saturday was the feast day of st. john the wonderworker of shanghai and san francisco. much beloved for many reasons, and villified by some for many of the same reasons, father john has long been one of my most important companions among the saints. it has only been recently that i have read of his and his predecessor st. tikhon's work to reclaim and restore the orthodoxy of the early church in the west.part of that work is to encourage ancient liturgies which were used before the schism. this is of course not always easy. in that context i found this blog posting fascinating. it contains some cogent considerations, i think, but it also assumes a continuity of the "eastern" church, even at its most "orthodox," which unfortunately is not supported by the events of history. alas, there was a time when many of the eastern bishops were arian heretics. there was a time when many if not most of the russian bishops were lutherans. the old believers find the current russian liturgy unacceptable.
it is in this context that the love and patience of blessed john seems most important. the words of the liturgy, just as the words of scripture, are human words: inspired, but not beyond our comprehension. alas, again and again schisms surround our trying to say the same things with different words.
this morning i read psalm 18 (ev 19) from the new jerusalem bible of some friends for whom i am house-sitting. the line i am accustomed to hearing as "preserve thy servant from presumptious sins" it translates "from pride preserve your servant, never let it be my master." this is certainly a sentiment father john would be quick to second.
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