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NEWSLETTER j December, 2012 w

Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church A Parish of the Orthodox Church in America Archpriest John Udics, Rector Deacon John Bohush 305 Main Road, Herkimer, New York, 13350 Parish Web Page: www.cnyorthodoxchurch.org

Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter, December 2012

This month’s Newsletter is in memory of the Prawlocki, Gromadzky, Jovorosky and Stehnach Families and for the health of the Buttino and Prawlocki Families, donated by Sonia Buttino

Parish Officer Contact Information Rector: Archpriest John Udics: (315) 866-3272 – [email protected] Deacon Mark Bohush – [email protected] Council President and Cemetery Director: John Ciko: (315) 866-5825 – [email protected] Council Secretary: Subdeacon Demetrios Richards (315) 865-5382 – [email protected] Sisterhood President: Rebecca Hawranick: (315) 822-6517 – [email protected]

Birthdays in December 1 – Helen Sokol 12 – Nick Sobolowski 1 – Mildred Sokol 13 – Michael Shaftic 5 – Rebecca Hawranick 25 – Avis Byrda 6 – John Hawranick 26 – John Penree 10 – Mary Alexczuk 27 – Barbara Daley 11 – Stevie Helen Kinzey 27 - Alexander Chlus

Memory Eternal 5 – Tecla Plaskon (1978) 14 – John Czub (1982) 6 – Anna (Slenska) Reguci (1995) 15 – Joseph Brelinsky (1975) 6 – Joseph Hovanec Sr (2005) 18 – John Ostaz (2008) 7 – Anna Palmer (1997) 20 – Stephen Keblish (1972) 8 – Mary Demchko (1979) 22 – Anna Rinko (1986) 9 – Irene Andricos (1977) 25 – Charles Chukrulya (1971) 9 – Anne Anthony (2005) 25 – Michael Steciak (1989) 10 – Mary Pupchek (1998) 26 – Wasil Krenichyn (1975) 13 – Joseph Williams (1978) 27 – Michael Sobolowski (1993) 13 – Ellen Konn (1981) 28 – Helen Bobak (1996)

FOR YOUR CALENDARS: December 8 and 9 Sat + Sun Visit of Sister Maria from Saint Elizabeth Convent, Minsk, Belarus December 9 Sunday Christmas Pageant and Dinner

COFFEE HOUR HOSTS FOR DECEMBER AND JANUARY December 2 Barbara Daley and Cindy Sobolowski January 6 Nancy and Dale Richards December 9 CHRISTMAS PAGEANT AND DINNER December 16 Martha Shust and Mark Petrochuck December 23 Norma and John Stehnach December 30 Jean and John Rinko 2 Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter, December 2012

164. What’s the difference between going to the priest for confession and going to a shrink for therapy? There are certain external similarities between seeing a ‘shrink’ and going to Confession, but the biggest and most important difference is that confession is about correcting our spiritual lives and it conveys the blessing of the Lord on you. This includes the admission of guilt and penance. The spiritual father works with you, with loving care, to correct the deficiencies, errors and weaknesses of your soul and mind. Confession is also about repentance and learning to turn away from sin. The psychologist does not give this healing correction, but instead works only for you to learn to live with whatever it might be that you think is wrong. Psychology is only about learning to tolerate your own “problems.” Psychologists can help you learn to live with yourself and your guilt or shame and help you fit in better with society, but they can’t erase the sins you may have committed. Also it sometimes is the case that psychologists spend time looking for reasons, motives and excuses for the disorders and illnesses you have, blaming others for your troubles. Confessors ask you to examine your heart and soul and mind and to confess your sins, the things YOU have done wrong, seeing these errors and offenses as the reason for your disorders, illnesses and troubles. And Confession washes away sin. People come to psychologists with “problems” and expect help in dealing with those problems. When you come to confession, you come to God and the priest with your sins, looking for forgiveness, you look to have those sins cleansed and washed away and to be corrected so that you may “go and sin no more.” It’s true that priests give spiritual counseling, but they advise you how to avoid sin, and how not to commit it any more, not how to accept or deal with it. Other differences are frequency – we go once a year to confession, but are willing to make weekly doctor visits. In Confession, your sins are washed away, Psychology teaches you to live with your disorder, so that you may be ‘released’ from guilt and consternation. We Christians say that nature of sin is evil, while Psychology gives you the idea that your sin is a ‘disorder’ which can be smoothed out. Christian priests advise you how to change your heart to live a Christian life – but you must decide to give up the sin. The psychiatrist wants you to accept ‘suggestions’ so you can cope with what horrors he pulls out of your past. Usually, they ask you to make those suggestions yourself. There are a few similarities as well. The priest and the psychologist both take vows to keep everything that you tell them in trust and confidentiality. Priests often struggle with the idea of having to tell someone, in confession or out, that they have problems beyond the priest’s ability to help. How can you tell someone they need ‘professional help’? They think that you’re telling them they are crazy. Some who come to Confession really would benefit from psychiatric help, but they would be totally unwilling and unable to accept such a suggestion. Where does one draw the line between sin and disorder? If someone confesses a sin, or a ‘tendency’, or an addiction, and agrees to ‘get help’ or perhaps doesn’t, how far can a priest go pastorally in permitting them to approach the chalice?

