During my time in High school I usually ended up leaving everything till the last minute and had to deal with the stress and anxiety of my pro(skills)crastination. Next to the huge lists of things to do for school I had to finish my volunteering hours which are a requirement for graduating. Seeing how many of my peers completed theirs by volunteering in our local parish I decided to do the same by helping out in the bookstore. Bookstores and libraries were not my favorite places to be, it was for those know-it-all guys in church who had time to read these spiritual books, to study for their midterms and do well in school...nerds...what I thought at the time.
Stuck at this bookstore I had nothing to do, I was 14 or 15 and NO I did not own a cell phone to check the latest tweet from Justin Bieber or to log in on Facebook. The only option I had at the time was to read one of the books on the shelves. There were many books, so I had to limit my choices to short books (obviously). The shortest books were the miracle stories of the Saints which are great but I heard enough miracle stories of Pope Kyrillos VI growing up and I am not spending the rest of my life reading thousands more of them. Among these miracle stories was a book called "Christian Behaviour" which caught my eyes. FINALLY... a book with a picture of Pope Kyrillos on the cover but was not centered around his miracles!!!!
I grabbed the book and began to read, let's just say that I was shocked to finish a spiritual book this fast despite of the fact that it's really short...I hated books. What attracted me the most was the practical advice H.H. gave to his disciples the monks. Trust me when I say that they were practical, I'll post some of them in the future if God wills. They were straightforward, spiritual and simple for someone like me. I never really knew the teachings of this great man except that he was a wonder worker like his patron saint, St. Mina the Wonder Worker. This book opened my eyes to the spirituality of the Orthodox Church, the beauty of Orthodoxy in its focus on the worship of God in all purity and holiness. Because of this book I started to read more spiritual books that have helped me immensely in my spiritual life.
I hope that this post somehow encourages you my dear reader to try to read a book by one of our Orthodox saintly fathers if you haven't. Come join me on my journey in discovering the beauty of Christ in His Church throughout the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church and to follow the examples of those who have acquired a life of holiness like H.H Pope Kyrillos VI. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions or questions for me.
+Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Excellent post :) Pope Kirolos was an amazing man who impacted the lives of many people we know of today. Father Matthew the Poor, Father Bishoy Kamel, Dr. George Bebeawi and even the Egyptian president during that time Gamal Abdel-Nazzer. Pope Kirolos life was fashioned on living his liturgical and sacramental life in Christ. Hence why he celebrated the liturgy everyday. He made sure before dealing with anyone that the center of his life became the liturgy because in dealing with people he lived out his own liturgy and prayer life. Nice post :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Bavly for the comment. It is definitely important to live out the liturgy! :)
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