https://theflowersoforthodoxy.blogspot.com
The Flowers of Orthodoxy
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY – MULTILINGUAL ORTHODOXY – EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH – ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΙΑ – SIMBAHANG ORTODOKSO NG SILANGAN – 东正教在中国 – ORTODOXIA – 日本正教会 – ORTODOSSIA – อีสเทิร์นออร์ทอดอกซ์ – ORTHODOXIE – 동방 정교회 – PRAWOSŁAWIE – ORTHODOXE KERK - නැගෙනහිර ඕර්තඩොක්ස් සභාව – СРЦЕ ПРАВОСЛАВНО – BISERICA ORTODOXĂ – GEREJA ORTODOKS – ORTODOKSI – ПРАВОСЛАВИЕ – ORTODOKSE KIRKE – CHÍNH THỐNG GIÁO ĐÔNG PHƯƠNG – EAGLAIS CHEARTCHREIDMHEACH – ՈՒՂՂԱՓԱՌ ԵԿԵՂԵՑԻՆ / Abel-Tasos Gkiouzelis - https://theflowersoforthodoxy.blogspot.com - Email: gkiouz.abel@gmail.com - Feel free to email me...!
https://englishflowersoforthodoxy1.blogspot.com - Journeys to Orthodoxy
Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993) on the Love and Pain of the Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God
Our Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God (Theotokos) was pained much more than all other women, much more than all other mothers in the world, because no one else was struck, to no one else was done evil like that which was done to Her, the greatest evil of the whole world. They crucified Her Son.
And seeing Him upon the Cross, She was pained so much in her heart...Because of this She can understand every painful existence, and She suffers together with every human who is pained, because She exactly knows what "pain" means. When the soul is seized by the love of God, then, O, how gracious, beloved and joyous is everything! Love, however, goes together with sorrow, and the deeper the love is, even greater is the sorrow.
The Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God never sinned, not even in thought, and She never lost grace, and even She had such great sorrows. When she stood beside the Cross, then Her sorrow was impassable like the ocean, and the pains of Her soul were incomparably greater than the pain of Adam after the expulsion from Paradise, because Her love was incomparably greater than the love of Adam in Paradise.
And though She survived it, She survived only with divine power, with the strength of the Lord, because His will was for the Theotokos to later see the Resurrection, and later, after His Ascension, that She might remain the consolation and joy of the Apostles and of the new Christian people. We do not reach the fullness of the love of the Theotokos, and because of this we cannot fully conceive of the depth of Her sorrow.
Her love was perfect. She loved her Son and God incomparably, but She also loved the people with great love. And what did She sense, then, when they whom She herself loved so greatly and whom She so greatly pained for their salvation, when She saw them crucifying her beloved Son?
This we cannot conceive of, because our love for God and man is small. However, the love of Panagia was incomparable and inconceivable, thus incomparable also was her pain, which remains inconceivable to us.
The Theotokos did not relate in the Scriptures Her thoughts, nor her love for Her Son and God, nor the sorrows of Her soul at the hour of the Crucifixion, because even then they couldn't conceive of it. Her love for God was stronger and more fervent than the love of the Cherubim and Seraphim, and all the powers of the Angels and Archangels were amazed with Her.
http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2018/02/elder-sophrony-of-essex-on-love-and.html
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Saint Rumon οf Tavistock, England (+6th ce.)
4 January
Born c.AD 515.
Rumon is a saint of some controversy. He is chiefly the patron of Tavistock in Devon, but also apparently of several churches in Cornwall and Brittany where he is variously called Ruan or Ronan. It is not completely certain that the character referred to in each was the same man.
According to the relic lists of Glastonbury, Prince Rumon was a brother of St. Tugdual and, therefore, one of the sons of King Hoel I Mawr (the Great) of Brittany. Tradition says he was educated in Britain-probably Wales-but that he later accompanied St. Breaca on her return from Ireland to her Cornish homeland. Like Tudgual, he had presumably travelled to Ireland to learn the Holy Scriptures. He is said to have lived in a hermitage on Inis Luaidhe, near Iniscathy, and was eventually raised to the episcopacy. In Cornwall, he founded churches at Ruan Lanihorne (on the River Fal), Ruan Major & Minor (near the Lizard Peninsula), a defunct chapel in Redruth and at Romansleigh in Devon; but he quickly moved on to Cornouaille in Brittany, with St. Senan as his companion.
Rumon met up with St. Remigius in Rheims, which would place him in Brittany around the early 6th century, the probable time of his birth if he was a son of Hoel Mawr. At any rate, he settled first at St. Rénan and then moved on to the Forest of Nevez, overlooking the Bay of Douarnenez. He seems to have acquired a wife, named Ceban, and children at some point. He may be identical with Ronan Ledewig (the Breton), father of SS. Gargunan and Silan. His lady wife took a distinct dislike to Rumon's preaching amongst the local pagan inhabitants and considered him to be neglecting his domestic duties. The situation became so bad that she plotted to have Rumon arrested.
Hiding their little daughter in a chest, Ceban fled to the Royal Court at Quimper and sought an audience with the Prince of Cornouaille-supposedly Gradlon, though he lived some years earlier. She claimed that her husband was a werewolf who ravaged the local sheep every fortnight and had now killed their baby girl! Rumon was arrested, but the sceptical monarch tested him by exposing the prisoner to his hunting dogs. They would have immediately reacted to any sign of wolf, but Rumon remained unharmed and was proclaimed a holy man. His daughter was found, safe and well, whilst his wife appears to have received only the lightest of punishments. Despite this, her troublemaking persisted and Rumon was forced to abandon her and journey eastward towards Rennes. He eventually settled at Hilion in Domnonia, where he lived until his death.
There was much quarrelling over Rumon's holy body after his demise. His companion had thought to keep one of his arms as a relic and brutally cut it off. A disturbing dream soon made him put it back though. Later, the Princes of Cornouaille, Rennes and Vannes all claimed the honour of burying him in their own province. The matter was decided by allowing him to be drawn on a wagon by two three-year-old oxen who had never been yoked. Where they rested, he would be interred. However, the body would not allow itself to be lifted onto the cart, except by the Prince of Cornouaille; so it was no surprise when the cattle chose Locronan in the Forest of Nevez, near his former home.
It is unclear when Rumon's relics left Locronan-despite the 16th century shrine still to be seen there today. It was suggested by Baring-Gould & Fisher that they were removed to safety in Britain during the Viking coastal attacks of AD 913 & 14. Tradition says they were taken to Quimper, thence to Ruan Lanihorne in Cornwall. In AD 960, however, Earl Ordgar of Devon founded his great Abbey of Tavistock, on the edge of Dartmoor. He translated the body of Rumon into the abbey church with much pomp and ceremony and there it remained, working miracles for nearly six hundred years: until the Dissolution of the Monastery in the late 1530s. Some relics, however, may have made their way back to Brittany, by the 13th century, including, perhaps, his head.
A PRAYER OF SAINT ALFRED, KING OF THE ENGLAND
To be found at the end of King Alfred's translation of 'On the Consolation of Philosophy'.
