Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

1 week ago

THE DORMITION IS A TRIUMPH OF LIFEBy Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

How can we celebrate the Dormition? As a day of death? Only if we remember two things: First, that for us who remain on earth, death is the bitter, painful separation from our loved ones. But for the one who dies, death, dormition (falling asleep) is a triumphant, magnificent meeting of a living soul with the living God. Throughout the course of our lives we are hastening towards the fullness of life that the Lord promised us. Whether we know it or not, we can only find this fullness in God. Those who know this—the saints, those who truly believe, and those who waver—as well as those who do not know this, and even those who denied this all their lives, will on the day that their soul departs from the body appear before the living God, Who is life, joy and beauty. And as Fr. Alexander Elchaninov wrote, there is no soul that, having seen divine beauty enwrapped in divine love and the light of eternal life, will not bow down to His feet and say, “Lord! I have sought Thee alone throughout my life…”

On all paths of both righteousness and unrighteousness, man seeks for this fullness, this unspeakable beauty, this meaning, and this all-conquering, all-purifying, all transforming love. Therefore, when we ourselves are faced with the death of a loved one, no matter how deep our grief may be, no matter how torn apart our soul may be, we must learn to cross ourselves, place ourselves under and before the Cross of the Lord, and say: Yea, Lord! I am afflicted with perhaps the greatest grief that could happen to me, but I rejoice that the living soul of a person I love has been made worthy today to stand before Thy glory and partake of the fullness of life in transfigured glory…

We are not speaking in vain about how dormition, as the apostle Paul reminds us so many times, is the temporary sleep of our flesh until the day of its resurrection. And so, celebrating the Dormition of the Mother of God, we not only believe that she will be resurrected on the last day, as will we all, but we also know for sure from apostolic tradition, from the experience of the Church—not only of saints but also of sinners, whom the Mother of God has sought with her love, mercy, and compassion—that she has already been resurrected in the flesh as well, and entered into the life that will be revealed to us at the end of time. Therefore we can celebrate today with full joy the Dormition of the Mother of God, when the chains of the body fell from her, when she was freed from the bounds of created existence, when she departed from the narrow confines of this fallen world, and in full glory, in her full unspeakable beauty, in her full purity stood before the face of Her Son and God, before the face of God the Father.

Our joy can be made perfect without tears, without grief, for this is the triumph of life. But it is also a testimony that the resurrection is not an empty word, not an allegory, but that we all, as God promised, will be resurrected and enter into the fullness of our humanity—both in soul and in spirit, in flesh and in eternity, into the eternal joy of our Lord.

Therefore let us rejoice and be glad on this day!

How wondrous it is that the Russian Church, as far back as the eleventh century, beheld this mystery, received this mystery of the Mother of God, the mystery of life, and death, and resurrection, and the final triumph, which made this feast the feast of the Russian Church. Amen. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

2 weeks ago

The feast of the Transfigurationby Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

There are blessed or tragic moments when we can see a person revealed to us in a light with a depth, with an awesome beauty which we have never suspected before.

It happens when our eyes are open, at a moment of purity of heart; because it is not only God Himself Whom the pure in heart will see; it is also the divine image, the light shining in the darkness of a human soul, of the human life that we can see at moments when our heart becomes still, becomes transparent, becomes pure.

But there are also other moments when we can see a person whom we thought we have always known, in a light that is a revelation. It happens when someone is aglow with joy, with love, with a sense of worship and adoration. It happens also when a person is at the deepest point, the crucifying point of suffering, but when the suffering remains pure, when no hatred, no resentment, no bitterness, no evil is mixed to it, when pure suffering shines out, as it shone invisibly to many from the crucified Christ.

This can help us to understand what the Apostles saw when they were on the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw Christ in glory at a moment when His total surrender to the will of the Father, His final and ultimate acceptance of His own human destiny, became revealed to them. Moses and Elijah, we are told, stood by Him; the one representing the Law and the other one representing the Prophets: both have proclaimed the time when salvation would come, when the Man of suffering will take upon Himself all the burdens of the world, when the Lamb of God slain before all ages would take upon Himself all the tragedy of this world. It was a moment when in His humanity Christ, in humble and triumphant surrender, gave Himself ultimately to the Cross.

Last week we heard Him say that the Son of God will be delivered in the hand of men, and they will crucify Him, but on the third day He will rise. At that moment it became imminent, it was a decisive point, and He shone with the glory of the perfect, sacrificial, crucified love of the Holy Trinity, and the
responsive love of Jesus the Man, as Saint Paul calls Him. The Apostles saw the shining, they saw the divine light streaming through the transparent flesh of Christ, falling on all the things around Him, touching rock and plant, and calling out of them a response of light. They alone did not understand, because in all the created world man alone has sinned and is blind. And yet, they were shown the mystery, and yet, they entered into that cloud which is the divine glory, that filled them with awe, with fear, but at the same time with such exulting joy and wonder!

Moses had entered that cloud and was allowed to speak to God as a friend speaks to a friend; he was allowed to see God passing by him, still without a name, still without a face. And now, they saw the face of God in the Incarnation. They saw His face and they saw His glory shining out of tragedy. What they perceived was the glory, what they perceived was the wonder of being there, in the glory of God, in the presence of Christ revealed to them in glory. They wanted to stay there forever, as we do at moments when something fills us with adoration, with worship, with awe, with unutterable joy. But Christ had told them that the time has come to go down into the valley, to leave the Mount of Transfiguration because this was the beginning of the way of the Cross, and He had to be merged into all that was tragic in human life. He brought them down into the valley to be confronted with the agony of the father whose child could not be cured, with the inability of the disciples to do anything for this child, with the expectation of the people who now could turn to no one but Him - that is where He brought them.

And we are told that He had chosen these three disciples because together, in their togetherness they held the three great virtues that make us capable of sharing with God the mystery of His incarnation, of His Divinity, of His crucifixion, to face His descent into hell after His death and to receive the news of
His resurrection: the faith of Peter, the love of John, the righteousness of James.

There are moments when we also see something which is beyond us, and how much we wish we could stay, stay forever in this blissful condition; and it is not only because we are incapable of it that we are not allowed to stay in it, but because the Lord says, You are now on the Mount of Transfiguration, you have seen Christ ready to be crucified for the life of the world - go now together with Him, go now in His name, go now, and bring people to Him that they may live!

This is our vocation. May God give us faith, and the purity of heart that allows us to see God in every brother and sister of ours! Didn't one of the Desert Fathers say, ‘He who has seen his brother has seen God’? - and serve one another with love sacrificial, with the exulting joy of giving our lives to one another as Christ gave His life for us. Amen. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

2 weeks ago

Dear all!
This Saturday we are going to baptise the youngest member of our community, 8 month old Michael, the son of our Deacon Vladimir and Matushka Photini.

The baptism will be incorporated into the Liturgy. We will start at 10.00 am and we'll have a celebratory fasting meal afterwards.

"A robe of divine light bestow upon me, O You that for vesture array Yourself with Light; and bestow many mercies, O Christ our God, who are plenteous in mercy."

We hope that all of you will come to this joyous occasion.

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

3 weeks ago

Why a Fast for Dormition?Much has been written about the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Yet very littlehas been written about the fast that precedes it. Every Orthodox Christian is aware and generally knows the reason behind the fasts for Pascha and Christmas. But while they may know of the Dormition Fast, few follow it, and more than a few question why it is there, neither knowing its purpose.



First, given the pervasive misunderstanding of the purpose of fasting itself, a refresher on its purpose is always a good idea. There is a perception that we should fast when we want something, as though the act of fasting somehow appeases God, and seeing us “suffer” gets Him to grant our request. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is not our fasting that pleases God, it is the fruits of our fast (provided we fast in the proper mind set, and do not merely diet) that please Him. We fast, not to get what we want, but to prepare ourselves to receive what God wants to give us. The purpose of fasting is to bring us more in line with another Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and away from their sister Martha, who in the famous passage was “anxious and troubled about many things.”

Fasting is intended to bring us to the realisation of “the one thing needful.” It is to help us put God first and our own desires second, if not last. As such it serves to prepare us to be instruments of God’s will, as with Moses in his flight from Egypt and on Mt. Sinai, as well as our Lord’s fast in the wilderness.

Fasting turns us away from ourselves and toward God. In essence it helps us become like the Theotokos, an obedient servant of God, who heard His word and kept it better than anyone else has or could. So why do we fast before Dormition? In a close-knit family, word that its matriarch is on her deathbed brings normal life to a halt. Otherwise important things (parties, TV, luxuries, personal desires) become unimportant; life comes to revolve around the dying matriarch. It is the same with the Orthodox family; word that our matriarch is on her deathbed, could not (or at least should not) have any different effect than the one just mentioned.

The Church, through the Paraklesis Service, gives us the opportunity to come to that deathbed and eulogize and entreat the woman who bore God, the vessel of our salvation and our chief advocate at His divine throne. And as, in the earthly family, daily routines and the indulgence in personal wants should come to a halt. Fasting, in its full sense (abstaining from food and desires) accomplishes this. Less time in leisure or other pursuits leaves more time for prayer and reflection on she who gave us Christ, and became the first and greatest Christian.

In reflecting on her and her incomparable life, we see a model Christian life, embodying Christ’s retort to the woman who stated that Mary was blessed because she bore Him: blessed rather are those who hear His word and keep it. Mary did this better than anyone. As Fr. Thomas Hopko has stated, she heard the word of God and kept it so well, that she of all women in history was chosen not only to hear His Word but give birth to it (Him). So while we fast in contemplation of her life, we are simultaneously preparing ourselves to live a life in imitation of her. That is the purpose of the Dormition Fast.

‘When the assumption of thine undefiled body was being prepared, the Apostles gazed on thy bed, viewing thee with trembling. Some contemplated thy body and were dazzled, but Peter cried out to thee in tears, saying, I see thee clearly, O Virgin, stretched out, O life of all, and I am astonished. O thou undefiled one, in whom the bliss of future life dwelt, beseech thy Son and God to preserve thy people unimpaired.’ ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

4 weeks ago

St. Irene Chrysovolantou(Source: OCA)

Saint Irene was the daughter of a wealthy family from Cappadocia, and was born in the ninth century.

After the death of her husband Theophilus, the empress Theodora ruled the Byzantine Empire as regent for her young son Michael. Saint Theodora (February 11) helped to defeat the iconoclast heresy, and to restore the holy icons. We commemorate this Triumph of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday of Great Lent.

When Michael was twelve years of age, Saint Theodora sent messengers throughout the Empire to find a suitably virtuous and refined girl to be his wife. Saint Irene was chosen, and she agreed to the marriage. While passing Mt. Olympus in Asia Minor, Irene asked to stop so she could receive the blessing of Saint Joannicius (November 4), who lived on the mountain. The saint, who showed himself only to the most worthy pilgrims, foresaw the arrival of Saint Irene, and also her future life.

The holy ascetic welcomed her and told her to proceed to Constantinople, where the women’s monastery of Chrysovalantou had need of her. Amazed at his clairvoyance, Irene fell to the ground and asked Saint Joannicius for his blessing. After blessing her and giving her spiritual counsel, he sent her on her way.

When the party arrived in Constantinople, Irene’s relatives met her with great ceremony. Since “the steps of a man are rightly ordered by the Lord” (Ps. 36/37:23), God arranged for Michael to marry another girl a few days before, so that Irene might be free to become a bride of Christ. Far from being disappointed, Irene rejoiced at this turn of events.

Remembering the words of Saint Joannicius, Irene visited the Monastery of Chrysovalantou. She was so impressed by the nuns and their way of life that she freed her slaves and distributed her wealth to the poor. She exchanged her fine clothing for the simple garb of a nun, and served the sisters with great humility and obedience. The abbess was impressed with the way that Irene performed the most menial and disagreeable tasks without complaint.

Saint Irene often read the Lives of the Saints in her cell, imitating their virtues to the best of her ability. She often stood in prayer all night with her hands raised like Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 17:11-13). Saint Irene spent the next few years in spiritual struggles defeating the assaults of the demons, and bringing forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

When the abbess sensed the approach of death, she told the other nuns that they should not accept anyone but Irene as the new abbess. Irene was not told of the abbess’s instructions, and when she died the community sent representatives to go and seek the advice of the patriarch, Saint Methodius (June 14). He asked them whom they wanted as their superior. They replied that they believed he would be guided by the Holy Spirit. Without knowing of the late abbess’s instructions to the nuns, he asked if there was a humble nun by the name of Irene in their monastery. If so, he said, they should choose her. The nuns rejoiced and gave thanks to God. Saint Methodius elevated Irene to the rank of abbess and advised her how to guide those in her charge.

