The Sunday of Desire

                                    Hermit in Mount Athos


"Arise, cry aloud in the night. At the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water before the Presence of the Lord; lift up your hands to Him, " Lamentations 2:19

An old monk wearing a worn-out, patched-up black rasso wakes up in the middle of the night, and rises from the floor of his cave in Katunakia, Mount Athos, Greece, to pray. His meal the previous evening consisted of a piece of dried stale hard bread and some rain water collected in an aluminum can. He has been rising for prayer for the last forty years and his legs no longer allow him to stand without pain but he is undeterred. His callous arthritic shaking hand reaches out for some matches which he is able to find, always in the same place, in spite of the stark darkness that shrouds him, and he lights up what remains of the candle he used the previous night.

The spartan conditions of his dwelling are intimidating. The cave is cold and narrow. Its jagged walls are naked and the dirt floor where he stands is littered with loose rocks. Years ago he managed to gather some wood that had been thrown away, and he was able to put together an iconostasis and an altar. The paper icons are few and damaged but the faces of the saints encourage him.



Holy Altar inside a cave in Mount Athos, Greece

As the monk begins the prayers with the opening benediction of the Midnight Office, he considers himself to be the most blessed of men, "Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages." The flickering candles communicate warmth, light and spiritual depth to this sacred space. This cave is Heaven! When the time for the Divine Liturgy comes, the priest-monk is already rapt in God, his face radiant, like Moses, as one who clearly beholds the other world.




Elder Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex


Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos was once blessed to be present in a cave like this one during one of these Divine Liturgies, "There were only a few oil lamps lighting the church, enough to show the icons of the Saints and the Most Holy Mother of God and of Christ. The three disciples with their Gerondas, stood motionless on the old pews and lived the Mystery. They were not simply attending, but they were celebrating the Liturgy with me! Their faces looked like the faces of the Saints in iconography. It was as if they had come down from the walls and were living the resurrection. Their voices were soft, weak, stifled by their compunction. Their chanting was coming out of a heart wounded by divine love; it was coming out of the depths of their soul, which has been pierced by divine love." 
from 'A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain' p.173 by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Trans. by Effie Mavromichali, Birth of theTheotokos Monastery, 1991

Tomorrow Sunday is Zacchaeus' Sunday. Fr Alexander Schmemann, in his book,Great Lent: Journey to Pascha reminds us that, "long before the actual effort of Lent is to begin, the Church calls our attention to its seriousness and invites us to meditate on its significance. Before we can practice Lent we are given its meaning. This preparation includes five consecutive Sundays preceding Lent , each one of them - through its particular Gospel lesson - dedicated to some fundamental aspect of repentance.

The very first announcement of Lent is made the Sunday on which the Gospel lesson about Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) is read. It is the story of a man who was too short to see Jesus but who desired so much to see Him that he climbed up a tree. Thus the theme of this first announcement is desire...Man follows his desire...A strong desire overcomes the natural limitations of man; when he passionately desires something he does things of which normally he is incapable. Being 'short' he overcomes and transcends himself.

Zacchaeus desired the right thing; he wanted to see and approach Christ. He is the first symbol of repentance, for repentance begins as the discovery of the deep nature of all desire: the desire for God and His righteousness, for the true life...And if we desire deeply enough, strongly enough, Christ will respond."p.17-p.18, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Fr Alexander Schmemann, St Vladimir Seminary Press, 1996 ISBN 0-913836-04-4

During the coming few weeks, the blessed time of Lent, we will also arise at night for prayer. The deserts of our cities are no less isolated than the dwelling of the monk. The sumptuousness of our palatial homes is no less jagged than the naked walls of his cave. With God's help we will arise, and cry aloud in the middle of the night, "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me!". May God bless us with the warmth of His Grace in our hearts, in that moment!

"My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is loving-kindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities." Psalm 130:6-8

The Blessing of the Waters at Vatopaidi Monastery Mount Athos Greece

From Pemptousia

The Morning Offering by Abbott Tryphon of Christ the Savior Monastery in Vashon Island, Washington

The Morning Offering is available from Ancient Faith Publishing

The Very Reverend Archimandrite Tryphon is the Abbott of Christ the Savior Orthodox Monastery (ROCOR) in Vashon Island, WA. 

From the Back Cover
"Thousands of readers and listeners have benefited from the fatherly wisdom and insight of The Morning Offering, the blog and podcast of Abbott Tryphon of Christ the Savior Monastery, Vashon Island, Washington.

Now Abbott Tryphon's reflections on faith and contemporary life have been collected in book form, with one entry for each day of the year. 

Start your day with The Morning Offering and keep yourself oriented toward Christ all through the day."

