Communion is the Center of Life

 When it comes to Holy Communion, there are many different opinions about how often, when, how and is what spiritual condition we should receive. This week’s “Ask Father” sermon returns again to topic of Holy Communion, this time more with a more functional perspective. But if Holy Communion is left to a Sunday only experience, then instead of life-giving and life-saving, it can become condemning and a source of death. If we want life then we will live the entire Orthodox Life of prayer, fasting, reading the Holy Scriptures and being in a state of constant preparedness for Holy Communion, as Saint Basil said, every Sunday, and every Wednesday and every other day it is offered. It will be the center of life.

We are not without hope

With all the commotion about gun control and hate speech debates I bring you this little story to show that we are not without hope. As you know I hear stories from fans all the time from throughout the world. I received this message from someone today about an incident at work.

"Last week I took over a large portion of accounts from a coworker. Of course many of the clients were not happy with the change, and one client in particular came to me to close her account. She walked in my office and immediately saw my icon on my desk and then told me her prayers were answered. She was so moved that I displayed my faith even when some of my clients may be offended. Now I might not get that reaction from all my clients but at least I made a difference to one."

My brothers and sisters THIS is what changes hearts. It wasn't court proceedings. It wasn't congressional action plans. It wasn't a public media campaign. It wasn't a TV commercial. It wasn't some sort of street corner evangelism. It wasn't even a letter to the editor or a Presidential speech. It was a single life dedicated to living the Orthodox Christian life that moved the heart of another person. This is what it means to live a new life in Christ.

May Our Lord God bless and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you. May He have mercy on you.

Is it sinful to step back and let something happen?

The question of whether to step back and allow something to happen or to step in and get involved to stop an evil is a challenge with which Christians have been struggling since the first days of the Church. The witness of the Holy Scriptures, Holy Canon s and the Holy Fathers is consistent in the call for each Christian to take advantage of the free will given to us by God. Only when we remember that God has given us a free will to use for good can we grow closer to God in our choices.

 

Why Does the Church Celebrate Pentecost?

As part of our “Why” series this year, I have chosen to discuss the importance of the Feast of Holy Pentecost and why it is celebrated in the Church. On the surface Pentecost is sometimes referred to as the “birthday” of the Church, but that ignores the truth that the Church is actually a continuation of the Old Testament as the New Israel. The New Testament Church, the Orthodox Church, is not a new institution founded on Pentecost, so it must mean something deeper than just a religious founder’s day.

The Feast of Pentecost is the celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit to live within the Church. Shortly before His Passion, Christ promised the Disciples, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16.13-14) Just before His Glorious Ascension back to His Throne in Heaven Jesus said, “I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.”(Luke 24.52) Combined, these both mean Pentecost is fulfillment of God’s promise that He would send a Comforter (another name used for the Holy Spirit), so we could be assured of the Truth being taught in the Church.

Blessed are You, O Christ our God. You

made the fishermen all-wise, by sending down

upon them the Holy Spirit, and through them

You drew the world into Your net. O Lover of

mankind, glory to You.

However, based upon the Apolytikion above, there was a purpose even greater than comfort and truth. While the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church, the Church has a mission to draw the world into God’s net, which is the Church. This explains why at the moment of Pentecost the Holy Spirit granted the ability to each of the Apostles to speak various languages so they could spread the Gospel throughout the world without any worries about not being understood.

In a world filled with pain and suffering, Pentecost gives us comfort in knowing the pain is only temporary. In a world filled with many, VERY MANY, interpretations about who God really is, Pentecost gives us comfort knowing the Church has been guided into all Truth by God Himself. We can trust the wisdom of the Church over the centuries, since that wisdom has remained unchanged as first taught by the Holy Apostles. And as Saint Jude said, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1.3)

Pentecost is a celebration of truth, comfort, trust, faith, wisdom, evangelism, the Church, the Saints, and the power of God from one high. Pentecost is a celebration of Orthodoxy.

Is it sinful to step back and let something happen?

