O Gladsome Light

"O Gladsome Light of the Holy Glory of the Immortal Father, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed Jesus Christ! Now that we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening, we praise God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For meet it is at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise. O Son of God and Giver of Life, therefore all the world doth glorify Thee."

http://youtu.be/RZsUdepjEa0

"O Joyous Light of the holy glory of the immortal, heavenly, holy blessed Father, O Jesus Christ. Having come to the setting of the sun, and behold the light of evening, we praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God. For meet it is at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise, O Son of God and Giver of Life, wherefore all the whole world doth glorify Thee."

http://youtu.be/QA_W6ULCe9c

To Pray for Peace

As we remember those who have fallen and fought in wars, let us also remember those who we know and know not, let us pray for those who wage and struggle in the warfare of mind, spirit and body. Let us also remember the perfect Peace which we pray for in our liturgies and which is revealed to us in our union with the Holy Trinity. Lord Have Mercy. Lord Have Compassion. Lord Grant us Your Peace. Lord Save. Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

"To live in the presence of God, conscious of the union with Christ that He freely accomplished in us and for us, is the secret of happiness provided by Christ for us amid the sorrows of the world and despite the helplessness of humanity  and its tragic failure. This consciousness should give us an inner peace that transcends the mind with all its troubles and weaknesses.

But this sense of being in the presence of God is not mere fun to be enjoyed. Rather, it is prayer in the fullness of its warmth, tranquility, and sobriety, the perfect prayer in which the body calms down, the soul finds rest, and the spirit rejoices in the remembrance of the Trinity, the glorification of the Father, the reiteration of the Savior’s name, and the ceaseless call of the Holy Ghost with hope and boldness derived from the cross and the shed blood."

+ Fr Matta el-Meskeen, The Communion of Love (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984) 162-163.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7NWxPc_v74

Vrame's Four Types of Orthopraxy

Four types of Orthodopraxy

In "Four types of 'Orthodoxpraxy' among Orthodox Christians in America," Orthodox educator Anton C. Vrame borrows the nomenclature used to define 'types' of Judaism to discuss four potential approaches to Orthopraxy. Orthopraxy is defined by Vrame as "the behaviour of individual Orthodox believers or communities, and their attitudes toward and their appropriation of the Orthodox tradition." He also states that this includes "the observable behaviours of the Orthodox parish, monastery, diocese, and so forth, as related to lived expressions of the Orthodox tradition."

Raising the Awareness

"We don’t measure Church Growth in numbers but in understanding...Teach the people, show them what’s going on and you will change their frustration to fascination." 

+ Professor Richard Schneider, Iconology

Letter to the New Pope by Father Tadros Malaty

Letter to the New Pope by Father Tadros Malaty
Source http://www.copticworld.org/articles/1405/


The New Pope And The Power of the Communal Repentance

In a very serene and joyful atmosphere in Egypt and abroad, the three candidates were chosen for the papal position. Right before the Alter Draw to take place, I felt the need to stay calm, and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for my repentance as well as the whole Church’s repentance. It is befitting for the church to be holy and to benefit from the surrounding circumstances to increase her spiritual growth and fulfilling her mission as the living body of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

On Solitude or the Balance of the Heart

Fr Matta El Maskeen (Matthew the Poor) 

on Solitude or the Balance of the Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wtbm_IdBXU

Original Source: Vidéo: A2- CFRT - Réalisé par Patrice Chagnard. Durée environ: 30 minutes. 1978.

Transcription:

The Response of Love

"The early Church knew that, in all creation, there is no one who is worthy through his own spiritual effort, through his own “worthiness,” to partake of the body and blood of Christ, and that therefore preparation consists not in a calculation and analysis of one’s “preparedness” or “unpreparedness,” but in the answer of love to love:

About Hymnology (Preliminary Translation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS0uGBmvPtE

Preliminary Translation (Thanks Hoda)

About the Christian Hymns and their characteristics

A Perspective on Monastic Revival and Urban Monasticism

Although I don't agree with abolishing the monastic institution (except when the institution becomes a reduction and packages or loses sight of the eschatological promise and witness) or the use of habit (I think the habit of monks, priests and nuns allows for a certain degree of witness) I can understand Fr Alexander's concern about possible romanticism or rigorist tendencies of Orthodox monasticism as institution.

