A Welcome Message from our Dean, His Grace Bishop Kyrillos
“In the Wisdom of God, Let us attend!”
Welcome blessed students,
Greetings in the Lord! I welcome you, alongside our faculty and administration, to the beginning of a new semester and the 2019-2020 school year. This semester, we are exceedingly grateful to welcome over 30 new students, bringing our semester total to 98 students, and our total student body to over one hundred students. This is our largest class ever!
As we begin our pursuit of wisdom this semester, I would like to share a reflection on how we may attentively pursue this blessed virtue. There is a difference from simply gaining knowledge and acquiring wisdom. Our goal is to receive this wisdom for God; not only for our salvation, but to be applied in service towards our families, our churches and our communities. But first, I would like to share with you how we might acquire Wisdom, as mentioned in Holy Scripture, in the Divine Liturgy, and in the writings of the Fathers of the Church.
Wisdom in Holy Scripture
The Holy Scriptures reveal many truths and practical commandments on how we may achieve wisdom. Firstly, that wisdom yields many fruits. As said in James 3:17, “the Wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”
In our beloved school, we communally seek wisdom and discernment as the Book of Wisdom cautions us, “dishonest reasoning separates people from God” (Wisdom 1:3). This is particularly prudent to remember as we start to acquire wisdom in the fear of the Lord (Psa. 110:10) and delve into the Holy Scriptures (Col. 3:16).
St. James assures us that prayers for wisdom and discernment are answered generously and faithfully by God (Jam 1:5). The beloved apostle echo to us of the ancient promise of God in Proverbs:
My son, if you receive my words,
and treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom,
And from His face come knowledge and understanding (Prov. 2:1-6).
And again, in Proverbs 3:13, “if you seek, you will certainly find. You will discover not only wisdom but also understanding.”
Another fruit of wisdom is love. “Wisdom is a spirit that loves mankind” (Wisdom 1:6). That is why St. Paul prayed that such love would “abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (Phil. 1:9). Love abounds when we seek wisdom, knowledge and discernment.
Wisdom in the Divine Liturgy
Besides scripture, we are urged to pursue wisdom in our liturgical worship. In fact, in the ancient liturgical texts, we find that the deacon response instructs the people saying, “In the Wisdom of God, Let us attend!” When the deacon says this, he is urging us to pay attention, in wisdom, to what is coming. He’s warning us that the Lord is presently working His great mysterious work of salvation, hidden from the eyes of many. He calls us to be alert! Pay attention! (Proskhomen!) Actively listening to the Gospel can change lives (such as with St. Anthony the Great) and illumine our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6) with the Light of the Lamb (Rev. 21:23-25).
God is working in you, be attentive!
God is working in your family, be attentive!
God is working in your Church, be attentive!
Much of this liturgical call was also influenced by the great Church of Constantinople, named after Holy Wisdom (Agia Sophia). But to some degree, every Church is the “House of Wisdom,” just as is mentioned in the Fraction Prayer attributed to St. Epiphanius. The Church is called this because Christ is the true Wisdom or Logos of God.
Wisdom in the Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, such as St. Athanasius, St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Clement of Rome, have also ruminated on the acquisition of wisdom.
At the end of his great treatise on the Incarnation, St. Athanasius warns us that “without a pure mind and a modeling of the life after the saints, you cannot possibly comprehend the words of the saints.” Indeed, our search for wisdom here requires purity of mind and life. He elaborates in his letter to the bishops of Egypt by explaining that the “faithful Christian and true disciple of the Gospel [has] the grace to discern spiritual things, having built the house of his faith upon a rock, stands continually firm and secure…” However, the simple-minded are deceived very quickly by the Arians. Thus we need to pray for discernment as mentioned in 1 John 4:1.
In a similar manner, St. Cyril of Alexandria starts his third tome to Nestorius with the following: “Great confessedly is the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16), and also marveled at by the holy Angels themselves. About this, the most wise Paul confirms us saying, “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him” (Eph 3:10-12). For truly Wisdom is the Mystery of Christ; and this is Divine—not human, for it is deposited in certain ineffable depths and incomprehensibilities.
Our mission here is to delve into the depths of this mystery of godliness, this Mystery of Christ that is often dwelling in an ocean of dark reasoning of the world, and misunderstood by dim eyes. We seek the Light of our God to always shine in our hearts and minds, illuminating every dark thought, feeling, and action. St. Cyril also declares in his commentary on John, that the Living Word of God in Scripture reaches the depths of each man’s soul, and shines the hidden purpose of each soul as is revealed to God. In this search, St Cyril assures us, we will discover our purification and sanctification into all virtue for the glory of God.
St. Clement of Rome shares similar advice, saying:
Let us attend to what is good, pleasing, and acceptable in the sight of Him Who formed us. Let us look steadfastly to the Blood of Christ, and see how precious that Blood is to God which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed, and learn that, from generation to generation, the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all such as would be converted unto Him.
As we begin this semester, and contemplate on the scriptural, liturgical and patristical implications of the Wisdom of God, I ask that you continually seek to apply your studies towards your families, churches and communities. Let us pray with Wisdom, let us study with Wisdom, let us live with Wisdom. For, when we do so, we are with God and God with us.
We are so joyful to be granted the opportunity to serve and support you as you begin this work of transformation and sanctification, both for yourselves and those around you. May the Lord continue to guide and bless each of you as you begin this pursuit of Wisdom, and that all things may abound for the glory of His Name and the spread of His Kingdom.