[Irenikon] Patriarch message to Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality

 

Patriarch Kirill’s message to 18th International Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality at Bose

8.09.2010 ·

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has sent the following message to the 18^th International Orthodox Spirituality Symposium on Community and Solitude held at Bose Monastery, Italy.

Very Reverend Father Enzo Bianchi,
Dear Organizers and Participants of the Symposium:
I extend cordial greetings to the participants in the 19^th International Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality organized by the Bose monastic community to discuss Community and Solitude. This theme concerns these two basic and equally necessary forms of spiritual life characteristic of any religious tradition.
Solitude as one’s isolation from the surrounding world and at the same time, openness to others and creation of a community on the basis of certain spiritual principles have always been integral components on the way to salvation. Our Saviour Himself gave us an example of harmonious combination of community life and solitude, when, preaching the gospel together with His apostolic disciples, He withdrew from the others for a personal prayer to a lonely place (Lk. 5:16). The Lord also advised His disciples to pray alone: When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen (Mt. 6:6).
The peculiar dialectics of community and solitude has been manifested most vividly in the history of Christian monasticism. As is known, monastic life was born in the early 4^th century as reclusion, and the word ‘monk’ itself means ‘lonely’. The first monks in Egypt and Palestine, such as Sts Paul of Thebes, Anthony the Great, Macarius the Great, Simeon Stylites, were lonely ascetics in the desert who withdrew from the world to perform spiritual feats and to contemplate God. However, the light of divine grace caught by these ascetics attracted thousands of followers who sought spiritual perfection. It is not accidental that the very definition of monk acquired in antiquity some features of paradox uniting opposites: ‘a monk is a one who, while withdrawing from all, is in community with all’. Abandoning the world with its vanity and passions, monks created a new spiritual community in which all humanity was united by the bonds of prayer and love in Christ.
Coenobitical monasticism, which emerged in the wake of reclusion, was especially popular in Rus’. Reclusion was practiced in the Russian Church, too, and many Russian saints began their feat in strict solitude. However, Sts Sergius of Radonezh, Paphnutius of Borovsk, Sergius and Herman of Valamo, Zosima and Savvatius of the Solovki never withdrew to this form of spiritual life but, in their desire to share their ascetical experience with their brethren, founded coenobitic monasteries. In Russian monasticism, there has always been a desire to balance community life and solitude, dictated by the awareness of equal importance and necessity to be given to individual ascetical and social principles in the life of a Christian.
This awareness was especially vividly manifested in Russian ‘Starets’ who combined the precious experience of reclusion, life in a monastery and spiritual edification in the world. The lives of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Theophanes the Recluse and Optina Starets give us great examples of the combination of reclusion and community, which became beneficial and even salvific for many souls. Great Russian thinkers A. Khomyakov, I. Kireyevsky, F. Dostoyevsky and V. Solovyev went to the Optina Hermitage in a search for a wise spiritual advice. Through them the Starets made an impact not only on the life of individuals but also on the Russian religious culture as a whole by filling it with pure images of truly Christian sanctity. The spiritual treasures of Russian culture, which attract people throughout the world today too, are a good fruit of harmonious combination of the ascetic feat of reclusion and openness to communication for the salvation of many.
The example of Russian Starets is especially relevant today. The modern culture liable to becoming completely secular and deprived a spiritual principle needs the beneficial influence of Christian asceticism exercised in our days. The world should see that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which transform human life, are as abundant today among those who seek to live according to the gospel of Christ as they were among the ascetics of antiquity. Living Christian images revealing the power of God’s grace cannot but inspire those who seek the truth and moral perfection.
I wish success to the 18^th International Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality in its work.
With love in the Lord,
+ Kirill
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

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Our Lady

ambrose young  to Irenikon

 

