Orthodixie

It was around 200 A.D., according to St. Clement of Alexandria, that theologians in Egypt settled on May 20 as the birthday of Jesus, while others argued for dates in April and March.

This wasn’t a major issue, since early Christians emphasized the Epiphany on Jan. 6, marking Christ’s baptism. Then sometime before 354, Rome began …

Read the full story H E R E !

The ubiquitous hoopla over Christmas creches, sayings, and celebrations seems to concern the secular powers that be. After all, Christian churches are all still on board with the program. Right?

Given the assumption that the struggle involves Culture more so than Church, revisiting H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic paradigms of Christ and Culture might prove beneficial. In quoting Niebuhr’s material, I shall be substituting Christmas for Christ and taking other necessary liberties with his foundational work.

1) Christmas Against Culture

Whatever may be the customs of the society in which the Christian lives, and whatever the human achievements it conserves, Christmas is seen as opposed to them. Christmas confronts men with the challenge of an “either-or” decision.

From a broad perspective, we see this paradigm operating with certain reactionary and fundamentalist groups. Eschewing family gatherings, secular celebrations, and all manner of things in honour of the Feast, the choice is either Christmas or the World. The World is viewed as the Great Satan and Christmas is forever opposed to the ways and customs of the World. All is done in the name of correctness. Christmas is viewed as being perfect and pure – and it is the job of each individual to protect and save Christmas from the ways of the World and wayward Christians. A heretic is spotted under every bush, especially if he puts up a tree in Advent — even uses the word Advent as opposed to Nativity Fast — decorates his house, wears green and red, sings a Carol before the 25th, mentions “Santa,” etc. [p.40]

2) Christmas of Culture

In this group, Christmas appears as a festival of human culture and history. The development of Christmas traditions is regarded as great achievements. It is at this time of year, during the celebration of the Feast, that the aspirations of men toward their values are brought to a point of culmination. Christmas confirms what is best in the past, and guides the process of civilization to its proper goal. Moreover, Christmas is part of culture in the sense that it is part of the social heritage that must be transmitted and conserved. In our time answers of this kind are given by Christians who note the close relation between Christianity and Western civilization, between the festivities of Christmas and democratic institutions.

As in Social Evolution, so develops the Feast. The orthodox interpretation of the Feast is viewed as the “fullness” of Christmas, but other interpretations and traditions are seen as grappling after the same Truth, the same goal. This paradigm is very tempting for those wishing to assimilate their religious beliefs with the current culture. They may mix Culture with Christmas to the point where the lines are blurred. [p.41]

3) Christmas Above Culture

This group views Christmas as the fulfillment of cultural and festival aspirations and the restorer of the human spirit. Yet there is in Christmas something that neither arises out of culture nor contributes directly to it. It is discontinuous as well as continuous with social life and its culture. Christmas enters into life from above with gifts which human aspiration has not envisioned and which human effort cannot attain unless the Feast relates men to a supernatural society and a new value-center. Christmas is, indeed, a Christmas of culture, but it is also a Christmas above culture.

Practitioners of this category have never met a Christmas concert or affair that they didn’t — or weren’t tempted to – attend. They tend to be motivated by scholarly works. Much like a Western understanding of the study of Theology, these folks make a Science of the Feast. [p.42]

4) Christmas and Culture in Paradox

In this group, the duality and inescapable authority of both Christmas and culture is recognized, but the opposition between them is also accepted. Those falling into this category are Christians who are subject to the tension that accompanies obedience to two authorities who do not agree yet must both be obeyed. They are convicted that obedience and loyalty to the institutions of society and fealty to the celebration of Christmas is both contradictory and the norm. Those in this category are seen as subject to two moralities, and as a citizen of two worlds that are not only discontinuous with each other but largely opposed. In the polarity and tension of Christmas and culture life must be lived precariously and sinfully in the hope of a justification which lies beyond history. [pp.42-43]

