Clean like a hospital?! [Curat ca un spital?!]

Clean like a hospital?! It’s not the case in the UK, where hospitals can be very dirty, either in Manchester or Essex, in England or Scotland alike…

From what I heard, British hospitals can be at least as dirty as in Romania. Maybe not like the dirtiest, however, they may be like the regularly dirty Romanian ones.

Thus, the legend for these images should be “clean like a bus station” – in this particular example: St Andrew Square Bus Station, Edinburgh.

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

A crossroads of the Orthodox World (6) [O răscruce a Lumii Ortodoxe]

Giving thanks for these lovely pictures (of the monastery and Essex countryside) to my reader Mihai Gociu, I am sharing an amazing writing of St. Silouan the Athonite, that I first heard (not read) while I was dining at the Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist.

St. John the Baptist’s message – “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” – is as valid today as it was some 2,000 years ago. It’s so sad that fewer and fewer people have their ears ‘tuned’ to listen to it.

Sadder still, even among the so few that hear the Forerunner’s words, few are those who can find the strength to break away from their sinful lives…

It was there, in this oasis of serene beauty and meaningfulness – sprung within a wasteland of hedonism and moral relativism as the UK is very often described by Britons themselves – that I found out why people remain so tragically unable to reach out for their Maker.

Like in other Orthodox monasteries around the world, all people (monastics and visitors) gathered in the dining hall are supposed to dine silently; only rare whispered chats break the rule.  

In the meanwhile, someone is entrusted with reading aloud from books written by Saints or Orthodox scholars, so that not only the stomach, but also the heart, be nourished.

During such a dinner like no other in my life, I heard St. Silouan’s words about humility as being the key to a meaningful life. Unless we earn true humbleness, most of our experiences in life (be them of apparent ‘spiritual’ nature) remain altogether useless.

No bit of the ‘fun’ we had in life matters in the afterlife, neither our ‘achievements’ mean anything. The only thing that counts is a genuine change of heart (repentance/metanoia)… And how few of us get at least remotely close to it, to this true way to happiness and fulfillment!

Fewer and fewer Britons believe in God, as well as countless millions of other people in the ‘civilised world’, whose emergence couldn’t be understood without Christianity.

Even among the (theoretically) 300 million Orthodox believers in the world, very few know what humbleness is and what exactly (their own pride and egoistic outlook on life) keeps them away from a happy life.

It is not the presumed lack of something that unbelievers have or yearn for (comfort, wealth, prosperity, delights, influence, glory, influence over others etc); it’s the exact opposite of what the contemporary ‘civilised world’ deems valuable.

To those very few who may still want to know why the Lord does not reveal Himself to them, St. Silouan gives a wonderful explanation, as one who has truly known his (and everyone’s) Maker. May the Lord help these ‘proud souls’ know Him!

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“We suffer because we lack humility”

 (various sources indexed) – St. Silouan the Athonite

It is a great sign of grace to learn Christian humility: it becomes easier to live, and everything becomes dearer to the heart. Only to the humble does the Lord show himself through the Holy Spirit, and if we are not humble, then we cannot see God.

Humility is that light, by means of which we can see the Light of God, just as we sing “In Your light we see the light.”

There is a great difference between the simplest person who has felt the Lord through the Holy Spirit and the person, though he may be prominent, who has not felt the grace of the Holy Spirit.

There is a great difference between believing only that God exists, experiencing Him only through nature or the Scriptures, and experiencing Him through the Holy Spirit.

If one has experienced God through the Holy Spirit, his soul burns with love for God day and night, and it can no longer be tied to anything earthly.

The soul which has not felt the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, feels joy in the vanity of earthly fame or wealth, but the soul that has experienced God through the Holy Spirit, desires only the Lord, and places no value on wealth or earthly glory.

If we were humble, the Lord in His kindness would show us everything, reveal all secrets, but we are not humble, we are proud and vain over all details, and in this we suffer ourselves and torment others.

The Lord does not reveal Himself to proud souls. The proud soul, even if it has read all the books, will never understand the Lord, for in its pride it does not allow any room for the grace of the Holy Spirit, and God is only experienced through the Holy Spirit.

Pride does not allow the soul to enter on the path of faith. I give this advice to the unbeliever: let him say, “Lord, if You exist, then enlighten me, and I will serve You with all my heart and soul.”

