The Pure One

Pure is the present night, in which the Pure One appeared, Who came to purify us! Let our hearing be pure, and the sight of our eyes chaste, and the feeling of the heart holy, and the speech of the mouth sincere!

The present night is the night of reconciliation; therefore, let no one be wroth against his brother and offend him!

This night gave peace to the whole world, and so, let no one threaten. This is the night of the Most Meek One; let no one be cruel!

This is the night of the Humble One; let no one be proud!

Now is the day of joy; let us not take revenge for offences! Now is the day of good will; let us not be harsh. On this day of tranquility, let us not become agitated by anger!

Today God came unto sinners; let not the righteous exalt himself over sinners!

Today the Most Rich One became poor for our sake; let the rich man invite the poor to his table!

Today we received a gift which we did not ask for; let us bestow alms to those who cry out to us and beg!

The present day has opened the door of heaven to our prayers; let us also open our door to those who ask of us forgiveness!

Today the Godhead placed upon Himself the seal of humanity, and humanity has been adorned with the seal of the Godhead!


--St. Ephraim the Syrian From Children of the Church Vol I

Another Response to "Why I am Not Protestant"

There has been a great deal of conversation following the post "Why I am Not a Protestant" and much of the conversation has been helpful to me personally.  I related to John Wood's Lament and his struggle to find an expression of the true Faith that speaks in tones with which he resonates. 

The following is an important perspective also. It comes from James Morgan, a former Anglican, who has been Orthodox for about 25 years. He writes in response to my post here.

1. I think that over the long run the Ordinariate people will be encapsulated by the borg of the Roman Church.Too bad. They have a goodly heritage spanning over 400 years, but how many RCs think anything of Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the Ancrewn Rule, or any of the other worthies that flourished before the Deformation? Not many, I fear.

2. As to the Caroline Divines, it seems to be a mostly scholarly persuit, and I doubt that many pew-sitting RCs have ever heard of them or even care much. Same goes for the glorious cathedral (and parochial) music from Tallis to Howells. Not part of the normal RC parish mix, even though they seem to be getting rid of the guitars and drums.

3. As a delegate to several diocesan conventions in Los Angeles, ending in the '80s, and as a member of the Commission on Ministry there for six years, I realized that the theology was all over the place, ranging from crypto-buddhism to papalism, with many stops in between. No common theology; thus no common language or communication. One of our ordinands departed for Australia in disgust, even though he had a wonderful reference from A. M. Maskall at Oxford.

4. This experience prompted me to investigate where the truth lay: I soon found that the Orthodox Church, despite its warts proclaimed the same dogmatic truth, and practiced the same sacramental life, even though there were divisions of ethnicity, and arguments as to who was the 'real, true, genuine Orthodox'.

5. As to the female clergy, I was involved in vetting several when I was on the COM. Ironically, most were of the Anglo-Catholic persuasion. And they really wanted to serve the church and minister to people. One was the daughter of a bishop (I forget her name now) but she stressed confession, frequent communion, and a rule of life. She was a spiritual mother to many people, but always felt she was a minority witness. The situation in the TOC has changed a lot now of course with the radicals taking over. I doubt that any of the women clergy I knew back then would approve, or even be in communion with Katie and her ilk.

As to Gary's comment, you might want to mention that ROCOR has a growing Western Rite group, mostly on the east coast of the US, and that many of the 'ethnic' groups have mostly English services. Naturally immigration from the homelands has caused some parishes to revert to the old country languages in order to minister to their new flocks (Romanian, Serbian, Ukranian etc) but even out here on the Left coast we have many 'traditional' parishes who serve mainly in English. I don't know about the rest of the country.


Rdr. James Morgan
Olympia, WA

Lament

My friend John Woods asked this question here and posted my response to him at his blog. I know there are others who share our lament.  Read John's post and pray for him. Offer godly advice.

An Evangelical Anglican...Sadly Adrift Again

I usually hate to ask for directions, but...

Q."The catholic Christian must therefore be discerning." I've noticed that you refer several times to "catholicity" or small 'c' catholic Christians. What are the criteria for catholicity? In which churches may one find it?

A.The first question will determine the answer to the second. It is often easier to define something by saying what it isn't and that is what I have tried to do here.

I would say that Catholicity has the following distinctive marks. It involves the full sacramental life of the Church, apostolic teaching, the all-male priesthood devoted to purity of life, the authority of Scripture and Holy Tradition, oversight of bishops who are in submission to the Gospel and to one another, the Trinity, the Creed, and reverence for holy things such as Mary and the angels. It will express itself in worship using time-honored liturgies and with music that expresses reverent adoration. It is salt for a bland world. It is beauty to restore the divine image when we become cloaked in ugliness.

Now as to where we find this? You might find it at a church near you. So much depends on the Priest's vision of what the Church at worship should be. Of one thing I am confident, we will experience the fullness and beauty when Christ returns.

...full sacramental life...reverent adoration...salt for a bland world...restore the divine image when we become cloaked in ugliness...the Priest's vision...

Honestly, the only church I've ever visited that meets all the criteria is Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Church in downtown Sacramento. http://holyascensionchurch.com/ I did feel as if Christ and Mary and angels and saints were there. The Liturgy was wonderful, moving, and even frightening, and, unfortunately for me, entirely in Church Slavonic. The parishioners had obviously not integrated into American culture and clearly weren't in any hurry to do so. The priest, Father Paul, was very polite, but he frankly pointed out that in addition to experiencing its beauty and power, one also needs a rational apprehension of the Liturgy. Since they don't plan to use English and neither my family or I will be mastering Russian/Slavonic anytime soon, conversion is not a realistic option.

Read it all here.

The Blessing of Waters

Lord Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son, who are in the bosom of the Father, true God, source of life and immortality, Light from Light, who came into the world to enlighten it, flood our mind with light by your Holy Spirit and accept us as we bring you praise and thanksgiving for your wondrous mighty works from every age, and for your saving dispensation in these last times. By it you clothe yourself in our weak and beggared matter and coming down to the measure of our servitude, King of all, you accepted also to be baptized in the Jordan by the hand of a servant, so that, having sanctified the nature of the waters, you, the sinless one, might make a way for our rebirth through water and Spirit and re-establish us in our original freedom. As we celebrate the memory of this divine Mystery, we entreat you, Master, lover of mankind: Sprinkle on us, your unworthy servants, cleansing water, in accordance with your divine promise, the gift of your compassion, that the request of us sinners over this water may become acceptable by your goodness and that through it your blessing to be granted to us and to all your faithful people, to the glory of your holy, venerated Name. For to you belong all glory, honor and worship, with your Father who is without beginning, with you all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. (from the liturgy for the Blessing of Waters)

Jesus Christ, our God, transformed the water when He entered the Jordan at His Baptism.  This is recognized and ritualized when the Orthodox worldwide go to the waters on the feast of Theophany.  The photos show two such ceremonies.

The photo at shows a Russian Orthodox blessing the waters at Bering Island 2009.

The photo  at right was taken at the blessing of the waters at the Kennebec River in Maine on Theophany 2010.








As in the beginning, when God subdued the watery chaos in the creation of the world, so Christ our God restores them to perfect health for the sake of the world.


Related reading: The Blessing of Waters; Epiphany Joy