by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon

Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today.

This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org.

The People of God have long been accustomed to the titles, ascriptions, and even historical settings that preface various of the Psalms. Sometimes, in fact, these “Psalm Inscriptions” are the object of properly theological interest, not only in commentaries on the Psalter, but also in separate works. The most famous among the latter, arguably, are two treatises of St. Gregory of Nyssa, who found in the Psalm titles a coherent, systematic treatment of ascetical theology.

Because these inscriptions are not normally considered integral to the inspired text, their study pertains to exegetical — not canonical — history.

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St. Isaac the Syrian

Finally there remains for him only this warfare, since nature is kindred to it, and for this reason he has a special expectation that he will destroy the man thereby. What is this device? It is to attack a man through his natural functions.

For often the athlete’s intellect is blinded by the sight and nearness of the objects of sense, and he is easily defeated in his struggle when he is near to them, and particularly when they are before his very eyes. The villainous devil employs this method with knowledge and experience, that is, the experience he has with many ascetics, mighty men, and the great who have fallen by means of these things, and he does this very shrewdly.

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by St. Isaac the Syrian

After all this, the devil again rises up against a man, but he has not the power to with- stand him in the contest; nay rather, he cannot withstand the angel who strengthens and helps the man.

Because of his helper the man is exalted above the devil, and from him he receives strength and patience, such that his dense, material body can vanquish a bodiless and noetic being. When, therefore, the enemy sees all this strength the man has received from God, and that his external senses are not overwhelmed by what he sees and the sounds he hears, and that his thoughts are not weakened by his enticements and panderings, then the crafty one seeks a way to part the angel, the man’s helper, from him.

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by St. Isaac the Syrian

On the Second Method of the Devil’s Warfare

Whenever the devil sees men who are courageous and strong, who reckon death as nothing, who go forth with great zeal, who give themselves up to every trial and death, and who set at naught the life of the world and of the body and every temptation, he does not confront them immediately, nor does he openly reveal himself to them, but he restrains himself, giving place to them; and he does not go out to meet them at their first assault, nor does he draw himself up to do battle with them.

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by St. Isaac the Syrian

On the Different Methods of the Devil’s Warfare Against Those Who Journey on the Narrow Way That Transcends the World

On the First Method

OUR ADVERSARY, the devil, has the long-standing habit of artfully choosing modes of warfare against those who enter upon the ascetic contest according to the form of their weapons, and he changes the manner of his struggle against them according to the aim of each. He observes those who are indolent in their volition and whose thoughts are infirm, and from the very beginning he vehemently wars upon them, raising up against them vigorous and potent temptations. He does this in order to make them taste the modes of his wickedness at the start of their course, so that they should be overcome by fear and their pathway should seem to them rugged and impassable.

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by Fr. Barnabas Powell

We are republishing this article from our good friend, Fr. Barnabas, who is the priest of Ss. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Church in Cumming, GA  and blogger at Sober Joy, co-teaches the course PAST 7201 – Preaching: Proclaiming The Kindgom, with Fr. Nick Triantifilou, the president of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Fr. Nick  was the main professor, and Fr.  Barnabas was the co-instructor. In this preaching lesson, which was given earlier this year, we are given an excellent example of a three-step process to preparing an effective sermon on the Gospel.

Tonight we are going to look at one way to organize a homily to insure that your homily has a clear purpose and a clear structure to encourage effective preaching.

The outline I use is as follows:

Introduction

D.S. – (Declarative Statement)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

I. (1st Main Point)

1. (Sub points)

2.

Ill. – (Illustration)

Appl. – (Application)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

II. (2nd Main Point)

1. (Sub points)

2.

Ill. – (Illustration)

Appl. – (Application)

T.S. – (Transitional Statement)

Conclusion Read more

by St. Athenagoras of Athens

A Plea For Chrisitans was written by Athenagoras (c. 176 A.D.) to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus as a philosophical appeal for justice on behalf of the Christians. In this work, Athenagoras endeavors to show the emperors that the ill-treatment of the Christians is entirely unreasonable. This is the first philosophical demonstration of the unity of God in Christian literature. He also sets forth the doctrine of the Trinity.

