St. Kosmas Aitolos, the New Hieromartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles - Commemorated on August 24 (taken from:
The New Hieromartyr Cosmas, Equal of the Apostles, in the world Constas, was a native of Aitolia. He studied at first under the guidance of the archdeacon Ananias Dervisanos, and afterwards continued his education on Mount Athos, at the Vatopedi school renowned for teachers such as Nicholas Tzartzoulios (from Metsovo) and Eugenius Voulgaris (afterwards in the years 1775-1779 the archbishop of Ekaterinoslav and the Chersonessus).
Remaining on Athos at the Philotheou monastery to devote himself to spiritual labors, he was tonsured a monk with the name Cosmas, and later was ordained hieromonk. The desire to benefit his fellow Christians, to guide them upon the way of salvation and strengthen their faith, impelled St Cosmas to seek the blessing of his spiritual fathers and go to Constantinople. There he mastered the art of rhetoric and, having received a written permit of Patriarch Seraphim II (and later from his successor Sophronius) to preach the Holy Gospel.
St. Kosmas Aitolos, with scens from his life (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s1222/s1222007.jpg)
So the saint began to proclaim the Gospel at first in the churches of Constantinople and the surrounding villages, then in the Danube regions, in Thessalonica, in Verroia, in Macedonia, Chimaera, Akarnania, Aitolia, on the islands of Saint Maura, Kephalonia and other places.
Icon of St. Kosmas preaching to the people (taken from: http://www.vlasiostsotsonis.com/main.php?go=for)
His preaching, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, was simple, calm, and gentle. It brought Christians great spiritual benefit. The Lord Himself assisted him and confirmed his words with signs and miracles, just as He had confirmed the preaching of the Apostles.
Preaching in the remote areas of Albania, where Christian piety had almost disappeared among the rough and coarse people entrenched in sin, St Cosmas led them to sincere repentance and improvement with the Word of God.
Another icon of St. Kosmas preaching to the people (Icon courtesy of http://www.eikonografos.com/ used with permission)
Under his guidance, church schools were opened in the towns and villages. The rich offered their money for the betterment of the churches, for the purchase of Holy Books (which the saint distributed to the literate), veils (which he gave women, admonishing them to come to church with covered heads),for prayer ropes and crosses (which he distributed to the common folk), and for baptismal fonts so that children could be baptized in the proper manner.
Since the churches could not accommodate everyone wanting to hear the wise preacher, St Cosmas with forty or fifty priests served the Vigil in the fields, and in city squares, where thousands of people prayed for the living and for the dead, and were edified by his preaching. Everywhere that St Cosmas halted and preached, the grateful listeners set up a large wooden cross, which remained thereafter in memory of this.
Icon of St. Kosmas being martyred by the Turks (taken from: http://www.vlasiostsotsonis.com/main.php?go=for)
The apostolic service of St Cosmas was brought to a close by his martyric death in the year 1779. At 65 years of age, he was seized by the Turks and strangled. His body was thrown into a river, and after three days, was found by the priest Mark and buried near the village of Kolikontasi at the monastery of the Entrance into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos. Afterwards, part of his relics were transferred to various places as a blessing.
Icon depicting the finding of the sacred body of St. Kosmas (taken from: http://www.vlasiostsotsonis.com/main.php?go=for)
He was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1961."
(taken from: http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102390)
Icon depicting the dormition of St. Kosmas Aitolos (Icon courtesy of http://www.eikonografos.com/ used with permission)
"It is interesting to note that the initiative for the first church to be built in memory of Father Kosmas was taken by the Moslem ruler of Albania, Ali Pasha, who held Father Kosmas in high esteem not only because he believed Kosmas to be a holy man but also because Kosmas had earlier predicted great success for him [Note: see the first prophecy of St. Kosmas below]. In 1810 Ali Pasha became master of the city of Berat and its environs. Within four years he succeeded in raising the money required to build the first church in honor of St. Kosmas. Moreover, he personally contributed not only toward the building of the church but paid to have a silver reliquary made in which Kosmas' skull was placed and saw to it that the Saint's service (akolouthia) was composed. It was later printed in Venice by the Epirot printer Nicholas Glykys."
(taken from: http://www.stjohn-mb.org/ministries/Apostle%20to%20the%20Poor.pdf)
St. Kosmas Aitolos (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XQqgvQ4ZKB4/TG1dA_X3mtI/AAAAAAAACCc/8kKQ44iUDj4/s1600/24.+%CE%9A%CE%9F%CE%A3%CE%9C%CE%91%CE%A3+%CE%91%CE%99%CE%A4%CE%A9%CE%9B%CE%9F%CE%A3.jpg)
Selected Prophecies of St. Kosmas Aitolos (taken from: http://members.cox.net/orthodoxheritage/St.%20Kosmas.htm; see the link for many more prophecies of this great saint)
"You will become a great man, you will conquer all of Albania, you will subjugate Preveza, Parga, Souli, Delvino, Gardiki, and the very stronghold of Kurt Pasha. You will leave a great name in the world. Also, you will go to Constantinople,...but with a read beard. This is the will of Divine Providence. Remember, however, throughout your whole reign, to love and defend the Christians, if you want your successors to retain their power."
(This was said at Tepeleni, in present day Albania, to Ali Pasha, and found amazing fulfillment after some thirty years. He became the sole, powerful ruler of Epiros. In saying the Ali Pasha would go to Constantinople but with a "red beard", the Saint meant that Ali Pasha would be beheaded and his head with bloody beard would be sent to that city. This, too, found fulfillment.)
"Things will come out of the schools that your mind does not even imagine."
"You will see in the field a carriage without horses running faster than a rabbit."
St. Kosmas Aitolos (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s1222/s1222006.jpg)
"A time will come when the earth will be girded by a thread."
(electrical power grid and telephone lines)
"A time will come when people will speak from one distant place to another, as though they were in adjoining rooms--for example, from Constantinople to Russia."
"You will see men flying in the sky like starlings, and throwing fire on the earth. Those who will live then will run to graves and will cry out: "Come out you who are dead so that we the living may enter."
(These five successive prophecies of St. Kosmas are in books that were written about a century before the related inventions were made. Hence, they arouse admiration and manifestly testify to the Saint's gift of prophecy.)
St. Kosmas Aitolos (http://www.egolpion.com/img/saints/kosmas_aitwlos.jpg)
"The Turks will leave, but they shall return and will come as far as Hexamilia. In the end, they shall be driven away to Kokkina Milia. Of the Turks, one third will be killed, another third will be baptized, and the remaining third will go to Kokkina Milia."
(Kokkina Milia was a region which the imagination of the enslaved Greeks placed in the depths of Asia Minor and beyond. It is there that they hoped to push back their oppressors, i.e., where they originally came from.)
"In the City (Constantinople) so much blood will be spilled that a three-year old calf will swim in it."
"After the war, a man will have to run half an hour to find another human being to join him in fellowship."
(The situation prophesied here fits with that anticipated today in the case of a nuclear war.)
Icon of St. Kosmas Aitolos with scenes from his life (Icon courtesy of http://www.eikonografos.com/ used with permission)
Selected quotes from St. Kosmas Aitolos (taken from: http://www.serfes.org/writtings/stcosmas.htm; see the link and Modern Orthodox Saints I by Dr. Constantine Cavarnos for more information and quotes from St. Kosmas Aitolos)
"This All-holy Trinity we pious Orthodox Christians glorify and worship. He is the true God, and all other so-called gods are demons. And it is not we along that believe, glorify, and worship the Holy Trinity, but angels, archangels, and all the heavenly hosts, as numerous as the stars of the heavens and the grains of the sand of the sea unceasingly praise in hymns and worship and glorify this All-holy Trinity. Again, out of their love for the Holy Trinity men and women as numerous as the stars of the heavens and the grains of the sand of the sea spilt their blood, and as many renounced the world and went to the deserts and led a life of spiritual endeavor, and still as many lived in the world with temperance and virginity, fasting, prayer, almsgiving and other practices; and all went to Paradise and rejoice forever."
"If we want to fare well in this life and to go to Paradise, and to call our God love and father, we must have two loves: the love for God and the love for our neighbor. It is natural for us to have these two loves, and contrary to nature not have them. Just as a swallow needs two wings in order to fly in the air, so we need these two loves, because without them we cannot be saved."
"If you wish to be saved, seek no other thing here in this world as much as love."
St. Kosmas Aitolos (http://pravicon.com/images/sv/s1222/s1222009.jpg)
"The Martyrs won Paradise through their blood; the Ascetics, through their ascetic life. Now you, my brethren, who have children, how will you win Paradise? By means of hospitality, by giving to your brothers who are poor, blind, or lame."
"If you want cure your soul, you need four things. The first is to forgive your enemies. The second is to confess thoroughly. The third is to blame yourself. The fourth is to resolve to sin no more. If we wish to be saved, we must always blame ourselves and not attribute our wrong acts to others. And God, Who is most compassionate, will forgive us."
