My first Divine Liturgy experience.

[heavenlyboy34]

Got a video I will share ASAP. Crazzzy busy toady.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Happy Pentacost! An extremely busy day! Voice lesson before church. A quite happy service to celebrate. Plenty of lolz and ~hugs~ at fellowship hour. I have a video of the homily, which I will share ASAP.


THE EPISTLE

The Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. (2:1

-

11)

When the day of Pentecost had come, the Disciples were all together in one place. And

suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a might

y wind, and it filled all the house

where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting
on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues, as the Spirit gave t
hem utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout
men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they
were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were
amazed and
wondered, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that
we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents
of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia
, Egypt and the
parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans
and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
THE GOSPEL
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St
. John. (7:37
-
52; 8:12)
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If anyone
thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’” N
ow this He said about the Spirit, which those who
believed in Him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not
yet glorified. When they heard these words, many of the people said, “This is really the
prophet.” Others sai
d, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
Has not the Scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem,
the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over Him. Some
of
them wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him. The officers then went back to the
chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers
answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered the
m, “Are you led
astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd,
who do not know the Law, are accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Him before, and who
was one of them, said to them, “Does our Law judge a man
without first giving him a hearing
and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see
that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.” Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the
world; he who follows Me wil
l not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

 

[Eagles' Wings]

We celebrated Pentecost last week and Trinity Sunday, this week. We proclaimed the Anathansian Creed, a historical and theological gift.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

First Sunday after Pentacost. Another very busy day. Voice lesson @ 8, attended Orthros @ 9:45-ish, liturgy @ 10. Fr. Chris is doing a wedding in CA this week, so he wasn't in. /Sadz I have a vid of Fr Mansour's homily, but I didn't care for it, so I won't post. Gospel- Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30. Epistle-Hebrews 11:33-12:2. Hugz n' kissez all around after liturgy.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Yesterday was the feast day of my patron saint, Cyrill of Alexandria. Just thought I'd mention it cuz it's my first time celebrating it.

 

[Eagles' Wings]

Yesterday was the feast day of my patron saint, Cyrill of Alexandria. Just thought I'd mention it cuz it's my first time celebrating it.

Tell us in your own words, who he is, please. What can we learn from him? Why did you choose him? Not to sound pushy, just interested in your patron saint.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Tell us in your own words, who he is, please. What can we learn from him? Why did you choose him? Not to sound pushy, just interested in your patron saint.

Cyril was a Greek minister to the Slavs. In his efforts to teach the Gospel, he invented the Cyrillic alphabet-based on the Greek. It is primarily to Cyril we owe thanks for planting the seeds for one of the great Eastern Churches-the Russian Orthodox Church. Another consequence of Cyrill's work is the rise of Russian literature, which is to this day among the most important and influential styles there is. From Pushkin and Tolstoy to Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, and Zamyatin, it's ultimately all thanks to St. Cyrill. As far as what we can learn from him-a great deal about the gospel via his homilies and commentaries. Here's some of them- http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_01_sermons_01_11.htm

 

[Eagles' Wings]

Cyril was a Greek minister to the Slavs. In his efforts to teach the Gospel, he invented the Cyrillic alphabet-based on the Greek. It is primarily to Cyril we owe thanks for planting the seeds for one of the great Eastern Churches-the Russian Orthodox Church. Another consequence of Cyrill's work is the rise of Russian literature, which is to this day among the most important and influential styles there is. From Pushkin and Tolstoy to Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, and Zamyatin, it's ultimately all thanks to St. Cyrill. As far as what we can learn from him-a great deal about the gospel via his homilies and commentaries. Here's some of them- http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_01_sermons_01_11.htm

Thanks, HB, will check this out.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Thanks, HB, will check this out.

Louise, I just noticed I linked you to a piece about a different St Cyrill. :/ Sorry. I'll find some of his writings ASAP. Till then, http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/fr-james-thornton-life-of-saints-cyril-and-methodios.pdf <-this is general biographical info about him and St Methodius(who traveled with Cyrill).

 

[euphemia]

heavenlyboy, I've been following your thread since shortly after you started it. Since you have been going to church and participating in the liturgy and Christian experience, how is your life different? I realize this is a personal question, but I'm wondering what it looks like in your own words.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

heavenlyboy, I've been following your thread since shortly after you started it. Since you have been going to church and participating in the liturgy and Christian experience, how is your life different? I realize this is a personal question, but I'm wondering what it looks like in your own words.

This is a good question, but I'm afraid I don't have time to answer it tonight. I'll get back to it ASAP. ~hugs~

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Sorry I haven't gotten an update done yet. Between other stuff to do and internet blackouts, I haven't been able to do it. :/ Will finish one and post a vid ASAP.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

OMG, busy day. Voice lesson @ 8, Orthros @ 9. My director asked me to switch to tenor from now on.

Transfer of Commemoration of Peter and Paul. Epistle-2 Corinthians 11:21-12:9, Gospel-Matthew 16:13-19. Vids of the homily coming ASAP. Fr. Chris discussed a bit about how State-legalized gay "marriage" poses a threat to the Church in that it can be used as a political weapon against the Church community.

