A blessed Triodion (and Great Lent), a blessed new month and springtime to all of you! I have missed you!

The Dormition Feast – A Homily on St. Luke. (10:38-42; 11:27-28) and a Story and a Farewell

Letting God be God

At that time, Jesus entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to Him and said, “Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” As He said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that Thou didst suck!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” 

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In the Gospel for the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, we meet that familiar scene in the house of Martha and Mary. Martha is busy preparing the food and Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to Him. Martha we are told “was distracted”. The burden of work she felt was laid unfairly upon her. Her distraction, her preoccupation had led to resentment and so she intrudes upon our Lord’s teaching:

“Lord, don’t you care…. Tell her to help me.” In her frustration and anger, she not only questions our Lord’s awareness, but she also gives Him advice and tells Him what He should do.

This, unfortunately, is what we sometimes do. We try to tell the One who cares for us beyond measure, the Son of God, what He should be doing for us.

 At the wedding of Cana in Galilee, the Mother of God notices that they had run out of wine. “ They have no wine.” This is in effect both a statement and a request and a tangible example of the intercessions of the Theotokos. His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” The Mother of God is always vigilant about our needs too and continually intercedes for us before the throne of grace.

Asking is different from demanding. The problem is that we want to give God advice rather than seek help from Him and do whatever He says. We want God to assist us in going our own way.

St Dorotheos of Gaza said: “ Nothing is more harmful than self-direction, nothing more fatal. I never allowed myself to follow my thought without seeking advice.” This is why we have spiritual fathers in the Orthodox Church, not that their advice is perfect but that we have another a reference point in spiritual trigonometry. Often it is not advice that a person seeks from their spiritual father, but they come to him because they want to know that their spiritual father cares for them, that he can be trusted to hear their complaint, their sins, to walk with them, share their burden and to love them. How much more does God love us and know our needs even before we ask?

More than advice it is God’s action that saves us.  The Old Testament was full of advice which the people of Israel ignored. What was needed was someone to rescue them and us.

We see in the Falling Asleep of the Most Holy Theotokos that our Lord would not allow His mother to see corruption. He takes her to Himself and opens the way for us too. 

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There is a story of a man who fell into a pit. The first man came along and offered him advice.” If you get out of that pit you should learn your lesson not to make the same mistake again.” A second man came along and offered him advice on how to get out of the pit the man had fallen into. A third man came and offered no advice. Without any hesitation, he went down into the pit and helped the man out. 

This is what Christ does. St John of Kronstadt writes:

Such are the comforting truths which the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos brings us: it assures us that Christ the Saviour, born from the Most-pure Virgin Mary, removed from us the curse of our sins and granted to all of us resurrection from the dead on the last day of the world. Is this not comforting for every Christian believer?

And having such an expectation of a general resurrection from the dead, let us try throughout our entire life to become worthy of the glorious resurrection into eternal life by means of constant repentance, battle with our passions and the temptations of the flesh and the world, and strive for success in all virtues, in order to eternally enjoy the infinite, incorruptible, surpassing all understanding, all feeling and all expectation – the blessings of the Heavenly Kingdom, together with God, the Mother of God, the holy angels, and all the saints. Amen.

 We should let God be God because only He can bring us to Life in the Resurrection. His word and His action save. So if we have to speak, we have no occasion or need to give Christ advice or tell Him what to do. Rather we should follow the words of the Most Holy Theotokos:

“Whatever He says to you, do it.”

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Dear friends in Christ, I fear that this will be my last blog post for quite some time, as I am about to retreat for God knows how long. Please keep me in your prayers as I will keep you and all mankind in mine.

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 

that they also may be one in us ” (John 17:21, KJV)

Little great saints

When Saint Paraschiva arrived and took residence in the icon corner, she brought along four friends on the very same icon, smaller and framing her. Saint Filofteia, I have already written about, but the other three were completely unknown to me, so I started to get to know them. Great was my surprise to find that although there are many icons depicting them and they are much loved especially in Romania, two of the three have no feast day in the Romanian orthodox calendar. The more I learnt about them, the more drawn I was to them. They are so little known beyond their homeland and yet so inspiring in their striving for God, that I felt they needed a place in the Stavronian.

The first of the three, seen in the middle of the icon is Saint Teofana Basarab. By her baptism name Theodora, she was born around 1310, daughter of Basarab I of Wallachia (southern modern-day Romania). She was given in marriage for political reasons to Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, heir to the Bulgarian throne and took up residence with her husband in Lovech in Bulgaria. Lovech became under the influence of Theodora an important cultural centre, where byzantine manuscripts as well as manuscripts from Mt Athos were copied and translated. Theodora had four children, whom she raised in the faith. She was much loved by all for her gentleness, humility and virtue. Her husband became Tsar in 1330 and the new Tsaritza continued her tireless cultural and spiritual endeavours in Tarnovo, the capital. In 1347, Ivan Alexander tired of his wife and repudiated her. In order to avoid political conflict, she did not return to her father’s court, but retired to a monastery near Tarnovo and became a nun, taking the name of Teofana. Here she lived in humility and asceticism, accepting meekly all her misfortunes. The Tsar married his Jewish mistress and baptised her Orthodox, giving her his first wife’s name, Theodora. The new wife poisoned one of Teofana’s three sons, who passed away. Mother Teofana continued in her life of holiness in the monastery until her eldest son became Tsar of half of Bulgaria and then joined him at Vidin, the new Capital, where together with her daughter in law, she set an example of virtuous life and encouraged monasticism, founded a centre for compiling and popularising lives of saints, copying and translating spiritual works. The date of her death is unsure, but the holiness of her life was so great, that the Bulgarian church canonized her as early as 1371. Her feast day in the Bulgarian Orthodox calendar is the 28th October.

