Wisdom of the Oriental Orthodox Fathers

[minasoliman]

And now, Lord of hosts,
awesome majesty, unwavering vision,
all expansive will, undiminishing bounty,
how can our dances and songs of joy
do honor to even one drop of your goodness?
You earnestly strive to prepare for my salvation,
but let me write what is greater, that it might be
         told in the future.
You have not been called "angel lover,"
although the founder of their kingdom.
And of the heavens with their luminaries,
         all your handiwork,
never have you been described as loving them.
Rather to your greater honor and praise,
you preferred the love of mankind.
For this reason you doubly magnified your name
         beyond telling,
with frightening mystery.
You called the heavenly host dressed in light,
your servants and stewards of special missions,
and us mortals, born below,
you adorned with your worshipful, lordly, and
         godly name,
exceeding again all bounds of measure and weight,
by the flow of your power and exceeding goodness,
your inspired endless praise.
And by becoming man, you, one of "the One who is,"
your gifts of life, diverse talents,
splendid divine works and miracles,
poured down abundantly upon some who
asked for themselves, and others who
asked blessings for others.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[geovar]

Write 'sugar' on a piece of paper, it won't taste sweet. Only sugar when tasted will give one sweetness. Though many think of God, they never taste him. Taste and see that he is good
HG Kuriakose Mar Gregoriose
(Pampadi Thirumeni)
(5 April, 1885- 5 April, 1965)
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

[minasoliman]

My dear reader, you may live for tens of thousands of days, so it would be prudent for you to dedicate a few minutes everyday asking God to shed His light on you.  Through this you would come to know the truth about yourself.  This truth is that God occupies Himself with you as if there were no other creature in all of creation to concern Himself with besides you.

...

When the son who spent all of his money came back to himself (Luke 15:17), his father's great love was very clear to him as he immediately ran towards him, fell on his neck, and kissed him.  The son could not fathom his father's favorable reaction before he decided to return.  He hadn't even considered his welcoming embrace a possibility.

...

The Psalmist says, "For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" (Ps. 18:28).  It is hard for a person to know the depth of their soul on their own.  If one tries, he will fall in one of two dangers:  he will either consider himself righteous and idolize himself with pride, or suffer destructive depression upon discovering his weaknesses, sins and inability to change him.  The light of God gives us amazing hope, and opens the doors of His heavens before us; those heavens being the home of our Father Who awaits our coming and welcomes us as though we are in our own home.

...

The Lord Jesus Christ assures us of His appreciation of the human being when He says: "For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36)  He wants us to care for ourselves and not for our belongings.

...

St. Clement of Alexandria states that the human being is the greatest of creatures, and most precious to Him.  Man was in His thought before the creation.  With His infinite love, God made the world for the human being, and then created him on His image and likeness so that man could taste the partnership with Him.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, Origen's student, states that man is the most beloved creature to God.  He did not create him through necessity, but through His great love.

...

The apostle Paul gives us the following advice:  "For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged," (1 Cor. 11:31).  Our serious self-examination and our grievances against ourselves before God bring us before the Cross and open the gates of hope in front of us, exempting us from judgment in the Great Day of the Lord.  Our Christ elevates us to the throne of His grace and instead of being concerned with our sins, our energy will be consumed in His great love.

Fr. Tadros Malaty, 21st Century

[dhinuus]

"Prayer is not an attempt to subdue the will of God for our desires, but is always an attempt to subjugate our will to the will of God,"

- Patriarch Ignatius Zakka

[minasoliman]

In the manner of Peter, seeking to follow you,
          God of all,
I was swallowed by the waves of the sea of my sinful life.
Extend your life-giving right hand to help me, for I am
          foundering.
In the voice the Canaanite women, I pray from
          the bottom of my heart,
like a starving dog yelping, wretched and anxious,
          begging for scraps,
a few crumbs of the bread of life
from your bountiful table.
Save my physical altar, Son of bitterness,
who came to rescue me when I was lost.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

No matter how great the mounting debt of my sins,
the saving grace of your trials
is greater by far.
You were nailed to the cross, the instrument of death,
on your all-embracing creative hands, which
          hold all souls,
so my disobedient hand might be stilled.
Out of compassion for my wantonness,
you bound the motion of your two life-giving feet,
so they might be pawned for my miserable feet,
always racing toward brutishness.


