Metropolitan Jonah: The Challenge of Uniting the Orthodox in America

His Beatitude, Metropolitan JONAH of the Orthodox Church in America presided and delivered this homily at the Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers service 4 March 2012 held at Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Linthicum, MD. The first few minutes, while excellent, are introductory and do not expressly address the subject of Orthodox unity in America. Those comments start about 7:20 and continue to the end.

Some Lectures from the 2012 Winter Pastoral Conference of the Diocese of the South

Some outstanding lectures from the 2012 Winter Pastoral Conference of the Diocese of the South have just been posted online. More info on the conference can be seen in  this pdf flyer.

Speakers included Fr. Thomas Hopko and Dr. Albert Rossi, both of St. Vladimir’s Seminary — Fr. Hopko was dean of St. Vladimir’s up until 2002. In the last lecture, Fr. Hopko was a guest speaker at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Role of Gender and Sexuality in the Christian life

Purity: Youth, Family, Parish

The Power of Weakness: Reflections on Salvation, the Meaning of the Cross, and the Necessity of the Crucifixion

Bishop Michael: Seven Questions and Seven Answers on Fasting

Frederica Mathewes-Green: The Real Meaning of Sex

Noted Orthodox author and lecturer Frederica Mathewes-Green speaks on “The Real Meaning of Sex” at the Center for Christian Study.

More on the Canonization of St. Alexander Schmorell

I’d like to refer to two other recent blog postings on the recent canonization of St. Alexander Schmorell, a member of the White Rose movement who opposed Hitler and the National Socialists during World War II. First an article by Fr. Joe Koczera, S.J., and the other by Jim Forest. These give further information on this new saint. For those who want a feel of what the day was like in Munich for the canonization last weekend, Jim Forest has posted dozens of pictures which can be seen in a slideshow here.

Saint Alexander Schmorell is Glorified

H/T: Ad Orientem

Saint Alexander Schmorell was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia over the weekend. Born in Russia in 1917 and baptized in the Orthodox Church his family fled to Germany to escape the Bolshevik Revolution.  He remained deeply religious throughout his short life.  A gifted artist St. Alexander was a medical student when he was recalled to military service in support of the Nazi invasion of the USSR.  While serving as a combat medic on the Eastern Front he was horrified by the treatment of enemy prisoners of war and civilians.  In 1942 he returned to his medical studies in Munich where he helped organize the “White Rose” society dedicated to resisting Hitler and the Nazi regime.  In due course he and the other members of the resistance were arrested by the Gestapo.  Following a kangaroo court trial St. Alexander Schmorell was executed on July 23rd (NS) 1943 at the main prison in Munich.

Holy St. Alexander Schmorell pray for us!

Metropolitan Kallistos: For the Peace from Above…

For the Peace from Above: the Understanding of Peace in the New Testament and the Orthodox Liturgy. Lecture by  Metropolitan Kallistos Ware from the University of Oxford, given Nov. 14, 2011 at The Academic Forum for Peace, Poland 2011, held by Wrocław University and Institute for the Study of Islam.

Deaf Outreach Resolution at Upcoming Orthodox Council

In an Orthodox parish serving the Deaf in Moscow, a priest signs one of the readings in Russian Sign Language

Here is something exciting for those of us who have been longing to see Orthodoxy in America make a firm commitment to ministry to the Deaf. One of the resolutions to be considered at the upcoming 16th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America (held October 31-November 4, 2011 in Seattle, Washington) is a call for the Church to reach out to the Deaf:

Deaf Outreach Resolution

WHEREAS we are called to spread the Word of God in many tongues (1 Cor. 14:9), yet the languages of a specific group of people throughout North America, namely, the deaf community, have been underrepresented, Whereas members of the deaf community, most of whom use sign language as their primary mode of communication, find it virtually impossible to enter into the liturgical fullness of the church,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Holy Synod be requested to explore the creation of a deaf outreach ministry to help every level of the Orthodox Church in America more effectively meet the specific needs of the deaf community.