On the right of the tsaritza, mother, wife and nun, we can see Saint Theodora of Sihla carrying a cross, a saint who has found a place in the Romanian Orthodox synaxarion. Saint Teodora of Sihla, commemorated on the 7th August, was born around 1650 in an area of incredible natural beauty of mountains and forests in northern Romania. Her desire to serve the Lord took shape early on in her life, after the death of her only sister, but her parents did not agree that she should enter a monastery and gave her in marriage to a holy young man in the vicinity. Since the marriage was not blessed with children, both husband and wife decided to enter monasteries. They both received monastic tonsure in the same skete in Poiana Marului. In a few short years, Saint Theodora advanced greatly in obedience, prayer and asceticism. When the Turks invaded the Buzau valley, Theodora and her spiritual mother fled to the mountains. They lived for several years in fasting, vigil and prayer, enduring cold, hunger and many temptations from the evil one. When her spiritual mother passed away, the saint went to venerate the wonder working icon of the Theotokos in Neamt and was guided to seek spiritual advice from Hieromonk Barsanuphios of the Sihastria skete, who advised her to go and live alone in the wilderness for a year. “If, by the grace of Christ, you are able to endure the difficulties and trials of the wilderness, then remain there until you die. If you cannot endure, however, then go to a women’s monastery, and struggle there in humility for the salvation of your soul.” Together with her new spiritual father, Paul she went in search of a dwelling and moved in a cave on mount Sihla. Here she lived in complete solitude only seeing her spiritual father, who came to bring her the Holy Mysteries. She grew in asceticism and she would keep vigils all night long with her arms lifted up to Heaven and fed on herbs and drank water from a small channel cut into the cliff, known to this day as St. Theodora’s spring. As the Turks attacked villages and monasteries around Neamt and people started fleeing to the mountains, the saint gave up her cell and retired to an even remoter cave. Discovered by the Turks, the saint was miraculously rescued by the Lord and continued her spiritual struggles completely forgotten by the world into old age. Like Mary of Egypt, her clothes became rags and like the prophet Elijah, she was fed by the birds, often depicted on her icon. The monks of the Sihastria skete saw birds come to pick up bread and fly off with it in their beak in the same direction. Guessing that some ascetic might live in the vicinity and guided by the Holy Spirit, the Hegumen and two monks went in search through the wood. They saw a great light and as they approached, they found Saint Theodora levitating and shining with great light praying. The Saint had been praying for the Lord to send her a confessor and the Holy Mysteries. The next morning, two monks went to find the saint and Father Anthony heard her confession and gave her the Holy mysteries, after which St Theodora passed away saying “Glory to God for all things!” The monks buried her in her cave and her relics remained incorrupt. News of her death spread and people came to venerate her tomb. Her former husband, Hieromonk Eleutherios came to the cave and made a cell for himself in the vicinity, below the cliffs of Sihla, where he remained for the following 10 years until his repose. Saint Theodora’s relics were moved to the Kiev Caves monastery in the 19th century. The inscription on Saint Theodora’s scroll reads: “Life is blessed for those in the wilderness as they fly upon the wings of Divine love” (Sunday Matins).

The third saint of the icon is Saint Mavra of Ceahlau, who does not have a feast day in the synaxarion but who is much loved. She lived in the same area as St. Theodora on the Ceahlau mountain in northern Romania. Born sometime in the middle of the XVIIIth century, a record of her life is found in the writings of Fr. Ioanichie Balan. Raised by God fearing parents, Mavra (Mary at baptism) ached with love for God. She entered the monastery at 20 years old at the skete Silvestru. In a short time, Mavra became renowned for her humility, obedience, gentleness and unceasing prayer. Lover of silence, she built herself a little hut outside the monastery where she lived in solitude, joining the community only in the daytime and keeping vigil in her hut at night. She slept only for a few hours sitting up on a chair, ate very little dry bred and vegetables once a day and did hundred of metanias every day. As time went by, she withdrew deeper into the mountain in a clearing called to this day The Nuns’ clearing (Poiana maicilor). Here, she struggled with temptations and endured the bitter mountain cold, wind and snow. The nuns in the skete followed her to ask for spiritual guidance and built their own small cells around the clearing to be near her and join her in her vigils. Such was her gentleness and holiness, that all animals of the forest loved her and were tamed by her. Wherever she went, a deer followed her. She passed to the Lord surrounded by her spiritual daughters and was buried in an unknown place in The Nuns’ clearing.

