“Everything” is “impossibly difficult”
Dec
15
2016
When you have love for things divine, you can
When you have love for things divine, you can
Try to fill your soul with Christ so as not to have it empty. Your soul is like
Kafsokalyvia is a very simple community of ascetics, situated in a place where the torrents of Athos are channelled into a broad rocky and resonant ravine. The forty or so kalyves encircle the Kyriakon like a chain. The kalyves are separated from each other by rings of green, which consist of a small garden, a minute vineyard, and a few citrus trees, which, together with the few olives and other fruit-bearing trees, provide the only consolation for the ascetics, who break their backs to dig amongst the rocks and fill the cavities with earth brought from the surrounding area, despite […]
He who has given his heart to Christ will not suffer, however many difficulties he experiences. He is glad, he is full of inner joy. He is dynamic. He is careful. He does not make mistakes or cause harm. His mind, his hands and his feet are all propelled by God’s Grace. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalivia”
The man who belongs to Christ should love Christ, and when he loves Christ he will be freed from the devil, from Hell and from death. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalivia”
Burning love for Christ is something else. It’s not the end, it’s not satiety. It gives life, it gives resilience, it gives health, it gives, it gives, it gives… And the more it gives, the more we want to be in love. Human love can diminish us, can send us crazy. When we love Christ, all other loves recede. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalivia”
When children are hurt and wounded by something serious, don’t let it bother you if they behave badly. They don’t really want to, but can’t help it when it’s hard for them. They’re sorry afterwards. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalivia”
The indolent, the idle and the lazy are not all right with God. Laziness isn’t a good thing at all. Indolence is a sickness, it’s a sin. God doesn’t want us to be indolent. Great effort, movement, labour and action are a virtue. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
The supposedly ‘pious’ parents, whose concern was to make their children into ‘good Christians’, oppressed them through their human love and achieved the opposite to what they wanted. Children are pressed when they’re little and then, when they become sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, they go off in a different direction. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
The devil’s managed to diminish himself to such an extent that he’s got people to use other names for him. They don’t accept that it’s the devil who moves and incites people to egotism. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
It’s not food or favourable living conditions that ensure our health. It’s a holy life, the life of Christ. I know ascetics who fasted very strictly and never had anything wrong with them. Nobody risks getting ill from fasting. Nobody’s ever done so. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
It’s great to walk, to work, to move and to have your health. But first you should have your spiritual health. Your spiritual health is fundamental, then comes bodily health. Almost all sicknesses come from the lack of trust in God and this creates stress. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
The state of people’s souls is affected by their parents and this is something they carry with them throughout their lives. It leaves its traces, and a lot of the things which happen to them in life are the result of this state. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
Beautiful things are linked to pain, but pain also brings joy. A rose produces a thorn and the thorn a rose. Generally, a rainbow appears after a squall. Unless there are storms, the sky won’t clear. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
Here’s a mystery: in His omnipotence and His omniscience, He knows everything, including what’s going to happen in the future, but He’s not the cause of any evil. God has precognition, but doesn’t preordain. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
We often come to God to lean on Him because nothing around us brings us peace. And then we feel calm. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
The heart gives life to our organism and humility gives life to the soul. Through egotism, people take the side of the wicked spirit, that is they grow in a spirit of evil rather than good. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
Stress is caused by the eradication of the religious sense. Unless you have love for Christ, unless you concern yourself with holy matters, you’re bound to be full of melancholy and badness. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
When a person’s intellect is moved to pray, divine Grace comes in a fraction of a second. That person is then filled with Grace and sees everything with other eyes. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
When people are empty of Christ, a thousand and one other things come and fill them up: jealousies, hatreds, boredom, melancholy, resentment, a worldly outlook, worldly pleasures. Try to fill your soul with Christ so that it’s not empty. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
We should see God in the faces of children and we should give them His love. Children, too, should learn how to pray. If they are to pray, children need to have the blood of prayerful parents. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
If you comply with the words of God and have no regrets in your conscience, and if you’re calm and perform good works, then you’ll gradually feel your way into prayer, smoothly, until grace comes. “Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
Here’s a mystery: in His omnipotence and His omniscience, He knows everything, including what’s going to happen in the future, but He’s not the cause of any evil. God has precognition, but doesn’t preordain. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
When someone wages war against you, take example of Crist’s crucifixion. Don’t fight fire with fire. It makes you look ridiculous. Instead make…