FOR WHAT PURPOSE AM I COMING TO CHURCH?
Moses, Suffragan Bishop of Roslindale
To whom will I have respect, but (save?) to the humble and meek, and the man that trembles at my words. (Esaias 66:2) Awake, O’sleeper, and Christ shall shine upon thee. (Eph 5:14)
We know from the life of Saint Arsenius the Great that after entering upon a life of solitude and prayer he constantly asked himself, "Arsenius, why hast thou gone forth? [from the world]" [Arsenius, to what purpose hast thou gone forth?"]
We as Orthodox Christians, similarly must ask ourselves each and every time we approach our parish church, for what purpose am I coming to church?
Surely, we attend church for our own spiritual profit. One might say, yes. But what is our goal? We know from many sources – one of which is the Conversation of Saint Seraphim and Sarov with Moltivilov – that the reason that we labor at any of the virtues and the ultimate purpose of this same discourse, one can labor at the virtues to no purpose as the foolish virgins did, receiving no oil for their lamps, that is, receiving no grace for their labors. It follows that, yes, we can labor to attend church and gain nothing.
As Saint Seraphim explains in the same Conversation, "And the Lord says: Not every one that saith unto Me: Lord, Lord shall be saved, but he that doeth the will of My Father (Matt 7:21) – that is, he who does
the work of God and, moreover, does it with reverence, ‘for cursed be he that doeth the work of God negligently" (Jer. 31:10, Septuagent).For this reason the saints sought to cultivate a reverent fear of God. Saint David of Thessolonica prayed and fasted for three years while enduring the ascetical feat of dwelling in an almond tree, in his wisdom he all the while entreated God for this gift of reverent fear. As it is recorded in the Life of the Saint, "When the three years had passed, a holy angel appeared unto him saying, ‘David, the Lord has heard your supplication and grants unto you this favor for which you have asked many times, that is, that you be humble-minded and modest, and that you fear Him and worship Him with proper reverence.’ We know from his life that this "mother virtue" (to borrow a term from Saint John Climacus) gave birth to many spiritual "daughter virtues" and Saint David was manifested to all as a clairvoyant wonderworker.
[p.123 Orthodox Word 1970 May/June, vol. 6 No.3]If one reads the church service books, one can see that this reverence and fear of God is an intrinsic part of the Church’s understanding. As it is proclaimed in the Great Ektenia: "for this holy house, and for them that with faith, reverence, and fear of God enter herein, let us pray to the Lord."
After the Our Father when the deacon commands, "bow your heads unto the Lord," the priests secret prayer reads as follows:
Bowed down their heads to Thee: for they have bowed them not to flesh and blood, but to Thee, the dread God……We give thanks unto Thee, O invisible King, Who by Thy measureless power hast created all things, and in the multitude of Thy Mercy hast out of nothing brought all things into being. Do Thou Thyself, O Master, look from heaven upon them that have
In the holy Liturgy we encounter our awesome and terrible God, Who created all things by His measureless power and Who came in meekness and humility in order to gather us as a hen does her chicks. A strange and unheard of paradox, which is beyond the mind of man.
Saint Pachomius the Great explains the awesomeness of the New Covenant and the fearful world-transcending diving liturgy. As a monk describes the words of Saint Pachomius in his life, "…He explained the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, applying the explanation to the two peoples, ‘For the first people,’ he said is the outer Tabernacle, whose service consisted in animal sacrifices, visible loaves, the lampstand and the lamps, and some other things. But the calling of the nations is the Holy of Holies, that is, the fulfillment of the Law. And everything in the Holy of Holies is more glorious than the outer Tabernacle. For instead of animal sacrifices it has a censer of incense; instead of a table, the Ark of the Covenant with the spiritual loaves, the book of the Law and all that is to be found there, and instead of the light of the lampstand, the mercy seat where God appears as a consuming fire, that is, God the incarnate Word Who was made propitiation for us by appearing in the flesh."
In every Divine and Sacred Liturgy fearful and awesome things are accomplished, God appears as a consuming fire to sanctify the gifts and overshadows all of the faithful. Let us not draw nigh carelessly It is our Father’s house and He calls us all to the banquet, but let us with fear of God, faith, and love draw nigh.
Moses, Suffragan Bishop of Roslindale