For this humble thought and preparedness to serve God, the Lord will certainly enlighten him.

The Lord, though He is merciful, tests the soul with hunger and does not bestow grace until it learns humility. The proud person fears reproach while the humble does not.

Whoever has acquired the meekness of Christ is always prepared to reproach himself and welcomes abuse, and sorrows when he is complimented.

But this is only the first step in humility; when the soul experiences the Lord through the Holy Spirit in His humility and meekness, then it sees itself as worse than all.

The Lord has taught me to hold my mind in hell, and not to despair. And this is how my soul becomes humble, but this is not yet real humility, which is indescribable.

As the soul moves toward the Lord, it becomes fearful, but when it sees the Lord, then it becomes immensely joyous from the beauty of His glory, and it forgets everything earthly in the face of the love of God and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. This is the Lord’s Heaven.

Love will surround everyone, and from the humility of Christ they will be glad to see others above them. The humility of Christ exists in the lowly: they are happy in their lowliness. This was given to me to understand by the Lord.

The Lord said, “Learn from Me to be meek and humble of heart.”  There are many types of humility. You can be obedient and reproach yourself in everything — this is a form of humility.

Another can repent his sins and count himself the lowest before Christ — this is also a form of humility. But when a soul sees the Lord through the Holy Spirit in all His meekness and humility, then it also becomes humbled to its limits.

This is a special sort of humility which cannot be described, it can only be experienced through the Holy Spirit.

And if people could experience the Lord through the Holy Spirit, they would all change — the wealthy would despise their wealth, the learned their studies, the powerful their glory and authority, and all would be humbled and would live in great peace and love, and the earth would be filled with great joy.

He who has experienced God through the Holy Spirit has a different understanding and taste.

The Lord loves people, but sends them sorrows, so that they can understand their weakness and be humbled, and for their humility they can accept the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit all is good, all is joyous, all is wonderful.

One might suffer greatly from poverty and ill-health, yet not be humbled: and so suffer in vain. But whoever is humbled is happy with any fate because the Lord is his wealth and joy, and all people will be amazed at the beauty of his soul.

You say, “I have great sorrow.” But I say, or rather, the Lord Himself says, “Have humility,” and you will see your sorrows dissolve into peace, so that you yourself will be amazed and say, “Why did I suffer and torment myself so?”

Now you are joyful because you have become humble and the grace of God has descended upon you. And should you even remain alone in poverty, joy will not leave you because there is the peace in your soul of which the Lord said, “I give you My peace.”

Thus does the Lord give His peace to all humble souls. The soul of the humble person is like the sea: cast a stone into the sea, and for a moment it will disturb its serenity, and then sink to the depths. Sorrows sink in the heart of the humble because the power of the Lord is with them.

Previously I thought that the Lord performed miracles only in response to the prayers of saints. But now I know that the Lord will perform a miracle even for a sinner as soon as his soul is humbled, for when a person learns humility, then the Lord shall hear his prayers.

In their inexperience, many believe that one or another saint performed a miracle, but I have learned that it is the Holy Spirit residing in a person who performs the miracle.

The Lord hopes that we will all be saved and be with Him eternally, and for that reason He listens to the prayers of a sinner for the good of others and for the one who prays.

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

A crossroads of the Orthodox World (5) [O răscruce a Lumii Ortodoxe]

As Christians worldwide are remembering St. Nicholas today, Romanians are going to the polls again to choose – as I have already anticipated – the lesser of two evils.

Both candidates swore on the Holy Bible some 72 hours ago, stating that they are not guilty of one serious (from quite a long list, actually) accusation raised against them. Supporters from both camps have serious reasons to believe they are liars.

It may not be as exactly as bad as picking between Hitler and Stalin, as our great-grandfathers had to choose 65-70 years ago, but the choice is not too far from that either.

Irrespective of who wins, we’re either on the brink of civil war of economical collapse. Or both :-(

More than it needs a President and a new (properly working, not interimary) Cabinet, this country (already a storm-tossed ship!) would need a wonder-worker like St. Nicholas…

… as he is pictured here, taming a tempest, on a wall a the Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, in Tolleshunt Knights (Maldon, the ‘irreligious’ Essex, SE of England).

This Orthodox monastery on British soil has some great icons and pictures (here’s another episode on this issue), and I find myself constantly amazed with the significations these images can reveal to one’s heart.

