Holy and Great Tuesday: Hymn of Kassiani the Nun

THE HYMN OF KASSIANI THE NUN - 4th Plagal Tone

The woman who had fallen into many sins recognizes Thy Godhead, O Lord. She takes upon herself the duty of a myrrh-bearer and makes ready the myrrh of mourning, before Thy entombment. Woe to me! saith she, for my night is an ecstasy of excess, gloomy and moonless, and full of sinful desire. Receive the sources of my tears, O Thou Who dost gather into clouds the water of the sea; in Thine ineffable condescension, deign to bend down Thyself to me and to the lamentations of my heart, O Thou Who didst spread out the Heavens. I will fervently embrace Thy sacred feet, and wipe them again with the tresses of the hair of my head, Thy feet at whose sound Eve hid herself for fear when she heard Thee walking in Paradise in the cool of the day. O my Savior and soul-Saver Who can trace out the multitude of my sins, and the abysses of Thy judgment? Do not disregard me Thy servant, O Thou Whose mercy is boundless.

HISTORY

Kassiani is one of the first composers whose scores are both extant and able to be interpreted by modern scholars and musicians. Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant and twenty-three are included in the Orthodox Church liturgical books. The exact number is difficult to assess, as many hymns are ascribed to different authors in different manuscripts and are often identified as anonymous. In addition, some 789 of her non-liturgical verses survive. Many are epigrams or aphorisms called "gnomic verse." An example: "I hate the rich man moaning as if he were poor."

She was born between 805 and 810 AD in Constantinople into an wealthy family and grew to be exceptionally beautiful and intelligent. Three Byzantine chroniclers, Symeon Metarphrastes, George the Monk (a.k.a. George the Sinner) and Leto the Grammarian, claim that she was a participant in the "bride show" organized for the young bachelor Theophilos the Iconoclast by his stepmother, the Empress Dowager Euphrosyne. Smitten by Kassia's beauty, the young emperor approached her and said: "Through a woman [came forth] the baser [things]," referring to the sin and suffering coming as a result of Eve's transgression. Kassiani (Kassia) promptly responded by saying: "And through a woman [came forth] the better [things]," referring to the hope of salvation resulting from the Incarnation of Christ through the Theotokos (Mother of God). According to tradition, the dialogue was:

"-Εκ γυναικός τα χείρω." " -Και εκ γυναικός τά κρείτω."

His pride wounded by Kassiani's terse rebuttal, Theophilos rejected her and chose Theodora as his wife.

Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi on Practical Repentance and its Fruits

Christ is the living truth. “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14, 6). Therefore, He is life without beginning, unlimited (ἀπεριόριστος), unbound (ἀδέσμευτος), co-eternal with the Father, inseparable and undivided from him. “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For, he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding”. After this revelation follows the infinite blessing of the divine promises, which is initiated by the first calling made by Lord: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4,17). 

Through our repentance the essence and power of life is being revived inside us and the honor and value of our lost humanity is being restored through faith. Our ability to come into contact with and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and in general of divine enlightenment is being renewed through the lament of repentance. This ability had initially been weakened by our transgressions. At the beginning of practical repentance, no matter how hard one is struggling one cannot achieve, as he imagined, his redemption nor can he be freed from the limitations of the ‘old self’ (παλαιόν άνθρωπον).

Initially, he simply tries to control his sinful intentions and stop his practical submission to the passions and the sinful customs. He finally stops borrowing and begins to think about pay off. Sometimes he happily repels his passions and temptations, and at other times this becomes painful. Then he begins comparing to the best of his ability, how far he still is from true spiritual life, especially when his behavior towards others is improper. At this point he is presented with the need to blame himself and this leads him to humility without which there is no social life. Such task needs patience and perseverance, but the complete success only depends on God’s grace and “has nothing to do with us”.

We Should Not Despair Even if We Fall Many Times

Even if you are not what you should be, you should not despair. It is bad enough that you have sinned; why in addition do you wrong God by regarding Him in your ignorance as powerless? Is He, who for your sake created the great universe that you behold, incapable of saving your soul? And if you say that this fact, as well as His incarnation, only makes your condemnation worse, then repent; and He will receive your repentance, as He accepted that of the prodigal son (cf. Luke 15:20) and the prostitute (cf. Luke 7:37-50). But if repentance is too much for you, and you sin out of habit even when you do not want to, show humility like the publican (cf. Luke 18:13): this is enough to ensure your salvation.

