St. Mary is the greatest saint, because through her God the Son became incarnate. No one else ever bore God the Son in the body. She is the one whom Jesus Christ took His humanity from.
St. Mary is an example to us because of her many virtues. She is not mentioned a lot in the Bible, but through what is mentioned about her we can perceive these many virtues.
The first virtue that we see in her is silence; she didn’t talk a lot. While so many youth in this generation talk so idly, and gossip, and hurt each other’s feelings, and waste time, St. Mary did not. After the greeting by Gabriel the Archangel, she “considered what manner of greeting this was,” (Luke 1:29) not argued. After the shepherds came and worshiped Jesus Christ shortly after His birth, she also remained silent and “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). And when Simeon the Elder took up Jesus in his arms and prophesied about Him, she and Joseph “marveled at those things which were spoken of Him” (Luke 2:33). Also after they had lost Jesus from their company when He was 12 years old, she did not yell at Him and scold Him, but after hearing what He said to them, she “kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
This virtue of silence actually has another virtue contained within it, which is actually the third degree of prayer; contemplation. As Orthodox Christians, we know that St. Mary lived in the Temple until she was 12 years old. So being under the tutelage of the people serving in the Temple and seeing the priests and the Levites in their service, praying, offering incense, singing Psalms and hymns, and the people coming to the Temple to pray, she definitely had a very strong spiritual childhood. So she learned how to pray, and this contemplation no doubt, must have grown from her hearing the priests teaching the people in the Temple. Father Markos Hanna said, “St. Mary didn’t mix playing with praying.”
We also see in her the virtue of very strong faith. After the Annunciation that the Christ would be born through her, a virgin, she didn’t argue, but asked how it would happen, and after Gabriel answered her, “Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word’” (Luke 1:38). This faith cannot be paralleled, because the result of this faith caused the Incarnation to happen in her womb. If she didn’t have that faith, the Incarnation would have taken place elsewhere. God would not have become incarnate through one who didn’t believe, but only through one who believed with unshakable faith. It was through a lack of faith that the transgression happened, because Eve didn’t believe God with unshakable faith but when Satan tempted her, she sinned. So for the transgression to be destroyed, it must have left the same way it entered, and Mary’s strong faith set the way, “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). The Holy Spirit bears witness of this faith when He filled St. Elizabeth causing her to prophesy, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).
The virtue of humility is seen in her more than any other Saint for this reason alone: she gave birth to God the Son in the flesh and still remained humble. The satanic, burning pride that could have come from this is stronger than any other temptation, because she became the one through whom He took His humanity; the only one from the human race who bore God in the flesh. This humility is seen when St. Mary went to Elizabeth, as it says, “Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth…And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house” (Luke 1:39-40, 56). Elizabeth was old and Mary knew that the pregnancy would be very hard for her, so she didn’t think to herself that she should be the one served, but rather went to serve. This showed St. Mary’s humility.
The list of the virtues of St. Mary goes on, but for the sake of the length of this article we will stop here and talk about the deeper things, the theological things. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that the Saints are praying for us and are united with us. This is why in the Church’s Architecture (which is a form of expressing theology) we have a dome (symbolic of Heaven) and a rectangular building (symbolic of the earth). The Gospel of John bears witness of the Divinity of Christ, and in John’s Gospel he records that at the Wedding at Cana of Galilee, when the wine ran out, St. Mary came to Jesus saying, “‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come’” (John 2:3-4). The interesting thing is that in the original language, Jesus response more literally means, “What is that to Me and you?” St. Mary was interceding for the servants of the Wedding, and she knew that her Son would know what to do. This verse shows how close the relationship between Jesus and Mary was, for she didn’t say to Him what to do, but said, “They have no wine.” This resulted in the first sign Jesus did.
The intercession of Saints in prayer works this way. Firstly, why should the Saints stop praying for us in Heaven, if they prayed for us here on Earth? And secondly, when we get into an argument with someone, and we want to go apologize, and the other party is not very close to us, they more than likely will not accept our supplication. But when we know someone who is very close to them, we ask them to intercede for us, and most of the time it works, because the relationship between the intercessor and the other party is much stronger than the relationship between us and the other party.
