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Last week we saw an interpretation of the Parable of
the Prodigal Son. It was the second Sunday Gospel reading before we enter
the period known as Great Lent. A period of intense prayer and fasting,
often described as a spiritual journey because it is a period that will
prepare us to understand and participate more fully in the Great and Holy
feast of Pascha. In the same way that Great Lent is the Period of
preparation for Pascha, the four Sundays before Great Lent are also a
preparation to help us understand that if we want to have spiritual
benefits from our Lenten effort then we must begin with certain
fundamental qualities (attributes) otherwise we turn our effort into just
a diet, which might benefit our bodies, but spiritually it will all be in
vain. We mentioned that there are four Sundays of the Triodion with Gospel
themes that will help us to prepare for that spiritual journey. In fact
there are five Sundays, but the first begins a week or two weeks before
the Triodion. This is the Sunday with the Gospel reading of the Publican
named Zacchaeus. We didn’t have time to look at the message of this Sunday
reading. It is the story of how a tax collector called Zacchaeus couldn’t
see Jesus as he was passing by because he was very short, but because he
was filled with a great desire to see him, he climbed up a sycamore tree
to get a better view. The result was that Jesus noticed him and responded
by going to his house. Zacchaeus is the first symbol of repentance,
because repentance begins with the desire for God, his righteousness and
for true life. Zacchaeus made that first move, in his desire to see Christ
he climbed that tree. The message is that if our desire is as strong as
Zacchaeus’ then Christ will also respond to our desire and come to our
house, he will come to live in our hearts and then our lives will also
change as drastically as Zacchaeus’ and Christ will give us the strength
and grace to climb even higher.
So
the first thing we must have is desire for God. The next thing we must
have is humility which we are taught with the Parable of the Publican and
the Pharisee. The theme of humility is taken up again with the Parable of
the Prodigal Son which shows again that repentance begins with desire, the
desire of the Prodigal to return, which leads to feelings of humility. But
as we saw last week the Parable also teaches us that we must have
compassion and love for all of mankind. In fact we notice that with each
Sunday reading, the message of the previous Sunday is taken up again, but
with an added message. This week then we will continue with the Next
Sunday Gospel reading which again teaches us that we must have love for
all mankind, but also fear of God. The Sunday is known by two names: The
Sunday of the last Judgement taken from the Gospel reading and Meatfare
Sunday because it is the last Sunday we eat meat until our Paschal
(Easter) breakfast.
This then is
the Gospel reading:
“The Lord said: When the Son of man shall come in
his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the
throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from
the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, you
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world: For I was hungry, and you gave me meat: I was
thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in:
Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in
prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying,
Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee
drink? When did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and
clothed thee? Or when did we see thee sick, or in prison, and came unto
thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
you have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels: For I was an hungry, and you gave me no meat: I was
thirsty, and you gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and you took me not
in: naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me
not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee
hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I
say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you
did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but
the righteous into life eternal.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
So now let’s
take each sentence and analyze what Christ is telling us in this Parable,
which in fact is not a parable as such, but an image of the future
judgement that awaits all mankind.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and
all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his
glory.”
The
first time Christ came was as a very humble infant to the stable of
Bethlehem. The second time He will come in His glory and in His dignity.
The first time he came, not many people noticed his arrival and instead of
a royal throne, the people put their king and God on the Cross. But with
his second coming he shall come sitting on the throne of glory. But he
does not say that the Son of God shall come, but the Son of man. Many
people, especially from the west confuse this as meaning that he has only
a human nature, but as we have seen in another talk, Christ had two
natures, the divine and human and sometimes he speaks and acts as God and
at other times as a human being. When Christ calls himself the Son of man
he is saying that he represents all of humanity. He sees himself in a
unique way as the leader of the human race because every thing he did and
everything he suffered was so that humanity might be saved. The first time
Christ came his entrance was escorted by angels, again this next time he
will be escorted by all the heavenly powers. St. Paul gives us a more
vivid picture of his second coming “For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” (I Thessalonians 4:16) The
reason that all the angels will be present is simple: they are witnesses
of everything that has happened on earth. They were continually sent by
God on missions to men with messages and commandments concerning mans
salvation. But also each and everyone of us has a guardian angel who has
been with us from the time we were born. They are therefore witnesses of
how we have lived our lives and will bear record of that at the Great
court of the Last Judgement.
“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and
he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep
from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the
goats on the left.”
