Tag: Eastern Christianity

Our Focus on the Heart

A key point of Luigi Giussani’s on the spiritual life is the heart. In several places Giussani calls us to focus on our singularity of heart’s focus, the intention of the heart, or as traditional spiritual theology calls purity of heart. Having just finished what the Eastern Church calls Pure Week at the start of Great Lent (the Fast) we ought to continue to go deeper into the heart. The goal of the lenten Fast is to develop a transcendence of egocentrism closes down the heart from reality. The Church as teacher and mother shows us that the period of fasting we engage in at this time of the year is seen as a time of “showering of mercy,” with prayer, good deeds and philanthropy. This perspective of mercy evidences the surpassing self-love.

Great Lent is always a journey in which the Church calls us to an ever-deepening purity of heart. The external observances that are a part of it have significance only insofar as they help us live a more authentic expression of this. Above all, purity of heart means continually directing our intention to fulfilling the will of God as faithfully as we understand it. This is where true reconciliation with God occurs. (NS)

I was reading a bit of Giussani on the heart and the author/editor of the text placed the reality of the heart (and the heart’s needs) with the Christian idea of friendship.

Charity [says St Bernard] generates friendship, it is like its mother [charity is love for the other as affirmation of his good destiny, as a desire to affirm that his right destiny should be fulfilled, for Christ is the Mystery of which He is a part, and in which He participates]. It is God’s gift, it comes from Him, for we are carnal. He causes our desire and our love to begin from the flesh. In our hearts God inscribes for our friends a love that they cannot read, but that we can show to them. The outcome is an affection, more often an affectus, a profound, inexpressible attachment, which is in the order of experience and which fixes rights and duties for friendship.

Daily we pray, as Giussani directs, the Angelus to keep our hearts focused on the Mystery of the Incarnation. The gift we ask for is “Thy grace into our hearts.” But that grace is only present if the heart is pure –singularly focussed.

New bishop of the US Melkites

Today, the Melkite Patriarch enthroned Bishop François (Beyrouti), 51, as the new eparchial bishop for the Eparchy of Newton at the Annunciation Cathedral in West Roxbury, MA. His motto is Becoming Disciples, Making Disciples.

Bishop François was ordained bishop last Wednesday, October 12, at the co-cathedral of St Ann in Los Angeles by Patriarch Joseph, Bishop Nicholas and Archbishop Borys Gudziak.

After 11 years of service as bishop of the Eparchy of Newton, Bishop Nicholas retires. He’s served the eparchy with great interest, prayer, pastoral insight and a pastor’s heart.

Prayers for Bishop Francois and the eparchy!

The Dormition of the Holy Mother of God, the Theotokos

The hagiographers for this feast write:

This feast originated in the fourth century at the dedication of a temple in honor of the Mother of God. This church was located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which tradition hallowed as the place where Mary and Joseph stopped on their journey to the city of David.

By the fifth century in the Byzantine East, and by the sixth century in the Roman Church, this day celebrated the death of Mary, her dormition or “falling asleep” as it is called in liturgical poetry.

Apocryphal accounts, iconography, and texts of the feast are embellished with a persistent pious tradition that all the apostles returned to her deathbed from their missionary journeys.

Through the feast of the Dormition, the Church regards Mary as the first to participate in the final deification of all creation. This is only fitting for the Mother of Life, through whom God became one of us, to die and, by his rising, make the passage from death to life an eternal reality. (NS)

Hesychia: necessary for monk and lay person

Throughout the history of Eastern monasticism, there has always been an understanding of silence and solitude that has been called “hesychia”. Hesychia refers to a state of inner stillness and stability that is increasingly able to discern the presence of God in the length and breadth of the everyday. It involves an attitude of listening that focuses the heart, regardless of what one happens to be doing. But the truth is, such silence does not come cheap. It requires practice, a type of spiritual practice that leads one through many levels of growth. This has its analogy in athletic practice, where to reach excellence demands self-sacrifice, personal commitment, making mistakes, and hours and hours of work. (thanks to NS)

Vsevolod remembered

Today is the anniversary of death of Archbishop Vsevolod (Maidansky) of Scopelos. The Archbishop was a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA. He reposed in the Lord in 2007, six days after his 80th birthday.

Archbishop Vsevolod was man of great humanity and intelligence. I met him at several of the ecumenical meetings he was at and enjoyed is company. His commitment to an on-going dialogue between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches was remarkable and helpful.

May God draw Archbishop Vsevolod to Himself.

Eternal memory, dear friend.

The Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople
–May 29, 1453.

One of the worst tragedies in the history of humanity was the fall of the Byzantine Empire, which put an end to centuries of culture, philosophy, education, and morality.

