Watchfulness
- Michael Haldas
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
“In order to have a center formed in oneself and to be able to pray from that secret place, it is imperative that one put one's time in before God, every day without fail. Specific periods of watchfulness and prayer must be set aside each day, especially in the morning and evening.” (Hieromonk Damascene Christensen)
“ ‘By practicing watchfulness, we essentially fulfill all the commandments—both those of the Old Testament and those of the New Testament. Sometimes we ask: “What is God’s Will? What does God want from us?” but God is not an enigma. He is not something obscure that we can’t find. In fact, He is very clear, and we should know exactly Who He is. Watchfulness is also called ‘purity of the heart,’ because we throw away everything that’s unnecessary in order to prepare our heart for Christ to dwell within it. Purity of the heart is not just the absence of evil thoughts, words and deeds, but it’s the power and the energy of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ dwells in our hearts and makes it His Throne.’ This is something created by the Holy Spirit, it’s not something we achieve. When we practice watchfulness, our hearts grow cleaner, allowing the Holy Spirit to open the way for Christ to make our hearts His throne.” (Elder Aimilianos, Bishop Emilianos)
“So, what’s the solution for our limping society, misguided attractions and character gaps? It is simple: God. God is our spiritual answer to all things non-spiritual, be it psychological (I am not referring to severe clinical cases here), emotional or attractional gaps. The spiritual (not psychological) approach to life is straightforward: focus on God. Focus on God, not on your psychological gaps, acknowledged or not. Focus on God, not your emotional gaps, known or yet to be discovered. Focus on God, not your attractional gaps, whether you are fully responsible for them or not. In essence, it doesn’t really matter whether we know ourselves or not. Even if we discover all our gaps, what truly matters is that we focus on God. Watchfulness, believe it or not, is all that matters in life. Watchfulness will help us cultivate prayer. It will also protect our prayer along the way so we can safely, quickly and permanently connect with God, Who can empower us to face ourselves without any fig leaves, and mend or fill any gaps we might have, whether known or unknown to us.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“Nothing requires vigilance so much as the works of faith, first of all because by them we protect ourselves from evil thoughts and temptations that can shake our faith, and secondly, because in being vigilant, we can acquire everything that will contribute to the strengthening of our faith and our desire to seek the Kingdom of God. At that time, when the Apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthians, Christians were suffering from the persecution and oppression of the Gentiles. True, we’re not in danger now because of our faith, but we still have to be watchful, because the enemies of the faith, of whom there have always been many, have especially multiplied today. Consequently, if a Christian becomes complacent, he can easily fall into temptation and lose the treasure of his soul—his faith.” (St. Gabriel of Imereti)
“All the moral chaos and faithlessness surrounding us should remind us that “The Kingdom of God suffers violence” in this world (Matthew 11:12). Moreover, the state of our own souls also shows us that, like St. Paul, “we have not finished the fight” (1 Cor. 9:26-27). So, we must be ever watchful for attack lest the unbelief of this age and the temptations of our souls overcome us.” (Fr. Basil)
“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…ignorance is not recognized, it is camouflaged, it hides, it is full of conceit, especially in the contemporary technological, conceited, and arrogant man.” (Archimandrite Ioannikios Kotsanis) “Do we choose to follow the world and its options, or the Lord Jesus and His eternal promises? The world prefers to ignore what Christ says. Secular men call it mere pious talk or religious jargon. They discount eternity as a vague prospect far removed from the measurable future and having no bearing on foreseeable events. However, dismissing concerns about the ultimate end of all things is contrary to the Lord Jesus’ advice. Our Savior is firm and definite – He desires us to be alert to the signs of the ultimate conclusion of all things (Luke 28:32). He repeats the admonition to be watchful twice (vss. 28, 30-31), saying in effect, that our perspective is urgent and crucial. We die only once, and then judgment is our lot (Heb 9:27).” (Dynamis 1/9/2020) “The Lord God has led us out to work and has given us the gifts of His grace in order that, by reaping the ears of the salvation of our fellow-men and bringing as many as possible into the Kingdom of God, we may bring Him fruit—some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold and some a hundredfold. Let us be watchful, my son, in order that we may not be condemned with that wicked and slothful servant who hid his talent in the earth, but let us try to imitate those good and faithful servants of the Lord who brought their Master four talents instead of two, and ten instead of five (Cf. Mat. 25:14-30).” (St. Seraphim of Sarov) “Great is the power of prayer, and it brings most of all the Spirit of God, and is most easily practiced by everyone. We shall be happy indeed if the Lord God finds us watchful and filled with the gifts of His Holy Spirit.” (St. Seraphim of Sarov)
“St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” The word “watch” in this Scripture comes from a Greek word from which we get Nepsis. Here, Paul used it as a command to be watchful…Nepsis may not be a familiar term to some. It essentially means to be awake, or a state of watchfulness…Our task as Christians is to be awake, to be watchful and aware. Christ also says multiple times in the Gospel for us to watch and be watchful.” (Sacramental Living Podcast Episode 36)
“Watchfulness over one's own soul protects against all manner of evil and undoing.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Kingdoms 15:17-22)
“…we must be vigilant and watchful of the messages we receive and careful of the words that we speak to one another. All have a vital influence upon our souls. We must be intentionally mindful of what actually feeds the soul – resisting words, images, and conversations that distract us from living a life of true holiness.” (Fr. Tom Tsagalakis)
“One of the keys to spiritual life is nepsis, or watchfulness. Basically, this means we have to stay awake and aware of what we are doing. This takes practice. The good news, however, is that you are supposed to still have fun, maybe even more because you notice that you are having fun.” (George Stavros, PhD)
“…watchfulness and readiness do not mean a wearisome, spiritless performance of formal and empty obligations. Most certainly it does not mean inactivity and slothfulness. Watchfulness signifies inner stability, soberness, tranquility and joy. It means spiritual alertness, attentiveness and vigilance. Watchfulness is the deep personal resolve to find and do the will of God, embrace every commandment and every virtue, and guard the intellect and heart from evil thoughts and actions. Watchfulness is the intense love of God.” (Rev. Alkiviadis Calivas)
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