Persecution and monasticism preparation for sanctity.Saint Sophrony(Sakharov)

Archimandrite Thomas, Saint Sophrony, Mother Mariam,
contemplating the icon of the Mother of God.

  

Fr. Sophrony:

          As always, I come to our synaxes without preparation. My preparation rests on the prayer which you have just chanted: that the Spirit may come and vivify our heart and mind. And once again I rejoice that I am living this moment of our meeting together...

          We are living in an exceptionally important time. Two or three years ago a team of theologians from Serbia visited us. These young Serbian theologians asked me what I thought about the future. Here in our country (England), no one knew at that time the word "perestroika", which all the world today knows. I answered them that I am not a prophet, but my prayer tells me that humanity is living in a tragic tension, which surpasses the capacities of whichever State leader. Thus, if destruction through a nuclear war does not come in the near future, there will occur an inevitable revival of Christianity. And behold, a little while later, we began to hear talk on "perestroika" (= reconstruction- reformation), so that the Orthodox Church in Russia is now undergoing a period of revival.

          As Christ said that through the Providence of our Creator and Father even the hairs of our head are numbered[1], it is obvious that through the same Providence also Russia was preserved throughout this entire period of seventy years. The Word of God entered total kenosis, when He said to the Father, on the Cross : "Why have You forsaken me?"[2]The Apostle Paul tells us that God did not answer His Son who was dying saying, "Father, into Your hands I commit  my spirit"[3]. And precisely from that moment of His death, Christ began to be known not as a Prophet, no matter how great He was, but as God Himself.

          What the Church of Russia lived throughout the period of the seventy years, was allowed by Divine Providence, even though from a human point of view these years were an exceptionally tragic period. The slaughter of Christians was allowed by the Providence of God, at a time when the voices and innumerable prayers of the faithful remained unanswered from the part of the Heavenly Father. Knowing very many texts of prisoners, exiles etc., we can see there the repetition of all that occurred during the first centuries of Christianity. Thus, was granted in our times an exceptionally grand privilege: the privilege not only to believe in God, but also to suffer with Him[4]. In other words, these events, which seem to us terrible and which urged in us tearful prayer for them and for the whole of mankind, permitted a harvest of thousands and thousands of great saints.

Have we found paradise?.Archimandrite Aimilianos Simonopetra.

On Thursday, May 9, Archimandrite Aimilianos, the former Hegumen of Simonopetra Monastery, and spiritual father of many monks, nuns and lay people, reposed in the Lord, at the Monastery of the Annunciation in Ormylia (Chalkidiki) at the age of 85, after a long illness. Memory Eternal!.

“the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Delight to cultivate and keep it” (Gen 2.15).

Archimandrite Aimilianos
 Simonopetra.

 Those plants were like a robe of divine beauty, forming a natural world, a natural expression, of God's majestic holiness. The nat­ural world was a reflection of God's grandeur, and through nature God was visible to the eyes of our first ancestors. In tending the garden they were attending to the glory and majesty of God, care­fully tilling and cultivating the living things around them.

In the first place, then, comes work. We can never experience God without work. People who don't work bard and succeed at their earthly labors are not likely to find much Success in their spir­itual lives. We have to work.

After placing Adam and Eve in the garden, God said to them: “you may eat of any of the trees in paradise” (Gen 2.16). Don't be sur­prised by this. Eating is also a spiritual task, because paradise is a place that relates both to the senses of the body and to those of the intellect. Adam communed with God by means of the fruit of the trees, which was a figure of the food of heaven, about which Christ says: Take, eat, and drink (Mt 26.26-27). By eating of the food of the garden, Adam wasn't merely nourishing his body, but also his soul. It was a way for him to participate in God. And thus when we hear the words: Take, eat, drink, we hear the voice of God calling us to the communion of paradise. But whereas Adam's food was the fruit of the garden, we eat of the bread which came down from heaven (Tn 6.32-35).

Geronda Gregory abbot of Dochiariou Monastery.

The brethren of the Dochiariou monastery, who recently bade farewell to their Geronda Gregory (Zumis), offer this text in his memory.

