The power of prayer and fasting (Mk. 9, 17-31)

Dean of the Theological School Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Miltiadis Konstantinou

The Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Lent, Mark 9, 17-31), presents Jesus as coming face to face with an ancient problem which affects the whole of humanity: the ability of people to overcome evil. For as long as there have been people on earth, evil in its thousand and one forms- poverty, hunger, wars, refugee crises, sicknesses and death- has held sway over their lives, suffocated their hopes and, often enough, driven them to despair. Philosophers, economists, politicians, scientists, religious leaders and even soothsayers have, for centuries, struggled against it on a daily basis. Sometimes more successfully, at other times less so, the human race has managed to make some progress towards the improvement of the quality of life, but, like the Hydra in ancient mythology, evil itself has remained invincible.

Sunday of St. John of the Ladder

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Lent is a time of repentance, a time when our heart of stone must be made by the power of God into a heart of flesh, from insensitive to perceptive, from cold and hard to warm and open to others—and indeed, to God Himself.

St John Climacus and the Ladder of Divine Ascent

by Blessed  Metropolitan  Philaret

Sunday Four in Great Lent

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

More than once, brethren, the fact has been mentioned that on each Sunday in the Great Fast (i.e., Lent) there are other commemorations besides that of the Resurrection. Thus, on this day, the Church glorifies the righteous John of the Ladder, one of the greatest ascetics, which the Church, in speaking of them, calls "earthly angels and Heavenly men."

THE SIN OF HAM

A sermon given at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, 

Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

May God save you for these evening prayers, for preparing yourselves to receive Holy Communion, for your love of God and the Holy Church and for the Divine Liturgy—the highest, the most beautiful, immortal, common act of mankind, the only act that can truly unite people with God and with each other. At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts we heard the readings from the Old Testament. We have all read them at one time or another, we are all familiar with them, and we know that this is the book in which the God-seer Moses tells the story of God’s creation of the world—not from his own mind, not as he imagined it, but as God put it into his mind. He tells us not only about these great works of God, but also about mankind’s first sins—about pride, about disobedience and betrayal of God, about the first murder, about enmity, and about envy. Now, today, before us at the Vespers, unfolds the story of yet one more sin, for which the Lord curses a man. This is the sin of Ham.

I Am Climbing St. John’s Ladder

Archpriest John Moses

Apr 15th, 2013

I have come to the conviction that God is pleased with me.

This might seem like a ridiculous idea for those who know me. Spend a little bit of time with me and you will find me to be a foolish, silly old man who really ought to be farther along in his spiritual life than he is. After all, I’ve been a Christian since my youth, so how is it possible that I am still such a foolish, sinful, and silly old man?

Most Sundays, someone will say to me that they are ashamed because when they come to confession, they seem to confess the same sins week after week. They wonder if it will ever change. Because of persistent sins, despondency sets in. They will say, “It seems like I take one step forward and two steps back. Surely God is tired of me and very displeased with me.” Oh, I understand how they feel. At times, I hear the same voice: “you can’t get a leopard to change his spots.” In my case, it might be more appropriate to say: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

The Ladder of Divine Ascent: Lesson 1

John Climacus: On Repentance That Leads to Joy

Written by M.C. Steenberg.

A study of the spirituality of St John of the Ladder, with particular emphasis on the relationship of repentance and joy in the spiritual struggle.

The Spirituality of St John Klimakos

Those who aim at ascending with the body to Heaven, indeed need violence and constant suffering, especially in the early stages of their renunciation, until our pleasure-loving dispositions and unfeeling hearts attain to love of God and chastity by manifest sorrow.[1]

St John begins forthrightly in his Ladder. He is neither flowery with his words nor soft in his speech, but instead speaks simply and with a driving intent. There is a certain ‘brutal honesty’ to his spiritual direction, for he does not make any attempt to portray the path of salvation and sanctification in a way that will be pleasing to men, but rather in a manner that is truthful to the reality of God. It is not every Father who would begin his 30-step manual for spiritual growth with the daunting ‘Renunciation of the World.’

