HAUNTED BY THE HOLY GHOST

ONENESS of the CHURCH

Feast of The Apostles Peter and Paul by Saint John the Wonderworker

 About the Apostles Peter and Paul:  From a collection of Homilies and writings 

of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai & San Francisco

The day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is the culminating feasts of the Gospel. Although the last event in the life of Christ which is related in the Gospel as His Ascension into heaven (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51), the preaching of the Apostles is closely bound up with the Gospel.

    The Gospel tells us of their being chosen, and the Gospel
    indicates beforehand the end of Apostolic activity.

Telling of the appearance of Christ on the sea of Tiberias and the restoration to apostleship of Peter, who by his triple confession corrected his triple denial, the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian speaks also of the prediction to the Apostle Peter concerning the end of his struggle.
When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldest not. This spoke He, signifying by what death he should glorify God (John 21:18-19).

It was not pleasing to the Lord then, to reveal the face of each of the other Apostles, although, when sending them to preach, He predicted to them, the persecutions that awaited them (Matt. 10:17-36).
Now, to the question of Peter about John, Christ replied: If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me (John 21:22).

The mysterious words of Christ about John, and the extraordinary circumstances of
the latter's end, have been the cause for the opinion, which spread in the Church, beginning from the days of the apostles, that John would remain on earth until the Second Coming.

Such a view of the end of the earthly life of the Apostle John is set forth in part also in the hymns on the day of his memorial, where mention is made of his special closeness to the earthly Church.

Therefore, the Church does not celebrate the day of the repose of the Apostle John
the Theologian, which is aso revered by the Church as a great feast, as is the day of repose of the Apostle Peter, which was definitely predicted by the Lord.

 It is precisely to the Apostle Peter and to no one else, that the Lord predicted the culmination of his earthly ministry, because it was Peter who first confessed Him,
on behalf of all the Apostles, to be Christ, the Son of God; he was the first to receive the promise of power to bind and loose, which was subsequently given to all the Apostles (Matt. 16:16-19; Matt. 18:18); and it was he who renounced Christ and was again restored to apostleship.
Indicating to Peter the culmination of his Apostolic preaching when restoring to him the Apostolic calling, the Lord thereby reveals the essence of the Apostolic ministry.

    The preaching of the Word of God not only by word of mouth,
    but also by deprivations, sufferings and death, constituted the
    following of Christ and the continuation of His work.

The Apostle Peter, as the most zealous of all and one who strove to be before the
others in word and deed, by his example aroused the other Apostle Therefore it is primarily him that Christ addresses.
He goes in front of the other Apostles, becomes their "leader;" and it is especially to him that the preaching among the Jews was entrusted, while the Apostle of the Gentiles was the one who received precisely this title, being converted later, the no less zealous Paul (Gal. 2:7-9).

   

These two Apostles were as it were the commanders
    of the rank of the Apostles, which is expressed
     (in the service to them) by the word "leaders."

    Without having authority over others, they both stood in front of all others
    by their warm zeal and labors.

Their life was the most brilliant and was a personification of the life and labors of all the Apostles.
The end of their earthly labors was especially impressive, thanks to the fact that it occurred before the eyes of the whole world.

One of them (Peter) was crucified upside down, and the other (Paul) was beheaded, both in Rome, towards which at that time the gaze of all peoples was directed.
The news of this quickly dew to all the ends of the universe, all the more in that
they were both known personally in many places; their names were everywhere the Savior had been preached

    The Apostle of the Jews and the Apostle of the Gentiles departed to
     Christ on the same day, as if indicating their equal nearness to God
    and the oneness of the Church of Christ, in which there it neither Greek
    nor Jew
                            (Col. 3:11).

    Therefore, the day on which the earthly labors ended for
    "the leaders of the Apostles, who labored more than all,"
    who "separated in body, are together in spirit;"
    became one of the memorable days for the whole Church.

The Apostle John the Theologian was still a1ive then, being in Ephesus, from
where he was exiled to the island of Patmes.
Not long before his transition into the other world, he wrote the Gospel, by which he completed the three Gospels written before him, and which he had approved.
Having already completed his Gospel, he added to it, the account of the manifestation of Christ on the sea of Tiberias in order that quoting precisely the words of Christ about himself, he might refute the opinion that he had been promised by Christ to remain on earth until the Second Coming.

