Category Archives: The Diary of a Pustinnyk

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustynnik — 19

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Christ is Risen!

 I have in my collection a rare stone- it is from the Island of Iona. It is not precious in terms of monetary value but extremely precious in terms of faith. It comes from the Island where St Columba had his monastery and from where he launched his missionary journeys to Britain in the 6th.century. At the age of eight years of age, I visited the Island and the Monastery with my parents and collected a few of the distinctively green and white mottled pebbles from the beach (which you are not allowed to pick today.) It is rather beautiful how the roaring of the waves and tumbling of the rocks has smoothed the rough edges of the pebbles. Perhaps likewise we too will have our sharp edges smoothed by the storms and tides that beset us in these days.

Nettle soup ( part 1)

There is a story that on one occasion the saint (Columba) was going to the island cemetery to pray over the graves, when he saw an old woman cutting nettles. On enquiring why she was doing this, the old woman informed him that she was waiting for her cow to come into calf so that she could have milk; so until then she was living on nettle soup. St Columba thought that if the woman could have only nettle soup in expectation of a calf, he could have nettle soup in expectation of the Kingdom of Heaven.

nettle-soup-

The Mathematical Bridge*

“The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.”

Psalm 118:22

 

Mathematical_Bridge_Cambridge

 

Unhewn, estranged, indifferent,

Inactive, confused and alone;

The fire of the Spirit breathes movement

Forms shape into coarse living stone.

 

We will make a bridge together

We will cross the wat’ry divide,

Following Christ the God-man

Mystically at His side.

 

Beholding Mount Zion’s Vision,

Viewed from a Silver street,

Paved in ruby, topaz and beryl,

There, would-be disciples meet.

 

Turquoise, emerald, jacinth

Agate and amethyst glow

Chrysolite, onyx and jasper

Reflect on the pavement below.

 

Hope adds to the seeker’s salvation

Faith multiplies joy in the heart.

Love’s dividend shares the sorrow

Subtracts the self-seeking part.

 

We will break down walls of division

We will tread where saints have trod;

In fellowship as pilgrims

To build the City of God.

 

Holy Triangulation-Cross examination

Points to the One unknown.

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

 

Circled by thousands of angels

Assembled around and above;

Living Stones brought together

As beautiful bridges of love! 

 

Such is friendship, that through it we love places and seasons; for as bright bodies emit rays to a distance, and flowers drop their sweet leaves on the ground around them, so friends impart favour even to the places where they dwell. With friends even poverty is pleasant. Words cannot express the joy which a friend imparts; they only can know who have experienced. A friend is dearer than the light of Heaven, for it would be better for us that the sun were exhausted than that we should be without friends.  St John Chrysostom

 

*The so-called Bridge crosses the River Cam in Cambridge, England.

 

Eν Χριστώ

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustynnik — 18

easter flowesr

Atgyfododd Crist! Remember the Little things #Day 19 

Like Flowers of the Bible

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The beautiful flowers that I received from the sisters last week are beginning to fade but the phlox are still giving off their natural fragrance in the chapel. However, the bluebells in my back yard are profuse as is the mint and thyme in my little herb garden. Even the Basil bought from the supermarket long before lockdown has taken on a deeper hue of green and more intense aroma. I recall some years ago when one of our Post Graduate Parishioners at University had a Basil plant that grew to over one metre in height because he watered it with Holy Water.  I have also a beautiful Basil Cross that one parishioner gave to me- busuioc romanesc- even dried it has such an amazing distinctive fragrance.

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Each day I feed the plants with a little holy water and ashes from the censer – they respond to this blessing by flourishing. No less should we be like the flowers and flourish with God’s blessings. Like the rich variety of plants, we each have our own distinctive form and beauty in order to give glory to our Creator.

Creation which is usually groaning ( Romans 8:22-24) knows that it is Bright Week and is responding accordingly with effulgent joy.

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Romans 8:22-24

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

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Like Flowers of the Bible

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever..”

