Tag Archives: memorials

To widen our heart beyond the bearable.

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It being the day (2003) that Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh fell asleep in Christ, I want to share a quote in his memory:

“The Gospel is a harsh document; the Gospel is ruthless and specific in what it says; the Gospel is not meant to be re-worded, watered down and brought to the level of either our understanding or our taste. The Gospel is proclaiming something which is beyond us and which is there to stretch our mind, to widen our heart beyond the bearable at times, to recondition all our life, to give us a world view which is simply the world upside-down and this we are not keen to accept.”

― Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh

Patiently pulling out the thorns.

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Today marks three years since the repose in the Lord of Elder Ephraim, at St. Anthony’s Monastery in Arizona, where he had lived most of the time since he founded it in 1995; it was one of seventeen Orthodox monasteries he established in North America. If you’d like to know more, any of these articles would be a good start:

Geronda Ephraim (from St. Anthony’s) or Ephraim (Moraitis) of Philotheou

Oh, and this one is lovely, featuring more stories from his life and photos of his funeral: Elder Ephraim has reposed.

It was encouraging to read in the St. Anthony’s article especially about his mother’s work — including prayer, above all — in helping to form the soul of this man, whose life in many ways has been a powerful gift to the world.

Here is a quote from Elder Ephraim that a friend sent today:

“Since you follow the Savior Christ… your greatest duty is to bear all suffering, whether it comes from nature, indolence, sin, or people. Since we desire to live a Christ-like life, we are obligated to submit to God’s will because all things come from God. And since they are from God, and thus are the divine will… Shall we not obey? Shall we not cry out with the blessed Job, ‘As it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass. Blessed be the name of the Lord’ (Job 1:21).

“Through patience and thanksgiving, then, we show obedience to the divine will… Therefore, let us struggle; let us make our souls keen by working them over the whetstone of patience, in order to carry out a work pleasing to God. Afflictions, illnesses, distresses, trials – none of these will separate us from the love of Christ. For we have already been taught that narrow and difficult is the way which leads those who walk along it into the life without sorrow…

“Along the difficult way – that is, the trial of sickness and so forth – the thorn of doubt, of impatience, of cowardice comes to rend the garment of the soul. What is needed, therefore, is to pull out this thorn through faith, hope, and patience, having Jesus Christ as a model. Throughout His earthly life, he had many afflictions, and his All-holy soul was oppressed by many thorns, and so He exclaimed, ‘In your patience, you will gain your souls’ (Luke 21:19).”

+Elder Ephraim of Arizona, Counsels from the Holy Mountain

 

I hear the doors clicking shut.

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This morning I attended the memorial service for a dear woman whom I met on our first day in this county in which I still live. For some years our husbands were in leadership together in church, and in spite of a notable age difference we couples remained good friends for the whole 49 years leading up to now, when neither couple remains as a couple earthbound.

We used to make these friendship quilts.

Many of the people whom I saw today, I hadn’t seen in more than twenty years, back when we were in the same homeschooling community. In some cases, it took a few seconds for us to recognize each other’s faces that were so familiar, though mysteriously strange at the same time.

As I was driving to the event I began to feel the weight of the accumulation of changes among all of us, especially the losses. After decades of living, we have racked up disappointments, heartaches and traumas. The days we lived back then, whether happy or sad, are not to be lived again. The “loss” of my friend Martha seemed to my melancholic mind a sort of culmination.

But once I arrived it was impossible to retain that melancholy; Martha’s love for God and for us continues to encourage us. Everyone I talked to knows “that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Even the ones among us for whom heartaches are fresh and ongoing spoke of this truth, and of the increases in grace and mercies they have known, and of their Blessed Hope. The last hymn we sang together was “When We All Get to Heaven.”

Friends from back then who are grandparents now.

It’s only been two years since I first posted the poem below, but I wanted it again today. Of course Martha is not a loss. She is one of whom Christ said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” And as for those heartaches, etc. — it’s not over till it’s over.

EVERNESS

One thing does not exist: Oblivion.
God saves the metal and he saves the dross.
And his prophetic memory guards from loss
The moons to come, and those of evenings gone.
Everything in the shadows in the glass
Which, in between the day’s two twilights, you
Have scattered by the thousands, or shall strew
Henceforward in the mirrors that you pass.
And everything is part of that diverse
Crystalline memory, the universe;
Whoever through its endless mazes wanders
Hears door on door click shut behind his stride,
And only from the sunset’s farther side
Shall view at last the Archetypes and the Splendors.

-Jorge Luis Borges
translated by Richard Wilbur

Remembering Father Thomas

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On this day in 2015 Father Thomas Hopko fell asleep in death. His life and teachings were important in my first years in the Orthodox Church especially, so I wanted to post a quote from him today. Then I remembered his famous 55 Maxims that so many people have found helpful; here is a link to a nice presentation of them: Maxims. A sampling:

-Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
-Don’t try to convince anyone of anything.
-Endure the trial of yourself and your faults serenely, under God’s mercy.
-Do your work, then forget it.
-Read the scriptures regularly.

And a quote for right now:

The lenten season is the time for our conscious return to our true home. It is the time set aside for us to come to ourselves and to get up and go to the divine reality to which we truly belong.  

-Father Thomas Hopko

Memory eternal!