How to Pray for People: Paraklesis Service

Last Sunday I began what will turn out to be a series of points on the subject of how to offer prayers for other people. I said that the most effectual way to offer prayers for others is to submit their names to be commemorated during the preparation of the gifts for the Divine Liturgy, along with an offering of wine and bread or a monetary substitute. I also said that this kind of commemoration is appropriate for people who are members in good standing of our Church and that there are other ways to pray for individuals who have lapsed or who do not [yet] accept or practice the Orthodox Christian Faith.

Today’s points will be about another appropriate way to offer prayers, specifically for people who are alive. That would be what is called the so-called Paraklesis or Supplication Service. The Greek word παράκλησις means supplication. It is related to the Modern Greek word παρακαλῶ, which more frequently is used to mean “please” but can also mean “I beg your pardon.” The Paraklesis service is an opportunity to offer prayers for any living person for any reason. Here at St Nektarios, there is a short Paraklesis service on Tuesdays at 9:30 AM; and in the evening during the first two weeks of August. Check the parish calendar.

The content of the Paraklesis service includes a number of hymns to the Mother of God, or to a particular Saint, whose intercessions are being invoked. But the actual petitions are directed to the Lord. The central petition goes like this: “Again we pray for mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, visitation, forgiveness and remission of the sins of the servants of God…” after which follow some general groupings of people, and most everybody in the world is covered. It is not inappropriate to request that certain individuals be prayed for by name. You may consider requesting this if a loved one is particularly ill or needing extra prayers.

You can submit a name or list of names at the church office, and specify for how long you want them prayed for. The lists are maintained until the end of August each year.

When you attend, you may not actually hear the priest read any names out loud. This should not alarm you. The priest commemorates the names in the altar, and prays quietly, maybe even silently. Prayers that are offered silently, in the heart, are more effective. Listening hard to hear the names that you submitted is not the same as praying. The spiritually mature practice is to attend the service, and to sing what is appropriate, and to pray Κύριε ἐλέησον, Lord have mercy, for everyone as well as your loved ones. Leave it to the priest to present the names to God, as he knows best.

On the subject of silent prayers: The prayers of the Divine Liturgy are all intended to be said aloud, because they serve to direct our thoughts and remind us of God’s works. Many of these prayers are said quietly by the priests while the choir is singing, in order to keep the service short. As a congregation matures spiritually, the people will want to hear all those prayers aloud, even if it takes a little longer.

How to Pray for People: The Proskomedi

Our Church provides us with several ways to offer prayers for people, both the living and the dead. It is good to know what these venues of prayer are, so that you can use them correctly and appropriately. When prayers are offered at the appropriate time and manner, then there is order in the church and order also in your mind. There is a good reason for everything in the Church. When you know the reasons and purposes of the various ceremonies and services, then your mind can make sense of it and there is harmony. If you don’t understand what and why things happen in church, you either reject them, or you don’t care, or worse yet you might do them anyway with some measure of superstition lurking in the back or forefront of your mind. There is no room for ignorance, misunderstanding or superstition in the Greek Orthodox Church, because there is a good explanation for everything. That is precisely the purpose of these Points Well Made.

By far the most profound and effectual way to offer prayers for another member of our Church, both the living and the dead, is to arrange for their names to be commemorated by the clergy at the so-called proskomedi, when the gifts of bread and wine are prepared for the Divine Liturgy, typically during Matins.

As the gifts are prepared, there is an opportunity for the priests to commemorate the living and the dead, as a group but also individual names. As these names are commemorated, the priest places particles of bread on the paten, next to the large piece of bread that will become the Body of Christ for Holy Communion. After Holy Communion, all these particles are put into the chalice with the Body and Blood of the Lord. When this occurs, the priest prays, “By Your holy Blood, Lord, wash away the sins of all those commemorated.” So you see the great benefit that comes to those who are so commemorated, because their names were prayerfully attached to the particles which are in immediate proximity to the Lord’s Body and Blood and ultimately mingled with it.

