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This interesting homily allows us to discover some of the attitudes of Severus of Antioch to the vulnerable and disabled of Antioch in his own time. It was the tradition that in the weeks before the Feast of Pascha there would be a collection of fabrics for the benefit of those suffering from leprosy and other skin conditions. Severus urges his congregation to give generously because it is the intention of the heart which matters, and he reminds them that they have not always been generous in the past.

What are the reasons that he gives for such generosity?

1. He considers Christ who became wounded for us, and by these wounds brought about our healing and salvation.
2. The little gift to the one who bears wounds in front of us now should turn our thoughts to the one who was wounded for us so that our service to the least is a service to him.
3. The wounds of leprosy and other conditions remind us that we are all wounded if we consider ourselves before God, and we need healing also.
4. We would love to have been able to care for the body of the Lord Jesus with Joseph of Arimathea, but in front of us we find the possibility to embrace Christ in the least of our sick and suffering brethren.
5. Christ is the Head of his body which includes those who suffer and are disabled.
6. He asks us to serve him in our service to the least.
7. If we wish to be healed, then we need to give something to God, and we give to God in giving to these least.
8. If we wish to avoid ulcers then we need to embrace the brother with ulcers, and in covering his ulcers with the clothing we donate we are preserved from ulcers.
9. We are to participate in the suffering of those who suffer and offer what is no more than the debt which is due to God and to them from our substance.
10. Those whom we serve in this life will remember us and speak for us in the next.

This is an important message for our own times. We are to see Christ in every disabled and suffering person, and to recognise that we share the same union with them and with Christ in the Body of which He is head. To serve the least is to serve Christ, and to see Christ in the least becomes possible as we gain insight into our own brokenness.

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Severus of Antioch – Homily 122 – Extracts

EXHORTATION ON THE USUAL GIFT OF PIECES OF LINEN FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER FROM THE ILLNESS OF LEPROSY OR ARE OTHERWISE SICK.

I remember having urged you, in times past, to bring — not with a miserly heart — fragments of scraps of linen for the necessary service of those who suffer from disease to the point of putting myself before you, interpreting the whole parable, which is in the Gospel, of the man who came down from Jerusalem to Jericho and explaining the meaning of it according to my small abilities.

…

So, you appeared then, on that day, eager and generous people for this gift, yet it was not the same as you appeared in the following year, but even though large in numbers you were small hearted.

…

Why, indeed, do we have such miserable dispositions and are we miserly even for pieces of cloth? Why? — Because we do not knowingly do the divine things, but we see everything with the eyes of the flesh, and, with the eyes of the spirit we see absolutely nothing. For I do not regard the little value of what is given, rather I have regard to the magnificence of the motive, that is, the intention, for which it is given. And seek understanding with love why, once in these days, did the chief of the deacons ascend into the sacred pulpit, and cry out in a public and proper proclamation to the meeting, and remind the congregation to bring this gift and to give pieces of cloth and scraps of linen for those who are corrupted with the disease of elephantiasis, or suffer from leprosy, or are afflicted and sick with other ulcers.

…

The prophet Isaiah, seeing this clearly in advance and with his own eyes and taking up the great audacity of the Jews, who contended against God, of his countrymen, cried out: He himself bears our sins, and it is because of us that he is afflicted with sorrow; and we have considered that he is in pain and wounded and in torment. He himself was wounded because of our iniquities, and he was sick because of our sins; the doctrine of our peace is upon him; it is by his bruising that we have been healed. When the prophet appropriated to himself the boldness and the outrage of his people, which were to take place with regard to the Saviour and our God, Jesus, and that he counted himself with the oppressors, “we ourselves,” he said, “his enemies and his adversaries, we who have wounded, we who have torn, we who have mistreated, it is by these diseases, by these wounds, by the stripes of him who was sick, of him who was wounded, of him who was slapped, that we were healed, so that, with such great salvation from him, the sufferings thereof be for us also a doctrine of peace.”

…

Therefore, this is what the prophet said: The doctrine of our peace is on him; “It is on him, as on a pillar, he said, that the teaching of our peace is written”. And immediately he puts the reason accordingly, and he says: Because it is by his wounds that we have been healed. Now the word: We, has many meanings; it is we who crucified, we who fought in every way, we who outraged and despised without pity. This is why he cried out in the Gospels also, offering us his own example for instruction: Learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Paul also writes what is in agreement with him, saying: For he himself is our peace. Of these salutary sufferings, of these wounds which heal, of the disease which heals and produces strength and health, there is mention shortly in the adorable feast of Easter. Therefore it is also at this time that we urge you to bring help for our wounded brothers, and that even with scraps of cloth only, As for you, when you have regard to the little value of the gift, as I said before, do not forget the motive worthy of God and the reality; have no regard for such or such, nor for him who is corrupted with leprosy and is full of ulcers and is lying on the ground, and do not be loathsome or loathing. But, while you see this one below with the eyes of the body, look up with the eyes of the spirit towards this one, of whom you clearly heard Isaiah prophesy: ​​And he himself was wounded because of our iniquities, and he was sick because of our sins. You honour these wounds, by which you were redeemed from sin; you offer for the sacrifice this blood, which has overwhelmed your iniquity; you heal these wounds, by which you were healed, just as you were wounded by sin. These wounds were incurable, and behold, you were already stricken with death.

…

We hear the Holy Gospels recount that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and a small number of women with them honoured the body of our Saviour with myrrh and with aloes and with a shroud and with sweet spices, at the time of the tomb, and we consider these personages thrice happy, because they have obtained the right to serve the venerable body. And someone may say: “If only I had been in those days, so that I too could touch the holy body and participate in its burial or in some other service!”

Indeed, it is customary for men to proclaim happy what is past and to despise what lies in their power and count it as nothing and neglect it. But you still have now, O man, the power to embrace also the body of Christ, which is more magnificent than to touch it and to serve it. For the ulcer of this brother, who is stretched out in the square, for whom you frequently feel repugnance and whose sight you cannot even bear – but you pass by running and you still say that you yourself have the disgust and the nausea, rising in the air and forgetting your own mire and being puffed up with pride — belongs to the body of that one, first, because Christ is the head of all who have believed, who constitute the Church, and secondly, because he made it clear that he himself is fed through those who are hungry and that he is served through those who are sick: Verily, I tell you, he said, each time you have done it to one of my younger brothers, it is to me that you have done it.

