Met. Ephrem's Sermon for October 10, 2010

The Arabic original can be found here.

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

You heard this passage from the Gospel according the Evangelist Luke talk about the event of this widowed woman who lost her only son. The Evangelist Luke paints a picture of this event and presents it to us. From one side, there is the procession we are accustomed to, a funeral procession or the procession of death and from another side the Lord Jesus comes, naturally, by divine providence. He comes from another side with his disciples and a large group who make up the procession of life. So we see in this scene something real from our own life about life and death. At the same time, this event in the Gospel and every event in our life is permitted by the Lord to give us a teaching for our life. What is this teaching? What should we take away from this story?

Man is mortal, either in his body or in his spirit. Each one of us very often passes through sorrows and hardships and everyone asks: why does the Lord permit these hardships? This is because very often we are dead, even if our bodies are still moving! Life comes, for us Christians, from Christ because we first of all believe that He is God who became incarnate and took a body like us in order to save us. From the beginning, from the moment of creating man until today, God breathes into the Church and He gives this breath of life to weak and mortal man! He is mortal because of his sins and he is mortal because of the weakness of his nature.

How does this life come? Most of the time, man lives on this earth superficially, holding on to outward forms. Naturally, he chases after his livelihood. But very rarely does he truly live. If the person is a faithful Christian, he asks Christ to touch him with His Spirit so that he will live! So that he will come back to life! For this reason, the Church laid out prayers and sacraments so that from time to time we may receive this breath of life. Where does life come from? Does it only come from the blood which flows in our veins, or does it come from the Lord? When man takes refuge in the Lord, and He touches him like He touched the casket he revives and receives new life!

This is the teaching! And even more than that! How, through the Holy Spirit, how does new life come to us when we encounter Christ? This passage from the Gospel teaches us that the Lord Jesus stands before the widow’s son and because of His mercy to the widow, He gives him life and he rises and begins to speak. The Lord gives us life. He created us and came into this world and was crucified for our sake and He died and rose from the dead in order to give us His life and so that His life will permeate us, His tenderness, His mercy. And so we must resemble Him. The Christian who is without love, without tenderness, without feeling, mercy, is not only not a Christian, he is simply not a human in the full sense of the word. So we ask the Lord to touch us so that we will not be dead in this world, but rather be alive through the grace of His love and His Holy Spirit, amen.

Fr. Pandeleimon (Farah) on Icons

This sermon was given by Archimandrite Pandeleimon (Farah), abbot of the Monastery of Hamatoura on October 11, 2009. The Gospel was Luke 8:5-10. The Arabic original can be found here.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages, amen.

St. Luke focuses on the fact that those who bear fruit, bear fruit with patience. They do not grumble, but rather stay firm in their struggle and offer the best that they can for the love of Christ. So they bear fruit with patience and do not bear fruit hurriedly. As for those who want great results quickly, they act recklessly because the spiritual life does not come so randomly and hurriedly. It comes slowly and conscientiously, through the harmony of the work that God gives and the effort that man offers. In the second passage which we read, we hear him say: those who bear fruit also, they bear fruit exactly because of that cooperation between the grace of God and their effort. They live in accordance with that word and are made holy in it. They can only see in the Lord’s light what the Lord wants and what exactly His will is in their life, and how they should behave.

In this life we sometimes go through hard times where we are asked to do things we are not yet prepared to do, but which are nevertheless asked of us. What is the attitude that we must take? When we read the Gospel, our minds are illumined and we are lifted up to heaven and we try to apply these saying that we hear and learn. When we apply them, the affairs of our life and the people around us oppose us, but God has the power at that moment to illumine our minds if they are truly directed towards Him and to teach us what is the good way and the helpful words that should be said at that moment. Let us not fear, rather let us stand firm in our struggle and in our works and most of all in our patience, until we bring forth good fruit. “The one who does good and teaches it, he is called great in the kingdom of God.” But the one who grumbles is speaking from his mid while his heart does not yearn for God and so his actions do not correspond to his words, or one can say that he teaches what he doesn’t do himself. So he enters into matters of which he has no experience and consequentially does not bear good fruit because he does not pour out his heart, he does not offer his efforts, but rather he reads in books and says what he read or what he heard from other people. But his personal experience is completely foreign to all this, and so he does not bear fruit. He is hasty because he gives solutions and offers analysis that does not come out of his experience and which he did not learn from being in harmony with God’s will and teaching, and so he sins. His words are in vain because he is not accurate, he is not beneficial, and he does not build. Even if he uses holy words, his words are in vain because they do not help him, they do not build himself and others up.

