The Or☦hodox Nepsis

St. Isaac of Syria writes in his second “Word”: ”Take an effort to enter your own inner world, and you will see the heavenly world there, for the former and the latter are one and the same thing, and on entering one you see both. The Ladder to the Heavenly Kingdom is within you, hidden in your soul. Immerse into yourself away from sin, and you will find the steps along which you will be able to go up.” The Lord said: “The Kingdom of God is within you.” For this reason the Holy Fathers urgently advise us to say the Jesus Prayer as often as possible. Man enters inside himself through this prayer. I am writing about this now, because during the long divine services in the church, especially during the Lent period, it feels good and easy to say the Jesus Prayer repeatedly for a longer period of time. I advise you not to ignore this precept of the Holy Fathers. The devil in every possible way tries to distract man from doing this.
You must be aware of this and resist him, and induce yourself to this wonderful prayer.
The Lord has opened for us the entrance to the Kingdom of God here on earth, but we would rather look for the miserable crumbs of the truth in science, philosophy and elsewhere, except the Gospel and the works of the Holy Fathers, who have fulfilled the Gospel in their deeds. Miserable people we are, aren’t we? We voluntary doom ourselves to an almost animal-like existence, and at that, blame others for the hard life. The reward is due of our deeds.
One thing just came back to my mind: when attending a lecture you may find dull and uninteresting, but no other occupation is possible, why not taking “exercise” in the Jesus Prayer? The word “exercise” is a frequently used word, but using it with regard to a prayer, people show that they do not know what prayer is about. Man should not “exercise” praying (one can go as far as getting “training” in praying), but when praying he should stay in awe before God , and, fully admitting his own unworthiness even to pronounce the name of God and only hoping for His mercy, with fear and full attention say the words of the prayer.
The right prayer will soon teach man’s heart how to behave when praying.
There is a precept telling us to pray incessantly. Prayer helps man rise from the worldliness, become untouchable for the bunch of creeps, ”cursed to go on their belly,” and be free like a bird breaking out from its cage. This is the implication of the expression of the Fathers “ to tear off the earth.” But we, contrary to this good advice, have stepped away from God and tied ourselves to the earth and go on our belly there, eating dust – passions – and tormenting ourselves and others. We are going in the light of our own source, having rejected the light of God. Satan offered Jesus Christ all the kingdoms of the world for giving in to him. We, unlike Him, disregarding our dignity, willingly agree to submit to Satan, ready to bow and to be at his service any moment, like serves, just to have thin soup in abundance for our meals. This is how human soul may be blinded by man’s daily vanity. Again, it is pertinent to remember good advice: Do not overburden your hearts with overeating, hard drinking and vanity. Alas! Man did not comprehend his honor, and became like unreasonable beast.
Forgive me for unrequested advising. May be something will stick to you, and I may at least have my “feelings vented,” for I just talk and do not do what I must. Woe to me! I like the time of the Lent!

#Abbot_Nikon_Vorobiev
#spiritual_letters

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Let no one expect to see the sky when they are happy — this is impossible! With luxury, let no one hope to walk the narrow path of Christ — it is impossible!

#John_Chrysostom
#Orthodox_Saints

One of those who love Christ and who possessed the gift of almsgiving used to say that he who offers alms ought to offer as though he were himself receiving. Such almsgiving brings one near to God.

#Sayings_of_the_desert_fathers

64
Blessed is he who has become magnanimous and kindhearted and not enslaved himself to untamed vehemence or wicked wrath; he will be magnified by the Lord.
Blessed is he who has been exalted in love and stands like a city built on a mountaintop, for whom the enemy withdraws with terror when he sees him; for he fears a man who is firm in the Lord.
Blessed is he who has shone forth with faith in the Lord like a bright candle on a tall candlestick, and has illumined the souls of those in darkness who followed the teachings of the faithless and the irreverent.
Blessed is he who ever loves truth and does not let his lips arm dishonor with lies, for he fears the commandment that forbids even idle talk.
Blessed is he who does not foolishly judge his neighbor, but rather, as befits a reasonable, spiritual man, tries first to cast out the beam from his own eye.
Blessed is he who has consciously exercised restraint, and who has never been seduced, neither in thought nor in his senses, by skin and flesh which soon pass and putrefy.
Blessed is he who keeps the day of his departure ever before his eyes, and has learned to hate arrogance before our inherent worthlessness is to be revealed by putrefaction in the grave.