Geronda Gregory (Zumis)

In October 9/21, 2018, around 10:30 pm, Gerondas Gregory , the hegumen of the Dochiariou monastery for 38 years, reposed in the Lord . The monk-ascetic, the charismatic leader, distinguished by an enlightened mind and a critical spirit, a skilled orator, loving spiritual father, renovator and new builder of the ancient monastery Dochiariou.

Geronda Gregory spiritually “grew at the feet” of Saint Amphilochius of Patmos and Saint Philotheos (Zervakos), abbot of the monastery of Longovard on Paros.

At the age of 29, he became the abbot of the “Mirtie” monastery in “Etoloakarnanii” and then the monastery of “Prusso” in “Evritania”. And, finally, since 1980, he became the hegumen of Dochiariou monastery in Mont Athos.

Antiochian testimonies. Father “Amphilochios Makris”.

Saint Amphilochios Makris.

 From the prologue of the Arabic version of the book “Our Geronda: The Life and Miracles of the Late Elder of Patmos, Amphilochios Makris”, (2001)

*Metropolitan Georges Khodr.

I would like to quote father “Amphilokhios” in the following 4 phrases: “Every Holy Liturgy is new”, "I am the son of the Church and I cannot give myself a break”, “whenever you see a spiritually exhausted person, don’t overburden him”, “Ask God’s forgiveness for I have given you nothing”.

Metropolitan Georges Khodr.

I had the chance to know the man. I met him in Patmos where Saint John saw his “revelation”. The light in his face was exactly the one described in this book, and this light was much more expressive than the words we exchanged. After all, words were not my aim. I wanted to go on pilgrimage to the place where the “Revelation” was given to Saint John. That great monk came across as one of those who lived for “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus”. One of those who didn’t leave their first love, or one of the 24 elders who where kneeling “before the One seated on the throne”. A meek and humble monk, whose raso’s tail touched the floor’s dust and was made for him in the shape of a Cross. He considered himself as nothing, but considered greatly  contemplating in the face of  “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world”.

Saint Arsenius bishop of Tver(1409).

Saint Arsenios.

Our holy father Arsenius was born in 1350 to pious and humble Serbian parents in the town of Tver, about 150 miles northwest of Moscow, Russia. (His grandparents had migrated to this territory in Russia some seventy-five years before his birth.)

He was a very serious and intelligent boy, excelling in school while also delighting in serving the Lord as an acolyte in his local Orthodox Church. When Arsenius was still a young boy, both his parents became grievously ill; and just prior to his thirteenth birthday, they both fell asleep in the Lord. On their deathbed they asked Arsenius to fulfill one last wish: to live a holy and devout life, remembering the Lord God all his days, and to remember the poor and needy. At this time, because Arsenius was their only child, they willed all their possessions to him.

After the repose of his pious and God-loving parents, Arsenius spent many hours in prayer, seeking guidance from the Lord as to how to carry out his parents’ last request. During this time, two particular passages of the New Testament continually spoke to his heart: “For what is a mall profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

Love. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos.

Conscience is the first law of God, which He deeply carved in the hearts of the First Created, and conse­quently, each one of us takes it as a "photocopy" from his parents when he is born. Those who have managed to sensitize their conscience through the daily study of themselves, feel themselves estranged from this world; and, as a result, worldly people are dumbfounded by their discerning behaviour. Those, however, who do not examine their conscience, are neither benefited by spiritual study, nor by the advice of the Elders, nor are they even able to keep God's commandments, since they quickly become insensitive.

La fête…l'allégresse du cœur.Archimandrite Aimilianos Simonopetra.

Portrait de L'Archimandrite Aimilianos

offert par Père Elisée, higoumène de Simonopetra, 

au monastère Saint Jean-Baptiste, Liban.

L’Archimandrite Aimilianos (Vafeidis) fut l’higoumène du monastère Simonopetra  dès 1974 jusqu’à 2000. Comme jeune enthousiasmé, il avait l’intention de devenir un missionnaire à l’étranger, mais en tant que moine il a vécu une expérience spirituelle spéciale qui l’a transformé en un moine enflammé de zèle pour la rénovation de la vie monastique. C’est ainsi que fut renouvelée la vie monastique au monastère Simonopetra au Mont-Athos, et fondé le monastère de L’Annonciation à Ormilia en Grèce.

