Homily on Sts. Sophia and her Daughters, by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes

St. Sophia and her daughters: Sts. Faith, Hope and Love (source)

  
Homily on Sts. Sophia and her Daughters, by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes
After the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, our Church celebrates, my beloved, the memory of Saints Sophia and her three daughters: Faith, Hope and Love.

St. Sophia was born, according to the Synaxarion, in a great city of Italy. She lived during the era of early persecutions, which, as is known, lasted for at least three centuries.

During that era, for one to be a Christian, it was costly. It cost one positions, honors, money, and even this life. Millions were sacrificed then for the love of Christ. With this heroic spirit, St. Sophia lived as well, and thus raised her daughters.

It is not possible to not rouse the evil of persecutors. They seized her, therefore, together with her daughters, and led them before the governor. He gave them the opportunity of three days in order to make a response, and possibly change their minds. But, after three days, the mother and her daughters remained unshakable in their dedication towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

The mother had fear that her daughters might deny Christ, because they were very young. The first, Faith, was twelve years old. Hope was ten. and Love was nine. Despite this, their weak flesh was strengthened by the grace of God, and they endured martyrdom with unprecedented boldness.

They locked them in prison. They beat them with whips. They pierced them with fiery arrows. They threw them in cauldrons of boiling water. However, like the Three Youths in the Furnace, thus, these three girls hymned God, as those around heard the hymn harmoniously: "Praise ye the Lord, and exalt Him beyond measure unto all the ages."

In the end, the three were beheaded by the sword of the tyrant. Their martyrdom was followed by that of their holy mother.

St. Sophia and her three daughters teach us, my beloved, that, if we wish to be faithful Christians, that Christianity will cost us. And the more faithful we are, the more it will cost us.

Many of us have become successful in this world. We find a myriad of ways to justify our seemingly proper and scandalous station. And later with think that we are Christians. Woe to us, if we do not set as a foundation the heroic mindset which defined the holy martyrs. These three little girls should censure the world. And their mother, St. Sophia, censures those mothers who are upset and tremble, thinking that through their fasting, prayer and reading, that the bodily strength of their little girls will be lessened.

The Martyrs are the greatest censure of our lukewarm, miserable and thrice-wretched Christianity.

However, St. Sophia and her three daughters teach us not only through their martyrdoms, but also through their names.

The name "Sophia", what does this teach us? "Wisdom", we hear in Church when the Priest holds the Gospel and raises it, showing it to the whole multitude of the faithful. The Gospel, in other words, is full of wisdom. There is no wiser book. Wisdom is Christ Himself, the Logos of God. Do you remember the wondrous apostolic reading which we read three days ago, on the feast of the Cross? He said: "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (I Corinthians 1) Christ is wisdom, truth and life.

St. Sophia, therefore, through her name, brings to mind that we must seek from God the illumination of divine wisdom. The names of her three daughters bring to mind the three great theological virtues.

Faith! Awesome power, light, a star, foundation and root. Oh, if there were within our hearts this virtue! We could even bring down the stars from the heavens to the earth, and we could melt the mountains, and even the greatest hindrances would be solved. Do we have faith? If we had faith, 100% faith, the world would be different. But today, people don't even believe 1%. Take almost any Christian and ask him, and you would see that he is full of doubts, totally full of "ifs." If one has an "if", then you don't have faith. Faith is to believe 100% in reality that which our holy Church teaches us.

Hope also brings to mind that, in this world, we have a need for life-giving hope, which would warm us like the sun. The Christian who believes that God is a loving and nurturing Father, an almighty Father and all-wise, he would hope that all those things that God promised, all kinds of great and uplifted and indescribable good things, He will give to him.

And finally, Love, with her name reminds us of the fulfillment and the crown of the virtues. In this world of hatred, egotism, greed, and other evils, love today has grown cold. It is truly a terrible thing, as the sacred Chrysostom says, for us to see the sun be quenched one day. But it is even more terrible for love to be quenched. It is better for the sun to be quenched than for love to be quenched, because it is the sun for our souls. And Christ Himself prophesied, that there will come a cursed day, in which the sun of love will be quenched, and cold and frost will reign upon the earth. (Matthew 24:12)

We are speaking about love, but we don't possess love. Love is a heavenly thing, which is ineffably joined with humility, with obedience, with discipline, the great virtues. It is not something indiscriminate, like ecumenists reach, like worldly people teach. Love differs from love. There is carnal love, love of money, love of small and meaningless things. And there is furthermore love for one's father and mother, which, in the final analysis, also contains something physical. The love which Christ brings to the world, however, has the wings of an eagle, and flies to the third Heaven, and makes man a Cherubim and Seraphim.

Love, therefore, not only for relatives and friends, not just towards Christians, but love for the whole world. Love, even for those who crucify you! For we have Christ as our prototype, Who is love crucified. This love we must have as well.

My beloved, if one were to ask now which of these three virtues are the greatest, the greatest is the third, love. Its beauty is indescribable. The Apostle Paul paints all of this in his beautiful sayings on love, which we have properly heard in vain to this point. "If," he says, "I spoke in the tongues of men and Angels," even if I have done miracles, even if I distribute my earthly goods, even if I go to martyrdom and shed my blood, "and I have not love, then I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." "I am nothing." (I Corinthians 13:1-2)

These, my beloved, I have to tell you. Believe, in this age of faithlessness. Hope, in this age of hopelessness. Love, in this age of hatred. And first and foremost, keep love, which, as the Apostle Paul says, remains eternally. (ibid 13:7)

For what is Paradise? Is it rivers, crystalline springs? Is it the songs of the Angels, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, is it the Saints, the Martyrs, is it that whole and beautiful world, and indescribable good things? It is these things. But first and foremost, it is love, the love of God towards man. If I took out love from Paradise, immediately Paradise would become Hell.

That Paradise we ourselves should seek, if we sense the dawn of love, if we believe unshakably in the Lord, and if we have steadfast hope in the promises of God unto the ages.

Then, in the heights of Heaven, together with St. Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Love, we will hymn the Triune God, saying: "Praise ye the Lord, and exalt Him beyond measure unto all the ages."
(+) Bishop Avgoustinos

Recorded from a homily that occurred in the Chapel of St. Sophia of the Orphanage of the "Agape" Brotherhood of Florina on 9/17/1970, (source)

  

Sts. Sophia, Faith, Hope and Love (source)

  

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

"You pour forth the water of wisdom and of life upon the world, O Savior..."

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The Feast of Mid-Pentecost (source)

  

Standing in the middle of the temple, at the godly middle of the feast, He cried out: "Let him who is thirsty, come to me and drink, for he who drinks from this divine water, from his belly will pour forth rivers of my teachings, and he who believes in Him Who sent me, the divine Begetter [Father], will be glorified together with me." Therefore, we cry out to you: Glory to You, O Christ God, Who richly pours forth the steams of Your philanthropy upon Your servants.
  
You pour forth the water of wisdom and of life upon the world, O Savior, calling all to drink of the waters of salvation, for Your divine law, received by men, quenches the burning coals of delusion. Therefore, he will not thirst unto the ages, but will be satiated with You, O Master and heavenly King. Therefore, we glorify Your might, O Christ God, and we entreat that the remission of offenses might be sent down richly upon Your servants.
-Kathismata from Matins of the Feast of Mid-Pentecost

(source)
  

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!

