ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
You
might ask: "Very well, Father! How do we achieve this
purification? How do we drive all these logismoí away, now that they
have entered our heart?"
By
doing exactly that: ceaselessly calling upon the Divine Name inside
our heart.
Of
course, not only by that, but also along with the whole ascetic and
therapeutic treatment "prescribed"
by our Church, which includes: repentance
(metanoia),
fasting, wakefulness during the night (vigil), liturgical life
(attending the Church services and, above all, the Divine Liturgy,
partaking of the Holy Communion), and by maintaining the right
dogmatic conscience (having the right belief
and phronema,
being orthodox).
For
example, we cannot be a heretic (frequently called heterodox) and
deliver a proper and fruitful noetic
prayer.
If we do not keep the right beliefs about God, about the Holy
Trinity, about Christ, we do nothing. An unbaptized or uninitiated,
who deviated from the Orthodox Christian faith, may pray noetically
as much as he/she wants; they will achieve nothing.
All
these (the ascetic-therapeutic treatment of our Holy Church, combined
with the right faith and our participation in the Holy Mysteries
(sacraments)) lead to our purification from our sinful passions and
the logismoí
we have.
So,
when our prayer descents into our heart, drives away all our
logismoí,
our heart is left pure, and hence the Holy Spirit enters. Then we
experience the illumination, the second stage of our spiritual life,
and
this
is when man becomes "a temple of the Holy Spirit".
f. Savvas Agioreitis
To be continued...
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