Monk Moses the Holy Mountain offers us a Christmas meditation. Monk Moses is the most prominent theologian of Hellas. Like a star, he shone in the verbal firmament of Greece. And after his death on Athos, many were left with only hard memories about him as a difficult person. How can you not think about it? How not to remember the words of Simeon Athos: While you are silent, you have a prayer; you should speak - you have only words... Sorry for such a sad introduction.
Christ came into the world as Redeemer and Savior. Today, two thousand years after His coming, He remains practically unknown in the world, counterfeit, reformed, changed, counterfeit, thanks to some or many people who are close to us. God is not a tyrant, not a boss, not cruel, not terrible, not inaccessible, implacable and unknown Christian religion, various denominations and numerous sects. He is not blissfully resting in the seventh heaven, not distant, not difficult, not indifferent, not a stranger. Christ is not the god of humanism, rationalism, scholasticism, Western philosophy.
He is the God of love. He is the supreme and the first Founder of love for enemies, strangers, slaves, lonely, prisoners, poor, homeless, naked, hungry. He is the first Founder of love for the sick, the elderly, the unemployed, the worthless, the different, all people. He preached — not just in words — unity to all and the world, which surpassed the mind of every person. He embodies the great sacrificial self-offering. He accepts a person unconditionally, completely, freely, presents him as God-loved and wants him to become a saint. He gives it meaning and sacred purpose - divine life(i.e. deification). Calls everyone through self-knowledge and fraternal knowledge to the knowledge of God and acceptance of God. He does not like imaginary humility, hypocrisy, self-sufficiency, a pious mask and false holiness at all. He especially loves pure humility, innocence, naturalness, purity, authenticity and authenticity. He constantly exhorts to expose, to criticize, to reproach oneself. He calls for constant reflection, prayer, repentance, tenderness, reverence and constant remembrance of death. He wants our commitment and devotion, all our love, so that our heart is empty of love for foreign things, and that we have good, pure, direct and unsuspicious thoughts. He does not want to be an accidental and peripheral god of need, but the God of our being, the focus of our life, the One Who is everywhere and fulfills everything, the Treasurer of blessings and the Giver of life. He never liked the tendency to self-justification, love of power, love of glory, love of flesh, greed, inhumanity, non-brotherhood and non-love of children. He also never liked crafty, utilitarian, individualistic, or egoistic conventions, with a dull conscience that a person can do nothing with the existing evil. He uttered stern words about those who create and seek scandals, about easily irritated people, about hypocrites, moralists, who worship God only in barren external forms. He is the God who tenderly kisses and sincerely embraces enemies, who eats with sinful tax collectors and talks with harlots. Despite the fact that he is a Teacher, He bends down and washes the feet of His disciples, speaks not so much about yesterday as about tomorrow, does not allow the knife to be drawn from the scabbard for revenge and hopes for the repentance of the harlot. He never makes a difference between people. He speaks in the same way about the robbers, about the unjustly accused, about the rich, about the money-loving, about the stingy, about the greedy and about the unmerciful people. Also about the poor who grumble and have a great desire for wealth. He wants people to be completely free. Strongly condemns people who abuse power. Respects the uniqueness and sacredness of originality human personality and does not address the impersonal mass. He prefers living to abstract ideas, experience to theoretical knowledge, a living example of silence to all pompous and beautiful words.
The shepherds of Bethlehem were simple, poor and non-possessive people; at night they guarded their flock and were the first to learn about His Incarnation. Magi from the East, who were really experienced wise men and were amazed by the signs of heaven and the greatness of God, became the first true worshipers of Him. Innocent, humble and contemptible Jewish women became the first witnesses of His three-day Resurrection. Known for her turbulent life, the Samaritan woman becomes the first shocked and touched listener, not so much by the secrets of her personal life, but by the mysteries of God. This Samaritan woman was Equal-to-the-Apostles Martyr Photina.
Christ continues to denounce the scribes and Pharisees, He condemns them, exposes them. Refuses them of their desire for Jesus to be what they want Him to be: not to heal on the Sabbath, not to heal at all, to be a man who abuses power, to be a destroyer of enemies, to value the Pharisees, not to reproach, that He was responsible, and they are irresponsible people who seek only signs without diligent personal struggle, without searching and self-sacrifice, without believing that one needs to work hard to achieve holiness, and it is not a given ...
Christ is distorted - especially in the West, but not only there - in a smiling boss at the cash desk of the Fund for the Poor or in an evil society. The Lord speaks of Self-Sacrifice as a bloodless, mysterious, spiritual and living Sacrifice for the sake of the life of the world, but not such a world that is determined by financial, social and psychological well-being. The Almighty became weak, according to St. Ephrem the Syrian. The mystery of the God-man Jesus can be felt only in worship and in fervent prayer. He became like us in order to save us, heal us, make us friends with God. The rich man became poor in order to enrich us with his poverty, as the great Paul beautifully writes to the Corinthians. He became a man so that we could become gods, emphasizes St. Athanasius of Alexandria.
