Theodore the Studite

Monastic Office of Vigils    

The Stoudios Monastery as depicted
in an 11th-century manuscript.

Theodore the Studite: The Holy Spirit Comforts, Encouraging the Troubled Mind

PATRISTIC and Theodore the Studite Christ, comfort, fear, God, Holy Spirit, love, mind, paschal mystery,peace, redemption, struggles, Trinity, will of God Mark Armitage 7:24 am

By the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, we have been vouchsafed to celebrate Holy Pentecost—the descent of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ said of this descent: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (that is, the Holy Spirit), will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. (Jn. 16:7, 13).

This, His promise and benefit, is so great that we cannot even comprehend it: for the Lord promised to send not an Angel, not a man, but the Holy Spirit Himself.

Thus, having fulfilled the will of His Father, the Only Begotten Son ascends to heaven, and the Holy Spirit descends: not another God (never!), but another Comforter, as it is written.

O, the unutterable love for mankind! God Himself has become our Comforter.

Thus, He Himself comforts those who are weighed down by misfortune, prevents them from becoming exhausted in spirit, as the Holy Apostle testifies, saying:

Our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us (2 Cor. 7:5–6).

He comforts the heart frightened by demonic fear, raising it up to invincible courage through bold hope, as the Prophet David testifies: For Thou, O Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me (Ps. 85:17).

He comforts, encouraging the troubled mind, as it has been given a feast with God and rest, as the Apostle testifies, saying:

as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20); that is, have peace, with God.

Do you see the unsearchable condescension? Do you see the incomparable gift?

On high, in the Heavens, the Only Begotten Son intercedes for us before the Father, as it is written: Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us(Rom. 8:34).

Below, on the earth, the Holy Spirit comforts us in many ways.

What shall I render unto the Lord, for all that He has rendered unto me? (Ps. 115:4).

Is it not true, what the psalm says: All my bones shall say, Lord, O Lord, who is like unto Thee?

Delivering the beggar from the hand of them that are stronger than he, yea, poor man and pauper from them that despoil him (Ps. 34:11).

And again, My help cometh from the Lord, Who hath made heaven and the earth (Ps. 120:2).

Unless the Lord had brought me up, my soul had well nigh sojourned in hades (Ps. 93:17).

The Lord is my helper, and I shall not fear what man shall do unto me (Ps. 117:6).

Theodore the Studite: (759-826) @ Pravoslavie.   

Related: 

Theodore the Studite: Resting in Spirit through the Grace-Filled Breath of the Holy Spirit
In "PATRISTIC"

John Henry Newman: The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Gives Us Strength to Resist the World

In "John Henry Newman"

Nikolai Velimirovich: The Son Abides in a Ceaseless Communion of Mutual Love, Obedience and Joy with the Holy Spirit and with the Father (1)

In "EASTERN ORTHODOX"

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527_en.html  
http://www.anastasis.org.uk/theodore.htm  
  CATECHESES TO HIS MONKS 

St. Martin of Tours. Vigils

Monastic Office of Vigils,

Monday, 11 November 2013
Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
http://www.ibreviary.com/m/breviario.php

COMMENT:

The IRIS flowers displayed at the Altar appeared to be wilting. The vases of Carnations and Freesia very provided with water. The IRIS flowers proved to be bone dry of water.

Martin Mass too has lessons. [Martinmas [ˈmɑːtɪnməs], n

(Christianity / Ecclesiastical Terms) the feast of St Martin on Nov. 11; one of the four quarter days in Scotland].

The Antiphons on the life of St. Martin in the Liturgy orchestrates the short years;

not overcome by work
not conquered by death.

He neither feared to die
nor refused to go on living

Vigils. S. Martin of Tours. Memorial

Inv. The just man will flourish,
           Established in God's house.

Noct.I Ant.vij.  

Words cannot describe this man,
not overcome by work *
not conquered by death.

He neither feared to die
nor refused to go on living.

First Reading.
Resp.

Long before his death the blessed Martin
knew the day when he would die.
So he told his disciples

* that the time for the dissolution of his body was at hand,
for already he could feel his powers failing.

v. His bodily strength began suddenly to leave him;
so he called his disciples together and told them:

Vespers

Ant.2 vij .T

With eyes and hands
ever lifted heavenwards

Martin ever remained intent on prayer.
Alleluia, alleluia.

Ant.3 viij .T

Filled with joy, Martin is received
into Abraham' s bosom.

Martin who on earth, was poor and humble
enters heaven rich in merit

as heaven, s choirs
sing in his honour.

