Snail Shells

Now the soul is in some way attached to the pleasant things of life through the senses of the body. Through the eyes it delights in material beauty, through the ears it inclines to melodious sounds, and so it is also affected by smell, taste, and touch, as nature has disposed to be proper to each. Hence, as it is attached to the pleasant things of life through the sensible faculty as if by a nail, it is hard to turn away from them. It has grown up together with these attachments much in the same way as the shellfish and snails are bound to their covering of clay; and so it is slow to make such movements, since it drags along the whole burden of a lifetime. As such is its condition, the soul is easily captured by its persecutors with the threat of confiscation of property or loss of sonic other things that are coveted in this life; and so it gives in easily, and yields to the power of its persecutor.

- Gregory of Nyssa, The Beatitudes

To read more on this particular beatitude, visit Orthodox Way of Life

What is Peace?

Surely it is nothing else but a loving disposition towards one's neighbor. Now what is held to be the opposite of love? It is hate and wrath, anger and envy, harboring resentment as well as hypocrisy and the calamity of war. Do you see for how many different diseases this single word is an antidote? For peace is equally opposed to every one of the things mentioned, and wipes out these evils by its own presence. Just as illness vanishes when health supervenes, and as no darkness is left when light begins to shine, so also when peace appears, all the passions connected with its opposite are eliminated.

- Gregory of Nyssa, The Beatitudes

Creating Our Own Enemy

In order to be right about anything, the mind has the need to find someone or something that is wrong. In a sense, the mind is always looking for an enemy (the person who is “wrong”), since without an enemy, the mind is not quite sure of its own identity. When it has an enemy, it is able to be more confident about itself. Since the mind also continually seeks for certainty, which is a by-product of the desire to be right, the process of finding and defining enemies is an ongoing struggle for survival. Declaring enemies is, for the mind, not an unfortunate character flaw, but an essential and necessary task.

Unfortunately, being right is not what people really need, even though a great deal of their lives may be taken up in its pursuit. Defense of the ego is almost always a matter of trying to be right. Interestingly enough, Jesus never once suggeted to His disciples that they be right. What He did demand is that they be righteous. In listening to His words we find that we spend almost all our energy in the wrong direction, since we generally pursue being right with every ounce of our being, but leave being good to the weak and the naive.

- Archimandrite Meletios

For a more complete discussion of this topic, go to Father Stephen's site - Glory to God for All Things

For His Mercy Endures Forever!

Patrick Henry Reardon gives insight into the repeated phrase "For His mercy endures forever" in the Psalms...

Psalm 135 insists, literally in every verse, that the root of all of God's activity in this world, beginning even with the world's creation, is mercy - hesed.  This mercy is eternal - le'olam - "forever."

Mercy is the cause and reason of all that God does.  He does nothing, absolutely nothing, except as an expression of His mercy.  His mercy stretches out to both extremes of infinity.  "For His mercy endures forever" is the palimpsest that lies under each line of Holy Scripture.  Thus, too from beginning to end of any Orthodox service, the word "mercy" appears more than any other word.  The encounter with God's mercy is the root of all Christian worship.  Everything else that can be said of God is but an aspect of His mercy.

Mercy is the defining explanation of everything that God has revealed of Himself.  Every Orthodox service of worship, from Nocturnes to Compline, is a polyeleion [or "manifold mercy"], a celebration of God's sustained and abundant mercy.  What we touch, or see, or hear, or taste - from the flames that flicker before the icons and the prayers our voices pour forth, to the billowing incense and the mystic contents of the Chalice - all is mercy.

Mercy is the explanation of every single thought that God has with respect to us.  When we deal with God, everything is mercy; all we will ever discover of God will be the deepening levels of His great, abundant, overflowing, rich and endless mercy.  "For His mercy endures forever" is the eternal song of the saints.

- from Christ in the Psalms

Psalm 135

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:

To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who struck down great kings,
For His mercy endures forever;
And slew famous kings,
For His mercy endures forever—
Sihon king of the Amorites,
For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan,
For His mercy endures forever—
And gave their land as a heritage,
For His mercy endures forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant,
For His mercy endures forever.

Who remembered us in our lowly state,
For His mercy endures forever;
And rescued us from our enemies,
For His mercy endures forever;
Who gives food to all flesh,
For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
For His mercy endures forever.

Dust Particles

An excerpt from Archpriest Victor Potapov.

A Christian is called to leave everything and follow Christ in poverty of spirit, becoming free of the sinful desires of this world. According to the world of the Apostle John the Theologian:

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever (I John 2:15-17).

The holy Fathers of the Church wrote very much about humility, considering that a correct spiritual life needs this virtue more than all else. Saint Isaac the Syrian, for example, writes:

The truly righteous always think within themselves that they are unworthy of God; it is known that they are truly righteous by the fact that they consider themselves wretched and unworthy of God's care, and they confess this secretly and openly and they grow wiser by this through the Holy Spirit - in order to remain in labor and straitness while they are still found in this life. (Christian Life According to the Philocalia)

Who can understand this? How can a man standing close to God consider himself to be sinful, unworthy of God's care, the least of men? The answer we find in the life of the holy Abba Dorotheus:

I remember once we had a conversation about humility, and one of the notable citizens of the city was amazed on hearing our words that the nearer one draws to God, the more he sees himself to be a sinner, and he said: How can this be? And not understanding, he wished to find out what these words mean?

