Series of Reflections on Orthodoxy
The Journey- Day 1 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
For today, let us ponder over the below, as God willingly in the forthcoming postings we would be reading some works of the holy fathers to understand our faith:
“….It is a great pity that our Orthodox have very little knowledge of their own teaching and easily turn to various sects. For all the sects, heresies and schisms are based on pride and, self-suggestion. …The Lord said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ [Gospel According to St Matthew 5:8]. And the Holy Fathers with God’s help purified their hearts of passions. They rightly knew the will of God revealed in Holy Scripture, but those who have not purified their hearts of passions cannot rightly understand the Scripture, and such people stumble over it, turn away from the right path and go in different directions. One could say that they leave the big ship and sit down in a frail boat and want to sail across the sea of life, and they are perishing in the waves of vain sophistries. They dig out texts to justify their error”.
~Christ In Our Midst, Letters from a Russian Monk p. 52. (Quote taken fromhttp://macariusmichael.blogspot.sg/)
The Journey- Day 2 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
Holy Tradition
Many of the youth associate “Orthodoxy” as being extremely conservative. And anything conservative means ‘its not in sync with the times’ and if its not in sync with the times it cannot appeal to me- a youth. And of course Orthodoxy speaks so much about traditions that it is supposed to be conservative. Is that what you thought?
The issue arises because we fail to differentiate the Holy Tradition (note thecapital ‘T’) and the traditions. In fact, we fail to understand what Holy Tradition is all about. The Holy Tradition, in very simple terms, means the faith and the underlying truths of Christianity which we dare to fiddle around whereas the ‘traditions’ means the practices and customs that we use to express and live the Holy Tradition.
In the book What We believe by Fr Daniel Anderson, it is beautifully stated about ‘Tradition’- “Tradition means an experience, an entire life – not simply a series of teachings, but the living out of those teachings that have come from God who has revealed Himself to us. Tradition is the living out of the revelation of God by His people”.
See what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ told His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” (St Matthew 28:19-20, NKJV).
Our Lord commanded to make ‘disciples’ – there is a vast difference between one who follows Christ out of curiosity and to be a disciple. A disciple lives what he/she believes in, what he/she has been taught by the Master. In Orthodoxy, is it this Tradition that has been handed down over from the blessed Apostles who received from Christ Himself, to their disciples across generations in a same manner the way the baton is handed across in a relay race. (To be continued..)
The Journey- Day 3 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
Holy Tradition and the Holy Bible
Many of the times we have been confronted with a misconception that “One hears so much about traditions in Orthodoxy, I don’t think they have any place for the Holy Bible”. In the previous section we clarified to a certain extent, by God’s mercy, regarding what is ‘Holy Tradition’ (note the capital T) and what is ‘tradition’. In today’s quick reflection and further postings, we will see by the Good Lord’s mercy what Orthodoxy teaches about the Holy Bible and what its relation to the Holy Tradition is.
To know what position Holy Bible has in the liturgical life of the Church and for that matter in the life of every Orthodox Christian, one just needs to be attentive in the Divine Liturgy- during the time of Holy Gospel reading, see how reverently the priest takes the Holy Scripture to the Gospel table while the deacon/altar assistant proclaims : “With calmness and reverence and with sober minds, let us give heed, and listen to the Proclamation of the Living words of God, in the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is read to us”.
Now there are many heterodox brethren who disregard anything other than the Holy Bible. I would appreciate my heterodox brethren’s zeal to fervently read Holy Bible. But to rely only on the Holy Bible for faith, things are not that easy as they seem.
Let us understand by a very simple example:
One day a teacher gave the following sentence to her students for punctuation: ‘Women without her man is a savage’. The boys and girls had different interpretation though.
The boys gave the punctuation in this manner: “Women without her man, is a savage”.
The girls had a completely different perspective, they wrote: “Women!, without her!, man is a savage”. See, different people interpret things differently.
If a simple sentence can have a different and completely opposite perspective, how much more would be the perspectives when millions around the globe read the Holy Scripture – they will all understand it differently. How should we be interpreting what the Bible tells us? Who will come to our rescue? (To be continued..)
(Image taken from: http://mysteryandmeaning.blogspot.sg/)
The Journey- Day 4 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
How can I, unless someone guides me!