165. The on our processional cross was being repainted, and Father wouldn’t let us leave the 3 Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter, December 2012 cross up in Church (without the icon). Why did he do that? The people who donated it said it looked fine. A processional cross is an icon of the Crucifixion of Our Lord. Since the frame holding the icon was empty, even though it be cross-shaped, it is not the Holy Cross. So putting the empty frame of the icon on display is pointless and – empty. Orthodox Christians do not display the cross as an icon without the body of Christ displayed on it. Customarily crosses worn as jewelry or on tombstones or on the tops of Churches may not have the body of Christ on them. But otherwise, we try to do things correctly. And you must admit that there’s a difference between jewelry, even ‘religious’ jewelry, and in the Church. Protestants say that since Christ is risen, we shouldn’t depict the Lord on the Cross any more. Protestants have a distinctly iconoclastic (icon-breaking) attitude, and would prefer that we never use any icons (images). Not all Protestants have this attitude, and many show crosses with Christ added to the Cross in painting or sculpture, often showing him dressed as a king, ruling the living and the dead. As Orthodox Christians, who remember the victory over those who hated the icons, “the triumph of Orthodoxy,” we will not bow to the position of any who would destroy what the Holy Spirit has taught the Church over the centuries. Finally, once something is donated to the Church, those who donated it no longer control it. It now belongs to the Church, which controls how and when and even if it is used.

166. Why don’t we have patron saints like the Roman Catholics do? We do! And we don’t. It’s just that the Roman Church made or makes a conscious effort to provide heavenly patrons for each and every particular cause. When we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Unction, we invoke the help of the Unmercenary Doctors and Healers Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and John, Panteleimon, Tryphon and the others. When we celebrate the , we commemorate the saint who wrote the service. And we celebrate the saints of the day. When we celebrate the feast of the Cross, we commemorate Saints Constantine and Helen, who were responsible for finding the Cross. Cooks hang icons of Saint Euphrosynius the Cook in the kitchen. Monasteries commemorate particular monastic saints and Churches are given ‘angelic’ or saintly patrons. And all of us have our own heavenly patrons in the person of our , who intercedes for us and takes our prayers before our heavenly Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Some Orthodox Christians have patron saints for their families and celebrate them like their name day. And there are Orthodox patrons of countries – Saint Nicholas for Russia, for example. Saints Michael and Gabriel are invoked (called on) by soldiers and Saint Nicholas for sailors and Saint Raphael for aviators – and on and on. The Church fought a long battle against paganism, which had a supreme god and a ‘supporting cast’ of minor gods. Perhaps the wisdom of the Church and the Fathers of the Church saw in an exaggerated veneration of the saints the threat of worship of the saints. We focus our life on Jesus our Savior and we worship Him.

