Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Emily on Soul-Making
**
The Props assist the House
Until the House is built
And then the Props withdraw
And adequate, erect,
The House support itself
And cease to recollect
The Augur and the Carpenter –
Just such a retrospect
Hath the perfected Life –
A Past of Plank and Nail
And slowness – then the scaffolds drop
Affirming it a Soul --
by Emily Dickinson
The Props assist the House
Until the House is built
And then the Props withdraw
And adequate, erect,
The House support itself
And cease to recollect
The Augur and the Carpenter –
Just such a retrospect
Hath the perfected Life –
A Past of Plank and Nail
And slowness – then the scaffolds drop
Affirming it a Soul --
by Emily Dickinson
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Misunderstanding the Atonement
**
http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=20
Fr. Thomas Hopko on common misunderstandings of the Atonement:
According to the scriptures, man's sins and the sins of the whole world are forgiven and pardoned by the sacrifice of Christ, by the offering of His life -- His body and His blood, which is the "blood of God" (Acts 20:28) -- upon the cross. This is the "redemption," the "ransom," the "expiation," the "propitiation" spoken about in the scriptures which had to be made so that man could be "at one" with God. Christ "paid the price" which was necessary to be paid for the world to be pardoned and cleansed of all iniquities and sins (1 Cor 6:20; 7:23).
In the history of Christian doctrine there has been great debate over the question of to whom Christ "pays the price" for the ransom of the world and the salvation of mankind. Some have said that the "payment" was made to the devil. This is the view that the devil received certain "rights" over man and his world because of man's sin. In his rebellion against God, man "sold himself to the devil" thus allowing the Evil One to become the "prince of this world" (Jn 12:31). Christ comes to pay the debt to the devil and to release man from his control by sacrificing Himself upon the cross.
Others say that Christ's "payment" on behalf of man had to be made to God the Father. This is the view which interprets Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as the proper punishment that had to be paid to satisfy God's wrath over the human race. God was insulted by man's sin. His law was broken and His righteousness was offended. Man had to pay the penalty for his sin by offering the proper punishment. But no amount of human punishment could satisfy God's justice because God's justice is divine. Thus the Son of God had to be born into the world and receive the punishment that was rightly to be placed on men. He had to die in order for God to receive proper satisfaction for man's offenses against Him. Christ substituted Himself on our behalf and died for our sins, offering His blood as the satisfying sacrifice for the sins of the world. By dying on the cross in place of sinful man, Christ pays the full and total payment for man's sins. God's wrath is removed. Man's insult is punished. The world is reconciled with its Creator.
Commenting on this question about to whom Christ "pays the price" for man's salvation, St. Gregory the Theologian in the fourth century wrote the following in his second Easter Oration:
Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my judgment well worth enquiring into. To whom was that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean the precious and famous Blood of our God and High Priest and Sacrifice. We were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause? If to the Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an illustrious payment for his tyranny, then it would have been right for him to have left us alone altogether! But if to God the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we were being oppressed. And next, on what principle did the Blood of His only-begotten Son delight the Father, who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being sacrificed by his father, [Abraham,] but changed the sacrifice by putting a ram in the place of the human victim? (See Gen 22). Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant (i.e., the devil) and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son who also arranged this to the honor of the Father, whom it is manifest He obeys in all things.
In Orthodox theology generally it can be said that the language of "payment" and "ransom" is rather understood as a metaphorical and symbolical way of saying that Christ has done all things necessary to save and redeem mankind enslaved to the devil, sin and death, and under the wrath of God. He "paid the price," not in some legalistic or juridical or economic meaning. He "paid the price" not to the devil whose rights over man were won by deceit and tyranny. He "paid the price" not to God the Father in the sense that God delights in His sufferings and received "satisfaction" from His creatures in Him. He "paid the price" rather, we might say, to Reality Itself. He "paid the price" to create the conditions in and through which man might receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by dying and rising again in Him to newness of life (See Rom 5-8; Gal 2-4).