We are continuing with our study on Holy Tradition and Holy Bible. In the last part, we encountered that different people will have different perspectives, and we wondered who will come to our rescue in understanding or comprehending what the Holy Scripture tells us.
Let us understand by a simple example. Lets say you got admission in one of the prestigious universities of your country. Now, I come to you and say that I can teach you the subjects much better than the university, please leave the university and be my student. You will, of course, call me nuts to have even thought of such a stupid scenario. You prefer the university for its antiquity, for its scholarly studies etc.
When for secular studies antiquity impresses you why not in matters of faith!
Let us know see an example from the Holy Scripture. It is the story about an Ethiopian official and Apostle Philip.
“…. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,..So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him….So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him”. (Acts of the Apostles 8:26-35, NKJV)
There are two things to be noted here:
Firstly, the Ethiopian official was someone who knew the Yahweh of Israelites, see it is mentioned in the Holy Scripture that he was going to Jerusalem for worship. Secondly, the Ethiopian official wasn’t illiterate, he was reading prophet Isaiah.
This Ethiopian official knew the Lord whom Israelites worshipped, he knew how to read – yet he didn’t decipher the book of Prophet Isaiah himself. See his humility, when Apostle Philip asked him about what was he reading, he posed a wonderful question, (a reflection on which we will do by God’s mercy in coming days), “How can I, unless someone guides me”?
To this official, Apostle Philip guided. It is mentioned in the Holy Scripture that “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him”. What St. Philip preached, it isn’t recorded but the oral Tradition that this Ethiopian official received, it was imprinted in his heart and he shared the same with his people and till today Ethiopia holds fast and experiences the living and Holy Tradition.
In one of our diocesan Sunday conference a nice definition of Holy Tradition and Holy Bible was brought up- ‘Holy Tradition is the unwritten Bible and Holy Bible is the written Tradition. (To be continued..)
(Image taken from the internet sources)
The Journey- Day 5 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
In the last posting we saw how Apostle Philip guided the Ethiopian official in understanding the Holy Scripture.
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in His public ministry didn’t hand out a written document to His disciples saying ‘look this is what you need to follow to the T’. How beautifully St John mentions the way Apostles learnt from and about our Lord Jesus Christ; “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1).
The Apostles ‘heard’, they had ‘seen’, they had ‘touched’. What they heard, saw and touched, some we received through the Holy Scripture and others were handed down orally.
“Holy Tradition is the unwritten Bible and Holy Bible is the written Tradition”.
St Basil teaches us an important aspect of the Holy Tradition-
“Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us in a mystery by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force”.
He further states “And these no one will gainsay(meaning argue)—no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more”. (St Basil, On the Holy Spirit, Chapter 27)
(Icon taken from internet sources)
The Journey- Day 6 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
Holy Tradition (contd..)
“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”. (2 Timothy 2:2).
Here we see a paternal concern of St Paul towards his spiritual son Timothy and to the faithful ones. St Paul tells his spiritual son Timothy to commit the things that he ‘heard’ from St Paul to others. What Timothy ‘heard’ from St Paul, that isnt mentioned in this portion of the Holy Scripture but surely the teaching was entrusted to the faithful ones by Timothy and this continued from generation to generation by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Let us see another advice of St Paul to Timothy:“Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us”. (2 Timothy 1:13-14).
Here St Paul is teaching Timothy to be faithful to the ‘sound words that he heard’, again what Timothy had heard it is not written in this portion of the Holy Scripture but these words were sound and these words were kept in the heart by the Holy Spirit and transmitted to generations throughout as St Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 3: 3: ..”clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”
Now, one may question that in the same epistle it is written to follow the Holy Scriptures, so why to even bother about Holy Tradition. “..and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,.…that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
The Scripture that St Paul mentions here is only the Old Testament, for the New Testament as we have now wasn’t available/finalized in the first/second century AD. If we literally follow what St Paul mentions here, then none of the New Testament books should be accepted!
See also Acts of Apostles Chapter 17 for understanding the context of St Paul using the word ‘Scriptures’. “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” (Acts of the Apostles 17:2, 3).
Of course the Jews wouldn’t be referring to or having something called the New Testament. To reason with them St Paul would definitely use the Scripture- Old Testament, which in mystery spoke of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
See also in the same chapter:.. .“When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts of the Apostles 17:10, 11).
