Christmas Reflection 2011

Beloved in the Lord,

“And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

On Christmas day, the Church proclaims to humanity the good tidings of the birth of the Savior who is “Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten not created… who, “for us men and our salvation came down from heaven and was Incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man” (Confession of Faith).

Holy Scripture, the hymnology of the Church, and the Orthodox Christian icon help us to focus on this, the greatest of mysteries. “He who knows no beginning now begins to be, and the Logos is made flesh” (Doxastikon of Christmas Orthros).The Divine Logos, “He who by nature is invisible is seen today in the flesh”. “He lowered the heavens and came down to fashion corrupt Adam anew” (hymns from the Lity authored by John the monk).

St. Paul writing to the Galatians proclaims that God sent forth His Son, “so that we may receive adoption as Sons” (4,5). To the Romans, he speaks of the consequences of this salvific miracle: “If we are children of God, then we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).

Studying the icon of the Nativity, we learn that Christmas is a Paschal mystery which culminates in the passion, death and Resurrection of Christ. The Incarnate Savior is seen in a sepulcher–shaped manger. He is wrapped in a winding burial cloth foreshadowing His repose in a sepulcher hewn from rock following his Crucifixion (Luke 23:53). The infant Jesus is not placed in a cradle, but on an altar of sacrifice symbolizing His death. The icon of the Nativity, however, points beyond darkness and death. A brilliant ray of light and an image of a dove pierce the darkness of the cave to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit. Above is the hand of the Father, the source of life. On the altar lies the incarnate Christ. In the poverty and misery of a manger, the three persons of the Holy Trinity appear. God is present and makes Himself known.

It is of paramount importance for us “to arise and behold the divine condescension from on high that is made manifest to us.” (Sticheron of the Sixth Hour). This is indeed difficult. The obstacles to Christian faith and practice raised by secular culture have unquestionably affected our lives. We are immersed in an environment beset by cynicism, apathy and selfishness — in a society that has lost its spiritual roots. Our culture has no time to reflect upon the “reason for the season.” It is reported that 98% of the references in various media highlight the impact of Christmas on the economy, on travel, on retail sales, etc. Few stories refer to the Son of God. Sadly, the media is only part of our culture which is determined to push Christ out of our sphere of interest. Public and private schools throughout America have removed references to Christmas from the classroom. The lyrics of traditional Christmas songs have been changed. ‘Silent Night’ has been changed to “Cold in the Night”. “We wish you a Merry Christmas” has been changed to “We wish you a swinging holiday.”

Under the influence of hedonistic consumerism, Christmas has lost its true meaning. Recently, shoppers filled retail department stores beginning at midnight in what has come to be known as “Black Friday”. Regrettably, some individuals — armed with pepper spray cans! — proved that they knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. The wisdom of the world claims that happiness comes from what you own, how much money or influence you have, how important other people think you are. St Paul reminds us that we celebrate the birth of Him who, “through he was rich, yet for your (our) sake became poor, so that by his poverty you (we) may become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). We celebrate the birth of Him who asks us,“what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

Christmas has always disturbed the conscience of the materialistic world. It has always challenged those who are on a frantic race to enrichment at all cost. It has always challenged those individuals whose selfishness and greed exploit the dignity and rights of their fellow human beings.

My brothers and sisters,

This Christmas, let us pause from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines to be alone with God. To pray. To read Holy Scripture. To read and reflect upon the beautiful hymns of our church which help us to focus on the Christmas miracle. Let us turn off our radios and televisions, our IPhones and IPads and everything else that is electronic. Let us hear the voices of the archangels proclaiming the birth of the Savior. Let us close our eyes to the blinding lights of the world so that we may see the light emanating from the cave in Bethlehem.

May that light radiate in our hearts and enlighten our minds this Christmas and every day of the New Year 2012.

With Archpastoral love

in the Incarnate Lord,

M E T H O D I O S

Metropolitan of Boston

For us Orthodox Christians, the changes in the moral standards in our society have occurred so slowly that they have become imperceptible. We have adapted to the slow deterioration of moral life in society to the point where we have adapted to the moral decay in our midst and have taken it for granted. Sadly we live in a world of moral and ethical relativism, hedonism and selfishness; in a world in desperate need of spiritual renewal. Sunday is no longer the day that we worship Almighty God and then sit at our dinner table to enjoy fellowship. Rarely do we read the Bible. Prayers are no longer offered in our schools. The Ten Commandments have been removed from our civil courts. Lifestyles previously kept in the closet are now championed as reputable and worthy of emulation. The other day while driving to a liturgical service, a fellow priest pointed to a decal placed prominently on the bumper of the car in front of us. It was the symbol of a new atheist group in America.

