Category Archives: church

Eat this scroll.

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One of the readings for Holy Monday is from Ezekiel, a description of what the prophet saw in his vision of creatures and wheels:

…a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another.

The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies.

And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.

Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went.

As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them. When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

I was interested to see how artists might have rendered these images. Many of the pictures were quite psychedelic, and just as mind-boggling as the descriptions Ezekiel gave. My favorite was this quiet sculpture, detail of an Amiens Cathedral facade which shows only two wheels, and a prophet who might be seen as receiving his vision, or perhaps meditating on the whole of it — which would be impossible to render in stone. The complexity and drama are only hinted at by the way the wheels are interwoven or interweaving.

The church fathers have written that the four living creatures are the cherubim, the guardians of the throne of God. The burning coals are holy men, the lamps signify the light of the gospel, and the wheels signify Holy Scripture; St. Gregory the Great tells us that “the New Testament lay hidden by allegory in the letter of the Old Testament.”

Ezekiel closes his description (beyond this day’s reading) with the words, “This was the vision of the likeness of the Lord’s glory. I saw it, and I fell down on my face….” and God spoke to him, gave him an assignment, and gave him a scroll, saying:

“Son of man, eat this scroll, and go and speak to the children of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. Then he said to me, “Son of man, your mouth shall eat and your stomach will be filled with this scroll that is given you.” So I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

My Bible footnotes remind me that the faithful can also know that sweetness that Ezekiel tasted, as the Psalmist sings:

How sweet to my taste are Your teachings.
More than honey and the honeycomb in my mouth.

This probably works best when we love and obey those teachings… Lord, have mercy!

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved:
for thou art my praise.

Jeremiah 17:14

Things above and things below.

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In the fifth week of Lent we Orthodox have “Thursday of the Great Canon,” on which day the entire Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is sung. This penitential hymn is very long, and in the first week of Lent the singing of it is divided among four services. But today we hear and pray it all at once.

“A basic distinguishing feature of the Great Canon is its extremely broad use of images and subjects taken both from the Old and New Testaments. As the Canon progresses, the congregation encounters many biblical examples of sin and repentance. The Bible (and therefore, the Canon) speaks of some individuals in a positive light, and about others in a negative one—the penitents are expected to emulate the positive examples of sanctity and repentance, and to learn from and avoid the negative examples of sin, fallen nature and pride.” -Orthodox Wiki

Here is a small portion from Canticle Four:

“Thy Body and Thy Blood, O Word, Thou hast offered at Thy Crucifixion for the sake of all: Thy Body to refashion me, Thy Blood to wash me clean; and Thou hast given up Thy spirit, O Christ, to bring me to the Father.

“O Creator, Thou hast worked salvation in the midst of the earth, that we might be saved. Thou wast crucified of Thine own will upon the Tree; and Eden, closed till then, was opened. Things above and things below, the creation and all peoples have been saved and worship Thee.

“May the Blood from Thy side be to me a cleansing fount, and may the water that flows with it be a drink of forgiveness. May I be purified by both, O Word, anointed and refreshed, having as chrism and drink Thy words of life.”

Cooking and commemorating.

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Because of the convenient timing of their visit, I was able to conscript my daughter-in-law (definitely Daughter-in-Love) Joy and my grandchildren into my cooking crew, to prepare an agape meal at church in memory of my late husband, “passed from death into life” ten years ago. Memory eternal †

One day two of the boys shopped with me for 45 pounds of potatoes, 20 pounds of carrots, eight cabbages, a big box of cocoa, and many other good ingredients. That day I also put 22 pounds of Great Northern beans to soak, and we squeezed the lemons (from my tree!) for the juice to put in the Greek Beans.

I boiled the wheat and started to assemble the koliva, which Laddie decorated on Sunday morning. On Saturday Clara helped me to dry the soaked beans, and we carried them to church along with all the other ingredients.

The children were incredibly cheerful and hardworking slaves. We all worked for more than six hours on Saturday, with ample breaks as needed for younger conscripts.

They did laugh at me afterward when I apologized for enslaving them, and said they didn’t feel like slaves at all, and that in spite of their sore feet it had been fun. That’s how we all felt.

Liam singlehandedly assembled the chocolate carrot cake brownies (picture at top). This whole menu is the same one I made twice before as a memorial meal. Every time the brownies have turned out a little different, and this time they were quite compact, but still tasty and popular. It’s always hard for people to believe that they contain no eggs or butter; they are completely vegan.

All of the beans, roasted potatoes and brownies were eaten at Sunday’s lunch or taken home by parishioners, and the leftover cabbage salad will be enjoyed after this week’s Presanctified Liturgy.

It really was a great meal, but at this point I can’t imagine making it again — I’m still thoroughly wiped out from being chef for a weekend. And happy, so very happy, to have been able to do it, with family helping this time. These children are too young to remember their grandfather, but they were able to contribute to a big project done in his honor, and that was very special.

Sunday afternoon I took three of the children to the beach! I know, it seems crazy that I would have the energy to do that, but the fatigue hadn’t yet hit me. It was supposed to be sunny out there, but just as we drove over the last hill the fog descended on us, and stayed with us the whole time. We flew kites and chased the waves and Brodie built a sand castle. One kite flew so high up into the fog that it disappeared from sight, and took 20 minutes to reel in. We came home with wet leggings and shorts and shoes, but glad hearts. After all that kitchen work, it was great to be out in the wide open weather.

