The Spiritual World by Photis Kontoglou

Photis Kontoglou Source


My heart is full of gladness. I have been staying at St Anthony's 
Monastery for almost three weeks and the peace within my heart is
indescribable. It is well with my soul indeed.


I can only hope that when I go back to the world, I will be able to
keep in mind the one thing needful, remembrance of God. Photis
Kontoglou describes this effort very eloquently in his article, 



The Spiritual World
by Photios Kontoglou

Contemporary man has altogether forgotten the world that is within himself and has occupied himself only with the world that is outside himself, the material world. And he investigates by means of science “the outside of the cup and platter” (Matthew 23:25).

One of these worlds is material, the other is spiritual. One of them is for the transitory life; the other for the eternal. One of them is in space and time, while the other is beyond these.

Today’s man lives materialistically, busying himself with pseudo-spiritual things. Only matter interests him, the rather coarse, more tangible aspect of the universe. He cannot experience spiritual reality by means of his bodily senses and does not concern himself at all with it. He who hurls into space machines made of aluminum, he who has his brain full of numbers, screws, springs, and other such things, cannot understand what is hidden behind the material world that he perceives by means of his physical senses.

How can he taste the fruit that is hidden inside the husk of the universe? He nourishes himself only with the husk, for it is this husk that his materialistic science is constantly studying. How can he understand the words of Christ, who says: “The kingdom of God is within you”, or those of Paul the Apostle who says: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”
(1 Cor. 3:16). How can this barbaric and hard heartened mankind, which is attached t the mud of matter, understand those words of divinely inspired Paul, who says that carnal men “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”? (Rom. 1:25)

For those who are engrossed with the knowledge of material things,
“the mystical gate is closed”, and they are unable to cast a glance “into the Holy of Holies.” Their materialistic minds do not experience any other life besides the life of the flesh. They have placed all their hopes in it and are incapable of hearkening to the words of Paul, who says:
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19); that is, “If we believe only in this life, we are the most miserable of all human beings.” And elsewhere he calls such materialistic individuals persons “who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13).

And indeed we see that such mankind is full of anguish, fear and agitation, because the “wages of sin is death”. “For whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7-8). And elsewhere it is written that “to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). In saying ‘peace’, Saint Paul means true peace, whereas pseudo peace is to be found in the external, material world, in which the materialists believe.

“What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”, asks Christ (Matt. 16:26). But who listens to Him? All of us are striving to gain this unreal world, and we do not want to understand that which used to be sung by a beggar with the wisdom that is possessed by simple men:

I entered into the world naked
and will go out of it naked.
The world is alien,
it belongs to no one.

Listen, therefore, my brother to what Saint Paul again says, and try to understand something about the hidden world of mystery that is behind the external world that we investigate with the aid of machines, believing in our learned ignorance that we possess knowledge of the roots of the totality of things. He says:  “The creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption” (Rom. 8:21). ‘Bondage of corruption’ is the slavery of those who live and labor for the corruptible world of matter; those whose thoughts are bad, foolish; those who are without faith and without love - full of death, since they are preoccupied with the world of corruption that has no hope, but is full of darkness and despair. These individuals are the faithful followers of Satan, who serve him obediently without knowing why.

On the other hand, the faithful ones of God, “the children of God”, possess freedom true freedom, which consists in knowledge of the Truth, that is, of Christ. Only with this knowledge do the nuptial doors open, from which the soul beholds the wondrous light of the incorruptible essence of the cosmos. The thoughts of these children of God are good, peaceful, and gladdening. “Become peaceful within yourself”, says a certain saint ( here Photios is referring to St Seraphim of Sarov), “And heaven and earth will become peaceful. Enter into the chamber that is within you, and from there you will behold the palace of heaven.”

The things that exist in the incorruptible heaven that has been revealed by Christ, and that which the soul looks from the mystical chamber that is inside us, are the true things. They are blessed, peaceful isles in the ocean that extends beyond every material constellation and are outside the slavery of space and time.

Note
1. Translated by Constantine Cavarnos from Kontoglou’s Mystical Flowers, Vol. 6, Works (Erga), (Athens: Astir Publishing Company, 1981), pp.85-88.

Source
Divine Ascent Vol. 1 Numbers 3 / 4 ,PP.21-23 A Journal of  Orthodox Faith, Monastery of Shangai and  San Francisco, November 1998

My Scars are become Noisome and Corrupt in the Face of my Folly. Psalm 37:6

Available from C.T.O.S.

On the Scar of Penitence
by St Gregory the Great


To the discussion of the abolition of the memory of aberrations it was 
subjoined: "My scars are become noisome and corrupt in the face of
my folly." Psalm 37:6


One who corrects and laments his error draws a scar over the wound.
But when a deceived mind recalls for its pleasure the sin of which it
has already repented, the scar of penitence which had formed reverts
to festering of the wound so that evil delight has a stench after the scar
has already showed the healing of the injury with restored skin.