Here is the procedure for submitting names to be commemorated in the Divine Liturgy. It is not inappropriate to offer the bread and wine needed for the Liturgy together with the list of names. However, since the church uses a specific kind of wine and you may not know how make the special bread, you can replace these with a monetary offering. Bring your list of names along with your offering to church early, like at the beginning of Matins, and give them to the usher on duty in the narthex. The usher will deliver the offering to the office and the names to the altar. If you don’t come early enough, the names will be commemorated at the next Liturgy. You can also bring your offering and list of names directly to the office during the week.

This kind of commemoration is appropriate for people who are communicants and members in good standing of our Church. There are other ways to pray for individuals who have lapsed or who do not [yet] accept or practice the Orthodox Christian Faith. I will talk about that another time.

Resume Fasting

The other day we celebrated the feast of Epiphany and we ended the festal period known as the Twelve Days of Christmas. During that time, fasting was suspended, even on Wednesdays and Fridays. If you didn’t know that, well, maybe you didn’t fast anyway.

Each year, there are three festal periods when fasting is suspended: the Twelve Days of Christmas, Bright Week right after Easter, and also the week after Pentecost. The reason that fasting is suspended during those times is to under­score the importance of those feast days. Later this year, I will talk about the importance of Pentecost and how we plan to celebrate it here.

So, fasting was suspended, and starting this week it is reinstated, on Wednesdays and Fridays. Getting back to fasting is a good thing. Fasting, when it’s more than just a nominal change of menu, can be very beneficial. Fasting, when practiced conscientiously, can contribute to subduing the body and its unruly passions.

Unruly passions of the body are like when you look at someone and your body reacts before your mind does. Also, the inordinate attention to and unnecessary pampering of the body, which is what the holy fathers call self-love, and which is at odds with love for God.

Saint Paul was a great preacher and Apostle and he brought many people to Christ through his ministry. And yet, as we read in one of the Epistles last week, he was concerned to discipline himself, through bodily hardships, like fasting. He wrote, “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

So along with ministry, it is a good thing to exercise discipline and self-control. And I believe this is what our Metropolitan Alexios meant when he wrote recently: “Let us all pray that the blessing of the Epiphany Season will be with us throughout the year. May we be sanctified not only with the water but also with our prayers, Christian living, compassion and love for one another.”

Compassion and love for one another describe the ministries. Prayers and Christian living describe our personal efforts. So, beginning this week, we resume and perhaps upgrade our fasting discipline on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Epiphany / Theophany / Holy Water

It is January 1, and we find ourselves in the middle of what is called the Twelve Days of Christmas. Christmas, by the way, literally means Christ’s Festival. This period of twelve days spans from December 25^th the Nativity of Christ, it includes today, which is the commemor­ation of His circumcision, and ends on January 6^th,  the feast of Epiphany, also called Theophany, which means the appearance of God.

Early church fathers, like St. Basil whom we also commemorate today, attempted to establish the name Epiphany for what we now call Christmas, and to use the name Theophany for the feast on January 6, which we now call Epiphany. But these names have changed over the years. In any case, both Epiphany and Theophany refer to the fact that God appeared in the world. At Christmas, Jesus Christ, the Son and Word of God, was born and appeared in the world as a human baby. At Epiphany or Theophany, along with being publicly baptized, Jesus was pointed to by John the Baptist, and the voice of God the Father was heard, and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, and thus the Holy Trinity was manifested in the world.

In the first four or five centuries in the life of the Church, before infant baptism became the standard practice, many adults would be baptized each year on the eve of the feast of Epiphany. It is recorded that before these catechumens were baptized, the faithful would receive some of the sanctified water, which they took to their homes. This service took place on the evening, or rather at about midnight, of January 5th.

Nowadays, we don’t typically do mass baptisms of adults anymore. Nevertheless the Great Blessing of the Waters has prevailed throughout the centuries. The custom is to do the Great Blessing of Waters twice, first on January 5th at the end of the Divine Liturgy, and again on January 6th, at the end of Matins and before the Liturgy, although in many parishes this one is also done at the end of Liturgy.

Some of you may have heard it said that you drink the water from Jan. 5th, and sprinkle the water from the 6th. Actually we can drink and sprinkle with both, since the blessing is identical. The difference may arise from the timing of the service. On the 5^th, it comes after holy Communion, so you can drink it; on the 6th it comes before the Liturgy, so you don’t drink it immediately, but after the liturgy.

