Wishest thou to find life?

Saint Isaac the Syrian:

O thou wretched man, wishest thou to find life? Take faith and humility in order to find by them mercy and help and consolation from God , and protection secretly and openly. Desirest thou to acquire these, which are the fountain of life? Put on sincerity, from the beginning.  In sincerity walk before God, and not in knowledge.  Sincerity is combined with faith; subtlety and the reflections of knowledge, with presumptuous  thoughts; presumptuous thoughts, with being removed from God.

When thou stands before God in prayer, then be in thy consideration as a an ant and as the reptiles of the earth and as the beetle. And stammer as a villager and speak not before Him with knowledge. With a childlike mind approach unto God and walk before Him, that thou mayest be worthy of the paternal care which fathers entertain in behalf of their young children.

Saint Irenaeus: Christ exhibits to us His true Flesh in the Eucharist

When Christ visited us in His grace, He did not come to what did not belong to Him: also, by shedding His true blood for us, and exhibiting to us His true flesh in the Eucharist, He conferred upon our flesh the capacity of salvation

1. And vain likewise are those who say that God came to those things which did not belong to Him, as if covetous of another's property; in order that He might deliver up that man who had been created by another, to that God who had neither made nor formed anything, but who also was deprived from the beginning of His own proper formation of men. The advent, therefore, of Him whom these men represent as coming to the things of others, was not righteous; nor did He truly redeem us by His own blood, if He did not really become man, restoring to His own handiwork what was said [of it] in the beginning, that man was made after the image and likeness of God; not snatching away by stratagem the property of another, but taking possession of His own in a righteous and gracious manner. As far as concerned the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards us who have been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us, as if He stood in need of it; but we do stand in need of fellowship with Him. And for this reason it was that He graciously poured Himself out, that He might gather us into the bosom of the Father.

2. But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God, and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration, maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed do not attain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of His body. 1 Corinthians 10:16 For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and whatsoever else makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was actually made. By His own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle declares, In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins. Colossians 1:14 And as we are His members, we are also nourished by means of the creation (and He Himself grants the creation to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends rain when He wills Matthew 5:45). He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies.

3. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made, from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him?— even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Ephesians 5:30 He does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh; Luke 24:39 but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones—that [flesh] which is nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season, or as a grain of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption, 1 Corinthians 15:53 because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:3 in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, and exalted against God, our minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience that we possess eternal duration from the excelling power of this Being, not from our own nature, we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature, but that we may know what God can effect, and what benefits man receives, and thus never wander from the true comprehension of things as they are, that is, both with regard to God and with regard to man. And might it not be the case, perhaps, as I have already observed, that for this purpose God permitted our resolution into the common dust of mortality, that we, being instructed by every mode, may be accurate in all things for the future, being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves?

Dr. Christos Yannaras speaks at Berkeley

 Questions on Metaphysics and Faith

Hymn for Theophany - 14th Century Byzantine

Saint Irenaeus: Concerning sacrifices and oblations, and those who truly offer them

1. The oblation of the Church, therefore, which the Lord gave instructions to be offered throughout all the world, is accounted with God a pure sacrifice, and is acceptable to Him; not that He stands in need of a sacrifice from us, but that he who offers is himself glorified in what he does offer, if his gift be accepted. For by the gift both honour and affection are shown forth towards the King; and the Lord, wishing us to offer it in all simplicity and innocence, did express Himself thus: Therefore, when you offer your gift upon the altar, and shall remember that your brother has ought against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then return and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24 We are bound, therefore, to offer to God the first-fruits of His creation, as Moses also says, You shall not appear in the presence of the Lord your God empty; Deuteronomy 16:16 so that man, being accounted as grateful, by those things in which he has shown his gratitude, may receive that honour which flows from Him.