5) Christmas the Transformer of Culture

This type is the conversionist solution to the problem. Those in this category understand with the members of the other four groups that human nature is fallen or perverted, and that this perversion not only appears in culture but is transmitted by it. Hence the opposition between Christmas and all human institutions and customs is to be recognized. Yet the antithesis does not lead either to separating Christmas from the world (as with Christmas against Culture), or to mere endurance in the expectation of transhistoral salvation (as with Christmas and Culture in Paradox). Christmas is seen as the converter of man in his culture and society, not apart from these, for there is no nature without culture and no turning of men from self and idols to the God of Christmas save in society. [p.43]

For Orthodox Christians there’s another possible paradigm:

6) Christmas and Culture toward Theosis

Plagiarizing and paraphrasing Fr Alexander Elchaninov, Diary of a Russian Priest: Theosis — or, deification — is central to the understanding of salvation for the Orthodox. The question is: What path to follow in order to reach this theosis? Which is the best way for the Christian to enter into the Feast within the life and culture around him? All paths (above paradigms) may not be equal, but each one might be spiritually profitable to some.

Participation in culture is, from one point of view, a compromise so far as the spiritual life is concerned. Is not the method of deifying the world from within — the way which St. Seraphim followed — a more sure course? Then everything else is transfigured as well. [DRP, p.93]

So it is the same at Christmas as any other time of year:

Find inner peace and thousands around you will find their salvation.

“Christians have been told their faith is represented in the season by Christmas trees and snowflake displays. If frozen water pellets represent my faith, should I genuflect before the icemaker in my refrigerator?”

Read the entire article HERE.

Christmas is a time for clothes. It is one of the few times that I notice clothes. Even before wearing a jibbee – a clerical robe – I’d never been much of a clotheshorse or trendsetter. Thanks to Christmas, I’ve never bought much clothing for myself. Ever.

This time of year finds even the houses, trees, and pets clothed in festive array. During the season, you will see some of the oddest outfits that you will ever see, and many of the prettiest will remain on the mannequin. ‘Tis the dressiest time of the year.

Christmas and clothes, they go hand in hand. In fact, at some age, usually in your late teens, for some reason, most of the presents you receive become clothes. For this I am truly grateful, else I may still be wearing platform shoes and silk shirts. (Though, perhaps, I would now be in style?)

In fact, the reason for the Feast and season is God became flesh. God spoke, and this Word put on humanity that we might put on divinity. The Word was clothed with human flesh. Within the Virgin Mary the Word was clothed with human flesh and Christ was born God dressed in human flesh.

St. Paul writes, “So before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” [Gal.3:27].

It is only in being clothed in Christ that we can be in a right relationship with God. Christ clothed himself in humanity that we might be clothed in righteousness. Before Christ, there was the law. With Christ, there is no other way to stand in a right (just) relationship with God lest we be clothed in Christ. Just as our Lady the Most Holy Theotokos answered “Be it unto me according to thy word,” we, too, may take on Christ. Through the womb of the baptismal font we are born anew in Christ – marked, clothed as His own forever. Like the Mother of God before us, having been born anew in Christ, being justified by faith, we may bear Christ to the world.

This season shall be celebrated with gift giving. Yet, as the concluding prayer of the Divine Liturgy, the Prayer behind the Ambon, states: “For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from Thee, the Father of Lights.” Thus it is that the time may come during all the secular hoopla of the season that we ask ourselves “Am I doing this right? Is this the way to celebrate the birth of Christ?”

What is the “right” way to celebrate the birth of our Saviour? No matter how we answer this question, one thing is certain: Clothes. We’ll put them on, we’ll try them on, we’ll give them, and we’ll receive them. Soon we may find that we’ve outgrown ‘em. (The season does have a way of clothing you with a few more pounds!) Nonetheless, somewhere amid all the cares, burdens, and worries of the Fast and festive season, you’ll ask yourself “Am I doing this right?”

