tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42484620079657798602024-03-14T11:24:45.004-04:00The Pearl of Great Price'In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded, and in its pureness a great mystery, even the Body of our Lord which is well-refined: in its undividedness I saw the Truth which is undivided.' - St. Ephraim the SyrianUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-71352871043451326262013-03-09T13:14:00.001-05:002014-05-22T17:45:24.408-04:00"Follow along" - How projector screens and liturgical texts may actually be more a hindrance than a help in the liturgy - (Fr. Aidan Kavanagh)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Ask Samuel L. Jackson, the only thing scarier than
'snakes on a plane,' are projector screens in an Orthodox church! When you
think of projector screens being hung above (or even in front of) an
iconostasis projecting the liturgical text, your first inclination might
be to assume that such use of modernity must obviously be
a good thing. Rationally, it would only make sense that this
technology would help parishioners "follow along" during a
divine liturgy, allowing everyone to be fully engaged
in the worship. Makes sense, right? Well, not quite. This well intended
addition which has crept its way into our liturgical
worship over the past few years may actually be more a hindrance than a
help. </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Participation in the
divine liturgy involves every person in a parish, not just the clergy, and choir - it is to be participated in corporately. Our
goal in liturgy is not to mindlessly recite prayers, neither is it
to listen to someone else recite the prayers, but rather, it
is to experience communion with God and with the body of Christ, that
being the Church. The words being prayed and sung should become our words, expressing the groans of our heart. The liturgical
text should not be viewed as some magical incantation someone
wrote centuries ago that requires a congregation to
patiently allow for the prayers to have their desired affect on the
gifts placed on the altar, but rather, the liturgical prayers should be internalized, and 'chewed' on by our whole being. Therefore, it is also less important to be
caught up trying to 'follow along,' and more important to truly
be present in the corporate liturgical dance.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Some might
be thinking here, "What about visitors and catechumens? Wouldn't they
benefit from a projector screen?" – Great question! Of course all churches
should make sure they have books available for new comers. However, making
these texts available should be for the express purpose to encourage
these individuals to also to participate in the liturgy, the
books should never be allowed to be used as a type
of distraction from what is happening around them. Imagine for a moment
while you are watching a film someone hands you the
script to the movie so you can 'follow along' - would
it be safe to assume that most people wouldn't find that enjoyable?
Imagine all that person would miss! Would you or anyone you know be
just as involved in the plot of the film if they were simply reading,
neither really watching and/or listening? This is one of the many
reasons why musical and theater performances do not hand their
patrons the text being used. A person is meant to live the experience, not
to 'follow along.' <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Typography, by its nature, separates and
compartmentalizes information, making it impossible for a complete and rich
experience. Applying this observation to reading off a screen while
participating in liturgical worship, it comes as no surprise why many complain
that liturgical prayers often lack a 'prayerful feel.' And how could
such liturgies be prayerful when they are reduced to a
'read-along'? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Delving into this dilemma further, it may
be worthwhile examining just how text and typography
actually influences our cognition and what affects it may
have on our engagement with the world. Canadian communications
theorist and philosopher Marshall McLuhan, wrote extensively on the effects of
typography and text on individuals and society. According to McLuhan, unlike in
times past or in cultures where typography is not considered the primary mode
of communication, we in our modern Western culture have significantly
lowered our ability to synthesize the world around us. It may be worth
mentioning that McLuhan also believed that the invention of print
technology and its ontologically disjunctive nature contributed to the rise of
individualism, capitalism, and nationalism - all of which could be argued are
anti-liturgical ideologies.</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
</span><em>Below is an excerpt from Fr. Aidan Kavanagh (a liturgical theologian) on the affects of text on the liturgy and our liturgical participation. Enjoy!</em></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3Gg0slvVvqkz_BfjNO4Cp7iZ31l4mRWOXtDne5Yhsh0xmC5tke1bQNTxLgqcD9j4IA77QnOGTbIrT12FRP5aVw41Z7nLycFH0vksvcqpaQKaELzxWf1hv-eBO1AIZHj1rP5Mk_cWxf2A/s1600/beforeafter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3Gg0slvVvqkz_BfjNO4Cp7iZ31l4mRWOXtDne5Yhsh0xmC5tke1bQNTxLgqcD9j4IA77QnOGTbIrT12FRP5aVw41Z7nLycFH0vksvcqpaQKaELzxWf1hv-eBO1AIZHj1rP5Mk_cWxf2A/s1600/beforeafter.jpg" height="400" width="367" /></span></a></span></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Fr. Aidan Kavanagh</span></strong></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The affects of text on the liturgy and our liturgical participation</span></strong></span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.nd.edu/oblation/files/2012/07/AidanKavanagh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://blogs.nd.edu/oblation/files/2012/07/AidanKavanagh.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Fr. Aidan Kavanagh (1933-2011)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Catholic priest and Yale professor</span> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">"<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But an
even more important development than liturgical hypertrophy was </span><st1:place><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Europe</span></st1:place><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">'s unavoidable slide into textual absorption,
something stimulated by the invention of printing. Northern Europeans became
literary humanists rather as southern Europeans had become aesthetic humanists,
and proponents of the Reformation were largely men of the north who fell as
easily into textual obsession with the Bible as they did into mistrust of
urbane aesthetes from south of the Alps. The technology of printing helped to
blow apart a moribund medieval world, unleashing forces which the modem world
copes with uneasily still. And while it would be too much to say that printing
reduced God's Word into words, since writing itself was responsible for that,
it would be true to say that printing turned God's Words into a text which all
people, literate or not, could now see as lines of type marching across a page.
