The Heresy of Ken Ham: The Ark Encounter Exposed.

 

Before I begin properly this particular article and the necessity that I believe it has, in that this article is in need of writing to formally combat the heresies and the inerrant fallacies of Ken Ham, I would like to offer my sincerest apology for anyone I might offend. My goal through this article, is not offend, rather it is to instruct and guide. While the methods behind the things I will discuss in this article are sound, the methods and the theology are not. We as Orthodox Christians, having the fullness of the faith handed down to us from the church fathers since the beginning of the church, must stand firm and proclaim the truth to all people, regardless of the consequences. What I am going to discuss may not be contained all in one article, or rather in several. It is up to the reader to do more research and digging into the various topics I am going to present and whether they choose to accept what the church has handed down and proclaimed for 2000 years.

First, Ken Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, a ministry devoted to the cause of proclaiming a young earth creationism movement within the church and the world. For many evangelical Christians, and Christians in general, who do not ascribe to the evolutionary explanation for creation, this is a welcomed sight. He has become a champion for the marginalized and forgotten Christian of the world and many people flock to his beliefs in a hope to identify with something that is left missing in their own lives. However, and I say this with the most amount of respect, that leading astray those who are already going astray simply leads people hell. It is not the belief in a young earth, or whether it was by instant creation of the various animals that is the problem. In fact, many Orthodox Christians are not theistic evolutionists and do believe in such a way as to how God created the world. Rather it is the fact that he is adamant that no other way for Creation to have taken place and his addition to the gospel through this belief that is the problem. By openly stating that Christians must and have to conclude that the earth is no more than 6,000 years old, and that we must believe that it was a literal 6 days, 24 hour periods of creation, he has violated the scriptures that he holds dear. Now this might not be clear to some, but let me clarify. The process of creation, rather than the how of the creation is what is most important. The how of creation is important to a rational mind, lacking the history and teachings of the church fathers. By trying to solve every detail about God, we learn that he is unknowable and yet we can know about him through the Church. God gave us the scriptures to point to Christ. He gave us the scriptures not as the end of all authority, but rather as a part of the authority. As one will see later, Ken Ham rejects the teachings of the church fathers, and considers them irrelevant outside the Bible. For an Orthodox Christian, the teachings of the Church Fathers and the Bible go hand in hand. Without one, there is not the other, and vice versa. By his strong belief that a Christian must believe in the literal six days and twenty four hour periods, he has in turn changed the scriptures, which does not give us the details of the how process, but rather that God created the world and that is enough. Therefore I believe that he has violated scriptures, because oth Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18-19 warn against adding anything to the scriptures.  While great ascetics of the Orthodox Faith, like Father Seraphim Rose, of whom I have written extensively about, also proclaim a young earth, it is not completely accepted by all the Orthodox writers and saints.  For many, including St. Maximus the Confessor and St. Gregory of Nyssa, the process of creation is less important than the result of creation.

 Furthermore I would like to add, that even Charles Darwin the so called “father of evolution” believed in a creator. He stated in his writing, “Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully satisfied with the view that each species has been independently created. To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator…” Thus, we understand that God created the world, and how he created the world is not necessary for our salvation. The focal point is that of Jesus Christ and anything outside of Christ is non important to Christianity. Whether or not God created the world in 6, 24 hour periods or whether it was over a period several thousands or millions of years does not matter to us as Christians. We should be focused on growing strong people of faith. Trying to determine the exact methods by which God created the world and each process and each moment leads us down rabbit holes and retracts from the gospel. It defeats the purpose of developing Christians into defenders of the faith and practitioners of the sacraments of the Church. Which leads me to my next point.

            Father Thomas Hopko of blessed memory once said, “Protestantism generally tried to rediscover the ancient faith but it didn’t rediscover the ancient faith, it made a brand new one that was absolutely more unacceptable in many, many ways than what they thought they were fighting against.”  Having recently toured the grounds of both the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum, I can safely say that from an Orthodox perspective, the museum is incompatible with Orthodoxy.  For example, Ken Ham’s lies and blatant disrespect for the church fathers is clear when he makes broad statements regarding the canon of the Bible, which was formulated and established by the church fathers at the ecumenical councils. Proclaiming that only protestants have the true canon because everything can be backed up by the other books of the bible thus removes the Church Fathers and the unbroken line of succession of the bishops out of the teachings of the Church. If Ken Ham violated both Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18-19 because he added to the scriptures through his own beliefs and teachings, then he has violated them again by removing from the scriptures those books and teachings from Christianity that have been taught and expounded on since the formation of the Church. One of the most blatant lies I found within the Creation Museum was that none of the books of the Bible discuss prayers for the dead. One only must look at the practices of early Christians, and the book of Job (which is accepted by Protestants), to find that prayers for the dead have been a part of the tradition of the Church since the beginning. Luke, Matthew, Hebrews, Psalms, 1 and 2 Timothy, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Revelation, Romans, Ezekiel, Mark, 1 John, 2 Corinthians, Acts, the list would be ten pages long if I included every instance where prayers for the dead were mentioned in the Bible. Some are harder to understand than others, but it is there in scripture and was understood by the early church to be a pious practice. Denying the practice is removing from the teachings of the Church. Thus, it is teaching a different Gospel than what has been given to us. St. Paul says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8) So Ken Ham is teaching a different Gospel than what is taught by the established Church of Jesus Christ, and should not be accepted on that alone. If his addition to the Gospel, and his removal of the teachings from the Gospel aren’t already enough his theology on man seals the deal.

            Finally, I would like to point out that his theology is distinctly Calvinistic or at least he preaches a depravity of man. Orthodox view the world in a way that as being the created image of God, we are thus like God in many ways. For people such as a Ken Ham, and his protestant brethren, we lost that image at the Fall. This is contrary to Orthodox teaching in which sin and death are foreign to the nature of humanity, not a part of it. The total depravity of man implies and states that because of the fall our nature was changed. While we accept that sin became a part of us, it is no more than how cold becomes a part of us when we get sick. It is a sickness that has effected the human race, rather than become an inherent part of our very being. Furthermore we do not teach that humans cannot come to God on their own. The Orthodox view on the total depravity of man is this, if because God created man in his image and then instantly changed it after the fall, this makes God the creator and author of sin, and God cannot be anything that he is not. Ken Ham openly promulgates in his Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum that we are totally depraved and completely helpless in the eyes of God. In doing so, he once again teaches a foreign gospel to the one that has been taught and handed down to us from the Church Fathers and the apostles. Violating the own scriptures that he so wishes to protect. One article that I found while doing research to defend the church’s teaching on this puts it this way, “Humans are bound by sin and corruption, but this is like burying a gold bar in a pile of horse manure—it doesn't change the fact that there is gold” It doesn’t mean that anything about us changed, simply the situation. We must live with sin, but it does not become a part of us, unless we let it. Furthermore the same article states, “Early Greek-speaking Christians used the terms hypostasis (ὑπόστασις) for "person" and ousia (οὐσία) for essence (or nature). The word "person" and the Latin concept is part of the problem here, compared to the Greek word and concept of hypostasis, but there isn't time nor space to elaborate on this here. As a notable example of this, the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated in early Christianity stating that God is one in essence (ousia), but with three persons (hypostases). Choice is a function of personhood, not nature. As such, it is incorrect to say that human beings have a corrupt nature that makes us unable to choose anything other than sin.” Thus by using the early church and the teachings of the early church, we see that Ken Ham is no more than a schismatic heretic, who is deceiving the people, whether out of ignorance or out of actual disdain for the church fathers I do not know. I ask all Orthodox Christians to pray for Ken Ham. I do not believe the man is trying to openly deceive. I believe rather that it is out of ignorance and lack of education in the Church as it has been handed down to us from the Church Fathers that he is doing this. I believe that if properly educated on what the Orthodox Church of Jesus Christ teaches he would come to realize that it is the same faith that Jesus established, the apostles taught and the church fathers proclaimed. I have already said too much for one article and hopefully will be able to formulate some other thoughts in a future article. May God have mercy on us, and on Ken Ham.

