Orthodox Wisdom

“Now then, my child, if His divine will is in accordance to our desire, certainly you will get well. But if He foresees something that we do not know—since as God He sees and judges differently from above—then you will not get well. Nevertheless, we do not lose our reward: it is stored up in His kingdom. So be patient and struggle.”“And you, my child, write to me about whatever happens to you, and do not be afraid of the tempter. Just say the prayer without ceasing. He, my dear child, is the tempter—the devil—and only the prayer burns him, and fasting severs his nerves; it unnerves him.”“Christ, Who sets the contest, allows temptations for this reason: so that we may gain victories against the enemy, be purged from passions, and be perfected. So, struggle and be patient. Do not grow weary. Do not turn back.”St. Joseph the Hesycast is one of the greatest ascetics of the 20th Century and spiritual father of St. Ephraim of Katounakia and Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona. Learn more about St. Joseph here: https://stanthonysmonastery.org/pages...This reading is of Letters 50 and 54 from “Monastic Wisdom: The Letter of Elder Joseph the Hesychast”. Purchase the book here: https://stanthonysmonastery.org/produ...Read the recorded text here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/elderj...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

I strongly encourage you to listen to the end. What St. Damascene says may be words you find yourself, as I have, reflecting on many times over. Please listen all the way through this short recording. Of all the writings of the New Martyrs that have come down to us, this excerpt from St. Damascene of Glukhov is one of the most inspiring and hopeful. In the very midst of the height of uncertainty, division, and persecution, St. Damascene writes:"Unite yourselves for grace-given guidance around one of the worthy pastors, and let everyone separately and all together prepare themselves for yet greater service to Christ ... Just a few people united in such a life already makes up a small Church, the Body of Christ, in which the Spirit and the Love of Christ dwell ... If we do not become members of the Body of Christ, the temple of His Life-giving Spirit, then this Spirit will depart from the world, and the frightful convulsions of the dying world organism will be the natural result of this."“Therefore, let it be that darkness has temporarily covered the earth (from the sixth to the ninth hour), let it be that the lamps of certain Churches are hidden under bushels so as not to be put out by the satanic whirlwind (as has occurred with the majority).  After a short time of rest from the Lord (perhaps even the time when the darkness will imagine that its work has already been completed), the lamps will be revealed, will come together, will ignite a multitude of others which had been put out, will pour together into a great flame of faith which, when efforts are made to put it out, will burn more brightly; for many which have been put out and have felt the torment of the darkness and the cold of Tartarus will prefer to burn upon the bonfire of the flame of faith than again to be immersed in darkness."“With us is Christ, the Conqueror of death and hell.  The history of Christianity shows us that in all the periods when temptations and heresies have agitated the Church, the bearers of church truth and the expressors of it were few, but these few with the fire of their faith and their zealous standing in the Truth have gradually ignited everyone ... The same thing will happen now if we few will fulfill our duty before Christ and His Church to the end."The fearless confession of faith and of one's hope and a firm standing in the Church's laws are the most convincing refutation of the Sergian deviation and are an unconquerable obstacle to the hostile powers directed against the Church.  Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."Read this text, and the entire “Russia’s Catacomb Saints” by I. M. Andreyev and Fr. Seraphim Rose here: http://russiascatacombsaints.blogspot...You can also find a wealth of lesser known info on St. Damascene and other Catacomb Saints here: https://catacombhistory.blogspot.com/...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“Now you become angry and fainthearted and grieved, thinking that the heavenly Father is slow in answering. But I tell you that this will also happen as you desire—it will definitely happen—but first it takes prayer with all your soul, and then you must wait. And when you have forgotten your request and have ceased asking for it, it will come to you as a reward for your patience and endurance. When you reach the verge of despair while praying and seeking, then the fulfillment of your request is near. Christ wants to heal some hidden passion within you, and this is why He delays in granting your request. If you obtain it sooner, when you demand it, your passion remains uncured within you. If you wait, you obtain your request and the cure of the passion. And then you rejoice exceedingly and give warm thanks to God Who arranges all things in wisdom and does everything for our benefit.” “Don't fume with anger, as if to work it out of your system, but rather be calm. Burn the devil through patience and forbearance.”