Christ is born! Glorify Him

Icon of the Adoration of the Magi
Church of Panama Dexia
Thessaloniki, Greece

Judge Not by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864)

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."
Matthew 7:1-5 NASB

I think the Victorian poet Adelaide Procter really understood this Gospel reading when she wrote these words,  which by the way are the words she lived by;

"JUDGE not; the workings of his brain

And of his heart thou canst not see;
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain,
In God’s pure light may only be
A scar, brought from some well-won field,
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.

The look, the air, that frets thy sight
May be a token that below
The soul has closed in deadly fight
With some infernal fiery foe,
Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace
And cast thee shuddering on thy face!

The fall thou darest to despise,—
May be the angel’s slackened hand
Has suffered it, that he may rise
And take a firmer, surer stand;
Or, trusting less to earthly things,
May henceforth learn to use his wings.

And judge none lost; but wait and see,
With hopeful pity, not disdain;
The depth of the abyss may be
The measure of the height of pain
And love and glory that may raise
This soul to God in after days!   Source

Adelaide Anne Procter was a poet... the favorite poet of Queen Victoria. She was also a philanthropist who died on Feb 2nd 1864 of tuberculosis, exhausted by her humanitarian efforts to help the poor and the homeless.

Archimandrite Ephraim of the Monastery of St Anthony's in Florence, AZ comments on what has been the teaching of the desert Fathers since the 4th century concerning judging;

"When we judge our brother, we condemn ourselves to a great sin. But when we cover our brother, God will also protect us from great sins. When we expose our brother, we drive the grace of God away from us and He permits us to fall into the same sins so that we learn that we are all weak and that the grace of God supports us.

 Each person must bear the weaknesses of others. Who is perfect? Who can boast that he has kept his heart undefiled? Hence, we are all sick, and whoever condemns his brother does not perceive that he himself is sick, because a sick person does not condemn another sick person. 

Be careful, I say, about criticism from within, which imperceptibly makes us fatally guilty and deprives us of the life of divine grace and offers as a most bitter drink the death of the soul. I pray that love and freedom from criticism will reign in every expression among you, so that the Holy Spirit may rest in your souls."

Trusting in God's Providence, by Archimandrite Ephraim of Arizona

Archimandrite Ephraim of St Anthony's, Florence AZ



"You say that your brother was hungry, thirsty, and so on when he was sick, and he blasphemed. You also said that your brother was committing a mortal sin.

God, though, Who is very compassionate, wanted to bring him to a realization of his guilt so that he would repent, so He gave him this illness out of paternal love as a spiritual medication to cure his soul of its illness. 

If you had looked after your brother and offered him every bodily comfort, what pains would he have suffered for God to see and have pity on him? You should realize that the more he was tormented, the more his penalty was lightened!

God gave him the illness and allowed the brethren to neglect their duty towards him so that his conscience would make him feel remorse and repent. He is like a patient who is given medicine by a doctor, but lacks the necessary patience. Thus, he curses and grumbles at the doctor, which only leads to his own demise."

Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Source

The Tree of Jesse - Readings for Advent

Root of Jesse - 16th c. Michael Damaskinos

Icon from Uncut Mountain Supply

A great activity for the whole family during Advent is called the Tree of Jesse. It includes the whole family both adults and children.

A passage from the scriptures is read every day and an ornament is placed on a tree (a real Christmas tree or an artificial one placed in the living room; or a tapestry on the wall) for each one of the stories read. The Tree of Jesse symbolizes all the ancestors of Christ and the events that culminated with the coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is wonderful to sit with the family in front of the fireplace, early in the evening and read each one of the stories. The children get really excited about hanging the ornaments
which can be home made or purchased in Amazon.com and other websites. Below is the list of readings for each day of Advent which are linked to the readings themselves. Between parentheses you will see the name of the ornament for that day.

Below the list I embedded a video that explains the activity. The readings in the list posted here are from the Antiochian Archdiocese's website, 

Tree of Jesse with Readings for each day of Advent
 and the Twelve Days of Christmas
From the Antioch Archdiocese Website

Nov 15 Day 1: The Creation of the World (sun)                
                Genesis 1-2:4

Nov 16 Day 2: Creation of Man (2 people)
                 Genesis 2:4-25

Nov 17 Day 3: Expulsion from Paradise (fruit)
                 Genesis 3:1-24

Nov 18 Day 4: Noah (rainbow)
                 Genesis 6:9-22
                 Genesis chapters 7 and 8

Nov 19 Day 5: Abraham (constellation of stars)
                 Genesis 12:1-7; 15:1-6; 17:1-9

Nov 20 Day 6: Sacrifice of Isaac (altar)
                 Genesis 22:1-18

Nov 21 Day 7: Jacob’s Ladder (ladder)
                 Genesis 28:10-17

Nov 22 Day 8: Joseph and his Brothers (Coat of many colors)
                 Genesis 37:3-35

Nov 23 Day 9: Joseph’s Elevation (cow)
                Genesis 41,42,43,45:1-16

Nov 24 Day 10: Israel’s Blessing for Judah (lion)
               Genesis 49:1-2, 8-12

