Philokalia Ministries

Another beautiful group tonight!  We picked up with Hypothesis I, page 13. Again we are given multiple stories of individuals repenting from sin and turning back to God from states of depravity. The very movement of the mind and the heart brings down upon them a flood of God’s grace and mercy. What is different in the stories we read tonight is the radical solidarity and empathy that we see in the minds and the hearts of the elders. They approach those in their charge not as masters but as servants; not condescending to them but rather seeing themselves sharing intimately in the sorrows and the woundedness of their sin. The responsibility was theirs’ to weep over these sins and seek to help others overcome them if possible. There is no such thing as an individual Christian; that is, a Christian separated from the body of Christ and from one another. Our own repentance should help to elevate and lift up the Church and the repentance of others can also help raise us up and strengthen us as well. God‘s desire is to heal us, not to punish us. We have lost this sense of the need for healing and understanding that the Church is a hospital and have instead turned the acknowledgment of one sins into a legalistic practice or rather a psychological and emotional release. Consciences can be so hardened - not only among individuals but among whole groups of people - that we can completely lose our way unless God and his great mercy and Providence does something to up-end the illusion. He will do anything to help us overcome what affects and afflicts us. Blessed be God forever. ---- Text of chat during the group: 00:17:02 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: in case anyone needs it my brother wrote A Brief Primer on Patristic Greek Anthropology with an Emphasis on the Process of Contemplation and Obstacles to It Very Rev. Andriy Chirovsky, SThD September, 2003     http://tho3306.sheptytskyinstitute.ca/2013/11/27/a-chirovsky-brief-primer-in-theological-anthropology/ 00:17:36 carolnypaver: Thank you, Fr. Ivan! 00:18:11 Wayne Mackenzie: I have a copy of this. A good read. 00:51:30 Katharine M: Sorry I forgot to raise my hand, :) 01:07:00 Eric Williams: “Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.” - GK Chesterton 01:08:53 Lilly Vasconcelos: Russia is definitely spreading Her errors across the world, as Our Blessed Theotokos warned us in Fatima, Portugal

It is often a few paragraphs that turn into a beautiful blessing; suddenly one’s vision is cleared and our understanding of the spiritual life opens up. This is exactly what St. Theophan does for Anastasia in letter 45. He speaks to her once again about not allowing her thoughts to wander. In fact he speaks very sternly with her here not out of anger but rather as a matter of emphasis. This is at the very heart of the spiritual life - the remembrance of God. And so, he offers her a number of conditions for success. 1). uninterrupted continuity and persistence. Anastasia must not let off of the prayer rule that he will provide her or in this exercise of taking her thoughts captive. 2). To practice patience and self-discipline. Anastasia will inevitably experience doubt and a weakening of her desire and will. All of these she must drive away and continue in her labors. 3). To be inspired with hope in the Lord.  When God sees her labor and her commitment he will add grace to grace until she begins to experience the fruitfulness of her labors. One of these fruits is calmness of heart. The more one lives within the depths, even when the waters on the surface are choppy and life seems chaotic, one can still experience the peace of the kingdom. Theophan‘s final reminder to Anastasia is that this work of the spirit within her is what she set out to embrace. If she follows it faithfully, she will become a real person; a daughter of God created in His image and likeness and living in constant communion with Him. --- 00:27:30 Eric Williams: *idle* curiosity 00:28:18 Eric Williams: clickbait! 00:43:38 Eric Williams: We got distracted and our thoughts wandered. ;) *rimshot* 00:47:41 Eric Williams: Getting up at 3 AM to pray was even harder than the silence! 01:00:26 renwitter: I am quitting tomorrow!!! 01:00:41 Erick Chastain: lol yeah me too 01:02:47 renwitter: Yay!! No work, no work. You guys want to form a commune? Saint Theophan’s Skete? 01:10:01 carolnypaver: My husband has a computer-intensive job.  He sets an alarm on his computer to go off every hour to redirect/consecrate his work to God.