We just had the Feast of the Assumption of St. Mary a little over a week ago, and at my church, we had several priests come as guest speakers throughout the last week of the fast. The first one of these guest speakers, Father Daniel Habib, said something very profound, he said something like “We aren’t led to Christ through Mary, but we are led to Mary because of Christ. We are supposed to be at the Cross with Jesus Christ daily, and there we find His Mother and the Disciple John.” He then spoke about how in many of our churches (The Coptic Orthodox), we have an icon at the very top of the iconostasis which portrays the Crucifixion and Mary and John standing at the foot of the Cross.
Let us learn from the example of the greatest Saint, Saint Mary, so we can become closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May her prayers be with us all and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Students
Last week I spoke about teachers and what should be expected of those that teach the people of God. This week I will continue by speaking about how students should be. First I will begin with the words of the Gospel, “Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 8:2-4).
These verses highlight how we should be as Christians and apply excellently for us as students because humility is the virtue where we are fully aware of God. First point is that young children are teachable because of their humility. Last week at church after most people left, there were two young children standing outside the doors of the church, and one of them was trying to tie the others’ shoes and she wasn’t able to, so I asked her if her brother needed his shoes tied, she answered yes. I then showed her how to tie it, and both stood there and learned. Their humility is what allowed them to learn. Today for so many reasons people like to magnify themselves, many times in this generation, if a younger person tries to teach an older person about anything at all (especially school teachers) they will get offended and go “Aw, what, are you trying to teach me? Are you saying that you know and I don’t?” And such comments like that. Sometimes this leads to the Satanic, burning pride, which destroys people. This pride separates people from God more than any other sin can, because in the words of C.S. Lewis, “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind,” and, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” And God is infinitely above us, and the only ways we can get close to Him are through humility, virtues, and prayer. As St. Paul the Apostle says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1).
The second point about the willingness to learn of younger children is that younger children are quiet when they WANT to learn something. These two just stood there, listened, and watched quietly until I was finished tying the shoes. They didn’t talk or ask questions every single step of the way, but watched and when they watched and paid careful attention, they learned it completely. I didn’t even have to go over it again. We should follow the example of the children and be quiet while the priest or the youth leader is teaching. Especially in the case of the priest, because these priests weren’t just ordained for any reason, they were closely monitored by the Bishops to see if they were adequate to teach and also important to give good advice during Confession. We shouldn’t turn to our friends in church and start talking to them when the priest or the youth leader is giving a lesson, we should listen intently and think about what they are saying.
We are old enough to understand that there is nothing more important that our salvation and Salvation is our Lord Jesus Christ (that’s the meaning of His Name) who loved us to the very end. We should spend as much time as we have available to learn about Him. We, the Church, are betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and during a REAL engagement, one doesn’t just find a person ask them to get married in a couple of days, but the two spend a long time together, getting to know each other, so that they can understand each other better. That’s the case in any relationship, and the same is true with our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we know more about Him, and His will for us, and what he wants us to do, we cannot pray effectively because then we won’t know what to pray for, in fact some of the prayers might be evil but we won’t be aware of it.
So being a student isn’t just something abstract but it has practical effects when we apply it. There are too many stories about people who heard the words of the Bible and applied it dynamically and from the heart, as it says in the Bible, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) and also, “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13). So by being students we receive faith, and faith produces works, which is the sign that that faith is alive.
Also we should be students to everything that happens to us, to learn from every experience and let it increase our wisdom. If we can’t take something good from the experiences that we go through and learn from it, then we are letting it go to waste and through this way we waste our time and fall into sin, because some of these events cause complaining, cussing, swearing, hurting other people’s feelings and so on, but we should be pure because, “to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).
So let us start looking at the good instead of the bad, and learning from the experiences we go through and glory be to God forever. Amen.