Nov 25 Day 11: Infant Moses (Basket)
              Exodus 1:8-22; 2:1-10

Nov 26 Day 12: Moses and the Burning Bush (Burning bush)
              Exodus 3:1-20

Nov 27 Day 13: Plagues (frog)
              Exodus 6:29- 7:16; 7:14-8:15; 11:1; 12:1-13, 28-32

Nov 28 Day 14: Israel passes through the Red Sea (parted sea)
              Exodus 13:20-22; 14:1-31; 15:1-19

Nov 29 Day 15: Water in the Wilderness (staff)
                Exodus 15:20-16:1;17:1-7

Nov 30 Day 16: Commandments (stone tablets)
               Exodus 24:12-18

Dec 1    Day 17: Ruth (Shock of Wheat)
               Ruth chapters 1-4

Dec 2    Day 18: Birth of Samuel (Horn)
              1 Samuel 1:1-2:10

Dec 3   Day 19: Samuel & Eli (Lamp)
              1 Samuel 3:1-20

Dec 4  Day 20: David the Anointed King (sheep)
              1 Samuel 16:1-13

Dec 5  Day 21: David & Goliath (slingshot)
             1 Samuel 17:1-11; 17:32-54

Dec 6  Day 22: David the Psalmist (footstool)
              Psalm 110

Dec 7  Day 23: King Solomon (crown)
              1 Kings 1:32-40; 2:1-4,10,12; 3:5-14

Dec 8  Day 24: Elias the Prophet (burning Rock)
              1 Kings 18;19;2 Kings 2:1-14

Dec 9  Day 25: Jonah the Prophet (whale)
               Jonah 1-4:11

Dec 10 Day 26: Tobias (fish)
              Tobit 5-9:6; 11:2-19; 12:6; 12:11-22

Dec 11 Day 27: Emmanuel (scroll)
              Isaiah 7:10-16; 8:1-4,8-10

Dec 12 Day 28: Rejoicing Foretold (Throne)
              Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-10                 

Dec 13 Day 29: Visits of Kings Foretold (Kings with camels)
              Isaiah 60:1-7

Dec 14 Day 30: Daniel (stone smashing a statue)
              Daniel 2:31-36,44-45

Dec 15 Day 31: 3 Holy Youths (flames)
              Daniel 3:1-88

Dec 16 Day 32: God’s Dwelling (Ark of the Temple)
              Exodus 40; 1 Kings 8

Dec 17 Day 33: Prayer of Avvacum the Prophet (Mountain w/ a large cave- the stable) 
             Habakkuk 3:2-19
                              

Dec 18 Day 34: Wisdom, Word and Power of God (open book)
             Baruch 3:36-38; 4:1-4

Dec 19 Day 35: Birth & Star Foretold (Star of David)
              Micah 5:1-4

Dec 20 Day 36: Zachariah (Censer )
              Luke 1: 5-25

Dec 21 Day 37: Announcement (Angel)
              Luke 1:26-38

Dec 22 Day 38: Visitation (Mary)
              Luke 1:39-56

Dec 23 Day 39: Joseph the Betrothed (Joseph)
              Matthew 1

Dec 24 Day 40: Journey to Bethlehem (Manger)
              Luke 2:1-5

Twelve Days of Christmas

Dec 25 Day 1: Nativity (Infant Jesus)
              Luke 2:6-7

Dec 26 Day 2: Light of the World (Radiant Light)
              John 1:1-5,10-14

Dec 27 Day 3: Announcement (Angel w/ Trumpet)
             Luke 2:8-14

Dec 28 Day 4: Shepherds Prepare (Standing Shepherd)
              Luke 2:15

Dec 29 Day 5: Shepherds Visit (Kneeling Shepherd)
             Luke 2:16-20

Dec 30 Day 6: Star of Bethlehem (Star)
             Matthew 2:1-2

Dec 31 Day 7: Wise Men Visit Herod
             Matthew 2:3-7

Jan 1  Day 8: Naming of Jesus (Jesus Banner)
             Luke 2:20-21; Genesis 17:1-14

Jan 2  Day 9: Visit of the Wise Men
            Matthew 2:9-12

Jan 3  Day 10: Flight to Egypt (Sword)
            Matthew 2:13-23

Jan 4  Day 11: Song of Zachariah (dove)
           Luke 1:57-64; 1:67-80

Jan 5  Day 12: Baptist John (Sandal)
           Luke 3:1-22

Finished Tree of Jesse

Tree of Jesse Source

Knowing God, According to St Silouan the Athonite

St Silouan the Athonite

"We may study as much as we will but we shall still not come to know the Lord unless we live according to His commandments, for the Lord is not made known through learning, but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scholars have arrived at a belief in the existence of God, but they have not come to know God. To believe in God is one thing, to know God another." St Silouan the Athonite p.354

How does this happen?
"The soul suddenly sees the Lord and knows that it is He.