1 Corinthians 15:42

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

 

Consider the lilies, how they grow,

They toil not nor spin and yet they sow

Seeds of their own salvation story

 In their Resurrection glory.

Save and Protect us O Lord

 

Rose of Sharon whose most pungent scent

Showers the drought of our discontent,

As blue Iris petal’s waking eye

Sees the Star of Bethlehem die.

Save and Protect us O Lord

 

Crocus and tulip seek the Light.

Cyclamen, Hyacinth both invite

The Holy Guest who with synergy

 Breathes Life upon Anemone.

 Save and Protect us O Lord

 

 Young Narcissus heralds Easter morn.

His bright yellow trumpet greets the dawn

To welcome our Christ and His elect;

“Salute our God!” not self reflect.

 Save and Protect us O Lord

 

The grass it withers, the flower it fades,

Our short lives pass in gladdening shades,

‘Til dust and ashes in the ground

By Love’s great Life-Bestower found.

 Save and Protect us O Lord

 

Like flowers of the Bible, God says “grow!”

Our bodies too through His power will show

That last transfiguring mystery

When raised to immortality.

Save and Protect us O Lord

 

 In love did God bring the world into existence; in love is God going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state, and in love will the world be swallowed up in the great mystery of the One who has performed all these things; in love will the whole course of the governance of creation be finally comprised.

St Isaac the Syrian

My prayers and love

Eν Χριστώ

 

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Poustynnik — 17

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St John the Russian

 

Release the relics! Christ is Risen! Day #17

I am blessed with many relics of the saints in my Icon Corner so I am never alone: I am surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).

We heard the Gospel, John 20:19-25 at the Great Vespers of Love last Sunday, the Sunday of the Resurrection, in eight languages!

The opening verse begins” On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the Disciples were”…….

The doors were shut, yet Jesus came and stood among them and said to them , “Peace be with you!”  The doors to our homes are closed, we are shut in, during this pandemic lockdown state, yet Christ comes to us and enters to bring us His Peace.

 However, in a real spiritual sense, we have to open the door of our heart to Christ.

In the Victorian picture by Holman Hunt “Jesus the Light of the World, “our Lord is pictured with a lantern knocking on the door of a cottage, but there is no door handle on the outside- the door has to opened from inside. Once the Holy Spirit enters into our hearts we become infused with grace and peace.

Since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit we must realise the consequences of this for all the ages, not just for our life here on earth.

‘Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?’

I Corinthians 3:16.

 Release the relics!

 Ezekiel 37

37 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

 

 Such fragments of dust charged by bliss

 Are containers of the Father’s love;

Buried in the fertile soil discovered,

Absorbing truth, exuding faith

Transforming earth through a heavenly kiss:

 Retrieve the Relics.

 

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St John Maximovich

 

 

Whose is their face, their image, seal?

Where the provenance for holy bones?

Who lie beneath false moons, fake stars and Creation’s groans;

Christ is their home, their being and their source

To sing His grace in symphonic tones.

 Relocate the relics.

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 Those precious few who acquired the Light, hard won;

 “He that has the Son has life” we read.

The blind and lame find their way home, following

The plough, that turns the turf to the Sun;

Revive the seeds, reform the rebellious one.

 Re-illuminate the Relics.

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“Can these bones live?” asked God to his exiled flock

 Lifeless in the war strewn sand, upon a human threshing floor

  Prodigal flesh awakes when ground is dug

“He was lost and is found” in a Father’s hug

Time to rewind the mortal clock!

 Reinstate the Relics.

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Today we seek Elisha’s bones, to find his power,

Iridescent in poor cloth and marrow veiled to

Smell the fragrant odour surfaced;

Share that which imbues a holy residue

Who could resist such a sweet-scented flower?

 Redistribute the Relics.

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St John the Chosevite

A double portion of Elijah’s spirit clings to those who seek

 The Incarnation and the promise of the Christ.

