The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 30

icarus1
#Icarus 

 

Christ is Risen!

 

Being of a certain age, I often have to call upon one of my trusted “computer savvy techies” as they are known, to help me when my computer fails. I am hopeless when it comes to technology having been brought up with “chalk and talk”. So I would like to put a good word in for modern and ancient technology; for those who enable and help today and for the default reliability of books and pencils of ” yesterday”.

I see the great benefit of modern technology, particularly in these days of lockdown, but the internet is a Pandora’s Box. Information requires distillation and discernment if we are to sift the good from the bad. We have to know the boundaries and limits.  The fear of big brother and artificial intelligence is far removed from the fear of God and Divine illumination. Where are we, if and when this technology crashes? Back to pencils and books!

Although today most records in space are electronic, in the original space race, faced with the fact that ballpoint pens do not operate in zero gravity, a vast amount was spent on developing an alternative that would write in conditions experienced during space flight. Russia took the simple option of using pencils for recording data.

Some years ago I was able to help a rather concerned student in revision mode whose computer had a problem- the solution, a book on the precise academic subject he was studying. Glory to God, he passed his exam!

icarus2

Icarus

 

Ecclesiastes 1 

“16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”

 

High flyers soar upwards to enthral 

Little knowing the sun’s own ire

“As wax melts before the fire”

So too “Pride comes before a fall.”

In Paradise we make our wings

And think escape so great, so smart

To ply our course in scientific art,

As in the tree a mocking bird sings.

Satan still whispers “bow to me”

“Be free!” and “all these kingdoms own.”

Whilst angels standing round the throne

Weep at feathers floating on the sea.

“Poor human reason, when it trusts in itself, substitutes the strangest absurdities for the highest divine concepts”  St John Chrysostom

Dried Flowers and Tender Buds

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Christ is Risen! A miracle at St. George church in New Moudania, Chalkidiki. 18 days after the Epitaphios, all lillies “looking”towards Him are sprouting anew! Glory to God for all things!

 

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Christ is Risen! A miracle at St. George church in New Moudania, Chalkidiki. 18 days after the Epitaphios, all lillies “looking”towards Him are sprouting anew! Glory to God for all things!

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 29

child

Middle English:  Crist is arisen! Arisen He sothe!

 

As a pupil at school, I was obliged to study Shakespeare for English Literature; it was part of the curriculum and therefore I had no choice. I have to say that I found it rather dry, boring and difficult to understand. Many years later, however, a colleague asked me if I would like to go to Stratford on Avon to see the Royal Shakespeare Company in a Shakespeare play. I was rather disinclined based on my childhood antagonism but reluctantly agreed to go. What a revelation the play proved to be, causing a 180-degree reversal in my disposition! It was transformative, like for the first time seeing something in the light which had formerly only been in shadows. Within a short time of the play commencing I was wrapped, enthralled and fully engaged in the plot, transfixed by the sheer depth and cadence of language and in total empathy with the characters.

 The words took form in action and came to life!

The Word became flesh and lived amongst us!

The Celtic saints were very active, they did not just preach the word of God, they acted upon it and lived the Gospel out in their lives.

 

Sonnet I:

Nature and Nurture

Matthew 19:14

14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

 

What is this treasure which I hold so near?

Closer than my breath which her name repeats;

Reserve her character till time stands clear

To shape her mind as her own voice entreats.

I do not cradle now by spoken will,

But by parental care as love dictates;

Her fragile frame from birth is caused to fill

Gentle arms, whose enfolding indicates.

Echoes aforesaid when grown, she will be

A woman, wife and mother to her child;

Transferring grace and form for all to see

The pattern’s gift, though by encounters styled.

Sweet Nature, thy bounds are kindly, free and fair

If Nurture’s bonds from beauty seeks to share.

 

As a parent, every action you take is important when you raise children.  It is not necessarily what you say but how you act that teaches them the Orthodox way of life.

St Paisios of the Holy Mountain

My prayers

Eν Χριστώ

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 28

Butterfly

Christ is Risen!

 

I had a lovely surprise this morning. One of my Parishioners brought me a beautiful bunch of wildflowers; amongst them lots of Ox-eye Daisies, together with a number of “Lockdown goodies” as she describes them, one of which was another kind of flower-flour! Indeed, the English word flour is originally a variant of the word flower both words deriving from the French word fleur. At last, I can bake some bread! The wildflowers now supplement the cultivated ones the sisters brought me some weeks ago.

