Jordan Rovny's blog

Valaam Cathedral

Transfiguration of the Savior Cathedral

This is a general view of the upper church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour Cathedral after the restoration, 2006.
          What an impressive cathedral!

"The Children Who Refused to Come Home"

In an essay entitled "Children Who Never Came Home" in my history textbook, I found something a little interesting. Between the years 1675 and 1763, England and France were in constant battle with one another. Even before the French and Indian War (1754-1763) the strife could be seen in New England. Aside from the fighting, the Catholic French, along with the Indians, would capture English Protestant colonists from the Massachusetts and Maine area to Canada. Approximately 1,641 English colonists were captured and half of them were children.

This worried the Protestant colonists because, according to them as said by Cotton Mather (perhaps the most well known seventeenth-century New England minister) "[The] Captives. . .are every minute looking when they shall be roasted alive, to make a sport and a feast, for the most execrable cannibals. . .Captives, that must see their nearest relations butchered before their eyes, and yet be afraid of letting those eyes drop a tear." One minister from Massachusetts said on becoming a prisoner they would find, "The Priests taking away your Bibles, Teaching you to count your beads, Commanding you to fall down before the Host."  These fears combined with the fact that English children were taught from a very early age to despise Catholics and regard the Pope as being demonic, would probably make one reason that it would be difficult for the English captives to conform to the French Catholic Faith and Indian influence.

However, much to the English surprise, this wasn't necessarily the case. According to the article concerning the captives, "perhaps as much as fifty percent accepted the Catholic faith, married French or Indian spouses, and settled comfortably into the routines of life in Canada. Seemingly without any expression of regret, they raised families, the descendants of which can still be found in the Montreal region today." The Indians usually didn't take captives to torture them. Rather, they viewed the captives as replacements for their own lost in wars, or in some other cases, regarded them as revenue. In either case, the taught the captives the Indian culture and then regarded them as one of their own. The French also took care of the captured children and took care of them in many instances.

One such example, given in the essay, was Esther Wheelwright, a girl from Wells, Maine. The Abenaki Indians captured her in 1703 and adopted her. After this, French nuns took her in and taught her French. Eventually, she became a nun and a keen student of Catholicism. After becoming well known, she was appointed Superior of the entire Ursuline order in Canada. Attempting to negotiate he release, her family realized that she didn't want to. Accepting their daughter's decision, they would send money to the monastery. Wheelwright sent a picture of herself as a nun to her family following her families donations to the monastery.

A daughter of a leading Congregational minister, Eunice Williams was taken from her home during an Indian/French raid. Eventually, Reverend Williams tried to negotiate her return but she refused to come back. She had married an Indian man and accepted Catholicism. Her family would beg her to return but she would "politely but firmly refuse." She and her husband would visit New England occasionally and during one visit, her cousin Rev. Solomon Williams said that she had accepted the, "Thickness of popish Darkness and Superstition" lamenting her "pitiful and sorrowful Condition."

One could argue that it is just in the nature of children to accept and conform to a new cultural condition. However, I wonder if something else was going on. Were the captives more receptive to the Catholic Faith? I wonder if anything more than just child psychology was going on. I would love to hear your comments.
(Information from America: Past and Present)

Valaam Cathedral Photo

Lower Church of Cathedral

This is a photo from the Valaam Monastery taken by Hierodeacon Augustine. Nice architecture isn't it? Is anyone thinking "Myst."

The Lord's Prayer III

  

The Lord's Prayer III

  The next phrase in the Lord's Prayer is "On earth as it is in heaven." In the Greek, this could really be rephrased as "In the heavens, so also on the earth." In the heavens with all the mysterious celestial beings and the saints, God's name is hallowed and His will is instantly performed without any questions asked (Hopko). 

