Orthodox Wisdom Newsletter

“I do nothing but sow the seeds of monasticism and of mission, though without a strategy. I pray that God will reveal the appropriate farmer to scientifically cultivate whatever I have sown, as I don’t have knowledge of the art of spiritual cultivation. I see that God has now chosen Patmos as an appropriate place for a spiritual airport…. Distressed voices are heard from the depths of Africa that ask us for the light of Christ and for guides, so that they might also walk the holy road of Golgotha. We don’t have the right to turn a deaf ear. We are obliged to open our hand to those exhausted brethren as well, as they are so far from the Orthodox Church. So, forward: fire up the spiritual factory of atomic energy!”

~ St. Amphilochios of Patmos, Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit

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Why Did You Become Orthodox?

(From Baptist to Orthodox): Dr. Mary Ford

☦️ Dear fellow pilgrim,

What should Christian missionary activity look like? As with many things in the Christian life, there are different opinions, and different Christian groups use a variety of Biblical texts to prop up their particular position.

Here’s something St. Porphyrios had to say on the matter:

The monastery must receive souls with the fear of God and inspire, not with teaching and sermons, but with prayer, fear of God, and example. This is an exceedingly delicate matter… what will preponderate will be silence and what will speak will be example. Our disposition will teach the person more than anything else… This, rather than words, will be of benefit. This, I believe, is the best form of missionary activity.

~ Wounded by Love, p. 80

There is certainly a place for a variety of different kinds of missionary activity (preaching, translation, online newsletters(!), etc.), but there is a crucial ingredient without which all of this effort is largely in vain: a spiritual life that generates inner peace and that radiates this peace to the world around.

St. Seraphim of Sarov famously said, “Acquire the spirit of peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved.” And Christ Himself warned about an evangelism that is external and devoid of the spiritual life: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).

It is clear, then, that it is not enough to simply to try to bring people to Christ, but that conversion must focus on an inner change, and that this inner change must begin with each of us.

May God grant us the strength we need to struggle to acquire the spirit of peace, so we have something transformative to offer the world around us!

In Christ our Lord,

Herman