Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

Parish Calendar: tomorrow, Saturday, April 29th - the men will meet at 9am to begin working on the repair and restoration of the outside benches (between the Hall and the Church School). All help is welcome and much appreciated! Thomas Sunday Great Vespers at 6pm.

Sunday, April 30th - Thomas Sunday Matins (with the Blessing of Artos) at 9am and Divine Liturgy at 10am. There will be Church School afterwards, but a bit shorter than usual, so the younger children can participate in the egg hunt and all the children can partake of the parish Bright Week celebration BBQ together with their family and all parishioners. Please be sure to plan to stay and enjoy our annual parish Thomas Sunday picnic!

Standing, Sitting or Kneeling? (the short version!)

The traditional posture for prayer and worship in the Orthodox Church has been to stand. In the Orthodox "old countries", there are usually no pews in the churches. Chairs or benches on the side walls are usually reserved for the elderly and infirm. In North America, we have tended to build our churches with pews, and since we have them, we need to figure out when we may sit and when we should stand. First of all, it is fully acceptable (even preferable) to stand for the entire service. If you prefer this, it would be better to find a place closer to the back or side of the church so as not to stand out or block someone's view. When should you definitely stand? Always during the Gospel reading, the Little and Great Entrances, the Anaphora, the distribution of Holy Communion, whenever the priest gives a blessing, and the Dismissal. In many parishes, the Divine Liturgy books in the pew have suggested times when sitting is acceptable. Follow those instructions (it's probably safer than to follow what the people are doing in the first couple of rows). When in doubt, stand. It is almost never wrong to stand in church.

Note: Many parishes also follow the practice of kneeling on Sundays during the Cherubic Hymn, the consecration, and the "Our Father". Strictly speaking, this is not correct, because every Sunday is a "little Pascha" in which the Resurrection is remembered - hence, no kneeling. The "kneeling prayers" said five weeks after Pascha are said after the Sunday Liturgy, "reinstating" kneeling for Vespers, Matins, and weekday Liturgies only. If the tradition of the parish you are visiting is to kneel, and everyone kneels, it's better to do so than to stick out like a sore thumb. If there is a mixture of standing and kneeling, then stand.

For those who are inclined to know more about this topic...

Why Are Prayers Said In Church Without Kneeling On All Sundays and From Pascha Until Pentecost?

Is is evident from the Holy Scriptures, bows, kneeling and prostrations were employed during prayer even in the Old Testament. The holy Prophet King David refers to bowing down to God or to His temple in many of the psalms, for example: "Bow down to the Lord in His holy court" (Ps. 28:2); "I shall bow down toward Thy holy temple in fear of Thee" (Ps. 5:8); "O come, let us worship and fall down before Him" (Ps. 94:6); "Let us go forth into His tabernacles, let us bow down at the place where His feet have stood" (Ps. 131:7), etc.

About kneeling, it is known that the holy Prophet Daniel, for example, thrice daily "knelt upon his knees, and prayed and gave thanks before his God" (Dan. 6:10). Full prostrations are also mentioned in the books of the Old Testament. For example: the Prophets Moses and Aaron besought God, "having fallen on their faces" (Numbers 16:22), to be merciful to the children of Israel who had grievously sinned. In the New Testament also, the custom of performing kneelings, prostrations and, of course, bows had been preserved and still had a place at the time of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who sanctified this Old Testament custom by His own example, praying on bended knees and failing down upon His face. Thus, we know from the Holy Gospels that before His passion, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He "kneeled down, and prayed" (Matt. 26:39), "fell on the ground and prayed" (Mark 14:35). And after the Lord's ascension, during the time of the holy apostles, this custom, of which the Holy Scriptures also speak, existed unchanged. For example, the holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen "knelt down," and prayed for his enemies who were stoning him (Acts 7:60); the Apostle Peter, before raising Tabitha from the dead, "knelt down, and prayed" (Acts 9:40), etc. It is an indisputable fact that, as under the first successors of the apostles, so even in much later periods of the existence of the Church of Christ, kneelings, bows and prostrations upon the ground were always employed by true believers at domestic prayers and at the divine services. In antiquity, among the other bodily activities, kneeling was considered the outward manifestation of prayer most pleasing to God. Thus, St. Ambrose of Milan says: "Beyond the rest of the ascetic labors, kneeling has the power to assuage the wrath of God and to evoke His mercy" (Book VI on the Six Days of Creation, ch. 9).

