Our Daily Bread

A few weeks ago, some dear friends (you know who you are) treated us to a delicious dinner in their home. Earlier that very day, I had contemplated purchasing a small icon of the Mother of God “Multiplier of Breads” for the monastery chapel. Aware that the icon represented Our Lady’s intercession in meeting daily needs, I felt that the presence of this icon in the chapel may help to ease our ongoing financial struggle; however, I rationally couldn’t justify incurring an additional expense. So, I restrained myself from placing the order. Upon arrival at our hosts’ home, we were graciously gifted with three icons, one of which was the icon of the Mother of God “Multiplier of Breads”. And, yes, I confess my lack of faith and kindly ask for your prayers!

Today according to the older (Julian) calendar is the Church’s commemoration of this particular icon. In reflection before the icon, my thoughts turned to the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer “give us this day our daily bread”. And I then recalled from my “New Testament Greek” class at seminary that the word “daily” as used in the English version of the Lord’s Prayer isn’t a precise translation of the original Greek. And, yes, I confess my frequent distraction in contemplative meditation and kindly ask for your prayers!

The Greek word we translate as “daily” only occurs in two places in the New Testament: once in Matthew and once in Luke, both times in the scriptural passage of the Lord’s Prayer. And this word doesn’t appear in any other Greek writing from antiquity, so we have no other comparative source for a precise translation.

Incidentally, the Greek word that usually gets translated as “daily” in the Lord’s Prayer is επιούσιος. The word is compromised of two parts: (1) the preposition επι (which means on, above, after, against, over, under, among, around, because, beside, beyond, or within); and, (2) the noun οὐσία (which means substance, essence, or being). Hopefully you can understand why it’s a bit hard to translate, requiring careful examination of the surrounding words in the phrase for context.

“Give” is the verb in the phrase, the central act. It implies a one-way transaction with nothing expected in return. We don’t say sell us today our daily bread, trade or negotiate with us today for our daily bread. The verb is “give” as in a gift.

“Us/Our” is about us – our needs, our cares, and our concerns – and “us/our” is not “me/my.” When we pray “give us bread” we are saying a prayer not only for ourselves, but for others, as well. Jesus is reminding us to ask each day for our own needs and for the needs of our neighbors.

“This day” is the one place where the words of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke differ slightly. Matthew says give us σήμερον (this day, today) where Luke says καθʼ ἡμέραν (each day, every day). This makes more sense when you consider the two different audiences: the Gospel of Matthew is written earlier—his people are still expecting Jesus to come back any day now. They are present-focused—take care of us today, this day. The Gospel of Luke, on the other hand, is written later. His people are beginning to realize that Jesus might take awhile; so they are settling in for the long haul. Take care of us each day, every day. This prayer changes to accomodate the circumstances—it’s not something set in stone like a magical formula. It’s contextual; the prayer becomes our own.

“Bread” represents the grain that functions as the basic staple of existence in every culture. Lord, give us what we need to live—spiritually, physically, practically—in every way. There’s an excellent older Eastern Orthodox translation: “Give us this day the bread that we need.”

The sheaves of wheat in the icon of the Mother of God “Multiplier of Breads” evoked within me thoughts about the great Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, instituted by our Lord before His death by the sharing of bread and wine with His disciples. The eucharistic bread is super-transubstantial and spiritual and concurrently common and comforting. Fortunately we aren’t required to understand exactly what all of this means. All we have to do is accept the invitation to His table, willing to humbly partake and to faithfully trust that God will take care of our daily needs.

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Icon of the Mother of God “Multiplier of Breads”

Today the Orthodox Catholic Church commemorates according to the older calendar  the Icon of the Mother of God “Multiplier of Breads” or “She Who Ripens the Grain” (Спорительница Хлебов [Sporitel’nitsa Khlebov]).

This unusual icon was commissioned by Elder Ambrose of Optina, and reflects the profound, childlike faith he had in the Mother of God. The Elder himself gave the icon its title as helping those in need to obtain their “daily bread”.

The icon was sent to Saint Ambrose in 1890 by Abbess Ilaria of the Bolkhov Convent. Its original composition depicts the Mistress of Creation seated upon clouds, her arms outstretched in supplication; below is a harvested field on which are several sheaves of wheat.

The Elder himself prayed before this icon, and he encouraged his spiritual daughters-the nuns of the Shamordino Convent which he founded -to do likewise. In the last year of his life, which the Elder spent at Shamordino, he ordered copies to be made of this icon, and distributed them to his many devoted spiritual children among the laity.

Not long before his repose, the Elder composed a special refrain for singing the general akathist to the Mother of God before this icon: “Rejoice, thou full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Grant also unto us unworthy ones the dew of thy grace and show us thy loving-kindness!” The nuns often sang the akathist with this refrain in the cell of the failing Elder.

