Selections from Seminary

In one of St. John Chrysostom’s homilies, speaking of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in the third chapter of John’s gospel, he made a connection I had never thought of. He notices a mention of two great “benefactions” in this passage, Baptism and the Cross, and he understands their mention so close together to be significant. There is a clear reference to Baptism when Christ says to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” And then, the Cross is very intentionally referenced just a few verses later when he says, “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, thus it is necessary that the Son of Man be lifted up.” In his homily, Chrysostom mentions where Paul also sets these two together when writing to the Corinthians: “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Of course, just mentioning these two together, in and of itself, is not terribly significant, but ...

Often, when reading the Scriptures, we see a story or a phrase that raises a question mark in our minds, something that just does not quite make sense, likely because we live in such a different cultural and historical context. In John 2:4, at the wedding at Cana, Christ says to his mother: “What concern is this to us?” I just came across this verse in a version which was slightly different than what I remembered, and the difference in wording caught my attention, making me wonder how this was expressed in Greek. So, I looked up the Greek, and it is incredibly brief: Τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί. My rudimentary Greek brain sees only this: “What to me and to you?” I looked up several other English translations to try to check and see if there is a consensus or an understanding of those words that might not be known to me: What have I to do with thee?  What is that to you and to Me? What have I to do with thee?  What concern is this to us?  Why do you involve me?  What concern is t...

The "Prologue" of the Gospel of John employs a chiastic structure. Indeed, biblical writers of the Old and New Testaments used this structure to help lead our attention to their main point. The only problem is that we moderns are almost completely unacquainted with "chiasmus". "Chiasmus" is named for the Greek letter X (chi). To help explain, here is an example from 1John 4:7-8 (an example borrowed from the The Shape of Biblical Language by John Breck): A: for love  is of God ,    B: and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.    B': The one who does not love does not know God, A': for God  is love. A and A' relate to each other, and B and B' relate to each other. If there were more phrases, the order would be something like A, B, C, D, E, D', C', B', A', working toward the center and then working back out from it, with similarities in D and D', the C and C', and so on. Maybe you can see why the X is us...

Whole theologies have been formed and rampant misunderstandings have deeply entrenched, all on account of this one little Greek word: δικαι- [dikai-]. In Greek, this one root word forms the verbs, nouns, and all other parts of speech, which are then later translated into various words in English: justification, justice, justify, to judge, righteousness, the righteous ones, upright. Our understanding of St. Paul will increase dramatically simply by finding a way to read him with his original word choice, not using two words in English for one concept for St. Paul. In the passages below, all from Romans, every time St. Paul chooses a word built on that Greek root, it will be replaced with “DIKAI”, instead of using an English word, so we do not fill in our English nuance of the word; any lowercase additions on the front or end of DIKAI are to indicate the verb tense or a prefix. I have found it quite beneficial to understanding St. Paul's meaning. [Commentary in red. In verse 4, Paul ...

“Hypocrite”, Jesus says. That’s a hard word. It is so easy, when reading the gospels, to see that hard word spoken to others, and so hard to hear it as a word to us. We, too, are hypocrites. The hypocrites in this lesson (Luke 13:10-17) followed all the rules, but missed spirit of the Law. We, in the midst of the fast, focus on the fasting rules. Maybe we follow them and maybe we don’t, but, still, our focus during the fast is on the rules. So easily, we lose sight of why we are fasting. Fasting is exercise. Like the athlete who disciplines himself, who diligently shows up everyday, who pushes himself: in the same way, we show up. We exercise. And better than that, these are more than random rules the Church has passed down to us; this training regimen is time-tested and proven. Do this...and you will find eternal life. Fasting is exercise. Fasting also... acquires the Holy Spirit . St. Seraphim of Sarov explains this when he says, "Prayer, fasting, vigil, and all other Christian ...

St. Jacob of Alaska was also an astute observer of the native people: their habits, their customs, and sometimes even their disposition towards the gospel. Every once in a while, his journals have an aside to explain points of interest—the dangers of navigation and shipping in Alaskan waters, the entryway of native houses in different regions, and such—in some of which, he speaks about the people’s receptivity to the gospel: “In matters of religion, I found the Kuriles to be devout or, as one may say, ready to be devout. However, presumably because of very rare approaches to them on behalf of the Christian Religion, they have no proper understanding either of the Christian faith or of their obligations as Christians.” In another of these asides, St. Jacob offers an almost humorous comment on the Tlingit people as he dwells on the prospects of a Protestant missionary who has come to convert them: "February 28: (1829) A second three masted American vessel [the barque Volunteer, Capt...