These verses highlight how we should be as Christians and apply excellently for us as students because humility is the virtue where we are fully aware of God. First point is that young children are teachable because of their humility. Last week at church after most people left, there were two young children standing outside the doors of the church, and one of them was trying to tie the others’ shoes and she wasn’t able to, so I asked her if her brother needed his shoes tied, she answered yes. I then showed her how to tie it, and both stood there and learned. Their humility is what allowed them to learn. Today for so many reasons people like to magnify themselves, many times in this generation, if a younger person tries to teach an older person about anything at all (especially school teachers) they will get offended and go “Aw, what, are you trying to teach me? Are you saying that you know and I don’t?” And such comments like that. Sometimes this leads to the Satanic, burning pride, which destroys people. This pride separates people from God more than any other sin can, because in the words of C.S. Lewis, “Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind,” and, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” And God is infinitely above us, and the only ways we can get close to Him are through humility, virtues, and prayer. As St. Paul the Apostle says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1).
The second point about the willingness to learn of younger children is that younger children are quiet when they WANT to learn something. These two just stood there, listened, and watched quietly until I was finished tying the shoes. They didn’t talk or ask questions every single step of the way, but watched and when they watched and paid careful attention, they learned it completely. I didn’t even have to go over it again. We should follow the example of the children and be quiet while the priest or the youth leader is teaching. Especially in the case of the priest, because these priests weren’t just ordained for any reason, they were closely monitored by the Bishops to see if they were adequate to teach and also important to give good advice during Confession. We shouldn’t turn to our friends in church and start talking to them when the priest or the youth leader is giving a lesson, we should listen intently and think about what they are saying.
We are old enough to understand that there is nothing more important that our salvation and Salvation is our Lord Jesus Christ (that’s the meaning of His Name) who loved us to the very end. We should spend as much time as we have available to learn about Him. We, the Church, are betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and during a REAL engagement, one doesn’t just find a person ask them to get married in a couple of days, but the two spend a long time together, getting to know each other, so that they can understand each other better. That’s the case in any relationship, and the same is true with our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless we know more about Him, and His will for us, and what he wants us to do, we cannot pray effectively because then we won’t know what to pray for, in fact some of the prayers might be evil but we won’t be aware of it.
So being a student isn’t just something abstract but it has practical effects when we apply it. There are too many stories about people who heard the words of the Bible and applied it dynamically and from the heart, as it says in the Bible, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17) and also, “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13). So by being students we receive faith, and faith produces works, which is the sign that that faith is alive.
Also we should be students to everything that happens to us, to learn from every experience and let it increase our wisdom. If we can’t take something good from the experiences that we go through and learn from it, then we are letting it go to waste and through this way we waste our time and fall into sin, because some of these events cause complaining, cussing, swearing, hurting other people’s feelings and so on, but we should be pure because, “to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).
So let us start looking at the good instead of the bad, and learning from the experiences we go through and glory be to God forever. Amen.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Teachers
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” -James 3:1-2
Teachers are a gift from God, because through teachers we know the way of truth, and how to walk straight in the spiritual life. Teaching is one of five ministerial gifts that Our Lord Jesus Christ gives, as it says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Today, however, so many false teachers have arisen, to a startling degree. This has come because of the rise of more tolerant Protestantism and because of the love of being a teacher for the experience. In this society, it is considered a great thing to think for oneself, and unfortunately the west applies this to the Bible. This is wrong for two reasons: Firstly, how do we know our thinking is right? Secondly, the Bible never, ever encourages thinking, but rather change of thinking (metanoia), the word which we translate as repentance. Repentance doesn’t just mean to stop sinning, but it describes our life after coming to God. So today, anyone picks up the Bible, and is a recent convert, he doesn’t know what the Bible says and teaches and hasn’t experienced its practical application and all of a sudden wants to teach! His church however doesn’t accept the idea, but instead of being humble and obeying and submitting to the church, he leaves and starts his own church so he could be the teacher and pastor. And unfortunately this is what has led to the number of Protestant denominations numbering between 20,000 to 30,000 and all because of significant doctrinal differences.
Another reason for this explosion in number of false teachers is the fact that the things they teach appeals to those who are not of a sound mind, just as St. Paul the Apostle instructs St. Timothy in his service as a Bishop, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). St. Peter warns the entire Church in his Universal Epistle saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1-3). This is a very dangerous point, do you see what he says, “There will be false teachers among you… denying even the Lord who bought them.” At this point, they cease to be Christians, and become cultists, because as I have pointed out before, the word “Christian” means “Of the Nation of Christ,” and if one denies Christ, he ceases to be a Christian.
