Page 250 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas
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O r t h o d o x y
to God, as Saint Mark the Ascetic teaches.
Another characteristic of the monk is that he avoids criti-
cism, for he identifies himself with the whole world and bears
its burden as his own. As Christ took upon Himself the sin of
the world, so the monk seeks to take upon himself the suffer-
ing and guilt of others. When another sins, the monk says: I
am the one who sins. In this way he becomes, after the pattern
of Christ, one who lovingly bears the sins of the world.
Finally, the monk lives in constant awareness of the Last
Days. He lives with the remembrance that this world passes
away and that judgment is coming. This is why the Fathers
speak of the “remembrance of death.” Saint Silouan expressed
this with luminous simplicity: “Keep your mind in hell, and
despair not.” Thus monasticism remains one of the clearest
witnesses in the Church that history finds its truth not in itself,
but in the Kingdom that is to come.
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