The Rosary for the Orthodox - IV

By way of introduction to the Third Joyous Mystery of the Rosary, please remember the scripture: Jesus was born in to a family that owned its own business. Jesus was born in a manger not because no inn would house a poor pregnant woman, but rather because the inns were full.  Church tradition tells us that Joseph was chosen by Mary's family because he was wealthy enough to care for her. He was much older than she, having at least one fully grown son already.  Some traditional images of the holy family (such as the one below, by Giotto) show St Joseph with grey hair.  Please get all that modern political theory about a poor homeless family out of your Christmas meditations.

The Rosary for the Orthodox III

The second of the five Joyous Mysteries is known as the Visitation and commemorates the visit of our Blessed Lady to St Elizabeth, the mother of the Forerunner, John Baptist.  The Visitation is a later-comer to the Calendar and devotional life of the Western Church, having been introduced by St Bonaventure in 1263. The Franciscans, in their devotions to the Ever-Virgin, spread the feast throughout the Church. It was extended to the entire Western Church by Pope Urban VI. The feast, with a vigil and an octave, was assigned to 2 July, the day after the octave of St. John, about the time when Mary returned to Nazareth. It did not arrive in the liturgical East until the mid-19th Century, and it is not, even now, widely celebrated. It is reported to have a service approved for use in the Church, but no amount of Googling could find the text of the service, just copies of the same report over and over.

As is related in the Gospel text, when Mary said "Shalom!" the infant prophet, still in the womb of his mother, leapt for joy. Hearing of the baby's action in utero the Blessed Virgin Mary uttered her poem in praise of God, the Magnificat. In the Byzantine rite this is the Matins Gospel for nearly all the feasts of the Theotokos. The Magnificat is sung as the 9th Ode of the Canon in every Matins service (it is part of Vespers in the West) and even though in most parochial practice all the other parts of the Canon get skipped for expediency, the 9 Ode is still sung in full.  Since this form is familiar to most users of the Byzantine rite, I will use it for the meditation on this mystery.

When away from a prayerbook and praying this mystery, I use the embolism as below.

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, bring joy even within thy womb. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

As before, the introductory comment and the closing prayer comes from The St Ambrose Prayerbook, available from Lancelot Andrewes Press.

The Rosary for the Orthodox - II

The First decade of the Holy Rosary is in honour of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel came to Blessed Mary, the Ever-Virgin, and, greeting her, offered her the chance to become the mother of her Creator. Her acceptance of this greeting is the beginning of our salvation. One traditional way of meditation on the mysteries is to add a verse of scripture.  In these posts I will be added a liturgical verse from the Byzantine Rite, to borrow from Ghostbusters, I will be "Crossing the Streams".

Another way to add to the meditation is to add a short phrase, called an embolism, to indicate the mystery after the words, "blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus..."  For example, in this mystery, you might say the Hail, Mary like this:

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, announced to thee by the Archangel Gabriel. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

I find this method very useful when I am walking and praying the Rosary, as on my way to work.

The introductory comment and the closing prayer on each post comes from The St Ambrose Prayerbook, available from Lancelot Andrewes Press.

Intro to the Rosary for Orthodox

So, the Rosary...

Introduction

When I was exploring Orthodoxy and after I converted, there was a massive jettisoning of anything Western. Any of my friends or long-time readers of the several incarnations of this blog can confirm this. Bye bye Mr. Francis; bye bye Mass; bye bye Mass Cards, bye bye Advent and Advent Wreaths; bye bye novenas; bye bye almost all western saints (even pre-schism ones); bye bye only-blessed-but-not-Saint Augustine, etc, etc. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! The Rosary was not, however, only more jetsam. A member of the Convert Mailing List, responding to yet another "Flush-The-West" rant, pointed out that "the Little Psalter of Our Lady" was a favourite of St Seraphim of Sarov.  This came to my mind recently - nearly 15 years later - when a member of our Parish visited the Serafimo-Diveesky Monastery where other things related to St Seraphim's devotion to Our Lady came up. So was planted the seed for this series of posts.

The Rosary has therefore been a part of my Orthodox journey, although I've not been very faithful in recitation of it. Recently this, too, has changed, for a number of reasons that I won't go into: but let me commend the Rosary to you in this series of posts, as a portal to Paradise and  a bit of it here on Earth, and as sure guard against temptation: a handrail, if you will allow the image, strung by Our Lady along the Ladder of Divine Ascent to make the assay easier for those of us who are weakest in our Spiritual Strength.