A Teacher has to be an example to his students, which is why St. James the Apostle says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things,” then he continues to say why, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:1-2). This means he has to be an example to those he teaches as well as those he doesn’t, so they can see Christ both in his deeds and his words. And when it comes to word, the teacher should be excelling, not just like anyone else from the laity, but one who can accurately and deeply bear witness to God. Today teachers teach in a very superficial and in a way teachers shouldn’t teach. Especially in the Church these days, they research something and learn about it for a couple of days and then they teach an entire congregation about it! No, this shouldn’t be! It should be that the teacher should teach from the richness of the wisdom he has been given, and not in this superficial sense. This method of teaching something one just learned a couple of days before causes so many problems, such as answering questions. A teacher should not answer questions he doesn’t know the answers to. This will only cause confusion on the part of the one asking, and might cause him or her to question the faith because the teacher couldn’t answer. This fact of the teacher answering, and knowing he doesn’t have the answer to the question, is a manifestation of pride, because then they lose sight of God and His plan for teachers to spread His message, to the teacher answering because he doesn’t want the people to question his understanding.
In the ancient times, during the centuries right before and after the New Testament, teachers didn’t teach from a curriculum, and they didn’t teach on a topic that they spent the previous day researching, they taught from the richness of their wisdom and taught with enthusiasm, and with great conviction. This is evident in the style of the New Testament writers, especially in the Epistles, where the Apostles talk about Christ in the Old Testament, and later on in the Church Fathers when they further expounded on the faith. The Church Fathers were educated in this same exact manner, and one sees it very clearly in the writings of such fathers as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. Cyril of Alexandria. They also expressed their own thoughts and meditations, which unlike today’s generation, was illuminated by the Holy Spirit and focused completely on the Person of Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through none other than Jesus Christ. These Church Fathers by far had the Holy Spirit in a much greater measure than today’s generation has. They expositions are truly beautiful indeed, and they taught by a very simple principle, and that was to teach what you know. For a very small example, concerning the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 which says, “To possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,” some of the Church Fathers said this referred to yourself, and others said it refers to your spouse. Now to someone who doesn’t understand the theology of the Church, they would see this as a contradiction, but we knowing that the husband and wife become one during the Sacrament of Matrimony, see it as a revelation from the Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t teach something we don’t know, because our faith is not a set of ideas and far away doctrines, it is a living faith, it is a life itself. So if something seems far to one of us, we shouldn’t teach on it, and we should spend time in prayer to God until we come to the level where the full effect and implications of any doctrine is fully realized in our lives. Then we can have the Spirit of God to the measure that they had Him. They did not have Him because they were saints, but we venerate them as saints because of the work He had in their lives. We should follow the example of the many saints that have come before us, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And glory be to God forever. Amen.
Teachers are a gift from God, because through teachers we know the way of truth, and how to walk straight in the spiritual life. Teaching is one of five ministerial gifts that Our Lord Jesus Christ gives, as it says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Today, however, so many false teachers have arisen, to a startling degree. This has come because of the rise of more tolerant Protestantism and because of the love of being a teacher for the experience. In this society, it is considered a great thing to think for oneself, and unfortunately the west applies this to the Bible. This is wrong for two reasons: Firstly, how do we know our thinking is right? Secondly, the Bible never, ever encourages thinking, but rather change of thinking (metanoia), the word which we translate as repentance. Repentance doesn’t just mean to stop sinning, but it describes our life after coming to God. So today, anyone picks up the Bible, and is a recent convert, he doesn’t know what the Bible says and teaches and hasn’t experienced its practical application and all of a sudden wants to teach! His church however doesn’t accept the idea, but instead of being humble and obeying and submitting to the church, he leaves and starts his own church so he could be the teacher and pastor. And unfortunately this is what has led to the number of Protestant denominations numbering between 20,000 to 30,000 and all because of significant doctrinal differences.
Another reason for this explosion in number of false teachers is the fact that the things they teach appeals to those who are not of a sound mind, just as St. Paul the Apostle instructs St. Timothy in his service as a Bishop, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). St. Peter warns the entire Church in his Universal Epistle saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1-3). This is a very dangerous point, do you see what he says, “There will be false teachers among you… denying even the Lord who bought them.” At this point, they cease to be Christians, and become cultists, because as I have pointed out before, the word “Christian” means “Of the Nation of Christ,” and if one denies Christ, he ceases to be a Christian.
