Like Jesus’ friend Martha in the Gospel of St Luke, we “are worried and troubled about many things.” But as we prepare ourselves for the Nativity of Christ — as we look ahead toward His birth not in a royal chamber, but in the rustic and unpretentious cradle of an animal trough — and as we anticipate his quiet but earth-shaking Incarnation into a … [Read more...] about St. Paisios: Too Many Worries Will Distance Us From God
Monasticism
Closer Than My Own Father: Elder Paisios and His Spiritual Children, Parts I & II
Can we faithfully and with any confidence transpose the life of St Anthony the Great, of St John Chrysostom, of St Gregory Palamas onto a subway car in Manhattan, or a park bench in Cedar Rapids? What would it be like to live a fully Christian life, here and now, in the twenty-first century? What would a truly Christian life look like in our time—the life of an authentic … [Read more...] about Closer Than My Own Father: Elder Paisios and His Spiritual Children, Parts I & II
The Prophetic Role of Mount Athos in the Contemporary World
Mount Athos, the center of Orthodox Monasticism located on an autonomous peninsula in Northern Greece, has what Dr. Jean Claude Larchet calls a "prophetic role" in the modern world. This is true not only for Orthodox Christians, but believers in other religions and even atheists, Larchet writes. Why is this so? Why is Mount Athos a place of such enduring and widespread … [Read more...] about The Prophetic Role of Mount Athos in the Contemporary World
An American Experience of Romanian Hesychasm [VIDEO]
In this insightful short video Dr. John Farina, Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University, opens to us the rich spirituality of Orthodox Romania through the simple but profoundly authentic lives of ordinary people. Farina speaks of Hesychasm, the practice of acquiring inner stillness primarily through the practice of the Jesus Prayer. "Be still and know that … [Read more...] about An American Experience of Romanian Hesychasm [VIDEO]
On Salvation — From the Elders of Optina Monastery
Beginning in the nineteenth century, a remarkable succession of illumined elders residing in Optina Pustyn Monastery helped bring about a spiritual renewal in Russia. Figures from Dostoevsky and Soloviev to Khomiakov and Kireyevsky to Gogol, Tchaikovsky, Turgenev, and even Tolstoy sought their advice. This collection of sayings from the Optina Elders, focuses upon the path … [Read more...] about On Salvation — From the Elders of Optina Monastery