The Theotokos in the Orthodox Christian Faith by Dr Philip Kariatlis

The Orthodox Church celebrates the great feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos on 15th August, and so in our Church the month of August is specially dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos.  Orthodox Christians have always honoured the Mother of our Lord with special veneration. Countless icons depict her with the infant Christ, and thousands of hymns praise her. In today's talk, Dr Kariatlis focused on the place of the Theotokos in our Orthodox Christian Faith.

The following hymn is said by the priest in our church services many times:

Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.

This hymn really captures what life in the Church is all about. The focus is always Christ, not only giving our whole selves to him but also one another. The centre of our worship is the Divine Liturgy, the worship of the Church as a whole community. This community includes all of us, and also the Theotokos and all the saints, whom we commemorate and set before ourselves as examples.

This hymn also includes many names that we use for the Virgin Mary. Although our church had never really formed any dogmas concerning the Virgin Mary, the names that we give her in our daily worship contain many teachings about what we believe about her and indeed about Christ.

The first name is "Παναγία", which means "All-holy". This term is the most common name given to Mary, and has been in use since the 2nd Century AD. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that Mary was truly "all-holy",  that because of the constant overshadowing presence of the Holy Spirit over her life, she was free from actual sin. In 1854, the Roman Catholic Church formed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, stating that the Virign Mary was immaculately conceived. The Eastern Orthodox Church is uncomfortable with this doctrine, because in a way it sets her apart from the rest of humanity. We believe that Mary was conceived naturally from both a man and a woman, just like every other human being. This is why she is the ultimate example for us because being human just like us, she reached perfection in this life, being free from actual sin throughout her whole life, and was worthy to become the bearer of the Son of God. 

The second name is "αειπάρθενος", "ever-virgin". The great miracle of Christ's incarnation is that Mary remained a virgin even though Jesus was conceived in her womb and she gave birth to Him as a human infant. However Christ was not conceived from a male seed, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we say in the Creed, "was incarnate of the Holy Spirit." In other words, Jesus had no human father. This is because Jesus, although fully human, was not an ordinary human being, but the Son of God, none other than the second person of the Holy Trinity.

And the final and most important term is "Θεοτόκος". This literally means "the one who gives birth to God". Some of the Protestant faiths are uncomfortable that we actually give such a huge power to Mary, who was a human being. However, the term "Theotokos" has enormous theological significance, and must be understood correctly. In fact it is really saying what we believe about Christ himself. In the 5th century, the patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius disagreed with this term, arguing that it is inconceivable and blasphemous to claim that Mary actually gave birth to God himself, proposing instead the name "Christotokos." This sparked an enormous controversy in the Byzantine empire, with faithful Christians who had always paid special reverence to the Virgin Mary speaking out against the claims of Nestorius.

In order to settle the controversy, the Third Ecumenical Council of 431 AD was gathered in Ephesus. The Council of bishops set down the Theotokos as the accepted title of the Virgin Mary. Among other things, Nestorius believed that Mary did not give birth to God Himself, but to a mere human, over whom divinity descended at some later point in His life. This was condemned as a heresy. The fact that Mary did give birth to God is extremely important, not only for how we venerate her, but it points to what we believe about Christ Himself.

Through His Incarnation, Christ's plan of salvation for the human race was made possible by his assumption of our whole human nature. For this to take place, Jesus had to remain unchanged in His divine nature as God but at the same time to become fully human. So Mary conceived The Son of God in her womb, incarnate of the Holy Spirit, and she carried in her body and gave birth to a human person who was none other than the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Mary gave birth to God Himself. This awesome mystery, beyond comprehension for us humans, is expressed in the word "Θεοτόκος".

Through our veneration of Panagia, we are called to imitate her example, and to strive to realise our ultimate purpose in this life, which she completed in perfection: to become "theotokoi", to allow for God to be born into our very selves, by submitting our wills, just like the Virgin Mary, to His divine will.

In conclusion we look briefly at the feast of the Dormition, the "falling asleep" of the Theotokos, when she died a natural death as a human being, but as the birth-giver of God she was taken up by her Son into heaven, both body and soul, to reign with Him and to intercede for us and protect us. The greatness of this true celebration of our Church is summed up in this hymn from the Vespers service of the 15th August:

By the command of God, the God‐ bearing Apostles everywhere were transported through the skies on clouds. And reaching your all‐immaculate body, that origin of Life, they kissed it in grand veneration.

