The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament

"If the monastic ideal is union with God through prayer, through humility, through obedience, through constant recognition of one’s sins, voluntary or involuntary, through a renunciation of the values of this world, through poverty, through chastity, through love for mankind and love for God, then is such an ideal Christian? For some the very raising of such a question may appear strange and foreign. But the history of Christianity, especially the new theological attitude that obtained as a result of the Reformation, forces such a question and demands a serious answer. If the monastic ideal is to attain a creative spiritual freedom, if the monastic ideal realizes that freedom is attainable only in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and if the monastic ideal asserts that to become a slave to God is ontologically and existentially the path to becoming free, the path in which humanity fully becomes human precisely because the created existence of humanity is contingent upon God, is by itself bordered on both sides by non–existence, then is such an ideal Christian? Is such an ideal Biblical — New Testamental? Or is this monastic ideal, as its opponents have claimed, a distortion of authentic Christianity, a slavery to mechanical 'monkish' 'works righteousness'?"

Read how the New Testament answers such questions in Fr. Georges Florovsky's reflections here.

The Gulag of Pitesti

"Slavery to ideas is as serious a form of slavery as any other. Through His Church, Jesus offers you the deep mystery of His Divinity and His friendship. you are no longer called a slave but a friend if you discover the mystery of divine things." - Fr. George Calciu (Fourth Meditation, Sermons to Young People)

Watch the entire four part video here.

More can be read about Fr. George Calciu here and here.

The Eight Principle Vices

Abba Serapion, similar to his predecessor Evagrius, taught that there are eight principle vices (5.2-3):

1) Gluttony - natural vice committed through bodily action
2) Fornication - natural vice committed through bodily action
3) Avarice (love of money) - unnatural vice caused by external circumstances
4) Anger - natural vice caused by external circumstances
5) Sadness - unnatural vice caused by internal circumstances
6) Acedia (anxiety of heart) - unnatural vice caused by internal circumstances
7) Vainglory - unnatural vice committed in thoughts apart from bodily action
8) Pride - unnatural vice committed in thoughts apart from bodily action

Monasticism Question & Answer

All quotes from Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol, under the pseudonym "Father Maximos", are from the third chapter of The Mountain of Silence by Kyriacos Markides.

1) Is it egotistical to lock oneself up in a monastery to save one's own soul in favor of fighting for God in the world?

"The Gospel is very clear about this issue.  Let me give you an example.  Do you recall the incident when that young man went to Christ and asked Him, 'Lord, what must I do to save my soul?' And Jesus replied, 'Sell everything you have and join me.' In another part we hear Christ say, 'Nobody can be my disciple if he loves his mother or his father, or his daughter or his fields more than me.' And He gave the first injunction, 'Love the Lord Thy God with all they soul and with all thy heart.' That is, love God with your entire being. Just think of the Twelve Apostles. They were ordinary people that He picked from ordinary life, but they gave up everything in order to follow and live with Him."

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Jesus Prayer

Bless the Lord - Psalm 103 (104)

Blagoslovi, Dushe Moya

Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda.
Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi.

Bozhe moy, vozvelichilsia yesi zelo.
Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi.

Vo ispovedaniye i v velelepotu obleklsia yesi.
Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi.

Na gora stanut vodi.
Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi.

Posrede gor proydut vodi.
Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi.

Fsia premudrosliyu sotvoril yesi.
Slava Ti, Ghospodi, sotvorivshemu fsia,
sotvorivshemu fsia

The Spiritual Struggle

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." - Galatians 5:16-17

Constant spiritual struggle is what is promised to all Christians who seek perfection in Christ.  As St. Anthony the Great said to Abba Poemen, "This is the great work of man: to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath."  We are to earnestly contend for the Faith by engaging in constant, interior warfare.  In this fourth conference Abba Daniel, who was made a priest by Abba Paphnutius, elaborates on this struggle between the flesh and the spirit by explaining (1) the struggle's environment, (2) the definitions of "the flesh" and "the spirit", (3) the will's role in spiritual warfare, and (4) the states of the soul.

The Semantron

My favorite instrument used to call Christians to prayer is the semantron or talanton.  I never thought hitting a piece of wood could be so beautiful.  Listen to it here.  You can also buy a great children's book, which includes a CD, here.  With an audio file you can even program the semantron to sound for the hours on your laptop or cellular phone.

Pop (The Priest)

A film about an Orthodox priest during WWII in German occupied Russia.  You can read a summary and review of the film here.