Orthodox Wisdom

St. Paisios provides guidance on fighting the sins and passions that plague us, and how to win the battle to receive a heavenly crown.A reading from Spiritual Counsels, Vol. V: Passions and Virtues by St. Paisios, p. 21-36📖 Spiritual Counsels, Vol. V: Passions and Virtues by St. Paisioshttps://www.holycross.org/products/passions-and-virtues-elder-paisios?srsltid=AfmBOoosr8olgBCwD0SYQ-GFS_bfXyRVYAsxDAiBGL9MlAUJ1SC3ssyE🎧 The Struggle Against Thoughts - St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://youtu.be/5sN-zHdnjto🎧 On Attention and Distraction - St. Ignatius Brianchaninovhttps://youtu.be/v5ZIEmv8RwQ🎧 Everyone Needs a Spiritual Father - St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://youtu.be/xaSeWRcJPHo🎧 Fighting the Passions - Archbishop Theophan of Poltavahttps://youtu.be/tNYLK80dFvA🎧 Holiness is in the Struggle! - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaioshttps://youtu.be/Qhm2ffdEBsc⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/🎁Support my work here:https://buymeacoffee.com/orthodoxwisdom_______St. Paisios teaches:When there is no danger of becoming conceited and prideful, then God will certainly help. The Good God desires that we be delivered from our passions; but if we have pride or the predisposition to become prideful, then He does not help us to be delivered from our passions, for then we will imagine that we achieved it without His help.— Geronda, is it better to do away with a passion or a bad habit at once, or little by little? — If you can get rid of it immediately, it is best; otherwise it may leave some... residue. There is no need for delay. When one is crossing a river, particularly in the winter, he tries to do it as quickly as possible; otherwise, he'll freeze from the cold. If he crosses quickly, before being overcome by the cold, he will soon warm up again. You see, even tethered horses that want to get free will snap the rope with a sudden strong pull. Temptation requires a very sharp tug in order to sever the rope.— Geronda, does the remembrance of death help in this inner work? — Yes, it is very helpful. If we bear in mind the remembrance of death with hope in God, we will become aware of the vanity of this world and be helped spiritually. This is why we should keep the criterion (judgment) of God in mind and not forget that we will be judged for the sins we have committed and not repented for. "What am I doing? How can I live with so much negligence?" should be our thoughts. "If I should die right now, how will I be judged? Do I have a contract with death? Death comes both to the young and the old." If I could keep in mind that God may call me soon, then I would not be so inclined to sin.We sometimes try to acquire God's Grace and gifts through some magical means. We delude ourselves by thinking that we can acquire a virtue or even be sanctified without a struggle. However, for God to give, we must sow. How will God give if we do not work? What does the hymn say? "You have cultivated the barren desert?" God will provide abundant rain to soften the soil, but we must also "cultivate" our field. The earth is ready, but we must put our hand to the plough and sow our field; and whatever we sow, we will reap. But if we do not plough, how can we sow? And if we do not sow, what will we harvest? For this reason, we should not only ask what God can do for us, but what we can do for ourselves. The bank of Christ offers great interest rates. But if we make no deposit in His bank, how can we expect to make a withdrawal?_______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Gregory details the nature and characteristics of the Triune God: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. A reading from Homily 8 (p. 55-58) from Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies📖 Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilieshttps://mountthabor.com/products/saint-gregory-palamas-the-homilies🎧 The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ - Homily by St. Gregory Palamashttps://youtu.be/DHG2gakIqdQ🎧 The Filioque: From the Latins Which Were Obedient to Satan - St. Gregory Palamashttps://youtu.be/4FeQoutq16I🎧 Homily on the Eve of Theophany - St. Gregory Palamashttps://youtu.be/Z1whxp_kuV0🎧 The Hesychastic Life of the Young Mother of God - St. Gregory Palamashttps://youtu.be/uYsv8o0yyic⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/🎁Support my work here:https://buymeacoffee.com/orthodoxwisdom_______St. Gregory teaches:Believing in God is different from believing God. To believe God is to regard His promises to us as sure and true, but to believe in Him is to have a right understanding of Him. Both are necessary for us and we must speak correctly in both respects, in such a way that people with correct understanding can be confident that we are faithful before the God to whom our faith is directed and that, being faithful, we shall be justified by Him.The Father is timeless, without beginning and pre-eternal. He is the sole cause and root of the divinity beheld in the Son and the Holy Spirit; not the sole Creator, but the sole Father of the only Son and the sole producer of the one Holy Spirit. He is for ever, He is the Father for ever, and He is the sole Father and the sole producer for ever. His one Son is co-eternal with Him. Like Him, the Son