Last week we heard of the tragic news of a mass shooting in a night club in Orlando. Our hearts weep for the families of all those affected. Not only did fifty people die leaving behind loving families, but the tragedy has left countless others who either survived or witnessed the shooting. This week's "Ask Father" question has a deep connection not only to the shooting in Orlando, but addresses every time we find ourselves in a position of “doing something” or “letting something” happen.

In the days and weeks after such a tragedy many will ask themselves, “Why didn’t I do something sooner?” We have heard reports of some who knew directly of the plans for the shooting, and others who knew the perpetrator but did not take action to interfere. Still others attempted to be involved to no avail.

The truth is, the question of whether or not to intervene is an ancient dilemma for Christians. One very famous opportunity to “do something” was when Pontius Pilate washed his hands ceremonially in an attempt to remove his guilt in the crucifixion of Our Lord. He continues to be associated with that event to this very day, and we often find ourselves washing OUR hands of getting involved to help others or to stop a tragedy. It may be an ancient dilemma, but that doesn’t mean the answer can’t help us for today.

Stay tuned for this week's "Ask Father" Sermon....

Bible Study for Friday, June 17, 2016

This is our final Daily Bible Study on the Acts of the Apostles. Tomorrow’s reading is not from Acts and Sunday’s reading has already been covered.

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality.

Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 27.1-28.1 This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Rise Up! Be Healed and Follow God

By request we are re-releasing an old sermon from May 15, 2011, base on John 5.1-15. We originally released this sermon on our BlipTV site, but that site no longer allows sermons and our episodes were deleted from the servers. NEVER FEAR we had the archive still on our external hard drive. We didn't have our wonderful HD system back then, so please forgive the video and sound quality. I also had less grey hair back then. If you would like to request an archive episode of Be Transfigured , and you can’t find it....maybe we can. Please let us know.

Bible Study for Thursday, June 16, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 25.13-19. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 23.1-11, and were part of two Bible Studies which were originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, and Wednesday, April 6, 2016.. Here is a study guide for the session on March 30th, and the study guide for the session on April 6th.


March 30, 2016

 April 6, 2016
 

Bible Study for Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 21.26-32. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

What is the difference between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church?

With the approaching Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church our “Ask Father” series speaks on the differences, or in this case similarities, between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church. Defending the truth about God and the Church has never been an easy or simple task. The Holy Fathers of the Church debated rigorously and sometimes succumbed to name-calling. After 1,500 years of debate and disagreement the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox remain divided, but with hope of a future healing of the ancient schism that divides us. We ask all our fans to fervently pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the Church gathers. Though some Churches have indicated they will not attend the coming council, we here at Be Transfigured remain hopeful that, if nothing else, understanding the real history of the long-lasting debates in the Church will help to explain that protecting the truth of Orthodoxy requires patience and prayer. DISCLAIMER: This episode of Be Transfigured in not meant to be a complete discussion of the theological or ecclesiological issues that exist between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church, but is meant to be a general discussion to assist in our general understanding of how the Church functions. 

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT: Hello. My name is Father Athanasios Haros, and I'm the Pastor here at the Transfiguration of Our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, South Carolina and I'm your Host for Be Transfigured Ministries. Here at Be Transfigured, as we say, “We invite you to live a new life in Christ.” We feature our sermons and our Bible studies and other special events in the life of the Church. We do it to inspire you to join us living a new life in Christ. I hope you’ll join us. I’ll be back in a moment after this video to share some information about our ministry.

This week the eyes of the Orthodox world are open wide because if you’ve been paying attention either in our Sunday bulletin or my announcements or on the internet or inside of the Orthodox blogs and news services, this week in Crete, we are supposed to be having what is being called the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. It is a historic moment that we are witnessing with our eyes, and it is beautifully appropriate that this morning we are commemorating the Fathers that gathered at the First Ecumenical Council in the year 325.

As part of our Ask Father series, the past few weeks, I have been talking about what members of the Orthodox Church can do, what non-members of the Church can do, and so I received a question this week which is wonderfully timely. I was asked to give a little clarification of the differences of the Orthodox Churches. I want to begin by apologizing to everyone who grew up in the Church because real Church history is not as simple as you were taught in Sunday school.

