I Visited St. Elizabeth Orthodox Christian Church

St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church, Eagan, MN

Intro

I spent this past Christian Sabbath ("sunday") at St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church. I will save the TL;DR crowd - who is likely still gazing at the icon above and will make it to these words in due time - time by presenting a thesis for my visit. My visit was more life-giving than many experiences before it, because my visit focused on that which is unseen, rather than that which is seen.

Austrian Economics makes descriptive claims about human behavior. The Bible makes normative claims about human behavior. Both value that which is unseen. If we High-Church Christians (Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans etc.) mean what we say when we damningly recite the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, then we must acknowledge that the living God has dominion over "all things visible and invisible". We don't. God help us. We only focus on visible things: thrones, vestments, hats, laity attire, incense, icons, candles, prettiness, luxury cars, tv shows, and Super Bowl 50.

Fr. Marc Boulos, pastor of St. Elizabeth Orthodox Christian Church (SEOCC), and Hebrew scholar Dr. Richard Benton care about invisible things. In January 2014 they started the Bible as Literature podcast, and I have been listening with ears that hear since February 2014. As with every matter under the heavens: there was a time they spent 12 weeks covering the 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes and a time they explained what reading the Bible as literature means, a time they invited a guest speaker, and a time they were the only two to speak, a time I distantly listened from California, and a time that I visited their parish in Eagan, MN.

The Parishioners

As I tend to do on Christian Sabbath mornings, I arrived early. Not to boast in my flesh, but to glorify God by spending more time hearing the liturgy and the teaching that will hopefully lead to the ever-correction of my human (fleshly) behavior until the Lord Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. Dave greeted me at the door, gave me a tour of the parish, and conversated with me until Orthros began. Sara went out of her way to introduce herself to the stranger in her midst (me), and we discussed the role of an Ombudsman versus a mediator or an attorney in the wide field of dispute resolution / conflict management. George, to my delight, told me that several parishes within the Twin Cities area collaborate for almsgiving. Glory to God for their warmth.

Liturgical Similarities and Differences

As Fr. Marc and I agree, all the Dyophysite Orthodox are Greeks in origin. Not ethnically, but linguisticaly and eccliastically (church structure). These Greeks, SEOCC, worship the living God in Greek, Arabic, and the American language, but predominately in the American language. This shows an acknowlegement that the Good News should not be chained to one language or ethnic group's identity, even if it is the original langauge of the NT. A few EOTC parishes with a majority of parishioners of Caribbean descent worship God in the American language and Ge'ez every week. Of the parishes of majority Ethiopian descent, no parish has done more American language liturgy than my home parish of Virgin Mary's EOTC in Los Angeles. It is done monthly there.

The Greek liturgy is shorter but, liturgical phrases like "holy things are for the holy ones", "arise for prayer", "let us attend" etc... are banal amongst the Greeks and the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians only use one set of melodies attributed to Holy Yareyd the Agazee. SEOCC uses both Byzantine and Russian melodies, even in American language chants and the reading of Scripture by Fr. Marc. Although sundry Ethiopian males have abandoned the bright white nettela (ነጠላ), Ethiopian females are rarely seen on a church's premises without a nettela. In contrast, other than appropriate attire for a Mid-West winter, there seemed to be no pattern to how SEOCC parishioners dress. 

Icons

Of course I had to mention the icons. They were legion. There were thousands and tens of thousands of them. Many were aesthetically pleasing, but I found the ones with clear written messages to be the most morally beautiful. One of Holy Paul whispering into the ear of Holy John Gildedmouth caught my attention. This icon declares Paul's apostleship to be neither by human commission nor from human authorities (as it is written in Galatians Chapter 1, EOB). If this is the case, then there is nothing to be added or removed from the Good News which he preached, lest we be anathema and accursed. What was this Good News? Jesus of Nazareth is Lord of lords. Jesus put death to death, shaming the Devil and his minions, that we may no longer fear death, and love (in thought, word, and indeed) all peoples - especially our enemies. Another icon of Holy Elizabeth, the New Martyr, and Righteous Joshua, says "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ". We forget that though the law of the letter is no longer of use, we are not in a state of lawlessness. We have the law of Christ, which is the law of the Spirit or the law of functionality. This law demands that we study context, and accordingly carry the burden of our weaker sister. May His grace help us to do so without ceasing.