Returning to the monastery, Irene prayed that God would help her to care for those under her, and redoubled her own spiritual efforts. She displayed great wisdom in leading the nuns, and received many revelations from God to assist her in carrying out her duties. She also asked for the gift of clairvoyance so that she would know what trials awaited her nuns. Thus, she was in a better position to give them the proper advice. She never used this knowledge to embarrass others, but only to correct their confessions in a way which let them know that she possessed certain spiritual gifts.

Although Saint Irene performed many miracles during her life, let us mention only one. On great Feasts it was her habit to keep vigil in the monastery courtyard under the starry skies. Once, a nun who was unable to sleep left her cell and went into the courtyard. There she saw Abbess Irene levitating a few feet above the ground, completely absorbed in prayer. The astonished nun also noticed that two cypress trees had bowed their heads to the ground, as if in homage. When she finished praying, Irene blessed the trees and they returned to their upright position.

Afraid that this might be a temptation from the demons, the nun returned the next night to see if she had been mistaken. Again she saw Irene levitating as she prayed, and the cypress trees bowing down. The nun tied handkerchiefs to the tops of the two trees before they went back to their places. When the other sisters saw the handkerchiefs atop the trees, they began to wonder who had put them there. Then the nun who had witnessed these strange events revealed to the others what she had seen. When Saint Irene learned that the nun had witnessed the miracle and told the others, she was very upset. She warned them not to speak of it to anyone until after her death.

Saint Irene observed the Feast of Saint Basil (January 1) with great devotion, since he also came from Cappadocia. One year, after celebrating the feast, Saint Irene heard a voice during the night telling her to welcome the sailor who would come to the door the next day. She was told to rejoice and eat the fruit which the sailor would bring her. During Matins, a sailor did come to the door and remained in church until after Liturgy. He told her that he had come from Patmos, where he boarded a ship. As the ship set sail, he noticed an old man on the shore calling for them to stop. In spite of a good wind, the ship came to a sudden halt. Then the old man walked across the water and entered the ship. He gave the sailor three apples which God was sending to the patriarch “from His beloved disciple John.” Then the old man gave the sailor three more apples for the abbess of Chrysovalantou. He told the sailor that if Irene ate the apples, all that her soul desired would be granted, “for this gift comes from John in Paradise.”

Saint Irene fasted for a week, giving thanks to God for this wonderful gift. For forty days, she ate small pieces of the first apple every day. During this time she had nothing else to eat or drink. On Holy Thursday, she told the nuns to receive the Holy Mysteries, then gave each one a piece of the second apple. They noticed an unusual sweetness, and felt as if their very souls were being nourished.

An angel informed Saint Irene that she would be called to the Lord on the day after Saint Panteleimon’s feast. The monastery’s feast day fell on July 26, so Saint Irene prepared by fasting for a week beforehand. She took only a little water and small pieces of the third apple sent to her by Saint John. The whole monastery was filled with a heavenly fragrance, and all discord disappeared.

On July 28, Saint Irene called the nuns together in order to bid them farewell. She also told them to select Sister Mary as her successor, for she would keep them on the narrow way which leads to life (Matthew 7:14). After entreating God to protect her flock from the power of the devil, she smiled when she saw the angels who had been sent to receive her soul. Then she closed her eyes and surrendered her soul to God.

Saint Irene was more than 101 years old when she died, yet her face appeared young and beautiful. A great crowd of people came for her funeral, and many miracles took place at her tomb.

In some parishes it is customary to bless apples on the feast of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 weeks ago

Dear all! There will be Morning prayer on Saturday 27th at 10.00 am with Br Basil. We will pray especially for the intercession of St Panteleimon, one of the most loved saints of the Orthodox Church.

"You emulated the Merciful One, and received from Him the grace of healing, Passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon; by your prayers, heal our spiritual diseases and continually drive away the temptations." of the enemy from those who cry out in faith “Save us, O Lord.”

We will celebrate Divine Liturgy on Sunday 28th at 8.00 am for the feast of St Irene Chrysovalantou.

There will be refreshments and nibbles afterwards.

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 weeks ago

Dear all! Br Basil and Fr Augustine are both busy with meetings this week so there will be no Divine Liturgy or prayers this Tuesday and Thursday.

Please pray for them, and, details of weekend services will be posted as soon as they are clarified. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

1 month ago

Tomorrow is not only the feast day of the Great Prophet Elijah, it is also the feast day of Maria Skobtsova, a monastic belonging to our Archdiocese. Below is an excerpt taken from her essay: "Types of Religious Lives."

Renunciation teaches us not only that we not greedily seek advantages for our soul but that we not be stingy, that we always be extravagant in our love, that we achieve a spiritual nakedness, that our soul holds nothing back, that we not hold back anything sacred and valuable which we would not be ready to give up in Christ's name to those who need it.

Spiritual renunciation is the way of holy foolishness, folly in Christ. It is the opposite of the wisdom of this age. It is the blessedness of those who are poor in spirit. It is the outer limit of love ... According to material laws ... if I give away a piece of bread, then I became poorer by one piece of bread ... (and by extension) if I give my love, I have become impoverished by that amount of love, and if I give up my soul then I become completely ruined and have nothing left to save ...

According to the law of the spirit, every spiritual treasure given away not only returns to the giver like an unspent ruble but it grows and becomes stronger. He who gives receives back in return; he who becomes poor becomes wealthier. ... In turning away from the exclusive focus upon Christ in a genuine act of self-negation and love, one offers himself to others...then one meets Christ himself face to face in the one for whom he offers himself and in that communion he unites with Christ himself ... the mystery of union with man becomes the mystery of union with God. That which was given away returns.

The love which was expended never diminishes the source of that love, because the source of love in our heart is Love itself, Christ ... Here we are speaking about a genuine emptying out, in a partial imitation of how Christ emptied himself by becoming incarnate in humanity. We must likewise empty ourselves completely, becoming, so to speak, incarnate in another human soul, offering to it the full measure of God's image which is contained in ourselves. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

1 month ago

Hi! Due to events taking place in Wellington Church tomorrow we will not be able to use the cafe. Therefore there will only be refreshments and cake after the Liturgy.

We look forward to seeing you! 🙂 ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

1 month ago

Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy on Saturday 20th at 10.00 am for the feast of the great Prophet Elijah.

"An angel in the flesh and the cornerstone of the prophets, the second forerunner of the coming of Christ. Glorious Elijah sent grace from on high to Elisha, to dispel diseases and to cleanse lepers. Therefore, he pours forth healings on those who honor him".

There will be a meal afterwards so please bring food to share.

On Sunday 21st, we will celebrate Liturgy at 8.00 am for the feast of the Prophet Ezekiel.

"The memory of Your prophet Ezekiel, we celebrate today, O Lord. By his prayers, we beseech You, O Christ God, save our souls!"

There will be refreshments and nibbles afterwards. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

1 month ago

Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy on Saturday 13th at 10.00 am for the feast of the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel; one of the feasts of our Parish.

"Gabriel, commander of the heavenly hosts, we who are unworthy beseech you, by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory, and faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you: “Deliver us from all harm, for you are the commander of the powers on high!”

There will be a meal afterwards so please bring with you food to share.

On Sunday 14th, we will celebrate Liturgy at 8.00 am for the feast of the Apostle Aquila of the Seventy and and St Priscilla.

"As a disciple and companion of Paul, you received in your soul the grace of preaching. You shone in the night of error and struggled for the Lord’s glory. Sacred minister of the Savior, Aquila, we all acclaim you."

"Through thee the divine likeness was securely preserved, O Mother Priscilla; for thou didst carry the cross and followed Christ. By example and precept thou didst teach us to ignore the body because it is perishable, and to attend to the concerns of the undying soul. Therefore, doth thy soul rejoice with the angels."

There will be tea and coffee afterwards! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

2 months ago

Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy this Saturday for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul at 10.00 am.

"First-enthroned of the apostles, teachers of the universe: Entreat the Master of all to grant peace to the world, and to our souls great mercy!"

The Liturgy will be followed by a light meal so please bring with you any dish you would like to share.

On Sunday we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am for the Synaxis of the Apostles.
There will be refreshments and nibbles afterwards.

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

2 months ago

Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 10.00 am for the feast of St. Joanna the Myrrhbearer.

"Saint Joanna the Myrrhbearer, wife of Chusa, the household steward of King Herod, was one of the women following and attending the Lord Jesus Christ during the time of His preaching and public ministry. She is mentioned in Luke 8:3 and 24:10. Together with the other Myrrh-bearing Women, Saint Joanna went to the Sepulchre to anoint the Holy Body of the Lord with myrrh after His death on the Cross, and she heard from the angels the joyful proclamation of His All-Glorious Resurrection. According to Tradition, she recovered the head of Saint John the Baptist after Herodias had disposed of it (February 24)."

"When Thou Didst Speak To The Myrrh-Bearing Women With Joy, Thou Didst End The Wailing Of Eve The First Mother, By Thy Resurrection, Commanding Thy Disciples To Proclaim That The Savior Is Risen From The Tomb."

There will be refreshments and nibbles afterwards. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

2 months ago

Dear all! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy tomorrow, Tuesday 25th for the feast of Sts Peter and Febronia, the Patrons of newly-weds.

Read their beautiful story below:
"Saint Peter had fallen ill with leprosy, from which no one was able to heal him. In a vision it was revealed to the prince that the daughter of a bee-keeper would be able to heal him: the pious maiden Febronia, a peasant of Laskova village in Ryazan gubernia. Saint Peter sent his emissaries to this village.

When the prince saw Saint Febronia, he fell in love with her because of her piety, wisdom and virtue, and vowed to marry her after being healed. Saint Febronia healed the prince and became his wife. The holy couple loved each other through all their ordeals. The haughty boyars did not wish to have a princess of common origin, and they urged that the prince leave her. Saint Peter refused, and so they banished the couple. They sailed off on a boat from their native city along the River Oka, and Saint Febronia continued to console Saint Peter. Soon the wrath of God fell upon the city of Murom, and the people begged the prince return together with Saint Febronia.

The holy couple was famous for their piety and charity. They died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228, having received the monastic tonsure with the names David and Evphrosyne. The bodies of the saints were put in the same grave.

Sts Peter and Febronia showed themselves exemplary models of Christian marriage, and are considered as the patron saints of newly-weds."

We look forward to seeing you 🙂

#OrthodoxGlasgow #Christianity #Love #Marriage #Friendship #PeterandFebronia #RussianSaints ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

3 months ago

BISHOP ANTHONY OF SOUROZH REPLIES TO SYNDESMOSThis letter was sent in reply to the "Letter to Bishops" written by delegates at the III SYNDESMOS Orthodox Youth Festival, in Spetses, August '88


Dear members of SYNDESMOS,


This response to your “Letter to the Bishops of the Orthodox Church” is long over; the reason for the delay lies in the fact that our Diocese wanted to study it carefully and involve in the process both the clergy and the laity of Sourozh, that is, the members of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


We are happy to see that young Orthodox of all countries are taking the initiative and challenging the Hierarchy of our Church on matters which transcend the concerns of any of the national Churches. Our national Churches “at home” are not and cannot be sufficiently aware of the multinational situation of Orthodoxy in the Diaspora; they need both the testimony and challenge which can be offered only from within the Orthodox Dispersion. Thank you for taking first step in this direction. In the name of the Diocese of Sourozh, that is, in the name of the Laity, the Presbytery and in my own name, I now offer the following comments to your letter.

We all tend to think of resolving problems in terms of organisations; of establishing structures. This is a mistake. It is life that can create forms; structures must express life, and must be supple and fluid enough to vary according to local situations and real needs; even the Canons of the Church are yardsticks and precedents to be learnt from, not immutable rules intended to force life into obsolete patterns; they were legitimate for situations which no longer exist but now need a new vision. This is the way in which the Canons were gradually framed; some express the very being of the Church, some were intended to meet concrete situations which no longer exist. We must, all of us, look deeply into the concrete situation in which we live and ask ourselves what is God's will for us here and now, learn to discern the promptings of the Spirit of God, and discern God's activity in our own time and place.

Structures cannot create the visible unity of the Orthodox Church any more than diplomatic agreements can bring together divided Christians. One does not build unity, one grows into it, by adhering ever more completely and perfectly to the Gospel, and giving to things temporal, ethnic, cultural, national, their legitimate, yet secondary place.