Photios Kontoglou on the Resurrection of Christ

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Fresco of the Resurrection of Christ by Kontoglou, from the Church of Panagia Kapnikarea, Athens (source)

Photios Kontoglou: "Let us purify our senses..."
Orthodox Christians, today, the God-inspired tongue of the melodist, St. John of Damascus, says: "Let us purify our senses and we will see the unapproachable light of the Resurrection, and we will behold Christ shining forth, and we will hear Him say "Rejoice", as we sing the hymn of victory". (Canon of Pascha) Therefore, he cries to us to purify our senses, so that we might behold Christ Who is risen from the grave. We should purify our senses, because they are unclean, soiled, because we use them for fleshly and material ends.

And how are the senses cleansed? If our heart and mind are cleansed with spiritual nourishment, and with the grace of the Holy Spirit, then our senses will also be cleansed, and will changed from fleshly to spiritual. The melodist says this because he was taught this by our Lord and Savior Himself, when He said during the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And if we cleanse our senses, he says that we will see Christ "shining forth", with lightning, not dull, but most pure and shining with the uncreated Light of the Resurrection, "the unapproachable light of the Resurrection." And not only will be see Him "clearly", but we will hear Him also say (for this is why all of our senses must be pure), and His voice will not come from afar, that we might be unsure if we actually heard Him, but we will hear "clearly", with power.

We do not only soil our senses when we use them for fleshly deeds and activities, in other words, to use them for pleasures of the body, but when we use them for some deeds which even the world calls "spiritual", while they are in reality fleshly, and in some ways are even more evil than those that appear fleshly.***

These "spiritual" deeds are the evil thoughts which our nous has, seeking divine things, but are impious ones, and with these our pride is spread and our brazenness before God, because we give food to our vanity, so we appear to know more than others, while the wise Solomon said: "The beginning of wisdom (in other words, wisdom according to God) is the fear of the Lord". With these rummaging and with these philosophies, the Christian truly pollutes his senses, blunts them, and instead of making them spiritual, makes them organs of coarseness, because with them we have been studying coarse, physical things, and not spiritual things. Because, as I had said before, all of these activities appear spiritual, but in reality they are fleshly, according to the Apostle Paul, who says that we have made "the nous to be flesh", as he writes to the Colossians: "Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind." (Colossians 2:18) And in the Epistle to the Ephesians he writes: "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." (Ephesians 4:18) Why, therefore, does he say "you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds" (Ephesians 4:17)? Is he not speaking of those vain rummages which the philosophers do, even if done by those who appear more spiritual? Because that which they are speaking of is of the flesh (for "from the flesh come the things of the flesh"), in other words, we make spiritual things fleshly. Whoever seeks and studies with this fleshly spirit, first will loose the virginal simplicity of the mind, with which he was first blessed (this is the first blessedness), which our sweetest Christ has bestowed on them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". Later, he who uses his mind to excavate divine things troubles God, Who is hidden beneath undiscerning minds and covered by a dark cloud, and this is revealed by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, as he said: ""I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me." (Isaiah 65:1) St. Cyril of Alexandra says: "Faith is not something that is obtained, for it is a way of hope that beholds where there is no hope, and faith that searches for that which is lacking and cannot be found, faith is not according to the same reason as hope." And St. Basil the Great says: "The simple faith is more mighty than rational words of proof."

And many Christians pollute themselves even today, and even more so follow this form of rummage and searching  "distanced from the life of God", as St. Paul said of the Gentiles, and we stir up the faith, which these unfortunate people do not even recognize, and they "water it down" with various sciences and philosophies, with "commonly-held beliefs", while their vain thought becomes something "vain and false", abolished by arrogance and deafness to the holy Tradition of Orthodoxy, until Christianity becomes a systematic way of life, without revelation of Immortality, in other words, without Christ. And they wish to teach the simple and innocent sheep of Christ, Who blessed them with the Beatitudes, especially with the first and the eighth.

Therefore, how can people like this celebrate Christ Risen from the dead? How strange and paradoxical! Do philosophers and scientists believe? But whoever believed in a philosophy? I ask to learn. With Christ, philosophy is finished and buried for whoever believed in Him. Let us listen to St. Paul cry out: "The ancient things have passed away, for behold all things have been made new." What are the ancient things? "The vanity of the nous", the wise and mellifluous weavers of words, in order to falsely appear humble, while their pride is reavealed by their messages, like the ethical philosophers before Christ, and the current "ethical" Christians today. "Behold, all things have been made new." A voice bearing the hope of the blessed Paul, which again speaks to our heart, saying the "Rejoice" of his and our Risen Lord! "Yes, all things have been made new!" We have become new, because the Resurrection of Christ is something "new and strange", and this "newness" has made all things new, because all former things have been deposed. The old things have been deposed by Him Who "deposed death", because wherever is "The Author of Life" is lacking, there death reigns. He deposed the curse of the flesh and brought the blessing of the Spirit. He deposed knowledge and brought the Faith ("Righteousness is found from the faith").

The old things were Knowledge, searching, and man seeking blindly and not finding anything. The new is the Faith, which opens the spiritual eyes of man and beholds the Sun of Righteousness "Christ shining forth with the unapproachable light of the Resurrection." He is sufficient for all, our mind does not need anymore to seek like the philosophers of the nations, for "The Way" has been found, in other words, as He Himself said cleanly and in few words: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27)

"Any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him", anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal, can come to know the Father. Where are you going, therefore, O Christian, to come to know God and Christ, you who are blind, weak, impure, with your own power, while our Lord Himself said that only the Father can illumine the mind to come to know Christ, and Christ to come to know the Father? And you don't dare lower yourself to pray and to entreat Him to enlighten you, but you become filled with impious seeking, like the ancients beforehand who had not yet heard of Christ, speaking words with authority?  Elsewhere He says: "I am the door, I am the way, I am the teacher, I am the light, I am the physician, the intercessor" (I Timothy 2:2), the shepherd, the Rabbi. He is the "First-born of new creation", Who made "all things new", and also made "new men", "granting life to those in the graves."

Yes, with the Resurrection of Christ, all things have been made new. Because of this, the melodist says with joy and exaltation: "Come let us drink a new drink, not one marvelously brought forth from a barren rock (of philosophy), but the spring of incorruption which springs forth from the grave of Christ, in Whom we are fortified," and "Come, let us partake of the new vine of divine rejoicing on the auspicious day of the Resurrection, let us commune with the Kingdom of Christ, hymning Him as God unto the ages." (Canon of Pascha)

O Christians, my brethren, you who occupy yourselves [solely] with the sciences and with philosophies, hearken to our Lord Who speaks through the mouth of the prophet: "They have left me, Who am the spring of life, and have dug dry pits that have no water." And He says with His own mouth in the Gospel "Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back (in other wards, does not deny worldly knowledge which consumed men before I came into the world) is not fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62) And He said another time: "you do not put new wine into old wine skins".

Let us therefore purify our minds from the filth of all forms of [vain] knowledge, because otherwise, we will not be able to behold Christ "shining forth with the unapproachable light of the Resurrection", and neither will we hear Him clearly say to us "Rejoice". Eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him cannot be given with knowledge that is "empty vanity", but only with the blessed Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who is glorified unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.
Photis Kontoglou
(Kivotos Menaion, March 1st, 1952)
(source)
   
***Note: Kontoglou is referring to what many others have described as well, how we can even use external spiritual things for our pride and “spiritual gluttony”. For example, see this article by Abbot Tryphon: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2019/11/authentic-orthodoxy/.
  

