“On this day we commemorate…” (Matins)

At the service of Orthros, (from Greek, meaning "morning," "dawn" or "day break." It is called Matins in English from the Latin which means "morning"). This early morning service precedes the Divine Liturgy, it begins with the reading of six morning psalms and the intoning of the Great Litany. After this, verses of Psalm 117[118] are chanted. It includes the chanting of the Troparion, hymns on the theme of the particular day and the Synaxarion (commemoration of the day’s Saints). On major feast days, special praises and psalms are chanted, which on the Lord’s Day chant of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. On major feasts and on Sundays, the Gospel is also read. Following the Gospel there is a long intercessory prayer followed by a set of hymns and readings called Canon. These hymns are based on the Old Testament canticles and conclude with the hymn to the Ever-Virgin Mary, taken from Luke 1:46-55]. The Great Doxology is chanted followed by the morning litanies.

TIME

"Then God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw the light; it was good; and God divided the LIGHT from DARKNESS. God called THE LIGHT DAY; the DARKNESS he called Night; and there was EVENING and MORNING, ONE DAY" [Genesis 1:5]. Psalm 117/118 is rich in the liturgical usage of the Church. Verse 24: "This is the day of the Lord made; Let us greatly rejoice, and be glad therein."

Thus time was created by our Creator but it is not eternal as is in paganism and philosophy. Here we see that in the beginning God created everything. "Time is a measurement of change and that begins with Creation. Created things change. They do not have life in and of themselves. I get sick and old and I die. I change. That’s different from God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change BECAUSE HE IS NOT CREATED." The Venerable Bede says that the heaven of the first day is the realm of Angels, so then day one is the beginning of time and Angelic time, which can be called "eternity."

Our Most Merciful and Loving God created all in wisdom. Everything He created has a definite purpose, including time. Human beings are very aware of the significance of time and how it affects them in their daily lives. As Orthodox Christians understand, time is a precious gift from God. Our God and Savior has given us the freedom to do whatever we desire with this precious and sacred time. It is up to the individual, however, to use the time he has on earth prudently and appreciation. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Logos/Word–the beginning and the end–came into time and redeemed all things. He turned our weeping, our sorrow, into joy, our mourning into dancing, our hatred into love AND OUT TIME INTO ETERNITY.

In the Old Testament Book Ecclesiastes, whose major theme is "Without God, all life is vanity." Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, the author speaks about time. "To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to give birth
And a time to die;
A time to plant
And a time to pluck what is planted.
A time to kill
And a time to heal;
A time to pull down
And a time to build up.
A time to weep
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn
And a time to dance.
A time to throw stones
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace
And a time to refrain from embracing.
A time to seek
And a time to lose;
A time to keep
And a time to throw away.
A time to tear
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silent
And a time to speak.
A time to love
And a time to hate;
A time of war
And a time of peace. [Eccl. 3:1-8].

"He," God, made everything beautiful in its time, and He indeed put eternity in their hearts ("the sons of men") in such a way that man may not find out the work God made from the beginning to the end. I know there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good in their lives" [Eccl. 3:11-12]. The Almighty God uses the world to turn us to Himself, for at the end of the age, the "time" will come for judgment. Historically, man who has lost the fear of God, has used time to do evil. However, "Whoever sins does evil from that time on an for a long time afterwards; nevertheless, I know that it shall be well for those who fear God so long as they have fear before Him. But it shall not be well with the ungodly man, he will not prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not have fear before God" [Eccl. 8:12-13].

Time, as understood by our Holy Orthodox Church, has as its principal concern to be the Kingdom of God. Everything in our Holy Church is connected to this; our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ delivered His Heavenly Kingdom to earth Himself and open the way to mankind to enter it. The Divine Eucharist is the food of the Kingdom, the Divine Liturgy is the Kingdom which transcends time. The Kingdom of God is Eternity. Our Beloved Lord came to bring us Eternal Life. Jesus describes Eternal Life but not in terms of time. Time is measured on earthly terms alone for time will eventually end as everything else as man understands it.

Saint Maximos the Confessor speaking on the nature of time, sees the basis and origin of the material world as change. Time, whose nature it is to begin and to end, signifies the reality of change. Man’s understanding of all that God has created is very limited, including time. Man has no control at all over time but time has a hold of man. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the giver of life and time. We do not possess time and therefore we cannot take time for granted. We may feel that we have all the time in the world, and to begin to plan things for the future, not understanding that we have no control over it. Since we understand that time is not ours, to do as we wish, as Orthodox Christians, we must use it wisely and not foolishly.

The prudent Orthodox Christian should use his time, here on earth, to do God’s work and every day should be used to fulfill God’s will. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…". We are to look around us and share the gospel of the good news with anyone wanting to heat it, regardless of race or ethnicity. There is still time to reach out and help the poor, the destitute, the sick, the imprisoned, the abused, the forgotten, the homeless, the injured, the orphans, the hungry, and outcasts. There is always time to do good, to be compassionate, to be kind, and to heal. Indeed, everyone has the opportunity to make a difference in this temporary world and life. The holy Apostle James writes: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" [James 1:22].

If one is interested how to use time wisely and meaningfully the holy Apostle James writes: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus, also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I will show you, my faith by my works" [James 2:14-18]. The faith that saves is a complete faith, not just the mind and the tongue but the whole man trusting in the living God. Static faith does not save. True faith in put to action and brings comfort and hope to those in need. We must nurture our faith in God and love for Him through our works. Treat every day as a holy day!

God gives all those who believe in Him to use this earthly life to prepare ourselves for His Kingdom through repentance. Christ’s first word, like that of Saint John the Baptist, is "Repent." To repent means to be fully aware of our sins and our iniquities and of their consequences of all that is destructive to man, all that offends God . Repentance is a freely willed internally cultivated process of contrition and sorrow for having distanced us from God through sin. It means a CHANGE in our thoughts and in our way of life, an about-faced in which we utterly reject sin and embrace virtue and holiness. In the New Testament, the word translated as ‘repentance’ is the Greek work METANOIA, "to change our mind and our heart," a fundamental transformation of one’s understanding of the world and of himself and his sins. To say what the prodigal son said: " Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants" [Luke 15:18-19]. A person immersed in sin is living outside his true self. The prodigal son realizes his hopeless condition and acts.

One of the Mysteria (Sacraments) of our Holy Church is that of Repentance/Confession. The Sacrament is a Grace-giving sacred rite in which, after the faithful offer repentance of their sins, the remission of sins is bestowed by the mercy of God through the intermediary of a priest of the Church, in accordance with our Savior’s promise. The father confessor prays: "You Who forgive all unrighteousness and pass by all transgressions; for You, O Lord, have said, "You have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather he turn from wickedness and live", and that "sins are forgiven even unto seventy times seven." For as Your greatness is incomparable, so is Your mercy immeasurable. For if you should mark iniquities, who shall stand? For You are the God of the penitent, and to You do we send up Glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. (Holy Confession)

In the Mystery of Repentance the spiritual afflictions of a person are treated, impurities of soul are removed, and a Christian, having received forgiveness of sins, again becomes innocent and sanctified, just as he came out of the waters of Baptism. Therefore, the Mystery of Repentance is called a "spiritual medicine." A persons sins–which draw him downward, which dull his mind, heart, and conscience, which blind his spiritual gaze; which makes powerless his Christian will–are annihilated, and his living bond with the Church and with the Lord God is restored. Being relieved of the burden of sins, he again comes to life spiritually and is able to strengthen himself and become perfected in the good Christian path. [Source: Old and New Testaments]

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George

In the book of Revelation it says that Christ is the Alpha and the Omega–the Beginning and the End.