Prière de l’aurore.

de l'Archimandrite Sophrony.

   

   Dieu Eternel et Créateur de toutes choses,

   Toi qui dans Ton insondable bonté,

   m’as appelé du non-être à cette vie,

   qui m’as accordé la grâce du baptême

   et de la nouvelle naissance d’En-Haut,

   qui as apposé le sceau du Saint-Esprit

   sur les membres de mon corps

   dans le sacrement de la chrismation,

   et qui m’as donné le désir de Te chercher,

   Ô Toi le seul vrai Dieu, écoute ma prière.

   Je n’ai de vie, de lumière, de joie,

   de sagesse ou de force qu’en Toi seul, Ô Dieu,

   Je n’ose lever les yeux vers Toi à cause de mon iniquité.

   Mais Tu as dis à tes disciples:  

   "Tout ce que vous demanderez avec foi dans la prière, vous le recevrez",

   et encore : "Tout ce que vous me demanderez en mon Nom Je le ferai".

   C’est pourquoi j’ose T’invoquer.

   Purifie-moi de toute souillure

   de la chair et de l’esprit,

   et apprends-moi comment Te prier.

Une rencontre avec Jean-Claude Larchet...

A Selected Letter to Saint Barsanuphius of Gaza.

Saints Barsanuphius and John of Gaza.

   Question from a brother to the Old man: "Father, I ask you to tell me how it is that the daughter of the Canaanite woman and the servant of the centurion contributed [to their faith] in order that they may be healed. Even the other paralytic only asked for bodily health, and yet he first received forgiveness of sins. Therefore, where is their contribution in this case?. The Lord, too, says to the apostles: "Whatever you loose on this earth shall also be loosed in heaven", and: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them". He did not say: "If they contribute". So please explain this to me". Response:

   Brother, affliction comes to those who do not understand how things are. For the daughter of the Canaanite woman and the servant of the centurion had lost their minds: the first from madness, the second from the danger of the illness. So they were unable to contribute to the faith of those who were pray­ing for them.

Père Sophrony et moi.

Par Mère Mariam.

   St Basil le Grand a dit : «La grandeur de l’homme reste au fait qu’il est un être ordonné de devenir Dieu».

   Introduction

   Mon histoire avec Père Sophrony est le travail du Saint Esprit dans l’humanité en chute… C’est le savoir percevoir et observer le mouvement de l’esprit dans l’homme et le transporter du péché à la santé, du monde matériel au monde spirituel, de la mort à la vie…

   Ainsi est le début de ma connaissance du grand  Père Sophrony, le Staretz russe, qui a quitté la terre de ses pères et de ses ancêtres pour la terre que Dieu lui a fait montrer… Du sol de la Russie, le pays vaste autant que le ciel et la terre, vers la sainte montagne Athos…

   Passant par Paris- France, il a fréquenté les jardins de la Tuilerie- ses expos artistiques, ses gens languissants vers des horizons dévorés par la civilisation du matérialisme, ses salons bourgeois de culture… Puis après, il débarqua au mont verdoyant de la Mère de Dieu, à ses rochers rasés, ses caves érodées par l’humidité… Ses monastères étendus témoignant que le Seigneur est encore adoré et loué par l’esprit et la vérité, dans un temps plein de guerres, de révolutions et d’hérésies religieuses… Dans un temps où l’homme laissa Dieu et proclama qu’Il était mort…

L’amour.

St. Maxime Le Confesseur.

   1. L’amour est une disposition bonne de l'âme, qui lui fait préférer à tout la connaissance de Dieu. Quant à parvenir à la possession habituelle de cette charité, c'est chose impossible, tant qu'on garde une attache à quelque objet terrestre.

   2. L’amour naît de la liberté intérieure; la liberté intérieure, de l'espoir en Dieu, l'espoir, de la patience et de la longanimité, celles-ci, de la vigilante maîtrise de soi; la maîtrise de soi, de la crainte de Dieu, et la crainte, de la foi au Christ.

   3. Qui croit au Seigneur craint le châtiment; qui craint le châtiment maîtrise ses passions; qui maîtrise ses passions endure patiemment les afflictions, qui endure patiemment les afflictions acquerra l'espoir en Dieu. Et l'espoir en Dieu sépare l'esprit de toute attache terrestre; et l'esprit, ainsi détaché, possédera l'amour pour Dieu.

Do not neglect your salvation.

Saint Anthony the Great.

   Beloved and honoured brothers, Antony greets you in the Lord!. 

   "Truly, my beloved in the Lord, God did not visit his creatures only once, but since the beginning of the world. As soon as anyone has turned through the law of promise to the Creator of all, God embraced him in his benevolence, grace and Spirit. As for those rational beings in whom the law of promise grew cold and whose faculties of the mind thus died, so that they could no longer know themselves after their first formation, they have all become irrational and serve the creatures instead of the Creator. But in his great benevolence the Creator of all visited us through the law of promise, for our essence is immortal.

Baptism as the new birth in Christ.

By Saint Nicholas Cabasilas.

   To be baptized, is to be born according to Christ and to receive our very being and nature, having previously been nothing. This we can learn from many sources. First, from the very order itself: it is the first of the Mysteries into which we are initiated, and before the others this Mystery introduces Christians into the new life. Secondly, we may learn this from the very names which we call it, and thirdly, from the ceremonies which we employ and the words which we sing.

   This, then, is the order which we follow. First we are washed, then, when we have been anointed with chrism, we approach the sacred table. This is a clear proof that the baptismal washing is the beginning of life, its foundation and presupposition, that Christ Himself, who endured all things for our sake, considered it necessary to be baptized and underwent this before all else. As for the names, what else could they imply?. We call it "birth," "new birth," "new creation," and "seal," and in addition "baptism" [i.e., "dipping"], "clothing," "anointing," "charisma" [i.e., "gift"], "illumination," and "washing." These all signify this one thing, that this rite is the beginning of being for those who are in accordance with God and so live.

The Church of Spirit and Truth.

“Now anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His (i.e. he is not for Christ).
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are the sons of God”.(Rm 8:9-14)

   Father Youssef Daros, from Egypt, sent us the following question: “Does the Holy Spirit act in the sacraments of the non-Chalcedonian Churches? (Copts, Syrians, Armenians and Ethiopians), and in the Catholic Church?”.

   Often our questions are incorrect due to our erroneous approach. It is however important, when considering these questions, that we try to explain the correct traditional perspective of “the Church”. Hence, in this correct framework, we can discern the correct question from the incorrect one!

   Firstly, we would like to express our reservation towards the way, the enquirer uses the terms “Church” and “Churches”. To know the cause of our reservation, I refer the reader to one of my previous articles, in the section “Dots on Letters”, titled “Seeking the Church”, written on 13 November 2016.