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| Saint Sophrony the Athonite. |
Our wish is to live with the Holy
Spirit: to live where His Name is called upon. When we come into contact with
the Word of God, we cannot of course avoid the fear but neither the joy. How
many times have we said, and we will repeat it, that every day and every season
and every hour we try to live on holy ground, and this ground is the Church.
Through what is the Church sanctified.?!.
Through our effort, struggling not to
grieve the Holy Spirit, in trying to grasp every one of His words. These words
are written in our hearts: "Christians should speak always from what is
given to them by the Spirit and not to philosophize". If you examine how the Church and the crowds
of people reacted to the preaching of the holy Apostles, you would undoubtedly
wish to keep that joy and compassionate love for the world.
Why do I speak with fear about the
Word of God.?!.
Because the Gospel begins with the
words: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God"[1].
Those who have the ability of discerning the spiritual state of a person, will
confirm, according with the prologue of the Gospel of St. John, that man does
not speak thus. It is therefore useless to seek in philosophical works - as
some have tried- the origin of this statement of St. John the Theologian.
Even the most brilliant of men would
not be able to speak thus. The meaning of these words is not revealed through
human interpretations, but with the perception of the life enclosed in them.
I have allowed myself to speak today
about this, because we have at the monastery a young visitor, our most beloved
iconographer N. He chose this art or profession for his spiritual life. This
means, that when he paints an icon, whether he does so consciously or not, in
reality he lives with the awareness that man was created in the image of God.
A certain professor of the Institute
of St. Serge related to me a remarkable incident. He himself is a teacher of
Patrology and a pious man. He said that, looking at the simple women who came
to venerate an icon, he noticed a certain resemblance between the souls of
those who venerated and that of the depicted. Thus, this expression of the
human soul in the sphere of our earthly life lives inside the iconographer,
when he toils in the portrayal of the image of Christ, our Most Holy Lady or the
Saints.
You know that already from seven or
eight years ago, I have remained without reading, because my eyes no longer
discern typed letters. With my mind I constantly await the coming of that
instant, when my contact with this world will be severed. Till now I live with
the energy contained in the tree of the total Adam. The events of our times
render our century uniquely important. It seems to me at times that the Lord
God withdrawing from us, through merely this negative movement of withdrawal,
allows us to drown in our passions, and so we live with the passions of this
world. And great are the sufferings of the soul of man, when the perceptible
grace of the Holy Spirit departs from us.
God's distancing following two unbelievably
harsh World Wars, the First and Second, lead to the entire world sinking into
crisis and unable to find a way out anywhere. Nevertheless however, when we
pray to God for the whole world, He answers: "Yes, man is suffering. And
my soul is pleased with those who pray for all mankind, for all who suffer, for
the total Adam. But leave this as it is, and don't be troubled, because the
wars are inevitable; don't be troubled, because in suffering people really
reach the edge of what can be called the limit
of patience of the will." My question however lies in that we say:
"Lord, so many people with tears, with sighs cry out to You, "Have
mercy upon us, have mercy upon us and Your world", and You are slow to
have mercy upon us...". Yes, this is a strong argument towards Christ and
towards the Father and the Holy Spirit... However He says in His Gospel:
"When you hear about all these things, look up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near."[2].
Our earthly life is transitory. We don't achieve here our end, our completion
as persons, as icons of God in their fullness.
"Come and dwell in us, O Holy
Spirit, O Good Comforter".
In the sight of our eyes empires are
dissolved, millions of our fellow men die of hunger, from diseases. "But
where are You Who created us?" And the Lord answers: "Thus it must
be, for the sake of eternity." Man was created in the image and
resemblance of God. He should embrace with His love not only mankind but also
the entire creation. The Lord rejoices when we pray for those who suffer, but
He is slow to come and cure. Why.?!. He is able to do all things. He says:
"Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul"[3].
This means that He, even after our slaughter or our death, is able to restore
us to greater glory. Perhaps then we will never again be as we live now,
deprived of love and light.