The reason for excerpting these chapters is the remarkable claim, and proofs, which are very similar to Robert Bowie Johnson’s thesis in The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble. Johnson’s reasoning and conclusions are compelling, and I find that Athenagoras has already laid the clear groundwork for the very same idea: The pagan gods are simply the deified men and women of the past.  Johnson goes further, stating that they are, in fact, the Biblical characters of Genesis, but from the point of view of those who reject God and His Laws, and would make themselves “like God.” I don’t get anything for recommending The Parthenon Code, but I do suggest you read it.

REASONS WHY DIVINITY HAS BEEN ASCRIBED TO MEN

For if detestable and god-hated men had the reputation of being gods, and the daughter of Derceto, Semiramis, a lascivious and blood-stained woman, was esteemed a Syria goddess; and if, on account of Derceto, the Syrians worship doves and Semiramis (for, a thing impossible, a woman was changed into a dove: the story is in Ctesias), what wonder if some should be called gods by their people on the ground of their rule and sovereignty (the Sibyl, of whom Plato also makes mention, says:—

“It was the generation then the tenth,
Of men endow’d with speech, since forth the flood
Had burst upon the men of former times,
And Kronos, Japetus, and Titan reigned,
Whom men, of Ouranos and Gaia
Proclaimed the noblest sons, and named them so,
Because of men endowed with gift of speech
They were the first”);

and others for their strength, as Heracles and Perseus; and others for their art, as Asclepius?

Those, therefore, to whom either the subjects gave honour or the rulers themselves[assumed it], obtained the name, some from fear, others from revenge. Thus Antinous, through the benevolence of your ancestors towards their subjects, came to be regarded as a god. But those who came after adopted the worship without examination.

“The Cretans always lie; for they, O king,
Have built a tomb to thee who art not dead.”

Though you believe, O Callimachus, in the nativity of Zeus, you do not believe in his sepulchre; and whilst you think to obscure the truth, you in fact proclaim him dead, even to those who are ignorant; and if you see the cave, you call to mind the childbirth of Rhea; but when you see the coffin, you throw a shadow over his death, not considering that the unbegotten God alone is eternal.

For either the tales told by the multitude and the poets about the gods are unworthy of credit, and the reverence shown them is superfluous (for those do not exist, the tales concerning whom are untrue); or if the births, the amours, the murders, the thefts, the castrations, the thunderbolts, are true, they no longer exist, having ceased to be since they were born, having previously had no being. And on what principle must we believe some things and disbelieve others, when the poets have written their stories in order to gain greater veneration for them?

For surely those through whom they have got to be considered gods, and who have striven to represent their deeds as worthy of reverence, cannot have invented their sufferings. That, therefore, we are not atheists, acknowledging as we do God the Maker of this universe and His Logos, has been proved according to my ability, if not according to the importance of the subject.

Source

by St. Athenagoras of Athens

A Plea For Chrisitans was written by Athenagoras (c. 176 A.D.) to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus as a philosophical appeal for justice on behalf of the Christians. In this work, Athenagoras endeavors to show the emperors that the ill-treatment of the Christians is entirely unreasonable. This is the first philosophical demonstration of the unity of God in Christian literature. He also sets forth the doctrine of the Trinity.

The reason for excerpting these chapters is the remarkable claim, and proofs, which are very similar to Robert Bowie Johnson’s thesis in The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble. Johnson’s reasoning and conclusions are compelling, and I find that Athenagoras has already laid the clear groundwork for the very same idea: The pagan gods are simply the deified men and women of the past.  Johnson goes further, stating that they are, in fact, the Biblical characters of Genesis, but from the point of view of those who reject God and His Laws, and would make themselves “like God.” I don’t get anything for recommending The Parthenon Code, but I do suggest you read it.