By dying on the cross and rising from the dead, Jesus Christ cleansed the world from evil and sin. He defeated the devil "in his own territory" and on "his own terms." The "wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). So the Son of God became man and took upon Himself the sins of the world and died a voluntary death. By His sinless and innocent death accomplished entirely by His free will -- and not by physical, moral, or juridical necessity -- He made death to die and to become itself the source and the way into life eternal. This is what the Church sings on the feast of the Resurrection, the New Passover in Christ, the new Paschal Lamb, who is risen from the dead:
Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death! And upon those in the tombs bestowing life! (Easter Troparion)
And this is how the Church prays at the divine liturgy of Saint Basil the Great:
He was God before the ages, yet He appeared on earth and lived among men, becoming incarnate of a holy Virgin; He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being likened to the body of our lowliness, that He might liken us to the image of His Glory. For as by man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so it pleased Thine Only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of Thee, the God and Father, who was born of a woman, the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, who was born under the law to condemn sin in His flesh, so that those who were dead in Adam might be made alive in Thy Christ Himself. He lived in this world and gave commandments of salvation; releasing us from the delusions of idolatry, He brought us to knowledge of Thee, the true God and Father. He obtained us for His own chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Having cleansed us in water, and sanctified us with the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself as a ransom to death, in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending through the cross into Sheol -- that He might fill all things with Himself -- He loosed the pangs of death. He arose on the third day, having made for all flesh a path to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible for the Author of Life to be a victim of corruption. So He became the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first-born of the dead, that He might be Himself truly the first in all things ...
(Eucharistic Prayer of the Liturgy of St. Basil)
**
http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=20
Fr. Thomas Hopko on common misunderstandings of the Atonement:
According to the scriptures, man's sins and the sins of the whole world are forgiven and pardoned by the sacrifice of Christ, by the offering of His life -- His body and His blood, which is the "blood of God" (Acts 20:28) -- upon the cross. This is the "redemption," the "ransom," the "expiation," the "propitiation" spoken about in the scriptures which had to be made so that man could be "at one" with God. Christ "paid the price" which was necessary to be paid for the world to be pardoned and cleansed of all iniquities and sins (1 Cor 6:20; 7:23).
In the history of Christian doctrine there has been great debate over the question of to whom Christ "pays the price" for the ransom of the world and the salvation of mankind. Some have said that the "payment" was made to the devil. This is the view that the devil received certain "rights" over man and his world because of man's sin. In his rebellion against God, man "sold himself to the devil" thus allowing the Evil One to become the "prince of this world" (Jn 12:31). Christ comes to pay the debt to the devil and to release man from his control by sacrificing Himself upon the cross.
Others say that Christ's "payment" on behalf of man had to be made to God the Father. This is the view which interprets Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as the proper punishment that had to be paid to satisfy God's wrath over the human race. God was insulted by man's sin. His law was broken and His righteousness was offended. Man had to pay the penalty for his sin by offering the proper punishment. But no amount of human punishment could satisfy God's justice because God's justice is divine. Thus the Son of God had to be born into the world and receive the punishment that was rightly to be placed on men. He had to die in order for God to receive proper satisfaction for man's offenses against Him. Christ substituted Himself on our behalf and died for our sins, offering His blood as the satisfying sacrifice for the sins of the world. By dying on the cross in place of sinful man, Christ pays the full and total payment for man's sins. God's wrath is removed. Man's insult is punished. The world is reconciled with its Creator.
Commenting on this question about to whom Christ "pays the price" for man's salvation, St. Gregory the Theologian in the fourth century wrote the following in his second Easter Oration:
Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my judgment well worth enquiring into. To whom was that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean the precious and famous Blood of our God and High Priest and Sacrifice. We were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause? If to the Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an illustrious payment for his tyranny, then it would have been right for him to have left us alone altogether! But if to God the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we were being oppressed. And next, on what principle did the Blood of His only-begotten Son delight the Father, who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being sacrificed by his father, [Abraham,] but changed the sacrifice by putting a ram in the place of the human victim? (See Gen 22). Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant (i.e., the devil) and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son who also arranged this to the honor of the Father, whom it is manifest He obeys in all things.
In Orthodox theology generally it can be said that the language of "payment" and "ransom" is rather understood as a metaphorical and symbolical way of saying that Christ has done all things necessary to save and redeem mankind enslaved to the devil, sin and death, and under the wrath of God. He "paid the price," not in some legalistic or juridical or economic meaning. He "paid the price" not to the devil whose rights over man were won by deceit and tyranny. He "paid the price" not to God the Father in the sense that God delights in His sufferings and received "satisfaction" from His creatures in Him. He "paid the price" rather, we might say, to Reality Itself. He "paid the price" to create the conditions in and through which man might receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by dying and rising again in Him to newness of life (See Rom 5-8; Gal 2-4).