It reminded me of when I was in a village in Romania and a kind gentleman presented me with a huge bunch of wildflowers which he had picked. The amount, the richness and variety were amazing. I remember too visiting a hermitage where the monk was turning over the soil to bring to life the seeds which had lain dormant for so many years.

 My spiritual father when he lived near Cambridge had a large garden. He gave a large portion of it over to a meadow for sowing seeds of wildflowers. The result was a heartwarming profusion of colour: Meadow Buttercups, Cowslips, Dandelion Ragged Robin, Red Campion, Yarrow, Poppy, Chamomile, Corn Marigold, Cornflower, Evening Primrose, Vipers Bugloss, and of course, Forget-me-not.

As if I could?

 

These Island nations each have a flower which is often found as an emblem appearing on crests, coins, and flags. The national flower of Ireland is the shamrock (which is technically a plant), while Scotland’s national flower is the Thistle. Wales’ national flower is the bright yellow Daffodil. England has the Red Rose( as does Lancashire!)

 

A Garden in Harston*

 

John 12:24:  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

 

Autumn’s gentle dying and sighing into aspiring worth

Witnesses the gold leaves fall to carpet, as a covering for sin, the soft green earth.

What rich abundance there is in God’s economy!

Mellow fruits and flowers are wrapped in finest robes for God’s glory.

No harsh light to pierce the eyes of the tiredness of our soul,

Only the fresh glow of holy breath to make broken bodies whole:

Until God’s flora rests in winter’s death.

 

Here in the seasoned wisdom of third age flowers

The seeds of resurrection are stored for many hours,

Until that explosion of the third-day tomb;

God’s radiance warms the ground of that stone-cold womb.

In dappled light, in a garden in Harston, at hand is Son blessed soil.

We share the joy of those who labour there and wait on God with love and toil:

For new growth in God’s garden.

 

In weeding and turning of man’s substance is revealed new seeds

Which grow into new plants of scent and colour through holy deeds.

Sweet Mill View where, often unseen by human eye, the wheel of Life is turned,

Where through careful stewardship, the labourer’s pay is earned.

A dialogue with heaven is found and a covenant made long ago

In another garden secretly comes in time to grow:

Into that spring beauty of New Life.

 

“The more resolutely, the more constantly, your heart is turned towards God and His saints the more it will be enlightened, purified, and vivified.” St. John of Kronstadt.

* Harston is a village near Cambridge, England.

* Photography by Amit Das

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 27

under the stars

Under the Stars

Χριστός Ανέστη!
Some years ago I visited a monastery in a remote part of Greece and was taken aback somewhat being greeted by a nun with a most refined English accent: “ Your blessing! Oh, it’s so lovely to see you dear Father, welcome!” The nun was indeed from England, but in that Monastery there were nuns from all over the world; from Germany, Sweden, Finland, Philippines, Greece, Cyprus and one from the USA who knew the priest who had Chrismated me. It was like a little microcosm of Pentecost.

St Brigid and her Monastery

St Brigid became a hermit and built herself a cell near a large oak tree. But soon men and women came to join her, to live as monks and nuns; so she built a double monastery which became larger than any town in the country.

 Each evening the monks and nuns would go to the surrounding countryside to see if anyone required any food or accommodation. If someone was homeless, they brought them back to the monastery for food, rest and shelter. In addition, St Brigid built a hospital for those who were sick and who were cared for by the monks and nuns.

Near to the Monastery lived a rich merchant who had a disdain for religion and expressed his contempt for the monastery. Nevertheless, Brigid visited the man regularly despite his insults and the man came to have admiration for her convictions and persistence

The rich man fell sick with a fatal illness and called for St Brigid. He could not speak and she knew that no words would comfort him, so she made a cross of some new rushes and placed it in his hands. He lifted the Cross to his lips, kissed it and then departed this life.

Ekklesia-

John 15:18,19: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. if you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Based on the Letter of Mathetes to Diognetus 180 A.D.

 

These Christians who look down on death

With loving grace for one another,

Praise Christ with every living breath

Place Him above son, wife and mother.

 

As the soul is to the body

So are Christians to the world.

No country, language, custom, race

No philosophy of human health,

They live as aliens and trace

 Love to a heavenly commonwealth.

 

As the soul is to the body

So are Christians to the world.

They share everything and endure

Torture, death and hardship as gain,

Obeying laws they help the poor

Loving all, by all they suffer pain.

