Morning Thoughts

Mar 11:12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
Mar 11:13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
Mar 11:14 In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it.
Mar 11:15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Mar 11:16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.
Mar 11:17 Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?[fn5] But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"[fn6]
Mar 11:18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
Mar 11:19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.
Mar 11:20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."
Mar 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Mar 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Mar 11:25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

This morning I woke quite tired and lay in bed with my eyes still shut. As I did so for a few moments a couple of strong thoughts spread through my mind, one of which was - "Start walking by faith, stop walking by sight!" (2 Cor 5:7) I had, upon this thought, an image that in all that I do and say there is, in fact, an angel standing next to me and that we walk about together, as it were. I had not been acting this way at all - not walking in the faith of the truth of that matter - that around us is the invisible presence of witnesses (martyrs) (Heb. 12:1) and ministers that are a 'flame of fire.' (Heb. 1:7; Ps. 103:4 [LXX; Ps 104:4 in MT]). I had that distinct feeling that one reason I do not 'see' is that I do not walk in faith that things are as I claim to believe. Not that if I believe, I will see this physically, for blessed is the man who believes without seeing (John 20:29), and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1)

Walk by faith, not by sight.

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Today is a beautiful day here. Our summer squash is growing nicely, our broccoli is on the second tender harvest, and the onions are doing well. I think we may have a good grape harvest if the deer or birds don't wreak havoc at the last moment, and tomatoes are setting on. Blueberries are now on and will be for a couple of weeks yet, I think. I paced off the rows for a future vineyard, if we are so blessed to be able to afford to put it in. It was nice to spend a few minutes this morning looking over the valley and watching the flock nip the tops of dandelions. Morning and evening I like to get at least 10 minutes to watch the growing (or fading) light and hear the wind sigh in the trees.

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The Antiochian embroglio has heated up considerably with lots of skullduggery going on - multiple signed documents, translations, etc. For those of you who don't read Arabic, while I am not a native speaker I can assure you that the Synod's decision [the one posted on the Patriarchal website as the only authorized version] plainly reads "[The Holy Synod] affirms that Bishops in the Antiochian Eparchy in North America are Bishops [who] assist [or aid] the Metropolitan." There is no adjectival form used that could correspond to a meaning of "Auxiliary." Indeed, not only is it a verbal form, but it is not even derived from the same verbal roots that were used in the original February 24, 2009 decision. That certainly can be attributed to word choice rather than significant intent, in that Arabic is rich with different words with shades of meaning that may be translated to English the same way. However, I think that if the Synod had intended to reaffirm its decision it would have used the same words to describe the N.A. bishops' role.

That said, the next point, that (and here I am gisting the bracketed material because the literal Arabic would read stilted and in the interest of time) "[this does not mean at any time], that any [diocese, bishopric, episcopacy] from among the dioceses [or bishoprics] of this one [or - single] Eparchy can consider itself a distinct [or different] Eparchy because the decision [to establish Eparchies resides with the Antiochian Holy Synod]."

I don't really know where that leaves us, but I think a reasonable interpretation, given the rejection of the alternative documents by the Patriarch, is that, for North America only, the Bishops are diocesan bishops who assist the Metropolitan, but who are nevertheless not auxiliaries. Otherwise there needn't have been a distinction for North America at all and the Synod could have simply reaffirmed the earlier decision in all respects and use the words used in the original decision.

I think it is telling to use the term Eparchy (أبرشية) [nominally translatable to Diocese] and أسقفية - bishopric [also nominally tranlatable to Diocese] in contradistinction to one another - with أسقفية not being a term used in the February 24 decision. It introduces, to North America only, a distinction not found elsewhere in the Antiochian Patriarchate. Generally I believe one would simply use the term Eparchy to denote either an Archdiocese or Diocese in Arabic, but I'm willing to be corrected on this point. It's rather meaningless to make such distinctions where Bishops are either Auxiliary Bishops to Metropolitans or are, indeed, Metropolitans and where, in the old world, virtually all the major cities have Metropolitans and not just diocesan bishops (unlike North America).

Moreover, the distinction must have a purpose else it is surplusage.

Anyway - His Grace Metropolitan Philip seems to have overplayed his hand in several ways and makes one wonder (a) why is he so resistant to more transparency in Archdiocesan finances; (b) why is he trying to stack the Trustee selection process; (c) why on earth would he want to associate with Walid Khalife and use him as part of the delegation to Damascus - even if he is a reformed character after his brush with the full power of the US Federal Government [I will leave off any commentary on Khalife's very bizarre e-mails that appear to have been floating the ether]?

I hope that he has not, over the years, become beholden to a criminal or corrupt element such that he has no way out of a dilemma, for I cannot see why else he is trying to make the moves he is making. My beloved, being a charitable woman, wondered if he is, in his age, becoming susceptible to dementia or Alzheimer's, which can cause abberant behaviors. I must confess that while this would be an appealing revelation if true, the machinations we are witnessing are still too artful, even if not artful enough to be succesful, to allow such a conclusion at this time.

Unfortunately for the Bishops in the Antiochian Orthodox Church in North America, all eyes will be on them at the Convention to see how they stand (or fall) to the various camps that will be demanding something - will they speak firmly with love? Will they speak at all? And what will they say? Will they unite as one? Will they also become divided? God forbid it!

Pray for the Churches as Satan sifts us like wheat from chaff. I think Fr. Jonathan Tobias is right to suggest that we need to focus very small and close to home in these times - our parish and our families and keep our Orthodox Christian faith and simply preach Christ Crucified and remain fools for Christ not hope for grand schemes of Orthodox unity in North America right now.

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On the Economic front some pundits say that the infusion of money by fiat into the country is going to lead to inflationary pressures or falling value of the dollar and that we are in for further bumpy rides as a result. Some predict that gold and silver values will bump towards the end of summer, and we have already seen a lot of international talk about moving to a different sort of reserve currency - possibly even a new international currency for reserve purposes. I don't know . . . but I can't imagine that the huge deficits we are now racking up will be good in the long run and I don't see fundamental consumer behavioral change that would set things 'aright.'

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If anyone is looking for a milch goat - Wise Susan is thinking about selling a good one that she has had at St Brigid Farm.

Ghosts of Mississippi

I wish to share a most beautiful piece of imagery written by Owen at his site: The Ocholophobist.

While it devolves briefly into a rant about the decadence of our parishioners at one point, I ask you focus on the ache and beauty of his memory of his Sunday School teacher Mary, and of his friend Davey.

Owen is a man of learning - apparently mostly self-taught (as all good learning must be), with a wide grasp of things philosophical, theological, and sociological. He provokes and is opinionated, but always worth reading.

Owen lost his job a while back. I think he is going to school again or still looking for work, or both. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

I have never met the man, but I have corresponded with him and read his work. I hope one day he will journey out this way, for he would find friends, drink, food, and fellowship. God willing.

This piece makes me think of my own teachers and relations - Missouri baptists forged in the troubles of the Depression; Kansas farmers become loggers become steelworkers who, like Owen's mentors have that:

"disposition [which might be called] the Mississippi of the heart. It is that peculiar tenderness that is found among those who have an ache that will not heal in part because the wound has no rest due to the constant motion of being given to others (even if in the quiet, in prayer), but are so glad to be able to give that they count the pain as nothing.

It makes me think of the North Dakota ranchers who came West as an entire family - never rich but in love for one another and generosity which seemed to spring forth from unknown resources, my own Grandmother being one who ended her days in a single-wide striving to remember her children from pictures on the wall while the Alzheimer's ravaged her mind, but always ridiculously, but yet in childlike wonderfulness telling us in song that "the more we get together the happier we'll be."

I am reminded of my neighbor in North Carolina who spent her life protecting her 'angel baby' who lay motionless for 21 years before giving up the ghost, who drove up the street a mile where the 'preacher-man' gave his sermons and was brokenhearted when her husband died. She and my other neighbor had been friends for decades, but the color line was still strong and they only spoke to one another outside the houses and went to different baptist churches. But they baked and shared their abundance with one another too and I believe truly loved one another. Hard to figure.

I'm afraid that I am more like Owen:

I know I have never had much in the way of faith, and maybe that's it. In my life, every time I've had a come to Jesus meetin' of any sort, every time I have tried a bit harder to be a Christian, I have found that my general problems in life have increased, and that I start to screw up more than I did when just coasting. Grant you, I have not tried all that often. In part because I came to wonder if laying low wasn't a more careful route to go.

And I wonder how we, my people, came from where they did to the debacle that was the nightly show of my childhood. I will not tell you that tale, no.

But when I look at where I am at in life, and what people may assume about me (look at him, he's never really had to suffer!), and compare that to what really has gone on in life, I am reminded that we do not know the contours of many another's life and we must assume there lurks there untold stories, and untold pains. They all have ghosts haunting them, whether old gnarled-hand Mississippi Sunday School Teachers or Gucci purse carrying urbanites - let us love one another as we would ourselves.

Worthy Thoughts - Good in Every Man

Stop looking for that which is bad in your neighbors but rather find and love that which is good in them and you will save both them and yourselves.

You will save them since every man already believes in his own goodness, everyone likes and wants to be good, everyone feels that eternal and divine calling to perfection. One should, therefore, support others in this: believe in them and help them develop that which is good, which abides in them and which they ultimately respect in themselves, that they develop that inner goodness, that it be strengthened and that it bring them victory over evil… For, it is only that which is good in man that can be loved and it is only in love that one can live.

It is with this teaching that the Apostles set out into the world on this day [Pentecost].


—Bishop Hrizostom (Vojinović)

To read the whole from which these excerpts are taken, visit Fr Milovan's blog Again and Again, and read the post entitled Good in Every Man.