Cant.6 vi.j .T

Lord, if your people still need me
I shall not refuse to go on working

Your will be done.
Your will be done.

Resp.  Great are your deeds, O Lord

Prayer

Lord God,

you were glorified

by the life and death of Saint Martin.

Renew the wonders of your grace in our hearts

so that neither death nor life

may separate us from your love.

We make our prayer through ••••.

SECOND READING

From a letter by Sulpicius Severus
(Epist. 3, 6, 9-10. 11. 14-17. 21: SC 133. 336-344)

Martin the poor and humble man

Martin knew long in advance the time of his death and he told his brethren that it was near. Meanwhile, he found himself obliged to make a visitation of the parish of Candes. The clergy of that church were quarreling, and he wished to reconcile them. Although he knew that his days on earth were few, he did not refuse to undertake the journey for such a purpose, for he believed that he would bring his virtuous life to a good end if by his efforts peace was restored in the church.

He spent some time in Candes, or rather in its church, where he stayed. Peace was restored, and he was planning to return to his monastery when suddenly he began to lose his strength. He summoned his brethren and told them he was dying. All who heard this were overcome with grief. In their sorrow they cried to him with one voice: “Father, why are you deserting us? Who will care for us when you are gone? Savage wolves will attack your flock, and who will save us from their bite when our shepherd is struck down? We know you long to be with Christ, but your reward is certain and will not be any less for being delayed. You will do better to show pity for us, rather than forsake us.”

Thereupon he broke into tears, for he was a man in whom the compassion of our Lord was continually revealed. Turning to our Lord, he made this reply to their pleading: “Lord, if your people still need me, I am ready for the task; your will be done.”

Here was a man words cannot describe. Death could not defeat him nor toil dismay him. He was quite without a preference of his own; he neither feared to die nor refused to live. With eyes and hands always raised to heaven he never withdrew his unconquered spirit from prayer. It happened that some priests who had gathered at his bedside suggested that he should give his poor body some relief by lying on his other side. He answered: “Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord.” As he spoke these words, he saw the devil standing near. “Why do you stand there, you bloodthirsty brute?” he cried. “Murderer, you will not have me for your prey. Abraham is welcoming me into his embrace.”

With these words, he gave up his spirit to heaven. Filled with joy, Martin was welcomed by Abraham. Thus he left this life a poor and lowly man and entered heaven rich in God’s favor.

RESPONSORY

Happy this man who did not deceive, nor judge, nor condemn anyone.
– He spoke only of Christ, of his peace and his mercy.

Here is a man whom words cannot describe.
Death could not defeat him nor toil dismay him.
He neither feared to die nor refused to live.
– He spoke only of Christ, of his peace and his mercy.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Father,
by his life and death
Martin of Tours offered you worship and praise.
Renew in our hearts the power of your love,
so that neither death nor life may separate us from you.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Or:

O God, who are glorified in the Bishop Saint Martin
both by his life and death,
make new, we pray,
the wonders of your grace in our hearts,
that neither death nor life
may separate us from your love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

ACCLAMATION

Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.
*********************

Gregory the Great's 'Homilies on Ezekiel' f.105v

Monastic Office of Vigils:

Ordinary Time: November 10th

Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

A Decorated Letter, in Gregory the Great's 'Homilies on Ezekiel' f.105v

Medium: Ink and pigments on vellum Date: 1110

 Gregory the Great was pope from 590 to 604, a period in which he had to deal with an unsympathetic emperor in Constantinople and invading barbarians who were setting up a kingdom in northern Italy. In the middle of it all, he transformed the church administration, improved monastic practices, wrote some of the most important scriptural commentaries of the middle ages--and sent a mission to convert the English. This copy of his homilies on the Book of Ezekiel belonged to the cloister of St Andrew's Cathedral, Rochester. The cathedral had historical links to Gregory. It was founded in 604 by Augustine, the missionary sent by Gregory from his own monastery of St Andrew in Rome. The book arranges the homilies so that they are preceded by the appropriate text from Ezekiel.

This page has the beginning of the eighth homily on Ezekiel, Chapter 40. After the clever drawings of animals and a human figure on the first two initials in the book, decoration becomes simple, conventional red and green painted designs. The markings above the red title alert the reader to the use of abbreviations. A book like this would have been used for study and possibly also have been read from during mealtime, daily prayers or chapter meetings.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/roymanucoll/a/011roy000004b01u00105v00.html 

THIRTY -SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SUNDAY

First Reading

EzekieI2:1-3.11.17-21

Responsory          Is 55:7.6

Let the wicked abandon their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts: ₊ let them return to the Lord, who will take pity on them, and to our God who will freely forgive.

V. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. + Let them return ...

Second Reading

From a homily by Saint Gregory the Great

In Hierzech. I. 18:: CCL 40, 14-15

Because the Israelites had abandoned their maker, they went into captivity and became slaves of the King of Babylon. But the prophet Ezekiel was sent into captivity with them - he whom divine grace had rendered so pleasing to God that he used him to foretell future events, and comfort the afflicted people. Let us ponder if we can how wonderful is the dispensation of divine love by which it was possible for the Lord to be so angry with his people, and yet not be angry at all. Had he not been angry he would hardly have delivered them up to captivity; had he been thoroughly angry he would not have sent his chosen ones into captivity with them. 

God's mercy uses one and the same event to punish the carnal-minded and bring an increase of grace to the spiritual minded. While he purifies the former by tribulation, he stirs up the latter to merit a brighter future through association with those who suffer. Thus God is angry with the unrighteous, but at the same time he consoles them through the righteous who share their lot, so that they will not feel totally abandoned and none of them repent of their sins. He rejects his people and at the same time holds them fast when he hurls into the same tribulation those he condemns and those he loves. Who can comprehend the depths of so great a love? The Lord does not let his people's sins go unpunished, but still he does not utterly reject his sinful people.

It was the same when Moses sent the twelve scouts into the promised land. When they returned ten of these made the people despair and cry out angrily, complaining that God had deceived them and their corpses would lie in the desert. In anger almighty God declared that not one of them should enter the promised land. Frightened into repentance, the people acknowledged their sin. They wept, and taking up arms began immediately to go up against the enemy, hoping to be able after the tears they had shed to enter the promised land. But the Lord said to them through Moses: Do not go up or fight or you will fall before the enemy, for I am not with you.

Think! If God were not with them, why did he forbid them to go up because they were sure to be routed? But if he were with them, how could he say: I am not with you? To be both with them and not with them was a wonderful combination of discipline and mercy. God condemns sin but protects the sinner. He shows that he is angry, but defends his people against their enemies. So, often enough, is a mother angry with a naughty boy. She corrects him, scolds him, beats him; but if she sees him about to fall headlong to his death, she reaches out her hand and holds him. She who beat her son in anger as though she did not love him holds him safe in her love as though she had never been angry or beaten him. 

Responsonj           Prv 3:11-12; Rv 3:19

Do not spurn the Lord's correction or resent his rebuke, for + the Lord reproves those he loves, and punishes the child who is dear

to him.

V. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so repent in real earnest. + The Lord reproves ...

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Monastic Office of Vigils,

Streets Of Gold  The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
   http://olivyaz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-dedication-of-lateran-basilica.html 

 Saturday, 9 November 2013

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Office of Readings
SECOND READING  
From a sermon by Saint Caesarius of Arles, bishop
(Sermo 229, 1-3: CCL 104, 905-908

We have all been made temples of God through baptism  

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God. Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this feast of

the church, their mother, for they know that through her they were reborn in the spirit. At our first birth, we were vessels of God’s wrath; reborn, we became vessels of his mercy. Our first birth brought death to us, but our second restored us to life.

Indeed, before our baptism we were sanctuaries of the devil; but after our baptism we merited the privilege of being temples of Christ. And if we think more carefully about the meaning of our salvation, we shall realize that we are indeed living and true temples of God. God does not dwell only in structures fashioned by human hands, in homes of wood and stone, but rather he dwells principally in the soul made according to his own image and fashioned by his own hand. Therefore, the apostle Paul says: The temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.

When Christ came, he banished the devil from our hearts, in order to build in them a temple for himself. Let us therefore do what we can with his help, so that our evil deeds will not deface that temple. For whoever does evil, does injury to Christ. As I said earlier, before Christ redeemed us, we were the house of the devil, but afterward, we merited the privilege of being the house of God. God himself in his loving mercy saw fit to make of us his own home.

My fellow Christians, do we wish to celebrate joyfully the birth of this temple? Then let us not destroy the living temples of God in ourselves by works of evil. I shall speak clearly, so that all can understand. Whenever we come to church, we must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this church to be. Do you wish to find this basilica immaculately clean? Then do not soil your soul with the filth of sins. Do you wish this basilica to be full of light? God too wishes that your soul be not in darkness, but that the light of good works shine in us, so that he who dwells in the heavens will be glorified. Just as you enter this church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for he promised: I shall live in them, and I shall walk the corridors of their hearts.