Whether we celebrate something once in a lifetime or annually we have a tendency to want to do it right – as if the moment depends on us! Usually, we overdo it. Our sinful pride clouds our vision. We think the more we do, the better things will be. We fall prey to the Serpent’s lie from the tree and view ourselves as gods. (Didn’t this lead to worries about clothing to begin with?)

There is nothing you can do to make things “right.” This has been done for you. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is right. It is this we prepare to celebrate during this season. We celebrate what God has done, is doing, shall do … for those who believe.

So, in order to celebrate in a right, Orthodox, way: LOVE. Love one another with the same love that receives the King of Glory and wraps Him in swaddling cloths [Lk.2:12]. Do not worry about what you shall receive. Do not worry if you’re doing things right. For God clothed in flesh said, “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” [Mt. 6:28-30].

But oh how we worry through the months of December and January. We worry about our bills, our plans, our possessions … ourselves. Yet, in order to see God clothed in human flesh, we must look with the eyes of faith. For often during times like these, our Lord comes to us. How? “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed me” [Mt.25:35-36]. We must look, with the eyes of faith, beyond ourselves.

For, “The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength” [Ps.9:31]. Yet this same Lord, the King of glory, we often clothe with a robe of purple. We fashion a crown of thorns. We spit upon Him – and, in His time of trial and agony, we walk away from Him. After all, we have our own cares.

May God be gracious unto us and forgive us. Let us love one another with a holy love during the Nativity Fast. Let us forget the cares and occupations of this temporary home and build up treasures in heaven. Forgive one another. Love one another. Be clothed with the King of Glory and let that Light shine round about you! Be ye holy as He is holy!

The perfect gift cannot be found in the mall, but in the manger. The perfect gift, God is! God clothed Himself in our flesh for our salvation. The manger is a feeding trough and God is now our food. So let us prepare with eyes of faith to see the King of Glory, God in human flesh, in the manger – the chalice of our salvation! Let us receive Him into our hearts as once did Mary. Let us partake of this heavenly food and rejoice! “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout for joy!” [Ps.132:9]

“Make ready, O Bethlehem, for Eden hath been opened for all. Prepare, O Ephratha, for the tree of life hath blossomed forth in the cave from the Virgin; for her womb did appear as a spiritual paradise in which is planted the divine Plant, whereof eating we shall live and not die as Adam. Christ shall be born, raising the image that fell of old” [Proskomedia prayer].

New clothes. Yes, that is truly what the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour is all about.

A version of this piece first appeared in The Word, 1996.

I realize it’s cold outside. Snow’s coming, Christmas is not far behind. But it’s August in Antioch. This as a state of mind rather than simple chronology. August in Antioch may outlive 31 days, this year, or several years.

There’s a new day coming, “A new era,” said His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP at the summer convention. At the time it was like summer. Well, it was summer. The new era was just around the corner, but not yet. Now, it’s August in Antioch.

Everyone knows that August is pregnant with expectation. The Church, having survived the summer, eagerly anticipates the coming New Year with its programs and promise. Plans are made so as to make this transition smooth and peaceful. At the very latest, these plans are made in August. It’s, at least, August in Antioch.

Tonight I was fortunate enough – blessed – to be present for the Enthronement of His Grace, BASIL, Bishop of Wichita and Mid-America. I’m just getting back into the hotel room as I’m punching out these words. No time yet to process. But I do know it’s August in Antioch.

The images … St George Cathedral was dimly lighted for the Vespers service. The clergy – 50 of us? – lined the center aisle. As we looked back toward the door through which the Metropolitan would enter, two saints stared back at us from the western wall: Ignatius of Antioch and Raphael of Brooklyn. The bells. The arrival. The procession. Vespers. For such a huge building the service sounded and felt gentle and warm. A pregnant hush filled the air. In my heart, it felt like August in Antioch.

At service’s end, there stood Saidna PHILIP on the solea, Saidna JOSEPH to his right, and Saidna BASIL was ensconced on his throne to the left. His proclamation sounded much like the one delivered on the day of his Consecration to the episcopacy: full of love, humility, and power. He didn’t say it, but you could tell: It’s August in Antioch.

