Mother Maryam Zakka on Combatting Distracting Thoughts

Arabic original here.

Dear Mother Maryam,
Dear mother, thoughts assault me and I am unable to pray. I ask you, please help me with your prayers. I love you and bow before you,
J. N.

Beloved daughter in the Lord,


[...]

Stop praying "traditionally", if we can call it that way, and immerse yourself in the Holy Name alone!

"Jesus- Jesus- Jesus, my Lord and my God, Your mercy and Your protection- Jesus- Jesus- Jesus- Jesus, have mercy on me, forgive me, save me..."

This name conquers every thought that disturbs you and everything in existence... Opposing forces cannot approach it!

The war of thoughts is the war of every serious believer in the Lord Jesus! Do not fear... do not doubt and do not give up... But persist, and when the war besets you, cry you "Lord have mercy on me... Jesus have mercy on me..." At that moment the Lord is able to cause your tears to burst forth... tears of repentance, tears of longing, tears of hope, tears of silence, tears of moving from sorrow to tranquility. Then the Lord comes to console your heart with His presence and you rejoice at His being present with His light in the peace of your heart. The path of prayer is the path of following the Lord up to Golgotha!

There on the cross the Spirit abides and you abide with Him if you are patient and accept every trial that comes to us from Him in order to prove us, so that we can be clean of every semblance of evil.

The Lord Jesus permits these thoughts that attack and disturb your prayer so that your struggle can intensify along your path and you will find angelic brothers along your way who support you because they too suffer from their sins, the ignorance of the people, and the wars waged against them from every direction. They live their life in a strange solitude, even if they were with all their families and among people. You long for those who have preceded you into eternal life. Natural, but you do not stop at departure but rather meet them in prayer, in service in the Church, and standing before the  face of the Lord Jesus.

The praying believer remains alone and a stranger in his world, but he must reach out in silence and tears, to feed the poor and offer to provide for every person in need, to have mercy and give consolation to the oppressed, to quiet the needy's crying out for the mercy of their Lord, in prayer.

In this way you are now a stranger, a prisoner of grace and divine love!

Your participation in the service of your church and its needs makes you an apostle for Christ among those abroad like you, those far from their motherland who nevertheless are close to the alienation of those who love Christ in the world.

"We have no lasting city here..." So let us look to the one to come, to the kingdom, to the new heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all, the homeland of the righteous and the saints who went before us. There we shall live without pain and sighing, without sin and repentance, with the songs of those rejoicing, abiding in the joy of the light that knows no evening.

Be in peace, my beloved, and the Lord be with you. He is your shepherd.

Mother Maryam
Abbess of the Monastery of St John the Baptist-- Douma
November 18, 2012

Mother Maryam Zakka on Evangelism

Arabic original here.




The Bible says that we must evangelize! But our days are difficult now because we must respect people's choices and the various sects?!... and my friend who does not believe in God but rather reason?! And everyone around us?! What should I do?! .... -Yara


The Bible says, in the words of the Lord and of His chosen apostle Paul, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season." (2 Timothy 4:2)

What is evangelism for us? Is it talking about the Gospel and its word or preaching to those around us? Or is it us replying to the questions people ask us? Or do we live the life of the Gospel in silence, so that those around us will learn from our silence and our behavior? It is all these things!

The true Christian life is itself evangelism. One of the philosophers said, "Tell me how you live and I will tell you who you are." So, evangelism is how we live. The Lord Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). The important thing is for the Lord our God to be blessed through our actions with those whom we meet in our daily life.

My daughter, be the shining lamp placed on the mountaintops to shine for others in the name of the Lord! Walk in true Christian love with those you interact with... starting with your husband at home, your children, your students, your friends.... Here I'd like to focus on that Christian friend who does not believe in anything other than science and who has lived her life scientifically... The most important thing you can do for her is praying for her, that she will return to knowledge of the Lord in her heart, since He said, "my son, give me your heart" (Proverbs 23:26).

Prayer has a 'miraculous' effect... If it comes from the depths of the heart and total reliance on the Holy Name, then it will bring this person to knowledge of the Lord through you!

