Christ is risen!
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:27-30)
St Diodochos of Photiki comments:
Glory befits God because of His majesty, while lowliness befits man because it unites us with God. If we realize this, rejoicing in the glory of the Lord, we too, like Saint John the Baptist, will begin to say unceasingly, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ (John 3: 30). (PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, p 89)
If I really desire that Christ increase while I decrease, I will want to pray the Prayer of Humility (found in some Orthodox prayer books) which includes petitions that I be delivered from the desire of being esteemed, extolled, honored, praised or preferred. When I humble myself, I make it possible to magnify Christ. God emptied Himself to become human, I have to empty myself to become god. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
Fraternized 