Despite the fact that a person’s religion is no longer recorded in an identity document, and now they want to exclude the dogma from school curriculum. All that remains is faith in Christ. One faith, but relative and often indefinite, abstract, chosen for selfish purposes if necessary.
"We don't need much! We are not theologians,” such words can be heard from people who participated in the collection of signatures on the preservation of the fixation of religion in Greek identity documents, and from people who tomorrow will collect signatures on the preservation of the doctrine in schools. Many specialists, such as teachers and doctors, consider Christianity useful, safe, helping to satisfy the material and spiritual needs of a person. Others, remembering their strict mother or grandmother, when they grow up, they will reject Christ as unnecessary, aggravating and boring, or they will keep the memory of Him for the sake of their “health”, or they will remember during the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and Easter. (Naturally, a strict mother or a believing good grandmother could, on the contrary, help some to return to Christ). Now they will begin to remove icons depicting Christ from the walls in schools, courts and hospitals as unnecessary in a free, religiously tolerant, non-religious, atheistic society, a society without Christ. (Of course, the worst thing is the removal of the image of Christ from the heart, this is the beginning of a new great iconoclasm).
A large number of good Christians choose certain passages from the Gospel that are convenient for themselves and interpret them exclusively in their own way, in accordance with their personal need, benefit, with their opinion and their era. Seekers of profit are false teachers, they are not only known heretics who have usurped God's truth, tarnished the image of His Divine Face and clouded Him dangerously. Christ has become an irritant in the consumer society. This becomes obvious when they start talking about asceticism, abstinence, grace and humility. Many people are responsible for distorting the image of Christ, but we are also responsible for this. Christ speaks of love, freedom and humility. The world is constantly acting arbitrarily, greedily, arrogantly, selfishly and without inner peace. Christ accepts as Christians His real disciples, His children are those who can really love. Love is main feature, an emblem, a sign of believers, the best evidence of their identity. Christ interferes with people, so they find excuses to limit Him, isolate Him, use Him in exceptional cases, do not want Him to be the Head of their lives. The tasteless life of Christians is the "best" sermon before indifferent people. When Christians are strenuously fighting for the best place under the sun, for honor, glory, wealth, power and recognition, they do not set an example of the spiritual growth, unity and maturity of Christ.
The substituted Christ, understood according to our ideas about Him, and not the One who is really the prototype of our own nature, also replaces life. We think that Christ is what we imagined Him to be, and in which case He can become angry, angry, turn away from us and punish us. Therefore, we try in different ways to bribe, to propitiate Him. Do you understand the scale of the error? What a terrible substitution that our relationship with God is reduced to a cheap bargain! And sometimes this understanding is aided by erroneous traditions and theologically incorrect sermons.
The gospel, voluntarily or involuntarily distorted, misinterpreted and explained by many - these people have created such an image of Christ, which does not reflect the real God-man. The real Christ is incomprehensible. The Jews were waiting for Him as a ruler, messiah and destroyer. He showed himself to be different, not corresponding to their ideas about Him, so He was sent to Golgotha.
“How to worship the powerless, the crucified, the defeated, the dead?” - some ask this question.
To this day, Christ is "a stumbling block and foolishness." He surprises us, terrifies us, shocks us. We can say that His silence, absence, inaction, impotence terrifies us, but we do not see that His silence is telling, that His apparent absence is a dynamic presence, His inaction is the greatest self-sacrifice, and His impotence is the power of the Conqueror. .
Even during His life on earth, Christ was misunderstood. He was called an eater and drinker, possessed by a demon, especially by the scribes and Pharisees, and in general ruling class, power. Simple people were captivated by the Master, who was the first to put into practice what he taught. His teaching was accompanied by miracles, and for the first time the Teacher did not speak in a bossy, authoritarian tone, but calmly talked to everyone. The above gentlemen did not allow themselves to communicate with people in this way. They considered it especially reprehensible to converse with publicans and harlots. The responsiveness, accessibility, patience of the new Teacher irritated them very much, and by a hasty judgment, which was organized with the involvement of false witnesses, the Lord was brought to the Cross. The haters of Christ, as they thought, got rid of their irritant, the One Who undermined their authority, questioned their power, condemned arrogance, arrogance, tricks, threatened their earthly prosperity. They could not bear to have someone condemn their hypocrisy and boldly denounce their lust for power. They condemned, accused and slew their Revealer and continued to quietly live their restless lives.
Christ categorically says that you cannot change people unless you first change yourself. “Cleanse yourself, and then cleanse,” says St. Gregory the Theologian. How beautifully St. Seraphim of Sarov: "Find peace in your heart and thousands of people will be saved!" St. Isaac the Syrian says: “Make peace with yourself, and heaven and earth will make peace!” It's not about psychological growth or philosophical ideas aimed at self-knowledge and self-purification, but about a God-pleasing image and life in an inseparable relationship with the living Christ, in His liberating Truth and His saving Love.
