ON THE ACQUISITION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

"And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me," according to the Gospel words of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.  Apart from the cross, there is no Christianity--only a system of moral philosophy based upon nothing more than human reason and logic and therefore powerless to save the fallen human race from the pit of hopeless despair.  It is only through the cross that we can hope to be delivered from the destructive power of sin, death and the Devil. 

If Jesus Christ is not the eternal Son of God begotten of the Father before the ages, having assumed our flesh through the pure blood of the Virgin that by His life giving death and Resurrection He might redeem us from the ancient curse, then our entire Faith--from beginning to end--can only be considered a cruel sham, merely one religion among many, an ultimately futile attempt to make sense of the chaos, corruption and absurdity of a world seemingly consigned to senseless suffering and destined for nothing more than the eternal darkness of the abyss of nonbeing. 

It is only through the shining witness of the saints of God--those men and woman who have acquired through the power of the cross the fullness of the Holy Spirit that was sent down upon the Church on the day of Pentecost--that the revelation of God's eternal Kingdom in this broken and fallen world is made manifest. 

To be a saint means to be fully illumined by the grace of the Holy and Life Creating Spirit, to be transfigured by the uncreated Light of God, that we might become gods by grace, partakers of the divine nature.  This, indeed, is the goal and destiny of every Christian--though few attain it in this earthly life.  Nevertheless, we are all called to be saints, which is why--according to St. Seraphim of Sarov--the whole aim of the Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God.  How this is accomplished depends upon the unique talents and dispositions God has given to each individual soul.  Upon the path of salvation set forth by our Lord, it is clear that one size does not fit all.  Nevertheless, it is only by means of enduring with patience the pain and suffering He Himself endured for our salvation that we may hope to attain the fullness of eternal life in God's eternal Kingdom.

ON THE FORTHCOMING PAN ORTHODOX COUNCIL

"Holy Father," prays our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, "keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are."  This is the theme of unity that runs like a golden thread throughout the Gospel and is, indeed, the underlying principle of all reality--whether uncreated or created.  God Himself--revealed as a Holy Trinity--is the perfect, incomprehensible and ineffable union of three Persons in one Divine Nature; the Church--Christ's Body--is proclaimed in the Creed as one, holy and catholic; while the human race consists of innumerable persons sharing a  common human nature. 

It was the arch heretic Arius who strove to break asunder the unity of the Holy Trinity, rending the seamless robe of our Lord and thereby sowing division and disharmony within the Church--but Christ assures us that against the Church, the gates of hell shall never prevail.  And so it was that the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council gathered together in the God preserved city of Nicaea in order to refute this pernicious heresy and to cast Arius out of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, declaring with one voice, "Thus it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit...."

When Christ ascended into the heavens, He sent down upon the Church the Holy and Life Giving Spirit that all men might be drawn together into a unity that reflects that of the Holy Trinity, while the ancient enemy of the human race--Satan--ceaselessly strives to sow the seeds of discord and fragmentation.  And while we hear much nowadays about the necessity of restoring the supposedly lost unity of the Church, the Holy Fathers unequivocally teach us that the Church is, always has been, and always will be undivided and indivisible. 

There has been a good deal of hoopla of late concerning the long planned and forthcoming Pan Orthodox Council, which is to be convened not in order to condemn a new heresy that threatens to distort the inspired dogma of the Church, but rather to promote--through cunning and deceit--the pan-heresy of ecumenism.  Do not be deceived, my friends--the ultimate goal of this pernicious heresy is to unite the One True Church to the heretical Roman confession, and (eventually) to bring together all so-called Christians into the one world religion  of the  Antichrist.  It is therefore vital that we, as true Orthodox Christians, stand firmly rooted in that Faith once delivered unto the Apostles and sealed by the blood of the martyrs, that we might until the end of time remain truly one... even as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one.  Maranatha!  Lord come!

"WHO DID SIN--THIS MAN OR HIS PARENTS?"

"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth.  And his disciples asked him, saying, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  So... it's a matter of either-or, right?  Call it karma or God's just retribution, but someone must have sinned to explain the reason why such a tragedy had occurred. (Though unless we invoke the fallacious concept of reincarnation,
it is difficult to understand how this man might have sinned before his birth).

So why, then, did God permit Herod's slaughter of the Holy Innocents?  For what reason or purpose did the 3000 innocent victims perish when the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11?  Why did hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have to die when the tsunami hit the Asian coasts in December, 2004?  I could go on and on, of course, considering that the human race has been subjected to innumerable tragedies and seemingly senseless suffering from the very beginning unto this present day.  But consider those eighteen men upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, crushing them to death.  Jesus rightly asks his interlocutors, "Think they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, nay: but, except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish."  (Luke 13: 4-5).