#Ephraim_the_Syrian
#Spiritual_psalter

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Just as the body, when it develops completely in the womb, needs to be born, so the soul, when it reaches the limit of its life in the body set by God, needs to leave the body.

#Anthony_the_Great
#Orthodox_Saints

85. A passion which we allow to grow active within us through our own choice afterwards forces itself upon us against our will.

86. We have a love for the causes of involuntary thoughts, and that is why they come. In the case of voluntary thoughts we clearly have a love not only for the causes but also for the objects with which they are concerned.

87. Presumption and boastfulness are causes of blasphemy. Avarice and self-esteem are causes of cruelty and hypocrisy.

#Mark_the_Ascetic
#philokalia

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Disputation between a Christian and a Saracen by St. John of Damascus

Part 7
And if a Saracen asks you, “How did God descend into the womb of a woman,” say to him, “Let us use your Scripture and my Scripture. Your Scripture says that God purified the Virgin Mary above all other women and the Spirit of God and the Word
descended into her; and my Gospel says “The Holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Behold, both statements are saying the
same thing but notice this that in reference to our language, Scripture speaks of the ascent and descent of God figuratively, not literally, for ascent and descent according to the philosophers are properly predicated of bodies.
God, however, contains all things, but isn't contained by any place. For a certain one of the prophets says :"how measured the seas by his hand, and the heavens by the palm of his hand, and the whole earth is in the hollow of his hand and all the waters are under the hand of God".
And how can it be, that He who the Universe in his hands, descends and ascends?

#John_of_damascus
#heresy_of_islam

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Christian! Be, and don’t seem to be: this is one of the important rules for you.

#Philaret_of_Moscow
#Orthodox_Saints

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If you feel that anger has seized you, keep silent and do not say anything until your heart is calmed by incessant prayer and self-reproach!

#Hilarion_of_Optina
#orthodox_Saints

Another official was returning to Constantinople from Palestine when, in the region of Tyre, he encountered a blind man on the road who had no guide.
Turning aside a little from the road on hearing the grooms arguing, he stretched out his hands, and began uttering pitiful, miserable things, soliciting charity from him, but [the official] paid no attention to him and passed him by. But a little further on he changed his mind and checked his horse.
Taking out his purse he took out one trimesis,* went back in person to the pauper and presented him with the trimesis. On receiving it [the blind man] made this declaration to him: “I have confidence in God that the commandment itself will deliver you from temptation” [see Mt 6:13, Lk 11:4]. The official received the declaration with confidence. He went off into the city and found the governor there; also some soldiers on active service, spearmen requesting to be embarked by him. When the soldiers saw the official they requested him to ask the governor to give them a vessel in which they could get away from the city. Swayed by their request, he appeared before the governor and, while he was speaking to him about providing post-horses for himself, he asked about the soldiers too. So, with a smile, the governor said to the soldiers: “If you want me to dismiss you, persuade the official to sail with you and you shall be dismissed forthwith.” On hearing this, they persisted in requesting the official to consent to sail with them and, when he agreed, the governor gave them the vessel. Off they sailed together, the official and thesoldiers, catching a fair wind. But it happened that, during the night, troubled by his belly, the official got up for a call of nature. While he was at the side of the vessel he was struck by the sail and fell into the sea. The sailors heard his fall but, since it was night and the wind was fair, they were unable to rescue him. The official was carried away on the water, expecting to die. Next day, however, by the will of God, there was a vessel coming and, when those on board saw him, they took him up and they entered the city to which the soldiers came too. Now the sailors of both vessels having gone ashore came to be in a certain tavern and it came about that one of the sailors from the vessel out of which the official had fallen recalled him. He sighed and said: “What on earth happened to that official?” When the sailors of the other vessel heard this, they asked what official he sighed about. When they learnt of the matter, they said to them: “We saved him and we have him with us!” The others were delighted on learning this; they came and fetched him.
The official explained to them: “The blind man to whom I gave the trimesis on the road, he held me up, walking on the water.” On hearing this they glorified the Saviour and God. From this we learn that almsgiving done on purpose is not lost, for God rewards the giver in a time of necessity.
Following Holy Scripture, let us not hold back from doing good to someone in need when our hand can help him.

