The Catalog of Good Deeds

In his On the Making of Man, St Gregory of Nyssa likened the human body to a kind of musical instrument, played upon by the mind of man. In the same work, he dismissed as pagan the idea of man as microcosm. Yet later, in his dialogue On the Soul and the Resurrection, Gregory espoused precisely this notion of microcosm in order to express the mediatorial role of the human being between intelligible and phenomenal realms. Finally, in his commentary On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Gregory brings together both his musical analogy and the notion of man as microcosm and mediator, synthesizing and expanding these tropes in a more broad-ranging vision of man’s place within the angelic and visible creation.

According to Gregory, “man is a miniature cosmos and contains all the elements of the great cosmos. And the orderly arrangement of the universe… is a diverse and variegated musical harmony which has been tuned in relation to itself and is in accord with itself and never distracted from this harmony even though a great distinction of essences is observed in the individual parts.” Man is both a miniature of this musical cosmos, and an image of the one who made it. Being microcosm, the harmony of the whole world is reproduced in man himself: “For just as in a fragment of insignificant glass it is possible to see the whole circle of the sun reflected in the gleaming part, as in a mirror, as though the smallness of what is gleaming contains it, so also all the music perceived in the universe is seen in the miniature cosmos, I mean in human nature… Even the instrumental equipment of our body, which has been artfully devised by nature for the production of music, proves this.”

Gregory likens the whole of the original creation to a dance and chorus, which looked to the one choirmaster, interpreting his song in harmony. Yet sin introduced disharmony, and removed human beings from this chorus. Only through Jesus Christ, and after trials of purifying hardship, are human persons restored to the chorus and the dance. Thus, the “cymbals” which close the book of Psalms (Ps. 150:6) – representing the final stage of spiritual ascent – indicate the unity of angelic and human natures in divine praise. This unity is accomplished through the work of Jesus Christ, who unites all things separated by sin and exalts human nature to a glory comparable to that of the angels.

The music which reflects the wisdom of God in creating the cosmos is expressed in moderation and good order. The concord of creation is a harmony of opposites which produces a hymn of glory to God. “The accord and affinity of all things with one another which is controlled in an orderly and sequential manner is the primal, archetypal, true music. It is this music which the conductor of the universe skillfully strikes up in the unspoken speech of wisdom through these ever occurring movements.” Such polyphonic music of creation is a pattern of intelligible meaning unheard by the senses, but discerned by the mind when it transcends the limitations of the flesh. It is this music, Gregory says, which the psalmist David heard when he described the heavens as declaring the glory of God (Ps. 19:1).

Human existence is a kind of music. The question is what kind of music – whether it is in accord with God and the nature of the cosmos or not. This question for Gregory has to do with the proper ordering of daily life. For Gregory, the good life is kata physin: in accord with nature. The Psalms also are a music in accord with nature. The Word of God “admonishes that your life be a psalm which does not resound with earthly sounds, but by sounds I mean thoughts, but which produces a sound from the upper and heavenly realms which is pure and audible.” Man’s life becomes a well-ordered psalm precisely through praying the psalms and putting into practice their divine teachings. The rhythms of their words and music heal the rhythms of human life, bring it to harmony and moderation:

“In this singing nature reflects on itself in a certain manner, and heals itself. For the proper rhythm of life, which singing seems to me to recommend symbolically, is a cure of nature. For perhaps the very fact that the character of those who live virtuously need not be devoid of the Muses, unharmonious and out of tune, is an encouragement to the more sublime state of life. Neither must the string be drawn taut beyond measure, for that which is well-tuned certainly breaks when it is strained beyond what the string can bear, nor on the contrary must one slacken the tension immoderately through pleasure, for the soul which becomes relaxed in such passions becomes deaf and dumb. In all other matters we must tighten and relax the tension at the right time, looking at this, that our way of life in the customs may continue always melodious and rhythmical, being neither immoderately slack nor strained beyond measure.”

As evidence of the healing power of music, Gregory cites the example of David’s healing Saul’s mental disturbance with song. This example, says Gregory, shows that the symbolic value of music is for the healing of the passions. This is not true of all music, but rather of sacred songs composed by those who are not “outside our wisdom.”