St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

You did not order the hands of those who beat
          your head to shrivel.
You, who could uproot the fig tree without effort.
This example gives me hope of reprieve.
You did not threaten me with the evil whipping
that was you own lot,
          though you are proclaimed God.
You who darkened the sun
and grant rest with goodness to me a mortal.
You did not dry the evil mouth of those who cursed you,
you who tinted the image of the moon with
          the color of blood,
so you might strengthen my meek tongue to praise you.

You did not rebuke the wanton insulators,
you who shook the very firmament,
so you might anoint my miserable head with
          the oil of compassion.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

Today the churches of Egypt became like a censer with fire coming out of it mixed with incense raised to the heavens as a sweet aroma so that God may have compassion on His people and perform unprecedented wonders.

His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut, August 2013 (on the burning of the Churches during the turmoil in Egypt)

[Mor Ephrem]

Today the churches of Egypt became like a censer with fire coming out of it mixed with incense raised to the heavens as a sweet aroma so that God may have compassion on His people and perform unprecedented wonders.

His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut, August 2013 (on the burning of the Churches during the turmoil in Egypt)

With faith like that, how are seas not parting and mountains not drowning in their midst?  Those must be "precedented". 

[minasoliman]

Today the churches of Egypt became like a censer with fire coming out of it mixed with incense raised to the heavens as a sweet aroma so that God may have compassion on His people and perform unprecedented wonders.

His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut, August 2013 (on the burning of the Churches during the turmoil in Egypt)

With faith like that, how are seas not parting and mountains not drowning in their midst?  Those must be "precedented". 

I pray that the seas that are parting to bring people to a new state of mind, worthy of "milk and honey", and I pray that the mountains removed be the evil dispositions of the bigots.

[minasoliman]

We also have in the God-inspired Scripture supplies of humility, and no lack of arguments to bring us down and help us to keep silence. If you, as if you were about to go up to Mt. Sinai, shrink from writing 'to such a man' (referring to me), and think fit to use David's words which he says to those who were urging him to take Saul's daughter in marriage, "Is it a small thing in your eyes that I should be son-in-law to the king?" (1 Sam. 18:23), while I am a poor man and inglorious, I also, when required to make answer to your question, make use of these words: "I am not a prophet, nor the son of prophets, but I am a shepherd, and a scraper of sycamore fruit" (Amos 7:14), if it is not too much for me to say even this: for I am not worthy to tell the righteousnesses of God, and to take his covenant in my mouth (Ps. 49:16 LXX). However, since the time of the present struggles does not allow silence, I accept an honourable defeat from you, and turn to the question. And in this I defeat you, since I show that you do not practise humility in a philosophic spirit.

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

Perfection is not found in anything by nature, except in God only.

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

History will exalt the memory of Pope Peter (Petros), because the Russian Caesar sent his delegates to offer putting the Coptic Church under the protection of Caesar. The Pope refused the proposal graciously by asking: "Does your Caesar live forever?" When the envoy answered that he would die like all human beings, the Pope told him that he preferred the protector of the church would be her true shepherd, the King that does not die.

From the Coptic Synexarium on HH Pope St. Petros VII, 19th Century

[minasoliman]

You did not rip the jaws of the God-killer who called you
          a fanatic, charlatan,
you who rent the hardness of the rocky tomb,
so you might mercifully grant my soul,
though it is incapable of goodness,
a respite from the burden of emptiness.

You did not run the swords of the guards through
          their bowels,
you who condemned the snake to slither on the ground,
so you might preserve the bones of my tormented body,
to be worthy of resurrection.

You flatten and thrust into the abyss,
those who sealed the tomb upon the bearer of life,
in order that you might rest the token of your light
in the tomb of my soul.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

You did not absolutely and for all generations
          strike down
those who rumored your hand perished and
your body stolen like that of a mortal,
so that you might permit me, insignificant as I am,
to partake of that goodness which neither perishes nor
          can be harmed,
together with those chosen for salvation.

