The Holy Martyr Emilianós
Saint Pambo of Egypt
TOC
On Denying Christ
by Saint Paisios the Great
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by Saint Ephraem the Syrian
Suggestion: Read before the
Feast of Transfiguration - Aug. 6/19 ns
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Love: Experienced but Not Defined;
(anon)
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Be Still and Know that I am God
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L I N K S
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"Understanding the nature of good and the nature of evil"
Teaser: Evil is corruptible because corruption is the nature of evil, which does not possess any true existence whatsoever.
by St. Maximos the Confessor
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1 Corinthians 2:9-3:8 KJV
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
On Denying Christ
Saint Paisios the Great
I never knew you. St. Matthew 7:23
A certain monk, simple according to intellect, was a disciple of the holy Paisios (St. Paisios the Great ca. 320-417), obeying well all his commandments. One time he went into Egypt to sell handiwork. On the road he met a certain Hebrew, and he went together with him. When the Hebrew recognized the simplicity of the monk, he poured forth with his foul tongue the poison of the soul-destroying serpent which he had in his heart, and said to him: “O monk, why do you believe in the Crucified One with such simplicity and so haphazardly, when He is not the expected Messiah? Because another will be he, and not the one in which you Christians believe.”
The monk out of guilelessness and simplicity of heart, fell into error and said: “Perhaps it is thus, just as you say.” And at once, alas, the calamity that the misfortunate one suffered! He fell from the Grace of Holy Baptism, as will be made manifest from the following.
When he returned to the desert and the divine Paisios saw him, Paisios completely rejected him and did not even want to see him or talk with him, but turned away from him. The disciple saw that the elder was avoiding him. He grieved bitterly and wished to know the cause. Wherefore, he fell at his feet and said to him: “Father, why is it that you turn away from me, the wretched one, and do not wish to see me, but loathe me as an abomination, a thing formerly you did not do to me?”
The elder said: “And who are you, O man, for I do not know you?”
The disciple said to him: “And what unusual thing do you see, O father, in me, that you do not recognize me? Is it not I, your disciple?”
And Paisios said: “That disciple of mine was a Christian and possessed baptism, while you are not he. If you are that disciple of mine, recognize this, that the baptism and the symbol of Christians has abandoned you. Tell me, what happened to you and what did you go through on the road?”
Lamenting and wailing, he told him: “Nothing at all happened, father.”
And the elder said to him: “Go away from me, child, because I cannot bear to hear the speech of a man who has denied Christ, for if you were a disciple of mine, I would recognize you just as before.”
Then the miserable monk sighed and groaned, shedding tears that moved the elder to compassion. He insisted that he was his same disciple and not another, and that he did not know at all what crime it was that he had committed, nor that he did any evil.
Then the great Paisios said to him: “With whom did you speak on the road as you were going?” the disciple answered him: “With a Hebrew I was conversing, and with no one else.”
Paisios continued: “What did the Hebrew say to you and what did you reply?” “He said but one thing to me, that the One Whom we Christians worship is not Christ, but another one is he which shall come. And I told him: ‘Perhaps it is thus, as you say.'”
The the elder said to him: “O miserable one, what is worse or more shameful than that which you said? O wretched one, with that you denied Christ and were divested of Holy Baptism, Well then, go weep for yourself as you wish. You have nothing to do with me anymore, because your name is written together with those who denied Christ and with them you will receive damnation.”
The disciple heard these things and groaned from the depths of his soul. With lamentation and wailing he said: “Father, have mercy on me, the unfortunate one. I know not what to do, for due to my carelessness and inattention I have rejected Divine Baptism and have become the prey of demons. However, it is to you that I turn to after God for refuge, do not, therefore, neglect me, the miserable one.”
In like manner, the disciple besought him with tears more than with words, and the elder was moved to compassion. He said to him: “Have patience, child, I will supplicate the compassion and mercies of the man-befriending God on your behalf.”
