Given the fallen state in which we find ourselves, we’re unable to judge our brothers and sisters properly. Don’t be too sure that they’re in error. Don’t judge them. Elder Sophrony, Essex
Let’s bind ourselves tightly in order to carry out the Lord’s commandments, so that we’re not bound tightly with the chains of wicked impulses and soul-destroying pleasures. These are difficult to loose and we don’t want to suffer the verdict on the barren fig tree: ‘Cut it down from its roots, because it’s a waste of space’. Because all those who don’t bear good fruit are cut down and cast into the fire. Saint Theodoros of Edessa
We can’t deny God, because, in order to deny something we have to be strong enough to abolish it. In our lack of belief, we can boast that God really doesn’t exist, that we’ve destroyed him. But even if we deny him, as Saint Paul says, he remains faithful to us. So, if that’s the way things are, where’s the denial? The denial is in breaking the commandment. Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
If your mind is freed of every hope in this world, this is a sign that sin has died within you. If it remains free of worldly things, then the distance that exists between you and God disappears. You then find yourself in a new life and you think new things, which are divine and imperishable. Saint Isaiah the Anchorite
For God, time is the waiting period between when he ‘knocks at the door’ and we open it wide for him (‘If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter and dine with them and they with me’ (Rev. 3, 20). In this sense, time also denotes our freedom and the respect which God has for his creatures. God doesn’t enter our heart through violence. Union with him in love can be achieved only through our free acceptance of the offer of it. This is why God gives us time. And because of the respect God has for those whom he fashioned, he experiences time just as we do. Because there can be no doubt that when we ...
Once we enter properly into the spiritual life, we feel from the first moment the light of hope in God beginning to dawn in us. But we’re definitely on a journey and that journey demands struggle, demands patience, demands endurance and, above all, faith that, as a good physician, God has our course of treatment in hand. This is a collaboration between our own freedom and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol
From the 1st to the 14th of August we fast in honor of Our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God. It’s a strict fast, with fish eaten only on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Savior (6 August). If 15 August falls on a Wednesday or Friday there is a dispensation only for fish. Fasting is a commandment from God. The first. The oldest of all. He gave it to Adam in paradise. The meaning of the fast was: with the weapon of the fast, people were to become accustomed to obedience to God and to the struggle against the devil. According to tradition it was common practice to fast for a period for this particular feast and this became ...
Self-absorption is a cancer in the soul and has been so from the time of the first human beings until today. It can be defined simply as love for yourself. ‘Is that bad?’, it might be asked. The problem is that you love your ‘old’ self. How do I know if I’m self-absorbed? According to Saint Païsios, gluttony, egotism, stubbornness and jealousy all have self-absorption as their starting-point. More simply: ‘…out of self-absorption, some people seek their own comfort, their ease, and they don’t care about others. Some are very particular about their food or their sleep in case their health suffers. Others demand to be take seriously and if they don’t get just the right amount of recognition fall into dejection, ...
A single word we say or a single thought we think doesn’t matter much. Yes, but a thought then brings on another one, a word brings on another one, one concession brings on another one and gradually people become vindictive. Abba Dorotheos
In the first part of the Epistle, the author writes in such a way as to attract the attention of an educated, pagan Greek. He then moves on to present two of the most important pillars of Christian apologetics: the fact that all things were made through Christ, as we say in the Creed; and that the martyrs preferred torture and death to denial of the Lord. The manifestation of Christ For, as I said, this was no mere earthly invention which was delivered to them, nor is it a human construct, which they deem it proper to preserve carefully. Neither is it a compilation of human mysteries which has been entrusted to them, but, in truth, the invisible God himself, who ...
Faith in Christ is firstly a matter of the heart and then of reason. The Lord didn’t say ‘Keep my commandments if you understand me’, but ‘if you love me’, which means that we can understand him only to the extent to which we love him. Our love for him, expressed as the observance of his holy commandments, opens the way for him to dwell in our soul and body, at which point understanding him becomes empirical in nature- the believer is literally taught by God. Besides, this is what he promised: when we keep his commandments, he appears within us; the whole of the holy Trinity finds a place to build a monastery. And his fundamental commandment is to have ...
We’re brought to perfection by the Lord who comes and dwells within us when we keep his commandments. And one of his first commandments is that God’s will be done in our life, not our own. And should be carried out with the same precision as it is by the angels in heaven. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis
To our unnatural and ‘illogical’ logic, it appears that each person does not bear full responsibility individually. The main weight lies with the all-powerful nature of the prevailing, impersonal social outlook and the uncontrollably frenzied times in which we live. These times have many characteristics and certainly their achievements are impressive. Our era has, on its own, identified incredible boundaries which it has also gone on to reach. It has broken the barriers of the earth’s gravity. It has produced people with features hitherto unknown, with artificial or animal organs, or with parts from other people. It has made species which did not exist before. It alters nature and eliminates its laws. It enters the body, influences the soul, creates ...
We should have goodness and love in our soul. That’s what we should transmit. We should be careful not to become disgruntled when others do us harm, but should just pray for them with love. Whatever other people do to us, we should never think badly of them. We should always wish them the best. We should always think good things. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis
A certain monk confessed to Abba Pimen: ‘My body’s grown weak but my passions haven’t’. The wise elder replied: ‘The passions are thorn-pricks’ (Sayings of the Elders) The Sayings of the Elders is a product of the monastic state which also applies to the secular state in the sense of life ‘in the world’. People are the same everywhere, with their inherited and acquired passions, weaknesses, gifts and virtues. So, knowing the struggle waged by those who wish to live the life in Christ, whether they’re in the world or in monasteries, we’re aware that we’re not alone and also that the way we carry out our spiritual struggle is necessary. This prevents us from becoming exhausted or disheartened. It seems that our passions will accompany ...
The Gospel reading for the day refers to the miracle of the man possessed who was cured by Christ. The event attracted the attention of three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, doubtless because of the great impression caused by the cure, the consequences which followed the expulsion the demons and the profound effect it had on a large number of people in the region of Gergesa and Gadara. The distortion of the person The Evangelists Mark and Luke don’t present a generic or hypothetical image of the tragic effects of demonic influence. They particularize and personalize the issue. They mention a specific person, who not only bears the obvious external signs of collapse, but is also a man who, internally and spiritually ...
The Christian life is to be judged entirely on our attitude to other people. The welcome we give others, how we find room for them, is indicative, or otherwise, of our good apprenticeship. Because, according to his own revelation, Christ and other people are one and the same: ‘Inasmuch as you’ve done this to one of them… you’ve done it to me’. So the kind of embrace we offer, its quality and ambience should be the same as if we were welcoming Christ himself. What Christian would fail to prepare to the best of their ability so that he who is considered the captain of our faith and our God would feel at ease and comfortable? So that Christ could avail ...
When you keep company with spiritual people, that’s when you receive spiritual benefits. Elder Efraim Katounakiotis
Since we’ve sinned in practice; denied Christ in practice; insulted and betrayed him in practice, let’s now return to him in practice and prove that we won’t bend the knee before any of the idols of sin. Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
One day, the Elder said to me: ‘Christians must avoid pernicious religiosity: both the feeling of superiority because of their virtue as well as the sense of inferiority over their sinfulness. A complex is one thing; humility’s another. Melancholy is one thing; repentance is something else. One day, I was paid a visit by a secular psychiatrist who attacked Christianity because, according to him, it created guilt and melancholy. I answered that I agreed that some Christians, through their own erroneous thinking or that of others, were trapped in the sickness of guilt. I then told him that, by the same token, he had to accept that people living in a secular manner were also trapped in an even worse sickness, ...