And so we must be patient. Patience does not mean that we stay idle. It means that we continue in our work and do not consider it to be a routine that strangles and kills us, but rather as a field for our daily self-examination. Every day, we ask ourselves, do we know the Lord’s will? Do we love the Lord’s will? Do we do it with yearning and love? For example, the monk who first comes to the monastery, no matter what he read about monasticism or self-sacrifice and the spiritual life and service, he read it from a distance. So very quickly he is surprised once he is in the monastery that he is not able to be obedient, for example, that he cannot sacrifice. If he is hasty, he does not stand firm and does not bear fruit and he leaves himself to boredom and despair, and departs. The one who knows himself perfectly, that he cannot be obedient, that he cannot be humble, that he does not possess true virtues, in his patience and his harmony with monastery’s order and discipline, becomes holy because he acquires these virtues with patience and he bears good fruit. Then, when he talks to you about discipline, you can understand something. If he talks to you before having gained experience, before having reached this point of brokenness, sacrifice, and obedience in all humility, he cannot talk to you because all you hear out of his mouth is gibberish and incomprehensible words, since they do not spring from experience. For this reason it says: they bear fruit with patience, that is that they persist in this every day. Virtue does not come so quickly and we do not quickly become great saints, because it’s not magic and it’s not just a button that we push. It takes the whole life and sacrifice until death in order to bear good fruit.

And so, my beloved, on our celebration today of the Holy Fathers who gathered at the Seventh Ecumenical Council and affirmed the correct belief that we should venerate icons, they teach us that they are signs which draw us in to the presence of Christ and the saints. They are not Christ Himself nor are they the saints, but they are signs that show us the presence of the saints and the presence of the Lord Jesus. Likewise, the sign of the Holy Cross is not magic, but it raises our minds up to the event of the Lord’s death upon the Cross and the salvation that comes from this death and the Resurrection. At the same time, we do not bow down to them because they are a god, but because we express our respect through this humility because we are certain that the grace of God and the Holy Spirit is present in this icon, because grace is found in this person whom the icon represents. We honor it because it bears grace and is not simply a decorated wooden board. It bears the grace which God gives this saint in his life and struggles and toils and which is present in all his goals, in everything he undertakes, and in everything he gives attention to. This divine grace is also present in icons, because through them we are made aware of God’s presence and the presence of the saints with us. We keep icons in our homes, but not in just any place, but in a fitting place where we give them honor and respect, because through this we express our love for Christ and for His saints. We express our respect for our Lord and for His saints through whose presence he gives blessings and among whom His name is magnified. When we find ourselves surrounded by those saints, we feel rest in our toil and our daily struggles and we are filled with blessings and joy because we participate with them. We become a community with them, as though we are one with them. They come down to us and we raise our minds up to them. We come to be on the same level when we are aware that we struggle for the sake of the love of Christ. And so we bear fruit and His name shines within us.

Let your light shine before the people, so that you do not just venerate icons but so that you yourselves will become icons which will show the presence of Christ and will make all creation draw near to Him. When they see you, they love the God Whom you represent and Whom you bring to them and so you make yourselves and all creation holy. May the Holy Lord bless your life on this blessed morning and may He make every one of you a shining light which will show the life of Christ and His salvation and may it bear good fruit through holy effort, with firm patience, through which it may be established in the Paradise of the Lord, amen.

Antiochian Bishops Visit Mount Athos

The Arabic original is from here.

The Historic Visit to Greece and Mt. Athos by Metropolitans Georges, Yuhanna, and Ephrem

From the 21^st to the 30^th of September 2010

His Eminence Metropolitan Georges (Khodr) of the Archdiocese of Jbeil, Batroun, and their Dependencies undertook a historic visit to Mount Athos, accompanied by Their Eminences Metropolitan Yuhanna (Yazigi) of the Archdiocese of Western Europe and Metropolitan Ephrem of the Archdiocese of Tripoli, al-Koura and their dependencies. They were also accompanied by Fr. Ephrem from Met. Yuhanna’s brotherhood, Deacon Georges Shalhoud, and Br. Parthenios.

From the entrance hall of the Beirut Airport, the Antiochian delegation set out for Athens, then Thessaloniki, on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010.