Tonight we continued our study of Hypothesis I on repentance and the avoidance of despair. Again, we are presented with a number of stories that emphasize the importance of the simple movement of the mind and heart toward God through acknowledging one’s sin. This immediately brings down upon the individual the mercy and the grace of God - no matter when or where it takes place. God who sees the mind and the heart knows the person’s motivation and the depth of the repentance. One of the things we are warned about is the kind of sorrow that the demons often will place within the human heart to cast us into despair and make us call into question the mercy of God. Again and again the demons put forward the doubt that one has lived too long in sin in order to receive the mercy of God, that they belong to the demons and hell due to the amount of time they spent in their sin.  Yet, repeatedly we hear the angels say that God is the true master of heaven and earth and in his omniscience sees to the depths of a person’s soul. He alone has the right and the capacity to judge.  We may find ourselves particularly challenged by the fathers’ emphasis upon how our conscience should immediately cease to be troubled the moment that we acknowledge and confess our sins to God. So often it is fear and doubt that allows our sin to cling to us; that it gradually undermines the unconditional love and mercy that God wants to fill us with in order that we might engage others with that same perfect love. It is often one of the great stumbling blocks for us even as men and women of faith to enter into this profound mystery, to let ourselves to be guided by the grace of God to imagine the unimaginable – that His love could so transform us and so free us from the shackles of sin. The darkness that sin brings to the mind and the heart often clouds our vision just enough to throw that all into doubt; making us want to qualify it in one way or another. All the “reasonable” objections immediately come to our hearts and minds and we stumble. The mercy that we are given is meant to free us in every way, from our sin and from every limitation on our capacity to love and give ourselves in love.  

St. Theophan continued to talk with Anastasia about the dangers that arise as one draws to the end of Lent and the beginning of Spring. Both have particular and subtle dangers tied to them. The first is seeing Lent as an end in itself. Rather, Lent is a springboard into greater intimacy with the Lord and commitment to him in the life of prayer. If we see it as a period of endurance for 40 days then we are gradually going to slide back into past behaviors and ways of thought. Similarly springtime brings new life and birth and the excitement of all that is going on around us and stimulating the senses. There is nothing, of course, that is evil about this; but if we do not see it within the context of God who is our creator and who has made all these things, our attention can be directed in a disordered way toward them and away from God and from the spiritual life. That which is good, then, can be used as a temptation to pull us away from our discipline.  Theophan warns her about suspicious thoughts that seek to interject themselves into the mind; in particular, the thought “why did I begin“. We will often question ourselves as to why we started along the path that we were on and in the process we question God and the movement of His grace. This Anastasia must fight against and pray that God would preserve her from its effects.  In letter 45, St. Theophan emphasizes for her again the importance of undistracted prayer. It is the barometer of the spiritual life and reveals to her how high or low or spirit has gone in seeking God. He reminds her that in essence prayer is the remembrance of God and the raising of the heart and mind to Him in love. This she already sees and understands and must simply hold onto it as the greatest truth of life.   ---- 00:17:47 Mary McLeod: we’re both here :) 00:31:25 Mark Cummings: Hello- several weeks ago someone referenced a good youtube video of the Jesus Prayer chant. Do you happen to know what the youtube video was? 00:37:26 Sheila Applegate: Well said, Andreea. 00:56:16 Mark Cummings: Doing vs Being, lol 00:56:20 Eric Williams: Telling people I’m a stay-at-home dad has led to a lot of awkward conversations. According to some, I’m perverting God’s created order! To others, a man is somehow worth less if he does not materially provide for his family. 01:02:27 Mark Cummings: Sorry to hear that Eric. 01:18:41 Mark Cummings: Thank you!