            Amen.

Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen: Father Ephraim Atwood

 

The Orthodox Church throughout its existence has been home to many, many people the world would consider undesirable, even corrupt. From St. Moses the Black to St. Mary of Egypt, the church is filled with great men and women of faith who have been changed by the nature of Jesus Christ. They have found solace in the Eucharist, the divine services of the church, and lived out their days repenting of the sins they have committed on earth. None more so than that of the man formerly known as Anthony Atwood, recently tonsured Father Ephraim (Atwood) of Arizona.

Father Ephraim Atwood was born Frank Atwood, and was a notorious child murderer who was convicted of the killing and kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl. Father Ephraim Atwood was accompanied to his execution this morning June 8, 2022, by his spiritual father Elder Paisios of Arizona, an elder at the St. Anthony’s Monastery established by Elder Ephraim of Arizona. Father Ephraim Atwood was sixty six years old at the time of his pronouncement of death at 10:16am local time.

So while this is not going to be a very in depth look at the life of Father Ephraim, as I cannot find much, I would like to offer a few words on the nature of this. According to sources, this was the most peaceful execution in the history of Arizona, and one that was marred in various religious aspects. Father Ephraim was converted to Orthodoxy through the prison ministry if I am not mistaken. Father Paisios, his spiritual father said that he had witnessed a complete transformation in the man that can only be described as Jesus Christ transforming Father Ephraim through the Holy Spirit.

A lot of times people like to write off those who have been convicted of serious crimes as unable to be brought back to the light of Christ because of their heinous actions. The Church does not teach that some are elected, and some are chosen to burn. The Church rather teaches that all are called to salvation, and that few will truly answer the call. Father Ephraim is one of the men who answered the call of Christ to be transformed by His power. We see that he willingly accepted his death, fasting the night before his execution and refusing at first to take his last meal. While reports cannot confirm or deny that he ate his last meal, his resolve to fast before his execution indicates to me that he was in a state of constant prayer, asking the Lord Jesus to forgive all his offenses. From reading some of the published correspondence that he wrote, I gather a man who had great love and respect for the Jesus Prayer, as well as for the Service of the Hours. He was completely at peace with execution.

But what does this mean for us? Well, lets look at the whole situation with Father Ephraim. Being a child murderer, you expect someone who is full of rage and hate. Someone who has spent years in death row stewing and brooding over the conviction that led him to prison. Instead, you find someone completely at peace with themselves. Christ forgives all offenses if we ask. He only asks that we allow him to enter our lives and let him live through us. While in prison, Father Ephraim was introduced to the Orthodox Church and found the peace that had been lacking in his life before his conviction. If it had not been for his entrance into the prison system, Father Ephraim might never have found Christ and been brought to salvation. We see that preaching the gospel no matter the consequences is important in our own lives because we know that we do not know the reach and impact our words might have. Father Ephraim confessed he was the most hated prisoner in Arizona, and I can imagine that is in no small part because he was outspoken about the transformation that Christ had brought about in his life. Being able to live the life of a hermit in many ways away from the world, he was able to focus on Christ in his prison cell and cultivate a spiritual renewal that changed his life for the better. We also see that our past offenses don’t always allow us to receive a positive outcome. Though he maintained his innocence throughout the trial and the various appeals that were made by his legal team, the state of Arizona upheld his conviction and upheld their sentence of death. Accepting those things, we cannot control is a vital part of our acceptance that everything that is placed in our path is for our salvation, even those things that will lead us to the physical death. I cannot confirm or deny the changes in Father Ephraim’s life. I trust the monks and nuns who spoke on his behalf telling of the great miracles that Christ had done through Father Ephraim’s life. I trust their counsel and their words. I trust that those present for the tonsuring ceremony, yesterday were of sound mind and heart when they determined Father Ephraim was worthy of the great schema.

We also see a difference in the lives of those who were his victims. While I cannot imagine what it is like to lose a child, I see hurt and anger in the hearts of the victims. I see their pain and I pray for them. I see that there was never a chance for them to forgive Father Ephraim for what he did to the young lady, and that pains me. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves, as much as we give the person who wronged us. Wishing for someone to die because they wronged you is no way to act. Christ did not condemn those who executed him, rather he forgave them for what they did to Him. We see that in Father Ephraim’s final hours he simply went to his death willingly, much as Christ did. We see that the family was excited that “justice” had been done and that Father Ephraim could not hurt anyone any longer. While there is a time and place for justice, the more Christlike response would be to forgive and to pray for those who have harmed us. The taking of a life is not an easy decision. Brooding in your own hatred, while the person who has wronged you is also in a state of hatred of themselves, causes spiritual harm to both souls.  It causes a rift between brothers. Christ says that if we have an issue with someone we should go to them and ask them to forgive us for having issues with them. The family of the victim never asked Father Ephraim to forgive them for their hatred of Him. Often times, this is because of the pain that they are suffering, and I totally understand. Still, asking for forgiveness is a requirement for all of us who have accepted Christ. We must learn to let those who have wronged us go, in the sense that yes they have caused us harm, but this harm is only temporary. Eternity is not something that we should throw away simply because we have a grudge against someone. However now the time for reconciliation is gone for Father Ephraim and the family of his victim. The only hope we have now is to pray for the victim’s family and pray that Christ will transform their lives in the same way that Christ transformed Father Ephraim’s.

I ask today, that you would join me over the next 40 days to pray for the soul of Father Ephraim, as he has entered the tollhouses. May God forgive all his offenses, and forgive all those who have committed atrocities against their brothers. Today we see that the harvest is heavy, but the laborers are few. Father Ephraim answered the call to be a laborer…will you?

Amen.

The Holy Fathers of The 1st Ecumenical Council

 

Well folks, the Sunday of the First Ecumenical Council has once again come and gone for the year, and that means that we are once again discussing the vast amount of wealth that was preserved by the Fathers of the 1^ST Ecumenical Council. All Three Hundred and Eighteen of them, to be exact. These Church Fathers helped pave the way for the faith that was preserved by the Church for the past two thousand years and without their immense faith and courage, the Church would not have remained the way it was. In fact, the church might have agreed to heresy with the Arian controversy and other issues had these brave fathers not met at Nicaea and dealt with the issues at hand. Now today I am not going to discuss Arianism, rather I am going to discuss the 1^st Ecumenical Council and what exactly transpired…and oh yes, St. Nicholas.

Outside of the obvious Arius issue, the 1^st Ecumenical Council had to deal with the Meletian schism, and the formation of the Nicene Creed. You can check out the explanation of the Creed in an earlier article. While the Arian controversy was the focal point of the discussion, we got the formation of twenty canons of the church out of this, and as I am currently going through the canons and explaining a few, it was interesting to note that some of them were written here, especially the organization of the church. So when those who are non-episcopal tell you that the church never had bishops or priests and that each church could decide for themselves, you can direct them to the 1^st Council, where the church formation was solidified, not established, as it was just formality of what the Church already practiced. The Church also determined the date for Pascha, and as was stated in the previous article, that it was not to be celebrated with the Jews.  The formula was established and kept by the Church for centuries until Rome came along and decided they were superior to everyone else. We were given the instructions on reentering the lapsed, the heretics, and the schismatics, and why rebaptism and other practices were put in place.

The Meletian schism was of particular importance outside of the Arian controversy.  . Melitius advocated for the open practice of Christianity in a time of persecution, which seems harmless enough. Peter I of Alexandria, laid down terms for those who were lapsed or had committed sins that would warrant them being labeled heretics and schismatics to return the church. In spectacular “I know better than you” fashion Melitius decided that these terms were too lax for him, and rebelled…which is why a priest should never speak ill of another bishop, nor another bishop speak ill of a fellow bishop. Melitius was then excommunicated and cast out from the Church. He like the protestant reformers who didn’t get their way in 1517, founded his own church because he believed that he had found the true knowledge of the scriptures and was teaching the proper way.  By the time the 1^ST Ecumenical Council rolled around, there were enough issues that the discussion to bring them back into the fold was addressed. The Council of Nicaea agreed that the issues surrounding the schism between the twenty eight Meletian bishops and the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church were not so different as to warrant them any major changes in their theology to be accepted by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And while Melitius was accepted back into the fold, as a bishop without a see, he only lasted three more years and died. Thus, the schism was reinstated and was not truly healed.