H/T to Romanos at cost-of-discipleship.blogspot.com and, of course, Fr. Milovan

The Red Pill - Leaving our Delusions Behind

Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: 'Cause I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
(Neo nods his head.)
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)
Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

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My friend John at Notes from a Commonplace Book once quoted at length from Fr. Alexander Schmemman's journals about the problem of how we view (or ignore) death. In reading Fr. John Behr's "The Mystery of Christ - Life in Death," my mind has turned to contemplate that great mystery.

Reviewing John's post spurred me to think - we've really got it wrong, how we view death as a 'natural part of life' and sit around expecting the coming of the 'sweet by-and-by.' Our true death is also our rebirth - and it happens in our baptism with water and Spirit. But to walk around as if we are alive in ourselves ignoring that we must, in fact, be buried with Christ and raised in Him, is to live 'in the Matrix' - "the world that has been pulled over [our] eyes to blind [us] from the truth." What truth? That actually we live in bondage to sin and spiritual death, in separation from God, and that apart from dying to self and being reborn, we are already lost.

In 1944, the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division jumped into Normandy as part of the campaign to liberate Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany. "Easy" Company of the 506th, made famous by Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, jumped into Normandy with 139 officers and men on June 6th. Twenty-three days later they came off the line with 65 fewer souls [if my math is correct].

In the HBO/Play Tone production of Band of Brothers [which, incidentally, IMO is the best 'war movie' made to date], there is a conversation between a feared and respected Lieutenant Ronald Spiers and a Private Blithe. Blithe is struggling with the shock and fear of combat and confesses that he hid in a ditch after the jump rather than seek out his unit and join the fight. Factually, Albert Blithe was wounded in combat during the Normandy campaign and never fully recovered from his wounds, finally dying in 1948.

Spiers: "We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope. But Blithe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead."

While the point of the [perhaps imagined] conversation was to give a soldier the means to overcome the fear of war and to act effectively, the idea of 'hiding in a false hope' due to fear has some application.

As Christians we are to also accept, as St. Paul says, that we have died to self and live only in Christ. Not "I" but Christ who lives in me. The only hope we have is to accept the fact that we're already dead without Christ. Moreover, in baptism we die with Christ, and our new resurrected life is hid in his.

We put our hope on accepting the fact that we are already 'dead' to the World - and we are [as St. Paul says] truly pitiable if Christ has not, in fact, risen. Then we are men bound to a false hope.

But if our belief is true, there is no other hope than to accept the fact that we were already dead in sin, and will only be alive in Christ by dying to the World and being raised with Him, and that acting otherwise is to hold out hope that we somehow will be able to live without Christ.

We hold to many truly false hopes. Recently, after realizing a sinful behavior, despite 'knowing better,' I was given to think as I suspect we often do: "perhaps I can yet redeem myself in the eyes of my Lord by the improvement of my behavior." If Jesus is (as I believe and confess) God from God, the Existing Logos, there is little I could do to 'redeem myself' in His eyes. I realized that I was clinging to a false hope, like Private Blithe, thinking this was a way to cling to life.

I believe this is a common false hope to cling to, even when we 'know better' through having been taught that no man can justify himself through his works (rather, his works are an external indicator of obedience to the commands of Christ and faith in Christ). We still want to hide in the ditch thinking there is still hope for life while remaining just where we are, hoping that at some little moment we will redeem ourselves in the eyes of our Lord - that we will be our own Savior in the eyes of our Judge, rather than really accepting, deep in our nous, our 'heart of hearts' that our Judge is our Savior, and realizing that there's nothing we can do to redeem ourselves. As we stand before him all we can do is throw ourselves upon his infinite mercy.

"To be Christian, to believe in Christ, means and has always meant this: to know in a transrational and yet absolutely certain way called faith, that Christ is the Life of all life, that He is Life itself and, therefore, my life. 'In him was life; and the life was the light of men." All Christian doctrines--those of the incarnation, redemption, atonement--are explanations, consequences, but not the 'cause' of that faith. Only when we believe in Christ do all these affirmations become 'valid' and 'consistent.' But faith itself is the acceptance not of this or that 'proposition' about Christ, but of Christ Himself as the Life and the light of life. 'For the life was manifested and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us' (1 Jn. 1:2). In this sense Christian faith is radically different from 'religious belief.' Its starting point is not 'belief' but love. . . And if to love someone means that I have my life in him, or rather that he has become the 'content' of my life, to love Christ is to know and to possess Him as the Life of my life."

-- Fr. Alexander Schmemann, from Ch. 6 of For the Life of The World, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press (1973).

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Today outside your prison I stand
and rattle my walking stick: Prisoners, listen;
you have relatives outside. And there are
thousands of ways to escape.

Years ago I bent my skill to keep my
cell locked, had chains smuggled in to me in pies,
and shouted my plans to jailers;
but always new plans occurred to me,
or the new heavy locks bent hinges off,
or some stupid jailer would forget
and leave the keys.

Inside, I dreamed of constellations --
those feeding creatures outlined by stars,
their skeletons a darkness between jewels,
heroes that exist only where they are not.

Thus freedom always came nibbling my thought,
just as -- often, in light, on the open hills --
you can pass an antelope and not know
and look back, and then -- even before you see --
there is something wrong about the grass.
And then you see.

That's the way everything in the world is waiting.

Now -- these few more words, and then I'm
gone: Tell everyone just to remember
their names, and remind others, later, when we
find each other. Tell the little ones
to cry and then go to sleep, curled up
where they can. And if any of us get lost,
if any of us cannot come all the way --
remember: there will come a time when
all we have said and all we have hoped
will be all right.

There will be that form in the grass.

- William Stafford

Of Wisdom and of the Voice of Truth (revised)

I have edited the original post. My apologies to any reader who did not comment but might be looking for it. I reflected on this post over the weekend and decided that it was unworthy musing - worthy for a fireside chat with an old friend, perhaps, but when written in public blogdom it shows both my ignorance and does not serve to edify.

Thus I have redacted the discussion of time, and the discussion of a wistful desire to be an intellectual, a goal which I will never achieve but which I realize isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.
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The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Proverbs 8:22-36

Although Divine Wisdom is typically referred to in the feminine in the OT - the Fathers consistently saw this passage as a description of the Christ. The great Church Historian, Eusebius, almost casually ties the two together in talking about the eternal begottenness of the Son.

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well (Gospel of John) that the time is coming, and now is, that people will no longer worship in the temple or on mount Gerezim, but the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. In the same Gospel he explains he is the Truth, the Way, the Life and he promises that the Spirit will come and lead the Apostles in all Truth. All who hear His Voice hear the Truth.

Truth is a man. We worship in Trinity - Father, Truth (Son), and Spirit. This is Wisdom. Wisdom, if we find it, giveth life (Proverbs 8) and if we hear Him, we hear the Voice of Truth, we hearken unto Wisdom, who was with the Father when Time was not.

No philosophy of man or sophistry of education will get me farther than this, that I should truly know what Jesus is talking about: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3).

A little child can hear His voice better than I can, and no 'book-larnin' will bring me closer - but there are things that will. I pray I may find that, for that is what I really long for. No field equations exist for love as yet. No mathematical nicety can model what happened at the Cross.

Today's Gospel reading (Greek lectionary) is:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Of Grass, Sheep, Moles, and Dirt

Currently it's in vogue to consider oneself, as a shepherd, to actually be in the business of being a 'grass farmer.' Of course, this assumes one actually understands the culture of various grass species and legumes, which I can say I don't. I am a novice. I can recognize winter rye and red and white clovers, and tall fescue. That's about it. So I'll stick to 'novice shepherd' for now as I feel my way along.

Right now my small flock cannot keep up with the grass on our current pasture rotation. So I spend time on the small tractor mowing. If I had a good farmer's mower, I'd put up some of the cutting for hay rather than mulch it with the mowing deck on the small tractor (it's a John Deere, but with front and back PTOs and can do a great deal - a lawn and garden tractor on steroids). If I had a good scythe and knew how to wield it, I'd take a swipe at cutting hay and gathering it into shocks after it dried.

Walking the North pasture last night, while rounding up the flock to put them in the fold for the night, I examined grass, which now nearly exceeds the height of the sheep, and generally am pleased with what was, over winter, a bit of a poorly pasture (the South pasture is much more lovely). The combination of overseeding with the gentle planting action of sheeps' hooves on moist soil seems to have encouraged some recovery.

Nevertheless, I continue to have moles working the soil in the North pasture far more abundantly than anywhere else on the property.

I have mixed feelings about moles - within limits they are actually good tillers of the soil and I will leave them be as they go about their business of aerating and mixing soil layers and providing better drainage, as well as eating large numbers of insects, insect larvae, and other pests. I sometimes take some of the freshly tilled soil to use for soil layers in the compost heaps and for mixing in the garden with compost and more sandy soil (our native soil on the farm is a silty clay loam of volcanic origin - fairly productive but I like to mix it for the raised beds in the garden). So the moles provide some benefit, so long as they don't get out of hand.

So far, one of our resident cats has ensured just that. Everyone earns his or her keep on the farm, whether sheep (grass management, wool, natural fertilizer, meat), chickens (eggs, some grass/weed control, bug control, some meat), dog (all around warning system/deterrent, hunting companion), cats (rodent management) . . . and of course, the farmer (caretaker, weed-puller, cultivator, ear scratcher, etc., etc.). Even the mole earns his keep - and for that I think some hills in the pasture are a fair trade. I like to think that moving the soil into other parts of the system (compost, garden) is a means to conserve the now-exposed soil and avoid any significant scatter/topsoil blowout as a result of wind-driven dust.

