“Tradition is the encounter and fellowship with those who have gone before, seeking to live and apply their encounter with Jesus to our circumstances now.”
MJH – The Pocket Scroll
From the BCP re ‘The Creed of Saint Athanasius’
For the removal of doubts, and to prevent disquietude in the use of the Creed commonly called the Creed of Saint Athanasius, it is solemnly declared:
1. That the Confession of our Christian Faith, commonly called the Creed of Saint Athanasius, does not make any addition to the Faith as contained in holy Scripture, but warns against errors which from time to time have arisen in the Church of Christ.
2. That as holy Scripture in divers places promises life to them that believe, and declares the condemnation of them that believe not, so the Church in this Confession declares the necessity, for all who would be in a state of salvation, of holding fast the Catholic Faith, and the great peril of rejecting the same. Wherefore the warnings in this Confession of Faith are to be understood no otherwise than the like warnings in holy Scripture, for we must receive God’s threatenings, even as his promises, in such wise as they are generally set forth in holy Writ. Moreover, the Church does not herein pronounce judgement on any particular person or persons, God alone being the Judge of all.
Parallel Lines
It is a very difficult task to show the meeting place of the purpose of God and the free agency of man. One thing is quite clear—we ought not to deny either of them, for they are both facts. It is a fact that God has purposed all things both great and little. Neither will anything happen but according to His eternal purpose and decree. It is also a sure and certain fact that, oftentimes, events hang upon the choice of men. Their will has a singular potency.
In the case before us, the arrows are in the hands of Joash, the king of Israel, and according to whether he shall [strike] once, twice, thrice, or five or six times, so will the nation’s history be affected. Now, how these two things can both be true, I cannot tell you. Neither, probably, after long debate, could the wisest men in heaven tell you, not even with the assistance of cherubim and seraphim. If they could tell you, what would you know, and in what way would you be benefited if you could find out this secret?
I believe that it would be as difficult to show that these two things do not agree, as it is to show how they can agree. They are two facts that run side by side, like parallel lines. Things are often left to the will of men, yet everything does come to pass in the end according to the will of God. Can you not believe them both? And is not the space between them a very convenient place to kneel in, adoring and worshipping Him whom you cannot understand?
C.H. Spurgeon
Excerpted from a sermon delivered 4/25/1889
Efficacious grace
64. In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some, and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, and we act all. For that is what he produces, that is, our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are, in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active. In the Scriptures the same things are represented as from God and from us. God is said to convert, and men are said to convert and turn. God makes a new heart, and we are commanded to make us a new heart. God circumcises the heart, and we are commanded to circumcise our own hearts; not merely because we must use the means in order to the effect, but the effect itself is our act and our duty. These things are agreeable to that text, ‘God worketh in you both to will and to do.’
68. Efficacious grace is not inconsistent with freedom. This appears by 2 Corinthians 8:16-17. “Thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you; for indeed he accepted the invitation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you.” So that his forwardness being put into his heart by God, and his being forward of his own accord, are not inconsistent one with the other.
Jonathan Edwards “Concerning Efficacious Grace,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2 (Pg 557)
The funeral hymns of St. John of Damascus
Where is the pleasure in life which is unmixed with sorrow? Where the glory which on earth has stood firm and unchanged? All things are weaker than shadow, all more illusive than dreams; comes one fell stroke, and Death in turn, prevails over all these vanities. Wherefore in the light, O Christ, of Your countenance, the sweetness of Your beauty, to him whom You have chosen grant repose, for You are the Friend of Mankind.
Like a blossom that wastes away, and like a dream that passes and is gone, so is every mortal into dust resolved; but again, when the trumpet sounds its call, as though at a quaking of the earth, all the dead shall arise and go forth to meet You, O Christ our God: on that day, O Lord, for her whom You have withdrawn from among us, appoint a place in the tentings of Your saints; yea, for the spirit of Your servant, O Christ.
Alas! What an agony the soul endures when from the body it is parting; how many are her tears for weeping, but there is none that will show compassion: unto the angels she turns with downcast eyes; useless are her supplications; and unto men she extends her imploring hands, but finds none to bring her rescue. Thus, my beloved brethren, let us all ponder well how brief is the span of our life; and peaceful rest for her that now is gone, let us ask of Christ, and also His abundant mercy for our souls.
Vanity are all the works and quests of man, and they have no being after death has come; our wealth is with us no longer. How can our glory go with us? For when death has come all these things are vanished clean away. Wherefore to Christ the Immortal King let us cry, “To him who has departed grant repose where a home is prepared for all those whose hearts You have filled with gladness.”
Terror truly past compare is by the mystery of death inspired; now the soul and the body part, disjoined by resistless might, and their concord is broken; and the bond of nature which made them live and grow as one, now by the edict of God is rest in twain. Wherefore now we implore Your aid. Grant that Your servant now gone to rest where the just that are Yours abide, Life-Bestower and Friend of Mankind.