Do not discuss faith with her, or she will take a defensive position about her opinions, especially if she is educated and has a scientific worldview... such people discuss faith viciously, because their god is reason! Just love her in silence and be a good model for her of the simple Christian life, perfected in the Lord Jesus... He is the fisherman who will catch her like a fish after nourishing her with His presence in the trials and paradoxes of her life...

You said, Yara, to start with, that we must respect people's choices, their opinions and religions... You're right, but don't forget that any person on the face of the earth, when he sees the goodness of the table spread before him will approach it and eat from it. He will choose what his soul desires and he loves... In the Church we have a blessed, living banquet, richer than the whole world's wealth!

We do not steal people for Christianity! However, we show them the goodness of our God and they will come to wonder and ask, "Who are these people? What is behind them? Who and how do they worship?" Let them know the truth!

"We are the preaching of the Gospel" in the gentle, kind, and loving way we treat others, in our tranquility, in our behavior, in our love for others regardless of their different religions or sects, in our holding fast to what our Church teaches, in our discussing with the 'knowledgeable' if the possibility of discussion is opened to us, in serving the needy, in giving to the poor and helping anyone seeking assistance, in our sober, loving behavior. Not in prideful divisiveness or avoiding sharing in others' suffering, but in our human presence and most importantly in our prayer for all who cross our path without criticizing them.

You say that evangelism has become difficult today. This is true, but that's the challenge! We are not better off today than the first Christians! They mingled with idolators and we today live with them. Do you not notice the idolatry of money and wealth, power, love of appearances, lying and confusion among us? And the other forms of worship that dilute and assault the true faith? Do you not notice the moral and sexual permissiveness, the heresies that affect all classes of people, rich and poor, educated and simple? Do you not witness the violence, drunkenness and wantonness, even among schoolchildren, which destroy moral, spiritual, and social values? Do you not fear the heresy of keeping up with the times, which separates the believer from his faith and cleaves him to false teaching? Do you not weep for the fracturing of the family, the splintering of children, the departure to far-off countries, and the abandonment of the faith? Do you not behold the domination of other religious which wipe out Christianity and kill the seriousness of those who strive for true worship of the Word of the Gospel?

"All the nations surrounded me and in the name of the Lord I conquered them" (Psalm 117:10)

We are approaching the end of times... this is what the holy fathers in our Church say! Even this question was posed by those who surrounded Jesus, and He answered them! We do not know the times or the hours that the Lord has appointed for the end of times and the second coming of Christ... but we do know one thing, that we must remain alert and ready to receive Christ who became incarnate to save us from the Enemy!

This is how we must live, girding our loins and bearing the Gospel of Christ in our hearts and minds, following His steps, praying, fasting, blessing, weeping, repenting for our sins and the ignorance of the people...

Each one of us has his work in this life, but all of us are called to know the truth, that we have one Savior, in whom we know God the Father, the Creator, and through whom we come to Him. He is the second hypostasis or person of the Holy Trinity, the ray of the Father, equal to Him in essence and eternity from all ages, in whom we live and move and have our being. His name is Emmanuel, God is with us, Jesus Christ the Redeemer.

For Him we live, not for any other person, idea, or teaching. To Him alone is due worship. To Him we lift up glory and honor. From Him we await eternal salvation, for us and for all those in existence whom He has called on us to pray for and love!

May the Lord Jesus Christ keep you and yours and all your generation.

Mother Maryam  Zakka
Abbess of the Monastery of St John the Baptist-- Douma
December 19, 2010

an-Nahar on Announcing Sainthood in the Orthodox Church

Especially since Pope John Paul II went on a veritable spree of canonizations, including a number of Maronites, the fact that the Orthodox seemingly have so few saints is often the topic of village polemic in the Middle East, so the scenario at the beginning is quite realistic, even if it's folksy....

The Arabic original, by Mazen Abboud in this past Monday's an-Nahar, can be found here.

Announcing Sainthood in the Orthodox Church

Rose said to her neighbor Leila, "What's wrong with you Rum that your church doesn't produce saints? Have Jesus son of Joseph the Carpenter and His mother Mary left your church? The church that doesn't produce saints is barren, according to my father. Look how we have celebrations of beatifications and canonizations come every year. Convert, or at least break off your poision like the Greek Catholics so that heaven will grant you at least the idea of a saint!"

