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I’d
like to welcome you all back to our weekly talks and wish you all a
blessed and fruitful New Year 2012. Before the Christmas break we had a
series of talks on the Parables of the Lord which we left unfinished and
hopefully we will resume with the last of the Parables as from next
week. Today I want to speak to you about miracles and what they mean for
us.
Miracles are
defined as acts that happen which cannot be explained by the known laws
of nature, where the normal laws of nature are suspended, indicating
that some other divine or supernatural force has been active. In a
modern and casual usage of the word it can refer to any wonderful event
such as the birth of a child, someone surviving a natural disaster or
someone surviving a death threatening illness against all odds. In
religious terms, it is always an intervention of God's providence where
God acts upon a person's life for his spiritual salvation or on a nation
or the creation at large again for the purpose of salvation. God's
intervention is sometimes conveyed directly or indirectly through his
angels and the intercessions of his saints.
Miracles can
be many things: they can be bodily cures, which do not necessarily mean
that modern medicine, or nature itself cannot cure, but the timing of
the cure is unexplainable. They can be visions of angels and saints
which according to science are not natural phenomena of this world and
therefore only exist in the minds of those who say they have seen them.
Miracles can be just a voice without a vision which a person hears and
automatically recognizes that the voice is not of this world, but cannot
explain it according to the natural laws of this world. We can even say
that a thought or message received in the heart, which the person
receiving it recognizes that it came from some other source other than
his own brain is a form of miracle, especially when the message is
telling the person to act immediately and there is a significant
consequence following the message which cannot be explained by natural
laws. I will explain a little later what I mean.
Over the
holidays we celebrated two miraculous events that were bestowed upon the
whole world with the purpose of man's salvation. The one was the Birth
of Christ and the other his Baptism in the waters of the River Jordan.
Both events were announced or accompanied with miraculous events which
cannot be explained scientifically. One can only believe they happened
if the person believes in God and that Jesus is God incarnate. For a
believer all things are possible with God and for a sceptic nothing less
than seeing with his own eyes a miraculous event would make him believe,
and even then, he would still question what he saw and try to explain it
within the natural laws of nature.
If miracles
are defined as acts that defy the laws of nature then Christ's birth is
certainly within this definition. Never has it been heard of according
to natural law that a woman can conceive and become pregnant with child
without a man. Never has it been heard of that a woman can give birth
naturally and still retain the bodily signs of virginity. These are
miracles that no scientific human answers can explain and so the Church
calls them Mysteries. Many people except the miraculous conception yet
find it difficult to accept that after giving birth the Mother of God
retained her virginity. Is one event more plausible that the other? Are
not both events beyond human logic? If God can do the one can he not do
the other? If God can create the universe just by a single thought, if
he can create man from dust, what is so unbelievable in keeping intact a
woman's virginity after childbirth?
The
angels that appeared to the shepherds are a miracle because their
appearance to the shepherds cannot be explained by the laws of this
world. They belong to a world that apparently doesn't exist except in
the minds of religious fanatics. But what about the star than appeared
to the wise men and which lead them to the birthplace of Christ? This is
a strange phenomenon which astronomers have for centuries been trying to
explain by the known movements of the planets and stars. Their interest
in the star at least shows that they take the Gospel story seriously
enough to accept that there was actually a star, but their error is that
they do not accept it as an unexplainable and miraculous event and try
to explain it within the logic of their science. I explained the
miraculous star last year, but it will do no harm to hear it again. The
wise men started of on their journey to find a God but how did they know
where to go? In the Gospel of Matthew it says that they came from the
east to Jerusalem saying: “where is he that is born the King of the Jews
for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.” If
they saw the star in the east how did they know to come to Jerusalem?
Well firstly the star is not like any other star known to man, that is
why the wise men saw in its appearance the confirmation that a divine
person had come into the world.
Many
astronomers will tell us that it was a comet, it was a nova or some
other astronomical event and will even tell us that according to their
astronomical charts the year of Christ birth must be wrong because they
can account for an astronomical event a few years before and a few years
after, but not for the year that Christ is said to have been born. The
truth is they will never be able to discover what this star was because
it was not a star in the usual sense as we will see from its behaviour.
The wise men came to Jerusalem because the star guided them: it went
before them showing them the road; it guided them until they were
outside of Jerusalem and then disappeared. We can deduct that they
didn’t see the star whilst in Jerusalem because it tells us that after
leaving Herod the star which they saw in the east appeared again and
went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
Now this is a very strange star. It appears, it disappears, it moves in
various directions and can stop whenever it wants to and shine down on
what it wants. Its brightness can even be seen in the daytime and is not
dimmed by the brightness of the sun. This is definitely not a comet or a
nova as some suppose. It is telling the wise men where to go and where
to look for the God that has been born a human being. The star is not
only a cosmic phenomenon; it is a heavenly messenger, an angel sent by
God to proclaim the glad tidings of the incarnation of the Son of God.