I ask readers to join in prayer that the Council in Seattle will embrace the resolution for this ministry which is long overdue for Orthodoxy in America.

For further reading:

Orthodox Christians Who are Deaf and Blind

St Mark the Deaf

Orthodox Church for the Deaf and Blind

The Spiritual Struggle of Mother Teresa

I have always admired this great Catholic nun who gave of herself to the poorest of the poor. Today she is being remembered by our Catholic friends and I want to share this sermon by Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis given in reflection upon her spiritual struggle. Some in the media latched upon details of her struggle in an attempt to discredit her and Fr. Stavros points out how we all face these struggles in one way or another. I am reminded of a quote I recently read attributed to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn from The Gulag Archipelago that refers to this common struggle:

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

Besides being inspired by her concern for the poorest of the poor, I am inspired by her spiritual struggle. But, enough already. Here’s Fr. Stavros’ sermon:

The Spiritual Struggle of Mother Teresa

Reprinted with permission from Orthodoxy Today

Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis

Sermon delivered September 9, 2007

I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day when a headline article on one of the check-stand magazines caught my eye. It read in bold letters, “The Dark Side of Mother Teresa.” Wow, I thought, has another one of the people we looked up to been tainted by scandal? Or was this another attempt by secular America to discredit a pious Catholic nun?” I guess the magazine achieved its goal, I bought the magazine and read the article.

It seems that a collection of the late-Mother Teresa’s letters has been published and that her writings reveal that in her life, she suffered through crises of faith, which are referred to as “dark nights of the soul.” As I read the heading to the article, I immediately questioned its objectivity, as the author of the article is a self confessed leading critic of the late Catholic nun. In his opening paragraph, he poses the question: “Which is more striking: that the faithful should bravely confront the fact that one of their heroines all but lost her own faith, or that the Church should have gone on deploying, as an icon of favorable publicity, a confused old lady whom it knew had for all practical purposes ceased to believe?” And as I finished the article, and finding myself in total disagreement with its thesis, I pose a question: “Which is more striking: that a man who wrote a book entitled ‘God is not great’ finds himself qualified to comment on the life of Mother Teresa, or that a popular news magazine would print such a piece taking obvious swipes at a major religious figure in its religion section? (Newsweek magazine, “The Dogmatic Doubter” by Christopher Hitchens, September 10, 2007)

What causes spiritual despair? First, relentless attacks from the devil. The devil attacks the one struggling to grow in Christ. The devil doesn’t bother with the casual Christian or the habitually immoral person — they do not need the devil to attack and destroy them, they are self-destructive. The devil attacks the committed Christian.

A priest once shared this story with me:

It seems that a certain monk in a monastery had an ability to see demons attacking people. And so one day, the abbot of his monastery sent him to the nearby city to see how many demons were there. So, the monk ventured down the road from the monastery towards the city. It was a large city, filled with all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. And as he journeyed through the city, he looked and he looked and he saw no demons. He was very puzzled by this. All these people, and yet no demons attacking them. Finally, he saw one demon laying under the shade of a tree, and the demon was sleeping. The monk headed back towards the monastery. And as he approached the monastery, he saw legions and legions of demons, climbing up the monastery walls, tearing at the gates, sitting in the bell tower of the church, and going in and out of the windows of the cells where the monks lived. The monk reported to the Abbot, “I went to the city where there are many people and I saw only one demon and he was sleeping. Why at this monastery, where we are but a few monks, why are there so many demons all around us?” The Abbot answered, “My son, you see in the city, people are so busy, there lives are filled with things, they succumb to temptations constantly, they have squeezed God out of their lives, there is no work for the demons to do. So they leave the people alone. But here in the monastery, where we try to pray constantly, where we try to rejoice in the things of God constantly, this is where they are at work constantly!”

The devil tempted Christ Himself, we read in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And Christ was hungry and in His own agony — He wasn’t surrounded by throngs of people, or by a circle of His disciples and close friends. He was alone in the desert, praying and fasting for forty days, and this is where the devil made his attack. So, if the devil can attack the Lord Himself, then it is no surprise that the devil can attack someone like Mother Teresa, or you and me.

