Category: Theology

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The Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

For Orthodox, the true image of God and the true nature of man are revealed in history by one event.  God has revealed Himself to us in Christ.  Through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, Christ accomplishes this by His Incarnation in the Flesh.  The Incarnation of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, reveals the image of the Father to the world and only through Him, in the Holy Spirit, can we KNOW God the Father (St. John 17, 25-26).  The hymn of Christmas, by St. Romanos the Melodist, summarizes the theology of incarnation with this phrase, “A new born child; God before the Ages”. 

The Incarnation is an act of GOD out of love.  It is an act of God identifying with our nature and of sharing His Nature with us.  The nature of God as Trinity was the topic of the first two Ecumenical Councils; the next five great Councils dealt with who is Jesus and what is His relationship to us, His creation.

  • JESUS CHRIST IS FULLY AND COMPLETELY PERFECT GOD.
  • JESUS CHRIST IS FULLY AND COMPLETELY PERFECT MAN.
  • JESUS CHRIST IS NOT TWO PERSONS BUT ONE.
  • JESUS CHRIST IN HIS HUMANITY IS LIKE US IN EVERY WAY, SAVE HE IS WITHOUT SIN.

Our God as Trinity  is a perfect community of love shared between the Three Persons of one essence.  The Incarnation is also about sharing and participation.  Christ shares our humanity, even to death on the cross.  This act of perfect love enables us, in Christ, through His Spirit to participate in the life of God.  We are called to intimate communion, even friendship with our Lord.  The entire history of Christ in the world can be summed up in one word ENCOUNTER.  Through Him,  in Him and with Him, we encounter the Living God.  Christ assumed our human nature and our human body.  He transformed them with the Glory of God and showed us the true original beauty of our created potential.  In His Ascension He present our humanity  to His Father, wholly transfigured, so that we might share in the Nature of God. As we celebrate the great miracle of Christ’s incarnation let us allow Christ to be born in our hearts as He was born in that humble manger in a cave. By allowing Christ to be born within us we can become His presence in the  world to love our fellow human beings as He loves us. 

Ria and I wish you and your families a blessed Nativity and a joyous 2021. God Bless Fr. G 

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The Journey

 

Before I answer the question below, I want to point out the great loss of our heritage. The above icon is from the Exo-narthex of the Great Church of Chora in Constantinople now turned into a mosque by the Turkish government. May Our Lord, the Saviour, protect His Church in Chora and keep it safe.

When Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, how long would the trip have taken?

A. The distance “as the crow flies” from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 70 miles. Under normal circumstances, without too many winding roads or rough spots to traverse, people might well have been able to travel (on foot or by donkey) about 20 miles a day, for a total one-way trip of perhaps four days. However, we must keep in mind several factors that might have made this particular journey last longer.

First, the land of Samaria lay along the most direct route between Nazareth and Bethlehem, and in Jesus’ day, there was considerable hostility between Jews and Samaritans. Even if, as I think we can assume, Our Lady and St. Joseph bore no animosity toward Samaritans, it would have been difficult and even dangerous for them to travel through that country. They might have been harassed and would almost certainly have been refused lodging, just as Jesus and His disciples were treated some years later (see Luke 9:51-56).

Surely St. Joseph would have sought to protect his wife, and the Child she carried, from such a threat. So, as was common among the Jews of the day, the holy couple would probably have journeyed far off the “direct” route to avoid Samaria, taking a detour from Galilee across the Jordan River and then back again into Judea farther south. That would have added many miles, and several days, to the journey.

Second, remember that Mary was close to the end of her pregnancy. No doubt they had to travel much more slowly than normal to avoid excessive discomfort for her and risks to the health of both mother and Child.

Given these factors, the one-way trip may have taken a week or ten days, and perhaps much longer.

Second, remember that Mary was close to the end of her pregnancy. No doubt they had to travel much more slowly than normal to avoid excessive discomfort for her and risks to the health of both mother and Child.

Given these factors, my guess is that the one-way trip took at least a week or ten days, and perhaps much longer.

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The Whole Package

St. Katherine the Great Martyr

Today when we admire someone who is beautiful, witty and bright we might say, she’s the whole package. This is a perfect description of St. Katherine the Great Martyr. Katherine lived in the early 4th century in the city of Alexandria. Highly educated, beautiful, articulate  and of royal blood, Katherine confronted the Emperor Maxentius and professed her faith in Christ. The  emperor summoned fifty pagan philosophers to debate Katherine on matters of faith. Catherine(another spelling) refuted their arguments so convincingly that many of her learned opponents accepted Christ. Maxentius was infuriated and  ordered Katherine tortured and many of the new converts put to death.

Tortured and imprisoned her courage and deep faith influenced over 200 additional souls to embrace faith in Christ including the emperor’s wife Valeria Maximilla. They too were also martyred. Maxentius tried to  entice Katherine by an offer of marriage, but the princes would have none of it. She face even more  terrible tortures. The Emperor sentenced Katherine to be tortured on a spoked wheel, which broke in pieces when Katherine touched it. Many icons of the great saint depict her standing next to a wheel.  Katherine was finally beheaded at the young age of 18.  With her faith and dedication to Christ she  earned the grace of the Holy Spirit and the crown  of a Great Martyr of the Church. Throughout the centuries many  miracles have been accomplished through the intercessions of St. Katherine. She has appeared to many faithful to comfort them in times of distress. The Emperor Justinian named the Monastery on Mt.  Sinai in her honour and it is one of the primary pilgrim destinations in the Orthodox world. Holy Martyr of God, Katherine, pray for us.

