My child! Obedience is a holy path that leads a monk to salvation. Obedience is the door to Paradise. The monk who acquires it tastes Paradise; he has already attained the angelic state. The angels in Heaven are filled with humility, while Satan and his battalions lost the glory of Heaven by their pride. Losing humility, they lost also their place of light. O humility! It places us in Paradise! How shall we find it? Only in obedience do you safely find humility. Only in obedience do you safeguard the blessedness of Paradise. By their disobedience the First Parents lost Paradise, while Christ, 'becoming obedient until death,' opened Paradise again. 'Obedient until death!' There three words hide the whole extent of the mystery of obedience. Obedience equals life; disobedience equals death.
+Elder Neophytus the Hadji-Georgite, quoted in the life of Elder Ignatius the Father Confessor, Contemporary Ascetics of Mount Athos, Volume 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment