Compassion for Orthodox Christians –whether you are Russian, Greek, Serbian, or something other -- begins with the very nature of God Himself. This can be seen in the prayers of the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) of Holy Baptism and Holy Chrismation PRIEST: For Thou, of Thine own good will, hast brought into being all things which before were not, and by Thy might, Thou uphold creation, and by Thy providence Thou order the world. For Thou, who art God inexpressible and everlasting, didst descend upon earth, and didst take on the semblance of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. For, because of the tender compassion of Thy mercy, O Master, you could not endure to behold mankind oppressed by the Devil; but Thou didst come, and didst save us. We confess Thy grace. We proclaim Thy mercy. We conceal not thy gracious acts. Thou hast delivered the generations of our mortal nature. By Thy birth Thou didst sanctify the Virgin’s womb. All creation magnifies You, who hast manifested Thyself. For Thou, O our God, hath revealed Yourself upon earth, and dwelt among men. Thou didst hallow the streams of Jordan, sending down upon them from heaven Thy Holy Spirit, and didst crush the heads of dragons who lurked there. In this prayer you have just read, the priest gives thanks to God on behalf of the one who is to be baptized – or sacramentally initiated into the faith. At the same time, the priest reminds all those who are present that God is compassionate and that we must replicate this compassion in our own lives. In this prayer, God is compassionate because, out of pure love and His own good will, He created the universe and each of us. But that wasn’t all He did. In His great and glorious compassion, God continues to uphold his creation, ordering the physical world and our inner lives. To do this, he wrote into our very being His own divine purpose. But respected and loved us so much that He allowed us to have our own unique human will. In this prayer, we express awe at God’s inexpressibility and seek a certain deepened humility before this glorious and untouchable being who descended upon us and upon this earth, in body and spirit. In this prayer, we are bewildered by a God who would allow Himself to come to us in human form. Then we realize He did this out of tender compassion and with great mercy. God came to us because He could not endure to behold our suffering and oppression. And in great and holy wisdom, He taught us to look upon each other with the same warm hearts and longing eyes; not unlike a parent overlooking a child, in a manger, at the door of a stable. In this simple moment, we too are taught how to live with love. That is why it is our duty and our joy to confess the grace given to us so freely by God. We proclaim His mercy. We share His glorious acts. Like Mary, the birth-giver of God, our souls are to magnify the Lord. But this magnification isn’t a recitation of facts or rules. It is a magnification of such great love and compassion, that we find ourselves called to sacrifice – even to the point of death – for each and all. But we are not alone in this endeavor. For in this prayer, we are assured once again that God has left us His Most Holy Spirit -- not merely to walk alongside of us in our journey on this earth, but to show us the way; to show us the way of faith, hope, love, holiness, and compassion. So in this moment, and in this place, we pray that our lives are a reflection of this prayer. #transfiguration #continualprayer #Conversion

"From this it follows that all methods or exercises for kindling and preserving the spirit of zeal can be briefly stated thus: after awakening, go with in yourself, stand in your place in the heart, go through all the spiritual life activities and, stopping with one or another, remain there without leaving. Or, even more briefly: gather yourself and instruct yourself secretly in the heart. "By this method, with the help of the Lord's grace, the spirit of zeal in its true tone will be upheld, even warmed and flaming. This is the inner way. Note that this is the most direct path to a salvific disposition. One could abandon everything and practice only this activity, and everything would go successfully. On the contrary, even if we think to do everything else but pay no attention to this, we will see no fruit. "He who does not turn within and ignores the spiritual activity only delays the work. True, this work is extraordinarily difficult in the beginning, but it is direct and fruitful. This is the why a guiding priest must as quickly as possible lead his spiritual children into this work and confirm them in it. He could even leave then in it first of all externally, but he should comply with it however he can – and he not only may but should do this. This is because the seed for this activity was planted at conversion, during which all of this was experienced. It is left only to explain it, interpreted as something important, and lead them through it. Then the external part will also go smoothly, quickly and rightly. However, without this the external alone, like rotten threads, will all fall apart. Note the rule that it must not be done suddenly, but by degrees. Great limitations should be placed on it, for it may not lead to this inner work, which is the essential