Tag: Christianity

Igumen Cyprian (Parts)Cyprian (Parts), Igumen

“>Igumen Cyprian (Parts) from Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery answers questions about father-confessors, the proper relationship with them, and salvation.

    

—Father Cyprian, can you please explain what a father-confessor is? Is he the priest you confess your sins to?

—Of course, first and foremost we are talking about a priest who is allowed to listen to confessions. Any parish priest can be a On the Father-Confessor and ObedienceThe main thing you should look for is that your father-confessor is the personality who will change you.

“>father-confessor.

—What should be observed here? Are you supposed to trust this priest?

—There certainly must be trust, without which relations with your father-confessor are impossible. When choosing a father-confessor you should take into account what the Holy Hierarch St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

“>Ignatius (Brianchaninov) said: “A father-confessor should be man of the Church.” He says that your heart should belong only to the Lord and in no case to your father-confessor. And there is another important criterion for choosing a priest who can be your father-confessor: He must guide you to Christ, and not to himself.

Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) made another very important observation. He said that neither a father-confessor should replace the will of his spiritual child with his own will, nor should his spiritual child should try to subordinate his father-confessor’s will to himself. Otherwise, according to Father John, it will be an obsession.

A father-confessor is a priest to whom you go for confession. He guides you in the right direction. And it’s up to you whether to walk in this direction or not. After all, if someone who has a brilliant father-confessor himself doesn’t move, what will happen? It’s like signpost on a road that points you in the right direction. If you don’t go anywhere, you will just stand there and rot at the signpost. Your father-confessor is the very “signpost” that shows this direction. But “whoever walks along the path will get where he’s going”, as the Russian saying goes.

—If you live in the world [not in a monastery], is one hundred percent obedience to your father-confessor required?

—No. St. Ignatius says that one hundred percent obedience is possible only when you live with a spiritual elder, because the elder’s will is Divinely enlightened. Everything is according to the will of God for him, and with divine enlightenment will he piously mortifies the will of his spiritual child.

But we are not given such a life. As St. Ignatius said, we can live by counsel. It is necessary to seek counsel—a father-confessor should look together with the person who comes to him for the way to act, according to the will of God.

—What is the layperson on his part supposed to do in order to seek the will of God?

—A layperson should read the Holy Scriptures and try to live according to the Word of God and the Church Typicon. He and his father-confessor should look together for how to act according to the will of God. Therefore, you should not regard your father-confessor as an oracle, who like a computer gives only correct decisions. And the person who asks must be ready to accept the will of God.

    

Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov)John (Maslov), Schema-Archimandrite

“>Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov; 1932­–1991), an elder of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, used to say, “Someone asks for my advice, I pray, but Heaven is silent. This happens because that person is stuck to his own will like a magnet to a piece of iron. And in such cases, I can only say, ‘Pray’.”

You see, this was a man possessed the spiritual gifts of clairvoyance and discernment. And what is the gift of discernment? This is a gift of grace and knowledge concerning how you should act according to the will of God in any situation and at any time. But when someone came to him for advice but was not ready to accept the will of God, even a man like Schema-Archimandrite John could say nothing. So, you yourself must make efforts.

It is good if a Christian has a father-confessor whom he can consult about his life. But before choosing a father-confessor, you need to think it over carefully. A person should take a closer look and get help in the form of advice.

But no gain without pain. A layperson should trust this priest; but, again, the priest should guide him to the Lord, to Christ, and not to himself. And he should not completely replace the will of his spiritual child with his own. You must seek the will of God yourself in order to act according to the commandments of God and the Gospel in your life, and you yourself have to work. After all, it happens that a priest may say something to one person who comes to him for confession, but to another says nothing, although the latter also comes to confession and repents. Both come to confession; however, one can receive advice, but the priest does not know what to say to the other. This means that a person must make an effort himself.

One day a young man came to elder Pavel (Gruzdev; 1910–1996) with an internal question: “How can I learn to pray?” Fr. Pavel asked him:

“Do you want to learn how to pray?

“Yes, I do,” the young man replied.

“Come with me,” the elder said, and took him to the exit, to the gate at the church courtyard.

Then he asked him:

“Can you see the road?”

“Yes, I can see it.”

“So, go,” Fr. Pavel said.

At first the young man did not understand. “What is this? I came to the elder, and it appears that he has sent me off.” But his friend explained to him later: “He put you on the road.” Fr. Pavel showed him: “I cannot walk your path for you. You have to walk this path yourself.”

—Suppose that for some reason you cannot find a father-confessor, but you want to improve inwardly and change. What should you do?

—Did Venerable Mary of EgyptCovered by the cloak, the ascetic turned to Zosimas: “Why do you want to speak with me, a sinful woman? What did you wish to learn from me, you who have not shrunk from such great labors?”

“>St. Mary of Egypt have a father-confessor? No, she didn’t. Did she die spiritually because of this? No. She was in a desert, where there were no priests. And the Lord Himself enlightened her. After all, she was there on obedience—she received a revelation from the Mother of God, Who said to her, “Cross the Jordan, and you will find true peace.” It means that she lived in obedience all this time, and therefore the Lord helped her and instructed her. But what is dangerous is when there are priests, but you say, “No, I will work on my salvation by myself.”

It’s not about finding a person who will pick you up in his arms and carry you to the Heavenly Kingdom or take you by the hand and drag you there. No. You will have to walk this path yourself. But it is dangerous to remain without counsel. If we live according to our own will, we won’t find a father-confessor. The problem may lie in the person himself—he wants everything to go according to his own will and wants the priest to bless his decisions. No, it doesn’t happen that way. The person wants find a priest who will bless his decisions, pray for him, and then everything will go as he plans. It doesn’t work that way!

One day a pilgrim came to a desert monastery and asked the abbot, “Do you have miracles here?” The abbot answered him: “In the world, you think it’s a miracle when God fulfils man’s will. But we believe it’s a miracle when man fulfils God’s will.”

—Please tell us a little about God’s commandment, that people shouldn’t make idols out of their fathers-confessor. This is common, especially among women.

—People should always put the Lord first. Then there will be no idols in the human heart. If you put a human being first in your heart—even if a very good one, even if a father-confessor—then he becomes your idol. And this is an obsession. Apostle John the Evangelist said: Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 Jn. 5:21). God is jealous (Nah. 1:2). Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? (Jas. 4:5).