is without beginning in time, but inasmuch as He has the Father as begetter, root, source and origin, He is not without beginning. Before all ages He alone was begotten of Him without a body, without passion of change, and was not divided from Him. Being God from God, He is not one thing as God and another as Son. He is for ever, He is the Son for ever and He is with the Father for ever without confusion. He is the living Word, the true light, the enhypostatic Wisdom, cause and origin of all created things, for by Him all things were made.From the eternal Father who is without beginning the Holy Spirit also proceeds. As timeless He is together with the Father and the Son without beginning, but He is not without beginning, inasmuch as He has the Father as root, origin and cause, from whom He proceeded before all ages, without passion or change. He was not divided from the Father or the Son when He came from the Father and rested in the Son, for He was united with Them without confusion and indivisibly distinct. Being also God from God, He is not one thing as God and another as Comforter, inasmuch as He is the hypostatic existence of the Holy Spirit. He has His existence from the Father and is sent through the Son, as the firstfruits of eternal life and the earnest of the everlasting good things to come. He too is the cause of all created things, for in Him all things were made. He does not differ from the Father and the Son except that He is neither unbegotten nor begotten._______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Silouan the Athonite writes on battling intrusive thoughts and recognizing delusions, emphasizing that we must "fight the enemy with the weapon of humility".A reading from "Saint Silouan the Athonite" by St. Sophrony the Athonite, p. 440-447📖 Saint Silouan the Athonite by St. Sophrony the Athonitehttps://www.holycross.org/products/saint-silouan-the-athonite📖 Spiritual Counsels, Vol. 3: Spiritual Struggle by St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://www.athoniteusa.com/products/saint-paisios-the-athonite-spiritual-counsels-volume-iii-spiritual-struggle?srsltid=AfmBOorzehHI_pB20A84pZFWkAJxcyimzUiiZ-lhw3E6bX3XloJV4VFo📖 Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnicahttps://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/product-p/otdol.htm🎧 The Struggle Against Thoughts - St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://youtu.be/5sN-zHdnjto🎧 On Prelest (Spiritual Deception) - Fr. Seraphim Rosehttps://youtu.be/Pt00jwZ37ik🎧 Holiness is in the Struggle! - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaioshttps://youtu.be/Qhm2ffdEBsc🎧 On Attention and Distraction - St. Ignatius Brianchaninovhttps://youtu.be/v5ZIEmv8RwQ🎧 Noetic Sound Waves of the Heart - From the Life of St. Porphyrioshttps://youtu.be/n5dWVVDDvhM🎧 Everyone Needs a Spiritual Father - St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://youtu.be/xaSeWRcJPHo⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______St. Silouan teaches:Beware these two thoughts, and fear them. The first suggests "You are a saint;' the other, 'You will not be saved.' Both come from the enemy, and there is no truth in them. Instead, think to yourself, 'I am a great sinner but the Lord is merciful. He loves man with a great love, and will forgive me my sins.' Believe in this way, and, you will see, the Lord will forgive you. But put no faith in feats of your own, however much you may have striven. An ascetic once said to me, 'I shall certainly be pardoned because I prostrate myself so many times a day;' but when death came, he rent his clothes.O how weak I am! I write a little and am already weary, and my body seeks rest. The Lord, too, when He was on earth in the flesh knew human weakness; and He, the Merciful One, grew weary on His way and slept in the boat during the storm; and when the disciples roused Him, He ordered the sea and the wind to be still, and there was a great calm. So, too, with us: great peace reigns in our souls when we call upon the holy name of the Lord. O Lord, grant us to praise Thee until our last breath!The Fathers of the Church say that the soul feels troubled and perplexed at visions proceeding from the enemy. But this applies only to the humble soul, who does not count herself worthy of visions, and feels either bewilderment or fear at the workings of the enemy; whereas the conceited man can experience neither fear nor even bewilderment, because he wants to have visions, and deems himself worthy of them, and so it is easy for the enemy to delude him. That which is of heaven is made known through the Holy Spirit, whereas earthly things are discovered by the mind — but the man who would discover God with his mind, through science and learning, is in a state of beguilement, for God is to be known only through the Holy Spirit. If in your mind you should think to see devils, humble yourself and try not to see them. Hasten to your confessor or the staretz to whom you have committed yourself. Tell him everything, and then the Lord will have mercy on you and you will escape delusion. But if you start thinking that you know more about the spiritual life than your spiritual father, and cease telling him in confession what befalls you, you will surely be beguiled for your pride. Fight the enemy with the weapon of humility.