Who shall describe this joy, this gladbess?
The Lord is made known in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit pervades the entire man - soul, mind and body.

After this wise is God known in heaven and on earth.

The Lord in His boundless mercy accorded this grace to me, a sinner, that others might come to know God and turn to Him." p.353

"I went into church, to Vespers, and looking at the icon of the Saviour, I cried: 'Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me, a sinner. ' And as I uttered these words, I saw the living Lord in the place where the icon was, and the grace of the Holy Spirit flooded my soul and my whole body. And so it was I came to know through the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is God; and I was filled with a sweet longing to endure sufferings for His sake." p. 458

"Pride is the root of unbelief. ...the Lord reveals Himself only to the lowly in heart....If we take pains to explore the human heart, this is what we shall see: the Kingdom of Heaven in the heart of the saint, but in the soul of the sinner darkness and torment. And it is good to know this because we shall dwell eternally either in the Kingdom or in torment." p.355

"Many martyrs came to know the Lord...
The grace of God teaches them to love their enemies, since the man who has no love for his enemies cannot come to know the Lord, Who died on the cross for His enemies, and gave us an example in Himself with the commandment to love our enemies (The Gospel of St John 13:15)"

"The man to whom the Lord is known through the Holy Spirit  (the man to whom the Lord has appeared alive and visible as stated above- emphasis mine) becomes like unto the Lord, as St John the Divine said, 'We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is' 1 John 3:2, and we shall behold His glory." p.356

"But the man who cries out against evil men but does not pray for them will never know the grace of God." p.357

"O ye peoples of the earth, fashioned by God, know your Creator and His love for us!
...Turn to Him, all ye peoples of the earth, and lift up your prayers to God...
Know, all ye peoples, that we are created for the glory of God in the heavens. Cleave not to the earth, for God is our Father and He loves us like dear children." p.358-359

Selections from the book, St Silouan the Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony, translated by Rosemary Edmonds, St Vladimir Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York 10707. ISBN 0-88141-195-7

The End of Western Civilization

Consider this, in 2011, 1.06 million abortions took place in the U. S. alone.
There will be a price to pay.

The Significance of Humility by Elder Moses the Athonite

Tears of Repentance; Memories of a Taxi Driver in Thessaloniki, Greece

Tears of Repentance is available from St Nicodemos Publications

"Athanasios Katigas of Sykies (suburb of Thessaloniki, Greece), answered the divine call to a life of repentance after the fervent prayers of his quadriplegic childhood friend Savvas, and the sound instruction of a lay preacher, Panagiotis Panagiotides. Thanasi used the therapeutic discipline of our Church, to free himself from the nets of human passions by practicing strict obedience under his seasoned spiritual father Triantafyllos Xeros. Thanasi's love for Christ did not permit him to leave our Lord at home (as most of us do), but he took Him along on his daily route as a Cab driver. Thanasi's zeal for the word of God initiated hundreds of spiritual conversations, awakenings and transformations in his cab, with clients from all walks of life. Thanasi's genuine simplicity, a simplicity likened to the fishermen of Galilee served as pure oxygen for hundreds of souls that shared the space of his taxi, some battered and gasping for air from the oxidants of the secular lifestyle. In "The Tears of Repentance", printed multiple times in Greece, and hailed by dozens of Bishops, Thanasi relives some of the most intriguing personal and life changing encounters in his 25 year taxi career.

The translation rights were assigned to St. Nicodemos Publications and by the joined effort of Fr. N. Palis/C.Zalalas and not a few volunteers, the Anglophone readers will highly rejoice and find much encouragement in their own journey by contemplating on the power of Christ's word who often bypasses trained theologians "choosing the foolish things in the world to shame the wise" (Cf. 1 Cor. 1:27).

Softcover, 255 pages, published by Saint Nicodemos Publications, October 2015.

$21 per copy, includes free shipping in the Continental United States only.
Churches, Organizations, Monasteries 40% discount with a 10 book minimum."

The Theotokos, An Icon of Human Freedom

An Icon of Human Freedom – 1

6 September 2014From Pemptousia.com By Metropolitan Kallistos Ware 

Am I not free?(1 Corinthians 9:1)

God persuades, He does not compel;
for violence is foreign to Him.(Epistle to Diognetus VII, 4)

What Shall We Offer?

In an Orthodox hymn used at Vespers on Christmas Eve, the Virgin Mary is seen as the highest and fullest offering that our humanity can make to the Creator:

What shall we offer You, O Christ,
Who for our sakes have appeared on earth as human?
Every creature made by You offers You thanks:
The angels offer You a hymn,
The heavens a star,
The Magi gifts,
The shepherds their wonder,
The earth its cave,
The wilderness the manger;
And we offer You a Virgin Mother.

As our supreme human offering, the Mother of God is a model — next to Christ Himself, and through God’s grace — of what it means to be a person. She is the mirror in which we see reflected our own true human face. And what she expresses, as our pattern and example, is above all human freedom. “Am I not free?” asks the apostle; and Mary shows us precisely what this liberty implies.

