When God is Silent.

Dr.Daniel and Dr.Jane Hinshaw.*

"Do not lament me, O Mother".
20th century.

Dr. Daniel: Many people who are very sick, suffering, who are near the end of life, feel an increasing sense of isolation. If they are believers, sometimes they experience this as a sense of being abandoned by God; and we can even see this recorded in the Gospel, when our Lord on the cross cried out: “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me.” That psalm, however, ends up with hope. I think some scholars believe that Christ probably recited the entire psalm. 

There are many different ways of thinking about silence, especially when one considers silence in the relationship between creature and creator. There is a thread within the early fathers, in the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, that speaks about the Holy Trinity in a very interesting way. It says that the incarnation of Christ, God the Father spoke the Word from silence.  God in some very deep way, in the Apophatic tradition of the church, is beyond our understanding, and beyond our comprehension, therefore we encounter God in Silence. For example, in the Anaphora prayers where we speak of Christ, or God, being incomprehensible, inconceivable, beyond our knowing and that God is so utterly other from us, hence we are unable to know directly, the Father the very essence of the Divinity. But God breaks His silence, and speaks His Word, the incarnate Son of God Jesus Christ, a bridge to bring us back to God. 

Doubting Thomas… Believing Thomas.?!.Kosmas Damianidis.

Dearly Beloved Brethren,

Nobody knows the time or even the place that our Lord is returning to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the Fathers of our Church do not tell us to try and outsmart God, by predicting the time that He will appear. On the contrary the Fathers concentrate on teaching us to be constantly ready and watchful, by praying, fasting and doing works of love and faith. We are instructed to expect a sudden if not instant entry of our Lord.

In the final chapter of the Book of Revelations, the Apocalypse of St John the Theologian, we are informed that we must fully accept the imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore we are told that our world will suffer terribly before the Second Coming of our Lord and that this world will be destroyed. Nevertheless so let it be, in obedience we should pray "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20) and come quickly.

In John chapter 20 we are told of the pitiful sight of the Apostles who gathered in a small dark house for fear of the Jews after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. They had locked every window and door, and they were in a state of mourning. They must have been deeply depressed, angry, disillusioned, confused and very afraid to say the least.

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.

Meditations on Death and the Resurrection.Father Georges Masssouh.

 There is an inevitable truth that death lies is waiting for us at some moment of our life. So how must one deal with this eventuality?. Do we surrender to it and live our life in fear of it happening sooner or later?. Or should we face it with courage and live as though it could happen at any moment? Do we live this coming death in constant fear or do we regard it as something natural and go about our daily life in a normal manner?.

 "Bishop Kallistos Ware" begins his article "'Go Joyfully:' The Mystery of Death and the Resurrection", which appears in his book The Inner Kingdom as follows: "In the worship of the Russian Orthodox Church, while the prayers of preparation are being said before starting of the Eucharist, the doors in the center of the icon screen remain closed.