These posts will not go deeply into the history of this devotion, but some may note a difference between what I will describe and a the perception, at least, of the traditional Western practice. For the Orthodox of Eastern and Western Rites, there is no practice of affective piety. Meditative "visualization" is not done. The imagination and the emotions are fallen faculties and not appropriate for devotion.  It is, of course, ok to have emotions or an imagination: but these are not to be aroused as such. Such arousal is can be a vehicle for the demons to lead us deeper into human addiction to the passions and pride: confusing emotions for piety is a skill humans have honed to infinite sharpness. Since the use of mental images is spiritually dangerous, things like making mental "stage plays" of the Rosary's Fifteen Mysteries are right out.  The Rosary must be used in different way - as will be seen in these posts.

You will, perhaps, be familiar with this form of the beads used for counting the prayers:

A Rosary I've made out of sandalwood and Tibetan yak bone.

A circle of beads is divided into five sets of ten, with single, larger beads interspersed. From the "bottom" of the Rosary hangs a pendant of a cross, a larger bead, and three smaller ones in a single strand.  Each section of ten beads is called a decade.  The traditional prayer counted on the smaller beads is the Hail Mary, or the Ave from the Latin Ave Maria. The larger beads mark an Our Father. One complete decade, then, is an Our Father and ten Aves. At the end is added a "Glory be to the Father" before continuing on to the next decade. One other prayer is used, the Apostle's Creed, which is said on the Cross itself. There are some prayers used by tradition at the ending of a recitation: we'll get to those by the end of this series of posts. In writing about the Rosary for Orthodox we will begin with the Holy Cross and proceed, in a series of posts, through the 15 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, dedicating one post to each Mystery. There is, in Roman Catholic tradition, one other prayer used, called the Fatima Prayer, because it is believed to have been given by Mary to the visionaries in Fatima. We will discuss this prayer in a later post, along with the five mysteries added to the Rosary by the Sainted Pope John Paul II. I will try to do two posts a week, God willing, on Sunday and Wednesday: but you see this post is coming on Thursday, so forgive me as I'm already late!

Text of the Prayers Used in the Rosary

Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Apostles' Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, 'Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. 

The Lord's Prayer (Our Father)
Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen<

The Angelic Salutation (Hail Mary) 
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Minor Doxology (Glory Be)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Pendant or Introductory Prayers to the Rosary 

While holding the Holy Cross in your hand, make the sign of the Cross with it on yourself saying,  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Then, still holding the Cross, say  The Apostles' Creed.

Holding the large bead nearest the Cross, said an Our Father.

On each of the next three small beads, say an Ave. It is traditional to offer each one, in order, as a prayer for an increase of the virtues of faith, hope, and love.  You may add a short personal prayer for each, eg:

O my God, I believe in thee and what thou hast teach me through thy Holy Church, but I am a sinner. I believe, Lord: help my unbelief.  Hail, Mary, full of grace, etc.

Lord, I hope in the and in thy promises: but I am lead astray by earthly vanities and temptations. Help me to trust fully and solely in thee.  Hail, Mary, full of grace, etc

Lord, I love thee poorly. Help me to love thee with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength, and with all my mind; Grant me to love my neighbour as thou lovest him. Hail, Mary, full of grace, etc.

Then holding the chain (or string, as the case may be) say the Glory be.

At this point I find it helpful, by way of reminder to the aged, to announce to myself, which Mysteries I'm about to pray and to recite them as a list.

The Joyous Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary:
The Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation of our Lord, the Finding of Our Lord in the Temple. 

The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary:
The Agony in Gethsemane, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the  Carrying of the Cross, the Death and Burial of Jesus. 

The Glorious Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary:
The Resurrection of Jesus, the Ascension of Jesus, the Coming of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin.

Here's the whole series:

The Rosary Series

• Intro & Opening Prayers
• The Joyous Mysteries
• The Luminous Mysteries
• The Dolorous Mysteries
• The Glorious Mysteries
• Closing Prayers

Chop wood, pray office.

