SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“In my view, the category of happiness is hardly ever discussed in the Church, and for me it is a puzzle. We have nine Beatitudes: blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers... If we translate the word “blessed”, it means “happy”. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, happy are the meek, happy are the merciful, and so forth. These are the commandments of happiness. But, unfortunately, in Orthodoxy happiness is not s

“This serpent has many tongues and teeth, often very subtle and inconspicuous. Every kind of care for the flesh, self-gratification—these are the tongues of this poisonous snake. But the most important of them is self-love, when a man thinks and cares too much about himself, about his own comfort.” (St. Seraphim Zvezdinsky) “Thinking of ourselves first leads us to believe the lies Satan whispers. He tells us that happiness comes from things, property, and sensual activities a

“So there is always the law of God or the law of destruction in our human mind and heart. That would be a teaching of St. Paul in the letter to the Romans, very clearly, the seventh and eighth chapters. There’s always another law working in a human being. We’re never simply autonomous. So when people ask, “Was it me or was it the devil in me?” or “Was it me or was it the Holy Spirit in me, or Christ in me?” Sometimes people ask that. St. Paul says, “When I do good, I can do a

“ ‘The extreme greatness of Christianity lies in the fact that it does not seek a supernatural remedy for suffering, but a supernatural...

“It is God’s desire that every single human be saved. God planted His truth like seeds throughout creation and in each human. Every human...

“If you even wonder why you don’t see God, look at your own heart and what’s in it…But God is merciful. The flow of a life between...

“…“Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). If love was the conscious goal for our every action, we would expect it...

“Bound in a world of information that falsely imagines that knowledge, power, management, and expertise are the secrets to well-being, we...

“In shame, the only thing we accept is our failure and the idea that we deserve perpetual punishment….The shame we are speaking of is a...

“From a lack of contentment comes death…What we see in the Garden is paradise. A place of intimate and immediate communion with God,...