work, but to external rules. Therefore, regardless even of the fact that there are people who go from the external to the internal, this should remain an irrevocable rule -- to go quickly within and there enkindle the spirit of zeal. "It would seem to be a simple thing; but not knowing about it you can labor at it for a long time, with very little fruit. This is because of the nature of bodily activity. It is easier, and therefore becomes a habit, while the inner work is difficult, and therefore is pushed away. But if you become attached to bodily labors as to the material world, you will yourself become material in spirit and therefore cold, slow, and consequently, more and more removed from the interior world sometimes it happens that one abandons the interior work at the very start, as if waiting until he has become ripe for it. The time comes, but afterwards he looks around, and the time has passed; and instead of preparing himself for it he has become completely incapable. Again, the external should also not be neglected, for it supports the internal, but both should proceed jointly. It is obvious that only the internal should predominate, for we should serve God in spirit and worship him in spirit and in truth. One and the other should be in mutual submission according to each one's measure of worthiness, without doing violence to one another or causing compulsory separation" (St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path of Salvation, pp. 237-238). #continualprayer #secretmeditation

To grow in spirituality, we cannot allow the mind and/or the lips to be external from us. Hesychasm means "to keep stillness." Control the inward and outward movement of the breath, even holding it back a little. This is to control the mind and the body at the same time. Fix your eyes on your chest or navel Pay attention to yourself: never leave any part of your soul or body without surveillance. "In this way, you will become unapproachable to the spirits that attack you from below" (St. Gregory Palamas, the Triads, C. I. ii. 9). "If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged" (1 Cor 11:41). Paul was "ravished to the third heaven, and did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body" (2 Cor 12:2) for he had forgotten all that concerns the body. (St. Gregory Palamas, the Triads, C. II. ii. 8). Control sensations Work on liberating yourself from the passions (even elated emotions) Detach from external things Remain undistracted Over time this will become secondary and eventually involuntary. "Such men, in effect, practice a spiritual Sabbath, and, as far as is possible, cease from all personal activity. They strip the cognitive powers of the soul of every changing, mobile and diversified operation, of all sense perceptions and, in general, of all corporal activity that is under our control; as to act which are not entirely under our control, like breathing, these they restrain as far as possible" (St. Gregory Palamas, the Triads, C. I. ii. 7). "You will then have the blessed experience of David and you will address yourself to God, saying, "the shadows are no longer darkness thanks to you, and the night will be for me as clear as the day, for it is you who have taken possession of my reins" (Psalm 138:12-13). The idea is to achieve a kind of quiet in body and soul. #continualprayer #hesychasm #meditation

Christians have seemed to embrace the prevailing culture instead of converting it. That's why it's so important to have a conversion of Christian parishes and people, not wholly unlike what was seen in the early centuries of the Church. In his article, The Inward Mission of the Church: Brining About Orthodoxy, Blessed Father Justin Popovich lays out the case for doing such a thing. He explains (emphasis mine): "Herein lies the difference between the world of men and the one in Christ: the human world is transient and time-bound, whilst that of Christ is ever whole, for evermore. Orthodoxy, as the single vessel and guardian of the perfect and radiant Person of God-human Christ, is brought about exclusively by this extension of virtues by grace, through entirely God-human Orthodox means, not through borrowings from Roman Catholicism or Protestantism, because the latter are forms of Christianity after the pattern of the proud European being, and not of the humble God-human being." In other words, Blessed Fr. Justin appears to be deeply concerned about how so-called Christian believers have embraced the transience of the human world over the eternity of the divine world. The evidence for this, he says, is the rancid state of the inner life of believers. For Blessed Fr. Justin, the reason this is occurring is that Christianity is failing in its job to train its adherents to follow the faith as Christ commanded (i.e. deny yourself, pick up your Cross, lose your life, follow Christ). At one level, he explains that Catholicism and Protestantism are failing because both are modeled largely on the European idea of the human. By that I suppose he means a person whose faith is not only informed by Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (namely, the Fathers and the Liturgy), but someone who is equally informed and influenced by the arts, politics, economics, and a desire to further his position in society and/or in the