This Friday marks the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Preceded by a two week fast, this feast commemorates the death and assumption into heaven of the Theotokos. I find it especially important to celebrate this feast in the home as it teaches children an appropriate attitude towards death. Through Christ, death is not the end but the beginning and Mary’s assumption beautifully demonstrates the joy and glory of new life that comes to those who have reposed in the faith.

Greeting the Day: Icons are an absolutely wonderful tool to use to teach children about the faith. All 3 of my children have been visually drawn to them since they were small babies and have enjoyed hearing the stories surrounding them as they have grown. During prayer time, tell the story of Mary’s dormition to your children using a print out of an icon.

Afternoon Fun: It is customary in many churches to bring flowers to the liturgy to be blessed. For a fun outing, either take your children to a florist to pick flowers or have them pick wildflowers all on their own. At home, help them arrange the flowers into two bouquets. Take both to the liturgy to be blessed. Leave one at church and bring the other home to adorn your icon corner. If you have extra blessed bouquets, take them to neighbors and tell them that it is in honor of the feast.

Around the Dinner Table: Make it a point to discuss at the table that in this feast, we celebrate that what happened to Mary is something that can happen to all who live a life of humility, love and obedience.

Memory Verse: Luke 11:28 “He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Greeting the Day: Although this is really an activity that will take more than a day, I think it is a great and simple way to demonstrate the concept of change. There are many variations on this project (you can use carrots, potatoes, onions, papaya seeds), but since my kids are preschoolers, we are sticking with simple beans. Get a clean, glass jar with a lid. Have your child wet a cotton ball or paper towel folded up to fit the jar. It should be damp, but not soaking wet. Place the cotton ball at the bottom of the jar and have your child sprinkle a few dried beans on top (any kind will do. You can mix them up for more variation). Place in indirect sunlight. Over the next week, watch how the seed changes. With sun and water, the seed with sprout and grow into a plant. You can translate this concept into talking about how we ourselves can change and grow through participating in the sacraments, fasting and prayer. We too can bear fruit.

Afternoon Fun: This is a fun art project for little ones. Take a plastic that can be sealed. Place in the bag all sorts of materials: flour, shaving cream, liquid soap, etc. Add a little paint: use a few different colors. Fill the bag no more than a 1/3 full. Seal tightly. Let your child squish it all up. Shake it all up. Talk about how the material inside changes as the child touches it. The colors form new colors as they mix together.

Around the Dinner Table: Fruits are traditionally blessed on this day, particularly grapes and other soft fruits. Why grapes? They show physical transformation and represent a religious transformation (i.e. wine). So, take plenty of grapes with you and your children to liturgy to be blessed. At dinner, light some candles and place them on the table to symbolize the light of Christ and enjoy the blessed fruits with your family while having a discussion of the significance of the fruit in light of the feast of the Transfiguration. If you are feeling ambitious, you can place some of the grapes out to dry and spend the next few weeks watching them change into raisins.

Memory Verse: Matthew 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

I was told this during a confession once. I had been talking about some sins I struggle with that have been negatively affecting my mothering. Fears, passions, habits. My confessor told me this to comfort me. To encourage me. In mothering my children, I will struggle. But I must strive to not give up in that struggle. The struggling is good. It is a part of our salvation. “To fall is to sin. To stay fallen and not try to get up is devilish.”

It is both a humbling and scary thought that the life I lead is what I give to my children. Afterall, I know my weaknesses and there are many. I do not wish to pass them to my children, but it seems inevitable. My confessor agreed with me; the life that I lead is what I give to my children. But there is hope in this. He told me that it is the habits I have, the fears I confess, the passions I express…what I demonstrate is what I give. My spiritual struggle as a mother is to not indulge these.