That afternoon, the first place the Antiochian delegation visited was the Monastery of the Transfiguration in the region of Nea Poli where they were greeted by, in addition to the priests and the abbot of the monastery, Metropolitan Barnabas, the local bishop. They greeted “the wise Georgios”, as he was called by Metropolitan Barnabas, who accompanied them to the monastery’s trapeza. They discussed many matters, like the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East, especially the situation of the Church, and the issue of how to attract the youth to the Church today. Metropolitan Barnabas has taken an active role in his diocese with the youth and is counted among the energetic personalities in this field.

On the second day, Wednesday September 22, 2010, the delegation visited the historic metropolitan’s complex in Thessaloniki and was met by the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Anthimos, who greeted them. They then visited the museum of the metropolitanate, which houses historic icons and they then visited the metropolitan church, which is named for St. Gregory Palamas, bishop of Thessaloniki.

After that, the delegation went to the historic Blatadon Monastery which overlooks the city near its walls. They were met there by the abbot of the monastery, Metropolitan Pandeleimon who has in the past been dean of the Theological Institute at Balamand. It is worth mentioning that he has long known Their Eminences the metropolitans, especially Metropolitans Ephrem and Yuhanna who were his students. It is known that he is a well-versed specialist in Church law.

In honor of the beloved guests, as His Eminence described them, he invited them to the trapeza and gave them a valuable gift, a copy of the hierarchical service book in Greek which he had helped to prepare.

The third day was the chief purpose of the trip to Greece, the visit to the Holy Mountain. It should be mentioned that Metropolitan Georges had been dreaming of visiting the Holy Mountain, and we give thanks to God through the blessing of the Virgin that He granted him the opportunity to undertake this historic visit, as he himself described it, in all ways- spiritually, liturgically, and culturally.

The Antiochian delegation set out from Thessaloniki to the port of Ouranoupoli on the morning of the third day, Thursday September 23, and from there they went to Dafni, the port of the Holy Mountain, where they were met with two cars, to make their transportation on the Holy Mountain easier.

The first stop on the itinerary was at the Monastery of Vatopedi. The delegation visited the basic parts of the monastery, such as the church where the members of the delegation venerated the relics of the saints there, and the monastery’s private museum, in addition to the room where they preserve valuable treasures like church vessels and priests’ vestments. Metropolitan Georges expressed his amazement at everything he saw and he praised the role of monasticism, which is a special world in His Eminence’s expression, in preserving tradition.

The next morning, after participating in morning prayers and breakfast, His Eminence thanked, in the name of the delegation accompanying him, their hosts who granted them such warm hospitality with honor and noticeable piety.

The delegation then went to Karyes, capital of the Holy Mountain. After a warm reception from the head of the administrative council of the Holy Mountain, the members of the delegation exchanged words with their hosts. Metropolitan Georges said, “Orthodoxy is not made by knowledge or theology only, but also liturgy, icons, and worship.” He praised the role of the Holy Mountain as a center radiating out into the whole world, which gathers under its care all regions of the inhabited world, repeating the words of the Apostle Paul, “where there is neither Greek, nor barbarian, but all are one in Christ.”

After taking a commemorative picture on the steps of the administration of the Mountain, the delegation went to the first church of the Mountain, the Protaton, which is the first church built on the Holy Mountain. Inside there is the famous Icon “Axion Estin”. The church is rich with frescos painted by Panselinos. Metropolitan Georges expressed his amazement at its greatness and the tradition which is passed on from generation to generation to our own day.

It is worth mentioning that the metropolitans received a signed letter in the name of the monasteries and sketes of Athos welcoming the Antiochian delegation who demonstrate through their visit to the Holy Mountain the fraternal closeness of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church.

After visiting the capital of the Holy Mountain, the Antiochian delegation went to the Monastery of Iviron on Friday September, 24, accompanied by Monk Nikodemos and Monk Gerasimos from the Monastery of St. Paul on Mount Athos.

This monastery is famous for the icon called the Portaitissa. After being greeted there, there was a meeting in the afternoon with the former abbot of the monastery, the monk Vasilios, who is an illustrious spiritual and theological figure who has written many books. At this meeting between the former abbot of the monastery and the honored guest Metropolitan Georges, the two discussed many theological and spiritual matters, especially St. Isaac the Syrian and his importance in the Orthodox Church. Monk Vasilios said: “Orthodoxy is distinguished by freedom, because without freedom there is no Christianity and no life.” Among the gifts offered by the monastery to the delegation were the complete works of the monk Vasilios, former abbot of the Iviron Monastery. The delegation participated in vespers and the paraklisis for the wonderworking icon.