“Christ allows temptations so that we may be purified of our predispositions. Temptations are like soap and a mallet which hits us and whitens us. All the clothes that are firm are useful for the Bridegroom. But those which do not endure the mallet are torn and thrown out in the trash.”St. Joseph the Hesycast is one of the greatest ascetics of the 20th Century and spiritual father of St. Ephraim of Katounakia and Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona. Learn more about St. Joseph here: https://stanthonysmonastery.org/pages...This reading is Letter 40 from “Monastic Wisdom: The Letter of Elder Joseph the Hesychast”. Purchase the book here: https://stanthonysmonastery.org/produ...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Peter Zverev, Archbishop of Voronezh (+1929), New Martyr and Confessor under the Soviet antichrists, offers here a homily on the 1910 Cholera pandemic. Are his words anachronistic? Or do they speak to us today, us who suffer not only from a virus that attacks the body, but from the virus of impiety and lack of love according to truth and sacrifice? “There are still reports being received from various places that infectious disease is spreading across our country, and that it is carrying away to the grave many thousands of people. It is not surprising that in the face of this frightful phenomenon people are brought to anxiety and are striving to think of any means whereby they may avoid the impending thunderstorm.  But this is our grief – we have invented all the wrong means by which we think to be saved from this terrible sickness that has mercy on no one. We try to utilize various serums and vaccines … Every commission (agency) and the vast majority of people almost completely leave out the spiritual starting point in a person – his soul; of this only they desire not to think! The first and only evil behind sickness, misfortune, and suffering on this earth is sin. It is sin that we must eradicate and fight by every means, with all out strength, however difficult it may be. All these viruses, microbes, and bacteria are only but weapons and means in the hands of the Providence of God, Who seeks the salvation of mankind. By sending pestilence upon people, the Lord is reminding us to always hold our death before our eyes; after which will be the Dread Judgment, and the eternal punishment of unrepentant sinners which follows. It is to Him first and foremost that we should turn with prayers and supplications. And as we offer prayers we must also be striving to be found worth of the mercy of God. It is imperative to confess your sins, repent of them, and make a firm resolution to carry out your life in harmony with the Gospel commandments.  Yet, it is somehow frightful to see what takes place around us, on one side people are struck with the fear of contagious, deadly diseases, and they are terrified of death; yet at the same time they indulge in unbridled pleasures, amusements, and spectacles. All the while they completely forget about their holy responsibilities according to their calling as Orthodox Christians. How could there not be death bearing illness in our country when we have stepped away from God and brought upon ourselves His righteous wrath? We should also stand in awe of God’s immeasurable long-patience and that He mercifully chastises us; we must give heartfelt thanks to Him that we have not been completely destroyed. Let us all repent and amend our lives and turn to God, for it is we who have left Him.” Sermon: https://inklesspen.blog/2021/02/12/ho... Read more about St. Peter Zverev here: https://www.orthodox.net/russiannm/pe... This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

In this short article by I. M. Andreyev, we gain a deeper understanding of the true Christian social ethic through the lens of a true and most heinous act of a mother murdering her young child, and the great evil, yet triumph, of the crucifixion of Christ. This co-suffering and self-identification with the evil in the world kills the rationalism and individualism that plagues all of us, especially in the West, and opens to us the doors of the bright sorrow of repentance.NOTE: What follows includes some rather gruesome and dreadful descriptions of a murder, and that of a young child. This may not be suitable for young children, or those whose imagination will get the best of them.I. M. Andreyev writes, “…on West 84th Street there occurred a frightening event, a horrible crime—a mother beat to death her two-year old son…. The sight of the boy was so horrible that even the police, accustomed to all sorts of crimes, ‘were not able to bear the sight of the little body’…. During the interrogation the mother-murderer, a young twenty-nine year old woman, showed no sign of repentance.His face had been so pummeled that it was hard to distinguish it from the back of his head, which was also batter and bruised…. His stomach was full of the blood he had swallowed, and so to his throat, which no doubt caused him to choke during his last shuddering wails.‘Ah, please don’t!’ ‘Don’t talk this way!’ ‘It is impossible to listen this…’ Will not many readers began to cry out with these words?Orthodox people! Compassionate Orthodox people! Do not be afraid to clearly imagine the awful reality of this infanticide, for it is a sign from Heaven! Our faith and love in our Saviour is so weak, our deep and conscious awareness of the suffering He endured for ours sins so feeble that only a very few of those who venerate the Holy Shroud of Christ on Holy Friday of Passion Week appreciate (and then only for a fleeting moment) the awesome act of redemption of Our Lord; and without this awareness it is impossible to appreciate the profound meaning of Golgotha.It is not God but we ourselves that we must reproach for the evils surrounding us. One for all and all for one we are all guilty before one another—this is the essence of the Christian social ethic. We are all guilty before the face of this little tortured lamb found on West 84th Street in New York City. Since we are all sinners we create evil and our evil becomes a part of the world’s treasury of evil. This evil coalesces into a huge energy of evil which seeks vessels of graceless bodies to pour itself into, and when it finds them, it will be incarnated in them and they will do great acts of evil. We are all brothers and sisters. All mankind is one large family and this tortured infant is our brother and his ‘mother’-killer is our sister. In her evil act is found a drop of the evil found in each one of us.Let each one of us consider himself… What were you doing on the evening when this unbelievable but very real act was carried out? Indeed perhaps it was your sin, your depravity, your malice that provided the last drop of evil necessary for this child-killer’s vessel of evil to overflow? This is how we must understand these matters if we are to call ourselves real Christians.Weep brothers and sisters! Do not be ashamed of this weeping!Weep! Let these tears be the ones to fill the font in which God will baptize the infant-martyr, who most probably was not baptized, and who was anointed not with Holy Oil but with his innocent infant blood. Weep!...Do not be ashamed to weep with tears of sorrow, compassion, and repentance!"This article was originally published in “Orthodox Life,” March-April 1993 (orthodoxlife.org). Read this article here: https://orthodoxethos.com/post/weep-b...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“To place the hope of one's health in the hands of the doctor is the act of an irrational animal. This, nevertheless, is what we observe in the case of certain unhappy persons who do not hesitate to call their doctors their saviors. Yet, to reject entirely the benefits to be derived from this art is the sign of a pettish nature.”“The fact, also, that chronic illnesses persist over a long period and despite varied and painful remedies is a sign that we should amend the sins of the soul by assiduous prayer, prolonged penance, and the severe disciplinary treatment which reason may advise as adequate for the cure. Nor, because some sinners do not make good use of the art of medicine, should we repudiate all the advantages to be derived from it.”“There is no small danger, however, that we will fall into the error of thinking that every kind of suffering requires medical relief. Not all sicknesses for whose treatment we observe medicine to be occasionally beneficial arise from natural causes, whether from faulty diet or from any other physical origin. Illness is often a punishment for sin imposed for our conversion; 'For whom the Lord loveth,’ says the Scripture, 'he chastiseth… (Prov 3:12).”How important these words are for us today! How balanced and true!Text can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/stbasil...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

This timely treatise addresses current issues in the Orthodox Church, including Coronavirus, closure of churches, methods of receiving the Mystery of Holy Communion, the inability of disease to pass to the recipient of Holy Communion, and the Church's weakness and need to repent and be strengthened before the coming of Antichrist. I recorded this because I believe it will stand the test of time and be a source of hope and courage for the Faithful. #Covid-19 #Orthodox #CommunionPlease share with others and help strengthen the Body of Christ.Archimandrite Gregorios Estephan is Abbot of Holy Dormition of the Theotokos Monastery in Bkeftine, Lebanon.The transcript of this recording can be at Orthodox Ethos: https://orthodoxethos.com/post/the-su...This channel is dedicated to sharing the prayers, hymns, teachings, and service texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Part II/II - This short treatise clearly and powerfully explains the true purpose of each and every human being: union with God, or Theosis. Fr. George (Kapsanis), former Abbot of the St. Gregorios Monastery on Mount Athos who reposed in the Lord on Pentecost 2014, presents the Orthodox understanding of Theosis and the essential path towards receiving this divine gift. In part II, he focuses on the practical matters of Theosis, what is required for attaining it, and what keeps us lost in sin. Following the advice of this spiritual father, who merely transmits the teaching of the Holy Fathers before him, will lead to a life worthy of being called successful: eternal union with God. “If man cannot be deified with divine Grace and divine energies what purpose does his life have? Only that he becomes morally better. But moral perfection is not enough for man. It is not enough for us simply to become better than before, simply to perform moral deeds. We have as our final aim to unite