Cleansing the Leper - Mathew 8: 1 - 4

Mathew 8: 1 - 4

 The gospel portion is about Jesus cleansing a leper. 

3 points to be noted here...

1. The condition of the person - The deadly disease, leprosy
2. The faith of the leper patient.
3. Jesus cleansing him

Talking about the first point...
Leprosy was a deadly disease in the time of Jesus Christ and people were very afraid of it. The leper patients were not allowed in most of the public places, not in houses, not allowed to touch or live with their loved ones, all because it was very contagious.
The disease was very deadly too. Its action is to destroy people little by little. People having leprosy were kept at special places out side the city and were not allowed to mingle with others.

Two points to be noted about leprosy.
a. It is very contagious
b. It is very deadly

These conditions of physical leprosy is the same in spiritual leprosy too. We all in one way or another are spiritual lepers. And this leprosy keeps us away from Christian growth. It actually destroys our Christian life little by little as physical leprosy destroys the body.
The spiritual leprosy is contagious too as a lot of people around us and our own coming generations learn from our acts, and this leprosy will continue to generations if we don’t get enough medications to cure it now. Some of the sinners in and around us will trigger the will to sin of someone else. Therefore our spiritual leprosy is contagious.
As Christians we all have the responsibility to find a cure to our spiritual leprosy so that we will be saved and we will become an example for others to be saved.

 We have to find a medication to cure our spiritual leprosy.

The second point is about the faith of the leper patient. Let us look at his approach towards our Lord and God. The leper said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

Three words to be noted there.
a. Lord
b. Willing
c. Can

a. First was the leper calling Jesus, Lord. That is a statement of acceptance. Accepting Jesus as Lord. In our course of medications towards curing spiritual leprosy, accepting Jesus as Lord will be the first step.

b. Choose - The leper said, "if you are willing...". The leper had given complete will to the Lord. He didn’t ask the Lord to cure him because he wished to be cured but only if the Lord wished him to be cured. He submitted completely to the Lord and asked Jesus to decide about his life. He wanted to be cured only if Jesus was willing. Similarly, we all should have the same faith. We should submit ourselves to Lord and let Him choose what has to be done. Jesus prayed similarly to God before His crucifixion. Second step towards curing our spiritual leprosy is praying for Jesus' will to happen in our lives and not our wills.

c. Can - The leper said, "...you can make me clean." The leper had complete faith in Jesus that he CAN make him clean. There was not even a small percentage of doubt. He truly believed that Jesus CAN make him clean. The third step for our medication is our faith that Jesus can change our current condition and make us a new people. Jesus can bring miracles in our lives, can cure the leprosy in our minds and bring us to His path.

So the medication to cure the spiritual leprosy is to accept Him as Lord, have His will to happen in your life, and have the faith that He can make you change.

 We have took the medication and now its the turn of Jesus to cure us. 

The third point is: in the gospel we read, "Then Jesus stretched out His hand, touched him and said, “I am willing; be cleansed'."

 Jesus touched the leper who was considered UNCLEAN thereby proving that Jesus is not under the law but over it, or Christ is the fulfillment. 

This is the assurance we have from the Lord that He will be there to touch us with His hand and cure us from the spiritual leprosy if we ask, "Lord, if you are willing, you can cure me."
We are his children and we are given the assurance that our prayers will be answered if we pray by faith to our Lord.

This is the insight we should have in our lives so that our condition from just being Christians will be upgraded to being the Disciples of Christ. We are Christians most of the time only by name. We should have the inner wish to be changed and cured from the state of spiritual leprosy and be the children of God. That is how we will acquire the eternal life we are promised by our Lord.

If not followed, the spiritual leprosy will destroy us little by little and will finally lead us in to spiritual death. BE IN GOD...PRAISE THE GOD.

 Part of this meditation was from a speech by Dn. Geevarghese John.

Holy Qurbana – Part 2

Faith Study Series – 3

Holy Qurbana – Part 2

 Preparation for the Holy Qurbana

The importance given to the Holy Qurbana can be understood only when we completely understand the preparations going on for the Holy Qurbana.

 Elements in Holy Qurbana

The most important elements used in Holy Qurbana are Bread and Wine.

Why do we use Bread and Wine? This is the tradition we follow from the Middle East. Bread prepared from wheat, and Wine is the major food in the Middle East. It can be argued that we should be using materials from the common food of our area and region. But we follow the tradition and use the same items which Christ used in establishing the Holy Qurbana, which is bread from wheat and wine. Through this we maintain the continuity.