In this afterward to the Gospel written by him, the Apostle and Evangelist John set forth the prediction of Christ to the Apostle Peter concerning his martyr's death, and thus he bound the memory of this death with the Gospel.

Just as the last chapter of the Gospel of John is literally the conclusion of the whole Gospel, so also the feast dedicated to the fulfillment of the prophecy set forth there
is as it were the conclusion of all the Gospel events kept in remembrance by the Church.

Being an immovable feast, it is nevertheless bound up with the movable feasts,
since the preparation for it-the Apostles' Fast-begins one week after the feast
of Pentecost; thus, it depends on the date of the celebration of Pascha.

    The feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul indicates
    the lot of the Holy Apostles here on earth and
    reveals the glory that followed it.

The earthly lot of the Apostles was to go around the earth preaching of the Heavenly Kingdom, in this emulating Christ by their poverty, endurance of dishonor and sufferings, by their love for the children of the Heavenly Father, their inward torments of childbirth over those who heeded their preaching and their grief over those who paid no heed to their words and finally, by offering themselves as a sacrifice.

    However, the culmination of their earthly life
    is the beginning of their heavenly glory.
    Their end is for them a dissolving of earthly ties
     and an ascent to Christ, Whom they loved,
    in order to remain eternally with Him (Phil. 1:23).

The day of their earthly end is the day of their heavenly birth, end the celebration
of it is a solemnity of the coming of the future age for those who have followed
Christ in this age.

   

The receiving of the crowns of righteousness prepared not only for them,
    but also for all who love His appearing (II Tim. 4:8).

    Coming after the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
    and being in part bound up with it, the feast of the
    Holy Apostles Peter and Paul culminates the yearly cycle of feasts
    dedicated to the earthly life of Christ and
    reveals the essence of His promises.

    Just as the Nativity of John the Baptist is the foreword to the Gospel
    and the beginning of the events described in it,
    so also the death of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is their culmination
    and the afterward of the Gospel.

    The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is the beginning
    of the preaching of the Gospel of the New Testament on earth;
    his Beheading is the preaching of it in hell;
    and the day of the Holy Apostles is the realization of it in heaven.

"The firm and God-proclaiming preachers, the pinnacle of the Apostles, Thou hast received into the enjoyment of Thy good things and into repose; for Thou didst receive their pains and death as above all offerings, O Thou Who alone knowest what is in the heart" (Kontakion).

"The feast of the all-honorable Apostles hath come, interceding for the salvation of all of us. Now mystically clapping our hands, let us say: come into our midst invisibly, vouchsafing immaterial gifts for those who praise your feast in hymns" (Glory at Lauds).

Say: Ye faint-hearted, take and fear not: behold, our God will come and save us

Dom Dominic Johner OSB

on the COMMUNION for the Third Sunday of Advent

 

Photo:From The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast celebrated (8 Dec) at Holy Incarnation with Bishop MARK, our diocesan Bishop, presided at both Vespers and Mass

COMMUNION (Isa. 35: 4)

1. Dicite: Pusillanimes confortamini, et nolite timere:
2. ecce Deus  noster veniet, et salvabit nos.

1. Say: Ye faint-hearted, take and fear not:
 2. behold, our God will come and save us.

A mere glance at the melodic construction tells us that we are here treating of something out of the ordinary.
If we first carefully recite the text alone and then sing the melody with it, we shall discover that the melody is not only a fine garment for the text, but that the text and melody form one whole, an entity as closely united as our intellect and will and feeling.

The song begins quitely, but soon with jubilant upward flight it strives to banish from the soul all fear and solicitude, tries to lift it above all things mundane
and carry it up to that new world in which the angels sing a new canticle of peace and redemption.
On Christmas night we shall hear them saying to the shepherds: Nolite timere—"Fear not; for be- hold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. . .This day is born to you a Saviour" (salvdbit).
Hence this Communion, in a way, introduces the feast of Christmas, just as in Matins for Gaudete Sunday the Invitatory ran: Prope est jam D&minus—"Already the Lord is nigh." With all its jubilation, however, the melody follows a definite plan: confortdmini, resting on the dominant of the mode, divides the first phrase into two halves.
Timere repeats the motive of nolite, and then closes a third lower, paralleling the final neums of (confortdmi)-ni.

These are formulas expressive of calm, but at the same time they advance the melodic thought. Now comes the joyful news: ecce, solemn and resolute, as one antiphon has it: veniens veniet—"He will surely come."
Here the melody in a way makes a conclusion on the tonic; but it adds another very significant thought, and introduces it with a major second below the tonic and the F-major chord built on that note: "Behold, this God will be your Saviour."

