The Gym and the Church

Every year starts off the same way in every fitness center and gym. January 1^st ushers in the crowds and their New Year Resolutions. Regular gym attendees find themselves in a sea of new faces and frustrations as their favorite machine has been taken by someone who hasn’t been there since last January. Employees warn of this in advance, but there are always a few who are frustrated. Why won’t people stay the rest of the year? Within two weeks, most gyms return to their normal regular patrons with a few new faces sticking it out for the long haul. Their lives have been changed by their workout experience.

Now let me replace a few words...

Every Holy Week starts off the same way in every Orthodox Church. Palm Sunday ushers in the crowds and their conscience. Regular Church attendees find themselves in a sea of new faces and frustrations as their pew has been taken by someone who hasn’t been there since last Holy Week. The Priest warns of this in advance, but there are always a few who are frustrated. Why don’t people care enough to stay the rest of the year?  By the Sunday of Thomas, most Churches return to their normal regular attendance with a few new faces sticking it out for the long haul. Their lives have been changed by their Holy Week experience.

While the setting and challenges might be different between the gym and the Church, the truth is there is much in common. The Orthodox Way of Life is a life of discipline and commitment to overcoming the temptations that lead us astray, just as joining the fitness center. In the gym you will find fitness trainers who understand this challenge, just like your local Priest understands your spiritual challenge. Unfortunately, just like January in a gym, the week after Pascha in the Orthodox Church people give up their new challenges and return to their old way of life.

In many cases, and I speak from years of experience, overcoming weight issues can take years to conquer. The same is true with our spiritual battles. Being addicted to food can be a real problem as the daily challenges of eating healthy are often overcome by the temptations to gorge on candy and potato chips. Food addicts wake up every morning genuinely not wanting to overeat, but sadly by noon many have lost the battle for another day. If we are honest we are each addicted to sin. We wake up every morning not wanting to sin, but sadly by noon (if not earlier) we have already sinned.

So today I throw the gauntlet.....Holy Week is over! Pascha has arrived! It’s January in the gym and the Church is still filled with the smell of incense from the Resurrection Liturgy. Don’t fade away too quickly. But if you do, you can always come back and try again. You won’t have to wait until Holy Week!

Christ is Risen!

It’s Just Getting Started!

Just as quickly as it began, so it has ended. Many Orthodox Christians today are exhausted physically and emotionally from a long Great Fast which culminated in hours of Church services the past few days, the pinnacle of which was the Resurrection of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ celebrated at MIDNIGHT. Today many are looking back and wondering why it all has to end.

PHOTO BY: George Patides

It doesn’t have to end. In fact the celebration of Pascha is only getting started. This entire week, which the Church refers to as Bright Week or New Week, each day is Pascha. Fasting is forbidden. All the lights are on for every Church service but we still hold lit candles to represent the Resurrected Light of Christ. Even the Royal Gates remain open in the Church to signify the open Tomb of Christ and the Open Gates of Paradise. But those things are just the outwardly signs of Pascha.

The real celebration of Pascha is in our hearts as we begin to Live A New Life In Christ. Just as we have spent the past 56 days fasting and praying, now we have a second chance to live in the joyous news of the resurrection. If we took the time to evaluate our relationship with Our Lord, then today we are truly experiencing the New Week, during which we begin our new life in Christ.

In the ancient Church since most baptisms (baptisms were seasonal rather than throughout the entire year) the new faithful members of the Church would wear the white baptismal garments for the entire week returning on the Sunday of Thomas to “complete” the Chrismation service. In today’s practice this completion is the ceremonial wiping of the Chrism oil from the face, hands, feet, etc. at the very end of the service, but in the ancient Church this wiping didn’t take place until the end of the first week. This is one reason why this week is known as Bright Week, since the new faithful members wore the bright white garments all week.

So you have fasted, you have prayed, you have confessed, you have received the Light of Christ. Now go and live it! Your new life in Christ is getting started!

The Most Dangerous Illness is a Hidden Illness

When we visit the doctor for our regular check-up we expect to hear the doctor tell us about our blood results and any other possible problems that might indicate some sort of illness. But what if our doctor hid our illness from us? What if our doctor knew there were serious complications with our blood work, but refused to share this information with us? Or worse....What if our doctor knew there were serious complications with our blood work, but told us it was normal and we shouldn’t bother trying to change our eating habits and lifestyle? If this happened to us in our doctor’s office, we would be furious!

