John Damascene: We Celebrate the Death of Death, the Destruction of Hell, the Beginning of Eternal Life Sunday, Apr 21 2013

He Who delivered the children from the furnace, and became man and suffered as a mortal, through His suffering, He clothes mortality with the grace of incorruption, He is the only blessed and most glorious God of our fathers.

The godly wise women came to Thee with myrrh. But Him Whom they sought with tears as dead, they joyfully adored as the living God. And they told to Thy disciples, O Christ, the glad tidings of the mystical Pascha.

We celebrate the death of death, the destruction of hell, the beginning of eternal life. And leaping for joy, we celebrate the Cause, the only blessed and most glorious God of our fathers.

For a truly holy and a supreme feast is this saving night radiant with Light, the harbinger of the bright day of Resurrection, on which the Eternal Light shone bodily from the grave upon all.

This is the chosen and Holy Day, the first of Sabbaths, the Sovereign and Queen, the Feast of Feasts, and Triumph of Triumphs, on which let us bless Christ forever.

O come, let us partake of the fruit of the new vine of divine joy on the auspicious Day of the Resurrection and Kingdom of Christ, praising Him as God forever.

Cast thine eyes about thee, O Zion, and behold! For lo! Thy children have assembled unto thee from the West and from the North and from the South and from the East, as divinely radiant luminaries, Blessing Christ unto the ages.

Father, Almighty, the Word, and the Spirit, one Nature in three Persons united, transcending essence supremely Divine! In Thee we have been baptized, and Thee will bless us throughout all ages.

Magnify, O my soul, Him Whom suffered willingly and was buried and rose from the grave on the third day.

Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. Now dance for joy and be glad, O Zion! And thou, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the rising of Him Whom thou didst bear.

Magnify, O my soul, Christ the life-giver, Who rose from the grave on the third day.

Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. Now dance for joy and be glad, O Zion! And thou, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the rising of Him Whom thou didst bear.

Christ is the New Pascha, the living sacrificial Victim, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.

John Damascene (c.675-749): The Paschal Canon, Odes 7,8,9; trans. Archimandrite Ephrem  @ Pravoslavie.

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Leo the Great: “They that Live Should Henceforth not Live to Themselves but to Him Who Died for All and Rose Again” Friday, Mar 29 2013

(Following on from here…)

Let us, then, dearly-beloved, confess what the blessed teacher of the nations, the Apostle Paul, confessed, saying:

“Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

For God’s mercy towards us is the more wonderful that Christ died not for the righteous nor for the holy, but for the unrighteous and wicked.

And though the nature of the Godhead could not sustain the sting of death, yet at His birth He took from us that which He might offer for us.

For of old He threatened our death with the power of His death, saying by the mouth of Hosea the prophet, “O death, I will be thy death, and I will be thy destruction, O hell.”

For by dying He underwent the laws of hell, but by rising again He broke them, and so destroyed the continuity of death as to make it temporal instead of eternal.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

And so, dearly-beloved, let that come to pass of which S. Paul speaks, “that they that live, should henceforth not live to themselves but to Him who died for all and rose again.”

And because the old things have passed away and all things are become new, let none remain in his old carnal life, but let us all be renewed by daily progress and growth in piety.

For however much a man be justified, yet so long as he remains in this life, he can always be more approved and better.

And he that is not advancing is going back, and he that is gaining nothing is losing something.

Let us run, then, with the steps of faith, by the works of mercy, in the love of righteousness, that keeping the day of our redemption spiritually, “not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” we may deserve to be partakers of Christ’s resurrection.

Leo the Great (c.400-461): Sermon 59, 8.

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Ignatius Brianchaninov: The Words of the Gospels are Spirit and Life Wednesday, Jan 9 2013

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him (Matthew 3:17; 17:5).

Thus did the voice of the pre-eternal God the Father speak to people about the pre-eternal God the Son, when the Son, at the behest of the Father, through the action of the Spirit, became incarnate of the Virgin and wrought the salvation of perishing mankind.

Brothers! Let us show obedience to the Son of God, as God desires of us, that Divine good will might abide with us.

Perhaps someone might say, “I would like to obey the Son of God; but how can this be done, when two thousand years have passed since our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt on earth in the flesh and preached His all-holy teaching?”