The Nativity
story is full of miracles that occurred that cannot be explained by the
natural laws of this world. They only have meaning if one believes in
God and that he can do all things according to his will and providence.
The Baptism of Christ is also proclaimed with miraculous events. The
Gospels tell us that when Jesus was baptized in the River Jordon by John
that he immediately came out of the water and the heavens were opened
and the Spirit of God in the form of a dove descended and lighted upon
him and a voice from heaven was heard to say: “This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.” The miracle is that for the first time in
human history, God has revealed himself as a God incomprehensible to
human intellect, a God one in essence, but comprising of three persons:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Most miracles are seen or heard by someone.
In the case of the Baptism Theophany, the miracle was seen and heard by
John the Baptist so that he should bare witness to the whole world of
the revelation of the Trinitarian God and that Jesus was indeed the Son
of God, the Second person of the Holy Trinity. But at the Baptism of
Christ another miracle took place which was not heard or seen by anyone.
This is the sanctification of the waters and the renewal of creation.
The world
was created for man and when Adam fell from grace the whole material
world fell with him. The whole world suffered the consequences of fallen
nature and Christ came into the world not only to save man, but also to
renew nature: to transfigure the fallen state of creation to the state
that it will receive in the new age. With his baptism in the streams of
the Jordan all matter is sanctified and made pure in him, purged of its
death-dealing qualities inherited from the devil and the wickedness of
men. In the Lord's epiphany all creation becomes good again, indeed
“very good,” the way that God himself made
it and proclaimed it to be in the beginning when
“the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters” (Gen
1:2) and when the “Breath of Life” was
breathing in man and in everything that God made (Gen 1:30; 2:7).
Within the
Church there are many miracles happening which we cannot see with our
eyes or hear with our ears. The Sacraments are called Mysteries because
a transformation takes place which cannot be explained logically
according to the laws of nature. The wine becomes the Blood of Christ
and the bread his Body, the waters of the baptismal font are sanctified
and have the power to bestow upon the person being baptised a new life
free from sin, through the Chrism we are bestowed with the gifts of the
Holy Spirit. Through confession our sins are absolved and we are given a
clean slate. These are transformations we cannot see, but because we
believe that God can do all things we do not question if these things
actually happen: we know they do. We do not need to verify everything
according to the laws of nature because nature itself has changed. When
sceptics speak of the laws of nature, what nature are they talking
about? For us who believe that man was originally created immortal they
can only be referring to fallen nature. Adam's fall changed human nature
from its immortal state which God created it into a state of mortality
subject to illnesses, diseases, pain, suffering, ageing bodies, and
death. All these things are unnatural to our original nature: if then
someone is miraculously cured of a terminal illness this is not against
the laws of nature but a sign and foretaste of our true immortal nature.
Miracles do
happen. We all know someone to whom a miracle has happened. Some
miracles are noticeable because they involve a bodily cure, but there
are many miracles that happen to each of us daily which often go
unnoticed or we take for granted. We are driving along in our car and
suddenly we just escape a terrible accident; was it pure chance or were
we saved from harm by an angel? I mentioned earlier that we can receive
messages within us telling us to do something which we immediately
recognise did not come from our own thoughts. I will tell you of a
strange if not miraculous story of what happened to me many years ago.
It was in January of 1992, I was still living in London just before I
came over to Cyprus to be ordained a priest. I was working as a church
warden at one of London's Orthodox churches and two or three months
before a new priest, an archimandrite from Greece was assigned to the
Church to take over from another priest who was permanently coming back
to Cyprus.
I
would open the Church every morning and clean the Sanctuary and other
odd jobs that needed doing. During the day people would come and go
leaving money in the tray and lighting their votive candles. I would
know when someone came in because the door had a bell attached to it
which would ring as it opened. During my rounds around the church I
would take the money left in the tray and put it into the counter slot
for safe keeping. The new priest saw me doing this and asked me to leave
the money in the tray. There was no valid reason to leave the money in
the tray but the priest insisted and gave the excuse that someone might
what to change a large note. In my experience, no one ever asked for
change and whoever came to light a candle always came prepared with the
money they wanted to give. This stirred up my suspicions and I decided
to keep a watch on the priest. Sure enough, as someone came in and left,
the priest would come out of his office, go straight to the money tray
transferring everything into his pocket. He would do this all day long
and if he left the church he would make a note of reminding me to leave
the money in the tray. I was in a dilemma as to what to do; he was a
priest and it wasn't right for me to accuse him of stealing. On the
other hand the church was not a wealthy parish and had a massive loan to
repay. I kept things to myself and at every opportunity when he wasn't
around I would place the money into the counter slot.