For he who sins without repenting, yet does not despair, must of necessity regard himself as the lowest of creatures, and will not dare to judge or censure anyone. Rather, he will marvel at God's compassion, and will be full of gratitude towards his Benefactor, and so receive many other blessings as well. Even if he is subject to the devil in that he sins, yet from fear of God he disobeys the enemy when the latter tries to make him despair.

What Is Necessary for a Saving Confession?

What is Confession? Confession is the oral avowal of one’s sins which lie heavy upon the conscience. Repentance cleanses the soul and makes it ready to receive the Holy Spirit, but confession, so to speak, only empties the soul of sins.

Let us present a simple analogy and comparison to confession. For example, suppose you had only one vessel of some kind, which you through negligence or laziness let reach a stage where little by little it accumulated all sorts of dirt so that your vessel became not only unuseable but even unbearable to look at without repugnance. But what if a king wanted to give you as a gift some sort of fragrant and precious balm, one drop of which could heal all infirmities and protect—what then? Would you refuse such a valuable gift only because you had no other clean vessel in which to put it? No! It would be very natural for you to accept such a gift and you would try to clean your vessel.

How would you begin to clean your vessel?

No doubt, before anything else, you would rid it of all uncleanness; you would begin by washing it with water and, perhaps would even burn it out so that it no longer retained any of its former odors. Isn’t that so?

On Repentance by Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

We need repentance. You see, repentance is not only going to a priest and confessing. We must free ourselves from the obsession of thoughts. We fall many times during our life, and it is absolutely necessary to reveal everything [in Confession] before a priest who is a witness to our repentance.

Repentance is the renewal of life. This means we must free ourselves of all our negative traits and turn toward absolute good. No sin in unforgivable except the sin of unrepentance.

There are many kinds of tears. Some people cry out of rage, some to spite another person, others because they have been offended. Some cry because they have lost a loved one. There are many kinds of tears. There are also tears of repentance, when a person’s conscience tells him that he has committed many sins.

When he realizes his sinfulness, he weeps. That is an act of God’s Grace – a soul repents, and the sin is washed away by tears. These are tears of repentance, and they are a gift from God. When a person realizes his sinfulness, he gradually frees himself from the cares of this world and from his own egoism and leaves all of his cares to the Lord. His soul is humbled, and when this occurs, it is in a state of Grace.

Confession and Spiritual Accounting by Elder Ephraim of Arizona

This confession of yours gave my soul much joy, because God and the angels, who were awaiting it, rejoiced. You succeeded in putting the devil to shame, who greatly rejoices when someone hides his thoughts from his spiritual father. When a snake leaves its lair, it rushes to hide somewhere because it feels as if it will be struck—the same thing happens with a diabolical thought, which is like a poisonous snake. When such a thought leaves a person’s mouth, it disperses and disappears, because confession is humility, and since Satan cannot even bear the smell of humility, how could he possibly remain after a humble, sincere confession? My child, I wish you a good beginning and cautious progress. Don’t be ashamed before me. Don’t see me as a man, but as a representative of God. Tell me everything, even if you have a bad thought about me, because I am experienced with demonic influences, and I know how the devil fights man. I know that spiritual children have simple hearts and that if evil thoughts come to them, it is due to the devil’s malice and the spiritual child’s ego, who is permitted to fall and have such thoughts against his Elder, so that the spiritual child may be humbled more. Therefore, don’t worry. I will always rejoice when you speak freely and sincerely to me, for without frank confession, there will be no spiritual progress.

The Life of Father Seraphim Rose

WHY is the truth, it would seem, revealed to some and not to others? Is there a special organ for receiving revelation from God?

Yes, though usually we close it and do not let it open up: God’s revelation is given to something called a loving heart.

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SERAPHIM Rose (1934-1982) was an American convert to the Orthodox Church, who became both priest and monk, and today is widely regarded as a saint.

Seraphim triumphed over serious personal trials to become a man of profound spiritual convictions and sincere prayer of the heart, and a steady critic of religious, political, and social ‘liberalism’ at a time when their disastrous effects were not as apparent as they are today.

