وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Tell us about your connections with the Holy Mountain.

—I try to go to Mt Athos every time I go to Greece, sometimes two or three times. There is a wondrous tranquility on Mt. Athos and in many places in Greece.

Athos immerses you in the mystical life and teaches prayer.

Elder Ephraim of Philotheou

[Mary Naeem]

—You are fortunate to be acquainted with Elder Ephraim of Philotheou. Tell us about your impression…

—I’ve been to the monastery the elder built in Arizona1 a few times. I’ve also visited other monasteries in the U.S. opened by Elder Ephraim of Philotheou (there’s twenty in all).

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with him a few times. I didn’t know St. Paisios or St. Porphyrios, but I’m happy that the Lord deemed me worthy of the chance to meet Elder Ephraim.

[Mary Naeem]

—Are there people who live the spiritual life in the U.S.?

—Greek Orthodox churches are full.

But then, does everyone who goes to church lead a spiritual life? I seriously doubt it. Elder Moses the Athonite wrote a good book about it. I have largely the same impression as he—many things in American Orthodoxy are alien to me. They use electric organs in the churches2 (which for me is unthinkable), many people commune without any kind of preparation, and they don’t live spiritual lives.

Churches have turned into clubs and community centers.

You can often find priests without beards and with Catholic elements to their garb.

The most grievous thing is the apostasy in dogmatic issues. I’ve been told that Catholics are allowed to commune in Orthodox parishes on the West coast. Inconceivable! An Orthodox can be blessed to marry a Lutheran under the pretense that she was baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity.

Many justify such precedents of condescension. But you can go very far astray this way.

The Paterikon contains the words of one elder: “Sin begins with a white lie.” According to him, large stones cannot fill up a container, but tiny bits of sand can fill it to the brim.

I rejoice when I meet priests who have not departed from Orthodoxy. Elder Ephraim of Philotheou does not accept such modernism and vociferously condemns it. It has caused definite friction with some representatives of the higher clergy, but someone has to stay on top of things and call a spade a spade.

On the other hand, I have met people who lead true spiritual lives. I have noticed there is a thirst for Orthodoxy in the world. Many Protestants and Catholics are coming to Orthodoxy because they crave spirituality, which their own doctors cannot give them. Western Christianity has degenerated.

Orthodoxy is not just going to church once a week on Sundays. We possess a great spiritual treasure—the Jesus Prayer, asceticism, prostrations, fasting…

I am certain that we must separate from Catholics and Protestants and not try to become like them. No compromises!

Many scientists in the U.S. are beginning to turn to Orthodoxy. They are reading the Paterikon and other Patristic texts. In Greece, we sometimes criticize the Church and priests, but we need to begin to peer into the depths of our own souls and to correct ourselves. A garden has both thorns and flowers. The real truth is standing in front of us—it is Christ. God is love. Can there be anything higher than to live in love? Dostoyevsky said that without God, everything is permitted. Perhaps the disorder and confusion of the modern world is due to the fact that we have lost all rules, values, and orientation?

—What would you like to say to young people about religion and Christianity?

—May God grant that all people would look at life rightly, that starting every new day we would say to ourselves, “Today I will try to give love,” and that we would strive to curb sin. Let us try not to deceive anyone—neither our neighbors, nor the state. If we try to act this way, our homeland will come out of this quagmire.

[Mary Naeem]

—Sometimes it is so difficult to remain awake and alert during our morning or evening prayers. Is it because we are tired from work or school or is there another dimension to the problem? St Cassian may have an interesting insight to our common problem. Abba Cassian (360-435), better known in the West as St. John Cassian who wrote “Institutes” and “Conferences,” two of the best-known classics of monastic writing, joined a monastery in Bethlehem as a young man and later left it with a fellow monk, Germanos, to travel abroad to Egypt and Syria to study monasticism. The books which resulted from these travels have made Abba Cassian one of the best known writers on monastic spirituality in both the eastern and western traditions of Christianity. The Church commemorates St John Cassian on 29 February.

[Mary Naeem]

Abba Cassian related a story about another elder living in the desert, that he had asked God to grant him never to become sleepy during a spiritual conference, but, if someone uttered slanderous or useless words, to be able to go to sleep at once, so that his ears should never be touched by that poison. This elder also said that the devil, enemy of all spiritual instruction, works hard to provoke useless words.

[Mary Naeem]

He used the following example, “Once when I was talking to some brothers on a helpful topic, they were overcome by sleep so deep, that they could not even move their eyelids any longer. Then, wishing to show them the power of the devil, I introduced a trivial subject of conversation. Immediately, they woke up, full of joy. Then I said to them with many sighs, ‘Until now, we were discussing heavenly things and your eyes were heavy with sleep, but when I embarked on a useless discourse, you all woke up with alacrity. Therefore, brothers, I implore you to recognise the power of the evil demon; pay attention to yourselves, and guard yourselves from the desire to sleep when you are doing or listening to something spiritual.’”

“The Sayings of the Desert Fathers,” (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1975), p. 114

[Mary Naeem]

Walking by Hospital

When you walk by a hospital you should make your Cross three times; one for the sick, one for their families and those who take care of them, and one for you that you are not in there and have your health!

[Mary Naeem]

Christ doesn’t have the need of your prayer,
but you have the need of His help.

St. Paisios the Hagiorite

!

[Mary Naeem]

القديس إيريناوءس

* القديس إيريناوءس واجه هرطقة الغنوصية
التي ترفض ما أسمته بإله العهد القديم،
وأوضح أن المعرفة الروحية للجميع،
لأن الكنيسة استلمت التقليد الإنجيلي من الرسل
وسلمته لأولادها علانية كتعليم كنسي عام متاح
لكل المؤمنين الذين يقبلون إلى معرفة الحق.

[Mary Naeem]

القديس إيريناوءس

* القديس إيريناوءس أكد على أنه بالرغم
من انتشار الكنيسة في كل المسكونة،
إلا أنها استلمت الإيمان الواحد من الرسل،
وتعلم بتدبير الخلاص كما من فم واحد،
كرازة واحدة وإيمان حقيقي.