April: Day 21: Teaching 2: Venerable Anastasios, Abbot of Sinai

April: Day 21: Teaching 2:
Venerable Anastasios, Abbot of Sinai
 
(With What Disposition Should One Be Present at Divine Services?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Venerable Anastasios, commemorated today by the Church, was by origin from Syria or Palestine and in his youth received an excellent education and a pious Christian upbringing. Having come of age and having cultivated in himself a devout disposition of soul, the Venerable Anastasios desired to leave the world and entered a monastery. Love for monastic struggles and the desire to find more perfect instructors in them prompted him to visit the ascetics of piety on Sinai, with whom he remained to live. His ascetic labors and spiritual wisdom gained for him the general respect of the brethren; he was deemed worthy of the rank of presbyter, and after the death of Gregory the Sinaite, the brother of John Climacus, he was chosen abbot of Mount Sinai. 

The zealous struggle of the Venerable Anastasios against various heresies is well known. Firmly defending the dogmas of the Orthodox faith against false teachers, he traveled for the struggle against heresies to those regions where they were spreading, and also exposed them in his numerous and excellent writings. Possessing an excellent education and a thorough knowledge of Holy Scripture and the writings of the Holy Fathers, firmly holding to the Orthodox teaching of the Church, Anastasios was a true scourge to error, a lamp of truth, a firm support for the Orthodox. As the first rule for those who seek a right understanding of the teaching of the faith and who struggle against the enemies of the faith, the Venerable Anastasios set upon this — to lead a pure, blameless life, so that the heart might be a temple of the Holy Spirit and be illumined by His light.

II. While exposing heresies and affirming the Orthodox faith, the Venerable Anastasios also gave many rules for Christian life and progress in piety. Here, for example, is his excellent instruction about “with what disposition of soul one should be present at divine services.”

“We desire only (vain) pleasures,” he says, “but when it is necessary to be in church, we cannot spend even one hour in prayer: during the reading we think about how we might leave it sooner, and with such impatience as if we were in the midst of flames. If the reading of the Gospel is longer than usual, if the priest reads the prayers at length, if he performs the holy mysteries somewhat slowly, we grow bored, we become drowsy, we yawn, we begin to look around. Some, instead of cleansing their conscience with sincere contrition for their sins, care only to adorn their body with rich clothing; others, scarcely having entered the church, already impatiently await how soon it will be possible to leave it. The greater part of women come to church not so much for prayer as for vanity, in order to display their rich and fashionable garments.”

“One must wash away one’s sins with confession and tears, one must flee from sin, one must humble oneself and awaken within oneself feelings of contrition, and only in these holy dispositions approach the holy mysteries. But you will say to me: it is not in my power to have these tears and to weep over my sins! Do you know from what this comes? It comes from the fact that you do nothing to receive from God these tears; it comes from the fact that you are not moved, that you never even think about that terrible day when God will judge us. But if you cannot weep or groan — at least stir yourself to saving sorrow; restrain your laughter, lower your eyes to the ground, humble your mind and heart, acknowledge that you are a sinner, and thus stand before God wholly penetrated with sorrow for your sins and with reverence before His dreadful majesty.”

“We behave in church as in some place of amusement: we laugh, we joke, we talk, and do not think that we are in the temple of the Lord. Do you not know that the church for your soul is a hospital, a harbor? If in it you will not receive the means for the healing of your evils, will you find them in another place? And if in this harbor of salvation you are tossed by a storm, where will you find calm? I beseech you, brethren, to be there with great reverence. Be filled with holy awe during the celebration of the holy mysteries.”

III. Such are the instructions of the Venerable Anastasios, in which are seen both his own piety and his fervent zeal for the salvation of his neighbors. Let us take them to heart, beloved brethren, and the blessing of the Saint will rest upon us. Amen. 

(Compiled from the “Lives of the Saints” of Philaret, Archbishop of Chernigov, April.)

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.  

 

Notes: 

 

* In the original book, this text is placed under April 20th, due to this Saint being commemorated in the Slavic calendar on that date, but in this English translation it is placed under April 21th, since this is his feast day in the Greek calendar.