If our salvation requires repentance, and if we desire salvation, why do we find it so difficult to repent? St Basil the Hesychast, spiritual father of St Paisius Velichkovsky, explains that the difficulty lies not simply in our commission of sins, for there is no man without sin (John14:4-5), but in our chronic justification of these sins, and hence our blaming others for … [Read more...] about The Problem with Self-Justification: Or, How to Keep Rowing Upstream
Spirituality
Frederica: Annual Dormition Fast Prayer Vigil to End Abortion
Occasions of joy sometimes elicit occasions of sorrow. This is so because the world is fallen, shorn from the full beauty and majesty of God. The world however, is not without hope because of the promise of the restoration of all things through the work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The fallen world can be made new. The promise of restoration was given … [Read more...] about Frederica: Annual Dormition Fast Prayer Vigil to End Abortion
Marriage: Instructions from a Manual That Does Not Yet Exist
One is the asceticism of the monastic who forsakes all for the Kingdom. The other is the asceticism of the married, the widowed, and the single person who live in the day to day world and actively seek the Kingdom by embracing the Eucharistic heartbeat of creation and so find their being in in the life and the suffering of the other. By Fr. Stephen Siniari Magdalena … [Read more...] about Marriage: Instructions from a Manual That Does Not Yet Exist
The Little Things in Life are More Important than the Bigger Things
Do you think that to live according to the faith and to fulfill the will of God is very difficult? Think again, says St. John Maximovitch. Fulfilling the will of God is very easy if we first pay attention to the little things. St. John tells us how. Source: St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church By St. John Maximovitch Many people believe that to live according to the … [Read more...] about The Little Things in Life are More Important than the Bigger Things
How to Read the Holy Scriptures
Because Orthodox worship is replete with scriptural references, the Orthodox tend to take them for granted, says Fr. Seraphim Rose in this lecture given in 1979. Instead, we should read them more often and with greater diligence because they have great benefit in the spiritual life. St. Seraphim of Sarov for example, used to read the entire New Testament once a week. Fr. … [Read more...] about How to Read the Holy Scriptures