Catechetical Homlily on the Occasion of Holy and Great Lent 2016

 

† B A R T H O L O M E W

BY THE MERCY OF GOD ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
NEW-ROME, AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH,
TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH,
GRACE AND PEACE
FROM OUR SAVIOR CHRIST,
TOGETHER WITH OUR PRAYER, BLESSING AND FORGIVENESS


Beloved and blessed brethren and children in the Lord,


Yet again this year, through the God-inspired words, the holy Psalmist ushers the Orthodox faithful into the “mystery” of Holy and Great Lent, pointing out the benevolence of the Lord and the workings thereof as he cries out, the Lord works mercy and righteousness for all the oppressed (Psalm 102,6). For the Lord satisfies our desire with good things so that our youth is renewed like that of the eagle (c.f. .5).

As we all know, each person, created in the image and the likeness of God, constitutes a temple of the Lord. All the more, those of us who have been baptized in Christ, anointed with Holy Chrism, and grafted onto the olive tree of the Orthodox Church, are temples of the Holy Spirit Who resides in us. This is the case even as we distance ourselves from the Lord by committing sin—voluntary or involuntary—for if we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13).

Unfortunately, the stain of sin hinders the Grace of the Holy Spirit to work in us. For this reason, our Holy Orthodox Church established the forthcoming period of fasting during Holy and Great Lent to allow us to cleanse ourselves through repentance, and thereby becoming worthy to receive the life-giving Passion and the glorious Resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ. The poet of the Great Canon, Saint Andreas of Crete, urges: Come, my wretched soul, and confess your sins in the flesh to the Creator of all. From this moment forsake your former foolishness and offer to God tears of repentance (Great Canon, Monday Ode 1).

The Church, always concerned about our salvation and spiritual perfection, initiates her members into this period of repentance, urging them all to struggle against the materialistic and covetous way of life, which, as a “heavy yoke,” grounds the soul and drags it upon the earth, hindering its ability to spread its wings toward heaven and the kingdom of God. 

In this way, through repentance and purifying tears, we are clothed again with our original beauty and our God-spun shroud that we lost after the fall, covering ourselves, instead, with the coat of shame similar to the fig leaves worn by Adam.

The fast and abstinence from food, idle talk, and deceitful thought represent the start of the correct, restrained, and temperate use of material goods, with the common good as its goal. In this way, we eliminate the negative impact that irrational use of goods may have upon society and the natural environment. This, therefore, allows for the prevailing of the philanthropic fast, which should not render judgment over the oppressed, but offer mercy, grace and comfort for them and for us on our journey toward the likeness of God (St. Basil Great). 

In this way, a temperate use of goods sanctifies both matter and our lives since perishable matter is not the goal per se of sanctification, but rather, its means. Therefore, according to the evangelical periscope, the fast should constitute a motive for restraint, with a final goal to abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13), according to the word of the Great Apostle of the Nations Paul. This holds true even for today’s poor “Lazarus” and for those seeking refuge.

Furthermore, the true spirit of the fast and of abstinence should not be forgotten, since this is what renders them acceptable to the Lord, as James the Apostles teaches: religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1, 27). For we shall not obtain grace—offered to us in abundance through the fast and through abstinence—simply by refusing and abstaining from food. The Prophet Isaiah wonders: Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists; is this the kind of fast I have chosen? (Isaiah 58: 4). The Lord declares, through the Prophet, I have not chosen such a fast, but one that asks you to share your food with the hungry, that encourages you to invite the homeless into your home, and to clothe the naked when you see them (Isaiah 58, 5-7).

Especially in our times, the financial and refugee crises, as well as the multitude of hardships that plague the world today offer to us Orthodox Christians the possibility to cultivate the authentic spirit of the fast, linking abstinence from food with acts of charity and solidarity toward our brethren most in need—those who suffer, the poor, the homeless, the refugees, those who have no place to rest their head (Math. 8: 20), and those who are forced by the harsh conditions of war, challenges, and grief to abandon their paternal homes and to travel amid countless risks,  dangers, and sorrows.

When our fast is accompanied by an increase in philanthropy and love toward the least of our brethren in the Lord, regardless of their race, religion, language and origin, then the fast shall ascend to the throne of God as a fragrant incense, and angels shall stand by us while we fast, in the same way they ministered to the Lord in the desert.

