April 26, 2012
The Meaning of Affliction
Eugene Rose Lay Sermon July 1963
Among the innumerable spiritual lessons we may learn from the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, one of the most important is that of the meaning of affliction. Most men in their days, as in our own, sought "peace" and "security"; but the Apostles were in continual peril and uncertainty, often hungry and cold, beaten, stoned, persecuted, imprisoned, and finally martyred. Far from despairing over their lot, they rejoiced in it, knowing that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18). They knew the necessity of pain and affliction for the spiritual life. Through the bearing of tribulation one learns patience and hope (Rom 5:1-3); the greater one's suffering, the greater is one's consolation in Christ, and the better one is able to console others in distress (II Cor. 1:4-5); even dissensions and divisions among the faithful are necessary so that the true servants of Christ may be separated from the false (I Cor 11:19). But perhaps the most valuable thing to be learned from affliction is the knowledge of one's own weakness; for then one comes entirely to depend upon the strength of Christ. "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (II Cor 12:10).
Today the power and seductiveness of the world are stronger than ever. Everywhere Christians are tempted to take the easy path, to seek "peace" and "security" and flee from pain and affliction, to view life as an occasion for the enjoyment of earthly blessings, instead of a time of trial in which our eternal destiny is to be decided. But God expects more than this from those who glory in the name of Orthodox Christians. So that we will not forget Him and His eternal Kingdom, God mercifully sends us troubles, distress, sorrows, persecution; these are to awaken us who sleep and show us where our true home is. Let us remember the example of the Holy Apostles, and especially the burning fervor and faith which sustained them in all their trials; let us heed the many exhortations of the Apostle Paul, as well as those of our shepherds today who continue to speak and tell us to prepare, in pain and tribulation, for the Kingdom of eternal glory and joy. Weak as we are, no trial is too great for us if our strength is of Christ. "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:38-39).
April 23, 2012
The Message of the Bible
Book Review
The Message of the Bible
An Orthodox Perspective
by George Cronk
The shamefully fallen RocorMP has included this book in their Holy Trinity School curriculum.
http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/bible_cronk_1.htm
George Cronk is a CRANK!
In Chapter 2 of Message of the Bible we read Cronk's explanation of the incident after the Flood when Noah got drunk and lay naked in his tent:
The essence of Ham's sin is expressed in the phrase, "saw the nakedness of his father," a phrase which must be understood in the light of chapter 18 of the book of Leviticus. In that text, God proclaims that it is an abomination for a man to "uncover the nakedness" of his father, his mother, his sister, his children, his grandchildren, his aunts and uncles, his sisters-in-law and his daughters-in-law (Lv 18:6-16). What is condemned here is any act of incest. And it is quite clear that the expression "uncover the nakedness" refers to various forms of sexual intercourse. It should also be noted that homosexuality is condemned in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, and in Romans 1:26-27. What Ham did, then, was to engage in some form of incestuous and homosexual intercourse with his father. (It is, by the way, interesting that the Bible contains no suggestion that Noah's drunkenness was in any way reprehensible).
This is not the Orthodox interpretation. It is a crack-pot interpretation, utterly intolerable, disgusting and sickening. Somebody has to have a "dirty mind" or a very small mind to think that. The incident has absolutely nothing at all to do with sex. It has everything to do with honoring thy father, and having respect for our elders. [Something kids are not taught today.] When we find our parents [or elders] in an embarrassing situation, we do not point and laugh. We don't bring others in on the joke. We don't ignore their need. Instead we do as Shem and Japheth, and respectfully do what we can to repair the embarrassment of their situation.
Here is what Fr. Seraphim Rose writes in Genesis, Creation and Early Man Chapter Nine, 1st edition:
Why did Noah, a righteous man, get drunk? Perhaps, as St. Ephraim suggests, it was because he had not drunk wine for many years; he had been a year in the Ark, and it takes several years to plant the vines and to get grapes with which to make wine. Or else, as St. John Chrysostom suggests, wine was actually not even drunk before the Flood. Noah was the first to cultivate vineyards. Therefore, he would not have known the power of wine; he drank it to see what it was like, and it overwhelmed him. If this was the case, wine-drinking goes together with meat-eating as one of the new conditions of the post-Flood world.