Theotokos (Mother of God), icon, Monastery of Sinai, 13th Century

Freedom, the capacity to make moral decisions consciously, with a sense of full responsibility before God, is what most of all distinguishes the human from the other animals. In the words of Søren Kierkegaard, “The most tremendous thing granted to human persons is choice, freedom.”¹ Without liberty of choice there is no authentic personhood. When God says to Israel, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose…”² He offers us a gift that is difficult to employ aright, often bitter and painful, even tragic, yet without which we are not genuinely human. It is freedom of choice, more than anything else, that constitutes the image of God within us. This has of course to be qualified. Divine freedom is unconditioned, whereas our human freedom in a sinful and fallen world is restricted in all too many ways. But, though restricted, it is never totally abolished; it remains in some way irreducible and inalienable.

Let us explore together the nature of this freedom, essential to our human personhood, which the Blessed Virgin Mary displayed to a preeminent degree at the Annunciation.

Response in Freedom

In the view of Karl Barth, it is a fundamental error to imagine that at the Annunciation Mary is making a decision on which the salvation of the world depends. To see in Mary, so Barth argues in his Church Dogmatics, “the human creature cooperating servant-like in its own redemption on the basis of prevenient grace” is a heresy to which No, “must be uttered inexorably.” We are to understand her role at the Annunciation, “only in the form of non-willing, non-achieving, non-creative, non-sovereign man, only in the form of man who can merely receive, merely be ready, merely let something be done to and with himself.”³

The approach of the Christian East is altogether different. In the words of the fourteenth-century Byzantine lay theologian, St. Nicolas Cabasilas:

The Incarnation of the Word was not only the work of Father, Son, and Spirit—the first consenting, the second descending, the third overshadowing—but it was also the work of the will and the faith of the Virgin. Without the three divine persons this design could not have been set in motion; but likewise the plan could not have been carried into effect without the consent and faith of the all-pure Virgin. Only after teaching and persuading her does God make her His Mother and receive from her the flesh that she consciously wills to offer Him. Just as He was conceived by His own free choice, so in the same way she became His mother voluntarily and with her free consent.⁴

Cabasilas perceives the all-important contribution made at the Incarnation by the created human freedom of the Virgin. “God persuades, He does not compel”: the statement in the Epistle to Diognetus applies exactly to the event of the Annunciation. God knocks at the door, but does not break it down: Mary is chosen, but she herself also makes an act of choice. She is not merely receptive, not merely “non-willing, non-achieving, non-creative,” but she responds with dynamic liberty. As St. Irenaeus expresses it, “Mary cooperates with the economy”⁵; she is, in St. Paul’s words, a synergos, a fellow worker with God—not just a pliant tool but an active participant in the mystery. What we see in her is not passivity but engagement, not subordination but partnership, not submission but mutuality of relationship.

All of this is summed up in Mary’s reply to the angel: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”⁶ This reply was not a foregone conclusion; she could have refused. Violence is foreign to the divine nature, and so God did not become human without first seeking the willing agreement of the one whom He wished to be His mother. As Pope Paul insists, in his notable doctrinal statement Marialis Cultus (2 February 1974), Mary is, “taken into dialogue with God,” and she, “gives her active and responsible consent”; we are to see in her, not just a “timidly submissive woman,”⁷ but one who makes “a courageous choice.” She is a decision maker. It is a striking fact—on which we can never reflect too much — that, whereas the creation of the world was brought about solely by the exercise of the divine will, the re-creation of the world was set in motion through the cooperation of a young village woman engaged to a carpenter

Notes:

1. Journals, translated by A. Dru ( Oxford, 1938), § 1051.
2. Deuteronomy 30:19.
3. Vol. I, part 2 ( Edinburgh, 1956), pages 143, 191.
4. Homily on the Annunciation 4–5; Patrologia Orientalis 19, 488.
5. Against the Heresies 3.21.7: PG 7, 953B.
6. Luke 1:38.
7. § 37.

An Icon of Human Freedom – 2

8 September 2014From Pemptousia.com

Sharing, Silence, Suffering

If the Mother of God at the moment of the Annunciation is a true icon of human freedom, of authentic liberty and liberation, then her actions and reactions in the events that follow shortly afterwards in St. Luke’s Gospel illustrate three basic consequences of what it means to be free. Freedom involves sharing, silence, and suffering.

Freedom involves sharing. Mary’s first action after the Annunciation is to share the good news with someone else: she goes with haste to the hill country, to the house of Zechariah, and greets her cousin Elizabeth.⁸ Here is an essential element in freedom: you cannot be free alone. Freedom is not solitary but social. It implies relationship, a “thou” [You] as well as an “I.” The one who is egocentric, who repudiates all responsibility towards others, possesses no more than a seeming and spurious freedom, but is in reality pitifully unfree. Liberation, properly understood, is not defiant isolation or aggressive self-assertion, but partnership and solidarity. To be free is to share our personhood with others, to see with their eyes, to feel with their feelings: “If one member of the body suffers, all suffer together with it.”⁹ I am only free if I become a prosopon—to use the Greek word for person which literally means “face”—if I turn towards others, looking into their eyes and allowing them to look into mine. To turn away, to refuse to share, is to forfeit liberty.