 

As the soul is to the body

So are Christians to the world.

We are unknown and yet still condemned

Defamed but are vindicated,

Destitute, broken hearts we mend

Reviled we bless, dying, to life translated.

 

As the soul is to the body

So are Christians to the world.

 

 

“O strange and inconceivable thing! We did not really die, we were not really buried, we were not really crucified and raised again, but our imitation was but a figure, while our salvation is in reality. Christ was actually crucified, and actually buried, and truly rose again; and all these things have been vouchsafed to us, that we, by imitation communicating in His sufferings, might gain salvation in reality. O surpassing loving-kindness! Christ received the nails in His undefiled hands and feet, and endured anguish; while to me without suffering or toil, by the fellowship of His pain He vouchsafed salvation.“

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, On the Christian Sacraments. 

 

Eν Χριστώ
* Photograph by Evgeni Tcherkasski

A DAY IN LOCKDOWN — the diary of a gardening mum

Faith

 4.30 am Wake up positive and well-rested; Quick prayer

4.45 am Tidy up, get school set up for the day, bake bread with the last packet of flour 5.30 am Coffee. Coffee. Think of many cunning and unlikely ways in which to obtain more flour and yeast

5.40 am Water garden

6.00 am Prayer

6.30 am Pack gardening kit

7.00 am Prayer. Ask St. Hilda for her intercession to be granted strength to do my work ahead

7.15 am Walk energetically and still positive to the allotment. Shout hello to every single stranger I meet on the way and who now feels like a friend

7.30-9.00 am Get impossibly muddy and think up ways in which to stop the bunnies, rats, mice, ants, snails, slugs, caterpillars from eating my crops without becoming or feeling like a mass murderer. It is very hard to share one’s crops with uninvited guests. Moral issue still unresolved

9.00 am Run back home always late for the beginning of homeschooling day. Supervise whining children and appear knowledgeable on various topics I have never come across.

12.00 Prayer

12.10 pm Prepare lunch very swiftly followed by tidy up lunch

1.30 pm More ancient Greek, Macbeth, coordinates and proportions, spelling, respiratory system, French, Edith Clarke (“Who was she?” “Mum, you don’t know? How shocking!”)

3.15 pm Big sigh. School is over.

3.20 pm Start making tea

4.00 pm Prayer

4.15 pm Play interminable board game which I never win

5.30 pm Make tea; eat tea; tidy up after tea

7.00 pm onwards: gardening, tidying, laundry, start new projects in the house and garden (since now there is no excuse not to do them since we are at home and do nothing all day – spot of decorating, some in-depth cleaning etc)

9.00 pm Collapse in a heap and go to sleep after the briefest prayer time ever

Also achieved: settled more or less successfully 25 disputes involving various combinations of children and husband; replied to what seems like 100 text messages and emails

Pages read: 0

Beauty treatments: 0

Movies watched: 0

TV watched: 0 minutes

The other day I was talking to a friend who lives alone in a flat. And as we spoke about our daily lives and routines, I was thinking how lucky this person was to live alone. I was thinking how much time they must have for reading and prayer, for watching documentaries and movies and doing their interesting and intellectual job well. I thought they wouldn’t have to justify themselves to their teenage children as to whether a purchase of plant seeds or a jigsaw on line are a justifiable action or a necessity in lockdown! They wouldn’t have to clean, tidy and cook non-stop.

As we spoke, my friend said how lucky I was to have a lot of space in my house and garden and to live with 5 other people for company. This made me think how often we say “If only…”, things would be so much better, so much easier, I could achieve so much more.

So I went back to my daily life decided not to wish for anything else other than what I have but be thankful and make the most of what I have… most days. Determined to give thanks to God for the people I have to cook for even when I argue with them and am not as mild and patient as I wish, for the space I enjoy and need to clean and tidy all the time, for the plants and creatures who live in the garden and on the allotment (I might even start sharing with them), for having my children lively and healthy at home all day before they grow up and leave, for learning new things through them every day. And I also have to admit, if I can face the truth, even if I lived alone, I probably would not do that much reading! I wonder if my friend, reading my daily diary will suddenly feel grateful for his circumstances and enjoy and be thankful for the order, peace and quiet in his life?

Let us give thanks to the Lord for everything and for every precious moment in our lives!

By a dearest friend back at the UK. God bless her!

