The Catalog of Good Deeds

In my Orthodox parish we will be celebrating Holy Theophany (The Baptism of our Lord) on January 6th. The celebration of this Feast of our Lord actually begins on January 5th, a day known as the Forefeast of Theophany.

Together with the other services celebrating this Feast of our Lord, there is a service of the Blessing of the Waters. This is usually conducted in the church. However in many places throughout the world services are conducted near open bodies of water. As a sign of blessing as Christ blessed the Jordan, Holy Water is poured into the body of water. A cross is then thrown into the water to be retrieved by young folks diving into the water.

Here in Colorado, many Orthodox gather on the Continental Divide for a special blessing of the waters of both sides of the Divide. Frozen crosses of water are placed in the snow on each side. In this way, the water flowing to the Pacific and the water flowing to the Atlantic are both blessed.

The holy water from the church is given to the faithful to consume throughout the year and to use in blessing their homes. In the weeks following the Feast, Orthodox clergy visit the homes of parishioners and conduct a service of blessing using the holy water that was blessed on the Feast of Theophany.

Someone asked me a very good question last year at Holy Theophany:

“Why should I have my house blessed every year? I mean, come on, I had it blessed several years ago and that seems good enough for me.”

Here is my response:

That is a great question and one that every Orthodox Christian needs to ponder. House blessings are not just some cultural tradition, but a very spiritual and important issue for you to consider.

When I was a prison chaplain, I would go around the prison to the cell of each Orthodox man and bless their home. Often other men would see me or hear about it and they too would ask for their cell to be blessed. The reports back were always the same: “Father, I felt such peace after my cell was blessed and I slept so well!” It was something that many men looked forward to each year.

Many years ago when I was a fairly new priest, a family asked me to help them. They were seeing “ghosts” in their home on a regular basis and it had the whole family scared. Being a very inexperienced priest, I felt this was a definitely above my pay grade and called upon a wonderful monastic for his advice. He said he would come and together we would bless their home. We did the entire service for blessing the home and as we went through the house, he told me that he could see the demons were fleeing in front of us. I of course saw nothing. This man is holier than I could ever hope to be! He told me that the Holy Water stings the demons like fire and they flee from it. We continued to bless the home until he said every evil had been removed. The report back from these folks in the following weeks and months was of peace, no sightings of “ghosts”, and very good nights of sleep.

I share these two stories with you to show the need we all have for the peace of the Lord in our homes. I am not suggesting that your home is filled with demons and all kinds of evil. But, throughout the year we may end up bringing things into our homes that we really don’t want there: such as anger, gossip, slander, lying, lust, hatred, envy, covetousness, sloth, despair…you get the idea. Many of the Holy Fathers of our Faith tell us that there is a very spiritual aspect to all of these and they affect the atmosphere around us. So it can be in our homes and often it happens so very slowly that we do not recognize its impact.

So the question you asked really gets reversed: “Why would any Orthodox Christian not want their home blessed each year?” When Holy Theophany rolls around this year and the list for house blessings is made available, be sure to sign up. It may be the best “cleaning” you can possibly give your home.

By Fr. Stephen Powley

Source: https://upwordglance.com/2017/01/04/why-should-i-have-my-house-blessed/

Every Orthodox Christian should have some holy Theophany water at home. Traditionally, the Orthodox drink the holy water consecrated on Theophany Day on an empty stomach with a prosphora after morning prayers. This water is sacred and demands utmost respect.

Saints on Holy Water

Saint Demetrius of Kherson wrote, “Consecrated water is a powerful means of sanctifying the souls and bodies of those who use it.” If we take it with faith and prayer, it can cure our physical illnesses. St. Seraphim of Sarov would always make his visitors drink some holy Theophany water after confession.

Saint Luke of Crimea advised, “Drink holy water as often as possible. It is the best and the most effective medicine. I’m saying that not just as a priest but also from my experience as a doctor.”

St. Seraphim of Vyritsa always recommended his spiritual children to sprinkle raw and cooked food with holy Theophany water, which, according to him, “consecrates everything all on its own.” Whenever anyone fell seriously ill, St. Seraphim would bless them to take a tablespoonful of holy water hourly. He used to say that there are no better remedies than holy water and holy oil.

Good to Know

The Greater Hagiasma is viewed by Church canons as a lower level of Holy Eucharist: in the cases when a member of the Church is forbidden to take the Holy Body and Blood of Christ due to their wrongdoings, the canon law usually adds, “he may drink hagiasma, though.”

It is good to know that dipping in consecrated water reservoirs on Theophany Day is a folk custom. It doesn’t make you free from sins and cannot be regarded as the substitute for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). Christians should do their best to participate in church services and the greatest Sacrament of the Church, i.e., the Holy Eucharist, on church holidays.

