Le "rayon d'action" de la prière de l'Ancien.

Saint Porphyre de Kavsokalyvia.

   "J'avais, Anargyre mon enfant, me dit un jour l'Ancien, un très bon ami, un hiéromoine, lequel reçut mission de se rendre en Amé­rique pour y proclamer la parole de Dieu. Nous fûmes tous deux affligés de cette séparation. L'Archevêché était toutefois inflexible. Il devait prendre le départ immédiatement. C'est ce qui fut fait.

   Le jour où nous nous sommes dit adieu, nous fîmes, devant Dieu, la promesse de prier l'un pour l'autre toute notre vie durant. Dès le premier soir, je me mis aussitôt à prier pour mon ami. Lui aussi, il m'écrivait qu'il faisait la même chose pour moi. Dans ses lettres qui suivirent, pourtant, il faisait état de tremblements terribles qu'il res­sentait pendant son sommeil. Il croyait qu'un courant électrique de grande intensité parcourait tout son corps depuis le haut de la tête jusqu'aux ongles des pieds.

A Journey from Western Christianity via Hinduism to Orthodoxy.

   Fr. Nikon of New Skete [Mount Athos] remembers an Englishman who was troubled by his Church and went to India, Calcutta, in search of a genuine spiritual experience. He studied at the Hindu Faculty for four years, but still he did not find what he was looking for…

   “And the principal of the Faculty of Theology, of that foreign religion in Calcutta, tells him: ‘If you want something deeper, then go to the Orthodox’. And this was told to him by one of another religion.”

   And then he found that the Monastery across the street from his house is actually the Essex Monastery…

My hope awaits You, Lord.

St Nikolai Velimirovich.

   Expecting You is the only content and meaning of my Tomorrow and the Day after Tomorrow.

   The grass expects the dew and is not disappointed. The mountain expects the thunder, and is not disappointed. The mole in the ground expects its meal, and is not disappointed. You fulfill the expectations of all beings.

   I am expecting You, and You are coming to meet me.

   With the same haste that I am approaching You, You are coming toward me.

   What is Tomorrow, children of earth, except your hope?. If you eradicate all your hope, your desire to see Tomorrow dawn will die.

   Do not grumble against Heaven because It does not fulfill all your hopes. Grumble against yourselves, because you do not know how to hope. Heaven does not fulfill hopes but hope. The most sublime and steadfast hope Heaven always fulfills.

Du salut des laics.

Saint Païssi Vélichkovsky.

   Je réponds à votre question suivante, par laquelle vous demandez comment il vous est possible d'être sauvés, alors que vous vivez dans le monde avec époux(se) et enfants : qui peut embrasser en peu de mots tout ce qui concerne le sujet du salut?. Je ne peux que vous conseiller de lire avec le plus grand zèle l'Écriture Sainte et nos Saints Pères, à qui il fut donné de com­prendre les mystères du Royaume des cieux, c'est-à­-dire le véritable sens de l'Écriture Sainte. On trouve par­faitement exprimées, dans leur enseignement éclairé par l'Esprit, toutes les dispositions indispensables au salut de l'âme, incitant celui qui veut se sauver à s'obliger à toute bonne œuvre et à fuir toute chose contraire à Dieu. Vous aurez un constant éclairage sur toute bonne œuvre indispensable au salut, en lisant leur enseigne­ment avec zèle et diligence, foi et amour, avec la plus grande attention, et dans la crainte de Dieu. Quant à moi, dans toute mon indignité, prenant en considéra­tion que vous attendez de moi des instructions, je puis vous répondre ce qui suit:

The Nature of Angels.

Mother Alexandra.

Mother Alexandra.

   As we begin our discussion on an­gels, we should understand that the term "angel" is loosely and inaccurately used, for in Greek it simply means "messen­ger." As Saint Gregory the Great points out, "The name angel refers rather to their office, and not to their nature. For these holy spirits of our heavenly fatherland are indeed always spirits, but cannot always be called angels for then only are they angels when by means of them certain things are announced!".

   Angels are pure spirit, but they do not necessarily lack a consistency, the nature of which is beyond our ken. When we see them we behold a reality. I do not believe that the angels materialize in the physical sense of the word, yet they do have a spiritual concreteness. They are not transparent like ghosts, but appear to those who see them as completely substantial.

An Old Nun Prayer.

Abbess Thaisia of Leushino.

   I could not fail to see that the Lord Himself was guiding me along the path of my hard (monastic) life, which was spiritu­ally almost a helpless one. Involuntarily I remembered Father Laurence's words that he had addressed to me while bidding me farewell: "The Lord Himself is guiding you, as if taking you by the hand. He has taken you out of the world and as­signed you to serve Him. He will not abandon you." Not only in dreams, however, did the Lord give me clear indications of the right way to follow, but also in my everyday life. For example, He brought me to witness the fervent, meaningful prayer of an aged nun. This is how it happened.

   It was a beautiful evening. After Vespers, dinner was usual­ly served; but only a few sisters went to the trapeza for their meal most of them ate in their cells, especially the elderly ones.

Who is Man?.

By Bishop Kallistos Ware.

   What kind of an animal is man?. What is it that, with­out separating us from the other animals, yet serves to distinguish us from them?. I say "without separating," because several of the characteristics that we commonly choose to designate as uniquely human turn out to be present, at any rate in a less devel­oped form, in many of the other animals. For example, many animals think, in the sense that, when confronted with an ob­stacle, they puzzle over it until they work out a solution.

   Many animals have a memory, recalling the past with fear or joy: a horse, separated from its human owners for weeks or years, on meeting them again will show alarm or happiness, de­pending on the treatment it has once received. Some animals form lifelong monogamous unions, and show grief, or something very similar to it, when they lose their partner; and so on. Yet, de­spite all this, can we not identify a specifically human vocation set before us?.

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.