Commemoration of the Appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to a Monk on Mount Athos

Troparion of the Icon ‘It is Meet’ Tone 4
Gather together, all you fathers of Athos,/ and celebrate with joy and gladness on this day:/ for the Mother of God is wonderfully praised by the Angel,/ and we magnify her/ as the Birthgiver of God.

Kontakion of the Icon ‘It is Meet’ Tone 4
Athos is celebrating today,/ for from the Angel it has received hymns dedicated to the Mother of God,/ whom all creation is acclaiming with hymn of praise.

It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos [Birthgiver of God], who art ever blessed and all blameless, and the mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, thou who without stain barest God the Word and art truly Theotokos, we magnify thee.

From the OCA website:

The “It is Truly Meet” Icon of the Mother of God is in the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Karyes monastery on Mount Athos.

One Saturday night an Elder went to Karyes for the all-night Vigil. He left, instructing his disciple to remain behind and read the service in their cell. As it grew dark, the disciple heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door, he saw an unknown monk who called himself Gabriel, and he invited him to come in. They stood before the icon of the Mother of God and read the service together with reverence and compunction.

During the Ninth Ode of the Canon, the disciple began to sing “My soul magnifies the Lord…” with the Irmos of St Cosmas the Hymnographer (October 14), “More honorable than the Cherubim….”

The stranger sang the next verse, “For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden….” Then he chanted something the disciple had never heard before, “It is truly meet to bless Thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God…” Then he continued with, “More honorable than the Cherubim.…”

While the hymn was being sung, the icon of the Theotokos shone with a heavenly light. The disciple was moved by the new version of the familiar hymn, and asked his guest to write the words down for him. When the stranger asked for paper and ink, the disciple said that they did not have any.

The stranger took a roof tile and wrote the words of the hymn on its surface with his finger. The disciple knew then that this was no ordinary monk, but the Archangel Gabriel. The angel said, “Sing in this manner, and all the Orthodox as well.” Then he disappeared, and the icon of the Mother of God continued to radiate light for some time afterward.

The Eleousa Icon of the Mother of God, before which the hymn “It Is Truly Meet” was first sung, was transferred to the katholikon at Karyes. The tile, with the hymn written on it by the Archangel Gabriel, was taken to Constantinople when St Nicholas Chrysoberges (December 16) was Patriarch.

Numerous copies of the “It Is Truly Meet” Icon are revered in Russian churches. At the Galerna Harbor of Peterburg a church with five cupolas was built in honor of the Merciful Mother of God, and into it they put a grace-bearing copy of the “It Is Truly Meet” icon sent from Athos.

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Remembering Mary and Prayer

Six years ago yesterday, I learned the news of Sofie’s advent during the Advent season. I’ve already written about how Sofie is an answer to prayer.

The Gospels do not say much about the Mother of Jesus, of course. But what they do say shows her value of silence and contemplation, and her ability to intercede for others to the Lord–about their deeply felt and mundane needs.

Today, I am remembering Mary and prayer.

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Mary and Providence

The word “providence” is often thrown around as synonymous with “fate.” Indeed, even among certain Christian groups, “providence” is really just another form of determinism, with a God whose characteristic sovereignty fuses nature and will and eliminates personhood, thus resulting in a god who is not God; or, rather, Fate theomorphized. But the biblical, and classical Christian, understanding of Providence is altogether different. Providence is a reflection of the tri-Personal God, the energetic outworking of who God is, and that quality of his nature in which we participate by his love for us. Take, for example, what St. John Damascene has to say about Providence:

Providence, then, is the care that God takes over existing things. And again: Providence is the will of God through which all existing things receive their fitting issue. But if Providence is God’s will, according to true reasoning all things that come into being through Providence must necessarily be both most fair and most excellent, and such that they cannot be surpassed. . . . God therefore is both Creator and Provider, and His creative and preserving and providing power is simply His good-will. . . .

That He provides and that He provides excellently, one can most readily perceive thus. God alone is good and wise by nature. Since then He is good, He provides: for he who does not provide is not good. For even men and creatures without reason provide for their own offspring according to their nature, and he who does not provides is blamed. Again, since He is wise, He takes the best care over what exists.