He spoke to me about this particularly in regards to some fears I have. He told me that I need to not pass on these fears to my children. It is my duty as a mother to protect my children from my fears. Not that they will not struggle with any fears themselves, but I need to teach them to trust in God through my example. Although I may not overcome these fears, I can choose not to indulge them. I can choose not to express them. And in doing so, I not only teach my children to trust in God but I am actively battling against my fears.
It is hard being a mother. It is hard just being human! But the unique position of the full time caretaker is that you are constantly being observed. That is draining. The struggles that one normally has just by oneself can seem so much more burdensome when eyes are constantly watching. But, on the other hand, this is a very, very blessed position to be in because it gives you consistent motivation outside of yourself to encourage you in those struggles. My children, just by being my children, are helping me fight spiritual battles. I can choose to strive to strengthen my little army, guiding them through example to trust and obey God, or I can choose not to and face the consequences. Although I cannot guarantee that my children will have faith, I can, through the acting grace of God, equip them with the tools to be saints. And, then, well, the choice is theirs.

So I will continually pray, Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on us sinners. Help me to struggle and, when I do fall, give me the strength to stand up and fight again.

The Resurrection and the Modern Man is a short work just under 100 pages and is the combination of two essays, “Behold I Make All Things New” and “Resurrection: Its Significance for Modern Man”. It is especially interesting as it was written by the current Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.

A nice addition to this book is the introduction by Olivier Clement (theologian from the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris), which gives a concise and excellent history of the Antiochian Patriarchate. If you’ve ever wondered where the Syriac Church came from, and why an Arabic-speaking church is called “Greek”, you will find the introduction helpful.

According to the Patriarch’s biography on the Balamand Monastery website, His Beatitude went to Paris as a young man where he attended the St. Sergius Theological Institute: “From his time in France onwards he has been moved not only by a desire to pass on the deposit of the Faith, but also to take Orthodoxy out of its unhistorical ghetto by discovering in its Holy Tradition living answers to the problems of modern life.” The Resurrection and the Modern Man is a natural extension of this lifelong mission.

The book’s Introduction is taken from his address to the 1968 meeting of the World Council of Churches. It appears that the entire book is intended for a heterodox and “ecumenical” audience. For some, ecumenical work is suspect. But Ignatius uses his position to proclaim the truth of the resurrection:

Either the resurrection of Christ is a partial truth, one among many others, perceived by a few visionaries, and consequently it holds not a priori interest for modern man; or else it is the global Truth itself, that reality which “verifies” all things and thereby bestows its own meaning upon all things. (p.62)

… the resurrection of Christ is no ordinary event that can be analyzed by scientific methods; nevertheless, it is an historical fact, a true event that occurred in the course of our history and vitally concerns our history. (p.69)
The book is very much a product of its time. Ignatius IV seems to address two competing visions of Christianity in the 1960s and 70s: the liberalism of the mainline denominations and the new evangelicalism. “Renewal” is not enough, according to Ignatius. If we believe in the resurrection as a world-changing event, then we, as the “Leaven of Resurrection”, are compelled to partake in work that deifies mankind.

The “renewal” movement was a real phenomenon in the 60s and 70s as many Christians and even some Catholics embraced charismatic ideas. The Patriarch acknowledges the movement of the Holy Spirit across denominational lines but makes clear that “renewal” is not the sole province of charismatics or evangelicals. He states that a “liturgical renewal” is needed in the west, and “…it is in the liturgical action of the Church that we can experience the power of the resurrection in all its fullness (p.83).”

But the largest portion of the book seems to be directed towards the deistic and secularized “social gospel” that distances itself from the miraculous and the necessity of belief. It is time, he says, to bury the old notion that reduces God to a mere first cause.
Our deified being in Christ is not an ideology but a reality. …our whole being can thus begin to live according to the Spirit, even in our present bodily condition. (p.78)
Let us therefore put aside any nostalgia for past Christian ages in which economic and political programs were directly deduced from the Gospel. Strictly speaking, Christ has no “social doctrine.” Christ did not come to day the foundations of financial, economic, and governmental structures. (p.89)

The resurrection and its deifying work progressively effects the whole person and how one approaches their physical security, moral compass, and group identity. This has real and concrete social ramifications.
This lifegiving humanity of Christ now makes its impact upon the world through ourselves and members of His Body. (p.94)

For in the “Christian mystique” as applied to political life there is a fundamental rejection, not of authority itself, but of the totalitarian and pseudo-prophetic claims made by every political power. (p.96)

It’s not only okay to believe in the Resurrection, but critical because policies and programs will never transform the world or bring about the social justice we aspire to. The resurrection must be first of all lived by us.