No frame to hold yet by Spirit borne,

These bones yet live

and grant new structures to the weak:

 Restore the Relics.

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St Nektarios Pentapolis

Collect the dust! The Lord it was who shaped us men

Dried up are we, bleached white by the scorching sun

Open the door and let Christ in

And our bones will live again!

Your bones will live again!

 Resurrect the Relics.

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St Dionysios

 Speaking of the miraculous power of holy relics, Saint Ephraim the Syrian relates the following concerning the holy Martyrs:

“Even after death they act as if alive, healing the sick, expelling demons, and by the power of the Lord rejecting every evil influence of the demons. This is because the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit is always present in the holy relics.”

Eν Χριστώ

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Poustynnik — 16

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Christ is Risen!

Remember the Little things # 16 

 

The Grain of Wheat

 

“The devil is in the detail” is an idiom that is often heard. Omitting to read the small print in a contract may cause you inadvertently to break a contract. Some things may seem simple at first but may take longer than expected. However, one might more properly say that “God is in the detail”, there are mysterious elements hidden within the movements of His Creation. To see the hand of God in the smallest of things takes for a discerning eye. Details,” the small things” have importance because they have intrinsic value at every stage of their growth and application.

I am able, by God’s grace, to leave small fragments of the antidoron for the faithful from the Liturgy celebrated four weeks ago before lockdown!

I remember being at Sambata de Sus Monastery in Romania where there was a wheat field ripe with full grain. One of the pilgrims after the Holy Liturgy took a head of the wheat grains and rubbed them in his hands and blew away the husk and then ate the wheat. The action took my mind back to that occasion in the scriptures when Our Lord’s disciples did the same:

Luke 6

6 Now it happened that on a Sabbath he went through the grain fields, and his disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath? 3 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Have you not read this, what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry— 4 how he entered into the house of God and took the bread of the presentation, which it is not permitted to eat (except the priests alone), and ate it and gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

prosforo

The Grain of Wheat

Matthew 9:38

 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.”

 John 6:48: “I am the bread of life,……”

  

Salvation is held in that egg-shaped frame of life and energy.

No Pythagorean theory could calculate such perfect symmetry.

 No King but God could make such a realm of beauty and simplicity.

 That grain of wheat will be cut, dried and shaken in humility.

 

The miller will grind it into the flour of heaven, a foretaste of eternity.

 A man will earn his daily bread transporting that potential spirit to distillery.

 Another will take that white dusted remnant to the stores for his delivery.

 The mother will knead and bake the prosphora for the proskomede.

 

Then the Holy Spirit will invest within the Lamb the gift of immortality.

 The priest will give that Bread of Life, the One who died to set us free

 From broken hearts, our redemption from sin and earth-bound misery.

 The faithful stand, take and eat of that most precious Mystery.

 In that small grain, the Lord of the Harvest bestows the ultimate utility.

 

It was said of an old man that he dwelt in Syria on the way to the desert. This was his work: whenever a monk came from the desert, he gave him refreshment with all his heart. Now one day a hermit came and he offered him refreshment. The other did not want to accept it, saying he was fasting. Filled with sorrow, the old man said to him, “Do not despise your servant, I beg you, do not despise me, but let us pray together. Look at the tree which is here; we will follow the way of whichever of us causes it to bend when he kneels on the ground and prays.” So the hermit knelt down to pray and nothing happened. Then the hospitable one knelt down and at once the tree bent towards him. Taught by this, they gave thanks to God.

Saying from the Desert Fathers

 

 

Eν Χριστώ

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinnyk — 15

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Remember the Little things Diary #Day 15

Christ is Risen!

+ St George’s Day

 We remember today those Doctors, Nurses and Carers who work in our hospitals, surgeries and care homes. We thank them for their skill, courage and commitment. We have some of these front line heroes as part of our Parish who daily enter into battle against Coronavirus disease.

