The Purpose

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Administrator

The purpose for which man was created:

One must not be without work for a single moment. But there is work performed by the body, visibly, and there is work which is done mentally, invisibly. And it is this second kind that constitutes real work. It consists primarily in the unceasing remembrance of God, with the prayer of the mind in the heart. Nobody sees it, yet those who are in this state work with ceaseless vigour. This is the one thing necessary. Once it is there, do not worry about any other work.

Theophan the Recluse, The Art of Prayer, p. 192

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A Rule of Prayer

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Administrator

You cannot as yet defend yourself in this manner; but always meditate inwardly and say the daily prayers laid down by the holy fathers. By this I mean, try to recite the Third, Sixth, and Nineth Hours, Vespers and the night services. And, so far as you can, do nothing simply to gain the esteem or goodwill of others, and never bear ill will towards your brother, lest you separate yourself from God. Strive to keep your mind undistracted, always being attentive to your inner thoughts.

When you are in church, and are going to partake of the divine mysteries of Christ, do not go out until you have attained complete peace. Stand in one place, and do not leave it until the dismissal. Think that you are standing in heaven, and that in the company of the holy angels you are meeting God and receiving Him in your heart. Prepare yourself with great awe and trembling, lest you mingle with the holy powers unworthily.’
Arming the brother with these counsels and commending him to the Lord and to the Spirit of His grace (cf. Acts 20:32), Abba Philimon let him go.

Philokalia V2.351, A Discourse on Abba Philimon

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Pray ceaslessly

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Administrator

For if you pray ceaselessly and meditate on the Scriptures, your soul’s noetic eyes are opened, and there is great joy in the soul and a certain keen and ineffable longing, even the flesh being kindled by the Spirit, so that the whole man becomes spiritual. Whether it is at night or during the day that God grants you the gift of praying with a pure intellect, undistractedly, put aside your own rule, and reach towards God with all your strength, cleaving to Him. And He will illumine your heart about the spiritual work which you should undertake.’

Philokalia V2.349, A Discourse on Abba Philimon

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Spending time with God

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Administrator

9. …….Spiritual knowledge comes through prayer, deep stillness and complete detachment, while wisdom comes through humble meditation on Holy Scripture and, above all, through grace given by God.

10. Our intellect often finds it hard to endure praying because of the straightness and concentration which this involves; but it joyfully turns to theology because of the broad and unhampered scope of divine speculation. Therefore, so as to keep the intellect from expressing itself too much in words or exalting itself unduly in its joy, we should spend most of our time in prayer, in singing psalms and reading the Holy Scriptures, yet without neglecting the speculations of wise men whose faith has been revealed in their writings.

St Diadochos of Photiki, On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination, Philokalia V1.255

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The Burning of the Spirit

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Administrator

Cast aside everything that might extinguish this small flame which is beginning to burn within you, and surround yourself with everything which can feed and fan it into a strong fire. Isolate yourself, pray, think over for yourself what you should do.

The order of life, of occupation and work, which you forced yourself to adopt when you were seeking for grace, is also the most helpful in prolonging within you the action of grace which has now begun. What you need most in your present position is solitude, prayer, and meditation. Your solitude must become more collected, your prayer deeper, and your meditation more forceful.

The Art of Prayer p. 153, Igumen Chariton of Valamo

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The heavenly mountain

Posted on August 2, 2015 by Administrator

Come, all peoples, and believe. Let us climb the holy and heavenly mountain; free from materiality, let us stand in the city of the living God and behold with our intellect the immaterial godhead of the Father and the Spirit blazing forth in the Only-begotten Son. Thou hast enraptured me with longing for Thee, O Christ, and hast transformed me with the intensity of Thy divine love; with immaterial fire consume my sins and fill me with delight in Thee, so that in my joy, O Lord, I may praise Thy first and second coming. Thou art all tenderness, O Savior, all my desire, truly the goal of my insatiable longing; Thou art all beauty irresistible.’

St Peter of Damaskos Book1 A Treasury of Divine Knowledge The Fourth Stage of Contemplation, Philokalia V3.123

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The level of Good Thoughts

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Administrator

When one has attained the level of good thoughts, one should take extreme care to keep these points in mind, lest out of negligence or conceit one is deprived of God’s grace, as St Isaac says:
When God-given thoughts increase in a man’s soul and lead him toward greater humility and compunction, he should always give thanks, acknowledging that only by God’s grace does he know such things, and regarding himself as unworthy of them.  
If good thoughts cease and his mind is once more darkened, losing its awe and its sense of inward grief, he should be greatly distressed and humble himself in word and deed; for grace has already abandoned him, so that he may realize his own weakness, acquire humility and try to amend his life, as St Basil the Great says: For had he not neglected that inward grief which is so dear to God he would not have lacked tears when he wished for them.  That is why we should always be conscious of our own weakness and the power of God’s grace, and should neither lose hope if something happens to us, nor be emboldened to think that we are anything whatsoever. Rather we should always hope in God with humility.  

