Pascha is here again. It is a season dear to all of us, bringing us face-to-face with the reality of the salvation that Christ gave us through his voluntary death and glorious resurrection. Today, we renew our hope in the value of life. Today, we straighten our path toward true life. Today we understand that eternal life is our goal; and that our earthly life, with all its joys and sorrows, becomes true life when we live it as eternal life here and now.

In the light of the Resurrection, we examine our faith, our behavior, and our condition. Are these leading us to experience eternal life now in the active, living and revitalizing presence of God? Christ did not endure His passion to give us only a happy life which passes after a few decades. He fulfilled His divine plan to make this earthly life a gateway to eternal life. In us, the children of the Resurrection, the world begins its passage to eternity.

The pains, injustice, and desecration of people’s lives and dignity throughout history, and still today, should rather draw us to search for the real meaning of life. This world will vanish sooner or later. Therefore, we should not be short-sighted for earthly things while forgetting the authentic life ahead of us. The believer does not fear death, but sin. This means he does not fear the loss of earthly life, but the loss of life with God. By the power of the Resurrection, we confront death, armed with the invincible hope that eternal life will prevail over it.

The Resurrection of Christ means that despair has no place among us. No matter how much adversity and darkness, the light of the Resurrection remains our invincible guide. Christ did not endure great suffering in vain before He died and arose. His Resurrection happened after passing through brutal Golgotha. The sufferings of this age, no matter how severe, are nothing compared to the joy of the age to come, as the Apostle Paul teaches us.

We believe that we witness our own resurrection before the general resurrection, but only if we become completely purified from our passions. We do not tire of rising after every fall until we reach the great goal. Our conviction is that there is no salvation for this world except through our risen Lord. The more disappointments we have, the more we cling to this goal, and in Christ’s Resurrection we have inexhaustible hope and power.

Let us arm ourselves with the Resurrection, the cornerstone of our faith, and with it let us drive out despair, fight against fear, and renew our striving to manifest eternal life now. Let us espouse faith with works, and words with deeds. Let us bring the splendour of our liturgical services to our society. We must never stop trying to live our Christian faith, and all other things shall be added to you (cf. Matt. 6:33).

On this greatest feast day, we should rebuild our love that had been shattered by fear, and look not only to ourselves but to others in need of the true breath of life. Let us remember that human beings are made for infinite love. In Christ, God is near us, and so are others. Please strive to recognize that you are one family, that you are responsible for each other because you are brethren of the one Father. We should intensify our prayers and abstain from sin while asking for God’s mercy. If we are truly children of the Resurrection, let us be witnesses to the culture of eternal life – for which we hope and strive – for all peoples, especially the suffering.

Today, we must proclaim and manifest the great joy of the Resurrection. We must make it shine through the beauty of our lives and our holy, prophetic witness in speaking the truth with love. We must proclaim the joy of the Resurrection and let it shine every day, as we strive with others to spread peace, justice, and joy in every suffering and oppressed land. We must proclaim the joy of the Resurrection, and let it shine through our persistent resistance to sin and death, within us and around us.

Let us reflect together and ask on this feast: How can we be witnesses of the Resurrection in our own life and in the suffering world?

On Pascha, let us bring to the risen Lord our intentions and hopes. Then, let us employ our abilities to help others rise from their various sufferings.

We celebrate this holy feast in the hope of the resurrection of mankind from all manners of death.
Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!

The joyful Lent is here again. Let us approach it with joy and eagerness. This season nourishes us spiritually, purifying us to rise to the level of life worthy of human beings created in the image and likeness of God.

In our Christian circles, Lent is often approached as a mere religious obligation or abstinence from certain foods and drinks for a period of time. In reality, it is an intensive and liberating spiritual exercise when believers lay aside their worldly concerns and replace them with a yearning for the heavenly realms and living according to their faith.

The idea of liberating ourselves from the ties that bind and enslave us to earthly things, which prevent us from realizing our full humanity and purpose of our existence, is crucial to our understanding of Lent. If we focus on minimizing the quantity and quality of food, it is precisely because this helps free us from a fundamental passion that grips human nature, namely gluttony. As St. John Climacus said: “I wonder if anyone has gotten free of this master before settling in the grave” (The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 14:1).

