The Four Laws by which Christ will Judge the World – with Elder Cleopa

Blessed Memory of Elder Cleopa of Sihastria Monastery

Fr. Cleopa has found his place in history as the most representative elder and spiritual father of contemporary Romanian Orthodox spirituality. The last twenty years of his life the Elder spent in increased and concentrated prayer: fourteen to fifteen hours a day. He had mystical moments when he did not want to speak to anyone, not even his cell attendant. From four until eight the Elder prayed his morning rule; afterward he confessed monks and lay people until about four in the afternoon, when he began his evening prayer rule, consisting of the canon of repentance, canons to the Theotokos, the Supplicatory Canon, Small Compline and other services.

Fr. Cleopa remembering his nostalgic beginnings: “In the years that I was shepherd of the skete’s sheep together with my brothers, I had great spiritual joy. The sheepfold, the sheep – I live in quiet and solitude on the mountain, in the midst of nature; it was my monastic and theological school”. In the last months of his life the Elder could be heard saying often: “Now I am going to my brothers!” and “Leave me to depart to my brothers!” and “I am going to Christ! Pray for me, the sinner.”

On the eve of the Elder’s departure for the next life he began to read his morning rule, when his disciple said to him: “Geronda, its evening now. These prayers should be read tomorrow morning.” The Elder answered him saying, “I am reading them now because tomorrow morning I am going to my brothers.” On the morning of December 2nd, 1998, at about 2:20 a.m. Elder Cleopa departed for eternity

  

The Four Laws by which Christ will Judge the World

By Elder Cleopa of Sihastria

I have said a few words about death. I will now say something about conscience. Whoever will guard his/her conscience clean, will undoubtedly be prepared and happy when death comes. One’s conscience is the just judge that God has placed within us.

One’s conscience cannot ever be a mere reflection of matter. It is God’s voice in man and it always reprimands him when he goes astray: “Man, why did you do this or that?”

This law of one’s nature is also common among the Chinese, among Christians, or among the Buddhists, Brahmans, and Mohammedans. It is the first law that God placed in man’s soul ever since He created him, based on which the world guided itself until the written Law. An non-believing lawyer asked me once:

-         Father, I just cannot come to terms with the idea of the Last Judgement!

-         Oh, why can’t you, brother? How come?

-         Father, how is Christ going to judge me if I were Chinese or other nationality and therefore I have never heard of Christ in my life? They have not heard about Christ out there. Does that mean that God punishes unjustly? He is just. How will He judge and punish me, if I haven’t even heard of Christ’s Gospel?

-         Hang on a minute! You, Sir, know how to shuffle those papers around, to write minutes or whatever it is that you’re doing in your job. You don’t know the Scripture, though. You are a rationalist, you split the hair in forty and waste yourself completely by following your own mind.

There are four laws based on which God will judge the whole earth. Not one, but four. And nobody can escape God’s terrible justice, whether they are Chinese, Brahman, Buddhist, Christian, Mohammedan, or Jewish, because God is just, as the Apostle says: God is just and all humans are liars. [*to find exact quote]

Precisely because He is just, God has established these laws, so that He will judge everyone justly. You hear? Four laws.

The first law is the law of nature or the law of one’s conscience. It was by that law that God rebuked Cain when he killed his brother Abel. Because listen to what the Scripture says: that he was so much tormented by remorse that he fell into despair and cried: “My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.”

He fell into despair for having killed his brother Abel, the shepherd; as God had received Abel’s sacrifice and Cain had taken envy on him and as soon as Abel went out into the field, he killed him.

The law of the conscience was telling him: “What have you one? You have killed your brother!”

And he hears God:

-         Cain, where is your brother?

But instead of telling him “God, I have done wrong”, he answered:

-         I don’t know, am I my brother’s keeper?

And God told him:

-         Your brother’s blood calls to Me from the ground. Because you have done this, I shall punish you by all punishments and whoever will kill you, will be punished seventy times seven…

And Cain lived for over 1000 years, as Kedrin’s Chronograph reads – and nobody would kill him, because they were afraid of the punishment that God had placed on him.

What were Cain’s seven punishments for having killed his brother Abel? First, it was despair, then trembling, then crying – as he would cry and moan on earth –, then fear – as he would run from one place to another for fear that God would see him –; then the curse upon the land so that it would not give him its fruit, and all the other things, as it is written in the Holy Scripture, in Genesis, Chapter 4.

When he does wrong, any man on earth will be rebuked by his own conscience, which will tell him: “Why have you done wrong?” That is the first law that God gave to man – which is also called the law of one’s conscience or the law of one’s nature.

The second law which stands forever before us, as St. Gregory of Nyssa shows, and which resounds forever like a trumpet from the height of the sky and shows us God, is the law of the creation. Who made the sky, the earth, and everything else? The moon, the grass, the flowers, the fish, the seas, the rivers, the stones, the trees, the mountains, all the creatures on earth, in the water, and in the air. Who made them, brothers? Who made the clock of the universe that works with such amazing precision, that no one can imitate it? None other than our Good Lord! The centre of guidance for this world is its Creator – God, Who has put order in everything that exists.

The creation law is what prophet David refers to: Heavens tell of God’s glory and the making of His hand is heralded by the sky. How? By their spherical arrangement and by the immense distance among them; by the interstellar space, which takes billions of light-years to cross, by the movement of the celestial bodies, of the solar system, and of the planets, with such measure and precision that it boggles the minds of the greatest astronomers in the world.

What did Isaac Newton say – the great English astronomer, who for thirty years had been an atheist and when he discovered the “law of universal attraction” and saw that each planet will attract a smaller one and will not let it get away, or break or move irregularly in the celestial space. He put all his equipment on the table and exclaimed: Great are Thou, oh God, and wondrous are Thy things and no word is enough to praise Thy wonders!