We offer our heartfelt fraternal and paternal prayers to all, that the imminent phase the Holy Fast will prove fruitful and sanctifying, replete of  grace and holiness, and that God will render us worthy and without tribulation to enter into the eternal and life-giving Chalice—the life-bearing Side of the Lord—from which sprang as the fountain of deliverance and wisdom (Great Canon, Wednesday, Ode 4)

May the Divine Grace and the abundant Mercy of the Lord be with you all, brethren and children, so that you may receive, through the evangelical ethos, the Gift of the Feast of feasts and the Celebration of celebrations—the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom all glory, dominion, honour, and thanksgiving now and to the endless ages. Amen.

Holy and Great Lent, 2016
Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople
Your fervent supplicant to God

"The Stadium of Virtue is Now Open"

Tomorrow we enter the most beautiful period of our Church calendar, Great Lent. It is the perfect opportunity to get our spiritual lives back on track as we prepare to follow Christ through His Crucifixion and Holy Resurrection. In today's Matins service, we chanted:

"The stadium of virtue is now open; those who wish to compete, enter therein, girded for the good contest of Lent, for those who compete according to the rules shall receive their laurels rightfully. Taking up the full armor of the Cross, let us do battle against the Enemy. As an impregnable wall, we have the Faith, prayer as our breastplate, and acts of mercy as our helmet. Instead of sword, there is fasting, which cuts every evil from the heart. He who does this shall attain a true crown from Christ, the King of all, on Judgment Day."

As we struggle through Lent, let us remember the ultimate sacrifice that Christ showed for us leading up to His Crucifixion. Below is an extract from a Homily by St Ephraim the Syrian on the Passion of Christ:

Come, observe well

the abundance of compassion,

the forbearance and mercy

of our sweet Master.

He had a useful slave

in the Paradise of delight,

and when he sinned

he was given to the torturers.

But when the Good One

saw his weakness of soul

he took compassion on the slave

and had mercy on him

and presented Himself

to be scourged by him.

I wished to remain silent

because my mind

was utterly amazed;

but then again I was afraid

lest I reject

by my silence

my Saviour’s grace.

For my bones tremble

when I think of it.

The fashioner of all things,

our Lord Himself,

was today arraigned

before Caiaphas,

like one of the condemned;

and one of the servants

struck Him a blow.

My heart trembles

as I think on these things:

the slave is seated,

the Master stands,

and one full of iniquities

passes sentence

on the One who is sinless.

The heavens trembled,

earth’s foundations shuddered;

Angels and Archangels

all quailed with terror.

Gabriel and Michael

covered their faces

with their wings.

The Cherubim at the throne

were hidden beneath the wheels;

The Seraphim struck their wings

one with the other

at that moment,

when a servant gave

a blow to the Master.

How did earth’s foundations

endure the earthquake

and the tremor

at that moment,

when the Master was outraged?

I observe and I tremble

and again I am stunned,

when I see the long-suffering

of the loving Master.

For see my inward parts

tremble as I speak,

because the Creator,

who by grace fashioned

humanity from dust,

He the Fashioner is struck.

Let us fear, my brethren

and not simply listen.

The Saviour endured

all these things for us.

The full homily can be read here: http://preachersinstitute.com/2011/04/21/on-the-passion-of-the-savior/

Catechetical Homily for Holy and Great Lent 2015

+ BARTHOLOMEW,
By God’s grace Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome
and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church:
May the Grace and Peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you
Together with our Prayer, Blessing and Forgiveness

The arena of virtues has opened; let those who wish to compete enter
(Triodion Sticheron, Cheesefare Sunday)

Beloved brothers and sisters, dear children in the Lord,

Our Lord Jesus Christ grafts us into His body, inviting us to become saints, “just as He is holy.” (1 Peter 1.16) Our Creator wants us to be in communion with Him in order to taste His grace, which is to participate in His sanctity. Communion with God is a life of repentance and holiness; whereas estrangement from God, or sin, is identified by the Church Fathers with “evil of the heart.” Sin is not natural, but derives from evil choice” (Theodoret of Cyrus, Dialogue 1, Immutabilis, PG 83.40D) or from the evil spirit, since “no one sins, who promises faith,” according to Ignatius of Antioch, the “God-bearer.”

Holiness is a quality that belongs to the Lord as “the one, who offers and is offered, who receives and is distributed.” The celebrant of the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, by divine grace offers to the faithful “the holy things for the holy people,” the body and blood of Christ; and he immediately receives from the Orthodox faithful the response to this offering: “One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, “who is eaten but never consumed; who sanctifies those who participate.”

In our struggle to achieve “likeness” to God, for which we were created, namely holiness, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Orthodox Church, which aspires exclusively and solely to our salvation, “rightfully proclaimed” one season as a period of special prayer and supplication in order to calm the passions of our soul and body.