We must recognise the fact that the Orthodox are divided on more than one level; to love one's language, culture, heritage is legitimate: to reject others who do not share it and cling to their own treasures is not. The younger generation is in danger of either clinging to the past of their families, or trying to create new ethnic forms and so ceasing to be what their parents were, in order to become members of the secular society in which they live. Creating new ethnicities in order to break down barriers is no solution — this would add one more problem to those that already exist.


Special considerations should be given to the schisms which have their origin in the political upheavals of the last century; the generation which is yours does not know from direct experience how and why they occurred. It is easy to condemn those responsible for them and their present heirs and followers, but think of the tragic destinies of the generation of your own parents and grandparents and their contemporaries; think of all they lost, and of all they endured, and then you may understand why they seceded from their Mother Churches and formed temporary ecclesiastic administrations (or jurisdictions) which have survived until now, and have begun to seem as obsolete to their members themselves. With a change of political climate in Russia and other countries, and a greater openness and understanding by all parties concerned (I am thinking of the Old Believers in Russia and abroad, of the Old Calendarists in Greece and elsewhere, of the schism between the Serbian Patriarchate and the Church in Macedonia, and others) ways must be found to recognise one another. An offer was made a few years ago by the Patriarchate of Moscow to the Russian Church in Exile to re-establish communion in prayer and sacraments while retaining administrative independence and without any change in political stance being expected. This new openness is gradually bearing fruit.


You seem to dislike the term “Diaspora”; it describes accurately a state of affairs: Orthodox people of different nationalities happen to live in all countries of the world as a religious minority, with a varying degree of scatteredness — in some places as individuals, in others as small or relatively big parishes, too distant from one another to maintain contact; in other places small or larger dioceses in the midst of much more numerous non-Orthodox bodies, always too small and still too ethnic to be one of the denominations of the country where they live. Yet there is one other dimension to being a Diaspora, a positive one. The dominant position of our Churches in the countries from which we come, and their close association with the State have accustomed us to think in terms totally alien to early Christians in terms of what one often calls “the gathered community”; yet the vocation of the Church is to bring the Gospel to all creatures, to be like a handful of seed which the Master of the harvest scatters far and wide, so that it brings fruit in all places where even one seed falls. The Russian Philosopher Berdiaeff wrote a very beautiful article on the subject in the early years of the Russian exile, telling us that we were sent by God into the whole world to bring Orthodoxy to all those who had lost it and needed it; the Apostles, twelve men, and the few disciples did not stay cooped up together; they parted from one another to bring the Good News to those who sat in darkness. Though distant from each other, they knew that they were one, because they all were in Christ and doing the work He had sent them to do. This is a true meaning of “Diaspora”: to be a mission, a band of witnesses. To do this we need hardly any structures — only a keen fellowship between us all and a sincere, earnest dedication to the service of God. In this context differences of language, of culture, of ethnicity, are no impediments; they only enrich the message, make it more human, more accessible in its rich variety to all those who receive it.


It is our clinging to structures that divides us; the multiplicity of national jurisdictions would not separate us if no jurisdiction claimed superiority over others, rights of power instead of the privilege of serving more faithfully than others, if co-operation in all things was the rule. We still need bishops and clergy who speak national languages to serve those who have not yet acquired a common language with other Orthodox living in the same territory; we must cherish our languages, as both prayers, spiritual writings and theological statements often cannot be translated adequately and need living interpreters. We must be deeply rooted in our culture in order to appreciate, assess and share the culture of others. However, we have no right to claim any superiority for our own heritage, but a deep knowledge of it enables us to share its riches with all those who can be enriched by it.


Structures are, of course, necessary to keep together those who share the same heritage, to inspire them to act from within a common and shared experience, for the life of the Sacraments etc., but they are not an aim in themselves. And least of all should they be seen as or used as levers of power. There are a number of structures of oppression in our Church; we forget too easily that the one who is highest is the servant of all, not the overlord. Least of all should the Church face the surrounding world from a position of power, neither should the Church face it from one of subservience. In all human relationships the Church is to be the conscience of the world, of every, of any society; speaking the truth in charity, but clearly, without ambiguity, without calculation, daring to criticize or to approve of things without considering the danger it may involve for herself. Together with all men we must cooperate in the building of the city of man, but adding to the building a dimension which we alone can add — a dimension of depth, of width, of holiness that would allow the only true man — our Lord Jesus Christ, true man and true God — to be its First Citizen; a city of man coextensive with the City of God. Every Christian must make concrete choices that may be at variance with those of others, yet all must aim at one and the same thing — not at creating a liveable society, but a city so truly human that it may become truly divine.


Building the City of God means giving ourselves to God — discarding both our strength and our weakness and allowing God's grace to act freely in and through us; this is missionary work, but not proselytism. Not an attempt at making others as we are, but sharing with them the transfiguring joy of knowing God and of communing with Him, so that they may become themselves, as unlike us as they are unique in the eyes of God. It is not in uniformity that we can be one but in oneness that is attainable only through uniqueness, like musical notes capable of forming one perfect accord because they are themselves, without confusion but also without competition.


I have mentioned the existence of structures of oppression creating distinctions and establishing false hierarchies of value. One is blatantly offensive and must be broken down: it is the position of women in the Church. The Orthodox Church has made more than one unwarranted statement on the subject but has not yet even begun to think about it; the problem is considered as external to us, coming from those Churches that have “lost their way”. This is untrue; it is at the heart of our Church's life. It must be thought out and seen with new eyes; to be referred to tradition is not enough, a tradition the meaning of which or whose origin cannot be traced is not a tradition, but traditionalism — a superstitious survival of prejudices and misapprehensions. It is for your generation from within the Gospel and the Faith given us by God in Christ to confront these evils.


Other problems are to be faced and resolved: our relationship with the Oriental Orthodox Churches, with whom we share the same faith while we express it in different ways — who will triumph? Those who assess the spirit of these Churches or those who cling to the letter?
Other matters intrinsic to our Church must be examined: who must we admit to Baptism? To integration into the Orthodox Church? Who should be allowed to be married in the Church? How should we receive converts? Are we prepared to live our Faith or only to speak of it? This raises all the problems of Christian ethics; one can be a heretic in action while expressing every iota of it in words if our life gives lie to our proclamation. Fasting and the ascetical life, the conditions and frequency of Communion; the ways in which religions education must be rethought to cease to be information and become a setting on fire; and many local problems are and will be your responsibility. According to the way you solve them Orthodoxy may become one of the many irrelevant denominations or faiths of the world or its light and inspiration.
It is for you to choose, and to act both daringly and humbly.
May God's blessing and power be in and with you.


Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh together with the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese.
London, June l990. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

3 months ago

Christ is Risen! Just a reminder that we will celebrate Liturgy tomorrow at 10.00 am.

On Saturday 25th we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 10.00 am for the Third Finding of the Head of John the Baptist.

"As a divine treasure hidden in the ground was your head revealed to us by Christ, O prophet and forerunner. We have gathered in commemoration of this finding with inspired hymns of praise to the Savior, who saves us from corruption through your prayers!"

There will be refreshments and nibbles afterwards.

On Sunday 26th, we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am. This Sunday is dedicated to the Samaritan woman.

"The Samaritan Woman came to the well in faith; she saw You, the Water of Wisdom, and drank abundantly. She inherited the Kingdom on High and is ever glorified!"

There will be tea and coffee afterwards.

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

3 months ago

Christ is Risen! We will celebrate Divine Liturgy on Thursday 23rd at 10.00 am for all the Saints of Rostov and Murom including Alexander Nevsky, the Patron saint of our Cathedral in Paris.

There will be refreshments afterwards.

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 months ago

Christ is Risen! Just a reminder that there will be Paschal Matins with Br Basil tomorrow at 10.00 am, followed by tea and coffee.

On Sunday 5th, known as Thomas's Sunday, we will not celebrate Liturgy because Fr Augustine is away. For those who would like to attend a Liturgy on Sunday, look at the schedule below.

St Kentigern in Govan: Divine Liturgy at 10.30 am (Slavonic)
St Luke's Cathedral in the West End: Divine Liturgy at ca 11.00 am (Greek)
The Meeting of our Lord: Divine Liturgy at 10.00 am (Romanian)

See you there! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 months ago

Christ is Risen! Our kiltwalkers, Br Basil and Niko and Lorraine, did a fantastic job yesterday. They completed the race and raised ca. 1100 pounds. What a fantastic way to raise money for a good cause and have fun at the same time.

We are very grateful to everyone for being so generous and supporting our kiltwalkers. Your support means more than you know - thank-you! Next year some of our children are desperate to take part! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 months ago

Christ is Risen!!! Thank you all for coming and celebrating this glorious feast with us!

Today, Br Basil and Niko and Lorraine are doing the kiltwalk. Thank you all for helping our team: there is still time to donate if you wish. We will post photos of our amazing kiltawalkers tonight. 😀

glasgowkiltwalk2019.everydayhero.com/uk/st-gabriel/wizard/share?fbclid=IwAR2QrI1bFDADxLAogtHryinf... ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 months ago

Our Archangel Gabriel Kiltwalk team are getting ready for the walk on Sunday. The kilts are ready and the excitement is high. 😀

There is still time to make a donation. For every donation made, our Trust gets an additional 40% back. This will make a big difference for us. We are grateful to Niko, Lorraine and Br Basil for taking the initiative to raise money for our church in such a great way, and we're also grateful to all who have donated and shown them support.

glasgowkiltwalk2019.everydayhero.com/uk/st-gabriel/wizard/share

We will post more pictures of the team on Sunday. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

4 months ago

Holy WeekBy Metropolitan Anthony Surozh

Holy Week in a sense begins with the entry of Christ to Jerusalem. This entry full of glory, boisterous, noisy and which is all of it built on a misunderstanding. The people of Jerusalem meet Christ as a conqueror partly because they have heard that He has raised Lazarus from the dead and partly because they expect that now has come the time when He will become the Ruler of Israel, the God-given leader Who will free the country from the occupying forces, from the pagans that have conquered it and taken possession of a land which is God’s own land, have taken possession of Zion, the city of peace, dedicated to God and dedicated by God for His people. Christ knows that He is received as a glorious King because of this tragic misunderstanding and He knows also that the moment the people will have understood that He is not the Messiah they wish for, they turn against Him. And this is what we see in all the days to come: a crowd still under the spell of Christ but now fearful, hesitant, unable to protect Him except by its massive presence, but a crowd in which no-one will lift his voice to proclaim that the slander which is spread around against Him or later the condemnation which is spoken about Him is untrue. If one voice had been lifted in defence of Christ His condemnation could not have gone through without further judgement.

Some of you may remember the story of Daniel the prophet and Susanna: how she was condemned on false accusation and while she was taken to her doom the boy Daniel, a child of seven lifted up his voice and said: ‘I am free from the blood of this woman’. And all proceedings were suspended and she was found not guilty. Not one voice in this vast crowd that filled Jerusalem, that had come for the Passover from all the surrounding country and from countries far away not one voice was lifted because He had betrayed the expectation of the people and they no longer felt He was their leader, their Lord and their Guide.

In the first days Christ speaks. He speaks in the Temple in the presence of whoever wishes to hear Him: the priests are there and the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and the people, and His disciples, and His Mother and day after day He presents them with decisive final confrontations with their own conscience. I have taken down a few of the points because the readings are long and complex but they all centre round, each of them rather centres round one theme.

MONDAY

On the Monday the story of the fig tree, of the two sons who were both asked by their father to go and do his will of whom one said: ‘Yes, father’, and went not, and the other one said: ‘No’ and then repented. Here we are confronted with a first accusation of Christ against us and against those who surrounded Him in those days. Like the fig tree we are covered with leaves, like the fig tree we bear no fruit. We wear a mask, we pretend, we live a lie. Like the son full of good will we say: ‘Yes’ to all the commandments of God, we respond to all the promptings of our conscience, we are ready to do everything until the moment of doing comes and then we don’t do it. And it is the one that said: ‘No’, that thinks better and acts, again a lie, a person who is what he is not.

And then turning to Himself Christ proclaims the parable of the workers of the vineyard who murdered the son and the Gospel ends with a warning that the Lord is going to His death. It is because we lead a life which is a lie that murder, death must come upon the Son of God.