The
whole world will be gathered before Christ. In others words there will
also be a resurrection of the dead. All those millions and millions of
people who have long been dead in the graves, from Adam to the time of the
second coming will now stand before the throne of his glory awaiting
judgement. But they will all be mixed up and will need to be separated
into two groups: of those who are righteous and those who are unrighteous.
This will be done with such accuracy and ease because Christ will separate
them as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place
the sheep to his right and the goats to his left. There is no way Christ
can make a mistake. In Palestine the sheep are usually white whilst the
goats are black. It would be easy to spot a black goat among the white
sheep or a white sheep among the black goats. In spiritual terms, the
righteous will glow with the divine light while the unrighteous will
remain in darkness. But it is not only the colour of the two animals that
separates them, but also their characters. The sheep have a good, gentle
and meek disposition, they give up their milk and wool willingly without
protest. The goats on the other hand have none of the gentleness of the
lamb; they are undomesticated, wild in character, inclined to walking
along the edges of dangerous steep precipices.
“Then shall the King say unto them on his right
hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.”
We
should not be surprised that now instead of calling himself the Son of
man, he calls himself the King. If the Son of man comes sitting on the
throne of glory then indeed he is a King and his subjects are all the
nations that have gathered at his feet. And now he begins his judgement on
those he has placed to his right. Come you blessed of my Father. He
praises the righteous by showing them from how high up comes their reward.
How worthy to be called not only blessed, but blessed of my Father. They
were chosen by Christ and they were given to Christ by the Father.
“Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world.” He does not say receive the kingdom, but
inherit as though it is their ancestral home, a familiar place legally
belonging to them. And it is their ancestral home, their fatherland, which
was prepared for them from the very beginning when the world was created.
Before we were all born God had prepared for this day. He knew man would
fall and he knew that man would also be saved and come into his rightful
inheritance.
“For I was hungry, and you gave me meat: I was
thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in:
Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in
prison, and you came unto me.”
He
then tells them why they have been found worthy of such an inheritance:
because they lived a noble and Christian life caring for the sick and
needy without prejudices even to the extent of visiting criminals in
prison. To give someone a glass of water today is no great feat, we just
turn on the tap and there we have running drinking water, but in those
days people had to draw the water from a well or spring and carry it home
in earthen pots. Giving a traveller who was passing by a glass of water
was an act of kindness and love. It was not so long ago that in many
villages in Cyprus they continued to bring water from natural springs for
their drinking water. I remember when we came to Cyprus to visit my
Grandparents in 1970. They would send us to the nearest spring which was a
good walk away down a rugged mountainous path to fill the waterpots which
we then carried on our shoulders. When you go to such trouble to have
drinking water you don’t waste a drop. I was a stranger and you took me
in. Hospitality is indeed a Christian virtue which we rarely see nowadays.
How many people are willing to let a complete stranger sleep overnight in
their home? The first thing that would pass through our minds is “what if
they come into our bedroom and knife us while we are asleep.” How many of
us visit the sick? Are we not more worried that we might catch something
from them? As for those in prison, they deserve to be locked away from us
law abiding citizens. They are murderers and villains, why should we keep
company with such lowly scum? Yet, these are the qualities that every
Christian should have. Christ doesn’t mention anything about the other
Christian virtues, he doesn’t mention how they lived uprightly with prayer
and fasting. The only criterion that Christians will be judged with is
whether they showed love to their fellow men. This is all that he demands
of us Christians. Did he not say elsewhere: “A new commandment I give unto
you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love
one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you
have love one to another.” (John 13. 34-35)
Love then is
the law and the criterion on which the separation will be based on. So how
did the righteous respond to such praises from the Lord. They were amazed
and puzzled at the divine valuation of their actions which is very
different from their own estimation of how they lived. Thus in humility
they answered: “Lord, when did we see thee hungry,
and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When did we see thee a
stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when did we see
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?” They never once
thought that their good acts of love were directed to brothers of the lord
let alone to his very person. They had no idea that they had offered help
at any time to the Saviour: they just did what was in their nature to do –
to offer a little help and love to their fellow men who were in need. But
the King answers their puzzlement: “Inasmuch as you
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
unto me.” That Christ sees the poor and suffering as his brethren
is in complete agreement with his character as the Son of Man and the Son
of God. God is his Father and the Father of all people.
In that Great
court of the last judgement, Christ justifies why he has placed the
righteous to his right and why they are worthy to inherit the Kingdom of
God. But now he turns to those on his left and say:
“Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels.” In this sentence we should take note of two
important differences with what he said to the righteous. Firstly we
should notice that with the righteous he said
“blessed of my father,” now with the unrighteous he doesn’t say
cursed of my father, but only cursed. God doesn’t curse anyone: they are
cursed by their own works. The condemnation and curse of the sinner is a
result of his bad actions, but the salvation of the righteous is an act of
grace and therefore the word blessed is followed with “of my Father.”