RESPONSORY
See Ezekiel 47:1, 9

I saw water flowing eastward from beneath the threshold of the temple, alleluia.
Wherever the river flowed everything became alive;
– those who were saved by it cried out:
Alleluia, alleluia.

When the temple was dedicated,
the people sang songs of praise and beautiful hymns.
– Those who were saved by it cried out:
Alleluia, alleluia.

Jerome, In Jeremiam VI, xxx: PL. 24 904-905

COMMENT: st-jerome-of-stridonium; the not familiar title of Jerome surfaced from the Blogspot,
http://logismoitouaaron.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/ignorance-of-scripture-is-ignorance-of.html.
The Link opens up to brilliant commentary on Saint Jerome, beautifully significant.
Thank you, Aaron Taylor.

AARON TAYLOR

I am a Deacon in the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

++++++++++++

Jerome: Christ, the Temple and the ChurchThursday, Oct 31 2013 

Jerome and PATRISTIC Christ, church, redemption, Sacred Heart, temple, Trinity Mark Armitage8:32 am

On Jeremiah 30:18-31:9

The Lord says this: I will restore the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings, and the city shall be rebuilt on its hill.

There was already a symbol of these things in the time of Zerubbabel and Ezra, when the people returned to Jerusalem and the city began to be rebuilt on its hill and the law of the Temple observed, and so on as related in the book of Ezra.

But the prophecy was more fully and perfectly fulfilled in the time of our Lord and Saviour, and of the Apostles, when that city of which it is written: A city built on a hill cannot be hidden was built on its hill.

Moreover, the Temple was established with its rites and ceremonies, so that whatever was done outwardly among the people of the past might be fulfilled spiritually in the Church.

Then songs of thanksgiving will come from them, for all the Apostles said: Grace and peace to you. It will be the sound of people dancing, not like those who ate and drank and rose up to dance, but as David danced before the ark of the Lord.

And they will increase and not diminish, so that the whole world may believe in God the Saviour. They will be honoured, so that what was written may be fulfilled: Glorious things are told of you, city of God.

And its sons, that is, the Apostles, will be like the men of old, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who founded the Israelite race. At that time the Lord will punish all the hostile powers that oppressed God’s people.

And their leader will be one of themselves – undoubtedly our Lord and Saviour who was born an Israelite; their ruler will come from their own number.

The Father placed him near himself, and he came so close to him that his Son could declare: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; for no one can place his heart so near the Lord, nor be as closely united to him as the Son is to the Father.

And the words: You shall be my people and I will be your God we see partly fulfilled in Israel and completely in all the nations of the world.

Jerome (347-420): Commentary on Jeremiah, 6.30 (24:904-905); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time, Year 1

Logismoi

'A Refuge for the Weary and the Oppressed, and a Treasury of Good Counsel and Wise Lore'

'Ignorance of Scripture Is Ignorance of Christ'—St Jerome of Stridonium

Apart from St Augustine, Vidovdan (meaning not only the Martyr Vitus, but St Lazar of Serbia and the Battle of Kosovo), and (in ROCOR) the Saints of North America, today is also the feastday of St Jerome of Stridonium (347-420), the translator of the Latin Vulgate which became the Bible of the West for centuries. Fr John McGuckin calls St Jerome (his full name wasEusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) ‘perhaps the most important biblical scholar of the early Western church’ (The SCM A-Z of Patristic Theology [London: SCM, 2005], p. 187). St John Cassian, in his treatise Against Nestorius, calls him ‘Jerome, the Teacher of the Catholics, whose writings shine like divine lamps throughout the whole world’ (Against Nestorius, 7.26). Here is the brief account of St Jerome’s life in Bulgakov’sHandbook:

He was born in 330 in the city of Strido within the territory of Dalmatia and Pannonia of pious and wealthy parents. Seeking an education, he visited Rome (having studied classical wisdom here), Gaul and other place. Having experienced the shallowness of secular life, he went to the east in 373 and in Antioch he accepted the vocation of a priest and began the labor of translation and explanation of Holy Scripture, while leading herewith the strict life of a hermit. During a visit to Constantinople, he heard St Gregory the Theologian and translated the Commentaries of Origen on the books of the Prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Having returned to Rome in 382, through his labors and asceticism he acquired a group of admirers and through his teaching contributed much to the correction of the morals of effeminate Rome. Having again settled in Palestine in 385, in a nearby cave in Bethlehem, he completed his translation of Holy Scripture into Latin and wrote his commentary on the New Testament, having studied the Hebrew and Chaldean [Aramaic] languages for this purpose. He died on September 30, 420. In 642 his relics were transferred from Bethlehem to Rome and placed in the Santa Maria Maggiore Church. It is not known where these relics are now. His honorable hand is in the church of his name in Rome.

