THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST
A historical account of the Nativity
In the history of mankind there is no greater or more joyous event than the coming of the Son of God into the world and His incarnation. It is a manifestation of the boundless love of God the Father, Who “so loved the world that He gave up His Son for it, in order that all who believe in Him shall not perish, but shall have life eternal.”
The incarnation of the Son of God from the Virgin Mary radically changed the world for the better: it provided people with a new way of thinking, ennobled their mores, set world events upon a new course. It poured into the decrepit human organism a stream of Divine life and thus endowed people with eternal life. For these reasons the incarnation of the Son of God has occupied a central place among world events and serves as the focal point of chronology – time is counted before and after the Nativity of Christ.
Before Jesus Christ’s nativity there was universal expectation of a Saviour. The Jews awaited His coming on the basis of prophecies; the pagans, suffering from disbelief and a general laxity of morals, also eagerly awaited an Ameliorator of human society. All the prophecies concerning the time of the Son of God’s incarnation had come to pass. Patriarch Jacob had foretold that the Saviour would come when the scepter would depart from Judah (Genesis 49:10). The holy prophet Daniel foretold that the Kingdom of Messiah would come in seventy times seven years (490 years) after the issuance of the commandment to restore Jerusalem, during the period of the mighty pagan kingdom that would be as strong as iron (Dan. 9:24-27).
And so it happened. By the end of the prophesied period of time, Judea came under the dominion of the mighty Roman Empire, while the scepter was transferred from Judah to Christ. Since the people, having abandoned God, began to idolize earthly goods, wealth, and glory, the Son of God rejected these worldly idols and came into the world in the humblest of circumstances.
The events of the Nativity are described by two Evangelists – the apostles Matthew (from among the 12) and Luke (from among the 70 disciples). Since the Evangelist Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Jews, he set himself the task to prove that the Messiah came from the forefathers Adam and King David, as it had been foretold by the prophets. For this reason the Evangelist Matthew begins his account of the Nativity of Christ with a genealogy.
Knowing that Jesus was not the son of Joseph, the evangelist does not say that Joseph begat Jesus, but says that Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, from Whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ. But why does he present the genealogy of Joseph and not of Mary? The fact is that the Jews were not accustomed to record their genealogies along the female line. However, the law demanded that they obligatorily take a wife from the same tribe as the one to which the husband belonged, and so the evangelist, without departing from custom, presented the genealogy of Joseph, thus showing that Joseph’s wife Mary and, consequently, the Jesus Who was born from Her, come from the same tribe of Judah and house of David.
Having been told by the Archangel Gabriel that She was chosen to become the Mother of the Messiah, the Holy Virgin went off to see Elizabeth while still being only affianced to Joseph. Three months already passed after the Angel’s tidings. Joseph, not being privy to this mystery, noticed Her condition, and though the external appearance could give rise to thoughts of the bride’s unfaithfulness, and though he could publicly denounce Her and subject Her to the strict punishment instituted by the law of Moses, in his kindness he did not wish to employ such a drastic measure. After much wavering, he decided to let his bride depart in secret, without any outcry, granting Her a letter of divorce.
But an Angel appeared to him in a dream and announced to him that his affianced bride would give birth from the Holy Spirit, and that he should call the Son born to Her Jesus (Ieshua), i.e. Saviour, since He will save His people from their sins. Joseph accepted this dream as a vision from above, obeyed it, took Mary in as his wife, but lived with Her not as husband and wife, but as brother and sister, or rather, taking into account the great difference in their ages, as father and daughter. Speaking of this, the evangelist adds: “And all of this took place in order that everything be fulfilled that had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, who says: Behold, a Virgin shall be with Child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The name Emmanuel means “God is with us.” At this point Isaiah does not call the One born from the Virgin Emmanuel, but say that thus shall people call Him, i.e. they will say that the Lord Himself has come down to earth.
The evangelist Luke notes that the time of Christ’s Nativity coincided with a census of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, which was conducted by order of Caesar Augustus, i.e. Roman Emperor Octavian, who had received from the Roman Senate the title of Augustus – “the sacred one.” The edict concerning the census was issued in 746 from the foundation of Rome, but in Judea the census began in circa 750, in the last years of the reign of Herod, called the Great.
The Jews recorded their genealogies according to tribes and houses. This custom was so strong that having learned of Augustus’ decree, they each went to be recorded in the city of their provenance. Joseph and the Virgin Mary, as is well-known, came from the house of David, and thus they had to go down to Bethlehem, which was called the city of David, because David was born there.
