Today the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Methodius, Bishop of Patara, who lived in the 6th century and was a prolific writer and a genuine defender of Orthodoxy against heresy. The Church also celebrates the memory of one of the prominent defenders of the Orthodox faith and successor of the hesychastic tradition, St. Nicholas Kabasilas, who was canonized in 1983.
Saint Nicholas Kabasilas was born in 1322. His uncle was Neilos Kabasilas, a fourteenth-century Palamite theologian who succeeded St. Gregory Palamas as Metropolitan of Thessalonica. He studied Theology, Rhetoric and Natural Sciences in Thessaloniki and Constantinople, where he served as an imperial counselor.
He followed the monastic life and was known for his large number of his works, which includes works of theological, cult and interpretative content, as well as homilies on various subjects, a speech against usurers, epistles.
His treatises, “The Life in Christ” and “The Exposition of the Divine Liturgy”, are among the most important and widely read of the Orthodox Patristic Litterature.
Saint Nikolaos Kabasilas wrote in his book “The Exposition of the Divine Liturgy”: “The body and blood of Christ are true food and drink. And when one receives the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, it is not an everyday consumption, as is the case with ordinary foods, because the human body transforms and is sanctified since they are sanctified. Likewise, when it comes into contact with the fire, the iron also becomes fire, not vice versa.
We receive the sacrament of Holy Eucharist through the mouth. However, it first enters the soul and there is our union with Christ, as Ap. Paul: “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” (1 Cor. 6:17). Without the union with Christ, one is like someone who has nothing in common with God.
In order to sanctify us through the Holy Sacraments, Jesus asks us for purification of the soul, faith and love to God. All these elements lead to sanctification. This is the way we should receive the Holy Eucharist.
This is the teaching of Saint Nicholas Kabasilas for the future generations, whose memory is celebrated today.
Source: Church of Cyprus