2. And the class of oblations in general has not been set aside; for there were both oblations there [among the Jews], and there are oblations here [among the Christians]. Sacrifices there were among the people; sacrifices there are, too, in the Church: but the species alone has been changed, inasmuch as the offering is now made, not by slaves, but by freemen. For the Lord is [ever] one and the same; but the character of a servile oblation is peculiar [to itself], as is also that of freemen, in order that, by the very oblations, the indication of liberty may be set forth. For with Him there is nothing purposeless, nor without signification, nor without design. And for this reason they (the Jews) had indeed the tithes of their goods consecrated to Him, but those who have received liberty set aside all their possessions for the Lord's purposes, bestowing joyfully and freely not the less valuable portions of their property, since they have the hope of better things [hereafter]; as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury of God.

3. For at the beginning God had respect to the gifts of Abel, because he offered with single-mindedness and righteousness; but He had no respect unto the offering of Cain, because his heart was divided with envy and malice, which he cherished against his brother, as God says when reproving his hidden [thoughts], Though you offer rightly, yet, if you do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be at rest; since God is not appeased by sacrifice. For if any one shall endeavour to offer a sacrifice merely to outward appearance, unexceptionably, in due order, and according to appointment, while in his soul he does not assign to his neighbour that fellowship with him which is right and proper, nor is under the fear of God—he who thus cherishes secret sin does not deceive God by that sacrifice which is offered correctly as to outward appearance; nor will such an oblation profit him anything, but [only] the giving up of that evil which has been conceived within him, so that sin may not the more, by means of the hypocritical action, render him the destroyer of himself. Wherefore did the Lord also declare: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whited sepulchres. For the sepulchre appears beautiful outside, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness; even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of wickedness and hypocrisy. Matthew 23:27-28 For while they were thought to offer correctly so far as outward appearance went, they had in themselves jealousy like to Cain; therefore they slew the Just One, slighting the counsel of the Word, as did also Cain. For [God] said to him, Be at rest; but he did not assent. Now what else is it to be at rest than to forego purposed violence? And saying similar things to these men, He declares: You blind Pharisee, cleanse that which is within the cup, that the outside may be clean also. Matthew 23:26 And they did not listen to Him. For Jeremiah says, Behold, neither your eyes nor your heart are good; but [they are turned] to your covetousness, and to shed innocent blood, and for injustice, and for man-slaying, that you may do it. Jeremiah 22:17 And again Isaiah says, You have taken counsel, but not of Me; and made covenants, [but] not by My Spirit. Isaiah 30:1 In order, therefore, that their inner wish and thought, being brought to light, may show that God is without blame, and works no evil — that God who reveals what is hidden [in the heart], but who works not evil— when Cain was by no means at rest, He says to him: To you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him. Genesis 4:7 Thus did He in like manner speak to Pilate: You should have no power at all against Me, unless it were given you from above; John 19:11 God always giving up the righteous one [in this life to suffering], that he, having been tested by what he suffered and endured, may [at last] be accepted; but that the evildœr, being judged by the actions he has performed, may be rejected. Sacrifices, therefore, do not sanctify a man, for God stands in no need of sacrifice; but it is the conscience of the offerer that sanctifies the sacrifice when it is pure, and thus moves God to accept [the offering] as from a friend. But the sinner, says He, who kills a calf [in sacrifice] to Me, is as if he slew a dog. Isaiah 66:3