We continued our study tonight by reflecting upon the Fathers’ encouragement to reach out to God in the spirit of repentance. More than anything, the examples that are given, the stories that are told, are meant to help us to avoid despair. We have a God who is set upon our salvation. The mere movement of the mind and the heart towards Him with contrition brings with it a flood of mercy and grace. We are meant to be valiant strugglers; taking hold of the grace that God has given us and the mercy and the forgiveness He has bestowed upon us in order that we might come to experience the full freedom of those have been made sons and daughters of God. The Ascetical life is not simply about self- discipline: it is about love and the fullness of life. Christ is the most beautiful person. In Him we see the fullness of God and the depth of His love.  It is to this beauty that we are called and it is this beauty that we cultivate through the Ascetical life. It is better for us to struggle with our own poverty and sin and experience it truly than to remain in the fearful enslavement of Egypt; that is, bound to the emptiness of sin.   --- Text of chat during the group: 00:23:38 renwitter: Everything he writes is amazing. 100% recommend “Woman and the Salvation of the World.” 00:24:46 Joseph Muir: Is that by the “more contemporary elder” whom Fr David mentioned, Ren? 00:25:10 renwitter: Yep! Evdokimov 00:25:23 Sue mcmillen: was the name? 00:25:41 renwitter: Paul Evdokimov 00:30:48 Joseph Muir: Fr Jeremiah Shyrock, CFR, is his name, if anyone wants to look him up 00:43:05 Anthony Gallagher: my raise hand button is not working :-( trying to raise hand. 00:56:28 Eric Williams: Kids fought over something sharp and the 6yo’s finger got cut badly enough that she’s off to the ER to maybe get stitches (hence my sudden disappearance). What page are we on now? 00:56:54 renwitter: Same one Eric :-D 00:57:09 Eric Williams: 11?! 00:57:16 renwitter: Yepperz 00:57:25 carolnypaver: 11 00:57:49 Michael Liccione: Prayers for your daughter 00:58:30 Eric Williams: Thank you :) 01:14:12 Eric Williams: “All your life you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque.” ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead 01:15:49 James Ellis: Thank you Father!

Once again St. Theophan expresses a kind of a holy genius as he speaks to Anastasia. We began the evening by discussing his final simple rule to follow in order to progress in the spiritual life. Patience, he tells Anastasia, will help her to endure and see through the trials and tribulations of life. It will allow her to remain steadfast her discipline. She is not always going to see the fruit of her labor and perhaps not for many years. So she must hold on to the wisdom of the fathers and of the Church; trusting that God will make all things work for the good of those who seek Him. In Letter 44, St. Theophan offers Anastasia three precautions to take  so that she might avoid some of the pitfalls involved in walking along the spiritual path. The first is never to think that you’ve already succeeded in doing something. The  thought that “I’ve done it!” easily slips into our mind in such a way that we lose our energy in the pursuit of the spiritual life. Secondly we must not allow ourselves to relax under any condition. By this, he does not mean that we do not allow ourselves time to rest and to be restored physically. What is warning against is that the Evil One can tell us that we’ve been working very hard and that we should ease up on self-constraint and self-observation. When this happens we begin to indulge ourselves indiscriminately. It is like a hole in a dam; it eventually wears away the earth until the water floods through. The evil enemy will speak these words of sweetness to us to give us false encouragement. And finally, Theophan begins to offer a word a special caution that is tied to the celebration of Easter as well as the coming of spring. As we come to the end of the penitential season and as we see new life emerge in our world and its beauty, we can find ourselves overcome by the senses. Simply put, the new life that emerges in spring time can be enough to arouse all the senses and unless we are vigilant as to what’s going on within we can be led astray even by what is good. The devil often takes the form of an angel of light or uses that which is good in order to distract us - ultimately leading to our fall.