Here the Christian doctrine of God is immediately relevant to our understanding of freedom. As Christians we believe in a God who is not only one but one in three. The divine image within us is specifically the image of God the Trinity. God our creator and archetype is not just one person, self-sufficient, loving Himself alone, but He is a koinonia or communion of three persons, dwelling in each other through an unceasing movement of mutual love. From this it follows that the divine image within us, which is the uncreated source of our freedom, is a relational image, realized through fellowship and perichoresis (intermingling). To say, “I am free, because I am formed in God’s image,” is equivalent to saying: “I need you in order to be myself.” There is no true person except where there are at least two persons in reciprocal relationship; and there is no true freedom except where there are at least two persons who share their freedom together.

Theotokos (Mother of God), tempera on wood, Holy Mountain Athos, 17th Century

Here, then, is a first thing that Mary teaches us about freedom. It signifies relationship, openness to others, vulnerability. Without the risk and adventure of shared love, none of us can be free.

If freedom involves sharing, then it also involves silence, listening. “Let it be with me according to your word,” Mary answers at the Annunciation; her attitude is one of listening to the Word of God. Indeed, had she not first listened to God’s Word and through listening received it into her heart, she would never have conceived and borne the Word physically in her womb. St. Luke insists more than once upon this special characteristic of the Mother of God as the one who listens. After the visit of the shepherds to the newborn Christ, he states; “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”¹⁰ After the story of Jesus in the temple at twelve years old, the evangelist ends with a similar comment: “His Mother treasured all these things in her heart.”¹¹ The need to listen is emphasized equally in Mary’s injunction to the servants at the wedding feast of Cana, “Do whatever He tells you,”¹² her last recorded words in the Gospels, her spiritual legacy to the Church: “Listen, accept, respond.” Later in St. Luke’s Gospel—when the woman in the crowd blesses Christ’s Mother, and He replies, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it”¹³—so far from implying any disrespect to the one who bore Him, Jesus seeks rather to indicate where her true glory is to be found. She is to be held in honor, not simply because of the physical fact of her motherhood, but because inwardly with all her will and with the full integrity of her personal freedom she listened to God’s word and kept it.

Such, therefore, is a second way in which the Mother of God acts as an icon of human freedom. For St. Gregory Palamas and for the Orthodox mystical tradition she is ahesychast, one who waits upon the Holy Spirit with the silence of the heart. Inner silence of this kind is not simply negative—not a mere absence of sounds or pause between words—but it is positive and alive, one of the deep sources of our being, part of the basic structure of our human personhood. Without silence we are not genuinely human, and without silence we are not genuinely free. Constant chatter enslaves, while the ability to listen is an essential part of freedom. The Mother of God is free because she listens. Unless we are capable of listening to others—unless in some measure we possess, as she did, the dimension of creative inner silence—we shall lack real liberty. Only the one who knows how to be silent, how to listen, is able to make decisions with an authentic freedom of choice.

There is also a third aspect of freedom that St. Luke’s Gospel underlines. “A sword will pierce through your own soul also,”¹⁴ says Simeon to Mary at the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Freedom involves suffering. It means kenosis (emptying oneself), cross-bearing, the laying down of one’s own life for the sake of others. Mary’s act of voluntary choice at the Annunciation brings her grief as well as joy. Among modern thinkers, the Russian Nicholas Berdyaev—the “captive of freedom,” as his critics called him, a sobriquet (nickname) that gave him particular satisfaction—has discerned with sharp clarity the costliness of freedom. “I always knew,” he states in his autobiography, Dream and Reality, “that freedom gives birth to suffering, while the refusal to be free diminishes suffering. Freedom is not easy, as its enemies and slanderers allege: freedom is hard; it is a heavy burden. People…often renounce freedom to ease their lot.”¹⁵

The arduous, sacrificial character of freedom is evident equally in Dostoevsky’s parable “The Tale of the Grand Inquisitor” in The Brothers Karamazov. The inquisitor reproaches Christ for making humankind free, and thereby imposing on them a pain too sharp for them to endure. Out of pity for human anguish, so the inquisitor claims, he and his fellows have removed this cruel gift of freedom: “We have corrected your work,” he says to Christ. He is right: freedom is indeed a heavy burden, as Mary understood only too well when standing at the foot of the Cross. Yet without freedom there can be no true personhood and no mutual love. If we refuse to exercise the gift of freedom that God offers us, we make ourselves subhuman; and if we deny others their freedom we dehumanize them.