It is very easy for us to be continually with Christ, to ceaselessly hear His sweet voice, and to nourish ourselves with His life-giving teaching; for the Lord Jesus Christ still abides with us.

He abides with us in His Holy Gospels, through the Holy Mysteries of the Church; He abides through His omnipresence and omnipotence—bountifully, as befits the boundless, all-perfect God.

That the Lord abides with us is plainly proved by souls freed from the captivity of sin, the bestowal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and by many signs and wonders.

Those who wish to approach the Lord and unite with Him in blessed union forever should begin this sacred work with scrupulous study of God’s words; they should begin by studying the Gospels, where Christ can be found, and from which Christ speaks and acts.

The words of the Gospels are spirit, and they are life (Jn. 6:63). They turn a fleshly man into a spiritual man, and revitalize a soul deadened by sin and the cares of life.

They are spirit, and they are life—beware of trying to explain the great word of the Spirit with your reason, which crawls upon the earth.

Beware of attempts to explain words filled with awesome Divine power in ways that might seem simpler to your deadened soul, deadened heart, and deadened mind.

A word spoken by the Holy Spirit can only be explained through the Holy Spirit.

Those who wish to approach the Lord in order to hear His Divine teaching, to be enlivened and saved by Him—come and stand before the Lord with utmost reverence and holy fear, as do the bright Angels, His Cherubim and Seraphim.

Your humility will turn the earth upon which you stand into heaven. The Lord will speak to you from His Holy Gospels as to His beloved disciples!

May the holy fathers who expound the Holy Gospels through the gift of the Holy Spirit be your guides to an exact and unmistaken understanding of the Holy Gospels.

Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807–1867; Russian Orthodox): Spiritual Instruction on the Feast of the Theophany translated by Nun Cornelia Rees @ Pravoslavie.

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Nikolai Velimirovich: Walking in the Vanity of the Mind Saturday, Dec 1 2012

The gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart (Ephesians 4:17-18).

What is vanity, my brethren? All that is seen outside God, cut off from God and done without the fear of God. What is vanity of the mind, my brethren?

To live and interpret life, not by God’s law but rather by one’s own passing thoughts and desires. Whence, my brethren, does this evil come to men?

From hardness of heart and from inner ignorance. What does hardness of heart mean, brethren?

It means a heart empty of love for God and fear of God, and filled with lustfulness and fear of everything for the body’s sake.

Brethren, what is born of hardness of heart? Ignorance-complete ignorance of divine things, divine ways and divine laws; a heart completely dulled to spiritual life and spiritual thought.

What is the final consequence, brethren, of hardness of heart and ignorance of divine truth? A darkened understanding and alienation from the Living God.

Darkened understanding occurs when the mind of man becomes as darkened as the body, and the light that is in man becomes darkness.

Oh, such a darkness! A darkened understanding is a darkened mind. A darkened mind knows the meaning of nothing, or denies the meaning of everything.

In such a condition, a man is alienated from the life of God, and he withers and dies like a body part cut off from the body.

Such are the pagans, such are the godless, and such are those of little faith or false Christians. But even dry wood, when it is watered with the life-creating water of Christ, comes to life and bursts forth in greenery.

Even the dried-up pagan world was raised up and brought to life by Christ the Lord. How much more so would it be for repentant Christian sinners!

Let us look at ourselves, my brethren. Let us do so every day. Let us ask ourselves every day whether we have become darkened and alienated from the life of God because of our vanity.

Soon there will be death, the end and judgment. The dry wood will be cast into the unquenchable fire.

O Lord Jesus, our Mind and our Life, help us to think with Thee, and to live with Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

Nikolai Velimirovich (1880-1956; Orthodox Church): Prologue from Ohrid, November 30^th.

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Elizabeth of the Trinity: “I Die Daily” Thursday, Nov 8 2012

Quotide morior exclaimed St. Paul, “I die daily!”

This doctrine of dying to self is the law for every Christian, for Christ said: “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him take up his cross and deny himself.”

But this doctrine which seems so austere, takes on a delightful sweetness when we consider the outcome of this death – life in God in place of our life of sin and misery.

