30 September 2020
On Sin
Every time
that we sin, we are born of the devil. But every time that we do good, we are
born of God.
27 September 2020
On Repentance
The Lord
greatly loves the repenting sinner and mercifully presses him to His bosom:
"Where were you, My child? I was waiting a long time for you." The Lord
calls all to Himself with the voice of the Gospel, and his voice is heard in
all the world: "Come to me, my sheep. I created you, and I love you. My
love for you brought Me to earth, and I suffered all things for the sake of
your salvation, and I want you all to know my love, and to say, like the
apostles on Tabor: Lord, it is good for us to be with You."
St. Silouan the Athonite
26 September 2020
First Born of Satan
For everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist; and whoever does not acknowledge the testimony of the cross is of the devil; and whoever twists the sayings of the Lord to suit his own sinful desires and claims that there is neither resurrection nor judgment—well, that person is the firstborn of Satan.
St. Polycarp of Smyrna
First Born of Satan
For everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist; and whoever does not acknowledge the testimony of the cross is of the devil; and whoever twists the sayings of the Lord to suit his own sinful desires and claims that there is neither resurrection nor judgment—well, that person is the firstborn of Satan.
St. Polycarp of Smyrna
25 September 2020
On Judging
To judge sins is the business of one who is sinless, but who is sinless except God? Who ever thinks about the multitude of his own sins in his heart never wants to make the sins of others a topic of conversation. To judge a man who has gone astray is a sign of pride, and God resists the proud. On the other hand, one who every hour prepares himself to give answer for his own sins will not quickly lift up his head to examine the mistakes of others.
24 September 2020
On Retribution
Christians, always rejoice, for evil, death, sin, the devil and hell have been conquered by Christ. But when all of this is conquered, is there anyone in the world who can bring our joy to naught? You are the lord of this eternal rejoicing as long as you do not give in to sin. Joy burns in our hearts from His truth, love, resurrection, and from the Church and His saints. Joy burns in our hearts all because of sufferings for Him, mockings for Him, and death for Him, insofar as these sufferings write our names in heaven. There is no true joy on earth without the victory over death, but the victory over death does not exist without the Resurrection, and the Resurrection does not exist without Christ. The risen God-Man Christ, the founder of the Church, constantly pours out this joy into the hearts of His followers through the Holy Mysteries and good deeds. Our faith is fulfilled in this eternal joy, insofar as the joy of faith in Christ is the only true joy for human nature.
20 September 2020
On Baptism
Happy is our sacrament of water, in
that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and
admitted into eternal life! A treatise on this matter will not be
superfluous; instructing not only such as are just becoming formed (in the
faith), but them who, content with having simply believed, without full
examination of the grounds of the traditions, carry
(in mind), through ignorance, an untried though probable
faith. The consequence is, that a viper of the Cainite heresy, lately
conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most
venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism. Which is quite
in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps and basilisks themselves
generally do affect arid and waterless places. But we, little fishes, after the
example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety in
any other way than by permanently abiding in water; so that most monstrous
creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew
full well how to kill the little fishes, by taking them away from the water!
19 September 2020
On Joy
Joy is not
something one can define or analyze. One enters into joy. "Enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord" (Mt. 25:21). And we have no other means of entering
into that joy, no way of understanding it, except through the one action which
from the beginning has been for the Church both the source and the fulfillment
of joy, the very sacrament of joy, the Eucharist.
16 September 2020
On the Church
The
Church of Christ is One, Holy, Universal and Apostolic. She is herself a single
spiritual body, whose head is Christ, and who has the one Holy Spirit abiding
in her. The local parts of the Church are members of a single body of the
Universal Church, and they, like branches of a single tree, are nourished by
one and same sap from a single root. She is called holy because she is
sanctified by the holy word, deeds, sacrifice and suffering of her founder,
Jesus Christ, to which end He came in order to save human beings and lead them
to holiness. The Church is called universal because she is not confined by
place, not by time, nor by nation nor language. The Church communicates with
all humanity. The Orthodox Church is called apostolic because the spirit, teaching
and labors of the Apostles of Christ are entirely preserved in her.
14 September 2020
Help
of God in Temptations
There is no
man who will not be grieved at the time of his chastisement; and there is not
man who will not endure a bitter time, when he must drink the poison of
temptations. Without them, it is not possible to obtain a strong will. When he
has often experienced the help of God in temptations, a man also obtains strong
faith.