You, therefore, apart from yourself, examine the reality, and, by the example of the reality which is proposed for examination, imagine that you find yourself very ill in your body. And, among your friends, many bring all that concerns your relief and your cure; and this one goes to the doctors; and that one, when you go to the bathroom, goes with you; another brings you and carries you in his hands, and he lays you down on the bed; and another sleeps in your own house during the night, and he shows you food and drink and if anything else is needed; and, to put it simply, they share with each other the care of your illness.

…

Such are also those who see Christ in our brethren, living and sick, and who neglect them and run past them and who are speechless regarding the ancient facts and say: “I wish to heaven I would have lived then, in order to share with Joseph of Arimathea and with the others in the eagerness they brought to the burial and to wrap and bury the divine body and to participate by this touch to sanctification and blessing.” You are permitted, indeed, even now, to touch him in many ways, and not just one; for whatever good deed you do, you will necessarily find that he is the first to meet you. You see him who is before you on the altar, just as he is seated on the heavenly throne; you approach and from there you receive him and you embrace him in your hands and you kiss him and you cover him with kisses and you present it to your mouth and you bring him inside of you and you have him all within you, at home. And, if you go to a prison and you visit the one who is in bonds, you will find him there still entirely who is bound, entirely who is lying on a bed with a sick person, entirely who is full of ulcers with this wounded one and this leper, totally stretching out his hand with the hungry, totally burning with thirst with the thirsty, because he takes upon himself the need of all and that he appears entirely close to each one.

…

Let us therefore honour him with all that suits and agrees with the needs and with the circumstances. So, it was burial time; and those who have hastened for that have buried him, and out of a profitable harvest they have reaped profit. Now he who is full of ulcers asks for a remedy; let us seize this opportunity with joy and strive to get ahead of each other. And let us not only give a piece of cloth, but also the whole garment, for those who suffer and are sick, because we are healthy, and these are tormented by ulcers. To those who suffer and are cruelly afflicted with pain, let us pay a just tribute. Let us indeed join them in their suffering, bringing them some relief and some consolation. For often some of them receive evils in this world, like Lazarus, for their sins and they are purified by affliction and pain; and they will be carried into the bosom of Abraham and into the abode of the righteous, and they will recognize those who have done them good, and they will receive them with joy.

Let him who is well today, remember that what is part of tomorrow is unknown; for the sufferings are general, and the future is invisible.

Let no one disdain and despise and count for nothing the ulcers of his neighbour, and he will not experience ulcers. Indeed, the ways of man are before the eyes of God, says the Holy Book; and, when he sees that you are benevolent and that you lean towards the suffering of your brother, he drives out of your body any cause which produces the disease and the corruption which comes from the elephantiasis and the leprosy and scabies and other ulcers. So quickly take off your cloak and throw it on him who is sick, knowing that with him you also take off the tunic of ulcers.

Take care, women, all of you who have pity — and indeed, your sex is particularly disposed to pity — that each of you throws for herself one of her own linens, and for her husband likewise one of his clothes, and the children alike. For each, what is given is salvation, a healing and rescuing debt. Sow abundantly on the body, which is sick, so that you harvest sheaves of health which are extremely rich.

“What? will say one of the men who are present. Do you want me to take off my clothes right now? And this is how you terrify me and pursue me. But above all, on the one hand, if, withdrawing for a little while, you still do this, you will appear to be very ardent in the faith and you will urge others to a similar zeal, and there will be for you also a reward for it. If, on the other hand, going to your house, tomorrow you want to do this or even something more important, within one day you will not cause any damage; just don’t forget what was said. If therefore you take off your clothes immediately, as it is possible for you, you will resemble those who saw Christ seated on the colt of a donkey and who took off their coats and lay down on the road.

It is therefore necessary that, for health and for all help, we give in exchange something to God who is helpful and our benefactor. Indeed, when Moses had armed himself and he had gone to war against Midian, once the combatants had returned, after they had defeated these enemies and when among them not a single one had fallen in the fight, but all had escaped, because of such a salute, when they had decided with one accord in the place of the whole army of soldiers, the leaders of thousands and the leaders of hundreds said to him, Your servants have numbered the warriors who are from us, and not one is missing. And we made an offering to the Lord, each one giving the golden object which he found, necklace and chain and ring and bracelet and jewel for the tresses of hair, to make atonement for us before the Lord? In the same way then it befits each of you, head and master of his house, to make offerings for the health and salvation of all who dwell there, and to make the Lord benevolent, that he may be propitious to him.

Indeed, what we have said of the pieces of cloth, we must pass also into very magnificent good works according to the measure of the resources of each one and according to the need of the needy, because Our Lord also says that a glass of cool water which is given brings back a reward to him who gives it; but then it is necessarily when it will be given to him who does not possess even that, in some place without water or because of lack of water. And indeed, if anyone here, giving to the needy glasses of water taken from the stream which from Daphne flows abundantly for us, believes they fulfill the commandment of the Gospel, he will be ridiculed, because he gives in a superfluous and useless way a drink which spills abundantly, and he does not believe that he fulfils the spirit of law.

And may our Lord and our God Jesus Christ, this legislator of the laws of life, give us both understanding to understand and strength to do what he has commanded, and make us worthy of the kingdom of heaven! May it come to pass that we all obtain it for glory and for the praise of his name, now and always and forever and ever! So be it!

The post Translations – Homily 122 – Severus of Antioch appeared first on St George Orthodox Ministry.