         Je suis très heureux de pouvoir, enfin, vous réunir après les jours si denses que nous venons de vivre. Nous pouvons dire que ce temps liturgique, celui de la Grande Semaine, fut le plus beau de l'année.

Les fêtes sont passées. En nous résonnent encore les hymnes de la Passion, auxquelles ont succédé les cris jaillissant de nos cœurs devant le Seigneur ressuscité. Personne ne peut nier que nos fêtes étaient splendides. C'était les fêtes de Dieu, et non de ces fêtes dont on dit: «Je méprise vos fêtes», car elles ont rendu nos cœurs joyeux dans le Christ Jésus.

WHY DO WE NEED THE LADDER?.Priest Dimitry Shishkin

In our time, many laypeople ask the question: Why should people of the twenty-first century act according to rules written by monks and for monks in deep antiquity?. Why should they read monastic books in which there isn’t even a remote mention of the problems that we face today?.

Here it is, the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, dedicated to a monk who lived one and a half millennia ago. Just how relevant are the writings of St. John, abbot of Sinai, to the twenty-first century?. Could there really be something of value?. 

“Asceticism irritates and even angers some people, because it disrupts the momentary comfort that doesn’t want to know anything about eternity.”

Priest Dimitry Shishkin, rector of the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in the village of Pochtovoe, Bakhchesar region (diocese of Simferopol, Crimea). 

The main problem of our times is man’s loss of understanding of his higher calling. More and more the idea is spreading in the world that the meaning of human life consists in living here, on earth, with the maximum comfort and happiness. And by happiness is meant some average set of emotional-physical joys and conveniences. Having “waved away” the ascetical experience collected by the Church over the centuries, man handicaps himself, makes his life catastrophically truncated,  because he rejects help in the most difficult and most important work- discovering the fullness of love and harmony with God. Moreover, having completely immersed himself in emotional-fleshly life, man completely loses the true concept of spiritual life. He may even know about it from books, can think about it and discuss it, but no more than that. This is because the living experience of discovering the grace of the Holy Spirit, the experience of growing in the knowledge of God is acquired in no other way than by “love for the very venerable commandments and sacredly fulfilling them.” Without this experience, eternal grace-filled life becomes a certain culturological fact, and nothing more.

“Le Printemps de l’âme”.Métropolite Stephanos de Tallinn.

"...Moi, je t'ai connu au désert, dans un pays de fièvre" (Osée 13.5)

Un jour trois ascètes décidèrent de choisir chacun un mode de vie différent:
          - Le premier choisit de faire la paix parmi ceux qui se battent.

- Le deuxième se mit à visiter les malades.

- Le troisième gagna le désert.

Peu de temps après, le premier, n’arrivant pas à ses fins, vint, découragé, trouver le deuxième qui lui aussi, était à bout.

Tous deux décidèrent alors de se rendre auprès de celui qui avait opté pour l’hésychia au désert. Ils furent étonnés de sa réussite et l’assaillent de questions. Ce dernier commence par se taire puis il prit un vase, le remplit d’eau. « Regardez cette eau, leur dit-il, combien elle est troublée. » Puis, après un bout de temps, il leur dit encore : « voyez maintenant cette même eau et comment elle s’est reposée». Et là, comme dans un miroir, ils virent distinctement leur visage. Il leur dit alors : « Il en est de même par rapport à nous : lorsque nous vivons au milieu des hommes, nous ne voyons pas nos défauts, alors qu’il en est tout autrement dans le désert. »

How can we paint His form?!. Elder Cleopa of Romania

Q.: God did not become visible to men and therefore no one knows how He appears, nor can they paint His form in an icon or fashion a true likeness of His Countenance. He Himself has said, "Thou canst not see My face, for there shall no man see Me and live." The Evangelist John says the same: "No man hath seen God at any time." Likewise, the Apostle Paul says: " ... who only hath immortality, dwell­ing in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen."

When I read the book of Elder Silouan...Elder Iliy on St. Silouan the Athonite .

Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin), spiritual father of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill, ascetically struggled on Mt. Athos for more than ten years in one of the sketes of St. Panteleimon Monastery—the Old Russikon. Namely there, at the mill just a few decades earlier Venerable Silouan the Athonite carried out his obedience. In 1967 the book of his life and teachings became a spiritual guide for the now-revered elder, then novice Alexei of the Pskov Caves Monastery.     