The canons concerning bows and kneelings now accepted by the Orthodox Church and set forth in the books of the divine services, and particularly in the Church Typicon, are observed in monasteries. But in general, Orthodox Christian laymen who have zeal are, of course, permitted to pray on their knees in church and to make full prostrations whenever they wish, excepting only those times when the Gospel, Epistle, Old Testament readings, six psalms and sermon are read. The Holy Church lovingly regards such people, and does not constrain their devout feelings. However, the exceptions with regard to Sundays and the days between Pascha and Pentecost apply generally to everyone. According to ancient tradition and a clear church law, kneeling must not be performed on these days. The brilliant solemnity of the events which the Church commemorates throughout the period of Pentecost and on Sundays precludes, in and of itself, any external manifestation of sorrow or lamentation over one's sins: for ever since Jesus Christ, "blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, ... nailing it to His Cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:14-15)—ever since then "there is, therefore, no condemnation to them who are in Jesus Christ" (Rom. 8:1). For this reason, the practice was observed in the Church from the earliest times, beyond a doubt handed down by the apostles, whereby on all these days, in that they are consecrated to the commemoration of the glorious victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death, it was required to perform the public divine service brightly and with solemnity, and in particular without kneeling, which is a sign of repentant grief for one's sins. The second century writer Tertullian gives testimony concerning this practice: "On the Lord's Day (i.e. Sunday) we consider it improper to fast or to kneel; and we also enjoy this freedom from Pascha until Pentecost" (On the Crown, ch. 3). St. Peter of Alexandria (3rd cent.—cf. his Canon XV in the Rudder), and the Apostolic Constitutions (Book II, Ch. 59) also say the same thing.

Subsequently, the First Ecumenical Council found it necessary to make this legally binding by a special canon obligatory for the entire Church. The canon of this council states: "Since there are some persons who kneel in church on Sundays and on the days of Pentecost, with a view to preserving uniformity in all parishes, it has seemed best to the holy council for prayers to be offered to God while standing" (Canon XX).

Pointing out this canon, St. Basil the Great explains the rationale and meaning of the practice established by it thus: "We stand up when praying on the first of the week, though not all of us know the reason. For it is not only that it serves to remind us that when we have risen from the dead together with Christ we ought to seek the things above, in the day of resurrection of the grace given us, by standing at prayer, but that it also seems to serve in a way as a picture of the expected age. Wherefore, being also the starting point of days, though not the first with Moses, yet it has been called the first. For it says: `The evening and the morning were the first day' (Gen. 1:5), on the ground that it returns again and again. The eighth, therefore, is also the first, especially as respects that really first and true eighth day, which the Psalmist too has mentioned in some of the superscriptions of his psalms, serving to exhibit the state which is to succeed this period of time, the unceasing day, the day without a night that follows, the day without successor, the never-ending and unaging age. Of necessity, therefore, the Church teaches her children to fulfill their obligations to pray therein while standing up, in order by constantly reminding them of the deathless life to prevent them from neglecting the provisions for the journey thither. And every Pentecost is a reminder of the expected resurrection in the age to come. For that one first day, being multiplied seven times over, constitutes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost. For by starting from the first day of the week, one arrives on the same day… The laws of the Church have taught us to prefer the upright posture at prayer, thus transporting our mind, so to speak, as a result of a vivid and clear suggestions, from the present age to the things come in the future. And during each kneeling and standing up again we are in fact showing by our actions that is was through sin that we fell to earth, and that through the kindness of the One Who created us we have been called back to Heaven…" (Canon XCI of St. Basil the Great). The three well-known kneeling prayers of Pentecost composed by this great Father of the Church are thus not read at third hour, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, nor at Liturgy on Pentecost, but at vespers, which is already part of the following day, after the Entrance. The holy Father was determined not to break the ancient custom of the Church.

In Canon XC of the Council of Trullo, held in conjunction with the Sixth Ecumenical Council, we read: "We have received it canonical from our God-bearing Fathers not to bend the knee on Sundays when honoring the resurrection of Christ. Since this observation may not be clear to some of us, we are making it plain to the faithful, that after the entrance of those in holy orders into the sacrificial altar on the evening of the Saturday in question, let none of them bend the knee until the evening of the following Sunday, when, following the entrance after the lamps have been lit, again bending knees, we thus begin to offer our prayers to the Lord. For, inasmuch as we have received it that the night succeeding Saturday was the precursor of our Savior's rising, we commence our hymns at this point in a spiritual manner, ending the festival by passing out of darkness into light, in order that we may hence celebrate the resurrection together for a whole day and a whole night." John Zonaras, explaining the canon, says: "Various canons have made it a law not to kneel on Sundays or during the fifty days of Pentecost, and Basil the Great also supplied the reasons for which this was forbidden. This canon decrees only with regard to Sunday, clearly indicates from what hour and until hour to kneel, and says: `On Saturday, after the entrance of the celebrants into the altar at vespers, no one may bend the knee until vespers on Sunday itself, when, i.e., again the entrance of the celebrants takes place: for we do not transgress by bending the knee and praying in such a manner from that time on. For Saturday night is considered the night of the day of resurrection, which, according to the words of this canon, we must pass in the chanting of psalms, carrying the feast over from darkness to light, and in such manner celebrate the resurrection for the entire night and day" (Book of the Canons With Interpretations, p. 729).