Such are some of the ways in which the Mother of God, our mirror and paradigm, serves as an icon of human freedom. “Am I not free?” Yes, indeed; each of us is created free. Yet freedom is not only a gift but equally a challenge and a task, as the example of the Mother of God indicates. Freedom does not simply have to be accepted, but it needs to be discovered, learnt, used, defended—and finally to be offered up. Let us complete the quotation from Kierkegaard with which we began. “The most tremendous thing granted to human persons is choice, freedom. And if you want to save your freedom and keep it, there is only one way: in the very same second to give it back to God, and yourself with it.” Only in the act of offering back our freedom to God—through sharing, silence, and suffering—can we truly become free persons in the image of the Trinity, after the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Notes:
8. Luke 1:39-40.
9. 1 Corinthians 12:26.
10. Luke 2:19.
11. Luke 2:51.
12. John 2:5.
13. Luke 10:27-28.
14. Luke 2:35.
15. P. 47.

New Books about the Life and Teaching of Elder Sophrony of Essex

Man, the Target of God is available from Eighth Day Books
ISBN 978-1-909649-03-3

Table of Contents
Introduction
The God of Our Fathers
  1. 'I Am that I Am': Revelation of the Person of Christ in the Life of Elder Sophrony
  2. Personhood: the Fruit of the Vision of the Uncreated Light
  3. The Portrait of Personhood in Saint Silouan

Christ, the Father of the World to Come
  4. Theology as a Spiritual State of the Person
  5. The Hypostatic Principle,  a Unique Gift of the Triune God
  6. The Hypostatic Mode of Being in the Life and Ministry of Elder Sophrony

Thou Hast Made Known to me the Ways of Life
  7. The Path of the Human Persona
  8. Obedience as a Means to Attain to Personhood
  9. The Divine Name and Hypostatic Prayer
10. Tears: the Healing of the Person

Epilogue
On Personhood

Index of Biblical References

"According to the working of His unfathomable will, God created man and set him before Him as His target, the target of His loving-kindness, so that He might care for him night and day through His grace. What honor is greater than that given to man - for the Creator of the world to become his servant, the minister of his salvation? "
p. 20-21  Archimandrite Zacharias

Seeking Perfection in the World of Art is available from Eighth Day Books
ISBN 978-1-909649-00-2

Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction

Chapter one
Formative years in Russia

Chapter two
Travels through Europe and settling in Paris

Chapter three
A Change of Heart and Life

Chapter Four
Creating his Monastery

Chapter five
Father Sophrony as an Iconographer

Catalogue of Drawings

Appendix
  1. A short outline of Russian History
  2. Art schools after the Revolution
  3. The term faktura 
  4. Kandynsky's and Father Sophrony’s writings
  5. Russian Artists mentioned in the Text

Bibliography

"The face reflects the inner man, the soul. In the case of a saint it is a sanctified face, hence it should be beautiful. "We should make the faces of the icons attractive, so that the onlooker is able to pray. The icons should be like a trampoline towards eternal life." Elder Sophrony in p. 179

The Key to Good Communication and Good Relationships by Abbott Ephraim of Vatopaidi

Buddhism and Eastern Asceticism Compared to Orthodox Christian Asceticism ( Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex )

It is unfortunate that there is widespread confusion, not to mention delusion, in the inexperienced, whereby the Jesus Prayer is thought to be equivalent to yoga in Buddhism, or 'transcendental meditation', and other such Eastern exotica. Any similarity, however, is mostly external, and any inner convergence does not rise beyond the natural 'anatomy' of the human soul.

 The fundamental difference between Christianity and other beliefs and practices lies in the fact that the Jesus Prayer is based on the revelation of the One true living and personal God as Holy Trinity No other path admits any possibility of a living relationship between God and the person who prays.

Eastern asceticism aims at divesting the mind of all that is relative and transitory, so that man may identify with the impersonal Absolute. This Absolute is believed to be man's original 'nature', which suffered degradation and degeneration by entering a multiform and ever-changing earth-bound life. Ascetic practice like this is, above all, centered upon the self, and is totally dependent on man's will. Its intellectual character betrays the fullness of human nature, in that it takes no account of the heart. Man's main struggle is to return to the anonymous Supra-personal Absolute and to be dissolved in it. He must therefore aspire to efface the soul (Atman) in order to be one with this anonymous ocean of the Suprapersonal Absolute, and in this lies its basically negative purpose.

In his struggle to divest himself of all suffering and instability connected with transient life, the eastern ascetic immerses himself in the abstract and intellectual sphere of so-called pure Existence, a negative and impersonal sphere in which no vision of God is possible, only man's vision of himself. There is no place for the heart in this practice. Progress in this form of asceticism depends only on one's individual will to succeed. The Upanishads do not say anywhere that pride is an obstacle to spiritual progress, or that humility is a virtue.

The positive dimension of Christian asceticism, in which self-denial leads to one's clothing with the heavenly man, to the assumption of a supernatural form of life, the Source of which is the One True, Self-revealing God, is obviously and totally absent.

Even in its more noble expressions, the self-denial in Buddhism is only the insignificant half of the picture. In the mind's desire to return to its merely 'natural' self, it beholds its own nakedness in a 'cloud of divestiture'. But at this point there is a grave risk of obsession with itself, of its marvelling at its own luminous but created beauty, and worshipping the creature more than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). The mind has by now begun to deify or idolize its self and then, according to the words of the Lord, 'the last state of that man is worse than the first' (Matt. 12:45).

