Orthodox Wisdom

Christ is born! Glorify Him! Merry Christmas to you all!“This is the festival of the virgin birth! Our address must be exulted therefore in accordance with the greatness of the feast, and enter into the mystery, as far as this is accessible and permissible, and time allows, that something of its inner power might be revealed even to us. Please strive, brethren, to lift up your minds as well, that they may better perceive the light of divine knowledge, as though brightly illumined by a holy star. For today I see equality of honor between heaven and earth, and a way up for all those below to things above, matching the condescension of those on high.”“Brethren, let us preserve this peace in ourselves as far as we can, for we have received it as an inheritance from our Savior who has now been born, who gives us the Spirit of adoption, through which we have become heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ (cf. Romans 8:15, 17). Let us be at peace with God, and doing those things which are well pleasing to Him, living chastely, telling the truth, behaving righteously, "continuing in prayer and supplication" (cf. Acts 1:14), "signing and making peace with ourselves, by subjecting our flesh to our spirit, choosing to conduct ourselves according to our conscience, and having the inner world of our thoughts motivated by good order and purity.”“May we all attain to this, at the future glorious advent and epiphany of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs glory unto the ages. Amen.”Text: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

A memorable word by one of the greatest men of the 20th century: St. Paisios the Athonite (+1994). Here he exhibits his pain of heart for his fellow man, his boldness in speaking the truth in love, his spiritual illumination on things to come. “We have to witness our faith with boldness, because if we continue to be silent we’ll have to answer in the end. In these difficult days each must do what’s in their power. Leave what’s out of their power to the will of God. In this way our conscience will be clear.It’s unseemly to become angry in one’s own defense. Resisting evildoers is another matter, however, when it’s in defense of serious spiritual matters, when our holy faith, Orthodoxy, is concerned. Then it’s your duty. To think of others, to counter the blasphemers in order to defend one’s neighbor—this is pure, because it is carried out in love.If you want to help the Church, then try to mend your own ways, rather than others’. In straightening yourself out you straighten out a particle of the Church. If everyone were to do that then the Church would be in perfect order. But today’s people attend to everything under the sun, only not to themselves, because it’s easy to teach others, while mending one’s own ways requires effort.A Christian must not be a fanatic but have love in his heart for all. He who throws words around carelessly, even true words, does evil.And if someone receives the mark unknowingly?It’d be better to say “uncaringly.” How can one be unknowing, when everything is crystal clear? And if a person doesn’t know, then he should become interested and find out. By accepting the mark, even unknowingly, a person loses Divine Grace and gives himself up to demonic influence.Behind the “perfected credit card system,” behind “computerized security," lurks worldwide dictatorship and the yoke of the Antichrist: And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Our time is like a bubbling and steaming cauldron. One needs temperament, audacity, courage. Take care not to be caught unprepared, if something is to happen. Start getting ready now so that you’ll be able to resist difficulties.There is no spiritual life without sacrifice.Look after your health, but not to the degree where you begin to bow down before your peace and well-being. I’m not asking anyone to throw themselves headlong into dangerous adventures, but you have to have at least a bit of heroism, my brother!”The icons from the thumbnail are from Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos: https://athosweblog.com/2010/09/20/11...https://athosweblog.com/2010/10/17/11...Read the text here: http://apantaortodoxias.blogspot.com/...Christ says to church of Smyrna, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Written in 1914, this treatise by St. Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop in Russia martyred by the Soviet Communists, is especially helpful in our days when there is so much misunderstanding regarding the place of Holy Scripture in Christian life and the nature of the Church that wrote, taught, and preserved these Scriptures. St. Hilarion shows in various ways the approach that non-Orthodox, especially Protestants, take towards Scripture is misguided and leads to tragic results for their souls. Divorcing the Bible from the Church (i.e. Sola Scriptura and versions of it) and assuming one can interpret it properly apart from the Body of Christ, which is guided by the Holy Spirit, is the height of arrogance and one can clearly see the divisive results today.This treatise also demonstrates the fallacies of modern “higher criticism,” sometimes even employed by the Orthodox, and how one can rightly orient themselves toward Christ and His revelation. Scripture can only serve its purpose inside the Church; the Church wrote Scripture, determined its canon, and interprets it faithfully, and no one outside the Church has rights to it. Often critics of the Orthodox Church say we disparage and ignore Scripture. This is absolutely false: we value Scripture so highly that we preserved it for centuries, have in-depth commentaries on it, and most importantly, the very words of Scripture comprise the majority of our worship services. