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Salted With FireDecember 24, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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Monday. [Heb. 11:17-23, 27-31; Mark 9:42-10:1] Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Before this the Lord said that one must be prepared for all sorts of sacrifice and all deeds of self-denial, only to stand on the good path. Though these sacrifices are dear to us, like our own eye, or indispensable like our right hand, we must offer them without a mo‐ment’s hesitation; for if you grudge offering such a sacrifice, and are lead away because of this from the right path to the wrong, you will be forced to suffer eternally in the fu‐ture life. So, offer painful and sor‐rowful sacrifice here to avoid tor‐ments there. Without purification by fire here one cannot be saved from the eternal fire. Everyone de‐siring to be saved must be salted with fire, and pass through purifica‐tion by fire. All of us, by the law of our creation, must offer ourselves in sacrifice to God; but every one of us is impure. That means we must purify ourselves, so that from us will be made a sacrifice pleasing to God. But if you start to purify your‐self, unearth passions from your soul, it will be painful, like being burned with fire. This operation of inner self-purification is like the op‐eration of fire purifying metal. Met‐al is without feeling. If you were to give it feeling, it would feel the puri‐fying and the burning simulta‐neously. The same thing occurs in a person who purifies himself. Under‐going this operation he is as if burned through by fire. The purify‐ing fire passes through all of the parts of his body like salt penetrates a body which is being salt-pre‐served. And only he who subjects himself to this operation is a truly God-pleasing sacrifice; that is why it is necessary for everyone to be salt‐ed with fire, as in the Old Testa‐ment, where every sacrifice was salted before offering it as a whole burnt offering. Saint Theophan the Recluse |
Greatness Of HumilityDecember 23, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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Saturday. [Heb. 5:1-8; Luke 14:1-11] When you are bidden somewhere, do not sit in the highest place. In sum: always and everywhere, seek the lowliest place. In this simple rule is briefly expressed the entire rich substance of humility. Take this rule, sit down and examine all pos‐sible cases in your life, and in ad‐vance choose the lowliest place in each of them. This will be the prac‐tice of humility, which will gradual‐ly move from external deeds to the inner, and will form a sediment of humility there as a foundation. Time will make this seed to grow a‐midst this practice, and humility will at last fill all of your soul and body, and all outer affairs. What will happen? Moral greatness will shine on your brow and attract uni‐versal respect; and the words will be fulfilled in you: Whosoever exalt‐eth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalt‐ed. However, do not have this as your intention while practicing hu‐mility, but rather humility itself. It in and of itself brings a blessed good disposition to the soul. Where hu‐mility comes all inner troubles cease and all external adversities do not produce startling impressions. Just as a wave which meets no im‐pediment spills into a boundless sea without noise or crash, so outer and inner sorrows do not harm a hum‐ble soul, but are carried as though on the surface, without leaving a trace. This is the worldly advantage, so to speak, of a humble person. What light from above illumines him, what consolations are sent, what breadth of free action is re‐vealed! Truly, only humility con‐tains it all… Saint Theophan the Recluse |
Simplicity Of FaithDecember 22, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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Friday. [Heb. 11:8, 11-16; Mark 9:33-41] The Saviour sets forth a child as a model of faith and life. Simplicity of faith gives birth to simplicity of life; from both of these comes a model moral system. Let philoso‐phizing in here, and it will make disorder within; under the appear‐ance of better arranging affairs, it will throw one’s entire life into dis‐order. Philosophizing always cries, “This is not so, that is not so; let me establish everything in a new way; the old is worthless, boring.” But it has never yet, in any place, ar‐ranged anything good; it only throws things into confusion. The mind should obey what is com‐manded by the Lord. True, the mind is called “the tsar in the head”; how‐ever, this tsar is not given legislative power — only executive power. As soon as it starts making laws, it con‐structs it knows not what. Moral, re‐ligious, worldly, and political orders are thrown into confusion, and ev‐erything goes upside down. It is a great misfortune for society when the mind in it is given freedom to soar, with no restraint by Divine truth! This is God’s wrath. About it is said, hide thyself a little for a mo‐ment, until the indignation pass a‐way (Isaiah 26:20) During this apo‐gee of mental self-wilfulness it is best to wrap oneself in simplicity of faith. Just as during a storm it is bet‐ter to sit at home and not step out to fight self-assuredly with it, so dur‐ing stormy self-mindedness it is bet‐ter not to step out into battle with it, or to seize the weapon of philoso‐phizing, or resist it. Simplicity of faith is stronger than philosophiz‐ing; clothe yourself in it, like in ar‐mour, and you will withstand. Saint Theophan the Recluse |
Saint Nicholas Gathering for ChildrenDecember 21, 2012 | Children & Youth, News & Events, Uncategorized |
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When: December 21, 2012 |
