This Humble Desert-Dweller

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Administrator

Let us avoid staying in towns and villages; it is better for their inhabitants to come and visit us. Let us seek the wilderness and so draw after us the people who now shun us. For Scripture praises those who ‘leave the cities and dwell in the rocks, and are like the dove’ (cf. Jer. 48:28).

John the Baptist lived in the wilderness and the population of entire towns came out to him. Men dressed in garments of silk hastened to see his leather girdle; those who lived in houses with gilded ceilings chose to endure hardship in the open air; and rather than sleep on beds adorned with jewels they preferred to lie on the sand.

All this they endured, although it was contrary to their usual habits; for in their desire to see John the Baptist and in their wonder at his holiness they did not notice the hardships and discomfort. For holiness is held in higher honor than wealth; and the life of stillness wins greater fame than a large fortune.

How many rich men there were at that time, proud of their glory, and yet today they are quite forgotten; whereas the miraculous life of this humble desert-dweller is acclaimed until this day, and his memory is greatly revered by all. For the renown of holiness is eternal, and its intrinsic virtues proclaim its value.

~ St Neilos The Ascetic Ascetic Discourse, Philokalia V1.214

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He must increase

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Administrator

12. Whoever loves himself cannot love God; but if, because of ‘the overflowing richness’ of God’s love, a man does not love himself, then he truly loves God (Eph. 2:7). Such a man never seeks his own glory, but seeks the glory of God. The man who loves himself seeks his own glory, whereas he who loves God loves the glory of his Creator.

It is characteristic of the soul which consciously senses the love of God always to seek God’s glory in every commandment it performs, and to be happy in its low estate. For glory befits God because of His majesty, while lowliness befits man because it unites us with God. If we realize this, rejoicing in the glory of the Lord, we too, like St John the Baptist, will begin to say unceasingly, ‘He must increase, but we must decrease’ (cf. John 3:30).

~ St Diadochos of Photiki, Philokalia V1.256

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I hymn Thy birth

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Administrator

Great art Thou, O Lord,  and marvelous  are Thy  works;  and no  word  suffices  to  hymn  Thy wonders… For  Thou  art  the source  of  healing, and  who can  hymn  Thy  manner  of  life in  this  world?

I am  earth, ashes, dust, a transgressor, a suicide, who have  sinned many  times against  Thee and continue  to  do  so; yet  Thou  hast  enabled me  to  grasp  something  of  Thy  actions and  words;  and  I  dare to  ask Thee  about  them, hoping to  see Thee  by faith, although Thou  art invisible to  the  whole  of  creation.

Forgive  me  my  boldness. For  Thou knowest,  O Lord, Searcher  of  hearts,  that  I do  not  ask  out  of idle  curiosity, but  seek  to  learn,  I  believe  that  if  I am found  worthy  of  Thy spiritual knowledge, then  in  Thy compassion  Thou  wilt grant to  me, as Thou  dost to  all who long  for  Thee,  the strength  to  imitate Thy life in the flesh;  for it is by  virtue  of  Thy  incarnation  that  I  by  grace am called  a Christian….

I hymn Thy birth and her  who  gave  Thee  birth:  she whom  Thou  didst  preserve  a virgin  after she  gave  birth as  she was  before she  gave  birth.  I worship Thee in the cave, swaddled in the manger.

I glorify Thee, who hast gone down into  Egypt with  Thy virginal  and  most pure  Mother; who  hast lived  in  Nazareth  in  obedience to  Thy mortal parents, Thy putative  father and  Thy  true  mother.

I hymn  Thee,  baptized  in Jordan  by John  the  Forerunner-Thee,  Lord,  and Thy  Father  who  bore  witness  to  Thee,  and  Thy  Holy  Spirit  who manifested Thee.  I hymn Thy baptism and Thy baptizer John, Thy prophet and Thy servant.

I glorify Thee who didst fast for us, who hast voluntarily accepted temptation and triumphed over the enemy in the body  which Thou  didst  take from  us, giving  us  victory  over him  in Thy  inexpressible wisdom.

~ St Peter of Damaskos, Book 1, A Treasury of Divine Knowledge The Fourth Stage of Contemplation, Philokalia V3.127-129

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Make His Paths Straight

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Administrator

14. Many who practice the commandments think they are following the spiritual path. But they have not yet reached the city, and in fact remain outside it. For they travel foolishly, deviating unawares from the straight highway into side-roads, not realizing how close the vices are to the path of virtue. For the true fulfillment of the commandments demands that we do neither too little nor too much but simply pursue a course acceptable to God and in accordance with His will. Otherwise we labor in vain and do not make straight the paths of the Lord (cf. Isa. 40:3). For in everything we do we must be clear about the goal we are pursuing.

15. To be on the spiritual path means seeking the Lord in your heart through fulfilling the commandments. For when you listen to John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight’ (Matt. 3:3), you must understand that he is referring to the commandments and their fulfillment both in the heart and in actions. It is impossible to ‘make straight’ the path of the commandments and to act rightly unless your heart too is straight and upright.
~ St Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia V4.215

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How can this be?

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Administrator

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” Luke 1:34

“This response, ‘How shall this be, since I know not a man?’ meant that she had the intention, though betrothed, of remaining a virgin. The angel announces offspring, but she cleaves to her virginity, preferring bodily integrity to what the angel manifests. She neither lacks faith nor departs from her promise, because she was bound to preserve her flesh, which was consecrated to God as a sacred gift.”

