Orthodox Wisdom

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, one of the most beloved Russian saints of the past few centuries, exhibits his apostolic love and zeal in these brief exhortations. Always remember the sufferings, the love of Christ Jesus. 0:00 Beginning 0:11 Remembrance of the Divine Passion 3:16 Imitation of the Life of Christ Text is from "Journey to Heaven", p. 99-103. To my knowledge, this book is out of print and unavailable except for overpriced third party copies. If this book is available for a reasonable price, please add a comment below. -READ the text here: https://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/tikhon_zadonsk_2.htm#_Toc530611586 -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ ______ St. Tikhon teaches: A real and powerful encouragement in the struggle against sin, and in the holy and Christian life, is the contemplation of the sufferings of Christ. Keep the faith, then, and guard it against your enemy the devil, who desires and attempts to seize it away from you and make you his captive. Struggle against this enemy; consider, then, the suffering of Christ and it will teach you every virtue. In order to correct yourself and become a true Christian, that is Christ's, set the holy life of Christ before your eyes and imitate its example. And even though your heart, corrupt as it is, does not wish it, force and convince yourself to imitate the beautiful virtues of Christ. You look into a mirror so that you may know what is in your face, whether there are any blemishes in it, and having seen blemishes, you cleanse them. Let the immaculate life of Christ be a mirror to your soul, look into it often and know what is in your soul. Does it desire the same things that Christ desires? And does it do what Christ did when He lived on earth? And in it you will see what is contrary to the life of Christ, and you will cleanse it all like blemishes with repentance and contrition of heart. ______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

This short excerpt from Elder George's treatise discusses the characteristics of experiences of theosis, union with God, the true purpose of each and every human being. Elder 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. -READ "Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life" by Elder George in many languages: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis.aspx -LISTEN to "Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life - Part I" https://youtu.be/ReheAcnRPmU -READ a reflection on the life and works of Elder George by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014/07/fr-george-kapsanis-former-abbot-of.html -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ This recording is an excerpt from "Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life - Part II" https://youtu.be/E5tLjZBrpS0 ______ Elder George teaches: 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. ______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

This short excerpt from Elder George's treatise explains the qualifications for attaining the true purpose of each and every human being: union with God, or Theosis. Elder 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. -READ "Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life" by Elder George in many languages: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis.aspx -LISTEN to "Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life - Part I" https://youtu.be/ReheAcnRPmU -READ a reflection on the life and works of Elder George by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014/07/fr-george-kapsanis-former-abbot-of.html -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ This recording is an excerpt from "Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life - Part II" https://youtu.be/E5tLjZBrpS0 ______ Elder George teaches: 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. ______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Luke teaches: "With this deep and fiery repentance the force that prevented her from entering the church receded and she finally entered. There she fell before the life-giving Cross of the Lord and did not get up until the end of the service. Tears flowed from her eyes, from the eyes that once seduced men and are now cleansed with wholehearted and fervent repentance." -READ the Life of St. Mary of Egypt by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem: https://www.orthodox.net/saints/mary-of-egypt.html -READ St. Luke's homily here: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2021/04/homily-for-fifth-sunday-of-great-lent.html -WATCH Trisagion Films video on the Life of St. Mary of Egypt: https://youtu.be/BBXvDuNElB8?si=Uk16Pa18mAXX9BMq -READ about St. Luke’s life here: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2008/10/st-luke-archbishop-of-simferopol.html?m=1 -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ ______ St. Luke teaches: On the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, our Holy Church honors the memory of Saint Mary of Egypt. Her truly wonderful life is known to you because every year on this day it is narrated in the churches. But I will describe her again in a few words to remember the unusual and unique life of this Saint. Let us stand with Saint Mary at the gate of the church. We now see her heart overwhelmed by the fear of God, when she realizes that she cannot, in God's judgment, enter the church with