Give Me A Word

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Fr Vincent Temirov reminds us that the triumph of Orthodoxy is not a triumph over other people, but the triumph of the divine truth in the hearts of those who belong to the Orthodox Church, who proclaim the truth revealed by God in its integrity. There is more to being Orthodox than simply holding the right doctrine; we carry out our Orthodoxy, our right glory and worship by orthopraxis, the right way in which we strive to live out our lives every day.

Preaching on Cheesefare/Forgiveness Sunday, the Very Rev. Alexander Rentel imparts a message that we would all do well to bear in mind for the entirety of Great Lent - fasting is about growing in love for others. We give up our focus on food and entertainment and strive to grow closer to God and our fellow man.

The gospel reading for the Sunday of the Last Judgment, or Meatfare Sunday, contains the Lord’s clear message for us: the way of salvation is partaking in the love of God through love of one’s neighbor. In telling us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick, Christ is calling us to follow His example, as he has fed and clothed and nourished us with His own Body. Dn Vitaly Permiakov encourages us to have faith: by the grace of God, we can be given the strength to love and serve one another as Christ does.

Pride, anger, lust, envy, gluttony, avarice, sloth - the classic list of “seven deadly sins”, or passions. These passions, according to the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield, are not something “injected from the outside”--they are misused, distorted versions of the virtues we all seek to make our own. As we prepare to enter the season of Great Lent, Fr Chad urges us to contemplate the myriad ways in which Scripture shows how the Lord restores our broken and damaged versions of His creation, so that we too may be restored by Him.

The Sunday of the Publican of the Pharisee marks the beginning of the incorporation of the hymns of the Great Triodion in our church services, leading us through Great Lent to Holy Week and Pascha. Fr Vincent Temirov tells us how the Church prescribes specific Gospel readings to prepare our minds and hearts in the three weeks leading up to the beginning of Great Lent, starting with the story of the lowly tax collector and the exalted religious leader. These two diametrically opposed figures paint a clear picture of pride versus humility. Fasting as the Pharisee did without love and humility brought him no benefit; the suspension of the usual Wednesday and Friday fasts during the week after this Sunday is the Church’s way of illustrating this point. It is only through true humility, i.e. putting God before all else, that our prayers bring us into communion with the Lord.

On the feast of The Meeting of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Temple, the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield leads the hearer through the journey the Mother of God has taken thus far in the Gospel narrative in becoming the God-bearer. We are encouraged to join her in pondering the events of the Gospels in our hearts. As St Maximus the Confessor says, we look towards the Cross, longing for it as “the sign of our salvation and the seal of our Lord”.

The Epistle reading for this Sunday Liturgy contains Paul’s reminder to Timothy that as Christians, “we have set our hope on the Living God” (1 Timothy 4.10). Fr Bogdan Bucur cautions us to remember that even with the best of intentions, any concept we have of God in our minds may be an idol if we are not completely giving ourselves over to God in joyful trust and faith.

In a pastoral visit to St Vladimir’s Seminary, His Eminence Archbishop Mark preaches on a recurring theme found in the Sunday Gospel readings leading up to and through Great Lent: when people encounter the Lord, they choose to either turn away or draw near. Those who drew near in the Gospels – Bartimaeus, Zaccheus, the Prodigal Son – saw the Lord as their Savior and left their old lives behind to follow Him. Archbishop Mark challenges us with the question, “As we approach Great Lent, is our encounter with Christ one that is life-changing, or is it one that we simply have become immune to?”

The story of the rich young man who couldn’t bear to give up his wealth is often interpreted to say that wealth can be nothing but an obstacle to serving and following Christ. However, Fr Vincent Temirov asks us to consider a different understanding: the rich young man was not hindered by wealth in and of itself, but by his attachment to it and by his own self-reliance. What is hindering us from trusting everything to God? What do we need to give over to Him in our own lives?

A careful reading of the Gospel texts and the related commentary of the Holy Fathers reveals that the mystical events recorded at the Baptism of Christ were not perceived by the people present, save John the Baptist and the Lord Himself. Even the disciples were not able to see or hear what had happened; the revelation of the true glory of the One they followed came gradually, over time, as they followed Him and gave their hearts over to Him. Fr Bogdan Bucur enjoins us to strive to identify fully as “the people that sat in darkness”; only with a true understanding of our dark and sinful condition can our hearts be prepared to also be ones who “have seen a great Light.”