Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The Ecclesiastical New Year: Indiction
3rd Reading at Vespers, Indiction: Wisdom 4:7-15 Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7
Gospel: St. Luke 4:16-22
Wisdom 4:7-15 RSV, especially vss. 13: "Being perfected in a short time, he
fulfilled long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord...." One year has drawn to a close - a
measurable cycle of days and months upon earth has passed and is gone forever. Today we stand
at the start of another cycle of days and months, and this recognition ought to prompt us, as
Christians, to consider how to spend life within the incessant, forward movement of time - to find
and know true "rest," completion, or fulfillment in this medium that flows on and on (vs. 7).
At the start of each business year, accountants turn to the balance sheet to see if income and
expenses have resulted in profit or a loss. At the beginning of a civil year, many seek to assess
whether or not they have attained the social goals of their family, community, and nation. Today,
however, is the New Year of the People of God, of the Orthodox Church, of the Ecclesia - those
men and women whom God has called from preoccupation or fascination with this present world
and its attractions that can so easily bewitch and captivate our time and energy (vs. 12).
By naming this day "The New Year," the Church bids us lift ourselves up out of time
momentarily and consider whether we are moving toward the highest and eternal or still have
"understood not, neither laid...up this in [our] minds, That [God's] grace and mercy is with His
Saints, and that He hath respect unto His chosen" (vs. 15 LXX). Now lies before us another Year
of Our Lord, another Anno Domini (AD), to be devote to Christ's glory and our great good, or to
be counted as just another anno mundi, one more revolution of the earth around the sun to be
wasted within the scope of eternity. On this Feast of Joshua the son of Nun, God and His Prophet
challenge us: "choose to yourselves this day whom ye will serve" (Josh. 24:15 LXX). Should
not godly New Year's resolutions be undertaken to strengthen our resolve to please the Lord
while we continue living in this present fallen world (vs. 10)? Thus, let us read this passage from
the Wisdom of Solomon that we may choose to pursue God-pleasing goals all through the
coming year of our temporal life, and not lose the things of eternity. To accomplish this we must
be well-rooted in true understanding from which flowers a blameless life, which is unchanged by
evil and guile and is firmly opposed to all "roving desire" (vss. 11,12).
The understanding spoken of in this passage is not just any understanding, for we humans can err
and resist, as the Lord declared through Isaiah: "This people draw nigh to Me with their
mouth....but their heart is far from Me" (Is. 29:13 LXX). "Therefore," God declared, "I will
remove them: and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will hide the understanding of the
prudent" (Is. 29:14 LXX). It is critical to seek true understanding, a godly discernment which St.
Paul links indissolubly with the Lord's will "in all...spiritual understanding" (Col. 1:9).
The Lord Jesus loves all who are like a Scribe who came to Him asking about the foremost
commandment. When Christ our God quoted two of the commandments - to love God
wholeheartedly and one's neighbor as oneself - the Scribe was delighted, and he hastened to say
that to love God "with all the heart, with all the understanding.....is more than all the whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices" (Mk. 12:33). St. Mark notes that "when Jesus saw that he answered
wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God" (Mk. 12:34).
Right understanding leads naturally to God-pleasing action: one lives a blameless life (Wis. 4:9),
discerning "between good and evil" (3 Kings 3:9 LXX), and chooses the good. Thus, one can
live in such a way among sinners so as to remain pleasing to God (Wis. 4:10).
Ever assist me, O Lord, and direct me to divine wisdom and understanding, that I may
accomplish whatever I undertake according to Thy will and to the profit of myself and others.
