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

“Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

Some of us, if not most will encounter someone or some group who after learning of our Christian faith, that is that we are Orthodox Christians, that we allow the veneration of saints and the presence of relics in our churches will falsely accuse us of practicing idolatry. Now of course, in no way, are we through our veneration and prayers worshipping the saints. The Church is clear that worship belongs to God alone, as I have previously discussed in my last post, “A Cloud of Witnesses”. Just to mention a few points from what I have written:

• “He is God not of the dead, but of the living,” (Mark 12:27). The God of the saints (who have gone before us and are ever living in Him) is not the God of the dead.
• “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4: 15: 16). We cannot separate those members of the triumphant church from us who are foreigners in this world. We are one Church serving one Lord.
• “First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2) So if we ask for the intercessions of members of our Church, then it is not wrong to ask for the intercessions of the departed saints who are still members of the Body of Christ, Christ being the Head of that Church.

Now that we can be confident in the intercessions of the saints, we can now focus on the greatest example and the advocate of the human race, the Virgin St. Mary, the Theotokos- the Mother of God. Praising the Virgin Mary is biblical; next to the angelic greeting of St. Mary during the Annunciation, St. Elizabeth praised the Virgin for her holiness and her submission to the divine plan of the mystery of the incarnation. One of the memorable passages in the Scriptures that point out the importance of praising St. Mary is when St. Elizabeth greets her, filled with the Holy Spirit cries out “Blessed are you among women...” (Luke 1:42). This is one example among others where she is praised for being the Mother of our Lord, Jesus Christ (Luke 1:43). The Mother of God replies to this with her wonderful song of praise and she says, “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48). Truly this prophecy continues to be fulfilled in the Church of God and among Christians. We continue to praise her in our divine liturgies, in our prayers, in our Midnight Psalmody...in everything.