The supreme Hosts of heaven arrived with their Master. Seized with awe, they ushered your inviolate body, which had hosted God. High above the earth, they went before you, and invisibly they shouted to the angelic orders above them, ʺBehold, the Queen of all, the Maid of God, has arrived.

ʺLift up the gates, and give a formal heavenly reception to the Mother of the everlasting Light.

ʺFor the salvation of all humanity came through her. We are unable to gaze on her, and it is impossible to bestow worthy honor on her.

ʺFor her excellence surpasses all understanding.ʺ

Therefore, O immaculate Theotokos, as you now live forever with the life‐ bearing King who is your Son, intercede unceasingly, that He guard us, your children, and that He save us from every hostile assault, since we are under your protection.

And to the ages with splendor we call you blessed.

The entire text of this service in Greek and English can be downloaded from these links:

http://ematins.org/bilingual/Aug15v.pdf

http://ematins.org/bilingual/Aug15.pdf

Apart from the beautiful hymns, which contain the tradition and dogmas of our Church, there are also 3 readings from the Old Testament which are read at the vespers. In the Orthodox Church, the Old Testament is read and interpreted in the light of the New Testament. The readings from the Book of Proverbs about Wisdom, from the Prophecy of Ezequiel about the Gate of the temple which remains shut, and from Genesis about Jacob's dream of the divine ladder, all are interpreted to be foretelling the coming of the Theotokos and the huge role she will play in the salvation of the human race.

There are countless beautiful hymns and services that our Church offers to Panagia, and every day of the first two weeks of August the service of the paraklesis is chanted in ours churches. This can also be downloaded here:

http://www.goarch.org/chapel/chant/paraklesis/index_html

We saw a glimpse today of what the Theotokos has to offer us, both as a Church and on a personal level. Let us learn from her example and strive to follow her in the road to perfection.

General Hospital - Roads From Emmaus - Ancient Faith Radio

General Hospital - Roads From Emmaus - Ancient Faith Radio

February 27, 2012 Length: 55:11

Four-time Emmy award-winner Jonathan Jackson, star of General Hospital andTuck Everlasting, talks with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick about his journey into Orthodox Christianity, his family, how he lives his faith as a Hollywood actor, music and writing, on this special episode of Roads From Emmaus.

Excerpt from Ancient Faith Radio- From General Hospital to the Hospital of Souls: Interview with Jonathan Jackson

Four-time Emmy award-winner Jonathan Jackson, star of General Hospital andTuck Everlasting, talks with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick about his journey into Orthodox Christianity, his family, how he lives his faith as a Hollywood actor, music and writing, on this special episode of Roads From Emmaus.

Mr. Jackson: The first service—feel free to cut me off if you have more questions—

Fr. Andrew: No, no, this is a good story!

Mr. Jackson: All right. The first service I actually went to there was… I was all by myself, because I was still scouting this out. It was interesting because the first reaction I had when I entered into the church… I got this very, very strong impression that said, “Leave. Run. Just get out. Just go. Don’t. You shouldn’t be here.” And I thought it was so strange, because I had already read quite a few books, I knew in my heart that this was where God was sending me, and I thought, “Wow.” I almost started sweating. It was like this really intense thing.

I was very uncomfortable. I didn’t know anybody. It was very foreign. I didn’t know what to do and all of that, but, after that, I felt like the Holy Spirit said, “No, stay for the whole thing, and then you’ll know how you feel about it.” [Sigh.] I said, “Okay, I can do this. I can do this.” So the first 45 minutes was just absolute discomfort, just absolute.

Fr. Andrew: You know, you’re not the first person I’ve heard that from. There’s been a lot of people that, when they encounter Orthodoxy, that there is this strong sense of discomfort, and I think, to sort of put it into an interpretive matrix, I think it’s because you really are standing in the presence of God. And just as your reaction to seeing the Pantocrator was to throw out some four-letter words, what does one say in the presence of God? What does one feel or do?

I actually saw one guy who was an atheist who came to an Orthodox church because he was interested in a girl who was attending, and he was present for about 20 minutes, and then he ran out the front door and threw up on the front lawn and literally ran away. That’s a little bit more extreme than your reaction, but yeah.

Mr. Jackson: I was sweating. I was on my way there. But it was like avivid thought. It was not my own thought. It was like: “Run. Leave. Get out of here. Now.” And I thought, “What on earth? That’s not… I don’t think that’s from God, but what is going on here?” The incredible thing was: “Stay for the whole thing and then you’ll know how you feel.”

