Great quotes of Orthodox Christians

[MariaRegina]

Some Orthodox Christians, who are not yet canonized saints, have written or spoken some excellent lines. Embedded within the threads of this forum are hundreds of great quotes. Here is your chance to gather these fantastic statements into one thread.

Note: Anyone may post quotes here -- just be sure to give the author and book (and page number) or online credits (and url) if taken from copyrighted sources, so that Erwin and CF won't be cited for copyright violations. Please be sure to check the quote for accuracy.
P.S. Remember your signatures can change, so don't reference those.

[Alphabetical listing of famous quotes or sermons by topic
The Afterlife - post 25
Anyone who does not love is not free - post 26
On Apostasy - post 22
Apostolic Work of Prince St. Vladimir - post 22
Bible Translation - post 24
Bickering - post 32
Catholic Church - post 18
Causes of the Russian Catastrophe - post 22
Is Christ in your heart? - post 7
No Christ, no life - post 7
Christian Family Tree - post 30
Christian Unity - post 27
On the Church - post 22
To confess the Orthodox faith means to be crucified - post 26
Corrections and reproofs - post 11
Cross of the True Christian - post 22
On the Divine Liturgy - post 29
On Divine Love - post 38
Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear - post 22
About earthquakes - post 8
On evil - post 2
On Episcopalians - post 34
Evangelism - posts 40 and 41
Evil One - post 32
Family humor - post 4, 6, 8
Faith - post 50
Fasting - post 14, 22, 46, 47, 48, 49
Hell - post 31
For There Must Be Also Heresies Among You - post 22
Hymn of Entry - post 12, 26, 27
Icons - post 44
On judging others - post 3
Lenten readings - post 15
On lesbian ordinations to priesthood - post 34
On Liturgical Theology - Aidan Kavanagh - post 10
Mental Prayer - post 21
Mercy of God - post 50
Missionary work of the Church - post 16
Modern World - post 22
Mystery - post 50
On Monarchy - post 22
Old Testment - post 28
On Orthodox Tradition - post 37
The Passion of the Christ - post 17
On The Position Of The Orthodox Christian In The Contemporary World - post 22
Religion - post 42
Rules for Pious Life - post 5
St. Maximus the Confessor - post 9
The seeds we sow - post 13
On seeking glory for ourselves - post 35
Speaking in many languages - post 40
Speaking in tongues - post 40
Sunday of Orthodoxy - post 22
On the Temple - post 22
Thoughts on Great Lent - post 20
True Orthodoxy - post 22
The Value of Time - post 19
On Worship - post 36

Alphabetical listing of Orthodox authors, homilists, and speakers
Elder Amphilochios of Patmos - post 7
Metropolitan ANTHONY (Bloom) - post 13, 28
Archbishop Averky - post 22
Fr. Michael Azkoul - post 44
Fr. Panagiotes Carras - post 15
Reader Christopher (aka Oblio) - post 23
St. Cyril of Alexandria - post 18
Dianne (aka Countrymouse) - post 32
George Florovsky - post 37
Father George - post 24
Mother Gavrilia - post 40
icxn - post 41
Saint Ignatius of Antioch - post 35
Bishop IGNATIUS Briantchaninov - post 14
Ilias the Presbyter - post 11
Bishop Jeremiah the Hermit - post 19
St. John Climacus - post 3
Elder Joseph the Hesychast - post 21
Aidan Kavanagh - post 10
Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky - post 20
St. John of Kronstadt - post 47, 49
Presbytera Irene Matta, M. Th. - post 25
Father Christopher Metropulos - posts 30, 36
Archbishop NATHANIEL - post 16
Archbishop PLATON of Kostroma - post 5
Elder Porphyrios - post 7
Fr. Alexander Schmemann - post 2, 29, 34, 42
St. Seraphim of Sarov - post 46, 49
Alex Slepukhof - post 31
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk - post 47
Archimandrite Vasileios - post 12, 26, 27
St. Nikolai Velimirovich - post 38

MODS: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EDIT THIS POST AS NECESSARY

[MariaRegina]

On Evil

"Evil could achieve no victory whatsoever, no power at all in this world if it openly showed itself as evil. Evil conquers through deception, by pretending to be good. And this deception allows man to justify hatred, murder, slavery, lies, insanity. It is this deception which Christ overcomes and exposes."

Father Alexander Schmemann, Celebration of Faith, Sermons, Vol 1, I Believe. p. 78-81

[Moros]

I like the ones in my sigline.

The first is from Adversus Judaeos

The second is from Letters from Fr. Seraphim Rose

"Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes."

-- St. John Climacus

[Maximus]

Here's one I like:

"Oh, man! We're late for Divine Liturgy again!"
- Me to my wife on almost any given Sunday.

Here's another:

"It's your fault."
- My wife to me on almost any given Sunday.

And a third:

"Waaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
- My daughter Anna, from her carseat in the backseat of the car on any given Sunday.

^_^

[MariaRegina]

----------------------------------------------------
RULES FOR PIOUS LIFE (Archbishop Platon of Kostroma)
----------------------------------------------------
Editor: Abbot Alexander (Mileant)

FORCE YOURSELF to get up early and on a set schedule. As soon as
you wake up, turn your mind to God: make the Sign of the Cross,
and thank Him for the night that has passed and for all His
mercies towards you. Ask Him to guide all your thoughts, feelings
and desires, so that everything you say or do will be pleasing to
Him.

As you dress, recollect the presence of the Lord and of your
Guardian Angel. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to put on you the robe
of salvation.

After washing yourself, get down to morning prayers. Pray
kneeling, with concentration, and with reverence and meekness, as
is proper before the eyes of the Almighty. Ask Him to give you
faith, hope, and charity, as well as calm strength to accept all
that the coming day may bring to you - its hardships and
troubles. Ask Him to bless your labors. Ask for help: to
accomplish some particular task that you face; to steer clear of
some particular sin.

If you can, read something from the Bible, especially from the
New Testament and the Psalms. Read with intent to receive some
spiritual enlightenment, inclining your heart to compunction.
Having read a little, pause and reflect on what you read, and
then proceed further, listening to what the Lord suggests to your
heart.

Try to devote at least fifteen minutes to spiritually contemplate
the teachings of the Faith and the profit to your soul in what
you have read.

Always thank the Lord that He did not leave you to perish in your
sins, but cares for you and in every possible way leads you to
the Heavenly Kingdom.

Start every morning as if you had just decided to become a
Christian and to live according to God's commandments.
As you enter upon your duties, strive to do everything towards
the glory of God. Start nothing without prayer, because whatever
we do without prayer later turns out to be futile or harmful. The
words of the Lord are true: "Without me, you can do nothing."

Imitate our Savior, Who labored helping Joseph and His most pure
Mother. While working, keep a good spirit, relying always on the
Lord's help. It is a good thing to repeat unceasingly the prayer:
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

If your labors are successful, give thanks to the Lord; if they
are not, place yourself in His will, for He takes care of us and
directs everything towards the better. Accept all hardships as a
penance for your sins - in the spirit of obedience and humility.

Before every meal, pray that God will bless the food and drink;
and after the meal give thanks to Him and ask Him not to deprive
you of spiritual blessings. It is good to leave the table feeling
a bit hungry. In everything, avoid excess. Following the example
of Christians of old, fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Do not be greedy. Be content having food and clothing, imitating
Christ Who became impoverished for our sake.

Strive to please the Lord in everything, so that you will not be
reproached by your own conscience. Remember God always sees you,
and so be carefully vigilant concerning the feelings, thoughts
and desires of your heart.

Avoid even the smallest sins, lest you fall into greater ones.
Drive away from your heart each and every thought or design that
moves you away from the Lord. Strive especially against unclean
desire; drive it out of your heart like a burning spark fallen on
your coat. If you do not want to be troubled by evil desires,
meekly accept humiliation from others.

Do not say too much, remember that for every spoken word we will
give account before God. It is better to listen than to talk: in
verbosity it is impossible to avoid sin. Do not be curious to
hear the news, which only entertains and distracts the spirit.

Condemn no one, but consider yourself to be worse than everyone
else. The one who condemns another is taking another's sins onto
himself; it is better to grieve about the sinner, and pray that
God will correct him in His own way. If someone does not listen
to your advice, do not dispute with him. But if his deeds are a
temptation to others, take appropriate measures, because their
good, being many, must carry more weight than his, being only
one.

Never argue or make excuses. Be gentle, quiet and humble; endure
everything, according to the example of Jesus. He will not burden
you with a cross that exceeds your strength. He will also help
you carry the Cross that you have.

Ask the Lord to give you the grace to fulfill His holy
Commandments as well as you can, even if they seem too difficult
to keep. Having done a good deed, do not expect gratitude, but
temptation: for love towards God is tested by obstacles. Do not
hope to acquire any virtues without suffering sorrows. In the
midst of temptations do not despair, but address God with short
prayers: "Lord, help... Teach me to... Do not leave... Protect
me... " The Lord allows temptations and trials; He also gives the
strength to overcome them.

Ask God to take away from you every thing that feeds your pride,
even if it will be bitter. Avoid being harsh, gloomy, nagging,
mistrustful, suspicious or hypocritical, and avoid rivalry. Be
sincere and simple in your attitude. Humbly accept the
admonitions of others, even if you are more wise and experienced.

What you do not want done to you, do not do to others. Rather, do
for them what you wish to be done for you. If anyone visits you,
be tender towards him, be modest, wise, and, sometimes, depending
on the circumstances, be also blind and deaf.

When you feel slack, or a certain coolness, do not leave off the
usual order of prayer and pious practices which you have
established. Everything that you do in the name of the Lord
Jesus, even the small and imperfect things, becomes an act of
piety.

If you desire to find peace, commit yourself completely onto God.
You will find no peace until you calm down in God, loving Him
alone.

>From time to time seclude yourself, following the example of
Jesus, for prayer and contemplation of God. Contemplate the
infinite love of our Lord Jesus Christ, His sufferings and death,
His Resurrection, His Second Coming and the Last Judgment.

Visit the church as often as possible. Confess more often and
receive the Holy Mysteries. Doing so you will abide in God, and
this is the highest blessing. During Confession, repent and
confess frankly and with contrition all your sins; for the
unrepented sin leads to death.

Devote Sundays to works of charity and mercy; for example, visit
someone who is sick, console someone who is in sorrow, save one
who is lost. If anyone will help the lost one turn towards God he
will receive a great reward in this life and in the age to come.
Encourage your friends to read Christian spiritual literature and
to participate in discussing spiritual matters.

Let the Lord Jesus Christ be your teacher in everything.
Constantly address Him by turning your mind to Him; ask yourself:
what would He do in similar circumstances?

