Stephen Hayes's Blog, page 88

Theological education — Albania

Chapel at the Orthodox Seminary at Shen Vlash, Albania

In Easter 2000 I taught for a term at the Orthodox Seminary at Shen Vlash, Albania. I was to teach missiology and mission history, and began teaching the day after arriving in Albania. There were about 60 students, two-thirds male and one third female. I taught the same basic material to the first, second and third-year students. But because I find it difficult to teach people I don't know, and whose background I am unfamiliar with, I began by asking the students to tell me about themselves and their home churches. When did the church first start in the place where they came from? How did it get there? How many churches are there now?

Typical answers were that there were six churches, three were destroyed by the Turks, the other three by the communists, and one has now been restored and is functioning. One student, from Durres, the main port, a few kilometres west of Shen Vlash, said that the tomb of St Asti, the first Albanian bishop, was in the town, and that they stood outside it on his feast day, holding candles, and if passers-by asked them why, they would tell them about St Asti. He wasn't the first bishop, he was the first Albanian one. His predecessor was Jewish, and had come with St Paul. So the church in Albania was very old, yet also very new.

The church was revived under the ministry of Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos, who established the seminary, first using a hotel, and later raising money for the buildings at Shen Vlash. During the term I taught there the Dean of the Seminary was Fr Luke Veronis, from the USA. There were some other foreign teachers there, from Wales, Greece and the USA. I taught my classes in English, and they were translated by Joana Malaj, who was a full-time translator.

During my time there there was also a student conference, for students from the seminary and the university, and an end-of-year outing to Korçë, in southern Albania, which was the only clean city I saw in the whole country — so much so that when a lorry came past to empty the rubbish bins I rushed outside to take a photo of it, it was such an unusual sight. Everywhere else, town and country, at least along the main roads, it was all over plastic bags and plastic bottles, and the rivers were full of old cars, junked applianjces etc. That was one of the three things that probably made the biggest impression on foreign visitors, the other two being dordolec, dolls fixed to unfinished buildings (of which there were many) to ward off the evil eye, and the ubiquitous concrete bunkers, relics and reminders of Enver Hoxha's war psychosis.

At the end of my course, I gave a summary and made some observations on mission in Albania. Here's what I wrote in my diary:

29 May 2000Went out to the seminary in the minivan, and did the first three classes, starting with the second years. I summarised the ground we had covered in the last few weeks, and asked if they had any questions. Kristo Kume was the only one who asked significant questions. I closed with a summary of three mission problems I thought needed to be dealt with in Albania – seeing that not everyone was Christian, even if they claimed to be "Orthodox" as opposed to Muslim, the question of ecology and care for the environment, and nationalism. I explained that it was difficult for me, as a South African, to understand the desire for revision of national boundaries, and ethnic nationalism and described how the ethnic Tswanas in South Africa showed little desire to be incorporated into Botswana, nor did Botswana desire to enlarge its territory to incorporate them.

I did much the same thing with the third years. Konstandin Agolli asked a question about the sects that proselytised in Albania and showed a concern with family values, such as the Mormons. I said their idea of marriage and family life was not all that different from the Orthodox one, though their doctrine of the trinity was a lot further from Orthodoxy than most Protestants. I also asked how many of the students had both parents who were Christian now, and suggested that those who did not could begin evangelism in their own families. I then talked about the same things as with the second year, but did not reach the question of nationalism before the bell rang. Concerning ecology, I asked them to sing one of the songs they had sung on the bus, "Dua mëngjeset e majit, kur këndon bilbili fushës", which was all about loving the natural beauty of Albania, and above all loving freedom, and asked where it spoke of the cars and plastic bottles in the rivers. I said that the image of hell in the New Testament was Gehenna, the Jerusalem rubbish dump, and that as Christians our task was to make the world we live in the image of the kingdom of God, and not the image of hell.

The first years were more responsive. One student, Robert, asked me about myself, and I told them that I did not have a Christian upbringing, and that my father had read me bedtime stories from a biology textbook, and at the age of four I could tell people a lot about the intestinal parasites of sheep. I asked if their parents had told them stories, and they said that it was their grandparents, and that they usually told stories about animals, like the fox. They did not tell Christian stories, because it was prohibited in that time. I suggested that those whose parents had been Christians 20 years ago should ask them how their parents had lived the Christian faith at that time, and record it for future generations.

And now, ten years later, I look back on that, and wonder where those students are today.

One of the amazing things about Albania was the revival of the Christian faith after it has been suppressed under the Enver Hoxha regime, but this had also brought several difficulties for mission and evangelism. One was the tendency, common in the Balkans, to assume that people were Christians because their grandparents were. Onone occasion I visited the village cemetery in Shen Vlash with some of the students, and as we walked down the path the students told me that the Orthodox were buried on the left, and the Muslims on the right. When we came to the end of the path I asked where the atheists were buried, and they did not understand the question. I said that for 27 years Albania had been the first and only atheist country in the world — hadn't anyone died in that time? Oh yes, the Orthodox atheists were buried on the left, and the Muslim atheists on the right.

