A Hymn to the Mother of God

O most-pure Mary, through thee we have come to know the restoration and second life of our human nature.  The Creator of creation was kneaded within thy womb.  He has both raised us from death and hell, and granted us eternal life for which we sing to thee O Ever-Virgin: Rejoice, thou who hast joined that which is below with heaven.  Rejoice, hope of all the ends of the earth, and its advocate and defender.  Rejoice, for through the resurrection of thy Son all things have been enlightened and the world is granted great mercy.  (The Theotokion of the Apostihka of Saturday Small Vespers, Tone 3)      

Universal Repentance

The subjects of personal and universal repentance were touched upon in the sermon on The Holy Protection in the last post.  Personal repentance was then briefly clarified and so now it follows that the subject of universal repentance should be further expounded.  In so doing, I will rely on St. Silouan the Athonite and Archimandrite Sophrony.  The subjects at hand are actually a few among a number that the latter wanted his spiritual children to speak or write about. 

So something will be said about universal repentance.  In doing this, I will also overlap into the subject of personal repentance and put forth another facet of it.  In the writings of St. Silouan, in the Chapter “Adam’s Lament”, we see both personal and universal repentance exemplified.  So we shall see how St. Silouan contemplated Adam’s lament after his first offense in the garden of Eden.

Adam the father of all mankind in paradise knew the sweetness of the love of God and so when for his sin he was driven forth from the garden of Eden, and was widowed of the love of God   he suffered grievously and lamented with a mighty moan.  And the whole desert rang with his lamentations.  His soul was racked as he thought; “I have grieved my beloved Lord.”  He sorrowed less after paradise and the beauty thereof—he sorrowed that he was bereft of the love of God, which insatiably, at every instant, draws the soul to Him.

In the same way the soul which has known God through the Holy Spirit but has afterwards lost grace experiences the torment that Adam suffered.  There is an aching and a deep regret in the soul that has grieved the beloved Lord.

Adam pined on earth, and wept bitterly, and the earth was not pleasing to him.  He was heartsick for God. (St. Silouan the Athonite, Archimandrite Sophrony, p.448)

Although we have not participated in sublime experiences of grace as St. Silouan, yet we still all have had some perception of what it is to feel close to God.  In the Church services, in our prayers, in our readings and reflections on God we have all at some time or another felt close to Him.  This is a great comfort, but to be bereft of it is a painful sorrow indeed.  But consider: We can experience even much more!  We must offer personal repentance to God.  According to the measure of each we must mourn in prayer over our having offended God by our sins and our separation from Him.  And this will lead one to universal repentance as Archimandrite Sophrony makes plain for us:

When an ascetic withdraws from the world, to start with his attention is concentrated on the first commandment and on his own personal repentance, thus giving an impression of egoism.  Later, when repentance attains a certain degree of fullness and grace touches his soul, he begins to feel Christ-like love in his soul spilling out on all humanity.  Then, though living in the desert and not seeing the world with his bodily eyes, he sees it in spirit and then lives in depth the world’s sufferings, for he lives them with a Christian consciousness of the unique character and great eternal worth of every human being.

Wherever man may betake himself, whatever desert he may retire to, if he treads the path of real life in God he will live the tragedy of the world. (ibid. p.227)

So then, Archimandrite Sophrony indicates for us what universal repentance is.  As he says, it is: “Christ-like love in the soul spilling out on all humanity”, also, “living in depth the world sufferings”, in addition, “living the tragedy of the world”.  St. Silouan, again, in his contemplation on Adam’s lament gives us an example of this.  He writes:

Adam knew great grief when he was banished from paradise, but when he saw his son Abel slain by Cain his brother, Adam’s grief was even heavier.  His soul was heavy, and he lamented and thought: “Peoples and nations will descend from me and multiply, and suffering will be their lot, and they will live in enmity and seek to slay one another.”  And his sorrow stretched wide as the sea, and only the soul that has come to know the Lord and the magnitude of His love for us can understand. (ibid. p. 449)

In writing of the Saints, St. Silouan explains this action in a person as follows:

The Lord gave the Saints His grace, and they loved Him and clung to Him utterly, for the sweetness of the love of God does not allow love for the world and its beauty….

God is love and the Holy Spirit in the Saints is love….

The Saints live in another world, and there through the Holy Spirit they behold the glory of God and the beauty of the Lord’s countenance.  But in the same Holy Spirit they see our lives, too, and our deeds.  They know our sorrows and hear our ardent prayers….

The Lord bestowed the Holy Spirit on the Saints, and in the Holy Spirit they love us.  The souls of the Saints know the Lord and His goodness toward man, wherefore their spirits burn with love for the peoples.  While they were still on earth they could not without sorrow hear tell of sinful men, and in their prayers shed tears for them. (ibid. pp. 394-6)

So if we repent in a true Orthodox manner, then at a certain point, when the old man has been crucified to a sufficient degree, the grace of God will bud for in the heart.  A man will be taught directly from God love for all mankind.  Perceiving the fall of man, he will experience universal repentance which is mourning for the race of man who has strayed from God and is headed towards perdition.  This is “living in depth the world sufferings”, and, “living the tragedy of the world” as Archmandrite Sophrony writes.   So let us end with the words of St. Silouan which appear on many of his icons: “I pray thee, O Merciful Lord, for all the people of the earth, that they may come to know Thee by Thy Holy Spirit”. 

                                                                Amen!

A hymn to the Mother of God

O strange wonder which was brought to pass at august Blachernae in Byzantium of old through her who alone brought forth our Lord and Fashioner without taint and incorrupt!  For she spread out her most sacred and holy veil, protecting the pious flock and filling all with her heavenly gifts of grace; and she calleth all together, in divine delight to cry: Rejoice, thou Protection who protectest every faithful soul.  (from the October Menaion, translation by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, Massachusettes, 2005, p.5)

 Since this Sunday, October 14^th, on the old calendar is the feast of The Holy Protection of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary this post will begin with a sermon for this commemoration.

Holy Protection Sermon

Beloved of God, in this feast we celebrate today we gratefully remember our Sovereign Lady Theotokos as an intercessor for us before God.  Together with the angelic powers and all the saints she ever prays for us.  She is the highest of all creation, she is at the right hand of Christ our God and so her intercessory power is greater than all.  Therefore let us speak today about the Theotokos as our intercessor.  Let us consider how this intercessory power of the Theotokos came to be and where it began.  Although she has become sanctified beyond all created beings in that she is the Mother of God and is therefore our foremost intercessor, she is still one of us.  The Theotokos is a human being and this her intercessory power is not something that just happened to her as though she was a passive mechanical instrument, but this was something she struggled to develop, an act of synergy with God Who crowned her efforts; for she was still made out of the same raw material as we are.  She was born as a human just as we are, she was born as one among the race of Adam, she is a daughter of Eve, Eve who was a fallen creature.

The position of the Theotokos as our intercessor began with her life in the Temple.  Her life there was ascetic and contemplative, a life tempered by prayer, fasting, and study of the Holy Scriptures.  This is what we learn from early Christian literature that scholars refer to as the Protoevangelion of  James and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.  Various holy fathers referred to these sources and wrote of her life in the Temple, such as Sts. Jerome and George of Nicomedia, Blessed Theophylact and St. Gregory Palamas.  And it was especially St. Gregory who spoke in detail of her time in the Temple.  He affirms it was at that time, through hearing the Holy Scriptures that the Theotokos began to understand the catastrophe of Adam’s fall.  She understood the growing distortion of our being through sin and the need of a Savior to heal the effects of sin upon our human nature.  She mourned over man’s loss of paradise and our state of separation from God which she also experienced as a daughter of Adam. 

She had both a personal and universal repentance.  Her personal repentance however, was not a repentance for a sin committed.  No!   She never sinned!   Rather it was a process of ascending from one state of purification and enlightenment to another.  And her universal repentance was a mourning and intercessory prayer for the fallen race of Adam.  And this is quite natural, it is perfectly human, because man exists as a community of being and this is an aspect of being created in the image and after the likeness of God.  God is Trinity, three yet one, singular yet pluralistic, three Persons, yet one in Essence.  God is love, a community of being united in love, existing in love, effecting all things in love.  And so each of us, in our human nature in the image of our Trinitarian God, exists as a person of a common substance or essence with every other human being while at the same time possessing our own particular, personal being or substance.  Man exists as many persons which are consubstantial with one another. 

The tradition of our Church teaches that each individual through ascetic struggles strives to ascend in the likeness of God so as to become a pure vessel of the grace of God.  One struggles to become a “God-bearer”; a living repository of the Holy Spirit.  Although this is the aim of the ascetic endeavors the Church puts forth for us, there is also another transformation that man experiences through ascetic endeavors.  For man, although many persons, yet being created in God’s image is a single whole, man is singular yet pluralistic, man’s state of existence is community of being, not individual or in division from each other but a community of one essence meant to exist in relationship with one another, as the New Testament teaches us we are one body, the Body of Christ, members of one another .  It is to this knowledge that our ascetic efforts and personal repentance leads us because it is what we are, it is what we were created as.  Personal repentance leads one to the experience of the communal property of man’s nature.  It cannot be otherwise because it is what we are, and this leads one to intercession in the form of universal repentance.  This then, must have been the experience of the Theotokos, because she is one of us, she is a human being, a daughter of Adam. 

So then, the Theotokos, in choosing the good part as Mary of Bethany in the Gospel of this feast, gave herself over to an ascetic life from early childhood, and thus she perfected her human nature as far as possible.  The fruit of this was the understanding of the ontological unity of all mankind, and the understanding of the catastrophe of the fall and the need of a Savior.  She had pity on us and loved us and because of this love she became our intercessor.  And now that she is in the kingdom of heaven, her love for us is brought to a surpassing degree, and such love is made complete or perfected by the grace of the Holy Spirit both in this life and hereafter. As the Scriptures testify, “God is Love” and “he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him” (IJohn 4:8, 16). Therefore the Mother of God, now more than ever, fervently intercedes for us before her Son and our God, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through the intercessions of His most pure Mother may our Lord Jesus Christ lead us through this process of personal and universal repentance, and then He will recognize us as one of His Own and will receive us into His heavenly kingdom unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

Personal Repentance

As personal repentance is a subject raised in the above sermon it should be now dealt with in a little more detail.  Personal repentance is the repentance of any given individual offered God for himself.  So now it is necessary to speak of repentance, and to do so I will begin by quoting an introduction from a book on St. Seraphim, In the Footsteps of a Saint.    

Central to the Christian life is ongoing repentance, and the saints are those who repent thoroughly and completely.  Repentance in the Orthodox Church has various shades of meanings.  The Greek word “metanoia” literally means a change of mind, implying what the holy Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).  The equivalent word in Slavonic – “pokaianie” – implies to be wretched, to mourn and lament – to be filled with tears.  In conjunction with the disposition of one’s heart, and effort of free will, this “spirit of repentance” acts in varying degrees.  In some people it acts temporarily according to the sins they have committed.  There is confession, the resolve to change, remorse, and maybe some act of penance.  However, in others this “spirit of repentance” acts systematically, remaining upon one, leading him from one degree of purification to another.  Then, continuing on, this “spirit” – which is an action of the grace of God – leads one from one degree of enlightenment to another.  Perhaps we could presume to say that the latter is what the Apostle Paul wrote of to the Corinthians: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord” (IICor. 3:18). [p.3]

This ongoing repentance which acts systematically in a man is expressed in prayer.  Prayer is the expression of the relationship that exists between two reason-endowed personal beings.  By two reason-endowed personal beings it is God the Creator of all and His creature man that we are speaking of.  Prayer has a connection with theology.  This is because theology speaks of the relationship that exists between God and man.  Man was man “in the image and after the likeness of God” (Gen. 1:26), yet this was distorted by the sin of our first-parents, Adam and Eve.  In listening to the serpent they were deceived and disobeyed the commandment of God.  So they offended God and fell away from the life that they knew in paradise.  They distorted the original beauty of their resemblance to God and fragmented their relationship with Him.  As time progressed and generations of men have come and gone, sin has multiplied, the distortion of our original beauty has been augmented, and the same is true for our relationship with God.