But this is exactly what is happening in our contemporary society, not physically but spiritually. Every day we go about our routine with spiritual illnesses, but when many either hide our illnesses from us or try to make us believe our illness is normal and there is nothing to worry about, instead of being furious we are thankful. Yet, when we are unaware of a serious physical illness our anger is a result of admitting we would have been willing to change our behavior if someone had only told us before it was too late. But when we find out too late to change, and the illness has overtaken us, we are filled with regret and anger that someone should have told us!

On this Fourth Sunday of Pascha, the Church calls our attention to the healing of the paralytic. “Sir I have no man,” was the voice of regret in the face of illness. Unlike the paralytic we are not alone in our illness. We have the Church to help diagnose our illness, and then to help find the cure. But there remains one final obstacle....many of us listen to the society which is telling us we are not sick, and keeps our spiritual illness hidden from us. Christ was able to heal the paralytic because his illness was not hidden. We cannot be healed if our illness remains hidden, or worse......ignored.

I think I just miss food

It is the third day of Pascha and I’m filled up with all sorts of delicious foods, not one of them can be classified as a vegetable. I’ve eaten so many different foods the past 48 hours I’m filled up to my throat. I’ve even been drinking a lot of water to which is both good for me and helps me feel full. But I’m still hungry...

Then it occurred to me that I’m not hungry. I just miss food. After so many weeks of fasting according to the traditions of the Church, I’ve lost 22 pounds and never really felt hungry. I ate smaller meals and healthier meals at that! Now that the fast is over and I can eat whatever I wish (this week anyway) I have been going back and forth to the cupboard looking for something else to eat.

This is the time each year I REALLY struggle with self control. I admit that I have issues with eating, most times even acknowledging that I have a food addiction. From the addiction point of view I have been on a 48 hour binge very similar to an alcoholic falling off the wagon. Now is the danger zone for me. Will I get back in control, which I so enjoyed during the Fast, or will I keep eating and lose any ground I gained (or lost as the case might be) with my addiction?

If you look back to what I said “It finally starts” at the beginning of Great Lent, and also what I said in my blog post, “Healthy Body AND Soul” and you will remember how we understand the connection between our physical and spiritual life. Before I find myself on a “sin binge” like my eating binge, I better figure this self control thing out. Thankfully, next week the normal Wednesday-Friday fast will be back, and I can get back at it. I have to keep reminding myself, I’m not hungry. I just miss food.

Then there were none...

And just like that, Great Lent and Holy Week are over. There are no days left until Pascha. In fact, today is the second day of Pascha, but the Church hasn’t moved on....yet. This week is known as Bright Week or Renewal Week, and is reminiscent of the ancient Church practice for newly baptized members who would spend the first eight days of their new life in their white baptismal garments. Although this practice is no longer in effect, there are still some ancient customs employed today.

Liturgically speaking the Church commemorates the Feast of Saint George today as a “transferred Feast” from April 23^rd to the Monday of Pascha. Any time the Feast of Saint George falls within Great Lent or Holy Week, the celebration is transferred to the Monday of Pascha.

ALSO each day this week we sing this hymn:

It is the day of the Resurrection. Let us shine brightly for the festival, and also embrace one another. Brethren, let us say even to those who hate us, "Let us forgive everything for the Resurrection." And thus let us cry aloud, "Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life."

This means that today is the same day as yesterday. The entire week is like one single day of Pascha until Sunday which is called Anti-Pascha, the eighth day when the Gospel story of Saint Thomas which we began today at the AGAPE Vespers is completed.

So just like that we are now fully IN Pascha. Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! There is no fasting this week, but that doesn’t mean we give up the spiritual lessons we learned this week. Today is a day of celebration, but as Orthodox we have learned (or are learning) how to always remain in control when we fast.

Many years to all our fans who celebrate today for the Feast of Saint George.

Christ is Risen!

The day you have been working so hard for has arrived. Today is the Feast of Feasts, Holy and Great Pascha. Many of you have been with us for our entire Great Lenten Journey, while some have just arrived during Holy Week. To each of you, we here at Be Transfigured (it really is just me) would like to congratulate you for the effort. But as always at Be Transfigured, your work isn’t over yet...

Just because we are celebrating the Feast of Pascha, doesn’t mean that we still don’t have much further to climb and grow in order to achieve what we Orthodox call “Theosis” or Divination. Great Lent and Holy Week weren’t about getting to today, but getting to heaven. Today is a joyous landmark for sure, but tomorrow the “real work” begins.