How we view people depends on our relationship with them. If we don’t know someone they become ‘that person with a problem’. Perhaps we don’t even know their name. They become identified by their situation and the extent to which they are an inconvenience to us. This can be how we experience people even in the Church. That is the noisy infant. This is the child with autism that doesn’t communicate with anyone. These are the youth that struggle to concentrate and sit still. This is the family that always turns up late. This is the man who doesn’t dress very smartly. This is the woman who cannot hear what I say to her. These are the elders who seem to be forgetting things.

But when we know and experience that we are a family in Christ then everything is transformed in the congregation. The love of God changes our relationships and unites us with one another in a bond that is unshakeable. If one of our children has a problem, or a brother or sister, or our mother or father, we do not think of them as ‘that person with a problem’. They are family, and their problem or difficulty is one we share and support them in.

This is how we want our congregations to be with every member. We want to be and become a true family in Christ. In the Church each one of us is made a brother and sister. If someone has a problem or is struggling with a difficulty or condition then we can say with truth, this is my brother or my sister who is bearing a burden. If it is our brother or sister who has a burden then we share it with them because we are a family.

When we are a family in Christ then every problem becomes our problem, and every person has a name and is known and loved as the person they are and not simply the condition or illness or problem they are trying to cope with. We cope with it together in the family of the Church and no one is left to struggle alone. Understanding that the Church is a family, the family of Christ in God by the Holy Spirit who unites us with each other and with God, transforms all of our relationships.

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In the Old Testament we find that there are prohibitions on lending with interest, and there is a clear and explicit instruction that this should never be the case for the poor, being the most vulnerable and those most likely to seek financial assistance from those who might take advantage of them. It was permitted, however, for an interest charge to be made when money was loaned to those who were not Israelites. It was important that the Jewish people dealt with one another as brothers, and so loaned generously and without expecting anything more than they had loaned from those they supported in this way.

By the time of the first century and the increasing development of a Rabbinic Judaism there were still strict restrictions on lending with interest to those who were Jews. It was understood that there were some exceptions or clarifications. If person A lent 1000 to person B for a business venture he could not ask for 1100 at the end of the loan period. But if person A lent 1000 to person B and he bought a quantity of grain and at the end of the loan this grain was now worth 50% more than it had been when purchased then person A could share in that profit because he had, in a sense, loaned the grain by lending the money to purchase it. It was also permitted to loan money by becoming a true investor and sharing the risks of any business venture, so that if it was profitable then the profit would be shared, and if it was a failure then the loss would also be shared. The intention was to prohibit lending money so that there was no shared risk, and that all of the potential loss belonged only to the one borrowing the money.

The Lord Jesus did not discuss usury and interest in any great detail. But he insisted that those who were tax collectors should only take what was due and not inflate their income, and he said,

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.

And

Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return.

These also supported the Old Testament Jewish idea that lending while expecting to make profit, especially from those in need, was forbidden, or at least not worthy.

The Greek philosophers had a similar view as they developed idealistic social models. Aristotle said that money was barren and should not be used to produce more money. There was nothing wrong with lending to those who had need, especially when it was not expected that such a loan would be repaid. There was nothing wrong with lending to a merchant to allow him to conduct a business venture, not even sharing in the risk and profit by becoming a true shareholder. But to make money from money while doing nothing was not a virtue according to the philosophers.

Nevertheless, Roman society and law allowed usury, lending with interest. The Roman authorities did set limits to what was just to prevent excessive rates of interest, but the pagan Romans accepted the idea.

The Christian Church inherited the Old Testament, and Greek philosophical, view. Many of the saints wrote against usury and against lending with interest. It was never forbidden to lend money, and this could be an act of charity. Several saints are described as lending money in such a way, but they did not demand or expect repayment, and they did not apply any interest charges. In the 4^th century the Council of Nicaea forbade clergy from lending money with interest and ordered that those who did so should be removed from the ranks of the priesthood.

Over the next centuries the Church in the East and West continued to preach and make rules against lending money with interest. But there were always those who wanted to do so, and always those willing to borrow under such terms. Not everyone in a Christian empire is Christian, and not every Christian is as sincere and committed as they might be. Nevertheless, even in the Middle Ages in Italy, those who lent money as their business were excluded from communion and were not considered to be members of the Church in good standing. The Catholic Church continued to object and oppose lending with interest until the 19^th century.

In the East it was recognised that some controlled lending, especially for business ventures, was better than none, and so the old Roman idea was slowly accepted, though not without a great deal of continuing criticism. At the beginning of the 10^th century in the Byzantine Empire, Leo VI allowed lending with interest no higher than about 6% for most loans, with loans for high-risk mercantile ventures allowed at 12%. It was accepted that the previous laws prohibiting interest were wonderful, but that “The nature of man has not reached the heights at which this law obtains.”

In the East and West people found ways around the law and the clear teaching of the Church, which had not changed. It was possible to disguise interest as a late payment fee for instance. But there were always those willing to lend at interest even in an open manner and while being condemned for their activities.

It was the Protestant movement in the West which began to allow lending with interest, and redefined usury to mean lending at a high interest rate. By the 17^th century most Protestant groups had not only allowed lending with interest but wholeheartedly supported it, and even considered the generation of wealth as a sign of God’s favour. The modern experience of cheap credit, and of pay-day loans, is rooted in this change of attitude which the Protestants introduced, and which the agnostic and atheistic social philosophers and economists of the 18^th and 19^th century developed, Some, such as Bentham, believed that there should be no control over the rates of interest permitted, so that the market and supply and demand were left to fix them, but this seems to ignore the fact that the most desperate will always submit to the most onerous of conditions, and it was exactly this that the Jewish and Christian objection to usury intended to address.

Islam did adopt some of this same idea, which is not surprising since so much of Islam is derived from forms of Judaism and Christianity. But in fact, in the Ottoman Empire, it proved just as difficult to impose the definite teaching that money should not be lent on interest. The Muslims in the Ottoman Empire allowed lending at anything up to 20% interest before it was considered usury or riba. The modern focus in Islam on forms of finance that do not involve lending at interest but do allow profit is not one which the Muslims of the past would have understood since they made a clear distinction between lending with interest and lending with excessive interest and forbade only the latter.