To summarize, in this small book we find 1) the Antiochian rationale for involvement in ecumenical groups, 2) a snapshot of Christian apologetics of the 1960s and 70s, and 3) a modern work from the Semitic Christian tradition. But most importantly, we find a timeless theme that comes back to us in every prayer, every service, and in every icon. We carry the work of the resurrection within us, and if we are convinced of its deifying power, we should expect to be agents of change in our world.

By David Schneider

Jesus Made me Kosher, the Church took me Home

A Review by Calee M. Lee

Fr. Bernstein takes the reader on a journey that is recognizable to all converts to Orthodoxy while at the same time filled with the types of life events that make the evening news. He lived in Israel during the Six Day War. He sat a few feet away from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Queens College. That Cross and Star of David we still see on Jews for Jesus paraphernalia—he made it happen. This backdrop, linked with Fr. Bernstein’s Jewish heritage, elevates the telling beyond the ranks of a typical conversion narrative.

In describing his first visit to an Orthodox church, he weaves in similarities between ancient Christian and Jewish practices.

“Jewish worship was always physical. The Old Testament people of God worshiped with music, with color, with light and candles, with sweet aroma and incense, with art, with rhythmic chant, with feasts and fasts, with cycles of holy days, and with godly order and liturgy. I came to realize these things were neither pagan in origin nor temporal in character. They were fulfilled in Christ and retained.”

While the story of Fr. Bernstein’s conversation to Orthodox Christianity is compelling, I found this book’s true strength to be in its simple yet thorough explanation of the Orthodox Christian faith. He distills the Church’s teaching into manageable segments using copious amounts of scriptural, historical and rabbinical evidence.

“The Orthodox understanding of the Fall focuses on our condition or state, rather than on a broken law or God’s judgmental anger. It centers on Adam and Eve’s state of being, the essence of who they were and how that was changed in their disobedience. By turning away from God, the source of life, they began to die.”

As a side note, I was throughly impressed by this book’s use of language appropriate to its audience. Fr. Bernstein’s book offers an outstanding narrative that I intend to share with family members and friends who are not formally inquiring into Orthodoxy, but would like an explanation of the faith.

The following activities are tried and true and my children get a real kick out of them. They love story time (especially when Ma and Pa make a real effort to ‘act’ out the stories) and messy art is always great. So, have fun and God bless you on this Feast day!

Greeting the Day: Getting all the family out the door on time for church can be quite an ordeal. After two years, my husband and I have finally found a solution that works for our family and gets everyone out the door on time and in good attitudes (very important!). My husband readies himself first in the morning while I get the kids dressed. Then he takes all the kids out of the house on a walk or to a park while I ready myself and pack the activity bags. I meet them at the park and we continue on together. Although this solution might not work for every family, I do think it is a good idea for every couple to have a Sunday Morning Action Plan. For this particular Sunday, include in the morning activities a story time. Read stories about Saints Peter and Paul to your children. Talk to your children about how these two saints will be celebrated at the liturgy for their contributions to the early church.

Afternoon Fun: For a fun summer activity, make some sidewalk paint and go out with your children and paint the sidewalks with stories of Peter and Paul serving as the basis.

Around the Dinner Table: Now, it is a Ukrainian custom to eat Mandryky (meaning ‘to wander’)on this feast day due to a legend that Peter and Paul were sustained by these rolls while traveling for missions. If you are energetic, you can make them. If you’re lazy (like me!), go ahead and buy some yummy rolls that resemble Mandryky (as much as is possible) and feast on them with supper.

