DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Adrian, Abbot of Saints Peter and Paul at Canterbury
1st Vigil of Theophany: Genesis 1:1-13
Epistle: Hebrews 12:25-26;
13-22-25 Gospel: Mark 7:5-16
Our Illumination: Genesis 1:1-13 LXX, especially vss. 3,
4, 5: “And God said, Let there be
light, and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God
divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called
Night....” True Illumination is He Who illumines every man (Jn.
1:9), Christ our God. He is the
Creator of the world “Who didst appear in the world, to lighten them that sit
in darkness.” He Who is Light
began this existence by bringing forth light, dividing it from darkness, and
calling these two creations “Day” and “Night.” Because of two Divine acts, creation and the Divine
Theophany, we know of two kinds of light - created light - which He made in
many forms - and Divine or uncreated Light. Created light serves our physical need to see but also
provides us with glimpses in our mind’s eye for understanding something of
uncreated Light as one of God’s energies.
St. Nikolai of Zica identifies four
revelations of God imbedded in the creation account, with which we may
associate light: 1) God is a changeless Creator, a Light “with Whom there is no
variation or shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17). 2) He is a God wise and most merciful, a Light to our paths
(Ps. 118:105 LXX), the One guiding us towards our intended goal in Light. 3) He is the Creator of all physical
light and will therefore bring such light to an end along with the rest of His
creation. 4) As Creator of “two
worlds, the earthly and the heavenly, the material and the immaterial,” God has
arranged that in His “Light shall we see light” (Ps. 35:10 LXX).
Mankind as a creation is changeable, always in
flux and mutating, which disrupts our ability to establish a relationship with
the unchanging God. However, as
Vladimir Lossky says, the “uncreated, eternal, divine, and deifying light is
grace...[the] divine energies as they are given to us accomplish the work of our
deification....Being the light of the divinity, grace cannot remain hidden or
unnoticed, acting in man, changing his nature, entering into a more and more
intimate union with him...revealing to man the face of the living God,
and....those who are worthy of it attain the sight of the ‘Kingdom of God come
with power’ in this life, as the three Apostles saw on Mount Tabor.” While the Light of God does not change,
His grace and energies change us, moving us toward illumination and stability
in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our task is to purify ourselves by faith
through ascetic labors, as St. Makarios of Egypt says, “If through faith and
effort we are enabled to become partakers of the Holy Spirit, then to a
corresponding degree our bodies also will be glorified on the last day. For what is now treasured up within the
soul will then be revealed outwardly in the body.” As God guides us toward our intended goal in Light, it is
His Light that He uses to guide us toward the Light.
The most difficult obstacle facing us in our
efforts to become glorified through God’s ineffable light is the allure of the
immediate and distracting pleasures of the flesh and our inner instability and
restlessness. God, however,
reminds us repeatedly in Scripture that He has called us to be children of the
Light and heirs of eternal good things and that at present we are ‘on the
Way.’ However, in the words of the
Baptismal service, we have to “prove ourselves as children of the Light.” Let us not take our eyes off the end
toward which we are striving.
The Theophany of our Lord is a gracious
reminder from God that we are not merely material beings, but creatures also
able to participate in the immaterial world all around us. The Saints teach us to open our hearts,
minds, souls, and bodies to the uncreated Light, for as St. Gregory of
Thessalonika says, he who participates in this Light “...is united to the Light
and with the Light he sees in full consciousness all that remains hidden for
those who have not this grace.”
Illumine us, O Master Who lovest mankind,
with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge.
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