The question that sprang to mind was how come these three saints are often depicted together when they are so different: one was an princess and queen, promoter of culture, long suffering wife and mother, the other two simple women, of whom only one had known wedlock, leading austere and ascetic lives. They are united, beyond their Romanian origins, by their great love of God, by willingness to take up His Cross and above all, by humility.

By Alexandra McC.

ENCOUNTERS WITH SAINTS: PART 1 & PART 2

Wishing you a blessed Dormition Fast!

May the Holy Cross purify the very air we breathe.

S

St. Jacob Hamatoura pray for us sinners

A Homily on Pentecost by the Joyous Pustinnyk

Acts 2:1-12

1When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

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The Day of Pentecost was a day of wonder. The assembled disciples were gathered together and we are told that they had a unity – they were of one accord and agreement and in one place. They were not divided as God had divided those who tried to scale heaven with the tower at Babel in Genesis 11. God divided their tongues (their languages) and confusion reigned in Genesis- here we have the reversal of that command. 

Suddenly, we are told, there comes a rushing mighty wind which filled the whole house. Imagine the scene, those seated are amazed by this sudden phenomenon. The wind of God, the breath of God which breathed life into mankind at Creation moves with mighty power amongst them. This is followed immediately by tongues as of fire, alighting on the heads of the assembled gathering. John the Baptist had foretold that the Christ would come and Baptise them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Luke 3:16. This fire is a manifestation of the uncreated energy of God which brings illumination of the mind to man. It rested on the assembled and empowered them to speak in different languages. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, the One who brings knowledge and power. Here is fulfilled then the prophecy of the Prophet Joel. 

“I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.” Joel 3:1 This is significant because in the Old Testament the gift of the spirit (the ruach), had only been given to a few- Patriarchs, Prophets and some of the Judges but now to all those who will receive Him.

As Christians our hearts should be aflame with the Holy Spirit. We should not” quench the Spirit” ( 1 Thess 5:19) It is possible to kindle the flame of the spirit with acts of love strengthened by divine Grace. The spirit is quenched by distractions that take our focus away from Godly virtues, by indulging in worldly matters and the fleshly and material things. God lights the grace of the Holy Spirit in our souls at Chrismation and His presence glows brighter and clearer when we we have zeal for God’s statutes and reflect His mercy and compassion to others. The spirit is relit through repentance.

Recently we have enjoyed good weather, despite the terrible pandemic and as our bodies are warmed through the sunshine and heat; likewise our hearts are warmed when we bathe in the energies of the Son’s Light. Of course this requires a sacrifice of time on our part, allotting a space each day to prayer and to water this seed in our heart through acts of kindness. Then, like the basil that grows on my window sill- the seed will germinate and grow. One very effective and simple way to promote this is through saying the Jesus Prayer throughout the day. The flame in our hearts is kept alive through fuelling it with prayer, as the combustion engine requires petrol so our souls require prayer and then zeal will follow.

Wind, smoke, fire, earthquake, the dove, these are likenesses, manifestations, symbols as it were of the Holy Spirit each metaphor carrying a particular characteristic attribute. We do not write any Icon of the Holy Spirit- the only icon would be a saint in whom the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling. 

Our Lord teaches us that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us and St Paul tells us that our body is indeed the temple of the Holy Spirit. The flame burns so that we shine as lights in the world. Light does not draw attention to itself but brings light to everything else.

The Holy Spirit gave the apostles and disciples the ability to speak in different languages and for those present to hear them speaking in their own language. 

Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 

Communication is restored! God speaks and the world comes into being. God speaks through the prophets: “Thus says the Lord” and they foretell the future; God speaks in the Law  eg.“Do not steal” and His statutes are made, but now God speaks in all those who through Grace have been given the Holy Spirit. St Paul reminds us that we should not worry what to say if called to account. The Holy Spirit will speak for us because He is the counsellor and the advocate. Indeed, we cannot pray unless the Spirit prays with us and in us.

So if prayer is “petrol” for the engine, here is some “fuel” for your journey. It is a beautiful prayer which I say at the beginning of each day. It is from the Optina Fathers:

“O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace, help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul and firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my deeds and words, guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by You. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray, and Yourself, pray in me. Amen.”

It is a blessing that, although unworthy, we are afforded the saving word in our own languages to hear the wonderful works of God. Those who heard the message of salvation were amazed and perplexed saying to one another: “Whatever could this mean?” Perhaps it means that we, who are drawn from North and South and East and West may hear the word of God and keep it and so enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We see in the events of the Tower of Babel Gen  11:1-9 how human pride tried to scale the heights of heaven and resulted in division; we see at Pentecost Acts 2:1-12 how the descent of the Holy Spirit opened the way to unity with the Most Holy Trinity. 

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean….and blot out my iniquities….Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence; and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” Ps.50: 7,9-11