ALIVE: Chapter 116, The Wilderness Gate

Jesus walked away from the Jordan River, not sure of what He was to do next when He sensed a force pulling him to the outskirts of the Holy City, and He yielded to it. He walked and walked away from the river, away from the temple and away from the bustle of life in Jerusalem. 

Hours later He reached the wild. He entered a territory that was the home of beasts and murky darkness, where the tentacles of vines with their shouts of leaves clung to bare tree-limbs to hide the sun from the feet of man and beast. In the murky darkness resided all sorts of furry animals with sharp teeth and toenails, scaly reptiles, snakes, and creeping things that walk the earth. Jesus was unafraid. Confronted by a mountain His walk turned to a hike as He heaved himself up rocky ledges for hours negligent of hunger, or exhaustion. Obediently, Jesus travelled farther and farther away from civilization toward a place where He could commune with His Father without interference. 

This was the path of the prophets, the entrance to a space where they could receive their messages from the Almighty: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, and scores of prophets and Saints. Away from the loud noises and static below, where even the need for food and sleep are shunned. Where passions are annihilated to reach a greater state of wakefulness. 

Climbing, Jesus felt like Moses ascending Mount Sinai through the cloud that surrounded it; where the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire. There Moses stayed for forty days to receive the history of Creation and the precious Commandments. With many steps Jesus contemplated God’s use of humankind to fulfill His purpose on earth. From time to time a gust of wind blew past Him. He stopped to let His pounding heart rest, and to pray. “Father, speak. I am listening.” 

At the summit Jesus set up camp and there He stayed, reminded of the innocent son of Abraham. Isaac, curious about why His father led him up there to make a sacrifice without lamb or goat. And yet, Isaac’s father carried a knife. But where was the sacrifice, thought young Isaac? Like Isaac before Him, Jesus trusted His Father without question. Even to the point of willingness to be killed. And perhaps this was what His Father had to tell Him. It was time for Jesus to learn the comprehensiveness of His mission. 

Like Moses Jesus was alone with God. Unlike Moses He was there to discuss the future and not the past. 

This unique forty day period was like a homecoming for the Son-made-man. The Logos, the Word of God, the intellect of God that resided in the flesh. It was uninterrupted time to receive instructions, perhaps even a greater measure of power, and wisdom. Not since the moments before His birth thirty years earlier had the Holy Spirit of the Son and the Father communed for so long. Without food or water, perhaps even without sleep, it was a brief time of departure from bodily needs. It was the time of reunion. 

...

There is thick black velvet curtain that hangs miles down from cumulus clouds, it stretches as wide as the horizon, and falls gently upon the earth. This velvet curtain hides the summit where the forty-day mystical reunion  occurred that prepared the thirty year old Son for His three year mission. Like the tithe, Jesus the Christ was about to sacrifice a tenth of His life. 

The hint we Aspiring Immortals have of what transpired between Jesus and His Almighty Father during those forty days in the wilderness can be imagined through the lives of the holiest people on earth, monks and Saints. The abandonment of the world for the sake of union with the Holy Trinity renders these men able to heal, to teach, to be victorious over lecherous evil. The lives of these men show us that Jesus was right when He said, “These things and more will you be able to do” and “If you say to this mountain it will be removed to the sea; ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you.” 

It is so easy to imagine that Jesus was exaggerating our capability. It is so sad to be disappointed when we are desperate to heal others, or to raise from the dead. It is so easy to think that it simply wasn’t true. 

On this earth, here and now, even while you are reading this there are a few selfless people for whom uniting with God through Jesus Christ was/is the focal point of their existence.  They achieved godliness known as Theosis. They heal, they read souls out loud, they see into the afterlife and are visited by souls with a purpose. Some become illuminated as on Tabor. These people are called Saints. Every believer is a saint with a small s. Every believer lives a degree of sainthood. The capital S Saint, proves that Jesus didn’t exaggerate human capabilities. 

I don’t dare try to imagine Jesus Christ’s 40 mornings, noons, evenings, and nights in the wilderness; it is only meaningful, and the purpose of this book, to note that those days occurred in this ordinary world.

Dear Reader,

Until this point in your reading, ALIVE has been a melding of fiction and non fiction. My aim  is to detail the events of the Bible in order to reveal more of the meaning of them.  I ask the Lord, or the Virgin Mary, or whoever is the subject of the story to tell me what actually happened so that I can be as accurate as possible even though what I write is buried beneath generations of time. The truth is that these stories really happened. I want to know more about what really happened and I want to tell that to you. What I discover in the exploration are fascinating links and insights that were waiting to be exposed for a fuller understanding of the glory and majesty of the Author of our lives and His Story. 