Importance of Family Our town or region may not compare to 1800s Alaska, but there are plenty of lessons to be learned from St. Jacob that can be applied to any situation. Though little is made of it, St. Jacob’s relationship with his family seems to be key. He sailed to his first parish in Atka, his own mother’s villiage, with his wife and father. This simple fact challenges our modern, individualistic and independent thinking. Limitless Travelling It would be hard to find a page of St. Jacob’s journals that does not include travel in some form. Not to say that travel is the lesson we need to learn...maybe the opposite. And also not to encourage our modern propensity to extend ourselves beyond all healthy boundaries in the pursuit of achievement at work. Here is a man who would travel for months on the open sea, or on foot or sled to reach interior villages, not for personal glory, nor for good pay, but solely to fulfill the call of the gospel. The Love of the People It is clear that ...

A decade later, in 1849, after faithful service in the Yukon region, St. Jacob asked for an assistant. As Fr. Michael Oleksa says it, he was sent an “unhappy misfit”, Hieromonk Filaret, sent against his will to Alaska. He ended up attacking St. Jacob with a pistol and later an ax, and needing to be bound hand and foot and locked up. The next assistant arrived two years later, and was even worse, if that can be imagined. Hieromonk Gavriil was quite literally insane and leveled accusations against St. Jacob. "The new bishop from European Russia took Gabriel's accusations against Saint Jacob and his coworker Lukin seriously, knowing neither the Creole missionaries and their careers or the insane source of the reports." "In Sitka, the bishop immediately recognized the venerable missionary and scholar to be incapable of the crimes the crazy Gabriel, now deceased, had accused him of committing." It should make sense, but even a saint is not immune to accusation. ...

What is abundantly obvious is that life in Alaska in the early and mid-1800s was full of trials. Having only married his wife, Anna, in 1826, she fell grievously ill with cancer in 1835, and was sent far down the Alaskan coast to Sitka for medical treatment, before falling asleep in the Lord the next year. "This same day, May 29th (1836), I received the news of the death of my wife on March 19 of this year in Sitkha. She did not obtain the restoration of her bodily health, but she was cured spiritually, and, by the Will of God, entered eternity. On this occasion, to give me solace, my two brothers Osip and Anton, came here aboard the above mentioned transport vessel. Osip had leave to visit his kin. Anton had the opportunity to do so as he was aboard in the line of duty, serving as First Office on the brig. ... This day, then for me, was marked by various events [in my life] which were met unexpectedly." And barely one month later : "On the night of July 7th the will of...

One struggle I was looking for in the journals of St. Jacob is racism. St. Jacob was half Russian, half Alaskan native. And in much of the world’s history during this colonial era, racism is thoroughly embedded. I did find one reference of such an issue from Governor Chistiakov in Sitka, when St. Jacob, his wife, and father first arrived, the governor being described by Archpriest Michael Oleksa as “racist, opposing, and attempting to prohibit Russian-native marriages". Even then, mentioned in the same source, this governor was known to be anti-clerical. Meaning: he already did not like this priest coming around in the first place, much less his native lineage. There are copious examples of St. Jacob serving alongside other clergy when he had an opportunity, which would seem to suggest that such an animosity did not actually exist. Before leaving Novoarchangelsk (Sitka) for his assignment on the island of Atka in the Aleutian Chain, he concelebrated often: "March 25: On the F...

St. Jacob followed in the footsteps of many who came before him, not only the big names like St. Herman, St. Juvenaly, and St. Innocent, but more than that, the faithful, everyday folks who worked for the Russian-American Company and lived a faithful witness among the Alaskan peoples. What we find all over St. Jacob’s journals is mentions of locals who had been baptized by laymen and just did not have access to a priest. “It remained for me only to establish them in the faith and chrismate them." "I began baptizing 72 women in the morning. In the afternoon I baptized 54 older children of the parents who had been recently converted. The rite was finished by evening, a total of 126 persons, 33 boys, 93 women and girls. From this activity I became dreadfully tired and felt pain from standing so long... However, the spiritual joy at the sight of so many souls joined to the flock of the Christian Church compensated for everything, and the bodily weaknesses disappeared. That night ...

St. Jacob of Alaska has left us a wealth of information in his journals. We have translations of his journals, with entries almost every day spanning nearly forty years of missionary efforts. It is clear in many sections of his journals that part of the purpose of journaling was to record vital statistics to pass on to superiors in the Church and in the Russian-American Company. Though not often mentioned, there is also a feeling that he thinks of these journals as, what we might call, clinical notes: partially processing what is happening, partially recording information that might be useful to himself or others who come back to these same places, and partially studying his own mission efforts so that he may improve upon his methods over time. As such, these “missionary clinical notes” provide us with a wealth of information for our own missionary endeavors. Studying his processes and thinking provides us with lessons that would apply to any number of situations, even though the speci...