Before you go to sleep, pray frankly and with all your heart,
look searchingly at your sins during the past day. You should
always compel yourself to repent with a contrite heart, with
suffering and tears, lest you repeat past sins. As you go to bed,
make the Sign of the Cross, kiss the cross, and entrust yourself
to the Lord God, who is your Good Shepherd. Consider that perhaps
this night you will have to appear before Him.

Remember the Lord's love towards you and love Him with all your
heart, your soul and your mind.

Acting in this way, you will reach the blessed life in the
Kingdom of Eternal Light.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

From: innerlightproductions.com 1-18-04

[Photini]

And a third:

"Waaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
- My daughter Anna, from her carseat in the backseat of the car on any given Sunday.

^_^Just wait until little Anna has a sibling! You should hear some of the interesting things that come out of my mouth in the car on the way to church on any given Sunday. LoL! (nothing bad, just interesting)

[Photini]

"Life without Christ is not life. That's the way it is...If you don't see Christ in everything you do, you are without Christ."
--Elder Porphyrios

"When someone opens your heart, I'd like him to find nothing there but Christ."
--Elder Amphilochios of Patmos

[MariaRegina]

What do you say to children when there is an earthquake?

When my son was three years old, he didn't like to pray. He felt that prayers were for adults. He really wasn't into prayer, although he believed in God. I think he felt too unworthy because he knew he was a sinner. I won't go into what he did. It's too embarrassing.

Anyway, we had the Whittier Narrows Earthquake of 1987. My son stands up in bed and cries. I tell him, "Raise your arms to heaven and ask Jesus to stop the earthquake, because Jesus answers the prayers of little children."

Immediately, my son prays, "Jesus, stop this earthquake."

The earth immediately stops shaking. Wow! Immediate answer to prayers. From then on, my son believes in the power of prayer.

[MariaRegina]

Reflections on the feast day of St. Maximus - January 21
Courtesy of Nicodemus (from his priest):

Blessings! Through the prayers of St.Maximus the Confessor!

There are many wonderful Saints remembered in the
month of January. St.Maximus suffered horribly in the
in the 7th century in defense of Orthodoxy for a
theological point (affirming the presence of a human
will in Christ) which many today would consider purely
semantic and trivial.

That, by the way, is the danger of many modern
theological discussions of our time. The truths upon
which the Fathers stood and refused to budge, even at
great personal risk, are now looked upon, even by
professional "theologians" as curiosities - fine
points that can be "overcome" through "dialogue."

St.Maximus gave up his right hand and his tongue,
in refusing such dialogue! Through his prayers, may we
have even a bit of his courage for the sake of the
Truth and Holy Orthodoxy - for the true confession of
Christ !!!

[MariaRegina]

Aidan Kavanagh writes beautifully about Orthodox music:

"The liturgy, the dwelling place of present and remembered encounter
with the living God, itself begins to think and speak for the
assembly and turns wholly into music, not in the sense of outward,
audible sounds, but by virtue of the power and momentum of its inward
flow. Then, like the current of a mighty river polishing stones and
turning wheels by its very movement, the flow of liturgical worship
creates in passing, and by the force of its own laws, cadence and
rhythm and countless other forms and formations…

What results from a liturgical act is not only "meaning," but an
eccelesial transaction with reality, a transaction whose
ramifications escape over the horizon of the present, beyond the act
itself, to overflow even the confines of the local assembly into
universality. The act both changes and outstrips the assembly in
which it occurs. The assembly adjusts to that change, becoming
different from what it was before the act happened. This adjustment
means that subsequent acts of liturgy can never touch the assembly in
exactly the same way as the previous act did."

On Liturgical Theology, 87-88

[Photini]

The greater the pain that you feel, the more you should welcome the person whose reproof makes you feel it. For he is bringing about within you a total purification without which your intellect cannot attain the pure state of prayer.

~ Ilias the Presbyter

[Photini]

“The union of all for which the Church prays is not to be understood as an assembly of parts made up of “Christian communities,” but as an extension of the trinitarian unity divinely active in the liturgical body of the Church. “Reunion of the Church” is a totally inadmissible expression which clouds the issue. It originates, not from orthodox theological consciousness, but from a worldly outlook. If we put into practice plans and agreements of our own, substituting these for the mystical unity of the Trinity, it is a disaster and a condemnation for man, who is formed in the image of God.”
... Archimandrite Vasileios, “Hymn of Entry”.

[MariaRegina]

Metropolitan ANTHONY (Bloom), "On Death", Sobornost, vol.1, №2, 1978

[courtesy of Jeff the Finn]

The seeds we sow

Death is never the end. The good we have done continues after us and bears fruit in the lives of others. Unfortunately, the corollary is also true: we can also leave a legacy of evil.

On the positive side, consider the effect of the Gospels. There are countless people who have been converted and transformed by reading even a small passage from them. This they gain from what someone, many centuries ago, formulated and wrote down for the sake of Christ. I myself owe my faith to St Mark. If there is anything good that has come out of my life it is because one day, when I was fifteen years of age, I read St Mark's Gospel and Christ revealed himself and entered into my life.
By contrast, I think of quite other people who have written books, such as the French nineteenth century writer Gobineau. Gobineau wrote some remarkable short stories, but also a miserable little treatise on the inequality of races. It is a treatise that would now be altogether and deservedly forgotten, except for one thing: it was read by Hitler. It is difficult to suppose that Gobineau shares no responsibility before God for all that resulted from his book. He was a theoretician. But his theories became practice, and they were to cost millions of innocent lives.

In this connection, I remember a fable by Krylov. Two individuals were sentenced to hell and placed in neighbouring cauldrons. One was a murderer, the other had merely written some trashy novels. The author took a quick look over the rim of his cauldron to see how the murderer was faring. He himself was being boiled so fiercely that he could not imagine how his neighbour might be treated. To his indignation he saw the murderer basking in tepid water. He summoned the devil on duty and expressed his dissatisfaction: 'I merely wrote some novels, and yet you give me such a violent boiling. Whereas this man committed murder and he is relaxing as if that were his bath'. 'True', said the devil, 'but that's no accident, it's deliberate.' 'How so?' 'Well', said the devil, 'this man murdered someone in a fit of rage. So we give him a hard boiling every now and again because that's how his rage flared up, then we give him a rest because it subsided. As for you, whenever anyone buys one of your books we stoke up the fire under your cauldron and add extra fuel'.

There is a theological point here. Our life does not end conveniently when we die, even on earth. It continues over the centuries through heredity and through the by-products of our existence; and we continue to carry a responsibility for its repercussions. Thus, we have met today; I have spoken; I shall be answerable for anything that you will have received and for the way in which it may affect your life.

[MariaRegina]

Courtesy of Photini:

from Orthodox Life -Vol.2 Number 2 - March/April 1951


by
Bishop Ignatius Briantchaninov



The head or chief of the virtues is prayer; their foundation is fasting.

Fasting is constant moderation in food with prudent discernment in its use.

Proud man! You think so much and so highly of your mind, while all the time it is in complete and constant dependence on your stomach.

The law of fasting, though outwardly a law for the stomach, is essentially a law for the mind.

The mind, that sovereign ruler in man, if it wishes to enter into its rights of autocracy and retain them, must first submit to the law of fasting. Only then will it be constantly alert and bright; only then can it rule over the desires of the heart and body. Only with constant vigilance and temperance can the mind learn the commandments of the Gospel and follow them. The foundation of the virtues is fasting.

Newly-made man when placed in paradise was given a single commandment, a commandment concerning fasting. Of course, only one commandment was given because that was sufficient to have kept primitive man in his innocence.

The commandment did not speak of the quantity of food, but only prohibited a kind or quality. Let those who recognize a fast in quantity of food only and not in quality be silent. By devoting themselves to a practical study of fasting, they will see the significance of the quality of the food.

So important was the law of fasting declared by God to man in paradise that with the commandment was pronounced a threat of punishment for breaking it. The punishment consisted in the striking of men with eternal death.

And now a sinful death continues to strike the breakers of the holy commandment of fasting. He who does not observe moderation and due discernment in food cannot preserve virginity or chastity, cannot control anger, yields to sloth, despondency and sorrow, becomes a slave of vainglory and an abode of pride which gets into a man through his carnal state, which is caused most of all by luxurious and nourishing food.

The commandment to fast was renewed or confirmed by the Gospel. "Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with excessive eating and drinking," said the Lord. Overeating and drinking impart corpulence or grossness not only to the body, but to the mind and heart as well; that is, they reduce a person to a carnal state of soul and body.

Fasting, on the contrary, leads a Christian to a spiritual state. A person who is purified by fasting is humble in spirit, chaste. modest, silent, refined in the feelings of his heart and mind, light in body, fit for spiritual labors and contemplation, apt to receive divine grace.

The carnal man is completely immersed in sinful pleasures. He is sensual in body, in heart and in mind He is incapable not only of spiritual joy and of receiving divine grace, but even of spiritual occupations. He is nailed to the earth, wallowing in materiality, spiritually dead while alive.

"Woe to you who are full now, for you shall hunger!" (Lk. 6, 25). Such is the message of the World of God to breakers of the commandment of holy fasting. How will you nourish yourself in eternity when you have learnt here only to glut yourself with material foods and material pleasures which do not exist in heaven? What will you feed on in eternity when you have not tasted one of the good things of heaven? How can you eat and enjoy the good things of heaven when you have acquired no taste or sympathy for them, in fact have only acquired aversion for them?

The daily bread of Christians is Christ. Uncloying repletion with this bread is the saving satiety and delight to which all Christians are invited. Be insatiably filled with the Word of God; be insatiably filled with the doing of Christ's commandments; be insatiably filled with the table "prepared against those who trouble you," and be inebriated "with the strong chalice" (Ps. 22, 5).

"Where are we to begin," says St. Macarius the Great,** "we who have never engaged in searching our hearts? Let us stand outside and knock with prayer and fasting, as the Lord commanded; 'Knock and it will be opened to you' " (Mat. 7. 7).

This work which is proposed to us by one of the greatest teachers of monasticism was a work of the Holy Apostles. From the midst of it they were granted to hear the Spirit's messages. "While they were serving* the Lord and fasting," says the writer of their acts, "the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off" (Acts 13, 2). From the midst of their effort in which fasting was combined with prayer the Spirit's command concerning the call of the Gentiles to Christianity was heard.

Wonderful union of fasting with prayer! Prayer is powerless unless it is based on fasting, and fasting is fruitless unless prayer is built upon it.

Fasting frees a person from fleshly passions, while prayer wrestles with the passions of the soul and, having conquered them, it penetrates and permeates the person's whole constitution, and purifies it. Into the purified spiritual temple it introduces God.