There appears in the Church Typicon a direction concerning how the priest must approach and kiss the Gospel after reading it during the all-night vigil for the resurrection: "Do not make prostrations to the ground, but small bows, until the hand touches the ground. For on Sunday and feasts of the Lord and during the entire fifty days between Pascha and Pentecost the knee is not bent," (Typicon, ch. 2).

Nevertheless, standing at the divine services on Sunday and on the days between Pascha and Pentecost was the privilege of those who were in full communion with the Church; but the so-called "penitents" were not dispensed from kneeling even on those days.

We will close with these words from the famous interpreter of the Church canons, Theodore Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch: "Preserve the canonical decrees, whereever and however they should be phrased; and say not that there are contradictions among them, for the All-holy Spirit has worded them all" (Interpretation of Canon XC of the Council of Trullo).

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

The many languages that follow (given in phonetics, by "branches" of the language tree) represent the various ethnic backgrounds of the parishioners of St. Luke's. If the language of your ethnic background is missing, please let us know and it will be included in next week's bulletin.

Germanic Languages…

German: Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!

Danish: Kristus er opstanden! Sandelig Han er Opstanden!

Romance Languages…

Italian: Cristo è risorto! È veramente risorto!

French: Le Christ est ressuscité! Vraiment Il est ressuscité!

Romanian: Hristos a înviat! Adevarat a înviat!

Spanish: ¡Cristo ha resucitado! ¡En verdad ha resucitado!

Portuguese: Cristo ressuscitou! Verdadeiramente ressuscitou!

East Slavic Languages…

Russian: Christos Voskres! Voistinu Voskres!

Belarussian: Khrystos Uvaskros! Saprawdy Wvaskros!

Ukrainian: Khrystos Voskres! Voistinu Voskres!

South Slavic Languages…

Bulgarian: Christos Vozkrese! Voistina Vozkrese!

Macedonian: Hristos Voskrese! Navistina Voskrese!

Serbian: Hristos Vaskrse! Vaistinu Vaskrse!

Other Indo-European Languages…

Albanian: Krishti u ngjall! Vërtet u ngjall!

Armenian: Christos harjav i merelotz! Orhniale harutjun Christosi!

Greek: Christós Anésti! Alithós Anésti!

Latvian: Kristus ir augšamcelies! Patiesi vinš ir augšamcelies!

Polish: Chrystus Zmartwychwstal! Prawdziwie Zmartwychwstal!

Semitic Languages…

Syriac: Meshiha qam! Bashrira qam!

Arabic: al-Masih qam! Haqqan qam!

Hebrew: Ha Masheeha houh kam! A ken kam!

Ethiopian: Kristos Tenestwal! Bergit Tenestwal!

Uralic Languages…

Hungarian: Krisztus feltámadt! Valóban feltámadt!

Other Languages…

Hawaiian: Ua ala hou ´o kristo! Ua ala ´i ´o no ´oia!

Japanese: Harisutosu fukkatsu! Jitsu ni fukkatsu!

Should you be inclined to know more, visit "Pascha Polyglotta" at http://srbigham.com/en/index.html wherein "Christ is Risen!" is given in over 250 languages!

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

We share this beautiful greeting and response with one another for forty days, from Pascha through the celebration of the Ascension. This is not some sort of liturgical "formula" meant only to be said in church. The Resurrection of Christ is our life, our hope and our joy! We are celebrating the Holy Season of Pascha... so please don't be shy about greeting your family members and fellow Orthodox with a hearty "Christ is Risen!" these forty days - whether by phone, by email or in person.

I was inspired this Pascha Sunday at Agape Vespers to add several languages, covering all the ethnic backgrounds that I'm aware of in our parish, to our traditional "Christ is Risen!" dialogue at the end of holy services from Thomas Sunday through the Ascension. If I've missed your particular background, simply let me know and I'll add it too! Don't worry about knowing the responses in all the languages, they will be printed in our Sunday bulletin so everyone can participate!

Calendar: Remember that this Sunday - Thomas Sunday, we have our annual parish Bright Week celebration BBQ and little children's egg hunt. Bring a change of clothes for after Liturgy and stay to enjoy with everyone. More details to follow.

Photos: Today I've posted about 50 photos of Holy Week and Pascha services etc. at St. Luke's on our parish's yahoogroup page. Click on the link to visit and enjoy the pictures!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stlukesoc/

"On Holy Pascha" from Fr. Justin Popovich...

Men have condemned God to death; God, however, has by His Resurrection "sentenced" men to immortality. In return for their buffets, He offers embraces; for their insults, blessings; for death, immortality. Never have men shown such enmity for God as when they crucified Him; and never has God shown such love for men as He did in resurrecting. Men wish to render God mortal, but God by His Resurrection designed to make men immortal. The crucified God resurrected and overcame death. Death is no more. Immortality has overtaken man and the whole of his world.

