Presentation of the Most-Holy Theotokos – Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
~+~
Somewhere in his works, the holy Elder Joseph Hesychast says: “If you do not attain the grace of God to the greatest extent, do not consider yourself a perfect man.” I say to myself, only a perfected man like St. Gregory Palamas, who lives and presides over the Mystery of the Church, can pronounce from experience the following words about the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, which are true glorification. I will take heed that he speaks more about Her in this homily than I do.
“She Alone forms the boundary between the created and the Uncreated, and no one can come to God except through Her and the Mediator born from Her, and none of the gifts of God can be bestowed on either angel or man except through Her. ‘God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved’ (Psal. 45, 5).
It is an eternal law of heaven that the lesser shall participate through the greater in that which is above being. Thus, as the Virgin Mother is incomparably greater than all, so many who will partake in God will do so through Her, and as many will know God, they will recognize Her as the One who bore the unplaceable One, and as many will glorify God, and praise Her after Him.
She is the cause of all that preceded Her, the protector of all that came after, and the cause of eternal beatitudes… She is the beginning, spring and root of unspeakable good, the summit and fulfilment of all that is holy…’
Let us remind ourselves how the Most-Pure Ever-Virgin Mary was made worthy to become the Mother of God – the Theotokos. I believe that this is the meaning and the message of today’s feast – Presentation of the Most-Pure Theotokos.
Let us first enter into the Old Testament, through the reading below, and see the three-year-old girl Mary walking towards the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple and entering inside. Let us observe and take note of how little Mary dedicates Her life to show us the true Holy of the Holies, and how the Old Testament becomes a shadow in Her presence. Let us see how the Most-Pure Virgin prepares for nine years in solitude through the prayer of the mind in the heart, to receive in Herself the Only Begotten Son of God. Let us see how time is fulfilled and how He asks for permission to incarnate in Her and how She freely and lovingly accepts Him. And finally, let us see how the Theotokos and the Virgin Mary becomes the Ever-New and Only-One Holy of Holies – Shirshaya Heaven.
Let us observe all this, whilst contemplating what was written by St. Gregory Palamas – the Beacon of Orthodoxy:
“Examining what the supplicant needs most in order to converse with God, how the prayer is made manifest; the Theotokos finds the sacred silence (stillness, hesychia), – seclusion of the mind, distancing oneself from the world, forgetting all earthly things and striving for divine revelations, choosing that part which is the better part.
He discovers that if the mind is not scattered towards earthly things, it could be committed to a better and more exalted action, which is to look towards itself: the only action through which it could be united with God.”
This movement, when the mind turns towards itself, that is, when the energy of the mind, which resides in the head, unites prayerfully with the essence of the mind, which is in the heart of man, this, the Fathers call the circular movement of the mind. It is an action by which the mind transcends itself and unites with God. It is a movement of the mind that is not subject to any delusion.
This, then, is the way, says St. Gregory Palamas, in which the Most-Holy Virgin Mary, staying in the temple, “released Herself from all the shackles of creation and cast off all ties… and gathering Her thoughts (mind) fervently in concentration on the mind itself, attentively and in unceasing divine prayer… She… rose above the diverse multitude of thoughts, established a new and ineffable way to Heaven, which I will call the silence of the mind.
And by giving Her mind to this silence, She rose above all creation, and better than Moses saw the glory of God, and She was consecrated in the divine grace, which is in no way subject to the power of the feelings, but is a beautiful and sacred contemplation, typical to the innocent souls and minds.
Having partaken of this contemplation, the Most-Pure One- as is sung in the Church hymns – became the light-bearing cloud of the truly living water, the dawn of the mysterious day and the fiery chariot of the Logos”.
From these words of St. Gregory Palamas, we can all conclude that the Most-Pure Theotokos, staying in the Holy of Holies, ascended to the highest stage of the knowledge of God with the prayer of the mind in the heart.
