest King, and fail to unite it to St.
Matthew's account of the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem. The old Patriarch's words ring in our ears: "binding his foal to
the vine and his ass's colt to the choice vine" (vs.11). The Lord sent two of His disciples to loose these very animals and
bring them to Him fulfilling both these words and those of another Prophet: "Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly,
and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Mt. 21:5 from Zech. 9:9).
Having allowed the ancient People of God to behold completed the dual prophecy of their Forefather Israel and of their
Prophet Zechariah, Christ brought yet other words of the Patriarch to culmination, in a revelation which only the Church
discerns, aided by the Holy Spirit: the Cup of the New Covenant proclaims the Lord's death until He comes again (1 Cor.
11:26). He has washed His garments in wine and "His vesture in the blood of grapes" (Gen. 49:11) for our salvation. He
allows us to share in His Holy Chalice of love which triumphs over death.
Lo, through the Cross is joy come into all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, let us sing His Resurrection; for in that He
endured the Cross for us He hath destroyed death by death.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Monday of Bright Week
1st Royal Hr, Great & Holy Friday: Zechariah 11:10-13 Apostle: Acts 1:12-17, 21-26 Gospel: St. John 1:18-28
Zechariah 11:10-13 LXX, especially vs. 12: " So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of
silver." Today we stand bathed with radiant Paschal Light, for God in His mercy has turned His face upon us: "Shine,
shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord hath risen upon thee." Why then consider a reading from Great and Holy
Friday and return to the rejection of Israel's true Shepherd? Ah, Beloved of the Lord, may we read it anew, suffused in
Paschal radiance, for we are united unto Christ, "the Great Shepherd of the Sheep" (Heb. 13:20).
Six hundred years prior to the actual 'great divide' in the history of the People of God, the Lord granted a visionary warning
to His Prophet Zechariah (Zech. 11) of a future time when "the poor of the flock" would be fed by the Messiah (Zech 11:7),
becoming the foundation of the New Covenant Church, while the majority of ancient Israel would reject their true
Shepherd. This devastating national calamity would serve as Divine judgment on a leadership grown rich at the expense of
their poorer brethren (Zech. 11:1-6).
In the midst of his vision of woe against the worthless shepherds who "will not care for those who are cut off" (Zech.
11:16), the Prophet describes the ultimate ministry of God Himself (Zech 11:7-9). Rejected by the majority of Israel, the
Incarnate Son of God gave them over to "eat each other's flesh" (vs. 9), a terrible fact that literally occurred during the
siege against Jerusalem by the Roman General Titus in 70 AD, at which time also the Temple was destroyed.
In our celebration of the triumph of our Lord, God, and Savior's ministry revealed in His Holy Resurrection, let us also
mourn the sad consequences that befell the ancient People of God for abhorring Him and His great New Covenant. Let us
remember that He came only to give them Life and to receive their true worship, and let us never calamitously reject the
Life-Giver.
The reading we are examining today (vss. 10-13) prophetically tolls the moment of judgment by the Lord: "I took My staff
Beauty [or Grace], and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples" (vs. 10). Note:
hereby He removes the protective cover that He had maintained over His ancient People, allowing foolish shepherds to rule
them who would "eat of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces" (vs. 16).
As we know from what happened on Great and Holy Friday, "...it was broken on that day" (vs. 11). Nevertheless, "the poor
of the flock who were watching Me, knew that it was the word of the Lord" (vs. 11) and they stood at the foot of the Cross
with Him (Jn. 19:25-27).
Observe how ancient Israel valued the truly Good Shepherd as a common slave. Note the irony: the Mosaic Law, received
of God Himself, required that "if the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels
of silver..." (Ex. 21:32 NAS). A slave was worth 30 pieces of silver. Through His Prophet, the Lord has us consider the
implications of what happened in the betrayal: "So they weighed out for My wages thirty pieces of silver" (Zech. 11:12).
This sum for all the Lord's care and protection over them for centuries!
We should not miss the irony in the Lord's description of these wages: "that princely price they set on Me" (vs. 13). In the
prophetic vision, God commands the Prophet to fling the thirty pieces of silver "into the house of the Lord for the potter"
(vs. 13), a role actually relegated to the wicked Judas historically (Mt. 27:3-5). While the Evangelist Matthew seems to
attribute these words wrongly to the Jeremiah (Mt. 27:9), in fact he is joining this present prophecy of Zechariah to
Jeremiah's longer prophecy addressing this same calamity of Israel (see Jer. 18, 19).
O, how noble! O how dear! O how sweet is Thy voice, O Christ; for Thou hast verily made us a true promise, that Thou
shalt be with us to the end of time, an anchor for our hopes!
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Tuesday of Bright Week
1st Vespers, Great & Holy Saturday: Isaiah 60:1-16 Apostle: Acts 2:22-38 Gospel: St. Luke 24:12-35
Isaiah 60:1-16 LXX, especially vs. 1: "...for your light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon you." Since ancient times, this passage from Isaiah has served as the second in a series of sixteen lessons read at the
night-long Vigil which begins with Great Vespers on Great and Holy Saturday. Today, in monasteries where the whole
Vigil still is served, this passage most certainly is read. Anciently, the administration of the Baptismal Mystery to the
Catechumens also took place during the long Vigil, with all rites concluding early on Great and Holy Pascha morning, the
whole Church celebrating the glorious Resurrection Divine Liturgy.
Often today, in our parish churches, this lesson is not selected to be read at the Saturday morning Vesperal Liturgy of St.
Basil. Nevertheless, its words should sound familiar to the Faithful because of the Ninth Ode of the Paschal Canon; for the
words of the passage inspired St. John of Damascus when he composed the Paschal Canon.
An excellent summary of the content of the passage is provided by Theodoret of Cyrus: "...the prediction simultaneously
comprises three subjects: it prophesies, as in outline, the reconstruction of Jerusalem which took place under Cyrus and
under Darius [589-456 BC]; then as in a painting which enhances a great-enough number of colors, it also shows the more
exact contours of the truth, the splendor of the holy Church; yet it likewise conveys even the original of the painting in
advance, that is to say the future life and the celestial city."
Let us focus on what the prophecy reveals about the Church in time as she manifests to the Faithful the realities to come
(Heb. 10:1): the Church stands 1) as Light in darkness, 2) as the gathering of God's scattered children, 3) as a repository of
the spiritual wealth of the nations, 4) as that People who offer acceptable sacrifices, 5) as the recipient of the promises
made to old Israel, 6) as the true Zion, and 7) as a community filled with perpetual gladness.
Because the Light has come to the Church, she uniquely reveals His glory shining upon her amidst the darkness of
disbelief, confusion, and sin that covers the earth, which enables world leaders and nations who receiv