In English

‘It’s one thing to pray against negative thoughts; it’s another to argue with them; and it’s another to exterminate them and leave them behind you’ (Saint John the Sinaite, Ladder of Divine Ascent, discourse 26, 51). The Fathers are quite clear on this matter: our thoughts set the tone and rhythm for our soul, because they lead us either to a disposition to love the Lord and his saints or to an affiliation with this world, which is subjugated to the evil one and his forces. Thoughts can be good: from God and the angels; they can be natural: they express our character as it really is; but- and this is what affects the spiritual life particularly and is what Saint ...

God is love (1 Jn. 4, 16). And we people are created ‘in the image and likeness’ of the God of love. But the God of love is also fair-minded. He respects our freedom and doesn’t set before us us his power but his even-handedness. In this way, we remain free to accept or reject  communion with him. He did this from the beginning and continues to do so after the fall, with his plan for our salvation. This is why he became human and was crucified for us. His power was manifested after death, through his resurrection. Saint Gregory Palamas says that this indicated the perfect order God adheres to in the execution of his works. We are also ...

It’s right and proper, if you’re in a hurry to get to work, to your office, or to go about your business that you should stop on the way and help somebody in need, even though you risk being late, losing out on something or even getting into trouble. Organization and the pace of life, a schedule and a variety of obligations often interfere with feelings of love and make it difficult for us to implement them. We speak of love as the most central feature of Christianity, but we forget that it is, or, rather ought to be, the most important characteristic of our own Christian life. So, while we often fail to show love to those who are ...

Love Seek love. Every day, ask God for love, because with love comes the whole host of other good things and virtues. Love and you’ll be loved by others. Give your whole heart to God, so that you may dwell in love. ‘Those who abide in love abide in God; and God abides in them’. (1 Jn. 4, 16). You must be very careful in your interpersonal relationships and respect each other as sacred persons, as images of God. Never be swayed by the body or beauty, but only by the soul. Beware the feeling of love, because when the heart isn’t warmed by pure prayer, love is in danger of becoming carnal and unnatural; it can darken the nous and consume ...

Through the Jesus Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me’, the faithful acquire divine illumination and strength, so that they can distinguish and repel sinful, negative thoughts. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

Spiritual Struggle The aim of our life is for us to become perfect and holy; to prove to be children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. We must be careful lest, for the sake of this present life, we’re deprived of that of the future; lest, because of the cares and concerns of daily living, we neglect the aim of our life. Fasting, vigils and prayer don’t, of themselves, bring the desired fruits, because they aren’t the aim of our life; they’re the means for us to achieve our goal. Decorate your festal candles with virtues. Strive to cast out the passions from the soul. Clean all the grime from your heart and keep it pure, so that the ...

Just as parents have a special natural love for their children, so the mind has a natural connection with its thoughts. And just as some parents love their children to excess, thinking them the most beautiful and capable, even though, in fact, they’re the most inept at everything they do, so, to the foolish mind its thoughts appear to be the wisest, even if they’re the worst imaginable. But to the wise mind, its thoughts don’t appear thus; on the contrary, when it seems that they’re objective and good, that’s when they are least to be trusted. They’re then submitted to other wise people for assessment and confirmation, in case the mind was running, or had run, in vain ( ...

Humble people don’t judge, because they consider themselves the worst of all people anyway. Humility has noble and innate attributes. It doesn’t become angry, it doesn’t judge and it wants nothing for itself. If you relegate humble people to the margins, they accept it without being affronted or offended. Proud people can’t stand being laughed at, because it’s an affront to their dignity. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

Wanting everybody to love you is egotistical. Elder Gavriil Tsafos

In careful people, the mind is like a vigilant guardian of the inner Jerusalem. From the heights of the spiritual life it sees with its clear eye the opposing forces around and within the soul. Saint Seraphim of Sarov

The Road to Happiness Nothing is greater than a clean heart, because such a heart becomes the throne of God. And what’s more glorious than the throne of God? Nothing, of course. Regarding those who have a clean heart, God says: ‘I will live with them and walk among them; and I will be God to them and they will be a people to me’ (2 Cor. 6, 16). So who can be happier than these people? What good thing can they possibly lack? Don’t they find all the good things and gifts of the Holy Spirit within their blessed souls. What more do they need? Nothing. In truth, nothing. Because they have the greatest good in their heart: God himself. How deceived those ...

