St. Cyril of Alexandria, Preparation for the Passion

by St. Cyril of Alexandria, “Seal of all the Fathers.”

SERMON CXLIV

Luke 22:31-34. Simeon, Simeon, behold Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not: and do you also hereafter when converted strengthen your brethren. And he said to Him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. But He said, I tell you, Peter, that the cock shall not crow to-day until you have thrice denied that You know Me.

The prophet Isaiah bids those who embrace a life of piety towards Christ to go to the proclamations of the Gospel, saying, “You who thirst, go to the waters.” These waters are not the material waters of earth, but rather are divine and spiritual, poured forth for us by Christ Himself. For He is the river of peace, and the torrent of pleasure, and the fountain of life. And so we have heard Himself plainly saying,  “Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”  Come therefore, that here also we may delight ourselves in the sacred and divine streams which now from Him: for what says He to Peter?  “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has asked for you to sift you like wheat: but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.”

Now it is, I think, both necessary and profitable for us to know what the occasion was which led our Saviour’s words to this point. The blessed disciples then had been disputing with one another,  “which of them was the great one:” but the Saviour of all, as the means whereby they obtained whatsoever was useful and necessary for their good, delivered them from the guilt of ambition, by putting away from them the striving after objects such as this, and persuading them to escape from the lust of preeminence, as from a pitfall of the devil. For He said, “he who is great among you, let him be as the youngest, and he who governs as he that serves.”  And He further taught them that the season of honour is not so much this present time as that which is to be at the coming of His kingdom. For there they shall receive the rewards of  their fidelity, and be partakers of His eternal glory, and wear a crown of surpassing honour, eating at His table, and sitting also upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

But lo! He also offers them a third assistance, as we read in the lessons before us. For He teaches us, that we must think humbly of ourselves, as being nothing, both as regards the nature of man and the readiness of our mind to fall away into sin, and as strengthened and being what we are only through Him and of Him. If therefore it is from Him that we borrow both our salvation, and our seeming to be something in virtue and piety, what reason have we for proud thoughts? For all we have is from Him, and of ourselves we have nothing.

 “For what have you that you did not receive? But if you also received it, why do you glory, as though you did not receive it?” So spoke the very wise Paul: and further, the blessed David also at one time says, “In God we shall make strength:” and at another again, “Our God is our house of refuge and our strength.”

And the prophet Jeremiah also has somewhere said,  “O Lord, my strength and my house of refuge, and my help in the days of trouble.”  And the blessed Paul also may be brought forward, who says with great clearness,  “I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me.”   Christ Himself also somewhere says to us,  “Without Me you can do nothing.11

Let us then glory not in ourselves, but rather in His gifts. And if this be the state of any one’s mind, what place can the desire of being set above other men find in him, when thus we are all both partakers of the same one grace, and also have the same Lord of hosts as the Giver both of our existence and of our ability to do well. To humble therefore our tendency to superciliousness, and to repress ambitious feelings, Christ shows that even he who seemed to be great is nothing and infirm. He therefore passes by the other disciples, and turns to him who is the foremost, and set at the head of the company, and says;  “that Satan has many times desired to sift you as wheat:” that is, to search and try you, and expose you to intolerable blows.

For it is Satan’s wont to attack men of more than ordinary excellence, and, like some fierce and arrogant barbarian, he challenges to single combat those of chief repute in the ways of piety. So he challenged Job, but was defeated  by his patience, and the boaster fell, being vanquished by the endurance of that triumphant hero. But human nature he makes his prey, for it is infirm, and easy to be overcome: while he is harsh and pitiless and unappeasable in heart. For, as the sacred Scripture says of him, “His heart is hard as a stone: and he stands like an anvil that cannot be beaten out .”  Yet he is placed under the feet of the saints by Christ’s might: for He has said,   “Behold, I have given you to tread on serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.  Satan therefore, He says, has desired to sift you like wheat: but I have offered supplication in your behalf, that your faith fail not.”