May One Sprinkle Unclean Places with Holy Water?

The power of the Cross can shield people like exorcism does. Thus, consecration has two meanings: either we use holy water to ‘fill something with grace’ or ‘to prevent any evil spirit from hiding in a certain place’ such as our bathroom.

May One Drink Holy Water After Eating?

Traditionally, people drink holy water on an empty stomach in the morning, which is understandable: first you take holy water and then your regular food. As far as the rest of the day is concerned, the Typikon (Chapter 48, Menaia for January 6) contains the following regulations:

Let it be known of the holy water: those who do not drink it because they have already consumed food, are mistaken, for God’s grace is granted for the sanctification of the entire world and all creatures. We sprinkle all places, including unclean ones and even the floor under our feet, with holy water. Where is the reason of those who do not drink it because of having eaten food?

Therefore, it isn’t reasonable to abstain from holy water because of having eaten some food. The Church does not prohibit us to drink holy water, even Theophany water at any time, and admonishes those who believe that it is forbidden to drink holy water not on an empty stomach.

Where Should We Store Holy Water?

Holy water is stored in a special vial or bottle. You can attach a note to the bottle to avoid using the water for the purposes that it isn’t intended for. You can find special bottles for holy water in many church stores.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://azbyka.ru/voda-svyataya

We have received an email from someone which goes as follows:

"Hello,

I was just wondering if you could give me your opinion on a question about entering into the monastic life.

If one was married in the past and had a child, and now the two are divorced and she re-married and he has not can he enter the monastic life? Become a monk?

Thanks for your time! God Bless you!"

Here is our understanding of the matter.

We assume that you live in the United States. You are subject to U.S. civil and criminal law as a citizen of the state in which you live. Hence, whatever you do religiously, you are subject to the civil and criminal laws of your jurisdiction. The matter is the same, with the necessary changes, for whatever legal jurisdiction you live in.

Assuming that there is no impediment in regard to civil or criminal law—for example a court order concerning child support or some other matter—then according to the tradition of the Orthodox Church and Orthodox canon law (as far as we know; we are not an expert in Orthodox canon law), there is no impediment to your becoming a monk having been once married, having fathered a child and then having been divorced.

However, the question would arise of the status of your marriage in the eyes of the Orthodox Church. This is especially true if you originally married in the Orthodox Church but obtained a civil divorce. Historically, the Orthodox Church has treated the monastic tonsure as dissolving an existent marriage, and without the consent of the spouse, but it is doubtful whether today any Orthodox jurisdiction would apply this principle without an investigation of the particular situation. This is a matter you would have to discuss with the senior members of the Orthodox jurisdiction to which you presently belong.

There is also the question of the welfare of the child—whether you have any legal or spiritual responsibility that would interfere with your becoming a monk in a particular monastery. This is again something you would have to discuss with the senior members of your Orthodox jurisdiction.

The next problem is that to become a monk in the Orthodox Church, you have to become a monk in a specific monastery–there is no such thing as an Orthodox monk of nowhere in particular. But that means that the superior of the monastery and possibly the council of senior monks of the monastery would have to be satisfied with your bona fides. They would make their own assessment of you and your marital history. Normally, a monastery is not obliged to accept any particular postulant so this will be an assessment independent of whatever the senior members of your jurisdiction decide. However, if the senior members of your jurisdiction have decided that you have an impediment then the monastery would normally acquiesce and refuse you. This phase of personal assessment will vary from monastery to monastery and jurisdiction to jurisdiction and country to country. We could only suggest that you discuss the matter with the superior of the monastery which you are interested in entering.

Finally, both the senior members of your Orthodox jurisdiction and the monastic superior together with the senior members of the monastery will want to assess the significance of your marital history for your personal psychological and spiritual condition with regard to the possibility of your entering the monastic life and of remaining in that state until death. There is no dispensation from vows in the Orthodox Church.

Hence, there is no theoretical impediment to your becoming a monk per se, but both the ruling bishop and the monastic superior would have to judge the merits of your particular case before you could receive permission.

Source: https://orthodoxmonk.blogspot.com/2008/12/can-divorced-man-become-orthodox-monk.html

And the child grew, and waxed strong

in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the

grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40).

We know almost nothing about the early years of our Savior’s life. Holy Evangelists don't say anything about it, so it might have been God's will for the earliest years of Jesus Christ to remain hidden. The silence kept by canonical Gospels led many religiously unstable people in the first centuries of the existence of the Holy Church to concoct fake stories about our Savior's childhood. The stories are teeming with nonsensical miracles and evident inventions of their authors, which serves to confirm that they're fake and have no bearing on the genuine Church tradition.

