Cultivating the heart in Christ Jesus is vital to true Christianity and steadfast confession. Our Lord Himself warns us to guard our hearts so that they do not grow cold with the times (cf. Matt. 24:11). God’s thunder
Our thoughts really do have an impact on our world. Negative thoughts about family members or fellow employees change our relationships. If we dislike someone at work and allow ourselves to think poorly of them, they are likely
Any good parent knows that he must love all his children equally. No favoritism should be displayed when raising children if we want them to know they are loved. Troubled children often get more attention from loving parents
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
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