See again, He humbles Himself to us, and speaks according to the limits of man’s estate, and yet He is God by nature, even though He became flesh. For though He is the power of the Father, by Whom all things are preserved, and from Whom they obtain the ability to continue in well-being, He yet says that He offers supplication as a man. For it was necessary, yes necessary, for Him Who, for the dispensation’s sake, became like to us, to use also our words, when the occasion called Him thereto in accordance with what the dispensation itself required.  “I have supplicated therefore, He says, that your faith fail not.”  Now by this then He shows, that if he had been yielded up to Satan to be tempted, he would have proved altogether unfaithful: since, even when not so yielded up, he proved weak from human feebleness, being unable to bear the fear of death. For he denied Christ, when a young girl troubled him in the high priest’s palace by saying,  “And you also are one of His disciples.”

The Saviour then forewarned him what would have been the result had he been yielded up to Satan’s temptation: but at the same time He offers him the word of consolation, and says,   “And do you also hereafter, when converted, strengthen your brethren:”  that is, be the support, and instructor and teacher of those who draw near to Me by faith. And moreover, admire the beautiful skill of the passage, and the surpassing greatness of the divine gentleness!

For, lest his impending fall should lead the disciple to desperation, as though he would be expelled from the glories of the apostleship, and  his former following (of Christ) lose its reward, because of his proving unable to bear the fear of death, and denying Him, at once Christ fills him with good hope, and grants him the confident assurance that he shall be counted worthy of the promised blessings, and gather the fruits of steadfastness. For He says,   “And do you also, when converted, strengthen your brethren.”

O what great and incomparable kindness!  The disciple had not yet sickened with the malady of faithlessness, and already he has received the medicine of forgiveness: not yet had the sin been committed, and he receives pardon: not yet had he fallen, and the saving hand is held out: not yet had he faltered, and he is confirmed: for  “do you, He says, when converted, strengthen your brethren.”  So to speak belongs to One Who pardons, and restores him again to apostolic powers.

But Peter, in the ardour of his zeal, made profession of steadfastness and endurance to the last extremity, saying that he would manfully resist the terrors of death, and count nothing of bonds; but in so doing he erred from what was right.  For he ought not, when the Saviour told him that he would prove weak to have contradicted Him, loudly protesting the contrary; for the Truth could not lie: but rather he ought to have asked strength of Him, that either he might not suffer this, or be rescued immediately from harm.

But, as I have already said, being fervent in spirit, and warm in his love towards Christ, and of unrestrainable zeal in rightly performing those duties which become a disciple in his attendance upon his Master, he declares that he will endure to the last extremity: but he was rebuked for foolishly speaking against what was foreknown, and for his unreasonable haste in contradicting the Saviour’s words. For this reason He says,  “Verily I tell you, that the cock shall not crow to-night, until you have thrice denied Me.”

And this proved true. Let us not therefore think highly of ourselves, even if we see ourselves greatly distinguished for our virtues: rather let us offer up the praises of our thanksgivings to Christ Who redeems us, and Who also it is that grants us even the desire to be able to act rightly: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, for over and ever, Amen.

St. Cyril of Alexandria, Preparation for the Passion

Entry into Jerusalem

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war-horses from Jerusalem
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
    —Zechariah 9:9-10

Entry into Jerusalem

Illness not to Death but to Glory

Meditation on Lazarus Saturday

Yesterday, the 6^th Friday, marked the last day of Great Lent in the eastern Churches. Fasting does not stop on the last day, but rather intensifies through the next week, Great and Holy Week. Lazarus Saturday prepares us for what is to come.

Lazarus Saturday is, in many ways, the 'Feast of The Test of Faith' for as you read at the end of the critical Scripture text below, the Chief Priest of the Temple suggested that Lazarus be killed because this last great resurrection miracle had caused many people to believe what was said concerning Jesus, who he was and why he had come.

This text completes the cycle of action that begins with the sorrowing Jesus declaring that he and the apostles must return to Judea, and the Apostle Thomas' sonorous declaration, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” It is clear from this resurrection pericope that those who loved Jesus knew there was a price on him and they believed that many would die with him, and perhaps even thought that they might be willing to die in his stead.

But the key to knowledge and insight, as always, is Jesus. Knowing why he had come better than any other, he says quite clearly, about the ailing Lazarus, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” The sickness of Lazarus, the sickness of fallen mankind, are what took Jesus to Judea, and to the Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

This feast as none other save Pascha itself turns our attention to redemption, pain, death, healing, and resurrection. It is a 'Test of Faith' offered by the Master Teacher, who is the substance of Faith itself...the substance of things seen and unseen.