#Sayings_of_the_desert_fathers

82. When a sinful soul does not accept the afflictions that come to it, the angels say : 'We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed' (Jer. 51:9)

83. When an intellect forgets real knowledge, it fights with men for harmful things as though they were helpful.

84. Fire cannot last long in water, nor can a shameful thought in a heart that loves God. For every man who loves God suffers gladly, and voluntary suffering is by nature the enemy of sensual pleasure.

#Mark_the_Ascetic
#philokalia

I wrote to O. that whoever is seriously seeking the Kingdom of God would feel loneliness, but the Lord will send the searchers on the way to this goal such consolations that no earthly joys are able to come in comparison with them.
It is only necessary to go forward, like Ignatiy (Bryanchaninov), without
glancing back.
Did Nikolay Germanovhich tell you what No. 11 says about freemasonry?
Please read this very attentively. We all must beseech spiritual wisdom, because close beside it there is devilish wisdom.
People, in fact, in their essence, in their core, are much better, than what they appear to be in daily life. Image of God at creation and grace received at the Baptism – this is what makes up man’s true, original, personality, his “own self,” his “I.” This is a great gift of God. A new center of self consciousness, “one’s own self,” self-aware of itself and of the entire world around, has come out from non-existence. This “my own self,” “Me” is equal to the whole Universe, because “I” as a self-aware personality has the whole Universe and even God as his objects. This “I-person” strives for perceiving and making part of himself the whole Universe and God Himself. “You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.” So, this kind of knowledge is permitted to man by the Creator; man is called to acquire knowledge, but only in a rightful way. This is how high man’s status is! That is why sometimes man looks so winsome, though his great original “essence” is not manifest, as if lying in the grave covered by empiric rubbish: shallow knowledge, feelings, petty interests, occupations and goals. “Man being in honor, abideth not…” In youth – and some people always – many are able to feel the depth of human soul through their empiric sensitivity. With the time, permanent encounter with the “old” – empiric man - makes one be careful with him, to which our Savior calls us. I will not expatiate on this further, though there is much what can be said on this topic. I hope the above would suffice.
The other day, I was reading, though rapidly and without due attention, “The Karamazov Brothers.” This is where human soul is revealed! The scientific psychology looks a poor parody before the psychology of Dostoyevsky. Once I was so naive as to seek knowledge of human soul attending courses on psychology. It is amazing how many silly things a young man may do without due supervision. My condition was as if I were living in woods. The Prince of this world blinds people, so that they have to blunder their way along and therefore they move stepping out from one puddle into another.
Science lies if it claims its data to be absolute, for tomorrow science will reject its achievements of today; Art is conscious falsifcation for the most part; politics is always full of deceit, falsehood and crime – all things here should be seen the other way round; what is known as “life,” is nothing but “vanity of vanities; all is vanity;” and what is more important, there is pettiness and emptiness, lies and lies without end. In short, this is an “era of lying,” the realm of the prince of this world.
I am writing this letter in the morning, with a refreshed strength, and therefore have lost myself in chattering and got carried away by philosophizing.
My dear, try to break away from “unreality” to the “reality” in your own expression; from empiricism to noumenal reality, where there is truth, peace and joy. Cling to the Savior. He is the Way, the Truth and Life.
He is the Door for us to enter into the truth and eternal life. Only with His help we can break away from the vanity and the kingdom of the devil and get into the Kingdom of God.
We all are blocked up by the rubbish, but a small light of the authentic human core is glimmering no matter what.