 I have two icons of St George at home, one, silver embossed, on the wall next to my staircase which I purchased many years ago whilst on holiday in Rhodes; the other given to me more recently. Every morning, when going downstairs I say, “St George defend me from every evil attack this day.”

 

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Saint George fought against evil with the virtues of valour and strength.

May the Holy and Great Martyr George the Trophy Bearer intercede before Christ for our Doctors, Nurses and Carers.

 

Troparion of St George Tone 4

As the deliverer of captives and defender of the poor, healer of the infirm and champion of kings, victorious great martyr George intercede with Christ our God for our souls’ salvation.

 

Nouns and Verbs

 

Matthew 7:21

 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

and

And Matthew 20:1-16 The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

 

Proper Nouns of holy faith possess a piety:

Bell and Bible, Church and Chalice, Lance and Liturgy;

But holier the Verbs; to love, to save, to heal, to pray,

To feed the hungry, clothe the poor, follow and obey.

 

Working in God’s Vineyard some sweat in the heat of day

But all receive the same reward, all have equal pay.

 O happy servants pruned and fruitful whom His Kingdom gain,

Rejoicing in the Son shine and singing in the Reign.

 

 “A small but always persistent discipline is a great force; for a soft drop falling persistently, hollows out hard rock.” St Isaac the Syrian

 

Love and prayers

Eν Χριστώ

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustynnik — 14

Monastery Vigilromanian orthodox nuns

Christ is Risen!

Remember the little things  — Day #13  

Dear friends in Christ, on this Day of Days, may the Light of the Risen Christ shine in your hearts.

Matthew 28:6 

6 He is not here: for He is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

 

Tismana

Tismana monastery

The New Birth

Reflection on a pilgrimage to Tismana monastery in Oltania, Romania

John 3:3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

The dawning mist, warmed by the red glowing charcoal of the solar orb

Infused the morning’s breath with pine tree, herb and scented smells.

Creation’s glorious incense clouds ascended to the heavenly altar above

To greet and meet before the throne, the vigorous calling of the Temple bells.

 

Beginners in life’s marathon we too climbed to make our prayerful progress in the faith

Joining streams of gliding nuns to Church, those angelic shadows of their Master’s way.

A fresh, cold, sparkling spring gushed from a rock next to the monastery’s holy gates

Quickening our spirits within as living water to refresh this beautiful new born day.

 

Some standing ready for the fight, others prostrate stilling the struggles of the night

Curled, we knelt within the nave as pre-born babies within their mothers’ wombs.

In the dark stillness of that marbled sepulchre burst forth Christ in resplendent light

With resurrection hands outstretched to deliver us in new birth from our earthly tombs.

 

 In Heaven’s panoply of the bright, host-filled company the embers of our spirits glowed

From sparks to flames, we shone as satellite moons orbit and reflect the glory of the Sun.

Whilst shafts of gold and arks of rainbow-promises fulfilled, through windows blazed

Blessing the bescreened holy ones whose crowns after life’s hard labour had been won. 

 

To the glory of God

 

Souls that love truth and God, that long with much hope and faith to put on Christ completely, do not need so much to be put in remembrance by others, nor do they endure, even for a while, to be deprived of the heavenly desire and of passionate affection to the  Lord; but being wholly and entirely nailed to the cross of Christ, they perceive in themselves day by day a sense of spiritual advance towards the spiritual Bridegroom. 

St. Macarius the Great 

 

 

Eν Χριστώ

The Coronavirus Diary of a Pustinnyk — 11

angel oak tree

1500-year-old Angel Oak tree in South Carolina

Remember the Little Things — Day #11

I love trees. Trees are magnificent in their audacious grandeur; sown in the dark soil they seek the light.

The trees which were bare a month ago are now in full bloom. Spring has come with all its glorious plenary pulchritude. We thank God for such beauty. Trees offer shade and colour; they even take our carbon dioxide and exchange it for oxygen. Trees are the lungs of the world.

The newly glorified Saint Amphilochios of Patmos (1888-1970) said: ” Whoever does not love trees, does not love God.”

