Marvel

Christ became man.  Marvel and wonder!

Beauty

"Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distorted. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute, at the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty."

- Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Peace and Repentance

This morning at the Divine Liturgy, I was struck by the following words,

"That the rest of our life may be spent in peace and repentance, let us ask the Lord."

 May we all lead lives of repentance as we wait to meet Our Lord.

Heart

The heart must be purified daily.  The task is never completed until we reach the end.  O' Lord grant us internal stillness!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

The Third Canticle: (The Praise of the Three Saintly Youths)

This magnificent ethereal hymn is prayed on Saturday evenings of the Nativity Fast in the Coptic Orthodox Church in Her Kiahk praises.  I would highly recommend attending this prayer for it has bought me deep consolations.

Monk from Mt. Athos Speaks About His Inner Warfare

Stranger

"Whoever fears God stands above all manner of fear. He has become a stranger to all the fear of this world and placed it far from himself, and no manner of trembling comes near him."

-St. Ephrem the Syrian

Serbian Orthodox Priest Praises the Modesty of Muslim Women

Things that are sacred and holy to God are veiled.  May our Catholic and Orthodox sisters learn from the testimony of the pious Muslims sisters on how to dress.  Women are special and they need to understand that dressing in revealing clothing will lead to suffering in this life and in the next.  If you are modest in dress, speech and action, you will attract a pious man and more importantly you will gain favor with your Lord.

All these modern trends that big business brainwashes you with is from the demons.  Tight and revealing clothes does not come from Christ.  This comes from Satan.  Resist this liar O' my beloved sisters with the armor of Christ! 

The Violent Bear it Away

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away."

-St. Matthew 11:12

Side note: [12] "Suffereth violence": It is not to be obtained but by main force, by using violence upon ourselves, by mortification and penance, and resisting our perverse inclinations.

Simpler

“The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.”

-St. Teresa of Ávila 

Mercy

“When you are about to pray to our Lady the Holy Virgin, be firmly assured, before praying, that you will not depart from Her without having received mercy. To think thus and to have confidence in Her is meet and right. She is, the All-Merciful Mother of the All-Merciful God, the Word, and Her mercies, incalculably great and innumerable, have been declared from all ages by all Christian Churches; She is, indeed, an abyss of mercies and bounties, as is said of Her in the canon of Odigitry.”

-St. John of Kronstadt

BBC: Extreme Pilgrim: Ascetic Christianity

O' Theotokos

We have walked on your path and have become drunk on Your love.  You have taken us far along the path of love and have stolen our hearts and now we belong totally belong to You.

Lord Have Mercy

A couple of days ago, I was driving and was listening to ABC Grandstand Radio which was playing the Australia v. India test match.  In the middle of a drinks break, the news was playing and told the listener about the deaths that occurred during the week.   Apparently a couple of young people died in a drug overdose and many more died in a dance party of some sorts.

Please keep these people in your prayers.  Let us keep in mind these folks who have died.  We too will have our expiration date one day.  Do we want to die in a dance party?  This life is a test and we have to be loyal to Christ and His Church.  Let us die in a proper state.

Please always keep in your prayers those who died in unfortunate situations.  Our Savior Christ died for all.  Those who died in such states are still better than me.  I am the worst of sinners.  Have mercy on me, O' Christ!

Love

O' Theotokos, if I have You, what else do I need?  Ever since I have been devoted to You, You have dominated my thoughts and dreams.

If You leave me, what am I to go?  We love you more than Majnun loved Layla.  Don't leave us, O' Mother of God.

The Month of Kiahk

Today is the first day in the month of Kiahk in the Coptic calendar.  In the midnight praises of the Coptic office, there is a special emphasis and veneration towards the Theotokos and hence this month has been called the "month of Mariam".

In 2009, the Theotokos appeared in Egypt during this month.  Here is a nice article on the apparition.

Plunge

"Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A truly humble man has no desire to be known or admired by others, but wishes to plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been born. When he is completely hidden to himself in himself, he is completely with God."

-St. Isaac the Syrian

Mercy

O' Lord, have mercy on all sinners.  Please be merciful to all.  Especially to those who reject Your Love.

Him Alone

"If men knew themselves, they would know God; and if they really knew God, they would be satisfied with Him and would think of Him alone."

-Ibn 'Arabi

St. Herman of Alaska

Today, November 15/28 is the day that St. Herman reposed after a life lived in total service of Christ.  St. Herman, pray for us, poor sinners!

New World

"Once you have reached the place of tears then you should understand that the mind has left the prison of this world and set its feet on the road towards the New World. It has begun to breathe the wonderful air which is there. It begins to shed tears. For now the birth-pangs of the spiritual infant grow strong, since grace, the common mother of us all, makes haste to give birth mystically to the soul, the image of God, into the light of the world to come.

This shall be for you a luminous sign of the serenity of your soul: when, on examining yourself, you find yourself full of compassion for all humanity, and your heart is afflicted with pity for them, burning as though with fire, without making distinction between one person and another.When the image of the Father becomes visible in you by means of the continual presence of these things, then you can recognize the measure of your way of life – not from your various labors, but from the transformation which your understanding receives.The body is then likely to be bathed in tears, as the intellect gazes on things spiritual."

-St. Isaac the Syrian

A Happy Life

I think one of the most nefarious lies you are taught growing up in the West is that eventually, through all the darkness of your life, things will improve and you will have the "American Dream."  A pious wife, loyal and docile children, a nice house, etc..  The reality is that this is not the understanding of life from the standpoint of a Catholic or Orthodox Christian.  We understand that happiness is not a guarantee given to us in this life.  This life is full of profound suffering and our salvation lies in carrying our burdens with Christ on our crucifixion.

If we carry out these duties in this life, than Christ Our Savior, will provide us the greatest of happiness in the Hereafter.  I even hesitate to call it "happiness" because that is a human concept.  What a saint experiences in Heaven goes far beyond what we can describe utilizing earthly terms.

So let us not resist the Crosses that Christ gives us for they are the means in which we make progress in our process of Theosis.  In the midst of the darkness of your sufferings, remember the Light.  The Light of Christ that flickers in this earthly abyss.

Transformed State

"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

Lord, Have Mercy

Brethren, let us resolve to never harbor any ill feelings towards anyone else.  Let us error on the side of mercy.  Let us, when we feel the need to condemn, condemn ourselves.  We know ourselves and our own wretchedness.  Let us overlook the faults of our brothers and pray and do penance for them.

Let's say throughout the day with much weeping, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Sorrow

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

-Khalil Gibran

The Heart

“Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow.”

-Khalil Gibran 

Shelter

"Shelter the sinner if it brings you no harm. Through this you will encourage him toward repentance and reform — and attract the Lord’s mercy to yourself. With a kind word and all possible means, fortify the infirm and the sorrowful and that Right Arm that controls everything, will also support you. With prayers and sorrow of your heart, share your lot with the aggrieved and the source of God’s mercy will open to your entreaties."