#Abbot_Nikon_Vorobiev
#spiritual_letters

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For the one who loves his soul, for the one who does not dare to self-sacrifice, the Gospel is closed: he reads the letter; but the word of life, like the Spirit, remains for him under an impenetrable veil. When the Lord was on earth in the most holy flesh, many saw Him and, together, did not see Him. What is the use when a person looks with bodily eyes, which he shares with animals, but sees nothing with the eyes of the soul with the mind and heart?

#Ignatius_Bryanchaninov
#orthodox_Saints

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We do not know what is useful to us, to the extent that God knows, therefore, whether we have received or not, we should thank.

#John_Chrysostom
#Orthodox_Saints

One of the fathers used to say that there was an official sent on an imperial mission who found a dead pauper lying naked on the road. Moved with compassion, he said to his servant: “Take the horse and go on a little.” He dismounted, took off one of his shirts, put it on the dead man lying [there] and went his way. Some days later the same official was again sent out on a mission and, as he was leaving the city, he happened to fall from his horse and his foot was broken. His servant took him back to his house and the doctors took care of him, but after five days his foot turned black. When the doctors saw that the foot had turned black, they signalled to each other that the foot ought to be amputated; otherwise, the whole body would become septic and the man would die. They said to him: “We will come in the morning and heal you”, but the sick man signalled to his servant to go out after the doctors and find out from them what they wanted [to do]. They said to him: “Your master’s foot has turned black; the man is lost unless we amputate. We will come in the morning and do what God wills.” The slave came in to his lord-and-master weeping and saying: “They are planning to do this-and-this in your case.” [The official] was distressed on hearing this and so fainthearted that he did not sleep. Now there was a lamp burning and, around midnight, he saw a man entering through the window, coming towards him and saying to him: “Why are you weeping? Why are you distressed?” He said: “Sir, do you not want me to weep and to be distressed because [my foot] is broken and the doctors are planning to do this-and-this in my case?” Then the apparition said to him: “Show me your foot”, and he anointed it, saying: “Now get up and walk around.” The sick man said: “It is broken and I cannot.” “Lean on me”, said [the other] to him. He leaned on him and walked around, limping. The apparition said to him: “Are you still lame? Sit down again”, whereupon he anointed him again equally on both his feet and said to him: “Now get up and walk around.” He stood up and walked around healthily. “Sit down and rest”, said [the apparition] and spoke some words to him about almsgiving: that the Lord said: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy” [Mt 5:7] and: “He who has showed no mercy shall have judgement without mercy” [Jas 2:13] and such like things. Then he said to him: “Farewell.” The official said: “Are you leaving?” and he said: “What [more] do you want, when you have become healthy?”
The official said to him: “By the God who sent you, tell me who you are.” “Look at me,” he said to him; “surely you recognise this linen?” “That I do sir,” he said to him, “it is mine.” “And I am the corpse you saw thrown on the road and you threw me the shirt”, the other said to him, “and God sent me to heal you. Always be grateful to God”, and he went out again through the window by which he came. Restored to health [the official] began to glorify God, the cause of every good thing.

#Sayings_of_the_desert_fathers

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In vain do you think that wealth, or abundance, or at least sufficiency would be useful and reassuring for you. The rich are even more worried than the poor or those who lack. Poverty and insufficiency are closer to humility and salvation, if only a person does not lose heart, but with faith and hope relies on the all-good Providence of God. Until now the Lord has fed us - and in the future He is able to do this. Therefore, let us cast our sorrow on the Lord.

