Lord Jesus Christ, sweetest Father, God and
Lord of mercy, and Creator of the entire universe:
Look upon my humility and forgive all my sins
which I have committed all the years of my life up
to this very day and hour. Send forth Thine All-
Holy Spirit, the Comforter, so that He may teach,
illuminate, and safeguard me so that I no longer
sin, so that with a pure soul and heart I may adore,
worship, glorify, thank, and love Thee with all my
soul and heart, my sweetest Savior, Benefactor, and God, Who is worthy of all love and worship. Yes, good eternal Father, co-eternal Son, and All-Holy Spirit, count me worthy of enlightenment and divine spiritual knowledge, so that by beholding Thy sweet grace I may bear the burden of this vigil tonight, and render unto Thee my prayers and thanksgiving, through the intercessions of the Most Holy Theotokos and all the Saints. Amen.
On God
God is a fire that warms and kindles
the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold
which comes from the devil – for the devil is cold – let us call on the
Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for
Him but also for our neighbor, and the cold of him who hates the good
will flee before the heat of His countenance.
On Hope
All who have firm hope in God are
raised to Him and illumined by the radiance of the eternal light. If a
man does not let excessive concern for himself turn him away from love
for God and for acts of virtue, then this hope is true and wise. But if a
man places all his hope in his own affairs and turns to God with prayer
only when unforseen misfortunes befall him, and seeing no means in his
own powers to avert them begins to rely on the help of God, his hope is
vain and deceptive. True hope seeks first of all the Kingdom of God, and
is confident that every earthly necessity of temporal life will
doubtless be given… The heart can have no peace so long as it does not
acquire such hope… It is of this hope that our Savior’s most holy words
speak to us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are burdened, and I
shall give you rest” (Matt. 11:28); that is, hope in Me and you shall be
comforted in your labor and cares.
On Love for God
He who has achieved perfect love
exists in this world as though he does not exist in it, for he considers
himself a stranger to what is visible, and patiently awaits the
invisible. He is wholly turned away from it towards love for God and
forgetful of every other love. The soul, full of love or God, then
leaves the body; it has no fear of the unsubstantial power of this
world, but flies off with angels as though from a foreign land to a land
of its own.
On the Preservation of Truths
One has Come to Know One should not
open one’s heart to another unnecessarily. Out of a thousand you will
find only one that will preserve your secret.
With a person of this
world, one must speak of worldly things, but with a man whose mind is of
a spiritual nature one must speak of heavenly things.
On Talkativeness
An attentive man need but talk a lot with such as are of a contrary disposition for his inner self to be thrown into confusion.
But the really deplorable thing is that this results in the
extinguishing of the fire which our Lord Jesus Christ came to
re-establish in our hearts. For nothing so weakens the fire kindled in
the heart of a monk by the Holy Spirit for the sanctification of his
soul as communication and talk and chatter, excepting conversations with
those who are sons of the divine mysteries, conversations for the
restoration of the mind and for spiritual fellowship.
On Prayer
A man who has decided to serve the
Lord God must practice awareness of God and uninterrupted prayer to
Jesus Christ, mentally repeating: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have
mercy upon me, a sinner.” After dinner one can say this prayer: “Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of the Theotokos, have
mercy upon me, a sinner;” or resort directly to the Most Holy Theotokos,
praying: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us;” or repeating the angelic
greeting: “Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos.” With such exercise, with
preservation from distraction and with the maintenance of peace of mind,
it is possible to come to God and become one with Him. For, according
to the words of Issac the Syrian, we cannot come near to God without
uninterrupted prayer (Homily 69).
St. John Chrysostom well described
the virtue of prayer. Prayer, he said, is a mighty weapon, an unlimited
treasure, independent wealth, a quiet haven, a reservoir of silence; it
is the root and the source and the mother of ten thousand blessings
(Homily on Inscrutability, 5).
If in prayer it happens that the mind
is caught up by distracting thoughts, then one should bow down to our
Lord God and ask for forgiveness, saying: I have sinned, O Lord, in
word, deed and thought, and all my senses.
One must always strive
against giving in to mental distractions. Through these the soul is
turned away from the consciousness of God and His love to the activity
of the devil. As St. Macarios says: “All the eagerness of our enemy is
to turn our thought away from remembrance of God and of fear and love of
Him” (Homily 2, Ch. 15).
When the mind and the heart are united in
prayer, and nothing disturbs the soul’s contemplation, then the heart is
warmed by spiritual heat and the light of Christ operates, filling the
whole inner man with peace and joy.
On Sorrow
A soul filled with sorrow, made
mindless and frenzied, cannot either accept good advice or answer
proffered questions with gentleness. Whoever masters passions masters
sorrow as well.
He who loves the world cannot but sorrow, whereas he who has turned away from the world is eternally joyous.
As fire purifies gold, so sorrow that is in accord with God purifies a sinful heart.
On Despondency
Just as the Lord cares for our salvation, so the devil, the killer of men, strives to lead man to despondency.
When despondency seizes us, let us not give in to it. Rather, fortified
and protected by the light of faith, let us with great courage say to
the spirit of evil: “What are you to us, you who are cut off from God, a
fugitive from Heaven, and a slave of evil? You dare not do anything to
us: Christ, the Son of God, has dominion over us and over all. Leave us,
you thing of bane. We are made steadfast by the uprightness of His
Cross. Serpent, we trample on your head.”