Through the Resurrection of the God-Man, the nature of man has been led irrevocably to the path of immortality, and death has thus become fearful. For, before the Resurrection of Christ, death was something feared by man; but after the Resurrection of the Lord, man has become something fearful for death. If a man lives in Faith within the Resurrected God-Man, he lives above death. He stands impregnable by death. Death is transformed into a "footstool beneath his feet": "O death, where is thy victory? O Hades, where is thy sting?" (I Corinthians 15:55). Therefore, when a man in Christ breathes his last, he sheds only the shell of his body, to be clothed with it once again on the day of the Second Coming.

Until the Resurrection of the God-Man Christ, death was the second nature of man; the first was life, the second death. Man had become used to death as something natural. But with the Resurrection of the Lord, all things changed: immortality became the second nature of man. It has become something natural to man, whereas death is rendered unnatural. Just as before the Resurrection of Christ it was natural for man to be mortal, so after His Resurrection it has become natural for man to be immortal.

Through sin, man was made mortal and limited; through the Resurrection of the God-Man, he becomes immortal and eternal. In this precisely lie the power, the dominion, and the omnipotence of the Resurrection of Christ.

Beloved faithful at St. Luke's,

Christ is Risen!

Blessed Bright Monday to all! I pray that you have all experienced the deep and awesome joy of being bathed in the glorious light and life of the Resurrection of Christ! With humble thanksgiving, I'd also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one who participated in any manner whatsoever to make the services of Lent, Holy Week and Pascha so absolutely beautful!

A quick reminder... tomorrow - Tuesday - is Real Help (10am-3pm) and we need help preparing and serving food to the poor and needy of Garden Grove. If you are able, please come on out and lend a hand. Many thanks!

Lastly, I'd like to share the following insightful and very inspirational "blog" (translation: "web log") from David Feliciano's father Mark, who prayed with us at the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil on Holy Saturday morning, that commemorates Christ's descent into Hades, victory over death and shattering of the gates of Hell. Mark's profound reflection on the essence of Orthodox Christian worship touched my heart and I hope it will touch your's also.

Perhaps this blog is rendered even more meaningful to me because these amazing words come through the eyes and heart of a "visitor" (for lack of a better term) and a non-Orthodox (yet?!).

Here it is in whole...

Bay Leaves Flying


Today was Holy Saturday.

Now wait a second Mark, wasn't that last Saturday? Well, yes and no. For us protestants and our fellow Catholics, yes. But for millions of Orthodox Christians worldwide there is a life and worship that is to a slightly different rhythm and a slightly different church calendar. I only know this because my Son David and his Wife Nicole are Orthodox and today I attended their Holy Saturday morning service. The Liturgy for Holy Saturday, as it has been for thousands of years, celebrates Christ's decent into Hades, his triumph over sin and his ultimate obliteration of the sting of death.

The thing that I love about attending Saint Luke's with David and Nicole, is that I am always struck by the fact that the entire service is worship. Oh I know as a recovering evangelical, we call our Sunday Service our "Worship Service", but honestly, having spent 6 years on staff as a "Worship Pastor" at a local Vineyard, 2 years on Staff as Music Minister at another church not to mention the fifty-some years hardly ever missing a sunday morning "Worship Service" that reality is somewhat skewed. In fact we tend to parse out our "worship" into a 20 minute slot of a 60-90 min service and that slot is usually dominated by music, with or without singing. And the reality is that as I did so often myself to the congregation, we like to say things like we worship with our giving to cover the offering or we worship with our listening to cover the teaching dominated morning, but in all those years it was apparent from the conversations I had with hundreds of Christians on hundreds of sundays that when they said "great worship today" or, "God really moved this morning" or "you guys rocked", they we're like most christians do equating worship with those emotionally charged twenty minutes.

I was struck again this morning as I am every time I visit Saint Luke's how everything seems to BE worship. Every reading. Every chant. Every sign of the cross. Every sweep of the incense seems to be to exude worship. For 90 minutes we stood, sat, some knelt, some sang, some chanted; in point of fact we did the very opposite of everything I was ever taught to do to attract the "Seeker" or to have an effective worship time. There were no pep talks, but I was never more motivated. There were no greeters yet I felt the welcome of the all present Spirit. There were no hot worship bands cranking out the latest alternative rock worship, but there was a small choir whose voices joined with the thousands of angels before the Lamb. And O the unmistakable presence of the triumphant, living Christ. He was everywhere and in everything. It was, just as the Orthodox believe, a place where Heaven and Earth met. And as the bay leaves were being thrown by the Priests in a symbolic gesture of the triumph over death and hades, I was swept into Christ and Christ into me, and that my family is exactly the point. Christ in you. Christ in me. The hope of glory.

