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Thursday, March 13, 2025

The Signs are in the Times

When the "Signs of the Times" become the "Signs are in the Times"

When the Christian faith began among the early communities in the early centuries, everything was perceived and lived as a whole - with theology and spirituality, doctrine and prayer all integrated in the life of the believers. This synthesis was strengthened by the Cappadocians (St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Gregory of Nyssa) in the East, and St. Augustine of Hippo in the West. This integration and synthesis continued on into the Medieval times through the Dominican St. Thomas of Aquinas and the Franciscan St. Bonaventure.

As the Catholic faith developed further, the synthesis of theology and the spirituality of prayer began to weaken sometime before the beginning of the Eastern Schism of 1054 A.D. It became even more pronounced during and after the Protestant Reformation. What contributed to this weakening were two trends that "compartmentalized" the faith into theology on one side, and prayer and spirituality on the other. It also contributed to the eventual "forgetfulness" of the significance of the Holy Spirit.

The two trends

First of the trends was the division of dogmatic theology and spiritual theology. The former concentrated on the Church's dogmatic and doctrinal formulations, while the latter (spiritual theology) concerned itself with prayer and the individual Christian's relationship with God.

The second trend consisted in the increasing institutionalization within the Church herself. This created a division between the ecclesiastical members of the Church (the clergy and religious) who are concerned with things of the Spirit, and the lay faithful, who are relegated to temporal and secular concerns.

With the development of these two trends, understanding and living the faith since it was lived as a whole in the early centuries was lost. What was also lost was the full biblical vision of the Holy Spirit as One who renews both the Church, and all things pertaining to secular and temporal realities in the world.

Vatican II's contribution

With the charismatic movement flourishing in the 1960s A.D. and the eventual reformulation of the faith through the Second Vatican Council, the Church began to recapture again the deeper sense of tradition rooted in biblical experience and the teachings of the early Church councils. The Council is aptly described as "a grace of God and a gift of the Holy Spirit". Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Second Vatican Council has begun to integrate once more both experience and doctrine, Church and the world, and the clergy and the lay faithful.

A renewed sense of the Spirit in the world

Vatican II made the Church aware again that the Holy Spirit is present in the world - transforming it and renewing all of life. Because of this renewed understanding and perception, the Church again renewed her responsibility to respond to the needs of the world. Looking at the 'signs of the times', the Church now involves all her members, both clergy and lay faithful, to be actually involved in responsibly taking care of the earth and respecting all forms of life in all its stages.

A world in travail (Rom 8:22ff)

In the time of St. Paul, this holy apostle and missionary already sensed that "the whole creation is still groaning in travail". At the dawn of the third millenium, everyone can sense that what St. Paul said still rings true today. Creation indeed is still groaning in travail as global climactic changes have greatly affected many parts of the world. This reality is causing a renewal of faith in God as the author of all creation. As the Church aptly teaches that we are in the "age of the Spirit", it is but fitting to seek the Holy Spirit who "helps us in our weakness" and "who dost the tongue with power imbue" - especially in these uncertain climatic upheavals.

Sources of this blog post

Dictionary of Theology, by editors Komonchak, Collins, and Lane
Devotions to the Holy Spirit, by Brian Moore, SJ

Commemoration of Saints (March 13)

Solemnities, Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials, and Traditional Dates of Commemoration

Euphrasia, virgin
Mochoemoc, abbot
Gerald of Mayo, abbot
Nicephorus of Constantinople, bishop
Ansovinus, bishop
Heldrad, abbot
Roderic and Solomon, martyrs
Leander of Seville, bishop [1]

Today, March 13, the Catholic Church commemorates 3 abbots, 3 bishops, 2 martyrs and 1 virgin. St. Nicephorus of Constantinople, bishop, is also commemorated today by the Churches using the Byzantine Calendar.

Featured in today's commemoration is St. Leander of Seville (ca. 550-600 A.D.). He was consecrated bishop of Seville in about 584 A.D. Leander devoted himself to combating the Arian heresy in Spain. It was his success in this battle that Gregory the Great advanced him to the episcopate, rewarding him with the archbishop's pallium.

St. Leander of Seville did a lot for the faith of the Church:

he wrote treatises against Arianism
converted many of the Arian bishops
converted most of the Visigoths and the Spanish Suevi to the Catholic faith
presided at the third council of Toledo in 589 A.D.
he held a synod in Seville in 590 A.D.
he was responsible for the reform of the Spanish liturgy
he wrote a rule for nuns
he is considered a doctor of the Church in the local church of Spain [2][3]

To prevent confusion as regards his feast days, Wikipedia.org says in its website that, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches recognise the feast days for St. Leander of Seville on both 27 February and 13 March. These observances are according to particular circumstances. In the Spanish national liturgical calendar, the feast day of Leander of Seville is also commemorated every 13th of November [4].