That’s why when we strive to pray, sometimes it is a struggle-it doesn’t bring great serenity each time we bow our head in prayer, or even each time we come to the Liturgy. Sometimes there are weeks and even months of spiritual struggle, spiritual despair, even spiritual sadness and despondency, when God feels like He is absent. This is not so much a test from God, as it is a temptation from the devil, to attack our spiritual joy and turn it into despondency and doubt.

So, it is not a surprise when we hear that Mother Teresa struggled in her faith, at times wondering even at the existence of God in the face of what seemed like prolonged absence of God, because she was in the throes of spiritual warfare. Rather than showing insincerity or cynicism, as the author of the article would suggest, I find this kind of honesty refreshing. If Mother Teresa struggled with her faith, then I need not become despondent when I struggle in mine. If she could be honest and write about her spiritual struggles, I can be honest about mine.

At the summer camp I direct, one of the exercises we use in staff training and also with the campers is called a trust walk. It involves people walking in pairs where one person is blindfolded. The person who can see leads the person who cannot on a walk through various obstacles and after a period of time, the two switch roles. In the camp setting, this facilitates building trust between two staff people who will work together during the week. It demonstrates also the role that the camp counselor plays in guiding the activities of the week. But from a theological perspective, is illustrates the journey of the Orthodox Christian. In debriefing this activity, there are many participants who feel a little unnerved when they can’t see, especially people who have never been to the camp who walk a considerable distance having no idea where they are going. I ask people, did anyone become frustrated in this activity? The answer is always yes, especially from people who have a hard time trusting others, who always want to be the leader, and who aren’t patient. I ask, if we did this activity for an hour, instead of for twenty minutes, who would have begun to lose patience? And nearly everyone said they would have. And I ask, was there anyone who was worried that they wouldn’t eventually reach our destination safely, even though you didn’t know where it was? And on careful examination, it seems that everyone, even those who had their reservations and frustrations, agreed that they knew they would eventually reach the end point of the journey, so long as they put one foot in front of the other and put faith in their leader.

Now, in our lives, as in this activity, we will each be in the role of the follower. The journey to salvation is long, at times it will be frustrating, and at times that path will not be clearly visible. We will have to trust the leader. And who is the leader in this journey? Obviously, God, and the church, the scriptures, the clergy, even our fellow Christians. And believe it or not, we will all take a turn not only as a follower, but as a leader. We will each have an opportunity to lead someone else in their journey of faith-perhaps as a parent, as a teacher, as a friend, as a camp counselor, or even as someone just setting a good example. And in the role of leader, we need to encourage, set a good example, guide, help and pray for our followers. And in the role of the follower, which we will all play throughout our lives, we need to trust and most importantly, we need to put one foot in front of the other.

There are a few ways that the trust walk is not done successfully-careless leadership, and unwillingness of the follower to follow. The leadership of our faith-God, the scriptures, Orthodoxy theology, is rock solid. It is not careless. The leadership of the church, mine included, is not always as rock solid as it could be. That’s because while in the role of leader, I am also in the role of follower, and sometimes in my own spiritual journey, I become lost or discouraged, just as Mother Teresa reveals that she did in hers. And the church itself, is an institution that is led by human beings, each of us in a sinful state. Realizing that, the occasional scandal or cynicism or disappointment doesn’t shake my faith. It makes me realize just how much more we need to pray for our church, especially its priests and hierarchs.

The followers of the faith are each different. Some are enthusiastic and trust easily. Some are cynical and question everything. Some are impatient and sit down and stop. And others are disobedient-they hear the instruction and decide to take another path. Obviously, these are the ones that get lost, and never find their way to God. The essence of life’s journey of faith mirrors the essence of the trust walk I described-placing our trust in the leader and then following by putting one foot in front of the other, even when the journey gets long, even when we become discouraged.

