DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SHANGHAI AND SAN
FRANCISCO
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 412-260)
is published monthly by St. Nectarios American Orthodox Cathedral,
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Fr. Neketas S. Palassis, Editor Email: frneketas@stnectariospress.com
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Fax: 206-523-0550
JANUARY 2006, Vol. XL, No. 1 (1556)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. THE NATIVITY MESSAGE OF OUR HIERARCHS
2. HANNUKAH
3. PRAY UNCEASINGLY
4. SELECTIONS ON PRAYER from Starets Amvrossy
5. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
We embitter the heart with the poison of evil thoughts when we are
led by forgetfulness to long neglect of inner attention and the Jesus
Prayer. But we sweeten it with the sense of blessed delight when in
intense desire for God we practice this attention and prayer
resolutely, keenly and diligently in the workshop of the mind. Then we
are eager to pursue stillness of heart simply for the sweetness and
delight it produces in the soul.
St Hesychius the Priest, Philokalia, Vol I, p. 18 3
1. THE NATIVITY MESSAGE OF OUR HIERARCHS
Dearly Beloved in the Lord, Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will to men!
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
13 days after the frenzy of the secular celebration on the civil
calendar of what used to be Christmas, the Church completes her annual
pilgrimage on the calendar required by the councils of the Church, to
the Cave in Bethlehem where God was born in exile, no room in the inn,
surrounded by animals, sung by angels, worshipped by shepherds and now,
in this year of grace, 2005, worshipped by us in the western United
States' Metropolis of Seattle.
God is love and He so loved mankind that He gave His only-begotten Son,
Who embraces us in all our griefs and joys, our ups and downs, our
victories and defeats, our misunderstandings and miscommunications, our
constant struggle to be faithful to Him, to His Gospel, to return His
love by loving the least of His brethren.
It is in the little ways that we humans are faithful to God that we
forge our own salvation. Our goal is to be found among the sheep
on the Lord's right hand, to enter into the joy of the Lord Whose human
birth we celebrate this day, this wonderful, holy day. But we
attain that goal in everyday kindnesses, every one of which is seen by
God and by his Angels.
We believers have to struggle these days, when the entire culture in
this country turns against the Church, her Gospel and her Lord,
re-establishing, to our astonishment, its links to the dark world of
failed paganisms. Imagine the state of mind the world must be in
to prefer darkness to light, death to life, ugliness to beauty,
falsehood to truth. Truly, the world has lost its mind and lost
its way, for The Way, with capital letters, is Christ the Lord Whose
birth brings joy to our hearts, light to our eyes, truth and beauty to
our souls.
What is the antidote to the worldly hi-jacking of the wondrous feast of
Christmas and turning it into an occasion to over-indulge our fallen
passion for the acquisition of things in excess, washed down by
gluttony? The antidote is our own personal meditating on the
Church's inspired hymns of joy and praise, worship and wonder, gladness
and exultation in the startling fact that God became flesh and dwelt
among us, and by His stripes, all we are healed. The antidote is
the scriptural record of the birth of Jesus Christ in the flesh in
Luke's glorious gospel.
In countries whose cultural roots lie in the deep rich soil of the
Church, Christians greet each other, "Christ is Born"! "Glorify
Him"! So say we all this day, one to another. Knowing that
God has come and dwells among us causes our own minds and hearts to
rise up with surpassing happiness and glorify the God Who loves us -
even when we are passing through our most unlovable hour.
Spouses: love one another as Christ loves you.
Parents: love your children as Christ loves you.
Friends: love one another as Christ loves you, for in loving one
another, you glorify God. And for us believers, let us never
forget that this God of love, Who is love incarnate, requires that we
love even our enemies, and in so doing, the glory we offer our God is
glory indeed, whole glory and nothing but glory, glory untainted by
selfishness, by worldly calculations, by sin and its dark power.
When we forgive, darkness flees before the unconquerable light of
Christ, and our sins are forgiven us.
And may the joy of Christmas bear us forward in its light to the coming
great feast of lights, Theophaneia, in whose sacred waters may all we
find blessing and cleansing in abundance.