He who sows his land without working it wastes his seed and instead of wheat reaps thorns. So too if we sow seeds of prayer without refining our flesh, instead of righteousness we shall produce sin. Our prayer will be ruined and robbed by various thoughts and fantasies, it will be defiled by sensual feelings. Our flesh came from the earth and unless it is cultivated like the earth it can never produce the fruit of righteousness.

On the other hand if anyone works his land with great care and at great expense but leaves it unsown, it will be covered with a thick crop of weeds. So if the body is refined by fasting but the soul is not cultivated by prayer, reading and humility, then fasting becomes the parent of numerous weeds — passions of the soul: pride, vainglory, scorn.

What is the passion of gluttony and drunkenness? Having lost regularity (that is, a sense of what is right and lawful), the natural craving for food and drink demands a much greater quantity and more varied quality than is needed for the maintenance of life and the bodily powers, and becomes a passion. Excessive food acts on the bodily powers in a way that is the reverse of its natural purpose; it acts harmfully, weakening and destroying them.

The craving for food is satisfied by a simple table and by refraining from excess and delight in food. First, excess and delight must be abandoned; in this way the desire for food is refined and reduced to order. But when desire becomes normal, it is satisfied with simple food.

On the other hand when the craving for food is satisfied with excess and delight it is coarsened. To arouse it we resort to a variety of tasty foods and drinks. At first our desire seems satisfied; then it becomes capricious, and finally it turns into a morbid passion constantly seeking repletion and pleasure, and never satisfied.

Having resolved to consecrate ourselves to the service of God, let us make fasting the foundation of our effort. The essential quality of every foundation should be an unshakable firmness; otherwise it will be impossible to construct a building on it, however solid the building itself may be. So let us never on any account, on any pretext whatever, allow ourselves to break our fast by overeating, and especially by drunkenness.

The use of food once a day not to repletion is regarded by the Holy Fathers as the best fast. Such a fast does not weaken the body by prolonged abstinence or overload it with excessive food, but keeps it fit for soul-saving activity. Such a fast presents no glaring peculiarity, and therefore the person fasting has no cause for boasting, to which people are so prone on account of virtue itself, especially when it stands out sharply.

Those engaged in physical labors or who are so weak in body that they cannot content themselves with the use of food once a day should eat twice. Fasting is for man, not man for fasting. But however often food is used, whether frequently or infrequently, satiety is strictly forbidden; it makes a person unfit for spiritual labours, and opens the door to other carnal passions.

Immoderate fasting — that is, prolonged excessive abstinence from food — is not approved by the Holy Fathers. From inordinate fasting and the exhaustion which results from it, a person becomes unfit for spiritual labours, frequently turns to gluttony, and often falls into the passion of boasting and pride.

Very important is the quality of food. The forbidden fruit of Paradise, although it was beautiful in appearance and tasted delicious, had a fatal effect on the soul. It imparted to it a knowledge of good and evil, and thereby ruined the innocence in which our first parents were created. And now food continues to have a powerful effect on the soul, which is particularly noticeable in the use of wine. This effect of food is due to its diverse action on the flesh and blood, and to the fact that the vapors and gases produced by it rise from the stomach into the brain and affect the mind. For this reason all intoxicating drinks are forbidden to the ascetic, since they deprive the mind of soberness and vigilance, and so of victory in the war of thought. The defeated mind, especially when it has been defeated by sensual thoughts in which it has taken pleasure, is deprived of spiritual grace. What was acquired by many protracted labours is lost in a few hours, in a few minutes.

"A monk should not use wine at all," said Saint Poemen the Great. This rule ought to be followed by every pious Christian who wishes to preserve his chastity and virginity. The Holy Fathers followed this rule, and if they did use wine, it was extremely seldom and with the greatest moderation. Heating foods should be banished from the table of the abstinent since they arouse bodily passions. Such are pepper, ginger and other spices.

The most natural food is that which was assigned to man by the Creator immediately after his creation — food of the vegetable kingdom. God said to our fist parents: "Behold I have given you every seed-bearing plant, the sowing seed which is on the whole earth; and every tree which has within it the fruit of seminal seed shall be to you for food" (Gen. 1, 29). It was only after the flood that the use of meat was allowed (Gen. 9, 3).

Vegetable food is the best for an ascetic. It is less heating for the blood and less fattening for the flesh. The vapors and gases it produces and which rise to the brain affect it less. Finally it is the most wholesome because it produces less mucus in the stomach. For these reasons, when vegetable food is used, it is particularly easy to preserve purity and mental alertness, and the power of the mind over the whole man; also the passions act more feebly, and the person is more capable of engaging in the labours of piety.

Fish foods, especially those prepared from large sea fish, are of quite another kind. They act more perceptibly on the brain, fatten the body, heat the blood, and fill the stomach with harmful mucus, specially when they are frequently or constantly used.

These effects are incomparably more violent in the case of meat. It has an extremely fattening effect on the flesh, it causes a special corpulency, and heats the blood. The vapors and gases it produces are very oppressive to the brain. For this reason it is not used at all by monks. It is the prerogative of people living in the world who are always engaged in hard physical labor. But even for them the constant use of meat is harmful.

"What!" at this point would-be wiseacres exclaim, "Meat is allowed man by God, and do you forbid its use?" To this we reply in the words of the Apostle, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify" (1 Cor. 10, 23). We decline from the use of meat not because we regard it as unclean but because it produces a special corpulence in our whole constitution and hinders spiritual progress.

Holy Church, by her wise rules and regulations, has allowed Christians living in the world to use meat. Yet she does not allow its constant use, but has divided the year into seasons of meat-eating and seasons of abstinence from meat in which the Christian is detached from his meat-eating. This fruit of the fasts can be discovered by experience by everyone who keeps them.

For those living the monastic life the use of meat is forbidden. In its place the use of milk foods and eggs is permitted during the seasons of meat-eating. At certain times and on certain days the use of fish is permitted them. But mostly they can use only vegetable food.

Vegetable food is used almost exclusively by the most zealous ascetics and exponents of piety, especially those who have felt within them the movement of the Spirit of God,* on account of the convenience mentioned above and the cheapness of this food. For drink they use only water and avoid not only heating and intoxicating beverages but even nourishing ones like all the drinks made from bread.

The rules of fasting are appointed by the Church with the object of helping her children and to supply direction for the whole of Christian society. At the same time it is prescribed for everyone to examine himself with the help of an experienced and discerning spiritual father and not to. impose upon himself a fast which is beyond his strength. We repeat — fasting is for man, and not man for fasting. Food given for the support of the body should not be used to destroy it.

"If you control your stomach," said Saint Basil the Great, "you will mount to Paradise; but if you do not control it, you will be a victim of death."* Here by the name Paradise should be understood a state of grace and prayer, and by death a passionate condition. A state of grace during our life on earth serves as a pledge of our eternal beatitude in the heavenly Eden. A fall into the power of sin and into a state of spiritual deadness serves as a pledge of our fall into the abyss of hell for eternal torment.

Amen.

[MariaRegina]

From: Fr. Panagiotes Carras
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004
Subject: Great Lent


Our lives as Orthodox Christians should be a constant journey along the path that leads us to our true home land, the Kingdom of Heaven. This journey, however, is often interrupted by our slipping from the true path and following strange paths which lead away from our Saviour.

Great Lent is an opportunity for us to take account of the direction we have been following and intensify our struggle to return to the true path. This struggle is both physical and spiritual because both our body and our soul need to work together to overcome the physical and spiritual passions which lead us astray.

Fasting, which is part of our physical struggle, will be futile if it is not accompanied by spiritual struggles against the passions of anger, selfishness and pride. This is why during Great Lent our prayers are increased and we ask the Lord to give us the enlightenment to recognize how far we have strayed. More frequent attendance of Lenten Church Services, a concerted effort to study the word of God and sincere preparation for Holy Confession must accompany our fasting and in this way prepare ourselves to receive the Grace of the Resurrection of our Saviour.

Struggling is not just for monastics. It is the path for all Christians. The following list includes just a few books that will prove helpful to those who wish to embark on this Lenten struggle.

“The Homilies” of Saint Gregory Palamas

“The Arena” by Bishop Ignatios Brianchaninov

“The Spiritual Homilies” of Saint Makarios the Great

“The Ethical Discourses” of St. Symeon the New Theologian

“Discourses and Sayings” of Saint Dorotheos of Gaza

“Letters of Direction” of Saint Macarius of Optina

“Journey to Heaven” by Saint Theophan the Recluse

[MariaRegina]

http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/105/A%20DOUBLE.htm

Published by Sofia -- The Herald, January 2004

"DOUBLE? OR NOTHING?"

"A Word to the Wise is Sufficient!" so goes an ancient proverb. The
title of this article, however, is based not on a wise proverb but on
a gambler's call. Does it speak of recklessness or of solid assurance
of success? Laying aside any reference to gambling, this call could
be aptly applied to the mission effort of the Church in North America
in her service to her Christ.

The true nature of the Church is, by her divine calling, missionary.
Mission can be within a nation and to the outside. The concern of
this article is mission within the nation. In this regard, nation
refers to Canada, as well as, to the United States. Mexico has its
own particular needs.

Orthodoxy was brought to North America both through the planned
mission program of the Church of Russia and through the un-planned
establishment of parishes by immigrant faithful from other Orthodox
nations. In the first instance, the Church of Russia instituted an
authentic mission program to reach the Native Alaskans. In the second
instance, immigrants brought their faith with them to nourish and
comfort them in the New World with little concern to reach out to
others. One reached out to establish the faith, and the other turned
inward to preserve the faith.

After two hundred years of the existence of Orthodoxy in North
America, we find that these two missionary efforts continue: mission
to the outside mostly through the work of the Orthodox Christian
Mission Center (O.C.M.C.), while mission within is in the hands of hierarchs.

Every jurisdiction establishes new (mission) parishes. In most cases,
mission means establishing a worshiping community for a particular
ethnic group. In other words, it is the continuation of the activity
initiated by the early immigrants to these shores and tends to be
more conservative than missionary. Even those parishes which are
established as ?American? often have ethnic founders upon whom the
new community was based, and this patchwork gives the mission a
unique flavor.

There is a particular mission recently established under the
jurisdiction of an ethnic hierarch whose priest sends out postcards
reminding individuals of the forthcoming service schedule. Around the
edge of the postcard are invitations to Greeks, Russians, Romanians,
Serbians, Ukrainians, etc., to attend. This is an effort to reach out
to those who are already Orthodox but who have no "ethnic" church to
attend and who accommodate to a multiplicity of liturgical languages
along with English.

