Poison of Rage
A gloomy
neighbor visited an elder.
– I
suffer from insomnia, – he complained. – That’s because the small birds out
there keep chirping all night long!
– You’re
the reason of your own suffering, – the elder replied. – You poison all your
nights with rage towards the innocent little birds. Singing is their life! If
you had chosen not to be mad at them but to enjoy listening to their songs,
their chirping would become your best lullaby!
These things have I spoken unto you, that my
joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full (John 15:11)
The Nature of a Wolf
There was
a forest where all animals were very afraid of the terrible wolf. They would
run away as soon as they heard him coming.
The wolf
gathered all the community of the forest one day.
– I don’t
want our forest to be ruled by fear. Don’t look at me as if I were an
insatiable beast and don’t run away from me. I won’t eat strong animals. I’ll
be fine with sick and weak ones, – the wolf promised. – Bring them to me, and I
won’t touch the rest!
The
animals agreed. They brought weak and ill animals to the wolf but he ate the
strong animals, too!
– Why do
you eat the strong animals? You promised not to, didn’t you?
– Why are
your “strong” animals weak, too? It’s none of my business, – the wolf retorted.
You
mustn’t negotiate with the Satan. He will fool you anyway.
… the devil… was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it. (John 8:44)
The Soft Word of God and the Hard Heart
When some
monks asked Abba Poemen about heart numbness, he gave them the following
example:
– Water
is soft but a rock is hard; however, if there is a water pipe above the rock,
water drops leave a trail in the rock little by little. Similarly, God’s Word
is soft, and our hearts are hard; however, if one hears the Word of God often,
his heart opens up to accept the fear of God..
The Skete Paterikon
Can you
see what an insane word does? I’ll not leave you without an example of a good
word, either. A faint-hearted soldier was sent on a scouting mission during a
war. Everyone knew that he was fearful and they laughed at him when they
learned where the sergeant was sending him. There was only one soldier who
didn’t laugh. He approached his comrade with words of support. The
faint-hearted soldier said, “I’ll die, the enemy is near!” — “Don’t be afraid,
brother, God is nearer,” the good soldier said in response. These words were
like a large bell that tolled in the faint-hearted soldier’s soul. This bell
kept ringing till the end of the war. In the end, the timid and fearful soldier
returned home wearing many medals and military decorations for his courage.
This is how just a single kind word made all the difference: “Don’t be afraid:
God is nearer.”
Saint Nikolaj of Serbia. Missionary Letters.
Letter 70, to a humble man who confessed that he had sinned in his words
The King and His Wise Advisor
There was
a mighty king who had a wise advisor. He always took his advisor wherever he
went.
One day,
the king went hunting and had an awful misfortune: he lost one finger on his
hand while shooting. He was furious.
– Sire,
everything happens for a reason! – the advisor tried to calm the king down.
However,
the king was even more furious upon hearing these words. He ordered to throw
the advisor in jail and give him only water.
Some time
later, the king decided to go hunting again. This time, he set forth to distant
parts of the country where there were many wild animals, as rumors had it.
Unluckily, there were violent savages in those lands, too. The savages attacked
the king and his escort. They were pagans and practised bloody sacrifices.
The
savages grabbed the king and dragged him to the chief priest. He was thrilled:
– Now
we’ll appease gods at last!
When the
priest laid the king on the sacrificial table and prepared to stab him with a
knife, he suddenly noticed that there was one finger missing on the poor king’s
hand. He was outraged.
– Gods
deserve only the best! – he yelled at his fellow tribesmen. – You’ve brought
that poor thing to me instead! Look, he has a finger missing!
They
threw the king back to the wild forest. Hardly did he find his way back to his
capital when he ran to the wise advisor.
– You
were right! I lost one finger but I was left alive! – the king was saying and
weeping. – You’ve had to go through so much pain, too. You’ve had to spend so
much time in jail.
–
Everything that happens is good, – the advisor responded. – If I hadn’t been in
jail, I would definitely have gone hunting with you, with unpredictable
results.
Sparrow
Two
little sisters heard the biblical account about the expulsion of Adam and Eve
from the Garden of Eden and told their father:
— Daddy,
if Lena and I had been in the paradise, we would have never eaten the forbidden
fruit because God had prohibited to touch it. Right, Dad?
— You’re
right, — the father smiled and turned off the light in the daughters’ bedroom.
The
father got up very early the following morning. He caught a sparrow in the
backyard and put it into a pot. He woke the girls up and showed them the pot
that he had put on the windowsill of an open kitchen window. The father said:
— Please
don’t open the pot until I get back home from work. When I’m back, I’ll show
you what’s inside. If you’re obedient, I’ll buy you a new toy.
The
father left for work, and the children stayed home alone. They were doing their
best to distract themselves from the little pot in the kitchen but they were so
excited and curious that at the end, Masha, the older sister, persuaded Lena,
the younger sister who was afraid that the father would be angry with them, to
look into the pot.
— We’ll
peek inside and close the cover, — she said. — Dad won’t even know.
As soon
as Lena opened the pot, the sparrow flew out of the window. The girls were
scared and shut the empty pot quickly.
When the
father returned in the evening, he saw that the pot was empty and said:
— Well,
my little Eves, you couldn’t help peeking inside the pot, could you? That was
how Eve couldn’t help tasting the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.
— Dad,
what was that tree like and why was it forbidden to eat its fruit? — Masha
asked.
— It was
just a regular tree with edible fruit but the first people broke the
commandment of the Lord and chose evil over good because all evil starts with
disobedience, while all good starts from obedience. God would have taught Adam
and Eve a lot of good things, if they had been obedient. This sparrow was your
tree of knowledge of good and evil today, and you didn’t obey me, either.
You’ve failed the Adam and Eve’s temptation.
Priest
and Schemamonk John from Greece told me a parable about a family who lived on a
desert island in the middle of an ocean after having been shipwrecked. All
family members ate roots and grass and lived in a cave. The children did not
remember when and how they got to the island. They forgot their native land and
did not know what bread, milk, or fruit was. One day, a boat with four natives
landed at the island. The shipwrecked were very happy and decided to leave the
island immediately. However, the boat was so small that it could not transport
the entire family. That was why the father of the family left the island first.
The mother and the children were crying as they bade farewell to their beloved
father.
The
father comforted his family by saying, “Don’t cry. Life’s better in our native
country, and we’ll meet again soon.”
Soon, the
boat returned and took the mother away. The children were crying again.
– Don’t
cry, my children, – the mother said, – we’ll meet in the better land soon.
Finally,
the boat came for the kids. When the last dwellers of the island found
themselves in the boundless sea, they were scared of their dark-skinned helpers
all the way. Imagine how happy they were when they met their parents on the
shore!
“Dear
children, – their father told them, – our relocation from the desert island to
the fertile land has a profound meaning: we all have to face a passage from
this world into the better world. Our earth is like an island. The country
we’re in slightly resembles the Heaven. The tumultuous passage from the island
to this land is like death. The boat is the coffin, which will be carried by
four strong men in black clothes. When it is time for us to say goodbye to the
earth, those who are pious, who love God and obey his will, will not be afraid
of the passage: death for them is merely a journey into the better life.”
Hieromonk Eutychius (Dovganiuk)
Translated from: https://azbyka.ru/days
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