Introduction

On March 30 and on the Fourth Sunday of Holy Lent the Orthodox Church commemorates our Righteous Father John Climacus. He is called Climacus due to his authorship of the great spiritual work The Ladder of Divine Ascent. His commemoration is designated by the Church on one of the Sundays of Lent as his life and writings affirm him as a supreme bearer and proponent of Christian asceticism. The ascetic example of this great Saint of the Church inspires us in our Lenten journey.

Life Of The Saint

Icon of Saint John Climacus and the Ladder of Divine Ascent provided by Athanasios Clark and used with permission.

Saint John Climacus was probably born in the second half of the sixth century; but his country and origins are alike unknown because, from the beginning of his renunciation of the world, he took great care to live as a stranger upon earth. “Exile,” he wrote, “is a separation from everything, in order that one may hold on totally to God.” We only know that, from the age of sixteen, after having received a solid intellectual formation, he renounced all the pleasures of this vain life for love of God and went to Mount Sinai, to the foot of the holy mountain on which God had in former times revealed His glory to Moses, and consecrated himself to the Lord with a burning heart as a sweet-smelling sacrifice.

Setting aside, from the moment of his entry into the stadium, all self-trust and self-satisfaction through unfeigned humility, he submitted body and soul to an elder called Martyrios and set himself, free from all care, to climb that spiritual ladder (klimax) at the top of which God stands, and to “add fire each day to fire, fervour to fervour, zeal to zeal.” He saw his shepherd as “the image of Christ” and, convinced that his elder was responsible for him before God, he had only one care: to reject his own will and “with all deliberateness to put aside the capacity to make [his] own judgement,” so that no interval passed between Martyrios’ commands, even those that appeared unjustified, and the obedience of his disciple. In spite of this perfect submission, Martyrios kept him as a novice for four years and only tonsured him when he was twenty, after having tested his humility. Strategios, one of the monks present at the tonsure predicted that the new monk would one day become one of the great lights of the world. When, later, Martyrios and his disciple paid a visit to John the Savaite, one of the most famous ascetics of the time, the latter, ignoring the elder, poured water over John’s feet. After they had left, John the Savaite declared that he did not know the young monk but, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he had washed the feet of the Abbot of Sinai. The same prophecy was confirmed by the great Anastasios the Sinaite (April 21), whom they also went to visit.

The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent

S. V. Bulgakov, Handbook 

In the Church services for the fourth Sunday the Holy Church offers us a great example of the life of fasting in the person of the Venerable John of the Ladder (see page 106), who, "having overcome the flesh through fasting" and "by the sweat of his ascetic efforts quenched the fiery arrows of the enemy" and "renewed the strength of souls " and, "ascending to the height of virtues", "received in his soul the divine wealth of the Spirit, undefiled prayer, chastity, modesty, continuous vigil", "was deified through heavenly glory", "was revealed as a physician to those sick through sin" and was the author of "The Ladder of Paradise". According to the expression of the Holy Church, how the profoundly granted ascetic life of the Venerable John "gives us a pleasure sweeter than honey", and so his "Ladder" "brings to us the ever flowering fruits of his teaching, pleasing the heart with vigilant heeding: for souls are rising up the ladder from earth to heaven and abiding in glory". Approving fasting with the example of the Venerable John, the Holy Church offers us a new consolation in the Gospel and Epistle readings of this Sunday. In the first she shows that fasting and prayer defeats the very spiritual enemy of the salvation of man, and predicted this victory in the circumstances of suffering, the death and the resurrection of Christ; and in the second she reminds us of the inalterability of God's will for the salvation of man, in order that we have a firm hope.

 OF THE LADDER (CLIMACUS)

St. John Climacus

St. John Climacus is honored by the Church as a great ascetic and as the author of a remarkable work entitled, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, and therefore he has been named “Climacus,” or “of the Ladder.”