    

A person should only put the Lord first. You must walk towards this through What Is True Repentance?True repentance is impossible without the renewal of a constant petition, invocation, repentant falling, prayer, and supplication to the Heavenly Father. It’s also a sign of the forgiveness of sins—the constant turning of the mind and heart to God.

“>repentance. Repentance is a life’s work—not just mentioning your sins at confession, although of course it is necessary to reveal your sins in the sacrament of repentance. Unless you work at self-improvement and strive to live according to the Gospel commandments, where will this repentance be put into practice?

—Father Cyprian, do people living in the world have a chance to be saved without going to a monastery?

—Yes, they certainly have. Do people attain salvation in the world? Yes, they do.

—How do we know that is true?

—You know, Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)

“>Fr. John (Krestiankin) gave an answer to this question. He once remarked that until the end of time, people would be saved in both monasteries and in married life. Fr. John knew what he was saying.

—Did he provide only two alternatives?

—No. He talked to his cell-attendant Tatiana Sergeyevna Smirnova (1941–2019) about three choices: “black”, “white”, and “gray”. “Black” is the monastery, “white” is marriage, and “gray” is the way she lived.

Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) and his cell-attendant Tatiana Smirnova     

—But she carried out her obedience with the elder…

—Yes. But do you think it was easy for her? Read how she described her life with Father John. Your life must be on a level appropriate to living near such an elder. It’s binding on you. At times she wanted to run away, and she wrote honestly about these moments. But she stayed. It wasn’t easy for her at all. Her path was not rosy. She had to walk with Fr. John, but she had walk on her own, on her own two feet. By the way, if you want to see an exemplary relationship between a priest and his spiritual child, I recommend her book, Notes of an Elder’s Clerk.

I should also mention the following words of Fr. John: “In our day, the most important thing for pastors and their flocks is the awareness of their own weakness.

On March 17, 2024, His Grace, +Bishop Alexei, traveled to Kwethluk, Alaska with members of the Diocesan Chancery to hear the people’s thoughts on the upcoming glorification of Saint Olga of Alaska, Mother to Kwethluk and first glorified handmaiden of the Holy Orthodox Church in the Alaskan lands.

The people shared their recollections of Saint Olga and expressed their joys and concerns to Vladyka Alexei who was preparing to present a report to the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Holy Orthodox Church in America the following month. To present the voices of the people to the venerable hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, His Grace invited Director Anton Khlopotov to film the pilgrimage during his archpastoral visitation.

This first short film on Saint Olga was presented to the Holy Synod during the Spring Session in April 2024 and it seems good to them and to the Holy Spirit that Saint Olga’s holy relics remain on her ancestral lands in her village of Kwethluk.

How You Can Help: The Church in Alaska is asking for your generous donations to build for the glory of God:

1. A Beautiful Temple on the Kuskokwim that will be the earthly home for Saint Olga’s holy relics and a beacon of light for the Yukon-Kuskokwim region;

2. A Hospitality Center with rooms for pilgrims who will come from across the world to venerate the Saint and experience the land that sanctified her;

3. A Cultural Center to preserve and foster the Yup’ik faith, way of life, and language. Your support will help us build a sacred space for worship, a hostel for pilgrims, and a cultural center to preserve and celebrate the rich Yup’ik heritage.

Please Donate Now:

St. Columba, also known as St. Columcille, is one of Ireland’s three patron saints, together with St. Patrick and St. Brigid. He is also sometimes called the “Apostle of the Picts” for his evangelization work in Scotland. 

Columba was born in 521, descended from royalty. He was taught and mentored by the priest who baptized him, and later went to a monastic school founded by St. Finnian of Moville. Columba became a monk at the school, and was also ordained a deacon. 

Columba went on to a different monastery and school run by St. Finnian of Colnard. He was ordained a priest there, and along with 11 others from the same institute, would become one of the “Twelve Apostles of Ireland.” 

Columba also studied with St. Mobhi of Glasnevin, before an epidemic forced him to return to Ulster in 544. He spent the next 15 years traveling, preaching, and founding monasteries. 

In 563, Columba left Ireland, for reasons unknown. Some accounts say he was simply going to preach the word of God. Others claim that he had become involved in a battle between warring tribes, and took on missionary work as penance. 

On the island of Iona, on Scotland’s northwest coast, Columba and his companions built simple monastic quarters and a small church. Columba’s first missionary work was in the region of Dalriada, where the Celtic Christmas were lacking solid religious instruction. 

Columba’s next effort was to cover the Picts in northern Scotland, a task he would spend most of his life completing. He gained entrance to the castle of King Brude, where the locked gates were said to have miraculously opened when Columba made the sign of the Cross. The king believed the Gospel and was baptized. 

Over the next 30 years, Columba continued to evangelize in northern Scotland. He and his companions met with resistance from the native pagan Druids, but overall built a network of churches and monasteries, and spread the Catholic faith. 

The monastery at Iona drew pilgrims seeking Columba’s wisdom and prayers. He remained in touch with the Irish Church, making many trips back and forth until he became too weak to travel. Even in old age, Columba maintained an intense routine of prayer, fasting, and study. 

After giving his monastery one final blessing on June 8, 597, Columba died in the early hours of the following day.

Revelation: Removing the VeilThis revelation was given by God to the Apostle John because we needed to know it.