4. Inasmuch, then, as the Church offers with single-mindedness, her gift is justly reckoned a pure sacrifice with God. As Paul also says to the Philippians, I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things that were sent from you, the odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, pleasing to God. Philippians 4:18 For it behooves us to make an oblation to God, and in all things to be found grateful to God our Maker, in a pure mind, and in faith without hypocrisy, in well-grounded hope, in fervent love, offering the first-fruits of His own created things. And the Church alone offers this pure oblation to the Creator, offering to Him, with giving of thanks, [the things taken] from His creation. But the Jews do not offer thus: for their hands are full of blood; for they have not received the Word, through whom it is offered to God. Nor, again, do any of the conventicles (synagogæ) of the heretics [offer this]. For some, by maintaining that the Father is different from the Creator, do, when they offer to Him what belongs to this creation of ours, set Him forth as being covetous of another's property, and desirous of what is not His own. Those, again, who maintain that the things around us originated from apostasy, ignorance, and passion, do, while offering unto Him the fruits of ignorance, passion, and apostasy, sin against their Father, rather subjecting Him to insult than giving Him thanks. But how can they be consistent with themselves, [when they say] that the bread over which thanks have been given is the body of their Lord, and the cup His blood, if they do not call Himself the Son of the Creator of the world, that is, His Word, through whom the wood fructifies, and the fountains gush forth, and the earth gives first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Mark 4:28

5. Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with the body of the Lord and with His blood, goes to corruption, and does not partake of life? Let them, therefore, either alter their opinion, or cease from offering the things just mentioned. But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.

6. Now we make offering to Him, not as though He stood in need of it, but rendering thanks for His gift, and thus sanctifying what has been created. For even as God does not need our possessions, so do we need to offer something to God; as Solomon says: He that has pity upon the poor, lends unto the Lord. Proverbs 19:17 For God, who stands in need of nothing, takes our good works to Himself for this purpose, that He may grant us a recompense of His own good things, as our Lord says: Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you. For I was an hungered, and you gave Me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and you took Me in: naked, and you clothed Me; sick, and you visited Me; in prison, and you came to Me. Matthew 25:34, etc. As, therefore, He does not stand in need of these [services], yet does desire that we should render them for our own benefit, lest we be unfruitful; so did the Word give to the people that very precept as to the making of oblations, although He stood in no need of them, that they might learn to serve God: thus is it, therefore, also His will that we, too, should offer a gift at the altar, frequently and without intermission. The altar, then, is in heaven (for towards that place are our prayers and oblations directed); the temple likewise [is there], as John says in the Apocalypse, And the temple of God was opened: Revelation 11:19 the tabernacle also: For, behold, He says, the tabernacle of God, in which He will dwell with men.

Salvation and the Other

Saint Antony the Great: He also said, 'Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.'

Abba John the Dwarf said, 'A house is not built by beginning at the top and working down. You must begin with the foundations in order to reach the top. They said to him, 'What does this saying mean?' He said, 'The foundation is our neighbor, whom we must win, and that is the place to begin. For all the commandments of Christ depend on this one.'

Saint Anastasios of Sinai:  Therefore, I pray you; let us flee this wicked and unpardonable sin (of remembrance of wrong).  And if you want to learn that the darkening from the remembrance of wrong is worse than any other, then listen.  Every other sin takes a brief while to commit and is soon over, as when someone commits fornication, and afterwards remembers the enormity of this sin and comes to consciousness of it; but remembrance of wrong has a passion that never ceases to burn...  where remembrance of wrong has taken root, nothing is of any avail; not fasting, or prayer, or tears, or confession, or supplication, or virginity, or alms, or any other good thing.  For remembrance of wrong towards our brother destroys everything.

I often hear people saying, 'Alas, how shall I be saved?  I haven't the strength to fast, I don't know how to keep vigil, I can't live in virginity, I couldn't bear to leave the world- so how can I be saved?'  How?  I will tell you how.  Forgive and you will be forgiven...  here is a short cut to salvation.  And I will show you another, what is that?  Judge not, it says, and you will not be judged.  So here is another path without fasting 0r vigil or labor... He who judges before Christ's coming is Antichrist, because he abrogates the position that belongs to Christ...