After
a couple of months I felt I couldn't keep it to myself any longer and
confidentially told the other priest what was happening. He promised he
would not say anything to anyone and I felt a great burden lifted off my
shoulders: it wasn't my problem any more. Needless to say he didn't keep
his word and mentioned it to the committee members. They couldn't come
straight out and accuse him of stealing so they set a trap for him. They
marked several five pound notes and gave them to people to come during
the week and put them into the money tray. After the Sunday Liturgy on
the 16th January they made out that they needed to change a large note
and asked the priest if he had any fivers on him. Sure enough out come
the fivers and he was trapped. When he asked how they came to suspect
him they told him that I witnessed him stealing the money and informed
them. He came running into the sanctuary where I was still tidying up
and attacked me with a string of verbal abuse and curses. I went home
planning to return later on in the evening for Vespers for the feast of
St. Anthony which was the following morning.
That
same Sunday evening on that cold and dark winter's night I was driving
to go to the Church. From my house to the church I had to take a three
lane dual carriageway called the North Circular Road. Those of you from
London will know the road very well. Usually this road that goes for
miles around London is choc a bloc with traffic, but being that it was
Sunday and winter there was hardly any cars on the road. At one point of
the road for at least half a mile before certain traffic lights the road
loses its central reservation. When I got to this point I noticed the
headlights of a car on the other side of the traffic lights still a very
long way off. As soon as I noticed the car I heard a voice inside me
telling me that that car was coming straight for me to do me harm and
that there is no way I could escape it. If I stop the car on the hard
shoulder it will find me and if I speed up it will still find me. I knew
straight away that the message didn't come from my brain, some other
source was at work and so I took the message seriously. I had to make a
quick decision there and then. As there was no way of escaping the
collision I decided to pull up on the hard shoulder and wait so that at
least the impact would be less severe. I stopped and prayed and watched
the car approach all the while sensing that what was approaching was not
a car but a demon. The car passed the traffic lights and was moving
along normally like any other car, but then as it came towards a few
feet from me, it turned and cross the road and came head on and collided
straight into me completely destroying the right side of my car. My car
was a right off, but I escaped with a little whiplash. The police and
ambulance came but neither myself or the two passengers in the other car
were hurt. When the police asked the other driver to explain what had
happened he was bewildered. He said that he was driving along when
suddenly he had no control over the car as though someone else had taken
over the steering wheel.
I
didn't make it to Church for the evening service or for the morning
service, but later on in the day I took the bus and made my way to the
Church. As soon as I entered the cleaning lady came rushing up to me
saying all excited "who'll never guess what happened yesterday, that so
and so priest (I'll leave out the characteristics she used) last night
just before vespers he got on his knees in the middle of the church and
like a madman was screaming and praying to Satan to do you harm." I was
not really surprised by what she said: the exact time she mentioned
coincided with what I experienced the evening before and the cleaning
lady's information simply helped fill the puzzle of what really
happened. What happened to the priest? Not much, he was moved to another
parish outside of London where he repeated his unholy activities until
he was asked to leave and return to Greece. Back in Greece he was
involved in a ring accused of embezzling millions of church funds,
selling church antiquities, and bribing judges to acquit drug dealers.
In 2005 he was arrested and spent 17 months in prison awaiting trial
until he was released on bail pending further court trials.
Anyway the
story I have just told is not centred on the priest, but on what I
experienced and especially the inner voice I heard. It certainly didn't
come from my own thoughts, how could I have foretold that the other car
would suddenly change course and come straight into me. What if I hadn't
heeded the message and ignored it? I would have been speeding at the
time of the collision and would have definitely been severely injured or
even dead.
Miracles do
happen everyday to many people in various ways and forms. For us
Christians this should not be anything out of the ordinary. Certainly
for many a miracle helps to strengthen their faith in God and is a
verification or divine intervention. The Catholic Church makes a point
of setting up committees to investigate miracles and all those that
don't withstand the test of modern scientific scrutiny are discarded as
not true miracles. To even be considered, a potentially miraculous cure
must be instantaneous or sudden, complete and permanent, and without
apparent scientific explanation. Those “cured” cannot simply have
improved, cannot relapse and cannot have sought medical care (or at
least must have given it up well before the miracle). Over 8,000 cures
have been documented at the waters of Lourdes, but the Catholic Church
has only validated a mere 67 of them. To understand miracles as only
phenomena without scientific explanation is to misunderstand what
miracles are. Christ cured Peter's mother in law from a fever. Her fever
could have run its course naturally and she would have been cured in a
few days. Does that make the miracle any less a miracle?