#Ambrose_of_Optina
#orthodox_Saints

79· Many of us feel remorse for our sins, yet we gladly accept their causes.

80. A mole burrowing in the earth is blind and cannot see the stars ; and he who does not trust God in temporal things will not trust Him in eternal things.

81. Real knowledge has been given to men by God as a grace preceding the fulness of grace ; it teaches those who partake of it to believe above all in the Giver.

#Mark_the_Ascetic
#philokalia

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It is impossible for people to spend a real day piously, if we do not think that this is the last day of our lives. And it is truly amazing that the pagans uttered something similar to this; for they also believed that love of wisdom consists in thinking about death...
As bread is more necessary than any other food, so the memory of death is more important than all deeds.

#John_of_the_Ladder
#orthodox_Saints

63
Grant me, O Son of the Good One, that for which my mind yearns, and join to it that which is pleasing to Thy will.
Grant that I may choose to do good and in no way deviate from Thy will.
Do not permit me to be a wicked and hypocritical disciple who violates Thy commandments.
Protect me from thinking that I can walk along Thy path merely for the sake of appearance and thus by my hypocrisy deceive those who see me, inciting them to proclaim me blessed.
Grant that my heart might please Thy greatness in secret, and that my just life might glorify Thee publicly.
May truth be a mistress to guide Thy worshipper; may it preserve me in chastity both near and far.
Deliver me from the misfortune of knowing Thy law, yet lacking the desire to please Thee.
Vouchsafe me the company of people who are simple, but experienced and wise in the performance of virtues.
My flesh is weak. Fortify it with Thy strength. Help me, break the arrows of the cunning enemy, and number me among the hosts of Thine heirs.
Grant me, O Lord, ever to be among Thy dominion and to do what is pleasing to Thee. And whenever I begin something good, do Thou, O Lord, give me strength to complete it.
I know, O Lord, that I have sinned against Thy will. Clearly do I see that I have transgressed Thy commands. But do Thou, who makest Thy sun to shine on the bad and the good, deign also to shine Thy light in my clouded mind. And sins--those murderers and robbers who have taken up residence inside of me--will be driven out by this Thy light.
The Evil One sees in me no wickedness that did not come from him, for it is because of him that I have become wicked. I am, however, conquered by him through my own free will. The Evil One has entangled me because I myself instructed him to do so.
The slothful and the timid run from Thy yoke; Thy love shames the negligent.
Praise be to Thy goodness, to that mother of all teachers. The blows that they deliver to bring the stubborn to their senses are perhaps quite painful, yet sympathetically do they offer healing to the penitent.
Worthy of veneration are Thy Father and Thy Holy Spirit, Who rejoices at our return!

#Ephraim_the_Syrian
#Spiritual_psalter

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Try to sell your estate and give it to the poor. And the possessions of the angry are his anger, the adulterer has his adulterous inclination, the vindictive has his malice, etc. Sell it and give it to the poor, that is, to demons who have nothing good. Return your passions to the perpetrators of the passions and then you will have a treasure, that is Christ, in heaven that is in your mind which has risen to a height.
You can have heaven inside you if you become like the One Who is above all the heavens.

#Theophylact_of_Bulgaria
#orthodox_Saints

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Disputation between a Christian and a Saracen by St. John of Damascus