If it seems that Christ is unfamiliar, distant, hidden, then there is no need to be afraid of this. This does not mean that He does not exist, that He does not feel, does not know, does not see or hear. Living His absence is the starting point for experiencing His presence. Think of the absent Christ who is present everywhere and fills everything.
We are called, as restorers, to purify the darkened image of Christ and reveal for ourselves the Primordial beauty, charm and sweetness of His Divine Face. A divine-human, paternal, brotherly, friendly face that inspires to infinite respect, but also to impressive intimacy, to great reverence and at the same time to great trust in Him. From the episcopal throne, the iconostasis, the dome and the prosknitary, it is necessary to introduce Christ to the throne of our heart, as well as for a sincere conversation on any topic, about the recognition of our defeat. We all want to appropriate, justify, err, wallow in self-love, put off and not seek inspiration from Him for strong repentance and healing of our immortal soul. This is an unconditional, necessary matter, and cannot be spontaneous, it must come from the heart and soul. Nevertheless, Christ remains unclaimed, written on a wall or on an icon, darkened, and a man with a darkened image on his face. Only the personal pure and living Christ, who is born and revealed, resurrected after the crucifixion on the Cross in an authentic church experience, can resurrect, enlighten, inspire, guide and comfort modern man. Christ, hidden by a layer of kisses of the dominant ideology for many centuries, will not console and save, but will dangerously torment people, as happened with for the most part heartless West, who thought that He was dead (Nietzsche, Sartre).
The meeting and union of man with the true God represents his complete justification and the fulfillment of his existence. Otherwise, the “out of synchronization” of a person with Christ leads to His distortion, depreciation and prejudice. The impassive Christ suffered for the sake of salvation from the passions. He died for the living dead. The pain of Christ was born not by the fact that they ficklely followed Him and shouted: “Hurray!”, but by the fact that they did not inquire about His presence, did not want to know Him, listen to Him, talk to Him, even if they have the opposite opinion. Christ does not want to have dumb, unfree and ignorant disciples, but sincere friends-interlocutors. After two thousand years, perhaps to the point of fatigue, the true Christ remains distorted and unknown, and today man does not seek Him properly. The search for Christ is confused, distorted and confused by superstitions, magicism, wrong folk beliefs, dismissive attitude, fanatical fixed ideas and emotional frivolity. “We believe that the main obstacle to a person’s essential relationship with God,” says St. Gregory Palamas, is the passions inspired by the demons and the lack of complete trust, devotion, dedication, which naturally leads to a number of cold rumors. In the end, we sadly state that we live as if Christ did not come, if our life was not transformed, as if His preaching failed, as if the struggle, sacrifices, torments, the deeds of the apostles, martyrs, reverends were in vain. As if we live in a pre-Christian, not a post-Christian era.”
God-bearing fathers of our Holy Orthodox Church speak systematically, consistently, and accurately about who Christ is, and about the great significance and highest value His divine-human personality, the meaning of His teachings, live His words themselves, interpret His parables, delving into miracles, and analyze His path. Today, we are celebrating the cycle of the Lord's established feasts without much joy in our souls. Our interest is limited to shopping, decorating, cleaning the house, going to visit and exchanging gifts. And we, as Jews, expect a social revolutionary Christ and a renovator, a reformer ideologist who was born in a poor environment and died for his ideas. This modified image of Christ continues to dominate. (Not to mention belief in luck, talismans and other superstitious things). We celebrate the Nativity of Christ, but there is no one in whose honor we celebrate, Christ. The absolute character of the dogma of the Incarnation of the Son and the Word of God is incomprehensible and mysterious, in accordance with the sublime and sacred hymnology, which is covered with silence. But this truth of our faith is the basis for our salvation, that God became man, so that man might become god, according to the words of St. Gregory the Theologian; it's not some a good idea, simple historical memory or unprincipled sentimentalism (with a frozen Christ in a manger with animals), which lives in luxury and on gala dinners with dancing, sumptuous meals and nightclubs. Christ is used today as a means to justify a farce and as a useful ideology...
I will return to what I spoke about earlier - to the teaching about Christ's silence. When Christ asked His disciples, as if the Omniscient did not know: "What do they say about me, who do people think I am, do they believe that I am God, in what God do they believe?" The well-known heartfelt answer of the spontaneous Peter: "... that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God." “Then Christ,” says St. Matthew, admonished them not to speak to anyone in this moment that He is the Christ." He also said this on Tabor during His terrible Transfiguration: do not tell anyone about the vision, but tell about it after My Resurrection. Likewise before Pilate, the evangelists John and Matthew say that in this case Christ speaks in His sweet silence. “Silence is the secret of the word of the future age,” says St. Isaac Sirin. Silence instead of verbosity, silence instead of preaching, sacred silence instead of noisy activity. (There is also activity without active movement). Pathetic is the fruit that has ripened in the ascetic desert land, near the flow of tears and fervent prayer, in the climate and quiet atmosphere of constant and undisturbed silence. (How glad I am to the silent old men on Athos in the stasidia, in the cell, in the garden, on the mountain).