The same thing came up at an Orthodox mission conference in Athens, just before I came to teach in Albania. I attended some of the sessions. Fr Luke Veronis read a paper on Orthodox mission and its problems at the end of the 20th century — complacency, nationalism, ethnocentrism and triumphalism. In the responses and questions someone said that Fr Luke had done wrong to describe the work in Albania as mission, as it was pastoral work, since mission was among people who had not known Orthodoxy. Fr Luke responded that in a country where over 60% of the people regarded themselves as Muslim, it was definitely a mission situation, to which he could have added that since Albania had been the first and only atheist state in the world, it was even mission among people who regarded themselves as historically Orthodox, since most of them had not been baptised.

I encouraged the students whose parents had been Christian during the Hoxha era to encourage their parents (and others they knew) to tell the stories, and record them — that was a kind of assignment, to learn mission history by recording it. The students themselves would have been about 10-12 years old when the communist regime fell, and freedom of religion was restored. The current generation of students will have had no personal experience of the communist era at all.

One thing that I found interesting was that at the student conference people read papers, but though there was a question time afterwards, the questions were directed to the speaker, and the speaker tried to answer them. As a student in South Africa in the 1960s I had attended several student conferences, but there was a slightly different procedure. The speakers would prepare some questions, and the audience would be asked to discuss them in small groups of perhaps 6-8 people. The small groups would report back to a plenary session, and if there were any questions to the speaker, they would be asked then, though most of the questions would have been asked in the group discussions. It seemed to me that the group discussion method allowed for more audience participation, and I suggested that it be used, especially after my paper. Others seemed to find it strange, and were sceptical about whether it would work. We tried it, however, and it seemed to work quite well.

For more see Balkan Spring II.

Fifteen films

My friend Chris Gwilliam on Facebook got sort of tagged in the Fifteen Films meme, and I wondered if I had time to post this before our internet connection dies again: The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen films you've seen that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen films you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag at least fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what films my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste the rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note).

So here are my 15 films, more or less in the order in which I thought of them.

The wages of fear
Dr Strangelove
The mission
Ostrov (The Island)
At play in the fields of the Lord
Sammy going South
Lawrence of Arabia
Dracula
The horse's mouth
The ugly American
The seven samurai
Morgan: a suitable case for treatment
Pan's Labyrinth
Z
District 9

… which doesn't mean that is the order in which I liked them.

And I'm not tagging anyone because trying to think of more than fivce people to tag is to much schlep, so feel free to respond if you are so moved, and if not, well, don't.

St Margaret and the dragon of ecclesiastical bureaucracy

St Margaret (Marina) of Antioch

Bob Gallagher, a fellow student with me at St Chad's College in Durham, England, is now the vicar of St Margaret of Antioch Church in Toxteth, Liverpool, England. Here's an extract from his Advent letter, which I found rather sad. It seems that the the parish had a small school, which provided a real service to the local community, but the ecclesiastical bureaucracy of the Church of England decided to close it down.

This is what Bob wrote:

The School was small, and one among many 'Good' Small Schools for South Liverpool, and for cost-benefits should be closed. But if anybody could appreciate the real benefit of a 'good small school', it has to be the 'Church'. However, the Diocesan Board of Education (under the Bishop of the Diocese's patronage) chose "Confidential Consultation" with the Local Education Authority, under some illusion that it had any power to close schools. There was no prior Consultation with the School, nor with the Church of England Parish the School served, nor with this Parish Church of St Margaret and its Vicar whose predecessor founded the School as part of his, and my, Service for this Community (The said predecessor, James Bell Cox, was imprisoned by the 'Church' for his 'High-Church' practices. Within weeks he was released through outcry, not from the 'Church', but from the 'Community').

Nor was there Care from 'Diocese' in our 'Dying', and at our 'Death'.

The School,.. with its reputation of Service for Good, according to Government Inspectors, the Local Police, a Diocesan Synod, neigh-bouring Vicars, the Synagogue, the Mosque, the anecdotes of the Community/Parish, and the many interested and intrigued visitors over the years,.. was worth fighting for.

During my 3 month lay-off after my heart-attack, I regularly met Children in the Parish asking when the School Eucharist was coming back; and Muslim Children asking when I, the CofE Vicar, was coming back to School Assembly. You don't let go of these  moments  very easily.  We got as far as 'Adjudication'. That was a Wonderful Coming Together,.. Vocal, Passionate, Numerous, Humorous and Moving. We were Children Teachers and Parents, 'Poor-White', Liverpool born Black, African, Middle Eastern and Somali – with those who couldn't speak English still spoke, their words translated by a friend – with those who 'couldn't speak' finding their voice – Christians, Muslims, 'no Faith' – with Jewish Elders, Mosque Representatives, express permission from the Imam to this CofE Vicar to put his views (his Children came to the School) – with Church of Rome and Church of England Priests – Community Leaders, Health Workers, and OBE'd Elders. As the Evening Progressed, it became 'Song' and 'Dance' and Laughter and Generosity of Manner. If you are familiar with the New Testament, it was a 'very good impression' of Koinonia.  'Alleluia – what a way to go.'