Secondly, that the everlasting fire is not for us, but for the devil and
his angels. To the blessed he said “inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” but he
doesn’t say this of the everlasting fire, but only that it has been
prepared for the devil. He is thus saying “For man I have prepared the
Kingdom, the fire is not meant for man, but only for the devil and his
angels: But you have taken on the likeness of his angels, you no longer
resemble the man I created in my image and of your own free will you have
put on the image of demons. Therefore you will share the same reward as
the demons you resemble.”
And
they are worthy of such condemnation because they had no love for their
fellow men. “For I was hungry, and you gave me no
meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and you
took me not in: naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and
you visited me not.” They are guilty because they didn’t do any
good works and are condemned because they were unsociable. They are not
accused because they committed murders, or fornicated, or lied, or stole
or broke any of the other Old Testament Commandments, but because they
neglected to do a few good works. Christ does not expect us to spend our
lives going around looking for ways to be a Good Samaritan, but to offer
that most needed help when it passes our way.
To
these accusations the unrighteous respond in a similar way as did the
righteous, but whereas the righteous answered with humility, here they try
to justify themselves by saying: “Lord, when did we
see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee?” If we saw you at any time
suffer those things you now accuse us of, we would surely have offered you
help, but we are innocent of all these things because you never once came
to us for help. And the Lord answered them saying:
“Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not
to me.” Notice that he does not say “to one
of the least of these my brethren” as he said to the righteous, but
only “to one of the least of these” The
unrighteous are ignorant of the brotherly relationship between the
righteous and Christ and will continue to be ignorant. Having then heard
the reason for their condemnation they cannot respond with an answer.
Every mouth is sealed and the righteousness of the decision is recognized
by all.
With the great
court come to an end, it remains for each group to receive the sentence.
“And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Eternal means
eternal and everlasting without change or end. If hell has an end then so
does life, but as we do not deny that the life of the righteous in heaven
is forever more, thus we do not deny that punishment in hell will be
forever more. At the Last Judgment we saw that Christ directed his
judgement first on the righteous so that the unrighteous could hear, but
with the carrying out of the sentence it will be reversed. The unrighteous
shall depart first so that the righteous can see God’s justice on the
unjust, but the unrighteous will not be able to see anything of eternal
life.
Keep in mind
then that whatever help we offer even to the lowest man it is as though we
offered that help to Christ, and whatever help we didn’t offer to someone
who was in need it is as though we didn’t help Christ. Love is the
criterion by which we shall be judged. If we cannot love our fellow men
then in truth we don’t love Christ, because he has created each man in his
own image and likeness. Christian love transcends above someone’s physical
appearance, social standing, ethnic origin, intellectual capacity and
reaches the soul, the unique personal root of a human being where the
image of God is.
Thus the first
message of the Parable is love. Blessed are they who are full of love, and
cursed are they who did not have any trace of love, but lived only for
themselves. Whatever we sow that is what we shall reap. But as we
mentioned in the beginning, there is a second message of fear of God. In
the hymns for the day we are continually reminded that we must be fearful
before the Lord; to remember with fear the appointed judgment; to
acknowledge in fear the sinful state of our lives. The hymns are full of
words and terms that make us uncomfortable: words like: terror, judgment,
fire, torment, pain, suffering, hell. Yet our whole teaching on Christ is
usually the complete opposite. He is the God of love. Did we not see just
last week his great love and compassion when he embraced and kissed the
Prodigal Son? Do not the Gospels testify to his great love for mankind?
Why now are we told to cultivate this negative emotion of fear? We have
taken it for granted that God is love that now this emotion seems out of
place and foreign to our understanding of God. We are now told to have
fear of the Last Judgment, fear of the divine justice of God, fear of the
just punishment awaiting sinful man.
One
encounters here an emotion that many in the modern world are loathe to
address or discuss, we don’t want to ponder on such negative thoughts. Yet
the hymns for the day keep pouring out this message of fear:
“I lament and weep when I think of the eternal fire,
the outer darkness and the nether world, the dread worm and the gnashing
of teeth, and the unceasing anguish that shall befall those who have
sinned without measure, by their wickedness arousing Thee to anger, O
Supreme in Love. And among them in misery I am first: but O Judge
compassionate, in Thy mercy save me.”