-St. Isaac the Syrian

Merciful Heart

"What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, for demons, and for all that exists. By the recollection of them, the eyes of a merciful person pour forth tears in abundance...by such great compassion, the heart is humbled, and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation. For this reason, such a person offers up tearful prayer continually even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth, and for those who harm him, that they be protected and receive mercy."

-St. Isaac the Syrian

Spectacle

"Cricket is first and foremost a dramatic spectacle. It belongs with the theatre, ballet, opera and the dance … It is so organized that at all times it is compelled to reproduce the central action which characterizes all good drama from the days of the Greeks to our own; two individuals are pitted against each other in a conflict that is strictly personal but no less strictly representative of a social group. One individual batsman faces one individual bowler. But each represents his side. For that moment, to all intents and purposes, he is the side. This fundamental relation of the One and the Many, Individual and Social, Individual and Universal, leader and followers, representative and ranks, the part and the whole, is structurally imposed on the players of cricket. Thus the game is founded upon a dramatic, a human, relation which is universally recognized as the most objectively pervasive and psychologically stimulating in life and therefore in that artificial representation of it which is drama."

-CLR James, Beyond a Boundary

Sunday Sermon: Fr. David Jones - Noise, The Exhaust of Hell

Pass Over in Silence

"What can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence."

-Ludwig Wittgenstein

Malice

"Even if we perform upon thousands of good works, my brethren: fasts, prayers, almsgiving; even if we shed our blood for our Christ and we don’t have these two loves [love of God and love of brethren], but on the contrary have hatred and malice toward our brethren, all the good we have done is of the devil and we go to hell. But, you say, we go to hell despite all the good we do because of that little hatred?

Yes, my brethren, because that hatred is the devil’s poison, and just as when we put a little yeast in a hundred pounds of flour it has such power that it causes all the dough to rise, so it is with hatred. It transforms all the good we have done into the devil’s poison."

-St. Kosmas Aitolos

Malcolm Marshall against Australia, 1991

Watching him bowl was such an ethereal and sublime experience.  Rest in peace, my brother Malcolm.

Sin Not More

"Behold, thou art made whole; sin not more. Experience proves that sins and passions destroy the health of the soul and the body, whilst the victory over the passions affords heavenly tranquility and health both of the soul and the body."

-St. John of Kronstadt

The Miracle of the Holy Fire

Relics of St. Sabbas the Sanctified Given New Vestments, Palestine, October 13, 2018

The Two Commandments

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

-St. Matthew 22:36-40

Dome of the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius, Naples

St. Elizabeth the New Martyr

The Orthodox Church is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the relics of Holy Grand Duchess Elizabeth on October 11, 2018.

In February 1905, the terrorist Ivan Kalyaev killed her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The carriage he was in had not yet driven far from their home when it exploded, and the Grand Duchess heard it and ran out of the house.

On the blood-spattered snow, she saw fragments of clothing and the carriage, and of the body of her husband, whom she said goodbye to only moments earlier. The Grand Duchess personally collected the body parts of her husband and put them on a stretcher. Three days later, she came to Butyrsky Prison to tell the arrested terrorist that she forgave him.

She brought a Gospel to the jail cell along with an icon, and asked the terrorist to repent, to spare his own soul. For the first time since the death of Sergei Alexandrovich, a smile appeared on her lips when she was told that Kalyaev put the icon she gave him under his pillow.

The terrorist was later hanged despite the appeal of Grand Duchess Elizabeth to pardon him. Thirteen years later she would likewise ask the Lord to have mercy on the drunken Red Army soldiers who struck her with their rifle butts and threw her into an abandoned mine near the city of Alapaevsk.

The relics of the Grand Duchess were discovered on September 28/October 11, 1918, in the Alapaevsk mine and brought to Jerusalem through China by Hegumen Seraphim (Kuznetsov), former abbot of Belogorsky Monastery in the city of Perm. The crypt containing the saint’s relics are housed in the “Royal” Church of St Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, in Gethsemane Convent of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in East Jerusalem.

Divine Liturgy is celebrated at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, Riga, Latvia

On October 7, 2018, the 19th Sunday After Pentecost, His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander of Riga and All Latvia; His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the caretaker of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign;” His Grace Bishop Alexander of Daugavpils and Rezeknes, and His Grace Bishop Ioann of Jelgava, Vicar of the Riga Diocese of the Latvian Orthodox Church, celebrated Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Riga, Latvia, which is now graced with the presence of the Kursk-Root Icon. The hierarchs were joined by numerous clergymen of the diocese and of the delegation of ROCOR.

Khabib!

27-0.

Worms

"Oh, if you only knew what joy, what sweetness awaits a righteous soul in Heaven! You would decide in this mortal life to bear any sorrows, persecutions and slander with gratitude. If this very cell of ours was filled with worms, and these worms were to eat our flesh for our entire life on earth, we should agree to it with total desire, in order not to lose, by any chance, that heavenly joy which God has prepared for those who love Him."

-St. Seraphim of Sarov

Guard

"Provide things relating to the body no further than absolute need requires, as meat, drink, clothing, house, retinue. But cut off everything that looks toward show and luxury. Before marriage guard yourself with all your ability from unlawful intercourse with women.

"If you are dazzled by the semblance of any promised pleasure, guard yourself against being bewildered by it; but let the affair wait your leisure, and procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both points of time — that in which you shall enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you will repent and reproach yourself, after you have enjoyed it — and set before you, in opposition to these, how you will rejoice and applaud yourself if you abstain. And even though it should appear to you a seasonable gratification, take heed that its enticements and allurements and seductions may not subdue you, but set in opposition to this how much better it is to be conscious of having gained so great a victory."

-Epictetus

Have Mercy on Us, Poor Sinners

It's incredible, isn't it?  To know that that after a lifetime of sin, penance, fasting, prayers, we shall meet the LORD  and the Theotokos one day.  We must believe it.  They are looking at us here in this life and we shall surely see Them one day.

How incredible is this?  How incredible is it to know that every longing will be answered once we see them!  How every sorrowful thought will find its true meaning when we see them!  How every tear will find its answer in front of Christ our Savior!   How sublime this meeting will be!

Pray for Indonesia

Over 1400 people have been found dead since the earthquake/tsunami and that number is only rising each day.

Lord please grant peace to those who died and their families.

Iglesia de Santa Bárbara de Samaná, Dominican Republic

May the Theotokos protect the Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic from the Protestant disease that has grown in the Latin American lands.

Vespers, Simonpetra, Mount Athos

Poison

"Those who do not speak the words of God with humility must be advised that when they apply medicine to the sick, they must first inspect the poison of their own infection, or else by attempting to heal others, they kill themselves."