This year at St. Nektarios, the first blessing of waters will be on Thursday evening, Jan. 5^th after the Liturgy, and the second will be done on Friday morning, Jan 6^th at the end of Matins and before the Liturgy. Whichever service you attend, you can take sanctified water home to sprinkle your house with and to drink sometimes, before breakfast, when you need it. Also you can invite our priests to come and bless your homes with it.

This blessed water has the grace of redemption and sanctification. It removes sins, protects against illness, wards off demons, cleanses and cures the soul and body, and blesses homes.

The Star of Bethlehem

Last Sunday, many of you attended, and some of you even performed in the presentation here of this year’s Christmas Program, “The Lord Has Come.” It was a beautiful pageant of music and drama based on the Bible, tradition and legend. We’ve produced a video of last year’s program. It is available on DVD for $10, and you can purchase it in the narthex. You can give it as a gift or watch it with your family. It’s a nice way to lift up the religious nature of Christmas in your home.

One of the scenes in the program is the lighting of the so-called Star of Bethlehem. In that scene, the Girls Choir leads the singing of what is actually a hymn from one of the Christmas services. In the program we jazzed it up a bit and the younger performers carry flickering balloons, which were gathered together and lifted up to the mezzanine, to depict the star that guided the three wise men to the Christ Child.

The text of the hymn is this: “O Savior, You were secretly born in a cave. But heaven used the Star as mouth and announced You to all. It brought to You the Magi who worshipped You with faith. Together with them have mercy on us.”

“O Savior, You were secretly born in a cave.” That’s pretty self-explanatory. But I’ll make a few points:

• Savior is an obvious reference to Jesus. Don’t forget that the name Jesus means Savior.
• Secretly: There was no fanfare. All the events that we know today surrounding Jesus’ birth happened, but quietly, and not for everyone to know.
• Cave: Another word for cave is grotto, which is used in other hymns. There is a pilgrimage site in Bethlehem today called The Grotto of the Nativity, where it is believed that Jesus was born. You recall, there was no room at the inn for Joseph and Mary on the night Jesus was born. So the innkeeper let them stay in the cave that served as the stable for the animals. Maybe we can think of it as a kind of parking garage.

“Heaven used the Star as mouth and announced You to all.”
What a delightful simile, star as a mouth. Clearly the star didn’t say anything, not to the Wise Men anyway. But an Angel did, to the shepherds. Which begs the question: What was that star, really? Normal stars don’t move, and stop, and move again. It was probably none other than the Archangel Gabriel himself. But the Magi (that’s the official name of the Wise Men), being Gentiles, were unfamiliar with angels; they trusted the stars. The Jewish shepherds, on the other hand, were pious and simple enough to listen to an angel. And so, the announcement was made to representatives of all, both Jews and Gentiles, in a manner most suited to each. And they went and worshipped the Christ Child with faith.

So we see that the two Gospel stories of Matthew and Luke, while different, do not contradict, and the Church’s hymnography knows how to reconcile both accounts.

You can purchase last year’s DVD today, like I said. And you can also pre-order this year’s DVD as well, which you can read about in today’s missal.

The Prayer

Last week I pointed out the purpose and benefits of attending church services. I said that church services are what is called worship, which is distinct from private prayer, and that you need to have a good measure of both.

Private prayer is when you pray to God by yourself. You can use prayers for specific times and occasions, that have been composed for this by saints of our Church. You can pray extemporaneously using your own words. Another time I can talk about those kinds of prayer.

Today’s points are about what is called noetic prayer, prayer of the heart, or simply The Prayer. It is what St. Paul was talking about when he wrote, “Pray without ceasing.” I am referring to the practice of reciting a short, single-phrase prayer, over and over again. This spiritual tradition has come down to us as the so-called “Jesus Prayer.”

Reciting the prayer repeatedly, un­ceas­ing­ly, contributes to your spiritual health and salvation. It contributes to the unbroken memory of God, which is a sign of good health and the beginning of illumination. Some theologians understand the gift of kinds of tongues, which St. Paul wrote about, as actually being this unceasing prayer of the heart.