God's Word could now for the first time be visualized by all, not in the
multivalency of a "presence" in corporate act or icon but linearly in
horizontal lines which could be edited, reset, revised, fragmented, and studied
by all—something which few could have done before. A Presence which had
formerly been experienced by most as a kind of enfolding embrace had now
modulated into an abecedarian printout to which only the skill of literacy
could give complete access. God could now be approached not only through
burning bushes, sacralized spaces, and holy symbols and events, but through
texts so cheaply reproduced as to be available to all. Rite and its symbols
could be displaced or got round altogether, and so could the whole of the
living tradition which provided the gravitational field holding them together
in an intelligible union. Rite became less a means than an obstacle for the new
textual piety. And once rite receded, so did the need for that kind of assembly
whose common burden was the enactment of rite rather than attendance upon
didactic exposition of set texts. The truth lies now exclusively in the text;
no longer on the walls, or in the windows, or in the liturgical activity of
those who occupy the churches. Protestant iconoclasm was thus not, nor could it
have been, selective or corrective. It was programmatic and across the board.
It did not modify an old equation but wrote a new one.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The liturgy was
thus constricted to a set of texts which could not only be put cheaply into the
hands of each member of the assembly, but which could be altered quickly and
controlled effectively even down to the details of layout and typography by
groups of experts whose competencies were often tangential to the rite itself.
Under such conditions, the liturgical action tended to shrink from being a
complex diversity of intermeshing ministries and roles working together toward
common ritual and symbolic purpose</span>, to concern itself more with the individual reaction of the </span>worshiper<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to
a text held in the hand and followed with the eye. Sermons, exhortations, and
biblical readings could be followed with the eye as they were being read aloud
by the minister. The liturgy began to shift from rite as an enacted style of
common life carried on in rich symbolic ambiguity to the simultaneous reading
and recitation of printed texts which were increasingly didactic in nature. </span></span></span></span></div>
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It is not easy for us who live on this side of the invention of printing to sense how very novel this sort of liturgy was to one who had never seen liturgical texts during worship but had only heard them, to one who therefore never felt compelled to sit still in ranks of immovable pew resembling lines of type marching across a page and to follow what was said aloud by watching a text or reading a score."</div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;">Sam Jackson in 'Snakes on a Plane' </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;">The possible name for a sequel to this award winner is, "Projector screens in a church"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(<span style="font-size: small;">Just to be clear, liturgical books are not inherently evil, but our obsessive need to 'follow along' may be pulling us away from experiencing what is happening around us and with us in the liturgy. The pinnacle of corporate prayer is thus reduced to an individualistic pursuit. We should lay aside all distractions, even the personal pious ones. )</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><o:p><strong>Source:</strong></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
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<ul><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: Sylfaen;">
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</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">Aidan Kavanagh, </span><em style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">On Liturgical Theology</em><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">, pp. 103 -106</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: Sylfaen;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">
</span>
<li><span class="reference-text" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Marshall McLuhan, <em>Gutenberg Galaxy</em>, pp. 124 –126</span></li>
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</span><strong><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></strong><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua; font-size: x-small;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-6434307796947911412013-03-06T11:02:00.001-05:002013-03-13T14:26:19.962-04:00Bishop Bulus al-Bushi: A theologian from the 'golden age' of the Coptic Orthodox Church - On 'theosis' (union with God)<span style="font-size: small;">Anba (Bishop) Bulus
al-Bushi (ca. 1170-1250) was one of a select group of Arabic speaking Egyptian
theologians that helped shape the Coptic “golden age” set in the Ayyubid rule
of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. His
name reflects the fact that he was from “Bush,” a town located in Middle Egypt (just
north of Beni Suef). Much of the early part of his career, was spent as a monk,
probably at the Monastery of Anba Samuel Qalamun in the Fayum, a large
agricultural oasis located adjacent to the <st1:place><st1:placename>Nile</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place>, southwest of <st1:city><st1:place>Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>.
