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