My Thanks And Appeal To My Attackers -Through The Words Of Saint Symeon

SAINT SYMEON'S ATTACKER, ANOTHER ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN, DID HIM MUCH HARM OVER A PERIOD OF 7 YEARS, TELLING LIES, RUMOR-MONGERING, CAUSING EVEN HIS MOST ARDENT SUPPORTERS TO TURN ON HIM--

THIS, HE WROTE AFTER BEING PHYSICALLY BANISHED FROM HIS MONASTERY-- 

A LETTER OF THANKS AND APPEAL FOR MORE OF THE SAME...

"...from your Symeon, who is in exile and being persecuted because of you... behold what grain the fields of your efforts and your words on God's behalf have yielded! See what glory and joy they have granted me, what crowns they have caused me to win, with what happiness they have filled me! For they have led me up to the summit of knowledge and have planted the feet of my intellect on the rock, and have caused me to be clothed in this rock [Christ] itself, from which I have the living water gushing forth in me, moving and speaking and encouraging me to write to you. This fills me with every delight and renders me completely unaware of the deadly trials around me. Like the three boys whom it kept from being burned in the furnace, it has thus also hidden me in its shelter and preserves me from grief and misery. For this I thank you and will never cease from thanking you and praying for you. So if you can do anything else to increase the happiness and glory of those who love you, please do not hesitate to do it, so that your reward may be multiplied and your recompense from God, who has set out the laws concerning these things, may be more abundant. Farewell."

EVEN WITH SAINT SYMEON IN EXILE, THE ATTACKER CONTINUED WITH MORE OF THE SAME...

ANOTHER LETTER FROM SYMEON...

"My good master...[you have] once again added more noble crowns of victory that I already have. How can I repay you for all that you, in your goodness, have done for me, your humble servant, for all that you continue to do, and that I know you will do again? For you have been my benefactor everyday for seven years already. How can I make amends to you when you are so zealous in these matters and know how to endow your friends so munificently with your sweet remedies? But, I beg you, do not halt your plans, do not give up your work! Add to them, if you will, things that, by their intensity, will make my sufferings even sweeter. For you have increased for me the light, the joy, the sweetness, everything that gushes forth in me in such a marvelous way in peace of my thoughts through the ineffable gladness of the Spirit. Please go on increasing these by all means, and, continuing to do what you do, unite me more swiftly with my beloved God, on whose behalf I willing bear everything and because of whom, as you see, I am enveloped by you in the chains of exile. Farewell. ...[Y]our Symeon, who, because of you, is in exile, stripped of all my possessions."

A Prophetic Word To Orthodox Bloggers...From Father Seraphim Rose?!

Do not trust your mind too much; thinking must be refined by suffering, or it will not stand the test of these cruel times.

Of course, one can always act wrong even on a clear conscience! But even that is not a fatal mistake as long as ones mind and heart remain open and one keeps first things first.

How much our American Orthodoxy needs more heart and not so much mind! I dont know any answer for it, except more prayer and basic education in Orthodox sources.

Orthodox Christians, surrounded by and already swimming in a sea of humanist-worldly philosophy and practice, must do everything possible to create their own islands, in that sea, of other-worldly, God-oriented thought and practice.

Above all, may we all grow in spiritual understanding, not rational understanding—which I fear is the constant plague of all us poor converts!

The two sides quote canons back and forth, when what is needed is love and understanding—and that statement, I realize, could have come straight from the lips of some ecumenist, which only shows how difficult the path of true Orthodoxy has become in our days.

Good heavens! What is happening to people? How easily one gets dragged off the path of serving God into all kinds of factions and jealousies and attempts at revenge.

How much hope there is for those who do not trust in themselves too much and are not overly-critical of others! And how little hope for those whose orientation is the opposite!

Letters from Father Seraphim, Nikodemos Orthodox Publication Society, Richfield Springs, NY, 2001.