    "Give us this day our daily bread." Ok, here's where it gets a little confusing. First of all, the Greek word clearly shows that today is accurately translated. Today could mean today or it could mean this age, prior to the Second Coming. Daily in Greek is epiousios. No one really understands what this word means, there is no English parallel (Hopko). Not to mention, it isn't used in any found Greek texts. There are, according to the context of the prayer, three, some say four, possibilities of what it could mean. The first meaning is the word really means daily and refers to physical food and drink. The Protestants especially have taken this view of the Lord's Prayer, this may one of their justifications for praying for worldly things. Another meaning, if it means "our bread for tomorrow," then you could get the idea that we should pray for future things and not present things (Wiki). The third meaning, embraced by most all the Orthodox, is the translation of the word into necessary, essential, super-essential, or super-substantial, meaning our extremely necessary "bread" (Hopko)(Wiki). This could refer to the Eucharist or other form of spiritual bread.

    According to Father Hopko, the Lord's Prayer is totally eschatological in nature. It is not at all concerned with the temporary world. In fact, the Fathers say that one should absolutely not pray for worldly things because when he does, he gravely insults God (Hopko). In comparison to what God has to offer, worldly pleasures and material are
"as dung" (Hopko).

    One possibility that epiousios is not mentioned anywhere else in Greek literature is because the Christians, before the Gospels were written, sort of made up a word to refer to the Eucharist in this manner (Wiki). This is just speculation, and even if it were the case, we still wouldn't know the exact meaning of the word.

    "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." This has been translated in two ways: the stated way and "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." The former way is, according to most scholars, the correct way to translate the phrase (Hopko). The Greek is phrased in such a way as to say, "Forgive us our debts as we have already forgiven our debtors."

    One very important thing to remember, according to Father Hopko, is to realize that as we are praying this prayer, we have already forgiven everyone. In fact, one should not even dare to say this prayer unless everyone he knows is forgiven. Father Thomas gave an example in his own life; he said that he had one parishioner who just could not forgive his mother-in-law and he came to Father Hopko and said, "I can't forgive my mother-in-law, so I'm not going to say the Lord's prayer." In response Father Hopko said ok and the man went about two weeks without saying the Lord's prayer. Eventually, things were brought back to normal.

(For more information on epiousios, Wikipedia has an interesting article here).

    

"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness"

    For an English assignment I was to read an article entitled "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" by Jon Gertner. Gertner writes his article focusing on the findings of a psychology professor at Harvard, Daniel Gilbert, and three of Gilbert's colleagues.

    For several years Dr. Gilbert has studied how human decisions are influenced by their predictions of the consequences of their actions. The reason we buy really fancy things is because we believe they will make us very happy in the long run. However, according to his research, most people are not as happy as they thought they would be. This goes also for negative or even tragic events in one's life. The victim may feel that he will never recover and that his life will never be the same again. Once again, Gilbert's finding show that most people pick themselves up and continue with their lives, even though they did not expect that they could. Because we have a hard time imagining how we will feel, we often make decisions based on how we think we will feel, often leading to disappointment.

    What I thought was interesting about this article was that scientists, even secular scientists, are beginning to come to the conclusion that worldly "benefits" do not make us as happy as we think they will. The Church, of course, has always realized that worldly happiness is not only a fraction as satisfying as we think it will be, but is worthless in comparison to what God has to offer. In the words of one saint (I fail to recall his name), asking God for worldly happiness and possessions rather than the eternal kingdom is like asking an earthly king for a wheelbarrow of dung rather than an eternal citizenship in the kingdom (something to that effect).
   

The Lord's Prayer II

The Lord's Prayer II

The next portion of the Lord's prayer is "Thy kingdom come." This is the second of three petitions, the other two being "Hallowed be Thy name" and "Thy will be done."  The word kingdom in Greek could mean either kingdom or kingship, basically giving the connotation of ruling. Obviously wherever God is ruling then there His kingdom is as well. The Orthodox Church affirms two things: the kingdom will come, and the kingdom is already come. We say it is here because Jesus has been crucified, risen, and glorified. Jesus would say in the Gospels that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, or the kingdom of heaven is in our midst. The kingdom was Jesus. Because all humans are made in God's image, not only God will be the King, but all believers as well. So in a sense, everyone will become the kings.

