Daily Bread
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
"When we call upon the Saints in prayer, if we pronounce their names from the heart, it already means that we bring them near our heart itself. Therefore ask their prayers and intercession undoubtingly for yourself. They will hear you, and will speedily lay your prayers before the Lord, in the twinkling of an eye, for He is omnipresent and omniscient."
St. John of Kronstadt
Daily Scripture Readings
1 Timothy 1:8-14
TIMOTHY, my son, we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank him who has given me strength for this, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful by appointing me to his service, though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Mark 10:2-12
At that time, Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away.” But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Prophet Daniel
The Holy Prophet Daniel is the fourth of the major prophets.
In the years following 600 B.C. Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians, the Temple built by Solomon was destroyed, and many of the Israelite people were led away into the Babylonian Captivity. Among the captives were also the illustrious youths Daniel, Ananias, Azarias and Misael.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon ordered that they be instructed in the Chaldean language and wisdom, and dressed them in finery. Handsome children of princely lineage were often chosen to serve as pages in the palace. For three years, they would be fed from food from the king’s table. After this they would be allowed to stand before his throne. Daniel was renamed Baltasar, Ananias was called Shadrach, Misael was called Mishach, and Azarias was known as Abednego. But they, cleaving to their faith, disdained the extravagance of court, refusing to defile themselves by eating from the king’s table and drinking his wine. Instead, they lived on vegetables and water.
The Lord granted them wisdom, and to Saint Daniel the gift of insight and the interpretation of dreams. The holy Prophet Daniel preserved his faith in the one God and trusted in His almighty help. He surpassed all the Chaldean astrologers and sorcerers in his wisdom, and was made a confidant to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Once, Nebuchadnezzar had a strange dream which terrified him (Daniel 2:1-6). He summoned magicians, sorcerers, and Chaldeans before him to interpret the dream. When they asked him what he had dreamt, the king refused to tell them. He said, “If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.” The Babylonian wise men protested that no magician or sorcerer could be expected to do this. Only the gods could reveal the dream and its meaning, they told him.
The king ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be executed. When they sought Daniel and his companions to put them to death, Daniel asked that the king’s sentence not be carried out. He said that he could tell the king what he dreamt, for it had been revealed to him in a vision. Daniel was brought before the king and was able to reveal not only the content of the dream, but also its prophetic significance. After this, the king elevated Daniel to be ruler of the whole province of Babylon, and the chief of all the wise men.
During these times King Nebuchadnezzar ordered a huge statue to be made in his likeness. It was decreed that when people heard the sound of trumpets and other instruments, they should fall down and worship the golden idol. Because they refused to do this, the three holy youths Ananias, Azarias and Misael were cast into a fiery furnace. The flames shot out over the furnace forty-nine cubits, felling the Chaldeans standing about, but the holy youths walked in the midst of the flames, offering prayer and psalmody to the Lord (Daniel 3:26-90).
The Angel of the Lord appeared in the furnace and cooled the flames, and the young men remained unharmed. This “Angel of Great Counsel,” as he is called in iconography, is identified with the Son of God (Daniel 3:25, Isaiah 9:6). In the first Canon for the Nativity of the Lord (Ode 5), the Church sings: “Thou hast sent us Thine Angel of Great Counsel.” The emperor, upon seeing this, commanded them to come out, and was converted to the true God.
Under King Baltasar, Saint Daniel interpreted a mysterious inscription (“Mane, Thekel, Phares”), which had appeared on the wall of the palace during a banquet (Daniel 5:1-31), foretelling the downfall of the Babylonian kingdom. Under the Persian emperor Darius, Saint Daniel was slandered by his enemies, and was thrown into a den with hungry lions, but they did not touch him, and he was not harmed. The emperor Darius then rejoiced over Daniel and ordered people throughout his realm to worship the God of Daniel, “since He is the living and eternal God, and His Kingdom shall not be destroyed, and His dominion is forever” (Daniel 6:26).