I said to him: O notable Citizen, tell me, how dost thou regard thyself in thine own city?

He answered: I regard myself as great and as first in the city.

I say to him: If thou shouldst go to Caesarea, how wouldst thou regard thyself there?

He answered: As the least of the grandees there.

And if, I say to him again: thou shouldst travel to Antioch, how wouldst thou regard thyself there?

There, he answered: I would consider myself as one of the common people.

And if, I say: thou shouldst go to Constantinople and approach the Emperor, how wouldst thou begin to regard thyself there?

And he answered: Almost as nothing.

Then I answered him: So it is also with the saints: the nearer they draw to God, the more they see themselves to be sinners.

An ancient patericon (a collection of short stories about strugglers for piety) says:

The clearer the water, the more noticeable are the smallest specks in it. When a ray of the sunlight falls on a room, it enables the eye to see myriad dust particles borne in the air, which, until the penetration of the ray, were not noticeable. So also with the human soul: The more purity in her, the more heavenly, divine light falls on her, and the more does the soul notice imperfections and sinful habits in herself.

The higher a man is morally, the more humble he is, and the more clear and constant is his consciousness of his sin.

Dressing for Battle

More from the homilies of John Chrysostom (347-407)

…the words of the Scriptures are our spiritual weapons; but if we know not how to fit those weapons and to arm our scholars rightly, they keep indeed their proper power, but cannot help those who receive them. For let us suppose there to be a strong corselet [a piece of armor to cover the trunk], and helm [helmet], and shield, and spear; and let one take this armor and put the corselet upon his feet, the helmet over his eyes instead of on his head, let him not put the shield before his breast, but perversely tie it to his legs: will he be able to gain any advantage from the armor? will he not rather be harmed? It is plain to any one that he will. Yet not on account of the weakness of the weapons, but on account of the unskillfulness of the man who knows not how to use them well.

So with the Scriptures, if we confound their order; they will even so retain their proper force, yet will do us no good. Although I am always telling you this both in private and in public, I effect nothing, but see you all your time nailed to the things of this life, and not so much as dreaming of spiritual matters. Therefore our lives are careless, and we who strive for truth have but little power, and have become a laughing stock to Greeks and Jews and Heretics. Had you been careless in other matters, and exhibited in this place the same indifference as elsewhere, not even so could your doings have been defended; but now in matters of this life, every one of you, artisan and politician alike, is keener than a sword, while in necessary and spiritual things we are duller than any; making by-work business, and not deeming that which we ought to have esteemed more pressing than any business, to be by-work even.

Do you not know that the Scriptures were written not for the first of mankind alone, but for our sakes also? Do you not hear Paul say, that they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope? (1 Corinthians 10:11; Romans 15:4)

- Gospel of John, homily 30

1 Corinthians 10:11

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

Romans 15:4

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

"Have Mercy"

There is much wrapped up in the words "have mercy" which isn't immediately understood in the English.  Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (1914-2003) sheds some light on this response so frequently used in the Orthodox faith (italics are mine).

These words 'have mercy' are used in all the Christian Churches and, in Orthodoxy, they are the response of the people to all the petitions suggested by the priest. Our modern translation 'have mercy' is a limited and insufficient one. The Greek word which we find in the gospel and in the early liturgies is eleison. Eleison is of the same root as elaion, which means olive tree and the oil from it. If we look up the Old and New Testament in search of the passages connected with this basic idea, we will find it described in a variety of parables and events which allow us to form a complete idea of the meaning of the word. We find the image of the olive tree in Genesis.

After the flood Noah sends birds, one after the other, to find out whether there is any dry land or not, and one of them, a dove - and it is significant that it is a dove - brings back a small twig of olive. This twig conveys to Noah and to all with him in the ark the news that the wrath of God has ceased, that God is now offering man a fresh opportunity. All those who are in the ark will be able to settle again on firm ground and make an attempt to live, and never more perhaps, if they can help it, undergo the wrath of God.

In the New Testament, in the parable of the good Samaritan, olive oil is poured to soothe and to heal. In the anointing of kings and priests in the Old Testament, it is again oil that is poured on the head as an image of the grace of God that comes down and flows on them (Ps I33:2) giving them new power to fulfil what is beyond human capabilities. The king is to stand on the threshold, between the will of men and the will of God, and he is called to lead his people to the fulfilment of God's will; the priest also stands on that threshold, to proclaim the will of God and to do even more: to act for God, to pronounce God's decrees and to apply God's decision.

The oil speaks first of all of the end of the wrath of God, of the peace which God offers to the people who have offended against him; further it speaks of God healing us in order that we should be able to live and become what we are called to be; and as he knows that we are not capable with our own strength of fulfilling either his will or the laws of our own created nature, he pours his grace abundantly on us (Rom 5:20). He gives us power to do what we could not otherwise do.

The words milost and pomiluy in Slavonic have the same root as those which express tenderness, endearing, and when we use the words eleison, 'have mercy on us', pomiluy, we are not just asking God to save us from His wrath - we are asking for love.
- from Living Prayer, Anthony Bloom, 1966