The Origins of The Christmas Tree ?

 O Christmas tree,  how lovely are your branches !!”

                                              Fr.Basil

I first learned this familiar song as a child, but entirely in German. I learned it from my neighbors, who were German immigrants, and have loved all things connected with the German celebration of Christmas ever since.

 Mine is in its bucket of water, waiting to go up. I hope that you have put yours up, or are planning to do so in the very near future. I love Christmas trees, and I'm always thrilled to hear or to see that people put one up during this advent season.

Some folks don't put up a Christmas tree. Some mistakenly think that this custom is derived from paganism, and is inappropriate for Christians. Others believe that it was something invented by Martin Luther, the German Protestant Reformer in the 16th century, and therefore not an Orthodox tradition.    Still others imagine that a Christmas tree only makes sense if you have children and if you have presents to place beneath it. All of these explanations miss the mark.

 Do you know the origins of the Christmas tree?

I'm sure many of you do. But in case you have forgotten, let me share with you a tale from the eighth century, a tale from the church's oral tradition, about St. Boniface, the martyr, born in Britain, who became the Apostle to the Germans.

According to the BBC in Devon, England, “The famous Devon Saint, St Boniface, was the creator of the very first Christmas tree. 

In the early part of the 8th century, St Boniface was sent into Germany as a missionary, with an aim of converting the pagans to Christianity...

He worked tirelessly in the country destroying idols and pagan temples across Germany and building churches in their place. He was named Archbishop of Mainz and founded or restored the diocese of Bavaria.

It was on this trip, around the time of Winter Solstice, that he was said to have come across a group of pagans worshipping an old oak tree. Horrified by what he saw as blasphemy, the all-action St Boniface grabbed the nearest axe and hacked down the tree. As he did this he called to the pagans to see the power of his God over theirs. Pagan feelings were understandably mixed.

 However, Boniface's actions were obviously taken in good spirit, with some of the tales saying he converted the pagans on the spot, especially since a fir tree sprang up spontaneously in the oak's place. The fir was seen as an image of God and many believed its evergreen nature symbolised the everlasting love of the Maker.”

Well, the BBC gets it basically right, but with a decided weakness in the meaning of the tree. The evergreen nature of the tree stands for eternal life. This idea is confirmed by the use of such a tree in medieval “Paradise Plays.” According to Fr. Fracis Weiser, in his “Christmas Book,” the origin of Christmas trees in the home “goes back to the medieval German mystery plays. 

One of the most popular of these 'mysteries' was the Paradise Play, representing the creation of man, the sin of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Paradise. It usually closed with the consoling promise of the coming Savior and with a reference to His incarnation. This made the Paradise Play a favorite pageant for Advent, and its closing scenes used to lead directly into the story of Bethlehem.

'These plays were performed either in the open, or the large squares in front of churches, or inside the house of God.

The garden of Eden was indicated by a fir tree hung with apples; it represented..the 

'Tree of Life'...

 which stood in the center of Paradise. 

After the suppression of the mystery plays in churches, the Paradise tree, the only symbolic object of the play, found its way into the homes of the faithful, especially since many plays had interpreted it as a symbol of the coming Savior.”

So the Christmas tree is a venerable, and very Orthodox symbol of the theology of the incarnation. It reminds us of the Tree of Life planted in Paradise. It reminds us of Christ, who comes to us a a newborn Babe, Who is, Himself, the fulfillment of the promise of that Tree.

 It reminds us of Christ, Who by means of the Tree of the Cross, granted us access to forgiveness of sins and life eternal.

The Spiritual Journey o f Great Lent

FR DR NINAN V GEORGE· 

 ST.Gregorious  Orthodx  Church,  London

Once again we have entered in to the spiritual journey of Great Lent. 

What is the purpose of the Lent?  

 Is it a mechanism to force us to fast and avoid meat?

 Studies have shown that fasting is good for our health. But lent is more than just staying away from certain foods. Great Lent is the time for cleaning up our system. 