In this way, the Theotokos, with Her example and experience, with Her Herself, gave forever, to all Christians, a model for a collected and vigilant life of the inner man, so that they too, renouncing the worldly, can asceticise (endeavour) in the prayer of the mind in the heart, each according to their strengths, but also through Her prayers – in order to follow Her to the end.
Likewise, as the Theotokos resided in the Holy of Holies, in the Temple of Jerusalem, before the incarnation of Christ, so our mind, in obedience to God, should reside in pure prayer, before receiving the gift of revelation of “the place of the heart”. The Virgin prayer is a precondition for the manifestation of divine grace in the heart and for receiving the gift of the prayer of the mind in the heart.
According to St. Gregory: “Those who do so, those who have cleansed their hearts with sacred silence and in an inexpressible way approached Him Who is above all feeling and thought, see God in themselves as in a mirror. Sacred silence is, therefore, a quick and direct guide, successful and unifying with God, especially for those who practice it in everything and completely.
And what can we say about the Theotokos, who lived in Hesychia from childhood? Prayerfully and supernaturally in sacred silence, from the earliest years, She, precisely because of this – not knowing a man – acquired the grace to give birth to the God-Man Christ”.
After all that has been said, I believe that the importance of the divine prayer of the mind is clear to everyone, the fulfilment of which is the Mother of God Herself, guided by the Holy Spirit. And that it is clear to all how the Most-Pure Virgin lived in the Holy of Holies.
The possibility of purity of heart and the need for constant vigilance over ourselves is an exceptional novelty and grace of the New Testament. “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5, 28).
In the New Testament, vigilance over the heart is commanded for its purification. All the commandments of the Lord are directed toward that: “Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.” (Matthew 23, 26); and “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7, 20-23).
On the Mount of Beatitudes, Christ gives us the eschatological answer about the purpose and meaning of the struggle of purification of the heart – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5).” For indeed, the kingdom of Heaven is within you.” (Luke 17, 21), and the King.
But vigilance over the heart and its purity are impossible without the Jesus’ prayer of the heart in the mind. Along with the commandment, the Lord gave us the way and the means: “But you, when you pray, go in to your room [in your heart] and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6, 6).
The Jesus’ prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us” is the establishment of God. This prayer is also mentioned in the Gospel of Christ. Our Lord Himself, the God-Man Jesus Christ, established this sacred prayer and commanded us to pray with it.
After the Last Supper, when the Mystery of the Church itself, the Holy Eucharist, was instituted, and before going to Golgotha to the death on the Cross for the salvation of fallen humanity, the Lord gave His disciples the last commandments. In them, He bestowed to people the blessing, the command and the obedience to pray using (in) His name: Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” (John 16, 23). ” And whatever you ask the Father in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14, 13-14). “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16, 24).
The apostles appreciated and also fulfilled this commandment of Christ. As we see from the Acts of the Apostles, they already performed great miracles with the divine name of the Lord Jesus Christ: they healed the incurably sick, raised the dead, commanded the demons, driving them out of the people possessed by them.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit, without prior preparation, enlightened, they answered, testifying before the judges before whom they were accused. Asked and examined by the Sanhedrin by what power and by what name have they done this, through Peter, being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Apostles gave the answer: “Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. (…) for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4, 7; 10-12).
They did all these miracles, above all, after they felt the miraculous power of the name of Jesus in their hearts. And it cannot be otherwise, because these two gifts – the prayer of the mind in the heart and the performing of miracles – are inseparably connected. According to his personal experience, the Holy Apostle Paul calls us to: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5, 17).
The tradition of the Jesus prayer has never stopped throughout the centuries, from the apostolic times to the present day. With His name, the Holy Martyrs suffered (endured) their torments. With His name the Holy Fathers inhabited the “desert”; from the Egyptian Desert and Palestine, through Asia Minor and Mount Athos (Holy Mountain) in Macedonia and the Balkans, all the way to Russia, and today also in America. The renewal and revitalization of monastic life today, as always, is based on the renewed practice of Eucharistic and Hesychastic life in parishes and monasteries.
Most-Holy Theotokos, save us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
(03.12.2022 16:50)