Part 6

And if a Saracen asks you, “the words of God, are they created or uncreated? They pose to us this very difficult question in their effort to prove that the Word of God is created, which is not true. If you answer they are “created,” he will tell you, behold you are affirming that the Word of God was created.
But if you answer “they are uncreated,” he will say, “Behold, all the words of God that exist are uncreated, yet they are not gods.
So, you agree with me that although Christ is the Word of God, he is not God.” For this reason answer with neither “created” nor “uncreated,” but, rather say, “I confess that there is only one hypostatic Word of God, who is uncreated, as you also acknowledge.”
On the other hand, I do not call my Scripture in its entirety “words,” but rather “utterances” of God.
But if he should ask how David the prophet says "The words of the Lord are pure words", and not the utterances of the Lord are pure utterances, tell him that the prophet speaks figuratively and not literally. If he should ask the difference between a figurative and a literal expression, answer that a literal expression is a less exact statement of a thing. But if he by way of objection should ask if it possible that a prophet should utter a less exact statement of a thing, tell him immediately that in the prophets one may find inanimate things spoken of as persons, with eyes and mouth attributed to them, as when the prophet says "The sea saw and fled". Now the sea, tell him, has no eyes, nor is it animated.
And again the same prophet addresses it as though alive, for he says "What ailes thee, O sea, that thou didst flee? The scripture says, the sword devours fleash, but 'to devour' is predicated of a mouth which eats and drinks. A sword cuts, it is true, but does not drink.
In like manner using figuratively language, the prophet called utterances words, though they are not words but utterances.

#John_of_Damascus
#heresy_of_islam

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Lord, give us the humility to love those whom, by the most excellent worldly standards, we should hate. Loving the hateful is the first duty of a saint. If you look deeper, am I not the one most worthy of hatred?"

#Seraphim_Rose

Someone recounted that there was an official, a tax collector who was young and very good-looking, serving on imperial business. In one of the cities he had a friend among the leading citizens who had a younger wife. When he went there [his friend] received him as his guest. He would lodge in his house and eat in the presence of his wife, drawn to him by love. On account of the frequency of his visits to them, unbeknownst to him, the woman began to have logismoi about him. Being a woman of discretion, she showed nothing of this to him but went on suffering. It transpired that he went travelling as usual, but she became ill from the logismoi and took to her bed. Her husband brought doctors to her; examining her, they said to her husband: “... unless she has some mental disease, for physically there is nothing wrong with her.”
Sitting down beside her, her husband implored her at great length, saying: “Tell me what is the matter.” On her guard and blushing, she would confess nothing to begin with, but afterwards she confessed, saying: “You are aware, my lord, that, moved either by love or by generosity, you bring young persons here and I, being a woman, have fallen for the official.” On hearing that, her husband fell silent and when it happened some days later that the official came, he went out and met him. “My brother, you know how I loved you and that out of love I have received you and that you have eaten with my wife?” he said to him. “That is so, my lord-and-master”, the other said, and he said to him: “Now my wife has got logismoi for you.” On hearing this [the young man] not only had no logismoi for her, but, moved by his love [for the husband] was deeply distressed and said to him: “Do not be distressed; God is going to help.” He went away and removed his hair; he took lamnin and smeared it on his head and face until he had burnt them and even his eyebrows too. He destroyed all that beauty and looked like an old leper.
Putting on a veil, he came and found her lying sick with her husband sitting beside her. Uncovering [himself] he showed them [his] head and face and began to say: “The Lord made me like this.” She was amazed at the sight of him, such beauty transformed into such ugliness. God, seeing the man’s action, removed the affliction from her; she immediately arose, casting aside all those logismoi. Then the official took her husband aside and said to him: “Behold, [by the grace] of God your wife has nothing wrong with her; she is never seeing my face again.” Now look: that is to lay down one’s life for love [Jn 15:13] and to render good for good.

#Sayings_of_the_desert_fathers

76. Just as sailors, in the hope of gain, gladly endure the burning heat of the sun, so those who hate wickedness gladly accept reproof. For the former contend with the winds, the latter with passions.

77. Just as flight in winter or on the sabbath day (Matt. 24 : 20)
brings suffering to the flesh and defilement to the soul, so too does resurgence of the passions in an aged body and a consecrated soul.

78. No one is as good and merciful as the Lord. But even He does not forgive the unrepentant.

#Mark_the_Ascetic
#philokalia

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Do not give free rein to your desires, but keep them in your power, directing everything exclusively to one main goal – standing in the will of God and walking according to the will of God. For then all your desires will be right and pious, and you will be at peace with every unpleasant accident, resting in the will of God.