A Teacher has to be an example to his students, which is why St. James the Apostle says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things,” then he continues to say why, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:1-2). This means he has to be an example to those he teaches as well as those he doesn’t, so they can see Christ both in his deeds and his words. And when it comes to word, the teacher should be excelling, not just like anyone else from the laity, but one who can accurately and deeply bear witness to God. Today teachers teach in a very superficial and in a way teachers shouldn’t teach. Especially in the Church these days, they research something and learn about it for a couple of days and then they teach an entire congregation about it! No, this shouldn’t be! It should be that the teacher should teach from the richness of the wisdom he has been given, and not in this superficial sense. This method of teaching something one just learned a couple of days before causes so many problems, such as answering questions. A teacher should not answer questions he doesn’t know the answers to. This will only cause confusion on the part of the one asking, and might cause him or her to question the faith because the teacher couldn’t answer. This fact of the teacher answering, and knowing he doesn’t have the answer to the question, is a manifestation of pride, because then they lose sight of God and His plan for teachers to spread His message, to the teacher answering because he doesn’t want the people to question his understanding.
In the ancient times, during the centuries right before and after the New Testament, teachers didn’t teach from a curriculum, and they didn’t teach on a topic that they spent the previous day researching, they taught from the richness of their wisdom and taught with enthusiasm, and with great conviction. This is evident in the style of the New Testament writers, especially in the Epistles, where the Apostles talk about Christ in the Old Testament, and later on in the Church Fathers when they further expounded on the faith. The Church Fathers were educated in this same exact manner, and one sees it very clearly in the writings of such fathers as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. Cyril of Alexandria. They also expressed their own thoughts and meditations, which unlike today’s generation, was illuminated by the Holy Spirit and focused completely on the Person of Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through none other than Jesus Christ. These Church Fathers by far had the Holy Spirit in a much greater measure than today’s generation has. They expositions are truly beautiful indeed, and they taught by a very simple principle, and that was to teach what you know. For a very small example, concerning the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 which says, “To possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,” some of the Church Fathers said this referred to yourself, and others said it refers to your spouse. Now to someone who doesn’t understand the theology of the Church, they would see this as a contradiction, but we knowing that the husband and wife become one during the Sacrament of Matrimony, see it as a revelation from the Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t teach something we don’t know, because our faith is not a set of ideas and far away doctrines, it is a living faith, it is a life itself. So if something seems far to one of us, we shouldn’t teach on it, and we should spend time in prayer to God until we come to the level where the full effect and implications of any doctrine is fully realized in our lives. Then we can have the Spirit of God to the measure that they had Him. They did not have Him because they were saints, but we venerate them as saints because of the work He had in their lives. We should follow the example of the many saints that have come before us, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And glory be to God forever. Amen.
Monday, August 3, 2009
The New Martyrdom
“Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” -St. Mark the Ascetic
I was at the annual convention for college youth of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern California last week, and it was quite an experience. There was our Bishop, and the Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, and several priests from our Diocese. There were over 210 youth in attendance, and A.C. Green, who was formerly a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers came and spoke to us on purity. I will reflect on some of things that came out of the retreat which are beneficial to us as Christians in a western society.
The topic of the retreat was called “The New Martyrdom.” Some will probably get confused when they read this and wonder as to what it is referring. I have quoted from others before in this blog the saying which says that living a pure life in this culture and society is a type of martyrdom. This retreat went on to define that better and help us to lead a pure life.
After we had dinner and got into our groups we went to the conference hall and received our Bishops. Our Bishop, Bishop Serapion, then introduced His Grace the Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel, and we commenced in the talks. Bishop Suriel gave an introduction as to what the New Martyrdom is and said two important things in this first talk. First was that in western society peer pressure is disappearing because we are no longer being pressured into things, others EXPECT us to do these things which are not acceptable for us as Christians. This EXPECTATION is one of the main reasons as to why western society is starting to go downhill quickly. He then talked about something which he called, “The Frog in Kettle Syndrome.” He described how if one puts a frog in a kettle of water, the frog won’t like it at first but then will become used to it very quickly, and if one keeps raising the temperature higher and higher the frog will keep adjusting. He used this to illustrate how tolerance works and how in the end tolerance will burn up the person because of all the bad things it leads us into and unfortunately as time goes on, it leads the people to approve the things they once didn’t. Afterward we sang our praises and prayed, then we were finished for the day, which means our free time, even if it’s 11:30 at night.