Once the excitement of Pascha has settled, your souls will still crave to spend time with God. Only without Great Lent and Holy services to attend it will require more dedication on your part to make the time to attend Divine Liturgy and as many other services your local Orthodox Christian Parish offers. Without constant posts about Lenten recipes and fasting techniques, it will require more dedication on your part to keep the Wednesday and Friday Fast throughout the year, although THIS WEEK OF PASCHA is fast free.

So don’t fret, don’t panic, don’t sit on your laurels! Enjoy the Feast of Feasts with a glorious banquet and start putting into action the tools you have learned during your Great Lenten and Holy Week Journey. I’ll see on the other side of Pascha (as I am writing this in advance as I will be asleep early Sunday morning) so have a blessed Pascha and as we say at Be Transfigured, Don’t forget to live a new life in Christ.

Christ is Risen!

Father Athanasios

Have You Glorified God with Your Works?

Shortly before Jesus ascended the Cross and endured His Holy Passion, He offered God what the Church refers to as the High Priestly Prayer. “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You....I have glorified You on earth. I have finished the work You have given Me to do.” (John 12.1,4) Every moment of His life Jesus glorified God in every work He accomplished. On the Seventh Sunday of Pascha, the Church remembers these words as we prepare to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world on Pentecost. It should serve as a reminder of what is important in life.

Each of us has been given a time on earth – some long, some short – to glorify God in our work. For some it seems so long ago that we gathered in the dark Church to receive the Light of Christ and sing Christ is Risen! Because of the Feast of Feasts, and Christ defeat of death, our lives will never be the same. We have been given another chance by God to live in communion with Him.

Jesus continues, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.” (John 17.6) Have you manifested His name to others? Have you assisted others to know who Jesus Christ is? Have you made the reality of God’s presence known to those you meet during the day? Have you been a living icon of Jesus to the strangers whom you meet at work or the mall? These are a few simple ways to glorify God with your works. That’s how He did it, and so can you.

Behold The Man and Be Made Well

Many years before an unknown paralytic was healed by Jesus Christ, God told us through His Prophets that He would provide a Man who would arise from below the horizon to save us. On the Fourth Sunday of Pascha, the Church reminds us, through the Gospel of John that God has always planned to save those of us patient enough to endure until He comes. He came, He died and was buried, but He rose from the dead, and life rules eternally. And now...we can be healed.

Behold the Man?

In the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday of the Paralytic, we hear the story of a man who for thirty-eight years had “no man” to heal him. Year after year he sat by the Pool of Bethesda waiting for someone to help put him into the water, but while he was still crawling another would climb in before him. This continued for thirty-eight years. Until one day Jesus came walking by.

“He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’” (John 5.6-7) The man was alone for so many years, he had given up hope for help, and each time the water was stirred up, he would begin dragging himself toward the pool. He was too late. But things were about to change.

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” (John 5.8) He didn’t need to drag himself into the water. He didn’t have to worry about whether or not someone else would be healed before him. He finally had what he had been waiting for. He finally had “A Man” to help him, Jesus Christ the Messiah IS “The Man” he was waiting for.

Behold the Man; there are only three times in Scripture this expression is used.

• “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.” (Genesis 3.22) when Adam fell to temptation in the Garden.
• “Behold the man, Orient is His name, and He shall build the house of the Lord,” (Zechariah 6.12) to announce the promise of the Messiah.
• “Behold the man.” (John 19.5) when Pilate announced to the world that Jesus was going to die.

Has Pascha Changed the Way You Live?

A couple weeks ago we were blessed to come together and celebrate another Pascha – the Feast of Feasts – the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We prayed, we sang, we lit our candles, and we feasted. But has your life changed at all? Other than spending a few hours in Church during Holy Week, is your life different this month than it was last month? If the answer is, “NO,” then you’re missing something in the celebration of Pascha.

As Orthodox Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ, the Eternal Incarnate Word of God, took on human flesh, lived as a human being for thirty-three years, was crucified, died and was buried, and was RESURRECTED on the Third Day – all so that death no longer had any power over the rest of us humans. This is the Good News that we sing at every service for forty days after Pascha.

Christ is Risen from the dead

By Death trampling upon death

And to those in the tombs

He has granted life!

