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We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshiped.
If you were right
then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong
then.
A Canonical Orthodox Church of World
Wide Orthodox
 A Monk's Wisdom!
The Desert Fathers and Mothers on Solitude
To the Christian Desert Fathers and Mothers,
solitude is not merely a physical state to be contrasted with living among
people. Solitude was initially an experimental mode of living due to the harsh
environment of the desert, the need for weekly liturgical attendance, and an
unregulated (by church authorities) extra-monastic life. Living as hermits
without true precedents was a new psychological expression requiring forethought
and self-knowledge. The experiences of the hermits was a process of refining the
meaning of solitude and eremiticism with trial and reflection. In this way,
their experience parallels that of every solitary seeking the path that the
Desert Fathers tread.
Thus, when a young brother asked him to recommend whether to live as a
solitary or to stay in the monastery, Abba Joseph of Panephysis replied that
whichever state brought him peace was to be preferred, and that if he could not
decide even then, it should be based on whichever enabled him to make spiritual
progress. This statement fits within the then yet tentative status of
eremiticism, as when Athanasius, the biographer of St. Anthony, says of
eremiticism that "this was not as yet usual."
Further, the desert monks realized, as Amma Syncletica puts it:
There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the
town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one's
mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to
live in the crowd of his own thoughts.
Therefore, solitude had to develop its own prescriptions and techniques every
bit as relevant to the solitary as monastic rules to the coenobitic monk. This
fruits of this experiment in discovering (on their own, not mandated by anyone)
the secrets of successful solitude is precisely what the desert hermits sought
to articulate in these early centuries of formative Christianity.
Most solitaries had spent a considerable number of years in a monastic
setting, where they saw their lives as inevitably intertwined with their
fellows. "Our life and our death is with our neighbor," said Anthony. "If we
gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have
sinned against Christ."
More from Monk Michael;
You ask what in the world makes us think that we know everything, I tell
you that we/I do not know everything. But there is a resource that has
the earliest church writings for you to study.
It's your soul and your eternity, do with it what you like but the excuse
that you just simply did not know will not be accepted on that dreaded
day of judgement. Don't be one who neglects his own communion with the
Father through the blood of Jesus Christ because of the subtle pride that
has you trapped.
Study to show thyself approved, get rid of your pride and just do it. Knock
and the door shall be opened, seek and ye shall find. Ask and it will be
given unto you.
Who said these words? The person that you claim to follow, are you doing as He said? Or does your pride keep you where you are because you are the Pastor, the music director, the assistant Pastor, the youth director, the Deacon, the head of the women's committee?
Here is a resource for your re-course for a better understanding..
Early Church
Fathers
I will give you another one here, the seven oecumenical councils that established
and shaped the church. Agreed on by the whole church before schism and
reformation. These two links; one above and one below will show the true
church to you, it is up to you to believe the truth or to believe a lie.
You'll find that the scriptures that you claim to follow will be found
here in these two links, in living color.
The Seven Oecumenical Councils.
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 Some personal thoughts from the heart of Monk Michael.
Merry Christmas-Merry Christmas-Merry Christmas.
Man you hear this mantra everywhere don't you? It's a major issue for many
Christians to walk into a retail establishment and see or hear 'Happy Holidays'
proclaimed instead of 'Merry Christmas', many people have become incredibly
upset, indignant, boisterous; voicing their opinions about how it is the
Christmas season and not a happy holiday season. Good night, all the while
this is going on the 'what do you want for Christmas?' or 'I don't have
money for Christmas this year because the economy is really bad, I don't
have a job, I'm broke'..crying is coming out of a whole lot of those who
claim to be Christian.
Well aren't we just the happy little retail shoppers? My friends, all of
you reading this letter, I do not have a job, the economy has cost me the
work that I had, I am most likely going to lose the home I live in, I haven't
found work yet in this area, my wife and I both love this place. You know
what? Christmas is FREE. The WORD of God came in the flesh, born of the
Virgin Mary and became man, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
died and was buried. He rose again on the third day according to the scriptures
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead.
How much money did you spend for that to happen? Jesus Christ has already
paid the price for Christmas. Come and worship with us and give God the
glory that is God's, the birth of His only be-gotten Son is something to
be praising Him for, it won't cost you a penney. Now with that said, we
need to look at this idea of worship, much of what Christianity does is
not even a resemblance of the Christian worship, what am I talking about?
I want you to take a look at this;
THE MOST ANCIENT DESCRIPTION of the order and time of the Holy Eucharist (Divine Liturgy) is preserved in the 1st Apology by Justin the Martyr, Ch. 67, written in 138 A.D.
(Migne 6, 429-432). The space in this
pamphlet does not allow the text to be printed here in its entirety. In brief,
he refers to the day, which he calls the day of the sun (the
Lord's Day, the day of Kyrios,
that is Kyriake, Sunday, the
first day of the week, in memory of the Resurrection of the Lord.) On this day the Christians gathered together to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
As to the order of the diagram of the Liturgy,
Justin refers to:
- the reading of the Scriptures,
- the exhortation by the Notable, Proestos,
- the offering of prayers,
- the offering of bread, wine and water
- the long thanksgiving, Eucharist, prayer of sanctification by the
Notable,
- the partaking of Holy Communion, and
- the collection for charity.