I try to place myself in a spiritual condition to receive, but I have no idea of my success or failure in that regard. I suspect that my stories contain elements of reality and elements of pure imagination. Some day I will face the Lord who will tell me where my embellishments were true, and which were not true. As with all the rest of my inadequacies, God, our Lord is tolerant. 

Yes, this writing has been a sacred adventure. However, what follows are true accounts of real occurrences. The miraculous is as real as the mundane. The reader who is not familiar with Saints and the power of their human lives should know about the capabilities of True Believers, warriors in the Spirit, that we may become humbled by this knowledge and reach. 

Through the lives of these two among hundreds of Saints, we see the aspect of life meant for all children of God and get a glimpse of our immortal future life, unencumbered by evil and blindness. 

As with Jesus in the wilderness for forty days, these men eat sparsely, often not at all, always fasting, and they never sleep through the night, but awaken in darkness to pray and to worship God. They seek no reward. For to do so would be to have the base attitude of a hireling. They devote their lives to God in awe of a him for they are able to perceive more and more of His majesty according to the measure of their sacrifice of pleasure, pride and willfulness. These are the men and women who are most ALIVE. To know about them is to get a hint of what transpired during Jesus 40 days in the wilderness. To intentionally unite with the all powerful God is to receive a teaspoonful of His extraordinary powers over nature. 

...

From the following books:

Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian By Elder (Saint) Paisios published by the Holy Convent of the Evangelist John the Theologian 2001

Background: Saint Arsenios was born and named Theodoros Annaitsalihos in about 1840 in Farasa, the most important of six Christian Villages of the region Cappadocia, Turkey. His father was a teacher, his mother’s name was Barbara. They had two boys who were orphaned in childhood. After an accident in which he was miraculously rescued by a figure that appeared like a monk, the child vowed to become a monk. He was raised by two aunts and was well educated. He taught abandoned children to read and write. At 26 he entered the Holy Monastery of Flaviana where he was tonsured and given the name, Arsenios.

Muslim Turkey oppressed its dwindling Christian Greek population. Gangs of young Turks would harass and harm the Christians who lived in continual fear of them. In fact, Arsenios had to teach in secret as the Turks insisted in keeping the Greeks down. Fortunately Orthodox Russia came to the rescue of the Orthodox Greeks, resulting in giving them some freedom by bearing down on the Turks whom they had fought for centuries. But because the village of Farasa was located on the outskirts of Cappadocia away from the protection of the other villages, the gangs were emboldened. 

At around 30 years old Father Arsenios  was ordained a priest and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When he returned to Cappadocia he went around to the various Christian villages to boost the morale of the frightened Christians. He gave them the strength to remain in their faith by curing the sick by the Grace of God. He cured both his people and the Turkish Muslims. The difficult conditions in which they lived was probably the reason Father Arsenios received the grace to perform all the miracles he did. When he cured the sick with the Grace of God, he made some of the Turks understand the enormous value of the Orthodox faith, teaching them to revere it rather than to scorn the Greek people. 

The following are a few stories from hundreds that describe an extraordinary life in Christ. 

One day, when Father Arsenios was going around to the villages with his chanter, the Turks prevented them from coming into contact with the Christians. He told his chanter, “Let’s get out of here and you’ll see, the Turks will come running to catch up with us.”

They had hardly gone a half an hour away from the village when Father Arsenios knelt down and raised his hand to heaven praying. Suddenly a tremendous storm hit the region with a great downpour of rain and a howling gale. The whole village was quaking. The Turks immediately realized their mistake and sent two mounted messengers to catch up with the holy men. They fell at the feet of Father Arsenios and begged forgiveness on behalf of the whole village. Father Arsenios forgave them. They all returned to the village, and Father Arsenios made the sign of the cross over the village at the four points of the compass.  At once the storm ceased. 

Although his cell was in the world, he managed to live outside the world, too by going into retreat in his cell to pray and read on Wednesdays and Fridays. These were the spiritually productive days because they sanctified the work of the other days. On these two days, the villagers in need of healing would take the soil from the threshold of his door and spread it on the afflicted part of their body and get well. In one account, a blind Muslim woman was dropped off at the home of Father Arsenios on a Wednesday while her brothers went into town. When a villager saw her waiting for the priest, she explained that the blind woman could not be seen on that day, and to take the soil from his threshold wipe it on her eyes. She helped her do that and the woman started to be able to see. She was so elated that she went to his door and started banging on it to see the priest. Father Arsenios opened the door. She begged for more healing; he prayed over her and her eyesight was completely restored. 