Our Church’s saints and theologians talk about noetic prayer in very technical terms. It’s kind of like the explanations our physicians give us about our body’s illnesses and their cure.

For our purposes today, the point is this: Recite the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” over and over again, audibly and mentally, everywhere and at all times. Pray when you’re sleeping; pray when you’re awake. Pray, whether you are bad or good. Just pray, for goodness’ sake.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

You can recite it mentally even during church. It does not interfere.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

There are various forms of the Jesus Prayer, some shorter, some longer. Pick one and stick with it. The standard form is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με.

This prayer fulfills the commandment to love God with all one’s mind. This prayer is what our Savior said was to go into your room and pray in secret, and to pray in His name. This is what St. Paul meant when he taught to pray without ceasing.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

Benefits of Coming to Church

It is very useful to understand how what we do, in and at church, contributes, more or less, to our cure, to our salvation, and to the improvement of the world around us.

Let’s start with attending church services, since that’s what we’re doing right now. Why is attending church beneficial? How does it help to cure the sickness of the soul? Is there any benefit to attending more often? Is there any harm in missing church?

Church services are what is called worship, which is distinct from prayer. Another way of looking at it is that church services are communal prayer, and then there is private prayer. You need to have a good measure of both.

Ministries are good. Yet, it is when we gather for worship that we are most significantly the Church, the Body of Christ.

Here is what is healthful about church services. (It goes without saying that you deprive yourself of these benefits by being late or not coming at all.)

• You hear the Bible readings and the word of God.
• You hear beautiful sacred music, hymns that remind you of the wonderful things God has done for us.
• You are surrounded by your fellow Christians who, at least in this setting, are not embarrassed to profess belief and to practice Christian disciplines.
• You see icons that call to mind the life of Christ and the examples of the saints.
• You are in a beautiful space, specially designed and constructed to serve your spiritual health needs.
• You hear the sound, Orthodox teachings about God, life, and the health and salvation of your soul.
• From the clergy you receive the blessing and peace of God and also Holy Communion, which, when received under the right circumstances, is of great benefit to you.

Church services can be calming, they can provide an opportunity for worship and prayer, and all this is good for concentration on God. It is the unbroken memory of God that is a sign of good health. That is why private prayer is also necessary. Another time I will talk about private prayer and the so-called Jesus Prayer.

So, given all the benefits of attending church that I enumerated, it is easy to understand that these benefits are multiplied as many times as you attend church. Here in our parish, we have church services 2, 3, 4, or more times a week. You can choose to attend more, and in so doing you are choosing to benefit your soul more.

You can also choose to do other things with your time during the week, which are the opposite, or just NOT these beneficial things, and in so doing you choose not to benefit your soul.

Everyone will reach whichever degree of holiness and perfection that one has both chosen and worked for.

Spiritual Health, Forgiveness, Salvation

The health and well-being of your soul, as a person, and as a community, is very important to the Lord. It is the mission of the Church. It is the mission of OUR Church. The cure of each individual is what the Lord wants to happen. Imagine how a community or a whole society could be transformed if the individuals that composed it were being cured or actually well.

Since it is the mission of the church, it would be helpful to understand what is the sickness of the human personality and what is the cure and perfection.

It would be wrong to reduce the mission of the Church to “salvation by forgiveness of sins for entrance into heaven after death.” This would be like doctors forgiving their patients for being sick so that they may be cured after death. Forgiveness of sins, now, is only the beginning of the cure of the sickness of humanity, now. This cure involves the purification and illumination of the heart and culminates in theosis, which is also called glorification.

Believe it or not, the Church does not send anyone to heaven or hell. The work of the Church is to prepare the faithful for the vision of Christ in glory, which everyone will have. Everyone will see the glory of God in Christ and will reach whichever degree of perfection that one has both chosen and worked for.

The uncreated glory that Christ has by nature from God the Father is heaven for those whose selfish love has been cured and transformed into selfless love, and that same glory of Christ is hell for those who choose to remain uncured in their selfishness. God loves the damned as much as he loves his saints. He wants the cure of all, but not all accept his cure. This means that the forgiveness of sins is not enough preparation for seeing Christ in glory.

The point of saying all this is to set the stage for future discussions about what our sickness is and what is the cure.