PROOF OF THE SAME FROM THE POETS

But among the Greeks, also, those who are eminent in poetry and history say the same thing. Thus of Heracles:—

“That lawless wretch, that man of brutal strength,
Deaf to Heaven’s voice, the social rite transgressed.”

Such being his nature, deservedly did he go mad, and deservedly did he light the funeral pile and burn himself to death. Of Asklepius, Hesiod says:—

“The mighty father both of gods and men
Was filled with wrath, and from Olympus’ top
With flaming thunderbolt cast down and slew
Latona’s well-lov’d son—such was his ire.”

And Pindar:—

“But even wisdom is ensnared by gain.
The brilliant bribe of gold seen in the hand
Ev’n him perverted: therefore Kronos’ son
With both hands quickly stopp’d his vital breath,
And by a bolt of fire ensured his doom.”

Either, therefore, they were gods and did not hanker after gold—

“O gold, the fairest prize to mortal men,
Which neither mother equals in delight,
Nor children dear”—

for the Deity is in want of naught, and is superior to carnal desire, nor did they die; or, having been born men, they were wicked by reason of ignorance, and overcome by love of money. What more need I say, or refer to Castor, or Pollux, or Amphiaraus, who, having been born, so to speak, only the other day, men of men, are looked upon as gods, when they imagine even Ino after her madness and its consequent sufferings to have become a goddess?

“Sea-rovers will her name Leucothea.”

And her son:—

“August Palaemon, sailors will invoke.”

Source

by St. Athenagoras of Athens

A Plea For Chrisitans was written by Athenagoras (c. 176 A.D.) to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus as a philosophical appeal for justice on behalf of the Christians. In this work, Athenagoras endeavors to show the emperors that the ill-treatment of the Christians is entirely unreasonable. This is the first philosophical demonstration of the unity of God in Christian literature. He also sets forth the doctrine of the Trinity.

The reason for excerpting these chapters is the remarkable claim, and proofs, which are very similar to Robert Bowie Johnson’s thesis in The Parthenon Code: Mankind’s History in Marble. Johnson’s reasoning and conclusions are compelling, and I find that Athenagoras has already laid the clear groundwork for the very same idea: The pagan gods are simply the deified men and women of the past.  Johnson goes further, stating that they are, in fact, the Biblical characters of Genesis, but from the point of view of those who reject God and His Laws, and would make themselves “like God.” I don’t get anything for recommending The Parthenon Code, but I do suggest you read it.

THE HEATHEN GODS WERE SIMPLY MEN

But it is perhaps necessary, in accordance with what has already been adduced, to say a little about their names. Herodotus, then, and Alexander the son of Philip, in his letter to his mother (and each of them is said to have conversed with the priests at Heliopolis, and Memphis, and Thebes), affirm that they learnt from them that the gods had been men. Herodotus speaks thus:

“Of such a nature were, they said, the beings represented by these images, they were very far indeed from being gods. However, in the times anterior to them it was otherwise; then Egypt had gods for its rulers, who dwelt upon the earth with men, one being always supreme above the rest. The last of these was Horus the son of Osiris, called by the Greeks Apollo. He deposed Typhon, and ruled over Egypt as its last god- king. Osiris is named Dionysus (Bacchus) by the Greeks.”

“Almost all the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt.”

Apollo was the son of Dionysus and Isis, as Herodotus likewise affirms:

“According to the Egyptians, Apollo and Diana are the children of Bacchus and Isis; while Latona is their nurse and their preserver.”

These beings of heavenly origin they had for their first kings: partly from ignorance of the true worship of the Deity, partly from gratitude for their government, they esteemed them as gods together with their wives.

“The male kine, if clean, and the male calves are used for sacrifice by the Egyptians universally; but the females, they are not allowed to sacrifice, since they are sacred to Isis. The statue of this goddess has the form of a woman but with horns like a cow, resembling those of the Greek representations of Io.”

