Fr. Ted Bobosh
These two saints lived long lives in faithfulness to God, but had little to show for it–at least until the end of their lives when God blessed them with one child. That child is the forerunner of the salvation of the world.
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Jesus asks us as he asked the paralytic 2000 years ago, do you want to be made well? Are you willing to make the spiritual changes in your life to start on a new path – to start life over again? Are you willing to listen to the voice of God and walk in His ways?
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So, now retell the Parable of the Publican and Pharisee. Who is the Publican in your life? Who is the kind of person you really despise? Now tell the parable:Two people went to our church to pray. I was one, and the other was . . . (name the worst sinner you can imagine – whether by name or by sin they commit). . .
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This literal reading of the text, provides us insight into our own spiritual sojourn to Christ at the Nativity.
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Let us pray that God will find the way to use all who would persecute us Christians!
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There were three hymns that caught my attention with beautiful imagery.
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Wisdom is as an essential element of our Scriptures and Tradition as is any set of rules or rubrics that have been offered to the faithful. And yet, Wisdom is often given a secondary place in the pedagogy of the Church as many in leadership roles prefer to lay down the law of God rather than to wrestle with Wisdom.
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Abba Arsenius tells the following story and then following the example of Jesus provided an interpretation of the parable...
Many wonder what it is they should confess when they come to the sacrament of repentance.
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Chrysostom knew nothing of modern scientific theories on evolution and genetics, but he did think humans have a spiritual dimension given by God which humans needed to exercise in order to attain full human potential.
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I have not been moved to hatred or thoughts of revenge. My reaction has been a total sorrow that we in the world are in such condition that hatred takes over our lives and that we humans can do such horrendous acts of murder.
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St. Paul uses several different images of the Church—the Body of Christ. In them it is always clear that to be a Christian is to be integrated into something greater than oneself—a body, a temple. We cannot be Christians without being part of this greater whole, which is the Church. As the early Christians noted, “One Christian is no Christian.”
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We Orthodox in America need to prove we are Christ’s neighbor by standing against violence and racism and hatred, by siding with those we think of as the stranger, the alien, the sojourner.
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Patience needs other virtues to bear fruit, otherwise it can just be inaction, passive tolerance. Patience needs to be coupled with the actions of love, kindness and mercy to be Christian virtue.
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Living in the literary culture of the 21st Century, and being shaped by the literary tradition of recent centuries, it is hard to imagine that at one time Christians, like Photius, thought the pictured icon to be “truer” than the written text – a more certain witness to the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
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Rather than focusing on all the good things we do – even when done for God – godly wisdom has us focus on God’s love for us.
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We cannot be a Christian alone. We need Jesus Christ. That is what the Centurion in today’s Gospel lesson realized. It is what every sinner realizes when he or she comes to faith.
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Building upon the images and metaphors of St. Paul’s epistles, St. Nicholas explains both how becoming a Christian is like becoming a slave, and simultaneously how this activity is totally different than the idea of slave and master which was known in the world.
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The Scriptures and Orthodox theology are clear that God is not just a super human being – God is not merely an omnipotent and omniscient human writ large. God is totally other, and whatever words we might apply to us humans – being, nature, person, existing – cannot then rightfully be applied to God.
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There is a long standing debate about the events of Pentecost, which the Patristic writers engaged in, long before the modern era. Is the Holy Spirit changing the speech of the apostles, or changing the hearing of those listening to them?
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While to some the issues of the Council might seem like purely academic debates about abstract theology, the debate of that Council touches the very heart of what and who we understand God to be.
The myrrhbearing women come to the tomb of Christ in the early morning of the Sunday following his crucifixion and burial. According to Mark’s Gospel after being told by a young man (whose clothes apparently caught their attention as they describe them with some detail) that Jesus was risen from the dead, they say nothing to anyone “for they were afraid.” But afraid of what or who? And why?
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Despite the Good News and tragically many still choose death. Orthodoxy sees death as an evil – separation from God. Christ tramples down death by His own death and shows us the way to remain united to the Source of Life even through suffering and death.