 Why are we using bread? Bread is the main part of our regular diet. It is submitted to the Lord at Church as part of our labor and hard work. In the Middle Eastern churches like the Coptic Orthodox, all families bring the bread, and the priest will select one or two for the Holy Qurbana and the rest is served to the people as blessed bread.

 Preparation of Bread: The preparation of Bread for the Holy Qurbana has to be done in a very holy, faithful and careful manner. It has to be done with special attention. Specially kept wheat flour and salt has to be used for the preparation. The person preparing this should be aware that it will become the body of Christ during the Holy Qurbana, and should do it faithfully. All items used should be well cleaned.

 The flour is mixed with a small portion of dough kept from the previous week, to be leavened. Thus, there is a continuity that is followed for centuries. This continuity shows the unity in the Church by the relationship that every Church is taking part of the same bread. The International Orthodox Churches has a connection between each other by the virtue of this leaven that is used continually and universally. The mixed flour is kept protected to rise and is baked the next morning.

 The plates used to prepare the dough are washed and the preparer has to drink the water used to wash the plates. This indicates the neatness followed in preparing the dough. The preparer can be a man or a woman. A small mark is made in the name of Trinity. The bread is baked the following morning after removing a small portion as leaven for the following week.  

 During the preparation of the bread, the preparer should recite the Nicene Creed to have full attention towards God. It has to be done in a very careful and faithful manner.   

 Preparation of Wine: Usually the Wine is bought from the store. In India, it is prepared specially for the Churches. No one is supposed to drink from it at all! The wine should be used only for the Holy Qurbana, by the Priest. In cases where wine is not available, raisin is used. Raisin is kept in water overnight and is squeezed to make wine like drink to be used in the Holy Qurbana.

 Preparation in the Church

Cleanliness is Godliness. The Alter and Church should be cleaned in a very orderly manner by the Alter Assistants and others. The books have to be arranged, candles have to be cleaned, censor has to be cleaned, and a lot more things have to be done in a very systematic manner. The vestments of the Priest and Alter Assistants should be neat and clean.

 The readings for the service should be ready and the readers should be prepared the day before. The alter assistants should be vigilant throughout the service. Special songs for special days should be ready too early.

The Holy Qurbana should be conducted in a very specific and timed manner. More on this topic will be continued in the next sessions.

The importance given in preparing for the Holy Qurbana should lighten the minds of all who attend and part take in the Eucharist carelessly. Even though many do not directly participate in these preparations, all should be spiritually preparing with faith understanding the responsibilities to be in the presence of God.

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Faith Study Series: 3, by Rev. Fr. M. K. Kuriakose, at St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia, PA, on Mar 1^st, 2008

Compiled by St. Thomas OCYM

Holy Qurbana – Part 1

Faith Study Series – 2

Holy Qurbana – Part 1

 Introduction

Holy Communion was established by Jesus Christ in Capernaum, in the city of Jerusalem, at Mark’s residence.

Bible Portion: St. Mathew 26: 17 – 30, St. Mark 14: 12 – 26, St. Luke 22: 7 – 20, St. John 13: 21 – 30

 Origin and meaning of the word Qurbana

The word ‘Qurbana’ is from Syriac word ‘Qurbono’. Other Semitic languages like Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic etc., also uses the same word. The word, Qurban in Arabic, Qurbano in Syriac, Qurbana in Hebrew, literally means sacrifice or offering. Eastern Orthodox Churches use the word Holy Eucharist instead of Qurbana, which means thanksgiving. The word Eucharist is used because our Lord took the bread in His hands and gave thanks (Luke 22: 17, 19, 1 Cor 11: 24) to God and blessed and broke and gave to His disciples for the remission of sins, forgiveness of sins and for life eternal. Therefore, Qurbana is offering and thanksgiving.

 Queen of the Sacraments

Holy Qurbana is called Queen of the Sacraments. It is the most important sacrament.

 What is a sacrament?

The origin of the word Sacrament is from Latin word ‘Sacramentum’ which means ‘mystery’. We understand all sacraments as a mystery, which can be realized, but cannot be understood or comprehended, fully with our human intellects. A mystery is something which can be understood, but not fully. Holy Trinity is a mystery which human minds cannot understand fully. Creation is a mystery to the human minds. Because, it is unable to fully understand and comprehend mystery, we believe in the same with faith, and thus open the door of our understanding. For e.g., by faith, we understand incarnation, but cannot fully explain the mystery of how God became a human being. Sacrament is a mystery too. The Malayalam word for Sacrament is ‘Kudasha’ which has its origin from the Syriac word ‘Kadish’ or ‘Kudosho’ meaning to ‘sanctify’ or ‘make holy’. Every sacrament is sanctification.

