The Archangel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you amongst women.” Hidden meanings in the words of the Mother of God
The Mother of God was the purest being created as all the holy fathers confess together. Her basic virtue was and is virginity, the gift of shyness – the full purity of her entire existence, not only from the bodily but also from spiritual (mental) point of view.
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.
We must embrace the change. It is pointless to continuously resist. We must cut off our will in front of others.
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.
The mind (νους) is the finest attention, the human focus, the eye of the soul. If someone is focused on God and His rays – that is on God’s uncreated energy called grace, then the human mind has the property to receive light, to be enlightened like a pure parabolic mirror on which these rays fall.
Know that there are eight evil thoughts that bring about all that is vile: those of sensuality, lechery, love of money, anger, inappropriate grief, despondency, vainglory and pride. All these wage warfare against every person.
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.
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?