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Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church in North America Mor Gregorious Syriac Orthodox Student Association
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WELCOME <MISSION <BIBLE GUIDE <ARCHIVES <RESOURCES <CONTACTS |
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Bible Study and Newsletter |
Special Edition Volume 1 Number 9 Dec 11th, 2005 |
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Dear MGSOSA members and Ruho readers,
Ruho.org is being revamped for the coming year's Gospel of Mathew Bible study. Look for us to launch in each parish in early January.
A new committee has been formed with members from each MGSOSA region to deploy the website. Content is being organized by Dr. Susan Jacob and various clergy.
At the request of the Archbishop, H.E. Mor Teethose Yeldo, the Ruho.org committee is pleased to deliver this special edition to you concerning the many festivals around Christmas time. Part I is presented here, Part II will be delivered next week. The Church has many events to celebrate during this season.
Learn a great deal by reading on below!
On behalf of the Ruho.org committee, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year! Sincerely,
Dn. Zach Varghese Chair, Ruho.org committee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dearly beloved in Christ,
I would like to invite your attention to the importance of the Sundays leading to the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Before I write anything about it, I think, I should start with explaining the Calendar which we are using. There are two calendars that the Syrian Orthodox Church uses, namely Julian (BC 45) and Gregorian (AD1582). Earlier, the Syrian Orthodox Calendar was based entirely on the Julian calendar. But from 1955 onwards, our Church is celebrates the immovable feasts (like Christmas, Epiphany) according to the Gregorian calendar, with an exception in the Holy Land. The Julian calendar continues to determine the observation of the Great Lent and the Holy Week. The Church in India switched entirely to the Gregorian calendar in 1953, according to the Patriarchal Encyclical of Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem I (No.620, dated 11/20/1952). Therefore we, the Syrian Orthodox faithful from India, are following the Gregorian calendar here in our Archdiocese.
Liturgical calendars guide the faithful in the practice of spiritual life in the Church. The calendar of the Church sets apart days for the commemoration of events in the salvation history of man, emphasizing more importance to the events associated with the Lord, Jesus Christ. The days commemorating those events are called Feasts of the Lord (Moranaya Perunnaal). These days include all Sundays, and feasts of our Lord commemorating His birth, circumcision, baptism, entrance to the Temple, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.
The Syrian Orthodox calendar begins with the Consecration of the Church (Qoodosh Eatho) which falls on the last Sunday of October if it happens to be the 30th or 31st of the month, or else the first Sunday of November. Then the Sundays that follow until Christmas fall in the Advent period that commemorates the chief events preceeding the Incarnation of the Word, in the given pattern:
1. Qoodosh Eatho (Consecration of the Church) This is the new-year day of the Church’s Ecclesiastical calendar. The Church is preparing to receive her Lord by consecrating herself with purity and holiness. The consecration or purification of the Church does not mean the cleaning of the parish building, rather the purification and consecration of its members, the faithful people. We all are to be cleansed ourselves to receive the Lord as we approach the Nativity. That is why the Church has set the Nativity Fast, beginning from Dec 15. Today is a day which reminds us of our true calling to be HOLY. “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
2. Hoodos Eatho (Dedication of the Church) Consecration is not enough; we have to dedicate ourselves to the habitation of the Holy Spirit. We are told by our Lord of a man’s condition who after relieved from an unclean-spirit and not dedicate to God. He was inhabited by seven more unclean spirits when they saw he was cleaned but not occupied. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17). We are the temple of God and we have to consecrate and dedicate – not only the building- but ourselves as the Body of Christ.
This dedication festival has a historical background for the Jews. In BC 168-164 Antiocas Epipanus captured the temple in Jerusalem and made unclean by burning the Scripture, Erecting the statue of Olympion Zeno, and sacrificing pigs and prohibiting the Circumcision. In BC 164, Judah Maccabi and his brothers were able to oust this Antiocas and they REDEDICATED the temple. Jews celebrate this as the Hannukkah (dedication festival).
3. Annunciation to Zachariah This week's theme shows how special and significant is the birth of John the Baptist -- announced in the temple to the boy’s father, a priest. But it also has lessons for us as disciples. Zechariah certainly lives his life to follow the God he loved, but his faith falters. What can we learn from his faith that we can apply to our own? The story begins carefully placed in geography and time. Luke relates this not as a timeless legend, but as an historical event.
"In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years." (1:5-7)
We meet Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, an elderly, childless couple. According to Mosaic law, priests weren't required to marry a wife from the Tribe of Levi (Leviticus 21:7, 13-15), but for a priest to have a wife from Levi's tribe was considered a twofold honor. Religious workers in Israel were divided into two groups, priests and Levites. All were descended from the Tribe of Levi, but, additionally, the priests were descendants of Moses' brother Aaron. Priests were set apart for a special ministry in the Temple with regard to the worship of God that took place there.
This day, Zechariah is "chosen by lot" to go inside the temple and burn incense on the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. It was at that point that an angel of the Lord did indeed enter the Holy Place.