O Lord God Almighty, Maker and Ruler of all creation, in the name of Thy mighty mercy, through the sign of the Holy Cross and the virginity of Holy Mary, the obedience of Holy Michael and the love and merits of all Thy Saints, I beseech Thee, guide me better than I have deserved of Thee; direct me according to Thy will and the needs of my soul better than I myself am able; strengthen my mind for Thy will and the needs of my soul; make me steadfast against the temptations of the devil; keep foul lust and all evil far from me; shield me from my enemies, seen and unseen; teach me to do Thy holy will, that I may inwardly love Thee above all things with clean thought and chaste body. For Thou art my Maker and my Redeemer, my life, my comfort, my trust and my hope. Praise and glory be to Thee now and forever and unto the endless ages. Amen.
http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/athapray.htm
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Teachings of Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
We should pray God to give inspiration. God enlightens everyone, especially mothers, and gives them inspiration. This is the only way we can bring up children.
Some people speak about ‘marital priesthood’ and assert that in married life one lives the threefold dignity of the Lord. This is speculative theology. The threefold dignity of the Lord (Prophet, King and High Priest) is lived through repentance. Otherwise all those things that are said are a theology of the passions.
In the Old Testament God made known His will negatively through the law, through ‘not’ and ‘no’ – “Thou shalt not kill” and so on. The people were tormented and lost hope because they could not put it into practice, and they cried out: “Come, Thou Messiah, and save us.” In this way the law became “a tutor to bring us to Christ”.
In the Old Testament childlessness was considered a curse because all women wanted to become mothers and grandmothers of Christ, the Messiah. In the New Testament things have changed, because now we live the Messiah, Christ.
God did not create masters and slaves but sons in relation to a Father. All those who become sons of God by grace afterwards also become spiritual fathers of Christians.
God glorified the All-Holy Virgin and kept her in silence. The mystery of the Theotokos is a mystery of silence. For that reason God did not enlighten people to talk about her natural life. However, the Church glorified her.
A saint’s word opens the hearer’s nous, and with this word he can preach a whole sermon.
God’s revelation is not visions, but the advent of divine grace, which comes in stages.
Christ said something once and this word remains for ever. We realise this from the saints as well. They heard a word once and they kept it for the whole of their lives. In this way we also comprehend the energy of God’s word.
For someone to do missionary work in an Orthodox way, he has to have the Holy Spirit within him, but he must also assimilate the culture of the place where he is. Then he can make a contribution.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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The Prayer of St. Aidan
"Leave me alone with God as much as may be.
As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore,
Make me an island, set apart,
alone with you, God, holy to you.
Then with the turning of the tide
prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond,
the world that rushes in on me
till the waters come again and fold me back to you."
These are the words of the Holy Bishop and Wonderworker of Lindisfarne, Aidan. May we taste of the closeness he had with Christ.
https://orthodoxy-rainbow.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-prayer-of-st-aidan-video.html
JL.H.
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Saint Pega of Mercia, England (+719)
8 January
Born in Mercia, England; died in Rome, Italy, c. 719. Saint Pega, the virgin sister of Saint Guthlac of Croyland, had her hermitage in the Fens (Peakirk = Pega's church in Northhamptonshire) near that of her brother. When he realised that his death was near (714), he invited her to his funeral. In order to get there, Pega is said to have sailed down the Welland, and cured a blind man from Wisbech en route. Guthlac bequeathed to her his psalter and scourge, both of which she gave to the monastery that grew up around his hermitage. After Guthlac's death, she is said to have made a pilgrimage to Rome and to have died there. Ordericus Vitalis claimed that her relics survived in an unnamed Roman church in his day and that miracles occurred there.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0108d.html
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AN INTERVIEW WITH FR. JOHN MUSTHER OF CUMBRIA, ENGLAND
“Christ Won the Battle and Made my Heart Orthodox!”
Father John Musther, an Orthodox Englishman, serves in the Orthodox missionary parish of Sts. Bega, Mungo and Herbert in Keswick, Cumbria, North West England. His community, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is part of the ancient tradition of the Orthodox Church. The congregation is a living witness of the truth of Holy Orthodoxy to the people living nearby.
In the first millennium, before the Norman Conquest, Church in Britain and in Ireland was in full communion with the universal Orthodox Church, both East and West. Then the differences between Eastern and Western Church were relatively minor, most of them limited to local traditions. Yet striving for holiness was the same.
During that time the peoples of Britain and Ireland gave the world thousands of saints, men and women, kings and queens, martyrs, bishops and abbots, hermits and missionaries. The whole land of Britain retains the memory of the ancient saints of these islands. A great number of early shrines and holy sites are scattered all over Britain and Ireland.
Cumbria, where Fr. John lives, is one of the largest and least densely populated counties in England. The Lake District, part of Cumbria, is one of the most picturesque regions in England, with breath-taking views from the hills. The Lake District is justly famous for many beautiful lakes, hills and forests, and for centuries was inspiring poets and writers, musicians and painters.
In the first millennium Cumbria developed rather separately from the rest of England, and had more links with Wales than with the seven historic Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Christian life of its inhabitants had been influenced by many traditions - Roman, Celtic (Welsh, Irish and Scottish), Saxon and even Norse. Material traces of all of these can be found today.
The Church tradition holds that St. Patrick, Apostle of the Irish, was born here. This region draws people by its magic beauty and tranquillity—and by its very rich early Christian heritage. Thanks be to God, that the revival of Orthodox Faith and rediscovering of nearly forgotten local saints and shrines is becoming a reality because of people like Fr. John Musther.
* * *
—Fr. John, how did you become Orthodox?
—I met Fr. Sophrony (Sakharov). I was a student at University College London reading for a law degree. It was early 1961 if I remember correctly. At any rate Fr. Sophrony had only recently arrived at the Old Rectory at Tolleshunt Knights, Essex. I knew just a little about Christianity through the Church of England but nothing about Orthodoxy. On Sunday afternoon after the Ninth Hour he invited me into his study while the tea was being made and asked me: what was the purpose of the Christian life? He spoke so gently and when I said that I didn't know, he simply said, 'the purpose of the Christian life is to ask the Lord Jesus to send the Holy Spirit into our hearts that he may cleanse us and make us more like Christ'.
I sat there dumbfounded. My hair stood on end. I had never heard of such a thing. I had no questions. I knew that what he had told me was the truth of his own heart. The only response was to be still and receive the precious gift he was giving me.
His statement was a complete summary of the Scriptures. It was the Word of God to me. It changed the direction of my life. The power of that word still urges me on.
He told me to read, “The Undistorted Image.” Again I felt completely poleaxed. It was like death. How could a man live like this?
I struggled with the Greek culture of the churches at that time. It was also many years before I could overcome the Protestant spirit that I found in me. Then one day I woke up and felt all my objections had fallen away. Christ had won the battle and had made my heart Orthodox. I discovered I was living near the late Fr. Sergei Hackel's parish in Lewes in Sussex. He prepared myself and my wife Jenny for Chrismation in 2003.
—Please, tell us about your parish.