The Orthodox
Church on the other hand does not investigate miracles in the same way
unless she suspects a deliberate fraud set up to manipulate and delude
the faithful into giving donations. There are thousands of miracles
documented in books concerning the lives of various saints, but none of
these are investigated and none are promoted as proof of divine
intervention. The Church has no need to prove to the world want she
believes and takes for granted, that God has not abandoned man to his
own devices but continually manifests his divine providence in human
affairs for man's welfare and salvation.
Thousands of
Christians claim to have been visited by an angel or a saint. All these
apparitions cannot be simply the figment of their imaginations. With a
great majority these visions are true appearances of saints who through
God’s will are sent to earth to help or heal the faithful. But the
Church is cautious in accepting these visions as divine intervention
because demons are also known to appear as angels or saints and at times
have appeared as Christ. Why people see demonic delusions is another
story which we have spoken off in the past and could possibly have again
as a separate talk. For our talk today it is enough to say that whether
divine or demonic these visions defy the natural laws of nature.
As I said
earlier we all know of someone to whom a miracle has happened and almost
every family will have a miracle story to relate. I've already given you
an account of a personal experience, but if you bear with me I would
like to share with you at least two more family experiences.
When I and
my brothers and sister were still very young children, our mother, for
some unknown reason was stricken with paralysis in her legs. She
literally had to crawl from one place to another. The doctors at St.
Bartholomew's hospital were baffled and couldn't explain the reason for
her paralysis. After months of consultations with the doctors, it was
decided that she should be admitted into hospital for more test.
Christmas was approaching and the social services made all the
arrangements for us children to be placed into a children's home so that
mum could be admitted into hospital. The thought of us being placed into
a children's home probably terrified mum more than the thought of being
a guinea pig for the doctors. The day before we were to be taken into
the home, mum saw a dream that she was in the church of her mother's
village Lophou and that she was wearing a certain pair of high heels
that she had, but which she hadn't been able to wear since her illness.
As she walked out of the church she discovered that she was only wearing
the one shoe and that she must have left the other inside the church. On
waking she pondered on what she dreamt and crawled out of bed to search
for the shoes in her dream. She put the shoes on and immediately stood
up and starting walking. She then went straight to the hospital and when
the doctors saw her strolling in they were struck with disbelief. Their
medical knowledge told them that only a miracle could have taken place.
This is a
story that I was too young to remember so I only have my mother's
testimony as proof, but my next story was when I was 20 and I remember
it very well. After a business venture than went wrong my parents lost
their house and we moved around in various rented accommodation until
they bought a leasehold cafe with a flat above the shop. The cafe was
not very profitable but it paid the rent. After the first three years
the landlords had the right to increase the rent and they did so by
raising it 300 percent. There was no way my parents could meet the high
rent and an eviction order was issued. Distraught at being homeless my
parents started to search for alternative lodgings. During the night my
mother had a dream where someone called Thomas appeared to her and told
her not to worry, and that there are two thousand before you, but you
shall be first. On waking she had no idea what this meant. Soon the
postman came and there was a letter from the local council. She opened
the letter and it said that there were two thousand people on the
housing waiting list, but please come in to see us to discuss your
application. My mum was baffled as she had never ever made any
application for a council house. She went along and when they found her
file they told her that she had applied on the 6th January 1974 and that
she should have already been given a house. Sure enough we soon moved
into the council house, but the story is very baffling because of the
date of the application. It's a date we all remember very well because
it was the day we were all busily moving into the flat above the cafe
and it was the date my sister gave birth to her daughter. Mum was torn
between moving and being at the hospital for the birth of her first
grandchild so there was no possible way for anyone to have gone to the
local council to make an application.
There are
more baffling family stories but I've said enough about mine and would
like to hear some of yours.
Miracles and
strange unexplainable things do happen, but if we believe in God we
should not be surprised or find them incredulous to believe. Weeping
Icons have become a common phenomenon in recent years and if anyone
wants proof of divine power they only have to visit the Holy Land during
Easter and take part in the Ceremony of the Holy Light. There is even
video footage available on the net of this miracle that happens every
year.
What then
are miracles for us Christians? They should not be seen only as proof
and verification of God's existence, but as a comfort and hope that God
is always with us and will intervene in our affairs if it is for our
good and for our salvation. Wanting to see or experience a miracle is
like saying you are not sure of your faith in God and like Thomas need
proof to believe. As with Thomas, God sometimes gives this proof, but it
is far better to hear the Lord say “Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have believed.”
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