Saint Nektarios giving birth to a baby
Nov
06
2019
We shouldn’t think, judge, and act, having faith in our way of seeing things—but on God.
We shouldn’t think, judge, and act, having faith in our way of seeing things—but on God.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Skete of Saint Anne (Major) a monk wanted to extend a wall in the garden of his cell and for this purpose he started late in the evening to dig into the forest. Suddenly he found the holy relics of a big saint: they were incorrupt, with a marvelous yellow color and having a very intense fragrance.
Why do you constantly recall what you’ve done, and bring it up to us? Don’t you know that if you praise yourself, God won’t praise you anymore? And in the same way, if you deplore yourself, he will never stop proclaiming you in front of everyone.
How can we put up with these things unless it is because we have no true love? If we have true love with sympathy and patient labor, we shall not go about scrutinizing our neighbor’s shortcomings.
The warrior is not someone who fights, For no one has the right to take another life.
When there’s respect for small things, there’ll be even greater respect towards the bigger ones. When there’s no respect for small things, then neither will there be for the bigger ones. This is how the Fathers maintained Tradition.
The day-by-day spiritual life of an orthodox layman should be settled between him and his priest, in accordance with the Holy Tradition of the Church. This is the norm and the best way to do so.
When we focus on good, good grows. When we focus on bad, bad grows.
If God sees that the intellect has entirely submitted to Him and puts its hope in Him alone, He strengthens it, saying: ‘Have no fear Jacob my son, my little Israel’ (Isa. 41:14), and: ‘Have no fear: for I have delivered you, I have called you by My name; you are Mine. If you pass through water, I shall be with you, and the rivers will not drown you. If you go through fire, you will not be burnt, and the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who saves […]
Any addiction is a bad habit, an illness of the soul, a brain disorder characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, in the causes of sin, despite the adverse consequences.
If you pursue virtue in a monastery or community, you are not likely to be attacked much by fear. But the man who spends his time in more solitary places should make every effort to avoid being overcome by that offspring of vainglory, that daughter of unbelief: cowardice.
If a man has some spiritual gift and feels compassion for those who do not have it, he preserves the gift because of his compassion. But a boastful man will lose it through succumbing to temptations of boastfulness.
God made us in His image and likeness—that is, just a single created god—a single Human in many persons of two kinds (man and woman), as He is a single God in three persons. God created a giant mind, a created god, in which all persons would cooperate flawlessly through their minds in real time to accomplish the same goal, even if each person would keep his specificity.
We ought to be careful never to do anything rashly or carelessly, or anything at all for which we cannot give a reasonable ground.
Few words, much love. To all. No matter who they are because every one of us is ‘sent’, every one of us is created with a purpose, every one of us is unique in his own way.
We who are given the fullness of true Christianity are obliged to be working on ourselves, to be watching the signs of the times, and to be extremely joyful, as St. Paul is constantly saying: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: Rejoice!’ (Phil. 4:4). We rejoice because we have something which all the death and corruption of this world cannot take away, that is, the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Let us now carefully consider whether God ever allows evil to be forced on his saints, either by himself or by someone else.
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.