heart Archives - Page 9 of 10

The Sixth Wednesday after Pascha, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Stand Fast and Watch! (Part II)

05/20/2015

By Saint John Maximovitch of San Francisco and Shanghai Watch, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. (I Cor. 16:13). The Apostle gives Christians this important counsel to bring their attention to the danger of this world, to summon them to frequent examination of their hearts, because without this one can easily bring to ruin the purity and ardor of one’s faith and unnoticeably cross over to the side of evil

Deliver Me from Idle Words

02/19/2015

By Katherine Johnson Tremendous power lies hidden in the smallness of a single word. Seemingly insignificant, a word holds within itself the power to encourage or to unleash the demon of despair. All of creation came into being by the Word. It seems God’s creative example holds within itself the greatest model for the human tongue. I suppose that’s why I find myself in a constant struggle with my words. As an Orthodox writer I

WATCHFULNESS IN HOLY SCRIPTURE (Part III)

02/12/2015

We could say that the Lord’s entire Sermon on the Mount (18) is a neptic homily where our Theanthropic Saviour pinpoints for us the root of the passions, but at the same time He plants the root of the true spiritual life. This is where the work of watchfulness is to be found: where the finest pulsations of the heart are, the beats which move and direct everything: thoughts, words, memories, feelings, actions, and deeds.

ON HUMILITY AND WATCHFULNESS (Part I)

10/21/2014

Whoever engages in inner warfare needs at every moment four things: humility, the greatest vigilance, the will to resist and prayer. It is a matter of dominating, with God’s help, the “Ethiopians of thought”, thrusting them out by the door of the heart, and crushing at once those who dash your little ones against the rocks (Psalm 137: 9). Humility is a prerequisite, for the proud man is once and for all shut out. Vigilance

ON PROGRESS IN DEPTH

10/02/2014

The external rudiments lead us now to the warfare that goes on in the depths. As when one peels an onion, one layer after another is removed, and the innermost core, out of which growth reaches up toward the light, lies revealed. There, in your own innermost chamber, you will glimpse the heavenly chamber, for they are one and the same, according to St. Isaac the Syrian. When you strive now to enter your inmost

Treasures from our Subsequent Conversations (Part III)

08/22/2014

When I Told Him I Was Definitively Leaving for the Monastery When I told him that I was definitely leaving for the Monastery and that in a few days they would tonsure me, he leapt for joy. On that day he spoke to me and advised me extensively! In the end, when we were bidding each other farewell, he naturally took my hand and kissed it. I, living the mystery that surrounded me, asked myself

The Fourth Friday of Great Lent

03/28/2014

It is not the Body that Sins Do not believe anyone who maintains that our bodies have nothing to do with God. I might say in passing that people who regard the body as corrupt most often defile it with impure actions. But what can possibly be wrong about this marvelous body of ours? Look at the beauty, the harmony of it. The eyes are shining, the ears are placed in the most convenient position

The Essence of Prayer (II)

11/05/2013

Every time we come near God, it is either life or death we are confronted with. It is life if we come to him in the right spirit, and are renewed by him. It is death if we come to him without the spirit of worship and a contrite heart; it is death if we bring pride or arrogance. Therefore, before we set out on the so-called thrilling adventure of prayer, it cannot be too

ON ERADICATING THE DESIRE FOR “ENJOYMENT”

10/15/2013

It is said that only a few find the narrow way that leads to life and that we must strive to enter by the narrow door. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able (Luke 13: 24). The explanation is to be found precisely in our unwillingness to persecute ourselves. We overcome after a fashion, perhaps, our serious and dangerous vices, but there it stops. The small

ON THE DENIAL OF SELF AND THE CLEANSING OF THE HEART

09/13/2013

NAKED, small and helpless, you now pass on to the most difficult of all human tasks: to conquer your own selfish desires. Ultimately it is just this “self-persecution” on which your warfare depends, for as long as your selfish will rules, you cannot pray to the Lord with a pure heart: Thy will be done. If you cannot get rid of your own greatness, neither can you lay yourself open for real greatness. If you

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The Sixth Wednesday after Pascha, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Stand Fast and Watch! (Part II)

Deliver Me from Idle Words

WATCHFULNESS IN HOLY SCRIPTURE (Part III)

ON HUMILITY AND WATCHFULNESS (Part I)

ON PROGRESS IN DEPTH

Treasures from our Subsequent Conversations (Part III)

The Fourth Friday of Great Lent

The Essence of Prayer (II)

ON ERADICATING THE DESIRE FOR “ENJOYMENT”

ON THE DENIAL OF SELF AND THE CLEANSING OF THE HEART

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