Leila got angry with Rose and war broke out between the two using all the water buckets and old pots available... The struggle almost turned into sectarian strife, even if it didn't reach the police office. Leila took her neighbor's comments to the archimandrite of her village, hoping he would explain about the announcement of saints and this apparent infertility in the Orthodox Church.

The embarrassed Orthodox woman went inside the monastery gate and solemnly entered the church. She followed the service of vespers until its end in order to meet the archimandrite who was praying inside the altar.

The service soon ended and the simandron sounded and everyone went to the monastery's reception hall. Leila quickly asked the monastery's elder the question that had been troubling her. The priest explained to her in simple terms the substance of the standards for glorifying a saint in the Orthodox Church and it heartened her to hear that the Antiochian Orthodox Church has recently announced the sanctity of a number or martyrs, such as Joseph of Damascus who was martyred defending his faith at the end of the nineteenth century and the martyrs of Hamatoura who were also martyred defending their religion in the time of the Mamluks. He informed her that the ways of declaring a saint are different between different churches, such as publishing reports of miracles. However, she was surprised to hear him say that there are saints whose sanctity is still hidden, undiscovered and unannounced. Here is some of what she heard about this....

The model of the martyrs for Christ is the original path of sanctity in the universal Church and the Deacon Stephen was the first of them. According to the universal Church they purchased paradise with their blood. Through this they joined the choirs of the angels, the apostles, and the prophets. The first Christians had the custom of erecting the altars of the churches upon the graves of their martyrs. With the end of persecution, that is after the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity, confessors like Ephrem the Syrian and some of the monks of the desert of Egypt were added to the list of saints.

Likewise the ancient custom in the Church was for the sanctity of someone departed tobe declared by one of the successors of the apostles, that is the local bishops and the heads of local churches, until Pope Alexander III proclaimed in 1170 that all questions of veneration and beatification and announcements of sainthood in the Catholic Church would belong to the Vatican.

The Pope at that time was focused on emphasizing his role in making decisions on account of the reality of abuses by certain hierarchs of the authority granted to them in such matters, as well as political and administrative circumstances that led to the strengthening of the pope’s power over authorities in the Catholic Church and their flocks. The issue of announcing sainthood was gradually regularized until it became mandatory for the person seeking veneration to make an appeal for beatification before the council for saints in the Vatican, which has the competency to study the dossier before raising the subject before the Pontiff, as the basis for the final decision about announcing sainthood.

It is clear that the means of declaring sainthood in the Vatican obey intellectual and canonical standards and expend a great deal of effort and money. The custom arose for every appeal to have an advocate. Before 1983, each appeal had a defense attorney as well, who rebutted the claims made before the council. This required convincing the fathers of the truth of the matter in declaring sainthood. After listening to the rebuttals and the rebuttals of the rebuttals, the fathers of the council vote on the matter, and report the results of the vote to the Pontiff to serve as the basis for declaring sainthood, which takes place in a celebration at St. Peter’s Cathedral.

It should be pointed out that Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg was the first saint (outside Rome) whose sainthood was announced by Pope John XV in the year 993. Likewise, Gautier du Pontoise, was the last western saint whose sainthood was announced by a bishop (Hugh du Boves, Archbishop of Rouen) in the year 1153.

The standards for Sainthood in the Orthodox Church

The Eastern Church is distinct from the Western Church in the ways that she understands sainthood and announcing it, to a great degree, is not an essential part of the question.

Saint Symeon, called the New Theologian, talks about new saints in the Orthodox Church and says, "The new saint in the Church belongs to the congregation of the saints across history who in their own way have been filled with divine light. All of them make up a golden chain, each saint forming a link that connects to the others through faith and work and love. Yes, the saints in our Church form a chain of faith that is never broken.”

As for the definition of saint in the Church, Archimandrite Touma Bitar defines the announcement of sainthood in the Orthodox Church in the following way: “The saint is the one who becomes, in Spirit and in truth, a temple for God. He becomes a vessel for the godhead. He becomes an icon of God... a living Gospel. His life is a word and his story is a model. For this reason he is an intercessor before God who raises prayer up on behalf of the faithful in the Church.”