Yes, today was most certainly Holy Saturday.

Good morning dear ones in Christ!

Parish Calendar: Today – Wednesday, April 19th: Holy Unction Service at 7pm, with His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH presiding. The anointing with Holy Oil is "unto the healing of our soul and body". I pray that everyone will attend church tonight for this important annual blessing. Please remember that Holy Unction is a sacrament of the Orthodox Church and thus is administered only to Orthodox Christians, who should have recently i.e., during Great Lent, participated in the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession. We will also be joined this evening by our brothers and sisters in Christ, the clergy and the faithful from St. Barnabas in Costa Mesa and St. John the Theologian in San Juan Capistrano. Note: There is no Lenten pot-luck or coffee hour following this evening's service.

Tomorrow: Thursday, April 20th: The Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great at 9:30 am, commemorating the "Last Supper" and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. We encourage all children to attend this Liturgy and will sign a note to excuse them from school. There will be a light Lenten breakfast afterwards and then the Ladies will be dyeing the eggs red for Pascha. At 7pm, we will celebrate the Matins of Holy Friday with the Reading of the 12 Passion Gospels. This solemn service commemorates the Crucifixion of Christ and includes the Procession and veneration of the Cross.

About Holy Week…

The Synaxarion - Holy Monday:

On this day begins the anniversary of the Holy Passion of the Savior, he of whom Joseph of exceeding beauty is taken as the earliest symbol; for this, Joseph was the eleventh of the sons of Jacob, and because his father loved him exceedingly, his brothers envied him, and threw him into a pit. Then they took him out and sold him to strangers, who sold him in Egypt. He was slandered for his chastity, and was thrown into prison. But finally he was taken out of prison, and he attained a high rank, and received honors worthy of kings, becoming governor of the whole of Egypt, whose people he supported. Thus he symbolized in himself the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his consequent great glory.

To the remembrance of Joseph is added the story the fig tree, which the Lord cursed on this day because of its barrenness, so that it dried up. The fig tree was a symbol of the Council of the Jews, which did not show fruits of virtue and righteousness, so that Christ stripped it of every spiritual grace.

Wherefore, by the intercessions of all-comely Joseph, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us.

The Synaxarion - Holy Tuesday:

On this day we make remembrance of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which Jesus spake, along with others, as he was coming to the Passion. It teaches us not to rest as though safe in virginity, but to guard it whenever possible, and not to desist from any virtue and good deeds, especially deeds of mercy, which make the lamp of virginity shine brilliantly. It teaches us also to be ready for our end, not knowing when our hour is coming, as the wise virgins were ready to meet the bride, lest death overtake us and close the door of the heavenly chamber in our face, and we hear the terrible Judgement which the foolish virgins heard: Verily, verily, I know you not.

Wherefore, O Christ the Bridegroom, number us with the wise virgins and have mercy upon us. Amen.

The Synaxarion - Holy Wednesday:

The more accurate and exacting of the commentators on the four Gospels, say that two women anointed the Lord, one long before his Passion, and one a few days before. One of these women was a harlot, and the other was a chaste, virtuous woman. On this day, the Church commemorates this act of piety and righteousness which proceeded from the harlot, contrasting it with treachery of Judas and his Betrayal of Christ. Both these acts occurred on Wednesday, two days before the Mosaic Passover, as it appears from the course of the account of St. Matthew the Evangelist.

The above mentioned harlot anointed the head and feet of Jesus with oil, and wiped them with the hair of her head. The precious ointment was worth three hundred dinars, or about fifteen pieces of Venetian gold. When the Disciples saw this, they stumbled, especially Judas, the money-lover, and were angry because of the wasting of such an amount of costly ointment. Jesus rebuked them, lest the woman be embarrassed. Judas was angry, and went to the high priests where they were gathered in the house of Caiphas, taking counsel against Jesus, and he agreed with them to deliver the Master for thirty pieces of silver. Because of this, the fast of Wednesday was instituted from the days of the apostolic age itself.

Wherefore, O Christ God, anointed with the holy oil, deliver us from all suffering, and have mercy upon us. Amen.

Good morning dear ones in Christ!

Wisdom from the Saints: When the Lord cried: "Lazarus!" the man awoke and lived. The Lord knows the name of each of us. If Adam knew the name of each one of God's creatures, how could God not know each of us by name? Oh, sweet and life-giving voice of the only Lover of mankind! That voice can make sons of God out of stones. How can it not wake us from the sleep of sin! St. Nikolai Velimirovic

Parish Calendar: Today – Friday, April 14th: Little Compline with the Canon of St. Lazarus the Righteous at 7pm. This is a profound service, through which we enter into the deep spiritual significance of the raising of Lazarus. Afterwards, if anyone is able to stay and help, we can set up the Hall for our parish lunches on Saturday and Sunday. All help is greatly appreciated!