But why, why, why has so much seemingly senseless and arbitrary (according to human reasoning) death and suffering afflicted both the just and the unjust, both the righteous and the unrighteous, over the whole course of human history?  Yet... who do we think we are that we should expect to fathom the depths of divine providence?  Or do we really think we can calculate by means of a divine calculus an explanation for the distribution of death and suffering that occurs in this world?  In the instance of the blind man of the Gospel, at least, our Lord gives us the answer: "Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."  And so... what more do we require?

The truth is, God is not the author of sin, death and suffering--nor do these provisional facts of our existence in this fallen world possess an ultimate meaning or reality.  They are, rather, the consequences of our rebellion against God, according to the free will He has so graciously bestowed upon us.  In this world of corruption and violence we ourselves have created, sin and suffering are inevitable... and in the end, we must all die.  We shall all, however, be judged at the end of time according to the measure of love we have acquired in our hearts during our earthly sojourn. So let us all--no matter how far we may have wondered from God and defiled in our own lives the essential goodness of His creation--beseech our All-Compassionate Creator that He might grant unto us the gift of love in our hearts, that we might in the end--by His grace--prove worthy of the gift of eternal life in His heavenly Kingdom.

THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA

In today's Gospel, Jesus enters the city of Sychar in Samaria and sits on Jacob's well.  Weary and thirsty from His journey, when he encounters a woman approaching to draw water, he says to her, "Give me to drink."  As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this Samaritan Woman is literal and earthly minded.   When she expresses her surprise that Jesus, being a Jew, should make such a request of a woman of Samaria, our Lord responds, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that sayest to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." 

Now she is skeptical, idly noting that Jesus has nothing with which to draw up the water.  Then--when He declares that "whoever drinkest of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst," her interest is piqued--and she thinks in very practical terms of how convenient it  would be if she should never again have to trudge her way to the well in order to draw water.  Surely she hears Jesus' words, but she has no comprehension of their depth. 

It is only when He reveals to the woman her marital history (concerning which, by the way, He does not condemn her), does she perceive at last that this is no ordinary man, but some sort of prophet--though even then she does not request those living waters of which He has spoken, but rather changes the subject--attempting to engage our Lord in a theological discussion.  She does not, though, seem to be quite convinced by Jesus' response, replying in effect: "Oh well, never mind: when Messiah comes, he will explain it all."

What then?....   When Jesus declares plainly that He is that long awaited Messiah, suddenly the scales fall away from her eyes and she runs off (not merely saunters away) to bear witness to Christ before her fellow villagers.  She--a mere Samaritan woman and a sinner to boot (for she is living with a man out of wedlock)--is enlightened, perceiving the truth that the Jewish leaders stubbornly denied unto the very end.  Thus she is, according to Orthodox tradition, St. Photini (her name means "light").

But there had to be more at work here than the mere fact that Jesus had told her all things that she ever did (which was, of course, an exaggeration).  Though she was initially confused and skeptical, her humble heart was open and receptive to our Lord's salvific revelation.  Deep down, she had known all along that the happiness and fulfillment she had sought through marriage and material comforts was shallow and ephemeral, and that (as St. Augustine once wrote) "our hearts are ever restless till they find their rest in Thee."  And so it happened that by the grace of God, Jesus' words struck a chord in her soul, lifting her beyond the threshold toward a truly spiritual life (that is, a life permeated by the "living waters" of the Holy Spirit of God).  May we all likewise respond to our Lord's words with an open and contrite heart, freely forsaking all things earthly in exchange for God's gift of eternal life in His heavenly Kingdom.

ON TRUE JUDGMENT

Jesus said to the hypocritical Jewish leaders, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."  It is common nowadays to be admonished that as Christians, we should not judge.  Of course, on the level of personal morality, this is true... we must first remove the plank from our own eye before attempting to remove the speck from our neighbor's.  Yet surely the Church Fathers did pass judgment upon the heretics--anathematizing them until they should repent of their false and pernicious doctrine. 

This was done, of course, not out of a spirit of hatred, spite or arrogance, but rather out of love--lest the faithful should be deceived by these wolves in sheep's clothing and thus be tempted to fall away from the true path of salvation.  Nor did the Fathers speak according to their own personal opinions (as, indeed, did the heretics), but according to the Mind of the Church, declaring in unity, "It seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit"--the very same Spirit that our Lord sent down upon His disciples on the day of Pentecost, the Comforter Who would lead the Church into the fullness of Truth. 

As Orthodox Christians, we are called to pass judgment, to discern according to the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  Contrary to modern secular thinking, there is an absolute truth, which is revealed to us in and through the Church--which is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the true Orthodox Church that has (as we proclaim on the Sunday of Orthodoxy) established the universe.

This is the very Faith we are called to boldly confess to a world that considers all truth to be relative and all "churches" and religions to be equally valid, that we may be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God to bear witness to that faith once delivered to the Apostles and sealed by the blood of the martyrs.  Having been granted (though no merit of our own) to see "the true light," having by virtue of our Baptism been enlightened by the heavenly Spirit, we must (with the utmost love and humility)
strive to share this Faith.  May God therefore strengthen us all, that we may be enabled to declare to the world that Faith we have received--to the glory of Christ God and the Holy Orthodox Church He has established for the sake of the salvation of the human race.

