The Book of Esther and Other Homilies · Lecture 005
Unidentified Homily 5
A lecture by Fr. Athanasios Mytilinaios · Δείτε στα Ελληνικά
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Summary
Fr. Athanasios Mytilinaios continues in Esther chapter 4 with the queen's own prayer before her unsummoned approach to the king. Esther lays aside her royal garments and ornaments, fasts three days in affliction, and prays that God alone may help her who is alone and has no helper but Him; from this the speaker develops his central theme of pure prayer, in which the soul leaves behind the whole creation, even other people and its own needs, to stand alone with God, as Moses left the people, Aaron, and Joshua to ascend Sinai alone. Citing St Isaac the Syrian, he names pure prayer the hardest task of the spiritual life. Esther's prayer also models living tradition and honest confession that God justly handed a sinful Israel to its enemies, and the speaker contrasts prayer against enemies with the Christian's duty to pray for their mercy.
English audio is an AI-generated voice rendering of the original Greek lecture transcript.
Greek original audio is preserved unchanged and is the primary trust anchor for this lecture.
Transcript coming soon.