The next day after matins, the Divine Liturgy, and breakfast, the honored guest Met. Georges and those accompanying him went to the Monastery of St. Paul. There Met. Georges was greeted with celebration and they performed special prayers of thanksgiving to greet His Eminence, where he wore the mantiya and entered the church preceded by those carrying candles, incense, the Holy Gospel, while they chanted “It is truly meet”.

The monastery’s abbot, Archimandrite Parthenios greeted the delegation and Metropolitan Georges then thanked this monastery in particular because it was in this monastery that both Metropolitan Yuhanna and Metropolitan Ephrem were raised and he praised both their roles in Antioch, through the prayers of “the elder of this community”, as Met. Georges termed the monastery’s abbot Parthenios. He asked for his prayers for himself and for the delegation and for the Church of Antioch.

The important event of this visit was the participation of Met. Georges in vespers and the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, September 26, the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross, that is September 13^th according to the Eastern Calendar. Met. Georges presided over the Eucharistic service, along with Met. Yuhanna, Met. Ephrem, and Met. Boulos (Yazigi), who was at the monastery with a great Antiochian multitude from Syria and from the cities of Greece who came to participate in this outstanding Antiochian event, along with, naturally, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Parthenios, and a number of priests and deacons. In addition to the monastery’s choir, the choir of Met. Yuhanna’s brotherhood, led by Deacon Romanos al-Hannat served at vespers and at the noon service for Sunday.

After the liturgy, everyone shared at the agape table at the monastery and a picture was taken to memorialize the occasion.

On the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 26, the Antiochian delegation which was joined by Met. Boulos (Yazigi) and a number of priests, went to the Monastery of Simonopetra whose great warmth and love for the Church of Antioch we have become accustomed to over the years.

After arriving, prayers of thanksgiving were performed and the abbot of the monastery, Elisha greeted Met. Georges and said that since they were little they had been hearing about Georges Khodr and that they had hoped to meet him. They had gotten to know him through his writings and his sermons and they had waited for the day when they would meet him. The time had come and the dream was realized, as he said. Met. Georges responded, saying, “The Spirit blows where He wills and we know that He has blown upon this great Mountain” and that he is nourished by it and that he tries to follow in the footsteps of those saints who shined forth here. He added that, “this Mountain is the spring of Orthodoxy” and likewise affirmed his appreciation for the importance of the work written especially for Great Lent by Fr. Macarios and that he benefits from it, asking the abbot to order him to complete the missing part of it, which is the part about Holy Week. On this celebratory day fell the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross.

The next day, His Eminence and the accompanying delegation participated in the festal vespers for that important day and on Monday morning September 28, His Eminence presided over the festal liturgy for the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross.

After the Divine Liturgy everyone shared in a meal and afterwards the delegation left the Mountain carrying with them unforgettable memories of this historic trip, especially for Met. Georges who has elevated the image of our Church with his understanding, his profundity, his wisdom, and his abundant theology.

After visiting the Holy Mountain, the Antiochian delegation returned to Thessaloniki where they spent the night. The next morning, September 29, they all went by plane to Athens. It should be mentioned that the Ambassador of Lebanon in Athens received the Antiochian delegation. Likewise, the delegation had a number of important visits, like the visit to the Archbishop of Athens, Hieronymos.

Additionally, the Lebanese ambassador in Athens, Mr. Ghabi Soufan, with his family invited the Antiochian delegation to lunch at his home in honor of Met. George and those accompanying him, in the presence of prominent personalities including the Polish ambassador in Athens.

Likewise, the delegation visited Metropolitan Nikolaos Hadjinikolaos.

And they visited the museum of Athens near the Parthenon.

In Athens, they stayed at Pendeli Monastery whose abbot Metropolitan John greeted the delegation and held a dinner in their honor.

On Thursday, September 22, Met. Georges, Met. Ephrem, Dn. Georges Shalhoub, and Br. Parthenios left for Beirut via the Athens airport, where the Lebanese ambassador saw them off. We were overjoyed with his humility and love for the Church.

To conclude, this trip was a historic pilgrimage which had great reverberations in the Greek Church. Metropolitan Georges impressed upon the souls of the people who met him that the Church does not grow old. Whenever a believer advances in age, he increases in blessings, wisdom, and theological profundity, as is the case with His Eminence Metropolitan Georges.