As a Christian, it is very useful to understand why we do what we do, what are we supposed to do, how does it help anything. Why have a church? Why invest time and money in our church? How does what we do here in the Sanctuary, in the Spiritual Life Center, and as members of St. Nektarios community… the church services, the ministries, the activities… how does what we do contribute, more or less, to our cure, to our salvation, and to the improvement of the world around us?

May God give us the wisdom and words to point these things out.

http://romanity.org/htm/rom.02.en.the_cure_of_the_neurobiological_sickness_of_rel.04.htm

Stages of Spiritual Growth: Purification, Illumination and Theosis

There are three stages of spiritual growth and well-being: purification, illumination, and theosis. Every conscientious member of our Church is in one of these stages, whether you know it or not.

This paradigm, Purification, Illumination, Theosis, is actually the template, the agenda of the Orthodox Christian lifestyle. It is the spiritual Tradition that was written about in the Bible and also handed down from generation to generation as a method and way of life. It is this spiritual Tradition of purification, illumination and theosis that, in both teaching and practice, identifies Orthodox Christianity and sets it apart, not only from other religions, but also from other Christian churches and groups.

Purification, Illumination and Theosis are about salvation. They refer to your spiritual condition or health. When we unpack these ideas, there will be words like illness, malfunction, therapy and cure. These are medical terms. Sometimes we talk about our salvation in medical terms.

There are other ways to view and talk about salvation. There is military language. We sing, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death…” We call Christ the Victor, and say that He invaded Hades, trampled down death, beat the devil and rescued the souls that were his hostages. This is military language.

We sometimes talk about our salvation in forensic or legalistic terms: we hear about debts, judgment, payment, remission of debts. Sometimes athletic language is used. Christ is the one who sets the contest and who awards the winners, who receive medals and prizes. There is erotic language, when Christ is the Bridegroom and is said to be intensely in love with your soul and wants to unite most intimately with you.

But perhaps the most pervasive language is the medical language, which is also supported by the many cures and healings that are recorded in the Gospels. Christ is the Physician of our souls and bodies.

Most of you, especially the older you get, have been treated for medical conditions. Your primary physician may have referred you to a specialist. He does tests, he makes a diagnosis, and prescribes treatment. And hopefully you get better.

The same can apply to the health and well-being of your soul, if you care enough. Purification, illumination and theosis refer to health and well-being of your soul. In the coming weeks my points will be on this topic.

Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple

Tomorrow, November 21, we celebrate the feast-day which we call the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. I use the word “we” loosely, since I know that only a few of us have any idea what I am referring to, and even fewer will actually celebrate this holiday.

My three points today will be about the feast itself, how it relates to you, and why you would ever consider celebrating it.

The event that this feast remembers is this: When the Virgin Mary was three years old, her elderly parents, Joachim and Anna, fulfilled their promise to God, and dedicated her to the service of the Lord. They brought her to Jerusalem and she entered the Temple, to live there, in prayer and service, until she was betrothed to Joseph. Legend has it that she went into the Holy of Holies and was fed by angels. There are several other details about these events, and they make for a good story.

There is another, spiritual dimension that we need to understand, lest the whole thing be reduced to a fairytale. This feast really commemorates Mary’s entry into the spiritual stage of illumination. There are three stages of spiritual growth: purification of the heart, illumination of the nous (or intellect), and theosis (or deification, glorification). These will be the subject of future Points Well Made.

Mary entered the Temple and lived there. Spiritually, she entered the temple of her heart, she practiced hesychasm and purified her heart. She was spiritually nourished by divine grace and was illumined, and she contemplated the uncreated glory of God. Ultimately she would enter the stage of theosis, when she became the Mother of God.

This paradigm, Purification, Illumination, Theosis, is actually the template, the agenda of the Orthodox Christian lifestyle. Anyone who conscientiously accepts that, might find meaning in celebrating it, much like, say, Weight Watchers celebrate one another’s milestones and accomplishments and are encouraged by them.

So, tomorrow we have an opportunity to celebrate the milestones, not only in the life of the Theotokos, which could be reason enough celebrate, but the milestones we aim for in our own Christian life.

Another time I can point out how attending church more often can be beneficial.