It seems to me that St. Nicholas only comes to the rescue when those awaiting a miracle are – although tense, maybe even frightened (click here or on the first picture for a cleared view!) holding their hands firmly on the oars.

I can’t see anyhting else but extremely hard times ahead for all Romanians, but any storms (albeit drawn upon us by our own sins) can be sailed through by those who will hold on to their faith.

Maybe such times are allowed by the Lord to see how much faith is left in Romania...

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

A crossroads of the Orthodox World (3) [O răscruce a Lumii Ortodoxe]

At the beginning of the Great Lent, when we start another journey towards celebrating Holy Pascha, here’s a little gift to some favourite fellow bloggers – Laurenţiu, Natalia, Eufemia, Claudiu, Bogdan, and Călin – who will probably enjoy these pictures from the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, a most amazing oasis of true life and true happiness in the dreadful spiritually wasteland which the UK has become.

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Of course, I’m hoping that many others will breathe in the beauty of this place, and be curious to know more about this famous Orthodox monastery on British soil… but I just felt I should send my best wishes – and in this way I also thank them for all the useful things they keep putting online – to some people who really feel that life is completely meaningless without the One Who said I am the Truth, The Way, the Life…

I thank you all, and to those who personally know me I should also say forgive me, because, although we are sharing the same path towards the Lord (as there is one true way, the Orthodox way!) , I often make mistakes: I raise expectations, and I do not live up to them; I’m egoistic and unsensitive; I’m lazy, and inconsistent; I’m self-absorbed into vain glory…

…therefore, no wonder that every now and then I feel bad about about myself… However, quite often, I also feel good for having been given the chance by the Lord to read so many good things on your blogs. It often happens that, among the people with whom I spend my time every day, I find myself more weird than a little green alien from stupid American movies. Thus, this virtual world is somehow an extension of Church life for me.

How I wish that many other people ever felt the divine inner peace that I felt for the less than 24 hours that I spent in this monastery from Tolleshunt Knights (Maldon, Essex)! How I wish that everyone – from my occasional readers to all the people I work with, and friends who feel uncomfortable with reading the spiritual aspects of my blog or are just indifferent to them – felt that their lives are meaningless without the Lord!

I am sure that I will never convince anyone of anything, and I’ve given up trying to do so through explaining, story telling (‘preaching’), sending links, offering Orthodox books… It just doesn’t seem to work.

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There are so many unhappy people around me, disheartened by a chain of broken relationships, working hard but aimlessly, wasting their lives through a robotic sequence of work + fun, toil + enjoyment, effort + amusement, over and over again... senselessly, pointlessly, without knowing where they are coming from, and which is their destination...

Sadly, most of them are too much enslaved by sin, so that they can’t understand by themselves that sexual relations out of wedlock, contraceptive pills, cigarettes, alcohol abuse, outbursts of anger, cursing etc are bad in themselves (not because the Church says so!), and that life has an eternal purpose, and it's not just meant to be filled up with hedonistic impulses...

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Anyway, I’m not trying to persuade anyone of anything, because Orthodoxy is all about seduction, and our Lord is just not a any persuasive Teacher, but the most lovable of everything worth loving – the Son of God, the MEANING of our existence, without Whom nothing would make any sense in our pitiful lives!

Nevertheless, I can always pray, be happy, and grateful to the Lord, hoping that one day, people could understand, like St. Justin Popovich – who also studied in the UK, yet he was not infected by the humanist spirit of this country! – did, that...

“There is no end to the love of the Lord Christ for man: because for us men to acquire the life eternal which is in Him, and to live by Him, nothing is required of us: not learning, nor glory, nor wealth, nor anything else that one of us does not have, but rather only that which each of us can have. And that is? Faith in the Lord Christ.” (taken from here)

Since the Lord made it possible that such a wonderful monastery exist in antichristic Britain (and especially in East England, of which Essex is part of, makes up one the most atheistic areas of the UK!), and while I could find little ‘Orthodox pockets of resistance’ in many places in the UK, I can be sure that our Lord Jesus Chist is doing everything up to Him to offer Salvation to every human being!

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As for those of us who try living a true life in Christ (and how far we are from our own ideal!), we are all responsible for helping Him bring His love into the world, not through hypocritically preaching Him to others, but through living according to His commandments...