Overcoming gluttony must lead us to freedom from other things that are not essential to our lives. This cannot be achieved if we are satisfied to limit fasting to food. Those who fast according to the rules of the Church experience how much lighter their bodies become as they approach Pascha. This lightness leads believers to more personal and communal prayer, to spreading the spirit of asceticism to many aspects of their daily lives, and to maximizing opportunities to perform acts of love in a variety of forms and ways, according to the ability of each believer.

A very important liturgical book that Orthodox believers cannot do without during Lent is the Triodion. It is the book for the period from the four weeks leading up to Lent, through all the weeks of Lent and Holy Week, until Holy Pascha. The prayers and hymns in this essential book are organized by the daily services of Orthros, Vespers, and the Sixth Hour. Reading it daily helps us fast properly according to Orthodox spirituality.

Some may make the mistake of limiting fasting to food, and some may make the mistake of limiting fasting to nice and civilized behaviors. Both attitudes are incomplete, and each dimension forgets the other. Most dangerously, these incomplete and misunderstood practices ignore the spirit and purpose of fasting.

The eschatological dimension of the Christian faith is essential, and to forget or neglect it amputates the Christian faith from its purpose and goal. What is the meaning of salvation if our lives are limited to these short years we are given on earth? What is salvation if we do not hope for resurrection and life in the age to come, and therefore do not work and strive for it?
In Lent, we experience, both physically and practically, our longing for the life to come. Fasting keeps our vigilance alive lest we forget that we are created for eternity and life in the presence of God, where we move “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18), as the Apostle Paul teaches us. Fasting is a yearning and desire for a life beyond the mortal, physical life. It is an experience of death before it happens, and therefore an exercise to defeat fear of it. We should not be surprised when we read or hear about believers who have been called “fasters” because of the many fasts that have shaped their entire lives. These are saints whose longing for God and life with Him led them to abandon everything else and to be satisfied with God alone, neglecting all earthly things and turning to the heavenly ones.

Love is also one of the authentic dimensions of fasting as practiced by Christians since the beginning of Christianity. When someone was in distress, they would call for a fast on a specific day and bring the cost savings of that day’s meals to the distressed person at church on Sunday morning. This is why the prayers and hymns of the Triodion often urge charity.
We also need to fast from so many things in these distracting times, such as television, social media, and entertainment, instead devoting the time we spend on them to more spiritual readings, prayer, and acts of love. This is how we experience Lent in its spirit and not just in its rules.

If in our Lent we experience true freedom, we experience the saying that “God alone is enough.” If we experience true freedom, then we have entered into His spirituality, beauty and joy.

~By Metropolitan Saba (Isper)

The humble person is objective and aware of his duties and rights; he knows the extent of his impact on society and realizes his position and role within it. He does not monopolize his talents and abilities but is happy to share them with others, even if their talents end up exceeding his. He rejoices in other people’s success and is thrilled by their growth and maturity. He knows neither jealousy nor envy, is thankful for everything, and flourishes on other’s progress.

As for the arrogant person, he only views things through the lens of his own ego. He is immersed in boastfulness about himself and considers no one else but himself. He is condescending towards others and wants to seize everything for himself. Jealousy kills his soul, envy exhausts him, and he is constantly troubled by those who are more distinguished than him. He is demanding, has a bad temper, and is never satisfied, no matter how much success he might achieve.

The humble person realizes how enormous the universe is. Therefore, he is always receptive to other people and ideas. Great scholars tend to be humble because their vast knowledge makes them aware that what they do not know about the universe is much more than what they know. They constantly pursue more knowledge with a sincere zeal, whereas the less learned might be arrogant, haughty, and conceited about what they know. The latter are condescending toward those who are less knowledgeable than them, yet at the same time, they are intimidated by those who are more knowledgeable than them and avoid interacting with them.

