Blog
Like everyone else, a lot of our parish plans have changed because of the current situation.
For example, this coming weekend was supposed to be our first Open House Weekend for 2020. Dr. Mark Tarpley was going to speak to us about media and technology; we were each going to attend every one of the services and events during that weekend, and we were all going to invite a guest to join us for one of those services or one of those events.
This week we continue with the chapter begun last week in which Metropolitan Hilarion writes of Christianity in Late Byzantium—the first half of the second millennium of then Church.
In this second half of the chapter, the Metropolitan address a rise and a fall: the rise of Hesychasm and the fall of Byzantium.
This morning’s scripture lessons are full of healings.
Our gospel lesson comes from St John. In that passage, Christ Jesus heals a man who has been paralyzed for thirty-eight years.
Our epistle lesson comes from the Acts of the Apostles. In that passage, St. Peter heals a man who has been paralyzed for twelve years—then the apostle raises a woman from the dead.
But we don’t get excited about these passages. In fact, most of us respond to these scripture lessons with disappointment. Because, for us, healing is something that Christians used to do a long time ago, but it’s not something that happens very often nowadays.
To be streamed on May 9th:
The second thousand years of the Church begins with an end to the unity of the Church. During the first 1000 years there had been, unfortunately, smaller splits; however, by 1054 the festering political, cultural, ecclesiological, theological, and ritual disagreements between Rome and Constantinople came to a head.
Politically, East and West differed on the Church-State relationship; culturally, language and philosophy diverged; ecclesiologically, the West saw the Pope of Rome as the head of the world-wide Church while the East did not recognize quite this level of ecclesiastical authority. Theologically, the main point of contention was the filioque: from Who or Whom did the Holy Spirit proceed. Finally, on points of ritual, the main point of disagreement at this time was the Eucharistic bread: the West maintained it should be unleavened, the East, leavened, symbolizing the difference in the way both viewed the consubstantiality of Christ’s body with ours.
The Great Schism of 1054 split the Church into two parts, a division that remains today. Immediately following the Schism, both side began engaging in polemical behavior toward the other. At one point, Roman crusaders, while liberating what had been Christian lands from the conquering Arabs and Turks, also forcibly removed Eastern patriarchs and destroyed Christian holy sites and sanctuaries.
In 1274, East and West met at the Council of Lyons. Delegates from Constantinople signed an “act of union” with Rome accepting the filioque as written by Rome. Upon receiving the news, the majority of Greek hierarchs did not accept the Union. These dissenters were subsequently “exiled, imprisoned, deprived of their property, and tortured” by its supporters. However, the opposition view eventually prevailed. Sadly, this and other attempted unions only reinforced the separation.
Following the failed union, during the 13th to 15th centuries, Western “policy on the eastern churches was determined by the conviction that the Catholic [Roman] Church was the only true church, and that salvation was impossible outside it.”
A final note: Rome has recently apologized for causing this distress and East and West have lifted the mutual excommunications imposed in 1054.
Come join with us this week!
Streaming class on May 2nd:
In the first four chapters of Volume 1 of Metropolitan Hilarion’s series on Orthodoxy Christianity, the author led us through the first 1000 years of Christ’s Church. In this chapter, he summarizes the key areas of Church development:
Establishment of the conical structure;
Flowering of Christian holiness;
Full development of Christian doctrine;
Development of moral and ascetic always teaching;
Shaping and development of the Liturgy;
Emergence of the annual cycle of feasts and fasts;
Development of Christian architecture and arts; and
Emergence of the basic principles of Church singing.
Today is the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women. On this day, we not only honor the women who went to the tomb on the first Pascha, we also honor the holy and righteous Joseph of Arimathea, who buried the body of our Lord and Master.
And as we commemorate all these folks, we can also learn from them. We can learn how to be Liturgical People.
This past weekend, we celebrated the Great and Holy Pascha, the high point of the liturgical year. This past Wednesday, we started the Pascha Book Study; that group is discussing a book by Dr. Jean Claude Larchet. Dr. Larchet is French; he is an Orthodox Christian, and the author of many books and articles. But the book that we are going to be reading throughout this Paschal Season is called The New Media Epidemic. It’s about the dangers that are becoming apparent as media and technology take over more and more of our lives. Most of us would agree that media and technology are a real challenge and the source of a good many problems, but what connection does all that have to do with Pascha? Why choose to focus on this particular book and this particular subject during the fifty days between Pascha and Pentecost?
This coming Saturday, we will experience one of the highlights of the entire week—and even though most of us will be watching all this at home on a streaming service, it will still be breath-taking. … That’s one of the most dramatic moments of the entire year; it’s a moment that everyone enjoys. But that moment is also part of a sequence, and that sequence begins today, on Palm Sunday. Because on this day, we commemorate the entry of our Lord and Master into Jerusalem; we are present as the gates of that city open before the King of Glory.