-Pope St. Gregory the Great

Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Metropolitan of Kiev meet in Svyato-Uspenski Monastery

On Tradition

"Among the variety of meanings that can be noted in the Fathers of the first centuries, Tradition sometimes receives that of a teaching kept secret, not divulged, lest the mystery be profaned by the uninitiate.  This is clearly expressed by St. Basil in the distinction which he makes between dogma [and] kêrygma. “Dogma” here has a sense contrary to that given to this term today: far from being a doctrinal definition loudly proclaimed by the Church, it is a “teaching (didaskalia), unpublished and secret, that our fathers kept in silence, free from disquiet and curiosity, well knowing that in being silent one safeguards the sacred character of the mysteries. 

On the other hand the kêrygma (which means “preaching” in the language of the New Testament) is always an open proclamation, whether it be a doctrinal definition, the official prescription of an observance, a canonical act, or public prayers of the Church. Although they call to mind the doctrina arcana of the Gnostics, who also laid claim to a hidden apostolic tradition, the unwritten and secret traditions of which St. Basil speaks differ from it notably. First, the examples that he gives in the passage that we have mentioned show that St. Basil’s expressions relating to the “mysteries” do not concern an esoteric circle of a few perfect men in the interior of the Christian community, but rather the ensemble of the faithful participating in the sacramental life of the Church, who are here opposed to the “uninitiate”— those whom a progressive catechism must prepare for the sacraments of initiation."

-Vladimir Lossky

Yellowstone during Autumn

Autumn is such a blissful time of the year and this is especially true at Yellowstone.  When we look at the beauty of nature, we should always be reminded of the grandeur of God.  If we find such beauty in this life, how much more sublime must Paradise be?

Obscurity

In this day and age of social media, people, even those who claim to be religious, have felt the need to display the daily workings of their lives to others.  Hence, you will see people talk about nonsense on Facebook, Instagram, etc..

Why?  Should we not think of those countless men and women who lived their lives in obscurity?  They maintained constant communion with God, did their daily duties and loved their families.  Today, people rarely lift their hearts to God, look to inveigle in their daily duties and neglect their families.

Let us love obscurity.  Let us be forgotten by the world.  Let us be loyal to God and love our neighbor.  For what is true prayer but the constant remembrance of God?

The Piety of the Prince

"I have never in my life met a man like him for noble simplicity, and boundless truthfulness. I understood from the way he talked that anyone who chose could deceive him, and that he would forgive anyone afterwards who had deceived him, and that was why I grew to love him."

-Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot

Cancer

When a man learns that he has late stage cancer, it is a death sentence for him.  Why?  It means that the cancer has spread profusely and has gone past a point of no return.

Being born and raised here in the United States, I can say with great confidence that this place is sick from a cultural cancer that has infiltrated all facets of life.  Young men and women have no decency and will engage in many sexual encounters before they decide to marry.   Then, when marriage occurs, more than half end in failure because it is a basic fact that both parties are damaged from their premarital encounters.  Women dress in minimal clothing even when they are with their husbands!  I wish I was lying but I am not.  Men in both traditionally Islamic and Christian (Catholic and Orthodox) countries have always had a protective jealousy regarding our women.  We did not want other men to look on our women in a lustful manner!  What a disgusting thing it is to desire the focus of other men on the women of your family.  How pathetic the men in the diabolical west have become.

Added to this, we also have an increase in STDs, depression (and with it antidepressants), domestic violence, violence against children, drug problems with the youth, homosexuality and countless other ailments.  The Americans are blinded by their passions and this is leading them to the pit of everlasting despair.

The world was never perfect however I feel like things are accelerating to a nadir.  I have to remind myself on a daily basis that this world is a passing thing and that our true home is with God in Paradise.  This life is a test and we can only survive by ceaseless prayer and detachment.

Labour

“The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it may do ten thousand righteousnesses, esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspiration after God. Though it should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them.”

-St. Macarius the Great

Reminder

We spend our lives being jealous, lustful, gluttonous, greedy, prideful, hateful, envious, boastful and lazy.  Do we not remember that this flesh will enter the grave?  That it will rot under the natural laws of decomposition? 

Lord, forgive me, a wretched sinner.

The Oasis Within

"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself; and let thy principles be brief and fundamental, which, as soon as thou shalt recur to them, will be sufficient to cleanse the soul completely, and to send thee back free from all discontent with the things to which thou returnest. For with what art thou discontented? With the badness of men? Recall to thy mind this conclusion, that rational animals exist for one another, and that to endure is a part of justice, and that men do wrong involuntarily; and consider how many already, after mutual enmity, suspicion, hatred, and fighting, have been stretched dead, reduced to ashes; and be quiet at last.- But perhaps thou art dissatisfied with that which is assigned to thee out of the universe.- Recall to thy recollection this alternative; either there is providence or atoms, fortuitous concurrence of things; or remember the arguments by which it has been proved that the world is a kind of political community, and be quiet at last.- But perhaps corporeal things will still fasten upon thee.- Consider then further that the mind mingles not with the breath, whether moving gently or violently, when it has once drawn itself apart and discovered its own power, and think also of all that thou hast heard and assented to about pain and pleasure, and be quiet at last.- But perhaps the desire of the thing called fame will torment thee.- See how soon everything is forgotten, and look at the chaos of infinite time on each side of the present, and the emptiness of applause, and the changeableness and want of judgement in those who pretend to give praise, and the narrowness of the space within which it is circumscribed, and be quiet at last. For the whole earth is a point, and how small a nook in it is this thy dwelling, and how few are there in it, and what kind of people are they who will praise thee. 

This then remains: Remember to retire into this little territory of thy own, and above all do not distract or strain thyself, but be free, and look at things as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, as a mortal. But among the things readiest to thy hand to which thou shalt turn, let there be these, which are two. One is that things do not touch the soul, for they are external and remain immovable; but our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within. The other is that all these things, which thou seest, change immediately and will no longer be; and constantly bear in mind how many of these changes thou hast already witnessed. The universe is transformation: life is opinion."

-Marcus Aurelius, Book IV (The Meditations)

Freedom

“Some people by the word freedom understand the ability to do whatever one wants … People who have the more allowed themselves to come into slavery to sins, passions, and defilements more often than others appear as zealots of external freedom, wanting to broaden the laws as much as possible. But such a man uses external freedom only to more severely burden himself with inner slavery. True freedom is the active ability of a man who is not enslaved to sin, who is not pricked by a condemning conscience, to choose the better in the light of God’s truth, and to bring it into actuality with the help of the gracious power of God. This is the freedom of which neither heaven nor earth are restrict.”

-St. Philaret of Moscow

Ecstasy

Oh Beloved of God, what heights you must have reached to have been worthy enough to taste Him who is pure Light.  Oh Beloved One, in your ecstasy, you communed with the Creator of the Universe.  How did it feel to be in His presence?  Was not your heart moved?  Did not your tears create a river of divine delights?

Death by Reverse Swing

Pure poetry.

The Piety of Alyosha

"There was something about him which made one feel at once (and it was so all his life afterwards) that he did not care to be a judge of others that he would never take it upon himself to criticise and would never condemn anyone for anything. He seemed, indeed, to accept everything without the least condemnation though often grieving bitterly: and this was so much so that no one could surprise or frighten him even in his earliest youth. Coming at twenty to his father’s house, which was a very sink of filthy debauchery, he, chaste and pure as he was, simply withdrew in silence when to look on was unbearable, but without the slightest sign of contempt or condemnation. His father, who had once been in a dependent position, and so was sensitive and ready to take offence, met him at first with distrust and sullenness. “He does not say much,” he used to say, “and thinks the more.”"