167. What is the difference between Orthodox and Roman Catholic rosaries? Are we allowed to use Catholic rosaries?

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Perhaps the first idea to mention is the difference in appearance. Orthodox Christian prayer ropes or ladders are made of knots tied in a particular way, usually in ropes of a hundred knots. There is a starting point with a cross on a short bit of knotted rope ending in the joint with the two ends of the circle. In Russia, this ladder was often made of soft leather, called a ‘lestovka’ (ladder) by the Slavs, and was used since the conversion of Russia. This “ladder” is made of leather strips folded and sewn into narrow flaps and generally has 103 or 107 steps. In his icons Saint Seraphim is usually shown holding a lestovka. It is still in use by many Orthodox Christians, especially those called ‘Old Believers’. Both the knotted cord prayer rope and the leather ladder are silent and make no noise. Greek: κοµποσκοίνι, Russian: чётки, Romanian: mătănii, Macedonian and Serbian: бројаница / brojanica, Bulgarian: броеница is historically a loop of 100 knots, made of wool or silk, although prayer ropes with 50 or 33 knots can also be found in use today. There are even small, 10-knot prayer ropes intended to be worn on the finger. Hermits in their cells may have prayer ropes with as many as 300 or 500 knots in them. Roman Catholic rosaries (from the Latin ‘rosarium’ or rose garden as it’s known in the West) are usually beads strung together in groups of ten separated by larger beads. They are a bit noisy. There’s not much written history about the Orthodox Church’s prayer rope or ‘rosary’. We know that Orthodox monasticism has roots or at least parallels in pre-Christian monasticism as practiced in India. There are too many similarities between the ceremonies for setting apart Indian monastics and Orthodox Christian monastics to be simply coincidence. Both wear special symbolic cloths under their other clothing, both are vested in sandals, both are given a staff, and a knotted cord on which to pray. Most of the history of the prayer rope is in oral form, passed down among monastics because its use is essentially a monastic tradition. Use of the prayer rope is ancient in Orthodox spirituality, and it predates the use of the rosary by centuries. It symbolizes the ladder seen by Jacob in his dream and reminds the user of the spiritual ladder of ascent to heaven through the struggle with passions and the practice of virtues. The most recent form is the knotted cord commonly seen today, in which the manner of tying the knots produces seven or nine crosses in each separate knot. Among the Slavs, this form became widespread following the liturgical reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the 17th century, and it has co-existed with continued use of the leather ladder. Orthodox Christianity regards the prayer rope as the sword of the Spirit, because prayer which is heartfelt and inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit is a weapon that defeats the Devil. The prayer rope is used by monastics to count repetitions of the Prayer of the Heart (also called the Jesus Prayer), which may replace attendance at Services for those assigned to work. As such, there’s nothing wrong with laymen using the prayer rope or ‘ladder’ for mental prayer, or Prayer of the Heart. The Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner” or the Prayer of the Publican, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner” are the two prayers most commonly said as the Prayer of the Heart. Monastics are ‘clothed’ with the prayer rope as part of their ‘habit’ or vestment, and they sometimes wear the prayer rope on their left wrists. Because the prayer rope is part of the official vestment or habit or clothing of monastics, laymen should not wear them, but keep them in their pockets. At their tonsure, monks and nuns receive a prayer rope, with the words: Accept, O brother (sister) (name), the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17) in the everlasting Jesus prayer by which you should have the name of the Lord in your soul, your thoughts, and your heart, saying always: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." 5 Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter, December 2012

Nowadays some Orthodox prayer ropes resemble Roman rosaries, divided into sets of ten, set off by a larger bead or knot, usually in red to remind us of the blood of Christ. This is decoration and serves no purpose on the prayer rope. The Roman Catholic rosary is made of ten sets of ten beads set apart by ten larger beads, on which various prayers are said. Sometimes a group of people recite the rosary together, as a paraliturgical service. You could use a Roman rosary to say your Orthodox prayers, if you wanted to. And saying the Roman prayers on the Roman rosary is something nobody would object to. But as long as we have our own ancient tradition of the prayer of the Heart, older than the Roman rosary, why use Roman prayers and rosaries? See ‘The History of the Prayer Rope’ in Life Transfigured magazine, Vol. 22, #3, Nativity, 1990, published by The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. Online see http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/comboschini.aspx

