Year: 1877

AhO WhHHA OA0AOht


Sermon by Rev. Father Herring,
OF New York, ExPIatory OF the
Greek Faith-A Clear Exposition,


Rev. Father Bjerring, of Greek
chapel in New York, gave an ex-
position of the doctrines of the
Greek church last Sunday. He
did this, he said, chiefly to correct
misunderstanding which the pub
lie have as to the devotion Of the
orthodox church to the Virgin
Mary and the saints. His church,
Bjerring said, while believing the
blessed Virgin to be no ordinary
woman, but the elect instrument
of God in the work in the re.
demption as the mother of our
Savior, do not at the same time give
to her the honor due to the Re
deemer alone. They believe that
when He, the divine sufferer, COM
mitted His beloved disciple to
her, He with him committed
all of us to her motherly love,
and the church, therefore, be.
lieves that she, in the kingdom
Of her divine son, holds a sacred
place high above all others. The
church also believe in her interces-
sorypower before the throne of God,
and that she is raised to the dignity
as well as by divine justice as by
divine grace. She is to the church
also the type of yirginity crowned
by a divine maternity, which made
her the tabernacle Of God incarnate.
In like manner Father Bjerring
remarked, the Greek church be-
lieyes in the intercession of the
saints ard ordains reverence to-
wards them. He then showed, from
the nature of love aud the devotion
of the saints, that they cannot fail
to be interested in the progress Of
the church on earth. Hence prayer
is properly offered to them, not
from any feeling of doubt of Di-
vine mercy or in the saving near
ness Of God, but rather that the
communion Of their prayers with
ours may bring down the
blessings that we need and ask for.
And this feeling impairs not in the
least the just and firm belief of the
church that holy, in the absolute
sense of the word, is God alone, and
the holiness of the saints is but a
gift of His grace. Another natural
consequence of the churoh's faith
in the communion Of love and
prayer between the church upon
earth and that of heaven is her
hopeful prayer for the souls of the
departed. The Greek church be-
lieyes in prayer for the souls of
those who have died in the com


munion Of love with her. AS an
evidence Of this devotion Of the
church to the Virgin Mary and the
saints, it has not in any respect weak
ened or impaired the bond Of love
that ought and does exist between
the church and her divine Lord.
Father Bjerring pointed to their
liturgy, which he considered the
highest type of divine worship, and
all other acts of devotion are merely
supplemental and complemental Of
that. The order of ritual is a mys-
tical shadowing forth of the princi-
pal events in the life and suffering
and death of our blessed Lord.
And in the holy sacrament of the
eucharist we cat the mystical flesh
and drink of the mystical blood Of
our Savior, and show forth His
death till His coming again.
Father Bjerring thought that if all
the canonical books of the bible
were suddenly blotted out the lit
urgy Of the church would be suffi-
cient to show the faithfulness Of
the church and the true spirit Of
prayer. The Greek church believes
also in baptismal regeneration. The
church believes also in transubstan-
tiation, and that in the sacrament
of the eucharist the orthodox
Christian partakes of the true body
and blood of Christ. -,s, ...