Abba Poemen asked Abba Joseph another question saying, “What should I do when the passions attack me? Should I resist them, or let them enter?” The old man said to him, “Let them enter and fight against them.” So he returned to Scetis where he remained. Now someone from Thebes came to Scetis and said… Continue reading Dealing With Passions!
Like swimming, we are to “jump in” and just begin. There is a world of difference between thinking, or talking, about quiet prayer, and actually praying. Like beginning swimmers , we only learn by getting wet. The Fathers tell us that, often, the first thing that happens is an experience of darkness and resistance. Then,… Continue reading How Does It Work?
St Therese, a Roman Catholic saint, had difficulty knowing that God heard her prayers for others. As a youth, she decided to put God “to the test” once and for all. Perhaps only a saint can “test” God. She prayed fervently for the salvation of a callused serial killer of women, Henri Pranzini. Pranzini was… Continue reading The Fate of Pranzini!
It is worth the effort to examine closely our own willingness to believe in the Lord Jesus as the One in Whose Name is Life. The Forerunner John challenged men to accept Jesus as God, as the One Who is above all men by nature, the living Truth of God embodied as man. This passage… Continue reading Avoiding Christ!
We say that by the providence and wisdom of God all things are so ordered in this world that nothing, whether good or evil, is utterly useless with God. But we will develop this assertion more clearly. God does not create evil; still, he does not prevent it when it is displayed by others, although… Continue reading Understanding Evil!
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I was myself so entangled and constrained by the very many errors of my former life that I could not believe it possible for me to escape from them, so much was I subservient to the faults which clung to me; and in despair of improvement I cherished these evils of mine as if they… Continue reading A Personal Confession!
How blessed and marvellous are the gifts of God, beloved. Life in immortality, splendour in righteousness, truth in boldness, faith in confidence, discipline in holiness: all these are in our understanding. What, then, are the things prepared for those endure? The Creator and Father of the Ages,2 the all-holy one himself knows their number and… Continue reading The Christian Life!
Maybe I’ve read too much fantasy or played too many video games, but this isn’t how I’d imagine a resurrection to look. If Jesus is going to raise someone from the dead, I expect them to be bathed in holy light; I expect a choir of angels singing a heavenly chorus; I expect the earth… Continue reading Jesus is Just way to Simple!
Lit candles and Icon lamps (lampadas) have a special symbolic meaning in the Christian Church, and no Christian service can be held without them. In the Old Testament, when the first temple of God was built on earth the Tabernacle services were held in it with lamps as the Lord Himself had ordained (Ex. 40:5,… Continue reading Symbolism of Candles!
Both monks and nuns came to Fr. Seraphim for counsel; among their number were abbots and abbesses. He expressed to them his thoughts concerning the obligations of a monastery superior. ”The superior of the monastery,” he said, ”should be perfect in all virtues, and the senses of his soul should be trained by long study… Continue reading The True Leader & Abott!
When Nikolai Maslov, 29, decided to start his own taxi service, he knew he’d need a niche to compete with Moscow’s unruly swarms of private cabs and the few large companies that dominate the official market. Moskovskaya Troika, the company he launched just two months ago, has already built a dedicated following among the city’s… Continue reading Orthodox Taxis In Downtown Mosco!
When asked by Geronda What Spiritual books should be read by those looking to begin their spiritual search, elder Paisios Replied First, they should read the New Testament to learn the meaning of Christ, to be shaken up a little; later they can read the Old Testament. Do you know how hard it is when… Continue reading What To Read – At The Beginning Of The Journey!
This is found in particular in Lower Egypt, as well Syria, but there only after the fifth century. The great father of this form of life is St. Anthony. At about twenty years of age (c. 269), he heard Christ’s words, “Go, sell all you have and give to the poor and come and follow… Continue reading The Hermitic Life
The boy knelt at his father’s knees, ‘Dear man, how do you pray?’ The old man sighed a gentle sigh, smiling in his eyes. All questions came to this. Here the great meeting place of life, and of its nature the elder spoke: ‘Beloved, prayer is life, and apart from it is only darkness. It… Continue reading Old Man, How Do You Pray?
The boy approached his father, sat and questioned, ‘Old man, why are you alone? Why your solitude?’ The elder sighed, his breath light as the sky: ‘All the world is one, beloved, kept entire in the hand of God. Solitude is an illusion, a fleeting vision; for when one is still he is never alone.
The boy approached his father, gently, ‘Old man, why do you sorrow?’ The old man softened his tears: ‘Beloved, my sorrow is my joy. Where there is no weeping, there is no rejoicing, And he who has not sorrowed has never known delight.
A boy once approached his father, ‘Old man, why do you fast?’ The father stood silent, bringing heart and mind together, and then: ‘Beloved boy, I fast to know what it is I lack. For day by day I sit in abundance, and all is well before me; I want not, I suffer not, and… Continue reading Old Man, Why Do You Fast?
Suicide is the taking of one’s own life. The Orthodox Church has, over the centuries, taught that we do not have the right to take our own lives, since life is a gift from God which we are called upon to preserve and enhance. Hence, the Church considers direct suicide, when a person destroys his… Continue reading Suicide & Euthanasia
One of the most difficult things to deal with as a Christian, or as human beings in general, is that of the hurt that others inflict upon us. There might be nothing like it. The reason such becomes so difficult is that, normally, our emotions and the deepest parts of us get involved. That’s because… Continue reading Dealing With Hurt!
The ascetic heart is ultimately a heart of prayer. It is this heart that yearns for communion with God Most High, and will sacrifice all the world for such union. It is the heart willing to cast aside every hindrance and sinful chain that weighs down the soul from its proper dwelling place in the… Continue reading The Ascetic Heart – Part 3
How captive are we, we fallen children, to the pleasures and passions that rule our lives. How we treasure the chains which imprison us, bestowing upon them garlands and wreathes, adorning them as friends. We sit bound by our desires, a lamentable state, yet we rejoice, for our eyes are shut fast; and as in… Continue reading The Ascetic Heart – Part 2
The ascetic mind is not one of stone, cold and darkened to the outside world. Too often, those who stand apart from the heavenly struggle see it thus, and thereby see it askew. To climb is not to descend, and to grow is not to die. Those who reject the world do so not out… Continue reading The Ascetic Heart – Part 1
What did you see? Water, certainly, but not water alone; you saw the deacons ministering there, and the bishop asking questions and hallowing. First of all, the Apostle taught you that those things are not to be considered “which we see, but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are… Continue reading Water – The Baptism of Life!
Epideacon is a Greek word consisting of two parts: “epi” i.e. under or helper, and “deacon” i.e. deacon, so the meaning is deacon’s helper. Conditions for ordaining: 1. He is not to be less than 20 years old in normal conditions, except if he is brilliant and outstanding in the church’s service, he is as… Continue reading I Want To Be A Deacon! Epideacon – Subdeacon
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