Note: „How to find a good spouse?” is a question which is often asked by women. That’s why this text was written for women, but can equally be applied by men. First of all, pray to find a good spouse. Our Lord and His holy Mother are the primary source of aid for such matters. It is best to…
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.
Generally speaking, by “apocalypse” (ἀποκάλυψις) the people understand “revelation” or, more literally, “uncovering”. The term is tied, mainly, with Saint John Theologian’s work – Book of Revelation – from the New Testament which describes using pseudonymity and symbolic imagery for the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom.
In a metropolis in Northern Greece, there’d been no rain for some time. It was a terrible drought and, due to the situation, the local metropolitan and clergy began to pray for rain.
Someone which isn’t warmed by the love of others, will start a fire around him in order to warm himself. This is the irrationality of war in a society without God.
Boredom is the grandson of depression, and laziness is the daughter. To send her away, labor actively – do not be lazy in prayer, then boredom will pass and zeal will come. And if you add to this zeal day by day with patience and humility, then you will escape much evil.
My child, I hope you are well. Just recently, I got somewhat better too. This is how my life has passed, with pain and illnesses. Now I have approached death once again for your sake. I said, “Let me die, only let my spiritual children live.” And I didn’t eat at all.
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 only strategy that succeeds today is prayer, counsel and attention. Through these three we come into full harmony with the universe.
All vice is caused by self-esteem and sensual pleasure; you cannot overcome passion without hating them.
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.
My dear spiritual Children, While I’m still în charge of my faculties, I’d like to give you some advice.
And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female, he created them. (Genesis 1: 26-27)
God is the source of every virtue, as the sun is of daylight. So, when you have done something good, remember the words ‘without Me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5).
With God’s grace, you will gain your true liberty: you will have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
But wealth, someone may say, bring honor to those who possess them, and give them the power to take vengeance on their enemies easily.
Him we must seek in every way in order that we may feed on Him and ward off hunger by constantly attending this banquet. Nor should we unnecessarily abstain from the holy table and thus greatly weaken our souls on the pretext that we are not really worthy of the Mysteries. Rather, we must resort to the priests for Confession on account of our sins so that we may drink of the cleansing Blood.
Saint Paul says that „Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established” because our first aim is to perfection ourselves and not to fight with others, so for this we need to have a stable and peaceful environment.
There was a young monk/brother who was puffed up with pride about his abilities. He was very strong, with a lot of dexterity and, hence, he could work a lot and, also, do a lot of prostrations.
My argument against the existence of God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?
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.
Saint Evdokimos is a great known unknown saint from the Monastery of Vatopedi. Father Meletios of Vatopedi, a witness of the happening, remembers:
What thoughts we should confess? This question appears again and again. Here is a simple way to look at it:
All vices grow feeble when conquered, and when beaten are day by day made weaker, and lessen and subside both in place and time—or at any rate, as they are unlike the opposite virtues, are more easily shunned and avoided.
When we focus on good, good grows. When we focus on bad, bad grows.
First of all we should mention that our illnesses are a result of Adam’s fall. In paradise there were no illnesses. So, demonic energy is more or less involved in various degrees and because of various causes and for various purposes: to pay off for a particular sin, to stop someone from a wrong path or for one to receive a higher degree of spiritual knowledge etc.
Don’t set any store by your thoughts, whether they tell you’re terrible, or when they tell you that you’re a saint.
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.
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.
It’s not that God overrode Pharaoh’s free will; that is, it isn’t that Pharaoh was inclined to let the Israelites go but then God stopped him from doing so. It’s that Pharaoh was not inclined to let the Israelites go, but the miracles worked by God through Moses made him timid; God gave Pharaoh the strength of will to follow through on what he really wanted to do: keep the Israelites enslaved in Egypt. In that sense, God didn’t suspend or override Pharaoh’s free will; actually, God enhanced it, so Pharaoh could make the choice that was in his heart.