The Greek-American Community, unlike the former Iron Curtain Nations
(ICN), has enjoyed continuous immigration over the decades since the
Russian Revolution. Its ethnic identity remained strong while those
of the ICN nations were weakened by the shame of belonging to a
people labeled as communist and as the Red Threat.

With the apparent change of governments in the former ICN, Orthodox
immigration to North America has increased greatly. A multitude of
new missions for ethnic identifiable immigrants has been established
for Romanians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Russians, Ukrainians
and others. Thus, the growth in certain ethnic jurisdictions is based
on this mission within rather than mission to the outside. The Church
is taking care of her faithful wherever they may roam.

With the playing field of Orthodox immigration more or less leveled
out, is the Church effecting mission within the nation or is it still
merely maintaining and establishing communities for particular ethnic
groups? How strong is the hierarchs' conviction to reach out beyond a
particular ethnic pale? Is there a real concern? Only each hierarch
knows his own conviction. We do suggest that not enough is being done
to serve those of the ethnic groups who do not speak the language in
which the Divine Liturgy is being served in their particular parish.
Thus, the choice of the title, Double or Nothing. Both language
groups must be served. A hierarch who establishes English language
parishes is acting in a pastorally-responsible way befitting his role
as shepherd of the reason-endowed flock.

Does it not make sense and is it not a responsibility to create new
parishes using the English language for those faithful? Over the
decades, every ethnic church has lost the majority of their faithful,
because they no longer understood the language of the Divine
Services. They were lost, too, because their non-ethnic spouses were
not welcomed and the spiritual education of their children ignored.
They were lost, too, because they were judged as not being able to
fit into the inner-circle of the ethnic parish. They were lost, too,
by the droves, swallowed up by those who did serve them in an
understandable language, and large numbers enrolled in non-Orthodox
churches.

How often has hierarch, priest or layman said, "If they can't learn
the language then let them go elsewhere!" Among the many stories
reflecting this devastating attitude is that of a certain priest who,
when approached by a small group of his faithful interested in
learning more about the Bible in English, informed them that it was
not necessary and that they should spend time learning the language
of their forefathers. Today, that group is enlarged and exists as a
Pentecostal Community of Christians who study the Bible but are now
bereft of the sacraments and teachings of the Orthodox Church.

Some of the leaders of the Church, of thrice-blessed memory,
Metropolitan Anthony Bashir, Archbishop Valerian Trifa, Archbishop
Metrophan Noli, published by-lingual liturgical texts for use in
their ethnic parishes. We can also glory in the efforts of our Holy
Fathers Among the Saints, Bishop Innocent and Metropolitan Tikhon who
championed the use of the spoken tongue of the Alaskan Christians, in
addition to using Old Slavonic. Possibly the merit goes to the
Antiochian Church in North America that first established English-
speaking parishes, and most of the Dioceses of the Orthodox Church in
America establish new missions with English as the liturgical
language.

There is another story about the famous Orloff liturgical texts in
English printed in St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th Century and
shipped to North America. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Church
in America turned inward, became defensive, insisted on the use of
Old Slavonic over English and stored those beautiful books in the
recesses of some basement area. This conservative attitude can be
observed in all the ethnic Orthodox groups in North America which
were affected by control of their homelands by atheistic communist
governments. They must have felt as if they would become the remnant.
Although new generations did not learn the ethnic and liturgical
languages, neither did the Church learn the English language of the
land to sanctify it.

Furthermore, is it not incumbent upon the hierarchs to reach out to
the un-churched in a language they can understand? The most famous
example of the Slavonic-speaking Greek brothers, Saints Cyril and
Methodios of Thessalonika, bears witness to the absolute necessity
for intelligible communication of the teachings of Christ. There is
both the need to establish more English-speaking missions to serve
our faithful who do not speak one of the liturgical languages, as
well as to establish totally new missions to reach out to bring
others into the Church.

If the hierarchs, individually but much better in a synodal/collegial
way, were to establish parishes for their faithful who no longer
speak the ethnic language or cannot understand an archaic form of
liturgical language, the service to our Lord would be doubled! If the
hierarchs also established new missions as an outreach to the nation,
the witness would be quadrupled! Thus, there is a need for two kinds
of English speaking missions: those for the Orthodox who would be
lost because of the incomprehensibility of liturgical language and
for missions to the nation.

If we plant nothing, we reap the fruit of nothing. If we plant not,
others do and reap our faithful. Isolated from each, our left hand
knows not what our right is doing. We duplicate; we exacerbate; we
complicate. The Holy Spirit is economical and blesses that which is
well-planned. It is the same Holy Spirit, the Paraclete that gathered
the hierarchs together 10 years ago in Ligonier. The two documents
born of that unique SCOBA meeting held under the power of the Spirit
of Truth are the touchstone to what was stated, what was promised and
what has been implemented. We cannot gamble that which does not
belong to us, the faith given to us by the Lord. We have everything
to lose but also everything to gain! A reminder to the Wise is
sufficient.

+NATHANIEL, Archbishop
Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America
Orthodox Church in America

[nicodemus]

at a request via PM.
source: my priest's daily emails:

As to the movie, The Passion, which opens today,the
articles in recent bulletins have been put there to
show the reaction against the movie, sight unseen,
which reminds us of the hatred of Christ that is still
very real in the world. Do not assume I have
automatically endorsed the movie. It has been a good
opportunity, with Lent upon us, for discussing the
Orthodox teaching on the Cross (see Feb. bulletins).

The articles also suggested that Gibson has gone
overboard with the violence, whereas the Gospels are
very reticent in that aspect. That's an important
point. And this points to a different emphasis on the
Cross in the West as compared to Orthodoxy and the
ancient Church. The focus of the West since the schism
is on the extreme suffering and the vicarious
sacrifice (Christ is punished instead of us).
Orthodoxy focuses, as did the early Church, on
Christ’s sacrifice as His triumphant victory for us
against sin, death and the devil. Yes, His suffering
is real and fierce, but already people are saying the
movie “shows how it was”. Well, then people and the
movie are assuming a lot, if that’s the case.

Remember it is still a movie. One might go see it
during Lent some time, but the first week of Lent we
belong in church. Orthodoxy is not a Sunday religion.

In the Church is the only way Christ’s Passion will
ever heal us of our passions. Not by watching a movie.
And bare in mind, the only genuine spiritual
“experience” one can have from seeing it, is the
desire to repent of one’s sins and live anew for
Christ and in obedience to Him and the Church. Every
other “spiritual experience” is emotion that, however
sincere and heartfelt, will not save in the long run,
unless we have genuine repentance. That’s asking a lot
of a movie. Let’s not expect a movie to fix us (It may
indeed shock and horrify us - not sure how good that
is for our souls either...). But only Christ and the
Church can accomplish genuine healing and repentance.

[St. Tikon]

"One cannot have God as his father, who does not have the Holy catholic Church as his mother"

St. Cyril of Alexandria

[MariaRegina]

What is the most valuable thing on earth?

Time, because everything is acquired in time and all of man's business is conducted by time. You could have food, clothing, fabulous homes, wisdom - have all you want, but if you do not have time, it means - you have nothing.

What is the worst thing on earth for man?

The loss of time. Because by wasting time, we cannot acquire anything; we cannot have anything; by losing time, we lose everything. We even lose ourselves.

Another question: What do people value the least? And what is the most disorganized and the most squandered thing on earth?

Time. A large segment of the people live as if by guesswork, according to the accepted custom, day by day, year by year, not at all concerned about what they did with their days and years or how they lived their lives. Sometimes we mourn over the loss of some existing trifles, but we have no regrets at all, nor are we sorry, when we foolishly lose not just some petty cash, but the most precious minutes of our time.

This is why the Holy Apostle Paul cautions us against the useless waste of time and offers lawful provisions that we wisely regulate each minute of our life: "See then," says he, "that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as the wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15-16). When the Apostle says. "See then, redeem the time", with these words he wants us to understand that by time true happiness is also acquired, just as by money all things necessary for this physical life are purchased, and that consequently, the proper use of time is very similar to the use of money in good hands. A wise man will not lose a single penny foolishly; he will count exactly the entire amount which he has and will attach a special purpose for each cent. We must do exactly the same thing; and then we shall arrange our time; we must faithfully reckon with it, every hour and every minute must be determined for this or that purpose; every day must be redeemed with good deeds for our benefit and for the benefit of our neighbours. The Lord did not set aside one minute of our lives for idleness, harmful deeds, or simply to do nothing at all.

Bishop Jeremiah the Hermit

Courtesy of Photini

[MariaRegina]

Two page excerpt from "What is the Difference Between Orthodoxy and Western Confessions?" By Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky

...Christianity is a life-long pursuit of virtue. Christianity is a pearl for which the wise merchant of the Gospel parable has had to sell all his possessions. It would seem that in the course of history this self-denying step, this taking up of the cross, meant different things: at the time of the earthly life of the Savior it was joining His disciples and following Him; later it became confession of faith and martyrdom; then, from the fourth to the twentieth centuries, -- seclusion and monasticism. In fact, however, these various exploits were only the means towards one end, one goal -- gradual attainment of spiritual perfection on earth, of the freedom from passions, of all virtues, -- just as we ask in the prayer of St. Ephraim, repeating it over and over during Great Lent with many bows and prostrations:

[ O Lord and Master of my life, the spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition, and idle talk give me not. Prostration. But rather a spirit of chastity, humble-mindedness, patience, and love bestow upon me Thy servant. Prostration. Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my own failings and not to condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen. Prostration.]

"This is the will of God, your sanctification," -- says the Apostle; we can attain to it only by setting this as the main and the only goal of our life, by living for the sake of holiness. This is what the true Christianity is all about; this is the essence of Orthodoxy vs. the heterodoxy of the West. In this respect (and, consequently, by their nature) the Oriental heresies such as Monophysites and Armenians are much closer to Orthodoxy than are the Western: like us, they have set spiritual perfection as the goal of a Christian life, but they differ from us in the teachings about the conditions for the attainment of that goal.

5. Controversy over Perfection

-- Do the Western Christians really say that there is no need for moral perfection? Would they deny that Christianity commands us to be perfect?
-- They would not say that, but they don’t see it as the essence of Christianity, either. Moreover, in their view of perfection and the means to attain it they would disagree with us on every word; they would not even understand, let alone agree, that it is precisely moral perfection that is the goal of a Christian life -- and not merely the knowledge of God (as Protestants would say) or service to the Church (Roman Catholics), for which virtues, in their opinion, God Himself gives us moral perfection as a reward.

