And the Clock is Ticking
A doctor friend made the observation that the greatest hazard to our life is conception, because it is a death sentence. From the moment we are born we begin to die. The best way to approach the inevitability of our own death is to face it head on, yet our culture fears death, avoids the thought of death, and masks it when it does happen.
My best friend in college died about four years ago. Although he was Orthodox his family had him cremated, so there was no final kiss, no burial, no closure. Following the funeral in the parish church his priest and I joined his family and friends at an art gallery, where his work was often featured. While mingling with his wife, son and their friends, I happened upon a small box sitting on a pillar meant for a sculpture. Looking closely I saw decoupaged photos of my friend’s life. Among them was a photo of the two of us taken back in the 60’s, during our college days. Looking around to make sure no one was looking, I lifted the box in order to take a closer look at the photo. Instantly I knew it was my friend’s ashes, given the weight of the box. Laughing to myself, I knew he’d have been amused at the site of me discovering I was holding his remains in this small box.
Since my friend was not responsible for the cremation, an Orthodox service was allowed. His priest and I had a long discussion about the American way of death, how we send our dying family members off to hospitals or hospices, keeping the unpleasantness of death out of sight. We fear death, so avoid looking at it. Cremation is a convenient way of denying the reality of death because there is no body. Yet we Orthodox know that a burial service with an open coffin and graveside service are of benefit to friends and family because the whole process helps with closure.
Lowering the casket into the ground while everyone is there and allowing each person to drop a handful of earth into the grave, is a wonderful way of walking ourselves through the grief process. Denying the reality of death by hiding it from our consciousness only promotes a longer period of grief.
I have chosen the site of my own burial on the grounds of our monastery, and I’m having a simple pine box built while I can still look at it. I’m planning to set it up in a corner of my cabin, and use it as a bookcase while awaiting my death. I once heard of a man in Northern Idaho who used his pre-need coffin as a wine rack.
Facing my own mortality better prepares me for that moment when I will be standing before God and accounting for my life. I’m not in a hurry mind you. I’m praying God will give me many years more for repentance. However, it is good that I think about my own death, for avoidance will not prolong my life, but it can make me put off repentance.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: Marcus Daly of Vashon Island, gifted me with this beautiful cross, and is now going to build my casket.
Thursday July 20, 2023 / July 7, 2023
7th Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
Venerable Thomas of Mt. Maleon (10th c.).
Venerable Acacius of Sinai, who is mentioned in The Ladder (6th c.).
New Hieromartyr Paul priest (1918).
Venerable Eudocia, in monasticism Euphrosyne, grand-duchess of Moscow (1407).
Uncovering of the relics (2001) of Venerable Gerasimus, abbot of Boldino.
Martyrs Peregrinus, Lucian, Pompeius, Hesychius, Pappias, Saturninus, and Germanus, of Dyrrachium in Macedonia..
Martyrs Epictetus, presbyter, and Astion in Scythia (290).
Martyr Evangelus, Bishop of Tomi (Constanta) in Rumania.
Martyr Cyriaca (Domnica or Nedelja) of Nicomedia (289).
Translation (1654) of the Icon of the Mother of God “Vlaherensk” to Russia.
St. Hedda, bishop of the West Saxons (705) (Celtic & British).
St. Willibald, bishop of Eichstatt (786) (Celtic & British).
St. Maelruin of Tallaght (792) (Celtic & British).
St. Pantaenus the Confessor of Alexandria (203).
Hieromartyr Eustace (Greek).
Martyr Polycarp the New (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 7:24-35
24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
To the Unmarried and Widows
25 Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy. 26 I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—that it is good for a man to remain as he is: 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be without [a]care. He who is unmarried [b]cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. 33 But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. 34 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. 35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.
Matthew 15:12-21
12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
A Gentile Shows Her Faith
21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.