And another hymn: “Terror seizes me when I think of
the unquenchable fire, of the bitter worm, the gnashing of teeth, and
soul-destroying hell; yet I do not turn in true compunction. O Lord, Lord,
before the end, strengthen Thy fear within me.”
And: “When Thou shalt come, O righteous Judge, to
execute just judgment, seated on Thy throne of glory, a river of fire will
draw all men amazed before Thy judgment-seat; the powers of heaven will
stand beside Thee, and in fear mankind will be judged according to the
deeds that each has done. Then spare us, Christ, in Thy compassion, with
faith we entreat Thee, and count us worthy of Thy blessings with those
that are saved.”
“Behold there comes a day of the Lord almighty, and who shall endure the
fear of His presence? For it is a day of wrath; the furnace shall burn,
and the Judge shall sit and give to each the due return for his works.”
Through the
wisdom of the Church in her texts and hymns, we are called to embrace fear
as a healthy and life-giving source of compunction that will lead us to
true repentance. With our fallen and sin-stained perceptions, we often
fall into the deadly trap of focusing upon God’s love and compassion to
the exclusion of His justice. We are all too ready to accept the
outstretched arms and inviting embrace of the Father that we blindly
forget that we need to passionately beg for forgiveness and mercy. St.
Paul commands that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling
(Philippians 2.12).
But we are not
called to fear simply to be 'scared out of our wits,' but to be prompted
into action. There are two kinds of fears of God: the first is created in
our soul by the threats of hell and eternal damnation, the second is
connected and associated with love itself. This kind of fear gives birth
to devotion, reverence and godliness in the soul so that the soul doesn’t
take God for granted because of the freedom and familiarity created by
love. Thus the fear we are called to embrace is a fear that stems from
love and will lead us to compunction, and compunction to humility, and
humility to repentance, and repentance to eternal life. It is this fear
that we pray for at every service “For this holy
temple and for them that enter therein with faith, reverence and fear of
God, let us pray unto the Lord.” It is this fear that the church
warns those who are approaching to receive Holy Communion to have
“With fear of God, Faith and Love drew near”
We see that it is not a fear that is mentioned on its own, but always with
faith, reverence and love of God.
In the
majority of the parables, Christ is telling us about the Great Judgement
and how life will be thereafter. We have the Parables of the Ten Virgins,
of the Talents, of the Sower, of the Weeds, of the Net, of the Treasure
hid in a field, of the Pearl, of the unmerciful Servant, of the Rich man,
of the Faithful steward, of the Great Supper, of the unfaithful Steward,
of the rich man and Lazarus, of the labourers in the vineyard, and of the
ten pounds. All of these parables give us a warning of the Second Coming
of Christ and the Last Judgement. They are all telling us how to live so
that we don’t end up, by our own actions in a place distant from eternal
life with God.
As we have
some time I would also like to mention something about this Thursday,
Saturday and Sunday. Today as you know is Τσικνοπέμπτη, which translates
as Scorching or Sizzling or Fat Thursday. Τσίκνα is the smell of burning
meat and thus lends its meaning to the last Thursday before Lent that we
eat meat. Of course we eat meat on the Weekend but Saturdays and Sundays
were never considered as true fasting days, so with the Friday being a
fast, this Thursday is the last weekday for eating meat before lent. As
such, it has become a custom and tradition or rather an excuse to
celebrate this day with parties. The mournful character of Lent does not
allow for celebrations so it is natural for people to have the desire to
hold a large celebration at the last possible opportunity before the fast.
In fact, it would even be justifiable if people actually took the fast
seriously, but as we know very few actually keep the fast so the meaning
of the day is lost in the party atmoshere. This morning I was at the Hotel
and catering School where I go once a week for confessions. Needless to
say, there was no one for confession because everyone was in the School
yard where barbecues were sizzling away with kebabs and sausages and
haloumi. The school band created the party atmoshere with teachers and
kids singing together and even the headmaster was out there dancing with
the children. As I was eating my kebabs I wondered how many understood why
they were having a party. Did they even care? Anything was better than
having lessons.
After this
Sunday we enter Cheesefare week where we may eat all animal products
except meat, everyday including Wednesday and Friday. It is a sort of
preparation for Lent so that we don’t stop all animal product abruptly,
but slowly get used to not eating meat before we abandon other products
like milk, cheeses and eggs for the next 50 days.
This Saturday
is also a very special day. It is called the Saturday of the Dead and has
a close connection to the Sunday of the Last Judgement. On this day there
is a universal commemoration of the dead, in other words a commemoration
of all those who have departed this life and gone to their rest from all
the ages, from the first man Adam to the present day. Before we call to
mind the Second Coming of Christ with the Sunday service, we commend to
God all those departed before us, who are now awaiting the Last Judgement.