Saint Ambrose established that the icon be commemorated on 15/28 October. On this very day the Elder, who reposed on 10/23 October, was lowered into the grave. This coincidence confirmed, as it were, the Elder’s reply to his father confessor’s query: “Batiushka, you are dying. To whom will you entrust your convent?” Elder Ambrose answered with his characteristic simplicity and trust, “I’m leaving the convent to the Queen of Heaven.” And not in vain. Although all across Russia, 1891 was a year of meager harvests, the Shamordino fields did not fail to yield an abundance of wheat.

The summer following the Elder’s repose, a faithful copy of this icon, executed by Ivan Feodorovich Cherepanov, one of his close disciples, was sent to the newly-established Piatnitsk Convent in the Voronezh district, where there was a serious drought. Soon after a service of intercession was held before the “Multiplier” icon, it began to rain, and the threat of famine was dispelled.

One might be tempted to criticize the icon’s realistic style, which, although popular in both Greece and Russia, falls outside proper iconographic tradition. Without legitimating such realism, the icon does serve as one more example of how careful one must be not to confine God to our standards of correctness. The spirit blows where it wills. Clearly, faith and love stand above stylistic purity.

*Compiled from Orthodox America

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Synaxis of the Saints of Optina Pustyn

Commemorated today are our holy fathers Moses, Antony, Leonid (Lev), Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatolius I, Isaac I, Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatolius the Younger, Nectarius, Nikon the Confessor, and Hieromartyr Isaac the Younger. Hieromartyr Isaac was shot by the Bolsheviks on 26 December 1937.

This feast commemorates a few of the holy Fathers who made the Optina Hermitage (Pustyn) a focus for the powerful renewal movement that spread through the Church in Russia beginning early in the nineteenth century, and continuing up to and even into the atheist persecutions of the twentieth century. Saint Paisius Velichkovsky was powerfully influential in bringing the hesychastic tradition of Orthodox spirituality to Russia in the eighteenth century, and his labors found in Optina Monastery a ‘headquarters’ from which they spread throughout the Russian land.

With the onslaught of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the monastery was officially closed, but some of the Fathers were able to keep it running for a time as an ‘agricultural farm’. Over the years, most of the Fathers were dispersed, to die in exile, in prison camps, or by firing squad. Many of them are known to have continued to function as startsi to their spiritual children, despite great danger and hardship, for the remainder of their time on earth.

Commemoration of the Optina startsi was approved by the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad in 1990 and by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1996. The Optina Monastery itself was officially re-established in 1987.

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Saint Venerable Ambrose of Optina*

Alexander Michailovich Grenkov was born 23 November 1812 in the Russian province of Tambov. His parents raised him strictly and with fervent piety. He did well in his studies and was ranked among the top students. About a year before graduation Alexander became seriously ill. He promised that if God healed him, he would become a monk. Although his prayer was answered, Alexander seemed to forget his promise. After graduation from the seminary he took a position as tutor to the children of a certain landowner and remained with this family for a year and a half. After this he became a teacher at the local parochial school.

Optina Elders

After a night socializing with friends, Alexander was disgusted by his own frivolity. Perhaps his unfulfilled promise to become a monk weighed on his conscience. The next morning he quit his job and arrived at Optina Pustyn in October of 1839. After a trial period he decided to remain in the monastery and dedicate his life to God. He received the name of Ambrose at his monastic tonsure in 1842. Ambrose knew the famous spiritual directors Elder Leonid and Elder Macarius. He was the cell attendant of Elder Macarius, who undoubtedly influenced the young monk’s spiritual development.

Ordained as a priest in 1845, Father Ambrose’s reverence and piety in celebrating the divine services were noticed by the other monks. In 1860 Father Ambrose became as the undisputed spiritual director of the monastery. In his role as Elder, Father Ambrose had to receive many people each day to hear confessions and give advice. He used to say:

“The Lord has arranged it so that I would have to talk to people all my life. Now I would be happy to remain silent, but I cannot.”

From all over Russia, people flocked to the venerable Elder. The writer Tolstoy visited him on at least three occasions, and left impressed by the wisdom of the holy monk. Fyodor Dostoevsky came to Optina in 1878 after the death of his son Alyosha and was profoundly affected by his meeting with St Ambrose. The novelist used Father Ambrose as a model for Starets Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov.

In 1884 the saint founded Shamordino convent, which was near Optina. St Ambrose welcomed any woman who wished to follow the monastic path as a nun. Shamordino began to decline after the death of the first abbess, Mother Sophia. St Ambrose went there in June 1890 to straighten out the convent’s affairs. He was unable to return to Optina due to illness; then winter made it impossible for him to travel. Father Ambrose continued to see visitors at Shamordino, even though his health continued to deteriorate.

By September of 1891, it was clear that he had not long to live. He reposed in the Lord on the morning of 10/23 October 1891. Throngs of people attended his funeral and also his burial at Optina. Fathers Joseph, Anthony, Benedict, and Anatole succeeded him as Elder until the monastery was closed after the Russian Revolution. St Ambrose was glorified a saint in 1988.

*Compiled from various sources

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Feast of the Protection of Theotokos

The world has been filled with many miracles of the Mother of God’s protection—signs of her maternal love. The examples of this protection are countless, beginning from the depth of history to our own days.