Of course, though you came for the violence right? We all woke up this morning and chose violence, eh? No of course not, I woke up and chose Christ. And so did St. Nicholas. While I have chosen to leave out the Arian controversy from the gist of this article, because there were certainly other issues at this council besides Arius, I would be amiss if I did not briefly discuss Nicholas and Arius, because it well was the talk of the entire council. Outside of Pacquiao vs Mayweather, or McGregor vs Mayweather, Nicholas vs Arius might be the boxing match of the millennium. Obviously with Arius’ lack of respect for the divinity of Christ and his clear lack of mental fortitude, Nicholas decided that he had heard enough of the ramblings of the heretic. Walking across the floor with three hundred and sixteen other bishops, surrounding him, Nicholas completely and utterly knocked Arius the heck out. While it was illegal to strike another person in the presence of the Emperor, Constantine gave control of the punishment over to the bishops of the Church. The bishops stripped Nicholas of his rights as a bishop and expelled him from the council, and decided that once the council had finished they would finalize his punishment.  In a miracle that only be described as awesome, Nicholas who was locked away from the rest of the world as punishment for his crime of assaulting Arius, was visited by the Lord Jesus Christ and the Theotokos.  After giving Nicholas the gospel book, and revesting him with his vestments, the Bishops came to look for Nicholas. Astonished, the bishops told Constantine of this development, and Nicholas was reinstated to the Bishopric of Myra. Nicholas of course is one of Greece’s most beloved saints, and no Greek home is complete without an icon of St. Nicholas.

The Orthodox Church along with most protestant churches and the Latins recognize the 1^ST Ecumenical Council. Though issues have arisen between the three over the past 2000 years, it is nice to not argue against either for a change. The 1^ST Ecumenical Council determined what the Church had already practiced for the first hundred years of its founding. Placing it right before the Feast of Pentecost reminds us that the Church is Universal, and that it is everlasting. The gates of hell cannot overcome it, as Jesus quotes in Matthew. We pray that these Fathers of the 1^ST Council would intercede on our behalf and that the bishops of today would see the wisdom of coming together and discussing issues when the need arises.  I pray that our leaders will be as wise and courageous as the 1^st Ecumenical Council.

Amen.

Father Peter Heers: The Orthodox Ethos

 

I have probably sat down to write this particular article several times, however current events, and other topics within the church have led me to write about other things. Today, that all changes. Today we are going to highlight one of my favorite orthodox priests (outside of my own, Father Simon Thomas is a great man).

I am of course talking about Father Peter Heers. Father Peter is the head of the Orthodox Ethos, and someone I admire and strive to imitate. From his podcasts and lectures we discover the true Orthodox Ethos, how to obtain and it, and how to apply it to our lives. Father Peter’s insight into everyday life and church knowledge is informative and inspirational as well as educational. If you’ve never listened to him I highly recommend finding him on YouTube or Instagram and delving into the vast amounts of content he has produced over the past few years. For those who don’t know much about Father Peter, let’s discuss him and his life and see what we can gain from an understanding of the man behind some of the most important Orthodox content on the internet.

Father Peter Heers, like most of the west was raised outside of the Orthodox Church. However, he discovered Orthodoxy and of course the rest is history…no wait there’s more. Father Peter was raised Anglican, the son of an Anglican priest. Thus he was associated at birth with the Church of England in at least some capacity, seeing as Anglicans are the Church of England. His father and the parish in which his father served converted to Orthodoxy in 1992, so the year I was born.  Father Peter according to sources, then traveled to Mount Athos in 1996 and again in 1998 when he began seminary. Father Peter was ordained and received a bachelors, masters, and doctorate in theology. He has been very active in the Orthodox Church over the last two decades or so, being a parish priest in Greece for a time, and if my sources are correct now is in Arizona. Father Peter has been a lecturer at Jordanville, a very important place for American Orthodox Christians, and has written or translated several titles. As someone who is also interested in Church History, his knowledge of Church History and his fascination with maintaining the spirit of the Ecumenical Councils is something that has drawn me in.  He has five children and if they are half the person that he is, they will be pillars of orthodoxy. 

Father Peter’s lectures on YouTube is what really led me to discovering his knowledge.  From his Orthodox Survival Course which was written by Father Seraphim Rose, as well as his discussion on the New Russian Martyrs are all things I could watch again and again to glean information I missed the first few times of watching. The Orthodox Ecclesiology series is also a wonderful tool for both those inquiring into Orthodoxy and those who have converted like myself. He also sits down and explains modern problems within the church, as well as things that western people might believe are beneficial to them, only to explain why they go against the Orthodox Faith…see his comments on Yoga for that one. He doesn’t even use his own thoughts on topics, always referring to the Saints of the church to back up any claim that he makes. This therefore gives us the ability to see that without the Saints, we as a church would be nothing but filled with people’s opinions rather than the truth.

Father Peter may have his detractors, and those who disagree with him, but they are few. Every person I have ever came across has applauded Father Peter for standing for the truth in a world that is constantly trying to replace the truth with fallacy. Father Peter has defended the church and tried to maintain that we as Orthodox Christians must not falter in our beliefs. Changing the faith for the sake of change or going against thousands of years of tradition has only led to destruction and heresies. We see his love for orthodoxy in every lecture he gives, and his call for those outside the church to change their ways and return to orthodoxy.  Though he will never reach everyone, he has changed my life.  Just as Father Seraphim Rose’s book Orthodoxy and Religion of the Future gave me a perspective that I was never going to consider without having read the book, Father Peter’s way of approaching Orthodoxy was not something I was considering either. I have stated before that I was comfortable in my own little bubble within Orthodoxy and was not particularly concerned with the outside world or how to approach living in the world as an Orthodox Christian. From his lectures and his podcasts, I have changed once again and carry myself with a knowledge that I must proclaim Orthodoxy to the world as the only truth that matters. Pilate once asked, “What is truth?” I can safely answer that question. Truth is Jesus Christ, and Truth is founded in Orthodoxy.

Amen.

Violating the Canons- Why the Orthodox do not celebrate Pascha with the Jews

 

Okay, so after a chance to revise and look at all the data, this article has changed in its original form. We as Orthodox Christians along with all the Christian world, celebrate the Holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We celebrated Pascha this year on April 24^th, a week after the Western world celebrated Easter. The English-speaking world has completely abandoned the term Pascha for the celebration of the Holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ, instead referring to it by the name Easter. While this is not a bash towards the name, we as Greeks, still call it Pascha and I refuse to call it by any other name. However, we are here to discuss Canon 7 of the Church. Celebrating Pascha with the Jews. We as Orthodox Christians know that we are independent of the jews, and thus should not look to their calendar to celebrate Pascha.

First, we must understand that the calculation of Pascha has been established since ancient times, and that by Ecumenical Council decisions has been written down as a formula since 325AD. The Apostles and their successors the bishops had understood that Pascha had taken place after the vernal equinox, the spring equinox. It had also occurred on the first day of the week, called the Lord’s Day, or Sunday as we know it. Thus, Pascha should always be established after the spring equinox and on a Sunday. This date, the spring equinox changes from year to year, as the sun does not pass the same way through the sky from year to year, so a set date could not be determined.. Celebrating Pascha before the equinox, according to my sources, does not divide the calendar year into two halves, thus we would celebrate the Resurrection twice, which is against church teaching. More on this in a bit in relation to the Papists. We the Orthodox Church, the true church of Jesus Christ are announcing to the world that Jesus died once and for all, not twice. If we announce that Jesus died twice, then we are corrupting scripture, and in turn saying the Son of God has died multiple times. Because of this, the formula is simple…after legal Passover, and after the equinox. Any bishop, priest or deacon who changes this is to be deposed from office, simply because they are not professing the correct faith. It is the same for sects and heretics that refuse to celebrate Pascha at all. While in the West, Pascha has changed in its celebration with bunnies, and colorful clothing, and secular aspects, the East has maintained that it is to be a spiritual celebration. Those who refuse to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are in turn also admitting that the scriptures are wrong, and that Jesus did not rise from the dead. They may offer lip service to the belief that Christ rose, but those that refuse to celebrate are not professing their faith by their actions. See the Book of James for more information regarding your actions as a profession of faith.