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...so that people could see we have LOVE speaking on our behalf, not collections of ‘wise words’ from Holy Fathers that we could serve to anyone, in any circumstance, proving ‘how right we are’... Orthodoxy – which is, above denial, the only right faith – is not about ‘proving you are right’, but about having a loving heart!

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

A crossroads of the Orthodox World (2) [O răscruce a Lumii Ortodoxe]

Known to many simply as the “Orthodox Monastery in Essex,” this marvellous place hides amazing treasures, among which is this huge icon in one of the two main dinning rooms. This unsusual representation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Apostles can also be found above the iconostasis of the great church of the monastery.

I doubt that any Orthodox believer would not find it fascinating. Or maybe this icon could speak better than words even to those with a mere onlooker’s (intelectual/theoretical) interest in Orthodoxy (as sinful I have once been), which appear to be quite a few in Romania. At least this is easier to bear in the UK, a much clearer-cut distinction between believers and unbelievers…

The beauty of this image (click on the picture or here for a larger version), and the vision of the artist (quite unlike many other depictions of the Mystical Supper) had taken hold of my mind ever since I first saw it, thus I was planning to share it online with people who may never be blessed with visiting this wonderful place in Tolleshunt Knights, a typically English village in Essex. And this Great Holy Week seemed to me the best opportunity to do so.

Moreover, the Lord has recently granted me another bliss – that of being offered a wise explanation of the image. The Apostles are all dressed in white, because their feet have just been washed. This symbolises their having taken the Baptism, therefore being cleansed even before the Eucharist (as the bread, and wine are still untouched in the middle of table).

Although our Lord washed the feet of all His 12 Apostles, one of them (Judas Iscariot) appears to have lost the purity of his garments (they seem rather greyish to me), as he’s sneaking out into the night…

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Femeile în UK (6) [Women in the UK]

Una dintre realităţile despre femeile din UK pe care am descoperit-o este aceea că foarte multe dintre ele au un serviciu de la vârste fragede. Iar aceasta le aseamănă mai degrabă cu americancele decât cu alte tinere din Europa.

În Scandinavia, statul-dumnezeu (welfare state – şi nu e de mirare că ponderea ateilor este uriaşă în acele ţări, adesea privite ca etalon de bunăstare!) le permite tinerelor să călătorească, să schimbe job după job, să studieze în străinătate fără grija unui împrumut pentru studii (student loan), adică să tot experimenteze (şi bune şi rele) până după 30 de ani.

Ce să mai zic de mulţi din tineri din ţările cu virtuţi şi metehne de origine latină ca România sau din Estul fost-comunist al Europei, unde nu cred că exclusiv dificultăţile economice întârzie destul de mult desprinderea tinerilor de casa părintească?! Iar eu aş fi primul leneş de arătat cu degetul în acest sens!

Cea din primul plan al fotografiei (14 ani) lucrează ca chelneriţă, iar cea de-a doua (15 ani) urmează cursuri să devină bucătăreasă şi face ceva bănuţi din asta. Nu păreau să se încadreze în clişeul de fată din Essex (Essex girl) – prototipul personajul din bancurile cu blonde sau expresie prin care britanicii denumesc fetele de la pagina 3 (în al lor The Sun – alte pagini în tabloidele noastre, dar nu merită să dau linkuri).

Nu ştiu dacă – provenind dintr-o localitate de numai 28,000 locuitori, tocmai din Essex – vreuna dintre ele va ajunge la facultate. Dar câteva studente cu care am vorbit (şi mai frumoase, şi mai urâţele, şi care au acceptat să fie pozate, şi care nu :-) mi-au spus că muncesc din adolescenţă.

Desigur că n-o fi plin de fete harnice, căci văd prin UK inclusiv tinere care cerşesc mărunţiş, probabil pentru o bere sau ţigară, nu de foame. În plus, mi se pare demnă de luat în considerare şi teoria (formulată de o româncă care citeşte acest blog :-) potrivit căreia faptul că părinţii îşi iau mâna de pe copii destul de devreme face ca, la bătrâneţea primilor, şi odraslele să îşi ia mâna de pe ei.

Aşadar, spre deosebire de beneficiile învăţării cu munca de la vârste fragede într-o societate patriarhală/rurală, acelaşi fenomen într-o societate capitalistă/urbană te face mai individualist şi erodează legăturile dintre generaţii. Interesantă teorie, demnă de un studiu serios, nu de simple păreri aruncate în blogosferă.

[Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la/For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]