See? While having found science outside faith, he came to the fear of God by discovering the wonders of the cosmos. What did Kepler, Isaac Newton and all the other ones, which I don’t have time to mention here, said when they converted, upon seeing God’s creation as not something that exists by itself, but that has a centre of guidance and a precision that amazes all minds?

Not one in a billion was uncovered from nature’s secrets. As God’s wisdom does not have any boundaries, neither will it have one onto the ages of ages, since limitless is the Creator’s wisdom, indeed.

So the second law that stands before us all is the Law of Creations or of creation. So that by the natural and spiritual contemplation, we can climb from the reasons of things, to their Creator. If you see a ship, you think that there must be a craftsman who made it; if you see a good coat on a man, you must know that the tailor was good, too. If you see a palace or a building with beautiful architecture, you should know that there was a smart architect behind it. If you see a good clock, it was undoubtedly made by a good clock-maker.

So all of this shows us that there is a Maker and if that is the case, then we should “fear” and obey Him, so that He does not punish us according to His justice.

The third law is the written law, which was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, that is, the ten commandments and the whole of the Old Testament, based on which the chosen people, that is, the Jews, will be judged. The fourth and most important law is the Law of the Gift, the Law of Perfection, the Law of Jesus Christ’s love, that is, the Holy Scripture. It is according to this divine law that all Christians who have been christened in the name of the Holy Trinity, will be judged.

The first one was the law of nature, which remains as a general rule for all peoples, until the end of the world. The second law is the law of creation, which is similar to the first one. All the nations of the world will be judged according to the first two laws, except for Christians and Jews. The Jews will be judged according to the written Law – that is, by the Old Testament. And we, the Christians, will be judged according to the Law of the Gift and the Gospel, since our law is more accomplished than all the other laws. And if we infringe it, we carry much sin and our punishment will be heavier than theirs, who have not known the Gospel.

So it is such a “lawyer” that God has established for us. Let us not fool ourselves, brothers, into thinking that God does not know what everyone does. You will not even hope to say that you have no sin because you did not know or because you were a Chinese, a Turk, or an atheist.

Even if you were downright pagan, you still had a conscience and based on it God will judge you. You have seen His Creation. Haven’t you ever asked yourself Who made the sky, the sun, the earth and everything else, so that you think of God and fear Him, who made it all? Amen.

The Orthodox Family in the Modern Age: Challenges in Christian Marriages

A presentation from a retreat entitled: “The Orthodox Family in the Modern Age” 
  Speaker: V. Rev. Fr. George D. Konstantopoulos

Part 1

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Ecumenism, Orthodoxy, Apostasy, NWO and the Religion of the future…an Orthodox awareness film

Father Cyprian speaks of the frightening reality of the world we live in and the look-warm Christianity of our days.  The images below speak on their own – for those who still have eyes to see and ears to listen…In the midst of this reality, there are still some who take their life in Christ seriously.

 An Orthodox missionary priest preaching “the Word of Truth” to the Muslim world, killed  at the age 35 in Russia. May Christ our Savior rest him with his saints. Amen!

Fr. Daniel Sisoev’s last sermon (subtitled in English) before being martyred

“You see that apostasy, as it goes on and advances, as we read in the books of our church, must reach its peak – the Antichrist to come. From the signs of the time, we see how Christ is approaching, Christ is coming, and we MUST be prepared! – as Christians that we are called and named, if we want to go forth and meet Him, if we want to be united with Him and rejoice with Him eternally.

We SHOULD hold two things dearer than our sight, dearer than our eyes.

First  – the genuineness of Orthodoxy, and I stress this word genuineness because today even the ecumenists want to be called Orthodox!

But this along is not sufficient, just as a bird does not fly with one wing but with two wings. The second wing is Ortho-practcy – correct practice. The first then, is the correct faith, and the second is the correct life so we might be able to say to men who are far removed from the church, what Philip said to Nathaniel: “Come and see”.

Come and see what Orthodoxy means.

I pray that in this difficult time we are passing through, I stress, I repeat, and the difficult times that are await us, Christ may maintain us to the end of our lives, to the final heartbeat, in the correct faith, in the correct life. Amen!”

St. Andrew the First-called Apostle

Saint Andrew the Apostle (Greek: ‘Ανδρέας, Andreas; early first century—mid to late first century AD), called in the Orthodox tradition Protokletos, or the First-called, is the brother of Peter the Apostle. The name “Andrew” (from Greek : “ανδρεία”, Andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him.

For November 30th, 2008, the feast of St. Andrew the First-called Apostle, Fr. Michael Varlamos reads the life of the saint in lieu of the sermon at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in St. Clair Shores, MI.

Troparion of St. Andrew – Romanian Byzantine choir

The New Testament records that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter, by which it is inferred that he was likewise a son of Jonah, or John.[Mt. 16:17] [Jn. 1:42] He was born in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee.[Jn. 1:44] Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that He will make them “fishers of men” (Greek: ἁλιείς ἀνθρώπων, halieis anthropon). At the beginning of Jesus’ public life they occupied the same house at Capernaum.[Mk. 1:21-29]

A Romanian Christmas carol of Saint Andrew

The Gospel of John teaches that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him and John the Evangelist to follow Jesus.[Jn. 1:35-40] Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother.[Jn. 1:41] Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus.

The new church of St. Andrew

The new church in  the city of Patras, in a  Byzantine style, was founded in 1908 by King George the I, and it was consecrated in 1974 by Metropolitan – Bishop Nicodemus. The Church of St. Andrew of Patras is the largest church in the Balkans, and it can fit inside a total of 5,500 faithful.

The old church of Patras

Right on the spot where St. Andrew was martyred – the old city of Patras, a new basilica was built over the ruins of a former Byzantine basilica (erected over the ruins of an ancient Greek temple) destroyed by the Turks.

In the gospel Andrew is referred to as being present on some important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus.