 In these hard times, it is a temptation to become despondent; but this spirit comes from the evil one. Our lives are hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3) like the roots in the soil. Our faith can defy the weight of oppression like the sap which defies gravity through capillary action. Our lives can extend to all like the branches. If we have the will, with that awesome synergy which is Christ’s gracious dialogue with us, through His mercy and our hard work, we may bloom in holiness and bear fruit that will last.

Hearts of Oak

Theme: Despondency

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Luke 6:44: “For every tree is known by its own fruit.

“When despondency seizes us, let us not give in to it. Rather, fortified and protected by the light of faith, let us with great courage say to the spirit of evil: “What are you to us, you who are cut off from God, a fugitive for Heaven, and a slave of evil? You dare not do anything to us: Christ, the Son of God, has dominion over us and over all. Leave us, you thing of bane. We are made steadfast by the uprightness of His Cross. Serpent, we trample on your head.”

St. Seraphim of Sarov

 

“It was said of Abba John the Dwarf that one day he said to his elder brother, ”I should like to be free of all care, like the angels who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God. ”So he took leave of his brother and went away in the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door he heard his brother say,” Who are you?” before he opened it. He said,” I am John, your brother.” But he replied,” John has become an angel and henceforth is no longer among men.” Then John besought him, saying,” It is I.” However, his brother did not let him in but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, “You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat.” Then John made a prostration before him, saying,” Forgive me.” 

 

I hear Lord, there was once a Tree planted here in this place

 A Tree so fine and so splendid, a Tree full of beauty and grace.

  “Who planted this Tree of Life Lord here in this garden?

 It’s said that its fruit was so sweet and had the gift of peace and pardon

 Who tended this Tree in its youth Lord when it was growing into the light?

 When the gales blew and the storms raged in the middle of the night.

 Who first saw this Tree bud and blossom into flower

 As the sap of its spirit gave joy to each hour?

 Who watered this Tree Lord when it was parched and dry

 When some men ate of its labour and others wagged heads and passed by?

 Who cut down its branches where the birds of the air made a nest?

 Didn’t they taste of its fruit Lord, did not they know it was best?

 Who cut the Tree down to the ground Lord whilst it was rich in finest full bloom?

 There must have been more than one axe Lord, to bring about such a doom.

 But look Lord I see a young sapling springing from out of its roots

 And what wondrous a sight to behold Lord, there are thousands and thousands of shoots!

 What is this Garden called Father, is it Eden, what mystical name please impart?

 “The Tree is my Son, my young gardener and the garden my child is your heart.”

 

My love

Eν Χριστώ

The Coronavirus Diary of a Pustinnyk — 10

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In the windows of the houses in the street where I live and all around Britain we see Rainbows appearing as a sign of hope against the Coronavirus pandemic. It is also God’s sign of promise and covenant. (Genesis 9:12-13)

I see people waving through windows to their friends – looking out of their windows to see that rare glimpse of a car or a person passing by. In the window above my front and rear door hangs a Cross. On my inner doors, I paint in holy oil the same symbol of our faith. In my front window there hangs a lamp which burns in the evening as a sign of the presence of Christ and His saints.

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The peace plant and hyacinth — late hyacinths in my front “garden”; the perfume is  exquisite — Herbs are doing well!; a little mint, thyme and parsley at the herb tub — Glory to God for all things!

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Mirrors and Windows

In these challenging times, people find themselves adjusting to the basic necessities of life-food, medicine and shelter. There are no celebrations in local restaurants, fashion has become superfluous and even having your hair cut becomes a problem if you live on your own. 

 Vanity has become a pointless luxury -it always was! Why dress up when there is nowhere to go?  The writer of Ecclesiastes expresses it well. ( Ecclesiastes 1:1-12)

 Job also reminds us that the statutes of God must be kept whether or not it results in joy or sorrow. In the Gospel of Matthew 28:20 Christ makes a new covenant, which is for us to teach others to observe all that which He has commanded us and that He will be with us always, even to the end of the age. Amen

 

Mirrors and Windows

Matthew 5: 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” 

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

 

When we look at ourselves in a mirror we see only 

A reverse reflection of who we are with all our imperfections. 

