Give Me A Word

Nothing is more natural to the fallen mind than to be delighted with praise and one’s own achievement, and likewise to be frustrated and embarrassed by criticism and failure. But the examples of our Lord and His apostles tell us they were not beholden to anyone or anything in this world. Our struggle to become like them, and to take steps toward true victory over our fallen nature and true freedom in Christ, must begin today. At the Divine Liturgy, ahead of St Vladimir’s Seminary’s 2024 Commencement Exercises, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon offered sage counsel to graduating seminarians, families, and friends.

As we continue to celebrate the most glorious Pascha of our Lord, says the Very Rev. Dr Alexander Rentel, we must remind ourselves how difficult it must have been for His disciples immediately after His crucifixion. There was fear, doubt, and extreme discouragement. This is what made their joy all the more exuberant and full when the Lord appeared to them through locked doors as they prayed in hiding. For Thomas, as well as for the other disciples, witnessing the Lord in His resurrected form enabled them to finally understand the entirety of His teaching and saving work here on earth.

In this homily on Holy Thursday, the Very Rev. Dr Bogdan Bucur invites us to consider the establishment of the Holy Eucharist as a sacrament and God’s core invitation to us to partake in His life. Fr Bogdan draws on the many Scripture readings of Holy Week to emphasize both the characters who heeded God’s invitation to Himself (e.g. the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, the prophet Job) and the many ways in which the Lord has invited us to draw near to Him throughout the Scriptures (e.g. the Hebrew people’s Exodus into the wilderness, Moses’ encounter with God on Mt Sinai). Fr Bogdan also urges us to consider our own similarities to the scriptural characters who rejected God’s invitation to Himself, especially Judas and the Jews who murmured against God in the desert. Through honest self-evaluation and repentance, we can accept the Lord’s invitation and truly draw near and partake in Life.

In the wake of an untimely death in the seminary community, the Very Rev. Dr Bogdan Bucur asks all the questions of the grieving person, of Martha and Mary at the tomb of Lazarus, of each of us when we encounter the loss of a loved one. Fr Bogdan leads us to see how God Himself mourns and weeps with us, suffers with us in our grief. But it does not end there. He, the Eternal God, has come to experience our mortal life and to bear with us even unto death, and then–He transforms it all, He defeats the power of death which has kept all mankind captive, and brings us new life, everlasting life that is beyond anything we have experienced in this fallen world. This is the hope we have as Christians, as we journey towards the Lord’s Holy Pascha.

Drawing on the gospel reading for the liturgy of the 5th Sunday of Great Lent, in which our Lord recounts his upcoming sufferings in detail, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon (OCA) calls upon us to “truly lay aside all earthly cares and crucify our minds with Christ” during this last week of Great Lent, and especially during Holy Week. His Beatitude goes on to point out that “each year Holy Week invites us back into the mystery of Christ, back into the authentic pattern of our life and salvation. We are not learning a new story, we are being called to experience and live more truly the story that has existed since before the beginning of time…If we allow ourselves to be transformed during this coming Holy Week, by the renewing of our minds, then we hope this renewal will remain with us throughout all the days of the coming year, and even into eternity.”

The prayer of the father of the demon-possessed boy, “I believe, help my unbelief,” (Mk 9.24) is an example for us of how we ought to prayer, says Fr Vincent Temirov. It is the humility and faith in our words, not the “multiplicity” or complexity of our words in prayer, that are most pleasing to God. St John of the Ladder, commemorated on this fourth Sunday of Lent, instructed us not to use “falsely wise words” in prayer, as “it is often the simple and uncomplicated whispering of children that rejoices our Heavenly Father.” Fr Vincent also emphasizes the gospel lesson about prayer and fasting–not only does it benefit our own souls, but it is also an act of love for others.

In reading about the healing of paralytic let down through the roof by his friends, the Very Rev. Dr Bogdan Bucur encourages us to also consider the damaged roof. Perhaps we in the Church have to accept some sort of discomfort in order to open ourselves to experience Christ’s healing power. Reading this gospel on the Sunday of St Gregory Palamas, famous for his treasured theological writings on the essence and energies of God, we must also remember that all theology points to this living God who acts in the lives of each and every one of us, calling us to Himself and healing us through forgiveness of our sins.

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we remember the restoration of the veneration of the holy icons within the Orthodox Church in the 8th century, after decades of bloody iconoclasm. Yet this first Sunday of Lent is not called the “Sunday of Icons,” points out Fr Vincent Temirov. This is because the theology of the icon summarizes everything that the Church teaches about the person of Jesus Christ. The icons are also symbols of the glory of the kingdom of God, holy images that help us meet the community of the saints in prayer, and a blessed reminder that we are supposed to strive to follow Christ in the way we live, to be living icons of him and to see his image in all the people around us.

As Orthodox Christians prepare to enter the Great Fast, the Very Rev. Dr Alexander Rentel reminds us to contemplate anew the reason for our fasting. We fast, not because God requires or needs us to fast, but because, through fasting in faith and humility, we learn to turn away from our sins and towards Christ and His Kingdom.