Thus was fulfilled, by God’s Providence, the ancient prophecy of the Prophet Micah that Christ would precisely be born in Bethlehem: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel, and Whose provenance is from the beginning, from the days everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
According to Roman law, women were subject to a head count for the census on a par with men. For this reason Joseph did not go alone to Bethlehem to be recorded, but together with the Holy Virgin. The unexpected travel to the hometown of Bethlehem and, moreover, a travel on the eve of the Infant’s birth, served to convince Joseph of the fact that Caesar’s decree on the census was a tool in the hands of Providence, ensuring that Mary’s Son would be born precisely in the place predestined for the birth of Messiah the Saviour.
After an exhausting journey, Joseph and the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem, but there was no place in the inn for the future Mother of the world’s Saviour, and thus She and Her fellow traveler were forced to settle themselves in a cave used as shelter in bad weather for grazing cattle. Here, during the winter night, in the humblest of circumstances, was born the Saviour of the world – Christ.
After giving birth to Her Son, the Holy Virgin swaddled Him Herself and put Him in the manger. With these brief words the evangelist lets us know that the Mother of God gave birth painlessly. The evangelist’s expression “and brought forth Her firstborn Son” gives cause for unbelievers to say that the Holy Virgin had other children besides Jesus, Her firstborn, since the evangelists mention Christ’s “brothers” (Simon, Josiah, Judah, and James). However, it should be remembered that by the law of Moses every male infant born first was called a firstborn, even if he were also the last. Jesus’ so-called “brothers” mentioned in the Gospel were not his real brothers, but only relatives, being the children of Joseph from his first wife Salome, and also the children of Mary Cleopas, whom Evangelist John calls “His Mother’s sister.” In any case, they were all much older than Christ and thus could in no way be the children of the Virgin Mary.
Jesus Christ was born at night, when Bethlehem and its environs were immersed in deep sleep. Only the shepherds, who kept watch in the field over the flock entrusted to them, were not sleeping. To these humble people, toiling and burdened, appeared the Angel with joyous tidings of the birth of the Saviour of the world. The dazzling light that surrounded the angel in the darkness of night terrified the shepherds. But the Angel immediately calmed them down, saying: “Fear not! For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people: for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord.” With these words the Angel gave them to understand the true mission of the Messiah, Who did not come for the Jews alone, but for all people, since “joy shall be to all people” who accept Him as their Saviour.
The Angel explained to the shepherds that they would find the newborn Lord Christ in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger. But why did the Angel not announce Christ’s birth to the Jewish elders, the scribes and the Pharisees, and summon them to worship the Divine Infant? Because these “blind leaders of the blind” had ceased to understand the true meaning of the prophecies about the Messiah, and with their exclusive Jewish pride imagined that the promised Deliverer would appear in the full glory of a majestic king-conqueror and would conquer the entire world. The humble preacher of peace and love for one’s enemies was unacceptable to them.
The shepherds did not doubt that the Angel was sent to them from God, and thus they became worthy of hearing the triumphant celestial hymn: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). The angels glorified God, Who had sent a Saviour to mankind, for from that time on peace of conscience has been restored and enmity between Heaven and earth, which had arisen as a consequence of sin, has been eliminated.
The angels departed, while the shepherds quickly went to Bethlehem and found the Infant lying in the manger, and were the first to worship Him. They told Mary and Joseph about the happening which had led them to Christ’s cradle, and told everyone else about it, and all the listeners were greatly amazed. “And Mary kept all these words, preserving them in Her heart,” i.e. She memorized all that She had heard. The Evangelist Luke, describing the glad tidings of Archangel Gabriel, the birth of Christ, and other events related to the Virgin Mary, obviously wrote from Her words.
On the eighth day the Infant was circumcised, as prescribed by the law of Moses. Soon after the nativity, the Holy Family moved from the cave to a house, since the majority of visitors to Bethlehem had no need to stay there after the census was taken.
The adoration of the magi
The Gospel account of the adoration of the magi has an important meaning for the history of Christianity. This is primarily an account of Christ’s appearance to the pagans.
Joseph and the holy Mother of God, together with the Infant Jesus, were still in Bethlehem when the magi arrived in Jerusalem from far-away lands in the East. Magi, or wise men, was the name given to learned people who observed and studied the stars. At that time people believed that at the birth of a great man a new star appeared in heaven. Many pagans within Persia, having been told by the dispersed Jews, knew of the forthcoming Messiah – the Great King of Israel. From the Jews they could also know of the following prophecy of Balaam concerning the Messiah: “I shall see Him, but not now. I shall behold Him, but not nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab” (Numbers 24:17); here “Moab” represents the Messiah’s enemies. The Persian magi expected a new star to appear in heaven when the promised King was born. Although the prophecy of Balaam spoke of a star in the spiritual sense, in order to bring the pagans to faith the Lord in His mercy gave a sign in the heavens in the form of the appearance of an extraordinary star. Upon seeing it, the magi understood that the awaited King had been born.
