When you were praying and you received divine enlightenment, you felt joy and ineffable sweetness. Immediately, a robber – the arrogance – comes and murmurs quietly to you: ‘Ah, now you’re a saint’. >Blessed Joseph the Hesychast
Elder Ieronymos as a monk on the Holy Mountain (1888-1920) Young Ioannis arrived on the Holy Mountain, made the sign of the cross and thanked Our Lady. Here his love for the Mother of God grew, to such an extent that, to his dying day, he would weep at saying or hearing her name. At the time when he arrived, there were more than 10,000 monks on Athos. Praising God, the seventeen-year-old Ioannis entered that holy location and passed through the gates of the Monastery of Simonopetra, in order to imitate the achievements of the saints of God. This was on 3 October 1888 and, on the 28th of the same month, his name was entered in the book of novices. As ...
Don’t express them in words. Let them quieten down within you and they’ll soon disappear. We’re human, and often enough we have wicked, inappropriate or disgusting thoughts. But let’s prevent those thoughts from becoming words. Push them down and they’ll weaken and then disappear. Just as, if you cast wild animals into a pit and cover it up, they suffocate easily, by the same token, if you leave an opening so they can breathe a little, it refreshes them and prevents them disappearing. On the contrary, it makes them even fiercer. This is the way it is with wicked thoughts. When they arise within us, if we block off their way out, we get rid of them quickly. But if we externalize them ...
Uncharitable people are unhappy because their heart has never felt the joy of doing good works and or giving alms. They haven’t understood that real enjoyment lies in loving your neighbor. They haven’t realized that, in giving to others, you pile up eternal riches, cost free and genuine, which are the only thing with which we can buy the Kingdom of Heaven. » Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis
Nobility is the preservation of the properties of the image of God and the equivalence with the archetype. This is achieved through speech, virtue and pure desire. I have known one nobility: devoutness. I have come to know what it was we were born and what we have turned out to be. » Saint Gregory the Theologian
Prayer without repentance is of no help at all. But as soon as prayer is connected to repentance, then it’s heard by God. » Saint Nicholas Velimirovich
Jesus Christ, my Christian brothers and sisters, remained in the grave for three days. The first day was Friday. The second was Saturday and then, sometime during the night between Saturday and Sunday- we don’t know precisely when- He rose. That He did so is certain, because, in the first place, the guards at the tomb bore witness; and then there were the appearances He made as the Risen Lord. There were eleven of these, because it was of great importance to confirm His Resurrection to His disciples. This is why He didn’t ascend into heaven immediately after the Resurrection, but remained on earth for forty days, appearing to them and speaking to them about His kingdom (Acts 1, 3). Christ’s ...
Childhood Years (1871-1888) Elder Ieronymos was born in the village of Reïz-Dere in the Krini region of Asia Minor in 1871 to poor but devout parents, Nikolaos and Maria Diakoyiorgis. The village was wholly Christian and lay five kilometres to the north-east of Alatsata and two and a half kilometres from the sea. Most of the inhabitants were farmers or vine-growers and had come originally from Crete or the Peloponnese. At his baptism, he was given the name Ioannis. When he went to school he was a good student, surpassing the others in intelligence and maturity. As soon as he’d completed Primary School, the teacher sent him to the neighbouring little town for a short time to act as teacher. The village church became ...
Don’t worry if you don’t find Grace in your prayer. It’ll come back. This is why it withdraws: so that you’ll seek it with greater yearning. >Blessed Joseph the Hesychast
It’s a great thing to experience the truth. And you know, the truth isn’t an idea or a philosophy. Truth is a person, it’s God. Didn’t Christ Himself say: ‘I am the way, the truth and life’? » Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi
‘When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight’. So we’ve seen how, initially, Christ walked along with the disciples in such a way that they didn’t recognize Him and that then He was revealed to them, ‘at the breaking of the bread’. Christ appears in a different form and is recognized at the breaking of the bread, that is, through the holy sacraments, particularly the Divine Eucharist, where we partake of His body and blood in the form of bread and wine, at which point we have the feeling and the certainty ...
