{"id":252764,"date":"2019-09-23T19:52:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T16:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=252764"},"modified":"2019-09-23T20:32:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T17:32:32","slug":"patriarch-bartholomew-divine-eucharist-and-monasticism-are-eschatological-antibodies-that-defended-the-church-from-secularization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/patriarch-bartholomew-divine-eucharist-and-monasticism-are-eschatological-antibodies-that-defended-the-church-from-secularization\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriarch Bartholomew: Divine Eucharist and Monasticism are \u201ceschatological antibodies\u201d that defended the Church from secularization"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the Most Reverend Archbishop of America Elpidophoros, most-honorable Exarch of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, beloved brother in the Holy Spirit and co-celebrant of our modesty, grace to your eminence and peace from God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every attempt to promote Orthodox spiritual culture is a good and admirable work. Monasticism is a most precious component of our Orthodox tradition. It is the powerful incarnation and expression of the ascetic spirit of the Church, and of the eschatological fervor of Her life. Monastics personify limitless and boundless dedication to God, and to the observance of His salvific commandments; ceaseless prayer; self-surpassing and self-sacrifice; severance of their own will; humility and obedience; lack of possessions, and the life of purity; sacrificial service; respect towards the \u201cvery good\u201d creation of God and the uninterrupted care for its protection; the unquenchable desire for eternity, and the certain hope of the Kingdom\u2014of a world where God will \u201cwipe away every tear from the eyes of men,\u201d where \u201cthere shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain\u201d (Rev. 21:4\u20135).<\/p>\n

Monasticism \u201cbelongs to the heart of the Church.\u201d It is, as has been said most appropriately, \u201cthe fruit of the ascetic ideal of the entire Church, because it is not a movement beyond or above the Church, but flesh from Her flesh and Her pride.\u201d In Orthodoxy, asceticism is not a personal achievement, but an ecclesiastical virtue that is associated with the eucharistic identity of the Church. In the sacred monasteries there is preserved the truth of the \u201ceucharistic fulfillment\u201d of the Church, which is unbreakably connected with the eschatological character and orientation of ecclesiastical life. The monk is the eucharistic and \u201ctruly eschatological\u201d believer, whose life revolves around \u201casceticism and the Eucharist.\u201d The coming together of all the monastics in the\u00a0Catholicon<\/em>, the all-holy center of the monastery, is the culmination of monastic life. It is characteristic that the Divine Eucharist and monasticism served and serve as \u201ceschatological antibodies,\u201d on account of which the Orthodox Church avoided becoming secularized, and preserves to this day Her tradition and unique identity.<\/p>\n

It is particularly significant that, within our secularized communities, the holy monasteries constitute a center of attraction, a place of consolation and \u201chealing of the pains of the heart,\u201d and a gate of heaven. Not one of the pilgrims and visitors who come to the monasteries depart without being deeply moved to their core, without having experienced an internal rebirth, without many of their worldly convictions having been shaken. It is not by chance that many of these visitors come to comprehend that the essence of monastic life and withdrawal from the world is the unadulterated witness \u201cconcerning the hope within us,\u201d freedom in Christ and according to Christ, and the living of its eschatological dimensions. It is revealed to them that the authentic ascetic life is a fountain of internal freedom and an alternative offering of life, in opposition to the blissful self-gratification that constitutes the standard for innumerable people.<\/p>\n

Orthodox monks and nuns knock at the gate of the Kingdom with persistence and patience, with unshakeable certainty that, according to the Lord\u2019s words, \u201ceach one who asks receives, and he who seeks shall find, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened\u201d (Mt. 7:8). They remind us of the \u201cone thing needed\u201d (Lk. 10:42); to \u201cseek the things on high, \u2026 care for that which is above, not for the things of the world\u201d (Col. 3:1\u20132); the principle of relinquishing one\u2019s \u201cindividual rights\u201d in the name of love; and the limits of the worldly \u201cunethical ethics,\u201d which are fed by the cold words, \u201cwhat is mine and what is yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the ever-memorable Metropolitan of Stavropolis and Dean of the Holy Theological School of Halki, Maximos Repanellis, stated, the monk\u2019s greatest offering to society is that he offers himself completely to God. This self-offering, which constitutes the core of monastic identity, was and continues to be an inexhaustible fountain of vigor and godly zeal, creating an exalted culture responsible for the miracles of art that gives glory to God, of iconography, of miniature carvings, of hymnography, of psalmody, and of church architecture. The genuine monk does not consider any of this to be his own personal achievement. Everything is a gift of divine philanthropy, a grace and endowment of the Triune God.<\/p>\n

All of these God-given, blessed, modest and righteous attributes, constitute monasticism\u2019s challenge and invitation to modern civilization and societies. Orthodox monasteries express Christian authenticity, what is needed from an Orthodox concerning man and his eternal destiny, within the pluralistic, technocratic, and economically centered world of our age. Professor George Manzarides correctly emphasizes that, \u201ca living Christian Church without monasticism is, particularly in our modern secular society, inconceivable.\u201d In this spirit, I encourage you, holy brother, to support the development of Orthodox monasticism in your large country, so it may serve as a witness for the \u201ccultivation of the person,\u201d of the love that \u201cseeks not its own,\u201d and of the ascetic, eucharistic, and eschatological spirit of our blessed Orthodox Faith.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, we extend to your beloved eminence, to the most reverend and God-loving brother bishops, to the rest of the God-loving reverend clergy, to the monks and the nuns, and to the pious faithful of the Holy Archdiocese of America, wholehearted blessings upon the dawning of the new ecclesiastical year. I congratulate you once again on your inspired initiative in organizing the present monastic assembly, and we bestow upon its participants our Patriarchal blessings, invoking upon all of you the grace and mercy of the God of love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

September 12, 2019<\/p>\n

Your beloved brother in Christ,<\/p>\n

Bartholomew of Constantinople<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the Most Reverend Archbishop of America Elpidophoros, most-honorable Exarch of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, beloved brother in the Holy Spirit and co-celebrant of our modesty, grace to your eminence and peace from God. Every attempt to promote Orthodox spiritual culture is a good and admirable work. Monasticism is a most precious component of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":252759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67,20848,1719,8611],"class_list":["post-252764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autocephalous-orthodox-churches","tag-ecumenical-patriarch","tag-monastic-assembly","tag-patriarch-bartholomew","tag-usa"],"better_featured_image":{"id":252759,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"Patriarhul Ecumenic Bartolomeu. Foto credit: kathimerini.gr","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":960,"height":600,"file":"2019\/09\/bartholomaios-thumb-large-thumb-large-thumb-large1.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"bartholomaios-thumb-large-thumb-large-thumb-large1-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/bartholomaios-thumb-large-thumb-large-thumb-large1-360x360.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"bartholomaios-thumb-large-thumb-large-thumb-large1-890x556.jpg","width":890,"height":556,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/bartholomaios-thumb-large-thumb-large-thumb-large1-890x556.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":252764,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/bartholomaios-thumb-large-thumb-large-thumb-large1.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252764\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=252764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252764\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252759\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=252764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=252764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=252764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}