It has been busy over the last few months. I have just reached the second anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood and the time which is required just to achieve a bare minimum in ministry is increasing all the time. Our little Orthodox community now enjoys a regular Bible Study, as well as our weekly Liturgies. During March we are planning to also begin a weekly Introduction to Orthodoxy evening for our catechumens and other interested people, whether Orthodox or not.
Today we held a Family and Friends liturgy. This is a regular event, just a normal Liturgy, but one to which we invite our friends and family, and the growing number of enquirers who contact us. It was a great blessing to have 8 visitors with us this morning, some of whom had never attended a liturgy before. We hope that they will want to participate in some of the activities we are organising and planning.
I am continuing to work on the Book of Saints which I have chosen to self publish. Perhaps I will post some excerpts from the book on this blog in due course.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Friday, 3 December 2010
New book being self published
I am English through and through. I can't help it. I have been tracing my ancestors for years and all of them are English, except for one distant great-great-grandfather who was French. So technically I am 3% French.
Being so rooted in one place, and one country, I have a great attachment to the history of England, and the wider British Isles. I have always wanted to know about the Christian history, which still is present in the material and cultural landscape. Just 20 miles from my home in one direction is one of the oldest Christian places of worship in the country. It is found in the well-preserved ruins of a Roman villa, in which one wing of the substantial property was converted in the 4th century into a Church with an external entrance. So it was being used by the local community.
20 miles in the other direction is the ruined Abbey where one of my patron saints, St Theodore of Tarsus, was buried, and perhaps still is, since it seems likely the 'Reformers' missed his tomb when they destroyed everything else. It is a great blessing to visit the ruins in the better weather and spend some time sitting quietly in prayer at the place where is grave is marked.
This great love for the English and British Christian heritage has caused me to spend time over the last years in compiling and writing a book of Orthodox British Saints, that is, those Christian figures who lived roughly before the Norman Conquest.
I have written other things before, and published them, but this volume will be self-published through a local company called Getting Yourself Published, so that it will be available on Amazon and other online retailers. I have decided to call it, Holy People, Holy Places, since it will also describe many of those places associated with these saints which can still be visited.
I hope that the manuscript will be completed in the new year, and then work its way through the publishing process to be ready for Pascha 2011.
Being so rooted in one place, and one country, I have a great attachment to the history of England, and the wider British Isles. I have always wanted to know about the Christian history, which still is present in the material and cultural landscape. Just 20 miles from my home in one direction is one of the oldest Christian places of worship in the country. It is found in the well-preserved ruins of a Roman villa, in which one wing of the substantial property was converted in the 4th century into a Church with an external entrance. So it was being used by the local community.
20 miles in the other direction is the ruined Abbey where one of my patron saints, St Theodore of Tarsus, was buried, and perhaps still is, since it seems likely the 'Reformers' missed his tomb when they destroyed everything else. It is a great blessing to visit the ruins in the better weather and spend some time sitting quietly in prayer at the place where is grave is marked.
This great love for the English and British Christian heritage has caused me to spend time over the last years in compiling and writing a book of Orthodox British Saints, that is, those Christian figures who lived roughly before the Norman Conquest.
I have written other things before, and published them, but this volume will be self-published through a local company called Getting Yourself Published, so that it will be available on Amazon and other online retailers. I have decided to call it, Holy People, Holy Places, since it will also describe many of those places associated with these saints which can still be visited.
I hope that the manuscript will be completed in the new year, and then work its way through the publishing process to be ready for Pascha 2011.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Why are we mortal?
I am very much interested in the subjects of sin, death and salvation. There are many false ideas about these three topics, and yet the Orthodox teachings are so beautiful and satisfying. One question that often comes up is why we die if we are not guilty of Adam's sin, and are born sinless? It is certainly the case that the Fathers teach that we are born mortal but not sinful, so how are we subject to mortality if we have not sinned when we are born?