The Heavenly Intercessor

Let not the people forget the works of God

It was over five hundred years ago, when the memorable event took place in Moscow. This was on August 26 (September 8), 1395…
It was morning, but the inhabitants of Moscow were already on their feet and heading for the Kuchkovo field, where now stands the Sretensky Monastery. What happened then? Why had the people forgotten everything, disturbed to the depth of their souls, and come to such a movement? In Russia there is a saying: ”Whoever has not been to sea or in a storm has never prayed to God.” That means that something serious and unusual threatened the Russian people… The Russian people knew well what the attacks and pogroms of the Mongols meant. Hunger, pestilence, war, and earthquakes, all rolled into one, could not cause such damage as did the Mongols. The Russian people had not forgotten the pogrom of Batyiev, nor the terrible desolation of the depopulated Russian land. Now a new thundercloud was gathering. At first faintly, and then with increasing volume, word began to spread that somewhere over there, in distant Asia, ”A certain tsar from the Samarkand lands, from the Blue Horde, which was beyond the iron gates, has risen up,” and whose strength and inhuman fury surpasses all those famous destroyers who had gone before him. The Russian people knew very little about him, but they did well know that this tsar ”was a most fierce bandit, worse that those before him.” How great was their horror when they heard that this terrible tsar, ”the likes of whom was never heard afar under the eastern sun, is now at our door…”! Who was this new, frightful destroyer?
The true name of this horrible man, who mercilessly wiped out not only the people, but all that had been created by the labor of human hands, was Timur Leng, which meant ”Timur the Lame,” and the ancient Russians called him Temir Aksak, ”which means, the iron lame.” This Timur Leng, or Tamerlane, had gathered an army of fierce warriors and resolved to submit the whole world to himself… His indomitable bravery riveted warrior to him.
At the sound of their leader's customary yelp, and the swipe of his curved sword, they would throw themselves like tigers on prey at the smell of blood. In 1371, at age thirty, he had taken over all the lands from the Caspian Sea to Manchuria. The terrifying tales of his inhuman ferocity made people's blood run cold. Like Genghis Khan, he made Asia and Europe tremble before his very name; he had flooded their land in blood, destroyed cities, killed millions of people, and had earned like Attila the Hun the name, ”God's whip.” In place of flourishing cities surrounded by lush, planted fields, vineyards, and fruit trees, Tamerlane left only ruins and pyramids made of human heads, fixed in cement, as a lesson to their descendants. The citizens of one city sent all their children to Tamerlane as a plea for mercy. When the latter beheld these little ones dressed in white clothing and walking to meet him with palm branches in their hands, singing sacred hymns, a destructive demon suddenly leapt up in him, and he lunged forward on his horse. ”After me!” he shouted to his cavalry. The wretched parents had to watch in horror from the city walls as their children were trampled under the hooves of horses… ”My name horrifies the universe,” the fierce conqueror boasted. ”Not even the depths of the sea can hide my enemies from my vengeance!” And now, just such a destroyer had shown up within the borders of the Russian homeland. A frightful year had arrived For Holy Rus'. The Russian people had not yet recovered from the earlier pogroms; but what were these attacks, what was fierce Batyi in the face of Tamerlane? The recent battle of Kulikovo now seemed to be only waste of national strength.

