Reflections following the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy at St. John Russian Orthodox Mission Church in Winfield, PA, on the Third Wednesday of Lent 7533/2025.
The Old Testament Lenten readings today (Isaiah 10:12-20, Genesis 7:6-9, Proverbs 9:12-18) emphasize the wisdom of Noah and the foolishness of following after temptation for supposed short-term gratification. They are of a piece together.
Wisdom in Orthodoxy is a name for Christ although she is often gendered figuratively feminine in the Old Testament because of the fulfillment of wisdom in the Church, the Body of Christ, and the Church’s association with the Mother of God, the Theotokos. (As St. Cyprian of Carthage put it, to have God as your Father, you must first have the Church as your Mother.)
Biblical history as understood in Orthodox Tradition was a long preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ to the Theotokos and the establishment of His Church first in the Holy Land and then throughout the nations of the world. This was the full realization of Israel, which was termed as a land “the bride of God” in the Old Testament, but fulfilled in the Church in the New Testament for all peoples and lands (even and especially Northern Appalachia!).
The Prophet Noah labored patiently and endured ridicule for following Wisdom. But he became, after Adam, in effect the second father of mankind by his diligent obedience. In Orthodoxy we learn that obedience to God and to the Church Tradition inspired by the Holy Spirit gives us Wisdom, even in areas as seemingly small to us modern Americans as fasting, because they set a boundary or practice area for us in self-denial. Even if we can’t yet accomplish bigger things, we can experience with prayer and God’s help how to “force ourselves” to deny ourselves a little. That’s an aspect of Wisdom, too. It’s like learning to practice the piano by playing scales.
The poet said that knowledge comes but wisdom lingers, and it is true that we today tend to have too much knowledge, whether through AI or the internet at large, and too little Wisdom. Wisdom teaches us patience and boundaries in the law of God. For as St. Basil the Great indicated to us, the natural law in Orthodoxy is the spark of God’s love in each of our hearts, and there we learn true wisdom in Jesus Christ, Who is the way, the truth, and the life.
A few years ago my sons and I on a family trip toured the Ark replica in Kentucky, which is an incredible exhibit. While there a woman stopped me and kept insisting that I must be a Jewish rabbi because of my robes, although I explained that I was an Orthodox Christian clergyman. The Orthodox Church’s fulfillment of the Old Testament seems foreign even to many who look to the Bible for inspiration today. During this Lent and throughout the year we must help share the Wisdom of the Church given to us in Christ, so that more may enter into the Israel of these latter days, the Orthodox Church. It is our Ark given by God. There was a new archaeological find announced in the news this past week regarding further supposed evidence that the Ark’s remains had been found near Mount Ararat. But whether so or not, in Orthodoxy we experience the Ark at every God-given service of our Church, and we look to her Wisdom, not the foolishness of the world, to sustain us and our families. Lent gives us a time to appreciate this and to turn away further from the foolish distractions of the world. Brothers and Sisters, let us with God’s help make the most of this Lent to seek the Wisdom of Jesus Christ in the Church that He gives us as our Ark today.
Glory to God for all things!