God has not changed His attitude towards us, but we have sinned and distorted both our being and our relationship with God.  God continues to be Who He is—Love.  As we know, “God sent his Son to be the atonement for our sins” (IJohn 4:10).  God continues to deal with us in utter love although we have offended Him.  So now, how do we approach God and respond to this?  Our subject at hand gives us the answer: We approach God in repentance, we offer Him ongoing, systematic repentance. 

Repentance can be ongoing when we consider all the above.  The prayers of our Church, especially the evening prayers and canons of repentance, give us a model to follow.  And there are several of the hymns from the Akathist to the Elders of Optina that offer us outstanding instruction in this, they are as follows:

Understanding with heart and mind that no man living can be justified before God by his own works, and ever keeping before your eyes your own sins, ye did not cease to pour forth streams of tears, seen by the Lord alone, offering Him repentance of soul, the image whereof ye have shown to us. 

Considering yourselves to be the worst of men and in nowise deserving mercy, O saints, ye saw the power of the redemptive suffering of Christ as the only sure hope of salvation; and therefore, with great humility and thankfulness, ye ever cried to God: Alleluia!

Possessing within your hearts the divine gift of humble-mindedness, O true disciples of Christ Who humbled Himself even to death on the Cross, ye considered all your ascetic feats and labors as naught; for as your struggles increased, so did your humility grow apace. (Book of Akathists II, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY, pp. 414-5)

May our Lord Jesus Christ help us to follow in their footsteps, taking up an interior Cross of heartfelt repentance in painful prayer which can lead us from “one degree of purification to another” and continuing to “one degree of enlightenment to another” so that “putting aside the old man we may be clad with the new”*; through the prayers of His most pure Mother, the Optina Elders and all the saints. Amen.

* This last is a quote from the Prayer of St. Basil the Great which ends the Ninth Hour.  (from The Horologion, translation by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY, p. 180)

A hymn to the Mother of God

 O exceeding great wonder!  A Virgin giveth birth, and He that is born is God, Who was before the ages.  The birth is extraordinary, and that which is accomplished surpasseth nature.  O fearful mystery!  Though perceived, it remaineth ineffable, and though seen, it is not comprehended.  Blessed art thou, O immaculate Maiden, daughter of Adam, who art seen to be Mother of Good the Most High.  Do thou entreat Him that our souls be saved. (The Dogmatic of Small Vespers in Tone 3—The Pentecostarion, p. 155, trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, Massachusetts, 1990)   

 St. Silouan the Athonite

 On the 24^th of this month we commemorate St. Silouan the Athonite; therefore, this post will center around his life experience and writings, reflecting on what he offered to us.  Once in a talk Archimandrite Zachariah—a monk of the monastery founded by St. Silouan’s biographer, Archimandrite Sophrony—said that a saint is a sign to the people of his generation.  St. Silouan reposed 74 years ago in 1938, his writings were first published in the Russian language in France in the mid 1950’s, and have since been translated and published in many languages.  So then, what does St. Silouan have to offer to us?  What is it of the teachings of Christ and the Church that he especially brings to our attention?

 I bring to mind three extraordinary experiences in his life which have something vital for us.  One is the revelation of the love of God which coincided, as an interior experience, along with his vision of Christ while still a novice.  Secondly are the words our Lord spoke to him while he was at prayer with a desperate struggle against intrusive thoughts and a demonic appearance.  Lastly is the experience of the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking within him, and bearing witness to the purity of the Mother of God.  It is this latter that I would like to speak of first.

 I believe that our Lord, in His foreknowledge and providential care for us, in the twentieth century choose to use St. Silouan to give us an undeniable proof of the sinlessness of His all-pure Mother.  St. Silouan gives evidence of this as he writes:

 In church I was listening to a reading from the Prophet Isaiah, and at the words, “Wash you make you clean,” I reflected, “Maybe the Mother of God sinned at one time or another, if only in thought.”  And, marvelous to relate, in unison with my prayer a voice sounded in my heart, saying clearly, “The Mother of God never sinned even in thought.”  Thus did the Holy Spirit bear witness in my heart to her purity. (St. Silouan the Athonite, Archimandrite Sophrony, pp. 391-2)         

 It is sad to admit that in the Orthodox Church, in the past century and carrying over to our day, some have expressed doubt and questioned the sinlessness of the Theotokos.  I choose not to argue this point but simply repeat: “Our Lord, in His foreknowledge and providential care for us, in the twentieth century choose to use St. Silouan to give us an undeniable proof of the sinlessness of His all-pure Mother”. The Holy Spirit Himself, through St. Silouan, bears witness to this.  So then, if anyone would argue the point, I advise such as follows: Go to your icon corner, call upon the Holy Spirit and argue with Him; for It is He Who has borne witness.

 By continuing I will now speak of the second experience of St. Silouan mentioned above in which our Lord spoke to him.  It was 15 years after the Lord had appeared to him while still a novice that he was struggling to pray with a pure mind and—as Archimandrite Sophrony relates: “At last he rose up from his stool , intending to bow down and worship, when he saw a gigantic devil standing in front of the ikon, waiting to be worshipped.  Meanwhile, the cell filled with other evil spirits.” (ibid.  p.42)

 St. Silouan prayed,

 ‘Lord, Thou seest that I desire to pray to Thee with a pure mind but the devils will not let me.  Instruct me, what must I do to stop them hindering me?

And in his soul he heard,

‘The proud always suffer from devils.’

‘Lord,’ said Silouan, ‘teach me what I must do that my soul may become humble.’

Once more he heard in his heart God’s answer,

‘Keep thy mind in hell and despair not.’ (Ibid).

 Concerning this brief exchange, St. Silouan’s biographer, Archimandrite Sophrony comments:

 What was the essence of God’s prescription to Father Silouan? 

It was not an abstract intellectual disclosure but an intimation which existentially revealed to his soul that the root of all sin, the seed of death is pride: that God is humility, and therefore the man who would ‘put on’ (cf. Rom.13:14; Gal. 3:27) God must learn to be humble. (ibid. 43)

 This prescription of our Lord to St. Silouan of a method for the acquisition of humility is not for everyone.  Archimandrite Sophrony writes that only few can follow such a path as it would lead many to despair; but to acquire humility is indispensable for all.  So let us consider various ways of acquiring humility.

 While once speaking of the path of St. Silouan leading many to despair Archimandrite Zachariah offered another way of acquiring humility.  He simply said, “To thank God for all the blessings He gives us and consider oneself unworthy”.

 St. Silouan writes: “There are many kinds of humility.  One man is obedient, and has nothing but blame for himself; and this is humility.  Another repents of his sins and considers himself loathsome in the sight of God—and that is humility”. (Ibid. p.310)                     

 When he was questioned about humility the contemporary Elder Elias of Optina advised: “Be well acquainted with your sins and weaknesses”.

 Again, so as not to be led to despair by such practices the Elder Ephraim of St. Anthony’s said, “One must realize that their sins are a thing of the past which God is leading them out of”.

 All the above could be said to be an ascetic or human humility for it is founded primarily on the ascetic’s efforts.  But there is another humility that St. Silouan and Archimandrite Sophrony have written of which is a divine humility. The latter actually wanted his spiritual children to write or speak about the subject of ascetic and divine humility. 

 Concerning this Archmandrite Sophrony instructs us:

 There are two kinds of humility: human and divine.  The first finds expression in the ascetic’s conviction, ‘I am worse than all other men,’ and lies at the root of our prayer-life in the Name of Christ.  Without this humility the second kind, that of Christ and proper to God, will remain forever out of reach.  Of this divine humility Staretz Silouan writes:

‘The Lord taught me to stay my mind in hell and not despair.  And thus my soul humbles herself; but this is not yet true humility, which there are no words to describe.  When the soul approaches the Lord she is afraid; but when she sees the Lord the beauty of His glory fills her with ineffable joy, and in the love of God and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit the earth is quite forgot.  This is the paradise of the Lord: all will live in love and there Christ-like humility will make every man happy to see others in greater glory.  The humility of Christ dwells in the lowly ones: they are glad to be the least of men.  The Lord gave me understanding of this.’ (His Life is Mine, Archimandrite Sophrony, p. 126)

 I would like to add a few more words of St. Silouan to this which follow immediately after the above quote of his on humility: “But there is still another humility in the man who has known the Lord in the Holy Spirit.  He who has known the Lord in the Holy Spirit has a different understanding and a different perception.”  (St. Silouan the Athonite, p. 310)

 In order to share one final word on this subject I would like to quote Archimandrite Zachariah.  When he was asked, “What is divine humility?”  He answered, “To have the imprint of Christ in one’s heart and to see how far away one is from it.”

  Finally we will speak about the revelation of the love of God which coincided with St. Silouan’s vision of Christ.  At a time while he was in a despairing state of soul he was granted a vision of our Lord as his biographer relates:

 The same day, during Vespers in the Church of the holy prophet Elijah (adjoining the mill), to the right of the Royal Doors, by the ikon of the Saviour, he beheld the living Christ.

In a manner passing all understanding the Lord appeared to the young novice whose whole being was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit—that fire which the Lord brought down to earth with his coming. (Ibid. p. 26)

 Later on in life St. Silouan thus writes of this experience:

 I brought nothing but sins with me to the Monastery, and I do not know why, when I was still a young novice, the Lord gave me the grace of the Holy Spirit in such abundance that in soul and body, I was filled with this grace, like unto the grace of the Martyrs, and my body longed to suffer for Christ. (ibid. p. 320)

 Without a similar experience it is impossible for us to understand what he is speaking of.  It is evident, however, that he had an extraordinary, supernatural experience of grace which taught him love for God to the degree that even with his body he longed to suffer for Christ—this again implies an extreme love.  Yet this experience did not only stop at love for God but also poured over into love for others as St. Silouan writes elsewhere: “The Lord bestowed the Holy Spirit on the Saints, and in the Holy Spirit they love us.  The souls of the Saints know the Lord and His goodness toward man, wherefore their spirits burn with love for the peoples”. (Ibid. p. 395-6)

 St. John the Theologian writes: “God is love”. (IJohn 4;16)  And so, St. Silouan (by virtue of participation in the Uncreated Divine Energy of God) experienced the love of God for the creation—especially man who was created in the image of God. 

 While yet a novice St. Silouan had this extraordinary experience of grace.  Yet there was still a long process for him to assimilate this so that it would be rooted within and integrated into his being.  In proportion to the degree that one repents and the passions are lulled one can assimilate the grace entrusted to them in a spiritual experience such as St. Silouan had.  Archimandrite Sophrony writes of this course of action as follows:

 The history of the Church together with personal contact with many ascetics has led me to the conclusion that the experience of grace in those who have been granted visitations and visions is only assimilated deeply after years of ascetic endeavour; grace then taking the form of spiritual knowledge that I should prefer to define as “dogmatic consciousness” (but not in the academic sense of the term).

