St. Simeon the New Theologian on Faith

"It is good to preach God’s mercy before all men and to reveal to one’s brethren His great compassion and ineffable grace shed on us. I know a man who kept no long strict fasts, no vigils, did not sleep on bare earth, imposed on himself no other specially arduous tasks; but, recollecting in memory his sins, understood his worthlessness and, having judged himself, became humble—and for this alone the most compassionate Lord saved him; as the divine David says: ‘The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit’ (Ps. xxxiv. 18). In short, he trusted the words of the Lord and for his faith the Lord received him. There are many obstacles obstructing the way to humility; but no obstacles bar the way to belief in the words of God. As soon, as we wish with all our heart, straightway we believe. For faith is a gift of the all-merciful God, which He gave us to possess by nature (infused in our nature), subjecting its use to the authority of our own will. Consequently, even the Scythians and barbarians have natural faith and believe one another’s words. But to show you an actual example of whole-hearted faith, listen to a tale, which will confirm this.

There lived in Constantinople a young man by the name of George, about twenty years old. All this happened in our lifetime, in our own memory. He had a handsome face and in his walk, his bearing and his manner there was something ostentatious. Owing to this, people, who see only what is on the surface and, ignorant of what is hidden inside each man, come to mistaken conclusions about others, made various evil suppositions about the youth. He made the acquaintance of a certain monk, who lived in one of the monasteries in Constantinople, a man of holy life."

Read the rest of this article here.

Unceasing Prayer

Before Abba Isaac began his second conference on prayer St. John inserted a historical account of a disagreement among the Egyptian brethren, which provided the background for this conference's topic. This theological disagreement dealt with how man was made in the image of God. One party's failure to properly understand how man was made in God's image caused detrimental blasphemy to the Orthodox faith at the time (10.1). St. John related how Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria sent a letter (A.D. 399) to the monasteries in Egypt arguing against the Anthropomorphites who were a group that assigned physical, human characteristics to God. This letter sparked a controversy, because a large number of the monks thought that man was literally created in God's image. Among those caught in this error was Serapion who was an aged, pious monk (10.2.2).  Abba Paphnutius received a learned deacon at the monastery in hopes that he would settle this dispute amongst the brethren. The deacon pointed out to Serapion and the brethren that man is the image of God in a spiritual sense rather than in a physical sense (10.3.3). After realizing his error Serapion was greatly distressed, because he had to give up his anthropomorphic image of the Godhead, which he had always mentally envisioned during prayer (10.3.4). In tears he cried out, "Woe is me, wretch that I am! They have taken my God from me, and I have no one to lay hold of, nor do I know whom I should adore or address" (10.3.5). How many of us ignorantly fall into such errors? This error is why the Church forbids mental images during prayer--because we could end up praying to our image of the Trinity instead of the Holy Trinity. By such an error we could even run "the risk of everlasting death" (10.4.1). We could ignorantly undo all spiritual progress, as Serapion bitterly experienced. How can we expect to properly unite with God when we do not rightly understand Him from the beginning? Nevertheless, God's grace is sufficient, and he that seeks God finds Him.

The Lord's Prayer

Abba Isaac on the Lord's Prayer (listen to a chant in English or Church Slavonic):

"The words 'Hallowed be thy name' can also be quite satisfactorily understood in this way--namely, that the hallowing of God is our perfection. And so when we say to him: 'Hallowed be thy name,' we are saying in other words: Make us such, Father, that we may deserve to understand and grasp how great your hallowing is and, of course, that you may appear as hallowed in our spiritual way of life. This is effectively fulfilled in us when 'people see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.'

The second petition of a most pure mind eagerly desires the kingdom of its Father to come immediately. This means that in which Christ reigns daily in holy persons, which happens when the rule of the devil has been cast out of our hearts by the annihilation of the foul vices and God has begun to hold sway in us through the good fragrance of the virtues; when chastity, peace, and humility reign in our minds, and fornication has been conquered, rage overcome, and pride trampled upon. And of course it means that which has promised universally to all the perfect and to all the sons of God at the appointed time, when it will be said to them by Christ: 'Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Desiring and hoping for this with intent and unwavering gaze, we tell him: 'Thy kingdom come.' For we know by the witness of our own conscience that when he appears we shall soon be his companions. No sinner dares to say this or to wish for it, since a person who knows that at his coming he will at once be paid back for his deserts not with a palm or rewards but with punishment has no desire to see the Judge's tribunal.

Unheeded Prayers

When distracted during the Liturgy, it can be helpful to constantly pray, "Lord, have mercy." It will focus your mind on Christ and the words of the Liturgy. If you cannot hear the prayers, constantly pray "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." If memory is accurate, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov recommended this use of the Jesus Prayer, but the reference is allusive.