During the last decade of his life, he served as bishop of Old Cairo, the most
prestigious of the local Egyptian bishoprics at the time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />
Below is an excerpt taken from Bishop Bulus' exegesis of John 6 found in his treatise 'On the Incarnation,' emphasizing the role of the eucharist in theosis. (John 6 is a well known scriptural passage which is incorporated in the liturgies of both the Eastern and Western churches)</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmnfeSnLNqMWduPBv9qCeU9KskaA9BntsegLU_cvf369hpUdunMMM-PBO1zFEbrom4VbLK2UAJSPU9aLDRk4h7voGzsNnDDzoKWenb2tETvBdWYiWAV3-XGpJ4W9F6703uWGsiO8OFMgah/s1600/434060115_9a86858a17_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmnfeSnLNqMWduPBv9qCeU9KskaA9BntsegLU_cvf369hpUdunMMM-PBO1zFEbrom4VbLK2UAJSPU9aLDRk4h7voGzsNnDDzoKWenb2tETvBdWYiWAV3-XGpJ4W9F6703uWGsiO8OFMgah/s400/434060115_9a86858a17_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church of the Virgin Mary (Hanging Church) in Old Cairo, dating to the 3rd C.<br />
Bishop Bulus likely prayed many divine liturgies and delivered countless sermons in this ancient church. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><strong><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Bulus al-Bushi</span></span> - 'On the Incarnation'</strong></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><em>Chapter Eight: God
Granted Us Participation in the Body of Christ</em></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">
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"Then
in his favour he added a confirmation. He willed to grant us participation in
that holy body and a connection with it by a most excellent spiritual kinship that
transcends the bodily kinship, to the extent that the eternal life which that body
acquired becomes in us completely and rightly natural.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p><br />
God
gave to us first the Holy Spirit through baptism, the Spirit that he had extracted
from Adam the day that he ate from the branch of disobedience. Through the
Spirit he provided us with the second birth for our inheritance of the kingdom,
just as he said, ‘Unless one has been born of the water and the spirit, he will
not see the <st1:place><st1:placetype>kingdom</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>God</st1:placename></st1:place>.’</div>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p>Then,
afterwards, he gave us an additional (sign of his) favour, over and above the
state Adam was in before his error: he gave us his life-giving body. As he
said, ‘I am the life-giving bread, which came down from heaven. Whoever eats of
this bread will live forever!’ Then he told us what the bread is when he said, ‘The
bread that I give is my body, which I offer up for the life of the world.’ Indeed,
he even added to that another announcement, when he said, ‘If you have not
eaten the body of the Son of Man, nor drunk his blood, there is no eternal life
in you.’ His statement, ‘in you’, means that it (eternal life) comes to
existence in your essential nature. It is not external to you, nor is it alien
to you. He settled that matter and said, ‘Because my body is true food, and my
blood is true drink, whoever has eaten my body and has drunk my blood remains
in me, and I in him.’ As for his statement, ‘true food’, he said that because
his divinity is united with his body. He has been united with the holy bread
and has transformed it into his body in truth and not merely in likeness. Then
he said the greatest thing, when he made the statement, ‘Just as the living
Father sent me, and I have life on account of the<o:p></o:p></div>
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Father,
so too whoever eats me lives on account of me.’ He did not need to say in this
instance, ‘whoever eats my body’, because he already had established that in
the preceding statement. He said first, ‘the living bread’, and informed us
that that bread was truly his body. Then he said third, ‘whoever eats me’. He means
by this that he is God incarnate, and his divinity is not differentiated from
his humanity. Whoever partakes (of the Eucharist) in a worthy manner and with faith,
God will reside in him and give him the life that he gave to the body united to
him. The apostle said, ‘He is ready to change the body of our weakness and transform
it into something resembling the body of his glory, as the work of his powerful
hand to which everything is devoted in service. As for his statement, ‘the
Father lives, and I live on account of the Father’, (its meaning is), just as was
introduced earlier in the first part of this book, that he is perfection from
perfection, and ‘light from light, life from life, true God from true God,
begotten not made, equal to the Father in essence’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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Whoever
does not have his share of faith in him, nor has received baptism, nor has
participation in his living thrones, also does not truly have a share in the inheritance
of eternal life, but rather is completely alien to it altogether, because ‘flesh
and blood’ (as the Apostle Paul said) ‘does not inherit the kingdom of God, and
the changeable does not inherit what does not change’. Indeed, there does not reside
in a human being anything that is more exalted than him—that which is more exalted
is the Holy Spirit and the living thrones that belong to God the Word who is their
master and creator. Therefore, such a one has no share or inheritance in that
eternal kingdom! Now as for the ones who died first, he came and saved their
souls through his own sacrifice on their behalf, since they relied on the hope
of the promise. As for the believers, he gave them his thrones on account of
their (way of) life, as he testified, saying, ‘Whoever believes in me, if he
dies, he will live. And whoever lives and believes in me, will never suffer
death.’ In this statement, he gathered together the first and the last."<o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
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Source:</div>
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<span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><div align="LEFT">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
Bulus
al-Bushı<em>, On the Incarnation, ed. <span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Samir
Khalil Samir,<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"><em>Traite´de
Paul de Bus sur l’unite et la trinite l’incarnation,<o:p></o:p></em></span><br />
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"><em>et
la verite du christianisme (Maqaah fı al-tathlıth wa<o:p></o:p></em></span><br />
<div align="LEFT">
<em>al-tajassud wasihh at al-masıhıyah)</em>,
Patrimoine Arabe<o:p></o:p><br />
<div align="LEFT">
Chretien
4 (Zouk Mikhail: al-Turath al-‘Arabı al-<o:p></o:p><br />