The holy Prophet Daniel grieved deeply for his people, who then were undergoing righteous chastisement for a multitude of sins and offenses, for transgressing the laws of God, resulting in the grievous Babylonian Captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem: “My God, incline Thine ear and hearken; open Thine eyes and look upon our desolation and that of Thy city, in which Thy Name is spoken; for we do not make our supplication before Thee because of our own righteousness, but because of Thy great mercy” (Dan 9:18). Because of Daniel’s righteous life and his prayers for the people’s iniquity, the destiny of the nation of Israel and the fate of all the world was revealed to the holy prophet.
While interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the holy, glorious Prophet Daniel spoke of a great and final kingdom, the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (Dan 2:44). The prophetic vision about the seventy weeks (Dan 9:24-27) speaks about the signs of the First and the Second Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is connected with those events (Daniel 12:1-12).
Saint Daniel interceded for his people before King Cyrus, who esteemed him highly, and who decreed freedom for the Israelite people. Daniel himself and his fellows Ananias, Azarias and Misael, all survived into old age, but died in captivity. According to the testimony of Saint Cyril of Alexandria (June 9), Saints Ananias, Azarias and Misael were beheaded on orders of the Persian emperor Chambyses.
Saint Daniel and the three holy youths are also commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, and on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (Sunday before the Nativity).
Temptations and Impulsivity
Hieromonk Alexis (Trader)
Oscar Wilde famously wrote, “I can resist anything except temptation.” His humor underlines an important truth in the exploration of impulsivity. Impulsivity is not normally operative in all aspects of one’s behavior. In some areas of life, even impulsive people may demonstrate behavior that is commendably regulated and self-controlled. After all, we witness the impulsive gambler who is otherwise industrious in his work and family life or the one given over to drink who is kind and generous with others.
In their research, Eli Tsukayama and Angela Lee Duckworth argue that common examples of impulsive behavior “suggest that impulsive behavior varies dramatically by type of situation. An extreme view is that behavior depends entirely on the situation and that there are no domain-general individual differences in impulsive behavior. That is, individuals do not vary in their overall tendency to engage in behaviors that are gratifying in the short-term yet costly and regrettable in the long-term. Two bodies of empirical evidence argue convincingly against this extreme view. First, Baumeister and colleagues have shown in a series of experiments that psychological resources that enable an individual to inhibit impulsive behaviors are finite and domain-general (Roy F. Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; 2007; Muraven & Baumeister, 2000).” Of course, we know this from experience. On the one hand, some people have a weakness for chocolates, others for potato chips. The chocolate lover may have no difficulty resisting a bag of potato chips, but find a piece of rich, chocolate cake hard to turn down. On the other hand, for some people, “to just say ‘no’” is a piece of cake, whatever the cake may be; for others, the number of times that the enticing can be refused is limited, again whatever the cake may be, meaning that for them that cake almost inevitably finds its way into the mouth.
Put in spiritual terms, temptations strike us in our weakest areas. Peter the Apostle struggled with fear while Judas was overcome by avarice. And some of us seem to be discouragingly tempted in more areas than others are, although there are still usually some areas that are more difficult than others. And in all cases, that specific or general weakness need not define us, but only define the area or areas in which we are in particular need of the grace of God for the transformation that we desire.
These findings from science, which are consistent with experience in the world and in the Church, are instructive and may be quite beneficial in moving beyond impulsive behavior. If we are able to identify the behavior that is characterized by impulsivity (which is usually not a very difficult task), we are able to concentrate our efforts on that behavior. In his work “Patient Endurance,” Saint Peter of Damascus cites Saint Basil in his exhortation to fight the passions one at a time. “For Saint Basil advises us not to fight against all passions at once, since if we are unsuccessful we might turn back and no longer be fit for the kingdom of heaven… Rather we should fight the passions one at a time, and start by patiently enduring whatever befalls us” (Philokalia, vol. 3, p. 222). In other words, even before we developing a strategy for dealing with the impulsive behavior that troubles us, we need acceptance, acceptance of our weakness, acceptance of our difficulty, acceptance of our need to turn to God for deliverance. Without this acceptance, it is not possible to begin.