11 September 2020
Loving God
10 September 2020
Loving God
But what do I love, when I love Thee? not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light, so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embracements of flesh. None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embracement when I love my God, the light, melody, fragrance, meat, embracement of my inner man: where there shineth unto my soul what space cannot contain, and there soundeth what time beareth not away, and there smelleth what breathing disperseth not, and there tasteth what eating diminisheth not, and there clingeth what satiety divorceth not. This is it which I love when I love my God.
9 September 2020
On the Virtues of Love
Who is far from love is a bad state, and to be pitied. He passes his days in a delirious dream, far from God, deprived of light, and he lives in darkness ... Whoever does not have the love of Christ is an enemy of Christ. He walks in darkness and is easily led into any sin.
St. Ephraim the Syrian
8
September 2020
On Grace and Free
Will
From these and similar passages of Scripture, we gather the proof that God's grace is not given according to our merits. The truth is, we see that it is given not only where there are no good, but even where there are many evil merits preceding: and we see it so given daily. But it is plain that when it has been given, also our good merits begin to be — yet only by means of it; for, were that only to withdraw itself, man falls, not raised up, but precipitated by free will. Wherefore no man ought, even when he begins to possess good merits, to attribute them to himself, but to God, who is thus addressed by the Psalmist: Be Thou my helper, forsake me not. By saying, Forsake me not, he shows that if he were to be forsaken, he is unable of himself to do any good thing. Wherefore also he says: I said in my abundance, I shall never be moved, for he thought that he had such an abundance of good to call his own that he would not be moved. But in order that he might be taught whose that was, of which he had begun to boast as if it were his own, he was admonished by the gradual desertion of God's grace, and says: O Lord, in Your good pleasure You added strength to my beauty. Thou did, however, turn away Your face, and then I was troubled and distressed. Thus, it is necessary for a man that he should be not only justified when unrighteous by the grace of God — that is, be changed from unholiness to righteousness — when he is requited with good for his evil; but that, even after he has become justified by faith, grace should accompany him on his way, and he should lean upon it, lest he fall. On this account it is written concerning the Church herself in the book of Canticles: Who is this that comes up in white raiment, leaning upon her kinsman? Song of Songs 8:5 Made white is she who by herself alone could not be white. And by whom has she been made white except by Him who says by the prophet, Though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow? Isaiah 1:18 At the time, then, that she was made white, she deserved nothing good; but now that she is made white, she walks well — but it is only by her continuing ever to lean upon Him by whom she was made white. Wherefore, Jesus Himself, on whom she leans that was made white, said to His disciples, Without me you can do nothing. John 15:5
St. Augustine
7 September 2020
The Malignity and
Folly of Satan
St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch
5 September 2020
On Purpose of Life
The chief end
of our life is to live in communion with God. To this end the Son of God became
incarnate, in order to return us to this divine communion, which was lost by the
fall into sin. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we enter into communion
with the Father and thus attain our purpose.
4 September 2020
On Retribution
God gives His
communion to all who love Him. Communion with God is life and light and
sweetness with all the good things that He has. But those who of their own will
forsake him he rewards with separation from Him, which they themselves have
chosen. As separation from light is darkness, so also alienation from God is
deprivation of all good things which He has. But the good things of God are
eternal and without end, so that the loss of them is eternal and without end.
Thus sinners shall be the cause of their own torments, just as the blind do not
see the light, although it is shining on them.
3 September 2020
On Singing
“The clouds of
heaven thunder out throughout the world that God’s house is being built; and
the frogs cry from the marsh, We alone are Christians. What testimonies do I
bring forward? That of the Psalter. I bring forward what you sing as one deaf:
open your ears; you sing this; you sing with me, and you agree not with me;
your tongue sounds what mine does, and yet your heart disagrees with mine. Do
you not sing this?” – Exposition of Psalm 96 [encouraging the congregation to
understand that the psalms they sing point to the reign of Christ over the
church]
1 September 2020
On Sex
The princes of
evil have blinded me with their passions and by their cunningness they have
robbed me of the beauty of my youth. What can I do, now that I have lost my
purity? I will cry out to Christ, that He might return my beauty to me- and
then will the evil ones be ashamed. My Savior cries out to me, to His disciple:
do not despair of the salvation; I will restore thee and forgive thee thy sins.
I have found thee and I will not leave thee; for I have redeemed thee with my
very own Blood. Cry out, O sinner, with all your might, and spare not your
throat; for your Lord is merciful and loves those who repent. As soon as you
return, your Father will come out beforehand to meet you. He will slaughter the
fatted calf, clothe you in a fine robe, and rejoice in you.
St. Ephraim the Syrian
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