The humble person is inhabited by love and views every person as a repository of love. He does not exalt himself, because love does not know exaltation. He deals naturally and spontaneously with others, since he does not know how to lie, falsify facts, or wear masks. More precisely, he has no need to act in such a manner because he does not feel insufficient and compelled to cover up or mask his inadequacy with fake or false interactions. Thus, he is a human being with no inferiority complex. In other words, his self-confidence is within normal limits: he does not overstate his self-confidence, as this leads to arrogance and haughtiness, and he does not understate it, as this leads to cowardice and naivety.

The humble one is a balanced human being. He does not view himself based on how other people view him and, thus, does not have to act inappropriately in order to please others.

Humility is associated with self-knowledge, which is “a person’s awareness of his ability and a restless reminiscence of his slightest shortcomings” (as St. John of the Ladder says).

What has been said so far is a description that befits humanity in general. For Christians, pursuit of humility surpasses this description, because we strive to imitate our Lord, who says, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

Humility might appear to be a downward descent, yet for believers it is an ascent to the highest and a closeness to the Lord and to Creation in general. Humility is deemed to be the third to the last step for those who seek perfection. In Orthodox spirituality, humility comes right before dispassion (apatheia) and love, which are the summit of the ladder of virtues.
The humble person anguishes at pridefulness and pities the arrogant, because he realizes that pride tears apart human nature while humility unites it. The haughty person seeks self-satisfaction through arrogance and cruelty towards others. He thinks that his existence depends on humiliating others, while the humble person understands that loving others is the basis of his and their existence.

The humble person knows that any judgment about others is distorted if it is tinged with pride, because it is not based on a pure and valid contemplation of reality. Conversely, humility leads to careful insight, devoid of passion, and therefore, to sound judgment.

While the arrogant person twists his view of life’s affairs to suit his selfish interests, the humble person’s approach is realistic, baptized with love. Therefore, the latter re-establishes the true understanding of the affairs of life. The arrogant person is negative, accompanied by pessimistic darkness, hopeless and helpless. Meanwhile, the humble person is positive to the end, capable of accepting a changing reality, and accompanied by optimism and ongoing progress.

Our spiritual literature has not in vain said that trees devoid of fruit are erect and rise to the heights, while trees full of fruit are always bent. As a matter of fact, the more fruit they carry, the lower they are bent.

In Latin, the word humility means “fertile ground.” The humble one is like low-lying land that receives water and absorbs it, enhancing its fertility and increasing its fruits.

Humility leads to exaltation, while vanity leads to humiliation. For the Bible says that God “brought down the haughty and exalted the humble” (Luke 1:51). Exaltation is beautiful and good, but humiliation is repellent and distasteful.

The rooster is only aware of its own pen and is content, believing itself to be the mightiest and strongest. This is what an arrogant person is like—trapped in himself, believing that he is the center of the universe. The eagle, however, flies high and sees the earth and everything on it. It notices its tininess compared to other creatures, mocking the rooster and realizing the extent of the latter’s ignorance. Eagles are like humble people: they realize their status and role in the world (as Saint Silouan the Athonite says).

The humble person is soft-spoken and does not offend or hurt, unlike the arrogant person. “Treasure does not generate what it lacks.”

One might say, “I’m not arrogant.” This does not necessarily mean this person is humble. Not being arrogant is different from being humble. Here is what the great teacher John of the Ladder says: “Arrogance is different from not being arrogant, and both are different from humility. The arrogant one judges others all day long, and the non-arrogant one does not judge anyone but does not judge himself either. As for the humble person, he judges himself all the time, without being at fault.”
Pride accompanies individualism, which is why it seems to be a general feature in our current era. The more isolated the person is, the more scared he becomes and tries to protect himself with walls of pride. Pride is a sign of fear, avoidance of confronting oneself and one’s flaws. It is an inherent lack of love, if not hatred. As for humility, it is the experience of intimacy and a joyful life that is open to others. The humble person does not share in the sins of others but overflows with mercy for those who are in sorrow. Nothing hurts the humble person more than pride.

Our spiritual fathers said that humility is the wall and the roof of the house that protects its children, meaning the virtues, from falling. It is indeed the manifestation of all virtues.