Today at lunch I got out the Farm Journal (sort of a log of doings so maybe I'll learn lessons from it), which I had failed to update in about three months, and started thinking of all that the last three months has brought. That got me to thinking of the inventory of all the things growing on the farm right now (besides weeds and grass and invasive but delicious blackberries). So here, dear reader, is an inventory of things striving:

In the Garden:

Lettuce (3 kinds)
Spinach
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Onions (Walla Walla)
Rosemary
Cilantro
Garlic Chives
Mint
Pepper plants (one red, one yellow)
Tomato (3 varieties)
Pole Beans
Pumpkin
Summer Squash
Yellow Zucchini
Blueberries (six bushes)
Grape vines (two old vines - "eating grapes")
Strawberries (Everbearing)

In the "Orchard" (actually orchard and other locations)

Apples (six+ varieties)
Pears (5 varieties)
Cherries (two varieties I think - one is Bing)
Italian Plums
Figs (3 varieties)

Persimmons will come on just after Thanksgiving
Walnuts (5 English Walnuts - aged but still producing beautiful nuts for October)

In noting this inventory today I realized how God-blessed we are to have this place, for we reap what we did not sow and we will sow what others will later reap. It is a special stewardship to hold the land for the time we will be able to hold it, however long that is.

In that regard, I recommend to you read "Mad Farmer Liberation Front" and consider the import of these words of Mr. Berry:

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millenium.

Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit.

Prophesy such returns.

May you have a blessed next few days awaiting Pentecost.

St. John Chyrsostom on Repentance and Crucifying Christ Afresh

From time to time I have wondered what it really meant when St. Paul says in the book of Hebrews that it is impossible, once having fallen away, to come to repentence again, "crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh."

In trying to learn the meaning of this passage, I happened to look up St. John Chrysostom's Homily where he provides an interpretation.

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Therefore leaving the principles of the Doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God; of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands; and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permit.

1. You have heard how much Paul found fault with the Hebrews for wishing to be always learning about the same things. And with good reason: For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, you have need again that some one teach you the elements of the first principles of the oracles of God. Hebrews 5:12

I am afraid that this might fitly be said to you also, that when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye do not maintain the rank of learners, but ever hearing the same things, and on the same subjects, you are in the same condition as if you heard no one. And if any man should question you, no one will be able to answer, except a very few who may soon be counted.

But this is no trifling loss. For oftentimes when the teacher wishes to go on further, and to touch on higher and more mysterious themes, the want of attention in those who are to be taught prevents.

For just as in the case of a grammar-master, if a boy though hearing continually the first elements does not master them, it will be necessary for him to be continually dinning the same things into the boy, and he will not leave off teaching, until the boy has been able to learn them accurately; for it is great folly to lead him on to other things, without having put the first well into him; so too in the Church, if while we constantly say the same things you learn nothing more, we shall never cease saying the same things.

For if our preaching were a matter of display and ambition, it would have been right to jump from one subject to another and change about continually, taking no thought for you, but only for your applauses. But since we have not devoted our zeal to this, but our labors are all for your profit, we shall not cease discoursing to you on the same subjects, till you succeed in learning them. For I might have said much about Gentile superstition, and about the Manichæans, and about the Marcionists, and by the grace of God have given them heavy blows, but this sort of discourse is out of season. For to those who do not yet know accurately their own affairs, to those who have not yet learned that to be covetous is evil, who would utter such discourses as those, and lead them on to other subjects before the time?

We then shall not cease to say the same things, whether ye be persuaded or not. We fear however, that by continually saying the same things, if you hearken not, we may make the condemnation heavier for the disobedient.

I must not however say this in regard to you all; for I know many who are benefited by their coming here, who might with justice cry out against those others, as insidiously injuring them by their ignorance and inattention. But not even so will they be injured. For hearing the same things continually is useful even to those who know them, since by often hearing what we know we are more deeply affected. We know, for instance, that Humility is an excellent thing, and that Christ often discoursed about it; but when we listen to the words themselves and the reflections made upon them, we are yet more affected, even if we hear them ten thousand times.

2. It is then a fitting time for us also to say now to you, Wherefore leaving the beginning of the doctrine of Christ, let us go unto perfection.

What is the beginning of the doctrine? He goes on to state it himself, saying, not laying again (these are his words) the foundation of repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

But if this be the Beginning, what else is our doctrine save to repent from dead works, and through the Spirit to receive the faith, in the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment? But what is the Beginning? The Beginning, he says, is nothing else than this, when there is not a strict life. For as it is necessary to instruct one who is entering on the study of grammar, in the Elements first, so also must the Christian know these things accurately, and have no doubt concerning them. And should he again have need of teaching, he has not yet the foundation. For one who is firmly grounded ought to be fixed and to stand steady, and not be moved about. But if one who has been catechised and baptized is going ten years afterwards to hear again about the Faith, and that we ought to believe in the resurrection of the dead, he does not yet have the foundation, he is again seeking after the beginning of the Christian religion. For that the Faith is the foundation, and the rest the building, hear him [the Apostle] saying; I have laid the foundation and another builds thereupon. [1 Corinthians 3:10] If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. [1 Corinthians 3:12]

Not laying again (he says) the foundation of repentance from dead works.

3. But what is, let us go on unto perfection? Let us henceforth proceed (he means) even to the very roof, that is, let us have the best life. For as in the case of the letters the Alpha involves the whole, and as the foundation, the whole building, so also does full assurance concerning the Faith involve purity of life. And without this it is not possible to be a Christian, as without foundations there can be no building; nor skill in literature without the letters. Still if one should be always going round about the letters, or if about the foundation, not about the building, he will never gain anything.

Do not however think that the Faith is depreciated by being called elementary: for it is indeed the whole power: for when he says, For every one that uses milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe [Hebrews 5:13], it is not this which he calls milk. But to be still doubting about these things is [a sign] of a mind feeble, and needing many discourses. For these are the wholesome doctrines. For we call him a perfect man [i.e. of full age] who with the faith has a right life; but if any one have faith, yet does evil, and is in doubt concerning [the faith] itself, and brings disgrace on the doctrine, him we shall with reason call a babe, in that he has gone back again to the beginning. So that even if we have been ten thousand years in the faith, yet are not firm in it, we are babes; when we show a life not in conformity with it; when we are still laying a foundation.

4. But besides [their way of] life he brings another charge also against these [Hebrews], as being shaken to and fro, and needing to lay a foundation of repentance from dead works. For he who changes from one to another, giving up this, and choosing that, ought first to condemn this, and to be separated from the system, and then to pass to the other. But if he intends again to lay hold on the first, how shall he touch the second?

What then of the Law (he says)? We have condemned it, and again we run back to it. This is not a shifting about, for here also [under the Gospel] we have a law. Do we then (he says) make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea we establish the Law. [Romans 3:31] I was speaking concerning evil deeds. For he that intends to pursue virtue ought to condemn wickedness first, and then go in pursuit of it. For repentance cannot prove them clean. For this cause they were straightway baptized, that what they were unable to accomplish by themselves, this might be effected by the grace of Christ. Neither then does repentance suffice for purification, but men must first receive baptism. At all events, it was necessary to come to baptism, having condemned the sins thereby and given sentence against them.

But what is the doctrine of baptisms? Not as if there were many baptisms, but one only. Why then did he express it in the plural? Because he had said, not laying again a foundation of repentance. For if he again baptized them and catechised them afresh, and having been baptized at the beginning they were again taught what things ought to be done and what ought not, they would remain perpetually incorrigible.

And of laying on of hands. For thus did they receive the Spirit, when Paul had laid his hands on them [Acts 19:6], it is said.

And of the resurrection of the dead. For this is both effected in baptism, and is affirmed in the confession.

And of eternal judgment. But why does he say this? Because it was likely that, having already believed, they would either be shaken [from their faith], or would lead evil and slothful lives, he says, be wakeful.

It is not open to them to say, If we live slothfully we will be baptized again, we will be catechised again, we will again receive the Spirit; even if now we fall from the faith, we shall be able again by being baptized, to wash away our sins, and to attain to the same state as before. You are deceived (he says) in supposing these things.

Hebrews 6:4-5
5. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame.

And see how putting them to shame, and forbiddingly he begins. Impossible. No longer (he says) expect that which is not possible; (For he said not, It is not seemly, or, It is not expedient, or, It is not lawful, but impossible, so as to cast [them] into despair), if you have once been altogether enlightened.

Hebrews 6:6
Then he adds, and have tasted of the heavenly gift. If you have tasted (he says) of the heavenly gift, that is, of forgiveness. And been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of God (he is speaking here of the doctrine) and the powers of the world to come (what powers is he speaking of? Either the working of miracles, or the earnest of the Spirit [2 Corinthians 1:22]) and have fallen away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. Renew them, he says, unto repentance, that is, by repentance, for unto repentance is by repentance. What then, is repentance excluded? Not repentance, far from it! But the renewing again by the laver. For he did not say, impossible to be renewed unto repentance, and stop, but added how impossible, [by] crucifying afresh.

To be renewed, that is, to be made new, for to make men new is [the work] of the laver only: for (it is said) your youth shall be renewed as the eagle's. Psalm 103:5 But it is [the work of] repentance, when those who have been made new, have afterwards become old through sins, to set them free from this old age, and to make them strong. To bring them to that former brightness however, is not possible; for there the whole was Grace.

6. Crucifying to themselves, he says, the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame. What he means is this. Baptism is a Cross, and our old man was crucified with [Him] Romans 6:6, for we were made conformable to the likeness of His death Romans 6:5; Philippians 3:10, and again, we were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death. Romans 6:4 Wherefore, as it is not possible that Christ should be crucified a second time, for that is to put Him to an open shame. For if death shall no more have dominion over Him [Romans 6:9], if He rose again, by His resurrection becoming superior to death; if by death He wrestled with and overcame death, and then is crucified again, all those things become a fable and a mockery. He then that baptizes a second time, crucifies Him again.

