The Relics of St Paul

Dear Parish Faithful,

A fascinating and appropriate piece on this Feast Day of the Apostles Peter & Paul.

Fr. Steven

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Pope: Scientific analysis done on St. Paul's bones

By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
Sunday, June 28, 2009; 8:31 PM

ROME -- The first-ever scientific test on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seems to confirm" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

It was the second major discovery concerning St. Paul announced by the Vatican in as many days.

On Saturday, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano announced the June 19 discovery of a fresco inside another tomb depicting St. Paul, which Vatican officials said represented the oldest known icon of the apostle.

Benedict said archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, which for some 2,000 years has been believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul.

Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

"This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," Benedict said, announcing the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican's Paoline year, in honor of the apostle.

Paul and Peter are the two main figures known for spreading the Christian faith after the death of Christ.

According to tradition, St. Paul, also known as the apostle of the Gentiles, was beheaded in Rome in the 1st century during the persecution of early Christians by Roman emperors. Popular belief holds that bone fragments from his head are in another Rome basilica, St. John Lateran, with his other remains inside the sarcophagus.

The pope said that when archaeologists opened the sarcophagus, they discovered alongside the bone fragments some grains of incense, a "precious" piece of purple linen with gold sequins and a blue fabric with linen filaments.

On Saturday, the Vatican newspaper announced that a round fresco edged in gold featuring the emaciated face of St. Paul had been discovered in excavations of the tombs of St. Tecla in Rome. It was believed to have been dated from the end of the fourth century, making it the oldest known icon of St. Paul, meaning it was an image designed for prayer, not just art, L'Osservatore Romano said.

Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, presidente of the Vatican's culture department, said the discovery was an "extraordinary event" that was an "eloquent testimony" to the Christianity of the first centuries, L'Osservatore said.

Vatican archaeologists in 2002 began excavating the 8-foot(2.4-meter)-long tomb of St. Paul, which dates from at least A.D. 390 and was buried under the basilica's main altar. The decision to unearth it was made after pilgrims who came to Rome during the Roman Catholic Church's 2000 Jubilee year expressed disappointment at finding that the saint's tomb - buried under layers of plaster and further hidden by an iron grate - could not be visited or touched.

The top of the coffin has small openings - subsequently covered with mortar - because in ancient times Christians would insert offerings or try to touch the remains.

The basilica stands at the site of two 4th-century churches - including one destroyed by a fire in 1823 that had left the tomb visible, first above ground and later in a crypt. After the fire, the crypt was filled with earth and covered by a new altar. A slab of cracked marble with the words "Paul apostle martyr" in Latin was also found embedded in the floor above the tomb.

A Baptist Minister Visits an Orthodox Church - Pt 3

Dear Parish Faithful,

I am forwarding Terry Morgan's response to the Baptist pastor who wrote an intriguing description about his visit to an Orthodox parish. Most of you have already read that and it was the subject of yesterday's homily. Terry wrote this directly to Pastor Atkinson, and there are many valuable observations in his letter.

Fr. Steven

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Dear Pastor Atkinson,

I enjoyed reading your observations on Orthodox worship, especially as I was a convert at age 50 and have a BDiv from Ashland Theological Seminary (Brethren Church.)

I came to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1967 to work on a PhD in Semitic languages and Old Testament, and although I never finished the degree, we never left. While in Cincinnati we attended a Missouri Lutheran church in the inner city (old group moved out, some stayed to minister), and later a Church of Christ. The Lutherans encouraged a liturgical worship service in me. The Church of Christ didn't, except for one thing: Each Christmas they performed a Boar's Head & Yule Log Pageant. It was a huge production, done three times on one day with a packed house each time. Near the end the entire cast was at the front of the church and sang "Let all mortal flesh keep silent." During one verse, when reference was made to seraphim and cherubim bowing down in worship, the entire cast slowly knealt till our faces were at the floor. Then in the final verse we all rose, and at the very end everyone was standing with arms raised high. It was moving in the extreme, and the most worshipful experience I could imagine. Our music minister used to say "Worship is a verb, not a noun." I often wanted to ask when besides the Boar's Head we were going to do some of it.

During a period of unemployment I had to take a job working on Sundays, and some other things came up that made me lose commitment to that congregation, and I visited Christ the Savior Orthodox Church. It didn't take me long to decide that it was my real home. My wife was much less enthusiastic! It was only after I decided to join that she agreed to come for a visit. Fortunately, she came on a Sunday that celebrated the Cross. During that service the entire congregation sings a beautiful hymn that goes:

Before Thy cross, we fall down in worship, O Master,
And Thy holy resurrection we glorify!