Written in 1968, Met. Philaret examines the spiritual implications of the phenomenon of replacing a man's heart. It's worth noting that nothing here is said about replacement of other organs and therefore the listener should be wary to draw unnecessary conclusions from these words from Met. Philaret. Additionally, Met. Philaret does not address those who wish to be organ donors or who wish to save the life of another, such as their spouse or child. To my knowledge, this is only text addressing heart transplants from someone venerated as a saint. Please leave a comment below if you aware of other texts from saints and elders on heart and organ transplants.📖 An Orthodox View of Heart Transplantations by Met. Philaret of New Yorkhttp://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/heart_trans.aspx🎧 Will the Heterodox Be Saved? - Met. Philaret of New Yorkhttps://youtu.be/wtI3PsNKpyY🎧 Who are the True Christian Patriots? - Met. Philaret of New Yorkhttps://youtu.be/dg208EJxByk🎧 The Life of Metropolitan Philaret of New Yorkhttps://youtu.be/4rR4jJ_23RY📖 Living According to God’s Will by Met. Philarethttps://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/living-according-to-god-s-will📖 Metropolitan Philaret of New York: Zealous Confessor for the Faithhttps://uncutmountainpress.com/products/metropolitan-philaret-of-new-york-zealous-confessor-for-the-faith⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______Met. Philaret writes:The heart is the center, the mid-point of man's existence. And not only in the spiritual sense, where heart is the term for the center of one's spiritual person, one's "I"; in physical life, too, the physical heart is the chief organ and central point of the organism, being mysteriously and indissolubly connected with the experiences of one's soul. It is well known to all how a man's purely psychical and nervous experiences joy, anger, fright, etc.,—are reflected immediately in the action of the heart, and conversely how an unhealthy condition of the heart acts oppressively on the psyche and consciousness... Yes, here the bond is indissoluble—and if, instead of the continuation of a man's personal spiritual-bodily life, concentrated in his own heart, there is imposed on him a strange heart and some kind of strange life, until then totally unknown to him—then what is this if not a counterfeit of his departing life; what is this if not the annihilation of his spiritual-bodily life, his individuality, his personal "I"? And how and as whom will such a man present himself at the general resurrection?How far from this is the radiant Christian view of life and death I Imagine a deeply-believing Christian who has labored his whole life on the fulfillment of the Lord's commandments and on the purification of his own heart, and who finally draws near to that Christian end for which he has prayed and for which he has been preparing his whole life; if suddenly one were to say to him: "Don't you want to live a while longer? Here—we will cut out your heart and put in its place a different one, perhaps an ape's—and you will live for a while yet..." What would a believing Christian answer to this but the words of the Gospel—"Get thee behind me, Satan—thou savourest not the things that be of God, but these that be of men" (St. Matt. 16: 23)._______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Basil's mediation on the many virtues of bees and how Christians do well to imitate them. "Imitate the character of the bee," writes St. Basil, "because it constructs its honeycomb without injuring anyone or destroying another's fruit."An excerpt from homily eight of the Hexaemeron, a collection of nine homilies on the six days of creation. Note: in St. Basil’s time the queen bee was understood to be a king. They didn’t know the leader was a female until much later. I have kept the original text but when you hear “king” know that St. Basil is referring to the queen bee.📖 Hexaemeron by St. Basil the Greathttps://stanthonysmonastery.org/products/hexaemeron?srsltid=AfmBOopEzZqE0t0Z2M-lYo3Fmq7MeVjMJOG4eihWIa9zNc-wK5A5Pegl🎧 Scandalized? Be Like the Bee - St. Paisios the Athonitehttps://youtu.be/i9nRU9KnYIM🎧 A Lament for Sin - St. Basil the Greathttps://youtu.be/I6erTc_FPKI🎧 On Illness, Doctors, and Healing - St. Basil the Greathttps://youtu.be/WOxigGgPenw⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______St. Basil teaches:Imitate the character of the bee, because it constructs its honeycomb without injuring anyone or destroying another's fruit. It gathers the wax openly from the flowers, then, sucking in with its mouth the honey, a dew like moisture sprinkled in the flowers, it injects this into the hollows of the wax. At first, therefore, it is liquid, then in time being matured, it attains its proper consistency and sweetness. The bee itself has won honorable and becoming praise from the Proverb, which calls it wise and industrious. It gathers its food so laboriously ("Whose labors," it is said, "kings and private men set before them for their health."), and devises so wisely its storehouses for the honey (stretching the wax into a thin membrane, it builds numerous cells adjacent to each other) that the great number of the connecting walls of the very tiny cells supports the whole. Each cell fastens upon the other, separated from, and at the same time joined to it by a thin partition. Then these compartments are built upon each other two and three stories. The bee avoids making one unbroken cavity lest the liquid, because of its weight, should break through and escape to the outside. Notice how the discoveries of geometry are merely incidental to the very wise bee. The cells of the honeycombs are all hexagonal and equilateral, not resting upon each other in a straight line, lest the supports, coinciding with the empty cells, might meet with disaster; but, the corners of the hexagons below form a base and support for those resting upon them so that they safely sustain the weights above them and hold the liquid separate in each cell.