“>Part 1, If Christ Is With Us, Death Is DefeatedThe book of Revelation teaches us a lot, especially when we begin to carefully delve into its words, when we see how Christ holds the world in His hands and acts with wisdom in all things.”>Part 2, Why Did the Lord Leave Man the Book of Revelation?Only the people of God, the saints, can receive revelations from God, and only they can interpret them, because a revelation, words from God, is given from God, from the Holy Spirit.”>Part 3, For the Time Is at Hand…We have to understand that God acts outside of time, and the events of Revelation don’t relate only to the end times.”>Part 4, Blessed Is He That Readeth…Christ sent the revelation through an angel to His servant the Apostle and Evangelist John, who conveyed the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ about what he saw and heard.”>Part 5, He Hath Made Us Kings and PriestsA man who is close to God, my dears, truly feels like a king—he has no need of anything. At the same time, he may have absolutely nothing.”>Part 6, John, Our Companion in Tribulation, and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus ChristOne of the most significant and frequent references to the Holy Trinity is in the text of Revelation.”>Part 7, Because Thou Hast Left Thy First Love…The greatest miracle is that the Church exists.”>Part 8, Fear None of Those Things Which Thou Shalt SufferThus, God says the following: He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Nothing exists outside of Him; in Him is everything. He is the Beginning and End of all things.”>Part 9, Holding Fast to the Name of ChristTo hold fast the name of God is a blessing; it’s martyrdom, and it’s a confession.”>Part 10, Sin Is Marriage with SatanSin will never lead us to good; it brings only evil, torment, and suffering. It’s the consequence of our deeds, not the punishment of God.”>Part 11, Remember Where You Fell FromWe have to examine ourselves, whether we’re alive or not. And how can we know that someone has died?”>Part 12, Every Obstacle Is for our GoodThe book of Revelation was written to help us trust in Christ, to hope in Christ, and to know that Christ will prevail in the end, and that we’ll all inherit the Kingdom of God—that our goal is the Kingdom of God.”>Part 13

    

Such a danger awaits us until the very last moment

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown (Rev. 3:11). The Lord is coming soon. God doesn’t delay, because there’s no What is Time?Good works in the name of the Lord is the means to “redeeming” the time of our life, leading unto eternity, unto knowledge of God.

“>time for God. We might feel like saying: “So long, so many years!” There is no such time for God; He’s always with us. He never leaves us.

We think He’s not there. We say: “And where is God? Why did God leave me alone? I’m trying, but I don’t see or understand anything. I feel alone, abandoned, discarded.” God is near; He hasn’t left you. But He gives you the chance to act like a human being, to do the things that require human effort, and then the Lord will reveal His presence in your soul. The Lord is coming soon. Be careful not to be negligent, to not let your attention scatter here and there—at this time, someone can steal your crown that you’ve been weaving for yourself for so long with your patience. A man can lose everything; such a danger awaits us until the very last moment.

Unfortunately, we can undertake great feats and then lose everything in a moment due to our carelessness, our pride, our passions. May the Lord protect us from this. So we have to be careful.

Make sure to hold tight to what you have. Don’t throw it away; don’t leave it. The Greatest Temptation for Orthodox ChristiansI would say, probably, the main temptation faced by the Orthodox Christians in the West in modernity in general is double-mindedness.

“>Temptation doesn’t happen when satan or someone tells us: “Renounce God!” No, that’s too simple and obvious. Satan has too many ways to lead us into losing God.

“My First Meeting with Elder Paisios”He told me, “You are related to us.” I said to him, “Geronda, are you from Cyprus?” He replied, “You’re slow-witted.”

“>Elder Paisios asked us: “What did Pharaoh do when he wanted to make the Jews forget about God, to lose the desire to serve God?” He gave them work and money. He told the Egyptians: “Give them food, whatever they want, even a little more, so they eat well. And give them work for the whole day.” If they eat and work all day, they’ll forget about God. And this is exactly what satan does with us sometimes. He gives us a ton of work so we’ll spend the whole day amidst work and worries. He also gives us the means to have a good time thanks to this work. And the result is that we lose our aspiration, our direction, and we forget where we’re going.

St. Paisios     

How many times has this happened to all of us? Worries begin to pull on us more and more. You see people who are getting old but they continue to invent new jobs for themselves. They live to be fifty and take up new activities; they reach sixty and they’re still working; they hit seventy and they have all new worries and labors; then eighty and they still don’t stop. They think they have 200 years to live. What we have to do must be done quickly and decisively. You don’t know what could happen.

He will be a pillar of the Church

In verse 12, he says: Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of Heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name (Rev. 3:12). He will hold a place that will be a pillar of the Church, that will uphold the Church. Christ will call him by the name of His God. Not because God the Father is God the Son, but because God is the Creator of the human nature of Christ, and of course, His God. And he will no longer leave the church, and the name of God will be inscribed on this man. This faithful, this holy man of God who has endured everything to the end will know God, will have a Divine experience, will be the abode of God. In some way, the name of God and the name of the city of God will be written on him. What is the city of God? New Jerusalem, the Church of Christ. It descends from Heaven, from God. It’s given us from above, from God. And on this faithful man will be written the new name of God—the name of grace, the name of the Holy Trinity, the name that God gives us by grace through our Baptism and through the Sacraments of the Church.

The epistle to the Bishop of the Philadelphia Church ends with the His usual words: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches (Rev. 3:13). Those who have ears hear, but those who don’t, unfortunately, hear but don’t listen.

To the angel of the Church of Laodicea

And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14). “The Amen”—this is what God calls Himself in the Old Testament: Amen, holy, Sabaoth, and so on. Christ spoke with the Prophets in the Old Testament; they saw and heard Him. Christ is the Witness; He testifies, He is faithful and true, and the beginning of creation.

The Ancient of Days. 14th C., Ubisa, Georgia     

Jehovah’s Witnesses say: “Look, He is the beginning of creation. That means He’s the first creation.” But unfortunately, it seems they don’t know Greek. The beginning of creation doesn’t mean the first creation, but it’s the One Who created everything else. For example, when we say the head¹ of the government, we mean the president, that is, the head—it’s authority, the one who created everything else, who caused everything. Christ created all of nature, all of creation is from Him. He is uncreated.

Neither cold nor hot

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot (Rev. 3:15). Again the Lord says that he knows the bishop’s works. You can’t hide from God. It’s easy to deceive people, to mislead them, to seem good, to smile—we manage that well. Not everyone can figure us out. But you can’t deceive God. God sees us to the depths of our soul; He knows everything, even to the smallest particle of our being—even what we can’t see ourselves. Even what our mind and heart can’t explore, God sees.

And further, the Lord utters fearful words: Thou art neither cold nor hot. “I know, that you are neither cold nor hot.” As we say in Cyprus: “In the middle of the road.” It would be good for you to be either cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth (Rev. 3:16). “Inasmuch as you are lukewarm—not hold or cold—I will spit you out of My mouth. I don’t want you.”

Just as we can vomit from disgusting food, so will God do with him because he’s lukewarm. Someone may say right now: “Maybe it’s better to at least be lukewarm than cold. Lukewarm is still a bit hot. It’s better than icy, right?”