"God created woman equal with man, not inferior...My Christian, you must love your wife as your companion, not consider her as your slave, for she is a creature of God, just as you are. God was crucified for her as much as for you. You call God Father, she calls Him Father, too. Both of you have the same Faith, the same Baptism, the same Book of the Gospels, the same Holy Communion, the same Paradise to enjoy. God does not regard her as inferior to you. "
"This prayer should never be absent from you: Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Logos of the living God, through the Theotokos and all the Saints, have mercy upon me, Thy sinful and unworthy servant." (This is the actual Jesus Prayer: "O LORD JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, HAVE MERCY UPON ME, A SINNER.") Always say this prayer both with your mouth and with your mind, day and night, wherever you may be, whether eating, walking, working, or sitting. Always meditate on it, as it benefits you a great deal., frees you here from every evil, delivers you there from eternal Hell, and renders you worthy of going to Paradise, our heavenly country."
Icon of St. Kosmas Aitolos the Hieromartyr (taken from: http://christopherklitou.com/icon_24_aug_cosmas_aitolos.htm)
APOLYTIKION IN THE THIRD TONE
By teaching the Divine Faith, thou hast richly adorned the Church and become a zealous emulator of the Apostles; for having been lifted up by the wings of divine love, that hast spread far and wide the message of the Gospel. O glorious Cosmas, entreat God that He grants us His great mercy.
KONTAKION
Having led an irreproachable life on Athos, like Moses thou hast been deemed worthy of God's manifestation; wherefore truly thou dost gladden the Church exceedingly by thy deeds and thy God-inspired words, O Father Cosmas, having contended for which, thou hast been adorned with a double crown.
MEGALYNARION
Rejoice thou emulator of the Apostles, teacher and luminary of the Church; rejoice thou divine cultivator of piety, associate of Martyrs and peer of Angels.
(hymns taken from: http://www.serfes.org/writtings/stcosmas.htm)
St. Kosmas Aitolos (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_pOJEK1LIwciz9THIZ0vVGIBWuSgcHJlk1VNbVYjDqCU5oZO20bP33zwRVB9oDus8fQvEE5TKY-HO_EixZnqqECkPj2XsrnkKlECtycbVGIOTlOossl70Ul-LB2tYup_wAJdMmhCK4LPP/s1600/agkosmas1.jpg)
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca
Όσοι έχουν σταθερή ελπίδα προς τον θεό πλησιάζουν κοντά Του και φωτίζονται με τη λάμψη του αιωνίου φωτός.
Ο άνθρωπος, που για την αγάπη του Θεού δεν μεριμνά για τον εαυτό του, έχει ελπίδα αληθινή. Πιστεύει ότι μεριμνά γι’αυτόν ο Θεός.
Αν όμως στηρίζει την ελπίδα του στα έργα του και καταφεύγει στον Θεό μόνο όταν συναντά απρόοπτες δυσκολίες τις οποίες δεν μπορεί να αντιμετωπίσει με τις δικές του δυνάμεις, τότε μια τέτοια ελπίδα είναι μάταια και ψεύτικη. Όποιος έχει την αληθινή ελπίδα ζητεί μόνο τη βασιλεία του Θεού.
Όσο για τα απαραίτητα αγαθά της πρόσκαιρης ζωής είναι σίγουρος πως θα του δοθούν.
Αν στην καρδιά δεν υπάρχει τέτοια ελπίδα δεν είναι δυνατόν να υπάρχει και η ειρήνη.
Η ελπίδα είναι εκείνη που δίνει χαρά και ειρήνη στην καρδιά.
Γι’ αυτή την ελπίδα είπε ο Κύριος : «Δεύτε προς με πάντες οι κοπιώντες και πεφωρτισμένοι καγώ αναπαύσω υμάς (Ματθ,ια΄ 28).
Ελπίζετε δηλαδή σ’ εμένα, κι εγώ θα σας ανακουφίσω από τους κόπους και τους φόβους σας.
Άγιος Σεραφείμ του Σάρωφ
Αφού επί σειρά ετών ο κόσμος γνώριζε ότι η χημειοθεραπεία είναι ο μόνος τρόπος προσπάθειας καταπολέμησης του καρκίνου, το JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL επιτέλους ισχυρίζεται ότι υπάρχει κι άλλος τρόπος.
1. Κάθε άνθρωπος έχει καρκινικά κύτταρα στο σώμα του. Αυτά τα καρκινικά κύτταρα δεν φαίνονται στις συνήθεις εξετάσεις, εφόσον δεν έχουν πολλαπλασιαστεί σε ορισμένα δισεκατομμύρια. Όταν ο γιατρός διαβεβαιώνει τους καρκινοπαθείς ότι δεν υπάρχουν πλέον καρκινικά κύτταρα στο σώμα τους μετά από θεραπεία, αυτό σημαίνει απλώς ότι είναι αδύνατη η ανίχνευση των καρκινικών κυττάρων στις εξετάσεις τους, επειδή ο αριθμός τους δεν ανέρχεται καν στο ανιχνεύσιμο ποσό.
2. Καρκινικά κύτταρα εμφανίζονται από 6 έως και περισσότερες από 10 φορές στη ζωή ενός ανθρώπου.
3. Όταν το ανοσοποιητικό σύστημα ενός ατόμου είναι ισχυρό, τα καρκινικά κύτταρα καταστρέφονται και έτσι αποτρέπεται ο πολλαπλασιασμός τους και κατά συνέπεια ο σχηματισμός όγκων.
4. Όταν κάποιος έχει καρκίνο αυτό υποδεικνύει ότι παρουσιάζει πολλαπλές διατροφικές ελλείψεις. Κάτι τέτοιο μπορεί να οφείλεται σε γενετικούς, περιβαλλοντικούς και διατροφικούς παράγοντες, καθώς και στον τρόπο ζωής του ατόμου.
5. Για να ξεπεραστούν οι πολλαπλές διατροφικές ελλείψεις, πρέπει να αλλάξει η διατροφή και να συμπεριληφθούν συμπληρώματα, τα οποία θα ενισχύσουν το ανοσοποιητικό σύστημα.
6. Η χημειοθεραπεία έχει να κάνει με τη δηλητηρίαση των ραγδαία αναπτυσσόμενων καρκινικών κυττάρων, αλλά και με την καταστροφή των ραγδαία αναπτυσσόμενων υγειών κυττάρων στο μυελό των οστών, την γαστρεντερική οδό κ.λπ. και μπορεί να προκαλέσει οργανικές βλάβες, στο ήπαρ, τους νεφρούς, την καρδιά, τους πνεύμονες κ.λπ.
7. Η ακτινοβολία καταστρέφει τα καρκινικά κύτταρα και παράλληλα, καυτηριάζει, σημαδεύει και καταστρέφει υγιή κύτταρα, ιστούς και όργανα.
8. Η αρχική θεραπεία με ακτινοβολίες και χημειοθεραπεία συχνά μειώνει το μέγεθος ενός όγκου. Ωστόσο, η παρατεταμένη χρήση χημειοθεραπείας και ακτινοβολίας δεν έχει ως αποτέλεσμα την περαιτέρω καταστροφή ενός όγκου.
9. Όταν το σώμα φέρει υπερβολικό τοξικό φορτίο από χημειοθεραπείες και ακτινοβολίες, το ανοσοποιητικό σύστημα έχει είτε κατασταλεί είτε καταστραφεί, έτσι το άτομο μπορεί να υποκύψει σε διάφορα είδη μολύνσεων και επιπλοκών.
10. Η χημειοθεραπεία και η ακτινοβολία μπορούν να προκαλέσουν τη μετάλλαξη των καρκινικών κυττάρων, ούτως ώστε να γίνουν πιο ανθεκτικά με αποτέλεσμα να καταστρέφονται πιο δύσκολα. Οι χειρουργικές επεμβάσεις μπορεί να έχουν ως αποτέλεσμα την εξάπλωση των καρκινικών κυττάρων και σε άλλες περιοχές.
11. Ένας αποτελεσματικός τρόπος καταπολέμησης του καρκίνου είναι η εξασθένηση των καρκινικών κυττάρων, με το να μην τους παρέχεται η τροφή που χρειάζονται για να πολλαπλασιαστούν.
ΤΑ ΚΑΡΚΙΝΙΚΑ ΚΥΤΤΑΡΑ ΤΡΕΦΟΝΤΑΙ ΜΕ:
α. Η ζάχαρη τρέφει τον καρκίνο. Αφαιρώντας τη ζάχαρη από τη διατροφή μας απομακρύνουμε μία σημαντική πηγή ενέργειας από τα καρκινικά κύτταρα. Τα υποκατάστατα ζάχαρης, όπως τα Canderel, NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful κ.λπ. παράγονται από ασπαρτάμη, που είναι βλαβερή. Ένα καλύτερο φυσικό υποκατάστατο θα ήταν το μέλι Manuka ή οι μελάσες αλλά μόνο σε πολύ μικρές ποσότητες. Το επιτραπέζιο αλάτι περιέχει χημικές προσθήκες για να αποκτήσει το λευκό του χρώμα.
