Archbishop Nicolae’s Message for the beginning of Great Lent

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Before the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection the Holy Church has established a period of seven weeks of fasting. More precisely we should say that there are six weeks plus one, for the seventh is Passion Week, a time which we consider beyond fasting and indeed any earthly effort.

What is the meaning of the Fast, and why does the Orthodox Church still preserve this special kind of preparation before our great feasts?

We must remember in the first place that fasting is related to one of God’s provisions for mankind. The Holy Fathers say that in Paradise man received the commandment to fast, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, otherwise he would die. The purpose of the commandment was to protect man from falling away from God, which brings death. St. Basil the Great says, “Because we did not fast, we left Paradise and were driven out of it”. Beginning with the commandment in the Garden of Eden, continuing with the prophets Moses, Elijah, and Daniel, with St. John the Baptist, and then with the Savior Christ Himself, fasting has been a practice respected by all who wished to put aside material things in order to gain spiritual things.

The Savior makes a statement which reveals the profound meaning of fasting: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes out of the mouth of God”. This shows that fasting does not mean just starving ourselves by abstaining from food, but nourishing ourselves with another kind of food—spiritual food, which is the Word of God. The Savior tells us that man is not made of soul and body, the soul desiring spiritual things and the body desiring material things; but man is soul and body, and spiritual things can be nourishment even for the body.

In fasting we can experience the fact that our body can be nourished also by another kind of food, not only by bread. This is because, as a result of our efforts in fasting, the body begins to let go a little of its attachment to material things and to receive spiritual things more. The very matter with which we are in solidarity through our body begins to be spiritualized through the work of grace, to which is added man’s efforts to receive the Word of God. In fasting we begin to understand a certain communion which was established between God and man before the fall of Adam, a communion in which the entire being of man, soul and body, participated. We also begin to understand the communion which exists between us as people, related to our communion with God. The closer we get to God, the closer we get to our brothers as well.

In the light of these things, every time of fasting is a struggle for each Christian who desires to fast. Today’s world and our responsibilities in it don’t encourage our fasting. In every fast, the struggle comes in trying to find a certain balance between our ascetical efforts and fulfilling our daily responsibilities. But this struggle will bring spiritual joy for the one who fasts and discovers the meaning of our Savior’s words about feeding on the Word of God.

† NICOLAE

Pope invites Patriarch to join Synod meeting

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Vatican, Mar. 7, 2008 (CWNews.com) – During a brief March 6 conversation with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) invited the Orthodox leader to join in the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

The Holy Father also invited the Ecumenical Patriarch to participate in Vatican ceremonies celebrating the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29. Each year the Constantinople patriarchate sends an ecumenical delegation to Rome for that feast day, just as the Vatican sends delegates to Constantinople for the patronal feast of St. Andrew.

However, the Pope encouraged Patriarch Bartholomew himself to join in the Vatican celebration this year, when the feast day will inaugurate a special year dedicated to St. Paul. If the Orthodox leader accepts the invitation, it would be returning the visit that Pope Benedict paid to Constantinople in November 2006.

The Synod of Bishops will meet in October to discuss the theme: “The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church.” The Pope’s invitation to Patriarch Bartholomew to join in that discussion underlines the warmth of ecumenical relations between the two prelates and between Rome and Constantinople.

During his visit to Rome, the Ecumenical Patriarch spoke at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, of which he is an alumnus. Invoking the image used frequently by the late Pope John Paul II, Patriarch Bartholomew said that the Eastern and Western churches are the two “lungs” of the Christian world, and “must work together in harmony.”

Saturday Morning Prayer

Posted on by Fr. Peter

In the silence of the early morning
your Spirit hovers over the brink of the day
and new light pierces the darkness of the night.
In the silence of the morning
life begins to stir around me
and I listen for the day’s first utterances.
In the earth, sea and sky
and in the landscape of my own soul
I listen for utterances of your love, O God.
I listen for utterances of your love.

I Lie Down This Night

Posted on by Fr. Peter

I lie down this night with God,
And God will lie down with me;
I lie down this night with Christ,
And Christ will lie down with me;
I lie down this night with the Spirit,
And the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit
Be lying down with me.

Carmina Gadelica, Hymns and Incantations, Collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, by Alexander Carmichael

6 March ~ St. Baldred

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Two saintly men are held in special honor by the folk of East Lothian ad treasured as peculiarly their own. The two were very different in their lives and their beliefs: Baldred, an anchorite (hermit) who lived in the Dark Ages and Blackadder the Covenanter of the seventeenth century. Both were by family East Lothian men though their missionary journeys took them widely through the Boarders and beyond. The grey cliffs of the Bass were home to both for at least a good portion of life: the hermit Baldred because he choose to have it that way, the Covenanter Blackadder because he was prisoned there till he died.

It was long accepted that he had been a follower of St. Kentigern and had worked with and under that great missionary around the beginning of the seventh century. However, recent research compels students of the period to forsake the dates in the Aberdeen Breviary and accept the dating of Simeon of Durham that Baldred died (‘tod the way of the Holy Fathers’ as Simeon so much more graciously puts it) ‘in the 29th year of King Egbert of Northumbria’, which marks it as 756. Not much can be written about the life of an anchorite except that he fulfilled his chosen work in his chosen cell and passed on the missionary task to the next generation. Every generation, though, needs fresh conversions, for Dean Inge once wrote truly ‘each generation represents a fresh invasion of the barbarians’.