This now leads me to my next point of contention. I am about to ruffle a few feathers, but that comes with the territory when you speak truth. We know that the Julian Calendar was the calendar used by the people during the life of Christ. The Julian Calendar however was replaced as we know by the Gregorian Calendar, especially in the West. While Pope Gregory XIII was right to establish a calendar that was closer to the tropical calendar, he inadvertently changed the calculation of Pascha. So much so, that now the date in the West is skewed from the original date that is still calculated in the East. This causes the problem that I mentioned earlier, being before or right after the legal Passover of the Jews, thus breaking this Canon. Because legal Passover of the Jews can sometimes fall on a Sunday, due to the Jews celebrating on the 15^th day of the month regardless of the day of the week, the calendar Pope Gregory established violated the canons of the church. Not that it mattered to the Latins, as they had become schismatics and heretics some five hundred years earlier and were set on their path away from the faith of the Apostles. Thus, Western Easter and Orthodox Pascha now happen on separate dates of the year, though rarely they occur on the same day, this does not happen very often. Again, violating the celebration of the resurrection twice. Christ died once and for all, not twice, not thrice, but once. Therefore, the schismatic Latins caused division and a rift within the church again by their actions. This is not a discussion of the Great Schism, but the calendar is one issue I would love to see repented of if the Latins are to return to the Church and the Pentarchy restored as it was before 1054AD.

So what about the Canon? Well…look the Orthodox world celebrates Pascha on the same day across the board regardless if it’s the Revised Julian Calendar or the Standard Julian Calendar that the local church uses. The Orthodox Church of Finland is required by law to celebrate Pascha on the same day as every other church in the country, so an exception is made there as they will celebrate the Resurrection with the West. Our Bishops rarely if ever have violated this Canon, though I’m sure they have and have been reprimanded and deposed as they should be. With the pandemic changing the way the celebration of Pascha was conducted in both 2020 and 2021, many bishops did not have a choice in the matter and could have refused to celebrate as mandated by their governments. However, this would have caused strife and friction within these countries and was generally not worth the effort, even I personally believe that they should have. Celebrating the Resurrection according to the same formula that was established by the Church at its inception ensures continuity with the Apostles and with the Orthodox Faith. Deviating from this is schismatic and heterodox. We see this with the Latins and we see this with the Protestant Churches. Now, I will not bash the Prots as I have in the past, because on this particular issue its not their fault. They have celebrated it according to how they were raised and the traditions of their families for years. They were not the ones who established the difference, and certainly did not play a part in the formation of the Gregorian Calendar. That was the Latins. They had the same history for the first thousand years of the church and knew better. They knew that what they were doing violated church law, and rightfully are still out of communion with us. For their bishops to repent and turn back to the faith a renunciation of the calculation of Pascha based on the Gregorian Calendar would need to be made as well as conscience effort to not celebrate with the legal Passover of the Jews. An independent calculation based on the vernal equinox as established at Nicaea is the only viable way to celebrate Pascha because it proclaims one, holy catholic and apostolic church, as well as one death, burial and resurrection for the whole world.

I am not a priest, or a scholar. However I hope you have learned something from this dissertation on the 7^th canon of the Orthodox Church. Pascha as I have repeated (I do this to drive home the point) must be celebrated after the vernal equinox, after the legal Passover of the Jews, and on a Sunday as prescribed in the Bible. May God have mercy on us.

Amen.

Canons 4-6 of the Orthodox Church: A look into Church Law

 

Welcome back to the Corner today, and last week we started the series about the Canons of the Orthodox Church. The last time out we took the first three canons of the Orthodox Church and expanded upon them as a chance to learn the laws that govern the basic practices of the Orthodox faith. As you’ll recall there are eighty five canons. We have discussed three, so that leaves us with eighty two to go. Today I’ll expand on a few more, and see what we can learn from the Church in their explicit understanding of how to operate the faith and the parameters we as Orthodox Christians have set for ourselves to maintain perfect communion with God. So instead of a lengthy opening, lets dive right into the practices of the church.

Canon 4- Let all other fruit be sent home to the Bishop and Presbyters as first fruits, but not to the sacrificial altar. It is understood that the Bishop and Presbyters shall distribute a fair share to the Deacons and other Clergymen.

As you’ll recall the church doesn’t allow for anything that does not have direct correlation to the Eucharist or the services to be brought to the Church and the altar. The altar is a sacred space designed for Eucharist and the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Being the most holy spot within a church, the altar should not and cannot be defiled by elements that are not worthy of God. In many aspects I see this as a correlation between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Cain did not bring a worthy sacrifice to God, where as Abel did. However there is another way of looking at this as well. With this being a first fruits offering, giving to the Bishop and the clergy as a sign of respect and honor is a noble thing. It is not right that it should be brought to the altar, as a gift to the clergy for their service is only right to give them at their home. As the spiritual father of the faithful, the Bishop therefore is only right to give to their clergy a portion of the gifts he receives, because as Christians we share in everything, we share as brothers and sisters in the faith and in doing so we show that Christ lives within us. As a spiritual father, just as biological father, the bishop therefore takes care of the needs of his children. Because eating a necessary part of life, sharing food with his clergy is a way to maintain the brotherhood but also provide for their earthly needs. The faithful therefore should offer those things that they have as first fruits of their gardens, farms and other things to the church to provide for those who take care of them spiritually.

Canon 5- No Bishop, Presbyter, or Deacon shall put away his own wife under pretext of reverence. If, however, he put her away, let him be excommunicated," and if he persist in so doing, let him be deposed from office

So, we know that Bishops these days are chosen from the monastic ranks as a way of ensuring their complete devotion to the task of being the spiritual father of the local church. However, many bishops in previous years were married and selected because they showed a good stable home environment and were Godly fathers. The Orthodox Church allows for married priests, and my own is married and has several kids. Divorcing your spouse for no reason, except for that of adultery, is looked upon with distain. Now we know that divorce happens within the church, and that people for a variety of reasons no longer wish to stay married. However, the clergy, whatever the rank, are the spiritual fathers of their parish, diocese and local church. They are to be upstanding members of the faith and to hold themselves with dignity. By not maintaining a healthy marriage by which the faithful can look to as an example, the priest, bishop, or deacon has therefore broken their trust with the laymen of the church and are deposed from their office because of their poor example. Leading the church is a matter of heaven or hell. Accounting for not just their own sins but the sins of the faithful they were entrusted with at the Awesome Judgement Seat of Christ at the Second Coming would be very difficult for those who have led others to fall away from the faith by their own actions. If a lay person were to divorce their own spouse because they saw a priest do it to theirs, it would cause irreversible spiritual damage to the faithful. This is why the church prescribes this particular canon here, so that it is known that those with spiritual authority must be upstanding members of the church to be chosen for leadership.

Canon 6-  A Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon must not undertake worldly cares. If he does, let him be deposed from office

Well I’ve gone and done it now by writing about this particular canon. As we have just seen being a bishop, priest or deacon within the church is a very important task. So much so that divorce among the clergy is forbidden. So too is partaking in worldly affairs. The leaders of the church are not political leaders, they are not to be seen as someone who has the authority of the people in an earthly sense. That is to be left to those who have been entrusted with political office, or in the case of the most conservative orthodox, in the emperor himself. Thus a member of the clergy should not be concerned with the daily goings on of the world, rather he should devote himself completely to the church, performing the services daily and praying for the souls of the faithful. This is also to remind the members of the clergy to not seek glory for themselves. We see politicians and other leaders outside of the church seek to become almost like God figures in their own right, leading massive rallies and parades that would seek to heap praise on themselves. God would rather those that serve him seek glory from Him, and not of the world. The clergy should be humble and seen as meek. Knowing that one day their reward is in heaven with the rest of the righteous. So many clergy in certain “churches” today seek to win the approval of the world, rather than God and it shows in the leadership of the church. I have yet to encounter a priest personally who does so, as the clergy and the bishops that I have encountered are all the most humble and righteous men I have met. I pray that we find more of these men to guide our lives than those in some “churches” who shall remain nameless but seek to heap glory on themselves and ruin the spiritual state of the faithful. (looking at you Pope Francis) May those who seek earthly glory and cares of this world repent and find themselves back within the home confines of the Orthodox Church.

