Meditations for Advent

Meditations for Advent

Preparing for Christ’s birth

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Vassilios Papavassiliou

RELIGION/Holidays/Christmas & Advent RELIGION/Christianity/Orthodox

Vassilios Papavassiliou

Meditations for Advent

Meditations for Advent Preparing for Christ’s Birth Vassilios Papavassiliou

Ancient Faith Publishing • Chesterton, Indiana

Meditations for Advent: Preparing for Christ’s Birth Copyright © 2013 by Theodore Christopher Vasilis All Rights Reserved New Testament quotations are taken from the New King James Version, © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Old Testament quotations are taken from the Orthodox Study Bible, © 2008 by St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology. Used by permission.

Published by: Ancient Faith Publishing (formerly known as Conciliar Press) A Division of Ancient Faith Ministries P.O. Box 748 Chesterton, IN 46304 Printed in the United States of America ISBN 10: 1-936270-77-3 ISBN 13: 978-1-936270-77-4 Cover calligraphy by Jan Powell

Copyright © 2013 by Theodore Christopher Vasilis.

All Rights Reserved.

Published by Ancient Faith Publishing

Contents

Introduction 7 A Guide to the Season of Advent

13

Part I • Spiritual Preparation 1 • Prepare, O Bethlehem

19

Beginning of Advent and the Forefeast

2 • The Temple of God

29

The Entry of the Mother of God

3 • We Have Found the Messiah

39

The Feast of St. Andrew

4 • Barrenness and Fertility

45

St. Anna’s Conception of the Mother of God

5 • Faith and Expectation

49

The Two Sundays before Christmas

6 • Become Like Children The Forefeast

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57

Part II • Search the Scriptures (The Katavasias)

7 • Rod of the Root of Jesse 8

9

• The Angel of the Lord and the Mountain of God • The Angel of Great Counsel and the Fiery Furnace

10 • Jonah and the Sea Beast

63 73 87 97

Part III • The Icon of the Nativity 11 • From the Manger to the Grave

103

12 • Recognizing God

109

13 • The Star of Bethlehem

113

Part IV • The Incarnation 14 • The New Adam

121

15 • The Light Shines in the Darkness 125 About the Author

131

Copyright © 2013 by Theodore Christopher Vasilis.

All Rights Reserved.

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Introduction • ADVENT—derived from the Latin adventus,

meaning “coming”—is a word that is not often used by Orthodox Christians living in the Eastern parts of the world. It is used more frequently by Orthodox Christians living in the West, for the simple reason that when they say “Advent,” other Christians immediately understand they are referring to a period of preparation before the Great Feast of Christmas, the Nativity of Our Lord. However, there are three key differences between Orthodox and Western Advent: • 7 • Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/ meditations-for-advent/

Meditations for Advent

1) Advent in Western Christianity begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, while in the Orthodox Church it begins forty days before Christmas (November 15).

2) Western Advent is focused on both the First and Second Comings of Christ, whereas the primary focus of Orthodox Advent is the Incarnation of our Lord.

3) Advent Sunday marks the beginning of the liturgical year in the Western churches, while the ecclesiastical year of the Orthodox Church begins on September 1.

The Nativity Fast One of the ways in which Orthodox Christians prepare for the Feast of the Nativity is through fasting. Being a forty-day period, Advent is sometimes referred to as “Lent,” not far different from the Great Lent that precedes Pascha • 8 • Copyright © 2013 by Theodore Christopher Vasilis.

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Introduction

(Orthodox Easter). Similarly, Christmas is sometimes referred to in our service books as “Pascha,” and it has also been described as the “Winter Pascha.”1 While the Nativity fast is not as strict as the fast of Great Lent (fish is not prohibited on most days until the last week of Advent), the principle of fasting is the same: we prepare ourselves physically and spiritually for the coming Feast by simplifying our lives, curbing our appetites, and controlling our desires in order to increase our charity, intensify our prayer, and train ourselves to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12), which is the battle with our passions. The meaning and purpose of fasting is a subject I have already covered in Meditations for Great Lent: Reflections on the Triodion, and I do not wish to repeat what I have already explained there. For this reason, 1 Early editions of the Typikon describe Christmas as “a splendid three-day Pascha.” The expression “Winter Pascha” was coined by Fr. Alexander Schmemann.

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Meditations for Advent

fasting is an element of Advent that I will not be reflecting on in this book.

Orthodox Worship As with Great Lent, so too with the Nativity Fast, the approaching feast is prepared for not only by abstinence, but also through the profound meaning of the biblical readings and the hymns (contained in the hymnbooks known as the Menaia for November and December) that we hear in church during this season.

Because the main focus of Advent is our preparation for the Nativity—the Incarnation of the Son of God—the hymns for the season are shot through with references and allusions to the Old Testament: the Church’s preparation over the centuries for the advent of the messianic Kingdom, which came in the person of Jesus

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Introduction

Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. It would therefore be no exaggeration to say that Advent is one great Bible study that sheds light on the meaning of the Old Testament as a preparation for the New. It is certainly no coincidence that so many Old Testament prophets are commemorated during this period.

