The living God : a catechism for the Christian faith [1] 9780881410099, 0881410098, 9780881410105, 0881410101, 9780881410402, 0881410403

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The Living God

The Living God A Catechism for the Christian Faith Volume 1

Translated from the French by

Olga Dunlop

St Vladimir's Seminary Press Crestwood, New York 10707

1989

Originally published in French under the title Dieu est vivant

by les Editions du Cerf

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dieu est vivant. English The living God: a catechism for the Christian faith/translated from the French by Olga Dunlop. p. cm. Translation of: Dieu est vivant. ISBN 0-88141-040-3 (set): 1. Orthodox Eastern Church—Catechisms—English. 2. Orthodox Eastern Church—Doctrines. 3, Orthodox Eastern Church—Liturgy. L. Title. BX345.D51413 1989 238©. 19—dc20

Translated © 1989 St Vladimir's Seminary Press All Rights Reserved ISBN 0-88141-009-8 VOL 1 ISBN 0-88141-010-1 VOL 2 ISBN 0-88141-040-3 (Set)

Printed in the United States of America

By Eastern Press

Contents Preface Method and Goals of This Work

XV

PART THE

NATIVITY

OF OUR

I LORD

JESUS CHRIST

From Old Adam to New Adam CHAPTER 1 THE IMAGE OF GOD: CREATION, FALL, RESTORATION A. The Creation B. The Creation of Man (Gen 2:4-7, 21-24) C. The Fall (Gen 2:8-17, 3:1-4:16)

rrW SO WOW

CHAPTER 2 FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE: JOB

14

CHAPTER 3 THE NEW ADAM: THE INCARNATION A. The Annunciation Jacob’s Ladder

B. The Virgin of the Sign

ial 21 24

The Prayer “Ave Maria”

The Magnificat Isaiah, Rejoice!

C. The Nativity

30

PART II THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST From Abraham to Jesus:

The Anticipation and Recognition of Christ God CHAPTER 4 THE ANTICIPATION OF THE MESSIAH A. The Faith of Abraham B. Jacob’s Struggle with the Angel C. The Anointing of David, A Prophetic Figure of the Messiah D. The Prophecies

43 43 46 48 49

iil

CHAPTER 5 THE RECOGNITION OF CHRIST GOD A. John the Baptist

B. The Baptism of Jesus _ C. The Manifestation of the Trinity

54 54 54 56

The Icon of the Feast The Hymn (Troparion) of the Feast

The Icon of the Trinity

PART III THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST Who is God? CHAPTER 6 THE THEOPHANIES

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

A. Moses (Ex 1-3 and 4:1-7; Acts 7:1-35)

67 67

The Burning Bush The Second Theophany on Mount Sinai

B. Elijah CHAPTER 7 THE TRANSFIGURATION A. The Light of Tabor B. The Vision of God

C. From the Transfiguration to the Cross D. The Manifestation of the Trinity on Mount Tabor E. Deification Conclusion

72

76 76 72 80 88

PART IV THE TEACHING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST From the Former Covenant to the New Covenant

CHAPTER 8 THE FORMER COVENANT The Decalogue

97 97

a

CHAPTER 9 FROM THE FORMER COVENANT TO THE NEW COVENANT A. The Golden Calf

105 105

B. Can God’s Covenant be Broken? C. The Prediction of the New Covenant

109

CHAPTER 10 THE NEW COVENANT B. The Good News of the Coming of the Kingdom of God

ia 111 112

C. The Kingdom of God Described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount

115

A. The Rediscovery of the Promised Land

The Poor Those Who Mourn The Meek

Those Who Hunger The The The The

Merciful Pure in Heart Peacemakers Persecuted

When They Shall Revile You D. The Way of the Kingdom E. Faith The Demoniac Epileptic The Centurion and His Servant

The Good Thief on the Cross F. The New Covenant and the Deification of Man

CHAPTER 11 THE BLOOD OF THE NEW COVENANT

ite2 138 138 138 139 140 142

PART V THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION CHAPTER 12 THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS FORETOLD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT A. The Sacrifice of Isaac

B. The Paschal Lamb The Paschal Lamb and the Flight from Egypt (The Exodus) The Paschal Lamb and the Biblical Tradition C. The Sign of Jonah D. The Sign of the Cross in Biblical Texts

147 147. 150

156 159

CHAPTER 13 THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST A. The Resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11) B. Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem C. The Anointing at Bethany

161 161 165 169

D. The Supper on Holy Thursday Evening

171

The Last Supper The Lord’s Farewell Discourse Judas’ Betrayal The Agony in the Garden and Arrest E. The Interrogation of Jesus The Jewish Trial Peter’s Denial The Roman Trial F. The Crucifixion

181

The Washing of the Feet

G. The Mystery of the Cross

184

186

Christ’s Words on the Cross

Jesus in the Tomb The Epitaphion

CHAPTER 14 THE RESURRECTION A. B. C. D.

The The The The

207

Witnesses Empty Tomb Announcement of the Resurrection by the Angels Appearance of the Risen One

207 208 209 210

The Appearance of Mary Magdalene The Appearance to the Two Disciples at Emmaus The Appearance to Peter

The Appearance to the Twelve The Second Appearance to the Apostles at Jerusalem

The Appearance to the Seven Apostles The Appearance to the Eleven Disciples in Galilee

The Appearance to more than 500 Disciples The Appearance to the Apostle James

The Appearance after Forty Days: The Ascension CHAPTER 15 OUR RESURRECTION THROUGH

vi

BAPTISM

220

A. From the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ to our Baptism

220

B. The Announcement of Baptism in the Old Testament Water is the Origin of Life

Zal

Water can also Drown and Destroy C. Baptism in the New Testament

Loe

The Meaning of the Word “Baptism” Jesus’ Conversation with Nicodemus

The Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus D. The Rite of Baptism

224

The Exorcisms Conversion

The Blessing of the Waters The Triple Immersion Chrismation Eucharistic Communion Assuming One’s Baptism

List of Musical Examples

230

List of Illustrations

231

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Preface What is most significant about this catechism, or rather this major catechetical work, is without any question its essentially ecclesial! nature. This work represents a most timely witness, one that appears at a moment when the mystery of the Church is so often neglected in the West. The Western Church is more concerned with stressing

a conscious and personal faith. Its basic emphasis is upon the encounter with Jesus who reveals to us God’s own being. Orthodoxy,

which at times succumbs to the temptation of ritualism and of becoming enclosed in itself, needs to become

sensitive to these

aspects characteristic of Western Christianity. But in its own right, Orthodoxy also insists upon the vital content—or more exactly the

ontological content—of this encounter. It insists upon the /ife in Christ as a true participation in divine energies. For Orthodox tradition there is no difference between the Body of the risen Christ and His eucharistic Body, that is, the Church in

its two-fold nature, spiritual and sacramental. The eucharist constitutes the Church more surely, more essentially, than any of its sociological aspects. In and through the eucharist, the Church becomes a chalice from which flows the power of the resurrection “for the life of the world.” It is precisely here, without any question, that the Western

Christian—threatened

as he is by a kind of

ecclesiological arianism—could most profit from hearing the voice of Orthodoxy. This catechism is first of all ecclesial in the very way that it has been constructed. It is the fruit of the common labors and common experiences of a number of teachers of catechism in several French Orthodox parishes from Paris to Marseilles, parishes that follow the Byzantine rite. Its authors were all French, even though some were of Russian origin, others of Greek origin, and still others of French

background who had entered the Orthodox Church. All of this gives us an image of the original local church, building itself up bit by bit. 1. Ecclesial, derived from the Greek, ecclesia, or all things about the Church as the assembly

of those who are gathered in Christ.

x

THE LIVING GOD

Nothing, however, would have been possible in this regard without the untiring efforts of Father Cyril Argenti, rector of the Greek parish in Marseilles, France. As will become evident, Father Cyril radiates

a deep and transparent faith through his fraternal and paternal direction. An authentic communal effort has been realized here, an effort

deeply appreciated within the life of a Church whose consciousness of the truth can never be egotistical and closed in upon itself, but must remain open to a communion rooted in the eucharist. As St

Irenaeus of Lyons declared already toward the end of the second century, “our doctrine is in conformity with the eucharist.”

Nonetheless, the ecclesial aspect of this catechism becomes apparent particularly in its content. It has been organized rather like an

iconostasis, or rather like those icons of the great feasts of the liturgical year that one sees on many iconostases just above the royal doors. It is essentially marked by the rhythm of the Gospels them-. selves, if it’s true, as many exegetes think, that the Gospels are recitations of the death and resurrection of the Lord, preceded by

longer or shorter introductions. The present work, like those festal icons, concerns basically the great period of fifty days which extends from the outpouring of Christ’s blood to the outpouring of the Spirit,

the movement that leads us from the Paschal Mystery through the great blessing of Christ as He ascends to the right hand of the Father.

These two outpourings are in fact one, for the God who becomes man as for the deified man. With the outpouring of Christ’s blood, which foreshadows the holy eucharist, the dawn of the Spirit rises from the pierced side of the Crucified One. And we are reminded

of the saying by which the monks of the Church received and interiorized the experience of the martyrs: “Give your blood and receive the Spirit.” Throughout this catechism the Gospel is ceaselessly read in the Church. And if our consciousness of truth (a truth which is love)

is in fact not individual, but profoundly communal, it must be stressed

that we always read the Word of God in the Church, if that Word

is to offer us a true revelation of resurrection. The authors of this work are our contemporaries in the French Orthodox Church, deeply

marked by the liturgy called “Byzantine.” Their knowledge of this

a

Preface

xi

liturgy is deepened by the fact that they are often called upon to translate it, and, having translated it, to sing it. Faithfulness in this

regard requires a creative effort in order to sanctify language—not by simply taking over various poetic and hymnic elements of the

tradition, but rather by rediscovering the inspiration which was proper to Byzantine chant as it developed on the basis of the Greek

original. Such efforts of creative translation—especially in a period like ours, marked as it is by a demanding critical spirit as well as by an intense spiritual thirst—lend themselves most readily to a deepening of our consciousness concerning the true value of the liturgy. This catechism, therefore, bears witness to the present effort

to understand and to appreciate the place of the Gospel within tradition, especially the wninterrupted liturgical tradition of the Byzantine rite.

