Guidelines for All Orthodox Christians ( Metropolitan Philaret Voznesensky, the New Confessor )

        
1. Remember, you are a son (daughter) of the Orthodox Church. These are not empty words. Remember the commitment this entails.

2. Earthly life is fleeting; one is hardly aware of the swiftness of its passing. Nevertheless, this transient life determines the eternal destiny of your soul. Do not forget this for a moment.

3. Try to live piously. Pray to God in church, pray to God at home--fervently, with faith, trusting yourself to God's will. Fulfill the holy and saving precepts of the Church, her rules and commandments. Outside the Church, outside obedience to her, there is no salvation.

4. The gift of words is one of God's greatest gifts. It ennobles man, lifting him above all other creatures. But how this gift is now misused by a corrupts humanity! Safeguard this gift and learn to use it as befits a Christian. Do not judge, do not speak idly. Avoid, like fire, bad language and seductive conversation; do not forget the words of our Lord and Savior: By thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. (Mt 12:37) Do not indulge in lying. Holy Scripture sternly forewarns: The Lord shall destroy all them which speak a lie. (Ps 5:4)

5. Love your neighbor as yourself, according to the Lord's commandment. Without love there is not Christianity. Remember, Christian love is SELF-SACRIFICING, and not egocentric. Do not miss an opportunity to show love and mercy.

6. Be meek, pure and modest in your thoughts, words and deeds. Do not imitate the profligate. Do not take their example, and avoid close acquaintance with them. Have no unnecessary dealings with unbelievers-unbelief is infectious. Observe meekness and propriety always and everywhere; avoid becoming contaminated by the shameless habits of todays world.

7. Fear vanity and pride; run from them. Pride caused the highest and most power angel to be cast down from heaven. remember, 'thou art earth and to earth shat thou return...' Deeply humble yourself.

8. The fundamental task in life is to save one's soul for eternity. Keep this as the most essential task, the main concern of your life. Woe to those whose indifference and neglect bring their souls to eternal ruination.

Source: Orthodox Heritage, Vol 7, issue 09-10, p 32 
http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/11/guidelines-for-all-orthodox-christians.html

Dealing with everyday stress ( St. Paisios )

Today's life is full of stress. What is it that makes it this way? We seem to have all the comforts we could possibly imagine. Even in the most well off people there is still this sense of anxiety and busyness. Is it our worldly comforts that are the culprit?
 

St.Paisios offers some thoughts on this subject. He is direct in saying, yes, it is these worldly pleasures that are at the root of the problem.

He says,

Worldly stress is the result of worldly happiness, of worldly pleasures and self-indulgence. Educated externally and being full of anxiety, hundreds of people (even young children) are driven to psychoanalysis and psychiatrists. New psychiatric hospitals are being built and young psychiatrists go on for post-graduate studies. Many of them do not even believe in God or accept the existence of the soul. How can these people help the human soul when they themselves are full of anxiety? How can one feel truly comforted if he does not believe in God and in the true and eternal life after death? When man grasps the deeper meaning of this true life, stress goes away, divine consolation comes and he is healed...The answer to our anxiety is not drugs, alcohol, tranquilizers or psychiatric treatment. It will not be cured by Yoga or some new age or eastern meditation practice. The problem is that we have lost God as the center of our lives. Once we make our love of God the primary focus of our lives and allow His grace to work though us, then no matter what circumstance we encounter in life we will be comforted and embraced in His love. All anxiety disappears. This is the aim of the Orthodox way of life––To put God first and seek the Holy Spirit. The anxieties of modern life are only symptoms of our separation from God.

Saint Theophan the Recluse adds the following about anxiety:

Are you thinking of arranging your life on your own, through your own efforts and abilities, as if that was what you were told? Take a look, and if this is indeed the case, rush to correct it. With this attitude you will not get rid of your confusion....Seek the help of your spiritual father, participate int he sacraments of the Church, follow the fasting guidelines, read holy Scripture daily, and have a firm rule of daily prayer.

St. Paisios
 

Reference: With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man, p 167-168

The simple Porter Who Resurrected A Dead Man ( St. Paisios )

St. Paisios the Athonite related the following wondrous true story:

I once met a man who was very kind and sensitive. Just imagine, he even refused to stay overnight at the monastery, because he didn’t want to be a burden to the monks. I used to be the host monk at the time, at the Iveron Skete, when I went out onto the balcony for a moment at noon and saw a man lying down on the stones outside. Well, well, I wondered, what is he doing out there? So I went down to him.

"What are you doing here, blessed one? Why don’t you come into the monastery, where we can offer you our hospitality?"

"No, no, I’m just fine here, don’t concern yourself," he said.

I pressed him to come in, but he refused. He said: “All through the night, the fathers here were in vigil. They’re tired, they fast, they retire at noon to get some rest, and I’m supposed to disturb them? Its not proper!”

See what kind of good thoughts he made? That is an indication of mental and spiritual health, whereas other visitors come here, demanding to be served, and then they have nothing but malicious thoughts - they even accuse you. I finally convinced him, and brought him into the monastery, where we became better acquainted and eventually became friends.

Now listen to what this man had done. He was orphaned from his youth. He never knew his parents; he grew up in an orphanage. When he grew up, he worked as a porter in the port of Thessaloniki.

He married, and was very happy for that, as he had found the family that he longed for. His in-laws were like parents to him. They moved into a house near his in-laws and he was extremely fond of them. Imagine that, after leaving work every day, he would first go to his in-laws to greet them, to see if they needed anything, and would afterwards go to his own home to see his wife.

He was also very pious. He would repeat the prayer “My Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”. He would carry loads and pray.