Conversion

Intellectually precocious, the young Eugene was baptized in the Methodist Church when he was fourteen, and later became an atheist, finding an outlet for his religious instincts in Buddhism, and an expression of his worldview in beatnik culture. Emotionally intense, in his college days he entered into a homosexual relationship with a Finnish-born Russian Orthodox.  But even as his friend was moving away from Orthodoxy, so Seraphim became first acquainted with it, and then immersed in it.

He was eventually able to break his bonds, and was received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in 1962. As he himself would later write in God’s Revelation to the Human Heart (published in 1988). 

WHEN conversion takes place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way — a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up.

How a Turning Point in Spiritual Life Occurs

It is at such a time that a turning point in religious life may occur. The previous path of life has led to a dead end. One’s inner condition seems abominable, although the young man or girl perhaps cannot yet classify is as being sinful. There is a desire to find a true and lofty meaning of life, since to live without finding such a meaning means to lead a pitiful, colorless, aimless and senseless existence.  At this fateful moment when the young life reaches a turning point, suddenly, by some unknown and mysterious means, a certain light appears in the soul, a certain fresh and joyous feeling, a certain hope that life is not meaningless.

Where does this certainty that life is not meaningless come from? What is life? Up to now the young mind had been inclined towards a mechanic view of the world - life is an aggregate of atoms and forces, and their constant movement and interaction; life is a causal collection of manifestations, whose sum total composes the entire picture of cosmic, earthly and human existence. And suddenly within this huge, boundless and soulless mechanism the young soul begins to perceive the presence of something living, great, wise and beautiful - the presence of God.  From where does this feeling arise?

Concerning Repentance by St. Nektarios

According to Saint John of Damaskos, repentance is a return from the unnatural to the natural state and from the devil to God through ascesis and toil; moreover, it is a voluntary return from transgressions toward the opposite virtues. The signs of repentance are remorse and a change of mind, while characteristics of repentance include contrition of the heart, tears, the rejection of sin, and the love for virtue. Repentance must, of necessity, be sincere. It is sincere when accompanied by contrition of the heart, by the disposition to compensate Divine Rigtheousness, and to confess one’s sins.

True repentance is a change of mind for one’s actions, an alteration of one’s ethical life, a change toward the better, complete rejection of one’s previous life and sin, steadfast willingness to exercise virtue, complete unification of one’s own will with the Divine Will (i.e. the Divine Law). Therefore, repentance is an ethical rebirth of man and the starting point of a new, virtuous life.

A model for true repentance is given to us by the Prophet Isaiah who incites the Jews to repent and return to God. This is what he says: “Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities; learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow. And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool” (Isa. 1:16-18).

Homily on the Five Paths of Repentance

Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven.

A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: “Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified.” For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: “I said, I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and You forgave the wickedness of my heart.” Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse yourself within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord.

That, then, is one very good path of repentance. Another and no less valuable one is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants’ sins against us. Then our own sins against the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: “For if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you.”

Don't Feel Ashamed to Confess Your Mistakes!

Jesus wants to tell us:

How do you come and take Me as Holy Communion when you ignore My will? Many times you approach in a showy manner, although you do not accept to repent with humility, or feel ashamed to confess your mistakes.  Have you ever imagined a greater humiliation than the one I suffered when they took off My clothes, when they dishonored Me, when they swore at Me and when they put  Me up on the Cross in the most disrespectful  way? Is there a greater humiliation than this?” When have you ever suffered such humiliation? And yet you do not want to suffer even the slightest humiliation, to simply confess the mistake you have made and say: “My God, My Father, forgive me for what I have done”.

And not only you feel ashamed to confess your mistakes with humility to your confessor priest, but also you do not confess these things even to Me, although you know that nobody can see you, nobody can criticize you or  comment on you.  You do not even raise your eyes towards Heaven to say: “My God, forgive me for making this mistake” and beg for My mercy and My forgiveness. You do not even do this…

WHO PREVENTS YOU FROM SHAME?

Nobody prevents you; only your unfaithfulness and lack of faith. Because if you knew that I exist and guide your life, you would think of nothing else. But immediately after you have made the mistake, you should let your soul kneel so that I would listen to My child’s sweet voice.  I like listening to you saying you are sorry because this action is like perfume rising to Heaven. Very few perfumes rise to Heaven…And why don’t people apologize anymore?  They are too selfish to do so!