There has been very little information preserved about his origin. Tradition tells us that he was born in around the year 570, and was the son of Sts. Xenophon and Maria, who are commemorated on January 26/February 28. St. John came to the monastery on Mt. Sinai at age sixteen. Abba Martyrius became his spiritual father and mentor. After four years of living on Mt. Sinai, John was tonsured a monk. One of the fathers present at his tonsure foretold that John would become a great luminary of Christ's Church. St. John labored in asceticism for nineteen years in obedience to his spiritual father. After the death of Abba Martyrius, St. John chose the life of reclusion, departing to a desert place called Thola, where he lived forty years in silence, fasting, prayer, and repentant tears. It is not by chance that St. John speaks so much of repentant tears in The Ladder. "As fire burns and destroys dead wood, so do pure tears cleanse all impurity, both inwardly and outwardly." His prayer was strong and effective—this can be seen in the following example of the great ascetic's life.

Uncovering Our True Humanity: On the Sunday of St. John Climacus

Archpriest Vsevolod Shpiller (+1984)

And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit: and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spoke to Thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto Me. And they brought him unto Him: and when he saw Him, straightway the spirit tore him, and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And He asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:17-31). 

Homilies on Hebrews (Chrysostom)

Hebrews 6:13-16

For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

1. Having boldly reflected on the faults of the Hebrews, and sufficiently alarmed them, he consoles them, first, by praises, and secondly (which also is the stronger ground), by the [thought] that they would certainly attain the object of their hope. Moreover he draws his consolation, not from things future, but again from the past, which indeed would the rather persuade them. For as in the case of punishment, he alarms them rather by those [viz. things future], so also in the case of the prizes [set before them], he encourages them by these [viz. by things past], showing [herein] God's way of dealing. And that is, not to bring in what has been promised immediately, but after a long time. And this He does, both to present the greatest proof of His power, and also to lead us to Faith, that they who are living in tribulation without having received the promises, or the rewards, may not faint under their troubles.

And omitting all [the rest], though he had many whom he might have mentioned, he brought forward Abraham both on account of the dignity of his person, and because this had occurred in a special way in his case.

Homilies on Hebrews (Chrysostom)

Hebrews 6:9

Moreover he did not say, We think, or, we conjecture, or, we expect, or, we hope, but what? Hebrews 6:9 But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Which word he also used in writing to the Galatians: But I am persuaded of you in the Lord, that you will be none otherwise minded. Galatians 5:10 For in that instance, inasmuch as they were greatly to be condemned, and he could not praise them from things present, he does it from things future (that you will be none otherwise minded, he says): he said not, you are, but ye will be none otherwise minded. But here he encourages them from things present. We are persuaded better things of you, beloved, and things that accompany to salvation, though we thus speak. And since he was not able to say so much from things present, he confirms his consolation from things past; and says,

The Departed Need Our Prayers: On Ancestral Saturday

Archpriest Andrei Efanov

Week after week, we remember our departed relatives every Saturday. What a joy that the Church gives us days of special prayer during Great Lent on which we can give our full attention to our departed kinsmen, to all Orthodox Christians that have departed from the ages!

How important it is to pray for these people, for people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, who have lived out their lives – some of them long lives, others altogether short, but who have all gone to stand before the Face of the Lord, that is, who have all travelled the path along which every one of us must sooner or later travel! They know what awaits us, which means that their prayers are beneficial for us.

They need our prayers, too. So we turn to the saints and ask: “Holy Father Nicholas, pray unto God for us sinners,” “Venerable Father Seraphim, pray unto God for us sinners and help us,” or “Most Holy Lady Theotokos, save us sinners” – this is how we pray.

But the Apostle Paul also says that we need to pray for one another, and not only appeal to the saints. Of course, the saints can help us a great deal because, as the Apostle says, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16). But everyone is righteous, to a greater or lesser degree. After all, we are not demons: we are not completely corrupted; something holy remains in us. And to the extent that we are righteous, our prayers are effectual.