Excerpts from her 1917 diary from the section on marriage, family, and children. The wife of Tsar St. Nicholas II, Tsarina St. Alexandra's simple and beautiful words come from her small diary bound in light blue fabric sewn by the Tsarina herself with a small cross embroidered in the corner. On the inside of the cover, written by the hand of Her Majesty, is a simple “Alix, 1917.”📖 Garden of the Heart: Spiritual Diary by Her Majesty the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna Romanovahttps://www.amazon.com/Garden-Heart-Alexandra-Fyodorovna-Romanova/dp/1533411999🎧 PLAYLIST: Marriage and Family Life - Teachings from Orthodox Saintshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzFKi22k2KYgkVz_d0SAUQkWSGp-L75yd⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______St. Alexandra writes:The meaning of marriage is to bring joy. It is meant to be that married life is the happiest, fullest, purest, and richest kind of life. This is God's establishment of perfection.Thus the divine intention is for marriage to bring happiness, to make the lives of both husband and wife fuller, for neither of them to lose but both of them to win. If a marriage does not bring happiness and does not make life richer and fuller, it is not the fault of matrimonial ties themselves; it is the fault of people bound with them.The wedding day should be always remembered and emphasized among the other important dates of life. This is the day, the light of which will illuminate till the end of life all other days. The joy of entering a marriage is not exultant but deep and calm.Selfless love is a duty in a family. Each should forget about their self and dedicate themselves to the other one. Each should blame themselves, not the other one, when something goes wrong. Endurance and patience are necessary, while impatience can ruin all. A sharp word can decelerate the merging of souls for months. From both sides, there should be a willingness to make the marriage happy and overcome anything standing in the way of this. The strongest love needs to be strengthened every day. The most unforgivable rude words are those said in your own house to those you love.It should be that the hands of a husband could do everything, inspired by love. It should be that every loving husband has a big heart. Many sufferers should find help in a real family. Every husband of a Christian wife should unite with her in her love to Christ. Because of this love to her, he will go through challenges of faith. By sharing her life full of faith and prayers, he too will tie his life with heaven.Between siblings there should be a strong and tender friendship. In our hearts and our lives, we should protect and nurture everything that is beautiful, true, and holy. Friendship bonds in our own house, in order for them to be deep, genuine, and cordial, should be shaped by parents by helping souls become closer. There is no purer, richer, or more fruitful friendship in the world than that in a family if such friendship's development is guided. A young man should be politer to his sister than to any other young lady in the world, and a young lady, before she has a husband, should consider her brother the closest person to her. In this world, they should protect one another from dangers and dishonest and disastrous paths._______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

We all have times of apathy, boredom, and a general cooling off of our once fiery zeal. Elder Athanasios draws out valuable lessons from Christ’s words in Revelation to help us regain our zeal and our love for Christ.A reading from Lesson 10 (Rev. 2:4-7) on Revelation by Elder Athanasios MitilinaiosElder Athanasios Mitilinaios, a dynamic and beloved preacher, abbot of the Monastery of Komnineiou and Saint John the Theologian in Stomion, Larisa, Greece, gave 104 consecutive lessons of Revelation to thousands of faithful. This beloved elder, venerated by many in Greece and around the world, reposed in the Lord in the year 2006.The Lord said, "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." -Revelation 2:4-5📖 Revelation - The Seven Golden Lampstands (Vol. 1) by Elder Athanasios Mitilinaioshttps://www.zoepress.us/revelation-the-books📖 Remember Thy First Love by Archimandrite Zachariashttps://mountthabor.com/products/remember-thy-first-love?srsltid=AfmBOor4QP28IF3HO0I2K1FW-QzVErUTQWKoT5b7SwDmeIbiQ0T7xCy0🎧 The Cowardly Shall Suffer in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 21:8) - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaioshttps://youtu.be/jflIrMj3TXw🎧 Freemasonry: The Depths of Satan - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaioshttps://youtu.be/CUu-6a0KhHw🎧 Idolatry of Sexual Relations: Separation of the Purpose from Pleasure - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaioshttps://youtu.be/Bg54rv4r6Zs⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______Elder Athanasios teaches:The bishop of Ephesus worked extensively to cleanse the Church of evildoers and especially of heretical teachers. Somehow, the anti-heretical struggle became the focus, the main preoccupation, of the church of Ephesus and in the process something was overlooked. What was overlooked was love for the Lord Jesus. I am very much afraid that this could be the case with a number of people in our audience who fight against