I should like to begin by thanking those who have written
kind letters in response to receiving SPOTLIGHT. One such was from
my old friend, Fr Simon Jensen, who cares for a small flock on the Isle
of Man. He drew my attention to the fact that the message on his envelopes:
GOD
SAVE THE QUEEN OF CANADA, was put there, not by the franking machines
of the Canadian Post Office, as I had supposed, but by himself as a member
of a royalist group which had the stamp made. Another small error, which
was seen as soon as the issue was printed, was probably obvious to all:
it was S. Peter, not S. Paul, who wrote: Fear God. Honour the King.
From the very beginning SPOTLIGHT, dedicated to making
Orthodoxy known amongst New Zealanders, has commented freely on matters
in our nation that are of concern to christians. There is every prospect
that events in our society will continue to give us concern, and will need
even more outspoken comment. We hope, however, that we shall always speak
out of Orthodox theology, and not as a result of secular influences. For
to the christian there is no part of life that is exempt from being brought
into obedience to the will of God. Confining God to a "sacred" sphere and
leaving secular affairs to run independently is totally unscriptural. I
realized only recently, while reading a book by a NZ writer, that in some
fundamentalist circles there is an ingenious interpretation whereby our
Lord's teaching in theGospel is said to be only for the age to come, and
not to be carried out now. I am so grateful that I remained ignorant of
this subtle doctrine until now, and I feel sure we can safely forget it
again! Our Lord says, Follow me, and He means it.
Fr Jack
PHOTOGRAPHS
Fr Dn Michael brought us these pictures of the Serbian Chapel, 70
Webb Street, Wellington: Top left and right: Two views of the interior,
from right and left; it is not really as broad as these pictures, together,
make it appear.
Below left: Fr Michael serves with Fr Ambrose
Below: Close-up of the niche on the right
and Fr Nicholas.
side.
Below, right: From a different source, we have this picture of
Fr George in S. Mary's, Wellington.
I. Mr Bush suggested I should tell you something about the
Orthodox Church. Well, I hope this may give you some idea, but you might
well think that what I am saying is just Christianity - well, if so, that
is good. One thing I could say to distinguish the Church is this: the Orthodox
Church is the Church with the longest memory; she never forgets anything.
So for a moment, could you try to be the same, and "cast your mind back",
as they say, to the year A.D. 258.
For over 200 years now, it has been a capital offence to be a
christian. The Jews had a treaty with the Romans that excused them from
worshipping the emperor as a god. When the Jewish leaders rejected the
christians, this had the effect of handing them over to the Romans to be
put to death - just as they had done when they rejected Jesus as their
Messiah. Just last year, 257 AD, the soldiers caught up with Pope Stephen
as he celebrated Mass; he had just purified the sacred vessels, so they
could not do any harm to the Body and Blood of Christ; but as he had returned
to his throne, they beheaded him there. The christians took him, and the
throne covered with his blood, and buried all together with honour. And
here, today, August 6, the soldiers are leading away the next Bishop with
two of his deacons, also to be put to death. As they go, they are met by
the Chief Deacon, Laurence. He was a remarkable man. He did not say to
himself, that was lucky, I have escaped. He protested at being left out.
"Father, I have always been at your side as you offered sacrifice. Where
are you going without me now?" "Fear not, son, you will follow me after
3 days." And on August 10, Laurence, having been told to produce the Church's
treasures, spends them on feeding the poor, and then brings the poor to
the authorities and shows them as the Church's treasure. Now governments,
then as now, are always after money and don't care much for the poor; so
they were enraged and devised a specially cruel punishment for cheating
them of their booty: Laurence was roasted on a gridiron, and bore it bravely.
For this the Roman Church gave him a feast of 8 days, making him equal
to the Apostles, and he is remembered in the Greek Kalendar also.
What can we learn from all this? Two things:
1. The Church has never forgotten that Christianity is deadly serious:
for the sake of the Life of the world to come, we have to be willing
to give up even life itself in this world. The Church has never forgotten
the martyrs who died for the Faith - so many of them, that in the Martyrology
there is a list about half a page long for every day in the year.
Christianity is no hobby for those who like beautiful services; it is as
serious as life and death.
2. At the heart of Christianity is a mystery so holy and sacred that
it must be guarded against those who would trample it underfoot. The duty
of the Archdeacon Laurence was to guard the treasures of the Church, hiding
them in secret from the enemies of Christ. The early Church had to
keep many things secret because of the persecution. The Lord's Prayer,
which everyone knows now, even the heathen, was not revealed to you until
you began classes for baptism, called catechism. The Apostles creed
(what christians believe) was kept secret too. You were not taught the
meaning of Baptism and the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ
until after you had received them. Perhaps it is because of this that in
many services the Lord's Prayer and the Creed are still said secretly,
and in the Eastern Churches there is a screen to hide the mysteries of
the Body and Blood of Christ except at the time of Communion. And this
prayer is often sung during Communion: Receive me today, O Son of God,
as partaker of thy mystical Supper. For I will not speak of thy mystery
to thine enemies, neither will I give thee a kiss as did Judas: but
like the thief will I confess thee: remember me, O Lord, in thy kingdom.
II. After the time of S. Laurence, there was an even worse persecution
under Diocletian, and people thought the Church would be totally destroyed.
Even a wife of the Emperor was put to death as a Christian. And then, finally,
in York, in the North of Britain, an army officer called Constantine heard
that he had succeeded as Emperor of the West, and soon after he became
sole Emperor. His mother, Helen, was a Christian, and he ordered that the
persecution was to stop. He began to build Churches for the Christians,
and finally, on his death-bed, he was baptized. His mother did more. She
went to Jerusalem, which had been laid flat by the Romans when the Jews
rebelled in the 1st Century. She went to a rubbish heap outside the old
city, and there she found 3 crosses, and a title board saying "Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews". But it was loose, and they could not tell
which cross it belonged to until they touched a sick man with the crosses
and one of them healed him. So Helen had a Church built over it which is
still there. And parts of the Cross were taken to Rome, and to Constantine's
new capital, Constantinople, and Churches were built over them.
S. Helen is remembered today, August 18, and her service begins
with the words of S.Paul: God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a prayer speaks of God through her enriching
His Church with this precious treasure. The Gospel tells of the
treasure
hid in a field, for which a man sold all that he had to buy the field,
a reference to S. Helen finding the treasure of the Cross amongst the rubbish.
Some people might think it strange to make all that fuss over a piece of
wood. Is not Jesus what matters? But S. Helen was only doing what
the woman did in the Gospel, who was healed by just
touching the hem
of His garment, or what S. Luke tells us (Acts of the Apostles) about
those who laid sick people down so that the shadow of S. Peter would
fall on them and heal them. All holiness is from God alone, but the holiness
and power of God are so great that they extend to everyone and everything
that He touches. In our Faith, then, everything to do with God is to be
treated with reverence: the Church building and everything in it,
the holy book of the Gospels, the images of our Lord and His Saints, and
their relics, and the sign of the Cross which puts all demons to flight.