—The two of us moved to Cumbria in 2007 but not before I had been made a deacon with the mandate to see if there were any Orthodox in the area. We had bought a small cottage in Keswick which needed a lot of refurbishment. As the daily offices had already become part of our life we had the attic made into a chapel frescoed from top to bottom by (prominent English Orthodox icon painter) Aidan Hart. The painting was finished before we could move in: it was as though the Saints had moved in before us. (www.orthodoxcumbria.org/ the One Way of Holiness in Christ/ The Living Tradition in the British Isles)
We hadn't far to go before we met our first Orthodox, just 80 yards to the nearest chip shop. We discovered that Orthodox families ran fish and chip shops throughout the top of the county. We had an instant congregation. But the chapel was no longer big enough. Happily for us the local Methodist church had just closed their chapel in the village Braithwaite just two miles down the road. It was perfect for our needs. We were allowed to make it into an Orthodox church for Sunday liturgies while still using the first chapel for Vespers and Matins.
The Orthodox who first came to us were from Cyprus but soon we had English people also asking to be Chrismated. From the very beginning there was a demand to have a liturgy every Sunday celebrated in English. We have a good number of visitors from round the county but a good number more from those who come on holiday to this very popular location. The buildings include a social and kitchen area so after the liturgy we can all sit down and eat and talk. People are often reluctant to leave!
We are very fortunate in having people who are willing to do things. The ladies took in hand the refurbishing the bedrooms from what had been a youth center. So now we can have people to stay. We have been blessed by having a number of families and their children. It is so wonderful that they ask for baptism. Our numbers are 30-50 most of the year round.
The Chapel is on the village green and in summer people sit out in the open air; the children run around and enjoy the village swing. Just higher up is a splendid mountain pool. The water is cold and at Theophany there are only a few who jump in. But in summer it is a glorious spot for adult baptisms.
—You wrote a unique book: The Living Tradition of the Saints and Significance of their Teaching for Us. It contains over 350 pages that reflect the wisdom of saints who lived in the Orthodox East as well as in the Orthodox West in the first centuries of Christianity. This is a fruit of labours, prayers and research of some forty-five years. Could you please tell us how this book was created?
—Fr. Sophrony gave me a letter of Introduction to visit Mount Athos. I stayed eleven days, which was no mean feat when the monastic life was at such a low ebb in 1963. But I had a big gap in my knowledge of what I call the Living Tradition. I had grasped that the Desert Fathers were the bedrock of this tradition. I knew two people like them, St. Silouan and Father Sophrony. But what about the 1500 years in between? In those days (1962) there was virtually nothing in print in English about Orthodoxy. But I had regular access to the great library of Chevetogne and read everything I could, often in French. I started filling the gap. It took something like forty years to complete.
When people found out about what I was doing they were keen to hear, especially about what the Fathers taught about prayer. Then they asked me to write things down. This is how the book came about. It has proved very helpful for people to get an overview of the one way of holiness in Christ. It has to be read again and again. It has never been advertised. I prefer it that way. It is also the story of our conversion to Orthodoxy.
—You have also initiated two very important projects online. One is a British Saints Synaxarion, for which you selected various kinds of information on great many saints of Britain and Ireland: lives of saints, holy sites associated with them, iconography, hymnography, with many photographs and illustrations. One can search the Synaxarion website (www.synaxarion.org.uk) using different criteria: rank, feast-day, icons, troparia and kontakia, holy places, miracles, pilgrimage sites. It is an enormous piece of work. The second project is Early Christian Ireland: here you provide information and photographs of all early Christian sites in Ireland up to 1100, including holy wells, trees and mountains linked to the memory of a saint, Celtic high crosses, round towers, tombs etc. How have you been collecting information on the saints of the British Isles?
—One year we found ourselves in Ireland. We visited some of the holy sites there. I was astounded how many and how rich these places are. But it had been difficult to get information about many of them. So I started making a database so others could find their way also. (www.earlychristianireland.org). People have been very appreciative. Sometimes people ask me to plot for them a two week visitation of holy sites for their vacation!
We have been round Ireland ourselves twice—but there are still gaps in our knowledge. But by now we had became fervent hunters of remote islands, beehive huts and the tombs of the saints. I cannot tell you how excited we got. How close we seemed to these Desert Fathers.
People asked us to “do” Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and the rest of England. But I wouldn't have missed the experience for anything. We feel we have so many friends who surround us, pray for us and encourage us every day.
When we had our chapel frescoed we had our local Cumbrian saints in large size under the central deisis, namely St. Mungo, St. Cuthbert, St. Bega and St. Herbert. We dedicated our Community to Saints Bega, Mungo and Herbert. Around the other three sides of the walls we have St. Anthony, St. Poemen, St. Macarius, St. Barsanuphius, St. John Climacus, St. Isaac the Syrian; St. Maximus, St. Hesychius, St. Gregory of Sinai, St. Simeon the New Theologian, St. Gregory Palamas and St. Silouan.
These are our “clouds of witnesses.” We sing Vespers and Matins every day. We are so happy tacked on to the “end.” Knowing where we are, we know we are truly being saved every day.
—In the illustrated articles on these saints and shrines that you put on the parish website (http://www.orthodoxcumbria.org/) you mention that you and your matushka did visit most of these places yourselves. It must have brought great inspiration and comfort to your soul. Looking at these photographs alone, one can say these are truly “holy landscapes” which transform the soul of nearly each traveller… Who are your favourite saints? What are your favourite holy places?
—We have already mentioned the Saints. Choosing favourite places is hard but some things stand out: the cave of St. Colman Mac Duach (Colman of Kilmacduagh) on the Burren Co Clare, the cave of St. Ninian in Galloway, and the cave of St. Columba at Ellary in Argyll; the island of Illauntannig off the north side of the Dingle Peninsula (county Kerry), the monastic island of Illaunlochan in Portmagee (Co Kerry), Church Island off Waterville (Co Kerry), St. Macdara's Island off Galway; the seastacks of the Orkneys, the shrine of St. Issui in the Black mountains (near Abergavenny, Wales), St. Moluag's church in remote Eynort on the Isle of Skye, St. Triduana's chapel on Papa Westray, Orkneys. All these are an unsurpassable testimony to serious solitude and prayer. We have made 17 booklets of 40 or so pages covering the entire British Isles detailing holy sites wherever we went.
What was then needed was a Synaxarion of saints in the British Isles so that many of them could return to liturgical remembrance in our services. Of course there was already in existence the extremely important Calendar of Saints published by the Fellowship of St. John the Baptist. But the names need to be backed up by information about the saints in easy accessible form. What better to have it all together on a website devoted to this purpose. So we selected all the saints who played an important part in the history of the church in each area. The saints instead of just appearing on a list are placed in a proper historical and geographical context. Indeed by having a “next” button the whole Synaxarion can be read from beginning to end in this way. This makes not only for a beautiful read but supplies abundant information. The final coup has been to include on each entry of the saint not only an icon where available but photographs of all holy sites relevant to each saint. This in turn will stimulate more visits to more holy sites and more pilgrimages. People can download what they want or be sent a printable version of the Calendar. We realize this is not quite the same as the older Synaxarion but technology has made it possible to do something which fits the bill getting to know and appreciate saints in a way we could never do before.
—Could you please talk a little about Cumbria, and offer a brief outline of the history of Orthodoxy in the county? Would you suggest pilgrimage sites the Orthodox faithful would benefit from visiting?