Uninformed minds and hearts always yearn for miracles, and the more miracles they hear about, the better. People like those have a hard time accepting the simple words of Evangelist Luke, And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him (Luke 2:40). That's all there is! The Lord came into the world not to perform countless miracles but rather to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

This is why we have no idea of the early years of Jesus's life: it has nothing to do with our salvation. The Lord lived like a human child, hiding His Messianic dignity and divine nature from people and waiting until He finally made Himself known and began His redemptive ministry.

Jesus is God, so how could He grow up and wax strong in spirit? How could He become filled with wisdom, given that God already possesses full knowledge and perfection? That’s what Saint Cyril of Alexandria, a great saint, a pillar of Orthodox faith and a Doctor of the Church, responds to these questions:

“To say that the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him, must be taken as referring to His human nature. And examine, I pray you, closely the profoundness of the dispensation: the Word endures to be born in human fashion, although in His divine nature He has no beginning nor is subject to time: He Who as God is all perfect, submits to bodily growth: the Incorporeal has limbs that advance to the ripeness of manhood: He is filled with wisdom Who is Himself all wisdom. And what say we to this? Behold by these things Him Who was in the form of the Father made like unto us: the Rich in poverty: the High in humiliation: Him said to "receive," Whose is the fulness as God. So thoroughly did God the Word empty Himself! For what things are written of Him as a man shew the manner of the emptying. For it were a thing impossible for the Word begotten of God the Father to admit ought like this into His own nature: but when He became flesh, even a man like unto us, then He is born according to the flesh of a woman, and is said also to have been subject to the things that belong to man's state: and though the Word as being God could have made His flesh spring forth at once from the womb unto the measure of the perfect man, yet this would have been of the nature of a portent: and therefore He gave the habits and laws of human nature power even over His own flesh” (Exegesis on the Gospel according to Luke).

We know of precisely one story from the life of a twelve-year-old Jesus accounted of in a canonical Gospel. The story goes that Saint Joseph the Betrothed and the most holy Virgin Mary were on their way home after celebrating Passover in Jerusalem. They were thinking that Jesus was traveling with His other relatives but He wasn’t. They had lost the young Jesus in Jerusalem. They had to return and spent three days looking for Him until they finally found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. (Luke 2:46-50).

His response implicitly communicates the fact that He is extremely close to the Heavenly Father because the Jews never dared to call God “my Father”. If they had to use the word Father to indicate God, they would always say Our Father or Our Father in Heaven.

Mary and Joseph, like other disciples of Christ, didn’t understand His words and actions during the first years of His ministry up to the point at which the Savior finally accomplished the purpose of His coming to the world. The Lord poured out the Holy Spirit on the great day of the Pentecost on His disciples and apostles, laying the foundation of his Church and essentially making us the Father’s children who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth and call Him Abba, Father (See Mark 14:36).

We can figure out certain biographical facts of the Savior’s life prior to His public ministry only putatively. We read in the life of the Holy Apostle Judas, son of James, that Joseph the Betrothed decided at his deathbed to divide his land among his sons from his first marriage and Jesus, Son of Mary. However, the older brothers, including Judas Thaddaeus, vehemently opposed the father’s decision. Only James, the Lord’s brother, was inclined to share his part with Jesus. When Lebbaeus Thaddaeus (Judas Thaddaeus’ alternative name) found out that Jesus truly was the promised Messiah, he was really sorry for his past actions. The Lord later chose him as one of the Twelve Apostles but Lebbaeus, forever ashamed of his sin, never dared to call himself the Lord’s brother, like James. Instead, he referred to himself as Judas the brother of James.

Biblical scholars still argue about the lineage of Lebbaeus Thaddaeus and whether he really was James’s brother or son. Medieval authors tended to confuse him with James the son of Alphaeus. It is also dubious that Jesus could have inherited any property from Joseph. The Lord himself claimed, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head (Luke 9:58). It is hardly likely that Joseph, who was a simple carpenter from the poor village of Nazareth, had enough land to divide it among his sons. Joseph was so poor that he was allowed to bring only two doves to the Temple as the offering for Mary’s purification as prescribed by the Law of Moses.

Therefore, we should treat even those stories that we read in the lives of the Apostles clearheadedly and cautiously, especially if they contradict the Word of God somehow.

Given that the Holy Evangelists didn’t leave us any memories or details about the Savior’s childhood and adolescence years, while various narratives of the life of Jesus prior to His public ministry don’t always tally with the absolute authority of the Holy Scripture, we can safely assume that Jesus lived a modest life in Nazareth with His most holy Mother and the righteous Joseph. The Scripture says that Jesus was subject unto them (Luke 2:51). Following His own commandment of honoring one’s parents, He helped Joseph and learned to be a carpenter. Let us follow the Lord’s example and hearken to the words of Apostle Paul, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4).

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,

specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2019

See full Nativity infographics here.

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