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

The Era of the Dajjal

Have you noticed all of the one eyed symbolism in society of late?  The Dele Alli eye celebration?  Movie posters and musical artists in which the folks in it are either covering up an eye or where only one eye is present?

I figure this will only increase in frequency as we head into the Antichristic period.  When one sells himself to the great deceiver, one's vision is clouded by the darkness of satan.  Hence, the one eye being blinded is the price these people pay for their worldly success.

Terrible times are ahead for us.

High Mass at Westminster Cathedral (1950)

Peace

“Wherever God is — there is peace. And the opposite is self-evident: where there is envy, enmity, impatience, self-love — there is the devil. Wherever the devil is — there, everything is ruinous, proud and hostile.”

-St. Anatoly of Optina

For a Day

"Everything is only for a day, both that which remembers and that which is remembered."

-Marcus Aurelius

Diversion

"You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts; And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime. And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered."

-Kahlil Gibran

His Majesty, the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, King Abdullah I with Palestinian Christians

The men in this picture are dearer to my heart than all of the riches in the world.  Thank you, King Abdullah I for your protection of the Orthodox and Catholics in the dire years after the creation of the diabolical Zionist state.  How painful it must have been for us when some misguided man killed you at Al-Aqsa during the sacred Friday Prayers.

Rest in peace, friends.  May we meet one day in a better land.

Royal House

“One must clean the royal house from every impurity and adorn it with every beauty, then the king may enter into it. In a similar way one must first cleanse the earth of the heart and uproot the weeds of sin and the passionate deeds and soften it with sorrows and the narrow way of life, sow in it the seed of virtue, water it with lamentation and tears, and only then does the fruit of dispassion and eternal life grow. For the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a man until he has been cleansed from passions of the soul and body.”

-St. Paisius Velichkovsky

Patriarch of Moscow Visits Constantinople

May the meeting be a fruitful one between these two brother Patriarchs!

My Friend's Funeral

I hadn't attended a Mass in the new rite for some time now.  I mostly attend Divine Liturgies with a couple of Traditional Latin Masses thrown in every month.  However, my friend's funeral was today and I honestly think it was an insult to him.  I don't like the new rite and I think it should be banned.  One of the worst aspects of it is of course the funeral liturgy.  Gone are the grave black vestments.  Gone is the haunting Dies Irae.  Gone is the idea that we need to pray for the person because he can no longer help himself.  Instead of this, we were fed with garbage sentimental "music", a congregation that largely looked disinterested with most of the women dressed immodestly in the House of God.

Death is a serious thing and it needs to be treated as such.  If you look at the Requiem Mass in the Old Rite, the Divine Liturgy and the Islamic Janazah prayer, what is the one thing you find in common?  A deep gravity regarding the ceremony.  This idea that a man has crossed over the veil into eternity and has seen what no eye has seen or ear has heard.  A deep masculine seriousness that is founded on the love of God and the proper ceremonies that honor Him.

Rest in peace, my dear friend. 

Sadness

"Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth."

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

27 Not Out

27*

Today is my 27th birthday.  I have basically spent the day watching cricket (another horrific performance from England's top order!) and am spending the rest of the day with my family.  I must confess, I am not big on birthdays but I think a birthday should be a day we should reflect on our mortality.

How many more years do I have left?  When will the end come?  Am I ready to meet my Lord?  How do I root out those hidden vices in my heart?

Condemned

Abba Poemen said: If we remembered that it is written, "By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned," we would choose to remain silent.

-From the Desert Fathers 

The Stars

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

-Marcus Aurelius

Memory Eternal

Please pray for my two dear friends, Tim and Jesus, who both died last week, exactly two days of each other via automobile accidents.  They both had short innings, Tim was dismissed for 27 and Jesus for 25.

They have crossed over the bridge into the hereafter.


A pertinent sermon.

The Mystery of Iniquity

More savage violence in the war in Yemen.  The United States backed Saudi Coalition dropped a bomb on a school bus.  29 children perished in the attack.  These cowards have no fear or shame.  Oh Trump and Bin Salman, fear God.  Fear the Day of Judgment.

Also, another Israeli airstrike in my beloved Palestine led to the death of a pregnant woman and her child.  Oh blessed Theotokos, please intercede for them and for all innocent mothers and children who die at the hands of diabolical forces.

There is just so much senseless violence in this world. So much death. So much suffering.

My heart feels a deep pain everyday when I read what goes on in my land.  I am taking an indefinite leave of absence from my blog in order to retreat from the online world so I can engage in prayer and penance.  Please pray for me, the chief of sinners.

Protect Your Heart

When we sin, we shouldn't think of it as a legalistic failure.  Instead, we should think of it as a disease.  Sin is a disease.  If a disease is left untreated, it will grow throughout the body until it destroys your spiritual heart.

When sin destroys your heart, you will suffer spiritual death.  Is there anything worse that can happen to us?

Only God

“Everything in this life passes away — only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.”

-Fr. Seraphim Rose 

Start Now

One of the most dangerous lies of the devil is the one that tells us to delay our repentance to another day.  This is a huge temptation and can lead us into a deeper mess.  He will tell us to wait until tomorrow or wait until our Confession to change.

This is wrong. We must never allow these diabolic voices to interfere with our spiritual progress.  If you are struggling with a particular sin, don't put off your repentance.  Start now.

Passes By

“O son of Adam, you are nothing but a mere collection of days. Whenever a day passes by, a part of you passes away.

“Death made life tasteless for the wise. Sadness in life regenerates many rewards.”

-Hasan al Basri

Equally Privileged

"Do not disdain those who are deformed from birth, because all of us will go to the grave equally privileged."

-St. Isaac the Syrian

Shadow

“If you know that all visible things are a shadow and all pass away, are you not ashamed of playing with shadows and hoarding transitory things? Like a child you draw water with a bucket full of holes; do you not realize it and take it into account, my dear friend? As though there were nothing more serious than appearance and illusion, as though reality has been taken from them?”

-St. Symeon the New Theologian

Divine Mysteries

“One should not think about the doings of God when one’s stomach is full; on a full stomach there can be no vision of the Divine mysteries.”

-St. Seraphim of Sarov

Tranquility

Burdensome

“But nothing causes such exceeding grief as when anyone, lying under the captivity of sin, calls to mind from where he has fallen, because he turned aside to carnal and earthly things, instead of directing his mind in the beautiful ways of the knowledge of God. So you find Adam concealing himself, when he knew that God was present and wishing to be hidden when called by God with that voice which wounded the soul of him yourself? Why are you concealed? Why do you avoid Him Whom you once longed to see? A guilty conscience is so burdensome that it punishes itself without a judge, and wishes for covering, and yet is bare before God.”

