The Maker of the Universe

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"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

I stop struck with admiration at this thought. What shall I first say? Where shall I begin my story? Shall I show forth the vanity of the Gentiles? Shall I exalt the truth of our faith? The philosophers of Greece have made much ado to explain nature, and not one of their systems has remained firm anti unshaken, each being overturned by its successor. It is vain to refute them; they are sufficient in themselves to destroy one another. Those who were too ignorant to rise to a knowledge of a God, could not allow that an intelligent cause presided at the birth of the Universe; a primary error that involved them in sad consequences. Some had recourse to material principles and attributed the origin of the Universe to the elements of the world. Others imagined that atoms, and indivisible bodies, molecules and ducts, form, by their union, the nature of the visible world. Atoms reuniting or separating, produce births and deaths and the most durable bodies only owe their consistency to the strength of their mutual adhesion: a true spider's web woven by these writers who give to heaven, to earth, and to sea so weak an origin and so little consistency! It is because they knew not how to say "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that was all was given up to chance. To guard us against this error the writer on the creation, from the very first words, enlightens our understanding with the name of God; "In the beginning God created." What a glorious order! He first establishes a beginning, so that it might not be supposed that the world never had a beginning. Then be adds "Created" to show that which was made was a very small part of the power of the Creator. In the same way that the potter, after having made with equal pains a great number of vessels, has not exhausted either his art or his talent; thus the Maker of the Universe, whose creative power, far from being bounded by one world, could extend to the infinite, needed only the impulse of His will to bring the immensities of the visible world into being. If then the world has a beginning, and if it has been created, enquire who gave it this beginning, and who was the Creator: or rather, in the fear that human reasonings may make you wander from the truth, Moses has anticipated enquiry by engraving in our hearts, as a seal and a safeguard, the awful name of God: "In the beginning God created"-It is He, beneficent Nature, Goodness without measure, a worthy object of love for all beings endowed with reason, the beauty the most to be desired, the origin of all that exists, the source of life, intellectual light, impenetrable wisdom, it is He who "in the beginning created heaven and earth."

Saint Basil

Homily I.-In the Beginning God Made the Heaven and the Earth.

Daily Reading:

Friday February 12th/25th
Week of the Publican and the Pharisee

FAST FREE WEEK

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

Illumine my heart, O Master who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge. Open Thou the eyes of my mind to the understanding of Thy Gospel teachings. Implant also in me a love for Thy blessed commandments. Grant me the grace to overcome all my carnal desires, so that I may enter more completely into a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well pleasing to Thee. For Thou art the illumination of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God, and unto Thee do we ascribe glory, together with Thine all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit; now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, open Thou the eyes of my heart, that I may hear Thy word and understand and do Thy will, for I am a sojourner upon the earth. Hide not Thy commandments from me, but open mine eyes, that I may perceive the wonders of Thy law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom. On Thee do I set my hope, O my God, that Thou shalt enlighten my mind and understanding with the light of Thy knowledge, not only to cherish those things which are written, but to do them; that in reading the lives and sayings of the Saints I may not sin, but that such may serve for my restoration, enlightenment and sanctification, for the salvation of my soul, and the inheritance of life everlasting. For Thou art the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness, and from Thee cometh every good deed and every gift. Amen.

By the intercessions of Thine All-immaculate Mother and of all Thy Saints, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen

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Friday

LITURGY

1 John 2:7-17

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Mark 14:3-9

And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, "Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. "

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ST MELETIOS, ARCHBISHOP OF ANTIOCH
ST ALEXIS THE WONDERWORKER, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW

Troparion of St Meletios Tone 3
Thou didst shine on the Church with thy heavenly knowledge,/ O righteous Hierarch Meletios, wise in the law;/ thou didst preach the equal honour of the Persons of the Trinity/ and disperse the assembly of heretics./ Entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Troparion of St Alexis the Wonderworker Tone 4
We glorify God with fitting praises/ as we celebrate the memory of the guardian of apostolic dogmas,/ the shepherd and teacher, the blessed and holy Hierarch Alexis:/ for God has given us His servant who pours forth healings like a gushing spring/ and is the praise and support of Moscow.

Kontakion of St Meletios Tone 2
All-blessed Meletios, adorned with Orthodoxy in thy life,/ thou wast a protector and guardian of the Church./ Thy doctrine shines like a fiery beacon even to the ends of the world,/ O most radiant light of the Church.

