We are now more than halfway through Lent. Let us make at least a little act of self-denial every day: let us suppress a negative thought or laziness or fear: “Lord, out of love for You! I turn my eyes to Your cross. How much suffering You have endured for my sake – scourging, crowning with thorns, the way of the cross, crucifixion! You shed all Your blood for me, You paid the price for me, You love me! And what am I doing for You and for the salvation of my soul? Lord, give me true zeal and help me to deny myself in particular situations, to take up my cross and to follow You.

“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;

so you will be My disciples.“

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;

so you will be My disciples.

By what will the Father be glorified? By our bearing much fruit. But we will not bear much fruit by engaging in many activities independently of God’s will. If we are independent of Jesus in our problems — that is, if we do not remain in Him and He in us, but remain only in our own will, our own ideas, and our own emotions — then we can only produce abundant confusion, which is of no benefit to the Kingdom of God.

We can bear fruit only if we abide in Christ and are Christ’s disciples. But Jesus sets a condition for each of His disciples: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that we must rid ourselves of the material means of life and the like. However, it is necessary that in every situation we renounce our own will, which refuses to submit to God’s will, and this is connected with a certain test of faith. The fruit that we then bear — spiritual fruit — remains for all eternity.

Sometimes the Lenten period is a time similar to the time which Jesus spent in the wilderness. He prayed and fasted, and was tempted by the devil. Facing certain trials, we also are exposed to attacks by God’s enemy. The enemy works through lies. He tries to instil hatred towards our closest relatives and friends and ultimately even towards Jesus and the Heavenly Father. He attacks us with all kinds of blasphemous thoughts and seeks to lay the blame on God for evil which he caused himself. God endowed man with free will and respects it. Evil is either caused by the enemy of God or it may be caused by ourselves when we are deceived by our feelings, reason, lusts or pride. God causes this evil to work for good if we humble ourselves before Him and walk in the truth, humility, discipline and love, if we bear one another’s burdens and show mercy to those who hurt us consciously or unconsciously. God is LOVE. He gave His Son for us (Joh 3:16), and in Him we have eternal life. “Whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Heb 12:6) and lays a cross on him.

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

St Ephraim’s prayer for Lent reads: “O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, of discouragement, of lust for power, and of vain speaking (vain thoughts and daydreams) give not unto me!” So the first problem is spiritual and physical idleness which leads to mental dullness, and the power that should be transformed into love is transformed into self-love, anger, self-pity, daydreams and unchaste thoughts and feelings. An old proverb says: “Idleness is the mother of all vices.” In this prayer, we pray for deliverance from idleness and three more spirits, namely: discouragement, lust for power or self-love, and vain speaking. In fact, our vain speaking just proves that our thoughts are vain, worldly and self-centred. Therefore we must strike at the root and change our way of thinking. But this is not a one-time act. Our worldly, futile and selfish thoughts causing us to be idle and discouraged must be changed time and again in the obedience of faith.

“I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.“

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me,

and I in him, bears much fruit.

In the parable of the vine, Jesus explains that those who believe in Him should remember to be united to Him. This is expressed in the words, ‘… abides in Me, and I in him’. The word ‘abide’ also indicates that being united to Jesus and His will is not enough in only a specific case. We must continue abiding in this spiritual union.

Think about the word of life and answer these questions:

Who is the vine? Who are the branches?

What relationship do you see between a branch and a vine?

God’s Word says: “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two mighty eagle’s wings to fly into the wilderness to her refuge…” (Rev 12:13-14)

Just as Moses, sent by God, led the people out of the slavery of Egypt into the wilderness, so also today God sends the Queen of Prophets to lead us on our way through the spiritual wilderness. She knows the way, she walked it before us.

God has given us “two mighty eagle’s wings” – prayer and fasting. These are the wings that have the power to lift us onto the path of holiness. The lives of saints testify to this. Without them, we will not get out of Egypt – that is, from bondage to the spirit of the world. These are the means of coming out of Egypt into the wilderness, onto the way of purification, which must follow conversion. These wings will help us break the bonds of Egypt and begin to live in God’s presence, to know the depth of our misery and God’s immense love.

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

The saints often encourage us to remember the Last Things especially during Lent: death, judgment, heaven and hell. God knows the day, hour and place of your death. There is nothing more certain than the fact that this earthly pilgrimage will end one day for each of us. And then we shall stand before the judgment seat of God. Jesus says: “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed.” We shall be judged before angels, the whole universe and all mankind. What to do so as not to hear one day the words of Jesus spoken to the foolish virgins: “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you!” What to do to hear the words instead: “Come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom!” What to do? To live by faith, to believe in Jesus and His word, and not to believe the liar and deceiver who leads us away from Jesus and from His programme given to us.

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…

He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death of the cross.“

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…

He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death of the cross.”

What mind was in Christ Jesus? And therefore, what mind should be in us? Not the proud mind of the spirit of the world. Rather, Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

In what did His great humiliation consist? In this: Being in very nature God, co-equal with the Father, He made Himself nothing, humbled Himself and took on human nature. Jesus was obedient to the Heavenly Father also in that He accepted the means of our salvation – death on the cross.

Martyrs and Other Saints

+ Elijah – Tuptalo

January

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Original sin is in every one of us. It is inborn stupidity which deceives us all our life. We must fight against it. That is why Jesus says: “Deny yourself!” Deny that lie in you which wants to harm you, leads you by the nose into self-destruction and finally into hell. That’s our pride. If someone points out our fault or tells us that we are proud, we are mortally offended. How foolish we are! We should be grateful to everyone who tells us: you are such and such. Even if someone spat in our face, we should be thankful: “Really, maybe I do not yet understand what you tell me but I am aware of my sins…” If you are humble, the devil flees. Let us walk in the truth and we will fear nothing. Or else, how shall we stand before the judgment seat of God where eye witnesses will accuse us?