But what is crucifying afresh? [It is] crucifying over again. For as Christ died on the cross, so do we in baptism, not as to the flesh, but as to sin. Behold two deaths. He died as to the flesh; in our case the old man was buried, and the new man arose, made conformable to the likeness of His death. If therefore it is necessary to be baptized [again ], it is necessary that this same [Christ] should die again. For baptism is nothing else than the putting to death of the baptized, and his rising again.

And he well said, crucifying afresh unto themselves. For he that does this, as having forgotten the former grace, and ordering his own life carelessly, acts in all respects as if there were another baptism. It behooves us therefore to take heed and to make ourselves safe.

7. What is, having tasted of the heavenly gift? It is, of the remission of sins: for this is of God alone to bestow, and the grace is a grace once for all. What then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Far from it! Romans 6:1-2 But if we should be always going to be saved by grace we shall never be good. For where there is but one grace, and we are yet so indolent, should we then cease sinning if we knew that it is possible again to have our sins washed away? For my part I think not.

He here shows that the gifts are many: and to explain it, You were counted worthy (he says) of so great forgiveness; for he that was sitting in darkness, he that was at enmity, he that was at open war, that was alienated, that was hated of God, that was lost, he having been suddenly enlightened, counted worthy of the Spirit, of the heavenly gift, of adoption as a son, of the kingdom of heaven, of those other good things, the unspeakable mysteries; and who does not even thus become better, but while indeed worthy of perdition, obtained salvation and honor, as if he had successfully accomplished great things; how could he be again baptized?

On two grounds then he said that the thing was impossible, and he put the stronger last: first, because he who has been deemed worthy of such [blessings], and who has betrayed all that was granted to him, is not worthy to be again renewed; neither is it possible that [Christ] should again be crucified afresh: for this is to put Him to an open shame.

There is not then any second laver: there is not [indeed]. And if there is, there is also a third, and a fourth; for the former one is continually disannulled by the later, and this continually by another, and so on without end.

And tasted, he says, the good word of God; and he does not unfold it; and the powers of the world to come, for to live as Angels and to have no need of earthly things, to know that this is the means of our introduction to the enjoyment of the worlds to come; this may we learn through the Spirit, and enter into those sacred recesses.

What are the powers of the world to come? Life eternal, angelic conversation. Of these we have already received the earnest through our Faith from the Spirit. Tell me then, if after having been introduced into a palace, and entrusted with all things therein, you had then betrayed all, would you have been entrusted with them again?

8. What then (you say)? Is there no repentance? There is repentance, but there is no second baptism: but repentance there is, and it has great force, and is able to set free from the burden of his sins, if he will, even him that has been baptized much in sins, and to establish in safety him who is in danger, even though he should have come unto the very depth of wickedness. And this is evident from many places. For, says one, does not he that falls rise again? Or he that turns away, does not he turn back to [God]? Jeremiah 8:4 It is possible, if we will, that Christ should be formed in us again: for hear Paul saying, My little children of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. Galatians 4:19 Only let us lay hold on repentance.

For behold the love of God to man! We ought on every ground to have been punished at the first; in that having received the natural law, and enjoyed innumerable blessings, we have not acknowledged our Master, and have lived an unclean life. Yet He not only has not punished us, but has even made us partakers of countless blessings, just as if we had accomplished great things. Again we fell away, and not even so does He punish us, but has given medicine of repentance, which is sufficient to put away and blot out all our sins; only if we knew the nature of the medicine, and how we ought to apply it.

What then is the medicine of Repentance and how is it made up? First, of the condemnation of our own sins; For (it is said) mine iniquity have I not hid Psalm 32:5; and again, I will confess against myself my lawlessness unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my heart. And Declare thou at the first your sins, that you may be justified. Isaiah 43:26 And, The righteous man is an accuser of himself at the first speaking. Proverbs 18:17

Secondly, of great humbleness of mind: For it is like a golden chain; if one have hold of the beginning, all will follow. Because if you confess your sin as one ought to confess, the soul is humbled. For conscience turning it on itself causes it to be subdued.

Other things too must be added to humbleness of mind if it be such as the blessed David knew, when he said, A broken and a contrite heart God will not despise. Psalm 51:17 For that which is broken does not rise up, does not strike, but is ready to be ill-treated and itself rises not up. Such is contrition of heart: though it be insulted, though it be evil entreated, it is quiet, and is not eager for vengeance.

And after humbleness of mind, there is need of intense prayers, of many tears, tears by day, and tears by night: for, he says, every night, will I wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears. I am weary with my groaning. Psalm 6:6 And again, For I have eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. Psalm 102:9

And after prayer thus intense, there is need of much almsgiving: for this it is which especially gives strength to the medicine of repentance. And as there is a medicine among the physicians' helps which receives many herbs, but one is the essential, so also in case of repentance this is the essential herb, yea, it may be everything. For hear what the Divine Scripture says, Give alms, and all things shall be clean. Luke 11:41 And again, By alms-giving and acts of faithfulness sins are purged away. Proverbs 16:6 And, Water will quench a flaming fire, and alms will do away with great sins. Sirach 3:30

Next not being angry with any one, not bearing malice; the forgiving all their trespasses. For, it is said, Man retains wrath against man, and yet seeks healing from the Lord. Sirach 28:3 Forgive that you may be forgiven. Mark 11:25

Also, the converting our brethren from their wandering. For, it is said, Go thou, and convert your brethren, that your sins may be forgiven you. And from one's being in close relations with the priests, and if, it is said, a man has committed sins it shall be forgiven him. James 5:15 To stand forward in defense of those who are wronged. Not to retain anger: to bear all things meekly.

9. Now then, before you learned that it is possible to have our sins washed away by means of repentance, were ye not in an agony, because there is no second laver, and were ye not in despair of yourselves? But now that we have learned by what means repentance and remission is brought to a successful issue, and that we shall be able entirely to escape, if we be willing to use it aright, what forgiveness can we possibly obtain, if we do not even enter on the thought of our sins? Since if this were done, all would be accomplished.

For as he who enters the door, is within; so he who reckons up his own evils will also certainly come to get them cured. But should he say, I am a sinner, without reckoning them up specifically, and saying, This and this sin have I committed, he will never leave off, confessing indeed continually, but never caring in earnest for amendment. For should he have laid down a beginning, all the rest will unquestionably follow too, if only in one point he have shown a beginning: for in every case the beginning and the preliminaries are difficult. This then let us lay as a foundation, and all will be smooth and easy.

Let us begin therefore, I entreat you, one with making his prayers intense: another with continual weeping: another with downcast countenance. For not even is this, which is so small, unprofitable: for I saw (it is said) that he was grieved and went downcast, and I healed his ways. Isaiah 57:17-18

But let us all humble our own souls by alms-giving and forgiving our neighbors their trespasses, by not remembering injuries, nor avenging ourselves. If we continually reflect on our sins, no external circumstances can make us elated: neither riches, nor power, nor authority, nor honor; nay, even should we sit in the imperial chariot itself, we shall sigh bitterly: Since even the blessed David was a King, and yet he said, Every night I will wash my bed, [&c.] Psalm 6:6: and he was not at all hurt by the purple robe and the diadem: he was not puffed up; for he knew himself to be a man, and inasmuch as his heart had been made contrite, he went mourning.

10. For what are all things human? Ashes and dust, and as it were spray before the wind; a smoke and a shadow, and a leaf driven here and there; and a flower; a dream, and a tale, and a fable, wind and air vainly puffed out and wasting away; a feather that has no stay, a stream flowing by, or if there be anything of more nothingness than these.

For, tell me, what do you esteem great? What dignity do you think to be great? Is it that of the Consul? For the many think no greater dignity than that. He who is not Consul is not a whit inferior to him who is in so great splendor, who is so greatly admired. Both one and the other are of the same dignity; both of them alike, after a little while, are no more.

When was he made [Consul]? For how long a time? Tell me: for two days? Nay, this takes place even in dreams. But that is [only] a dream, you say. And what is this? For (tell me) what is by day, is it [therefore] not a dream? Why do we not rather call these things a dream? For as dreams when the day comes on are proved to be nothing: so these things also, when the night comes on, are proved to be nothing. For night and day have received each an equal portion of time, and have equally divided all duration. Therefore as in the day a person rejoices not in what happened at night, so neither in the night is it possible for him to reap the fruit of what is done in the day. You have been made Consul? So was I in the night; only I in the night, thou in the day. And what of this? Not even so have you any advantage over me, except haply its being said, Such an one is Consul, and the pleasure that springs from the words, gives him the advantage.

I mean something of this kind, for I will express it more plainly: if I say Such an one is Consul, and bestow on him the name, is it not gone as soon as it is spoken? So also are the things themselves; no sooner does the Consul appear, than he is no more. But let us suppose [that he is Consul] for a year, or two years, or three or four years. Where are they who were ten times Consul? Nowhere.

But Paul is not so. For he was, and also is living continually: he did not live one day, nor two, nor ten, and twenty, nor thirty; nor ten and twenty, nor yet thirty years— and die. Even the four hundredth year is now past, and still even yet is he illustrious, yea much more illustrious than when he was alive. And these things indeed [are] on earth; but the glory of the saints in heaven what word could set forth?

Wherefore I entreat you, let us seek this glory; let us pursue after it, that we may attain it. For this is the true glory. Let us henceforth stand aloof from the things of this life, that we may find grace and mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord: with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, power, honor and worship, now and for ever, and world without end. Amen.

Source. Translated by Frederic Gardiner. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. .

We are talking now of summer evenings . . .