The Byzantine rite is marked by an extraordinary theological richness, not only in its eucharistic celebration, but especially in its other services, notably those of the vigils of feasts with their numerous

Old Testament readings. This richness, of a theology transfigured into doxology, is not at all peculiar or exotic. The geographical localities in which that theology was developed during the first thousand years of the Church’s existence—the ancient biblical lands, Egypt, Cappadocia, Constantinople—made up an Eastern and Western Christendom which united the sense of mystery with the

sharpest exercise of intellect. What the reader will find in the liturgical texts that are often quoted in this catechism

are the

doctrinal developments made by the Fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils. To be sure, our purpose is not merely to repeat what the Fathers said, but to rediscover in union with them, inspired by them, the capacity for creating a synthesis of theological thought. For modern day Western Christianity (which has not yet really “received” those most important definitions of the three last Councils, held during the time when the Church was one), the Byzantine liturgy represents the best possible introduction to the continuity that so richly nourishes the whole of the Church. The text of the Byzantine liturgy nourishes Christian understanding; but by this we mean a transformed understanding which is

xii

THE LIVING GOD

absolutely inseparable from love and from beauty. The genius of the Orthodox Church, it has been said, lies in its attraction to spiritual beauty—beauty perceived in the light of the Cross and experienced with tears—by which the person opens himself before God and joins himself to his brethren, to become wholly filled with peace as a foretaste of the experience of the Kingdom of God. It is for this reason that the liturgical texts, which are beautiful in themselves,

should nonetheless resound in an atmosphere of beauty, marked by music and by iconography. The uniqueness and strength of this catechism lies in the way it draws together musical themes and reproductions of icons. Within the Orthodox Churches, music consists uniquely of the human voice, exclusive of all instruments. The breath of those who sing represents another divine Breath. The human voice has no particular consistency in itself, for it is always

placed in the service of a higher meaning and a deeper mystery. The human voice gives to the Word—beyond all our ideologies, our systems, and our manners of speaking—its very dignity and worth as the Word of God, filled with that silence which, in the words of

St Isaac the Syrian “is the language of the world to come.” All things are transposed onto an eternal plane reflected by the living silence of icons, there where we find revealed in reciprocal transparency the

face of God in man and the face of man in God. Read with the eyes of Holy Tradition—the eyes of the Dove that detects everywhere the face of the Beloved Son—the Gospel assumes all of its temporal and eternal fullness. Rooted in “that which was from the beginning,” the Gospel expresses all of the divine-human

drama described throughout the Old Testament, and it moves toward what is ultimate, giving birth to that communion of saints who reveal in themselves the face of the coming Christ. This coming of Christ, by the way, signifies less the return of Jesus to this world, than the final transfiguration of the world within the cosmic Christ,

of whom this catechism speaks with such power.

Thus by studying the principal moments of the “economy” of

Christ, and being guided by the scriptural references contained in the Byzantine services, the authors of our catechism offer a typical patristic reading of the Old Testament. They show to us theophanies

Preface

a

of the Logos, the “preparation of the Gospel,” various types and figures of Christ incarnate, dying and rising, together with images of the Spirit, of the Mother of God, and of the Church. A kind of

christological music can be heard throughout. I am thinking, for example, of chapter twelve of the fifth part: the theme of the Lamb, whose movement can be traced from the sacrifice of Abraham through the departure into Egypt, the prophecy of Isaiah, the witness of John the Baptist, until His final manifestation in the Revelation of St John. At the same time, by preserving a certain eschatological tension

which is both resolved and renewed in what Father Sergius Bulgakov called “the sacramental Parousia,” the Gospel becomes ours through this catechism by the Spirit who dwells within the Church. This Gospel is a word which we hear, but it is also a life in which we take part. The study of Christ’s passion and resurrection leads directly to the question of baptism, which is a foundation of our own resurrection. The paschal and pentecostal mystery comes to us and is experienced in the eucharist, which is the foundation of the Church.

The reader will be struck as well as by those beautiful spiritual meditations, reflections on the life in Christ, which make up the commentary on the Beatitudes and the seven words of Christ from

the cross. Because it is both ecclesial and liturgical, true theology is necessarily “mystical” theology.

To whom is this catechism addressed? Children will not be able to use it directly. Nevertheless, it will prove to be a most useful tool for those who are responsible for catechism, especially because of

its use and explanation of icons and of various musical compositions. This is particulary true regarding troparia, each of which is a summary of the meaning of a particular feast of the Church. Those responsible for the Christian education of our children will find it useful to have them copy freely and frequently the various icons

represented here and to offer commentaries upon them. Similarly, it would be useful to draw out the relationship between an icon and a troparion, which the children can learn by heart and sing together. The often remarkable dialogues between the seeker and the sage make us think more of an adolescent or of an adult who has come

XIV

THE LIVING GOD

from atheism to faith, than of an actual child. Nevertheless, almost

always this catechism presupposes that faith has already been acquired, or at any rate, that faith is latent or has been handed down from former generations. To trace out the various approaches toward faith in a society that is wholly secularized and paganized would require another sort of work than the one we have here. Such works have already been achieved in Western Christian confessions. In this present catechism, however, concern is more with deepening the content of faith than with describing various approaches to faith. Consequently,

this catechism—which

has been

developed

by

catechists—is addressed first of all to other catechists. It is addressed especially to Orthodox Christians, particularly a minority Church, with our faithful widely country, makes it. necessary that many adults order to instruct their own children in elements

since our situation as scattered about the train themselves in of the Christian faith.

But Catholics and Protestants too should find in the pages of this book a vision of the undivided Church, and therefore an approach to Christianity that is familiar to them. This present catechism could also represent for an adolescent or a student, whose faith is still uncertain and poorly grounded, a means for affirming doctrinal truth in the sense of “doctrine” made to be lived. On a broader scale, it could also serve as a most useful introduc-

tion to life in Christ for many of our contemporaries, who even if they are well educated have only the most meager understanding of the “Judeo-Christian tradition.” The fact that this catechism will represent for many readers an introduction to the Orthodox Church itself should not be a surprise. It seems clear that only the modest, openly attentive, and demanding presence of this Orthodox Church within the very midst of the Christian West can open up in our day and age new pathways towards a genuine ecumenism. “Jerusalem remembers in the days of her Rereais and bitterness all the precious things that were hers from days of old” (Lamentations 1:7). Oliver Clement

Method and Goals of This Work This catechism is the product of a group effort by persons working within

the framework

of the Orthodox

Fraternity of Western

Europe. Its aim is not so much to be a manual of lessons which are to be learned, as it is to transmit a message of life, the Word of the

Living God. This Word has been borne to us by the Breath of God, that is the Holy Spirit, who spoke by the prophets of Israel. By the work of this same Spirit, this Word became flesh and took upon Himself a body in the person of the Lord Jesus. Finally, this Word is heard today within the Church—the assembly of believers—where the risen Lord lives and speaks forever, thanks to the marvelous work of that same Holy Spirit. This means that there is a definite continuity and unity between the Old Testament and the

New Testament, as well as between the

whole of the Bible and the life of the Church: the words concerning the acts of the Lord Jesus which are recounted to us in the New Testament cannot be understood if we simply ignore the nineteen

centuries of Israel’s history that prepared His coming and which are recounted to us in the Old Testament. In the same way, the person of the Lord Jesus can only be understood today through the revelation of the Spirit. We can only enter into communion with Jesus in so far as we live with Him in the Church. This double reality—the need

to know the Old Testament and the need to live with Christ in the Church—provides us with the method that we are going to follow. We plan to study each one of the great stages of the life of the Lord

Jesus, from His conception up until His second coming in glory, by examining them and explaining them through the events of the Old Covenant that prepared, announced, prefigured, and gave to them their entire meaning. We plan also to illustrate these events by certain elements

within

the life of the Church—hymns,

icons,

sacraments—which express them, render them present, and enable us to participate in them. The New Testament studied without the

XV

XVI

THE LIVING GOD

Old Testament is like an uprooted tree; just as the New Testament

studied apart from the life of the Church is nothing more than a history of past events rather than the New Covenant, the encounter

between man and the living God. The aim of this book is to help our readers in achieving that very encounter.

Xvi

cet | The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ From Old Adam to New Adam

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CHAPTER I

THE IMAGE OF GoD: CREATION, FALL, RESTORATION

A) The Creation In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the

deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. (Gen 1:1-2)

With these words begins Genesis, the first book of the Bible, whose origin goes back to the teaching of Moses, a man who has marked the entire history of the people of God with his powerful personality.

Note that in these verses we are not told how the world was created. The Jewish people have always been aware of the immense gulf

which separates Creator from creature. It is only in a more recent text, the Second Book of Maccabees—which recounts the struggle of the faithful Israelites against the Greek tyrants, the successors of Alexander the Great—that we find an affirmation that the world was created from nothing, “creation ex nihilo.” Seven brothers were

seized by King Antiochus and put to death while their mother stood by encouraging and exhorting them. When it was the turn of the last brother, she said to him: “. . . look at the heaven and the earth

and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being” (2 Macc 7:28).

This reminds us of a sentence which the priest utters during the great eucharistic prayer in the Liturgy: ‘Thou it was who brought us from nonexistence into being.”

4

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Seeker: Then what was there in the beginning, the very beginning? Sage: Nothing but God. Everything was created by Him; He alone was not created, for it was He who created all (See Jn 1:3).

Seeker: Is this found in philosophy? Sage: No, none of the ancient philosophers had thought of it. The Greeks had conceived of a supreme craftsman, whom they called a “demiurge,’ who was supposed to have brought out of primordial chaos

the order

(cosmos)!

which

we

find

in nature.

But

this

craftsman introduced order into something which already existed. Seeker: And what does the Bible tell us?

Sage: We could not have come to what it tells us on our own. God Himself has made it known to us; He alone has revealed it. The Bible

tells us that it is solely by the power of His creative Word that God has given things their existence, their being. God says, “Let there be light,” and there is light. It is enough for God to speak for things to come into being. His Word constitutes their existence.

Seeker: Why do we capitalize “Word’’? Sage: Because ‘““Word’—that is, Logos—is the term used by St John the Evangelist to describe the only Son of God (Jn 1:1). Seeker: God speaks and things come into existence, but things move. Plants and animals evolve. Is it God who makes evolution? Sage: It is the Spirit of God who gives life to the world. Spirit in Greek is pneuma,; it is the word used in the New Testament to

designate the Holy Spirit. The Bible says: “The Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” Another book of the Bible, Deuteronomy, explains: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young” (32:11) which she has hatched and helped to grow, so the Spirit of God hatches life and evolves living beings. Seeker: How do we know that God has created everything? No one saw Him do it.

Sage: To discover that someone has created out of the void, out of nothingness, this is the beginning of belief in God. It is the beginning of what is called faith. That is the reason why the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us: “By faith we understand that the world was 1. See Part VI, the beginning of chapter 20.

The Image of God: Creation, Fall, Restoration

5

created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of

things which do not appear” (11:3). To teach us this truth, the Bible

relates a story which has been accessible to all men of all ages: to scholars, poets, old men, adults, and small children. . . . God separated the light from the darkness. . . . And there was evening and there was morning, one day. And God said, “Let there be a firmament...” and there was evening and there was morning, a second day. And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”. . . God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together He called Seas. . . . And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit . . .’ And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament . . .” And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also. . . And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.”. . . And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them [the fish and birds]. . . And there was evening and there was

morning, a fifth day. And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth...’ And it was so... Then God said, “Let Us make man

in Our image, after Our likeness; and let him have dominion over the fish. . . the birds. . . and over all the earth . . .” So God created man in His own image... male and female He created them... And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was

very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. > _ and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it,

because on it God rested from all His work which He had done in creation. (Gen 1:1-31; 2:1-3)

6

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

This is a magnificent poem by which God tells men of all ages that it was He who made all things “in wisdom” (Ps 103 [104]: 24).

