Holy St. George, Pray for Our Troops!

St George pray for our troops!

Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend the souls of thy departed servants, the soldiers of the United States military, and beseech thee to grant them rest in the place of thy rest, where all thy blessed Saints repose, and where the light of thy countenance shineth forever. And I beseech thee also to grant that our present lives may be godly, sober, and blameless, that, we too may be made worthy to enter into thy heavenly Kingdom with those we love but see no longer: for thou art the Resurrection, and the Life, and the Repose of thy departed servants, O Christ our God, and unto thee we ascribe glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner

Relevant Reading

St George Orthodox Military Association

On the Church's Prayer for the Dead

It's The End of The World As We Know It

But...isn't it always? I mean, every day ends and the world changes. Earth is a little farther around the sun, the solar system is a little farther around the center of the galaxy. Several billion cells inside us have died and been replaced. Someone died, someone was born. It happens all the time. Why the fuss?

As someone said to me,"Well, if that be the case, then let us all have a clear conscience, keep our minds focused on God, and be doing what we are supposed to be doing when the time comes." OH WAIT... that is what we are supposed to be doing ANYWAY!! D'oh!

In all seriousness though, one of the main reasons I began to question the evangelical Protestant (ev-Prot) tradition was the rapture theory. I had read the Left Behind books by Tim LaHaye and listened to the radio preachers and pulpit preachers (Southern Baptist and Charismatic) and the Pit Preachers at UNC-CH and the Amway speakers at Amway meetings (yes, Amway. Let's just move on please). So, of course, being the wonderfully curious person I am, I went looking for where the idea of the rapture came from. I mean, it's not specifically mentioned in Scripture, but then again, neither is the Trinity specifically mentioned in Scripture, so that was okay with me. If there was a historical path I could deal with it.

As I read and researched though, I couldn't find mention of it prior to the early 1800s. In fact, the only time I read anything about something similar (specifically the Thousand Year Reign or Millenialism ) was the denunciation of chiliastic (Millenialist) teaching by the Early Church councils as heretical. The Early Church Fathers wrote that "one thousand year reign" referred to in the book of Revelation signifies an infinite number of years, i.e. a kingdom that shall have no end, not a finite and literal 1,000 years. The Second Ecumenical Council in 381 AD., in their condemnation of the heretic Apollinarius, also condemned his teaching about the thousand-year Kingdom of Christ. To put a stop to further attempts at introducing this teaching, the Fathers of the Council inserted into the Niceane Creed the words about Christ: "His Kingdom shall have no end." 

"In Holy Scripture it is clearly indicated that the Kingdom of Heaven is also the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Christ, in so much as both Saint John the Forerunner and Christ Himself called it so. This Kingdom of Christ will be spiritual and will reign over the internal world of man, while externally being revealed in the righteousness, peace and joy of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Christ Himself established this kingdom and explained in His parables how it will appear, who it will include and what power it will possess. His reign will not endure for a thousand years, but eternally (Lk. 1:33)." (Elder Cleopa)

Also, if you read the Book of Revelation through the assumption of such a theory, you get Christ returning more than once! According to rapture theory, He comes once in the air to pull His people from the Great Tribulation to come, then a third time for the battle of Armageddon when Satan is defeated and tossed into the Lake of Fire and then a fourth time for the Judgement. Seriously? How can that be when He said He was only coming back once again?

The logic goes kablooie. It gets even kablooier when you realize how many of these so-called rapture prophets have picked some arbitrary day based on random, esoteric, what-passes-for-math-in-their-own-minds and gotten it completely WRONG. And why do they get it wrong? Because Christ Himself said only the Father knows the day and the hour (Matthew 24:36) and He isn't telling. All He is saying is, "Be prepared."

And that's what this former scout is doing. I am preparing myself. God knows I fail at it on a regular basis, but thank you Lord for Your mercy and grace, I have been saved, I am being saved and I pray that I shall be saved by His grace and mercy.

This does not mean that I cannot find humor in this: "My hope is built/On nothing less/Than Scofield's Notes/And Moody Press!" HA!! (For those who don't know, Scofield and Moody are publishing companies named for two 19th century prime movers behind the rapture theory.)

Lord have mercy on me a sinner!

Relevant Reading
The Inconsistency of Chiliasm
Rapture Theology's Ominous Origins
What is the Rapture (Part 1)
What is the Rapture (Part 2)
Historical Account of the Pre-Trib Rapture' Origin
The Rapture - Indisputable Christian Heresy

Have Some Cheese With That Whine?

And now, my daughter, do not be afraid; I will do for you all that you ask, for all the assembly of my people know that you are a worthy woman.

Ruth 3:11

Today, I realized I was whining.  The past year and a half has been especially difficult in some areas and today I indulged in some whining about it. The I realized I have been whining for quite some time. I don't know when I began to whine at God. I haven't done that in quite some time I don't think. Today, however, I think He and I both had had quite enough of it.