45 minutes into it, something happened. The whole room transformed, and it went from utter discomfort to—and I’ll tell you when it was for the Orthodox listeners who would know in the Divine Liturgy—it was right after the homily, after the prayers for the catechumens. Whatever hymn is sung—I’m sure there are many, but there’s a specific hymn that is sung after “Catechumens depart.” And the whole place visually transformed.

Fr. Andrew: It’s probably the Cherubic Hymn.

Mr. Jackson: I think that’s probably what it is.

Fr. Andrew: It’s about that we represent the angels.

Mr. Jackson: Yes.

Fr. Andrew: And we’re worshiping at the very throne and the altar of God.

Mr. Jackson: So that’s what happened, because heaven… opened up. And I was just standing there. From one extreme of just “Get out of here. This is just really foreign and bizarre and uncomfortable.” to tears streaming down my face, completely captivated. And the first service I went to, which, in my chronological memory now, I visited those Greek churches after; I think I actually went to this one first, and then checked out a few other ones to see which ones were a better connection for me personally, but the whole room [transformed]—but the first service was on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, which we just had a few weeks ago.

And what captivated me in that moment was I had never seen a corporate body of people praying to God with such humility. I just had never seen it. It took my breath away, to see people crossing themselves, “Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.” And it wasn’t the self-flagellation, I’m-a-worm kind of repentance. It wasn’t. It was not. It was a repentance that was somehow connected to joy. It was somehow connected to the Resurrection. It was somehow… It was like a romantic connection with God.

I had never seen that before, and as tears were streaming down my face, I just found myself praying, “All I want to do is be here, in the presence. I don’t care about anything else in the world. All I want to do is just be here in this presence with this body of people.” Not just the local body of people, but the Body.

Fr. Andrew: The Body.

Mr. Jackson: The Body of Christ.

At that point… It wasn’t easy from that point.

Fr. Andrew: No, it’s never easy. It’s never easy.

Mr. Jackson: But that was certainly a pivotal moment

The Green Patriarch

As we reminded today by our Guest Speaker, Fr. George Liangas, the protection of the environment is a topic that concerns all humans, including Orthodox Christians.

All we need to do is look to Constantinople, and the huge example of Patriarch Bartholomew to see what we can do to help with this global cause.

Al Gore called him the "Green Patriarch" and Time Magazine named him among the "100 Most Influential People in the World Today".

To see an inspirational video of the Patriarch in action, visit the link below: http://www.patriarchate.org/multimedia/video/green-patriarch

Fr George Liangas visits our Fellowship

Today we had the blessing to have our eyes open to a topic of social conscience that perhaps we do not emphasise enough as Christians living in society today.  The protection of the environment, of God's creation, is a matter of no small significance.

God created the world, nature and man, and gave us humans the humbling blessing 'to have dominion over' His earth.  But what does this mean?  Should we lord over it as if we were gods, or are we called to preserve it as He made it in His infinite wisdom?

Through searching through ourselves and struggling to overcome our passions, we can find the perfect balance to protect the Environment and glorify God.  All we need to do is look at the meaning behind the Creation story (St Gregory of Nissan and other Church Fathers can help us understand these passages better).  And also, the many psalms and hymns in our Church Services constantly remind us of our duty to the environment.  The Ecclesiastical Day begins with the Evening service or Esperino, which starts with the following psalm that reminds us that God is Creator of both nature and us:

103 Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
³ Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
⁵ Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
⁹ He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
¹² As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
¹⁴ For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
¹⁶ For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

¹⁹ The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
²¹ Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
²² Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Julia Gillard visits the Constantinople Patriarchate

04/26/12: Prime Minister of Australia at the Phanar

On Thursday, April 26, 2012, His All-Holiness received the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Julia Gillard, at the Phanar. Issues discussed during the meeting included the significance of dialogue between different religions and cultures worldwide, particularly in countries with multicultural composition, as well as the environmental activities and initiatives of the Patriarchate. Among those in attendance were Australian Ambassador in Ankara, officials and staff of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Ministry, the Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod Archimandrite Bartholomew and the Patriarchal Deacon, Fr. Nephon.

THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN HOLY WEEK

This week, as we know people of Orthodox Christian faith around the world celebrate their Holy Week and Easter. For them, this is a period of intense religious awareness and the best opportunity for personal recollection, change of heart and mind, and enjoyment of the inner happiness of the resurrection. Tonight I thought I would take you for a journey through the stories, the sights, and the sounds of this week, as experienced by most of us Greeks of the Diaspora, along with our brothers and sisters sharing our tradition, and with those of other faiths and traditions who join us in meditation and celebration during this important aspect of our culture.

For Orthodox Christians around the world, the resurrection represents the culmination of the entire ecclesiastical year. It is the climax in the drama of Christ's passion. It is the reaffirmation of life, and as such it is the cause for the Festival of Festivals.

Our listeners may find it odd that most of the time the Eastern and Western churches celebrate the resurrection with a difference of one week or more. The first ecumenical synod, in 325 AD, determined that Easter was to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox. That was a mathematical calculation based on the Hebrew lunar year. And it was what the Western churches, mainly the Catholic and Protestant denominations, follow in their celebration of Easter. There was a stipulation however. To wait for the conclusion of the Jewish Passover, and celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after that. The stipulation was based on the account of the Evangelists, describing how Christ celebrated Passover with his disciples, before his passion. So the Eastern Orthodox church, observing the chronological sequence of events, celebrates Easter after the conclusion of the Jewish Passover.

Throughout the week, called Great and Holy, the passion of Christ is recalled. The faithful participate in the services, and through the intensity of the entire liturgical and ceremonial activity, they truly relive passion.

This is a period of intense emotions. From the triumphant entrance in Jerusalem, to the moments filled with anticipation, prior to Christ's arrest, to the painful time of his torture and crucifixion, to the solemnity of the grave, and finally to the joy of his resurrection, the faithful follow his steps, day by day, minute by minute, feeling the pain and the elation, the anger and the catharsis, the cleansing, the serenity and peace.

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Next: PALM SUNDAY | HOME

Visit the following link to read a description of each Church Service of our Holy Week:
http://www.gaepis.org/audio/p/hweek/intro.html

Fr Nicholas Stavropoulos talks about Lent

I was asked to talk today about Lent, but I think that in this talk we have to take a different angle to what we usually do because I see that none of you are strangers to fasting. The Lenten period is one of the most historical fasting periods in the Church - the only fasting period which precedes it is the fasting before Communion. In the early Church people would have Communion and a communal meal together – called the Agape Feast. But it quickly became abused, so the early saints decided to separate the meal from fasting.

As the Church slackened off over the years the early fathers felt the need to discipline the church, and so instigated new rules to do with fasting. The first rule was that you couldn't just go to Holy Communion. You had to not eat or drink for 6 - 8 hours before Communion. Next was the forty day fast for Pascha, called Lent. Then Wednesday and Friday fasting was created, because it was felt that fasting was of great benefit.

So I want to share some fasting concepts with you. I’ll start, and then we can go around. When I was about your age I found Lent extremely difficult; I needed to eat a lot of food a day. I would eat all my money. Every break I had at uni I would be buying something to eat. It was especially hard in Lent to find foods that were filling enough. Now, I fast more strictly, but fasting doesn't bother me anymore. I can survive on a handful of nuts and water for hours. When I was even younger than you guys, fasting was pure torture for me. However, it added to the excitement of Easter in a purely physical sense.

Thoughts from group:

- As you get older you mature to a certain extent where you don't look at the food as much, but at the other aspects of Easter. You live more simply, it’s a better atmosphere than it is outside Lent.

- Excitement about eating food again on Easter has died down for me. The difficulty of cutting out foods is also lessened because I've been doing it so long. Actually this is a problem for me: because the food aspect is less challenging for me, I get lazy about other aspects of simplifying my life.

Sometimes we see Lent in a negative way, as restrictions, as what I can't do. But if you read the holy fathers who were much stricter in their fasting than we are, they didn't see it that way. Their writings boil down to this - simply, you humble the body or the mind by removing one thing, which leaves a vacuum. That vacuum is quickly filled by God, by a desire to pray and a spiritual connection to God. So, fasting physically but feasting spiritually. In Lent there are more church services, prayers, a focus on repentance, on changing yourself, i.e. spiritual food that you don't usually have access to.

You can’t have both, I should say. You can’t feed your face and have a rich spiritual life as well. Our Bishop once told me to test this theory by having a nice big breakfast one day – bacon, eggs, sausages, everything. Then, he said, go to Church and tell me what sort of prayer you'll have that day.