Here is something I wrote on a forum in response to this question. I am rather pleased with the analogy I use, if I am allowed to be pleased. It expresses something of what I believe Orthodoxy teaches us about our experience of mortality.
Sin is only a matter of the will. It has no existence apart from as a wrong choice of the will. It is not a THING that can contaminate us, it is a choice which corrupts us.
An infant does not have a formed will and so cannot sin. Just as a man who is in a vegetative state cannot sin. Just a day or so ago I read one of the Fathers who suggested that a child was not liable for their choices until even 10 years of age.
We are not born mortal because we have sinned but because mortality is the natural state of all created beings. We are born entirely human, and therefore entirely mortal. Adam and Eve were given a gift, the life of the Holy Spirit, which preserved them in immortality. But when they sinned they lost this gift. They did not cease to be entirely human. Rather they, and we as their descendants, living in the world as it is, were left to our own natural and human mortality.
The sting of Adam's sin was that mortality was able to gain its natural authority over all humans. The sting of OUR OWN sins is the second death which we will experience both now if we live in sin and face at the judgement when all of our own sins are made known.
It is the winter and there is a small hut in the woods. The woodsman and his wife are gathered around the fire. All is well. But the woodsman gets up to reach something and spills all of the stew which was cooking over the stove and extinguishes the fire. They have no more matches. And all of the fire is so completely extinguished that there is no possibility of lighting it again. They are too many days journey from the nearest other house. It grows colder. At first the little hut was still warm, even though the fire had gone out. But after a few hours all the heat had gone. That night the woodsman's wife gives birth. The little child is born into the cold winter chill and even though it is wrapped up in many blankets it is clear that the cold is affecting the babies health. The baby didn't extinguish the fire, yet the baby is still born into the cold. The cold is not un-natural. It is what the world is like without the warmth of the fire. The fire was holding the natural state of the world at bay for a while. It was the father who extinguished the fire. It was his fault. But all suffer, especially the little baby, who suffers without innocently, feeling the cold which is natural to his humanity, but entirely lacking the warmth of the fire, which is only a memory.
The 'sting of the woodsman's clumsiness is bitter cold'. But the baby who feels the bitter cold is not guilty of the woodsman's clumsiness. Even though he must bear the consequences of it.
Here is something I wrote on a forum in response to this question. I am rather pleased with the analogy I use, if I am allowed to be pleased. It expresses something of what I believe Orthodoxy teaches us about our experience of mortality.
Sin is only a matter of the will. It has no existence apart from as a wrong choice of the will. It is not a THING that can contaminate us, it is a choice which corrupts us.
An infant does not have a formed will and so cannot sin. Just as a man who is in a vegetative state cannot sin. Just a day or so ago I read one of the Fathers who suggested that a child was not liable for their choices until even 10 years of age.
We are not born mortal because we have sinned but because mortality is the natural state of all created beings. We are born entirely human, and therefore entirely mortal. Adam and Eve were given a gift, the life of the Holy Spirit, which preserved them in immortality. But when they sinned they lost this gift. They did not cease to be entirely human. Rather they, and we as their descendants, living in the world as it is, were left to our own natural and human mortality.
The sting of Adam's sin was that mortality was able to gain its natural authority over all humans. The sting of OUR OWN sins is the second death which we will experience both now if we live in sin and face at the judgement when all of our own sins are made known.
It is the winter and there is a small hut in the woods. The woodsman and his wife are gathered around the fire. All is well. But the woodsman gets up to reach something and spills all of the stew which was cooking over the stove and extinguishes the fire. They have no more matches. And all of the fire is so completely extinguished that there is no possibility of lighting it again. They are too many days journey from the nearest other house. It grows colder. At first the little hut was still warm, even though the fire had gone out. But after a few hours all the heat had gone. That night the woodsman's wife gives birth. The little child is born into the cold winter chill and even though it is wrapped up in many blankets it is clear that the cold is affecting the babies health. The baby didn't extinguish the fire, yet the baby is still born into the cold. The cold is not un-natural. It is what the world is like without the warmth of the fire. The fire was holding the natural state of the world at bay for a while. It was the father who extinguished the fire. It was his fault. But all suffer, especially the little baby, who suffers without innocently, feeling the cold which is natural to his humanity, but entirely lacking the warmth of the fire, which is only a memory.