Then comes "Thy will be done." Oddly enough, this portion of the Lord's prayer is not recorded in Luke, but in Matthew's version only. This is odd, according to the Fathers, because the whole point of mankind is to do the will of the Father. In fact, even the Son the Spirit do the will of the Father. Simply put, its all about what the God the Father wants. However, Jesus became human not only because His Father wanted Him to, but also because He wanted to.

The "Will of God" can be an interesting study and the Fathers of the church talk about it in some detail. Father Hopko points out that performing miracles, preaching Christ, evangelizing, (the things most of us associate with being very holy) may not necessarily be what God wants. Evidently, according to the Scriptures and the Fathers, God ultimately wants people to love one another with the love the Christ loved. That is His ultimate will, everything else may be details. However, this does not mean that performing miracles or preaching Christ is not God's will. Obviously, in many instances it is, but it is for the bigger picture.

Christ was constantly performing the will of God when on the earth. In fact, you rarely find Him talking about anything else. This was His total concern. Right before Christ was to be crucified He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that God take away the coming consequence (namely the Cross). He asked this because He realized that God could, if He wanted to, could make it unnecessary for Christ to take the cross. He could have rewritten the way things should be so to speak. Of course, He is God and can do whatever He wishes as it says in the services. According to Father Hopko, God's response to Christ's request is awesome. God literally said, "no." Though God could have taken away the cross if He wanted to (for all things are possible to You), God still said that Christ had to endure the suffering. Obviously the cross must be important. Now there is one reason why one should not argue with Christ when He says that he need to take up the cross.

O C T P O B

   

Ostrov

(Spoiler Warning)  

    I would like to mention a few things concerning the remarkable Russian movie Ostrov, or The Island when translated. Basically, there is an extremely important, holy elder in a  Russian monastery, Father Anatoly, who helps/heals others in the monastery and the community. Because of his seemingly pointless actions, the brothers of the monastery often called him "trickster" or "prankster" and paid him very little respect, though it is soon seen how each of these actions had a specific purpose. There are a few different episodes in the movie that, to me, have interesting significance.

    First, a woman comes to his cell and tells him that she has been receiving dreams, even visions, of her husband over the past thirty years.  Supposedly, he had died in a war and she could never forget him. After telling him her story, she finds out through his clairvoyance that her husband is, in fact, alive on his deathbed. Although she wants to see her husband very much, the catch was that in order for her to make the journey she would have to sell all her possessions (such as her fat pigs and hogs). She kept prodding him to see if there was any other way to visit her husband without having to sell everything. He finally has to chase her out. What was she willing to give up in order to visit him? Well, we are not really given her exact thoughts. Father Anatoly seemed to be displeased. It seems to me the message was how far are we willing to go for others.

    After this a mother with a crippled boy comes to visit the elder. He prays over them and the boy's crippled leg is healed. Then, Father Anatoly suggests that they stay for the night to be able to attend the Liturgy so that the boy can receive communion and "never limp" again. However, his mother says that she can't stay because she has to go to work, otherwise, she will be fired. Father Anatoly's reaction is a little surprising;being extremely displeased with her, he tells her to get out. Apparently, she wasn't willing to risk her job in order for her son to receive communion. This is a similar situation to the other one. I think the question that the film is trying to put out there is, how willing are we to give up what we want in order to help others. This is just my interpretation of what they were saying, I would love to hear what you all have to say.

The Lord's Prayer I

The Lord

    I have over the past few weeks listened to the twelve disc lecture on the Lord's prayer given by Father Thomas Hopko in 2002 and 2003. I came to find out that my previous understanding of the Lord's prayer was a little "off balance" so to speak. Listening to the lectures was very enlightening to me. However, as always, his lectures are always so information filled that I must go back and re-listen to capture more details. Because of the extensive analysis, I will try to write several posts segmenting the Lord's Prayer.