The historical experience of the Church, in which I include the Apostles and the holy Fathers both ancient and modern, makes it possible to calculate this period of assimilation as lasting at least fifteen years.  Thus St. Paul’s first epistle (to the Thessalonians) was written some fifteen years after the Lord had appeared to him on the road to Damascus.  Often the period lasts twenty, twenty-five, even thirty or more years.  The Evangelists and other Apostles wrote their testimonies and epistles long after the Lord’s Ascension.  Most of the holy Fathers acquainted the world with their visions and experiences only when their ascetic course was nearing its close.  More than thirty years elapsed before the Staretz [Staretz is the Russian for Elder and refers to St. Silouan] set down in writing, with final and mature  dogmatic consciousness, his own experience.  The assimilation of grace is a lengthy process.

The dogmatic consciousness I have here in mind is the fruit of spiritual experience, independent of the logical brain’s activity.  The writings in which the Saints reported their experience were not cast in the form of scholastic dissertations.  They were revelations of the soul.  Discourse on God and life in God comes about simply, without cogitation, born spontaneously in the soul. (Ibid. pp.185-6)

 This is the experience and the process that St. Silouan underwent.  As a result of this—as Archimandrite Sophrony writes—he,

 Interpreted both the incarnation of God-the-Word and Christ’s whole earthly life as love towards the whole world, though the whole world is totally hostile towards God.  Similarly, he knew the Holy Spirit in the love which with its advent drives away all hatred, like light cancelling darkness; in the love which likens man to Christ in the inmost impulses of his soul.  And this, according to the Staretz’ teaching is true faith.  (ibid. p. 225)

 Through the Prayers of St. Silouan may our Lord Jesus Christ grant us to taste and assimilate this grace.  Amen.

A Hymn to the Theotokos:

Who is able to bless and praise thee as it meet, O Maiden wedded to God; since through thee the deliverance of the world has come to pass.  Therefore in giving thanks we cry out to thee saying: Rejoice, thou who art the deification of Adam and bonding together of the divided [natures].  Rejoice, the illumination of our generation through the Resurrection of thy Son and our God, therefore the race of Christians unceasingly bless thee. (The Theotokion of the Saturday Small Vespers in Tone 2)

This post is something of a sequel or appendix to the former post on: “The Last Hour”.  I want to share something I recently read which is quite relative to the subject at hand. So then I will quote introductory material written by Fr. Seraphim Rose in the book he translated by Archbiship Averky of Jordanville entitled: “The Apocalypse of St. John – An Orthodox Commentary”.

In an introductory section called, “About the Author,” Fr. Seraphim heavily quotes another book by Archbishop Averky, “True Orthodoxy and the Contemporary World” (I also chose to use this as the title of this post), and so, Father Seraphim writes:

In such an age, he [Archbishop Averky] writes, “to be a true Orthodox Christian, ready unto death to preserve one’s faithfulness to Christ the Saviour, in our days is much more difficult than in the first centuries of Christianity” (p. 17). Although often open (in the lands under communist control), the persecution against Christianity today is more often hidden. “Under the covering of a deceptive outward appearance that looks good and leads many into error, in actuality there is occurring everywhere today a hidden persecution against Christianity. . . .This persecution is much more dangerous and frightful than the previous open persecution, for it threatens a complete devastation of souls—spiritual death” (p. 18). He often quoted the words of Bishop Theophan the Recluse about the latter times: “Although the name of Christian will be heard everywhere, and everywhere there will be churches and church services, all this will be only an appearance, while within there will be a true apostasy” (p. 21).

In fulfillment of these words in our own days, Archbishop Averky writes, “The Christian world, it is frightful to say, presents today a frightful, cheerless picture of the most profound religious and moral decadence” (p. 22). The temptation of worldly comfort and prosperity drive God away from the soul. “The servants of antichrist more than anything else strive to force God out of the life of men, so that men, satisfied with their material comfort, might not feel any need to turn to God in prayer, might not remember God, but might live as though He did not exist. Therefore, the whole order of today’s life in the so-called ‘free’ countries, where there is no open bloody persecution against faith, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes, is an even greater danger for the soul of a Christian (than open persecution), for it chains him entirely to the earth, compelling him to forget about heaven. The whole of contemporary ‘culture,’ directed to purely earthly attainments and the frantic whirlpool of life bound up with it, keeps a man in a constant state of emptiness and distraction which give no opportunity for one to go at least a little deeper into his soul, and so the spiritual life in him gradually dies out” (p. 29).  All of contemporary life, on the public level, is a preparation for the coming of Antichrist: “All that is happening today on the highest levels of religion, government, and public life. . . is nothing else than an intense work of preparation by the servants of the coming Antichrist for his future kingdom” (p. 24), and this work is being done as much by “Christians” as by non-Christians (p. 18).

After painting such a grim picture of the present and future, Archbishop Averky calls on Orthodox Christians to struggle against the spirit of this world that lies in evil. “All who in the present day desire to preserve faithfulness to Christ the Saviour must guard themselves especially against every attraction towards earthly goods and against being deceived by them. It is extremely dangerous to give oneself over to every desire to make a career for oneself, to make a name for oneself, to obtain authority and influence in society, to acquire wealth, to surround oneself with luxury and comfort” (p. 28).

To those willing to struggle to preserve their faith, Archbishop Averky offers a sober and inspiring path of confession: “Now is the time of confession—of a firm standing, if need be even to death, for one’s Orthodox faith, which is being subjected everywhere to open and secret attacks, oppression, and persecution on the part of the servants of the coming Antichrist” (p. 28). We must be true Christians, not giving in to the spirit of the times, making the Church the center of our lives (p. 26)…

The path ahead of us, despite the deceptive promises of modern “progress,” is a path of suffering: “The Lord has clearly said that it is not ‘progress’ that awaits us, but ever greater tribulations and misfortunes as a result of the increase of lawlessness and the growing cold of love; when He comes, He will scarcely find faith on earth (Luke 18:8).”

The strength of the true Christian in the terrible times ahead is the apocalyptic expectation of the Second Coming of Christ: “The spirit of a constant expectation of the Second Coming of Christ is the original Christian spirit, which cries out in prayer to the Lord: Even so, come, Lord Jesus (Apoc. 22:20). And the spirit opposed to this is undoubtedly the spirit of Antichrist, which strives by every means to draw Christians away from the thought of the Second Coming of Christ and the recompense which follows on it. Those who give in to this spirit subject themselves to the danger of not recognizing Antichrist when he comes and of falling into his nets. Precisely this is the most frightful thing in the contemporary world, which is filled with every possible deception and temptation. The servants of Antichrist, as the Lord Himself has forewarned us, will try, ‘if possible, to deceive the very elect’ (Matt. 24:24). The thought of this, however, should not oppress or crush us, but on the contrary, as the Lord Himself says, Then took up, and lift up your head’s, for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28).” [The Apocalypse of St. John, pp.15-7]

In continuing I would like to add a few words of advice of my own as to how one might cope with the days to come; so now, I will quote the introduction of another book, a biography with spiritual instruction of St. Seraphim of Sarov, with the title, “In the Footsteps of a Saint”.  But first I must give a warning.  Those who are complacent in their Christian lives will read such things as this post and not realize anything is wrong.  I believe it is because many of us who call ourselves Christians measure ourselves by our peers in this world rather than the saints who have attained holiness.  So remember, we must all examine ourselves by looking to our Lord and His saints; by what is taught in the Gospel as seen in the lives of our Holy Fathers and expounded in their writings.  So now, we can move on to the excerpt from the above mentioned book on St. Seraphim:

The lives of the saints and their teachings are a guide and rule for us by which we can order our own lives.  As we observe the path to holiness trod by different saints, we can use the same ascetic practices or tools which they made use of on their particular path.  We can employ those we are moved to follow according to the measure of our ability.  We can implement the same tools the saints employed in order to reach the aim of our Christian life — which is, as St. Seraphim tells us, the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit.  In addition, we can say that in the end it is divine virtues or the fruits of the Spirit that we hope for.  The Apostle Paul writes of these in his epistle to the Galatians, in a passage which is read in the Church services for most of the monastic saints: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (5:22-23).

So now, for us, in our day and age, what can we learn from the way of St. Seraphim, from his path to holiness?  Today’s world, more than ever, is full of noise, entertainment, and seemingly endless distractions which, although they may not bring any acute, immediate harm, deaden the soul little by little.  Therefore they are often unnoticed, imperceptibly rendering the soul cold towards God, and this state comes to be accepted as the norm.  We need to be concentrated within, but these things disperse us outside ourselves; yet most people in this state are ignorant of the fact that they have been thrown off track.  Because of this, such distracting temptations are more dangerous than those which are more obviously sinful.

In his long years of solitude and silence St. Seraphim was enkindled with the grace of the Holy Spirit.  Then the Mother of God Herself called him out of this solitude, so that the light of Christ in him might shine upon others.  And indeed, he radiated a divine peace into the souls of others like beams of light, bringing warmth and comfort.  It is St. Seraphim’s inner peace and stillness that would seem to be most needful for us today.  As we have already mentioned, we live in a world that is generally high-paced, and permeated with constant noise. The distractions with which Christians are bombarded in a normal day from the surrounding society – especially the media – are numerous, and most of them are outright evil.  All these destroy one’s ability to keep watch over oneself and to keep God in mind.  To help us in our struggles in such an environment our Venerable Father Seraphim bequeaths to us these prime ascetic tools: separation from the world, prayer, silence, heedfulness to oneself, stillness, and in short, interior work.  These exercises are what the saint himself practiced diligently and exemplified par excellence in his path to holiness, and his instructions bear witness to his manner of life.  We too, in order to step back from the flood of the temptations of today’s world, in our measure and according to our life’s circumstances need to implement these tools.  [pp. 4-5]

So let us abandon this world and “commit ourselves and one another and all our lives unto Christ our God”.  Amen.

For more more writings of Archbishop Averky online: http://archbishopaverky.blogspot.com/

A Hymn to the Theotokos

Under thy mercy we take refuge, O Theotokos Virgin.  Disdain not our prayers in afflictions but from perils deliver us, O only pure and blessed One.—a penitential hymn to the Theotokos often sung in Russian monasteries at the end of the daily cycle of services.

The Last Hour

The Holy Apostle John the Theologian wrote: “Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour” (IJohn 2:18).  It was approximately in the early 1970’s that an avid interest and foreboding concerning the second coming of Christ began to appear and spread both among the Orthodox and other Christians.  This expectation has been amplified in the past few decades.  With our modern technology and weaponry that which is written in Revelation is very much possible.  However, this expectation is not something totally new but a recurrence of that which has been present in the past.  The early Church itself had an eminent expectation of the coming of Christ.  It seems to have been a sober and joyful eager awaiting yet today this hope appears to be more on the line of producing anxiety rather than the aforementioned.  So now, let us consider two things: the signs of the times and how one should be prepared for the second coming of Christ which will be preceded by the appearance of the antichrist who will deceive many leading them to perdition and persecute the faithful.

