Orthodox Christian Anthropology

In the Western world, anthropology is the name given to the academic “study of humanity.” It’s a broad field divided into several specific areas of study like cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology.

I’ve learned much about different cultures and religions through my formal American education, but I never really grasped the nature of humanity until I understood the anthropology of the (Eastern) Orthodox Christian Church, the most ancient Church in the world. Unfortunately, many Americans misunderstand both humanity as a whole and themselves in particular both because of their socialization in secular Western culture as well as the rationalist, academic approach to humanity championed in American education.

Orthodox Christian anthropology is not a Western, secular, academic study, but a way of understanding humanity with roots in the mystical spirituality of the Christian East. The knowledge contained within Orthodox Christian anthropology isn’t a collection of objective data collected by scientific means, evaluated, and turned into theories to explain certain aspects of human existence. Scientific inquiry is concerned with what can be investigated with the senses, tested, and measured. Orthodox Christian anthropology involves spirituality, real spirituality. Spirituality is our relationship with the Creator, in whose image we have been made. Our created existence is intertwined with the eternal God who is without beginning and end. Who knows more about humanity than the One who made us and breathed into us the breath of life? If we want to know about ourselves, we need to know our Creator (not just know about Him intellectually, but know Him experientially). The Infinite One has created the universe and endowed humanity with the reason and skill to scientifically explore His creation, but while we can investigate what God has made with scientific methods, science can’t study God Himself. We can only know about God what He reveals to us. Likewise, we can only deeply know ourselves by discovering what God has shown us.

Some people may imagine that God lives distantly beyond the universe, “up there somewhere.” That’s a tremendous misunderstanding. The transcendent One who cannot be comprehended or contained by the universe and brought all things into existence has been present and actively working within the world since the beginning. Throughout human history our Creator has revealed Himself to us and showed us what it means to be human. Orthodox Christian anthropology, then, is concerned with the knowledge that our Creator has revealed to humanity about what it means to be human, who we were in the distant past, who we are now, and who we are capable of becoming.

One of the problems with secular anthropology as taught in Western colleges is that the subject ignores or denies the Creator who possess all knowledge about us. As long as ignorance of God permeates the field, anthropology will never be able to adequately explain who we were in our primitive state, who we have become, or what we can achieve. Secular anthropology is ill-equipped to explain what it means to be truly human.

For almost two thousand years, the Orthodox Christian Church has preserved the sacred, divinely-revealed knowledge of true anthropology. While Christ established the Church in the first century AD, the spiritual story of the Church and the sacred knowledge it protects extends far back through 4,000 years of recorded human history to Mesopotamia, and back farther still to the beginning when our first ancestors came into being.

This sacred knowledge about humanity is kept within Holy Tradition, the ancient Faith inseparably infused with a complete spiritual lifestyle that has been lived by Orthodox Christians generation after generation since the time of the Apostles. Every generation is entrusted to protect the way of life handed down to them by their ancestors so that they may pass it on uncorrupted to the next generation. The goal of our way of life it to become truly human, achieving our full human potential by following the path shown to us.

What does Orthodox Christian anthropology tell us about humanity?

God created humans, both male and female, according to His divine image and likeness. He instructed the first man and woman, designed differently to compliment each other, to bring children into the world, filling the earth with humanity, and to rule over the creation (with love). Our first ancestors enjoyed childlike innocence, living in perfect spiritual communion with our Creator, and in harmony with the whole creation. Unfortunately, they turned away from God, the source of Life, bringing death into the world. Their actions ruined the harmony and balance within creation. The peaceful relationship between humans and other living creatures diminished. Chaos filled the cosmos. The living things blessed with health and wholeness found themselves stricken by sickness, decay, and destruction. Beyond the physical effects of death upon humanity, humans were also plagued by the spiritual effects. The image of God within us, though not destroyed, was disfigured; our divine likeness, lost. Since we isolated ourselves from God, having turned away from Him, we forgot the knowledge of God, ourselves, and the universe that is only achievable through spiritual experience. The pure, natural desires of the human soul, such as the inclination to love, gave way to destructive passions, self-centered desires that draw us away from God and wholeness, creating chaos in our hearts and in our relationships with others.

Primitive humanity existed as a single, relatively homogenous people possessing a single language. Cities existed even in the earliest periods of human history. Early humans seemed to initially prefer staying together instead of dispersing throughout the world. We are communal creatures even from the beginning. Eventually, primitive humans migrated from the east and settled on a plain in the land of Shinar, where they planned to build a new city for themselves. Humanity’s intentions may seem noble to contemporary American eyes, but the common urban experiment proved dangerous to the whole community. For their benefit, our Creator confused the languages of the people so they would disperse and scatter throughout the world. From one human community all the different languages, cultures, and people groups evolved.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” (The Acts of the Apostles 17.24-28, NIV)

Primitive humans, spread out across the globe, lived in a state of spiritual disorientation. They had lost the knowledge of the True and Living God who created everything. God remained ever-present with humanity and revealed Himself through the creation, but instead of peering through the creation to see the Creator Himself, they attributed divinity to the creation itself. Human ignorance has produced countless religious traditions that capture only a shadow of the spiritual reality.

When humans forgot God’s identity, we also forgot our own. Since God is the Prototype according to whose image we have been made, forgetting who the Prototype is results in confusion about what it means to be in the image of the Prototype. Because we lived in ignorance about God and ourselves, our hearts descended deeper into darkness. Our human behavior become inhuman, contrary to our created nature.

Ever since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil,
covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 1.20-31)

God allowed humanity, whom He had endowed with individual freedom, to follow the desires of our hearts as we wished, but He didn’t completely abandon us to our own foolishness. Through the ages He revealed Himself to us and guided our race toward restoration. In the midst of darkness, he chose the Israelites, a group of newly-freed Egyptian slaves who were all descended from a man named Israel, to be His own nation, a kingdom of priests. Through His prophet, Moses, God handed the Israelites the Law to teach them how to live as a holy people in the presence the Holy God.

Our every-loving Creator who brought all things into being out of nothing eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity created everything. The Father created through the Son (the Word) in the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel According to St. John describes God, the Son, by saying:

In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1.1-5, RSV)

St. John continues by explaining how God came into the world to save us from death:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John [the Baptist] bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’”) And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. (John 1.14-18, RSV)

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, came into the world and became human like us. The One who is fully God also become fully human, joining His divinity to our humanity, so that our divine image and likeness might be restored, becoming like Him.

We corrupted the image of God within us because of our own actions,

What then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need. (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, SVS Press, p. 41)

Christ Himself is the revelation of God in human form. He shows us who God is and what it means to be truly human. He was born into the world as an Israelite, fulfilling the purpose of the people called to be a kingdom of priests. He walked among us, even among His own people, but since humanity didn’t recognize Him some of those who belong to our race killed Him by nailing him to a cross. Christ was born in a mortal human body that could die, but since He is truly God, the source of Life, death could not contain Him. He arose from the dead as the first-born of the dead with an immortal human body, the kind of body we shall receive at the end of the age. He destroyed death itself with all of its physical and spiritual effects by his own death, and brought Life to the world.

He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and though him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians 1.15-20, RSV)

After Christ’s resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and then ascended into heaven. Not many days after His Ascension the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church, the community of Christ’s disciples. When the Holy Spirit came, the disciples who had gathered together heard the sound of a great wind rushing down from heaven that filled the house. The Spirit appeared, dividing into tongues of fire and resting upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in foreign languages by His power. A curious crowd of people who had heard the sound of the Spirit’s arrival came together to the house where the disciples had gathered. The crowd listened and were amazed when they all heard the disciples’ voices in their own native languages. The Apostle Peter stood among them and proclaimed what Jesus Christ had done for all of humanity. As God had once confused human language for our own good, He reunited the languages on that day so that everyone could here the good news that God had come to heal and restore our human natures. After listening to St. Peter, about 3,000 people were received into the Church as Christians and began the journey that leads to liberation from death the transformation of the soul.

