Three stories from The Holy Fathers
The following is an
excerpt from a letter of Saint Basil the Great to a certain noble patrician: "It
is good and profitable to communicate everyday and to partake of the holy Body
and Blood of Christ, for He Himself tells us: 'Whoever eats my Body and drinks
my Blood has eternal life!' Who, then, doubts that partaking continually of
life means nothing other than having manifold life? We, here, have the custom
of communicating four times a week; namely, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday,
Saturday, or any other day on which the memory of a Saint falls."
A young monk, going
down from the skete to the city, passed by the but of Abba Ammoun and confessed
to him: "My elder, Abba, is sending me to the city on an errand. I,
however, who am a man of weakness, fear temptation."
"Be
obedient," the holy man advised him, "and if temptation should arise
before you, say these words: 'O God of powers, through the intercession of my spiritual
Father, deliver me.'"
The brother took
courage from the words of the Abba and went immediately about his duty. The
devil, however, who had been biding his time to bring harm to the monk, sent a
woman of evil ways hastily to entrap him in her evil den. In his despair, the
monk suddenly remembered the advice of Abba Ammoun and shouted with faith:
"O God of powers, through the intercession of my spiritual Father, deliver
me."
He then found himself, without
knowing how, on the road that led to the desert.
"With what difficulty I work to control my tongue," a young monk agitatedly said one day to Abba Nistheros.
"When you
talk, do you find peace?"
"Never."
"Then why do
you talk? Learn to be silent. When it is a matter of something of profit, it is
better to listen to others than to speak," the wise elder advised him.
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Some Words about Obedience
“The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective:
to obey and conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he
disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life,
he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering
of all things.” (St. Anthony the Great, The Philokalia)
Nun Olga: Once, during the dialogue with
Elder Sophrony (Sakharov) people were talking about humility. One of the monks
said that lack of humility
is our personal self. I would rather add that disobedience is our
personal self as well.
If a person
lives according to his own will, he deprives himself of the true joy. He can be
near it, he can “see” it, but he is always outside it. Just as if you looked
through the window and saw the people celebrating something inside, while you were standing outside and felt cold and sad…
Every person
has experienced the moments, when you just do what you should do. And there is
no need to philosophize. Sometimes your own will seems so alluring that it can
even make you reject your obedience. It depends on what a person will choose. And
we have to make our choice every day. In other words, we are the architects of
our happiness.
As a rule,
something what makes you protest most of all, appears to be the most saving for
your soul. I would like to wish that our trust in God prevails over our inner
voice, which always tries to scare us and says that everything we do is
absolutely senseless.
Nun Tatiana: At the
present moment, the only way for me to get inner freedom and to silence my
inner voice is to follow my obedience. However, I cannot say that I always do
like this. The thing is that the human nature is very corrupted. We used to
have our personal opinion on everything, but this only makes our life more
difficult.
What should we
do in order to find a right decision or to do something good? Sometimes this
inner choice can be so troublesome for people, that they just cannot find a way
out. But the solution is quite simple: you just have to ask. There was a moment
I felt very free just because I had an opportunity to ask my spiritual father
or a sister and had not to decide on my own. Freedom means that you can ask God
anything through your neighbor, and He will answer you what you should do. I
think, this is how we can learn to obey. When I force myself to do something or
understand that I need to ask someone for advice, I feel free and happy. If
only we always could do like this!..
St. Elisabeth
Convent,
January 20,
2017
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Welcome to the official blog of the Catalogue of St.Elisabeth Convent! The blog includes recent ministry updates of the convent, sermons, icons, personal stories and everything related to Orthodox Christianity. Join our Catalog of Good Deeds and become part of the ministry of St.Elisabeth Convent! #CatalogOfGoodDeeds