The Miracles of the Jesus Prayer

hey everyone God bless you and thanks a lot for tuning in a blessed Feast of the Glorious Ascension into heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ Christ has ascended from Earth to Heaven I hope that you were all able to celebrate the Ascension Feast uh today it is of course 40 days uh after the celebration of PCA of our Lord's resurrection and we are participating today in the Ascension of the Lord to heaven for he didn't just conquer death and rise from the dead but he also ascended bodily from the Mount of Olives in the presence of the disciples with an Angelic escort up to the right hand of the father this beautiful Feast which of course we mention in the nyine Creed it's a part of our basic confession of belief in the Lord Christ himself this glorious Feast is full packed with theological significance with tremendous meaning for the lives of Christians what exactly is that meaning why is the Ascension so important that we would after describing in the Creed The Descent of Jesus's humility being incarnate suffering being crucified and buried we then say on the third day he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the father and he shall come again to judge the living and the dead whose kingdom shall have no end just as we trace the steps of descent uh into our humility and abasement that Jesus uh walked through we also celebrate his exaltation his resurrection of course primarily and if our Lord only raised from the dead we would certainly be dancing and and celebrating just like the disciples were during those 40 days post pasca conquering death Conquering the Devils who use death as their greatest weapon to torment the human race covering over sin and providing a solution uh for sin and atonement for sin these are the greatest things in the world for sure but as if it couldn't get any better it did because on the 40th Day our Lord in the flesh ascended into heaven this incredible movement of Christ to the right hand of his father is a witness a witness uh to what the Lord God has in store for his people not just victory over death not just a crushing of the devils not just in uh being delivered from the liabilities and power of sin but but even an exaltation to his presence even the glorification of the human being the deification by grace of the human being this is all borne witness to in the Ascension Christ went to sit at his father's right hand and to exercise his session his rule of the world yes we are always uh in our current conditions wondering who who's ruling what and thinking about the Earthly consequences of this or that political ruler but there's only one king of all Kings only one Lord of all Lords one who will rule until all his enemies are made a foot stool for his feet that quotation from the 110th Psalm the 109th Psalm if you're reading the sepan is the most quoted orthod Old Testament text in the entire New Testament describing our savior's exaltation his Ascension to the right hand of the father and his sitting on the throne of God at God's right hand until his enemies are made a foot stool for his feet having a Theology of the Ascension is extremely important a lot of us don't have it I remember myself when I was uh in my first year of Seminary sitting in a theology class and recognizing Kiron I think I'm a heretic I did not have a developed Theology of the Ascension I think one of the reasons that this is often the case uh for Christians is that it's celebrated of course 40 days after BCA is Thursday of this week if you're an Orthodox Christian keeping our calendar which means that it doesn't fall on a Sunday and so a lot of times it just gets passed over and the Ascension is not U properly understood by so many Christians having a Theology of the sension is uh extremely important for Christian life knowing where Jesus is where our Lord is right now and in what condition he's in and what he's doing extremely important for the mission of the church this is what provides the basis for the Great Commission is that all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to him the reality is that the dust of the earth is now on the throne of the universe Humanity in Christ has been glorified deified and enthroned at God God's right hand planted as the first fruits of the Redemption of all of his people who will follow him both in Resurrection and Ascension and rule in the future age this is what's coming now there's lots of things to say about that but that's not the theme of my reflection that's all a Prelude to a subset of the Glorious consequences of the Ascension which uh is uh the subject of our reflection today which is on the Miracles of the Jesus prayer I have been uh reading recently an incredible Treatise on Prayer by the great Archbishop of thessalonica St Simeon St Simeon Archbishop of Thessaloniki this is the early 15th century he was the last uh incredible Archbishop of thessalonica before the Muslims conquered Thessaloniki he I think the last year of his uh life was 1429 his writings are not uh well known uh in the English-speaking World although some of his treatises on the Liturgy and on the Divine Temple uh and are have been translated and are very precious I must say that this volume I'm about to show you st Simeon of thessalonica against all heresies an incredible Cate IAL Trea kind of a A History A heresiology so to speak of the the heresies that have confronted the church over the centuries and that the church has answered Through The ecumenical councils and in the writings of the fathers providing a catechesis through that is the main text here the second is a dialogue against the Latins This Is A Treatise that he wrote uh against uh the Roman Catholics at the time who were pressing the Orthodox very hard trying to get us to compromise with them and lastly his chapters on prayer uh this volume God willing you'll be seeing soon because in fact we are publishing it for the first time uh in the English language we're bringing two English speakers not just the English text but the Greek text of these incredible treatises so stay tuned you'll be hearing more about it from us I'd like