HOLY SILENCE

How can you complain about life if you don't pray? How can you be angry with God when you don't speak to Him, or, more importantly, listen to Him? The time has come to elevate your life. The only way to do this is by communicating with God, which is prayer. The great saint tells us: "Prayer is the exaltation of the nous* and the heart to God, so they can give glory and thanks to Him." - St. Theophan the Recluse * For the Orthodox Christian, the nous is often called the eye of

God knows everything about us. But do we know everything about ourselves? We must commit to uncovering the things we have done to harm ourselves and others. When we're honest about these sins and transgressions, we participate in the catharsis necessary for theoria (illumination). "Do not try to conceal yourself, covering your nakedness with a fig leaf and hiding in the bushes from the Lord, who comes to you in the conscience and exposes you. Blame yourself completely, and as

"The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). To be born from above means we must let down our barriers and allow the Father to continue the creating that He began in us long before our parents knew each other. To be born from above means we must let go our of our sins and allow the Son to continue the redeeming and recapitulating in us tha

"Do not overlook the fact that health does not depend on food alone, but above all on inner peace. Life in God, cutting us off from worldly turmoil, brings peace to the heart and, through this, keeps the body also in good health. "Activities are not the main thing in life. The most important thing is to have the heart directed and attuned to God." - St. Theophan the Recluse. "Work, Inner and External." The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, Timothy Ware, ed., Faber and Fab

"By Your Nativity, O Most Pure Virgin, Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness; Adam and Eve, from the corruption of death. And we, your people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to you: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life!" - Kontakion (a hymn) from the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos taken from “Nativity of the Theotokos.” Orthodox Wiki, https://orthodoxwiki.org/Nativity_of_the_Theotokos. #Theotokos #Virgin #Adama

"The most important work that a spiritual wrestler can do, is to enter within the heart, there to fight Satan; to hate and repel the thoughts that he inspires and to wage war upon him." - St. Makarios of Egypt. "Fighting Satan in the Heart." The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, Timothy Ware, Editor, Faber & Faber, 1966, p. 201. #Satan #Evil #PrayerAgainstEvil #PrayeroftheHeart #Sin #Sinner #Renewal #Repentance

This is a vocal prayer, which is added in after the reading of the Third Kneeling Prayer on Pentecost. It, too, gives us some passages on which to meditate (the bold type is added to assist you in choosing a meditation), though fewer than the other Kneeling Prayers. As such, it is possible to say that this prayer is more catechetical and confessional than theological, meaning there is a basic education within it, which seeks to keep us on track, so to speak, not allowing us t

This is a vocal prayer, which is added in after the reading of the Second Kneeling Prayer on Pentecost. It, too, gives us much to meditate on (the bold type is added to assist you in choosing a meditation), particularly in the nexus of Catharsis and Theoria. Notice that this prayer is dedicated to Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. Understand, too, that it functions as a prayer of deliverance, meaning that it is a pleading to God to release us from sin,

Below is a vocal prayer that offers much to meditate upon (the bold type is added to assist you in starting a meditation). Before you read it, though, understand some its background. Pentecost is both a particular Feast Day and a time period in the Church calendar that spiritually, theologically, and psychologically affirms the role of the Holy Spirit within the Most Holy Trinity, as well as in our lives. During Vespers, on the evening of the same day we have celebrated the D

"...there is something which has originated directly from Satan. From him comes a vague timidity and fear that troubles the soul of a sinner at all times, and especially whenever he conceives of something good... Such a revelation of the intrigues of the evil one brings a sinner to understand that he is in wicked and hostile hands, that he has been fooled and duped to spite himself... As a consequence, there arise prudence, suspicion, and disgust towards both the cunning one

"This world - with its ideas, principles, rules, and in general, with all its order, which has been elevated to the status of an unalterable law - lays its heavy, dominating hand upon all its children. Consequently none of them even dares to think about rising up against it or spurning its power and authority. Everybody holds it in reverence, and with some timidity, adheres to its rules. Their breach is considered to be a criminal offense. The world is not a person, but its s

"Release your spirit, give freedom to it, and it will flow towards that from which it was taken - towards God." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p. 24 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #StTheophantheRecluse #Spirituality #SpiritualTheology #Freedom #God #Renewal

"Our spirit, as we have seen, is closed and stifled by many coverings. But by its nature, the human spirit is a spectator of the divine order. This capacity for contemplation is immediately ready to manifest its power, and it really does manifest itself as soon as the obstacles which have bound this capacity are removed. Therefore, in order to awaken the slumbering spirit in a man and to introduce it to contemplation of the divine order, God's grace acts either: (1) directly

The days and weeks after Pascha (Easter) are ripe with opportunity to open yourself to God in a new and more complete way. Look to the Resurrected Christ for a new-found freedom that places your focus on the time when you will be with Him in the Heavenly Kingdom. Look to the Feast of the Ascension, which reveals your own Heavenly journey in a specific way. Look to the holiness that the Holy Spirit offers you on a daily basis. Allow the fire of Pentecost to descend through you

God will sometimes grant a person external manifestations of the Divine Order, which are quite often visions that are revealed while awake or in sleep. Sometimes God will grant a person an inward, prayerful freedom, which is the ability to contemplate the divine order. In the coming posts, we will explore what each of these mean in detail. For now, meditate on these questions: "Have I explored my life of prayer and actions?" "Am I focused on myself and/or the world? "Do I rea

"It is remarkable that this grace-given awakening is always accompanied by a startling and by some kind of fright. This startling and fear occur perhaps because of the suddenness of the awakening. This awakening is like grabbing a sinner at the crossroads of life as if he were a criminal, and placing him before the inexorable judgment of God. Or this startling may take place because the new order which is being revealed to his consciousness is so absolutely new for him and so

Even though we can never truly grasp God's brilliant complexity and awestriking luminosity, He is always inviting us onto a pathway of understanding that goes beyond our current comprehension. When we open our minds and hearts in contemplation of Him, we find in us an interior bond of art and science drenched with a love that longs to be eternally in His presence. eternal perfection. #God #luminousdarkness #MysticalTheology #Renewal #Love #prayer #MeditativePrayer

"The true Christian life is the grace-given life. Self-made life - however beautiful in appearance it may be and to whatever outward forms of the Christian life it may adhere - can never be Christian. The beginning of the true Christian life is established in a grace-given awakening." - St. Theophan the Recluse, Turning the Heart to God, p.17 (published separately, this is the second part of The Path to Salvation). #Christian #Christ #Grace #Renewal #Redemption #Redeemer #Dis

"In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) these moments (cf. "Wake Up to the Light of Christ") are indicated in the following way. First, he came to himself - this means that he came to his senses and collected himself. Then he said, I will arise and go - meaning that he intends to stop his former way of life. Then, he arose, and went to his father and said, I have sinned. This is his repentance. And then the father clothed him in his best robe (which indicates his

"'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light' (Ephesians 5:14). This comparison of sinners to those who are asleep gives us certain points for a comprehensive examination of their conversion to God. For example, with one who is asleep: first he wakes up, then he gets out of bed, and finally he makes up his mind to go do something. So also with a sinner who turns towards God and repents: first he wakes up from the sleep of sin, then he comes to