After a lengthy and prolonged journey, they finally reached the capital of the Jewish kingdom, Jerusalem, and began to inquire: “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” These words of such dignified strangers excited the majority of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and especially King Herod, who was immediately informed of the arrival of the mysterious Eastern sages.
From the first days of his reign Herod sat on a shaky throne. The people hated him, looking upon him as an usurper of the throne of David and a tyrant, and despised him as a pagan. The last years of Herod’s life were further complicated by personal misfortunes and bloody reprisals. He became inordinately suspicious of everyone, and executed his obvious and imaginary enemies at the slightest provocation. For this reason several of Herod’s children perished, and so did his wife, whom he had ardently loved. Ailing and decrepit, Herod now lived in his new palace on Mount Zion. Hearing of the newborn King, he became especially agitated, fearing that people would make use of his old age to take away his power and pass it on to the newborn King.
In order to determine who exactly was the new pretender to his throne, Herod assembled all the priests and scribes – people who knew the Scriptures well – and asked them: “Where is Christ due to be born?” They replied: “In the Judean city of Bethlehem, because thus it is written in the book of the Prophet Micah.” Then Herod secretly summoned the magi to him, elicited from them the time of the star’s appearance, and sent them to Bethlehem. Putting on a pious air, the cunning Herod said to them: “Go and search diligently for the Infant, and when you have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also.” In reality Herod was planning to make use of the information in order to murder the Infant.
After listening to King Herod and without suspecting anything, the magi departed for Bethlehem. And once again the same star which they saw in the East now appeared in the sky and, moving across the sky, it went before them, showing them the way. In Bethlehem the star stopped over the place where the newborn Infant Jesus was staying.
The magi entered the house and saw the Infant Jesus and His Mother. They bowed down to the ground before Him and presented their gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (precious aromatic oil). In the gifts of the magi one can see the following symbolic meaning: they gave Him gold as to a King, frankincense as to God, and myrrh as to a Man who was due to die.
Having worshipped the long-awaited King, the magi planned to return the next day to Jerusalem and to Herod. However, an Angel appeared to them in a dream, revealed Herod’s perfidious intentions to them, and commanded them to return to their countries by another route that did not pass near Jerusalem. Tradition has preserved the names of the magi, who later became Christian. They were Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar.
The account of Christ’s Nativity also makes note of the wondrous fact that the first people to worship the Saviour born into the world were the shepherds, who had nothing to give Him except the treasure chest of their hearts, full of simplicity, faith, and humility. Only much later came the magi from the East, adorned with learning and wisdom, who with pious joy gave the Divine Infant their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey before they reached Judea, and even when they arrived in Jerusalem, they still could not straightaway find the birthplace of the King of the Jews. Does this not speak of the fact that both simplicity of the heart and honest learnedness equally lead to Christ? But the first path is more direct, shorter, and truer than the second. The shepherds were directly guided by the angels, while the magi had to “learn” from the silent star and, through Herod, from the Jewish scribes and elders. They achieved their desired goal only by overcoming great difficulties and dangers, and did not hear the celestial harmony that sounded over the earth: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill among men.”
Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
HOMILY FOR THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD
Over the course of the past two weeks, dear brethren, we have been commemorating those extraordinary events of over 2,000 years ago which were a turning point in the history of mankind. And that means that these events had a profound influence on our lives as well.
We have recently celebrated the Nativity of Christ. Why did the Lord come down to earth and was born in the form of man? In order to exonerate us from the ancient damnation which fell upon mankind as a consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. After the fall of our forebears, mankind descended further and further into the abyss of sin, and among all of humanity not a single person could be found who was righteous enough to expiate the original sin. God Himself was needed to atone for it, because the original sin was terrible not so much in its own self, but because it opened the door to all the other sins, and evil was thus able to freely spread over the entire universe and enter the fabric of man’s life on earth. To rectify this situation it required the Son of God, the only One without sin, Who alone could carry the burden of the sins of the entire world. It is for this reason that the Lord was born as man.
Then, a week later, we celebrated the Circumcision of the Lord. Why did the Lord, being the Creator of the universe and of all laws, suffer the fulfillment on Himself of this Old Testament law? In order that through His own circumcision, dear brethren, He, Who was entirely without sin, could symbolically circumcise all of our sins, circumcise all that was old and worn out in mankind, and renew man completely.
And now we are celebrating the Baptism of our Lord. Why did the Lord, Who was absolutely pure and without sin, come to the river Jordan to be baptized by John like all the other repenting sinners? In order to drown all our sins in the waters of the river Jordan, in order to cleanse us of all impurity, enlighten us, vest us in the snow-white garments of original creation, return us once more to being the crown of creation, such as Adam was when he left the hands of the Creator. At the same time, by immersing Himself in the river Jordan, the Lord sanctified for all ages the element of water, of which we are primarily composed, and made this element salvific and healing for us: salvific, because we are baptized in water and through this baptism we become members of the Body of Christ, that is, the Church; and healing, because now we have holy water which we drink to heal our physical and spiritual infirmities, and with which we bless our abodes and our environment, in order to chase away the evil spirits.
