If any one affirms that He who suffered is one, and that He who suffered not is another, and refuses to acknowledge that the Word, who is Himself the impassible and unchangeable God, suffered in the flesh which He had assumed really, yet without mutation, even as it is written, let him be anathema. — Topic 6
From the annual ritual of diving after the cross cast into the waters on the Solemnity of the Epiphany/Theophany.
From Epiphany at Wikipedia:
Following the Divine Liturgy, the clergy and people go in a Crucession (procession with the cross) to the nearest body of water, be it a beach, harbor, quay, river, lake, swimming pool, water depot, etc. (ideally, it should be a body of “living water”). At the end of the ceremony the priest will bless the waters. In the Greek practice, he does this by casting a cross into the water. If swimming is feasible on the spot, any number of volunteers may brave the cold winter waters and try to recover the cross. The person who gets the cross first swims back and returns it to the priest, who then delivers a special blessing to the swimmer and their household.
This photo is from the celebration of Solemnity of the Epiphany by Byzantine Catholics in the Ukraine. You can well imagine what the water temperature was like.
From the BBC: Academic sentenced over Ataturk
A Turkish court has handed down a 15-month suspended jail term to an academic found guilty of insulting the state’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Professor Atilla Yayla said the trial highlighted the limits on free speech and academic debate in Turkey.
His crime was to suggest in academic discussion that the early Turkish republic was not as progressive as portrayed in official books…
I suppose the same could happen in the U.S. as we slide merrily along in our adulation of cultic figures. Insult President Bush, his administration, Brittany Spears, Israel, the war on terror ™ any other “sacred” visage you may well find yourself before the courts. But of course faith is an open target – especially Jesus.
Just the way things should be in truth.
Unless faith stands counter to the world it is prone to act in subservience to it
Government is not the friend or protector of religion, especially the radical witness of faith in Jesus Christ. Those who think it is are sadly mistaken. While we are blessed by freedom in the United States – or at a minimum a faí§ade of freedom, that does not mean that we can be lazy in our faith. Freedom is not a license to relax in our witness. It is an opportunity to speak the truth. Let’s use that freedom wisely. Let’s use our freedom like the wise servants used their talents.
`Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ — Matthew 25:21 (RSV)
If any one affirms that the Son of God who is before the ages is one, and He who has appeared in these last times is another, and refuses to acknowledge that He who is before the ages is the same with Him who appeared in these last times, even as it is written, let him be anathema. — Topic 5
If any one affirms that Christ was born of the seed of man by the Virgin, in the same manner as all men are born, and refuses to acknowledge that He was made flesh by the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin Mary, and became man of the seed of David, even as it is written, let him be anathema. — Topic 4
If any one affirms that Christ, just like one of the prophets, assumed the perfect man, and refuses to acknowledge that, being begotten in the flesh of the Virgin, He became man and was born in Bethlehem, and was brought up in Nazareth, and advanced in age, and on completing the set number of years (appeared in public and) was baptized in the Jordan, and received this testimony from the Father, “This is my beloved Son,” even as it is written, let him be anathema. — Topic 3
If any one affirms that the flesh of Christ is consubstantial with the divinity, and refuses to acknowledge that He, subsisting Himself in the form of God as God before all ages, emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, even as it is written, let him be anathema. — Topic 2
I am the LORD.
That phrase occurs over and over in the Book of Leviticus. The Book of Leviticus is a book of Law given by God to the Hebrews. It is a legislative document. Throughout the book God lays out His Laws and commands, and at the end of each He says —I am the Lord.— or —I, the LORD, am your God.—
He is asking us to recognize that fact.
We are sixty days from Easter, two weeks out from the start of Lent.
In this time of preparation the Church reminds us of something very key. She reminds us of what God has asked us to recognize. While we may recognize it in the intellectual sense it bears hearing. God is our Lord. God commands us, rules over us, and is in charge of our lives. We are to recognize that intellectually and from the gut.
We are to recognize that in our baptism, and in our coming here, we surrender to God. We pray that He makes use of us. We ask that He take our will, our very being, for His purposes.
Brothers and sisters,
That is the hardest choice. The choice to give oneself to another. To put our trust into the hands of someone else. To give up our will, our knowledge, our desires, and to replace those with knowledge of God, God’s will, and God’s desire. It is even more difficult because we know that God is demanding, that God has all sorts of requirements we do not really, and let’s be honest here, that we do not really like.
Look at the Gospel – turn the other cheek to those who strike you. Someone wants your shirt, given them your coat as well. Your boss or spouse asks you to go the extra mile, go two. Give to whomever asks, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
Is God crazy? Doesn’t He know about credit risk, painful cheeks, and the fact that it gets pretty cold in upstate New York without a shirt or coat? He wants us to love Osama, and the atheists who think we are all delusional and schizophrenic?
Yes, that’s right.
Further, God wants us to give up sin. That little moment of selfish pleasure, cast it aside. That rush we get when we show ourselves as superior to another – let it go. More than let it go, repent of it and do it no more.
St. Paul goes on to tell us that we shouldn’t delude ourselves with pride in our own wisdom:
If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise.
My friends,
The fact is this. God created the world, and each of us, setting us on the road of return. We are all bound to Him and for Him, each according to the measure of grace that we have been given.
As we walk that path, drawing ever closer to God, we must recollect and remember these things:
First, that our Lord is God.
Second, that our wisdom, our personal strength is nothing if it not conformed to God. We can say we know everything. We can be astrophysicists, accountants, attorneys, surgeons – and all of it is lacking if we do not count ourselves as fools because we lack in the knowledge and wisdom of God.
Third, we must place ourselves into God’s hands. We are safe there, even when the world hits us, takes our coat, demands our work, and persecutes us.
Fourth, God demands repentance, a true inner change. We must reorder our way of thinking and living, aligning it with God’s direction.
Fifth, we must recognize God’s presence in all. God is in all, and all are called to return to Him, regardless of their station, class, religion, or the good or bad they have done. He is most particularly in us for as St. Paul tells us:
Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Of these things some will ask, Well how do I know what God wants? How can I know when it is all so unclear, so uncomfortable?
When asking that question recollect and remember, God has sent His Son to teach us. We have Sacred Scripture and Tradition to guide us, and the Holy Church, ever present, to instruct us. Not only that, we know that God promises an eternity of joy with Him if we conform ourselves to Him.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
There is nothing unclear in the beatitudes, in Jesus’ instruction to:
be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
As we approach Lent let us set our sights on re-ordering our lives. Let us resolve to live in union with God and His Church. Let us listen to God as He tells us:
Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.
If any one says that the body of Christ is uncreated, and refuses to acknowledge that He, being the uncreated Word (God) of God, took the flesh of created humanity and appeared incarnate, even as it is written, let him be anathema. – Topic 1
In the past week we learned that Louis de Cazenave, France’s second last surviving World War I veteran passed away on Sunday, January 20th.
Now we learn that Germany’s last World War I veteran predeceased France’s second last veteran by nearly 20 days. The BBC reports in Germany’s ‘last’ WWI veteran dies that Erich Kaestner died January 1st.
I just found it to be an interesting juxtaposition.
Wikipedia has an interesting page on the deaths of World War I veterans. It indicates that the last German survivor also predeceased the second last remaining Polish veteran, Stanisław Wycech who died on January 12th. Other surviving veterans are listed here.
In any event, may they all rest in peace.