Shame must exist, but before, not after sin.

 Shame must exist, but before, not after sin. To be ashamed to commit evil, not to be ashamed to confess evil. Repentance is expressed as a confession of sins, as a proclamation. Do not be ashamed to tell your sins. One day the revelation of our sins will take place. Either we will reveal them, ourselves, before a person, to the Spiritual One, or God will reveal them on that Day before all the Angels and people. If we are the first to accuse ourselves with Repentance, all our sins are eliminated and we are acquitted.

Elder Ephraim Philotheus († December 8, 2019) 

Saint Theophan the Recluse. On Mental Prayer.

 You wish to learn something about prayer. What could I tell you that you do not already know?

When one draws near to the Lord, one immediately feels the need to pray. Church hymns and prayer books help with this. However, as one prays, one realizes that one’s prayer is disrupted and various thoughts occupy the soul. Then a struggle is required.

The more one struggles to keep the mind focused, the purer the prayer becomes. The spiritual atmosphere is not completely purified unless the spiritual flame is kindled. This is a gift of divine Grace. When it is kindled, the incessant chatter of thoughts ceases. What happens to the soul is the same as what happened to the woman with the issue of blood as soon as she touched the Lord’s garment: “Her flow of blood ceased” (Luke 8:44). In this state, prayer tends to become uninterrupted, unceasing. Here, the prayer of Jesus is practiced systematically, the continuous repetition of “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” This is as far as one can go through one’s own effort. From here on, divine Grace intervenes more decisively.

Prayer is given by God and does not flow from the person’s mental disposition. The spirit of prayer enters within him and fills the innermost part of his heart. The soul then pours forth the prayer of its own accord. It is under the influence of the spirit of prayer. Here there are two stages:

In the first, the soul feels and discerns everything. It looks around, senses its condition, controls itself, and can even interrupt the visitation of the grace of the spirit of prayer.

In the second stage, as the Holy Fathers teach, and especially St. Isaac the Syrian, we have a completely different state. It is characterized as ecstasy or rapture. The soul, intoxicated by Divine Grace, ceases to perceive earthly and sensory things. It is unable to control itself or influence the state in which it finds itself.

The patristic texts mention that someone began praying at night, fell into this state, and came to in the morning. For some, this state was accompanied by a glow on the face or a radiance around them. For others, by levitation above the ground. The Apostle Paul, in this state, “ascended to the third heaven.” And the holy prophets conveyed God’s will in this manner. Marvel at the Lord’s mercy. One exerts a little effort, and to what heights one is deemed worthy to ascend! That is why we must encourage every brother: “Strive, it is worth the effort!”

“Never pray hastily. Pray with the mind and heart fully engaged in the meaning of the prayer. Prepare yourself before prayer by gathering your thoughts and striving with focused attention to stand before the Lord. A basic prerequisite for good prayer is repentance. We are all sinners, and God “will not despise a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.” In every prayer, remember the sins you have committed.

What am I trying to achieve through prayer? To warm the heart with love for God and to keep the sense of God’s presence alive. The Lord’s Prayer helps greatly in this: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Say this prayer often, until your tongue becomes accustomed to repeating it on its own. To make progress in prayer, one must strive to adorn one’s heart with all the virtues. Above all, with humility, repentance, and self-denial. God sees everything and hears everything. He knows all our secrets. That is why we must cleanse every stain from ourselves. And whenever something impure comes to our mind or heart, let us immediately cast it aside and immediately turn to prayer.”

Every turning of the mind and heart toward God is true prayer. If, while you are working, you remember God, that constitutes prayer. St. Basil asks the question: “How could the apostles pray without ceasing?” And he gives the answer: “In all their activities, their thoughts were on God, and they lived constantly devoted to Him. This inner disposition of theirs constituted unceasing prayer.”

You who live in the world must, on the one hand, remove every sinful thought from your heart and, on the other hand, dedicate all your activities to God. This reference to God transforms every action into prayer. The Holy Scriptures state that the blood of Abel cries out to God. In a similar way, deeds dedicated to God cry out to Him.

Once, they offered a monk some fine food. As soon as he took it, he said:

– “How awful it smells…”

They asked him:

– “How is that possible?”

And he explained to them that it had been sent by a person without a good disposition or a good life.

Every deed is imbued with the feelings with which it is performed. Those who have a pure heart can sense this. Just as flowers give off a fragrance, so do deeds done with good intentions. The fragrance of good deeds rises to heaven, just like incense.

Your trials have not ceased. Do you think God allows this in vain? He allows it because He loves you. Through your trials, He purifies you, making you shine like a diamond in the sun. He even smooths the path for you to the Kingdom of Heaven. The chariot by which one arrives there is patience. And patience can only be acquired through trials. “That is precisely why they are sent.”