And all of this the Lord has done for every one of us, dear brethren, has showered these innumerable blessings on each one of us. Let us reply to the Lord in kind: with love and gratitude; let us try to put aside all our sins as some old and motley garment; let us wash away our sins through repentance and communion; let us try to be spiritually reborn into a new life.
Let us also try to understand the essence and the depth of these holidays which we are now commemorating, in order to realize their very real importance to us. In the service for the feast of Epiphany there is a wonderful hymn which describes the holiday in the following moving words: “God the Word, having appeared to mankind in the flesh, stood in Jordan to be baptized. And John the Baptist said to Him: ‘How shall I stretch forth my hand and place it over the One Who in His hand holds everything? Even if Thou art an Infant born of Mary, still I know that Thou art pre-eternal God! And although Thou, Who art glorified by the Seraphim, now walks on earth, Thy servant has not yet learned how to baptize his Master.’ O, unfathomable Lord, glory to Thee!” Amen.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff
CHRISTIAN TEACHING
The need for the narrow path
Christ also suffered for us, – says the holy apostle Peter, – leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps. If, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God, for even hereunto were ye called (1 Peter 2:20-21). Such are God’s destinies! Such is God’s determination! Such is the calling for all true Christians for the entire time of their earthly wandering!
Beloved Christians, do not wonder at and regard as a strange and unlikely incident, occurring outside the normal order of things, that fiery temptation which is sent to you as a trial. Rejoice at the appearance of trials! Just as here on earth you have become participants in Christ’s suffering, so in the future life you will become associates in His glory and triumph. The entire Church of Christ and each individual Christian are called a house of God. This house requires a visitation by God and a purification, as an entity that is subjected to constant defilement and damage. Even with the great help of the sorrows that humble the human spirit which is so prone to vanity, it is difficult, extremely difficult, to achieve salvation. If a righteous person can barely be saved, what awaits those who oppose God’s Gospel? Be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). You shall sense the coming of grace by the wondrous tranquility and comfort which will pour into your hearts, when you confess God’s judgment of you as being righteous and yourself as meriting punishment.
When trials come, do not give yourself over to sorrow, despair, dejection, grumbling, all those manifestations of pride and disbelief; on the contrary: revived and inspired by faith, humbly place yourself under God’s mighty hand, casting all your care, i.e. all your worries and concerns, upon Him, for He careth for you (1 Peter 5:7). Sufferers! Know that you are suffering by the will of God; be assured that without God’s will, without God’s allowance, not a single sorrow would have touched you. The Lord has looked upon you kindly, benevolently, has acknowledged your hearts and lives as being pleasing to Him, and for this reason has extended the hand of aid to you in His destinies. He has sent or allowed you sorrows for your purification, for your protection, as a means of attaining perfection. When sorrows come, give yourself over completely to the will and mercy of God.
God has established a narrow and sorrow-filled path from earthly life into heaven: it has been commanded to pass along this route under a cross; by this route, under the burden of His own cross, passed the Leader of Christians, the incarnate God. The cross signifies endurance in the Lord of all chagrin and adversities allowed by God’s providence. Such is God’s judgment. On what is it based? On the fact that man on earth is like a criminal in a place of banishment. This criminal has been allotted a brief period of earthly life solely in order to realize his state of fall and rejection, recognize the need for salvation, and attain salvation through the mediation of the Redeemer of mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ. A criminal who has admitted to being a criminal and who seeks pardon, must express his confession of sin by means of his entire life. A confession cannot be accepted as sincere, unless it is attested to by appropriate behavior. A criminal must prove the genuineness of his appeal to God by fulfilling the will of God and being obedient to his will: he must exhibit patience in accepting God’s punishment and offer his humble patience like incense, like a pleasing sacrifice, like a worthy confession of faith.
All the saints, all without exception, were participants in the sorrow-filled path. All of them traveled their earthly life along a path full of prickly briars, suffering deprivation, adversity, various tribulations. This was necessary for their salvation and perfection: the sorrows served them as a means of spiritual education, of healing, and of punishment. Our damaged nature is constantly in need of sorrows as an antidote: they extinguish our sympathy towards the sinful poison of passions, especially towards pride – the most poisonous and destructive among all other passions; by means of sorrows the servant of God is led from a vain and improper opinion of himself into humility and spiritual discernment. A vain opinion of oneself takes away rectitude and worthiness from a life that outwardly seems to be quite satisfactory. This is seen especially clearly in the Book of Job. Initially the righteous one enumerated his virtues and presented them in a beautiful and picturesque form; but when he was purified and perfected by sorrows, then his view of himself changed: he saw himself vanishing in the face of God’s majesty, and acknowledged himself to be dust and ashes.
