As we head into the Pentecost season, it would be good to commiserate a little about the charisms of the Holy Spirit. As such, I’d like to start out this week on a positive note (Lord knows, it’s needed).
We all know what they are more or less but what we don’t know, or seem to forget, is the vitality of authentic Christian creativity which in my humble opinion, is a result of divine grace.
Think of it: the sublime icons written over the ages; the stunning music both East and West, and of course, the staggering architecture that man created in order to make divine worship possible. But there are other endeavors as well.
Please take the time to watch this video of the preparations that many of the Orthodox priests who participated in the recent March for Marriage undertook. Because of their passionate adherence to the Gospel, Orthodox priests of different jurisdictions came together and collaborated in ways that were edifying. There were no worries about protocol or procedures. Just honest, fervent men getting together to create a first-class project, which showed to all the world that marriage (as traditionally defined) is in the natural, God-created order of things.
George:
I’m trying desperately to parse your meaning.
My impressions: Slick video production. Men in pony tails. Frederica whats-her-name with husband-priest (?) in tow. Small crowd at the event.
How many more threads on this topic are forthcoming?
Men in pony tails! The sky is falling! My beloved evangelical mother would have agreed with you. I remember back in the 60s and 70s she as much as told me that all of those hippies were going to roast in hell because of their long hair and beards… Even when Billy Graham’s hair dropped below the top of his collar in back, she still wasn’t having any of it!
“Men in pony tails.” Yet another time when I have to check my calendar to make sure I haven’t time-traveled back to the 1970s, since that was the last time I heard so many snarky and disapproving comments about men in pony tails.
Mr. Michalopulos,
Nothing but the highest praise for your intention!
Since I wrote about my Holy Friday experience, I have had regret about referring to a specic parish in particular – as if the problems we struggles we face are limited to one place or another – but I returned to this same parish for the Great Feast of the Ascension of our Lord (and coincidentally the feast of Sts. Constantine & Helen). When the Orthros began, there was the priest, the cantor, two women, and me. And as I noticed the priest beginning the Proskimedia alone, trying to light the censor and adjust his book and lists of commemorations, I went to him & asked if I could assist him. He smiled and said, “Please, put on a riason and join me.” Holy Cow! How many years had it been? I was again an altar boy! Midway through the Orthros, a man entered the altar for the priest’s blessing, and within minutes the voice of an archangel filled the church – he was a cantor with his lovely family visiting from Denver (the parish I cannot recall) – and as he alternated with the parish cantor to complete the Canon of the Feast, then to Constantine & Helen, in that big church, it was amazing. As wwe made the Great Entrance, there easily 75 people present – only five children – but a mix of young & older adults for a Thursday morning.
As I walked home I thought about the great number of children that could and should have been there for a very moving & powerful Feast(s), but your reminder of the “charisma” of the Holy Spirit, “Who goes wherever He wishes,” unimpeded by our sinful neglect and lack of faith, & Pere LaChaise’s reminder that the clergy need our assistance to witness in our own parishes, makes many things seem possible! As I thanked the priest for allowing me to help him, I said (like the disciples on the road to Emmaus), “My heart is aflame!” And I admired how one positive-spirited man encouraged 75 people to come out for the Feast. It was a joyful day.
Michael, what a wonderful story. My ROCOR parish is normally swarming with children, but children were sparse on the ground at Ascension for us, too, even though the church was packed. I found myself as a senior altar boy myself, since all of the experienced altar servers were in school — and yet somehow we all survived.
Your concerns are important ones. I remember my first old-school ROCOR parish. There was literally an entire generation missing in the parish — lots of old people, but few of their children were in the church. And of course their grandchildren thus weren’t there either. The priest and I talked about this, and his about what happened were insightful.
This is of great concern to me because, as with so many ROCOR parishes, my own parish exploded in attendance in recent decades with the large influx of recent immigrants. As I noted above, the church is swarming with young children, but my unscientific observation is that as the age gets older, the number of kids in church goes down. The teenagers in the altar tend to be from “older” families who have close relatives who are clergy. There is a lot of happiness in the ROCOR about growth in attendance (and we have a good number of converts, too), but I worry that the mistakes of the last “old guard” of emigres could be repeated by what could become the new “old guard” of Russian emigres. That would be a heartbreaking tragedy: I look out over all of those little eager-faced Russian children lined up for communion and wonder how many of them are going to be in our churches standing in line for communion 20 years from now. And what do we need to do to ensure that they will be?
Right now, I just show up, serve, and pray.