Memory Verse: Matthew 16: 18-19 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Greeting the Day: As the feast is on a Sunday and getting out the door on time for church is hard enough with children without the addition of extra activities, let us just try to get to church on time. (o:

Afternoon fun: Have your children help decorate for the party and bake a birthday cake. Great party decorations could include rose petals scattered across the table and home to symbolize the tongues of flame, a wooden or paper cut out dove hanging from the ceiling, candlelight and lots and lots of green! Wear green, bring in plants, hang green streamers! For the Orthodox, green is the color of life and the color for the Holy Spirit.

Around the Dinner Table: On feast days, I think it appropriate to read the day’s scripture readings prior to the meal and to sing the hymn of the day (or a Western hymn appropriate for the feast). The readings for Pentecost are Acts 2:1-11; John 7:37-52, 8:12. Now after dinner, there must be cake and there must be presents (after all, it is a birthday party!). But these presents have a special twist. Give your children tiny gifts to symbolize the fruits of the Holy Spirit. I would suggest picking one fruit (or two) each year to focus on. For example, you might pick ‘Generosity’ and give your children little packets with things to give to a homeless person (like a hygiene kit). Or you might, for older children, choose self-control. Give them a favorite candy and if they can manage not to eat it for a week, then tell them they will get another candy. The gifts can be more light-hearted and fun too! You might give your child a gift and explain that it is for a kindness they performed earlier in the week, or for their patience during a certain event. Regardless, use this as an opportunity to explain some of the virtues/fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Memory Verse for the week: But the Holy Spirit will come and help you, because the Father will send the Spirit to take my place. The Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of what I said while I was with you. John 14:26

***Matt Cuthbertson suggested in a comment on a previous post that I gather various pictures of icon corners in your homes to post and use as examples. I really like that idea and would like to include them in a series on prayer in the home sometime in the near future. Since I am not quite sure how to obtain those pictures via email without possibly inviting spam, if you are interested in having pictures from your home used in the series, please post a comment providing a link to an online public gallery with the pictures from your home. Thank you and happy feast day!

Tags: It\'s, party, time!, Pentecost, style,, The, feast, of, Pentecost,, Pentecost,

This Thursday, June 5th, marks the feast of Holy Ascension. As stated so beautifully in the Apolytikion, it is a feast of joy. Our risen Lord spent 40 days on earth with his disciples and left them with the great promise of preparing a place for us and of the coming Holy Spirit.

O Christ our God, You ascended in Glory and gladdened Your disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. Your blessing assured them that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.

I am sure all our family schedules vary considerably. Some of us work, some of us are full time homemakers. To answer the varying flexiblities of each family, I will try to offer a variety of activites for you to choose from or to jumpstart your own creativity. The activities I suggest will fall under 3 categories to loosely correspond with morning, afternoon and evening prayers: greeting the day, afternoon fun, and around the dinner table. The idea is to build these activites around a daily ritual of prayer. Afterall, spiritual education and outreach are most valuable when accompanied by prayer!

Greeting the Day: It is a popular custom to take a hike up hills or mountains on Ascension Day to commemorate Christ and the Disciples climbing up Mt. Olives. The Swedes have a tradition of getting up very early in the morning and going to a forest glen to hear birds singing at sunrise. Dependent on when the sun rises in your city, you might want to try some variation of this. Maybe start a morning hike at sunrise and end on top of a hill with a picnic breakfast. Or if time is short, awake your family early and say morning prayers somewhere outside where you can watch the sun rise and hear the birds greet the day with you. If you can’t take a hike in the morning, take one later in the day.

Afternoon fun: Most of the afternoon fun activities will be more craft oriented. I have borrowed the following idea from a British Catholic custom. In the Catholic Church, there is recorded an English custom of a processional involving a banner bearing a lion at the head and a dragon at the rear to symbolize Christ’s triumph in his ascension over the evil one. So, the project for Ascension Day is to make a Banner of Triumph. Here are two links for paper plate lion and dragon crafts. After your children have completed the craft (with or without your help depending on their ages), go ahead and attach them to a banner with the words “Christ is the Victor!” or something of that sort written on it. Then, at the end of the day before extinguishing the Paschal candle, make a processional around the house during prayer time singing the hymn “Christ is Risen from the dead” one last time. Then, hang the banner on the wall until Pentecost and extinguish the Paschal candle together before bedtime.

