Reflections – Page 39

Nativity of the Theotokos

Icon of St. Anna holding the Most Holy Theotokos – Benaki Museum, Greece, 2017

Greetings on this beautiful Feast Day! (September 21 /8)

In their barren affliction the holy parents [Sts. Joachim and Anna] of the Mother of God cried aloud unto the Lord; and they… received from heaven a gift worthy of God… Today the inhabited earth rejoiceth with thee, O holy Anna. For thou hast borne as blossom the Mother of its Redeemer, even her who brought forth the Rod of our strength from the root of Jesse, and who bore Christ as flower… Husbandman of our Thoughts and gardener of our souls, Thou hast made the barren earth fertile. Thou hast turned the ground that once was parched into fruitful land, rich in corn and bearing fruit. From Holy Anna Thou hast made to blossom… the Theotokos. ~ Matins Excerpts on the Birth of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos

7th century sermon on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary ~by St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

The root is the household of the Jews, the rod is Mary, the Flower of Mary is Christ. She is rightly called a rod, for she is of the royal lineage, of the house and family of David. Her Flower is Christ, Who destroyed the stench of worldly pollution and poured out the fragrance of eternal life. As He Himself said, ‘I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys.’ ~ St Ambrose of Milan (4th century)

I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the Holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the Holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God? ~ St. Cyril of Alexandria (375 -444 AD)

She is the flower of the field from whom blossomed the precious lily of the valley.~ St Augustine (354-430 AD )

Here are some traditions on ways to celebrate today! Besides wearing blue in honour of the Theotokos, many hike and go birdwatching after Liturgy and lunch, to count how many birds and species they can see today. (It is said St. Anna saw a mother bird tending her fledglings in a garden nest, which saddened but inspired St. Anna to pray yet again faithfully for the blessing of a child.) If hiking, and you are allowed to, flowers and wild grasses are picked and placed in the family icon corner.

Some families have recently adapted baking a Birthday Cake or another kind of sweet, and sing the Tropar of the Nativity of the Theotokos before enjoying the treat. Others share they make blueberry pancakes after Liturgy or bake a blueberry pie for dessert for after dinner!

Thy nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, hath proclaimed Joy to all the world;
for from thee hath shone forth Christ our God, the Sun of Righteousness,
Who, having annulled the curse, hath given His blessing, and having abolished death, hath granted us life everlasting. ~ Troparion Tone 4

O Most Holy Theotokos, pray to God for us!

Beautiful Orthodox Hymn to the Virgin Mary by St. Nektarios of Aegina Greece (with English translation)

Abbreviated version in Greek

Full version in Slavonic

Flowers Speak

Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

If you put something fragrant on to burning coals, you motivate those who approach to come back again and to stay near, but if you instead put something with an unpleasant, oppressive smell, you repel them and drive them away. It is the same with the mind. If your attention is occupied with what is holy, you make yourself worthy of being visited by God, since this is the sweet savour which God catches scent of. On the other hand, if you nurture evil, foul and earthly thoughts within you, you remove yourself from God’s supervision and unfortunately make yourself worthy of His aversion. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

They Dance for Joy

Detail of Mosaic Panel of Creation – St. Sophia Orthodox Church – Canada

…angels… are always being filled full of light, becoming ever more radiant and making blessed use of their natural ability to change. They dance for joy around the First Light, look continuously towards Him and are enlightened directly by Him, as they tirelessly sing the praises of the Fount of Light and, being ministers of light, transmit illuminating grace to those lower beings who are being enlightened. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

Christ, the Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2), is without beginning and pre-eternal. He is both immutable and unchangeable, as with Him there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning (James 1:17). He is without end, never-setting, beaming out the true and heavenly light of day without evening, in which the spirits of the righteousness live with the good angels. When this present age reaches its end, the righteous shall also have their bodies with them, as heirs of the light and sons of the true day. That day continues forever without evening, and neither has, nor ever did have, a morning, since it has no beginning. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

On occasion, I’ve orchestrated group observation with my youth choir to demonstrate how we, as created beings, are unable to fully comprehend the concept of Eternity or Pre-eternal.

After first discussing general definitions of the two words, we’d continue with the next part of the exercise. For just a few minutes, (it’s too difficult to try longer) we silently contemplate the concept of what Eternal means. How God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are Pre-Eternal (beyond time and space)… and have always “been” even before anything else existed. No beginning, no end. ✠

The attempts to try and wrap our mortal minds around the notion of eternal and pre-eternal is humbling and revealing.

Spontaneous laughter and amazement conclude these experiments. Exclamations from the youth range from “Wow, that’s impossible!” to “My brain exploded!”

God is simultaneously everywhere. (Yet another wondrous point to ponder!) He is the beginning, the continuation, the Life and Light of everything that exists. In His great and loving goodness, the Way to salvation is revealed through His Only-Begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ… the Sun of Righteousness, the Dawn and Dayspring from on high.

And so, like the angels, let our souls rejoice and dance with joy; radiantly infused with the Pre-eternal Divine Light, and Peace… which surpasses understanding.