 Eusebius quotes Origen as saying Andrew preached in Asia Minor and in Scythia, along the Black Sea as far as the Volga and Kiev. Hence he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium (Constantinople) in AD 38, installing Stachys as bishop. His presence in Byzantium is also mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew written sometime during the second century. This diocese would later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Andrew is recognized as its patron saint.

Images from inside the Monastery of St Andrew, Romania

The cave of St Andrew, Romania

The Kievan hill where St. Andrew is said to have erected the cross is commemorated by the cathedral dedicated in his name

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at Patras (Patrae) in Achaea. Though early texts, such as the Acts of Andrew known to Gregory of Tours, describe Andrew bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Christ was crucified, a tradition grew up that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped cross) and commonly known as “Saint Andrew’s Cross”; this was performed at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross on which Christ was crucified.

Remaints of the cross St. Andrew was crucified on, Patras – Greece

The precious head of St. Andrew, Patras – Greece

Andrew is the patron saint of Patras. According to tradition his relics were moved from Patras to Constantinople. Local legends say that the relics were sold to the Romans. The head of Andrew, considered one of the treasures of St Peter’s Basilica, was given by the Byzantine despot Thomas Palaeologus to Pope Pius II in 1461. In recent years, by decision of Pope Paul VI in 1964, the relics that were kept in the Vatican City, were sent back home to Patras, where they belong. The relics, which consist of the small finger, part of the top of the cranium of Andrew and small parts of the cross, have since that time been kept in the Church of St Andrew at Patras in a special shrine, and are revered in a special ceremony every November 30.

Photos from inside of the Church of St Andrew, Patras – Greece

       The relics of the Saint in the Church of St Andrew, Patras, Greece

St Catherine Akathist and the Monastery of Mt Sinai, Egypt

The Akathist of St. Great Martyr Catherine (Kontakion 1, Ikos 1, Kontakion 2, Ikos 2, Kontakion 3, Ikos 3)

(Romanian)

 

St. Catherine Monastery near  Mt Sinai, Egypt

 

A documentary by Discovery Channel on Mt Sinai

 

St. Katherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria

 

 

THE GREAT MARTYR OF ALEXANDRIA St. Catherine is one of the early Church most beloved of Saints, indeed a Saint honored and esteemed for over 1,600 years. Inasmuch as she ranks among the most important of Saints, it behooves us to remember her life.During the time of the Emperor Maxentius at the beginning of the fourth century, there lived in Alexandria a young woman of royal blood. She was not only a lady of stunning beauty and considerable wealth, but she had also been blest to be the recipient of a first-rate education, the best education that money could buy in that age. She was thoroughly tutored in all of the philosophy, history, science, and poetry of the ancients Homer, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Thucydides, Hippocrates, Galen, and so forthand she excelled at logic, rhetoric, and languages. All who knew her were astonished at her brilliance.

As one would expect, many of the rich and famous sought her hand in marriage, for in addition to all that we have just mentioned, she was an heiress to a throne. However, Catherine was not particularly interested in all of these proposals of marriage. She let it be known that the man she would marry would have to be young, and would have to be her equal in wealth, wisdom, beauty, and compassion. Any petitioner for her hand less than her equal in all these things rendered him automatically unworthy. So it was that all potential suitors were decisively stopped in their tracks. Even the son of the emperor himself, though certainly wealthy and apparently compassionate, lacked wisdom and beauty.

Since this meant that her daughter would likely not in the circumstances find a spouse at all, St. Catherine mother sought the counsel of a wise and saintly ascetic, who lived on the outskirts of Alexandria. The holy man listened to the story of the girl life and of her resolve not to marry an inferior, which actually denoted her determination not to marry at all. Since this man was a Christian, he decided to tell the young lady of Christ Jesus and His teachings. I can direct you to a magnificent man, a man who is lordly and majestic in his bearing, who is wise and wealthy beyond your greatest dreams, who is compassionate beyond compare, and whose beauty causes the very sun itself to fade. Catherine was, needless to say, astonished, believing that the hermit was speaking of some extraordinary but still wholly earthly man. When she asked whose son this wondrous person might be, he replied that this man had no earthly father. He was, said the ascetic, born of a holy Virgin, who is the very Queen of Heaven and Earth and who is honored and served by the angels.

Catherine asked how she might see and meet the young man of whom the hermit spoke, to which the old man replied that he was prepared to instruct her so that she might someday look upon the eternal and excellent man. Young Catherine was not sure why it was so, but she nevertheless was moved by the warm expression on the old man face to place her trust in him. Giving her an icon of the Holy Virgin Mother holding the Child Christ, the hermit told her to pray before it and ask the Holy Virgin to grant her the privilege of seeing Him whom she was seeking.Catherine returned home and that night prayed, as she had been instructed. Soon, she fell deeply asleep and dreamt of the Holy Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, as they appeared in the icon she had been given. In her dream, the Child kept his gaze on His mother, but away from young Catherine.

The Holy Virgin spoke to Him, saying, Look, my Son, at Your beautiful and pious servant, Catherine.

 The Child answered, No, she is not beautiful but ugly and unbelieving, and I will not look at her.

 The Holy Mother implored Him again, saying, But she is among the wisest, wealthiest, and most beautiful of people in the world.

 No, he responded, she is silly and ignorant and I will not let her see me.

 However, he added, if she will return to the man who gave her the icon and follow his instructions rigorously, then she will someday see me and be consoled.

Upon arising from sleep, Catherine immediately went with her entourage to see the hermit again, and upon reaching his cave, bowed deeply before him. She told him of the dream and begged him to instruct her fully in the Christian faith.

She, being very gifted, soon absorbed all of the ascetic teaching about God glory, of His creation of the world, of the mission of Christ God here on Earth, of the wonders of Heaven, and of the terrors of hell. Soon, she consented to be baptized.