From 6 - 12 August, I was on retreat at the first Western Rite  monastery established in the Antiochian Archdiocese.  The Monastery of St Laurence & Our Lady of Glastonbury is located about three hours outside of Denver to the South and West, back up in the mountains, near Canon City, CO.  Remote: it is some 12 miles down a dirt road to get there.  It is a remote valley with a creek zig-zagging back and forth, mountain sheep, deer, and other wildlife. I was told that there are two complete ecosystems in the valley, one high desert and the other mountainous evergreen forest. What I noticed mostly were the sky and the stars: I've not seen the Milky Way in forever!  Also, early in the afternoons, the wind would blow for several hours, sometimes on into the evening.  The campus includes the Basilica, in which one finds all the monastic cells - for Fr. Prior Theodore and others who by your prayers will get there - and the chapel, as well as a small refectory and the bookstore.  There is also a lodge named for St Herman, that is the guest space with rooms (private and dorms) and a larger kitchen.   There are a couple of outbuildings, and an Anchorhold for the one nun who lives there, Mother Sophia.

I had planned the retreat long before His Eminence, Mtr Joseph, granted canonical status to the community there.  All the attendees as as well as the monastics were enjoying the news.

There were two different retreats during the week.  The first, from Fri - Sun, was the annual pilgrimage on honor of St Laurence, who is the patron of the community.  When he was being burned for his faith, he rather famously quipped, "Turn me over, I'm done on this side."

Saturday morning at the festal mass in honor of St Laurence, Br Nicholas James made his oblation: becoming an oblate of St Benedict.  An Oblate is a member of a specific Benedictine Community, who lives in the world rather than full time at the monastery. An Oblate is under vows, but they are renewed annually and is attached to a specific community/monastery under the monastic superior.  When the community was in formation, some folks who had been Oblates attached to other monasteries petitioned to transfer in and a group of novices were gathered.  The first novice to "graduate" after a year in the Novitiate and make his Oblation was Br Stephen. Br Nicholas was the third having made his oblation minutes after Br. Huw Raphael.

 -

After Mass and a meal was the talk.  Yours truly was honored and surprised to be the presenter for this. The scheduled speaker for both events had suffered congestive heart failure and, while he was, thank God, in good health, coming up to 7600 feet above sea level was probably not a good idea.  As we were discussing what to do about this, Fr Prior decided that I was on... Obedience is.  Or I am only an egg.  Or something like that.  Anyway: I did the talk.  I doubt you'll find it of much interest, but the recording is on my SoundCloud.  After the talk and Vespers there was a good discussion with Fr Prior and I as sort of  panel with questions that started about my presentation, but branched out into other areas.

After the Pilgrimage ended at lunch on Sunday, there was a second retreat from Sunday evening until Tuesday at Lunch.  This was for the Oblates and novices as well as for people interested in that program. We had 9 folks including 3 guests where were exploring.  The monastics were present, of course, and also our Retreat Master, Fr Mark Rowe, who is the dean of ROCOR's Western Rite, One thing I did notice: the Western Rite folks are cross-jurisdictional and, unlike some eastern folks, very open to folks from other rites coming along.  ROCOR even cross-trains their clergy in rites.

Monday morning, after Matins we held a Chapter Meeting.  Several of the brothers were dispatched to gather wood for the winter.  This is the second part of St Benedict's motto: Ora et Labore - Prayer and Work. I think we did a good job gathering at least a couple of days' wood.

Fr Mark gave three talks, one Monday night and two on Tuesday.  His topic can best be summed up like this: The Rule of St Benedict is a cheat sheet for the Christian life.  The Oblate is called in no other way than to be a Christian in the world, as the Monk is called to be a Christian in the monastery.

Monday night, with Father arriving late from the airport, we just had a brief intro to the topic.  Tuesday we got into the meat of it, delving into portions of the rule and discussing them in the context of our life in the world. Father's two main talks are also posted on my SoundCloud: Part 1, Part 2.

In addition to the Mass for St Laurence and the Mass of Sunday, there was also a ferial low Mass on Monday, a Requiem on Tuesday, and a votive Mass for mission on Wednesday.  Since daily communion is not an Eastern thing (Correction: I've been informed that other than lent, Daily Liturgy is common in ER monasteries), it is something I have greatly missed!  In addition to the Masses, of course, the Rule of St Benedict also requires the Daily Office of both Monastics and Oblates.  So every day there was sung the daily office throughout the day, ending with Compline, sanctifying the time, turning all things in the Eucharist.  The daily offices are the "catholicked" BCP rite akin, at this time, to my own Daily Office Website. Br Nicholas and I served as part of the Schola, chanting at Mass, but every one's voices blended so very beautiful in the acoustic space of the chapel.  There was Gregorian chant as well  as four-part metrical hymnody. In addition to the services at the Monastery, I was also blessed to attend Mass for the Transfiguration at St Mark's Church in Denver.