The Adjudicator appreciated 'the collective commitment, passion and sincerity, of the lay and professional', but concluded for the LEA's Proposals and provision of primary education in our part of Liverpool.

'Growth' – But of what? 'Fresh Expressions' – But of what?

At this time of the Closure of our School, we are suffering the Bishop and the 'Diocese' telling us "don't let anybody tell you numbers don't matter'. This is done with selective Biblical texts, and that 'blackmail' about the 'successful' Evangelical wing of the Church. So the Bishop and the 'Diocese' re-open a derelict church on the edge of this Parish, with man-power and money from 'the National Churches Trust for the saving of a Parish Church for its community'. The 'parish' is its derelict graveyard, 'perfectly legal and signed by the Queen' said the Archdeacon – a 'rotten borough' said our Church-warden – so that it can 'quota', 'tax' the 'parishioners' taken from another's parish. The community is burdened with churches, some more successful at 'infantilism' by taking members from others. Meanwhile the Community has long been more 'grown-up'.

Is any of this culpable?  'God damn awful .. ' as one old colleague put it.

"I thought the Archdeacon's report of your 'edginess' and 'combatitive-ness', pathetic .. no appreciation of how we are going for broke every Sunday Morning." ~ Church-warden David

At St Thomas Hyde, we had the 'enforced' Retirement Eucharist, by the Bishop of Chester, of the Revd Fr Phillip Benison. The Church is threatened with Closure because of small congregations – Yet serves the tragic-sacred Parish of the activities of Myra Hindley, Ian Brady, and Dr Harold Shipman.

Kenneth Leech, a boy of the Parish, preached. As a boy, he had walked into his open Parish Church of St Thomas, and found himself 'in Prayer'. This led him into a life of Faith, Adventure, and Writing. He told the story of Bishop Colin Winter banned from his Country and Diocese of Namibia by Apartheid South Africa, holding Confirmations through the razor-wire at the Frontier.

On the Toxteth Riots of 1981, Kenneth Leech wrote, "When all has been said about the damage done, do we not need to acknowledge that if, as a result, some powerless people have been empowered, have been given an identity, have made their voices to be heard… that the hand of God was at work?"

On the 'enforced' Closure of St Margaret's School, the Revd Fr Phillip Bennison wrote, "I'M REALLY SORRY, IT'S DEVASTATING THIS PREOCCUPATION BY THE CHURCH FOR THE 'SUCCESSFUL'."

"Poor you; you have suc-ceeded. You have got what you wanted. Nothing could be worse than that. We want to think we are better than others, so we do so. But in fact we are not as good as all that. Courage! Rejoice in your inferiority. Be glad that you are a mess, a disaster. The last are the ones that are first … There is none of that delusion in Jesus crucified, only complete failure … He had not hung on to life, or goodwill, or self-respect, or anything that gave him a purchase over other people. He went so far down, he kept nothing that could come between him and us."

~ John Fenton's 'Christ The King' in his book 'More About [St] Mark'

Took time recently with a much-loved Relative with Alzheimer's, and came to know that utter powerlessness. We were reduced to just Being with Her, .. a 'hint' of Utter Presence.

.. A 'nudge' too for the 'Mission', the Love-without-capital-interest for a hard-bitten place, like 'St Margaret Toxteth'.

"The presence of an otherness that is ultimately quite inaccessible to me and resistant to my control, .. it is an otherness that seeks itself in me, and enables me to seek myself in it, not a diminution of my own solidity but the condition for it, .. nor a solid presence invading my weak and under defended territory, but a presence that offers to nourish and augment what I am. In the world of human relations, this is precisely mutual answerability and taking responsibility."

~ Rowan Williams' 'Dostoevsky: LANGUAGE, FAITH AND FICTION'

[We love Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury's comments on Society, 'his Parish'; the theological discernment of 'what is really going on', dense and allusive, as he should do as Archbishop Priest and Chaplain to the 'King'.]

"In those days, after the suffering, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man [Daughter of Woman, Mags for short] coming in clouds with great power and glory."

~ Jesus of Nazareth according to St Mark's Gospel and a Reading for Advent.

Bob Gallagher wrote and read this Story for the Final Multi-Faith Multi-Race Whole-School Assembly for St Margaret of Antioch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, on its Closure at 3pm that Afternoon of 9th July 2010.   We are still with FIREY FURY.

