3 posts tagged “christian”

The Gospel reading during today’s Divine Liturgy included Luke’s accounts of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter and of the woman with an issue of blood who was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.  I was more engaged during the whole service today than usual, including during the readings.  Twelve years this woman struggled with her health crisis, which became also a financial crisis.  And Jairus’ daughter was 12 years young when she… died.  One family had a joyous event 12 years prior, and one woman began her personal nightmare that same year.  Now both the woman and the girl’s father ended up in the same place this day, both showing up with faith in Christ, and both drew near at about the same time.  And the woman’s faith ended up bolstering the faith of the father when, after he heard the news of his daughter’s death, Jesus turned to him and used very similar words as He just used with the now-healed woman – she’ll be "made whole”.  Our priest emphasized the woman’s faith that brought her there, and said she received more than she came for – she was made whole.

Sometimes when I feel that maybe it’s been too long since I’ve last been to confession, I figure that I shouldn’t go forward to receive communion.  I was in that situation today – should I go forward or wait until after confession.  In these situations, the words of the Church always strike me, “in the fear of God, and with faith and love draw near”.  The woman with the health crisis did just that, and my mind was drawn back to her when I decided to go forward.  I need Christ, and I want to push through the crowd and at least touch His hem and be made whole.

In the back of the line, I couldn’t see what was happening up front, only the back of people’s heads.  But I could see people way at the front bending down (kids receiving communion), doing things… commotion.  The activity up there showed that He was here, and everyone wanted to get forward (“…as he went the people thronged him”).  We were more orderly than the crowd that day.  As I got closer, I thought about the woman getting closer to her turn.  And as always, I got more nervous the closer I got.  Judging from the woman’s reaction after her healing (“…she came trembling, and falling down before him”), I’m thinking she was also pretty nervous when she first approached, before anyone knew she was there.  She wasn’t so brazen as to approach from the front (she “came behind Him”), and she used anonymity to cloak herself.  I had no such anonymity.  It was my turn, and I was “outed” just before I got there, (as she was after her encounter)… “the servant of God, George…”  Announced by name no less, and with every reason to tremble and fall down before Him as the woman had when she “saw that she was not hid”.  Being immediately before the King of Glory who is surrounded by throngs of angels, and your name gets announced. I didn’t fall down before Him, but I did tremble, if only inwardly, and received the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Epistle reading today (from Ephesians) serves as a most appropriate commentary to the Gospel - "by Grace you are saved through faith, not of works..." and, we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works".  The woman was clearly saved by Grace through her faith, and apparently continued in good works.  We know from the Church historian Bishop Eusebius that she later erected a statue honoring Christ in Ceasaria Phillipi.   Eusebius actually saw this statue sometime around 300 A.D., and mentioned a plant that grew up onto the hem of the sculpted cloak and had healing properties.

Psalm 31:8 ...thou hast set my feet in a large room.

Gentle readers, know that this vox blog space has been to us a comfortable little room, cozy, dark, rich hued, safely small, and with comfortable furnishings... yet we share with all humanity a need for wide open spaces, a very large room or the great outdoors, the unknown, unprotected and unpredictable.  So we have opened a second blog space, at

George's Wordpress Blog

Our initial post there is a compilation of the Ostrov post and comment series from here, because I found the responses so insightful.  Where else the big-space blog will go, we cannot predict.  We may double-post there and here, or we may direct writings to the venue they fit best in.

The banner image over the Wordpress blog comes from the ROCOR Monastery at Jordanville, during a service when the novice Brother Daniel became Fr. Daniel, the monk - thanks to Fr. Daniel for the photograph.  Maybe I'll figure out how to get that same banner here, because I like it.

By the way, that same photo and others like it are available here.

Among the most important events of the past hundred years has taken place in Moscow, Russia, with the reunification of the 1,000 year-old Russian Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia(ROCOR). 

The reunification ends more than 80 years of painful separation that commenced with the communist takeover of Russia in 1917.  Faithful Orthodox who fled the communist oppression formed ROCOR, while those who remained in country endured persecution while variously feigning obedience and carefully defying the regime, trying to keep the atheistic government from extinguishing Christianity as the lifeblood of the nation.  After Christianity  had been advanced from the great Patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria to the Slavic people by Sts. Cyril and Methodius, and the faith was embraced by Prince Vladimir over a millenium ago, the foundation was set for the center of Christianity to move to Moscow (the "third Rome") as muslims overran the other centers of the Faith. Orthodox Christianity was upheld from Russia as the Islamist assault continued - until western socialist ideals found root in Russia and the Church was split between those who fought and died locally and those who fought from abroad.  The great reunification took place on the Feast of Ascension in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, was broadcast nationally, drew enormous crowds of weeping and cheering Christians in Russia, and was praised by Orthodox jurisdictions throughout the world and by the Roman Catholic Church.  The historic event did not receive attention in America.

In other world news, after Roman Catholics in Italy learned of a proposal to

afford the same marriage benefits to gay couples as are available to heterosexual marriages (the same benefits being instituted across several states in America), an outpouring of protest took place by over one million people in Rome.  The overwhelming Christian presence shocked authorities and the media, since similar legislative efforts in America had never produced anything like this response, leading analysts throughout the world to rethink the level of moral devotion in Italy and surrounding regions.  This enormous event did not receive attention in America.

In our final news story, with the passing of televangelist Jerry Falwell, the predominantly protestant United States claimed again to be the bastion of Christianity on earth.