The two centers of our Orthodox Christian life
The catholicity of our Orthodox way of life finds its roots in the link between the monastery and the parish. Both are essential to the life of the Church, and neither is better than the other. The monastic life is not better than the married life, and the married life is not better than the monastic life. Both are rooted in the gospels, and both are grounded in our life in Christ.
The catholic nature of our life in the Church is expressed in the wholeness by which our lives are directed and guided by the Holy Spirit. Both celibacy and marriage are essential to the Church, for both are expressions of the evangelical call to discipleship. Marriage and celibacy are mutually indebted, and essential to the catholicity of the Church. The basic truth is that virginity and marriage are both good because they have their foundation in the life of the Spirit.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian says that he “…would not wish to give preference to any of these states or exalt one type of life and discredit another. In all walks of life, whatever our work and activities, blessed is the life lived for God and according to God”. However we serve the Church, we must do so according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the fear of God, and with love. When we do this, the work of the Lord will have eternal results, and we will have been blessed. Whether we are called to the monastic life, or the life of the married state, we will know that we are doing the will of God, while contributing to the life of the Church.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: I was delighted to receive a Skype call from some of the participants in the recent Orthodox Christian Fellowship’s college retreat that took place at Saint Nicholas Ranch in Dunlap, CA. These young people called to let me know they’d been praying for my recovery, and their sweet faces were a welcome ray of sunshine for this old monk.
je ne suis rien et si pauvre spirituel et si entaché de misérables et récurrents péchés, mais j’ai une place dans mon cœur, blessé deux fois par infarctus, avec petite séquelle de fuite…une petite fuite qui n’empêche pas que j’ose vous confesser que j’aime dans mon manque d’Amour Vrai notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ et que sans charme, sans pouvoir, sans raison de fierté je vous aime aussi père Tryphon et je prie chaque jour pour vous! priez pour moi et ma petite famille aimée.s’il vous plait père, s’il vous plait et prompt rétablissement à vous ! filialement en Christ : Daniel pas très bon fils, père très imparfait, prête raté, époux très moyen, juste avec un reste de larme dans un reste de coeur d’amour ” par-donné ” de Dieu.
I am nothing and so spiritual marred by poor and so miserable and recurring sins, but I have a place in my heart, wounded twice a heart attack, with little leakage sequel … a small leak that does not mean that I ‘dare confess I like my lack of True Love our Lord Jesus Christ, and without charm, without power, without a reason of pride I love you Tryphon father too and I pray every day for you!
Suggest a better translation
why did you stop posting the scripture reading for the day?
Partly because most of my readers are not on the Julian calendar, and partly to conserve what energy I have been able to gain since my hospitalization. I’m still on the mend, and have a ways to go.
a good common sense answer to Daniel’s inquiry