The Soul of The East

In 1944, the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s mother took him from Siberia to Moscow. They were among those who witnessed a procession of twenty-thousand Nazi war prisoners marching through the streets of Moscow.

The pavements swarmed with onlookers, cordoned off by soldiers and police. The crowd was mostly women — Russian women with hands roughened by hard work, lips untouched by lipstick, and with thin hunched shoulders which had borne half of the burden of the war. Every one of them must have had a father or a husband, a brother or a son killed by the Nazis. They gazed with hatred in the direction from which the column was to appear. 

At last we saw it. The generals marched at the head, massive chins stuck out, lips folded disdainfully, their whole demeanor meant to show superiority over their plebian victors. 

“‘They smell of perfume, the bastards,” someone in the crowd said with hatred. The women were clenching their fists. The soldiers and policemen had all they could do to hold them back. 

All at once something happened to them. They saw German soldiers, thin, unshaven, wearing dirty blood-stained bandages, hobbling on crutches or leaning on the shoulders of their comrades; the soldiers walked with their heads down. The street became dead silent — the only sound was the shuffling of boots and the thumping of crutches.

Then I saw an elderly women in broken-down boots push herself forward and touch a policeman’s shoulder, saying, “Let me through.” There must have been something about her that made him step aside. She went up to the column, took from inside her coat something wrapped in a colored handkerchief and unfolded it. It was a crust of black bread. She pushed it awkwardly into the pocket of a soldier, so exhausted that he was tottering on his feet. And now from every side women were running toward the soldiers, pushing into their hands bread, cigarettes, whatever they had. The soldiers were no longer enemies. They were people. 

A Precocious Autobiography, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Collins, London 

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Alice Through The Looking Glass

“Time is a thief and a villain!”

With those words, Alice begins her new adventures and conflicts that lead to another surreal journey into Underland in “Alice Through the Looking Glass.”

We have developed an unofficial “tradition” of taking in a matinee movie on holiday weekends. Yesterday we saw “Alice Through The Looking Glass.”
The film was a delightful, surreal adventure with interesting characters combined with dazzling digital effects, elaborate costumes and vibrant make-up. At the end of the day, it was for me all about the story and positive life lessons, especially the theme of forgiveness.

The film edifyingly pays tribute to the power and joy of having good relationships with a parent(s) and the priceless treasure of family, even when the family members are imperfect. Alice loves her family and friends so much, in fact, that she abandons personally selfish ambitions for the sake of preserving her relationship with her loved ones.

I especially liked the character “Time” and how he interacted with the living and the dead via hanging watches. At his initial appearance, I mistakenly believed that he was villainous. And though Alice makes an enemy of Time, and he struggles against her, his actions are equally noble. He wisely tells Alice,

“Young lady, you cannot change the past. But I daresay, you might learn from it.”

Time also repeatedly expresses his desire that people see their finite time alive as something precious. Alice eventually learns that lesson and admits to Time,

“I see now that you give before you take. And every day is a gift, every hour, every minute.”

The interactions between Alice and Time challenge us to explore what time means in our lives and ask us to consider questions such as, “Are we using our limited time on earth wisely? Are we valuing the people in our lives or are we valuing possessions and selfish goals more than relationships?”

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Nostalgia

As a member of the late “baby boomer” generation, I feel like I straddle two historic epochs. Specifically, I have the very fondest memories of the Byzantine-Rusyn liturgical singing (prostopenije) in Old Slavonic and its rich para-liturgical hymnology in what we lovingly refer to as “po-nashemu.” 

In particular, I reminisce about the many annual Labor Day weekend excursions to “Otpust” (pilgrimage) at Mt. St. Macrina as a “palomnik” (pilgrim). Keeping with the tradition well established at the various shrines and sacred spots in their homeland, Carpatho-Rusyn Americans began a new tradition in the “new world,” namely the Labor Day weekend pilgrimage in honor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to Mt. St. Macrina in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The “Otpust” is built upon tradition in order to preserve a rich heritage and sustained through faith and the application of the sacred sense here and now. 

As I reminisce, I am deeply grateful to God and His Blessed Mother that I have had the privilege of making so many pilgrimages to the Mount. In a very real way, I sense in my heart and hear in my soul the voices of the past that for many of us have become inescapably connected with our faith tradition. The prior immigrant generation, who originated and preserved this tradition, has passed; and, now that they have gone, the torch of faith has been passed to my generation. Sadly, I fear that we have not shown ourselves to be overly faithful stewards of this precious tradition. The number of pilgrims has gradually decreased over the past eight-two years.

I recognize, as a priest and psychotherapist, that this annual tradition evokes deep spiritual and psychological issues for me. The feelings, motivations and aspirations of a middle-aged person living through a faith tradition and culture’s transition phase are quite complex, often leaving me feeling misunderstood, diminished and despondent. The schism between the “old ways” and modern praxis are for me the reflection of a deeper schism or disjunction between genesis and validity, between the transcendent and the mundane, between the divine and the secular.

God willing, I will once again this year be blessed to be present at “Otpust'” as a “palomnik.” Over the next few months, I hope to share with you some of the rich traditions of the pilgrimage that have so deeply impacted my faith and continue to inspire me to this day. And, although Labor Day weekend remains a few months into the future, I humbly request that you please pray for me to be able to make the journey safely and uneventfully.

 

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Jesus Prayer – Иисусова Молитва

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Working Through a Shattered Past*

“Let go of the things you can’t change about your past, and trust God with your present and your future.”

We tend to see God through our shattered perspective, and that’s a big problem. With a severely damaged self-image, we generally have a broken God-image too. In fact, let’s be honest; some of us believe God is great and all-powerful, but we can’t imagine Him doing anything astonishing through our lives. We sing worship songs about His awesomeness, but we believe God is limited in what He can do with screw-ups like us.