    Well, first, most Christians, and sadly even non-Christians, know the Lord's prayer. I say sadly because the Lord's prayer was not supposed to be taught to the general public. It is a prayer that strictly Christians can pray. That is why in the early centuries about a week before the baptism the person was told to memorize the Lord's prayer (the East and West differed a little in the amount of time they allowed the person to memorize). The Lord's prayer was obviously given by the Lord Himself in the Gospels, specifically Matthew and Luke. St. Luke's Gospel actually has a sort of condensed version of the Lord's prayer that mainstream Christian groups including the Orthodox Church do not use. We all use and are familiar with the prayer recorded in the book of Matthew.

    The Lord's prayer is, according to Father Hopko, is the prayer of all prayers. The Orthodox say "Lord have mercy" and "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me," the Jesus prayer. These however are, in a sense, condensed versions of the Lord's prayer and come directly from it.

    The prayer starts out in English "Our Father, Who art in heaven." I thought it was very interesting that the Christian should say the word Father first. The only language this poses a problem for is English in which the adjective has to go before the noun (Our Father). Most all other languages the noun goes first and then the adjective (Father our). Because God is the infinite source of all things including the entire reason we humans exist, not to mention our ultimate source, the first word should really be Father, not some adjective. I didn't realize that in the Greek the translation "Who art in heaven" should really say "Who art beyond the heavens." I think this is fascinating that we are all praying to the One Who is beyond all the heavens themselves.

     "Hallowed be Thy name" basically means Thy name be hallowed. From what I remember, this name means reverenced and respected, really beyond what words can describe. Hallowed also means holy, which basically means beyond anything that can be imagined-totally different from everything. The name of a person cannot be understood as just some sort of a title that can be used flippantly. The name, in a sense, is the person himself. The name describes the all entirety of the person, everything he is, does, thinks, feels, says, believes, etc. That is why taking the Lord's name in vain is such a serious offense. God's real name is not really (at least not yet) revealed to us because it is so great and holy we cannot comprehend it. Not to mention the fact that it is too much of a risk to abuse it. The Lord doesn't tell His name to very many people in the Old Testament.

    When Jacob fought with the Lord, he asked the Lord His name and the Lord just doesn't tell him. In fact, the Lord sort of evades the question and moves on to another topic. When Moses, "The meekest man in the Bible" asked the Lord's name, the Lord replies "I am that I am." Father Thomas Hopko and the former minister of the Pensacola Christian campus Church Pastor Jim Schettler differ on the way this name is interpreted. To Pastor Schettler, the Lord said "I am the I am" meaning I am what you want/need me to be. In a sense, the Christian sort of decides what he wants God to be to himself. Father Thomas Hopko on the other hand interprets the interesting name as a "none of your business" notion. God's real name is so wonderful, powerful, and holy that Moses could not have possible been able to handle it at that moment. So, God sort of says, "My name is beyond everything so let's just leave it as I do what I do and I am what I am. You don't need to know any more than that." To tell you the truth, I personally bond much more to the interpretation of Father Thomas Hopko rather than that of Pastor Schettler. Pastor Schettler's interpretation seems to me to be very arrogant and presumptuous-goodness, who are we to tell the Almighty beyond the heavens what He should be and do. Lord Have Mercy!

The Apocalypse III

Judgement icon

After the letters to the Churches are completed, St. John is brought up to heaven and beholds God's throne which is full of colors surrounded by a rainbow. God is always presented as sitting on a throne. Christ conquered and so sits upon the throne Himself; He also grants those who conquer on earth to sit upon the throne with Him.

Around the throne are twenty-four other thrones with the elders symbolizing the fullness of the saved. Why twenty-for elders? Because twelve represents fullness, the fullness of Israel and the fullness of the nations are co-enthroned with Jesus. In the center of the elders is God Himself alone who sits in the middle. In the Christian Liturgy the bishop represents God. There are also four beasts around the throne. Four in revelation is a cosmic symbol such as north, south, east, and west or up, down, length, and breadth. So the four beasts represents man, animal, and angelic parts of the cosmos.