—The church came to Cumbria early. At least two chapels have been found on Hadrian's Wall, Vindolanda and Birdoswald, and Vindolanda may date even back into the fourth century. Just round the corner is Ardwall Island in Galloway where early Irish monks settled in the fifth century. St. Ninian worked out of Carlisle and could have founded the hermit caves of Ninekirks. St. Kentigern (St. Mungo) is said to have preached at Crosthwaite in Keswick. St. Cuthbert was a regular visitor to these western parts. St. Herbert his friend lived on his island in Derwentwater (situated on the territory of Keswick). St. Bega made her cell on the shores of Lake Bassenthwaite very near to Keswick. This is rich stuff for such a small area as Cumbria; and Keswick shows itself to have four saints! What more could we want?
—Is there a growing awareness of the ancient saints and shrines of these isles among the native residents of Cumbria and all Britain? What is your heroic parish currently undertaking in order to contribute to the restoration of the rich Orthodox heritage of your country?
—In 2007 we did an eight-day pilgrimage to the holy sites of Cumbria using the accommodation at Braithwaite. We hunted down holy wells and to our astonishment found seventy—a figure far higher than previous estimates though some are now lost. Astonishingly such density of wells in the northern area of Cumbria is a new revelation and makes it not far off the density of Wales or Cornwall. In 2014, we began a work of restoration and blessing of the wells. We hope to continue this in 2015 and beyond. At the moment we are writing up what is turning out be a lovely book on all the wells.
In the background here is a deeper question: if Orthodoxy is recently returning to this ancient area of Britain and reclaiming its saints and holy places, how can it be meaningful to reclaim the wells also? People can connect with saints, with (British) monastic sites (of which there are several in Cumbria), and with the great crosses (such as Bewcastle and Gosforth) But with wells? Are they not a cultural embarrassment? We have to answer that. Otherwise we are just making a romantic selection of the past which has little to do with reality. Cultural heritage in Cumbria is the county’s only remaining economic asset and here the Orthodox Church is seen to be preserving a very overlooked part of that heritage. We believe that awareness of the spiritual landscape of Cumbria will dramatically increase through pilgrimages, annual blessings of the wells, and of course through what we publish.
—How do you see the future of Orthodoxy here? Do the various Orthodox jurisdictions (Greek, Russian, Romanian, Antiochian and others) work together in this country?
—Did you know Cumbria was not part of England to the tenth and eleventh centuries? It was then swallowed up by the Western church just like the rest of the country. The voice of Orthodoxy has been submerged that long. People are deeply ignorant of it because they have no experience of it. It comes as something of a real shock when we came here.
The first thing has been to establish the liturgy every Sunday; the second thing is to have it in English. We must speak about our Fathers: the Greek speakers that we have saints they know nothing about; the English that they have saints they have all but forgotten about. The kingdom “works” through the prayers of the saints, the Gospel is liveable, and sanctity is possible. This is the core of Orthodoxy and it cannot ever change.
But the religious culture of England (and elsewhere) was turned away from the Mother of God, and all the Saints and the Angels. The communion of earth with heaven was met with denial as was the liturgy as a transforming reality. It lost the one way of holiness at the heart of the Living Tradition. People do not know what they have lost.
Orthodoxy must not add to this tragedy. Generations of young Orthodox have already been lost by lack of vision. Multiple jurisdictions wreak havoc with our witness. Where will we be in fifteen or twenty years time? Perhaps even slimmer than we are now, but hopefully more wise and aware.
Pray for us.
—It was a real pleasure to talk to you, Fr. John! Thank you for the wonderful interview! We wish you abundant blessings from God in all your labors! May He grant you strength for many years!
Dmitry Lapa
https://orthochristian.com/77852.html
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The Lorica of Gildas (9th century)
The Lorica (Breastplate) of Gildas is also known as the Lorica of Loding, and is found in the Book of Cerne.
Trinity in unity, preserve me.
Unity in Trinity, have mercy on me.
I pray,
preserve me from all dangers
which overwhelm me
like the waves of the sea,
so that neither mortality
nor the vanity of the world
may sweep me away this year.
And I also ask,
send the high, mighty hosts of heaven,
that they not abandon me
to be destroyed by enemies,
but defend me now
with their strong shields
and that the heavenly army
advance before me:
cherubim and seraphim by the thousands,
and archangels Michael and Gabriel, likewise,
I ask, send these living thrones,
principalities and powers and angels,
so that I may be strong,
defended against the flood of strong enemies
in the next battle.
May Christ, whose terror scares away the foul throngs,
make with me a strong covenant.
God the unconquerable guardian,
defend me on every side by your power.
Free all my limbs,
with your safe shield protecting each,
so that the fallen demons cannot attack
against my sides or pierce me with their darts.
I pray, Lord Jesus Christ, be my sure armor.
Cover me, therefore, O God, with your strong breastplate.
Cover me all in all with my five senses,
so that, from my soles to the top of the head,
in no member, without within, may I be sick;
that, from my body, life be not cast out
by plague, fever, weakness, suffering,
Until, with the gift of old age from God,
departing from the flesh, be free from stain,
and be able to fly to the heights,
and, by the mercy of God, be borne in joy
to the heavenly cool retreats of his kingdom.
Source: The Lorica of Gildas, also known as the Lorica of Loding from the Book of Cerne.
Source of this version: Prayers from the Ancient Celtic Church, © 2018, Paul C. Stratman
Note: The Lorica of Loding continues after the section above to appeal to the saints for protection, and then to pray, individually, for protection for all the parts of the body. The remainder of the Lorica is presented below, based on the translation by Hugh Williams in Gildas: The Ruin of Britain … together with the Lorica of Gildas, 1899.
Patriarchs four, prophets four,
apostles, watchmen of the ship of Christ,
and all the athlete martyrs, I ask–
And charge also all virgins,
faithful widows, and confessors,
to surround me by their safety,
and every evil perish from me.
May Christ, whose terror scares away the foul throngs,
make with me a strong covenant.
God the unconquerable guardian,
defend me on every side by your power.
Free all my limbs,
with your safe shield protecting each,
so that the fallen demons cannot attack
against my sides, or pierce me with their darts.
Skull, head, hair and eyes,
forehead, tongue, teeth and their covering,
neck, breast, side, bowels,
waist, buttocks and both hands.
For the crown of my head with its hair,
be the helmet of salvation on my head;
for forehead, eyes, triform brain,
nose, lip, face, temple;
for chin, beard, eye-brows, ears,
cheeks, lower cheeks, internasal, nostrils;
for the pupils, irises, eyelashes, eyelids,
chin, breathing, cheeks, jaws;
for teeth, tongue, mouth, throat,
uvula, windpipe, bottom of tongue, nape;
for the middle of the head, for cartilage,
neck—you, kind One, be near for defense.
I pray, Lord Jesus Christ, by the nine orders of holy angels,
Lord, be my sure armor,
for my limbs, for my entrails,
that you may drive back from me the invisible
nails of stakes, which enemies fashion.
Cover me, therefore, O God, with strong breastplate,
along with shoulder blades, shoulders and arms.
Cover my elbows and elbow-joints and hands,
fists, palms, fingers with their nails.
Cover back-bone and ribs with their joints,
hind-parts, back, nerves and bones.
Cover surface, blood and kidneys,
haunches, buttocks with the thighs.
Cover hams, calves, thighs,
knee-caps, hocks and knees.
Cover ankles, shins and heels,
legs, feet with the rests of the soles.