The prayers of our departed kinsmen for us are equally effectual. So let us pray for one another: we, for the departed; and the departed, for us – and in this way we will all be saved. Let us pray that our life might be at least a little closer to God; let us ask the Lord to save the souls of our departed loved ones, friends, relatives, and enemies – everyone who needs our prayers. And let us hope that their prayers will, in just the same way, help us to better ourselves and to become more spiritualized and deified.

When we become such, then our prayers will also have greater power. Our prayers can do much, if only we become righteous. For now, we have little righteousness – and as for the good that we have in our souls, let it bear fruit to the extent to which the ground upon which it ripens is fertile!

May the Lord help us all, both the living and the departed – everyone who stands in need of God’s mercy, which means all of humankind and, above all, all Christians, for the Apostle said that the Savior came into the world to save all men, especially those who believe (cf. 1 Timothy 4:10). Let us be faithful, that the Savior might be our Redeemer from the torments of Hades and the Source of joy in Himself – Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom is due all glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages. Amen.

The Fourth Week of Great Lent

S. V. Bulgakov, Handbook for Church Servers

"This is a holy week of light, in which the precious Cross is exalted in the sight of all the world". During all this week up to Saturday "sanctifying the time of abstinence the divine and precious Cross" in the midst of the temple "clearly offers everything, source of divine forgiveness, both light of heaven and life and true joyfulness", "bestowing on those who venerate it redemptive sanctification, light and glory and mercy" and "facilitating the season of the Fast for us".[1] Representing beneficial fruits sprouting from the life-creating tree of the Cross into a sinful world, the Holy Church sings praises to the Holy Cross, as "a tree of life, the spoiler of Hades, the joy of the world and the consumer of corruption", "the sceptre of the Holy Messiah, the heavenly glory of man, the praise of kings, the dominion of faith, the invincible weapon, the driving away of enemies, the light of radiance, the salvation of the world, the great glory of martyrs, the power of the righteous, the brightness of angels", "the sign of joy, the praise of martyrs, the adornment of apostles, the confirmation of bishops", "the joy of the Orthodox, the protector of the universe", "the fortress of abstinence, the cooperator of the vigilant, the strengthening of the fasters, the upholders of the stragglers". Praising the Holy Cross, the Holy Church together with it calls on its children to restrain "from corrupting passions for food by abstinence and from sweets by disgust", and "purifying themselves by fasting" to venerate the Holy Cross "with awe and by faith", "drawing up sanctification for their souls". But as success in the Lenten spiritual efforts may, especially after having already achieved the mid-point of the holy Forty Day Fast be eclipsed by gluttony, the Holy Church following the example of the Lord, who humbled Himself by dying on the cross, also calls us to humility, so that we may not lose our justification before God because of Pharisaic pride, looking not only at our deeds, but also in our thoughts.

SHIPWRECK IN THE HARBOR

Word of the Cross on Wednesday 

Archpriest Alexander Shargunov

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today we sredopostnaya Wednesday, the Holy Church brings worship Precious Cross of Christ.

And what about the Cross of Christ, the word of God? We have heard, as always at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the book of Genesis, the prophecy of Isaiah and Proverbs. As if there is a word of the cross, but the word of God - always cross, as evidenced by the apostle. Cross in the real sense, as we now see. Anything that gives us life - two opposing secret "mystery of iniquity" and "the mystery of godliness," the mystery of sin and the mystery of the cross. The mystery of the cross is to give himself to God and people. A secret sin - in self-centeredness. Some people ask, where did evil. Why is someone who is lighter all, O Lucifer, became darker all? Each of us can see in myself this root cause of sin. Hence grow all other sins, and no one is free from this corruption. Only the love of God, the Cross of Christ, His sacrificial returns can heal us of this closure on itself, of self-destruction, seeking to establish itself in the human soul and history.