My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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ON NOVEMBER 21st OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE FEAST DAY OF THE ENTRANCE OF THE VIRGIN MARY INTO THE TEMPLE (Part III)
The Virgin Growing Up in the Temple
Saint John Maximovitch (1896-1966) writes that Mary was settled in the quarters for virgins which existed in the Temple. She spent so much time in prayer in the Holy of Holies that one might say that she lived in it. She desired to fulfill the commandment of God, "Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am Holy (Leviticus 19:2)."
Thus, she became more and more perfect in the work of God. Far from the turmoil of everyday life, the All-Holy one meditated and nourished her soul on Holy Scripture day and night. She ate once daily and occupied herself with prayer and wool work. When the older virgins rested from the praises of God, she did not rest. None exceeded her in the praises and vigils of God, and no one was more learned in the wisdom of the law of God No one was more lowly in humility, more elegant in singing, and more perfect in all virtue.
Saint Ambrose comments, in Concerning the Ever-Virginity of the Virgin Mary, that she was adorned with all virtue and manifested an example of an extraordinarily pure life. Being submissive and obedient to all, she offended no one and was cordial to all. She never spoke a crude word and did not allow any unclean thought. Mary blessed God without interruption and, lest perchance even in greeting others she should cease from her praises to the Lord, she even answered then, praising God, in her salutation, by saying: "Thanks be to God" or "Glory be to God." (From the Virgin began the custom of using this expression when people greet one another.)
The sojourn of the Virgin Mary in the Temple is described by Saint Gregory Palamas in terms that make Mary the model of the hesychastic life. Extolling constant prayer, the Saint indicates that the Virgin was the first to take it upon herself to pray unceasingly. According to Saint Gregory, her asceticism therein did not lead her to come to an understanding of the grace received from the time of her conception, but to learn more of the nature of the sins of Adam. It was there that she perceived and recognized that "no one could halt the murderous rush which was bearing away the human race."
Abiding in prayer day and night, and maintaining silence, she cleansed her heart and was inexpressibly united with Him. Rising above all creation and creatures, the All-Holy Virgin contemplated God's glory more fully than did Moses, and communed of Divine grace in such a way that defies words and ever reason. She became a luminous cloud of Living Water, the dawn of the unspeakable day, and the fiery chariot of the Logos/Word. There, in the Holy of Holies, through prayer of the heart, she ascended to the summit of contemplation. Renouncing the world for the world's sake, by holy silence, and attentive inner prayer, she would serve as a model for those future monastics of her Son and God.
Saint Gregory of Palamas praises Mary in superlative terms, writing: "Today a new world and a wonderful Paradise have appeared. In it and from world...God has kept this Virgin for Himself before all ages. He chose her to all others, making her, before her wondrous childbirth, the Saint of saints, giving her the honor of His own house in the Holy of Holies...Wishing to create an image of absolute beauty and to manifest clearly, to Angels and to men, the power of His art, God made Mary truly all beautiful...He made of her a blend of all-divine, Angelic, and human perfection, a sublime beauty embellishing the two worlds, rising from earth to heaven and surpassing even this latter.
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer writes: "The Holy Spirit wholly sanctified thee in the temple; therefore thou has become the fair spouse of the Father and Mother of the Son."
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George