In severe trials and adversities, not finding any help from anywhere, the Christian’s action should be a constant or at least frequent glorification of God. A glorification of God chases away thoughts of disbelief, faintheartedness, grumbling, blasphemy, despair, and brings in holy and divine thoughts.
From the beginning of time sorrows were a sign of chosenness by God. All the saints followed the narrow path of trials and sorrows, and by their patient suffering offered themselves as a pleasing sacrifice to God. And even now holy souls are allowed, by God’s will, to become subjected to various adversities, in order that their love for God be revealed in all its clarity.
Nothing happens to a person without the wish and tolerance of God. Any Christian who wishes to be a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ and to become a son of God by grace, born of the Spirit, must first of all accept as a rule and an obligatory duty the cheerful sufferance of all sorrows: be they physical suffering, or insults from people, or attacks from demons, or even the rebellion of his own passions.
St. Ignaty Bryanchaninov
CHEESEFARE SUNDAY
The four preparatory Sundays before Great Lent, as this fast is called in church parlance, represent to some degree a chronological history of the fall.
There is the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which we see the Pharisee’s pride being vanquished by the publican’s humility. The supreme erstwhile angel fell because of his pride. Thus pride was the first sin in the world that had been created by God.
There is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, where the younger son’s disobedience to the Father reminds us of Adam’s disobedience to the first commandment of abstinence. Adam did not obey and did not repent immediately after the fall, while the prodigal son repented and returned to the Father’s House, as a consequence of which he was restored in his filial rank.
The sin of pride and the sin of disobedience produced all the other sins. The sin of pride was immediately responsible for the revolt of the fallen angels against God, the temptation of the innocent first people (for the Serpent tempted the still innocent Eve), and many others. The sin of disobedience was directly responsible for the sin of shame, then the sin of slander against God (when Adam, trying to justify himself, said to God: “…the woman which Thou gave me…”), the sin of being judgmental, and many others.
As a consequence of all the sins came the judgment: the private one, which takes place over each person individually after his death, and the universal one at the end of the world. We heard about this in the Gospel reading of Meatfare Sunday.
Today the holy Church commemorates Cheesefare Sunday. On this Sunday the Church reminds us of the expulsion of our forefathers from paradise for disobedience and intemperance, in order to present more clearly through this misfortune the full importance of the spiritual labor of temperance, i.e. fasting. The example of our forefathers shows us the great burden of sin and all its destructive consequences. It teaches us to avoid intemperance, which is the beginning and the source of sin, and to turn instead to repentance as the only means of deliverance from God’s wrath and judgment.
In today’s Gospel and Epistle readings the Church offers us its last instructions concerning the labor of fasting. Lent should begin with the forgiveness of those who have sinned. To this we are led by two major virtues: the humility of the publican and the repentance of the prodigal son. We cannot forgive sins which do not exist, i.e. forgive those who have not offended us. There is nothing there to forgive. But to forgive those who are guilty before us – that is a complex matter, that is already the beginning of spiritual labor. Our pride tries to hinder us, and yet it is pride which eons ago threw the supreme angel down into the abyss. Or, to ask forgiveness of those whom we have offended – that is already the beginning of a struggle against evil. We retain a sense of injury in our hearts as a witness to our right to retaliate, i.e. to pay with malice for malice. To one bad thing we add another, even though we know that our enemy, perceiving an injury in turn, will also wish to revenge himself upon us. And then what? Once again we will burn with a desire for retaliation, and so on, endlessly. Thus we are not only bad ourselves, but we fight for what is bad. In that case whom do we serve? We wish to retaliate, forgetting the words of the Lord: “To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense” (Deut. 32:35), i.e. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). Are we not like the prodigal son who did not wish to live according to the Father’s will, and does this, in turn, not remind us of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and of what came out of this disobedience, and what were the sad consequences of it?
It is obvious that not only our lips, but primarily our hearts must utter the words of forgiveness.
“We must forgive others not only in words, but with a sincere heart. If we love the one who has offended us, then his malice will turn against him and he will suffer severely” if he does not repent, says St. John Chrysostome.
Thus, all of this shows us that fasting is none other than simple abstinence – abstinence from all that can hinder our prayerful and repentant state of mind.