The Orthodox Christian Church, founded by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is still present and active in the world with the constant help of the Holy Spirit. The Church is the spiritual community where we can live in communion with the Holy Trinity. Our way of life is the way of healing from death and the restoration of the divine image and likeness within us. The Orthodox Christian way is the path that leads us toward becoming truly human, as God created us to be. As members of the Church, the body of Christ on earth, we participate in the divine Life of the Holy Trinity. As the Apostle Peter instructed the early Church,

[Christ's] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that though these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1.3-4, RSV).

My Western academic training has taught me much about human diversity, but secular anthropology can only provide limited knowledge based on observation, scientific inquiry, and conjecture. Orthodox Christian anthropology provides a foundation, the knowledge our Creator Himself has revealed to us, upon which we can build a better understanding of all the different human cultures present in our world. It explains more adequately than secular theories the nature of primitive humanity, the reason human culture has evolved the way it has, the nature of humanity today, and our full human potential. A person influenced by secular anthropology will likely learn some interesting information, ideas, theories, and skills. Some of the teachings may reflect reality, while others will likely miss the mark. The Orthodox Christian Church offers Truth, not only in the form of doctrines and ideas that have been passed down through the centuries, but a spiritual way of life that leads us to personal transformation, restoration, and union with our Creator God. It is one thing to know what it means to be human. It is another to become truly human.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (The icon is in the public domain. Primary sources noted within the text.)

The Ancient Spirituality of the British Isles

A couple days ago, a group of NeoPagans and others looking for either natural beauty or revelry joined at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice. The Associated Press report about it has been picked up by CNN, Forbes, and the LA Times. BBC News also reported it. Photos of the event are available on the Festival Eye and BBC websites.

For centuries, in ancient times, spiritual darkness covered the British Isles, but the Creator sent His servants into pagan lands to dispel the darkness, enlighten the people with the light of the Holy Gospel, and bring them back to Him.

Patricus, son of Calpornius, was born in Roman Britain. At the young age of sixteen he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. Years after his escape and return home to Britain, God sent him back to take the Truth to his former captors. He is today known as St. Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland.

St. Patrick tells his life story in his Confessions. He begins his story with these words:

I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for a father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a priest, of the settlement [vicus] of Bannavem Taburniae; he had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.

And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.

St. Columba of Iona, a Celtic native of Ireland, took the Faith to Scotland and established a monastery on the island of Iona, off the Scottish coast. St. Columba declared, "My Druid is Christ, the Son of God, Christ, Son of Mary, the Great Abbot, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

You can read about St. Patrick and St. Columba of Iona on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia websites. Father Lester Michael Bundy has written a paper entitled St. Columba: Fact and Fiction. The complete Confession of St. Patrick is available in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. OrthodoxWiki contains good entries on St. Patrick, St. Hilda of Whitby, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St. Bede the Venerable, and St. Edward the Martyr, King of England.

Jesus Christ only founded one Church, His Church. All of the beloved Saints mentioned here lived in the British Isles when all Christians in both the East and West belonged to the Orthodox Christian Church. The Patriarch (Bishop) of Rome, who shared a brotherly equality with the other Orthodox Christian Patriarchs throughout the Eastern world (including Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople), was responsible for the spiritual care of the Christians in the West.

In about AD 1054, the Roman Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, claiming to be superior to the other Patriarchs and allowing the Faith handed down since the Apostles to be compromised, separated his Patriarchate from the Orthodox Church and formed what is known today as the Roman Catholic Church, taking the Western lands under its care with him. While some writings refer to the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church during the early periods of Christianity in the British Isles, Roman Catholicism didn't even exist in those days. Many Orthodox Christian Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Saints, such as Patrick of Ireland, Columba of Iona, David of Wales, Jarlath of Tuam, Aidan of Lindisfarne, Winefride of Holywell, Augustine of Canterbury, Hilda of Whitby, and Kevin of Glendalough, lived centuries before the break between East and West that led to the formation of the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. The famous Book of Kells was created within the Orthodox Church by the hands of her Celtic monks long before the Celtic Christians were separated from their native Church.

Although AD 1054 is often considered the date of the Great Schism, the split between East and West, Orthodox Christianity actually continued in England a few more years until the Norman Invasion by William the Conqueror (a.k.a. William the Bastard) in AD 1066. William's conquest of England placed the country under the authority of the Roman Catholic Papacy. King Edward II (the Confessor), the next-to-last English king to reign prior to the Norman Invasion, is counted among the Saints of the Orthodox Church.*

The Church of England (or Anglican Church) began about 500 years later when King Henry VIII asserted his authority over the English churches in defiance of the Pope of Rome. In 1534, according to the king's wish, Parliament officially declared Henry VIII the head of the Church of England, completing the break with the Roman Catholic Church.

In the past few years several priests and laity within the Anglican Church have been returning to the Orthodox Christian Church, reconnecting with their spiritual roots. One such person is Timothy Ware, who was born in England, reared Anglican, studied at Oxford University as a student and also served as a professor at Oxford until his retirement. He is now a bishop in the Orthodox Church with the name Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia. As the articles in The Guardian and on the Orthodox England website seem to indicate, His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales may also be on his way to the spiritual home of the English people, the Orthodox Christian Church. Thank God. May they keep coming home and may God grant those who have returned many years!

*Read the manuscript of a lecture given by Bishop Kallistos at Westminster Abbey about St. Edward the Confessor.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (The photos are in the public domain. They include Stonehenge, St. Columba's Bay, where St. Columba is said to have landed at Iona, and Whitby Abbey, founded by St. Hilda. The original public domain photos are from Wikipedia and/or OrthodoxWiki.)

The Beauty of a Holy Place

Nearly one thousand years ago, Vladimir, the Grand Prince of Russia, began looking for a religious faith suitable for his people. The ruthless pagan leader intended to find a spiritual way of life better than the traditional paganism of his land. Vladimir received visitors from different cultures with whom he enthusiastically discussed the religions of their native countries. He also sent emissaries abroad on a search for the right path for his people to follow. Both the Grand Prince and his traveling ambassadors remained unimpressed with the religions they encountered until they arrived at Constantinople, the legendary capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire. In the imperial city, Vladimir’s emissaries entered the renowned Church of Holy Wisdom to see how Orthodox Christians worship. When they had experienced the glorious beauty of the Divine Liturgy, they walked out of the church in a state of inexpressible awe. They returned home and reported to their Prince what they had encountered in the great church: “We don’t know whether we were in heaven or on earth for surely no such radiant beauty exists upon the earth. We can’t even describe it to you, but we do know that God dwells there among men and that their worship service is superior to those found in all other places. The beauty is unforgettable.”

Vladimir, whose grandmother, Olga, had become a Christian years earlier, sincerely embraced the Christian Faith and was baptized in AD 989, an event that changed his own life and led the whole Russian nation to Christ and His Church.

The Orthodox Christian way of life was born in the first century when our Lord, Jesus Christ, the human embodiment of Divine Beauty, came into the world and established His Church. For several centuries after Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, the Church worshipped in secret during several periods of intense persecution. Eventually, the (Roman) Empire that killed the Martyrs was conquered by their Faith. In the fourth century, under the leadership of the Emperor Constantine the Great and his devout mother, Helena, the once persecuted Orthodox Christian Church was raised up out of persecution to become the official Church of the new Roman Empire, called the Christian Byzantine Empire. For the first time, the Church once forced to worship in secret was able to build magnificent temples (church buildings) where they could worship the One True and Living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is supremely beautiful and the heavenly reality where God dwells is filled with His glory. Therefore, Orthodox Christian temples, adorned with polished marble and dazzling gold with intricate mosaics and richly painted icons covering the interior walls, were constructed to reflect the heavenly glory of God.

The Orthodox Church continues the tradition of building beautiful temples, holy places where heaven and earth meet. What makes these church buildings temples is that God dwells there, in the place where His Church gathers together for worship and prayer. (Although these buildings are commonly called churches, the word Church, literally meaning "assembly," actually describes the Christian community gathered inside.) God is always present with His Church, wherever she may be.