Church. One gets a sense that Blessed Fr. Justin is imagining here a decadent, elitist who's not so concerned about the state of his soul. Of course, Orthodoxy is not left out of this intellectual bloodbath. Blessed Fr. Justin also takes a few shots at the many Orthodox for whom national identity became far too important. What is needed, then, is an ascendency of authentic Orthodoxy and Orthodox parishes that first and foremost rely on prayer and divine assistance to re-establish a commitment to Christ and His Church among believers (and even non-believers). Second, we need for parishes to return to teaching parishioners how to live simple, ascetical lives, so they learn to live for God and not for themselves. Blessed Fr. Justin writes it this way (emphasis mine): "Our Church's mission is to infuse these God-human virtues and ascetic exertions into the people's way of living; to have their life and soul knit firm with the Christ-like God-human virtues. For therein lies salvation from the world and from all those soul-destroying, death-dealing, and Godless organizations of the world. In response to the "erudite" atheism and refined cannibalism of contemporary civilization we must give place to those Christ-bearing personalities, who with the meekness of sheep will put down the roused lust of wolves, and with the harmlessness of doves will save the soul of the people from cultural and political putrefaction. We must execute ascetic effort in Christ's name in response to the cultural exercising which is performed in the name of the decayed and disfigured European being, in the name of atheism, civilization, or the Antichrist. Which is why the major task of our Church is the creation of such Christ-bearing ascetics." For far too long, Western Christianity has been teaching its adherents to seek social change or to pursue personal success in the name of the Lord. But this has been an arrogantly pharisaical approach to Christianity. The fact is that asceticism -- deep, real, and lasting prayer, fasting, and almsgiving -- is the key to building and deepening a truly, authentic Christian life. Not only that, but it is the only way that others will seriously take note of the Christian commitment to God. In living this way, each of us can be sure that others will either despise us -- and turn us into martyrs -- or see their own need to convert and get serious about living life in and through the Lord. #Asceticism #Conversion

For the earliest Christians, the preservation of their personal belief in God, as well as the preservation of the Church itself, was so important that they were willing to give their lives for it. "Wherefore the Church does in every place, because of that love which she cherishes towards God, send forward, throughout all time, a multitude of martyrs to the Father; while all others not only have nothing of this kind to point to among themselves, but even maintain that such witness-bearing is not at all necessary" (Irenaeus, Adv. Haereses, IV, 33; emphasis mine). This phenomenon of Christians willing to go to their deaths for their belief in Jesus Christ was astonishing to the Romans. More than that, the ability of certain Christians to freely die for the faith became a source of learning, growth, and encouragement for other Christians in the ancient world. That is why accounts of martyrdom were written down. Among those that were widely circulated there seems to have been three basic forms (in this time period, we also see the beginning of a whole new form of literature in the Church, which we now know as hagiography): (a) those based on pro-consular records of investigation (e.g., Acts of Cyprian); (b) those based on witness accounts (e.g., Martyrdom of Polycarp); and (c) literary compositions completed by later writers. Thus, these stories ranged from the more or less accurate to the totally fictional (i.e., written like romances or legends). Regardless of the form, however, each has a devotional purpose and character, which means that the accounts attempt not only to explain an event, but also to elucidate the theology of martyrdom as well as to inculcate a desire for devotional practice among readers. To illustrate this point, it seems that among all of these forms there was a stress laid on comparing the path of the martyr to the path that Jesus takes on the way to His own Passion. (This tendency can be found already in the Acts of the Apostles in the description of the martyrdom of Stephen.) In a parallel fashion, there was a similar stress placed on comparing the spiritual meaning of the martyr's path to that of the Passion again. One of the best known stories of Christian martyrdom (outside of the New Testament) is that of Polycarp in the middle of the second century (The Martyrdom of Polycarp seems to be true. Irenaeus, in Adv. Haereses III, 3, 4 speaks of Polycarp "having reached an extremely old age, through martyrdom he rendered a most glorious and excellent witness." Branard believes in the authenticity of the Martyrdom of Polycarp in Kyriakon v. 1, pp. 193ff. Musurillo, in Acts of Martyrs, p. xiii, notes that the author of the account of the martyrs of Lyons (AD 177) knew about the martyrdom of Polycarp.). From the account of his death, we get a real sense of the early theology of martyrdom. As a result, we also see that