Why does Christ reject the lukewarm? Because the lukewarm man doesn’t realize that he’s that way, and remains that way. The cold man can at any moment realize it and be horrified: Why is he like that; why is he so far from God; why is he such a sinner; why is he so unfortunate? There’s room before him for repentance.

But the lukewarm man thinks he’s good, he thinks something is going well for him, that he’s doing something, that he certainly won’t be lost. He does a little here and a little there. But it doesn’t work that way. The word of God is absolutely clear here. We should be hot, not cold—far from God. But not lukewarm. A lukewarm man lives in Christ formally; for him, the word of God is a kind of example of good behavior. He may be a very good man, exceptional, but he has no fire of the Holy Spirit in him; his soul is lifeless.

What is the sign of holy people? For those saints whom we have known in our days and who still live among us, perhaps already elderly, even 100 years old, it’s a living soul. They’re hot, with a living soul. You see an old man before you, his body almost dead, but his soul is more alive than the living. And conversely, sometimes you meet people who are young in body but dead in soul. You see a man with a strong body, he goes to the gym, he has strong muscles, but his soul is weak, barely flickering, hardly visible. The soul has no strength, the heart is silent, it fears everything, the passions are boiling in it.

Do you remember the episode from the Gospel? A young man came to Christ and asked him what he should do to follow Him. Christ told him to sell everything and follow after Him. When the young man heard this, he was very upset. Why? He was rich and couldn’t detach himself from his wealth. The Gospel says he had many houses, and he didn’t leave them. Then he had to leave them to others, but he had already lost the calling of God. His soul wasn’t alive; his heart wasn’t hot.

You may say: “Father, you speak well, but still, that’s what we are—lukewarm people. We live in this world. We’re weak, passionate. What can we do?”

Further, Christ gives this bishop important advice. He tells him that He’ll throw him away if he’s like this. Do you see how directly Christ speaks? There’s no false politeness or ambiguity in Him. He tells the bishop exactly what He’ll do with him: He’ll spew him out of His mouth, without ever even looking at him again, because he’s too revolting to keep him inside Him.

​Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, Heinrich Hoffman. 1889     

Do you consider yourself an important person?

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev. 3:17). What fearful things Christ says about him! This isn’t some man who can make mistakes speaking. It’s God Himself speaking. His word is absolute, befitting God.

You think you’re rich, you think you’re something, that you don’t need in anything, but you don’t know yourself. It’s a tragedy that he considered himself an important person. And the main cause of his suffering was that he didn’t want to see himself as he is—pitiable, pathetic, poor. He was absolutely poor, blind, and naked. We often think that we’re really something, that we’re rich and influential.

What does the Lord advise him? I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Rev. 3:18). The Lord advises him to buy from Him gold that has been purified by fire and is burning. “You will receive grace from Me, which burns with fire. It is the purest, purified by fire. You will be enriched by it. It will make you rich. Everything else is poverty, nakedness. Come and I will give you wealth and strength. I will give you white garments, bright and clean, to clothe yourself, so your nakedness would not be visible before the whole world. I will give you an eye salve that your eyes might see.” Christ calls him to give him what he lacks. And what he lacks is grace, not everything else. He needs grace to adorn himself and become rich, in order to see and wake up, to understand who he really is.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Rev. 3:19). So what was said wouldn’t seem too harsh, Christ says that He loves him, therefore he rebukes and punishes him. “I’m telling you this because I love you. I want to rebuke and punish you. Return to zeal for God, kindle Divine zeal in your soul, repent of everything you’ve done that’s made you unhappy, destitute, and naked. Don’t think I’m far away, that I despise and avoid you, that I’ve cast you out.”

“I stand at the door, and knock”

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). What door is the Lord standing at? Of course, at the door of our heart, not at the door of our house. Of course, the Lord sometimes knocks on the door of our house too. People come to us to ask for alms, and we close the door before them. You see, it depends on us whether Christ enters our heart, and not on Christ. No one can say: “I want it, but where’s the grace? Christ doesn’t come, doesn’t accept me, doesn’t remember me…” No. Christ stands at the door and knocks on our heart. How does He knock? In different ways—both by His word and His presence, and the multitude of trials in our lives, and through the circumstances of our lives—in thousands of ways, in all possible ways, the Lord knocks on the door and asks us to open to Him, that He might enter. He doesn’t break down the door; Christ doesn’t break it, but waits for us to open the door willingly, for Him to come in and sup with us, and we with Him.

Christ knocking at the door     

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne (Rev. 3:21). Like the God-Man. The human nature of Christ sits on the right hand of God the Father. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches (Rev. 3:22).

With this ends the seven epistles to the seven bishops of the Churches. But they’re so strong, so frank, that we find ourselves among them. It remains for us only to open the door, because we understand that we are poor and naked, pitiable and poor. Let us ask Christ to come inside of us that He might revive our heart and our whole being.

To be continued…

St. Medard was born around 456, in Salency, France. His father was a noble Frenchman and his mother was from a Roman family that had settled in Gaul. 

At the age of 33, Medard was ordained a priest. He wanted to remain a priest, but reluctantly became Bishop of Vermand in 530. He was one of the most honored bishops of the time, and his memory has always been venerated in northern France. Medard is also the hero of numerous local legends. 

According to one legend, when Medard was a child, he was sheltered from the rain by a hovering eagle. He is commonly depicted this way in art, and this led to his patronage of good weather, against bad weather, and for people who work in the fields. 

Legend has it that if it rains on Medard’s feast day, the next 40 days will be wet. But if the weather is good, the next 40 days will be fine as well. 

Medard is also depicted laughing aloud with his mouth open wide, which led to his patronage against toothache. 

Every year on Medard’s memorial, the Rosiere is awarded to a young girl who has been judged the most virtuous and exemplary in the region of Salency, France. The girl is escorted by 12 boys and 12 girls to the church, where she is crowned with roses and given a gift of money. This practice is a continuation of a yearly stipend of “scholarship” that Medard instituted when he was bishop. His younger sister was the first to be crowned the Rosiere.

In the ruling this week, the judge allowed nearly all of the plaintiff’s claims against the school to proceed, tossing out only one claim against the school alleging that it had failed to pledge to follow nondiscrimination rules.