Καλύτερη εναλλακτική είναι μπαχαρικά τύπου Bragg’s aminos ή θαλασσινό αλάτι.
β. Το γάλα κάνει το σώμα μας να παράγει βλέννα, ιδίως στη γαστρεντερική οδό. Ο καρκίνος τρέφεται από τη βλέννα. Διακόπτοντας το γάλα και υποκαθιστώντας το με γάλα σόγιας χωρίς προσθήκη γλυκαντικών, τα καρκινικά κύτταρα εξασθενούν.
γ. Τα καρκινικά κύτταρα ευδοκιμούν σε όξινα περιβάλλοντα. Μία διατροφή βασισμένη στο κρέας είναι όξινη. Είναι προτιμότερο να τρώμε ψάρι και λίγο κοτόπουλο, από ότι μοσχαρίσιο ή χοιρινό κρέας. Το κρέας περιέχει επίσης αντιβιοτικά, αυξητικές ορμόνες και παράσιτα που είναι όλα επιβλαβή, ειδικά για καρκινοπαθείς.
δ. Μία διατροφή που αποτελείται από 80% φρέσκους χυμούς και λαχανικά, σιτηρά ολικής αλέσεως, σπόρους, ξηρούς καρπούς και λίγα φρούτα σας βοηθά να δημιουργήσετε ένα αλκαλικό περιβάλλον στο σώμα σας. Το 20% μπορεί να αποτελείται από μαγειρεμένα γεύματα στα οποία να περιλαμβάνονται τα φασόλια.
Οι χυμοί από φρέσκα λαχανικά παρέχουν ζωντανά ένζυμα που απορροφούνται εύκολα και φτάνουν στα κύτταρα μέσα σε 15 λεπτά τρέφοντας και ενισχύοντας την ανάπτυξη υγιών κυττάρων. Για την πρόσληψη ζωντανών ενζύμων και τη δημιουργία υγιών κυττάρων δοκιμάστε να πιείτε φρέσκο χυμό λαχανικών (από τα περισσότερα λαχανικά, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των βλαστών από τα φασόλια) και να φάτε ωμά λαχανικά 2 ή 3 φορές την ημέρα. Τα ένζυμα καταστρέφονται σε θερμοκρασίες άνω των 40 βαθμών Κελσίου (104 βαθμοί Φαρενάιτ).
ε. Αποφεύγετε καφέ, τσάι και σοκολάτα, τα οποία περιέχουν μεγάλη ποσότητα καφεΐνης. Το πράσινο τσάι είναι η καλύτερη εναλλακτική και έχει ιδιότητες κατά του καρκίνου. Νερό, καλύτερα καθαρισμένο ή φιλτραρισμένο, για την αποφυγή γνωστών τοξινών και βαρέων μετάλλων που περιέχονται στο νερό της βρύσης. Το αποσταγμένο νερό είναι όξινο και καλύτερα να αποφεύγεται.
12. Η πρωτεΐνη του κρέατος είναι δύσπεπτη και απαιτεί πολλά πεπτικά ένζυμα. Το άπεπτο κρέας που παραμένει στα έντερα αποσυντίθεται και έχει ως αποτέλεσμα μεγαλύτερη συσσώρευση τοξικών ουσιών.
13. Τα τοιχώματα των καρκινικών κυττάρων αποτελούνται από μία σκληρή πρωτεϊνική στιβάδα. Αποφεύγοντας ή μειώνοντας την κατανάλωση κρέατος απελευθερώνονται περισσότερα ένζυμα που επιτίθενται στα πρωτεϊνικά τοιχώματα των καρκινικών κυττάρων με αποτέλεσμα τα κύτταρα φονείς να μπορούν να τα καταστρέψουν.
14. Ορισμένα υποκατάστατα ενισχύουν το ανοσοποιητικό σύστημα (IP6, Flor ssence, Essiac, αντιοξειδωτικά, βιταμίνες, μεταλλικά στοιχεία, ουσιαστικά λιπαρά οξέα κ.λπ.). Άλλα υποκατάστατα όπως η βιταμίνη Ε είναι γνωστό ότι προκαλούν απόπτωση ή προγραμματισμένο κυτταρικό θάνατο, τη φυσιολογική μέθοδο του σώματος να απορρίπτει τα κατεστραμμένα, ανεπιθύμητα ή αχρείαστα κύτταρα.
15. Ο καρκίνος είναι μία ασθένεια του μυαλού, του σώματος και της ψυχής. Ένα ενεργό και θετικό πνεύμα θα βοηθήσει τον μαχητή του καρκίνου να επιβιώσει. Ο θυμός, η πικρία και τα δυσάρεστα συναισθήματα θέτουν το σώμα σε ένα αγχώδες και όξινο περιβάλλον. Μάθετε το πνεύμα σας να αγαπά και να συγχωρεί. Μάθετε να χαλαρώνετε και να απολαμβάνετε τη ζωή.
16. Τα καρκινικά κύτταρα δεν μπορούν να ευδοκιμήσουν σε οξυγονωμένα περιβάλλοντα. Η καθημερινή άσκηση και οι βαθιές αναπνοές βοηθούν στη διοχέτευση περισσότερου οξυγόνου στα κύτταρα. Η οξυγονοθεραπεία είναι μία ακόμα μέθοδος που χρησιμοποιείται για την καταστροφή των καρκινικών κυττάρων.
http://www.agioritikovima.gr/ugeia/27145-telos-tis-chime
We have one particular idea right now that’s taking possession of people: the so-called idea of women’s liberation. This takes the form of women priestesses in the Anglican Church, and also in the Catholic Church, which is preparing for it now.
Of course, if you look at this seriously, sit down and think about it, and you read what St. Paul says about women and so forth, you have no problems. It’s all very clear that this is some kind of crazy new idea. But it is also very interesting to look at this more deeply and see where it comes from—why is there such an idea, what is it, what’s behind it?—because if you understand the strategy of the devil, you’re a little better equipped to fight against it.
This particular idea of women’s liberation can be traced back at least two hundred years. Of course, you can go back even before that, but its present from goes back at least two hundred years, to the forerunners of Karl Marx, the early Socialists. These Socialists were talking about a great new utopian age which is going to come when all the distinctions of class and race and religion and so forth are abolished. There will be a great new society, they said, when everybody is equal. This idea, of course, was based originally upon Christianity, but it distorted Christianity, and amounted to its opposite.
There was a particular philosopher in China in the late nineteenth century who brought this philosophy to its logical conclusion, as far as it could go. His name is K’ang Yu-Wei (1858-1927). He’s not particularly interesting except as he incarnates this philosophy of the age, this spirit of the times. He was actually one of the forerunners of Mao Tse-Tung and the takeover of China by the communists. He based his ideas not only on distorted Christianity, which he took from the liberals and Protestants in the West, but also on Buddhist ideas. He came up with the idea of a utopia which was to come into being, I think, in the 21st century according to his prophecies. In this utopia, all ranks of society, all religious differences, and all other kinds of differences which affect social intercourse will be abolished. Everyone will sleep in dormitories and eat in common halls. And then with his Buddhist ideas he began to go beyond this. He said that all distinctions between the sexes would be abolished. Once mankind is united, there’s not reason to halt there—this movement must go on further. There must be an abolition between man and animals. Animals also will come into this kingdom, and once you have animals… The Buddhists are also very respectful to vegetables and plants; therefore, the whole vegetable kingdom has to come into this paradise, and in the end the inanimate world, also. So, at the very end of t he world, where will be an absolute utopia of all kinds of beings who have somehow become intermingled with each other, and everybody’s absolutely equal.
Of course, you read about this and you say the man must be crazy. But if you look deeply, you see that this is coming from a deep desire to have some kind of happiness on earth. No pagan philosophy, however, gives happiness; no man-made philosophy gives happiness. Only Christianity gives hope for a kingdom which is not of this world. The idea to have a perfect kingdom comes from Christianity, but since the early Socialists did not believe in the other world or in God, they dreamed of making this kingdom in this world. That is what communism is all about.
We see what happens, of course, when this idea is put into practice. You have the experiment of the French Revolution, which had apparently good ideas—liberty, equality, fraternity—or the Bolshevik Revolution, or in more recent times the various other communist revolutions. Last of all you have Cambodia, a poor little country which for three years suffered absolute communism and found that at least one-fourth of its population was exterminated because it didn’t fit. Everyone who had more than a high-school education had to be eliminated, everyone who thought for himself, and so forth. Now the regime has been overthrown by people who are a little less ruthless, but there’s nothing much to cheer about.
