Jordan Rovny's blog

The Apocalypse

The Apocalypse

        I have recently listened to a four disk lecture given by Father Thomas Hopko called Apocalypse. In it, Father Hopko speaks about the book of Revelation written by St. John the Theologian on the island of Patmos. By hearing what Father Hopko had to say, I learned much more what the Church's position is regarding the book of Revelation.

        In the first disk, Father Thomas Hopko begins the lecture by saying that not only is the book controversial to understand today, but before the books of the Bible were canonized it was a controversy. It was considered by some of the early Christians to be Pseudepigrapha, or false writing. If one were to compare, the number of false books that the early Fathers rejected is much greater than the number of books in the Bible.  In the Council of Laodicea in the fourth century, the book of Revelation is not listed as one of the books of the Bible. Amphilochius of Iconium, the cousin of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa said of Revelation, "It is spurious book and should not be in the canon." In fact, St. John Chrysostom never mentions it. However, Father Thomas goes on to say because we have the Church, Holy Tradition, Prayer, Icons, and many other things, the Orthodox do not need to be too nervous or upset about what is in the canon and what is not. This would only be an issue, as he says, if the Bible had fallen from heaven as the Koran and is the only authority that Christians have.  There has always been divisions and controversies concerning many other books of the Bible, not just Revelation. True Christian life is an ongoing reality of prayer, preaching, and sanctity of the community-not about a book or books as important as they may be. 

        Father Thomas says that eventually the book of Revelation did become canonized and is definitely one of the books of the Bible. However, though it is within the Bible, it is not read at all in the services of the Church.The book of Revelation is filled with Scripture verses from other books of the Bible. In fact, one cannot properly understand the book without having considerable knowledge of the rest of the Bible. Because Revelation contains many references to the heavenly liturgy and what is going on up there, the earthly liturgy was formed from many of those references. One cannot fully understand the Orthodox Liturgy unless they have read Revelation within the Orthodox Tradition. Of course, the earthly liturgy was partly developed even before Revelation was written because the Apostles were still around. For this reason Revelation has taken some things from the earthly liturgy. So Revelation has taken things from and contributed to the Liturgy. The book of Revelation was canonized partly because of the influence of some influential Saints such as Sts. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Athenasius the Great. These three and many more vehemently defended the book.                   

Traditionally, the author of Revelation is St. John, however no modern biblical scholars affirm this. Father Thomas facetiously says that this is their problem.  He also says that it is interesting to note that the Saints who stood for Revelation the strongest were in the lineage of discipleship to St. John. Though there is some discrepancy as to the authorship of Revelation, mostly because the writing style of Revelation is radically different than the fourth gospel of John, it is not an extremely important issue. It is within the Bible and therefore all we need to do is listen to it.

      
        Apocalypse means disclosure; actually, it is a particular disclosure. The book was written for particular people, namely, those within the Church who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and minds to understand-the insiders of the Church. The book of Revelation not only tells of what is happening to the Christians of the time of the book, but also what will be happening to all Christians throughout the life of the Church on earth. The entire book is a parable; a parable makes the story more clear to those who already understand the story. This is also true within the Gospels. When the Lord told a parable, the disciples still did not understand because they were not in the position to understand the story. Because Revelation is a massive parable, it is an enigma; this means that unless a person is within the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, he will most certainly not understand it because he cannot. The Orthodox are in the best position to understand the book because they have actually kept the traditions of the Apostles. Basically, if the Orthodox cannot understand it, no one can. 

The Robe

The Robe

    We recently watched a movie called "The Robe." It centered on he life of a Roman tribune, Marcellus, during the time of Christ. Due to his disrespectful conduct of Caligula, the nephew of Emperor Tiberius and the successor to the throne, Marcellus is sent to Jerusalem, which at that time had the reputation of being a dangerous place for a Roman guard. Now under Pontius Pilot, Marcellus must handle criminal punishment in Jerusalem. Oddly enough, because Christ happened to be one of his "criminals," Marcellus must take car of the Lord's crucifixion, his first one. During the crucifixion, he and his men gamble for the "robe" of Christ; eventually Marcellus wins.

    Shortly after the crucifixion, Marcellus decided to try on the robe. However, right as he put on the robe he was struck with extreme guilt and fell to the ground. His servant Demetrius ran off with the robe after rebuking Marcellus for his flippancy and disrespect for Christ (Demetrius had developed a love for Christ after being in His midst). After the incident Marcellus is haunted and tormented by dreams and flashbacks of the crucifixion.