With love in Christ the child of Bethlehem, Who comes that we all may
be saved unto eternity,
+Bishop Sergios of Loch Lomond,
(at the direction of our ruling Bishop, His Eminence Metropolitan Moses
of Seattle)
_______________________________________________________________________
2. HANUKKAH*
The Life of Godly Faith Confronts Pagan Humanism
by U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman
Editors' Note: As Orthodox Christians, we know that Hanukkah, the
Jewish holiday that falls near the time of Christ 's Nativity,
celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its
re-capture from the pagan Greeks who were led by Antiochus (who had
begun referring to himself as "Epiphanís "- "illustrious" or
"divine manifestation "; his enemies called him "Epimanís "-
"raving madman"). What is of special significance to us is that this
popular Jewish festival is based on an oral tradition related to the
events recorded in the First Book of Maccabees (4:36-59). So there are
two noteworthy lessons for us here: 1) the importance of unwritten holy
tradition for the Jewish people of that time, as well as for the holy
Apostles-see II Thess. 2:15, for example; and, 2) the fact that the
feast of Hanukkah, so beloved of the Jewish people today, is based on
an account recorded in a book found today only in the Septuagint text
of the Old Testament, and not in contemporary Jewish and Protestant
bibles! The Septuagint, of course, is the text of the Old Testament
used by the Orthodox Church. So, in this sense, Hanukah belongs more to
our Orthodox Christian Biblical tradition than it does to the
contemporary Jewish people.
Here is Senator Lieberman's account of Hanukkah's
meaning:
Unlike many who have tried to rule the Jewish people over the course of
human history, the ancient Greeks did not set out with evil in their
heads when they overtook Judea more than 2,300 years ago. To the
contrary, they were seen as benevolent and enlightened by the standards
of their time.
When Alexander the Great conquered Judea in 333 B.C.E. and instituted
Greek rule throughout the Land of Israel, he extended religious and
national autonomy to the Jews living there. The Jews and Hellenist
Greeks, though, had vastly different cultures and a fundamentally
different world view, a division unacceptable to Antiochus IV when he
came into power in 175 B.C.E.
The ruler's very name hinted at imminent struggle; Antiochus added the
title "Epiphanis" to his name because it meant, "A Divine
Manifestation." That underscored the primary difference between the
ancient Greeks and Jews: The Greeks glorified the magnificence of man,
while the Jews measured man's greatness through his partnership with
the Creator.
For the children of Israel, man was created in the image of God; for
the ancient Greeks, the gods were created in the likeness of man.
The story of Hanukkah begins when Antiochus tried to force Hellenism
(Greek culture) on those faithful to Jewish belief and culture,
requiring Jews to accept the pagan gods of the pantheon and outlawing
Torah study, the Sabbath observance, Milah (circumcision) and Nashim
(Jewish brides).
But the Jews resisted Antiochus' edicts and worshipped in secret. The
conflict festered before finally coming to a head in Modi'in, a small
village outside Jerusalem, where a priest named Matityahu rose up
against a Greek soldier who dared sacrifice a swine on the village
altar. Soon thereafter, Antiochus' army swept through Jerusalem and
ravaged the Holy Temple, torturing and murdering many Jews along the
way.
Matityahu and his five Sons were forced into hiding, escaping to the
mountains where they were joined by thousands fleeing persecution in
Jerusalem and elsewhere. History referred to this as the "Greek exile,"
even though the Jewish people were not banished so much as coalescing
for a fight.
In the mountains, Matityahu's son, Judah Maccabee, assembled a peasant
army to reclaim the Holy Land. Despite being horribly outmatched by the
mighty Greek army, the spirit of the Jewish fighters was indomitable.
Three years after the revolt at Modi'in, the Jews reclaimed Jerusalem
and planned to rededicate the Holy Temple. Of course, what happened
next is what makes Hanukkah one of our most uplifting holidays today.
The Maccabees entered the Bait Hamikdash to restore that which the
ancient Greeks had defiled, but found only a day's worth of sacred oil
to light the holy temple.
Yet somehow the oil burned for eight days straight. The improbable
victory of the Maccabees had been consecrated by a miracle.
In the story of Hanukkah, the core difference between the Jews and the
Hellenists was that the Greeks believed in the supremacy of man, while
the Jews believed they were bound by their duty to God.