   When I read the book of Elder Silouan it opened up a bright expanse for me where I found what I needed—answers to my various questions. Generally speaking, the book gave a clear and concise presentation of the content of our faith.

    Elder Silouan is a modern ascetic. In him there was no hypocrisy, no delusion. He wrote and spoke by the grace of God. That which the Lord revealed to him by the Holy Spirit he heard and repeated. He was a man without higher education, although he did have some schooling of course. His book became acclaimed. He didn’t write it himself, but rather wrote it from his words. It was translated into I don’t know how many languages, but more than ten for sure. Believers who turn to this book seeking truth— the Truth, find it. I can’t speak about this book with high enough praise and gratefulness to Elder Silouan.

A Letter of Father Archimandrite Moses of Optina to his Cousin the Nun Maximilla.

Most honorable among nuns, dearest sister Maximilla Ivanovna,

    Be strong in the Lord!

    I was glad to receive your welcome letter in good order. I thank you most kindly for everything. Do keep writing to me, and do not make this difficult for yourself. Write to me simply, whatever you feel, and just write as you speak. You do not need to go into detail about your devotion and love for me, because I have known that for a long time.

Write to me mostly about yourself and the kind of spiritual infirmities and trials you have, so that for my part I will be able to show you sympathy for the sake of your spiritual welfare, instead of mere useless affection.

    Of course you and I, who are feeble, have no need to con­verse about great feats of asceticism and exalted virtues­ just about weaknesses and the trials of life. I was pleased with this last letter of yours-that is what they should always be like. You write to me straightforwardly and trustingly concerning your infirmity.

Principles of Orthodox Ascetism.

Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov).

The tonsuring of Saint Silouan as a monk. Frescoe in
Saint John the Baptist Monastery in Essex.

   In every age the spirit of man finds itself concerned with the problem of asceticism. Asceticism is of pressing importance not only to those who set out to be ascetics in the nar­row and, may I say, 'specialist' sense - monks and hermits, for instance - but in general to every Christian. Asceticism, understood as spiritual labour, constitutes an inseparable part of the histories of all known religions and civilizations, even of civilizations with no religious basis. Every religion, all the old and new para-religious forms, the lives of the mystics - all have their ascetic culture, which varies in accordance with the underlying dogmatic consciousness.

The Repose of Hieroschemamonk Paisius (Olaru).

Three ascetics of prayer: Hieroschemamonk Paisius,
Archimandrite Cleopa and Protosingel Joel of Sihastria.

   The relationship that existed between the renowned spiritual fathers of Romania during the latter part of the 20th century was truly a bond of spiritual love. These were the fathers and shepherds of souls who encouraged and comforted the vast multitudes of faithful who were suffering under the repressive and atheistic yoke of communism. The fathers, all advanced in age, never expected to see the days when Romania would once again be free. The events of the December, 1989 Revolution that overthrew the tyrannical rule which had held their land in an iron grip for over forty years came as an unexpected blessing to these elders: It was something that would certainly place new demands on Fr. Cleopa in his last years.

Nous sommes nous-mêmes les bâtisseurs de notre vie éternelle.

Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov).

Cet entretien eut lieu en russe le lundi 2 juillet 1992, dans l'église Saint-Silouane.                

[Tous chantent:] « Roi céleste, Consolateur, Esprit de vérité, Toi qui es partout présent et qui remplis tout, Trésor des biens et donateur de vie, viens et demeure en nous, purifie-nous de toute souillure, et sauve nos âmes, Toi qui es bonté. »

   [Le Père Sophrony prie: ] «Très sainte Souveraine, Mère de Dieu, toi qui as mis au monde le Verbe du Père, Verbe plus saint que tous les Saints, demeure avec nous en cette heure, guide-nous vers la vérité tout entière et rends-nous capables d’accomplir toute œuvre bonne devant le Seigneur.

   « Grand saint Jean, Précurseur du Seigneur, par la voie du témoignage du Christ et du martyre, tu as réussi à devenir l'ami du Christ-Dieu. Nous te supplions, toi notre protecteur: ne nous abandonne pas, mais conduis-­nous aux pieds de notre Roi et de notre Dieu.

   «Saint Père Silouane, demeure immuablement auprès de nous, et aide-nous à fuir toute injustice, toute ombre de péché.»