Advent therefore signifies the Church’s journey throughout the ages—its preparation for the coming of Christ into the world. Every Advent we are called to participate in the Church’s journey from expectation to fulfillment, from preparation to joy. Thus the Church’s services do not speak of Christmas as a mere historic event that occurred some two thousand years ago, but as something that is real and present here and now: “Today the Virgin comes to the cave”; “Today the Virgin gives birth”; “Today heaven and earth have been made one.”

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Meditations for Advent

It is this “today” of the Church—the “today” of God that traverses the centuries—which gives full meaning to Advent and to every Feast and season of the Orthodox Church.

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A Guide to the Season of Advent • First Week of Advent November 15—Orthodox Advent begins (The Nativity fast is not as strict as most fasts of the Orthodox Church, and the practices of fasting vary from one place to another. The general rule is that we abstain from meat and dairy throughout Advent, and from fish on Wednesdays and Fridays and during the last 5, 7, or 12 days of Advent—from December 20, 18, or 13—depending on local custom.)

The Prophet Obadiah (November 19) The Entry of the Mother of God (November 21) (From this day we begin to chant the Katavasias of Christmas at Matins.)

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Meditations for Advent

Second Week of Advent (November 22–28) Third Week of Advent St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30) (Pre-Christmas hymns are chanted at Vespers and Matins.)

The Prophet Nahum (December 1) The Prophet Habakkuk (December 2) The Prophet Zephaniah (December 3) Fourth Week of Advent St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (December 6) (Pre-Christmas hymns are chanted at Vespers and Matins.)

St. Anna’s Conception of the Virgin Mary (December 9) Fifth Week of Advent The Prophet Haggai (December 16)

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A Guide to the Season

The Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths (December 17) (Pre-Christmas hymns are chanted at Vespers and Matins).

The Forefeast and Sundays before Christmas Sunday of the Ancestors of Christ (two Sundays before Christmas) Sunday of the Holy Fathers (Sunday before Christmas) Forefeast of the Nativity (December 20–24) Christmas Eve (December 24)

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Part I

• Spiritual Preparation

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• 1 •

Prepare, O Bethlehem Beginning of Advent and the Forefeast Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. (Isaiah 40:3)

Every Great Feast of the Orthodox Church

is preceded by a period of preparation. One of the longest and richest periods is Advent. But what does it mean to prepare? For many, the preparation for Christmas is hectic—shopping for presents, making decorations, mailing cards, attending Christmas parties, and so forth. But in • 19 • Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/ meditations-for-advent/

Meditations for Advent

the midst of this mad rush, where is our spiritual preparation?

The Church invites us to prepare for Christmas through prayer and worship and the hymns of the season. But these hymns are not just songs of praise; they are rich with profound—if, at times, obscure—biblical references. This is especially true of the hymns that dominate the entire season of Advent: the Katavasias of Christmas.

Through them the Church invites us to study the Old Testament, for one theme that unmistakably permeates Advent is how the Nativity of Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecies about the Birth of the Messiah. Thus the Church’s liturgical life fulfills a twofold purpose: 1) to worship and adore Christ, “Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man” (Nicene Creed); and • 20 • Copyright © 2013 by Theodore Christopher Vasilis.

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1 • Prepare, O Bethlehem

2) to rediscover and contemplate the divine revelation in the Old and New Testaments.

This double preparation will be the main theme of the second part of this book.

But there is yet more to Advent than this.

Our preparation for Christmas with the Old Testament is not an intellectual exercise, not a mere study of Scripture by which we affirm biblical truth. Rather, it is a spiritual preparation that challenges us to change our lives as a result of this divine revelation, to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” ( James 1:22). We are invited to be changed by our worship and our hearing of the word of God. The Church’s exhortation to get ready for Christmas is conveyed in poetic language. Our hymns command Bethlehem to prepare and make ready for the Nativity of our Lord:

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Meditations for Advent

Behold, the time of our salvation has drawn near.

O Cave, make ready! The Virgin is drawing near to give birth. O Bethlehem, land of Judah, be glad and rejoice, for from you our Lord has dawned. Listen, mountains and hills, and lands around Judea, for Christ is coming to save man whom He fashioned, since He loves mankind. (Vespers of the Forefeast, December 20, first hymn of the Aposticha) O Bethlehem, land of Judah, splendidly prepare the divine Cave for human habitation, for God is coming there to be born in the flesh from a Holy Virgin who knows not man, to save our race. (Vespers of the Forefeast, December 20, second hymn of the Aposticha) Listen, O heaven, and give ear, O earth! For, lo! The Son and Word of God the Father goes forth to be born of a Maiden, who knows not man, by the good pleasure of the Father who begot Him impassibly by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. Prepare, O Bethlehem! Throw open your gates, O Eden! For the One Who Is becomes what He was not, and the fashioner of all creation is being fashioned, granting the world

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1 • Prepare, O Bethlehem

His great mercy. (Vespers of the Forefeast, December 20, third hymn of the Stichera)

These hymns are inspired by one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem of Judea: And you, O Bethlehem, House of Ephrathah, though you are fewest in number among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the One to be ruler of Israel. His goings forth were from the beginning. Therefore He shall give them up until the appointed time for her to give birth, and then the remnant of their brothers will return to the sons of Israel.