Torah

Torah is the instruction unto life. The Jews use this word to refer to the Pentateuch alone, or to the entire Hebrew Bible, and even the Talmud. Fr. Marc uses this term to refer to the Older Testament and the Newer Testament, which are both authoritative and "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16,17). 

Since there is nothing new under the Sun, and thus no new heresy or apostasy under the Sun, modern-day Marcionists want to remove the OT from their Bible. Dr. Benton jested with a parishioner that they would study only "boring" OT texts because they make parishioners feel uncomfortable, and uncomfortable biblical passages are likely the most life-giving when understood contextually. I've had similar experiences with an aunt, and with nominally Christian friends.

Brilliantly, Fr. Marc layed seige to the hearts of his sheep with three periods of Torah exposition. The first was a full-length expostion of the Good News reading from Matthew's account, right after he read from it. Ethiopians have long since abandoned this practice, favoring a post-litugical sermon that may or may not have to do with the lectionary. Next, during the moments just prior to communion Fr. Marc gave a terse further explanation of what he had previously said. After parishioners mingled during the coffee hour, and some left, and the kids found a teacher in Ms. Holly Benton, Fr. Marc found his final opportunity of the day to "tell the Good News of deliverance before the great congregation" (Psalm 41(40):9).

In Matthew 15:21-28 we find the story of the Canaanite woman who asked Jesus for mercy for her and an exorcism for her daughter. Fr. Marc told us: that women in the Bible often represent cities, when we neglect the needy we are acting as the Apostles who whined about a crying Canaanite woman (their weaker sister), Jesus called this woman a dog, and we are all dogs who should superlatively trust in the crumbs that fall from our master's trapeza (table). I did not receive the Eucharist (as our bishops are not yet in communion), but I did hear this life-giving instruction and eat the crumbs of non-sacramentalized prosphora. Fr. Marc's teaching had me continually chuckling and chortling, because Scriptural wisdom breeds humor.

In Fr. Marc's pre-communion teaching, the main topic was a re-exhortation to consider the possibility of the seemingly outlandish claims he was making. He doesn't believe that his hearers will immediately get it and obey the biblical text, but he hopes that the hearers will at least consider changing their behavior according to Scripture.

After the coffee hour Fr. Marc hosted the Ephesus School. He emphasizes the Antiochan method of drawing out the meaning of the biblical literature from its immediate context, and the context of the Bible as a whole. He gave an introduction to the Acts of the Aposltes and taught us Chapter 1 line-by-line. Fr. Marc told us: his disciples should quote to him chapter and verse if they are going to invoke the Spirit sending them a personal message, "proofs" are not palpable greetings in the flesh from the Lord Jesus or ego-feeding self-righteous debates about semantics but authoritative instructions, Orthodox love to gaze and gawk like the men of Galilee did to Jesus' superman trick into the clouds (ascension in glory) but if we truly loved the angels we would listen to them and do and act, and finally no single Caesar is remembered for his imperial power but Jesus of Nazareth who was defeated, shamed, and crucified before the eyes of men remains on our lips and in our thoughts and God-willing in our deeds because He has true power.

Thanksgiving

I want to thank SEOCC for a wonderous time, Fr. Marc for the onslaught of Torah, the Bentons for their hospitality, and the Holy Trinity for preserving us all unto this very moment. If I valued materialism, commercialism, and other whims and caprices of this wicked age, I would not have had a good time. My eternal glee and jubilee are invisible things. Brethern and sistren, let us attend to the invisible things as much if not more than the visible things.

Conclusion

Holy Paul will conclude this recounting of my first time at SEOCC. My quoting of his life-giving words are an invitation for you to read 2 Corinthians 4, all of 2 Corinthians, and indeed the entire biblical literature again and again and again.

we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Cor 4:18 RSV)

Furthermore, we must love each other.

tewahidobiblestudy.com

Post Scriptum:

If you haven't read Fr. Marc's Torah to The Gentiles, read my scrum-diddly-umptious review here, read the six chapters of Galatians in advance, and then read his book.