A huge part of the dilemma is that we like to create gods in our own image. We make gods out of the rich and famous. We elevate leaders (including politicians and pastors) to god-like status. We put them on a pedestal somewhere prominent in our lives, but in the end it’s a puny little god we’ve made to worship rather than Almighty God. Here’s the problem: If our God is too tiny or too human (like us), then our faith and confidence in Him will be too small.

Deep down we want to believe that God can do anything, but we’re pretty sure He has limits when it comes to us. Time or space might not constrain God, but a craftsman is only as good as the material he has to work with, right? And we know what we are.

More mud than marble.

More sandstone than diamond.

More broken than whole.

I’m not a big fan of self-confidence. Despite what the positive thinking gurus have to say, I’m not OK (and neither are you). I can sit in a lotus position for hours chanting, “I am good. I am awesome. My life force in the universe matters.” But in my gut I know I’m not that good. In fact, I’m pretty messed up at times.

So what’s the alternative to emotional self-flogging? The substitute for self-confidence is God-confidence. (Stop and read that line again.) In other words, it’s not about me. So I put my confidence and hope in God and His ability to accomplish anything through a cracked pot like me.

The god I’ve created in my mind has limits.

The God of the universe does not.

I am broken.

He is not.

In fact, working with people who typically are relegated to the scratch-and-dent pile of life is God’s specialty.

Many of us feel we’ve gone too far and failed too miserably to ever get back on track. Even if God once had a great plan for our lives, we believe it’s too late now. But avoiding epic failure is not a prerequisite to experiencing an epic life.

Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer. Rahab was a prostitute. Peter was a betrayer. Saul (aka: Paul) persecuted and imprisoned Christians. Yet each of them lived amazingly epic lives when they followed God.

We’re all in trouble if the path to adventure in Christ requires perfection. We must learn to get past what we’ve done and get beyond our glaring inadequacies. God is bigger than our foolishness.

Perhaps you often drift in your mind to some horrendous past sin you’ve committed. Possibly you’re devoured by your failure and overwhelmed by your foolishness. Maybe the misery of yesterday and the emptiness of today have stolen from you any joy or hope for a better tomorrow.

If that’s you, please listen to these words: God knows where you’ve been, where you are and where He will take you. He knows your past, present and future better than you do, but He sees a sunrise of hope on your horizon.

How do you overcome a shattered and sinful past?

You simply confess your sin and rest in God’s goodness and grace. You truly can be free and forgiven because of Jesus. Let go of the things you can’t change about your past, and trust God with your present and your future. He is able to redeem, restore and renew any life that is fully surrendered to Him.

There’s a reason why they call it amazing grace.

*Submitted by Kurt Bubna

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O Death, Where Is Your Sting?

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death‚ where is your sting? O grave‚ where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

At a recent lunch at Arby’s, I casually asked the cashier before placing my order if there were any value meal specials.  In response, the cashier removed a used coupon from the drawer and graciously handed it to me for my use. I expressed to her that I was very appreciative for her kind and generous act. She replied:

“Honey, life is short and death is certain. Gotta’ do some good when there’s still time.”

She was absolutely right that death is inevitable and the clock is ticking, but I was nevertheless taken aback by her comment. Few people in our society seem comfortable talking about death, even though we know that eventually we will all die. There is no escape from it. More often than not, we attempt to circumvent the reality of being mortal. We feel uncomfortable with conversations about death‚ even though we know this is achieved on a very superficial level. Our culture fears death, avoids the thought of death, masking it when it does happen. It is our illusion that we can somehow transcend the inevitability of death‚ if we don’t talk about it.

Orthodox Catholic Christianity has a different approach to the reality of our departure from this life. Every Sunday is considered a little Pascha, commemorating Christ’s Resurrection. Death is regarded as an integral part of life‚ as is birth or growing old. Of course death is still viewed as an unnatural state‚ a consequence of sin‚ but when the time comes‚ death is accepted with the great hope and expectation of the encounter with Christ. Such a simple yet profound approach to the end of our lives‚ accepting it as it is as part of the human condition, is fundamental to the Orthodox Catholic Faith.

Death is the only way to transition into the beauty of the life in paradise. The only fear a Christian should have is not being adequately prepared.  This is why confession and communion are such an important part of our days on earth. Uncertain of the time of our death, we are compelled to strive more diligently towards being prepared at any moment‚ making participation in the sacraments a part of our regular life in Christ.

For a few years now, I have considered purchasing my coffin. Sitting it up in a corner of my room would allow me to use it before my death as a curio cabinet or a wine rack, but my children have vehemently forbidden me to do so. My children’s grandfather, a retired priest, already has his coffin and refers to it as his “comfort box.”

I feel that daily facing my own mortality better prepares me for that moment when I will inevitably stand before God and account for my life. I’m not in a hurry, mind you. I pray that God will grant me many more years; however, I consider it positive to think about one’s own death. Avoidance will not prolong a person’s life, but it can deprive one of repentance.

St. Basil the Great teaches that the greatest philosophy is the continuous thought of death. Not in a fatalistic way‚ but in the spirit of a heightened awareness of our everyday actions and their impact on our state after leaving this life. Instead of avoidance and denial‚ we should embrace the reality of death and transform it into an element of change in our lives towards a more responsible existence. Contemplating death makes us paradoxically more eager to live according to Christ, Who has conquered death by death and granted life unto the world.

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Feeling Dejected or Weary?

“When you are praying alone, and your spirit is dejected, and you are wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, your own Guardian Angel, and all the Saints of God. Truly they do; for they are all one in God, and where God is, there are they also. Where the sun is, there also are directed all its rays. Try to understand what this means” – St. John of Kronstadt.

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