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God’s plan for salvation may come from all eternity and heaven, but it is realized only in time on earth. The hymns of Great Lent dealing with redemption remind us how our salvation is worked out through the Virgin Theotokos.
St. Gregory of Nyssa reminds us that as wonderful and spectacular as things of nature are, including stellar events in the universe, it is only humans who are created in God’s image.
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Things around us change, and we change in this process as well. This is what makes repentance and forgiveness possible. We are journeying to the Kingdom of God, to the eschaton, to heaven, to God’s Paradise.
The Synaxarion says the fast free week is good for the monk to remind them not to become proud and arrogant because of his fasting discipline .
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A week ago this past Sunday, we had the Gospel Lesson of the Publican and Pharisee . There were two hymns from the Matins Canon that caught my attention for their theological content.
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In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” from his book, The Brothers Karamazov, we encounter contrasting and conflicting images of religious power.
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Christ’s Gospel commandments are hard. Sometimes they seem obscure, for how can we do them? Is it humanly possible?
Certainly if one studies the layout of Herod’s Jerusalem temple, we get the visible, physical sense that there was a wall (several!) separating the Gentiles from God. St. Paul says, and the hymn certainly picks up this theme, that any “wall” which had separated us from God is abolished.
Looking at one of the liturgical hymns from the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, we see themes that are obvious throughout the Christmas cycle of services. The hymns from the Orthodox services for the Nativity are heavily theological focusing on the lessons the Ecumenical Councils derived from the Scriptures and God’s revelation in Jesus Christ.
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Christianity from its beginning proclaimed Jesus as the incarnate God. This claim seemed folly to many in the ancient world. For some asked incredulously, what would be the purpose of God becoming human?
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Modern folk equate fact and truth, but ancient believers saw truth as being eternal and divine, and the events of the world were the clothing which make truth visible to us.
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Whereas Protestant Christians treat their Bibles as The Word of God, the history and Tradition of Orthodoxy Christianity shows the Church as celebrating Jesus Christ as the incarnate Word of God, to whom the written texts of the Scriptures bear witness.
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Though in the Bible in a few narratives a saint is commanded to literally eat the scroll on which words are written, we have no problem understanding these commands as having a metaphorical or spiritual meaning.
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I am now bringing the quotes together to explore the relationship between the Word of God and the Scriptures. Obviously if Jesus is literally the Word of God, then the Scriptures are the Word of God in some other way. They are the written record of God’s revelation, but Jesus is the full revelation of God. The Scriptures bear witness to Him. It is of Jesus that all the Scriptures speak.
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Central to the teachings of Christ is that Moses and the Prophets wrote about Him.
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The Fathers of the Church recognize that the written Scriptures require interpretation. The written texts occasionally are self- evident in their meaning and can be read at face value, but often they contain within them the prophecies and revelations of God hidden in familiar images, events, and in the language of the text.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
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The Christians began to claim to have the correct understanding of the Jewish Scriptures – the Scriptures were written about the Christ, and properly interpreted in Christ.
The icons on our church walls are not meant to be lifeless caricatures of legendary heroes. They are real people, like you and I who lived the Gospel life and who continue to remain alive in Christ.
Though I have heard many arguments in favor of a literal interpretation of Scripture, rarely have I found biblical literalists to focus their read of Scripture on Christ’s commandments in Luke 6:31-36:
Though it may be hard to do, work on rejoicing in the night, especially a sleepless night, as verse 63:6 says. It helps to remember the words of St. Paul: Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (I Thessalonians 5:16-18). Always and in all circumstances includes the middle of the night when sleep frustratingly eludes you.
Among the most difficult sayings of Christ are His words specifically directed to how we should treat our enemies.
The recent Holy And Great Orthodox Council in Crete inspired me to read about another Orthodox council, The Moscow Council (1917-1918) from a book written by Hyacinthe Destivelle. This Council was held in the midst of most interesting and tumultuous times as Russia was in the spasms of its revolution which would overthrow the dominant social order of their empire. The Church leaders and membership at times resisted the changes, at times prompted the changes and at times was pushed and carried along by the changes.