168. Why do we sing in Church? We sing “Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense and let the voice of my lips be an evening sacrifice.” In the book of Psalms, King David teaches us to sing and make a joyful sound to the Lord. King David himself not only sang, but danced in the presence of the Lord, before the Ark, in the presence of all the people. And David wrote poetry, the Psalms, which we still sing in our services and in our daily prayers to this day. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, as they sing the psalms with melodies that go back to the time of the Pharaohs, the clergy and people dance in slow and stately processions. Processions, like the Cross Procession, funeral processions, cross processions around the church on feast days are a part of our life in our Church today, and we sing as we make our procession. God may have given birds the ability to sing beautiful songs, but they only repeat what they heard from their parents. God gave man the unique and wonderful gift to create melodies and harmonies, and the ability to put words together to make songs with logic and reason behind them, songs with purpose and meaning and poetry, and with the beauty that comes with understanding. The three youths in the fiery furnace sang their song which we sing on Holy Saturday, and the response to each verse of their song is “Praise the Lord, sing and exalt Him throughout all the ages.” Man has a voice and a gift that with his mind puts that gift to use in praising his Maker and Creator. When God gives gifts, we respond by using the gifts to His glory and to our benefit. God’s gifts are not useless, but are valuable: music praises God and is a beautiful offering of thanks for this mighty and powerful gift; music feeds our souls and lightens them; music, though beautiful when performed by a specially gifted soloist, is really most powerful and heartwarming and soul-feeding when the choir of the saints sings in harmony – that’s all of us Christians, as well as all those in heaven. When Samuel as a little boy rose up out of sleep in the middle of the night to answer the Lord, there was a song on his lips: “Yes, I will arise, and I will go to my Father.” The angels minister at God’s throne, and God accepts the worship we offer at the Liturgy ‘though there stand beside Him thousands of archangels and hosts of angels singing HOLY, HOLY, HOLY we also cry aloud and say Holy art Thou and all-Holy and magnificent is Thy name.’ And even though we may not have the most beautiful voice, or always sing on key, we have this gift for rational worship, and when we sing together, it is always the most beautiful and most sweet sound. “O Christ our Savior, the angels in heaven sing Thy Resurrection, and we on earth glorify Thee with purity of heart.”

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And why do we sing the same things again and again? It’s true that we sing the services with the texts established in the daily, weekly, or yearly cycle, but that’s because these songs are inspired. The Holy Spirit taught David the shepherd boy how to sing, and his psalms were written down. The Holy Spirit taught Cosmas of Maiuma and John of and Symeon the New Theologian and John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory Dialogist Pope of Rome, and James the Apostle as well as many others, and they wrote the divine services and the Liturgy. It isn’t complete. There are new and Molieben prayers being written right up to the present day. Writers and composers devise new and glorious ways to praise the Lord. As new saints are canonized, new services are written to honor them, using the example of their lives as a means of inspiring and teaching us. In Orthodox law there is a canon which says that we should not use the voices we use in the market place or in the street when we come to church but rather that everything should be sung in an orderly, beautiful and appropriate way. Added to that is our constant desire that every gift we lay before the Lord be the best gift we can offer. There are two ways we sing in church. According to canon law, services are chanted, never spoken. And according to the practice of the Russian Church, the greater the feast, the greater part of the service is sung. The lesser the feast, the more ‘chanting’ by a single voice is done, and the less singing by a choir of voices. So for the services of Pascha and all of Bright Week, we sing the entire service, and nothing is chanted by a reader. The services are done that way every day of Bright Week. During Great Lent, much more of the service is chanted by a reader: the great doxology of is not sung, the Nunc Dimittis or prayer of Saint Symeon is chanted by the reader, the kathismas are chanted by the readers. And in the rest of the year, there is a balance between the sung and the chanted. This is a fascinating study and worthy of the effort, should you be interested. Other traditions have other rules and systems of doing things, which provide endless examples of the ingenuity of man in finding ways to harmoniously praise the Lord.

169. Father, is there some good way to read the Bible? Saint Isidore (560-636) said: “Anyone who wants to be always united to God must pray often and read the Bible often.” For in prayer it is we who are speaking to God, but in the readings it is God speaking to us. All spiritual progress is based on reading and meditation. What we do not know, we learn in the reading; what we have learned, we preserve by meditation. Reading the Bible provides us with a two-fold advantage. It instructs our minds, and introduces us to the love of God by taking our attention off vanities. None can understand the meaning of the Bible if they do not acquire familiarity with it through the habit of Bible reading. Augustine, of Hippo (354-430) said: “Nourish your soul with Bible reading. It will prepare a spiritual feast for you.” Saint Jerome (347-420) said: “Anyone who is assiduous in reading the Word of God becomes weary while reading, but afterwards is happy because the bitter seeds of the reading produce sweet fruits in the soul. Let us study while we are on earth that Reality which will stay in our minds also when we are in heaven.” Unfortunately, American Orthodox Christians are rather illiterate when it comes to the Bible. We need to change this, as we are no longer bumpkins from some “old country” but are educated about many things. “But one thing is needful” Jesus tells us, and that is that ‘to love God with all our hearts and all our minds and all our souls.’ In order to do that, we need to up our education, because the Bible is filled with God’s Word, filled with His teachings and His actions. By studying them, by imprinting God’s word on our hearts, by clutching God’s Spirit to our spirits, we learn to be like our Savior. 7 Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter, December 2012

Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diocleia has written a pamphlet entitled “How to read the Bible.” It contains advice for Orthodox Christians, centering on four points: Reading with obedience, with faith, with Jesus as the central idea behind everything we read, and reading knowing that it all pertains to me. There are also some very good introductions for you, usually separate introductions for the Old and New Testaments, which you can easily find in your Bible, especially “The Orthodox Study Bible.” You must ask yourself why you will be reading the Bible. Is it just something that you feel you should do? Is it out of a desire to improve your prayer life and spiritual life? Is it out of a desire to understand more and to learn? If it’s something you feel you want or need to do, then it’s best to use an annotated version of the Bible. A wonderful addition to our homes and libraries is The Orthodox Study Bible, the New Testament and the Psalms in the New King James Version, with explanatory notes from Orthodox theologians. Now the complete text of the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, is printed in this version. It has plenty of notes explaining various topics, and footnotes as you read along. (In The Orthodox Study Bible, the translation of Psalms is not from the Orthodox Septuagint, but from the Hebrew version.) One very highly recommended version of the complete Bible with notes is the New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, expanded edition, Revised Standard Version. This is the only Bible in English which is complete, containing all the books in the Orthodox Christian Bible (although not in order). Another good study Bible is the NIV or New International Version Study Bible, from Zondervan Publishing Co. Are you reading in order to upgrade your spiritual life? Then a good beginning is to read the Psalms as divided into the Psalter, taken in sections as daily readings. Once you master the habit of reading daily, then add sections of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, or from the Epistles. Do you want to read out of a desire to understand and learn? Take notes, underline important passages, cross reference things found in other places, read books which introduce and explain. Good references include Cruden’s Complete Concordance to the Bible, from Zondervan Publishing Company. The Oxford Concise Concordance is a handy tool. When purchasing a concordance, by the way, purchase one which is appropriate for the version of Scripture which you study. But be careful about who you choose to be your guide, as there are plenty of paths which lead away from the garden, and only one path which leads to Jesus and His Kingdom. Once you start to read the Bible for any one reason, you will find yourself reading for the other reasons as well. The important thing to do is to start, and then make it your habit.

170. Do we have nuns? If we do, why have I never seen any? Some of these Questions and Answers date back 35+ years, when it was still true that we hardly ever saw female monastics in the Orthodox Church. Of course we have nuns! Female monastics have been part of the history of the Church as long as there has been monasticism. If you’ve never seen our Orthodox nuns it’s because they stay in their monasteries, doing the work of monastics everywhere: praying, fasting and working. Historically, nuns operated hospitals, schools, nurseries, orphanages and other charitable institutions. When they are not at prayer, contemporary nuns support themselves by running farms, publishing books and greeting cards, making vestments and candles, and operating soup kitchens, among other labors. There are a number of women’s monasteries in the United States. In our Orthodox Church in America, there is Holy Myrrhbearers’ Monastery (Otego, New York). There are about 10 more listed in the annually published rubrics of the Orthodox Church in America.

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171. What is the difference between Greek and Russian Orthodoxy? Theologically, there’s no difference between Greek and Russian Orthodoxy. There are a good many minor customs which are different in the two liturgical traditions and differences in ways things are done in the administration of the Church, and in Christian life and schedules. But, in fact, all these differences are marginal and are only matters of custom, style and taste.

172. Why can’t lay people touch the Altar? the Sacrament? The prescriptions about who can touch the Holy Vessels and the Altar Table come to us from the Old Testament, as do the rules about who may enter the altar. The Altar is Holy and must be kept Holy. In the Old Testament we read about how in the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, was accidentally touched by Uzzah, and how his hands shriveled up. We hear how a king went to the Altar to burn incense himself instead of having the priests, anointed by God for that purpose, do it, and how he was punished by God. Out of respect, out of fear, and out of knowledge that they are not ordained to do so, laymen don’t touch the Altar and holy things. The rule prohibiting laymen from touching the Altar, Oblation Table, the Sacrament, and the Holy Things is for their own protection. And since lay persons may not enter the Altar unless they have a blessing to do so, it is unlikely that they would dare to go to the Altar table to touch it or the Sacrament.