Kontakion of St Alexis the Wonderworker Tone 8
All you people who faithfully sing to Christ's divine, most holy Hierarch and new wonderworker Alexis,/ let us greet him with love as a great shepherd and minister, as a most wise teacher of Russia./ Let us who are gathered today in his memory joyously cry out in song:/ In thy boldness before God deliver us from affliction,/ that we may cry to thee: Rejoice, support of Moscow.

Sermon for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

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By Archpriest Anthony Gavalas

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today the Holy Church opens that period in the ecclesiastical year called the Triodion. It is named after that book which includes all of the services from last night at vespers until Holy Saturday, just before the Resurrection of our Savior.

The name itself of Triodion comes from the unusual formation and composition of some of the canons of praise and of instruction that are in this book that have only three odes. It is a period that is set by the Holy Church in preparation for all of us for the Pascha of our Savior. It is the beginning of our path, of our journey towards Pascha.

It is as the Church has given to us the great gift a blessed passage from the ordinary time of the year to a very special time of the year, and that is Great Lent.

It includes these Sundays that come before Great Lent, which the Church has placed for our instruction, which the Church has placed for reminding us of those things which all of us already know, but because of one thing or another, because of our human frailty especially we tend to forget.

I don't know what it is about sacred things, but we tend to forget them much easier than secular things. St. John of Kronstadt has noted that in his instructions to us that somehow or another in order to learn something of worldly worth, once, twice is enough to imprint it into our minds. But things that are of spiritual value must be repeated again and again, and even then we tend to forget.

Therefore the Church has placed these preparatory Sundays of Great Lent to remind us of certain things, and today the Holy Church reminds us of that foundation of all virtue, of that virtue upon which all other virtues are built, that virtue which is the absolute necessity that we must have in order to progress in spiritual matters, and that virtue is humility.

In Greek, humility is called tapeinophrosyni; humble-mindedness, I guess, is the best way to translate it. It's a way of thinking that is humble and meek. It is a way of thinking that influences everything that a person does in his life. A person who is humble-minded brings this virtue to everything that he does, from every thought that he has, through his meditation on a thought, through the action that follows from thought. Humble-mindedness affects all of these things.

This is very different from another characteristic that some people have, which is humble appearance, humble wordedness, speaking about humility, acting humble. This false humility is something that is despicable and abominable before God, because it is the rankest, it is the most horrible of hypocrisies. For it takes this virtue, which is the ground and foundation of all of virtue, humble-mindedness, and turns it into a travesty of itself, turns it into a ridiculous thing. And since humility was the chief characteristic of our Savior Christ, acting humble without humility is blasphemous.

A humble-minded person has understood in his heart that he is a very sinful person, that because of his sins he is far from God's mercy. And knowing that he needs God's mercy, and that he needs the prayer and that he needs the toleration of his fellow man, he acts towards all as a great debtor. Just as if we owe something, some tremendous debt that we have borrowed from some person, we tend to treat that person with great respect; we tend to treat that person with great tolerance. And if he does something that grieves us, we act as if it is nothing, and we stifle within ourselves every thought of retribution, every thought of recrimination, knowing that we are indebted to this person.

And so it is that if we see ourselves in the humility that Christ has taught us, we see ourselves as indebted to every one, most chiefly to God, because without His mercy we, who have no virtue of our own, have no hope of salvation. And since we cannot show our dependence on God, we cannot acknowledge it in any way except to have it deep in our hearts, we show our tolerance and our forgiveness and our love and our meekness to our fellow man. And we never judge him, and we don't allow ourselves to become angry with him, and we maintain before everyone an understanding that we are indebted to him, and ask nothing of him but his prayers.

A person who moves in this way through life, moves noiselessly, moves without creating a boistrous wake in his path. A person who moves humbly in this world moves in such a way that if he can offer help he offers it; if he can give consolation he gives it; if he can give alms he offers them, but always with the understanding that he remains a debtor, he remains obliged to those, even those whom he forgives, and whom he has mercy on, and whom he gives alms to, and whom he benefits. For feeling as he does such obligation and such need for God's mercy, he never sees that anything that he does has any worth before the great gifts that he has received from God.

A person who has this virtue has already begun his upward climb to the heavens. A person who is humble-minded already understands and sees himself climbing with difficulty, with missteps, with mistakes climbing towards the heavenly abodes that have been offered to us by God our Savior.

My beloved brothers and sisters, we have opened the Triodion with the blessings of God, with the grace of the Holy Trinity, and with the blessings of our spiritual fathers, our Bishops. May it be a journey upward, may it be a journey in which we become better Christians, humbler workers of the Word of God, better prepared for the Pascha of our Lord, so that on that day, having not superficially, but with depth, journeyed the path of Great Lent we might be deemed worthy to participate in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus our Savior, for that is the destiny for which all of us were born.