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, because they have been bought at the price of the Son of God’s blood. Let us show respect for our bodies by elevating them to communion with divine nature; let us eat and drink only to the extent necessary to support our lives and our strength. Up to now the affairs of our flesh have kept us away from God; let us at least begin to approach Him. Let us always keep in mind that our souls must strive towards God-like perfection, towards “acquisition of the Holy Spirit,” as St. Seraphim of Sarov says. However, our souls cannot attain this perfection if we continue to pull them down to earth with our worldly affairs, and to imprison and fetter them with the constraining and heavy chains of physical matter.
May the Lord help us meet and spend Great Lent with spiritual dignity, benefit, and joy. Amen.
Protopriest Igor Hrebinka
LIVES OF THE SAINTS
On February 14th (the 1st by the old calendar) the Church commemorates the holy martyr Tryphon.
St. Tryphon was born in the 3rd century A.D. in Phrygia (a province in Asia Minor), in the town of Apamia. From his early years the grace of God was upon him, and he was endowed with miraculous powers: he was able to cure illnesses and exorcise evil spirits. Thus, for example, in A.D. 238 the Roman Empire came under the rule of Emperor Gordian, who was a pagan but did not persecute Christians. The Emperor had a daughter, the beautiful Gordiana, who was courted by many kings and noblemen. However, a great disaster befell this maiden: she became possessed by a demon who tormented her cruelly, throwing her into fire and water, and none of the court physicians could help her in any way. But at one point the evil spirit himself cried out: “No one can expel me from here except the youth Tryphon.” The king then straightaway sent his people to search for Tryphon. Many young men of that name were brought before the king, but none of them were able to exorcise the demon. Finally saint Tryphon was found in Phrygia, tending a flock of geese at a lake, and was brought to Rome.
As the saint approached Rome, the demon began to torment the king’s daughter even more, and cried out: “I cannot live here anymore, because Tryphon is approaching, and will arrive here on the third day, and I can no longer bear it.” Crying thus, the evil spirit left the maiden. On the third day, when saint Tryphon arrived in Rome, he was greeted warmly by the king, who asked him, however, to show everyone the demon in visible form. The saint agreed and spent six days in prayer and fasting, after which he attained even greater power over the evil spirits. On the seventh day the king and his courtiers came to Tryphon to see the demon. Then the saint, calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ordered the devil to show himself visibly. Immediately the demon appeared before them in the form of a black hound with fiery eyes. Tryphon asked the demon: “Who sent you, demon, and how did you dare enter into this maiden, one of God’s creatures, when you yourself are so hideous and vile?” The devil replied: “I have been sent by my father, Satan, who stays in hell and who ordered me to torment this maiden. We have no power over those who know God and who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, – we run away in fear from such people, and only when we are allowed, we approach them with external temptations. As for people who do not believe in God and the Son of God, and who please us with their passions, – over those people we receive absolute power to torment them. And what pleases us is the following: idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, witchcraft, envy, murder, vanity; with these and similar sins people ensnare themselves as in a net, alienate themselves from God, and together with us suffer eternal torment.”
Hearing this, the Emperor and all those who were present were struck with great fear, and many of them came to believe in Christ, while the faithful joyfully gave glory to God. The Emperor magnanimously rewarded the saint and sent him home in peace, but Tryphon gave away everything to the poor along the way, and returned to his homeland to continue his former pious way of life.
After Gordian the Roman Empire was briefly ruled by Philip, who was succeeded by the ferocious Decius, who initiated a savage persecution of Christians. During this persecution St. Tryphon was also taken prisoner and brought before the Roman ruler of his province, being accused of having used his powers of healing to convert many people to Christianity. The ruler tortured Tryphon most cruelly and at great length, but the saint endured the torture with joy and was finally beheaded, earning the crown of martyrdom
Part of St. Tryphon’s relics were kept in Moscow, in a church bearing his name. The building of this church was occasioned by the following event: one time the favorite falcon of Tsar Ivan the Terrible flew away, due to a blunder on the part of the royal falconer, Tryphon Patrikeyev. The Tsar ordered his falconer to find the missing falcon without fail in three days, otherwise he would be executed. The falconer crisscrossed the entire forest, but was unable to find the falcon. On the third day, tired and weary, he stopped near a grove and from sheer exhaustion fell asleep under a tree. Before that Patrikeyev had earnestly prayed to St. Tryphon, his patron saint, for help. Then the falconer saw a wondrous dream: a handsome youth on a white horse appeared before him, holding the royal falcon on his hand. “Take your missing bird back to the Tsar, – he said, – and Godspeed, do not despair.” The falconer awoke and in astonishment saw the royal falcon sitting on his hand. Patrikeyev then took the falcon to Ivan the Terrible and told the Tsar about his vision. The Tsar left off his wrath and looked upon his falconer with great favor, and in gratitude to God and his patron saint for saving his life, Tryphon Patrikeyev built a church in honor of St. Tryphon on the very spot where he had seen his vision. From that time St. Tryphon has often been depicted on icons as a youth on a white horse, holding a falcon.