In the right hand of the Father is a scroll sealed with seven seals. Seven seals means that it cannot be sealed anymore, symbolizing the deepest mysteries of God. In a sense, you don't get more mysterious than that. However, no one is found worthy enough to open the scroll and therefore reveal the mysteries of God. As Saint John is weeping because of this, One is found worthy to open the scroll; this One is Christ Himself. Worthy is a very important word in Revelation and also the hymns of the Orthodox Church. Christ is described as having seven horns (all power), seven eyes (all insight), and seven spirits (all the fullness of the reality of God). This slain Lamb is IT. 

The first four seals are very difficult to interpret and understand. They have to do with four horses, white, red, black, and pale gray. The white seems to indicate the beginning, conquering, and God's will. Red is the taking away of peace and the beginning of trouble. The black represents death and famine, and the pale gray represents hell itself.

The fifth seal is the beginning of salvation. The martyrs are seen under the altar and they ask God when the finale is to come-then they are given white robes and asked to wait. All the Christians have not yet died yet because to live with Christ means that one has to die with Him.

The sixth seal represents the ultimate victory of the Lamb. The generals and kings flee from the wrath of the Lamb and Him who sits on the throne. Then all of God's creatures sing to Him with many hymns. Christians experience this in the Liturgy during the Eucharist.

            The seventh seal is the end of the world. We, in a sense, are in the sixth seal which we experience in the Divine Liturgy. When the Lamb opens the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for the span of half an hour. The language of the age to come is silence. The ultimate mystery of the end is the silence in the presence of God because words cannot describe it. Silence is extremely important for creatures and even becomes the ultimate communion with God. A hesychast is one who is a practitioner of silence. Then all of the sudden the silence is broken by thunders and trumpets being blown by angels. Then calamities befall the earth because it falls away more and more from God. In chapters twelve to eighteen there is a clash between the demonic world and God's world.

            One symbol to the end of the world in the Gospels is the destruction of the Jerusalem temple around A.D. 70. If one were to read the Gospels where Christ mentions the destruction of the temple, he would have a difficult time distinguishing Christ' speaking of the destruction of the temple only, or the end of the world. Father Thomas says that He was referring to both. To the Jews, when that temple was destroyed, it was as if their world had ended because the destruction and terror were indescribable. One of the proofs of Jesus being the Messiah was this prophecy concerning the temple. Back in the early centuries, the fullness of Christ' victory would have been made manifest by the Roman Empire becoming Christian.

Of course, the pagans realized this, and the last pagan emperor, Julian the Apostate, came to the throne. Many believed at that time that if the Jerusalem Temple were to be rebuilt, it would disprove the Divinity of Christ. Interestingly enough, when he began to rebuild the temple to the extent of it being half done, it suddenly blew up. Since then, there has not been another temple until this day. Christ' victory was in fact made manifest in that much of Rome became Christian as well as Egypt. An Egyptian was as gentile as you could get. They represented the fullness of the rebellion of God. So, because many of them became Christian, Christ was really, really victorious.

The Apocalypse II

Second Coming Icon

        Father Thomas Hopko continues his lecture on the book of Revelation by saying that the book is about how Christians are supposed to continue living after the Resurrection of Christ. By the way, those Christians living after the first coming of the Lord, after the Resurrection, are really living in the last times because the Messiah has come.  The book was written for the servants of Christ so that they could read it and be blessed.

It must be noted that the one thing Christ does not tell His disciples in the Gospels or say in the book of Revelation is when the end will be. He says that His coming is imminent and soon, however, two thousand years have come to past and Christ has not come yet. This is because the book of Revelation is not about physical, chronological time such as today or tomorrow, rather it is concerning God's time which is spiritual and mystical.

 In Revelation 1:9, St. John says, "I John, your brother and joint partaker in the affliction and kingdom and patience in Jesus Christ, came to the Island which is called Patmos. . ." Father Thomas says it is very significant that John says that he is a fellow partaker of the Kingdom and affliction. Because Jesus was crucified, raised, and glorified, all the Christians living after that are in the tribulation or end time. Because all the Christians have been given the Holy Spirit, all have to share in tribulation, which will include suffering, tests, and temptations. However, though we are in the tribulation, we are also in the kingdom; basically-as he says-we are in two worlds. St. John says that he also shares in the patience in Jesus Christ meaning that Christians must go through patient endurance until Christ comes again in glory.