To our Savior, and to His Father, and to the Holy Spirit, to the Holy Trinity Which has saved us be glory and honor unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Motivation for Confession.

"Confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed." (James 5:16)

We are created for God and only in Him do we find the paramount bliss for which our heart is constantly yearning. Nothing other than God can make our souls happy! Give man everything which he desires and he will enjoy it for a while, but afterwards he will become indifferent to it, because he feels that something else, much more elevated, is missing. Is it not in that way that the child, too, enjoys every new toy until it grows hungry? Then it abandons the toy and looks for food. A certain inextinguishable inner hunger for truth, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) torments our soul and does not give us peace, even among the best pleasures of life and among the most enviable achievements in the world.

This blessed hunger is a hunger for God. "Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it repose in Thee." The only guest who can make our soul happy is God. And if God is our paramount bliss, it is clear that which obstructs the way to God must be the greatest evil for us. Such an evil is sin.

It is in vain that some unenlightened people seek the greatest evil for man somewhere else, rather than in sin. Some consider disease to be the greatest evil, others - poverty, and others - death. But neither disease, nor poverty, nor death, nor any other earthly disaster can be such a great evil for us as is sin. These earthly misfortunes do not separate us from God if we are seeking Him sincerely, but, on the contrary, they bring us closer to Him.

Disease is not the greatest evil for man, because a disease of the body endured with humility, faith, and patience can cure the soul sick with sin and bring it closer to God - the greatest good for man.

And death is not frightening for the believer, because through it, as through a door, one goes to the beloved and loving God Who hath prepared for them that love Him, things that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man. (I Cor. 2:9)

But sin is the most wretched poverty of the heart - poverty blocking the treasure of grace. Sin is a deadly sickness of the soul, a sickness which deprives us both of the joys of earth and the joys of heaven. Sin is a terrible and most lamentable spiritual death which separates us eternally from the joy of the heavenly inhabitants in paradise and buries us in the darkness of hell.

There is no greater evil for man than sin. It destroys both the body and the soul. It makes both this life and eternal life bitter. It causes discord in families, quarrels among neighbors, and disagreements among relatives. It starts the fire of malice among people. It makes the soul proud and embittered. It poisons the heart with envy. It drives out holy feelings from the breast and invites the demons to settle there. It separates us from God. It extinguishes everything bright in our hearts. It teaches us to lie, to be gluttonous, and to be selfish and greedy. It makes us slander and judge our neighbors. It incites our hand to steal. It fills us with anger and rage. It whispers to us to seek revenge. It commits all outrages, debaucheries, and crimes. It causes all diseases, suffering, injustice, violence, bloodshed, and war. It has filled the souls of all of us with unbearable spiritual stench. It pours this stench into the relationships among us.

Have you asked yourself why is it so stifling in the world? Why is it hard to live? Why can we not put up with each other? The answer is because sin has poisoned the atmosphere of life. We are all sick with sin. And if untreated body wounds emit intolerable stench, how much more terrible is the stench of sin!

But I'll Only Sin Again!

Why should I confess when I know that tomorrow I will sin again? Is there any point in such confession? I see that one should confess only if one would sin no more after that!

This objection to Confession contains: both something which is very true and something which is not. The right thing here is the desire not to sin any more after Confession. But we are feeble humans, and we cannot attain right away such a firmness which makes falling into voluntary sins impossible. If we cannot reach such steadfastness in virtue right away, should we surrender to vice? Or should we stop confessing? Which is better - to roll in the mud of the spiritual swamp, or to pick yourself up after each fall and go on with the hope that someday you may reach the solid and beautiful shore of virtue? If you do not confess, you remain in the mud. If you confess, you pick yourself up from the mud and clean yourself. "But why should I get up if tomorrow I will fall again?" you say. When you fall again, then get up again! Every day begin all over again! This is undoubtedly better than falling out of the habit of getting up.

A young monk complained to the great ascetic Abba Sisoes: "Abba, what should I do? I fell." The elder answered: "Get up!" The monk said: "I got up, and I fell again!" The elder replied: "Get up again!" But the young monk asked: "For how long should I get up when I fall?" "Until your death," answered Abba Sisoes. This wise dialogue should be remembered by all of us who want to change but, deceived by the devil, constantly return to our previous sins. Every time we fall into a transgression, we must get up. The "getting up"- this is Confession.