Critical Scripture texts for the Saturday of Lazarus

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he stayed two days still in the same place where he was.  Then after that said he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again. His disciples say to him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone you; and go you thither again?  Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him. These things said he: and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.  However, Jesus spoke of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe; nevertheless let us go to him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.  Then said Martha to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died.  But I know, that even now, whatever you will ask of God, God will give it you. Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believe you this? She said to him, Yes, Lord: I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calls for you. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came to him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goes to the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

Jesus therefore again groaning in himself comes to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay on it. Jesus said, Take you away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time he stinks: for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, Said I not to you, that, if you would believe, you should see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I knew that you hear me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them, Loose him, and let him go. (John 11:1-44)

A great multitude therefore of the Jews knew that he was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also: Because many of the Jews, by reason of him, went away, and believed in Jesus.

And on the next day, a great multitude that was to come to the festival day, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried: Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. (John12:11-13)

Illness not to Death but to Glory

Conference for the Theological and Historical Examination of the Orthodox/Catholic Dialogue

The Solon and Marianna Patterson Triennial Conference for the Theological and Historical Examination of the Orthodox/Catholic Dialogue Fordham University, The Orthodox Christian Studies Program

On June 28-30, 2010, we will host the first installment of the Patterson Triennial Conference for the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Dialogue. The title of the Conference is "Orthodox Constructions of the West." Registration for the Conference will begin in February.

Orthodox Constructions of the West Concept and Abstract

In preparation for the publication of Orthodox Readings of Augustine (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008), the co-founding directors of the Orthodox Christian Studies Program were struck by ways in which Orthodox authors, especially in the twentieth century, had created artificial categories of “East” and “West” and then used that distinction as a basis for self-definition. The history of Orthodox Christianity is typically narrated by Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike as developing in the ‘East’, which is geographically ambiguous, but usually refers to the region in Europe east of present-day Croatia, Hungary and Poland. In contemporary Orthodoxy, ‘West’ refers not simply to a geographical location, but to a form of civilization that was shaped and influenced by Latin Christendom, which includes both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The “West,” thus, represents a cluster of theological, cultural and political ideas against which Orthodox self-identify. In other words, Orthodox self-identification often engages in a distorted apophaticism: Orthodoxy is what the “West” is not.

Given that much of the Orthodox world has until recently suffered oppression from the Ottomans and the Communists, one can read the creation of the “East-West” binary as a post-colonial search for an authentic Orthodox identity in the wake of such domination. After centuries of repression, it is not surprising that the Orthodox recovery of identity would take the form of opposition to that which is seemingly the religious, cultural and political “Other.” The question that the conference will attempt to answer is whether such a construction has as much to do with Orthodox identify formation vis-à-vis the West as it does with genuine differences. By creating this opposition to the “West,” do Orthodox communities not only misunderstand what Western Christians believe but, even more egregiously, have they come to believe certain things about their own tradition and teachings that are historically untrue? The importance of addressing these questions is not simply limited to the theological realm. There is evidence of anti-democracy and anti-human rights rhetoric coming from traditional Orthodox countries that have recently been liberated from communism, and this rhetoric often associates liberal forms of democracy and the notion of human rights in general as “Western” and, therefore, not Orthodox. In other words, the self-identification vis-à-vis the “West” is affecting the cultural and political debates in the traditional Orthodox countries in Eastern Europe. Insofar as this conference addresses the broader theme of identity formation, its impact is potentially far-reaching, as it hopes to influence the production of theological, cultural and political ideas within contemporary Orthodoxy.

The purpose of this conference is to explore how these artificial binaries were first created and, by exposing them, make possible a more authentic recovery of the rich Orthodox tradition that is unfettered by self-definition vis-à-vis the proximate other. It is also expected that the deconstruction of false caricatures of West will impact the discussion on culture and politics throughout the Orthodox world, as well as assist in moving the ecumenical conversation forward.

Conference for the Theological and Historical Examination of the Orthodox/Catholic Dialogue

Feast of the Annunciation

Annunciation

In the Russian language this holy day is called Blagovescheniye - "the announcement of glad tidings," because this was the first time that the glad tidings of the coming of the Savior were proclaimed to the world. Annunciation generally falls during the Great Lent, but it is of such great importance that it is still celebrated even if it coincides with Holy Friday or Pascha. When the Annunciation falls on the exact date of Pascha the two feasts are celebrated and it is called Kyriopascha.

