Happy Eucharist Day!
LET US GIVE THANKS TO GOD!
Happy Eucharist Day! Let us give thanks to God!
The English word, “Thanksgiving,” or the English phrase, “giving thanks,” is often mistakenly used by Protestant translators to translate the Greek word, Eucharist. This would be correct, except for the fact that even in New Testament times, the Church assembling for liturgical prayers and communion was already beginning to be called by the proper noun, The Eucharist.
“I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how can any one in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” at your Eucharist when he does not know what you are saying?” (I Cor 14)
“I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and Eucharists be made for all men, for kings and all in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, Godly and respectful in every way. This is good in the sight of God.” (I Timothy 2:1-3)
“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Eucharists, let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil 4)
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with Eucharists.” (Col 4)
“Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with Eucharist; for then it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer.” (I Tim 4)
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to The Breaking of The Bread, and The Prayers…daily.” (Acts 2:42, 46)
also I Thess 3:9, and elsewhere!
Father Alexander Schmemann called Thanksgiving “the most Orthodox of all American holidays.”
It is appropriate for Orthodox Christians to adopt the holy day of American Thanksgiving as our own feastday, and devote it to giving thanks to the Holy Trinity.
Many Orthodox parishes have already done this. Over one hundred years ago, Bishop (now Saint) Tikhon had a service specifically compiled for the American holiday of Thanksgiving, and many parishes use it.
In his introductory remarks for his American Thanksgiving service, Saint Tikhon wrote, “Let it be known that every right faithful Christian is duty bound to offer thanks unto God, the giver of all good, for all necessaries received, whether they be for the soul or the body, at all times secretly in his closet, and also openly in the Church.”
In his excellent expose, “The Sacred Return To Now” ( https://drseantobin.substack DOT com/p/thanksgiving-the-doorway-back-into ), Dr. Sean Tobin notes that “Gratitude brings you back into the present moment,” the “now” where God is, while “Anxiety pulls you out of it.”
“Gratitude and Praise Bring You Back Into Now.”
Christians give thanks even for trials and suffering, because they bring us closer to Christ. As Dr. Tobin puts it:
“We do not thank God for evil. We thank Him that even evil cannot escape His sovereignty. ‘Thank you for the situation that humbled me.’ ‘Thank you for the wound that made me compassionate.’ ‘Thank you for what stripped me of self-reliance.’ ‘Thank you for the thing that brought me to my knees.’ We thank Him not for the sin, but for the redemption that came through what the sin caused. We thank Him not for the pain, but for the meaning, tenderness, and wisdom that only pain produces. Thanksgiving is not passive surrender; it is warfare.”
As the alcoholics put it, “Stinking Thinking” leads to addiction, misery, and despair. An “Attitude of Gratitude” leads to hope and light.
This Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for even those things in our lives that we consider “bad,” hurtful, or even unjust.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (I Thess 5)
Dr. Tobin concludes: “Thanksgiving does not deny pain. It dethrones it. Thanksgiving does not pretend life is fine. It admits God is here. This is why Scripture commands it. This is why healing begins with it. This is why anxiety hates it. Real thanksgiving is deliverance.”
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