 In verse ten St. John says, "I came to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day. . ." This, as Father Thomas says, is a loaded verse. To be in the Spirit means to be caught up in a state of worship. Many of the early fathers associated the Spirit with the Kingdom of God. So Jesus is the Christ and the Spirit is the Kingdom. St. John was also saying he was worshiping on Sunday; this means he was having a form of Divine Liturgy and partaking of Holy Communion.

 St. John then turns and sees Christ Himself with a long robe shining brighter than the sun in His glory holding seven stars in His right hand and having a sharp two-edged sword proceeding from His mouth. St. John also saw seven golden lamp stands. Seven is significant because in the Bible and in the Jewish tradition is the image of absolute fullness and completion. In Revelation there are many numbers which are all symbolic. There seven letters to seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven visions of the dragons and kingdoms, seven visions of the worshipers of the Lamb, seven visions of the bowels of wrath, and seven visions of the fall of Babylon. Seven times seven which symbolic of total, absolute, perfect completion of everything-the ultimate revelation. So, the book of Revelation is the total revelation of everything concerning Christians living in the world since Jesus Christ. Because seven is symbolic of perfection, six must mean that there is a lack, not quite there, inadequacy, etc. Sometimes Revelation will say three and a half, meaning a short time. Because the glory of Christ is brighter than the sun, John falls down at His feet. Then Christ says for John to get up and not be afraid for he is to write down the mystery of the seven stars and the seven lamp stands. Father Thomas says that Christ literally wants St. John to write down the greatest mystery that can possibly be revealed. Christ says that the mystery of the seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches that St. John will soon write to concerning their spiritual mission work; the mystery of the seven lamp stands is their standing for the seven churches.

 Though the letters are directed to seven churches that were around in the time of the Apostles, Father Thomas says that they also represent all the church ages of the time after Christ. The seven churches are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Each church had its own problems and Christ addresses them through the letters of John. It is thought that each church represents a certain age within church history. The first church, Ephesus, corresponding to the early Apostolic church and the last church, Laodicea, corresponding to the end times. Most of the letters contain criticisms, but all of the churches have a reminder or message to be victorious as Christ is also always victorious.

 To Ephesus, Christ commends their zeal to fight the enemies and count those who think they are Apostles and are not false. He also commends them for hating the works of the Nicolaitans which the Lord also hated. The Nicolaitans were certain heretics who denied the incarnation and victory of Christ. Christ ends the letter to Ephesus by saying that he who conquers Christ will let eat of the tree of life which is the paradise of God. This is the Eucharist.

 To Smyrna Christ say that he who conquers will not be harmed by the second death. He who has been baptized into Christ is already dead, symbolic of the first death. Though Christians are dead (or should be) the second death, which is eternal death in the presence of God, cannot harm them. Once again, a reference to victory has been disclosed.

 To Pergamos it says that Christ will give the "hidden manna" to him who conquers. The hidden manna is the Eucharistic banquet. They will also be given a new name, a baptismal name, written on a stone, which is like a ticket or right to enter into the higher heavens.

 To Thyatira it says that he who conquers will be given power to rule over the nations, which is symbolic of being in the Kingdom of God which is possible to attain in this world. To Sardis it says that he who is pure in this world will Christ grant to have a white robe and walk around with Christ. The white robes or garments point to the resurrected body. Also, they who are victorious Christ will confess before the angels of God. To Philadelphia they who are victorious are to become the pillars of the temple of God. This means that the people themselves become the temple of God. To Laodicea, though Christ derides them the hardest, Christ says that they who are victorious He will grant to sit with Him on the Throne of God.

 After the letters to the Churches are completed, St. John is brought up to heaven and beholds God's throne which is full of colors surrounded by a rainbow. Around the throne are twenty-four other thrones with the elders symbolizing the fullness of the saved. There are also four beasts around the throne. Four in revelation is a cosmic symbol such as north, south, east, and west. So the four beasts represents man, animal, angelic parts of the cosmos.