When Mary became of age, according to Hebrew custom of the time, she could no longer stay at the Temple, but had to either return to her parents or marry. Since Joachim and Anna were dead, and Mary had given a vow of virginity to the Temple's High Priest, it was decided to betroth her to a distant relative who would be able to protect and care for her. She, therefore, went to live in Nazareth with Joseph, who was a carpenter.

Here according to tradition, while Mary was reading from the prophet Isaiah about the birth of the Messiah to a virgin, the angel Gabriel appeared to her. "And the angel came in unto her and said, "Hail, thou who art most fully favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.' And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast about in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.' Then said Mary unto the angel, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?' And the angel answered and said unto her, 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that Holy Being who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' .And Mary said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word." And the angel departed from her" (Luke 1: 28-38).

Magnificat

My soul doth magnify the Lord.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;

for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Because he that is mighty,

hath done great things to me;

and holy is his name.

And his mercy is from generation unto generations,

to them that fear him.

He hath shewed might in his arm:

he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat,

and hath exalted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things;

and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He hath received Israel his servant,

being mindful of his mercy:

As he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Feast of the Annunciation

Anticipating Lazarus

And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion....Dylan Thomas

Better than anyone, Dylan Thomas would have known that once a poem passes the lips or drips off the end of a pen all exclusivity of ownership or control of meaning is lost to the poet. Dylan was fond of talking about that elliptical obscurity that a poet is allowed to interject into the work, those gaps and points of ingress and regress and egress, where the individual imagination wanders in and out and back again, adding and subtracting images and ideas as it pleases. And in that way, by means of what is not said, a poem takes life and flight, and all of us individually, including the poet, gets to own some idiosyncratic part of the poem that cannot be taken away or diminished or forbidden, so today I read:

Matins Canon, Ode 3

Today Lazarus dies. But this death does not escape the divine eye of Jesus. Therefore, He spoke to His disciples and said: My friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I shall go and raise him up.

When you spoke of returning to Judea, you frightened your apostles, O Lord: but Thomas, filled with fervor, cried out: Let us go there for He is our Life; if we die, He shall raise us up.

….And death shall have no dominion!!

Anticipating Lazarus

Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian

Κύριε καὶ Δέσποτα τῆς ζωῆς μου, πνεῦμα ἀργίας, περιεργίας, φιλαρχίας, καὶ ἀργολογίας μή μοι δῷς.

Πνεῦμα δὲ σωφροσύνης, ταπεινοφροσύνης, ὑπομονῆς, καὶ ἀγάπης χάρισαί μοι τῷ σῷ δούλῳ.

Ναί, Κύριε Βασιλεῦ, δώρησαι μοι τοῦ ὁρᾶν τὰ ἐμὰ πταίσματα, καὶ μὴ κατακρίνειν τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς εἶ, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

O Lord and Master of my life, give me not the spirit of sloth, idle curiosity , lust for power and idle talk.

But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brother. For blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Here is the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian, who, some traditions claim, was born in Nisibis [modern Nusaybin, Turkey] within the first few years of the 4^th Century.

On October 5, 1920, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed St. Ephrem as a Doctor of the Church because of the richness of his hymn cycles and homilies, and most particularly for the depth of his insights into Scripture. There are approximately 400 poetic hymns attributable directly to St. Ephrem that have come down to us today.

St. Ephrem was a wild boy, lazy and recalcitrant, susceptible to temptations of the flesh, with a hot temper. A brief imprisonment reoriented his attention and while still a youth, he joined a group of ascetic men and women, called respectively, brothers and sisters of the covenant This group was a Syriac prototype of early Christian monasticism, that was also in its infancy in Egypt at the time of St. Ephrem's years in Nisibis. We can see now that there were many ascetic ideas and practices shared in these early monastic communities of the near and middle east. Some of the most important counsels concerning the ascetic life and life of unceasing prayer are contained in this Lenten supplication from the stylus of St. Ephrem. During this period St. Ephrem also became a highly revered and talented student in the exegetical tradition of his patron, James, Bishop of Nisibi. For his exegetical illumination, St. Ephrem earned the title of Doctor of the Syrians.

When Nisibi was overrun by the Persians in 363, St. Ephrem moved from his great house in Nisibi that had become a renowned center for the study of Scripture. He went to Edessa where he lived in solitude, only leaving his retreat to preach and teach, and during a great famine where he spent the waning energies of his old age in begging for the poor and working to help them though an otherwise impossible time of starvation and grinding poverty.