#Nicodemus_the_Athonite
#orthodox_Saints

The characteristic feature that is opposite in the meaning to “pride” is “humbleness.” The latter is appreciated and welcomed by the Gospel, the Mother of God and by the Holy Fathers. No deed alone, without humbleness, is able to protect man from falling into the temptation of the sin of pride and depart from God. It is love that unites man with God, but without humbleness there is no love either.
In conclusion:
1. The attempts by man to find a rational answer to the perplexing question why God has chosen the Incarnation of Lord Jesus Christ as the means for the salvation of humanity, do not remove his perplexity, and man assumes that there might be other ways for God to save people or just to forgive the sinners and let them enter the paradise. First of all, the response could be formulated by the words of St. Paul: “The foolishness of God is wiser" the Son of God acknowledge this way of salvation as the best.
2. If the Lord had not become Man and had not suffered for our sake, we would not be able to perceive the power of God’s love for man. Confronted by the sufferings of our relatives, by harsh expressions of evil, falsehood and cruelty of the world, man is able to overcome all this and reconcile himself to the outcome and not “return the ticket to the world,” using the expression of Ivan Karamazov, remembering that the Creator of the World Himself sufferedto destroy evil and to draw people without any pressure on their will into the Kingdom of goodness and love.
3. When man is able to see the depth of the humankind’s and his own fall and comprehend his nonentity, the ugliness of his soul and his absolute unworthiness to inhabit the Kingdom of God, and also the impossibility for him to improve the situation by his own effort, even if he were able to start his life anew; when, because of that, man falls deeply into despair and is overwhelmed by hopelessness, which used to lead ancient pagans and leads present-day atheists to suicide or to defling God, he will see that the only outcome is to believe in God, Who came to the world to sacrifce Himself for our sins, Who has become the Lamb to take upon Himself the sins of vileness and abomination and the wickedness of the world. This is a belief, that whoever has it and appeals to God sincerely opening his weeping heart, God does not reject him, but despite his dirtiness, restores and covers all his iniquities by His love, making him close to Himself. He raises sinners to the dignity of His sons.
If there had been no Incarnation and Savior’s sufferings, would we have believed in the great love of God for people? No, we would not and would have perished of despair; we might have enter into a venomous conditionand, like Satan, become the enemies of good and adversaries of God. Only the Incarnation and the Cross of the Son of God are in power to save people.
There are no other means or instruments. To fully assess God’s Sacrifce and acknowledge its necessity for man’s salvation one must come to cognition of the power of evil in oneself and in the world.

