Having faith doesn’t mean only that we believe in God as our Creator. It also means that we recognize his never-failing providence and his concern for our good, even in the most insignificant aspects of our lives. Of course, this is more or less impossible for our nous to understand, benighted as it is in the darkness of the passions. Saint Makarij of Optina
The grace of the Holy Spirit makes people emit rays. But the other people need to have good receivers if they’re to understand this. We should always have our eyes fixed on heaven. Then nothing will shake us. Saint Amfilohios Makris
Whatever passion the demons attack you with, be patient and don’t fall into despair. Face it with meekness and humility and don’t lose your temper. Don’t allow any sense of impatience, envy, complaint or blasphemy to take hold within you. Saint John Kronstadtskij
People who oppress others, or even have designs on their freedom, inevitably destroy their own freedom, as well. Because every such ambition is, in itself, a fall from the divine life of love to which we’ve been called. Saint Sophrony, Essex
There are three things that bring you bad thoughts: sentiments, memory and the constitution of your body. The worst of these are those that come from remembrance. Saint Thalassios the Libyan
Examine yourself continuously, in case you’ve sinned in thought, or your tongue has run away with you, or your deeds don’t conform to the will of God. And if this examination reveals that you have many sins- and you’ll certainly find some because you’re human- say the words of the tax-collector: ‘Lord have mercy upon me, sinner that I am’ (Luke 18, 13). Elder Cleopa Ilie
Through prayer, our being expands, we can embrace the whole world and we’re then happy to be alive. But prayer is missing from the world and this is why people are unhappy. Although we people are created and finite, through prayer we can communicate with our uncreated and infinite God. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos
Unrepentant sinners should stay away from the spotless sacraments because otherwise they’re just preparing judgment and a guilty verdict for themselves. Saint Paul says: ‘Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord… Those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves’ (1 Cor. 11, 27;29). In other words they’ll be punished as severely as those who crucified Christ, for they were also guilty of a crime against his body. Saint John Chrysostom
Unless the heart is cleansed, prayer isn’t easy. Judgements, selfishness, fits of anger- these are what besmirch the heart. Abbess Theosemni, Holy Monastery of Chrysopiyi, Hania, Crete.
This disillusionment, the existential void, the loneliness felt by post-modern people is mainly due to the fact that they don’t know how to pray, they don’t devote any time during the course of the day or night to prayer. People today don’t live with the remembrance of God; he’s not a priority in their life. They’ve forgotten that the very essence of their being is divine. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos
‘The Lord has glorified your name throughout all generations. Through you, the Lord will reveal his redemption to Israel in the last days’ (Protevangelium of James, 7, 2). The feast of the Entry of the Mother of God, and the Church remembers the fulfilment of the promise of the forebears, Joachim and Ann. A few years before the incarnation of the Word, a barren, childless couple, Joachim and Ann, who were devasted at their inability to have children, were told by an angel of the Lord that they would have a child who would loose the curse which tormented them. The elderly couple’s daughter grew and, at the age of three, the promise of her parents to God was fulfilled and ...
‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye’ (Matth. 78, 1-5). This is a great and terrible commandment from Christ. All of us, starting with me, are constantly criticizing and condemning each other and ...
In our series of Sermons on the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, we have tried in simple terms to explain the Lord’s words and actions at the Last Supper, when He delivered this Great Mystery to the Disciples before His arrest. We have focused only on the relevant words of the Lord, as quoted by the Holy Gospels and the Apostle Paul. I hope that all of our listeners have understood that out of great love for His Disciples, the Lord established the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist, so that He is not only in communion with the faithful, but also totally united with them. A union enacted through the very Holy Body and Blood of Christ! Out of all the ...
It’s not uncommon that concepts associated with the Bible are misinterpreted, almost ‘abused’, to their detriment. The misinterpretation of a single word can lead to mistaken notions and conclusions, or even to a misguided attitude to life. One such case is ‘God’s anger’. . It is in the modern sense that we encounter it in the Old Testament, as a description of the Face of God, perhaps because this was what the conditions of the time required. Isaiah says: ‘For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day on which his wrath shall come’ (Is. 13, 13). We find the word ‘anger’ ...
‘It’s one thing to pray against negative thoughts; it’s another to argue with them; and it’s another to exterminate them and leave them behind you’ (Saint John the Sinaite, Ladder of Divine Ascent, discourse 26, 51). The Fathers are quite clear on this matter: our thoughts set the tone and rhythm for our soul, because they lead us either to a disposition to love the Lord and his saints or to an affiliation with this world, which is subjugated to the evil one and his forces. Thoughts can be good: from God and the angels; they can be natural: they express our character as it really is; but- and this is what affects the spiritual life particularly and is what Saint ...
God is love (1 Jn. 4, 16). And we people are created ‘in the image and likeness’ of the God of love. But the God of love is also fair-minded. He respects our freedom and doesn’t set before us us his power but his even-handedness. In this way, we remain free to accept or reject communion with him. He did this from the beginning and continues to do so after the fall, with his plan for our salvation. This is why he became human and was crucified for us. His power was manifested after death, through his resurrection. Saint Gregory Palamas says that this indicated the perfect order God adheres to in the execution of his works. We are also ...
It’s right and proper, if you’re in a hurry to get to work, to your office, or to go about your business that you should stop on the way and help somebody in need, even though you risk being late, losing out on something or even getting into trouble. Organization and the pace of life, a schedule and a variety of obligations often interfere with feelings of love and make it difficult for us to implement them. We speak of love as the most central feature of Christianity, but we forget that it is, or, rather ought to be, the most important characteristic of our own Christian life. So, while we often fail to show love to those who are ...
Love Seek love. Every day, ask God for love, because with love comes the whole host of other good things and virtues. Love and you’ll be loved by others. Give your whole heart to God, so that you may dwell in love. ‘Those who abide in love abide in God; and God abides in them’. (1 Jn. 4, 16). You must be very careful in your interpersonal relationships and respect each other as sacred persons, as images of God. Never be swayed by the body or beauty, but only by the soul. Beware the feeling of love, because when the heart isn’t warmed by pure prayer, love is in danger of becoming carnal and unnatural; it can darken the nous and consume ...
Through the Jesus Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me’, the faithful acquire divine illumination and strength, so that they can distinguish and repel sinful, negative thoughts. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos
Spiritual Struggle The aim of our life is for us to become perfect and holy; to prove to be children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. We must be careful lest, for the sake of this present life, we’re deprived of that of the future; lest, because of the cares and concerns of daily living, we neglect the aim of our life. Fasting, vigils and prayer don’t, of themselves, bring the desired fruits, because they aren’t the aim of our life; they’re the means for us to achieve our goal. Decorate your festal candles with virtues. Strive to cast out the passions from the soul. Clean all the grime from your heart and keep it pure, so that the ...