That is what St. Paul meant when he wrote: “Strip off the old man and clothe yourselves anew in the image of Him who created you.”

This image is God Himself.  Do you recall His wish which He so clearly expressed on the day of creation: “Let us make man in our image and likeness”?

[...] St Peter writes… “we have been made sharers in His divine nature.”

And St. Paul recommends that “we hold firm to the end this beginning of His existence which He has given us.”

[...]  If anyone were to ask me the secret of happiness, I would say it is to no longer think of self, to deny oneself always.

That is a good way to kill pride: let it starve to death!

You see, pride is love of ourselves; well, love of God must be so strong that it extinguishes all our self-love.

St. Augustine says we have two cities within us, the city of God and the city of self.

To the extent that the first increases, the second will be destroyed.

A soul that lives by faith in God’s presence, that has this “single eye” that Christ speaks of in the Gospel, that is, a purity of “intention” that seeks only God; this soul, it seems to me, would also live in humility.

It would recognize His gifts to it – for humility is truth – but it would attribute nothing to itself, referring all to God as the Blessed Virgin did.

All the movements of pride that you feel within yourself only become faults when the will takes part in them!

[...] What God asks of you is never to entertain deliberately any thought of pride, and never to act on the inspiration of pride, for this is wrong.

And yet, if you find yourself doing either of these, you must not become discouraged, for again, it is pride which is irritated.

You must “display your misery” like Magdalene at the Master’s feet, and ask Him to set you free.

He so loves to see a soul recognize its weakness.

Then, as a great saint said, “The abyss of God’s immensity encounters the abyss of the creature’s nothingness,” and “God embraces this nothingness”

Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906); from Complete Works,  Volume I, ICS Publications, pp.124-126 quoted on Praise of Glory.

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Fulgentius of Ruspe: Mortify your Base Desires, Mend your Ways, and you shall Set Free your Mind and Heart Saturday, Oct 27 2012

Turn your thoughts to yourself, to your own state, mortal man.

Look for the accusation against you yourself: then for the defence; and then, what about the judgement itself?

For now, you alone are accuser, defender, and judge.

Enter the secret recesses of your mind and heart, where the eyes of the Lord alone can see you.

Accuse yourself there, that you may be defended of the charge.

Try your­self there, that you may carry off the victory.

Condemn yourself there, in your own mind, that you may merit absolution.

Do not treat yourself as a special case when criticising your own conduct.

Instead, take apart and analyse your misdeeds with rigour; be strict in condemning the sins you acknowledge as yours; and in con­demning them as your own, do them to death as well.

Do them to death: that means, not to yield in the slightest, ever after, to sinful urges.

Not being one who commits sin, you will then be one who has killed it off.

And if you are a sound judge of your own sin you will go free of God’s just judgement.

But that you may rejoice in a just judgement delivered on yourself, take note of St Paul’s counsel, teaching what actions of ours we need to mortify so as to arrive at the true life.

For he says this: Mortify your own bodies as they walk the earth; as for fornication and all impurity, evil desires and prurience, avarice and slavery to the idols of materialism, all these call down the wrath of God on the children of disbelief.

That tells us, then, what is objectionable in ourselves, what we should condemn there, what needs mortifying.

Make the judgement on yourself – and you will not be judged.

So condemn – and you will not be condemned.

Mortify yourself – and you will not be finally mortified, with the death of the soul.

Here and now be the strictest judge, a veritable butcher in cutting out defects in the flesh.

Take careful thought and be abject in mortification.

For if you have properly weighed your sins you have made the judgement; then by casting them off, you have killed them.

To defend yourself, then, self-accusation has to come first; to secure your pardon, judgement and self-criticism; so as to conduct your cause victoriously, exami­nation of conscience.

Acknowledge your iniquity, mortify your base desires, mend your ways – and so by judging aright you shall set free your mind and heart, your very soul.

Fulgentius of Ruspe (462/467—527/533): Sermon 10.2-3 (CCL 91A:938-939); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Friday of the 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 2.

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Columba Marmion: Christ Must Reign in Our Hearts, and All Within Us Must Be Subject to Him Monday, May 21 2012

You will notice that during Paschal time, the Church frequently speaks to us of life, not only because Christ, by His Resurrection, has vanquished death, but above all because He has reopened to souls the fountains of eternal life.