When we are children, we learned the very simple basic realities of our history, and we grew up knowing that there were these things called the Seven Ecumenical Councils and that the Church gathered in these councils and through what we call consensus, all the bishops who were gathered agreed on the theology of the Church and we teach that to our children in Sunday school. We learned it in Sunday school growing up, but the reality is, my brothers and sisters, it was never quite that clean. It was never quite that easy.

In understanding our Church history, we have to realize that if the truth is worth something and it is, it is also worth fighting for. I don’t mean with guns and swords, but I mean with good energetic debate. We are very blessed that we actually have not the full list of what they call the acts meaning the, you could say, the minutes of these council meetings, but we have many of them that are still in existence today and we can actually revisit those discussions and hear the debates and the arguments of the Fathers of the Church on some very important issues.

How wonderful that today, just a few days before this Council is gathering in Crete of the Orthodox Church, how wonderful that we are remembering the first council which got together, the First Ecumenical Council in 325, but it was not the very first council. The first council was by the Apostles in Jerusalem. We can read about that in the book of Acts, chapter 15, and so there’s this question, “Who is the Orthodox Church?” We say that we are the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and the word Orthodox means correct belief, but that belief came at a deep, deep cost sometimes. In the 400s, specifically I’m thinking for today’s example, there was a raging debate, and when I say raging debate, it was the talk of the world.

We use the word Theotokos. It’s an everyday word for us. Theotokos - we translate it “the Mother of God” but it really is “the one who gave birth to God,” Theotokos, “the bearer of God.” But in the 400s, there were Christians and some of them were bishops who refused to use the word Theotokos. There were bishops of the Church who said, “There is no possible way that a woman can give birth to the eternal God,” and so the debate was raging in the Church.

Some wanted to call her Christotokos, “the one who gave birth to God,” [sic] [should be the one who gave birth to Christ] and gathering together around the most notable bishop who was arguing for this, his name was Nestor. He said that Jesus Christ could not have been completely man and completely God, and so therefore the Panagia could not have given birth to God only to Christ. In the Third Ecumenical Council in the year 431, the Church gathered to hear this debate, and it was resolved that we should call her Theotokos, that Jesus Christ is completely man and completely God, and that put that end to rest for all time.

It wasn’t but 20 years later, another controversy comes up. “If He’s God and man, then what about His nature? Is He a human nature or is He a divine nature or is there some kind of dual personalities going on,” and another debate rages on. In 451, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was called, and in this council, it was determined that God is two natures in one person, not partnering with each other, not two individual people sharing the body of Christ, but that Jesus Christ who was fully God and fully man, and we know Him as the Son of God Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, and that seemed to put everything to rest, except that there was this other group of bishops who said, “No, God has only one nature if He’s one person,” and there was a schism in the Church.

See, many of us grew up in Sunday school thinking that the First Schism was in 1054, but it was really in 451, when those Churches who refused to accept the two natures of Christ, left the Church. Today, they are called the Oriental Orthodox Church. We are called the Greek Orthodox Church, also known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, and that Church still exists today. The Oriental Orthodox Church, we know them today as the Armenian Church, the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Church, the Eritrean Church, the Malankara Church in India, the Syriac Church in Iraq. You’ve been hearing all the new- the stories about the Christians in Iraq. This is the Syriac Orthodox Church and finally, a Church called the British Orthodox Church.

These Churches stayed together since 451, and they’re called the Oriental Orthodox Church, but they’re not with us, the Greek Orthodox Church. We really don’t notice it so much here in America because we’re so focused on being Greeks and Russians and Arabs, it makes sense that the Egyptians have their Church and that the Indians have their Church, we don’t pay attention to the fact that they are two separate Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church about 350 million across the world, and the Oriental Orthodox Church. I was looking up yesterday about 85 million throughout the world.

Who’s going to be at this council? Not the Oriental Church, but the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church, I put in your bulletins, but I’ll read it just so you can hear it, there are 14 Eastern Orthodox Churches, individual Churches united across the world.

