Building the Building- By: Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos

(Left) Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos (Right) Fr. John Behr

A good friend of mine and fellow seminarian recently said to me, “The generation of priests before us built buildings, but our generation has to build Churches.”

This struck me as very wise and insightful. Actually it is one of the most insightful things I have heard in a long time. Although it may sound derogatory to the older generation, implying that the churches they built were not really “churches,” I do not believe it is meant in this way. However, I do believe that the statement is a very accurate observation of the cultural divide between the “old” and “new” generations of priests in Canada.

This mainly stems from the fact the we, the “new” generation do not respond to the type of ministry that previous generations responded to. Now, I am not talking about cultural conditioning, new world mentalities, or even language barriers. I am talking about a very different understanding of how the Church should be proceeding into the new millennium. What we are seeing is a shift in the most fundamental beliefs of progress and ministry within the clerical ranks.

This is happening for two reasons: 1. The “new” generation did not grow up in a village type environment where religion was not questioned and the social norm was being Greek Orthodox. 2. We are neither illiterate nor stupid, and this is a dangerous combination in a multicultural society like Canada, where we are bombarded by multiple philosophies, religions, and the latest trends.

The Life of St. Nina the Enlightener of Georgia

Born in Cappadocia in the late third century, St. Nina (or Nino, the Georgian form) was the only daughter of a Roman general, Zabulon, and his wife, Susanna. On her father’s side, she was related to St. George, and on her mother’s, to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. When Nina was twelve, her family traveled to Jerusalem, where with the Patriarch’s blessing, her father became a monk; her mother became a church worker; and Nina became the foster child of Nianfora, a pious elderly woman. Under the tutelage of her foster mother, Nina quickly learned the rules of faith and piety. At fourteen, Nina questioned her mentor about the location of Christ’s robe; Nina felt that such an important relic could not have been lost. Nianfora told her that it was in Iberia (now Georgia), a land not yet completely illumined. When the apostles had drawn lots to determine who was to preach where, the Theotokos had received the lot for Iberia, but she had been held back from going and was assured that someone would later enlighten it. In a dream, the Theotokos came to Nina and urged her to preach the gospel in Georgia. The Mother of God assured Nina that she would protect her and as a pledge, left a cross of grape vines.

The patriarch, her uncle, was delighted with the news of her vision. He eagerly gave her his blessing:

When the time arrived for her departure, the patriarch led Nina into the church and up to the holy altar, and placing his hands on her head, he prayed the following words:

Elder Ephraim on Trials & Temptations

Hieromonk Ephraim of St. Anthony's Monastery, Arizona.

God allows temptations so that they might rouse us to remember Him. When we call upon Him, He acts as though He does not hear us so that we multiply our supplications and cry out His holy name, in fear of the various passions. Then, through pain of the entreaties, our heart is sanctified, and through experience we learn the weakness of our lame nature. And thus we realize in practice that without God’s help we are not able to do anything.

This deep experience is acquired with the blood of the heart and remains indelible; it becomes a foundation for the remainder of one’s life. The grace of God leaves and comes again, but experience never leaves, because it has been branded within the heart. And no matter how much Satan praises the heart, it points to what is indelibly written within its depths, that without God it is impossible to do anything.

On Spiritual knowledge- By: St. Isaac the Syrian

St. Isaac the Syrian

When someone acquires a will corresponding to the fear of God and to the right way of thinking, then he will soon receive the revelation of what is hidden. Spiritual knowledge is the perception of what is hidden, and in its perception contemplative faith is born, which begins to shine in the soul from the light of grace and which by the testimony of the mind fortifies the heart, lest it waver in the doubtlessness of hope far from every doubt. And this faith is revealed not through increased hearing of the ears, but through spiritual eyes, which see the mysteries hidden in the soul, the invisible and divine wealth, hidden from the eyes of the sons of the flesh and revealed by the Spirit to those who are nourished from Christ’s table, in the study of Christ’s laws, as the Lord said: “If ye keep my commandments (John 15:10)…I will send unto you a Comforter (cf. John 15:26)…the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive (John 14:17)…and He shall teach you all truth” (cf. John 14:26, 16:13).