The commemoration of today’s feast, the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God, has been observed since the tenth century, when, during a time of troubles for the Greek nation, the whole course of events augured that nation’s inescapable demise. The barbaric Saracen tribe (a race related to modern-day Turks of the Moslem faith motivated by their hatred for Christians) surrounded Constantinople with the goal to destroy its many churches, a large part of which were dedicated to the Heavenly Queen, and to wipe it from the face of the earth, subjecting its inhabitants to cruel executions, selling some into slavery and mocking their faith.

The whole population from the little to the great gathered in the Church of Blachernae. Their despair moved them to turn in prayer to the Mother of God with great wailing and tears. She was their last and only hope. Just imagine how they prayed as destruction and death approached. All things earthly were forgotten; before them was the door to eternity and a violent death at its threshold. The depth of their penitent feelings and contrition over the sins which caused this catastrophe to befall the Greeks was so great that the Heavenly Queen herself hastened to appear to the faithful and console them. Her omophorion (veil), gleaming brighter than the rays of the sun, became her Protection from the approaching disaster. 

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Mt. 5:8). 

Not everyone saw the Blessed Mother with their own eyes. Only two, who had given their lives to God, truth and righteousness, whose hearts lay at the Savior’s feet, were astounded by the vision. These were St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ, who was of Slavic origin, and his disciple Ephiphanius. Two beheld the Mother of God; and all the faithful, who had cleansed their hearts by repentance, were capable of believing them unconditionally. After faith came action—the enemy suddenly, for no apparent reason, abandoned its intention. And all those who cherish the memory of these events in their hearts still sing: 

“Rejoice, O Our Joy! Protect us from all evil with Thy omophorion.”

The sovereign Protection of the Mother of God has covered Orthodox Catholic Christians throughout all times. But during this present, difficult time, when faith on this earth has grown cold, is burdened by faithlessness, lawlessness, and ignorance of the knowledge of God’s commandments, has our Fervent Intercessor turned away from us in her zeal for the glory of her Son and God? No, this could not be. Needy children are dearer to a mother. As long as there is at least a “little flock” preserving faithfulness to Christ’s commandments and hoping in the intercessions of the Mother of God, we will not perish. 

We must not doubt or lose our faith by all that we see and hear today. May the hearts of the faithful, who know the great power of the intercession of the Mother of God, ever fall at the feet of the Theotokos with heartfelt sighing, with our needs and sorrows, in all trials and in moments of lamentation over sins. She, the Joy of All Who Sorrow, our heavenly Mother, will spread out upon us her sovereign Protection, intercede for us, save us, and have mercy upon all of us!

Hymn of Protection- Rusyn Prostopinije

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The Decline of Christianity in America

“One of them, an expert in the law, tested him [Jesus] with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:35-40 (NIV)

According to the Eastern-Rite Lectionary, today’s gospel reading (above) for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost is commonly referred to by Orthodox Catholic Christians as “the Gospel of the greatest commandment in the Law” (Евангелие о наибольшей заповеди в Законе). What is the essence of the greatest commandment? Love! If the foundation of Christianity is love of God and love of neighbor, one would reasonably expect to experience unconditional love overflowing in our churches and our lives, in joyful fulfillment of our Lord’s greatest commandment.

Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the experience for a lot of folks.This past week, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released a report about the growing number of people who profess no religious affiliation or have renounced a previous religious affiliation. In the overall survey, Americans identified as important motivations in leaving their childhood religion are: they stopped believing in the religion’s teachings (60%), their family was never that religious when they were growing up (32%), and their experience of negative religious teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian people (29%). Fewer than one in five Americans who left their childhood religion point to the clergy sexual-abuse scandal (19%), a traumatic event in their life (18%), or their congregation becoming too focused on politics (16%) as an important reason for disaffiliating.

Religious believers have a great deal to learn from these results. Love, prayer, humility, and a deep investigation of scripture and tradition can stem the exodus from the Church. I prefer to reframe the data as a challenge and opportunity for necessary change. The details give me inspiration and hope that the Church will interpret the study results as the Holy Spirit’s call to renewal, rather than doom and gloom disaster.

The Church is presented with the opportunity to understand and acknowledge that its present failure to love is driving people away. Rather than doubling down on flawed exegesis of scripture, the Church can embrace the deep compatibility of science and faith, holding fast to the essential truths while contextually reforming antiquated tradition. In obedience to Christ’s greatest commandment, the Church can positively embrace those who have disaffiliated from the Faith and refreshingly present the good news of Christ’s welcome to all.

I am reminded of a prayer by Saint Julian of Norwich that seems fitting to share. She prayed:

In you, Father all-mighty, we have our preservation and our bliss. In you, Christ, we have our restoring and our saving. You are our mother, brother and Savior. In you, our Lord the Holy Spirit, is marvelous and plenteous grace. You are our clothing; for in love you wrap us and embrace us. You are our maker, our lover, our keeper. Teach us to believe that by your grace all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. Amen.

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