When, therefore, we give heed to these things we ought to be filled with wonder at all the workds of Providence, and praise them all . . . .

–St. John of Damascus on Providence (Exact Exposition of the Faith, II.29)

In this brief excerpt from the Saint, we see glimpses of the love and care which animates and interpenetrates this quality of Providence God expresses toward and for us.

But scholastic accounts of such a doctrine, even Orthodox scholastic accounts, do not quite capture the depth, breadth and richness of God’s Providence quite like viewing it at work in the particular. And, to my, mind, there is no better view to be had, especially in this Dormition Fast, than in the Annunciation of Gabriel, as recounted in Luke 1.26-38, to the Most Blessed Virgin.

I would like to reflect, however superficially, and however informally (in all senses of that word) on some specific impressions which I take away from this encounter. And I would especially like to contrast what I take to be a Christian understanding of Providence with the pagan notion of Fate, whether it is Fate in the fully pagan sense, or Fate masquerading under Christian terminology.

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Friday Meditation IV

It is truly meet:

Theotokos:

The Lord is my Shepherd

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Mary and the Mystery of the Divine Will

On this seventh day of the Dormition Fast, I would like again to contemplate the Mother of God, and in such contemplation, to see her Son.

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you: therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:25-28 )

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:1-5)

“How can this be?” Our Lady asks the Archangel Gabriel. So the angel answered her. But such an overwhelming and incomprehensible mystery was (and is) the Incarnation, that the angel gives her a hook upon which her faith can latch itself: the elderly and barren Elizabeth is with child. A lesser miracle is given as evidence of the greatest and most wonderful miracle of all: who, for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man. In that union of natures in one Person, God has given us everything in him. He who was rich became poor, that we who are poor might become rich. He condescended to us in our bondage, to become one of us and one with us, so that we might become one with him and partake of him, and given freedom.

For those of us who ponder these things that are too great for us in terms philosophical and theological, we may miss just that condescension, that refusal to lay hold of his divine perogatives so as to take on the form of a servant. We may miss, if I may say it this way, that love, homely and deep and warm, which propelled our Lord from heaven to earth, that love that is not simply about high-minded principles and concepts, but a love that embraces each of us in all our details and particulars. Such as the simple humiliation a newly-wedded couple and their families would feel once the festal wine had run out.

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Mary, the Passion, and Laying Violence to the Kingdom

In this Dormition Fast, we are given an opportunity to reflect on the life of Mary, the Mother of God, and therefore to reflect on the life of Jesus, God in the flesh.

We will focus on some Lukan texts, with some others.

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afriad, Mary, for you have found favor with God. . . . Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:29, 36)

Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword willl pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 1:33-35)

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magadalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25-27)

Like Mother, like Son. Jesus will exemplify and fulfill that text from Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15):

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The Dormition Fast

It may sound a bit weird for me to say this, but I have so looked forward to the Lady Fast this year. As I’ve already noted, my sense of connection to the Theotokos has grown considerably in my first year plus as an Orthodox. And it was a connection that preceded my becoming Orthodox by some years (about four and a half, actually). So, in approaching this time in which we honor Our Lady’s falling asleep and Christ’s translation of her to heaven, I have been especially mindful of the Lord’s Mother.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be reading Holy Apostles Convent and Dormition Skete’s The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. I actually received it in the mail on the Feast of the Dormition last year (nice serendipity, eh?!–it was the second time that’s happened: I received St. John Maximovitch’s The Orthodox Veneration of Mary, the Birthgiver of God on the Feast of the Annuciation in 2003, less than a year after I’d turned toward Orthodoxy). But I only got into the first few chapters before moving on to other books (like Father Seraphim’s biography, which I read each year near the anniversary of his repose). If I can squeeze in On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies and/or Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought, I’ll do so, at least in part. But my focus this Fast is on the heart not on the head.

I also hope to add some additional prayers to my days, definitely would like to pray the Akathist and the Paraklesis, and will continue with the Rosary and Panagias.