The night after her baptism, she dreamt again of the Mother and Child, but this time Christ said, Before she was poor, and now she is rich; before she was ignorant, and now she is truly wise; before she was proud, and now she is humble. She is now worthy and I accept her as my bride.

Christ then placed a ring on her hand, saying, Today, I take thee as my bride, for all eternity.

It happens that at this time the Emperor demanded that the people of Alexandria show their loyalty to the state through their devotion to the old gods, and so they were instructed to offer animal sacrifices to the idols; Catherine refused. Instead she publicly proclaimed her devotion to the one God who had given Himself over to be crucified for the sake of humanity. I am the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, she insisted.

She, a prominent person, was arrested for outraging the pagan gods, and detained. Thereafter, she was examined by various scholars and philosophers, who attempted to win her away from the Christian Faith she had adopted. Instead, she convinced them.The Emperor was furious and ordered that they be burned, but God intervened and none were harmed. Maxentius then used promises of great fortune alternating with threats of terrible calamity to try himself to win Catherine away from her newfound religion. It was to no avail. She was then flogged and tortured. She was, among other things, attached to a huge wheel edged with sharp blades, but it fell apart before it could do harm. Finally, his patience exhausted, the Emperor ordered her executed by beheading. Before her repose, she spoke these words, Do not grieve, but rather bejoyous, for I go now to meet my Savior, my Creator, and my Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. In His Heavenly Kingdom I shall reign with him for ever more. Do not cry therefore for me, but for yourselves who will soon suffer greatly. She then was executed. Immediately, her body was taken by angels to Mount Sinai, where later it was discovered by pious monks who built a monastery at the site. That monastery, named for St. Catherine, still stands and there, to this day, the relics of the Great Martyr are still honored.

 

The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church, it is said. Indeed that has proven true, time and again, for 2,000 years. Early Christians noted that the more the pagan state tried to obliterate them by mowing them down, the more of them that sprang up afterwards, until Christianity came to be the religion of the whole of the civilized world. The Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno once commented that faith does not make Martyrs, Martyrs make faith, and what he meant by this is that Martyrs, by their blood, energize and vivify a faith that may otherwise be a mere intellectual exercise, and demonstrate by their towering and incomparable example its true worth. We sometimes think that Martyrs and Saints were phenomena that abounded in the early centuries of the Faith, but that they are scarce today. That is not so. It is true that the first three centuries of Christianity produced tremendous numbers of Martyrs, but it is correctly noted by scholars & historians that there have been more Christian Martyrs in our own twentieth century than in any other era of history, and just as the martyrdoms of the early era presaged a flowering of Christianity after the opening of the fourth century, so the tens of millions of Martyrs of our time are harbingers of world-shaking events yet to come, events that will proceed from the outpouring of God Grace that accompanies so great a shedding of Christian blood, events that will surely confound those who foolishly believe that Christianity is now a spent force. Martyrs are examples, they are witnesses to truth; the very word martyr means witness in the Greek. They glorify God, and God in turn glorifies them. They stand as brightly-shining beacons that do not dim as the years pass, but that illuminate ever more radiantly with the passage of time. In addition, their supreme act of sacrificing all that is beloved in this world–comfort, beauty, prestige, popularity, material goods, and earthly life itself–places the things of this world in their true context vis-a-vis the eternal things of heaven.

May all of us learn from the splendid model offered us in the life of the Great Martyr St Catherine of Alexandria, that our pride and love of the treasures of this earth must give way to humility before God, and to love of the treasures of the spirit.             (article by Fr. James Thornton)   

                                   The Monastery of St. Katherine from Sinai 

Located at the bottom of Mount Sinai, where once Moses received the Tables of the Law, the Monastery of Saint Catherine is almost a millennium and a half old and,  one of the most famous pilgrimage centers of Orthodoxy,  a citadel of spirituality,a  patristic and a Research Center.

The monastery dating for approx.  1400 years in the desert of Sinai, has retained the original features from the time  of the reign of Emperor Justinian (257-565 AD). From Muhammad, the founder of Islam, to Muslims and  Turkish sultans, passing through the era of Napoleon, all took the monastery under their protection. In its long history, the Monastery of Saint Catherine has never been conquered, damage or destroyed. Across all ages, it had kept intact the image of the sacred place of the Bible and placed a light on the events of the Old Testament and the continuity of praising God through  our Lord  Jesus Christ. and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Monastery of Saint Catherine had crossed history as an oasis of Christianity and, it is  an independent, autocephalous monastry. It is practically the smallest Orthodox patriarchate in the world, its leader being  its Abbot.

 

The tradition says that, in the year 337, holy Empress Helena (the finder of the Cross of our Lord Jesus) built a shrine around the site, following the tradition that this was the place of the burning bush and the  unconsumed fire, where God first spoke to Moses. The chapel has attracted thousands of pilgrims and eremites  which seeked safety in the wilderness of Sinai, during the Christians persecution.

However, continuous attacks of neighboring nomadic tribes have made the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century,  to transform the sanctuary in a monastery-fortress.  (Compiled and translated by blog author).

Holy Great Martyr Catherine, pray for us sinners!

Father George Calciu: “Steadfast as a pillar in front of Satan!”

  Ecumenism – a great temptation

         

            - Regarding the compromises within the church, it  is very much conveyed today the idea that ecumenism is a necessity in ecclesiastical space. What are your thoughts on this?

           Fr. George: – If we submit to the devil, that means a necessity? This is not a need, but a sin, a great temptation, a heresy. I think that the Orthodox Church should mind its own activity, not the interest in ecumenism and so on. The (Orthodox) Church should live in Christ as she lived until now.

           – What do you think the strength of Orthodoxy consist in?

           Fr. George: – The power of Orthodoxy is that, she had not changed anything in the canons set by the Holy Ecumenical Councils after its separation from Catholics, while Catholicism consists in number and organization. The power of  Catholicism wears out today, the strength of Orthodoxy remains. If Orthodoxy falls, it’s through the sins of the people inside her, not by other means. Because Orthodoxy in itself is unbeatable.

