Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Open to me the doors of repentance O Lifegiver; for my spirit rises early to pray towards Thy Holy Temple, bearing the temple of my body all defiled. But in Thy Compassion purify me by the loving kindness of Thy Mercy. Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Lead me on the paths of Salvation O Mother of God, for I have covered my soul in shameful sins and have wasted my life in lazy acts. But by your intercessions, deliver me from all impurity. Have mercy on me O God according to Thy Great Mercy and according to the multitude of Thy Compassions blot out my transgressions. When I think of the many evil things I have done, wretched I am, I tremble at the fearful day of Judgement, but trusting in Thy loving kindness, like David I cry to Thee. Have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me O God, Have mercy on me O God according to Thy great Mercy.
Category: Pharisee & Publican
Open To Me The Gates of Repentance – Ancient Faith- Homily on Pharisee & Publican – Father Patrick Reardon
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well, this morning at matins, after the recitation of the 50th psalm, we all knelt down and began the Triodion. “Open unto me the gates of repentance.” Yesterday I called Hannah, and I said, “Let’s make sure we do that during communion tomorrow as well: Open to me the gates of repentance.” This little hymn-snatch signifies that the Church begins the season known in the East as the Triodion, which consists of the Great Fast and the three Sundays just prior to the Great Fast. Until recent times, this period was known in the West as Septuagesima, which also consisted of the Great Fast and the three Sundays just prior to the Great Fast. They stopped calling it that some time back in the ‘60s, I believe—at least the Roman Catholics did; the Episcopalians persevered for another ten years, and then they petered out.
In English-speaking countries, but only in English-speaking countries, the season of the Great Fast came to be called Lent. The Church actually knows nothing about a “Lent.” It’s a term derived from the Old English expression, lencten, which means, simply, “spring.” The purpose of the first part of the Triodion, or Septuagesima, as it was called in Latin, is to get our hearts and minds ready for the Great Fast. Now, one would think it’s enough just to do the Great Fast just to get ready for Pascha. You would think that would be enough getting ready. No, that’s not enough getting ready. You’ve got to get ready for the Fast, too. At least if you’re going to take it seriously, you’ve got to get ready for it!
Consequently, the gospel readings for these three Sundays were chosen with great care, because they are directed at themes central to the purpose of the Great Fast. It may be said that the gospel story we just heard—the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee—goes to the very heart of the matter by introducing the Pauline theme of justification. Indeed, let us make this idea, justification, the first of today’s three reflections on the gospel reading.
Here, once again, the first sentence of that reading says that Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were just and despised others. Observe here the word “just” in the plural form this morning is dikaioi. We recognize in this adjective a basic concern with the theology of St. Paul. Beginning with the Galatian controversy in the early 50s and going on to its full elaboration in the epistle to the Romans about five years later, the Apostle Paul was preoccupied with the question: How do human beings become just, dikaios, in the sight of God?
This question came to the fore in the mind of Paul when certain Christians arrived in Galatia in the early 50s, claiming that Christians were obliged to observe the Mosaic law, all the prescriptions of the Mosaic law, just as Jesus had observed the Mosaic law. This was the claim that Paul himself felt obliged to refute. He contended that God’s eternal word did not come to earth simply to reinforce the claims of the Torah; he came, rather, to elevate human beings into the divine life and to transform them by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, Paul insisted that one does not become a child of God by observing the Torah—now, that’s a Jew saying that: one does not become a child of God by observing the Torah—but by the transformation of the heart and mind, by the energy of the Holy Spirit.
In the epistle to the Romans Paul wrote that
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for as many as were led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out: Abba, Father! The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit (he says) because we are the children of God.
Now, in today’s parable, just what was wrong with the prayer of the Pharisee? Luke indicates the problem when he declares that Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves. It is with this verse that we commence the period of the Triodion, that Jesus spoke this parable to those who trusted in themselves. The first parable of which we are warned in this season, brothers and sisters, is the real danger of self-reliance. As we prepare for Lent and for this great celebration that follows it, our first concern must be not to trust in ourselves. So important is this message in today’s parable that it appears again at the end of the story where Jesus says of the publican: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.” Here is a man who did not trust in himself.
Once again, notice the modifier: the just man (dikaios) is the justified man (dedikaiōmenos). The former is the perfect passive participle: we become just by being justified, and we are justified only if we rely on God and not on ourselves.
We don’t fast because the man in this morning’s gospel is standing up there bragging that he fasts—twice a week! He was a Jew, so it was Monday and Thursday, but for us it means Wednesday and Friday—but not this week! I’ve always had a feeling—but I must be hesitant to say this, I think—that the chief purpose of Lent is to prove to yourself that you have got the guts to hurt yourself, but maybe that’s not right.