TUESDAY

On Tuesday – apocalyptic visions: a warning that false prophets will come who will claim to be Christ. Again the same theme of the lie that kills and that those who will be faithful to Him will be persecuted, — those who will have chosen to be true and real against all the lie and beguilement of the world. And at the end of this apocalyptic vision Christ gives us, reminds us of the two commandments: love of God and love of the neighbour. And in the context of the persecution, perhaps, this commandment of love comes with particular force because on the one hand the commandment of love on the lips of Christ and indeed in the life and example of Christ means that we must love with all our life, but also if necessary with all our death, because greater love no-one has except him who lays down his life for his neighbour.

But why persecution? Because those who are of Christ, those who are of the Kingdom, those who have accepted the command of love and of reality will have to make a choice.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday we are confronted with a series of questions which the Sadducees, the Pharisees, others ask of Christ. They are all aimed at forcing Him to give an answer that may later be used to doom Him.

… and their question is untrue. They know that the way in which they put it is destined to entrap Christ and lead Him to die. Hypocrisy is the sign here. And I what to bring forth, bring to your attention the first question which is asked because it applies to us very directly. He is asked whether He was prepared to pay the tax which every Jew was to pay to Caesar. And He asks for a coin, shows it to those who try to ensnare Him: ‘Whose image, whose inscription is on this coin?’ And looking at it they see the profile of the reigning Emperor and his name. And Christ says: ‘Render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s’. Now, in the course of centuries these words have been underlined in many ways but what the direct and immediate meaning of these words is this: ‘Everything which bears the imprint of Caesar is his, everything that bears the imprint of the world belongs to the world. But what is the imprint and the name which is written on each of you?’ We are created in the image of God, we are like an icon. As a coin was marked by the profile of the Emperor in power so is each of us in the image of the living God. And when we ask ourselves what do we owe to Caesar and to God, the answer is that everything which is ours can be claimed from us, but we belong to no-one but God. And this is the point at which as we can see from the Book of Revelation that irremediable, inevitable and murderous encounter occurs between anti-Christ and those who are Christ’s own people, God’s own people, prepared to let go of everything because nothing is theirs and refusing to allow themselves to be owned by anyone but the living God Whose image they are, Whose imprint is on their face and Whose name is written in their hearts and indeed is part of their appellation: Are we not called Christ’s own people when we say that we are Christians?

THURSDAY

And so again against this background of lie that will lead to the murder of the Son of God all the conflict between false prophecy and false ideals with the real choice and the persecution that ensues, against the background of this hypocrisy which brings out the fact that we belong to none but God on Thursday morning we hear a call: ‘Be ready’, – in the succession of readings from St. Mathew’s 24 and 25 chapter concerning the Judgement. You know these passages, I will only bring out what they speak about. This generation is like the generation in the time of Noah, they live forgetful of all responsibility, forgetful of judgement, carried away by their emotions and their passions, their greed and their fears, careless and irresponsible.

The second parable is that of the servant who was left in charge of the household when his master went. The master will tarry, he is now the master, his is answerable to no-one, he can live according to the devices of his own heart, he begins to be a tyrant to others and to indulge in all his whims. ‘Beware, – says Christ, – the master will return at the hour which the servant does not expect him and then he will have to answer’.

And then the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins, those that were found not ready, those who allowed themselves to slumber. How many people spent all their times in a condition of slumber, asleep, inebriated, living in a world of dream, while the world of reality is coming dreadfully close and will first into their dream but when it will be too late for them to awake.

And then the parable of the talents: the man who was afraid of risking anything in the fear of the loosing everything and who when the Lord came had nothing to account for his life.

And lastly the parable of the sheep and the goats with this sharp question which is being asked from all of them: ‘Have you been human in the course of your human life? If you have not been human, compassionate, daringly compassionate at times there is no way for you into the world divine’. These are the readings.

Thursday is also the day of the Last Supper. The Last Supper is rooted in the story of Exodus. The Last Supper which the Jews ate on the soil of Egypt, in the land of their enslavement before they set out to reach the promised land through forty years of trial that was to make of men and women who had got accustomed to be slaves, to make them into free men and women capable of receiving a new law, and guided by this law eventually to come to the point when no law is necessary but grace and love. Now we stand in the threshold of a similar event; only that in Exodus the enslavement was of men and women under the rule temporary and worldly of the Pharaohs, while what Christ has come to effect is to free us from the power of Satan, of the adversary, of him who is the liar par excellence, the ‘diabolos’, the one who tries to beguile us into a world of fantasy, of hopes that will never materialise, of betrayal, of what is true and whole and real and who according to the word of Christ is the one who was the murderer from the beginning. Christ has come to free us from all power of enslavement, to put us face to face with Him with all the dignity of those called to be the sons and daughters of the Most High. This Last Supper is the supper of Exodus, with however a feature that strikes me always when I read this passage that no lamb is spoken of at the Last Supper although the lamb was at the very centre of the paschal supper, of the supper of the Passover in Exodus. And what strikes me is that there is no point at this particular Supper that the lamb should be the centre of it because it is the Lamb of God, the Servant of God, the suffering Servant, the Lamb of God slain before all ages Who is now the central figure of this meal. He blesses the bread, He blesses the cup. At that moment they are only symbols and will acquire the plenitude of their meaning when the Lamb will be slain, Christ crucified, death by death undone and the Risen Christ will become the Lord of all things endowed with all power by His Father. How many things there are: the long conversation of Christ that moves in a meandering way and it is so easy to understand how it moves if we remember that it is the last conversation Christ has with His disciples knowing that within a few hours His ministry will have come to an end and within a couple of days His life will have been taken from Him; rather, no, He Himself says: ‘No-one is taking My life from Me. I give it freely’. And yet He will have to die. And so He speaks of one thing or another and there are long silences probably, and He goes back to things said and He is being asked questions which He answers, and again there is silence, brooding full of foreboding.

At this meal Judas for the last time is among his companions. He will leave the meal and betray Christ. Judas is one of the most mysterious persons of history because the reasons which seem to come to the fore in the Gospel cannot account really for his betrayal. In one of the Orthodox prayers of Thursday evening at the service which we call the service of the Twelve Lessons of the Passion of Christ it says: ‘Thou has sold thy Master as though He was a runaway slave.’ And indeed, thirty pieces of silver were nothing in regard to what the enemies of Christ would have paid for His head. So I don’t think we can begin to guess at the workings of his soul, we know only that he betrayed Christ. But know some more things: when Christ met him again in the Garden on the Mount of Olives He came towards him and called him ‘friend’. Someone has written in our century after millions of betrayals that no-one can be considered a spiritually perfectly mature who has not come to terms with betrayal, who can loose his equanimity at being betrayed and who can no longer call ‘friend’ him who has delivered him to his tormentors. Christ in His perfect maturity meets Judas and calls him friend without bitterness, without hatred but with a pain so deep probably, deeper than we can imagine.

And another thing concerning Judas: he is abandoned by all, he is rejected by those who have paid for the innocent blood the thirty pieces of silver which were prophesied of old in the Old Testament; he does not dare come near the other Apostles because he does not know that Peter, John and James went to sleep when their Master was in agony, that John was allowed into the house of Caiaphas because he was a friend of the house into which Jesus was being taken to be battered, insulted, humiliated, slandered and condemned on lying evidence, that Peter betrayed Him also by renouncing Him three times, that all the disciples fled and left Him alone. All that Judas did not know and so he did not go back to his companions to express his misery and his repentance and his horror for himself. He had nowhere to go. Had all that happened after Pentecost or simply after the Resurrection of Christ wouldn’t the disciples have sort him out and saved him?

I have already mentioned Peter, John, James, the other apostles: loneliness, betrayal, rejection.

Christ stood before God and before His death in the Garden of Gethsemane and He prayed three times and each of His prayers was a step towards a more total acceptance of the will of God, a more complete renunciation of His own will to live, His own horror of death: ‘Father, let this cup pass Me by… Father, if this cup can not pass Me by, let it come… Father, Thy will be done’… Step after step He conquered and He was ready to be taken because He had already given Himself.

And then the judgement: Caiaphas, Pilate, the exchange of Jesus for Barabbas, the mockery and the beating in the praetorian and then they are sent, the Via Dolorosa, the painful road from the praetorian with His cross on His shoulder towards the place without the walls where He would die. There was no place within the walls of the human city for the One Who was rejected by the city.

But what was to happen was even more frightening because having chosen to be God’s own and being rejected by men in their Godlessness, in their rebellion, in their alienation from God He had also chosen to remain faithful and solid with all men. And He found Himself like them alone, without God: ‘ My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ And yet, when He was crucified His prayer was for those for whose sake He was loosing the earth and Heaven: ‘Forgive them Father, they do not know what they are doing’.

And He died. He died for us, He died because of us. As Christ said to a priest in a vision which is recorded in the life of one of the ancient saints: ‘Condemn no-one: if there had been one sinner of earth I would have died for him alone as I died for the whole of mankind’.

When we think of Calvary we must think of the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross, dying His human death, having already surrendered His life and therefore pronouncing a few words, but not one word in defence of Himself and wrapped in the same sacrificial silence, in the silence of the offering the Mother of God Who had brought Him some thirty three years ago to the Temple to be a blood offering to God according to the commandment of Exodus, the ransom for the blood of the children of Egypt spilled for the deliverance of the Israelites and now to deliver them and mankind together with them from the yoke of Satan, of the adversary, the Son of God was being accepted as a living sacrifice, as a blood offering. John, who knew how to love and therefore to participate, to be at one, and around them a crowd: the executioners who had done their work and felt they had no responsibility, who were sharing out His garments and those of the two men crucified to the right and to the left. And those who had brought about His murder, who laughed and mocked at Him: ‘If You art Christ come down from the Cross’.

And the people around of whom some hoped He would come down from the Cross and then they could follow Him not in an act of faith but with the certainty that they would be protected by their Leader not in order to become lambs among the wolves, to be sent as the Father sent Him but to be conquerors, the people of the victorious King. And those who hoped in their hearts that He would not come down from the Cross and then they would be, they would have an alibi to reject all that had wounded their hearts, stirred their conscience, forced them to see life in a new light. They could then reject the terrifying commandment of love and become again small, selfish and free, free from God, slaves to the world, to their passions, but free from the terror of greatness.

And then the two men on the right and the left side. The one saw the Innocent and the Just condemned by an iniquitous human judgement and therefore he accepted his own doom because if the righteous can die all the more the culprit. The other one saw the Innocent condemned, and he thought that therefore the iniquitous judges have no right to condemn him either and he rebelled and cursed and found no peace.

FRIDAY

And then Christ died and He was taken down from the Cross and laid in the tomb, His body separated from His human soul while He still was filled with the divine Presence incorruptible, while His soul descended into the abode of death, into sheol, the place of darkness and of absence, of alienation, of ultimate rejection. And as one of the Orthodox prayers says: ‘Hell opened wide its mouth to engulf its Enemy. It expected to seize a corpse and he was filled with the presence of God Himself”. That is the harrowing of hell, the Descent into hell of which the Apostle’s creed speaks and the victory of God over the devil, over death, a separateness from God, over evil is already won but we on earth must wait for another day and this is why on Saturday in Holy Week in the Orthodox Church already foretold by the singing of the Resurrection on the previous evening, the liturgy is one of the Resurrection: in bright vestments, in glorious song, with number of prophesies of the victory of God read. And then the victory which was won for us already reaches us in the night when we will sing that Christ is risen from the dead having undone death by death and to those in the tombs having given life. And this life now pours out and reaches us. For the apostles Good Friday was the last day of the wee, darkness, the final defeat of Christ, the victory of evil, the end of life. For us it cannot be this. However we try in imagination to live by the moment we still can see that these events lead to the victory.

But what has happened to Christ and for mankind has not yet happened in our lives if we have not learned so to identify with Christ as to make His earthly destiny into our destiny, if possessed of the life of God through grace we do not, like Christ, enter into the darkness of the world to be His messengers, to be the light that shines in darkness, the voice that speaks in the desert, the love of God, the divine compassion among men. And so from all the people involved in these days, from every event, from every person and every situation we must learn to become partakers of the life of Christ and when we receive communion to accept both: to partake in His eternal victory and to be His witnesses if necessary in small things and in things great, to be His witnesses if necessary in life and if need be in death.

Well, here are too many and too few thoughts that are far too superficial for what they touch. But going into these last days of Holy Week, into this Good Friday, into this Saturday where we wait in harsh silence for the proclamation of the victory, identify with whomever you can: the Mother of God, His apostles, His disciples, with whomever you can but go all the way with Him side by side with one of those who has gone that way and has found salvation. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

4 months ago

Tonight we will celebrate Presanctified Liturgy at 7.00 pm. As always, there will be homemade soup and bread afterwards.