Little Miss Firey had red hair, full of wild red curls. She lived in a tiny house, but a firey house. It was painted red all over, from chimney pot, down to front door step … Inside, however, this firey house was wall-papered blue, icy blue, so that sometimes Little Miss Firey could cool down. Her tiny firey red house, with icy blue inside, was in a forest. Wild animals lived in that forest, because that is were they felt safest, and they felt safe with Little Miss Fiery, because she was a bit wild.. And Little Miss Firey, whose real name by the way was Margaret, or Mags for short, loved the wild animals because they were a bit like her. Though there was one wild animal everybody was afraid of, and that was the Dragon. He didn't live in the forest tho' … He lived in a far off Cave, breathing Fire.

One day, Little Miss Firey, or Mags for short, was cooling off in front of her ice blue wall paper, when there were loud knocks at her door, .. not just one or two knocks, and not just quiet knocks either … but lots of knocks, and LOUD. She opened the door. And there jumping up and down on her red doorstep, in quite a state, were three Little Misses. There was Little Miss Late who looked as tho' she had run a mile in ten seconds, to catch up, … and Little Miss Neat, who didn't look neat any more at all, with her hat sideways on her head, and her glasses sideways on her nose, … and Little Miss Bossy, who didn't look bossy so much as positively apoplectic. [Apoplectic? What a wonderful word. It means absolutely furious.] "They're closing our School", all three shouted at once, tho' Little Miss Late was a bit late. "THEY'RE CLOSING OUR SCHOOL!! .. OOL!!"

Well Little Miss Firey, Mags for short, really got firey them, RED HOT ALL OVER. "I KNOW", she shouted, "LET'S GO SEE SOMEONE I KNOW, ABOUT ALL THIS, … ACTUally she's St Margaret." So off they set.

On the way, they met three Mr Men, and they knew they knew them, but they did look different. There was Mr Messy, even more messy, in fact in a complete mess. There was Mr Bump, who they really couldn't recognise, because he was covered all over in bandages. And then there was Mr Small, whom they almost couldn't see, he'd shrunk so much more small. They shouted, and squeaked, at the tops of their voices, "THEY'RE CLOSING OUR SCHOOL."

"WE'RE GOING TO See St Margaret,.. tag along with us" said Mags, just starting to calm down a bit, as she thought she knew what to do. "Actually, I know her well." So off the Magnificent Seven set.

Then they met, Mr Happy, who didn't look happy at all, and Mr Nonsense who didn't look any different. "We're going to see St Margaret about it all", said Mags, before they could get an un-happy or nonsense word in. "ACTually, I know her .. We're related .. WELL ACtually, she's my Grandmother. She'll sort this."

Well these Magnificent Nine, came to St Margaret. She lived in a fine house with big windows, on a big hill, more a mountain, so she had great views all around, on the world she loved.

The Nine had run out of shouting now, and jumping up and down, and they knocked on Little Miss Firey's, Grandmother's, St Margaret's, front door.

Mags' Grandmother was a magnificent woman, red firey curly hair like her Grandaughter, and icy blue eyes, like her Grandaughter's wall paper. Saint Margaret … Great Miss Firey and Cool.

"They're closing your school", said the Magnificent Nine together. "I know," said St Margaret. "But that's terrible … Can't you stop them," the Nine said again together. "I know," said St Margaret, "and I can't help you now … Because you see, from my house and its big windows, I can see that Dragon far off, and he's coming for me … to swallow me again." "That IS terrible," said the Nine. "I know" said St Margaret, "and know this, … that I loved you, … and do love you now,.. tho' I can not help you .. It IS terrible, and you will feel terrible for a while … and then, in time, in your own time, you will remember my Love for you … you will remember what I gave you,.. and what makes you the Magnificent Nine you are." "And Now I must go, to meet Dragon, and see if I can love him again, I pray" said Margaret, Mags' Grandmother, and then she disappeared.

Well the Magnificent Nine, not feeling very magnificent, turned round and set off back home. They didn't know what to say to each other, nor what to do when they got back home, …. but they had that sneaking suspicion, that maybe, .. just maybe, .. they would ……. …………And Mr Happy's smile, just began to return.

Little Miss Firey, whose real name was Margaret,.. Mags for short,.. began to pray .. May God make safe to you each step: May God make open to you each pass: May God make clear to you each road, and May He take you in the grasp of His own two hands. And she just knew that one day, she would live in her Grandmother's House on the Big Hill, looking out of those big windows on a world she would love, and upon the Dragons who would come, and the Dragons whom she would learn to love.

For those who don't know StMargaret, here is her story.

The Holy Great Martyr Marina was born in Asia Minor, in the city of Antioch of Pisidia (southern Asia Minor), into the family of a pagan priest. In infancy she lost her mother, and her father gave her into the care of a nursemaid, who raised Marina in the Orthodox Faith. Upon learning that his daughter had become a Christian, the father angrily disowned her. During the time of the persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), when she was fifteen years old, St Marina was arrested and locked up in prison. With firm trust in the will of God and His help, the young prisoner prepared for her impending fate.

