The Lives of the Saints
1. The Venerable Athanasius of Athos
Born in Trebizond of God-fearing parents. He was orphaned early, but by the Providence of God a certain military commander took him, brought him to Constantinople, and gave him over to studies there. Because of his meekness and humility he was a favorite among all his peers. During children's games the children would choose one to be emperor, another to be commander, and Athanasius to be — abbot. As if a prophecy! Having completed his studies, Athanasius (before his tonsure known as Abraamius) withdrew to the wilderness of Maleinos, near the Holy Mountain, where he labored as a disciple of the then-famous Michael Maleinos. Desiring yet more rigorous asceticism, he moved to the Holy Mountain for the life of stillness. But many seekers of the ascetical life began to gather around him, and he was compelled to build his famous Lavra. In this he was generously helped by the Byzantine emperors, first Nikephoros Phokas, who himself intended to withdraw and become a monk, and then John Tzimiskes. Numerous temptations assailed Athanasius, both from demons and from men, but as a valiant soldier of Christ he endured and overcame them all by his boundless meekness and unceasing prayer to the living God. Full of the grace of God, he was deemed worthy to behold the Most Holy Theotokos, who miraculously brought forth water from a rock and promised to be forever the Stewardess of his monastery. In labor and in prayer Athanasius went before his brethren, and he loved them all with the love of a spiritual father and shepherd. Death came to him suddenly. Once he climbed with six monks above a newly built porch of the church to inspect a wall that was then being built, but the wall collapsed and buried them all. Thus ended this great luminary of monasticism in the year 980. After his death he appeared many times to his brethren, either to console or to admonish them.
2. The Venerable Martyr Cyprian the New
Born in the village of Klitsos in Epirus. After the death of his good parents, Cyprian went to the Holy Mountain, was tonsured a monk there, and gave himself to asceticism in a cell near the Monastery of Koutloumousiou. He laid upon himself toil upon toil and struggle upon struggle, until he became renowned and respected throughout the Holy Mountain. But he was not satisfied with himself. He was tormented by the thought that he could not be saved except through martyrdom for Christ. He therefore left the Holy Mountain, came to Thessalonica, appeared before the Pasha of Thessalonica, and called upon him to reject the false faith of Muhammad and to accept the true faith of Christ. The Pasha ordered him beaten and driven out of the city. Unsatisfied with such small suffering for Christ, Cyprian went to Constantinople and wrote a letter to the Grand Vizier, in which he set forth the falseness of Muhammad and the truth of Christ the Lord. The enraged Vizier sent him to the Sheikh ul-Islam, who, after hearing all that Cyprian had to say, ordered that he be beheaded. Cyprian was exceedingly joyful, and he went to the place of execution as to a wedding. And so this man of God suffered for Christ on July 5, 1679, and realized his ardent desire.
3. The Venerable Lampadus
Having loved Christ from childhood with fervent love, Lampadus withdrew into the wilderness near Irenopolis, where he gave himself to asceticism. Having conquered all the passions and desires of the flesh, his soul was illumined with heavenly light and an inexpressible peace not of this world. He was a wonderworker both during his life and after his death. He labored in asceticism probably in the tenth century.
“He left the Holy Mountain, appeared before the Pasha, and called upon him to reject the false faith of Muhammad and to accept the true faith of Christ.”
Hymn of Praise
On the Athonite Mountain the Lavra shines,
The wondrous abode of Athanasius;
A thousand years have slid down upon it,
Yet spirit and bread have not run out.
Neither spirit nor bread has it been lacking,
Nor radiant visions of God's heaven.
In ancient books thus was it written:
The Lavra is tended by the Stewardess.
The Athonite Mountain is her domain,
The firmest rock of true Orthodoxy;
That mysterious Stewardess —
Is she not the Most Pure Theotokos?
She upholds the Lavra, and nourishes Iveron,
And guards Hilandar, and defends the Rossikon,
Karakal and Zographou, of Peter and Simon,
And Pantokratoros — She protects them all.