These things he said and entreated God fervently, seeking forgiveness for his disciple. And God did not tarry, but immediately He forgave the sin of the disciple, and again made him worthy of the Grace of Holy Baptism. For Paisios saw the Holy Spirit entering the mouth of the disciple as a dove, and the spirit of blasphemy came out and vanished like smoke, dispersing into the air; thus was the blessed one informed concerning his prayer, and he turned to the disciple saying:
“Glorify God, child, and thank Him together with me, because the unclean spirit of blasphemy has come out of you, and instead you have received the Holy Spirit and the Grace of Baptism has been returned to you. So then, be watchful that you not fall again into the trap of impiety out of carelessness and negligence, nor betray your soul, and that you not burn in the fire of hell for some similar sin.”
And, in this manner, he corrected the disciple.
Preserve and save, O Theotokos, thy servants from every danger; after God do all of us for refuge flee unto thee; a firm rampart art thou and our protection..
Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
ON THE TRANSFIGURATION
From the land comes the joy of harvest, from the vineyard fruits that give food, and from the Scriptures teaching that gives life. The land has one season for the harvest, and the vineyard has one season for the vintage, but the Scripture when read always overflows with teaching that gives life. The land when it has been harvested lies fallow and the vineyard when the grapes have been picked is unproductive, but when Scripture is harvested the grapes of those who expound it are not lacking in it. It is picked every day and the grape clusters of the hope in it are never exhausted.
Let us then draw near to this land and enjoy its life-giving furrows; and let us harvest from it grapes of life, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said to his Disciples, ‘There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his glory’. ‘And after six days He took Simon Peter and James and John his brother to a very high mountain and he was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and his garments became white like light’. Men whom He said would not taste death until they saw the image of his coming, are those whom He took and led up the mountain and showed them how he was going to come on the last day in the glory of his divinity and in the body of His humanity.
He led them up the mountain to show them who the Son is and whose He is. Because when He asked them, ‘Whom do men say the Son of man is?’ They said to him, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets. This is why he leads them up the mountain and shows them that He is not Elias, but the God of Elias; again, that He is not Jeremias, but the one who sanctified Jeremias in His mother’s womb; not one of the Prophets, but the Lord of the Prophets, who also sent them.
And he shows them that He is the maker of heaven and earth, and that he is Lord of living and dead. For He gave orders to heaven and brought down Elias, and made a sign to the earth and raised up Moses.
He led them up the mountain to show them the glory of the godhead and to make known to them that He is the redeemer of Israel (def. "those who see God"), as He had shown through the Prophets, and they should not be scandalized in Him when they saw His voluntary sufferings, which as man He was about to suffer for us. For they knew Him as a man, but did not know that He was God. They knew Him as son of Mary, going about with them in the world, and He made known to them on the mountain that He was Son of God and God. They saw that He ate and drank, toiled and rested, dozed and slept, things which did not accord with his divine nature, but only with His humanity, and so He took them to the mountain that the Father might call him Son and show that He is truly his Son and that He is God.
He led them up the mountain and showed them His kingship before his passion, and His power before His death, and His glory before His disgrace, and His honour before His dishonor, so that, when He was arrested and crucified by the Jews, they might know that He was not crucified through weakness, but willingly by His good pleasure for the salvation of the world.
He led them up the mountain and showed the glory of His divinity before the resurrection, so that when He rose from the dead in the glory of His divine nature, they might know that it was not because of His harsh toil that He accepted glory, as if He lacked it, but it was His before the ages with the Father and together with the Father, as He said as He was coming to His voluntary passion, ‘Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world existed’.
And so on the mountain He showed His Apostles the glory of His divinity, concealed and hidden by His humanity. For they saw His face bright as lightning and his garments white as light. They saw two suns; one in the sky, as usual, and one unusually; one visible in the firmament and lighting the world, and one, His face, visible to them alone. His garments white as light showed that the glory of his divinity flooded from His whole body, and his light shone from all his members. For His flesh did not shine with splendor from without, like Moses, but the glory of His divinity flooded from him.
