BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260123
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260124
DTSTAMP:20260511T201809
CREATED:20260118T132517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260118T132517Z
UID:14531-1769126400-1769212799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:TO CALL ONESELF A CHRISTIAN \nby St Gregory of Nyssa \n◊◊◊ \nThey say that a certain showman in the city of Alexandria\, having trained \na monkey to dance with some grace\, and having dressed him in a dancer’s mask \nand a costume suitable for the occasion\, and having surrounded him with a \nchorus\, gained fame by the monkey’s twisting himself in time with the music \nand concealing his nature in every way by what he was doing and appeared to \nbe. While the audience was enthralled by the novelty of the spectacle\, one of the \nclever persons present\, by means of a trick\, showed those watching the \nperformance that the dancer was a monkey. \nWhen everyone was crying out and applauding the gesticulations of the \nmonkey\, who was moving rhythmically with the music\, they say that he threw \nonto the dancing place some of the sweetmeats which arouse the greediness of \nsuch animals; whereupon the monkey\, without a moment’s delay\, when he saw \nthe almonds scattered in front of the chorus\, forgetting the dancing and \napplause and the elaborate costume\, ran after them and grabbed what he found \nin the palms of his hands. \nAnd in order that the mask would not get in the way of his mouth\, he \nenergetically thrust aside the disguise with his nails and immediately evoked a \nlaugh from the spectators in place of the praise and admiration\, as he emerged \nugly and ridiculous from the shreds of the mask. Thereupon\, just as the \nassumed form was not sufficient for that creature to be considered a man\, once \nhis nature was disclosed\, in the incident of the almonds\, so those individuals not \ntruly shaping their own natures by faith will easily be disclosed in the toils of the \ndevil as being something other than what they are called. For\, instead of a fig or \nan almond or some such thing\, vanity and love of honor and love of gain and \nlove of pleasure\, and whatever else the evil assembly of the devil places before \ngreedy men instead of sweetmeats\, easily bring to light the ape-like souls who\, \nthrough pretense and imitation\, play the role of the Christian and then remove \nthe mask of moderation or meekness or some other virtue in a moment of \npersonal crisis. \nIt is necessary\, therefore\, for us to understand what the name “Christian” \nmeans\, for then\, perhaps we will become what the term implies and not be \nshown up by the one who perceives what is hidden\, namely\, that we have \ndisguised ourselves by mere assent\, and by the pretense of the name alone when \nwe are actually something contrary to what we appear to be.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-392/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR