Postfeast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple
Acts 12:1-6 Persecution and Prayer
1About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword; 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads [quaternions] of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 So Peter was kept in prison; but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.6 The very night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison;
It’s terrifyingly remarkable what violence is provoked by Christians who are utterly non-violent. They are simply and peacefully trying to proclaim and live their faith in Christ. But their very presence is an affront that demands violent eradication. So Stephen was stoned by a mob, James was executed and Peter is put into prison to be guarded by sixteen armed soldiers and saved for some future punishment. But it’s equally remarkable in the midst of this how the Church also goes into action not by seeking vengeance but by gathering together in the middle of the night and praying for Peter. Once again we see how practical is the Body of Christ, who joins us to one another as he unites us to Himself.
Saint John Chrysostom too focuses here on the community at prayer in the middle of the night and the love for Peter that drew them together even in this time of danger. There is nothing more spiritually beneficial than such nighttime prayer when the rest of the world is sleeping.
And it says, “there was earnest prayer making.” It was the prayer of filial affection: it was for a father they asked, a father mild. “There was,” it says, “earnest prayer.” Hear what affection they had for their teachers. No factions, no perturbation: but they gathered to pray, to that alliance which is indeed invincible, to this they went for refuge. They did not say, “What? I, poor insignificant creature that I am, to pray for him!” for, as they acted of love, they did not give these things a thought. And observe, it was during the feast, that their enemies brought these trials upon them, that their worth might be the more approved. See Peter sleeping, and not in distress or fear! That same night, after which he was to be brought forth, he slept, having cast all upon God. “Between two soldiers, bound with two chains.” Mark, how strict the ward!
But observe, “praying” in the night, how much they got by it: what a good thing affliction is; how wakeful it made them! Do you see how great the gain resulting from the death of Stephen? Do you see how great the benefit accruing from this imprisonment? For it is not by taking vengeance upon those who wronged them that God shows the greatness of the Gospel…He shows what a mighty thing the afflictions in themselves are, that we may not seek in any wise deliverance from them, nor the avenging of our wrongs…
Where now are those women, who sleep the whole night through? Where are those men, who do not even turn themselves in their bed? Do you see their watchful souls? With women, and children, and maid-servants, they sang hymns to God, made purer than the sky by affliction. But now, if we see a little danger, we fall back. Nothing ever was more splendid than that Church.
Let us imitate these, let us emulate them. Not for this was the night made, that we should sleep all through it and be idle. To this bear witness the artisans, the carriers, and the merchants, the Church of God rising up in the midst of the night. Rise up yourselves also, and behold the choir of the stars, the deep silence, the profound repose: contemplate with awe the order of your Master’s household. Then is your soul purer: it is lighter, and subtler, and soaring disengaged: the darkness itself, the profound silence, are sufficient to lead you to compunction.
And if also you look to the heavens studded with its stars, as with ten thousand eyes, if you consider that all those multitudes who in the daytime are shouting, laughing, frisking, leaping, wronging, grasping, threatening, inflicting wrongs without number, lie all one as dead, you will condemn all the self-will of man. Sleep has invaded and defeated nature: it is the image of death, the image of the end of all things. If you look out of window and lean over into the street, you will not hear even a sound. If you look into the house, you will see all lying as it were in a tomb. All this is enough to arouse the soul, and lead it to reflect on the end of all things.
Here indeed my discourse is for both men and women. Bend your knees, send forth groans, beseech your Master to be merciful. He is more moved by prayers in the night, when you make the time for rest a time for mourning. Remember what words that king uttered: “I have been weary with my groaning: every night will I wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears” (Psalm 6:6.)… And again the same Psalmist says, “At midnight I rose to give thanks unto Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness” (Psalm 119:62.) No vainglory then intrudes upon you: how can it, when all are sleeping, and not looking at you? Then neither sloth nor drowsiness invades you: how can they, when your soul is aroused by such great things? After such vigils come sweet slumbers and wondrous revelations.
Do this as well you men, and not women only. Let the house be a Church, consisting of men and women. For think not because you are the only man, or because she is the only woman there, that this is any hindrance. “For where two,” He says, “are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20.) Where Christ is in the midst, there is a great multitude. Where Christ is, there must also be Angels, Archangels and the other Powers. Then you are not alone, seeing you have Him Who is Lord of all… If you have children wake up them also, and let your house altogether become a Church through the night: but if they be tender, and cannot endure the watching, let them stay for the first or second prayer, and then send them to rest: only stir up yourself,
establish yourself in the habit. Nothing is better than that storehouse which receives such prayers as these.…In your closet itself, or in your bedchamber, bend your knees, and entreat your Lord. Why did Christ Himself pass a whole night on the mountain? Was it not, that He might be an example to us? Then is it that the plants respire, in the night, I mean: and then also does the soul take in the dew even more than they. What the sun has parched by day becomes cool again at night. More refreshing than all dew, the tears of the night descend upon our lusts and upon all heat and fever of the soul, and do not let it be affected in any such way. But if it does not enjoy the benefit of that dew, it will be burnt up in the daytime. But God forbid it should be so! Rather, may we all, being refreshed, and enjoying the mercy of God, be freed from the burden of our sins, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, honor, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Saint John Chrysostom, On Acts, Homily XXVI, Acts 12:1-2
Diocesan Chancellors and Treasurers Meet Today
It was a privilege to attend the Assembly of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania last Thursday and Friday in Bethlehem, PA. There was an excellent spirit, in spite of the challenges that the diocese—all our dioceses—face about mission and outreach. When that ended I drove to Saint Vladimir’s Seminary for the annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture and heard Bishop Nicholas of Brooklyn (Antiochian Archdiocese) speaking about one of his predecessors, the fiery and combative Saint Raphael of Brooklyn (this year marks the 100th anniversary of Saint Raphael’s repose.)
Today at the Chancery we will be meeting with the chancellors and treasurers of the various dioceses for a working session to hammer out proposals for moving the OCA toward proportional giving as a means for funding the work of the Church. Not everyone is able to make it because of the terrible weather the past couple of days. But by the 18th All-American Council in July we expect to have worked with every diocesan bishop, chancellor and treasurer to find a fair plan that works for them and for the OCA as a whole.
Please keep this meeting in your prayers.