It came to my mind that I never let Gabriel whine at me about stuff, even stuff he actually needs. I can't stand it! Folks who whine and  play the victim just scrape my nerves raw. It simply makes me want to scream when I hear that high-pitched wheedling tone. I hate it! Well, today, the Lord let me know (in His very gentle way) that He was quite done listening to me whine, thank you very much and I needed to quit. Now.

After all, He has done, and more than done, what He promised me He would do. My whine-fest was nothing but an irritant and an indication of faithlessness. The Lord has done me nothing but good for me the past few years and I would do well to remember that. He has often called His people to remember what He has done. When you do not deliberately remember, you end up whining instead of standing in faith upon what He has said.

This past weekend (48 hours) my son and I had a great 2,880 minutes (48 x 60min) with close friends. Within that 2,880, there were about 20 minutes that were really sucky. We were n the periphery of the suck-fest, but even on the periphery it was pretty bad. Gabriel was convinced that tiny bit of time had ruined the entire weekend! I had to show him, using a calculator, just how little time had really been taken up by that incident. His whole perspective changed just knowing that such a little bit of time had passed compared to the entire amount of time we had to spend with our friends.

Deliberately recalling that only the smallest bit of my recent life has been, well, less than ideal...brings things into perspective. I know my Father has a plan for me, a plan to do me good and and not evil. I just have to remember to be obedient (hear and do) to the path He has me walking. That is all. He will take care of the rest.

He said He would. Why would He stop doing as He said now?

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
   and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
   and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
   and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
   your right hand upholds me. 

Psalm 63:5-8

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

Relevant Reading,
Ruth 3
Psalm 63:5-8
A New Perspective
Just Live Your Life!
He Speaks, I Listen
From Homily 36 of St. Isaac the Syrian

And Now for Something Completely Different

Hehehehehe! God knows I hope I have done better.

Lord have mercy on us all!

My Degree: A Short Explanation

[The degree of Reader in Invisible Writings] involves the large-scale use of Hex, the thinking machine in the High Energy Magic Building. It is tasked with casting large numbers of Search spells (such as Weezencake's Unreliable Algorithm) vitually simultaneously (impossible for human wizards), trawling through L(ibrary)-space looking for fragments of written material. This way Hex can read any book ever written, any book that will be written at some point and books that were planned for writing that were not, as well as any book that could possibly be written.

"The thaumic mathematics are complex, but boil down to the fact that all books, everywhere, affect all other books." From there the nature of bi-directionalism is revealed to demonstrate that any book ever to be written can be found in any book not yet written. In mathematical terms, as noted in The Science of Discworld, L-Space represents a form of phase space. This made possible the study of invisible writings (also based on a similar theory to do with the infinite nature of Pi, and the ways in which, if one was to transcribe alphabetical values to the numbers of Pi, one could hypothetically find the contents of every book ever written).

One of the first books to come through as a complete entity was How to Dynamically Manage People for Dynamic Results in a Caring Empowering Way in Quite a Short Time Dynamically. Fragments of this turn up so often that we are forced to believe that either it was either going to be an amazingly popular book or - possibly - that it was actually different books written almost identically.

(Lifted and edited shamelessly from The Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki)

Lord have mercy upon me, a sinner.

Relevant Reading

L-Space

Library - Unseen University

The Librarian

.303 Bookworm

Wow...

Regarding Bin Laden's death one friend posted this verse: 

"When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness." 

Proverbs 11:10. 

Another posted this: 

“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” 

Proverbs 24:17

Lord have mercy on all of us.

Relevant Reading
What is the Orthodox Response to the Death of Osama bin Laden?

CHRIST IS RISEN!!

Christ is Risen! Χριστός Ανέστη! Christus is opgestaan! Kristus er opstanden! המשיח קם! באמת קם Cristo è risorto!  Na Karisito tucake tale! Христос воскресе! !المسيح قام! حقا قام ハリストス復活！Kristos Tensai! Kristo amefufuka! Hristos voskrese! Tá Críost éirithe! Tha Crìosd air èiridh! Ua ala aʻe nei ʻo Kristo! 그리스도께서 부활하셨네! Christ daaztsą́ą́dę́ę́ʼ náádiidzáá. Hu'ta' QISt! Hu'bejta'! Kristos Tenestwal! ¡Cristo ha resucitado! Hristos a înviat! Christus resurrexit!

Translation: People rejoice, all nations listen! Christ God is risen! Let us rejoice! Dance all ye stars and sing all ye mountains! Christ God is risen! Let us rejoice! All angels join us, singing this song! Christ God is risen! Let us rejoice! 

Come down ye heavens, draw near the earth! Christ God is

risen! Let us rejoice! Glory to Thee, God Almighty!