       1.  Signs of times

1. A.     A widesread deadening and distorting of faith

An Elder Anthony will be referred to both here and later is the same person and these references will be from a book “Spiritual Conversations and Edifications of Elder Anthony” published in the Ukraine by Father Alexander Krasnov.  English excerpts of two visions the Elder received in the early 1970’s have been prepared by Tatiana Shvetsova, these are the source of our excerpts and a complete text can found by a web search (the same is true for any of the elders quoted in this post).  Elder Anthony in considering the evils which were to come upon mankind draws an analogy and relates the following concerning his childhood:

it’s interesting that the simple people, at a time of seeming prosperity and contentment in the empire, already saw the approaching catastrophe. And this was not so much as a result of their associating with the Elders of Optina or Kiev, or from the sermons of the righteous John of Kronstadt, as it was a result of their ability to observe what was happening and draw conclusions, based not on an abundance of material available, but on the preservation of spirituality by society. It was namely the lack of faith, not simply faith in the existence of God, but faith as the fulfillment of Christ’s commandments, which led these people to think that the coming disaster was inevitable.

Along the same lines a hundred years earlier yet in more detail Saint Amvrossy (+1891), the elder of Optina, wrote:
 

My child, know that in the last days hard times will come; and as the Apostle says, behold, due to poverty in piety heresies and schisms will appear in the churches; and as the Holy Fathers foretold, then on the thrones of hierarchs and in monasteries there will be no men to be found that are tested and experienced in the spiritual life. Wherefore, heresies will spread everywhere and deceive many. The enemy of mankind will act skillfully, and whenever possible he will lead the chosen ones to heresy. He will not begin by discarding the dogmas on the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, or the Theotokos, but will unnoticeably start to distort the Teachings of the Holy Fathers, in other words the teachings of the Church herself. The cunning of the enemy and his “tipics” (ways) will be noticed by very few — only those that are most experienced in spiritual life. Heretics will take over the Church, everywhere, and they will appoint their servants, and spirituality will be neglected. But the Lord will not leave His servants without protection. Truly, their real duty is persecution of true pastors and their imprisonment; for without that, the spiritual flock may not become captured by the heretics. Therefore, my son, when you see in the Churches mocking of the Divine act, of the teachings of the Holy Fathers, and of God’s established order, know that the heretics are already present. Be also aware that, for some time, they might hide their evil intentions, or they might covertly deform the divine faith, so that they better succeed by deceiving and tricking the inexperienced. heresy cannot stand the Divine order. Like wolves in sheep skin, they will be recognized by their vainglorious nature, love for lust, and lust for power. All those will be betrayers, causing hatred and malice everywhere; and therefore the Lord said that one will easily recognize them by their fruits. The true servants of God are meek, brother-loving and obedient to the Church (order, traditions).

In addition St Nilus the Myrhhstreamer of Athos in his 16^th century prophecies  also spoke of priests and bishops becoming vain men in the latter days And he adds The antichrist will so complete science with vanity that it will cause people to lose faith in the one true God. 

Again the Elder Lavrentius of Chernigov-Trinity convent who reposed in 1950 spoke of the time when the churches would be returned and be more beautiful than before.  He goes on to say and then they will not be ours and he instructs his spiritual children not to enter those churches.

1. B.     A debauched life as the norm

The Elder Anthony again writes of a freedom which,

 is the freedom of moral corruption. Unfortunately, people have already accepted it and it has become an inseparable part of contemporary life. Fornication—is not fornication, but sexual freedom (see how the enemy hides his action behind pretty, at first glance, words: it’s not fornication, but sex, not robbery, but expropriation…). Debauchery begins in the earliest years in the form of teaching the culture of the sexes and their mutual relations. They will show the children naked bodies, and this is already being done in some places, and sexual union, thereby inflaming lust, pretending that this is all normal. Books and television will be filled with naked people, horrible scenes of fornication. Contemporary clothing is even very revealing—but this is only the beginning. The aim is the extremely loathsome feasts of Astarte and Baal, where hundreds and hundreds of pagans would fornicate, stupefied by alcohol and drugs. There, to the worship of demons, is where the champions of freedom are leading mankind. Whoever is overcome by someone, is a slave to him. And people are being attracted to this slavery, wrapped up in freedom.

But for the servants of darkness, natural fornication is not even enough. As a demonstration of true love of freedom and emancipation of thought, they will yield to the sin of Sodom and bestiality. Propaganda for this abomination will be unusually strong, almost as much as for ‘normal’ debauchery. Instances of single sex marriages will be given as much publicity as the discovery of antibiotics was in its day! Sodomites will appear everywhere—artists, mostly, and politicians, and economists. The sin of Sodom will become the sign of the nearest future. Already in America their wild orgies are organized in the form of annual carnivals, and we will have all this as well, in a no less disgusting display. And whoever will oppose this forced demonic display will appear as one violating another’s freedom, an ignorant buffoon, an enemy of the state, since all the governments will have as their main concern, not the protection of morality, but the protection of demonic freedoms.

In the prophecies of St Seraphim of Vyritsa (+1949) we see that the Elder said that a time will come (it is already coming!) when the debauchery and moral decline of the young will reach their ultimate point. Virtually no-one will remain uncorrupted. Seeing their impunity, the young will consider that everything is permitted them for the satisfaction of their whims and lusts. They will begin to gather in groups and gangs, stealing and debauching themselves. 

Yet the Elder also speaks of repentance which usually happens simultaneously among some of the populace when evil increases:

But a time will come when the voice of God will be heard, when the young will understand that it is not possible to go on living in that way.  They will come to the faith in various ways, drawn ever more strongly to the ascetic life. Those who before were sinners and drunkards will fill the churches and greatly thirst for spiritual life. Many of them will become monks. Monasteries will open, churches will be filled with the faithful. Then young people will go on pilgrimages. It will be a glorious time! The repentance of those that sin now will be all the more ardent…

1. C.     Conclusion

The evil that is growing strong will inevitably lead to disaster.  A general trend of prophecy in our Church has been related by the late Elder Joseph the Younger of Vatopedi  Monastery who reposed about a year and a half ago.  In a video he spoke of a financial collapse followed by a world war that would be followed by a period of thirty of forty years before the appearance of the antichrist and the end.    

But who is to blame for the evils coming upon the world?  Some people want to blame God for the evils that come upon this world but man, who has forsaken God’s commandments and order of creation is to blame.  Thus did the Elder Anthony instruct:

The Lord created this world, and as the Creator, He created it in harmony with Himself. Remember His words about the new creation: ‘It is good’ God said this. The All-sufficient and All- good, the All-mighty and All-perfect, the All-merciful Provider found the creation to be good, i.e., He found the world to be in harmony with Good, with Love for God is love. Man, the one creature able to influence the existence of the world, the crown of creation, was likewise created in the image and likeness of Good and Love. And the laws given to him by the Creator, are nothing else than instructions for living a peaceful and happy life in the world, in harmony with it. Everything else which opposes these commandments is destructive for the world and for everything existing in it, depending on it. 

So I repeat.  Some people want to blame God for the evils that come upon this world but man, who has forsaken God’s commandments and order of creation is to blame.

     2     How do we prepare?

     A     Patience

St. Seraphim of Vyritsa and the Elder Anthony tell us that in our times salvation comes through bearing sorrows and illness and they speak of enduring persecution.

     B.     Prayer

In 2010 in an interview entitled: “ The truth about the times—Spirituality of the end of times”, the Romanian Archimandrite Justin Parvu says the following about prayer:

It is very important to know how to pray. Many times even we, the monks in the monasteries, pray, but we only think we pray. It is not enough to attend the church services and just be there like that would be enough. We have to work the prayer from the inside out. No matter how many prayers we say with our mouth, it is nothing if the prayer is not coming from the heart and if we don’t apply the teachings of Orthodoxy in our everyday life. Now more than ever, lay people have to pray from the heart, because this will be our only salvation. In the heart is the root of all passions and that is where we need to direct our struggles. If in the later years Christianity became look warm and superficial, we have to end all that now, this is not going to be enough anymore. If we will not pray from the heart, we will not be able to sustain the psychological attacks, because the evil one has hidden brainwashing methods that are unknown to us. The greatest sin today is carelessness. We pray carelessly, we repent carelessly, even if we do it. Times will come when only the ones that have the Spirit of God will be able to know good from evil. Human mind itself on its own will not be able to tell the difference. There will  be great deceptions and only the Holy Spirit will give us the discernment we need so we could save ourselves. Pray that you will not be deceived ! Only through prayer we can receive the Holy Spirit. If we don’t pray and just perseveremay in our lazziness and unrepentful ways, we will completely lose the Holy Spirit and His guidance.  May it not be that we lose the guidance of the Holy Spirit !

     C.     Humility and Love

The Elder Gabriel of Georgia (+1995) instructs us:  

We are witnessing the End Days. You will see the Antichrist. The Lord our God will demand love for God and the neighbor; whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

A humbled man is protected from temptations. No one can enter the Kingdom of God without humility.
During the Antichrist times, the strongest temptation will be anticipation of salvation from the cosmos, from humanoids, extraterrestrials that are actually the demons. One should rarely look up at the sky, as the signs might be deceptive and thus one may be ruined.

True faith finds its place in the man’s heart, not in his mind. Antichrist will be disclosed by the believers having their faith in their hearts; those with their faith in their mind follow him.

In the End Days a man will be saved by love, humility and kindness. Kindness will open the gates of Heaven; humbleness will lead into the Heaven; a man, whose heart is filled with love, will see the God.
This is my last will and testament: raise your prayers for everyone; your prayers will move the mountains. Love each other.

The Elder Anthony similarly commented about perfect love:

Do you think that is was so simple for the wonderworker of Sarov, who had been translated to the mansions of Paradise, to be ready himself to go to hell just so that others might be saved?! No, that is the highest level of love, the uniting of perfections, or if you will, the vision of God and the knowledge of God. God gave His own Son as a Sacrifice for our sins, for the sins of all mankind. The Apostle Paul offered himself as a sacrifice for the Jewish people; St. Seraphim offered himself for the Christians from among the nations. They and thousands of others who traveled the path of acquiring perfection, the path of imitating God, were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the lost sheep. They did not just read, but they understood that ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son.’ (John 3:16)”

May our Lord Jesus Christ give us the grace of love for enemies, so that we may say with the Apostle: “As He is so are we in this world”  (IJohn 4:17).  Amen! 

A hymn to the Theotokos

O great mystery!  On beholding His wonders, I proclaim His Divinity and do not deny His humanity.  For since He loveth mankind, Emmanuel hath opened the gates of nature, and as God He brake not the bars of virginity.  But thus He came forth from the womb, even as He entered through the hearing; He was incarnate even as He was conceived; impassibly did He enter, ineffably did He come forth, according to the Prophet, who said: This gate shall be shut and no one will pass through it, save the Lord God of Israel alone, Who hath great mercy.  (The Dogmatic of Small Vespers Tone 2—translation taken from Pentecostarion, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, Massachusetts, p. 105)

Instructions of the Eldress Makrina (1995+) of the Panagia Ogiditria Convent, Portaria, Greece 

Biographical note:

In this post I want to share some instructions of the evermemorable Elderss Makrina which are unpublished have been circulated in hard copy form.  I will first recount something of the little information that I have be blessed to know of her life.  Mother Makrina was born in the region of Smyrna of Asia Minor, her father was named Photios and his wife Anastasia; their surname was Vasopoulo.  The father was noted as a very charitable man even from his youth.  They brought two gifted children into the world to whom they gave a Christian upbringing.  Maria who would later become Gerontissa Makrina the Eldress of the Holy Monastery of the Panagia the Directress (Ogiditria means Directress) was the eldest of the two, she was born in the year 1921 and while she was still a young infant her parents came to Volos, Greece.