Christians continue to be interested in how economies can work in a Christian manner, and how the most vulnerable and desperate can be supported without being taken advantage of. The Friendly Societies, the Building Societies, and Co-Operative Societies which developed in the UK in the 18^th and 19^th centuries were intended to be a means of groups of people being able to provide financial support and credit in a way that was not exploitative. The Christian ideal of general opposition to usury remains though our modern economy is much more complicated than in the past. Even taking out car insurance can include borrowing with interest, and even our ordinary shopping experiences can include a hidden component of borrowing with interest that we are not aware of. It is entirely reasonable to consider how money has a different function in our modern society, and most of us do not have gold bars in a treasure chest in our house, most of us do not even have much or any money in our wallet at all. But that is no reason not to be concerned with how our financial and economic structures can be positive and can also be very negative.

It is not possible for the Church to demand different structures in our modern world, but it is proper to keep asking how the teaching against usury, and especially against exploiting the vulnerable and desperate are to be applied.

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The revealed dogma of the Holy Trinity is the foundation of our Christian life. This is not a teaching that has been invented by men. It is beyond our comprehension and depends on what this Trinitarian God has shown us about himself. The religions of men insist on an absolute oneness in their god in which there is no community of love nor could there be. Or else they insist on a vast multiplicity of gods and demi-gods, spirits and emanations, in which there is no clear distinction between god or the gods and the created order. It is in Christianity that the necessary importance of the three divine persons in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are experienced and represented in our own unique human personhood. We are invited to become part of the divine community of love, without ceasing to be the created beings which we are. The Trinitarian God we worship and who has created us in love and for love puts the relationship of love at the heart of all things.

We address the Holy Trinity in our prayers, and this is important because it reflects the truth and the ultimate reality of all things. We do not worship one God who is utterly alone, nor many gods. But one God who is three divine persons in perfect unity of being and distinction. We must not confuse these persons as if their identity did not matter. The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is not the Father. The Holy Spirit is not some divine force but is a divine person. These things matter. We say in the Creed in our worship.

We believe in One God…. and then we describe this One God… He is the Father Almighty, … and he is … One Lord Jesus Christ, the only-Begotten Son of God… and he is… the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.

These distinctions are important. Not because the define who the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are. God is beyond our human comprehension, even though he allows us to truly grow into union in love with him. But when we mix these distinctions up we affect our Christian understanding and spiritual life. If the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are just the same then God is essentially just one, and uses different names from time to time. But if he is just one then he exists without love in eternity. He is not love at all. But if these names represent a distinction with God so that there are three divine persons who are truly one God, then before anything and anyone was created, God was always and already love, an incomprehensible experience of love within the Holy Trinity which we are invited to share as far as we are able.

Jesus Christ is not the Father, he is the Son and Word of God who became man. The Father did not become man. Nor did the Holy Spirit. The Father does not dwell within us but the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Yet the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God. When we pray to God we are praying to the Holy Trinity. But we also need to follow the example of the prayers of the Church so that we do not neglect a real expression of our worship of the Holy Trinity. It is these prayers which help us to understand and experience the distinction in the three divine persons in one God which we need to express.

In the Agpeya we pray at the beginning of every Hour…

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

We begin our prayers by acknowledging and recognising that these three divine persons are one God and that we are in a relationship with them as divine persons, and not as a remote and isolated God. We offer praise and worship to the Holy Trinity saying…

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.

This is the one God who has made us, and we are invited to have a relationship of life and love with each of these three persons of the Holy Trinity who are the one God we worship. The prayers of the Agpeya, if we use them with attention and warmth of heart, reveal these three persons to us. In just a few examples we can see what this means.

We begin by addressing the Father and we pray the Lord’s Prayer. In this prayer, if we pray it with our heart and mind, we are reminded of the holiness of our Heavenly Father, and that all things are in his hands, and we turn to him to give us all that we need, and to forgive us our sins. We turn to him as a father, and we are reminded that just as our Father is in another place, so we belong with him as his own children. However we end this prayer with the reference to Jesus Christ our Lord, because he is also this one God, and it is because of what he has done that we are able to address God as our Father. We pray…

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, in Christ Jesus our Lord. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

In the Agpeya we continue to address the Father with prayers of thanksgiving since it is from the Heavenly Father that all good gifts are given, even if it is through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. So when we pray from the Agpeya we are brought to a remembrance on every occasion and in every day that our Heavenly Father is our…

Master, Lord, God the Almighty, the Father of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and we thank You for every condition, concerning every condition, and in every condition, for You have covered us, helped us, guarded us, accepted us unto You, spared us, supported us, and brought us to this hour.

This is a necessary truth that we must not allow to fade because we fail to keep the distinction between the three divine persons. Our Heavenly Father is the Almighty One. He is the Father in eternity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is also God, and it is He who cares for us as a Father in every situation.

Nevertheless, we must also address the Lord Jesus in our prayers, and often it is because we are praying only to Christ that we neglect our deep and sustaining relationship with the Father. The Agpeya also guides us in approaching Christ so that we pray…

We worship You O Christ with Your Good Father and the Holy Spirit, for You have come and saved us.

We worship Christ, but not apart from the Father and the Holy Spirit, who are the One God, but distinct divine persons. It is only the Son and Word of God who actually became a man for our salvation and we remember this in our prayer. It was not the Father who became man and died and was resurrected, nor the Holy Spirit, but the Son of God. When we pray to the Lord Jesus Christ it is as our Saviour and the one who is active for our salvation each day, and so we offer a prayer such as this…

As the daylight shines upon us, O Christ Our God, the true Light, let the luminous senses and the bright thoughts shine within us, and do not let the darkness of passions hover over us, that mindfully we may praise You with David saying, “My eyes have awaken before the morning watch, that I might meditate on Your sayings.”  Hear our voices according to your great mercy, and deliver us, O Lord our God, through Your compassion.