And because it is the Fast, in honor of it, the Friday Meditations for today (see below) and next Friday will focus on hymns of the Theotokos.

A blessed Fast to my Orthodox brothers and sisters, and to my fellow Christians under the Bishop of Rome, with whom I share the patronage of St. Benedict (I’m not sure what forms your celebrations take, but I know you’ll celebrate the Feast in two weeks).

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Friday Meditation III

Agni Parthene:

Αγνή Παρθένε
Αγνή Παρθένε Δέσποινα, Άχραντε Θεοτόκε,

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Παρθένε Μήτηρ Άνασσα, Πανένδροσε τε πόκε.
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Υψηλοτέρα Ουρανών, ακτίνων λαμπροτέρα

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Χαρά παρθενικών χορών, αγγέλων υπερτέρα,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Εκλαμπροτέρα ουρανών φωτός καθαροτέρα,

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Των Ουρανίων στρατιών πασών αγιωτέρα
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Μαρία Αειπάρθενε κόσμου παντός Κυρία

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Άχραντε Νύμφη Πάναγνε Δέσποινα Παναγία,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Μαρία Νύμφη Άνασσα, χαράς ημών αιτία.

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Κορή σεμνή Βασίλισσα, Μήτηρ υπεραγία,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Τιμιώτερα Χερουβείμ υπερενδοξοτέρα

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Των ασωμάτων Σεραφείμ των Θρόνων υπερτέρα,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Χαίρε το άσμα Χερουβείμ χαίρε ύμνος Αγγέλων

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Χαίρε ωδή των Σεραφείμ Χαρά των Αρχαγγέλων
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Χαίρε ειρήνη και χαρά λιμήν της σωτηρίας

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Παστάς του Λόγου ιερά άνθος της αφθαρσίας
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Χαίρε Παράδεισε τρυφής, ζωής τε αιωνίας,

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Χαίρε το ξύλον της ζωής, πηγή αθανασίας,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Σε ικετεύω Δέσποινα, Σε, νυν, επικαλούμαι,

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Σε δυσωπώ Παντάνασσα, Σην χάριν εξαιτούμε.
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Κορή σεμνή και άσπιλε, Δεσποίνα Παναγία

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Θερμώς επικαλούμε Σε, Ναέ ηγιασμένε,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Αντιλαβού μου, ρύσαι με, από τού πολεμίου,

Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.
Και κλήρονομον δείξον με, ζωής της αιωνίου,
Χαίρε Νύμφη Ανύμφευτε.

Agni Parthene (Divna):

Panagia:

Doxology:

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Paraklesis

In the Supplicatory Canon to the Theotokos the fourth ode is as follows:

I have heard, O Lord, of the mystery of Thy dispensation, and I came to knowledge of Thy works, and glorify Thy Divinity.
O most holy Theotokos, save us.
The turmoil of my passions, and the storm of my sins do thou bestill, thou who gavest birth to the Lord and Pilot, O thou Bride of God.
O most holy Theotokos, save us.
O bestow, out of the abyss of thy compassion, on me thy supplicant; for thou didst give birth to the Kindhearted One and Savior of all that hymn thee.
O most holy Theotokos, save us.
While delighting in thy gifts, O spotless one, we sing a song of thanksgiving to thee, knowing thee to be the Mother of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As I lie on the bed of my pain and infirmity, do thou help me, as thou art a lover of goodness, O Theotokos, who alone art Ever-Virgin.
Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Having thee as our staff and hope, and as our salvation’s unshaken battlement, from all manner of adversity are we then redeemed, O thou all-lauded one.

What a striking way in which to refer to the Lord of the entire universe: the Kindhearted One!

Why is it we find it so hard to believe that God will freely, joyfully, abundantly give us what we need? Why is it we do not trust him with wild abandon? Why is it that we still think he parcels out his love to us a teaspoonful at a time? Jesus tells us God will give us the good things we need, even more so than do our earthly fathers. We do not have to persuade him. We do not have to earn his love and mercy. He is ready to give it to us, if we but come to him as loving children, ready to embrace him.

