There are some people who wish
to incorporate married life with the sweetness of prayer, praying like the
ascetics. But this effort cannot be
accomplished. This is why married people become worried and distraught. The prayer of the heart requires purity of
heart and body. We must discreetly guide
and inform married couples that it is better to stop the prayer of the heart
rather to stop communicating with one another for the sake of the
marriage. If the marriage fails then the
husband will seek out another woman and most likely the wife will seek out
another man, and if this happens, then all prayer is lost. When the family disintegrates then prayer is
lost. Discreet coordination is required
between the married and spiritual state guided by an experienced Spiritual
Father.
OUR
GREATEST MISSION
IN LIFE IS THE DIVINE LITURGY
Our greatest missionary work in
life takes place in the Divine Liturgy.
The Fathers of the Church would always build an Altar of Sacrifice in
whatever country or city they traveled to.
And this is so, because when the heart is sweetened by the Divine
Liturgy, it then seeks God. It then
desires to live an Orthodox ecclesiastical life, the heart of which is the Holy
Eucharist.
I told the brotherhood that it
should always be a priority for it to perform the Divine Liturgy in the
Monastery. The prayers of the Divine
Liturgy should not be intoned for personal gratification because at that moment
the priests are expressing the prayers of all those praying in Church. And for this reason the priests should not be
praying with self-centered feelings. We
do not celebrate as individuals.
THE
LEADERS OF THE NATIONS DOMINATE ALL PEOPLE
AND
THE GREAT ONES DOMINEER EVERYONE
In Paradise Adam lost the
dialogue he had with God because of sin.
Christ, through His Incarnation, attempted to convince him, through
repentance, to continue the conversation that he had with Him in Paradise. He
shouts, “repent.” But God has changed
the rules of communication. In Paradise he said to him: “subdue the earth.” Now he says to him: “You know that the rulers
of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority
over them. Yet it shall not be so among
you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” (Mt
20:25-27). In the beginning man was expected to become the ruler of the earth. Now the earth is governed by the rulers. This means, whoever wishes to be saved must
become the servant and the slave of everyone else according to the example of
Jesus Christ. The rules have been overturned
and this is the way repentance is expressed.
Translated
from the Greek by:
+Fr.
Constantine J. Simones, August 22, 2012 USA
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