Cover the branches that grow ten together,
with the toes and their nails ten.
Cover chest, sternum, the little breast,
nipple, stomach, navel.
Cover belly, reins, genitals,
and paunch, and vital parts also of the heart.
Cover the triangular liver and fat,
spleen, armpits with covering.
Cover stomach, chest with the lungs,
veins, sinews, gall-bladder with
Cover flesh, groin with the inner parts,
spleen with the winding intestines.
Cover bladder, fat and all
the numberless orders of joints.
Cover hairs, and the rest of my limbs,
whose names, may be, I have passed by.
Cover me all in all with my five senses,
and with the ten doors formed for me,
so that, from my soles to the top of the head,
in no member, without within, may I be sick;
that, from my body, life be not cast out
by plague, fever, weakness, suffering,
Until, with the gift of old age from God,
I blot out my sins with good works;
And, in departing from the flesh, be free from stain,
and be able to fly to the heights,
and, by the mercy of God, be borne in joy
to the heavenly cool retreats of his kingdom.
Source:
https://acollectionofprayers.com/2018/08/01/the-lorica-of-gildas/
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Saint Merryn Missionary in Cornwall, England & Brittany, France (+6th ce.)
4 April
6th century. Missionary in Cornwall and Brittany. Saint Merryn is the titular patron of a place in Cornwall. He may be identical with the Breton saint honoured at Lanmerin and Plomelin. During the medieval period, the legendary Saint Marina was believed to have been its patron. For this reason, the Cornish St. Merryn observes the feast on July 7, whereas the Breton feast is on April 4.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0404c.html
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Saint Ethelburga of Lyminge, England (+647)
5 April
Died c. 647. Saint Ethelburga was the daughter of King Saint Ethelbert of Kent (f.d. February 24), who had been converted to Christianity by his wife Bertha (Tata) and Saint Augustine of Canterbury (f.d. May 27). Ethelburga married the pagan King Edwin of Northumbria. She and her chaplain Saint Paulinus (f.d. October 10) helped persuade Edwin to become a Christian in 627 and a saint (f.d. October 12). The behaviour of his wife, as much as the preaching of Paulinus, must have had a great influence in the conversion of Edwin and his court. Pope Boniface wrote to her to encourage her, addressing the letter To his daughter, the most illustrious lady, Queen Ethelburga, Bishop Boniface, servant of the servants of God ... He sent her the blessing of St Peter, and a silver mirror with an ivory comb adorned with gold, asking her to accept the present in the same kindly spirit as that in which it is sent.
Edwin encouraged the advancement of Christianity in his kingdom, but on his death, paganism returned, and Ethelburga and Paulinus were forced to return to her native Kent. There she founded a double monastery at Lyminge where her brother Eadbald gave her the site of an old Roman villa at Lyminge, on Stone Street, near the Roman fort of Lymne.
St. Ethelburga continued at Lyminge to the end of her life, and there remains a recess in the South wall of the parish church, which was probably her tomb, and her well on the village green, in a good state of preservation. When Lanfranc founded the Collegiate Church at Canterbury for the parish clergy of the city, he translated the relics of St. Ethelburga, and they were enshrined there, just outside the Northgate, until the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney).
Saint Ethelburga is portrayed in art as a crowned abbess with the Abbey of Lyminge, where she is venerated.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0405c.html
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Quotes of Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
No one can bear to live with a saint, because the saint’s word is fiery. The saint ascends the Cross with his whole life; he is crucified. And the one who lives with him cannot bear this life of the Cross.
There are no writings by female saints. This is not because there are fewer holy women than men. There are more holy women, but female saints lead a hidden life; they are able to keep their life secret. The All-Holy Virgin received great grace from God. We do not have revelations that come from the All-Holy Virgin, but we know that she had great grace; the Church and all who pray to her are aware of it.
Also, women did not need to reveal their experiences in order to guide their flock. All those who have left us a few of their words were Abbesses. But male saints, too, would have kept silent, and we would not have their writings, had it not been necessary for them, as people with responsibility and shepherds of the Church, to guide their flocks.
God’s covenant with human beings is His call to each one. Accepting the call is keeping the Covenant.
Priests share in Christ’s martyric priesthood. The Pope exercises his authority from a high position. Orthodox priests share in Christ’s self-emptying, in the martyric priesthood of Christ, Who was crucified and went down to Hades.
The trials that the saints underwent are greater than our own trials, because their hearts were sensitive and everything in their lives took on larger proportions. Christ’s Cross transcends any human martyrdom because Christ was sinless. We inherit death and we strengthen the power of death throughout our lives with our sins.
Christians will always be misunderstood by those around them.
We should also respect the freedom of non-believers and atheists, and not judge them. Then they too will leave us free to do our work.
In Greece they are prone to gossip and easily take offence, but at the same time they have intuition, and they understand that other people have good intentions and mean well. This is because Greece is an Orthodox country.
When someone has a rule from his spiritual father not to take Holy Communion, but he takes Holy Communion because he thirsts for it, then, apart from being disobedient, he does harm to his soul, because afterwards he stops thirsting for Holy Communion. If, however, he obeys his spiritual father, he will continue to thirst for Holy Communion. This thirst is beneficial. Just by keeping the word of one’s spiritual father one receives grace from God.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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Sayings of Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
When someone has passed through Buddhism he needs to repent and weep a lot. Otherwise a certain pride will remain in him as a residue from his previous life. Carnal sins (fornication) are forgotten through repentance and are easily cured. Psychological and spiritual sins (pride, heresies, experimenting with Buddhism) are not easily cured. It is the same with culture. A monk who spends his time on cultural pursuits shows that he has no experience of repentance. If he had repentance, all his past interests, including culture, would be left behind, since the grace of God would be before him.
What do the words “Keep your mind in hell, and despair not” mean? They mean nothing to us, but Staretz Silouan understood them as a great consolation, because he was going through the period of Godfor-sakenness. That is why he said: “I received the weapon of my salvation.” It was like a triumph. Hell means the withdrawal of God’s grace. This is God’s chastening. For Staretz Silouan the way out was “Do not despair.”
God abandoned the Apostle Peter during the time of trial in order to prepare him for greater grace. He received so much grace from God that even his shadow cured people.
The grace of God that comes to the saints is so great that the soul is unable to keep it. For that reason they leave the world and the monastery. This happened to St Seraphim of Sarov.
When someone who is married does not honour spiritual virginity (purity of heart) and does not exercise it, he does not live well even as a married man, because married life is nourished by this purity of heart.
Godly despair is different from worldly despair. Godly despair is linked with profound repentance, abandonment by God.
The difference between something psychological and something spiritual is the difference between what is human and what is divine. Everything in the spiritual life is the fruit of human collaboration and divine grace.
God arranges sufferings and trials for the proud man so that he might be saved. To someone who is physically strong He gives an illness to stop him indulging himself. Afflictions crush the heart, and this crushing produces prayer.
Man is a microcosm. He repents, he becomes holy, he receives the whole world, and thus a small creation takes place.
We are all murderers to varying degrees. When we are emotionally in favour of a state that fights against another state, we too participate spiritually in the killings that take place.
Practising virginity requires obedience. A monk is not protected from various temptations when he lives with his mother and sister, but when he has the blessing of his Elder and is obedient to him.
