How the Apostles Serve

People dedicate themselves to God in the hope that the eyes of their heart will be enlightened.  They withdraw from worldly activities and give themselves up to prayer and supplication, waiting for the Lord to come and reveal himself to them and purify them from their sins.  For they do not rely solely on their own labors and conduct to obtain what they hope for, namely, that the Lord will come and dwell in them with the full experience and energy of the Spirit.  And when they experience the Lord's goodness and delight in the fruits of the Spirit, and when the veil of darkness is lifted and the light of Christ shines upon them to their unspeakable joy, they are completely satisfied because they have the Lord with them in much love; they are like a merchant rejoicing in his gains.  But even so they still have to struggle and they go in fear of the robber spirits of wickedness causing them to grow slack and lose their labor before they obtain the kingdom of heaven, the Jerusalem above.  

Let us too, then, beseech God to strip off our old nature and clothe us in the heavenly Christ even now, so that the joy of being led by him may bring us great tranquility.  For in his desire to fill us with longing for the kingdom the Lord says:  "Without me you can do nothing."

Nevertheless he was able to enlighten many people through the apostles.  In spite of being merely creatures, they fed their fellow servants.  Through their good example and teaching the Lord restored to life minds that were dead and corrupted; for it is possible for one creature to nourish and give life to another:  though only creatures, the clouds, when so commanded, bring seeds of wheat or barely to life.  Like light coming in through a window the sun shedding its radiance over all the world, the prophets were lights to their own house of Israel, but the apostles are suns with rays reaching every corner of the earth.

Saint Macarius

-Saint Macarius (4th - 5th century) probably came to the south of Asia Minor from Mesopotamia and was the abbot of a community of cenobites.