"The Apotheosis of War" (1871). A painting by Vasily Vereschchagin

Grand Prince Vasily Dimitrievich gathered his forces and prepared for battle… But without a doubt, the Muscovite Prince's military preparations did not frighten Tamerlane in the least. Nieither Prince Vasily nor the people had any hope for salvation by human strength. But the entire Russian land raised up fervent prayer to the heavens; all the churches of Moscow were opened from morning until late at night. The people poured tears and fasted, and all were preparing for death. During that terrible time, the Grand Prince remembered the wondrous icon that was in the city of Vladimir. It was known by the name of the ”Vladimir” icon of the Most Pure Mother of God, and according to tradition it was painted by the holy Evangelist Luke. So the Grand Prince sent a messenger from his military base to Moscow, to Metropolitan Cyprian, requesting that he send an ambassador to Vladimir for the holy icon. The Metropolitan was amazed at the Prince's request, because he was having the same thought. The ambassador was sent without delay. On August 15/28, on the very day of the feast of the Dormition, the icon was raised in Vladimir. The people of Vladimir accompanied their great holy treasure ”honorably, with faith and love, fear and desire, with tears and sorrow…” On August 26 (September 8) the holy icon was already being met in Moscow. You could say that on this memorable day, all the people of Moscow had but one thought, one desire—to behold the countenance of the Most Pure Heavenly Queen, the Intercessor for the Orthodox people… All the people came out to meet Her holy icon. All the clergy surrounded the holy hierarch, and the people came in dense crowds. Everyone, from the little to the great, came in tears, and there was not a single person that did not weep. From every corner was heard the prayer to the Mother of God, ”Do not abandon us, our Intercessor, our Hope, do not give us over to the hands of the Tatars!”
The innumerable, immense army of the terrible Tamerlane, like dark clouds, covered the area around the town of Elets on the night of August 26. The horrifying ”master of the world” himself rested in his magnificent tent. The princes and khans of Asia unsleepingly and unceasingly guarded the tent and sleep of their terrible leader. But he had no sleep, for he had seen a frightening vision. He saw a tall hill, on which stood wondrous elders with rods in their hands, threatening him. There was a boundless sky over the hill… A light brighter than the sun… And in that light was a wondrous Queen, in purple garments, shining brighter that the sun, with rays like lightening. In this radiant heavenly height there was a numberless host of warriors, ready to advance upon him at the first wave of the Queen's hand. But the Queen only calmly prayed, lifting up her hands. Suddenly, gazing threateningly at him, the Queen commanded the entire numberless host to attack him. A desperate shout sounded from the royal tent. The tsar's men came running, and found their master in such a state as they had never seen before. The fearless warrior who had witnessed so many deaths on the battlefield was now trembling and moaning in complete exhaustion. In the morning, the fierce conqueror unexpectedly commanded the entire army to decamp and retreat hastily.
The joy of the Russians was indescribable when they heard of their enemy's speedy departure to Asia. When the Grand Prince heard of Tamerlane's retreat he hastened to return to Moscow. Here he was met by Metropolitan Cyprian. Together with the people, they raised tearful prayers of thanksgiving before the miraculous icon of the Mother of God. A church was built where the famous meeting took place, dedicated to the Most Pure Mother of God ”Of the Honorable Meeting,” so that the people would not forget the works of God. At that time the feast of the Vladimir icon of the Mother God was established, on August 26/September 8.
And Tamerlane? He poured out his wrath upon the camps of the Kipchak hordes, upon the Tatar cities, Astrakhan, and Asov. He left them in ashes. And the advance of Tamerlane, which threatened all of Russia with terrible destruction, actually brought Russia's great benefit: this frightful enemy of Christianity struck a fatal blow to a long-time foe—the Golden Horde.

Troitsky Litsky, No. 748

Translated by Pravoslavie.ru/OrthoChristian.com

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ST THERESE OF LISIEUX AND HER LITTLE WAY

Compare the teaching of St Therese with her Little Way and that of St John Maximovich St. Thérèse and her Little Way Rev. John F. Russell, O.Carm. Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. 07079 What is the meaning of “the little way” of St Therese? It is an image that tries to capture her understanding of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, of seeking holiness of life in the ordinary and the everyday. St Therese based “her little way” on two fundamental convictions: (1) God shows love by mercy and forgiveness, and (2) she could not be “perfect” in following the Lord. St Therese believed that the people of her time lived in too great a fear of God's judgment. The fear was stifling and did not allow people to experience the freedom of the children of God. St Therese knew from her life that God is merciful love; many scripture passages in the Old and New Testaments bore out that truth. She loved the maternal images for God in the Old Testament and the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. In fact, St Therese once wrote that she could not understand how anyone could be afraid of a God who became a child. She also knew that she would never be perfect. Therefore, she went to God as a child approaches a parent . . . with open arms and a profound trust. St Therese translated “the little way” in terms of a commitment to the tasks and to the people we meet in our everyday lives. She took her assignments in the convent of Lisieux as ways of manifesting her love for God and for others. She worked as a sacristan by taking care of the altar and the chapel; she served in the refectory and in the laundry room; she wrote plays for the entertainment of the community. Above all, she tried to show a love for all the nuns in the community. She played no favourites; she gave of herself even to the difficult members. Her life sounds so routine and ordinary, but it was steeped in a loving commitment that knew no breakdown. It is called a “little way” precisely by being simple, direct, yet calling for amazing fortitude and commitment. In living out her life of faith she sensed that everything that she was able to accomplish came from the generous love of God in her life. She was convinced that at the end of her life she would go to God with empty hands. Why? Because all was accomplished in union with God. Catholics and other Christians have been attracted to St Therese's style. Her “little way” seems to put holiness of life within the reach of ordinary people. Live out your days with confidence in God's love for you. Recognize that each day is a gift in which your life can make a difference by the way you choose to live it. Put hope in a future in which God will be all and love will consume your spirit. Choose life, not the darkness of pettiness and greed. St Therese knew the difference love makes by allowing love to be the statement she made each day of her life.