Should we be silent today? When provoked, will we be able to practice our faith? Will we be weak and cowardly deserters if we do not boldly declare our Orthodox faith? Discretion is needed both in silence and in speech. Silence should not be frightened, hypocritical, selfish, ironic, ridiculing, indifferent. The word should not be proud, talkative. It should not be stifling, impolite, inhumane, unskillful, unskillful, devoid of peace. No, we will become advocates and defenders of Christ. As before, when we said: “No, we will not save Christ, and we will not correct His Church. Only Christ will save us, and only His Church will heal us through sanctifying grace in Her Sacraments.” It is now 2002 after the birth of Christ. But are we with Christ? Are we Christians with the true Christ, or with the idealized Christ of our fantasy, self-pleasing and measure? This matter is urgent, very personal, significant and important. We are called to a sincere, clear, honest, correct and cordial response. Otherwise, time will pass pleasantly, monotonously, routinely, lonely, and we will be Christians without Christ, as if we are talking about a person without a heart, about a tree without roots, about a table without legs...
When we do not understand Christ's silence, we do not understand that we too must often be silent and listen, pray and read. And we seem to be deprived of wisdom, we think that we always have our own opinion on any scientific issues, and we want the Church to be talkative, and its representatives to be loud, threatening, and that everyone should be put in their place. However, in this way we create, most likely, burdened and “infected with rhetoric, beautiful and superfluous words Church,” as well said (Marios Begzos). In the silence of Christ, in the silence of the Church, in the silence of the desert, great deeds, deeds and significant words are born that console and pacify hearts tired of idle talk and verbosity. modern era of people.
Rev. Ephraim the Syrian, with his usual tenderness, says: “Let us have mercy on ourselves, enlighten ourselves and understand that our name is identified with Christ; He is Christ, and we are called Christians. It is worth suddenly finding this living, sincere, personal Christ, and not the historical, religious, ideological Christ, and shelter Him in our hearts. Do not continue to be lonely, having nowhere to lay Your head in an inhospitable land. He knocks on the door of the heart politely and repeatedly to find a place to rest. The God of glory is looking for a contrite and humble heart to come to man at the supper and completely regenerate him. Being empty and lonely from the outside from visiting the heavenly Bridegroom, the human heart feels Him as distant, inaccessible, alien and unfamiliar. He will never gladden the heart of a person if a person does not comprehend this amazing meeting. The heart was created for this unity, and it is necessary to seek it restlessly and urgently. It burns for the meeting, like a bride from the amazing Song of Songs. It dreams of an unchanged, non-modern, non-modernized, non-secularized Christ, who is “the same yesterday and today and forever.” Christ in the Holy Orthodox Church, Holy Mysteries, Holy Eucharist, St. Apostles, martyrs, saints, righteous, those who live in abstinence.
Mahatma Gandhi says, "I love Christ, but I don't like Christians because they don't look like Christ." This great truth should give us serious thought. I believe that the problem is most concretized by modern Christians who need re-evangelization and who, as we said at the beginning, have distorted His Most Pure Person by their intervention, be it conservative, or rather, outwardly traditionalist, or modernist. We believe that the biggest problem are false Christians, and even worse than that- false clerics, false sermons, devoid of meaning, sick acts of charity, devoid of love and performed only for show, such are the many achievements of the West, allegedly performed in the name of Christ.
The great truth uttered by F.M. Dostoevsky: “If someone would prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and the truth really turns out to be outside of Christ, I would still prefer to stay with Christ than with the truth.” It is good for him who leaves the truth for the sake of Christ, because He is the Truth, the Source of Truth, which must shake us so that we can realize our reality, build a relationship with Christ, know the Truth of Christ, Christ without the mask that we wanderers have imposed on Him. erring and wearing the mask of Christians, on the Cross of the Risen Christ, the only Powerful One, to redeem us and save us through repentance.
The document of a Greek citizen is a certificate of a Russian translator.
Ταυτότητα - from Greek. identity, as well as a document proving the identity of a person - a certificate from a Bulgarian translator.
On Sunday, June 1, after a long illness, one of the most famous modern Athos monks and writers, Elder Moses the Holy Mountaineer, passed away to the Lord.
Monk Moses Svyatogorets was born in Athens in 1952. He was an icon painter, poet, critic and writer. He has published 52 books and written more than 1000 articles. His works have been translated and published in many countries around the world. Father Moses took part in more than 80 scientific conferences. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Svyatogorsk magazine "Protat".
