Orthodixie

On mindfulness of death

Mighty works of God happen after people struggle with silence of the heart.

“All we do is dead — only the work we do on our heart remains.” (Fr Sophrony)

Man wanted to become God … not with love and divine submission.

Passions tempt to extinguish even the memory of God.

After the Fall, our struggle is centered on survival.

If life ends with death — nothing has any meaning.

Mindfulness of death = “all is vanity.”

[Not mindfulness of merely dying — a reality which, my words, is not salvific.]

Man projects his despair onto all creation — when all seems bereft (“all is vanity”) — this is a step toward salvation (mindfulness of death).

Mindfulness of death becomes the possibility of life.

Death, which is a punishment for sin, becomes a step toward reunion of the faculties and life with God.

Self denial, coupled with mindfulness of death, is best suited for prayer.

Our sojourn on this earth is to learn how to die. Yet, our life here prepares us for everything except the end.

Our manner of death is unimportant; how to approach it is.

Part One.

These notes were taken during the annual Clergy Retreat for the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America, February 6-9, 2007. The retreat was led by Archimandrite Zacharias of the Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights-by-Maldon, Essex, U.K. These are my notes and were filtered through my poor faculties. Any and all errors theological are mine. Forgive me.

UPDATE: Listen to the entire talk — CDs now available!

One hundred Episcopalian, Canadian Anglican and Orthodox Christian clergy and laity, some from as far away as Bar Harbor, Maine; Denver, Colo.; Lakeland, Fla., and Toronto, Ont., attended “Faith of Our Fathers: A Colloquium on Orthodox for Anglicans” Jan. 29-30, 2007 sponsored by St. Andrew House Center for Orthodox Christian Studies.

The colloquium was designed to explain Orthodox Christianity to Episcopalians and Anglicans, according to the Most Rev. Nathaniel, Archbishop of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), and founder and president of St. Andrew House. Ancient Faith Radio recorded the sessons and is happy to make them available for download. Please do not make copies or sell the material without the consent of the St. Andrews House Center for Orthodox Christian Studies.

These recordings are made possible by Ancient Faith Radio, a 24 hour a day internet based Orthodox radio station. Listen for the best in Orthodox liturgical music, quotes from the Fathers, lectures, interviews and more. Ancient Faith Radio – Timeless Christianity 24 hours a day.

Simply click on the lecture titles below to listen. To download to your computer, right click and select “save link target as” and choose the location of your download.

Kh. Frederica Mathewes-Green Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Linthicum, MD. Author and speaker: Journey to Orthodoxy

The Most Rev. Nathaniel Archbishop of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate. Founder and President of St. Andrews House Center For Orthodox Studies: Orthodoxy and Anglicanism

The Rev. Alban Waggener Holy Trinity Orthodox Mission (Western Rite), Lynchburg, VA: Journey to Orthodoxy

The Rev. Dr.Hiermonk Calinic Berger St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY and Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Hermitage, PA: Orthodox Theology

The Rev. John E. Parker III Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC: Journey to Orthodoxy

Very Rev. Fr. Gregory Mathewes-Green Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Linthicum, MD: Liturgy and Worship

The Rev. John W. Fenton Holy Incarnation Orthodox Mission (Western Rite), Taylor, MI: Western Rite

The Rev. Alban Waggener Holy Trinity Orthodox Mission (Western Rite), Lynchburg, VA: Western Rite

The Very Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon All Saints Orthodox Church, Chicago, IL and Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine: Journey to Orthodoxy

The Rt. Rev. Mark Bishop of Toledo and the Midwest, Antiochian Archdiocese: Journey to Orthodoxy

The Rev. James Stephen Freeman St. Anne Orthodox Church, Oak Ridge, TN – Author of “Glory to God for All Things” web blog: Journey to Orthodoxy

The Very Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon All Saints Orthodox Church, Chicago, IL and Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine: Tradition and Culture

The Very Rev. William Olnhausen St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Cedarburg, WI: Journey to Orthodoxy

Very Rev. Fr. Gregory Mathewes-Green and Kh. Frederica Mathewes-Green Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Linthicum, MD: Practical Considerations

Courtesy of Ancient Faith Radio.
Thanks to FWD from Tamara.

The tragedy of contemporary man is that he lives outside his heart.

The heart is the battlefield of our salvation.

The heart is the true temple where meeting with God takes place.

God, who is a jealous God, will not settle for a portion of the heart.

We are held captive by the Passions, leaving no room in the heart.

God knocks at our heart and encourages us to knock at His mercy.

This action [the knocking] possesses the possibility of our rising from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light — this is the moment when man comes to himself.

Our goal is to convince God that we are His.

When Man made motion to sin, his mind was scattered out. When he “comes to himself,” the mind moves back toward the heart … and from there to God the Father. (Prodigal Son)

Christ bore our sins by ascending the Cross of shame. We do the same in Confession.

Grace purifies the heart so that Man can stand in the presence of God.

Repentance cleanses and justifies.

When mind and heart unite — then Man possesses his nature.

In our fallen state, we are divided [thinking (or feeling) one thing with the heart and thinking another with the mind, etc.]

No human being can weep having two thoughts. When we weep, we have unity of thought (feeling).

Repentance = to prove that God is good and Man is a liar.

These notes were taken during the annual Clergy Retreat for the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America, February 6-9, 2007. The retreat was led by Archimandrite Zacharias of the Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights-by-Maldon, Essex, U.K. These are my notes and were filtered through my poor faculties. Any and all errors theological are mine. Forgive me.

UPDATE: Listen to the entire talk — CDs now available!

Image by Paula Wiggins – source.

Create eyes in me, and so may I see with Your eyes,
for I cannot see with my own eyes.

May my mind travel inwards
towards the hiddenness of Your sacrifice,
just as You have travelled out into the open
and been cojoined to Your Mysteries.

At this moment
may I be totally forgetful of myself,
and remain utterly unmindful
of my own person.

May every bodily image
be wiped away from my mind’s Eye,
and may You alone
be depicted before the Eye of my mind.

And now, when Your Spirit descends from heaven
upon your Mysteries,
may I ascend in spirit from earth to heaven.

— Prayers of Joseph the Visionary in “The Syriac Fathers On Prayer And The Spiritual Life,” translated from the original Syriac-Aramaic by Sebastian Brock, Cistercian Publications.

Taken from a Mysticism e-list.

“My church life got so much better the minute I stopped trying to look for someone to date at Mass,” [Dawn Eden] … said. “I mean, it isn’t a good thing if people learn to look each other over at church the same way they look each other over in a bar.”

Here’s tmatt’s whole story.