The Peacemakers

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Administrator

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  [Mt. 5:9]

Saint Chrysostom: “Herein He not only takes away our own variance and hatred among ourselves, but He requires something more, that is, that we should set at one again others who are at variance. And again the prize is spiritual: ‘For they shall be called sons of God.’ For this became the work of the Only-begotten, to bring together those that stood apart and to reconcile those who were enemies.” 
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “Now a peacemaker is a man who gives peace to another; but one cannot give another what he himself does not possess. Hence the Lord wants you first to be yourself filled with the blessings of peace, and then to communicate it to those who have need of it….Now it is a loving disposition of one’s neighbor….Now who are these? Those who imitate the divine love of men, who show forth in their own life the characteristic of the divine energy….
      “But perhaps this Beatitude does not only regard the good of others. I think a man is called a peacemaker who pacifies perfectly the discord between flesh and spirit in himself and the war that is inherent in nature, so that the law of the body no longer wars against the law of the mind, but is subjected to the higher rule and becomes a servant of the divine ordinance.” [Sermon 7]

 (The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)

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The Pure in Heart

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Administrator

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  [Mt. 5:8]

Saint Chrysostom: “Behold, again the prize is spiritual. Now He means either those who have attained to all virtue and are not conscious in themselves of any evil, or those whose conduct of life is in sober-mindedness. For there is nothing more needful to see God as this last virtue. Wherefore also Paul is saying, ‘Be pursuing peace with all and sanctification, without which no one shall see the Lord [Heb. 12:14].’ He is here speaking of such sight as is possible for a man to see. But because there are many who show mercy,…He added they be rich in all other virtue, which even Paul writes in the same sense to the Corinthians regarding the Macedonians who bore witness to their noble spirit in regard of their goods: ‘For according to their means, I bear witness, and beyond their means, they voluntarily gave, with much supplication entreating us for the grace and the fellowship of the ministry which is for the saints; and this they did not as we hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God [2 Cor. 8:3-5].’” [Ib., P.G. 57:189, 190 (cols. 227, 228).]
 Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “The divine nature, whatever it may be in itself, surpasses every mental concept. For it is altogether inaccessible to reasoning and conjecture, nor has there been found any human faculty capable of perceiving the incomprehensible; for we cannot devise a means of understanding inconceivable things. The way that leads to the knowledge of the divine essence is inaccessible to thought. For He is invisible by nature, but becomes visible in His energies, for He may be contemplated in the things that are referred to Him….
      “Now I do not think that if the eye of one’s soul has been purified, he is promised a direct vision of God, but perhaps this marvellous saying may suggest what the Logos expresses more clearly when He says to others, ‘The kingdom of God is within you [Lk. 17:21].’ By this we should learn that if a man’s heart has been purified from every creature and all unruly affections, he will see the image of the divine nature in his own beauty,…for God imprinted on our nature the likeness of the glories of His own nature.” [Ib., Sermon 6, 18:146-148.]

(The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)


 
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The Merciful

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Administrator

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.  [Mt. 5:7]

 Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “Mercy is a voluntary sorrow that joins itself to the sufferings of others. It is a loving disposition towards those who suffer distress. It is intensified charity. It is not concerned only with material things, but also the choice of will. For if a man only wills the good, but is prevented from accomplishing it by lack of means, he is not inferior, as regards his state of soul, to the person who shows his intention by works.” [Ib., Sermon 5, 18:133.]
Saint Chrysostom: “Herein He seems to me to speak not only of those who show mercy by means of money, but also those who show mercy through their actions. Manifold are the ways to show mercy, and this commandment is broad. What then is the prize? ‘They shall find mercy.’ The recompense seems to be equal, but it is a far greater accomplishment. Now whereas they showed mercy as men, they find mercy from the God of all. The mercy of man and that of God is not the same thing, but is as wide as the interval between evil and goodness, so far is the one removed from the other.” [Ib., P.G. 57:189 (col. 227).]

(The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)

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The Hungry and Thirsty

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Administrator

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.  [Mt. 5:6]

 Saint Chrysostom: “What kind of righteousness? He means either the whole of virtue or that part of it which is against covetousness.” [Ib., P.G. 57:189 (col. 227).]
 Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “If the Logos calls blessed the hunger of those who desire righteousness, He includes in this every other form of virtue, such as fortitude, or temperance….None of the things that are coveted in this life for the sake of pleasure will satisfy those who run after them….Therefore we learn from the Lord this sublime doctrine that the only truly and solidly existing thing is our zeal for virtue….As for those who waste their lives in absurd lusts, even if their soul should constantly be occupied with licentiousness, yet it will not always be able to enjoy it. For satiety stops the greed of the glutton, and the drinker’s pleasure is quenched at the same time as his thirst. These all require a certain interval of time to rekindle the desire for the delights, which enjoyment carried to satiety has caused to flag.
      “The possession of virtue on the other hand, where it is once firmly established, is neither circumscribed by time nor limited by satiety. It always offers its disciples the ever-fresh experience of the fullness of its own delights. Therefore God the Logos promises to those who hunger for these things that they shall be filled.” [Ib., Sermon 4, 18:125-127.]