Holy Qurbana is a mystery. Qurbana is a sacrament by which we receive sanctification. To receive sanctification, preparation is needed.

 Preparation for the Holy Qurbana

            St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians Chap 11, gives guidelines for the partakers in the Holy Qurbana.

 

“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”(1 Cor 11: 27 – 32)

Qurbana is for our redemption and for eternal life. But for the unprepared, it can become a punishment and condemnation. For the prepared, it is a blessing.

 Preparations for the Holy Qurbana

1. Physical: Physical cleanliness is necessary to part take in the Holy Communion. Clean dress and clean body is necessary. All are expected to part take with an empty stomach also, except for those with health issues. Anatomically speaking, no food should be in the stomach while taking the Holy Communion, which is a symbolic expression to the belief that Jesus Christ comes to our body when it is completely empty. Christ has to come in to a clean and empty place, clean and empty from everything unwanted.

 2. Spiritual: The most important is the spiritual preparation. The preparation begins on Saturday evening at 6PM with the evening prayer. All kinds of unwanted things in our lives have to be stopped while preparing for the Holy Qurbana. All our anger, hatred, enmity, and all unwanted thoughts and anything and everything against Lord God have to be avoided during the time of preparation.

The time has to be spent in with God, with prayers and Bible meditations. These are to lead us to mental repentance which is a very important factor before part-taking in the Qurbana. It is the time to understand and analyze our short comings and sins and weaknesses. These sins realized have to be confessed. In cases when mind cannot be freed from certain sins and thoughts, one should go to a confession Father, and confess them and attain spiritual guidance. Thus, we can go to the Holy Qurbana with a freed and empty mind.

Preparation continues with reading and meditating on Psalms of repentance. Some of them are Psalms 51, 32 etc. It should be noted that all services in the Orthodox Church starts with Psalms 51 in which we cry out to our Lord God to “Have mercy on us” (v 1) and “cleanse me from my sin” (v 2). “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” (Ps 32: 1). Continue our preparation through meditations. In meditations, we search in to our minds, talk to our intellects, and abolish the most heinous seeds of devils sown in it. Meditation should be continued by dedication and decision making. Decisions to avoid the unwanted things which we realize as a part of our lives have to be taken. Commitment has to be made to avoid the activities against our God. Through this commitment to Lord, our preparation is completed.

We should come to church with complete preparation and receive absolution. Through absolution, all the sins we have confessed are completely erased. Our God forgives all our sins, all that are confessed and those that are forgotten. Through Qurbana, we receive a new life, rededicated in Christ. The entire life of a person is rededicated. And therefore, Holy Qurbana is the Queen of the Sacraments.

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Faith Study Series: 2, by Rev. Fr. M. K. Kuriakose, at St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia, PA, on Feb 16^th, 2008

Compiled by St. Thomas OCYM

The Bible: Introduction

Faith Study Series: 1

The Bible: Introduction

 

What is Bible?

The most important book of Christianity is the Bible. It has invaluable importance in a Christian’s life.

 Origin:

The English word ‘Bible’ came from Greek words ‘Biblus’ or ‘Biblion’ meaning ‘The Book’.

 Availability:

The Bible, nowadays, is readily available with a number of different versions and translations. But, it was not so in the past centuries. After the Reformation, the Protestant Missionaries has tremendously worked on bringing the Bible to common people. The availability of Bible is very important for Christians. This is the biggest treasure preserved by the ancient church Fathers for the later generations to live in faith. The missionaries understood its purpose and started working on making it available to the common people. Printing started in the 15^th century. Before that, handwritten copies were circulated amongst the faithful.

 The most popular Bible we use today is the Protestant Bible. The name Protestant Bible is due to a very small difference from the original Orthodox and Roman Catholic Bible. The Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches use a slightly different version of the Bible, which contains a couple more books known as Apocrypha.

 The Scripture:

All religions rely on their particular scripture. It is the scripture which is the basic text on which the Faith is based on. Bible is the official authority of the Christians. Christians who follow ‘The Book’ are called ‘The People of the Book’. The religions teach and grow based on the scripture.

 History of the Bible:

Even though many books were available from the first century itself, a primary form of the Bible we have available now, was formulated in the 4^th century, in the Nicea Synod. The books were scattered around the believers and churches before that. It was necessary for the church to codify the Bible due to the heretics who produced books against the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. An e.g. is Gospel of Thomas which was written in the 2^nd century. Many heretics began to teach under the authority of church, and the necessity to formulate the true books together grew. The Holy Fathers came together and formulated a list of true Christian books. Some were rejected due to several reasons. One of them is the lack of authenticity of certain books. Gospel of Thomas is an example.