For the first Christians, this Good News gave a new hope that life, despite its challenges (and there are many) is greater than what we experience on Earth. Life begins here on the Earth, but last for all eternity (thanks to Pascha) with God in Heaven. This new hope changed the way the first Christians lived their daily lives. It changed the way the first Christian interacted with other members of society. It changed the way the first Christians understood the Love of God. Has it changed you?

The Christian Way of Life, the Orthodox Way, is a life dedicated to living in total communion with God AT ALL TIMES. It is a life in which God’s love shines in the way we interact with others. Do we guilt, shame, force, or otherwise trick others into certain behaviors or situations? God would never use guilt or shame to force us to love Him. OR do we show respect for the freedom of others and live OUR lives honoring God. Do we share our financial blessings with those who are in need? Do we share our time with others who are lonely? Do we share our knowledge with others who are struggling? The first Christians were known for the love and assistance they shared with others, including the very enemies who were killing them.

The first Christians lived a life that was radically different than at any other time in human history BECAUSE of Pascha, and the hope that the Good News offered. The Good News hasn’t changed....has it changed you?

The Woman is the Neck

In the now famous scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Mrs Portocalos proudly announces, “The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.” We may laugh at this “truth” of marriage, but the important role of women in the life of the Church should not be underestimated. It was the women who remained faithful until the end at the Tomb of Christ. It was the women who carried the Good News of the Resurrection to the Apostles. And it is the women of the Church that have continued throughout the centuries to “turn our heads” so we could hear the Word of God, and help to keep our hearts pure.

If you doubt the importance of the role of women in the Church in spreading the Gospel of the Resurrection, you only need to return to midnight on Pascha. The Church hears the Good News that Christ is Risen from the Myrrhbearing Women. “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.” (Mark 16.7) Many of us also can remember our mothers and grandmothers bringing us to Church as children. They were “turning our heads” toward a life in Christ. Were we listening?

On the Thirds Sunday of Pascha, the Church reminds us of the important role pious women played in the initial Good News of the Resurrection. They were the first evangelists in the truest sense. It was only because the women “turned the heads” of the Apostles that they gained enough courage to go to Galilee and see the Lord for themselves. They were listening.....are we?

Holy Week: Day by Day

Many of us have been attending Holy Week services since we were very young, and while we continue the blessed Tradition of attending Church services during the “holiest week of the year” many of us are unaware of the meaning of each day, and why the Church has called us to gather (sometimes) in the darkness of night to pray what seem like long and tedious prayers. To help us this year, I have attempted to summarize the “themes” for each day of Holy Week. It is my prayer that this will assist each of us to experience the fullness of the Resurrection of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. You can read more about Holy Week in a wonderful resource, “Great Week and Pascha in the Greek Orthodox Church” byFr Alkiviadis Calivas.

The Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday is a two-day festival commemorating the raising of Lazarus from the dead Christ’s Triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. “By causing the final eruption of the unrelenting hostility of His enemies, who had been plotting to kill Him, these two events precipitate Christ’s death. At the very same time, however, these same events emphasize His divine authority.”

Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday feature stories from events in the final days in the earthly life of Jesus Christ prior to His Passion. The Service of the Bridegroom, which is celebrated each evening beginning with Palm Sunday evening, focuses our attention by remaining vigilant on the coming of the Lord’s Judgment at His Second Coming. It should be remembered the earliest Christians believed Christ would return in THEIR immediate lifetime. Themes such as conflict, judgment, authority, mourning, and repentance are meant to draw our hearts to long for Christ and prepare for His return.

The Mystery (or Sacrament) of Holy Unction is celebrated on Holy Wednesday evening almost like a bridge between the preparatory themes of early Holy Week and the Coming Passion of Christ. The Mystery of Holy Unction, founded upon the actions of Christ, “serves to remind the faithful of Chris’s power to forgive and liberate the conscience from the blight of personal and collective sin.”

Holy Thursday focuses on the events in the Upper Room and the Garden of Gethsemane. Within the context of “The Mystical Supper” we witness the institution of the Eucharist by Christ with the words, “Take, eat; this is My Body...Drink of it all of you; for this is My Blood of the New Covenant.” This is the final Liturgy before the Crucifixion, and includes the consecration of the “reserve communion” which is used throughout the year for hospital calls etc. While praying in the Garden, Jesus is betrayed by Judas with a kiss. On this day, light and darkness, joy and sorrow, life and death, are strangely mixed converging in one moment in the Church, reminding us of the inevitable struggle of life.