#Abbot_Nikon_Vorobiev
#spiritual_letters

It was God’s good will to have close around reasonable and free beings to enjoy His good gift of blessedness and to participate in His life – to “be
partakers of His divine nature.” (2 Pet. 1:4) To this end, He first created the angelic world and then man. Some angels misused their freedom, desired not to be one with God, counter-posed themselves to God, became arrogant and,
unable to participate in the Divine life, were thrown down from the heaven and cursed to “go down on their belly, rotting in their passions and eating dust all the days of their life” without God.
Man also fell, but not in the same way as the angels. Before creating man, God had foreseen that man would not be able to stay faithful to Him foreverand properly appreciate His gifts - the blissful life in the paradise and his own original dignity and qualities. To appreciate these gifts accordingly; to love God with all his heart, mind and being; and to understand that away from God, he will always suffer; that his real joy comes from the communion with God and from his heartfelt love for God, man has to take a special path in life,along which he may experience evil, all kinds of hardships and meet hisdeath.
Further, man has to comethrough his own experience - to understanding that he is unable to restore the communion with God all by himself. This communion is possible only after cleaning his body and soul of the accumulated filth, which, according to a thousand-year experience, is impossible for anyone to do alone, by oneself. Man, who relies in his life only on his own forces, exists without God in his earthly life and so also after death, will have to be where there is no God – go down to the hell.
When humanity comprehended this truth, the Lord did something to make the heaven (angelic world) and earth (the Universe) shudder. The Lord Himself “came down from Heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man,” voluntarily submitted Himself to persecution, spitting, and the Crucifxion in order to save man by making him one whole with Himself and by having endured on his behalf everything, what everyman would have had to endure to restore his communion with God. The love of God that revealed itself in this Sacrifce is so great that it cannot but winover and draw to itself even the most hardened heart.
To be saved, man must during his earthly life to achieve the following: to come to belief in God; to comprehend his own fallen nature; to turn to God;to reciprocate His love with his own love by proving it with his life according to His word; to become unable to use his free will against God - not under pressure or by force of external circumstances, but because of his devotion, love and gratitude to God.
There might be some other ways to man’s salvation, as some Holy Fathers thought possible on grounds that God is All-Powerful and can save by different ways, but, proceeding from the Divine properties, it seems to beright and proper to conclude that the way chosen by God is the best and shortest.
Man’s “ego,” the “personality” claim to have an independent existence,positioning Man as the center of all the things around him - as the “subject”in relation to all and everything around him as the “objects.” Among the objects, there is not only the entire Universe, but God as well. Hence the incessant temptation of exalting himself and of submitting to his will all objects, including - O, horror! God – and seeing in all these “objects” arefection, or sort of extension of his “ego.” And the more talents man claims to have, the easier it is for him to slide down into this temptation. There is also the devil, whose position to God and world is finally determined as unwaveringly hostile, ready to assist man in this.
That is why God had to choose the “special path” for man so that he should not exalt himself in the other world, following the example of the devil, but consciously and sincerely loved Him and submitted to Him once and forever without the slightest possibility of departing from Him.
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Lord, give us the humility to love those whom, by the most excellent worldly standards, we should hate. Loving the hateful is the first duty of a saint. If you look deeper, am I not the one most worthy of hatred?

#Seraphim_Rose

An anchorite saw one demon inciting another one to go and awaken a sleeping monk and he heard the other one saying: “I cannot do that because I did awaken him once. He got up and burnt me, singing psalms and praying.”

#Sayings_of_the_desert_fathers

73. When through some sensual pleasure the heart is deflected from the ascetic way, it becomes difficult to control, like a heavy stone dislodged on steep ground.

74· Like a young calf which, in its search for grazing, finds itself on a ledge surrounded by precipices, the soul is gradually led astray by its thoughts.

75· When the intellect, having grown to full maturity in the Lord, wrenches the soul from long-continued prepossession, the heart suffers torments as if on the rack, since intellect and passion drag it in opposite directions.

#Mark_the_Ascetic
#philokalia

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One must know that what death serves for people is what falling serves for Angels. For after the fall, repentance is impossible for them, just as it is impossible for people after death.

#John_of_Damascus
#orthodox_Saints

62
Fear, O soul, the judgement and gehenna, and drive away the heavy sleep of apathy and the terrible slumber of recklessness. The end is near, the judgement is at the door. What will we encounter after we take leave of this life?
Come to my aid, O saints and righteous ones, who have performed good deeds unto salvation and lament for me as for one deceased, or take pity on me as one who is among the living but half-dead. For I am full of shame and lack boldness because of the sins I have knowingly committed.
Pour out on me your kindness as you would for a prisoner or for one covered with festering sores. Be kind to me, O initiates of the merciful God, our Savior, and pray that He might freely convert me, and that in the hour of His coming I might not be found unworthy and not hear the terrible condemnation: get away from Me, O worker of deceit. I tell you that I know you not.

#Ephraim_the_Syrian
#spiritual_psalter

#Seraphim_rose

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To a great anchorite who said: “Why do you do battle with me like this, Satan?” Satan took heed, saying:“It is you who mightily does battle with me.”

#Sayings_of_the_desert_fathers