Icon of Jesus Christ "The Savior of Souls", by Photios Kontoglou (source)

   

Photios Kontoglou: Faith and the Resurrection
The faith of the Christian is tested with the Resurrection of Christ, like gold in the furnace. From the whole Gospel, the Resurrection of Christ is the most unbelievable fact, totally unexpected by our logic, and a true witness to its truth. But because it is something totally unbelievable, our faith must be complete in order to believe it. We men continually say that we have faith, but we only hold what is believed from our mind. Therefore, there is no need for faith, because reason is sufficient. Faith requires unbelievable things.

Many men are faithless. The very Disciples of Christ did not put faith in the words off their Teacher, when He said that He would arise, despite all of the honor and dedication that they had towards Him, and their trust in His words. And when the Myrrhbears went at sunrise to the Tomb of Christ, and saw two Angels who spoke to them, saying that He had risen, they hastened to tell this joyous news to the Disciples, but they did not believe their words, having the notion that they were fantasies: "And their words appeared to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them."

Do you see all of the faithlessness that Christ Himself struggled against? Even with His own Disciples. Do you see with how much forbearance He endured it all? And despite this, today most of us are separated from Christ by a frozen wall, the wall of faithlessness. He opens His embrace and calls us, and we deny Him. He shows us His pierced hands and feet, and we say that we don't believe...

Yes, those who have this blessed simplicity of conscience, were blessed by the Lord, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God." And to Thomas, who needed to touch Him to believe, He said: "Because you have seen me, Thomas, do you believe? Blessed are those who have not seen and believe."

Let us entreat the Lord to grant us this rich poverty, and this pure heart, that we might be resurrected, and stand together with Him.

This "ignorance" is greater than knowledge: "This is the ignorance that is higher than knowledge." Blessed and thrice-blessed are those who have this. Christ is risen!

(source)

  

The Myrrhbearers at the Tomb of Christ, by Kontoglou (source)

  

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!

"She is a tree of life to all that lay hold upon her..."

Christ Crucified and His Precious Cross as the Tree of Life, mosaic from San Clemente in Rome (1118) (source)

  

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loves, he rebukes, and scourges every son whom he receives. Blessed is He who Finds Wisdom Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and the mortal who knows prudence. For it is better to traffic for her, than for treasures of gold and silver. And she is more valuable than precious stones: no evil thing shall resist her: she is well known to all that approach her, and no precious thing is equal to her in value. For length of existence and years of life are in her right hand; and in her left hand are wealth and glory: out of her mouth proceeds righteousness, and she carries law and mercy upon her tongue. Her ways are good ways, and all her paths are peaceful. She is a tree of life to all that lay hold upon her; and she is a secure help to all that stay themselves on her, as on the Lord.

-Proverbs 3:11-18, read at the Great Vespers for the Feast of the Precious Cross

 

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

Saint Sophrony of Essex (+ July 11, 1993)

Elder Sophrony of Essex (1886 - July 11th, 1993) (source)

  
Archimandrite Sophrony was born in 1886, to Orthodox parents in Tsarist Russia. From childhood he showed a rare capacity for prayer and as a young boy would ponder questions heavy with centuries of theological debate. A sense of exile in this world spoke of an infinite always embracing our finitude. Prayer entails the idea of eternity with God. In prayer the reality of the living God is yoked with the concrete reality of earthly life. If we know what a man reverences, we know the most important thing about him- what it is that determines his character and behavior. The author of His Life is Mine was early possessed by an urgent longing to penetrate to the heart of divine eternity through contemplation of the visible world. This craving, like a flame in the heart, irradiated his student days at the State School of Fine Arts in Moscow. This was the period when a parallel speculative interest in Buddhism and the whole arena of Indian culture changed the clef of his inner life. Eastern mysticism now seemed to him more profound than Christianity, the concept of a supra-personal Absolute more convincing than that of a Personal God. The Eastern mystic’s notion of Being imparted overwhelming majesty to the transcendental. With the advent of the First World War and the subsequent Revolution in Russia he began to think of existence itself as the cause of all suffering and so strove, through meditation, to divest himself of all visual and mental images.
  

His studio was at the top of a tall house in a quiet part of Moscow. There he would labour for hours on end, straining every nerve to depict his subject dispassionately, to convey its temporal significance, yet at the same time to use it as a spring-board for exploring the infinite. He was tortured by conflicting arguments: if life was generated by the eternal, why did his body need to breathe, eat, sleep, and so on? Why did it react to every variation in the physical atmosphere? In an effort to break out of the narrow framework of existence he took up yoga and applied himself to meditation. But he never lost his keen awareness of the beauty of nature.

  

Saint Sophrony of Essex (source)

  
    Daily life now flowed on the periphery, as it were, of external events. The one thing needful was to discover the purport of our appearance on this planet; to revert to the moment before creation and be merged with our original source. He continued oblivious to social and political affairs- utterly preoccupied by the thought that if man dies without the possibility of returning to the sphere of Absolute Being, then life held no meaning. Occasionally, meditation would bring respite with an illusion of some unending quietude which had been his fountain-head.

The turmoil of the post- Revolutionary period made it increasingly difficult for artists to work in Russia, and in 1921 the author started to search for ways and means of emigrating to Europe- to France, in particular, as the centre of the world for painters. En route he managed to travel through Italy, looking long at the great masterpieces of the Renaissance. After a brief stay in Berlin he finally reached Paris and flung head, heart and soul into painting. His career made a satisfactory start: the Salon d’ Automne accepted his first canvas and the Salon des Tuileries, the elite of the Salon d’ Automne, invited him to exhibit with them. But on another level all was not going as he had expected. Art began to lose its significance as a means to liberation and immortality for the spirit. Even lasting fame would be but a ludicrous caricature of genuine immortality. The finest artifact is worthless when considered against the background of infinity.

Little by little it dawned on him that pure intellection, an activity of the brain only, could not advance one far in the search for reality. Then suddenly he remembered Christ’s injunction to love God ‘with all thy heart, and with all thy mind’. This unexpected insight was as portentous as that earlier moment when the Eastern vision of a supra-personal Being had beguiled him into dismissing the Gospel message as a call to the emotions. Only that earlier moment had struck dark as a thunderclap, while now revelation illuminated like lightning. Intellection without love was not enough. Actual knowledge could only come through community of being, which meant love. And so Christ conquered: His teaching appealed to his mind with different undertones, acquired other dimensions. Prayer to the Personal God was restored to his heart- directed, first and foremost, to Christ.

