Practical Repentance and its fruits
Christ is the living truth. “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14, 6). Therefore, He is life without beginning, unlimited (ἀπεριόριστος), unbound (ἀδέσμευτος), co-eternal with the Father, inseparable and undivided from him. “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in […]
Dealing with Spiritual Depression and Anxiety
The weather shifts from cloudy to clear and then back to rain; thus it is with human nature. One must always expect clouds to hide the sun sometimes. Even the saints have had their dark hours, days and weeks. They say then that “God has left them” in order that they may know truly how […]
The Temptation of Life’s Unforeseen Circumstances
We have a continuous temptation before us. The unforeseen constantly occurs in our life. You come to the monastery to find spiritual life, and you encounter evil. This is unforeseen. You ask for a cell on the side of the monastery where there is no humidity, you acquire it, but you believe the sea brings […]
Scandalized by the Happiness of the Impious and Faithless
Many times believers are scandalized by the happiness of the impious and faithless. Indeed, when we take a look around us, we see that God, according to human logic, very unfairly distributes His good things. Where He should be giving happiness He gives misfortunes. Where He should be giving riches He gives poverty, and where […]
How the Christian Should Behave
Many things are set forth by Scripture as binding upon all who are anxious to please God. But, for the present, I have only deemed it necessary to speak by way of brief reminder concerning the questions which have recently been stirred among you, so far as I have learnt from the study of inspired […]
The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament
The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament Reflections on the Critique of the Theology of the Reformation If the monastic ideal is union with God through prayer, through humility, through obedience, through constant recognition of one’s sins, voluntary or involuntary, through a renunciation of the values of this world, through poverty, through chastity, through […]
Why do we include Saints in our Prayers?
Photo: Catacomb of St. Sabastiano: Fragments of a wall plaster from the triclia with numerous graffiti that ask for the prayers of the martyred apostles, Peter and Paul. Copyright Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Cristiana, Roma In our Prayer rule we can also ask the saints to intercede for us and to help us in our […]
Is Orthodoxy a bit Weird?
What is the aim of life (death)? For Orthodox Christians it is salvation and eternal life with God. How are we saved? Paul tells us we are justified in Christ through our faith (Gal 2:16). But what is faith? Faith is our surrender to the truth of the Gospel and TheTradition of His Church. Faith […]
Saint Basil on Usury and Debt
Today consumer debt is 2.5 trillion dollars indicating how far we have moved from Gospel traditions. In Scripture we are taught not to enslave others through usury, contracts and interest, but to give those in need without expectation of return. On the other hand we are also not encouraged to seek loans to support a […]
Saint John Chrysostom on Virtue
When we normally think of virtue we tend to think of ethical behavior, following the rules, obeying the commandments. Saint John Chrysostom reminds us that virtue is much more than just being a good person living according to the rules. He writes, Virtue is to scorn all human affairs, to keep the mind on future […]