Tomorrow, Saturday 20th, we will celebrate Liturgy at 10.00 am for the Raising of Lazarus.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday and we will celebrate Liturgy at 8.00 am.

"By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your passion, You did confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God! Like the children with the palms of victory, we cry out to You, O Vanquisher of death; Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!"

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

4 months ago

The Life of St Mary of Egypt(Source: OCA)

Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection, and needed no one to instruct him. “Is there a monk anywhere who can show me some form of asceticism that I have not attained? Is there anyone who has surpassed me in spiritual sobriety and deeds?”

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Zosimas, you have struggled valiantly, as far as this is in the power of man. However, there is no one who is righteous (Rom 3:10). So that you may know how many other ways lead to salvation, leave your native land, like Abraham from the house of his father (Gen 12:1), and go to the monastery by the Jordan.”

Abba Zosimas immediately left the monastery, and following the angel, he went to the Jordan monastery and settled in it.

Here he met Elders who were adept in contemplation, and also in their struggles. Never did anyone utter an idle word. Instead, they sang constantly, and prayed all night long. Abba Zosimas began to imitate the spiritual activity of the holy monks.

Thus much time passed, and the holy Forty Day Fast approached. There was a certain custom at the monastery, which was why God had led Saint Zosimas there. On the First Sunday of Great Lent the igumen served the Divine Liturgy, everyone received the All-Pure Body and Blood of Christ. Afterwards, they went to the trapeza for a small repast, and then assembled once more in church.

The monks prayed and made prostrations, asking forgiveness one of another. Then they made a prostration before the igumen and asked his blessing for the struggle that lay before them. During the Psalm “The Lord is my Light and my Savior, whom shall I fear? The Lord is defender of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps 26/27:1), they opened the monastery gate and went off into the wilderness.

Each took with him as much food as he needed, and went into the desert. When their food ran out, they ate roots and desert plants. The monks crossed the Jordan and scattered in various directions, so that no one might see how another fasted or how they spent their time.

The monks returned to the monastery on Palm Sunday, each having his own conscience as a witness of his ascetic struggles. It was a rule of the monastery that no one asked how anyone else had toiled in the desert.

Abba Zosimas, according to the custom of the monastery, went deep into the desert hoping to find someone living there who could benefit him.

He walked into the wilderness for twenty days and then, when he sang the Psalms of the Sixth Hour and made the usual prayers. Suddenly, to the right of the hill where he stood, he saw a human form. He was afraid, thinking that it might be a demonic apparition. Then he guarded himself with the Sign of the Cross, which removed his fear. He turned to the right and saw a form walking southward. The body was black from the blazing sunlight, and the faded short hair was white like a sheep’s fleece. Abba Zosimas rejoiced, since he had not seen any living thing for many days.

The desert-dweller saw Zosimas approaching, and attempted to flee from him. Abba Zosimas, forgetting his age and fatigue, quickened his pace. When he was close enough to be heard, he called out, “Why do you flee from me, a sinful old man? Wait for me, for the love of God.”

The stranger said to him, “Forgive me, Abba Zosimas, but I cannot turn and show my face to you. I am a woman, and as you see, I am naked. If you would grant the request of a sinful woman, throw me your cloak so I might cover my body, and then I can ask for your blessing.”

Then Abba Zosimas was terrified, realizing that she could not have called him by name unless she possessed spiritual insight.

Covered by the cloak, the ascetic turned to Zosimas: “Why do you want to speak with me, a sinful woman? What did you wish to learn from me, you who have not shrunk from such great labors?”

Abba Zosimas fell to the ground and asked for her blessing. She also bowed down before him, and for a long time they remained on the ground each asking the other to bless. Finally, the woman ascetic said: “Abba Zosimas, you must bless and pray, since you are honored with the grace of the priesthood. For many years you have stood before the holy altar, offering the Holy Gifts to the Lord.”

These words frightened Saint Zosimas even more. With tears he said to her, “O Mother! It is clear that you live with God and are dead to this world. You have called me by name and recognized me as a priest, though you have never seen me before. The grace granted you is apparent, therefore bless me, for the Lord’s sake.”

Yielding finally to his entreaties, she said, “Blessed is God, Who cares for the salvation of men.” Abba Zosimas replied, “Amen.” Then they rose to their feet. The woman ascetic again said to the Elder, “Why have you come, Father, to me who am a sinner, bereft of every virtue? Apparently, the grace of the Holy Spirit has brought you to do me a service. But tell me first, Abba, how do the Christians live, how is the Church guided?”

Abba Zosimas answered her, “By your holy prayers God has granted the Church and us all a lasting peace. But fulfill my unworthy request, Mother, and pray for the whole world and for me a sinner, that my wanderings in the desert may not be useless.”

The holy ascetic replied, “You, Abba Zosimas, as a priest, ought to pray for me and for all, for you are called to do this. However, since we must be obedient, I will do as you ask.

The saint turned toward the East, and raising her eyes to heaven and stretching out her hands, she began to pray in a whisper. She prayed so softly that Abba Zosimas could not hear her words. After a long time, the Elder looked up and saw her standing in the air more than a foot above the ground. Seeing this, Zosimas threw himself down on the ground, weeping and repeating, “Lord, have mercy!”

Then he was tempted by a thought. He wondered if she might not be a spirit, and if her prayer could be insincere. At that moment she turned around, lifted him from the ground and said, “Why do your thoughts confuse you, Abba Zosimas? I am not an apparition. I am a sinful and unworthy woman, though I am guarded by holy Baptism.”

Then she made the Sign of the Cross and said, “May God protect us from the Evil One and his schemes, for fierce is his struggle against us.” Seeing and hearing this, the Elder fell at her feet with tears saying, “I beseech you by Christ our God, do not conceal from me who you are and how you came into this desert. Tell me everything, so that the wondrous works of God may be revealed.”

She replied, “It distresses me, Father, to speak to you about my shameless life. When you hear my story, you might flee from me, as if from a poisonous snake. But I shall tell you everything, Father, concealing nothing. However, I exhort you, cease not to pray for me a sinner, that I may find mercy on the Day of Judgment.

“I was born in Egypt and when I was twelve years old, I left my parents and went to Alexandria. There I lost my chastity and gave myself to unrestrained and insatiable sensuality. For more than seventeen years I lived like that and I did it all for free. Do not think that I refused the money because I was rich. I lived in poverty and worked at spinning flax. To me, life consisted in the satisfaction of my fleshly lust.

“One summer I saw a crowd of people from Libya and Egypt heading toward the sea. They were on their way to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. I also wanted to sail with them. Since I had no food or money, I offered my body in payment for my passage. And so I embarked on the ship.

“Now, Father, believe me, I am very amazed, that the sea tolerated my wantonness and fornication, that the earth did not open up its mouth and take me down alive into hell, because I had ensnared so many souls. I think that God was seeking my repentance. He did not desire the death of a sinner, but awaited my conversion.

“So I arrived in Jerusalem and spent all the days before the Feast living the same sort of life, and maybe even worse.

“When the holy Feast of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross of the Lord arrived, I went about as before, looking for young men. At daybreak I saw that everyone was heading to the church, so I went along with the rest. When the hour of the Holy Elevation drew nigh, I was trying to enter into the church with all the people. With great effort I came almost to the doors, and attempted to squeeze inside. Although I stepped up to the threshold, it was as though some force held me back, preventing me from entering. I was brushed aside by the crowd, and found myself standing alone on the porch. I thought that perhaps this happened because of my womanly weakness. I worked my way into the crowd, and again I attempted to elbow people aside. However hard I tried, I could not enter. Just as my feet touched the church threshold, I was stopped. Others entered the church without difficulty, while I alone was not allowed in. This happened three or four times. Finally my strength was exhausted. I went off and stood in a corner of the church portico.

“Then I realized that it was my sins that prevented me from seeing the Life-Creating Wood. The grace of the Lord then touched my heart. I wept and lamented, and I began to beat my breast. Sighing from the depths of my heart, I saw above me an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Turning to Her, I prayed: “O Lady Virgin, who gave birth in the flesh to God the Word! I know that I am unworthy to look upon your icon. I rightly inspire hatred and disgust before your purity, but I know also that God became Man in order to call sinners to repentance. Help me, O All-Pure One. Let me enter the church. Allow me to behold the Wood upon which the Lord was crucified in the flesh, shedding His Blood for the redemption of sinners, and also for me. Be my witness before Your Son that I will never defile my body again with the impurity of fornication. As soon as I have seen the Cross of your Son, I will renounce the world, and go wherever you lead me.”

“After I had spoken, I felt confidence in the compassion of the Mother of God, and left the spot where I had been praying. I joined those entering the church, and no one pushed me back or prevented me from entering. I went on in fear and trembling, and entered the holy place.

“Thus I also saw the Mysteries of God, and how God accepts the penitant. I fell to the holy ground and kissed it. Then I hastened again to stand before the icon of the Mother of God, where I had given my vow. Bending my knees before the Virgin Theotokos, I prayed:

“‘O Lady, you have not rejected my prayer as unworthy. Glory be to God, Who accepts the repentance of sinners. It is time for me to fulfill my vow, which you witnessed. Therefore, O Lady, guide me on the path of repentance.’”

“Then I heard a voice from on high: ‘If you cross the Jordan, you will find glorious rest.’

“I immediately believed that this voice was meant for me, and I cried out to the Mother of God: ‘O Lady, do not forsake me!’

“Then I left the church portico and started on my journey. A certain man gave me three coins as I was leaving the church. With them I bought three loaves of bread, and asked the bread merchant the way to the Jordan.

“It was nine o’clock when I saw the Cross. At sunset I reached the church of Saint John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan. After praying in the church, I went down to the Jordan and washed my face and hands in its water. Then in this same temple of Saint John the Forerunner I received the Life-Creating Mysteries of Christ. Then I ate half of one of my loaves of bread, drank water from the holy Jordan, and slept there that night on the ground. In the morning I found a small boat and crossed the river to the opposite shore. Again I prayed that the Mother of God would lead me where She wished. Then I found myself in this desert.”

Abba Zosimas asked her, “How many years have passed since you began to live in the desert?”

“‘I think,” she replied, “it is forty-seven years since I came from the Holy City.”

Abba Zosimas again asked, “What food do you find here, Mother?”

And she said, “I had with me two and a half loaves of bread when I crossed the Jordan. Soon they dried out and hardened Eating a little at a time, I finished them after a few years.”

Again Abba Zosimas asked, “Is it possible you have survived for so many years without sickness, and without suffering in any way from such a complete change?”

“Believe me, Abba Zosimas,” the woman said, “I spent seventeen years in this wilderness (after she had spent seventeen years in immorality), fighting wild beasts: mad desires and passions. When I began to eat bread, I thought of the meat and fish which I had in abundance in Egypt. I also missed the wine that I loved so much when I was in the world, while here I did not even have water. I suffered from thirst and hunger. I also had a mad desire for lewd songs. I seemed to hear them, disturbing my heart and my hearing. Weeping and striking myself on the breast, I remembered the vow I had made. At last I beheld a radiant Light shining on me from everywhere. After a violent tempest, a lasting calm ensued.

“Abba, how shall I tell you of the thoughts that urged me on to fornication? A fire seemed to burn within me, awakening in me the desire for embraces. Then I would throw myself to the ground and water it with my tears. I seemed to see the Most Holy Virgin before me, and She seemed to threaten me for not keeping my vow. I lay face downward day and night upon the ground, and would not get up until that blessed Light encircled me, dispelling the evil thoughts that troubled me.

“Thus I lived in this wilderness for the first seventeen years. Darkness after darkness, misery after misery stood about me, a sinner. But from that time until now the Mother of God helps me in everything.”

Abba Zosimas again inquired, “How is it that you require neither food, nor clothing?”

She answered, “After finishing my bread, I lived on herbs and the things one finds in the desert. The clothes I had when I crossed over the Jordan became torn and fell apart. I suffered both from the summer heat, when the blazing heat fell upon me, and from the winter cold, when I shivered from the frost. Many times I fell down upon the earth, as though dead. I struggled with various afflictions and temptations. But from that time until the present day, the power of God has guarded my sinful soul and humble body. I was fed and clothed by the all-powerful word of God, since man does not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God (Dt 8:3, Mt.4:4, Luke 4:4), and those who have put off the old man (Col 3:9) have no refuge, hiding themselves in the clefts of the rocks (Job 24:8, Heb 11:38). When I remember from what evil and from what sins the Lord delivered me, I have imperishible food for salvation.”

