continued from page 1
essence, one being, with the Father from
Whom He proceeds eternally, and with
the Son and Word begotten of the Father
before all ages. That life, essence, and
being which these three-in-one share is
love. Love by which and for which we
are all created — over true life, nothing
less than participation in the radiant and
eternal life of the Holy Trinity. Our
vocation, no matter who we are, is to
enter into this love of God, to abide in
it, to share it with one another just as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share it with
each other in an utterly transcendent
unity of being.
Our prayer for the spirit of love is the
crown of all our Lenten efforts, the summit to which we beg God to lift us.
From “The Light of Orthodoxy” Radio
Program. Fr. Thomas Mueller, Ss.
Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church,
Milwaukee WI.
FROM THE FATHERS
Into the black, yawning grave fly all
hopes, plans, habits, calculations, and
— above all — meaning: the meaning of
life. Meaning has lost its meaning, and
another incomprehensible Meaning has
caused wings to grow at one’s back...
And I think that anyone who has had
this experience of eternity, if only once;
who has understood the way he is going,
if only once; who has seen the One who
goes before him, if only once — such
a person will find it hard to turn aside
from this path: to him all comfort will
seem ephemeral, all treasures valueless,
all companions unnecessary, if amongst
them he fails to see the One Companion,
carrying his Cross.
MOTHER MARIA OF PARIS (LINES
WRITTEN AFTER THE DEATH OF
HER CHILD)
Truth for us is not a system of thought.
Truth is not created. Truth is. Christ is
the truth. Truth is a person. Truth is not
limited within our apprehension of it.
Truth transcends us; we can never come
to the full comprehension of Truth.
The search for Truth is the search for
the person of Christ.
Truth is the Mystery of the person
of Christ; and, because it is a person,
the Mystery is inseparably linked with
the event: the event of the encounter.
Mystery and event are one.
The Mystery, for the Orthodox mind,
is a precise and austere reality. It is
Christ, and it is to meet Christ.
MOTHER MARIA OF NORMANBY
A marvelous wonder has this day
come to pass:
Nature is made new, and God
becomes man.
That which he was, he has
remained;
And that which he was not, he has
taken on himself
While suffering neither confusion
nor division.
How shall I tell of this great
mystery?
He who is without flesh becomes
incarnate;
The Word puts on a body;
The Invisible is seen;
He whom no hand can touch is
handled;
And he who has no beginning now
begins to be.
The Son of God becomes the Son
of man:
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today and for ever.
FROM VESPERS ON CHRISTMAS
DAY
Ο.ι.δ.α.; 2 Lakeshore Boulevard, PO Box 35; Grand Isle, VT 05458
Phone: (802) 372-4361; [email protected]
Go Forth...and teach all nations. (Matthew 28:19)
Go Forth
VOLUME 23 NUMBER 13
MARCH 31, 2013
PRAYER OF SAINT EPHRAIM
We ask to be delivered from the spirit
of a passionate and disturbed soul and,
turning to Christ, the Lord of our life,
we beg instead for a different spirit
— the Holy Spirit — “Grant instead to
me, Thy servant, the Spirit of purity,
humility, patience and love.”
We ask the Lord for the spirit of
purity or chastity. St. John of the
Ladder, the great spiritual guide and
physician of the sixth century, tells us
this about purity and chastity of heart:
“Someone told me of an extraordinarily high degree of purity. He said,
‘A certain man, on seeing a beautiful
body, thereupon glorified the Creator,
and from that one look, he was moved
to the love of God and to a fountain
of tears. And it was wonderful to see
how what would have been a cause for
destruction for one was for another the
supernatural cause of a crown.’ If such
a person always feels and behaves in
the same way on similar occasions,
then he has risen immortal before the
General Resurrection.”
Such is the ultimate effect of purity
of heart, Whose Good and Holy Spirit
we seek in our prayer.
The Spirit Who can alone produce
humility in us pride-prone men will
also lead us to the way of patience.
The humble man will not rail against
his brother or sister when they fail to
please or satisfy him. The humble
man will be softened — meek and
gentle in heart, like the Lord Himself
Who would not allow Peter to attack
his assailants, Who would not condemn
His murders but instead forgave them
with His dying breath. Our prayer asks
for the Spirit of patience from the One
Who forgives us seventy times seven, as
often as we ask Him in sincerity. We can
see how closely intertwined are humility
and patience, two fruits of the one Spirit.
Thus St. John of the Ladder tells us that
“Nothing is so inappropriate to penitents
as an agitated spirit, because conversion
requires great humility, and anger is a
sign of every kind of presumption.”
Presumption of what? In anger and
impatience, we presume that we deserve
to be satisfied, made comfortable, made
happy, that we deserve to have our will
done. The patient spirit is one who has
really learned to say: “Thy will be done
on earth as it is in Heaven.” And, “Not
my will, but Thine, be done.” Presumption leads to impatience; humility and
self-realism to patience. St. John tells
us, again, that “As with the appearance
of light, darkness retreats, so at the
fragrance of humility all anger and bitterness vanish.” Humility and patience
then are signs of the purity of heart by
which we can see God’s light and reflect
it to one another.