The governor Olymbrios, charmed with the beautiful girl, tried to persuade her to renounce the Christian Faith and become his wife. But the saint, unswayed, refused his offers. The vexed governor gave the holy martyr over to torture. Having beaten her fiercely, they fastened the saint with nails to a board and tore at her body with tridents. The governor himself, unable to bear the horror of these tortures, hid his face in his hands. But the holy martyr remained unyielding. Thrown for the night into prison, she was granted heavenly aid and healed of her wounds. They stripped her and tied her to a tree, then burned the martyr with fire. Barely alive, the martyr prayed: "Lord, You have granted me to go through fire for Your Name, grant me also to go through the water of holy Baptism."

St Margaret and the Dragon

Hearing the word "water", the governor gave orders to drown the saint in a large cauldron. The martyr besought the Lord that this manner of execution should become for her holy Baptism. When they plunged her into the water, there suddenly shone a light, and a snow-white dove came down from Heaven, bearing in its beak a golden crown. The fetters put upon St Marina came apart by themselves. The martyr stood up in the fount of Baptism glorifying the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. St Marina emerged from the fount completely healed, without any trace of burns. Amazed at this miracle, the people glorified the True God, and many came to believe. This brought the governor into a rage, and he gave orders to kill anyone who might confess the Name of Christ. 15,000 Christians perished there, and the holy Martyr Marina was beheaded. The sufferings of the Great Martyr Marina were described by an eyewitness of the event, named Theotimos.

It is also daid that the devil appeared to her in the form of a dragon, to intimdate her, but when  he tried to swallow her, the crossw she carried disagreed with him, and he spat her out again. And it seems that the dragon of ecclesiastical bureaucracy has now swallowed her school.

And there is more here, and here and here.

Greatmartyr Marina (Margaret) of Antioch in Pisidia

Troparion – Tone 4

Your lamb Marina calls out to You, O Jesus, in a loud voice:

"I love You, my Bridegroom, and in seeking You I endure suffering.

In baptism I was crucified so that I might reign in You,

and I died so that I might live with You.

Accept me as a pure sacrifice,

for I have offered myself in love."

Through her prayers save our souls, since You are merciful.

Kontakion – Tone 3

Adorned with the beauty of virginity,

you have been crowned with unfading crowns, O Marina.

Having shed your blood in holy martyrdom,

and radiant with the miracles of healing,

you have received from the hand of your Creator the prize of victory.

Book review: The appeal, by John Grisham

The Appeal by John Grisham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My wife likes reading courtroom dramas and whodunits, so when I was looking for a birthday present for her this one seemed eligible. But John Grisham's books are a bit of a lucky dip. His early novels, like A time to kill, The pelican brief and The client were very readable, and I read The Client twice, the second time after seeing the film.

But then he seemed to run out of inspiration, and some of his middle books were so boring that I couldn't finish them. I suspect that he was under pressure from his publishers to produce and just wrote any sort of junk to get them off his back.

But this is one of his better ones. Perhaps he had more time to write it, and though it seemed a bit clichéd at first, it livened up after that. Yet it is neither a whodunit nor a courtroom drama. Most of the action takes place outside the courtroom, and you know whodunit because he planned it all beforehand. It's about business, law and politics, and about a businessman's attempt to circumvent the law by political manipulation after his firm is sured for dumping toxic waste. Normally I find that kind of thing quite depressing — the daily newspapers are always full of political sleaze like this. Grisham makes it look bad in America, but after 16 years in power the ANC in South Africa has descended to that level too, so it's more than fiction, it reflects real life.

And in that respect it resembles The ugly American, which was a kind of exposé of American foreign policy, though after 50 years it doesn't seem as though anyone has learnt very much from it, and a lot of people who use the phrase "the ugly American" don't seem to realise that he was one of the good guys. Grisham does the same thing for the domestic political scene. Fiction, of course — none of this happened, and he made up the people the products, the places and the circumstances. But things like it happen. I suspect that in the days before the Internet I might have thought it pretty far-fetched, in a "you can't fool all the people all the time" kind of way, but you can see exactly the same sentiments expressed by characters in the book being paraded on the internet as well.

Fiction, yes. But it is quite depressing to reflect that so much of it is true.

View all my reviews

New Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria Enthroned

The enthronization of His Eminence Damaskinos, the new Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria took place in the Cathedral of St Constantine and St Helen in Johannesburg this morning. Most of the Orthodox Churches in Johannesburg were closed, and so there was a large congregation, with a couple of streets around the church closed off to provide parking. The ceremony was performed by the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodoros II, in the presence of several visiting bishops and most of the clergy of the Archdiocese.

His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

At the end of the Divine Liturgy the new archbishop was led into the cathedral by his predecessor, Archbishop Seraphim, now Metropolitan of Zimbabwe. Archbishop Damaskinos, formerly Archbishop of Ghana, was invested with staff and mitre by the Pope.