Perhaps there is a possibility that monasticism today might be equally challenging in the 'urban wilderness,' with monks and nuns hidden in our midst, praying for the life of the world. An interesting and challenging set of suggestions....


More and more often it seems to me that reviving the monasticism that everybody so ecstatically talks about - or at least trying to revive it - can be done only by liquidating first of all the monastic institution itself, i.e., the whole vaudeville of klobuks, cowls, stylization, etc. If I were a starets - an elder -I would tell a candidate for monasticism roughly the following:

• get a job, if possible the simplest one, without creativity (for example as a cashier in a bank);
• while working, pray and seek inner peace; do not get angry; do not 
• think of yourself (rights, fairness, etc.). Accept everyone (coworkers, clients) as someone sent to you; pray for them;
• after paying for a modest apartment and groceries, give your money to the poor; to individuals rather than foundations;
• always go to the same church and there try to be a real helper, not by lecturing about spiritual life or icons, not by teaching but with a “dust rag” (cf. St Seraphim of Sarov). Keep at that kind of service and be - in church matters - totally obedient to the parish priest;
• do not thrust yourself and your service on anyone; do not be sad that your talents are not being used; be helpful; serve where needed and not where you think you are needed;
• read and learn as much as you can; do not read only monastic literature, but broadly (this point needs more precise definition);
• if friends and acquaintances invite you because they are close to you go; but not too often, and within reason. Never stay more than one and a half or two hours. After that the friendliest atmosphere becomes harmful;
• dress like everybody else, but modestly, and without visible signs of a special spiritual life;
• be always simple, light, joyous. Do not teach. Avoid like the plague any “spiritual” conversations and any religious or churchly idle talk. If you act that way, everything will be to your benefit;
• do not seek a spiritual elder or guide. If he is needed, God will send him, and will send him when needed;
• having worked and served this way for ten years - no less - ask God whether you should continue to live this way, or whether change is needed. And wait for an answer: it will come; the signs will be “joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.”

SOURCE: Fr Alexander Schmemann, "Tuesday, January 20,1981" in "The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann." Translated by Juliana Schmemann (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2002) 284-285.

On Spiritual Fathers

"To be a starets is a special calling. If we take seriously all that we know about the startsy, we see that they indulge neither in intimate guidance nor in solving problems, but in revealing the Lord’s reality."

May God send spiritual elders in the appointed time...

I sometimes think that every person is called to say or do something, albeit small, but genuine and something that is his calling. But life is such that  one is plunged headlong into everything. Then one loses oneself and one’s own and does not fulfill this calling. 

I am quite convinced that I have no calling to be a personal guide. I dislike “intimate” effusions. When I hear confession, I often have the feeling that it is not me, but someone else, and that all the things that I say are impersonal cliches, not it, not it at all... I see a lot of harm being done, from encouragement of self-centeredness and spiritual pride (on both sides), to the reduction of faith to ones self and ones problems. Christianity is always a preaching, a revelation of that other, higher level, of reality itself, and not an “explanation.” But then what about the starets (an elderly monk, adviser and  spiritual guide)? To be a starets is a special calling. If we take seriously all that we know about the startsy, we see that they indulge neither in intimate guidance nor in solving problems, but in revealing the Lord’s reality. Thats why a pseudo-starets is so dangerous—there are so many of them nowadays and they  are usually full of lust for power. 

I am quite convinced that genuine preaching is always an answer to doubts and to temptations as well as their healing. It is always preaching about Christ, and only about Christ—knowing Him, meeting Him, obeying Him, loving Him—which can remove doubts and problems. What makes a genuine preacher strong is that he directs his sermon also to himself, to his own despondency, lack of faith, his own lukewarm heart. What can “talks” add to it?

SOURCE: Fr Alexander Schmemann, "Thursday, September 27,1973" in "The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann." Translated by Juliana Schmemann (New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2002) 14-15.

And this longer article by Metropolitan Kallistos:

The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity 
by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (in Cross Currents (Summer/Fall 1974), pp. 296-313.)

One who climbs a mountain for the first time needs to follow a known route; and he needs to have with him, as companion and guide, someone who has been up before and is familiar with the way. To serve as such a companion and guide is precisely the role of the “Abba” or spiritual father—whom the Greeks call “Geron” and the Russians “Starets”, a title which in both languages means “old man” or “elder”. [1]