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Masıh, 1983), 187–227. Trans. S. Davis.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div align="LEFT">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span><div align="LEFT">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div align="LEFT">
<div align="LEFT">
</div>
<span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><em>
</em></span></span><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AdvP7063; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-60925869983466148142013-03-04T13:21:00.003-05:002013-03-04T13:28:34.032-05:00Return to the Father - Our lenten journey<span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: small;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5RgGKuJsXuKrLXSjY0rJmCZEaV9pKwHYIAVE72R3B8zptGDhmUileuhFD_wHV1Ya8H5uyxDlQ2K1OgOdEsfbzYE3GUhrk1AAUg9pvctvhiVjvWSger-Fbhk0_Wgh_gyJ5yo6wBbPAEB3W/s400/rembrandt-the-return-of-the-prodigal-son1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5RgGKuJsXuKrLXSjY0rJmCZEaV9pKwHYIAVE72R3B8zptGDhmUileuhFD_wHV1Ya8H5uyxDlQ2K1OgOdEsfbzYE3GUhrk1AAUg9pvctvhiVjvWSger-Fbhk0_Wgh_gyJ5yo6wBbPAEB3W/s400/rembrandt-the-return-of-the-prodigal-son1.jpg" height="200" width="162" /></a><span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Sylfaen;">"From
beginning to end the lenten services of the Church call us to return to God our
Father. </span><span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Sylfaen;">The theme of the parable of the prodigal son runs through the entire
season. We have wasted what our good God has given us. We have ruined our lives
and our world. We have polluted the air, the water and the earth. The birds and
the fish, the plants and the animals, grieve because of our wickedness. We have
corrupted our bodies and minds. We have abandoned communion with God and the
joy of His dwelling. We have gone off on our own, following our own ideas,
enacting our own plans. And the result is that we are away from our true home,
lost in a far country, living among swine. Through our reckless wasting of the
gifts given by God we have stripped ourselves of our original glory, wisdom,
beauty and strength: we have lost our divine legacy as children of God. And the
whole cosmos suffers with us in our affliction." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Sylfaen;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Sylfaen;">- The Lenten Spring by Fr. Thomas Hopko</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Sylfaen; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Sylfaen;"><o:p><strong>Parable of the prodigal son from the film Jesus of Nazareth</strong></o:p></span></div>
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(a must watch)</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/14epxvU8XIA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-13402020359691439602013-02-28T22:33:00.000-05:002013-12-13T20:35:17.076-05:00"The heresy of the self-appointed reanointers" - How a member of the so-called 'Chalcedonian' and 'Non-Chalcedonian' Churches ought to be received into full communion by the sister ChurchIf you've recently been reanimated from the ice chamber you stepped into
1500 years ago, please allow me to bring you up to speed on our times; the
world is a much smaller place than you remember.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuwuEBRwH4qVU6yaeq2bakCPy07q-CWJfDdcq9BiuODsD2aZzOpXZ4wnysJrUA8XG_w_1nSJJRfeCP8VH-GRlkihHr0f1FqmYQNbF3kVLp6gGCKyNv7t46sKawrvMOfdJMX9wScp_yYM/s1600/rebaptism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuwuEBRwH4qVU6yaeq2bakCPy07q-CWJfDdcq9BiuODsD2aZzOpXZ4wnysJrUA8XG_w_1nSJJRfeCP8VH-GRlkihHr0f1FqmYQNbF3kVLp6gGCKyNv7t46sKawrvMOfdJMX9wScp_yYM/s1600/rebaptism.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
Growing up in one of <st1:place>North America</st1:place>'s largest cities, my school yard was a tiny microcosm of the wide diversity that exists in our world. I have many happy memories growing playing with friends, many who like me, came from some exotic land and had their own customs and traditions that were unfamiliar to the rest of us. This wide variety of traditions even extended into the differences between myself and many of my Christian chums.
Some of my friends were the theological progeny of so-called 'monophysites,'
Athonite 'belly gazers,' numerous 'papists' (I attended a Catholic school), and
even one 'Nestorian.' As I grew older, I was taught who was the most orthodox
in God's taxonomy of Church order. I fear other Sunday school children
might also have been taught a similar taxonomy; one which places their Church/jurisdiction superior to all others. What happened? Beyond what you might
believe, Greeks do not have four heads, Copts do not breath fire, and Catholics
do not have horns. We should periodically remind ourselves of this until either the union of the Church is complete, or the arrival of the eschaton... whichever comes first.<br />
<br />
I should say right off the bat that the problem of Ecumenism is too complicated for even the most seasoned theologians to solve, so it can be safely assumed that no blog entry will ever solve (or undermine fully) the issue. Only in the light of Christ and by our genuine repentance can we hope to heal these ancient schisms. In any case, Ecumenism as such isn't really the point of
this entry. Sorry to disappoint.<br />
<br />
Today's post is intended to present the Canons and instructions
from the Fathers of both the 'Chalcedonian' and 'non-Chalcedonian' Churches
pertaining to the proper procedure on how a Church community
ought to receive a parishioner coming from a sister Apostolic Church (ie. Catholic,
Byzantine Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox). This is without a doubt a pertinent topic in our times; not since the 7th century have so many 'Chalcedonians' and 'Non-Chalcedonians' been in such close contact. As we all know, technology has made the world a smaller place, and we are now able to experience the beauty of the various liturgical rites in a way which was unavailable to us in the past. Consequently, many are beginning to participate and even join other apostolic churches other than the ones they were first baptize and brought up in. This small percentage of people who leave one jurisdiction for another are providing us with a sample test to see how truly ecumenically minded we are. So how ought these individuals be received according to the canons and teachings of the Fathers...?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em></em> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em>I'll provide you with the answer right here, and I'll copy the primary
source proofs below - </em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="color: red;">No priest from the Catholic, Byzantine, or Oriental church ought to receive a parishioner coming
from another apostolic church through chrismation, let alone baptism; such individuals are to
be received solely through a confession of faith.</span></strong></div>
<br />
<br />
