The Jesus Prayer Part 4 - Lord

Ps 98:2
The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

1Cor 8:6
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

What do we mean when we call Jesus "Lord"? Who is the Lord? What does it mean for Him to be "Lord"? These are things we must think about when we dare to say that Jesus is Lord and to call on Him as such.

When Moses encountered the Lord in the burning bush on Mt Sainai, he aske the Lord what His name was. The response given to Moses was simply "I AM THAT I AM", or in some translations "I Am The Existing One" or "The One Who Is". Everywhere the word "LORD" (spelled in all caps at least in the KJV) is found in the Old Testament in reference to God, it is used as a substitute for the name which God spoke to Moses because the name itself was too holy to be spoken among the Jews. In the Old Testament, it was "the Lord God" Who "made the earth and the heavens" and "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." and that there is none else beside Him. In the Psalms He is the One Who forgives iniquities, heals diseases, and redeems your life from destruction, but He is also the One Who "shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.".

In the New Testament, Jesus is revealed as the Lord of both the living and the dead and blesses the apostle Thomas for proclaiming Him to be "my Lord and my God".

What does this mean to us? We are to repent towards God and put our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We must confess alongside Thomas that Jesus is our Lord and our God. We are to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. It is only proper that we should worship and bow down as we kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the people if His pasture. We are to do everything that we do heartily as to the Lord and not men. We are also commanded to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,and with all thy mind". Because mankind is made in the image and likeness of God, we are to "love thy neighbour as thyself" as a reflection of our love for God in Whose image our neighbor is made. It is also in loving that we find fulfillment in being made in the image of our God Who is Himself love.

May the Lord Jesus Christ forgive me for all my failures to love God, love neighbor, and to serve Him in fear and rejoice in Him with trembling.

The Jesus Prayer Part 3 - The Publican and the Pharisee

Luke 18:9-14
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The second half of the Jesus prayer is the prayer of the publican in which we ask the Lord Jesus, who we confess to be "the Christ, the Son of the Living God", to "be merciful to me a sinner". This petition is held in contrast to that of the pharisee in which he thanks God that he is "not as other men are" and goes on to list the faults of other people while refusing to admit his own. He then gives a list of what he does "right" that makes him better than everyone.

The problem with this is that the Law doesn't justify anyone, with the exception of Jesus Christ. Mankind is made in the image and likeness of God. God is our standard for living and being, also the standard for what is holy and righteous. The Law proclaims the glory of God and sets His standard for how we are to show our love for Him and for our neighbor. This is the love on which Christ taught that the all the Law and the prophets hinged. Paul writes that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Christ taught that if someone breaks one law, they break them all. This is because a failure to keep any part of the law is to fall short of that which God calls us to do and to be. Every law calls us to show the same love to God and neighbor, so no matter which part we fail to keep, we fail to keep the one objective they all have in common. By not using the Law to find where his faults were in order to seek God to forgive his failures, he refused to seek God for his justification. This is why Christ said that this man did not leave justified.

The publican, on the other hand, was a tax collector for the Roman government. Many tax collectors made their money by collecting more than what was owed and keeping the difference for themselves. In addition to being a symbol of foreign occupation and oppression, they were also known for using the threat of military force to extort money from their fellow countrymen. He knew he was a sinner in need of the mercy of God and there was no way around it. The publican was so ashamed of his actions before God that he would not even dare to look up towards heaven. The publican knew that God was holy and that he had failed to live to God's holy standard.

Not only did he recognize his failure, but also recognized God's mercy and willingness to forgive the sins for which he repented. He knew that he did not deserve any mercy and that nothing was "owed" to him by God, but asked in faith knowing that God does not desire the death of a sinner but that he should repent and live. It was in this spirit that God accepted the repentence of Zachaeus and commissioned the tax collector Levi to become known as the apostle Matthew. It was from acknowledging his failures before God and seeking forgiveness from Him that Christ said he went down justified.

May I learn to better imitate the publican, and while humbling myself before God, to cry out for Him to be merciful to me a sinner.

The Jesus Prayer Part 2 - Peter's Confession of Faith

Matt 16:13-17
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

The Jesus prayer begins with first making Peter's confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This confession of faith is what sets Christians apart from the world. Just as Christ asked his disciples "Who do men say that I am?", we are still faced with this same question 2,000 years later. There are many "Jesus's" that the world proclaims. Some that He was a prophet, but nothing more. Some say that He was just a good rabbi and wise teacher. Some say He traveled to India and studied Buddhism for a number of years before beginning His ministry. Some claim that he was just another Jewish zealot who lead a revolt against the Romans. Some even say that He might have been an alien. Others question His very existence as a real person.

Christians don't say any of the above, or even accept the possibility. Just as Christ asked His disciples "who do you say that I am?", this confession of faith is essential being one of Christ's disciples. What do we confess? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is the Messiah that came in fulfillment of the entire Old Testament prophecied to the Jews who were chosen as God's people to bring His Son into the world. Christ's Father is God, and with God as His Father, he is of the same divinity of his Father and Lord over all of creation. As Christians, we acknowledge Christ's Lordship and worship and glorify Him accordingly. We are to dedicate our lives and very existence to living in accordance under His authority.