He was concerned however, that his in-laws were not believers. In fact, his father-in-law blasphemed and that made him very sad. So, he prayed to God, asking Him not to take them away from this life, before they had properly repented. He even asked me to pray for this problem.

So, there came a time that his father-in-law became very ill, and had to be taken to hospital. He was in there for days. One day, after work as usual, he went directly to the hospital, without passing by his home first. He looked for his father-in-law, but didn’t find him in his room… He searched everywhere, asking for him. “Who? Him? Oh, he passed away. He’s downstairs, in the morgue, where they keep all the deceased patients”, they told him.

It was as if lightning had struck him. “Why, my Lord, did You take him away, if he wasn’t ready, and he didn’t even have a chance to repent? Why, my God?”

He began to pray fervently, with profound pain: “What is it for God, to bring him back? Nothing!” he thought, and began to beseech God accordingly.

He found his way downstairs, and looked around in the morgue, only to find him frozen, dead. He grabbed his father-in-law by the hand, insisting, “Come on, get up, let’s go home”. The dead man immediately came alive; he got up and followed him.

"Really, Elder, did that really happen?" I asked him, dumbfounded.

"Yes, it is really true."

"And is that man still alive today?"

"No, he has passed away. He lived on for a few more years, he repented, he became a much kinder person, a veritable lamb, and Christ then took him into Paradise."

I was amazed.

"Do things like that actually happen in our day?" I asked with wonder.

"See? And he was an ordinary layman. But he had such simplicity! And such profound faith. Didn’t Christ say: 'Whosoever believes in Me, can do whatever I do, and even greater things'? Why should this incident seem strange? Didn’t Christ resurrect the dead? Lazarus? The widow’s son? Jairus’ daughter? Didn’t the Apostles resurrect the dead? Haven’t we read so many wonders in the lives of the saints? Why should this seem strange?"

From Father Paisios Told Me, by Athanasios Rakovalis, Orthodox Hive Publications, pp. 166-168.

Teaching the Jesus Prayer ( St. Porphyrios )

This is a story of one of the spiritual children of St. Porphyrios , told about how he taught them to pray.

He placed us towards the east, two of us to his left and two to the right, with him in the middle. “Now we’ll pray noetically. first, I will say the words, and you will repeat them. But be careful, without anxiety or force, you’ll say the words calmly, humbly, with love and sweetness.” 

The Elder started off with his fine, delicate and eloquent voice, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” He said it very slowly, word by word, without forcing it at all. It was a though he had Christ before and he was begging him, with a log pause after the word “Christ”, Coloring his words “have mercy on me” with an entreating tone. And we repeated it each time, trying to imitate his stance, the color of his voice and if it at all possible his spiritual disposition. 

At some point, the Elder stopped saying the prayer out loud and just continued whispering it on his lips. We did the same thing. How long did our night-time prayer take? I don’t remember. All I remember was that the Elder imparted an emotion to us that I cannot express with human words. 

 St. Porphyrios

Adolescence is the most important period of life ( Part 2 ) - ( St. Nektarios of Pentapolis )

a talk given by St. Nektarios of Pentapolis to a group of high-school students

Each generation successively takes into its hands
the heritage of its forefathers.
Each successive generation receives everything that is sacred,  everything that is noble, all that is good, all that is beautiful, all things that are great,
and all things that are glorio us; and it has a sacred obligation not only to preserve this heritage intact,
but also to hand it over to the ensuing generations in a greater and more glorious state. Otherwise, it will end up having disrespected its forefathers, betrayed its country, and harmed its descendents.
 
In order to preserve this inheritance, however,
there are enormous obligations that must be met, obligations of an enormity equivalent to the honor of succession, the value of the inheritance, the
danger of its deprivation , and the subsequent evils of such a loss.
 
Heirs of immense fortunes and assets must necessarily be great men; because they who are small and frivolous render themselves unworthy,
and they ultimately turn their forefathers’ glory to disgrace, convert their wealth into poverty, and go through life in a wretched and lamentable state. 
Such people betray the sacred ideals of their nation, and give away the things that are most
precious, only to, instead, purchase shame and disgrace at a high cost.
 
Therefore, the preservation of familial wealth demands a struggle. The careless way of life is
inappropriate for achieving this goal. The life of our forefathers, who amassed for us the present treasures and blessings, was a ceaseless battle.
The life of our fathers, who preserved the inheritance intact, was similarly a continual struggle. Hence, a continual struggle is demanded of us as well in order to preserve the wealth and, in following, to transmit it to our descendents. As custodians, we are obligated to show the utmost haste and diligence in order to become worthy
[of the inheritance] and to preserve it unscathed.
 
Behold! In a short while you will be perfect adults. Into your hands the nation relinquishes all of its
historic treasures, the military, the navy, the army, every office, the educational system, the sciences, the arts, its ancestral glory, its wealth, its fame, the country’s prosperity and grandeur.
 
Behold! In a short while the nation’s administration, all power and authority, the
parliament, the judicial system, the church, the sacred pulpits, and all the municipal services will be deposited into your hands. The nation’s
prosperity or misfortune, its exaltation or humiliation, its wealth or poverty hinges upon your competence or incompetence, your virtue or
depravity.
 
Your competence and virtue will elevate the nation; your sound mindset will sustain the upright
public mindset; your correct decisions will
contribute to the national majesty; your religious ideals and convictions will adornthe church; your
ethical beliefs will support the morals of society;
your love for justice will support the nation’s laws;
your respect toward the authorities and rulers
will impart to the nation the goods of law and order.
 
Everything depends upon your prudence and wisdom. Your virtue will save all things; conversely, your evil will corrupt and destroy everything.
Therefore, this imperative duty necessitates you to become worthy of the calling you have been
given. 

St. Nektarios of Pentapolis

http://www.stnektariosmonastery.org/