We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville Tennessee in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.

...It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt: a loud auto: a quiet auto: people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard, and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squaring with clowns in hueless amber. A streetcar raising its iron moan; stopping; belling and starting, stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter; fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten. Now is the night one blue dew.

Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose.

Low in the length of lawns, a frailing of fire who breathes...

Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces.

The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums.

On the rough wet grass of the back yard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there.…They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine,...with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night. May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.

After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.

-Knoxville: Summer of 1915, by James Agee, reproduced here for fair use.

Some thoughts about the Antiochian Imbroglio

So the bishops and Metropolitan of the Archdiocese met on Friday of Bright Week and came to a limited joint statement about obedience to the Holy Synod. As it turns out, only three of six bishops signed a resolution prepared by the Metropolitan's staff.

The official press release, in relevant part, reads:

A significant discussion was held regarding obedience to this decision. It was reaffirmed that the Holy Synod of Antioch is the highest ecclesiastical authority in the entire See of Antioch, and that all of its Archdioceses are subject to decisions which are adopted by the Holy Synod. All of the hierarchs affirmed that they are currently in obedience to the Holy Synod of Antioch, and that there was never a question to the contrary. In conjunction with this, the hierarchs acknowledged that the decision had caused concern among the clergy and the people, and that there must be steps taken to begin to heal these misunderstandings.

The wordsmithing of the press release is careful - note the use of passive voice: "It was reaffirmed . . ." by whom? Note the use of the term "highest ecclesiastical authority." This does not appear to me to be random - it has specific legal meaning in this country as it relates to court cases about property disputes and the like in churches where there's a schism and, no doubt, in ecclesiatical circles.

Anyway - all such interesting things aside - I thought about these items:

1. Assume a bishop in a diocese is instructed by his Patriarch or his Metropolitan that he is being transferred to a different job - Auxiliary to the Patriarch, Dean of the Seminary at Balamand, Bishop of who-knows-where. Does a bishop have right to refuse? Somehow I think not - he could argue, or try to demur, but in the end if the Patriarch or the Synod as a whole wants him to leave his See and take over some other assignment . . . well, he could engage in some 'ecclesiastical disobedience'I suppose, but really . . . ?

2. If, as I have been instructed, the Canons that are not dogmatic are 'guidelines' rather than 'law' - might there be some flexibility in these canons regarding the relationships between Bishops? I think we have a natural tendency in the West, having a strong historic background in ideas of 'Canon Law' that these things are more iron clad than they really might be . . . and do we treat our bishops like Roman Catholics treat priests - as if they can be laicized but not ever really removed from office?

3. Assume that a Bishop has been instructed that he's no longer going to be Bishop of X Diocese, but a flexible, potentially itinerant Auxiliary to a Metropolitan who might assign him back to Diocese X, but might just as easily send him to Diocese Y. Assume said Bishop sees this as a deposition and demotion without trial or charge against him. What is he to do? Here, may I suggest that demanding 'rights' as a Bishop may not be the answer. Did our Lord demand his rights? Or did he meekly bear the burden of his oppressors and suffer unjustly? I think a Bishop may meekly submit to this 'injustice' of demotion (if that is what it is) and suffer the 'insult' (if that is what it is) even if he disagrees with the decision of the Synod. Which is the greater lesson to his flock? To insist on his status, or to take the role of a servant and least of men and let this sort out? This is not the Council of Florence in scope, folks, nor does the decision, in and of itself, countenance improprieties with respect to dogma or moral matters such as priestly malfeasance. I like to think that those who signed as 'auxiliary bishops' knowing full well that a few short years ago they were enthroned as full diocesan bishops with the support of the Metropolitan and of the Patriarchate might just have done so out of such a humble motivation.

Some will castigate those who signed and some, those who did not sign. I think God will judge - let us be gentle with all and continue to do what we need to do - pray, go to church, love our neighbor, do good to those that persecute us, proclaim the Gospel.

Bright Saturday

Some days are so glorious.

Pax.

Misc. musings on Springtime down at the Farm

The lambs are growing fast - weaning will come soon.

I plan to cull the herd down in the fall to winter over about 3/5's the flock - meat on the table and sheepskin rugs.

I have identified a mill in the East that I will send fleeces for felting - we'll see how that goes.

Rhubarb is mysteriously growing in odd places - any experience out there with volunteer Rhubarb?

I am behind in garden transplanting.

Pasture rotation seems to be working - I would love to have one stretch of portable electric woven wire fencing to create graze strips, but so far doing 3 weeks on each large pasture plus a week in the small pasture lot in between (giving each large pasture 4 weeks off) seems to be working out OK.

Grapes have gone into bud burst and are leafing out . . . I did some heavy pruning this winter so I am glad to see sufficient buds to support some crop.

Lilacs are coming on, and camelia is in bloom. Daffodils are going but cherries and apples are in full bloom now and its tulip time.

Oh - endless other things - all a joy to do, just wish there was more time to do them rather than work at a computer, but alas one must pay for these things somehow.

Enjoy your bright week, dear reader.

Pascha 2009

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

- St. John Chrysostom

Great and Holy Friday A.D. 2009

NOW it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad[fn1] and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."

And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son--"blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

- From Genesis, Chapter 22 (NKJV)

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.



Today He who hung the earth upon the waters
Is hung upon a tree

He who is King of the angels
Is arrayed in a crown of thorns

He who wraps the heavens in clouds
Is wrapped in the purple of mockery

He who freed Adam in the Jordan
Receives a blow on the face

The Bridegroom of the Church
Is affixed to the cross with nails

The Son of the Virgin
Is pierced by a spear

We worship Thy passion, O Christ!

Show us also Thy glorious resurrection!

-From the Ninth Hour Service of the Royal Hours of Great and Holy Friday

The Last Supper

Image from Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Los Angles and the West

Behold! The Bridegroom Cometh!

Image from the Antiochian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West

While attending Bridegroom Matins last evening, and musing on the Gospel, I was reminded that for each of us there is a moment where the Lord may come like the Bridegroom at midnight. There are multiple levels to this parable - the immediate (the Bridegroom was, in fact, there with the disciples that moment in history), the eschatological second coming, and our own appointed hour of death awaiting the general resurrection should our Lord tarry.

I am ill prepared . . . Arise O Soul!

Thy bridal chamber
I see adorned
Oh, my Savior!
And I have no wedding garment
That I may enter in
Enlighten the vesture of my soul
O giver of life
And save me!

May you, dear reader, have a blessed Pascha!

Perserverance and Love

Despite the swirling discussions of the byzantine machinations surrounding the Antiochian Patriarchate's Synodal decision related to Bishops, the positioning of various jurisdictions in anticipation of a possible meeting this summer regarding the 'Diaspora,' and equally interesting maneuvers, I am calmed by words of +Joseph given in a few speeches within the last year.

May these words be edifying for you as well, dear reader:

Although religion has played a major factor in shaping the identity of the American Culture, the secularization of the society is inflicting evil on the American mindset. The attempts of de-Christianizing the American culture are ruthless. These malicious attacks are driving the new generation to forsake their centuries-old culture for the sake of self-gratification and alleged compensations.

Whereas the American population is still manifesting religious observances, the genuine characters of these observances are not for the most part worthy of acceptance. Many Churches are undergoing the worst predicament of Faith and Morals in their History. The fragmentation of American Churches into conflicting bodies has uprooted the Christian ethos from the Churches.

For this reason, many individuals and groups are changing their religions and their denominations, inasmuch as they are changing their jobs, their habitation, and their spouses. Many adults leave their cradle faith for another one. Becoming a highly competitive marketplace, religion is a buyer's market where many groups dilute their traditional beliefs in order to compete.

Likewise, basic relationships that we took for granted 50 years ago are now becoming abstract theory. For example, young people are having severe impairments in relating to necessary authority, as their parents abdicate their roles as mother and father. Many children cannot even plainly state who their parents are, listing step-parents and foster-parents, their parents latest dating partners and even gang leaders as the authority figures in their lives.

Now, we see what was meant by God when He proclaimed through the Prophet Isaiah:

"O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." (Isaiah 3:12)

When true, and so I mean spiritual fatherhood is removed, human society collapses into decay and disintegration. Transformative spirituality is truly a longing for union and communion with God, the Most Compassionate Father. The capacity to live spiritually is the foundation of our Orthodox Tradition. Therefore, Orthodox genuine spirituality has a sacramental, pastoral and communal dimension which brings about the inner change in the spiritual children of the Church.

As a Bishop in the Church, I would like to address the way authority is exercised in the Church, and the relationship among the faithful and the clergy, in order to make others see and taste how our koinonia, is a koinonia with the Father and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Having a spiritual communal tradition, the Church in this unique koinonia reflects the sacramental dimension of our Orthodox Christianity. Above all it will give testimony to our spirituality and show stability of faith and doctrine.

Although Orthodox priests are “men set apart,” their priesthood is not a hindrance in creating true Christian community. On the contrary, their status will create an indissoluble bond between them and their parishioners, as a reflection of the uncreated bond between the Heavenly Father and His Eternal Son. Without spiritual fatherhood, spirituality is not authentic, nor viable. In this spiritual relationship which stems from the communion with the Holy Spirit, the children’s behavior is transformed, as selfish desires are transformed into selfless love, kindness, compassion, mercy, and wisdom.

Loving fatherhood brings peace and order. Fatherhood, especially the fatherhood shown by the Bishop, the Priests and the Deacons, is not tyrannical, coercive or repressive. Sadly, those who have not experienced a good father, or are possessed by the immaturity of the passions, have no idea what real fatherhood is.