The goal of man’s life, however, is expressed not only in music, but music combined with words. “Psalm” for Gregory means music, whereas “song” means words with music: music whose meaning is made outwardly intelligible. “When we hear a song, we learn in an enigmatic way of the decorum of life concerning the visible world.” This, according to Gregory, would not be the case with purely instrumental music. Gregory associates pure “music” with speculative philosophical theory concerning the good, while “words” indicate the life of praxis. “The psalm of a song” (Ps. 92:1 LXX) indicates the combination of “music” and “words,” signifying the perfect unity of theory and praxis, thought and action, which is the Christian ideal. “‘A prayer with a song’ enjoins us equally to be zealous about our life first, so that nothing unrhythmical or out of harmony should occur in our daily pursuits, and then to approach God though prayer. Only if our life is in accord with David can we then have the boldness to “praise” God with a prayer like his.

This unity of thought and bodily life, of theoria and praxis, is related to man’s role of mediator. At the height of virtue and divine vision, of imitation of the invisible God, man nevertheless retains a bodily visibility, a face with which he relates to the visible world of men. The person who achieves the vision of God such as Moses enjoyed “stands as a kind of boundary between the changeable and the unchangeable nature and mediates, as it is appropriate, between the two poles. He offers supplications to God on behalf of those who have been converted from sin, and he transmits the mercy of the supreme power to those who need mercy.” It is precisely unity with, and imitation of, the changeless divine that tunes and orders the rhythms of this changing earthly life, making of it a harmonious music — in concord with the angels.

Source: http://myocn.net/music-mediation-st-gregory-nyssas-commentary-inscriptions-psalms/

The Divine Liturgy is truly a gift of the Holy Spirit to humanity. It is an initiation into the mysteries of the Spirit, a mode of the revelation of God and of all things heavenly. There is nothing in the Liturgy which is not revelatory of the Godhead and of the energies of the Holy Trinity.

Because we know and believe that God is our Father, we view the church, especially when we celebrate the Liturgy, as our true home. We come in and go out freely, we are happy to be here, we make the sign of the cross, we light our candles, we speak with our friends, and it is easy to see that the Orthodox feel that the church is their home… The Liturgy is our family our gathering, our house. And what a spacious house it is! Together with us are those who are absent, along with sinners, and with the wicked, and the dead, indeed, even those who are in hell, but who may yet remember something about God….

So we come to church, to our true home, and we are truly glad. This is the greatest privilege which a Christian can have. Here we experience the grace of God. We experience our salvation, the results of the redemptive work of our God, of Christ, the great “High Priest.”… Christ lives for us, he prays for us, and raises his hands to the heavenly Father… He has not ceased to urge our saints — and particularly His Mother of God — to intercede for us to the heavenly Father, for our hearts, for our sins, for our pains, for the disappointments of our life…. So don’t think that when we go to church, we are simply entering and exiting an ordinary building. Instead, we go up to, and make our entrance into, the Holy of Holies, into the heavens themselves…

When we enter church, then, we are traversing the distance from church to heaven… We see the bread and wine, but who among us does not believe they are Christ? We inhale the fragrance of wine and bread, but who among us does not believe this to be the body and blood of he Savior?…This is a sacrament. This is what a “mystery” of the church means…

Our liturgy is an exceeding great gift. No one is worthy of such greatness. No one can do anything without God. He alone makes these magnificent blessings real, and places them in our hands and hearts.

…And for this we say: Thank you, Lord our God, because you have brought down the ranks of angels and raised us up to heaven. We are found worthy to stand before the heavenly Father. What blessedness! What happiness!

But let each of us ponder how great and rich God has made us; how highly he has exalted us, dispite the fact that we are sinners! “Woe is me,” said Isaiah the prophet, for God himself has descended upon me, and I am afraid I will die. And this is what we should also say when we come to church. We should be afraid, but we should also rejoice. We should tremble, but our hearts should also leap for joy, because we are embracing God, and God is embracing us.

So we have come to church, to the Liturgy! Let nothing disturb the tranquility of your soul. God is present. Wherever we look, God is before us! If we don’t see Him, this doesn’t mean He isn’t there, but only that our eyes are not used to seeing Him…

With the eyes of our mind, let us see the king for whom we sinners opened the way, and let us say with the Psalmist: “Come let us worship and fall down before Him and cry to the Lord… for He is our God.” (Ps 94.6-7) Let us open the depths of our hearts to the Lord, who is present here with us, and let us advance more each and every day, so that we will be able to discover everything that God, our redeemer, has done for us.

By Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-divine-liturgy-is-gift-of-holy.html

On June 11 the Church celebrates the uncovering of the relics of a great saint and miracle-worker of our times, Holy Hierarch Luke (Voino-Yasnestsky), Archbishop of Simferopol and the Crimea. On St. Luke’s commemoration day, the readers of the Russian site Pravoslavie.ru shared their experiences of his miraculous help. We have translated a few of them for our English language readers.

“She felt as though someone was giving her an operation”

(By Olga Valerievna)

Dear editors, great thanks and a deep bow to you, that amidst the bottomless internet space you appear as an island of salvation and Orthodox faith. We greatly revere St. Luke and would like to share our story.

Our aunt from Georgia suffered all her life—and she is already 55 years old—from terrible attacks of migraine. Everyday she would take a handful of pills just ease the unbearable pain a least a little.

We told her about St. Luke and showed her the film, “Saints of the 20th Century.” She wept and kissed the icon of the saint and asked him for help. She prayed to him many nights, and read his sermons and spiritual instructions. And in around a month a friend of ours from Simferopol brought some oil and a little icon from the relics of St. Luke. Our aunt anointed the painful area with this oil and prayed every day, touching her head to the icon.

One day, when she woke up in the morning, with great trembling and unwavering faith in St. Luke’s help, she told us the following. Just as she had done several day earlier, she prayed in the evening before going to bed, anointed the painful spot with the oil, touched the icon to it, lay down to sleep, and…

After that, she said, she felt as if someone was giving her an operation on her head: They rubbed something on, opened it up, and as if pulled something out. At first it was very painful, but to the measure of its release the painful spot began to go away “from something”. Then that spot burned for a long time like fire, and by morning the pain was completely gone.

Now almost a half a year has passed and, glory be to God, she no longer takes any pills and has forgotten what it’s like to have a migraine.

We have a little boy who we named Luke—our fourth child. During pregnancy and birth I prayed to St. Luke for help and a successful birth, and this help came. We thank thee, holy father Luke, and we honor thy holy memory, for thou dost pray for us to Christ our God!

“As a doctor, I understand that this is almost impossible”

(By Ekaterina Filatova)

I would like to tell you about St. Luke’s help to my son. Little Vanyusha had a hernia, and I remembered that there was a vial with oil from St. Luke in our house. I prayed to the holy surgeon, and anointed the hernia with oil.

On the next day I discovered that it had disappeared! As a doctor I understand that this is almost impossible. But as a believing Christian I know that what is impossible to man is possible to God. Glory to God for all things!

“The operation was cancelled, and the tumor was pronounced benignant”

(By Elena Kapulin)

Three years ago I was given a diagnosis of: “hygroma of the Achilles tendon.” My right leg was already ailing without that—cerebral palsy. They scheduled an operation, told me to have a tomogram, and then onto the operating table. I was very scared (this had been the third tumor diagnosis in my life).

Every time I came to church I venerated the icon of St. Luke with the particle of his relics. A week passed, I received Communion and went to have the tomography. And the doctor announced, very amazed, “As you like, but you don’t have a hygroma. This is a fibroma! (a fibroma is a post-operative change in tissue). I said, “Of course I had an operation on the Achilles tendon, but that was 25 years ago! But the doctor insisted: “I do not see a hygroma on the tomogram! This is a fibroma!

Well, the operation was cancelled and he tumor was called benignant. I thank God and St. Luke!

“I said that I would take car of it!”

(By Natalia Popova)

My godson was born sickly, and this was a great blow to his whole family. The boy required many operations, and most of them were performed when he was not yet a year and a half. Of course, we sought help from the Lord, the Mother of God, and the holy God-pleasers.

I had heard about St. Luke of the Crimea but somehow I, a sinner, was not accustomed to turning to him for help. And suddenly I began to understand that in the churches I was more and more often running into icons of St. Luke, and felt his gaze on me, which asked, “Why don’t you ask me?”

There was such alarm and fear, but I had an infinite surety that everything would be all right with the child. After watching a documentary on St. Luke, perhaps my calls for help became especially fervent. He himself came to me in a dream and said that he would help our boy. I hoped that this was a good dream.

The first three operations on the intestines went very well, and the hindrances that came up simply disappeared suddenly. But there was still to be an operation on the head, and when some doubts arose regarding the choice of clinic (the doctors did not promise a very successful result), I as if heard a St. Luke’s words: “I said that I would take care of it!”