    Marcellus then returns to Italy to visit the aging emperor Tiberius. After hearing the situation, Tiberius and his doctor agree that the robe was cursed causing Marcellus torment. Tiberius gives Marcellus an imperial decree to destroy the robe for they reasoned this was the only way to free Marcellus from his guilt.

    After returning Israel he visits Cana and finally finds Demetrius who had the robe. Marcellus demanded that Demetrius give him the robe to which Demetrius calmly did. Once again Marcellus is thrown to the ground in tormenting shame and he is unable to destroy it. As he attempts to gain the courage to destroy the robe he is exposed to the lives of the Christians and realizes their way of life is radically different than the Romans. He is touched by their compassion and love for each other and wishes to become one of them, a Christian. After this Demetrius introduces Marcellus to St. Peter, and he grows more in the Christian faith. Marcellus repented of his mean treatment to Demetrius and in fact owes him his life.

    After a period of time (undisclosed) he learns of Caligula's ascension to the throne following the death of Tiberius. Caligula has Demetrius tortured in the imperial palace. After Marcellus discovers this, he and several of his men (from his home in Rome) rescue Demetrius and take him to their house. Because of his torturing Demetrius is nearly dead and there is nothing the doctor can do. Suddenly, St. Peter walks in, heals Demetrius, and leaves without saying a word. Marcellus is able to help Demetrius escape, but he himself is unable to. Caligula discovers what happened and in a fit of rage calls a council to decide the fate of Marcellus and his wife who had also become a Christian. Obviously Marcellus and his wife are condemned to death and the final scene of the movie is the two of them walking along in bliss to their death to be in heaven.

   I do not  really have a firm opinion concerning the acting, filming, or production of the film (I have little knowledge of such things). I do feel that the movie had a Protestant slant to it especially after the crucifixion. After the crucifixion, Marcellus becomes a Christian, but there is no indication of his growing in the Faith, especially to the extent of being able to be a spiritual authority (by his commanding the release of Demetrius; also, in a sense, leading himself in his spiritual journey-as short as it was). If the film was made in an Orthodox perspective, I would think there would be more emphasis on the Liturgy, or any sort of Christian assembly for worship, on the Eucharist, and on Baptism. Not to mention, where were the other disciples? Where was Mary the Mother of Jesus? Why was only St. Peter present? Such questions I don't feel were adequately taken care of or explained in the film. I also thought it was kind of interesting to see that the more holy a person grew, the whiter their apparel became and the slower they walked.

    I did enjoy the story; you know, it had sort of a Ben Hur design. I also felt proud of Marcellus for forsaking Rome (Babylon) for the sake of joining Christ (though in a Protestant perspective). I think it would be neat to see this movie tweaked up a bit to fit more of an Orthodox vision (i.e. more emphasis on the Church, maybe a baptism or two, more disciples present as the film presented them all sort of dispersed, and the giving of the Eucharist to Marcellus and his wife, etc.). I realize that the early Church did not have everything established such as priests and bishops and  so on, but they did celebrate the "braking of the bread" and it was central to their worship.

    Ben Hur, you're next :)

Animals

Pippin

I have been thinking recently concerning the existence of animals. They are valuable to a certain degree; after all, they were created before mankind. They are mentioned in the Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers.

The Scriptures speak about the animals primarily in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. They are first mentioned in Genesis during the creation narrative. God created the animals from His voice. Because Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and introduced sin into the world, God had to institute animal sacrifices. In the animal sacrifices, human guilt or sin is transferred to an animal. Of course, this only works when the person has a repentant heart and wants to be forgiven. Psalms 104:25-30 mentions animals briefly. The Patriarch David seems to imply that God created animals so that they can "play"; such as when it mentions the leviathan in the waters. According to the same verse, God is constantly creating the animals by sending forth His Spirit; He also ends their lives by removing their spirits. Not only does this verse from Psalms mention that God takes care of the animals, but in the Gospels Jesus mentions that the Father feeds them; however, Jesus mentioned this because He wanted to teach the disciples that God wants to take care of humans as well.