So, when we speak of a priest as ‘father,’ does anyone even understand what this means anymore? When a priest carries out his ordained duties in a parish, is he acting as a spiritual father to spiritual children, or is he merely a character in an exotic game of charades?

As a bishop of the Church, it has been very difficult to get Americans to comprehend that their cultural understandings of pastoral authority are at odds with the teachings of the Orthodox Church. Sometimes it can be a source for despondency as I watch good men throw away the blessings of God because they were ordained too quickly, before they had a chance to deeply experience their God-given role within the Church.

Even now, the confusion in American Orthodoxy is a direct result of the failures to understand this problem, and to make this teaching a priority. We have neglected the fruits of the Holy Spirit attained through spiritual struggle.

The parish priest is at risk of becoming relegated to the work of being a task-master, frequently battling unruly parishioners who refuse to take even the most elementary steps towards being actual Orthodox Christians. Instead of being a place of koinonia with the Holy Trinity with each other, the parish itself may become a spiritually squalid place, stinking of egoism and the lust of power. In this case, clergy and laity alike forget the divine call of love.

In this country, parishes die because the people love only their own opinions, and will consciously drive out those they disagree with, from inquirers to Hierarchs. Some priests feel they are fighting against the parish community simply for their own survival. Others think that, after ordination, they owe their bishop nothing more on account of his failure to do the priest’s bidding.

I am speaking to all of you in the hope that you will come to understand that the pastorate of the Orthodox Church cannot be taken for granted. The pastorate is a cross, a burden borne for the sake of others. It is borne with our human weakness and God’s strength.

Unlike the worldly leadership styles of the non-Orthodox, who seek to exercise brute authoritarianism and subtle deception in order to trick people into doing what the pastor wants, the priest’s first task is to exercise his authority with love. He must love God first and foremost, and become co-worker with the truth (3 John 4 & 8: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.). This is as much a duty as it is a drive within his spirit.

After all, there are times when our love wanes and we grow cold. During such periods, the priest must continue to act lovingly until the awareness of God returns to him, and draws on himself the grace of the all-Holy Spirit. He must never forget that love is a verb, not a noun. If he does not love, he has no love.

Through the priest’s love of God, he receives the grace to love his people. He bears with them and encourages them, “not reckoning to them their trespasses.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). He also realizes that his love for them is not based on their cooperativeness or piety. They come to him broken, and they always desire to be healed. However, because we do not know the depths of their hearts, we must patiently endure their assaults and injustices in the hope that they will repent.

We must be spiritually ready to deal with their multi-faceted tribulations. If a doctor does not recognize the sickness of his patient and its causes, how can he prescribe the proper medicine? In the same way the priest who does not recognize the spiritual sickness of his parishioners, and how the enemy has captured them under sin, how can he expect a delivering power from the Lord and how can he offer the sacraments as a remedy and a treatment for them!

It is a powerful temptation to despair, since it feels like we are not doing anything for them. Yet, if we think in such a manner, we are using our human abilities rather than God-given grace. We must also never forget that only some people, even within the Church herself, will respond favorably to the Gospel. The Scripture proclaims the word of God:

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14)

This necessitates a deep and abiding humility. We must accept that we cannot change the world, as we can hardly change ourselves. Look within, and you will find the same resistance to change that you will encounter in others. Our fallen nature resists change, because we have not yet renounced our selfish pride and accepted the protection and care of God. In fact, we doubt or even forget God in our daily lives, relying on our own limited powers.

. . .

If you are loving and humble, this ought to extend to your relationship with your bishop. Loving and obeying your bishop is not synonymous with always agreeing with him, and the same is true of your parish community and you. Just as you want the people to listen to you and obey, so you must heed your bishop and remember that he is the father and the Archpastor.

Humble obedience is a necessary part of the priesthood, because it is a sign of our love for God when we abandon ourselves to His care through obedience. True obedience is the greatest tool for spiritual development, as it is an active confirmation of our trust in God. Saint Peter says: “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Most of us practice carnal obedience, in that we obey those we already agree with.

Carnal obedience has become very popular because many people have not yet been healed of the Protestant mentality regarding the Faith. This mentality consists of the notion that obedience is only bestowed to those with superior intellectual prowess. In a word, if I can prove you wrong, I do not have to listen to you.

Therefore, people set about studying with the subconscious drive to ensure their being answerable to as few people as possible. They read and read and read to find answers that get them off of the hook for having to do things they don’t want to do, including the taking of orders from others. This is the pridefulness of religious intellectualism, which is rampant in American Orthodoxy.

Obedience in the Church is not bestowed through superior learning. Read St. Paul. Does he appeal to his superior grasp of the Scriptures as the reason he was to be heeded? No, rather, he appeals to his suffering for the sake of the Gospel and for the people he brought into the Faith.

We are received into the Church through the ultimate sign of obedience: Baptism. We are to die to ourselves, and are given the Holy Chrism symbolizing the Apostolic Succession of obedience that conveys the Gift of the Holy Spirit. When the Bishop lays his hands on the priest, God is calling him to obey his commandments especially in converting the un-baptized, and the Christians who have lost the benefits of their baptism, and in assisting those who are disqualified from the joy that derives from the presence of God in their lives.

Descending on the priest, the Holy Spirit makes him like a pool of light to the people around him. As the Spirit regenerates him, it changes him from son of man into son of God, and into an icon of God the Father. Those of us who are ordained have been ordained out of mercy, not because we are particularly bright. We are ordained out of God’s love rather than our merits. We are not vessels of information, but vessels of God’s love and mercy. If we reduce obedience to intellectual performance, how are we any different from the Gnostics?

Therefore, obedience is an act of love, and humility of mind is the beginning of its illumination. It is not about power, but about active confession of God’s love. Love is the living Creed because it is ultimately divine.

. . .

To be a priest means to be crucified to the world, and by the world. Priestly obedience, then, must be followed to the point of martyrdom.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

St. Paul described his death to the world, and thus he could call the Galatians to obedience to his word as one speaking for God. He voluntarily gave himself over to martyrdom for the sake of the Lord. Are we prepared to do likewise?

Do you stand up for yourself? Are you the executioner of justice? Who has appointed you to such a high office, when you have not suffered? If you want to stand up for what is right, then you must first practice patience in the face of evil, because true evil seeks to elicit passions from us. The devil knows how we think, and he will take advantage of our pride by sinning boldly before us and provoking us to act without consulting God first. Then, when we stray from God’s will, the devil will separate us from the flock and kill us.

As priests of a diocese, you will have to lock shields with your brother clergy. Some are good soldiers, others are not. You are taught here to become well-trained soldiers in the spiritual army of Christ. However, this is what you have volunteered to do. You must resolve not to abandon your bishop or your brethren just because you think you know better than they do. In the end, if you break ranks, chances are they will band back together and leave you to face Satan on your own.

Disobedience is, first and foremost the byproduct not only in one’s own lack of faith in God, but actual fear for one’s selfish desire for singular salvation. By this, I mean that delusion which convinces one’s self that his salvation does not involve his brother. We know from our Holy Tradition that salvation is a work of the Church, which means that I am not saved, but rather that we are being saved. My salvation, my very relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, is intimately connected with my fellow believers.

The heretic thinks his salvation is a matter of his own purity apart from others, and so he rebels when he thinks that his bishop’s mistakes will somehow drag him down. What he fails to see is that his tolerance of others’ mistakes is an ascetical work that will save him. It is a cross to be borne, one that leads to humble exultation.

The Neo-Donatism that has come to characterize our modern history has gelled from a faulty understanding of salvation, and a very distinct lack of love. It is like a sinking ship: the loving person remains to help others either to safely escape from the ship or keep it afloat, while the selfish person shoves others aside as he dives into a life-raft to save himself alone.

The rebellious man denies his cross because he fears being wrong more than he fears abandoning his fellows. For those of you preparing for ministry, I ask you to remain faithful to your bishop and your brethren. If your bishop commits sin, remember your own sins and beseech God on his behalf for the same mercy you would hope for yourself. I tell you, it will be easier for you to beg for mercy if you yourself have been merciful.

If you find yourself judging your bishop or your brother clergy, what can you do? The only thing that works is genuine repentance for your own sins and mindfulness of your own sinfulness. Never allow the evidence of your fallenness to depart from your mind. This way, you will always remember God’s love for you and His mercy. You will excel in gratitude, and obedience will come easily.

Once the bond of love is strengthened, then you can not only obey, but also genuinely pray. From the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, we know that God does not hear the prayers of the proud. He turns His face from the rebellious man who trusts in his intellect over God’s divine grace.

I think that one reason so many bishops have fallen into controversy and scandal is because they are virtually alone. They are not loved. They are feared, or perhaps admired because they conform to the opinions of their admirers, but they are rarely loved. So, when they err, they are treated without mercy. Therefore, the bishops live in fear of their people, and so become captive to the passions, the same passions that dominate the people they are supposed to be helping.

We are losing our love for one another. We are growing cold. We are in danger of abandoning the Faith in favor of empty rituals and Gnosticism. We no longer catechize converts through prayer and spiritual experience, but rote memorization of facts emptied of their love.

Virtue is becoming a stranger. Men no longer recognize courage and honor, because they have been effeminized to value covert aggression and superficial etiquette. We are now more interested in courtly behavior or political intrigues than the quiet strength of loving humility and patience.

This effeminate understanding of love as a romantic emotional state is patently and completely evil. We must not confuse love with false emotive states. Love is not mushy, it is pure light and fire. It burns within the heart turned to God, and empowers us to undergo extreme hardship without muttering. The heart, which is not the romantic emotional center the modern world now makes it out to be, must be filled with repentance and a sense of its own humble estate so that it can be filled with divine love.