The alarm passed, and Glory to God and the Mother of God, glory to St. Luke of the Crimea and all the holy God-pleasers, the operation was very successful! My godson recovered rapidly. There are more operations ahead, but I know that all will be well with him! I have prayed to St. Luke of the Crimea for help ever since!

“He makes the doctors understand how best to do operations”

(By Svetlana Sadchikova)

Thanks, a thousand times! We always pray to St. Luke for our close ones—and he always miraculously helps. He makes the doctors understand how best to do operations. Enormous thanks to him!!!

Source: http://orthochristian.com/77994.html

1. Houses are traditionally blessed with "Theophany water" each year. A house can be blessed at any time, but the usual season for yearly blessings is from Theophany until the beginning of the Lenten Triodion, which begins four Sundays before Great Lent begins. This is not a hard and fast rule, but a good rule of thumb.

2. Some people place great importance on "Theophany water". This is just water that has been blessed with the Great Blessing of the Waters service on Theophany. Another name for this water is simply "Holy Water". We can bless water any time of the year that there is a need for it. In Moscow, for example, there is a huge vat of holy water that the faithful partake of regularly. On regular basis, the vat is refilled with water when it becomes empty, and this new water is blessed. The water blessed in for instance, August is no more and no less "holy" than the water blessed on Theophany.

3. Water is blessed using the “Great Blessing of the Waters” service two distinct times during Theophany: after Vespers on the Eve of Theophany and after the Divine Liturgy on Theophany. The blessings are identical, and the water is identical.

4. In many places, it is traditional to bless water in lakes or rivers. In Russia, clergy often go to such a place, and bless the cold water after a hole has been cut in the ice. Many people will take a dip in the water after it is blessed.

5. When a home is blessed, the priest brings everything needed for the blessing:

- holy water;

- a "krupilla" (brush for flinging the holy water);

- bowl for the water;

- candles;

- Theophany icon.

Many pious homes supply a bowl, candles and the family Theophany icon.

The family should provide the priest with a list of all family members, living and deceased.

The bowl and icon should be placed on a clean table with a cloth on it, preferably near the family icon corner. It is good for candles to be lit. The house should be clean, with all radios and televisions off.

The priest will bless all rooms of the house except the bathrooms. In homes with children, it is always good for the little ones to carry a candle or a small cross and "lead" the priest throughout the house. An elder member of the house may also do this.

6. The basic order for a simple home blessing is as follows.

a. The bowl of water, icon and lit candles are placed on a clean table. If there is a censer, it may be lit.

b. The priest begins the service with a blessing and the Trisagion prayers (O heavenly King through the "Our Father".) It is always preferable that the eldest of another member of the family say the Trisagion prayers.

c. After this the entire home is blessed, with the family walking with the priest holding candles and the Theophany icon while the Theophany Troparion is sung over and over:

Tone 1: When Thou, wast baptized in the Jordan, O Lord,/

the worship of the Trinity was made manifest; /

for the voice of the Father bare witness to Thee, /

calling Thee His beloved Son. /

And the Spirit in the form of a dove /

confirmed the certainty of the word. /

O Christ our God, Who hast appeared //

and hast enlightened the world, glory be to Thee.

It is a very good idea for the family to sing this troparion, and know it by heart. Otherwise, of the priest has many houses to bless, his voice will get tired!

d. Upon finishing blessing the house, the family gathers again at the table, and a short litany is said for the welfare of the family. The priest should have been provided a list of all family members, including those who are ill.

e. After this a short prayer, and the service is ended.

f. It is entirely appropriate the deceased loved ones of the family be commemorated from a list provided to the priest.

g. Sometimes the family wants to give the priest a little something to eat; depending on the time the priest has, he may stay and visit.

7. When a priest visits, it is NEVER required that the family gives him money. The scripture tells us "Freely you have received, freely give".

It is a pious custom among some to give the priest a donation at this time, but this should never be though of as a requirement. The priest comes to the home because he wants God's blessing to be upon it, and to know those in his flock better and to be available to them.

Source: http://byztex.blogspot.com/2010/01/house-blessing-primer.html

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Search This Blog

featured Slider

Parable of the Day: Telling Reliable People from Dangerous Ones

St. Gregory of Nyssa on Music and Mediation in a Christian's Life

The Divine Liturgy as a Gift of the Holy Spirit to Humanity

Can a Laymen Give a Blessing?

Modern day miracles of St. Luke (Voino-Yasnestsky)

7 Facts About the Blessing of Home

Partners