The truly charismatic monk flees any honour as fire, knowing that it will extinguish the flame of love for God burning in his heart and stop the current of the divine will from flowing through him and guiding him. He would rather do everything to remain hidden from the eyes of this world so as not to be seen by men, but to be under the gaze of God’s eyes alone, ‘who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly.’ Neither does he seek consolation or support from this world but puts his only hope in the Lord, ‘which hope he has as an anchor of his soul’, leading him into that which is ‘within the veil.’
In the deep of winter 2007 Archimandrite Zacharias of the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist outside the quiet village of Tolleshunt Knights-by-Maldon, journeyed from the United Kingdom to the city of Wichita, Kansas in the Heartland of America to nourish the priests and deacons with the rich spiritual fare which is dished out daily at the monastery of his repentance in the countryside of County Essex in England.
This book is based on my doctoral thesis, entitled The Actualisation of the Hypostatic Principle in the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony, which was submitted at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Thessalonica in 1998. I have wanted since then to proceed to a more complete presentation of Fr Sophrony’s teaching. Perhaps even now I have not succeeded fully in this aim, but I have tried at least to set out the basic themes of his theology. I alone am responsible for any imperfections or omissions apparent in this book. For whatever good it may contain, the praise belongs to my ever-memorable Staretz, who is my life’s greatest benefactor. Above all, it is to our Lord Jesus Christ, who manifested to us in its perfection the Pattern, the Model, the Length, and Depth, and Height, of the Person of the Father, that glory is due unto all ages. Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou
This book consists of the talks given by Archimandrite Zacharias in Wichita, Kansas, at the 2001 Clergy Brotherhood Retreat of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, at the invitation of Bishop Basil of the Diocese of Mid-America. The talks are supplemented by two lectures given at a oneday conference on monasticism after the Retreat.
«… The words that proceed from the mouth of God, either through the Prophets or the Apostles, or the Holy Fathers who were well-pleasing to God throughout the centuries, cannot but make known the attributes of the Living Lord. They reveal His almighty power, the majesty of His holiness, His wisdom, and above all, the greater love of the Son of Love, Who, ‘while we were yet sinners, died for us’. The word of the Lord portrays our archetype who is the Son and Word of God, in Whose image we were created in the beginning. Νot only does the energy of the word of the Lord portray the archetype and reveal the pre-eternal Council of God concerning man, but it also exposes the pitiful distortion of man after the fall. Man finds his truth not in comparing himself with other mortals, but in his presentation before the Lord Who speaks in his heart… Who is he, however, who will hear the voice of Christ, the Word Giver, who will see His form, and will not be changed and will not repent or alter his path? Who is he who will taste of the words of the Almighty Jesus and not burn until the end with gratitude? Who is he to whom the Lord will entrust the words of His Father, and who will not love Him until the end, even unto self-hatred?»
God targets man and visits him from morning until evening and from evening until morning. Continually and from all eternity, God waits patiently at the door of man’s heart, and when He finds a tiny opening, namely, a little humility and gratitude, He enters in, and of course, when He does, He makes a feast with man. The book of Revelation calls this first visit of God ‘our first love’. This is the beginning of our walk with God, and we must always be mindful of walking worthily…
Remember Thy First Love is a graphic description of the three stages in the Christian life according to Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896 1993), disciple of St. Silouan the Athonite (1866 1938) and founder of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England. In Remember Thy First Love, which complements The Enlargement of the Heart (2006) and The Hidden Man of the Heart (2008), Elder Zacharias details the nature and purpose of the first grace given at the beginning of the Christian spiritual odyssey, the experience of the apparent withdrawal of grace, and then our final adoption as children, by which we become heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ (cf. Rom. 8:17).
During the period before the Triodion and the Sundays which mark its beginning, the Church sets forth before our eyes various lessons through the Gospel readings: the grateful Leper, the Blind Man of Jericho, Zacchaeus, the good and faithful Servant of the ‘Talents’, the Canaanite woman, the Publican, the Prodigal Son and the Righteous on Judgment Day. Through some word, or deed, or attitude, these people all attracted God’s gaze upon them. They became the target of His visitation and traversed centuries in an instant. These suffering souls, who had withered away either because of sin or because of not knowing the true God, came into the presence of the Lord and ‘a spiritual sun, the name of which is persona’, began to rise in them. Their attitude and their words are concrete examples of a right presentation before the Holy of Holies. In this way, the Church guides us, knowing the struggle which we are encouraged to undertake in order to find our deep heart, so that we may also become persons in the sight of our Creator and Judge, and targets of His visitation. Yet, the Church also knows our desire not to fail to enter into the presence of the Risen Lord. The path is trodden. The constant principles are laid out with clarity, and we must keep them in our conscience as our polar star, as pearls of great price. We must embrace them so that they may render our labours fruitful not only during Great Lent, but also throughout our lives.
The book “The Eternal ‘Today’” begins with the Incarnation of the Son of God and the divine work of the salvation of the world. It continues with the luminous feasts of holy Theophany and the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, reaching the rich liturgical period of the devotionary Triodion. The uppermost crown of our journey is Easter, during which we become partakers of the grace of the saving Resurrection of Christ. At this point a new path of expectation and desire opens up to us, leading to the great and final feast of Pentecost. Our journey reaches its end with the Sunday of All Saints. When the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the Church the greatest fruit which was imparted were the Saints. The main work of the Church is to produce images of Christ. But who is Christ? He is the New Adam, Who came, suffered and ascended the Cross having only one thought and one desire: to save the whole world.
In the theology of Saint Silouan and Saint Sophrony, man is the target of divine visitations that serve to make him aware of the image of Christ within him. God created man in His ‘image and likeness’. Although this image has become distorted, the purpose of man’s life in the Church is that it should be perfectly restored. Saint Sophrony referred to the image of God in man as man’s ‘hypostasis’ or ‘personhood’. He taught that this image cannot be realised without the witness of a saint or elder, who demonstrates likeness unto Christ and bears His word. For this reason, he often explained the principle of personhood through reference to the life and writings of Saint Silouan. In this book, Archimandrite Zacharias, the disciple of Saint Sophrony, likewise presents the principle of personhood through the lives of the elders of his monastery, Saint Silouan and Saint Sophrony. He also examines attributes of personhood in terms of dogma and spiritual practice. Throughout Man, the Target of God, Father Zacharias elaborates on aspects of the theme of personhood which were previously introduced in his doctorate Christ, Our Way and Our Life-A Presentation of the Theology of Saint Sophrony. He developed his thought in a series of lectures in Athens and America, which later became the basis for this book.
The truly charismatic monk flees any honour as fire, knowing that it will extinguish the flame of love for God burning in his heart and stop the current of the divine will from flowing through him and guiding him. He would rather do everything to remain hidden from the eyes of this world so as not to be seen by men, but to be under the gaze of God’s eyes alone, ‘who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly.’ Neither does he seek consolation or support from this world but puts his only hope in the Lord, ‘which hope he has as an anchor of his soul’, leading him into that which is ‘within the veil.’
Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist Essex, UK
Published Date
ISBN 13
9791220857420
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