A LIFE OF SERVICE (IV f)

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 OF SERVICE [IV f ]

In monasteries of the COMMON LIFE (KOENOVIA) life, the monks are able to live Apostolically, genuinely, the mystery of the Church as the Sacrament of communion, and as the UNION OF GOD AND MEN. They are able to live: "the unity of the faith and the communion of the Holy Spirit." which is the petition of all Christians. The monk knows from experience that the Church IS NOT A RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION, NOR A LAW, BUT BROTHERHOOD IN CHRIST, THE BODY OF CHRIST, THE GATHERING TOGETHER OF THE FORMERLY SCATTERED CHILDREN OF GOD (John 11:52), HIS FAMILY IN CHRIST. This experience of the Church gives the monk his capacity to see his brothers AS MEMBERS OF HIS OWN BODY, AND TO HONOR THEM AS CHRIST. This is the source of the ready welcome which he extends to pilgrims and visitors, as well as of his continual prayers with tears on behalf of his brethren, both living and dead, both known and unknown.

The monks also FULFIL THEIR LOVE FOR THEIR BRETHREN IN THE WORLD in other ways, such as by the spiritual refreshment and comfort which they offer to their brothers. Many who are troubled and tired in their souls run to the monasteries, particularly to the Holy Mountain, TO FIND PEACE FOR THEIR SOULS in proximity to Elders (Gerontes) and confessors who have already found peace with God. On the other hand, those occasions are not rare where experienced Athonite confessors go out into the world, refreshing and confirming many Christians in the faith.

The Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, a great Russian Saint of the last century, says, typically: "BE YOURSELF AT PEACE WITH GOD, AND MANY WILL COME TO FIND PEACE NEAR YOU." The Venerable Seraphim was speaking from his personal experience, as well as from the experience of the long spiritual Tradition of the Church. It is an observed fact that the further those Elders who had found peace with God retreated into the desert, the more the multitudes followed them in order TO BE EDIFIED.

In special circumstances, monks are called by the Lord Himself to take up a broader work of preaching and awakening — as occurred with Saint Cosmas the Aitolian. But they are always called by God, and NEVER CALL THEMSELVES. It would have been impossible for Saint Cosmas to save and to enlighten an enslaved people (enslaved by the Ottoman Turks for 400 years) with his preaching if he had not previously been enlightened and illuminated by the old monastic practice of silence, purification and prayer.

The monk does not seek the world through Pastoral Missionary activity because, being "poor in spirit," he feels that he does not have the foundations for saving others before he has been saved himself. He gives himself to God without plans or hopes for the future. He is always at the disposal of the Lord, ready to attend to HIS CALL.

The Lord of the Church invites THE WORKERS OF THE VINEYARD TO WORK IN WHATEVER MODE HE FINDS SALVIFIC AND EDIFYING. He called Saint Gregory Palamas to take up the pastoral protection of the Thessalonians, and to give theological expression to the Orthodox piety of the Holy Fathers. He called Saint Cosmas to go out and preach in Apostolic journeys while he illumined Saint Nicodemos the Hagiorite to preach without going out into the world — by means of the theological and spiritual writings which to this very day lead many souls to God. Other monks were called by the Lord to edify the world with their silence and endurance, by their prayers and their tears, as in the case of the Athonite, the blessed Leontius of Dionysiou, who did not go out of his monastery for 60 years. He remained all that time closed within a dark cell, yet the Lord revealed that the same old monk had received the gift of prophecy, and his body gaver forth myrrh after his death.

A LIFE OF CHARISMATIC WITNESS

Properly, what makes the sanctified monk the world’s joy and light IS HIS PRESERVATION OF THE IMAGE OF GOD. In the midst of the unnatural condition of sin which we experience, we forget and lose sight of the measure OF THE TRUE MAN. That which man was before the Fall, and that which is man DEIFIED (Theosis) — THAT IS, THE IMAGE OF GOD — THIS IS WHAT THE SANCTIFIED MONK REVEALS TO US.

• For at least as many as are able TO DISCERN THE DEEPER AND TRUE HUMAN NATURE, WITHOUT PREJUDICES OF PASSING IDEOLOGIES, the monk remains the hope of mankind. If man cannot be deified — or if we have not personally known deified men — it would be difficult to hope in the possibility that man can surpass his fallen condition, can attain to the purpose for which the Good God made him; DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) BY GRACE. As Saint John of the Ladder (Climacus) says: "The Angels are light for monks, and their way of life is light to all men." (Saint John Climacus – Discourse 26).

Already possessing the grace of deification (theosis) in this life, the monk becomes a sign and witness of the Kingdom of God in the world. According to the Holy Fathers the Kingdom of God IS THE GIFT OF INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. By means of the deified monk, THE WORLD IS GIVEN TO KNOW ‘IN IGNORANCE’ — TO SEE ‘WITHOUT SEEING’ THE CHARACTER AND GLORY OF THE DEIFIED MAN AND OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WHICH IS TO COME, AND WHICH IS NOT OF THIS WORLD.

It is thus through MONASTICISM THAT THE ESCHATOLOGICAL CONSCIENCE OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH IS PRESERVED IN THE CHURCH OF TODAY. By eschatological conscience, WE MEAN BOTH EAGERLY AWAITING THE LORD’S COMING (MARANATHA: LORD, COME!) and the awareness of His Mystical Presence among us even now; that: "The Kingdom of God is within us."

His CHARISMATIC REMEMBRANCE OF DEATH, AND THE FRUITFUL VIRGINITY, extend the monk into the age to come. "Christ is born of the Virgin, and enjoins virginity as that which leads us out of the world, cuts off the world, exchanges one world for another, the prese30).nt world for the world to come… turning from that which is, to that which is unseen." The monk who lives the life of virginity according to Christ, TRANSCENDS NOT ONLY THAT WHICH IS UNNATURAL, BUT NATURE ITSELF. ATTAINING TO THAT WHICH IS BEYOND NATURE, HE PARTAKES OF THE ANGELIC MODE OF BEING CONCERNING WHICH THE LORD ALSO SPOKE: "For in the resurrection they are neither married nor given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). Just as the Angels, so the monks are not virgins in order to accomplish matters of practical importance for the Church (missionary work, etc.), but in order TO WORSHIP GOD IN THEIR BODY AND SPIRIT. (1 Corinthians 6:20). {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