           

            - So we wear down from the inside …

           Fr. George: – Yes. The problem is that we – ourselves have become corrupted, not by been influenced by others. Even now, in the European community, each church could keep its full identity, without compromise or breaking its religious doctrine, if she’ll  have the awareness that she (the church) must keep her identity.

            - So, we have  to  work on the  mentality …

           Fr. George: – Well, that’s the problem. If we lose our attachment to the Orthodox tradition and start to dilute ourselves in this absurd and criminal movement of ecumenism – and if it’s not criminal, it’s at least anti-Christian – then we’ll certainly be lost. It’s a great tragedy! I wonder if they really don’t understand its danger? Or perhaps they are bribed? I do not know, I do not get it …        

           – What is the relationship between hierarchy and the monasteries?

           Fr. George: – Generally the monasteries obey their hierarch. But only to the limit of heresy. Because of this, the hierarchy, especially in some areas, is upset. It persecutes monks, invents all sorts of things about them, all sorts of lies such as the one that they obey to the Russians, etc,. all aimed to motivate their ecumenist actions…            

           – If you would meet the Patriarch of Romania, Teoctist, what would you say to him?

           Fr. George: – I met him many times. And I confessed everything that I thought. And I was surprised that he was opened to listen, to relay to me many things and, to not get offended. He has a balance! I am a little worried and troubled at the thought that the patriarch will die. For he maintains a balance where he is.

           - How do you see the current state of our Church?

           Fr. George: – As in that story that my mother used to tell us children…with the legion of devils gathered to the house of the widow who had seven children and all were praying. Even today, the Church is surrounded by legions of devils. I mean not only our own but every Orthodox Church in the world: millions of devils surrounding them.

Tribulations took place at all times, but now they seem to multiply. There are many disobedient priests and many monks wandering, which should not go in such way. Many monks are wondering to the West. Why?! They should remain in the monastery. If they do not like their monastery, that is ecumenist and so on, they should choose another monastery, because they can do so.

I mean we have to impose ourselves a discipline to respect the Church’s authority, so far as it is worthy of Christ to respected it. But you must steadfast in front of Satan! Steadfast as a pillar! to know when he faces a monk, a priest, a bishop and he will be defeated!.

 (Excerpt from the book” The Life of Father George Calciu – Christiana Press, P.131/132, translated from Romanian by EC)

And now: The ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH … Visit (Worship?, or a SPECIAL MISSION?!) a synagogue in New York

Truly, the words of Father George: “Steadfast as a pillar in front of Satan!” are more truthful than ever!

Fr. George Calciu – In Memory (3 years from his repose in Christ)

Fr. George Calciu (1925-2006) a great Romanian Orthodox confessor and spiritual father.

Father George biography at: Fr George Calciu biography

 About the meaning of suffering

- Father, tell us about your suffering in prison (the gulag)!

- What could I tell you, in my arms have died people who were a thousand time more valuable than I, in prison have died, in the arms of other men, many – more valuable than those who survived, and yet I am the sinner. And to speak about me again, even if I’ll say what I did good, or what I did wrong, I would sill come out bragging. So, I find it very difficult to talk about these things.

Generally many words of praise are been said (in relation to this), all are dust and ashes, all dissipate, but we continue to hold what we have and had received from God and, what we have managed to keep through suffering, or through success, praises, or blames … Thus, we remain faithful to the Church and our nation.

My life in (communist) Romania, was full of events for better and for worse. I do not accuse or blame anyone, all these were sent by God to exercise my soul.

Someone had asked me if my suffering in prison have helped me in someway. And I answered: no, they have not helped me, but I’m the result of  this suffering. If I do something, if I am anything, if you see something in me, know that is because of suffering. Without this suffering, I have nothing!

Perhaps of all difficult questions for the human person, suffering is the most inexplicable. Why is suffering necessary? I have lived an experience of suffering that had enriched my soul and I believe that suffering was necessary for me. But it is very difficult for someone to accept this principle.

When we were in prison (concentration camps), we ask each other: why pain, why us? Of all the millions of Romanians, why us to be those chosen to suffer? What is the purpose? And God wouldn’t revealed us anything. Everyday we cried out to God to give us less pain and he seemed to grant us even more suffering.

Even after I was eliberated from prison, I held within me this sign of the pain which seemed to mark my whole life thereafter. After the second imprisonment, I immigrated to the West and traveled through every country in Europe and America to speak about what happened in communism. My intention was this: I can not keep silent as long as in my country: suffering, injustice, communism, the destruction of churches and the destruction of human personality took place. In my wanderings I encounter a monastery and slept in its library. It was a Catholic monastery. In its library I found, among many books, a small booklet with Christian apothegms. I opened it randomly at a page where I saw a reflection of Paul Claudel, a famous French writer. He said this: “Christ did not come into the world to eliminate suffering, Christ has not even come into the world to explain it. Rather, He came to fill  human suffering with His presence “.

Have you heard? To fill human suffering with his presence! Then I understood that in times of crying, or when we revolt or cried out “God, what do you do to us?! … “He was (present) within us more than ever, despite all our sins, all our infirmities. He filled our suffering with His presence. Thus, I understood exactly the deep meaning of this pain: God is present in us!

(Nuns from Diaconesti Monastery singing at his 2 years memorial (Romanian)

God suffers with those who suffer

When I was in prison and saw people dyeing with prayer on their lips, people who were tortured and prayed for those who tortured them, people of whose children and families, despite suffering, prayed for all, I understood clearly that Christ is One who suffers in us.

Not everyone who suffers bears Christ, as if one curses, Christ is not in him.

But we ought to treat him, as (my professor) Paulescu told us, as if Christ was in him.

I have encountered such experiences and they have strongly penetrated my heart, not only the mind as an intellectual speculation  that whoever suffers bears God in him… Thus, when someone suffers, we must take pity on him. 