Get rid of toxic thoughts, so that Holy Spirit can enter into hearts and fill it up with qualities like compassion, love, obedience to God and service to mankind.

 Great Lent is the time for personal reflection, meditation, reconciliation, and prayer. 

If you do it right, we will get transformed. We will be ready to participate in the Jesus' passion and we will resurrect spiritually with Jesus on Easter Day.

Lent is observed in almost all Christian traditions in various forms whereby some abstain from meat, dairy products and fish, some from meat and dairy products and some by not eating an entire meal or two the whole day. 

Abstinence from something or the other forms the back bone of lent this way. The aim of lent is to make the body starve from something which in some way or the other is perceived as a luxury to the self or which is unavailable to someone else.

Lent is also seen as a way to discipline the self and also as a way to gain something by denying oneself something or the other. 

Many Christian denominations also see lent as a time when we abstain to help others by providing food and other essentials through what is saved as a result of the abstinence.

 Lent also has not so visible, but never the less inherent meanings of slowing down the pace of life and using the time to meditate and take stock of one’s life and to define what it means to live.

This is a good time for all us to straighten up our lives

 WHAT SHOULD I GIVE UP FOR LENT?

 NON-VEG? CHOCOLATE?  ICE CREAM? BEVERAGES?

Many of us try to be more disciplined for Lent and give up something that we really like. That’s great! Fasting has always been an important tradition of Lent. This year however, let us also consider other things that we can give up.

Give up complaining - Focus on gratitude.

Philippians 2:14-15 – Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure...

1Thessalonians 5:18 – Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.

Give up bitterness - Turn to forgiveness

Ephesians 4:31 – Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 

Ephesians 4:32 – Be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Give up worry - Trust in God

Matthew 6:25 – “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life… who by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

 Matthew 6:33 – But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Give up discouragement - Be full of hope

Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you: he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

 Isaiah 40:31 – But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Give up hatred - Return good for evil

 1 John 2:9 – Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

 Luke 6:27 – “But I tell you who hear me; Love your enemies, do Good to those who hate you.

Give up anger - Be more patient

Matthew 5:22 – But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

 Proverbs 15:18 – A hot tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.

Give up gossiping - Control your tongue

Psalm 34:13 – Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

 Proverbs 21:23 – He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.

“The frenetic activity of modern life with all its pressures makes it indispensable that Christians seek prayerful silence and contemplation as both conditions for and expressions of a vibrant faith.

 When God is no longer at the center of human life, then life itself becomes empty and meaningless…Jesus himself often “went off to a lonely place and prayed there…

” Jesus’ prayer is our example, especially when we are caught up in the tensions and responsibilities of daily life.”

Forgiveness in the Christian Family

 The bonding cement of a Christian community, whether it be a parish or the family, is the ability and the readiness of each of the members to ask forgiveness from one another. If we are not able to forgive one another how can we expect God to forgive us?

 In the "Our Father, ... " which Christ taught us to pray, we ask for God's forgiveness on these conditions: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors . . ." (Matt. 6:12). The most effective medicine against anger and irritability, although it is the most bitter at the first draught, is to ask forgiveness after a quarrel.

 It is bitter for human pride but, if it is so, hasten even more to make use of it, for it is bitter only for the proud, and if it seems so intolerable to you, then you know that you have within you yet another serious ailment, pride. Sit down and think over your own soul, and pray that the Lord might help you master yourself and ask forgiveness and reconciliation from the person you have offended, even if he is more to blame than you are. 

The Christian family is the most primary of all human relationships, for on its stability depends the stability of the entire Church. Disharmony within Christian families penetrates into the larger Christian community, creating disharmony in the parish church as well. Members of the family should be quick to ask for each other's forgiveness when they have said or done wrong to them. Asking for forgiveness keeps animosity, anger and hatred from becoming rooted in members of the family, which eventually may cause the dissolution of the family and the family church. This catastrophe is not only physically harmful, but also spiritually detrimental. 

