Success in the spiritual life is not measured by spiritual consolations, which could come from the evil one, but by the depth of humility.
Latest Posts
The Orthodox Christian of today is overwhelmed to open St. Gregory’s Book of Miracles and find there just what his soul is craving in this soulless, mechanistic modern world; he finds that very Christian path of salvation which he knows in the Orthodox services, Lives of the Saints, the Patristic writings, but which is so absent today, even among the best of modern Christians, that one begins to wonder whether one is not really insane, or some literal fossil of history, for continuing to believe and feel as the Church has always believed and felt.
It is one thing to recognize the intellectual truth of Orthodox Christianity; but how is one to live it when it is so out of harmony with the times?
And then one reads St. Gregory and finds that all of this Orthodox truth is also profoundly normal, that whole societies were once based on it, that it is unbelief and renovated Christianity which are profoundly abnormal and not Orthodox Christianity, that this is the heritage and birthright of the West itself which it deserted so long ago when it separated from the one and only Church of Christ, thereby losing the key to the secret which so baffles the modern scholar—the secret of true Christianity, which must be approached with a fervent, believing heart, and not with the cold aloofness of modern unbelief, which is not natural to man but is an anomaly of history.
Featured image: Crows and crane in Seattle, WA. c. 2017. Alana Solomon
Depart from every man who loves to quarrel.
– Abba Poeman, Ancient Paterikon, 011.59
Featured image: “Cantley: Wherries Waiting for the Turn of the Tide.” Photographer Peter Henry Emerson, 1886. Art Institute of Chicago Digital Collections
The enemy lurks like a lion in his den; he lays in our path hidden traps and snares, in the form of impure and blasphemous thoughts. But if we remain watchful, we can lay for him traps and snares and that are far more effective and terrible.
Prayer, the recitation of psalms and the keeping of vigils, humility, service to others and acts of compassion, thankfulness, attentive listening to the words of Scripture – all these are a trap for the enemy, a pitfall, a noose, a lash and a snare.
– St. John of Karpathos, Philokalia, Vol. 1
Featured image: source
Be not separated from Christ, nor from the Church. Do you hear the priest ringing the bells? Get up immediately, get ready, and go to church, and listen to the service with attention. Similarly participate in the Divine Liturgy. And guide your children, as much as you are able, to avoid sin, to go to church so they will be blessed, that they may live and prosper.
Featured image: Iconstasis in the Assumption Cathedral at the Staritsa Monastery. Photographer Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich, 1911. Prokudin-Gorskiĭ Collection. Library of Congress
If there is any rest for us in this world, then it consists only in purity of the conscience and patience. This is a harbor for us who sail upon the sea of life…
Featured image: Metropolitan Theophilus and Archbishop Arseny at St. Tikhon’s Monastery on Memorial Day. source
Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!
We should never say that nothing is important. On the contrary, everything is important. Even the smallest of our actions impacts our eternal salvation.
Featured image: Elder Sergei of Vanves. source
It is good to be generous to all, especially those who cannot repay you.
– St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic of Edessa
Featured image: Αγία Σοφία. source