Patriarch Theodoros blesses the congregation, with Archbishop Damaskinos

The Patriarch gave an interesting history of the pastoral staff, saying that it was the one he had received when he himaelf was consecrated as a bishop. I could not follow it all as he spoke in Greek, but I think he said it had also belonged to the first Archbishop of Johannesburg, Isidore, who became Archbishop in 1924.

His Eminence Damaskinos, Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria

Archbishop Damaskinos gave his speech from the throne, taking as his text II Corinthians 12:14, "I seek not what is yours, but you" saying that each one is precious in the sight of God, and that there is amessage  for each person from God, "that He loved us, he loves us, and loved us enough to give His only-begotten Son so that 'all who believe in him will not perish but have life everlasting.'"

It is at this point that the centre and essence and weight and importance of the Church's mission is found. The Kingdom of God begins at every human heart.

And now, at the hour when we are inaugurating my humble pastorate, I do not wish to extend my homily into an essay of details regarding the programme that I will follow, for the simple reason that it is the eternal programme of the Church. It is the same programme which the Church received at Pentecost, the programme of salvation in Christ and the theosis of souls though him.

Archbishop Damaskinos of Johannesburg and Archbishop Alexandros of Nigeria

One of the advantages of such diocesan occasions is that you see people you haven't seen for a long time, and re-establish contact with hold friends. We saw several people we hadn't seen for a long time, and one that we were most pleased to see was His Eminence Metropolitan Alexandros of Nigeria. We had not seen him for 13 years. We got to know him in 1987, when our parish was without a priest for a year. Father Alexandros (as he was then) was priest of the neighbouring parish of St Cosmas and Damian in Sophiatown, and he was asked to look after us as well, and we had combined Holy Week and Pascha services that year.

To our new Archbishop: Is polla eti, Despota! Many years!

Problems with "spirituality" and "apophatic theology"

A few months ago I wrote that I felt uneasy when people talk about "spirituality", and "being spiritual but not religious". Not that I think "being religious" is a good thing, but I do think that making a verbal separation between them is something of a cop out.

I've also found that quite a lot of people are referring to "apophatic theology" in blogs, and at first I was quite hopeful when I read it — "apophatic theology" is a pretty technical term in Orthodox theology, and used to be one of the things that Western Christians had never heard of, just as most Orthodox Christians don't have the slightest idea what "preterism" or "the cultural mandate" mean. So to find Western Christians discussing "apophatic theology" got my hopes up, and at first I thought that perhaps there was a possibility of some real inter-Christian dialogue. But I usually discovered that those who used the term hadn't the slightest idea what it meant, and just thought it sounded nice, and attached an entirely different meaning to it. So instead of facilitating dialogue, its increased use by Western Christians is actually likely to impede dialogue, because Eastern and Western Christians might think they are talking about the same thing, and sooner or later will discover that they aren't.

I was glad to discover that Macrina Walker shared my uneasiness about these terms, and for very similar reasons, and she has now written an excellent blog post about it More on the "spirituality" confusion – A vow of conversation:

a theme that I have been very conscious of in recent months, namely the widespread contemporary interest in "spirituality" but also the vagueness and ambiguity of this concept. I had been aware of a growing interest in "spirituality" and "mysticism" in the Netherlands and had had problems with it. And I had been aware that similar trends were at work elsewhere in the West, including in South Africa. But coming back here I have encountered this in a particularly marked way which has sometimes left me wondering how to respond. Whereas interest in "spirituality" tended to be viewed with a certain amount of suspicion twenty-five years ago as detracting people from the earthly struggle, it now seems to be all the rage. And whereas I had been eagerly looking for more resources in "spirituality" – albeit an engaged one – twenty-five years ago, I have now become decidedly hesitant, if not rather hostile, towards much that passes for this genre. And yet I do rather wonder how to respond to people engaged with it. I do not want to discourage people who are actively seeking a life of prayer, and a way of uniting faith and life. But the underlying assumptions of what is often presented as "spirituality" are often, well, decidedly problematic.

I commend it to anyone who is concerned about dialogue between Eastern and Western Christians.

Advent Synchroblog

This month's synchroblog is on Advent, and I thought I wouldn't have much to say on the topic, because in the Orthodox Church we don't have Advent, at least not in the sense that Western Christians do.  But here are a few random thoughts, most of them gleaned from or inspired or sparked off by Fr Tom Hopko's excellent book The Winter Pascha, though the title makes little sense in our part of the world, since we are in midsummer with long days and short nights, and Christmas beetles (which I believe Americans call "June bugs").

The Holy and All-Praised Apostle Philip

For Orthodox Christians the pre-Christmas season begins like Lent, with a 40-day fast. It starts on 15 November, the day after St Philip's day, and the following day is St Matthew's day (16th), and so the fast is almost immediately eased by fish, wine and oil being permitted (unless St Matthew's day happens to fall on a Wednesday or Friday, in which case the fish is omitted). So it's not as strict as the Lenten fast, but it is nonetheless a fast at a time when the secular world is having numerous "Christmas" parties. And Fr Tom Hopko tells us that the fast is sometimes called the St Philip Fast, because of the coincidence that it starts after St Philip's Day.

