A LIFE BASED ON AGAPE (LOVE) Part IV e

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

A LIFE BASED ON AGAPE (LOVE) [Part IV e]

THE LOVE OF GOD has–as direct fruit–THE LOVE OF GOD’S IMAGE, OF MAN — AND ALL GOD’S CREATURES. After many years of asceticism, the monk acquires the "MERCIFUL HEART" which God loves. According to Abba (Father) Isaac the Syrian, A MERCIFUL HEART IS: "… A BURNING OF THE HEART FOR ALL CREATION, whether for men, for the birds of the air, for animals, fo the demons, for every creature. From the memory and contemplation of creatures the eyes stream with tears, and from compassion and pity the heart of the merciful man is moved to grief, and is unable to bear, to see, or to hear of any injury, or of anything grievous occurring in creation.

It is for this reason that at all times such a man prays with tears for the dumb beasts, for the enemies of the truth, and for those who do him injury. He prays that God may protect them and show them mercy.
He prays even for the creeping things, out of his great pity, which moves his hart abundantly." [Saint Isaac the Syrian — Discourse 81]

In the Gerontikon, (a collection of sayings and works of the Desert Fathers or ‘eldes’), we encounter forms of sacrifice and love of Christ. It is mentioned that Abba (Father) Agathon said: "I wish to meet a leper and embrace his body." "You know perfect love," commented Saint Isaac the Syrian.

The organization of the COMMON LIFE (COENOBITIC) Monastery IS BASED ON AGAPE, according to the model of the First Christian Communities of Jerusalem. As the Lord with the Twelve, and as the first Christians, so monks, too, have asll things in common in Christ. The Egoumenos (Abbot) possesses nothing more than the newest novice. No one has money that he may spend as he wishes; only those funds which he takes as a blessing from the Abbot for a particular need.

The possession of all things in common, EQUALITY, JUSTICE, RECIPROCAL REVERENCE, AND THE SACRIFICE OF ONE FOR ALL, AND FOR ALL FOR EACH, RAISES THE COMMON LIFE TO THE LEVEL OF REAL AGAPE AND LIBERTY. As many as have lived, be it only for a few days, in true common-life monasteries, know what a joy is the RECIPROCAL AGAPE OF THE BRETHREN, and how much it refreshes the soul. One has the impression that he is living with the Angels.

The organizer of common-life (koinovion) monasticism, Saint Basil the Great, speaking characteristically about the agape in Christ which RULES IN THE KOINOVIA (COENOVIA), SAID: "What can compare with this form of life? What is more blessed? What is truer than its binding together and its unity? What is more full of grace than the blending of personalities and souls? Men have been moved to come from different tribes and countries to be joined together so truly into one that they appear as one soul having many bodies; as the instruments of a single will. The one who is weak in body has many who bear with him; the one who is ill and frail in his soul has many to care for him and set him aright. They are equally servants of one another, equally lords one over the other, and with unconquerable liberty they strive to show among themselves the greatest servitude. Their is a servitude, however, which is not forced out of some necessity of the kind which causes great anxiety for those who rule, but is rather created out of the joy which comes from freedom of the will. Agape (Love) leads each man to subordinate himself to the other, and establishes freedom in the individual choice of each. It is thus that God WILLED US TO BE FROM THE BEGINNING; FOR THIS HE CREATED US. SUCH MEN RESTORE THE ANCIENT BEAUTY, BECAUSE THEY REDEEM THE SIN OF THE FOREFATHER ADAM… because there would not have division, separation, and war among men if sin had not divided nature. These men, then, imitate the Savior and His incarnate life.
Just as He did when He formed the band of His Disciples, establishing all things in common a among the Apostles, so they keep the strictness of this life to the Egoumenos (Abbot), imitating the life of the Apostles and of the Lord. They are zealous FOR THE LIFE OF THE ANGELS ("ANGELIC LIFE") because as those (i.e., the Angels), they strictly guard the common life. Among the Angels THERE IS NEITHER STRIFE, NOR ENVY, NOR DISPUTE. [
ALL THINGS BELONG TO EACH, AND ALL STORE UP FOR ONE ANOTHER THOSE WHICH ARE GOOD." [Resources: The Eros of Repentance)

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George