SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Within the Tradition, and the Scriptures, the knowledge of God (and thus of the self), comes as revelation. It is hidden and must be made known. That which hides God is within us, not outside of us. It is the “pure in heart” who see God. This does not necessarily imply a sinlessness or perfection. Rather, it is a stillness that can see what truly is without turning away.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “We “hear” God in our hearts. We know God through our hearts. We can’t hear pro

“When we come to realize the numerous mistakes that we have made and our shortcomings, we should start reforming the way we untangle tangled threads, for instance. It is useless to fiddle about with a bundle of tangled threads—nothing will come of it. We should take one thread, find the tip, start pulling it out, and so the whole ball will gradually unravel. That is why prudence, graduality, and patience are required in spiritual life.” (Priest Anthony Borisov) “Maturation in

“The enemy of mankind tries in every way to trouble our consciousness and our lives, ultimately to suffocate our souls with pride and malice. We, as Christians, must understand this and wage spiritual warfare, armed with sobriety, prayer, fasting, humility, meekness, and love for Christ.” (Priest Tarasiy Borozenets) “We have to learn, figuratively speaking, to rise above the clouds. When a plane rises above the clouds, it enters a field of sunlight, where everything is so bea

“QUESTION: What is the most important thing in one’s spiritual life? ANSWER: To guard the peace in our hearts. Do not let this peace be disturbed at any cost. Peace should reign in our hearts—peace and silence.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “Worldly wisdom says to “follow your heart”, while biblical wisdom says to “guard your heart.” Be very aware of what images, thoughts, or emotions you allow to enter into your heart. Govern the heart because it is swayed by emotions, thou

“We are all familiar with that state when someone says: “I feel God, but very far from myself.” And each one of us very often feels God as somewhat distant from us. And yet how we would love to be closer to God, to draw closer to Christ the Savior, to be near Him. This happens because we pray little, pray incorrectly, or do not pray at all. If prayer—the thread connecting us to God—breaks, then our communication with the Creator of the universe ceases. And without prayer, as

“It’s my deep conviction that a Christian’s home prayer should be at least in some way connected with that of the Church, so you live “in the rhythm of the Church.” (Nun Kallista Golik) “…since you have touched on the subject of the home prayer rule. Firstly, the very word “rule” should not be understood as a duty, but as a model. The Church has collected for us the best examples of Patristic prayers so that we ourselves can learn to pray to God. Penetrating into the Patrist

“In today’s reading we see that Our Lord Jesus Christ has completed His long day of teaching, healing and feeding the multitudes. He dismisses the crowds and then He does something that we would not expect in our human logic. After a long and exhausting day outside, in the elements and with the many people and their many pains and struggles, we would very likely be drained. We would probably want to sit down and rest. We would want to eat and possibly go straight to bed. That

“…the Lord Jesus Christ warns us quite clearly that mercy will be the fundamental criterion when we are judged at the Last Judgment, when it will be asked whether we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, and visited the sick and the imprisoned (cf. Matt. 25:31–46)…This is not a sprint. It is a long race. A long run. And the race does not end until we meet the Lord on the Final Judgment. It is then that we will be held accountable for everything we have said, thought, don

“The gift of speech is the greatest gift and corresponds to man’s need for expressing feelings, for exchanging thoughts, impressions, and conversations. But nothing can do more harm to one’s neighbor and nothing can so easily destroy as verbosity, which the enemy uses cunningly and especially successfully to catch people in his nets.” (St. Seraphim Chichagov) “We live in a remarkable and frightening time—the age of an information flood. Every day, through the screens of our s

“Love flares up from understanding that the Lord doesn’t turn away from the impurity and sinfulness of man, doesn’t withdraw from our guilt, criminality, and ungodliness: He never pushes anyone away, but on the contrary, always allows approach, draws near, listens, even caresses, shows mercy, and finally, forgives everyone!” (St. Seraphim Chichagov) “Love is service. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us a great example of this when He washed the feet of the Apostles at the M