You did not turn into stone, as with Moab in
          days of old,
your frenzied persecutors who twice stole silver bribes
from the offerings in your Father's sanctuary
to betray and degrade you,
so that you might set me upon the steadfastness
          of your rock.
Although I waver and am sold to the powers of death,
I am redeemed by your blood.
You are blessed twice over and blessed again,
praised in all things, forever and ever.
Amen.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

For the true fast is a life pure from every evil act, and that we should break bread for those who are hungry.

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

Even though the Word of God is infinite, the whole of him was united to the flesh that was received from the holy Virgin, the God-bearer and ever-virgin Mary, even the very person of the Word and not a partial operation as in the prophets. How then is it anything but ridiculous for us to say that he who was in the actual divine hypostasis wholly united to a body naturally as well as miraculously is without flesh, even in the greatness of his infinite Godhead? For "there is no limit to his greatness" (Psalm 144:3 LXX), as David said, and he fills everything, and is above everything, and cannot be comprised by anyone. And the subtlety of the mystery cannot be explored by reason and intellect, how the whole of him was in flesh, and the whole of him is in all things and the whole of him is superior to all things and he himself is Ruler of all in infinity. But, that we believe that the very hypostasis of God the Word became incarnate, according to the apostolic tradition of the church that has been handed down from of old, it is superfluous for us to demonstrate by testimonies to those who have once believed in the Gospel, when John who was divine in words beyond the evangelists said, "The Word became flesh and came to dwell in us" (John 1:14).

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

For I sorrowed not for you (no tears are needed for you) but for the countries which have been deprived of you...

...

For on your account I have no weight of care and no anxiety: for well I know that everything is easy to you, and there is no impediment or difficulty of walking for your feet, which are adorned in apostolic fashion with bareness, and by their steps are able to bless even the uninhabited deserts and make them habitable; and that the lack of money in your girdles is a fulness of all abundance, so that it provides a superfluity for others also, and the staff in your hands is a symbol of the very fixity and firmness of the faith that is in you, so that it supports those who are shaken also and they do not fall; but the earth and the heaven and the air are your purse, and all the elements supply food in diverse forms and coming of itself, and make it known to everyone that "man liveth not by bread alone, but also by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

St. Severus of Antioch, 5th Century

[minasoliman]

For the next 50 days, I only want you to say to one another, "Christ is risen!" No "good morning", no "good evening", no "the food was good".  If the food was burnt, at least you don't have to admit it.

"How was the food?"

"Christ is risen!"

Fr. Abraham Wassef, Resurrection Feast 2014

[CoptoGeek]

'This Church battered by the events of history and torn by schisms is still the custodian of a great heritage. I am hopeful that through prayer and dialogue, its scattered parts can be brought together again, and its wounds healed. Communion of Faith could be restored among its different sections, and excommunications and curses could be wiped out. Then grace will abound, leading to the unity that was at the dawn of Christianity, and the gospel imperative “That all may be one”, will be fulfilled.'

The Thrice Blessed MOR IGNATIUS ZAKKA I IWAS
Patriarch of Antioch and All The East

THE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ANTIOCH AT A GLANCE, p. 55

[minasoliman]

Your victory in the battle for goodness,
for a new, immortal life of grace, baptism, resurrection,
          and renewal,
for our kinship with you and union with
          your Holy Spirit,
for forgiveness, liberation, and enlightenment,
for eternal purity, true bliss,
in communion with the angels, in unfading glory,
is the plea for reconciliation upon our lips voiced by
          our Lord on high.
And what is more awe-inspiring,
for it is a monument to your magnanimity:  the gift of
divine nature by election of your grace,
uniting us with you, Creator, by partaking of your body
and sharing in your light of life,
the fulfillment of the good promise,
which, in Paul's words, the Old Law did not have.
You, Savior, came with your father's bounty,
perfected and fulfilled in perpetuity
our undiminishing hope in you, Redeemer of all.
To you glory with your Father,
with praise and blessings to the Holy Spirit,
forever and ever.
Amen.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

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