There is the Church of Constantinople, the Church of Alexandria, the Church of Antioch, the Church of Jerusalem. Those are the ancient patriarchs. Then we have the Church of Russia, the Church of Serbia, the Church of Romania, the Church of Bulgaria, the Church of Georgia, the Church of Cyprus, the Church of Greece, the Church of Poland, the Church of Albania, and the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. 14 independent Orthodox Christian Churches united in Communion. We can take Communion in any one of those 14 Churches, but we cannot as I said a couple of weeks ago, we cannot take Communion in the Coptic Church, or in the Armenian Church, or the Malankara Church, or the Syriac Church. We are not in communion with each other, but there’s hope.

1500 years we’ve been divided, but since the 1970s, there’s been a discussion going on between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church. Their best theologians and our best theologians have been getting into the same room and having discussions, and for the most part, it has come, we have come to understand that we have been saying the same thing for 1500 years, that our theology really isn’t different, that we really do believe in the same Jesus Christ and in the same Holy Trinity that we said we believed in in 451.

This international committee has sent an official recommendation to all the patriarchs on our side and all the patriarchs on their side saying “We should reunify, we should get together, we’re really saying the same things for 1500 years. Our theology is the same.” That’s the brightest on both sides, but we are a human Church as well, and we cannot ignore the fact that for 1500 years, they have been condemning our saints, and we have been condemning their saints.

It is not as if we can just hit a light switch and unremember and forget 1500 years of division, and this, if you remember what I’ve been talking about, I mentioned this last year when I was discussing what it means to be Greek Orthodox versus Russian Orthodox and etcetera and I was reminding you that our orthodoxy is a lived experience within history.

We cannot ignore the historic realities that we treated each other very poorly for 1500 years calling each other names. How, all of a sudden, do we expect to say to the Church across the street, “Come receive Communion even though just yesterday I called you a heretic. Just yesterday, I refused to even acknowledge that you were a Christian. How can I do that?” It’s going to take time, and so the monastics, the bishops, the theologians all over the world continue to have this discussion about getting together with the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church, but they will not be present this week in Crete because we’re not yet together.

Now, why is this important for us here in Florence, South Carolina in 2016? What I want you to understand, my brothers and sisters, is that being part of a global Church is not just a political reality. We are part of the second largest Church in the entire world, 350 million Eastern Orthodox Christians. The only Christian Church larger is the Church of Rome. They have a billion. We are not just benefitting though from that national, international reality.

In our faith, what we believe affects how we live, and so what I want you to understand is that for us as Christians, the nuances of how we talk about God are important, how we understand the person of Jesus Christ, do we understand that He is fully God and fully man? There are some Christians today who don’t believe that. There are some Christians today who believe that Jesus Christ was just a really nice guy, and there are other Christians today that believe that Jesus Christ wasn’t a man at all, and that He was just God who walked the earth for a few years and then, poof, disappeared.

There are other Christians who believe that when Mary gave birth to Jesus, the man-Jesus, the God-Jesus came in and kicked the man-Jesus out for a little while, took over His body for 33 years, and then conveniently right before He died on the cross, the God-Jesus disappeared and, all of a sudden, let the man-Jesus take over the body again.

We don’t believe in those things, so for us as Orthodox Christians, it’s an important discussion on the nuances of how we understand the person of Jesus Christ and it’s a mystery. God has revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ the Savior, and you can hear in any Church in town, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, you name it, you’re going to hear it today, it’s all about Jesus. In a way, it is, but who is Jesus?

The Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have been arguing over that question for 1500 years. No surprise. I challenge anyone of us in this Church today to fully understand how God can become a human being and not stop being God but live 33 years and then die. I’ll be honest. I can’t wrap my mind around that. I cannot fully understand how God did what He did, so I’m not at all surprised that these two Churches have been arguing for 1500 years.

What’s gathering this week in Crete, and we all need to pray for this Council meeting because there are some Churches who are now refusing to attend. There are some of the Orthodox Churches, for example, the Church of Bulgaria, who says, “We’re not coming to the meeting” because they don’t like one sentence here or one sentence there. It’s bigger than that obviously, but so we are witnessing the same kind of Christian history, this week, that we read about in the history books.