We uphold the nobility of the Maccabees' fight and affirm the higher
purpose of faith [in God] by allowing all of our citizens to worship
openly, remembering a time when rulers were blinded by the mirage of
their own supremacy.
POSTSCRIPT
As beautiful as the feasts of the Old Covenant were, they were,
nonetheless, merely shadows and types of the grace that would appear in
its fullness on earth with the birth of the Messiah, our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. The appearance of our Lord in the flesh, which we
celebrate with the feasts of His Nativity in December and His
Theophany, the true "Feast of Lights "-with the manifestation of the
worship of the Holy Trinity - in January, reveal to us not merely an
increase of oil for the Temple lamps for eight days, but the revelation
of the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the World, Who shone forth in
the splendour of His infinite and uncreated divinity throughout all
creation.
Furthermore, His countless miracles wrought for mankind by the power
and the authority of His divinity, His voluntary Passion, crucifixion
and Resurrection, which we celebrate on the feast of Holy Pascha, His
Ascension into the Heavens, and His sending of the Holy Spirit "in
tongues of fire" on His holy disciples at Holy Pentecost, all bear
witness that as He said, He came "to send fire upon the earth "- that
is, that in very truth He brought down the fire and fervour of the
grace of the Holy Spirit upon earthen men and women, and changed them
into the children and heirs of God, the adopted sons and daughters of
the New Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Heaven. Thenceforth, this Fire from
Heaven made manifest literally millions of grace-filled Saints, not
merely from one nation, but from all the nations of the earth, and they
filled all of creation with countless signs and wonders and the
manifest healings that they wrought by the grace of God that was in
them. Truly, in Christ, by the grace and power of His Resurrection,
every earthly distinction is wiped away, and now "there is neither
Greek, nor Jew, nor slave, nor free, nor male or female," but all are
one in Christ Jesus our Lord. These momentous and historical events
which we celebrate in the Holy Church are of infinite and eternal
significance for all mankind. Truly, "if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new" (II Cor. 5:17).
From the Orthodox Christian Witness, January 17/30, 2000.
________________________________________________________________________
3. "PRAY UNCEASINGLY" (1 Thess 5:17)
By St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain , from "The Life of St. Gregory
Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, the Wonderworker"
Let no one think, my fellow Christians, that only the clergy and
the monks are obliged to pray unceasingly and at all times, and not
also the laity. Oh, no! All of us Christians are obliged to pray
always, as well. To demonstrate this, Philotheos, that most-holy
Patriarch of Constantinople, writes the following, in his biography of
St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica.
The divine Gregory had a beloved friend named Job, a very simple man of
great virtue. Once when they were conversing, Gregory told him about
prayer, that each Christian individually ought always to make an effort
to pray, and to pray unceasingly, as the Apostle Paul exhorts all
Christians in common, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17), and as
the Prophet David says, even though he was king and had all those cares
of ruling his kingdom, "I behold the Lord before me always"; that is,
noetically, by means of prayer, I see the Lord in front of me all the
time. And Gregory the Theologian teaches all Christians, that we should
remember the name of God in prayer more often than we breathe. Having
said all this and more to his friend Job, the Saint added that we ought
to obey the injunctions of the saints, and that we ourselves should not
only always pray, but we should instruct also everyone else to do the
same: monks and lay people, educated or not, men, women, and children;
and should encourage them to pray unceasingly.
When the elder Job heard this, it seemed to him that it was an
innovation, and he began to argue, and to say to Gregory that to pray
always was only for the ascetics and the monks living away from the
world and its distractions, and not for lay people who have jobs and so
many cares. The saint responded with more examples and irrefutable
proof, but the elder Job was not convinced. So, wishing to avoid
talkativeness and argument, Gregory held his tongue, and each went to
his cell.
Later, as Job was alone praying in his cell, an angel appeared before
him, sent from God Who desires the salvation of all men. The Angel
sternly rebuked him for arguing with Gregory, and for opposing what was
obvious, and that clearly affects the salvation of Christians. He
admonished him on behalf of God to be careful from now on, and to
beware never again to say something against such a soul-edifying work,
for in so doing he would be opposing the will of God. Not even mentally
should he ever again dare to harbor any thought contrary to this, or
think otherwise than the divine Gregory had told him. Then that most
simple elder went at once to Gregory and, falling at his feet, begged
forgiveness for contradicting and arguing; and he revealed to him all
that the angel of the Lord had said to him.
