Website on the Holy Mountain

Site on the Holy Mountain

This site has a good deal of excellent information on the Holy Mountain.

The Wisdom of Solomon

Love justice, ye rulers of the earth; set your mind upon the Lord, as is your duty, and seek him in simplicity of heart; for he is found by those who trust him without question, and makes himself known to those who never doubt him.

Dishonest thinking cuts men off from God, and if fools will take liberties with his power, he shows them up for what they are.

Wisdom will not enter a shifty soul, nor make her home in a body that is mortgaged to sin.

This holy spirit of discipline will have nothing to do with falsehood; she cannot stay in the presence of unreason, and will throw up her case at the approach of injustice.

Wisdom is spirit devoted to man's good, and she will not hold a blasphemer blameless for his words, because God is a witness of his inmost being, who sees clear into his heart and hears every word he says.

For the spirit of the Lord fills the whole earth, and that which holds all things together is well aware of what men say. Hence no man can utter injustice and not be found out, nor will justice overlook him when she passes sentence.

The devices of a godless man will be brought to account, and a report of his words will come before the Lord as proof of his iniquity; no muttered syllable escapes that vigilant ear.

Beware, then, of futile grumbling, and avoid all bitter words; for even a secret whisper will not go unheeded, and a lying tongue is a man's destruction.

Do not stray from the path of life and so court death; do not draw disaster on yourselves by your own actions. For God did not make death, and takes no pleasure in the destruction of any living thing; he created all things that they might have being.

The creative forces of the world make for life; there is no deadly poison in them.

Death is not king on earth, for justice is immortal; but godless men by their words and deeds have asked death for his company. Thinking him their friend, they have made a pact with him because they are fit members of his party; and so they have wasted away.

Christ the Stone

Christ is the Stone, the glorious Stone, the uncut Stone, rejected by the builders who were too blind to see his Ineffable Glory, so they cast him away.

He is the Stone laid in Zion, the Cornerstone of the Eternal and Imperishable Kingdom of God.

Hypocrisy according to St Maximos

Hypocrisy is the pretense of friendship, or hatred hidden in the form of friendship, or enmity operating under the guise of affection, or envy simulating the character of love, or a style of life adorned with the fiction but not the reality of virtue, or the pretense of righteousness maintained in external appearance, or deceit with the outer form of truth. Hypocrisy is the trade of those who emulate the serpent with their twistings and twinings.

St Maximos the Confessor
Third Century on Love

Text 67

Do Not Hate!

If we detect any trace of hatred in our hearts against any man whatsoever for committing any faults, we are utterly estranged from love for God, since love for God absolutely precludes us from hating any man.

June 16/29

OUR HOLY AND WONDERWORKING FATHER TIKHON, BISHOP OF AMATHIS IN CYPRUS
AND ST COLMAN MC ROI, ABBOT

Troparion of St Tikhon, Tone 3

God called thee to the sacred priesthood / as a worthy servant of the Holy Trinity. / Thou didst shine with the grace of godliness / and strengthen the Church by many miracles. / O righteous Tikhon, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Troparion of St Colman Mc Roi, Tone 6

Disciple of St Columcille, / thou didst return to his native land and found a monastery at Dublin. / As thou now standest before Christ with the Angels, / pray, O Colman, that those who hymn thee may obtain His great mercy.

Kontakion of St Tikhon, Tone 3

Thou wast resplendent in asceticism, O beloved of God, / and didst receive power from the Holy Spirit / to destroy idolatry, put demons to flight, / to save souls and to heal the sick. / We honour thee, O blessed Tikhon.

The Mystery of the Incarnation

The great mystery of the Incarnation remains a mystery eternally.

Not only is what is not yet seen greater then what has been revealed--for it is revealed merely to the extent that those saved by it can grasp it--but also what is revealed still remains entirely hidden and is by no means known as it really is.

What I have said should not appear paradoxical. For God is beyond being and transcends all beyond-beingness; and so, when He wished to come down to the level of being, He became being in a manner which transcends being.

Thus, too, although transcending man, yet out of love for man He truly became man by taking on the substance of men; but the manner in which He became man always remains unrevealed, for He was made man in a way which transcends man.

St Maximos the Confessor

St Nikolai of Zhicha - New Coth and Old Garments

"No man putteth a piece of new cloth on an old garment," which is to say that a wise man does not, but an ignorant man may.

This action symbolizes the usual, unchristian method of correcting a bad man by making superficial corrections; or reforming an old sinner merely by reading him a new lecture on morals; or giving a morsel to a prodigal son instead of turning him back to his father's house.

By these palliative measures, yea, by this mending of a big old evil with a little piece of something new, one makes the evil worse. This is a reproach to all superficial attempts to correct human society by mending it piecemeal, instead of by a fundamental and thorough renewal through Christ.

Second Century on Theology--St Maximos the Confessor

Before his visible advent in the flesh, the Logos of God dwelt among the patriarchs and prophets in a spiritual manner, prefiguring the mysteries of His advent.

After his incarnation, He is present in a similar way not only to those who are still beginners, nourishing them spiritually and leading them towards maturity of the divine perfection, but also to the perfect, secretly pre-delineating in them the features of His future advent, as if in an icon.

Degrees of Reality--The Hierarchical Nature of the Cosmos

The doctrine of the degrees of reality, of the hierarchical and symbolic nature of the cosmos, is the key to all arcane symbolism.

Today's Saints

HOLY PROPHET AMOS
ST LAZARUS, KING OF SERBIA

Troparion of the Prophet Amos, Tone 1

God the Word hath revealed thee, O Prophet Amos, / as a seer of things sublime. / He hath been pleased with thy life and labours, / for thou didst rebuke the ungodly and die as a martyr. / Wherefore thou wast found worthy of eternal life; / we beseech thee to intercede for us all.

Troparion of St Lazarus of Serbia, Tone 3

Thou didst desire the beauty of God's glory / and please Him on this earth. / Thou didst faithfully double the talent that was entrusted to thee. / Thou didst suffer as a martyr and receive thy reward from Christ. / O Lazarus, entreat Him to save our souls.

Kontakion of the Prophet Amos, Tone 4

Thou didst purify thy burning heart in the Spirit, / O glorious Prophet Amos. / Thou didst receive the gift of prophecy from heaven / and didst proclaim throughout the world: / This is our God and there is none beside Him.

Kontakion of St Lazarus of Serbia, Tone 8

Thou art praised by thy flock as an excellent champion, / as a courageous martyr, O divinely-wise Lazarus. / As thou hast boldness before Christ the Saviour, / entreat Him to grant humility to those who praise thee, / that we may cry: Rejoice, O wondrous Lazarus.