Ironically, one of the normal aspects of the annual observance of Lent is the experience of failure. I say it’s a normal aspect simply because it happens a lot. Indeed, the rigors of the lenten discipline are so severe that arguably most Christians fail to observe all of them. Somewhere along the line they’re going to inadvertently going to eat peanut butter or something, which certainly none of the early Christians would have touched. Even now, the fast we have is so modified. Now, I do not find this view written down anywhere as a point of principle, but I have not failed to observe over the years how many Christians feel like failures during Lent. And, you know, that’s not the American way. America is the country of winners! So it’s very hard to have this experience of failure. We’re supposed to win.
Recently, I was visiting the grandchildren down in Georgia, and they’re all into sports. It seemed to me, my impression was that no matter where you appeared in the standings in the league, everybody got a trophy at the end of the year, because America’s a country of winners! It’s very difficult, with that kind of mindset, to appreciate the Cross. If you find this to be the case in your own lives, I ask you to remember this parable we heard today. The evangelist tells us that Jesus spoke this parable “to some who trusted in themselves.” Perhaps the most important lesson that we may learn in this annual “spring cleaning” of our souls is not to trust in ourselves, but in the God to whom we plead, “Have mercy on me, a sinner!” I don’t believe it’s going to be possible to become a saint at all unless we find some way of dealing with a sense of failure, incorporating this sense of failure into our experience of the Christian life. And that’s what the Cross means.
Second, this morning, let’s speak of prayer. The parable begins: “Two men went up to the temple to pray.” This is the story about prayer. Specifically, it is a story about how to pray. Now draw your attention to the personal nature of this prayer. The prayer in this morning’s parable is not liturgical prayer; it is solitary prayer, which in the gospel stories is chiefly exemplified by Jesus himself. Indeed, there is the major mark to prove that Jesus is a human being: he prays. He prays. On so many occasions, we read that Jesus went out to a solitary place to pray. This is the kind of prayer concerning which Jesus instructs us. “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to the Father in secret.”Beloved, let me spare no efforts of rhetoric in emphasizing how fundamental this kind of prayer is. It is absolutely essential that each of us, every day, and if possible several times a day, retire from everything else and pray to the Father in secret, all by ourselves, placing our hearts and minds under the gaze of the Father who sees in secret. Jesus tells us to do that. I sometimes ask people—very often I ask people, in confession—“How often do you pray?” “Well, I sort of pray while I’m doing other things.” Not good enough! You’re supposed to do that anyway. You must retire from what you’re doing and pray exclusively. Praying to the Father in secret: that’s the instruction that Jesus himself gives us.This kind of prayer, this dialogue with God, is the most important part of the day, and we need to be convinced on this point. There is no life in Christ without this solitary prayer. What do we say to God when we come to him in secret, when we enter into the inner temple and close the door to all distractions, when we lay aside, at least for a while, all earthly cares? What are the words and sentiments that rise in our minds, take shape in our hearts, and are expressed with our lips? It could be all sorts of things, but the one thing we must not do is tell God something we don’t mean, just pray empty prayers, just recite prayers that we really do not mean because they’re just words, they’re just formulas.In the words of prayer, I believe, we’re not left on our own. Primacy of place belongs surely to those prayers which we know to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. If one cannot pray and mean the psalms, then revert to what we had today—beat your breasts—because there’s something seriously wrong. If you can pray the psalms and not mean them, there’s something seriously wrong with the heart and mind. Beat the breast and pray for mercy.When we pray those prayers, we are surely praying in the Holy Spirit, because they’re inspired by the Holy Spirit. So we stand before the holy Father and say to him something like this: “Receive me according to thy word, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my expectation.” May I have a show of hands of those of you who would not mean that if you said it?Receive me according to thy word, that I may live, and put me not to shame in my expectation. Come to help me, and I will be saved, and I will meditate on thy statutes continually. My flesh trembles for the fear of thee, and I am terrified by thy judgments. I have done judgment and justice; leave me not to mine oppressors. Receive thy servant unto good, and let not the proud oppress me. Mine eyes have failed for thy salvation and for the word of thy righteousness. Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes. I am thy servant; give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies.Where did I find this prayer? Opened the Bible and put my finger on something. The Bible’s full of such prayers! If you have a better prayer than that, then for heaven’s sake, pray it! [Laughter] But we make our own the inspired prayers of holy Scriptures. Let us try with all our hearts and with the full force of concentration to mean what we say, use great effort to mean it, work at it. Prayer must be worked at. And thereby we become such worshipers as the Father seeks. What we hope for in such prayer is a total transformation of our inner life, keeping our minds fixed on God, and remaining aware that he reads our hearts.This Triodion, this Lent, let’s be resolved to become people of prayer—but don’t give it up when Pascha comes. Keep working at it.Third, this parable indicates that we pray from a sense of need. The Pharisee in the story didn’t need anything; he had it all. He was not like other men, and he thanked God for the fact. He practiced tithing; he kept the fast days. Indeed, he needed nothing and he asked for nothing. You might notice that in today’s prayer: the Pharisee didn’t ask for anything. The presumption of Jesus is that we’re praying from a position of need, and therefore we ask for things.According to St. Cyril of Alexandria, this Pharisee was practicing self-deception. His prayer lacked one of the most essential components of prayer, which is vigilance over one’s soul. The publican, on the other hand, prayed entirely out of sense of need, even desperation. He asked only for one thing, the one thing necessary: God’s mercy. According to the story, this publican, as he prayed, beat his breast. That is to say, he attempted to break his heart, because “a broken and contrite heart, God will not despise.” In this respect, several Church Fathers commented that being a repentant sinner is a better state than not being a sinner at all. I don’t believe I would have the nerve to make such a claim if it had not already been made by the likes of Macarius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. I rely on their authority.Repeated prayer for the divine mercy is, above all, an affirmation of Christ’s redemptive lordship as the defining revelation of God in history. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”—there is the act of faith: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” It’s a proclamation of faith in the form of address to the Savior of the world. It’s only in the Holy Spirit can we proclaim that Jesus is Lord. It is permeated with the divinizing energies of that Holy Spirit. Furthermore, it is a confession of sinfulness, trapped in a place with a broken and contrite heart, continuously in the presence of the living Christ and under the bounteous mercy of his blood.
True Repentance – Ancient Faith Homily – Publican & Pharisee by Father Emmanuel Kahn
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen.
On this Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, in the Gospel today from the 18th chapter of the Gospel of St Luke, Jesus Christ tells us an important story about two people who are praying to God. The publican is not someone who runs a pub, but rather, a tax collector who is cheating people and is aware of his limited spiritual life. The Pharisee is a devout Jew who fasts regularly and gives a tenth of his income to The Temple. These two people are very different. However, they both believe in God; and they both are seeking to worship God. So, how do they differ in the eyes of Jesus Christ?
I think they differ in their approach to repentance—their approach to being sorry before God for how they are living their lives at present. The Pharisee is not only proud of how well he is doing, but highly critical of the tax collector, whose heart the Pharisee cannot see. The tax collector is aware of his limitations and says simply to God from deep in his heart, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” St Augustine preached about these different attitudes from the Pharisee and the tax collector with the following insights; and I quote:
How useful and necessary a medicine is repentance (reflected St Augustine). People who remember that they are only human will readily understand this. It is written, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’
St Augustine is quoting Proverbs, chapter 5, verse 37, which is also cited by St Peter in First Peter, chapter 5, verse 5. St Augustine continues:
The Pharisee was not rejoicing so much in his own clean bill of health as in comparing [what he sees as his good spiritual health] with the diseases of others. [The Pharisee] came to the doctor [that is, God]. It would have been more worthwhile to inform [God] by confession of the things that were wrong with [his life] instead of keeping his wounds secret and having the nerve to crow over [that is, to triumph gleefully] over the scars [and failures] of others. It is not surprising,” concluded St Augustine, “that the tax collector went away cured, since he had not been ashamed of showing where he felt pain [Sermon 351.1; cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT III, Luke, Inner Varsity Press, 2003, p. 279].
We can all learn from those insights from St Augustine. We each know when and where we feel pain from our past actions. We need to be willing to confess that pain in confession to God and to know that he forgives us. Precisely because God forgives us, we can forgive ourselves and seek to live better lives.
Reflecting on this scriptural passage in the helpful study, The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox: Daily Scripture Readings and Commentary for Orthodox Christians, Joanna Manley offers us an important insight. She cites the 5th century Greek Orthodox monk, St Mark the Ascetic, who pointed out that: “Just as fire and water cannot be combined, so self-justification and humility exclude one another” [St Mark the Ascetic, On the Spiritual Law in The Philokalia, cited in Manley, p. 669, Monastery Books, Menlo Park CA, 1990, p. 669]. In other words, if we try to make excuses for our behaviour when we make mistakes, we are certainly not being humble. To be humble is to be aware of our limitations, to seek to do our best, but to accept that we will make mistakes, we will not always get everything right in how and when we pray or how we live. The very word humble comes from two Latin words [humilis and humus] meaning “low” and “ground.” In a sense, what we are seeking is to be grounded in the Lord—to be firmly rooted in seeking the will of the Lord for each of our lives. How can we do that? How can we become grounded in the particular will—the particular plan and hope—that the Lord has for each of us?