By dying on the cross and rising from the dead, Jesus Christ cleansed the world from evil and sin. He defeated the devil "in his own territory" and on "his own terms." The "wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). So the Son of God became man and took upon Himself the sins of the world and died a voluntary death. By His sinless and innocent death accomplished entirely by His free will -- and not by physical, moral, or juridical necessity -- He made death to die and to become itself the source and the way into life eternal. This is what the Church sings on the feast of the Resurrection, the New Passover in Christ, the new Paschal Lamb, who is risen from the dead:
Christ is risen from the dead! Trampling down death by death! And upon those in the tombs bestowing life! (Easter Troparion)
And this is how the Church prays at the divine liturgy of Saint Basil the Great:
He was God before the ages, yet He appeared on earth and lived among men, becoming incarnate of a holy Virgin; He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being likened to the body of our lowliness, that He might liken us to the image of His Glory. For as by man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so it pleased Thine Only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of Thee, the God and Father, who was born of a woman, the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, who was born under the law to condemn sin in His flesh, so that those who were dead in Adam might be made alive in Thy Christ Himself. He lived in this world and gave commandments of salvation; releasing us from the delusions of idolatry, He brought us to knowledge of Thee, the true God and Father. He obtained us for His own chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Having cleansed us in water, and sanctified us with the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself as a ransom to death, in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending through the cross into Sheol -- that He might fill all things with Himself -- He loosed the pangs of death. He arose on the third day, having made for all flesh a path to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible for the Author of Life to be a victim of corruption. So He became the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first-born of the dead, that He might be Himself truly the first in all things ...
(Eucharistic Prayer of the Liturgy of St. Basil)
**
Thursday, July 23, 2009
God Is Not in Any Way Intimidated by "Time"
***
not by the "lack" of it or any kind of constriction or limitation regarding our experience of it
not by its seeming excess or overflow
not by any quality it may seem to possess or exude on any given occasion, such as deadness, urgency, etc.
not by our nearness to death or our newness to life
not by lateness or recentness, the eleventh hour or the hour that has yet to come into being
not by our sensation of floundering in the nets of time
not by the burden or the heat of the day
not by the length of our labor (in every sense of the word) or its intensity/unpredictability
Also, nobody/nothing gets truly "lost" in the "vast sweep of history" or "the mists of time or history"--or even inside our brains or hearts, no matter what their condition--no detail dissipates and vanishes or is covered over--on the contrary, the Holy Spirit is "everywhere present and filling all things"--not in some abstract "woo-woo" way, but concretely, even though for the most part, we are not yet "real" enough to be aware of this
God is present with but not limited to any available/unavailable frequency.
God is more than fluent in even the "deadest" languages,
for "all souls live to Him, and He is not the God of the dead but of the living" (Luke 20:38).
He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
Colossians 1, "The Message"
I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us
Romans 8
***
not by the "lack" of it or any kind of constriction or limitation regarding our experience of it
not by its seeming excess or overflow
not by any quality it may seem to possess or exude on any given occasion, such as deadness, urgency, etc.
not by our nearness to death or our newness to life
not by lateness or recentness, the eleventh hour or the hour that has yet to come into being
not by our sensation of floundering in the nets of time
not by the burden or the heat of the day
not by the length of our labor (in every sense of the word) or its intensity/unpredictability
Also, nobody/nothing gets truly "lost" in the "vast sweep of history" or "the mists of time or history"--or even inside our brains or hearts, no matter what their condition--no detail dissipates and vanishes or is covered over--on the contrary, the Holy Spirit is "everywhere present and filling all things"--not in some abstract "woo-woo" way, but concretely, even though for the most part, we are not yet "real" enough to be aware of this
God is present with but not limited to any available/unavailable frequency.
God is more than fluent in even the "deadest" languages,
for "all souls live to Him, and He is not the God of the dead but of the living" (Luke 20:38).
He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
Colossians 1, "The Message"
I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us
Romans 8
***
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Piling It All Up
**
"It is 'out of faith that the righteous person shall live' (Rom. 1:17)...Doing God's will is not a matter of product but of process. God's will is not some sort of blueprint of right decisions sketched in a divine book, the doing of which or the failure to do which means reward or punishment...If we piled up all the prescriptions in Torah, all the commandments of Jesus, all the directions of Paul, all the letters of councils and popes, and all the codicils of canon law, they would cover only a small portion of the situations we face in our lives...
...What God wills is...the whole process of living itself. 'To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.' These are verbs, not nouns, and they are all progressive. It is in faithing, the risk-filled adventure of human freedom, that God sees righteousness."