It is interesting to me to note the enormous popularity of St Jerome among Renaissance and Counter-Reformation artists (for evidence, do a Google image search for ‘Saint Jerome’, check out this small gallery, or see the many images accompanying the Wikipedia article ‘Jerome’). Two items of note are, first, the anachronism of the cardinal’s hat and robes, and second, the presence of the lion, which, as Derwas Chitty points out, Jerome ‘was to filch from [St Gerasimus] through the ignorance of Latin pilgrims many centuries after they were both dead’ (The Desert a City [Crestwood, NY: SVS, p. 90; see my post on St Gerasimus where I discuss this here). It’s also true generally, that, as Megan Hale Williams points out, ‘No more can we imagine Jerome at work by thinking of a medieval author-portrait, the frontispiece of a Gospel for example, than we can by calling to mind an Attic funerary stele or a fresco from Pompeii advertising the culture of its wealthy subject. Jerome’s literary monasticism was a thoroughly late antique phenomenon’ (The Monk and the Book: Jerome and the Making of Christian Scholarship [Chicago: U of Chicago, 2006], p. 169). But keeping all this in mind, I can’t help but rather enjoy many of these portraits of the ascetic-scholar in a study or cave, producing those works and translations for which he is so justly renowned.  

Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose

Monastic Office of Vigils.   

THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  SUNDAY

First Reading

Jeremiah 23:9-17.21-29

Responsory   Lam 2:14; Jer 23:21

The visions your prophets saw for you were false and deceptive.

+They did not expose your sin, so as to reverse your fortunes.

V. I did not send these prophets; I did not speak to them. +They did not ...

Second Reading

From a commentary on Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose
Expositio in Psalmum 118, 19, 36-39: CSEL 62, 440-442

You are near, Lord, and all your commandments are true. The Lord is near to all of us, because he is everywhere. We cannot escape him if we offend him, nor deceive him if we sin, nor lose him if we worship him. God watches everything, he sees every­thing. He is close to each one of us; as he says: I am a God who is close at hand. How can God fail to be everywhere, when you read of the Spirit of God that the Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world? For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the Lord God. I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord. Where then can he fail to be who fills everything? Or how can we all share in his fullness unless he is near all of us?

So, knowing that God is everywhere, and fills the sky, the earth, and the sea, David says: Where can I escape from your Spirit, where flee from your face? If I go up to heaven you are there; if I go down to Sheol you are there; if I take flight before dawn to dwell at the sea's furthest end, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand hold me fast. In what few words he has shown that God is everywhere, and that wherever the Spirit of God is, there is God, and where God is there is his Spirit! The union of the indivisible Trinity is portrayed here, since it is the Son of God who pro­nounced these words through the mouth of the prophet. He spoke in his human nature, for he descended to earth in the incarnation, ascended to heaven in the resurrection, and through his bodily death went down to the underworld to free the prisoners. Or if you prefer to ascribe these words to the

prophet, you notice it is clearly shown that wherever God the Father and God's Holy Spirit are, Christ is near as the hand, and the right hand of God.

Since we know that the sun shines everywhere, can we doubt that the splendor of God's glory and the image of his being shines everywhere? What could the Word of God, the eternal splendor, not penetrate, when he illuminates even the hidden mind, which the sun itself cannot penetrate?

He penetrates the soul, then, and illuminates it as with the brightness of eternal light. But although his virtue is poured out among all and into all and over all, since he was born of the Virgin for the sake of all, both good and bad, just as he com­mands his sun to rise over good and bad, nevertheless he warms only those who come near to him. For just as people shut out the sun's brightness when they close the windows of their houses and choose to live in darkness, so those who turn their backs on the Sun of Righteousness cannot see its splendor. They walk in darkness, and it is plain to everyone that they them­selves are the cause of their blindness. Open your windows, then, so that your whole house shines with the brightness of the true Sun; open your eyes so that you can see the Sun of Righteousness rising for you.

Responsory   Jer 23:23-24; Ps 139:7

Am I a God when near at hand, and not a God when far away? Can anyone hide in a dark corner without my seeing him? + Do I not fill heaven and earth?

V. Where can I escape from your Spirit? Where flee from your face? + Do I not fill ...