He served as senior secretary in the Holy Cinema of the Holy Mountain. For about twenty-five years he was the elder of the kaliva of St. John Chrysostom of the skete of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon from the monastery of Kutlumush.
Why is post needed?
Fasting is an ancient virtue. Together with prayer, he prepares the Christian for crucifixion and resurrection. Fasting is food for the soul.
Fasting teaches us abstinence, which is necessary for any person. Teaches the rejection of excesses, luxury and abundance. Perhaps fasting is perhaps the only thing that a person is able to present "as a gift" to God.
Of course, the Lord does not need anything, and fasting, first of all, is necessary for us ourselves. The benefits of abstinence are manifold: when we fast, we are sober and concentrated, and our prayer becomes more attentive, heartfelt and deep. Fasting is our call to God, evidence that we want Him to come into our lives.
Fasting is inextricably linked with repentance. This is a God-given opportunity that should not be missed.
One should fast willingly, lovingly and joyfully, and not formally, reluctantly, perceiving abstinence as a duty. We must offer fasting to God with all our hearts.
Adam and Eve lost Paradise because of their intemperance. Fasting opens the gates of Paradise for us again.
Fasting should not remain only at the level of refusing certain types of food, we must take the next step - to refrain from our sinful passions and evil. Then the period of fasting will become for us a significant and turning point on our path to God.
Fasting gives us moral purity, gives rise to repentance and contempt for sin. Fasting is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve the goal - meeting with God. According to St. Basil the Great, fasting is alienation from evil, curbing the tongue, avoiding anger and abandoning evil habits.
One who is seriously ill does not need to fast. For abstention from food is necessary in order to subdue the body. When the body is sick, it already humbles itself and there is no need to torture it. In any case, this is an issue that must be resolved by consulting with your confessor.
Some people live to eat. They "travel" from table to table, go to banquets and restaurants. In the end, they get sick from polyphagy. Excessive eating causes excess weight and many diseases.
But we fast not for the sake of bodily health (although fasting helps us in this), but for the sake of spiritual health. Fasting has nothing to do with a diet that people "sit down" for the sake of beauty and slim figure. Fasting is the brother of the virtue of temperance. Let's not forget the words of John Chrysostom, who called for the money saved on food during the fasting period to be used in order to feed the hungry and the needy.
May fasting be accompanied by prayer and love. Then it will acquire value, meaning and meaning.
"A Christian cannot be gloomy and unhappy"
The urgent question of our days is a serious economic crisis that our country is experiencing. It causes great uncertainty, anxiety, anger, confusion, fear and anxiety. Times are truly difficult. And under these conditions, Christians are called to bear witness to their confession. Fortresses crumble like castles in the sand.
The rich are trapped, many problems arise, the balance is disturbed, evil desires and oppression are born. Unemployment, insecurity, crime, lawlessness and poverty are on the rise. All this clearly shows the spiritual laziness and poverty of many. Oh, that this mighty tsunami would cause an awakening from a lethargic sleep, and the cracks from the earthquake would lead to wakefulness, awareness and responsibility for decisions! It is necessary that the forgotten optimism, the secret hope, the lost joy and the desired peace return again.
Behind human pain, bitter trial, debilitating longing, the loving eye of God is hidden. Awakening from life for wealth full of pleasure, well-being and selfishness, will lead a person to spiritual observation, correct vision, thorough research, and deliverance from muddy anxiety. Man has a hidden reserve internal forces, allowing him not to bend, not to stumble, not to sink, not to succumb to despair. Especially a Christian is not thought of as disappointed, restless, despairing, unhappy, gloomy and ungrateful. People create a society of consumption, abundance and satiety. This society descends to excessive worship of the flesh. Unfortunately, we see an incredible blockade, a trap, a lulling of earthly blessings in a swamp. There is nothing here of resistance, confrontation, change and repentance. That is why the economic crisis causes such concern. It is not seen as an opportunity for fundamental change.
Now it's time to show faith, to go through tests that show the truth of everyone's faith. Let there be no faith only in words! Temptations, trials, storms reveal the authenticity of our "I believe." Pain betrays disease. Pain can become a doctor. We need to feel pain in order to learn to empathize. Pain, indeed, can soften a person and become a blessing, or it can harden him and become torment, torture or a curse. As they say, the heat of the sun melts the wax and hardens the mud. Of exceptional importance free will each person.
There are many reasons why a person must fight relentlessly and unceasingly. Despair is unacceptable. Patience is always needed. We are not alone in our struggles in life. A good ship captain is seen in a storm, as our people rightly say. Storm, clouds and thunder will pass. We have thoughtlessly gone aside - and now is the time to more prudently turn to the direct path, to moderation, to a modest life. A crisis is an opportunity. An important opportunity.