Prayer of the Heart

The original Conferences were numbered at ten. Only later were other conferences included in this work to satisfy the needs of the brethren. Part II, Conferences 11 - 17, was written for Saints Honoratus and Eucherius and covered topics not previously mentioned at length in Part I. The former saint desired to establish his cenobium after the traditions of the desert fathers, while the latter desired to travel to Egypt, as Saints John and Germanus had previously done. Part III, Conferences 18-24, was written for the monks Jovinianus, Minervus, Leonitus, and Theodore who had established several cenobium in the Gallic provinces in and around modern day France. St. John Cassian comments that the first ten conferences were "put together haphazardly at the command of the holy Bishops Helladius and Leontius" (Conferences, Part II Preface, 1.2). All this being said St. John intended Abba Isaac's two conferences (IX & X) on prayer to be the fulfillment of a promise given in the Institutes, as well as the culmination of the first eight conferences.

"The aim of every monk and the perfection of his heart direct him to constant and uninterrupted perseverance in prayer; and, as much as human frailty allows, it strives after an unchanging and continual tranquility of mind and perpetual purity" (9.2.1). Establishing the virtues simply and humbly on the Gospel Rock is necessary before pure, interior prayer can be achieved. The beginning of pure prayer is acquiring the virtues and casting off the vices. Thus, a virtuous life and ceaseless prayer in the heart are inseparable.

Wisdom from Mount Athos

On Creativity:

"In my young days, through a Russian painter who afterwards became famous, I had been attracted to the idea of pure creativity, taking the form of abstract art. This engrossed me for two or three years and led to the first theological thought to originate within my own mind. Just as every artist apprehends objective reality through the forms and modes of his art, so I derived ideas for my abstract studies from life around me. I would look at a man, a house, a plant, at intricate machinery, extravagant shadowscapes, on walls or ceilings, at quivering bonfire flames, and would compose them into abstract pictures, creating in my imagination visions that were not like actual reality. This was how I interpreted the teaching of my master - not to copy natural phenomena but to produce new pictorial facts. Fortunately, I soon realised that it was not give to me, a human being, to create from 'nothing', in the way only God can create. I realised that everything that I created was conditioned by what was already in existence. I could not einvent a new colour or line that had never existed anywhere before. An abstract picture is like a string of words, beautiful and sonorous in themselves, perhaps, but never expressing a complete thought. In short, an abstract picture represented a disintegration of being, a falling into the void, a return to the non esse from which we had been called by the creative act of God. I therefore abandoned my fruitless efforts to derive something entirely new, and the problem of creative work now became closely linked in my mind with the problem of cognition of Being. The whole world, practically every visual scene, became mysterious, uncommonly beautiful, profound. Light changed, to caress and surround objects with a halo, as it were, of glory, imparting to them vibrations of life impossible for the artist to depict with the means at his disposal. I was filled then with reverent worship for the First Craftsman, the Creator of all things, and a longing to meet Him, learn from Him, know how He created."

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Jesus Prayer

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.

A Prayer of Three Hermits

"Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us!" - The Three Hermits

Watch part two here.

Read Leo Tolsoty's account of the story here.

Bless My Enemies, O Lord

Prayer LXXV, Prayers by the Lake, St. Nikolai of Zica

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Enemies have driven me into Your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.

Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Read more here.

Father Seraphim Rose on Orthodox Living

"Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the [increasing] acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ's sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God." - St. Seraphim of Sarov

The Meaning of the Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian by Archpriest Alexander Men

"Every day of Great Lent, with the exception of Saturdays and Sundays, the prayer “O Lord and Master of my life” is read. According to tradition, this prayer was written in Syria in the fourth century by the ascetic Mar Afrem or, as we have grown accustomed to calling him, Ephraim the Syrian. He was a monk, poet, and theologian, one of the most eminent sons of the Syrian Church, who entered world literature as a remarkable writer."

Read more here.

"Homily on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee" by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

"In today's Gospel, the prayer of the publican is shown drawing God’s mercy to him. This prayer consisted of the following words: God be merciful to me a sinner (Lk. 18:13). It is worthy of our attention that God heard such a short prayer, and that it was pronounced in the temple, during the common worship services, during the reading and chanting of psalms and other prayers. This prayer is commended in the Gospels; it is set forth as an example of prayer, and it becomes our sacred duty to piously contemplate it. 

Why didn't the publican choose some majestic and moving psalm by which to pour out his heart before God, but instead had recourse to such a brief prayer? Why did he repeat only it during the entire service? Our answer is according to that of the holy Fathers...."

Read the rest here.