Around the Dinner Table: One fun tradition is to eat a bird for dinner in memory of how Christ ‘flew’ to heaven. If you were able to make the Lion and the Dragon crafts with your children, continue to follow the plan outlined above. If you were unable to make the banner, go ahead and make the final Paschal procession without one. Before extinguishing the candle, though, go ahead and read the readings for this feast day together as a family. The readings for the feast come from Luke 24:36-53 and Acts 1:1-12. If your children are small, use a children’s bible so that the story is more understandable. Discuss with your children what Christ’s promise was to his disciples and what he commanded his disciples to do.

A good verse to memorize together as a family this week is:

MARK 16:15 & 19 NIV
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. … ” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

Have a wonderful feast day!

I mentioned above that I have 3 little ones (4 and under, mind you) and so time limits me to focusing on just the Twelve Great Feasts of the year and the major fasts. And we already have two coming up real quick! However, that will be subject for another blog very soon. For now, here are some simple ideas to help start coloring your homes with the richness of our faith:

1. Although these can easily be purchased, if you are budget conscious like myself, print out the different icons for the Feasts and Fasts and have them laminated. During the appropriate season, bring out each icon to adorn your prayer altar.

2. Start coordinating your housekeeping with the church year. I think it very appropriate to schedule deep cleanings prior to the major fasts of the church. Spring cleaning before Lent. Summer before Saints Peter and Paul. Fall before the Dormition and winter before the Nativity Fast.

3. If you are really adventurous, buy appropriately colored place-mats, table runners or candles to adorn your dining area during the church year. Follow the colors of clergy vestments as outlined here. Have your children redecorate the home as the church seasons change.

4. To prepare yourself and your children for the Feasts and fasts, choose one verse from the scripture readings for the particular feastday and spend the week(s) preceding memorizing it together as a family. Read it a meal time and prayer times to help the little ones. Print out the scripture in large type and hang it on your prayer wall as a constant reminder.

5. This is one of my favorite things we do in our home. I got the idea from Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home by Anthony Coniaris (I highly recommend it): A prayer chain! Hang a piece of thin rope or some ribbon on the wall near your prayer altar. Attach photos of family, friends or people who are in need. This serves both as a visual reminder to encourage us to constantly pray for others and as a useful tool for the little ones during prayer time. Allow them to hold the photos and encourage them to pray for the people in the photo they are holding. Here is a photo below to serve as an example (this is when we were first putting it together…it’s jam packed with photos now):

These are just a few ideas to get started with and I am always open to more. Together, let’s start sweeping into our homes the seasons of the church year!

Thekla came from the Iconium city in Turkey around A.D. 16, making her a contemporary of the apostles of Christ. At age 18, Saints Paul the Apostle and Saint Barnabas came to her town to preach, but Thekla was forbidden to go listen to them speak. Sitting at her window, however, she found that she could hear Saint Paul’s sermons, and listened to him enraptured for three days.

Though her family was pagan, Thekla felt a stirring of faith, and was incredibly impressed with Saint Paul. At the same time, Saint Paul had made quite the impression on the government of Iconium, and he was thrown into jail. Sneaking away from her parents, and bribing the guards with some gold bracelets, she sat at Saint Paul’s feet and listened further as he spoke the Good News to her.

Thekla decided after hearing Paul’s words to remain pure as a bride of Christ. Her decision to forgo marriage to be bonded to the Lord infuriated her wealthy and worldly parents, who demanded that the governor punish her. It’s hard to imagine not just dealing with the stress that comes from defying your parents, but when they call the authorities on you and demand your corporal punishment, it’s a severe and intense experience. It does, however, lay the groundwork for some of the amazing feats of grace performed by Thekla as her relationship to Christ deepened.

Thekla’s first punishment was a trial by fire. The governor lit a fire at her feet, tied her to a stake, and waited for the torture to begin. Instantly, a thunderstorm blew up and extinguished the flames. Flummoxed, the governor had her untied and banished her from Iconium.