evil and false faiths. They fail to develop their own spirituality. I have noticed this to be the reality among many of today's Christians. I am being very sincere in saying this. We need to become especially watchful and take up the necessary measures to correct this.Many times we notice this in people who are very active in the life of the parish. They lack this spiritual ascent and vice versa, those who have this spiritual sense do not have much involvement. They do not seek any involvement; they keep to themselves. The Lord reproves both. We will see in another epistle that He reproached the church that allowed People of a heretical influence to coexist with it. So, both of these are necessary—spiritual life and active involvement in the church. We must not gravitate towards one sector; we must work in all the areas of our spiritual life. We will work to defend our faith, but we will not ignore our own spiritual development. Just because I am active in the fight against the falsehood, I can't feel content that it is an indication that I am doing well spiritually.However, when some time passes, and we live many years in the faith, then this love may fade, and the result is a superficial form of worship. Our life enters the pattern of the daily routine. There is nothing worse than to reduce spiritual life to a routine and to keep going through the motions. Believe me, this routine is the death of the spiritual life.Now, if I can find something new in all this every day, then boredom in this daily routine will not become part of my life. Protect yourselves from this danger of the routine, because we can slip into the mode of superficial worship, and simply go through the motions. Woe to us if we left our first love, which is life itself, variety, interest, excitement—everything that the word life means.

How should Orthodox Christians share their faith? As an Athonite who spent many years as a priest in a busy Greek city, St. Porphyrios points us in the right direction.A reading from "Wounded by Love" p. 186-188📖 Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrioshttps://www.holycross.org/products/wounded-by-love-the-life-and-the-wisdom-of-elder-porphyrios?srsltid=AfmBOoorE21YcZGUDow6RQlSnMJLerM851JSD-JP01Rl_2lvrmd0tO7n🎧 The Orthodox Spirit is the True One - St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyviahttps://youtu.be/3JgzCGJtfDc🎧 Divine Eros: Insatiable Love For Christ - St. Porphyrioshttps://youtu.be/v2iwE1FVYm0📖 Healing the Soul: Saint Porphyrios as a Model for Our Lives by Elder Savvas Hagiorite. The St. John Chrysostom Monastery in Wisconsin publishes this book. Email them to ask how to obtain a copy:https://www.stchrysostomoscrafts.com/⛪ FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you:https://orthodox-world.org/https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/_______St. Porphyrios teaches:We should be zealots. A zealot is a person who loves Christ with all his soul and who serves his fellow men in Christ's name. Love for God and for our neighbour; they go together and cannot be divorced. Passion, yearning and tears along with contrition, not for a purpose, but all as an overflowing of the heart!Fanaticism has nothing to do with Christ. Be a true Christian. Then you won't leap to conclusions about anybody, but your love will cover all things. Even to a person of another religion you will always act as a Christian. That is to say, you will show respect for him in a gracious manner irrespective of his religion. You will care for a Muslim when he is in need, speak to him and keep company with him. There must be respect for the freedom of the other person. Just as Christ stands at the door and knocks and does not force an entry, but waits for the soul to accept Him freely on its own, so we should stand in the same way in relation to every soul.In our missionary endeavour we need to employ a very delicate manner so that people accept what we are offering, whether it be words, books or whatever, without reacting negatively. And something else: use few words. Words often provoke irritation. Prayer and living example find resonance. Living faith moves people, regenerates them and changes them, whereas words alone remain fruitless. The best form of mission is through our good example, our love and our meekness.Mastery of a subject is a great thing when it is combined with meekness, graciousness and love. This is true in all fields. When you have the relevant mastery of the subject, then speak. Otherwise, speak through your example.In debates, if you say a few words about religion you will prevail. Let the person who has a different opinion give free rein to his thoughts and speak as much as he likes... Let him sense that he is addressing himself to a calm and uncontentious person. Influence him through your graciousness and prayer and then speak briefly. You achieve nothing if you speak heatedly and tell him, for example, “What you're saying is untrue, a downright lie!” What will you achieve? Be as sheep among wolves. What should you do? Show indifference outwardly, but be praying inwardly. Be prepared, know what you are talking about and speak boldly and to the point, but with saintliness, meekness and prayer. But in order to be able to do this you must become saints._______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!