joypeacehope: Saint Chrysostom's Ancient Liturgy

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Saint Chrysostom's Ancient Liturgy

No matter what Orthodox Church you enter anywhere in the world, the liturgy is going to be the same. It is ancient, rich, full of symbolism, beautiful and unchangeable and has been consistently the same for fifteen hundred years!

Orthodox Christians embrace one hope, one faith and one Lord, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Christ in His fullness cannot be experienced anywhere in the world except for within the One, Holy, Apostolic, Orthodox Church.

The One True Church, the only place where one can experience the actual presence of Christ in the Holy Mysteries of the cup and bread. We eat His body and drink His blood and He cleanses us from all our sins and we experience these life giving mysteries every time we partake of the blessed life giving mysteries of our Lord.

No where but in the Orthodox Church will you be able to experience the fullness of Jesus Christ. The reality of the fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here you will find life, abundant life, with a fullness that can be had no where else on the face of the earth.

Satan's one main purpose is to keep you, who are created in the image of God from tasting of the fullness of Christ as found within the Orthodox Church. He makes you to think that what you already have is the fullness of the faith and that there could be nothing more to be had in this life. He hinders you from experiencing the healing power of the Holy Spirit. He deludes you into thinking the fullness of Christ cannot be realized in the here and now. He deceives you through masterful and cunning distractions, distortions, delusions.

If you are reading this, then I am speaking to you, addressing your life condition and in doing so, I am urging you to reconsider where you have invested your time, your hope, your faith and your efforts. Is what you know, truly fulfilling? Does it match up with what you read in your bible? Do you ever have nagging thoughts that what you are experiencing may somehow be devoid of the Holy Spirit of God?

Satan allows the Protestant and Romanist, a glimmer of light as he keeps the masses in the darkness. In doing so, he makes you to think that what little light you have is somehow the fullness of what God has to offer! What a pity, what a tragedy, what a sad scenario, to think that when all of life is over, as you come into the fullness of God's glorious presence, you will at that very moment be overwhelmingly remorseful for what you could have had, if only you had exercised the boldness to have freed yourself from the constraints and comforts of your religiousocity.

It is not to late to enter into the fullness of the joy of the Lord. Now is the day of salvation, now is the day of repentance, now is the day of the Lord. You are invited, and God, in the fullness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is ready to welcome you with mercy, grace and healing as you have never known in all of your life. The holy angels will assist you and protect you as you call out to Him now, seeking Him with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength.

But, calling out to God is only the first step in the pilgrims journey. Christ manifests Himself to the world through the Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church is the door through which you must enter in order to begin to experience the fullness of a meaningful, full and rich relationship with the Triune God.

If you ready for the next step, seek out an Orthodox Church in your community and attend.

"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:14

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Luke 13:24

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Gary, Sounds a little exclusive to me. The Orthodox church is the ONLY church to experience the fullness of God? I appreciate your appreciation of the church, but I think you are a little too zealous for the OC being the ONLY real, fulfilling church. Sorta scary...
Does the OC teach that it is the truest church on the planet? If so, I would run as fast as I could to get away from it. Think about it. Or are you already so far gone that you can't or won't see it?; January 6, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Euphrosyn said...: Dear Friend,

Yes, it is exclusive. These are not my opinions, they are the teachings of the Church Fathers which have been consistent and faithfully handed down generation by generation since the time of Christ. Indeed it should be scary for those who reject these truths. God has given you the freedom to run to Him or to run away from Him. May God have mercy on you, my dear friend. I would hope that you are like a little child who is afraid because he doesn't understand and his fears are causing him to act irrationally. I would strongly urge you to at least study the church fathers and church history. These are issues that have consequences that will last for all eternity and they should not in the least be taken lightly or rejected without serious scrutiny and consideration. If you truly are seeking after God, I am confident you will find Him.

May God have mercy on us all,

Ephrosynos the Cook (my Christian name given to me at my chrismation); January 6, 2008 at 11:06 PM

"Anathema To Him Who Divides And To Him Who Confounds"

This statement was made by the most reverend bishops of the
Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. As the mind of God was, so the seven holy councils of the first 800 years of the church spoke, establishing and confirming the great doctrines of the Christian church universal which stand firm and solid to this day and will for all eternity. In ignorance most Protestants and Romanists today aren't even aware of Byzantine history and the glorious reign of the church during the first thousand years of history after the coming of the Blessed One. If you knew that to not embrace the decrees and canons of these councils put you in an anathematized condition, would you not repent and return to the 'true faith' of your fathers? "Do not move the ancient boundary stone", so it states in the Proverbs and what happens when we do? We will be prosecuted and thus shall it be for us who violate these ancient decrees and canons of the Holy Ecumenical Councils.