It is clear that even Baldred did not spend all his years in his cave for he left several place-names in East Lothian suggesting his presence. Baldred’s Chapel at Tantallon is now little more than a ruin. At Aldham Bay you may see the rock called Baldred’s Boat when the tide is out. Like other medieval saints, if no boat was handy he just sailed over on a rock. ‘Baldred’s Cradle’, further down the coast, is a terrifying fissure in the rocks through which the tides roar when the storms come. Prestonkirk and Tyningham parishes have many memorials of Baldred and the kirk at the former place may well be the site of his chapel. His huge stone image is said to have lain there till 1770 when a new kirk was built and a mason, perhaps inspired by shades of Blackadder, took a hammer and broke the image up.

A.P. Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, 1872

Morning Prayer

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Bless to me, O God,
My soul and my body;
Bless to me, O God,
My belief and my condition;

Bless to me, O God,
My heart and my speech,
And bless to me, O God,
The handling of my hand;

Strength and busyness of morning,
Habit and temper of modesty,
Force and wisdom of thought,
And Thine own path, O God of virtues,
Till I go to sleep this night;

Thine own path, O God of Virtues,
Till I go to sleep this night.

Carmina Gadelica, Hymns and Incantations, Collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, by Alexander Carmichael

Vegetable Stock

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Since it is Meatfare week and we are now in the fast period I thought I would post some recipes that I have used in the past. One of the most basic things to cook during the fast is soup. My friend Br. Victor from Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in New York always has a pot of soup on the stove. Soup stock is easy to make and it can be frozen for weeks. Make a big pot and then freeze it and use it as necessary. The following recipe comes from the book When you Fast. You really can use any combination of veggies for this stock.

2 Cups Chopped Onions
4 Carrots, peeled and Chopped
2 Celery Stalks, Chopped
2 Bay Leaves
1/2 cup tightly packed or 2/3 cup loosely packed chopped fresh parsley
2 Large Garlic Cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons salt
14 cups cold water

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes. Strain and cool. Makes about 10 cups.

You really do not need to chop the veggies just peel them and throw them in the water. Make sure the water is cold as you get better results, and once the stock come to the boil turn it down right away.

3 March ~ St. Ailred

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Ailred was born in 1109, the son of a married priest of Hexham. He appears to have been well connected, for he was a lifelong friend of King David I of Scotland and the king’s son, Henry, whose dominion stretched far south across what was later to be the border. Ailred passed from boyhood to manhood and was appointed seneschal of Scotland. He relinquished a brilliant career at court to become a monk when, in 1134, he entered the great and beautiful Rievaulx in Yorkshire as a Cistercian. He left nine years latter to become abbot of Ravesby in Lincolnshire. After four years he was back at Rievaulx as abbot.

Apart from his friendship with the royal family, Ailred had many Scottish links. He delighted in visiting Dundrennan and the other Scottish Cistercian houses, and he wrote the life of St. Ninian which became the standard biography. He was a close friend of Godric, the hermit of Finchale.

His theological works showed not only a great depth of learning, but also spirituality; foremost among these were Speculum Caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) and De Spirituali Amicitia (On Spiritual Friendship). Among the finest gems of medieval devotion is his great pastoral prayer for his family of monks. An extract (translated) reads:

To thee, my comfort and my God, I humbly own
That I am not as contrite and as fearful as I ought to be
For my past sins.
Nor do I feel enough concern about my present ones.
And Thou, Sweet Lord, hast set a man like this over they family.
Me, who take all too little trouble with myself.
Thou biddest to be concerned on their behalf;
And me, who never pray for them.
I, who never pray enough about my own sins,
Thou wouldst have pray for them.
I, who have taught myself so little too,
Have also to teach them.
Wretch that I am, what have I done?
What have I undertaken? What was I thinking of?
Or rather, Sweet Lord, what wast Thou thinking of

Regarding this poor wretch?

Ailred died a Christmas 1166, prematurely worn out not only by his responsible monastic duties but by illness. From living for years in damp, cold buildings, he contracted very severe arthritis and internally he suffered from kidney and bladder disorders. His faithful biographer monk, Walter Daniel, tells a little about the beloved abbot’s terrible pain, with constant rising during the night for relief.

Ailred was never formally canonised but from the beginning his Cistercian brethren accorded his the honor of a saint.

His festival is 3 March, or 3 February for the Cistercian Order.

F.M. Powicke (ed), The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx by Walter Daniel, 1950

Orthodox Church in Alaska

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I do not like to comment on struggles that go on in other jurisdictions but I cannot remain silent any longer on the situation in Alaska. Surf on over to the ocanews.org site for an update. When the stories first came into the light of day I was giving people the benefit of the doubt to the people in command there but things are not looking good.

It all began with the alleged sexual harassment of Paul Sidebottom and then led to the Chancellor going off for rehab. Then the bishop appoints someone a reader who is a convicted sex offender. Now we are seeing letters from clergy about other abuses at the hand of the bishop. Bishops are supposed to be fathers for their diocese and not a tyrant. This bishop seems to have crossed the line and should be removed for the sake of the church.

All of the Orthodox Church in America should be concerned about this situation. We owe a great debt to the Church in Alaska and such greats as St. Herman and St. Innocent. Let us pray for the Church in Alaska and her people. My prayer is that the Synod of the OCA responds to their calls for help. If this bishop is removed and a new bishop is assigned, he should spend the first year kissing the feet of everyone in the diocese as a sign of humility.

error: Content is protected !!