St. Shenouda and Pope Kyrillos VI on Self-Examination

Self-Examination:

"Brethren, if we want to escape God's punishment and find mercy in his eyes, let us sit every evening alone by ourselves and search our souls for what we presented to our guardian angel to offer before the Lord. Again, as the night goes by and a new day dawns and light prevails , let us search ourselves to know what we presented to our companion angel to offer to the Lord. Let it be beyond doubt that everyone of us - male or female- young or old, who was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has been assigned to a designated angel until the day of his death to report to him everyday what his assigned individual has done by day or by night. Not that God is unaware of what we have done. Heavens forbid. He is more knowledgeable about it. As it is written. the eyes of the Lord are watching all the time everywhere on those who commit evil and on those who do good. Rather the angels are servants installed by the Creator of the universe for those who will will inherit the salvation."

+St. Shenouda the Archimandrite (Homily found in the First Hour of Monday morning during Holy Week (Pascha).

"My beloved son, in solitude take account of your actions and be saddened for the sins that conquered you. In your solitude, collect your thoughts. Take into account those actions that pleased or displeased the Lord. If your actions were pleasing to the Lord, then rejoice and add to these actions on a daily basis. If you sinned, for every man is liable to do so, ask the Lord from your heart to forgive you, and be diligent not to repeat these offenses."

+Pope Kyrillos VI, Christian Behaviour p. 52.

Pope Kyrillos on Reading and Praying

His Holiness, the Pope, continues to advise his spiritual son (a monk), to make of him a beacon for the entire world. "When you come back from work, take off your clothes, wash your face and rest a little. If you want to have some recreation, you can go outside far from noise, and ponder the works of the Creator and the beauty of nature. Thank and praise the Lord. Do not reflect too much on the affairs of life. Do not worry about anything. Cast your burdens upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you. Do not stay too late outside; it is better not to be out after eight o'clock. Do not be outside your room after ten o'clock if possible, so that you can find time to read a little and to pray. This is not difficult advice so do not ignore it and say, 'I do not have time for such things.'

"If you have trained yourself in these things, you will reap the fruits or rewards thereof. Once you have tried it, you will find it so easy. It is natural that in the beginning, the enemy of righteousness will try to make the matter difficult for you, but day after day, you will find that it is very easy and you will want to increase this practice. Brother, as you care for your body, you should also care for your soul. It is your duty to do so."

+Pope Kyrillos VI, Christian Behaviour p. 11.

Pope Kyrillos VI on Spiritual Reading

Pope Kyrillos VI lives in this manner. He read the Holy Bible daily until the day of his death. He also would read the saints' books especially the sayings of St. Isaac. Nothing prevented him from his readings, whether other work, fatigue or sickness. His speech was always from the Holy Scriptures and the sayings of St. Isaac whenever he spoke to his disciples, the monks, or visitors. He said, "I was tonsured a monk, and from that day on, I began learning the laws of monasticism from the fathers. I studied the saints' books, especially the book of the great saint, St. Isaac. I felt the blessings of God increasing on a daily basis."

He wrote to one of his spiritual sons, a monk, "Persist in and honour reading, if possible more than prayer. Reading is the spring of intelligent prayer. For, as I had previously told you, reading for a good purpose will show you how to walk on the virtuous path. Whoever reads the books to understand the path of virtue, this path will be opened before him."

+Christian Behaviour, p. 40

Look! Look at how these saints approach the temple!

Fr. Yostos El-Antony

The saints love to be attentive during the liturgy and other services; they look forward to that time to be present in the temple of God. This is clear in the lives of the saints that we read about and in their teachings. I will try through this post to help you enter with me into the world of the saints, living and departed, who are not too far from us physically and spiritually. I hope to bring you into this world that is not foreign to us or completely strange, for we are called to be saints by following in their ways and in obeying their words.

Pope Kyrillos VI

Pope Kyrillos VI tells us:

“Be not slothful about going on church, especially on Sunday. Do not remain in bed, saying it is a day to rest and be lazy about attending the Divine Liturgy. Supposed you have an appointment with one of your friends, would you neglect him and stay in bed? No, I tell you, rather you would try your best to keep this appointment. Is it not more worthy to treat your Lord as you would one of your friends? Be not slothful.”

Icon of St. Theophan the Recluse

Following this advice by our holy father, I would like to present to you another advice by a holy Russian father, St. Theophan the Recluse. Now that we are getting out of bed, said our prayers, washed up and put on our clothes let’s see what’s the next step to take…

“At the first stroke of the bell, you must drop any work, and prepare your soul for prayer in church, reciting “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” or “Heavenly King,” “Our Father,” or some other such prayer. Approaching the church, you must leave every care and worry about your affairs at the threshold in order to enter with a serene mind. Entering the church, you must put on reverence like a garment, remembering to Whom we are coming and to Whom we intend to address your prayers… After this, you must follow, without wandering thoughts, everything that is going on—what is being sung and read in the church—all the way to the end of the service.” +St. Theophan the Recluse

This was said on one of our holy elders and saintly fathers, Fr. Yostos El-Antony:

“He loved the house of God so much that even after the conclusion of prayers or the liturgy, he would feel reluctant to leave. Not wanting to leave the house of angels and the place where God communicates with His children, he would enter the altar, and lovingly holding the gospel and the cross in his hands, he would proceed around the altar kissing it many times. He never left the church in a hurry, and sometimes did not want to leave at all.” +From “The Garden of Abba Antony”

Now that we have seen how the saints behaved in the church, what they thought of one’s conduct in the church and their teachings on reverence for God and his holy temples the churches, I will end this with the words of Pope Kyrillos:

“During the Divine Liturgy, stand humbly. Do not just listen to sweet voices. Remember you are standing before the Lord, and He expects you to ask Him for graces and blessings of which He will give you freely. He said, ‘Ask and it shall be given you, seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you’. Be as an active merchant who knows his gains from his losses and therefore, try to discern whether you received more grace today than yesterday, and the day before that.”