I think this is a wonderful morning devotional with valuable insights for the Orthodox and Non-Orthodox alike. 

Elder Paisios the Athonite is Formally Glorified by the Church of Constantinople

St Paisios the Athonite's Feast Day is on July 12th
The icon of St Paisios is available from Uncut Mountain Supply 

For the official press release please click here

Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid to Be Released on January 19th

Archbishop Jovan and Metropolitan Hilarion in conversation Source

Through the intervention of Metropolitan Hilarion and the Orthodox Church of Russia, Archbishop Jovan will soon be released from prison. He has been in prison unjustly, for over three years, being persecuted by the Communist government of Macedonia and their uncanonical church. Glory to God!

UPDATE
Even though the Archbishop was not released when expected, he is now free, and in Russia for medical treatment. Please read the details here

Stand Up for Life

Orthodox Walk for Life 2015

The Care of the Sick, and Orphanages in the Byzantine Empire

"The Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire published by John Hopkins University Press (June 17, 1997)

Medical historians have traditionally claimed that modern hospitals emerged during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Premodern hospitals, according to many scholars, existed mainly as refuges for the desperately poor and sick, providing patients with little or no medical care. Challenging this view in a compelling survey of hospitals in the East Roman Empire, Timothy Miller traces the birth and development of Byzantine xenones, or hospitals, from their emergence in the fourth century to their decline in the fifteenth century, just prior to the Turkish conquest of Constantinople. These sophisticated medical facilities, he concludes, are the true ancestors of modern hospitals. In a new introduction to this paperback edition, Miller describes the growing scholarship on this subject in recent years.

The Orphans of Byzantium: Child Welfare in the Christian Empire published by The Catholic University of America Press (February 12, 2003)

Among the controversial issues in America today is the debate over how best to care for abandoned and neglected children. Largely absent from the debate, however, is any discussion of past practices. In this book, historian Timothy Miller argues that it is necessary to look at the history of orphanages, of their successes and failures, and of their complex roles as social institutions for unwanted and homeless children.

In The Orphans of Byzantium, Miller provides a perceptive and original study of the evolution of orphanages in the Byzantine Empire. Contrary to popular belief and even expert opinion, medieval child-welfare systems were sophisticated, especially in the Byzantine world. Combining ancient Roman legal institutions with Christian concepts of charity, the Byzantine Empire evolved a child-welfare system that tried either to select foster parents for homeless children or to place them in group homes that could provide food, shelter, and education. Miller discusses how successive Byzantine emperors tried to improve Roman regulations to provide greater security for orphans, and notes that they achieved their greatest success when they widened the pool of potential guardians by allowing women relatives to accept the duties of guardianship.

After a thorough discussion of each element of the Byzantine child care system, the book closes by showing how Byzantine orphanages provided models for later Western group homes, especially in Italy. From these renaissance orphan asylums evolved the system of modern European and American religious orphanages until the foster care movement emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. Miller's study of these systems can provide useful models for reforming the troubled child-welfare system today.

Timothy S. Miller is Professor of History at Salisbury University in Maryland. He has written or edited numerous books and articles on the Byzantine Empire, including The Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire and Peace and War in Byzantium.

Praise for the book:

"A very important contribution to Byzantine social and family history.... Like his other works, The Orphans of Byzantium commends Professor Miller as an indefatigable researcher and leading social historian of the Byzantine era. [This] is an original book, extensively researched, well documented, and readable, of value to students and teachers of Byzantine civilization, and the history of philanthropy and welfare.... Dr. Miller deserves congratulations and our gratitude for making another major contribution to Byzantine studies."--Demetrios J. Constantelos, Catholic Historical Review

"Timothy Miller has become an expert on the Byzantine Empire's system of social welfare, and here he provides an exhaustive study at a millennium of Byzantine care of orphans.... Miller's work is, by any gauge, thorough, and while there is not a plethora of evidence on this topic, readers can be sure that Miller has carefully analysed what there is."--Daniel Boice, Catholic Library Wolrd

"What should a morally responsible society do with orphans? Ignore and thus condone possible slavery, certain neglect, probable death? Encourage adoption? Institutionalize and therefore confine and marginalize? In this handsomely produced text, established Byzantine historian Miller (Salisbury Univ.) explicitly addresses a perennial issue of social policy by investigating and assessing the strategies that the classical and Byzantine worlds employed for abandoned or neglected children. Miller competently reviews the Hellenistic and Roman legalities and realities that Byzantine church, state, and private society sought to improve, then informatively describes the importance of the orphanage as institution (religiously or privately controlled); the sometimes effective encouragement (notably, by giving female kin greater..." From the Amazon website