Ask of God that he grant thee to come to a measure of faith, and if thou perceivest this enjoyment in thy soul, then it is not difficult for me to say at this that nothing shall any longer turn thee away from Christ. Pray about this without laziness, beg for this with ardor, entreat about this with great assiduity, until thou receivest.

Holy Theophany

Baptism of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the twelve great feasts, one which is celebrated with no less solemnity than is the Nativity of Christ. One might say that the Nativity and the Baptism are two related holidays comprising one single celebration, the Feast of Theophany, for together they present to us the appearance of all three Persons of the Holy Trinity.  In the cave in Bethlehem, the Son of God was born according to the flesh, and at His Baptism, from the Heavens the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him (Luke 3:22) and the voice of God the Father was heard, saying, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased! (Luke 3: 22)

Holy Hierarch St. John Chrysostom writes that “it is not the day of the Savior’s birth that we should call His Appearance, but the day on which He was baptized.  He did not become known to all by His Birth, but by His Baptism, and that is why it is not the day of His Birth that is called Theophany, but the day on which He was baptized.”

We can say the following about the actual Baptism of the Lord: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who had returned from Egypt after the death of King Herod, grew up in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee. With His Most-holy Mother, he remained in that small town until he was thirty, earning a living for himself and the Most-holy Virgin by following the craft of his supposed father, the Righteous Joseph, who was a carpenter. Upon attaining thirty years of earthly life (i.e. the age before which according to Jewish law one was not permitted to teach in the synagogues or accept the rank of priest), it was time for Him to appear to the people of Israel. However, before that moment, according to the prophets, there first had to appear to Israel the Forerunner, the one who bore responsibility for preparing the people of Israel to receive the Messiah, the one of whom the Prophet Isaiah prophesied: the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40: 3). Far from the people, in the depths of the severe Judaean Desert, the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias (Luke 3: 2), unto a kinsman of the Most-holy Virgin, who while still in the womb of his mother, the Righteous Elizabeth, leaped for joy to welcome his Savior, the One about Whom no one on earth except His Most-pure Mother, who had received the Good News from the Archangel, yet knew. That word of God directed John to go out into the world to preach repentance and to baptize Israel, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:  7).

St. Seraphim of Sarov: On Forgivness of Offenses

St. Seraphim of Sarov

For an offence, whatever kind may have been given, one must not only not avenge oneself, but on the contrary must all the more forgive from the heart, even though it may resist this, and must incline the heart by conviction of the word of God: If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:15); and again, Pray for them which despitefully use you (Matt. 5:44).

One must not nurse in one’s heart malice or hatred towards a neighbhor who bears ill-will; but we must strive to love him and, as much as possible, do good, following the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you (Matt. 5:44).

And thus, if we will strive, as much as lies in our power, to fulfill all this, then we may hope that Divine light will shine early in our souls, opening to us the path to the Jerusalem on High.

Excerpt taken from the book: Little Russian Philokalia, Vol. I: St. Seraphim

Interview with Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: On Attaining Faith by coming to Church

Bishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Vienna and Austria

- Your Grace, you’ve got a wide experience in carrying on a dialogue with representatives of other Christian confessions. How would you advise Orthodox missionary Internet sites to tell Catholics and Protestants about Orthodoxy, not offending their religious feelings?

If we want to talk of Orthodoxy the way it is, we cannot fully avoid the risk of disappointing, depressing or hurting our Catholic and Protestant brothers and sisters. I do not think there is any need to carry on a controversy with Catholics at Orthodox Internet sites. The differences that exist between Catholics and the Orthodox are well-known. There is much literature on this, for example, on the Filolique and papal primacy, and it is not necessary to dedicate a special topic to it at an Orthodox Internet site.

Speaking of the differences between Orthodoxy and Protestantism, they are really fundamental. It is so because Protestants deny many essential elements of the Church, such as the sacraments, the apostolic succession, the hierarchy. We cannot acknowledge Protestant communities as churches in the true sense of the word just for the sake of not hurting someone’s feelings.

We are in Sweden now, and the principal church here is the Church of Sweden. The processes that are taking place in it now have made the Russian Orthodox Church stop any kind of theological dialogue with it. This has happened because the Church of Sweden started to accept things that, from our point of view, are not acceptable. For example, they have begun to give their blessing to the so-called same-sex unions. When it comes to such radical things as deviating from the Gospel norms, we have to speak our position very clearly and to suspend a dialogue, because it loses sense when there is such a fundamental deflection from Christian morality.