This season commences tomorrow as a salvific preparation for the “great and most sacred Pascha of Christ.” We are referring to Holy and Great Lent, which we must live “by offering prayer and seeking forgiveness,” in order truly to taste Pascha “with all the saints,” by becoming “saints,” by confessing before God and people that we are “clay vessels” that are shattered on a daily basis by the evil one, always “falling and rising.” That is to say, we must admit our human imperfection and failure, as well as our insignificance before God, by repenting and repeating day-in and day-out, at all times and in all places – even as we are made “holy” through baptism – that “one is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.”

Therefore, we call upon all Orthodox Christian faithful – clergy, monks and nuns, as well as all our brothers, sisters and children in the Lord – to transform our life at all times, but particularly during this period of Holy and Great Lent, into a loving effort of preparation before our neighbor so that we might share more vividly from now in the Lord’s Kingdom, the “new Pascha,” whose light never sets. We invite everyone to a life of holiness and spiritual struggle so that the possibility of transcending sin may be granted to the whole world and to us as a “good gift” and “perfect gift.” For “everyone that is born from God does not sin . . . and cannot sin, for that person is born of God.” (1 John 3.9-10)

Let us enter, then, with all our soul, without sorrowful faces but instead rejoicing and delighting, into this spiritual arena of virtues; and let us arm ourselves “with the brightness of love, the splendor of prayer, the purity of chastity, and the strength of valor” in order to journey with the Lord, even as we pray that “He may not overlook us when we are in danger of alienating ourselves form Him.” (Hymn from the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross) Rather, may He render us worthy “to reach His holy resurrection on the third day, which shines incorruption through the world.” (Poem by Theodore, Service on Monday of the 1st Week of Lent)

Beloved brothers and sisters, children in the Lord,

Holy and Great Lent is a period of preparation and repentance as the voice of our conscience, which is internal and inexpressible, our personal judgment. When it finds us doing wrong, it protests vehemently inasmuch as “nothing in the world is more violent than our conscience,” according to the experienced herald of repentance, St. Andrew of Crete. Thus, each of us must be at peace with our conscience in order that “we may offer a mystical sacrifice in the fire of our conscience,” surrendering our passions and offering them as an oblation of love toward our fellow human beings, just as the Lord gave Himself up “for the life and salvation of the world.” Only then will forgiveness rise from the tomb for us as well; and only then shall we live in mutual respect and love, far from the horrific crimes that we witness plaguing the entire world today. In this struggle, we have as our allies and intercessors all the saints and especially our all-holy Mother of God, who through her prayers “washes our conscience.”

Wherefore, we urge and beseech you, as the spiritual father of all our Orthodox faithful throughout the world, to run with eagerness the race that opens up before us tomorrow in the arena of virtues, “neither thinking nor practicing sinful things.” Let us rather walk with God’s grace in order to cleanse our conscience “with the good option” of repentance in the conviction that heaven and earth, as well as all “things visible and invisible” will ultimately emanate the light of our Lord’s resurrection.

If we stand and behave righteously “before the doors of the Lord’s temple,” then we shall be vested with the bright robe of Christ’s imitation and be rendered worthy of the “new drink” that comes from the source of incorruption. Then we shall taste the joy of the radiant tomb of the Lord and be swept inside the Church “to the very depths of the altar,” where “the awesome mysteries are celebrated.” May it be so.

Holy and Great Lent 2015

Your fervent supplicant before God,
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople

Cheese Fare Sunday: A Sunday of Expulsion and Forgiveness

Dear all,

Here is a link to an explanation of this Sunday: http://lent.goarch.org/forgiveness/learn/

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has also created a blog specifically for young people for the period of Great Lent: http://orthodoxyouthministry.blogspot.com/ 

I am sure this will be an invaluable resource once it strarts on February 15 (Clean Monday).

"Forgiveness": A Poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich


That God may forgive us, let us forgive men.
We are all on this earth as temporary guests.
Prolonged fasting and prayer is in vain
Without forgiveness and true mercy.
God is the true Physician; sins are leprosy.
Whomever God cleanses, God also glorifies.
Every merciful act of men, God rewards with mercy.
He who returns sin with sin perishes without mercy.
Pus is not cleansed by pus from infected wounds,
Neither is the darkness of the dungeon dispelled by darkness,
But pure balm heals the festering wound,
And light disperses the darkness of the dungeon.
To the seriously wounded, mercy is like a balm;
As if seeing a torch dispersing the darkness, everyone rejoices in mercy.
The madman says, "I have no need of mercy!"
But when he is overcome by misery, he cries out for mercy!
Men bathe in the mercy of God,
And that mercy of God wakens us to life!
That God may forgive us, let us forgive men,
We are all on this earth as temporary guests.