Ogden’s decision was “not making any type of ruling regarding substantive arguments” in the case, the judge said in issuing the order.

The next hearing for the case is scheduled for July 24. The suit is ultimately aimed at “preventing St. Isidore from receiving state funds or operating as a public charter school,” AU said in its release.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this year heard a separate case against the school, this one filed by Oklahoma Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who also opposes granting the school access to taxpayer dollars.

Drummond argued in his suit that funding the school with public money would result in “harm to religious liberty,” one that would set a precedent that could require the state to fund a “public charter school teaching Sharia Law.”

The Catholic school did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling on Thursday.

A few years ago, starting to contemplate my death and burial, I happened upon a cemetery in a small Central Coast town where I have friends. I called one day to inquire about the cost of a plot and the guy who answered could not get his mind around the fact that I didn’t live in the town, nor had I grown up in the town, nor did I have any particular ties with the town other than having visited it over the years. Finally he could no longer hold himself in. “Ain’tcha got no FAMILY?” he blurted.

Well, like many of us, yes and no. Let’s just say I read “The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels” (Crown, $30), by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans, with special attention.

Prickett is associate professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam. Timmermans, whose interest lies in forensic death investigations, is a professor of sociology at UCLA.

Both become fascinated by the fact that approximately 1,600 people die in the greater Los Angeles area each year without a single person to claim their bodies or remains.

Who are these people? And why do they end up where they do?

In an effort to unravel the mystery, the authors decided to follow four individuals who died in LA between 2012 and 2019 — some destitute, some not; some with relatives, some without.

They cold-called, knocked on doors, followed county employees in their workplaces, conducted interviews, and exhaustively fact-checked.

Civilizations across the ages, they point out, have mourned the dead and gone to great lengths to obtain control of the body and arrange a decent burial. This very human impulse is even embedded in our legal code: the common law “right of sepulcher.”

It used to be that those who ended up in a potter’s field were almost invariably indigent. Nowadays it’s way more common for people “of means” to die alone and unmourned: thus, the newer term is “the unclaimed.”

If you die like this in LA, the county cremates your body and stores the ashes for three years in a brown plastic box (or an envelope if you’re a fetus or tiny infant) in case someone comes along who’s willing to pay the approximately $400 claim fee.

If no one does — and they usually don’t — once a year the ashes are dumped in a mass grave in the four-acre “potter’s field” located in an unattractive corner of Boyle Heights’ Evergreen Cemetery. In 2017, there were 1,461 boxes and envelopes.

How did we come to the point where almost a quarter of those over 65 are considered “socially isolated”? How has it come to pass that in the first decade of the 21st century, 114,000 Americans died unclaimed?

If LA County is any indicator, it’s not for lack of trying. Three distinct, though often overlapping, county agencies handle the bodies and the estates of the dead.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner investigates suspicious or indeterminate deaths, signs the death certificate if (as is often the case), the decedent was outside the health care system, and notifies the next of kin.

The Office of Decedent Affairs handles run-of-the-mill deaths that occur, for example, in nursing homes and hospitals, and oversees the Boyle Heights county crematorium and cemetery.

The public administrator specializes in finding next of kin and assets.

The labyrinthine rules, waiting periods, claim fees, and loopholes within and among the three agencies made my head spin.

What came through was that in any system: 1) There are always one or two people who are conscientious, take their jobs seriously and personally, and know they are contributing to the greater good, whether or not anyone ever notices. 2) One or two people — outliers who often have few resources themselves — will emerge from the woodwork, wade through the red tape, and find a way to establish a labor-of-love way to honor and serve humankind.

Elissa Davey, for example, a woman from San Diego County, started a project called The Garden of Innocence where unclaimed babies — whether abused, murdered, abandoned, or found in a trash can — can receive a loving and decent burial.

Doyle Tolbert, a Vietnam vet, started an organization called Veterans Without Family that goes to great lengths to identify indigent deceased as veterans and to provide them with a decent casket and military honors burial.

Father Chris Ponnet, director of spiritual care at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, faithfully presides each year over an open-to-the-public ecumenical service for LA’s unclaimed dead.

Near the end of the book, Prickett describes her sorrowful estrangement from her own father, then wonders: “At the heart of my dilemma — and those of other estranged families: Where do our obligations to family begin and end?”

Excellent question: in fact, the breakdown of the family — with its shared belief system, rituals, and responsibilities; its capacity, ideally, to care for its weak, sick, and elderly; its support of ongoing life — is clearly responsible, in large part, for the skyrocketing levels of “lonely deaths,” as the Japanese call them, around the globe.

Which brings me back to that cemetery on the Central Coast.

I’ve made other plans — and I comfort myself with this: Not a sparrow falls but what the Father knows. And contrary to the wisdom of the world, at the end of the age what will matter is not how much others loved, served, and mourned us.

What will matter is how much, in our poverty, we loved and served others.

I did not think I needed to add to the commentariat regarding Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and his commencement speech at Benedictine College. Many finer thinkers than me have already chimed in (case in point, Amy Welborn’s column in the May 31 edition of Angelus). 

I am not here to pick a fight — mainly because I would lose to Welborn, who can write me into the ground — but I think she was a little harsh when she declared that Butker had a “stupid job.” 

I’m the king of stupid jobs. I used to write one-hour TV cop shows — it does not get much more trivial than that. 

So kicking a ball through goalposts, to me, is just another job. If you aren’t operating on someone’s heart, saving someone unjustly accused from prison, or confecting the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord, most jobs are pretty lame.

But Butker’s words about husbands and wives got me thinking about jobs, and roles that men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers have to cope with in this modern world.

When Welborn quoted Christian commentator Alex Sosler, I had a “stop the presses” moment. The quote mused on how our modern and mechanized culture, and all of its false promises, has wreaked havoc on the family dynamic. It was a hark to another time “where men and women are called to mutual homemaking, where the career vs. family struggle disappeared altogether.”  

Sosler was describing my grandparents, who practiced the revolutionary concept of agriculture — first developed in Mesopotamia thousands of years before — that changed human history forever. But for the most part, they sat out the other “giant leap” of mankind, the Industrial Revolution, which also changed the world forever. 