the others. She alone is unworthy to enter, while everyone else enters freely. Her entrance is prevented by an invisible force. When she realizes her tragic situation, a strong flame of the fear of God lights up in her soul. She is shaken by the fear she feels in front of All-Holy, All-Wise, Almighty and Just God. It was not a fear of punishment, it was a shame that burned like fire, a shame for the impurity of her soul and body. It was a shame and pain for her that God, because of her impurity, did not allow her to enter the church and appear before Him. Then she prayed fervently. She fell before the icon of the Panagia which was placed above the entrance of the church and with tears begged the Mother of God to pray for her to her Son. With this deep and fiery repentance the force that prevented her from entering the church receded and she finally entered. There she fell before the life-giving Cross of the Lord and did not get up until the end of the service. Tears flowed from her eyes, from the eyes that once seduced men and are now cleansed with wholehearted and fervent repentance. ______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

In this letter, Fr. Seraphim expresses his reaction to unhealthy approaches to Blessed Augustine, the great bishop and Church father of Africa, and shares a more personal side of his own experience with Augustine and his works: "I feel in Augustine the love of Christ." In Fr. Seraphim Rose’s time, as well as today in 2024, many diverse and strongly held opinions exist when it comes to how we should regard Blessed Augustine of Hippo. In one extreme, some treat him as either the greatest father of the first millennium, as one can see in some western confessions and even by some Orthodox. In another extreme, some see him as the root source of a multitude of heresies, even explicitly or implicitly condemning him as a heretic. The text of this recording is his full letter to Fr. Michael Azkoul written on June 13/26, 1981. -BUY “The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church” by Fr. Seraphim Rose: https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=blaug -LISTEN to a fuller treatment of the Orthodox Church's understanding of Blessed Augustine according to Fr. Seraphim Rose: https://youtu.be/1KT4APf8GFM -READ this letter and others from Fr. Seraphim Rose: https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/letters-of-fr-seraphim-rose-1961-1982/ _______ Fr. Seraphim writes: If your attempt is to find our Augustine’s real place in the Orthodox Church, I think your approach is all wrong. It assumes that “we moderns” are the ones who can do this—that we can “know better” than anyone in the Orthodox past. I don’t think so. I have a deep distrust of all of us who are writing on theological subjects today—we are more under “Western influence” than anyone before, and the less we are aware of it, the more obnoxious our “Westernism” becomes. Our whole cold, academic, and often disdainful approach to theology is so remote from the Fathers, so foreign to them. Let us admit this and try not to be so presumptuous (I speak for myself also). I myself am no great admirer of Augustine’s doctrines. He does indeed have that Western “super-logicalness” which the Eastern Fathers don’t have (the same “super-logicalness” which the critics of Augustine today display so abundantly!). The one main lovable and Orthodox thing about him is his Orthodox feeling, piety, love for Christ, which comes out so strongly in his non-dogmatic works like the Confessions (the Russian Fathers also love the Soliloquies). I myself fear the cold hearts of the 'intellectually correct' much more than any errors you might find in Augustine. I sense in these cold hearts a preparation for the work of Antichrist (whose imitation of Christ must also extend to 'correct theology'); I feel in Augustine the love of Christ. _______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Seraphim of Sofia discusses an important aspect of the Ecumenical Movement in the 20th century: Freemasonry. Presenting to the Moscow Pan-Orthodox Congress of 1948, which included representatives from nearly all autocephalous Orthodox churches, St. Seraphim highlights the well-known Freemason, John Raleigh Mott, the main promoter of "unity" among separate Christian groups. Mott spearheaded the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh and the first meeting of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Mott helped send Protestant student missionaries with the YMCA to evangelize Orthodox countries and for his ecumenical efforts won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. St. Seraphim understands that ecumenical efforts only serve to blur the boundaries between the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church (the Orthodox Church) and other sects claiming to be part of the Church. Such blurring draws people away from the only place, as St. Seraphim teaches, men can become saints: the Orthodox Church. Unfortunately, despite St. Seraphim's warning of the sinister nature and dreadful consequences of the Ecumenical Movement for Holy Orthodoxy, the Patriarchate of Moscow joined the World Council of Churches at its Third Assembly in New Delhi in 1961 and has been one of its most active members ever since. -READ St. Seraphim's full address to the 1948 Moscow Pan-Orthodox Congress: http://www.dep.church/downloads/StSeraphimEcumenism.pdf -READ the book of his life and