St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

An Orthodox community where people find transformation in Jesus Christ.

Living with the Holy Scriptures

anasia readingThe Holy Scriptures play a pivotal role in an Orthodox Christian life. Not only does the public reading of portions of the Bible occur in every church service celebrated at St Nicholas but we are all called to individually read a portion of the Gospels and of the Apostles (Epistles and Acts) daily. Some members of our community have also committed to pray a portion of the Psalter on a daily basis.These readings are available on this website. The Orthodox Church accepts the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament because that is the version quoted in the New Testament and because the Masoretic, or Hebrew version, which is the basis for the King James translation was not compiled until the 9th century after Christ. This is long over 400 years after the Orthodox Church had determined the ‘canon’ of the Old Testament. The following articles will help you to understand ‘how’ Orthodox Christians understand the Scriptures and why they form such an essential element of our life. If you have any questions about the meaning of specific Biblical passages please contact Fr. John.

The following links will assist you in finding Biblical resources.

March 2014 Antiochian Women 011

Living with Icons

St Nicholas

Icons are beautiful examples of religious art which can be appreciated in art galleries and museums. In Orthodox Christian churches and homes, however, icons are expressions of our faith in the incarnation of Jesus Christ and our hope in the sanctification of human beings through the person of our Savior.

This faith and hope is based on things that have really happened. Many of these things were recorded in Holy Scripture. Christ was born in Bethlehem, crucified in Jerusalem, and ascended from the Mount of Olives. Other events happened in the lived memory of the Church. Our own St Nicholas was a real person. He was a monk in Palestine and the cave where he lived is still beloved in the Orthodox Christian village of Beit Jala. He was a bishop in Myra, which is a small city in Turkey where Orthodox Christians still celebrate the Divine Liturgy in his cathedral. Although icons use symbols that are not readily understandable without instruction, they always depict ‘real’ people and ‘real’ events.

Since icons are based on reality, they follow accepted patterns. Since the Son of God was really born as a human infant in Bethlehem, He was ‘like’ other human infants in many ways but He was also unique. He had a ‘real’ mother who was different from the other young mothers in Nazareth. When we paint Christ as a young child therefore we are not just painting a human being but a specific human being. Our model cannot be chosen at random. Any young beautiful mother cannot be the model for the Virgin Mary in iconography. The recognition of this uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ is the main difference between icons and Western religious art. Each Western ‘Madonna and Child’ is based on a different vision and so each one only symbolizes Christ in the arms of His mother for believers. Icons, however, reproduce their subjects following a common pattern. The depiction of Christ in an icon always presents Him as the Church sees Him.

When we live with icons they not only help us to focus our minds on our incarnate Lord Jesus Christ they also change the way we see other people and the natural world. In icons the material world is fully alive firstly because it is God’s workmanship but more importantly because the Son of God lived and died upon it. The material world is seen as a vehicle of Divine grace in an icon and not just as a resource for our use. As the Psalmist said, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein (Psalm 23:1 Septuagint and Psalm 24:1 Masoretic). People too are seen as being created “in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27)”  and as capable of being transfigured by Divine grace. For that reason when the priest censes the holy icons, he always censes the holy people of God who are standing in prayer in the temple. Each human being is an icon of God created in His image and called to be like Him in holiness and love.

Icons depict real people but they are not those people themselves. When we hold a Richphotograph of someone we love, sometimes we feel closer to them but we never confuse the photograph with the person. We cannot ‘worship’ icons because we know that Jesus Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints are not paint and wood but we ‘venerate’ icons because God’s grace is able to transfigure created things. Human beings are real icons of God but we die and our bodies wear out. “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither, and the flower thereof falls away (1 Peter 1:24).” Because each human person has unique value in the sight of God, we bury our dead with dignity and honor. Even in death we acknowledge the image of God. When icons wear out, however, as St John of Damascus taught, we simply dispose of them and get new ones. Icons and people are both holy images but human beings are of immeasurably greater worth than paintings of human beings.

Moses commanded that images of cherubim be made for the Ark of the Covenant samuel anoints david (Exodus 25: 18-21) and so it is clear that he did not intend the prohibition against images to be absolute. The ancient Jewish synagogue in Dura-Europos, located in modern Syria, is filled with iconographic images like the one to the left depicting the Prophet Samuel anointing David. No one thought these images of the Old Testament prophets were idolatry.The Lord’s command to not make gods for ourselves to worship, however, was absolute and remains so to this day (Exodus 20:2-6).

Living with icons is the Orthodox Christian’s way of preventing idolatry. All Christians boast that we have Jesus Christ enthroned in our hearts as Lord but we all too often create gods in our own image rather than recognizing that He has made us in His image. All too often people have replaced the Living God in their hearts with dead idols that represent their own desires and their own version of holiness. Icons remind us of who Christ really is and what holiness really looks like. We are all called to have a personal relationship with God but we cannot have a personal ‘god’ that differs from the experience of the Church. Jesus Christ is “the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).”

 

Christ the Merciful Judge

The Way Up is Down

Third Thursday in Great Lent

Kathisma 8 (Psalms 55-63)

“But be subject unto God, O my soul, for from Him is my patient endurance. For He is my God and my helper, and I shall not be moved from hence.” (Psalm 61)

This is a Psalm of David concerning “Idithun.” What is “Idithun?” St. Augustine comments on the meaning of the word: “one who leaps up.” He says that there are those who climb the steps one at a time, and then there are the Idithun, or those who leap several steps in a bound.