----------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p><br />
<strong>Oriental Orthodox:</strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Chrismation of Chalcedonians was not tolerated by St Timothy Aelurus, or St
Philoxenus, or St Severus. In fact, Severus railed against what he called “the
heresy of the self-appointed reanointers,” i.e., those of his fellow
Non-Chalcedonians who advocated re-chrismation of Chalcedonians.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b></b> </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;">
<b>OF
THE HOLY SEVERUS, A LETTER TO ELISHA THE PRESBYTER </b><st1:stockticker><b><st1:stockticker>AND</st1:stockticker></b></st1:stockticker><b>
ARCHIMANDRITE, </b><st1:stockticker><st1:stockticker><b>AND</b></st1:stockticker></st1:stockticker><b>
THE REST </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong><o:p>(XXXIV)</o:p></strong><o:p></o:p></div>
<em><o:p></o:p></em><br />
<em>As to those who have been converted from the error of
Theodotus, we say this much, that, if there are some who received ordination
from Theodotus himself, since he was a bishop legally appointed, but was
afterwards perverted to the abominable tenet of a selfcreated observance, I
mean that of the illegal re-anointing, and to a change as to the faith, so that
he does not confess that our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who is of one essence with
the Father in the Godhead, himself became also of one essence with us without
variation, and took our likeness, except sin only, </em><strong><i><span style="color: red;">let these be subject to the periods of penance which Timothy
of saintly memory, archbishop of Alexandria, laid down with regard to those who
are converted from the heresy of the Diphysites.</span></i><o:p></o:p></strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Elsewhere, he refers to the condemnation of one who did chrismate those
coming from the Chalcedonians.<o:p></o:p><br />
<i></i><br />
<i>For you teach those who stand to keep the orthodox faith, and to practice
a devout and just life: while to those who have been led away to error you
teach the way of repentance by giving them forgiveness canonical and legal… <strong><span style="color: red;">Whence also a certain Theodotus, one of the bishops of
Palestine, because he presumed to anoint certain persons, was repudiated and
expelled, both by Timothy archbishop of the city of the Alexandrines and by all
who shared his opinions.</span></strong></i><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
St Severus, regarding re-ordination: <o:p></o:p><br />
<i></i><br />
<i>About those who have erred and fallen away to heretical communion, and
have repented and wish to come back to the truth by the path of legal
penitence…<strong><span style="color: red;">Whereas some, as I learn, of those
who are said to have been re-ordained, a thing horrible even to hear.</span></strong></i><br />
<i><strong><span style="color: red;"></span></strong></i><o:p></o:p><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong>A text for the reconciling of
Byzantines and others to the Oriental Orthodox Church dated 1854 has the
following requirements.</strong><o:p></o:p></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Must fast through Great Lent <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">He should pray the prayers
from the Book of Hours<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">He must confess the creed of <st1:city><st1:place>Nicaea</st1:place></st1:city>
without addition or omission<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Then he should confess faith
in the unity of Christ<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Then he may participate with
the faithful in prayer and in the liturgy.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
Rubrics in the document show that there is an absolution, taken from the
Third Hour, and that while the priest prays it he holds the Gospel, the vase of
Myron and his hand cross on the head of the one seeking to be received. It is
clearly noted that the seal of the vase of the Myron remains sealed while the
priest makes the sign of the cross three times with it.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
This is consistent with the most ancient practice and does not require any
anointing at all. <br />
<o:p><br />
-------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p><br />
<strong>Catholic and </strong><st1:place><st1:placename><strong>Byzantine</strong></st1:placename><strong> Orthodox:</strong></st1:place><br />
<st1:place><strong></strong></st1:place><br />
On the Chalcedonian side too, we can see an analogous development in canon 95 of the Synod in Trullo, a synod which for the Chalcedonian Orthodox possesses ecumenical authority: Those coming over from among the Non-Chalcedonians are to be received simply by profession of faith, not by anointing with chrism or, a fortiori, by rebaptism<o:p></o:p><br />
</o:p><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Canon 95 of Quinisext Council</strong><o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong>(often called the Council in Trullo or the Penthekte Synod)</strong><o:p></o:p></div>
<em></em><br />
<em>As for heretics who are joining Orthodoxy and the portion of the saved, we accept them in accordance with the subjoined sequence and custom. Arians and Macedonians and Novatians, who called themselves Cathari and Aristeri, and the Tessarakaidekatitae, or, at any rate, those called Tetradites and Apolinarists, we accept, when they give us certificates (called libelli); and when they anathematize every heresy that does not believe as the holy catholic and Apostolic Church of God believes, and are sealed, i.e., are anointed first with holy myron on the forehead and the eyes, and the nose and mouth, and the ears, while we are anointing them and sealing them we say, "A seal of a gift of Holy Spirit."</em><o:p></o:p><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>As concerning Paulianists who have afterwards taken refuge in the Catholic Church, a definition has been promulgated that they have to be rebaptized without fail. As for Eunomians, however, who baptize with a single immersion, and Montanists who are hereabouts called Phrygians and Sabellians; who hold the tenet of Hyiopatoria (or modalistic monarchianism) and do other embarrassing things; and all other heresies—for there are many hereabouts, especially those hailing from the country of the Galatians—as for all of them who wish to join Orthodoxy, we accept them as Greeks. Accordingly, on the first day, we make them Christians; on the second day, catechumens; after this, on the third day we exorcise them by breathing three times into their faces and into their ears. And thus we catechize them, and make them stay for a long time in church and listen to the Scriptures, and then we baptize them.</em><o:p></o:p><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>As for Manicheans, and Valentinians, and Marcionists, and those from similar heresies, </em><strong><i><span style="color: red;">they have to give us certificates (called libelli) and anathematize their heresy, the Nestorians, and Nestorius, and Eutyches and Dioscorus, and Severus, and the other exarchs of such heresies, and those who entertain their beliefs, and all the aforementioned heresies, and thus they are allowed to partake of Holy Communion.</span></i></strong><br />
