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!

St. Silouan: "Many rich and powerful men would pay dearly to see the Lord..."

The Most-holy Theotokos holding Christ the Lord (source)

  
"Many rich and powerful men would pay dearly to see the Lord or His Most Pure Mother, but God does not appear in riches, but in the humble heart... Every one of the poorest men can be humbled and come to know God. It need neither money nor reputation to come to know God, but only humility."
-St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, I.11,21
  
(source)
  

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

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom on the New Year

Icon of Christ: "I am the light of the world..." (source)

  
"At the beginning of the war, King George I said words that we could say at the start of every new year. In his message to the Nation, he read a quote:
'I told the man standing in the doorway to the new year: give me a light to go out with safety into the unknown, and he responded: 'Go out into the light, and place your hand in the hand of God, for it would be better for you than any other light, and more safe than a well-known road.'
"This I call on us to do, and today, let us make a decision to be faithful to our calling, and to begin the New Year with courage. Amen."
-Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Souroz

(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!

Elder Ephraim of Katounakia: "Those who love more can understand the Lord’s sufferings more deeply."

The Crucifixion of Christ (source)

  
Like Christ’s love, His sufferings were so great that we can’t understand them, since we love the Lord so little. But those who love more can understand the Lord’s sufferings more deeply. There’s little love, average love and perfect love. The more perfect the love, the more perfect the knowledge.
-Elder Ephraim of Katounakia
  
(source)
  

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

Elder Symeon Kragiopoulos: "But, what is God’s will?"

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

  
Every now and then, some people ask:
“But, what is God’s will? I don’t know the will of God.”
  
What don’t you know? You don’t know, for example, that you should be praying a bit more than you are now? Does somebody really need to tell you this? You don’t know that the little prayer you do should be done with your whole heart? You don’t know that you shouldn’t talk back to someone, shouldn’t talk to him in a way that makes him distressed? You don’t know that you should help him? You don’t know that you should forgive him? That you should tolerate him? Should love him? And should pray for him? You don’t know that you must be patient? And that you shouldn’t get angry?
Do what you know. And God, seeing your sincere disposition to continually know his will, will find a way to make clear to you that which you don’t know, every time.
  
Continually making a new start, doesn’t mean that we will be doing unexpected things. Rather, we will do the things we know, do the familiar things, but with another spirit, another disposition. As we study the whole issue we’ll understand it and we’ll make a new start –today, tomorrow, and the day after; and it is never ending. Neither will anyone ever get tired and say: “I’m tired of making a start”. On the contrary, each day you will feel it within yourself as a necessity to do so. And this will be a witness, a sign, a proof, I would say, that one more piece of your subconscious, one more piece of your unconscious, has come out of the dark basement and is now under your control. At this point you place it under the grace of God and even this is made holy. Whatever is evil, whatever is tarnished, is dissipated and purified by grace, and only your soul remains pure.
  

And so, every particular moment, in every particular instance, remembering that you made a start and that again you delivered yourself to God –as an uncontrolled piece came out from your subconscious, which however now is able to be in your control –you will try to not let this piece conquer you, and to not do that which it urges you to do. But what then? You do that which a saint would do, that which that very hour Christ tells you to do.
  
In this way, in every moment you are inside the will of God and not inside your own will.
-by Archimandrite Symeon (Kragiopoulos), (source)
  

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

St. Isaac the Syrian on Self-knowledge

St. Isaac the Syrian (sketch by Photios Kontoglou) (source)

 
He who senses his sins,
is greater than he who raises the dead
with his prayer.

He who groans one hour for his soul, is greater
than he who benefits the whole world.

He who is made worthy to see himself, is greater
than he who is made worthy to see angels.

To him who knows himself,
is given the knowledge of all things.
For the knowledge of ourselves is the fullness
of knowledge of all things.
 
(amateur translation of text from here)
   

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

St. Silouan the Athonite on the Knowledge of God

Jesus Christ "Pantocrator" ("All-governing"), the Son of God, the Savior (source)

 
St. Silouan the Athonite on the Knowledge of God

THE Father so loved us that He gave us His Son; but such was the will of the Son too, and He became incarnate and lived with us on earth. And the holy Apostles and a multitude of people beheld the Lord in the flesh, but not all knew Him as the Lord; yet it has been given to me, a poor sinner, through the Holy Spirit to know that Jesus Christ is God.

   

The Lord loves man and reveals Himself to man. And when the soul beholds the Lord she humbly rejoices in the Master's compassion, and from that hour her love for her Creator is greater than her any other love: though she may see all things and love all men, yet will she love the Lord above all.

The soul suddenly sees the Lord and knows that it is He.

Who shall describe this joy, this gladness?

The Lord is made known in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit pervades the entire man - soul, mind and body.

After this wise is God known in heaven and on earth.

The Lord in His boundless mercy granted this grace to me, a sinner, that others might come to know God and turn to Him.

I write out of the grace of God.

Yea, this is truth.

The Lord Himself is my Witness.

The Merciful Lord gave the Holy Spirit on earth, and by the Holy Spirit was the Holy Church established.

The Holy Spirit unfolded to us not only the things of the earth but those too which are of heaven.

The Prophets, the beloved of the Lord, rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, wherefore the words that they spake were mighty and pleasant, for every soul would hear the word of the Lord.

Filled with love the holy Apostles went into all the world, preaching salvation to mankind and fearing nothing, for the Spirit of God was their strength. When St Andrew was threatened with death upon the cross if he did not stay his preaching he answered:

'If I feared the cross I should not be preaching the Cross.'

