The Akathist Hymn is the most widely used hymn to honor the Virgin Mary. The word “Rejoice” is the most widely used word in the akathist hymn and this, according to the spiritual law, is due to the fact that sadness was the most present in the life of the Virgin.
Those of us who wish to start the spiritual life, to go out of the wordly things, to go out of Egypt and to fly from Pharaoh, certainly need some Moses as a mediator with God and from God, who, standing between action and contemplation, will raise hands of prayer for us to God, so that guided by Him we may cross the sea of sin and rout the Amalek of the passions.
He who drives away the carnal thought by prayer is like someone fighting with a lion; he who subdues him by his resistance is someone still pursuing his enemy; but he who has once for all reduced its appeal to nothing, even though he is still in the flesh, is as one who has already risen from his coffin.
Greater than baptism itself is the fountain of tears after baptism, even though it is somewhat audacious to say so. For baptism is the washing away of evils that were in us before, but sins committed after baptism are washed away by tears. As baptism is received in infancy, we have all defiled it, but we cleanse it anew with tears. And if God in His love for mankind had not given us tears, few indeed and hard to find would be those in a state of grace.
The man who has come to hate the world has escaped sorrow. But he who has an attachment to anything visible is not yet delivered from grief. For how is it possible not to be sad at the loss of something we love?
Those who have not yet obtained true prayer of the heart, can find help in violence in bodily prayer—I mean stretching out the hands, beating the breast, sincere raising of the eyes to heaven, deep sighing, and frequent prostrations. But often they cannot do this owing to the presence of other people, and so the demons especially choose to attack them just at this very time.
Avarice (“the love of money”) is the worship of idols, the daughter of unbelief, a lying excuse for illness, a foreboder of old age, a harbinger of drought, and a herald of hunger. The lover of money sneers at the Gospel and is a willful transgressor. He who has attained love scatters his money. But he who says that he lives for love and for money has deceived himself.
An ordinary Christian who has a morally dignified behavior becomes a symbol of the Truth manifested on earth and is a censor for the consciences of others. Honest souls will seek him to share his wisdom. The dishonest soul will bypass him and mock him or slander him. Through this treatment, he resembles the Crucified One.
As we have already frequently said, this—we mean despondency—is very often one of the branches of talkativeness, and its first child.
While struggling against all passions, let us who are in communities struggle every hour, especially against these two:
He who has become the servant of the loving Lord will fear his Master alone and nothing else on earth, but he who does not yet fear Him is often
Humility is a divine shelter to prevent us from seeing our achievements. Humility is an abyss of self-abasement, inaccessible to any thief. Humility is a strong tower against
Be like a king in your heart, seated high in humility, and commanding laughter: Go, and it goes; and sweet weeping: Come, and it comes; and our tyrant and slave
Obedience is absolute renunciation of our own life, clearly expressed in our bodily actions. Or, conversely,
A horse when alone often imagines that it is galloping, but when
And now, finally, after all that we have said, there remain these three that bind and secure the union of all, faith, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love, for God Himself is so called. And (as far as I can make out) I see the one as
I once asked one of the most experienced fathers and pressed him to tell me how humility is obtained by obedience. He said:
Our heart should beat for the One who created it. That’s why do not say, after spending a long time in prayer, that nothing has been gained; for you have already gained something.
Sometimes chanting in moderation soothes the temper remarkably. But sometimes, if untimely and immoderate, it lends itself to the lure of pleasure. Let us then appoint definite times for this, and so make good use of it. Correctly used, nothing so arouses the soul, gives it wing, sets it
The man who renounces the world from fear is like burning incense that begins with fragrance but ends in smoke. He who leaves the world through hope of reward is like a
The demons of vainglory prophesy in dreams. Being unscrupulous, they guess the future and foretell it to us. When these visions come true, we are amazed; and we are indeed
Love of God extinguishes our love for our parents. And so he who says that he has both deceives himself. He should listen to Him who says: No man can serve two masters. I have
The demons praised one of the most discerning brothers, appearing to him in visible form. But this most wise man said to them: ‘If you
Those who enter the contest of sanctification must renounce all things, despise all things, and shake off all things, that they may lay a firm foundation. A good foundation of three layers and three pillars is
If you see a man who has sinned and you do not pity him, the grace of God will leave you. Whoever curses bad people, and does not pray for them, will never come to know
In union with humility it is impossible that there should be any appearance of hatred, or any kind of dispute, or even
When a foolish person is accused or shouted at he is wounded by it and tries to contradict, or at once makes an apology to his accuser, not out of humility but in order to stop the accusations. But when
As of all foods bread is the most essential, so the thought of death is the most necessary of all works. The remembrance of death amongst those in the midst of society gives
In the very beginning of our renunciation, it is certainly with labor and grief that we practice the virtues. But when we have made progress in them, we no longer feel sorrow, or we feel little sorrow. But as soon as our mortal mind is
To fast is to force nature. It is to do away with whatever pleases the stomach. Fasting ends lust, roots out bad thoughts, frees one from