By Fr. George Dorbarakis
“Great indeed is Anthony, the beginning of the Fathers.
And divine is Christodoulos, the inspired end.”
The wise hymnographer of the Service of Venerable Christodoulos, the teacher Iakovos Anastasios of Patmos, is distinguished by his deep knowledge of the spiritual life of the Church, which means that he can easily discern the signs of the Saint’s holiness and offer them to us in the best possible way. The words of the Apostle Paul apply to him when he says that “the spiritual man who has the Spirit of God can examine all things, but he himself cannot be examined by anyone who does not have this Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:15). Nevertheless, feeling his smallness, he invokes from the beginning, as is usually done with hymnographers, the illumination and grace of God in order to correctly hymn the Saint and not distort his image (Ode 1).
So the ecclesiastical poet presents the Saint in the whole extent of his life, both earthly and heavenly. And what does he tell us in general terms? That the Saint, wherever he went, in whatever place he lived in asceticism, on Olympus, on Latros, in Patmos, in Euboea, had one thing as a priority before him: how to please the Lord, how to keep alive his relationship with Jesus Christ, his Lord. And certainly striving for this, on the one hand he disentangled himself from anything impassioned that tied him to the world (Vespers Sticheron), on the other hand he felt the great desire to guide his fellow men, especially when he saw them in the darkness of ignorance of God. The poet even notes that the Saint can be compared to the great statures of the Holy Prophets and Patriarchs of the Old Testament, because the life of Venerable Christodoulos corresponds with characteristics of their own lives. That is why he characterizes the Saint as another Samuel, as a new Moses, as a second John the Forerunner, as well as another Prophet Elijah, Daniel, and so on. For example: He is another Samuel the holy one, because he too “was dedicated to God as Samuel from infancy” (Vespers Sticheron); he is a second Moses, because “he led people out of the darkness of ignorance and made them pleasing to God” (Vespers Sticheron); he is another Forerunner, because “he showed people, like John, the way of the Lord to salvation” (Vespers Sticheron).
And of course, what the hymnographer constantly emphasizes as the Saint's driving force and the interpretive key to all the miracles of his life is his love for God, his fiery-like desire for Him, his literal eros for Christ who wounded his heart, resulting in the Saint becoming His dwelling place - "for he had the Lord in himself" and "having Christ in himself as his dwelling place" (Vespers Liti), he will say, for example, among other things. And a small sample of this fervor that possessed him is the following hymn from the First Ode of his Canon: “Because you were wounded by eros for true Wisdom, with the highest and best fear that exists, you prudently regulated the movements of your mind. That is why you achieved, wise one, what was the desire of your heart.”
What is the most important thing in this particular hymn? The regulation of the movements of the mind in a prudent manner. Because it is known that the mind has such “flexibility,” that is, constant mobility and alternation, that it is very difficult to tame. And this constitutes the most central problem in the spiritual life of a faithful Christian. We are guided and behaved, in other words, by the thoughts of our mind, which sometimes come from our passions and sometimes from the wicked devil, with the result that the mind is characterized as a "vagrant" - it constantly wanders. What is it that can bring it under control? The fear of God, says the hymnographer, observing in the life of Saint Christodoulos, a fear that is the fruit of a person's heart wounded by love for Christ. And this fear is manifested in its charismatic dimension, when it is on the path of keeping the holy commandments of Christ. That is, one loves Christ, stands with absolute awe and respect (fear) before Him – love for God does not deviate into “childishness” and liberties – one keeps His commandments, regulates the movements of one’s mind by controlling one’s thoughts. It is no coincidence that in the Service for Holy Communion, among other things, the very serious request of the believer for the Lord to regulate his life through Holy Communion is mentioned: “Purify and cleanse me and regulate me.” Saint Christodoulos was experienced in the spiritual struggle, his mind was regulated based on the commandments of Christ, which is why he reached the ultimate goal of his life not with a simple step but with huge leaps: the vision of his Christ!