Moral perfection is gained by intensive, strenuous effort, by inner struggle, by deprivations, and most of all -- by self-humiliation. An Orthodox Christian, by virtue of sincerely and diligently following the spiritual discipline, participates to a large extent in that struggle: the discipline itself is designed to facilitate our gradual mortification of passions and acquisition of blessed perfection. In this we are assisted by our divine services, by the efforts in preparation for the Holy Communion, by fasting, and by that almost monastic order of Orthodox life, codified in our Typicon and followed by our ancestors before Peter the Great, and by all those who live by the tradition up until this very day.

In short, the Orthodox faith is an ascetic faith; Orthodox theological thought -- that which does not lie a dead scholastic baggage, but influences our life and spreads among the people -- is a study of the ways of spiritual perfection. As such it is manifest in our church services through theological statements, references to Biblical events, commandments and reminders of the Last Judgement.

This, of course, is not foreign to the Western denominations either; but they understand salvation as an external reward given either for a certain amount of good deeds (also external), or for an unflinching faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ. They have no knowledge, nor interest, in how a soul should gradually free itself from the bondage of passions, of how we should go from strength to strength on our way to freedom from sin and fullness of virtues. There are ascetics in the West, to be sure, but their life is dominated by dejected, senseless obedience to the age-old rules and requirements, for which they are promised forgiveness of sins and future eternal life. Eternal life has already appeared, as Apostle John says, and blessed communion with God is obtained by unflinching asceticism right now, in the words of St. Macarius the Great, -- all this is unknown to West.....

...If we trace all follies of the West, those developed in its religion as well as those rooted in its customs, which are transmitted to us through the "window of Europe," we will see them all stemming from ignorance of the nature of Christian faith as a personal struggle for gradual self-perfection. Such, for instance, is the Latino-Protestant concept of the Redemption as the revenge of the Divine Majesty, once offended by Adam, on Jesus Christ -- a concept which grew out of the feudal notion of knightly honor, restorable by shedding the blood of the offender; such is the material teaching about the Sacraments; such is also their teaching about the new instrument of Divine Revelation -- the Pope of Rome, whoever he might be in actual life; such, likewise, is the teaching of works of obligation and of supererogation. Such is, finally, the Protestant dogma of salvation through faith, which rejects the Church and her structure.

In all these fallacies Christianity is seen as something foreign to us, to our minds and hearts, some sort of negotiated agreement between us and the Godhead, stipulating, for reasons unknown, that we accept certain obscure statements and rules, and receive in return a reward of eternal salvation....

...And the reason for these follies is the failure to grasp the simple truth that Christianity is an ascetic religion, a teaching on gradual liberation from the passions, on the means and conditions of gradual acquisition of virtues, conditions both internal, that is, personal struggle, and external, that is, dogmatic tenets and grace-filled Mysteries, all having one purpose: to heal human sinfulness and lead us to perfection.

[MariaRegina]

Elder Joseph the Hesychast and the teaching of mental prayer which flowed from his letters

homily by Abbot Ephraim of Vatopaidi Monastery

The blessed elder Joseph the Hesychast is one of the most important figures of contempo rary Athonite monasticism. This monk is sanctified. His life is truly that of a contempo rary saint and his disciples have today inhabited nearly half of the Holy Mountain and are responsible for so many other women's monastery both within and outside of the Greek land.

It is said today by a pious mouth, which speaks the language of the Holy Spirit, that today's blessed renewal of the Holy Mountain is primarily the common work of Elder Sophrony, elder of the Monastery of the Forerunner in Essex with his excellent book concerning St. Silouan the Athonite, Elder Paisios the ascetic with his blessed presence of the Holy Land, and the disciples of the blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast. The tree is known by its fruits.

We firmly believe that the return of Athos to interiority and prayer and generally to Hesychast Theology is due largely to the presence of the sanctified Elder Joseph the Hesychast. As you will know from all that has circulated up to now about the blessed Elder Joseph, he was a man who did not possess the skill of worldly things, was not even a beginner among them. He studied to the second grade. And it is easy to see this if you look at a copy of one of his handwritten letters. But as a possessor of the fullness of divine grace, having achieved by full enlightenment of his grace- filled mind to ascend to the highest steps of Theology and become a perfected theologian. For we know that a theologian is not one who has studied in the modern Theological Schools but one in whom speaks God the Logos. Theology is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The blessed elder wrote concerning this, "When in obedience and stillness one purifies the senses and calms the mind and cleanses the heart, then he receives grace and enlightenment of knowl edge. He becomes all nous, all clarity, and filled with theology such that if three were writing they could not keep up with the flow. He spreads peace and complete inactivity of the passions throughout the body."

Theology according to the venerable Elder and generally in the Holy Fathers is a fruit of the divine Grace within us. Therefore the Holy Fathers view the monasteries of the desert as universities. The letters of the venerable Elder are true theological essays but are written without the canons of syntax and orthography. Searching the letters of the blessed Elder Joseph, anyone can well comprehend the great grace with which this perfected Athonite monk sent them. All the more so we who are his spiritual descendants and have the further fortune to have among us our Elder. He was among the spiritual children of the ever-memorable Elder and very often brings up something spiritual concerning his elder, Elder Joseph the Hesychast.

And we find ourselves in the place above all of the Orthodox Tradition, the Sacred Athos, where the love of the Mother of God pleads for us. We who live in the Theotokos-protected Monastery of Vatopaidi by the extreme tolerance of the great God, live the true meaning of the Orthodox Tradition.

Today much is said and emphasized concerning the Orthodox Tradition, and rightly so. But it is difficult in our days to find tradi tional people according to the fullness of the Orthodox sense. It is said that traditional people are those who study traditional - patristic books, and this is not wrong. But truly traditional people are those who have received the Orthodox life from people who possess it and can pass it on simply and unmistakingly.

Thus, for all our baseness, we experience this situation and we know personally the great blessing it is to receive directly the experience and skill of the Orthodox life. When our Elder narrates something to us of his spiritual father, our 'papou' as we call him, that is for us a great blessing, a spiritual harmony; it is a joy and happiness.

When one receives first hand the experience of the Holy Spirit, he senses in a intense manner that the Gospel is not something that happened 'at that time' but is a continuous life, in which is confirmed that 'Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and to the ages.'

As one studies the correspondence of the blessed Elder Joseph, the first thing noticed is his desire, his nostalgia, his pure wish to tell his fellowman to concern himself with the prayer of Jesus. Because when he came to Athos, he set as his aim to live like the old ascetics as he had read in the book of that day, Kalokairini, containing the lives of the saints.

The whole of the venerable Elder's life was his continual meditation in the Prayer of Jesus. He tried to apply the command of Paul, "pray without ceasing".

Every evening he had as his rule to occupy himself with the prayer of Jesus unwaveringly for six continuous hours. He left this precise method in one of his letters. "I knew a brother, who for six hours brought his mind down into his heart and did not permit it to go out from the ninth hour of the afternoon (about 3 pm) until the third hour of the night (about nine pm). He had a clock that struck the hours. And he became drenched in sweat. When he got up, he worked our the remainder of his debt." This manner of spiritual work, learned from the Fathers, shows great mental strength and a high spiritual condition. For it is truly rare, especially in our days, to find a mind that can pray unwaveringly for such a long time. The blessed Elder said that to accomplish such a great spiritual feat a person must compel himself in prayer and he emphasized: "Say the prayer all the time. don't rest your mouth at all. Thus it will become habitual in you and the mind will receive it.

The Hesychast Elder is one of the contemporary Athonite Elders who taught the details of the practice of noetic prayer, not only to monastics but also to the laity. According to the Elder, all people, without reference to their way of life, wherever they find themselves, and whatever they do, can undertake noetic prayer. The blessed elder wrote concerning this, "The practice of noetic prayer is to constrain yourself to say continually the prayer unceasingly with the mouth. Attend only to the words - 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me'. And you will experience sweetness as if you had honey in your mouth."

One who wants to practice noetic prayer systematically should not wait for particular moments which he sets aside for the prayer. The sanctified Elder, as a teacher of prayer, empha sizes: "Always say the prayer: sitting or in your bed or walking or standing. 'Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all things,' says the Apostle. You should not only pray when you lie down. It wants struggle: standing, sitting. When you tire, sit down, and then stand again. If you eat or work, don't stop the prayer."

The prayer, according to the blessed Elder, is the breath of life for the soul. And he advised concerning it: "Let 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me' be as your breath." Presuppositions of the Prayer The Warfare of the Devil in this Work
Therefore, great are the gifts, great the consolation, outstanding the sweetness, inde scribable the happiness, inexpressible the joy, deep the peace, infinite the love which are received on account of the prayer of Jesus.

The chief message of the Holy Mountain to the pious people of God is: As much as you can, say the prayer. Whatever we say, whatever we explain, is incapable by words to express the depth and breadth of the good results of the prayer of Jesus. To whom is due all glory, honor and worship to the ages. Amen!

Courtesy of Photini

[Photini]

http://www.rocor.org.au/stjohntheforerunnerchurch/articles/


There are articles from Archbishop Averky (Memory eternal!) on this site, as well as many other very good articles from holy Elders, Saints and Fathers of the Church.

[Suzannah]

"While we sit here in our virtual Temple, or on the doorsteps, there are people out there lost, dying, struggling, lying in the ditch and bleeding. Let us not forget why we are here, and how we might, as our morning prayers ask: Glorify Thy Holy name ..."


--Oblio, CF Moderator, the Ancient Way Forum

[MariaRegina]

Dear all,

There are problems with any version, primarily because it is a "version." But till we can all go learn Greek, we have to go with something. Considering only the modern ones and ignoring for the moment the Greek text base:

"Today's English" of the "Good News..." Bible is deliberately too simplistic.

The New Revised Standard succumbs to the PC agenda too much, rendering many things unusable. For example, the Christological import of Psalm 1 is neutered by "Happy are those..." and so on. Too bad, because the style is very readable and dignified. Also too many "Correction"s to enable PCness and to at times unnecessarily mask a perhaps difficult but clear meaning in the original (OK, which original?).

The Revised English Bible is too paraphrastic (although not as bad as its predecessor, the New English Bible). Also too bad because it is IMHO stylistically the best English. Also, over-use of "Probable Reading" for the reason cited above. PCness is kept down to a dull roar though.

The New Jerusalem Bible (and the old) is too annoying with "Yahweh" all over the place. Happy with LORD thanks.

NIV and NKJV? OK, I guess, but what happens when one wants a reading from the "Apocrypha/Deutero-Canonicals" as happens all over the Menaion? One is left wanting, or reverts to the Brenton.

The situation is too chaotic for an imprimatur. Even the other bodies recognize this and haven't come down with both feet in favor of anything.

