SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Humanity has never run short of ways to distract itself, but in the media age, distraction has become a way of life.” (Sarah Clarkson) “Modern people have a hard time setting their hearts and minds on any one thing. Intervening in our lives is an endless number of media and electronic disruptions. Being “single-minded” may be another thing that contemporary society has left in the past. Many studies have noted the shortening attention span of modern people. The ubiquitous fl

“He [man] is the only being that is distinguished from all else in creation, because he is the only one which can become a god. The phrase “in His image” describes the gifts which God gave only to man in order to complete him as an icon of God, and not to any of His other creatures. These gifts are: a logos related nous, conscience, and individual sovereignty, i.e. freedom, creativity, eros, and the yearning for the absolute and for God, personal self-awareness, and anything

“…true beauty, true spiritual beauty, can never be made artificially. There isn’t enough gold in the world to buy the cleansing, transformation, and remaking of our spirit. The price for that was already paid by the One sent to save our souls and cleanse us from our sins…Perhaps there is nothing so powerful as a testimony of a life transformed. I don’t believe it’s necessary to suffer so deeply that one’s life is crushed seemingly beyond repair, broken into a hundred pieces,

“God creates like an artist rather than a scientist. The language which the Bible and the Fathers employ in describing the creation of the world by God seems to be borrowed from the building of an edifice (Hebrews 3:3-4), ordering and furnishing it, so that it may become cosmos, a well ordered, beautiful thing…There is, of course, major difference between God and a human artist in that the former creates ex nihilo and the latter ex vetere. And yet, when we come to the idea of

“Often, we’re so caught up in the rush of life that even when we’re with loved ones or doing something together, it can feel perfunctory. We rush around, trying to accomplish what we perceive as important tasks. But these very tasks make us insensitive, coarse, and callous, even as we reassure ourselves that this isn’t the case. We might think our outward cheerfulness is a sign of happiness, but that’s far from true. The Holy Fathers teach that one of the primary signs of des

“Sometimes the only and best way to enter into the cell of your soul is to disconnect from the outside world and simply immerse yourself in silence. It’s precisely in silence that we’re able to hear the voice of God. It may seem scary at first; the silence may frighten and irritate us, since we’re so accustomed to noise, music, conversations. But it’s only in silence that you can sense God and the peace of Christ. But the inner silence that we acquire through prayers and sobr

“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

“…the Lord calls people to Himself in many different ways. Even a path of protest, mistakes, and wandering, if it is sincere, can lead to Christ…the Church does not reject anyone who sincerely seeks salvation. There is no sin or spiritual blindness that the Lord cannot lead a person out of, if they truly want to come to Him. But it is also a warning: a “comfortable God” is not God, “freedom without obedience” is not freedom, and “love without the cross” is not love. Only thos

“…our concept of human rights would not—and could not—have come into existence without Christianity’s revolution of the concept of the human being….It’s difficult to measure the exact cultural effect of something of this magnitude. But one thing that’s very noticeable is the correlation of the new concept of human dignity with the sudden increase in technological development. Parallel to the weakening and transformation of slavery, Western culture developed an interest in tec

“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