The reception that followed was grand without being pompous. (Arabs sure know how to fast.) Fr Constantine Nassr reminisced about his meeting Bishop BASIL 34 years ago at St Vladimir’s Seminary. It was a moving tribute – one which I could never have delivered without crying. George Farha was the first to accuse Metropolitan PHILIP of hallucinating. Then Fr Paul O’Callaghan joined in. They were referring to what they would have said 20 or 30 years ago if someone had told them that this day – Antiochian dioceses, self-rule, bishops of American Sees – would ever come. They would have told that someone that they were hallucinating.

When time finally came for Metropolitan PHILIP’s words, he admitted that he had, indeed, been hallucinating for years, and Fr Paul, Fr Constantine, George Farha, Bishop BASIL, etc, were all part of his hallucination. It was, per normal, a rousing speech by His Eminence. Suddenly we were there, really there, for the “Great Commission.” It’s August in Antioch.

His Eminence reminded us that the Lord said to “Go and make disciples of ALL nations,” not just Syrians, Jordanians, Palestinians, Russians, Greeks. He said he looked forward to the day when 50 bishops gathered to pray to the Triune God. “Why not?” he said. Why not?

He spoke of the great missionary work going on within Bishop BASIL’s diocese and throughout the Antiochian Archdiocese. He defended his reception – Welcome Home – of the Evangelicals in 1987. He said that sometimes we talk so much about “preserving” the Faith that we sound like a bunch of pickles! He said, “Our Lord did not tell us to preserve the Faith … but to spread it!”

The Antiochian Archdiocese, just in the past 6 months, has been granted Self-Rule status, elected and consecrated 3 new bishops, and seated 2 bishops. It’s August in Antioch.

Why do I keep saying it’s August in Antioch? Because something new is happening. It didn’t just happen overnight, mind you. It has taken years and decades to get to this point. Yet if you view that span of time like the months of a year, it’s August in Antioch.

Each year in September, as we begin the New Church Year, we pray:

It is these petitions that come to my mind as I witness history being made in the God-protected Antiochian Archdiocese.

At the summer’s convention, His Eminence said:

The Book of Acts recorded the trials and tribulations of Peter, John, Paul and the rest of the early Christian community as they preached the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus. In Acts 4:31-32, we read: “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.” I hope that after our prayers and accomplishments at this convention, the foundations of this fragmented Orthodoxy in North America will be shaken and all Orthodox will speak the Word of God with boldness and with one heart and one soul.

He went on, back in July, to speak of struggles …

Three years have elapsed since our first vote in Los Angeles. These three years have been marked by frustration, tension and disappointment. But our Church is a church of hope. In John 5:17, our Lord said: “My father is still working and I am working.” If you are in Christ, you do not despair, you do not give up, and you do not surrender. Christ is working with us and will continue to work with us until the end of time. He is the foundation and head of the Church. In I Corinthians 3:11-13, St. Paul said: “For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.”

The Orthodox Church of Twenty-first century America is destined to chart its own course and shape its own future, despite the obstacles. We in the Antiochian Archdiocese have reached the point of no return.

In II Corinthians 5:17, St. Paul said: “therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come.” Today, I am overwhelmed by a sense of newness. This is a new era and a new day.

In conclusion, I am reminded of the story of Marshall Lyautey, who once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow to grow and would not reach maturity for a hundred years. The Marshall replied, “in this case, there is no time to waste, plant this morning.” Today, in a world of fragmented Orthodoxy on this continent and abroad, we have no time to waste, let us plant our trees this morning.

On the ocassion of his enthronement as Bishop of Wichita and Mid-America, may God grant His Grace, BASIL, many, many years! But I maintain, in this chronological image, it’s August in Antioch. Let us proceed, brother and sisters, into the new era – being not hearers only, but doers – in faith, hope, and love.

By anticipation: Happy New Era!

Glory to God for all things!