Encountering the holiness and peace of the Ancient Church
The very first time I entered an Orthodox church, I felt drawn to Her. There was a tangible, inner tug, and an overwhelming sense of peace, holiness, and awe, emanating from the very walls of the temple. The serving clergy were not the focus of the service, as I’d experienced in my protestant upbringing, but seemed to be moving within the walls of their temple, as if servants, or, given the beauty of their vestments, courtiers to an emperor. The focus was not on men, but on the holiness of God. I felt an overwhelming desire to be a part of this religion, but, at the time, allowed the ethnic, and language, differences to keep me from returning.
Eventually, as is evidenced by my present vocation, I did return, and can not even imagine how I could have stayed away, for some twenty years, after having tasted “the heavenly realm.” Orthodoxy is like that, for it seems almost familiar to many first timers, as though we’ve known this faith from our very conception.
I remember seeing my very first hand painted icon. It was an icon of Christ, and I felt drawn into it, wanting to embrace it (or, perhaps more correctly, being embraced by it.) This first encounter was in 1968, and in the small, private chapel of a friend. This encounter came about a month after I’d driven through Northern California’s Redwood National Forest, beholding the thousand year old, towering trees. Both the icon, and the Redwoods, had an enormous impact on my young soul. They both seemed to offer me sanctuary, and a sense of peace. Both made me feel I’d encountered something precious, ageless, and sacred. I still feel the same, as an aging monk.
We humans are material beings, having been given bodies by our Creator. This Creator God has placed us in a material world, surrounded by things we can touch, see, smell, taste, and hear. Orthodox temples, by their very nature, allow us to commune with this very God, Who has given each of us the ability to touch, see, smell, taste, and hear. It is through the material world that God has chosen to unite Himself to us, His creatures. The Logos (The Word), Christ Himself, by Whom everything that is, came into being, has come down from heaven, and embraced us, as His own.
My last trip through the Redwoods, brought back memories of my first encounter with an icon of Christ. How could they not, for it is the very Christ, depicted in the icon, Who created the Redwoods, and all that is beautiful and sacred.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Saturday August 22, 2015 / August 9, 2015
12th Week after Pentecost. Tone two.
Dormition (Theotokos) Fast. Food with Oil
Afterfeast of the Transfiguration.
Apostle Matthias (63).
Synaxis of All Saints of Solovki.
New Martyr Margaret (1918).
Martyr Anthony of Alexandria.
Venerable Psoes of Egypt (4th c.).
Martyrs Julian, Marcian, John, James, Alexius, Demetrius, Photius (Phocas), Peter, Leontius, and Mary, of Constantinople (726).
Venerable Macarius, abbot of Oredezh (1532).
St. Alexis Medvedkov, archpriest of Uzine (1934).
The Restoration of the Temple of the 40 Martyrs.
Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 1:26-29
Glory Only in the Lord
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Matthew 20:29-34
Two Blind Men Receive Their Sight
29 Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. 30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
31 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
32 So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” 34 So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.
Beautiful.
Reading this made me want to be there and to experience this for myself!
Dear Batiuschka,
My experience on first entering an Orthodox temple as an adult (at a particularly difficult period of my life) was the other side of your coin.
I felt that I was finally in my Father’s house, where I was safe, where I could be myself and not pretend, where I was loved and accepted as I was.
It still took me a couple of years to make the commitment. But like you and the Holy Apostle Peter, “Where else could I go and find the words of eternal life. . .”