✠ Excellent Post Script from Anastasia, who shares: “A priest once said in my high school religion class: “Eternity is not a “line”. It is a “point”, and we are standing in it.” As he said that, he drew a line and then a dot on the board. I’ve remembered it these 50+ years it impressed me so.

Through Attention

Beautiful Sunflower Church Bouquet with Lemons and Chestnuts, by Evguenia

It is impossible for anyone who stands in God’s holy Church collecting his thoughts, lifting his mind to God, occupying his understanding with the sacred singing from the beginning until the end, and waiting patiently, not to undergo a divine change, in accordance with his attention to God and His teachings. Through this attention a certain warmth is born in the heart which chases away evil like flies, creates a spiritual peace and comfort in the soul and bestows sanctification on the body, according to him who said, ‘My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned’ (Psalm 39:3)… ~ St. Gregory Palamas

The church has been planted as a paradise in this world. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

A Christian should inscribe the Symbol of Faith upon the tablets of the heart... Your accumulated offences do not surpass the multitude of God’s mercies: our wounds do not surpass the great Physician’s skill. ~ St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315 – 386 AD)

Happy Ecclesiastical New Year!

Photo of the Altar, in St. Sophia’s original Mission House Church. Services began there in September of 1991 and continued for 10 years, until the parish could purchase a building and move location of worship. Reminiscent of St. Paul’s dear friends and helpers in Christ, Sts. Priscilla and Aquila who had a church in their house… our priest and his matushka’s home was used as a church, and the dining room was set aside as a permanent Altar area, and kept completely separate as such, for a decade.

The entire Liturgical Church Year is a treasury of spiritual wisdom and blessings.

In this busy month of September, there are two Great Feasts, the Nativity of the Theotokos (Sept. 21/8) and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept. 27/14).

There are also other holy days during this month, such as the Beginning of the Church Liturgical New Year on September 14/1.

The first day of the Church’s Liturgical New Year is called the Beginning of the Indiction. It occurs in September for both Scriptural and historical reasons.

The Scriptural reason is that God, through Moses, ordained the Old Testament Church to celebrate the New Year at the time of the harvest in the seventh month, that is, September – actually the seventh month according to ancient Hebrew reckoning.

Tradition says the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September. The Holy Scriptures (Leviticus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1-2) confirm the people of Israel celebrating the feast of the Blowing of Trumpets on this day, with the offering of hymns and thanksgiving.

The historical reason is the Roman-Byzantine Emperors and the Eastern Patriarchs of the New Testament Church also decreed the New Year should be in September. According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue on September 1/14 to announce His mission to mankind (St. Luke 4:16-22). He was given the book of the Prophet Isaiah to read. He opened it and proclaimed, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…” (Isaiah 61:1-2 )

The Church continues to keep the spiritual significance of the Liturgical New Year, with prayers asking God to grant temperate weather, seasonable rains, and abundance of the fruits of the earth. We are reminded that time is a precious gift.

Let us re-examine our priorities and offer unto the Lord, a New Year… in which we put Him first!

Closer Than Our Own Heart

Local sunset, on paddle board – photo shared by Katherine

Such, then, is our God: unknowable in his essence, yet known in his energies; beyond and above all that we can think or express, yet closer to us than our own heart. ~ Kallistos Ware

If I do not feel a sense of joy in God’s creation, if I forget to offer the world back to God with thankfulness, I have advanced very little upon the Way. I have not yet learnt to be truly human. For it is only through thanksgiving that I can become myself. ~ Kallistos Ware

We know that prayer in itself cannot and of itself cannot save us, but carrying it before God can. For when the Lord’s eyes are upon un, He sanctifies us, as the sun warms everything upon which it shines. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

Prayer is spiritual breathing; when we pray we breathe in the Holy Spirit; “praying in the Holy Spirit“. Thus, all church prayers are the breathing of the Holy Spirit; as it were spiritual air and also light, spiritual fire, spiritual food and spiritual raiment. ~ St. John of Kronstadt

Sowing the Divine Seed

Holy Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul on Epistle Book cover

The Holy Gospels are from Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Most of the other New Testament Books are Epistles – Letters from Sts. Peter and Paul to the early Christians located in different cities.

Each day of the liturgical year has specific Gospel and Epistle readings. These pertain to the church calendar, and spiritually nourish millions of Orthodox Christians daily. If prayer is where we speak to God, the Scriptures are how we listen to Him.

Reading Scriptures and understanding them through the teachings of the Church is paramount.