Such are the limits of Eastern styles of contemplation, which do not claim to be the contemplation of God, and are in fact man's contemplation of himself.

To read this post in full,  please go to the blog Artoklasia

The Cross in the Christian Life by Abbott Ephraim of Vatopaidi

Abbot Ephraim of Vatopaidi Monastery in Mount Athos, Greece preaches a homily on the Cross in the Christian Life. This video is in Greek with English subtitles.

On Repentance by St Silouan the Athonite

Archimandrite Sophrony and his Elder,  St Silouan the Athonite (sitting)

"The truly repentant man readily bears every affliction - hunger and nakedness,  cold and heat,  sickness and poverty,  humiliation and exile,  injustice and slander; for his soul is turned with longing towards God,  and he has no care for earthly things but prays to God with a pure mind.

But the man who is attached to worldly goods and riches can never have a pure mind in God,  since in the depths of his soul he is constantly preoccupied with his possessions; and if he does not repent wholeheartedly,  and mourn at having grieved God,  he will die bearing the burden of his passions,  without having come to know the Lord."  St Silouan the Athonite
From St Silouan the Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex, p. 349, translated by Rosemary Edmonds, SVS Press, Crestwood NY, 1991

St Silouan the Athonite (sitted) and his disciple Archimandrite Sophrony (behind his left shoulder)

New Books by Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex, U. K.

This book is available from St Tikhon's Bookstore
Note: 10/5/2015 Both of these books went out of print very quickly. A new edition will be available soon.

Contents
Preface
Part 1
    The Unity of the Church in the Image of the Holy Trinity
Part 2
     The Principles of Orthodox Asceticism
Part 3
     On the Necessity of the Three Renunciations in
            St John Cassian and St John Climacus
Part4
      The Light of Tabor

Index of Scriptural References

I just began to read this book.  I have the feeling that  I should be reading it on my knees, because I am reading wondrous things about God,  the Holy Trinity,  Who dwells in Light unapproachable. Elder Sophrony,  who saw and conversed with God in the Eternal Light, even while still living; describes Him Who is known in love, beyond words and human categories of thought. I am not worthy. One clearly understands why the six-winged seraphim cover their faces and their bodies with their wings as they worship crying out,  "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord our God!"

"God is Truth and Life, and in Him the saints too become living and true.’‘Every religion, all the old and new para-religious forms, the lives of the mystics — all have their ascetic culture, which varies in accordance with the underlying dogmatic consciousness. The dependence of the ascetic act on the form of dogmatic consciousness and, vice versa, the dependence of doctrine on spiritual experience, is a theme of great interest…’

This book is a collection of texts which all demonstrate Archimandrite Sophrony’s profound conviction that true life is based on true doctrine." from St Tikhon's website

This book is available from St Tikhon's Bookstore

Contents
Foreword

Talk to His Family

Letters to Maria
    There are 69 letters in this section.

Letters to Alexandra
     There are 8 letters in this section

Index of Biblical References

"This book consists of letters Archmandrite Sophrony wrote to his family in Moscow between 1958 and 1986, addressed in particular to his sisters Maria and Alexandra, as well as a talk recorded there in 1975. The talk and letters are rich in historical interest and in spiritual teaching, as well as providing insight into Archmandrite Sophrony’s life and his understanding of the state of mankind in the modern era." from St Tikhon's website

The Fathers' Response to the Three Kinds of Impulsivity by Fr Alexis Trader

From the Orthodox blog Ancient Christian Wisdom

"In our ever-changing, fast-paced contemporary world that rewards Type-A aggressive behaviorand a results-oriented lifestyle, impulsivity can become our default mode for interacting with the world. This “ready-fire-aim” approach to life can be framed as quick reflexes and speedy adaptation needed for success and getting ahead. Of course, if one’s gut reactions are wrong, that same approach can be one’s ruin.

Impulsivity, however, is not just about being an active, carpe-diem sort of person. Acting on the spur of the moment is only one of the measures of impulsivity used by psychologists. Other expressions of impulsivity include the inability to focus on a given task and difficulty with careful planning. In technical terms used in measures of impulsivity such as the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, psychologists refer to these factors as motor, attentional, and planning impulsiveness (Dougherty, Bjork, Marsh, & Moeller, 2000).

In each case, something else other than what we started to do grabs our attention and almost immediately we “decide” or rather let our impulse decide that that thing or that thought is desirable. And so without further ado or further reflection, we move our muscles, our intentions, and our thoughts in the direction that our impulses suggest. In many cases, the reward for giving in to our impulses is immediate, and so we learn to follow this easy, effortless behavioral pathway so much so that we may find ourselves having trouble getting anything done or even worse we may feel as though we are no longer really in control of ourselves.