Luke T. Johnson Faith's Freedom
"It is 'out of faith that the righteous person shall live' (Rom. 1:17)...Doing God's will is not a matter of product but of process. God's will is not some sort of blueprint of right decisions sketched in a divine book, the doing of which or the failure to do which means reward or punishment...If we piled up all the prescriptions in Torah, all the commandments of Jesus, all the directions of Paul, all the letters of councils and popes, and all the codicils of canon law, they would cover only a small portion of the situations we face in our lives...
...What God wills is...the whole process of living itself. 'To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.' These are verbs, not nouns, and they are all progressive. It is in faithing, the risk-filled adventure of human freedom, that God sees righteousness."
Luke T. Johnson Faith's Freedom
Monday, July 13, 2009
"--But I have seen at a distance--looking to
The right, as one walks eastward, where the road rises between
Two fields making a hill--the school house, daughter of the hill,
In a field of flax, in a sixth year when the flax is blue;
And I have seen in the same distance the children singing
In the school room: ‘In heaven’s name,’ they sing, ‘can you, perhaps,
Impart to me some power to enable me to bear this force
Emerging from my heart.’ Or they cry out, ‘Help me! Help me!’
Or they whisper: ‘I wish you were dead.’ ‘I wish you were alive.’
….And on the school room floor something is
Coming to pass at long last. The teacher, neither a man
Nor a woman, turns to the window, and looks left down the hill,
Seeing the boy at the road’s edge, who has seen and heard, rise
From where he was sitting with his question (‘Mother, O Mother!
If I run faster is the way shorter?’ The mother thinks a little,
And then she says, ‘No, dear.’)…”
Allen Grossman, “Flax”
The right, as one walks eastward, where the road rises between
Two fields making a hill--the school house, daughter of the hill,
In a field of flax, in a sixth year when the flax is blue;
And I have seen in the same distance the children singing
In the school room: ‘In heaven’s name,’ they sing, ‘can you, perhaps,
Impart to me some power to enable me to bear this force
Emerging from my heart.’ Or they cry out, ‘Help me! Help me!’
Or they whisper: ‘I wish you were dead.’ ‘I wish you were alive.’
….And on the school room floor something is
Coming to pass at long last. The teacher, neither a man
Nor a woman, turns to the window, and looks left down the hill,
Seeing the boy at the road’s edge, who has seen and heard, rise
From where he was sitting with his question (‘Mother, O Mother!
If I run faster is the way shorter?’ The mother thinks a little,
And then she says, ‘No, dear.’)…”
Allen Grossman, “Flax”
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Too Soon
**
"Most of the truly people in the world are those who came out of hell too soon, taking the evil way as the only exit. Many of the most truly holy people in the world saw it through, remaining in deadness rather than follow the renewal of life offered by evil. They waited in the tomb...
...Through the Passion of Christ, the heart leaps, the heart is raised up, the heart is handed over, the heart gives away and the heart goes all the way... The way of the heart is too terrible and wonderful for any words. Its rewards are beyond all imagining.
To be one of those fiery ones suffering for the saving of the world, out of love for the world, is the heart's fullness, the answer to its anguished questions, the joy of victory, the peace that passes all understanding. The heart is a warrior, and this is the heart's only rest.
Praise be to the Passion of Christ."
Dr. Jamie Moran in "Spiritual War" (Raising Lazarus: Integral Healing in Orthodox Christianity ed. Stephen Muse)
***
"Most of the truly people in the world are those who came out of hell too soon, taking the evil way as the only exit. Many of the most truly holy people in the world saw it through, remaining in deadness rather than follow the renewal of life offered by evil. They waited in the tomb...
...Through the Passion of Christ, the heart leaps, the heart is raised up, the heart is handed over, the heart gives away and the heart goes all the way... The way of the heart is too terrible and wonderful for any words. Its rewards are beyond all imagining.
To be one of those fiery ones suffering for the saving of the world, out of love for the world, is the heart's fullness, the answer to its anguished questions, the joy of victory, the peace that passes all understanding. The heart is a warrior, and this is the heart's only rest.
Praise be to the Passion of Christ."
Dr. Jamie Moran in "Spiritual War" (Raising Lazarus: Integral Healing in Orthodox Christianity ed. Stephen Muse)
***
Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Reverse Entropy!
***
"...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Romans 5
"...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Romans 5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