As for the philosophy of announcing sainthood among the Orthodox, on the topic of the Orthodox Church and announcement of sainthood, the writer Brother Alex Yang reports about Saint John Maximovitch that he said that the sainthood of one who has reposed in the Church does not come from the admission of religious authorities, but from the grace of God. The concern of the authorities in the Church for the Orthodox in the matter of declaring saints is limited to discovering and honoring those whom God has sanctified from among His flock.

The Orthodox Church distinguishes between sainthood, its discovery, and its announcement. She holds that in the Church there are saints who are still undiscovered by the Church on this earth, though they live in the presence of their Lord with all the saints and angels and intercede for us before Him. The announcement of sainthood for the Orthodox begins on an individual basis. That is, when an individual within the Church starts to ask the intercession of someone who is departed and is considered to be close to God.

As for the method of announcing sainthood among the Orthodox: Archimandrite Bitar says about the announcement of sainthood among the Orthodox that whenever the Church notices the someone who has reposed was a person of Christ in Spirit and in truth, and that his life was distinguished by a number for Christian virtues (humility, prayer, poverty, love....), and that he is present in the consciousness of the faithful as a model and teacher and intercessor, then the Church undertakes a study of the possibility of honoring him. However, according to the Orthodox tradition, the Holy Spirit sometimes decides to work miracles (such as healings, apparitions, bodily incorruptibility, the flow of myrrh...) through a person, living or reposed. This is in order to confirm the presence of this person in the life of the Church and the fact of his having become a living icon. Miracles are not absolutely necessary in the Church to announce sainthood.

For the Orthodox, the announcement of sainthood is still not limited to a single authority under whose competency are the heads of the churches. As for the preparations that precede the announcement of sainthood, they are not subject to academic and canonical standards, but rather purely to standards of faith.

Archimandrite Bitar places the question of announcing sainthood in the Orthodox Church in the framework of the living, dynamic relationship between the local church and the saint. He considers the announcement of sainthood in his church to not be an academic matter, and not something that usually depends on the desire of the leaders and influential people to honor a specific personality as a saint, but rather on the desire of the people and the clergy. For this reason, the announcement of sainthood according to him must be accompanied by an abundance of prayer and fasting in the Church and must spring from the grace of God.

Even though the general principles for the announcement of sainthood are the same in the two churches, the difference is embodied in the practice and understanding of the announcement of sainthood. The Church's role for the Orthodox is limited to uncovering the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying one of the departed. For this reason, the methods followed in the Orthodox Church are simpler and less academic.

It is noted that the local saints whose sanctity has been announced by the Antiochian Orthodox Church of late have for the most part been martyrs who defended their belief and faith in a clear way, like for example Joseph of Damascus.

On the Announcement of Sainthood Among the Orthodox

Mother Maryam Zakka says about the celebration of the announcement of sainthood among the Orthodox that, "After a series of prayers and fasts and after consultation with the pillars of the Church among the spiritual fathers, monks, and laypeople known for their piety, and after establishing the life story of the one who has departed and their characteristics and their presence and impact upon the life of the gathering of the faithful (that is the Church), the Patriarch calls the Holy Synod to a session (on the basis of the request of at least one bishop) to study the dossier about the announcement of the sainthood of a given person. The Holy Synod makes its decision about this matter, and if they agree to it, then the Patriarch orders an iconographer to make an icon of the saint and permits one of the monasteries to write a special service for the saint.

On the evening of the commemoration of the repose of the new saint, a special vespers is held and the relics and icon of the saint are taken into the cathedral. The icon and the relics are carried during the service of breaking the bread around the altar of the church and are placed next to the iconostasis while the choir sings the troparion of the saint for the first time. The patriarch reveals the image and breaks the five loaves which are distributed to the people who come up to kiss the relics and the icon. The morning of the next day, the commemoration of the new saint is made for the first time in the divine liturgy, along with the other saints, as an intercessor before God for all the faithful. After celebrating the announcement, the Church permits the faithful to build new churches in the name of the new saint, just as she permits them to hang icons of the saint in their homes as a blessing. She asks for the saint’s intercession before God for the sake of the faithful as a whole in the churches.