Tomorrow: Saturday, April 15th: Divine Liturgy commemorating the Raising of Lazarus at 9:30am, with Confession for 1st and 2nd graders afterwards. Then: the preparation of the Church for Palm Sunday; preparation of the Hall and the food for the Palm Sunday Fish Luncheon; and a very important Choir Rehearsal to follow. All choir members are urged to attend as this is our only rehearsal for Holy Week and Pascha. There will be a light lunch in the Hall following the Divine Liturgy. Great Vespers for Palm Sunday at 6pm.

Palm Sunday: April 16th: Christ's Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. Matins, with the blessing of palms is at 9am; and the Divine Liturgy is at 10am, followed by the traditional procession with palms by all parishioners around the Church. Our Annual Palm Sunday Fish Luncheon is after Divine Liturgy to benefit our Archdiocese's Food for the Hungry People Program. All are encouraged to attend and support this Program. There is no Church School so the children can participate in the Procession. If anyone is able to stay after the Luncheon and help clean up the Hall, it would be greatly appreciated. Bridegroom Matins of Great and Holy Monday is at 7pm.

Just in Time for Easter: Gnosticism, Missing Links, and Other Lies

The following superb article was written yesterday by our fellow-parishioner, Steven Greenhut, a senior editorial writer and columnist for the Orange County Register. Copyright © 2006 Orange County Register

Welcome to western Holy Week, a time of fasting, prayer and the usual media "debunking" of everything Christians hold near and dear by a secular, childish, and rabidly anti-Christian media that believe that all beliefs are equal except for one particular belief that is less equal than all the others.

During Ramadan, the mainstream media fill their pages with stories of peaceful Muslims who want nothing more than to pray, fast, and get closer to their lord. During Holy Week, Christians get the usual fare: the latest Jesus Seminar explanation of why Jesus couldn't possibly be born of a virgin and couldn't possibly be resurrected. The "Seminar" is a gathering of liberal theologians who get together and debate technical papers about the Gospels. The scholars drop colored beads in a box declaring whether they believe or disbelieve the words of Jesus. For some reason, the sight of theologians who have built careers doubting traditional Christian teaching publicly criticizing the teachings they already don't believe is always news in the news business, and always proof that the only Christians who believe in Christianity are out of the "mainstream."

This isn't exactly the biggest cross to bear for those of us who actually believe in the virgin birth and the risen Christ. Having spent my career in the media, I can safely say that I'm far more comfortable NOT sharing the beliefs that are rampant among reporters and editors. Nevertheless, I still find the usual attacks annoying and revealing.

Having done the Jesus Seminar shtick for so long that almost everyone has come to ignore it, this year the media have splashed across the front pages the English translation of the so-called Gospel of Judas, thanks to the discovery and translation of a long-lost document. As various news reports and TV shows boast, we now learn that the traitor of the Christian faith might really be its hero! "Some religious scholars consider it the most important theological discovery in the last 60 years," explained the Cox News Service report, in nearly breathless words. "It illuminates, they say, early Christian beliefs and contradicts biblical teaching concerning Judas' role in Jesus Christ's death." As the news headline puts it, "Judas a `good guy' in new gospel."

The timing is interesting, and it appears to play off the hype that surrounds the popularity of the book, The DaVinci Code. As Christianity Today explains, "The central claim [Dan] Brown's novel makes about Christianity is that `almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.' Why? Because of a single meeting of bishops in 325, at the city of Nicea in modern-day Turkey. There, argues Brown, church leaders who wanted to consolidate their power base (he calls this, anachronistically, `the Vatican' or `the Roman Catholic church') created a divine Christ and an infallible Scripture – both of them novelties that had never before existed among Christians."

Conspiracies, secret meetings, Gnosticism, and New Age thinking is so popular that the attacks on Christianity now come mainly from that direction. Instead of acting like followers of Ayn Rand who declare that believers in the virgin birth and resurrection are hopeless mystics (rather than heroic rational-minded individualists like they so obviously are!), Christianity's foes now argue that the Church has kept the deep mysteries away from the public as a way to enhance its control. Mystery and religion is in, but not the kind that requires self-sacrifice, repentance, agape love, and other such difficult teachings. Which is why seemingly intelligent people will believe just about anything – as long as it doesn't include any of those traditional Christian elements.

If Christianity were so irrational and stupid, why do the enlightened followers of modern philosophies spend so much time trying to debunk it? Why don't they just ignore it? They don't mind that their fellow Americans believe all sorts of rubbish, yet this particular view, rubbish to them, still incites them to rebuttal and ridicule. They can't stand that so many of us are believers.