What a contrast with Mary, who when the birth of Jesus is announced, doesn't respond with "How can this happen?" like Zechariah, but "How will this happen?" and, "I am the handmaiden of the Lord. May it be to me as you have said" (1:34, 38). What can you do to nurture an attitude of faith, of belief, of spiritual sensitivity and openness? I think it begins with humility, repentance, and prayer. When you see unbelief in yourself, don't excuse it, but be ashamed and ask God's forgiveness. We are disciples on a journey with Jesus. Even if we have some rough areas in our lives, as we walk with Jesus, he would refine us to be worthy disciples. God can make a wonderful disciple out of an old, set-in-his-ways priest and an impulsive fisherman. What can he do for you?
4. Annunciation of our most holy Lady Theotokos and ever Virgin Mary. Our benevolent and loving God, Who always takes care of the human race as an affectionate father, saw that the creature which His hands had made was being tyrannized by the devil. Man was being carried away by the passions of vice and was subject to idolatry. So, God decided to send his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to redeem us from the devil's hands.
This is why He sent angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth and told Mary: "Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee." Some other words followed and finally the Virgin said to the Angel: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." Immediately after these words she supernaturally conceived in her womb the Son and Word of God, His wisdom and power which has substance, with the overshadowing of the Word of God Himself and with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon her.
As a teenager, Mary is quite taken aback by the Angel Gabriel's words. Luke says that Mary was greatly troubled. Was Mary afraid? Whenever we meet something new and strange, we get confused. The patterns we're used to are disrupted, and little alarms go off in our head. That's the way God made us to respond to change; it's a kind of built-in conservatism and defense mechanism.
Some people say we shouldn't question God, but Mary did. She asked "How?" Questions cause us to grow and learn. Questions stretch our minds and hearts and increase our understanding. Questions and the exploration for their answers contribute to our faith, even if the questions themselves may ultimately go unanswered. Mary's question arose from faith, not doubt.
Here is a teenager facing misunderstanding and rejection from her family, her betrothed, and her townspeople. And yet she agrees. Mary affirms the bedrock truth that express our discipleship: "I am the Lord's servant." After all is said and done, after we have explored all the possibilities, we still must decide: am I a servant or a master? Is my allegiance to the Lord or to my own desires?
Sometimes it takes great turmoil in our souls to come to the place of submission, but come to it we must. Even before Jesus was conceived, Mary was faced with the decision: Will I obey and make way for this King? or Will I take the easy way that avoids difficulty and pain? To her everlasting credit, Mary's response of faith is what our response must be: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."
5. Visitation of Virgin Mary to Elizabeth Mary has just been visited by the angel Gabriel and told that she will bear a son, Jesus. Mary is confused -- at least you would be if you were Mary. Who can she talk to about this? The only person she knows who will be able to understand her is relative Elizabeth. The angel has told Mary: "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." (1:36-37). And so Mary hurriedly prepares for a trip to see Elizabeth. She is just a young teenager, and she needs steadying, guidance. The journey was about 80 to 100 miles and would probably take Mary three to four days.
Now she seeks out Zechariah's home in the tiny village, and greets her kinswoman Elizabeth. Elizabeth, now six months pregnant, comes to the door and sees her niece. She hasn't expected her, but now Mary greets her. For the Jews greeting is an important ceremony. Remember Lord instructing his disciples to offer a greeting of "Peace to you," in homes that they enter (10:12) This word of peace, when received, functions like a powerful blessing upon the householder.
While we don't know the greeting Mary brings to Elizabeth, it had an effect so powerful that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, and begins to speak out prophetically. "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." (1:41)
John the Baptist, in Elizabeth's womb, also responds to the presence of the Messiah inside of Mary. Elizabeth interprets this stirring within her as motivated by joy -- and why not? Elizabeth offers two blessings under divine inspiration, first upon Mary herself, as being blessed above all other women, and then upon the fetus of Jesus within her, probably only a few weeks along at this point in time. Then she wonders out loud why "the mother of my Lord" would come to visit her. How could Elizabeth know that Mary's child was the Lord? The power of the Holy Spirit upon her gave her special knowledge of Mary's condition, and blessedness, and faith. Elizabeth has sudden insight also into Mary's faith: "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" (1:45). While Elizabeth's husband had doubted what the Lord had told him -- and was mute because of it -- Mary had believed. This very trip south to Judea was evidence of her belief, for she was acting it out, coming to visit the one person whom God had prepared to help her -- Elizabeth.
Now, Mary, too, breaks out in Spirit-inspired speech. Her first words are an utterance of praise to God for his awesome blessings to her, and sound very similar to the inspired Psalms of the Old Testament.
Perhaps you are a young Christian, struggling hard to understand and make your way. I believe God has someone for you who can help and guide you. It's likely that you'll find this mentor at church -- that's where God-loving, mature believers usually congregate -- or perhaps a small group meeting like Youth program or Prayer meeting. I encourage you to pray that God would enable you find an Elizabeth to help you out during this period of your spiritual journey.
You may be a more mature Christian that God is preparing to be an Elizabeth to some Mary out there. You've been through your own share of pain and struggle. You can understand. You can sympathize. But have now found how to walk with the Lord, how to call upon him in need, how to pray. There's a Mary out there who needs you. Be on the lookout for her, when God sends her along. You have your struggles, to be sure, but Mary needs to watch you meet them with the Lord's help.
To be continued...
Mor Teethose Yeldo Archbishop Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church in North America
Sections 6. 7. & 8 to follow next week...
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