By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The Venerable Elizabeth the Wonderworker becomes especially relevant in our time, chiefly because her entire life was — and continues by grace to be — an extraordinary presence of compassion toward the world. Especially today, when a large number of our fellow human beings live in sorrow and distress due to the many problems of daily life, the Venerable one comes as a foremost protector of those in affliction, to grant that grace which helps overcome sorrow and attain true joy. The Holy Hymnographer of our Church records this clearly from the very beginning of the hymns dedicated to her: “You received the grace to drive away the illnesses of souls and bodies, Venerable Mother, to expel evil spirits by the Holy Spirit, and to be the protector of all those in afflictions” (Vespers Sticheron).
Her entire life was a conscious effort to share in the suffering of her fellow human beings — that is, to live the true and genuine love brought by the Lord Jesus Christ. And this means, of course, that she struggled to remain firmly upon the rock of the Orthodox faith, since true love toward God and neighbor is known to be the most excellent flower of the right Orthodox faith. Faith and love are two sides of the same coin, and whoever thinks he can have one without the other is gravely mistaken. “You practiced compassion, Orthodox faith, and love toward the Lord and your neighbor, O Venerable one blessed by God, therefore the divine grace of the Spirit rested in you, Mother Elizabeth” (Vespers Sticheron).
Thus the Venerable Elizabeth has been, for all the faithful, both in the past and up to the present day, “a hand stretched out in compassion” (“you extend a hand of compassion”) (Ode 7). This means that in her person we always see a divinely-inspired friend, a continuation and extension of the beloved and longed-for person of the Lord Jesus Christ. For in reality, this is what the Venerable one is: another manifestation of Christ in the world, a vision of the beauty of His face, which she herself ardently struggled to behold and to live. “You longed to behold with purity the noetic beauty of Christ the Bridegroom” (Ode 9). And this means that a person who loves the Lord and places Him as the priority of the soul ultimately becomes like Him. Saint Joseph the Hymnographer indeed repeatedly emphasizes her fervent love for the Lord, even from infancy, something shown by her unceasing fixed gaze of Him: “You entrusted your entire mind to the Lord; therefore you beheld Him with the eyes of your nous and heart” (Ode 5).
This absolute priority in her life — which is simply the fulfillment of God’s command to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind — also explains what at first appears paradoxical: that for three years she did not look at all upon the beauties of the sky. The Venerable one did not avoid these beauties because she rejected the beauty of creation — that would be contrary to the Christian faith — but because she was wholly absorbed in the beauty of the Creator. And one might say that only the one who beholds the beauty of the Creator is truly able to see, with the right eyes, the beauty of His creation. “For three years you did not behold the heavens, but looked only toward the earth below, being yourself from the earth, O most blessed by God” (Ode 5).
Indeed, the proper ordering she established in her life — love of God and neighbor first, and everything else afterward — explains all the so-called “extremes” of her ascetic conduct: her strict fasting, its duration, and her fiery tears of repentance. The Venerable one was focused on adorning the temple of her soul, and the activity of God’s grace made her see nothing else. For example: “You emulated Elijah and Moses, O most venerable one, in the length of your days; therefore you fasted like them, receiving through the grace of the Holy Spirit the heavenly bread of His most wise visions” (Ode 3). “You were joined, O venerable one, to the desire for Christ; therefore you melted the mindset of the flesh through fasting” (Ode 1). “Because you desired to obtain God’s mercy through ascetic struggle, you did not partake of oil from your infancy, rejoicing in the achievements of your ascetic labors” (Ode 6).
May we also acquire, even to a small degree, “the God-loving mind which the Venerable one attained, through which she now lives with the angels” (Ode 7).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.