PLAINCHANT...it is direct as the words of a child to its father, plain and simple as the evening prayer of an innocent soul

 

Let Dom Johner Be Your Advent Narrator

Dom Johnerby way of Jeffrey Tucker at NLM by way of Aristotle Esguerra at Cantemus Domino....

I don't know how he manages this, but Aristotle Esguerra at Cantemus Domino, who always seems to be ahead of the game, is posting the magnificent commentaries by Dom Dominic Johner, who wrote his encyclopedic treatment of the proper chants in the 1920s, proper by proper. Aristotle is posting them in clean HTML.

It is great experience to both read and sing these pieces from the Gregorian repertoire. The hardcopy of the book is here. I recall the first time I discovered this resource and realizing what a kick comes from singing music in our own parish that has been sung for 1000 years, and enjoying reading a learned monk's reflections on the same pieces of music. He will nearly always enlightened you, and there is a special sense of something that comes when you notice something that he didn't, which happens from time to time. It is excellent work to make all these available in short pieces week by week.

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I have grown to love the Gregorian Chant that is part of our Western Rite Divine Liturgy.  At first, on the surface, it seems to have very little in common with the Eastern Rite Orthodox Divine Liturgies I have attended. 
Time, attentiveness  and letting go of the former expectations of what Worship and Liturgy should "do", I have stopped "using" Liturgy as a way of "approaching  God", an old habit from former days, and instead first seeking to through regular personal prayer to seek Union with Christ as a preparation to join with the Whole Church through the Liturgy and watch, wait, pray for God in His infinite Mercy to approach us.
And as with all things Holy, in Paradox God never fails to bend down the Heavens to touch Earth and at the same time raise us up His earthly creation to meet Heaven.

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from the Introduction of The Chants of the Vatican Gradual

'"Liturgy, however, directs all things to God and is governed by reverence for God. The goal of plain chant, therefore, must primarily be the glorification of God and not the reaction it has on man's ideas and sentiments. Hence it depicts reverential worship of the majesty of God, wonderment over His beauty, amazement over His divine deeds for us, trustful hope in Him whose impenetrable Wisdom guides all things—and then again a fervent, even joyful, gratitude for His love.

"Plain chant, therefore, knows no exuberance of sentiment, no predominance of mood in the face of quiet and serene reasoning. For this it is altogether too intimately connected with its text.

"It is prayer devoid of external manifestation and false pathos; it is direct as the words of a child to its father, plain and simple as the evening prayer of an innocent soul."

Liturgical prayer and chant differ greatly from private devotion. Liturgy, according to its very name, presupposes a fellowship of spirit.

This naturally demands a restraint of the purely personal element and a renunciation of those traits which correspond to the inclinations and experiences of the individual.'"

Taken from The Chants of the Vatican Gradual by Dom Dominic Johner, translated from the German by Monks of St. John’s Abbey. St. John’s Abbey Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1940. A PDF scan of this book may be downloaded for free from the website of the Church Music Association of America.

He also included audio recordings of the chants (in Latin) courtesy of St. Benedict’s Monastery, Sao Paolo, Brazil.

NOW

Now the silence, Now the Peace
Now the empty hands uplifted;
Now the kneeling, now the plea,
Now the Father's welcome,
Now the hearing, now the power,
Now the vessel brimmed for pouring;
Now the body, now the blood,
Now the Joyful Celebration;

Now the Wedding, Now the songs
Now the heart forgiven, leaping;
Now the Spirit's Visitation,
Now the Son's Epiphany,
Now the Father's Blesing,
Now, Now, Now.

Jaroslav J. Vajda

MEMORARE

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother;
To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy, hear and answer me.
Amen

O Come Thou Dayspring

The watcher: by Maureen F..

CREATOR of the stars of night,
Thy people's everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
and hear Thy servants when they call.

Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
should doom to death a universe,
hast found the medicine, full of grace,
to save and heal a ruined race.

Thou camest, the Bridegroom of the Bride,
as drew the world to evening tide,
proceeding from a virgin shrine,
the spotless Victim all divine.

At whose dread Name, majestic now,
all knees must bend, all hearts must bow;
and things celestial Thee shall own,
and things terrestrial Lord alone.

O Thou whose coming is with dread,
to judge and doom the quick and dead,
preserve us, while we dwell below,
from every insult of the foe.