Orthodoxy and the Economic Crisis

 The following is an excerpt from an article by B. Kostakiotis, for the complete article-

English- http://www.oodegr.com/english/koinwnia/politika/confronting_crisis_spiritually.htm

Greek- http://asian-aroma.com/?p=1966

The answer to the crisis is, I believe, one.  I don't know any other.  It is to change the meaning that we have given to our existence.  This means:

Firstly, there is the remembrance of death; and immediately, the whole world is overturned - our entire world view collapses - and everything acquires its proper dimensions. There is one fact: the biological end. After which, everything that the aforementioned model professes, and all those things after which we struggle and agonize lose their glamour. They are futile and transient. You come to realize that this life of agony, of anxiety, is one purposeless madness.  The biological end will come, so why are we spending our short life span inside that madness?  My brothers, I have heard of many who committed suicide because they suffered financial ruin and lost their houses and the material wealth that they had, and this was regarded as absolutely normal by many - even by us.  Madness is considered a normal thing. To commit suicide over losing money!  You know, I have never heard of anyone falling apart because he hated his fellow-man, or because his neighbor died on account of his indifference. Much more so, because he lost Christ - the Eternal and the True.  Absolute madness...

Anyway - to get back to the subject - when we speak of the remembrance of death, we don't mean a passive memory that brings on inertia, despair and desperation.  Nor do we mean a nirvana.  We mean an active state which activates every corner of the mind, the heart and the body.  Realization sets in, and your existence begins to pulsate. But your passion for life now turns towards the real life; I am referring to the One Who is Life itself.  And Who is that?  It is the One Who is not ephemeral but eternal.  The One Who does not give us cause for agony, but joy.

Let me tell you something personal. When I was a "failure" family-wise, professionally and financially, when I had nothing at all and was an absolute zero according to the criteria of this society, I acquired only one thing: the remembrance of death.  And I felt fuller than I ever had before, because I had the One Who fills everything.  I would leave my one-room apartment where I lived, without locking up behind me and without any anxiety whatsoever, because I had nothing.  What I did have, no-one could steal from me.  So I would walk the streets, encounter acquaintances - many of whom pretended they hadn't seen me - but that didn't bother me. Because the One Who is omniscient knew me.  Later, I became a judge and was a recognizable individual, with fame, titles, money, material wealth... and I lost that remembrance of death. I lost everything, because I lost the Lord of all. When did I feel joy? Then, or now?  When was I going through a crisis?  When I possessed nothing, or now that I have possessions?

Let me return to the subject.  Who is Life?  Who gives meaning to my brief life?

To reply to this, one question suffices: Who is the conqueror of death? The One Who conquered death is the only One Who can show us the way to true life. No-one else.  And I no longer accept substitutes.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death… So, Christ comes along and vanquishes death. And what does He say?  "I am the Truth and Life". And what does Life tell us? "Whosoever wants to follow Me, let him renounce himself and follow Me..."

Hence, the first prerequisite : "Renounce one's self".  The absolute "me" of our cultural system becomes a full renunciation of our self, on the path to Christ.

Then: "Let him follow me". No clarifications. He asks for our complete surrender.  He asks us to trust Him. You either trust Him and follow Him, or you go your own way - the way of individualistic agony that our civilization invites you to.

And I ask myself, brothers: To what end is all that agony? We know that He feeds all the fowl of the sky, will He not take care of us? Could that agony finally denote an egotism and a lack of trust on our part?  Of course you will probably ask why people are dying of hunger - is it because they didn't trust Him? Gentlemen, we don't have answers to every question.  But trust: we either have it or we don't. That's it.  When we were children and our father told us that something had to be done this way, we didn't know why he said it, but he knew. So we trusted him, because we knew he loved us.  So, either we have a deep conviction that Christ loves us and will not abandon us, and that no matter what befalls us, He Who is Love has allowed it and therefore it is welcome, or, we follow the path of our personal self-sufficiency.  Trust also means that we surrender ourselves to Him.  A saint once said:  "Lord, I want to be with You, even in Hell".  That says it all.  I deposit my existence with Him Who is Life, and may He do whatever He sees fit.  Then an incredible calm overwhelms you... the agony that dominates our culture becomes a joy of encounter, because I have encountered Him and have associated with Him Who is Life.