Around the age of 10 Maria lost both her virtuous parents, her father first, and a year after her mother.  She lived through the hardships of the German occupation of WWII.  Sometime afterwards she lived together with several other young women with whom she was befriended.  They shared both like aspirations to the ascetic life and also the same spiritual father.  His name was Ephraim and he was under the direction of Joseph the Hesychast.  So, in time, they naturally came under his direction and later that of Elder Ephraim, the current Elder of St. Anthony’s Monastery in Arizona. 

They lived a strict ascetic life and frequented the Church often attending vigils.  When the proper time came and an opportunity arose land and a building was acquired.  This was in Portaria which is located outside of the sea port Volos and a little ways up a mountain.  This is where the convent is now located.  She became abbess but left the administration to other capable sisters while concentrating her efforts on the spiritual guidance of the sisterhood. She was a gifted and renowned spiritual mother to who even many men came for spiritual guidance. She was extremely humble.  Once the Elder Ephraim was asked how she attained such a depth of humility and he answered: She was in obedience to my Elder and considered herself to be the least of the sisters.  It was in June of 1995 that she reposed. 

The following are the notes of a conversation which Gerontissa (Gerontissa is the Greek for Eldress) Makrina had with a young woman about to enter a monastery. Gerontissa specifically told this young woman to write these words down.  Thus she recollected:

Only if you see yourself as ZERO, being full of passions, can you see God.  If you cannot see that you are nothing then you cannot see God.  God lives only in the humble person.

You must run after the Prayer (the “Prayer” is the Jesus Prayer).  To have the Prayer you must continually pray inside.  Run after the Prayer, do not be talking rather only be praying. 

Before you begin your canona (that is, rule of Prayer) make the sign of the Cross and ask Christ to help you to only glorify Him today and not to grieve Him all the day until evening.

God wants us to be humble and meek because there’s a devil who never sleeps waiting to swallow us.

Stay humble with the sweet name of Jesus, Jesus’ name will soften your heart.  All the day long you will want to say only Jesus’ name.  If your mouth is filled with Jesus’ name you will not be able to hurt anyone with your words.  All things that you do will be soft.  If you touch another sister it will be as soft as a sponge.  The name of Jesus will soften you to the point of tears in all things.

Do not pay attention to the many thoughts in your head;  ignore them and the devil will leave you alone.  Do not think.  Gerontissa Makrina does not think she only prays, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”.

Do not allow the demon of jealousy to enter your heart.  This jealousy is a most bitter medicine, it is like poison.  First jealousy starts in your heart and the next step is hatred.  REMEMBER, Gerontissa loves each daughter equally.  Do not say, “Oh, Gerontissa did this for her and not me.”  Or, “Gerontissa loves me more than her.”  Gerontissa like Jesus does not play favorites but loves each equally.

Ignore all things that the sisters do.  Don’t look at what any sister is doing, look only to your own deeds and faults.  Concern yourself with the Jesus Prayer.  If a sister wrongs you say to yourself, “God allows these things to happen, may it be blessed”.  Say to yourself you came to the monastery for God not for other sisters or to be better that the other sisters or to judge the other sisters.  You came to the monastery only for God so do not concern yourself with the other sisters.  Only concern yourself with “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

Give all your strength to God.  Give everything you have to God.  Give whatever you have to God.  RUN to all the services.  Never miss a service.  Always be early and eager to worship in services and pray.  Give all your strength to God.

When you are jealous the next step is hate, this happens to many people.  You must know that the thought that Gerontissa loves another sister more or helps another sister more are all tricks of the devil to cause jealousy.  PAY NO ATTENTION to the devil’s TRICKS.  Ignore them all, do not pay attention and live life like an angel.

If you are never angry, always forgiving instantly and constantly blaming yourself knowing that you CAN NEVER BE RIGHT you will have heaven on earth and in your heart.  And Christ will help you to do all these things.  You must be like Christ.  You MUST NEVER LOVE one sister more than another sister, love each sister EQUALLY.  If they hurt you or wrong you love them even more.

Read over and over again the services from Holy Thursday and Holy Friday.  Remember how Jesus suffered.  You must be like Jesus.  Pick up the heavy load of your cross and follow Him and then He Himself will help you to carry your cross.  Say, “Christ will help me pick up my cross and the devil will not touch me if I willingly pick up my cross”.  Also, “I BEAR THE SHORTCOMINGS OF MY SISTERS with a glad heart because I have MORE shortcomings than any other sister or person”.

Continually forgive sisters.  Forgive AT ONCE not one second later not one half second later because if you hesitate to forgive jealousy comes in the door then hatred and envy.  Forgive instantly as Christ forgives instantly.

Never be angry, never allow anger to enter your heart.  All anger is from the devil.  Do not allow the devil into your heart.  Only allow Jesus in your heart by forgiving instantly and ALWAYS BLAMING YOURSELF.  I am NEVER RIGHT. I AM ALWAYS WRONG.

If a sister hurts you pray even MORE for her and love her even more.  Be grateful to her for doing this wonderful favor for you.  Love her as though she has given you a gift.

You must not pay attention to anything in the monastery.  Do not pay attention to the devil and he will leave you alone.

The life for God will be beautiful.  You will feel like you want to go to a higher mountain.  You will wish for everyone to be monastics.  You will feel like it is better for everyone to be in the monastery.

When saying the Jesus Prayer keep your mind empty; with the Jesus Prayer your mind will be clean and full of light.  You will see your every fault.  With the Jesus Prayer you will always say it is my fault NOT someone else’s fault.”

If your Gerontissa cuts off your will and hurts you ALWAYS say, “MAY IT BE BLESSED”.  Gerontissa is helping you, giving you a great gift to cut your will.

DON’T BE LAZY.  Hurry to all prayers and services.  Give all your strength to God.  DO NOT BE LAZY for God.  You must run after Christ with prayer.  The effort is your fight.  All the effort is yours.  The unceasing prayer takes HARD WORK AND LABOR.

Our first gift from God is our hearts.  He gives it to us free.  It is a piece of earth with stones.  You must dig each day and plow each day taking away the stones to make the earth of your heart ready to yield a crop 1000-fold.  It takes hard work every day to work the earth of your heart to give a crop of sweet grapes.  Geronta (Geronta is the Greek for Elder) and Gerontissa are the machines to break up the big boulders in your heart but to remove stones can only be done by you.  It takes a lot of hard work and labor to produce sweet grapes in the end from the rocky soil of your heart.

Read these words over and over again each day.  Remember them.  Also pray to the Panagia and St. Irene Chrysevalantou.

Also always RUN to help a sick sister.  Always volunteer  to help, do their work.  Always care for the sick sister.  This is very important to love them and care for them.

Have much, much, much patience.  Have endless patience.  Over and over again have this great patience; have patience, patience, patience.  Endure, endure, endure. Endure EVERYTHING. Endure everything with much, much patience.  Whatever happens to you endure with much patience, with a heart full of peace and a closed mouth.  Endure with patience and peace will rest in your heart.

Never, never, never blame a sister for ANYTHING.  Have much patience and endure.  Never blame a sister, only blame yourself.

If you see something wrong then look the other way.  Don’t think about it for a second, turn your head and look the other way.

Keep your mouth as a Church.  Keep your mouth pure with only prayer in your mouth and on your tongue.  Inside a church you find only glorification of God.  It should be the same with your mouth, keep your mouth like a pure and clean virgin as a church to only be used for the glory of God and to glorify God.  Keep your mouth like this with the Jesus Prayer.

Keep your mouth clean like a church by saying the Prayer.  NEVER, NEVER, EVER talk about another sister or use your mouth to say sister so and so did this or that.  Always, always, always say the prayer.  Keep your mouth as a church and never talk about another sister.

Keep the mind on the Prayer and Christ.  Always, always, always have Christ before your eyes.  Never let your eyes leave Christ keep Him always before your eyes.  Concentrate on Christ.  Think only of your bridegroom.

Remember all the sisters have passions, I have passions, you have passions, we all have passions.  Ignore all that the sisters do and pray for each other AND LOVE EACH OTHER!!!

When you ask Gerontissa or Geronta something say, “May it be blessed”, no matter what the answer is.  THE FIRST TIME GERONTISSA SAYS IT!!  Always do the will of Gerontissa.  Jesus had perfect obedience to the Father unto death, so shall it be for you: PERFECT OBEDIENCE TO GERONTISSA UNTO DEATH.

You must ask in prayer, “Give me faith.  Give me the love of Jesus.  Give me humility”.  These things are all gifts, only God can grant them.  Pray.  Pray.  Pray.

A nun who always says, “Yes, may it be blessed”, has nothing to fear even death because it is a straight path to heaven.

Pray to be given patience.  Have much patience.  The devil will come but if you have patience and endure you can jump over him.  With patience comes humility.  God will come and rest in the soul of the humble person.  He makes His home there.  The more people are humble the more God can be found in them; the more prayer can be found in them.  Only humble people can have the prayer inside of them.  Pray for patience and humility.  Supplicate God: “Please help me, make me humble, make me patience”.  Patience is the foundation of the monastic life.  First patience, then one waits for humility and then all other virtues.

The Prayer will come and go.  Sometimes God hides Himself behind a mountain.  Continue with the Prayer and God will show Himself.

We must be joyful in the monastery.  We must see that the monastery is paradise and wish for everyone to be in the monastery.

If we do not see the beauty of God in this life then we will never see it in the next life. We must see the glory of God in the smallest flower.

Keep silence.  You should be able to count your spoken words.  The only other thing said is the Jesus Prayer.  Walk with folded hands.  Continue the Prayer.  Even if you don’t see the evil one he may be hurting another sister-your prayer can help her.  If you see a sister attacked by a temptation say, “I’m only going to eat one piece of bread instead of two or only drink one half glass of water so that God can help this sister.”

A hymn to the Theotokos:

Behold the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: For thou, O Virgin, hast given birth and after as previous to giving birth Thou hast remained a Virgin. `For God Himself was born therefore nature is fashioned anew.  Therefore, O Mother of God, do not despise the supplications of thy servants offered to thee in thy temple.  But as thou hast embraced with thy hands the Tenderhearted One, be kindhearted towards thy servants, and pray that our souls may be saved.    

The Life of St. Arsenius

Our venerable and God-bearing father Arsenius was born in the ancient and glorious city ofNovgorodof faithful and reverent parents.  He was taught to read and write in his youth and from his early years he was God-fearing and sought purity.  He thus shunned the games and gaiety common to children; he rather preferred to frequent the holy Church, and so, the seed of God-inspired hymnology and Holy Scriptures was planted within the innocent youth.

As an occupation in the world he learned the art of forging metals by apprenticing with a blacksmith.  As he was merciful he gave much in alms to the poor.  He was very devout and strong in prayer, and was kindled with love for the divine life of the Church. And so, at the age of 20, he left parents, home and belongings; for he considered everything of this world as refuse and he entered the Lisogorsky Monastery in the area ofNovgorod.  There received the holy angelic habit. 