While I would like to continue into the next canon of the Orthodox Church, the next canon is probably the most debated and most harsh cause of the Great Schism. The Great Schism saw the Roman Catholics lose their place in the Church of Jesus Christ as they became heretics after their falling away in 1054. The changing of the date of Pascha which has always been celebrated in the same manner in the Orthodox Church is a serious fatal error on the part of the Latins and deserves its own discussion. So instead of discussing it here, we will look it at next in a separate article, devoted solely to the date of Pascha and why we as Orthodox Christians do not and never will celebrate Pascha with the Jews.

May God bless you and welcome Macedonia to the ranks of autocephalous churches. May God have mercy on all of us.

Amen.

The Macedonian Reunion

 

Now, that my tribute to Metropolitan Hilarion has been written, I must admit, the bigger news of the day was the Macedonian Orthodox Church. This schism had been decades long, one that was extremely difficult to fully grasp, but now with the healing of the schism, we have our brothers and sisters back in the church.

If we are to truly understand the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric as it is officially called, we have to understand the Macedonian Orthodox Church. While I could go on a rant about Macedonia being Greece, this is not the time or place to have this discussion. The first official declaration of the Ohrid Archbishopric was in 1019, within the confines and structure of the Byzantine Theme of Bulgaria by placing the Bulgarian Patriarchate under the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople.  By 1767, the Turks had tried to destroy Orthodoxy and reorganized the Church under the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople. As you can see, while the Bulgarian Patriarch was still under the jurisdiction of the EP, it was once again decided almost a thousand years later to do the same thing again by the Turks.  The Macedonian Church in 1874 agreed to join the Bulgarian Church under the Bulgarian Exarchate, which had been established to give the Bulgarian Church more freedom from the Greeks. In 1913, the Macedonian Church was taken over by the Serbian Patriarchate and treated as another episcopal see within their territory. During WW1 and WW2, the Bulgarian Exarchate, still not having been elevated back to the Bulgarian Patriarchate occupied the territory and governed it under their care. By 1943, the church was under the care of Serbia again and a synod was established by the Bishops of the Macedonian Church to help govern. They adopted a resolution to hand to the Serbian Patriarchate, which according to my sources, the Serbian Church rejected the resolution. In 1958, they were able to get a full synod under the care of Serbia established, The Ohrid Archbishopric was title of Ohrid Archbishopric at this time. This is where it gets complicated.

In 1967, the Macedonian Orthodox Church called a third synod, still under the title of Ohrid Archbishopric. Instead of pursuing a diplomatic discourse with their mother church in Serbia, the bishops of the synod unilaterally declared themselves autocephalous, breaking with communion with Serbia and setting themselves on a course of five decades of being out of communion with any Orthodox Church. The Ohrid Orthodox Archbishopric established by Serbia became its official arm within the country and the Macedonian Orthodox Church was left out of communion. There were attempts to restore the church to full communion, but these attempts were rejected by the government of the nation, and by the MOC at the time of their writing. Because of this all-canonical Eastern Orthodox Churches note that the MOC had broken canon law and service was not to be held with anyone in communion with them. From 2005-2009 a series of events led to the furthering of the schism between the two, as the Macedonian government and the Serbian government went back and forth over the control of area and the church. Macedonians were not allowed in Serbia, and Serbians were not allowed in Macedonia. In 2017 the Bulgarians considered becoming the mother church of the Macedonian Orthodox Church and it was debated within the synods and by the Patriarch himself. Because of this, the Serbian Orthodox Church was shocked and called into question this decision. It was ultimately declined. In 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarch said that they would take under consideration the granting of an autocephalous Macedonian Orthodox Church and would review the case as it was presented to them. The Ecumenical Patriarch at this time had also come under fire for its handling of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the schism that arose between Constantinople and Moscow. Thus, this leads us today.

On May 9, 2022, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate concluded their review of the situation in Macedonia, restoring between Constantinople and Ohrid the eucharistic unity that the two had shared decades prior. It was at this time however that they did state any final authority would be granted to the Serbian Orthodox Church and its own Holy Synod.  On May 16, 2022, which is as of this writing the current date, the Serbian Orthodox Church has agreed to restore communion between the two churches ending the schism that began in 1967. No further details are known as to whether the autocephalous nature of the church will be granted, but the Serbian church has restored their communion with Ohrid. The Patriarch of Serbia, Porfirije agreed that the schism was over and granted his blessing to restoration.

While it is not good to see brothers break communion with each other, the schism that was brought on by pride and greed has now been healed without further conflict. Canon law, which is a topic I would love to discuss further on this site was broken by the Macedonian Orthodox Church in 1967 but was forgiven here in 2022. Though the bishops were the ones who made the decision, it was the people who suffered, because of the break of communion.  These people, denied the eucharist by the majority of the Orthodox world could receive the basic sacraments that are given to us by God for our salvation. As I have stated before, discussion and dialogue will rule over any hotheaded shouting that may arise in the course of church politics. When the bishops of the church agree to sit down and discuss their issues good things happen. While it does not heal the pain that has been caused for five decades, it does give it a chance to.  The people are now able to freely practice their faith again without being in schism with the church and are brought back into the fold. Jesus said the good shepherd would seek out the 1 lost sheep over the 99 that remained. Today that verse rings true. The good shepherd sought out the 1 lost sheep and brought him home. May God bless the Macedonian Orthodox Church at this time and grant peace and prosperity to all who have now been brought home.

Amen.

Ladder of Divine Ascent Rung 22

 

If the 21^st Rung was where I fell off, knowing my heart and my mind, then there is no way that I have achieved victory over the last of these. Throwing off the yoke of the devil was never easy. It was always going to be a difficult decision and task set before us. Do we flee from that which appears easily and luxurious, to something that appears tiresome and poverty-stricken? Or do we go with the poverty-stricken appearance that is truly luxurious? The question and decision laid before us, is whether we are willing to sacrifice our pride for the sake of our immortal souls. Recently as I have stated, there have been issues with me and my cowardly outlook on life. I have fled from the danger God placed me in, to a place of even more suffering and pain that I could even imagine. But that is what happens when you reject God’s love. The pride that you endure makes you suffer, both physically and spiritually and I have experienced both as of late. St. John says, “With regard to its form, vainglory is a change of nature, a perversion of character, a note of blame. And with regard to its quality, it is a dissipation of labours, a waste of sweat, a betrayal of treasure, a child of unbelief, the precursor of pride, shipwreck in harbour, an ant on the threshing-floor which, though small, has designs upon all one’s labour and fruit. The ant waits for the gathering of the wheat, and vainglory for the gathering of the riches of virtue; for the one loves to steal and the other to squander.” He also says, “The sun shines on alike, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instance, I am vainglorious when I fast, and when I relax the fast in order to be unnoticed I am again vainglorious over my prudence. When well-dressed I am quite overcome by vainglory, and when I put on poor clothes I am vainglorious again. When I talk I am defeated, and when I am silent I am again defeated by it. However I throw this prickly-pear, a spike stands upright.”