We pray to our Heavenly Father as the one who is Almighty and the giver of every good gift, but we pray to the Son of God as one who is working out the will of the Father for our salvation and so we turn to him and ask for all that we need. In such a way we use the words of the Jesus Prayer as often as possible each day. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Nor do we neglect the Holy Spirit in our prayers, since he is also a divine person and one of the Holy Trinity, and is the One God we worship. The role of the Holy Spirit is not the same as the Father or the Son. He is bringing about within us the transformation into the likeness of God which is the fulfilment of the salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ offers us, and which is the will of the Father for each person he has made. Therefore we also pray to the Holy Spirit…

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is present in all places and fills all, the treasury of good things and the Life‑Giver, graciously come, and dwell in us and purify us from all defilement, O Good One, and save our souls.

The Holy Spirit is also our Lord, and is the Heavenly King, no less than the Father, since Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God. But the Holy Spirit is a distinct person. He is the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son, because they are one, but he is a divine person himself and we should address him with reverence, worship and warmth of heart. It is the Spirit that we ask to come and fill us, and when he fills us we find that God is present, and that we are united with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, even as this is the divine purpose of the Holy Spirit in the creation.

These names matter because they represent divine persons that are not entirely interchangeable. When we neglect the Father in our prayers we lose an important aspect of the spiritual life and we fail to experience the loving parenthood of God. When we neglect the Holy Spirit in our prayers how can we hope to grow into union with God. Our Christian faith is Trinitarian because this eternal relationship of love between the three divine persons who are one God represents the truth that God is love. He invites us to enter into this communion of love, and has made us for this, and it is in our prayer to each person and to the Holy Trinity that we are reminded of this and experience it more completely.

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When our Lord Jesus was about to teach his disciples how to pray in the words that begin, Our Father… he warned them, do not use vain repetitions, as it is translated in the New King James version of the New Testament. (Matthew 6:7). This often seems rather an embarrassing verse for Orthodox Christians, since we love to offer repeated prayers to God, such as Lord have mercy! Kyrie eleison! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!

Often we will want to distinguish between the idea of vain repetition and positive repetition. This is certainly a valid distinction. We should never offer prayer of any kind with a lack of attention. All of our prayer, however short the words we use, should be prayed with warmth and fervour so that it is not prayed in vain.

But in fact the problem with this verse, as so many in the Protestant translations which we use in the English language, is that it does not say in Greek what is presented in some of the English New Testaments we use. This is another instance where what is needed is an understanding that not all translations of the Bible are reliable in all cases as accurate translations of the Scripture of the Church.

The actual words in Greek are…Προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βατταλογήσητε ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοί. It says, when you pray do not βατταλογήσητε like the Gentiles or heathen. That word βατταλογήσητε is translated in some English Bibles as vain repetition. But we can find many other English translations which express is in another way.

The International Standard Version says… don’t say meaningless things like the unbelievers do, because they think they will be heard by being so wordy.

The English Standard Version says… do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

The Common English Bible says… don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard.

The Good News Translation says… do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.

The Names of God Bible says… don’t ramble like heathens who think they’ll be heard if they talk a lot.

And the New Revised Standard Version says… do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

What is clear about these translations is that they are wanting to pick up the idea of speaking a lot, adding many words, creating a meaningless, rambling, endless flow of words and phrases and sentences, as if God is pleased by our using many words. They do not translate the word βατταλογήσητε as vain repetition at all, but as praying with many words in empty phrases. Indeed the word comes from the idea of speaking like Batta, a Greek poet who wrote long, wordy and tedious poems. It is not a religious or spiritual word at all.

If we turn to the ancient fathers of the Church, who commented on this passage, we will be able to see how they understood it in their native Greek language.

St. John Chrysostom writes on this verse, saying…

He seems to me to command in this place, that we should not make our prayers long; long, I mean, not in time, but in the number and length of the things mentioned. For perseverance indeed in the same requests is our duty: His word being, “continuing always in prayer.”

And He Himself too, by that example of the widow, who prevailed with the pitiless and cruel ruler, by the continuance of her intercession and by that of the friend, who came late at night time, and roused the sleeper from his bed, not for his friendship’s, but for his importunity’s sake; what did He, but lay down a law, that all should continually make supplication unto Him? He does not however ask us compose a prayer of ten thousand phrases, and so come to Him and merely repeat it. For this He obscurely signifies when He said, “They think that they will be heard because of their speaking so much.”

“For He knows,” He says, “what things you have need of.” And if He knows, one may say, all that we have need of, why must we pray? It is not to instruct Him, but to prevail with Him; to be made intimate with Him, by continuing in our supplications; and to be humbled; and to be reminded our sins.

It is clear from this commentary that St. John Chrysostom has in mind the idea of praying with very long prayers, and so he speaks about someone creating a prayer with 10,000 phrases in it. But he is also very clear that this passage should not be understood as forbidding unceasing prayer of the heart using some phrase or short prayer that expresses the depths of our needs and repentance. St. John Chrysostom does not translate this passage as indicating that we should not pray often and unceasingly and repeatedly in the same words, but finds this commanded by the Lord in his parables.

At about the same time, Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia, wrote about this verse, saying…

Nonbelievers think that they can more easily obtain from the Lord what they require by using many words, but the Lord does not expect this from us. Rather, he wants us to send up our prayers not with wordy speech but with faith that comes from the heart. By doing so we command the merits of justice to him. He surely knows better all the things of which we have need and before we speak is aware of everything that we are going to request.

Here he expresses the same idea, that this verse is concerned with wordy prayers, and not with heartfelt expressions made in few words but filled with warmth.

Chromatius explains what he means when he adds…

We have an example of just how great a distance there is between the wordy and the humble and simple prayer in the story of the Pharisee and the publican. The prayer of the Pharisee vaunting himself in his abundance of words was rejected. The humble and contrite publican, on the other hand, asking forgiveness for his sins, came away more justified than the self-boasting Pharisee. In this we find fulfilled what was written: “The prayer of the humble penetrates the clouds,” reaching God who is ready to hear the request of the one who prays.

It is the simple prayer, and we use many simple prayers, which God especially hears when they are offered in humility and repentance. There is no prohibition or criticism of repeated short prayers, far from it. But it is the long, wordy, rambling prayer which tends to make the one saying it feel important, which God does not easily hear.