Saved in Weakness

It is counter-intuitive that God saves man through His own weakness. The irony of the Divine Reversal has provided endless material for the hymnographers of the Church through the centuries: the Strong becomes weak; the Sinless takes on our sin; the Rich becomes poor; God becomes man – the whole of the gospel seems to be a Divine irony.

This irony has a beauty that has always drawn me. Sometimes the imagery drawn out in a hymn within the Church becomes so poignant I want to stop the service just to savor it (of course I can’t do this).

However, I think there is something that makes us want to keep our irony Divine and minimize it in our own lives. St. Paul says that he “glories in his weakness,” but I find that few other people, including myself, want to do so. The irony that despite our intelligence, we are foolish is not our favorite topic. The embarrassment that often accompanies confession is the irony of our sin – it contradicts the image we want to hold of our own ego – or that we at least want others to hold.

At some level, we believe that we are not saved through our weakness, but will be saved through our strength, and that the whole life of grace is God’s effort to make us stronger – never suspecting that God’s grace may actually be purposefully developing our weakness.

I do not mean that the grace of God causes sin to abound. But I find it interesting that the work of grace makes sin less opaque – more apparent to ourselves. The greatest saints also seem to be those who are most aware of their sins – and aware of their true sins.

I often tell people who say they are struggling with prayer to quit trying to pray like a Pharisee and learn to pray like a Publican. We often want to pray from strength – to approach God when we at least feel spiritually alive. The Publican refuses to lift his eyes to heaven. The contradiction of his life and the goodness of God are more than he can bear. And yet he prays. And, ironically, it is he who goes down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.

“My strength is made perfect in weakness” is the word God gave to St. Paul. I pray that it is so, for I find times in my life that what I have to offer to God and to others is my weakness – or so it seems.

In the better than 30 years that I have been in ordained ministry, I have learned that I am not alone in my weakness. All of us share common problems and brokenness, even if they are not identical. But the great irony is that it is precisely those problems and brokenness that Christ has made His own. There is nothing abstract about Christ’s union with our sin (2 Cor. 5:21). The great joy (and irony) is that we are heading to Pascha to share in the victory of life in the midst of weakness – not despite weakness.

Glory to God for all things!

Saved in Weakness, Fr Stephen Freeman, Glory to God for All Things blog

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!

Relevant Reading
Weak
Psalm 69

The Hymn of Kassiani and St. Mary Magdalene

O Lord God, the woman who had fallen into many sins having perceived Thy divinity received the rank of ointment-bearer offering Thee spices before Thy burial wailing and crying: Woe is me, for the love of adultery and sin hath given me a dark and lightless night; accept the fountains of my tears O Thou Who drawest the waters the waters of the sea by the clouds incline Thou to the sigh of my heart O Thou Who didst bend the heavens by Thine inapprehensible condescension; I will kiss Thy pure feet and I will wipe them with my tresses I will kiss Thy feet Whose tread when it fell on the ears of Eve in Paradise dismayed her so that she did hide herself because of fear; who then shall examine the multitude of my sin and the depth of Thy judgment? Wherefore, O my Saviour and the Deliverer of my soul turn not away from Thy handmaiden O Thou of boundless mercy.

Hymn of Kassiani




According to tradition, during a dinner with the emperor Tiberius Caesar, Mary Magdalene was speaking about Christ's Resurrection. Caesar scoffed at her, saying that a man could rise from the dead no more than the egg in her hand could turn red. Immediately, the egg turned red. Because of this, icons of Mary Magdalene sometimes depict her holding an egg. from this comes the tradition of dyeing eggs red at Pascha/Easter.






Lord have mercy on me a sinner!

Relevant Reading
The Book of Ruth
Isaiah 54:1-6; 11-17
Kassiani the Hymnographer

A Quote from St John of Kronstadt

Value highly, and always preserve Christian meekness and kindness, mutual peace and love, crushing by every possible means the impulses of self-love, malice, irritability, and disturbance. Do not be disturbed and angered, when anybody tells you a falsehood to your face, or claims any unjust pretension, or speaks offensively, or boldly detects any of your weaknesses or passions, the wrongfulness of which, through your self-love, you did not suspect. Always first coolly reflect over what your opponent says to you, as well as over your own words and conduct, and, if, upon an entirely impartial consideration of your words and actions, you find them just, then let your conscience be at rest, and do not heed the words of your adversary, either remaining silent before him, or showing him his error quietly, gently, in all kindness of heart; but should you find yourself guilty of that, which your adversary detects in you, then, putting aside self-love and pride, ask pardon for your fault, and endeavour to correct yourself in future. We are often angry with straightforward, frank people for openly disclosing our iniquities. We ought to value such people, and forgive them, if by their bold speaking they break down our self-love. They are, in a moral sense, the surgeons who cut off, with a sharp word, the rottenness of the heart, and through arousing our self-love, they awaken, in the soul deadened by sin, a consciousness of sin and a vital reaction.

From My Life in Christ by St John of Kronstadt

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!
Hat tip : Eleni