When I was going through, just making sure I had all of my ducks in a row for this sermon this morning, I was reading from the minutes of the Fourth Council. It’s beautiful. You can really see – and this bishop said this, and they quote him down there, and one of the bishops says, “If he’s allowed to sit down, that’s it. I’m leaving. I’m going back to my city,” witnessing the exact same kind of discussions that are taking place today, so pray for our Church. We’re going to have Divine Liturgy, Wednesday evening at 6 o’clock to pray for the beginning of the Council, and we’re going to have Paraklesis each night while the Council is in session to pray for our bishops, to pray for our theologians and those who are in Crete that the Holy Spirit truly will guide the Church.

These are not trivial things. These are historic things that are getting together. Imagine how much more effort it will take. You know, we are the Greek Orthodox Church in America, the Russian Orthodox Church in America, we’ve got some things that we’ve got to get in order here, too, in our Churches here in America.

Going back to question of the Oriental Orthodox Church versus the Greek Orthodox Church, imagine a Church right across the street, same icons, same vestments, pretty much the same liturgy, but we were not allowed to cross the street to receive Holy Communion and they were not allowed to come here for 1500 years, and then, all of a sudden, imagine getting a phone call from the patriarch, “Okay, everything is good now, you can go cross the street.” We’d be a little cautious, wouldn’t we? They’ve called us so many bad names. We weren’t nice to them either, so pray for our Church. Pray that these historic days are truly guided by the Holy Spirit as we have believed for over 2,000 years. Glory to God for all things.

Well, I’m back, and I hope this video was an inspiration to you. I hope it helps you live a new life in Christ. Please share our message of hope with your friends and family, and invite others to live a new life in Christ. Find more information about Be Transfigured Ministries by joining us on our website at www.LiveANewLifeInChrist.org You can also find many of our videos on the Orthodox Christian Network, our partners at myocn.net. As we say at Be Transfigured, until next week, God bless you and don’t forget to live a new life in Christ.

Be Transfigured is a production of the Transfiguration of our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, South Carolina, and presented by the Orthodox Christian Network. Contributions in support of this ministry may be sent to Be Transfigured, 2990 South Cashua Drive, Florence, South Carolina 29501 or online at our website at www.LiveANewLifeInChrist.org.

Bible Study for Monday, June 13, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 21.8-14. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Sunday, June 12, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 20.16-18, 28-36. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

The Problem with the “My Turn Pendulum”

In my most recent column in the local paper I decided to write about a problem I have been noticing more lately than before. Too often we focus more on getting our turn rather than living in love....I called it the "My Turn Pendulum"...

It doesn’t matter if we are speaking about politics or religion, finances or morality, race relations or family relationships. Any time we begin a sentence by including the words “my turn”, unless we are playing a board game, we enter into a reality that leads directly to a state of exclusion and hatred.....

click here for the remainder of my most recent article in the local paper.

What is the Global Orthodox Church?

All eyes (at least all Orthodox Christian eyes) will be on Crete next week as the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church is supposed to begin gathering. This is such an important event that Churches throughout the world will celebrate Divine Liturgies, Vigils, Paraklesis services and other Holy Services of the Church to unite in prayer that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide the Church into the future. This is the FIRST time in more than 1200 years the global Orthodox Church has gathered. But I know some do not know what the global Church is.

Unlike our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, the Orthodox Church is not on single global organization with a single head. We all know there is no single Pope in the Orthodox Church. That is true for two basic reasons. The first reason is that ALL Orthodox Christian Bishops are equal throughout the world as the Chief Shepherds of their local Church. Our bishop is His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta. Within the Holy Metropolis of Atlanta, in matters of administration, no other bishop has authority over Metropolitan Alexios. The second reason there is no single Pope, is because throughout the globe Orthodox Christians are “gathered” within regional Churches to consolidate administrative functions. We understand how that works here in America. It would be difficult for each Metropolis to have a seminary and college, so the Archdiocese of America consolidates certain administrative functions for the spiritual benefit of each Metropolis. Globally the regions are basically along national political boundaries, but not exclusively. This is an ancient custom originally begun by the Holy Apostles along Roman political boundaries. Even the term “Parish” is a political boundary.