This truth I understood more profoundly with all my being (my heart, my thinking, my soul) while in prison, that indeed God suffers with those who are suffering.

If Jesus Christ’ suffering was for everyone, why people’ suffering  be useless and lost? God will count everything . On the day of judgment, He will count him who suffered and has not cursed, him who suffered and prayed …. Hence, those who suffered persecution and prayed for their persecutors, prayed for the good and for the wicked, so God may return many from their unbelief and wickedness .

Other links: “Christ is Calling You!” Lenten Meditations with father George Calciu: http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/resources/sermons/calciu_christ_calling.htm

Christ suffers in us

Having taken all our human affects, – i.e. all the helplessness of our body: starvation, cold, or thirst – Our Lord Jesus Christ was sensitive to human suffering, to our needs. He was sensitive when someone was sick, and heal him. The Savior often made appeal to faith. Other times, when someone was seriously ill, He would not ask if the sick one thinks he can be cured, but He would heal with His word. He took pity when someone was in despair that their child had died, as was the widow of Nain.

He felt for someone praying for parents or neighbor’s, as was the centurion.

He felt for those who were hungry and thirsty. In fact, the Savior said: “He who gives a glass of water to one of the least of Mine, he gives it to Me“.

In so much Jesus had identified with us people! That He took upon Himself all our weaknesses and all our infirmities, that anyone who suffers, Christ suffers with him! Anyone who is sick, Christ is sick with him! Everyone who hurts and cries, Christ cries with him!

Do you want to see Christ innocent suffering? Go to the hospitals for children, visit the orphanages. Christ suffers in them. It’s a total likeness…. of our Savior with us. He takes all our sufferings, all our sorrows.

In everything that Jesus did, was to strengthen the hearts of those with faith in God. He would often worked miracles, more precisely for our human weakness in thirst for a miracle. And so it is today that we are thirsty for miracles, but a miracle is no substitute for faith. Faith, as the Apostle Paul says, is entrusted things unseen. This faith makes us see – if the tools are spiritual – what the eyes of the body cannot see and the mind cannot  reason.

God reveals Himself to us in circumstances beyond our control and, our qualities. He was merciful to the thirsty and hungry when the Apostles asked Him to send them away at dawn. Our Savior had multiplied the bread, blessed and gave it to them. He is a God sensible to our pain, One sensible to our needs, participating even in our suffering. God doesn’t regard someone as we often do – as spectators, but He gets involved in our sorrows.

  (Excerpts from the book: Father George Calciu, Living Words. “To serve Christ means suffering”, Bonifaciu Press, 2009) – (Translated from Romanian by EC)

(At Diaconesti Monastery – Romania) 

A Word on Anger

Man today lives under such overwhelming pressure that his nerves are strained to the limit, and even the slightest provocation arouses in him the sin of anger.  Causes for anger could be the child who does not listen to us, or the husband or wife who contradicts us, or the driver who cuts us off with his car, or only seems to us to cut us off, giving a motive for us to be roused to anger.  Even if, through self-restraint, our anger is not outwardly expressed or is not heard by the one who provoked it, it is still a sin, because it harms our soul and our heart  It is an action against one’s own self, under the temptation of the devil to be angry.

 The savior warns us in severe terms concerning anger that gives birth to verbal conflicts and the use of abusive words.

I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire (Matt 5:22).

 …No one thinks evil without corrupting the heart in which God should dwell…

[….]

I counsel my penitents that before they express their anger, be it in speech or gestures, be it only mentally, to utter three or five times, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  And if they say the prayer quickly and inattentively under the oppression of anger, then they should concentrate with humility upon the word “sinner,” and their anger will abate.  Many of them have succeeded inn making their life, their family relationships, their relations with other people, and even their interior life change for the better.

 All the conflicts in the world have their origin in unabated anger.  One is angry and wounds the other, who then responds with greater violence and strength. Once this chain is begun, it cannot be stopped except through the appeal of prayer––genuine prayer.

[...]

The Name of Jesus is sweet to utter.  It casts our the demons and brings the angels back into the heart, into the mind, and you will bear yourself in meekness before others.

(Excerpts from article “A Word on Anger” in The Orthodox Word No.261)

Wonderful Apothegms about Patriarch Pavle

The Serbian Patriarch Pavle is the hero of many stories and anecdotes. They reinforce the legend that he was  a humble – popular man living a holy life. (…) Patriarch Pavle, through his way of life, was dear to many people.

                                                                                     

                                              The Mercedes story

Patriarch Pavle, as he was known, continued to live a simple life even after he moved to the new residence – the Patriarchal Palace – in Belgrade. People form Belgrade often encountered him on the streets, riding the train or the bus … Once, while walking alone the hilly street of King Peter the I, towards the Patriarchate, a Mercedes – last model barely passed him, the driver – a priest from one of the well known parish in Belgrade, stopped the car and said:
- Your Holiness, permit me to invite  you in! Just tell me where you heading …The Patriarch entered the car, and as  soon as it  started moving, asked:
– Tell me, Father, whose  car is this?
- It’s mine, your Holiness!
- Stop it! – the Patriarch replied, he then got off, made the sign of the Cross and said to the priest:
-May the Lord, watch over you!

                                       The black automobile story

The great session of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church had just ended. As it was the customary, his Holiness was heading to the vespers service at the Cathedral. When he exited the Patriarchal Palace, he saw many black limousines parked near and asked:
- So many luxury cars, who do you think they belong to?
- To our bishops, Your Holiness! They came with them to the Synod meeting-replied the priest who accompanied him.
– Oh, God watch over them, what would they’ve traveled with, if they weren’t taken the monastic vows of  poverty?!