Lit a candle for BuddyRey again today. Cried a bit. :'( R.I.P. Now I'm all teary again. People have been nice about helping me cope.

 

[Terry1]

OMG, busy day. Voice lesson @ 8, Orthros @ 9. My director asked me to switch to tenor from now on.

Transfer of Commemoration of Peter and Paul. Epistle-2 Corinthians 11:21-12:9, Gospel-Matthew 16:13-19. Vids of the homily coming ASAP. Fr. Chris discussed a bit about how State-legalized gay "marriage" poses a threat to the Church in that it can be used as a political weapon against the Church community.

Lit a candle for BuddyRey again today. Cried a bit. :'( R.I.P. Now I'm all teary again. People have been nice about helping me cope.

Yes--it will be used as a weapon of persecution against the church and already is--churches being forced to comply with opposing beliefs and opposite God. This is what our Lord spoke about as well--the time is at hand. Oil and water do not mix--they never have. We are now a thorn in the side of those who are the enemies of God.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Another voice lesson @ 8, orthros @ 9. Getting better at hitting the high notes. Epistle-Galatians 5:22-6:2, gospel Matthew 8:28-9:1. I haven't gotten around to uploading the homilies I've taped lately, including toady. :/ Lit a candle in memory of Buddyrey.

Homily discussed basics of orthodox communion and relics and the deeper meanings of liturgy. Vids to come ASAP.

 

[Biblefundyfun]

Before the New Testament, Was the Divine Liturgy


By Elder Sophrony of Essex

We Orthodox live Christ within the Divine Liturgy, or rather Christ lives within us during the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is a work of God. We say: "Time is a creation of the Lord". Among other things it means now is the time for God to act. Christ liturgizes, we live with Christ.

The Divine Liturgy is the way we know God and the way God becomes known to us.

Christ celebrated the Divine Liturgy once and this passed into eternity. His divinized human nature came to the Divine Liturgy. We know Christ specifically in the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy we celebrate is the same Divine Liturgy which was done by Christ on Great Thursday in the Mystical Supper.

The 14th through the 16th chapters of the Gospel according to John is one Divine Liturgy. So in the Divine Liturgy we understand Holy Scripture.

The early Church lived without a New Testament, but not without the Divine Liturgy. The first records, the written hymns, exist in the Divine Liturgy.

In the Divine Liturgy we live Christ and understand His word.

As Christ cleansed His Disciples with his word and said to them: "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3) and He washed the feet of His Disciples with water, during the Sacred Washing, so also in the first section of the Divine Liturgy He cleanses us that we might attend later His Table of love. The purpose of the Divine Liturgy is to convey Christ to us.

The Divine Liturgy teaches us an ethos, the ethos of humility. As Christ sacrificed Himself, so also should we sacrifice ourselves. The type of the Divine Liturgy is the type of impoverishment for us. In the Divine Liturgy we try to be humbled, because we have the sense that there is the humble God.

Every Divine Liturgy is a Theophany. The Body of Christ appears. Every member of the Church is an icon of the Kingdom of God.

After the Divine Liturgy we must continue to iconify the Kingdom of God, keeping His commandments. The glory of Christ is to bear fruit in every member His fruit. This explains His word: "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit" (John 15:8).


Source: I Knew A Man In Christ: The Life and Times of Elder Sophrony, the Hesychast and Theologian (Οίδα άνθρωπον εν Χριστώ: Βίος και πολιτεία του Γέροντος Σωφρονίου του ησυχαστού και θεολόγου) by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

They may not have had the New Testament then but we have it now so while this ALL sounds flowery fluffy pious ever so catholic and lovely we've moved on with all due respect. They also
got torn asunder and eaten by lions for the entertainment of Rome back the too, shall we get that happening again too? Just for old times sake?

 

[TER]

Elder Sophrony: The Basics of the Divine Liturgy

- by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Before I left the Holy Monastery I found an opportunity in a discussion to ask him [Elder Sophrony] about the Divine Liturgy, and he presented me with the basic teaching about it.

“The Priesthood is not given to man as a reward for virtues, but as a gift for the edification of the Church. Someone becomes a Priest in order to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and to sanctify the people. Also, the Priesthood has a social significance, since he will deal with the construction of the church and the suffering of the Christians. So he also needs these qualifications, besides the spirituality.”

– “The Divine Liturgy occurred one time forever. It has eternality. Every time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, we rise up to its height. If we live some aspects of the Divine Liturgy, then we will understand its greatness, as happened with St. Seraphim of Sarov who saw angels coming to the church during the Small Entrance. We follow the Divine Liturgy, because we do not live it, or until we live it.”

– “The Divine Liturgy teaches us to live with the heart. By celebrating the Divine Liturgy we keep the command of Christ: ‘Drink this in remembrance of Me’ (Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24). That’s why we say: ‘Remembering this saving command….’ This is not a psychological fact, but spiritual. Thus, every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, we are obedient to the word of Christ, and we penetrate the Divine Mystagogy in the Liturgy of Christ.