The admonition of Saint Paul addressed to the Ephesians should echo in our hearts, “no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” (Eph.4:17) We need to re evaluate our lives and ask ourselves how the way we live differs from the way others live who have no faith. Do we differ as Orthodox Christians from our secular and oftentimes atheist neighbors? How do we live our Orthodox Faith?

I am concerned that we have become so accustomed to sin and immoral behavior, that we do not notice it. We must not accept the prevailing permissive immoral and unethical standards of modern day society which are clearly at odds with the tenets of Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Fathers of the Church.

Remember the frogs in the experiment, and be wary of their mistake of growing accustomed to an environment which eventually caused their demise.

+ Metropolitan Methodios of Boston
October 2011

-First of all, it is a good thing to learn a foreign language.  Americans are not great at this, but I think a big reason is that each state speaks the same language (think Europe, where most neighboring states speak different languages and people tend to know more than one).  Greek is a heritage language for many of us at the Cathedral, but learning modern Greek opens the door to learning one of the great classical languages.  I can tell you that I did very well on my verbal SATs partly because if I didn’t know a word I could figure it out from Greek roots.

-Our school is accredited, and the teachers are certified in teaching Greek.  Our students can receive credit in school for these classes.  I should also mention that our teachers are awesome – tireless, dedicated, super-smart and able to make every day fresh and interesting.  Unlike my Greek School experience many years ago, our students are tracked – those who speak Greek at home go on one path, and those who don’t are put on another so they learn at the appropriate pace.

-Greek School at the Cathedral is more than just language.  The students learn religion, history and cultural stuff like dances and poems.  It is a great supplement to Sunday School and other ministries – time spent with fellow students in Greek School means more time at the church and more time with their church friends.

-The various performances during the year get the students comfortable with public speaking in high-pressure situations.  I know that memorizing and reciting poems as a little kid helped prepare me for what I do now; I am very comfortable speaking in public, and I am sure that those early performances (which I dreaded back in the day) were part of it.

I could go on with reasons.  Greek School is worth the driving and time commitment – we are blessed to have such a program.

I have been taking pictures throughout the projects (the ones in the link above were not taken by me) but haven’t posted them – for the most part people could see through the doors what was going on.  But below are two pictures I took because they are a piece of history and can be considered Cathedral archaeology.  The stairwell at the Russell/Cedar Streets corner (the one by what was the Food Pantry entrance) was demolished as part of the remodeling, but a segment of stairs remained, now buried behind the wall of the storage area where the stage used to be.  Here are pictures of the stairs before they were sealed up:

It is not just people who are away who are not coming to church.  Many take the summer off, for various reasons.  And this is to some extent understandable.  This may sound weird, but going to church at St. Spyridon can be very hard work, especially if you have children.  The church is crowded, everyone is talking to everyone after church, and a typical Sunday, even in the summer, often has lots of stuff happening.  Going to church can be stressful.  It is natural for people to seek a break from this.  The Cathedral also inadvertently encourages the vacation mentality.  Ministries like GOYA and Philoptochos largely go on hiatus during the summer months because they are so active that indeed a break is needed.  We also all sort of take for granted that “it is summer, everyone is away, etc.”, and don’t really blink an eye that attendance is down.

The flip side of this is that church is great during the summer.  It is more relaxed, and there is more of an opportunity, I think, to have a fulfilling spiritual experience than a typical raucous fall or spring Sunday at the Cathedral.  The weather is nice, so everyone is happy, and there are many cool saints and events celebrated – the blessing of the grapes on August 6, the saints we celebrated last week, the feast of the dormition which is many people’s favorite, and so forth.  Also, going to church is part of our normal life as Orthodox Christians.  Sunday liturgy is foundational to our lives, and to take off for 3 months is to equate church with school and work and other things that are not, perhaps, our favorite things.  Do we want to send the message that church is just something we do when we have to?  Will our children come to church when they are older if they see it is not a huge priority?

So, where to go from here?  If you generally skip church in the summer, try to come.  I always advise people who don’t go to church but want to to start coming once a month, invite family and friends, and make it a fun day with brunch after service.  If you normally come faithfully but take the summer off you can make it more than just once a month – I think you will find yourself pleasantly surprised at the service.  If you are away, seek out a local Orthodox church.  It is fun to go to a new place where you don’t know anyone and meet the locals.  Most places in the US will have a church nearby, and if you are in Greece, well, there you go.  Tomorrow is August 1, and we begin our services leading up to August 15.  A month after that is when things “start up again” at the church, with the feast of the Holy Cross.  Get a head start on coming back from vacation – start now!

This is the left side door and the left center door.  The shadow is me, the photographer:

Here are details from the doors showing both the beauty of the wood work as well as the contrast in finish:

Thanks especially to George Economou, who has taken the initiative in making this happen, and the rest of the House Committee.