The interior of the Orthodox Christian temple is a reflection of heaven itself. The architecture doesn’t just symbolically represent heaven, but the temple is a physical place where the invisible heavenly reality is actually present with us on earth. This is a great mystery.

What does the invisible heavenly reality look like? This is what the Prophet Isaiah saw when God opened his eyes to the beauty of heaven:

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said,

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. (Isaiah 6.1-8, NASB)

St. John was also shown the beauty of heavenly worship:

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

Holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory
and honor and power;
For you created all things,
And by Your will they
exist and were created. (Revelation 4.8-11, NKJV)

The worship of the Orthodox Christian Church is heavenly worship. When we gather together in our temples for prayer, the whole Church, including both saints in heaven and those on earth, is mystically present as one body. Those of us who are daily running the race on earth are cheered on by our spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters who have completed this earthly life and now stand in the eternal glory of God. We are not alone. The great cloud of witnesses in heaven, including prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and all of Christ’s saints, surround us. The angels, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim are also there. Our churches are filled with holy icons, windows to heaven, that constantly remind us of the spiritual realty all around.

The Divine Liturgy, celebrated every Sunday morning in Orthodox Christian temples around the world, is the central service of worship for the Orthodox Christian Church, gathered together in prayer. Upon entering the church before the Divine Liturgy begins, you may find that a service of morning prayer is already in motion. The melodious sound of chanted ancient prayers and the smell of incense pervade the sacred place. The end of this prayer service, called Orthros or Matins, seamlessly flows into the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, which begins when the priest lifts up the Holy Gospels resting upon the altar, makes the sign of the cross with the book, and proclaims, “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto ages of ages!”

Like most of our services, the Divine Liturgy is mostly sung, involving a constant dialogue of prayer between the priest and the people, led by the choir and chanters. Some people pray aloud; others listen attentively and pray in silence with their hearts.

With the angels, we sing the thrice-holy hymn:

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal: have mercy on us.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal: have mercy on us.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal: have mercy on us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

and sing the glorious Cherubic Hymn:

We who mystically represent the cherubim
and who sing the thrice holy hymn
to the life-creating Trinity
now lay aside all earthly cares that we may
receive the King of All
Who comes invisibly upborne by the angelic hosts.

Receiving the censor, the priest, dressed in glittering vestments fit for service before the King of Creation, prays as he censes the holy altar, the sanctuary, the icons, and also the people, because we bear the image of God within us. The sweet smell of the incense fills the temple, reminding us that God is immediately present in our midst. The rising white smoke, mingling with our prayers, brings to mind what St. John saw in his vision of heaven:

Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. (8.3-4, NKJV)

Much more beauty exists in the Divine Liturgy than what I've described here. This reveals only a tiny glimpse of the heavenly reality present among us on earth. It’s something that must be experienced.

The temple where we gather together is beautiful and our spiritual worship, both ancient and timeless, is beautiful. The word Orthodox has a double meaning: right belief and right worship (or right glory). We believe the true Faith, having preserved what we have received since the time of the Apostles, and we worship the True and Living God in the manner He should be worshipped, in glorious splendor. This is the way of the Orthodox Christian Church, the way of divine beauty, the way of becoming beautiful with the radiance of divine beauty. In a broken, spoiled world where people desperately need real beauty in their lives, may we turn away from everything that corrupts the soul so that the divine beauty may shine within us, allowing the world to see through us the indescribably brilliant, enlightening beauty of our all-holy, ever-loving God.

“One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple” - Psalm 27.4 (RSV)


This article is the third part of a trilogy on The Beautiful Life. The other articles include Natural Beauty and The Secret of Being Beautiful.


Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (The photo of St. Mary Magdalene Russian Orthodox Church, located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, is from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, Bibleplaces.com. Used by permission.)

The Secret of Being Beautiful

Beauty is central to the Orthodox Christian way of life. Since God is beautiful, and the goal of the Orthodox way is to heal the image of God within us and restore our divine likeness, then the goal of the Orthodox Christian way is to become beautiful, truly beautiful, radiating with divine beauty.

Even though I’m a man, I’ll admit that when I’m in a bookstore I sometimes skim over the covers of magazines that target young women. They’re fine examples of popular cultural propaganda endorsing an ideology harmful to the young, impressionable women of America. (Men’s magazines seem to now contain similar material.)

The American culture’s secular concept of human beauty is warped. The cultural theory regarding beauty seems to be something like this: If you look beautiful, you will feel beautiful. When you look and feel beautiful, you will improve your ability to be both successful and desirable in public and private. The pursuit of beauty according to the culture’s unspiritual understanding and immodest standards has become an overriding focus among many young American women. We have a whole nation of people trying to look different than they actually are. Teens are trying to look like young adults, older adults are trying to halt or reverse the inevitable, and everyone else in between tries desperately to conform to the cultural ideal, often provocatively so, in an attempt to convince the self and others, "I 'm worth something. I 'm desirable."

The beauty of creation that we can see with our physical eyes is worthy of appreciation. If we see the visible creation around us, though, without peering through it to see the Creator, we miss the Ultimately Beauty. Likewise, admiring the outward appearance of someone's body without encountering the beauty of the person’s soul is a shallow experience, like admiring the shiny wrapping paper covering a box without opening the box itself to see the gold-and-diamond gift inside. Within the person, unseen by physical eyes, but visible to the heart, is the image of God that gives every human person intrinsic worth. What makes a person beautiful is not what others see when the light shines down upon his or her physical form, but the heavenly light that shines through the person, illuminating the soul with the pure spiritual beauty of God. The truly beautiful person reflects the light of divine beauty from within, evident in the self-giving love, harmonious peace, passionless patience, centered simplicity, and content humility emanating from the heart, evident in attitude, present in speech, and manifested in action. As St. Peter taught, "Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious" (1 Peter 3.3-4, RSV).

The way of the culture may make people look picture-perfect, but it will cause their inner beauty to fade, their souls to degenerate, becoming ugly and cold, and their lives to be marred by pain and chaos. Americans spend a lot of time and money improving their physical appearance, while neglecting their spiritual health. Within the Orthodox Christian Church we live the Orthodox Christian way of life together. All of us need healing from the inner wounds that have disfigured our souls and corrupted our ways of thinking, feeling, and interacting with others. The Church is a hospital where our most unsightly blemishes are healed by the loving grace of God. Instead of magazine articles about temporary fixes and current diet trends, our enduring Orthodox Christian Faith contains ancient beauty secrets that are time-tested, deep-seated, and long-lasting. Rather than programs and regimens meant to help us look attractive for a while, the spiritual disciplines of the Orthodox way of life, like prayer and fasting (placing the physical body under the control of the spirit), open our hearts to receive divine beauty and also train the eyes of our hearts to see the beauty within others. The way of the culture may help us improve our looks, but the Orthodox way leads us into the very heart of God, the source of Beauty, who illumines the whole universe.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (The icon of St. Barbara is from the IconoGraphics ColorWorks Library, Theologic.com. Used by permission.)

Natural Beauty

On the front porch of my family home, surrounded by the Appalachian hills, I sit in a white wicker chair and write. Only a few clouds hang in the otherwise clear sky. The warm sun shines down, touching everything green that covers this untamed ground with a hint of bright yellow. Light and shadow constantly change with the day’s progression. A butterfly fluttered close by just before I saw the hummingbird hovering around our ruby-red feeder. Birds have been singing all day. A couple of robins perched upon a line chirp in conversation. Two others, with outstretched wings distinctively marked, have been flying in and out of the branches since morning. The bees gather nectar among the open flowers. I sit here with all my senses open to the experience and take it all in.

The Earth is a beautiful place. However complex the whole ecosystem may be, appreciating the beauty of creation is simple. It’s not just a matter of the mind (this is not science), but a matter of the heart, deeply known.

