{"id":541,"date":"2020-11-30T18:01:43","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T18:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/wordpress\/?p=541"},"modified":"2024-03-11T17:56:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T17:56:59","slug":"voice-of-putna-xi-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/2020\/11\/voice-of-putna-xi-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ: Icon from Within our Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\"\"The icon from within the spiritual depths of our being is the image of Christ. It is the Life of our life, the most precious treasure which we must not lose but uncover and multiply. This image darkens when we commit sin, but we can paint this countenance of Christ through virtue.<\/p>\n

When Christ\u2019s image is within you, and you are aware of His presence, the longing for God is born in your heart. Christ\u2019s presence in your heart creates that state of permanent longing for spiritual heights, for God. Therefore, he who has learned the beauty of Orthodoxy will never renounce Orthodoxy; he will never be scandalized by someone\u2019s deeds or any trial but will remain steadfast because he drinks from this longing and lives according to the icon from within\u2014the icon of Christ. When the Christian continually beholds Christ\u2019s image, his life is, as St. Gregory of Nyssa said, a permanent progression from beginning to beginning toward endless beginnings.<\/p>\n

We are called Christians not only because we were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but also because through the water of Baptism, Christ our God formed in our hearts, according to the words: \u201cForm the image of Your Christ in him who is about to be born again\u201d (Service of Holy Baptism). And St. John the Evangelist affirms, \u201cHe who is in you is greater than he who is in the world\u201d (I John 4.4). So, no matter how small we are, how despised or humiliated or cast aside, we carry Christ within us and glorify Him. That is why, when St. Gregory the Theologian cried out from the ambo of the church in Constantinople, \u201cChrist is born; glorify Him! Christ comes from heaven; go to meet Him!\u201d he meant that there is no time to waste, but that we are called to ascend spiritually!<\/p>\n

We, the Christians of today, have the saints before our spiritual eyes. The Lord indwells the saints who experienced the longing for Him and called out to Him. We, seeing how the longing and the divine love dwelt in them, are kindled by the same longing and the same love. And we live the joy of their fellowship in the Church of Christ.<\/p>\n

Without the presence of Christ in us we are akin to a lightless candlestick, an abandoned church about to collapse. For only the soul of the Christian who is adorned with the beauty of longing for God and with the divine love can partake of the renewal of mind and soul through them.<\/p>\n

What ought we to do? Let us search deeper as Christ the Lord said to Peter, \u201cLaunch out into the deep\u201d (cf. Luke 5.4). Launching out into the deep, delving into depths means going step by step, humbling one\u2019s mind. Among the great virtues placed aloft by all the Holy Fathers is the virtue of humble mindedness, which is never lifting yourself up in your mind; never thinking that you are better than another, that you are happier, that you are more beautiful, that you are stronger but seeing yourself as you are. Humble mindedness generates the other virtues, and man lives what Saint Isaac the Syrian confessed, \u201cHe who sees his sins is greater than he who sees angels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uncover and paint the image of Christ in your heart! Receive in yourselves the light of Christ\u2019s image, which is the peace and joy of the heart.<\/p>\n

Archimandrite Melchisedec Velnic
<\/em>Abbot of the Holy Putna Monastery<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The icon from within the spiritual depths of our being is the image of Christ. It is the Life of our life, the most precious treasure which we must not lose but uncover and multiply. This image darkens when we commit sin, but we can paint this countenance of Christ through virtue. When Christ\u2019s image […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-xi-2020","tag-voice-of-putna","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1177,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/1177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}