When Abba Zosimas heard that the holy ascetic quoted the Holy Scripture from memory, from the Books of Moses and Job and from the Psalms of David, he then asked the woman, “Mother, have you read the Psalms and other books?”

She smiled at hearing this question, and answered, “Believe me, I have seen no human face but yours from the time that I crossed over the Jordan. I never learned from books. I have never heard anyone read or sing from them. Perhaps the Word of God, which is alive and acting, teaches man knowledge by itself (Col 3:16, 1 Thess 2:13). This is the end of my story. As I asked when I began, I beg you for the sake of the Incarnate Word of God, holy Abba, pray for me, a sinner.

“Furthermore, I beg you, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, tell no one what you have heard from me, until God takes me from this earth. Next year, during Great Lent, do not cross the Jordan, as is the custom of your monastery.”

Again Abba Zosimas was amazed, that the practice of his monastery was known to the holy woman ascetic, although he had not said anything to her about this.

“Remain at the monastery,” the woman continued. “Even if you try to leave the monastery, you will not be able to do so. On Great and Holy Thursday, the day of the Lord’s Last Supper, place the Life-Creating Body and Blood of Christ our God in a holy vessel, and bring it to me. Await me on this side of the Jordan, at the edge of the desert, so that I may receive the Holy Mysteries. And say to Abba John, the igumen of your community, ‘Look to yourself and your brothers’ (1 Tim 4:16), for there is much that needs correction. Do not say this to him now, but when the Lord shall indicate.”

Asking for his prayers, the woman turned and vanished into the depths of the desert.

For a whole year Elder Zosimas remained silent, not daring to reveal to anyone what he had seen, and he prayed that the Lord would grant him to see the holy ascetic once more.

When the first week of Great Lent came again, Saint Zosimas was obliged to remain at the monastery because of sickness. Then he remembered the woman’s prophetic words that he would not be able to leave the monastery. After several days went by, Saint Zosimas was healed of his infirmity, but he remained at the monastery until Holy Week.

On Holy Thursday, Abba Zosimas did what he had been ordered to do. He placed some of the Body and Blood of Christ into a chalice, and some food in a small basket. Then he left the monastery and went to the Jordan and waited for the ascetic. The saint seemed tardy, and Abba Zosimas prayed that God would permit him to see the holy woman.

Finally, he saw her standing on the far side of the river. Rejoicing, Saint Zosimas got up and glorified God. Then he wondered how she could cross the Jordan without a boat. She made the Sign of the Cross over the water, then she walked on the water and crossed the Jordan. Abba Zosimas saw her in the moonlight, walking toward him. When the Elder wanted to make prostration before her, she forbade him, crying out, “What are you doing, Abba? You are a priest and you carry the Holy Mysteries of God.”

Reaching the shore, she said to Abba Zosimas, “Bless me, Father.” He answered her with trembling, astonished at what he had seen. “Truly God did not lie when he promised that those who purify themselves will be like Him. Glory to You, O Christ our God, for showing me through your holy servant, how far I am from perfection.”

The woman asked him to recite both the Creed and the “Our Father.” When the prayers were finished, she partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Then she raised her hands to the heavens and said, “Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation.”

The saint turned to the Elder and said, “Please, Abba, fulfill another request. Go now to your monastery, and in a year’s time come to the place where we first time spoke.”

He said, “If only it were possible for me to follow you and always see your holy face!”

She replied, “For the Lord’s sake, pray for me and remember my wrechedness.”

Again she made the Sign of the Cross over the Jordan, and walked over the water as before, and disappeared into the desert. Zosimas returned to the monastery with joy and terror, reproaching himself because he had not asked the saint’s name. He hoped to do so the following year.

A year passed, and Abba Zosimas went into the desert. He reached the place where he first saw the holy woman ascetic. She lay dead, with arms folded on her bosom, and her face was turned to the east. Abba Zosimas washed her feet with his tears and kissed them, not daring to touch anything else. For a long while he wept over her and sang the customary Psalms, and said the funeral prayers. He began to wonder whether the saint would want him to bury her or not. Hardly had he thought this, when he saw something written on the ground near her head: “Abba Zosimas, bury on this spot the body of humble Mary. Return to dust what is dust. Pray to the Lord for me. I reposed on the first day of April, on the very night of the saving Passion of Christ, after partaking of the Mystical Supper.”

Reading this note, Abba Zosimas was glad to learn her name. He then realized that Saint Mary, after receiving the Holy Mysteries from his hand, was transported instantaneously to the place where she died, though it had taken him twenty days to travel that distance.

Glorifying God, Abba Zosimas said to himself, “It is time to do what she asks. But how can I dig a grave, with nothing in my hands?” Then he saw a small piece of wood left by some traveler. He picked it up and began to dig. The ground was hard and dry, and he could not dig it. Looking up, Abba Zosimas saw an enormous lion standing by the saint’s body and licking her feet. Fear gripped the Elder, but he guarded himself with the Sign of the Cross, believing that he would remain unharmed through the prayers of the holy woman ascetic. Then the lion came close to the Elder, showing its friendliness with every movement. Abba Zosimas commanded the lion to dig the grave, in order to bury Saint Mary’s body. At his words, the lion dug a hole deep enough to bury the body. Then each went his own way. The lion went into the desert, and Abba Zosimas returned to the monastery, blessing and praising Christ our God.

Arriving at the monastery, Abba Zosimas related to the monks and the igumen, what he had seen and heard from Saint Mary. All were astonished, hearing about the miracles of God. They always remembered Saint Mary with faith and love on the day of her repose.

Abba John, the igumen of the monastery, heeded the words of Saint Mary, and with the help of God corrected the things that were wrong at the monastery. Abba Zosimas lived a God-pleasing life at the monastery, reaching nearly a hundred years of age. There he finished his temporal life, and passed into life eternal.

The monks passed on the life of Saint Mary of Egypt by word of mouth without writing it down.

“I however,” says Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem (March 11), “wrote down the Life of Saint Mary of Egypt as I heard it from the holy Fathers. I have recorded everything, putting the truth above all else.”

“May God, Who works great miracles and bestows gifts on all who turn to Him in faith, reward those who hear or read this account, and those who copy it. May he grant them a blessed portion together with Saint Mary of Egypt and with all the saints who have pleased God by their pious thoughts and works. Let us give glory to God, the Eternal King, that we may find mercy on the Day of Judgment through our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is due all glory, honor, majesty and worship together with the Unoriginate Father, and the Most Holy and Life-Creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.” ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

5 months ago

Dear all! There will be Presanctified Liturgy tonight at 7.00 pm followed by soup and bread.

Br Basil will serve Reader's Matins tomorrow, Saturday 6th April at 10.00 am.
There will be tea and coffee afterwards!

We look forward to seeing you. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

5 months ago

This week there will be Great Vespers on Wednesday 3rd followed by the Akathist to the Mother of God. The service will be led by Br Basil and will take place at 7.00 pm.

On Friday 5th, we will serve Presanctified Liturgy at 7.00 pm followed by homemade soup and bread.

On Sunday 7th, we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am followed by tea and coffee.

"On this fourth Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate St. John Climacus, who wrote the book The Ladder of Divine Ascent to guide monks step by step to a life of greater holiness. Now only two weeks from Palm Sunday, the Church reminds us that we must move upward on that ladder if we are to follow our Lord to His Passion, to His death on the cross, to His descent into Hades, and to His glorious resurrection on the third day. But the first step upward requires what seems like a step downward, for it is the step of humbly acknowledging our weakness, imperfection, and corruption. Without that honest confession, we will never develop the spiritual strength necessary to enter into the deep mystery of our salvation through the great offering and victory of our Savior." (Fr Philip LeMasters)

We look forward to seeing you! ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

5 months ago

Presanctified Liturgy and LentPastoral Sermon

by Fr Augustine McBeth



During Great Lent, the “Festal Liturgies” take place on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday)

Great Lent is: Monday through Friday on our calendar

A Pre-sanctified Liturgy could be served each day of Great Lent. In the monasteries, it is celebrated on the days of high ranking saints, or patrons (usually in the mornings)

In Slavic urban parishes it is celebrated on Wednesdays and Fridays (in place of the Akathist Hymn on Fridays)

Because the nature and character of the Lenten Season is solemn and includes the practice of fasting, the Liturgy of the Presanctifed Gifts is served without the prayers for consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ on the days of strict fasting. It was considered a festal or Liturgy of celebration when the Bread and Wine was offered and consecrated into the Body and Blood of Christ. This is done on Sunday when we always commemorate and celebrate the Lord’s Holy Resurrection. During Great Lent, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is served Saturdays and the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is served on Sundays. On the weekdays, the Liturgy of Pre-sanctified Gifts with the prayers of St. Gregory the Dialogist is served.

It must be understood, however, that for the monastic community, the Holy Eucharist with the consuming of Holy Bread was the primary meal. Very little was eaten even after the Liturgy, and if at all, it was a uncooked vegan diet. We in the urban church have understood the Liturgy of Pre-sanctified Gifts and the Lenten meals we prepare that follows the service a time we take out of our busy schedules for extra prayer and community fellowship.

The word “solemnity” does not mean a sad or sorrowful disposition. Solemnity means: a serious, formal and dignified rite. Solemnity does not mean that joy is absent. Instead, we understand what we do during Great Lent as contemplative, thoughtful and intentionally prayerful. It is also done with great humility. Our senses are awakened and made more attentive to God’s words, His voice, His message and His instruction that help us to know how to be better Christians in our personal conduct and behavior.

In one of the prayers, we hear: …"Deliver all of our senses from death-dealing carnal desires, setting of them as a good ruler the understanding that is in us: Let our eye have no part in any evil sight. Let our hearing be inaccessible to all idle words; and let our tongue be purged from all unseemly speech. Purify our lips which praise Thee, O Lord. Make our hands to abstain from evil deeds and to work only such things that are acceptable unto Thee, establishing our members and our minds by Thy grace"…

This means that during Great Lent you and I should making a conscious effort to be doing things differently from what we do at other times of the year. It may also mean that we make an honest and conscious effort to abstain from doing particular things that are inconsistent with the season of Lent. While for some of us it may not always be an easy thing to do, especially if we have children in our home (like fasting), some effort must be made to create an atmosphere that is not like other times of the year. Maybe a little less television, maybe a reduction of extravagant and expensive entertainment. Perhaps even curbing our expenses.

However, the practice of reducing or abstaining from some things does not mean that we should not consider replacing or substituting what we have abstained or reduced from our routine with other activities or expenditures. Maybe more faithful church attendance, more sacrificial offerings for those in need, taking the time to help others, providing more time for personal prayer and spiritual reading, are some of the things that could replace what we choose to eliminate from our regular routine. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

5 months ago

Hi everyone. Here is the service-schedule for this week:

Tuesday: Matins for the Archangel Gabriel at 10.00 am.

Wednesday: Great Compline with Akathist at 7.00 pm.

Friday: Presanctified Liturgy at 7.00 pm, followed by soup and bread to break the fast.

Sunday of the Holy Cross: Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

5 months ago

2nd Sunday of Lent and St Gregory PalamasThis Sunday was originally dedicated to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas (November 14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second “Triumph of Orthodoxy.”

Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, was born in the year 1296 in Constantinople. Saint Gregory’s father became a prominent dignitiary at the court of Andronicus II Paleologos (1282-1328), but he soon died, and Andronicus himself took part in the raising and education of the fatherless boy. Endowed with fine abilities and great diligence, Gregory mastered all the subjects which then comprised the full course of medieval higher education. The emperor hoped that the youth would devote himself to government work. But Gregory, barely twenty years old, withdrew to Mount Athos in the year 1316 (other sources say 1318) and became a novice in the Vatopedi monastery under the guidance of the monastic Elder Saint Nicodemus of Vatopedi (July 11). There he was tonsured and began on the path of asceticism. A year later, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and promised him his spiritual protection. Gregory’s mother and sisters also became monastics.

After the demise of the Elder Nicodemus, Saint Gregory spent eight years of spiritual struggle under the guidance of the Elder Nicephorus, and after the latter’s death, Gregory transferred to the Lavra of Saint Athanasius (July 5). Here he served in the trapeza, and then became a church singer. But after three years, he resettled in the small skete of Glossia, striving for a greater degree of spiritual perfection. The head of this monastery began to teach the young man the method of unceasing prayer and mental activity, which had been cultivated by monastics, beginning with the great desert ascetics of the fourth century: Evagrius Pontikos and Saint Macarius of Egypt (January 19).