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Mother of God at the Cross, drawing, pencil on tracing paper,
by Saint Sophrony, c.1985
The Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex
by Saint Sophrony, c.1985
The Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex
My soul rejoices, when I see you, my
beloved brothers and sisters, giving your joy, your strength and prayer to
those who visit us. But after death what can we do.?!. The Lord is able to do
all things always. Thus these words, "for such things must happen"[4],
we cannot understand in their full sense, before dying and reaching the Final
Judgment. It would be foolish to think that the Lord is pleased in sufferings.
He Himself showed such love, which amazes us throughout the centuries and till
eternity. And when He comes, we say to Him: "Lord, where were you
yesterday or an hour ago?". But strangely He comes, comforts us with the
proof of His presence, and we no longer have need to ask God anything. The
constant doubts, the incessant ebb and flow of pain and sufferings, of darkness
and light, try the weakness of our created nature. However knowing this path we
will attempt to cry to the Mother of God and to all the Saints and to God
Himself, to grant us perseverance and strength for this kind of patience.
May God forgive me, for wanting to
speak to you about myself. More than half a century ago, when I was still at
Mount Athos, I was tormented with pains and suffered greatly. To my surprise I
glorified God Who created this flesh, through which I can endure sufferings. This
however doesn't occur now. I can rejoice noetically about the ways of God, but
the energy of joy no longer exists. And I am sad that I cannot offer you this
joy. I am calling you to patience, to a vigilant state of prayer with the
constant seeking of the will of God. May the Lord help us through the Holy
Spirit to remain in the light of His commandments. Again, calling you to
all of this, I ask you please to remember all the miracles of Divine
Providence, which has been long-suffering with us till now. Our times are
unbearable. I am not infallible, I may be mistaken at every step, and indeed I
do make mistakes. Nevertheless, I will tell you that often the thought comes
that we have reached "apocalyptic times". We however will build our
small temple- poor temple compared to others- with great zeal, in order to
render glory to God, our Saviour.
Yesterday
returned from Greece my, for years now, fellow worker Fr. Z., who put all his
energies in the rebuilding of the Monastery. He went there for the needs of our
Monastery. I will tell you that I received him with a special dread, because,
as described to me, he fell from a height of four meters among fences and
stones. He fell head down, was injured, and by miracle was saved. The blow and
fall were undoubtedly fatal, but you see, we have him once again with us.
Some of you remember how I too, fell
suddenly from the height of the pulpit to the ground, unknown by what force.
And perhaps I would have died, if I had not been able in time to grasp with one
finger the edge of the iron bar and avoid a fatal blow to my head. You see
therefore, that this small temple was given to us at great cost. But because we
are building it with such effort, I think the Lord will give us the breath
which encompasses all creation. We will remember then these miracles, because
their recollection will accustom us to live in this atmosphere. Anything else
which doesn't proceed from God will not give us rest...
I am pronouncing somewhat big words.
However about these you will read and you do read in the Holy Fathers. For
example, in St. Isaac the Syrian is stated that with strong, sharp and deep
pain man prays for the entire creation[5].
When however this state comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit - remember this - He
is with us, we are not alone. We cannot effect within us in some artificial way
these lofty states, but when God for one of our humble thoughts grants us some
of these really lofty contemplations and states, this comes so quietly, so
simply, that there is no movement neither for vainglory nor for something
similar. It is the natural life for the human soul, life in the image of God,
alike to His own life. You see, what a strange phenomenon: last month I
suffered so much, whilst today I cannot be parted from you and am constantly
speaking. Now however you may rest from me.
And may the Lord God bless all of you.
*******
Reference:
BUILDING
THE TEMPLE OF GOD WITHIN US AND IN OUR BRETHREN by Archimandrite SOPHRONY
(Sakharov), Vol. 3, Translation from Russian to Greek by Archimandrite
Zachariah, St. John the Baptist Monastery, Essex, England, Third Edition, 2014.
Homily114(Delivered in Russian on 8 February 1993)
Translation
of the above Homily from Greek to English by Holy Trinity Family, Douma,
Lebanon.
[1] Jn.1,1.
[2] See Mk. 13,7; Lk. 21,28.
[3] Mt. 10,28.
[4] Mk. 13,7.
[5] Isaac the Syrian, Ascetic Homilies, Homily 81, "ASTIR" Publications , Athens 1961,
edited by Kallinikos of the Monastery of the Almighty, p.270.