"SIR, I HAVE NO MAN...."

Just imagine the scene: crowded within the five porches of the pool of Bethesda, there "lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water."  For it so happened that at various times impossible to predict, an angel would descend and stir the water, and whoever was lucky enough to enter the pool at that precise moment... would be healed!

Unfortunately, with so many seeking the cure, it was rather like the lottery: except one was not required to merely buy a ticket and wait to see if one had the winning number.  It was necessary, rather, that a person needed to push and shove his way into the pool at the very moment the angel descended, ahead of all the others.  If such a thing existed today, it seems to me it could provide the basis for a very popular TV reality show....

Unfortunately, though, only a favored few were, over the course of time, granted the gift of healing so fervently desired, and I suspect that most of those had someone--friend or family--to assist them.  The paralytic who had suffered his infirmity for thirty eight long years, though, lost out every time.  When Jesus approaches this man, he asks him, "Wilt thou be made whole?"  What a question... of course he does.  Nevertheless, an affirmative answer is not a foregone conclusion.  The truth is, there are many persons who do  not, deep down, want to be made whole, who actually prefer the dubious pleasure of being a victim of their infirmity.  But in this case, "The impotent man answers, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool."

Little does he realize, however, that with Jesus' approach, he has such a Man--not just any man, though, but the Godman--the incarnate Son of God Who has come to earth and taken flesh from the pure blood of the Virgin, that by His salvific death and resurrection, He might grant healing to the fallen nature of humanity, that all who believe in Him might be made worthy of eternal life and salvation in His heavenly Kingdom.

And so Jesus commands the paralytic, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."  But why, we may well ask, was it this man in particular, and not all the others who continued to languish by the pool?  Was this man especially virtuous and deserving?--Not at all!  We know, in fact, that he was a sinner, because Jesus later tells him, "Sin no more, lest a worst thing come upon thee."  Yet it was this man alone who was healed, for no obvious reason we can fathom.  It all came to pass as recorded in the Gospels according to the inscrutable providence of God. 

How often do we ourselves bemoan the seemingly unfair and evil circumstances of our lives, crying out to the Heavens, WHY ME?  Nevertheless, no matter how much it may be appointed unto us to suffer the "slings and arrows" of misfortune and seemingly unjust persecution at the hands of our enemies, one thing is sure and certain:  in the words of the Holy Apostle, "All things work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose."  There is a purpose for everything God allows to enter into our lives, and that purpose always involves our salvation--that through whatever suffering we may be called to endure during this brief earthly life, our souls and bodies might be refined like pure gold in the furnace, that we may in the end be made worthy of the gift of eternal life in the Age to Come.

WHO SHALL ROLL AWAY THE STONE?

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the Myrrhbearing Women came to the sepulcher to anoint our Lord with sweet smelling spices.  No doubt downcast and sorrowful, they wondered, "Who shall roll away the stone?"  For the stone was, in fact, very large, and they were mere women unaccustomed to hard physical labor.  But behold!  When they looked, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away.  And so they were vouchsafed to behold the angel who announced unto them, "Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified; He is risen; He is not here...."

Indeed....  How often have you and I failed to step forward on that path of salvation God has appointed for us, because... well... there are just too many obstacles!  Ideally, of course, it would be great if we could step out in faith and bear bold witness in some way to the love of God in Christ Jesus, but... we've got to be realistic!  Who shall roll away the stone?

And yet, perhaps--were we to take courage and to cast aside every fainthearted doubt--if we just lifted up our eyes and looked, we would see (as did the Myrrhbearing Women) that the stone has been rolled away already, that God Himself has removed every obstacle along the path of our salvation, that if only we have faith, nothing shall be impossible.  With the Myrrhbearing Women, however, it was less a matter of faith than of love. They bought the spices and set forth for the tomb very early in the morning not so much because they had faith, but because the love for Jesus that burned in their hearts compelled  them to do so.

It is true that through faith in Christ we can accomplish miracles... but the love He engenders in our hearts is the greatest miracle of them all.  It is through love alone that we can acquire that living faith that can remove mountains--because God is love, and it is by love alone that every obstacle on the path of our salvation can be vanquished. 

After our Lord's crucifixion, the apostles were cowering behind closed doors--but it is sure and certain that perfect love casts out all fear.  Moreover, it is because we have loved much that our sins--though they be many--shall be forgiven.  Apart from love, we may indeed work miracles of faith and accomplish things worthy of esteem in the eyes of the world--but love alone is the key that unlocks the gate leading into the eternal Kingdom of God.  Let us, therefore, pray ceaselessly that we may be granted the gift of love in our hearts--that we may in the end prove worthy to partake of our Lord's glorious Resurrection.