The seeking of forgiveness for wrong or harsh words or anger should never be put off until tomorrow, for then it has had time to root in the heart, and sets a precedent for the next time. Eventually it will become a habit not to seek forgiveness, but rather to let these passions build up to the point where one is too proud to ask it. 

The heads of monastic communities ask forgiveness each day of the brotherhood and entire community in the prayers at the conclusion of Compline and Midnight Office; this indicates the importance of asking forgiveness from those with whom we live. 
Seeking forgiveness from members of the family church can be patterned after the parish church's Vesper Service on Forgiveness Sunday (Cheese-fare Sunday) when all parishioners seek forgiveness from one another.

At the Vesper Service, each person says to the other, "Forgive me, a sinner," and then makes a complete prostration (touching the head to the ground) before the other person, after which they exchange the apostolic kiss of peace by kissing each other on alternate cheeks three times [or by kissing each other's right hand]. 
In the family church the member who has been angry or has spoken un-Christian words toward another, whether or not this was justified, should ask forgiveness for his deeds, words or actions and make a complete prostration no later than bed-time the same day. 

Husband and wife, the evening before receiving Holy Communion, as part of their preparation, should ask forgiveness from each other as well as from the children and anyone else residing in the house. A tradition existing in some pious Orthodox households is for the children on the evening prior to Communion to kiss the right hand of their parents when asking forgiveness.

Why do children lose faith in God ?

Why is it that some people are able to know God and believe in Him until the end of their days, while others lose their faith while still young ? 

 How does this loss of faith occur and by what means can faith be preserved or renewed ? 

Before answering these questions I would like to say a few words to those who say that religious beliefs should not be “foisted upon” children. 
Religious faith cannot be foisted upon a person; it is not something which is alien to man, but, on the contrary, it is an essential need of human nature, it constitutes the primary content of man’s inner life. 

When we take care to have a child grow up truthful, good, when we develop in him a correct understanding of and a taste for beauty, we do not foist upon him something alien or extraneous to his nature; we only help him to extract this from within himself, we help him recognize within himself those traits and movements which are common to all human souls. 

The same should be said concerning knowledge of God. 

According to the principle of not foisting anything upon a child’s soul, we would generally have to renounce all assistance to the child in developing and strengthening the talents and capabilities of his soul. We would have to leave him to his own devices until he grew up and decided which principles to adopt and which to reject. 

But in this case we would not have guarded the child from external influences, but would have only made these influences chaotic and arbitrary. 

Let us return to the question of why some people retain in their hearts a constant and unshakeable faith until the end of their days, while others lose it, sometimes completely and sometimes returning to it with great difficulty and suffering? 

What is the reason for such a phenomenon ? It seems to me that it depends on the direction which a person’s inner life takes in his early childhood. If a person, consciously or instinctively, is able to preserve a correct relationship between himself and God, he will not lose faith, but if his ego occupies an unseemly preeminent and dominant place in his soul, then his faith will be superceded. In early childhood a person’s nature does not yet occupy first place, does not yet become an object of worship. For this reason it is said: if you do not become like children, you will not enter the Heavenly Kingdom. As the years advance, our innate egoism grows more and more within us, becomes the center of our attention and the object of our gratification. 

And this self-centered egoistic life usually runs along two channels - the channel of sensuality, gratification of the body, and the channel of pride, of strict trust in and worship of reason in general and one’s own in particular. 

These two channels do not usually coexist within one and the same person. Some are dominated by the temptations of sensuality, while others by the temptations of reason. With age sensuality sometimes changes into unhealthy sexuality, from which those who are dominated by reason and pride are often free. 

Sensuality and pride - two ways of serving one’s nature - are precisely those traits which, as we know, were manifested in the original sin of Adam and Eve, and created a barrier between them and God. 

That which happened to our forebears, now happens to us. 

The unhealthy direction of our inner life from childhood, which leads to the development within us of either sensuality or pride, pollutes the purity of our internal spiritual sight, deprives us of seeing God. We stray away from God, we remain alone in our egoistic life, with all the consequences of such a condition. 