Father Arsenius thirsted for yet greater labors and to become more perfect in virtue and thus it was that a desire to go to theHolyMountainwas born within him.  And so it was that when several monks from Athos visited theNovgorodarea he received a blessing to return with them.  This was in the year 1390 about 17 years after entering the monastic life. 

On his arrival at theHolyMountainhe was graciously received by an Igumen named John.  Although his recorded life does not state which monastery this was, it is believed that he entered the Serbian Monastery of Hilandar.  Here he humbly and earnestly worked at whatever tasks which were required of him as he considered himself to be the least and worst of all the brotherhood.

His occupation in the world, as we have learned, was that of a blacksmith.  This was something at which he was quite skilled and it became a tool of divine providence.  When his trade was discovered both in his monastery and others of theHolyMountainhe forged whatever metal work they were in need of  Thus he spent time and labored in many of the monasteries of Athos.  We could rightly conclude that he not only offered his services but also had the opportunity to meet and converse with many of the revered fathers of Athos.  What did he learn from them?  In the monastery of his Russian homeland his soul thirsted for something more in the ascetic life.  The purpose of his move to Athos was in pursuit of a further ascent in his spiritual life. He must have been introduced to and immersed himself into the hesychast tradition.  This is a very logical conclusion as his stay on Athos was a generation after such great hesychast fathers as St. Gregory of Sinai, St. Gregory Palamas and St. Maximos Kapsokalivites.  Their teaching would have been flourishing on theHolyMountainat that time and the employment of such is what brought many saints to perfection.  The immersion in this tradition would have brought the blessed one what he sought, and so, we must conclude that this is exactly what he found on Athos and afterwards brought back to Russia. 

After three years on theHolyMountainthe thought came to him to return to his homeland and raise up a monastery in honor of the Most-Holy Theotokos in honor of her glorious Nativity.  When he came to the Igumen John and told him of his desire he was not deprived of it, but rather was given a blessing.  The Igumen  was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and looked upon him with his eyes of foresight and said, “By thy hands God will raise up a cloister in the northern land where many people shall be saved; and that land shall become free for many years.”(1)  He gave the blessed Arsenius an icon of the Mother of God and charged him to keep the rule of theHolyMountain.  Thereupon he prayed for his spiritual child: “O Lord our God, look upon thy servant Arsenius.  May Thy grace be upon him, so that wherever he settles there may be in that place the blessing of theHolyMountain.”(2)  Father Arsenius than made a circuit of the monasteries and sketes of theHolyMountaintelling the fathers of his desire and receiving their blessing.

And so, having returned to his homeland in the year 1393, Father Arsenius visited the Lisogorsky Monastery and having received a blessing from the igumen he set off traveling north by boat.  In sailing he came to shore onKonoIslandwhich, like Valaamo is onLakeLadoga.  Although this place did not attract him he was unable to depart because of strong winds which drove him back toKonoIsland.   In being drawn back to the island the sound of a mighty bell was heard.  Father Arsenius said to a disciple who was with him: “My child,  this sign was given to us in order that we should not think of departing hence but to assure us that it is according to the will of the Lord and the Most-Holy Theotokos that a monastery must be built on this island.  The Most-Pure One in a single moment, as if upon wings, brought us here.”(3) 

On coming toKonoIslandthe blessed Arsenius originally settled at a high location where he labored in a skete life for about five years.  In the year 1398 he received a blessing from Archbishop John ofNovgorodto establish a cenobitic monastery which was built close to the coast.  Thus having spent over two decades in the monastery, the blessed one erected a church, dining hall and cells for the brethren.  It happened that because of a violent storm and a flood in 1421 the saint decided to move the monastery to a higher location.  While a new location was in consideration the blessed one began to pray to God and the Most-Holy Theotokos to give him understanding.  One night, while taking a little rest as he prayed it seemed to him as though he saw himself walk to the place where the monastery now stands and outline its borders.  When St. Arsenius related everything to the brethren they attested to the fact they at times they either saw a bright light, heard bells, or smelled a strong sweet fragrance at that place.  And so, on this site, they built the new monastery and erected a church in honor of the Nativity of the Most-Holy Theotokos.

In his many years as a monk, the saint labored without ever altering his monastic rule.   As the month of June arrived in the year 1447 the saint having become weak understood that his end was near.  So he called the Igumen John who had taken his place as abbot along with the brethren and in such manner instructed them:

                 Continue firm in Orthodoxy, keep unity of mind, have purity of body

              and soul and unhypocritical love for your neighbor. Flee from evil and

              defiling thoughts and keep the rule of the Holy Mountain.  He ordered

              that at the meals the brethren should have everything equal and that

              drunkenness should not even be thought to occur in the monastery.

              Strangers and any who come to the monastery should be cordially re-

              ceived, refreshed, and given what they may need in going on their way.(4)

He affirmed:

                Such sacrifices the Lord receives and for such He blesses.  And if it be

             that you have such a life then the Lord will not forsake this place.  I am

             going to the Lord. I depart in the body, but in spirit I shall ever be with

             him who calls upon me.  After my departure this cloister shall not be in

             want as long as you execute my instructions and as long as you do so the

             blessing of God and the Most-Pure Mother of God will be with you.  Now

             I commit you to God Who is able to do all and the most pure Mother of

            God, may they be  a refuge  and shield  for you  from the  snares and

            reproaches of the enemies.(5)

Supported by the brethren he then partook of Holy Communion and departed to the Lord.  From his body there flowed a strong ineffable fragrance.  The brethren, with tears and lamentation gathered together and meetly honored him with hymns for the departed.  His face was bright as if he were still living, reflecting the purity of his soul.  They laid him to rest in the church of the Nativity of the most pure Theotokos.  Thus did the holy one live and thus did he depart to eternal life to the glory of God.  Amen.

Endnotes:

1. The Life of Venerable Arsenius of Konevits the Wonderworker, Ed. and Comp. in contemporary Russian language by N. N. Elenoi, S.-Petersburg, Izd-vo “Belveder”, 2002,  p. 46
2. Ibid. p. 47
3. Ibid. p. 48
4. Ibid. p. 56
5. Ibid. p. 56-7

A Hymn to the Theotokos

Thy wonders, O pure Theotokos, surpass the power of words. For in thee I see something beyond speech: a body that was never subject to the taint of sin. Therefore in thanksgiving I cry to thee: O pure Virgin, thou art truly high above all.—from the 9th Ode of the canon for the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos, translation is from The Festal Menaion, St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press

Book Review:

Introducing the Orthodox Church  

Its Faith and Life

Anthony M. Coniaris

This review is the result of my involvement with a number of inquirers to our Orthodox Church. The aforementioned book has been recommended for their reading and as Rev. Stanley S. Harakas notes in his introduction: “It is written to inspire as well as inform, a special charisma of the author”. Nevertheless I feel a responsibility to do some critiquing. In this review I want to speak about what is expressed in the Chapter: “What we believe about the Saints and the Theotokos”. In particular it is what is written concerning Theotokos that will be commented on.

While speaking of the Annunciation the author finds it necessary to differentiate between the Orthodox Church and belief of Roman Catholicism as follows:

The immaculate Conception of Mary is not recognized as a dogma (official teaching) by the Orthodox Church. According to this Roman Catholic dogma, Mary was cleansed of original sin by God while still in her mother’s womb in order that the All-Pure Son of God might be born through her. Since such a teaching denies the free response of man to God, the Orthodox Church believes that Mary was cleansed of all sin at the Annunciation after she had agreed to accept God’s offer. It was at that point that the Holy Spirit came upon her to make her fit to receive the Word in her womb. At that moment she became “blessed” and “full of grace”. (p. 132)

There are several flaws in the above that I would like to address, they are:

1. The concept of so-called, “original sin”, what is the Orthodox response?

2. The comment: “The Orthodox Church believes that Mary was cleansed of all sin at the Annunciation after she had agreed to accept God’s offer”.  Is this really what the Orthodox Church believes?

3. Again the comment, “At that moment”—that is, after the Theotokos submitted to the will of God—“she became ‘blessed’ and ‘full of grace’”.

“Original sin”—what is our Orthodox response to this?

“Original sin” is Roman Catholic terminology which the Orthodox in the English speaking world have sometimes borrowed.  It is best to stay away from this term but if it is used one should define it in an Orthodox manner; otherwise it could be misleading.  In using the term “original sin” the author did not inform his readers that the Orthodox and Roman Catholic concepts of “original sin” are quite different so let us do this.  In order to illustrate our proper response to the idea of “original sin” I would like to quote a book on the Theotokos, “O Full of Grace, Glory to Thee”.

The sin of our forefathers or first-parents – as “ancestral” is literally translated from the Greek – of course, had an effect upon all mankind. The Blessed Augustine, who set the pace for Roman Catholic doctrine on this subject, clung to the erroneous opinion that Adam’s personal guilt is inherited by all his descendants and therefore, so also is the responsibility and punishment for his sin. It was in reaction to an error on the other extreme, which came to be called Pelagianism, that he expressed this opinion in his preaching and writing. Pelagius was a British theologian who taught in Rome in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. Pelagianism reduced the effects of the fall by saying that the sin of Adam had no effect on his descendants, and the more extreme Pelagians denied any transmission of ancestral sin.

In both of these errors there is a confusion of person and nature in the human being. If while examining ancestral sin, we build the foundation of our theology on human nature alone, we shall have the Augustinian conclusion. This makes the human nature, which is common to all mankind, the bearer of Adam’s guilt and a co-participant in the responsibility for his sin. The Pelagians rightly teach that only the person effects sin and that each particular person shall be accountable for the guilt of his own sins. However, in overlooking human nature, and focusing solely upon person, they incorrectly conclude that the sin of Adam had no effect on the human nature in which all his descendants share.

So what is the Orthodox teaching on this subject? Namely, that we inherit the effect of the personal sin of Adam upon his human nature, a nature that is common to all of us. This results in a distortion of man’s being, since there is a certain hierarchy in man, in which the reasoning power of the soul should rule over the other powers, the desiring and incensive. However, with the fall, this hierarchy is turned upsidedown, and the reasoning power is enslaved to the other two powers of the soul; thus, the soul becomes a slave to the passions. This state is a state of separation from God and therefore a state of sin, a condition in which we are all born.  So it is this, along with the death of the body that we inherit from Adam. (pp. 74-75)

Now and then we do see an Augustinian concept of original sin in books on the Orthodox Faith.  One could question: How did this happen?  In responding I would like to tell a story of something that occurred when I was a novice at St. Tikhon’s Monastery.   I asked my spiritual father a question about some matter of faith and he told me to read a particular section in a book that was written in Greek and translated into English: “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology”.  He continued to say, “Read the whole book if you like.”  This book answered my question but in reading the whole I found it explained “ancestral” or “original” sin from an Augustinian standpoint.  This disturbed me and after speaking to the librarian I complained to my spiritual father about this he smiled, acknowledged the flaw in this book, and said he expected me to be able to make such distinctions.  Afterwards in speaking of this whole matter with an older monk he smiled and said:  “The problem is that because of the Turkish yoke and impoverished state of the Church of Greece many theologians in the earlier part of the 20^th century received higher education inWestern Europe.  And so, such ideas have crept into the Orthodox Church.”

Next to comment: “The Orthodox Church believes that Mary was cleansed of all sin at the Annunciation after she had agreed to accept God’s offer”.

Before responding to this erroneous statement I would like to say something about its roots.  Again it is the same as the aforementioned, “original sin”.  I know of a seminary professor who gave an opinion on how this idea has entered the Church as follows: “It is from Germany and Lutheranism.  Because of the lack of higher education in Greece as a result of the Turkish yoke many theologians of the Greek Church in the earlier half of the 20^th century were educated in Germany.”

In going on with critiquing the aforesaid comment we must combine with it the idea that the Theotokos became “blessed” and “full of grace” at the point when the Holy Spirit came upon her after her obedience to God at the time of the Annunciation.  The critique of these two comments must be addressed together since these are inseparably intertwined in the writings of the Holy Fathers.

Let us now continue.  To say that the Theotokos was cleansed of all sin at the Annunciation certainly implies she was guilty of personal sin and is a tangent from our Orthodox Faith. One flaw in this conclusion is that the author gave no support by any of the saints or reputable theologians of our Church.  This is an unhappy conclusion and is not in harmony with our Orthodox Faith!  On the contrary the holy fathers of our Orthodox Church teach that the Theotokos was free from personal sin.  So let us look at what of some of our saints say in reference to the spiritual state of the Theotokos at the time of the Annunciation and her sinlessness.

St. Gregory Palamas is the foremost who speaks of this.  In his homilies on the entry of the Theotokos into the temple (see Homily 53, Saint Gregory Palamas the Homilies, Mount Thabor Press).  He writes of the Virgin finding a new way to heaven, previous unknown, which is silence of mind and unceasing prayer to God.  He says that she reached such a spiritual height that she saw the glory of God greater than Moses.  And many other saints speak of the greatly exalted life she led in the Temple, instance, Sts. Jerome, George of Nicomedia and Theopylact of Bulgaria (see The Great Collection of the Lives of Saints compiled by St. Demetrius of Rostov, November 21^st , Chrysostom Press).    And so, we can be sure that by the time she left theTemple to live in the house of Joseph she was indeed blessed and had acquired much grace.

And concerning the spiritual state of the Theotokos at time of the Annunciation St. Gregory Palamas writes:

“And the Virgin’s name”, it says, “was Mary” (Luke 1:27), which means, “Lady”.  This shows the Virgin’s dignity, how certain was her virginity and set apart was her life, exact in every respect and completely blameless.  She properly bore the name of Virgin, and possessed to the full all the attributes of purity.  She was a virgin both in body and soul, and kept all the powers of her soul and bodily senses far above any defilement (emphasis mine). This she did authoritatively, steadfastly, decisively and altogether inviolably at all times, as a closed gate preserves the treasures within. (Saint Gregory Palamas the Homilies, p. 103)

And St. Gregory the Wonderworker of Neoceasarea writes of this:

The angel said to Mary the holy virgin first of all, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee;” inasmuch as with her was laid up the full treasure of grace. For of all generations she alone has risen as a virgin pure in body and in spirit; and she alone bears Him who bears all things on His word. Nor is it only the beauty of this holy one in body that calls forth our admiration, but also the innate virtue of her soul. Wherefore also the angels addressed her first with the salutation, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, and no spouse of earth.

And she was perplexed by this word; for she was inexperienced in all the addresses of men, and welcomed quiet, as the mother of prudence and purity; (yet) being a pure, and immaculate, and stainless image herself (each emphasis is mine). (see First Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary—Gregory Thaumaturgus, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)

Then St. Gregory continues in first quoting the archangel:

“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also   that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” For what He is, that also shall He be called by all means.  Meekly, then, did grace make election of the pure Mary alone out of all generations. For she proved herself prudent truly in all things; neither has any woman been born like her in all generations. (ibid.)

Again in The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints compiled St. Demetrius of Rostov there is a homily on the Annunciation (see March 25^th) speaks of the state of grace the Theotokos had already acquired at that time.  In the person of the Archangel Gabriel the homilist thus writes:

You have found favor with God on account of your innumerable virtues, of which three are chief.  Firstly, you have obtained grace because of your profound humility.  “God giveth grace to the humble” (Jas. Ch. 4; Prov. Ch. 3), and He asks, “Unto whom shall I look down, save upon the meek and the humble?” (Is.Ch.66)  Secondly you have obtained grace because of your virginal purity.  God, Who is supreme pure by nature, wishes to be born of an immaculate virgin.  Thirdly, you have obtained grace because of your flaming love for God.  The Lord says, “I love them that love Me, and those that seek me find grace” (Prov. Ch.8).

A little later the homilist comments on Mary’s question, “How shall this be seeing I know not a man?”

So saying the immaculate Virgin did not express disbelief in the angel’s words, for by the grace of God, with which she was filled [emphasis mine], she knew she would bear the One heralded.  The Lord Himself had revealed this to her while she was still in the Temple.

And one widely revered contemporary Greek theologian, Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, affirms that the Theotokos reached a state of deification during her life in the temple.  And she was brought to a yet even higher state after the Annunciation (see The Feasts of the Lord, Chapter 1, The Annunciation).  Another contemporary patristics scholar and professor has commented: “As I recall, some fathers do speak of a cleansing of the Theotokos at the Annunciation, but this is understood in terms of her receiving an addition of grace.  So not a cleansing of sin as such, but an increase of perfection—perfection is a dynamic state, not a static one”.

So then, is it proper for an Orthodox Christian to say that the Theotokos was cleansed of all sin at the time of the Annunciation and full of grace* only after her submission to God’s offer?  Of course not, for she abounded with grace through her ascetic life in the Temple, and was sinless as our Church teaches.  And this latter was confirmed directly by the Holy Spirit in a revelation He had given to St. Silouan the Athonite as he thus testifies:

In church I was listening to a reading from the Prophet Isaiah, and at the words, “ Wash you, make you clean,” I reflected, “Maybe the Mother of God sinned at one time or another, if only in thought.”  And marvelous to relate, in unison with my prayer a voice sounded in my heart, saying clearly, “The Mother of God never sinned even in thought.”  Thus did the Holy Spirit bear witness in my heart to her purity. (St.Silouan the Athonite, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, pp. 391-2)

May our Lord Jesus Christ grant His grace to those who honor His mother in an Orthodox manner.  Amen.

*It should also be taken into consideration that the Greek word which is translated into English as either “highly favored” or “full of grace” is a past participle.

A Hymn to the Theotokos

The following is the Theotokion of the Aposticha at Small Vespers of the Resurrection in the 1^st Tone:

The prophet called thee the Cloud of the ever-existing Light; for the Word of the Father descended upon thee as rain upon the fleece [cf. Ps. 71:6].  And dawning from thee, Christ our God, enlightened the world and abolished delusion.  We pray thee, fervently pray to Him unceasingly for us who proclaim thee to be truly the Birth-giver of God.

Community and Friendship in an Orthodox Sense

This again is something of a follow up of the first two posts in which there were articles on “Concerning converts entering the Church” and “Integrating Converts into the Church”.  Today is Lazarus Saturday and since it is at this time or Holy Saturday that we often see many receptions into the Church it seems to be a good time to continue to reflect on this issue.  So then, we are going to first speak about the Church as a community and then about true friendship in Christ.  These topics will inevitably arise in the consideration of the subject heading of converts.  The reason being is that we do happen see those who come to the Church looking for a community, or looking for a social life and friendships or looking for some type of humanitarian social activity in which they can offer of themselves.  Although these things are good in themselves yet they are not the right reason for coming to Orthodoxy and they will not bind one to the Church.  We come to the Orthodox Church for the healing and salvation of our soul, and because it embodies the fullness of truth.

Part I: The Church as Community

It is a very natural thing for man to desire to be a part of a family or community. As a result of his knowledge of the love of God which was taught directly by the Holy Spirit St. Silouan the Athonite understood man to be a community of being.  And St. Basil the Great says that man by nature is a creature meant to live in community and not alone.  For an Orthodox Christian the family or community to which we belong to is the Church, which is the body of Christ. which is made up of the faithful who are alive and struggling in this world and also the saints who have triumphed in this world and have become our intercessors in the heavenly kingdom. But what is meant by the Church being a community and the body of Christ, and that we are members of one another? And how in a living way can we integrate ourselves into God’s family, His community?

Once Bishop Basil Rozdianko was asked to speak at St. Tikhon’s Seminary on the subject of Russian spirituality. In expounding the Orthodox response to the concept of spirituality he also explained how the Church functions as a community as follows:

What is the Orthodox tradition on the subject of “spirituality?” In order to find the answer we should go to the saints. To do this I have chosen one of the very first saints and one of the very last ones: St. Clement of Rome of the second century and what he writes in his famous epistle to the Corinthians and St. Theophan the Recluse. There is a term which was used by St. Clement and which probably will be the real term for us, the Orthodox today, as it was at that time in the beginning. It is in Greek sumponia which is a combination of two words: sum, which means together, like we say co, coexistent and the other comes from the word pneuma which means spirit. It. is interesting that that term was used in the ancient Greek world by the medical profession in speaking about the breathing together of the body which gives life and is the source of life for an organism, because the word pneuma means not only spirit but also air and breathing. And St. Clement took that medical word and said for us Christians this is precisely what we are and should be, that is, we have to breath the same Spirit together and this actually brings us into complete unity and the way to salvation, But this means that this is always together, in togetherness; not everyone individually, not everyone in his own way only, not according to his own understanding or teaching or interpretation of the scriptures, No! In togetherness!

Now St. Theophan explains it and speaks about it in a very profound way which is very easily understandable today and that is he says when you want to achieve salvation and when you go on your way to salvation do not try to have something in separation from the others or in separation from other methods, Do not think that you can be saved only by good deeds or only by faith or only by this or that way of life, No! take everything together and everyone together so that you are really a part of the Church—the Church’s teaching.  This means not only what you read in the Scriptures or what you hear from sermons or some catechism or anything like that but the whole life of the Church must be taken together so that you are not only learning and studying but also living, experiencing, going to services and doing everything that the Church does. Try not to be outside of the Church at all and then you will attain salvation. In the Church and through the Church and through that unity, through that common breathing of the one Spirit of God.

And here comes another Greek term which, of course is well known and that goes together very well with this one and that is catholiki, The Catholic Church, Catholos comes from a Platonic term used in his philosophy and the idea of it is that everything is in accordance with the whole. Holos is the same root as whole, cata is according, in other words everyone is not on his own or her own, not in separation from the whole but according to the whole. And this was used for the first time also by a very early saint, that was St. Ignatius of Antioch who for the first, time applied that to the Church: Catholiki Ekklesia. So if we put together these two saints and these two terms we will see the idea: Together breathing the same Spirit of God according to the whole body of Christ.  And that is the way to salvation and that is the true and genuine spirituality in a real and proper sense. This is the Orthodox tradition on how to live in the spirit of God.

So then, as members of the Church our calling is to “breath the same Spirit of God together according to the whole body of Christ”.  The Holy Apostle Paul writes of this, for instance, he says, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom.12:4-5).  And again: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many.  But now are they many members, yet but one body” (ICor. 12: 12-4,20).

Therefore we must, with one accord, breathe the one Spirit of God into Whom we were baptized.  We must keep before our minds the concept that we are one body in Christ and so realize the ascetic precept and cliché: our brother is our life.  And we must “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3)—for this is to be in accordance with the whole body of Christ—the Church.  May our Lord Jesus Christ,  grant us this, that we may thus have “our hearts knit together in love” (Col. 2:2).  And so, in this way, His prayer to the Father at the Mystical Supper for us all to be one, shall find its fulfillment in us.  Amen.