works: https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/saint-seraphim-of-sofia-his-life-teachings-miracles-and-glorification/ -READ a brief account of St. Seraphim's life here: https://blog.obitel-minsk.com/2021/02/adapt-your-life-to-your-faith-not-the-other-way-around-st-seraphim-sobolev.html -RESOURCE to help laity write respectful letters to their hierarchs: https://www.voiceoforthodoxlaity.com/ -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ This recording is an excerpt from "Does the Russian Orthodox Church Need to Participate in the Ecumenical Movement? (Part II/II)": https://youtu.be/P2w0hvEgE6Q TEXTS on Freemasonry and Orthodoxy: -Freemasonry: Official Statement of the Church of Greece (1933): http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/masonry.aspx -Freemasonry and the Orthodox Church. This article details, among other things, that Ecumenical Patriarchs Meletios (+1935) and Athenagoras (+1972) were Freemasons: https://orthodoxhistory.org/2023/09/27/freemasonry-and-the-orthodox-church/ VIDEOS on Freemasonry from an Orthodox viewpoint: -Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios on Revelation https://youtu.be/u6y0a4kx58s?si=LN1tb5iYaKSAa4hH -Freemasonry: Today’s Satanic Gnosticism by Fr. Peter Heers (analyzing the teachings of Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios) https://youtu.be/kUv6jfzRcts?si=uhoR9694xoQSflpU BOOKS/ARTICLES on Ecclesiology and Ecumenism: --Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future by Fr. Seraphim Rose https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/product-p/orf.htm --The Orthodox Church and Ecumenism by St. Justin Popovic https://lazarica.co.uk/bookshop/ --The Missionary Origins of Modern Ecumenism by Fr. Peter Heers https://uncutmountainpress.com/shop/product/the-missionary-origins-of-modern-ecumenism/ --A Confession of Faith Against Ecumenism (signed by saints, elders, hierarchs, priests, and laity around the world): https://www.impantokratoros.gr/FA9AF77F.en.aspx --On Common Prayer with the Heterodox According to the Canons of the Church by Fr. Anastasios Gotsopoulos https://uncutmountainpress.com/shop/product/on-common-prayer-with-the-heterodox/ _______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos (+1989) was a celibate priest who lived his whole life in the world. “He didn’t retreat to Mt. Athos which he loved dearly, but lived in the city of Athens...." Absorb the wisdom of this faithful priest of our times. 0:00 Beginning 0:07 Fasting and Dieting 2:21 Fasting and Name Days 3:02 Fasting and Hospitality -READ the text here: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/11/elder-epiphanios-faces-challenging.html -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ ______ Elder Epiphanios teaches: Fasting has two objectives: the ascetic pursuit of abstinence for the body by limiting nutrient-rich foods, and conformity to the commands of the Church, which is an ascetic pursuit for the soul. The Elder said that to take care of people is a great virtue, the practice of which cannot be suspended during fasting periods. However, at the table there will necessarily be offered fasting foods. With certain limits they can be better prepared or more delicious if we want to honor someone, but they must of necessity be for fasting. Nowhere in the Gerontikon does it praise an ascetic or display them as an example because they abolished the fast for the sake of hospitality. What it does mention is that certain holy hermits abolished their personal ascetic fasting, which was much more austere than what the Church required. ______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Every year during the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the questions arise: "Why are we anathematizing people? Is the Church really sending them to hell? What is an anathema?" In his homily on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, St. Theophan the Recluse provides as answer to such questions, raising our theologoical consciences higher and guarding the faithful against seculization of the Church increasingly present today. -READ the text here: https://www.orthodox.net/articles/anathema-bp-theophan.html#:~:text=After%20all%2C%20an%20anathema%20is,to%20think%20upon%20joining%20her. -WATCH the Rite of the Triumph Orthodoxy (Anathema Service, or Synodikon) in English and Church Slavonic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZzhpSoaXtM&t=543s -WATCH a short, powerful video of the Proclomation of Anathemas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF00JJ13l7Y -READ St. John Maximovitch addressing the same topic: https://catalogueofstelisabethconvent.