Eliminating these, one is left with the KJV and/or the Challoner-Rheims old Catholic version, but I suppose in our post-literate stage of culture, there is too much deciphering to do for our lax dispositions. For my part, it's worth the trouble in the KJV's case for the sake of the imcomparables: Romans 8 ("There is therefore now no condemnation....") for example. One can have one of the above on the side or a glossary to help un-curl the occasional linguistic pretzels. It's more than worth it for the sense of the numinous qualities that can make one's hair stand on end.

God be with us though the climax of the story of our salvation.

Father George

[MariaRegina]

Perhaps this article by Presbytera Irene Matta, M. Th., can shed some light on it.

Paradise was not available to Adam and Eve once they had been driven away from its Tree of Life, preventing them to continue in the body of flesh and sin. The restoration of Human Nature by the Lord Jesus heals the wound, or the "sting" of Death. St. Paul declares with joy, that, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," giving his spiritual children comfort with these words.

In his first epistle to the Thessalonians (4:18), St. Paul writes that they were to comfort "one another" with the knowledge that Christ has overcome Death, and that they would be once again joined with their loved ones. Sheol, or Hades, is no longer the destination of the Christian after death, since the obedience and reconciliation of Man to God through Christ. Now, Paradise (though not yet Heaven) beckons to us as it did to Adam, the angels lead us into the presence of the Lord and into our heavenly rest to await the reunion with the body. The fullness of the Heavenly reward awaits that reunion.

The Hebrew "Sheol" is not equivalent to "hell" or "gehenna," or even to the Hellenic concept of "hades," a word which the fathers appropriated with a considerably different meaning. The apostles and the holy fathers used the Greek word hades synonymously with the Hebrew Sheol. It designates a "state or condition of being," not a physical location. It also designates the place or power of death; that which Christ conquered. It was not a state or condition without hope, for even among the most ancient books of the Bible, we find the holy prophet Job referring clearly to the resurrection of the body and its reunion with the soul. He prophesies, "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my transformation...and where is my hope now?...I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He will stand at the latter day upon the earth: and...in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself." [Job 14:14; 17:13; 19:25-26.]

Thus, Sheol or Hades was a certain darkness, figuratively or metaphorically referred to as "below the earth," describing a state of being for souls before the coming of Christ. It was, however, also a "land with promise," because the Old Testament faithful certainly hoped on the coming redemption and, as Prophet Job reveals, they connected that promised redemption with the hope of physical resurrection. Only after the Old Testament scriptures had been written was it understood that good and evil had a recompense after death, and that the soul could be aware of that coming recompense immediately after death; indeed, the soul might, by its very knowledge of the coming resurrection and judgment, endure already a certain psychological suffering for its deeds even before the resurrection.

St Gregory of Nyssa gives us an expression of the state of the soul immediately after death, saying:

"..the 'gulf' (in the Lazarus parable), which is not made by the parting of the earth, but by those decisions in this life which result in a separation into opposite characters. The man who has once chosen pleasure in this life, and has not cured his inconsiderateness by repentance, places the land of the good beyond his own reach; for he has dug against himself the yawning impassable abyss... that nothing can break through. This is the reason, I think, that the name "Abraham's bosom" is given to that good situation of the soul in which the Scripture makes the athlete of endurance repose.

For it is related of this patriarch first... that he exchanged the enjoyment of the present for the hope of the future; he was stripped of all the surroundings in which his life at first had passed, and resided among foreigners, and thus purchased by present annoyance future blessedness. As then figuratively we call a particular circular of the ocean a `bosom', so does the Scripture seem to me to express the idea of those measureless blessings above by the word 'bosom', meaning a place into which all virtuous voyagers of this life are, when they have put in from hence, brought to anchor in the waveless harbour of that bay of blessings. Meanwhile the denial of these blessings which they witness becomes in others a flame which burns the soul and causes the craving for the refreshment of one drop out of that ocean of blessings wherein the saints are affluent; which nevertheless they do not get...Surely the "hades" we have just been speaking of cannot reasonably be thought a place so named; rather we are told by Scripture about a certain unseen and immaterial condition [or, situation] in which the soul resides." [St. gregory of Nyssa - On The Soul and the Resurrection, para.54.]

St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus during the time of the Churchs battle against Arianism, uses magnificent poetic prose to tell his flock of Christ's Descent into Hades -- to those in Sheol who had hoped in the Promise of salvation through Gods Anointed. Adam hears His footsteps coming to rescue them from the hold of death and Satan, who reigned over death. With Christs coming, the gates of Hades were struck down (pictured in the Resurrection icon), and Satan, along with his demons, was routed. The holy bishop puts words of longing in Adams mouth as he hears his Saviour coming:

"Thereupon Adam turned towards all his fellow captives from ages past and said, 'I hear the sound of Someones feet advancing towards us, and if He deigns to come even to this place, we shall be freed of our bonds.. we shall be delivered from Hades! ..And the Master entered within, holding the Cross as a weapon of victory. ...[He says to Adam], 'I am thy God, Who for thy sake became thy Son, ....now I say Come Forth!, and to those in darkness, Be Enlightened!, and to those asleep, Arise! ...For I did not fashion thee to be held in Hades as a captive. ...Arise, My creation, arise, Mine image, who wast also made in My likeness!" [St. Epiphanius Homily on the Resurrection tran. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA.]

In this dramatic sermon, first preached at the Vigil of the Resurrection, the saint teaches us through Christs own words, about the recapitulation of Adams disobedience by Christs obedience, and the restoration of Adams nature (and our own), by His passion, death, and victory over death:

In a garden I was crucified. Behold upon My countenance the spittings which I received for thy sake so as to restore to thee the ancient in-breathing [of the Spirit]. ...Behold upon My back the scourgings which I accepted so as to scatter the burden of thy sins. ...Behold My hands, which unto good were nailed to the tree [of the Cross] for thee, who unto evil didst stretch forth thy hand to the tree [to sin]. ...I accepted the reed, so as to undersign [the writ of] freedom for the race of men. I slept upon the Cross, and by a blade was pierced in the side for thee, from whose side whilst thou wast sleeping in Paradise Eve was brought forth. ....My sleep shall wrest thee from the sleep of Hades; ...The bridal chamber is made ready, the delicacies are prepared, the eternal tabernacles and abodes are waiting, the treasuries of good things are thrown open, the Kingdom of Heaven has been prepared before the ages... [St. Epiphanius Homily on the Resurrection tran. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, MA.]


St Ambrose of Milan makes clear the condition of the soul and body after death, and the unity of the two, saying:

And this is the course and ground of justice, that since the actions of body and soul are common to both (for what the soul has conceived, the body has carried out), each should come into judgment...for it would seem almost inconsistent that...the mind guilty of a fault shared by another should be subjected to penalty, and the flesh, the author of the evil, should enjoy rest: and that that alone should suffer which had not sinned alone, or should attain to glory not having fought alone, with the help of grace.


St Irenaeus of Lyons is like-minded when he says:

For it is just that in the very same condition in which they (the body and the soul) toiled or were afflicted, being proved in every way by suffering, they should receive the reward of their suffering...


St Titus of Bostra, rebuking the Manicheans, confirms this thought in words quoted by St John the Damascene:

For the soul cannot enjoy anything, or possess, or do anything, or suffer, except it be together with the body, being the same as it was created in the beginning, and thus it enjoys that which is proper to it. This state is lost in death through the disobedience of Adam, and again through the obedience of the one Christ, through hope it receives (in the resurrection) again the state of being a person.


The soul, nevertheless, since it possesses man's intellectual faculties, is not comatose or ignorant of its fate. St. Irenaeus gives us a description of the state of humanity at death, before the resurrection joins the body to the soul, "[Souls after being parted from the body at death] possess the form of a man, so that they may be recognized, and retain the memory of things in this world; moreover, ....each class [of souls] receives a habitation such as it has deserved, even before the [Last] judgment." [That is, either they go to Abraham's Bosom or to Hades]


St Justin Martyr explains this further, "The souls of the pious remain in a better place [Abraham's Bosom], while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse place [Hades], waiting for the time of judgment."

Thus, the Church waits for the Lord of Glory to complete His work of redemption in us, to bring together body and soul, separated by death because of sin. St John's Apocalypse speaks to us who wait:

And the Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' And let him who thirsts...take water freely." (Rev.22:17)

courtesy of Rick

[MariaRegina]

by Archimandrite Vasileios

testifying about the truth

"The way someone upholds and confesses his truth is evidence of what its nature is. We have to know God in a godly manner and speak about Him accordingly. Thus only those who are free from anxiety and constraint of their own will and have given themselves over to the will of God can move about at their ease in the testimony of the truth, moved in a place of freedom, beyond all anguish, byt he Spirit of God Himself.

The free man is the man who is crucified.

The Apostle Peter's bravado is a transient illusion, powerless before the temptations of life. The big brave man falters when faced with a servant girl. The thief was not afraid because he was crucified. Peter denied Christ because he feared crucifixion. The free man is the man who is crucified. A dead man does not fear death. No one can lose what he does not have. No one who has security can know God. No one who has worldly defences, like Peter, can believe. Inevitably, with curses and oaths he will confess the truth--that he does not know Christ. Then, after this painful process of self-emptying and feeling of total ignorance, will come weeping and faith will blossom. Worn out by much weeping like a baby child, Peter becomes once again the rock of faith. This is why the Lord will give the command, "Tell the diciples and Peter."

Anyone who is armed ... is not free ... is a slave of fear.

Anyone who is armed has not conquered fear. Only someone who is voluntarily exposed to every danger has God within him. He knows God inasmuch as he is in Him. If you see enemies before and defend yourself, you are not free. Your kingdom is of this world which passes away. You are a slave. If you see others as strangers to you, you do not know yourself. The Jews mocked the Lord on the Cross: "He saved others; He cannot save Himself." They did not know that the others whom He saved were Himself. He Himself had not need of salvation of defence. He is our salvation and our sanctity.

To confess the Orthodox faith means to be crucified

To confess the Orthodox faith means to be crucified, to become all things to all men so that all may be able to partake in the one life. For if you have truly tasted this life even once, you are never going to forget it. You do not simply remember it; you are flooded with it, and it becomes a spring of water welling up. You become "mad', in the words of Abba Isaac, so that the rest of your brothers may become partakers in the quality of Christ; so that the children of our forefather Adam may become partakers in the New Adam, in the Paradise of delight and the food which is broken and not divided.

Being sacrificed here means being lost to life and flooded with eternity. The other person is myself. In the words of Evergetinos, "The other person is my God."