“May the Lord bless your efforts toward unceasing prayer. It is an unbreakable spiritual law that God grants us whatever beneficial thing we ask of Him. Divine help is always ready to be given to us and is always near us. But we must ask for it. It is granted to us in abundance when there is no help to be found anywhere else and we turn to the Lord with all our hearts.

But as long as we rely proudly on our own human strength, the Lord does not intervene. It is as if He were saying:

– “You hope to succeed on your own. You believe in the idol of your own self. So wait…”

May the Lord grant us “a contrite spirit, a broken and humbled heart” (Ps. 50:19), so that we may always take refuge in Him.”

“The quality and quantity of our prayer reveal the state of our relationship with God and the level of our spiritual life. That is why we see saints beginning their prayer at sunset and continuing it all night long, until sunrise and even beyond. Their prayer lifts them up to the heavenly Father and the saints, who comfort and gladden them.”

“You desire to know mental prayer. You desire a good and wonderful work! However, it is difficult for anyone to progress in the prayer of Jesus unless they are accustomed to concentrating generally in every prayer. So follow this method: Focus your attention on the words and meanings of certain psalms or other short prayers that suit your inner state. Repeat them often with deep feeling, and intersperse the Jesus Prayer among them. Later, add invocations to the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints, as well as prayers for the living and the dead.” “The prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me’ is a powerful and effective weapon. And this is because the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is feared by the enemies of our salvation and blessed by the saints.”

“True prayer is a divine gift. Pray fervently to God to grant it to you. Coldness in prayer is the result of judgment, anger, and rage, worldly interests and preoccupations, carnal gratifications and pleasures… Guard yourselves against all these things, and it will subside.”

Αναδημοσίευση από

Christ is Risen

 Saint Gregory the Theologian:

“Today is the hope of salvation, today is joy for the world... Christ is Risen, and He has resurrected us.”

Basil the Great:

“The Resurrection of Christ is the Resurrection of human nature.”

Saint Porphyry of Kavsokalyvite:

“Christ is life, joy, peace, everything. Whoever believes in the Resurrection fears nothing.”

Saint Silouan the Athonite:

“When the soul recognizes the Risen Christ, it is filled with such joy that it no longer wants anything else on earth.”

That is why those who do not have Christ within them do not have the strength to love truly.

 

If man is not united with Christ, he cannot have true love, he cannot love truly and will have the ordinary love that the world has, that the "good morning" endures, until they do not bother him. Then the love and the "good morning" are cut off...

That is why those who do not have Christ within them do not have the strength to love truly. Because Christ is the leader of love.

Dimitrios Panagopoulos Preacher †

Do not be afraid, whatever happens. Christ sees.

 

Do not be afraid, whatever happens. Christ sees. Whatever He allows is for your humiliation and salvation. Trust in the Lord and He will not abandon you.

When God sees that your strength has been exhausted and that you have despaired of yourself, then He intervenes. He does not want your self-love as an accomplice.

I do not care at all. I have learned to rest in God, and He acts. When you entrust your care to God, then your soul also rests. Whatever You will, Lord, as You will, when You will. I trust in You. Grace comes and the soul becomes light, it no longer wants anything other than the will of God.

➕ Saint Joseph the Hesychast

 

 

The devil wins when you look at him. Christ wins when you love Him.

 

Are your thoughts tormenting you? Saint Porphyrios explained it clearly… “Don’t dwell on the darkness. Turn on the light. Draw near to Christ, and the evil thoughts will vanish.” “The devil wins when you look at him. Christ wins when you love Him.”

A thirsty cry opened the gates of Paradise.

 The best prayers come from those who have nothing left to lose but their souls.

You see hearts that are barren, yet within them roses bloom.

Young people, boys and girls, seeking out the priest to speak with him, to find the truth their souls are searching for.

There are these young people, too.

These are miracles.

A young person stops you and says:

“I want to talk, Father, something is weighing on my conscience and I want to tell you.”

Yes, that kid!

From the café, with an earring in their ear or eyebrow.

With a tattoo of a forgotten love and headphones blasting Iron Maiden.

You’re talking to a group of young people in a café and you feel the table with the frappés turning into a little chapel of Christ’s presence, because let’s not forget: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt. 18:20).

And to walk into the church and not have time to dodge the jabs, especially from people who are “close to the priest” and “the church.”

And to have a theological discussion with the rocker kid you never would have imagined in your wildest dreams.

And yet, amidst this quagmire, baptism speaks within.

A prayer, perhaps, from a grandmother, a mother kneeling before the icons, begging not for brides, grooms, jobs, or money, but for repentance and the Kingdom of Heaven.

A candidate for sainthood in search of a spiritual home.

These are miracles.

That little lamp in the heart that hasn’t gone out yet—and is rekindled by a prayer.

And then it begins to illuminate the human heart, so that the world may smell of truth.