And He shall stand and see, and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, and they will dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God, for now they will be magnified unto the ends of the earth. (Mic. 5:1–3)

The Church’s command to Bethlehem to prepare and be glad extends also to us. We are invited to go back in time to Judea. This is of • 23 • Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/ meditations-for-advent/

Meditations for Advent

course a poetic way of encouraging us to rejoice and marvel—as fervently, as intimately, and as tangibly as humanly possible—in the wonder of the Incarnation and of our salvation: Let us celebrate the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ, O people, and raising our minds, let us go in spirit to Bethlehem. (Vespers of the Forefeast, December 20, first hymn of the Stichera) Come, O faithful, let us see where Christ has been born. Let us join the Magi, kings from the East, and follow the guiding star. (Matins of the Nativity, first Kathisma)

Yet there is more to the theological poetry of our hymns. “Bethlehem” becomes a synonym for “the Church.” Christ is to be born within us: in our mystical celebration we shall become Bethlehem, the humble place of His Nativity, and so we must prepare ourselves in order that our Lord may make His dwelling within us.

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1 • Prepare, O Bethlehem

But how, exactly, are we to prepare? Our hymns provide the answer: Let us cast aside the sleep of idleness, and with vigilance of soul let us sing to Christ, who is born of a pure Maiden. . . .

Let good action be sufficient for the storehouse of our soul, that with a radiant countenance we may sing to Christ, who is born. . . .

Increasing our talent by good works, let us offer them instead of gold and frankincense and myrrh as gifts to Christ, who gave them.

(Triode of Compline of the Forefeast, December 20, eighth ode) Shedding our tears like myrrh for Christ, who is born in the flesh for us, let us purify the stains of the flesh. . . .

Knowing that ransom is effected by His compassion and a fountain of tears, let us believers, having been cleansed through confession, approach Christ, who is born in the flesh. (Triode of Compline of the Forefeast, December 21, eighth ode)

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Meditations for Advent

O faithful, let us shake the sleep of slothfulness from our eyes, and, fending off the temptations of the evil one, let us keep vigil in prayer. . . .

O faithful, let us stop every vile word from leaving our lips, and having learned the words of God, let us now offer them to Christ. . . .

Let us make haste to renounce the carnal passions and the beauties of the world, and let us confine ourselves to spiritual concerns . . . presenting ourselves as worthy by our works. (Triode of Compline of the Forefeast, December 23, eighth ode)

Our hymns are “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’” (Is. 40:3). Just as St. John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ by calling the people of Israel to repentance (Matt. 3:1–2), so too does the Church prepare us for the Nativity by exhorting us to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8).

Repentance begins with humility, contrition, tears, and confession, but it does not end there.

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1 • Prepare, O Bethlehem

The fruit of repentance is love and forgiveness, peace and unity: Holding fast to the law of love, let us embrace the intent of brotherly love, establishing peace one with another, and oneness of mind; for Christ, the Giver of peace, is coming, bringing peace to all. (Canon of Compline of the Forefeast, December 22, eighth Ode)

We are to prepare with faith and works, with contemplation and action, with prayer and charity. We must increase our talent of grace and not neglect the virtues God has given us (Matt.

25:14–30). If our joy is not a truly spiritual joy that softens our hearts and wakes us up from our spiritual slumber, then it is the joy of the world and not of Christ.

It is not enough to celebrate Christmas. We need to be changed and shaped by what we are celebrating. If our spiritual life is no better in spite of all our praying, fasting, and church services, • 27 • Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/ meditations-for-advent/

Meditations for Advent

then we have not yet begun to fully respond to the significance of Advent and of the Nativity.

The Church’s invitation to prepare for the Nativity is above all a command to us to open the gates of repentance, that Christ may enter our very being and be born anew in our hearts, and to offer our virtues to the newborn King. Instead of gold, we offer charity; instead of frankincense, prayer; instead of myrrh, repentance. Then, like the song of the angels and the adoration of the shepherds, our worship will be pure and our love without pretense.

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• 2 •

The Temple of God The Entry of the Mother of God The most pure Temple of the Savior, the precious Bridal Chamber and Virgin, the sacred Treasure of the glory of God, is brought today into the house of the Lord. She brings with her the grace of the divine Spirit. God’s angels sing her praise: She is the heavenly tabernacle. (Kontakion of the Feast of the Entry of the Mother of God)

There is a strange silence about the

Nativity in the first few days of Advent. While we begin to prepare for Christmas through fasting on November 15, the coming Nativity • 29 • Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/ meditations-for-advent/