This shows that once you try to put these ideas into operation, you get, not paradise on earth, but more like hell on earth. In fact, the whole experiment in Russia for the last sixty years has been a proof of this, that there is no paradise on earth, except in the Church of Christ, with sufferings.8 Our Lord prophesied that already in this life we would receive back a hundredfold what we give, but it must be with persecutions and sufferings. Those who wish to have this happiness on earth without suffering and persecutions, and without even believing in God, make hell on earth.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
O ye who have been banished from Paradise! It is not for enjoyments, not for festivity, not for playing that we find ourselves on earth, but in order that by faith, repentance, and the Cross, we might kill the death which has killed us and restore to ourselves
the lost Paradise !
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
Without the gift of discrimination no virtue can stand or remain firm to the end, for it is the mother of all the virtues and their guardian.
St. Anthony the Great
A second example of a new phenomenon, which at first sight one doesn’t know what to make of, is the now very common phenomenon of UFOs, flying saucers.
There is a particular Protestant evangelist, the above-mentioned Carl McIntire, who is extremely strict and righteous and very Bible-believing. He has a radio program, the Twentieth-Century Reformation, and a newspaper. He is absolutely upright—you have to separate from all people who are in apostasy—and his ideas are very nice. He’s anti-communist. He calls Billy Graham an apostate, together with everyone who deviates from the strict line of what he thinks is right. From this point of view he’s very strict, and yet you see the strangest things i his philosophy. For example, he’s building himself the Temple of Jerusalem, in Florida. He has a model of the Temple, and he wants to build it so as to make it compete with Disneyworld. People will come and pay to see the great Temple which is soon going to be built for Christ to come to earth. This is supposed to provide a good opportunity to witness Christianity.
He goes in for the flying saucers, also. In every issue of his newspaper there’s a little column called “UFO Column,” and there they talk, to one’s great astonishment, about all the wonderful, positive things which these flying saucers are doing. The give conferences and make movies about them.
Just recently there have been several Protestant books about UFOs, showing quite clearly that they’re demons. The person who writes the column in this newspaper got upset about this, and said that some people say that these beings are demons, but we can prove they aren’t. He says that maybe a couple of them are demons, but most of them aren’t. He cites a recent case in which some family in the Midwest saw a flying saucer. The flying saucer came down, landed, and the family saw inside little men—they’re usually four and half feet tall or so—and they sang “Hallelujah.” They stopped and looked and then they flew away; I guess they didn’t talk to them any more. And that set the family to thinking; they began to think “Hallelujah”; they began to think about Christianity; they looked in their Bibles, and they finally ended up going to a Fundamentalist church and being converted to Christianity. Therefore, he says, these beings must be some kind of people who are helping God’s plan to make the world Christian because they said “Hallelujah.”
Of course, if you read Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, you will know about all the deceptions which the demons perpetrate: the demons “pray” for you, the demons make miracles, they produce the most wonderful phenomena, they bring people to church, they do anything you want, as long as they keep you in this deception. And when the time comes, they will suddenly pull their tricks on you. So these people, who have been converted to some kind of Christianity by these so-called outer-space beings, are waiting for the next time they will come; and the next time their message may have to do with Christ coming to earth again soon, or something of the sort. It’s obvious that this is all the work of demons. That is, where it’s real. Sometimes it’s just imagination, but when it’s real this kind of thing obviously comes form demons.
This is very elementary. If you read any text of the early Fathers, any of the early Lives of Saints or the Lausiac History, you find many cases where beings suddenly appear. Nowadays they appear in spaceships because that’s how the demons have adapted themselves to the people of the times; but if you understand how spiritual deception works and what kind of wiles the devil has, then you have no problems in understanding what’s going on with these flying saucers. And yet this person who writes the UFO column is an absolutely strict Fundamentalist Christian. He is looking, actually for new revelations to come from beings from outer space.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
Of all people, the atheist is the most misfortunate person because he has been deprived of the only good thing upon the earth: faith—the one true guide toward the truth and happiness. The atheist is a most misfortunate person because he is deprived of hope: the essential staff needed to journey through
life's lengthy path. The atheist is a most misfortunate person because he is deprived of
human love, which caresses the aching heart. The atheist is a most misfortunate person because he has been deprived of the divine beauty of the Creator's image, which the Divine Artist has etched withinman and which faith unveils.
The eye of the atheist sees in creation nothing other than the operation of natural processes. The brilliance and magnificent beauty of the Divine Creator's image remain hidden and undetectable to him. As he glances aimlessly at creation, nowhere does he discover the beauty of God's wisdom, nowhere does he see God's omnipotence, nowhere does he observe God's goodness and providence,
nowhere does he discern the Creator's righteousness and love for creation. His mind is neither capable
of ascending higher than the visible world nor
reaching beyond the boundaries of physical matter. His heart remains anesthetized and indifferent before God's ever-present divine wisdom and power.
Within it, not even the slightest desire to worship
the Lord exists. His lips remain closed, his mouth silent, and his tongue frozen. His soul voices no
hymn, doxology, or praise as an expression of gratefulness to God.
The peace of the soul and the serenity of the heart have been removed by disbelief; instead, mourning has inundated the depth of his being. The delight, which the faithful person experiences from executing God’s divine commandments, and
the great pleasure that he enjoys from
an ethical way of life are unknown feelings for the atheist.The elation which faith bestows to the believer has never been felt by the atheist’s heart.
The assurance that arises from faith in God’s providence, which relieves man from the anxiety of life’s worries, is a power unknown to him.
Γεια σου μαμά, Είμαι το μωρό σου.
Δεν με ξέρεις ακόμα, είμαι μόνο μερικών εβδομάδων. Θα με γνωρίσεις σύντομα, το υπόσχομαι. Έχω καστανά μαλλιά και καστανά μάτια...
Ε λοιπόν δεν είμαι έτσι ακόμα, αλλά θα γίνω όταν γεννηθώ.Θα είμαι ο μοναχογιός σου.
Δεν θα έχω μπαμπά αλλά δεν πειράζει, θα έχουμε ο ένας τον άλλον.Όταν μεγαλώσω θέλω να γίνω γ......ιατρός.
Σήμερα, έμαθες ότι ............είσαι έγκυος μαμά. Ήσουν τόσο χαρούμενη. Χαμογελούσες. Έχεις το ποιο ωραίο χαμόγελο μαμά.
Όλη την μέρα μου μιλούσες και ένιωθα τόση ασφάλεια μαμά. Σ'αγαπάω μαμά.
Όταν μεγαλώσω υπόσχομαι να σε κάνω τόσο περήφανη. Θα γίνω γιατρός. Σήμερα είπες στον μπαμπά για μένα ... Δεν ήταν χαρούμενος μαμά. Είπε ότι δεν με θέλει. Γιατί δεν με θέλει μαμά ; Τί του έκανα; Ένιωσα έναν δυνατό κρότο και μετά σε ακούω να κλαίς.
Σε χτύπησε μαμά!
Γιατί το έκανε αυτό μαμά ; Μετά σε αγκάλιασε και σου ζήτησε συγγνώμη κ εσύ τον συγχώρεσες.. Όταν γεννηθώ, δεν θα επιτρέψω σε κανέναν να σε χτυπήσει ξανά. Λες οτι σ'αγαπάει μαμά. Αλλα εγώ δεν τον νομίζω.
Πάνε τρείς μέρες που σταμάτησες να μου μιλάς, ή να αγκαλιαζεις την κοιλίτσα σου.
Γιατί μαμά ; Δεν με αγαπάς ποια ; Εγώ σε αγαπάω μαμά. Σε ακούω να μιλάς με έναν γιατρό. Κάτι πρόκειται να γίνει μαμά.
Φοβάμαι, μαμά. Αρχίζω και πονάω. Σταμάτησε τους, βοήθησε με μαμαααα..
Τώρα είμαι στον παράδεισο μαζί με τα αγγελάκια μαμά. Μην ανησυχείς, είμαι καλά. Γιατί το έκανες αυτό μαμά ; Ήθελα τόσο πολύ να αντικρίσω το χαμογελό σου, να δω τον ήλιο,να γίνω γιατρός.ΝΑ ΖΗΣΩ.
Δέν πειράζει μαμά αν σταμάτησες να με αγαπάς. Μπορώ να σε δω από εδώ που είμαι οπότε δεν θα σε ξεχάσω ποτέ. Συγγνώμη αν έκανα κάτι κακό μαμά. Θέλω να με αγαπάς και πάλι !
Εγώ σε αγαπάω μαμά!!!
http://1myblog.pblogs.gr/2011/09/ektrwseis-egw-se-agapaw-mama.html
Ας στηρίξουμε το θάρρος μας στην φιλανθρωπία Του και ας δείξουμε μετάνοια επιμελή, πριν φθάση η ημέρα, κατά την οποία η μετάνοια δεν θα μας ωφελήση.
Τώρα όλα τα έχουμε στην εξουσία μας ∙ τότε όμως ο δικαστής μόνο είναι ο κύριος της αποφάσεως. «Ας παρουσιασθούμε μπροστά στο πρόσωπό του με εξομολόγησι» (Ψαλμ. 94, 2 ) , ας κλαύσουμε και ας θρηνήσουμε.