There were plenty of planes, trains, and automobiles when my grandparents were working their small farm in northern Arkansas during the first half of the last century, but they did so sans the modern mechanisms that many of their peers availed themselves to.  

The razor-sharp discs of the plow my grandfather used may have been machined by a nameless factory worker in Ohio, but the plow was pulled by a two-mule team, Beck and Kate. My grandparents lived without electricity and, therefore, no refrigeration. They had a spring house and a root cellar. My grandfather passed away in 1963, having never driven a car or had a driver’s license.

My grandmother juggled two careers. First, she was a homemaker when being a homemaker did not just mean you kept a clean house and supervised children. She was always intricately linked to — and part of — her husband’s job. She was an expert in animal husbandry, accounting, and cost-benefit analysis. Together they had a side business — my grandfather was the local Justice of the Peace and would preside over weddings while my grandmother served as the official witness. In every sense of the phrase, they both worked from home.

The Industrial Revolution changed all that for so many. It yanked men out of the home and chained them to factory assembly lines and work that, yes, can probably be described as “stupid.”

Welborn’s article aptly colors this world we have built where everything is so mechanized that relationships between husbands and wives can be crushing. The evidence can be found in the debris of so many broken marriages and homes. 

Nature has reclaimed my grandparent’s farm. That lifestyle will not be coming back any time soon, as the industrial genie will not go back into the bottle without a fight. There are economic realities wrought by our “progress” that Butker’s speech did not address. The average tuition of a Catholic high school, for example, is now what tuition at a state college used to be, if not more. 

Homeschooling is not an option for a lot of families where both mom and dad are working outside the home, not so they can keep up payments on their boat in Marina Del Rey, but because they need to keep the lights on in a two- bedroom Los Angeles apartment, where the median rent is $2,800 a month.

Those kinds of stressors have a lot of us doing stupid jobs for The Man, as Welborn put it. We can’t all live in a unified agrarian simplicity like my grandparents but, as the column suggests so poignantly, we certainly can all answer our own “call to be conformed to Christ.” That applies whether one is a kicker of footballs, a tiller of soil, or writer of words.

Pope Francis led his “School of Prayer” outside on a concrete driveway leading to a series of parking garages under a 30-family condominium on the outskirts of Rome.

“The church begins to take shape in the community, seeking together, listening to the word of God, speaking well of each other,” he told about 60 residents of the apartment building: children, teenagers, adults and older people. A group of women from Senegal, an Orthodox man and the district president were also present, Vatican News reported.

“What matters is respect for others, and with that respect you go forward and build up the church,” making sure to include and accompany children and the elderly, he said during the visit June 6, a portion of which was released in video.

“A parish where children are not listened to and where the old are blocked out is not a true Christian community,” he said.

The pope’s late afternoon visit to the families was not announced in advance by the Vatican and came as a big surprise to the residents, whose local parish is the Church of St. Brigid of Sweden in Rome’s Palmarola neighborhood.

One woman rushed down the stairs fixing her hair, others were wearing house slippers, according to Vatican News.

The pope’s white Fiat pulled onto the sloping driveway, which had a large metal gate that was eventually closed shut. He greeted the families and children from his wheelchair, and an aide handed out candy.

One woman told her small squirming toddler, “Look, look! Did you know that is Jesus’ friend?”

Brown plastic chairs had been set up for the residents and an upholstered wooden armchair for the pope in the driveway which was enclosed by a large wall of cut rock and brick with pockets of vegetation sprouting out of the seams.

The visit was the third appointment of his “School of Prayer,” a series of visits he has been making during the Year of Prayer in preparation for the Holy Year 2025. The visits are coordinated by the section of the Dicastery for Evangelization that is organizing the Holy Year.

The pope asked the residents if they had “any reflections or something nice” to share.

One woman said how much she has appreciated his words, initiatives and presence. “From World Children’s Day, your speeches, what we get is a father who leads a large community in small things, in true things.”

“Seeing you here in front of a brick wall is the most moving thing,” she said. “It makes us feel that you are part of our community. … This is the church of Christ; it is the church that is stripped down to be a human church, so thank you.”

According to Vatican News, the pope spoke about the family, its challenges, its beauty and potential for the church and society, in a brief informal catechesis and in a 45-minute Q&A session.

“Let’s defend the family, which is essential for raising children,” he said, acknowledging the difficulties or “storms” families will face. ”If parents argue, it’s normal, but they should make peace before the end of the day” and show that they do love each other.

Families should always use the three words that are essential for making a relationship work: “Sorry, please and thank you,” he said.

“The children are watching us,” he said. Parents who are separated should not bad-mouth each other and should teach their children about respect.

Always talk to your children, the pope told them. “Education happens through dialogue” and make sure they “understand that they can talk about everything.”

“Life’s lessons are learned at home,” he said, “not from others who may teach who knows what.”

Revelation: Removing the VeilThis revelation was given by God to the Apostle John because we needed to know it.

“>Part 1, If Christ Is With Us, Death Is DefeatedThe book of Revelation teaches us a lot, especially when we begin to carefully delve into its words, when we see how Christ holds the world in His hands and acts with wisdom in all things.”>Part 2, Why Did the Lord Leave Man the Book of Revelation?Only the people of God, the saints, can receive revelations from God, and only they can interpret them, because a revelation, words from God, is given from God, from the Holy Spirit.”>Part 3, For the Time Is at Hand…We have to understand that God acts outside of time, and the events of Revelation don’t relate only to the end times.”>Part 4, Blessed Is He That Readeth…Christ sent the revelation through an angel to His servant the Apostle and Evangelist John, who conveyed the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ about what he saw and heard.”>Part 5, He Hath Made Us Kings and PriestsA man who is close to God, my dears, truly feels like a king—he has no need of anything. At the same time, he may have absolutely nothing.”>Part 6, John, Our Companion in Tribulation, and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus ChristOne of the most significant and frequent references to the Holy Trinity is in the text of Revelation.”>Part 7, Because Thou Hast Left Thy First Love…The greatest miracle is that the Church exists.”>Part 8, Fear None of Those Things Which Thou Shalt SufferThus, God says the following: He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Nothing exists outside of Him; in Him is everything. He is the Beginning and End of all things.”>Part 9, Holding Fast to the Name of ChristTo hold fast the name of God is a blessing; it’s martyrdom, and it’s a confession.”>Part 10, Sin Is Marriage with SatanSin will never lead us to good; it brings only evil, torment, and suffering. It’s the consequence of our deeds, not the punishment of God.”>Part 11, Remember Where You Fell FromWe have to examine ourselves, whether we’re alive or not. And how can we know that someone has died?”>Part 12

Trust in God’s providence

The book of Revelation wasn’t written to satisfy our curiosity about coming events; not so we’d know whether Cyprus will be liberated, what will become of the Turks, what will happen to the rest of us. The book of Revelation was written to help us trust in Christ, to hope in Christ, and to know that Christ will prevail in the end, and that we’ll all inherit the Kingdom of God—that our goal is the Kingdom of God. But on the way there, we will undoubtedly encounter everything that Revelation gradually reveals through various images. Reading it, it’s not easy to understand what’s already happened, what will happen, and what is happening right now.