We continued our reading of Hypothesis I of the Evergetinos regarding “Repentance and the Avoidance of Despair.”  We are presented with one story after another of someone who finds himself or herself in grave sin; sometimes struggling year after year and yet returning to God with a repentant heart. Monk Paul, who compiled the text, begins by giving us stories that at first are a reflection upon the nature of repentance itself; from the perspective of those who receive mercy in order to foster confidence in God.  But there’s a gradual and extraordinary progression that takes place in the stories themselves. They take us deeper and deeper into the very heart of God who is set upon the salvation of all and who looks for the smallest movement of repentance in the human heart in order to draw a person back to Him.  We tend to look upon ourselves and our own sin and the sins of others through the lens of our own intellect and judgment or our malformed consciences. Ultimately the fathers tell us it is only when we begin to look at the mercy of God in light of the Cross and  the precious blood of Christ that was shed on our behalf that we begin to understand. God’s generosity cannot be called into question. Rather, we must humbly allow ourselves to be drawn into the mystery. We must allow God to show us the nature of love and receive it ourselves before we can truly show it to others. May God bless it and make it so!   ---- Text of chat during group: 00:15:41 Joseph Muir: please pray for my friend Lilly in Toronto, who joined us for the past two meetings. She is dealing with some pretty severe health issue (not Covid-related), and isn’t able to join us tonight, unfortunately 00:16:33 Katharine M: Prayers for Lilly 00:19:01 Eric Williams: I was taught “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” 00:57:27 Eric Williams: The penitent who sins every day and repents every day reminds me of St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, who was an opium addict who didn’t receive the Eucharist for the last 30 years of his life and died a martyr. 01:17:08 Erick Chastain: strangely enough it was a favorite feast day of Pope John XXIII who convened the 2nd Vatican council 01:28:25 Sharon: I realize we need to wrap up, but the themes of toleration and boundaries keep coming up within my circle. The devil uses the word “tolerate” instead of “love.” And more and more people are encouraged to create boundaries. I just wonder how we can be truly seeking conversion of heart and unity with God if we are spending our time and energy just tolerating people and building boundaries.

This evening we moved on to letter 43. St. Theophan had been teaching Anastasia about reining in the thoughts; in particular, through the use of the Jesus prayer. We are not simply to allow our thoughts to draw us where they will but rather redirect them toward God. Here Theophan becomes more specific in his teaching and gives Anastasia three rules to follow. However, before this he begins by describing for her the inner movements of the thoughts, the heart, and the desires. Thoughts multiply and they hang within the mind like fog. But more than that - they swarm like mosquitoes. Thus, there is a constant movement among the thoughts. Beneath this is the heart and within the heart the thoughts constantly strike the heart and afflicted it. The passions are stirred and there is no order to be found. Emotions shake the heart like a leaf blowing in the wind. Emotion always engenders desire. And with this comes inner confusion and uncertainty. We can have contradictory desires at the same time. Out of this confusion grows kind of gloom and in the gloom the demons will enter to afflict us and whip up things even more. Anastasia then must recommit herself to work for the Lord and belong to Him alone. She must seek with all of her strength to destroy this inner disorder. The first rule is to engender that unceasing remembrance of God. The constant thought of God decreases the confusion and embracing this habit conscientiously within a few months time will help still things in great measure. The second rule is always to obey the conscience which must be well formed. When obedient to it we will seek the things of God and seek to please Him. As one would expect much discussion ensued about the spiritual life. Theophan draws Anastasia forward and in doing so he takes us with her and shows us the path into the depths of the heart where God dwells - and where peace alone is found.

