Don’t hesitate [to come to confession]. Don’t be ashamed. Whatever you may have done, even the greatest of sins, the spiritual father has power from the Lord Christ Himself and from the Apostles to forgive you with his stole.
– Elder Iakovos (Tsalikis) (1920-1991)
The monk flees far from the world, not because he detests the world, but because he loves the world and in this way he is better able to help the world through his prayer, in things that don’t happen humanly but only through divine intervention. In this way God saves the world. – Elder Paisios…
Orthodox Wisdom Newsletter “The Christian needs to avoid sickly spirituality, as much the feeling of superiority for one’s virtue as the feeling of inferiority for one’s sinfulness. To have a complex is one thing, to be humble is quite another. Melancholy is one thing, repentance something else.” ~ St. Porphyrios, Precious Vessels of the Holy…
“When we’re in the grace of the Holy Spirit our prayer becomes pure…”
I must depart. It is the will of God and I must leave. Sin has progressed a great deal. The world rolls in the mire of sin and doesn’t know it. And this tires me. I must depart. What makes me sad, though, are the trees I planted in the garden, for they are still…
When man partakes of Holy Communion he receives power and is enlightened, his horizons widen and he feels joy. Each person experiences something different, analogous to his disposition and the flame of his soul. One person feels joy and rest, another peace, another a spirit of devotion and another an inexpressible sympathy towards all things….
The goal of reading is the application, in our lives, of what we read. Not to learn it by heart, but to take it to heart. Not to practice using our tongues, but to be able to receive the tongues of fire and to live the mysteries of God. If one studies a great deal…