-Most importantly, it is All Saints Day.  The Eastern churches celebrate this on the Sunday after Pentecost and the Western churches celebrate on Nov. 1 (I went to Catholic schools and we always had this day off – nice!).

-Fr. Andrew Damick, a good friend as well as koumbaros, will be joining us along with his family.  After service he will do a book-signing of his latest book, the excellent Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.  This is, I believe, Fr. Andrew’s fourth time serving at the Cathedral, so he is certainly no stranger.

-As always on Fathers Day we will honor high school and college graduates.  It is also Sunday School graduation.

-Summer hours officially start – orthros at 8:15, liturgy at 9:30.

-GOYA will be selling 3 liter tins of Agros olive oil after church.   This stuff is incredible – first cold press olive oil from Greece.  It is of the highest quality and, at $23 a tin, cheaper and better than what you would get at the grocery store.

Some people have noticed that I (discretely) text/check text messages during church.  I do this for several reasons – to check for emergencies, to communicate with PC members in the narthex (I would much rather someone text me than stomp up during the service and come into the altar), and other things.  I generally check two or three times during a service – nothing heavy.  I received a message Sat. night from our chancellor asking if I could go to a nearby church and finish the service for the priest, who had collapsed and was taken to the hospital.  I checked in with Fr. Dean, grabbed Chris (our seminarian) and took off.  It was a funny scene in the parking lot – many people were leaving after receiving the light, and in the middle of it so was one of the priests!  About halfway to our destination I talked to the president of the parish council at the church to which we were going and he said everyone had gone home.  I came back to Worcester, went to the emergency room, visited the priest – a mentor of mine who is thankfully doing fine now – and then came back to the Cathedral.  I substituted for him at the Agape service on Easter Sunday morning, and that was that.  It was definitely one of the most memorable Easters ever!

Bright Week was quite busy – in many ways, busier than Holy Week, where we just had services.  Poetry readings, several liturgies, funerals and baptisms, a genocide memorial service at the College of the Holy Cross, and many other happenings kept me running, and this week has been equally full.  I did, however, plant some early crops and start on the garden – more on that later.

Easter Sunday is not like any other day, but one that arrives after midnight with a singular sacredness and grace.  It comes with a joyous, salvific message.  Easter—or more correctly “Pascha”, is the manifestation of God’s love for us.  It is a love that we see clearly in Christ the Savior who suffered, died on a cross of pain, and who arose on the third day that we may have forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.  It is our Savior’s Resurrection from the Tomb that becomes our Passover, our Pascha, for as our hymns read this evening, “Christ has brought us from death to life, and from earth to Heaven” (Paschal canon, ode one).

Darkness is the realm of the Devil, of Satan, the Father of Lies and the Prince of Darkness.

Darkness shrouds our lives with loneliness, addiction, pain and resentment.  It permeates every aspect of our lives.  It seeds controversy and division which result in troubled marriages, dysfunctional families and broken friendships.

In his darkness Satan encircles the world in what seems to be an endless cycle of controversies, of violence and wars—-of conflicts in which Cain kills his brother Abel time and again, both literally and figuratively.

The devil is the source of satanic lies and vindictiveness which emanate from unbridled egos.  He is the manifestation of selfishness, of racism and hunger, of homelessness and hopelessness.

It is this darkness that the unwaning light of the Lord’s Resurrection shatters.  In the seemingly impenetrable gloom of hopelessness and death, the Resurrection of our Savior comes as an eruption of blinding light.  The lifeless Tomb of darkness which held captive Adam and Eve and all their descendants is thrown open by Him who is Life itself.  The Risen Lord leads our Passover—our “Pascha”.  A new creation is born.  As St. Peter teaches in his first Epistle, “By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1,3)

Our hymns this evening joyfully proclaim, “A sacred Pascha has been shown forth this day.”  We celebrate Pascha tonight.  It is the Lord’s Pascha, “Pascha Kiriou Pascha”.  It is also ourPascha, our personal Passover as the Risen Lord leads all of us in this Cathedral from a state of darkness to light, from sin to righteousness, from sadness to joy, from death to life, from this transient world to the everlasting Kingdom of God.

The first Passover led God’s people from Egypt to the Promised Land.  Our Lord’s Resurrection—the new creation of the world, the new Pascha—delivers us from the bondage of spiritual death.  As we chant this evening, the Lord leads us “to life and from earth to heaven as we sing the triumphant Paschal hymn “ (the Canon of Paschal ode one)

In the Church, we live the Paschal Mystery by communing the precious Body and Blood of the Risen Lord during the Divine Liturgy.  It is this renewing power that the Church shares in every time and in every place.

And so my brothers and sisters, let us advance fearlessly into a world mired in darkness armed with the blazing light of our Lord’s Resurrection.  Receiving the unwaning light from the life giving Tomb, let us embrace one another and bear the light to all who await a personal Pascha.