It is in Christ that we find this life: Ego sum vita [I am the life] (Jn. XIV, 6).

This is why, likewise frequently, the Church makes us read over again on these blessed days, the parable of the Vine: “I the vine,” says Jesus, “you are the branches; abide in Me and I in you, for without Me you can do nothing” (Jn. XV, 4-5).

We must abide in Christ and He in us, in order that we may bear much fruit (Cf. Jn. 5).

How is this accomplished?

By His grace, by the faith that we have in Him, and by the virtues whereof He is the Exemplar and which we imitate.

When, having renounced sin, we die to ourselves, as the grain of wheat dies in the earth before producing fruitful ears (Jn. XII, 25),

when we no longer act save under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and in conformity with the precepts and maxims of the Gospel of Jesus,

then it is Christ’s divine life that blossoms forth in our souls, it is Christ Who lives in us: Vivo ego, jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus [I live, yet it is not I who live, but Christ Who lives in me] (Gal. II, 20).

Such is the ideal of perfection: Viventes Deo in Christo Jesu [living unto to God in Christ Jesus].

We cannot attain it in a day; holiness, ingrafted in us at baptism, is only developed little by little, by successive stages.

Let us try to act in such a way that each Easter, each day of this blessed season which extends from the Resurrection to Pentecost, may produce within us a more complete death to sin, to the creature, and a more vigorous and more abundant increase of the life of Christ.

Christ must reign in our hearts, and all within us must be subject to Him.

Since the day of Christ’s triumph, He gloriously lives and reigns in God, in the bosom of the Father: Vivit et regnat Deus [He lives and reigns as God].

Christ only lives where He reigns, and He lives in us in the same degree as He reigns in our soul.

He is King as He is High Priest. When Pilate asked Him if He was a King, Our Lord answered Him: Tu dicis quia rex sum ego [you say that I am a King] (Jn. XVIII, 37); “I am, but My kingdom is not of this world.”

Columba Marmion (1858-1923): Christ in His Mysteries, 15, 4.

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Columba Marmion: In Christ, All that is Mortal is Absorbed by Life Thursday, May 17 2012

“Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him”….

[...] On the day of His Resurrection, Christ Jesus left in the tomb the linen cloths, which are the symbol of our infirmities, of our weaknesses, of our imperfections.

He comes forth triumphant from the sepulchre; His liberty is entire, He is animated with intense, perfect life with which all the fibres of His being vibrate.

In Him, all that is mortal is absorbed by Life.

[...] We know scarcely anything of this heavenly life of Jesus after He had risen from the tomb; but can we doubt that it was wonderful?

He had proved to His Father how much He loved Him by giving His life for men; now, all the price is paid, all is expiated; satisfied justice demands from Him no more expiation; friendship is restored between men and God; the work of redemption is accomplished.

But the worship rendered by Jesus towards His Father continues, more living, more entire, than ever.

The Gospel tells us nothing of this constant homage of adoration, of love, of thanksgiving, that Christ then rendered to His Father; but St. Paul sums up all in saying: Vivit Deo, He “liveth unto God.”

This is the second element of holiness: the adhering, the belonging, the consecration to God.

We shall only know in heaven with what plenitude Jesus lived for His Father during those blessed days; it was certainly with a perfection that ravished the angels.

Now that His Sacred Humanity is set free from all the necessities, from all the infirmities of our earthly condition, it yields itself more than ever before to the glory of the Father.

The life of the Risen Christ becomes an infinite source of glory for His Father; there is no longer any weakness in Him; all is light, strength, beauty, life; all in Him sings an uninterrupted canticle of praise.

If man gathers up into his being all the kingdoms of creation in order therein to sum up the song of praise of every creature, what shall we say of the unceasing canticle that the Humanity of the glorious Christ, the supreme High Priest, triumphant over death, sings to the Trinity?

This canticle, the perfect expression of the Divine life that henceforward envelops and penetrates with all its power and splendour the human nature of Jesus, is ineffable…

Columba Marmion (1858-1923): Christ in His Mysteries, 1-2.