Humans are of more value than the animals as the Lord said, "Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matt 10:32)(Luke 12:7) Many times in the Bible and in the writings of the Fathers, man is described as being much higher than the animals on the basis that he was created in God's image. St. Basil speaks of man saying that he was destined for heaven as evidenced by the fact that his head is pointed upwards. The destiny of animals is to eat and survive, as evidenced by their heads pointing downwards. In the book, Orthodox Psychotherapy, by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos, the Metropolitan explains that man's soul is composed of energy and essence, whereas animal souls possess only energy.  The energy of the soul animates the body, which is why both man and animals have living bodies. However, man has essence, not to be confused with the essence of God. A whole study can be made on the essence of man, but this article is focusing on animals. Because the "soul" of animals is composed primarily of energy, it dies with the body.

St. Maximus the Confessor says that the soul has three powers, "a. that of nourishment and growth, b. that of imagination and instinct, and c. that of intelligence and interaction. The plants share in the first, animals in the second, and man in all three."  Jewish beliefs also hold to the soul as having three parts; according to the Zohar, a Jewish mystical work, the human soul has three elements, nephesh, ru'ah, and neshamah. According to Wikipedia, "The nephesh is the part of the soul that is alive; it also it feels hunger, hates, loves, loathes, weeps, and most importantly, can die (can depart from the body, but can sometimes come back in again)." This is given to the body at birth and is present in animals, not in plants. The other two parts of the human soul come after birth and make up the rest of the person such as distinguishing between right and wrong (ru'ah), and the last part (neshamah) really differentiates man from the animals because it gives him intelligence and benefit from the afterlife.

So, the animals do possess souls, but they are no where near as intricate or powerful as that of the human soul. As for animal souls living after death, many people are divide. Metropolitan Hierotheos seems to believe that the animal soul dies with its body. Bishop Kallistos Ware says, " In the 'new earth' of the Age to come there is surely a place not only for man, but for the animals: in and through man, they too will share in immortality, and so will rocks, trees and plants, fire and water." The Saints do say that we should pray for the animals and be thankful for them; they also say that we should be compassionate to them, for they share similar burdens that humans bear. So, we should learn to understand that animals were given to man to be loved.

The Valaam Monastery

Valaam

            For the past two years or so I have been listening to the chants from the Valaam Monastery. At first, I used to hate listening to them because there was still a stubbornness in me to convert to the Church. They maid me feel very uncomfortable.  Finally that little, actually not so little, barrier has been crossed. I listen to them more than any other music now.

            The music from the monastery is wonderful. They do not sound like an ordinary choir. Why?-I cannot really explain. Their harmony is unbelievable; in fact, one would almost think there was just one person singing. I suppose my next barrier is to learn Russian so I can fully understand everything they are saying. However, I have learned to pick up several different phrases such as "Now and ever and unto the ages of ages" and "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us." Since I started to really listen to them, my desire to learn Russian has increased.

            It is not known how early the Valaam Monastery was founded; only documents later than the 16th century ever mention the monastery. Perhaps this is because the monastery has been beaten down by Catholics, Protestants, and pagans for many years. Because the monastery is located on the border between Finland and Russia, the two have quarreled over the monastery.

There was a power struggle between Sweden and Russia in the sixteenth century. In 1578 monks and novices were beaten to death by Lutheran Swedes. Then the monastery was burned to the ground. For over one hundred years the monastery was desolate until the eighteenth century when it was restored. Since then there have been problems off and on with the monastery considering the two world wars and communism in Russia. Now that the monastery retains spiritual seclusion and relative peace, the monks record music primarily for raising money to repair the damages from the heretics and pagans. The music samples are from the c.d. The Athos of the North recorded in 1995.

A Stepping Stone to the End?

Christ

This is thought that has recently been on my mind. The end time is something we humans love to ponder about. There are usually two questions a person asks when musing on this subject: What will happen and when will it be? There have been multitudes of books and lectures given on the topic. The Revelation of John in the Bible is thought to be exclusively about this.

The Fathers of the Church give us many clues as to what will be the stepping stones to the end. Some have said that men will fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish. This is probably alluding to planes and submarines. Another prophecy among the Fathers is that men will be able to communicate instantaneously-obviously pointing to e-mail and television. Another strange prophecy is that if one were to see the future, he would not be able to distinguish between male and female.

            These are only a few of the many, many prophecies that the holy Fathers offer us. In the lecture, Praying with Icons, Father Thomas Hopko says that God is everywhere but in human pretense and imagination. He goes on to say that while one is praying, it is extremely dangerous for him to think up images of heaven or Christ because he is no longer praying and communing with God, but to the image he has created. I think this is exactly what the what the post-modern world is trying to do. In public school, the one of the only things I can remember is that I was flooded with the phrases, “How do you feel about this,” “you are very special,” and “whatever makes you happy and feel good is all that matters.” 