"Europe commits suicide"
Greece has long been in intensive care. Killed daily Greek language. A disintegrating darkness and violent and gloomy national nihilism reigns around.
The hasty desire to get rich easily has led many to tragic mistakes. For impatience and frivolity one has to pay dearly. The thirst for wealth brought Europeans to extremes. Modern Europe is completely de-Christianized.
The Vatican is reaping the fruits of the distortion of church teaching. There are egregious cases of child rape. From the "dead god" Western people run to Eastern gurus in an effort to find at least some kind of spiritual life. About two thousand branches of Protestantism are fighting for the flock. The de-Christianization of Europe has taken on a large scale and will lead to even more catastrophic consequences.
Europe has forgotten Christ and opens its arms to Islamism. Looks like she wants to commit suicide. Mosques are growing on the site of temples.
We are not against other religions, but we want to protect Orthodoxy. Or do they want to take away this last right from us? (…)
We rely on the resistance of incorruptible people. There are many. It's time to stop being silent. Our country needs a spiritual revival.”
Monk Moses the Holy Mountaineer has been ascetic on Mount Athos for about thirty-five years. He is an icon painter, poet, critic and writer. He has published 52 books and written more than 1000 articles. His works have been translated and published in many countries around the world. He served as senior secretary in the Holy Cinema of the Holy Mountain. For about twenty-five years he has been the elder of the kaliva of St. John Chrysostom of the skete of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon from the Kutlumush Monastery. the site publishes an article by an elder in the newspaper "Macedonia", dedicated to the myrrh-bearing women.
Any ideologue of the struggle against the Church can quite naturally express his opinion. Is it allowed for a believer? They say that atheism is in vogue, and faith is called a painful attachment to the past.
We believe that those who ruthlessly attack the Church have no right to shed crocodile tears over the rise of corruption. The Church has always spoken of morality, sincerity, honesty and truth. The tsunami that is now triumphant is dragging and leveling absolutely everything. The prophetic voices have long been silent, and there are no trumpets calling for rebellion. The desert is silent. No preaching of repentance is heard, as if such a thing is something shameful.
We have repeatedly emphasized the fact that after deep reflection and self-knowledge, some kind of spiritual wakefulness is necessary. Some kind of conscious renewal, transformation and uplift is required. The asceticism of the "Philokalia" constantly tells us about the rejection of everything superfluous and the acquisition of the necessary, vital and essential. There is a kind of secular life that opposes itself to God, some kind of manic secularism, some kind of purely anti-spiritual and anti-ascetic attitude. This is a way of thinking that does not involve humility, repentance and forgiveness.
Those who succumb to antipathy, laziness, fatalism and pessimism are completely wrong. It's time to rise from the sleep of serenity. You can't just do what you think forever. Someday you need to make serious and important decisions personally. We do not have enough courage, prowess, courage and strength to fearlessly confess the faith. Today, the spirit of disturbing cowardice, guilty silence, blatant absence, undignified refusal to participate in anything, as well as intrigue-based alliances and diplomatic agreements are very common.
Against this foggy background, we are awakened from sleep by the news of the holy myrrh-bearing women from today's Gospel reading. At that hour, when the frightened disciples were hiding, the women suddenly became bold and fearless. Them great love made them men at heart, giving courage, heroism and fearlessness. And love and courage filled their hearts with joy. They did not find the dead man whom they were going to anoint with myrrh. Their teacher was resurrected, just as he had predicted for them earlier. The myrrh-bearing women denounce the inaction of today's Christians, who were also influenced by the spirit of materialism of their time. The resurrected Christ is not central to their hearts.
The strong love of these simple and weak women makes them flee to the coffin of the Giver of Life. To their amazement, they find it empty, and therefore they are perplexed, surprised, rejoice and inspired. They bought expensive incense, got up early in the morning, banished restless fear from their hearts, and came to the tomb before the rising of some marvelous sun. Everything for them is light, pure, immaculate, sacred, honest, transparent, enchanting, luminous, gracious and joyful. They came to anoint with incense, but instead they anointed themselves with incense. Their lives were filled with infinite light, meaning, life, fearlessness and sweetness.
In difficult circumstances of life in a fetid, gloomy, insensitive and hostile world, women can become myrrh-bearing wives. Let their kind sensitivity, great tenderness, extraordinary patience become a balm of consolation, a tenderness of optimism and a salutation of life. Let family tension ease, let relations among friends not aggravate, the number of labor disputes decrease, and let life become more humane. Myrrh-bearing women have not died out in our current unstable world. These are mothers who are constantly awake, these are noble spouses, these are patient teachers and tireless nurses, these are young and old with their wonderful shyness, charming hope and working miracles of love, who again anoint the world with fragrances, sweeten the bitterness of life, bring peace, soothe, comfort and care for hardened people.