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
The wise hymnographer of the Service of Venerable Christodoulos, the teacher Iakovos Anastasios of Patmos, is distinguished by his deep knowledge of the spiritual life of the Church, which means that he can easily discern the signs of the Saint’s holiness and offer them to us in the best possible way. The words of the Apostle Paul apply to him when he says that “the spiritual man who has the Spirit of God can examine all things, but he himself cannot be examined by anyone who does not have this Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:15). Nevertheless, feeling his smallness, he invokes from the beginning, as is usually done with hymnographers, the illumination and grace of God in order to correctly hymn the Saint and not distort his image (Ode 1).
So the ecclesiastical poet presents the Saint in the whole extent of his life, both earthly and heavenly. And what does he tell us in general terms? That the Saint, wherever he went, in whatever place he lived in asceticism, on Olympus, on Latros, in Patmos, in Euboea, had one thing as a priority before him: how to please the Lord, how to keep alive his relationship with Jesus Christ, his Lord. And certainly striving for this, on the one hand he disentangled himself from anything impassioned that tied him to the world (Vespers Sticheron), on the other hand he felt the great desire to guide his fellow men, especially when he saw them in the darkness of ignorance of God. The poet even notes that the Saint can be compared to the great statures of the Holy Prophets and Patriarchs of the Old Testament, because the life of Venerable Christodoulos corresponds with characteristics of their own lives. That is why he characterizes the Saint as another Samuel, as a new Moses, as a second John the Forerunner, as well as another Prophet Elijah, Daniel, and so on. For example: He is another Samuel the holy one, because he too “was dedicated to God as Samuel from infancy” (Vespers Sticheron); he is a second Moses, because “he led people out of the darkness of ignorance and made them pleasing to God” (Vespers Sticheron); he is another Forerunner, because “he showed people, like John, the way of the Lord to salvation” (Vespers Sticheron).
And of course, what the hymnographer constantly emphasizes as the Saint's driving force and the interpretive key to all the miracles of his life is his love for God, his fiery-like desire for Him, his literal eros for Christ who wounded his heart, resulting in the Saint becoming His dwelling place - "for he had the Lord in himself" and "having Christ in himself as his dwelling place" (Vespers Liti), he will say, for example, among other things. And a small sample of this fervor that possessed him is the following hymn from the First Ode of his Canon: “Because you were wounded by eros for true Wisdom, with the highest and best fear that exists, you prudently regulated the movements of your mind. That is why you achieved, wise one, what was the desire of your heart.”
What is the most important thing in this particular hymn? The regulation of the movements of the mind in a prudent manner. Because it is known that the mind has such “flexibility,” that is, constant mobility and alternation, that it is very difficult to tame. And this constitutes the most central problem in the spiritual life of a faithful Christian. We are guided and behaved, in other words, by the thoughts of our mind, which sometimes come from our passions and sometimes from the wicked devil, with the result that the mind is characterized as a "vagrant" - it constantly wanders. What is it that can bring it under control? The fear of God, says the hymnographer, observing in the life of Saint Christodoulos, a fear that is the fruit of a person's heart wounded by love for Christ. And this fear is manifested in its charismatic dimension, when it is on the path of keeping the holy commandments of Christ. That is, one loves Christ, stands with absolute awe and respect (fear) before Him – love for God does not deviate into “childishness” and liberties – one keeps His commandments, regulates the movements of one’s mind by controlling one’s thoughts. It is no coincidence that in the Service for Holy Communion, among other things, the very serious request of the believer for the Lord to regulate his life through Holy Communion is mentioned: “Purify and cleanse me and regulate me.” Saint Christodoulos was experienced in the spiritual struggle, his mind was regulated based on the commandments of Christ, which is why he reached the ultimate goal of his life not with a simple step but with huge leaps: the vision of his Christ!
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