In the modern times, the world would try to forcibly take the truth from people; this is not the case in the post-modern world. Now, instead of the world spreading false doctrines through concentration camps and dictators, it is spreading false doctrines by very nicely and politely saying that people should believe whatever they want to believe. This is much more dangerous than the first case because when someone is told they are capable of inventing the truth and believing whatever they want to believe, they hold on to it much tighter than they would if it had come from a concentration camp. Today, most video games and television teach people to increase the power of their imaginations. This is a tragedy because people are now communing with their own imaginations and thoughts, instead of excepting reality as it is. What will happen when the time comes to choose between good and evil, such as when the anti-Christ rises up to deceive the nations? Who will these people who have been communing with nothingness choose, Christ or the anti-Christ? The answer is obvious.

 The post-modern public education system is designed by the devil to remove people’s hearts. For a human, when the heart is removed, he becomes an it. As Father Thomas Hopko says, “He becomes a brain and a body, a copulator and a calculator.” We have the mass media and society teaching people to use their imaginations and be all nice and sweet to one another. One thing everyone agrees on concerning the anti-Christ is that he will be the nicest, sweetest person. But he will also be a deceiver. 

With a mass portion of the world being robotic calculators lost in the imagination, it will be a very easy task for the anti-Christ to gather them all to his side. Once this occurs, the robotic calculators will become fighting machines. The final punch against the Orthodox Church will be the devil's sending literally billions of robots to destroy  her once and for all. Of course, according to the book of Revelation, God will send fire to destroy all the “robots” and Christ will come in glory to save His Bride from the false delusions of the imagination from the devil. The fire being, of course, the blazing presence of His glory.

I also think a large portion of this army will be people who call themselves "Christians", Protestants specifically. From what Dr. Clark Carlton says, a mass majority of Protestants are expecting another world revival, similar to the first two in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is another perfect opportunity for the devil to attack. The Protestants could easily believe that the anti-Christ is the new world reformer and they will try to assist him in the final destruction of the Church. I wonder if this is the time spoken about in Revelation when the beast is released for four seasons to deceive the nations. This occurs after the thousand years are up, which according to the Orthodox Tradition, is the Church age. The end is coming. As the devil is breeding his army, the Orthodox Christians need to pray and watch because only the Orthodox Church will make it through. All others, except those sincerely searching for truth (these are Orthodox at heart), will be deceived by the devil as told by the prophets and the Scriptures.

             Many of the Holy Orthodox Fathers prophesied about the end; among them, Starets (Elder) Lavrentii , is one of the most notable. Before his death in 1950, he was a Schema-Archimandrite from the Chernigov-Trinity Convent. Concerning the end time he would say that souls will go to hell in numbers like those leaving the church on a weekend, but those who will be saved will compare to the number of people that go into church on a week day. He would also say, "How many people there are, who are packed in the inferno like herring in a barrel" and "How pitiful it is! And in the last days, hell will be filled with youg people." Father Lavrentii also spoke much about the antichrist and mentioned several signs of the end. (From the Orthodox Heritage prophecy page)

Father Thomas Hopko

Thomas Hopko

    The Very Reverend Father Thomas Hopko came to a Diocesan assembly in Dallas this past summer. He is one of the most eloquent preachers I have ever heard. While at the retreat, he once spoke to us, the youth, and asked about all our Saint names. I told him my Saint name, Boris. He responded with a great deal of information on St. Boris and St. Gleb, the Saint commemorated on the same day. Interestingly, he remembered not only my name, but the names of the other youths the rest of the retreat without having to ask us to remind him.

    At one point, when the other clergy were voting on certain issues, he was free to answer any questions we had. The questions varied but he was able to answer them with so much information from all the multitudes of spiritual books that he has read. I felt different being in his presence. It was like something invisible was radiating from him. I personally never wanted to leave him; in fact, I was sad when I had to.

     A person who has spent over forty years studying and praying as a priest and dogmatic professor will definitely have a huge impact on others. Father Thomas Hopko is one of the most outstanding preachers that I have ever heard.

St. Theophan the Recluse

Theophan

    This is St. Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894), the Russian monk and Bishop of Tambov. Though my Patron Saint is St. Boris, one of my favorite Saints is Theophan. He was canonized in 1988 mostly for his incredibly deep knowledge of the Orthodox Church. He is famed for his spiritual books and his assistance in the translation of the Philokalia from Church Slavonic to Russian.