Where is now our affection for earthly things? Where is now the alluring pomp of transient questing? Where is now our gold, and our silver? Where is now the surging crowd of domestics, and their busy cries? All is dust, all is ashes, all is shadow. Wherefore draw near that we may cry to our immortal King, “Lord, Your everlasting blessings vouchsafe unto him who now has gone away, bringing her to repose in that blessedness which never grows old.”
I called to mind the prophet who shouted, “I am but earth and ash.” And once again I looked with attention on the tombs, and I saw the bones therein which of flesh were naked; and I said, “Which indeed is he that is king? Or which is soldier? Which is the wealthy, which the needy? Which the righteous, or which the sinner?” But to Your servant, O Lord, grant that with the righteous he may repose.
My beginning and foundation was the form; bestowing Word of Your commandment; for it pleased You to make me by compounding visible and invisible nature into a living thing. Out of earth was my body formed and made, but a soul You gave me by the divine and life-creating in-breathing. Wherefore, O Christ, to Your servant in the land of the living, in the courts of the righteous, do You grant repose.
Bring to her rest, O our Savior, You giver of life, our sister whom You have withdrawn from this transient world, for she lifts up her voice to cry: “Glory to You.”
When in Your own image and likeness You in the beginning did create and fashion man, You gave him a home in Paradise, and made him the chief of your creation. But by the devil’s envy, alas, beguiled to eat the fruit forbidden, transgressor then of Your commandments he became; wherefore back to earth, from which he first was taken, You did sentence him to return again, O Lord, and to pray You to give him rest.
Weep, and with tears lament when with understanding I think on death, and see how in the graves there sleeps the beauty which once for us was fashioned in the image of God, but now is shapeless, ignoble, and bare of all the graces. O how strange a thing; what is this mystery which concerns us humans? Why were we given up to decay? And why to death united in wedlock? Truly, as it is written, these things come to pass by ordinance of God, Who to him now gone gives rest
The death which You have endured, O Lord, is become the harbinger of deathlessness; if You had not been laid in Your tomb, then would not the gates of Paradise have been opened; wherefore to him now gone from us give rest, for You are the Friend of Mankind.
Ever eaten and never consumed
Broken and divided is the Lamb of God, which is broken and not disunited, which is ever eaten and never consumed, but sanctifies those that partake thereof.
from the Liturgy of St. Basil
Sacramental union
Just as the eternal Word of God became flesh without either humanizing the divine nature or compromising the human nature, so the sacramental union effected by consecration neither nullifies the creaturely properties of the bread and wine nor alters the divine properties of our Lord’s glorified humanity. Although, strictly speaking, we may not speak of the risen body of Christ as being broken, immolated, or crushed with the teeth, and although, strictly speaking, we may not speak of the body and bread as immortal, imperishable, or supernaturally enlivening, yet we may ascribe both sets of attributes to the sacrament itself.
Francis Joseph Hall
Intimately connected
The teaching of the New Testament is that God’s grace, our free will, and our faith and good works, are intimately connected. The Holy Spirit energizes in us both faith and good works as we thirst for and seek God’s grace. Neither faith nor good works can be presented as merit before God, but only as return gifts in humility, love, and thanksgiving.
Fr. Theodore Stylianopoulos
We could never say enough
[Our God is great!] We could say more but could never say enough…Where can we find the strength to praise Him? For He is greater than all His works. Awesome is the Lord and very great, and marvelous His power. Glorify the Lord and exalt Him as much as you can, for He surpasses even that. When you exalt Him, summon all your strength, and do not grow weary, for you cannot praise Him enough. Who has seen Him and can describe Him? Or who can extol Him as He is? Many things greater than these lie hidden, for we have seen but few of his works.
Ecclesiasticus 43:27-32
Te Deum
Hendrik Voes, and Johann van Esschen, two Augustinian friars and the first martyrs of the Reformation, were burned at the stake on July 1, 1523. They reportedly were heard singing the Te Deum as the smoke and flames engulfed them.
We praise You, O God: we acknowledge You to be the Lord.
All the earth worships You, the Father everlasting.
To You all angels cry aloud: the heavens and all the powers therein.
To You cherubim and seraphim continually cry “Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth”.
Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Your glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise You.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise You.
The noble army of martyrs praise You.
The holy church throughout all the world acknowledges You;
The Father of an infinite majesty;
Your honorable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
You are the King of glory, O Christ.
You are the everlasting Son of the Father.
When You took upon Yourself to deliver man, You did not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When You had overcome the sharpness of death, You opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You sit at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that You shall come to be our judge.
We therefore pray You, help Your servants whom You have redeemed with Your precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Your saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your heritage.
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify You; we worship Your name ever,
world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Your mercy light upon us as our trust is in You.
O Lord, in You have I trusted; let me never be confounded.
Author unknown
4th century
