St Theodore the Studite

CATECHESIS 68 That we must be renewed for what is ahead through endurance of the trials that fall upon us, both visible and invisible. [On the 5th Sunday.] Brethren and fathers, because winter has passed and spring has arrived, we see creation flourishing again; the plants are flowering, the earth is growing green, the birds are singing and everything else …

INTRODUCTORY NOTE The place of these two catechesis in the numbering suggests that they may have been given during the 4th week of Lent. CATECHESIS 66 That this Pascha is a type of the future and eternal Pascha; and about endurance and courage. Brethren and fathers, Lent is already galloping past and the soul rejoices at the imminence of Pascha, because …

INTRODUCTION Catechesis 60 contains a number of interesting details. Who, for example, if the ‘holy father and teacher’ referred to in the opening sentence? If the Short Catecheses were given during St Theodore’s exile to the Propontis in 820, it cannot be St Platon, who had died in 812. The most likely person is St Nikephoros, the Patriarch. The latter, …

On guarding the soul from destructive passions. Brethren and fathers, now that we have fasted for the first week we appear to each other somewhat different to what we were, leaner and paler. But even if our outward nature is wasting away, as the Apostle says, the inner is being renewed day by day. For what it is to see …

On fasting and dispassion; spoken at the beginning of the fast. Brethren and fathers, the season of Lent, when compared to the whole year, may be likened to a storm-free harbour, in which all who are sailing together enjoy a spiritual calm. For the present season is one of salvation not for monks and nuns only, but also for lay …