To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
laud, honor, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally. Amen.

To Read the Original Latin, Click Below:

Metaphors, crypto-Nestorianism and The Feast of the Sacred Heart ?

The archives at  OCCIDENTALIS has an excellent post concerning the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

We do have the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate, and it's based entirely upon the excellent liturgical texts from the Breviary and the Missal, not upon the excesses of the popular devotion (popular devotion can be crazy, whether its Orthodox or Catholic).

TO READ THE REST:click  here and scroll to the bottom of the page to the entry marked: Cor Jesu, amóre nostri vulnerátum
Dated January 6, 2007

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The Hymn for Lauds on the Feast of the Sacred Heart from the Roman Breviary

Cor, arca legem continens
Non servitútis veteris,
Sed gratiæ, sed veniæ,
Sed et misericórdiæ.

Cor, sanctuárium novi
Intemerátum fœderis,
Templum vetusto sanctius,
Velumque scisso utílius.

Te vulnerátum cáritas
Ictu paténti vóluit,
Amoris invisibilis
Ut veneremur vulnera.

Hoc sub amoris symbolo
Passus cruénta et mystica,
Utrumque sacrifícium
Christus sacérdos obtulit.

Quis non amántem redamet?
Quis non redemptus diligat,
Et Corde in isto seligat
Æterna tabernácula?

Jesu, tibi sit glória,
Qui Corde fundis grátiam,
Cum Patre, et almo Spíritu,
In sempitérna sæcula.  Amen.

Author: Unknown, 18th cent. Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation from the Marquess of Bute’s Roman Breviary. There are seven translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Lauds on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The translation below  and one by Rosa Mulholland—“O tender Heart, strong ark which doth enshrine,” are found in several hymnals. Both are in the Annus Sanctus.



O Heart of Jesus, ark divine
That doth love's Latter Law enshrine,
The grim Old Law of servitude
Thou didst annul upon the Rood.

O Lord, thus thou Law's temple art;
Its Holy Place, thy Sacred Heart;
Whose rended veil doth well unfold
A worth beyond Law's shrine of old.

Thus willed thy love to open wide
A wound upon thy sacred side,
Through which to shew how sins impart
Wounds else unseen, hid in thy Heart.

Its blood and water (two-fold sign)
Shew priestly sacrifice divine,
First offered on the bloody Tree,
Now on our altars bloodlessly.

Though sinners, thou didst die for us!
Who can but love one loving thus?
Thou, in thy Heart, hast made a place
Of refuge for our lawless race.

Feast of Corpus Christi-O Sacrum convivium...

On this day, Western Orthodox Christians, along with Roman Catholics, Anglo-Catholics and high-church Lutherans, celebrate the great feast of Corpus Christi. Some Orthodox Chirstians of the Byzantine Rite might be puzzled that this feast could ever be considered Orthodox, but if indeed the Eucharist is the supreme icon of Christ, why not be blessed by it, venerate it, IN ADDITION TO eating and drinking it? On this great feast, we reflect on what Christ has done for us in giving us his holy body and precious blood: this he did for the life of the world. While on Maundy Thursday (or Holy Thursday), we commemorate the insitution of the Eucharist, on Corpus Christi we celebrate as the culmination of the cycles of the Sacred Triduum, Pascha, Pentecost and Trinitytide the Blessed Sacrament, in thanksgiving to the One whose delight it is to abide in our midst. read the rest.....h/t: Logos, who attends St. Michael Orthodox Church in Whittier, CA (Western Rite).

At the age of sixteen, a humble Belgian girl began having visions of a bright moon marred by a small black spot. After years of seeing this perplexing portent, Jesus Christ appeared to her and revealed its meaning. The moon, He told her, represented the Church calendar, and the black spot the absence of a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. That nun was St. Juliana, Prioress of Mont Cornillon (1258), and the Feast she was commissioned by our Lord to promote was the feast of Corpus Christi.

Even before its universal promotion in 1314, Corpus Christi was one of the grandest feasts of the Roman rite. At the request of Pope Urban IV (d. 1264), the Mass propers and divine office for this day were composed or arranged by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose teaching on the Real Presence was so profound that the figure of Jesus Christ once descended from a crucifix and declared to him, "Thou hast written well of me, Thomas." The mastery with which Aquinas weaves together the scriptural, poetic, and theological texts of this feast amply corroborates this conclusion.

-From The Liturgical Year