St Mark the Ascetic proposes an unusual, but practical bit of advice. In his writings, On the Spiritual Law, St Mark reflects, and I quote: “A good conscience is found through prayer; and pure prayer through the conscience. Each by nature needs the other” [p. 198]. That is a powerful idea. To be humble, as this tax collector is, we need to develop a good conscience—that is, to seek what is right for ourselves and for others. At the same time, because we are seeking to do what is right that approach guides us into a stronger and stronger prayer life. As our conscience becomes stronger, so does our prayer life. Furthermore, as our prayer life becomes stronger, we can see more clearly in our conscience what actions are right in our relationships with specific people and specific problems. Our conscience and our prayer life work together. As St Mark the Ascetic says, “Each . . . needs the other.”
God sees each of us as we are. He knows us better than we know ourselves; and He uses this knowledge of our thoughts and our lives to guide us to His purposes. Consider the words of the fourth-century poet and hymn writer, St Ephrem the Syrian:
In the case of the Pharisee who was praying, the things he said were true. [However,] since he was saying them out of pride, and the tax collector was telling his sins with humility, the confession of sins of the [tax collector] was more pleasing to God than the [statement about] almsgiving of the [Pharisee]. It is more difficult to confess one’s sins than one’s righteousness. God looks on the one who carries a heavy burden. The tax collector therefore appeared to [God] to have had more to bear than the Pharisee had. [So] the tax collector went [on his way] more justified than the Pharisee did, only because of the fact he was humble . . . (concluded St Ephrem) [Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 15.24, cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament III, Luke, p. 280].
These powerful insights from St Ephrem apply to each of us today. It is clear from this story in the gospel of St Luke that God is pleased when we are humble, when we confess our sins and when we seek to live better lives and to draw closer to Him. God does not expect us to be perfect persons; and He helps us to understand our imperfections and weaknesses. The confession of any sin is a sign of humility before a loving God.
Furthermore, when necessary, God will teach us to be humble. That experience can be both painful and helpful. A Serbian Elder, Thaddeus of Vitovnica, reflects that
if we ourselves do not learn humility, God will not stop humbling us…. Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we [encourage]. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the [challenging] circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts [that is, drawn into a situation where several strong conflicting ideas occur] and [we] can have neither peace nor [calmness] [Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2015; pp. 40, 8].
The title of this sermon is “True Repentance.” In a book filled with the teachings of Elder Thaddeus [1914-2002], Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, he offers us a beautiful understanding how to be truly repentant by becoming truly humble. In a lecture delivered in 1998, he spoke of how Jesus Christ said to his disciples, “Peace be unto you” [John 20. 19]. The elder continued with his thoughts that now conclude my thoughts about true repentance. I quote:
[Like Jesus Christ,] I too wish that the peace and joy of the Lord may come upon all of us. The Lord will reward us with His Peace if we change our way of thinking and turn toward [Him]…. The perfection of the Christian life consists in extreme humility [that is, very strong humility]. Where humility reigns, whether it be within a family or in] society, as a whole, it always radiates [that is, sends forth] Divine peace and joy…. [True] repentance [leads to] a change of life. One must go to a priest and confess, or tell a friend or relative if something disturbs one’s consciousness and shatters [that is, destroys] one’s inner peace. After confession a person also feels lighter. God has created us in such a manner that we all influence one another. When a neighbor feels compassion [that is, sorrow for someone in trouble], we immediately feel comforted and stronger. [Because] life has dealt us many blows, … we must change our way of thinking…. If we turn toward the Fountain of Life—God [Himself]—then He will give us the strength [through which we can then] become rooted in good thoughts—quiet, peaceful and kind thoughts, full of love. Our sincere repentance will shine through, [with] good thoughts, good wishes, and feelings of love that radiate peace and give comfort to every being [pp. 171-172].
Elder Thaddeus concludes:
There, now you understand what [true] repentance is all about. [True] repentance is a complete turning of one’s heart toward [the] Absolute Goodness [of God], and not only [a turning] of the heart but also of the mind. [True] repentance is the unbreakable union of love with our Father and Creator. Therefore, we must always be in prayer and at all times ask the Mother of God to give us the strength to love [God] as she herself does, along with the saints and the angels. Then we will be blessed both in this life and in eternity as well. For God [gives] love, peace, and joy, which fills every [person] that seeks Him from the heart [p. 172].
And so, we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages.