News Articles on Middle Eastern Christians

Today From Reuters:


Christians in Lebanon fret despite privileged role


In Holy Land, Christians a community in decline


Egypt Christians say intolerance grows, close ranks


Factbox: Christian communities in Middle East


Vatican synod mulls Middle East Christian exodus

12th Century Trilingual Psalter

On the website of the British Library they've posted images of a Psalter dated to 1153 written in parallel Greek, Latin, and Arabic. The Arabic translation of the Psalms is that of Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki, the famous 11th century deacon and translator from Antioch. You can turn to all the pages and zoom in. Take a look, it's beautiful.

Here.


In St. Petersburg they've recently published a two-volume facsimile and study of a 17th century illuminated Arabic Psalter based on Abdallah ibn al-Fadl's translation. I'll get around to writing a review of that at some point.....

Groundrules on Fair Use

I am a strong believer in the free flow of information. That's the basis of this blog. I link and copy and translate things that are available online and I share them, but to the best of my ability I also try to link back to originals and give my sources. When things I translate spread online, I am grateful for this, but I always ask that the original is linked as I am also grateful when my blog is linked as the source as well.


However, if you are considering using material I translate here in print media, please contact me first. There are a number of reasons for this-- first and foremost, I want to be able to go back over my translation to make sure it is completely accurate and to iron out some of my stylistic idiosyncrasies. When a translation I make is presented as semi-authoritative, this is even more urgent.

Again, I am always pleased when my work here can be helpful for the Church, that's the whole point of this labor of love, but I want to make sure that it is used in as accurate and responsible a way as possible.

Thanks.

--Samn!


For context, compare pages 4 and 5 of this and this to this. I'm glad that they at least read it over to catch my typos, though.

Fr. Pandeleimon (Farah) on Reading the Bible

This is a sermon that was given by Fr. Pandeleimon, abbot of the Monastery of Hamatoura, on Sunday, October 4, 2009. The original can be found here.


Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages, amen.

Sometimes I feel like I’m repeating myself, but the subject is very important for our lives as Christians. We notice that people neglect reading in general, and more specifically spiritual reading. In this way they lose every connection with Christ and their behavior changes. They do not know the true way that the Lord Jesus wants, what He taught, how we must behave. This is because they do not read the Holy Scriptures and so they do not know the words of the Lord Jesus, even though they are holier than the holy things, because He spoke them himself from His holy mouth when He was on the earth. So we need to grab them and hold on to them as tightly as possible and try to apply them in our life with seriousness and exactitude so that we can behave like Christ and be worthy of being Christians. It is not because of a name or because of society that we are Christians.

There is a great problem in the whole world where people confuse nationality, race, ethnicity, and religion. If you’re Greek, this means that you’re Orthodox, but not all Greeks behave in the same way, with the same love and the same faith! If you’re Lebanese, you must be Maronite. Christ does not know boundaries and gives no weight to tribe or ethnicity. When we go to the countries of the diaspora, if you say that you are an Arab, this means that you are Muslim. They do not understand that you could be from any country and from any race and that you have a different idea because you base your teaching, your life, your behavior on the Gospel, on the Letters of the Saints and on their lives and teachings. People claim that they are Christians, especially in our country, where the basis for everything is lies, deceit, and procrastination. Everything. They say to the priest “your honor” but they do not honor him and they do not love him and they do not value him as he is worth. Not only with regard to his personality as a human, but with regard to his work. In his priestly service he is distinguished in that he brings us into the presence of God and brings down upon us the grace and mercy of the Lord during the Divine Liturgy and in all the circumstances of his life. This is because we do not know Christ’s actions as we should and we do not study it. We need to go back and read them over and over until we have them memorized and absorbed and until we know how to behave. There are brothers who do not love each other and who do not talk to each other or help each other out and so instead they act as enemies with knives at each others' throats, all while being called Christians! How does this happen?! They go to church and take communion while they act as enemies! They behave randomly like pagans in their morality and their life, and then they go church and take communion like they are worthy Christians! This lack is on account of not reading! Reading stimulates the mind makes a person know and grasp things. One who knows bears more responsibility than one who does not know and who is ignorant of how to behave in life. Likewise with regard to spiritual matters, knowledge alone does not suffice but it presses you when you read the Holy Bible to take a blessed attitude as is fitting.