-----------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p><br />
http://www.svots.edu/content/beyond-dialogue-quest-eastern-and-oriental-orthodox-unity-today<o:p></o:p><br />
http://jbburnett.com/resources/erickson_reception-svtq97.pdf<o:p></o:p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-40312393629360262652013-02-23T11:31:00.004-05:002013-02-23T15:04:03.658-05:00'The Pearl' by St.Ephraim the Syrian - Hymn ISaint Ephraim of Syria (ca. 306-373), having written countless hymns and sermons exclusively in the Syriac language, is especially beloved within the Syriac Orthodox Church. The Pearl contains eight hymns praising God for his love and offer of salvation. The collection takes its name from Jesus’ parable of the Pearl of Great Price (Matthew 13:45-46). As in the parable, a beautiful pearl symbolizes God’s kingdom, irresistible and perfect. In verse that retains its beauty in translation, St. Ephraim explores how God’s grace changes lives.<br />
<br />
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<b>HYMN I.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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** 1. **<o:p></o:p></div>
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On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren; <o:p></o:p></div>
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I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom;<o:p></o:p></div>
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Semblances and types of the Majesty; <o:p></o:p></div>
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It became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand,<o:p></o:p></div>
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That I might examine it: <o:p></o:p></div>
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I went to look at it on one side, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And it proved faces on all sides.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I found out that the Son was incomprehensible, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since He is wholly Light.</div>
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In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded,<o:p></o:p></div>
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And in its pureness a great mystery, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Even the Body of Our Lord which is well-refined: <o:p></o:p></div>
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In its undivideness I saw the Truth <o:p></o:p></div>
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Which is undivided.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was so that I saw there its pure conception, <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Church, and the Son within her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And her type the heaven, </div>
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Since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I saw therein his Trophies, and His victories, and His crowns. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I saw His helpful and overflowing graces, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And His hidden things with His revealed things. <o:p></o:p></div>
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** 2. **</div>
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It was greater to me than the ark, <o:p></o:p></div>
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For I was astonied thereat: <o:p></o:p></div>
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I saw therein folds without shadow to them <o:p></o:p></div>
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Because it was a daughter of light, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Types vocal without tongues, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Utterances of mystery without lips, <o:p></o:p></div>
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A silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters; <o:p></o:p></div>
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Be not thou daring then;<o:p></o:p></div>
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Leave things hidden, take things revealed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower; <o:p></o:p></div>
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The clefts of thine ears, <o:p></o:p></div>
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As from the clouds,</div>
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They are filled with interpretations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And as that manna which alone filled the people, <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the place of pleasant meats, <o:p></o:p></div>
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With its pleasantnesses, <o:p></o:p></div>
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So does this pearl fill me in the place of books, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And the reading thereof, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And the explanations thereof.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries, <o:p></o:p></div>
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It had no mouth for me that I might hear from, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Neither any ears wherewith it might hear me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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O Thou thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!</div>
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** 3. **</div>
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It answered me and said, <o:p></o:p></div>
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"The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea! <o:p></o:p></div>
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And from that sea whence I came up it is <o:p></o:p></div>
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That there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!</div>
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"I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonied,<o:p></o:p></div>
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So that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground; <o:p></o:p></div>
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For a few moments they sustained it not. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?</div>