...

Some Turks who were sick considered themselves unworthy of asking Father Arsenios to read prayers over them, and asked for some ash from his censer. They dissolved the ash in water, drank, and became well. 

...

One day Father Arsenios had gone to celebrate the Liturgy at the Chapel of our All Holy Lady built high up on a cliff. After the liturgy Father Arsenios went out on the wooden balcony. A plank worked lose and he fell down the precipice.

A farmer saw his fall from the opposite side of the gorge, left his oxen in the yoke and ran to pick up what he thought would be the pieces. When he arrived he saw the body motionless, and went to touch it. Father Arsenios said to the farmer, “Don’t touch me, there is nothing the matter with me.” Father Arsenios was lying motionless because he was in rapture; just when he was falling, a Woman (Virgin Mary) took him in her arms, laid him down and left him. He got up,  climbed out of the gorge and walked up the 160 steps back up to the chapel to get his chanter and go home.

...

Things were so bad for the Greek Christians in Turkey that in Greece they eventually had to settle under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which made provision for the Exchange of Populations following the catastrophic Greek military campaign in Asia Minor in 1922. All the Greeks in Turkey were deported en masse to Greece, regardless of how many generations they had lived in Turkey, and all the Turks in Greece were sent to Turkey, both groups leaving their homes and their possessions behind. 

Months before the great Exchange a baby was born in Farasa. His mother was related to Father Arsenios, and his father was a just man, merciful and full of brotherly love. This couple had ten children. Saint Paisios was born July 25, 1924. When he was baptized, right before the Exchange, his parents wanted to name him Christodoulou, after his grandfather. But Father Arsenios said to his grandmother, “Ah, Hatzi-Anna, I’ve baptized so many children for you! Won’t you give one of them my name! And turning to his parents, he remarked, it’s right for you to want to leave a boy behind you to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, but don’t I want to leave a monk behind to follow mine!” And then he addressed the godmother, telling her, “Say Arsenios”. And thus he gave the child his own name and his blessing, and prophesied that he would become a monk.

Which he did and also followed him into Sainthood. This infant ultimately became Elder  Paisios who wrote the biography of Father Arsenios after interviewing all those he could find who had emigrated from Farasa who knew Father Arsenios, and he even returned to Turkey and the village to interview anyone there who had direct experience with him. He only recorded the most verifiable accounts and provided names for his biography of Saint Arsenios, snippets quoted above.

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos by Heirmonk Isaac published by Holy Monastery Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, 2016

This book is a biography, diary, and a compilation of testimonies by hundreds who had known and experienced miracles in and through the life of Saint Paisios. 

The Elder recalled: “I was at Stravronika monastery one evening. As I was leaving, I came across a layman who wanted to speak to me outside the monastery gate. He started to tell me about his problems. It got late, and I was sick - it was the kind of thing where I could not sit and rest, and I could not stand up straight. Anyway, it got later as he spoke to me, and it finally got dark. For a second, I thought about how I was sick, and I wanted to stop. But then I said to myself, ‘He has got so many problems. Should I be thinking about myself?’ And so the layman  kept talking, and he did not finish until it was pitch black. The monastery gate had been locked, but he had somewhere to sleep - some cell he knew about.

“I took the trail going back to the hermitage. I started down the footpath, and there is a part that is narrow and steep. I did not even have a flashlight with me, so when I reached it I could not see, and I fell into some branches and bramble and got stuck. I could not see a thing, and my knapsack was around my head. ‘What should I do?’ I thought. ‘I will say Compline prayers.’ I started with the Trisagion. A moment later there was a powerful light - my head was glowing like a light bulb! It was like day all around me! I saw where I was, and I scrambled up and moved on. The light kept shining around me. My heart was full of heavenly exultation. I got back to my hermitage, got the key from where I kept it, and went into the church, and I lit the lamps; and then the light faded away.”

...

One night he heard the sounds of a violin and other instruments. Looking out the window, he saw the devil dancing. He motioned to the Elder to come out and dance also. Elder Paisios said the Jesus Prayer, and in a little while everything disappeared.

...

The stories of the miracles performed by God through His servant Paisios are amazing and inspiring. The reader who wants to believe that Jesus is fully alive and working with and through the servants of God, should find this fascinating book written by Hiermonk Isaac. 

...

After the 40 days of prayer and fasting in the wilderness Jesus felt hungry. Before He could return to civilization and a hearty meal, He encountered a dark visitor. It’s just like Satan to try to wreck the most powerful, meaningful and constructive 40 day period since the Great Flood.