Do you see, my brethren, how all Christians, small and great, should
always pray, using the noetic prayer, "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me"; and how their mind and heart should become
accustomed to saying it always? Just think how pleasing this is to God,
and how much good comes from it, that out of His extreme love for
mankind He even sent a heavenly angel to reveal it to us, so that we
should no longer have any doubt about it.
But what do lay people say? "We are involved in so many matters and
cares of the world. How can we possibly pray without ceasing?" My
answer to them is that God has not commanded us to do anything
impossible; but He has commanded us to do all those things that we are
able to do. Therefore this too can be accomplished by anyone who
diligently seeks the salvation of his soul. For if it were impossible,
it would be so for all lay people, and there would never have been so
many in the world who did accomplish it. As an example of someone like
this, let us take St. Gregory's father, that amazing Constantine
Palamas.
This man was an official of the imperial court, and was called the
father and teacher of the Emperor Andronikos. He was daily occupied
with imperial affairs, in addition to those his own house, since he was
very wealthy and owned a large estate and servants, and had a wife and
children. Nevertheless, he was so inseparable from God and so given to
unceasing noetic prayer, that most of the time he would forget what it
was the Emperor and the officials of the palace were discussing with
him about imperial matters, and he would ask about the same things
several times. Often the other officials, not knowing the reason for
this, would become agitated and reproach him for forgetting so quickly,
and for disturbing the Emperor with his repeated questions. But the
Emperor, who knew the cause, would defend him, saying, "Lucky
Constantine has his own concerns, and they do not permit him to pay
attention to what we are saying on matters temporal and vain. But the
nous of this blessed man is fixed on what is true and heavenly, and
thus he forgets what is mundane. All of his attention is focused on the
prayer and on God."
Thus, as the most holy Patriarch Philotheos relates, Constantine was
admired and loved by the Emperor and all the magnates and officials of
the Empire. Likewise, he was loved by God, and the venerable one was
even counted worthy to perform miracles. The holy Philotheos tells us
in his biography of St. Gregory (Constantine's son), that he took his
whole family once on a boat to a place above Galatas, to pay a visit to
a hermit who lived in stillness there, and get his blessing. On the
way, he asked his servants if they had any food to take to that Abba,
so that they might eat with him. The servants said that in the rush
they had forgotten to bring any. The blessed man was saddened a bit,
but said nothing. As they continued on in the boat, he simply put his
hand into the sea, and with silent and noetic prayer he asked God, the
Master of the sea, to let him catch something. After a short time (how
wonderful are your works, O Christ King, by which you marvelously
glorify Your servants!), he brought up his hand from the sea holding a
large bass-fish. Tossing it into the boat in front of his servants, he
said, "Look here how our Lord provided for his servant the Abba and has
sent him something to eat." Do you see, my brethren, with what sort of
glory Jesus Christ glorifies those servants who are always with Him and
who constantly invoke His sweetest name?
Then there was that righteous and holy Evdokimos. Wasn't he also in
Constantinople, and in the imperial court and involved in state
affairs? Didn't he keep company with the Emperor and the palace
officials, with so many cares and distractions? And for all that,
noetic prayer was always inseparable from him, as related in his
biography by St. Symeon the Translator. Thus, even though this
thrice-blessed man dwelt in the world among worldly things, he
nevertheless lived an angelic, supermundane life. And God, who gives
the rewards, counted him worthy to have a blessed and divine end. There
were also many, countless others who were in the world and yet were
given entirely to this noetic and saving prayer, as we read in the
histories.
So, my dear fellow Christians, I beg you, as did once the divine
Chrysostom, for the sake of the salvation of your souls, do not neglect
this important work of prayer. Imitate those whom we mentioned, and
follow their example as far as possible. And though it seem difficult
in the beginning, be certain and assured, as if from the person of God
Almighty, that this very name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, when we invoke
it constantly every day, will make all the difficulties easier. And in
the course of time, once we are accustomed to it and it is sweet to
say, then we will know from experience that it is not impossible nor
difficult, but possible and easy.