Additionally, the Church has established a special moleben, containing the “exorcism of St. Tryphon,” which is served in the fields and vineyards, in order to rid them of harmful snakes and insects. This church rite is based upon the following event in the life of the saint: when Tryphon was still a youth, harmful snakes and insects appeared in his native village, devouring all the grains, leaves, and grass, so that the villagers began to suffer from famine. St. Tryphon prayed to God, asking Him to send an angel to destroy the harmful insects and, moreover, the saint himself used a special exorcism to remove them to inaccessible places, where they could no longer bring any harm to people.
ORTHODOXY AND ITS FUTURE
What is Orthodoxy and does it even have a future?
In 1976 the late Father Seraphim (Rose) wrote the following: “Orthodox Christians live today in one of the great critical times in the history of Christ’s Church. The enemy of man’s salvation, the devil, attacks on all fronts and strives by all means not merely to divert believers from the path of salvation shown by the Church, but even to conquer the Church of Christ itself, despite the Saviour’s promise (Matt. 16:18), and to convert the very Body of Christ into an organization preparing for the coming of his own chosen one, Antichrist, the great world-ruler of the last days.
Of course, we know that this attempt of Satan will fail… But the great question of our times for all Orthodox Christians to face is a momentous one: the Church will remain, but how many of us will still be in it, having withstood the devil’s mighty attempts to draw us away from it?”
“Orthodoxy” or “Orthodox Christianity” has come to mean a number of different things to different people in different Orthodox jurisdictions. There is all kinds of “Orthodoxy” around today. Some of it is recognizable; some of it seems very strange, very abnormal. For some, Orthodoxy is just a “place we go to” on Sunday mornings – just like other Christians. For others, Orthodoxy is an ethnic club, where one can hear the cherished language and music of one’s youth in the old country – in itself, not wrong. For still others, Orthodoxy is a career, a way of making money, of meeting friends. But for a few, a very few, Orthodoxy is the very Ark of Salvation, created by the Living God Almighty in order to bring us safely through this world to the next.
So before we can talk about the future of Orthodoxy, we must first have an understanding of the term “Orthodox.”
Orthodoxy is an “other-worldly” Faith
Most Orthodox, converts included, tend to think of the Faith as something very eastern, very Russian or perhaps Greek, or Byzantine. Actually, this is correct only as far as it goes. But if asked, it’s unfortunately unlikely that most of us would say that Orthodoxy has to do with holiness, with sanctity, or with a peculiar concept called “other-worldliness.”
While on a trip to Russia in 1998, I had the privilege of venerating the holy relics of Saint Innocent of Alaska. Although he had died, full of years and honors as Metropolitan of Moscow, a great deal of his life had been spent as a married priest, Fr. John Veniaminov in Alaska, and then, later, as a bishop. In his journal, kept over a period of years while he was a missionary, he tells a remarkable story about his visit, unannounced and unexpected, to a particular island one day in April of 1828. As he stepped ashore he saw all of the natives standing there in a festive and joyous mood. They told him that they had been expecting him. And although some of them had been baptized into Orthodoxy many years before, they had been given no instruction in the Faith whatever. Where Orthodoxy was concerned, they were functionally illiterate. But an old man of their village had told them that a priest would come on this day and, when he came, he would teach them how to pray. The old man had also carefully described the priest – and indeed this was a description of Fr. John Veniaminov himself.
When he met the old man, the missionary was amazed at his knowledge of Scripture and Orthodox Christian doctrine – especially since he could not read or write and, like the other natives, had been taught nothing about the Faith. “There was no ‘normal’ way for him to know these things… The old man replied quite simply that two companions had informed him of these things. ‘And just who are these two companions of yours?’ he asked the old man. ‘White men,’ he replied… ‘They live nearby, in the mountains. And they visit me every day.’ The old man then provided a description which tallied very closely with the way in which the Holy Archangel Gabriel is portrayed on icons: in a white robe with a rose-colored band across the shoulders.” As this story unfolded, Saint Innocent learned that the old man had been visited regularly – daily, in fact – over a period of thirty years by two angels of God, who had taught him the depths and mysteries of Orthodox theology. When Fr. John asked if he could himself meet these spirits of God he was informed that he could. But “something inexplicable” then happened to Fr. John, as he reports to the bishop:
“I was filled with fear and humility, and thought to myself: ‘What if I really were to see them – these angels? I’m a sinful man, unworthy of talking to them. If I were to decide to see them it would be nothing but pride and presumption on my part. If I were to meet real angels, I might exalt myself for having such great faith, or start thinking too highly of myself… No, I’m unworthy; I’d best not go’.”