There are fourteen ‘global’ Orthodox Churches, many like our Archdiocese, with dependent “daughter” Churches throughout the world due mainly to global immigration. The Churches maintain a certain order of seniority based on ancient formulas. They are:

The Church of Constantinople – The Ecumenical Patriarchate

The Church of Alexandria

The Church of Antioch

The Church of Jerusalem

The Church of Russian

The Church of Serbia

The Church of Romania

The Church of Bulgaria

The Church of Georgia

The Church of Cyprus

The Church of Greece

The Church of Poland

The Church of Albania

The Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia

Bible Study for Friday, June 10, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 19.1-8. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, January 13, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 18.22-28. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, January 13, 2016. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 17.19-28. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, December 9, 2015. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

What can non-Orthodox Christians do in the Church?

This week’s “Ask Father” question is a follow-up to last week’s topic about Holy Communion. Now that we understand why a non-Orthodox Christian cannot receive Holy Communion in our Church, and why we cannot receive Holy Communion in a non-Orthodox Church, this week’s question asks, “So what can a non-Orthodox Christian do in our Church?” This is a very timely and practical question since most of us have at least one family member who is not Orthodox, and ALL of us have non-Orthodox friends who visit our Church either for sacraments or Divine Liturgy. Our Orthodox way of life is an expression of our belief in Jesus Christ, so many of the daily activities we do can also be done by non-Orthodox Christians. Although our non-Orthodox friends and family members can do some of the physical things we do, we still must be careful not to allow what we do to become nothing more than empty customs.

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT:

Hello. My name is Father Athanasios Haros and I'm the Pastor here at the Transfiguration of Our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, South Carolina, and I'm your host for Be Transfigured Ministries. Here at Be Transfigured, as we say, we invite you to live to a new life in Christ. We feature our sermons and our Bible studies and other special events in the life of the Church. We do it to inspire you to join us living a new life in Christ. I hope you'll join us. I'll be back in a moment after this video to share some information about our ministry.

I really enjoyed this morning's question. Our “Ask Father” this morning is a continuation of a conversation that I had during the week. We were discussing lighting candles in the Narthex and the question was asked, can a non-Orthodox Christian light a candle in the Narthex? I thought, what a wonderful question. How wonderfully convenient, really, the question not just about candles, but in general, what can non-Orthodox Christians do in our Church? Because many of us have non-Orthodox members of our family, all of us have friends who are not Orthodox who might visit our Church for a wedding or a baptism or to come to Divine Liturgy to visit or to one of the other services of the Church, so I thought what a wonderful opportunity based on this one simple question about candles to discuss what non-Orthodox Christians are allowed to do in our Church.

Remember last week, we talked about communion, that we cannot receive communion in a non-Orthodox Church and non-Orthodox Christians cannot receive communion in our Church, but there has to be something they're allowed to do. We'll begin with the candles in the Narthex. If you remember our conversation last year about candles in the Narthex, when we light the candle in the Narthex, we are proclaiming our faith in the light of Christ. We are declaring Jesus Christ as the light of the world, and so as long as someone believes that Jesus Christ is the light of the world, then by all means, they should be able to light a candle in the Narthex.

The question is not just whether they believe. You see, one of the reasons these questions come up is so many of us have fallen into the habit of participating in these various physical parts of our faith and we really don't know why we do what we do. For many of us, it has become an empty tradition. We light candles simply because we've always lit candles; we don't quite sure know why, and that was, of course, that was last year's conversation, but just as a reminder, we light candles to proclaim our faith in the light of Christ.

Of course, a non-Orthodox Christian is allowed to light a candle and to make an offering to God, and to pray for people living and dead as we do when we light our candles in the Narthex. Let's remember when we do it, we need to do it with our faith and with our belief. We should be better to make sure that we understand why we're doing things, as well. As I was looking into some of the other topics of the things that we do and some of the services that we have, believe it or not, there is not a whole lot of clarity in the Church Canons about what nonmembers of the Church can and cannot do except anything associated with the Holy Communion and the Sacraments of the Church, the Church is very specific on who is and who is not able to receive the Sacraments.