Talking on the Last Judgement, St. Paul says. “For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:13-18) So remembering the dead on this Saturday
before the Last Judgement reminds us that all mankind, not only ourselves
and those to come, but all those who have gone before us from the first
moment of creation, will be called to account on the day of the great
reckoning.
In
the texts for this Saturday there is a strong sense of the continuing bond
of mutual love that links together all the members of the Church, whether
alive or dead. For those who believe in the resurrection, death does not
separate us from our departed loved ones, since we are all alive in
Christ. The departed are still our brethren, members of the same family
with us, and so we are conscious of the need to pray insistently on their
behalf. You might like to know how we do the memorials. On the Friday
evening before the special vespers service for the departed, people bring
a plate of Kolyva and a loaf of bread with a list of the names of their
departed. At the end of the service we sing the usual memorial service and
the Priest then commemorates all the past generations in groups, e.g.
fathers, forefathers, grandparents, parents, brother, sisters and so on,
then begins commemorating the names on the lists he has been given. The
next morning on the Saturday, the Liturgy is held on behalf of the
departed and again at the end of the Service the memorial is repeated. In
villages it is usual to have only the Friday memorial without the Saturday
Liturgy. As you can imagine, in town Parishes we have literally thousands
of names to commemorate so we have adopted to begin commemorations of the
dead about 3 hours before the actual Vespers service. People begin just
after lunch to bring their plates of Kolyva and we sing the memorial
service commemorating the names. As the plates keep coming we continue in
this way until the time for Vespers.
The other
thing I wanted to mention is the Children’s Carnival this Sunday and the
main Carnival next Sunday. We are often asked how the Church sees these
events and most priests will tell you that they are pagan rites. In truth,
the origins of the Carnival does go right back to the pagan festivals in
honour of various gods. In Egypt these gods were Isis and Apis. In ancient
Greece and the Greek world, processions including dancing and satirical
plays, were held in honour of the god Dionysus. In Rome they were held in
honour of the gods Bacchus and Saturn. Many of the modern day elements of
Carnival, such as the masks and fancy dress can be traced back to the
Roman times. Fancy dress or disguise was usually associated with the
ancient death cults and by taking part in the revels in honour of Bacchus
or Saturn one could appease the spirits of the dead. When the Church
became established these traditions did not disappear, they were firmly
rooted in the minds of the people. What the Roman Catholic Church did, as
with many other pagan festivals, was to take it and give a Christian
character. They placed the festival just before Great Lent and gave it the
name Carnival, which is derived from the Latin word “Carne” referring to
the meat which would been given up during Lent, and "Vale" farewell. So it
became a last celebration before Great Lent, which as we have already said
is a time for mourning and prayer, and any kind of celebration is out of
character. The Carnival was probably introduced to Cyprus during the
Frankish rule between the end of the 12th century and the 15th century.
During that time the Latin Church established itself on the Island making
itself the official Church while the Orthodox Church of Cyprus experienced
a series of religious persecutions. It might be of interest to know that
the Orthodox Church didn’t have an Archbishop from 1260 until 1571.
Because of the
ancient pagan roots of the carnival, the Church condemns all the
activities associated with it. But how should we Christians approach the
question of carnival? For those of us who have young children it is
especially difficult to demand that they take no part in the activities
that other children are enjoying. Modern carnivalist do not actively
associate themselves with pagan rites and it would be wrong to tell our
children that they are devil worshippers. We should find a simple but
truthful way of explaining to them the ancient roots so that they
understand that it is not a religious festival. We should also allow them
to attend the fancy dress parties held at school and at many of the extra
curriculum classes they have, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buying
them special costumes and masks. You will be surprised how they can find
their own costumes for mum and dads clothing and a little make-up.
As
for us adults, masquerading and prancing around and following king
carnival is not an activity we should associate with someone who believes
in the Christian faith and is an active member of the Church. We should
live by a code of conduct in every aspect of our lives and our model
should be Christ and the saints. Long ago when my brother was getting
married and I was preparing to enter a monastery, I couldn’t come to terms
with the ideal of dancing at the wedding which was something expected of
me. I asked my spiritual father for advice and he made me understand that
there are different kinds of dancing, but there was nothing wrong with the
traditional Greek dancing I was expected to take part in. He saw that I
was still uncomfortable with the ideal and so gave me another piece of
advice, he said that when in doubt, always have Christ as your model: if
you can picture in your mind Christ or the Mother of God dancing, then
dance.
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