Holy Friday the Church remembers the mystery of Christ’s death on the Cross. The moving service known as “The Twelve Gospels” focuses upon the passion of Christ in which we, “commemorate the holy, saving and awesome sufferings of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ: the spitting, the striking, the scourging, the cursing, the mockery, the crown of thorns, the purple cloak, the rod, the sponge, the vinegar and gall, the nails, the spear.”

Holy Saturday contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s descent into Hades, where death is finally defeated by Life. Standing around the Tomb of Christ, we sing hymns of joyous lamentations as we behold Life in the Tomb. “The day embodies the fullest possible sense of the meaning of joyful-sadness, which has dominated the entire week. Holy Saturday is a day of strictest fast.

Seeing God

When life presents us with blessings or even struggles, whether or not we experience them as opportunities to draw closer to God, depends completely upon the condition of our hearts. Do you see God in the blessings and struggles of your life? It just takes allowing God to heal your vision, and open your heart to His grace.

I Have No Man

On this week's episode of Be Transfigured - Live a New Life in Christ! we discuss the healing of the paralytic who had been waiting for Christ thirty-eight years. When Jesus asked, "Do you want to be made well," his response was poignant when he said, “I have no man to put me into the water.” Jesus is the man we all need, the only true authentic human being who has come to save us from the paid and brokenness of this world. Whatever we need, He is willing to give us for our salvation. 

What do You Want from God?

Early in Jesus' earthly ministry, He came across man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years, who was lying by the pool of Bethesda. At certain times during the year, an angel of the Lord would come down from heaven, stir the water, and the one who entered the water first after the angel, would be healed. This man whom Jesus met, time after time, was too slow dragging himself into the pool. Though he failed to be healed after so many years, he never gave up hope. He never stopped waiting for God's mercy. Then one day, God arrived.

Jesus asked this man, "Do you want to be made well?" (John 5.6) This was a common dialogue between Jesus and those who would be healed, and the Gospel shares this with us for our inspiration? We should hear the question as if Jesus is asking US, "Do WE want to be healed?" Once we can open our hearts to Him, then He can heal us. This paralyzed man shared his need, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool," and Jesus met his need.

What DO you need from Jesus? Do you need peace? He will give it to you. Do you need faith? He will give it to you. Do you need salvation? He will give it to you. Jesus Christ, who was born, crucified, buried, and raised from the dead, has the power to accomplish your every NEED. Your part in this relationship is to share your inner most needs with Him, and let Him do the healing.

The Scriptures and the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearing Women

A special Bible study of the Scriptures passages, themes and hymns for the Third Sunday after Pascha, the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearing Women. This study is based on the series "A Year of the Lord, Liturgical Bible Studies" by Fr Theodore Stylianopoulos, and recorded LIVE at the Transfiguration of Our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, SC.

The Scriptures and the Sunday of Thomas

A special Bible study on the Scripture readings and themes for the Sunday after Pascha, the Sunday of Thomas, based upon the series "A Year of the Lord, Liturgical Bible Studies" by Father Theodore Stylianopoulos. Recorded live, April 30, 2014, at the Transfiguration of Our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, SC.

Jesus Reveals Himself Raised from the Dead

The Holy Apostle Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared to the Apostles after the Resurrection. So eight days later, He appeared again, this time so that Thomas might believe. When Jesus appeared, He said, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” (John 20.27)

We all need a boost from God every now and then so that we can strengthen our faith in Him.  As we heard during the Resurrection Liturgy, the beauty of the entire story of Jesus Christ, from His birth through to His death and glorious resurrection, is that HE CAME TO US, and “As many as received Him, to them [that means us] He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1.12)

Some did not, and still do not, believe in His Gospel, and each person has the freedom to accept or to deny Him. But for those who DESIRE to believe, Jesus always appears in the fashion needed. St Thomas wasn’t the only one who needed physical proof, which is why Jesus didn’t remain separate from us in Heaven, but came to reveal Himself to us.

But for those of us living in 2014, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20.29) For us, we can take comfort in the words of Saint Paul, “He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by the Cephas [St Peter], then by the twelve. After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once.” (1 Corinthians 15.5-6)

The Scriptures and the Feast of Feasts, Holy and Great Pascha

A Bible study focused on the Themes and Scriptures readings assigned for the Feast of Feasts, Great and Holy Pascha! This study is based upon the series "A Year of the Lord, Liturgical Bible Studies" by Father Theodore Stylianopoulos. We will be using Volume 4: Easter and Pentecost.