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Macarius the Egyptian: Anointed from the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ Sunday, May 6 2012

The Christians, who are come the nearest to the King, are at all times devoted to the cross of Christ. And when they are anointed with the heavenly unction, they commence to be kings and prophets of the heavenly mysteries.

For if the anointing oil that came from an outward plant had so much virtue that the persons anointed with it were constituted kings thereby; how much more do they who are anointed with the sanctifying and cheering oil of gladness, the heavenly and spiritual oil, receive the sign of that incorruptible kingdom, and everlasting power, the earnest of the Spirit, the very spirit of holiness and comfort?

It is called the Comforter, by reason of that comfort and support it bestows upon them that are in afflictions.

These being anointed from the tree of life, Jesus Christ, from the heavenly plant, are thought worthy to come to perfection; to the kingdom, and the adoption, being admitted to the secret councils of the heavenly King, and having free access to the Almighty, entering into his very palace, where are angels, and the spirits of the holy persons, though at the same time they live in this present world.

For though they have not actually received the inheritance prepared for them in that world, they are secure from the earnest of the Spirit, which they have received, as if they were already crowned, and in possession of the kingdom.

Nor does it seem a strange thing to them that they shall reign together with Christ, through the overflowing presence of the Spirit. For what reason? Even because though in the flesh, they have a relish of its sweetness, and that effectual working of his power.

For they that are to reign in the world to come are beforehand acquainted with the mysteries of grace. Indeed, since man transgressed the commandment, the devil has covered the whole soul with a dark veil.

But when grace comes, the veil is thrown off; so that the soul, becoming pure and regaining its proper nature, a creature free from blame or spot, ever after beholds with a clear sight the glory of the true light and the true Sun of Righteousness flashing with his bright beams upon the heart itself.

Macarius the Egyptian (c. 300-391) [attributed]; Spiritual Homily 9, 1-2, trans. by the Revd D.R. Jenning; full text, with corrections and editorial, at the Monachos.net Library Project.

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Nicholas Cabasilas: “It Is No Longer I Who Live: It Is Christ Who Lives In Me” Saturday, May 5 2012

We approach the Holy Table, the consummation of our life in Christ, which leaves no further happiness to be desired.

Now it is no longer a question of sharing in Christ’s death or burial or in a higher kind of life, but of welcoming the risen Lord himself.

It is no longer the gifts of the Spirit that we receive, insofar as we are able, but our benefactor himself, the very temple that enshrines all gifts.

Christ…leads communicants to his Table and gives them his body to eat he completely transforms them, raising them to his own level.

This is the last Sacrament we receive because it is impossible to go beyond it or to add to it anything whatever.

We remain imperfect even after Baptism has produced in us its full effect because we have not yet received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are given in Chrismation.

[...] Yet even among those who had been filled with the Spirit and who prophesied, spoke in tongues and displayed other such gifts, there were some in the time of the Apostles who were so far from being divine and spiritual as to be guilty of envy, rivalry, contention, and other similar vices.

This is what Paul referred to when he wrote to them: You are still unspiritual and are living on a purely human plane.

They were indeed spiritual by reason of the graces they had received, but these graces did not suffice to free them from all sinfulness.

With the Eucharist, however, it is different.

No such charge can be brought against those in whom the Bread of Life, which has saved them from death, has had its full effect and who have not brought to this feast any wrongful dispositions.

If this Sacrament is fully effective it is quite impossible for it to allow the slightest imperfection to remain in those who receive it.

If you would know the reason for this, it is because through communion, in fulfilment of his promise, Christ dwells in us and we in him.

He lives in me, he said, and I in him.

When Christ lives in us, what can we lack? When we live in Christ, what more can we desire?

We at once become spiritual in body and soul and in all our faculties because our soul is united to his soul, our body to his body, our blood to his blood.

The consequence is that the higher prevails over the lower, the divine over the human.

As Paul says, referring to the Resurrection: What is mortal is swallowed up by life.

And elsewhere he writes: It is no longer I who live: it is Christ who lives in me.

Nicholas Cabasilas (1319/1323–after 1391): The Life in Christ, 4 (PG 150:582-583); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide, Year 2

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