But after St Philip and St Matthew comes, on 21 November, the feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. It's one that probably would make most of my Protestant friends a little uneasy, if they were aware of it (which most of them aren't). You see, it isn't scriptural. You can't find it described anywhere in the Bible. For some Protestants, if it wasn't in the Bible, it never happened, just as men never went to the moon, or nobody uses cell phones, so the Theotokos never entered the temple. If it had happened, the Bible would have said so.

But though the event isn't described in the Bible, you have to be pretty familiar with the Bible to understandwhat it is all about. In that sense, it is a thoroughly biblical celebration.

So what's it all about then?

According to Holy Tradition, the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple took place in the following manner. The parents of the Virgin Mary, Sts Joachim and Anna, praying for an end to their childlessness, vowed that if a child were born to them, they would dedicate it to the service of God.

When the Most Holy Virgin reached the age of three, the holy parents decided to fulfill their vow. They gathered together their relatives and acquaintances, and dressed the All-Pure Virgin in Her finest clothes. Singing sacred songs and with lighted candles in their hands, virgins escorted Her to the Temple (Ps. 44/45:14-15). There the High Priest and several priests met the handmaiden of God. In the Temple, fifteen high steps led to the sanctuary, which only the priests and High Priest could enter. (Because they recited a Psalm on each step, Psalms 119/120-133/134 are called "Psalms of Ascent.") The child Mary, so it seemed, could not make it up this stairway. But just as they placed Her on the first step, strengthened by the power of God, She quickly went up the remaining steps and ascended to the highest one. Then the High Priest, through inspiration from above, led the Most Holy Virgin into the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest entered once a year to offer a purifying sacrifice of blood. Therefore, all those present in the Temple were astonished at this most unusual occurrence.

After entrusting their child to the Heavenly Father, Joachim and Anna returned home. The All-Holy Virgin remained in the quarters for virgins near the Temple. According to the testimony of Holy Scripture (Exodus 38; 1 Kings 1: 28; Luke 2: 37), and also the historian Josephus Flavius, there were many living quarters around the Temple, in which those who were dedicated to the service of God dwelt.

And you can read more here.

This feast was celebated quite early by Christians, and possibly even before the Church began to celebrate Christmas itself, and it is an interesting reflection of the meaning of Christmas. This is where it gets biblical, for the Epistle reading for the feast, Hebrews 9:1-7,  describes the Istaelite tabernacle, which was the precursor and pattern for the temple:

behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.

The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple

The virgin Mary, as a young child, entered the holiest part of the temple, where only the high priest was permitted to go, and then only once a year. What right did she have to do that?

The theological point is that just as the temple in Jerusalem succeeded the tabernacle in the wilderness, so the virgin Mary would supersede the temple in Jerusalem, for she was the temple not made by hands. In the jar was the manna that had fed the people of Israel in the desert, the "bread of heaven" sent to them by God. But Mary superseded the jar of manna, for she contained him who said "I am the bread of life" (John 6:31-37). Heaven and the heighest heavens could not contain the uncontainable God, yet he deigned to be contained by her who became the new temple, not made by hands, for the dwelling of God was to be with man, and he was to be called Emmanuel, God with us.

Salvation in the Orthodox tradition

My Protestant friends like to talk about salvation in terms of "justification by faith", and "by grace ye are saved through faith". When Orthodox Christians say that they find that inadequate and partial, the Protestants then tend to conclude that the Orthodox believe in salvation by works, and it is difficult to explain that Orthodox Christians believe salvation by grace even more than most Protestants do.

How can one explain this?

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's the explanation of the Orthodox view of salvation.This is where Orthodox soteriology begins.

from the Russian Orthodox chapel in Dachau (which housed large numbers of clergy)

No works there. Just grace.

You can find a bigger version here.

And if you'd really rather have a thousand words, you can read Salvation and atonement | Khanya.

Pacifism, militarism and Christianity

I recently read an interesting article by John Milbank, Power is necessary for peace: in defence of Constantine. It helped me to understand why, as an Orthodox Christian, I often feel closer to Mennonites than I do to most other varieties of Protestants.

Unfortunately the site where it was published won't allow me to cite it, so I'll cite one of the books that Milbank cites instead:

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author and her husband travel through Yugoslavia in the 1930s, describing the places they visited and the people that they met, and giving a lot of the history of the places too. They visit the field of Kosovo Polje, where Prince Lazar died after being brought a message by an angel in the guise of a grey falcon.

Milbank notes that West grappled with the dilemma of whether one should remain ideologically pure, or whether one should compromise with the expediencies of power. According to Milbank, West associated the cause of non-compromise both with Eastern Orthodoxy and with modern left-wing political idealism.

West visited Yugoslavia when the cult of naked power was evident in Nazism, and the dilemma of those inclined to pacifism was whether to compromise their moral principles by taking up arms against the Nazi menace.

