Our attitude

 Our struggle to enter into the eternal life of God Himself is neither a simple nor an easy thing.

Our attitude is ‘May your will be done’. Then the potential develops within us to conceive of God as He is in His eternity.
» Elder Sophrony of Essex

Source:  pemptousia.com

 http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/04/17/our-attitude/

“Vouchsafe us, O Lord, to live this day without sin.”Elder Sophrony(Sakharov) of Essex

Elder Sophrony(Sakharov) of Essex

“I have been wearing a cassock for sixty years, but whenever I meet an Orthodox Christian or any other person, I bow my head low before him.” (Thereby the Elder wished to indicate that he feels himself to be the most unworthy.)

Let the whole world dismiss us as unworthy of attention, trust or respect – it will not matter provided that the Lord accept us.

And vice versa: it will profit us nothing if the whole world thinks well of us and sings our praises, if the Lord declines to abide with us.

This is only a fragment of the freedom Christ meant when He said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8.32).

Our sole care will be to continue in the word of Christ, to become His disciples and cease to be servants of sin.

Prayer becomes a wordless cry…Elder Sophrony(Sakharov) of Essex

 

Elder Sophrony(Sakharov) of Essex

‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1.8,9). When we repent, resolutely condemning ourselves before God and man, we are cleansed within. The water in the glass is purified, having been passed through the spiritual filter of repentance. So when I make my confession I convict myself of every evil because there is no sin in all the world of which I am not guilty, even if only for a second. Who can be quite certain that he is altogether free from the power of passionate thoughts? And if for a fleeting moment I have been held by an evil thought, where is the guarantee that this moment will not be transmuted into eternity? Therefore, in so far as we can see ourselves we must thoroughly confess our sins, lest we carry them with us after our death…

Lord, teach me what I must do that my soul may become humble.’St. Silouan

Elder Sophrony(Sakharov) of Essex

“At last he rose up from his stool , intending to bow down and worship, when he saw a gigantic devil standing in front of the ikon, waiting to be worshipped.  Meanwhile, the cell filled with other evil spirits.” (ibid.  p.42)

 St. Silouan prayed,

 ‘Lord, Thou seest that I desire to pray to Thee with a pure mind but the devils will not let me.  Instruct me, what must I do to stop them hindering me?

And in his soul he heard,

‘The proud always suffer from devils.’

‘Lord,’ said Silouan, ‘teach me what I must do that my soul may become humble.’

Once more he heard in his heart God’s answer, 

‘Keep thy mind in hell and despair not.’ (Ibid). 

When you find a soul akin to your own…stay with it. Elder Thaddaeus of Vitovnica

Elder Thaddaeus of Vitovnica (1914-2003)

When you find a soul akin to your own …stay with it, for it is a great joy to make friends with those who think alike.
“HE who has the Kingdom of God within himself will imperceptibly pass it on to others. People will be attracted to the peace and warmth in us; they will want to hear us, and the atmosphere of heaven will gradually pass on to them.”

 You must strive to have peace in your homes. Peace starts with each one of us. When we have peace in us, we spread it around to others. You can see for yourself that there are very few humble and meek souls on the earth—but also that they are truly blessed. They will not be offended if you insult them in any way. Whatever way you treat them, they are quiet and peaceful and they are truly sorrowed because you are in such spiritual torment.

No sin is unforgivable except the sin of unrepentance.Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

 Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

“We need repentance. You see, repentance is not only going to a priest and confessing. We must free ourselves from the obsession of thoughts. We fall many times during our life, and it is absolutely necessary to reveal everything [in Confession] before a priest who is a witness to our repentance. Repentance is the renewal of life. This means we must free ourselves of all our negative traits and turn toward absolute good. No sin is unforgivable except the sin of unrepentance.”

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica,  St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood. 2011

”Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.”

“This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”( Matthew 3:16-17)

Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.

Commemorated on January 7

Elder Sophrony of Essex

Our days are filled with longing to penetrate into the Divine sphere with every fibre of our being. Our prayer must be ardent, and many-sided is the experience that may be given…So we shall not cease to pray diligently to the Holy Spirit that He preserve our foot from the paths of untruth.

For us Christians the focal point of the universe and the ultimate meaning of the entire history of the world is the coming of Jesus Christ, Who did not repudiate the archetypes of the Old Testament but vindicated them, unfolding to us their real significance and bringing new dimensions to all things- infinite, eternal dimensions. Christ’s new covenant announces the beginning of a fresh period in the history of mankind. Now the Divine sphere was reflected in the searchless grandeur of the love and humility of God, our Father. With the coming of Christ all was changed: the new revelation affected the destiny of the whole created world. ..

one who is humbled will be happy in all circumstances…St. Silouan the Athonite

Glory to God in the Heights, and on earth peace, goodwill among men.

St. Silouan the Athonite

Humility, once firmly established, makes the foundation for wisdom strong . King Solomon famed for his wisdom said, “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2). David the Prophet and King said, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7), “the simple” referred to here being the humble. In the Holy Book of Sirach we read, “A poor man with wisdom can hold his head high and take his seat among the great” (Sirach 11:1). Again, the poor man in this verse refers to the humble. Why humble? The poor man knows he is poor, is patient when misfortunes strike him, blames himself in everything and does not care about the opinion of others because his aim is simply to please God.

The Father so loved us that He gave us His Son;Elder Sophrony Sakharov of Essex

Elder Sophrony Sakharov of Essex

There, in the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, must our mind dwell. We must hunger and thirst to enter into this wondrous Kingdom.

When we choose Christ we are carried beyond time and space, beyond the reach of what is termed ‘tragedy’.

Human life at whatever stage was unavoidably interlinked with suffering. Even love was full of contradictions and bitter crises.The seal of destruction lay everywhere.

I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy is to be found solely in the fortunes of the man whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earth.

Christ’s love, during the whole time that He abode with us here, was acute suffering.

He lived the tragedy of all mankind; but in Himself there was no tragedy.