Part II: True Friendship in Christ

In writing on this subject I believe it is best to turn to a sermon on friendship which is based on the Conferences of St. John Cassian.  It is Conference XVI, The first conference with Abba Joseph, that is being referenced.  His writings are found in the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers Series II Volume XI, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This sermon is on the Gospel and Epistle readings of the 8^th Sunday after Pentecost—Matthew 14:14-22 and I Corinthians 1:10-17.

Beloved of God, with the epistle reading of today in mind, I would like to speak a little about the topic of friendship or maybe I should say the various ways in which people can be united to one another.  And to do this I would like to refer to the writings of one of our early fathers, St. John Cassian, and his conferences with the early Egyptian desert fathers.  So one of the fathers he visited spoke of friendship in the following manner:

There are many kinds of friendship and companionship which unite men in very different ways in the bonds of love.  First there is one kind of love, where the union is from the instincts and laws of nature, by which those of the same ethnic background, or blood relations are naturally preferred to others, a thing which we find is the case not only with mankind but also with animals.  Sometimes some bargain or an agreement to give and take something has joined men in the bonds of love. With others a similarity and union of business or science or art or study has united them in friendship.  These are some of the positive causes by which men enter into bonds of friendship.  However, it is sad to say that there are even negative and sinful causes which unite men in friendship by which even fierce souls become kindly disposed towards one another, so that thieves or murders or drunkards embrace and cherish the partners of their crimes or sin.—freely quoted

There are a few other things along these lines that we often see in the Church which ruins many souls and is hard to detect, first is a common dislike for a third party and secondly sectarianism.  For we sometimes see clans develop who either group themselves under a spiritual figure, or are zealous for a particular cause, and are at variance with others in the Church. We usually find that such are highly critical of those who are outside their group.  So these are errors we especially need to watch out for and this leads us to the scripture readings of the day

In the epistle we heard the Apostle Paul express a desire for the unity of the Christians in Corinth by saying, “ Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”  So the Apostle wants them to be united according to Christ, to be untied by being of one mind in Christ.  And in the gospel we see that there were crowds who in their zeal for God were following our Lord Jesus Christ in order to learn from Him about thekingdomofGodand how to live a righteous life.  This united then in the bonds of friendship. They were so drawn to Christ that they did not care about their need for food.

But on the other hand, in many places in the gospel, we see something quite contrary, we see the Jewish leaders united in another way—they were united in friendship by a common rejection of our Lord and hatred for Him.  So again this is the type of friendship we must avoid and rather seek to live in Christ and we shall be united in Him and we will then naturally join ourselves in companionship with those who are doing likewise.  So let us again turn to this father quoted earlier, St. John Cassian, and see what he says about true friendship in Christ.  So he writes:

Among all the kinds of love which unite men there is one that is indissoluble, where the union is owing not to the some favor, or some great kindness or gifts, or the reason of some bargain, or the necessities of nature by being of the same race or family, but simply by the similarity of virtue. This, I say, is what is broken by no chances, what no interval of time or space can sever or destroy, and what even death itself cannot part. This true and unbroken love which grows by means of the common seeking of perfection in Christ cannot be broken by any difference of liking or which no opposition of wishes can sever.  For such are joined together in companionship out of their love for Christ and zeal for keeping His commandments. 

However,St. Johngoes on to mention that among them who have had such a friendship in Christ there are those who could not maintain it continually and unbroken.  So he continues to instruct us how to keep friendship in Christ unbroken by saying: “If you also wish to keep this unbroken, you must be careful to first get rid of your faults, and you must mortify your own will and desires; for it is such things that will cause disturbance within us and then in our relationships with others”.   Then he concludes by insisting that love can only continue undisturbed in those in whom there is but one purpose of overcoming one’s faults through keeping the Gospel commandments and who have one mind in following our Lord Jesus Christ.

So let us follow our Lord Jesus Christ by keeping His life-giving commandments which will heal our souls of sin.  This is a great miracle: for our souls to be healed of the disease of sin.  Let us strive for this together, as the crowds who followed Christ, let us struggle against sin within us, let us support each other in what is good, let us be ready to empty ourselves for each other, let us avoid being a stumbling block to others, and so be united with one mind in Christ  And as the Apostle says let us be of one mind and so hope for the unity that we pray for in the Divine Liturgy:  Grant that with one mouth and one heart we may praise Thine all honorable and majestic Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

In the original post the Dogmatic of the first tone at Great Vespers was placed on the about page.  I am hoping to continue along these lines of honoring the Mother of God and to begin every post with a hymn to our most pure Lady the Birth-giver of God.  The hymns of our Church for the Theotokos are not only songs of praise to her but they often also express the Christology of the Church.  It is first the Sunday cycle that I would like to delve into and look at the Dogmatics and Apostika  Theotokions at both Great and Small Vespers. So then, what follows is the Dogmatic of Small Vespers in Tone One:

Today, O Brethren, let us keep the feast of Virginity!  Let creation leap for joy, and let the nature of man exult; for the holy Birth-giver of God has called us together.  She is the undefiled treasury of Virginity, the noetic paradise of the second Adam, the storehouse of the unity of the two natures; the saving triumph of reconciliation, the chamber in which the Word was truly espoused to flesh.  She is the light cloud, within her body she carried Him Who exists over the Cherubim: through her prayers, O Christ God save our souls.

Integrating Converts into the Church

This is something of a follow up of the article in the first post “Concerning converts entering the Church”.   It is certain that many of us have had the sad experience of knowing someone who has been received into the Church yet has turned elsewhere.  This is quite a distressing thing for we know that the Orthodox Church is the Church; and it is the “Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”(ITim. 3:15).  And there are not many valid Churches but one, as the apostle Paul indicates in writing to the Ephesians: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith” (Eph. 4:4-5).  Therefore to leave the Church is to be an apostate against the truth.  So then, one can’t help but thinking: Why does this occur?   They have turned from the fullness of the truth, so then, what was lacking in their said conversion?   Did they really ever convert?

We could speculate and come up with a number of reasons as to why, but rather than do this let us consider how each of us—and not only converts—are integrated into the Church.  How can we be bound to the Church?  We should desire to be indissolubly bound to the Church.  How is this possible?

So let us consider the question: When someone comes to the Church what is it that they have come to?   The Holy Apostle Paul writes to the Hebrews:

“Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb. 12:22-3).

So to where have we all come?  To Mount Zion.  Mount Zion is a hill in Jerusalem and is often figuratively used for the Church.   The Church is not only a structure here on earth but it is the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem where there is an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect—all this indicates the Church triumphant in heaven.  And I would like to add here a few words about the term: “general assembly”.  Unfortunately it is lacking in conveying the original Greek.  It is more accurate it express it as “a public festal assembly” (see www.e-sword.net, Thayer Greek Dictionary).  The Greek word is panegurei and in Church usage it is the tern employed for an all-night vigil.

Now back to the main subject.  The Apostle Paul also calls the Church the household of God.  As he writes in to the Ephesians: and specifically to the Gentile converts:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Eph. 3:19-22)

So when one comes to the Church one becomes a fellow citizen of the household of  God—the heavenly Jerusalem—with all the saints built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles.  God has given us a potential place in His kingdom together with them.  This is potential because we need to make some effort for this to be realized.  And so, it is to this family of the saints of God into which we need to become integrated.  In reference to the Church Triumphant as our family St John of Kronstadt writes: “The holy angels and God’s saints are our best, kindest and truest brothers and friends, so often helping us in various circumstances in which no human being can help us”.  And he says of us Orthodox Christians, “After God there is no one more reverenced by them than His Most Pure Mother” (My Life in Christ, p. 398).

To speak about all this is comforting but we should put it into practice and how to do this should be obvious.  But let me quote a monk of Iveron Monastery on the Holy Mountain who once spoke about this in a very simple, pleasant way when he spoke of a healthy self esteem:

I think we can have self-esteem when we sense that God, and Christ, and all the saints; that they love us and we sense this love of theirs and comfort and consolation.  And that we are able to establish this communication or link with Christ and all the saints and basically we look to them for comfort and consolation.  So if a person has faith and trust in Christ and the Mother of God and all the saints, in a sense that person lives in another world, the world of the Church.  Such a person exists in unison with the icons or the relics or the services.   Like the services of Christ and the Mother of God and all the different saints and the reading of the lives of the saints and their writings. So in this way, in this sense, one actually has some contact or communication with them.  And so. The Church is the place where we can transcend the barriers of time and space.  This is what our services and icons and literature means for us:  We can have this contact with people who lived in another time and place, that is, Christ, the Mother of God and all the saints.

And this is how we become integrated into the Church and become indissolubly bound to the Church which is the body of believers and the body of Christ.

The Struggle of Prayer

Great Lent is a time of increased Church services and to remain attentive in prayer whether at Church or at home is a difficult struggle.  One struggle while praying is that the mind is often captivated by thoughts of things that have occurred during the passing day.  Therefore we shall pass on some words about this struggle from contemporary Athonite elders.

The Elder Parthenius of the Monastery of St. Paul:

It is a very difficult thing once a recollection has come in that is why the Lord has said, “Enter into your closet and shut the door”—leave everything.  But once you start having recollections it is very difficult.  And when we are in that state we can only again call upon the Lord to deliver us once more to deliver us again because with God nothing is impossible.  Deliverance comes of itself by God’s power, we do not know how.  It is something very mysterious.  If we have much love for the Lord we can cast these things from us and then we can be completely delivered.

We must also take into account the activity of the devil.  Someone once inquired how does one pray?  And it was revealed to him: He saw a monk on a Cross and demons were around him throwing spears at him and he just endured.  He bore this, but imagine what all that means, all the thoughts and whatever else was there.  Sometimes we have not only innocent recollections but also thoughts such as revenge and wickedness.  How does this board on and compromise your prayer?  You must ask the Lord for good thoughts in prayer.

A monk of the Monastery of St. Gregory

A young father of this monastery was told by his Elder: If, at the end of the day, one has a lot of thoughts and is taken captive, then all you can do is continue praying until Jesus will give you help.  This is like a test from Jesus and you are expected to work.  It is a test from Him to see how you will work.  Help comes by itself to show you that it is not your own efforts, but that it is rather Christ’s help.

Father Marcarius of the kelli (a small monastic dwelling, usually more secluded and less busy than a monastery) dedicated to the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple

Prayer is a mirror of a monk’s life and the things that happen during the day do return to us in the evening at the time of prayer. What one must do is be watchful during the day.  It could be that you have passed the day with a lot of work, talking to visitors, and doing different things, but if you have been watchful   these things would not take hold of you.  But if you go into converse with the thoughts that go through your mind throughout the day and become mingled with them and couple with them in a union with them—then these are the things that can return to you and seize you at the time of prayer

The Elder Ephraim of Arizona

In general, concerning the struggle in prayer, the Elder Ephraim once said: Abba Pimen says that prayer is the most difficult of all virtues to acquire.  It is in prayer that we touch God, that with our mind we are united to God.  This is our direct contact with God, our communication with Him.  The devil hates this and it is at this time more than any other time that he fights against us.  In prayer we must struggle to keep our minds pure and clear from all distractions and totally concentrated on God and immersed in Him.