MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Administrator

St. Cyril of Jerusalem:
313-386 AD

3. Wouldest thou learn that to comprehend the nature of God is impossible?
The Three Children in the furnace of fire, as they hymn the praises of God, say Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the Cherubim.
Tell me what is the nature of the Cherubim, and then look upon Him who sitteth upon them. And yet Ezekiel the Prophet even made a description of them, as far as was possible, saying that every one has four faces, one of a man, another of a lion, another of an eagle, and another of a calf; and that each one had six wings, and they had eyes on all sides; and that under each one was a wheel of four sides.
Nevertheless though the Prophet makes the explanation, we cannot yet understand it even as we read. But if we cannot understand the throne, which he has described, how shall we be able to comprehend Him who sitteth thereon, the Invisible and Ineffable God? To scrutinize then the nature of God is impossible: but it is in our power to send up praises of His glory for His works that are seen.

(NPNF Second series, volume 7, lecture 9, ON THE WORDS, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, AND OF ALL THINGS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE)

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What Do Angels Smell?

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Administrator

The fathers told of a well known old man that as he was walking in the desert he saw two angels walking with him, one on the right and one on the left. As they went on they came across a corpse lying in the way. The old man held his nose because of the smell, and the angels did likewise. After a little while the old man said, “So you smelt him too?”  “Not at all,” replied the angels. “It was because of you that we held our noses. We can’t smell the smells of the world, they don’t affect us. What we do smell is the smell in the souls of sinners.”

De Vitis Patrum, Book VI, Libellus 3, Text #18

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On the many forms of vainglory

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Administrator

The Ladder of Divine Steps – John Climacus, Step 22

On the many forms of vainglory  

3.The spirit of despair rejoices at the sight of increasing vice, and the spirit of vainglory at the sight of increasing virtue. The door of the first is a multitude of wounds, and the door of the second is a wealth of labours.

5. The sun shines on all alike, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instance, I am vainglorious when I fast, and when I relax the fast in order to be unnoticed I am again vainglorious over my prudence. When well-dressed I am quite overcome by vainglory, and when I put on poor clothes I am vainglorious again. When I talk I am defeated, and when I am silent I am again defeated by it. However I throw this prickly-pear, a spike stands upright.

7. Every lover of self-display is vainglorious. The fast of the vainglorious person is without reward and his prayer is futile, because he does both for the praise of men.

17. It is not he who depreciates himself who shows humility (for who will not put up with himself?) but he who maintains the same love for the very man who reproaches him.

[THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT St. John Climacus, Translated by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Harper & Brothers, 1959)]

 

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Few Men

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Administrator

6. Few men receive both power and wisdom from God. Through power we partake of divine blessings; through wisdom we manifest them. This participation and this communication to others is a truly divine gift, beyond man’s unaided capacity.

(St Gregory of Sinail, Philokalia, Volume 4, P 213, Text #6)

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Promises of The Spirit

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Administrator

7. For the faithful, truth-loving soul, looking to the eternal blessings laid up for the righteous, and to the unspeakable benefit of the grace of God that is to visit it, esteems itself, and its diligence and pains and labour, all unworthy in comparison with the unspeakable promises of the Spirit. This is the poor in spirit, whom the Lord pronounced blessed; this is he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness ; this is he who is contrite in heart.
Those who take upon them this purpose and diligence and pains and longing after virtue, and continue therein to the end, will be enabled to obtain life and the eternal kingdom in truth.
Therefore let no brother be exalted against his brother, or proceed to form an opinion of himself under the cheating influence of sin, to think,”Behold, I for my part possess a spiritual gift.” It is not fit that Christians should have these notions. You know not what the morrow may do for him; you are ignorant what his end will be, and what your own. Let each give heed to himself, and examine his own conscience at all times, and try the work of his heart, what diligence and striving towards God his mind has; and looking towards the perfect mark, of liberty, and of freedom from passions, and of the Spirit’s rest, let him run without stopping and without ‘sloth, never satisfied with any spiritual gift or with any righteous attainment.
Glory and adoration to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever. Amen.

(Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian, Homily xxix, P. 221, Text # 7)

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We Made This World Look Absurd

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Administrator

VI.iii.15. The fathers said that a certain Macarius was the first to set up a monastery in Scete. That place is a long way off from Nitria, distant by a journey of about a day and a night. There are many dangers for those who would go there. None but the strong are able to survive in that harsh place; it is totally arid, furnishing nothing of what is necessary for life. This Macarius, a townsman, at one stage joined up with Macarius the Greater, and when they came to cross the Nile, it so chanced that they were able to board a sizeable ship along with two tribunes whose possessions proclaimed their importance. They had a bronze chariot, the horses had golden bridles. A number of soldiers were with them, their slaves had ornamental necklaces, some of them with golden girdles. When these tribunes saw the two old monks sitting in a corner dressed in rags they reverenced them for their poverty.
One of the tribunes said to them, “Blessed are you, for you have made this world look absurd.”
The Macarius who came from the town said, “We have indeed made this world look absurd, but this world makes you look absurd. For you must know that you did not realise the full import of what you have just said, since we are both us called ‘Macarius’, which does in fact mean ‘blessed’.” And the tribune so stirred by his words that he went back home, discarded his expensive clothing and became a monk after giving much alms.

De Vitis Patrum Vi, Libellus 3

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A True Sanctuary

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Administrator

7. A true sanctuary, even before the life to come, is a heart free from distractive thoughts and energized by the Spirit, for all is done and said there spiritually. If we do not attain such a state in this life, we may because of our other virtues be a stone fit for building into the temple of God; but we will not ourselves be a temple or a celebrant of the Spirit.

(St Gregory of Sinail, Philokalia, Volume 4, P 213, Text #7)

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Which is more important for salvation, who you are or what you do?

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Administrator

VI.iii.13 A brother asked an old man, “Which is more important for salvation, who you are or what you do?”
The old man replied; “What you do.
I know a brother who was praying once and his prayer was heard. A thought had come into his mind that he would like to see the way in which the souls of both the righteous and the wicked were taken up out of the body. And God satisfied his desire, so that as the brother was sitting in his cell a wolf came in and tugged at his clothing, dragging him outside. With the brother following, the wolf led him towards a city and then left him. He found himself inside a monastery near the city where there was a renowned solitary who was ill and at the point of death. He saw great quantities of tapers and candles being arranged around that solitary, as if it had all been owing to him that God had kept the inhabitants of that city safe and provided them with food and water, and that if that should come to an end we should all die.
“But at the hour of that solitary’s death that brother saw a denizen of hell with a fiery trident descending on to him and heard a voice saying, ‘Inasmuch as that soul never ceased to cause me unease in this life, so have no pity on it as you come to pluck it out.’ The demon then plunged his trident into the solitary’s heart, tormenting him for several hours before plucking out his soul.

“The brother then went into the city and found a pilgrim lying on a sick bed, with no one to look after him, and stayed with him for the whole day. The hour of his death drew nigh, and the brother saw Michael and Gabriel coming down towards his soul. They sat one on each side of him and entreated the soul to come out of him but it would not, as if reluctant to leave the body.
“Gabriel said to Michael, ‘Tear out his soul and let us go.’
“But Michael replied, ‘We have orders from God that it should depart painlessly, so we cannot tear it out.’
“Michael then cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, what do you want us to do with this soul that will not agree to leave the body’
“And a voice came saying, ‘See now, I am sending David with his harp and all the singers of Jerusalem, so that when he hears the psalm they sing he will come out.’
“As they all descended around him singing their hymns the soul came out into the hands of Michael and was taken up with great joy.”

De Vitis Patrum VI, Libelus 3

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He Wrote on the Walls

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Administrator

24. The foul fiend whispered praise into the heart of an ascetic who was striving for blessed humility, but by divine inspiration he contrived to conquer the guile of the spirits by a pious ruse. He rose and wrote on the wall of his cell the names of the highest virtues in order, that is: perfect love, angelic humility, pure prayer, inviolable chastity and others like these. And so when thoughts of vainglory began to praise him, he said to them: ‘Let us go and be judged.’ Then, going to the wall, he read the names and cried to himself: ‘When you possess all these, then you will know how far you still are from God!’

 

THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT, St. John Climacus , Translated by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Harper & Brothers, 1959), Step 25 On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual feeling.

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Because of the Ceasless Prayer

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Administrator

VI.ii.12. When Julian the Apostate was invading Persia he sent a demon back westwards to report on what was happening there. But when it arrived at a certain spot where there was a hermit it stopped short for ten days and was unable to go any further because of the ceaseless prayer which the hermit was offering. It returned to its sender having achieved nothing. Julian asked it why it had stopped and it replied that it had had to stop and turn
back having done nothing because it had waited ten days for the monk Publius to
stop praying and let him pass. “He didn’t stop,” he continued, “and so I couldn’t pass and I
turned back with nothing done.”

In a dreadful rage Julian cried that he would exact vengeance on him when he returned. But in the providence of God he was slain a few days after, whereupon one of the army commanders with him turned back immediately, sold all that he had, gave it to the poor, and joined that old man to become a monk, and so found his peace in God.

De Vitis Patrum VI, Libelus 2

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