His light dawned and was drawn together in Him. Nor did depart somewhere else and leave Him, because it didn't come from another place and adorn Him, nor was it for His use. And He did not display the whole depth of his glory, but only as much as the limits of their eyes could encompass. ‘And there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him’. And the words that they said to him were such as these: they were thanking him that their words and those of all their fellow Prophets had been fulfilled by His coming. They offered Him worship for the salvation which He had wrought for the world for the human race; and that He had fulfilled in reality the mystery they had only sketched. There was joy for the Prophets and the Apostles by this ascent of the mountain. The Prophets rejoiced when they saw his humanity, which they had not known. The Apostles also rejoiced when they saw the glory of His divinity, which they had not known, and heard the voice of the Father bearing witness to his Son; and through this they recognized His incarnation, which was concealed from them. And the witness of the three was sealed by the Father’s voice and by Moses and Elias, who stood by Him like servants, and they looked to one another: the Prophets to the Apostles and the Apostles to the Prophets. There the authors of the old covenant saw the authors of the new. Righteous Moses saw Simon the sanctified; the steward of the Father saw the administrator of the Son. The former divided the sea for the people to walk in the middle of the waves; the latter raised a tent for the building of the Church. The virgin of the old covenant saw the virgin of the new: [Elias and John;] the one who mounted on the chariot of fire and the one who leaned on the breast of the flame.
And the mountain became a type of the Church, and on it Jesus united the two covenants, which the Church received, and made known to us that he is the giver of the two. The one received his mysteries; the other revealed the glory of his works. Simon said, “It is good for us to be here, Lord”. “Simon, what are you saying? If we remain here, who fulfils the word of the Prophets? Who seals the sayings of the heralds? Who brings to perfection the mysteries of the just? If we remain here, in whom are the words, ‘They dug my hands and my feet’ fulfilled?
To whom do the words, ‘They parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing’ apply? To whom does, ‘They gave me gall as my food, and with vinegar they quenched my thirst’ relate? Who confirms, ‘Free among the dead?’ If we remain here, who will tear up the record of Adam’s debt? And who will pay his debt in full? And who will restore to him the garment of glory?
LOVE - EXPERIENCED BUT WITHOUT DEFINITION
Anyone who has fallen in love knows that once it happens, it needs no reminding, no prompting, no reasoning, no examination because it is unfathomably simple and constantly experienced/treasured and, without any doubt, inexplicable by anyone. You wake in it, you sleep in it, it never wavers. And in many cases, it is mutual.
Such it is with Christ. However, when we seek with all our heart to love Him, it turns to the ecstasy of worship and is always mutual.
If and again if desired, a taste is given and one is on the way. (Anon)
T H E
PARAGON
What is the Paragon? It is a Signpost
As a signpost, what direction does it give? It indicates: "This way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
What are the directions? Read the Paragon and find out. Until then, know that it points the way through the Epistles, Prophecies and Gospels taken from the Holy Bible; it provides accounts of the lives and deeds of those who through renunciation of this temporal life for Him, by breath or by blood, and thereby the Father is revealed by the Son so they have come to "know" and become one with Him (Theosis); it contains detailed assistance, provided by God Himself, directly to the tongues and pens of His true followers.
I often don't understand the readings! If you believe God, then you know He is omniscient and you therefore trust Him. He knew we would disfigure His image in us before He created us, hence He instructs the soul directly according to its needs required for salvation. And when the soul responds with genuine love and sincere desire for healing, it is enlightened and brought out of the darkness of a disfigured mind. Reflect, contemplate and pray to know more clearly who He is speaking to when He makes the command: "Physician, heal thyself" Isn't the conscience the small Christ within us, warming our hearts?
Does the Paragon provide anything else? Yes, encouragement to trust that one can transcend from "belief" to "knowing". If one forsakes all loves for the love of God, denies his or her very self, takes up the Cross and follows, Christ may be pleased to reveal the Father, Who is Everlasting Life.
Be Still and Know that I am God
A cashier, puzzled by Atheism and the existence of God, says to an Orthodox priest who is at the register:
I don't really believe in God but may I ask you a question?
Certainly! responds the priest.
Why does God speak only to you?
God speaks to everyone!
Aha! says the cashier! Then why can't I hear him?
If you cannot hear Him it's because you have 3 voices in your head and His is the meekest. The other two are much louder.
Ha! And what are the other two?
Your self-centered voice and Satan's tempting you.
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