  

Elder Sophrony (rear), depicted with his spiritual father, St. Silouan the Athonite (source)

  
    He must decide on a new way of living. He enrolled in the then recently opened Paris Orthodox Theological Institute, in the hope of being taught how to pray, and the right attitude towards God; how to overcome one’s passions and attain divine eternity. But formal theology produced no key to the kingdom of heaven. He left Paris and made his way to Mount Athos where men seek union with God through prayer. Setting foot on the Holy Mountain, he kissed the ground and besought God to accept and further him in this new life. Next, he looked for a mentor who would help extricate him from a series of apparently insoluble problems. He threw himself into prayer as fervently as he previously had in France. It was crystal-clear that if he really wanted to know God and be with Him entirely, he must dedicate himself to just that- and still more entirely than he had to painting in the old days. Prayer became both garment and breath to him, unceasing even when he slept. Despair combined with a feeling of resurrection in his soul: despair over the peoples of earth who had forsaken God and were expiring in their ignorance. At times while praying for them he would be driven to wrestle with God as their Creator. This oscillation between the two extremes of hell on the one side and Divine Light on the other made it urgent that someone should spell out the point of what was happening to him. But another four years were to pass before the first encounter with the Staretz Silouan which he quickly recognised as the most precious gift Providence ever made to him. He would not have dared dream of a such a miracle, though he had long hungered and thirsted after a counselor who would hold out a strong hand and explain the laws of spiritual life. For eight years or so he sat at the feet of his Gamaliel, until the Staretz’ death when he begged for the blessing of the Monastery Superior and Council to depart into the ‘desert’. Soon after, the Second World War broke out, rumours of which (no actual news filtered through to the wilderness) intensified his prayer for all humanity. He would spend the night hours prone on the earth floor of his cave, imploring God to intervene in the crazy blood-path. He prayed for those who were being killed, for those who were killing, for all in torment. And he prayed that God would not allow the more evil side to win.

  

Elder Sophrony with various pilgrims to his Monastery, including Elder Joseph of Vatopedi, Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemesou, Elder Zacharias of Essex, and Elder Kirill (source)

  

During the war years the desert felt remarkably more silent and withdrawn than of wont, since the German occupation of Greece bared all traffic on the sea around the Athonite peninsula. But the author’s total seclusion ended when he was urged to become confessor and spiritual father to the brethren of the Monastery of St Paul. Staretz Silouan had predicted that he would one day be a confessor and had extorted him not to shrink from this crucial form of service to people- service which necessitates giving one-self to the supplicant, accepting him into one’s own life, sharing with him one’s deepest feelings. Before long he was called to other monasteries, and monks from the small hermitages of Athos, anchorites and solitaries turned to him. It was a difficult and heavily responsible mission but he reasoned to himself that it was his duty to try and repay the succour which he had received from his fathers in God, who had so lovingly shared with him the knowledge granted to them from on High. He could not keep their teaching to himself. He must give freely of what he had freely received. But to be a spiritual counselor is no easy task: it involves transferring to others attention hitherto destined for oneself, looking with imaginative sympathy into other hearts and minds, contending with my neighbour’s problems instead of my own.

  

Elder Sophrony as a young monk on Mount Athos (source)

  
    After four years spent in a remote spot surrounded by mountain crags and rocks, with little water and almost no vegetation, the author assented to a suggestion from the Monastery of St Paul to move into a grotto one their land. This new cave had many advantages for an anchorite-priest. There were many hermits in the desert and they tended to settle close to one another, though hidden from sight by bounders and cliffs. Here, besides being completely isolated, there was a tiny chapel, some ten feet by seven, hewn out of the rock-face. But winter was a trying time. The first downpour would flood the previously dry cave and then every day for perhaps six months he was obliged to scoop up and throw outside some hundred buckets of water soaking his cough. Only the little chapel stayed dry. There he could pray, and keep his books. Everywhere else was wet. Impossible to light a fire and warm up something to eat. In the end, after the third winter, failing health compelled him to abandon the grotto which had afforded the rare privilege of living detached from the world.

It was now that the idea came to him of writing a book about Staretz Silouan, to record the precepts which had so helped him to find his bearings in the wide expanses of the spirit by instructing him in the ways of spiritual combat. To carry out this project he would have to go back to the West- to France, where he had felt more at home than in any other country in Europe. His first intention was to stay for a year but then he found that he would need more time. Working in difficult conditions, he fell dangerously ill and a serious operation left him an invalid, causing him to lay aside all thought of returning to a desert cave on Mount Athos.

The preliminary edition of his book concerning Staretz Silouan he roneo-typed himself. A printed edition followed in 1952. Thereafter the translations began: first into English (The Undistorted Image), then German, Greek, French, Serbian, with excerpts in still other languages. The reaction of the ascetics of the Holy Mountain was of extreme importance to the author. They confirmed the book as a true reflection of the ancient traditions of Eastern monasticism, and recognised the Staretz as spiritual heir to the great Fathers of Egypt, Palestine, Sinai and other historic schools of asceticism dating back to the beginning of the Christian era.

  

Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  
    Archimandrite Sophrony felt convinced that Christ’s injunction, ‘keep thy mind in hell, and despair not’, was directed through Staretz Silouan to our century especially, drowned as it is in despair. (Are not the ‘perilous times’ come, ‘when men shall be lovers of their own selves…unthankful, unholy…trucebreakers, false accusers…despisers of those that are good…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof…ever learning, and never able to come to knowledge of the truth?). He believed, too, that as Staretz had prayed for decades with such extraordinary love for the human race, entreating God to grant all mankind to know Him in the Holy Spirit, so men would love the Staretz in return. The Russian poet Pushkin claimed that no monument would be necessary to keep alive remembrance of him- his fellow countrymen would no long cherish his memory for he had sung of freedom in a cruel age, of mercy to the fallen. Had not the Staretz in his humility rendered a still nobler service to humanity? He taught us how to drive away despair, explaining what lay at the back of this terrible spiritual state. He revealed to us the Living God and His Love for the sons of Adam. He taught us how to interpret the Gospel in its eternal aspects. And for many he made the word of Christ real, part of everyday life. Above all, he restored to our souls a firm hope of blessed eternity in the Divine Light.    

Throughout the book “His Life is Mine”, Archimandrite Sophrony reflects the teaching of his spiritual father. Not all of it will be intelligible at first perusal- in fact, it is not easy reading on any reckoning. Form must be sacrificed to content when the translator is caught in the uncomfortable limbo between languages; and in a work of this kind the author is so often speaking across a semantic chasm. Few of us have any inkling of the life described in these pages. But close study will make us familiar with the Athonite ascetic’s manner of living, and then we can with profit try to apply some of the lessons learned to our own case. Grace, which is God’s gift of holiness, depends upon man’s attempt at holiness.

  

The Katholikon of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist founded by Elder Sophrony in England. Many of the icons were painted by Elder Sophrony's own hands (source)

  
    In 1959, accompanied by his disciples, he left for England, where he founded the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist. Having been a coenobitic monk and a hermit, he was now ‘a witness to the light’ (cf. John 1:7,8) at the heart of the world. In 1993, 11th July, Elder Sophrony humbly and peacefully rendered his soul to God.

[There are a number of possible reasons as to why Elder Sophrony left Mt Athos. It may have been due to his deteriorating health, or to publish St Silouan's works, or to complete his theological education; it may simply have been due to the problems of being a non-Greek on Mt Athos after the close of World War II. Nonetheless, Elder Sophrony felt compelled to move to Paris, where Balfour helped him gain a passport. The faculty of St Sergius Institute allowed Elder Sophrony to sit the examinations of the whole course and provided for his needs; however, upon his arrival, the faculty insisted that Elder Sophrony deny, by silence, the grace present in the Moscow Patriarchate. Elder Sophrony refused to do so and therefore did not reenter the Institute. Elder Sophrony settled in Russian House, an old-age home, in St Genevieve-des-Bois, where he assisted the local priest and acted as the father confessor. He had a major operation on a stomach ulcer.
  

Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  
The next year, Elder Sophrony produced the first mimeographed edition of Staretz Silouan on hand-roneo. Within this text, Elder Sophrony outlines St Silouan's principles of theology, and he explains many fundamental concepts, among them prayer for the whole world, God-forsakenness and the idea of all humanity being interconnected.