Αν μπορέσουμε να παρακαλέσουμε τον δικαστή πριν από τη δίκη να συγχωρήση τα αμαρτήματά μας, δεν θα χρειασθή ούτε στο δικαστήριο να εισέλθουμε. Αντίθετα πάλι, αν δεν γίνη αυτό, θα ακούση την απολογία μας δημόσια, με την παρουσία όλης της οικουμένης και τότε δεν θα έχουμε καμμία ελπίδα συγχωρήσεως. Κανένας από όσους δεν διέλυσαν εδώ τα αμαρτήματά του, όταν απέλθη, εκεί δεν θα αποφύγη τις ευθύνες του γι’ αυτά. Αλλά όπως από τις φυλακές της γης οδηγούνται οι φυλακισμένοι στο δικαστήριο δεμένοι με τις αλυσίδες τους, έτσι και οι ψυχές , όταν φύγουν από εδώ, με το βάρος των πολύπλοκων αμαρτημάτων τους οδηγούνται στο φοβερό βήμα.
( Εις το κατά Ματθαίον , ΙΔ΄, ΕΠΕ 9, 456. PG 57, 222 )
*Από το βιβλίο: «ΜΕΤΑΝΟΙΑ , ΕΞΟΜΟΛΟΓΗΣΙΣ, ΝΗΣΤΕΙΑ, ΘΕΙΑ ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ»
ΑΓΙΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ
Χρυσοστομικός Άμβων
ΣΤ΄»
2η Έκδοσις
( Επηυξημένη και βελτιωμένη)
Έκδοσις: Συνοδία Σπυρίδωνος Ιερομονάχου
Νέα Σκήτη Αγ. Όρους
2008
If you feel that hatred has overwhelmed you, remain silent.
Say nothing until, by ceaseless prayer and self-recrimination, you have calmed your heart.
St. Hilarion of Optina
The Secular Man has been the great threat to the Christian faith over the past two or more centuries. Disguised as the person is only only doing the “normal thing,” he lives in a godless world, where others can be tempted to live as though there were no God. Earlier I quoted Berdyaev, “If God does not exist, then man does not exist.” I would add to that that the God Who Exists must be everywhere present and filling all things, or He is no God and a false god. Let us renounce the “soft atheism” of the secular man and live always and everywhere for God.
Many Orthodox writers have spoken about the nature of the secular world, the defining form of modernity. I take here an opportunity to make a small comparison between the secular man and the Christian.
The secular man may believe that there is a God, but he also believes that the situation and outcome of the world are dependent upon the actions of human beings.
The Christian man believes that there is a God, and that all things are in His hands.
The secular man believes in Progress. Life changes, and with good human direction, it changes for the better. Every new discovery stands on the shoulders of every previous discovery. In this way, life improves and always improves for the better.
The Christian man believes that whatever man does may change his circumstances, but does not change man. A modern man is in no way superior to those who came before him. Goodness is not a result of progress.
The secular man believes in the power of human beings. Reason, applied reasonably to any situation, will yield a better outcome.
The Christian man believes in God, but he doubts the goodness of man. Human solutions are always questionable and capable of failure.
The secular man believes, ultimately, in the smooth path of progress. Even though there may be set-backs along the way, he believes that pursuing the path of progress will ultimately yield a better world – even a near perfect world.
Because the Christian man believes in God, he trusts that the outcome of history belongs to God and not to man. Thus, even the good things done by man are judged by a good God whose goal for us is always beyond anything we could ask or think.
The secular man, despite various failures, always believes that the next good is only another plan away. Compromise, negotiation, and a willingness to change will finally solve all problems.
The Christian understands the sinfulness of humanity. He knows that without God things will always fail and dissipate. Only through trust and obedience to God can the human situation improve – and such improvement always comes as a miracle from God.
The secular man does not believe in his own fallibility. He does not learn from history, but yearns repeatedly for a success where none has come before. What success he has known (in medical treatment of disease, etc.) is quickly translated into political terms. What is wrong politically can be eradicated as easily as malaria.
The Christian man knows that problems do not lie so much in the world as within himself. Unless man is changed by a good God, there will be a very limited goodness in the world. The secular man knows how to cure malaria, but he cannot manage to actually share that goodness with the world. The world (the third world) dies as it has always died. The secular man is powerless because he lacks true goodness.
The Christian man is largely marginalized in our modern world. He is considered an artifact of the past. However he is not a religious artifact – the truth he knows is eternal and is as applicable to the ills of the world as any part of the truth of God.
It is for this generation to understand what it means to be a Christian man and not to compromise with the secular man. God is good and wills good for all people. He is not a utilitarian, wishing the greatest good for the greatest number, but willing good for each and every soul.
May Christians be visible everywhere, and everywhere loyal to the Kingdom of God.
Dedicated to all the Orthodox Fellow-Citizens with the Apostles
“Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the Saints, and of the same household/family of God; having been built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner-Stone; In Whom all the Building (The Church) put together grows to a Holy Temple in the Lord: In whom you also are built together for a dwelling of God through the Spirit.” (Eph. 2, 19-22)
The magnitude of the Apostles is so great that the more we attempt to praise them, the more we realise how small and unworthy we really are. “Some” unknown, uneducated, humble fishermen, simple villagers, follow an unknown “Someone” who claims to be God and proves it. At His trial & torture, they hide and lose faith, but after His resurrection they become fearsome, fearless heroes and courageously, triumphantly stand before anyone. Their transformation is a miracle, their testimony lasts two thousand years. They not only cause uproar, a storm, and divide their audiences by the scandal and “foolishness” of the Cross, but also, finally, remarkably, unbelievably, split the whole History of the whole Wide-World in two: Before HIM and After HIM, Whom they loved, Whom they lived for, Whom they died for…
1. Chief-Cornerstone
Every home, every building, has the most essential elements of a chief cornerstone, supporting pillars and more critical, foundations which are subject to earthquakes and are supposed to be built with standards to withstand them. Apostle Paul, in his most powerful, undefeatable defense and irrefutable apologetics for Creation, predominantly proclaims: “Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.” (Hebrews 3, 4) God uses this Architecture image and Building concept for His Church to reveal and underline just how important it really is for us, to give absolute obedience to Him, the Chief Cornerstone and Head of the Church, and how imperative it is to give utmost credit and absolute trust, to His Holy Apostles, whom we joyously celebrate. Our God firmly uses the word “build”: “I will build my Church; and the gates of hell (gates of persecution = ”earthquakes” and gates of heresy = “tsunami”) will not prevail against it.” (Math. 16, 18)
God is the wisest Architect: “Lord, how great is the magnitude of your works! You have created everything in supreme wisdom; the earth is full of Your exquisite creations!” (Psalm 104, 24) God is the greatest Builder! Any trivial Builders (in French = “Masons”), any metaphysical Builder’s Unions or dark, Secretive Lodges claiming to worship the “Great Architect Of The Universe” are in fact honouring “Baphomet”, (whom they actual depict and use in statue) the “god of this world” the Devil, not the True Trinitarian God of the Bible. The nations too, their fancy assorted statues and their man-made diverse idols, are beyond doubt, demons. This is not the author’s view, nor an extremist view. It’s God’s authoritative view, God’s eternal, clear-cut statement: “The idols of all nations are DEMONS!” (Psalm 96, 5)
2. Foundations
God built His Exclusive True Church, “on the foundation of the Apostles”, (Ephesians 2, 20) who are actually humans: “we are labourers together with God: you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building.” (1 Corinth. 3, 9) But, very great caution must be given here: “Christ did notbuild His Church on one individual Apostle, but on all of them collectively, and in extent, in essence, on their steadfast faith that Peter expressed on behalf of all of them, that “Christ is the Son of the Living God”, Christ is True God! Christ did not say “on you Peter I will build my Church”, but “on this rock” (of Faith). Not Faith in general, but on a specific issue of Faith, on a fundamental dogma of Faith, on the gravest, heaviest declaration, on the central theme of the Gospel and thumping heart of the Orthodox Faith, on the immovable, most heavy rock that “Christ is God!” This is clearly denoted in Mathew 16, 15 where Christ asks them all, in evident plural: “ymeis” – “what do ‘you’ (plural, not singular) think about Me?” And whatever Christ gave to Peter, such as the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” and “the power of binding, forgiving sins” = (the Sacrament & Authority of Confession), Christ equally gave it to all of the Apostles as He was not partial or prejudice. This is why, in a revolutional and revelational way, on the very same Chapter, two verses after, Verse 20, Scripture heavily states: “Then He strictly charged the disciples (plural again, not singular) to tell no one that he was the Christ.” (Math. 16, 20)
The Chorus of the Feast of the Apostles, the fabulous Refrain and the Central Theme is Ephesians 2, 20: “God built His Church on the foundation of the Apostles!” What a miracle! What an over-throwing reality! What a shocking truth! In Ephesians 2, 20, one of the most extraordinary explicit and historically valuable verses ever, a very extremely important distinction and declaration is made here: God did not build His Church on the Bible, (which contains the truth), but God built His Church on His Apostles, who are eye and ear witnesses of that truth. THEY are the foundations of the Bible as well as the Foundations of the Church which gave us the Bible. The Church, is “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (the Bible).” (1 Tim. 3, 15) The basis of truth is not Holy Scripture but the Church. The Apostles, the Church are the ones who produced the Bible and not the other way round.