(Icon taken from internet sources)
The Journey- Day 7 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
“Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (St John 6:67-69).
Whenever one is making a documentary about a person or writing his biography, surely one would reach out to people he/she was close to-like close friends, family etc. The Apostles were eye-witness to our Lord Jesus Christ’s public ministry till His ascension.
What a beautiful realization did St Peter gave on behalf of all the Apostles: ‘To whom shall we go- You have the words of eternal life’!. It wasn’t an easy call for them – leaving a secure profession and dedicating one’s life completely for their Teacher, their Divine Friend inspite of the spiritual struggles that they faced in the journey.
The Apostles, the early Church Fathers/Mothers devoted their entire life and some of them attained martyrdom for His sake. If wish we wish to understand what our Lord and Saviour taught, what He meant- then what better guides can we have than the ones who were called by our Lord as His friends i.e His disciples (St John 15:14,15).
Can we simply negate those Apostles’s oral and written teachings (entrusted to us) on whose behalf St Peter gave the wonderful experiential witness: “Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”!
While teaching about Holy Tradition, the Glorified Pope Shenouda III teaches: “Therefore, we can say that Tradition is the life of the Church or it is the living Church. The blessed Apostles entrusted whatever they had received from the Lord to the saints in the Church. However, they did not write them in the Gospels or in the Epistles, but they left them as living practices and teachings in the life of the Church. Among those teachings are the Church discipline, rituals and Sacraments.”(The Glorified Pope Shenouda III, Comparative Theology).
However it is to be noted that the Church is exceptionally committed to the Holy Tradition (note the capital T) and not to the traditions of men.
See St Paul warns Colossians not to fall into the trap of the traditions of the men:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”( Colossians 2:8)
And the very St Paul encourages the Thessalonians to stand firm in the traditions that they received from him who in turn received it from the Lord.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15, NKJV). Note that St Paul specifically mentions- ‘whether by word’ which points to oral Tradition.
“But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6, NKJV)
(To be continued..)
(An Ethiopian Icon showing what we know as the “Last Supper” when Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, icon taken from internet sources)
The Journey- Day 8 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
The Gospel Reading for the Morning Prayers in the Holy Eucharist (Fourth Sunday after the New Sunday, according to the lectionary of the Indian Orthodox Church) was from the Gospel of St John 6: 47-58.
We saw in the previous postings about the challenge of interpreting the Holy Bible and on how Holy tradition comes to our rescue while facing this challenge. We will take the example of aforementioned portion of the Holy Scripture:
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (verse 51). “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (verse 56)
Now how are we supposed to understand it? What do these verses wish to convey? As we saw in our previous posts, the blessed Apostles entrusted whatever they had received from the Lord to the saints in the Church. It is an interesting point that in the Pauline Epistle reading of the Holy Qurbana (Hebrews 11:3-6) we heard about faith, and this is very faith that we have, that we have been handed the down the very interpretation that the Apostles left to the early Church regarding the above verses which actually speaks about Holy Eucharist being Lord’s Holy Body and Blood.
Now there are many people who focus on preaching and teaching but ignore the very important Sacrament of Holy Eucharist that our Lord Himself instituted. There are also people who acknowledge the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist but do not consider the Holy Eucharist to be the very Body and Blood of our Lord.
Now, let us see what the Holy Tradition teaches us about the Holy Eucharist:
Apostle Paul admonishes the Corinthians for partaking the Holy Eucharist in an unworthy manner and tells them that it is truly the Lord’s Body and Blood of Christ that was presented.
“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” (I Corinthians 11:27-31).
If the ‘bread’ and ‘wine’ that is presented to us in the Holy Eucharist is just bread and wine, as some claim, then how could anyone fall sick if they took the bread and wine unworthily!?
Now, let us see what St Ignatius of Antioch, the third Bishop of Antioch and a student of St John (the beloved disciple of Christ) teaches us about Holy Eucharist:
They [the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again. (Letter to Smyrneans 7:1)
St Ignatius attained martyrdom in around 110 AD, let us see one more example from St Athanasius who lived in the third century (in a sermon to newly baptized):
“You shall see the Levites bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ…the Word comes down into the bread and wine – and thus His Body is confected.”
