Monk Moses the Athonite: ”Scandal” for me is the non-unity of Holy Mount Athos

Moses monk, the well known intellectual, has given an interview to the 24hour ecclesiastical news agency “Romfea.gr”. We have visited his cell at Saint Panteleimon Skete of the Holy Mount Athos.

Elder Moses, speaking to the Director of “Romfea.gr”, Mr. Emilios Poligenis, gives substantial answers on issues which refer to the Holy Mountain, the professor Christos Giannaras, the Vatopedi case and the Abbot Efrem, the financial crisis and the Patriarch’s liturgy at Panayia of Sourmela monastery. The interview went on as follows: read more…

The Elder Joseph the Hesychast (+1959) Strugles, Experiences, Teachings (10)

Continued from (9)

9. Various Trials and Manifest Aid from our Lady the Mother of God

The Apostle Paul informs the fullness of the Church about his trials and his affliction, which were so extensive the he ‘despaired of life itself’ (2 Cor. 1:8). He stresses that he was ‘utterly crushed beyond his strength’; and corresponding to this we have the patristic interpretation and practice which describes how terrible and numerous are the trials which lurk in the way of those who wish to be saved. Of course, there are also other passages in Scripture which deal with the same subject, and it may be said that the chief prerequisite for salvation is endurance of many trials. But it is the Apostle Paul in particular who reveals to us the mystery and the meaning of tribulations – the chief of the Apostles, the giant of the Church, the exact image of Christ. If he, Paul, who constantly urges us to imitate him (1 Cor. 11:1), and who quite simply carried out all that has been commanded us (Lk 17:10), according to our Lord’s word – if Paul expresses himself in this way, saying that the tribulations that are for salvation and perfection can push one to despair even of life itself, then one can understand the furnace that our Fathers passed through, those who in ancient times and more recently have held to the same path (cf. Phil. 3:16).

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The Elder Joseph the Hesychast (+1959) Strugles, Experiences, Teachings (9)

Continued from (8)

8. The Trials grow more Intense

Any extra aid from grace, when it comes legitimately to those who labour systematically, is like a prize, a good mark or a promotion, upon which the faith of contemplation increases perceptibly, according to the Fathers. And for beginners this is a sign of the bitterest struggle, while for those who are advanced it is an extension of illumination.

I used the word ‘systematically’, and with fear I shall explain in brief the difference this makes. The grace of God give help, comfort and consolation to all believers who live according to conscience. It gives to each according to what he requires to strengthen or console him. These gifts are exceptional, without repetition or continuation, and belong to the overall, general providence of God by which He sustains His creatures.

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The Elder Joseph the Hesychast (+1959) Strugles, Experiences, Teachings (8)

Continued from (7)

7. The Discovery of the Hesychast Elder Daniel as Spiritual Father

From the very beginning of his venture, the Elder longed to find a spiritual father: a spiritual man, in the full sense of the word, who could teach him and guide him in this subtle and mysterious life. And despite all his disappointments, as he told us, he never ceased to search and hope. There was a rumour about ascetics whom most people never saw, who lived in obscurity and would present themselves from time to time to certain priests, themselves spiritual men, and receive Communion. For a long time this was a problem and a trial for the Elders, because they kept trying and searching constantly in the hope of meeting such people. In their persistent efforts they went round all the caves and huts, and any other trace of earlier habitation or place where there was evidence that some ascetic had once lived.

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The Elder Joseph the Hesychast (+1959) Strugles, Experiences, Teachings (7)

Continued from (6)

6. The Nature and Forms of Trials

Trials or temptations (peirasmoi) have been so named because they produce experience (peira) in those who are tried. As to their nature, they comprise all the distressing events in life, from the smallest pain to the greatest of all, which is death. They are also called collectively a Cross, because just as a cross tortures a man and puts him to death, so distressing things in general lay us low and destroy us. Sorrows do not have their beginning in the creation that was from the beginning, but are parasitic, symptoms accompanying our fallen state. They are born of transgression and sin, and that is why they are disgusting and repellent to life and nature, as causes and constituent elements of corruption and death, and always provoke aversion and repugnance. So in a certain way our life has been changed into boundless bitterness and sorrow, into an endless pain and labour, unending agony and unhappiness with lamentation as its one inseparable companion!

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The Elder Joseph the Hesychast (+1959) Strugles, Experiences, Teachings (6)

 

5. The Time of Bitter Struggles

Continued from (5)

Such were the patterns of their outward movements, but the deeper meaning of all this was the pursuit of grace and the struggle which combatants have to take on to this end. With his moral background and his upbringing in accordance with the Christian principles of the time, the Elder had grown up in true chastity in the unaffectedly traditional environment of his native island. Up to the time when he left to seek the monastic life, he had made no concession to anything that could be called carnal. When he read in the Lives of the Saints about warfare and temptations of this kind, it seemed strange to him, how it was possible for these things to operate and to torment the spiritual warriors in the absence of anything to cause them.

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