believers began to develop special devotions to the martyrs, who were considered to be perfect Christians that achieved union with Christ immediately upon death. These special devotions were eventually adapted into liturgical prayers that were recited at the tombs of those who were killed on the anniversaries of their deaths (in the case of Polycarp, his veneration also has to do with the fact that he was an elder of the Church. In other words, it isn't just the fact that he was martyred, but the fact that he was so righteous and was martyred). In fact, some of these accounts spurred such a commitment among believers to live their lives only for Christ that it bolstered the desire for an ascetical life. The best of example of this is the life of St. Antony. St. Athanasius explains that the motivation for St. Antony’s decision to enter the monastic life was based partly on hearing passages from the Gospel According to St. Matthew. In other words, when St. Antony heard about those who literally took up a cross to follow Jesus, he embraced the ascetical life, which meant withdrawing from secular life to focus on manual labor, meditation on Scripture, and constant prayer. Stated differently, St. Antony chose a kind of self-inflicted martyrdom. While many of his predecessors were literally slain for their beliefs, St. Antony cut himself off from the conventional world. He saw this as a necessary facet to a life lived for Jesus Christ. We are called no differently today. #Martyrdom #Asceticism #StIrenaeus #Polycarp

In a clear and compelling way, Matthew records Christ's command that we pick up our cross as He did and follow Him on a path that leads to heaven and union with God. "Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?" (Matthew 16:24-26; emphasis mine). Jesus is very clear that self-denial is one mark of a true believer. For modern man, this is very difficult. Awash in material pursuits and drowning in the filth spewed by the media, we are living in an age which specifically encourages greed, envy, and lust; not self-denial. Jesus is also clear that cross-bearing is another mark of a true believer. Anyone who embraces the fullness of their God-given faith and lives out all of the precepts of Orthodoxy will be led on a path not unlike the Via Dolorosa. This way of suffering can be marked by remembering one's own sins and living out the penances for those sins; experiencing persecution for one's own beliefs, which are the beliefs of the Church community; and/or living a life of prayer and fasting so that one does not get weighed down by his own passions and for the sake of being lifted up to the Lord. Finally, Jesus explains that the true follower will forfeit his own life. Why would someone need to build up power, wealth, or status on this earth, if one knows that his existence is truly eternal and that his great reward is union with God in Heaven? The answer is that he wouldn't. Prayer, sacraments, attention to God, and the use of one's own skills to gather food and build a simple shelter are all we need. None of this is possible on one's own, however. The existence of the Church was another of the great gifts that God gave to us. In it is found the continuation of Christ's life on earth and the place through which we come to learn how to live like Christ. By participating in liturgical services and receiving the Holy Mysteries, we learn to live as God wanted us to live. But [it has on the other hand been shown] that the preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples [...] and that well-grounded system which tends to man's salvation, namely, our faith,' which, having been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in an excellent vessel, cause the vessel itself, containing it to renew its youth also [...] 'For in the Church, God has set apostles, prophets, teachers' (1 Cor 12:28), and all the other means through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions and infamous behavior. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth (Irenaeus, Adv. Haereses, III, 24). Keeping in mind that Church is the guarantor of the truth of God on Earth -- because it is the place where we receive Him in the Holy Mysteries, learn about Him in the Holy teaching, and serve Him by building up our brothers and sisters in the faith -- we cannot go off by ourselves and simply believe what we only want to believe, know what we only want to know, and serve only when it's convenient (which are all key facets of Western individualism and congregationalism). In other words, not only can we not be in relationship with God on our own, but we have to preserve the Church so that others can know, love, and serve Him as well. #Asceticism #hesychasm