The creation is beautiful, but if we don’t see beyond the beauty of creation we're missing the mystery that creation is trying to show us, the indescribable beauty of its Creator, the One who brought all things into existence out of nothing. The creation is an icon, a window to heaven, through which we can see the true and living God, the Source of all Life.

I’m reminded of something St. Augustine of Hippo once said:

The heavens cry out to God, "You made me, not I, myself." Earth cries out, "You created me, not I…." Look at the heavens, it is beautiful: observe the earth, it is beautiful: both together are very beautiful. He made them, He rules them, by His nod they are swayed, He orders their seasons, He renews their movements, He renews them by Himself. All these things then praise Him, whether in stillness or in motion, whether from earth below or from heaven above, whether in their old state or in their renewed one….And since He made all things, and nothing is better than He, whatever He made is less than He, and anything about these things that pleases you is less than He. So, don’t let what He has made please you so much that you withdrawal from Him who made them. If you love what He made, then love much more Him who made them. If the things which He has made are beautiful, how much more beautiful is He who made them? (Exposition of Psalm 148)

Every Saturday evening Orthodox Christians gather together for Great Vespers. We begin this time of evening prayer by reciting an ancient prayer. Through this prayer we remember the beauty of creation and worship the Beautiful One who brought it all into existence and fills it with his nurturing presence:

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, thou art very great;
thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment:
who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters:
Who maketh the clouds his chariot:
who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Who laid the foundations of the earth,
that it should not be removed forever.
Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment:
the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled:
at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
They go up by the mountains;
they go down by the valleys unto the place
which thou hast founded for them.
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over;
that they turn not again to cover the earth.
He sendeth the springs into the valleys,
which run among the hills.
They give drink to every beast of the field:
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation,
which sing among the branches.
He watereth the hills from his chambers:
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of they works.
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,
and herb for the service of man:
that he may bring forth food out of the earth:
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
and oil to make his face to shine,
and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap;
the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
Where the birds make their nests:
as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats;
and the rocks for the conies.
He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
Thou makest darkness, and it is night:
wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together,
and lay them down in their dens.
Man goeth forth unto his works and to his labour until the evening.
O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping, innumerable,
both small and great beasts.
There go the ships:
there is that leviathan, who thou hast made to play therein.
These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat
in due season.
That thou givest them they gather:
thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled:
thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created:
and thou renewest the face of the earth.
The glory of the Lord shall endure forever:
the Lord shall rejoice in his works.
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth:
he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live:
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.
Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.
Bless thou the Lord, O my soul.
Praise ye the Lord.

Those who worship the true and living Creator God have been praying this prayer (Psalm 104) for nearly three thousand years. Today it forms a part of the constant heartbeat that gives the Orthodox Christian way of life its consistent rhythm, a rhythm that gives us absolute stability in a world swept away and tossed around, without an anchor, by the temperamental winds of popular opinion and faddish change.

Be attentive to the beauty of creation, soaking up its beauty with the senses God has given us to experience it. Like a mirror, the creation reflects the Creator Himself. Allow the creation to draw the attention of your heart toward God so that you may encounter His Beauty, remain ever-aware of His presence around us, and praise Him unceasingly from the depths of your created soul.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. Photo copyright © 2004 by Dana S. Kees.

Three Recommended Books for Bookstores

I like small independent bookstores, especially warm, quiet, unpretentious bookstores that double as coffee shops. Big corporately-owned businesses have a lot more books, but a good independent bookshop ideally possesses fewer books of superior quality.

Any spirituality/theology/religion section is incomplete without books on the Orthodox Christian Church, the Church founded by Jesus Christ in the East almost two thousand years ago, and its ancient way of life that has endured from generation to generation since the first century. Orthodox Christianity is closer to the source of ancient Christianity, Christ and his Apostles, than any other path. The Orthodox Church is the ancient Church, still thriving in contemporary times. Although the Orthodox Faith has continued in the East since the time of the Apostles, secular Americans and those who are influenced by later Western forms of Christianity that have developed over the centuries still remain largely ignorant about the Orthodox Christian Faith.

Until I moved to the mountains a few weeks ago, I helped operate an Orthodox bookstore dedicated to connecting people with books that would help them along their spiritual journeys. Some of our customers were curious about Orthodoxy, some were more interested than curious, some were already on the path toward Orthodoxy, and others were Orthodoxy Christians on the way.

When I find that a bookstore, especially a locally-owned one, doesn't have any books on Orthodox Christianity, I sense that something is missing. At least one book on Orthodoxy should be present. What books, then, should be resting on the shelf? I have composed a very brief list of books that I would recommend for discriminating independent bookstore owners to consider including in their inventories. These books may serve as fine introductions to the Orthodox Christian way, or at least some aspects of it, for those who might consider themselves "spiritual, but not religious," yet open to the ancient Eastern Orthodox way of life.

Three titles on my list of recommended books include the following:

1. The Orthodox Church (Second Edition) by Timothy Ware (aka Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia), published by Penguin Press. ISBN 0-14-014656-3. More information about the author is available at Orthodwiki.com.

2. The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality by Kyriacos C. Markides. Published by Image/Doubleday/Random House. ISBN 0-385-50092-0.

3. The Orthodox Way (Revised Edition) by Bishop Kallistos Ware. Published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 0-913836-58-3.

I have limited the list here to only three titles, although I can think of several other books capable of serving as valuable additions to a bookstore's inventory.

Note: These books belong in the spirituality section.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. Photo by Dana S. Kees.

The Feast of Pentecost

Before Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven, he taught His disciples,

These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you….Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 14.25-26; 15.7, RSV)

St. Luke records what happened on the Day of Pentecost in his Acts of the Apostles:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2.1-4, RSV).

Today is the Feast of Pentecost, the day we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church following Christ’s ascension into heaven. This is what the Church sings on the Feast of Pentecost:

Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God, who hast revealed the fishermen as most wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit: through them Thou didst draw the world into Thy net. Lover of mankind, Glory to Thee.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. The spring of the Spirit hath come to those on earth, dividing supersensuously into fire-bearing rivers, moistening the Apostles and illuminating them. The fire hath become to them a dewy cloud, lighting, and raining flames upon them from whom we received grace by the fire and the water. Verily the Comforter hath come and lighted the world.

Light is the Father; and Light is the Son; Light is the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles in fiery tongues, through which the whole universe was illuminated to worship the holy Trinity.

The Holy Spirit hath ever been, is and ever shall be; for He is wholly without beginning and without end. Yet He is in covenant with the Father and the Son, counted as Life and Life-giver, good by nature and a Fountain of goodness, through whom the Father is known and the Son glorified. And by all it is understood that one power, one rank, one worship are of the Holy Trinity.

In the icon of the Feast of Pentecost (pictured here), the Apostles sit together in perfect unity in a quiet, peaceful, harmonious state of prayer. The unapproachably brilliant glory of God shines down upon them from heaven as the Holy Spirit rests upon each them in flaming tongues of fire. In the darkness stands an old man who represents the World (the Cosmos) who, though crowned in glory, has been imprisoned in a state of darkness and death. In his hand, the World holds twelve scrolls, representing the teachings of the Apostles, the divine Truth by which they will liberate and enlighten the whole World through the radiant presence, unceasing love, and
inexhaustible power of the Holy Spirit.

On this day, let’s especially remember the prayer to the Holy Spirit that is central to the Orthodox Christian way of life:

O heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who art in all places and fillest all things; Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O gracious Lord.

Have a blessed feast day!

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. Selections from the Holy Scripture are from the Revised Standard Version as annotated. The other selections quoted here have been taken from the prayers and services of the Holy Orthodox Church. The icon is in the public domain.

On a Personal Note

My friends, after having lived and worked for several years in one of the largest and most culturally diverse cities in the United States, I'm now in the process of transferring to more simple and serene settings in the Appalachian Mountains. Instead of investing time reading, writing, and blogging, I'm currenly packing, spending time with friends, and doing all the other things necessary for the move. I hope to resume publishing regular posts soon. My journey continues. Good health to you all. - Symeon

Christ the Eternal Tao

Before the Word came into the world
The sages sought Him out in every place.
They saw Him not, but sensed His presence everywhere.
They found Him in living beings,
in mountain crags and
Flowing streams, in seas and winds.
He was not these things.
But He spoke in these things, guiding them.
All things followed His Course.
Therefore the sages called Him also
by His other name:
The Way (Tao),
The Course that all things are to follow.