The arrogant person derives his existence from his own self, talents, knowledge, money, and the like, while the humble person is certain that his entire existence is derived from God. The humble one always sees himself as standing in God’s presence. He constantly seeks to be fulfilled by God and does not waste his time with narcissistic actions that make him lose his best self.

A very beautiful girl came to Metropolitan Anthony Bloom for confession. She told him that she admired her beauty to the point of vanity and arrogance. He replied: Well, at least this is true. I advise you to stand in front of the mirror three times a day, look at yourself, and say, Thank you, Lord, for creating me beautiful, but my only contribution to this beauty you have given me is to distort it with my haughty gaze.

Pride arises from self-conceit, while humility comes from referring every good deed to God. The humble person attributes everything he has to God, not to himself. Thus, he thanks God, admires Him, and grows in love of Him.

The humble person, in short, is the one who realizes that he needs God’s mercy, and his constant prayer becomes, like the tax collector, “O God, be merciful to me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13).

~By Metropolitan Saba (Isper)

Metropolitan Boulos (1929-2008) served as metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Akkar and Dependencies across Lebanon and Syria.

If you love your neighbor less than you love yourself, then it would be difficult for you to write about a person like Metropolitan Boulos (Bandali), who lived Christ’s second great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” in its absolute evangelical sense, which is rarely duplicated throughout history. He embodied the phrase of the Bible that says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

What is remarkable about Metropolitan Boulos is his complete and constant self-forgetfulness for the sake of his fellow man. Requests made to this merciful metropolitan did not stop for a single moment throughout his life on earth. This means that he never once cared for himself because he was constantly preoccupied with the souls of others. Those who lived closely with him described his home, his room, his clothes, his food, and his poverty in a way that reminds us of the stories of unmercenary saints.

For those who claim that this kind of love is impossible in our self-centered age, Metropolitan Boulos, with his holy life, stands as living proof of the error of their claim, and as a witness to the extent of the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God’s pure ones.

I was a high school freshman when I first heard of “Father” Boulos Bandali. Young people from Koura, North Lebanon, who were displaced with their families due to the war in Lebanon (1975–77), told us about a priest in Bishmizine, where people rush from their villages to participate in his liturgy. They described him as the angels are described. My friends and I thought that they were exaggerating. But when we met him for the first time in Latakia, Syria, while he was on a spiritual visit to encourage us to practice confession, we were amazed at what we saw. How does a person live with all this meekness? From where does he get all this tenderness? How does he possess this amount of kindness and a constant smile? In our young minds, we could only imagine him coming from the icons of our glorious Church.

We learned from him the art of listening, and when we grew up, we understood how much humility and self-denial listening requires. He would listen with sensitivity to the confessions of the youth and would try with all delicacy to direct us to the point that we sometimes felt like he was the one confessing, not us. I remember that, through his gentleness, he once made me ashamed of my sin and cause me to despise it very much, without reprimanding me with a single harsh word, although I deserved more than one harsh word at the time.

These encounters came within the framework of the Orthodox Youth Movement and its activities. I remember the way we used to rush to him when he arrived to receive his blessing! On the day we heard that he became Metropolitan of Akkar, we, the youth of Latakia, decided to go and congratulate him after his enthronement. At that time, most of us had experienced confession at least once with him. We met him in a very small village in Wadi al-Nasara, called Bhazina. He had been in the archdiocese for less than a month. He came to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in that village. We were shocked by how small and poor the church was, from the liturgical items to the chanting. We found him celebrating the Liturgy as if he were in heaven, not aware of the poverty around him. It took me years and great toil to learn how to serve in such poverty in my former archdiocese (Bosra, Houran and Jabal Al-Arab, Syria). I could not see beyond the material beauty to reach the sight of the “Beloved Son,” Who transcends all beauty.

He shook our hands, one by one, after the Liturgy. Our presence brought him indescribable joy. He made us feel that we were his consolation, and some of us believed it!

We were later startled by something we learned about him. He stayed up at night writing letters to his spiritual children after his pastoral status as a bishop no longer permitted him to meet them in person as before. We learned that his bed was in a car, not in a bedroom. He spent most of his time sleeping being driven in a car from one region to another in his vast archdiocese (102 parishes) which extended across Lebanon and Syria.