It is the
same order that St. Chrysostom follows in his Liturgy used today. Justin the Martyr gives us only a diagram and not the actual prayers and words. At that time,
although the meaning and significance
of the Divine Liturgy had been determined as to the change of the Species into the Precious Body and Blood of Christ.
So what about the Bible?;
Very early on, some of the New Testament books were being recognized. Paul
considered Luke's writings to be as authoritative as the Old Testament
(1 Timothy 5:18; see also Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7). Peter recognized Paul's writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). Some of the books of
the New Testament were being circulated among the churches (Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27). Clement of
Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95). Ignatius of Antioch
acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115). Polycarp, a disciple of John the
Apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108). Later, Irenaeus mentioned 21 books
(A.D. 185). Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235). The New Testament
books receiving the most controversy were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3
John. The first “canon” was the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in A.D.
170. The Muratorian Canon included all of the New Testament books except
Hebrews, James, and 3 John. In A.D. 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that
only the Old Testament (along with the Apocrypha) and the 27 books of the New
Testament were to be read in the churches. The Council of Hippo (A.D. 393) and
the Council of Carthage (A.D. 397) also affirmed the same 27 books as
authoritative.
So do you notice the dates? The description of the worship fits in nicely with the formation of the scriptures and in fact predates the first official canon by 32 years, it was A.D. 393, a full 255 years later, that an official full Bible was formed. So the worship service was standard before the scriptures were ever standardized. Go figure. I can't stress this enough, the day that most of Christianity celebrates as the birth day of our Lord and Savior is coming up this month and most people will not even take the time to see the truth in how He has been worshipped throughout time, the concern is in fact whether we say 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Holidays' and whether or not there is money to give to the retailers.
Think and pray long and hard about this, do not be concerned with the end of world, do not be concerned with the words that others use during this time, be concerned with this;
How much do you really care for Jesus Christ and your eternal soul? Before you write to me again to argue this point, think, pay attention to the dates of the formation of things shown above and what the church was really doing.
The worship guidelines are there in black and white. There is nothing else to say in regards to an argument, you cannot change the truth, you can twist and pervert it, but the real truth will always be there and with that, all who refuse to hear and see will be judged accordingly.
Do not allow any more time to go by without seeking the truth. When you
say; 'it isn't in the Bible' you are in fact short-changing your own soul
for whatever prideful benefit you are receiving now by not truly considering
the truth. When you call yourself a Christian, make sure that you are truly
concerned with the things of Christ, everything else will come in behind
it.
By reading the words and the dates again also remember this, Jesus Christ
said that He would never leave us nor forsake us, if you believe these
words than you had better believe the words above regarding the worship
of Christ.
Jesus Christ said that upon this Rock I will build My Church, do you honestly
believe that The Church has no official form to it? How can you believe
that? Christ built it, the Apostles gave us Presbyters, Deacons, Priests,
laymnisters, Bishops, an organization to instruct us and to be fully and
formally functional. If you do not believe this then you are reading the
wrong Bible or you are so full of pride that you refuse to see the truth,
your eyes to your heart and soul are shut.
Do not be insulted by what I just said, pride is probably the most deceptive
and cunning way that Satan has to keep us deceived, it comes in many ways
and goes unnoticed, it takes fasting and prayer, it takes a lot of looking
inside to see the sin and get rid of it. Did not Jesus Christ say that
the Kingdom of God is within you? Do Christians not pray to Christ to come
and dwell within us? Yet we refuse to look inside of ourselves. Christ
cannot be found through intellect, He will only be found inside, right
where you have asked Him to be.
Look inside of yourself and see the sin that is there, this takes some
serious prayer and fasting and desire to find God. We spend more time talking
about what we do for Jesus Christ and the things that we do in the church
and how we have helped someone that we never shut up and look inside and
just seek God where he said He would be found. Take heed.
Celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with a newness
of understanding that will only be found through keeping quiet and seeking
Him in our heart. This is a difficult thing to convey, the truth. Far too
many just do not want to believe the truth and they will constantly point
out all of the great things that they or their church or some other church
is doing. By using this argument of doing good deeds they refuse to see
the truth of communion with God, Jesus said that there will be those who
say to Him Lord, Lord didn't I cast out demons in your name, didn't I feed
the hungry in your name, and He will say to them, leave, for I never knew
you.
You need to look inside of yourself and see the truth of yourself and begin to become one with God through the church that Jesus Christ established. Do not let a good deed go unnoticed by Christ in the day of judgement, don't say it won't happen, you already know that Jesus Christ said to go because He never knew you. Pay attention to these words.
Write to us if you want to know more at;
monkmichael@newwarriorministries.com
or to the Metropolitan Archbishop Joseph Thaddeus who will take the time to help you for the sake of your soul, reach him at; thaddeus@apostle1.com
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Your humble servant in Christ,
Monk
Michael
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