The angels have a special position in the Orthodox Church and particular honor is accorded to them. Holy Scripture (Old and New Testaments) is full of references to angels, who are presented as playing an important role in the implementation of the plan of divine providence. Patristic literature also mentions the angelic powers and provides us with valuable information concerning them. From these sources we can draw important conclusions regarding the creation, nature, knowledge, tasks and number of these immaterial beings. This information doesn’t give us complete knowledge about them, but God allows us to learn as much about them as is necessary for our salvation. Angels were created by God from nothing and are the product of the free divine ...

What a blessing, what bliss it is when there’s ice and snow outside and we quickly get back to a home that’s cozy, either because it has a stove, central heating or a fireplace. We’re blanketed by the pleasantness of the temperature and overcome with joy. And isn’t the same thing even more true from the point of view of spirituality? Our surroundings and the world in general ‘lie in evil’ and the devil is their overlord because of his dominion in people’s hearts. But what does this mean? That in all places and at all times, to a horrific degree, the frost of evil is dominant, because, alas, sin has the first word. What’s the priority for most people? How ...

In today’s Gospel reading, Saint Luke the Evangelist mentions two miracles performed by our Lord Jesus Christ: one is the cure of the woman with the issue of blood; and the other is the even more astonishing resurrection from the dead of Jairus’ daughter. Two separate instances, two different miracles. In the one, a prominent citizen had no qualms about setting aside his official capacity, of abandoning his position and humbling himself before Christ- and other people- falling to his knees and seeking a miracle. In the other, a woman of the people, who hesitated to approach Christ, had the deep conviction that if she were merely to touch him, she would experience a miracle. The head of the synagogue, Jairus, ...

If, when you’re trying to carrying our some task for God, you’re subjected to a wicked and manic attack of the passions and the aggravation of the devil, accept these trials as temptations for the sake of Christ. Without knowing it, the enemy’s preparing the brightest crowns of victory for you. This is why we must firmly resist the devil. Saint John Kronstadtskij

Those who are last go forward and those who go to the back God moves forward. Abbess Makrina, Holy Monastery of the Guide, Portaria

When the powers of the soul, that is the appetitive, the spirited and the rational don’t work naturally, but in an unnatural manner, that’s when the corresponding passions grow. Purification from the passions is achieved through the corresponding exercise of the virtues. As regards the appetitive, we place self-restraint against love of pleasure and greed; for the spirited, love in place of malevolence and anger; and for the rational, sobriety and prayer against obliviousness and ignorance. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

As long as you’re alive don’t let your heart go free. Just as the farmer can’t be sure about the harvest because he doesn’t know what’ll happen before harvest-time, so we shouldn’t leave our heart unguarded as long as we have breath in our body. Saint Isaiah the Hermit

‘We please God either because of our fear of hell, because of the hope of the reward we’ll be given or because it’s good to do so’ (Abba Dorotheos). If we examine our actions, our thoughts and the reasons why we make decisions, we’ll see that, in the main, there are three things that motivate us in our choices: fear, reward and love. We fear punishment, which may be the loss of our place in another’s person’s heart, or a punishment which deprives us of pleasure or that certain rights and privileges will be withheld from us. Or we hope to have something that we’re afraid of losing and ask others to give it to us, aiming at a reciprocal arrangement, ...

In many of his homilies, Saint John Chrysostom emphasized the great importance of attending church on Sundays, and what a great sin it is to avoid doing so. He said that the Jews had to give a tithe of their income as an offering to the Temple (i.e. to God) (Mal. 3, 8). ‘I give a tithe of all I possess’, said the Pharisee (Luke, 18, 22). In order to get them to pay their ‘tenth’, the Lord ordered them to pay much more than they actually gave: ‘I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will ...