Liturgically have to admit it was a great joy: moving, even, to the point of tears at one point.  I've not served a very catholic-minded low-mass or any western liturgy since leaving Smoky Mary's in Manhattan. I make that out to be Carnival Sunday 1989, or so. Of course I've served less-Catholic minded liturgies in a lot of places since then.  But anyway, using (essentially) the Peoples' Anglican Missal and the Hymnal 1940, this was a great joy to me.

I do ask your prayers as I continue to discern what God wants of me, or, as the vows say, "ongoing conversion in the spirit of the Holy Rule."  Fr Theodore brought me back to the Denver airport on Wednesday and I was back home and in bed before midnight and back at work the next day, thanks be to God.

If the directions to your monastery include the words,
"twelve miles down the dirt road, past the cattle gate"...
you might be a redneck.

Report from the Diocesan Assembly

I wrote this for the Parish Newsletter.

This year’s Assembly of the Diocese of the West, at which I was honored to serve as your lay delegate, was only a brief event: just a couple of hours time before the All American Council rather than the two days of meetings and discussions that would have been normal.  We gathered in a meeting room off the main All American Council room.  

His Eminence, our beloved Archbishop Benjamin, spoke of several very important topics in his opening address.  In discussing recent changes in the government's definition of marriage he said we may need to come to a place where clergy no longer sign a secular marriage license.  This suggestion was greeted with applause.  The Archbishop spoke of many forthcoming clergy retirements in the diocese, for which we seem to be unprepared or unwilling to accept.  He noted,  “It is one thing for a priest to die ‘with his boots on’ but another thing entirely for the parish to die with him.”  His Eminence was pleased to note that there were several parishes around the diocese that were growing, but many felt as if the overall attitude was “would the last one out please be sure and turn out the power”.  He urged us all to read the seven letters to the seven churches at the opening of the St John’s Apocalypse and to see if we found our parish in any of those letters. (These seven letter comprise the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Revelation of St John.)

His Grace, Bishop Daniel, expressed his thanksgiving to God for his new ministry and for the the support he has received from the clergy and laity of the diocese, and from Archbishop Benjamin.

A Diocesan budget was the only major item presented to the delegates for a vote.  All other items had been sent to the Diocesans Council to relieve time for the All American Council.  The budget’s main change was a move from an “head tax” to a proportional giving that would be shared by all the parishes in the diocese.  Over three years all parishes will be equalized in terms of the percentage they give to the diocese.  This will mirror the national budget: with each diocese giving a percentage of its budget to the Chancery.

After 25 years of discussions, this change passed unanimously.  This irenic mindset was present throughout our discussions as well as at the All American Council, as you will have heard already.

Fr Andreas Blom presented to the assembly about his mission parishes in Ashland, OR, and Redding, CA.  These are a study in contrasts: with the one in the Ashland is growing by leaps and bounds and finding themselves in need of a new building!  They have a young and dynamic congregation, with hearts and minds turned towards God’s mission of Evangelism in the world.  The mission in Redding is rather different: they are faithful, coming to services, but dwindling.  

That these very different communities are both until same priest seemed to me to be a sign that to some very great degree it rests on the community to manifest God’s mission in the world although too often we, the laity, like to leave it up to the priest.  His Eminence's opening address underscored that one of the hallmarks of the OCA was the previously unheard-of decision to give the laity a voice in the governance of the Church. If we do not take up our responsibilities to God's missions some huge portion of the Church is shirking its duties.

Which one of the seven parishes in  St John’s Apocalypse are we?  We’re not dynamic and growing, but we’re not yet to the point of “last one out turn off the electricity.”  But when I look out from the choir over an empty church on a festival or a vigil, I think we are.  We all have excuses about our life in this great city, but to one of the Churches in the Apocalypse, Christ says, “You are neither hot nor cold.  Because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.”  I don’t want to be lukewarm at all. I thought of our Annual Meeting this year when Raul asked why there was no money for mission or outreach (Evangelism) in our budget. As someone mentioned to me recently at our fellowship meal, “That was like the voice of God speaking to us.”  Why do we not have that outreach? I thought also of the negative reaction of my fellow council members when I wanted to post a sign outside with our service schedule and inviting everyone in to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  We don’t have a private club.  If we are not reaching out to bring the world to God, we have no business claiming to be God’s church.