to read to you uh a beautiful description of our most precious prayer which is the Jesus prayer Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy upon me sometimes it said Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy upon me a sinner St Simeon writes at length about the Jesus prayer about how fundamental it is in the Christian Life and about the consequences of the prayer in our lives with God I simply want to wet your whistle and shoot a dart of joy and motiv ation for prayer especially for the recitation of the Jesus prayer Into Your Heart by describing some of the Miracles that he says take place through the recitation of this prayer in the heart of the Christians this is from a section all the things this sacred Jesus prayer is okay all the things this sacred Jesus prayer is this then is the Divine prayer the epiclesis of our savior Lord Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me it is a prayer a vow and a confession of faith it confers it confers the Holy Spirit and bestows divine gifts it purifies the heart and chases away demons it is the indwelling of Jesus Christ in a fountain of spiritual insights and thoughts it redeems from sins and heals souls and bodies it bestows Divine illumination it is a bubbling spring of God's mercy what a beautiful word a bubbling spring of God's mercy it ushers in Revelations and divine initiations in humility it is our only salvation since it bears in itself the saving name of our God the only name called down upon us that of Jesus Christ the son of God neither is there salvation for us in any other as the Apostle says Acts 4:12 thus it is a prayer since with it we ask for the mercy of God it is a vow since we offer ourselves to Christ by invoking him it is a confession since Peter by confessing this was pronounced blessed it confers the spirit since no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 12:3 it bestows Divine gifts since it was on account of this that Christ said to Peter I shall give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens it purifies the heart since it leads to the vision of God and calls upon God purifying those who look upon him it chases away demons since all all the demons have been and continue to be chased Away by the name of Jesus Christ it is the indwelling of Christ since Christ is in us when we are mindful of him dwelling of the dwelling in us through this recollection and filling us with gladness it is a fountain of spiritual ideas and thoughts since Christ is the treasury of all wisdom and knowledge and bestows these things on those in whom he dwells it redeems us from sins since it was on account of this that Christ said whatsoever you loose will be loosed in heaven it heals souls and bodies since it says in the name of Jesus Christ arise and walk acts 3:6 and anas Jesus Christ heals you acts 9:34 it bestows Divine illumination since Christ is the true light and he shares his brightness and Grace with those who call upon him let the brightness of the Lord Our God be upon us Psalm 89:17 and he that follows me shall have the light of life it is a bubbling spring of Divine Mercy since in this prayer we ask for mercy and the Lord is merciful he has compassion on all who call upon him and executes justice speedily for those who cry out to him it ushers in Revelations and divine initiations for the humble since it was given even to the fisherman Peter by revelation of the father in the heavens Paul too was snatched up in Christ and heard Revelations and it brings this about at all times it is our only salvation since in no other name the Apostle says can we be saved and this is this is the name of Christ the savior of the world wherefore on the last day every tongue will confess this and will chant whether willingly or unwillingly that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father this is also the sign of our faith since we are Christians and are called Christians and this is the evidence that we are of God for every spirit that confesses the Lord Jesus Christ come in the flesh it says have said before is of God the spirit that does not confess this is not of God indeed the spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ is the spirit of antichrist and here he concludes with this beautiful word he says for this reason all the faithful must confess this name without ceasing as a proclamation of faith and out of love for our Lord Jesus Christ a love from which nothing should ever separate us at all we should also confess it because of the grace remission Redemption healing sanctification illumination and above all salvation that comes from this name for in this Divine name the apostles worked miracles and taught as the Divine evangelist says these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing you may have life in his name there is the Salvation and the life life in his name John 2031 dear ones listen to all of those Miracles associated with the praying the sincere praying of the Jesus prayer and note what he says every Christian he develops in the Treatise what role the Jesus prayer should have in the life of a bishop what role the Jesus prayer should have in the life of a priest of a deacon as well as in all the lives of monks and nuns and all the lives of the faithful all Orthodox Christian lay people Christians and the Jesus prayer are just meant to be bound together at all times and everyone he says should have some discipline to use the Jesus prayer to call on the name of the Lord to pronounce the sweetest name Jesus Christ Our Savior every day listen to those miracles do you want a shot of Joy do you want to experience heaven and be joined to Christ Our Lord at the right hand of the father in his glory then say over and over with all sincerity Lord Jesus Christ Son of God 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Keywords: Patristic Nectar Publications, Patristic Nectar, Fr Josiah Trenham, Josiah Trenham, Orthodox, Orthodox Christian, Orthodox church, patristic nectar films, patristic films, patristic nectar, orthodox christianity

Id: ljsHlyx4CGk

Length: 15min 55sec (955 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2024