173. In Icons, Altar tables are shown covered with cloth down to the floor. Why isn’t our Altar covered the same way? Can’t we do that too? The Hebrews were a nomadic people and their earliest altars were made of roughly shaped blocks of earth, and later, bricks may have been used. These earthen altars were not meant to be permanent constructions. These stone altars would collapse unless tended on a regular basis. Later, Altars were built from the rough unhewn stones collected from the rocky ground of Palestine. As the Hebrews themselves lived in tents, the first tabernacle for God was a portable altar sheltered in a tent. Once the Hebrews settled in Israel, altars were made of stones squared into cubes or rectangular bricks and with pillars or ‘horns’ at the four corners. These were meant to be permanent structures and were decorated according to regulations given in the book of Exodus. The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the Temple by curtains of fine linen, the soft and durable cloth imported from Egypt, the best cloth available at that time. Fine linens were worn by the Pharaohs and other Kings of the area, and so the Priestly vestments were also made from fine linen. It is only natural that Altars were covered, dressed and vested with fine linen. The fine linen of the day was probably without color, ecru or beige, but it may have been embroidered with decorations. According to Exodus, Altars were also covered with wood, brass or gold, or all three. In Churches today, we see many variations of these prescriptions. Some altars are made of carved wood, some are cubes with pillars at the four corners to support a cover over the Altar, some are only four or five pillars underneath supporting a flat table top. Until very recently, altar coverings in the Orthodox Church, especially churches of the Russian tradition, followed the form prescribed in the Old Testament: the altars in Orthodox Churches were covered with fine linen, some with one large sheet, most with flaps to cover the sides, and tied down either with a cord binding the linen to the altar, or by ties attached to the linen itself, or by buttons and loops. Over this, vestments were placed, usually in colored brocade, the richest available. Some altars are then also covered by brass, gold, or other metal plates. The Western idea that the altar should be elevated and accessed by steps resulted in the idea of putting the altar on one or more platforms. If the Altar is the high place, people might think that making 9 Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter, December 2012 it higher makes it more holy. This is especially true in Churches which came from the Unia and were therefore influenced by Roman Catholic laws and customs. Exodus 25 to 27 tells how the altar is to be covered. Icons show the way altars are supposed to look, according to the prescriptions in the Old Testament, and the accepted practice in New Testament times. In The Service Book of the Orthodox Church, F. Hapgood, the service for blessing the Altar tells us how the altar is to look, how it is to be assembled, and with what it is to be covered.

175. What is the difference between an apostle and a disciple? The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos, which means someone sent out, from the words apo – ‘from’ and stellein – ‘to send.’ Jesus commissions the apostles, sending them out two by two to all nations, to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The word disciple comes from the Latin discipulus – a student, one who is learning a discipline. It was perhaps the closest word to express the relationship between the Rabbi or Teacher or Master* and his students. In the New Testament, there are two groups specifically called Apostles, those called ‘the Twelve,’ and those called ‘the Seventy.’ Sometimes, Holy Scripture is not so technical or discriminating in its terminology, and apostles are called disciples, especially the ‘apostles of the Seventy’. Since Jesus originally chose the Twelve and the Seventy, it’s reasonable to call them His disciples. But after Jesus’ death and Resurrection, we no longer talk about disciples, only apostles and equals of the apostles, chosen by the Holy Spirit, like the Myrrhbearers, like Saint Paul, like the saints whose preaching caused countries to be converted. All of us are called to be apostles. And at the time of our Baptisms, we all receive the command to go and baptize others, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. *Although we don’t often use the word master in American English to mean teacher, we still recognize it in the now outdated forms ‘school-master’ and master craftsman. It has become a politically incorrect word, because of its connection to slavery. Another way it’s used in American English is between master and apprentice, but even that usage is less common than it was a few decades ago. In British English, the word ‘master’ still is used to mean teacher.

178. A table or shelf with icons, statues, crosses and candles and so on; is it proper to call that an altar? What is an altar? Altar means high, as in altitude. The Altar is the High Place. When we refer to The Altar, we mean only the ones in Churches, consecrated to be the throne of God. A prayer desk or icon corner or kamidana (‘God-shelf’ in Japanese), can also be called an altar, if you use small ‘a’ and say ‘an’ altar instead of ‘the’ altar. But we don’t usually call prayer stands or icon corners “Altars.” Actually the Altar is where the offering or sacrifice is made. In the Old Testament, we read about the Temple’s Altar of Incense, and the Altar of Sacrifice. Our home altars, because no sacrifice is offered there, and because they’re not consecrated, should perhaps better be called a prayer stand, or prayer corner, so not to confuse anyone. By the way, be careful not to spell the word altar with an ‘e’. Alter means to change, like altering hems and sleeve lengths.

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