That is why the divine Apostle Paul, knowing better than we do the
great benefit of prayer, commanded us to pray unceasingly. He would
never have advised us to do something too difficult or impossible; for
if we were incapable, it follows that we would necessarily appear to be
disobedient and transgressors of his commandment, and thus we would be
condemned. But what the Apostle meant in saying, "Pray without
ceasing," was that we should pray with our nous, which we can always
do. For whether we are working with our hands, or walking, or sitting,
or eating and drinking, we can always pray with our mind and do noetic
prayer that is pleasing to God and true. We can work with our body and
pray with our soul. The outer man performs all bodily functions, and
the inner man is entirely devoted to the worship of God, and never
ceases from this spiritual work of noetic prayer.
Our divine-human Lord Jesus Himself so commands us in the holy Gospel,
saying, "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and
pray to your Father Who is in secret" (Mt. 6:6). The room of the soul
is the body; the doors are our five senses. The soul enters its room
when the mind does not wander to and fro among worldly things, but
remains within our heart. And our senses close and remain closed when
we do not allow them to cling to outward sensible things. In this way
our mind remains free from every worldly attachment; and through secret
noetic prayer, you are united with God your Father. And then, as He
says, "your Father Who sees you in secret will reward you openly". God,
Who knows what is secret, sees your noetic prayer and rewards it with
great and manifest gifts; for this prayer is true and perfect prayer,
and it fills the soul with divine grace and spiritual gifts. It is like
perfume: the tighter you stop the vessel, the more fragrant the vessel
becomes. So too with prayer: the more you confine it within your heart,
the more it fills you with divine grace.
Blessed and lucky are they who accustom themselves to this heavenly
work, for they overcome every temptation of the wicked demons by it,
like David prevailed over the proud Goliath; they put out the
inordinate desires of the flesh by it, as the three youths put out the
flame of the furnace. By this noetic work of prayer, they calm the
passions, like Daniel tamed the wild lions; by it they bring down into
their hearts the dew of the Holy Spirit, like Elias brought down the
rain on Mount Carmel. It is this noetic prayer that rises to the throne
of God and is kept in the golden bowls, so that the Lord can be
incensed with it, like John the Theologian says in Revelation, "and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and
with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints"
(Rev. 5:8). This noetic prayer is a light that ever illumines a man's
soul and ignites his heart with the flames of the love of God. It is a
chain that keeps God united with a man and joined together.
O incomparable grace of noetic prayer! This is what makes a man always
talk with God. O truly marvelous and extraordinary phenomenon! You are
physically with other people and noetically with God. Angels have no
audible voice, but noetically they offer unceasing adoration to God. In
this consists all their activity and to this their whole life is
consecrated. So too you, brother, when you enter your room and shut the
door, i.e., when your mind does not scatter here and there but enters
into your heart, and your senses are shut and not attached to the
things of this world, and you always pray like this with your nous,
then you become like the holy angels, and your Father, who sees the
secret prayer that you offer him in the depths of your heart, will
openly give you great spiritual gifts in return. What could you want
that is more or greater than this, when, like I said, you are
noetically always with God and constantly talking with Him; Him without
Whom none can ever be happy, neither here nor in the next life?
And finally, brother, whoever you may be, when you get hold of this and
read it, I fervently entreat you, also remember to pray to God and say
a "Lord have mercy" for the sinful soul of the man who labored over
this writing, and the one who paid for it to be published, for they are
in great need of prayer, so that they may obtain God's mercy on their
souls, and you on yours.
Amen. Amen.
________________________________________________________________________
4. SELECTIONS ON PRAYER TAKEN FROM, STARETZ AMVROSY,
BY JOHN DUNLOP, 1988
+
You are upset over your efforts in prayer; you blame others for not
having taught you how to pray correctly! How others instructed you I do
not know, but to me you explained that you like freedom in saying your
prayers. To this I answered: when a monk is given a rosary at his
tonsuring, the following is said to him, "take, brother, the spiritual
sword which is the word of God, the constant prayer of Jesus. Have
always the name of the Lord in your mind, in your heart, in your
thoughts and on your lips, saying constantly: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
God, have mercy on me a sinner." These words show that a monk should
practice the prayer he is able to pray. Obviously it would be
uncomfortable and dangerous for one who has not attained the habit of
oral prayer to learn mental prayer and, even more, prayer of the heart.