And this “bad boy” of the world begins to see the forgotten treasure within him and goes to the confessor to have it polished so it shines again.

These are acts of repentance!

From those whom the world had already written off, but who, in God’s eyes, are among the bravest.

It makes you see God’s presence as a “gentle whisper” in thirsty souls.

And on the other hand, you see the lady in the suit, a fan-shaped pastry in hand, begging Christ at every prayer for rabbits with stone-hard hearts, just so the world can smell her selfishness.

And as soon as she sees the child with the earring, she’ll say: “That little brat, eh, what do you expect from so-and-so’s son.”

And whenever she sees you, she’ll say with the saleswoman’s smile: “Your blessing, Father.”

And after 30 years in the church, she hasn’t understood a thing.

She feels that with a few donations and some Epitaph decorations, she has a VIP spot in paradise.

Poor woman…

In the end, God is where He cannot be seen.

He hides and shines within the stillness of silence.

Something like the sun.

When the sun rises, it makes no noise; it does not speak like the waves or the wind.

It simply reveals itself through its radiance and warmth.

That almighty presence of His is enough.

That is how Christ acts.

He comes when those who are truly thirsty call upon Him.

But when the self-righteous and the Pharisees provoke Him, He withdraws,

because the space is closed to Him.

 

Let us not forget, my beloved, that Paradise was opened by a thief with a single “I remember.”

A thirsty cry opened the gates of Paradise.

 

"The illiterate grandmother and the Gospel.."

  

A  certain illiterate but pious grandmother went to Church one day and heard the preacher say:

He who does not read the Holy Bible will not be saved!

As soon as the grandmother heard this word, she turned pale, became disappointed and, returning home, said to her daughter:

My child, I will go to hell, because I do not read the Holy Bible!

Her daughter tried to reassure her, but in vain.

One day, the grandmother decided to go to an enlightened elder, to help her.

As soon as the grandmother saw him, she said to him:

My father, I will not be saved, because I do not read the Holy Bible, because I am illiterate!

But the elder reassured her and said to her:

And how were so many illiterate people saved, grandmother? In fact, we also have Saints who were completely illiterate! How were they saved? Letters do not save, but neither does illiteracy bring damnation.

So, grandmother, you will do this: You will take the Gospel, open it to the first page, put your palm on the Gospel and then go to the iconostasis and say the following prayer: ''My Christ, what you write in the Gospel, put into my heart!''.

The next day you will put your palm on the second page and so on.

The grandmother applied the elder's words to the letter for several months. One day at home, her grandchildren were playing and began to speak badly and criticize.

The grandmother heard this and observed them, telling them:

My children, do not judge so that you will not be judged!

Her daughter is a bone!

Mother, what you said, where did you hear it and say it? This is what the Gospel says, you are illiterate, who told you?

My child, I did not hear it from somewhere, but it came from my heart!

From that moment on, the grandmother began to reproduce words of the Gospel, without understanding it! Because the grandmother obeyed the elder with faith and simplicity, Christ began to implant the words of the Gospel in her heart.

What will save us is faith in Christ and not our education.

Besides, Christ chose illiterate people as His Disciples, to show that He can make you all-wise, even if you are illiterate, as long as one has faith and humility..

Elder Ephraim of the Skete of Saint Andrew

Let us therefore, my brothers, take care to guard our conscience, as long as we are still in this world

 Even if the world today has become worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, be careful to make peace with your enemy while you are still in this life.

 “Conscience is called an adversary because it always opposes our evil will and checks us for what we should do and do not do and accuses us for what we do and should not do.” That is why it is said that the best pillow is a quiet conscience.

Go to sleep. When you have remorse of conscience, you cannot sleep, no matter how many sedatives you take. You will have to settle your adversary, your adversary. You must forgive! Conscience says, you must forgive and you say, no, I will keep my character, I do not want to forgive, I do not want to be humiliated, I do everything, let him do it too… and you cannot sleep. Conscience does not let you, the adversary, the rival.

“Have good relations with your rival, while you are still walking together on the road”. In this life. Do not leave it after death. After death you cannot sort out your conscience. After death your conscience will be your condemnation. “The road is, as St. Basil says, this world”. While you are on the road, while you are in this world, sort things out with your conscience, find them, sort out your conscience. And we know what sorting out is, repentance and confession, the correction of evil. Behold, what great things confession offers, which no psychiatrist, psychologist, medicine, or anything can give you! It calms your conscience, because the Holy Spirit comes and tells you, my child, it is as if you had not done it. It is finished... I erase it, I erase it... and the person calms down.

“Let us therefore, my brothers, take care to guard our conscience, as long as we are still in this world, without provoking it to control us for anything, without trampling on it in anything at all, not even in the slightest.” Do not let your conscience control you. Since you know, what you will do now, your conscience will control you later.

The Ascetic Writings of Abba Dorotheos.