When Augustine of Hippo writes on the passage, he says…

As the hypocrites used to set themselves up so as to be seen in their prayers, and their reward is to be acceptable to men; so the Ethnici (that is, the Gentiles) used to think that they would be heard because of speaking so much; therefore He adds, When you pray, do not use many words.

It is clear that Augustine does not read this verse in Greek as saying that we should not pray often, and with short prayers that express the heart towards God. But it is using many words and making our prayers go on and on with more and more words which is criticised.

Likewise. St. John Cassian is very clear…

We should indeed pray often, but in short form, lest if we be long in our prayers, the enemy that lies in wait for us, might suggest something for our thoughts.

The more we ramble on in our prayers, the more likely it is that we will be distracted or some unworthy thought will intrude into our minds. But when we focus our mind and heart on the few words that we are praying, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy one me, then we are preserved from falling into such a trap.

Augustine picks up the same idea and continues his own thought, saying…

Yet to continue long in prayer is not, as some think, what is here meant, by using many words. For speaking much is one thing, and an enduring fervency is another. For of the Lord Himself it is written, that He continued a whole night in prayer, and prayed at great length, setting an example to us. The brethren in Egypt are said to use frequent prayers, but those very short, and as it were hasty expressions, in case that fervency of spirit, which is most necessary for us in prayer, should by longer continuance be violently broken off.

Not only should we continue in prayer as long as we are able, because Augustine does not consider that avoiding many words is the same as only praying for a short time, but he encourages the use of short prayers, repeated with fervency and warmth of heart, as was practiced by the monks of the Egyptian Desert, and as we practice today. Indeed he insists that the speaking much which is condemned is to pray with more words than are necessary. This certainly cannot be said of the short, heartl-felt prayers we use, such as Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy!

To pray at all times, as the Lord Jesus commands us, and as St. Paul encourages us, is not so that God will be moved to hear and have mercy, as if he was not already waiting to pour out his blessing in our hearts. But to praywithout ceasing, in the short forms of words which have been introduced to us from the earliest centuries, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy, is to place ourselves in the necessary position to receive grace from God, it is to seek an unfailing communion with God which is the meaning of the Christian life, and it is to prepare ourselves in increasing stillness and peace of heart to encounter God. Many words are not necessary for this encounter. Indeed, they obstruct it and leave us liable to distraction and confusion. It is in the quietening of the mind, using a few words, and offering them with our heart unceasingly, that we discover God is already Emmanuel, God with us and within us.

The Scripture does not say that we should not repeat our prayers. This is one bad translation of a Greek word, which the fathers of the Church, whose native language was Greek, explain to us clearly. It means rather, do not go on and on, adding more and more words to your prayers. This is the very opposite of what we do when we follow the spirituality of the Church and reduce our words, removing them one by one, till we are left with the very essence of prayer, Lord, have mercy!

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The little village of Llanwnda is at the end of the road, and looks down on the rocky coastline of Pembrokeshire in South Wales. St Gwyndaf came here in the early 6th century and made it a place of monastic retreat, ministering to the people of the Pen Caer peninsular. On the day I visited the little medieval Church was occupied with a eucharist being celebrated, and I could see the vested priest standing at the altar through the squint hole in the porch. A squint hole is a window in the wall of the church which would allow a leper, or some other person unable to attend the services, to see and hear what was happening.

In the walls of the church are six ancient cross marked stones dating from the 7th to 9th centuries and originally marking the graves of early monastics who lived here. Just a few metres from the church is the Holy Well of St Gwyndaf. This is a well cared for monument of stone blocks forming a pool in which fresh water flows. The water of the well would have been used by St Gwyndaf and those who followed him for baptisms of the local people and their children.

St Gwyndaf was of noble blood and came from the British colonies of Northern France in what is now Brittany. When he arrived in South Wales in the early 6th century there was still a great deal of travel and communication between the British people in the West of the British Isles and in North-Western France. His father was King of the British Kingdom of Cornouaille in Brittany, and had himself visited South Wales when a young man in exile. Gwyndaf spent time at the court of the kingdom of Morganwg also in the South of Wales, and while he was there he married Gwenonwy, herself a noblewoman and a saint. She bore Gwyndaf at least two children, a son named Hywyn, and a daughter, Meugan. Both these children also became saints.

In his later life St Gwyndaf became a member of the great monastic community at Llanilltud Fawr and then a principal figure at the monastic community established by St Dyfrig at Caerleon. It was at this time that he retired to the remote seclusion of Llanwnda and built a little church around which a small monastic community gathered, and which served the local communities. Finally, at the end of his life, he retired to Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island), the famous Island of Twenty Thousand Saints in the North of Wales where he died and was buried.

To visit Llanwnda today is to step back 1500 years into the peace and quiet of the early centuries of Christian Britain which drew St Gwyndaf here. To wash our hands and anoint ourselves with the water of his Holy Well is to bring ourselves into contact with him, and with all those monastics who prayed with him and in the years after him.

May the prayers and blessing of St Gwyndaf be with us all.

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The weather is improving and Spring is passing into Summer. Now we can begin to plan which of the hundreds of holy places to visit, associated with the several thousands of saints of these British Isles. In almost every part of the British Isles we are not very far from some special place with memories and connections with the saints.

St Winefride is one example of just such a British saint associated with several places. She lived in the 7th century and was the daughter of a Welsh nobleman, Tyfid and his wife Gwenlo. She was the niece of St Beuno, another famous saint of these period and had dedicated herself to a life of prayer and chastity even from her youth. She lived in seclusion, even as a young woman, at Holywell in North Wales, near her uncle, St Beuno.

He was preparing to celebrate the Liturgy for the Feast of St Alban on June 22nd in his small chapel when St Winefride was surprised by a young prince, Caradog, who found her when he was out hunting and was inflamed with lust towards her. She resisted his advances and fled through the woods to the place where her uncle had established his own cell, and it was as she placed her hand on the door of the chapel that Caradog caught up with her, and with a blow of his sword, beheaded her.