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 26

BELIEVE

Believe …

Hristos a înviat

 

I recall on my first visit to Romania attending the funeral of an old lady in a small village. The Parishioners had kept vigil all night before the funeral, waiting patiently outside her home, saying fervent prayers for their departed friend. There were weeping and sorrow mixed with resurrection hope and humble faith together with profuse expressions of sympathy and compassion for the bereaved family.

St Columba ordains a priest.

In central Scotland, there was a priest called Molluch who wanted to be a priest although he could not read or write. He approached St Columba on one of the saint’s missionary journeys to that region.  St Columba wanting to test Molluch’s faith told him to go and fish in the nearby lake and when he had caught a fish to come back. Puzzled by this instruction but obedient Molluch took a small coracle to the lake and started fishing. For two days and two nights, he caught nothing but on the third day he caught a fish. However, on catching the fish he took pity on it; carefully removing it from the hook, he returned it to the water. Rowing back to shore Molluch confessed to the saint and told him what had happened. St Columba commended him for his patience, compassion, and humility; qualities which he saw as necessary for the priesthood. St Columba ordained Molluch who duly proved to be an excellent priest.

O What Faith

Luke 7:9; “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”

Gentle gentile strong and brave

Built a synagogue and gave

A chance of life to his dear slave:

By his faith.

He showed his care and great compassion

In more than any normal ration

When humility was not the fashion:

He showed faith.

A Centurion ruled with iron glove

But this one knew of Him above

Whose hands could heal with powerful love:

Given faith.

Considerate in his way and kind

A virtue one would rarely find

In one so masterful a mind:

Blessed by faith.

His faith was simply of the best

Surpassing Israel and the rest

Such trust which passes every test:

This is faith.

To the glory of God

Sayings from the Desert Fathers

The old men used to say, “If someone has faith in another and hands himself over to him in complete submission, he does not need to pay attention to God’s commandments but he can entrust his whole will to his father. He will suffer no reproach from God, for God looks for nothing from beginners so much as renunciation through obedience.”

 
Εν Χριστώ

Reflections on the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearing Women

Freedom concept

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 6:1-7

… “it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 

MARK 15:43-47; 16:1-8

“… and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. …  “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. “

“Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” This is the question that the holy women myrrh bearers were considering as they made their way to anoint the body of Our Lord in accordance with the funerary rites. The tomb of our Lord was sealed. Who will roll away the stone….is a question which we should consider today? For today there are tombs of indifference towards Our Lord- for the unbeliever, He remains buried in history. We must not leave Christ in the sepulchre but bring His Light out to the people and share the message of the Resurrection.

It is this very point that the first disciples were considering as we read in the Acts of the Apostles.

“it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The Apostles considering the needs of the widows, orphans appointed seven deacons to administer the diaconal ministry to the poor so that they could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. The Church in her wisdom provides for both aspects of service; the spiritual and bodily needs.

We do not bury Christ in the Church but we take His message and His compassion out into the world. We see how the Church in the first century was not inward-looking at all but took the message with great zeal to the nations. The Church was missionary in outlook from the very beginning. The word Apostolic Church is self-defining and denotes those who are sent out!

We can bury Christ in the Bible unless we open it, read it, mark the words, learn the message and inwardly digest the truth for our salvation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is not an ornament on our bookshelves, neither is the Bible just some historical document; it is the place where we encounter the inspired word of God and where we meet the Word of God in Christ.

“Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”

Christ can remain buried in our minds. There are those who say: “ Oh I worship God in my own way, there is no need to go to Church!”  Such people shut Our Lord up in the tomb of their own imagination, worship Him at their own convenience and apply misguided reasoning to what constitutes faith.

There are those who are embarrassed to talk about Christ when the opportunity arises or to profess their Christian faith lest others, conforming to a more liberal, secular disposition, would see them as odd or be worse, be offended.  At such time we leave the stone sealed at the tomb!

We are in a sense to be myrrh bearers but we must ask the question “Who will roll away the stone of the tomb for us?”

“And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large.”

As the women go into the tomb they see an angel in the form of a young man who gives them the message- for that is what angels do – they give messages:

And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, He is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.”

We often find ourselves vulnerable and afraid like the myrrh bearers, but we are compelled by the love of God to become human messengers of this Gospel!

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

We must not leave Christ buried under the concerns of worldly cares, we must roll away the stone from the tomb of our heart and soul, and open our mouth to proclaim the message of salvation: Christ is Risen!

By a Joyous Pustinnyk