The next day commenced with prayers and breakfast then Bishop Suriel began the second talk. This talk was about how we as Christians view sexuality and what God commanded us, and how the world views it. This talk was supported by some very strong statistics. One of these statistics was absolutely horrifying: 70% of young women and 62% of young men have had sex by the age of 18. Wow, what happened? What happened is God is no longer the focus of these people; their desires are first to them. They have also lost the meaning of true love and confused it with lust. “Love gives, lust takes; love values, lust uses; love endures, lust subsides,” His Grace Bishop Suriel said.
The west has concerned itself with the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world. It has become very materialistic. They always want the newest things on the market and still there is no satisfaction and still the complaints continue. All these things they use to pick out a mate, and then have sex. Sex has become one of the biggest concerns and fascinations of this western society. That is why most of the movies that come out today have sexual scenes in them. Honestly, if one goes to a theater and compares how many movies rated PG-13 or R to PG or G there are, they will find that the former is way more than the latter. Another thing His Grace Bishop Suriel said which we should contemplate on is “Love is a process, sex is an act; love is learned, sex is instinctive.” This rampage of premarital and even extramarital sex has darkened this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
Following the second talk, we had group discussions, quiet time, free time and lunch. After lunch A.C. Green came and spoke to us about how he kept his purity during his career in the NBA. He spoke about some of the temptations that he went through, and how he didn’t compromise himself by overcoming the temptations. One of the things that he said which has been fixed in my head is that he said that we always have an audience of one, and that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. We should follow his example and keep the same mindset as he has kept. His talk was really refreshing, to see someone like him valuing his faith more than anything else.
I will now skip to the last talk which took place later that night by His Grace the Bishop again. This one spoke about practical application to staying pure. It gave more statistics as to problems in this country because of its insatiable desire for sex. One statistic I found very interesting which observed that 2/3 of divorces in a year is caused by pornography. He then spoke about the whole armor of God, and how the helmet’s purpose is to protect the head, that is to protect us from the evil thoughts that we have. He made another illustration of an open house. He said our lives are not like an open house policy because if a storm comes it will enter the house, and ruin everything in it. He reminded us in the end that some kinds do “not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Thus we are encouraged to fast when we enter into temptation, and how often does that happen! This is why our Church exercising the authority that our Lord Jesus Christ gave Her ordained so many periods of fasting, that we would be able to overcome temptation, grow in our faith, focus on our prayers, and cause them to be heard by God.
A saying that kept coming up again and again in this convention was one by St. Anthony which goes something like, “There will come a day when the mad people will look at the normal people and say, ‘Look at the normal person, he is mad because he is not like us.’” (Or something like that, I couldn’t copy down the whole quote in time). And this is true. People today think it is strange for us to value our virginity and purity. They are not able to understand why we keep ourselves pure. It is because God is not their focus, and they are not close to Him. They are carried away by the lusts of the world and the lusts of the flesh. We are persecuted today because of this. I don’t mean like the martyrs of old, but mentally. How many times are we pressured to do what the world wants us to do, and are embarrassed and made fun of when we refuse to follow their ways, it is like St. Mark the Ascetic said, “Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” Purity is the New Martyrdom.
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
I was at the annual convention for college youth of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern California last week, and it was quite an experience. There was our Bishop, and the Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, and several priests from our Diocese. There were over 210 youth in attendance, and A.C. Green, who was formerly a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers came and spoke to us on purity. I will reflect on some of things that came out of the retreat which are beneficial to us as Christians in a western society.
The topic of the retreat was called “The New Martyrdom.” Some will probably get confused when they read this and wonder as to what it is referring. I have quoted from others before in this blog the saying which says that living a pure life in this culture and society is a type of martyrdom. This retreat went on to define that better and help us to lead a pure life.
