This
story, received in an email on the Eve of Nativity, (Dec 24 2010/
Jan 6 2011) is entirely appropriate for the Nativity season. Because God became
man, we are not alone. We have someone Whom we can talk to, Who understand us,
and CAN help us, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
(Heb 4:15-16)
This sums
up pretty well the meaning of the Incarnation of the Son of God, the meaning of
the Nativity of the Savior, the true meaning of Christmas:
On my
last trip to Mount Athos I visited the Monastery of Simonopetra. It is a
majestic monastery and the sky was fully blue. There I met a graceful novice
monk from China. In truth, he surprised me by his presence. An Orthodox rason
on a Chinese man? I was moved somewhat. I had never seen this before up close,
only in pictures of missions. An inheritor of a great cultural tradition and
for him to embrace Christianity? My friends and I got curious to ask him about
this.
"Brother,
how did you, a Chinese man, embrace Orthodox Christian monasticism coming from
such a great cultural tradition? Were you a Buddhist?"
"Yes,
of course, I was a Buddhist."
"What
won you over to Christianity?"
"Divine
companionship!"
"Excuse
me?"
"Yes,
yes, Father, hahahahaha!", he laughed, since with every three words the
Chinese seem to laugh at two. "In Buddhism, my Father, you are very very
much alone. There is no God. Your entire struggle is with yourself. You are
alone with yourself, with your ego. You are totally alone in this path. Great
loneliness Father. But here you have an assistant, a companion and a
fellow-traveler in God. You are not alone. You have someone who loves you, who
cares about you. He cares even if you don't understand Him. You speak with Him.
You tell Him how you feel, what you would have hoped for – there is a
relationship. You are not alone in the difficult struggles of life and
spiritual perfection.
I
realized things in those days. A severe cold bound me to bed. No doctor could
find anything wrong with me. The clinical picture was clear, at least the
doctors couldn't see anything. The pain was unbearable and there was absolutely
no pain killer that could stop it. I changed three different pain killers and
still the pain was not alleviated.
At this
time I got the news that the brother of my father, whose name I bear, had an
advanced form of cancer in the vocal cords and larynx. He had a largyngectomy.
It was the result of chronic alcohol consumption and smoking. Generally he
lived a bad life, without any quality.
Then I
felt something a former Buddhist and now a Christian monk on Mount Athos told
me, that you need to have a God you can talk to; to perceive and to feel
someone besides yourself Who hears you.
I don't
know if it's wrong or right. I only know it is a deep need of man. This is
evidenced by life itself. Even these Buddhists, who are from a non-theistic
religion, created various deities. Even in dream language and worlds. But they
have a need to refer to someone, to something, someone beyond and outside
themselves, even if it's dreamy. Besides, reality and truth is something very
relevant and will always remain so. It is an enigma, a mystery."
At this I
remembered the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian, who had a sensitive and
melancholic nature, when he said: "When you are not well, or not feeling
so, speak. Speak even if it is to the wind."
A story by Fr. Libyos
Source: http://orthodox.net/redeemingthetime/2011/01/06/why-a-chinese-buddhist-became-an-orthodox-athonite-monk-christ-is-born-and-we-are-not-alone-nativity-2011/
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