The Orthodox, the saint, loves all people and things even before he knows them. He knows them through love. When you draw near to the saint, you see that he cares for you; he knows you and embraces you before he sees you. You see that he loved you before you realized it; that he is your innermost self, your own depths, at once familiar and unknown, and not something alien. In him you come to know love. He puts love before himself. His own self emerges from love and is nourished by being offered to It: "God is love" (1 John 4:8)

Anyone who does not love is not free.

Anyone who does not love is not free. Love casts out fear. It burns everything up. A merciful heart is "a heart which burns for all creation, for men and birds and animals and demons, and for every creature. As he calls them to mind and contemplates them, his eyes fill with tears. From the great and powerful feeling of compassion that grips the heart and from long endurance his heart diminishes, and cannot bear to hear or see any injury or any tiny sorrow in creation. This is why he constantly offers prayer with tears for dumb beasts, and for enemies of the truth, and for those who hurt him, that they may be protected and shown mercy; likewise he prays for the race of creeping things, through the great compassion which fills his heart immeasurably, in the likeness of God." (Abba Isaac, Logos 81, p.306)
Stretched upon the wood of the Cross man is at peace, when he is crucified as an offering of love to others. There is no state or place in which human nature is at peace more deeply, more truly and theanthropically, than in crucifixion and on the Cross of love. There is no greater comfort than this pain. Then he is not upholding just one part. He is not interested in anything partial, and cannot live in the hell of halves and hatred. He cannot watch another suffer. He embraces everything. All things are his. He is crucified for them all. He is someone universal and serene.

An Orthodox Icon of the Lord's Crucifixion ... manifests the tranqujility of the One, the King of Glory who is at peace in the calm of love.

An Orthodox Icon of the Lord's Crucifixion does not show us the pain of someone suffering from his nail wounds, but manifests the tranquility of the One, the King of Glory who is at peace in the calm of love. He is nailed to the Cross, offered voluntarily for the life and salvation of the world. And this act cannot be called death, but is life and increase without end.

When the Orthodox creates theology, works, or is crucified, he is "lost" in order to leave room free for the entry of Him who saves everyone. This occupation by the Lord, this coming and the expectation of universal salvation, the price of which is the death of man's own soul, constitutes man's personal salvation; it bestows upon him his true dimensions and the calm of Paradise which he earnestly awaits, and takes him up into a state of trinitarian self-awareness.
-------
The Orthodox is someone universal: what is Orthodox concerns, summarizes, and saves the whole. It leaves nothing outside. Its extent is the infinity of death and its structure the freedom of the Spirit. What is not Orthodox is partial, inadequate and unsteady, provocative and misleading for everyone.
The Church bears the sign of the Cross and of tranquility on its brow (Rev 7:3); it bears the mark of the Trinity as the mainstay of its life and existence.
--------

courtesy of Photini

[MariaRegina]

"If we want to ask the Lord, as the Apostles did, why we cannot remove by our theological meetings and efforts the one obstacle closing the road to Christian unity, He will certainly give us the same answer as He gave then: "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting" (Mark 9:29). When they bring the sick boy to Jesus' feet--asking that His will may be done and wishing to save the boy's life and not his human aspect--then Christ intervenes to give healing, to give pain and resurrection. "...He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.' And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, 'He is dead.' But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose' (Mark 9:25-27)."

~Archimandrite Vasileios, Hymn of Entry

Courtesy of Photini

[MariaRegina]

http://www.metropolit-anthony.orc.ru/eng/eng_04.htm

The Old Testament Vision

"When we read the Old Testament we may at moments think of the world once created by God moving and developing before the face of its Creator, and called one day to be judged. This vision is so poor and so inadequate to what the Old Testament teaches us. The fact that God called us, all the world visible and invisible, the fact that God called all things and beings out of naught, out of radical non-existence, into existence is already a relationship. We are related to God by this act of creation and in this act of creation. When we think that whatever and whoever he called into existence is called to be a companion of God for all eternity, we can see the depth of the divine love and the extent of the divine risk. Because we are free to accept the love of God and to reject it we can frustrate this love or fulfil this love. But God's love remains immutable and he remains faithful for ever. He creates each of us in hope and in faith, and at moments when our faith vacillates and our hope sways and wavers we can rest in the divine faith and in the divine hope. When we think that the cost of our faithlessness and our waverings is paid by God in the life and death of the Incarnate Word then we can rest assured in his love."

This may be worth posting in a general area where a greater number of people could read and be blessed by it.
His unworthy servant,
Eusebios.

[MariaRegina]

"...the liturgy is served on earth, it is accomplished in heaven. But most important is the fact that what is accomplished in heaven is already accomplished, already is, already has been accomplished, already given. Christ has become man, died on the cross, descended into hades, arisen from the dead, ascended into heaven, sent down the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, which we have been commanded to perform "until He comes", we do not repeat and we do not represent- we ascend into the mystery of salvation and new life, which has been accomplished once, but is granted to us "always, now and forever and unto ages of ages." And in this heavenly, eternal and otherworldly eucharist Christ does not come down to us, rather we ascend to Him."

Alexander Schmemann 1988


Courtesy of Alfred M

[MariaRegina]

A CHRISTIAN FAMILY TREE
Years ago, I remember the nation being transfixed by Alex Haley’s epic Roots
television miniseries.

In fact, the story of Roots resonates so much with Americans because many
of us have grown up in a culture without roots, without any knowledge of
our heritage. This may account for the fact that “Family Tree” software
is always one of the best-selling kinds of software in America. We are
a nation hungry for the sense of stability that comes from knowing our
past.

But is knowing our past sufficient? It is at least a start in the right
direction, because to know myself I should know where I came from. Such
is the mystery of communion and the very real connection we have with our
earthly family.

If our connection with our earthly family can have such an impact on life,
how much more the spiritual connection we have with Christ and His body
through our faith.

St. Peter describes our new connection with Christ and His Body like this:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but
now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.”
(I Peter 2:9-10)

While all of us have some ethnic background from which we can rightly draw
wisdom, it seems this new connection to Christ and His Church connects
us to something (or Someone) with claims superior to all other loyalties
and families. Our Christian heritage offers us an eternal connection to
something that is itself eternal. While earthly heritages and family trees
come and go, and while earthly cultures change due to this or that influence,
faith in Christ and the timeless truths of Orthodoxy are unchanging and
eternal.

If all of this is true, why would a wise man choose that which is temporary
over that which is eternal?

In light of this, my discussion this week with Terry Mattingly on some
of the Celtic saints who shone forth in the Church before the Great Schism
between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy offers us a unique look
at the life of one particular saint that sheds light on a part of my eternal
heritage that I simply didn’t know much about.

Terry and I will talk about St. Brendan and his possible journey to America
centuries before Columbus. This is the first part in a series we will do
on pre-schism saints we hold in common with our Western Christian brethren.

It’s a CRTL program you won’t want to miss.

Until next week.

Yours for the spread of Orthodoxy,

Fr. Chris Metropulos

[Matrona]

"Once, hell was full of captives. Now it is staffed by volunteers." --Alex Slepukhof

[Suzannah]

"Just my opinion: The Evil One loves to see us get mad and bite back.

This is a really big discussion board, with thousands of people reading the posts. Why give atheists, agnostics and pagans any reason to say, "There, you see? It doesn't work." To them, Christian is Christian - they don't care about all the various labels (Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, etc.).

We believe that our church is The Church. Frankly, I still believe that The Church ought to be detectably different from, yes, better than, the others. Do we love more than they do? Maybe it's time I thought that over again. If Orthodoxy doesn't produce love, then it is worth nothing. "Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels..." "

--countrymousenc, CF member and poster extraordinaire! :)

[Photini]

"In regards to your being alone, ina sense all of us Orthodox Christians are "alone", just as our Savior was alone all of His earthly life. We Orthodox are the "odd man out", we never quite fit in, and our friends and family think that we have gone over the edge and joined some exotic and strange religion. Our Savior came to save His own,and they hated Him. We who have become Orthodox have given up the comfort of the world we knew, and have set out on a different course, having Faith sometimes as our only companion."

~Hieromonk Averky (+2004)

May his memory be eternal!

[Matrona]

"I read a little book by Bishop Paul Moore [Episcopalian bishop of New York]--the explanation of his ordination of a lesbian to the priesthood. In a way, it is an extraordinary book, extraordinary as a witness to the radical transformation of Christian love into something quite different, literally quite opposite. The author does not see, does not understand that if Christian love were what he makes it to be, the whole Christian teaching, the whole Gospel would be totally meaningless. The question is essentially about the earthly happiness of man, i.e., not about man's denial of self for the sake of a new life, but on the contrary, about Christianity as a method of self-acceptance. Even the enemies of Bishop Moore do not see it. For them, there is good sex and bad sex (homosexuality). They do not understand that in the area of sex, we deal with the fallen world, so that Moore seems to be defending love against moralists and Pharisees. People do not understand that grace liberates us, before anything else, from ourselves, from our enslavement by flesh and blood ('It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me' Galatians 2:20) Here, Christianity is the affirmation of the natural man with all his lust... Amazing that people of Moore's type, educated, theologians, simply do not see this radical substitution."

--Father Alexander Schmemann, journal entry of Friday, September 7, 1979, from The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann, translated by Juliana Schmemann

[nicodemus]

Do not look for status or glory on this earth, but
seek only the good opinion of God himself. Desire God
alone, that He may desire you, and so guide you into
His eternal Kingdom. Listen to me not because I am
your chosen pastor, but because as someone who is
shortly to die I have no reason to deceive you: as
death approaches, the truth is all that matters.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch (+110), under arrest by
Roman guards, on his way to Rome to be martyred –
thrown to lions in the arena.

[MariaRegina]

August 6, 2004

The Weekly Newsletter of the Orthodox Christian Network
Have Faith In What You Listen To!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's message from Father Christopher Metropulos
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

WORSHIP IS A VERB
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the phrase, “worship is a verb.”
It struck me as so profound and yet so obvious. Worship is something you
DO.


But it is also so easy to forget in a culture that has lost the memory
of community life. We have watched as Christian worship in this nation
and throughout the West has become a spectator sport, as Americans seek
their religious experience tailor-made for their own personal preferences.


Now, one may say that this isn’t all bad. At least people are interested
in spiritual things, right? Well, the best way to discern the effects of
any mindset is to look at the fruit it produces.

Has this emphasis on “have-it-your-way” spirituality and worship produced
good fruit?

Let me give my own thoughts on this by saying there are now more than 65
million unchurched American. While more and more people say they want
spirituality, many Americans really know very little about the Christian
faith beyond the most basic statement of Christian belief. Even most Christians
who attend church regularly are surprisingly uninformed about their own
faith. Is this emphasis on super individualism really producing strong
disciples of Jesus Christ?