Whether its first century, third century or 21st century, it has been handed down to us that the Divine Eucharist is indeed the Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Orthodoxy seeks to be faithful to earliest and original form of Christianity- it is not conservatism, it is our heritage that we cherish!
(Icon showing Jesus Christ as the bread of life fromhttp://www.assumptionaz.org/)
The Journey- Day 9 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
Further on Holy Tradition:
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ told His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” (St Matthew 28:19-20, NKJV)
‘teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’- It is unreasonable to assume that the Lord’s Apostles, after having received all those teachings from the Lord, left the Church without any disciplines or laws to direct her affairs. (Comparative Theology, The Glorified Pope Shenouda III)
St. John the Beloved Apostle says: “Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face” (2 John12, NKJV).
He reiterates the same thing in his third epistle: “ I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.” (verses 13, 14).
What were the content of these ‘face to face’ discussion- that is not mentioned in the written form, but one thing is clear- the early Christians received both written as well as oral teachings to nourish their faith. And these teachings have been handed down to us as Holy Tradition. And as I mentioned in my earlier posts-Orthodoxy seeks to be faithful to earliest and original form of Christianity- it is not conservatism, it is our heritage that we cherish!
It is painful to see that in many of the modern day translation of the Holy Bible – the word ‘traditions’ which points to the Holy Tradition has been substituted with the word ‘teachings’, however wherever the word ‘traditions’ signifying the human traditions which our Lord condemned has been used, it has been allowed to remain as it is!
(icon of St John the Beloved Apostle taken from forallsaints.wordpress.com)
The Journey- Day 10 (Small reflections on Orthodoxy)
Further on the interpretation of Holy Bible..
I have, so many times, passed through the sign board of my parish which states “St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral”, without giving much notice. While studying on Orthodox Liturgy I found an interesting fact about the term ‘Cathedral’. Cathedral is derived from the Greek word ‘Cathedra’ which means a seat. In the Early Church period the special authority of the bishop to preach the Gospel was expressed by the custom of the bishop preaching from his cathedra (So the Cathedral is a Church where the bishop has his Cathedra/seat). The interesting fact is that this seat of authority- the ‘Cathedra-’ was based on Moses’ “Cathedra” (or Moses’ seat) as mentioned by Jesus in the Gospel of St Mathew 23:2.
According to the Midrash Rabbah, the Israelites “made for Moses a cathedra like that of advocates, in which one sits and yet seems to be standing”. Moses seat was to be occupied by someone with authority to safeguard the word of God- the Torah, which was given to Moses. The responsibility to preside over the official interpretation of the Torah rested with the rabbi who occupied the Moses’ seat (also called the Throne of Torah). Thus in the Jewish society the interpretation of Torah was not a personal affair but was rather done by the authority seated in Moses’ Cathedra. (Ref:” Understanding the Orthodox Liturgy: By Very Rev Michel Najim; Pg 66;67)
The same teaching was delivered unto us by the holy Apostles “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20, NKJV).
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes: “Coming upon the Ethiopian as he read the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament in his chariot, Philip the Apostle asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And the Ethiopian answered, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:30-31). We are all in the position of the Ethiopian. Scripture reading is a personal dialogue between each one of us and Christ – but we also need guidance. And who will give the guidance?
We have received the Holy Bible through and in the Church and we interpret the Holy Bible through and in the Church. It is the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit that provides the proper context, the proper guidance for interpreting the Scriptures, not any one individual (including ourselves). Therefore, in any question of Biblical interpretation, we must seek to learn what the Church teaches about it by consulting the lives and writings of the saints and Church fathers, the texts of our liturgical services etc.
During the Council of Nicea, Arius quoted the Holy Bible while questioning the divinity of Son. In his rebuttal, St Athanasius mentioned that the way Arius was quoting the Scripture is not the teaching that was delivered by the Church.
Does this encourage you to find out what the Church Fathers would have taught on a particular verse/portion of the Holy Scripture?
“In accordance with the Apostolic faith delivered to us by tradition from the Fathers, I have delivered the Tradition, without inventing anything extraneous to it. What I have learned, that I inscribed, comfortably with the Holy Scriptures” – St. Athanasius the Great.
Your friend in Christ,
Rincy