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/02/forgiveness-poem-by-st-nikolai.html

Sunday of the Last Judgement: Reflections on the Christian Fear of God

Please click on title for an excellent piece on the Gospel reading for this Sunday from Monachos.net written by Fr Dcn Matthew Steenberg.

A reminder for our AGM next Tuesday at 11:30am at UNSW. See column for details.

Also, thank you to all our blog readers, especially our international visitors. I hope this blog is helping in some way. I would love to hear from our international visitors, so please feel free to comment on the posts or in the Cbox in the right hand side column. I have also added some interesting videos. Please let us know what you think of them! 

Also, please visit this site on our Monastery Panagia Pantanassa at Mangrove Creek(http://www.quotes.orthodoxwiki.org/Monastery_of_Pantanassa_(Mangrove_Mountain,_New_South_Wales). A few months ago a young man who attended a fellowship I am part of became a novice. At the moment there are 4 monks with Fr Stephanos as the Abbot. They are continually praying for us so it is only fair for us to do the same. Tomorrow there is a Luncheon at St Euphemia, Bankstown to raise funds for the Monastery.

Kali dinami for the rest  of Triodion and Great Lent.

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

When I disobeyed in ignorance Thy fatherly glory, I wasted in iniquities the riches that Thou gavest me. Wherefore, I cry to Thee with the voice of the prodigal son, saying, I have sinned before Thee, O compassionate Father, receive me repentant, and make me as one of Thy hired servants. ~Kontakion (Tone Three)
http://lent.goarch.org/prodigalson/learn/

Dear all,

Please click on the title of this post to be redirected to the article: The Spirit of Exile and the Sin of Man (from Monachos.net). This is a MUST read for all practising Orthodox Christians. This is also a very good article:

The Prodigal Son Interpreted Hesychastically
by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

Regarding the meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, St. Gregory Palamas interprets the parable hesychastically. St. Luke the Evangelist presents Christ's parable, in which we read: "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living" (Lk. 15, 13). St. Gregory does not analyze the parable in terms of morals, but theologically. He sets forth its true dimensions. Having the mind of Christ, experiencing the mystery of the spirit, he grasps its true meaning. Belonging organically, as he does, to the Orthodox Tradition, he realizes that the Fall of man, the so-called Ancestral Sin, is in reality a darkening, obscuring and deadening of the nous, whereas the resurrection of man is the vitalization of the dead nous. It is in this light that he also interprets the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

The nous is man's real wealth. "Above all else the nous is our innate essence and wealth". As long as we remain on the ways of salvation "we have our nous gathered in itself and in the first and highest nous, God". Our salvation is that we have our nous in God. But when we open a door to the passions, then our nous "is immediately scattered, wandering all the time around things that are carnal and worldly, around the manifold pleasures and passionate thoughts about them". Then a man's nous becomes prodigal, and in general he is called prodigal. The wealth of the nous is prudence, and it distinguishes good from evil as long as we continue to keep Christ's commandments. But when the nous withdraws from God, then prudence too is scattered into prostitution and imprudence.

Man's soul has not only a rational aspect but also appetitive and incensive aspects. In its natural condition man's nous "directs desire towards the one and truly existing God, the only Good One, the only Judge, the only one who provides pleasure unmixed with any pain." But when the nous is in the unnatural state, when it departs from God and is darkened, then desire is dispersed into many self-indulgent appetites: "Drawn on the one hand towards a desire for foods that are not needed, secondly towards the desire for unnecessary things, and thirdly towards the desire for vain and inglorious glory". This comes about through desire. But when the nous is being deadened, the incensive power too is similarly taken captive. When the nous is in its natural state, when, that is to say, it is united with God, then it rouses the incensive power only against the devil and utilises the soul's courage against the devil and the passions. But when it disregards the divine commandments, then "one fights against one's neighbour, rages against those of the same race, is infuriated with those who do not assent to one's irrational appetites, and alas, one becomes a homicidal man...".

From the book titled St. Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite, Ch. 3.
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/01/prodigal-son-interpreted.html

On another note, I would like to apologise for not sourcing all the posts, which has frustrated one of our international visitors. For most posts I link the title with the site I got the material from, even when I don't explicitly say it. So I am very sorry for that. At the moment all posts have been sourced.

May God bless our journey towards Pascha!

Triodion Begins!

Dear all,

I urge you to explore these brilliant links below which are great Pre-lenten and Lenten resources:

http://www.monachos.net/content/liturgics/seasonal/lent

http://lent.goarch.org/