The primary purpose of 1 and 2 Timothy, as well as Titus, is to instruct bishops, priests, and deacons how to live. The teaching is useful in every age of the Church. So what does it say? The spiritual leader is required to have a solid foundation. We must know what the Church teaches and understand how to apply it practically and appropriately. “But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith (1 Tim 1:5).” The spiritual leader is required to live appropriately and to teach out of love. In fact, we are to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness (1 Tim 6:11).” The spiritual leader must be humble. “Remind them… to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another (Titus 3:1-6).” The spiritual leader is to live as Christ. “The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim 11:13).” The spiritual leader is to work in this world, but keep an eye on the next. 2 Timothy takes an increasingly eschatological approach, reminding us to rely solely on Christ and reject human godlessness. “You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves… rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! (2 Tim 3:1-5).” So to all priests and seminarians: never forget that you must lead. And that you must lead from the model of Christ as the High Priest. This is not always easy, but we must persevere. #SpiritualLeadership #Priesthood #SacredScripture

As Archpriest Georges Florovsky explains, Jesus modeled all of the actions and qualities that the earliest monks tried to emulate. In a more generalized sense, then, monasticism started with Him. First, Jesus went into the desert. "When our Lord was about to begin his ministry, he went into the desert— eis tên herêmon . Our Lord had options but he selected— or rather, 'was lead by the Spirit', into the desert. It is obviously not a meaningless action, not a selection of type of place without significance. And there— in the desert— our Lord engages in spiritual combat, for he 'fasted forty days and forty nights'— nêsteusas hêmeras tessarakonta kai nyktastessarakonta hysteron epeinasen (Chapter 1 of the Collected Works of Georges Florovsky , Vol. X, the Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers , p. 17ff.). Second, Jesus lived life of perfection, almsgiving, prayer, fasting, charity. "It is our Lord, not the monks, who injects the goal of perfection into the very fabric of early Christian thought. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:48) our Lord commands: 'Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect'— esesthe oun hymeis teleioi hôs ho patêr hymôn ho ouranios teleios estin (Chapter 1 of the Collected Works of Georges Florovsky , Vol. X, the Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers , p. 25ff.). Third, Jesus was the living example of a commitment to poverty and humility. "Again it is our Lord who establishes the spiritual value of poverty. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (19:21) our Lord commands the rich man who has claimed he has kept all the commandments: 'If you will to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor... and come follow me'— ei theleis teleios einai, hypage pôlêson sou ta hyparchonta kai dos tois ptôchois, kai hexeis thêsauron en ouranois, kai deuro akolouthei moi (Chapter 1 of the Collected Works of Georges Florovsky , Vol. X, the Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers , p. 28ff.). Thus, monks were motivated by the life of Christ, and nothing else. Athanasius gives such a motive for Antony. One day Antony heard the Gospel exhortation, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give to the poor and come and follow me...” He did so and embarked on a life of asceticism “near his own house”. Then gradually he removed himself into the desert (Athanasius, Life of Antony , 2 & 3). Thus Antony’s original purpose was to live the Gospel fully, and to do so he embraced a way of life known in the Church from the first century. Athanasius tells us that Antony apprenticed himself to an ascetic who lived near his village. As yet there were no monks living in the desert, and people practiced ascetical life close to their villages. Antony, then, became one of such ascetics (Athanasius, Life of Antony , 3; Athanasius says there were also women ascetics, dedicated virgins, living in their homes.) When he moved out into the desert, Antony merely created a new development in a form of life known in the Church since the Apostolic times. Through several stages, Antony embraced the life of complete anachôrêsis (from anachôréô , meaning to retire, to withdraw, or place of retreat) towards the end of the third century. This was practiced in various ways by older ascetics; the Egyptians discovered that removing themselves some distance into the surrounding desert secured for them a better place of retreat. (One might add that along the banks of the Nile, where most villages in Egypt were, it was not possible to find a place at a distance from other houses, as most of the territory would be flooded yearly.) In this sense, the desert ( erêmos ) was also a practical place to find solitude and safety. DISCOVERING THE ORIGINAL MONKS The first monks were Egyptian peasants who were not completely Hellenized. And this fact influenced the way they understood and practiced their Christian religion. This context explains such things as their demonology, seeing spiritual combat literally in terms of physical struggles with demons. Also, their physical stamina made it possible for them to engage in a rigorous life of asceticism and penance (e.g. an average peasant would eat once a day, so fasting for two was no problem). By the early part of the fourth century, Antony had many followers and imitators (while some men made themselves disciples of Antony, there were many others who probably were not: they embarked on the anchorite life on their own). As far as we know, these