SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Obedience is not to carry out this or that order that you were given, while you object on the inside. Obedience is to subordinate your soul’s convictions so that you may be freed from your evil self. Obedience is to become a slave in order to become free. Purchase your freedom for a small price…And don’t listen to that thought of yours which advises you.” (Elder Joseph the Hesychast) “Obedience is to subordinate the soul to Christ…but this subordination is offered in full fr

“God granted one hundred years while the ark was being made to that generation, and still they did not repent. God summoned beasts that they had never seen and still they showed no remorse. He established a state of peace between the predatory animals and those who are preyed upon, and still they had no awe. God delayed yet seven more days for them, even after Noah and every creature had entered the ark, leaving the gate of the ark open to them. This is a wondrous thing that

“Integrity is all about integration, as opposed to fragmentation and disintegration. A complete human being, one well pleasing to God, is someone who has godly integration within. His or her thoughts and actions, in response to the grace of the Holy Spirit, operate with unison and obedience to God’s will. This is why sinful behavior is so deadly to our souls and bodies over time. It creates fragmentation within. In worst cases, it causes such depravity that a person is almost

“In his disobedience and expulsion from Paradise, man lost the grace of the Holy Spirit (My Spirit shall not remain)…Without the grace of the Holy Spirit, man is easily overcome by the devil, for his willpower alone is incapable of resisting the devil's temptations. Furthermore, his will was weakened through his disobedience and expulsion from Paradise. But he willfully refused God's helping grace (every intent . . . was only evil continually)…Nevertheless, His grace was alwa

“Seth was begotten from Adam and Eve. This threefold relationship illustrates, to a certain extent, the Holy Trinity. Adam had no human father. He was begotten by no one. Thus, he was unbegotten. Seth was begotten from Adam. Eve was neither unbegotten nor begotten. Instead she proceeded from Adam (Genesis 2:21). Therefore, Eve and Seth were related to the unbegotten Adam, but each in a unique manner—Eve proceeded from Adam, but Seth was begotten from him. Each person had his

“From this standpoint, the needs of others are tests of our relationship to the passions that threaten to control our inner life. Whether we close or open our hand to those in need reveals the state of our soul. Are we subject to the passions of greed and avarice? Do we view money as an end in itself? And do we treat our possessions as our cherished treasures? Do we treat riches and material goods as a means to serve God and our fellow persons? Are we selfish and hard-hearted

“In [Genesis 1]verses 26-27, there is a significant pause in the narrative as God reflects within Himself, i.e., among the three divine Persons. Up to this point God simply creates by saying, “Let there be” (vs. 14) or “Let the earth bring forth” (vs. 24). Whatever He names then comes into being. However, in these two verses God first proposes (“Let Us make man” - vs. 26) and then acts: “So God made man” (vs. 27). The use of the pronoun “Us” further reveals creation as the wo

“The Church’s tradition of fasting exists to restore balance between body and soul, between penitence and rejoicing, between us and the world around us…When the body is humbled, our thoughts become more peaceful, too. This is the purpose of fasting.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “Withdrawing from earthly things whets our spiritual appetite for Christ’s heavenly gifts…fasting never devalues earthly things, but in a spirit of gratitude re

“Asceticism does not consist of prohibitions. Asceticism is activity, a working out, a perfection of oneself . . . inspired by the task of inspiration…When you have no theology of asceticism because you believe you’ve got salvation wrapped up, then cultivating virtue has no incentive. All that’s left is activism and activities.” (Father Georges Florovsky, Father Andrew Stephen Damick) “In the first stage a man turns from darkness to light, from the domain of Satan to God; in

“…the life of the apostle – a word that means “one who is sent forth” – is a life that rises above the instinct of retaliation. Among the regrettable consequences of the Fall in the Garden is our lust for blood: literal and figurative. When we are wronged, is not our instinct to wrong in return? When we are hurt, is not our instinct to hurt back? But, here is this challenging text before us: Is it calling us to a higher standard? Are we to respond to our enemies as Christ res