Laddie’s birthday was this week, and we celebrated with his other grandparents and cousins in a nearby town. Spring has fully sprung, bringing 80 degrees worth of sunshine yesterday and today, then a 20-degree temperature drop and rainy week up ahead. I’m sure I’ll have more springy pictures to share soon. And April is coming on fast!

Children, Candlemas, and Christ

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In 2025 we had a confluence of celebrations on this Lord’s Day, February 2nd. Though it is not the preeminent liturgical event of the day, I will first mention Zacchaeus Sunday, which is our signal that Lent is coming soon, as our homilist reminded us. He took his sermon from the story of Zacchaeus’s coming to Christ, and asked us to contemplate the circumstances of our own individual conversions, or the time when we began to take seriously the faith that we had been baptized into as children.

A 12-year-old catechumen was sitting next to me on the carpet as Father James began his talk, and I pointed out to him the fresco above us on the south wall of the nave, of this story of Zacchaeus. This one below is not ours, but as with many of these icons, the tax collector whom the Bible describes as “short,” and a Sunday school song tells us was “a wee little man,” is depicted as the size of a child. He climbed up into a tree so that he could get a better look at Jesus.

The children of our parish might have wished they had some trees to climb this weekend, because they had lots of extra wiggles to work out, last night and this morning. The rain has been constant for days now, and that kind of weather always seems to result in this phenomenon. Is it only the lack of outdoor play, or is there something in the air — ions? — that makes the little ones more alive than usual? What do you think?

We had at least a couple of dozen children under the  age of five this morning, and many of those families were at Vigil last night, too. It is a huge blessing to have them. I missed last Sunday, and when I came into the beautiful temple for these two services, I was struck afresh by the lavish gift I have been given, to be a member of this parish. After a while, as I was noticing the children happily toddling around, or joining their squeals to the hymns, or sleeping in slings on their mothers, it came to me how much I love my church family at this particular time, when these babies are just the age that they are. There will never be another moment like this one.

Because we we stand during the services, the children have as much liberty as their parents want to give them, to walk around and feel at home in God’s house, which is their house, too. To teach them what is appropriate and reverent behavior is work that spans the years; I am often amazed at how patient and gentle the parents are, as they get them used to church etiquette to whatever degree is realistic, given their changing level of maturity.

from the internet

Many other people help the parents in this; one way it frequently happens is to literally step in and lead a toddler in another direction, when he is about to have a collision with a procession, or encroach on the altar space. We want the children to stand up close, so they have a better view than of the backs of legs, but it takes a while for them to get a feeling for how close is too close. Yesterday evening one little guy made a break for it and was headed right up through what is usually a kind of open space before the altar, and I was nearby in the best position to head him off. I scooped him up and brought him back ten feet, and held him in my arms for the next fifteen minutes or so.

It was the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, or The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and I have written before about how moving I find this account of Christ the firstborn son brought to the temple with an offering to God: Simeon had been waiting his whole life to meet the Messiah, and God told him that he would not die until he did. When the 40-day-old Jesus was revealed to Simeon as The One:

“Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
     ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
     For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
     A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Luke Chapter 2)

Candlemas Day by Marianne Stokes

It seemed that we had more children than usual in church for this feast, which would be so fitting, wouldn’t it? — and so many of them again and again were taken up in the arms of one or another parishioner, among whom I was only too happy to be counted. How nourishing to their young souls, to be in a community where so many people are ready to love and hold them.

The third overlapping event we were participating in was Candlemas, which is actually not a separate feast, but just another name for it, which we Orthodox don’t usually use. But it has candle in the name, and we do always bless candles on this feast. Candles are certainly a symbol of Christ, whom Simeon recognized as the Light of the world. It is not a coincidence that Groundhog Day is the same day; it derived from the feast after its celebration spread to Germany. But you can read about that elsewhere, or watch this podcast of Jonathan Pageau talking about Groundhog Day with Richard Rohlin: “The Deep Symbolism of Groundhog Day.”

I read recently about how some Christians leave their Christmas decorations up until this feast, and I’d decided to take down my tree today. Not sure I will finish, having taken quite a while to assemble this post, but I have begun putting away the ornaments at least. And this little poem about all that just came to me, identified only as “an 18th century poem”:

When New Year’s Day is past and gone;
Christmas is with some people done;
But further some will it extend,
And at Twelfth Day their Christmas end.
Some people stretch it further yet,
At Candlemas they finish it.
The gentry carry it further still
And finish it just when they will;
They drink good wine and eat good cheer

And keep their Christmas all the year.

We Orthodox don’t fit in with the attitude of “the gentry” referenced in these verses; now that Zacchaeus Sunday has heralded the approach of Lent, we leave the feasts of Christmas, the Circumcision of Christ, Theophany, Epiphany and Candlemas behind us. Anyone who holds to the more ancient and traditional mode of life, where feasts punctuate ordinary or regular time, will know that feasts are most elevating when one has prepared for them. My next step in preparing for Holy and Great Pascha is to remove the Christmas tree — but I’ll keep the candles burning.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, “I am the light of the world:
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life.”
(John 8:12)