Watch ye and pray alwaysDecember 20, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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[Heb. 7:1-6; Luke 21:28-33] And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be weighed down with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. “That day,” which means the last day of the world or of each of us, comes like a thief and captures like a net; that is why the Lord says: Watch ye therefore and pray always (Luke 21:36). While since satiation and vain fussing are the top enemies of vigil and prayer, one is forewarned not to permit oneself to be weighed down by food, drink and worldly worries. For one who has eaten, drunk, made merry; who has slept enough but does it again what vigil can there be? Is one who is occupied solely with worldly things, day and night, up for prayer? “What should I do?” you say. “It is not possible to go without food; and we have to procure it. So we have to concern ourselves with this.” But the Lord did not say, “do not work, do not eat, do not drink,” but rather, let not your heart be weighed down with this. Work with your hands, but keep your heart free; if you must eat—eat, but do not burden yourself with food; drink wine when necessary, but do not let it lead to disturbance of your head and heart. Divide your outer from your inner and make the latter your life’s work, and the former a sideline; keep your attention and heart in the latter, and only your body, arms, legs and eyes in the former. Watch ye and pray always, that you may be made worthy to stand fearlessly before the Son of Man. In order to be made worthy of this, it is necessary to establish yourself before the Lord while you are still here in your life; there is one means for this—vigilant prayer in the heart performed by the mind. He who is in such a state of mind will not be taken unawares on “that day”. Saint Theophan the Recluse |
Follow MeDecember 19, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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Wednesday. [Heb. 10:1-18; Mark 8:30-34] Having invited people to follow Him with the cross, the Lord shows also shows this path, elimi‐nating the main obstacles to it, which are not outer, but inner, root‐ed in the human heart. It is as though He is saying, “If you want to follow Me, first of all do not pity yourself, for he who pities himself will destroy himself; second, do not have anything to do with self-inter‐est, for, What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul (Mark 8:38)? Third, do not be embarrassed by what peo‐ple will say or how they will look at you: Whosoever therefore shall be a‐shamed of Me and of My words, in this adulterous and sinful genera‐tion, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy an‐gels. Self-pity, self-interest, and em‐barrassment are the main chains by which a person is held in a life not pleasing to God, on the path of pas‐sions and sin. They are the main ob‐stacles to a sinner’s conversion; they are the main object of spiritual struggle in a person who repents and who already has begun to bring forth fruits of repentance. As long as these threads are not cut, the Christian life in us is unreliable, full of stumbles and falls, if not always outer, then inner. Let everyone look attentively at himself; if there is anything in you of what is said a‐bove, take care to give it up: other‐wise you can not hope to rise to per‐fection in Christ, although you may outwardly be very proper. Saint Theophan the recluse |
Saint Nicholas Feast DayDecember 19, 2012 | News & Events, Uncategorized |
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When: December 19, 2012 |
God will take care of everythingDecember 18, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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Monday. [Heb. 8:7-13; Mark 8:11-21] The Lord and the disciples sailed to the other side of the sea. The disci‐ples had forgotten to bring bread; they had with them only one loaf, and were beginning to wonder what they should do. Knowing their thoughts, the Lord reminded them about the filling of the four thou‐sand, and then five thousand peo‐ple, thus uplifting them to the firm hope that with Him, they will not die of hunger, though they have not a single loaf of bread. How much anxiety people get from thoughts a‐bout an unknown future! There is only one relief from this anxiety —hope in the Lord; a sensible exami‐nation of what has already occurred with us and with others enlivens and strengthens. There is not a sin‐gle person to be found who has nev‐er in his life experienced some un‐expected deliverance from misfor‐tune, or unexpected turns of his life for the better. Revive your soul with remembrance about these instances when gloomy thoughts begin to weary it about what to do. God will arrange everything for the better now, as before. Rely upon Him. He will send you good humor even be‐fore your deliverance, and you will not even notice your misfortune. Mercy shall encircle him that hopeth in the Lord (Ps. 31:10) Examine ex‐periences of this in holy Scripture, in the lives of saints, in your own life, and in the lives of your ac‐quaintances, and you will see, like in a mirror, how The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him (Ps. 144:19). Then fears about your fate will not trouble your soul. Saint Theophan the Recluse |
Father Blasko’s Family Slava BanquetDecember 12, 2012 | News & Events, Uncategorized |
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On Sunday December 12th, the parish celebrated Father Blasko’s Family Slava. After the Divine Liturgy, a banquet was held at the church hall with the parishioners enjoying a blessed meal and fellowship. When: December 12, 2012 |
House of PrayerDecember 11, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized |
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[II Tim. 3:16-4:4; Luke 19:45-48] My house is the house of prayer. And indeed, just enter into a church, and it already calls you to prayer. Everything there is disposed and done in order to dispose one to and assist prayer. Therefore, if you want to stir up prayer in your heart, go more often to the church of God. At home you will not pray as you can in church. There are those who pray warmly at home too, but if they pray this way at home, how much higher is their prayer in Church? But when you are in church, be there not only in body, but rather in spirit. Stand where it is quieter, and beholding the Lord before you with your mind, pour out before Him your soul. Chase away daydreams, do not allow concerns, and heed only one job—the job of prayer. Lift up your heavy soul on high and break up its coarseness through contemplation of Divine things. If you have some [sin on your conscience], remove it from yourself through repentance and a promise of correction. If your conscience is not satisfied, add deeds of self-denial and love. Standing in church, prepare for how you will be outside of church for the rest of the time, prepare yourself to never step away from the Lord in thought, but always to see Him before you, so that your steps would not stray from the right path to the wrong one. Then, when you come to church it will be easier for you to be as you ought to be there. By standing appropriately in church it will be easier for you to hold your attention before the Lord when you are outside of church.… Thus your [state of] abiding in the Lord will grow higher and higher. What more could one desire? Saint Theophan the Recluse |
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