Christ on a white horse, Philotheou Monastery, Mt. Athos     

We’re reading the third chapter, verse 7. Christ sends seven epistles to seven Churches through the Apostle John. We’ve already read five; there are two left.

Thy will be done

Christ tells St. John the Theologian: And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth (Rev. 3:7). Here He addresses the bishop of the Church of Philadelphia. In these lines, Christ speaks of Himself, using epithets found in the Old Testament when it speaks about God. In the Old Testament, God is called holy, true, and “Amen.” This is another of the many proofs in Sacred Scripture that Christ is the true God Who spoke with the prophets in the Old Testament.

Only God is holy. We’re not holy—we become partakers of the holiness of God, each in proportion to his labors, to his purification from passions and sins. But only God can be called holy and true according to essence. Here it says that He Who is holy and true has the keys of David. May no one think that God has the keys to open and close certain doors. Here we’re talking about the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Divine Hypostasis. When God opens something, no one can close it. And when God closes something, no one can open it. This is very important for all of us to keep in mind.

We encounter such phenomena quite often: We try to do something, but it doesn’t work out. Or, on the contrary, circumstances develop in such a way that one door opens, a path opens in front of us that we hadn’t even asked for, hadn’t worked towards,and hadn’t even thought about it. But this path opens up and you go down it. This shows the will of God, which, of course, we all seek in our lives. We all say every day: “Thy will be done!” We ask God for His will to be done. Our heart, our whole being seeks the will of God, desires to be saved, to have communion with God—because the will of God is singular and one: our salvation. God directs everything towards our salvation, without violating our will, without violence against our essence, our identity.

“Guys, God didn’t leave us”

When something happens to us, it’s very important for us that God is there for us. When God is with us, then no one can do anything against us. Everyone may be against us, but in the end, whatever God blesses is what will happen. When God is with us, we’re not afraid of anything, we’re not afraid to fail. This isn’t just about our everyday affairs, which often can’t be dismissed as just vanity. It’s important for us to know about this for our own salvation.

Our elder, Geronda Joseph of Vatopedi of blessed memory, often told us:

Guys, God didn’t leave us when we didn’t know Him, when we insulted Him with our deeds, our words, our immoral life. Despite all that, God didn’t leave us. When we didn’t need Him, when we didn’t look for Him; when we pushed Him away, fled from Him, He remained with us, calling us to Him and doing everything to bring us nearer to Him, to bring us to the knowledge of His truth. And now, when we’ve come to know Him somewhat, when we’ve somewhat acquainted ourselves with Him and are clumsily seeking our salvation, even though our sins are so great that they prevent us from proving that we truly desire to be saved, we’re making some steps, more or less, compared to how we lived before. Is it really possible that God would abandon us now?

The Elder spoke this way to give us boldness and strength.

​Schemamonk Joseph of Vatopedi     

Every man laboring in asceticism needs courage and strength, because we often encounter a wall of disappointment on our way: The passions don’t depart from us, the enemy fights us. A man feels like he’s not moving forward, he feels abandoned, he’s afraid he’ll lose, that he’ll hit rock bottom. At such moments, we need strength and patience, we need good thoughts to strengthen ourselves and not get lost. If God didn’t leave me then, will He really leave me now? It’s not possible that God would leave us. And if God is with me and desires my salvation, even though I’m in turmoil and tossing to and fro, God will win in the end. It’s enough for us to entreat the mercy of God, it’s enough not to leave God, not to leave our place, to not surrender ourselves into the hands of the enemy—into despair and hopelessness. No matter how many sins we commit, no matter how we pervert our lives, no matter what tragic situation we find ourselves in, nothing is difficult for God.

Nothing is impossible for God. We’ve already said that God can’t say: “I can’t do anything with this man. He’s committed so many sins and become so corrupted.” God doesn’t say that. There’s no situation that God can’t fix. Often, there are many things that you and I can’t do. Nothing is impossible for God. It will be enough for us to ask for God’s help, to pray that God will have mercy on us, to entreat God’s mercy.

“Every obstacle is for our good”

God has an infinite number of ways and means. He’s God—He’s not bound by anything; there are no boundaries for Him. God is unlimited in His energies; His power and possibilities have no limit. When God opens doors, no one can close them.

If it pleases God to do this and not that, no one can upset His plans. And when God closes a door, there’s nothing you can do; you won’t be able to open it. Our Elder also said: “If you knock on a door and it doesn’t open, don’t break it down.” Think about it—perhaps it’s for your good if God doesn’t open this door? You prayed, you tried, you did everything in your power, but you see things aren’t going your way. Your decision, your work, your attempt is left unresolved. Sit and think: “If I ask that it be done according to the will of God, if I ask God to help me, to support me, then why is this happening; why’s everything closed? Perhaps, after all, this is happening for my own good; maybe this is the way it’s supposed to be?” Quite often, that’s how it is. We’ve all had this experience, and our ancestors would say: “Every obstacle is for our good.”

Something is preventing you from doing your work. One thing doesn’t work out, then the next. Perhaps years later you’ll say: “Fortunately, all that didn’t work out for me then. It’s good that it didn’t go well then. How great it is that things didn’t work out then.”

Of course, when we ask for God’s mercy and help, we have trust in God. Try, do what you can, and leave the rest to God. So, God opens and no one can close; He closes and no one can open.

