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Ześlij światło i prawdę swoją, niech mnie prowadzą (…) do przybytków twoich. (Ps 43,3) Symeon powiedział: Teraz puszczasz sługę swego, Panie, według słowa swego w pokoju, gdyż oczy moje widziały zbawienie twoje, które przygotowałeś przed obliczem wszystkich ludów: Światłość, która oświeci pogan, i chwałę ludu twego izraelskiego. (Łk 2,29-32)
The Evergetinos gathers these stories around a single, unsettling truth: those who endure injustice with gratitude and refuse to avenge themselves become truly rich, and God Himself becomes their defender. Abba Mark says it simply and without comfort: “He who is wronged by someone, and does not seek redress, truly believes in Christ, and receives a hundredfold in this life and eternal life in the age to come.” The measure is not whether we suffer wrong, but what we do with it. Injustice is assumed. The question is whether we turn it into a weapon or an altar. Gelasios endures theft and humiliation at the hands of Vacatos. He stands his ground about the monastic cell for God's sake, but he does not pursue his abuser, does not drag him to court, does not stir up others to defend him. He lets God see. And God does see. Symeon unveils Vacatos' hidden intent, and the man's own journey to prosecute the “man of God” becomes the road of his judgment. The Elder does nothing, yet everything is revealed. His stillness becomes the place where the truth about both men is made manifest. Pior works three years without wages. Each time he labors, each time he is sent away empty-handed, and each time he returns quietly to his monastery. His silence is not cowardice; it is poverty of spirit. The employer's house, not Pior's heart, collapses under injustice. Only when calamity has broken him does he go searching for the monk, wages in hand, begging forgiveness and confessing, “The Lord paid me back.” Pior will not even reclaim what is his. He allows it to be given to the Church, because his life is no longer measured by what he is owed. He has stepped out of the economy of recompense into the freedom of God. The Elder whose cell is robbed twice endures in an even more piercing way. First he leaves a note: “Leave me half for my needs.” Then, when all is taken, he still does not accuse. Only when the thief lies dying, tortured in soul and unable to depart, does he confess and call for the Elder. As soon as the Elder prays, his soul is released. The one who was wronged becomes the priest at the threshold of death. The one who stole cannot die in peace until he passes under the mercy of the man he robbed. Here judgment is revealed as truth entering the heart, and God's “avenging” consists in turning the wound of the innocent into medicine for the guilty. In Menas, this same mystery ripens into martyrdom. Menas stands literally on bones, his flesh cut away, and chants, “My foot hath stood in uprightness.” His body is mutilated, but his praise is whole. The attempt to silence him only reveals where his life truly rests. In the end even his persecutor becomes a believer and shares his martyrdom. In Menas, injustice is not merely endured; it becomes the final gift by which God crowns His friends. Peter's discourse with Clement names the inner logic of all this. Those who wrong others, he says, actually wrong themselves most deeply, while those who are wronged, if they endure with love, gain purification and forgiveness. Possessions become occasions of sin; their unjust loss, when borne rightly, becomes the removal of sins. Enemies, for a brief time, maltreat those they hate—but in God's providence they become the cause of their victims' deliverance from eternal punishment. Seen this way, those who harm us are, in a hidden manner, our benefactors. Only the one who loves God greatly can bear to see this and respond with love instead of resentment. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:52 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 310 Volume II - Section B 00:08:56 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 310 Volume II - Section B 00:10:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org/blog 00:18:09 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 310 Volume II - Section B 00:18:15 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: http://Philokaliaministries.org/blog 00:21:46 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 310 section B 00:32:59 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 312 # 2 00:34:19 Anthony: Witholding wages is one of the few sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance. 00:36:12 Forrest: Perhaps in 3 years, God may have given the monk 100 fold already for those lost wages. So when wages were offered, the wages would have been due back to God, not the monk. 00:49:52 Anthony: I believe St Minas was a soldier, no? I think if yes that adds a layer of poetry to the story, he was an athlete greater than his former profession. 00:53:45 Anthony: Synaxarion? 00:55:37 Myles Davidson: Father, can you recommend a good bio of St Philip Neri? 01:06:40 Sheila Applegate: There is a fine line between Christian counsel and judgement of others. 01:09:44 Maureen Cunningham: Your enemy is hammer and chisel t form you to Christ 01:14:31 Erick Chastain: How can one benefit via Christ's medicine of edification those that persecute you if they do not know they are doing so, instead believing that they are doing the good? 01:16:30 Jerimy Spencer: Aloha Father, a Protestant author John Eldredge, described one of the spirits of this age as the age of the offended self, and I think there is something to this, whether solely cultural or also of diabolical, the temptations I find often is to take anything personal or be reminded of some offense and thereby be seduced by the passion of anger, instead of praying for them. 01:33:03 Jerimy Spencer: C.S. Lewis I think, uses the language of “the hammering process” 01:34:18 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing to all 01:34:19 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you
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Born in Syria, he was a shepherd, but at the age of eighteen he left home and became a monk, practicing the strictest asceticism. At times he fasted for forty days. After a few years at a monastery he took up an ascetical discipline unique at that time: mounting a pillar, he stood on it night and day in prayer. Though he sought only seclusion and prayer, his holiness became famous, and thousands would make pilgrimage to receive a word from him or to touch his garments. Countless nomadic Arabs came to faith in Christ through the power of his example and prayers. To retreat further from the world, he used progressively taller pillars: his first pillar was about ten feet high, his final one about fifty. He was known also for the soundness of his counsel: he confirned the Orthodox doctrine at the Council of Chalcedon and persuaded the Empress Eudocia, who had been seduced by Monophysite beliefs, to return to the true Christian faith. After about forty years lived in asceticism, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine. He was at first suspected of taking up his way of life out of pride, but his monastic brethren confirmed his humility thus: They went to him as a group, and told him that the brotherhood had decided that he should come down from his pillar and rejoin them. Immediately he began to climb down from the pillar. Seeing his obedience and humility, they told him to remain with their blessing.