Saint Gregory of Nyssa,“The Nativity of Christ,” P.G. 46 1140D-1141C

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Keep Silence

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Administrator

Stillness, which is the basis of the soul’s purification, makes the observance of the commandments relatively painless. ‘Flee,’ it has been said, ‘keep silence, be still, for herein lie the roots of sinlessness.’ Again it has been said: ‘Flee men and you will be saved.’ For human society does not permit the intellect to perceive either its own faults or the wiles of the demons, so as to guard itself against them. Nor, on the other hand, does it allow the intellect to perceive God’s providence and bounty, so as to acquire in this way knowledge of God and humility.

Peter of Damaskos, Philokalia Volume 3, p.88

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On The Right of The Altar

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Administrator

And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of the incense. [Lk. 1:11]

Saint Bede: “He stood beside the altar of incense to teach that he had come as the herald of a new covenant. There were two altars in the temple [Ex. 27:1, 30:1], which expressed the two covenants in the Church. The first, the altar of burnt offerings, which was plated with bronze and was situated in front of the doors of the temple [3 Kgs. (1 Kgs.) 8:64; 2 Chr. 8:12], was for the offering up of victims and sacrifices; it signified the fleshly-minded worshippers of the old covenant. And then there was the altar of incense which was covered with gold [Ex. 30:1-3] and set near the entrance of the Holy of Holies where fragrant gums were burnt. This signified the interior and more perfect grace of the new covenant and its worshippers. The angel stood on the right to point out that he was not promising earthly and lowly things, but the joys of heavenly and everlasting happiness.”

The Orthodox New Testament, Volume I, Fourth Edition, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado.

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He is present

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Administrator

30. …..Now may He Himself, the God of all, who is Father of the Christ, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who came down, and ascended, and sitteth together with the Father, watch over your souls; keep unshaken and unchanged your hope in Him who rose again; raise you together with Him from your dead sins unto His heavenly gift; count you worthy to be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, in His fitting time; and, until that time arrive of His glorious second advent, write all your names in the Book of the living, and having written them, never blot them out (for the names of many, who fall away, are blotted out); and may He grant to all of you to believe on Him who rose again, and to look for Him who is gone up, and is to come again, (to come, but not from the earth; for be on your guard, O man, because of the deceivers who are to come;) Who sitteth on high, and is here present together with us, beholding the order of each, and the steadfastness of his faith. For think not that because He is now absent in the flesh, He is therefore absent also in the Spirit. He is here present in the midst of us, listening to what is said of Him, and beholding thine inward thoughts, and trying the reins and hearts; — who also is now ready to present those who are coming to baptism, and all of you, in the Holy Ghost to the Father, and to say, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me: — To whom be glory for ever. Amen.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, NPNF2. 7, Lecture 18, parag. 30

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Prayerful Surrender

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Administrator

Giving yourself in prayerful surrender to God and His grace, call out each of the things that incite you to sin and try to turn your heart away from them, directing it towards their opposite. In this way they will be uprooted from the heart and their violence will subside. In this task give free scope to your power of discernment and lead your heart in its wake.

This struggle against the forces of evil is absolutely essential if we are to break our own will. It is necessary to go on working on ourselves in this way until, instead of self-pity, there is born in us mercilessness and ruthlessness towards ourselves, a desire to suffer, to torture ourselves, to tire out our soul and body.

This must be continued until, instead of trying to please men, we form a feeling of repulsion against all bad habits and connections—until we form a hostile and fierce resistance against them, at the same time submitting ourselves to all the wrongs and disparagements which men inflict upon us. It is necessary to go on working until our appetite exclusively for things material, sensory, and visible disappears completely, and is replaced by a feeling of disgust for such things ; and instead we begin to thirst and to search only for what is spiritual, pure, and divine. Instead of earthliness—the limitation of life and happiness solely to this earth—the heart comes to be filled with a sense of being but a pilgrim on earth, whose whole longing is for his heavenly home.

Theophan the Recluse, The Art of Prayer, p.2013

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A True Shepherd

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Administrator

To the Shepherd

1. In this terrestial book, O divine father, I have given you the last place, but I am certain that you are inscribed in the celestial book before us all, if indeed He is truthful who said, “The last in manner of thought shall be first in dignity.’ ‘(Cf. St. Matthew xx, 16)

2. A shepherd is pre-eminently he that is able to seek out and set aright his lost, rational sheep by means of guilelessness, zeal, and prayer.

3. A pilot is the man who, once having received spiritual strength from God and from his own toils, is able to draw up his ship, not merely from out of the billows, but also from out of the abyss itself.

4. A physician is he who suffers from no carnal or spiritual malady, and has no need of any remedy from other men.

5. A genuine teacher is he who has received from God the tablet of spiritual knowledge, inscribed by His Divine finger, that is, by the in-working of illumination, and who has no need of other books. It is as unseemly for teachers to give instruction from notes taken from other men’s writings, as it is for painters to take inspiration from other men’s compositions.

6. Teach from on high as you instruct the earthborn; and by Your outward aspect, teach other men. Do not forget him who said, “I received not my teaching of men, neither by men, nor was I taught it.” (Cf. Galatians i, 12) For lowly instructions cannot possibly heal

7. A good pilot saves the ship, and a good shepherd quickens and cures his ailing sheep.

St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, p.231

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