Seeker: The Bible says but your text says: “And a first day.” How could evening when there was Sage: Our author was

that the sun was created on the fourth day, there was evening and there was morning, there be a first day with a morning and not yet a sun? also quite likely aware of this question. It

is evident that the days of which he speaks are not measured by the rising and setting of the sun; they do not last twenty-four hours in

accordance with the rotation of the earth on its axis. We are dealing with divine, not human, days. That is why the apostle Peter tells us: “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet 3:8). Seeker: Then divine time and human time are not the same? Sage: Of course not. God does not live in time, because it is He

who created time, just as He created space. God exists “before all ages” and beyond time and space. That is why it is impossible to

compare the discoveries of science and the revelations of the Bible, as some naive minds have tried to do, imagining that the author of Genesis wanted to write a treatise on geology or paleontology.’ Seeker: Then who is right, science or the Bible? Sage: The truth of biblical revelation is not the same as the fragmentary and relative truths studied by science. Science studies the world of appearances, of fleeting phenomena, which can be measured in minutes and in meters, and which unfold in human time and space.

Biblical revelation rises above time and space to God. For it is He who has created time, space, and everything which science discovers,

just as He has created the human intelligence which has invented science itself.

Seeker: Then what is the truth we learn from the account of the creation of the world? Sage: After studying the biblical account of creation, the faithful see nature with new eyes. We discover with wonder the beauty of the created order, the splendor of the Creator's work, which is itself 2. Paleontology is the science which studies fossil animals and plants.

The Image of God: Creation, Fall, Restoration

only a pale reflection of the ineffable beauty of the Creator Himself. Then,

at vespers,

at the hour

of “the setting of the sun,” and

beholding “the light of evening,”} we sing with the whole Church Psalm 103 [104]:4 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, Thou art very great!

Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, who has stretched out the heavens like a tent, . . .

Who makest the winds Thy messengers, fire and flame Thy ministers. Thou didst set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be shaken. . . From Thy lofty abode Thou waterest the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy work. . . O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; .. .

May the glory of the Lord endure for ever: may the Lord rejoice in His works, . . . I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the Lord. . .

cs Quoted from the canticle, “O gladsome light,” the oldest and most beautiful hymn of the office of vespers. 4. There exist two numberings of the Psalms: that of the Hebrew text and that of the Septuagint Greek translation. In this book we will indicate first the number of the Septuagint text, then that of the Hebrew. That is why we have numbered this psalm, Psalm 103 [104]. The Septuagint is the best known of the Greek versions of the Old Testament; it dates from the third century B.C. It is attributed to seventy (or seventytwo) translators, so it is called the “Septuagint”

from the Latin word for seventy

(septuaginta). The early Church inherited the Septuagint from the Jews and the authors of the New Testament refer to it. The Church Fathers considered the translation of the Septuagint to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

8

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

B) The Creation of Man (Gen 2:4-7, 21-24) Sage: In the first chapter we found a description of creation culminating in man, who seemed to be just one creature among many.

But perhaps you noticed a difference. In the case of all the other creatures, God speaks and the animal appears. But then God says: “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, and let him have dominion . . . over all the earth.”

Seeker: Yes. We see that God pays special attention to man, as if He wanted to make him His representative on earth. Sage: This is made even clearer in chapter two of Genesis: ... when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (2:5-7)

Seeker: Why are there two accounts of creation?

Sage: Because the first chapters of Genesis do not recount “history.” A history presumes the presence of a witness, and at the time of creation God is still alone. However, it explains God’s idea of what

man should be, which the Holy Spirit revealed to the prophets in the Old Testament. Seeker: What do these two accounts mean? Sage: The first gives an account of the creation of this universe which, as you say, God gives to man. The account tells us why man was created last: to be the crowning act of creation and to lead the world to God. Because, the passage tells us, man is as necessary for the cultivation of the soil as is the rain which makes it fertile. This responsibility of man was so great that God thought He should give him a helper. But none of the existing creatures was suitable, and therefore it is from man himself that this “helper” came. So the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept. And God took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh;

The Image of God: Creation, Fall, Restoration

9

and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman and brought her to the man. (2:21-22)

This is a way of suggesting to us: a) that man and woman share the same nature: b) that woman is called to be the companion of man, the one who remains at his side.

When he awoke, man exclaimed: “ ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; .. .’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (2:23-24).

Since the passage tells us that God created man from the earth, we are led to understand that our link with the rest of creation is

very important; we are modeled out of the same clay, we belong to the same creation, we are one with it (the name Adam is derived from the Hebrew word for earth, adama). But God breathed life into

man; he is a living creature because God is with him. Man lives because God constantly renews his life by His breath, by His presence, by His power. God created man and woman

in His image; all of humanity in

its diversity is created in the image of God. The grandeur, beauty, and freedom of us all are due to the fact that God created us in His

image. Just as God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit— is one, so man and woman, created in the image of God, are called to become one

and to deepen continually their love for one another. But since we are made in the image of God, we can grow to resemble Him more and more, to become more like Him if we love

Him and allow the breath of His divine life to permeate us. The aim of human existence is to resemble our divine model to an ever

greater degree. Seeker: You tell us that man was created by God in His image. But I am told that we are descended from apes. Sage: That which God created “in the beginning,” as we said earlier, He created from nothing. But God did not create man from

nothing; He created him “out of the earth” and everything which it contains. That is to say that in order to create man, God made

use of nature as a whole, including its evolution. The ape and the fish are also of the earth, for man is the culmination of all creation,

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

10

and in him all creation is summed up and recapitulated. But, in addition, He has given mankind life through His own breath, His own Spirit. It is this presence of God Himself illuminating humanity, making the light of His face shine upon us, which distinguishes human beings from apes and all other creatures. This presence of

God, this breath of God, projects the image of God upon us and gives us a beauty and “crown of glory.” It makes us the ruler of all creation and responsible for it (see Gen 1:28-29; 2:19-20).

C) The Fall (Gen 2:8-17; 3:1-4:16) Adam

and Eve lived intimately with God in paradise. They

assumed the role that God had given them as masters of creation; Adam, in fact, named all the animals. In doing so, he confirmed that he was a creature apart, able to serve as a master, but also able to

love, to give life, and, since he is both king and priest, to offer all

of creation to God. But in the middle of the garden there stood the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve were not to touch this latter tree upon pain of death. The serpent, “more subtle than any other wild creature” (Gen 3:1), “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev

12:9), tempted Eve, telling her to taste the fruit which would make her “like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5). The temptation

of Adam and Eve was a yearning for the infinite, the absolute, a desire to substitute oneself for God. Eve tasted the fruit and gave some to Adam, a decisive moment when man and woman freely turned away from God rather than staying in communion with Him. As a result, Adam and Eve became aware of a change in their condition: on the one hand, they knew life in paradise, which can be described as a participation in divine life; on the other, they came to know the life of sin, beset by many hardships. The Bible illustrates this by the image: “they knew that they were naked” (Gen 3:7). And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden

in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves

The'Image of God: Creation, Fall, Restoration

11

from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are

you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Gen 3:8-10)

God’s question—''Where are you?”—does not seek to determine the location where Adam hid himself; it is not a question of geographical removal but of a state of sin which separates us from God. God does not want to abandon Adam; He seeks him out and calls

to him. But instead of responding to divine mercy, Adam tries to justify himself by rejecting all responsibility. First of all, he says that he is afraid because he is naked; then he blames Eve, who in turn

blames the serpent. And so a triple sanction is imposed on man, woman, and serpent. One should keep in mind, however, that this sanction

is not a condemnation.

It is not an arbitrary decision

imposed by God; it is rather the inevitable result of sin. In accordance with what the serpent said, Adam’s eyes were opened. What he beheld, however, was a world of sorrow, where man must labor to

survive, where he must struggle against thorns and thistles to obtain bread by the sweat of his brow, and where woman gives birth in pain; a world where everything is transitory, everything dies, and

where man who is of the earth returns to the earth. As for the serpent, the devil, his serpentine nature is considered a curse: God establishes an opposition, an open hostility, between him and the woman, together with her descendants, until the day in which he shall be finally crushed. In this verse of the Bible (Gen 3:15), the Church Fathers saw a prophecy of Christ’s victory over the devil,

a victory made possible by Mary, the new Eve.° 5. See the parable of the prodigal son, discussed in Part VI.

6. St Paul calls Jesus the New Adam, He who saves humanity from sin (1 Cor 15:22, 45). The Fathers, in associating the Mother of God with the work of salvation of her Son, call Mary the New Eve. Since the end of the fourth century, the title of “Father” has been applied to those theologians and hierarchs whose authority and holiness bear exceptional witness to the teaching and tradition of the gospel. “It is dangerous to look on 'the Fathers’ as a closed cycle of writings belonging wholly to the past, ... To say that there can be no more Fathers is to suggest that the Holy Spirit has deserted the Church” (Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, Penguin Books, 1964, p. 212).

12

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

The entrance to paradise is closed, for if man tasted of the tree of life after tasting of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, evil would become eternal. Therefore death is both a result of the Fall and, at the same time, a remedy against evil. It prevents evil from becoming eternal. The tree of life is henceforth guarded by the cherubim and a flaming sword. Seeker: What proof do we have that everything happened in the way that the Bible describes? Sage: We have no proof. The truth of this narrative is no more historical in nature than is the existence of the garden in space or the couple Adam and Eve in time.

Seeker: But don’t we say that Adam and Eve are the first people, our common ancestors?

Sage: Were Adam and Eve actually the first couple or do they represent humanity as a whole? Neither revelation nor science permits us to answer this question with certainty. What is certain ts that all men can recognize themselves in Adam, as St Paul tells us (see Rom 5:12-14). There are elements in all of us which made the

temptation and fall of Adam and Eve possible. Seeker: Do you mean that we could do the same thing as Adam?

Sage: Yes, but the difference is that we are no longer in an earthly paradise; that is, we are no longer in the same state of closeness with

God that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden before the Fall. In

this garden, Adam knew neither fear nor anxiety. The story of Cain and Abel describes the second test for the use of human freedom. Cain and Abel present their offering, the fruit of their labor, to God, each according to his occupation. The first

offers ‘the fruit of the ground,” the second “the firstlings of his flock and their fat portion.” God accepts Abel’s offering but rejects Cain’s. This may seem arbitrary, and yet, upon reflection, we can see that

this is again a test. God warns Cain in the same way that He warned Adam and Eve, saying to him: “Sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Gen 4:7). This crouching beast is nothing other than the serpent of the previous account. But Cain listens to the beast and, instead of conquering it, he throws himself

The Image of God: Creation, Fall, Restoration

13

upon his brother and murders him. This describes in very concrete fashion the internal struggle which is always present at the time of a falling away from God. Abel, on the other hand, offers his best to God. The passions, most often pride, are ready to take possession of

us. We can dominate them quickly in a flash of conscience and thereby withstand them; otherwise we fall under their control and do evil.