This video gave me the chills, and in a good way! The lush dramatic music, no doubt, enhanced the gradually increasing number of goosebumps. Yes!! I am so elated to see “the best kept secret” taking it to the stage and planting its flag in the Public Square. Traditional marriage is the basic unit of human civilization, the foundational cornerstone of society. We need to declare nationwide a day of prayer and fasting each for traditional marriage and the abortion holocaust’s eradication. I surely needed this clip of encouragement. IC XC NI KA!
Many thanks to George Michalopulos for making this video available here, and to Fr Johannes Jacobse for his inspiring words.
My only (rather minor) criticism is that I wish we’d stop using the childish phrase ‘God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.’ As true as that may be, it lowers the tone and lacks the sort of gravitas which this most sacred and serious subject deserves.
As I’ve said before, when I hear him using the old “Adam and Steve” line, I check my calendar to make sure I haven’t time-traveled to the 1970s or 80s… I literally hadn’t heard it since then — until Fr. Jacobse used it. We Orthodox are fond of ancient, even timeless things. But one of the worst sins you can commit if you actually want people to listen to you is to sound dated.
I agree that that cliche about “Adam and Eve” is overplayed. Perhaps a better phrase would be “God did not apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Alexis:
Alexis, perhaps you are one of the many Sodom and Gomorrah experts who seem so enamored of the Monomakhos blog. Don’t you find it interesting that Lot in Sodom, said the following to the gang outside his house: “Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes” ?
A stellar example of what makes our country so great! Free Speech in the Public Square…for all the world to see!
America is not great! America is Hell and Obama is the Antichrist!
Just a wee bit over the top.
Not quite what you think Ms Hoffman.
And now, to return to our original story:
Fr. Georges Florovsky, “The Work of the Holy Spirit in Revelation,” in The Christian East, Vol. XIII, No. 2, pp.49-64, 1932.
I cannot begin to express how disheartened I am. I feel that the ground beneath my feet is no longer there and I am falling. 9 years ago when I converted to Orthodoxy, I thought I had discovered the True Apostolic Christian Church. Now I see how corrupt it is. The scandals. The homosexual men receiving the Eucharist from priests who know they are homosexual. I am literally weeping as I write this. I don’t know what to do, where to go, or what to pray anymore. I feel completely crushed and defeated. And this blog has become so dark. It used to be uplifting and edifying. Now it seems to represent what I am discovering to be the truth: The Orthodox Church is drowning in sin.
Maintain a sense of perspective. Do not be overly troubled by provocateurs. Do not exaggerate the importance of websites, blogs, and internet traffic.
Keep the Faith.
You are so young in the faith. Stay away from blogs. Read. Pray. Listen to your spiritual father. Go to church. Stay away from church gossip.Start with some lives of the saints….
Please allow me, “american convert,” to be among the first to assure you that nine years ago you did, indeed, find the Pearl of Great Price. Orthodox Christianity is still that precious gem, however much sand and other impurities may seem to encrust it at times. As a fellow American convert (I was received into the Church on October 4, 1975), I sometimes share your frustration and sense of futility. But the Ark of Salvation—to shift metaphors—has weathered many storms in the past two millennia, even with questionable captains at the helm and often taking on water. But she is still afloat and seaworthy and will remain so until our Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory. That is the hope that keeps me going each day. I encourage you, too, to trust in providence.
American convert, losing heart is exactly what these people want you to do. They’re hoping to drive people like you and me away from Orthodoxy so that they can have a hope of conquering the Church. They try to do that by sowing confusion and heartache among Orthodox Christians with their lurid stories of blaspheming the Holy Eucharist.
I don’t think these people are telling the truth. There’s just something too coordinated about the three of them showing up here at the same time, writing in such a way to wound and scandalize Orthodox Christians. Like I said, I think their intent is to hurt Orthodox Christians and try to make us turn away from the faith.
But even if they were telling the truth, remember that they would be hurting themselves more than anyone else. Open defiance of the Lord’s teaching is quite serious, to put it mildly. We truly are dealing with a modern heresy, and it’s only natural to feel embattled by the tares among the wheat.
What do we do about it? We start by purging sin from our own lives as much as possible, speak the truth to all who will hear it, pray for all clergy and faithful we know, and trust in the Lord to deliver us. Remember that you are not alone. We are all in this together.
May 30, 2015 at 1:38 pm, american convert says:
I cannot begin to express how disheartened I am. I feel that the ground beneath my feet is no longer there and I am falling. 9 years ago when I converted to Orthodoxy, I thought I had discovered the True Apostolic Christian Church. Now I see how corrupt it is. The scandals. The homosexual men receiving the Eucharist from priests who know they are homosexual. I am literally weeping as I write this. I don’t know what to do, where to go, or what to pray anymore. I feel completely crushed and defeated. And this blog has become so dark. It used to be uplifting and edifying. Now it seems to represent what I am discovering to be the truth: The Orthodox Church is drowning in sin.