Apart from trust, what else are we told?

No possessions. Acquire nothing.  Because the desire for personal property differentiates us ontologically from Him, Who keeps nothing for Himself.

What else has He told us?

That whoever has two garments should give away the one. Our culture tells us that whoever has 2 ships should acquire 1000. Who agonizes, and who, really, is happy?  Have you ever seen any extremely wealthy people - who comprise the social model - appear peaceful and calm?  Or do you perhaps see them permanently sullen, bent over numbers?  Then the antipodes: Can you ever imagine Elders Paisios or Porphyrios (and other monks of the same calibre) agonizing because they possess only one, frayed cassock?  And yet, we who have so many things, agonize so much over acquiring even more... plus, we also lose the joy of offering.

What else does the Conqueror of death tell us?

"Give us this day our daily bread..."

Who of us, my brothers, doesn't have that bread? Is that what we are agonizing for?  Let's be honest... We don't care about the bread, even though we thunder out the Lord's Prayer every Sunday... We care about anything material that the social model dishes out.  But if we did follow Christ, would we have any agony?

He Who conquered death tells us many more things, which of course can't fit into a brief introduction.  But, everything that He does say is summarized - I believe - in one and only statement:  "Love your neighbour". But what is far more compelling is: "Love your enemy".  Brothers, the stories that we're taught in school write about a whole lot of revolutions, and yet there is not a single mention of the most earth-shaking revolution: Love your enemy.  Honestly, can you imagine a world that would simply listen to what the One Who is Joy and Life told us?  Can you imagine a world where all people would love one another?  Would any of the things that we described as "crises" exist?  Or would we be talking about another world altogether?

Brothers, our cultural model does not stand up to repair. Its problem is ontological. As I mentioned earlier, all the problems that are born of the system we live in are not attributed to a pathology; they are its very physiology. Another manner of co-existence is imperative.  And that path has been pointed out, by the Victor of death: it is the manner of His existence - the Trinitarian, loving manner of existence. This means that Man, who was fashioned according to the image of God, can also become God by Grace, in order to conquer death (not the biological death, but death per se), and that he should attempt to experience in all these agonies - as much as humanly possible - a loving, Trinitarian communion.  In other words, attempt to co-exist lovingly with all his fellow-men, both friends and enemies.  Absolute fullness.

Even in this other manner of existence, all of us are invited: the worthy and the unworthy. Because God is Love.  God doesn't choose. Man chooses, freely: either he attempts this, and actually lives, or he chooses to be dead, even though he survives biologically.  Of course, given that man chose to be fallen - both as a person and as a member of an established collective group - he is unable to attain that way of existence perfectly.

But, even if that isn't entirely feasible, the way of life of the Saints surely is - when we  refer to a personal level, and the life of the Church is, when referring to a collective level. There can be no excuses here.  The Saints were the same as us. So, if they were capable of living a different life, so can we.  So let us follow their example and the example of the Church.

And in the end, why don't we just resort to the greatest potential that He granted us in order to associate with Him and our fellow-man? Prayer.

During the most solemn point of the Divine Liturgy and man's life, we hear the following words:

"Thine own of Thine own we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all, and for all..."

That is the whole meaning.  Lord, everything is Yours.  Nothing is ours.  And it is You Who has granted everything to us.  Just as You granted Your Self to us.  Without anything in exchange and without discriminations.  To the poor, as well as to the rich; to the beautiful and to the ugly; to the young and to the old.  And we now offer what is Yours, to You: that is, our existence.  Do what You want with it, because it is Yours.  Because You are Love, Life and Joy, and we want to partake of Love, Life and Joy.

For further information go to the following link to watch a remarkable presentation from Dr. Christos Yannaras  http://petrakosfilmsblog.com/2012/professor-christos-yannaras-in-san-francisco-filmed-by-kostas-petrakos/