From there, the discussion rests on is the practice being done, is it somehow connected to Holy Communion? I'll give you an example. It says in the Holy Canons that only members of the Church who can receive Holy Communion are allowed to bring the Prosphoron that becomes Holy Communion. Only members of the Church may make the offering of the bread and the wine that becomes Holy Communion. Nonmembers of our Church may not bring loaves of bread that are made/used for Holy Communion.

However, there are other things that we do with bread. For example, we distribute bread to the poor. We use bread for Andidoron, for the blessed bread at the end, and so the Church is not exactly clear, so long as the bread is not being used for the preparation of Holy Communion, a non-Orthodox Christian can make an offering of bread in the Church. Right? We use bread for different things, to feed the poor, things like that. Then the question is who can receive the bread at the end? We always say that non-Orthodox Christians can come forward and receive the Andidoron, the blessed bread, at the end of Divine Liturgy.

Although this is true, there is a statement in the Canons, which states that nonmembers of the Church may not receive the Andidoron if it comes from the bread that was used in the preparation for Holy Communion. Now there's an interesting distinction, and this is the pattern that I kept seeing over and over again. It's impossible for us to sit here this morning and identify each and every single thing that non-Orthodox Christians can do, so we're just going to touch on a couple of them.

Because I reserve the portion of bread that is used for the preparation of Holy Communion, I reserve that off to the side. The bread that is brought out at the end of Divine Liturgy is for anyone to participate in. Members of our Church, nonmembers of our Church. What about holy oils? We hear a lot of things these days about essential oils and the anointing and all of this reference in the Scriptures of the anointing of oil. What about the question of oil? Can a non-Orthodox Christian be anointed with oil from the Church?

Again, the Church says where is the oil coming from? If the oil is coming from Holy Unction, which is a Sacrament of the Church, which has its roots in Divine Liturgy, there's the connection again, Holy Unction is only to be received by members of the Church who are in good standing. There are other oils in the Church. For example, if you look over at the Koukoulkion, there is Kandili burning next to the Saints, the relics of the Saints, St. Athanasios and St. Basil. That oil is not Holy Unction. The oil in that Kandili is intimately connected to the intercessions of St. Basil and St. Athanasios.

When we go to the relics and we either anoint ourselves or the priest anoints us with the oil from the relics, from the saints, that anointing is the intercessions of the saint. For example, I have many oils that I have in the Altar, I have oil from St. Nektarios, I have oil from Saints Cosmas and Damien. I have oils from St. John Maximovitch of San Francisco. We have all these different kinds of oils that burn in the Kandili of the relics of those saints.

Because that is not Holy Unction, nonmembers, non-Orthodox Christians can be anointed with the oil from those Kandilia. However, this is where in my feeling, we have to be very careful. If someone comes to us and does not believe in the Veneration of the Saints, does not think that we should pray to the saints for healing and for intercession, that particular person I don't think should be anointed with the oil from the saints because the oil from the saints is directly connected to the intercession of the saints, and we don't want to have empty traditions, we want to have faithful traditions.

There becomes a little bit of gray area, but so long as a Christian believes in the Intercession of the Saints, I see no reason why a non-Orthodox Christian could not be anointed with the various other oils that the Church has from the various saints of our Church. I know many of you have oils in your home altars from Greece, from St. Nektarios, from St. Demetrius, all these different oils from the Panagia, I know that many of you have the oils in your homes, and I would just ask you that when you're using those oils, remember what they represent. It's not just olive oil; it is the intercessions, it is the prayers of those particular saints, and that should be done with knowledge and faith and with humility in those particular things.

Then the next question comes in. The other thing that we have is Holy Water. The Church celebrates the Agiasmos service every month, and of course, the Great Blessing of the Waters in January, and so sometimes the question arises, can a non-Orthodox Christian have their house blessed or their business blessed? I see absolutely no reason to forbid nonmembers of the Church from having their homes or their businesses blessed, provided that there is faith that the Holy Spirit is working in the water that is blessed by the Church.

It is not Holy Communion, it is a completely separate service of the Church, it is a blessing from God. As long as the person believes that the water is blessed by God and believes in the Trinity, I see no reason to forbid people from having their home blessed or their businesses blessed or from coming forward in those particular services and to receive the blessing of the priest. The issue, my brothers and sisters, is not whether or not someone is inside the Church or outside the Church in terms of whether they can receive God's blessings. God's blessings are for all humanity.