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [March 13]

Translation of Relics of our father, Nicephor, Patriarch of Constantinople

In the year 846 A.D., the tomb of St. Nikephoros (also Nicephor or Nicephorus) was opened, and the relics were found incorrupt and fragrant. They were transferred to the Church of the Holy Apostles. Since St. Nicephor was against iconoclasm, he left behind three written works against that heresy. He also wrote two historial works, Breviarum and Chronographia [3][5]

References: Books, Websites & AI Search Results

[1] Pocket Catholic Dictionary, John A. Hardon
[2] Lives of the Saints, Richard P. McBrien
[3] Dictionary of Saints, John J. Delaney
[4] Leander of Seville, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leander_of_Seville, Wikipedia.org
[5] Translation of the Relics of Saint Nikephoros Patriarch of Constantinople, Oca.org

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Commemoration of Saints (March 12)

Solemnities, Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials, and Traditional Dates of Commemoration

Maximilian of Theveste, martyr
Peter, Gorgonius, and Dorotheus, martyrs
Paul Aurelian, bishop
Theophanes the Chronicler, abbot
Alphege of Winchester, bishop
Bernard of Capua, bishop
Fina or Seraphina, virgin [1]

Today, March 12, is the commemoration of 4 martyrs, 3 bishops, 1 abbot and 1 virgin in the Catholic Church.

The abbot commemorated today is St. Theophanes the Chronicler (d. ca. 817 A.D.)

St. Theophanes was from Constantinople and was left a large fortune when his father died. He grew up at the court of Emperor Constantine V. He married, but after both his wife and himself agreed to separate for matters of vocation, Theophanes became a monk and his wife became a nun.

Theophanes built monasteries on Mount Sigriana and on the island of Kalonymos. After six years he became abbot of Mount Sigriana.

In the Council of Nicaea in 787 A.D., Theophanes supported the decrees approving the veneration of sacred images and fought against its heresy - iconoclasm. This led to a conflict with Emperor Leo the Armenian who supported iconoclasm. When Theophanes did not accede to the iconoclastic policies of Emperor Leo, he was arrested, maltreated and banished to Samothrace. It was here that he died on March 12 from all the ill treatment that he received since his imprisonment.

Theophanes is called the "Chronicler" because of his Chronographia - a historical writing that covered the years 284-813 A.D. [2]

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [March 12]

Theophan of Syngria
Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome

Today, 2 Saints are commemorated in the Orthodox Churches that follow the Byzantine Calendar: St. Theophan and St. Gregory the Great. St. Theophan is the same as the St. Theophanes that the Catholic Church also commemorates today. St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome, is commemorated in the Catholic Church every September 3. What is common among these two Saints is that both of them were writers.

Understanding the Differences in Dates of Commemoration

The bigger context of difference in the Dates of Commemoration of Saints is understood from the perspective of the key differences between Roman Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The more specific context of the differences can be gleaned from the adoption of either the Julian Calendar or the Gregorian Calendar.

Roman Catholicism and Eastern Catholic Churches:

Eastern Catholic Churches have their own distinct liturgical rites, traditions, and canon law, but they are in full communion with the Pope. This means they recognize his authority and share the same core beliefs. Therefore, they are not separate churches, but rather churches "sui iuris" (of their own law) within the one Catholic Church.

Eastern Orthodox Churches:

The Great Schism of 1054 A.D. marked the formal separation between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church. Eastern Orthodox Churches are indeed independent and self-governing, with each church typically headed by its own patriarch or archbishop. They do not recognize the Pope's universal jurisdiction. While there can be respectful dialogue and relations between the Eastern Orthodox and the Catholic Church, they are currently not in full communion. Orthodox Christians respect the bishop of Rome as one of the ancient patriarchs, but do not recognize his supreme authority.

Here's a simplified breakdown:

Catholic Church:

Includes Roman Catholic Church (Latin Rite)
Includes Eastern Catholic Churches (various rites)
All united under the Pope.

Eastern Orthodox Churches:

Independent churches (e.g., Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox)
Do not recognize the Pope's universal authority.
Separated from the Catholic church in 1054 A.D.

In essence, the key difference lies in the recognition of papal authority. Eastern Catholics accept it, while Eastern Orthodox Churches do not [3]. The difference therefore in the commemoration of the Saints from all these Churches spring from the difference in liturgical rites and adherence to traditional dates or changes in them due to the schisms and decentralizations of Church structures that occured in historical development of the Churches. Another contributing factor is the use of calendars: either the Julian Calendar or the Gregorian Calendar.

The Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar

The Byzantine calendar is based on the Julian calendar, but with the year starting on September 1st and using an Anno Mundi (Year of the World) epoch, rather than the Anno Domini (A.D., Year of our Lord) as used in the West. The Byzantine calendar, used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Empire, fundamentally followed the Julian calendar.

Unlike Western Europe, the Byzantine world never adopted the Anno Domini system, which counts years from the birth of Jesus.

While the Gregorian calendar was reformed in the West in 1582 A.D. to correct for the drift in the Julian calendar, it was not widely adopted in the East, and many churches continued using the Julian calendar for liturgical purposes. Some Orthodox churches, like the Russian Orthodox Church, still use the Julian calendar today to calculate the dates of moveable feasts, while other churches use the Revised Julian calendar for fixed dates [4].