Most of us regard temptation as negative, something that we have to avoid at all costs. Yet, such negative thinking often leads us to give in to the temptation and act impulsively. After all neuroscientists have discovered that in the deeper layers of the preconscious mind, we do not distinguish between do and do not, meaning that focusing on not giving into temptation is still focusing on the temptation. Our focus needs to be God’s mercy, God’s love, and God’s victory in us. With respect to temptation, Saint Isaac notes, “Without temptations, it is not possible to learn the wisdom of the Spirit. It is not possible that Divine love be strengthened in your soul. Before temptations, a man prays to God as a stranger. When temptations are allowed to come by the love of God, and he does not give in to them, then he stands before God as a sincere friend. For in fulfilling the will of God, he has made war on the enemy of God and conquered him” (St. Isaac the Syrian, Homilies, 5). This is the blessing contained in temptation; this is even the blessing contained in being impulsive in many areas, for it means that one receives many reminders to turn to God, many reminders that we can have God for our friend, and that Friend can help us where we cannot help ourselves. And if strangers becoming friends is one of life’s joys, how much more so when the other persons is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself.
Saint Nectarios echoes the teaching of Saint Isaac , “Temptations come so that hidden passions may be revealed and so that it will be possible to fight them, and so that the soul may be rid of them. They are also a sign of God’s mercy. So give yourself with trust into God’s hands and ask his help, so that he will strengthen you in your struggle. God knows how much each one can bear and allows temptations according to the measure of our strength. Remember that after temptation comes spiritual joy, and that the Lord protects them that endure temptations and suffering for the sake of His love” (St. Nektarius of Aegina, The Path to Happiness, 4). For Saint Nectarios, temptations brings us self-knowledge and is a sign of God’s mercy in so far as it can put us into contact with God, can make us trust in God and seek His help, so that what could be a source of pain and regret can become a source of gratitude to our merciful Savior. And in this struggle, we learn patience (link:) and in the end instead of receiving some fleeting pleasure we experience the lasting joy that comes from God alone.
In an earlier post in which I offered a reflection on the Lord’s Prayer, I wrote, “There is an important patristic distinction between “being led into temptation” and “being tempted” that is worth stressing. According to Saint John Cassian “‘Lead us not into temptation’ does not mean ‘do not permit us ever to be tempted,’ but rather ‘when we are tempted, do not permit us to be overcome.’ After all, Job was tempted, but not led into temptation, since he did not yield to the enticing wish of the tempter by impiously ascribing folly to God or uttering blasphemy” (Conference 9, chapter 23). Being led into temptation, thus, has the sense of being led into the aims of the tempter, the very mind of Satan, in which it is impossible to “understand the things that be of God” as Christ remarked when He rebuked Peter saying, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me: for thou understandest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men’ (Matthew 6:23).
In praying, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,’ we are not ‘being taught to be timid and cowardly, for everyone praises vigor and boldness. Rather it aims at teaching us to be modest and poor in spirit…, realizing that our mind is weak…and we need God’s assistance’(Saint Cyril of Alexandria, fragment, PG 72.693). As Saint Cyprian of Carthage put it, ‘we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness.’ In referring to us not being led into temptation, we also recall, according to Saint John Chrysostom, that not only can I be led into temptation, but my neighbor can as well, a realization that should remove even ‘the smallest vestige of anger against our neighbor’ (Homily on Matthew 19).”
Regardless of whether we are impulsive in many areas or just one, we can view this difficulty in another light. It’s not just a weakness or a temptation we succumb to. It may be exactly what we need to become a bit more humble and to turn to the Divine Physician Who has promised us that He will support us in all of our trials and temptations. This is why temptations can actually be blessings. This is why impulsivity can be a trait that hurls us into the arms of God. This is why Saint Anthony the Great once said, “take away temptations and no one would be saved” (Sayings of the Dessert Fathers, PG 65.77). But there are temptations and we can be impulsive, and by the grace of God, we can also be saved.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 12/16: Matins 8:30am
Tuesday 12/17: no services or events
Wednesday 12/18: Yale Russian Chorus concert - 7pm
Thursday 12/19: Matins 8:30 am; Men’s Group 7pm
Friday 12/20: Paraklesis to the Theotokos 8:30am
Saturday 12/21: Catechumen Class 4:30pm; Choir Rehearsal 5pm; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 12/22: Divine Liturgy 9:15am
