Thou didst ascend the cross
O Jesus
Thou Who didst descend from heaven
Thou camest unto death
O Life Immortal
Thou camest unto those in darkness
Thou Who are the True Light
Thou camest unto the fallen
O Resurrection of us all
Our Light and Savior
Glory to Thee
P R A I S E
In loving praise of precious Timothy and Maura from
our Holy Father Nikolai Velimirovich
Timothy and Maura, crucified and pale,
Through the Lord Christ, looked at one another,
And by the spirit see each other better than with the eyes,
By pain exalted, above all things.
And Timothy speaks: Maura, my sister,
You are of a female nature, and your pain is greater!
By prayer be encouraged, do not despair sister,
All of your thoughts, affix to Christ.
Maura replied: Brother Timothy,
The Spirit of God I feel, in my soul it waves
He keeps me strong, and helpless, He strengthens me,
And the Sweet Jesus, my pains alleviates,
But, about you, my glorious pride, I am concerned,
What kind of pains, with yours can be similar?
But just a little while, a little while, my sweet brother,
From the thorns of sufferings, then the roses will blossom,
To the entire heavenly host, the darling you will be,
Only endure, endure without sound and sobbing
Let us be alert brother, let us not fall asleep,
Perhaps the Lord might come, that we not be ashamed.
Behold, the entire heavens opened, I see
Unseen treasures for us prepared.
Then Timothy to Maura: O sister, wonderful,
Bride of Christ, glorious martyr,
For His glorious mercy, let us glorify God,
That such an honorable death, He permitted upon us.
O glory to You O Savior, Who for us suffered;
Our spirit, we now commend into Your hands.
Timothy was a lector in his local church. The governor questioned him: "Who are you?" To that Timothy responded: "I am a Christian and a lector of God's Church." The governor further said to him: "Do you not see these instruments prepared for torture surrounding you?" Timothy replied: "And, do you not see all the angels of God who strengthen me?" Then the governor ordered an iron rod be pierced through his ears so that the pupils of his eyes protruded from pain. After that, they hung him upside down and placed a piece of wood in his mouth.
At first, Maura was frightened because of Timothy's sufferings, but when her husband encouraged her, she also confessed her steadfast faith before the governor. The governor then ordered all the hairs of her head pulled out and after that severed the fingers from her hands.
After many other tortures, from which they would have succumbed had not the Grace of God strengthened them, they were both crucified facing each other. Thus, hanging on the cross, they lived for nine days counseling and encouraging each other in perseverance. On the tenth day, they gave up their souls to their Lord for Whom they endured death on a cross and so were made worthy of His kingdom. They suffered honorably for Christ in the year 286 A.D.
23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Saint John 5:24-30 KJV
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
THE UNCREATED LIGHT
What is the Uncreated Light and how can we experience it?
Based on Saint Gregory Palamas and Saint Neilos the Ascetic
Go to PAGE HERE
Also, the divine light is not like an emanation from God – it is God itself, more exactly His energy. God is absolutely inaccessible in His nature (core) but perfectly communicable in His energies. This is an unspoken difference in the pure simplicity of God which overpasses any known complexity by us.
That’s why this light it is called “uncreated light”.
The main point in seeing the uncreated light isn’t the experience of the seeing of the light itself – even if this light is much more powerful than the light of the sun – routinely the saints said that it is “more powerful than 1,000 suns”. The main point is the absolute happiness and fulfillment provoked by this experience.
This happens when the intellect (mind, nous – νούς) has transcended intelligible realities and the concepts mixed with images, that pertain to them, and in a godly and devout manner has rejected all things, then it will stand before God deaf and speechless (cf. Ps. 38 : 13).
Now the intellect becomes simple in God’s hands and is unresistingly recreated in the most sublime way, for nothing alien intrudes on it: inner grace translates it to a better state and, in an altogether marvelous fashion, illumines it with ineffable light, thus perfecting our inner being. And when in this manner ‘the day breaks and the morning star rises in our hearts’ (cf. 2 Pet. 1:19), then ‘the true man’ – the intellect – ‘will go out to his true work’ (cf. Ps. 104:23), ascending in the light the road that leads to the eternal mountains.
In this light the mind miraculously surveys supramundane things, being either still joined to the materiality to which it was originally linked, or else separated from this materiality – this depending on the level that it has attained. For it does not ascend on the wings of the mind’s fantasy, in which case the mind always wanders about as though blind, without possessing an accurate and assured understanding either of sensory things not immediately present to it or of transcendent intelligible realities.
Rather it ascends in very truth, raised by the Spirit’s ineffable power, and with spiritual and ineffable apperception, it hears words too sacred to utter (cf. 2 Cor. 12:4) and sees invisible things. It becomes entirely rapt in this miracle, even when it is no longer there, and it rivals the tireless angelic choir, having become truly another angel of God upon earth. Through itself it brings every created thing closer to God, for it itself now participates in all things and even in Him who transcends all, inasmuch as it has faithfully conformed itself to the divine image.
The intellect’s proper state is a noetic height, somewhat resembling the sky’s hue, which is filled with the light of the Holy Trinity during the time of prayer. If you wish to see the intellect’s proper state, rid yourself of all concepts, and then you will see it like sapphire or the sky’s hue. But you cannot do this unless you have attained a state of dispassion, for God has to cooperate with you and to imbue you with His own-natural light.
No comments:
Post a Comment