Tradition also tells us that he was ordained to the deaconate by St. Basil the Great, though he refused to be ordained to the priesthood, but rather taught hymnody and preached the gospel to ordinary people and nuns. Of Ephrem, St. John Chrysostom wrote: "The great Ephrem is scourge of the slothful, consoler of the afflicted, educator, instructor and exhorter of youth, mirror of monks, leader of penitents, goad and sting of heretics, reservoir of virtues, and the home and lodging of the Holy Spirit." [from PRINCIPI APOSTOLORUM PETRO (On St. Ephrem the Syrian), Benedict XV]

“Oh Lord and Master of my life, give to me not the spirit of sloth...” In this striking and powerful opening to the prayer above, St. Ephrem does two things:

He surrenders all of himself to Christ by calling on him as Lord and as Master, but not just as Lord and Master at a distance, but as Lord and Master of my life!! A Lord and Master intimately and personally engaged with each of us, from the very beginning of our life.

And then he implores of Him, this divine ruler and teacher, author of life, to protect him from all temptations of the spirit of sloth. He begs to be relieved from this one great debilitating weakness, from even the least temptation toward doubt, or lameness of spirit. He begs freedom from spiritual lassitude and apathy that deadens the heart and the intellect equally leaving one open to all the rest of what comes when we convince ourselves we cannot ever become truly holy, when we kill in ourselves all hope and thus all faith, and thereby all our capacity to truly love selflessly.

The Greek text here translates as acedia, or sloth prompted by spiritual despondency, which is the self-delusion of the impossibility of ever achieving sanctity. Acedia is the great scourge of the monastic, and of all lay men and women who choose to follow the royal way of contemplative prayer and ascetic living, and even of those who watch from a distance but still try to lead a life influenced by the gospels and by liturgy and liturgical prayer.

To pray this prayer aloud and with open heart, it cannot help but plunge us into the depths of humility. St. Ephrem declares emphatically, from the very first moment, that none but Christ is Master of Life, Master of each individual life, whether we offer ourselves to Him or not.

None of the rest of the prayer can be prayed without this initial surrender and the humble petition for the spiritual freedom, the graced freedom necessary to fulfill the rest of the prayer.

But there is another key to this prayer and that is in its simple-minded presumption that if one asks for the grace to be gracious and spiritually free that it will be there. For fallen man, who fell out of grace by choice, to say to the Christ “Give to me not...!!” is the height of great expectations.

Who are we to say “give to me not....”? Well not only did St. Ephrem learn some things about freedom while enslaved to the temptations of the world, but he also learned something about his Lord and Master in the meanwhile as well. He learned that if you ask of God any grace necessary to sanctity that which is profane, your petition would never be denied. We may or may not be granted earthly treasures but of the treasures of heaven, we will be given, pressed down and over flowing.

It would not be for another ten years or more after the death of St. Ephrem that St. John Cassian would cross over the land, where the teachings of St. Ephrem were widely known, to stay for a time in a monastery in Bethlehem. It was from the renown of the great teacher, St. Ephrem and another contemporary, Evagrius Ponticus of Egypt, that St. John would learn of the Greco-Roman list of evil temptations and thoughts. And so it was in that patrimonial line of eastern monastic fathers, and from the systematic stylus of St. John Cassian that the western catholic world would get what we now recognize as the list of the seven deadly sins. In the Greco-Roman tradition there were in fact eight evil thoughts whose definitions and cures comprised most of what we know as St. John Cassian's Institutes.

But it seems to me as I sit here writing that the most important message that both St. Ephrem and St. John teach us, is the lesson which makes all else possible and spiritually useful. It is this great and holy presumption that when it comes to our sanctity there is nothing too great to ask for, to nag for, to presume to expect, to dare to hope:

"For the Lord, Who wants to bestow what is eternal and heavenly. encourages us as it were to coerce Him by our persistence. He not only neither disdains nor refuses the persistent but He even welcomes and praises them, and He very graciously promises that He will give them whatever they have perseveringly hoped for when He says: 'Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks it shall be opened.' And again: 'Everything whatever that you ask for in prayer you shall receive if you believe, and nothing shall be impossible for you.' "

St. John Cassian.

Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian