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Dancing with the Angels - a Prayer of St. Thalassios of Libya
0 Christ, Master of all, free us from all destructive passions and the thoughts born of them. For Thy sake we came into being, so that we might delight in the Paradise which Thou hast planted and in which Thou hast placed us. We brought our present disgrace upon ourselves, preferring destruction to the delights of blessedness. We have paid for this, for we have exchanged eternal life for death. 0 Master, as once Thou hadst looked on us, look on us now; as Thou didst become man, save all of us! For Thou didst come to save us who were lost! Do not exclude us from the company of those who are being saved! Raise up our souls and save our bodies, cleansing us from all impurity! Break the fetters of the passions that constrain us, as once Thou didst break the ranks of the impure demons! Free us from their tyranny, so that we may worship Thee alone, the eternal Light, having risen from the dead and dancing with the angels in the blessed, eternal and indissoluble dance! Amen. "The Word of God is exactly the same as God Himself. For this reason believe without question in each word of the Lord; the word of God is — deed! And your word must be deed! Consequently, having given your word, carry it out without fail; consequently, in prayer, too, our words must be deed and truth, and not falsehood, not simulation, not flattery. So also throughout life." "What torments us most is our thoughts. Thoughts make us do all kinds of things, then we lose our peace and are tormented by our conscience. These pangs of conscience are nothing but the judgment of God within us. And so we must make peace with our Heavenly Father and turn to Him from our heart --- asking Him to forgive us and give us of His Grace and His Divine strength; in order that we may always remain in peace and joy, like the angels and the Saints. Amen.
" Man was made by God and placed in Paradise that his care might be to bring forth good fruit and to contemplate God his Creator through His works. But Adam was driven out of the garden of delights through the envy of the Devil, who deceived Eve the first woman, and caused Adam to sin. Later God gave the Law to men by Moses, and made known His will by the Prophets, in preparation for the greater blessing of the Incarnation of His only Son, the Word of God, who would deliver us from the nets of the Evil one. In taking our nature upon Himself, Christ wished to share fully our fallen state but without sin, for He alone is without sin, being the Son of God. For this reason, he prepared for Himself a spotless habitation, an immaculate ark, the Most Holy Virgin Mary who, although she too was subject to death and the condemnation of our first parents, yet she was chosen by God before all ages to be the new Eve, the Mother of Christ the Savior, the well-spring of our redemption and the archetype of all Christian holiness.
Word of God
- St. John of Kronstadt
Our Thoughts
- Elder Thaddeus of Serbia
The Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos
On her father’s side, the Most Holy Virgin Mary was of the royal line of David through his Son Nathan who begot Levi, who begot Melchi and Panther, who begot Barpanther, who begot Joachim who was the father of the Mother of God. Anna, the wife of Joachim, was also of David’s lineage for she was the grand-daughter of Mattha, who was himself the grandson of David through Solomon. Mattha married a certain Mary of the tribe of Judah and they had a son named Jacob, the father of Joseph the carpenter, and three daughters, Mary, Sovia and Anna. Mary gave birth to Salome the midwife, Sovia to Elizabeth the mother of the Forerunner, and Anna to the Mother of God.
God in His wisdom showed the barrenness of human nature before the coming of Christ by leaving Joachim and Anna childless until they were very old. Joachim, who was both rich and devout, prayed without ceasing, and offered gifts to God that He would deliver his wife and himself from their reproach among men. One feast day, he had gone to the Temple to present his offering, when one of the congregation of the tribe of Reuben turned to him and said, “You are not allowed to offer with us because you have no child.” These words cut Joachim to the heart, and instead of returning home, he went up into a mountain alone to pray and weep while, at the same hour, Anna too was shedding abundant tears and fervently imploring Heaven. Our God, who is rich in mercy and full of compassion, heard their entreaties and sent the messenger of His benevolence and herald of our salvation, the Archangel Gabriel, to Anna. He announced that she would conceive in her old age and bear a child, who would be the praise of the whole earth. Full of joy and amazement she exclaimed, “As the Lord my God lives, whether the child I bear be a son or a daughter, I will consecrate it to the Lord my God to serve Him all the days of its life.” Joachim too was visited by an Angel and told to lead his flocks homeward, and to rejoice with his wife and all their house, because God had determined to put an end to their reproach.
When nine months had passed, Anna gave birth, and asked the midwife, “Whom have I brought into the world?” “A daughter,” she replied. “My soul has been magnified this day,” exclaimed Anna and gently laid the child down. And when the days of her purification according to the Law were accomplished, she arose, washed, gave suck to the child and called her Mary, the name obscurely awaited by the Patriarchs, the Prophets and the Righteous, and by which God would reveal the mystery hidden from all eternity.