Later on, in the eleventh century Saint Simeon the New Theologian (March 12) provided detailed instruction in mental activity for those praying in an outward manner, and the ascetics of Athos put it into practice. The experienced use of mental prayer (or prayer of the heart), requiring solitude and quiet, is called “Hesychasm” (from the Greek “hesychia” meaning calm, silence), and those practicing it were called “hesychasts.”

During his stay at Glossia the future hierarch Gregory became fully embued with the spirit of hesychasm and adopted it as an essential part of his life. In the year 1326, because of the threat of Turkish invasions, he and the brethren retreated to Thessalonica, where he was then ordained to the holy priesthood.

Saint Gregory combined his priestly duties with the life of a hermit. Five days of the week he spent in silence and prayer, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he come out to his people. He celebrated divine services and preached sermons. For those present in church, his teaching often evoked both tenderness and tears. Sometimes he visited theological gatherings of the city’s educated youth, headed by the future patriarch, Isidore. After he returned from a visit to Constantinople, he found a place suitable for solitary life near Thessalonica the region of Bereia. Soon he gathered here a small community of solitary monks and guided it for five years.

In 1331 the saint withdrew to Mt. Athos and lived in solitude at the skete of Saint Sava, near the Lavra of Saint Athanasius. In 1333 he was appointed Igumen of the Esphigmenou monastery in the northern part of the Holy Mountain. In 1336 the saint returned to the skete of Saint Sava, where he devoted himself to theological works, continuing with this until the end of his life.

In the 1330s events took place in the life of the Eastern Church which put Saint Gregory among the most significant universal apologists of Orthodoxy, and brought him great renown as a teacher of hesychasm.

About the year 1330 the learned monk Barlaam had arrived in Constantinople from Calabria, in Italy. He was the author of treatises on logic and astronomy, a skilled and sharp-witted orator, and he received a university chair in the capital city and began to expound on the works of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3), whose “apophatic” (“negative”, in contrast to “kataphatic” or “positive”) theology was acclaimed in equal measure in both the Eastern and the Western Churches. Soon Barlaam journeyed to Mt. Athos, where he became acquainted with the spiritual life of the hesychasts. Saying that it was impossible to know the essence of God, he declared mental prayer a heretical error. Journeying from Mount Athos to Thessalonica, and from there to Constantinople, and later again to Thessalonica, Barlaam entered into disputes with the monks and attempted to demonstrate the created, material nature of the light of Tabor (i.e. at the Transfiguration). He ridiculed the teachings of the monks about the methods of prayer and about the uncreated light seen by the hesychasts.

Saint Gregory, at the request of the Athonite monks, replied with verbal admonitions at first. But seeing the futility of such efforts, he put his theological arguments in writing. Thus appeared the “Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts” (1338). Towards the year 1340 the Athonite ascetics, with the assistance of the saint, compiled a general response to the attacks of Barlaam, the so-called “Hagiorite Tome.” At the Constantinople Council of 1341 in the church of Hagia Sophia Saint Gregory Palamas debated with Barlaam, focusing upon the nature of the light of Mount Tabor. On May 27, 1341 the Council accepted the position of Saint Gregory Palamas, that God, unapproachable in His Essence, reveals Himself through His energies, which are directed towards the world and are able to be perceived, like the light of Tabor, but which are neither material nor created. The teachings of Barlaam were condemned as heresy, and he himself was anathemized and fled to Calabria.

But the dispute between the Palamites and the Barlaamites was far from over. To these latter belonged Barlaam’s disciple, the Bulgarian monk Akyndinos, and also Patriarch John XIV Kalekos (1341-1347); the emperor Andronicus III Paleologos (1328-1341) was also inclined toward their opinion. Akyndinos, whose name means “one who inflicts no harm,” actually caused great harm by his heretical teaching. Akyndinos wrote a series of tracts in which he declared Saint Gregory and the Athonite monks guilty of causing church disorders. The saint, in turn, wrote a detailed refutation of Akyndinos’ errors. The patriarch supported Akyndinos and called Saint Gregory the cause of all disorders and disturbances in the Church (1344) and had him locked up in prison for four years. In 1347, when John the XIV was replaced on the patriarchal throne by Isidore (1347-1349), Saint Gregory Palamas was set free and was made Archbishop of Thessalonica.

In 1351 the Council of Blachernae solemnly upheld the Orthodoxy of his teachings. But the people of Thessalonica did not immediately accept Saint Gregory, and he was compelled to live in various places. On one of his travels to Constantinople the Byzantine ship fell into the hands of the Turks. Even in captivity, Saint Gregory preached to Christian prisoners and even to his Moslem captors. The Hagarenes were astonished by the wisdom of his words. Some of the Moslems were unable to endure this, so they beat him and would have killed him if they had not expected to obtain a large ransom for him. A year later, Saint Gregory was ransomed and returned to Thessalonica.

Saint Gregory performed many miracles in the three years before his death, healing those afflicted with illness. On the eve of his repose, Saint John Chrysostom appeared to him in a vision. With the words “To the heights! To the heights!” Saint Gregory Palamas fell asleep in the Lord on November 14, 1359. In 1368 he was canonized at a Constantinople Council under Patriarch Philotheus (1354-1355, 1364-1376), who compiled the Life and Services to the saint.

(source: OCA) ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

5 months ago

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that we will start with Presanctified Liturgies from next week. The church of st Kentigern in Govan will have Presanctified Liturgy tomorrow, Friday 22nd at 7.00 am for those who are able to attend.

Please keep checking our facebook page for service updates and for interesting articles concerning Lent and Pascha.

On Saturday, Br Basil will serve Matins at 10.00 am, and on Sunday we will have Liturgy at 8.00 am followed by tea and coffee.

We look forward to seeing you all in the weekend! 🙂 ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

5 months ago

Dear all! There will be Morning Prayer with Br Basil at 10.00 am this Saturday (23rd), followed by tea and coffee.

On Sunday, we will celebrate Divine Liturgy at 8.00 am. There will be tea and coffee afterwards.

On Monday 25th, we will celebrate the Great feast of the Annunciation of our Lady, so we will have Liturgy at 10.00 am followed by a light lunch. Fish is allowed on this day.

Our first Presanctified Liturgy will take place on Friday the 29th at 7.00 pm.

We look forward to seeing you. ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow

5 months ago

Dear all! On Saturday 16th Br Basil will lead Readers' Matins at 10.00 am followed by tea and biscuits.

This Sunday, is Sunday of Orthodoxy, and we have been kindly invited by Fr George Bliortu of the Romanian Orthodox church in Shettleston to celebrate together. Therefore, there will not be Liturgy in the chapel that day but in Shettleston. The Liturgy will start at 10.00 am and Russkaya Cappella will be there to sing at the service. We hope that many of you are able to come.

There will be a meal afterwards in the hall.

Address: 111 Killin Street, Glasgow, G32 9AH ... See MoreSee Less

Orthodox Community of the Archangel Gabriel, Glasgow published a note.

5 months ago

AN INTRODUCTION TO LENTMetropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

This talk was given by Metropolitan Anthony to the London Group of the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius and their friends on Saturday, 17 February 1968. It was taken down in shorthand, transcribed, corrected by Metropolitan Anthony and published at the time in booklet form by the Fellowship, but has long been out of print. The editor of the original booklet mentioned in his introduction that 'because of the large crowds the meeting at Saint Basil's House (the London centre of the Fellowship) had to be transferred to the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Notting Hill.'

Contrary to what many think or feel, Lent is a time of joy. It is a time when we come back to life. It is a time when we shake off what is bad and dead in us in order to become able to live, to live with all the vastness, all the depth, and all the intensity to which we are called. Unless we understand this quality of joy in Lent, we will make of it a monstrous caricature, a time when in God's own name we make our life a misery. This notion of joy connected with effort, with ascetical endeavour, with strenuous effort may indeed seem strange, and yet it runs through the whole of our spiritual life, through the life of the Church and the life of the Gospel.

The Kingdom of God is something to be conquered. It is not simply given to those who leisurely, lazily wait for it to come. To those who wait for it in that spirit, it will come indeed: it will come at midnight; it will come like the Judgement of God, like the thief who enters when he is not expected, like the bridegroom, who arrives while the foolish virgins are asleep. This is not the way in which we should await Judgement and the Kingdom. Here again we need to recapture an attitude of mind which usually we can't manage to conjure up out of our depth, something which had become strangely alien to us: the joyful expectation of the Day of the Lord - in spite of the fact that we know this Day will be a Day of judgement. It may strike us as strange to hear that in Church we proclaim the Gospel - the 'good news' - of judgement, and yet we do. We proclaim that the Day of the Lord is not fear, but hope, and declare together with the spirit of the Church: 'Come, Lord Jesus, and come soon' (cf. Rev. 22.20). So long as we are incapable of speaking in these terms, we lack something important in our Christian consciousness. We are still, whatever we may say, pagans dressed up in evangelical garments. We are still people for whom God is a God outside of us, for whom his coming is darkness and fear, and whose judgement is not our redemption but our condemnation, for whom to meet the Lord is a dread event and not the event we long and live for. Unless we realise this, then Lent cannot be a joy, since Lent brings with it both judgement and responsibility: we must judge ourselves in order to change, in order to become able to meet the Day of the Lord, the Resurrection, with an open heart, with faith, ready to rejoice in the fact that he has come. Every coming of the Lord is judgement.

The Fathers draw a parallel between Christ and Noah. They say that the presence of Noah in his generation was at the same time condemnation and salvation. It was condemnation because the presence of one man who remained faithful, of just one man who was a saint of God, was evidence that holiness was possible and that those who were sinners, those who had rejected God and turned away from him, could have done otherwise. So the presence of a righteous man was judgement and condemnation upon his time. Yet it was also the salvation of his time, because it was only thanks to him that God looked with mercy on mankind. And the same is true of the coming of the Lord.

There is also another joy in judgement. Judgement is not something that falls upon us from outside. Yes, the day will come when we will stand before God and be judged; but while our pilgrimage still continues, while we still live in the process of becoming, while there still lies ahead of us the road that leads us towards the fullness of the stature of Christ, towards our vocation, then judgement must be pronounced by ourselves. There is a constant dialogue within us throughout our lives. You remember the parable in which Christ says: 'Make your peace with your adversary while you are on the way' (Mt. 5.25). Some of the spiritual writers have seen in the adversary not the devil (with whom we cannot make our peace, with whom we are not to come to terms), but our conscience, which throughout life walks apace with us and never leaves us in peace. Our conscience is in continuous dialogue with us, gainsaying us at every moment, and we must come to terms with it because otherwise the moment will come when we finally reach the Judge, and then our adversary will become our accuser, and we will stand condemned. So while we are on the road, judgement is something which goes on constantly within ourselves, a dialogue, a dialectical tension between our thoughts and our emotions and our feelings and our actions which stand in judgement before us and before whom we stand in judgement. But in this respect we very often walk in darkness, and this darkness is the result of our darkened mind, of our darkened heart, of the darkening of our eye, which should be clear.

It is only if the Lord himself sheds his light into our soul and upon our life, that we can begin to see what is wrong and what is right in us. There is a remarkable passage in the writings of John of Kronstadt, a Russian priest of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, in which he says that God does not reveal to us the ugliness of our souls unless he can see in us sufficient faith and sufficient hope for us not to be broken by the vision of our own sins. In other words, whenever we see ourselves with our dark side, whenever this knowledge of ourselves increases, we can then understand ourselves more clearly in the light of God, that is, in the light of the divine judgement. This means two things: it means that we are saddened to discover our own ugliness, indeed, but also that we can rejoice at the same time, since God has granted us his trust. He has entrusted to us a new knowledge of ourselves as we are, as he himself always saw us and as, at times, he did not allow us to see ourselves, because we could not bear the sight of truth. Here again, judgement becomes joy, because although we discover what is wrong, yet the discovery is conditioned by the knowledge that God has seen enough faith, enough hope and enough fortitude in us to allow us to see these things, because he knows that now we are able to act. All this is important if we want to understand that joy and Lent can go together. Otherwise the constant, insistent effort of the Church - and of the word of God - to make us aware of what is wrong in us can lead us to despair and to darkness, until finally we have been brought so low that we are no longer capable of meeting the Resurrection of Christ with joy, because we realise - or imagine that we realise - that the Resurrection has nothing to do with us. We are in darkness, God is in light. We see nothing but our judgement and condemnation at the very moment when we should be emerging out of darkness into the saving act of God, which is both our judgement and our salvation.

