A group of pilgrims and I returned this past Wednesday evening from a 10-day monastery pilgrimage that included 4 days on the Holy Mountain of Athos in Greece. While there are many stories, observations, and spiritually uplifting moments that many of them can share, I wanted to offer one such reflection that happened to us within hours of stepping foot on this Holy Place where Saints walk.
Our time on Mt. Athos started in the capital of Kaires in the Skete of St. Andrew the first called. After we dropped off our luggage, we took a long walk up the mountain towards a small kellia where a holy elder lived in solitude. With no signs or marked paths to get up to this remote dwelling, it took us quite some time to find it!
Eventually we walked through the small gate that surrounded the gardens where the Elder grew his own food. To our surprise, the kellia looked empty, and after calling out to the Elder Makarios for some time, we started to feel like our long and hard trip up the mountain had been in vain. After a half hour or so of wandering about the area, I happened to peek through an opening in the door of the kellia and saw a weak and elderly monk with a worn black cassock and worn-out sandals begin to walk towards us. He opened the door and invited us inside where we went into his small chapel and venerated the icons. I remember whispering to someone next to me as we sat in silence at this simple but beautiful chapel…asking them if they felt an extraordinary feeling of peace and holiness in this place.
Elder Makarios led us out of the chapel, blessing the pilgrims, and set us down in a large but simple room where he gave us loukoumi and other treats, and where we started to ask him questions about the spiritual life.
“How can we as Americans, living in such a secular way of life, surrounded by temptations of greed, lust, gluttony, and power…how can we better manage to live an Orthodox Way of Life?”
“I work in a profession where I often see death…how can I overcome the fear and depression that surrounds death?”
“I worry for my children and grandchildren…who are so young and innocent, yet are being trained by the world to accept and promote actions that are contrary to Orthodox Morality and Teachings…what can I do?”
The responses of the Holy Elder to these questions were simple. There is one common theme that stood out in all of them…one that the pilgrims kept repeating to each other as we continued to have experiences in the Monasteries:
“Just Pray…” Elder Makarios told us with a soft but ensuring smile. “So many books…so many people writing about prayer, yet no one prays as they should. Maybe people pray when they want something or need something. But we should be praying not just in the morning, during the day, in the evening…but all of the time…even right now.”
“Just Pray?!?!?!?!” All those questions we asked…ones that other modern-day priests and theologians have written books about…and here we make this incredible effort to climb up to this remote kellia, we feel the presence of holiness the moment we walk through the open door and come face to face with this simple man of God, perhaps some expecting a “theosis moment” like Motovilov and St. Seraphim of Sarov…but most definitely expecting to hear something profound that would change the course of our lives…and what do we get?
“Just Pray…”
I have to admit I was at first a little disappointed. I got his blessing to leave and felt the need to chew on this conversation a little deeper. I left the pilgrims with the guide and began to walk down the mountain alone in prayer and solitude…and slowly the beauty and simplicity of this advice started to manifest itself in my heart.
“Just Pray…” How many problems in life have been defeated and overcome by this simple action?
We celebrate the life today of the warrior Nestor, who was a disciple of St. Demetrios of Thessalonica. During one of the early persecution of Christians, the Emperor would visit Thessalonica with a giant barbarian named Lyaios. He would force many Christians to wrestle Lyaios on a platform in the middle of a city…and once Lyaios would defeat them, he would throw the martyrs onto spears that stood upright surrounding the platform.
St. Nestor could not stand to see his brothers and sisters being thrown to their deaths, he went to St. Demetrios who was in prison at the time, and asked him for the strength to defeat Lyaios…and put an end to his victories over the Christians. Nestor asked but one favor of St. Demetrios…”Pray for me O Servant of God Demetrios, that by your prayers , God may help me beat Lyaios, and put an end to he who brings reproach upon the Christians.”
“Just Pray…” I can hear the words of Elder Makarios whispering those words to someone like St. Nestor, who went on to defeat Lyaios, and to eventually receive the crown of martyrdom from an angry emperor.
Dear ones, what other responses to the difficulties and trials of this life can be more powerful than prayer?
We have an election coming up in two weeks…and despite the campaign promises from all of those who are running, if we are convinced that the world is going to be a more perfect place after November 5th because of the promises they are making…we are in delusion.
Yes…all of us here today need to and should go out and vote…but “put not your trust in princes, in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.” If we truly want to have an impact on the state of the world…on the way that we live…on the way that we respond to the harsh difficulties of this life…
“Just Pray…”
If we worry about the future, about our personal health and happiness, or perhaps about the world that our children are going to grow up in…
”Just pray…”
If we want to establish a proper outlook on life, and re-establish the connection that mankind was mean to have with God…
“Just Pray…”
Those simple words were ones that Elder Makarios, by the Grace of God, has lived by since the time he came to Holy Mountain. Those words are also the simple command that the Gospels are constantly preaching to us…to pray not just as a matter of routine, not just because we need or want something…but because we know that it is through prayer that we come into communion with the Divine. It is through prayer that the insanity of the world turns to sanity. It is through prayer where we learn that there is nothing that can destroy those who consistently find themselves in the presence of God.