-St. Ambrose of Milan

Præfatio Paschalis cantatur a Sanctissimo Pio XII

Lillee v. West Indies on Australia Day

From days better than today before the bastardization of the game via the proliferation of T20.  Test cricket will always be the real form of the game in which a man learned the key virtues; namely, courage, fortitude and patience.  Accept no alternatives.

Tests

“A man obtains the fear of God if he has the remembrance of his unavoidable death and of the eternal torments that await sinners; If he tests himself every evening as to how he has spent the day, and every morning as to how he has spent the night, and if he is not sharp in his relations with others.”

-St. Dorotheos of Gaza

The Grandness of Eternity

How many people before us have lived lives of joy, sorrow and experienced the deep mystery of the human condition?  Where are they now?  How about us?  Where we will go when our time is up?  How about those who come after us?

We should always remember Eternity in even the most mundane affairs of  our lives.  For what is this life but a delusion and a test? 

Restless Person

“A talkative, over-curious, and restless person is like an oven which is open and exposed on all sides, and which keeps no heat; you will never enjoy the sweetness of a quiet prayer unless you shut your mind to all worldly desires and temporal affairs."

-St. Norbert

The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew

Ethiopia's Chapel in the Sky

The Departure

One day, we will have to make the Departure.  When the Hour comes, our bodies will stay in the same place however our souls will depart and have the Meeting of Meetings.

Mystical Experience

“If the mystical experience is a personal working out of the content of the common faith, theology is an expression, for the profit of all, of that which can be experienced by everyone.  Outside the truth kept by the whole Church personal experience would be deprived of all certainty, of all objectivity.  It would be a mingling of truth and falsehood, of reality and of illusion: ‘mysticism’ in the bad sense of the word.  On the other hand, the teaching of the Church would have no hold on souls if it did not in some degree express an inner experience of truth, granted in different measure to each one of the faithful.  There is, therefore, no Christian mysticism without theology; but, above all, there is no theology without mysticism.”

– Vladimir Lossky

Abba Zacharius

When Abba Zacharius was on the point of dying, Abba Moses asked him: "What do you see?" And Abba Zacharias replied, "Is it not better to say nothing, father?" "Yes, my child," said Abba Moses, "it is better to say nothing."

-The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Paradise

”Paradise is the love of God, wherein is the enjoyment of all blessedness.”

-St. Isaac the Syrian 

Sodom and Gomorrah

Everyday it seems like things are getting worse here in the United States.  This place is truly the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.  When I walk out of my house, I am instantly hit with the immodesty of women, the disgusting sexual music we are forced to hear in public places and countless other offenses against God.  Thankfully I live in a area with a large number of Muslims so a lot of this is curbed however it is still present amongst the others.

I feel nothing but pity for my fellow Americans.  They are like stray dogs on the streets looking for a home.  Oh Lord, please guide these poor misguided humans, of which I am of the worst, into Paradise.

Fear of God

"When a man walks in the fear of God he knows no fear, even if he were to be surrounded by wicked men. He has the fear of God within him and wears the invincible armor of faith. This makes him strong and able to take on anything, even things which seem difficult or impossible to most people. Such a man is like a giant surrounded by monkeys, or a roaring lion among dogs and foxes. He goes forward trusting in the Lord and the constancy of his will to strike and paralyze his foes. He wields the blazing club of the Word in wisdom."

-St. Simeon the New Theologian

Боже, Царя храни!

Aspiration

"The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it may do ten thousand righteousnesses, esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspiration after God.  Though it should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them."

-St. Marcarius the Great 

The Glory of Chant

 

Psalm 135

Temba Bavuma: A Century in the Making

St. Benedict

For those of us who pray the traditional Benedictine Office, yesterday was the feast day of our Holy Father Benedict.  St. Benedict actually has two feast days however the first falls during Lent (March  21) where the monks are obviously not able to celebrate the Holy Founder with the greatest of celebrations so we are given a second chance to celebrate him on the 11th of July. 

I was especially moved at Antiphon at the Magnificat during Vespers,

"O pattern of heavenly life, our guide and teacher Benedict, whose soul is now rejoicing with Christ in heaven: protect thy flock, dear shepherd, and by thy holy prayer support them; with thyself as leader showing that brightened way, make them enter the heavens."

Wonderful Croatia!

The Catholics are in the World Cup Final!

Hostiles Medley

 
  "The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer.  It has never yet melted.”

My favorite film of 2018.  I went to the theaters to watch it the first week it came out in January and I was utterly blown away.  The cinematography is magnificent, the actors are sublime and the plot is incredibly moving.  One of the best films I have ever seen!

Pope St. Pius V

Towards the Good

"When you want to direct someone toward the good, first put him at peace bodily and honor him with words of love. For nothing inclines such a man to shame and induces him to cast of his vice and be changed for the better as do bodily goods and honor, which he sees in you. Then, with love tell him a word or two, and do not be inflamed with anger toward him. Do not let him see any cause of enmity toward you. For love does not know how to lose its temper."

-St. Isaac the Syrian 

Patriarch Gregory III Laham

The Patriarch was the leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 2000 to 2017. 

Heat and Relief

Today, here in the Los Angeles area, we have been dealt with incredibly warm weather.  The high temperature in Anaheim was 114 degrees which is 46 degrees Celsius!  In the midst of the heat, I did several things to try to cool myself down however the effects of such acts were quite transient since the oppressive heat won every single time.

I was reminded of two verses from St. Luke,

"And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented."

If I find this heat unbearable, how will I deal with the torment of torments?

Love Much

“The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.”

-St. Teresa of Avila

Forgive us, Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Worlds

We are all alone before God.  On the Day of Judgment, our knowledge will not help us.  Our friendships with the world will not help us.  Our human successes will not help us.

The only thing that will help us is our faith in God, His Church, and our good works.  Our hearts, our hearts, we will bring our hearts before God.

We should fear the Day of Judgment.  My sins are grand however my trust is in God's mercy.  What are we without His mercy?  His mercy is the only thing we have.

May the Lord forgive us.  May He forgive us for our sins.  For our indifference.  For our presumption.  Forgive us, Lord.

Lord, have mercy on me.  I will meet you soon yet I have nothing to show you but my sins.  Forgive me, my beloved God.  If You leave me, what will I have?

Who is more beloved than our Beloved Christ?  Does not His face give us a unique joy to our souls that cannot be provided by anyone else? When He reveals Himself to us, we feel this great peace.  When He hides Himself, we feel a stinging pain.  Please Lord, in this dark night, show Yourself to us, poor sinners.  Without You, we are like stray dogs walking the streets looking for a home.

"I want to say to you, about myself, that I am a child of this age, a child of unfaith and scepticism, and probably (indeed I know it) shall remain so to the end of my life. How dreadfully has it tormented me (and torments me even now) this longing for faith, which is all the stronger for the proofs I have against it. And yet God gives me sometimes moments of perfect peace; in such moments I love and believe that I am loved; in such moments I have formulated my creed, wherein all is clear and holy to me. This creed is extremely simple; here it is: I believe that there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, more rational, more manly, and more perfect than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one. I would even say more: If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth."