We, as the Church, have been given an awesome responsibility to bring God's blessings to the people. There are certain things that are intimately involved in Holy Communion. Those things are reserved for members of the Church for the reasons that Holy Communion is reserved for members of the Church. It is a deep, pious understanding of our unity as Orthodox Christians. Beyond that, the Veneration of Holy Icons, coming to Church and standing in front of the icon of the Panagia for Paraklesis or going to venerate one of the many miracle icons of the Panagia that tour our beautiful country, and to go and be anointed with the oil of those particular miracle icons is for the whole world to receive God's blessing.

My only request is that we, as members of the Church, continually educate ourselves so we have a proper understanding of our traditions so that when our friends ask us questions, we know the appropriate answer. Don't be afraid to call me or to email me or to submit another question for another sermon. This is what it means to be able to have our opportunity of dialog and education to learn that our traditions are not empty. I wrote in the Sunday bulletin today that Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their empty traditions because they had forgotten the original purpose of those traditions. Our job is to remember the reason to do what we do as Orthodox Christians.

Those are just a couple of examples, lighting candles, anointing with oil, the Veneration of Icons, Holy Water. One final thing I want to bring to you, and that is that this Church, my brothers and sisters, is a place for every human being to come and encounter Jesus Christ. As such, our job as members of the Church is to always make sure our Church is available to anyone and everyone who needs God in their life. This is what it means to be a faithful Orthodox Christian, to bring the faith of God and to bring the hope of the Gospel, and to bring the blessings of God to the entire world.

Certain blessings are reserved for members within the Church. Other blessings are for all people who believe in God. Of course, it doesn't make any sense to ask if a nonbeliever is able to light a candle. A nonbeliever has no business lighting a candle because they don't believe in anything the candle stands for. I'm not even going to discuss what nonbelievers. Nonbelievers are nonbelievers, but even nonbelievers are welcome to enter into our Church so that they might also receive the revelation from the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ was sent from God for our salvation and that Jesus Christ is a member of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

If we do not welcome those nonbelievers into our Church, if we continue the idea that our Church is just for us, then we've lost hope, then we may as well not even light candle in the Narthex because the light of Christ shines in the darkness and we, as Christ said, are a light on a hill, and we are for all people to see. Christos Anesti.

Well I'm back and I hope this video was an inspiration to you. I hope it helps you live a new life in Christ. Please share our message of hope with your friends and family, and invite others to live a new life in Christ. Find more information about Be Transfigured Ministries by joining us on our website at liveanewlifeinchrist.org. You can also find many of our videos on the Orthodox Christian Network, our partners at myocn.net. As we say at Be Transfigured, until next week, God bless you, and don't forget to live a new life in Christ.

Be Transfigured is a production of the Transfiguration of Our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, South Carolina, and presented by the Orthodox Christian Network. Contributions and support of this ministry may be sent to Be Transfigured, 2990 South Cashua Drive, Florence, South Carolina 29501, or online at our website at www.liveanewlifeinchrist.org.

Bible Study for Monday, June 6, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 17.1-9. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Sunday, June 5, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 16.16-34. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE within TWO Sessions on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, and Wednesday, November 18, 2015. Here is a study guide for the session on November 4th, and here is the study guide for the session on November 18th.


 November 4, 2015.



 November 18, 2015

Bible Study for Friday, June 3, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 15.5-12. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, October 7, 2015. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Thursday, June 2, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 14:20-28; 15:1-4. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, September 16, 2015. Here is a study guide for the session.

 

Bible Study for Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Since I was blessed to teach a Bible Study (originally LIVE STREAM via YouTube) on the Book of Acts inspired by the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom from 400 CE, I am sharing these lessons each day during the Paschal Season which is when Chrysostom originally preached them. We eventually made substantial improvements to our sound system, so please be patient with occasional poor sound quality. Today’s Bible Study covers Acts 13.13-34. This Bible Study was originally streamed LIVE on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. Here is a study guide for the session.