The trees, the birds, the rivers and winds:
These had no choice;
Man alone is given choice;
Man alone can follow or go his own way.
If he follows the Way, he will suffer with the pain of the world,
But He will find the Original Harmony.
If he follows his own way, he will suffer only with himself,
And within him will be chaos.

- Christ the Eternal Tao, The Second Ennead, “The Coming of the Way,” Chapter 10.


Hieromonk Damascene explains the Orthodox Christian view of ancient religions evident in Christ the Eternal Tao and in his approach to the Tao Teh Ching:

“Religious syncretism, in its modern forms, regards all paths as possessing equal truth simultaneously, and in so doing is forced to overlook certain basic distinctions, or to offer complicated explanations in order to rationalize these distinctions away. The ancient Christian teachers, on the other hand, took a more honest and discerning approach, which in the end proved to be more simple, natural, and organic. Rather than mixing all the religions together like the moderns do, these ancients understood that there was an unfolding of wisdom throughout the ages. They saw foreshadowings, glimpses and prophecies of Christ not only among the ancient Hebrews, but also among other people who lived before Him, and they saw the writings of pre-Christian sages as a preparation for Christ as the apogee of revelation.” (P.40)

“Avoiding the common pitfalls of religious syncretism, Christ the Eternal Tao shows Lao Tzu’s Tao Teh Ching as a foreshadowing of what would be revealed by Christ, and Lao Tzu himself as a Far-Eastern prophet of the Incarnate God.”

All passages are from Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene, Valaam Books, 1999. The book is available from St. Herman Press. The icon of Christ shown here was written by Andre Rublev. The icon is in the public domain.

Women Are Human Beings Too

In the beginning, God created human beings in His own image and likeness. The Greek word in the Holy Scripture that means "human being," anthropos, is in the masculine form. Since it is a masculine term, does it only refer to men? Were only men created in the image and likeness of God? Are women less than human?

St. Basil the Great answered these questions in the 4th century:

But that nobody may ignorantly ascribe the name of human only to the man, it [the Holy Scripture] adds, "Male and female he created them" [Gen 1.27]. The woman also possesses the creation according to the image of God, as indeed does the man. The natures are alike of equal honor, the virtues are equal, the struggles equal, the judgments alike. Let her not say, "I am weak." Weakness is in the flesh, in the soul is power. Since indeed that which is according to God's image is of equal honor, let the virtue be of equal honor, the showing forth of good works. There is no excuse for one who wishes to allege that the body is weak. And why is it simply delicate? But through compassion it is vigorous in patient endurance and earnest in vigils. When has the nature of man been able to match the nature of woman in patiently passing through her own life? When has man been able to imitate the vigor of women in fastings, the love of toil in prayers, the abundance in tears, the readiness for good works?

The above quote is from "On the Origin of Humanity: Discourse 1" from On the Human Condition by St. Basil the Great, Translated by Nonna Verna Harrison, (Crestwood, NY: Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2005. This is part of the SVS Press Popular Patristics Series. In the text presented in the book, St. Basil expresses the theology of the Church in the Greek rhetorical style. I recommend reading the primary text by St. Basil first before reading the translator's introduction. The book is available from Saint Vladimir Seminary Press and Amazon.com.

The biography of St. Basil the Great can be found on the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America (goarch.org).

The image of the icon of St. Basil, who is standing on the left, is from St. Philip Orthodox Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Used by permission.

The Return of the Empires

I recently read an article in the Christian Science Monitor, a highly respected source for international news, about a movement supporting the establishment of the Caliphate, a single Islamic nation of 1.5 billion Muslims that would "stretch from Indonesia to Morocco." The article, "The Caliphate: One nation, under Allah, with 1.5 billion Muslims," by James Brandon, is from the May 10, 2006 edition of the paper.

On the other hand, the NeoByzantine Movement is dedicated to the formation of Nea Byzantia, a NeoByzantine Union of Orthodox Christian countries. The movement's website, neobyzantine.org, includes information on Orthodox Christianity, the Byzantine Empire, and the NeoByzantine movement itself.

Which empire would you rather live in? (A rhetorical question.)

The actual establishment of such empires may seem unlikely, but the potential influence of these political ideas upon the people of the world is something to consider.

For a good article related to the Byzantine Empire, read Father Joseph Huneycutt's recent article, "Who was Constantine the Great?" on his Orthodixie Blog. The article first appeared on the Da Vinci Dialogue website.

The above image of Hagia Sophia ("the Church of Holy Wisdom"), once among the greatest churches in the Christian world, has been enhanced to show what the church would look like without the four minarets built around it by the Muslims. Hagia Sophia was constructed by the Emperor Justinian in the Imperial City of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Christian (Roman) Empire known as the Byzantine Empire. After the Islamic Invasion, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque. Today, it is a museum. For Orthodox Christians, it remains a symbol of the day when the Orthodox Christian Faith was the Faith of an Empire. Current photos and a brief history of Hagia Sophia can be found at orthodoxwiki.com. (The larger, original version of the above image is available here on orthodoxwiki.com.)

The Death That Rocked the World

Jesus Christ was crucified on a hill called Golgotha, “The Place of the Skull.” At the time of his crucifixion in the first century it was located outside of the walls of Jerusalem. Today, the place of Christ’s crucifixion rests underneath an Orthodox Christian chapel inside the Church of the Resurrection (a.k.a. Church of the Holy Sepulchre). The rock of Golgotha that held the Precious Cross is visible underneath the chapel’s floor.

The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross was a cosmic event. St. Luke describes the scene:

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Luke 24.44-46, RSV)

St. Matthew adds,

and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 51-54, RSV)

What effect did Christ’s death have upon us and the whole universe? Hieromonk Damascene’s article, “What Christ Accomplished on the Cross” (orthodoxinfo.com), explains the Orthodox Christian understanding of the event. Frederica Mathewes-Green’s essay, “Christ’s Death: Rescue Mission, Not Payment for Sins” (beliefnet.com), is also worth reading. My previous post on the “River of Fire” relates to the subject as well.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (Photograph from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, Bibleplaces.com. Used by permission.)

Frederica Mathewes-Green

Khouria Frederica Mathewes-Green is one of my favorite contemporary Orthodox Christian authors. Her essays, books, and radio commentaries reveal the Orthodox way of life in its beautiful mystery and down-to-earth practicality.

Her personal website contains essays and selections from her books, including, Facing East, At the Corner of East and Now, The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation, The Open Door, Gender: Men, Women, Sex and Feminism, Real Choices, and First Fruits of Prayer.

The Christianity Today website contains links to her columns and an interview with her about iconography. She also talks about her own spiritual journey in another interview.

Several of her articles appear on beliefnet.com.

In addition to her writings, one can hear her radio commentaries on the National Public Radio (NPR) website. They include commentaries on beauty in Orthodox worship, Holy Week and Pascha (Easter), abortion, and the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia.

In an article on the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Page (OpinionJournal.com), she explains why unity between the Orthodox Christian Church and the Roman Catholic Church is difficult to achieve. The article explains well how the Eastern Orthodox perspective on unity differs dramatically from the Western Roman Catholic view.

Her National Review Online articles are also available online.

Additionally, she has recently contributed an article to the Da Vinci Dialogue.

A Look at Paradise Through Poetry

In his collection of Hymns On Paradise, St. Ephrem the Syrian, who lived during the fourth century, uses theological poetry to reveal the indescribable beauty of Paradise and explain our relationship to it. It’s a great example of how Orthodox Christian theology, rooted in the East, remains unconfined by rigid Western academic explanations and philosophical descriptions. Instead, Orthodox Christian theology is regarded as a mystery, encountered through personal experience, and expressed through stories and poetry.

Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press has published an English translation of St. Ephrem’s hymns, originally written in the ancient language of Syriac-Aramaic. The translator is Sebastian Brock, who also wrote the book’s lengthy introduction. As an added bonus, St. Ephrem’s commentary on the Book of Genesis follows the hymns. (I would recommend reading the hymns themselves before reading the introduction.)

Here are a few selections from St. Ephrem’s Hymns:

Blessed is he for whom Paradise yearns.
Yes, Paradise yearns for the man whose goodness
makes him beautiful;
it engulfs him at its gateway,
it embraces him in its bosom,
it caresses him in its very womb,
for it splits open and receives him
into its inmost parts.
But if there is someone it abhors,
it removes him and casts him out;
this is the gate of testing
that belongs to Him who loves mankind.

Blessed is He who was pierced and so removed
the sword from the entry to Paradise.

Forge here on earth and take
the key to Paradise;
the Door that welcomes you;
the Door, all discerning,
conforms its measure to those who enter it:
in its wisdom
it shrinks and it grows.
According to the stature and rank
attainted by each person, it shows by its dimensions
whether they are perfect,
or lacking in something.

(Hymn II, 1-2)

Paradise delighted me
as much by its peacefulness as by its beauty:
in it there resides a beauty
that has no spot;
in it exists a peacefulness that knows no fear.
How blessed is that person
accounted worthy to receive it,
if not by right,
yet at least by grace;
if not because of good works,
yet at least through mercy.

(Hymn V, 12)

Around the trees the air is limpid
as the saints recline;
below them are blossoms,
above them is fruit;
fruits serve as their sky,
flowers as their earth.
Who has ever heard of
or seen
a cloud of fruits providing shade
for the head,
or a garment of flowers
spread out beneath the feat?

(Hymn IX, 5)

In His justice He gave
abundant comfort to the animals;
they do not feel shame for adultery,
nor guilt for stealing;
without being ashamed
they pursue every comfort they encounter,
for they are above
care and shame;
the satisfaction of their desires
is sufficient to please them.
Because they have no resurrection,
neither are they subject to blame.

The fool, who is unwilling to realize
his honorable state
prefers to become just an animal,
rather than a man,
so that, without incurring judgment,
he may serve naught but his lusts.
But had there been sown in animals
just a little
of the sense of discernment,
then long ago would the wild asses have lamented
and wept at their not
having been human.

(Hymn XII, 19-20)

I highly recommend this translation of the Hymns On Paradise. It’s available from St. Vladamir’s Seminary Press and also on Amazon.com.

A previous essay related to St. Ephrem of Syria, "The Way of Humility," has also been posted on Symeon's Journal.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. Photo by Dana S. Kees. The selections from the hymns are from Hymns on Paradise by St. Ephrem the Syrian, Introduction and Translation by Sebastian Brock (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press), 1990. ISBN 0-88141-076-4 .

The Holy Tomb of Jesus Christ

Every year, Orthodox Christians gather in Jerusalem at the Church of the Resurrection, also known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on Pascha (Easter) to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to Eusebius, the Emperor Hadrian had covered up the Holy Sepulchre (Tomb) with dirt and built upon it a pagan temple dedicated to the goddess, Venus. When the Emperor Constantine ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire, his devout Christian mother, Helena, traveled to Jerusalem. She found the place of Christ's Crucifixion and the Holy Sepulchre. When Helena found these holy places, Constantine built a church at the site. The Holy Sepulchre itself is enclosed in a structure called an edicule inside the rotunda of the church.

The annual Paschal celebration at the Holy Sepulchre includes the Ceremony of the Holy Light (or Holy Fire). Only the Orthodox Patriarch of the Church of Jerusalem possesses the honor of receiving the miraculously appearing Holy Light from the Tomb. Information on the Holy Light and photos are available from the website of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. An article by Niels Christian Hvidt on the Holy Fire is available at the Orthodox Christian Information Center (orthodoxinfo.com). Holyfire.org is a website dedicated specifically to the miracle. An article from the Russian News & Information Agency confirming the descent of Holy Fire on the Holy Sepulchre last year (2005) is available on the SpiritHit News site (spirithit.com). A great photo of the event accompanies the article.

"Come ye take light from the Light that is never overtaken by night. Come glorify the Christ, risen from the dead."

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, available at Bibleplaces.com. Used by permission.)

Great & Holy Pascha (Easter)

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Christos Anesti! Alethos Anesti!

Almaseeh qam! Hakkan qam!

Christos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!

Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit!

+

Christ is risen from the dead,

trampling down death by death,

and on those in the tombs bestowing life!

Today He is suspended on a Tree
who suspended the earth over the waters.
A crown of thorns was placed on the head

of the King of angels.
He who wore a false purple robe

covered the heavens with clouds.
He was smitten who, in the Jordan, delivered Adam.
The Groom of the Church was fastened with nails
and the Son of the Virgin was pierced with a spear.
Thy suffering we adore, O Christ.
Make us to behold thy glorious Resurrection.

St. Mary of Egypt: A Woman for Our Generation

A hiermonk (priest-monk) named Zosimas walked deep into the Palestinian desert to spend several weeks alone in prayer and fasting. While there, he hoped to find a man of superior holiness who could help him with his own spiritual struggle. On his twentieth day in the wilderness, as he was praying, he saw a creature whose form resembled a human being. It was thin and naked. It had dark skin that looked as though it had been darkened by the sun and white hair that fell just below the shoulders. It was a woman. He ran after her. When he approached her she told him that she couldn’t turn around because she was a woman and naked. Zosimas gave her his cloak. After covering her body she turned around, addressed Zosimas by name, and recognized him as a priest, although he was dressed in the simple clothing of a monk.

Believing that God had led him into the desert to meet her, Zosimas begged the woman to tell him her story. Although ashamed of her past, she spoke to him about the life she once lived and how she came to reside in the desert.

She was a native Egyptian. Leaving her parents at the age of twelve, she traveled to the city of Alexandria, where she lost her virginity, became enslaved to lustful passions, and gladly fed her all-consuming desire for sexual pleasure. Her income came from begging and spinning flax, not prostitution. Even though men offered to pay her for her services she refused the money. She didn’t sleep with them for the money. She enjoyed it.

One summer she saw a group of Egyptians and Libyans heading toward the shore to board a ship that would carry them to Jerusalem where they could venerate the Precious and Life-giving Cross upon which Jesus Christ had been crucified. She wanted to go on the trip, not as a spiritual pilgrimage, but to find more men with whom she could satisfy her appetite for sexual pleasure. Since she didn’t have any money, she offered her body as payment. Not only did she seduce men onboard the ship, but after reaching land she continued to seek out lovers among both the residents of Jerusalem and foreigners who were visiting the city. Even on the holy feast day of the Exaltation of the Cross she was still looking for young men to take to bed.

She noticed that the people around her began making their way to the church to see the lifting up of the Precious Cross. She followed them there, but when she tried to enter the church she was stopped by an invisible force. Unable to pass through the door, she was swept aside by the crowd. Thinking that her problem was caused by some kind of womanly weakness, she tried using her elbows to push her way through the people. Again, while everyone else passed beside her to go inside, she was unable to enter as though a detachment of soldiers were guarding the way. After three or four attempts, exhausted, without strength for another try, she walked to the corner of the porch and stood alone.

Why couldn’t she enter the church to see the Life-giving Cross? The reason became apparent to her. She had been barred from the church because of her sinful lifestyle. The filth of sin had polluted her soul. As the eyes of her heart opened to see her shameful way of life, she cried tears of repentance and beat her breast in deep sorrow.