 

                                             The trubbled deacon

In the Patriarchate building, it is often heard the story of the Patriarch dialogue with the deacon accompanying him everywhere; as they were ready to go to the church in Banovo Brdo, the deacon asked:
- So, how are we traveling? By car?
- By bus! – the Patriarch replied with determination.
- It’s crowded, it’s stuffy in the bus, and the church is not close …
- We’re going (by bus)! – His Holiness replied shortly.
- But … – the Deacon, following him, advance a new argument, — Your Holiness, it is summer, many people go to Ada Ciganlija [a famous pool] and buses are full of barely naked people. It is not appropriate...
- You know, Father – the Patriarch replied back – one can  see what he desires to see!

                                                      Two olives

 In the Patriarchal Palace several bishops are having lunch and, among them the Patriarch Pavle. The bowl with olives come to the table, among other things. Everybody knows that the Patriarch holds to the idea that the human body needs optimal only six olives. But the bishop Stephen started to take eight olives.
- Your Holiness, I took two more. What am I to do now?
- Now hold what you got, and tomorrow take two less - replied the Patriarch.

                                             Message for America

When bishop Pavle became Patriarch, (the director of BOS Museum recalls), many delegations and many foreign representatives have expressed their desire to meet him. The active American ambassador at that time in Belgrade, Warren Zimmermann, also came. The Patriarch received him in the Patriarchal Palace. The ambassador conveyed greetings and congratulations on behalf of the American people, himself and the President. At the end of the formal protocol, the ambassador had asked:
- How may we help you?
- Your Excellency, don’t intervene by setting obstacles, that is how you can help. (…)

                                                 The salaries

Patriarch Pavle refused, in fact, to get paid. He only received a small pension he was entitled to as a formal bishop of Raska and Prizren. All his needs were modest, given that he sewed his mantle and repaired his shoes ... Yet, he still had some money left of that pension. What was left of it, he divided among poor or donated it to other purposes of civic good.

It remained memorable his reaction as a bishop in 1962, when a request from bishops was made to increase their salaries:

- “But why, since we are not able to spend what we already have?”.

He did, likewise with what he received as gifts. If he received mantle material, he keep it until he met a monk or a priest not been able to afford it. Then he would calculate how much they would need to sew a cassock (mantle) and give them exactly that, so he may share the rest with others.
Renowned historian Zika Stojkovich, who has worked with the bishop Pavle during his assignment in Raska and Prizren, when editing his work” Monuments of Kosovo”, complained once to the Patriarch of the difficulty of raising money to continue the print of the work-series he had started and belonging to one of the most prominent Serbian writers, Milos Crnjanski. After been listening to him, the Patriarch rose, went to his bed, raised the pillow, picked his wallet, took out three thousand marks and handed to Stojkovich:
- “Here, it’s my contribution for the printing of Crnjanski Milos’ books. May it be for your assistance. ”

                                           The “question mark”

A bohemian who often spent time at a cafe named “?” near the Patriarchate, whenever he would see the Patriarch, he would cross the street and ran to get his blessing. One day he said:
- Your Holiness, you and I are the best people in Belgrade aren’t we! And the Patriarch replied:

- We are, but after we empty a few glasses, no longer we’re good for anything! (…) “

                                              (Translated by EC)

              May the Lord forgive him and rest him with His saints, Amen!

From the teachings of the humble Patriarch Pavle

(from father Milovan Katanic wbsite) 

   1. Prayer as the Essential Need of Man

Prayer is the pious direction of man’s soul to God, or the communication of the heart with God, through which God is represented before man as man pours the feelings of his soul before Him. It is the lifting of the  mind and the heart to God and with it man is carried to the angelic choir and becomes a member of their blessedness. Prayer is the incense most acceptable to God, that most secure bridge for the passage over the tempting waves of life, the indestructible stone of all who believe, the peaceful landing place, the divine garment which clothes the soul with great goodness and beauty. Prayer is the mother of all good deeds, the keeper of the cleanliness of the body (chastity), the seal of maidenhood, the secure fence against our eternal enemy, the devil. It drives away enemies through the name of Christ, since there is no means powerful in the heavens or on the earth. Prayer is the fortification of the world pleading for God’s mercy for our sins, that landing place which the waves cannot destroy, the enlightenment of the mind, the axe to spare destruction of sadness, the breeding of hope assuaging the wrath, the advocate to all those who are undergoing trial, the joy of those who are in prison, the salvation of those who are dying. It made the whale become the home of Jonah, it brought Ezekiel back to life from the doors of death, and it converted the flames to dew for the Babylonian youths. With prayer St. Elijah closed the heavens so that the rain did not fall for three years and six months (James 5:17). When the apostles themselves were unable to cast out the unclean spirits, Christ told them, “This one cannot go out , except by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21).

There is nothing more precious in man’s life than prayer. It makes the impossible, possible; it makes the difficult, easy; the uncomfortable, it makes comfortable. Prayer is as important to man’s soul as breathing. Who does not pray is deprived of conversation with God and is similar to the tree that bears no fruit and is cut and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19).

“When you direct yoru mind and thoughts to the heavens,” says St. Makarios the Great, “and want to unite yourself unto the Lord, then a great multitude of evil spirits, like a black cloud, lingers over you, that it might deter your path to heaven. But, just as the old walls of Jericho fell by the power of God, so too will these stones of evil which are deterring your mind be destroyed by the power of God. When you are in prayer, remember before whom you stand. Be deaf and dumb to everything that surrounds you, invoke the Lord for help and He will help you. It’s necessary to uproot all feelings of wrath and to completely cleanse ourselves of murderous feelings of bodily desires, regardless of who they might be directed to.”

2. Humility and a Contrite Heart

The teachers of the Church and the holy fathers advise that during prayer everyone have humility and a contrite heart because of one’s sins. For, if man doesn’t feel in hs heart that he is a sinner, God will not hear his prayer. This is seen in the prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican. The prayers bedewed with the tears of humility and repentance are instantly heard. Poured out from the humble soul, as the wise Solomon says, it breaks through the clouds and doesn’t delay until it reaches the Lord.