In verse 8, the Lord says: I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name (Rev. 3:8). I know your works; I acknowledge that you have worthy deeds. God tells the bishop that He has opened a door before him. “I left the door open for you to act with the help of the energy I gave you. And don’t be afraid—no one can shut this door. I know you have little strength, but still, you have kept My word and not renounced My name. You have remained faithful to My word.

    

Do you see how important it is for a man to remain faithful to God and to use what he has? However much you have—give it all to God, and God will multiply it, and use it for good. Even if you have no strength at all, at least give God your intention, your desire. Say: “You see, my God, that I can’t do anything. Where I’ve ended up, where my passions and sins have taken me, poor and wretched—I can’t do anything! But despite all this, I want to be saved.”

The saints said: “Give God your intention and receive power.” When you tell God: “I want to do this,” then the mighty God will give you His strength to do it, if the time has come. God expects our desire and will from us, for us to remain faithful to Him, to not reject the name of God.

There are many temptations, difficult periods, tragic hours in our lives when a man is ready to renounce even God. And don’t think that renouncing the name of God is saying: “God doesn’t exist; Christ doesn’t exist.” Not only that. Of course, that’s a renunciation—God forbid it should come to that. But we also renounce the name of God when we cohabitate with sin, when we compromise and say: “No worries, it doesn’t matter;” when we coldly transgress the commandments of God and justify our behavior saying we can’t live any other way, for various reasons, and we don’t repent of it; when we don’t at least say: “Okay, I’m breaking God’s commandments; I know I’m making a mistake; I’m upset about it. God, forgive me, I’m doing the wrong thing!” But when I justify myself, I say: “I’m not doing anything; the world’s not going to collapse. Look at others—they’re doing something more serious.” This means I’ll never repent.

A man who justifies himself will never repent. If you don’t understand that you’re making a mistake, how will you repent? If you have a justification for everything, how will you repent? How can grace enter the soul of a man who has no humility? In essence, a proud man is one who always justifies himself. A proud man, no matter what he has done, even murder, will always find a justification: “Of course I did it, but for this or that reason.” He doesn’t humble himself to ask forgiveness; he doesn’t admit his mistake; he doesn’t say: “I’m guilty. I’m a weak and passionate man.”

Two types of worship

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee (Rev. 3:9). If they were true Jews, the true people of God, they wouldn’t be liars; they wouldn’t be people who fight against the word of God, who crucified Christ and continue to crucify the people of God, the Church of Christ.

Further, the Lord says that He will make it so that these people come and worship at the feet of the bishop. Of course, it’s not to please him in some human way. The Lord will do this with the people from the satanic assembly so they would come and worship before the Church, would recognize the Church. Because the Church is the truth and Christ is the true God. And worship before thy feet is another argument for us in response to the heresies existing now that call people not to venerate icons. They say: “Only worship God!” Here Christ Himself says to the bishop: I will make them to come and worship before thy feet. What does this mean? Did God make the bishop an idol? Is Christ teaching us idolatry?

Worship varies. The worship that we give to God is one thing. We serve Him as the true God. To venerate icons or the saints as a sign of respect is another thing. We do this to express our respect for them; we worship in a relative sense—we don’t serve icons, we don’t say an icon is God; we kiss the image, the icon, on which Christ, the Theotokos, or the saints are depicted.

What is temptation?

Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 3:10). “You have kept My word; you have stayed true to it thanks to your patience for My sake.” You see, God doesn’t want His work to be easy. Easy things are cheap. Difficult things are costly. This bishop was a man of God who had boldness before the Lord, and he did his deeds with great forbearance. When does a man endure? When trials, sorrows, and hardships happen to him. This is the time of patience. When everything’s fine, when everything’s going well, when we have everything, when we’re not lacking anything, then we’re not enduring anything.

Sorrows, difficulties, confrontations, and conflicts are called temptations. They are things that tempts us, that tests us. The word “temptation” [πειρασμός in Greek], comes from the verb “πειράζομαι”—“something hurts me, worries me, brings me troubles.”¹ A temptation is also a challenge. The word has many meanings.

Many think that a temptation is what inclines you towards sin,² but it’s not only that. “Temptation” also means various difficult moments in our lives.

Thus, this man showed patience. You see, God doesn’t remove his temptations and sorrows. He leaves him where he is. He leaves this holy man—His man—to endure.

Some say that when they read about the torments, labors, trials, and struggles of the Apostle Paul and the other Holy Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles, they think: “Did these poor men really have so few trials: persecution, injustice, that they also had to get shipwrecked and lost for fourteen days, to wander in a boat among the raging sea, to wind up on an island? Why was all this necessary?”

The Apostle Paul, El Greco. Early 17th C., Museo del Prado in Madrid     

He was an Apostle, so he suffered much for God’s sake. The Lord permitted him to be tempted by all these troubles in order to be cleansed, sanctified, but most of all, so he could manifest the power of his love, because spiritual love possesses great power. This is why we see severe trials, one after the other, in the lives of the saints. You feel sorry for them on a human level and you wonder: “This poor man faced one hardship, then another. Isn’t that enough? Why did this have to happen too?”

But God doesn’t look at the temporary and fleeting. God looks at man and sees that he’s not for this life. This life will pass; maximum 100–120 years, and man departs. God prepares His children. As a good teacher prepares his students to pass their exams and go to college, so the good God prepares His Children to pass their exams and enter into His eternal Kingdom. Therefore, patience is required for a man to remain constant and firm in the word of God, to trust God, and to not be frightened by anything that happens (even catastrophes that make everything fly into the sky and tear apart). Let him not lose hope in God. Let him not think that God has forsaken him.

Further, the Lord says that He’ll preserve the bishop from the years of temptation that will come to the whole of creation to test those who live on earth.

Immediately after the book of Revelation was written, great trials began for the Church—the terrible persecutions of Domitian, Nero, and others. This affected all Christians, in all ends of the ecumene. Christians experienced very serious difficulties. There are preserved records that 11 million Christians were killed—11 million martyrs. They’re officially recorded in the martyrologies of the Church. Innocent blood was shed. For 400 years the Church was in the catacombs, amidst persecution. And later, all this was repeated, right up to the present day. Persecution is not only a hunt for a man to kill him, but also many other things. And here he talks about the terrible trials from which the Lord promised to save Him.

To be continued…