 

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The Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple (21 November 2020)

This Saturday we celebrated the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. What we know about this event in the life of the Theotokos can be found in two ancient sources. The Protoevagelium of James and The Gospel of the Birth of Mary.  These are materials that were not placed in the canonical sources. Some non-Orthodox “experts” have called these writings the “lost books” or “new sources” They were never lost nor are they new. Orthodox monastics and theologians have always used these sources to expand our understanding of the lives of the saints and events in salvation history. The hymnographers, iconographers and poets of the Church have drawn on these writings to enrich our liturgical and faith experience. These writings give the early events of the life of the Theotokos. The Protoevagelium Jacobi (aka The Infancy Gospel of James) presents the more detailed story of the events of her parental heritage, conception, birth and early life. As we know in the canonical Gospel of Luke, St. Luke begins his narrative with the story of St. John the Baptist and then relates the events of the Annunciation to the Theotokos. So these other sources are valuable as they present some of the rest of the Theotokos’ story. 

The Protoevagelium relates that Joachim and Anna, the Theotokos’ parents, were so grateful to God for His gift of the conception of Mary; they promised to dedicate Mary to God by presenting her to the Temple. The miracle of their having this blessed child erased the reproval of their community because of their inability to bear children. The thinking of that culture was that a childless couple could not participate in the possibility of being heirs to the promise of the future messiah. When  Mary reached the age of three, they fulfilled their pledge and escorted  her accompanied by 10 virgins with lit lamps to the Temple.  This was prophesied in Psalm 44 LXXII [45]. They were met by the High Priest Zacharias, who guided the child Mary into the Holy of Holies. We hear in the Protoevagelium, “Now Mary was in the Temple of the Lord like a dove being fed and she received food from the hand of an angel.” This was the Archangel Gabriel (notice the top left corner of the icon). What happened from age three until the mid-teenage years when we know that the Annunciation took place is not completely detailed. But we know the Virgin piously stayed in the Temple and found favour with God until her betrothal to Joseph.

The material concerning these years can be found in these ancient writings, As we commemorate these events perhaps reading some of these books could expand your understanding. We must know that the Church has not endorsed these writings as canonical, but looks on them as resources to expand and enhance our faith journey. God Bless and Have a Blessed Thanksgiving

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St. Ioannikios the Great

Today our Holy Church celebrates the great monastic father of the 8th-9th century. St Ioannikios the Great , a fervent iconodule (supporter of icons). He lived in seclusion as a hermit on Mt. Olympus of Asia Minor. In his Canon in tribute to Saint Ioannikios, Patriarch Methodios I related that as a young military office serving in the war against the Bulgars, Ioannikios was so appalled by the slaughter; he left the battlefield to become a “soldier for Christ” as a monastic. He lived the remained of his life as a hermit on Mt. Olympus. He wrote the following prayer which the Church declares today.

 The Prayer of St Ioannikios the Great

This prayer is attributed to St. Ioannikios the Great. It is said that he would repeat a version of this prayer between verses of the Psalms, the entirety of which he had memorized:

My hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my shelter is the Holy Spirit. O Holy Trinity, glory to You.

This prayer is read at the end of the each of services of the Akathistos Hymn during Great Lent 

The hymns in honour of St. Ioannikios

Apolytikion in Plagal of the Fourth Tone

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile, and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance. By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe. O our holy father Ioannikios, pray to Christ our God to save our souls.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone

Today we celebrate together your honored memory, and we faithfully beseech you, O holy Ioannikios that we may find mercy with the Lord.

Apolytikion in Plagal of the First Tone

Thou didst abandon earthly glory and wast illumined by the light of God’s inspiration. Wherefore thou didst shine on earth like a fadeless star. For thou wast found worthy to hear the divine voice like Moses and wast also like the Angels and a treasury of grace, O holy Father Ioannikios.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone

We have come together today to honour thy memory, and implore thee to obtain mercy for us from the Lord, O holy Father Ioannikios.

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Resurrection to Second Coming Part 1

The Resurrection

Christ is Risen!!!

Part 1 of a study of the 50 days of Eastertide. This lesson briefly reviews the end of Holy Week and discusses the theology of Bright(Renewal) Week. It ends with the theology of Thomas Sunday. Also included is an introduction of the 11 Resurrectional or Eothina Sunday Matin gospels of the Orthodox Church. This lesson prepares for Part 2 which will discuss the significance of remaining Sundays after Pascha to prepare for the coming of the Holy Sprit at Pentecost. God Bless…..dn g

Resurrection to Second Coming Part 1

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St. George: The Great Martyr and Trophy-Bearer

St George the Great Martyr
A Trisagion Film

On April 23, our Holy Church commemorates the Great Martyr and Trophy-Bearer St. George. Holy Saint of God Intercede for us. Χρίστος Ἀνέστη!! ….dn g

Apolytikion of Great Martyr George

Fourth Tone

Liberator of captives, defender of the poor, physician of the sick, and champion of kings, O trophy-bearer, Great Martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion of Great Martyr George

Fourth Tone

Cultivated by God, you became manifest as an honorable tiller gathering for yourself the sheaves of virtue. For you sowed with tears but reaped with gladness; in the contest you competed with your blood and came away with Christ. By your intercessions, O Holy One, all are granted forgiveness of sins.

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