In this manner all the other Apostles, and after them the martyrs and holy men who wrestled against evil, went forward with joy to meet pain and suffering. For the Holy Spirit, sweet and gracious, draws the soul to love the Lord, and in the sweetness of the Holy Spirit the soul loses her fear of suffering.

The Lord is love; and He commanded us to love one another and to love our enemies; and the Holy Spirit teaches us this love.

The soul that has not come to know the Holy Spirit does not understand how it is possible to love one's enemies, and will not receive this commandment; but in the Lord is pity for all men, and he who would be with the Lord must love his enemies.

How may we know whether the Lord loves us or no?

Here are tokens: If you battle firmly against sin the Lord loves you. If you love your enemies you are even more beloved of God. And if you lay down your life for others you are greatly beloved of the Lord, who Himself laid down His life for us.

The man who has known the Lord through the Holy Spirit becomes like unto the Lord, as St John the Divine said: 'We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.' And we shall behold his glory.

Many numbers of people, you say, are suffering every kind of adversity and from evil men. But I entreat you: Humble yourself beneath the strong hand of God, and grace will be your teacher and you yourself will long to suffer for the sake of the love of the Lord. That is what the Holy Spirit, whom we have come to know in the Church, will teach you.

But the man who cries out against evil men, who does not pray for them will never know the grace of God.

If you would know of the Lord's love for us, hate sin and wrong thoughts, and day and night pray fervently. The Lord will then give you His grace, and you will know Him through the Holy Spirit, and after death, when you enter into paradise, there too you will know the Lord through the Holy Spirit, as you knew Him on earth.

We do not need riches or learning in order to know the Lord: we must simply be obedient and sober, have a humble spirit and love our fellow-men. The Lord will love a soul that does this, and of His own accord make Himself manifest to her and instruct her In love and humility, and give her all things necessary for her to find rest in God.

We may study as much as we will but we shall still not come to know the Lord unless we live according to His commandments, for the Lord is not made known through learning but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scholars have arrived at a belief in the existence of God, but they have not come to know God.

To believe in a God is one thing, to know God another.

Both in heaven and on earth the Lord is made known only by the Holy Spirit, and not through ordinary learning. Even children, who have no learning at all, come to know the Lord by the Holy Spirit. St John the Baptist felt the presence of the Lord while still In his mother's womb. St Simeon Stylites was a seven-year-old boy when the Lord appeared to him and he knew Him; St Seraphim a grown man of twenty-seven when the Lord showed Himself to him during the Liturgy; and another Simeon was stricken with years when he received the Lord in his arms in the temple, and knew Him.

Some there are who spend their whole lives in trying to find out about the sun, or the moon, or in seeking like knowledge; yet this is of no profit to the soul. But if we take pains to explore the human heart this is what we shall see: the kingdom of heaven in the soul of the saint, but in the soul of the sinner are darkness and torment. And it is good to know this because we shall dwell eternally either in the kingdom or in torment.

Just as the love of Jesus Christ is beyond our understanding so we cannot conceive of the depth of His suffering, because our own love for the Lord is so infinitely small. But with greater love comes more understanding even of the Lord's sufferings. There is love in small degree, medium love and perfect love; and the more perfect our love the more perfect our knowledge.

We are able to treat of God only in so far as we have known the grace of the Holy Spirit; for how can a man think on and consider a thing that he has not seen or heard tell of, and does not know? Now the Saints declare that they have seen God; yet there are people who say that God is not. No doubt they say this inasmuch as they have not known God, but it does not at all mean that He is not.

The Saints speak of that which they have actually seen, of that which they know. They do not speak of something they have not seen. (They do not tell us, for instance, that they have seen a horse a mile long or a steamer ten miles long, which do not exist.) And I think that, if God were not, there would be no intimation of Him on earth; but people want to live after their own fashion and consequently they declare that God is not, and in so doing they establish that He is.

Even the souls of the heathen sensed that God is, though they were ignorant how to worship the true God. But the Holy Spirit instructed the Prophets of old and after them the Apostles and then our holy Fathers and bishops, and in this wise the true faith came down to us. And we knew the Lord by the Holy Spirit, and when we knew Him our souls were confirmed in Him.

The Lord loves us so dearly that it passes description. Through the Holy Spirit alone can the soul know His love, of which she is inexpressibly aware. The Lord is all goodness and mercy. He is meek and gentle, and we have no words to tell of His goodness; but the soul without words feels this love and would remain wrapped in its quiet tranquility for ever.

Christ said: 'I will not leave you comfortless', and we see, in truth, that He did not forsake us but gave us the Holy Spirit.

O ye peoples of the earth, fashioned by God, know your Creator and His love for us! Know the love of Christ, and live in peace and thereby rejoice the Lord, who in His mercy waits for ill men to come unto Him.

Turn to Him, all ye peoples of the earth, and lift your prayers to God. And the prayers of the whole earth shall rise to heaven like a soft and lovely cloud lit by the sun, and all the heavens will rejoice and sing praises to the lord for His sufferings whereby He '.saved us.

Know, all ye peoples, that we are created for the glory of God in the heavens. Cleave not to the earth, for God is our Father and He loves us like beloved children.

O Lord grant to all nations to know Thee by Thy Holy Spirit. As Thou didst give the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and they knew Thee, so grant to all men to know Thee by Thy Holy Spirit.
From: St. Silouan, Wisdom From Mount Athos - The Writings of Staretz Silouan 1866-1938, Sofronii (Archimandrite), trans. Rosemary Edmonds, (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY 1974) pp. 19-23. (source)

   

St. Silouan the Athonite (source)

   

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