The relationship between soul and body is deeply rooted in Christianity. We connect the smell of incense with prayer, being hungry on Sunday mornings with Communion and Church. These connections are very real, something you can't undo easily. So too the fathers say, when I fast, my mind is freed for God. My soul takes wings, joy comes into my heart. The joy of doing something really hard is a really great joy: I did it, I made it to Easter.

Practically speaking, what can you do to survive the day during Lent? What do you eat?

Group answers:

- A lot of carbs.

- More fruit than usual.

- Nuts.

On a practical note, nuts are a survival food, your form of protein and fat when you can’t eat meat. This is the same of certain fruits and vegetables like avocado.

In terms of your experience in Church, how does it change in Lent?

- There are more services, and a longer Sunday liturgy. The prayers on Sundays are simpler and longer.

- Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts - not really a sacramental service, but a vesper service. The readings are all psalms. There's a little bit of chanting. The priest takes out the Communion from Sunday and serves that. During the week he has dried out the bread which had been in the Communion wine and leaves it covered all week , then puts it back in wine for the Presanctified Liturgy.
The reason we have the Presanctified Liturgy is because in the first centuries of the Church, they decided that they were going to fast from everything including the joy of Christ. So, they would only have liturgies on Sundays. Then they thought it wasn’t right to not commune every day, so the Presanctified Gifts was the solution. As a vesper service, aka evening service, they also wouldn't eat all day – which was an addition to their Lenten practise.

- Salutations to the Theotokos - not strictly Lenten practice, only the Greek Church has these during Lent. These services are specifically attached to thanksgiving to the Theotokos, because it was felt that Panagia had specifically helped the Byzantine church in the 7^th century from attack by barbarians.

- Apotheipna (evening prayer service) – another of those things the Australian Orthodox church has decided to do. One of these services every night except for Wednesday, which has the Presanctified Liturgy.

All of that however is a vehicle. A channel, something that carries us, not an end in itself. They are a vehicle, they do not serve a purpose in their own right but only to take us somewhere. They are a vehicle for further repentance, a time to kill your old self off and change to your new self. Where do they take us, if we choose to adopt them? And I have to say this because many people deal with fasting as its own entity, in its own right.

It takes us to Paradise, to Christ. Everything in the church, the incense, the music, all of this is a vehicle to take us to Christ. And if they're not taking us to Christ then we are wasting our energies and our efforts.

How do they take us to Christ? All this stuff, we'll add it together.

- When we do these things, we deprive ourselves, Christ comes to us.

What does going to Christ even mean?

- Reaching likeness of God, having Christ inside us.

Have you ever loved anything do much that it absorbed you completely? A game, maybe, when you were a kid, a sport? If you're not doing it then you're thinking about it, if you're not thinking about it then you're watching it, if you’re not watching it then you’re reading about it ... Same with being in love with someone. They're in your pores, you breathe them. It is the same with Christ. He is all you think about. Same thing - except, it's God. Our Creator.

The way of connecting our soul to God is to use the body. But the body is only a trigger. Fasting is a trigger. It’s the starting point, not the end point. But you have to maximise that trigger in order to feast on the joy of Christ, to allow that mystical thing to happen that no one really understands where Christ allows us that joy.

Sometimes God does what our loved ones do - comes and gives us a big hug out of nowhere. But most if the time we have to work for that sensation of love.

Fr Stephanos (the Abbott of Pantanassa Monastery) once said, “You know, you can never leave God. He's always there. You just become unreceptive to Him. You go from being a sponge to a rock. Did God change? No, you did.” And what does Lent have to say; okay, let's take those rock qualities and turn them back into sponge qualities. That's why the fathers say: let's fast, let's confess in order to soften our hearts. So when God does come, we are ready to receive Him. So if we are mechanically fasting, give it some purpose through prayer.

One thing the Australian church especially has forgotten is charity during Lent. Acts of love. It doesn't work to fast and not give charity. The Church in Greece connects Lent with fundraising for charity. And charity can be as simple as putting your arm around someone. Connect that to fasting and you begin to be like Christ. Then Easter becomes your resurrection. The old you has died and the new is born.

There is a speech we all love by St Chrysostom at the end of the Pascal Liturgy, where he says even if you've come at the last hour and you haven't fasted, the table is still full. The feast of joy you partake in after Lent is not only symbolised by the meat, the eggs. The food is a symbol only, not the goal of Lent.

Thank you for having me.