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"The waves of the Son are full of blessing, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And with mischiefs too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Then she is preserved? <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And how shall ye be kept alive? <o:p></o:p></div>
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And the men of <st1:city>Sodom</st1:city> were
licked up by the fire, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And how shall ye prevail? <o:p></o:p></div>
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"At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And Leviathan also.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Have ye then a heart of stone <o:p></o:p></div>
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That ye read these things and run into these errors? <o:p></o:p></div>
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O great fear that justice also should be so long silent!"</div>
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** 4. **<o:p></o:p></div>
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"Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And whether of the two will prevail? <o:p></o:p></div>
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From the tongue <o:p></o:p></div>
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The incense of praise riseth<o:p></o:p></div>
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Along with the fume of disputation <o:p></o:p></div>
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And unto which shall we hearken? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Prayer and prying from one mouth, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And which shall we listen to?<o:p></o:p></div>
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"For three days was Jonah a neighbour in the sea: <o:p></o:p></div>
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The living things that were in the sea were affrighted, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Saying, 'Who shall flee from God? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jonah fled, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'"<o:p></o:p></div>
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http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ephraim/pearl/pearl.html</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-11665222164342740822013-02-22T16:55:00.000-05:002014-05-22T17:39:01.028-04:00Was Dioscorus of Alexandria a Eutychian (monophysite) heretic?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6GTzD0bhIqB9ag83Fo1xN0xsOz45JIwMlqoL0DcmU0SjE39i2s7UD-qwE6JIG6Oyyai6-6q_OhejApv5EBIh1_dm4SeLPWn8fUYqfXynDQ-c67xBhu-OOBx_whYl7IKOgmNmGavN1NZJ/s1600/St_Dioscorus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6GTzD0bhIqB9ag83Fo1xN0xsOz45JIwMlqoL0DcmU0SjE39i2s7UD-qwE6JIG6Oyyai6-6q_OhejApv5EBIh1_dm4SeLPWn8fUYqfXynDQ-c67xBhu-OOBx_whYl7IKOgmNmGavN1NZJ/s320/St_Dioscorus.jpg" height="320" width="124" /></a><i>Some personal advice before I get to today's post:<br /><br />If you want to sound like a true theologian, go out and get yourself an opinion about Dioscorus of Alexandria (? - 454). And don't worry, it doesn't have to be based on fact... actually, many people might give you extra points for making things up! :)</i><br />
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Over the past many centuries, much ink has been spilled discussing the character and theology of Dioscorus of Alexandria. Considered a saint by some, and worst than heartburn by others, he is one of those people who God has blessed as being a meeting point for unnecessary discussion and conjecture of all sorts.<br />
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Below is a letter penned by Dioscorus while in exile (post Chalcedon), to the monks of the Hennaton. The letter draws attention to two major points regarding Dioscorus' Christology:<br />
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<li>Dioscorus' Christological position was clearly in line with that of his contemporaries, namely Leo the Great (at some points, it even oddly mirrors portions from the Tome of Leo). He overtly attests to Christ's perfect divinity and perfect humanity, and the union of the two natures with neither nature diminishing or diffusing the other in the least. <br /> </li>
<li>It should be immediately obvious to the reader of this letter that Dioscorus sees himself as a "great defender of Christianity" against the 'Nestorians' of Chalcedon; imitating his predecessor Cyril. He says to the monks, "<i>Hold to the Confession, therefore, of the fathers and do not listen to the soul destroying words of Heretics, nor hold intercourse with those who divide into Two Him Who is One; for, One is our Redeemer, as I said, although out of compassion for us He became Man.</i>"<strong> - </strong>Of course, the Fathers of Chalcedon were not 'dividing Christ into two,' Dioscorus was obviously mistaken to think so. <br /><br />(It's worth noting that the Fathers of Chalcedon did not depose Dioscorus as a heretic, but rather for his administrative management of Ephesus II. It was not till the 6th Ecumenical Council that he was called a blasphemer and a heretic) </li>
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<b>FROM A LETTER OF THE BLESSED DIOSCORUS THE ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, WRITTEN FROM EXILE IN GANGRA, TO THE MONKS OF THE HENNATON</b></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><strong><span style="color: black;"></span></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">I am fully aware, having been educated in the Faith, respecting Him (Christ) that He was born of the Father, as God, and that the Same was born of Mary, as Man. Men saw Him as Man walking on the Earth and they saw Him, the Creator of the Heavenly Hosts, as God. They saw Him sleeping in the ship, as Man, and they saw Him walking upon the waters, as God. They saw Him hungry, as Man, and they saw Him feeding (others), as God. They saw Him thirsty, as Man, and they saw Him giving drink, as God. They saw Him stoned by the Jews, as Man, and they saw Him worshipped by the Angels, as God. They saw Him tempted, as Man, and they saw Him drive away the Devils, as God. And similarly of many (other) things.</span> </span>But in order not to make much din (trouble) in writing, I will leave the matter for the purpose of collecting testimonies of everyone of the heads together; and I mean to collect them, by the help of God, when a convenient opportunity bids me to it.<br />
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<span style="color: black;">But we leave the absurdity of those who hold opposite notions, and we confess One and the Same to be the Redeemer the Lord and God, although we see Him to have become by Economy Man. Hold to the Confession, therefore, of the fathers and do not listen to the soul destroying words of Heretics, nor hold intercourse with those who divide into Two Him Who is One; for, One is our Redeemer, as I said, although out of compassion for us He became Man.</span><br />
