SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“For a believer, “a good life,” is nothing other than the life of Christ. “Christ within us the hope of glory,” St. Paul calls it. That life is revealed to us in the gospels and its pattern has not changed. All of the virtues are nothing less than the character of Christ being shown forth in our lives. They are formed and shaped within us by the work of the Holy Spirit, but not without our own co-suffering with Christ.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “…it is the whole incarnate lif

“If you can’t defeat a passion, let it take over. If you may not, but really want to, then you may.” Such people tolerate no limits, living by the principle, “Take what is yours”, and therefore any “no” is perceived as a challenge. For them the slogan, “Live without limits,” becomes not just a choice, but an ideology legitimizing selfishness…In the long run, a life without limits does not become a search for happiness, but an escape from yourself—from your responsibility, the

“We may abandon God, but He never abandons us. Our actions may cause us to leave His loving embrace, but His love endures…nothing can separate us from God. He is with us, in our health. He is with us in our pain. He is with us in our healing. Yet, regardless of where we are at any given moment, He is still with us.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min, Jackie Morfesis) “The presence of the Holy Spirit, then, brings us into the presence of Christ “through faith” (Eph

“In thinking about darkness and light – and their role in our apprehension of the truth – I cannot but think about Beauty, which is a primary place in which the light of God is made manifest among us (if rightly perceived). The heart that is full of darkness cannot truly perceive beauty: the heart which is full of light, cannot help but perceive it. Perhaps a measure of our heart can be found in how we perceive the world around us: is it primarily a place of beauty or darknes

“Christianity is not a religion of external demands and taboos; it is the worship of God “in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4.23). Our faith must first of all renew the inner person. Then, the inner peace that results from this correction and purification will inevitably manifest itself externally, healing and shaping the outer world aright. Strictly speaking, the external world can only undergo changes for the good, when acting in it are people who have themselves been renewed inter

“Unfortunately, the spirit of moralism which we mentioned earlier, i.e., basing the Christian life on moral improvement, has adversely influenced the piety and spirituality of Christians to a significant degree even here in our land…Guidance that only aims for moral improvement is anthropocentric - it is centered on man, and in it, human effort dominates, and not the Grace of God. It then seems as if it is our own morality that saves us, and not the Grace of God. Life under t

“…the holy and the numinous do not need to exalt themselves with publicity or fanfare. But it will permeate the world, one by one, touching those in their very deepest soul of souls. In the quiet, in the stillness, God speaks to our brokenness. When we cry to Him in our suffering, when no one is looking, He hears. And He comes to us in the cave of our hearts. This is when we receive our callings.” (Jackie Morfesis) “Music is formed by the silence between notes, poetry comes i

“While very detailed instructions are given for other elements of sacrificial rituals, none are given for the means of killing the animals involved. To sacrifice something is not to kill it, but to eat it as a sacred meal. This required its death, whether the sacrifice was of animals or plants (such as first fruits from the harvest and grain offerings).” (Fr. Stephen De Young) “…the empty formalism of ritual sacrifices will not make up for sin. Perfunctory religious practices

“Throw out of your head the idea that you can, through a comfortable life, become what you must be in Christ!...We think as humans, and God thinks differently—there is a deep meaning in His actions, aimed above all at the salvation of our souls. For example, we often think, “This is my place, I feel comfortable here, and it is here that I can attain salvation.” But the Lord sees everything differently and puts us in circumstances that seem very unpleasant to us, but it is thi

“Despondency is often confused with sadness, a feeling of grief for specific sins or losses. However, it is known that sorrow can also be useful: for example, Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation (2 Cor. 7:10). But despondency is aimless, all-encompassing melancholy, despair of God’s mercy, and depletion of love for God and others…it is sadness that turns into self-centered despair, an extremely dangerous degree of despondency. St. Theophan the Recluse called