So what does it meant to be vainglorious? Well in the above statements its pretty clear. We are a waste of sweat, a betrayal of treasure. We have gathered riches only for them to be stolen from us by our own pride. We are like the man who spends all his hours accumulating wealth and pleasures, only for that very night for his soul to be demanded from him by God. Prayer, fasting, love of your neighbor is good, yes, but in reality, it is not good if you do not have the light of Christ illuminating your heart. Without Christ, everything that we do is for nothing. We could give away everything, we could fast, we could pray and if we don’t have Christ then we are still without. The protestants pray, but they do not have Christ. The Catholics pray, and they too do not have Christ. The Muslims pray and they do not have Christ. Only in Orthodoxy is Christ to be found. We know where the Holy Spirit is, we cannot say where he is not. For the Holy Spirit works throughout the world, but especially through the Church and we know he is in the Church. We pray that by our struggles as we continue up the ladder that we will rid ourselves of pride. If being a coward was one of the steps to ridding ourselves of pride then we must acquire the bravery of heart to proclaim the gospel without fear or condemnation and to dare call God Father. We must pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Without which we cannot over come pride. We will continually swim in the cares and destruction of life, without so much as gaining ground. We have to stand firm in the faith. Neither going to the left or to the right. We must remain on the straight and narrow path, the path that leads us to salvation. St. John says, “There is a glory that comes from the Lord, for He says: Those who glorify Me, I will glorify. And there is a glory that dogs us through diabolic intrigue, for it is said: Woe, when all men shall speak well of you. You may be sure that it is the first kind of glory when you regard it as harmful and avoid it in every possible way, and hide your manner of life wherever you go. But the other you will know when you do something, however trifling, hoping that you will be observed by men.”

Oh how much sweeter is it to receive the glory from God than to receive it from men? It is the sweetest of sweet the fragrance of life. The very beginning of the transformation of our corruptibility into incorruption. Let us pray that God through the prayers that we offer to him will accept them and that God will protect us from all sort of pride and destruction. I know that God is on the side of all those who love Him and I pray that I will love Him above all else, sacrificing my own will for the sake of the Kingdom of God. I leave you with this advice from St. John. He says, “When we invite glory, or when it comes to us from others uninvited, or when out of vainglory we decide upon a certain course of action, we should remember our mourning and should think of the holy fear with which we stood before God in solitary prayer; and in this way we shall certainly put shameless vainglory out of countenance—if we are really concerned to attain true prayer. If this is insufficient, then let us briefly recollect our death. And if this is also ineffective, at least let us fear the shame that follows honour. For he who exalts himself will be humbled1 not only there, but certainly here as well”

Amen.

Ladder of Divine Ascent: Rung 21

 

            Alright so, we’ve reached the final ten rungs of the Ladder. With that being said, the journey has now become for us one of perilousness and frustration. I have unfortunately had to take a couple days off from writing after I finished the last blog, and while there wont be a shortage of posts, I certainly have not felt the same as I did when I first started this massive undertaking. My mind has not been where it needs to be the past few days, as I have been struggling to find the words to discuss the final few topics with you on this journey up the ladder. I understand now why so few make the journey and why even fewer make it the full thirty rungs. One of those reasons is cowardice. In fact there are a wide variety of cowards in the world today, unwilling to stand for their faith and protect the freedom in Christ that we have. People wish for a life of ease and comfort, of peace, of luxury. St. John says, “Cowardice is a childish disposition in an old, vainglorious soul. Cowardice is a falling away from faith that comes of expecting the unexpected.”  We must therefore flee from this, and know that everything comes from God for our own salvation. The demons could do nothing without the allowance from God to do so. Therefore, we know that God is the ultimate authority on all things, the master of the universe. St. John says, “Fear is a rehearsing of danger beforehand; or again, fear is a trembling sensation of the heart, alarmed and troubled by unknown misfortunes. Fear is a loss of conviction” Many of us, including myself are weak of heart and falter and the slightest chance of fear. We lose our conviction from God that his truth is beyond anything and everything that we can comprehend, yet we believe the lies of the demons. We begin to lose heart, and faith and tremble, not from divine power, but from the weakness of our souls. St. John says, “Those who mourn over their sins but are insensible to every other sorrow do not feel cowardice, but the cowardly often have mental breakdowns. And this is natural. For the Lord rightly forsakes the proud that the rest of us may learn not to be puffed up.” I am convicted in my soul of this. My pride has destroyed me, destroyed my life. I have been welled up with pride to the point that I have become a coward. One who flees danger instead of standing for what is right. I have destroyed my own soul for the sake of no confrontation with the enemy. How St. John of the Ladder must be ashamed of me. I do not wish to fight, I do not wish to look my enemy in the face. Rather I want to flee and hide like the apostles did after the crucifixion. I want to be as far away as humanly possible from anyone that has ill towards me. Simply because I am a coward. There is no way around this one. I am a coward.

            But there is advice and hope for us yet, even though we might be cowards. Of that I am comforted somewhat. Despite the fact that I know and openly admit I am a coward. St. John says, “Do not hesitate to go late at night to those places where you usually feel afraid. But if you yield only a little to such weakness, then this childish and ridiculous infirmity will grow old with you. As you go on your way, arm yourself with prayer. When you reach the place, stretch out your hands. Flog your enemies with the name of Jesus, for there is no stronger weapon in heaven or earth. When you get rid of the disease (of fear), praise Him who has delivered you. If you continue to be thankful, He will protect you for ever.” Unfortunately, I am a coward. And St. John calls me what I am. Both ridiculous and childish. I do not wish for this to grow with me, but rather that God will take from me my childish disposition and replace it with a manly and honest disposition. I pray that God will be help me through the use of the Jesus Prayer to overcome my enemies and to understand the statues of God more firmly and more truly. I know that up until this point in my life, I have failed God in this respect and I humbly ask for your prayers. I ask this, because as I have fallen, so too has the world. Every time I have acted in cowardice, the world has fallen that much further away from God, and I ask that through your prayers I might be reconciled back to the Church for not only my sake, but for the sake of the Kingdom of God. St. John says, “My hair and my flesh shuddered said Eliphaz, when describing the malice of the demon. Sometimes the soul, and sometimes the flesh, turns coward first, and the one passes its infirmity on to the other. If this untimely fear does not pass into the soul when the flesh flinches, then deliverance from the disease is at hand. But the actual freedom from cowardice comes when we eagerly accept all unexpected events with a contrite heart.” I have never learned to accept unexpected events. Maybe that’s because I grew up in a household that banded together when times got tough and never really saw them as unexpected events, or because I was sheltered from them or whatever. Now being thirty years old, I realize how much of a coward I am. I am not brave like my friend Yianni, the former marine, turned cop. Nor am I strong and brave like my godfather, who at the slightest turn of events begins to pray even harder, not faltering. Nor am as I strong as my friends, who in the face of being ridiculed and cut down because of their work, took it in stride and did not say anything. Rather they stood there and continued taking the beating spiritually because it was beneficial for their souls. I do not do that. I run and hide and lock my door. We cannot do that. We cannot allow Satan to make us flee! I wish no more to say of this, for it hurts me and pains my soul to think that I have fallen from the ladder at this point. I must climb once again and get through this rung so that I may go to the next rung.

May God grant us hope and peace. Apologies for speaking so much about myself in this blog. I love you all.

Amen.

Ladder of Divine Ascent: Rung 20

 

As St. John often does, he cycles back to a previous topic, only to expand on it further in the next.  As I previously mentioned, sleep will hinder our prayer life if we allow it. Again with all things, being created in the image of God, this means that we too have the power to allow things to happen or not. We choose what we want to do and allow to affect our lives in the sense that if we succumb to the temptation of fatigue, then we have rejected the necessity of prayer. One of the most important aspects of spiritual life is keeping vigil over our souls.  Even now as I am tempted to go to bed and reject finishing this until the morning I know that my thoughts on this matter might not be the same as they are now, fresh on my mind. But here, St. John gets deep, deeper than we’ve gone before. Yes he was writing to monks, but if you replace the word monks with Christians the meaning is still the same. He writes, “Now let us see how we stand before God our King, when we stand at our prayers in the evening, or during the day and night. For some at their evening all-night vigil lift up their hands in prayer as if they were incorporeal and stripped of all care. Others stand at that time singing psalms. Others are more occupied in reading. And some out of weakness courageously resist sleep by working with their hands. Others try to feel the horror of the thought of death, hoping thus to obtain contrition. And of all these, the first and last are in all-night vigil for the love of God; the second do what befits a monk; while the third go the lowest way. Yet God accepts and values the offerings of each according to their intention and power.” Keeping Vigil over the soul means that you are watching it, allowing God to guide you and spending your time worshipping and praising God rather than falling into idleness and sin.

