An eagle was flying in the heights and delighting in the beauty of the word, and he thought: "I cover great expanses, and I see valleys and mountains, seas and rivers, meadows and forests. I see towns and settlements, and how men live; while here a village rooster knows nothing except his own yard. I shall fly to him and tell him about the life of the world."
The eagle flew onto the roof of the country house and saw how gallantly and merrily the rooster was strolling amidst his hens. And the eagle began to speak to the rooster of the world's beauty and wealth. At first, the rooster listened with attention, but did not understand anything. The eagle, seeing that the rooster did not understand anything, was saddened, and it became hard for him to speak with the rooster; while the rooster, not understanding what the eagle was saying, began to be bored, and it became hard for him to listen to the eagle.
Thus it happens when a learned man speaks with an unlearned man, but even more when a spiritual man speaks with an unspiritual man. A spiritual man is like the eagle, while an unspiritual man is like the rooster; the mind of a spiritual man meditates on the law of the Lord day and night and by prayer ascends to God, while the mind of an unspiritual man is attached to the earth or occupied with thoughts. And when a spiritual man meets an unspiritual man, intercourse for them both is boring and difficult.
Venerable Siluan of Athos
In the land of Sabor there lived a certain monk - a lover of Christ, a lover of the poor and merciful. This monk bore the name Martyrius and was leading a holy life. Once, according to custom, Martyrius was going to his spiritual father and met a sick pauper lying on the path. The pauper was intending to go thither, whither Martyrius was also going, but he had no strength. Martyrius took pity on him, spread out his mantia on the ground, placed the pauper on it and carried him on his shoulders. When he came with his load to the monastery where his spiritual father lived, the latter met him and, as a clairvoyant filled with the Holy Spirit, loudly exclaimed: "Hurry quickly! Martyrius is coming, carrying his God on his shoulders!" Coming up to the gates, Martyrius took off his load and wanted to lift up the pauper from the ground, but it turned out that there was no one on the mantia. And he only saw an image of our Lord Lord Jesus Christ. And he heard a voice: "Martyrius, thou hast not despised Me on earth, and I shall not despise thee in heaven! Now thou hast regarded Me mercifully; I shall have mercy on thee for ever."
From "A Prologue in Instructions"
An Athonite Prayer |
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O Lord, my God, help me to see the insignificance of everything earthly, the majesty of the heavenly, the shortness of time and the duration of eternity. Cause that I would prepare myself for death, that I would fear Thy judgment, that I would escape Hades and that I would enter into the paradise of eternal blessedness; so that all Thy saints and Thine angels might rejoice over my salvation, and glorify Thy name, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Athonite Leaflet, 1891