The tsunami can be overcome by bold love, by actions similar to the deed of the myrrh-bearing women, by the tears of repentance of believers. It's time to delve into ourselves and find the unknown hidden forces in order to cope with the disgusting conditions that poison our lives and turn our hearts to ice. This is what we are taught and inspired by the myrrh-bearing women, for they are more patient, humble and enduring.
Monk Moses the Holy Mountaineer has been ascetic on Mount Athos for about thirty-five years. He is an icon painter, poet, critic and writer. He has published 52 books and written more than 1000 articles. His works have been translated and published in many countries around the world. He served as senior secretary in the Holy Cinema of the Holy Mountain. For about twenty-five years he has been the elder of the kaliva of St. John Chrysostom of the skete of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon from the Kutlumush Monastery.
The urgent issue of our days is the serious economic crisis that our country is going through. It causes great uncertainty, anxiety, anger, confusion, fear and anxiety. Times are truly difficult. And under these conditions, Christians are called to bear witness to their confession. Fortresses crumble like castles in the sand.
The rich are trapped, many problems arise, the balance is disturbed, evil desires and oppression are born. Unemployment, insecurity, crime, lawlessness and poverty are on the rise. All this clearly shows the spiritual laziness and poverty of many. Oh, that this mighty tsunami would cause an awakening from a lethargic sleep, and the cracks from the earthquake would lead to wakefulness, awareness and responsibility for decisions! It is necessary that the forgotten optimism, the secret hope, the lost joy and the desired peace return again.
Behind human pain, bitter trial, debilitating longing, the loving eye of God is hidden. Awakening from a life for the sake of material goods, full of pleasure, prosperity and selfishness, will lead a person to spiritual observation, correct vision, careful research, and deliverance from muddy anxiety. A person has a hidden reserve of internal forces that allows him not to bend, not to stumble, not to sink, not to succumb to despair. Especially a Christian is not thought of as disappointed, restless, despairing, unhappy, gloomy and ungrateful. People create a society of consumption, abundance and satiety. This society descends to excessive worship of the flesh. Unfortunately, we see an incredible blockade, a trap, a lulling of earthly blessings in a swamp. There is nothing here of resistance, confrontation, change and repentance. That is why the economic crisis causes such concern. It is not seen as an opportunity for fundamental change.
Now it's time to show faith, to go through tests that show the truth of everyone's faith. Let there be no faith only in words! Temptations, trials, storms reveal the authenticity of our "I believe." Pain betrays disease. Pain can become a doctor. Feel pain to learn to empathize. Pain, indeed, can soften a person and become a blessing, or it can harden him and become torment, torture or a curse. As they say, the heat of the sun melts the wax and hardens the mud. The free will of each person is of exceptional importance.
There are many reasons why a person must fight relentlessly and unceasingly. Despair is unacceptable. Patience is always needed. We are not alone in our struggles in life. A good ship captain is seen in a storm, as our people rightly say. Storm, clouds and thunder will pass. We have thoughtlessly gone aside - and now is the time to more prudently turn to the direct path, to moderation, to a modest life. A crisis is an opportunity. An important opportunity.
Monk Moses the Holy Mountaineer, Elder of the Kalyva of St. John Chrysostom of the Skete of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon from the Kutlumush Monastery
When a modern Christian speaks of God, he often means something that is somewhere far in the sky, unknown, incomprehensible, incomprehensible, unattainable, something that he approves of, useful in a moment of need; sometimes he ascribes to him magical properties and often repeats the non-Orthodox "Believe and do not reason."
But this faith in God does not lead to significant changes in the life of a Christian. He can sometimes go to church on Sundays, keep modern spiritual books in his library, old icons in the living room, a rosary in his hands, he can give a small alms. However, he is angry because other people do not meet his expectations, greedy for money, immersed in selfishness, thirst for comfort, anxiety, competition. And that is not life in Christ. It smells like death in here. How is a Christian different from other people today? If he does not have patience, meekness, joy, simplicity, and especially humility, this means that he has not understood anything about life in Christ. About a life that renews, transforms and ennobles a person even under the yoke of daily difficulties.
The life of such Christians is reduced to a meaningless and stupid survival, because a person cannot live only for the sake of a pension, for the sake of a second apartment or for the sake of a new car. We do not expect cardinal changes, we act without hope. And we are constantly in a hurry, thereby embroidering a shroud for ourselves. Life, we say, is black and joyless, it is a dull and muddy routine.
The Christian is called, first of all, to listen to the voice of the Gospel, calling him to the constant risk of the comfort that possesses him and slyly encourages him to say: thank God, we do not do anything terrible and shameful from what we see every day on TV. This thought is most likely from demons, and the comfort it gives is not good at all. We will answer before God not only for the fact that we did not do bad things, but also for the fact that we did not do good things, did not love virtue.
