Forget everything
Saint Dimitri of Rostov Your complete union with God will be achieved if you cultivate uninterrupted communion with Him through prayer. Forget everything earthly and vain and turn all your desire and enthusiasm towards Him. Seek His mercy constantly, keep His memory always in your mind and lose yourself...
Who doesn’t have weaknesses?
Saint John Kronstadtskij Every passion and all aloofness is merely a spiritual ailment. You have to heal the wickedness and spiritual sickness of others with love and goodness, as you would like them to treat you if were suffering from the same illness. Who doesn’t have weaknesses? Who’s never...
Dealing with Sickness
Saint Neofytos Recluse So you should reflect on your sins and say ‘Glory to You, Lord, for You’re punishing me justly’. Recollect that, before, you’d forgotten God and say: ‘Glory to You, Lord, that you’ve given me cause and reason to remember You frequently’. Think about the fact that,...
They weep and lament
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi In essence, everybody is persecuted and treated unfairly. But they don’t rejoice. Instead they weep and lament. Joy and comfort in sorrows doesn’t come from the nature of the temptations and trials, but from God’s Grace, which comforts ‘those who labor and are heavy laden’...
The presence of an inexpressible mystery
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi Any serious observer of the creation of the world, no matter from which side they approach it, the material or the spiritual, will feel the presence of an inexpressible mystery in all phenomena. But only a healthy spirit will be able to orientate itself properly...
They’re all good
Saint Iakovos Tsalikis Earn your bread in any way, provided you work for it. Of the children of Adam and Eve, one was a farmer, the other a shepherd. All jobs are good, provided we’re close to God. Saint Paul wouldn’t take bread from anyone for free, but worked...
What they give up
Saint Symeon the New Theologian People who are ambitious, sensual or avaricious can’t bear the threat, the mockery or the contempt of other people; the denial of their pleasures; or financial losses. And so they abandon the things that are heavenly and imperishable for the sake of those which...
We should condemn ourselves
Saint Theophan the Recluse The first step towards pride is vanity, that is the conviction that I’m somebody. The next step is conceit, that is the feeling not only that I’m somebody, but I’m important as regards God and other people. From vanity and conceit arise a host of...
From the Post-Modern Persona to the Person
Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Vatopaidi Monastery The theology of the person, as this is revealed in the hesychast ascetic tradition, is the most significant counter-argument to post-modern individualism and relativism. The ascetics of introversion and of conscious tranquillity (hesychia) is not a psychological proposition but the authentic and...
![Meditation on the Epiphany [2]](https://myocn.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/theophany2-OCN-1.jpg)
Meditation on the Epiphany [2]
Fr. Lev Gillet The day after Christmas is consecrated to the ‘synaxis of the Blessed Virgin Mary: all believers are invited to assemble in honour of her who made the Incarnation humanly possible. In the same way, the day after Epiphany (January 7) is consecrated to the ‘synaxis’ of...