1950 sees Elder Sophrony working with Vladimir Lossky on the Messager de l’Exarchat du Patriarche Russe en Europe Occidentale, which he did until 1957. Lossky influenced Elder Sophrony's thought on many contemporary issues while complementing Elder Sophrony's work on Trinitarian thought and its application to the Church and humanity; however, Lossky would not talk about a deified human nature, nor about the idea of God-forsakenness in a positive view, as Elder Sophrony did.

In 1952, Elder Sophrony produced a second edition, professionally done, of Staretz Silouan, bringing much fame to both St Silouan and Elder Sophrony. Based on Lossky's criticism that he could find no theological value in the saint's works, Elder Sophrony included a theological introduction to St Silouan's writings.

By 1958, Elder Sophrony had a number of people living near him, seeking the monastic life. A property at Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, Essex, England was inspected, and the next year the Community of St John the Baptist was formed at this site, under the omophorion of Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh. The monastery had both monks and nuns, something that has continued to the present, and originally had six members. In 1965, the monastery would move under the omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, adding the title 'Patriarchal' to its name. Later, the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the monastery to 'Stavropegic'.
  

Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  
In 1973, a more complete translation of the life of St Silouan, under the title Monk of Mt Athos, was published, followed by the publication of Wisdom of Mt Athos, the writings of St Silouan. Elder Sophrony seemed to move to his own works after this, publishing His Life is Mine in 1977 and We Shall see Him As He Is in 1985. This last book, a very frank, open spiritual autobiography, was published to mixed reviews: where the West generally enjoyed the book, the Russians generally criticized it. Some of the criticism was so stinging that it, along with increasing illness, discouraged Elder Sophrony from writing again.

In 1987, the Ecumenical Patriarchate glorified St Silouan the Athonite, no doubt assisted by his fame from Elder Sophrony's works.

The monastery had been informed that the only way that it could bury people on its property was to build an underground crypt, which it proceeded to build, and to which Elder Sophrony said that he would not repose until the crypt was ready. Then, having been told of the expected completion date of July 12, Elder Sophrony stated that he "would be ready". On the 11th, Elder Sophrony reposed; and on the 14th was his funeral and burial, attended by monastics from around the world. At the time of Fr Sophrony's repose, there are 25 monastics in the monastery, a number that has remained steady since then.
  

Icons of St. Silouan the Athonite and Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  
Mother Elizabeth, the eldest nun, reposed soon after, on the 24th. This was in accordance with Elder Sophrony's words that he would repose first, and she would repose soon after.
On Prayer, a book containing Elder Sophrony's writings on prayer, particularly the Jesus Prayer, was published posthumously. (source)]

Today, the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist is a place where hundreds of pilgrims from all over the world are welcomed; it is not only one of the main centres from which Orthodoxy is radiated in the West, but also one of the strongest affirmations of the universality of Orthodoxy.

 

The grave of Elder Sophrony in the Monastery of St. John (source)

     
Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (2001) (2nd ed.) His Life is Mine. Introduction. New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (1998) Words of Life- preface. Essex: Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist.

(source)

On November 27th, 2019, Elder Sophrony was officially canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
  

Saints Sophrony of Essex and Silouan the Athonite (source)

Selected Quotes of Elder Sophrony

"No one on this earth can avoid affliction; and although the afflictions which the Lord sends are not great men imagine them beyond their strength and are crushed by them. This is because they will not humble their souls and commit themselves to the will of God. But the Lord Himself guides with His grace those who are given over to God's will, and they bear all things with fortitude for the sake of God Whom they have so loved and with Whom they are glorified for ever. It is impossible to escape tribulation in this world but the man who is giver over to the will of God bears tribulation easily, seeing it but putting his trust in the Lord, and so his tribulations pass."

  

"There are three things I cannot take in: nondogmatic faith, nonecclesiological Christianity and nonascetic Christianity. These three - the church, dogma, and asceticism - constitute one single life for me." - Letter to D. Balfour, August 21, 1945.

  

"If one rejects the Orthodox creed and the eastern ascetic experience of life in Christ, which has been acquired throughout the centuries, then Orthodox culture would be left with nothing but the Greek minor [key] and Russian tetraphony." - Letter to D. Balfour.

  

"There are known instances when Blessed Staretz Silouan in prayer beheld something remote as though it were happening close by; when he saw into someone's future, or when profound secrets of the human soul were revealed to him. There are many people still alive who can bear witness to this in their own case but he himself never aspired to it and never accorded much significance to it. His soul was totally engulfed in compassion for the world. He concentrated himself utterly on prayer for the world, and in his spiritual life prized this love above all else." -- St Silouan the Athonite, p.228.

(source)

Additional Quotes of Elder Sophrony from his book His Life is Mine

Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  

"In Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit God gave us the full and final revelation of Himself.  His Being now for us is the First Reality, incomparably more evident than all the transient phenomena of this world.  We sense His divine presence both within us and without: in the supreme majesty of the universe, in the human face, in the lightning flash of thought.  He opens our eyes that we may behold and delight in the beauty of His creation.  He fill our souls with love towards all mankind.  He indescribably gentle touch pierces our heart.  And in the hours when His imperishable Light illumines our heart we know that we shall not die.  We know this with a knowledge to prove in the ordinary way, but which for us requires no proof, since the Spirit Himself bears witness within us.

"For us, Christians, Jesus Christ is the measure of all things, divine and human.  "In Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead" (Col 2:9) and of mankind.  He is our most perfect ideal.  In Him we find the answer to al our problems, which without Him would be insoluble.  He is n truth the mystical axis of the universe.  If Christ were not the Son of God, then Salvation through the adoption of man by God the Father would be totally incomprehesible.  With Christ man steps forward into divine eternity."

(source)

  

Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  

"We Christians accept the wondrous gift of life with thanksgiving.  Called by Christ, we strive for the fullest possible knowledge of the Primary source of all that exists.  From our birth onwards we gradually grow and enter into possession of being.  Christ is for us "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  With Him our path lies through a great and intricate spiritual culture: we traverse cosmic chasms, more often with much suffering but not seldom win rapture as understanding increases.  For a while the growing process is bound up with our physical body; but the time soon comes when, liberated from terrestrial chains, mind and spirit can continue their progress towards the Heavenly Father.  We know  that He loves us and because of this love reveals Himself to us without limit.  It may still be only partly, but we know that in Him is our immortality; in Him we shall arrive at everlasting Truth.  He will grant us with indescribably joy of sharing in the very Act of the Divine creation of the world.  We hunger for complete unity in Him.  He is Light, Beauty, Wisdom, Love.  He gives the noblest meaning to our life and the bliss of boundless gnosis.

 

"...true contemplation begins the moment we become aware of sin in us... To apprehend sin in oneself is a spiritual act, impossible without grace, without the drawing near to us of Divine Light.The initial effect of the approach of this mysterious Light is that we see where we stand "spiritually" at the particular moment.  The first manifestations of the Uncreated Light do not allow us to experience it as light.  It shines in a secret way,  illuminating the black darkness of our inner world to disclose a spectacle that is far from joyous for us in our normal state of fallen being... We become acutely conscious of sin as a sundering from the ontological source of our being.  Our spirit is eternal but now we see ourselves as  prisoners of death.  With death waiting at the end, another thousand years of life would seem but a deceptive flash.  