How tragically sad it is today to observe so many denominations, sects and heresies who all “twist to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3, 16) the Apostolic Faith and devise their “own – personal faith” with God…
They reject the actual authoritative authors, the Apostles, who are the unshakable foundations of the Bible, and only accept the Bible itself and interpret it themselves trusting foolishly in the own erroneous assumptions and heretical conclusions.
They consider the Book of God, but demean the Church of God that produced it.
They give credit to the written form of tradition but not the verbal form which was validated in writing, thus failing to acknowledge the Apostolic command: “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions (both) which you were taught by us, either by 1) word of mouth and 2) by letter.” (2 Thess. 2, 15)
They accept a book of a Church that they have no relationship or communion with, but they do not accept the Faith of that Church which gave them that Book.
They hold a selection of letters which were written, formulated and are historically / legally owned by the Greek Orthodox Church but they illegitimately claim false ownership of this Book. For this reason precisely, an early Ecclesiastical Writer,Tertullianus, (c. 160 – c. 220 AD), in his inspired work (De Praescriptione Haereticorum), would not accept to even discuss issues of Faith with heretics because, as he boldly declared, “Scripture belongs to the Church and its use (and misuse) by heretics is illegal since they have no right or claim or ownership over the Bible which is not their handbook”.
They utilise the Bible rendered in thousands of translations and languages of today but fail to recognise the paramount importance of the original Text written in Greek (apart from Mathew’s Gospel written in Aramaic) and that there are hundreds of distortions (deliberate or not) in these subsequent millennium translations.
They accept without any question or doubt the translation of foreign organisations and the pseudo-wisdom of “faithful servants” and “governing bodies” but refuse to acknowledge and examine (even out of courtesy) the original Manuscripts and especially their proper translation by the authors themselves, the Church Herself and immediate associates.
They take it for granted as a standard Global Religious Book but are not interested in the fact that it is a compilation of Epistles=Letters chosen by the first 2 Ecumenical Councils under the inspiration of the God the Holy Spirit, with over 600 (combined) Orthodox Representatives who were true Holy Fathers, firm believers, purified bodies and minds, deified souls, dedicated Ascetics, Sanctified Monks, Ecclesiastical Writers and Sacred Eminent Personalities in the Life and History of the Mother Church, who chose, validated, placed in a specific order, sealed & concealed with their official approval and thus passed it on to us as “the Canonical and Credible Bible.”
They accept the Daughter and reject the Mother.
They embrace a product and denounce the Supplier.
They follow am unstable branch but deny the actual, solid Tree of Life.
What illogical mentality! What logic could any reasonable researcher ever find in this appalling method of approach? What apology will they have in the fearsome Judgment Day?
How could the Apostles and all these enlightened saintly personalities of the first three centuries be all “wrong” and their whole “faith” be in error? (even though their Faith was revealed to them only a couple of hundred years earlier, at Pentecost). How could then God, the Holy Spirit, be in error? How could God allow His Body, His Church to live for 2000 whole years in falseness, darkness and deception, and then deem it necessary for these “new”, opposing gospels, these multiple sects to revolt, these independent groups to suddenly pop-up, and claim in no authority whatsoever that “they know better” and now have “special” enlightenment by God, since they have a “special” relationship and special “direct” communication with the Holy Spirit… (demonic spirit indeed!)
The Apostles are our Teachers, they are “the faithful and wise Servants!” In the fourth and last Stichiron of the Ainous, in the Matins (Orthros), just before the Doxastikon and the Doxology, the Apostles are mentioned by name and referred to as truthful “Towers, (the only official true “Watch-Towers”) and Pillars of the Church.” They are our mentors, they are our guides, they are spiritual Fathers. Do not let this surprise us. They are not called “fathers” in contradiction to Scripture where Christ says: “call no man your father on earth, since you have one Father, who is in heaven.” (Math. 23, 9) In this instance, Christ refers to Paternity with a Divine, absolute, ontological meaning. But there is also a relative, spiritual paternity ascribed to the Apostles and Saints, this is why even Apostle Paul calls himself a holy father and would not contradict God so easily:
“I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children, because, though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Thus I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinth. 4, 14-16) This in itself is also a very bold, daring statement to make. He does not say “be imitators of Christ” but “be imitators of me.” Because the true way of honouring a Saint is imitating the Saint. And when we imitate Saints, we thus imitate Christ, because they are “His extension to the Ages” (Saint Augustinos of Hyppo)
There are 10 Criteria, (in the Form of Ten Commandments) that we essentially need to adhere by, in order to achieve a proper relationship with God and His Church and have a steadfast hope of salvation:
The Apostle’s written Testimony: Holy Scripture (which was in fact, initially verbal too)
The Apostle’s verbal Testimony: Sacred Tradition of the Apostolic Church along with the eternal decisions of the Nine Ecumenical Councils.
The further, extensive Sacred writings of the Great Holy Fathers of the Church along with the close, in depth, imitating study of the Lives of Saints.
Hymnology of our Church which is profoundly rich in Orthodox Dogmatic Theology along with all other Liturgical Books, Priestly Prayers & Texts
The fundamental testimony and guidance of all recent Holy Elders & Newly Canonised Saints.
The critical and discerning guidance of an experienced, canonical and wise Spiritual Father/Confessor.
A sacramental spiritual life within the Exclusive Body of Christ, His Holy Orthodox Church, under the provision of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.
A constant struggle against our sinful self and the pleasures of the world (purification) through a humble spirit & true repentance in steady aim of sanctification (theosis), ultimately seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and nothing else.
Proper worship, unadulterated true faith in agreement and harmony of the Truth: ORTHODOXIA
Proper practice and implementation of all of the above and all aspects of God’s will: ORTHOPRAXIA
3. Earthquakes and Tsunami’s
In Acts 8, 1, we observe “a great persecution arose against the Church.” Persecutions we foretold and warned by God: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you;” (John 15, 20) This persecution is not really a disaster, but a heavenly blessing in disguise, being beautifully bestowed at the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you when men abuse you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, giving false account (heresy) in My Name.” (Math. 5, 11) Therefore the Apostles were never afraid of any persecutions, any abuse, because “if God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8, 31) The love they had for Christ is PPP = Paramount, Principal, Pioneering! The love they had for the God-Man Jesus, could never be reduced, distorted or dissolved by any persecution or danger, any deception or heresy, any abuse or attack, any fear or threat. No spiritual Earthquake, no severe heresy or raging Spiritual Tsunami, no mass-divisions and scandals by believers, scandals by Priests, Bishops or Patriarchs, could ever change their love for Christ and His Church. Apostle Paul expresses this remarkably, in a perfect poetic way!
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For Your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Indeed, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8, 35-39) This extreme expression of love till death, is the exquisite Formal and Final “Swan Song” of the Apostles. There are no better words that could ever describe this “different, special kind of love”, this sacred, divine, heavenly love.
It’s the precise Super-natural Medicine that Holy Elder Porphyrios generally, continually prescribed:
“Just love Christ more, love Christ more!”
In the Ocean of this love, the Arch of the Covenant and especially the Ark of Noah, is the Holy Orthodox Church. The enlightened Holy Fathers described and depicted in beloved exceptional Iconography the Church as “i Nafs” = the Boat, the Divine Boat, the Divine Love-Boat. Saint John Chrysostom, the Golden Mouth of Orthodoxy, sensationally states: “The Church Boat, while being battled against, it becomes victorious, while being abused at, it shines on ever more; it receives wounds but does not give up, it is shaken by fearsome waves but does not (and will not ever) sink!”
This is where many of us fail or somehow fall astray. We think that with our panic, our struggles, our protest, our stance and resistance, “that we will ‘save’ the Church… This is blasphemy! We are not here to save the Church, the Church is here to save us! We ourselves are in need and subject to salvation.” (Saintly Elder Athanasios Mytilineos) The Church will NEVER sink, regardless of betrayals, regardless how high up the throne of the persons committing unfaithfulness, deception or heresy. They are independent exceptions which soon, as Christ foretold, may become a majority, “and even the elect be deceived by the antichrist” (Math. 24, 24)
But, the Boat of the Church, the Boat of Orthodoxy will safely deliver us to the Heavenly Harbour, if we safely remain, till death us to part, with the depths of our heart, in the blessed bosom of her Bountiful Grace, tied to the Masts of the Apostles, grounded in the foundations of the Apostolic Faith:
“OUR CAPTAIN IS THE GOD-MAN CHRIST! We can’t go wrong!” (Saintly Bishop Augoustinos Kantiotis)
The Apostles are the exceptional beautification and Golden Crown, the Illuminating Glorious Bridal adornment of the Theotokos. In the Kingdom of Heaven, she appears on a throne, “A great Sign (indication, miracle) appeared in heaven, a Woman (The Most Holy Woman of All) clothed with the Sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a Crown of Twelve Stars (the Apostles).” (Revel. 12, 1) The City of God also has an unconquerable wall: “The wall of the city had Twelve Foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.” (Revel. 21, 14)
Monk Nicodemus
It was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista , CA . He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to ‘explain God.’ I wonder if any of us could have done as well?