For those of us coming from a Protestant background, especially from the "Evangelical" realm, we might be tempted to think of "saved" as 'made it into heaven', and thus accidentally read into St. Seraphim's saying a meaning something to the effect of, '...and thousands of people around you will accept Christ and become Christians as a result'. Though that meaning might be included in what St. Seraphim meant, it certainly is not the primary meaning, because that is not a traditionally Christian understanding of the word "saved". Without delving into the deep end of trying to fully understand "saved" in a more Orthodox manner, I will try to hone in on the one important aspect I see at work, to help us understand this quote. Think of the many places in the New Testament which speak of those "being saved"...well, that is not totally fair, because our translations do not always make that so clear in English. Search aroun...

St. Seraphim’s guidance in the spiritual life was focused on acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, and, as you will see, his use of the word “acquire”, a money and business term, is no accident: "Prayer, fasting, vigil, and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God." "'Acquiring is the same as obtaining,' he replied to me. 'You understand, of course, what acquiring money means. Acquiring the Spirit of God is exactly the same. You know well what it means in a worldly sense, your godliness, to acquire. The aim of life of ordinary worldly people is to acquire or make money, and for the nobility it is in addition to receive honors, distinctions, and other rewards for their services to the government. The acquisition of God's ...

As mentioned in the first of these posts about St. Seraphim, this may feel like a rabbit trail, but after establishing the authenticity of St. Seraphim's message and its connection to the fathers of old (in this post), then moving on to his primary teaching about the spiritual life (in the next post), we will finally be able to accept the understanding of his most famous quote for what it is: a condensed version of everything he lived and taught. The Little Russian Philokalia, in covering the life and teachings of St. Seraphim of Sarov, reminds us that “there is nothing whatever that is new in the spiritual face of St. Seraphim; all is from the Holy Fathers, of whom he is a most faithful disciple, appearing in the latter times like some great desert father of antiquity, like a new St. Macarius the Great.” The author goes on to say: "His spiritual instructions like his celebrated conversation with Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit contain no new teaching, but sim...

These different variations of St. Seraphim's famous quote can carry slightly different emphases, but there seems to be another issue with this quote and how it challenges our understanding of salvation and “missions” in the Orthodox Church. There seems to be a thread of anti-monastic sentiment among Orthodox Christians today, as if the monastic life is something different than “normal” Christian life, and especially seeing monastics as anti-evangelical. This is theologically problematic, to be sure, but here, I will focus only on the desired re-interpretation of St. Seraphim’s quote. One respected source of Orthodox missions thinking today, a statement I heard with my own ears, suggested that Frederica Mathewes-Green was right in suggesting we have a misunderstanding of this quote, that is, the monk going out in the “desert” does not “save” anybody. I could not confirm any place that Frederica Mathewes-Green suggested this. Instead, she writes: "Being a saint is not a private ...

One of the most common patron saints American converts choose is St. Seraphim of Sarov. He has an obvious appeal. He, somehow, sums up Americans’ desire for conservative and traditional Christianity, while living out a beautifully “wild” and zealous life. He personifies the depths of spiritual life that so many of us yearn to possess. What more could we say about St. Seraphim than what our own enlightened, clairvoyant, and wonderworking San Franciscan saint, John Maximovitch, said of him in a homily, when he was still Hieromonk John, a seminary teacher in Serbia: "Thus, despite the changes that have taken place in the world, the memory of St. Seraphim not only does not fade, but it remains a lamp that shines ever brighter to humanity. … He was wholly occupied with the acquisition of 'the one thing needful'. ...The Lord gave us to see Himself in those like unto Him, in His saints. And so, one of these likenesses was St. Seraphim. In him we see restored human nature, freed ...

The Cappodocians, as well as St. Athanasius before them, had to respond to heretical teachings. As a result, their language was necessarily limited to refutation. That does not leave us with a clear affirmation of how to proceed toward the knowledge of God. Basil’s scriptural references, as well as the homilies and other non-polemical writings from Athanasius, the other Cappadocians, and Chrysostom, can give us a fuller picture, using more affirmative language, of how we can begin to know God. The Apostle Peter, at the end of his second epistle, leaves us with a very clear and affirmative charge to continue on into the depths of the knowledge of God: You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Then, 2 Peter starts off running: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature (ἵνα διὰ τούτων γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως), having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Not only is he speaking of partaking of the divine nature, but clearly connecting that with a practical, lived-out life of virtue, “escaping corruption”. Throughout Peter’s epistles, he develops this lived knowledge of God, which is important to understand when reading the Cappadocians in their response to Eunomius. Peter continues, For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ —importantly, immediately...

The Apostle Peter also builds a connection between our own works and the revelation of Christ: rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts , as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct . Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. Here, St. Peter brings up the corruptible/incorruptible theme, which in context, when taking both his epistles together, is referring to the life in Christ, the process of uniting ourselves to him, which ultimately is knowing God. And again, we see St. Athanasius making the connection between our own works and participation in God, and like the apostle, us...