I find Mother Teresa’s struggles encouraging. They don’t make me cynical, rather they are inspiring. Here is someone who struggled in her faith, as everyone does who is sincere in their journey to Christ. But here is someone who continued to put one foot in front of the other in her journey. Here is someone who could be honest with herself that the journey to salvation isn’t all that easy. If Mother Teresa were indeed insincere about her faith, why continue living in the slums of Calcutta, living an austere existence? I believe the answer is that a deep seeded and abiding faith allowed her and helped her to put one foot in front of the other so to speak, to continue to her ministry as a servant of God, even when she could not actively feel His presence, even in her times of self described spiritual darkness.

The Spiritual life is a struggle. Indeed, if a person has no struggle in their spiritual life, then there might be a question of how sincere that struggle is. For just as in the busy city where only one demon was found sleeping, no demon will attack you if you aren’t sincere or trying to grow in your faith. Here is the great irony, however-the more one tries to pray and to follow Christ, the harder the journey gets. That’s why Mother Teresa wrote about such profound struggle in her life. That’s why Christ Himself, when He was about to go forth to His Holy Passion, was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and His sweat became as drops of blood, that’s the kind of spiritual agony He was in. And this is where the hope comes in-Christ didn’t abandon the Cross and Mother Teresa didn’t abandon the poor, even in the darkest of hours. And so, when God seems absent because life’s circumstances are cruel, or because we find ourselves surrounded by temptation rather than encouragement, take a message of hope that if we continue to follow the leader and put one foot in front of the other, eventually, we will come out of the darkness because just being able to continue and not quitting, with God’s help, will provide the joy and the inspiration to carry on. In a war, one doesn’t win every battle. In the spiritual war, not every day will bring us a victory. The victory in battle often goes to the side with the strongest will, with the greatest endurance. And so the spiritual war is won by the Christian who has patience, endurance, and never stops putting one foot in front of the other, never stops praying or worshipping, even when it gets hard, even when God seems like He is far away, because he realizes that God holds the hand of every one of His children, even when we sometimes think He isn’t.

Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis is the priest of St. John Greek Orthodox Church in Tampa, FL and is the director of St. Stephen’s Summer Camp for the Metropolis of Atlanta.

Metropolitan Jonah: On Marriage and the Moral Limits of Human Sexuality

July 28, 2011

Beloved Fathers, brothers and sisters in Christ,

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

(1 John 1:6-10)

In our own lifetimes we were blessed by an act of prophetic witness in July 1992, when the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America issued the magnificent “Affirmations on Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life.” Two decades later we Orthodox who live in the diocese that includes our nation’s capital city need to be reminded of some of the moral verities contained in the Affirmations.  It should be obvious to any attentive observer that those verities are under increasing assault by the intellectual, social, and cultural elites in this country—and even by many of our public officials, particularly in the federal government headquartered here in Washington, DC.  More alarming is the erosion of those moral verities within some of our Orthodox congregations.

The dire need to preserve and protect the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception has been the focus of the annual encyclical of the OCA primate for Sanctity of Life Sunday each January for many years.  I wish to remind you, in the prophetic spirit of the apostles, that the Holy Mystery of Matrimony and the moral limits of human sexuality are ancient traditions of the Church not subject to whatever winds of change may be blowing through our society at the moment.

The 1992 Affirmations enunciated clearly and forcefully the following principles and guidelines among others:

• God wills that men and women marry, becoming husbands and wives. He commands them to increase and multiply in the procreation of children, being joined into “one flesh” by His divine grace and love. He wills that human beings live within families (Genesis 1:27; 2:21-24; Orthodox Marriage Service).

• The Lord went even further to declare that people who look at others in order to lust after them in their hearts have “committed adultery” (cf. Matthew 5:27-30).

• Christ’s apostles repeat the teachings of their Master, likening the unique marriage between one man and one woman to the union between Christ and His Church which they experience as the Lord’s very body and His bride (Ephesians 5:21-33; 2 Corinthians 11:2).

• Marriage and family life are to be defended and protected against every open and subtle attack and ridicule.