I would suggest that there is something missing from the modern Christian
landscape. And what is missing is the notion that Christians are meant
to be primarily and fundamentally worshippers of God. While we certainly
should be people of service, people who reach out, and people who relieve
the suffering of the world and bring the peace of Christ, we can’t become
that kind of people without a transforming relationship with Christ.

We become the kind of people who live the way I describe above by learning
how to worship God in intimacy and community. I become the man I was created
to be only when, from a time of worship that truly brings me into the presence
of Him Who alone can truly change me, I find myself shaped, transformed,
challenged, and released into the world.

It all begins with worship.

Will just any kind of worship suffice? Yes and No.

God accepts our praise as authentic expressions of love for Him. Just like
I will accept a fist full of wildflowers from the hand of my 9-year-old
with all the joy of a bouquet of roses, so God accepts all of our attempts
to worship Him from a sincere heart. But there comes a time when I am old
enough to truly view my worship of God through the eyes of an adult, and
understand the mature act of authentic adoration that can only come from
a grownup mind and heart. It is then that we fulfill the command of the
Psalmist to “make His praises glorious.

>From the Old Testament where God told Moses to fashion the Tabernacle from
the pattern he had seen in heaven, to the choreographed adoration of the
24 elders in the book of Revelation, God has revealed to us that we are
best shaped in worship when it is patterned not from the haphazard whims
of our emotions, but from the learned wisdom of the Spirit given to His
people through the ages.

No wonder the New Testament called the worship of the people of God “liturgy,”
which literally means “the work of the people.”

So, Christian worship has always had two basic hallmarks: Intimacy and
Order. Intimacy, because it is only in my intimate relationship with Christ
that I can be transformed, and Order, because I was not meant to be by
myself in this work of salvation.

This week Emmy and I talk with Fr. Stylianos Muksuris. He is the pastor
of St. George Cathedral in Manchester, New Hampshire, and he joins us this
week to talk about just how Christian worship has been done through the
centuries. You may be surprised to learn that worship has always had a
pattern, and it still does today.

We will also hear more of my interview with Archbishop DEMETRIOS from the
recent Clergy/Laity Congress for the Greek Archdiocese in New York City.


I continue to be encouraged by the notes you send. Please keep writing
and include details on how we can pray for you here at Come Receive The
Light.

Until next week.

Yours for the spread of Orthodoxy,

Fr. Chris Metropulos

[Constantine]

Orthodox Tradition:

"Tradition is the witness of the Spirit."
-- George Florovsky

Another good quote:

"From the Holy Spirit there is the likeness of God, and the highest of all things to be desired, to become God."

-- Saint Basil the Great

[nicodemus]

Patience, forgiveness and joy are the three greatest
characteristics of divine love. They are
characteristics of all real love - if there is such a
thing as real love outside divine love. Without these
three characteristics, love is not love. If you give
the name 'love' to anything else, it is as though you
were giving the name 'sheep' to a goat or a pig.

-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

[Reader Nilus]

Saints and Spirit-Bearers: Models for Orthodox Women by Mother Maria Rule (http://www.incommunion.org/incommunion/models.asp)

In Bishop Nikolai's Prologue there is a wonderful incident about fasting involving Jeladin Bey, who ruled Ochrid in the first half of the previous century, and Metropolitan Kalinik, who was head of the church at that time.

Jeladin and Kalinik, although of different faiths, were very good friends and often visited each other. It happened that Jeladin Bey condemned 25 Christians to death by hanging, and the execution was to take place on Great Friday. The Metropolitan, deeply distressed by this event, went to Jeladin and besought him to mitigate the sentence. While they were talking the hour of the midday meal arrived, and the Bey invited the metropolitan to eat with him. A dish of lamb had been prepared for the meal. The metropolitan excused himself, as the fast prevented him from remaining to eat, and prepared to leave. The Bey was angry and said to him: "Choose: either you eat with me and free 25 people from hanging, or you refrain and they hang." The metropolitan crossed himself and sat down to lunch, and Jeladin freed the people from the death sentence.

Bishop Nikolai introduces this account with the words: "Fasting is a great thing, but love is greater."

[MariaRegina]

- Once when I was there where I was (India), some foreign missionary came and said to me, “You may be a good woman, but you’re not a good Christian.”
- I said, “Why?”
- “Because you have been here so long and you only go about speaking English. What local languages have you learned?”
- I said to him, “I haven’t managed to learn any of the local languages, because I travel a great deal from place to place. As soon as I learn one dialect, they start speaking another. I’ve only learned ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good evening.’ Nothing else.”
- “Bah, you’re no Christian. How can you evangelize? All the Catholics and Protestants learn all the local dialects in order to . . .”
- Then I said, “Lord, give me an answer for him.” I asked it with all my heart, and then I said, “Ah. I forgot to tell you. I know five languages.”
- “Really? What are these five?”
- “The first is the smile; the second is tears. The third is to touch. The fourth is prayer, and the fifth is love. With these five languages I go all around the world.”
- Then he stopped and said, “Just a minute. Say that again so I can write it down.”
With these five languages you can travel the whole earth, and all the world is yours. Love everyone as your own–without concern for religion or race, without concern for anything.
Everywhere are people of God. You never know if the one you see today might tomorrow be a saint. - Mother Gavrilia

"The Ascetic of Love"
Courtesy of icxn

[MariaRegina]

"Be a good example. No need to say a word. That's how Orthodox Evangelism works."

-- icxn

[MariaRegina]

"Religion is needed where there is a wall of separation between God and man. But Christ who is both God and man has broken down the wall between man and God. He has inaugurated a new life, not a new religion."

-- Father Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, from his book For the Life of the World

Courtesy of Forgivensinner001

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

--James 1:27

Courtesy of Monica, Child of God

[Dewi Sant]

I especcially like the first quote.

It is so true.

[MariaRegina]

The icon is an artistic depiction of Christ, the Mother of God and the Saints. God the Father cannot be painted, because He has never been seen. God the Holy Spirit has appeared as a dove and as "tongues of fire." He may be shown in this way. God the Son became a man, and He may be painted in His human form.

Icons are more than sacred pictures. Everything about them is theological. For example, they are always flat, flat so that we who inhabit the physical world will understand that the world of the spirit where Christ, His Mother, the angels, the saints, and the departed dwell, is a world of mystery which cannot be penetrated by our five senses.

Customarily, Roman Catholicism has historically employed statues in its worship. The statues are life-like and three-dimensional. They seem to imitate the art of ancient Greece. Both arts are naturalistic. The Latins portray Christ, the Mother of God, the saints, even the angels, as if they were in a state of nature. This "naturalism" stems from the medieval idea that "grace perfects nature."

The person or persons are represented on the icon as deified. He or she is not a perfect human being, but much more: They are transfigured and glorified. They have a new and grace-filled humanity.

Important to remember is the Latin theory of grace: It is created by God for man. Orthodoxy teaches, as we recall, that grace is uncreated, and impacts all creation. It is a mysterious extension of the Divine Nature. Orthodox iconography reflects this truth, even as Roman Catholic statues reflect its idea of grace.

Again, icons are a necessary part of Orthodox piety. The Orthodox honor and kiss icons, a devotion which passes from the icon to the person or persons represented in them. Icons are not idols and the Orthodox do not worship them. Worship is reserved for God alone. The statues set up in Roman Catholic temples are not commonly venerated; they are visual aids and decorations.

as quoted from Fr. Michael Azkoul (http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html)

[moses916]

120 Wise Sayings of the Holy Fathers (http://www.balamandmonastery.org.lb/fathers/indexsayings2.htm)

[turtlemom2]

The holy fasters did not approach strict fasting suddenly, but little by little they became capable of being satisfied by the most meagre food. Despite all this they did not know weakness, but were always hale and ready for action. Among them sickness was rare, and their life was extraordinarily lengthy.
To the extent that the flesh of the faster becomes thin and light, spiritual life arrives at perfection and reveals itself through wondrous manifestations, and the spirit performs its actions as if in a bodiless body. External feelings are shut off, and the mind that renounces the earth is raised up to heaven and is wholly immersed in the contemplation of the spiritual world.
~*~ Venerable Seraphim of Sarov

[turtlemom2]

Let thy mind fast from vain thoughts; let thy memory fast from remembering evil; let thy will fast from evil desire; let thine eyes fast from bad sights: turn away thine eyes that thou mayest not see vanity; let thine ears fast from vile songs and slanderous whispers; let thy tongue fast from slander, condemnation, blasphemy, falsehood, deception, foul language and every idle and rotten word; let thy hands fast from killing and from stealing another's goods; let thy legs fast from going to evil deeds: Turn away from evil, and do good.
~*~ Saint Tichon of Zadonsk

[turtlemom2]

We are told: It is no big deal to eat non-Lenten food during Lent. It is no big deal if you wear expensive beautiful outfits, go to the theater, to parties, to masquerade balls, use beautiful expensive china, furniture, expensive carriages and dashing steeds, amass and hoard things, etc. Yet what is it that turns our heart away from God, away from the Fountain of Life? Because of what do we lose eternal life? Is it not because of gluttony, of expensive clothing like that of the rich man of the Gospel story, is it not because of theaters and masquerades? What turns us hard-hearted toward the poor and even toward our relatives? Is it not our passion for sweets, for satisfying the belly in general, for clothing, for expensive dishes, furniture, carriages, for money and other things? Is it possible to serve God and mammon, to be a friend to the world and a friend to God, to serve Christ and Belial? That is impossible.
Why did Adam and Eve lose paradise, why did they fall into sin and death? Was it not because of one evil? Let us attentively consider why we do not care about the salvation of our soul, which cost the Son of God so dearly. Why do we compound sin upon sin, fall endlessly into opposing to God, into a life of vanity? Is it not because of a passion for earthly things and especially for earthly pleasures? What makes our hearts become crude? Why do we become flesh and not spirit, perverting our moral nature? Is it not because of a passion for food, drink, and other earthly comforts? How after this can one say that it does not matter whether you eat non-Lenten food during Lent? The fact that we talk this way is in fact pride, idle thought, disobedience, refusal to submit to God, and separation from Him.
~*~ Holy Righteous St. John of Kronstadt

[turtlemom2]

Fasting consists not just of eating rarely, but also of eating little. And not just in eating only one meal, but in not eating much. Foolish is the faster, who waits for a specific time [to eat a meal], but then at the time of the meal is completely consumed, body and mind, with insatiable eating.
~*~ Venerable Seraphim of Sarov

[turtlemom2]

“There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God's Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration. ‘Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?’ (Rom. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, nor our infirmity God's omnipotence.”
~*~ St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