Fasting
“Fasting needn’t be limited to abstinence from food alone, because true fasting is departure from evil deeds. Forgive your neighbor any insult, abstain from causing your neighbor offence, abstain from irritation, from senseless sorrows, from fear, wrath, and so on. ‘True fasting is alienation from evil, temperance of the tongue, setting aside of wrath, casting out of lust, idle talk, lies, and oath-breaking’…This is a true and pleasing fast for the Lord. Departing from these
God's Will vs Self Will
“…we are content to say that God has no place in our lives. We think we want to be left alone to figure it out for ourselves. We have all seen how well this is working out!...Devotion to God’s will is the peaceful and restful haven in all temptations and sorrows, while reliance on one’s own powers is destructive.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov) “The spiritual disease of the last times is the weakening of our will and determination. It
Prayer
“Mankind is carried away by other aspirations and goals, created for its own detriment and ruin. There are people who don’t pray at all, who don’t feel the need for it, who don’t understand the point of praying and don’t believe in the possibility of being heard by God; and many people do pray, but rarely and always reluctantly, with compulsion and difficulty. Thus, there are very few people who live by fervent, strong, sincere, noetic, and unceasing prayer, according to the
Peace
“Christ then appears through shut doors in the midst of them and tells them one thing: ‘Peace be with you.’ For these to be the first...
Worship
“The heart of worship is the offering of praise and thanksgiving to the God who has given us life and sustains all things in their...
Church
“Attending church is not the same as being united to the Church. Salvation is not granted by presence in a building, but by synergy—the...
Mercy, Judgement and Justice
“Divine justice is radically different from human justice. There is no equal exchange remotely possible;…“the whole moral order as we...
Rules and Legalism
“Isn’t it amazing that everyone is taught grammar so no one writes in his own way, but according to the rules? They try to teach everyone...
Fear
“Our Lord Jesus Christ warned us that we will hear all kinds of bad news from around the world, and Christianity may go into decline. Far...
Moments
“There are moments in life when our customary peace is temporarily set aside by unanticipated events. None of us are immune to these...