"But why should we play at falling and getting up?" ask some. It is not a game, but a struggle in which there is much sense. If we, as feeble humans, fall but get up again, there is a great probability that death will find us when we are standing. Then we are saved. But if we do not intend to get up, death will surely find us lying in the mud. Then we are lost forever!

St. John Chrysostom says: "Repentance opens the heavens for man, takes him to Paradise, overcomes the devil. Have you sinned? Do not despair! If you sin every day, then offer repentance every day! When there are rotten parts in old houses, we replace the parts with new ones, and we do not stop caring for the houses. In the same way, you should reason for yourself: if today you have defiled yourself with sin, immediately clean yourself with repentance."

For the washing away of bodily dirtiness God has given water. And for the washing of spiritual foulness, God has given the grace of the holy Sacrament of Confession. Every man, when he dirties his hands, washes them. No one says: "I will not wash my hands any more, because I will get them dirty again!" But why is it then that many people say, "I will not go to Confession, because I will sin again tomorrow!" It is clear that the enemy of our salvation is enticing us not to wash our souls, so that he can gain power over them.

But we must not give in to such satanic suggestions; we should confess frequently, because frequent washing produces a taste for cleanliness in us.

Leave your house unswept, uncleaned, and unventilated for one year! Will it not turn into a pigsty? Now think about what the soul of a man is like when he has not cleaned it through Confession, not only for a year, but for twenty, forty, sixty, or seventy years...

(source unknown)

Daily Reading:

LEAVE-TAKING OF THE FEAST OF THE MEETING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Tuesday February 9th/22nd

Week of the Publican and the Pharisee

FAST FREE WEEK

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

Illumine my heart, O Master who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge. Open Thou the eyes of my mind to the understanding of Thy Gospel teachings. Implant also in me a love for Thy blessed commandments. Grant me the grace to overcome all my carnal desires, so that I may enter more completely into a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well pleasing to Thee. For Thou art the illumination of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God, and unto Thee do we ascribe glory, together with Thine all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit; now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, open Thou the eyes of my heart, that I may hear Thy word and understand and do Thy will, for I am a sojourner upon the earth. Hide not Thy commandments from me, but open mine eyes, that I may perceive the wonders of Thy law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom. On Thee do I set my hope, O my God, that Thou shalt enlighten my mind and understanding with the light of Thy knowledge, not only to cherish those things which are written, but to do them; that in reading the lives and sayings of the Saints I may not sin, but that such may serve for my restoration, enlightenment and sanctification, for the salvation of my soul, and the inheritance of life everlasting. For Thou art the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness, and from Thee cometh every good deed and every gift. Amen.

By the intercessions of Thine All-immaculate Mother and of all Thy Saints, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen

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Tuesday

LITURGY

2 Peter 2:9-22

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Mark 13:14-23

"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. "

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LEAVE-TAKING OF THE FEAST OF THE MEETING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
HOLY MARTYR NIKEPHOROS
ST TEILO, BISHOP OF LLANDAFF

Troparion of the Feast Tone 1
Rejoice, thou who art full of grace,/ Mother of God and Virgin,/ for from thee arose the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God,/ to give light to those in darkness./ Rejoice thou also, righteous Elder, who didst take in thine arms the Redeemer of our souls,/ Who also gives us the grace of resurrection.

Troparion of St Nikephoros Tone 1
Love for the Creator enlightened thy soul/ enabling thee to fulfill the law of grace, O Nikephoros./ Thou didst love thy neighbor as thyself, win the contest, and destroy the serpent./ Wherefore ever preserve us in peace.

Troparion of St Teilo Tone 4
As a fountain of the true Faith,/ thou didst issue forth the life-giving waters of salvation, O Hierarch Teilo./ Wherefore, we implore thee,/ intercede with Christ our God/ that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of the Feast Tone 1
Thou Who didst sanctify the Virgin's womb by Thy birth/ and bless Symeon's hands as was fitting/ hast now come to us and saved us, O Christ our God./ But grant peace in the midst of wars to Thy community,/ and strengthen the Church which Thou hast loved,/ O only Lover of mankind.

Kontakion of St Teilo Tone 1
O teacher of pure doctrine, joy of monastics/ and Dewi Sant's fellow pilgrim to Jerusalem,/ where thou wast elevated to the episcopate, most pious Father Teilo,/ we keep festival in thy honour, praying for grace to follow in thy footsteps.

Kontakion of St Nikephoros Tone 1
Bound with chains of love, O Nikephoros,/ thou didst disarm the malice of hatred./ And when thou wast beheaded thou didst become a holy martyr of the Incarnate Saviour./ Pray to Him for us who extol thy glorious memory.