It is often the case that we fail to keep God’s commandments and find ourselves despondent, unable to make progress in the battle over our sins. The same sins seem to constantly plague us. Despondency is our enemy,
The Jesus Prayer, also known as the Prayer of the Heart, is the central prayer for monastics. One of the early desert fathers, Saint Macarius the Great, said of the phrase from the Psalms, “The meditation of my
At the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room Jesus gave a dramatically new meaning to the food and drink of the sacred meal. He identified Himself with the bread and wine: “Take, eat; this is my Body. Drink
God reveals Himself to us if we seek Him out, and only remains invisible to us if we refuse, out of pride and self absorption, to let Him enter our lives. If you desire the knowledge that is
Many times in the teachings of the Church Fathers, we are told to interpret and understand the teachings on the actions of Christ as being applicable to us. This is the way that we really understand the spiritual
We Orthodox Christians collectively worship facing east. Together with our bishops and priests, we all stand before the Lord in the direction of the east. Our priests are sort of like captains of a ship, looking towards the
We all have times when we procrastinate. There is a story of a young monk who confessed to his elder that he was always struggling with procrastination. His elder told him it was his lack of faith which
in hypocrisy if we are not mindful of the pitfalls of the spiritual life. We can become Pharisees without even noticing, if we let our Christianity be artificially lived. Living our lives as though we have been rehearsed
If we are attentive to all the Lord does for us, we will endure those times when our prayers seem to go unanswered. That God is not always giving us just what we think we need, in no
We are living in an age when many people are finding it difficult not to give over to total despair. I can still remember when I was about 22 and I was so full of self loathing and