It is sung three times, and each time all those who are able kneel and bow their heads to the floor. My wife's reaction was, "That is beautiful! They actually do what they sing!" (We had both been in Protestant services where the text of the hymn was at total odds with the singing.) My wife was hooked.

A further observation: There is a certain intensity on the part of the worshipers who are focused on prayer and worship which can make them seem to be unfriendly or ignoring the stranger. That is good for the person worshipping, but a problem for the visitor. (I once visited another Orthodox church, and felt totally ignored, even though it was obvious I didn't fit in. However it was not due to the intense worship. Several people were carrying on conversations having nothing to do with the Spirit.) As a result of my wife's observations, and my own experience at the visited church, I vowed that I would always watch for anyone I didn't recognize, and make a real effort to welcome that person and help him/her feel at home. I have several allies in this project, and we are usually successful at meeting all visitors. Needless to say, I have made a fool of myself several times, but better a fool for Christ than a comfortable servant of the enemy!

There are two things that I found very different in Orthodoxy from the Protestant churches in which I had grown up. The first - which you note - is theology. You are right, the liturgy and the hymnology is absolutely loaded with serious doses of theology. And I have found that most of our lay people know and understand what is being said. The worship and the prayers are consciously teaching tools. In contrast, I have found that many Protestant laymen either don't know the theology of their church, or don't care. (I won't get into churches that don't even have a theology that you can pin down.) That at least partly explains why Protestants can so easily church "shop and hop." I'm talking about myself here - we left the Lutheran Church for the Church of Christ mainly because they had a very active Sunday School, even though I was fully aware of all the theological differences.

The other thing I found striking was that Orthodox have a very real, living sense of history, while the Protestants with whom I have resided seemed to act as though there was no church history between the book of Acts and the founding of their particular denominations. With the Lutherans everything started with Luther and company. With Methodists it was John Wesley. In the Church of Christ it was the revival meetings in the 1800's. But the worship and church calendar in the Orthodox Church make the people always conscious of their history. We celebrate the 7 ecumenical councils. (How many Protestants have never even heard of them?) We commemorate saints galore, and each one brings to mind a period of the church's history.

I would also mention one other thing. Being Orthodox does not make us judgemental or exclusivist. (At least, it shouldn't!) Our proper answer when confronted with a different church is that we know where the true church is (Orthodoxy), but we don't know where it is not, so we can't judge. (Unless they are teaching or practicing obvious and serious heresies.) For example, our congregation is cooperating with many other churches - Protestant and Catholic - in a prison ministry. I and another man are among those who spend 2 full weekends each year at a state prison in a program called Kairos. Dan and I also go there most Sunday evenings for prayer and sharing with the inmates, none of whom are likely to ever become Orthodox. Many others in the church are involved in back-up roles such as cooking for the weekend, baking cookies, prayer and financial gifts. We also maintain a food pantry for those in need, Father has some cash available for special needs, and we have often participated in Angel Tree to provide Christmas gifts for children of prisoners. (We are also heavily involved is supporting an orphanage in Guatemala, but since it is Orthodox, that doesn't demonstrate our ecumenicity.)

I would say, in conclusion, that God may indeed be calling you to Orthodoxy, or He may be educating you about us so that you can be used as a bridge between parts of His sadly fragmented body. We desperately need such bridges! We even need them within Orthodoxy in America, where we are broken into several "jurisdictions" that we all know are a scandal, but we can't seem to find ways to heal. I will pray for our Lord to lead you (and your family) in the way He wants you to go. And I most readily admit, it may not be Orthodoxy. But wherever God leads you and your family,

May He bless you with all things good and profitable to your souls,
Keep you strong and faithful in His service,
Make His face shine on you that others will see His glory more clearly,
Be gracious to you so you can be an instrument of His grace to those around you,
And give you that peace that is more wonderful than we can ever imagine. Amen!

4 Him
Terry Morgan
Cincinnati, OH

A Baptist Minister Visits an Orthodox Church - Pt 2

Dear Parish Faithful,

If you recall, I forwarded an article written by a Baptist minister last Wednesday. It was a very lively description of his first visit to an Orthodox parish for the Liturgy. (For those who didn't see or read it, you can find it below). This prompted two very interesting responses from two of our own "converts" to the Orthodox Church, Frances Fowler-Collins and Terry Morgan. With their permission, I am going to forward these two responses, beginnng with Frances' today and Terry's possibly by tomorrow.

It is very important that we pay close attention to how a non-Orthodox Christian reacts to his/her first encounter with the Orthodox Church. This will assist us in how we meet, encourage and hopefully integrate these seekers into the life of the Church, and more specifically, our parishes.