After we had dinner and got into our groups we went to the conference hall and received our Bishops. Our Bishop, Bishop Serapion, then introduced His Grace the Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel, and we commenced in the talks. Bishop Suriel gave an introduction as to what the New Martyrdom is and said two important things in this first talk. First was that in western society peer pressure is disappearing because we are no longer being pressured into things, others EXPECT us to do these things which are not acceptable for us as Christians. This EXPECTATION is one of the main reasons as to why western society is starting to go downhill quickly. He then talked about something which he called, “The Frog in Kettle Syndrome.” He described how if one puts a frog in a kettle of water, the frog won’t like it at first but then will become used to it very quickly, and if one keeps raising the temperature higher and higher the frog will keep adjusting. He used this to illustrate how tolerance works and how in the end tolerance will burn up the person because of all the bad things it leads us into and unfortunately as time goes on, it leads the people to approve the things they once didn’t. Afterward we sang our praises and prayed, then we were finished for the day, which means our free time, even if it’s 11:30 at night.
The next day commenced with prayers and breakfast then Bishop Suriel began the second talk. This talk was about how we as Christians view sexuality and what God commanded us, and how the world views it. This talk was supported by some very strong statistics. One of these statistics was absolutely horrifying: 70% of young women and 62% of young men have had sex by the age of 18. Wow, what happened? What happened is God is no longer the focus of these people; their desires are first to them. They have also lost the meaning of true love and confused it with lust. “Love gives, lust takes; love values, lust uses; love endures, lust subsides,” His Grace Bishop Suriel said.
The west has concerned itself with the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world. It has become very materialistic. They always want the newest things on the market and still there is no satisfaction and still the complaints continue. All these things they use to pick out a mate, and then have sex. Sex has become one of the biggest concerns and fascinations of this western society. That is why most of the movies that come out today have sexual scenes in them. Honestly, if one goes to a theater and compares how many movies rated PG-13 or R to PG or G there are, they will find that the former is way more than the latter. Another thing His Grace Bishop Suriel said which we should contemplate on is “Love is a process, sex is an act; love is learned, sex is instinctive.” This rampage of premarital and even extramarital sex has darkened this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
Following the second talk, we had group discussions, quiet time, free time and lunch. After lunch A.C. Green came and spoke to us about how he kept his purity during his career in the NBA. He spoke about some of the temptations that he went through, and how he didn’t compromise himself by overcoming the temptations. One of the things that he said which has been fixed in my head is that he said that we always have an audience of one, and that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. We should follow his example and keep the same mindset as he has kept. His talk was really refreshing, to see someone like him valuing his faith more than anything else.
I will now skip to the last talk which took place later that night by His Grace the Bishop again. This one spoke about practical application to staying pure. It gave more statistics as to problems in this country because of its insatiable desire for sex. One statistic I found very interesting which observed that 2/3 of divorces in a year is caused by pornography. He then spoke about the whole armor of God, and how the helmet’s purpose is to protect the head, that is to protect us from the evil thoughts that we have. He made another illustration of an open house. He said our lives are not like an open house policy because if a storm comes it will enter the house, and ruin everything in it. He reminded us in the end that some kinds do “not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Thus we are encouraged to fast when we enter into temptation, and how often does that happen! This is why our Church exercising the authority that our Lord Jesus Christ gave Her ordained so many periods of fasting, that we would be able to overcome temptation, grow in our faith, focus on our prayers, and cause them to be heard by God.
A saying that kept coming up again and again in this convention was one by St. Anthony which goes something like, “There will come a day when the mad people will look at the normal people and say, ‘Look at the normal person, he is mad because he is not like us.’” (Or something like that, I couldn’t copy down the whole quote in time). And this is true. People today think it is strange for us to value our virginity and purity. They are not able to understand why we keep ourselves pure. It is because God is not their focus, and they are not close to Him. They are carried away by the lusts of the world and the lusts of the flesh. We are persecuted today because of this. I don’t mean like the martyrs of old, but mentally. How many times are we pressured to do what the world wants us to do, and are embarrassed and made fun of when we refuse to follow their ways, it is like St. Mark the Ascetic said, “Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” Purity is the New Martyrdom.
And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.
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