• Sexual intercourse is to be protected as a sacred expression of love within the community of heterosexual monogamous marriage in which alone it can be that for which God has given it to human beings for their sanctification.

• Homosexuality is to be approached as the result of humanity’s rebellion against God, and so against its own nature and well-being. It is not to be taken as a way of living and acting for men and women made in God’s image and likeness.

• Men and women with homosexual feelings and emotions are to be treated with the understanding, acceptance, love, justice and mercy due to all human beings.

• People with homosexual tendencies are to be helped to admit these feelings to themselves and to others who will not reject or harm them. They are to seek assistance in discovering the specific causes of their homosexual orientation, and to work toward overcoming its harmful effects in their lives.

• Persons struggling with homosexuality who accept the Orthodox faith and strive to fulfill the Orthodox way of life may be communicants of the Church with everyone else who believes and struggles. Those instructed and counselled (sic) in Orthodox Christian doctrine and ascetical life who still want to justify their behavior may not participate in the Church’s sacramental mysteries, since to do so would not help, but harm them.

Our life in Christ is constituted by repentance.  If we are to be faithful Christians, we must be constantly turning toward God, away from our sins and passions, realizing the seriousness of our sin in a spirit of repentance, and striving to change our lives.  We cannot approach the Holy Mysteries without living a life of repentance, and examining our consciences and confessing our sins. When we have fallen, we repent, and try to stop our sinful behavior. Otherwise, we risk communing unto judgment and condemnation. This discipline of the Christian life leads to salvation, enlightenment and the healing of our souls. We must be faithful to that discipline of life, if we are to call ourselves Orthodox Christians.

In light of the above, what Orthodox Christian in good conscience would dare to approach the chalice containing the life-giving Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, while refusing to acknowledge, confess, and eradicate from his or her life sins against authentic Christian marriage, including fornication, homosexual activity, or adultery?  Which sexually active couples co-habiting without the Orthodox sacrament of marriage can expect the Church to bless their unholy union and welcome them to the life- giving Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, unless they find separate accommodations and cease their fornication and get married in the Church?

We are all called as Christians to live a life of chastity, pleasing to the Lord, married or single.  If we are Christians we are all called, whatever our attractions or past habits, to the same saving discipline that will heal our souls.  Otherwise we are living in hypocrisy, a living death; just as when we judge others struggling with their sins.  This has been delivered to us from the Apostles and Holy Fathers, and remains unchanged to this day. The Orthodox teaching on chastity and Christian marriage is a fundamental element in Christian life and discipline.  We are called to conform our lives to the Church and its disciplines, not alter the teachings of the Church to fit either a cultural fad or our own passions.  Where we stand against the prevailing cultural trends, we must stand fast, because we know that obedience to the Church’s teaching leads us to communion with God and eternal life; and disobedience leads to alienation from God, spiritual death.

As the Lord proclaims in the Gospel of St. Luke,

“Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required. . .”

(Luke 12:48, RSV).

We Orthodox Christians have been granted eternal life as a free, unmerited divine gift.  Virtuous struggle against sexual temptations is hardly too much for the Lord to ask of us.  The Lord honors the genuine intent of those who, with humility and repentance, so struggle, even as He judges those who, moved by a spirit of pride and defiance, persist in the spiritual delusion that unnatural or unholy sexual activity can be blessed.  I have already instructed the clergy of our Archdiocese to honor their ordinations by acting in full accordance with our uncompromising Orthodox moral tradition.  I expect all of us faithful to honor our baptism and unique calling as Christians.

These teachings are not onerous, but rather, part of the light yoke and easy burden of being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

With love in Christ,

+Jonah

Archbishop of Washington

Metropolitan of All America and Canada

Source: Koinonia

PDF of the above statement

For further reading:

Marriage, Homosexuality and Orthodox Christian Praxis (Statement of Bishop Matthias of the OCA –Diocese of the Mid-West –  dated August 2, 2011)

Reaffirming the Sanctity of Marriage (Statement by Bishop Michael of the OCA — Diocese of New York & New Jersey)