On this, the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, we commemorate the Martyr Charitina of Amisus (304), Sts. Peter, Alexis, Jonah, Philip and Germogen, Metropolitans of Moscow, the Venerable Damian the Healer, Jeremiah, and Matthew, clairvoyant saints of the Kiev Caves (11th c.), St. Charitina, princess of Lithuania, the Hieromartyr Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria (264), the Martyr Mamelchtha of Persia (ca. 344), St. Gregory of Chandzoe in Georgia (861), the newly-revealed Venerable Eudocimus of Vatopedi (Mt. Athos), and our venerable Mother Methodia of Kimolos (1908).
Through the intercessions of Thy Saints, O Christ God, have mercy on us and save us!
If while you are engaged in ascetic labor and hardship God withdraws from you because of some bodily lapse, or lapse of tongue or thought, do not take this to be strange or untoward. The lapse is yours and due to yourself. Had you not yourself first indulged in some new-fangled, overweening and obnoxious thought about yourself, or had you not in arrogance treated someone disdainfully or criticized him for his human weakness, you would have recognized your own fallibility and God and His righteous judgment would not have with drawn from you. Learn from this not to judge (Matt. 7:1), not to think too highly of yourself (Roman 12:3), and not to look down on others (1 Cor. 4:6).
- Nikitas Stithatos (11th c.)
To try to discover the meaning of the commandments through study and reading without actually living in accordance with them is like mistaking the shadow of something for its reality. It is only by participating in the truth that you can share in the meaning of the truth.
If we do not know what we are like when God makes us, we shall not realize what sin has turned us into.
Mere skill in reasoning does not make a person's intelligence pure, for since the fall our intelligence has been corrupted by evil thoughts. The materialistic and "wordy" spirit of the wisdom of this world may lead us to speak about ever wider spheres of knowledge, but it renders our thoughts increasingly rude and uncouth. This combination of well-informed talk and crude thought falls far short of real wisdom and contemplation, as well as of undivided and unified knowledge.
- Saint Gregory of Sinai (+1346)
Cast out from yourself the disgrace of negligence and the ignominy of disdaining God's commandments.
Dispel self-love and battle with your fallen self unsparingly.
Seek out the judgments of the Lord and His testimonies.
Scorn glory and dishonor.
Hate the titillating appetites of the body . . . .
Embrace poverty and hardship. Resist the passions.
Turn your senses within, towards your soul.
Inwardly assent to the doing of what is more noble.
Be deaf to human affairs.
Expend all your strength in practicing the commandments.
Know not the things around you, but yourself.
- Nikitas Stithatos
Where thieves see royal weapons at the ready they do not attack the place lightly. Similarly, spiritual robbers do not lightly try to plunder the person who has enshrined prayer in his heart.
- Saint John of the Ladder
We have learned from experience that for one who wishes to purify his heart it is truly a great blessing constantly to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ against his intelligible enemies [i.e. - the demons, the passions, temptations]. Our Lord Himself says: "Without Me you can do nothing. If a man dwells in Me, and I in him, then he brings forth much fruit"; and again: "If a man does not dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch" (Jn. 15:5-6). Prayer is a great blessing, and it embraces all blessings, for it purifies the heart, in which God is seen by the believer.
The devil, with all his powers, "walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). So you must never relax your attentiveness of heart, your watchfulness, your power of rebuttal or your prayer to Jesus Christ our God. You will not find a greater help than Jesus in all your life, for He alone, as God, knows the deceitful ways of the demons, their subtlety and their guile.
Let your soul, then, trust in Christ, let it call on him and never fear; for it fights, not alone, but with the aid of a mighty King, Jesus Christ, Creator of all that is, both bodiless and embodied, visible and invisible.
- Saint Hesychios the Priest (8th c.)
A person who suffers bitterly when slighted or insulted should recognize from this that he still harbors the ancient serpent in his breast. If he quietly endures the insult or responds with great humility, he weakens the serpent and lessens its hold. But if he replies acrimoniously or brazenly, he gives it strength to pour its venom into his heart and to feed mercilessly on him . . . In this way the serpent becomes increasingly powerful; it destroys his soul's strength and his attempts to set himself right, compelling him to live for sin and to be completely dead to righteousness.
You should be ready each day to receive all kinds of afflictions, regarding them as your release from many sins; and you should thank God for them.
- Saint Symeon the new Theologian (+1022)
Question: I can understand the Great Lent and other fasts, since the prepare us for great holidays. However, weekday fasting on Wednesday and Friday seems to me to have little meaning. We simply prepare for the Sabbath. Is there any spiritual benefit to be derived from this legalism?
First, every Sunday in the Orthodox Church is Pascha, the Day of the Resurrection. For this reason, remembering the betrayal of Christ on Wednesday and Friday by refraining from meat, fish, dairy products and eggs is an appropriate custom. Second, the Wednesday and Friday fasts are a canonical appointment. We have no right to pick and choose the Canons which we consider appropriate, since the Fathers and the Church consider the Holy Canons divinely inspired. Finally, with regard to the spiritual benefits of fasting on Wednesday and Friday, we will answer your inquiry by relating a very profitable story told by Metropolitan Cyprian.
"It seems that an elderly woman was walking along the street in Moscow, burdened with shopping bas full of produce for her week's meals. She was a pious woman who especially known for her adherence to the Wednesday and Friday fasts appointed by the Church for all Orthodox Christians. Crossing a bridge that she was obliged to use on her return home, she noticed, at the other end of the bridge, a group of thugs. From their looks, it was clear that they intended to steal her bags. As she became more fearful, she saw, at the same time, two huge men approaching from behind. They came to her side and quietly escorted her across the bridge, thwarting the intentions of the menacing thugs. After walking some distance to safety, she turned to the two men and asked who they were. The first answered, 'I am Wednesday.' The second then replied, 'I am Friday.' Then they both vanished."
The bread which we receive after the Divine Liturgy, known as Antidoron ("instead of the Gifts") .. . . is given especially to those who for some reason or other did not or could not prepare for Holy Communion. This bread is the remainder of the loaves (prosphora) from which the small particles were taken out to be used in the Liturgy for the Holy Lamb and other commemorative particles, and therefore it has a special blessing, although it is not the Body of Christ. The faithful should partake of this blessed bread with great piety, taking care that not a single crumb falls astray, and that when it is consumed it is done with fasting, and not treated as ordinary food. Some pious Orthodox Christians keep a number of small particles of Antidoron at home, and after their morning prayers partake of it, "instead of Holy Communion," as it was intended; in this way the whole week is sanctified and we continue to participate in the previously celebrated Liturgy.