This was the case with Cain. As with Adam and Eve, the consequences for Cain became quickly

apparent: he was banished from fertile soil and condemned to be “a wanderer on the earth” (Gen 4:12). Cain wept bitterly: “From

Thy face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me” (Gen 4:14). Here

we have the same drama of rupture with God which is so effectively conveyed by the story of Adam and Eve. But God is merciful to Cain, just as He was to Adam and Eve; He continues to manifest His love for mankind. He places a mark on Cain so that he will be protected

and so that, even while he is wandering over the earth, the first person he meets will not take his life. These two narratives are part of the biblical story of the origins of man. The profound truth which they express is still perfectly relevant, for the condition of fallen Adam and the wandering of Cain remain fundamentally unchanged in our own sinful state. “. . . Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (Rom 5:12). But we have hope of salvation, hope of returning to the tree of life. For Christ, the New Adam, came down to earth so that we should follow

Him, making of Him “the first-born among many brethren” (Rom 8:29).

CHAPTER 2

FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE:

Jos Thus man, created in the image of God to live eternally and to become like his Creator (‘we shall be like Him” [1 Jn 3:2]), came

to know the Fall and death. To be sure, the mark left on him by the presence of God has not been erased. The perpetual dissat-

isfaction of human beings who always desire something more and something better attests to our longing for the lost paradise, as does our thirst for God, the infinite emptiness which the absence of God has left like a deep scar within the human heart. But the beauty of the divine image has been marred.

Man, the image of God, has

become an ugly caricature. The gifts of God—intelligence, will, creativity—have been pulled from their original purpose and forced to serve evil. Love has become jealousy; the desire to improve oneself

has become love of power and domination; the quest for eternal good things has become love of material possessions. The golden calf has taken the place of the true God. Evil, the tempter, the ancient serpent, the divider, the diabo/os, the father of lies, has become the prince of this world, who makes fear, hatred, sickness, suffering and

death reign upon the earth. But God does not abandon His creature; He raises up prophets, through whom men might hear His Word. As an example, He gives

them faithful servants like Job: a perfect model of resistance to evil and patience in the face of trials. The story of Job shows us that evil—

which never comes from God (Jas 1:13)—can nevertheless offer an opportunity for God’s seryants to prove their faithfulness and the sincerity of their love for Him. Of course, a trial may also become an occasion for failure. Nevertheless, because we are free, it is

possible for us to triumph through patience, hope, perseverance in 14

From Despair to Hope

15

good, and victory over evil. That is why God permits trials which

demonstrate and develop the good qualities of His servants, forge their character, and strengthen their love and faithfulness. The Book of Job was not read in the time of the Old Testament as a messianic text, but the Christian understanding of the story of

Job, of the just servant unjustly persecuted, offers us a glimpse of the coming of the suffering and victorious Servant who will return humanity to its former beauty. In our commentary, we shall interpret the Old Testament texts from a Christian point of view, hoping in this way to open ourselves to “the mind of the Scriptures” with the help of the Gospels. St Paul tells us that Christ removes the veil which obscures the hearts of those who read the Old Testament without knowing Him: “when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed” (2 Cor 3:16). Still

another veil obscures the sight of those who think they can read the Bible, Old Testament and New, as if they were dealing with a simple “object” of knowledge, ignoring the living God who reveals Himself

through it. Long ago in the land of Uz there lived a man called Job, a righteous man who feared God and avoided evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. God had also given him great wealth. One day God brought together His angels, among them Satan,’

who had been walking upon the earth. God brought the zeal of His servant Job to Satan’s attention. But Satan answered: “Does Job fear God for nought? . . .Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But

put forth Thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse Thee to Thy face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand.” (1:9-11) 7. Satan is a Hebrew word meaning “adversary.” The prophet Isaiah (14:12-15) describes

a radiant creature, Lucifer (which means “bearer of light’; in the RSV translation he

is called “Day Star”), who dares to cry out: “I will make myself like the Most High.” We have seen him in the form of the ancient serpent who tempted Adam and Eve to sin. He is also called diabolos, the devil, the divider, the detractor.

16

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Satan then returns to the earth; he destroys all of Job’s possessions and even makes his children perish. But Job, despite his sorrow, does not sin and refuses to curse God. When Satan returns to God’s presence, God reminds him of his failure: “He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “... But put forth Thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse Thee to Thy face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life.” (2:3-6)

God will permit the ultimate trial of death only to test His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, whose death will deliver us from Satan for all eternity. Satan then returns to the earth and inflicts a terrible illness upon

Job. At this Job’s wife exclaims, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die.”” But Job answers her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (2:9-10)

During all these misfortunes, Job does not sin with his lips. Three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, learn of his

afflictions and come to comfort him. Overwhelmed by bodily and spiritual sufferings, Job curses the day he was born. Eliphaz declares that suffering is a result of sin against God. Nevertheless, Job protests his innocence. He laments: My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And come to their end without hope. Remember that my life is a breath; My eye will never again see good. (7:6-7)

For his part, Bildad maintains that God does not reject a righteous man. And Job, who in his confusion feels crushed by an unjust divine will, begins to doubt the wisdom of God. Zophar then reminds him that he cannot possibly be irreproachable in the eyes of God. Despite everything, however, Job continues

From Despair to Hope

17

to proclaim his innocence, which he wants to defend before God

Himself. Eliphaz answers by demonstrating the folly of man’s attempts to raise himself against his Creator. Overwhelmed, Job declares: His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, And does not spare; ... Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure. . . Where then is my hope? (16:13, 17; 17:15)

(The immolated Lamb becomes the Victim upon the Cross, the Cross which saves the world from the grasp of Satan.) Bildad retorts: “How long will you hunt for words?” Job replies: Know then that God has put me in the wrong, .. . He has stripped from me my glory, And has taken the crown from my head. (18:2; 19:6, 9)

(The King of Glory, the Lord of Sabaoth whom the crowd acclaimed at His entrance into Jerusalem, is now humiliated and abused.)

Even in his total distress, Job still maintains complete confidence in God: For I know that my Redeemer lives, And at last He will stand upon the earth;

And after my skin has been thus destroyed, Then from my flesh shall I see God. (19:25-26)

(The glorious Resurrection of Christ opens the doors of the Kingdom for us and allows us eternally to contemplate the Most High.) Eliphaz protests:

Is it not for your fear of Him that He reproves you, And enters into judgement with you? Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities. (22: 4-5)

And he exhorts Job to return to God in humility. Job, however, affirms:

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

18

Far be it from me to say that you are right; Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness, .. .

I would give Him an account of all my steps, Like a prince I would approach Him. (27:5-6; 31:37)

(The triumphant Christ approaches and ascends toward the royal throne of glory.) Elihu, who has been present without uttering a word, now exclaims

angrily: Is not Job refusing to accept this trial as a call of the Almighty to convert his sinful and rebellious heart?

Before Job has time to answer him, the Lord Himself speaks from the midst of a tempest, making His splendor and power resound: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to Me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding. . . On what were its bases sunk, Or who laid its cornerstone,

When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? (38:2-4, 6-7)

Dazzled by this theophany,® Job recognizes the utter transcendence? of God; he ceases to demand explanations from Him. He comes to

understand that the wisdom of the Lord can give meaning to suffering and death, a meaning which Job cannot grasp but which Christ will reveal to us. After speaking to Job, God addresses Eliphaz and his friends. Surprisingly, He justifies Job, the righteous defendant, while He directs His anger against them for seeing in Him a power-hungry tyrant. Job's reproaches, by contrast, only exalt the love of God for His creatures, thereby revealing His true image to us. 8. Theophany means “‘a manifestation of God.” 9. Transcendence

means

that

God

inexpressible and incomprehensible.

is above

everything;

to us

He

is indefinable,

From Despair to Hope

19

After this trial, the Lord restored Job to his former condition, giving him again seven sons and three daughters, and doubling the

quantity of his material possessions. He lived for one hundred and forty years more and saw his sons and his sons’ sons, up to the fourth

generation. The story of Job serves to renew hope within us. Even though

God’s image in man has been spoiled by the sin of Adam and Eve, by the sin of Cain, and by the sins of each one of us, Job allows us to hope for the coming of One—just and suffering, patient and triumphant—who will resist with courage and perseverance the assaults of the Evil One and will triumph over him, thereby restoring in mankind the divine presence which had been lost through sin and

reestablishing in us the divine image in the fullness of its beauty. To do this, God sends among us the very Model according to which He had originally created us. Just as a faded print can be restored by reapplying the original stamp, so the Son of God, who reflects the glory of God the Father (Heb 1:3), can enter human nature by

clothing Himself with it as with a garment, and thereby can create a new Adam, a perfect Man, a radiant Image of God. This occurs

by what theologians call the Incarnation. This decisive event took place on the day of the Annunciation, when Gabriel, the messenger of God, visited a young virgin of Nazareth in Galilee called Mary.

The Annunciation

20

CHAPTER

3

THE NEw ADAM: THE INCARNATION A) The Annunciation Let us look at the icon of this feast. What do we see? An angel

descends from heaven to a virgin and announces to her the “Good News.” In Greek and Slavonic the feast of the Annunciation is called precisely “the Good News” (Evangelismos in Greek and Blagoveshchenie in Slavonic).

The angel Gabriel announces to Mary the greatest news possible: the beginning of our salvation when the Son of God becomes the Son of man! Today is the beginning of our salvation, The revelation of the eternal mystery!

The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace.

Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, The Lord is with you.

(Troparion of the feast) We have studied the creation of the world, the creation of man

in the image and likeness of God, and the Fall. How can true relations be reestablished between God and humanity? How can the image that was lost be found again? How can the resemblance to God be restored?

God gives us the answer. He continues to carry on a dialogue through the prophets whom He raises up among the Jewish people; He promises them the Messiah. And His people bear this promise in faith, anticipation, and hope. To illustrate the promise of God, let us read the text from Genesis which the Church proposes for our meditation during the vespers of Annunciation: Gen 28:10-17. aA

of Annunciation

Troparion Tone

iil

S/A

arr.

SS

4

To - dayis the beginning of oursal- va

-

ommon Chant BA people ip ete

from

==

tion,

the reve- la -

Se ae

== aa

tion of the eter - nal mys- ter- y!

3

The Son of God becomes the

a | eee ————-

=; =

root ian gin.

as Gabriel announces the com- ing of

ie po

=e Grace. ———

To - gether with him let us cry to the Theo- to

ae ===

Le =

-

kos:

ae =

ee "Re

-joice,

ca

O

Full

ee

SSS SS SS

22

of Grace,

SS SS

the Lord

is

be] deol

with

you!"

aria th

SSS

Th

New Adam: The Incarnation

23

Jacob’s Ladder “And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!” (Gen 28: 12). The earth represents mankind; heaven is God; and the two are

reunited. Let us return to the icon. The angel descends to Mary from heaven; his wings are still fluttering from the descent. These wings symbolize the messenger’s origin: he is sent by God from heaven. Here is the first manifestation of Jacob’s dream. We shall witness

many more, for Jesus Himself had promised: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (Jn 1:51). God says to Jacob:

“By you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 28:14).

The lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob leads to Jesus. St Paul teaches us: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his

offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many; but, referring to one, ‘And to your offspring, which is Christ” (Gal 3:16). When God becomes incarnate, taking human flesh, heaven and earth become reunited. For He is true God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Yet He is at the same time true man, the second Adam, to use St

Paul’s expression. (Adam or “man” means “made of earth,” because he was created out of the earth; see Gen 2:7.) But for this miracle to take place, man must accept God. Mary zs this acceptance, for she

freely agrees to receive God in her womb. Here is her answer: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). We can now understand why the Mother of God is called the

“Ladder of Jacob” in our hymns, for she is the link between heaven and earth. Elsewhere, she is called the “Gate of heaven,” for it is

through her that God makes His entrance among men in the person of Jesus. That is why, on the iconostas,!° the Annunciation is usually 10. Iconostas: this term designates the partition covered with icons which separates the nave of the church from the sanctuary.

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

24

represented on the royal doors that symbolize the doors of the Kingdom of heaven.

B) The Virgin of the Sign This icon represents Mary bearing in her womb the Son of God.

It is called “the Virgin of the Sign” because it illustrates the prophecy of Isaiah: Hear then, O house of David! . . . the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel |that is, God is with us]. (Is 7:13-14)

This prophecy is accomplished on the day of the Annunciation. The Virgin receives the angel's announcement

by declaring her

acceptance. This is “Mary’s fiat.” In Latin, fat means ‘let it come to be.” Mary’s answer to the angel, her freely given “yes,” enables her to become the Mother of God. Without this free acceptance, God could not have become incarnate, for God never forces a person's

conscience and always waits for us to respond of our own free will. Each of us has complete freedom to return God’s love. Every time we say the “Our Father’—"Thy will be done on earth as it is in

heaven’ —we respond to God in the same way that time we say “Amen” in our prayers, this is our response He wants to be given free of all constraint only out of love. Before accepting her divine maternity, Mary asks

Mary did. Every “yes” to God, a and pronounced the angel, “How

can this be?”; for not having known a man, she cannot understand

how this birth can be possible. The angel answers that it shall come about through the Holy Spirit. On some icons we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove or a ray of light descending upon the womb of Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk 1:35).

As soon as Mary pronounced her “yes,” the message which the angel Gabriel brought was accomplished: . . .the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages... who... came down from heaven, and was incarnate

The Virgin of the Sign

25

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

26

of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and-became man. (the Creed)

The message of the angel now coincides with the prophecy of Isaiah. This prophecy was made more precise by the Septuagint translation, done two centuries before Jesus Christ, which rendered the Hebrew word alma, “young woman,” by the Greek parthenos, “virgin.”

This icon of the Virgin pregnant with child also illustrates the accomplishment of the promise made to all the prophets, patriarchs, and ancestors of Christ: The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which He will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.” (Ps 131 [132]:11)

In modern Greek practice, this verse of the psalm is sung during the Liturgy of the Annunciation, at the first antiphon, before the entrance of the clergy with the book of the Gospels.

The Prayer “Ave Maria” The angel Gabriel said to the Mother of God: “Hail, O favored

one [or “much graced’], the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). A little later, when Mary meets her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, the latter sees her as the Virgin with child. She

recognizes the “sign” of Isaiah by the joyful leaping in her womb of the child who is to be the prophet of the Most High and the forerunner of the Lord. Then Elizabeth completes the angel’s salutation by adding: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:41-42). Later the Church will teach us that it is indeed the Virgin who

“has given birth to the Savior of our souls.” This beautiful prayer is sung daily in the Church to honor Mary, the Mother of our God. 11. Ave Maria: the greeting of the angel in Latin, which gave the prayer its name.

The New Adam: The Incarnation

27

The Magnificat Let us once again look at the icon of the Sign. The three stars on Mary’s clothing—one above her forehead and two on her shoulders— symbolize her virginity, the fact that she is virgin before, during, and

after childbirth. We can see that Mary herself is praying (the raised arms indicate the position of orans).!3 Immediately after hearing Elizabeth’s words, Mary in turn exclaims: My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. More honorable than the cherubim, And more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, Without defilement you gave birth to God the Word, True Theotokos, we magnify you.'4 For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed." For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted those of low degree; He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich He has sent empty away. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever. (Lk 1:46-55)

Wee Magnificat: the first word of Mary’s canticle in Latin (Lk 1:46-55). In the Eastern. tradition, this prayer is sung in its entifety at matins, and in the Western tradition,

at vespers. ys ie Orans: a Latin word (from orare, “to pray”) designating a person in prayer (as, for example, the priest before the altar). 14. This response is inserted after each verse of the Magnificat during the singing of the ninth ode of the canon of matins. 15: In venerating the Mother of God today, we accomplish this prophecy.

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Tae New Adam: The Incarnation

29

Isaiah, Rejoice! The prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled and the Virgin pregnant with child: these explain very forcefully certain important events in our lives. At the celebration of a marriage and at the ordination of a deacon or priest, when we receive the sacraments which open the way to the Kingdom of heaven, we conclude the procession by singing: Rejoice, O Isaiah! A Virgin is with child, And shall bear a Son, Emmanuel,

Both God and man, And Orient is His name. Magnifying Him, we call the Virgin blessed.!°

At once both God and man: this is the whole meaning of the Incarnation. The Virgin has become united to God by becoming His mother. In the image of Mary we accept and receive God, for God also becomes incarnate in us through the Holy Spirit. The aim of the Christian, of his struggle against sin to obtain God’s pardon, is to allow the incarnation of the Word in his life—even in his body— to become apparent. The prayers of the Fathers of the Church which we read before Communion prepare us for this bodily union with God. The prayer of St Basil, for example, says: “. . . having communion of Thy holy

Things, I may be united with Thy Body and Blood and may have Thee to dwell and abide in me, with the Father and Thy Holy Spirit.” Christ, the living God, seeks us out to lead us back to His Father and to reconcile us with Him. It is He who will give back to us the

lost image. He makes Himself resemble us, so that we may rediscover our resemblance to God. He comes and looks for us like the lost coin,

like the lost sheep. Let us agree to become once again children of light so that we may become like Him: “God became man, so that man

may become god.”'” But, one might exclaim, how can we be

16. Eirmos of the ninth ode of the tone five Sunday matins canon. See the note on eirmoi in Part V.

17. This phrase is encountered in many Fathers of the Church.

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

30

so presumptuous as to believe that? Let us turn once again to Mary,

the Mother of God, for she has fully accomplished this union with God and she is our guide along this pathway.

C) The Nativity And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . (Jn 1:14)

In the preceding chapter we meditated on the man, but in a mysterious way and still hidden mother. We will now turn with wonder to the But before studying the Nativity, let us pause

Word of God become in the womb of His birth of Jesus Christ. for an instant at an

aspect that some may find shocking.

Christmas festivities presently take on such secular dimensions that we risk forgetting the true meaning of this feast: the overwhelming commercialism; the glaring decorations in the stores, homes, and even streets; the tale of Santa Claus pushed to the absurd; a debauchery of food and gifts. Truly paganism is not dead, not even the adoration of idols! The golden calf takes the place of God made man. During adolescence, many young people are disgusted by this

exaggeration and retain a nauseating memory of Christmas, with its excess of sumptuous food and the disappointment which follows a

profusion of gifts. In the home we leave only a minimal place for Jesus, in the form of a little doll placed in the middle of charming

little figurines. Then we put tremendous emphasis on the family celebration. Thereby we run the great risk of perverting the mystery of God become a human child, of forgetting the King of Israel, of allowing the spoiled child of the family to become king of the celebration!

Fortunately, some people reject this kind of festivity and try to give a proper social meaning to the feast of the Nativity. Many young people, for example, organize Christmas Eve parties for the poor, elderly, shut-ins, orphans, or the sick.

If we truly understand the message of Christmas, which teaches us to love and serve the poor, let us first of all turn to Christ. Only He can teach us how to really love the poor, not for our own glory— not even for a social ideal—but for the love of man as He Himself

Sie New Adam: The Incarnation

a1

has loved us. Jesus Christ is the first among the poor; no one has

so totally impoverished himself as He did. And, moreover, He did

so voluntarily. For let us never forget that He is the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, and that He has lowered Himself!8 to the point of becoming a defenseless child, lying in straw at the feet of animals. Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. (Phil 2:6-7)

He is truly a slave, for He begins earthly life by submitting to an administrative act, being counted as a subject of the emperor. As soon

as He took our human condition upon Himself, He was rejected; there was no place for Him in any house: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner’ (Ps 117 [118]:22). Rejected again and again, He was forced to flee into Egypt. We see Him there as a slave, poor and exiled, Him who is the King of

the universe! Christmas is also a message of peace. Even for those who have forgotten Christ, or have never known Him, Christmas is a symbol

of peace on earth and love among men, if only for twenty-four hours

or for a single night (as in, for example, truces during wars, ceasefires, or messages of peace from all the governments of the world). This is appropriate, for Christ is the God of Mercy, the Prince of Peace, ‘‘and of his peace there will be no end” (Is 9:6).

The peace of this world is often only a period of calm between two wars. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, a peace without end. His Kingdom will not fall like all other kingdoms, reigns, governments,

and dictatorships. The peace of Jesus Christ allows us to participate

now in His Kingdom which is to come. Let us learn how to carry this peace of Christ within us from this moment on. Let us, like the shepherds, hear the exclamation of the angels during Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 18. This is what is called kenosis, the self-emptying of God. See Part V for a discussion of this.

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

32

among men”

(Lk 2:14). Let us be witnesses of this marvelous

reconciliation between heaven and earth, between God and man!

We shall never exhaust the Nativity message, its beauty and its mystery. We have spoken of peace and poverty. It is through Jesus that we can understand these two aspects: He is peace, and He is the poorest among the poor. Now we can look deeper into the meaning of the Nativity by studying the most essential aspect of this feast, its deepest meaning which reveals to us the mystery of the Incarnation: God made man. We shall try to understand the Incarnation through the icon and the Gospel reading for the feast. Let us look at the icon. It immediately reconciles us with the feast of the Nativity and allows us to forget the artificial excitement which too often accompanies it. It is filled with such peace, such harmony; everything is festive,

that is, filled with joy. The stars sparkle in the sky, the rocks are open to receive their Creator, the animals are at peace, the shepherds share their joy with the angels, the Magi gallop joyously to discover the Truth revealed by a star. Everything is bathed in light, a light of special brilliance. St Luke writes: “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Lk 2:9). Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One!

Angels, with shepherds, glorify Him! The wise men journey with the star! Since for our sake the eternal God was born as a little child!

(Hymn of Romanos the Melode, Kontakion of the feast)

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Mary “the mother of James,’3° Salome,*” Joanna,*® and “the other women”— came to Jesus’ tomb to bring aromatic spices, that is, perfumes, for the body of the deceased, as was the custom of the Jews.