 

"Live-giving faith consists in unquestionaling belief in Christ as God.   Only when Christ is accepted as perfect God and perfect Man does the plentitude of spiritual experience described by the apostles and fathers become possible.

 

"Of all approaches to God prayer is the best and in the last analysis the only means."

(source)

  

Elder Sophrony of Essex (source)

  
Elder Sophrony (+1993) of Essex, spiritual child of St Silouan the Athonite, gave this prayer to his own spiritual children, to be said ‘on rising from sleep.’ This version of the prayer is adapted from Hesychia and Theology by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, who writes, ‘If someone reads this prayer in the morning with contrition and attention, the whole day will be blessed.’
  

Prayer at Daybreak
to be said each day on rising from sleep

Eternal King without beginning, You who are before all worlds, my Maker, Who have summoned all things from non-being into this life: bless this day that You, in Your inscrutable goodness, give to me. By the power of Your blessing enable me at all times in this coming day to speak and act for You, to Your glory, in Your fear, according to Your will, with a pure spirit, with humility, patience, love, gentleness, peace, courage, wisdom and prayer, aware everywhere of Your presence.

Yes, Lord, in Your immense mercy, lead me by Your Holy Spirit into every good work and word, and grant me to walk all my life long in Your sight without stumbling, according to Your righteousness that You have revealed to us, that I may not add to my transgressions.

O Lord, great in mercy, spare me who am perishing in wickedness; do not hide Your face from me. And when my perverted will would lead me down other paths, do not forsake me, my Savior, but force me back to Your holy path.

O You Who are good, to Whom all hearts are open, You know my poverty and my foolishness, my blindness and my uselessness, but the sufferings of my soul are also before You. Wherefore I beseech You: hear me in my affliction and fill me with Your strength from above. Raise me up who am paralyzed with sin, and deliver me who am enslaved to the passions. Heal me from every hidden wound. Purify me from all taint of flesh and spirit. Preserve me from every inward and outward impulse that is unpleasing in Your sight and hurtful to my brother.

I beseech You: establish me in the path of Your commandments and to my last breath do not let me stray from the light of Your ordinances, so that Your commandments may become the sole law of my being in this life and in all eternity.

O God, my God, I plead with You for many and great things: do not disregard me. Do not cast me away from Your presence because of my presumption and boldness, but by the power of Your love lead me in the path of Your will. Grant me to love You as You have commanded, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength: with my whole being.

For You alone are the holy protection and all-powerful defender of my life, and to You I ascribe glory and offer my prayer.

Grant me to know Your truth before I depart this life. Maintain my life in this world until I may offer You true repentance. Do not take me away in the midst of my days, and when You are pleased to bring my life to an end, forewarn me of my death, so that I may prepare my soul to come before You.

Be with me then, O Lord, on my great and sacred day, and grant me the joy of Your salvation. Cleanse me from manifest and secret sins, from all iniquity hidden in me; and give me a right answer before Your dread judgment-seat.

Amen.

(source)
  
Here one can find many books written by and about Elder Sophrony.
  

Saint Sophrony of Essex (source)

 
Hymns to Saint Sophrony

Apolytikion in the First Tone. The three great lights.
O pure rose from your Mother Russia, O Father Sophrony, the protector of your British Garden of love and grace, who wisely moves those pure in heart like babes against the darkness, illumining them with fiery stylus of the Spirit, the great theologian and standing first with good deeds, teaching and writing divine and universal translations. As he is a friend of the Lord, let us honor him, as His holy disciple and Saint, that he might protect those who love him as an offering.

Kontakion in the First Tone. Your tomb, O Savior.
As a queen bee, O Father, you gave birth to the rational bees gathered around you into the honeycomb of Light, O Father, and gathered the honey of incorruption and the pure beeswax fashioned by your God, exalting the isle of Britain, O Venerable Sophrony.

Megalynarion.
O universal Father Silouan, come and teach the Truth to the people, together with Sophrony, and intercede on behalf of all and together with all the Saints of Athos.

Taken from a Greek devotional Paraklesis to Elder Sophrony here.

Icon of The Mystical Supper painted by Elder Sophrony in his Monastery in Essex (Source)

  

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

A Vision of the Church from the Shepherd of Hermas

Jesus Christ the Son of God the Savior of the World (source)

  
A Vision of the Church from the Shepherd of Hermas (The Third Vision)
  

Chapter 1

The vision which I saw, my brethren, was of the following nature. Having fasted frequently, and having prayed to the Lord that He would show me the revelation which He promised to show me through that old woman, the same night that old woman appeared to me, and said to me, Since you are so anxious and eager to know all things, go into the part of the country where you tarry; and about the fifth hour I shall appear unto you, and show you all that you ought to see. I asked her, saying Lady, into what part of the country am I to go? And she said, Into any part you wish. Then I chose a spot which was suitable, and retired. Before, however, I began to speak and to mention the place, she said to me, I will come where you wish. Accordingly, I went to the country, and counted the hours, and reached the place where I had promised to meet her. And I see an ivory seat ready placed, and on it a linen cushion, and above the linen cushion was spread a covering of fine linen. Seeing these laid out, and yet no one in the place, I began to feel awe, and as it were a trembling seized hold of me, and my hair stood on end, and as it were a horror came upon me when I saw that I was all alone. But on coming back to myself and calling to mind the glory of God, I took courage, bent my knees, and again confessed my sins to God as I had done before. Whereupon the old woman approached, accompanied by six young men whom I had also seen before; and she stood behind me, and listened to me, as I prayed and confessed my sins to the Lord. And touching me she said, Hermas, cease praying continually for your sins; pray for righteousness, that you may have a portion of it immediately in your house. On this, she took me up by the hand, and brought me to the seat, and said to the young men, Go and build. When the young men had gone and we were alone, she said to me, Sit here. I say to her, Lady, permit my elders to be seated first. Do what I bid you, said she; sit down. When I would have sat down on her right, she did not permit me, but with her hand beckoned to me to sit down on the left. While I was thinking about this, and feeling vexed that she did not let me sit on the right, she said, Are you vexed, Hermas? The place to the right is for others who have already pleased God, and have suffered for His name's sake; and you have yet much to accomplish before you can sit with them. But abide as you now do in your simplicity, and you will sit with them, and with all who do their deeds and bear what they have borne.

Chapter 2

What have they borne? said I. Listen, said she: scourges, prisons, great tribulations, crosses, wild beasts, for God's name's sake. On this account is assigned to them the division of sanctification on the right hand, and to every one who shall suffer for God's name: to the rest is assigned the division on the left. But both for those who sit on the right, and those who sit on the left, there are the same gifts and promises; only those sit on the right, and have some glory. You then are eager to sit on the right with them, but your shortcomings are many. But you will be cleansed from your shortcomings; and all who are not given to doubts shall be cleansed from all their iniquities up till this day. Saying this, she wished to go away. But falling down at her feet, I begged her by the Lord that she would show me the vision which she had promised to show me. And then she again took hold of me by the hand, and raised me, and made me sit on the seat to the left; and lifting up a splendid rod, she said to me, Do you see something great? And I say, Lady, I see nothing. She said to me, Lo! Do you not see opposite to you a great tower, built upon the waters, of splendid square stones? For the tower was built square by those six young men who had come with her. But myriads of men were carrying stones to it, some dragging them from the depths, others removing them from the land, and they handed them to these six young men. They were taking them and building; and those of the stones that were dragged out of the depths, they placed in the building just as they were: for they were polished and fitted exactly into the other stones, and became so united one with another that the lines of juncture could not be perceived. And in this way the building of the tower looked as if it were made out of one stone. Those stones, however, which were taken from the earth suffered a different fate; for the young men rejected some of them, some they fitted into the building, and some they cut down, and cast far away from the tower. Many other stones, however, lay around the tower, and the young men did not use them in building; for some of them were rough, others had cracks in them, others had been made too short, and others were white and round, but did not fit into the building of the tower. Moreover, I saw other stones thrown far away from the tower, and falling into the public road; yet they did not remain on the road, but were rolled into a pathless place. And I saw others falling into the fire and burning, others falling close to the water, and yet not capable of being rolled into the water, though they wished to be rolled down, and to enter the water.