There's nothing new under the sun, and this resurgence of Gnosticism isn't new either. It is defined by the Catholic Encyclopedia as follows: "Whereas Judaism and Christianity, and almost all pagan systems, hold that the soul attains its proper end by obedience of mind and will to the Supreme Power, i.e. by faith and works, it is markedly peculiar to Gnosticism that it places the salvation of the soul merely in the possession of a quasi-intuitive knowledge of the mysteries of the universe and of magic formulae indicative of that knowledge."

I certainly find the "new" Judas text fascinating, and understand why it is news. Denounced by Bishop Irenaeus in 180, this "gospel" sheds light on early Gnosticism. But the front-page news stories and unthinking descriptions of it in the media as a debunker of Christianity is beyond silly.

Does finding one of those rejected texts really paint a picture of a church that is trying to hide the truth? Or is it merely evidence of – shock and horror! – an editing process, something to which all reporters ought to know a thing or two about? Not every letter to the editor gets in the newspaper, and not everyone's account got included in the Scripture. The church fathers chose those books that portrayed Christ's message. Yet, all the time, idiot reporters discover that obvious fact and think it's enough to prove that all of Christianity is a giant conspiracy or hoax.

How else would the Bible be put together?

In this gnostic gospel, Jesus asks Judas to step away from the other disciples and offers to share with him secret knowledge, which right there should be a clue that this isn't the Jesus that the Church had known. Believe this hokum if you will, but don't suggest that the Church was involved in some crazy conspiracy to hide the true Jesus from the masses. It's far more likely that the Church was doing its job keeping false teachings out of the official canon. That heresy – wisdom through special knowledge, and without acknowledgement of sin or repentance – was popular then, just as it is now.

If this Judas nonsense weren't annoying enough, consider the other news recently revealed, just in time for Easter. A University of Chicago paleontologist has just found the missing link, "proving" once and for all the humanity evolved from lower species and putting an end to all this talk about intelligent design and God's role in the creation. It's all so simple. "Once, 380 million years ago, there were basically just fish on our large water-covered planet," explained a Ventura County Star editorial. "Then, 360 million years ago, there were tetrapods – four-legged creatures crawling around on land."

Why listen to the church fathers, when an editorial writer at a small newspaper has it all figured out.

Don't let it get you down. Christianity is still relevant, still an outrage to those who reject it. That's why so many people spend so much time peddling lies during a week that's supposed to be devoted to the truth.

As an Eastern Orthodox, I don't celebrate Easter this Sunday. But next Sunday, I eagerly await the Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom, which offers far more wisdom than anyone is likely to receive reading these silly stories from ignoramus newspaper writers:

"O Death where is thy sting? O Hell where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and thou are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen."

Dear ones in Christ,

Good morning!

Wisdom for the day: "Slanderers are like lepers that harm others by their foul odor, or like those stricken by the plague that carry their disease from place to place and destroy others. Keep yourself, then, from slandering your neighbor, lest you sin gravely and give someone else cause for sin". St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Saints of the Day: ST. MARTIN THE CONFESSOR, POPE OF ROME. Pope Martin battled the emperor in the seventh century over a heretical stance. The emperor had come to believe in Monotheletism ("one will"), which stated that Jesus Christ had only one will and not two, fully human and fully divine, as Church teaches. Trying not to overstep his power into the political realm, Martin stated that any layman or clergyman would be excommunicated for espousing this belief. The emperor of Constantinople expected that Martin, and the entire Church, would acquiesce to his beliefs; but when he refused, he was summoned to Rome and held captive there for two years. Then he and his group were tried and sentenced to death. The patriarch intervened for the pope and the sentence was exchanged for exile to a frozen land, where he died the next year.

A Reflection on the unity of the Church: I'll never forget writing a paper in Seminary for Fr. John Meyendorff that was originally entitled "St. Maximus the Confessor and the Monothelyte Heresy". I was expecting to recount the story of St. Maximus, a simple monk from the East, standing alone in defense of the Orthodox Faith (hence his title "the Confessor"… i.e., a Confessor of the true faith) against the emperor and the patriarch and pretty much the entire rest of the Church that had fallen into heresy. I was rather surprised to discover that St. Maximus did not actually "stand alone", but had a faithful companion in the Orthodox Faith from the West, Pope Martin of Rome. These faithful men - one from the East and one from the West - stood together in defense of the Holy Faith, both ready to suffer and die a martyr's death to preserve the TRUTH. Why? Our salvation depends on the TRUTH! Who is Christ? Maximus and Martin answered that he is fully God and fully human, and thus he must have a fully human will and a fully divine will. Both were martyred for preserving the True Faith. Within a few decades after their martyrdom, the 6th Ecumenical Council in 680 vindicated and upheld the teaching of Maximus and Martin and anathematized the emperor and everyone else who tried to impose the heresy of Monothelytism.

If the East and the West, the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, are ever to re-unite, it must be on the basis of the TRUTH, not emotional sentiment – exactly as has been shown to us by the righteous Saints and Confessors, Maximus and Martin.