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-word-anathema-and-its-meaning.html -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ Audio of singing "Anathema!" at the beginning of this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZzhpSoaXtM&t=543s _______ St. Theophan teaches: To some people our anathemas seem inhumane, to others constricting. Such charges might be valid in other situations, but there is no way they can apply to our Rite of Orthodoxy. Let us take, for example, a temperance society. It has rules which every member must fulfill. And each of its members is a member precisely because he accepts and abides by its rules. Now suppose that some member not only refuses to abide by the rules but also holds many views completely opposed to those of the society and even rises up against its very goal. He not only does not himself observe temperance but even reviles temperance itself and disseminates notions which might tempt others and deflect them from temperance. What does the society ordinarily do with such people? First it admonishes them, and then it expels them. There you have an anathema! No one protests this, no one reproaches the society for being inhuman. Everyone acknowledges that the society is acting in a perfectly legitimate manner and that if it were to act otherwise, it could not exist. Do you not see with what wisdom and foresight the holy Church acts when she makes us perform the present proclamation and listen to it? And yet they say, "This is outdated." It is precisely now that it is relevant. Perhaps 100 years ago it was not relevant. But one must say concerning our time, that if a Rite of Orthodoxy did not as yet exist, it would be needful to introduce one, and to perform it not only in the capital cities but in all places and in all churches: in order to collect all the evil teachings opposed to the Word of God, and to make them known to all, in order that all might know what they need to beware of and what kind of teachings to avoid. Many are corrupted in mind solely due to ignorance, whereas a public condemnation of ruinous teachings would save them from perdition. Whether your teaching and your name are pronounced as being under anathema or not, you already fall under it when your opinions are opposed to those of the Church, and when you persist in them. Fearful is the anathema. Leave off your evil opinions. Amen. _______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Elder Ephraim encourages a brother struggling with lust and self-abuse (masturbation), inspiring him never to despair and always to repent and trust in God’s infinite mercy. Such temptations are allowed by God to humble and strengthen our will, and such patient endurance wins divine crowns. A letter from Athos, June 30, 1958 from "Counsels from the Holy Mountain: Selected from the Letters and Homilies of Geronda Ephraim of Arizona", p. 167-168. -BUY "Counsels from the Holy Mountain": https://stanthonysmonastery.org/products/counsels-from-the-holy-mountain -LISTEN to many audiobooks from St. Anthony's Monastery in Arizona: https://stanthonysmonastery.org/pages/audiobooks -PRAY the Jesus Prayer with Elder Ephraim: https://youtu.be/pmFA4LTADQE?si=ig5DyyyQgX-WEgOA -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ This excerpt is from "Carnal Warfare - Elder Ephraim & Saint Joseph" https://youtu.be/h9YxyYssNRo _______ Elder Ephraim writes: When one struggles against sin with humility and the fear of God, with fervent spiritual work and with the guidance of an experienced spiritual father, God will never let him be lost. Only one must keep in mind not to despair. Even if one slips and sins ten thousand times a day, it is not justifiable in God's eyes for him to despair, but rather he should be hopeful and prepare for a fight, until God's mercy comes and delivers him. “…let's see who will win: you or Christ!" When the demon heard this unexpected reply, he said: "I won't fight you any more, because if I do, I'll make you win crowns." _______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Our Lord said, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Matt. 12:36)." Abbess Thaisia, a spiritual daughter of St. John of Krodstadt, served as abbess of a convent in Leushino, Russia. Her autobiography and letters have served as an inspiration to countless souls and are as timely today as they were in pre-revolutionary Russia. -READ the text here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/idletalk.aspx -BUY "Letters To A Beginner", a collection of letters from Abbess Thaisia to her nuns: https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/product-p/lett.htm -READ Elder Joseph of Vatopedi's introduction to the greek edition of her autobiography: https://pemptousia.com/2016/12/elder-joseph-of-vatopedi-on-the-life-and-personality-of-abbess-taisia-olga/ -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ ______ Abbess Thaisia writes: On this subject I want to write you a few words about the harm arising from the idle talk and gossip so common among you. This is something you yourself don't even notice; you speak too much, without discerning whether it is necessary or unnecessary, profitable or harmful, provided only that something is spoken. It is as if you are afraid of silence, which in fact is a nun's first obligation, the chief condition of her success and the adornment of her whole life. Deeply rooted in people is the love of idle talk, i.e., empty, unnecessary conversations, and it has become a beloved pastime among them. It seems we don't know and don't believe that idle talk is a sin, and a serious sin, which gives birth to a multitude of other sins: quarrels, conflicts, gossip, slander, condemnation, calumny, and the like. One deeply thinking pastor, contemporary to us, writes the following on idle talk, among other things: "How heedlessly, how carelessly we use our words, Which should be highly valued as a great gift from God! But on the contrary, what do we least esteem, if not the spoken word? In what are we fickle, if not in the spoken word? What do we throw out every minute, as though it were dirt, if not the spoken word? O Christian! Value your words, be attentive to them!" ______ Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!