In this account we glimpse the element of the supernatural, the “other-worldly”; the fact that there is another world besides this one, and another life, different from the life we lead here; and this other world sometimes, according to God’s will, impinges upon us here in this life, in this world. This means that in order for us to have true Orthodoxy, and in order for Orthodox Christianity to have any kind of future at all, we must ourselves first of all have some sense, some awareness of that other world and its closeness to us.
Knowing about “other-worldliness” isn’t about having supernatural or some kind of “occult” experiences. But it is about remembering that this life is only very temporary, a pilgrimage in fact, and we should not hold onto it tightly because, ultimately, all of it will be taken away from us at death, anyway, and then we will have only the virtues that we have managed, by God’s grace, to acquire.
This is an extremely important message for us Orthodox Christians to bring to the world: that there is indeed another world, that this is not myth or a fairy tale but something which is real, and that this present life here on earth is a preparation for that life which is to come, that there is accountability and responsibility and judgment, as well as reward or punishment awaiting us after death, and that the saints and angels are aware of us (as are also the fallen angels, the demons) and are longing to help us join them finally in the Kingdom of Heaven. In spite of appearances to the contrary, the world really does want to know this, wants to know the truth of this, and is longing to hear it from us in a convincing way.
Orthodoxy is an ascetic Faith
Several of the 20th-century teachers of the Church – men like St. John of Shanghai, Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky, Fr. Seraphim Rose, and others – have explained to us more than once and in several ways that Orthodoxy is, above all, an “ascetic” Faith. What does this mean? The future of Orthodoxy – if it actually even has a future at all – depends on whether we understand the essence of Orthodoxy, which is asceticism.
Our word “ascetic” comes from the same root as the word “athlete,” and this is not a coincidence, for the ascetic and the athlete have some common characteristics.
The athlete works out, trains hard, and exercises in order to develop the muscles of his body so that he can compete in various kinds of sports or special events. He works very hard. He may go to an exercise gym every day and work for several hours. He follows a special diet and in every possible way takes good care of himself.
The ascetic is an athlete, too – an athlete of the spirit rather than of the body. The ascetic also exercises; however, he exercises not his biceps or other physical muscles, but the various dimensions and faculties of his soul. He “works out,” spiritually, through prayer and fasting, through standing at vigil, and by preparing properly to receive the sacraments. He, too, must compete, but not in a sports arena with a javelin or in some other event; no, the ascetic competes in the wide arena of this world, and his adversary, his opponent, the Devil, is quite real – as Holy Scripture teaches us. The athlete runs a race, but we, too, as Saint Paul tells us, run a race, a race to obtain the crown of immortal life with Christ in heaven. But to run this race, we must be athletes of the spirit.
It is this ascetic dimension of Orthodoxy that makes Orthodox Christianity different from every other Christian religion on the face of the earth. But from what I’ve said thus far, “asceticism” is still just an abstract concept. What does it mean in practice?
Again I turn to Saint Innocent of Alaska. While he was working with the Aleut and Klingit Indian tribes of the Alaskan peninsula, he was very anxious to properly communicate to them this “essence” of Orthodoxy. So he wrote a little booklet that has become a kind of classic and is widely read and studied today by people like us who are otherwise very far removed from the native Americans of the Northwest. The little book is called The Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven. In this important little book Saint Innocent talks about asceticism in the same way that our Lord Himself does: he compares it to the carrying of a cross. Our Lord said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 16:24-25), and: “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27).
Now in life there are two kinds of crosses, Saint Innocent explained. The first kind of cross consists of those daily annoyances, temptations, and difficulties that come to everyone just because we are human beings. Ill health, financial setbacks, misunderstandings with others, various kinds of afflictions – all of these are crosses, but they are what Saint Innocent calls “involuntary crosses.” That is, they come to us according to God’s will, whether we want them or not. If we bear these crosses without complaining, without grumbling, then they become ascetic labors that are for our salvation; but if we complain and grumble, then they are for our condemnation. It is extremely important to understand this.
The second kind of cross, according to Saint Innocent, is what he calls “voluntary crosses” – that is, those special ascetic exploits or labors that we voluntarily take upon ourselves, such as strictly keeping the fast days and seasons of the Church year, standing for long hours at vigil services, and other kinds of asceticism or crosses that we may, with the blessing of our spiritual father, take upon ourselves.
These are some of the ascetic aspects of our Holy Faith which are signs of true and authentic Orthodoxy, ancient Orthodoxy, the Orthodoxy of the saints.
Priest Alexey Young
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST
Those were indeed miraculous times,
The words of prophet came to pass,
Angels descended from above,
The star moved forward from the East,
The world awaited its redemption –
And in the humble Bethlehem manger,
With Eden’s laudatory singing,
The wondrous Infant dazzled forth…
– L. Mey
— Translated by Natalia Sheniloff
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