But someone might say, “Then, if heaven is so great, why don’t you all just go and kill yourselves, and pass over to your God right away, and not bother us anymore?”
There is among the passions an anger of the intellect (mind), and this anger is in accordance with nature – that is courage . Without this anger a person cannot attain purity: we have to feel angry with all that is sown in us by the enemy. When Job felt this anger he reviled his enemies, calling them ‘dishonorable men of no repute, lacking everything good, whom I would not consider fit to live with the dogs that guard my flocks’ (cf. Job 30:1, 4). If we wish to acquire the anger that is in accordance with nature we must […]
When a man lies, he murders some part of the world These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives All this I cannot bear to witness any longer Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home? Adorn yourself with truth, try to speak truth in all things; and do not support a lie, no matter who asks you. If you speak the truth and someone gets mad at you, don’t be upset, but take comfort in the words of the Lord: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of truth, for theirs is the Kingdom of […]
Cain, where’s your brother? With this began the history of the human race on earth, namely with a brother’s murder. A murder of a brother in your life!
Father Seraphim Rose of Platina, himself a convert to Orthodoxy, was once asked to compose a “Manual for Orthodox Converts”. In his notes for such a manual, he jotted down the following “convert pitfalls”, or what he called “obstacles in the Orthodox mission today” – or, shortly, “convertitis”. Based on these notes we have:
You who have decided to strip for the arena of this spiritual confession, you who wish to take on your neck the yoke of Christ, you who are therefore trying to lay your own burden on Another’s shoulders, you who are hastening to sign a pledge that you are voluntarily surrendering yourself to slavery, and in return want freedom concretely written to your account, you who are being supported by the hands of others as you swim across this great sea — you should know that you have decided to travel by a short but rough way, from which there […]
Many are interested in solving “hot” topics in their minds. We are interested in how Elijah was lifted up to heaven with the chariot of fire, how is the vision of paradise, the angels, the creation of the world, and other things like this.
There is a lot of anxiety and distress about the famous 666 in some circles, which most of the time (if not always) distracts us from our main aim in life – the salvation of our eternal soul.
If you want to serve God, prepare your heart not for food, not for drink, not for rest, not for ease, but for suffering, so that you may endure all temptations, trouble and sorrow.
At the approach of the great feasts, you must be especially watchful over yourself.
The almighty Christ was the only one which had the right, the power and the capacity to be a tyrant.
You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.
The devil uses a similar technique with us when we want to attack something. So, we must know how to defend. It depends on us to do it.
You have a spiritual nature. The soul is the image of the Creator. Honor the image of God by being in agreement with all humanity.
Many wonder why and how monks can live a longer and healthier life, compared with the people of the world outside of Mount Athos.
Perhaps you are saying, “Why are the wicked joyful? Why do they live in luxury? Why do they not toil with me?”
We should have always room for one more. Perhaps this should be obvious but the hell of egotism in our minds teaches us that the state of necessity and war is an excuse for domestic tyranny.
We often conceive of worldly life as merely a kind of default existence that anyone who is not specially called to monasticism or ordination simply ends up leading. We assume that it is only the monk, nun or priest who has a special call, while the married woman, for instance, has merely been passed by.
A disciple once asked an elder: Well then, if a good man does not only suffer no evil by being killed, but actually gains a reward from his suffering, how can we accuse the man who has done him no harm but good by killing him?
Many times we yell at our children “do this” or “don’t do that” – but unfortunately the end results are not what we expected.
The devil says, “Your spiritual father is a sinner, so, don’t listen to him.”
Perhaps the greatest trial of Saint Paisios of Mount Athos happened when he was still a child.
Do not fall into despair because of stumbling. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for them, but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the man who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murders while He hung on the Cross. ‘All manner of sin,’ He said, ‘and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,’ that is, through repentance.”
Great Schema Monks on Mount Athos have learnt a great deal from the Holy Fathers and their experiences. Likewise, they have learnt a lot from the humble mules which are used to carry loads of wood from the forests.
Now, it’s true that most people who don’t have much sense expect to be content with avoiding hell. But I say it’s a far worse punishment than hell to be excluded from the glory of the other world. I think that someone who has failed to reach it should be sorry, not so much because of the miseries of hell, but because of his rejection from heaven. For that by itself is more dreadful than any other kind of punishment.
He showed me many trees that had no leaves; they were withered, and they all looked alike to me. And he said to me, “Do you see these trees?” “I see, sir, that they are all alike, and all withered,” I replied. “These trees that you see,” he answered, “are those who dwell in this world.”
Do not fight to expel darkness from the chamber of your soul. Open a tiny aperture for light to enter, and the darkness will disappear.
During confession, especially one’s first confession – it is much better to list the sins in front of the priest – that is in front of God – and to seek His forgiveness in order to show your repentance.
Just as people do not enter a war in order to enjoy war, but in order to be saved from war, so we too do not enter this world in order to enjoy this world, but in order to be saved from it. People go to war for the sake of something greater than war.
Depression suppresses us from the lack of God’s grace in our heart and soul for without God nothing makes sense anymore, we lose our aim and purpose in life and since the result of God’s grace is love, happiness and peace, then that is why we fall victim to depression. Besides that we suffer from depression as a result of a cronical bad habit or because of the devil’s warfare of the thoughts which have succeeded to convince us that we are good for nothing and that nobody loves us.