When it is time for prayer do not occupy yourself with any sort of work, for the demons look to occupy us with any sort of work during our prayer. If your soul is sweetened with any words of the prayer, continue your prayer for know that at that time your Guardian Angel is praying with you. St. Nefon once saw a monk walking and praying. The monk went but also his angel went with him, escorting the monk with a fiery spear in hand, with which he drove the demons away from the monk.

“Pray ceaselessly,” says the holy Apostle, “that you do not fall in temptation.” This ceaseless prayer consists not only in our ceaslessly praying, but also in a consant remembrance of God and a feeling that he is always before us, watching all of our deeds, intentions and thoughts. Therefore it is a beautiful habit to call upon the Lord from the heart and to pray briefly at every opportunity and at every task, beginning with, for example: “God help me! Lord, bless!” When we have concluded: “Glory to Thee, O Lord! I thank Thee, O Lord!” In surprising dilemmas, whatever temptation might be: “Lord, save! God, be merciful to me a sinner! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner! Holy Theotokos, save us!”

It is necessary to pray not only when we feel like praying but also then when we don’t have a specific longing or disposition for it; when laziness, sleepiness, forgetfulness and such, drive us away from prayer. If we are compelled and do battle with our own bodies in order to pray, not paying attention to the large collection of dark obstacles, then that prayer will take flight to the heavens and stand before the very throne of the Lord. Night is very suitable for prayer. It is at that time that everything is quieted, calmed and the prayer that is offered to God in the evening quiet, from the depths of our hearts, is heard and on our souls descends a twofold grace from God. It’s during these prayers that the all-evil devil, with particularly great power arises and strikes the man of prayer with temptations, fear and assaults, but it is also at this time that the grace of God for spiritual aid is multiplied.

According to the general thinking of the holy fathers, prayer is considered the daughter of the fulfilling of the gospel’s commands while, at the same time, it is considered to be the mother of all virtues.

That we might protect ourselves from the distraction of our thoughts in prayer, the holy fathers advise that the mind cling all the more to the words of the prayer. From this it is better that we read the prayers from the prayer book and not from memory. This is especially necessary for the beginners and the weak. For this reason everything that is read or sung in the Orthodox Church, no matter how well it is known, is done from a book. Such an immersed mind in the words of prayer is not easily distracted by different sides. If the mind cannot concentrate and immerse itself in the words of the holy fathers, then one should read softly out loud so that one can hear oneself reading. This kind of prayer is especially helpful when one prays alone.

In prayer we shouldn’t work up our nerves, nor sigh too much, nor hold our head up, for all this is harmful. We should pray quietly, with deep, but silent sighs, our heads lowered to the ground, patiently, from time to time looking at the icon as those who truly feel sinful before God.

In public our prayer should be unheard that it might not interrupt anyone’s prayer.

If during prayer your mind wanders to other things and not to the heavens and God, do not be disheartened, but always bring it back and concentrate on the words of the prayer. After all, such a prayer will not remain fruitless even though it is not pure.

For a man in sorrow there is no greater cmforter than prayer. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray” (James 5:13).

Sickness and other misfortunes which befall us are a result of sin. For this reason we are obliged to pray to the Lord that He might forgive us our sins, that toghether with that He might heal us from bodily sicknesses and tragedies of this world. When God allows hunger, war, heavy storms, droughts, hail, earthquakes and such, this comes from the sins of the people. For this reason does the source of evil lie in us. Here again is the need for us to pray to God for the forgiveness of our sins that we might free ourselves of this source of all tragedies, that we might be delivered from all natural evils that come to us in the form of terrible natural phenomena.If it happens that one asks something of God and does not receive it, this can mean that God heard the prayer but in His providential wisdom He tests the man of prayer’s endurance, and when this man endures to the end then he will receive in greater amount than that for which he prayed; or, it means that the man of prayer did not receive what he prayed for because it might lead to some evil.

But praying to God individually, alone, according to the Lord’s command (Matt. 6:6), should not be considered to be sufficient. In different situations and need in life: birth, death, marriage, building a home, sowing, departure on a long journey, sickness, etc., besides the private prayers we should all upon the graceful and prayerful help of the church and the priests, for Holy Scriptures advises us to do so (James 5:14). Besides this we shouldn’t forget our regular participation in the communal prayer in the holy church, which the holy Apostles did as well as all the saints (Acts. 1:14, 12:12), as this is the will of God (Matt. 18:20).

3. The Sign of the Cross

We should not neglect to also mention the need for us to sign ourselves with the Cross when we begin our prayer. We should do this properly and not like those who are ashamed of the Cross of Christ and weave it before their face and chest not even placing their fingers in the appropriate place. Crossing ourselves carelessly saddens our Lord and is taken as a sin of the man of prayer. Such a Cross is not only powerless but it also gives joy to the demons, for then it is not the most terrible weapon against them. The sinner is less afraid of the place of punishment than the demons are of the Cross, for they tremble and flee in fear from the Cross, afraid to even look at its power (for the power of the Cross is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself) which burns them like fire. Armed with the Cross, the holy martyrs went to the most horrible tortures. The saints healed the sick, raised the dead, fearlessly drank poison, passed through fire and water by the power of the Cross of Christ.

One of the old Christian writers, from the first centuries of the Christian Church testifies that the Christians of that era, following the Apostolic constitutions and traditions, at the beginning of every task or journey signed themselves with the Cross. They did this at departure, putting on robes, putting on shoes, at washing, before and after meals, making fires, before lying in bed, sitting after a journey, in one word: at the beginning of every task, journey or event. Today’s Christians, however, taken over by some sort of a shame, even when they visit the home of a friend at their Slava, upon sitting for the meal won’t even think to cross themselves, as if they don’t know the words of the Lord: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).