Temptations in their various forms sadden people, so that they seek divine assistance all the more, and with tears. This is a dispensation of Divine Providence, in order to strip us bare. >Blessed Joseph the Hesychast
Let us, then, have a look at this mystery and understand it from a single appearance of Christ after His resurrection: to two of His disciples who were on the road to Emmaus, a small town some 10 miles from Jerusalem. This appearance is related only by Luke and is one of the most beautiful and vivid scenes in his Gospel. From the narrative, it seems that the two disciples, Cleopas (one of the seventy) and, perhaps, Luke, were profoundly sad and devastated by the events of the previous few days, that is the conviction, crucifixion and death of their Teacher on Whom they’d pinned their hopes concerning the Messiah. These expectations had been completely dashed. Despite their sorrow, their love ...
Struggle to warm up your heart and you’ll see how a warm heart reins in unruly thoughts. You have to practice violence on yourself. Without toil and intellectual effort you won’t acquire anything spiritual. » Saint Theophan the Recluse
Easter! “The Feast of Feasts and the Season of Seasons”! Tonight we celebrate the Resurrection! The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s why our hearts are filled with such an exceptional joy! The faces radiate! The eyes shine! And the lips do not cease repeating the victorious paean: “Christ is Risen”! One may wonder why our souls are filled with so much joy tonight? What is it that motivates the crowds of the faithful, men and women, young and old alike, to come to the Orthodox churches in order to light up their resurrection candle and to proclaim “Christ is Risen”? Even people, who do not go to church very often, feel the need to participate along with all believers ...
In his Easter Homily, Saint John Chrysostom announces that ‘Christ has risen and we can take part in life’*. This means that Christ has risen and we now have true life, or, in other words, Christ has risen and I can live as a free citizen, I’m free from the power of the evil one, I’m free from death, I’m living real life, granted to me by the Lord Who rose from the dead. So the Lord’s resurrection isn’t merely a historical event. It’s something incomparably more sublime and significant than the events recorded by history. Christ’s Resurrection is the source of life, hope and incalculable spiritual power. It may be that no one can express fully this power which is ...
Our Church today celebrates the feast of a martyr. If we try to pay any tribute to the celebrated martyr, we will demean him. This particular Saint is the glory of all martyrs, the boast of the Saints and the prestige of the Heavens and the Church Triumphant. He is the all- mighty George. No Christian exists who has not called upon George’s sweet name, be it a baby or a man on his deathbed. There is no Christian country which does not boast of a church dedicated to his name, even if it is now in ruins. This guiding light of a Saint hides a great mystery not properly deciphered yet. Why do people love him so much? His ...
The times and years of the world are pleasant, but vanish like smoke. They’re like a fleeting dream and our days are like shadows. The evening passes quickly and the morning doesn’t linger… Make haste, then, sinner, to receive forgiveness while the light of day still shines upon you. » Saint Ephraim the Syrian
You can’t concentrate your mind at the time of prayer. What can you do? The Lord sees that your weakness isn’t due so much to your indifference, but more to the conditions of your life. And when he sees that you’re sorry, he forgives you. We can’t expect the same spiritual watchfulness from people who live in the world as we do from those who’ve left the world behind, that is the monastics. There are difficulties. What can we do? That’s life here on earth. Is anybody free of its problems? Just make sure that you’ve got something to do every hour of the day. If your time’s taken up completely, you’ll suffer less from lethargy. At the same time, fight to keep ...
‘You came down to earth to save Adam, and not finding him on earth, Lord, You descended into Hades to seek him’. This verse, from the Lamentations on Great Saturday, states, in a very concise yet apt manner, the plan of Divine Providence for the salvation of humankind, in the persons of Adam and Eve. The second person of the Holy Trinity, that is the Son and Word of God became a perfect human being in order to save us. He came down from heaven into the womb of the Virgin Mary, so that He could become the same as us and in order to call us to our heavenly home. In this verse, the hymnographer refers to the aim of ...