At the time when the Orthodox Gospel lectionary was being formed, a story of Christ exorcising demons must have been very popular. Since we have a lectionary that repeats every year, it is interesting that they thought this miracle important enough to proclaim twice during the church year in which there are only 52 Sundays, and we actually hear only 1/7 of the Gospels if we attend only on Sundays.
Psalm 137 above, a favorite of Christians for expressing lament and exile as we sojourn through this world, also contains verses of such vile violence that some will not read them. Even knowing that the literal interpretation was not the most common reading among ancient church luminaries, doesn’t always make it easy for the modern reader to apprehend how to pray some of these verses.
The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church came to an end causing little notice in the world at large. The Council’s goal seemed to be to have an assembly of bishops which changed nothing, and any event that changes nothing is not very news worthy.
Various reports are indicating the that the Holy & Great Council of the heads of the various Orthodox Churches which is supposed to start its meeting this week, may be post-poned. Dissension has arisen and some of the heads of the churches have decided not to participate while others are calling for a postponement of the event.
As we hear the Gospel proclaimed, we are to think not just about past history, but about who am I in this Gospel lesson? Am I the paralytic before the encounter with Christ, full of self-pity and always wanting someone else to help me? Or am I the healed person capable of coming back and helping others? Am I the invisible helper who works quietly and silently behind the scenes for thirty eight years, helping even one someone else to survive?
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The first Sunday after Pascha is dedicated to the memory of the Apostle Thomas and his particular reaction to the Gospel of the resurrection of Christ. It is a continuation of the Gospel lesson which was read at the Vespers of Pascha Sunday: John 20:19-31. The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is simply continuing a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ by dealing with the very real reactions of Christ’s own disciples to the Good News.
The raising of Lazarus is celebrated in Orthodoxy as prefiguring the universal resurrection at the end of time. Additionally, this liturgical season is and was especially devoted to a time for baptism, uniting new believers to the Savior.
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The tradition of Jews and Christians (and also later of Muslims) is that God is the creator of both the material and spiritual world. Angels as well as humans are both part of the same created order.
One aspect of Jewish religious life that our Lord Jesus criticized was hypocrisy, which can mean that people diligently adhere to keeping Torah in strict and minute detail, according to a particular interpretation of the Law, but their hearts are not united to the Lord.
Cutting away evil from the heart, not cutting calories is the purpose of the fast. We fast from food in order to help train ourselves to adhere to the Gospel. Abstaining from food is not the goal, abstaining from evil is.
Adam feared God and God’s judgment, yet it did not bring him to repentance, to seek reconciliation with God. Instead, Adam blames Eve and God for his sin and fails to ask the merciful God for forgiveness and reconciliation.
Aging perhaps makes us more realistic about our temporary sojourn on earth. We are God’s guests here, not the permanent residents
Whether we are eating or fasting, it is always the time to be generously charitable and hospitable to others. Without hospitality and charity, our fasting from food is vapid and void.
Sometimes we Orthodox need a little extra push to get into the Lenten Spirit.
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While there is a popular notion about the unchanging nature of Orthodox liturgical practices, any study of history shows that Orthodox liturgical practice has undergone numerous and significant changes over history. One area where we can note significant change is the themes assigned to the Sundays of Great Lent.
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We can consider what the Temple is in Judaism and what it means that Jesus Christ both fulfills and supersedes the Temple.
In the world today, especially in American Christianity, there are divisive debates opposing biblical literalists with those who do not think every scriptural verse was or is meant to be read only literally. Similar debates occurred from the beginnings of Christianity.
The Gospel reading of Matthew 15:21-21 presents a hard lesson both because Jesus appears to treat the woman harshly and because we are challenged to think about people like this woman who might appeal to the parish for help but whom for various reasons we feel justified in just wanting to be rid of them.
The purpose of fasting is to help "stir the pot" which is our heart—to help bring to the surface what really is within each of us. We can then confront the passions and sins in us or bring out the holiness that God has endowed us with.
"The cost of war and the evil of war can be the damage it does to us, to cause us to be less than human. The war may end, but sometimes it does not for those wounded by it."
Today the Orthodox Church in America recognizes the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I want to mention of a quote from President Obama’s 11 January 2016 State of the Union speech. It’s not easy to find something from him to quote for this Sunday, but he said something which caught my ears...