So this entire Psalm is about not only the way to ascend, but to even leap the steps of ascent by bounds. And what is that way of rapid ascent? What is the principle of this speedy climb? It is submission and patience and endurance and humility. The way up is down.

The Psalm begins by commending the subjection of the soul to God. After all, it says, He is your salvation. Then the Psalmist writes something that appears not once, but twice in the Psalm: “For He is my God, my saviour and my helper.” In both appearances of this verse, the consequence of God’s salvation and help is that the one who ascends the ladder need not fear being shaken loose from it, or losing his place.

How will we ascend to the heavens? Only by lowering ourselves before the Lord. If we try to lift ourselves up or ascend directly, as did that old serpent, the Devil, will He not humble every one that exalts himself? (Matt. 23:12) And the Theotokos sang in the Spirit: “He casts down the mighty from the thrones and lifts up the lowly.” (Luke 1:52)

This is the mystery of the cross of Christ, who said to His holy Apostles: “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)

Great Lent is a time for God’s People to ascend by lowliness and submission. Hear the Psalmist’s exhortation to the congregation of God’s People: pour out your hearts before Him, for God is our helper. Do not set your heart on men, or those who do injustice, and do not set your hearts on riches. Instead, give alms. Do justice. Be merciful and serve others. Find the lowest place and become a slave of God. Is that not what we say when we go to the Eucharist? The servant of God…? The handmaiden of God…? When we live in those words, we not only ascend to the Lord, but the Psalmist and St. Augustine say that we take the steps two at a time.

One Greater than Solomon

Fourth Tuesday in Great Lent

Kathisma 10 (Psalms 70-76)

“And blessed is the Name of His glory for ever, and unto the ages of ages. And all the earth shall be filled with His glory. So be it. So be it.” (Psalm 71)

King David’s son and heir, Solomon, was the inspiration for this Psalm. Solomon would be king after David, and David fills this Psalm with prayers and hopes and prophetic promises for his son’s future reign.

If you read through this Psalm, it doesn’t take long to see that the things King David wrote go far beyond anything that could be reasonably applied to his son, Solomon. There are things that are easy enough to hear in reference to King Solomon: give him judgment and righteousness, he will judge the people, nations will bow before him. These things aren’t unreasonable, and they actually happened to Solomon. His rule was a time of peace and prosperity. He had countless wives and concubines, the seals of a thousand treaties and alliances. He received tribute from kings and nobles near and far, and his wisdom in judgment was legendary.

For all of that, King David writes some things that go way beyond anything that can reasonably be attributed, or even could have been hoped for, for his son, Solomon. The Psalm describes a king who would fill the very earth with peace and righteousness. His rule would last longer than the moon. He would rule the entire planet, and all the kings of the earth would worship this king. The name of this king would be blessed forever.

And that is where King David seems to identify this king about whom he writes, a king far greater than his son, Solomon, could ever hope to be. He writes, “All the nations shall call Him blessed,” and then he makes the connection for us, “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, Who alone doeth wonders.”

This Psalm is about Solomon, but it is also about one greater than Solomon. It is about the Lord Himself. Jesus Christ our Lord and God called Himself “one greater than Solomon (Matt 12:42).” He is the eternal King who brings peace and righteousness to the earth, and the prophet Isaiah said that under His rule, “the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters fill the sea (Isaiah 11:9).”

Read this Psalm again and then read the prophesy of Isaiah about the descendant of David who was yet to be born: Christ our Lord. You can find it in Isaiah 11. See His magnificence, and fulfill in your own person the prophecy of King David: “all the day long shall they bless Him.” So be it! So be it!

Young and Old

Fourth Monday in Great Lent

Kathisma 10 (Psalms 70-76)

“On Thee have I been made fast from the womb, from my mother’s womb Thou art my protector… Yea, even unto old age and the dignity of years, my God, forsake me not. (Psalm 70)

There is no stage of a Christian’s life during which God is not there. From conception until death – even beyond earthly death – God is your God. A day doesn’t come when the Lord is tired of you, or ready to put you away somewhere. He doesn’t abandon His people.

St. Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna. He was taken before the governor, but was given great deference due to his advanced years. To put it bluntly, Polycarp was an old man. Again and again the governor tried to get St. Polycarp to renounce the Lord Jesus so that he might be spared from death. St. Polycarp’s response was filled with the spirit of this Psalm, and proved that he had not only the years, but also the dignity: “For eighty-six years I have served Him and He has never wronged me. How can I renounce the King who has saved me?”

Eighty-six years of Christian life and faith, and never once could St. Polycarp say the Lord had done him any wrong. Whether you are young or old, you may have confidence that the Lord will not leave you or forsake you, as He Himself has promised. Even your father and mother, the most unlikely of people to forsake you, may abandon you, the Lord never will (Psalm 26).

The Psalmist says in this Psalm that he has endured many afflictions, but the Lord never abandoned him completely. Instead, the Lord has distanced Himself in certain times of trial, only to draw near again to give comfort and even “out of the depths of the earth again Thou hast brought me up.”

Perhaps this has been your experience over a lifetime of walking with the Lord. Tell others about it. That is what the Psalmist says he will do because of the faithfulness of the Lord: he will confess the Lord among the peoples. He will sing songs and declare what the Lord has done. This will be a cause for rejoicing among all those who share your experience of the Lord’s faithfulness. It will also be a boast over all who sought to do you evil. When you declare the Lord’s faithfulness to you throughout your life, you declare the shame and impotence of those who meant you harm.

If you are young, you have good reason to be confident for the future. If you have “the dignity of years,” then tell others about how the Lord has remained faithful to you throughout them all.

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