St Beuno took up her head and miraculously brought her back to life leaving only a silver scar around her neck. As for Caradog, St Beuno cursed him and he dropped dead himself. The place where this took place is at Holywell where the shrine of St Winefride remains a place of pilgrimage. A spring burst forth at the place where her head fell, and those who have bathed there in the centuries since have found healing. Even during the years when the Protestant authorities tried to stop all veneration of the saints and all pilgrimage, still people have come to this holy place.

There is a slab of rock there in the gardens, and before St Beuno left the place to return to his monastery at Caernarvon he said,

…whosoever on that spot should thrice ask for a benefit from God in the name of St. Winefride would obtain the grace he asked if it was for the good of his soul.

After 8 years at Holywell, St Winefride followed the inspiration of God and set off further inland to Gwytherin where she became Abbess of a small convent which existed there with a monastery for men. It is still possible for us to visit the place where her convent was situated. There is a later Medieval church on the site, and several ancient stones. The church is still dedicated to St Winefride, and she died after being Abbess for 15 years, and was buried here in about AD 660.

About her death we learn,

When the time came for her departure from this world, Winefride bade the virgins to keep their vows of chastity and guard their faith.  Receiving the last sacrament from the Abbot Eleri, she died at the beginning of November and was buried in the churchyard at Gwytherin next to Tenoi and with the confessors Senanus and Chebius and other holy men and women.  After her death many came to Gwytherin to be cured of their infirmities.

In AD 1130, an abbey had been constructed in Shrewsbury and when one of the monks was healed through the intercession of St Winefride it was arranged for her remains to be brought from the little church of Gwytherin to the great abbey of Shrewsbury. This became a place of pilgrimage for centuries until the Protestant Revolution swept everything away. A few fragments of the shrine of St Winefride are still to be found in the abbey church at Shrewsbury though all rest of the monastery was totally destroyed. The remains of St Winefride were thrown away as if they were rubbish and all that was preserved was one of her finger bones which had been sent to Rome in the centuries before.

Part of this fragment is venerated in the Shrine Church at Holywell, while another part is venerated in the Catholic Church of St Winefride in Shrewsbury.

Here are three places within our Diocese of the Midlands in the Coptic Orthodox Church which are directly associated with this holy woman, this saint who is worthy of our remembrance and veneration. Each of these places is within an easy drive of many of our Coptic Orthodox congregations. Nor is she the only saint whose holy places surround us.

As the Spring changes to Summer, where will you visit? Which saint will you honour in a little pilgrimage of your own? There are hundreds and thousands who deserve our praise and deserve to be remembered for the glory of God and for our salvation.

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Translated from the French of F. Nau. Les canons et les résolutions canoniques de Rabboula, Jean de Tella, Cyriaque d’Amid, Jacque d’Édesse, Georges des Arabes, Cyriaque d’Antioch, Jean III, Théodose d’Antioche et des Perses. Ancienne Litterature Canonique Syriaque. Volume 2. 1903

177. He who buys fields from the Church, or who steals them for him, will be anathematized until he returns them.

178. All those who go to monasteries or churches of heretics and give offerings and vows, will do penance or be separated.

179. Whoever takes silver coins from clerics, if he is not a hotelkeeper or bursar, will be separated until he returns.

180. The bursars of the church cannot take anything out of the treasury of the church without the bishop or his substitute and one of the priests. Everything that enters the church will be noted by them in due time and registered in the small memorial (fvwsiç), until the end of the year when the inventory of the treasure is made and when it is registered in the great memorial

181 If priests and deacons go along a deserted road, and they have a cup and a paten, the deacon will carry the paten in his right hand and the cup in his left hand and he will serve as an altar, and the priest will offer (the holy sacrifice) in case of need.

182. If there happens to be a place of burial in the church, the holy priests cannot make themselves tombs in the churches and defile them; it is indeed their (divine) Master who will come to their aid and not (the situation of) their tombs; it would also be feared that their bones would later pass for the bones of martyrs and that they would be guilty of having furnished a cause of error to the faithful.

183. Priests cannot offer (the holy sacrifice) on the holy tables without tablets sanctified by Orthodox bishops, nor on cloth or skin, nor on a consecrated tablet which is broken, or damaged, or sanctified by the heretics.

184. The portion of wine that remains and has not been consecrated on this day will be consecrated on the following days and, if it is corrupted, only a drop will be taken for communion.

185. God does not allow the bishop and the priest to offer (the holy sacrifice) twice in one day nor to offer twice in one day on an altar, that is to say on a (same) Tablet.

186. The priest, the deacon, any faithful and any faithful who have reached twenty years of age and above cannot break the fast on Wednesday and Friday, except during the fifty days of Pentecost, unless they find themselves sick, or in affliction, or compelled, and (unless it be) a pregnant woman and a nurse.

187. No faithful, man or woman, can fast on Sunday or Saturday, except in case of necessity, except on Holy Saturday.

188. Any faithful and any faithful who does not fast during Lent will be separated from the Church, as well as anyone who drinks wine or something analogous to wine (on fasting days), from twenty years and above.

189. The weekday priest will sleep at night in the church throughout the week and will carry out his work with care.

190. The clerics and the faithful cannot enter before a month has elapsed in any house where there have been funeral complaints and lamentations, not even to bring communion to the one who dies.

191. God does not allow the priest or deacon who abandons the funeral procession of a stranger to follow another, to receive a reward for this, nor to be given it. The same applies to those who do not accompany the dead from the door of the house to the door of the tomb.

192. The government of the altar will belong to the archdeacon and, if he is removed, his second (deuteros), as well as Catholic teaching and the reading of the apostles on Sunday feast days and during weeks of fasting. If the bishop is present, these functions fall to him. Otherwise we will leave it to the deacons.

193. When the archdeacon appoints another for preaching or reading, the one who has been appointed cannot appoint another, but, if he does not want to preach or read, he will indicate it to the archdeacon.