Genesis 9:21 again calls Ham "the father of Canaan" to remind us of his uncontrolled nature.
What was this sin of Ham? The sin was not so much that he saw his father naked, because then they were not nearly as fastidious about that kind of thing as we are now. Rather, his sin lay in the fact that he saw him in a shameful condition – drunk, all sprawled out – and therefore he mocked his father; he stared at the spectacle and went out and spread tales about his father's sin.
In English, a "ham" is an actor who makes a big show of himself. In Russian, the word "ham" means something much worse. It refers to someone absolutely shameful, without any manners, politeness or decency [like Soviets in modern times].
The sin of Ham was the sin of being totally shameless. His brothers, on the contrary, came in with respect, covered up their father, and thus covered up the whole thing before it could be spread about. Thus Ham, the second son, now became the youngest.
But why was Canaan cursed instead of Ham his father? St. John Chrysostom says it was because Ham once received God's blessing, and now the curse must be on his offspring, which hurts him too. Moreover, Canaan probably also sinned. St. Ephraim suggests that it was actually Canaan, as a small boy, who went in and was the first to see Noah. He went out and told his father, so he himself is partly guilty.
Read more here
http://genesiscreationandearlyman.blogspot.com
April 22, 2012
Why can't I just go to the Church nearest my home?
Q: Why can't I just go to the Church nearest my home? Why do I have to worry about trying to understand jurisdictions?
A : Struggling against sin is the picking up of our cross. There are two sides to the struggle against sin.
Struggling against our personal sins strengthens one spiritual muscle. Struggling against "group sin" strengthens another spiritual muscle. Both muscles are necessary to be able to walk the Royal Path.
Orthodox can understand "group sin" in Christ's letters to the seven Churches in Asia, Revelations chapters 2 and 3.
By Orthodox "group sin" I mean heresies [false teachings], unlawful leniencies, and breaking the spirit of the law [canons].
In world Orthodoxy the flock is told to pay attention only to their personal sins. To let their bishops worry about the politics. They tell the flock that obedience to even an unlawful bishop will still save them, because obedience is valued above truth. If the flock believes this, accepts this; then as a group they confirm each other in this lie and all the lies that are born from it. They "make excuse with excuses in sin" [Psalm 140 read at Vespers], justifying their laxity by thinking they are being soft-hearted.
But this backfires. Because without strengthening the "spiritual muscle" that struggles against "group sin", we do not strengthen the "muscle" that helps our struggle against personal sin. Since these two "muscles" work together.
And vice-versa: In the super-correct Churches we find that an over-emphasis on the canons and heresies encourages the sins of pharisaism and hard-heartedness. Pharisaism is the letter of the law rather than the spirit. They take upon themselves judgments which belong to the Church; they close their ears.
Both the laziness of world Orthodoxy and the pride of the super-correct disease cause spiritual blindness. These Churches bear very little fruit if any at all.
Another Answer:
Dear Bill,
Christ is risen!
What would you say to this question?
I ask you because you must know how to explain why you chose Rocor
over the other Orthodox churches in B'ham.
Dear Joanna,
I am not neglecting to answer your question here but rather thinking
through just how to answer it as I too have wondered just this same thing.
I have come to believe that we are living in the last days of the Church
Age, that time when Satan's influence on earth has been diminished.
Constantine became the first Christian monarch established by God's Law
and dispersed that Law to mankind. In the tenth century the Slavic Prince
Vladimir accepted Christianity for himself and his people, and patterned
the Russian nation after the Byzantine model. When in 1453 Constantine XI
died fighting, Constantinople fell under the the Islamic incursion and I
believe Russia became the leader of the Christian society and continued so until
1918 when Nicholas II and the entire Royal family were assented.
That is a "long winded" description of why I believe that the original
ROCOR remnant became the preacher of Orthodoxy to the entire world
including the United States. I believe that that mantle has been passed to
the ROCA remnant under Metropolitan Agafangel.