Born in Syria, he was a shepherd, but at the age of eighteen he left home and became a monk, practicing the strictest asceticism. At times he fasted for forty days. After a few years at a monastery he took up an ascetical discipline unique at that time: mounting a pillar, he stood on it night and day in prayer. Though he sought only seclusion and prayer, his holiness became famous, and thousands would make pilgrimage to receive a word from him or to touch his garments. Countless nomadic Arabs came to faith in Christ through the power of his example and prayers. To retreat further from the world, he used progressively taller pillars: his first pillar was about ten feet high, his final one about fifty. He was known also for the soundness of his counsel: he confirned the Orthodox doctrine at the Council of Chalcedon and persuaded the Empress Eudocia, who had been seduced by Monophysite beliefs, to return to the true Christian faith. After about forty years lived in asceticism, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine. He was at first suspected of taking up his way of life out of pride, but his monastic brethren confirmed his humility thus: They went to him as a group, and told him that the brotherhood had decided that he should come down from his pillar and rejoin them. Immediately he began to climb down from the pillar. Seeing his obedience and humility, they told him to remain with their blessing.
This week we're joined by special guest Fr. Nathan Symeon. Fr. Nathan and Fr. Michael talk about listening to the Holy Spirit and others. They also talk about their experience as participants in a review of the final document from the synod on synodality.References:Integrated Evangelization by Monsignor RichterSobornost by Catherine DohertySave the Date for the Bridegroom's Banquet!Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us a textSupport the show
She was a model of the Christian married life: she rose at midnight for prayer, she gave to the needy without reserve, and she bore and raised the holy Symeon of the Wonderful Mountain (May 24). Having foreseen the hour of her death, she reposed peacefully in 551, and was buried near the pillar of her son Simeon. After her death, she appeared many times to teach and to heal the sick. The Prologue tells the following story. After her funeral, the abbot of St Simeon's monastic community kept a lamp burning at her grave, intending that it be kept burning perpetually. But after awhile, the monks grew forgetful and allowed the lamp to go out. The abbot became ill, and St Martha appeared to him and said 'Why are you not lighting the lamp on my grave? Know that the light of your candles is not needful to me, because God has made me worthy of His eternal, heavenly light, but it is needful for you. When you burn a light on my grave, you urge me to pray to the Lord for you.'
She was a model of the Christian married life: she rose at midnight for prayer, she gave to the needy without reserve, and she bore and raised the holy Symeon of the Wonderful Mountain (May 24). Having foreseen the hour of her death, she reposed peacefully in 551, and was buried near the pillar of her son Simeon. After her death, she appeared many times to teach and to heal the sick. The Prologue tells the following story. After her funeral, the abbot of St Simeon's monastic community kept a lamp burning at her grave, intending that it be kept burning perpetually. But after awhile, the monks grew forgetful and allowed the lamp to go out. The abbot became ill, and St Martha appeared to him and said 'Why are you not lighting the lamp on my grave? Know that the light of your candles is not needful to me, because God has made me worthy of His eternal, heavenly light, but it is needful for you. When you burn a light on my grave, you urge me to pray to the Lord for you.'
This week we're joined by special guest, Fr. Nathan Symeon. Fr. Nathan Symeon talks about apophatic and cataphatic theology, but more specifically the differences between apophatic and cataphatic prayer. He talks about how we can experience apophatic prayer in our lives and the importance of paying attention to the Holy Spirit working in our prayer life.References:Searchers of the Lost - Fr. Nathan's podcastFollow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us a textSupport the show
The Holy Symeon was bishop of the royal cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon in Persia, during a great persecution under King Sapor II. The king had been incited by (Zoroastrian) Magi jealous of the growth of the Faith in their territory, and by some Jews living in Persia. The king was already displeased with the holy bishop: his eunuch, Ustazan, a secret Christian, had denied Christ, but when reprimanded by Symeon, had confessed the Faith before the King, for which he was executed. On Holy Friday of 343 Symeon, along with at least a hundred other servants of the Church, was sent out to be slain. Symeon exhorted each to be of good courage, and was himself slain last. One year later, again on Holy Friday, the King's eunuch Azat was executed for Christ, along with a great number of the faithful. It is said that more than 1,000 Christians died as martyrs during this persecution. The Zoroastrians still live in parts of Iran as a small, somewhat persecuted minority under the Islamic government.
The Holy Symeon was bishop of the royal cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon in Persia, during a great persecution under King Sapor II. The king had been incited by (Zoroastrian) Magi jealous of the growth of the Faith in their territory, and by some Jews living in Persia. The king was already displeased with the holy bishop: his eunuch, Ustazan, a secret Christian, had denied Christ, but when reprimanded by Symeon, had confessed the Faith before the King, for which he was executed. On Holy Friday of 343 Symeon, along with at least a hundred other servants of the Church, was sent out to be slain. Symeon exhorted each to be of good courage, and was himself slain last. One year later, again on Holy Friday, the King's eunuch Azat was executed for Christ, along with a great number of the faithful. It is said that more than 1,000 Christians died as martyrs during this persecution. The Zoroastrians still live in parts of Iran as a small, somewhat persecuted minority under the Islamic government.