Daily Meditations Archives - Page 314 of 332

REPENTANCE IN THE PHILOKALIA (Part III)

11/12/2012

Theognostos (fourteenth century?) is known to us only as the author of the work included in the Philokalia. “When you fall from a higher state, do not become panic-stricken, but through remorse, grief, rigorous self-reproach, and, above all, through copious tears shed in a contrite spirit, correct yourself and return quickly to your former condition. Rising up again after your fall, you will enter the joyous valley of salvation, taking care so far as possible

Miracle of Saint Nektarios: The Healing of Fr. Nektarios Vitalis of Cancer

11/09/2012

Fr. Nektarios Vitalis, well-known in Lavrio [a city in Attika, Greece] for his deeds and his sympathy to the poor and those written-off by the world in these difficult times, retells the following incident from when he was dying from cancer. What is said below has been told elsewhere, repeatedly, including in the book I talked to Saint Nektarios (Athens 1997, by the renowned writer Mr. Manolis Melinos). Fr. Nektarios Vitalis recalls: “I was suffering

FEAST OF THE ARCHANGELS

11/08/2012

On the 8th of November, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of Synaxis of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and the rest of the archangels. The word synaxis means the gathering of believers to celebrate a feast, or to make a remembrance of a saint. This feast also has a special meaning; it is the gathering of the humans with the angels, “their union, their gathering and standing in fear in front of the Creator.”(1)

Vision

11/07/2012

Abba Zacharias had a vision. He told his spiritual Father, Carion the ascetic, about it. Exasperated, Carion beat him and told him the vision came from demons. Zacharias went to Abba Poemen to tell him about it. Seeing his sincerity, Abba Poemen sent him on to a monk who was a mystic. This monk knew all about the vision before Zacharias even told him and said it was indeed from God. Then the mystic instructed

CHRISTIAN ROOTS OF THE PRACTICE OF CONTEMPLATION

11/06/2012

For Christians Jesus himself is the prime example of the practice of contemplation. According to early Christian contemplatives, this example is not the healing of the demoniac, the rebuking of the winds, or the Transfiguration, but Jesus’ own temptation in the desert (Mt 4:1-11). The ordeal in prayer is fundamentally a battle with thoughts, and the early contemplatives noticed something vitally important in how Jesus dealt with the thoughts by which Satan tried to ensnare

Father Maximos on Logismoi and the Jesus Prayer

11/05/2012

Fr. Maximos paused, waiting for another question. “I am puzzled by what the Fathers of the Ecclesia say about the Jesus Prayer,” Teresa commented. “They claim that when we pray, the mind, or nous, must be on the heart. I don’t understand what that means.” “I appreciate your puzzlement,” Fr. Maximos replied. “This is what the tradition of the Ecclesia teaches as noetic prayer or prayer of the heart. When the Fathers say that the

Letting Go, Forgiveness, and Paradox

11/02/2012

What does letting go on the practical level tell us? Letting go is different than denying or repressing. To let go of something is to admit it. You have to own it. Letting go is different than turning it against yourself; different than projecting it onto others. Letting go means that the denied, repressed, rejected parts of yourself, which are nonetheless true, are seen for what they are; but you refuse to turn them against

Two Miracles of the Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian

11/01/2012

The things written below are dedicated to the glory and honor of the Holy Anargyroi [Unmercenaries] doctors Kosmas and Damian. 1. “Wondrous Is God in His Saints” For two years (1943-1945) I was sick with “vertigo”. When I would wake up I had to sit motionless for 3-5 minutes on the bed and then get up, get dressed and make my first steps with great care so as not to fall down because of a

Who’s Afraid of Halloween?

10/31/2012

I have a confession to make. And it’s a bad one …. When I was a kid … I used to get dressed up for Halloween! And it was not always something innocent either, like an astronaut or a cowboy. Once I was even a ghost! Worse yet, I would go door-to-door with my brothers and say “Trick or treat!” Idolatrous! Occultic! Satanic! Over time, of course this demon-glorifying activity caught up with me. Look

The Desert and Temptation (Part III)

10/30/2012

Temptations, the monks tell us, make us human. They bring us in to contact with the roots that bear the trunk. Facing temptations means encountering the truth. Thus one father says: “Take away temptations, and no one will be whole, for whoever flees useful temptation, flees eternal life. There are in fact temptations that have prepared crowns for the saints.” Many people might have problems with this, because when they pray the Our Father, they