Such a man falls into a temptation of the enemy. However, that a
thought came to you and forbade you through fright to perform oral
prayer, calling this self-esteem -- this is obviously a temptation of
the enemy. In general all Christians have a common Apostolic
commandment concerning oral prayer: constantly bring forth praise to
God --this is the fruit of the lips of those who confess the Lord.
Therefore you may, doubting nothing, say the Jesus Prayer without
weakening in your efforts, fearing no harm and not worrying about
self-esteem. And when it is uncomfortable to perform it orally, you may
do it in your mind and thoughts. But prayer of the mind you may leave
for now, since it requires that many conditions be kept and fulfilled.
Besides all prayer requires three conditions: humility, charity and
love; if you do not have them, you ought to experience pangs of
conscience and humble yourself even more. (September 10, 1883)
+
You write that you somehow sensed a light flashing from on high, that a
light shines forth from the words of the Jesus prayer, etc. Do not
believe any of this; all this is dreaminess which must be rejected.
During all your temptations try to retain prayer. If you cannot
pronounce the whole prayer, i.e. all the words of the Jesus Prayer,
then you may repeat "Jesus, Jesus." This is not prohibited or rejected
by the Holy Fathers. "Defeat your enemies with the name of Jesus," says
Climacus. Great is the power of this Name. I will not write more
because it is not appropriate to write about the Jesus Prayer and
particularly prayer of the heart in a letter. It would be more
convenient to speak to you personally about this. (November 26, 1868)
+
You write that, having lost the prayer of the heart, you have been left
without any weapons. I already wrote to you that in all your
temptations, and in all the unusual occurrences which happen to you,
you must not leave prayer. If you cannot pray in your heart, pray in
your mind or with your lips; it does not matter how you pray as long as
you do not leave prayer. During the rite of tonsuring it is said to the
one being tonsured that he should always have the name of the Lord
Jesus in his mind, in his heart, in his thoughts and on his lips. One
must be attentive not only in the heart but also in the mind and
thoughts and on the lips. But in you there is observable an
inappropriate insistence on having things your own way. You insist on
having prayer of the heart and when you do not have it, then you are
left completely without prayer. You write that, when you with
difficulty attempted to find the place of the heart, a condemnation of
your neighbors began to combat you. This shows that your prayer is
still incorrect, since the fruit of true prayer is humility and love
for your neighbor. 'You write that the enemy whispers to you that you
are better than everyone else. Refer such temptations back to him: your
own works show how good you are . . . (December 28, 1868)1
+
You describe in your last letter how a thought forced you to pray that
God should lead your mind into your heart. But in none of the Holy
Fathers do we see that any of them ever prayed by such a prayer. It is
better to humbly pray thusly: "O Lord! Have mercy upon me as Thou
knowest best!" We are commanded by the Lord to pray: Our Father! Thy
will be done! But with you in everything, even in prayer, it shows
through that you want absolutely every- thing to be according to your
will or to the suggestion of the enemy. May the Lord protect us from
all evil and especially from the deceit of the enemy, a clear sign of
which is disorderly confusion and the suggestion of self-conceit and
following this, cold thoughts or worldly desires or a feeling of anger
and irritability. (March 1, 1869)
+
You write that your spiritual enemies have roused up such a warfare
against you that they prevent you from performing mental prayer by
creating noise and rumbling around you as if they were dancing in a
ring. For this reason you ask me, a dull-witted man, what you should do
and how you should act in such cases. You should imitate those who have
been pleasing to God in the way in which they acted under such
circumstances. We read in the Life of Arsenius the Great that sometimes
upon rising from mental prayer he would pray aloud with uplifted hands:
"O Lord God! Do not leave me for I have done nothing good in Thy sight
at any time, but do Thou help me and grant me to lay a beginning." In
this short prayer of one who was pleasing to God is expressed, firstly,
great humility, self-reproach and self-abasement and, secondly, it is
shown that this saint did not pray in such a manner without reason but
evidently because due to his strict life he had been attacked with
thoughts of grandeur by our enemies of the mind who do not leave anyone
in peace but attack everyone with whatever they can. It is especially
necessary for we who are weak to watch after thoughts of grandeur which
are more harmful for us in spiritual warfare than all else, as St. Mark
the Ascetic explains. (October 19, 1870)
+
You ask about many things and forget that which I told you personally.