Even then we possess ourselves in vanity. 

When we look at an Icon, we have a window into heaven 

And behold a revelatory image of the perfection we can achieve. 

Only then do we lose ourselves in Divinity. 

We must replace our mirrors with windows if we want to turn our

 Darkness into Light. 

 

“He who really keeps account of his actions considers as lost every day in which he does not mourn, whatever good he may have done in it.”

St. John of the Ladder

The Coronavirus Diary of a Pustinnyk — 9

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Remember the Little things #9

 

Yesterday, I was delighted to receive feedback from some of our parents concerning their young children being taught our Christian Faith at home. Our Sunday School is called ” Martha’s House,” which seems not only appropriate but in some way prophetic since the lock down. Our Sunday school leader gave construction tasks for our children to make Crosses and to build model Churches- the results were truly amazing!

 A three-year-old from one of our families decided to invite spiderman and his friends into his model Church on the Sunday of St Mary of Egypt, whilst singing “Lord da da mercy”. How considerate and proper to invite spiderman now that Church is held on the world wide web. All are welcome! 

Glory to God! 

 

Psalm 8:2

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

 

The Little Child

 

Matthew 2; 21 “Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother,

                     And came into the land of Israel.”

 

Did you sit at Joseph’s feet to see him work with wood?

Did you watch him smooth the plane to make the bad grain good?

Did you play out in the streets with friends and hit the ball?

Did they ask you for some food and then you gave it all?

O how I’d like to know the child in you but nothing much is told

All we hear are miracles about the sick, the young and old.

 

I want to know the little Christ that danced and sang and played.

I want to hear the stories of the little toys that Joseph made.

I want to see the joyful child that gave such love for free.

I want to find the little child that lives inside of me.

O how I’d like to rediscover some story of your fame

Before you calmed the waters and healed the sick and lame.

 

To the Glory of God

Abba Pambo said, “If you have a heart, you can be saved.”

 

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Pustynnik — 8

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Remember the little things #8

Dear Friends in Christ,

My “obedience” today was to trim the candles on the Holy Table and to clean the candlesticks.  Many of the faithful kindly bring beeswax candles back from Greece and Cyprus which, after being blessed, find their way into the Temple on the Holy Table and for the faithful to light on the candle-stands in front of the holy icons. 

Bees not content with giving us the sweetness of honey, give us a double blessing from their ascetic labour- they provide us with candle wax too.

It is a salutary lesson to observe the way the candle sacrifices itself, burning itself up in order to give light. 

Oh, that we were as productive as the bee and as selfless as the candle.

“Everything becomes more and more itself. Here is a joy that cannot be shaken. Our light can swallow up your darkness, but your darkness cannot now infect our light.” C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

 

The Candle

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men,

that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

 

The candle shines warm with a tender glow 

Inviting prayers of saints in heaven from those below.

 

A living flame to energize the evening gloom

Bringing hope and faith from despair and doom.

 

Its fragrance is the gentle offering of the beeswax comb

Its warmth and light bring sweet comfort to our home.

 

How beautiful the issue of its martyrdom for others

Sharing its holy energy for our Christian brothers.

 

Remembering still when our swift prayers have ceased

The candle’s light endures, to celebrate the feast.

 

Tears of wax flow down and gently weep

For those who live and those who sleep.

 

The nimbus signs the Pentecostal flame

As a blessing to endorse the votive name.

 

Burning up itself the stiffened tallow

Shrinks to nothing save to hallow

 

That which is offered with its light

Prayers which give our dim eyesight.

 

So may we, who upon life’s rocks are hurled

Shine as lights in this dark world.

 

“God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts.  Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil – for the devil is cold – let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbour, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance. “

St. Seraphim of Sarov