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Sufficiently indeed, as I consider, to the great confusion of Heretics, the Teachings of Holy Bishops and Orthodox Archbishops have proved the fatuity of the Affirmations of Heretics and shewn at the same time that it is an Impiety to speak of Two Natures in God The Word Incarnate; <span style="color: black;">for, they have excommunicated those who hold this Doctrine, and they have banished from The Hope of Christians those who do not confess God The Word to be Consubstantial with the Father, because He became Consubstantial with Man, taking Flesh, although He remained unchangeably what He was before</span>; as they had done (excommunicated and banished) with the rest of the Heretics.<br />
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But to persuade more and more those who build their foundation upon the Immoveable Rock of the Orthodox Faith and to confute more and more the Heresies mentioned above, I adduce testimonies from the Divine New Testament written under the Spirit, along with the Expositions of the Holy Fathers, by whose aid it is possible manifestly to condemn the Heresies alluded to above and to hold to the Immoveable and Blessings bringing Orthodox Faith Which was transmitted by the Holy Apostles and by our Blessed and Learned Father. Perhaps, they who have fallen from and denied the Lord will hear and will repent, as said the Prophet, and turn to the Lord with confession and abound in tears of Repentance, in order that they may be healed ; for, God does continually take care of, and gives His hand to, those driven from him far off, calling them to Him.<br />
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And after testimonies from the Scriptures. These things, then, refer to those who will not repent and turn to The Lord, whom The Lord Jesus Christ bought with His Own blood. For, He is Very God and the Eternal Life of the World, as says John; for, One is The Lord Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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Source:<br />
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Perry, S. G. F.. <i>The second synod of Ephesus, together with certain extracts relating to it, from Syriac mss. preserved in the British museum, and now first ed. by S.G.F. Perry; English version.</i>. Dartford, Kent: Printed at the Orient Press, 1881. Print.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4248462007965779860.post-35555802084667334262012-12-05T00:23:00.001-05:002013-03-09T14:18:49.424-05:00Journal reflections of the late Fr. Alexander Schmemann on H.H. Pope Shenouda III and the Coptic Orthodox ChurchSaturday, February 11, 1978<br />
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Immersion yesterday and today in a totally unknown (to me) world of Coptic Christianity. Right away I must express my main impression: it is edifying and it is alive. I remember my trip to the Middle East in 1971 and my impression of something outlived, nominal, dying, chained to the past—the existence of a non-existent world. Lifeless Hierarchs. Fear. Lies. Corruption.<br />
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<em>And then, last year in </em><em>Los Angeles</em><em>, I met His Holiness Pope Shenouda </em><em>III</em><em>, the Patriarch of the Coptic Church. Right away—an impression of genuine life, spiritual openness. And now, in </em><em>Cairo</em><em>, I am meeting the very Coptic reality. There are about seven million Copts in </em><em>Egypt</em><em>! And this church, despite persecutions (Byzantine, Arab, Turkish), despite the surrounding </em><em>sea</em><em> of </em><em>Islam</em><em>, despite its isolation and loneliness, and the whole spiritual and political chaos of the </em><em>Middle East</em><em>, is revived and alive!</em><br />
<a name='more'></a><em>In the morning, a long reception at the Patriarchs residence. Right away, we talk about the essential—the Church, ways to unify, mission, </em><em>Africa</em><em>, youth.</em><br />
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<em>In the evening, I witnessed something truly amazing. In the packed cathedral, seven thousand people listen—as they do every Friday—to the Patriarch. In front of him, on a little table, hundreds of little pieces of paper with questions. He chooses five or six and answers them so simply, and at the same time so deeply (about the meaning of “Lord have mercy”; about the death of a mother—“where is she now?”; about a fifteen-year-old girl—“should she go to a monastery now?”; about somebody who promised to work in the church school if he passed his exam and has not kept his promise, etc.). Then he lectures about the temptations of Christ in the desert, and again—genuine, lively, pastoral, nurturing. Where in the Orthodox world can one see and experience this, a patriarch with the people, in a live dialogue?</em><br />
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But then today I had an extraordinary day: a visit in the desert to three monasteries with an uninterrupted tradition from Anthony the Great, Makarios, etc. In one of them is the sarcophagus of Ephrem of Syria. And the most amazing, of course, is how very much alive it all is: Real monks! In my whole life, I have seen only imitations, only playing at monastic life, false, stylized; and mostly unrestrained idle talk about monasticism and spirituality. And here are they, in a real desert. A real, heroic feat. <br />
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So many young monks. No advertisements, no brochures about spirituality. Nobody knows anything about them and they do not mind it. I am simply stunned. I have a thousand questions, and I will have to gradually start sorting it all out. Right now, this trip to the desert remains in my memory as something radiant.<br />
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Sunday, February 12, 1978 <br />
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In the morning—Old Cairo. Liturgy in the Coptic Church. The impression is somewhat confused. On the one hand, it is undoubtedly Alexandrian—everything is under cover, seen only through covers. Tiny royal doors, and there, at the altar, the priest performs something belonging to another world. He performs very slowly, accompanied by one very long, inimitable, prayerful melody.<br />
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The Coptic block in Old Cairo is a ghetto, with hidden entrances to the church. One feels a habit of hiding, of always being suspected, of living inside ones self. The womens monastery is peaceful, sunny, joyful. <br />
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THE JOURNALS OF FATHER ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN1973-1983 (Pg 188 – 189) Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1