-Fyodor Dostoevsky 

A Silent Soul

"All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence.  Silence is the general consecration of the universe. Silence is the invisible laying on of the Divine Pontiff's hands upon the world. Silence is the only Voice of our God."

-Herman Melville

God's Providence

"Do not wish for everything to be done according to your determination, but wish that it is how it should be, and in this way, you will attain peace with everyone. And believe that everything that happens to us, even the most insignificant, occurs through God’s Providence. Then you will be able to endure everything that comes upon you without any agitation."

-St. Dorotheus of Gaza

Jogo Bonito

The Brazilians have looked like a team on a mission after o dia do massacre do Mineiraço.  They have not played to their full potential yet as seen in their matches against Switzerland and Costa Rica so I assume that they will bring their best against the dangerous Belgians.

We are down to eight teams.  This should be fun.

Força Brasil!

Silence

"Silence is a lesson learned through life's many sufferings."

-Seneca 

Leave the Brain and Enter the Heart

"You should descend to your heart from your head... The life is in the heart, so you should live there. Do not think that this applies only to the perfect. No, it applies to everyone who begins to seek out the Lord."

-St. Theophan the Recluse

No Bounds

“The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.”

-St. Maximus the Confessor

Grace

"All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.”

-Flannery O'Connor

Our Love for God and Man

"In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved.”

-St. Juan de la Cruz

Poetry

Affliction

"Do not claim to have acquired virtue unless you have suffered affliction, for without affliction virtue has not been tested."

-St. Mark the Ascetic

On the Apostles' Fast

"The contemporary God is much the same as the contemporary diet – we want as much of Him as we want – anytime, anywhere. There is no rhythm to our desire, only the rise and fall of passions. There is no legalism in the Orthodox fast. I do not think God punishes those who fail to fast. I believe that they simply continue to become less and less human. We will not accept the limits and boundaries of our existence and thus find desires to be incessant and unruly. It makes us bestial."

-On the Apostles' Fast



A blessed Apostles' Fast to all Byzantine Christians!

The Beauty of Sorrow

“A continuously happy life produces extremely unhappy consequences. In nature we see that there are not always pleasant springs and fruitful summers, and sometimes autumn is rainy and winter cold and snowy, and there is flooding and wind and storms, and moreover the crops fail and there are famine, troubles, sicknesses and many other misfortunes. All of this is beneficial so that man might learn through prudence, patience and humility. For the most part, in times of plenty he forgets himself, but in times of various sorrows he becomes more attentive to his salvation.”

-St. Ambrose of Optina

Live in the Heart

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.”

-From the Desert Fathers

Storehouse

"When we strive with diligent sobriety to keep watch over our rational faculties, to control and correct them, how else can we succeed in this task except by collecting our mind, which is dispersed abroad through the senses, and bringing it back into the world within, into the heart itself, which is the storehouse of all our thoughts?"

-St. Gregory Palamas 

The Depths of Argentine Despair

Pity Him

"If you see a man who has sinned and you do not pity him, the grace of God will leave you. Whoever curses bad people, and does not pray for them, will never come to know the grace of God."

-St. Silouan the Athonite

Arvo Part - Summa (Dublin Guitar Quartet)

Merveilleux Sénégal

I have adopted Senegal (and Morocco for a second team) for the World Cup this year and the boys have started out the campaign in the best way possible.  A victory over the favorites of the group, Poland!

Go Senegal!  IMPOSSIBLE N’EST PAS SENEGALAIS!!!

Educates Him Wholly

“The Church, through the temple and Divine service, acts upon the entire man, educates him wholly; acts upon his sight, hearing, smelling, feeling, taste, imagination, mind, and will, by the splendour of the icons and of the whole temple, by the ringing of bells, by the singing of the choir, by the fragrance of the incense, the kissing of the Gospel, of the cross and the holy icons, by the prosphoras, the singing, and sweet sound of the readings of the Scriptures.”

-St. John of Kronstadt

Hymns from the Psalter, Mount Athos

The Reality of Hell

“Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent.”

-Account of what the Theotokos revealed to the three children at Fatima (1917)



How I wish I could instill this reality into the hearts of man.  This reality of hell.  This bottomless pit which many will have chosen by their actions in life.

Be alert!  The Bridegroom cometh!

Hide Themselves

"There are two classes of people who hide themselves: the criminal who flees punishment, and the saint who through humility wishes to remain unknown"

-Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange 

The Beard

"The beard signifies the courageous; the beard distinguishes the grown men, the earnest, the active, the vigorous. So that when we describe such, we say, he is a bearded man."
-St. Augustine


"We shall wear the beard after the example of Christ and our first saints, since it is something manly, natural, severe, despised and austere."
-Capuchin Constitutions of 1536

Brazilian Friars, circa 1875

Pray the Traditional Divine Office!

"I close my eyes, and while my lips murmur the words of the Breviary which I know by heart, I leave behind their literal meaning, and feel that I am in that endless land where the Church, militant and pilgrim, passes, walking towards the promised fatherland. I breathe with the Church in the same light by day, the same darkness by night; I see on every side of me the forces of evil that beset and assail Her; I find myself in the midst of Her battles and victories, Her prayers of anguish and Her songs of triumph, in the midst of the oppression of prisoners, the groans of the dying, the rejoicing of the armies and captains victorious. I find myself in their midst, but not as a passive spectator; nay rather, as one whose vigilance and skill, whose strength and courage can bear a decisive weight on the outcome of the struggle between good and evil, and upon the eternal destinies of individual men and of the multitude."

-Blessed Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster

Pray Without Ceasing

"Let not one think, my fellow Christian, that only priests and monks need to pray without ceasing and not laymen No, no; every Christian without exception ought to dwell always in prayer."

-St. Gregory Palamas

Fools For Christ

"Either we are fools for the world because of Christ or we are fools for Christ because of the world. O how short-lived is the sound of a word of the world! If the world would say to us ‘fool,’ the world will die and its word will die! What then is the value of its word? But if the heavenly, immortal ones say to us ‘fool,’ that will neither die nor is it removed from us as eternal condemnation."

-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

THE WORLD CUP IS FINALLY HERE!

A month long festival of The Beautiful Game! 

Thank you Pope Leo XIII

"We have begun to have hope, We are fostering it because its realization would be a great cause for joy, and, it is a fact, We are pursuing more strenuously this work so profitable for the salvation of many. Our goal is to discharge to the utmost degree whatever may be hoped for from the prudent direction of the Apostolic See. The reasons for rivalry and suspicion must be removed; then the fullest energies can be marshaled for reconciliation. We consider this of paramount importance to preserving the integrity proper to the discipline of the Eastern Churches. For Our part, We have ever rendered extreme attention and concern for this endeavor. In this vein, We have already given instructions for establishing schools to form young clerics of their nationalities. We shall give a like instruction for erecting other institutes. In them the students will cultivate their rites with the greatest devotion, observe them, and have full knowledge of their usages. In point of fact there is more importance than can be believed in preserving the Eastern rites. Their antiquity is august, it is what gives nobility to the different rites, it is a brilliant jewel for the whole Church, it confirms the God-given unity of the Catholic Faith."