194. When there is a quarrel between the clerics, the archdeacon will punish the culprit, but will wait until the end of the office so as not to cause trouble. If, however, he cannot bear the bitterness of altercations and disputes, he will bring out the bold.

195. A cleric who uses bonds and amulets will be excommunicated; whoever finds the casters, the soothsayers, the amulet makers or those who write tickets for fevers, will be separated.

196. A sub-deacon under the age of ten shall not be ordained, and that only after he has finished all the psalms of David. The degree (of the seat) of the altar will not be kept for him until the diaconate. The oldest will be first.

197. The subdeacon cannot give peace to the altar, except once, at the time of his ordination. For he is not the servant of the altar, but of the temple he cannot receive communion at the altar either.

198. Exorcists were different then from those who baptize.

199. The book which bears the name of Hierotheos is not by him, but seems to be by Stephen Bar Sudaili the heretic.

200. A bishop will not ordain a monk without the letters of the superior and the brothers.

201. God does not allow a woman monk to go to the baths, nor to wash her body in water, or to wear clothes of cotton or other fabrics, except for clothes of wool, nor to let grow her hair, but she will cut it, nor to go into the public squares, or to circulate in the houses, or to eat bread outside her convent.

202. God does not allow any man to enter a monastery of sisters, unless it is the priest or the deacon who gives them communion.

203. All the nuns will be gathered together in the same dwelling and will remain. An elderly one will be chosen who will be their service for all that is required.

204. He who marries a woman by the blessing of the ring is not permitted to have intercourse with her before the nuptial feast, otherwise he will be anathematized.

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Translated from the French translation of a Coptic manuscript. Revue De l’Orient Chretien. Volume 18. 1913

Believe me, many times I’ve seen this episode painted on a board. I have never been able to pass in front of him without shedding tears, so clearly is the artist’s art fixing him for us. Abraham, indeed, placed Isaac on the altar. He bends his knees in front of him, his hands tied behind his back. His father stands behind him, grabbing the hair of his head with his left hand, he considers the face of his child whose astonished eyes look at him with sadness. The sword is in his right hand to strike him with. The tip reached the child’s throat to immolate him. — But at that moment, a voice comes to him from God, preventing him from committing this act. Nevertheless, the patriarch fulfilled the command in his will, though not in fact.

You have heard it said, my fathers, that we must love God more than anything. For you too, my children, it is necessary that you obey your parents until death, especially when they command you according to the will of God. See, indeed, what was, in exchange, the reward announced to the patriarch: “Since you have fulfilled this word, says the Lord, and you have not spared your beloved son for me, I swear it, I will shower you with blessings, I will multiply your race abundantly, like the stars of heaven.

May it therefore happen that we all obtain together, parents and children, the blessing of God, to whom all glory befits, with his only son Jesus Christ and with the life-giving Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. of all ages; so be it.

The post Translations – Fragment of a Homily of Gregory of Nyssa appeared first on St George Orthodox Ministry.

Salvation through Christ and the return to conformity to nature.

• I don’t want you to ignore, brethren, that in the beginning, when God created man, he placed him in paradise with healthy and stable faculties in their natural state. But when he listened to his seducer, all his faculties were returned to an unnatural state, and he was then precipitated from his glory.
• Our Lord had pity on the human race because of his great love: the Word made flesh (John 1:14), that is to say, a perfect man, became like us in everything, except sin (Hebrews 4:14), to bring back what was unnatural to conformity to nature through his holy body; and, having pity on man, he brought him back to paradise, raising up those who walk in his footsteps and according to the commandments he gave us, that we might overcome those who had cast us out of our glory, and teaching us holy service and pure law so that man may stand in the natural state in which God had created him.
• He who wishes therefore to arrive at conformity to nature cuts off all his desires according to the flesh, until he is established in the natural state.

Unnatural passions.

• There is in the mind a desire which is conformable to nature, and without desire for God, there is no charity; this is why Daniel is called “man of desires” (Daniel 9:23) And the enemy has transformed it into a shameful desire that leads us to covet all that is impure.
• There is in the mind a jealousy conformable to nature, and without jealousy for God, there is no progress, according to what the Apostle writes: “Envy the superior gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31), and this jealousy for God has been turned against nature, and causes us to be jealous of each other, to envy each other and to lie to each other.
• There is a natural anger in the mind, and without anger there would be no purity in a man if he were not angry with all that the enemy sows in him (cf. Matthew 13:25); thus Phineas, son of Eleazar, immolated the man and the woman when he became angry, and the wrath of the Lord towards his people ceased (cf. Nb 25:7); and for us this anger has been changed to anger against the neighbour for all unreasonable and useless matters.
• There is in the mind a hatred conformable to nature, and when Elijah experienced it, he put to death the prophets of shame (cf.3 Kings 18:40); Samuel acts in the same way towards Agag, king of Amalec (1 Kings 15:33); and without hatred for enmity, honour does not reveal itself to the soul; and for us this hatred has been diverted against nature, it makes us hate and despise our neighbour, and hatred is what drives out all virtues.
• There is a pride in the mind that is natural with regard to enmity, and when Job felt it, he reviled his enemies, saying to them: “Infamous and contemptible, devoid of all good, you whom I did not consider worthy to mingle with the dogs of my flocks!” (cf. Job 30:1), and for us this pride before the enemies has been transformed; we are humbled by our enemies, and we are full of pride with each other, stinging each other, and we justify ourselves at the expense of our neighbour, and because of pride God becomes an enemy of man.
• This is what was created with man, and which, when he ate from the tree of disobedience, was transformed for him into these shameful passions.

Exhortation

• Let us therefore strive, beloved, to forsake them, and acquire what our Lord Jesus Christ has shown us in his holy body, for he is holy and dwells in the saints. Let us take care of ourselves to please God, doing our work according to our strength and weighing each of our members until they come into conformity with nature, that we may find mercy in the hour of temptation, who will overcome the whole universe (cf. Lc 21:26), constantly entreating his goodness so that his help may bring his assistance to our lowliness, and so that he may save us from our enemies. For his is the strength, the help and the power forever and ever. Amen.

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