Being a loving pastor means not succumbing to the temptations towards using one’s authority and power to fulfill one’s emotional needs. Personal preferences must not be the rule, but rather loving obedience to the greater Church. No bishop, no priest, no deacon is his own authority, for each has been given a place under the authority of others for his own sake. God loves us by setting others over us, and sometimes that love can be painful when our self-will is challenged.

The Scriptures say we are to be known by our love for one another. Yet, it seems that love is all but forgotten. For example, when people complain about the overlapping jurisdictions in America, Australia and Western Europe, we never hear about love. We hear about people’s anger, despair and frustration, but those who complain almost never speak of their love for others.

I believe that God has allowed this present situation to teach us lessons that need to be learned, the greatest amongst these is love. Until we learn to love one another, we will not be united. In turn, the synod of bishops that takes up the cause of love will receive God’s blessing to shepherd the people of America.

We have hope, because God has not abandoned us. Nor will He allow the Church to be overtaken by her enemies. We have hope because God loves us.

And, it is this love that is all that we really have to offer. Everything else found in the parish can be found somewhere else in the world of much higher quality: better music, better food, better preaching, better art… the only thing we have to offer is love.

- From His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH’s Address to the Faculty and Students of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, March 10, 2008, Crestwood, New York

And this:

Whenever we come together as a diocese we represent what is called in our theology, the Local Church. When the term “Local Church” strikes our ears, we tend to think that it means the parish that is nearby. This is not what the Local Church means in the Orthodox Tradition.

We may define the Local Church, in simple terms, in this way it is the diocese, with the bishop presiding at the Eucharist, surrounded by his clergy, with the laity gathered together with him. When we celebrate the Divine Liturgy at a Diocesan Parish Life Conference we meet this definition and we constitute the basic “unit” of the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

When we come together in our meetings, either at the Diocesan Parish Life Conference we never fail to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, and other divine services with the Bishop presiding. Our worship is the foundation of our Church life, including our charitable work, our social and fellowship events, church administration and yes, our organization meetings. Thus when we gather from all points of the Diocese to discuss the work of the Diocese we can do this in one of two ways: We can either have “business meeting” in which we act like we are legislators or corporation board members and struggle with our various personal agendas to accomplish personal goals, or we can purposely strive to truly continue the work of the Divine Liturgy, as the Local Church, to seek and to do the will of God.

It is this “MO” (method of operation) that I exhort you to follow in your meetings. Be asking yourselves these kinds of questions: Is what I want to say going to further the Gospel of Christ? How can we make the action we are now contemplating one that will build up the Body of Christ? Is it something that is God-pleasing? Do I wish to speak in order to edify my brothers and sisters in the Lord, or do I just want my opinion to be heard?

This is the mindset we need to bring to the administrative and organizational activities of our diocese and our parishes. It is only the degree to which we as individuals and as a body submit our minds, hearts and souls to our Savior that we can work together as His Holy Body and truly bear witness to His Death, Resurrection, Ascension and Second Coming.

Perhaps this approach sounds too “theological” or “spiritual” for mere meetings. I tell you that it is not. Recall the oft repeated phrase we hear in the services of the Church, “let us commend ourselves and each other and our whole life unto Christ our God.” The phrase “our whole life” indicates our common life the life we share as the Body of Christ.

Meetings and committees are necessary in Church life so that we can share ideas, formulate plans of action and gain from one another’s enthusiasm and talents. Good order and courtesy are needed so that all have a reasonable chance to be heard and at the same time that decisions are made in a timely fashion. What is needful for us, as believers, is to actively invite the Holy Spirit into our presence.

Let us therefore not treat lightly the prayers with which we open our meetings. These prayers should be more than the “first order of business” and then forgotten. Rather they should resonate in our ears as we go on to agenda items that follow. Just as the Holy Spirit created unity on the day of Pentecost, He will do so for us if we only actively invite Him to be in our midst.

Let us therefore proceed with the rightful concerns and activities of our Diocese seek to find the will of God and to faithful do it.

- From His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH’s Address to the 2008 Diocesan Fall Gathering, October 11, 2008, Riverside, California

May you, dear reader, be called forth, like a Lazarus, into the glorious light of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Messiah. Pray also for me.

Happy New Year!

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation. In England and the British Colonies, this was known as Lady's Day or Lady Day. Until 1752, this was New Year's Day in British Colonial America and in Great Britain.

I think we should celebrate the New Year on March 25th.

Prior article on calendars here

A Short Story

Dear reader, indulge me a bit as I have been thinking about this idea of God 'singing' which was recently suggested by Fr. Stephen Freeman. Have you ever thought that it's fairly likely that when Jesus recited the scriptures in the Synagogue, he probably chanted them? Imagine, God the Only-Begotten chanted the Old Testament lesson!

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place

and he began to chant in Hebrew - faintly at first, but with growing strength:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;

Many there did not understand the Hebrew, since they had grown up speaking Greek and Aramaic, and Greek was more routinely heard even for Torah, but as he chanted the words seemed to take shape and each hearer had a vision, as he listened, of some nearly inexpressible joy. Afterward, recalling the moment, one would say: "it was a vision of myself, as a child, being let out off from work in the fields for a day," and another would say, "I saw myself at the feet of One, weeping in great grief, and yet my heart was light with joy," and still another, "I cannot say, except that when I heard the music of that Voice, for a moment it seemed I would comprehend the mysteries of life - that I would hear a word like Job heard the voice out of a whirlwhind, or Moses from the fiery bush, although now it all seems agains shadowy and vague -- but I know how I felt then."

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Then He closed the book, and gave [it] back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Metanoia

"Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.


But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right;


If he has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife, nor approached a woman during her impurity;


If he has not oppressed anyone, [but] has restored to the debtor his pledge; has robbed no one by violence, [but] has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing;


If he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase, [but] has withdrawn his hand from iniquity [and] executed true judgment between man and man;


[If] he has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully-- he [is] just; he shall surely live!" Says the Lord GOD.


"If he begets a son [who is] a robber or a shedder of blood, [who] does any of these [things]


And does none of those [duties], but has eaten on the mountains Or defiled his neighbor's wife;


If he has oppressed the poor and needy, robbed by violence, not restored the pledge, lifted his eyes to the idols, [or] committed abomination;


If he has exacted usury or taken increase-- shall he then live? He shall not live! If he has done any of these abominations, he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.


[If], however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise;


[Who] has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife;


Has not oppressed anyone, nor withheld a pledge, nor robbed by violence, [but] has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing;


[Who] has withdrawn his hand from the poor [and] not received usury or increase, but has executed My judgments And walked in My statutes-- he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live!


As for] his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, And did what [is] not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.


Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.


The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.


But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.


None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.


Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "[and] not that he should turn from his ways and live?


But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked [man] does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.


Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?


When a righteous [man] turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies.


Again, when a wicked [man] turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive.


Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.


Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?


"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.


Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?


For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

- Ezekiel 18:5-32 (NKJV)

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.

- Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.

- Romans 3:23-25

The Singularity is Near?

People worry about a lot of things . . . wars, disease, economy, stem cell research, abortion policy, etc.

For me, the most disturbing 'sign of the times' is the serious groups of people advocating and working to bring about a 'greater than human' intelligence which, some believe, will spark or be the "Singularity" event, person, or thing.

If you haven't read about the Singularity, one could start here or one could read one of Ray Kurzweil's discussions. Also, Sun System's founder has talked about some potential negative risks.

If you don't have time to read the Singularity Institute's many pages, at least consider this quote:

The Singularity Institute exists to carry out the mission of the Singularity-aware – to accelerate the arrival of the Singularity in order to hasten its human benefits; to close the window of vulnerability that exists while humanity cannot increase its intelligence along with its technology; and to protect the integrity of the Singularity by ensuring that those projects which finally implement the Singularity are carried out in full awareness of the implications and without distraction from the responsibilities involved. That's our dream. Whether it actually happens depends on whether enough people take the Singularity seriously enough to do something about it – whether humanity can scrape up the tiny fraction of its resources needed to face the future deliberately and firmly.

We can do better. The future doesn't have to be the dystopia promised by doomsayers. The future doesn't even have to be the flashy yet unimaginative chrome-and-computer world of traditional futurism. We can become smarter. We can step beyond the millennia-old messes created by human-level intelligence. Humanity can solve its problems – both the huge visible problems everyone talks about and the huge silent problems we've learned to take for granted. If the nature of the world we live in bothers you, there is something rational you can do about it. We can do better with your support.

Don't be a bystander at the Singularity. You can direct your effort at the point of greatest impact – the beginning.
© 2007 Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Inc. [quoted here for fair use and discussion]

For some reason I think of "Terminator: Rise of the Machines," the Borg, The Matrix, Bladerunner, and all sorts of other nasty visions of the future when I read this stuff. Ray Kurzweil thinks about being able to upload himself into a near-deathless machine-and-tissue version of himself and live for hundreds of years or more.

What is significant is that serious folks are working to converge on just such an event. Let us say that one or a handful of intelligences of this sort are created. How will 'ordinary' human beings be treated? When people believe this is their telos, will they turn to Christ for anything?

Watch and pray, for the hour is late.

Forty Days in the Desert of Lent A.D. 2009 - Day 3

If a man washes himself after touching a corpse, then touches it again, what does he profit by his washing? So it is with a man who fasts over his sins and goes and does the same sins all over again. Who will hear his prayer? What does his humbling profit him?

Wis. of Sirach 34:25, 26

H/T Wise Susan

Forty Days in the Desert of Lent A.D. 2009 - Day 2

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.

Gospel According to St. Matthew 4:1-2 (KJV)

Forty Days in the Desert of Lent A.D. 2009 - Day 1

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher;
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?

One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose.

The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.

All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.

All things are full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,


That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it may be said,
"See, this is new"?
It has already been in ancient times before us.