            As we look deeper into the world of keeping vigil, we are looking at the world today and searching for the answers as to how to quench our bodies from falling into to deeper sin and destruction. St. John writes, “Vigil is a quenching of lust, deliverance from dream phantoms, a tearful eye, a softened heart, the guarding of thoughts, the dissolving of food, the subduing of passions, the taming of spirits, the bridling of the tongue, the banishment of phantasies.”  We keep vigil not only to pray and praise God, but also to make sure that we are continually striving towards the openness and the heart filled with the Holy Spirit. Without doing so, we can fall into the trap of the devil and become more like them, rejecting God and filling our lives with pleasure rather than with salvation. Like anything else one wishes to master, vigil takes time and energy and practice. If one believes they are going to be able to keep long vigil on the first time they try, then they are greatly deceived. It takes years of steady practice and growth for people to obtain high levels of vigil and even then only with God’s help. If we wish to seek it solely on our own, then we have lost our salvation without even trying. The demons will rejoice at this because they have seen that their work was not needed to draw one away from God. Furthermore an abundance of sleep does not do the soul good either. As my priest told me once, “You can sleep when you’re dead.” Until then, sleep is simply a hinderance to continuing the fight against Satan and his allies. St. John says, “Long sleep is an unjust comrade; it robs the lazy of half their life, and even more.” We spend half of our lives in sleep and lying down. How much more could we accomplish if we put off the wild slumbers of the enemy and practiced prayer and vigil during this time? How much more could we grow spiritually, singing hymns and praising God? Alas, most people will reject this and call me a fanatic. No, I am not, rather I am someone who cares deeply about God so much, that I would rather sacrifice my own life for the sake of the Kingdom than to lose my salvation in slumber and idleness of sleep. St. John says, “It may happen that continuous meditation on passages of the Psalms is prolonged into the hour of sleep. And it may happen that the demons put these passages into our mind in order to lead us to pride. I would not have mentioned the third case, had not someone forced me to do so. The soul which has spent all day unceasingly engaged with the word of the Lord will love to be occupied with it in sleep too. For this second grace is in a special sense a reward for the first and helps us to avoid falls and phantasies. How much fun and happiness that would bring to our souls to spend even those hours of our nightly slumber with the Lord? But if we do not have the proper heart and mindset, we will be led to pride and our downfall, being puffed up and disobedient towards God. But how often do we dream of things that we have thought about all day? I do that a lot. I tend to think about it continuously all day and suddenly I have a dream that either solves my problem for me, or makes me terrified even more of the situation at hand. So too with God. If we meditate on his words and his commandments all day long, then at night at the hour of our sleep, we will drift into a meditation that will expand our knowledge and foretaste of the divine. But if we are not careful in guarding our souls, the demons will come and hijack those meditations and cause our destruction as I mentioned above. But now is the time to prepare our hearts, our minds for this spiritual struggle. We have ten rungs left after this, the journey is perilous beyond this point. Without the proper guidance, we will not be able to continue. May he who has ears to hear, let him here.

            I leave you with the words of St. John as he ended this rung. He says, “This is the twentieth step. He who has mounted it has received light in his heart.”

The Difference in Faith-Lord Help My Unbelief

 

So I’m taking a break in between the two halves of the ladder to bring a few non ladder posts. The first in this short little change of pace before I go back to writing about the ladder is the difference between a believer and a non-believer. We all know that the world is full of people who refuse to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many people wonder why its referred to as the gospel of Jesus Christ and not gospels, it is because there is only one victory of Jesus Christ proclaimed in four separate books. Thus, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today I’m going to contrast two very different people in my life, two people who have competing world views, and two people who have very different strong takes on God.

Now, the first is my own grandfather. For the sake of privacy, I will not use names, but rather titles to describe him. My grandfather grew up in a home that practiced protestant Christianity as did my whole family. My grandfather was raised in Missouri to a wonderful father and mother who raised their four children to be hard working men and women who put long hours in the cotton fields and did their best to make hard times seem good. However, the fateful day in which things changed is a rather difficult one for our family. When my grandfather was a young man, he and his uncle were swimming in the river as they had done probably many times. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse this time and his uncle, barely a child himself, was swept under the current and was unfortunately drowned. My grandfather, seeing this with his own eyes, was devastated by the death of someone he loved. Not wanting to accept the loss of his uncle, my grandfather in tears and grief turned away from a God he had known was loving and care to believe that God was cruel and harsh. To my Orthodox readers out there, we know that God brings both the good and the bad for our salvation. That God can use the trials we suffer to bring about a closeness to God. However, for the unbeliever, or at least the unrepented person, they grow cold and distant in the face of trials and tribulations and allow things like this to draw themselves away from God. Of course it needs to be said that someone who allows this to happen never really had a strong faith in the first place and that they were merely looking for an excuse to deny God. I love my grandfather, and love him beyond anything that earth has given me. I know that things might have been different had his uncle not died, but we do not know really the what ifs of a situation because they never happened. We are only judged by how we reacted to what did happen. As such, my grandfather reacted poorly. As the years progressed he became even more distant from God, not stirred by his parents to learn in the faith and grow as a person, and generally distrustful of religion. Just this morning I was watching an Orthodox video as I often do, and he began to say how stupid and disturbed he was by the supposed “faith” these  Christians were showing. Heartbroken and sad I turned the video off as to not offend him any further, not wishing to cause grief and anger towards a person I hold dear. My grandfather simply needs the reassurance of God and the peace that comes from Jesus Christ. At the beginning of this article, I said it was between the unbeliever and the believer, but really its between those that choose to ignore God and those who openly accept him

The second is a combination of two people in my life that are dear to me. Both are devout Orthodox Christians and both are active members of my parish. The first is my godfather. My brother in Christ. This man, has been with me through some of my darkest hours and has comforted me, when all seemed lost. My godfather, like me was raised in a protestant home and discovered Orthodoxy through his girlfriend and later wife. They have kids together and while they are no longer together, my godfather’s faith in God is stronger than mine will ever be. My godfather has gone through many trials and tribulations in his life, certainly nothing compared to others, and certainly not as difficult as my own struggles which have been hard on me. He has been brave and strong through all of them, relying on the Theotokos and the Lord Jesus Christ to get through them. Watching him combat the devil head on with a faith that is unwavering and true has given me the courage to persevere even though I have wanted to surrender many times. The second is of a man I recently met, who’s name I will share. His name is Vasile. Vasile is a Romanian, who has recently come into my life, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Vasile had cancer when he was younger and during this time, instead of trying to blame God and demand God to give him an answer for what he had been through, Vasile, embraced the disease and began to praise and glorify God because he was able to have more time both in prayer and with his children. The faith of this man is evident when you meet him. Embracing you with a warmth and love that only Christ could give this man. In contrast to the above paragraph, we see that Vasile and my godfather took their cross and bore it for the sake of the Kingdom of God. These two men were able to turn the negatives of life, ones in which the world tells us that God has forsaken us, and praised God giving him the glory for their struggles. Just like the saints of old who were tortured and beaten for their faith, these men took their beatings and asked God, not for them to end, but rather that he would give them the strength to overcome them. I am proud to call them both friends and brothers in Christ. May God grant them many years, both to instruct me and to help guide me on my own struggles, because personally I don’t know how I would get through life without either man.

We have witnessed two examples of people in this world. Two examples that are greatly different in how they respond to God. On the one hand, a person who’s faith grew cold because of sudden tragedy, and the other, where despite their hardships and struggles, were able to overcome them. May God bless us and keep this day without sin my dear brothers and sisters.

Amen.