Finally, in our Lenten Prayer we ask
for love. “Grant to me Thy servant the
spirit of love” we pray. The Spirit of
Love is Love itself for the Evangelist St.
John tells us in his first Epistle: “God is
love, and he who abides in love abides
in God…” The Holy Spirit shares one
continued on back page
APRIL 4 - SAINT NIKITA THE
ALBANIAN
When we pray for the suffering
Orthodox people in the world, we
often forget about our brothers and
sisters in Albania. Yet, they have
suffered greatly for our Saviour,
and they are still suffering today.
Perhaps the life of the holy martyr
Nikita will remind us of them, and
we will begin to pray for the muchsuffering Orthodox Christians of
Albania, hoping that they also
pray for us.
When he was still a young boy
in Albania, our holy father Nikita
desired to become a monk. As soon
as he was old enough to grow a
beard, the Christ loving youth set
out for the Holy Mountain. There,
he came to the monastery of St.
Panteleimon and begged the abbot
to accept him.
St. Nikita was a very strict faster
and he soon became known for
his struggles. Moreover, he was
greatly admired for his wisdom
and understanding of the Divine
Scripture, and he was soon ordained
a presbyter. After some years,
the saint became worried that he
would fall into pride because of the
praises everyone was giving him,
so he asked his elder for a blessing to go away and live alone. St.
Nikita went to the lonely cells of
the Skete of St. Anne and there he
struggled for a long time in fasting
and prayer.
At length, the holy priest felt a
great desire to go forth and preach
the Gospel of our Saviour to the
faithful and also to those who did
not believe. “Perhaps,” he thought,
“God will even grant me to become
a martyr for Christ’s sake.” The
saint told his elder of his longing
to be a missionary and to suffer
martyrdom for Christ’s sake. The
elder gave his blessing and St.
Nikita set out with great love and
humility.
When St. Nikita came to the town
of Serres, he went to the monastery
hostel for vespers. It was holy
week and the saint wanted to have
Holy Communion. He went to the
abbot of the hostel for confession,
and told him of his desire to witness for Christ and to become a
holy martyr if. God so willed. “Let
it be according to God’s will,” the
abbot said. Having received Holy
Communion, the saint set out and
visited other churches in the city .
He also went to the Church of the
Divine Wisdom, which the Turks
had taken away from the Orthodox
people and turned into a Moslem
mosque. As he entered the mosque,
he saw a crippled Moslem man sitting near the door. The saint was
moved by compassion for the poor
man, came over to him and said,
“Do you wish to be healed?”
“Of course,” the man answered.
“But that is not possible.” The saint
looked at him tenderly and said:
“You can be healed
if you will do as I say.
Believe in Jesus Christ
as the one true God, and
be baptized into His Holy
Orthodox Church, and I
promise you that you will
be completely healed.”
When the crippled man
heard this, he made his
way to the chief teacher of
the mosque and told him
about the Orthodox monk
who had tried to convert
him. The chief of the
mosque quickly sent men
to arrest the saint. When
the saint was brought in,
the chief teacher asked him: “What
is it that you were teaching to this
Moslem? It is against the law for
you to teach Moslems about Jesus
Christ.”
At that, St. Nikita began to speak
about Christ. He explained how
Christ was truly God, and how He
loves us so much that He came to
earth to save us from the power of
Satan and death.
When he heard all these words,
the chief of the mosque sent St.
Nikita to the governor of the city.
The governor asked the saint, “Why
are you teaching people to believe
in Christ? Why are you speaking
against the Moslem religion?”
Saint Nikita again told them all
about Christ and His holy Orthodox
Church. He also explained to them
why the Moslem religion is false.
The governor of the city, when
he heard all this, sent St.
Nikita to the ruler. The
ruler asked the saint all the
same questions, and then
he said:
“It is forbidden for you to
teach anyone about Christ.
I will have to put you into
prison and decide what to
do with you later.”
Saint Nikita was taken to
the prison, and the guards
began to torture him. They
hoped they could force him
to renounce Christ, and
so they beat him cruelly,
burned his body with hot
irons and tortured him in
many other terrible ways. But the
saint only gave glory to God and
prayed.
Finally, the ruler, seeing that the
more he was tortured, the stronger
the saint grew, ordered that Nikita
be hanged. Our holy father Nikita
was martyred in the evening of
Great Holy Saturday. His sacred
relics were left hanging in the public
square in the sun for a whole week,
but they did not show any signs of
decay. After several days, the Orthodox people were allowed to take
the holy relics and bury them. Many
miracles were worked through the
saint’s relics and prayers.
Through his holy prayers, may we
also find courage to stand firm in
the Orthodox faith and expose the
falsehood of this world. Amen!
From Lives of Saints for Young People,
Volume 9. Fr. Lazar Puhalo. Synaxis Press,
Chilliwack, B.C.