Looking up, she saw above her an icon of the Virgin Mary. In desperation she prayed,

O Lady, Mother of God, who gave birth in the flesh to God the Word, I know that it’s no honor or praise to you when one as impure and depraved as I am looks upon your icon, O ever-virgin, who kept your body and soul in purity. I justifiably inspire hatred and disgust in the presence of your virginal purity, but I’ve heard that God, who was born of you, became a man for the purpose of calling sinners to repentance. So, help me, because I have no other help. Order that the entrance of the church be opened to me. Let me see the Tree, worthy of honor, on which He who was born of you suffered in the flesh and on which He shed His holy blood for the redemption of sinners and for me, unworthy as I am. Be my faithful witness before your Son that I will never again defile my body by the impurity of fornication. As soon as I have seen the Tree of the Cross, I will renounce the world and its temptations and will go wherever you will lead me.

After her prayer, she walked into the crowd. The same force which once prevented her from entering the church seemed to clear her way. She explained to Zosimas what she saw when she entered the church: “I saw the Life-giving Cross. I also saw the Mysteries of God and how the Lord accepts repentance.”

When she left the church, she asked the Virgin Mary to lead her down the path to repentance. She heard a voice speak these words: “If you cross the Jordan you will find glorious rest.” Leaving behind her sinful life, she began living a life of repentance motivated and guided by the Holy Spirit.

By the time Zosimas met this woman, whose name was Mary, she had lived in the desert beyond the Jordan River about forty-seven years. During her first seventeen years in the desert she fought the wild beasts of her passions, the self-centered desires for pleasure that once kept her heart far from God. He past life haunted her. Those old unspiritual songs she once sung with enthusiasm remained fresh in her memory. They confused her mind. Sometimes she was tempted to start singing them again. The sexual appetite she once glutinously satisfied sought to regain control of her soul. “A fire was kindled in my miserable heart that seemed to consume me and to make me thirsty for embraces.” Through a spiritual lifestyle, including fasting and prayer, she overcame the evil passions, was healed of her self-inflicted wounds, and received the purifying grace of God.

St. Mary of Egypt, who fell asleep in the Lord in 522 AD, is a woman that our generation should get to know. So many young men and women in our own time can relate to her before she turned her life around through repentance. How many Americans are inflicting spiritual wounds upon themselves, desecrating the sanctity of their bodies, defiling the image of God within them, and following self-centered passions that lead them farther and farther away from the beauty of Paradise? There are so many young people in America who accept lustful passions and behaviors as “natural,” although they are really corruptions of our human nature that are contrary to sexual wholeness and spiritual life. Our culture, ignorant of the true and living God, accepts and promotes sexual sins that damage the soul, while ridiculing the pure and innocent. The sickness of American culture has caused a great deal of confusion and pain in our generation.

The life of St. Mary offers hope for those who have ripped and stained their virginal purity and lay in despair. Through repentance, turning to the loving God who heals, restores, and transforms, they can throw off their ruined garments and be clothed once again with the radiant garments of purity and holiness. No matter how distant they find themselves from God and how much they have been enslaved to sinful passions, God will meet them where they are and set them free. They can leave behind their sins and begin a life renewed by the Spirit. Through a lifestyle of repentance, the passions calm so that the temporary pleasures of the body lose their luster compared to the pleasure of union with the One who bestows every good and perfect thing upon us.

St. Mary was led into the desert. Does this mean that everyone who leaves behind a lifestyle of sexual sin will need to live the rest of his or her life alone in a deserted place? No, the desert is not for everybody. Perhaps God will lead some people in our generation away from society into the wilderness to live alone as hermits. Maybe He will draw some into monastic communities to fast and pray with others dedicated to the same kind of life. As God knew what St. Mary needed to overcome her sins, He knows what each one of us personally needs to overcome ours. Most people will probably live their lives of repentance while remaining in society. Instead of escaping to the wilderness or a monastery, some will remain unmarried, finding refuge in the life of a parish. For others, a marriage blessed by the Church and nurtured within the Church will be their path of salvation. Marriage is a relationship in which a husband and wife can repent of their past sins together and express their sexuality with one another in love and purity, without sin or shame.

St. Mary’s personal story involves repentance from sexual sins in particular, but she’s a model of repentance in general. Her life encourages us to repent of every kind of sin that afflicts us and draws us from God, in whose image we have been made. No matter what particular sins we find ourselves committing, repentance leads us to healing and wholeness. St. Mary shows us how to leave behind everything that hinders our spiritual health and growth, and to stay on the path to Paradise. Although she struggled violently against her former ways of thinking and acting for many years before she overcame them, she kept the Faith, remained in prayer, and stayed on course, guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. Healing sometimes takes time, but the Great Physician of our souls is always with us to care for us through the process. Let’s follow St. Mary’s example and ask her to prayerfully intercede with Christ, our God, on our behalf.

O Thou who searches the depths of our heart, who hast foreseen all things concerning us before we came into existence, Thou hast delivered from a life of bondage the woman who fled to Thee, O Saviour; and with never-silent voice she cries out to Thy tender love: ‘O ye priests bless Him, and ye people exalt Him above all for ever.’

O holy transformation, that brought thee to a better way of life! O godlike love that hated carnal pleasures! O burning faith in God! We bless thee, Mary worthy of all praise, and we exalt thee above all for ever.

O holy Mary, thou hast received the recompense for thy toil, and the due reward for all the labours whereby thou hast cast down the vengeful enemy. And now thou singest with the angels, crying aloud with never-silent voice and exalting Christ above all for ever. (Triodion)

The complete story of St. Mary of Egypt, as recorded by St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, can be found at monochos.net. An abbreviated version of the story is printed in First Fruits of Prayer by Frederica Mathewes-Green, Paraclete Press, 2006.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (The verses quoted at the end of this essay are from Vespers and Matins of the Fifth Sunday of Lent on which we celebrate the memory of Our Holy Mother, Mary of Egypt, canticle 8, 2nd canon, taken from the Lenten Triodion, St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2001. The icon of St. Mary of Egypt is from the IconoGraphics ColorWorks Library, Theologic Systems, Theologic.com. Used by permission.)

The Catechumen: Preparing for Illumination

On Wednesday evening, we gathered together for the solemn Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. (The Holy Gifts are called presanctified because they, the bread and wine, were consecrated on the previous Sunday for Holy Communion during the week.) During the Liturgy, we prayed a special prayer for a particular group of people called catechumens:

O God our God, the Creator and Maker of all things, who willest that all men should be saved, and should come to the knowledge of the truth, look upon Thy servants the catechumens and deliver them from their former delusion and from the wiles of the adversary. And call them unto life eternal, enlightening their souls and bodies and numbering them with Thy rational flock, which is called by Thy holy name.

What is a catechumen? A catechumen is one who is learning the Faith. He or she is a person who has renounced paganism and is preparing to become an Orthodox Christian through the mystery of Holy Baptism.*

In the summer following my 18th birthday I found myself on a military base standing at attention with a group of other young men. We were being yelled at by an instructor. Welcome to Basic Military Training. I arrived there with the clothes on my back and a suitcase in my hand. Soon after my colleagues and I stepped off the bus, the process of turning undisciplined civilians into professional military men began. The military stripped us of our identities. They shaved our heads, took away our clothes, and gave us camouflage uniforms to put on. Everything we brought with us, except for a short list of acceptable items, were packed into our suitcases and locked away. We had come to the base looking like a bunch of guys from varying backgrounds with different personalities. The military took away our individuality. After a while we all looked like we belonged to the same group. Our instructors wanted to teach us how to think like a single unit and work together as a team. They intended to educate us in the essentials of military duty, socialize us in the military way of life, and instill in us the values of honor, integrity, and discipline.

When I started my Basic Training I had already made a firm commitment to serve in the military by taking the oath of enlistment. Nevertheless, until I had completed Basic Training I was in an ambiguous state. My identity was uncertain. The military was forming me into the kind of person they wanted me to be, but the process was not yet complete. I wasn’t really a civilian anymore, but I wasn’t completely initiated into the military yet either.