You won’t need security or guards to protect your goods – you put them in God’s hands and God will protect them.
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St. Gregory Palamas, Fr. Ted Bobosh
Impossible to recount is Christ’s descent according to His divinity, but His ancestry according to His human nature can be traced, since He who deigned to become Son of man in order to save mankind was the offspring of men. And it is this genealogy of His that two of the evangelists, Matthew and Luke, recorded. But although Matthew, in the passage from his Gospel read today, begins with those born first, he makes no mention of anyone before Abraham.
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People who are marginalized by the state or oppressed by the state or whose consciences are troubled by the deeds of the state, have no where to turn to seek solace and refuge when the church is in complete sync with the state. And often the church ends up submitting to the state on many issues.
In these troubling times of terrorism, we can pray Psalm 37, a Psalm of the Prophet David.
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Anger may occur in our hearts in reaction to something we experience, but then that anger has to be harnessed by wisdom, humility and love to become an energy that inspires us to the good.
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In Luke 12:16-21, we are presented the story of a man to whom God spoke directly. Unfortunately, God’s words to the man were “You fool!” It certainly would be a rude awakening for any of us believers if when God finally spoke to us, first words were to call us a fool!
I want to revisit the Gospel lesson of Luke 10:25-37, the Good Samaritan, one more time to reflect on the current refugee crisis and what a Christian response might look like.
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The Gospel lesson of Luke 8:41-56 has been a favorite of mine for the simple reason that I see it as presenting a “type” of the Church.
The mass migration has put many European countries to the test, and have challenged the moral values of Christians throughout the world. How should Christians respond to these aliens and strangers who come knocking at our borders? How do we treat migrants who themselves are related to people who have inflicted oppression and suffering on Christians?
Hope in the resurrection is a joyous experience which can carry us through life. Hoping in the resurrection might also lead to our being persecuted by those who hate God.
Parables present us with a special way of coming to the truth. For parables or stories show the words themselves are not enough – one has to interpret the story to come to the truth. Interpretation requires wisdom and knowledge. Interpretation is key to the Gospel message.
The Psalmist may be referring to those incarcerated in prisons, but Evagrius recognized that many things can imprison the mind.
Sometimes we come to a crossroads in life where we have to make a decision as to which way to go.
One of the most blessed features of our God is that God, unlike some of our family members, friends and neighbors, does not keep His anger forever. God is love, and God does not constantly chastise us or punish us. God forgives, God is merciful, God uses every means for our salvation.
The Fathers of the Church were biblical literalists in the sense that they took every single word of Scripture seriously. The words of Scripture had a plain meaning, but they also both hid and revealed a spiritual sense.
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God becomes incarnate to save humanity, then as a human, He prays to His Father for all of us.
Salvation is so much richer than the mere payment of a debt. Salvation restores our humanity to us be reuniting humanity to divinity. Christ’s desire was to bring us to Paradise, not just cancel a debt, but to save us, restore our humanity and unite us to the divine life.
Tears move the Lord of the universe, and in the spiritual tradition, tears in prayer and repentance are seen as a gift from God to us, which in turn move God to compassionately show mercy on us.
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All we who are baptized are called to the King’s table, but God alone knows whom He has chosen. Woe to those of us to whom the Most High, the King, shall say before all the angels and saints: ‘Friend, how can you come not having a wedding garment?’
Peace is to rule in our hearts, even if we have to confront evildoers and those who disturb the peace. We should defend what is good and right without losing the peace that comes from Christ.
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I believe in a merciful and loving God. I’m not blind to the suffering of the world. I’m experiencing it myself. As a believer, I have to wrestle with the real world, and faith in the God of love.
The battle against wandering minds, against the logismoi, is not a new one, and we can look to the desert fathers for advice in such a struggle.
“The entire month of December had taken on the character of a forefeast for Christmas. In this context, the theme of the original preparatory Sunday, the ‘Sunday of the Holy Fathers’ […], commemorating the ancestors of Christ ‘according to the flesh’ […], especially the patriarch Abraham, to whom the promise was first given (Gen. 12:3, 22:18), is fundamental to the whole period.
