|
Diocesan Circle of Serbian Sisters of the
Western American Diocese
Савез Кола Српских Сестара
Православне Епархије Западноамеричке
Sponsors its Eleventh Annual Women’s Lenten Retreat
With the blessings of His Grace Bishop Maxim
Saint Sava Mission and Church, Jackson, CA
April 11th & 12th, Friday & Saturday - Jackson, CA
The Annual Retreat of the Diocesan Circle of Serbian Sisters of hte Western American Diocese was held in Jackson, California at the Saint Sava Missiona and Retreat Center.
His Grace Bishop Maxim together with more then 70 Sisters arrived on Friday afternoon to partake in the Akathist Service to the Mother of God, which was followed by the dinner.
On Saturday morning His Grace Bishop Maxim and the Clergy celebrated the Divine Liturgy.
Following the Divine Liturgy on Saturday at St Sava Church in Jackson, a lecture was given by His Grace Bishop Maxim on the Topic: “The Orthodox Marriage and Family”.
Everyone enjoyed a well prepared lenten lunch and Workshop with protinica Rada (Vasiljevic) before departing to their homes.
In his talk the speaker emphasized the significance of the Orthodox marriage and family in modern society. Relating marriage to the holiness achieved through self-denial, His Grace said that without the process of the 'catharsis' of trials and sorrows there is not a genuine Orthodox Marriage ! The Messiah Himself (Jesus Christ) has to pass through these things in order to bring the Kingdom and the people of God must do the same. Using the Orthodox iconography through the power point presentation, Bishop Maxim explained why the marriage is an event in which the truth of her (Church) life is manifested and realized and how it is a reality in which our fragmented nature is transfigured into an image of Trinitarian communion where each person in the Holy Trinity is different not by way of difference in qualities but by way of simple affirmation of being who He is. In the true relationship the otherness is inconceivable apart from a relationship. This existential and ontological truth is manifested in the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all names indicating relationship. Marriage is supposed to be not a religious “addition” to the natural life of the individual, but a liberation of life from natural constraint where natural existence is transfigured into a personal distinctiveness and freedom. Going beyond Judaic utilitarianism and Roman legalism the Orthodox marriage is the possibility and responsibility given to both husband and wife to transfigure their “agreement” into the reality (foretaste, anticipation) of the Kingdom! By saying “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Ephesians 5:32) St Paul meant that in marriage man does not only satisfy the needs of his earthly, secular existence, but also realizes something very important of the purpose for which he was created; i.e. he enters the realm of eternal life. His Grace also underlined that it would be a mistake to regard marriage as a simple confirmation and blessing of a biological fact. Linked with the eucharist it becomes a reminder that although the newly married couple have been blessed in order to create their own family, nevertheless the ultimate and essential network of relationships which constitutes their hypostasis is not the family but the Church as expressed in the eucharistic assembly. The truth of the freedom of being other is also clarified through the argument that a marriage is inconceivable without freedom; it is the freedom of being other. We believe that God is love because He is Trinity. This is so true in a true marriage! We can love only if we are persons, allowing the other to be truly other and yet be in communion with us. If we love the other not in spite of his or her being different but because they are different from us, or rather other than ourselves, we live in freedom as love and in love as freedom. In giving life to others, man imitates God’s creative act. However, neither in the Gospel nor in St Paul does one find the idea that childbirth “justifies” marriage. Childbirth is the natural, holy and necessary element of Christian marriage. Following some modern orthodox theologian (Zizioulas, Meyendorff etc.) His Grace highlighted the theme of the breaking of one’s own will. Just as the Son in his kenosis obeyed the Father and emptied himself of whatever was properly regarded as his own (Phil.2) reaching the crucial decision at Gethsemane of saying “not as I will but as Thou willest”, in the same way the monk had to find a geron, a spiritual father, to whom he would offer his full obedience. In the marriage this freedom from the self leads to a movement of finding one’s identity not through self-affirmation, but through the OTHER! Dealing with the question of the conflict, he concluded that the closer we come to the Source of Peace-the Christ, the more peace we obtain within our souls. Reconciliation with God is a necessary pre-condition for reconciliation with any "other."
|