For these are the fortresses of her citizens,
And to all She is — peace and defense.
Reflection
How did Moses, with a stroke of his staff, bring forth water from a rock? How did God send manna from heaven and feed the people of Israel in the wilderness? Thus ask those who have a very feeble notion of the power of Almighty God. And they further wonder why such miracles are not repeated, so that all people might believe in God. But the Israelites saw with their own eyes innumerable miracles of God, and yet they did not believe. Meanwhile, God repeats the great miracles of old wherever and whenever it is necessary. When a famine once struck the Lavra of Athanasius, all the brethren dispersed in every direction. Downcast, Athanasius too set out to seek another place. "Where art thou going?" a woman asked him on the road. "Who art thou?" Athanasius asked her, astonished to see a woman on the Holy Mountain, where access to women is forbidden. "I am she to whom thou hast dedicated thy monastery. I am the Mother of thy Lord." "I fear to believe thee," said Athanasius, "for even the devil can transform himself into an angel of light. By what wilt thou convince me of the truth of thy words?" Then the Most Holy Theotokos said to him: "Strike this rock with thy staff, and thou shalt know who I am that speaketh with thee. Know only that I shall remain forever the Stewardess of thy Lavra." Athanasius struck the rock with his staff; at that the rock shook and split asunder as if from thunder, and a torrent of water burst forth from the cleft rock. The awestruck Athanasius turned to bow down before the Most Holy and Most Pure One, but she had already vanished. He returned to his Lavra, and to his even greater amazement found all the granaries full of grain. Behold the repetition of great miracles, by which the miracles of old are confirmed and by which the faithful are strengthened in the faith.
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous crossing of the people of Israel over the Red Sea (Exodus 14), namely:
1. How Moses waved his staff, by the command of God, and the sea was divided, and the people of God passed through on dry ground,
2. How the Egyptians rushed along the same path after Israel, but Moses waved his staff, and the sea closed over them,
3. How this teaches me that all things are possible to God as He wills, and that He saves His faithful servant from the greatest danger, and punishes the faithless.
Homily
On the Sobriety of the Mind
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober (I Peter 1:13)
The mind, brethren, is the guide of the soul and the counselor of the soul. God gave to animals only a soul; therefore He did not give them freedom, but He Himself guides them with His own mind. To man God gave both a soul and a mind, and with the mind, freedom. Mind and freedom are inseparable. Hence all the tales of certain philosophers, that man indeed has a mind but does not have freedom, are vain. For it is clear from daily experience that freedom is the inseparable companion of the mind. But since man does not have a perfect mind, neither does he have perfect freedom; rather he still stands under the supervision and guidance of God. God alone has a perfect mind and perfect freedom; we are but the image and likeness of the mind and freedom of God. We have sufficient mind to be able to know the will of God, and sufficient freedom to be able to decide to fulfill the will of God. When the mind loses its sovereign guiding power over the soul, then there arises in the soul a many-headed rule, which means confusion, chaos, and ruin.
What do the apostolic words mean: to gird up the loins of one's mind and be sober? They mean: not to allow one's mind to fantasize, but to concentrate it upon the meditation of the law of God. They further mean: not to allow one's mind to abuse the God-given freedom for the plunging of the soul into slavery to the body, the world, and the devil, but to nail it to Christ as to the Cross, that the soul might be resurrected in Christ. And they further mean: to fence off one's mind from all self-willed fancies, by which it becomes intoxicated and falls captive to the devil, and to keep it girded in the constriction of one's heart, where by prayer it would be sobered and by tears it would be cleansed. In a word, it means: to train the mind not to abuse its freedom by blaspheming the living and merciful God and by mortifying the soul with the passions.
O Lord Jesus, Mind of God and Wisdom of God, help us to gird up our mind, that it may exercise its reason only upon that which is from Thee and that which is Thine, and thus soberly lead the soul to salvation. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“When the mind loses its sovereign guiding power over the soul, then there arises in the soul a many-headed rule, which means confusion, chaos, and ruin.”