As I study Orthodoxy, compared to my previous Protestant background, I am
seeking to find Christ's One, True, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. That
Church I believe is the ROCA Church under Metropolitan Agafangel and it's
sister churches. I believe grace can be found there and it is that grace
that I now seek. I am totally uncertain about grace anywhere else
including other Orthodox or Protestant churches.
I read this quote from Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, "One may recognize
the work of the Orthodox faiths approaching its definite conclusionĊ Do
not expect from anyone the restoration of Christianity. The vessels of the
Holy Spirit have definitively dried up everywhere, even in the
monasteries, those treasuries of piety and graceĊ The merciful
long-suffering of God extends and delays the final end for the small
remnant of those who are being saved, while those who are becoming corrupt
or have become corrupt attain the fullness of corruption."
When I started this journey, or rather when God himself, started me on
this journey, for it could be no other way, I had absolutely no idea it
would lead me to ROCA and Metropolitan Agafangel. I totally wish the Greek
Orthodox Church in Birmingham was a sister church of ours, but it is not.
Nor are any of the other churches totally committed to [opposing] the ecumenical
movement.
I am seeking to watch and pray, to be ready when Christ comes. I now
believe that the time of the Antichrist is near and the deception during
this time will be most severe. I hope to be in that small remnant that
remains true to Christ's Church.
These are my thought for now. Maybe more to come after more thought...
Bill
Politics are frustrating: the only way to get away from the politics is to get away from the MP.
Directory of parishes in America
http://rocadirectoryusa.blogspot.com/
Directory of parishes in America
http://rocadirectoryusa.blogspot.com/
April 19, 2012
Abbess Rufina
Online Life of Saint
The Life of Abbess Rufina:
Royal Path
of a
Great Struggler
of a
Great Struggler
By Abbess Ariadna
April 17, 2012
"Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen"
Eugene Rose Lay Sermon May 1963
It is well to remember these words of our Lord, which we heard in the Great Fast, even now when the joy of His Resurrection is still fresh in our hearts. Shall we who have been called to the Feast be chosen to partake of the greater Feast of the Kingdom of Heaven?
How quickly does earthly feasting dull our awareness of heavenly things! How many of us, having experienced the spiritual benefits of the Fast, begin to forget them now and use the Paschal season as a time of relaxation from spiritual labor! But if we lose now what we gained then, we are worse off than before; for he who does not progress in the spiritual life does not merely stand still – he goes backward.
"For what purpose," said our holy Father John of Kronstadt, "does the Lord add day after day, year after year, to our existence? In order that we may gradually put away, cast aside, evil from our souls and acquire blessed simplicity." This task does not end as long as we live; spiritual effort must be continuous. For Orthodox Christians the Paschal season is not merely a yearly remembrance, not merely the recurrence of an unchanging cycle. Each year brings us closer to death and to the judgment of our eternal destiny; but we are not properly preparing for this event if every year does not also find us in closer union with our Lord, with more secure faith in His Kingdom, with less attachment to the world.
If the strenuous effort of the Great Fast is not required of us in this season, neither is complete relaxation allowed, nor forgetfulness of the lessons we learned in the Fast. At the future judgment it will be asked of us not only how we spent the Fast (for we know that even those who come at the eleventh hour are welcomed), but perhaps even more how we spent the Feast: soberly, prayerfully, watchfully, remembering that the Bridegroom comes at midnight when men least expect Him; or gluttonously, forgetfully, as the world spends its days, the slave of every passion and every temptation.
Let us feast, but soberly, and in full awareness of why we feast: because our Lord has opened to us the gates of the Kingdom wherein feasting shall be eternal. Let us spend this time not renewing our attachment to the things of this world, but even while using the good things of the earth, remaining detached from them and looking beyond them to the Kingdom to which we are called.
"Of what," said Father John, "do we not deprive ourselves through our voluntary short-sightedness! Like flies we adhere to earthly sweets, and do not wish to rise up, to tear ourselves away from them. Blessed is he who despises the joys of this world; there shall be no end of his bliss."
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