The essence of obedience is that someone opens his heart – his hypostasis – and accepts the will of another hypostasis. This enables him to acquire knowledge of all created being. When someone is completely obedient to his Elder, his heart opens up and he inherits the Elder’s ‘riches’ in a very short time. This is not something psychological, but something that comes about in the Spirit. This means that, if the disciple receives a grace from God during prayer, his mind immediately turns to his Elder and he says that this happened by the prayers of the Elder. This is spiritual obedience and love for the Elder. Through this process, obedience to the Elder deadens the passions. This is the only way to deaden and transform the passions.
Often impertinence becomes a burning fire. Simplicity, not impertinence, is needed.
The Apostle Paul expounds the charisma of love in his Epistle to the Romans better than in the Epistle to the Corinthians.
The prayer “Against Thee only do we sin, and Thee alone do we worship” has great theological significance. We worship God, but we are also unable to live with Him. He is a mirror that reveals our ugliness. Thus man grows spiritually both downwards and upwards.
Prayer ought to take place in the dogmatic framework of ecclesi-ology and the Gospel. Otherwise prayer cannot act. And even if it acts, at the time of temptation it departs and is lost. We must be familiar with the whole of God’s training.
There are many degrees of humility. The first is the recognition of sinfulness. Secondly, man compares himself with the perfect law and sees that he is worse than everyone else. Thirdly, he accepts charismas as gifts from God. Fourthly, he sees the humility of Christ.
Keeping Christ’s commandments is for all Christians. The monastic life is a technical method to help us keep Christ’s commandments better. So we do not preach monasticism but Christianity.
I do not like talking about intuition, but about the heart’s awareness and inner conviction, which is the working of divine grace.
We should not oppose the evil one with words, because opposition increases evil. As Abba Dorotheos says, the good swimmer passes under the wave.
Someone ought not to humble himself before those who do not humble themselves, because they will perceive it as weakness and will go on to strangle him. When those who are born again in the Spirit meet someone humble, they humble themselves even more, whereas those who are not born again, when they meet someone humble, take the opportunity to impose themselves on him.
Five minutes of prayer when the whole body is in pain are more precious than a whole night of praying with bodily ease.
It is preferable to do only a little spiritual work, but with peace in our heart, rather than to attempt a lot and lose our peace of heart.
We should prefer to have a little of all the virtues rather than one virtue to perfection, because in this way one’s nous, will and desire are purified. The soul acts in the whole body, so man needs to be wholly cleansed.
We should not only talk about prayer; we should also know how to keep ourselves from hopelessness. Usually people fall as a result of pride or despair. These two are man’s greatest enemies.
Each one has a particular way of life that is unlike any other. All, however, lead to God and end with Him, just as the spokes of a wheel are connected with the hub.
Even in spiritual drought God sends us consolation, as He knows our weaknesses. It would be to our advantage to live our whole life in spiritual dryness but to struggle. In other words, if we could reach Christ through being utterly abandoned by God, through emptying ourselves completely, as happened with Christ on the Cross. Then man would also have great glory. We shall have glory depending on how much we empty ourselves and how much pain we endure.
Nothing, either spiritual or material, belongs to us but to God. It becomes ours when we offer it to God. Through the prayer that we say before the meal, we offer up the material good things to God, and then they become ours, because God gives them back to us so that we can live.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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“Today is the autumnal equinox, when the hours of light and dark are in equal balance. This is a good day to take stock to make sure that we have a God-given equilibrium in our lives. This may seem a forlorn and frustrating task, until we realize that Christ, who is the perfect specimen of a balanced human being, can calm our agitated or overworked parts, heal our sick parts, and strengthen our weak parts. Gildas, who has been nicknamed the Jeremiah of the early British church because he was so critical of its lax members, believed in fasting and prayer—yet he was equally aware of the danger of going overboard and losing a sense of proportion. He wrote: There is no point in abstaining from bodily food if you do not have love in your heart. Those who do not fast much but who take great care to keep their heart pure (on which, as they know, their life ultimately depends) are better off than those who are vegetarian, or travel in carriages, and think they are therefore superior to everyone else. To these people death has entered through the window of their pride. Grant me the serenity— that comes from placing the different parts of my being under your harmonizing sway. Today may I grow in balance. SEPTEMBER”
― Ray Simpson, Daily Light from the Celtic Saints: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life
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Saint Wulsin Bishop of Sherborne, England (+1005)
8 January
Died January 8, 1005. Saint Wulsin is described as a loyal and trusty monk whom Saint Dunstan loved like a son with pure affection. When Dunstan restored Westminster Abbey, he appointed Wulsin superior there (c. 960) and finally abbot in 980. In 992, Wulsin was consecrated bishop of Sherborne, but he also continued to serve as abbot of Westminster. The following year Bishop Wulsin introduced a monastic chapter within his see. Wulsin rebuilt the church at Sherborne and improved its endowment. He was a great Benedictine prelate even in that age of distinguished monks.
Several pieces of correspondence with Wulsin are still extant. There is a letter from the scholar Aelfric (then abbot of Cerne) introducing his collection of canons for the instruction of priests. William of Malmesbury records that Wulsin warned his monks that having the bishop as their abbot would cause difficulty in the future.
Wulsin's pastoral staff and other pontificalia survived at Sherborne and were notable for their simplicity, which matched his general austerity. Another second-degree relic not mentioned by William of Malmesbury is the famous Sherborne Pontifical, which belonged to him and is a rich example of Winchester illumination. Wulsin's bodily remains, together with those of Saint Juthwara, were translated to Sherborne c. 1050. Wulsin is venerated at Sherborne, Westminster, Abbotsbury, and Worcester.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0108e.html
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From the wisdom of Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
Freedom is not political independence, but that the evil one has no authority over us.
Not all the saints received the same grace from God, but all filled the vessel that they offered to God.
Sometimes reading patristic writings makes the spiritual life difficult. For instance: a certain Christian has a spiritual experience. If he reads a patristic book he begins spying on himself, trying to fit himself into the corresponding categories of the spiritual life, according to what he has read. Thus the left hand consumes and destroys whatever the right hand does. Great simplicity is required in the spiritual life. Illiterate old ladies whisper prayers to God and have faces like children, whereas educated people speculate and their faces are troubled and aggressive.
Sometimes it is good that agitation arises between the brethren. Because, on the one hand, they escape from despondency and, on the other, they become humble.
Once someone receives God’s grace the war, the battle, begins. He receives great grace and his body must also be transformed. The carnal mentality draws the soul downwards, but at the same time God’s grace draws it upwards. This is a difficult moment. Someone can be led astray from the right or from the left. The psychological pain is great, and it can strike him at the weakest point of his body, his heart or his brain. Then obedience to a discerning Elder is necessary. Our own will must disappear from within us.
One interpretation of the Apostle Paul’s words, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16), is as follows: When we hear or read a word of God, we feel it by grace to be food for our heart. This is spiritual, not intellectual, remembrance of God.
Man’s formation and transformation means that he takes the form of Christ’s servant.
The passion of worldly sorrow is a great passion that preoccupies people today. Unfortunately we retain sorrow within us and we caress it until it kills us. One must fight against the passion of sorrow and cure it.