I re-titled the paper "An icon for the reunification of the Church…".

Parish Calendar: No services today.

Tomorrow (Friday): Little Compline with the Canon of St. Lazarus at 7pm.

Beloved in Christ,

Good morning! I pray that you are all doing very well on this beautiful day and that, if you are able, we'll see one another this evening at the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Holy Gifts. As always, this is a very powerful and spiritually touching service. This evening's service however, is the very last Presanctified Liturgy of this year's Great Lent. So, I hope you'll take the opportunity to attend.

About our parish's yahoogroup: It seems that we now have 45 members signed up from St. Luke's. This is absolutely awesome! And, we're only on our second day! I noticed that atop my yesterday's message to the parish there was a link to a "sponsor". Apparently, said "sponsors" make these free yahoogroups possible. I have no idea who these sponsors are or who they may be in the future. Please just ignore them.

There is a really neat feature to these yahoogroups that you may not know about: if you go to our "homepage" at...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stlukesoc/

You can access all sorts of helpful things there. There is a Calendar of all parish activities and it has been updated from now through Holy Pascha - just in cast you lost your Sunday bulletin! There are Photos of recent happenings i.e., the Ladies Retreat at Camp St. Nicholas. And, there are Links to helpful Orthodox Websites. Please use these features. I'll try to update them as often as possible.

Saint of the day, April 12th:

RIGHTEOUS ANTHOUSSA OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Anthoussa was the daughter of Emperor Constantine V in the eighth century. She was level-headed in spite of the luxury, servants, and admiration with which she was surrounded. She was inspired in the church of Agia Sophia to commit her life to Christ, but she was torn between her calling and her respect for her father the emperor. When her father died, she gave her considerable wealth to the poor of the city, became a nun, and came to be known as one of the most spiritual women in the Byzantine Empire.

Wisdom for the day: "Prayer is a branch of the tree of meekness, and freedom from anger. Prayer is an expression of joy and thankfulness. Prayer is a remedy against sorrow and depression." St. Nilus of Sinai

Parish Calendar - today: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Holy Gifts at 6:30pm: this is the final Pre-Sanctified of this year's Great Lent. Fast after a light, lenten, noontime meal in order to receive Holy Communion. Lenten potluck to follow in the Fellowship Hall. Bring something lenten to share and join us! Confession can be heard beginning at 5:30pm. During the potluck, SOYO will have a discussion with Fr. Michael in the St. George room.

Beloved in Christ,

Many thanks to all 25 of you who took a moment to sign up for our
parish's newly formed "yahoogroup" on the very first day! You've
really inspired me! I'll try my best to make these emails worthwile
and beneficial for our spiritual life. After all, who needs more
trash in our "inbox"? I pray these messages will help us grow
closer to God and to one another.

Fr. Michael

Wisdom from the Saints: "When a sinner, motivated by God's grace,
begins to repent, he meets with various temptations. A man begins
to approach Christ, and Satan follows after him to trouble him and
lure him away from Christ, to trip him up and spread out various
nets." St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Schedule: Tonight - Parish Council at 7pm

Tomorrow - Wednesday, April 12th: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Holy
Gifts at 6:30pm: this is the final Pre-Sanctified of this year's
Great Lent. Fast after a light, lenten, noontime meal in order to
receive Holy Communion. Lenten potluck to follow in the Fellowship
Hall. Bring something lenten to share and join us! Confession can
be heard beginning at 5:30pm. During the potluck, SOYO will have a
discussion with Fr. Michael in the St. George room.

Lastly, an interesting article from the Family Research Council...
this was submitted by Deacon Jon and dovetails very nicely with the
homily I gave on Sunday.

The National Geographic is all agog over a newly discovered "Gospel
of Judas." It totally changes our view of history's greatest
traitor, or so goes the TV promotions. It's almost funny. When was
the last time the Geographic crowd found scripture inerrant? This
latest farce comes at the same time as the media hype for Dan
Brown's beach blanket bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. It's yet
another production in the theater of the absurd. So, we are now
supposed to believe that Judas betrayed Jesus on orders from Jesus?
The "Gospel of Judas" text may be new, but its existence has been
known for only about two millennia. It was condemned as a fraud by
the early Church fathers. So were many other productions of the sect
called the Gnostics. Gnosis is a Greek word meaning secret. There
has always been an appeal for such secret news. Grassy knoll
conspiracy theorists have been around since the Monday morning after
that first Easter Sunday. G. K. Chesterton, the great English
writer, explains the reason for all these Jesus-light
productions. "Christianity," he said, "has not been tried and found
wanting. It has been tried and found difficult." One thing you might
notice in all this hype: Those of us who believe in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ will not be burning down publishing houses, bookstores,
or television studios even as we deplore these unceasing assaults on
our faith. Despite two thousand years of doubters and shouters, His
Truth goes marching on.