The Orthodox Church introduces Lent with a series of preparatory weeks in which the readings of the Gospel lead us step by step from outer darkness, as it were, to the point of judgement. I would like to remind you quickly of these stages. The first, dramatic stage in which we find ourselves consists in the fact that we are blind and yet are unaware of our blindness. We are in darkness and are unaware that this darkness is within and around us. Our eye is dark and darkens all that is inside us, while we remain unaware of it. The first reading from the Gospel that confronts us with this aspect of our preparation for Lent is the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man at the gate of Jericho, a man who either had lost his sight or was born blind, but was left there in the darkness, in the outer darkness. There was no light for him, there was no life for him, either, and there was no joy for him. He probably had come to terms with his distress. He continued to exist, since he could not live. He continued to exist day after day thanks to the cold, indifferent charity of passers-by. But one thing made his misery both dramatic and tragic: he lived in the time of Jesus. More than once Bartimaeus must have heard of this man of God who had come to the world, who was healing and renewing people and things, a man who had opened the eye of blind men, who had given sight to the man born blind. The presence of the possibility of salvation, of an impossible healing, must have made his darkness even darker. Possible it was, if God came his way, yet impossible, because how could he find the itinerant preacher and healer who never was still, never in the same place? How could a blind man keep pace with him? Darkness came into his awareness because there was a possibility that he might see. His despair became deeper than ever before, because there was hope. And so, when Christ came near him he could ask for healing from the very depth of his despair and from the very depth of a total, passionate longing for salvation. The coming of God had made him aware of darkness as he had never been before, aware as never before of the tragedy which he lived. This is the first step, which we must accept and which we find so difficult to accept: we must face our true situation, not consoling ourselves with the thought that we have some sort of life within us that can replace divine life.

We must accept that we are in darkness as far as the light of God is concerned. And then we must do something about it. First of all we must become aware of the fact that without light we are lost, because the darkness in which we are left is death, the absence of God. But when it comes to doing something, there are two things that stand in our way. First of all, we will not act unless we are aware that we are in a desperate situation. If we are not aware that it is really a question of life and death, of the only thing that matters, then we will do nothing. We will pray God to do something. We will hope that even though we are not even praying, he will come and act. But it is only out of a sense of deadly urgency that we can begin to act, like Bartimaeus, whom no one could stop from crying out, shouting for help, since he knew that this was the decisive moment. Christ was passing by. In a minute he would be gone and the darkness would become permanent, irremediable. Another thing that prevents us from doing something is the way we are afraid of people. I remember a man in prison who told me how marvelous it was to be found out, because, as he said, 'So long as I had not been found out, I spent all my time, an my effort, trying to look as though I was alright. The moment I was caught I felt, "Now I can choose: I can either remain what I was, a thief and a cheat, or else I can change. Now I am free to become different, and no one will be any more surprised than they were to discover that I was a thief."' As long as you have appearances to maintain it is terribly difficult to change, and this is what the parable of Zacchaeus, which follows the story the Blind Man, brings out so clearly.

The problem of Zacchaeus was this: he wanted to see Christ. Would he take the risk of being ridiculous or not? To be ridiculous is a lot more difficult than to be disapproved of, because when we are sharply disapproved of we can hide behind our own pride. We feel that we stand against the whole world, even if this world is so small that it is not even worth noticing. But to be laughed at, to be ridiculed, is something which is beyond the courage of most of us. Can you imagine a bank manager in a small town climbing a tree in the midst of a big crowd, with all the boys whistling, pointing at him with their fingers, making cat-cries and the rest, just for the sake of meeting Christ? Well, that was the position of Zacchaeus, the rich man. But for him meeting Christ was so essential, such a question of death and life, that he was prepared to disregard the ridicule, the humiliation, attached to his action - and he saw Christ. There are two ways out of our dependence upon human opinions and human judgements. We must either do what Zacchaeus did, accept humiliation because it is essential to be saved, or we can let our hearts be hardened, and accept the pride that will negate the judgement of others. There is no third way. There is only the spontaneous oscillation which we all experience, knowing what is right, knowing what is wrong, and never deciding for either right or wrong because whenever we turn to the wrong we are afraid of the judgement of God, while whenever we turn to the right we are afraid of the judgement of men. Pride or humility are the only two paths by which we can leave this situation. And then there is the problem of God's judgement.

The story of Zacchaeus shows how we can oscillate between the judgement of men and the judgement of God. Now comes the opportunity for another move. Isn't it time, when we are confronted with life and death, for us to judge ourselves and not be completely dependent upon others? We see this in the Publican and the Pharisee - the first, sharp, definite judgement which is both human and divine, because both coincide. If we ask ourselves how it is possible that the Pharisee could be so proud in spite of knowing so much about God and things divine, how it was that the Publican could be so truly humble in spite of being simple, I think we can find the answer in this: the terms of reference for the Pharisee were found in the law, the letter of the law. One can always be right as far as the law and the letter is concerned. One can always fulfil rules and commandments. One can always have 'done one's duty' and feel irreproachable. The terms of reference of the Publican, however, were different. He was not a good man. What he knew of the law was this: certain aspects of the law condemned him because he knew what he was like. Certain other aspects of the law he could use in order to extort whatever he wanted out of other people. The law for him was a powerful, cruel, hard instrument in his hands or in the hands of God. And as he knew life, he knew perfectly well that the only salvation from the law was human mercy, human compassion, a human approach and attitude to one another. That was the only thing that could save a debtor from prison or save an extortioner from the judgement of the magistrate: a human touch. And so his terms of reference were in tension between a law which was inexorable, implacable, always a power that could not be fulfilled because he was too weak for it and, on the other hand, a law that could be used with such cruelty against others - and then the human relationship that could redeem all. The Publican's terms of reference were people, his neighbours, including that invisible neighbour, God. This is why he could stand at the threshold of the temple and beat his breast, though hopelessly: in spite of all the logic of things, he knew that in his world of hard, cruel, implacable men there were moments when all things become possible, for a man can be a man even when he is hardened and cruel. And so it was with God. The law was there to condemn him, but God was 'someone'. He was not only the law-giver. He was not only the one who made sure that the law is observed. He was free within his law to act with humanity. This knowledge made the Publican humble before God, because his terms of reference contained hope, and the object of his hope was mercy, pity, charity. This made all things possible, in spite of the fact that it is so humiliating to be loved and to be saved by love.

The same truth appears in another way in the next parable, that of the Prodigal Son. Here again we find two men, one who is righteous and another who is unrighteous. The Prodigal Son is in a way another aspect of the Publican, and the elder brother is the same as the Pharisee. But here we are confronted not only with the tension between a law that is objective, and therefore dead, and mercy, which is subjective because alive and personal, but we are confronted with the theme of sin itself. What does it mean to be in sin? It can be clearly defined in terms of the short conversation between the son and the father at the beginning of the parable. And if you want to put it in words more modern and cruder than the Gospel, it really amounts to this: 'Father, I want to live, and you stand in my way. As long as you are alive the goods are yours. Die, for all intents and purposes. Let us suppose that you are already dead. I have no time to wait until you die in fact. Let us agree that as far as I am concerned I have no father left, but I have his goods because I have inherited them'. This is the sort of speech which we find, with the same or perhaps lesser hardness, on so many occasions between children and parents, between people who are related to one another in one way or another. It really involves saying: 'As a person you do not matter. You stand in my way. The only thing that is of value to me is what I can get out of you. And so that I may get all I can from you, you must surrender even your existence. You must accept not to be'. This is sin, sin with regard to God, and sin with regard to man. With regard to God we are happy to take everything he gives and then turn him out of our lives. We are happy to go into a strange country to spend all he has given, while denying his existence with the same ruthlessness with which, in Holy Week, the soldiers covered the eyes of Christ so he could not see, so that they would be able to laugh at him more freely. The same is so often true of our relationships with people. And this is also sin. This is the very point: to rule the other out because he doesn't matter. What matters are things - and the use I can make of them.

And then there is another aspect in this parable: hunger, distress, loneliness, all those things which we so hate in life, and yet which come to us as our only salvation, because as long as we are surrounded with comfort, we don't notice our true situation. We prove unable to move inward and to see that we are lonely in the midst of this crowd and that we are poor in the midst of all this richness. It is important for us to realise that all that comes our way which is bitter, which is hard, which is difficult, which we hate with all our greed and with all or fear - that is our salvation. To be deprived is essential for us. And if we are not deprived, we must learn to deprive ourselves to the point of becoming aware that we are face to face with the living God in the final, total nakedness and dereliction which is man's condition when he does not hide behind things. We misjudge our situation so badly in this respect. There is a beautiful passage in the Tales of the Hassidim translated by Martin Buber, in which he tells about a man, a rabbi, who lived in appalling misery and yet every morning and every evening thanked God for his generous gifts. One of those who heard his prayer said to him, 'How can you be so hypocritical? Don't you see that God has given you nothing?' And he said, 'No, you are mistaken. God looked on me and thought, "This man, to be saved, needs hunger and thirst and cold and loneliness and illness and dereliction." And he has given me these things in abundance'. This is the true, Christian attitude, the attitude of a believer for whom the soul really matters. And this is what the return of the Prodigal Son to himself shows us. It also shows us another thing. The Prodigal Son comes back, having rehearsed his confession, and says: 'I have sinned against heaven and against thee. I am no longer worthy to be called thy son. Let me be like the hired servants'. But the father does not allow him to say the last words. Each of us can be a prodigal son, a prodigal daughter, an unworthy son, an unworthy daughter, an unworthy friend. What no one can do is to adjust himself to a relationship, however worthy, below his rank. No one who is an unworthy son can become a worthy hireling. We cannot step down from our birthright, from the right which love gave us in the first place. And therefore we are not to look for compromise and for legal readjustments with God and say, 'I can't give you my heart but I will behave well. I can't love you but I will serve you', and so forth. This is a lie, a relationship which God is not prepared to accept and will refuse to accept.

The last step on our way towards Lent is one which is shown to us in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. It sets before us the following problem: what are we going to judge and to be judged about? And the answer is absolutely clear. In all this process of judgement we may have thought that we will be judged on whether we have a deep knowledge of God, whether we are theologians, whether we live in the transcendental realm. Well, this parable makes it absolutely clear that God's question to us, before we can enter into any kind of divine reality, is this: have you been human? If you have not been human, then don't imagine that you will be able to become like God-become-man, like the God-Man Jesus, who is the measure of all things. This is very important, because the type of judgement which we are constantly making is a falsified judgement. We notice how pious we are, how much knowledge of God we have, questions belonging to the realm of what an English writer has called 'Churchianity' as contrasted with Christianity. But the question which Christ asks us is this: Are you human or sub-human? In other words, are you capable of love or not? I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was naked, I was in prison, I was ill. What did you do about it? Were you able to respond with your heart to my misery, were you able to respond at a cost and with all your humanity - or not? At this point we must remember what we have said before concerning the Pharisee and the Publican. Christ does not ask us to fulfil the law. He will not count the number of loaves of bread and of cups of water and the number of visits we pay to hospitals and so forth. He will measure our heart's response. And this is made clear from the words of Christ in another part of St John's Gospel, where he says, 'And when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants'. The doing means nothing. We become human at the moment when, like the Publican, like the Prodigal Son, we have entered into the realm of broken-heartedness, into the realm of love which is a response both to divine love and to human suffering. This cannot be measured. We can never, on that level, say, 'I am safe. I will come to the judgement and be one of the sheep', because it will not be a question of whether or not we have accomplished the law, but whether this law has become so much ourselves that it has grown into the mystery of love. There, at that point, we will be on the fringe, on the very threshold of entering into that spring of life, that renewal of life, that newness of all things, which is Lent. We will have gone through all these stages of judgement, and will have emerged from blindness and from the law into a vision of the mysterious relationship which may be called 'mercy' or 'grace'. And we will be face to face with being human. But we must remember that to be human does not mean to be 'like us' but 'like Christ'. With this we can enter Lent and begin to experience through the readings of the Church, through the prayers of the Church, through the process of repentance, that discovery of the acts of divine grace which alone can lead us towards growth into the full stature of the likeness of Christ. I have brought you to the gate. Now you must walk into it.

Sourozh 1987. N. 27. P. 3-13 ... See MoreSee Less