From 'Homilies on the Book of the Prophet Ezequiel by St Gregory
the Great'  p.488, Translated by Theodosia Tomkinson, Center for
Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, Etna CA 2008 

                                                                        Source


St Gregory the Great
Commemorated on March 12

Saint Gregory Dialogus, Pope of Rome, was born in Rome around the year 540. His grandfather was Pope Felix, and his mother Sylvia (November 4) and aunts Tarsilla and Emiliana were also numbered among the saints by the Roman Church. Having received a most excellent secular education, he attained high government positions.

Leading a God-pleasing life, he yearned for monasticism with all his soul. After the death of his father, St Gregory used his inheritance to establish six monasteries. At Rome he founded a monastery dedicated to the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, where he received monastic tonsure. Later, on a commission of Pope Pelagius II, St Gregory lived for a while in Constantinople. There he wrote his Commentary on the Book of Job.

After the death of Pope Pelagius, St Gregory was chosen to the Roman See. For seven months he would not consent to accept this service, considering himself unworthy. He finally accepted consecration only after the persistent entreaties of the clergy and flock.

Wisely leading the Church, St Gregory worked tirelessly in propagating the Word of God. St Gregory compiled the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Latin language, which before him was known only in the verbal tradition. Affirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Council, this liturgical service was accepted by all the Orthodox Church.

He zealously struggled against the Donatist heresy; he also converted the inhabitants of Brittany pagans and Goths, adhering to the Arian heresy to the True Faith.

St Gregory has left behind numerous written works. After the appearance of his book, Dialogues Concerning the Life and Miracles of the Italian Fathers, the saint was called "Dialogus." His Pastoral Rule (or Liber Regulae Pastoralis) was well-known. In this work, St Gregory describes the model of the true pastor. His letters (848), dealing with moral guidance, have also survived.

St Gregory headed the Church for thirteen years, ministering to all the needs of his flock. He was characterized by an extraordinary love of poverty, for which he was granted a vision of the Lord Himself.

Pope St Gregory the Great, as he is known, died in the year 604, and his relics rest in the cathedral of the holy Apostle Peter in the Vatican.


Source

Blessed be the Glory of the Lord from His Throne Ez.3:12

This Icon is available from Uncut Mountain Supply


Blessed be the Glory of the Lord from His Throne
Ezequiel 3:12


When I read St Gregory Palamas’ homily, ‘On the Entry of the 
Theotokos Into the Holy of Holies’ , I am awe-struck! Actually, ever 
since I read his homily for the first time, I have not stopped thinking
about the glory and grace which adorns Her who is more spacious
than the heavens.
      
The psalmist sang, “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in Gold
of Ophir. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty…,She shall be 
brought into the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her 
companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. I will make thy
name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people
praise thee for ever and ever.” Psalm 45:9,11,14,17


My heart leaps for joy when I consider the greatness of the gift. Our
beloved Theologian, St Gregory, is full of the Holy Spirit when he 
praises the Theotokos saying, “For where Christ took His seat in
heaven on the right hand of the majesty on high, she stands too, not
just because she longs for Him, and is longed for in return, more than
all others, even according to the dictates of nature, but because she
is truly His throne. And where the king sits, there stands the throne.


Isaiah saw this throne in the midst of the choir of cherubim, and said
it was high and lifted up (Isa.6:1), showing that the mother of God is
far exalted above the heavenly powers. If the highest order of the 
heavenly hierarchies were allotted second place immediately after
her, still they are not second in order with regard to honor. Otherwise,
although they would be inferior compared to her, she would only be
slightly better than they, whereas now she is immeasurably superior
to them, Just as we have no other luminary to put second after the 
sun’s orb for abundance of light except the moon, even though it gives
very little illumination, so, in the same way there are no other divinely
radiant beings which can be considered second to her except the 
seraphim.



But to anyone who examines the matter carefully, the comparison will
hardly appear worthy as though a torch were being likened to a beacon
visible far and wide. That is why the prophet presents the angels
themselves glorifying God in her account, saying, ‘Blessed be the glory
of the Lord from his throne’ Ezequiel 3:12.

Do you see how the whole creation gives thanks to the Virgin Mother, 
not in years gone by, but for ever and ever to endless ages? From this
it can be understood that she too will never cease throughout the ages
to do good to the whole creation, not just our own, but also to the 
immaterial, supernatural orders. 

For Isaiah gave clear proof that they, like us, only commune with, and touch, the intangible divine nature through her. He did not see the seraph taking the burning coal (the burning coal is a figure or type of the divine Eucharist) directly from the altar, but taking it by means of tongs, with which he also touched the prophet’s lips and bestowed cleansing (Isa. 6:6-7). The vision of the tongs is equivalent to the great vision seen by Moses of the burning bush which was not consumed
(Exodus 3:2). Surely, everyone is aware that the Virgin Mother is both that burning bush and those tongs, as she conceived the divine fire without being consumed by fire. An archangel also ministered at that conception, and through her he united Him who takes away the sins of the world with the human race, thoroughly cleansing us by this union.”
From St. Gregory Palamas, The Homilies p.430-431, Edited and Translated by Christopher Veniamin, Mount Thabor Publishing 2009.


God has indeed bestowed great gifts to men! Silence and wonder shroud my heart as I bow down to Her and praise Her, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His throne!”.