On Patience and Humility
One should always endure all things with gratitude, for God’s sake.
Our life is but a minute in comparison with eternity. Therefore,
according to the Apostle, “the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in
us” (Romans 8:18).
When someone disparages and abuses you, try as
far as possible to forgive him, in accordance with the Gospel: “Of him
that taketh away thy goods ask them not again” (Luke 6:30).
When people revile us, we should consider ourselves unworthy of praise. If we were worthy, all would defer to us.
We should always and foremost humble ourselves, following the teaching
of St. Isaac of Syria: “Humble yourself and you will behold the glory of
God.”
Therefore let us love humility, and we shall behold the glory
of God. His glory is imparted to us in proportion as we become humble.
If there were no light all things would be dark. Similarly, without humility there is nothing in man but darkness.
On Care of the Soul
We should have every concern for our
soul, and should strengthen our body for this reason only, that it may
assist in the strengthening of the soul.
Voluntarily to exhaust our
body to the point that the spirit is exhausted is an unreasonable
mortification, even if it is done to acquire virtue.
From Modern Orthodox Saints: Volume 5, St. Seraphim of Sarov, by Constantine Cavarnos and Mary-Barbara Zeldin.
It is the responsibility of the clergy and, in particular, of the parish rectors to insure that those who wear lipstick do not venerate icons, the Cross, or anything holy, leaving lipstick marks on them. A notice to this effect should be posted near the entrance of the church, an, in sermons, it should repeatedly be explained that it is a great sin to defile something holy by such contact. Women should refrain from wearing lipstick to church or not venerate anything. In any case, they should not commune Christ’s Holy gifts without having thoroughly washed their lips.
St. John Maximovich
The most detailed version of the toll-houses occurs in a vision of Gregory of Thrace, apparently from the 10th century. The demons accuse the soul at each toll-house of sins. In some cases the demon might accuse the soul of sins that they tempted her with, but it didn't comply with, or of sins that she repented for, and in that cases one of the angels, the one which was the persons guardian angel, speaks for the person, saying that those are lies, and that payment is not necessary, taking the soul to the next toll-house. If a person has unrepented sins, and does not have enough good deeds and prayers of the living to pay for them, the demons of the corresponding toll-house grab him, and take him to hades to await the final judgment. This vision recounts the toll-houses in the following order:
At the first aerial toll-house, the soul is questioned about sins of the tongue, such as empty words, dirty talk, insults, ridicule, singing worldly songs, too much or loud laughter, and similar sins.
The second is the toll-house of lies, which includes not only ordinary lies, but also the breaking of oaths, the violation of vows given to God, taking God's name in vain, hiding sins during confession, and similar acts.
The third is the toll-house of slander. It includes judging, humiliating, embarrassing, mocking, and laughing at people, and similar transgressions.
The fourth is the toll-house of gluttony, which includes overeating, drunkenness, eating between meals, eating without prayer, not holding fasts, choosing tasty over plain food, eating when not hungry, and the like.
The fifth is the toll-house of laziness, where the soul is held accountable for every day and hour spent in laziness, for neglecting to serve God and pray, for missing Church services, and also for not earning money through hard, honest labor, for not working as much as you are paid, and all similar sins.
The sixth toll-house is the toll-house of theft, which includes stealing and robbery, whether small, big, light, violent, public, or hidden.
The seventh is the toll-house of covetousness, including love of riches and goods, failure to give to charity, and similar acts.
The eight is the toll-house of usury, loan-sharking, overpricing, and similar sins.
The ninth is the toll-house of injustice- being unjust, especially in judicial affairs, accepting or giving bribes, dishonest trading and business, using false measures, and similar sins.
The tenth is the toll-house of envy.
The eleventh is the toll-house of pride- vanity, self-will, boasting, not honoring parents and civil authorities, insubordination, disobedience, and similar sins.
The twelve is the toll-house of anger and rage.
The thirteenth is the toll-house of remembering evil- hatred, holding a grudge, and revenge.
The fourteenth is the toll-house of murder- not just plain murder, but also wounding, maiming, hitting, pushing, and generally injuring people.
The fifteenth is the toll-house of magic- divination, conjuring demons, making poison, all superstitions, and associated acts.
The sixteenth is the toll-house of lust- fornication, unclean thoughts, lustful looks, unchaste touches.
The seventeenth is the toll-house of adultery.
The eighteenth is the toll-house of sodomy: bestiality, homosexuality, incest, masturbation, and all other unnatural sins.
The nineteenth is the toll-house of heresy: rejecting any part of Orthodox faith, wrongly interpreting it, apostasy, blasphemy, and all similar sins.
The last, twentieth toll-house is the toll-house of unmercifulness: failing to show mercy and charity to people, and being cruel in any way.
Why do we judge our neighbors? Because we are not trying to get to know ourselves. Someone busy trying to understand himself has no time to notice the shortcomings of others. Judge yourself — and you will stop judging others. Judge a poor deed, but do not judge the doer. It is necessary to consider yourself the most sinful of all, and to forgive your neighbor every poor deed. One must hate only the devil, who tempted him. It can happen that someone might appear to be doing something bad to us, but in reality, because of the doer's good intentions, it is a good deed. Besides, the door of penitence is always open, and it is not known who will enter it sooner — you, "the judge," or the one judged by you.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