The 'sting of the woodsman's clumsiness is bitter cold'. But the baby who feels the bitter cold is not guilty of the woodsman's clumsiness. Even though he must bear the consequences of it.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Last Sunday the Gospel for the Liturgy described the temptations of Christ in the wilderness. Isn't it interesting that he was tempted AFTER he had been in the desert, fasting and praying for forty days. Sometimes we seem to think that if we have been particularly observant of the spiritual practices of the Christian life, and if we have been particularly faithful, then we will escape temptation and the testing of our faith. But the opposite is surely true. Those who are careless about the spiritual life often find that their way is smooth before them, it is those who tread the narrow way who have to be careful of their footing at every step.
I spoke in my homily about the first temptation of Christ. He was hungry after having fasted for so long. Who could begrudge him some nourishment. To be hungry is a blameless passion, a faultless movement of our body, yet we are more than animals, and Christ shows us that even in the case of such natural and physical movements of our humanity we are to rise above being controlled by such desires.
The Lord Jesus Christ does not refuse all nourishment. He eats and drinks, even turns water into wine, and a basket of loaves into a meal for a great crowd. But right here, right now, it is not the time for nourishment, and certainly it is not ever right to be driven to nourishment by the body. Jesus Christ rules over his own body and transforms it by offering it to the Father.
When Christ says that 'man cannot live by bread alone' he must be speaking of some higher and deeper living than a merely animal existence. If we just want to exist then we can sustain our bodies by bread alone. But this is not living. Real life is to know God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is not a matter of bread, but of knowing and beeing nourished by the words of God.
I have often thought that the Lord resists the attraction of natural passions by the words of God, 'by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God'. Perhaps we Orthodox too easily criticise everything that Protestants do, but their are spiritual practices within Protestantism which are well worth emulating, and indeed which are already found in those Orthodox who teach us the spiritual way. One of these is memorising the words of Scripture. I grew up learning memory verses in Sunday School, but I did not apply myself well enough as I grew older, and so I missed the opportunity over many years of gathering the treasures of the Scriptures into the storehouse of my heart. I am having to catch up now that I am older. It is not so easy with my slower mind to remember chapters from the Gospels and many of the Psalms. But it is a work I am committed to because I believe that these words have the power to help us resist the temptations of the devil.
When the Palestinian militants held captive many Westerners, including Terry Waite, I wondered how much of the Scriptures, and how much of the spiritual tradition of the Church I would have stored in my heart to nourish me. Not as much as I would have liked. Surely I should have enough spiritual food stored up for the lean times that may come upon us?
I will certainly be encouraging my own congregation to memorise the Scriptures, and as much of the Agpeya as they can. It is not an intellectual exercise, but is a matter of life and death. 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'. And if that is so then surely those words should have a place in our hearts, and should be rising up into our spiritual consciousness as we need them?
I urge us all to learn a new psalm this week. There are a great many to choose from, some short and some long. Use this psalm through the week in your prayers and make sure that by regular use it becomes your own response to God and is stored in your heart where it can always be used.
I spoke in my homily about the first temptation of Christ. He was hungry after having fasted for so long. Who could begrudge him some nourishment. To be hungry is a blameless passion, a faultless movement of our body, yet we are more than animals, and Christ shows us that even in the case of such natural and physical movements of our humanity we are to rise above being controlled by such desires.
The Lord Jesus Christ does not refuse all nourishment. He eats and drinks, even turns water into wine, and a basket of loaves into a meal for a great crowd. But right here, right now, it is not the time for nourishment, and certainly it is not ever right to be driven to nourishment by the body. Jesus Christ rules over his own body and transforms it by offering it to the Father.