 The Bible is a true guide to us. As we read in the psalms, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Ps 119: 105). The word of God enlightens everyone. Whenever we are confused in our life with different issues, it teaches us about our morality, our ethics, and our ways of conducting ourselves. We have to read, understand and live based on that, and the Holy Bible is set for that purpose. Therefore, the Orthodox faithful, kiss the Bible first before opening it to read. We understand it as the divine witness of revelation of God. God has revealed Himself in the course of time to the humans, and Bible is the witness of this revelation. In Heb 1: 1, 2 we read, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” The Holy Bible consists of the ‘True Truth’ and the ‘Perfect Truth’.

 Errors:

There are some historical and literal errors in the Holy Bible. But the message of the Bible as a whole is the relationship between God and Man through centuries, and the ways in which God has revealed to them from time to time, and how man lived comfortable and peaceful life in this world because God revealed to him. Man is not capable of understanding the entire mystery of God. It is impossible even to understand the mystery of the created things in front of us. Then, how much can we understand the mysteries of God? The divine inspired material written by human beings has some human made errors.

 Orthodox Church and the Holy Bible:

We are a worship community and the Holy Bible is itself the main source of our worship. 100% of all Orthodox prayers and worship are formulated from the Bible. Each prayer is from the Bible. The monastic community, while living in seclusion, used the Bible to make the prayers. They prayed 7 times a day, and learned the truth of the Bible through the worship and prayers. The Bible was understood through the worship itself. Our worship itself explains and proclaims the Gospel of Christ.

 Why read and study Bible:

Through the Bible, we understand how exactly God wants to speak to us, and to understand His will. We have Bible readings scheduled for different occasions, and times based on its importance. We are the people of ‘The Book’ and therefore, Bible readings cannot be avoided in our daily lives. Read and meditate upon the word of God at least once, or more everyday. It is the centre of our church and our lives.

 Authority:

The church has the authority to handle the Bible within the church and not outside the church. The revelation that came from the Bible is capable of making us understand that we are the creation of God in this world, and to grow closer to Him through that understanding.

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Faith Study Series: 1, by Rev. Fr. M. K. Kuriakose, at St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Church, Philadelphia, PA, on Feb 8^th, 2008

 Compiled by St. Thomas OCYM

A question and its answer about Christmas

A question and its answer about Christmas
Question fromRev. Father George Thankachan, Ireland
Dear Brother Paul Ciniraj,How do you respond to the teachings of the certain churches that thebirth of our Lord Jesus (Christmas) was not in the month of Decemberas it was very diificult for the shepherds to stay outside overnightduring winter time?
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Answer from Paul Ciniraj,Indian Orthodox Church Missionary,Kottayam-686038, India.
Dear Rev. Fr. George ThankachanWISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

We have no answer for the argument about Jesus birthday on December25.
Some of the Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas not on December 25,but on January 6, which is "Denaha" or the baptismal day of our LordJesus. Our Lord was baptised for the mankind on His 30th of age.

Our Lord's birth, baptism, crucifixion, death, resurrection andascencion - everything was done for the whole mankind.
Whenever we accept Jesus, that day onwards we are partakers of Hisbirth, baptism, crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascencion. So wecan celebrate all these in our life at any day or any time as atradition. Anyday means, including December 25.
As you know, when a priest baptise a child he pour out water from theside of child's head to the chest, then from the side of leg to thechest, then from the side of right ribs to the chest and the left sideto the chest. It is cross. That means the child is crucifying withJesus, dies and burying. It is the symbol of the resurrection when thebaptised child is taking out from the water. That is a christian's re-birth in Jesus Christ.

December 25 is six days before the new year. January 6 is six daysafter new years. Whether December 25 or January 6, Christmas is agreat day for a christian. Most of the people around the globecelebrates christmas on December 25 and the Indian Orthodox Churchjoin with them.
Christmas means Christ-Mas. It is a MAS Belief. Those who accept Jesusas personal saviour transforming likely as Jesus. So millions, whoaccepted Jesus joined together with one mind and one faith isChristmas. It must be for the glorification of God with purity andholiness of mind and body. And never.... never for unholy and crazythings.in Jesus
Paul Ciniraj,Indian Orthodox Church Missionary,Devalokam (P.O), Kottayam,Kerala-686038, India.

Published on "MGOCN(Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Network)" mgocn@orthodoxchurch.in