Newsletter August 31, 2024

Your Grace Transforms the Universe, Part Three

The human world today tends to accept the disease and change its name, in its quest to embrace the sick. Orthodox Christianity distinguishes between sickness and the patient, between wickedness and the wicked, between the sin and the sinner. It is called upon to liberate the wicked man from his wickedness and to free the sinner from his sin. It is aware that evil lies not in the matter itself but, rather, in one’s attitude towards this matter; it lies in the will of man. Accepting the disease with the patient makes the patient worse. Compassion is for the fallen person, not for the fall itself. In order to cure patients from their illness, we must identify the illness and name it.

Orthodox Christian theology unleashes the energies that can transform this world back into what it was made to be. Orthodox theology must be the inspiration for movements of love, peace, service, non-discrimination, alleviating injustice, and caring for the environment—not influenced by movements of a merely human nature.

Christ came to save the world, to establish the earth as a heaven, not to establish a system limited to the parameters of mere earthly life.

The misery of the world, rich and poor alike—spiritual and material misery, which is constantly being exacerbated—is only a sign that Christians have not been sufficiently transfigured by the Holy Spirit, so that the world might be transfigured by them. Olivier Clement says, “If some people become prayer—that is, pure prayer that transcends all measures of the criteria of this world—then they transform the universe by their mere presence, by their mere existence.”

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The Orthodox Church persistently asks for repentance. It realizes that repentance is a change of mind that leads to awakening. To repent means to remain vigilant. The awakened person is the one who does not surrender to dreams aimlessly, under the influence of fleeting impulses. The awakened person is the one who has a meaning, a direction, a goal. He knows where he is and where he is going.

To be alert is to be present where we are. We live in the reality of the present. We do not become nostalgic for the past, and we do not get distracted and disturbed by desires for the future. It is what Paul Evdokimov says: “The present hour in which you live, the person you meet here and now, and the task you are doing at this moment are the most important issues in your life.”

This permanent repentance inevitably leads to both purification of the soul and purification at the bodily level, simultaneously. The Orthodox Church emphasizes the spiritual effectiveness of bodily ascetic practices because it looks at Creation in its entirety and at the same time asks to restore it in its entirety to the Kingdom from which it had fallen.

When Christians present the world to God after its liberation from the effects of the fall, they present themselves along with it, realizing the presence of God in matter and beyond all matter. They do not accept the fallen world on its own terms because they know that our relationship with God’s Creation has been distorted by sin and we will not rediscover its fundamental sacred character until our hearts are purified.

When we are cleansed, our hearts are filled with the love of God, rather than with overflow of emotions that are subject to changing influences. At that point, we understand the words of Father Zosima in the novel The Brothers Karamazov, when he was questioned about resorting to force or to humble love, especially in the face of sin. He advises, “Do not resort except to this love, this love that subjugates the entire world. Humanity that is filled with love is a marvelous force, unlike any other force.”

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2161

Professor Jim is offering and leading a class on the Old Testament Scriptures.

Reading the Old Testament with St Irenaeus (c. 130–c. 202)
Saturdays 9:30am-11:00am
September 7–November 16, 2024

If you are interested in participating in this class, please email Jim Lindsay JEL1451@gmail.com so he can send you PDFs of the course readings. All are welcome.

We will resume our Wednesday evening Catechumen / Adult study class on Sep. 11 (after Liturgy). Bring your questions / topics!

Allow me to express my thanks, again, for allowing me to take a break from class over the summer.

When receiving Holy Communion, please step right up to the chalice: right up close. I appreciate that, from humility, people stand back a bit. However, the further away from the chalice that a person stands, the more opportunity exists for me to spill as I reach from the chalice to one’s mouth. Also, just practically, when I need to extend and reach out my arms with every person, I grow weary and a bit shaky by the end. Please help me out.

While thinking about Holy Communion, please remember that there should be nothing on our lips when we receive: lip-stick, lip-gloss, chap-stick, lip-balm, etc. Anything on our lips gets onto the Communion spoon, into the chalice, and mixed with the Holy Gifts. That is not good. The Gifts should remain pure and Holy! For ourselves and for everyone who follows us in the Communion line…

Thank you!

Please remember that our full calendar continues to be available at our parish web site. Here is a link:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Calendar/calendar.php

Full schedule: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2024 web.pdf

Full schedule: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2024.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY 2:1-7

Timothy, my son, first of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Gospel: LUKE 4:16-22

At that time, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

Sexuality and Gender: Response to “Orthodoxy in Dialogue” Open Letter

Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick

On September 24, 2018, the “Orthodoxy in Dialogue” website published an open letter to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, calling upon them to make a radical revision of the sexual ethical teachings of the Orthodox Church. The following is a point-for-point response, arranged roughly according to topic, with relevant quotes from the OiD piece.

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Abortion

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Same-Sex Attraction

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Transgenderism

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Ministry to Orthodox Christians related to the above

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I know that reiterating the Church’s teachings on these things will be received by some as hateful, insensitive, etc. But it is not. It is love to speak reality and to embrace someone however he presents himself.

And let me state unequivocally that I absolutely reject mistreating anyone on account of their personal identification with any of the issues mentioned above — no one should be condemned, bullied, harmed, ridiculed, rejected, etc. Every person who comes to the Church must be treated with love, care, understanding, an orientation toward listening, support and blessing. All this is toward the goal given by Christ Himself, in the words of the apostle:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

This is the true ascetical struggle — not to believe our thoughts and feelings on their face, but to present ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord and to be healed of our addictions and sinful inclinations, aware that while they may never fully disappear in this life, there is nevertheless the possibility to be conformed to Christ, to be transformed in the renewing of our minds and to be made holy by His love.

Read the entire article: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2018/09/25/sexuality-and-gender-response-to-orthodoxy-in-dialogue-open-letter/