Ok, my first guess is that the last name one would expect to see on a blog about Orthodox Christianity is Dale Murphy, a retired baseball player who is not Orthodox. In fact, the last place you would expect to hear about him is in an Orthodox Christian service. However, we must also remember that it has been said (though I admittedly am taking this WAY out of context) that "the last shall be first", so, here is the name Dale Murphy appearing on a blog about Orthodox Christianity for all to see.
A little background is quite necessary. Dale Murphy was indeed mentioned in the homily given at an Orthodox Vespers service I attended back in 2011 (January if I recall) by the priest serving that night. Father (and this particular priest is a baseball fanatic!) talked about how, when he watched his own brother coming up to the plate, it reminded him of watching Mr Murphy come to bat, and how he always did the same ritual; the tapping of his spikes with the bat, the tapping of the plate with the bat, the sleeve tugs, and more I can't remember. He talked about his brother doing what is hero did. He then tied it all in to how ritual is important in the faith as it reminds us that we are all connected by the same rituals to those Orthodox Christians who came and went before us 1000-1500-1700 years ago. To lose the ritual and tradition is to lose sight of what makes us Orthodox, not only mechanically and outwardly, but spiritually and other worldly. It means we would lose our theosis.
I was reminded of this homily this past week, Holy week, the week between the Entry into Jerusalem and Pascha, as I was reading a book called "Alaskan Missionary Spirituality". In one of the earliest chapters, a comparison is made between the missions of Father (now Saint) Herman and New Valaam spreading the Gospel to the Aleuts and the Protestant method of spreading Protestantism to the Natives in the "Lower 48". Where the Protestants spread the Gospel through fear of hell and force of cultural extermination, through the replacement of Native American Spirituality with Christianity, Father Herman and his aides accepted that the natives of Alaska already had a sense of God as creator, but were unaware how their traditions were fulfilled in Jesus. Where the natives of the lower 48 were turned upside down in their beliefs, Father Herman showed how their beliefs were not in opposition to Christianity, just incomplete without Christ. Where the natives of the lower 48 were told their beliefs were in contradiction with the Gospel and must be abandoned, Father Herman taught that their beliefs were now summed up in the history of Jesus. Father Herman showed that their ceremonial rituals were an understanding of God, and how Orthodox rituals were the understanding not only of Jesus but of the early Christians. What Father Herman did was not only miraculous, it was long lasting. Alaska is quite entrenched in the Orthodox Faith even to this day among the natives, though there has been erosion since around 1867. We see the fruit of the lower 48 with every relic of the Natives past.
Of course, I have over simplified what I read in the book, in part because I am still absorbing its lessons and in part that I would rather encourage you to read this book yourself instead of me giving you a Cliff Notes version, but also because of how both that homily and this book tie into this holiest week of our liturgical year. We are going through our Bridegroom Matins and other services not because they are meant to please God (though we pray they do) but to REMIND us of Him and to educate us; just as the Native Alaskans used their rituals to educate their children of their spirituality before Father Herman. We go through these services to remind us of Our Savior and His mission, not only when He walked this Earth, but as it is now that He has sacrificed himself and sits at the right hand of the Father. We go through these things because it reminds us of who we are in Christ's mission, and what our part in it is to be. When the Hymn is finally sung "Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life", we are reminded that this mission continues and must continue.
Our Orthodox ancestors passed down their rituals, and the Alaskan Natives passed down theirs, and Dale Murphy inspired someone to copy his rituals to become a better hitter in baseball. Three different types of rituals from three different sources all for one same purpose: to keep us centered on the task at hand.
Christ Is Risen!!!
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