Chapter 3

On showing me these visions, she wished to retire. I said to her, What is the use of my having seen all this, while I do not know what it means? She said to me, You are a cunning fellow, wishing to know everything that relates to the tower. Even so, O Lady, said I, that I may tell it to my brethren, that, hearing this, they may know the Lord in much glory. And she said, Many indeed shall hear, and hearing, some shall be glad, and some shall weep. But even these, if they hear and repent, shall also rejoice. Hear, then, the parables of the tower; for I will reveal all to you, and give me no more trouble in regard to revelation: for these revelations have an end, for they have been completed. But you will not cease praying for revelations, for you are shameless. The tower which you see building is myself, the Church, who have appeared to you now and on the former occasion. Ask, then, whatever you like in regard to the tower, and I will reveal it to you, that you may rejoice with the saints. I said to her, Lady, since you have vouchsafed to reveal all to me this once, reveal it. She said to me, Whatsoever ought to be revealed, will be revealed; only let your heart be with God, and doubt not whatsoever you shall see. I asked her, Why was the tower built upon the waters, O Lady? She answered, I told you before, and you still inquire carefully: therefore inquiring you shall find the truth. Hear then why the tower is built upon the waters. It is because your life has been, and will be, saved through water. For the tower was founder on the word of the almighty and glorious Name and it is kept together by the invisible power of the Lord.

Icon depicting the prophecy of Christ from the Proverbs: "Wisdom hath built her house..." (source)

Chapter 4

In reply I said to her, This is magnificent and marvellous. But who are the six young men who are engaged in building? And she said, These are the holy angels of God, who were first created, and to whom the Lord handed over His whole creation, that they might increase and build up and rule over the whole creation. By these will the building of the tower be finished. But who are the other persons who are engaged in carrying the stones? These also are holy angels of the Lord, but the former six are more excellent than these. The building of the tower will be finished, and all will rejoice together around the tower, and they will glorify God, because the tower is finished. I asked her, saying, Lady, I should like to know what became of the stones, and what was meant by the various kinds of stones? In reply she said to me, Not because you are more deserving than all others that this revelation should be made to you — for there are others before you, and better than you, to whom these visions should have been revealed — but that the name of God may be glorified, has the revelation been made to you, and it will be made on account of the doubtful who ponder in their hearts whether these things will be or not. Tell them that all these things are true, and that none of them is beyond the truth. All of them are firm and sure, and established on a strong foundation.

Chapter 5

Hear now with regard to the stones which are in the building. Those square white stones which fitted exactly into each other, are apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons, who have lived in godly purity, and have acted as bishops and teachers and deacons chastely and reverently to the elect of God. Some of them have fallen asleep, and some still remain alive. And they have always agreed with each other, and been at peace among themselves, and listened to each other. On account of this, they join exactly into the building of the tower. But who are the stones that were dragged from the depths, and which were laid into the building and fitted in with the rest of the stones previously placed in the tower? They are those who suffered for the Lord's sake. But I wish to know, O Lady, who are the other stones which were carried from the land. Those, she said, which go into the building without being polished, are those whom God has approved of, for they walked in the straight ways of the Lord and practiced His commandments. But who are those who are in the act of being brought and placed in the building? They are those who are young in faith and are faithful. But they are admonished by the angels to do good, for no iniquity has been found in them. Who then are those whom they rejected and cast away? These are they who have sinned, and wish to repent. On this account they have not been thrown far from the tower, because they will yet be useful in the building, if they repent. Those then who are to repent, if they do repent, will be strong in faith, if they now repent while the tower is building. For if the building be finished, there will not be more room for any one, but he will be rejected. This privilege, however, will belong only to him who has now been placed near the tower.

Chapter 6

As to those who were cut down and thrown far away from the tower, do you wish to know who they are? They are the sons of iniquity, and they believed in hypocrisy, and wickedness did not depart from them. For this reason they are not saved, since they cannot be used in the building on account of their iniquities. Wherefore they have been cut off and cast far away on account of the anger of the Lord, for they have roused Him to anger. But I shall explain to you the other stones which you saw lying in great numbers, and not going into the building. Those which are rough are those who have known the truth and not remained in it, nor have they been joined to the saints. On this account are they unfit for use. Who are those that have rents? These are they who are at discord in their hearts one with another, and are not at peace among themselves: they indeed keep peace before each other, but when they separate one from the other, their wicked thoughts remain in their hearts. These, then, are the rents which are in the stones. But those which are shortened are those who have indeed believed, and have the larger share of righteousness; yet they have also a considerable share of iniquity, and therefore they are shortened and not whole. But who are these, Lady, that are white and round, and yet do not fit into the building of the tower? She answered and said, How long will you be foolish and stupid, and continue to put every kind of question and understand nothing? These are those who have faith indeed, but they have also the riches of this world. When, therefore, tribulation comes, on account of their riches and business they deny the Lord. I answered and said to her, When, then, will they be useful for the building, Lady? When the riches that now seduce them have been circumscribed, then will they be of use to God. For as a round stone cannot become square unless portions be cut off and cast away, so also those who are rich in this world cannot be useful to the Lord unless their riches be cut down. Learn this first from your own case. When you were rich, you were useless; but now you are useful and fit for life. Be useful to God; for you also will be used as one of these stones.

The Exaltation of the Precious Cross in the Church of Christ (source)

Chapter 7

Now the other stones which you saw cast far away from the tower, and falling upon the public road and rolling from it into pathless places, are those who have indeed believed, but through doubt have abandoned the true road. Thinking, then, that they could find a better, they wander and become wretched, and enter upon pathless places. But those which fell into the fire and were burned are those who have departed for ever from the living God; nor does the thought of repentance ever come into their hearts, on account of their devotion to their lusts and to the crimes which they committed. Do you wish to know who are the others which fell near the waters, but could not be rolled into them? These are they who have heard the word, and wish to be baptized in the name of the Lord; but when the chastity demanded by the truth comes into their recollection, they draw back, and again walk after their own wicked desires. She finished her exposition of the tower. But I, shameless as I yet was, asked her, Is repentance possible for all those stones which have been cast away and did not fit into the building of the tower, and will they yet have a place in this tower? Repentance, said she, is yet possible, but in this tower they cannot find a suitable place. But in another and much inferior place they will be laid, and that, too, only when they have been tortured and completed the days of their sins. And on this account will they be transferred, because they have partaken of the righteous Word. And then only will they be removed from their punishments when the thought of repenting of the evil deeds which they have done has come into their hearts. But if it does not come into their hearts, they will not be saved, on account of the hardness of their heart.