In our political discourse, we see planning impulsivity when simplistic solutions are favored over patience wand negotiation. In our news media, we see a tipping of the hat to attentional impulsivity when information concerning daily events is delivered in terms of sound bites and easily digestible slogans. In our online activity, we see motor impulsivity when we surf the net clicking on link after link with no real forethought of where we might really be going. Often, we see all three kinds of impulsivity in our own selves: for instance when we open the refrigerator while daydreaming and forget about plans to diet. Such innocent impulsivity may not be a major problem, but when it is, it can disrupt our lives and the lives of others.

The old adage “think-before-you-act” is meant to contraindicate relying on impulsivity. Yet, the thrill of immediate action and the pleasure of instant gratification make thinking, patience and an appreciation of the complexity of a given situation unattractive alternatives. Impulsivity has indeed garnered a certain acceptance in a world that prizes the fulfillment of desires and the attainment of happiness as the ultimate goal in life. Nevertheless, psychologists and experts in the life of the spirit warn us that such behavior is actually deleterious in the long term.

In fact, the opposite of impulsivity—controlling one’s movements, focusing one’s thoughts, and planning one’s day—can bring other blessings the impulsive do not experience such as a sense of agency and a freedom to make hard choices that are ultimately more beneficial. The holy fathers’ counsels offer an alternative to impulsivity. It is called watchfulness. It means being aware of the thoughts, not reacting to the thoughts, and acting in a way that leads towards the blessedness of the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, the fathers offer a blessed way of life that is almost the mirror opposite of the impulsivity encouraged by contemporary culture.

In order to not impulsively do this or that, the fathers suggest being attentive, guarding the heart, and being watchful. At a preliminary stage, this involves simply being aware of the thoughts without acting on them or being aware of them and deliberately not acting on them. In other words, it involves not giving in to motor impulsivity."

To read this post in full,  please go to Ancient Christian Wisdom

Contemporary Charismatic Orthodox Elders by Metropolitan Athanasius of Cyprus

What are the characteristics of a true spiritual father or elder? Listen to this talk.

Elder Arsenie Boca - the Man of God

What an amazing life! Elder Arsenie is one of the most remarkable Orthodox saints and confessors of Communist Romania. His tomb is a pilgrimage destination for thousands. Many miracles happen at his tomb. For example, the flowers over his tomb never wither throughout the year. Elder Arsenie entered eternal life on November 28, 1989. May we have his blessing!

On the Divine Liturgy by Archimandrite Zacharias

Morning Prayers from an Old Russian Prayer Book

This is the garden outside the Church of St Panteleimon in Thessaloniki, Greece. I took this photo in the year 2000. This is my favorite church in Thessaloniki.

The Morning Prayers

The First Prayer of St Isaac the Syrian
O Lord Jesus Christ my God, Who dost visit Thy creation, to Thee are manifest my passions, and the frailty of my nature, and the strength of my adversary.  Do Thou Thyself, O Master, protect me from his malice, because his power is strong, where as my nature is passionate and my strength is feeble. Do Thou, O Good One, Who knowsest my weakness and hast borne the difficulties of my impotence, guard me against disordered thoughts and the flood of passions,  and make me worthy of this holy service, lest in my passions I spoil its sweetness and be found impudent and audacious in Thy sight. But in Thy mercy have mercy on me: For blessed art Thou unto the ages. Amen.

The Second Prayer of St Stephen of the Thebaid
O Master and Lord, Jesus Christ my God, be Thought my helper, I am in Thy hands. Suffer me not to sin, for I am tempted; suffer me not to perish in my sins. Take pity upon Thy creature. Cast me not away from Thy face on account of my sins, for to Thee have I fled. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee. Before Thee are all they that afflict me and seek after my soul to destroy it. I have no other refuge than in Thee, O Lord, for Thou art powerful in all things, O Lord. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,  now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The Third Prayer of St John Chrysostom
O Lord, whether I will it or not, save me. As a filthy lover of material things I desire sinful defilement,  but as Thou art good and all powerful,  Thou canst hold me back. For if Thou hast mercy on a righteous man, it is no great thing; if Thou savest a pure man, it is nothing wonderful,  since they are deserving of Thy mercy. Rather, make known the wonder of Thy mercy in me, who am wretched, sinful and defiled, and show Thy compassion. Poor in all good works, I am a pauper, abandoned to Thee. O Lord save me for Thy mercy's sake: For blessed art Thou unto the ages. Amen.

The Fourth Prayer
O Master, have mercy on me for the sake of Thy goodness, and suffer me not to go astray from Thy will. And cast not my poor prayers away from Thy face, but hear O Lord, the voice of my prayer when I pray to Thee in the day and in the night, and accept it as choice incense. Withhold not Thy grace on account of my sins, but save me for Thy holy Name's sake. For Thine alone is to show mercy and save us, and unto Thee do we send up glory, to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,  now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Dismissal
Lord Jesus Christ,  Son of God, through the prayers of Thy most pure Mother, by the power of the precious and life-giving Cross, through the prayers of my holy Guardian Angel,  and of al the saints, have mercy on me and save me a sinner,  for Thou art good and lovest mankind. Amen.