L’humilité

Selon Saint Silouane L’Athonite.

   Le but de notre combat, c'est de trouver l'humilité. Nos ennemis sont tombés par l'orgueil et ils nous attirent dans leur chute. Mais nous, frères, humilions-nous, et alors nous verrons la Gloire du Seigneur déjà ici sur terre (Matthieu 16,28), car aux humbles le Seigneur se fait connaître par le Saint-Esprit.

   Notre guerre est rude, remplie de sagesse et, en même temps, simple. Si l'âme aime l'humilité, tous les filets de nos ennemis sont rompus, toutes les forteresses sont prises. Dans notre combat spirituel, i1 nous faut aussi soigneusement veiller à ce que les munitions et les vivres ne manquent pas. Les munitions, c'est notre humilité ; les vivres, c'est la grâce divine. Si nous les perdons, nos ennemis nous vaincront,

   Cette guerre est acharnée, mais seulement pour les orgueilleux ; pour les humbles, par contre, elle est facile, parce qu'ils aiment le Seigneur et qu'Il leur donne son arme puissante: la grâce du Saint- Esprit. Nos ennemis redoutent cette arme, car elle les brûle.

   Je te rends grâce, mon Seigneur et mon Créateur, de ce que, dans ta bonté, tu aies humilié mon âme et m'aies révélé la voie qu'ont suivie tes Saints. Tu aimes ceux qui pleurent et c'est par la voie des larmes que tous les Saints sont arrivés à Toi. [ ... ] Accorde-moi, Seigneur miséricordieux, à moi aussi, de venir à Toi par la voie de tes Saints que Tu m’as montrée, celle de l'humilité et des pleurs.

Joint Icon of Saint Silouan and Saint Theckla

Saint Silouan the Athonite 

& 

Saint Thekla the Holy Protomartyr and equal to the Apostles

Feast day 24 September

The Holy Proto martyr Thecla, Equal to the Apostles.

Feast day 24 September

Fresco in the Nativity of the Mother of God Church
St John the Baptist Monastery - Douma - Lebanon

   Thecla was born in Iconium of eminent pagan parents. She was betrothed at the age of eighteen to a young man, at the time that the Apostle Paul came to Iconium with Barnabas to preach the Gospel. Listening to Paul for three days and nights, Thecla turned utterly to the Christian faith and vowed to live in virginity. Her mother, seeing that she shunned her betrothed and thought no more of marriage, first talked to her and then beat her and starved her. Finally, she gave her over to the judges and demanded, wicked mother that she was, that Thecla be burned. The judge threw her into the flames, but God preserved her unharmed. Thecla then became a follower of the Apostle Paul, and went with him to Antioch.

La Croix de notre Seigneur

Homélie de Saint Jean Chrysostome

Fresco Holy Trinity Church -
St John the Baptist Monastery -  Douma - Lebanon

   Aujourd'hui voit Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ sur la croix, et nous en fête, afin qu’on apprenne que la croix est fête, et fête solennelle dans sa spiritualité. Autrefois, la croix était le nom de la condamnation, elle est maintenant devenue objet d'honneur. Autrefois symbole de mort, aujourd’hui principe de salut. Car elle a été cause pour nous de biens innombrables : elle nous a délivrés de l'erreur, elle nous a éclairés alors que nous étions dans les ténèbres ; vaincus, elle nous a réconciliés avec Dieu ; ennemis, elle nous a rendu l'amitié de Dieu ; éloignés, elle nous a rapprochés de lui. Destruction de l'inimitié, garantie de paix, et trésor de mille biens. Grâce à elle, nous n'errons plus dans les déserts, mais nous connaissons la vraie route ; nous n'habitons plus hors du palais royal, car nous avons trouvé la porte, nous ne craignons plus les flèches de feu du démon, car nous avons découvert une source. Grâce à la croix, nous ne sommes plus dans le veuvage, nous avons reçu l'Epoux ; nous ne vivons plus dans la crainte du loup, car nous avons le bon Berger : Je suis le bon Berger dit-il.

