Ἀφιερωμένο στόν Κύριό μας Ἱησοῦ Χριστό καί τήν Ὑπεραγία Θεοτόκο
Being indifferent towards the enemy is a great art: the art of arts. And it comes about only by divine Grace. Opposing evil by the Grace of God is achieved bloodlessly and painlessly, without pushing and shoving. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/07/08/being-indifferent-towards-the-enemy-venerable-porphyrios-of-kavsokalyvia/
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςREFLECTIONS ON THE FEAST OF THE DORMITION By Elder Thaddeus (+2003), from “Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, ”ppl63—170. thank the Lord and the Most Holy ^Mother of God that He has willed to embellish this feast day of the Dor- mition of the Most Holy Theotokos through the angelic voices of the chil-dren…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςABOUT FOOLS, WISER THAN THE WORLD By St. Nikolai Velimirovich. We are fools for Christ’s sake. [1 Cor 4:10] Thus speaks the great Apostle Paul who in the beginning was guided by worldly wisdom, which is against Christ, until he recognized the falsehood and decay of the wisdom of the world…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςΙ see your struggle; I am counting the crowns; I envy your medallions; I plunge my mind into the age to come to hear the triumphant melodies that the angelic beings will compose; I am amazed and bemoan myself because I have not struggled as you struggle! My children, just think about what the…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςThe Christian struggle is glorious, for the prize is not something ephemeral, but it is eternal glory up in heaven! Blessed is he who is wise in God, for no account will be demanded from him, and he will not find himself in a difficult position when God calls him to give an account for…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςDo you know how much help the departed seek! Since there is no repentance after death, and as humans they also departed with stains and blemishes, and since they see that the help of the living greatly assists them to be perfected and find rest, they yearn, seek, and long for someone to commemorate…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςCry out the name of God; He is ready to help everyone who asks. Do not forget the prayer; man’s entire being is sanctified by the prayer. It is the only thing which those who do not struggle to the point of shedding blood are unable to do. What is more beautiful than prayer! Whoever…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςIgnorance, my child, is known as the soul’s death. Ignorance does not enlighten a sick person; it does not say to him: “Your illness is the will of God, and you ought to pass through it with patience and thankfulness, so that you will not become a transgressor before God with your impatience!” To…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςSalvation is not gained when we speak idly or when we pass our days without keeping accounts. Be careful with your tongue and your thoughts, for guarding them fills the soul with the light of God. But he whose mouth is unbridled deposits various impurities in his soul. Elder Ephraim of Arizona http://elderephraimarizona.blogspot.gr/2015/07/be-careful-with-your-tongue-and-your.html
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςIn the war of the flesh, only turning our back saves us—that is, we must flee from fantasies and thoughts as soon as they appear. Do not linger at all in order to examine or to converse with fantasies! The imagination is a great and terrible snare; things avoided by the eyes and the touch…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςThe Teaching of St. Silouan Although it is natural and usual to love those who love us and to do good to those who do good to us (Mt 5:46-47; Lk 6:32-33), to love our enemies is distasteful to our nature. One can say that it isn’t in our power but is an attitude…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςYour friend who till yesterday you thought him as virtuous, chaste and righteous, do not judge him today, because the enemy (“the evil one”) has actually made you to hate him as a corrupt and vile person. But with love that is forbearing and magnanimous, keep in mind only yesterday’s good things and throw away…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςON OUR TIMES St Paisios of the Holy Mount Athos. Τhe spirit of lukewarmness reigns. There’s no manliness at all. We’ve been spoiled for good. How does God still tolerate us? Today’s generation is the generation of indifference. There are no warriors. The great majority are fit for parades and feasts only. Godlessness…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςPorfirie xThe supposedly ‘pious’ parents, whose concern was to make their children into ‘good Christians’, oppressed them through their human love and achieved the opposite to what they wanted.
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςGod didn’t send us to earth so that we could live comfortably but for us to prepare for the eternal life that awaits us. Just think what a terrible tragedy it would be if our Maker and Creator couldn’t offer us anything better, more luminous and more protracted than this life on earth, which has…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςWhy do we not see miracles? Let him who can, answer otherwise, but to me it seems that we are of necessity brought to this answer: We do not see miracles, or we see them rarely, either because they are invisible to us as unworthy of trust, or because they are not even accomplished, through…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςIn the old days, people worked with animals. If the animal was tired, they didn’t overload it, they rested it, watered it and fed it. If it hurt its leg, they felt sorry for the poor beast and tried to make it better. These things had a good effect on their hearts, made them gentler.
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςBe patient with your own passions and be patient with mine. Then you’ll become a saint. » Elder Ephraim of Katounakia Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/05/01/be-patient-elder-ephraim-of-katounakia/
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςInsofar as someone suffers a variety of trials, be they bodily or spiritual and bears them consciously and thanks God, then, if nothing else, God’s obliged to send His consolation to cool their souls. The more you suffer, the greater’s your reward. » Elder Ephraim of Arizona Source: pemptousia.com When God is obliged (Elder Ephraim…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςWe say that mental prayer is for all Christians. Mental prayer is also called prayer of the heart. You ask if prayer spoken aloud can also be called prayer of the heart… Unless it’s pure, neither mental nor spoken prayer can be called prayer of the heart. » Elder Charalambos of Dionysiou Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/05/05/elder-charalambos-of-dionysiou-the-prayer-of-the-heart-2/
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςThe candles burning on the altar represent the noncreated Light of the Trinity, for the Lord dwells in an unapproachable light. They also represent the fire of Divinity which destroys our ungodliness and sins. The candles lit before the icons of the Saviour signify that He is the True Light which lighteth…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςON THE END TIMES From a Letter of the Optina Elder [and New Martyr] St. Anatoly the Younger (+1922). Heresies will spread everywhere and deceive many people. The enemy of the human race will act with cunning in order to draw into heresy, if possible, even the elect. He will not…
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςBe patient with your own passions and be patient with mine. Then you’ll become a saint. » Elder Ephraim of Katounakia Source: pemptousia.com Be patient (Elder Ephraim of Katounakia)
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςHere’s a mystery: in His omnipotence and His omniscience, He knows everything, including what’s going to happen in the future, but He’s not the cause of any evil. God has precognition, but doesn’t preordain. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia Source: pemptousia.com God’s precognition
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςEgotism is an absurd passion which is literally a scourge of humankind. We all suffer from this dread disease. Self-centred people are made ridiculous and a spectacle by their egotism. God calls upon us to fight this egotism and overcome it, to cast it off. » Elder Ephraim of Arizona Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/04/04/our-ignominy/
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςChrist comes lots of times and knocks at your door. You ask Him into the sitting-room of your soul and then get involved with other tasks and forget all about the great Visitor.
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςTo live truly, we have to live in the way God ordained when He made us. Unless we do, we aren’t living at all. » Saint Theophan the Recluse Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/04/02/living-truly/
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςSo, do you want me to tell you how we, who are illiterate, read the Scriptures? After I’ve prayed for five or six hours, I then read the Scriptures, and for preference the Gospels.
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςOur struggle to enter into the eternal life of God Himself is neither a simple nor an easy thing. Our attitude is ‘May your will be done’. Then the potential develops within us to conceive of God as He is in His eternity. » Elder Sophrony of Essex Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/04/17/our-attitude/
Συνέχιση ανάγνωσηςSay the prayer, say the Jesus prayer and that’ll bring you into such a good state that however much you think about it, you can’t think about it. » Elder Ephraim of Katounakia Source: pemptousia.com http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/04/15/prayer-and-good-state/
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