Icon Of The Descent Into Hades

Jesus Christ stands on the doors of Hades and breaks them open. The doors are in the form of a Cross to remind us that Jesus shattered these doors through the power of the Cross. Christ is pulling Adam and Eve out of Hades or Sheol, the place of death. Notice the limp hand of both Adam and Eve. The limp hand symbolizes that it is through Jesus' power that they are taken to heaven out of this place of death. It is Jesus' death and that alone that has conquered death. Left of Jesus we see John the Baptist preaching about the one who is to come to Hades to save them. John the Baptist is Jesus' forerunner even in Hades. Next to John the Baptist is King David and King Solomon. Right of Jesus we find Abel, the first saint of the Old Testament. This icon is also called the Icon of the Resurrection.

Biography of Saint Basil, Fool for Christ

Saint Basil the Blessed, was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler. During Basil's apprenticeship, the master cobbler happened to witness an occurrence, which showed him that his apprentice was not an ordinary young man. A merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and came in to order boots, specifying that they be made in a particular way, since he would not pick them up for a year. After taking the order, Saint Basil began to weep and said, "I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them." Confused, the master cobbler questioned his apprentice, and he explained that the man would not wear the boots, for he would soon die. After several days the prediction came true.

When he was sixteen, the saint arrived in Moscow and began to display what is called "Yurodivy" or foolishness for Christ. In the burning summer heat and in the freezing Russian winters, he walked barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange, for instance, he would topple kalachi and kvas stands in the marketplace. Angry merchants would throttle and beat Saint Basil, but he welcomed the abuse with joy and he thanked God for it. Soon after it would be discovered that the kalachi was poorly cooked, and the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of St Basil quickly grew. People saw him as a holy fool, a man of God, and a denouncer of wrong.

Another story tells of a merchant who wanted to build a stone church in Moscow, but its arches collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the saint for advice, and he pointed him toward Kiev. "Find John the Cripple," he said. "He will advise you how to construct the church." Traveling to Kiev, the merchant sought out John, who sat in a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle. "Whom do you rock?" asked the merchant. "I weep for my mother, who was made poor by my birth and upbringing." Only then did the merchant remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house. Then it became clear to him why he was not able to build the church. Returning to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness, and built the church.

Preaching mercy, Saint Basil helped those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but who were more in need of help than others. Once, he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant who had been left destitute. Although the man had eaten nothing for three days, he was not able to beg for food, since he wore fine clothing. The saint harshly condemned those who gave to the poor for selfish reasons, not out of compassion, but hoping for an easy way to attract God's blessings. St Basil also visited the taverns, where he tried to see goodness, even in people who others had given up as lost, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness.
Once Saint Basil even reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, saying that during the divine services the Tsar was preoccupied with thoughts of building a palace in the Vorobiev hills.

St Basil died on August 2, 1557. His body was buried in the cemetery of Trinity church, where in 1554, In an early icon, St Basil is portrayed as old, with white hair curling at his ears, and a short, curly white beard. He is completely naked, and holds a handkerchief in his hand. The veneration of St Basil the Blessed was always so strong that the Trinity temple and the attached Protection church were renamed for him as the famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. The saint's chains, his relics, are preserved at the Moscow Spiritual Academy.

RUSSIAN ICON "GUARDIAN ANGEL"

"Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven." Matt. 18:10 " Although we can not see them with our bodily eyes, we can see them clearly with the eyes of faith. Are we really so poverty stricken in sensitivity and spiritual awareness that we do not wish to believe anything except the easily visible world? Are our hearts so occupied with worldly vainglory that they love nothing which does not pertain to wealth and temporary pleasure?" The Guardian Angel pg. 10

Icon of the Holy Archangel Michael, Captain Of The Angelic Host.

Saint John Chrysostom The Golden Mouthed

St. Gregory The Theologian

St. Gregory the Theologian, when barely thirty years old, won acclaim throughout the region as a mighty warrior in the fight against paganism and heresy. He headed the reorganisation of the Orthodox Church which had been torn asunder by the heresy of Arianism from within and by the harassment of pagans without. In the course of this holy work, he achieved distinction as an orator, traditionalist, and a crusader that earned him the title of "Theologian" despite the opposition of Maximos the Cynic, who had been set up against him by the bishop of Alexandria. He was the instrument of God in unifying the Church into a cohesive unit that could withstand any internal or external pressure.

St. Basil the Great

St. Basil set Christian perfectionism as the goal of monastic life. The monks were to practice Christian virtues together, especially love; to practice obedience to a spiritual father; to practice chastity and poverty, and share the common goods of the monastery. After they achieved Christian perfection, they were allowed to come back to the world and help others to achieve Christian perfection. Thus, the monks had the mission of "social workers" as well. St. Basil's institutions, especially his Basileias, which was at the same time an orphanage, a "kitchen for the poor," and a school for the illiterate was in practice run by monks. This was St. Basil's way of utilizing the monastic movement to benefit the mission of the Church in the world.

Prayer of St. Ephram The Syrian 306-373

O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, lust of power, meddling and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chasity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and to judge not my brother; For thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen. (The church historian, Sozomen credits Ephrem with having written over three million lines of hymns, poems, homilies and biblical commentary). His works are known only within Orthodoxy. "The greatest poet of the patristic age and, perhaps, the only theologian-poet to rank beside Dante." — Robert Murray.