Most Holy Mother of God Save Us!...

Iconostasis of the Nativity of the Forerunner Church

   On the 6th of August we celebrated the “Transfiguration of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” on the mountain. And the mountain is thought to be the “Mount of Thabor”. There, the appearance of the Lord Jesus changed and His clothes became white shining like snow and His disciples saw that.

   The light that the disciples saw on the mountain, that which made the garments of the Lord Jesus shine like snow, is the Light of Theology. The Lord Jesus was, and still is, and will remain forever God and the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity.  Thus, this light is the Uncreated Light. It is the Light that shines from the Essence of God. This is the Divine Light. The remarkable thing is – and Saint Marc the Evangelist is the only one to speak about the glistening of the clothes of the Lord Jesus and how they became exceedingly white like snow – that the Lord Jesus Christ encompassed the Divine totally which glowed through His body and through His garments.

God always provides for our goods

   God is kind by nature and always provides for our good and, when we ask Him for something, He will pro­vide it, as long as it is for our good. Whatever is necessary for the salvation of our soul and for the maintenance of our physical existence, God will provide it in abundance, and we'll have His blessing. Whatever He deprives us of, either to test us or to protect us, we accept with joy as well as with thoughtfulness, as it is for our benefit. God knows when and how to provide for His creation. He helps in His own way at the right time. However, often His weak creation is anxiously impatient because the moment we ask for something, we want to receive it, like a little child who wants the cookie from its mother even before it is baked. We shall ask, we shall be patient and when it is ready, our Good Mother, Panaghia, will give it to us.

   - Geronda, when do the Saints help?

   - Whenever it is necessary to help and not when we think it is time to help. In other words, they help when it will be beneficial for us. Do you understand? A child, for example, asks his father for a motorcycle, but the father doesn't buy it. The child then says, "I want the motorcycle because I get tired walking to school, to work." Still the father doesn't buy it because he is afraid of the dangers involved. "I will buy you a car later when you grow up," he tells his son. So they put the money in the bank and when enough money has been saved and the boy is more mature, they'll buy him a car. In the same way, the Saints know when they should help us.

St Tikhon Zadonsk Last Homily

(feast day 13/26 August)

   Tikhon's voice was heard for the last time when his will was read at his funeral, which in its triumphant praise of God had pierced through all his earthly trials and conflicts.

   Glory to God, for he has created me in his image and likeness!. Glory to God, who redeemed me, the fallen one; Glory to God, for he was the providence of my unworthy self. Glory, for he called me, a sinner, to repentance!. Glory, for he has handed to me his Holy Word as a lamp shining in a dark place, and by it He taught me the true way. Glory to God, for He has illumined the eyes of my heart!. He has granted me to know His Holy Name!. Glory to God, for He has washed away my sins in the waters of baptism!. Glory, for He has shown me the way to eternal bliss. And this way is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who says of Himself: "I am the way, the truth and the life." Glory to Him, for He did not ruin me in my sin but in His mercy was patient to my transgressions!. Glory to God, for He has shown to me the vain enticements and vanity of this world. Glory to God, for He has helped me in the multi­tude of temptations, grieves and tribulations!.

On the Mother of God

Saint Silouan the Athonite

Fresco in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God
Saint John the Baptist Monastery - Douma - Lebanon

   When the soul abides in the love of God - how good and gracious and festive all things are! But even with God's love, sorrows continue and the greater the love, the greater the sorrow. Never by a single thought did the Mother of God sin, nor did she ever lose grace, yet vast were her sorrows; when she stood at the foot of the Cross her grief was as boundless as the ocean and her soul knew torment incomparably worse than Adam's when he was driven from paradise, in that the measure of her love was beyond compare greater than the love which Adam felt when he was in paradise. That she remained alive was only because the Lord's might sustained her, for it was His desire that she should behold His Resurrection, and live on after His Ascension to be the comfort and joy of the Apostles and the new Christian peoples.