For this reason the Lord descended so that he might save sinners, raise up the dead, and bring new life to those wounded by death and to enlighten those who lay in darkness.
Become Insensate To The Praise and Ridicule of Others
Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved.'"
Thy Will be Done
“As darkness vanishes when light is brought into the gloom of caves, so also, when Thy Will is done in me, every foul and wicked movement of my free will is brought to nought. For continence will extinguish the uncontrolled impulses of a mind dominated by passion; humility will destroy conceit, moderation will heal the... Continue Reading →
The Incarnation and The Fully Formed Human Being
It seems to me that the reason that He formed man from dust with His own hands, gave him a second birth through water, increase through the Spirit, education by the Word, thereby guiding him surely to the adoption of sons and to salvation with holy precepts, was precisely that He might transform an earth-born... Continue Reading →
The Art of Living Is The Imitation of God
Every person is the painter of his own life, and choice is the craftsman [technitees - literally, artist] of the work , and the virtues are the paints for executing the image
The One Who is Torn Between Two Worlds
Here St. John Cassian and his associate Germanus have been asking Abba Daniel about why sometimes we feel so easily able to pray and at other times we arent. This is followed by a line of questions about the inner warfare. Abba Daniel's response here about trying to obtain 'the goal' or 'the trophy' without... Continue Reading →
The Spiritual Journey of The Psalter
“First the Psalter separates us .. . from the attached evil to which we have been attached (chained). And thus it scrapes and polishes our understanding by means of more delicate teachings of ideas. Then, by means of the forms of virtue, it forms Christ in us, in accordance with whose image we existed in... Continue Reading →
The Senses Become Attuned to Him
Commenting on Song of Songs, St. Gregory of Nyssa says about the human acquisition of virtue as mirroring God more fully. He speaks here about the spiritual senses. The bride then rightly recognizes the difference between herself and her Lord. As Light, He is an object of beauty for our eyes; He is a sweet... Continue Reading →
Bringing Us Back to His Likeness
Hitherto the Word, in whose image humanity had been made, was invisible, and for that reason humanity easily lost the likeness. When, however, the Word of God had been made flesh, he realised both. For on the one hand, he revealed the true image, himself becoming that which was his own image; on the other... Continue Reading →
He Plunges Even Into the Hell of my Heart
“Man has been plunged into the abyss of darkness and the depths of death. He is suffocating and has lost God’s life within himself, surrounded by ferocious beasts. Who is able to penetrate into those depths of hell and death except that very Workman himself, who fashioned the human body? He himself [Christ] penetrates into... Continue Reading →
Hope Not in Your Own Strength
“Give us help out of affliction” (Ps. 59:13). Let us seek help, not from [physical] strength, not from the well-being of the flesh. Let us not think it right to obtain aid from any of those considered notorious among men. Strength is a matter not of amassing of money, not of extent of power, not... Continue Reading →
Be Angry and Do Not Sin
"So let us too not be angry rashly. Anger, you see, has been instilled in us for a reason, not for sinning but for checking others in their sin, not for it to become a passion and an affliction but for it to prove a remedy for passions. Accordingly consider the anomaly of vice, when... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 