Sister Vassa Larin is known worldwide as a deeply learned academic with an uncanny ability to convey her knowledge–as well as her deep-seated understanding of and love for the Church–to people from all walks of life. It sure doesn’t hurt that she is an infectiously wry and witty speaker, as can be attested by anyone who follows “Coffee with Sister Vassa” in any of its formats and platforms, or has encountered her in any other venue. The following excerpt from a May 2022 blog post gives an idea of her clear-sighted yet pastoral approach to church life, even at such a difficult time:
“Let me say a few words in support of ‘sticking it out’ within one’s own church community, at this Time of Troubles. I, for one, am not going anywhere, from my ‘jurisdiction,’ which happens to be the ROCOR (the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia), also known as ROCA (the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad). Why am I not leaving, even while we commemorate Patriarch Kirill, and many of our clergy sympathize with Putinism? Because I love my Church. That’s my best answer. And as I’ve said jokingly, you can’t take the ‘broad’ out of the Russian Orthodox Church A-broad, just like you can’t take the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad out of the ‘broad.’ I do feel quite devastated by the whole situation, and I do feel betrayed by the utter failure of some of my ‘fathers’ to discern the truth of this horrible war in Ukraine. I have not been able to post my usual reflections on Scripture on social media, nor have I updated our coffeewithsistervassa.com website, since the war began. I have been at a loss for words, frankly, and instead I’ve been focusing on helping a Ukrainian refugee family here in Vienna, which has been a great blessing to me; this opportunity somehow to help the situation has been healing to me. And as I move forward, I see my now more-difficult vocation as witnessing to the truth within my beloved Church, however insignificant that witness is, or how uncomfortable for me, or whether it matters to anyone. I could just leave, but I don’t think, in my case, that leaving my ‘marriage’ to this Church is warranted. I think that God calls me to love, and to truthful witness, to my church family, and that’s where I will remain.”
(from Public Orthodoxy)
Sister Vassa’s latest book is called Praying in Time: The Hours & Days in Step with Orthodox Christian Tradition. In it, she aims to remind us of an ancient Orthodox practice anchor our hours and days with Christ-centered purpose, much the way Copts seek to do when they pray from the Agpeya throughout the day. As always with Sister Vassa, the explanations are engaging, the advice practical, and her suggested prayer rule simple and flexible. (If you have non-English-speaking relatives who’d be interested, the book is being translated into Greek, Italian, and Russian.) Her podcast followers will recognize her voice on the audiobook (look for it on coffeewithsistervassa.com).
The book addresses several ways of incorporating time–hours and days–into your prayer life. Here’s what she has to say about Monday, which in the Byzantine Rite, is associated with the Angels and all Bodiless Powers. Why are they celebrated on Mondays?
“The simple answer is, because in ancient and later rabbinic Judaism and in the ancient church there was a widely held belief that they were created either before everything else, on Day One of creation (when the “first heaven” was created, or on the second day (when the “second heaven” of the firmament was created). The Bible leaves no doubt that the bodiless powers were indeed created by God…. Our celebration of the angels on Mondays, then, links the beginning of our workweek to the very beginning of God’s “work” of creating the world, specifically its invisible creatures. Our celebration of the angels every Monday also fortifies the faith we profess at the beginning of the Creed, our faith in One God as Creator of all things, visible “and invisible.” …By remembering” the earliest phase of creation we also connect with a timeless dimension of God’s creative work, before the fourth day, when God created the planets “for signs and season, and for days and years” (Gen 1:14), which meant the beginning of time. This is one of the ways in which the church’s timekeeping, our timekeeping, occasionally dips a toe into that incomprehensible realm that is eternity.”
Axia!