Quotes of the Day for January 9, 2026 – Thoughts on psychological and spiritual peace
- Michael Haldas
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 31 minutes ago
“What about psychological peace? Meditation starts from thought and mind discipline. People try to master the self-control of the intellect to bring a peaceful feeling to their brain, nerves and muscles. It psychologically works. It can be achieved. Even Saint Sophrony of Essex explains that he was able to reach such levels of concentration to the point where he saw the light of his nous. This light and peace however, are not uncreated—they are created. Even if we were to experience this purity of our nous, this is just our Image of God in us. It is not His Likeness, it is not God Himself. Therefore worshiping it, or using it according to our liking, can lead us to idolatry or delusion. The devil will manipulate our wrong focus and our prideful spiritual approach. We could even lose our soul.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“When was the last time you heard someone express concern for their soul? When was the last time you listened earnestly as a friend lamented a psychological or emotional struggle? The reason for the difference is simple: we have become a “soul-less” psychologized society. The classical concern for the soul has been replaced by an overwhelming interest in psychological and emotional “health.” We are becoming a “well-adjusted” society.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Plainly speaking, Fr. Zacharias said in our meeting: "We must not leave anything in us hidden, but we must give everything to God. For example," Fr. Zacharias said, "I may feel very nostalgic about something. I remember, let's say, my grandmother, and how pious she was, and how she used to pray long hours into the evening, how she was very giving, loving and tender. This is a psychological state. To convert this into a spiritual state, I would turn to God and say, 'Lord, you have blessed me in countless ways. You have granted me every good gift from above. You have given to me a grandmother who is an example of your love and compassion. I express my deep gratitude to you who are my teacher and my God.'" Fr. Zacharias says, "In this way, I convert a psychological state into a spiritual one.” (Rev. Father Timothy Pavlatos)
“Have you ever thought about the difference between spiritual and psychological peace? Let’s have a look at the way we were created to better understand. Christ was God and human. We have our body and our soul. Being in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity means that our soul has our nous as the Father of our existence; our intellect, where our logic operates from, as the Son–the Logos of our soul; and our spirit. That is what Saint Gregory Palamas would tell us if we were to ask him. The spiritual experience the Apostles just had of the Resurrected Christ was not just a vision…it went through their souls. It was also a…Divine Communion. How did this Divine Experience make its way to their souls?...Their nous experienced the vision and the Communion, and their intellect tried to make them realize what happened and later also helped them understand what it meant. The Holy Spirit through their spirit passed on all the uncreated Energy of the experience to their body: brain, nerves and muscles, and created the peaceful feeling of this Peaceful experience. This is spiritual Peace. This is the Peace of the Holy Trinity. This is the Holy Spirit in Person, through the Word of God, the Son.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“All this requires patience—for just as a city is not built in a day, we cannot expect to gain inner peace in a day Achieving inner peace means building a house for the God of peace, a tabernacle for the Almighty—in this way becoming a temple of God.” (Fr. Jack Sparks)