first desert dwellers were mostly Egyptian peasants. Unfortunately, all of our sources for this time period have been filtered through the eyes of Greeks and Latins who joined the original monks towards the middle of the fourth century. These sources are of two kinds: (1) books written for outsiders, even when written by men who might have spent time in the desert (e.g. Historia Lausiaca by Palladius); and (2) books for monks themselves (e.g. collections of sayings like the Apophtegmata and Vitae Patrum ). A third source, the Life of Antony by Athanasius, is in a special category. First, because it may be dated to very close to the death of Antony, and has been written by somebody who knew him personally. Its original intended audience were some monks outside Egypt, but soon the book became a popular introduction not only to the person of Antony, but to desert monasticism in general. Among others, the writings of Evagrius of Pontus have a special character and importance too. Evagrius was a Greek, a protégé of St. Basil and St. Gregory of Naziansus, whose deacon he was in Constantinople. Evagrius received a good education in paideia and philosophy. Having experienced a conversion from what was the life of a rather wordily cleric, he went to Egypt to Nitria then to Skete, where he became a disciple of Macarios the Younger. He himself became a celebrated abba , spiritual father and the author of many books on theology and on monastic “struggle”. He died in 399. MONASTICISM IS NATURAL TO THE CHURCH It is fair to say that there were some mistakes in early monasticism. A lack of proper training enabled some men to live their own interpretations of the Bible. The Apophtegmata shows traces of some practices that arose from a literal understanding of some biblical texts. For example, certain monks walked around naked in order to imitate the paradisiacal life of Adam and Eve. But this alone is certainly not enough to dismiss the entire institution of monasticism. To prove this, there are far more stories of young anchorites seeking the advice of older, more experienced monks. The following story illustrates this point: "Three fathers used to visit Antony every year, two would consult him about their thoughts and their salvation, the third always remained silent. After many years abba Antony asked him: 'You have been coming to me for so many years but you have asked nothing'. He answered: 'It is enough to look at you, abba'" (Antony 27, Alphabetikon . Quoted in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection [Cistercian Studies]). Whether it was establishing colonies of hermits (with certain, albeit limited, contact with one another) or a strictly coenobitic life (which was established by Pachomius), institutional forms of monasticism settled, became more balanced, and were ready to receive novices from the Greek world. Thus, it can be said that monasticism was founded on the life of Jesus Christ, lived according to Sacred Scripture, and became a vital part of Sacred Tradition. It is therefore completely unwarranted and unfounded for Protestants and other secular scholars to denigrate and dismiss this institution based on a few bad examples. In fact, the opposite is true. Monasticism is a natural form in the life of the Church, and vital to it. #Monasticism #Asceticism #continualprayer

In the middle of the fourth century, primarily male Egyptian peasants were leaving their village homes to settle in the desert where they began leading a life of asceticism and constant prayer (though traditionally Egypt has been seen as the birthplace of monasticism, there is reason to believe that a similar movement was taking place independently and at the same time in parts of Syria; cf. D.J. Chitty, The Desert a City, pp. 13-16). As the wider Church started becoming aware of the sincerity of their asceticism, the seriousness of their acts of penance, and the consistency of the miracles around and through them, believers from all over the Christian world began to flock to Egypt to try to live this "new" Christian lifestyle known as monasticism. While some stayed for a short time, others stayed for years. Of those who did stay for a long period of time, some eventually returned home to begin building monastic communities of their own. To the Orthodox, these Christian desert dwellers are, at the very least, prototypical monks; at most, they are examples of Christian perfection. Unfortunately, this particular historical, theological, and spiritual judgment about those monks, and seemingly about monasticism in general, is lost on many Protestant and secular modern scholars. In fact, some of the criticism of monks is so harsh, that it tries to show that monasticism is not Christian at all. There are two primary factors for this rejection. First, there is a Protestant bias against what was perceived as an undue veneration of virginity and celibacy in the ancient and medieval Church, especially lived on the basis of a vow. In other words, Protestants considered this unbiblical. Second, secular scholars have often viewed the behavior of the desert monks as bizarre. The extreme commitment of the monks to ascetical practices, as well as their use of theological language stressing demonology and a basic contempt for the world, has generated malice on behalf of this