Continual study of the Holy Scriptures is the light of the soul and it protects us from the passions.
Nous and reason In order to understand better the difference between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ use of human reason (the latter being rationalism), it would be useful to set out in brief the teaching of the Church regarding the way it works. According to Saint Maximos the Confessor and the Orthodox Patristic tradition, we have two centres of cognition. In other words, there are two paths, two ways through which we can come to know things, natural creation and God Himself. These two centres are the nous (which the Fathers identify with the heart) and reason (that is logic, thinking and the brain) The seat of the nous is the heart and that of reason (or logic) is the brain. The nous is ...
In the first years I was a spiritual guide, I used to tell people: ‘Lean on Christ’. Now I tell them: ‘Cleave to Him’.
When the soul’s churned up by anger, befuddled by drink or bothered by terrible sorrow, the intellect can’t retain the remembrance of Christ, even if you try to force it to do so. Because, darkened as it is by the cruelty of the passions, it loses its spiritual sensitivity. But if the soul is free of these passions, even if it forgets the name it desires for a short time, the intellect immediately recovers its vigour and takes a strong hold on its much-desired and redemptive prey.
Temptations aren’t stronger than God’s gifts. With the power of the name of Jesus, our Saviour Who gives us strength, we can do anything. If your faith’s weak, a speck of dust will seem like a mountain to you.
We might say that rationalism is excessive confidence in our reason, its elevation into the supreme authority and absolute value. It’s a sinful way of thinking and living rather than a simple sin in itself. In essence, it’s unbelief. Rationalism is the most characteristic and devious expression of pride, which is at the root of all our sins; it steals into every one of our actions; and it poisons all our good works. It leads to self-justification and, in the end, to unrepentance. Thus closing the door on divine mercy. Pride is the beginning and end of all evils. According to the late Elder Sophrony, in Essex, pride is ‘the implacable enemy of human life; it lies at the root ...
How very, very sweet Jesus is! Full of joy, full of love, full of peace, full of serenity, full of rejoicing, full of elation. How very, very sweet Jesus is!
If you pray in the morning as you should, your whole day will be blessed. Don’t be downcast over efforts that seem fruitless. Remember how you learned to knit, or read and write. What efforts you made then… Now you can do all of these things easily. The same will be true of your spiritual development. For the moment, it seems difficult to defeat bad thoughts. But it’ll become easier over time.
The feasts of the Mother of God are a matter of joy for the whole Church. Our Lady, who is honoured at these, is the person who glorified the whole of the human race when she answered God’s invitation to participate in His incarnation, thus ushering in the dawn of the time of our salvation. The feast of the Entry of the Mother of God reminds us that Our Lady is the most important person in the task of our salvation. Without her presence, our return to paradise would have been nigh impossible. This feast was established in the 6th century, in Jerusalem, on the basis of the ancient tradition of the Church and is also mentioned in texts by Saint Sofronios ...
Some people say, and believe they’re right in doing so, that we should ‘get along well with everybody’, meaning our behaviour shouldn’t cause people not to like us and that we should be friends with everybody. But do Christians who wish to have Christ in their lives really have this as their aim? Saint Paul advises: ‘If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all’. (Romans 12, 18), hinting that it isn’t actually possible to have peaceful relations with everyone, even though that’s what we would prefer. In another Epistle (2 Cor. 13, 11), Saint Paul urges us to ‘agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with ...
We have weaknesses, passions and faults deeply rooted within us, many of which are also inherited. These can’t be cut off by any spasmodic effort, nor by worrying or stressing about them, but only by patience and persistence, by endurance, by care and attention. Excessive sorrow conceals pride. This is why it’s harmful and dangerous. It’s often exacerbated by the devil to throw us off course.
In this selection from the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, he compares the spiritual state of a person who follows the Mosaic Law with the higher spiritual state a person rises to when they believe in Christ. Because from a spiritual point of view, we are babies who need to be taught until we reach a mature spiritual age. This “tutoring” was done by the Mosaic Law. Its purpose was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ in the world, so that they would be able to believe in Him. Now those who have known the Messiah Christ, have no need to live narrowly behind walls, abiding by the formal provisions of the Law. We are free ...
The case of the prominent Jew who had observed all the commandments of Mosaic Law from the time of his youth is one we can easily relate to. He asks Jesus what remains for him to do in order to gain eternal life. Jesus knows what it is that usually binds people to earth, so He answers: ‘You’re missing one thing: sell everything you’ve got and give the money to the poor and, in that way, you’ll have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me on the difficult path of the cross’. There’s no doubt that this prominent Jew was a devout person, since he’d observed the Law and had within himself the desire for perfection. But the Law of ...
Many people talk about glorification in the abstract. What’s important is that we should keep Christ’s commandments and in this way we’ll arrive at deification and the light. We’re no longer susceptible to the passions after comes into our soul and body.
Apart from its profound theological significance, the great feast of the Entry of the Mother of God has also been a source of inspiration and poetry for Holy Tradition. This is why it has been embellished with one of the most beautiful services in the annual cycle. High points of the service, which have become etched on soul and memory of the faithful who attend, are the hymns from the canon for Christmas, which are part of Matins for this feast of the Mother of God. Hieromonk Maximos Vatopaidinos sings the first stanzas of the first and ninth odes- ‘Christ is born, glorify…’- in the slow mode setting by Matthaios Vatopaidinos. Your browser does not support the audio element.
We must constantly renew our determination to live by Christ’s commandments, we must pray for His help, we must humble ourselves when we stray, we must accept the fact that we are weak and not become exasperated with ourselves. We are incapable of conquering, so why demand of ourselves that which the Lord alone can give? Why bemoan the fact that we are unable to rise above ourselves? Such demands for spiritual perfection reveal our pride. Let us wait for all things from the One Lord and use our failures and sinfulness to fervently humble ourselves.
One of the most important problems facing us over recent years has been the ecological crisis and environmental problems which are afflicting our planet. Ecological changes have always existed and are the result either of natural disasters and changes in the environment, often resulting in new ecological balances in nature, or people’s careless exploitation of the natural environment in order to satisfy their needs, without any consideration of the damage they’re causing. The present ecological crisis has been caused by a break in the relationship between people and nature, a rupture which made its appearance with the anthropocentric perspective on life, where people view nature as a natural tool-shed which they can use at will. From ancient times, people gradually began ...
Our thoughts are bad and this is why we don’t bring in a good harvest. We have to change. Each one of us needs to change, but it’s a pity we don’t have examples to guide us, either in our families or in society at large.
Were one to attempt to describe in a single sentence the role and aim of the Church, one might say that ‘The aim of the Church is to manifest God to the world’. In order to achieve this aim, the Church uses theology, which expresses the faith of the Church in two ways: either with words or images. But the potential of both words and deeds to make God manifest is necessarily very limited, which is why, if we’re going to understand their content properly, any approach to them needs to be made with great care and with due appreciation of the requirements involved. A typical example of the use of images to express the faith of the Church is ...
What can be more wonderful and pleasant than love for your neighbour? To be able to love is bliss, to hate is torture. Love for your neighbour is the path that leads to God, because Christ, the true God, was pleased to be mystically embodied in each of our neighbours.
