Père Sophrony et moi.

Par Mère Mariam.

   St Basil le Grand a dit : «La grandeur de l’homme reste au fait qu’il est un être ordonné de devenir Dieu».

   Introduction

   Mon histoire avec Père Sophrony est le travail du Saint Esprit dans l’humanité en chute… C’est le savoir percevoir et observer le mouvement de l’esprit dans l’homme et le transporter du péché à la santé, du monde matériel au monde spirituel, de la mort à la vie…

   Ainsi est le début de ma connaissance du grand  Père Sophrony, le Staretz russe, qui a quitté la terre de ses pères et de ses ancêtres pour la terre que Dieu lui a fait montrer… Du sol de la Russie, le pays vaste autant que le ciel et la terre, vers la sainte montagne Athos…

   Passant par Paris- France, il a fréquenté les jardins de la Tuilerie- ses expos artistiques, ses gens languissants vers des horizons dévorés par la civilisation du matérialisme, ses salons bourgeois de culture… Puis après, il débarqua au mont verdoyant de la Mère de Dieu, à ses rochers rasés, ses caves érodées par l’humidité… Ses monastères étendus témoignant que le Seigneur est encore adoré et loué par l’esprit et la vérité, dans un temps plein de guerres, de révolutions et d’hérésies religieuses… Dans un temps où l’homme laissa Dieu et proclama qu’Il était mort…

L’amour.

St. Maxime Le Confesseur.

   1. L’amour est une disposition bonne de l'âme, qui lui fait préférer à tout la connaissance de Dieu. Quant à parvenir à la possession habituelle de cette charité, c'est chose impossible, tant qu'on garde une attache à quelque objet terrestre.

   2. L’amour naît de la liberté intérieure; la liberté intérieure, de l'espoir en Dieu, l'espoir, de la patience et de la longanimité, celles-ci, de la vigilante maîtrise de soi; la maîtrise de soi, de la crainte de Dieu, et la crainte, de la foi au Christ.

   3. Qui croit au Seigneur craint le châtiment; qui craint le châtiment maîtrise ses passions; qui maîtrise ses passions endure patiemment les afflictions, qui endure patiemment les afflictions acquerra l'espoir en Dieu. Et l'espoir en Dieu sépare l'esprit de toute attache terrestre; et l'esprit, ainsi détaché, possédera l'amour pour Dieu.

Do not neglect your salvation.

Saint Anthony the Great.

   Beloved and honoured brothers, Antony greets you in the Lord!. 

   "Truly, my beloved in the Lord, God did not visit his creatures only once, but since the beginning of the world. As soon as anyone has turned through the law of promise to the Creator of all, God embraced him in his benevolence, grace and Spirit. As for those rational beings in whom the law of promise grew cold and whose faculties of the mind thus died, so that they could no longer know themselves after their first formation, they have all become irrational and serve the creatures instead of the Creator. But in his great benevolence the Creator of all visited us through the law of promise, for our essence is immortal.

Baptism as the new birth in Christ.

By Saint Nicholas Cabasilas.

   To be baptized, is to be born according to Christ and to receive our very being and nature, having previously been nothing. This we can learn from many sources. First, from the very order itself: it is the first of the Mysteries into which we are initiated, and before the others this Mystery introduces Christians into the new life. Secondly, we may learn this from the very names which we call it, and thirdly, from the ceremonies which we employ and the words which we sing.

   This, then, is the order which we follow. First we are washed, then, when we have been anointed with chrism, we approach the sacred table. This is a clear proof that the baptismal washing is the beginning of life, its foundation and presupposition, that Christ Himself, who endured all things for our sake, considered it necessary to be baptized and underwent this before all else. As for the names, what else could they imply?. We call it "birth," "new birth," "new creation," and "seal," and in addition "baptism" [i.e., "dipping"], "clothing," "anointing," "charisma" [i.e., "gift"], "illumination," and "washing." These all signify this one thing, that this rite is the beginning of being for those who are in accordance with God and so live.

The Church of Spirit and Truth.

“Now anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His (i.e. he is not for Christ).
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are the sons of God”.(Rm 8:9-14)

   Father Youssef Daros, from Egypt, sent us the following question: “Does the Holy Spirit act in the sacraments of the non-Chalcedonian Churches? (Copts, Syrians, Armenians and Ethiopians), and in the Catholic Church?”.

   Often our questions are incorrect due to our erroneous approach. It is however important, when considering these questions, that we try to explain the correct traditional perspective of “the Church”. Hence, in this correct framework, we can discern the correct question from the incorrect one!

   Firstly, we would like to express our reservation towards the way, the enquirer uses the terms “Church” and “Churches”. To know the cause of our reservation, I refer the reader to one of my previous articles, in the section “Dots on Letters”, titled “Seeking the Church”, written on 13 November 2016.