All his work toward us is love and mercy–kindheartedness. If we do not experience this love and mercy it is because we draw back, we refuse it, or our own distortions of God distort our experience of his love. It is because, whether from fear or hurt, we hold back, distrustful, misreading his heart and his motives. The pain of our encounter with God is not from the outflowing of his love, but due to the sin and fear and distrust we still wish to hold on to. All things that God does for us are love and mercy and kindness. There is no hurt or pain and fear. His yoke is easy and his burden light. The hardness of his yoke is our struggle against accepting it. The heaviness of his burden is our insistence on holding on to the useless trifles and debilitating baggage. He only asks us to give up that which harms and hurts us. He only asks that we do not put our hands into the flames of sin, that we do not drink the poison of our passions. If we hurt, if we burn, it is not him, it is us and the sin and death we clutch to ourselves. His love only burns that it may clear away that which is death and fear and darkness for us. Cleansed of these painful things, his love and mercy are warmth and light.

What do the saints tell us? Run with arms wide to embrace him. He is kindhearted. Kind.

And this is what the Theotokos says to us as she gestures with her hand and with the tilt of her inclined head toward her Son, the Kindhearted One.

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The Mother of God

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25-27 NKJV)

The Church has long honored the Mother of God, and has taken this text as emblematic of Christ’s Mother being given to us as our Mother as well. Because she bore in her womb very God of very God, she is blessed and honored by faithful Christians. As Mother of the King of Kings, she is the antitype of the Old Testament Queen Mother, and is properly called the Queen of Heaven. Whereas Bathsheba bowed to her lord, King David, his son, the King Solomon bowed to Bathsheba, honoring her as queen mother. This type is fulfilled in Mary, the Mother of Christ. She is who and what she is by virtue of God’s grace on and in her. And in that grace, she becomes Mother to us all.

Those of us who have had loving earthly mothers, those of us who have felt the fierce advocacy of our mothers for us against all that and those which would harm us, those of us who’ve seen our mothers tears, have been given a glimpse into the sort of Mother Mary is for us. There is no mystery here how and why our Lady is called our only refuge, our champion leader, our fierce protectress. These are all qualities of our earthly mothers–can we not recall for whom we cried out in the night against our child terrors?–and therefore they are the qualities of our Lord’s Mother as well.

The icon of the Theotokos which adorns our parish’s iconstasis (which is not the icon depicted above) has become very dear and precious to me. I have lain flat on my face before it in tears. I have kissed it. I have poured out my prayers before it. I have prayed the supplicatory canon, the Rosary and my own prayers there in that spot. The gaze of our Lady which looks at me from that icon is so tender, so full of sorrow, it cannot be that she does not know my own trials and struggles. And yet, clinging to her is her Son, my Lord, and with the tilt of her head she draws me toward him, ever reminding me he is at the center of all things. She weeps with those of us who weep, and takes all our prayers and grief to her Lord and ours.

The Theotokos has always been a part of my coming to the Orthodox faith. Only a few months after I had made my resolve, while on retreat, I prayed the Akathist hymn for the first time. That prayer cemented my relationship with her, though the depth of that relationship would take some time to grow. I prayed the Rosary from time to time. I prayed the Akathist hymn now and again. And there have been several direct answers to prayer attributable to her intercessions, not the least of which is our daughter Sofie. What her intercessions are working of late is a mystery unfathomable to me now. But in these last several weeks, the depth of my relationship with our Lord’s Mother has grown considerably. She is present in very real ways to me, encouraging me in my prayers, strengthening me, assuring me of her protection of me and my daughters and us all.

I do not know if my experience is unique among us Protestant converts to Orthodoxy. Many of us, though not so much myself, come to the ancient Christian Faith with some considerable degree of “mariaphobia.” But there is no getting around the place of Mary in the worship, the faith and the life of the Church. I am so grateful I have come to understand and experience this so soon after my chrismation.

I’m sorry to speak in such directly personal terms, but I felt compelled to speak of the debt I owe to, and my growing love of, our Lord’s Mother. I would encourage my readers themselves to deepen their own relationships with the Blessed Virgin. In so doing we honor our Lord.

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