I'm not sure how West (according to Milbank)  sees the Orthodox Church as associated with non-compromise, though. Unlike the Mennonites and Quakers, the Orthodox Church is not a "peace church", with an ideological pacifist stance. The Orthodox Church has soldier saints and pacifist saints, including both those who fought and those who refused to fight. And Stalin eased up on his persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church when he needed its support in the Great Patriotic War against the Nazis, even though Stalinism bore a more than superficial resemblance to Nazism. And the Russian Orthodox Church compromised.

It seems to me that the dilemma is far stronger in Western Christianity, which tends to be legalistic. In Western Christianity there have been great debates about justification by grace or faith, and arguments about whether salvation is by faith or grace on one hand, or by works on the other. Whatever position people take in the debate, it seems to be common cause that "salvation" consists primarily in "justification". Whether or not a man can justify himself, or needs a saviour to justify him, there seems to be little doubt that he needs justification. There's an interesting specimen of this kind of discussion here: Experimental Theology: The Sermon, Grace & Justification.

And so with the question of pacifism or militarism. In the West this is approched legalistically: is killing justified or not? Is it a "just" war? So pacifists say that no war can ever be justified, therefore participating in a war is a moral evil that cannot be condoned. And on the other hand there are those who seem to believe that war is an unmitigated good, and that military medals should not be "feminized" by giving them to those who save lives rather than to those who kill more people (see the earlier discussion on this blog here).

And in these things, it seems to me, the Orthodox Church is not legalistic, and does not see things primarily or exclusively in terms of "justification". There is no such thing as a "just war". And because killing someone may be "justifiable" in law does not mean that it is not a sin that one should confess. If you kill someone in self-defence, because they are attacking you and your life is in imminent danger, the law may regard it as justifiable homicide, and may therefore acquit you on a charge of murder. But a Christian, even though thus "justified" in the eyes of the law, will not therefore claim that the action of killing the other person was right and good, but will rather confess it as a sin with weeping and repentance. And this applies to those who kill in war or in abortion or in other circumstances. Obsession with "justification" makes easy to become self-righteous and filled with moral indignation against soldiers, or abortionists or whoever commits sins that aren't our own favourite sins. And Western Christianity, for all its obsession with justification, is not entirely without awareness of this. It can be good to read G.K. Chesterton's short story, The hammer of God — if you don't know it, click here and read it, it won't take long.

And the ideal of "justification by faith" is as easy to compromise as any other idealistic ideology.

Once I was involved with a church (not an Orthodox Church) where we invited an evangelical group to come and help run a programme for children during the school holidays. We called it a Vacation Bible School. The members of the outside group did this frequently, going to churches all over the town. For two hours they organised activities for the children, games and competitions, most of which required a lot of running around. The last hour began with a prizegiving — small prizes were given to the winners of the games and competitions, accompanied by applause. And, with the children tired out after all the activity, the could sit still and not fidget for 45 minutes to listen to a sermon on justification by faith and not by works. The trouble was that the words went right over their heads, because the lesson of the previous two hours had been one of justification by works — the one who ran the fastest, or dressed up in the fanciest fancy dress, or produced the best drawing was the one who won the prize. There was no grace about it — it was works all the way.If they had wanted to teach justification by grace, they should have given prizes to all the children, along the lines of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt 20:1-16).

The Orthodox Church has often compromised with power, perhaps for reasons similar to those suggested by John Milbank, but there is quite an interesting thing: some Orthodox kings who had power are recognised as saints, and many of them ended their lives not in palaces but in monasteries, where they could repent of their compromises with power. Compromising with power may at times be unavoidable, but, like war, it is never "justified".

Lectionary confusion

Yesterday I was greatly confused over the Sunday Gospel reading. According to the OCA web site:

27th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 2 (10th of Luke). Monk Martyr and Confessor Stephen the New of Mt. St. Auxentius, Martyrs Basil, Stephen, two Gregories, John, Andrew, Peter, Anna, and many others (767). Martyr Irenarchus and Seven Women Martyrs at Sebaste (303). Bl. Theodore, Archbishop of Rostov (1394). Martyrs Timothy and Theodore—Bishops; Peter, John, Sergius, Theodore, and Nicephorus—Presbyters; Basil and Thomas—Deacons; Hierotheus, David, Chariton, Socrates, Comasius, and Eusebius—Monks; and Etymasius, at Tiberiopolis (8th c.).

Luke 13:10-17  (Gospel)

That's the story of the woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years and I was all set to preach on that.

But our diocesan lectionary had

Luke 18:18-27

That's the story of the rich young man who asked Our Lord what he must do to inherit eternal life, and it was in our gospel book under the 13th Sunday of Luke.Except that it should have been the 10th Sunday of Luke, or was it?

Anyway, I had to ad lib the sermon on the Epistle and the many martyrs of the day, most of whom were victims of the iconoclasts.

But can anyone explain the discrepancy in the lectionaries?