They saw that the big rock which had blocked the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty. None of them had seen Jesus coming out of the tomb. Only later accounts,

not of apostolic origin and therefore not recognized by the Church— they are called apocryphal gospels—describe Jesus coming out of the tomb. The true Gospels, the ‘canonical Gospels,” respect the mystery of the Lord’s Resurrection, just as they respect the mystery of His birth. No one knows how the Lord came out of the tomb, just as

no one knows how Jesus could have been born of a virgin. We only know that when the women came to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Only several hours later would Jesus

show Himself to His disciples. Mary Magdalene, one of the women who came to the tomb, imme-

diately went to tell Peter and John, who came running to the tomb. John, the author of this Gospel account, arrived first, for he was the

younger, but he did not dare enter into the tomb without Peter. Peter “went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, 35. Mentioned by the four evangelists.

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The Resurrection

209

which had been on His head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself” (Jn 20:6-7). Then John entered. The disciples

returned home very pensive, but John had already guessed the truth, as he himself tells us. Jesus’ enemies will not dispute the fact that the tomb was empty; Matthew tells us that they bribed the guards, who were also witnesses of the event but who could not understand its significance, to say that Jesus’ body had been stolen by His disciples. This legend would

become widespread among the Jews, thus paradoxically confirming the reality of the empty tomb. It would actually have been much easier to contest the fact of the Resurrection by showing a closed tomb than by trying to find an explanation for an empty one.

C) The Announcement of the Resurrection by the Angels After Peter and John had gone away from the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene came back. The holy women were to be witnesses of an event attested to by all four evangelists: the apparition of the angels (John and Luke mention two, Matthew and Mark only one). Seeker: What are angels? Sage: The word “angel” is a translation of the Greek word aggelos, which means messenger. An angel is a messenger of God who appears in human form so as to be able to communicate with us.

The evangelists speak of “two men in dazzling apparel” or “a young man dressed in a white robe.” The Bible speaks of angels with the

greatest seriousness and presents them on the rare occasions when God wants to convey a message of extraordinary importance and of universal significance to mankind. These messengers, whom God sends because He loves us and wants to save us, have nothing to do with the mythological representations of little winged children favored by Renaissance artists. Nevertheless, angels are represented with wings on icons. This follows biblical tradition, as in the visions of Isaiah, who saw six-winged beings covered with eyes, or Ezekiel, who saw strange shapes with four wings, symbolically representing the mysterious realities of another world. Mark tells us (16:7) that

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THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

it was an angel who commanded the women to go and inform Peter and the disciples; Luke says that the women told the apostles of the Resurrection. But John specifies that Mary Magdalene said nothing about the Resurrection to him and Peter, but rather that she

discovered that the tomb was empty. One gets the impression that John is more precise here than Mark and Luke. Let us now return to our narrative; it is these divine messengers

who are the first to announce the good news of the Resurrection to the holy women.*? “You seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He

lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Lo, I have told you” (Mt 28:6-7; Mk 16:6-7; Lk 24:5-7). Thus, from the beginning, the Resurrection appears not as a dazzling visual phenomenon but as a truth announced by word which one must accept and believe. The women believe it. One can just

as easily reject and deny it. The disciples did not at first believe the women when, agitated and frightened, they brought the good news. Our freedom is respected: the Risen One does not force the mind

through numerous miracles; rather, He appeals to one’s faith.

D) Appearances of the Risen One The Appearance to Mary Magdalene The first person to meet the living Christ after His Resurrection was Mary Magdalene.*? We know from Matthew 28 that after leaving the tomb (a detail not mentioned by John) “Jesus met them.’’4!

According to John:

She turned round and saw Jesus standing, and she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? 39. Except in John’s narrative, where the angels only ask Mary Magdalene, “Woman, why are you weeping?” and she learns of the Resurrection by meeting Jesus Himself. 40. This appearance is recounted in detail by John and is confirmed by Matthew (28:810) and Mark (16:9). 41. Matthew says “their” meeting, for in his account Mary Magdalene was accompanied

by the other Mary.

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Whom do you seek?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, ‘“Rabboni!” (which means

Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me.” (Jn 20:13-17) And in fact she was about to fall down and embrace His feet, as Matthew tells us (28:9).42

Seeker: Why didn’t Mary Magdalene recognize Jesus at once? Why

did she at first take Him for a gardener? Sage: Mary Magdalene did not recognize Jesus by His features but only by His voice, by hearing Him call her name. The meeting in which she recognized Him is a deeply personal one—‘Marty,”

‘“Rabboni!’’—on a much deeper level than mere physical recognition. Jesus returned from another world. He no longer belongs to the world in which one grows old and dies. He is already part of an eternal world. He returns into this world in such an unheard-of and discon-

certing way that only those who had loved and believed in Him could recognize Him in a personal relationship full of love and faith. That is why, several hours after Mary Magdalene sees Him, two other

disciples would not be able to recognize Him at first sight. Only Saint Luke gives a detailed account of the second appearance of the Lord

Jesus, although Mark (16:12) briefly alludes to it.

The Appearance to the Two Disciples at Emmaus (Lk 23:13-25) On Sunday afternoon, April 9 of the year 30 A.D.,** two disciples, one of whom was called Cleopas, were traveling from Jerusalem to 42. The Church Fathers have often remarked that the meeting between Jesus and Mary Magdalene after His Resurrection reminded them of the Bride’s search for the Bridegroom in the Song of Songs (the garden, the guards, the search for the Beloved).

43. There are two possible dates for the Resurrection, either the 9th of April, 30 A.D. or the Sth of April, 33 A.D. Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea from 26 to 36 A.D. The Jewish Passover (on the 14th day of the lunar month Nisan) fell on April 8th in 30 A.D. and on April 4th in 33 A.D. St. Luke tells us (3:1) that Jesus was baptized

2A2

THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

a small village called Emmaus. On the way they were joined by Jesus, whom

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Sage: Jesus wants faith to come before recognition. That is why He wants first to elicit this faith. “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” He asked. They looked sad and replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not

know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” He asks again and they answer, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped [note the past tense; the death of Jesus has made them lose their faith] that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women in our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in

the morning and did not find His body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that He was

alive.” Then Jesus patiently explained everything in the Law of Moses

and the prophets which foretold His suffering and His Resurrection. They would later say, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He

talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” That is, little by little, He helps them to recognize in Him the One of whom the Scriptures spoke: the Messiah, God’s Christ, the One of

whom God had spoken through the mouth of David, “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let Thy Holy One see corruption” (Ps 15 [16], quoted in Acts 2:25-28). Little by little He illumines

hope and faith in their hearts, until all three arrive at the village of Emmaus. Jesus pretends that He wants to continue on His journey. in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, that is in 28 or 29 A.D., if we follow

the usual method of dating the reigns (see the note on Lk 3:1 in the Jerusalem Bible). The New Testament narratives mention only two Passovers between the Baptism and the Passion; therefore the period between 29 and 33 A.D. seems too long. Thus April 9, 30 A.D. seems the more likely date, although April 5, 33 A.D. cannot be excluded.

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They press Him to stay, “for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent,” thus manifesting their attachment to Him without having recognized Him. Jesus then enters their house and sits down to eat with them. Here He performed four actions, repeating what He had done during the Last Supper which He had eaten with them on Holy Thursday: four actions which signify His eternal presence among His disciples, commemorating and recalling His Death and Resurrection until He returns (1 Cor 11:26). The four actions are: He took bread,

He gave thanks, He broke it, He gave it to them. On Holy Thursday, when He gave the bread He said, ‘Take, eat, this is My Body.” Now He no longer has to speak these words, for they recognize Him by His gestures alone. This is faith. They no longer have to see Him. He disappears, but they are left with the Body of the Resurrected One in their hands, just as we are when we take Communion.

Seeker: How can we believe that the bread and wine are really the Body and Blood of the Risen One? Sage: I can say it because Jesus said it. He said, ‘This is My Body.”

To believe Him is to have faith. What the Son says, the Holy Spirit carries out. When the Word of God said, “Let the dry land appear” (Gen 1:9), the Spirit of God moving upon the waters—the Spirit

of creation, the life-giving Spirit—did what the Word said (see Ezek 37:14), and the earth was created. Because Jesus says, “This is My Body,” the Holy Spirit confirms the Word and changes the bread into the Body of Christ. True faith is faith in the creation ex nihilo,“ faith in Jesus’ birth from a virgin, faith in the Resurrection, faith in the transformation

of the bread into the Body of Christ in Holy Communion.

The fact is that the two disciples believed. They recognized Jesus when they received the transfigured Bread, and immediately they ran back to Jerusalem to announce that Jesus was risen.

The Appearance to Peter They were met by the other disciples who said to them, “The Lord 44, See Part I, page 3.

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THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (Lk 24:34). This third appearance is confirmed by Saint Paul, who tells us in the first Epistle

to the Corinthians that Jesus “was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas [Peter's name in Aramaic], then to the twelve” (1 Cor 15:4-5).

The Appearance to the Twelve In the evening of the day of the Resurrection the disciples had gathered together, probably in the upper room. John tells us that the doors were locked because the apostles were afraid of being arrested and put on trial by those who had condemned their Master to death. The two disciples had just told them of their encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus when the Lord Himself “stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace be to you!’” (Lk 24:36). These

words are also quoted by John. On this day Jesus bestows upon His disciples the gift of peace (see alsoJn 14:27), the peace “which passes all understanding” and which Saint Paul will later come to know and proclaim (Phil 4:7). The apostles were frightened; they thought they saw a ghost. But

Jesus reassured them, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Lk 24:39). Then He “showed them His hands and His feet” which bore the marks of the nails and the lance, and to reassure

them further, He asked for something to eat. “They gave Him a piece

of broiled fish, and some honeycomb. And He took it, and ate before them” (Lk 24:42-43). “Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord” (Jn 20:20). This is the joy which we, too, experience on

Pascha night when we light our candles in the darkness and, after hearing the announcement of the Resurrection, we sing together

with gladness and wonder. Then Jesus entrusts them with a mission: to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to all nations: “As the Father has sent me, even so I

send you’ (Lk 24:47;Jn 20:21; Acts 1:8). 45. There were not twelve apostles present that evening. Judas had hanged himself. Thomas

was absent. The expression “The Twelve” is customarily used to denote the college of apostles.

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So that they will have the strength to accomplish this mission He promises to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles and_ their companions (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8). John is even more explicit, saying

that Jesus had already filled the apostles with the Holy Spirit by breathing on them and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22-23).

There is astonishing agreement between the accounts of John and Luke. Although their styles are different, both emphasize the following four aspects of the appearance to the Twelve: @ the gift of peace, @ the corporal aspect of the risen Christ who shows His stigmata, © the entrusting of the apostles with their mission, and

@ the promise of the Spirit.

The Second Appearance to the Apostles at Jerusalem We know from Saint John that on this Easter night, when the risen Jesus appeared to the apostles (Jn 20:24), Thomas was absent. When the disciples told him joyfully that, “We have seen the Lord,”

Thomas refused to believe them. “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe,” he declared (Jn 20:25).

“Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house, and

Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them” (Jn 20:26). He says to them as He did the first

time, “Peace be with you.” Then, turning to Thomas, He says, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing” (verse 27). Thomas cried out, “My Lord and my God!” a phrase unheard of from the

mouth of a pious Jew. This is the first time that a disciple calls Jesus “my God” in the New Testament. Then Jesus says to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe” (verse 29).

To believe is to recognize Jesus as God. You will be eternally blessed if you, who have not seen the risen Jesus, nevertheless believe

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that He is truly risen. Thereby you, too, will be led to proclaim Him to be the Creator of life, whom you confess with faith and love as “My Lord and my God!”

The Appearance to the Seven Apostles The angel instructs the women, “Go, tell His disciples and Peter

that He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you” (Mk 16:7; Mt 28:7). Then the apostles leave Jerusalem and go into Galilee. Here Jesus appears for the third time to a group of disciples (Jn 21:1-4). Seven of them—Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John, and two others whose names we do not

know—had gone fishing together at night on the Sea of Galilee, but caught nothing. At daybreak Jesus appeared on the shore. Just as on

the road to Emmaus, He did not let Himself be recognized at first glance. Wishing to awaken their faith and give direction to their lives, He first gave them a personal sign. Shouting to them from the shore, He asked, “Children, have you any fish?” They called back, “No.”

“Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” He instructed, “and you will find some.” They cast the net and could no longer lift it, because it was so full of fish (Jn 21:6). They had fallen upon a school of fish, just as they had on that day several years earlier when Jesus called Simon Peter, Andrew his brother, and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, to become fishers of men (Mk 1:16-20; Lk 5:1-11).

Then as well He filled their nets with fish. The repetition of the miracle reminds the disciples of their vocation to become “fishers of men,” that is, apostles.

The first miraculous catch became the turning point of their lives,

for on that day they left everything to follow Jesus. By calling to mind the first catch, which had bound them to Jesus for life, the second miraculous catch after the Resurrection reestablishes the personal link with Him and allows them to recognize Him. “It is the Lord!” cries John. Peter immediately throws himself into the sea and swims to Jesus on the shore. Jesus had already made a fire and cooked some fish and bread upon the coals. The net is brought ashore and does

The’ Resurrection

217

not break even though it is filled with “large fish, a hundred and fifty-three.” 4¢ Jesus then invites them to eat the fish and bread. “Jesus

came and took the bread and gave it to them,” which leads us to associate this appearance of Jesus as well with the eucharistic meal. After the meal there is a dialogue between Jesus and Peter which constitutes the close of John’s Gospel (Jn 21:15-19): “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Jesus asks, purposely omit-

ting the name Peter, which He had Himself given him after Simon had acknowledged Him as (Mt 16:18). “Yes, Lord; you Then Jesus asked a second me?’ “Yes, Lord; you know

the Christ, the Son of the living God know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs.” time, “Simon, son of John, do you love that I love you.” “Tend my sheep.” And

then a third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Simon Peter, who at the time of Jesus’ trial denied Him three times, must have been deeply hurt that Jesus seems to doubt his love,

as if reproaching him for his renunciation. “Lord,” he protests, “you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus replies.

This triple affirmation of love erased the triple renunciation, and by charging Peter to ‘feed my sheep,” that is, to care for His disciples, Jesus once more affirmed him to be the rock of faith, “Peter,” the

pillar of the Church,‘” sent into the world to bear witness that Jesus of Nazareth is truly “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But the witness—martus in Greek—will be himself a martyr, and Jesus tells him by what death he will glorify the Lord: “When you are old, you

will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go” (Jn 21:18). And Peter, according to one tradition, died crucified upside down in the Roman Coliseum

in 67 A.D. Peter also asked about the fate of his friend John. But Jesus did not satisfy his curiosity. “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” Thus we possess a 46. John remembers and reports the exact number of fish thus miraculously caught because the number 153 was considered to embody the idea of completeness and perfection according to the mathematical speculation of the time. 47. It is because of this text, and also of Lk 22:31-32 and Mt 16:17, 17-19, that Orthodox

tradition gives Peter the title of “Corypheus,” i.e., the first among the apostles. The Roman Catholic Church. will consider him the “chief” of the apostles.

218

THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

very detailed account of an entire conversation between the resurrected Jesus and Peter which took place in the presence of the author of the Fourth Gospel. It is particularly impressive evidence of Christ's Resurrection.

The Appearance to the Eleven Disciples in Galilee (Mt 28:16-20; Mk 16:14-18) Matthew bears witness to another appearance in Galilee, during which Jesus spoke to the eleven disciples who had assembled together. There He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has

been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Mark adds, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Thus it is after the Resurrection that Jesus ordered His disciples to “go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” How could such a command have been taken seriously by the poor fishermen of the lake of Galilee if He had given it before manifesting Himself as the Resurrected God? Coming from the Resurrected One,

it was not only taken seriously but was carried out to the letter: the preaching of the Good News today in all countries of the world— from Japan to Alaska, from Norway

to Patagonia—is

a‘ direct

consequence of Christ’s Resurrection and bears witness to its reality.

The Appearance to more than Five Hundred Disciples It was undoubtedly at this time that an “appearance to more than

five hundred disciples” took place in Galilee. Most of them were still alive in 58 A.D. when Saint Paul wrote of it in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:6).

The Appearance to the Apostle James This was followed by an appearance to the apostle James, which we know about only from a brief allusion made by Paul in the same Epistle CeCor ilon7).

The Resurrection

219

The Appearance after Forty Days: the Ascension Forty days after His Resurrection (Acts 1:3), Jesus appeared to His disciples for the last time and led them to Bethany (Lk 24:50).

This is where He was taken up into heaven (Mk 16:19) in His Ascension (see Part VI, chapter 16).

CHAPTER

Our RESURRECTION

15

THROUGH

BAPTISM

A) From the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ to our Baptism About two thousand years have passed since the Crucifixion and

Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. How are we affected by this event today? How does the “forgiveness of sins” for which Jesus died upon the Cross become the forgiveness of our sins today? How does the eternal life of the Risen One, who will never die again, become our

eternal life? How does Jesus Christ’s victory over death deliver us from death? How can everything that the Lord Jesus did for men whom He loved so much benefit the people of our time? How can

the gift of God which He brought be effectively received by us today? How can this mystery of the Cross and Resurrection affect us; how can we appropriate it, make it our own, so that Hzs Resurrection becomes our resurrection, so that Hzs union with the Father becomes our reconciliation with God, so that His Life becomes our life? The

answer is given in a short phrase of the Creed: “I believe in one

baptism for the remission of sins.” The Death and Resurrection of Christ are made real to us through Baptism. It is through Baptism that we are united to His death so that we may participate in His Resurrection (see Rom 6). It is in Baptism that we are “planted

together” with the risen Christ; it is Baptism which grafts us onto Him. Seeker: What does “graft us onto Him” mean? Sage: To graft means to allow a weak plant, which cannot grow on its own, to develop on a vigorous supporting plant.

Seeker: Sap passes from the strong plant into the stem of the weak plant?

220

Our Resurrection Through Baptism

221

Sage: That’s right. And Baptism is just the same; the life-giving sap of the risen Christ—i.e., the Holy Spirit who rests on Him and dwells in Him—passes into us and nourishes us with the Life of the risen Christ, with God's Life which is Fullness. This is the importance of Baptism which we shall now look at in detail.

B) The Announcement of Baptism in the Old Testament We can understand the meaning and importance of Baptism only by studying the role played by water in the Old Testament.

Water is the Origin of Life. The first two verses of the first chapter of Genesis, which precede the account of the creation, state that before the earth was created,

everything was chaos and the Spirit of God moved over the waters. Thus all living beings would be born of water, brought to life by the Spirit. Where there is water there is life. Where there is no water, there is desert. That is why Isaiah writes: For And The And For

waters shall break forth in the wilderness, streams in the desert; burning sand shall become a pool, the thirsty ground springs of water . . I will pour water on the thirsty land,

And streams on the dry ground... They shall spring up like grass amid waters, Like willows by flowing streams. (Is 35:6-7; 44:3-4)

In other words, water is the source of life. But even though water brings life...

Water can also Drown and Destroy The Old Testament gives two examples of this: The Flood

Men became so wicked that instead of fulfilling God’s purpose by

ag we

THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

becoming more and more like Him, they sought only to set themselves up against Him and even against one another, and thus they sank into evil, pride, and hatred. Then God drowned sin and destroyed evil through the waters of the Flood. Only the ark of salvation—a symbol of the future Church of Christ, where the righteous Noah, with his family and all the creatures which Noah had brought on board, took shelter—was spared (Gen 6-8; see also

Pare ive. 97).

The Passage through the Red Sea Pharaoh’s army, an army of oppressors and slave drivers, was pursuing the people of God. Led by Moses, the Hebrews had just

crossed the Red Sea which had been driven back by a strong wind sent by God. The wind turned, and the sea flowed back, covering

Pharaoh's army, drowning, destroying, and burying the forces of evil. Water submerges sin and destroys evil.

C) Baptism in the New Testament

The Meaning of the Word “Baptism” In ancient Greek the verb baptizein means “to immerse, to submerge.” When the early Greeks spoke of having baptized an enemy

ship, they meant that they had sunk it. The Lord Jesus used the word baptism in reference to His death and burial. When He tells His disciples about His Passion, Death,

and Resurrection, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, remember only Jesus’ foretelling of His entry into glory. They ask Him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” They already saw themselves as cabinet ministers of the future King of the Jews! Jesus, however, answers, ‘Are you able.

. . to be bap-

tized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” He is speaking of His death. “We are able,” they answer confidently, not under-

standing what Jesus means. He continues, “With the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. . .” thus alluding to their martyrdom (Mk 10:33-40; Mt 20:17-23; Lk 18:31-34). To be baptized

Our Resurrection Through Baptism

223

means to participate in Jesus’ own death, to die in order to be reborn. That is what the Lord explains to Nicodemus.

Jesus’ Conversation with Nicodemus (Jn 3:1-21) One night Nicodemus—a prominent Jew and a wise Pharisee who

was a member of the Sanhedrin (he would later, with Joseph of Arimathea, piously place the body of Jesus in the tomb)—came to the Lord. He was afraid to be seen with Him in the daytime lest

his colleagues exclude him from the assembly of prayer. He asked Jesus what one should do to enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus answered him, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom

of God.” Nicodemus did not understand and asked again, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Unless one is born

of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the

Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born

anew. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who ts born of the Spirit.” Thus Jesus asks us to be born to a life different from that of all

animals Himself. Spirit of God had

and other living things, a life which is the Life of God This life is given by the breath of God, which is the Holy God (pnewma in Greek means both “breath” and “‘spirit’”). already given this breath to us at Creation, thus giving us

His image, His freedom and the possibility to be more and more

like Him through our own creative activity. man is always called upon to surpass himself, only when he participates in God’s nature. this divine presence, through sin and death; the water of Baptism, the source of Life. Here

Because of this breath, so that he is truly man Man loses this breath, but he can regain it in in the baptismal water

sin, which is the cause of death, is drowned as if in the waters of

the Flood or of the Red Sea. Here true Life springs forth, an eternal Life which God lives, communicated by the life-giving Holy Spirit. This is the Life which the Son of God came to give to us by yielding

THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

224

up His Spirit to the Father on the Cross and then rising from the dead to grant this same Spirit to those who believe in Him.

The Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus The baptism of John the Baptist was a symbolic baptism. It prepared the Jews to enter into the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom whose imminent coming he preached. He asked them to purify themselves from their sins by repenting, by confessing their sins and cleansing them in the waters of the Jordan. But John himself cried out, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier thanI... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Mt 3:11). In this way he announces the approach

of the Kingdom of God through the coming of Jesus, who is God's Christ, the King of Israel.

Thus when Jesus is baptized by John, the Spirit which from all eternity rests upon the Son is made manifest in the form of a dove.

This signifies the sanctification and deification*’ of the human nature which the Son of God had assumed. He purifies human nature by immersing it in the waters of the Jordan; he deifies it by exposing it to the light of His Spirit; He leads it into the family of the Trinity by allowing it to participate in His divine sonship. Thus baptism is no longer just a symbol of purification. It is

performed in the name of the Holy Trinity, allowing all those who are baptized to participate in the entire mystery of Christ, the Son of God the Father, the Anointed One of the Spirit. That is why Jesus says to His apostles after the Resurrection, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).

D) The Rite of Baptism We

can

now

understand

the development

of the service of

Baptism, which today is exactly the same as when Saint Basil 48. Deification: the act of making divine, of participating in the divine nature.

Our Resurrection Through Baptism

225

described it in his Treatise on the Holy Spirit, written in the fourth century. The Exorcisms

Jesus cast out impure spirits. He freed those who were enslaved to the devil, and He gave His disciples the power to expel demons. Before

his repentance,

conversion,

and

baptism,

sinful

man

is

enslaved by the devil. We often hear people exclaim after a fit of anger or passion, ‘It was stronger than I’; they understand that they were not free but were dominated by some other power.

Before the baptism, during the “exorcisms,” the priest invokes the holy name of Him who, by His Crucifixion, triumphed over the devil, who has the power of death. He orders Satan, “the spirit of deceit, the spirit of evil, the spirit of idolatry and of every covetousness, the spirit of falsehood and of every uncleanness,” to come out of the person about to be baptized. Otherwise they would cause the “darkening of intentions and rebelliousness of thought.” The catechumen®? is then free to assume a new Master, the liberating Christ. Conversion

Conversion is a free action by which the one who is asking to be baptized renounces “Satan and all his works, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his pride” in order to turn (in Latin, convertere) to Christ, to believe in Him and to bind himself to Him. It is the

decisive moment in the life of one who chooses the way which leads to the Kingdom of God and to complete union with Christ. This conversion or turning (see Ezek 18:31-32) is symbolized in the ceremony by having the person who is to be baptized turn from the

west, symbolizing darkness and night, toward the light, the east, the altar of God. At this time he exclaims, “I unite myself to Christ; I believe in Him as King and God.” Then he recites the Creed, the symbol of faith, “I believe in one God” (pistewo in Greek, credo in Latin), to express before the whole Church his faith: in the Father,

the creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible; 49. Catechumen: a name given to someone who is preparing for baptism through catechism, i.e., through the study of the Gospel, the Good News.

THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

226

in the only Son of God, crucified under Pontius Pilate, who rose again on the third day; and in the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Life who proceeds from the Father. Thus baptism is preceded by a

confession of faith, for “he who believes and is baptized will be saved”

(Mk 16:16).

Without faith, baptism would be a sacrilegious parody, a lie in which one would go through motions and pronounce words in contradiction to one’s thoughts and convictions.

Seeker: But usually only babies are baptized. How can they believe and unite themselves to Christ when they do not even know how to talk?

Sage: A child is usually an integral part of his family; this is still true today. It was even more so in the past, when children received

the same upbringing as their parents. When the one to be baptized, called a “catechumen,” is so young that he cannot receive instruction and can neither proclaim his faith nor declare his conversion, his

godfather or godmother—i.e., the person who presents him to the Church, to the assembly of the faithful—takes responsibility for his future

faith

and

accepts

the commitments

of his conversion.

Unfortunately, nowadays the godfather and godmother often fail to carry out their obligations. If the child refuses to follow the path chosen for him by his parents or godparents when he is growing

up, this baptism, which should have resulted in a new birth, becomes a kind of spiritual abortion, in which the child dies without having really been born. That is why one should baptize a little child only if the faith of his whole family indicates that his spiritual growth will parallel his physical growth. Then he matures in faith as naturally as he matures physically and intellectually.

The Blessing of the Waters The catechumen professes his faith and freely pledges to believe in Christ and unite himself to Him, making a true offering of himself to God (or else the godparent does it for him). Then the priest recalls (anamnesis) God's marvelous creation of the world, the regeneration

of this creation when the Son of God was immersed in the waters

Out Resurrection Through Baptism

227

of the Jordan, together with the moment when the Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon Him and the waters, marking the beginning of a New Creation, the regeneration of all things by the reorientation of the fallen world towards the Kingdom of God. He

asks God to make this regeneration real by sending His Holy Spirit to sanctify the watersof Baptism, just as He sanctified the waters

of the Jordan to make them “the water of redemption, the water of sanctification, the purification of flesh and spirit.” This is the “epiclesis,” that is, the invocation of the life-giving Holy Spirit to make the waters of Baptism a place where the catechumen will be grafted onto thecrucified, buried, and resurrected Christ and will thus receive the life of the Holy Spirit.

The Triple Immersion The catechumen removes his old garments that Adam and Eve

put on following he may be “ever Evil One will no “baptized” three Father, the Son,

their sin. Then he is rubbed with sacred oil so that a warrior invincible in every attack,” so that the longer dominate him. Finally, he is immersed or times in the water of the font in the name of the and the Holy Spirit. Thus he is “united with Him

in a death like His,” that is, buried with Christ in His tomb,

represented by the font, so that he can also participate in Christ’s Resurrection. Here the catechumen encounters Christ and is grafted onto Him. Here the mystery of communion is accomplished, as he becomes “planted together” with the risen Lord, to become a son of God by adoption and anointed like Christ by the Holy Spirit. The Chrismation That is why, after rising from the baptismal water, he immediately receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This chrismation with the

Holy Oil signifies “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit,” so that the Holy Spirit who rests upon the Son may also rest upon him who has just been united to the Son. In this way, the catechumen also becomes a child of the Father, crying “Abba, Father” to his God. Adopted as a son by the Father, the newly baptized becomes part of the trinitarian Family.

THE CROSS AND THE RESURRECTION

228

Eucharistic

Communion

The one who is baptized, “the newly illumined,” then puts on a white robe, which is his garment of Light; and he enters the assembly of communicants which is the eucharistic assembly of the Church. The people sing, “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia.” Then the Epistle and Gospel are read, and

the newly baptized joins the eucharistic assembly in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, to receive Communion for the first time. Let us conclude the description of this sacrament by citing the text of the Epistle to the Romans in which Saint Paul summarizes the whole

significance of Baptism: Brethren, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was

raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection

like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never

die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to

God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:3-11, the Epistle reading for Baptism)

Assuming One’s Baptism Baptism is not an act of magic. The great mystery which the Holy Spirit accomplishes in Baptism becomes part of one’s consciousness only through free cooperation or “synergy” on the part of the baptized. In order for the baptized individual to truly attain the image of Christ, to become really a Christian,

a whole lifetime is needed

during which the action of Christ and the Holy Spirit in free cooperation with the baptized can gradually penetrate into all the

Our Resurrection Through Baptism

229

nooks and crannies of his heart and soul, his body and spirit. You, reader, have you decided to live your baptism and to repeat each day the words which your godparent said in your name: “I renounce Satan and all his works ... I unite myself to Christ...

I believe in Him as King and God. . . | worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, one in essence and undivided” ?

Musical Examples Page Troparion of Annunciation My Soul Magnifies the Lord (The Canticle of the Theotokos)

Kontakion of the Nativity Troparion of the Nativity Troparion of the Epiphany Troparion of the Transfiguration Kontakion of the Transfiguration O Gladsome Light

The Beatitudes The Lord’s Prayer Troparion of Lazarus’ Saturday and Palm Sunday Thy Resurrection

Christ Is Risen

230

22 28 32B 34 60 80B 82 86 118 134 164 205 206

Illustrations *Reproductions in color

Page *The Face of Christ Detail of the icon of Christ the Teacher by Tamara Elchaninov. Photo: The Reverend V. Borichevsky

The Annunciation

front leaf

20

Russian. Photo: Castle de Wijenburgh, Echteld, Netherlands

The Virgin of the Sign

25

Russian icon of the 20th century. Photo: Sainte-Genevieve, Paris

*The Nativity of Christ

32A

Russian. Photo: Castle de Wyenburgh, Echteld, Netherlands

The Baptism of Christ

40

Cyprus, 17th century. Photo: Temple Gallery, London

The Hospitality of Abraham

45

Mosaic from the Basilica of St. Mark, Venice, Photo: Adinaut-Viallet

*The Holy Trinity

64B

Andrei Rublev, Tretiakov Galiery, Moscow. Photo: UNESCO

*The Transfiguration

80A

Russian. Photo: Castle de Wijenburgh, Echteld, Netherlands

Plan of the Temple

oo

The Cross Carved portable hand cross

146

The Entry into Jerusalem Greek. Photo: Temple Gallery, London

167

The Lord’s Supper Marie Struve. Photo: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Chapel

173

The Crucifixion

185

Russian,

16th century. Coll. National Museum, Parts

The Epitaphion

199

Embroidered icon. Photo: Andrew Tregubov

*The Myrrhbearing Women at the Tomb

208A

Russian, 16th century. Photo: Castle de Wyenburgh, Echteld, Netherlands

231

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The Living God A Catechism for the Christian Faith The Living God is a unique catechetical work for families, inquirers, and adults who are searching for a clear, vivid presentation of the Christian Faith. Unlike traditional catechisms containing questions and

answers

in

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even

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together scripture, theology, iconography, hymnography, feasts and liturgy in a fully integrated manner. Originally written in French as a “catechism

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personal, holistic approach, will be welcomed by parents, catechists, teachers, pastors, and persons of any age who are looking for an easy

way to explain or understand the sources of the Church’s revelation. The book is characterized by its unique and creative method of organization: a “seeker” poses the questions, representing the questions of many believers; and the “sage” answers, articulating the Church’s explanation to those questions. The two volumes integrate the major feasts of the liturgical year with

an overview of the history of salvation. Volume One contains the period from the Creation through the Resurrection of Christ. Volume Two begins with the feast of the Ascension, continues through to the Book of Revelation,

and concludes

with the Sacraments

and

Prayer in the life of the Church. Both volumes are illustrated with musical examples, color and monochrome reproductions of icons. Cover: Mid Pentecost Icon: Christ among the Doctors. Photo: The Reverend Nicholas Osolin

ISBN 0-88141-009-8

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ISBN 0-88141-040-3

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ST. VLADIMIR’S SEMINARY

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