Carnem et Sanguinem (Reponse Series, Part 4)

Pop culture of late has become enamoured with indicating disasters via portameaus: Stormageddon. Snowpocalypse. Sharknado. Despite the number of conservatives in my social media, and the number of hipsters - and conservative hipsters - no one has yet come up with a word for the recent Supreme Court marriage decision. I have been waiting with a certain amount of apprehension for the label or hashtag that should be the title of this post.  Perhaps it is a measure of the seriousness of the topic that as yet no one has come up with a slightly tongue-in-cheek parallel to natural or man made disasters. It may rather be that no one has yet fully processed their feelings enough to make fun of the event.

The most common first reaction I heard was one of several variations on an alliterative phrase with two initial Fs as an opening to a vulgar commentary on "the Gay Agenda".  There were notes posted about a bait-and-switch when discussions of polygamy and polyamory made it into various think-pieces.

To engage this in a theological way we have to dig into the metacontent of our Christians comments: it is exactly the same content as the "No H8" campaign in California. It assumes that anyone who disagrees with me is a "hater".  It does not allow us to imagine the people on the other side are people of good faith attempting to do exactly what they claim. They are not defending an article of religious faith nor are they creating a safe space where their non-traditional families will be allowed visiting rights at one's deathbed.  They are "phobes" or "haters" of all that is good and true.  I've tried to point out in previous essays that the Christian revelation as regards the proper place of man, woman, and sex and marriage is not self-evident. In fact it is quite the reverse in today's world. "The Gays" are not, properly, hating on Christianity if they don't know what it is. Likewise, I wish every defender of traditional marriage would sign up to work on next year's Gay Pride Parade in their location or to volunteer at the local gay community center: a period of such work would do away with any concept of "the Gay Agenda".  To believe in such you have to imagine there is a sort of Gay Illuminati that even the local gays and the HRC don't know about.

As Christians we cannot afford the luxury of enemies. There are, certainly, many people who classify themselves as enemies of the Faith, of the Church, of Christ. There are those who call themselves enemies of more abstract concepts: God, faith, and believers. No matter what they call themselves neither individual Christians "on the street" nor the Church herself can ever afford to see these self-titled enemies as anything other than the one sheep lost in the mountains, the one coin lost in the darkness of the house. As each one of us is a sinner in need of salvation, so are each of them: icons of God may reject him and us but are loved by him all the more. So they must be loved by us all the more. If any one of them are lost at the last day may God have mercy and not require their souls of us for any failure of charity on our part.

We cannot forget this crucial point: Quoniam non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus principes, et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiae, in caelestibus. (Eph VIxii)

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Our enemies, indeed the enemies of all who in good faith seek the Truth, no matter how mistaken they are in their journey, are the common enemies of all God's creation: the demons. This, too, is revelation.  Almost no one believes in demons (to their own peril) but Orthodox Christianity is quite clear: they are the source of our temptations, and that includes the temptation to anger and hate as much as to lust. Someone may be engaged in sin or its promotion but that does not make them our enemies. Their sins, their promotion of sin are only signs that our enemies - and theirs - have been hard at work. The sinner, himself, is not our enemy, no matter how hard he swears he is so.  Rather than hate - rightly reserved for the demons and my own sins - any sinner, weeping at the Church door, desecrating her from the inside, or shooting at her members deserves my pity, my love, my blessing, and my prayers.

If you are deluded by the demons into attacking the truth and I am deluded by the demons into attacking you, we are both lost: for you have attacked God and I have attacked his living icon. Only the demons win and will laugh at us through eternity. Through prayer and love there is a chance that you, at least, can be saved. No matter how they treat us as the Church of Christ, no human being created in the image of God can ever be my enemy.  Else, I will forget to live the Gospel with them, they will not get the saving knowledge of God in Christ, and I too, am damned.

The "No H8" and "LoveWins" campaign will - probably forever - classify all who disagree as "H8ers". Our Christian love must make it clear that this classification is a lie. When our faith is classified as hate, let our lives prove the truth of the Gospel. Let us dig deeply into the sacramental grace  of God's love given us and pray for our enemies, let us love them, let us bless them, let us turn the other cheek. Let us work for the restoration of the icon of Christ in them. Let us also remember that when persecution of any kind falls on the Church it is because of our sins. Let us repent and ask God to take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh and lives more pure to better bear his love into the world.