EXPLANATION OF GOD:
‘One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn’t make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn’t have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.’
‘God’s second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn’t have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.’
‘God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn’t go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad’s head asking for something they said you couldn’t have.’
‘Atheists are people who don’t believe in God. I don’t think there are any in Chula Vista … At least there aren’t any who come to our church.’
‘Jesus is God’s Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn’t want to learn about God.. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn’t know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.’
‘His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn’t have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.’
‘You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.’
‘You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there’s anybody you want to make happy, it’s God!
Don’t skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn’t come out at the beach until noon anyway.’
‘If you don’t believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can’t go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He’s around you when you’re scared, in the dark or when you can’t swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.’
‘But…..you shouldn’t just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And…that’s why I believe in God.’
That ugly and omnipresent thorn called worry! Since it’s a chronic, recurrent condition, it’s been called the “Worry Disease.” I think worry must be Satan’s best weapon against man. Our minds are incessantly preoccupied with our daily cares. During peace-filled, “quiet time” moments of prayer and reflection we confidently profess our faith to God and feel His peace. Yet, this is so often immediately forgotten, preempted by the next worrisome preoccupation. At time, it’s maddening! Too often our “old nature” chooses to worry rather than to trust God. Worry is a sin because we aren’t taking God at his Word.
Virtually everyone is stressed out today. We fear various problems and what they may do to us. For example, I have worked in pharmaceutical marketing and medical communications for 30+ years and have witnessed incredible changes in the healthcare landscape. I laugh out loud when I remember how in the past I used to complain about various working conditions. However, they were minimal compared to today’s constant stream of pressures. Now there are insecurities about the marketplace, the unrelenting ferocity of managed care, stressed-out clients willing to change their ad agency “on a whim,” and the constant barrage of economic and socio-political uncertainties. It seems every industry, both private and government, is beleaguered by economic crises today.
I guess crying in my beard (?) is both selfish and narrow-minded. Whether we live or have lived in affluence or in abject poverty, we will always have fears and anxieties. Let’s face it; we live in a fallen world. We have to deal with it, and there’s only one way do that: constantly pause and know that God is in control.
When I’m having dark days and am beset by challenges of all sorts, I put my distress in God’s hands and really trust, really believe. He always delivers, and the more I trust, the less my discomfort, and the better the outcome.
Besides entreating the Lord, I must also thank Him. Since the human race is innately selfish, our conversation with God is often a big, one-sided “all about me.” But when we balance our requests with heartfelt thanksgiving, i.e., when it becomes an integral part of our lives, giving thanks can only diminish our despair and contribute to inner peace and real joy. It’s so easy to avow faith and to rationalize it. But faith in action, which means practicing our faith day by day, moment by moment, is the hard part.
Let’s face it. Every day is a life challenge to varying degrees. The storms we face-personal, social, work-related, spiritual, or financial-will always be there. In order to put things into the proper perspective, there are several actions we can take:
1. Start every day with a thanksgiving prayer. One of my favorites was written by Fr. Thomas Hopko:
We praise You, Lord Jesus for showing us how to live day by day without fear, serving obediently, always entrusting our lives into Your care. And we thank you Lord Jesus for showing us how to die, how to gain the victory, how to attain the crown of life by commending our souls into the Father’s hands.
2. Repeat the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”) for focus.
3. Recite short Bible verses. These can also help to assuage the anxieties of life whenever those inevitable afflictions rear their ugly heads. Meaningful verses like the following can really lift the weight of our woes:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).
Be still and know that I am God (Psalms 46:10).
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).
There is no formula, no antibiotic, no magic elixir for eradicating worry and fear. It’s a matter of developing childlike faith, a conscious effort to trust in God. If and when He is willing, that burden will become lighter as we grow in His wisdom and grace.
Bottom line: There can be peace in our hearts only when we turn to the One, True Source of peace, Jesus Christ. As He affirmed, “[My] peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Every day requires a reaffirmation of faith. If we seek God and His values, God will provide for us in wonderful ways we can never imagine. To know the pardon, joy, peace and power that come through Christ, we must personally receive Him by faith. And if our hearts are to change, our faith must be real.
Almost all illnesses are caused by our lack of trust in the Lord. This creates stress. Stress is caused by the negation of the religious sentiment. Unless you love the Lord and preoccupy yourself with holy deeds, you will certainly have depression and nasty feelings.
There is one thing which helps someone who is depressed: work and showing an interest in living: For example having a garden, some plants, flowers, trees, or getting outside, going for a walk in the countryside, or for a simple walk. All these create an interest and stop a person’s apathy. They act like medicine.
Moreover, being interested in music or the arts is very beneficial. But I specially emphasize the need to show an interest for the Church, for the Gospel and the liturgical services. Just by studying the Lord’s word one is healed without realizing it.
We ought not to be discouraged or be in a hurry. We ought not to judge things superficially or by their external appearance. If for example you happen to see a naked woman or one who is dressed inappropriately, do not criticize her but try to enter her soul. She may have a good heart and may express her existential worries through her wild appearance. She may process an inner strength and wish to show off arousing interest. She may have a distorted view of things because of her ignorance. Imagine what will happen if she does actually come to know Christ. She will become a believer and will direct all this passion towards Christ. She will do anything to attract divine grace. She will become a saint.
Because of our anxiety and our fears we often cause harm to someone without meaning to and without realizing it, even if we love him very much, like a mother does her child. A mother may transfer to the child all her anxiety about his life, his health and progress, even though she does not express it with words. This kind of love, this natural love, may sometimes cause harm. However, this does not happen with the love of Christ which is coupled with prayer and a careful way of life. This love sanctifies and calms a person, since God is love.
Translation of excerpts from the book «ΓΕΡΟΝΤΟΣ ΠΟΡΦΥΡΙΟΥ ΙΕΡΟΜΟΝΑΧΟΥ Ανθολόγιο Συμβουλών»
Elder Porphyrios
The great teachers of the Church and of the Greek nation, Makarios Notaras, Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and Athanasios of Paros, who lived and worked in the 18th and early 19th centuries, form a new trinity of shining lights of the Church, like the three Fathers of the Church in the past, relatively speaking of course and bearing in mind the historical circumstances they lived through with their similarities and differences. To these three must be added Neophytos of Kafsokalyvia, who started the movement, although he was not as important or active as the other three would later become, thus earning their place in the Communion of Saints. They were nicknamed Kollyvades by their opponents on the Holy Mountain because they objected to the transfer of the memorial services (involving kollyva) from Saturday to Sunday in defiance of tradition, rightly judging that services for the dead are incompatible with the resurrectional and festal nature of Sunday.
This of course was a minor detail within their greater work of renewal and enlightenment. It was deliberately stressed and exaggerated in order to obscure the importance of their other work, and also to denigrate them as being people who concerned themselves with petty matters, as memorial services and kollyva supposedly were. Even today there are scholars who belittle them and their work, seeing the whole through the distorting prism of the memorial service controversy. Fortunately in recent decades, during which Greek historical and theological research has begun to free itself from Western ties, dependency and influence, their work has been reassessed as an 18th century philokalian renaissance. This renaissance had a decisive impact in strengthening and reinforcing the education of the enslaved Orthodox peoples and in preserving their awareness of who they were, not only vis-à-vis the Ottoman conquerors but also vis-à-vis the Western missionaries who spread out all over the Orthodox world, proselytising by unfair means, and especially by exploiting the ignorance, enslavement and poverty of the Orthodox faithful.
There was a great danger that the Orthodox would convert either to Islam or to a Western form of Christianity. Indeed, the second was the greater danger due to the West’s high level of civilisation, which made assimilation easier, whereas the feeling of superiority to Islam raised some barriers and reservations. There is the classic statement by the other great teacher and saint of that period, St Kosmas Aetolos, explaining why God allowed the Orthodox to be enslaved by the Turks rather than by the Franks [Westerners]: “Three hundred years after Christ’s Resurrection, God sent us Saint Constantine and established the kingdom for 1150 years. Then God took it away from the Christians, and for their own good gave it to the Turk for 320 years. And why did God bring the Turk and not some other nation? For our own good, because the other nations would have harmed our faith, but the Turk, as long as you give him money, will let you do as you like.”