 -Pope Leo XIII, Orientalium Dignitas

The Russicum, Rome

St. Nicholas II of Russia, pray for us!

Preparation

"You must not be greatly troubled about many things, but you should care for the main thing — preparing yourself for death."

-St. Ambrose of Optina

The Family of King Manuel I of Portugal in Prayer

The King Has Spoken

"The divisions among Protestants and the necessity of an infallible judge to decide controversies, together with some promises which Christ made to his church in general that the gates of hell should not prevail against it and some others made to St Peter, and there being no person that pretends to infallibility but the Bishop of Rome."

-King James II of England on why he choose Catholicism over the errors of Protestantism.

Arvo Part - Summa

I always come back to this masterpiece from my favorite composer.

"On the one hand, silence is like fertile soil, which, as it were, awaits our creative act, our seed, on the other hand, silence must be approached with a feeling of awe. And when we speak about silence, we must keep in mind that it has two different wings, so to speak. Silence can be both that which is outside of us and that which is inside a person. The silence of our soul, which isn't even affected by external distractions, is actually more crucial but more difficult to achieve."
-Arvo Part

Magical from Gareth Bale

In the Cup Final, no less.

Truly the Beautiful Game.

Patriarch of Alexandria visits Mount Athos

Death

“O Friend, the cloth from which your burial shroud will be cut may have already reached the market and you remain unaware.”

-Al Ghazali

Confession

The Joys of Bright Week

66th Canon of the Council of Trullo:

"from the holy day of the Resurrection of Christ our God until New Sunday (i.e. Thomas Sunday) for a whole week the faithful in the holy churches should continually be repeating psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, rejoicing and celebrating Christ, and attending to the reading of the Divine Scriptures and delighting in the Holy Mysteries. For in this way shall we be exalted with Christ; raised up together with Him. For this reason on the aforesaid days that by no means there be any horse races or any other public spectacle".


According to my priest, all bars and taverns were closed during Bright Week in Imperial Russia!  Imagine that!

THE FEAST OF THE GLORIOUS RESURRECTION

Gospel of today's Coptic Divine Liturgy:

ٍوَفِي أَوَّلِ الأُسْبُوعِ جَاءَتْ مَرْيَمُ الْمَجْدَلِيَّةُ إِلَى الْقَبْرِ بَاكِراً وَالظّلاَمُ بَاقٍ. فَنَظَرَتِ الْحَجَرَ مَرْفُوعاً عَنِ الْقَبْرِ. فَرَكَضَتْ وَجَاءَتْ إِلَى سِمْعَانَ بُطْرُسَ وَإِلَى التِّلْمِيذِ الآخَرِ الَّذِي كَانَ يَسُوعُ يُحِبُّهُ وَقَالَتْ لَهُمَا: «أَخَذُوا السَّيِّدَ مِنَ الْقَبْرِ وَلَسْنَا نَعْلَمُ أَيْنَ وَضَعُوهُ». فَخَرَجَ بُطْرُسُ وَالتِّلْمِيذُ الآخَرُ وَأَتَيَا إِلَى الْقَبْرِ. وَكَانَ الاِثْنَانِ يَرْكُضَانِ مَعاً. فَسَبَقَ التِّلْمِيذُ الآخَرُ بُطْرُسَ وَجَاءَ أَوَّلاً إِلَى الْقَبْرِ وَانْحَنَى فَنَظَرَ الأَكْفَانَ مَوْضُوعَةً وَلَكِنَّهُ لَمْ يَدْخُلْ. ثُمَّ جَاءَ سِمْعَانُ بُطْرُسُ يَتْبَعُهُ وَدَخَلَ الْقَبْرَ وَنَظَرَ الأَكْفَانَ مَوْضُوعَةً وَالْمِنْدِيلَ الَّذِي كَانَ عَلَى رَأْسِهِ لَيْسَ مَوْضُوعاً مَعَ الأَكْفَانِ بَلْ مَلْفُوفاً فِي مَوْضِعٍ وَحْدَهُ. فَحِينَئِذٍ دَخَلَ أَيْضاً التِّلْمِيذُ الآخَرُ الَّذِي جَاءَ أَوَّلاً إِلَى الْقَبْرِ وَرَأَى فَآمَنَ لأَنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَكُونُوا بَعْدُ يَعْرِفُونَ الْكِتَابَ: أَنَّهُ يَنْبَغِي أَنْ يَقُومَ مِنَ الأَمْوَاتِ. فَمَضَى التِّلْمِيذَانِ أَيْضاً إِلَى مَوْضِعِهِمَا. أَمَّا مَرْيَمُ فَكَانَتْ وَاقِفَةً عِنْدَ الْقَبْرِ خَارِجاً تَبْكِي. وَفِيمَا هِيَ تَبْكِي انْحَنَتْ إِلَى الْقَبْرِ فَنَظَرَتْ ملاَكَيْنِ بِثِيَابٍ بِيضٍ جَالِسَيْنِ وَاحِداً عِنْدَ الرَّأْسِ وَالآخَرَ عِنْدَ الرِّجْلَيْنِ حَيْثُ كَانَ جَسَدُ يَسُوعَ مَوْضُوعاً. فَقَالاَ لَهَا: «يَا امْرَأَةُ لِمَاذَا تَبْكِينَ؟» قَالَتْ لَهُمَا: «إِنَّهُمْ أَخَذُوا سَيِّدِي وَلَسْتُ أَعْلَمُ أَيْنَ وَضَعُوهُ». وَلَمَّا قَالَتْ هَذَا الْتَفَتَتْ إِلَى الْوَرَاءِ فَنَظَرَتْ يَسُوعَ وَاقِفاً وَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ يَسُوعُ. قَالَ لَهَا يَسُوعُ: «يَا امْرَأَةُ لِمَاذَا تَبْكِينَ؟ مَنْ تَطْلُبِينَ؟» فَظَنَّتْ تِلْكَ أَنَّهُ الْبُسْتَانِيُّ فَقَالَتْ لَهُ: «يَا سَيِّدُ إِنْ كُنْتَ أَنْتَ قَدْ حَمَلْتَهُ فَقُلْ لِي أَيْنَ وَضَعْتَهُ وَأَنَا آخُذُهُ». قَالَ لَهَا يَسُوعُ: «يَا مَرْيَمُ!» فَالْتَفَتَتْ تِلْكَ وَقَالَتْ لَهُ: «رَبُّونِي» الَّذِي تَفْسِيرُهُ يَا مُعَلِّمُ. قَالَ لَهَا يَسُوعُ: «لاَ تَلْمِسِينِي لأَنِّي لَمْ أَصْعَدْ بَعْدُ إِلَى أَبِي. وَلَكِنِ اذْهَبِي إِلَى إِخْوَتِي وَقُولِي لَهُمْ: إِنِّي أَصْعَدُ إِلَى أَبِي وَأَبِيكُمْ وَإِلَهِي وَإِلَهِكُمْ». فَجَاءَتْ مَرْيَمُ الْمَجْدَلِيَّةُ وَأَخْبَرَتِ التّلاَمِيذَ أَنَّهَا رَأَتِ الرَّبَّ وَأَنَّهُ قَالَ لَهَا هَذَا.

Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"

She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."

Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?"

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away."

Jesus said to her, "Mary!"

She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" which is to say, Teacher.

Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."'

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

-St. John 20:1-18

The Holy Fire 2018

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Once again, as it is every year on this blessed night of Holy Saturday, the Holy Fire has descended upon Jerusalem to the servant of God, His Most Godly Beatitude, Patriarch Theopilus III.

Χριστός ἀνέστη!

A truly blessed Pascha to all of my readers wherever you may be.  May the joy of the Risen Christ be with you in every joy and suffering.

Bright Saturday (Coptic)

The word apocalypse in Greek means "revelation". The night of Great Friday is called the Night of Apocalypse because it is on this night that we read the entire Holy Book of Revelation. On this night we celebrate the descent of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into the pit of Hades to restore all those who died on the hope of the resurrection to Paradise. The church gathers around the tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ the whole night in prayers and rituals.

This special night is begun with the opening of the altar curtain, which symbolizes when Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ opened the gates of Paradise on the great Friday. The Night of Apocalypse is divided into eight major parts: Midnight Praises, Prayer of Prime Hour, Morning Raising of Incense, Prayers of the Third and Sixth Hours, Revelation, Prayers of the Ninth Hour, the Divine Liturgy, and the Prayers of the Eleventh Hour.

Midnight Praises

The Midnight Praises on the Night of Apocalypse are expanded to include all the praises of the prophets of the Old Testament. The night begins with the reading of the Holy Book of Psalm 151, "I am the youngest of my brethren..." Although this Holy Psalm is about David, the words of the Holy Psalm also apply to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For example, like David...Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not from the tribe of Levi, which is the tribe of the priesthood, like David He was a shepherd who tended the flock of the Father, His Father's sheep. He fought Satan...David's Goliath, He used the sword of the Lord... the cross to defeat Satan, and He took away disgrace...sin from His people. The reading of the Holy Psalm 151 is a continuation of Great Friday when all 150 Holy Psalms are read during burial in the 12th Hour while chanting Golgotha.

In this night, there are three processions which are symbolic of:

the joy and happiness of entering Paradise
Preaching to the world that the gates of Paradise have been opened, and
Saints departing from Hades and entering Paradise.
The number three in the processions symbolizes that the Lord rose from the dead on the third day.

All the praises from the Old Testament are then read and sung. These praises come from the prophets and persons of the Old Testament like Moses, Hannah, Jonah, Manasseh, Isaiah, Daniel, Hezekiah, Elijah, David, and the Three Young Men. These praises are significant in that they speak of one specific topic: the salvation of the Lord. These prophets and Old Testament figures did not see the salvation, but looked upon it from afar.

The reading of these praises is also symbolic of the fact that the prophecies regarding salvation have now been fulfilled. During these praises, there are deacons who chant from within the altar and there are other deacons who chant from outside of the altar. The deacons chanting from within are symbolic of the Saints who entered Paradise and those who stand outside represent the congregation, the people in the church participating with the Saints in praising God.

The story of Susannah the Virtuous is then read from the Holy Book of Daniel. In the story, two elders, who wanted to commit sin with her, of adultery, wrongfully accuse Susannah. The people then believing the words of the elders sought to kill her. Daniel being moved by the Spirit of God speaks with the elders separately and reveals to the people who would condemn Susannah that the elders bear false witness against her and Daniel then reveals the truth.

This story is symbolic of the death of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by false witnesses and how He rose from the dead after that, much like Susannah was to face death from the false witness of the elders but she was brought back to life. In this way, Susannah is symbolic of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Also as Daniel saved Susannah from death, so also the Lord Jesus Christ saved us from the sentence of death.

Raising of Incense

During the Raising of Incense the Holy Psalm is read half in Paschal Tune and half in the Annual Tune. The people on the earth, like the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were not aware that the gates of Paradise had been opened, which is why the first half is said in Paschal Tune. The second half of the Holy Psalm, which is said in the Annual Tune, is symbolic of the saints who entered Paradise and were joyful. This represents the transition between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

The Holy Book of Revelation

After the Raising of the Incense, the Third and Sixth Hours are prayed according to the rituals of that night. After the Third and Sixth Hours Prayers have been read, the church begins to read the Holy Book of Revelation. The Holy Book of Revelation is read on Night of the Apocalypse because the Holy Book of Revelation refers to the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Church.

In the Holy Gospel of St. John, St. John calls Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the "bridegroom" (John 3:29) and in the Holy Book of Revelation 21:9 St. John refers to the "bride" of the Lord Jesus Christ; the church...and tells St. John..."Come I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross and descended into Hades to get his bride, the saints and then opened the gates of Paradise. Now there is a bridegroom and we await the bride by reading the description of the church in the Holy Book of Revelation.

The story of salvation is that God the Father chose a bride for His Son, who paid for His bride, not with gold or silver, but with His Precious Blood. We are engaged to the Lord Jesus Christ; purified by His water and blood (Ephesians 5:25), wedded at the moment of His death on Great Friday.

All the hymns of the holy book of revelations are related to the bride of Christ: the church. These hymns call the bride to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, enumerate the number the sealed bride, the song of the bride (Alleluia), and the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem (the bride of Christ).

The book of revelation is read between the Sixth and the Ninth hour since at that time the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, shed His blood and descended into Hades to restore Adam and his children to the paradise of joy.

The anointing of oil by the priests to the congregation before the Divine Liturgy is referred to in the Holy Book of Revelation 7:2-8, in which the servants of God must have sealed upon their foreheads. We are anointed with oil to seal us; to say that we are the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Following this, the Ninth Hour is prayed in preparation for the Divine Liturgy.

The Divine Liturgy

The Night of Apocalypse ends with the Divine Liturgy and the Holy Communion; called the "Supper of the Wedding of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9). This Divine Liturgy is unique in that we do not pray the "Prayer of Reconciliation" because the Lord Jesus Christ must trample death by His death (1 Corinthians 15) and death was not yet abolished at this point. Although we do not pray the Commemoration of the Saints on Covenant Thursday, we do pray the Commemoration of the Saints on Bright Saturday because Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has opened the gates of Paradise.

During Holy Communion the church prays the Eleventh Hour, chants selected Holy Psalms, and reads the prophecies of the Glorious Feast of Resurrection.

May we all enter into a blessed Holy Week with daily church attendance and solemn prayers and scriptural readings befitting its spiritual remembrance.

H.G. Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States