As of 2021, private interpretations and individualistic opinions of Holy Scripture have globally birthed a staggering 45,000 separate Christian denominations.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:15

How to Read the Bible

If from one burning lamp someone lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously. In the same way, through the Apostles ordaining their successors, and those successors ordaining others, and so on, the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their spiritual shepherds and teachers. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

… we commemorate each of the saints with hymns and appropriate songs of praise, how much more should we celebrate the memory of Peter and Paul, the supreme Leaders of the pre-eminent company of the Apostles? They are the fathers and guides of all Christians: Apostles, martyrs, holy ascetics, priests, hierarchs, pastors and teachers. As chief shepherds and master builders of our common godliness and virtue, they tend and teach us all, like lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

… the Apostle Peter declared that the Church was built by the Holy Spirit. For you read that he said: ‘God, Who knows the hearts of men, bore witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as was given to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith’ Acts 15:8-9. In which is to be considered, that as Christ is the Cornerstone, Who joined together both peoples into one, so, too, the Holy Spirit made no distinction between the hearts of each people, but united them. ~ St. Ambrose of Milan

… the light that illumined St. Paul on the road to Damascus, the light through which he was raised to the third heaven where he heard unutterable mysteries, was not merely enlightenment of conceptual images or of spiritual knowledge. It was the effulgence of the power of the Holy Spirit shining in our Lord’s own person. Such was its brilliance that corporeal eyes were not able to bear it and were blinded; and through it all spiritual knowledge is revealed and God is truly known by the worthy and loving soul. ~ St. Makarios of Egypt

According to St. Paul you minister the Gospel only when, having yourself participated in the light of Christ, you can pass it on actively to others. Then you sow the Logos like a divine seed in the fields of your listeners’ souls... Elsewhere St. Paul, calls the teachers tillers and their pupils the field they till wisely, presents the former as ploughers and sowers of the divine Logos and the latter as fertile soil, yielding a rich crop of virtues. True ministry is not simply a celebration of sacred rites; it also involves participation in divine blessings and the communication of these blessings to others. ~ St. Gregory of Sinai

There’s a Daily Orthodox Church Calendar on Blisswood, located at the very bottom of each page and post; where one can easily access links for daily Gospel and Epistle readings.

I prefer to hold and read from an actual King James Bible, but when travel or convenience calls, there’s also a free, simple app, great for ipads or cells. It’s called Orthodox Calendar and contains lives of saints, fasting regulations, Scripture Readings, Troparion and Kontakion (Little Hymns pertaining to the day).

May your day and and all your spiritual endeavours be blessed!

Lampstand of the Light

Dome Mosaic of St. John the Baptist – St. Sophia Orthodox Church, Canada

St. John the Baptist is called the voice of the Word, the Lampstand of the Light, the morning star and Forerunner of the Sun of Righteousness.

He is named Forerunner, as he preceded Christ… being sent as a Messenger to prepare the people for Christ’s ministry. Angel in Greek means messenger, and some icons of St. John the Baptist depict him with angelic wings, on account of Malachi’s prophecy from the Old Testament.

Several dates during the Liturgical year specifically celebrate the birth, life and death of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of Christ.

On September 11 (August 29, Julian calendar) we remember St. John the Baptist’s heavenly birthday and martyrdom. In honour of the greatest of all prophets who have ever lived, and since ancient times, the Church has celebrated this leading luminary by establishing this day as a fast.

St. John the Baptist is the personification of faithfulness to God, righteousness, and asceticism. He is so revered, that each Tuesday, every week of the year is also dedicated to him.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. ~ St. John 1:6-9

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is stjohnbaptisticonstsophia.jpeg — St. John the Baptist – St. Sophia Orthodox Church, Canada

St. John the Baptist Resource Page

700 years before the birth of Christ, the Prophet Isaiah foretold the preaching of John the Baptist. Isaiah called St. John “the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3); who was to “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, who lived more than 400 years before the birth of Christ foretold the coming of St. John the Baptist, and refers to him as an angel. Behold I will send My Angel, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. ~ Malachi 3:1-2

Christ Himself said: Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ~ St. Matthew 11:11

Through the holy prayers of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of Christ, our Leading Luminary, may we, too, stand as steadfast shining candles before the Lord; radiating His Effulgent and Gladsome Light!

Song of Bread

He who asks to receive his daily bread does not automatically receive it in its fullness as it is in itself: he receives it according to his own capacity as recipient. The Bread of Life (cf. St. John 6:35) gives Himself in His love to all who ask, but not in the same way to all; for He gives Himself more fully to those who have performed great acts of righteousness, and in smaller measure to those who have not achieved so much. He gives Himself to each person according to that person’s spiritual ability to receive Him. ~St. Maximos the Confessor

The Lord promised to send the Comforter. (St. John 16:7), Who should join us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven. And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receives moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above. For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that laver which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the Spirit. Wherefore, both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of God. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Floribunda

A Floribunda Rose with fragrant, dense clusters of beauteous blossoms

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

The fruits of the earth are not brought to perfection immediately, but by time, rain and care; similarly, the fruits of men ripen through ascetic practice, study, time, perseverance, self-control and patience. ~ St. Antony the Great

I have run to the fragrance of your myrrh, O Christ God, for I have been wounded by your love; do not depart from me, O heavenly Bridegroom. ~ St. Porphyrios

May we buzz like bees to the Fragrance of Christ and become permeated with His Divine Perfume!

Then, with faith and patience, let us perennially blossom forth… wherever God’s Loving Hands have planted us!