Fr. Steven

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Dear Fr. Steven,

As a recent convert, I found this article very interesting although my first (well, second) experience of Orthodox worship was quite different. Let me first describe my very first experience. It was on Christmas Eve at St. Alexander Nevsky in Paris many years ago. The service was entirely in Russian; the church was filled before we arrived; we had to stand in the narthex the whole time; there were no liturgy books, greeters, etc. Needless to say, this was not an ideal introduction to Orthodox worship.!

My second experience was at St. Anne's in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the difference between the two suggests several things that St. Anthony the Great could do better. At St. Anne's there was no greeter at the door, but obviously certain people had been designated as "stealth" greeters or had taken this ministry upon themselves. Before I had been there five minutes, a woman about my age came up, introduced herself, and asked if I had ever attended an Orthodox service. When I told her about my past experience, she went and got a liturgy booklet (which was pretty close to what was actually done at St. Anne's, too), brought me the flyer with the toparia and kontakia on it, and stood by me throughout the service, helping me when I was lost. She also brought me a piece of the antidoron after she took communion. At the end of the service, she invited me to stay for the coffee hour after church. My reaction to t he service was that it was absolutely beautiful and that I would love to come back.

Let me say that my first visit to Christ the Savior five years ago fell somewhere in between. I was greeted almost at once by a woman about my age who also invited me to the Adult Forum and coffee hour. When I realized that there was a bulletin with the troparia on it and went back to the candle table to get one, they were all gone, and a young man standing there gave me his. However, this was before we had the new service books and I found the old ones very difficult to follow. No one offered me antidoron and no one came up to me as the service was ending to go with me to the coffee hour.

In conclusion, I would say that we certainly should not "water down" our liturgy or practices to become more "seeker friendly," but as Orthodox Christians we do need to find ways to make the transition into Orthodox worship easier for people like the Baptist pastor and his family.

Frances

A Baptist Minister Visits an Orthodox Church - Pt 1

Dear Parish Faithful,

The following was sent to me by Dan Georgescu, and is quite interesting. You may wince more than once as I did over some of the descriptions, reactions, etc., but it is an honest appraisal of the challenges posed to a "western," non-liturgical, non-sacramental Christian who may walk through the doors of an Orthodox Church on any given Sunday. But it also reminds us of the challenges posed to us by such persons. We must remain traditional, but do our best not to be esoteric. That is why a non-English Liturgy in today's North American religious climate is bordering on the absurd (to use one example). It is clear that we have "something" for Christians looking for serious Christianity. I liked his line about "raw chunks of theology" being thrown out to the congregation. He also understood that worship is demanding, and not something to make us feel comfortable with.

However, he also made note of a tension that I have now encountered more than a few times: one family member being very attracted to the Church while others were not. That poses a real dilemma for everyone concerned; and one without an easy solution.

Please feel free to share any responses that you may have.

Fr Steven

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The article below was written by Gordon Atkinson, the Baptist minister of the "Covenant Baptist" parish in San Antonio, Texas. His visit was to St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church in San Antonio, Texas. St. Anthony's is a parish of the OCA--the Orthodox Church in America. "Gorgeous Byzantine art, commissioned from a famous artist in Bulgaria." It was quite fascinating to see the reaction of someone who had never been to an Orthodox service before, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. May God guide and keep you!

In Christ's love, Dean

Not for Lightweights

By rlp
Created 06/01/2009 - 16:48

Last Sunday was the 4th of 13 in my sabbatical time. Each of them is precious to me. Each week I am choosing a place and a way to worship. I’m not a church tourist, hoping to see new things. I’m seeking spiritual experiences. I want to worship. Saturday night Jeanene and I still hadn’t decided where to go. I experienced something common to our culture but new to me. The “Where do you want to go to church - I don’t know where do YOU want to go to church” conversation. I found the Saint Anthony the Great website.. It's an Orthodox church that has beautiful Byzantine art in the sanctuary. We decided to go there.

Shelby and Lillian went with us. On the way we warned them that this was going to be different. “They might not have changed their worship service much in a thousand years or so,” I told the girls.

That was an understatement.

Saint Anthony the Great isn't just old school. It's "styli and wax tablets" old school. We arrived ten minutes early for worship and the room was already filled with people lighting candles and praying. There was one greeter. I said, “We don’t know what to do.” She handed me a liturgy book and waved us inside.

Pews? We don’t need no stinking pews! Providing seats for worshipers is SO 14th century. Gorgeous Byzantine art, commissioned from a famous artist in Bulgaria. Fully robed priests with censors (those swinging incense thingies). Long, complex readings and chants that went on and on and on. And every one of them packed full of complex, theological ideas. It was like they were ripping raw chunks of theology out of ancient creeds and throwing them by the handfuls into the congregation. And just to make sure it wasn't too easy for us, everything was read in a monotone voice and at the speed of an auctioneer.