__________________________________________________
This poor soul’s pain is real and palpable even through this internet medium. While it’s surely no great comfort, I’d like to assure our correspondent that it’s a rare human being who — sooner or later — doesn’t recognize the depths of sin which threaten us on every side. Psalm 50 tells us that even the most elemental human activities, good as they are in themselves, take place in this fallen world and suffer the predictable consequences.
The good news (the literal meaning of ‘gospel’) is that Christ has come to show us the way out of this corruption. We will surely die, we sinners all, but as Christ is risen, He will raise us and share His salvation with us if only we follow His commandments. Perhaps we should concentrate on the one ‘new commandment’ which He gave us, a directive which trumps every other in the scriptures: ‘Love one another like I love you.’
A tall order, to be sure, but ‘With God, all things are possible.’
So I hope our wounded writer will forgive us and all of us who have scandalized her, and that she will focus on Christ and not on His flawed servants still unhealed in the Church which is ‘the hospital for sinners’.
And I offer her this ancient blessing:
May the Lord bless you and keep you..
May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift His countenance over you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
American convert: stop reading this blog; go to confession and praise God in the Euchrist. We ate not drowning but sin is all around and within. Christ keeps us from sinking if we call on him.
Also try the blog: Glory to God for all things.
american convert,
I am sorry to break this to you, but the Orthodox Church – One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic – has always been drowning in sin. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) We have endured the greatest of heresy and sinfulness, perversion & delusion among the faithful and clergy, that the Fathers have written that it reached it a point were they literally feared the loss of the church to the heterodox and the heretics. Where there are human beings, there is sin in abundance and equally despicable from one generation to the next, and there is nothing new under the sun.
That you confess, “I don’t know what to do, where to go, or what to pray anymore. I feel completely crushed and defeated” begs the question, what in heaven’s name are you doing here? I would liken this to a man with chest pains consulting the plumber. Get off your ass from in front of the computer and seek the Physician. Go to your confessor, to a “live” Orthodox study group, to your Orthodox sponsor, whomever. Read again the Kontakion of the Ascension, of the Lord Who promised us, “I am with you, and no one can be against you!” If you wish to be “enlivened,” today is your day: pray to the Comforter who is the inspirer, the Giver of direction and encouragement; He Who is continuously moving, exciting, disturbing, anointing, healing, calming, and transforming. For heaven’s sake, He is called, “Fire from Fire!” In that fire you will see that you are blaming external parties and elements for your own disheartenment and lack of faith. Rejoice, for today, “all things are fulfilled and all gifts have been given.” Use them.
I was going to answer American Convert, but I see several people beat me to it, and with much better answers than I could have given.
We all tend to become despondent because of our fallen nature. That’s just what the devil wants, don’t fall for his lies.
I used to blame parishes and situations for my own failures, until I took a good look at myself, and didn’t like what I saw.
I only wish that I would have taken these words of the Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian to heart years ago, “yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages, Amen.”
I would like to submit this as another kind of “creativity unleashed by the Gospel”. I found this on the pravmir web site, at the bottom of the page of another article I was reading. What caught my eye was a small picture of three priests on horse back. When I clicked on the picture I was pleasantly surprised to find a contemporary picture of three priests, all of whom were to be future bishops! The accompanying article is about one of them, Vladyka Philip of Karasuk. I confess I know little of the kind of life any bishop leads though many years ago when I was still an Episcopalian, I once met a bishop who told me he spent his days doing what everyone else told him to do. At a time when many of us assume that (as that same bishop said to me) “bishops plant their asses on purple pillows and tell every one what to do”, I found myself happier knowing that I was reading about an actual bishop who (as of the writing of the article) still had no residence; that when he was at his desk, he was at work; when on his sofa, in his monastic cell. It is a great example of the kind of hands-on clergy I so admire. I love profiles like this. How many of our own clergy and, yes, bishops lead such lives which few of us know anything about? All I know about most of our bishops are the stock photos of them on the parish hall walls. They are episcopal entities who live in some large, far off city.
The accompanying photos are great!
http://www.pravmir.com/bishop-philip-of-karasuk-saves-orphans-and-baptizes-children-with-active-tb/
There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ, or His servants. This is the manner of spirit that authentic Christianity possesses . St Steven, expressed this manner of spirit, when he asked the Only Holy One to not count there sin against them. He knew what real Christian Love is, We are not anyone’s judge, we dare not assume God’s authority to manifest His Perfect Divine Justice
.The Lord says , Vengeance is Mine !!