Sobornost

Divine-Human Oneness

Sobornost is a word that means spiritual harmony based on freedom and unity in love. It is a necessary component in our membership within the Body of Christ, for if we are not bound together in love, our freedom becomes our enemy, separating us from others, and, ultimately from Christ Himself. This concept was so important to the early Christians as to have been the basis for the agape meal, when Christians would share their food with one another, following the celebration of the Eucharistic banquet.

That the pre-communion fast would be broken, following the Divine Liturgy, with a communal meal (the love feast), clearly demonstrates the importance of community within the life of the Church. The sobornost is the divine-human oneness we experience as members of the One Body, the Church, and is the moment when we who are many, become one. It is the image of the unity of the Holy Trinity, finding it’s expression among the believers.

Sobornost is not the same as fraternity, a submission to a brotherhood for mutual benefit to the individual. Rather, Sobornost is akin to kenosis (the relinquishment of divine attributes by Jesus Christ in becoming human). Sobornost is when the individual gives up self-benefit for the community or ecclesia.

We can not truly be one in Christ if we do not seek out oneness with our fellow Christians. Nor can we be one with Christ if we routinely reject sobornost for those “heights of spirituality” that make us so conscious of self, while separating ourselves from our neighbor.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photos: 1) Hieromonk Paul, sitting at the base of the trapeza porch. 2 & 3) I was honored to have been asked, on Tuesday of this week, to address the Crossroads June Session of Hellenic College Holy Cross in Boston. The Skype session allowed me to interact with wonderful young students, and I was encouraged by the spirit and quality of these fine young Orthodox Christians.

Friday June 24, 2016 / June 11, 2016
Afterfeast of Pentecost. Tone seven.
Fast-free Week. Fast-free

Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas (1st c.).
Venerable Barnabas, abbot of Vetluga (1445).
Uncovering of the relics (1572) of Venerable Ephraim, abbot of New Torzhok (1053).
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “It is Truly Meet”(“Axion Estin”) (10th c.).
Translation of the relics of Venerable Arcadius, monk of Vyazma and New Torzhok (1077).
St. Niphont patriarch of Constantinople (Romania).
Commemoration of the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel (10th c.) to a monk on Mt. Athos, and the revelation of the hymn “It Is Truly Meet” (Axion Estin).
St. Barnabus of Basa near Limasol in Cyprus (Greek).
Martyr Theopemptus and four otherss (Greek).

Scripture Readings

Romans 2:14-29

14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles

17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.

Circumcision of No Avail

25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which isoutward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Matthew 5:33-41

Jesus Forbids Oaths

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

Go the Second Mile

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.