Monday, February 16, 2004
Meat Fast
The Venerable Martyr Romanos
Kellia: Psalm 56 LXX Epistle: 3 John 1:1-14 Gospel: St. Luke 21:8-9, 25-27, 33-36
Psalm 56 LXX), especially vs. 5 (Ps. 57:3, 4 MT), "God hath sent forth
His mercy and His truth, and hath delivered my soul from the midst of lions' cubs." The heart
that cries out, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner," embraces the
journey of prayer revealed in this psalm. What child of God has not bowed his head before the
Lord and earnestly begun, "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me," as the starting point
of life in Christ? Mercy is the plea which forms the sole center-point of that ineffable life that
has been poured out upon us in Christ and from Him. "Have mercy on me, O God," therefore,
becomes that prayer which we direct repeatedly to Jesus our long-suffering Master, our all-merciful Savior. Stripped of all else, what other words have we? "For my soul trusted in Thee,
and in the shadow of Thy wings will I hope" (vss. 1, 2).
What disrupts this outcry and confidence of the heart? Iniquity! The memory and reality of our
own iniquity and of the burdens created by the iniquity of the world force themselves into our
consciousness: "Deliver us from evil" which is present everywhere and threatens to engulf us and
sweep us away. Of course the child of the Light cries out for mercy and sets his hope in Jesus
"until iniquity shall pass away" (vs. 2). The experience of ubiquitous sin and death evokes the
affirmation, "I will cry unto God the Most High, unto God my benefactor" (vs. 3). What else!
Those who cry for mercy to Christ find that His life-giving presence floods their hearts.
The Lord our God, God the Most High, "hath sent out of heaven and saved me" (vs. 4), He Who
is God before all ages "appeared upon earth and dwelt among men; and was Incarnate of a holy
Virgin, and did empty Himself, taking on the form of a servant and becoming conformed to the
fashion of our lowliness, that He might make us conformable to the image of His glory."
Beloved of the Lord, let the heart of every member of Christ say, "He hath given over to reproach
them that were trampling me down" (vs. 4), for He Himself on the Tree of the Cross hath
trampled down death by death and "sent forth His mercy and His Truth" (vs. 5), Christ Jesus,
Who is Mercy and Life and Truth. My soul is delivered "from the midst of lions' cubs" (vs. 5).
The partaker of the death and resurrection of Christ our God readily admits that the state of this
world is darkness: "As for the sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a
sharp sword" (vs. 6); but, while we are disturbed by such thought of iniquity, and lay upon our
beds "to sleep as one troubled" (vs. 5), yet "it was not possible that the Author of Life should be
holden of corruption!" Not at all! "He loosed the pains of death...making a way for all flesh
through the Resurrection from the dead." Beloved, let us cry out in the words of the Liturgy of
His glorious Ascension: "Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and Thy glory above all the
earth" (vs. 7). Christ is risen! He is "at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Now, in this present life, we may look with equanimity at the snares which men have prepared
for our feet. While they bowed down our souls to death, yet let each one of us say from his heart:
"They have dug a pit before my face and fallen into it themselves. Ready is my heart, O God,
ready is my heart. I will sing and chant in my glory" (vss. 9, 10).
What then? Let us bestir ourselves! Let us arouse our hearts: "Awake, O my glory; awake, O
psaltery and harp. I myself will awake at dawn" (vs. 11), and confess the God of my salvation
among the peoples. "O Lord I will chant unto Thee among the nations" (vs. 12). God has
answered our plea for mercy. "Magnified even unto the heavens is [His] mercy" (vs. 13). "Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner!"
Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God, and Thy glory above all the earth!
