![[double eagle]](http://stsymeon.com/dbleag2.gif)
By the Waters of Babylon
"By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion". In these words of the Lenten psalm, we Orthodox Christians, the New Israel, remember that we are in exile... longing to return to our true home, Heaven. For us the Great Fast is a season of exile ordained for us by our Mother, the Church, to keep fresh
in us the memory of Zion from which we have wandered so far. We have deserved our exile and we have great need of it because of our great sinfulness. Only through the chastisement of exile, which we remember in the fasting, prayer and repentance of this season.
Do we remain mindful of our Zion? "If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem... " Weak and
forgetful, even in the midst of the Great Fast we live as though Jerusalem did not exist for us. We fall in love with the world, our Babylon; we are seduced by the frivolous pastimes of this "strange land" and neglect the services and discipline of the Church which remind us of our true home. Worse yet, we love our very captors - for our sins hold us captive more surely than any human master - and in their service we pass in idleness the precious days of Lent when we should be preparing to meet the Rising Sun of the New Jerusalem, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is still time; we must remember our true home and weep over the sins which have exiled us from it. Let us take to heart the words of St. John of the Ladder: "Exile is separation from everything in order to keep the mind inseparable from God. An exile loves and produces continual weeping." Exiled from Paradise, we must become exiled from the world if we hope to return.
This we may do by spending these days in fasting, prayer, separation from the world, attendance at the services of the Church, in tears of repentance, in preparation for the joyful Feast that is to end this time of exile; and by bearing witness to all in this "strange land" of our remembrance of that even greater Feast that shall be when our Lord returns to take His people to the New Jerusalem, from which there shall be no more exile, for it is eternal.
"
- Blessed Fr. Seraphim Rose(+1983)
On the Jesus Prayer
"The Jesus Prayer is like any other prayer. It is stronger than allother prayers only in virtue of the all-powerful Name of Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour. But it is necessary to invoke His name with a full and unwavering faith — with a deep certainty that He is near, sees and hears, pays whole-hearted attention to our petition, and is ready to fulfil it and to grant what we seek. There is nothing to be ashamed of in such a hope. If fulfillment is sometimes delayed, this may be because the petitioner is still not yet ready to receive what he asks"
- St. Theophane the Recluse
Let us hold steadfastly and unceasingly to our hope...
"Therefore let us leave behind the worthless speculation of the crowd and their false teachings, and let us return to the word delivered to us from the beginning; let us be self-
controlled with respect to prayer and persevere in fasting, earnestly asking the all-seeing God 'to lead us not into temptation' (Matt, 6:13), because, as the Lord said, 'the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak' (Matt. 26:41).
Let us, therefore, hold steadfastly and unceasingly to our hope and the guarantee of our righteousness, Who is Christ Jesus, 'Who bore our sins in his own body upon the tree', 'Who committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth' (I Pet. 2:24, 22); instead, for our sakes he endured all things, in order that we might live in Him. Let us, therefore, become imitators of his patient endurance, and if we should suffer for the sake of His name, let us
glorify Him. For this is the example He set for us in His own person (cf. I Pet. 2:21), and this is what we have believed.
I urge all of you, therefore, to obey the teaching about righteousness (Heb. 5:13) and to exercise unlimited endurance, like that which you saw with your own eyes not only in the blessed Ignatius and Zosimus and Rufus but also in others from your congregation and in Paul himself and the rest of the Apostles; be assured that all these 'did not run in vain' (Phil. 2:16) but in faith and righteousness, and that they are now in the place due them with the
Lord, with Whom they also suffered together. For they did not love the present world' (cf. 2 Tim. 4:10), but him Who died on our behalf and was raised by God for our sakes.
"
- St. Polycarp of Smyrna, disciple of St. John the Theologian
Elder Ephraim on Humilty
"Tears and mourning bring much humility, therefore ask patiently from the Giver of good things. Pray: 'Do not overlook me the prodigal one, 0 Thou Who wast born of a virgin; do not overlook my tears, 0 joy of the angels, but receive me in repentance and save me.' I pray that Jesus, the humble of heart, may give you His heart, so that you may experience His humility. "
"Humility is a wonderful virtue, which makes fragrant the one who has it. He who has humility also has obedience, love, patience, and every virtue. When we get angry, or become enraged, or criticize, or do not obey, it is evident that we have a corresponding amount of pride and egotism. The more we progress in humility, the more the evil offspring of egotism will retreat. "
"My children, let us humble ourselves for the Lord who humbled Himself for us. The Lord showed so much humility, even to the point of crucifixion. So shouldn't we, who are lowly by nature, bow our head to our brother? Do we expect always to get our own way? "
"If we want Jesus to dwell within our heart, let us love and humble ourselves like Christ. Let us not grieve Him any more with egotistic manifestations. Let us not crucify Him again with expressions and conduct lacking brotherly love. No more bitterness in the holy heart of our most sweet Christ. "
More on Hulimity
"Without humility, one cannot be a disciple of Christ. Without humility, the heart of a man does not receive - does not assimilate - the teachings of Christ. Humility inspires the heart of a man: to be submissive to the will of God; to humbly accept everything that the Lord is pleased to send on his path of life; to submit his mind, his understanding, and his desires in obedience to Christ. "
- St. Nikon of Optina
"So come forth boldly, 0 sinner! The door is already open and ready to receive you. Bring the Lord a sacrifice of tears and go freely to Him. He does not demand gifts, nor does He have any respect of persons. He is kindhearted to men and willingly forgives the sins of repentant sinners. "
- St. Ephraim the Syrian
"The key to knowledge is the humility of Christ. The door of the Kingdom of Heaven is open, not to those who only know in their learned minds the mysteries of faith and the commandments of their Creator, but to those who have progressed far enough to live by them.
Whenever we enter the church and draw near to the heavenly mysteries, we ought to approach with all humility and fear, both because of the presence of the angelic powers and out of the reverence due to the sacred oblation; for as the Angels are said to have stood by the Lord's body when it lay in the tomb, so we must believe that they are present in the celebration of the Mysteries of His most sacred Body at the time of consecration. "- St. Bede the Venerable
"Truly, 0 Lord, If we do not humble ourselves, you do not cease to humble us. "
- St. Isaac of Syria
"Just as one cannot build a ship unless one has some nails, so it is impossible to be saved without humility. "
- Amma (Mother) Syncletica
On Alms
"The robber steals our property, but God sees everything. If we forgive, He will recompense us a hundredfold in heaven and count the stolen property as alms given away. Then our enemy will be turned against his will into our benefactor, and with his help we will be saved more easily. If we endure and forgive our robbers we may seem foolish in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God we will be wise. Our souls will derive a great benefit from our forgiveness and long-suffering. We will not view that which was stolen from us as lost, and it will be much easier for us to endure the other misfortunes in this life. "
- Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev (+1993) from Strife and Reconciliation