 (The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)

 

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The Meek

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Administrator

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  [Mt. 5:5]

 Saint Chrysostom: “What kind of earth? Tell me? Some say a noetic one, but nowhere in Scripture do we find a noetic earth. He means to hold out a prize that is perceived by the senses. For He does not incite us by means of future good things only, but of the present, on account of the grosser sort of His listeners, and such as before the future seek those others….Thus Christ has mingled also the spiritual with  that which is apprehended by the senses.” [Ib., P.G. 57:188 (col. 226).]
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “By this He surely means the land that is fruitful in good things, where the tree of life waves its leaves, which is watered by the fountains of spiritual graces. It is the land where sprouts the true vine, and its Husbandman is the Father of the Lord….Blessed, therefore, are those who are not easily turned toward the passionate movements of the soul, but who are steadied by reason. For the reasoning power restrains the desires like a rein and does not suffer the soul to be carried away to unruliness. How blessed is meekness can best be seen with regard to the passion of wrath.” [Ib., Sermon 2, 18:101, 103.]

 (The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)

 

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The Mourners

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Administrator

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  [Mt. 5:4]

 Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “There is more than one kind of sorrow, and so says St. Paul: ‘For the sorrow in accordance with God worketh out repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world worketh out death [2 Cor. 7:10].’ For surely if a soul bewails its wicked life because it feels its bad effects, such suffering cannot be excluded from the sorrow that is called blessed….We should not think it a loss to be deprived of some of the pleasant things of this life, but rather to lose the better things for the sake of enjoying the others.” [Ib., Sermon 3, 18:107, 116.]

Saint Chrysostom: “Herein again He did not simply set forward all that mourn, but they that do so for sins….Now of this kind He calls happy those who have sorrow in accordance with God [2 Cor. 7:10]. And yet He did not set forth simply the sorrowing, but one with intensity, those that mourn….
      “Now where shall they be comforted? Tell me. Both here and there. They that mourn for their transgressions, it is enough to enjoy forgiveness….But since God exceedingly loves man,…He imparts to them abundant consolation. And He bids us not only to mourn for our own, but also for the transgressions of others.” [Ib., P.G. 57:187, 188 (cols. 225, 226).]

 (The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)

 

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The Poor in Spirit

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Administrator

Today we begin a series on the Beatitudes which are the words of the Lord Christ in His sermon on the mount as recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew. We will look at writings of the fathers on these verses.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.     [Mt. 5:3]

Saint Chrysostom: “What is meant by the ‘poor in spirit’? The humble and contrite mind. For by spirit herein He speaks of the soul and the faculty of choice. For since many are humble involuntarily, but forced under circumstances, He lets these pass (for this is no matter of praise), and calls them happy first who by choice humble and restrain themselves. And on what account does He not say ‘the humble’ but ‘the poor’? For this is more than that. He means those who are awestruck and tremble at the commandments of God….By this He has prepared a suitable remedy to the disease of pride, since the greatest of evils and those which injured the whole world had their entering in from pride.” [Homily 15]

Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “The end of the life of virtue is to become like unto God. Yet man can by no means imitate that purity that is without passion. For it is simply impossible that the life that is enmeshed in passions should become like the Nature that is impervious to passions. There are, however, things belonging to the Godhead which are set up for the imitation of those who so wish. It seems to me that by poverty of the spirit the Logos understands voluntary humility….Would you like to know who it is that is poor in spirit? He who is given the riches of the soul in exchange for material wealth, who is poor for the sake of the spirit. He has shaken off earthly riches like a burden, so that he may be lightly lifted into the air and be borne upwards.” [The Beatitudes, Sermon 1]

(The Orthodox New Testament, Volume 1, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado)

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The Dying Old Man

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Administrator

V.xi. 52. A certain old man in Scete was dying and his brothers stood around his bed and covered him with a garment and began to weep. He however, opened his eyes and laughed, and laughed again, and then a third time. When they saw this the brothers said, “Tell us, father, why do you laugh while we are weeping?” And he said to them, “I laughed the first time because you are frightened of death, the second time because you are not prepared for it, and the third time because after my labours I am now going to my rest, and you are weeping.” Having said this he straitway closed his eyes in death.

From: DE VITIS PATRUM, BOOK V, Libellus 11: Living Soberly

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The Parable of the House

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Administrator

V.xi. 48. An old man said to a brother, “The devil is the enemy and you are like a house. The devil ceases not to assail you with whatever kind of murky thoughts he can find, pouring out all kinds of uncleanness into you. What you have to do is to take care to throw outside whatever he throws at you, and if you neglect this your house will be so filled with rubbish that you will strive to enter in vain. Right from the start throw out the things he throws at you and by the grace of Christ your house will stay clean.”

From: DE VITIS PATRUM, BOOK V, Libellus 11: Living Soberly

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The Three Weapons

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Administrator

V.xi. 46. An old man said, “Satan has three weapons which are deployed before we get to committing any sin whatsoever. The first is forgetfulness, the second negligence, the third disordered desire. For forgetfulness breeds negligence and negligence breeds disordered desire from which human ruin proceeds. But if you maintain your mind in sobriety, casting out forgetfulness, you will not become negligent, and so your desires will not be disordered, and so with the help of the grace of Christ you will not fall.”

From: DE VITIS PATRUM, BOOK V, Libellus 11: Living Soberly

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