Hierarch’s Divine Liturgy in Star Dojran ( 21.05.2005 )
In the
“Once a great elder with his disciples was at a place where there were cypress trees of various height, small and tall. So the elder said to one of his disciples: ‘Uproot this cypress tree’. It was a small cypress and the brother rooted it up at once. Then the elder showed him another one, bigger than the first one, and told him: ‘Uproot this one as well’. The brother rooted it up, pulling with his both hands. The elder, though, pointed to a cypress bigger than the previous one, and the brother rooted it up with much labour. After this, the elder showed him yet another one, taller even than the third one. The brother was swinging it for a long time and after much effort, he hardly overpowered it. Only, the next cypress tree the elder pointed at he could not uproot even after much toil and sweat. Seeing that the one cannot accomplish this, the elder told another brother to go and help him. The two of them hardly managed to root up this mighty cypress.
Then the elder said to the brethren: ‘Here is what passions are like. While they are small, if we wish, we can easily cut them off; neglected, though, they become powerful. The more they become stronger, the more effort they demand to be conquered. And if they grow too much, we cannot cut them off even with much toil if we do not receive help from some of the saints who intercede for us before God’.” (Counsels of Abba Dorotheus)