What an extraordinary reading!  We’ve been considering Hypothesis I about repentance and not falling into despair. Tonight we began with the writing from the life of St. Synkletike. She’s one of the Desert Mothers and considered by many as equal to Saint Anthony the Great. The counsel she offers is psychologically subtle and spiritually beautiful. She encourages us always to support others, especially neophytes, and encourage them in the struggle for the good. No matter how small their virtues deeds might seem we must lift them up and praise them in order to encourage them in the spiritual battle. Likewise, no matter how great a fault may be we must, in front of them, treat it as though it is the least an on worthy of note. The evil one wishes to destroy their efforts and so we must in every way lift them up and encourage them to continue. God‘s compassion and mercy is unlimited and she gives us multiple examples from the Scriptures to remind us: Saint Paul Rahab the prostitute from the Old Testament, and St. Matthew the tax collector. In all of these we see the worth of repentance and the compassion of God towards the repentant man. Those who struggle with pride God himself will prune so they do not begin to attribute their growth and virtue to themselves. He will humble them in order that they might continue to cling to Him and to His grace. Next, the holy Palladios recounts for us the story of Saint Moses the Ethiopian. We see in him how the passion of anger unchecked and murderous in its nature and conduct can be transformed by the gift of repentance. After a violent existence, Moses was moved to contrition and the incensive faculty within him redirected the anger towards sin and drove him in the ascetical life to war against the demons. He became so virtuous that he rivaled even those elders of Skete. By the time he died, there were 70 disciples who joined him, many of whom were his fellow former criminals. All of this is meant to lead us to set aside the judgments of our own reason when it comes to love, compassion, and mercy. We are called to imitate God who, while we were still enemies, had mercy upon us and gave us His only begotten Son. ---- 00:21:02 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2017/01/05/100099-venerable-syncletica-of-alexandria 00:22:25 Eric Williams: sin-kle-ti-kee (not sure which syllable gets emphasis; Fr Ivan?) 00:23:00 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: St Nikolai Velimirovich's Prologue of Ohrid: Syncletica was of Macedonian descent. She was educated in Alexandria. As a wealthy and distinguished maiden she had many suitors, but she rejected them all and fled from her parents' home to a convent. In great self-restraint, vigil and prayer, Syncletica lived to her eightieth year. Her counsels to the nuns have always been considered true spiritual pearls, for this righteous one did not attain the heights of wisdom through books but through sufferings, pains, daily and nightly contemplation, and spiritual communication with the higher world of the Divine. Her soul took up its habitation in that higher world in the year 350 A.D. Among other things, St. Syncletica was known to say: "If it is the season for fasting, do not dismiss fasting, claiming illness, for behold, even those who do not fast succumb to the same illness." She further said: "As a treasure, when uncovered, is quickly seized, …. 00:23:03 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: so it is with virtue: when it is made public it becomes eclipsed and is lost." 00:23:55 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: her feast is Jan 5 in the Byzantine calendar 00:26:16 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: The Life and Conduct of the HOLY AND BLESSED TEACHER SYNKLETIKE by St. Athanasios the Great was published in English in 2015. 00:29:29 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: Σύγκλητος means “senate” or “assembly”; hence, the name Συγκλητική denotes what is “senatorial” or “noble”; in this instance, a noble in the “heavenly assembly” of Saints.  The accent is on the last syllable in Greek: syn-klee-ti-KEE.  In English it is "Syncletica". 00:43:21 Joseph Muir: tax collectors are still hated today😂 00:49:23 Ren Witter: I would stay on video and be social, but I am eating dinner and I’m a slob :-D 00:49:29 Katharine: :D 00:50:01 carolediclaudio: :):) 00:58:51 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: skete or sketis is defined on pg. 425 in glossary 01:09:10 Andres Mason: he is pretty cool  01:09:14 Andres Mason: straightforward  01:14:28 Joseph Muir: I emphatically recommend backpacking, particularly of a long-distance variety😀 01:21:31 Eric Williams: “Therefore it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.” - GK Chesterton 01:21:48 Joseph Muir: ❤ 01:24:16 Lilly Vasconcelos: @Joseph When the US/CA border opens, sign me up for hiking retreat with Franciscans 🙏 01:29:57 Lilly Vasconcelos: Bon nuit, merci 01:30:11 Micah Valine: Thank you

Now that Anastasia has gone to confession and received holy communion, St. Theophan begins to guide her along the path of salvation in order that her joy might be complete. He begins by clarifying for her that our hope for life and for love and for salvation is to be found in Christ alone. No earthly power or reality can save us. Her confidence should come from the fact that it is this God who dwells within the very depths of her being. It is He who lifts her up and allows her to say, “Though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.“ At this point he introduces Anastasia to what is at heart of the spiritual life- prayer. He describes it as the unknown “unceasing remembrance of God.”  We are never to allow God to slip out to the margins of our minds and hearts, never allow him to be overshadowed by anxieties and fears. Rather, we are to call upon him and bring Him to mind habitually, until we begin to experience this as God looking at us and we looking at Him. It is the gaze of Divine Love.  To this purpose he begins to teach her the Jesus prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner” or “Lord have mercy.”  To cry out these two or three words with devotion and reverence allows us to take hold of the Spirit of Love that groans within us - love that is eternal and beyond words.  Therefore, if she has never heard of this then she must listen and if she has never done it, he tells her, she must begin doing it from this moment on. Whether she is walking or working or eating or going to bed these words must be repeated within the mind and the heart. With reverence and love one must be constantly reaching out toward God. This is her genuine service to the Lord - giving Him the love, praise and worship He deserves.