SACRAMENTAL LIVING

Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life

Passions

“To sin is to miss the mark, to fail to realize one's vocation and destiny. Sin brings disorder and fragmentation. It diminishes life and causes the most pure and most noble parts of our nature to end up as passions, i.e., faculties and impulses that have become distorted, spoiled, violated and finally alien to the true self…we have responsibilities to one another and, of course, to God. When we sin, or relationship to God and to others distorted. Sin is ultimately alienation

Kenosis (Self-Emptying)

“Christianity is based on the willingness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to live with us and die for us. This is unique to the Christian faith—no other faith teaches that God would do this amazing thing for His creatures, out of completely self-emptying love for them…The exaltation of Jesus as a man depended entirely on His self-emptying humility. True greatness, divine greatness, is the ability to be the least and to the least with the absolute certitude that it is externa

Worship (and Renewal)

“Just as man's failure to worship God led to his downfall (Romans 1:20–25), so now true worship is the first expression of mankind's renewal.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 12:1) “Our relationship with God is renewed as we respond to His grace through prayer and worship. Our knowledge of the truth of life and our experience of His power, holiness, and love lead us to offer Him praise and thanksgiving. This is a continuous response that originates in our hearts, that is guided

Watchfulness

“Critical for every servant of God, given our unavoidable struggle against the passions, is prayerful watchfulness…God endows each person with many gifts. However, instead of being grateful to God for these gifts, he is often not watchful. He claims them as his own, inwardly boasting. Then the cunning devil, the thief that he is, goes and steals the gifts—infects them with his poison, rendering them useless” (Dynamis 10/4/2019, St. Paisios the Athonite) “Without watchfulness

God's Presence

“Within our daily lives, if we confront the day with thanksgiving, the Cross will quickly reveal itself. The first moment that the giving of thanks becomes difficult, we have reached the wood of the Cross itself. We stand in the very gates of Hades. If in that moment of difficulty we persist in giving thanks, then Hades trembles and the dead are raised. This is our personal kenosis, our self-emptying in the presence of the good God. “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be do

Prayer

“There are very few people who come to their senses, very few who understand life. We pray with our lips only, and we hurry through our prayers to “get it over with” as soon as possible, and then we lose peace. Fasting and prayer are a means of embellishing our soul and bringing it back to its original state.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “...God’s answers [to prayers] come from God’s perspective. They are not always in harmony with our expectations, for only he knows the wh

Encountering God

“First of all, it is very important to remember that prayer is an encounter and a relationship, a relationship which is deep, and this relationship cannot be forced either on us or on God. If we could mechanically draw him into an encounter, force him to meet us, simply because we have chosen this moment to meet him, there would be no relationship and no encounter. We can do that with an image, with the imagination, or with the various idols we can put in front of us instead

Sober and Sobriety

“ [Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ]. be sober. Peter’s concern here is primarily using mentally or spiritually sound judgment.” (Foundation Study Bible, 1 Peter 1:13) “The rational mind champions argument and judgment (it was always meant to measure, weigh and compare). But the rational mind was never intended to be the seat of the soul. That belongs to t

Infusion

“We pray the Lord of Heaven and Earth that He may infuse His Spirit in our world, that we may be sanctified by it.” (Patriarch Ignatius) “The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us; embrace our life with power and love; infuse in us the gift of action; render us strong combatants in the spiritual warfare; and purify our hearts, transforming us continuously into a temple of the living God.” (Rev. Alkiviadis Calivas) “…we are all in need of repentance in order to infuse our hearts wi

Walking in the Spirit

“The way of life in the Spirit, the way of faith and love, is expressed through service to God and one another (Galatians 5:13)…A walk in the Spirit comes from life in the Spirit.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Galatians 5:13-15, 25) “Acquiring the Spirit of God is the true aim of our Christian life, while prayer, fasting, almsgiving and other good works done for Christ’s sake are merely means for acquiring the Spirit of God…Of course, every good deed done for Christ’s sake gives us

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