There is no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.

Eccl. Ch. 1 (NKJV)
++++++++++++

Great Lent has begun. As I did a couple of years ago, I will post some thoughts from the Fathers and from Scripture each day. Otherwise I will avoid discussion, with one exception being today - I start the day with the words of the Preacher for it seems to me a fitting place to begin our contemplation of the vanity of life outside of the Life-giving presence of the Holy Trinity as we prepare ourselves for Pascha.

And in that vein, as I drove in today there was several examples of the sheer madness of our world during the NPR and local public broadcast news:

- In France layoffs are rampant in every sector but farming, but farming is desperate for workers and cannot seem to get anyone to work the fields. Answer? Improve farming's image with the youngsters. Link to audio here. This is something that's been true for many years here in the U.S. - there are lots of agriculture and forestry jobs around with not-terrible wages, but because we cannot get U.S. workers to apply through State Employment Agencies, companies are forced/able to then seek H-1A and H-1B workers to come in to the country on temporary work visas to work our fields and forests. I can understand because it is back-breaking labor. But anyone who wishes to complain about guest-workers and immigration policy needs to recognize that we, as a people, just aren't willing to do some of the hard jobs that are available.

- In Washington State, it apparently is technically illegal for you to take your home brew across the street to drink it with your neighbor. You may take one gallon to a brewing competition (such as a fair) provided that only the judges drink it. Otherwise, under current state law it has to be consumed on your own property. Vanity of vanities! There is a move afoot to get the law changed so as to allow a National Homebrewers Conference to be held in the State (presumably more folks get to taste than just the judges at the conference). So the law will not get changed for the rational and straightforward reason that it's just plain silly, but so as to encourage commerce (I'm sure a lot of mash tuns and wort kettles and other fun products get sold at such conferences). Article link here.

- And in other news: World's poor drive growth in global cell phone use.

I'll close with these good thoughts from a Church Father:

"Hast thou run so many circles of the years busied in vain about the world, and hast thou not forty days to be free for prayer, for thine own soul's sake? 'Be still, and know that I am God,' saith the Scripture. Excuse thyself from talking many idle words: neither backbite, nor lend a willing ear to backbiters; but rather be prompt to prayer. Shew in ascetic exercise that thy heart is nerved. Cleanse thy vessel, that thou mayest receive grace more abundantly."

- St. Kyril, presbyter and later bishop of Jersusalem, c. 348 A.D., from his lectures to catechumens.

Gathering the Lambs

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry [them] in his bosom, [and] shall gently lead those that are with young.
- Isaiah 40:11



We are thankful that we have been blessed with newborn twin lambs this past night. In a small barn, in the middle of no particularly important place, a small miracle took place quietly and without fanfare. How fortunate I was to be able to witness it!

The True Faith in Christ

If someone should say that true faith is the correct holding and confession of correct dogmas, he would be telling the truth, for a believer absolutely needs the Orthodox holding and confession of dogmas. But this knowledge and confession by itself does not make a man a faithful and true Christian. The keeping and confession of Orthodox dogmas is always to be found in true faith in Christ, but the true faith of Christ is not always to be found in the confession of Orthodoxy... The knowledge of correct dogmas is in the mind, and it is often fruitless, arrogant, and proud... The true faith in Christ is in the heart, and it is fruitful, humble, patient, loving, merciful, compassionate, hungering and thirsting for righteousness; it withdraws from worldly lusts and clings to God alone, strives and seeks always for what is heavenly and eternal, struggles against every sin, and constantly seeks and begs help from God for this.

-- St. Tikhon, The Gospel and Faith

Lord, have mercy.

Those crazy quizzes

These quizzes are a hoot. While I suppose the "center-left moderate social authoritarian" is as good a description as any of my stance, once you get in the middle of these charts your likelihood to fall in any one quadrant based on a few random clicks of relative importance or 'neutral' to a question increases, I think.

Moreover, the questions could be construed as loaded and there is so little control for interpretation:

As to loaded questions
Q.45. When one group is slaughtering another group somewhere in the world, we have a responsibility to intervene.

Ok - slaughtering is a strong term, with a strong visual image. What you infer from this question may shape the answer.

As to interpretation issues
Q.3. In nearly every instance, the free market allocates resources most efficiently.

I may agree that the free market is efficient without thinking that desireable. Or I may conclude that efficiency is to be measured a different way and thus answer differently.

So, with a huge lump of sodium chloride, here's my chart for fun. H/T to Ochlophobist

My Political Views
I am a center-left moderate social authoritarian
Left: 1.73, Authoritarian: 1.49

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Foreign Policy Views
Score: 0.16

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Culture War Stance
Score: 2.11

Political Spectrum Quiz

It needed a God to Die for the Half-Hearted and Corrupt

"Shall I tell you what I've done? -- It's your business to listen. I've taken money from women to do you know what, and I've given money to boys . . . "

"I don't want to hear"

"It's your business."

"You're mistaken."

"Oh no I'm not. You can't deceive me. Listen. I've given money to boys -- you know what I mean. And I've eaten meat on Fridays." The awful jumble of the gross, the trivial and the grotesque show up between the two yellow fangs and the hand on the priest's ankle shook and shook with the fever. "I've told lies, I haven't fasted in Lent for I don't know how many years. Once I had two women -- I'll tell you what I did ..." He had an immense self-importance: he was unable to picture a world of which he was only a typical part--a world of treachery, violence, and lust in which his shame was altogether insignificant. How often the priest had heard the same confession--Man was so limited: he hadn't even the ingenuity to invent a new vice: the animals knew as much. It was for this world that Christ had died: the more evil you saw and heard around you, the greater glory lay around the death: it was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or a civilization. It needed a God to die for the half-hearted and corrupt. . . . .

- The Whiskey Priest and the Mestizo from Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory

I will feed them in good pasture

I am but a novice shepherd, although I have had some time around horses. Sheep behave much like deer, and are easily frightened, more easily than a horse, but also more easily calmed and more quickly, in my estimation, forgetting the fright when it has passed.

My little flock is quite curious when my back is turned or I have a treat - but the instant I move to work with them (when I must - I leave them be as much as possible and move slowly and talk calmly around them as much as possible), terror strikes until such time as I actually can take hold and calm the one to be examined/clipped/etc.

It strikes me, this terror of death that is inborn in sheep. I am and will always be something of a predator to them, although they already know I am the one who brings water and food, tidbits of apple and nibbles of grain. They know I am the one that leads them out to the pasture where the green grass is, and at night the one who leads them to the warm barn where dogs and coyotes do not prowl. Nevertheless, at times when I stretch forth my hand to them to lay hold and remove a string of blackberry thorn caught in the wool (they love to eat blackberry vine leaf), one would think the butcher's knife is imminent and they go to their death. Yet when I go out 'in peace' to search out my flock at nightfall and gather them to the barn, they will come running in line at my voice without fear.

I'm afraid that were the Lord to come in his glory and might, unveiled, I would be like the panicked sheep. Perhaps that is, in part, why my Lord took the form of a servant, that rather than be dismayed at his 'wrath' (I'm sure to my sheep my coming at times seems like a coming in wrath and judgment, even if it is only to correct a problem, trim a hoof, remove a thorn) we might instead be drawn to him in quiet calmness. I don't know.

I have a lot to learn from sheep, thank God.

++++++++++++

Ezekiel Chapter 34 (NKJV)

34:1 AND the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

34:2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

34:3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.

34:4 "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.

34:5 "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

34:6 "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them."

34:7 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

34:8 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"--

34:9 'therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!

34:10 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them."

34:11 'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.

34:12 "As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

34:13 "And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.

34:14 "I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

34:15 "I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD.

34:16 "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."

34:17 'And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats.

34:18 "Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture--and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet?

34:19 "And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet."

34:20 'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: "Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.

34:21 "Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad,

34:22 "therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

34:23 "I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.

34:24 "And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

34:25 "I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

34:26 "I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.

34:27 "Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

34:28 "And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid.

34:29 "I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore.

34:30 "Thus they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people," says the Lord GOD.'"

34:31 "You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God," says the Lord GOD.

Unbought Delicacies Revisited

Owen the Ochlophobic Blogger asked me about the source of the translation for the stanza from Virgil's Fourth Georgic. I am uncertain of the source of this translation, which was included in a 2002 article by Wendell Berry. Here is a more common translation of the same:

An old man once I mind me to have seen-
From Corycus he came- to whom had fallen
Some few poor acres of neglected land,
And they nor fruitful' neath the plodding steer,
Meet for the grazing herd, nor good for vines.
Yet he, the while his meagre garden-herbs
Among the thorns he planted, and all round
White lilies, vervains, and lean poppy set,
In pride of spirit matched the wealth of kings,
And home returning not till night was late,
With unbought plenty heaped his board on high.

MIT Internet Classics Archive

or this:

An old Corician yeoman, who had got
A few neglected acres to his lot,
Where neither corn nor pasture graced the field,
Nor would the vine her purple harvest yield,
But savory herbs among the thorns were found,
Vervain and poppy-flowers his garden crown’d,
And drooping lilies whiten’d all the ground.
Bless’d with these riches, he could empires slight,
And when he rested from his toils at night,
The earth unpurchased dainties would afford,
And his own garden furnish out his board.

Virgil's Fourth Georgic as translated by Joseph Addison, poet

Unbought Delicacies

I saw a man,
An old Cilician, who occupied
An acre or two of land that no one wanted,
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding
For flocks, unfit for vineyards; he however
By planting here and there among the scrub
Cabbages or white lilies and verbena
And flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king
In wealth, and coming home late in the evening
Loaded his board with unbought delicacies.

-Virgil, Fourth Georgic