St Peter of Damaskos Book, Philokalia V3.121

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Prayer of Repentance

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Administrator

Shall I be allowed to live for a short time longer, so as to weep bitter tears and cleanse my defiled body and soul? Or, after sorrowing for a while, shall I then stop once more, obdurate as always? 

What shall I do to acquire unceasing pain of soul?

Shall I fast and keep vigil? Yet without humility I will gain nothing. 

Shall I read and sing psalms with my mouth only? For my passions have darkened my intellect and I cannot understand the meaning of what is said. 

Shall I fall prostrate before Thee, the giver of all blessings? But I have no confidence. 

My life is without hope; I have destroyed my soul. 

Lord, help me and receive me as the publican; for like the prodigal I have sinned against heaven and before Thee (cf. Luke 15:18). I have sinned like the harlot who came to Thee weeping, and of whom it is written: ‘Full of despair on account of life, her ways well known, she came to Thee bearing myrrh and crying: “O virgin-born, do not cast me away, harlot though I am; do not spurn my tears, 

O joy of the angels; but receive me in my repentance, O Lord, and in Thy great mercy do not reject me, a sinner.” ‘For I, too, am in despair because of my many sins, yet I am well known to Thine ineffable compassion and the boundless sea of Thy mercies.   
~ St Peter of Damaskos Book1 A Treasury of Divine Knowledge, Philokalia V3, p.116.  

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Comfort Yourself

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Administrator

VI.iv.7. Again, a brother asked, “If a man beats his servant because of the things he has done wrong, what should that servant say?”
The old man replied, “If he is a good servant he will say, ‘Forgive me, I’ve done wrong'”.
“Nothing else?” asked the brother.
“No,” replied the old man, “for in accepting the blame and saying he has done wrong the master will forgive him at once. The point in all this is ‘Don’t condemn your neighbour’.
When the hand of the Lord slew the first-born in the land of Egypt there was not a single household without a death” (Exodus 12.29-30).
“What does that text mean?” asked the brother.
“It means that if we keep our own sins in mind,” the old man replied, “we will overlook the sins of our neighbour. It would not make sense for someone with a death in the house to go out and mourn the death of a neighbour. To be as if dead as far as one’s neighbour is concerned is to bear the burden of your own sins, and to refrain from passing judgment on everyone as to whether this person is good, this one bad. Do no evil to anyone, don’t even think evil of anyone, neither reject the evil doer nor acquiesce in the evil anyone is doing to your neighbour, and all this is to be as if dead as far as one’s neighbour is concerned. Don’t spread slander about anyone, but say, ‘God knows what is in each person’, neither listen to anyone spreading slander or collude with him in that slander. And all this is what ‘judge not that you be not judged’ means (Matthew 7.1). Don’t make an enemy of anyone and don’t harbour a grudge in your heart. Nor should you feel hatred for anyone who slanders your neighbour, but don’t give your assent to his slanders either. Peace of mind is his who does not despise the one who slanders his neighbour, and comfort yourself with these words, ‘Short is the time of our labour, eternal the span of our rest’, thanks be to the Word of God. Amen.”
De Vitis Patrum, Book VI, Libellus 6.

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Preferring Possessions

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Administrator

64. I have heard certain pious men declare that, when people rob us of what we possess for our own support or for the relief of the poor, we should prosecute them, especially if the culprits are Christians; for, it is argued, not to prosecute might encourage crime in those who have wronged us. But this is simply a specious excuse for preferring one’s possessions to one’s self.
For if I abandon prayer and cease to guard the door of my heart, and begin to bring cases against those who wrong me, frequenting the corridors of the courts, it is clear that I regard the goods which I claim as more important than my own salvation – more important even than the commandment of Christ. For how can I possibly follow the injunction: ‘When someone takes away your goods, do not try to recover them’ (Luke 6:30), unless I gladly endure their loss? Even if we do go to court and recover all we claim, we do not thereby free the criminal from his sin.
Human tribunals cannot circumscribe the eternal justice of God, and the accused is punished only according to those laws under which his case is heard. It is therefore better to endure the lawlessness of those who wish to wrong us, and to pray for them, so that they may be released from their guilt through repentance, rather than through restoring what they have taken. Divine justice requires that we receive back not the objects of theft, but the thief himself, freed through repentance from sin.
St Diadochos of Photiki On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination, Philokalia V1.274

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