Chapter 8

When then I ceased asking in regard to all these matters, she said to me, Do you wish to see anything else? And as I was extremely eager to see something more, my countenance beamed with joy. She looked towards me with a smile, and said, Do you see seven women around the tower? I do, Lady, said I. This tower, said she, is supported by them according to the precept of the Lord. Listen now to their functions. The first of them, who is clasping her hands, is called Faith. Through her the elect of God are saved. Another, who has her garments tucked up and acts with vigour, is called Self-restraint. She is the daughter of Faith. Whoever then follows her will become happy in his life, because he will restrain himself from all evil works, believing that, if he restrain himself from all evil desire, he will inherit eternal life. But the others, said I, O Lady, who are they? And she said to me, They are daughters of each other. One of them is called Simplicity, another Guilelessness, another Chastity, another Intelligence, another Love. When then you do all the works of their mother, you will be able to live. I should like to know, said I, O Lady, what power each one of them possesses. Hear, she said, what power they have. Their powers are regulated by each other, and follow each other in the order of their birth. For from Faith arises Self-restraint; from Self-restraint, Simplicity; from Simplicity, Guilelessness; from Guilelessness, Chastity; from Chastity, Intelligence; and from Intelligence, Love. The deeds, then, of these are pure, and chaste, and divine. Whoever devotes himself to these, and is able to hold fast by their works, shall have his dwelling in the tower with the saints of God. Then I asked her in regard to the ages, if now there is the conclusion. She cried out with a loud voice, Foolish man! Do you not see the tower yet building? When the tower is finished and built, then comes the end; and I assure you it will be soon finished. Ask me no more questions. Let you and all the saints be content with what I have called to your remembrance, and with my renewal of your spirits. But observe that it is not for your own sake only that these revelations have been made to you, but they have been given you that you may show them to all. For after three days — this you will take care to remember — I Command you to speak all the words which I am to say to you into the ears of the saints, that hearing them and doing them, they may be cleansed from their iniquities, and you along with them.

Chapter 9

Give ear unto me, O Sons: I have brought you up in much simplicity, and guilelessness, and chastity, on account of the mercy of the Lord, who has dropped His righteousness down upon you, that you may be justified and sanctified from all your iniquity and depravity; but you do not wish to rest from your iniquity. Now, therefore, listen to me, and be at peace one with another, and visit each other, and bear each other's burdens, and do not partake of God's creatures alone, but give abundantly of them to the needy. For some through the abundance of their food produce weakness in their flesh, and thus corrupt their flesh; while the flesh of others who have no food is corrupted, because they have not sufficient nourishment. And on this account their bodies waste away. This intemperance in eating is thus injurious to you who have abundance and do not distribute among those who are needy. Give heed to the judgment that is to come. You, therefore, who are high in position, seek out the hungry as long as the tower is not yet finished; for after the tower is finished, you will wish to do good, but will find no opportunity. Give heed, therefore, you who glory in your wealth, lest those who are needy should groan, and their groans should ascend to the Lord, and you be shut out with all your goods beyond the gate of the tower. Wherefore I now say to you who preside over the Church and love the first seats, Be not like drug-mixers. For the drug-mixers carry their drugs in boxes, but you carry your drug and poison in your heart. You are hardened, and do not wish to cleanse your hearts, and to add unity of aim to purity of heart, that you may have mercy from the great King. Take heed, therefore, children, that these dissensions of yours do not deprive you of your life. How will you instruct the elect of the Lord, if you yourselves have not instruction? Instruct each other therefore, and be at peace among yourselves, that I also, standing joyful before your Father, may give an account of you all to your Lord.

Jesus Christ, the Angel of Great Counsel, the Holy Wisdom of God and filled with blessed silence (source)

Chapter 10

On her ceasing to speak to me, those six young men who were engaged in building came and conveyed her to the tower, and other four lifted up the seat and carried it also to the tower. The faces of these last I did not see, for they were turned away from me. And as she was going, I asked her to reveal to me the meaning of the three forms in which she appeared to me. In reply she said to me: With regard to them, you must ask another to reveal their meaning to you. For she had appeared to me, brethren, in the first vision the previous year under the form of an exceedingly old woman, sitting in a chair. In the second vision her face was youthful, but her skin and hair betokened age, and she stood while she spoke to me. She was also more joyful than on the first occasion. But in the third vision she was entirely youthful and exquisitely beautiful, except only that she had the hair of an old woman; but her face beamed with joy, and she sat on a seat. Now I was exceeding sad in regard to these appearances, for I longed much to know what the visions meant. Then I see the old woman in a vision of the night saying unto me: Every prayer should be accompanied with humility: fast, therefore, and you will obtain from the Lord what you beg. I fasted therefore for one day.
That very night there appeared to me a young man, who said, Why do you frequently ask for revelations in prayer? Take heed lest by asking many things you injure your flesh: be content with these revelations. Will you be able to see greater revelations than those which you have seen? I answered and said to him, Sir, one thing only I ask, that in regard to these three forms the revelation may be rendered complete. He answered me, How long are you senseless? But your doubts make you senseless, because you have not your hearts turned towards the Lord. But I answered and said to him, From you, sir, we shall learn these things more accurately.

Chapter 11

Hear then, said he, with regard to the three forms, concerning which you are inquiring. Why in the first vision did she appear to you as an old woman seated on a chair? Because your spirit is now old and withered up, and has lost its power in consequence of your infirmities and doubts. For, like elderly men who have no hope of renewing their strength, and expect nothing but their last sleep, so you, weakened by worldly occupations, have given yourselves up to sloth, and have not cast your cares upon the Lord. Your spirit therefore is broken, and you have grown old in your sorrows. I should like then to know, sir, why she sat on a chair? He answered, Because every weak person sits on a chair on account of his weakness, that his weakness may be sustained. Lo! You have the form of the first vision.

Chapter 12

Now in the second vision you saw her standing with a youthful countenance, and more joyful than before; still she had the skin and hair of an aged woman. Hear, said he, this parable also. When one becomes somewhat old, he despairs of himself on account of his weakness and poverty, and looks forward to nothing but the last day of his life. Then suddenly an inheritance is left him: and hearing of this, he rises up, and becoming exceeding joyful, he puts on strength. And now he no longer reclines, but stands up; and his spirit, already destroyed by his previous actions, is renewed, and he no longer sits, but acts with vigour. So happened it with you on hearing the revelation which God gave you. For the Lord had compassion on you, and renewed your spirit, and you laid aside your infirmities. Vigour arose within you, and you grew strong in faith; and the Lord, seeing your strength, rejoiced. On this account He showed you the building of the tower; and He will show you other things, if you continue at peace with each other with all your heart.

Chapter 13

Now, in the third vision, you saw her still younger, and she was noble and joyful, and her shape was beautiful. For, just as when some good news comes suddenly to one who is sad, immediately he forgets his former sorrows, and looks for nothing else than the good news which he has heard, and for the future is made strong for good, and his spirit is renewed on account of the joy which he has received; so you also have received the renewal of your spirits by seeing these good things. As to your seeing her sitting on a seat, that means that her position is one of strength, for a seat has four feet and stands firmly. For the world also is kept together by means of four elements. Those, therefore, who repent completely and with the whole heart, will become young and firmly established. You now have the revelation completely given you. Make no further demands for revelations. If anything ought to be revealed, it will be revealed to you.
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In Thee O Full of Grace All Creation Rejoiceth (source)

  

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

Truly the Lord is risen!