Christians today double life, they do not always have the purity and integrity of the individual. This division is a great suffering. A Christian should not appear to be one but to be another, to say one thing and do another. This pretense, good or bad, cannot be a characteristic of a Christian. true relationship a person with God is also characterized by his relationship with people. Christian in Everyday life and a Christian on Sundays - not different people. As I said, there is such pious hypocrisy. Allegory of man's obsessive striving for perfection appearance- the leaves of a fig tree, hiding his inner emptiness and nakedness. Expensive and beautiful clothes do not match the beauty and perfection of the inner world.
A Christian plunges headlong into daily cares, worries about many things, is distracted by trifles, makes an elephant out of a fly, strives for pleasure and forbidden fruits, which seem to him beautiful, sweet and pleasant, does not want to be different from others, does not want to fight, does not want to reduce and limit your freedom. The demon of Eden returns and offers the shiny, not the precious, the easy to get, the cheap, the advertised, the salable, the mass, the fake. Acquiring this is not a success, there is no authenticity, struggle, labor of patience and love in it. And this is the lie, disorientation, delusion in the acceptance of demonic morality, dubious, insidious, aimed at rapprochement with the world. In this way, a person is given false priorities, deceptive, fictional, fragmentary truths, glorification of vice, dangerous isolationism, unhealthy narcissism, pushing problems aside, bright colors empty shell. Am I exaggerating?
Today we Christians have a magical idea of the Church. We say: "If you come to the Church, then your affairs will go well." But among believing Christians there are unemployed, and young scientists who have not received a job, and ruined businessmen. We say, "If you don't come to Church, everything will go to waste for you." But the coming Christ did not put pressure on anyone's consciousness. We have no right to threaten, frighten the world, and even more so to sing songs about a non-existent God, that is, about a punishing, vindictive, cruel, envious, hostile God. About God, who distributes good jobs, solid earnings, high pensions and benefits, prosperity, longevity and so on. We are like promoters of new beauty products or advocates for an unjustly injured God. We Christians of the obstinate twentieth century have not yet understood that the Church is Christ who saves, but is not saved by any of us. Christ said: if we want perfection with all our heart, let us follow Him. Today's Christians become prosecutors, more royal than a king, with unaccountable zeal, with zeal beyond reason, with false missionary work.
But, my dears, all the saints of our Church were mostly sick and poor people, often persecuted, weak, despised, they would not attract your views. Christ was glorified at Calvary. Suffering is the companion of our life. The symbol of Christianity is the cross. It is not permissible to distort the truth. Suffering continues to exist in the Church, but it has a meaning, there is a way out, it leads to resurrection. We do not have the right, as some politicians do before elections, to deceive the people by promising an earthly paradise. Christ said that in the world we will have tribulation. He does not call blessed those who waste their time in amusements. And we create neo-Christianity according to our standards, for our own needs, untiring, serene, comfortable, easy, without any value, anti-ascetic, in the end, anti-evangelical. From this point of view, the Divine Liturgy in the church is simply listening to the words and contemplating the rites, you can safely watch it on TV, sitting in an armchair, or listen to it on the radio in the car. Here there is no sacrifice, complicity, vigilance, gathering of believers in the Sacrament.
In Christian communities, a homeless, unkind, unfriendly, lonely and unhappy person should be warmed by love and truth. If someone who comes to us is faced with our negligence, inhospitability, indifference, fatigue and indecision, this is tragic for us and for him. If we don't have light and joy, spiritual experience and life, what can we offer? He will find it all elsewhere, and perhaps in at its best. If we Christians have no joy personal meeting with Christ, then what is the point of our Christian identity and formal church attendance? St. Gregory of Sinai says: if we do not know what God created us, then we will not know what sin has made us. If we do not recognize the light of grace, then we will say that we feel good even in the twilight. Our reality is revealed in the light. In the light the truth of the Church will be revealed. The Church is not what we imagine, what we imagine, what suits our desires. The Church is a motherly embrace that wants to save everyone who wants to be saved. It is not an institution, not an ideology, not a group, not a system, not a party. The Church does not judge, does not punish, does not look for supporters, does not change, does not divide, does not get tired, does not rest, does not worry about convincing arguments, never seeks to enslave and defeat anyone. Pay attention to this, please.
We Christians today must become people of pure spiritual experience, so that our life itself speaks louder than all our words, do not demand a miracle with insolence, do not rush into prayer, listen to another person, whoever he may be, endure opposition, cooperate with God . We will give him our voluntary work, He will give His grace and mercy, since the salvation of a person is always a fusion of divine grace and human effort. Man was created in the image of God, and the purpose of his creation is deification. The mission of the Church is the salvation of the world; The sacraments of the Church sanctify a person who, having been cleansed, is illumined and reaches deification. Such is the Orthodox theology, anthropology, ecclesiology and asceticism of our Church. Let us not look for other ways, when there is only one way of salvation, deification and perfection.