This would be incredible enough, and would most likely be qualifying grounds for Thekla’s sainthood. But it still doesn’t end there.

Thekla left the city of Iconium and immediately set out to find her mentor, Saint Paul. Upon meeting up with him, she requested that he baptize her. To her surprise (and to mine), Saint Paul REFUSED to baptize her at that time, saying that it would be done at God’s will at the appropriate time.

This reminds me of when I approached Father Andrew to tell him I was ready to convert fully into Orthodoxy. Though I felt that I was ready, Father made me be patient, and I had to wait almost a full year to be Chrismated. I learned a lot of lessons in that year, about myself, and my faith, and what I really wanted out of my faith. I still have a lot to learn. There is no rush in faith; it is comforting to know that someone as zealous and holy as Thekla was made to wait as well!

Thekla set off to Antioch with Saint Paul to continue preaching. A young, attractive woman traveling alone was irresistible to to a local nobleman, who entreated Thekla with worldly seduction. Defying him, Thekla once again infuriated the local government with her choice of remaining a devoted virgin rather than giving into the whims and lusts of the men in power (hear hear Thekla!) And once again, she was sentenced to corporal punishment for her defiance.

Thekla clearly ticked off the powers that be in Antioch, because she was sentenced to death. Historically, young women who did not behave like the willing property of men were not quite as respected as they are today. Thekla asked that her virginity be preserved to death, a request that was actually granted of her.

Here’s where Thekla’s story continues to make you go “wow”. First she was sentenced to death by lionness. When the lionness was released into the arena, however, it calmly laid at her feet like a kitten. Next, they sent in a bear to maul her, and to their surprise the lionness rose up and killed the bear. Thekla remained unscathed. Thirdly, a larger, more violent lion was released into the arena, but the lionness rose up again and fought the lion; both lions perished, but again, Thekla remained calm and continued to pray.

Frustrated and desperate, the executioners released a whole flotilla of wild animals into Thekla’s arena. Thekla prayed for courage, and then noticed a nearby tank of water filled with aquatic animals. Diving into the water, Thekla also asked that God now baptize her (Saint Paul was RIGHT!) and protect her from the beasts.

Thekla was removed from the water and tied to ropes which were then tied to two bulls. The bulls were enraged, and then prompted to run in opposite directions in the hopes of tearing her in half. But Thekla slipped out of the ropes and again was spared. The authorities had to give up. They tried fire, water, lions, bears, bulls and a whole army of ravenous beasts - but Thekla could not be killed. Throwing their hands up, and declaring rare defeat, the Antiochian authorities released her to the home of Tryphaena.

Thekla converted her friend Tryphaena, who gave Thekla a small fortune of gold and jewels so she might live comfortably as she continued to wander. However, once Thekla left the home of Tryphaena, she met up once more with her mentor Paul, and told him the story of her near martyrdom. Saint Paul blessed her baptism, and gave her his blessing to live the remaineder of her life as an ascetic. She gave Saint Paul the jewels that Tryphaena gave her, and asked that they be distributed to the poor. With that, Thekla went off to the mountains where she lived until the old age of 90, devoting her life to prayer, solitude, and peace.

Though Thekla was not actually killed for her faith, and in fact felt very little pain (if any) during her many torture attempts, she is considered a Protomartyr in the Orthodox faith. For her many conversions over her many years of peaceful asceticism, she is also considered Equal-to-the-Apostles.

Thekla is just amazing. A friend of Saint Paul the Apostle, a rebellious teenager and young adult devoted to God, defying not just the will of her pagan parents, but the patronistic government of Iconium and Antioch, and one of the first protomartyrs for Christ…she embodies everything that makes her a truly Awesome woman.

Holy Saint Thekla, pray unto God for us!

O Glorious Thekla, companion of Paul the divine, thou wast inflamed with the love of thy Creator. By the teaching of the divine Preacher thou didst despise the passing earthly pleasures and offered thyself to God as an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice, disregarding all suffering. Intercede with Christ, thy Bridegroom, to grant us his great mercy.