One should not listen to one’s own thoughts, because the devil and the satanic spirit work through thoughts. If someone heeds his own thoughts in trivial matters, the devil will gradually gain power, strength and domination over him. Then he will cast him into major delusions. If the devil tells him to do something and he obeys, later on he will even tell the man to commit suicide and he will obey him.
A Roman Catholic asked me why we Orthodox repeat the Jesus Prayer so often. I told him: “We repeat it because we are slow on the uptake and do not understand. When, however, we understand something, we never leave it.”
The angels sinned in eternity, whereas human beings sin in time.
Western Christians force themselves to pray, and this creates pressure in the brain. The Orthodox pray with ease, because this prayer takes place with the grace that exists abundantly in the Orthodox Church.
Long services usually make inner prayer difficult. After a long vigil service Staretz Silouan said, “We killed the donkey (the body) but we didn’t do anything.” Fasting helps spiritual progress less than prayer, particularly inner prayer accompanied by mourning. Fasting a lot without discretion sometimes creates problems in prayer.
It is easier for people to keep burning charcoal in their hands than grace in their hearts. They perceive divine grace as a consuming fire. What is needed is humility and self-accusation, and for them not to receive divine grace in a festive manner.
People in the West are unaware of the mystery of divine abandonment, of God’s chastening, which is why they fall into despondency. This mystery of divine abandonment and self-emptying is repeated again and again in the life of Orthodox monks, but they know what this mystery is and how to deal with it. Self-emptying leads to glory, if one is able to endure.
God’s commandments are the manner of divine life. Man cannot keep the commandments of God to the full, so he needs grace. Prayer accomplishes this. Sometimes, when someone keeps God’s commandments and lives the ethos of the crucified Christ, he senses God’s grace without praying, or he prays out of love. The aim is not to pray without ceasing (when it is done mechanically and formally); the aim is our communion with God, which is also achieved through prayer.
The Fathers did not ask for many words. They received one spiritual word, left for the desert, and lived for many years with that word. They attempted to put it into practice and they were nourished by it. We say, and we want to hear, lots of words, but we do nothing to put them into practice. When someone talks a lot, he becomes spiritually weak.
Simple people are moved by the slightest thing, and this gives them energy. However, they may also complain and grumble about the slightest thing, and this exhausts them.
Someone who has obedience and love can adapt himself to any situation.
Many people have unassailable ignorance.
As a layman I was very sensitive. Someone was contemptuous of Holy Scripture and thumped his hand on the table. I was in pain for two weeks. Afterwards, however, I stopped being sensitive, because this energy too was transformed.
People in the West live with their brain: their lives are centred on reason. So, if scientists were to invent a machine, they would be able to read people’s thoughts and direct them. All those, however, who live with their heart, within which God’s grace acts, and who pray in their heart, have the sign of the Cross in their heart and no one is able to control them spiritually. They have freedom of spirit.
In the cave of the Holy Trinity (near the Monastery of St Paul) I prayed ardently and wept aloud, because no one could hear me and I had freedom, whereas in Karoulia it was difficult for me, because I had neighbours.
The twelfth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews describes the spiritual fact of God’s chastening. Sometimes this chastening from God comes about through the Jesus Prayer, sometimes through weeping, and at other times through Godforsakenness. God trains man in many ways and offers him more perfect knowledge to prevent him experiencing a fall, as did Adam when he was first created. In this way his progress towards God will be steadier.
The following state occurs in those at the start of their spiritual life: something they say or a sin they commit causes them great agitation. We ought to be slightly contemptuous of these forgivable little everyday falls, in order to make some other gains. It is better to be at a low level and peaceful, rather than high up and anxious.
When the heart is on fire for the Jesus Prayer and for various reasons it cannot pray, it is like a dormant volcano.
When someone cannot rebut his thoughts, he should at least tell them to his Elder. Even then he will benefit.
When someone reaches a certain spiritual state and has grace from God, he begins to be taught by God. Then everything instructs him. God sent St Antony the Great to the shoemaker to learn self-accusation, even though St Antony had grace and was superior to the shoemaker, which is why we commemorate St Antony and not the shoemaker. Also, someone who is spiritual is taught by the whole of nature.
When someone who has hidden, unconfessed sins hears a spiritual word, he feels pain somewhere in his body. Divine grace also reveals his state to him in this way, and if he wishes, he can escape from this spiritual misfortune.
When someone prays in a particular way and encounters various obstacles, and at some point he is unable to pray in that way, if he has inspiration, another path will open up. Another way will be found and he will acquire greater knowledge of God.
When we speak about asceticism in the Orthodox Church we do not simply mean bodily ascetic practices, although these too are essential, but the soul’s resurrection from the passions, love towards God and the quickening of the soul by the Holy Spirit.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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Words of Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
When Staretz Silouan died I felt like an orphan for one week. Afterwards I felt differently.
When someone prays in his heart, he is sometimes given a word. This word begets other words. Thus his nous is opened and he grasps the meaning of the whole of Holy Scripture. Every word of revelation encompasses the entire meaning of Holy Scripture.
When someone begins to live according to Christ, the community rejects him. Then he acquires another community, because we Christians also have our own community. We lose nothing, even in this world.
My greatest trial, when I became a monk, was that I had to abandon art, because I thought that through art I would draw near to the eternal. The eternal, however, is approached through prayer, the renunciation of the wealth of the mind and, above all, through theoria of God.
The experience gained by living and practising asceticism in a monastery enables a monk to live in the desert as well. Otherwise he cannot put the desert to good use. When someone departs for the desert and a thought about something (hurting a brother) torments him, this thought will give him no peace.
Spiritual virginity even cures lost bodily virginity. Abba Zosimas, who had both bodily and spiritual virginity, bowed down before St Mary of Egypt, who was a prostitute from an early age. The spiritual virginity that St Mary of Egypt acquired cured her completely.
Spiritual virginity is of greater worth. Spiritual virginity means keeping Christ’s commandments, when one’s nous cleaves to God through prayer. Everyone, whether married or unmarried, can acquire this spiritual virginity. Monks who do not have spiritual virginity are wretched, because they neither have children on the natural level nor do they transfer existence to Paradise.
If people have the idea of being saved and they manage it, how will we monks whose aim is to be saved not manage it?
For a monastery to make progress it must have either an Elder or pilgrims. Pilgrims help monks to reduce their passions, because the monks have to offer them something, to show love and to sacrifice themselves. It is very beneficial when every week one pilgrim is regenerated at the monastery.
– The holy Fathers make a distinction between mourning and weeping aloud. Mourning means compunction. Sometimes the one who mourns breaks into loud sobs, which are of a spiritual and charismatic, not psychological, nature. This is weeping aloud. In this case the desert is necessary, so that no one will hear him weeping. Then the monk is
unable to stay in the monastery. Weeping aloud increases tears.
The parents of monks realise the benefit of their child’s dedication to God at the hour of their death.
No one ought to ask for the priesthood, whereas one ought to ask for the monastic schema, because monasticism is the search for repentance.
When I was a monk at the Monastery of St Panteleimon, I did not want any thought of ordination to the priesthood or diaconate to enter my mind. Nor did I want to suggest that I be ordained. When the Abbot suggested ordination to me, during the service, as they could not put the deacon’s stole on me, I moved my arm to help them. Afterwards this troubled me a lot, in case a desire [for ordination] had perhaps existed within me and had expressed itself in this way. Priesthood brings many temptations. When someone goes forward or begins on his own, he cannot overcome them.
