SACRAMENTAL LIVING

Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life

God's Nature/Our Nature

“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

Light

“In all of creation light is the first thing spoken into existence. “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The finite mind is tempted to ask, “How can there be light without sources that generate it? How is there day and night without a sun?” Light, however, is the first order of the Word of God…Our loving Lord is Light. If He comes to illumine the world, how then do we still love darkness? Our choice is self-defeating, and yet our practice of ev

Fasting

“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

Peace

“The peace of God is a beautiful thing; it is there for each of us if we desire it. Assuredly, just as we miss the sound of a gentle wind blowing through the trees during a busy day, so we miss and take for granted the peace of God that is all around us. It is as close to us as a breeze brushing across our face. It is as close to us as the present moment, yet we often look for it in the past and future.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul) “Foremost among these fruits is the restorative peac

Walking with God (Integrated Life)

“If we find that we too are limping along in our walk with the Lord, then we might ask ourselves whether unknowingly or not, we have become double-minded. If we feel stuck in our growth in faith and unproductive in our spiritual life, then we should exam ourselves. We should ask ourselves whether we have set up a rival to the Lord in our concerns, motives, and interests. If our worship in the House of God loses its sense of devotion, then perhaps we have become devoted to som

Troubles and Trials

“… when we deal with suffering it can be difficult to understand and convey why things are happening. St. Paul writes of suffering (and remember, he suffered a lot), “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18). This can be difficult to remember or to find consolation from when we are in the midst of trials.” (Melissa Tsongranis) “It is, of course, one thing to say that our

Righteousness

“No one can save us except the One Who created us. The Lord could have chosen to save us in a different manner, for He is Almighty and All-powerful. Instead, He took upon Himself our human nature and showed us by His own example the way of righteousness. Had He chosen to save us in any other way, we could say to Him, “You are the Almighty God. You were never a man as I am; You were never hungry or thirsty, sad or sorrowful.” This is why God took upon Himself all of human natu

Humility and Pain and Suffering

“The measure of a man’s spiritual growth is his humility. The more advanced he is spiritually, the more humble he is. And vice versa: the more humble, the higher spiritually. Neither prayer rules, nor prostrations, nor fasts, nor reading God’s Word— only humility brings a man closer to God. Without humility, even the greatest spiritual feats are not only useless but can altogether destroy a person.” (Abbot Nikon Vorobiev) “…we must guard against thinking that a humble heart i

Radiate

“When we seek the Lord, our heart begins to burn. The heart is warmed, and if our thoughts are concentrated in one point and the concentration is powerful, then the flame of the heart grows stronger and stronger, and we do everything from the heart. After that we see things around us changing—people's thoughts also start to change—all because of the peace that radiates from us. We see the thoughts of people around us actually changing! The people are changing! They feel good

Inner and Outer Self

“If our automobile begins to make noises, has a check engine light on, or is just not driving right, we take it into the auto shop for servicing so the problem can be resolved. If we have a tooth ache, we head to the dentist. For many, when it comes to our emotional life, we struggle to apply these same concepts. The benefits of the ability to investigate and trouble-shoot ourselves should not be underestimated. Many of us have no problem lifting up the hood of our car to tak

Temptation

“Paul admits that he has great anxiety for the churches in the religion of Colossae [Colossians 2:1-7]. He is worried that false teachers will lead the believers away from their faith in Christ. But note that Paul does not pray that the deceivers will suddenly disappear. Nor does the Apostle pray that the believers will find arguments to refute their tempters. Paul only prays for the faithful to be encouraged amid this temptation. You see, the trials of their souls allowed t

Joy (Finding and Maintaining)

“It is a form of an affliction where we permit ourselves to indulge in thoughts of unfairness, until we become thoroughly miserable and obsessed by it. It is a pattern that destroys the good fruit of the Spirit, especially the fruits of inner joy and peace…we all worry about ourselves too much and that only he who leaves everything to the will of God can feel truly joyous, light, and peaceful…He who lives according to God's will has no worries. When he needs something, he sim

Anxiety

“We move through each day, trying to engage our life by the completion of tasks and tending to responsibilities. As each day passes, we tend to accumulate emotions that pile up because we are too busy to stop and process what’s going in the deep recesses of our heart. Layer upon layer of daily tasks and responsibilities cover over the deeper places within us, such as the “nous”; the seat of the heart or soul. Eventually this catches up with us. As a result of this, we might f

Evil

“Evil arises from the abuse of the free will God has granted his higher creatures and is tolerated for a while as the price of their significance. But it is derivative, not original, and thus doomed to eventual defeat because God as the Creator of all is the greatest Power that is or can be. We give God our best, physically, mentally, and morally, because He deserves no less—not because we think our best is worthy of Him or adequate to achieve His purposes. We give Him our be

Life (Life-Giver)

“ ‘But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ (John 6:69). “To be givers of life in this world the way Christ was, which was through loving, supporting, healing, ministering, we have to emulate Him which means we have to unite with Him. The Church is the means to do this and then who we are ripples out from the Church walls into the world is our daily choices.” (Sacramental Living Ministries) “‘Most assuredly, I say to you,

Problems

“The ideas that constitute “modernity” center around life as management. Modernity assumes that life can be managed, and that human beings are well-suited for the job. It’s greatest successes have come in the careful application of technology towards various problems with a resulting rise in wealth. The well-being that comes with that wealth is limited to the things that money can buy. Non-tangibles remain as elusive as ever. Modernity prefers problems that can be solved. As

Suffering (Sharing in Others Suffering)

“The godly suffer, in part, so that having experienced God's comfort they in turn can comfort others. Thus, Paul shows the fallacy in his opponents' idea that Christians should never suffer and should be concerned only with their own salvation.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 2 Corinthians 1:6) “If as the sufferings of Christ abound so also comfort abounds through Christ, let us welcome the great encouragement of Christ’s sufferings and let them abound in us, if we indeed yearn for t

Forgiveness

“If we are to be forgiven by God, He requires of us that we also forgive one another. For many of us, this is the hardest part of repentance and confession. But we say it each time we pray the Lord's Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We are not offered salvation on any other terms.” (George W. Grube) “…Matthew, 6:14 states “If you forgive others for their trespasses, our heavenly Father will also forgive yours.” This is a command

Character and Choices

“God’s glory is the revelation of His character and presence…The beginning point of faith is believing in God’s character...The foundation of human knowledge is the character of God as Creator.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 17:10, Hebrews 11:1, James Sire) “Submerged as we are in a society that values fairness over justice, consuming over creating, fame over accomplishment, glamour over character, image over holiness, and entertainment over discernment, we need a blue

Faith and Knowledge

“In order to become wise, we must first become fools. The most valuable knowledge of all is the knowledge of what we don’t know. The Fathers followed a path of apophatic theology (theology that cannot be spoken). It is a path towards knowing the Unknowable. However, we cannot know the Unknowable without first acknowledging that we do not know what we do not know. A simple place to begin is to recognize the passions that accompany our opinions. We not only imagine ourselves to

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