Do not think that knowing the beginning of the gospel is a minor thing. God is perfect and does not leave to chance a thing like the beginning of the gospel.
Why do we need to pray? For this, we need to understand that the first thing we need is the healing of the distortion of our will and, connected to this, the healing of our loneliness.
There are many ways in which we can categorize the types of prayer. A simple one is the following:
Many ask us what the causes of the pandemic COVID-19 are, if it is a natural phenomenon, or if there are state-level actors who generated this epidemic.
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.
There was a child who was somewhat illiterate and could not learn his lessons and keep up with his classmates.
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.
Only the foolish think that suffering is evil. A sensible man knows that suffering is not evil but only the manifestation of evil and healing from evil. Only sin in a man is a real evil, and there is no evil outside sin.
Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the shame; courage follows repentance. Did you pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame to repentance.
True fasting lies in rejecting evil, holding one’s tongue, suppressing one’s hatred and banishing one’s lust, evil words, lying and betrayal of vows.
Many wonder why Great Lent holds forty days. To be very accurate, Great Lent does not last forty days but thirty-six days. However, people generally think it holds forty days.
One should not think about the doings of God when one’s stomach is full; on a full stomach there can be no vision of the Divine mysteries.
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?
The nous (mind, intellect) which has rebelled against God becomes either bestial or demonic and, after having rebelled against the laws of nature, lusts after what belongs to others.
You ask, will the others be saved… Why do you worry about them? They have a Savior Who desires the salvation of every human being. He will take care of them. You and I should not be burdened with such a concern. Study yourself and your own sins and not so much how to preach to others.
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.
As enticing as is the temptation of a sinful life, it ultimately leads to the disgust of sin, and then we seek the true path which we find in faith.
Just as parents have a special affection for the children who are the fruit of their own bodies, so the mind naturally clings to its own thoughts.
Self love, as has often been said, is the cause of all impassioned thoughts. For from it are produced the three principal thoughts of desire; those of gluttony, avarice and self-esteem. From gluttony is born the thought of unchastity; from avarice, the thought of greed; from self-esteem, the thought of pride.
Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen.
He who secretly mingles his own wishes with obedience is an adulterer, as the Book of Proverbs indicates (cf. Prov. 6:32-33); and because of his stupidity he suffers pain and dishonor.
The baptism of Saint John had not remission of sins, but only brought men to penitence. He preached therefore the baptism of repentance, that is, he preached that to which the baptism of penitence led, namely, remission of sins, that they who in penitence received Christ, might receive Him to the remission of their sins.
During the reign of Emperor Anastasios I (491-518), a young deacon moved to Constantinople. He led an ascetic life of prayer and fasting, but in his humility he thought of himself as being rather worldly.
The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape.
Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary in order to save our souls. He came as our life giver but we embraced Him as His death givers.
O, Holy Spirit that made all races, look kindly at the whole human family and take away the arrogance and hatred which separates us from our brothers.
My child, always be careful, both when you are happy and when you are sad. When you are happy you should not lose control through vivacity and laughter, nor when you are sad should you be so gloomy that it shows.
All vice is caused by self-esteem and sensual pleasure; you cannot overcome passion without hating them.
Elder Archimandrite Ephraim (Ioannis Moraitis – June 24, 1927) was an archimandrite and former abbot of Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos, spiritual guide of four monasteries on Mount Athos and of eight women’s convents in Greece, as well as the founder of 19 monasteries in the United States and Canada. He resided in Arizona at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery until his repose (December 7, 2019).
We learnt enough in order to have confidence in what we think we know but we did not learnt enough in order to accept something else which might contradict our narrow views.