When Christ says that 'man cannot live by bread alone' he must be speaking of some higher and deeper living than a merely animal existence. If we just want to exist then we can sustain our bodies by bread alone. But this is not living. Real life is to know God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is not a matter of bread, but of knowing and beeing nourished by the words of God.
I have often thought that the Lord resists the attraction of natural passions by the words of God, 'by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God'. Perhaps we Orthodox too easily criticise everything that Protestants do, but their are spiritual practices within Protestantism which are well worth emulating, and indeed which are already found in those Orthodox who teach us the spiritual way. One of these is memorising the words of Scripture. I grew up learning memory verses in Sunday School, but I did not apply myself well enough as I grew older, and so I missed the opportunity over many years of gathering the treasures of the Scriptures into the storehouse of my heart. I am having to catch up now that I am older. It is not so easy with my slower mind to remember chapters from the Gospels and many of the Psalms. But it is a work I am committed to because I believe that these words have the power to help us resist the temptations of the devil.
When the Palestinian militants held captive many Westerners, including Terry Waite, I wondered how much of the Scriptures, and how much of the spiritual tradition of the Church I would have stored in my heart to nourish me. Not as much as I would have liked. Surely I should have enough spiritual food stored up for the lean times that may come upon us?
I will certainly be encouraging my own congregation to memorise the Scriptures, and as much of the Agpeya as they can. It is not an intellectual exercise, but is a matter of life and death. 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'. And if that is so then surely those words should have a place in our hearts, and should be rising up into our spiritual consciousness as we need them?
I urge us all to learn a new psalm this week. There are a great many to choose from, some short and some long. Use this psalm through the week in your prayers and make sure that by regular use it becomes your own response to God and is stored in your heart where it can always be used.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Starting Off
Do we need another Orthodox Blog? Well perhaps the world doesn't, but this will be the only one published by a priest of the British Orthodox Church so maybe it can be excused. More than that, this will be something of a record of my experiences as a new priest within the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, since I was only ordained ten days ago.
Last Sunday was my first opportunity to celebrate the Liturgy, and it was a great pleasure to be doing so in my own small Church of St Alban and St Athanasius in Chatham, Kent. And especially so because our bishop, Abba Seraphim, was standing with me and helping me through each part of the service. Celebrating as a priest is a very different experience to that of serving as a Deacon. There is just no time or opportunity to look around and make sure things are happening as they should. Your whole attention is directed towards praying the Liturgy on behalf of and with the congregation, rather than just saying the words. I found myself holding out a hand and miraculously a censer appeared at the right time. I must say how important it is to the proper celebration of the Liturgy that the deacons are present and aware of the practical needs of the priest.
Last Sunday saw our small Church almost filled with people from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. British people of course, and Ethiopians, Eritreans, Indians, Bulgarians, Poles and Italians. Even though we are called the British Orthodox Church, our mission is to reach all of the communities which have made a home in the British Isles with the fulness of the Orthodox Faith, and God seems to be helping us to do that in a small way in Chatham.
Last Sunday was my first opportunity to celebrate the Liturgy, and it was a great pleasure to be doing so in my own small Church of St Alban and St Athanasius in Chatham, Kent. And especially so because our bishop, Abba Seraphim, was standing with me and helping me through each part of the service. Celebrating as a priest is a very different experience to that of serving as a Deacon. There is just no time or opportunity to look around and make sure things are happening as they should. Your whole attention is directed towards praying the Liturgy on behalf of and with the congregation, rather than just saying the words. I found myself holding out a hand and miraculously a censer appeared at the right time. I must say how important it is to the proper celebration of the Liturgy that the deacons are present and aware of the practical needs of the priest.
Last Sunday saw our small Church almost filled with people from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. British people of course, and Ethiopians, Eritreans, Indians, Bulgarians, Poles and Italians. Even though we are called the British Orthodox Church, our mission is to reach all of the communities which have made a home in the British Isles with the fulness of the Orthodox Faith, and God seems to be helping us to do that in a small way in Chatham.
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