Metropolitan Boulos planted in the Church a seed, without which the Church could not grow spiritually and physically. He gave great care to institutions, such as the Akkar Diocesan School, which he established and expanded. It is now one of the most successful schools in North Lebanon. But his focus on human beings was the most important. Everything he had was for his fellow man. For him, there was nothing—no institution, no money, no endowment—unless it was for the sake of the neighbor, a service to the neighbor, and a way for the salvation of the neighbor.

The love he implanted, the kindness he distributed, the tenderness he gave—all are images of the compassionate face of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. The God whom Metropolitan Boulos (Bandali) worshiped is the God of love, to Whom all should bow in reverence and veneration. May God help us through his intercessions.

By Metropolitan Saba (Isper)

Today there is widespread misconception among believers between “being worthy” and “being ready” to receive Holy Communion. Whoever refrains from partaking of the chalice of Holy Communion due to unworthiness is confusing this with unreadiness. No human being is worthy of God dwelling in Him and uniting with Him. Who among us acquires perfect purity and who is among us is without sin? No human being is worthy of this great blessing. God dwells among us and in us because of His overwhelming mercy, His utmost love, and His condescension that is incomprehensible to the human mind. Therefore, there will never come a time when we will be worthy of the Eucharist. Rather, when we think that we have become worthy, we have fallen into the greatest sin, that is, into pride, the root of all evil.

Yet, we must prepare ourselves to receive the Lord. Just as a person prepares to welcome an important guest into his home by cleaning and arranging it, and then he dresses in clean and appropriate clothes, so the believer prepares to receive the Lord in the “house” of his or her soul. So, on the one hand, only a spirit of contrition and the conviction that I am a sinner and not worthy at all, relying on God’s vast mercy, can enable me to approach the chalice. On the other hand, I must seek to respond to God’s abundant mercy by committing myself to the appropriate preparation for Holy Communion that the Church has appointed in general, and the prayer rule which my spiritual father gives me personally, lest I become complacent and take the Lord’s mercy for granted, and then forget the importance of my role in my salvation. In short, we must realize that we are always unworthy, and yet must strive to partake worthily, through the necessary preparation.

Based on the teachings of the Gospel, the Church has established several means to help us prepare for Communion: the sacrament of Confession, the pre-Communion prayers, reconciliation with others, and correcting our bad habits, in addition to abstaining from food and drink from midnight before the Divine Liturgy and arriving on time to participate in the Divine Liturgy. Adherence to these instructions is essential and important in order to partake of the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord in a worthy manner, that is, with proper preparation. The Apostle Paul says: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). So, what should we do about this? The Apostle answers: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28).

We should not understand the relationship between the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist in a mechanical or legalistic manner, but rather as something vitally and essentially connected. Some may argue that one should not partake of the Eucharist until after confession, but others disagree. To confess every time before receiving Communion is difficult to do, even in monasteries. However, it is absolutely unacceptable to receive Holy Communion constantly and not confess at all. The best practice is to both confess and receive Holy Communion according to the guidance of one’s spiritual father.
Let us not forget to examine our conscience thoroughly on the eve of the Divine Liturgy. This puts us on the right track, protects us from falling into a routine of approaching the chalice unprepared, and keeps the flame of longing for Christ burning within us. It is also a good practice to read the pre-Communion Canon and Prayers the night before the Divine Liturgy.

Proper preparation allows us to approach the divine mystery with contrition of heart and a conviction of our unworthiness, because we are sinners, and we must rely entirely on the mercy of the Lord, saying: “O Lord Master, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under the roof of the house of my soul; but as thou desirest, O Lover of mankind, to dwell in me, I make bold to draw near.” Let us draw near in the fear of God which keeps us in constant and fervent communion with Him. We should call to mind the pre-Communion admonition: “If thou desirest, O man, to eat the Body of the Master, approach in fear, lest thou be scorched, for it is fire. And, before drinking the divine Blood unto communion, first reconcile thyself to them that have wronged thee. Then dare to eat the mystical food.