Martyrdom in the monastic life, and in the Christian life in general, consists in how one will live through the successive stages of Christ’s life.
In order for the monastery to function well it must have a discerning spiritual father or a good typikon and good organisation, otherwise it will turn into a gypsy camp.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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Words of Wisdom: Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
Brianchaninov complains in his autobiography about the severity with which his first Elder treated him. In this way he sapped his strength for prayer. For that reason the Elder ought to take care of his spiritual children in every respect.
A monk said: “I am very sure about the things I say from the Elder’s words.”
We live as though we had nothing in our minds and when they ask us, we have something to say.
Sometimes one becomes spiritually weaker after a talk. This happens when one speaks many times a day with energy and intensity.
The holy Fathers do not usually speak in detail about matters to do with marriage and married couples. When someone lives in repentance, he finds the solution to many problems. When someone has the fear of God, he is enlightened to deal with more specific problems.
People will have to answer to God for the word they say to people which is beyond them.
We ought to speak when forced to do so. Then we too force God, Who cannot be forced, and He gives us a word of freedom.
We must respect other people’s freedom. Nothing done by force endures in time and eternity.
When a spiritual father encounters a response from someone, he loves him, because both of them benefit. Therefore it is not wrong for there to be a special love in the Spirit and gratitude between spiritual father and disciple.
When we accept the spiritual father as a gift from God, or when gratitude and thankfulness to God for the spiritual father arise in prayer, then we love him in the Spirit.
When someone wants to change his spiritual father, he must first seek his blessing, and so leave in peace. He should never refer anywhere to complaints or things that happened in the past. If he complains and mentions various events, the devil acquires power over him, whereas otherwise the devil’s fire goes into the air. In the French Revolution someone said: “Give me a letter from someone and I will cut off his head”, in other words, he would find a pretext to put him to death. For that reason, the best we can do in such cases is keep silent.
Spiritual fathers have a difficult task, because they must continually point out their spiritual children’s mistakes. This stirs up a reaction and causes hatred.
When we speak about things that we do not know personally and that are beyond us, we place a barrier (a wall) in front of us that prevents us from experiencing them.
The death of an innocent man imperceptibly changes the whole world for the better, because the energy of the innocent man benefits the whole world and cures injustice.
We ought not to make vows to God. However, if we make them, we must fulfil them.
St John of Kronstadt was once invited to cure someone who was allegedly paralysed. It was a trap, because they wanted to murder him. When St John realised the deception he said: “Let it be, Lord, according to Thy word.” And the allegedly paralysed man became actually paralysed. Subsequently St John prayed and he became well. When someone pretends to be ill, God allows him to become ill.
There is only a slight difference between geniuses and madmen.
By praying for two weeks and studying patristic texts, intelligent people can write a whole book about prayer and think that they can pray.
When someone knows earthly pleasures through art, he feels disappointment and bitterness. This is because one pursues art in order to grasp the eternal, but this cannot be achieved through any human work. The soul knows that eternity is not to be found there, so it feels pain.
When someone receives a spiritual gift, he usually attracts other people’s envy. Then he feels the need to hide it. So, without realising it, he becomes a fool for Christ’s sake.
The subject of foolishness for Christ’s sake is a very subtle one. Some have undertaken this task to conceal the riches of their spiritual gifts, and so as not to provoke people’s envy.
We must turn psychological states into spiritual phenomena, into weeping. There is a method which Christians ought to know. We are aware of a trial, of contempt on the part of others or an unjust attack. Then our heart is embittered by this injustice and produces various thoughts that affect our whole life. Prayer stops at once.
The therapeutic method is to leave aside the brother who has wronged us and to begin a conversation with God. We say: “My God, it’s my fault. I am unworthy to be loved by people…” Then repentance and weeping begin, and this cures the negative psychological phenomenon and makes it spiritual. We see this in the life of Christ. The Apostle Peter was preventing Christ from going to the Cross, but Christ had steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, to Golgotha. His crucifiers were howling, but He had His nous turned towards God’s will and was praying to His Father. He did not engage in a dialogue with people but with God. In this way we become healthy and are cured. This is a kind of ‘struggle’ with God.
The Philokalia does not write much about the scientific method of prayer, but it writes a lot about the atmosphere of prayer and about keeping Christ’s commandments. Some Westerners only translate those parts of the Philokalia that write about the technical method of prayer, and so they present it as a sort of Christian yoga. This is a mistake.
Mindfulness of death, as lived and described by the Fathers, is not an external awareness that one day we shall die. Elderly people have this as well, and they mention it often. Rather, it is a charismatic state; it is the consciousness of inner deadness. Man sees that he is inwardly destitute of God’s grace, and that he has passions. He knows that God is the God of the living, but he is spiritually dead and has lost God. This is what people experience in the West, which is why they say that God is dead. God has not died, but man has died to God.
When, by grace, man sees this inner deadness, he also sees deadness in the whole of creation. He feels that everything is lifeless, dead. He sees death everywhere. This causes profound suffering; he gives himself over to weeping and seeks Life, the Living God, his resurrection.
This is a charisma, a spiritual event that gives birth to prayer. When this gift is absent, we use external things to give us a sense of death, such as pictures of graves and bones, and so on.
Christianity is so great that one refuses to believe it, as happened after Christ’s Resurrection: “They worshipped Him; but some doubted”. They did not doubt out of lack of love, nor out of disbelief, but out of a sense of greatness. At the Second Coming of Christ the just will be amazed, but the sinners will also be amazed; the former because they did not expect to be saved, the latter because they did not expect to be condemned.
If mindfulness of death purifies man, how much more does death itself – that is to say, the coming of death, when it is accompanied by repentance.
All our life long we go through the tribunal, the judgment.
The customs houses about which the Fathers write are symbols of a reality. The Fathers understand them as follows: after the fall of man, the soul is nourished by the body, in other words, it finds refreshment in material pleasures. After death, however, these bodily passions that used to divert the soul no longer exist, because the soul has left the body, and they choke and stifle the soul. These are the customs houses and hell. Abba Dorotheos says that hell is for someone to be shut up for three days in a room without food, sleep or prayer. Then he can understand what hell is.
When someone acquires mindfulness of death, he understands how senseless it is to acquire and accumulate material possessions.
At the Second Coming the just will say: “When, Lord, did we do this, when did we do that?” They will not know what good they have done, because they passed through all the dryness of this present life with patience and faith. They put their trust in the words of Holy Scripture.
Paradise is the grace of God and His Kingdom. God continuously sends His grace and calls us in this life. Those who despise God and drive Him away, will see at His Second Coming what sort of a God they drove away, and they will be burned up. Those who live in God now will be in raptures then.
We have such a rich God, Who has such great grace, but all the same we live in such poverty. We are upset by the slightest thing; this is a wretched state. We ought to be joyful all the time. Our life should always be a daily surprise. Not a day passes without God giving us a new sense of eternal life.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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Now robed in stillness in this quiet place
Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, England (+687)
Now robed in stillness in this quiet place, emptied of all I was, I bring all that I am your gift of shepherding to use and bless.
Source: Ray Simpson, Daily Light from the Celtic Saints: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life
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