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find more Scripture-saturated worship than that of the Orthodox Church. Anyone with ears to hear will come away with new questions and a new way of understanding life as a Christian, or a deeper understanding of what they already live in their daily lives. “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” –Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:15)If you have benefitted from this recording, please share it with others who might be open to hearing this essential message.“Christ did not write anything. It seems that if one reflects enough on this fact, one can somewhat understand the very essence of the work of Christ.” –St. Hilarion“Today we ever more frequently run up against this kind of reasoning: ‘We read such and such in Holy Scripture. The Church teaches differently. So the Church is wrong.’ All kinds of sectarians monotonously chant in this manner ad nauseam. There are even those who echo these ideas while calling themselves Christians, that is, they have adopted incomprehensible arrogance in their attitude toward the Church, placing themselves far above her…. Scripture belongs to the Church, but heretics are not Christians and have no right to Christian Scripture. The Church can ask the heretics: ‘Who are you? You are not of my own; what are you doing here? It is my property. I have long possessed it. I trace my foundation from the authors themselves, to whom the Scripture belongs. I am the heir of the Apostles. As for you, they have, it is certain, always held you as disinherited, and rejected you as strangers, as enemies.’ The truth we have sought to substantiate is not new, but it should be reiterated in the twentieth century, because although it has been repeatedly verified by history, it is now quite often forgotten.” –St. HilarionHoly Hieromartyr Hilarion, pray for God for us!This text can be found here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/saint...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Written in 1914, this treatise by St. Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop in Russia martyred by the Soviet Communists, is especially helpful in our days when there is so much misunderstanding regarding the place of Holy Scripture in Christian life and the nature of the Church that wrote, taught, and preserved these Scriptures. St. Hilarion shows in various ways the approach that non-Orthodox, especially Protestants, take towards Scripture is misguided and leads to tragic results for their souls. Divorcing the Bible from the Church (i.e. Sola Scriptura and versions of it) and assuming one can interpret it properly apart from the Body of Christ, which is guided by the Holy Spirit, is the height of arrogance and one can clearly see the divisive results today.This treatise also demonstrates the fallacies of modern “higher criticism,” sometimes even employed by the Orthodox, and how one can rightly orient themselves toward Christ and His revelation. Scripture can only serve its purpose inside the Church; the Church wrote Scripture, determined its canon, and interprets it faithfully, and no one outside the Church has rights to it. Often critics of the Orthodox Church say we disparage and ignore Scripture. This is absolutely false: we value Scripture so highly that we preserved it for centuries, have in-depth commentaries on it, and most importantly, the very words of Scripture comprise the majority of our worship services. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find more Scripture-saturated worship than that of the Orthodox Church. Anyone with ears to hear will come away with new questions and a new way of understanding life as a Christian, or a deeper understanding of what they already live in their daily lives. “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” –Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:15)If you have benefitted from this recording, please share it with others who might be open to hearing this essential message.“Christ did not write anything. It seems that if one reflects enough on this fact, one can somewhat understand the very essence of the work of Christ.” –St. Hilarion“Today we ever more frequently run up against this kind of reasoning: ‘We read such and such in Holy Scripture. The Church teaches differently. So the Church is wrong.’ All kinds of sectarians monotonously chant in this manner ad nauseam. There are even those who echo these ideas while calling themselves Christians, that is, they have adopted incomprehensible arrogance in their attitude toward the Church, placing themselves far above her…. Scripture belongs to the Church, but heretics are not Christians and have no right to Christian Scripture. The Church can ask the heretics: ‘Who are you? You are not of my own; what are you doing here? It is my property. I have long possessed it. I trace my foundation from the authors themselves, to whom the Scripture belongs. I am the heir of the Apostles. As for you, they have, it is certain, always held you as disinherited, and rejected you as strangers, as enemies.’ The truth we have sought to substantiate is not new, but it should be reiterated in the twentieth century, because although it has been repeatedly verified by history, it is now quite often forgotten.” –St. HilarionHoly Hieromartyr Hilarion, pray for God for us!This text can be found here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/saint...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Written in 1914, this treatise by St. Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop in Russia martyred by the Soviet Communists, is especially helpful in our days when there is so much misunderstanding regarding the place of Holy Scripture in Christian life and the nature of the Church that wrote, taught, and preserved these Scriptures. St. Hilarion shows in various ways the approach that non-Orthodox, especially Protestants, take towards Scripture is misguided and leads to tragic results for their souls. Divorcing the Bible from the Church (i.e. Sola Scriptura and versions of it) and assuming one can interpret it properly apart from the Body of Christ, which is guided by the Holy Spirit, is the height of arrogance and one can clearly see the divisive results today.This treatise also demonstrates the fallacies of modern “higher criticism,” sometimes even employed by the Orthodox, and how one can rightly orient themselves toward Christ and His revelation. Scripture can only serve its purpose inside the Church; the Church wrote Scripture, determined its canon, and interprets it faithfully, and no one outside the Church has rights to it. Often critics of the Orthodox Church say we disparage and ignore Scripture. This is absolutely false: we value Scripture so highly that we preserved it for centuries, have in-depth commentaries on it, and most importantly, the very words of Scripture comprise the majority of our worship services. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find more Scripture-saturated worship than that of the Orthodox Church. Anyone with ears to hear will come away with new questions and a new way of understanding life as a Christian, or a deeper understanding of what they already live in their daily lives. “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” –Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:15)If you have benefitted from this recording, please share it with others who might be open to hearing this essential message.“Christ did not write anything. It seems that if one reflects enough on this fact, one can somewhat understand the very essence of the work of Christ.” –St. Hilarion“Today we ever more frequently run up against this kind of reasoning: ‘We read such and such in Holy Scripture. The Church teaches differently. So the Church is wrong.’ All kinds of sectarians monotonously chant in this manner ad nauseam. There are even those who echo these ideas while calling themselves Christians, that is, they have adopted incomprehensible arrogance in their attitude toward the Church, placing themselves far above her…. Scripture belongs to the Church, but heretics are not Christians and have no right to Christian Scripture. The Church can ask the heretics: ‘Who are you? You are not of my own; what are you doing here? It is my property. I have long possessed it. I trace my foundation from the authors themselves, to whom the Scripture belongs. I am the heir of the Apostles. As for you, they have, it is certain, always held you as disinherited, and rejected you as strangers, as enemies.’ The truth we have sought to substantiate is not new, but it should be reiterated in the twentieth century, because although it has been repeatedly verified by history, it is now quite often forgotten.” –St. HilarionHoly Hieromartyr Hilarion, pray for God for us!This text can be found here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/saint...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Reader’s Note: As you listen to this Appeal written in 1968 to then Patriarch of Constantinople, His All-Holiness Athenagoras, notice how few words would need correction or updating in order to apply to our own day, now in the year 2021.“What do You think You have achieved by Your unique, but wholly uncanonical and unprecedented meeting with the Bishop of Rome? Most simply, You strengthened the Latin position on the schism. And what did Your melodramatic, far-fetched salutation, Your clinging embraces, and Your uncanonical exchange of gifts achieve? Precisely to increase the danger—the danger that the awareness the faithful now have that Papists are heretics will be blunted. Dialogue, prayers together, receiving of gifts, and "liberalizing" innovations are unforgivable according to Orthodox prescription, because they adulterate and change what has been transmitted through the holy Apostles, the holy Fathers, and the Ecumenical and Local Councils.”“Glory be to God, there exist in this land of martyrdom a love of Orthodoxy and a spirit of resistance. Like an ocean wave, Orthodox thought will overwhelm and sink Your skiff on its course toward a servile, anti-Christ union (submission) with the superheresy of Papism. Florence shall never live again in any form whatsoever. We will tolerate no kind of betrayal. The Greek people, a people who has once given birth to many like St. Photios, Patriarch Michael Cerularios, and St. Mark Evgenikos [i.e. St. Mark of Ephesus (+1439)], will not tolerate betrayal. God has swept away the betrayers.”“We rejoice over them as he that has found great spoil, and press to our bosom with gladness the divine Canons, holding fast all the precepts of the same complete and without change, whether they have been set forth by the holy trumpets of the Spirit, the renowned Apostles, the six Ecumenical Councils, by councils Iocally assembled,... or by our Holy Fathers... And those whom they placed under anathema we also anathematize; those whom they deposed, we also depose; those whom they excommunicated, we also excommunicate; and those whom they delivered over to punishment, we subject to the same penalty...” (First Canon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council).Elder Philotheos Zervakos (+1980) was an Archimandrite, spiritual father, missionary, confessor, and wonderworker in Greece in the 20th century. The spiritual son of St. Nektarios of Aegina, Elder Philotheos preached and heard confessions for 68 years and built 12 churches, two monasteries, three cemeteries and two schools. The money he would receive from the faithful he would distribute to the poor, the widows and the orphans. He zealously confessed the faith, guarding his spiritual children and all who would listen against the many temptations and deceptions facing his people. Elder Philotheos is not formally glorified as a saint, but he is treated like a saint by the people of Greece and beyond.Read more about his life here: https://orthochristian.com/93177.htmlThis Appeal was originally published in English in The Orthodox Word, Issue #13, Jan.-Feb., 1968. Read “A Desperate Appeal” here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/des...Holy Father Philotheos, pray to God for us!This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“In many different places and many different ways, people today are searching and finding the roots of Christianity in Orthodoxy. Things which we take for granted are astonishing discoveries for them: the splendor of our Divine services, coming down from ancient times and so suited to the need of the human soul to worship God in spirit and in truth; the depth of the spiritual teaching contained in the writings of the Holy Fathers; simply the continuity with the past of Christianity, since we trace our beginnings not to some more or less recent teacher, but to Christ Himself and His Apostles, and our bishops and priests received their ordinations in a direct line going back to the Apostles. If we ourselves, having these roots, are leading a conscious Christian life, we can be of tremendous help to those who are weary of personal interpretations of Christianity and want with all their heart the “true old Christianity”—Orthodoxy.”“All of politics is heading in the direction of a one-world government which cannot be anything but universal slavery.”“People today are searching for the truth, searching for Christ, searching for Orthodoxy; we who are already Orthodox are in a position to help give it to them.”“Everything in this life passes away—only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching. Let us take the way of St. Herman and put into our hearts the deep resolve: “From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all.”To listen to more readings of Fr. Seraphim’s teachings: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz...Text can be read here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/searc...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“If we think that we are something superior to Judas—that he was some kind of a ‘kook’ and we are not—we are quite mistaken. Like Judas, everyone of us has passions in his heart. Let us therefore look at them…. each one of us is potentially a Judas. Therefore, when the opportunity comes—when the passion begins to operate in us and logically begins to develop from a passion into betrayal—we should stop right there and say, ‘Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!’” –Fr. Seraphim RoseFr. Seraphim gave this homily during Great Lent, 1982, just a few months before his repose. Read the text here: https://orthochristian.com/78550.htmlThis is read by our brother Sergius, who assists with the work of this channel alongside Timothy.This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Paisius writes, “…having eaten, one should be a little hungry so that the body will be submissive to the spirit and capable of labors and sensitive to mental movements, and so the bodily passions will be conquered.”“A moderate and sensible fast is the foundation and chief of all virtues. One should fight evil as one fights a lion and a fierce serpent—in the infirmity of the body and spiritual poverty. He who wishes his mind to be firm against defiled thoughts should make his body refined through fasting.”Blessed Nativity Fast to all! On Nov 15/28 we begin the Nativity Fast and commemorate St. Paisius (+1794). May we struggle well, by the prayers of St. Paisius and the great mercy of God.Text of this reading: https://orthochristian.com/88203.htmlIf you are not familiar with St. Paisius, you should be. He is one of the most significant Saints in the last few hundred years and much of the rebirth of monasticism and spiritual heights in recent years can trace itself back to his labors. Learn more about this great Saint here: https://stpaisiusmonastery.org/about-...Here is a book of his writings that, to my knowledge, is out of print: http://austroca.org/wp-content/upload...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Three separate texts from St. Justin Popovic are brought together in this reading. I pray you can feel in your bones, nay, in the spiritual marrow of your soul the depth of the truth and beauty of his God-inspired teachings. Note: the word theanthropic is a combination of “Theos” = God and “Anthropos” = man“The New Testament can be summed up in one, this one comprehensive truth: the God-man is the essence, the purpose, the meaning, and the essential value of the Church. He is its soul, its heart, and its life. He is the Church in its entire theanthropic fullness. The Church is nothing other than the God-man Christ projected through all the centuries: ‘And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (Matt 28:20; cf. Eph 1:21-23).” –from “Highest Value and Last Criterion in Orthodoxy”“The holy day of the Spirit which dawned at Pentecost continues without interruption in the Orthodox Church, with the untold fulness of the divine gifts and life-giving powers. Everything in the Church exists in the Holy Spirit, from the most minute to the most stupendous.” –from “The Orthodox Church as Continuous Pentecost”“Humanistic Ecumenism,” pages 172-174 in “Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ”“Highest Value and Last Criterion in Orthodoxy,” pages 79-82 in “Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ”“The Orthodox Church as Continuous Pentecost” – Read here: https://pemptousia.com/2021/06/the-or...Purchase “Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ” here: https://churchsupplies.jordanville.or...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!