Père Augustin Le Russe et la lumière incréée.

   Vers la fin de sa vie, au milieu des années 1960, le père Augustin demeurait en solitaire dans une dépendance du monastère de "Philothéou". Il observait quotidiennement un jeûne très sévère, que lui avait inspiré sa grande simplicité. Les jours de fête, quand l'Église permet la consommation d'huile, il prenait une plume, la trempait légèrement dans l'huile et marquait d'un signe de croix les deux galettes qu'il avait préparées avec de l'eau et de la farine. Puis il les passait au gril en disant: « Aujourd'hui, on peut prendre de l'huile!».

   Certains vagabonds laïcs, connaissant sa simplicité, entraient librement dans sa cellule, même en sa présence, et lui prenaient tout ce que le monastère lui avait donné en cadeau. Le bienheureux les laissait faire en souriant, sans une parole de protestation. Il avait un grand amour pour tous les hommes et chaque fois qu'il en rencontrait un, moine ou laïc, il faisait devant lui une profonde métanie. «Il porte la grâce du saint Baptême», disait-il quand on lui en demandait la raison.

Father Elias... The Monk and Teacher of Antiochian Monasticism...

Une Lettre à l’occasion de Noël Pour chaque moine et moniale.

Le monastère
Sanctuaire de prière
Et de repentir pour le Créateur…

   

   Au monastère il n’y a aucun problème qui se passe avec nous, sauf si nous sommes inconscients qu’on est pécheur!!.

   Celui qui vient au monastère, y vient parce qu’il est conscient que le monde le répugne.

   Le monde le répugne non pas parce qu’il prétend le juger, mais parce qu’il a percé sa laideur dans ce monde, ainsi il s’enfuit de lui-même… où part-il ?... "Auprès de toi j’ai cherché refuge" !!… Il se hâte vers le Seigneur, au monastère où aura lieu une opération quotidienne pour nettoyer de ses impuretés … Bienheureux celui qui vient au monastère reconnaissant qu’il s’y réfugie pour nettoyer ses saletés, pour se libérer de ses habitudes, de ce qu’il a hérité… non pas parce qu’il est moins bien que les autres…

Une Lettre à l’occasion de Noël Pour chaque moine et moniale.

Le monastère
Sanctuaire de prière
Et de repentir pour le Créateur…

   

   Au monastère il n’y a aucun problème qui se passe avec nous, sauf si nous sommes inconscients qu’on est pécheur!!.

   Celui qui vient au monastère, y vient parce qu’il est conscient que le monde le répugne.

   Le monde le répugne non pas parce qu’il prétend le juger, mais parce qu’il a percé sa laideur dans ce monde, ainsi il s’enfuit de lui-même… où part-il ?... "Auprès de toi j’ai cherché refuge" !!… Il se hâte vers le Seigneur, au monastère où aura lieu une opération quotidienne pour nettoyer de ses impuretés … Bienheureux celui qui vient au monastère reconnaissant qu’il s’y réfugie pour nettoyer ses saletés, pour se libérer de ses habitudes, de ce qu’il a hérité… non pas parce qu’il est moins bien que les autres…

La fondation de la Famille de la Sainte-Trinité (2/2)

Mère Mariam

Avec le Métropolite Georges (Khodr) le jour où
Mère Mariam a reçu le bâton d'Higoumène

   Le monastère Saint Jean-Baptiste avait en effet été désaffecté de 1942 à 1990. Auparavant, sous l'occupation turque, la vie monastique, instable, avait dépendu de la situation politique et militaire. Pour situer les choses, rappelons que dans le Liban indépendant (1943), la première communauté monastique orthodoxe fut fondée en 1958 par le Père Elias (Marcos) à Deir- El- Harf. En prévision de la relance en ce lieu de la vie monastique, Mgr Georges [Khodr] avait demandé à l'Archimandrite Wadih Chalhoub, le prêtre de Douma, le village voisin, d'y faire quelques réparations. Ainsi, cinq petites chambres avaient été arrangées, au second étage, pour pouvoir accueillir les sœurs. Quant au Père Thomas, il était obligé de dormir dans une petite chambre très humide, aux murs tachetés de vert par la moisissure. Et le frère occupait une pièce en dehors du monastère.