The Fall of Constantinople and the Rise of the Ottomans began a new era of oppression, barbarianism, authoritarianism, and slavery.

To the defenders of the Great City, the past Emperors, Patriarchs, and Military Leaders of the Byzantine Empire: MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE ETERNAL!

Be custodians of Byzantine tradition, Pope tells Slovak pilgrims

On Friday past Pope Francis met with 1300 pilgrimages and their archbishop on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Prešov Eparchy.

The Prešov Eparchy was born from the Eparchy of Mukačevo. In the span of 200 years (short in historical terms) Prešov has been elevated to a Metropolia sui iuris and to form other eparchies, e.g., Canada. Now we would refer to Prešov as the Archeparchy. The eparchial bishop is Jesuit John Babjak, 64.

One of the key points of the meeting was Pope’s exhortation to the gathered pilgrims is to be custodians of their Byzantine tradition. You may want to read a primer on Eastern Christianity –here is a monograph, “Eastern Christians and Their Churches” by Fr. Steven Hawkes-Teeples, SJ.

Pope Francis quoted his predecessor St John Paul in describing the Greek-Catholic Church in Slovakia as exemplifying “the beauty and goodness of the Creator.” He invited local Church to work as guides and fathers of the people of God who have been entrusted to them by working to “spread goodness, peace, generosity and meekness, with profound humility and simplicity.”

As you know, Eastern Catholic churches (not referred as mere Rites) have their own liturgical, spiritual, canonical and theological traditions, who live in communion with the Pope of Rome. At the same time, the Eastern Catholics share a received tradition with the Orthodox churches in a common Christian heritage given by the Apostles and developed by Fathers and Mothers of the Church.

The Eastern Catholic tradition continues a married priesthood (which was recently restored in the USA). On this point, the Pope was key in overturning a wrong of years ago. In his words, Pope Francis said that, “the families of priests live a particular mission today, when the very ideal of the family is questioned if not explicitly attacked: you bear witness to a healthy and exemplary life.” Francis also said, “you too can draw from the examples present in the history of your Church during the decades of persecution in the second half of the last century, in deportations and deprivations of all kinds.” Today, “it is up to your generation to show the same loyalty, perhaps not in the face of direct and violent persecution, but in the presence of difficulties and dangers of another kind”, that of secularism, and sterile clericalism.

Of concern to this Pope, as with previous ones, is Europe’s Christian foundations and its current challenges. He apparently directed his comments to the laity by saying, “the continent of Europe, in the East as in the West, needs to rediscover its roots and vocation; and from Christian roots they can only grow solid trees, which bear fruits of full respect for the dignity of man, in every condition and in every phase of life.”

Vespers and dinner with Melkite Patriarch Joseph Absi

Tonight I was at Great Vespers then dinner at St Ann Melkite Church (Danbury, CT) presided over by His Beatitude, Patriarch Joseph (Absi) with Bishop Nicholas Samra, Archbishop Nicolas Antiba and Fr Michael Skrocki.

About 125 people were in attendance. Several from the Latin Church but others from Eastern Churches including the Ruthenian and Maronite.

The Patriarch spoke of the universality of the Melkite Church. After all, it was in Syria that the followers of Jesus were called Christian.

It was a beautiful evening!

Armenians restore female diaconate

The female diaconate has been restored with the ordination of Ani-Kristi Manvelian, 24, in Tehran as a deacon for parish life who is not a nun.

It is understood as a “restoring” rather than “reinstating” of the Order of Deacon for women. This act is see as a precedent. The ordination happened  at St. Sarkis Church on 25 September 2017 by Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, the Primate of the Diocese of Tehran (Catholicosate of Cilicia).

Archbishop Sarkissian said:

“Today, our Church is confronting the imperative of self-examination and self-critique. It is imperative to rejuvenate the participation of the people in the social, educational and service spheres of the Church. It is our deep conviction that the active participation of women in the life of our Church would allow Armenian women to be involved more enthusiastically and vigorously, and would allow them to be connected and engaged. They would provide dedicated and loving service [to the people]. The deaconess, no doubt, would also be a spiritual and church-dedicated mother, educator, and why not, a model woman through her example. It is with this deep conviction that we are performing this ordination, with the hope that we are neither the first nor the last to do it.”

The narrative of the event was communicated by Hratch Tchilingirian on his blog.

The Armenians have had a tradition of female deacons serving, like the male deacons, at the Altar.

Deaconess  Ani-Kristi Manvelian served the Christmas Eve Liturgy on January 5th. For the Archbishop his act as the head of diocese is “to revitalise the participation of women also in our church’s liturgical life,” adding, “do not be surprised, a woman could also become a servant of the Holy Altar.”