with holy God Himself.” -Fr. George of Mount Athos0:14 Qualifications for Theosis14:08 Experiences of Theosis24:01 Failure of many people to reach Theosis30:34 Consequences of guidance for Theosis34:52 Consequences of guidance that does not lead to TheosisThe text of this recording can be found here, and in many languages: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theos...A reflection on the life and works of Fr. George by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014...This channel is dedicated to sharing the prayers, hymns, teachings, and service texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Part I/II - This short treatise clearly and powerfully explains the true purpose of each and every human being: union with God, or Theosis. Fr. George (Kapsanis), former Abbot of the St. Gregorios Monastery on Mount Athos who reposed in the Lord on Pentecost 2014, presents the Orthodox understanding of Theosis and the essential path towards receiving this divine gift of God. In part I, he explains what Theosis is and how it is the aim of our life, examines the role of the Incarnation and the Theotokos in Theosis, and summarizes the importance of St. Gregory Palamas, the essence and energies distinction, and his affirmation of the true Orthodox teaching against the heresies of the Roman Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christian traditions. This is presented in a way that Orthodox Christians, Catechumens, and inquirers will be able to understand and respond in faith to God.“If man cannot be deified with divine Grace and divine energies what purpose does his life have? Only that he becomes morally better. But moral perfection is not enough for man. It is not enough for us simply to become better than before, simply to perform moral deeds. We have as our final aim to unite with holy God Himself.” -Fr. George of Mount Athos0:14 Preface3:21 Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life9:40 The Incarnation of God: The Cause of Man’s Theosis17:08 The Contribution of the Theotokos to the Theosis of Man.22:30 The Church: The Place of Man’s Theosis29:37 Theosis is Possible Through the Uncreated Energies of GodThe text of this recording can be found here, and in many languages: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theos...A reflection on the life and works of Fr. George by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014...This channel is dedicated to sharing the prayers, hymns, teachings, and service texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“What is love? Immortalizing those whom you love, giving the divine and immortal to your beloved ones, giving eternal life to your beloved ones. That means giving the eternal Divine Truth, Divine Justice, Divine Love, Divine Eternity, and the rest of the Divine perfections to your beloved ones. This is true and divine eternal love.” -St. Justin Popović, Commentary on 1 John 3:16-17 “Man, in actuality, is in the world to solve one problem: is he with Christ or against Christ? Every man, whether he wants to or not, solves only this problem. He is either a lover of Christ or a fighter against Christ—a third does not exist.” -St. Justin Popović, Commentary on 1 John 4:2-3St. Justin Popović (+1979), the New Philosopher of Serbia, wrote his commentary of the epistles of St. John between Pascha and Ascension of 1945, with the apocalyptic backdrop of WWII. Unlike many of his commentaries written earlier in life, St. Justin did not return to this work and add further comments of his own or from the Holy Fathers. He felt perhaps that the times in which he wrote provided a discourse that was sufficient for its purposes. From the Introduction by two of his disciples, Bishop Irenej Bulovic and Bishop Atanasiju Yevtic: “Fr. Justin finishes his commentary on the Second Epistle of St. John with words dedicated to the same Apostle and Evangelist: “He is simultaneously the greatest Thunderer of New Testament Truth and the greatest Thunderer of New Testament Love…. Upon encountering him, such an extraordinary Apostle, people’s souls must have felt exceptional joy and exceptional elation.” We believe and feel through mutual love that such was the heavenly encounter of Venerable Fr. Justin, a rare Christ-lover and God-lover in our generation and age, with the First-Enthroned Apostle of theanthropic Love, in Christ the God-man—the God of Love and the Only Lover of Man. And we believe and hope that, through this encounter, the reader of these holy Epistles and this inspired commentary will experience something of this love.”1 John 1:1 – 00:17 1 John 1:8 – 04:361 John 1:9 – 07:491 John 2:6 – 11:261 John 2:16 – 12:481 John 2:17 – 16:081 John 2:18 – 18:541 John 2:19 – 22:051 John 3:1 – 23:501 John 3:6 – 27:311 John 3:16-17 – 31:121 John 4:1 – 34:401 John 4:2-3 – 37:361 John 4:18 – 41:191 John 4:19 – 43:071 John 4:20-21 – 44:551 John 5:3 – 47:001 John 5:8-10 – 48:311 John 5:15 – 53:261 John 5:20-21 – 54:28Purchase this book at any of the following bookstores. One bookstore might be sold out, therefore I have listed three that have sold it before:sebastianpress.comchurchsupplies.jordanville.org/9780971950566/hvcbookstore.com/Commentary-on-the-Epistles-of-St.-John-the-TheologianYou can find more recording of St. Justin's writings on this channel.This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!