The contrast between this confession and any other is made clear. Jesus asked "who do men say that I am?", implying that any other confession is of men and not of God. These answers have their origin in human imagination. When Jesus asked "who do you say that I am?", He was identifying the answer to what one must believe in order to be His disciple. The question was asked to all of His disciples, and when Peter spoke, he gave the one answer that was on everyone's mind. Giving this answer to this question is part of what identifies one as being a disciple of Christ. One can not give any other answer or deny this statement of faith in proclaiming who Jesus is and still remotely claim to be a Christian.

Christ also told Peter that this was not revealed by flesh and blood, that is that it does not originate in the mind of man, but is revealed by His Father and has it's origin in the revelation of God. This contrast between the doctrines of men and of God is found in the apostolic preaching in the New Testament. Paul expressed the divine nature of the message of the Gospel and proclamation of faith in his first letter to the Thessalonians when he said "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." in reference to the message as recorded in Acts "that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ."

May God help me to better confess Jesus as the Christ Who is the Son of the Living God so that I may grow in Him and become a better disciple of Him.

The Jesus Prayer - Part 1

Matt 16:15-16
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Luke 18:13-14
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Yeah, that's right, I said part one. Out of all the prayers that can be found, this one is probably the shortest prayer that says the most. That being said, there are a lot of things that can be said about this prayer. Being a combination of Peter's confession of faith and the publican's prayer of repentence, one could talk about the context of those two things as they are found in scripture. One could talk about the meaning of the words themselves as we pray them. One could also talk about the historical development of repeating short prayers. I will probably attempt to cover a little bit of all of these things in a number of posts.

The Servant of God, Patrick

Psalm 145:10-12 (KJV)
All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

1 Cor 11:1
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

The Confession of St Patrick
I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing.


I said in my first post that I would probably start this blog out by writing about the title and url of this blog and the screen name by which I write this blog. So far I have commented on the title and url of this blog. The reason the title and url are different is actually pretty simple, I came up with the title first and the url had already been taken. I had to find a different url but wanted to keep the title, so this is the result. Following through with my initial idea, this post will be dedicated to my screen name.

While being received into the Orthodox Church, I had to find a patron saint. For those who might be reading this and do not come from a faith tradition which has patron saints, just think of them as a big brother or sister in Christ in which you can first and foremost recognize Christ and the Holy Spirit in their life having persevered until the end, personally identify with, and look to for guidance in how to live a life in service to and drawing near to God. Most people usually pick someone with the the same name as them, unfortunately I'm not aware of any Orthodox saints sharing my first or middle name. I used to be into music and had a couple of bands a while back, so for a while I thought of St Romanos the Melodist, who was a deacon that had no musical talent (which I also have no talent yet played anyway) but loved to sing in the choir. One night he had a dream and woke up singing what would become the kontakion (a type of hymn) for the Nativity (Today the virgin gives birth to the transcendent one...) and would go on to compose many other hymns including the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos (sung every year in the Orthodox Church during great lent). Another possibility was to choose the saint commemorated on my birthday, St Patrick. I found a chaplet to St Patrick on a Catholic web site that had nothing contradictory to the Orthodox faith, and after praying about it for a time, ended up with the saint whose feast day I've celebrated with some regularity throughout my life as my patron saint. Because St Patrick is my patron saint, when receiving Communion in my church, I am referred to as "The servant of God, Patrick".

St Patrick was born in Britain in the year 373. He was kidnapped, taken to Ireland, and sold into slavery at the age of 16. After watching over sheep as a slave for 6 years he ran away from his master and returned back to his homeland. After spending some time in Europe, Patrick was ordained as a bishop and returned to Ireland as a missionary following the example of the apostles in their missionary journeys. He traveled throughout the island turning the people from their pagan druid religion and converting them to Christ, establishing churches where he went. At one point during Patrick's mission, a British king named Coroticus ordered a raid in which people were taken as slaves on an Irish settlement under Patrick's pastoral care. The same Patrick who had been kidnapped and forced into slavery as a youth, was now writing a letter to a king threatening excommunication and condemnation in defense of and in order to set free the same nation of people who had once held Patrick in bondage. On march 17th in the year 493 (the year of hs death is questioned today, but this date is more consistent with more ancient accounts of him), at the age of 120 years, after spending a lifetime in Ireland converting people and kings, performing mighty acts, healing the sick, raising the dead, establishing churches ordaining bishops and priests, lighting the fire of faith in Christ in Ireland that was prophesied to never die out, St Patrick left the body in order to be present with the Lord Jesus. He defended his flock during his lifetime, helps us now through his prayers at the feet of Christ Himself, and was promised by Christ in a vision to stand as judge alongside the apostles at the resurrection.

While thou didst live on earth, O blessed father Patrick, thou didst bind to thyself the strong name of the Holy Trinity, and faith in the undivided Trinity Who created the universe. Now that thou standest before the throne of the Holy Trinity, entreat Christ our God to save our souls!