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SEPTEMBER, 1994


EDITORIAL

  I should like to begin by thanking those who have written kind letters in response to receiving SPOTLIGHT. One such was from my old friend, Fr Simon Jensen, who cares for a small flock on the Isle of Man. He drew my attention to the fact that the message on his envelopes: GOD SAVE THE QUEEN OF CANADA, was put there, not by the franking machines of the Canadian Post Office, as I had supposed, but by himself as a member of a royalist group which had the stamp made. Another small error, which was seen as soon as the issue was printed, was probably obvious to all: it was S. Peter, not S. Paul, who wrote: Fear God. Honour the King.

 From the very beginning SPOTLIGHT, dedicated to making Orthodoxy known amongst New Zealanders, has commented freely on matters in our nation that are of concern to christians. There is every prospect that events in our society will continue to give us concern, and will need even more outspoken comment. We hope, however, that we shall always speak out of Orthodox theology, and not as a result of secular influences. For to the christian there is no part of life that is exempt from being brought into obedience to the will of God. Confining God to a "sacred" sphere and leaving secular affairs to run independently is totally unscriptural. I realized only recently, while reading a book by a NZ writer, that in some fundamentalist circles there is an ingenious interpretation whereby our Lord's teaching in theGospel is said to be only for the age to come, and not to be carried out now. I am so grateful that I remained ignorant of this subtle doctrine until now, and I feel sure we can safely forget it again! Our Lord says, Follow me, and He means it.
                                                                                                                  Fr Jack

PHOTOGRAPHS

 Fr Dn Michael brought us these pictures of the Serbian Chapel, 70 Webb Street, Wellington: Top left and right: Two views of the interior, from right and left; it is not really as broad as these pictures, together, make it appear.

Below left: Fr Michael serves with Fr Ambrose           Below: Close-up of the niche on the right
and Fr Nicholas.                                                        side.


 

 Below, right: From a different source, we have this picture of Fr George in S. Mary's, Wellington.

FROM TALKS TO THE BOYS' AND GIRLS' BRIGADE:

I. Mr Bush suggested I should tell you something about the Orthodox Church. Well, I hope this may give you some idea, but you might well think that what I am saying is just Christianity - well, if so, that is good. One thing I could say to distinguish the Church is this: the Orthodox Church is the Church with the longest memory; she never forgets anything. So for a moment, could you try to be the same, and "cast your mind back", as they say, to the year A.D. 258.

 For over 200 years now, it has been a capital offence to be a christian. The Jews had a treaty with the Romans that excused them from worshipping the emperor as a god. When the Jewish leaders rejected the christians, this had the effect of handing them over to the Romans to be put to death - just as they had done when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Just last year, 257 AD, the soldiers caught up with Pope Stephen as he celebrated Mass; he had just purified the sacred vessels, so they could not do any harm to the Body and Blood of Christ; but as he had returned to his throne, they beheaded him there. The christians took him, and the throne covered with his blood, and buried all together with honour. And here, today, August 6, the soldiers are leading away the next Bishop with two of his deacons, also to be put to death. As they go, they are met by the Chief Deacon, Laurence. He was a remarkable man. He did not say to himself, that was lucky, I have escaped. He protested at being left out. "Father, I have always been at your side as you offered sacrifice. Where are you going without me now?" "Fear not, son, you will follow me after 3 days." And on August 10, Laurence, having been told to produce the Church's treasures, spends them on feeding the poor, and then brings the poor to the authorities and shows them as the Church's treasure. Now governments, then as now, are always after money and don't care much for the poor; so they were enraged and devised a specially cruel punishment for cheating them of their booty: Laurence was roasted on a gridiron, and bore it bravely. For this the Roman Church gave him a feast of 8 days, making him equal to the Apostles, and he is remembered in the Greek Kalendar also.

 What can we learn from all this? Two things:
1. The Church has never forgotten that Christianity is deadly serious: for the sake of the Life of the world to come, we have to be willing to give up even life itself in this world. The Church has never forgotten the martyrs who died for the Faith - so many of them, that in the Martyrology there is a list about half a page long for every day in the year. Christianity is no hobby for those who like beautiful services; it is as serious as life and death.

2. At the heart of Christianity is a mystery so holy and sacred that it must be guarded against those who would trample it underfoot. The duty of the Archdeacon Laurence was to guard the treasures of the Church, hiding them in secret from the enemies of Christ. The early Church had to keep many things secret because of the persecution. The Lord's Prayer, which everyone knows now, even the heathen, was not revealed to you until you began classes for baptism, called catechism. The Apostles creed (what christians believe) was kept secret too. You were not taught the meaning of Baptism and the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ until after you had received them. Perhaps it is because of this that in many services the Lord's Prayer and the Creed are still said secretly, and in the Eastern Churches there is a screen to hide the mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ except at the time of Communion. And this prayer is often sung during Communion: Receive me today, O Son of God, as partaker of thy mystical Supper. For I will not speak of thy mystery to thine enemies, neither will I give thee a kiss as did Judas: but like the thief will I confess thee: remember me, O Lord, in thy kingdom.

II. After the time of S. Laurence, there was an even worse persecution under Diocletian, and people thought the Church would be totally destroyed. Even a wife of the Emperor was put to death as a Christian. And then, finally, in York, in the North of Britain, an army officer called Constantine heard that he had succeeded as Emperor of the West, and soon after he became sole Emperor. His mother, Helen, was a Christian, and he ordered that the persecution was to stop. He began to build Churches for the Christians, and finally, on his death-bed, he was baptized. His mother did more. She went to Jerusalem, which had been laid flat by the Romans when the Jews rebelled in the 1st Century. She went to a rubbish heap outside the old city, and there she found 3 crosses, and a title board saying "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews". But it was loose, and they could not tell which cross it belonged to until they touched a sick man with the crosses and one of them healed him. So Helen had a Church built over it which is still there. And parts of the Cross were taken to Rome, and to Constantine's new capital, Constantinople, and Churches were built over them.
 S. Helen is remembered today, August 18, and her service begins with the words of S.Paul: God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a prayer speaks of God through her enriching His Church with this precious treasure. The Gospel tells of the treasure hid in a field, for which a man sold all that he had to buy the field, a reference to S. Helen finding the treasure of the Cross amongst the rubbish. Some people might think it strange to make all that fuss over a piece of wood. Is not Jesus what matters? But S. Helen was only doing what the woman did in the Gospel, who was healed by just touching the hem of His garment, or what S. Luke tells us (Acts of the Apostles) about those who laid sick people down so that the shadow of S. Peter would fall on them and heal them. All holiness is from God alone, but the holiness and power of God are so great that they extend to everyone and everything that He touches. In our Faith, then, everything to do with God is to be treated with reverence: the Church building and everything in it, the holy book of the Gospels, the images of our Lord and His Saints, and their relics, and the sign of the Cross which puts all demons to flight.


Above: The Chapel in the schoolroom at Ashley. A better
photo appears now to be lost.
Below: At a baptism in Dunedin
                                              The colour print may be lost now; this
is taken from an old printed copy; we
are looking for the lost original.

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