As we draw closer to the beginning of Great Lent, the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield reviews the preparatory Sundays we have just experienced, starting with Zaccheus Sunday, followed by the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, and this week, the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Fr Chad emphasizes the great significance of the parable of the Prodigal Son in fully illustrating the core of the Gospel: the Lord’s great love for us in spite of our falling into sin and reaping the just consequences of our actions. It is incumbent upon us to hear the message here and humble ourselves in repentance for our sins, in order to truly return to our Father’s house during the season of Great Lent.

As we meditate on Zaccheus Sunday, the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield encourages to heed the Church’s initiation of the four preparatory Sundays leading up to Great Lent. We all are subject to the temptation to get lost in the externals of Lent, or to let the season pass by without engaging ourselves in deeper reflection. Fr Chad encourages us to allow the exterior aspects of Lent–the services, the Lenten hymns, the fasting–to call us to move into the interior parts of our hearts and minds. It is there that we meet Christ and are cleansed by Him.

Reflecting on the conversation between Jesus and the Canaanite woman in the Gospel of Matthew, the Rev. Dn Dr Vitaly Permiakov calls us to follow her example. We can only be healed of our brokenness by approaching the Lord with humility and a real understanding that we are only saved and made whole by Him. Although it may sound as if the Lord is demeaning the Canaanite woman upon an initial read, in context, we understand that he is engaging her in conversation to teach his disciples a great truth–he is the Messiah come to save people of all nations, and not just a chosen few.

It’s hard to understand, at first, why the man who hid his one talent in the parable of the talents was so harshly punished by his master, says the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Basil Russin. Drawing on related texts in Deuteronomy, Dn Harrison explains by emphasizing the importance of receiving God’s blessings in gratitude, cultivating them, and offering the first fruits back to Him and one’s neighbors in need. This grateful heart and willingness to multiply, offer back, and share one’s gifts are nothing less than the way we are to be saved.

The Feast of Theophany is an occasion to meditate on the cosmic nature of Christ’s entering into the waters of the Jordan, preaches the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield. By entering the water to be baptized, Christ shows us the way we must also follow, and sanctifies all of creation, the cosmos itself. We are then sanctified and born anew in the waters of baptism, and sealed with the sign of the Cross as we join Christ’s flock, anticipating His coming again.

On the feast of St Herman of Alaska, His Grace Bishop Gerasim of Fort Worth, Auxiliary to the Diocese of the South (OCA) calls us to consider how St Herman embodied the fruit of the Spirit described by St Paul: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and self-control. Raising many examples from St Herman’s life about his enaction of these qualities, Bishop Gerasim exhorts us to follow his lead in serving the Church lovingly and beautifully.

During the Nativity Fast, the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield points out, four recurring themes stand out in the hymnography: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. We must be especially watchful during the fast, striving to pay special attention to our relationship with the Living God, lest we move away from Him, which is self-destruction. Referring to the baptism of a seminary baby earlier in the service, Fr Chad emphasizes the freedom that comes from being born in Christ, breaking the chains of sin and death.

On the feast of St Nicholas of Myra, the Rev. Dn Dr Vitaly Permiakov describes the venerable hierarch as a “living image of that one and only High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek...our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his life on the tree of the Cross.” For St Nicholas, the life of a bishop was not one of high position or honor, but that of service in unceasing intercession. St Nicholas is remembered not only for his charity and care for his flock, but also for his boldness and courage in interceding for those who were wronged, for denouncing injustice and corruption, and for doing everything in his power to protect his people.

The story of the young rich ruler who could not distribute his wealth and follow Christ reminds us that we are all guilty of a similar failure to recognize that all things ultimately belong to God, says the Very Rev. Vincent Temirov. The lesson in this gospel account is not that the wealthy are inherently unable to reach the Kingdom of Heaven, but that anyone who clings to treasure on earth rather than building up treasure in heaven is in danger of shutting themselves out of the Kingdom. We must trust that everything we receive in this life is to be offered back to God for His glory.

In examining the healing of the woman who had been bent over for 18 years, the Very Rev. Dr Bogdan Bucur asks us to consider the symbolism behind her unique ailment. For almost two decades, she was only able to see the ground beneath her; she was unable to lift her gaze and look toward heaven, suggesting that she was also spiritually unable to look toward God and offer praise. The first thing she did upon receiving the Lord’s healing was give thanks and praise to the Lord. Conversely, the first thing the surrounding Pharisees did upon witnessing the miracle was dispute the timing of the healing, as it had happened on the Sabbath. Fr Bogdan urges us to avoid the “religious” tendency to regard the letter of the law over mercy toward our fellow brothers and sisters.

Upon hearing the parable of the rich man who only thought of building himself bigger barns for his crops, Fr Vincent Temirov asks us to consider the ways in which we also worry about gaining wealth and security in this life, rather than striving to build up treasure in heaven. We all have responsibilities in this life, says Fr Vincent, but it is imperative that we “always trust our Father who provides us with every good gift from above” and share what we have been given with those in need.