group too. Edward Gibbon is certainly a good example of a historian who had words full of malice for the desert monks (and much of the Christian East). But William Lecky, quoted by Helen Waddell, seems to best represent the early modern and modern contempt for desert monasticism generally and asceticism specifically. "There is perhaps no phase in the moral history of mankind of a deeper or more painful interest than this ascetic epidemic. A hideous, distorted and emaciated maniac, without knowledge, without patriotism, without natural affection, spending his life in a long routine of useless and atrocious self-torture, and quailing before the ghastly phantoms of his delirious brain, had become the ideal of the nations which had known the writings of Plato and Cicero and the lives of Socrates and Cato" (Helen Waddell, The Desert Fathers , p. 7). Early in the twentieth century, Herbert Workman, a devout Protestant himself, writes that monasticism, especially in its Egyptian form was "an experiment that ought never to have been made" (Herbert Workman, The Evolution of the Monastic Ideal , p. 323). And Adolf Harnack has this to say about the Life of Antony by Athanasius: “I should not hesitate to say that no book has had a more stultifying effect on Egypt, Western Asia, and Europe than the Vita S. Antonii" (quoted in Helen Waddell, The Desert Fathers , p. 7). Building on this assumption that monasticism was alien to the teachings of the New Testament and the practices of the early Church, many scholars desired to look for non-Christian, or even non-religious sources of such a 'strange movement'. As a result, several possibilities were proposed: Pythagorean schools, Essenes, an alleged college of celibate priests of Serapion in Egypt, even Buddhist monks. Of course, none of these theories has withstood critical investigation. Why? While some form of monasticism is found in many religious of the world, civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean basin are a notable exception to this rule. Even if some quasi-monastic groups can be found in that region and time, it would be quite difficult to show how any of them could influence the original Coptic desert monks. In other words, how would they imitate an ideal professed by a Greek philosophical school, or that of the Essenes who, by the third century, were almost forgotten by Christians and Jews alike? Furthermore, it is also hard to imagine that the Desert Fathers would use as their model an idolatrous priesthood. As a result of the difficulty of proving that any of these groups were a serious influence on the Desert Fathers, further attempts were made to find the source of desert monasticism in some social or political developments of the fourth century. Thus, scholars attempted to explain desert monasticism as a reaction to the "invasion" of the Church by the world (e.g., the Christianization of the Roman Empire). This situation, scholars explained, would prompt some devout Christians to leave the human "secular" community. Such a meaning is often given to the famous story told about Arsenius. When he asked God, "Lord lead me to the path of salvation", he heard the answer, "Arsenius, flee men and you shall be saved" (Arsenius 1, Alphabetikon , 39; cf. Vitae Patrum , bk. 2, n. 3. Quoted in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection [Cistercian Studies]). It is possible that some of the men and women who left their cities and went to the Egyptian desert, especially in the later half of the century, were indeed motivated by such a disappointment. This, however, is unlikely to be the original motive of desert monasticism. If for no other reason, because it dates from before the time of the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the Empire. If The Life of Antony by Athanasius (written soon after the monk's death in 365, from first hand knowledge) is to be trusted, and there is no reason not to do so, Antony, born c. 250, adopted ascetical life c. 270, by 286 he was living in total isolation in the desert; before 305 he already had a group of disciples who settled round his own hermitage. Thus, according to this book, anchorite life, even colonies of anchorites, existed in the Egyptian desert not only before the Edict of Milan, but also prior to the persecutions of Diolectian. In fact, it began during the period of the "little peace" of the Church, between 258 and 304. Recognizing this date, some historians advanced two other "secular" reasons for the flight to the desert. Some claim that this exodus represented an attempt to escape the persecutions of either Decius (250) or Valerian (258). It is not impossible that some people, perhaps many, would flee into the wilderness at the time of a persecution. But what never seems to get explained is why these people didn't leave once the danger passed. Others propose a different reason. Namely, Egyptian peasants fled to the desert to escape the burdens of servitude, taxation, and other forms of oppression. While it is certainly possible that some escaped village life, the life of the ascetics in the desert was so harsh and their voluntary penances so difficult that it is unbelievable that they were embraced by those who had merely wanted to escape the difficulties of peasant life (Colombas, Il monachesimo delle origini , p. 72). Besides, not all anchorites were poor peasants. The best example of this is St. Antony. Athanasius says that he came "from a good and rather affluent family;" we are also told that his property amounted to 300 aruras (which comes to between 60 and 83 hectares, or 150 to 207 acres -- to possess that much land in ancient Egypt, meant affluence (Athanasius, Life of Antony , 1 & 2 respectively). What we seem to be left with, then, is a truly Christian motive for this movement. #Monasticism #Asceticism #continualprayer

Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. Oh God of our salvation, Son of the living God, Who is borne on the Cherubim, being above all Principalities, Authorities, Powers and Dominions: Thou art great and dreadful unto all them that are around Thee; Thou art He that didst set Heaven as a vault; Thou art He that madest earth in Thy might and didst order the universe in Thy wisdom; Who causest that which is under the heavens to shake from its very foundations, yet its pillars are unshaken; Who speakest unto the sun and it does not shine, and Who sealest the stars; Who interdictest the seas and driest them up; from Whose wrath authorities and powers hide, and the rocks tremble at Thee. Thou hast shattered the gates of brass and hast broken the iron bars. Thou hast bound the mighty one and smashed his vessels; Thou hast cast down the tyrant by Thy Cross and hast drawn out the serpent with the hook of Thy humanity; and having cast him down, Thou hast bound him chains in the gloom of Tartarus. Do Tou Thyself, therefore, O Lord, the Hope of them that have set their confirmation on Thee, and the Wall of strength for them whose expectation is on Thee, renounce, drive away, and put to flight every diabolical action, every satanic invasion, every slander and contrary power lying under this roof, and from them that have been seized by him, and from them that walk about under it, bearing the sign of victory, dreadful against demons, of Thy Cross, and calling upon Thy good name. Yea, O Lord, Who didst drive away a legion of demons, and Who, having restrained the dumb and deaf demon and the unclean spirit, didst command it to depart from the man, and never to return again; Who didst consume the whole army of our invisible enemies, and didst impart wisdom unto the faithful who have known Thee, saying, "Behold, I give unto you power to trample underfoot serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). Do Thou Thyself, O Master, keep everyone in this house beyond every harm and temptation, delivering them from the terror of the night, from the arrow that flies by day, from that which walks about in the darkness, from calamity and the demon of noonday. Let Thy servants, Thy handmaidens, and infants, delighting inThy help, and protected by the angelic hosts, cry out in faith, with one accord, "The the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear; what can a man do unto me?" (Psalm 117:6). And again, "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalm 22:4). For Thou, O God, art my Confirmation, Mighty Master, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come, and Thy Kingdom is an eternal Kingdom. And unto Thee only is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (From The Great Book of Needs, vol. 3, The Occasional Services, translated from Church Slavonic with notes by St. Tikhon's Monastery, St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, 2002.) #prayer #PrayerAgainstEvil

"We are aware of the torment that the enemy frequently inflicts upon us visibly or invisibly. But we do not perceive the torment and anguish that we inflict upon him, when we sometimes succeed in practising [sic], when we reprent over our transgressions or show long-suffering and perserverance in our difficulties, or when we pray and do other things which piece him to the heart, torture him and cause him bitter grief. God in His providence conceals all this from us, so as to prevent us from growing sluggish. Be sure, however, that 'God thinks it right to repay with affliction those who afflict you' (2 Thessalonians 1:6)." (St. John of Karpathos, an excerpt from Texts for the Monks in India in The Philokalia, Volume 1, p. 316.) #prayer #SacredScripture #StJohnofKarpathos #evil

O Almighty Master, Physician of souls and bodies, Who humbleth and raiseth up, Who chasteneth and again healeth: as Thou art merciful, do Thou visit our brother (sister), N., who is sick. Stretch forth Thine arm, full of healing and cures, and heal him (her), raising him (her) up from his (her) bed and illness. Do Thou forbid the spirit of sickness; dismiss from him (her) every wound, every infirmity, every sore, every fever and seizure. And if there be imputed unto him (her) iniquity or transgression, do Thou loose, remit and forgive him (her), out of Thy love for mankind. Yea, O Lord, be merciful unto Thy creation, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord, with Whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy Most-holy, Good and Lifegiving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (From the Great Book of Needs, vol. 3, The Occasional Services, translated from Church Slavonic with notes by St. Tikhon's Monastery, St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, 2002.) #VocalPrayer #IntercessoryPrayer