Father Emmanuel Kahn
Pharisee & Publican – Triodion Synaxarion Reading
It was our Holy Fathers’ idea that through the entire Triodion would be commemorated in a concise form all God’s benefits to us from the beginning, using it as a reminder for all of us that we were created by Him, and were exiled from Paradise through the tasting of the fruit, rejecting the commandment that was given to us for our knowledge, and we were cast out through the envy of the arch villain serpent and enemy, who was made to crawl for his arrogance. That we remained cut off from the benefits of Paradise and were led by the devil. That the Son and Word of God, having suffered in His mercy, bowing the heavens, descended and made His abode in the Virgin and became man for our sake, showing us through His life the ascent into the heavens, through humility first of all then fasting and the rejection of evil and through His other deeds. That He suffered and rose from the dead and ascended once more into heaven, and He sent down the Holy Spirit upon His holy disciples and Apostles, who all proclaimed Him to be the Son of God and the most perfect God. And that once more the divine Apostles acted through the grace of the most Holy Spirit and gathered all the saints from the ends of the earth through their preaching, filling the world on high, which was the intention of the Creator from the beginning.
Now the purpose of the Triodion intended by the Holy Fathers on these three present feasts of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, and the Second Coming is a kind of preparatory lesson and stimulation to prepare ourselves for the spiritual labors of the Fast, having put aside our usual corrupt habits.
First of all they present to us the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, and they call the week following precursory. For those who desire to go off to do military battle, first ascertain the time of the battle from the leaders, so that having cleaned and polished their weapons, and preparing well all their other matters, and having removed all obstacles from their path, they earnestly go forth to their labors, taking the necessary supplies. Often before battle they tell anecdotes and tales and parables to incite their hearts to zeal, driving off idleness, fear, despair and other inadequate feelings. So the divine Fathers herald the coming fast against the armies of demons as a passion which holds fast our souls to cleanse ourselves of the poison accumulated over a long period of time. Not yet possessing those benefits, let us strive to obtain them, and arming ourselves properly, so let us set off to the labors of the Fast. Now the first weapon among the virtues is repentance and humility. And the temptation to attain the greatest humility is pride and arrogance. So they place before us first of all this present trustworthy parable from the Divine Gospel. It encourages us to shun the desire for the pride and arrogance of the Pharisee, and to cultivate the opposite desire of the Publican for humility and repentance. For the greatest and most grievous passion is pride and arrogance, since this is how the Devil fell from the heavens before the morning star and was cast into darkness. Because of this Adam, the father of our race, was driven from Paradise through partaking of the fruit. Through this example the Holy Fathers encourage all not to be proud of their successes, but always to be humble. For the Lord sets Himself against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Better a man who has sinned, if he knows that he has sinned and repents, than a man who has not sinned and thinks of himself as righteous. For Christ said, “I say to you that the Publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.” This parable reveals that no one should exalt himself, even though he has done good deeds, but rather should always be humble and pray from his heart to God, for even if he should fall into the most serious sin, salvation is not far off. Through the prayers of all Thy holy Hymnographers, O Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Pharisee & Publican – Great Lent Week By Week Meaning – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Of America
Arrogance is the perversion of the soul and spirit of man; it is the greatest weapon of the evil one; it is the mother of hypocrisy; it is the obstacle of spiritual progress: it is the degradation of civilization; it is the greatest enemy of man; it is the opposite of repentance; it is the corruption of the conscience of man. This is why the Church designated the first Sunday of preparation for acceptance of the Message of the Resurrection of Christ, with the Parable of the Tax Collector and Pharisee being read. The root of evil, arrogance, should be uprooted and replaced with the virtue of humbleness, which is the teaching of this Parable. The highest degree of man’s arrogance is when a person speaks to God in prayers as did the Pharisee, who said, “God I thank thee”, only for the opportunity to enumerate his achievements publicly, comparing himself to others who, according to him, were sinners, saying “I am not like other men, sinners, or even like this tax collector”. He extolled himself saying, “I fast, I give tithe”, which he did. But the more he boasted, the more he condemned himself through arrogance.
On the other hand, the tax collector confessed: “God be merciful to me a sinner”. The repentance of the tax collector is the basis of Christian life; it is the passage into the Kingdom; it is the reestablishment of the image of God in the soul of His creature. Humbleness is the queen of all virtues. Thus, the first phrase of the hymnology of the day is: “Let us not pray pharisee-like. . . . Open to me the doors of repentance”. The combination of almsgiving, prayer and piety, along with the intention of repentance like that of the tax collector, is imperative in the life of a Christian. The attitude of the tax collector made him a steward of divine gifts. Repentance and confession of faith is the same two-sided coin.
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