- To your mind, what kind of projects and what kind of materials are necessary for an Orthodox Internet site in order to attract believers of other confessions, at the same time not causing the Orthodox believers who might be reading the site to lose interest?

Interview with Bishop Kallistos Ware on Church and Nationalism

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

Bishop Kallistos Ware answers a question about the relationship between church and nation in an interview.

The first thing that comes to my mind and nothing very surprising originally in what I’m going to say now is, we Orthodox have to reflect about the relationship between church and nation between faith and ethic culture. We recognize that in the last ten centuries in many parts of the Orthodox world, the universality the Church, it’s catholicity has been obscured by strong national loyalties, and that people have sometimes thought of themselves Greek, Serb or Russian before they think themselves as Orthodox Catholic Christens, and so the church has been often hijacked by a national agenda. This is still happening in Russia for example and Ukraine; there is an immense upsurge of nationalism following the fall of communism. There is also revival of the faith but there is a danger of two narrow a link being made between national identity and what it is to be a baptized Christian. So, I think we have to work on that one, but the church does get hijacked and becomes a common instrument for a national program.

I remember a Greek professor many years ago named Kalamiris said “strictly speaking we should not talk about the Greek Church, the Russian church, the Serbian church, we should talk about the Orthodox Catholic Church in Greece, the orthodox catholic church in Russia in Serbia, because what comes first is ‘I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.’”

St. Theophanes the Recluse On Prayer

From the Letters of Bishop Theophanes the Recluse

The Art and Science of Prayer (from Letter 15)

You write that you prayed fervently and at once you were calmed, receiving an inner assurance that you would be released from oppression; and then, indeed, it was so….

Recall how you prayed and always strive to pray this way, so that prayer comes from the heart and is not just thought by the mind and chattered by the tongue.

I won’t conceal the fact that, though once you prayed from the heart, it is hardly possible to pray that way constantly. Such prayer is given by God or is inspired by your Guardian Angel. It comes and goes. It does not follow, though, that we should give up the labor of prayer. Prayer of the heart comes when one makes an effort; to those who do not strive, it will not come. We see that the Holy Fathers made extraordinary efforts in prayer, and by their struggles they kindled the warm spirit of prayer. How they came to this prayerful state is illustrated in the writings they have left us. Everything they say about striving in prayer makes up the science of prayer, which is the science of sciences. The time will come when we will study this art [see the classic work The Art of Prayer (Faber & Faber)—webmaster]. But now, since it came up in our correspondence, I touch on it only in passing. Let me add: There is nothing more important than prayer; therefore, our greatest attention and most diligent attention must attend it. Grant us, O Lord, zeal for such an effort!

Wandering Thoughts during Prayer (from Letter 31)

Thoughts wander when one is reading spiritual works and during prayer. What should one do? No one is free from this. There is no sin in it, only vexation. Having wandering thoughts becomes a sin when one willingly allows flightiness of mind. But if thoughts scatter involuntarily, what fault can there be? There is fault, though, when one notices thoughts wandering and, taking no action, one wanders along with them. When we catch our thoughts wandering off, we must bring them back to their proper place at once.

On Building Churches- By: St. John Maximovitch

St. John of San Francisco

Some people are saying: “The time is not come to build the Lord’s house.” Among them are many who are buying houses for themselves, who live in their own houses in full satisfaction of their material needs, or who are selling their homes to move into better and better dwellings, increasing their assets. It is understandable when such words are heard from unbelievers…But how can they be repeated by believers who themselves go to church?

A church is a place that is consecrated, holy, in which there always dwells the grace of God. At the consecration of Solomon’s temple, the glory of the Lord in the appearance of a cloud filled the house of God. So it was in the Old Testament temple. How much more powerfully does the grace of God act in the temples of the New Testament where there is offered the true cleansing from sin, where we partake of the true Body and Blood of Christ, where during the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Spirit continually descends upon the gifts being consecrated and upon the people present? One can pray anywhere, and God hears prayers from everywhere. But it’s much easier to pray to a church where everything is conducive to prayer. From there our prayers ascend to God, ans the mercies of God are sent down upon us.