However, after the dark ages of ignorance and illiteracy of the previous centuries, the roots of education were needed to raise a barrier against conversions to Islam or Western Christianity, to prevent a multitude of small streams becoming a river that would sweep away the Nation. What St Kosmas Aetolos did by travelling around the country and founding schools for the people, the Kollyvades Saints did at a higher level by publishing and interpreting texts from Scripture and the Fathers, Lives and Services of Saints, hymns, and even grammar, rhetoric and philosophy textbooks and also ancient Greek and Western classical writers. The aim was to enlighten the Nation and maintain it in its faith and in the traditions of the Fathers, to preserve Greek Orthodox culture. They wanted to ensure that in the schools, which were appearing in increasing numbers, the teachers, monks and priests would be able to understand Greek texts through school education, but also to publish these texts, since the manuscripts were few and far between, either hidden away in monastic libraries or looted by crafty foreign travellers.
One can even discern in their truly impressive educational and literary efforts a special emphasis on action to meet the danger of conversions to Islam or Western Christian denominations. It is well known that many Neo-Martyrs had as mentors, who supported them psychologically on the road to martyrdom, Kollyvades Saints such as St Makarios and St Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain. It is certain that what many Neo-Martyrs proclaimed before the Turkish judges regarding the superiority of the Christian faith to the religion of Muhammed, which they disparage and reject, echoed the teaching of the Kollyvades Saints. Many of these exchanges between these Neo-Martyrs and the Turkish judges, which recall the martyrologies of old, were preserved by St Nikodemos in his “New Martyrology”. The same interpretation must be put on the anti-Western works of St Athanasios of Paros; “The Antipope”, “The Judgement of Heaven”, “That Palamas” and other works on the aberrations and errors of the Latins.
The contribution of the Kollyvades to education and culture was not limited to raising the self-awareness of the Orthodox peoples vis-à-vis the twin dangers of assimilation by East or West, which were very great. It had another, equally broad, dimension, in which they appeared to have less success, not because their teachings were without effect, but because unfortunately, from 1821 the modern Greek state was violently cut off from the Greek Orthodox tradition. It abandoned traditional Greek Christian education and, guided by and in tutelage to the West, turned against its Byzantine heritage, against the Saints and the Church Fathers, against all that was holy for the Nation.
It is known that the Kollyvades Saints, and especially St Athanasios of Paros, clashed with the European and Europeanising supporters of the Enlightenment in modern Greece, who adopted the ideas of the French Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and even the atheism of Voltaire, and who attempted to direct the course of modern Greek culture towards classical antiquity, extolling and stressing the worldly wisdom and knowledge of antiquity while underrating or ignoring divine wisdom. Rationalism, science, knowledge and freedom were the new deities in the Enlightenment creed. The Byzantine synthesis, in which the healthy elements of the ancient Greek spirit were preserved and strengthened and pressed into the service of the divine message of love, humility and reconciliation that derives from the teaching of the Gospel of the Cross, was abandoned and disparaged. It was essentially a new form of persecution of the church, similar to the attempts by the Emperor Julian the Apostate in the fourth century to revive pure Hellenism in the place of Christianity, and by Barlaam the Calabrian in the fourteenth century to introduce into Orthodox Byzantium the scholasticism and rationalism of the Western Renaissance, rejecting the tried and true method of enlightenment and perfection used by the Fathers of the Church which emphasised divine wisdom, but without rejecting worldly or human wisdom. The three Fathers of the fourth century, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, with their fine classical Greek education, like St Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century, barred the way back to an unwholesome classicism that places the created above the uncreated, human wisdom above divine wisdom, as was said by the blessed monk Christoforos Papoulakos on observing the wrong course taken after 1821 by westernised Greek scholars and clergymen, who adopted in their entirety the ideas of the European Enlightenment.
It is worth noting that the revolutionary heroes of 1821, Kolokotronis, Makrygiannis, Papaflessas and others, who had been brought up in the spirit of tradition, felt betrayed on this point. They had struggled to free the Greeks from the Turks in body, and now they saw Greece becoming enslaved spiritually, surrendering her soul, to the Europeans.
Latinisation returned in the form of Europeanisation and Westernisation. The West, which had been unable to “enlighten” free Byzantium with Barlaam the Calabrian, that is to plunge the Greeks into darkness, because St Gregory Palamas reacted with the Hesychast movement, nor again under the Turkish occupation due to the Hesychastic movement of the Kollyvades, attempted again after 1821 by placing the modern Greek state, education and culture under its spiritual tutelage. It seems, however, that it is once again being defeated.
The Kollyvades, reviled even in the name they were given, profoundly influenced Orthodox faith and life as true successors of the patristic Hesychast tradition. Both the Holy Mountain, which bred them, and St Gregory Palamas can be proud of these great teachers of Orthodoxy and the Nation.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (A John, 4, 18)
When you love Jesus, despite your many weaknesses and your awareness of them, you rest assured that you have overcome death because you are in communion with Jesus’ love.
We ought to feel that Jesus is our friend. He is our friend. He confirms it Himself when He says: ‘You are my friends…” (John 15, 14).We ought to look up to Him and approach Him as our friend. If we fall, if we commit an offence, we ought to approach Him with love and courage and be filled with trust bestowed to us by our mutual friendship without fearing His punishment. We ought to tell Him: ‘Yes, Lord I have done this, I have fallen, forgive me”. At the same time we ought to feel that He loves us, that He receives us with tenderness and love and that He forgives us. Let our trespasses not separate us from Jesus. If we believe that He loves us and that we love Him, we will not feel strangers, neither we will feel separated from Him, not even when we commit a sin. We have secured His love and no matter what we do, we know that He loves us.
The Gospel, speaking allegorically, warns that the unjust will be taken to the place where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25, 30); indeed this is how it is going to be for someone who lives away from the Lord. Several of the Niptic fathers also speak about the fear of death and of Hell. They say: ‘You must always remember death’. Such words, if examined deeply, cause the fear for Hell. Someone who is trying to avoid committing a sin nurtures such thoughts, so that his soul is overcome by the fear of death, of Hell and of the devil.
Everything has its own importance at the appropriate time and the right circumstances. The fear of death is appropriate at the early stages of spiritual struggle. It is right for the novices, for those whose old-self is still active. The novice, who has not yet had the chance to be ‘sensitized’, is kept from sinning by this fear. Fear is necessary since we have a physical nature prone to wickedness. However, this is an elementary stage, an early level of relating to the divine. At this level the relationship with the Lord becomes a transaction: to gain Paradise and to avoid Hell. If we examine this properly we will see that it reeks from some kind of selfishness and self-interest.
I do not like this route. As soon as one progresses and enters the love of the Lord, why does he need fear? Whatever he does, he does it out of love and this is more important. It is not worth that much if someone becomes good because he fears the Lord and not because he loves Him.
Whoever would like to become a Christian ought to become a poet first. Once the soul is knocked about it becomes undeserving of Jesus’ love; Jesus interrupts the relationship since He does not want ‘thick’ souls with Him.
When you are worshiping the divine make sure that no one sees you nor recognizes what you are doing. You ought to do all these in secret, like the ascetics. Remember when I mentioned the nightingale? It sings in the forest, when there is silence, so that no one hears it neither praises it. What a magnificent singing in the desert! Did you notice how its throat swells? The same thing happens to the person who loves the Lord. As soon as he experiences this love, his ‘throat and his tongue swell”. He runs in the wild, in the desert and communicates with the Lord in secret, “with inexpressible sighs”.
You ought to ignore your passions; do not preoccupy yourselves with the devil. Turn towards Jesus instead. Divine grace teaches us our duties. We must employ love and longing in order to draw divine grace. The grace of the Lord needs divine Eros.
Once we have acquired love, then we are ready to pray. The Lord comes to such a soul by Himself as soon as He finds some pleasing things: a good intention, humility and love. Without these we are not able to say: ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”.
The slightest criticism against someone else, affects our souls and we become unable to pray. The Holy Spirit does not dare approach such a soul.
We ought to let the Lord do what He wants with us; this is more beneficial and more appropriate for ourselves and for those whom we are praying for. Jesus will hand over all things in abundance. However, with the slightest selfishness, nothing can happen. The Lord has His own reasons for not giving us whatever we ask of Him. He has His own ‘secrets’.
Unless you obey your spiritual father and show humility, Jesus’ prayer (Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me) will not work and you risk being deluded as well. Do not recite this prayer as a chore. If you apply pressure you may be harmed. Several people have fallen ill because they were reciting Jesus’ prayer under pressure. It can be done, of course, but it is not a healthy way to pray.
You do not have to concentrate excessively in order to recite Jesus’ prayer. You do not need special effort when you have divine Eros. Any place is appropriate for this prayer: sitting on a low chair, on an armchair, in the car, while on the road, at school, at the office, anywhere. Just say ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’ gently, without pressure or feeling any tightness.
Intensity and not duration is more important in prayer. Pray even for five minutes, but your prayer ought to be offered to the Lord lovingly and with longing. This five-minute prayer may be more valuable than prayer which lasts all night. This is, certainly a mystery, but it happens.
The end
Elder Porphyrios