Such is the process of our abandonment of God. 

In those, however, who succeed in keeping a correct relationship with God, the development of egoistic, sensual and proud attitudes is impeded by the memory of God; such people preserve their purity of heart and humbleness of mind; both their bodies and their minds are placed within a framework of religious consciousness and duty. They look upon all that springs up within their soul from the height of their religious consciousness, evaluate their feelings and passions properly, and do not allow them to take control. Despite all the temptations that come across their path, they do not lose the basic direction of their lives. 

Thus the purpose and the difficulty of religious guidance lies in helping the child, and later the teenager, to preserve the right relationship between himself and God and to not allow the development within himself of the temptations of sensuality and pride, which pollute the clarity of internal spiritual sight. 

Remembering my youth, I must admit that it was precisely through such an internal process that I lost my religious faith when I was 13-14 years old. The enticements of sensuality, the excessive trust in reason and the pride of rationality which were developing in me, deadened my soul. And I was not alone, the majority of my friends suffered the same fate. 

Had an experienced spiritual instructor happened to be alongside us and peered into our souls, perhaps he would have found something good in them, but primarily he would have found idleness, gluttony, deceit, hypocrisy, self-assurance, inordinate belief in one’s powers and abilities, a critical and skeptical attitude towards the opinions of others, a tendency towards hasty and and rash decisions, stubbornness, and a trusting attitude towards all kinds of negative theories, etc. 

The only thing he would not have found in our souls would be the memory of God, and the inner quiet and humbleness which it engenders. 

We did not have such an instructor. Our religious teacher, a venerable protopriest, barely had time to check on our lessons in the Law of God and to explain further. And we regarded these lessons with the same boredom and indifference as all the others. Outside of these lessons we had no contact with our teacher. Confession, to which we went once a year, we approached with no understanding whatsoever. 

And nothing prevented us from becoming spiritually extinguished. 

DesertFr.Ji

“The Mary of the Gael,”

Saint Brigid was born around 450 in Faughart, about two miles from Dundalk in County Louth. According to Tradition, her father was a pagan named Dubthach, and her mother was Brocessa (Broiseach), one of his slaves.

Even as a child, she was known for her compassion for the poor. She would give away food, clothing, and even her father’s possessions to the poor. One day he took Brigid to the king’s court, leaving her outside to wait for him. He asked the king to buy his daughter from him, since her excessive generosity made her too expensive for him to keep. The king asked to see the girl, so Dubthach led him outside. They were just in time to see her give away her father’s sword to a beggar. This sword had been presented to Dubthach by the king, who said, “I cannot buy a girl who holds us so cheap.” Saint Brigid received monastic tonsure at the hands of Saint Mael of Ardagh (February 6). Soon after this, she established a monastery on land given to her by the King of Leinster. The land was called Cill Dara (Kildare), or “the church of the oak.” This was the beginning of women’s cenobitic monasticism in Ireland. The miracles performed by Saint Brigid are too numerous to relate here, but perhaps one story will suffice. One evening the holy abbess was sitting with the blind nun Dara. From sunset to sunrise they spoke of the joys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and of the love of Christ, losing all track of time. Saint Brigid was struck by the beauty of the earth and sky in the morning light. Realizing that Sister Dara was unable to appreciate this beauty, she became very sad. Then she prayed and made the Sign of the Cross over Dara’s eyes. All at once, the blind nun’s eyes were opened and she saw the sun in the east, and the trees and flowers sparkling with dew. She looked for a while, then turned to Saint Brigid and said, “Close my eyes again, dear Mother, for when the world is visible to the eyes, then God is seen less clearly by the soul.” Saint Brigid prayed again, and Dara became blind once more. Saint Brigid fell asleep in the Lord in the year 523 after receiving Holy Communion from Saint Ninnidh of Inismacsaint (January 18). She was buried at Kildare, but her relics were transferred to Downpatrick during the Viking invasions. It is believed that she was buried in the same grave with Saint Patrick (March 17) and Saint Columba of Iona (June 9). Late in the thirteenth century, her head was brought to Portugal by three Irish knights on their way to fight in the Holy Land. They left this holy relic in the parish church of Lumiar, about three miles from Lisbon. Portions of the relic were brought back to Ireland in 1929 and placed in a new church of Saint Brigid in Dublin.  The relics of Saint Brigid in Ireland were destroyed in the sixteenth century by Lord Grey during the reign of Henry VIII. The tradition of making Saint Brigid’s crosses from rushes and hanging them in the home is still followed in Ireland, where devotion to her is still strong. She is also venerated in northern Italy, France, and Wales.

DesertFrji

Do The One He Baptized Be Harmed ?

That if the Priest does not live properly, the one he baptizes is not harmed in the least,  

  Mysteries  Given that   if the Priest does live a proper life; rather, (for I must reassure you),  they will savour those divine and way above every description benefactions,

 whereas the priest will be accountable far more insufferably for his life and will be tormented,

 according to the honour that was bestowed on him. 

 For if he who has not become good, not even after being honoured with priesthood, is rightly worthy of greater punishment.  

No-one, therefore, of those who were initiated in that divine ritual - which opens the heavens to the initiated – must think that they are directly harmed in regard to the symbols (Mysteries) of salvation;  not even if they perhaps are at fault by imagining that they will have the priest’s life as an appealing witness.

 Of course I am saying these things, not because all priests are thus – God forbid!  (although, there are those who have such misconducts but are absent from others; and, even if some have no virtues at all, nor are virtues absent from all priests),

  I merely wish to point out that even if all priests are thus, the one who is baptized by them is not by any means harmed. 

 But if you think these are merely people’s thoughts, I will try to reassure you with the divine words.  Well, was there anything more detestable than Valaam? And yet, God had used his tongue in blessings.

 Also, was there anything more profane than Caiaphas? And yet, he prophesied, and while God’s grace may have touched his tongue, it did not touch his intention. 

And, if you want to learn of something even more paradoxical, it was a crow – that unclean bird – which brought sustenance in the desert to Elijah, who traversed the heavens. 

Do not, therefore, doubt when divine and supernatural gifts are bestowed on certain sinful priests

Desert FrJi

MAGI DID NOT RETURN......

The Fourteen Thousand Holy Children of Bethlehem

When the Magi from the east did not return  to Jerusalem from Bethlehem to inform Herod about the newborn King but rather, at the angel's command, returned to their homeland another way,

 Herod became as enraged as a wild beast and ordered all the children two years old and under in Bethlehem and its surroundings to be killed. 

This frightening command of the king was carried out to the letter. His soldiers beheaded some of the children with swords, smashed others against stones, trampled others underfoot, and strangled others with their hands.

 And the cries and wails of the mothers rose to heaven, Lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:18), as had been prophesied. 

This crime against the multitude of innocent children was carried out a year after the birth of Christ, at the time when Herod was seeking to find the Divine Child.

 He asked Zacharias about his son John, so that he might kill him, since he naturally thought that John was the new king.

 As Zacharias did not turn John over, he was slain in the Temple by order of Herod. St. Simeon the God-receiver would also have been murdered soon after the Presentation in the Temple, had he not already reposed in God. After murdering the children of Bethlehem,

 Herod turned against the Jewish elders who had revealed to him where the Messiah would be born. He then killed Hyrcanes, the high priest, and the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin.

 Thus, they who had agreed with Herod that the new Child-king must be killed came to an evil end. After that, Herod murdered his brother, sister, wife and three sons.

 Finally, God's punishment came to him: he began to tremble, his legs became swollen, the lower part of his body became putrid, and worms came out of the sores; his nose became blocked and an unbearable stench emanated from him. 

Before his last breath, he remembered that there were many captive Jews in prison, and he ordered that they all be killed so that they would not rejoice in his death. Thus, this terrible ruler gave up his inhuman soul and handed it over to the devil for eternal possession.

DesertFrji✍