What God did once, remains now forever. This happens with the Divine Liturgy. One time Christ celebrated it in the Upper Room with the Mystical Supper, and this remains forever. The Christian, depending on the sacrifice he makes and his infiltration of Grace with this ‘spirit’ of the Divine Liturgy, receives Grace from God, and is purified of the passions. The Divine Liturgy in its perfection is the supplication and prayer for the entire world. This is the so-called royal officiation-priesthood. Thus, man reaches the end of the age. He does not wait for the day of the Lord, but this day of the Lord comes to him. So by Grace he becomes timeless.”

From I Knew A Man In Christ: The Life and Times of Elder Sophrony, the Hesychast and Theologian (Οἶδα ἄνθρωπον ἐν Χριστῶ: Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τοῦ Γέροντος Σωφρονίου τοῦ ἡσυχαστοῦ καὶ θεολόγου) by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou.

Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
i

 

[TER]

Closed Communion

- by Ilias Levy

To some Orthodox it may seem that this is a somewhat bizarre issue to think worthy of an article. Indeed, perhaps it ought to be. Unfortunately, however, it is something about which there appears to be a certain amount of ignorance and confusion – to the extent where there have been very troubling instances of non-Orthodox being given Communion in Britain and other places. Where this happens, it is of course a disciplinary issue which must be dealt with by the appropriate Hierarchs. However it is also true that for some people it is an issue which is very difficult to understand – and from this lack of understanding can come an understandable pastoral difficulty when people are told that, for instance, a Catholic or Protestant spouse or friend cannot be admitted to Communion.

It is therefore my intention to try to make this subject more widely understood and, hopefully, by increasing knowledge and understanding, removing the potential for insult or offence.

Part of the reason for this confusion is that other Christian denominations allow any Christian (and, occasionally, anyone at all) to receive the Precious Gifts. Whether this is in fact true is something to which I will come later. Indeed, it seems more likely that the reason is simply that there is a lack of knowledge about the significance of Communion. This Mystery is not a cause of unity, rather a result of it.

The act of receiving Communion is not something which brings someone into unity with the Church. In fact, the most serious penalty which the Church can put on its members is that of excommunication – refusing to allow an individual to receive the Gifts. This shows not only the importance of the Eucharist for Orthodox Christians, but also the fact that one must be a faithful member of the Church to take part in the Mystery.

The most significant reason for keeping a practice of closed communion is that it is vitally necessary for a communicant to have a correct understanding of the Holy Mystery from which he is partaking. As A.S. Frangopoulos explains in his book ‘Our Orthodox Christian Faith’, other Christians have an alternate – and therefore incorrect – understanding of the Eucharist. How, then, would it be at all reasonable to invite them to share, as Frangopoulos puts it, a common cup? This difference is most keenly felt when it comes to the vast majority of Protestant denominations. The Orthodox doctrine is that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist truly become the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Saviour. Most Protestants, on the other hand, tend to see this as purely a symbolic matter, choosing to concentrate on the words of Christ – “Do this in remembrance of me”. This line is, of course, only a very small part of Christ’s institution of the Eucharist.

In the account of the Last Supper in the Gospel of St John, Christ tells us that this sacrament is for the unity of the faith, that His disciples might be one. How, then, can we share this most sacred of Mysteries with those with whom we have no unity? A (rather strange, it must be said) response to this might be that “well, we are all Christians”. Only in the most basic of senses, this may be true. But we, as Orthodox Christians, believe that the Orthodox Church holds, uniquely, the fullness of truth. It carries the traditions and faith of the Apostles, and therefore springs from the salvific teaching of Christ Himself. Any theological deviation from this faith is, by definition, lacking in truth.

Another scriptural justification for the practice of closed communion comes from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians – “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” One of the reasons that this is apparently such a difficult issue in our modern, Western, society is the rise of the oppressive atmosphere of pluralism. This doctrine attempts to teach us that all opinions, beliefs and ideas are equally valid, and that it is in some sense morally wrong to question anyone else’s views or to promote a known truth of your own. Of course, as Orthodox Christians we know that this simply cannot work. There can be no such thing as a pluralist Orthodoxy. This does not, of course, mean that we should be judgmental, prejudicial or condemnatory. We are clearly commanded in the Gospel to love our neighbours, and even our enemies. It is sometimes a difficult balance to achieve, but we are extremely fortunate that we have two millennia of Church Tradition and wisdom to draw upon.

Finally, I would like to quote an extract from an online article on this subject – “It is crucial to point out that the Orthodox practice of “closed” communion is not a judgment against a person or their standing in God’s eyes or the potential of their salvation. It is not a way of saying that some are “good” and others are “bad”. The practice of receiving communion together is the outward expression of having all things in common, in faith and worship. It is the fruit of unity.”

 

[euphemia]

bump

 

[heavenlyboy34]

No voice lesson yesterday. 6th Sunday after Pentacost and 6th Sunday of Matthew. Gospel-Matthew 9:1-8 Epistle Romans 12:6-14. Nice day overall. update: homily is here-

I think non-orthodox people will find this one interesting because he does an explanation of antements, the divine liturgy (what it is and why we need it), and related stuff.