When St. Iakovos sacrificed church on Pascha for his brother

The Resurrection of Christ (source)

  
Note: As many are being asked to, and agreeing to temporarily forego participation in Divine Services (whether voluntarily, or due to their not being offered) out of concerns for the spread of the Corona virus, may this beautiful and short story from St. Iakovos' youth be instructive to us all with great discernment and in obedience to our spiritual leaders. Once, out of love and sacrifice for his fellow man, the Saint agreed to forego participation in church for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The Lord did not abandon him.
  
When Elder Iakovos of Evia (1920-1991) was serving in the army before he became a monk, he was granted permission to take all of Holy Week and Pascha off.

But during the week, he noticed one of his fellow soldiers was very depressed. And he asked him, “Why are you so sad, Mr George?”

“Papa-Iakove, you with your religiosity, managed to convince the commander to give you the entire week off. You will be fine with your chanting, your monk practices, but how about me?  I also want to go to my village to spend Pascha with my fiancée. ”

“Okay, George, now you want the day of Pascha off – do you also want a couple of other days off?”

“Well, it would be good to have Great Friday off, and even Thursday, so I can get to church and hear a couple of gospels…”

“Don’t worry George, I will take care of it.”

This man of God, who lived for these services – this was his life, these hymns were his breath – he sacrificed it all for his fellow man, and he stayed inside the barracks – Holy Thursday, Holy Friday, Saturday and Pascha Sunday.

Out of curiosity I asked him, “Very well, Elder, how did you pass these days?”

“I was serving guard duty, and I was on a hill watching the citizens of Athens going to their churches, and I was trying to repeat the prayer of Jesus. And on the night of Pascha, when I heard the joyous bells, I sighed and I said, ‘O my Christ, now our Christians are receiving Your Holy Light.’ And as I said this, the Holy Light came to me as well!”

“How did this happen, Elder?”

“Well, my child, a light came from on high and rested on me, and I became all light!”

The man of God had sacrificed the created light of the Pascha candle, and he received the uncreated Light of Divinity. This was Elder Iakovos. This was inside his nature – the willingness to sacrifice even his prayer and his personal effort and struggle, for the love of his neighbour.
Source: From a talk given by Bishop Neophytos of Morphou, Cyprus.
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St. Iakovos carrying Christ on His Cross (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Elder Sophrony on the Light of Christ's Transfiguration

The Holy Transfiguration of Christ (source)

  
"Behold, the bright cloud covered them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said: This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him." (Matthew 16:5, Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35)

Today, on the occasion of the great festival of our Church, a festival which corresponds with the depth of our approach, as we come close to the end of our earthly life, and is not only not diminished, but ceaselessly increases in power and grandeur within us, forgetting, in some manner, our weakness, we are so bold to speak about the inapproachable and never-setting Light that shown on Mount Tabor.

I entreat you, look away at this hour from my nothingness--close your eyes to my unlettered and ungainly word, and instead, if it were possible, perceive me as one of the protectors of Mount Ephraim, that cried out: "Rise up, and let us ascend to Sion towards our Lord God."

And besides all of these, we are poor in spirit. Within the bounds of the earth there is insatiable hunger and unquenchable thirst for the knowledge of God, for our struggle is to reach the Unapproachable, to behold the Invisible, to come to know Him Who is found beyond any knowledge.

This momentum increases ceaselessly in every man, when the Light of the Godhead is pleased to shine upon him, albeit somewhat dimly in His approach, for therefore to our noetic eyes is revealed in what abyss we remain. This vision astonishes the whole person, and then the soul does not know rest and cannot find it, until it is freed fully from the darkness in which it is held, until it is filled with the Insatiable Food, until that Light increases in the soul and is united together with it, until Light and soul become one, proclaiming beforehand of our vision of Divine glory.

The Transfiguration of the Lord serves as the firm foundation of our hope for the transformation of our whole life--which now is full of struggle, afflictions, fear--into a life that is incorrupt and God-like. In these, this ascent to the high Mountain of the Transfiguration is linked with great struggle."
  
(from a Sermon on the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Taborean Light, by Elder Sophrony Sakarov, (source))

 

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Christ's Holy Light that Recreates, Gives Light and Sanctifies

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The Holy Light from the Sepulcher of Christ, Jerusalem (source)

  
The greatest miracle* in the world is the Holy Light in Jerusalem, which springs forth every year from the All-holy Tomb [of Christ] on Great Saturday (between noon and 2pm).

It descends from heaven and everyone sees it, Orthodox and non-Orthodox. It is the Uncreated Light, which for a few minutes (4-10) does not burn! No one on earth can make fire that does not burn.

The Holy Light does not burn, it does not corrupt because it is in essence a spiritual Light, which recreates, gives light and sanctifies! Many take the Holy Light with candles and lamps, and whatever sick part of their body is crossed is healed!

After a few minutes, the Holy Light transforms from something Uncreated to something created and it begins to burn. And if this did not occur, the candles and lamps would never burn out and evil people would play "games" with the Holy Light and we would have blasphemies and perversions.

At some point, however, the Holy Light will cease to come. It will be the time of the antichrist. The Holy Light is the resounding confirmation that Orthodoxy is the only Truth, the only true religion...
-Elder Ephraim of St. Andrew Skete.
  
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*Elder Ephraim of course is not minimizing the astounding miracles that occur on a daily basis, such as the transformation into the Body and Blood of Christ in every Divine Liturgy. He is referring to extraordinary, overt and external miracles.
  

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!
Truly, the Lord is risen!