I remember that I did not advise you to engage in mental prayer but
advised you to perform this prayer orally in the measure of your
power.... You should call on God's help in your mind only when thoughts
of stinginess come to you. To perform the prayer orally is inconvenient
when you are in the close presence of others or when a church service
is going on.
You have become so carried away with your own reasoning and sense of
worth that, disdaining counsel and acting on your own, you arrived, as
it were, at self-moving prayer of the heart during your sleep. This
happens to a few rare holy men who have achieved extreme purification
from passions. But men who are still passionate should hearken to what
one man informed us. Listening in a half- sleep to a similar movement
to the one you described, he paid close attention and what did he hear?
He heard a cat's meow cunningly pronounced in a way similar to the
words of the prayer. Sister! We must humble ourselves. Our stature is
still very small... (November 10, 1864)
+
Try to resort to the Jesus Prayer more often, at any time, in church as
well, especially if the reading cannot be heard because of the milling
about or censing. (October 9, 1863)
+
You can even whisper the (Jesus) prayer, but many have harmed
themselves from mental prayer.
It is good to pray before the Crucifix, remembering the sufferings of
the Saviour: the spitting, slaps, curses, beatings -- in doing this the
spirit becomes humble.
Staretz Saint Amvrosy also knew the manuscript of the "pilgrim":
I will begin with your last letter in which you write that you managed
to get ahold of a manuscript in which it is demonstrated in a simple
manner how a certain peasant from Orel province who had been instructed
by an unknown staretz attained the oral, mental, and heart Jesus
Prayer. You write that the manuscript or memoir of this peasant was
finished in 1859. Shortly before that time we heard from our late
staretz, Father Makary, that there came to him a layman who had
attained such a level of spiritual prayer that Fr. Makary did not know
what to do when the layman told him the various conditions of prayer of
the heart; Fr. Makary could only say to him: "keep your humility, keep
your humility." And afterwards he spoke with amazement about this. At
the time I referred this to the Orel merchant Nemytov who was a great
man of prayer; but now I think that it was perhaps that layman about
whom you write. (November 7, 1879)
Shortly afterwards Amvrosy had the opportunity to read the manuscript.
Although approving the work, he obviously considered that the "pilgrim"
was the possessor of a very special "talent," of the kind given to only
a few:
I will say a few words about the pilgrim's manuscript. In it there is
nothing wrong. The pilgrim lived as a pilgrim and led the life of a
wanderer, not tied down by any cares or duties, freely exerting himself
in prayer as he desired. But you should lead your life as the treasurer
of your convent and as a sick woman who is under obligation to monastic
obedience... (February 8, 1880) "'
______________________________________________________________________________
5. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
(CSC) CANON TO THE LORD FOR A SICK CHILD composed by the Elder
Cleopa and translated from the Romanian. The introduction is translated
from the Russian book "Children are Ill: Counsels of an Orthodox
Pediatrician." 36pp. Paper e$4.00
(SY5) SYNAXARION, The Lives of the Saints of the
Orthodox Church,Vol. 5 May-June, 690 pp. e$50.00
(LWH) LIVING WITHOUT HYPOCRISY: Spiritual Counsels of the
Holy Elders of Optina, trans. by Archimandrite George Schafer. A
wonderful collection of short quotes arranged by subject on all facets
of spiritual and daily Christina life. A sturdy little volume sure to
be well-used. 205pp. Hard cover d$18.00
(CTH) CHRISTINA'S TRUE HEROES by Maria Khoury,
Ph.D. The latest in the "Christina" series features grandpa
telling Chistina the lives of seven women saints who were champions of
the Faith: Sts. Anna, Mary Magdalene, Photini, Brigid, Mary of Egypt,
Theodora and Elizabeth. Full page Byzantine icons accompany each
life. For preschool and up. Large format. 22pp. Paper
c$10.00
(ACC12)ANCIENT CHRISTIAN COMMENTARY ON SCRIPTURE: N.T. Vol.
12: Revelation. 454pp. .: Cloth $40.00 Our Price e$35.00 ea.
* Edited from the Israeli periodical Farbrengen ("Come Together"),
December, 1999.