Saint Paul says, “You are a temple of the Living God. ‘I shall dwell in you,’ says the Lord, ‘and shall walk among you and I will be your God and you will be My people.’” You are not a tribe. You are the people of Christ, because you accept the Christ’s dwelling among you and you behave like one for whom this name is fitting. “And so I will bring you out from among them.” Come out from amongst the nations who do not know the Christian life. This exit does not mean isolating oneself far from people. But, while you are in the midst of the city you can life as one believing in and knowing the Lord Jesus, different from others through your actions. So don’t annoy people when you want to listen to the radio or watch television, don’t annoy others like they annoy you. Give your child a peaceful and orderly wedding, without throwing raucous parties. People go into debt in order to throw wedding parties. What foolishness! What great accomplishments! Even more than that, they are negligent and make noise all night and annoy other people, spending their money for no use, without doing anything good with it even for themselves. So instead of waiting for people to give you presents and alms, give to yourself so you can make a fitting household where you will be at rest with your wife without the pride and grandiosity that is an expression of emptiness. How can you start your life when you’re in debt? How can you spend what you don’t have? Christ asks you to be simple, loving, helping. How can you be an enemy to others when the Lord asks you to pray for them, to love them, that means to treat them well. Love is not an abstract feeling, it is a motion from within you from your self towards the other. “Be my sons and daughters,” says the mighty Lord, “and I will accept you and be your Father, because you have not accepted to become unclean but rather you desire to live according to the will of the Lord.” Within this alienation from society which tries to pollute you, to distort the image of Christ within you, to make your efforts to be in vain, you persevere so that you will be worthy to become sons and daughters-- “and I will dwell among you and I will be your Father.” “I will be your Father” means you will be completely under my care and you will not fear the difficulties and hardships and persecution that will come to you. Indeed, they will confirm that you are children of God! Those who want to live in piety will be persecuted, as the Apostle Paul teaches. The devil does not let us rest, he always presses us to return to sin and die. He rejoices when he finds everyone separated from Christ and alienated from him. For this reason the Apostle says in the end: “since we have these promises to be sons” that is, that we will be under His protection, in His mercy, the heirs of His good things, “so let us purify ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit and let us perfect holiness in the fear of God.” So let us live this life fulfilling God’s commandments as is fitting and distancing ourselves from every impurity in thought and in the body, purified from everything the world throws at us.

Every day the Evil One comes to present himself to us, to present his thoughts to us. And every day we must remember the promise we made on the day of our baptism when we said: I accept Christ. I reject the Devil and all his works. Every moment you must pause in the face of temptation and say: I reject you, Satan and I spit upon you and I make you my enemy because I want to be of Christ. This is how we possess the fear of God in our hearts because we feel His presence, we feel His being there with us. Let us distance ourselves from all things that separate us from Him and from everything that defiles our souls and our bodies. What is your virtue if you love those who love you? Or if you help those who help you? Each thing is symmetrical to the other. You did nothing. But the one who is kind and generous is in a state of imbalance since no one can return his generosity and for that reason he is kind and generous and has a pure soul. So lend, that is give, without seeking anything in return. God is the one who provides for you before you give and he will provide for you after you give and He will abundantly increase your harvest. You will not lack anything because you are the sons and daughters of the Most High. You will be in this love and you will keep away every stench, every bit of selfishness and all its delights. In them there is sin because when we care for ourselves and our desires we distance ourselves from Christ. But when we ignore them and we work for the service of others and for the love of them, we love Christ and we put into His hands all our abilities and all our possibilities and He blesses us, increasing them and returning them to us in their proper order.

May the Holy Lord enlighten us, while we are on the threshold of the Nativity Fast, with His great humility. May we try to emulate Him and participate with Him every day by closely reading the Holy Scriptures, from the beginning to the end. Let us not grow tired or impatient with them but rather let us continue until they are preserved upon our hearts. This is not in order for us to petrify it in words that we repeat, but so that we know how to respond to every situation that we encounter in our life and so that we bear the thought of Christ and not our own selfish thought. Mothers and fathers need to read from the Holy Scriptures in front of their children every day, even if it’s just in summary, in order to show them through this motion that they should read too and so that they will learn how to absorb the Christ’s thought and His will and His noble sayings. The priest carries God’s Holy Bible in the church and lifts it above the holy altar before all the people and says: This is the wisdom of God. Let us stand up straight according to this wisdom. This is what it means when he says, “Wisdom, let us stand aright.” It is the book of God’s wisdom. It is Jesus Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, written in this book. Let us stand up straight in accordance with what the Lord says in the Gospel. May the Holy Lord allow us to read and to understand and to act in accordance with this reading, learning to love the Lord more than anything, amen.