As nations prepare young men and women for military life through a period of initial training, the Orthodox Church prepares men and women for initiation into the fullness of the spiritual life. As people turn from paganism to the true Faith, they must learn a new way of understanding the world and adopt the Church’s common beliefs as their own. (The process of abandoning an old way of life for the new life in the Faith can be challenging spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally.) Catechumens learn basic knowledge of the Faith through formal instruction, build relationships with Orthodox Christians, and observe how the spiritual life is practically lived within the Church and out in the world by the Church. This period of preparation allows the catechumen to begin to understand what being an Orthodox Christian, a cross-bearing disciple of Jesus Christ, really means.

Catechumens are stripped of their old pagan identities. While they aren’t yet Orthodox Christians, “the Faithful,” they aren’t pagans anymore either since they’ve already begun their spiritual journey toward their entrance into the Church, the mystical community of Christ’s own. The catechumen’s training culminates in Holy Baptism, whereby the person is united with Christ, received into the Church, initiated into the Holy Mysteries, and illumined by divine knowledge. Once received into the Church, the newly illumined Orthodox Christian begins living the fullness of the spiritual way of life, the journey of salvation that leads to union with God. He or she still lives in this world, but now lives here as a traveler who truly belongs to the kingdom of heaven. Having received as a catechumen basic instruction, the spiritual milk of an infant, the illumined one is now ready to receive the more substantial nourishment necessary for spiritual maturity and growth.

Let’s remember the catechumens in our prayers, and also ask God to bring us more men and women who seek spiritual truth, rebirth, renewal, healing, and wholeness through a relationship with the true and living God.

Reveal, O Master, Thy countenance to those who are preparing for holy illumination and who long to put away the pollution of sin. Enlighten their minds. Secure them in the faith. Establish them in hope. Perfect them in love. Show them to be honorable members of Thy Christ, who gave Himself as a deliverance for our souls.

* Note: I use the word pagan in the ancient sense to mean a non-Christian, one who does not know, through experience, the true and living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The term paganism refers to non-Christian religions or ways of life. In contemporary times, a catechumen may also be a Christian who is outside of the Holy Orthodox Church and is preparing to unite himself or herself with the Church. Christians outside of the Church who have already been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity are usually received through the mystery of Holy Chrismation.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. Photo copyright © 2005 by Dana S. Kees. (Prayers for the catechumens from The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts as published by the Department of Religious Education, Orthodox Church in America.)

Thoughts on Repentance

Our Creator made Adam and Eve, our first parents, in His own image and likeness. While clothed with physical bodies, they bore the image of the Spirit who fills all things and cannot be contained. God created them to reflect the radiance of His own divine light, ever-flourishing life, pure goodness, and selfless love. Our first parents used their freedom, not to embrace the loving One who nurtured them, but to turn away from Him. Instead of obeying the One who knew the best for them, Adam and Eve thought they could do better following their own desires. Their actions brought spiritual darkness, evil, and self-centeredness into the creation. Another way of saying this is that Adam and Eve brought death into the world. Death is a reality in the world because our first parents’ sinned. Sin causes death.

Death is a sickness, a disease that afflicts us all. It seems natural to us because we see it all around us, but it’s not really natural. It’s an aberration, the desecration of life. God didn’t intend for death to be a part of His creation. Death is the result of our sin because when we reject God, we separate ourselves from the Source of Life. We have the freedom to remain in Life, but also the freedom to leave it behind.

Physical sickness and bodily death are aspects of death, but the influence of death is far more pervasive. We were not only born afflicted by physical death, which will cause our mortal bodies to die, but we are also afflicted with spiritual death, spiritual sickness. Our warped thoughts and feelings, and skewed vision of the world, draws our hearts away from God, our Creator and Healer. While we still bear the image of God, sin has distorted this image. Although we remain mirrors that reflect the brilliant glory of God, we are scratched, cracked, and blackened by the pollution of sin.

Many of us have been taught that we were born into this world as sinners guilty of Adam and Eve’s original sin. This idea is not in harmony with the Orthodox Christian Faith. The doctrine that Adam and Eve’s guilt is passed on from generation to generation may have originated with St. Augustine, whose writings have influenced many churches in the Western world. (St. Augustine is regarded as a Saint by the Orthodox Church, but he was not infallible when he expressed his theological opinions.) According to the Faith of the Holy Apostles, we inherit death, not guilt, from our first parents. We are born into this world as innocent infants. It is true that we are all sinners, every one of us, but not because we are born guilty. We are guilty sinners because we commit sin. We misuse our freedom to disobey our loving Father, who created us and who knows the best way for us. We choose to act according to our self-centered desires instead of expressing selfless love. We live in a way that keeps us in darkness rather than leading us to the One who is Light and enlightens our hearts and minds. We submit ourselves to the destructive passions within us that draw us away from God instead of drawing near to the One who purifies the desires of our hearts.

The truth that we’ve inherited death from our first parents is the bad news. The good news is that we can be freed from the curse of death. Our souls can be healed from the illness that keeps us from experiencing fullness of life. We can overcome spiritual death, restore the image of God within us, regain the likeness of our Creator, and find true life, immortal life. We can end our isolation from the Spirit, restore communion, and experience union with God. Through the process of salvation, spiritual healing, we become “divinized,” reflecting the divine radiance of God like polished mirrors in the sun. We can even surpass the spiritual maturity of our first parents. Even more, by overcoming spiritual death in this life, we also overcome physical death. If we are spiritually alive when our mortal bodies die, then we will rise from the dead with spiritually transformed bodies that will never die, and we will live forever in Paradise in the presence of God.

The process of liberation and healing involves repentance. Repentance is a spiritual U-turn. If you’re in your car driving somewhere and you realize that you’re going the wrong way, in the opposite direction of your destination, you need to find a place to turn around so you can start heading the right way. If you need to go south, continuing northward won’t help your cause. On the road of life, if we go in the direction of sin we will find ourselves at the gates of hell, eternal death. If we go in the direction of repentance we will reach Paradise, eternal life. Repentance is the recognition that we’re going the wrong way, and the change of direction that puts us on the right course for the right place.

Repentance is much more than a feeling of guilt. (We should never be lazy and just wallow in our guilt.) It’s also more than confession, although confession and repentance are like sisters. (Someone can confess a sin without being sorry for committing it and without any intention to repent. What kind of confession is that?) Repentance is a radical change of the mind (and heart) about the way we are, how we see things, and what we do. It’s a change from black to white, a conversion of the soul. When we really repent of a sin we never intend to commit that sin again. If we do commit the same sin again, we repent again with the same intention, hoping through divine power to overcome it. Repentance is a lifestyle, a continual process of looking honestly inside our hearts to discover and expose the soul-polluting sins within us, confessing them to God, and boldly throwing them off like old, dirty clothes.

When we turn away from our sins, we don’t just turn toward goodness, ethics, or morality as abstract ideas. We turn to God Himself, the Source of every good and perfect thing. Since sin is the rejection of God and a turning away from Him, repentance means turning back to God to fully embrace Him. He is always ready to run toward us with arms outstretched to forgive us and welcome us home. The more we reject self-centeredness and return to the One who is Love Himself, the more He fills our hearts with self-giving love. The more we turn from darkness, the absence of light, and return to the Light Himself, the more He enlightens our minds and hearts with divine illumination. The more we leave our isolation, the more He communes with us. The more we repent of the sins that sicken our souls and turn back to our loving Creator, the more He heals us from spiritual illness, the more alive we become, and the more we take on His divine image and likeness. By His death and triumphant resurrection, Christ has defeated death and has swung open the gates of Paradise. If we live a life of repentance, purifying ourselves through His divine grace, we can return to Paradise and live in union with our loving Creator forever.

We hear a lot these days about self-esteem, achieving success, and reaching our full potential. Self-improvement experts, books, and seminars may improve some aspects of our lives, but they ultimately fail because they only deal with the surface-level symptoms of our real problem, death. Since our main problem involves spiritual sickness, we need a spiritual path to recovery. When we realize our true identity as descendents of Adam and Eve and live an ongoing lifestyle of sincere repentance to liberate ourselves from our sins, we can finally experience the divine healing and personal transformation we desire. This is the only way we can ever reach our full potential and return to Paradise.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. Photo copyright © 2004 by Dana S. Kees.