And who can be more deserving of credit in making these statements, than those who in family succession son from father, received not only the priesthood, but also the history? For it is not likely that the priests, who make if their business to commend the idols to men’s reverence, would assert falsely that they were men. If Herodotus alone had said that the Egyptians spoke in their histories of the gods as of men, when he says,

“What they told me concerning their religion it is not my intention to repeat, except only the names of their deities, things of very trifling importance,”

it would behove us not to credit even Herodotus as being a fabulist. But as Alexander and Hermes surnamed Trismegistus, who shares with them in the attribute of eternity, and innumerable others, not to name them individually,[declare the same], no room is left even for doubt that they, being kings, were esteemed gods.

That they were men, the most learned of the Egyptians also testify, who, while saying that ether, earth, sun, moon, are gods, regard the rest as mortal men, and the temples as their sepulchres. Apollodorus, too, asserts the same thing in his treatise concerning the gods. But Herodotus calls even their sufferings mysteries.

“The ceremonies at the feast of Isis in the city of Busiris have been already spoken of. It is there that the whole multitude, both of men and women, many thousands in number, beat them selves at the close of the sacrifice in honour of a god whose name a religious scruple forbids me to mention.”

If they are gods, they are also immortal; but if people are beaten for them, and their sufferings are mysteries, they are men, as Herodotus himself says:

“Here, too, in this same precinct of Minerva at Sais, is the burial-place of one whom I think it not right to mention in such a connection. It stands behind the temple against the back wall, which it entirely covers. There are also some large stone obelisks in the enclosure, and there is a lake near them, adorned with an edging of stone. In form it is circular, and in size, as it seemed to me, about equal to the lake at Delos called the Hoop. On this lake it is that the Egyptians represent by night his sufferings whose name I refrain from mentioning, and this representation they call their mysteries.”

And not only is the sepulchre of Osiris shown, but also his embalming:

“When a body is brought to them, they show the bearer various models of corpses made in wood, and painted so as to resemble nature. The most perfect is said to be after the manner of him whom I do not think it religious to name in connection with such a matter.”

Source

by St. Gregory the Great, The Dialogist

Our father among the saints Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Dialogist, was the Pope of Rome until his death in 604 AD. He is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Church. To him we must look for an explanation of the religious situation of the Middle Ages.

Indeed, if no account were taken of his work, the evolution of the form of medieval Christianity would be almost inexplicable. He is noted for his writings. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, rich with Scriptural quotations and imagery, has been associated to him as its author.

Beloved brothers, our Lord and Savior sometimes gives us instruction by words and sometimes by actions. His very deeds are our commands; and whenever he acts silently he is teaching us what we should do. For example, he sends his disciples out to preach two by two, because the precept of charity is twofold – love of God and of one’s neighbor.

The Lord sends his disciples out to preach in twos in order to teach us silently that whoever fails in charity toward his neighbor should by no means take upon himself the office of preaching. Rightly is it said that he sent them ahead of him into every city and place where he himself was to go. For the Lord follows after the preachers, because preaching goes ahead to prepare the way, and then when the words of exhortation have gone ahead and established truth in our minds, the Lord comes to live within us.

To those who preach Isaiah says:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.

And the psalmist tells them:

Make a way for him who rises above the sunset.

The Lord rises above the sunset because from that very place where he slept in death, he rose again and manifested a greater glory. He rises above the sunset because in his resurrection he trampled underfoot the death which he endured. Therefore, we make a way for him who rises above the sunset when we preach his glory to you, so that when he himself follows after us, he may illumine you with his love.

Let us listen now to his words as he sends his preachers forth:

The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.

That the harvest is good but the laborers are few cannot be said without a heavy heart, for although there are many to hear the good news there are only a few to preach it. Indeed, see how full the world is of priests, but yet in God’s harvest a true laborer is rarely to be found; although we have accepted the priestly office we do not fulfill its demands.

Think over, my beloved brothers, think over his words:

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.

Pray for us so that we may be able to labor worthily on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, that after we have taken up the office of preaching our silence may not bring us condemnation from the just judge.