I heard words and phrases I had not heard since seminary. Theotokos, begotten not made, Cherubim and Seraphim borne on their pinions, supplications and oblations. It was an ADD kids nightmare. Robes, scary art, smoking incense, secret doors in the Iconostas popping open and little robed boys coming out with golden candlesticks, chants and singing from a small choir that rolled across the curved ceiling and emerged from the other side of the room where no one was singing. The acoustics were wild. No matter who was speaking, the sound came out of everywhere. There was so much going on I couldn't keep up with all the things I couldn't pay attention to.

Lillian was the first to go down. After half an hour of standing, she was done. Jeanene took her over to a pew on the side wall. She slumped against Jeanene’s shoulder and stared at me with this stunned, rather betrayed look on her face. “How could you have brought us to this insane place?”

Shelby tried to tough it out. We were following along in the 40 page liturgy book that was only an abbreviation of the service were were experiencing. I got lost no less than 10 times. After 50 minutes Shelby leaned over and asked how much longer the service would be. I was trying to keep from locking my knees because my thighs had gotten numb. I showed her the book. We were on page 15. I flipped through the remaining 25 pages to show her how much more there was. Her mouth fell open.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. And I think there's supposed to be a sermon in here somewhere.”

“They haven’t done the SERMON yet? What was that guy doing who said all that stuff about…all that stuff?”

“I don’t know?” I said.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said. I looked around and saw the door at the back of the sanctuary swinging shut. And then there was one.

I made it through the entire 1 hour and 50 minutes of worship without sitting down, but my back was sore. Shelby came back toward the end. When it came time for communion I suggested that we not participate because I didn't know what kind of rules they have for that. We stayed politely at the back. A woman noticed and brought some of the bread to us, bowing respectfully as she offered it. Her gesture of kindness to newcomers who were clearly struggling to understand everything was touching to me.

Okay, so I started crying a little. So what? You would have too, I bet.

After it was over another woman came to speak with us. She said, “I noticed the girls were really struggling with having to stand..”

“Yeah,” I said. “This worship is not for lightweights.”

She laughed and said, "yes," not the least bit ashamed or apologetic.

So what did I think about my experience at Saint Anthony the Great Orthodox Church? I LOVED IT. Loved it loved it loved it loved it loved it. In a day when user-friendly is the byword of everything from churches to software, here was worship that asked something of me. No, DEMANDED something of me. “You don’t know what Theotokos means? Get a book and read about it. You have a hard time standing for 2 hours? Do some sit ups and get yourself into worship shape. It is the Lord our God we worship here, mortal. What made you think you could worship the Eternal One without pain?"

See, I get that. That makes sense to me. I had a hard time following the words of the chants and liturgy, but even my lack of understanding had something to teach me.

“There is so much for you to learn. There is more here than a person could master in a lifetime. THIS IS BIGGER THAN YOU ARE. Your understanding is not central here. These are ancient rites of the church. Stand with us, brother, and you will learn in time. Or go and find your way to an easier place if you must. God bless you on that journey. We understand, but this is the way we do church.”

I’m going back again on Sunday. I started to write, “I’m looking forward to it.” But that’s not right. I’m feeling right about it.

And feeling right is what I'm looking for.

Update: This was actually written on May 26 or 27. I went back to Saint Anthony the Great on Sunday. I found I was following along a little better. I'm REALLY getting a lot out of Orthodox worship. Shelby and Lillian declined to go with me this time.

On Questioning our Faith

Dear Parish Faithful,

I received some interesting responses to Thursday's Theological Thoughts dealing with a new DVD that is anti-Christian in inspiration. Thought to share a couple of them, beginning with this one from Jennifer Haynes.

Fr Steven

Father,

Isn't it true that many Christians do not develop a healthy form of questioning their faith? Some were raised in the faith and perhaps the thought of questioning their faith creates a sense of unhealthy guilt?

What I mean by this Father, is for instance:

In my first philosophy class the absolute first topic we discussed and studied was the existence of God. We read apologists as well as critics (those who took the opposite view). Our teacher asked these questions to get a debate going: Does God exist? What about the problem of evil in the world? What are God's attributes? Would an all-loving and all-knowing God allow evil to take place?

A 1/4 of the class were raised with very strong Christian beliefs and absolutely refused to question their faith. The answer was "of course God exists. The Bible tells us so." The other 1/4 class disagreed. The other 1/4 remained open to asking ourselves these questions & listen. And of course - the other 1/4 was just not interested.

Have a wonderful weekend Father Steve & we will see you on Sunday,

Jennifer