Ladder of Divine Ascent: Rung 12

 

               Okay so we’ve reached rung twelve. We’ve been climbing steadily and reached the top of rung eleven and have conquered are talkativeness. One of the things about talkativeness is that it also encompasses lying. I mentioned lying in the last blog but didn’t go into too much detail as I was knew lying was the next part of the discussion. Lying is a sin. I am a liar. Many people are. We tell lies so that we can achieve greatness, to avoid trouble and so that we can get people to believe we are better than them. As such, we lie constantly so that we can create the image of ourselves we want to project. In the court of law, this is called perjury and one can serve jail time for lying. In the same sense, when we lie we condemn our souls to hell and this jail sentence is for all eternity. St. John says, “Let no one with right principles suppose that the sin of lying is a small matter, for the All-Holy Spirit pronounced the most awful sentence of all against it above all sins. If Thou wilt destroy all who tell lies, as David says to God, what will they suffer who stitch an oath on to a lie?” St. David the Prophet and King was a liar. He told a lie when he slept with Bathsheba, he couldn’t just handle it. He also became a murderer too, but that is an entirely different blog. Those that lie become the epitome of hypocrite and we must avoid it. I would not want to be a hypocrite at my judgment. I pray that God will keep the lies from my mouth.

               St. John says, “When the demons see that in the very beginning we intend to keep aloof from the witty lecture of a coarse leader, as from an infectious disease, then they try to catch us by two thoughts, suggesting to us: ‘Do not offend the story-teller,’ or: ‘Do not appear to love God more than they do.’ Be off! Do not dally, otherwise at the time of your prayer the jokes will recur to your mind. And not only run, but even piously disconcert the bad company by offering for their general attention the thought of death and judgment. For perhaps it is better for you to be sprinkled with a few drops of vainglory, if only you can become a channel of profit for many.”  Our lies make us aloof to the truth. Sometimes we lie, to avoid the truth. We see this in the above statement, and we see this in our world today. We tell lies like men can become women, women can become men, that its okay for the same sex to marry and for us to sleep with whoever and whenever we like. The world teaches us that lying makes things right and that when we lie enough it becomes the truth. People have even lied about the scriptures so as to deny things like the real presence of Eucharist, the prayers to the saints and role of bishops and priests in the church. People convince themselves through these lies that this is what God intends for us and that anything and everything is permissible. However, St. John turns this on its head and says, “He who has obtained the fear of the Lord has forsaken lying, having within himself an incorruptible judge—his own conscience.”  Our own conscience will not accept these lies. Those who live in lies will be tormented by their conscience daily. I myself when I have told lies will writhe in agony until I finally tell people the truth. Recently this was the case with a couple of issues I was having. Those issues led me to having some pretty bad mix-ups and I had to come clean to those I hurt. When it came to it, I felt better and was able to recover from the pain I had inflicted on myself. When we need to speak and answer for something it is always best to tell the truth. To end this paragraph, I would like to quote St. John again, saying, “He who gives way to lying does so under the pretext of care for others and often regards the destruction of his soul as an act of charity. The inventor of lies makes out that he is an imitator of Rahab, and says that by his own destruction he is effecting the salvation of others.”

               Perhaps the easiest chapter so far to comprehend, and certainly the easiest to explain. Lying overall effects all of us. We see this daily in the news and on social media. We even have a whole section dedicated to so called “fake news” that supposedly is created to dissuade people from believing the truth. Whatever you think on this, understand that lies are all around us. People are not always who they seem to be. We pray that in time people are drawn to repentance and that they come to the fullness of faith through the Orthodox Church. Until then, people will struggle up this rung of the ladder and will be cast down from it. Especially those in authority who have the responsibility of giving us the facts and often misguide the populace for their own cause. I pray for you all, as I hope you pray for me. May God bless you and keep you during this time.

               Amen.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent: Rung 11

 

The eleventh rung, that of talkativeness and silence is extremely important. We see a lot of talk today among people. Talk is more easily accessible than ever. We have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Truth, and other social media platforms where people can talk as much as they want all the time about things. We also see  through the use of the traditional media, like the news where people will watch for hours to hear the commentators give their opinions on a variety of topics that are happening in the world today. We see this with Rachel Maddow, Brett Baier and others discuss the news and their opinions twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The amount of talking this world generates is certainly higher than in recent years. In fact we even have smartphones that allow us to communicate with people all over the globe at the touch of button or key. Certainly not all of this is bad, but most of it is. We can’t stop talking.  St. John says, “Talkativeness is the throne of vainglory on which it loves to show itself and make a display. Talkativeness is a sign of ignorance, a door to slander, a guide to jesting, a servant of falsehood, the ruin of compunction, a creator of despondency, a precursor of sleep, the dissipation of recollection, the abolition of watchfulness, the cooling of ardour, the darkening of prayer.”  It is a sign then, that we have not learned to pray. A sign in which we show our ignorance, especially discussing things we do not know about or have no business discussing. We serve falsehood, especially when using talking to lie and to cheat our way out of things. While I will not go into lying in this article, those who know the Ladder of St. John, know that the twelfth rung is on lying and curbing that. We create despondency in others with our words, we use it as jokes and humiliation towards other. We don’t even care about our own souls enough to watch our words. My mother often said, “Weigh your words before you speak.” We don’t even do that. What comes from our brains comes out of our mouths. In this regard I once heard that thoughts are like airplanes are brains the runway and we are the air traffic control. We decide which one lands and which ones do not. The same way with words. We must choose carefully what to say otherwise it will destroy us,

The opposite of talking is of course silence. There is no silence in the world today. As I said we can get news at hour of the day, and we hear cars and airplanes all day long. People have forgotten what it means to be still for a minute. We order “fast food,” we constantly are playing video games and we listen to podcasts. All of which creates distractions in our lives in which we do not have the ability to or the necessity to pray. We leave God on the back burner and forget that He too needs our time and our love. St. John retorts to all this saying, “Deliberate silence is the mother of prayer, a recall from captivity, preservation of fire, a supervisor of thoughts, a watch against enemies, a prison of mourning, a friend of tears, effective remembrance of death, a depicter of punishment, a meddler with judgment, an aid to anguish, an enemy of freedom of speech, a companion of quiet, an opponent of desire to teach, increase of knowledge, a creator of contemplation, unseen progress, secret ascent.”  One of the best examples of Christian witness, comes from Christ himself. The story of Jesus’ trial is one that resonates with me, and I love speaking on it. I may have used this example before but let us consider once again the fateful moments of Jesus’ trial. Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin, those who had brought him there were expecting Jesus to defend himself as other humans would. They expected Jesus to curse and blaspheme God for what was wrought upon him, and yet through it all Jesus remained silent. He was silent in the Sanhedrin, he was silent before Pilate and Herod. He did not dare speak unless he meant what he said. Those who witnessed it tore their clothes and smacked him. Pilate could find no fault in him. Herod decided that it was a waste of his time, because Christ would not perform a sign. Jesus showed us how to remain silent when the time was not right to speak. If everyone practiced that then many problems in the world would be solved. St. John writes about this saying, “I once heard from someone who asked me about silence that talkativeness is in variably born of one of the following causes: either from a bad, lax environment and habit (for the tongue, said he, being a member of the body, like the rest of the members, requires the training of habit), or again, in the case of ascetics, garrulity comes especially from vainglory, and sometimes also from gluttony. That is why many who bridle the stomach by force afterwards easily check the tongue and its chatter.” We are in the spiritual classroom, or at least we should be. We should training ourselves to combat the enemy on a daily basis, and yet we spend our time frivolously talking about sports, the weather, new technology, cars and so on. We do not use our words to praise God, rather often times we use our words to tear down God.

While there is much more to be said, St. John does not write much on talking. Out of saying too much. He offers his advice and it is very straight to the point. Instead of leaving you with the closing remarks that St. John makes at the end of this rung, I will leave you with something else. This is from the chapter, though it precedes his closing remarks. He says, “He who is anxious about his departure, cuts down words; and he who has obtained spiritual mourning, shuns talkativeness like fire.” Do we shun talking? Do we shun our words in favor of listening and being with others and experiencing life. There is certainly too much talk in the world today. And I pray that we might learn from this and refrain from spending all our time talking and would rather spend it in silence with God.

Amen.