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 ...
Just as parents have a special natural love for their children, so the mind has a natural connection with its thoughts. And just as some parents love their children to excess, thinking them the most beautiful and capable, even though, in fact, they’re the most inept at everything they do, so, to the foolish mind its thoughts appear to be the wisest, even if they’re the worst imaginable. But to the wise mind, its thoughts don’t appear thus; on the contrary, when it seems that they’re objective and good, that’s when they are least to be trusted. They’re then submitted to other wise people for assessment and confirmation, in case the mind was running, or had run, in vain ( ...
Humble people don’t judge, because they consider themselves the worst of all people anyway. Humility has noble and innate attributes. It doesn’t become angry, it doesn’t judge and it wants nothing for itself. If you relegate humble people to the margins, they accept it without being affronted or offended. Proud people can’t stand being laughed at, because it’s an affront to their dignity. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol
Wanting everybody to love you is egotistical. Elder Gavriil Tsafos
In careful people, the mind is like a vigilant guardian of the inner Jerusalem. From the heights of the spiritual life it sees with its clear eye the opposing forces around and within the soul. Saint Seraphim of Sarov
The Road to Happiness Nothing is greater than a clean heart, because such a heart becomes the throne of God. And what’s more glorious than the throne of God? Nothing, of course. Regarding those who have a clean heart, God says: ‘I will live with them and walk among them; and I will be God to them and they will be a people to me’ (2 Cor. 6, 16). So who can be happier than these people? What good thing can they possibly lack? Don’t they find all the good things and gifts of the Holy Spirit within their blessed souls. What more do they need? Nothing. In truth, nothing. Because they have the greatest good in their heart: God himself. How deceived those ...
The angels have a special position in the Orthodox Church and particular honor is accorded to them. Holy Scripture (Old and New Testaments) is full of references to angels, who are presented as playing an important role in the implementation of the plan of divine providence. Patristic literature also mentions the angelic powers and provides us with valuable information concerning them. From these sources we can draw important conclusions regarding the creation, nature, knowledge, tasks and number of these immaterial beings. This information doesn’t give us complete knowledge about them, but God allows us to learn as much about them as is necessary for our salvation. Angels were created by God from nothing and are the product of the free divine ...
What a blessing, what bliss it is when there’s ice and snow outside and we quickly get back to a home that’s cozy, either because it has a stove, central heating or a fireplace. We’re blanketed by the pleasantness of the temperature and overcome with joy. And isn’t the same thing even more true from the point of view of spirituality? Our surroundings and the world in general ‘lie in evil’ and the devil is their overlord because of his dominion in people’s hearts. But what does this mean? That in all places and at all times, to a horrific degree, the frost of evil is dominant, because, alas, sin has the first word. What’s the priority for most people? How ...
In today’s Gospel reading, Saint Luke the Evangelist mentions two miracles performed by our Lord Jesus Christ: one is the cure of the woman with the issue of blood; and the other is the even more astonishing resurrection from the dead of Jairus’ daughter. Two separate instances, two different miracles. In the one, a prominent citizen had no qualms about setting aside his official capacity, of abandoning his position and humbling himself before Christ- and other people- falling to his knees and seeking a miracle. In the other, a woman of the people, who hesitated to approach Christ, had the deep conviction that if she were merely to touch him, she would experience a miracle. The head of the synagogue, Jairus, ...
