Τhe Role of the Church 5, Archimandrite Savvas Athonite 5-10-2017

 Τhe Role of the Church 5, Archimandrite Savvas Athonite 5-10-2017

Raising our children – a general approach

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/teaching-our-children-to-pray.html

Raising our children – a general approach

What’s elementary for our children is to be under the guidance of a Pnevmatikos (Spiritual Father), to meet with him regularly and submit to him with orthodox obedience (provided this Pnevmatikos is mastering the orthodox therapeutic system and is already cured).

Of critical importance is the personal life of the parents, as struggling spiritual individuals. For example, if they practice the Jesus Prayer, and they should, their children will imitate them, because children usually copy their parents.

Teaching our children to pray ceaselessly

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-church-is-not-supposed-to-satisfy.html

Teaching our children to pray ceaselessly

It would be a blessed practice for the parents (the mother, for example) to gather their children under (or in front of) the ikonostasis (icon screen) and invite them to jointly practice the Jesus Prayer for 5 minutes.

“This is how we begin”, said gracefully Elder and contemporary Saint Paisios of the Holy Mountain, “to pull the belts of the machine, to start the machine of our nous.” Especially a child, who’s soul is pure and, compared to us, has not so many passions or thoughts (logismoi), rejoices and easily understands what the noetic prayer is. After that, children like it and want to practice it constantly.

The Church is not supposed to satisfy our earthly plans

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/seek-first-kingdom-of-god.html

The Church is not supposed to satisfy our earthly plans

There are people who think the Church is here, to favor our earthly plans. This is wrong, too! This is not what the Church is for. When we think of the Orthodox Church like that, we have superstitious view and consider Her like any other religion on earth. Orthodoxy is not a religion; She is the revelation of God in man, with a sole purpose to heal our whole human nature, our nous, our soul and our body!

Seek first the Kingdom of God

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-to-reach-purification-how-to-know.html

Seek first the Kingdom of God

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” [Matthew 6:33]. To ask for the Kingdom means to ask that God reins inside me, He shall be my Lord.

However, we must believe that; there lies the difficulty and stress. People say “Why should it start with it, anyways? Why should I do it”. If you don’t believe, you have no motive, obviously. You have to be convinced that your spiritual eyes must open, here and now, because if they do not open here (in this life), it will be impossible afterwards … “there is no repentance in Hades”. This is a basic belief in Orthodoxy: “In Hades there is no repentance”. If your spiritual eyes do not open in this life on earth, it will be impossible after our physical death.

Our spiritual eyes won’t open by accident; we have to act, with God’s help, of course. By the Grace of God, we achieve it, not by ourselves! But we have to want to achieve it in this life. Watch out!

How to reach purification-How to know the will of God

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/love-towards-god-and-difficulty-in.html

How to reach purification

I would like to remind you: the Jesus Prayer is not the only thing to be practiced. It is the entire therapeutic system of our Orthodox Church we have to observe. This means we should live a liturgical life (attend Church services frequently), we should live an ascetic life (fasting, keep vigils, love for hardship and toil), try practicing obedience to everybody (except for sin), cut out our logismoi, develop a proper dogmatic conscience, which means to get to know our Orthodox Faith better, and to constantly try to serve God’s will and not ours.

How to know the will of God

How are we supposed to know the will of God? This is possible only when we have a spiritual leader. We cannot discover the will of God all by ourselves. You may read all the spiritual books of the world, but again, you will never get to know His will this way, because it is not about intellectual knowledge. It’s all about humility, obedience, Divine Grace, experience of God. This is the right way to know what God wants from us and what decision we should make in every instance.

Love towards God and the difficulty in praying ceaselessly

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/is-spiritual-life-tiresome.html

Love towards God and the difficulty in praying ceaselessly

How is it when you are in love with a certain person? Just tell me, do you need any special effort to think about this person? No, you don’t. Your mind constantly revolves around this person; constantly… And you may be walking a heavily crowded sidewalk of a central avenue with a lot of noise and distraction, and you don’t see anything, you don’t hear anything! Why? Because your mind is focused on the person you love. This is how our relationship with Christ is, our love for Christ, Divine Love. This is what I mean when I say we should love God.

Is spiritual life tiresome?

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:

Is spiritual life tiresome?https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/noetic-prayer-and-how-to-get-used-to.html

Fr. Savvas replying to the question on spiritual life:

When we lead a spiritual life properly, there is no fatigue, no stress. And this, because we do nothing against our nature, but, on the contrary, we go back to normal. We do the normal thing. We were actually walking on our hands, and now we turn upside down and start walking normally again. Do we feel any strain by doing this? Yes, but only in the beginning. When we do it, and get used to it a little, we never want to turn upside down and walk with our hands again.

This is sin: walking upside down! This is being unrepentant. In other words, when our nous is scattered, and our heart is filled with logismoi (image-thoughts), it is like walking on our hands! Is it possible to live this way? I wonder how people do live this way, today?

Every moment living according to God’s will & ceaseless prayer

If we pay attention to live according to God’s will, we will also be in a true praying state. Let me tell you something:

Noetic prayer and how to get used to its practice

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/whats-missing-true-repentance-force-and.html

Question from the audience:

Fr. Savvas, what about the noetic prayer?

Answer by Fr. Savvas:

I told you already. When we start doing it right and ceaselessly, there will be a moment when the very Holy Spirit will come into us and do it!

Noetic prayer and how to get used to its practice

Fr. Savvas replying to the question on noetic prayer again:

Just do it as you can… let me tell you a method for everybody.

I knew a soul who practiced the noetic prayer for 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours at noon and 2 hours in the evening, either standing upright or on her knees. She learnt how to do it. She forced herself, but then she got used to it… and then she ended up practicing the prayer 24h a day! It is the Holy Spirit that takes over afterwards; it doesn’t need any force at all anymore.

What’s missing? True repentance!--Force and fatigue during ceaseless praying

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/illumination-and-how-to-reach-it.html

What’s missing? True repentance!

- Why do we, the faithful, go back and forth (in our spiritual lives)?

- Because we do not REALLY repent. You know what we do? We just regret?

We go to our spiritual father and say “You know, I am very sad, I have done such and such… I did it again”, but we do not sincerely repent, we do not make a solid decision to allow for an explosion inside our souls and say “That’s it; enough is enough. From now on, I will force my nous to pray.”

You might ask “Should this be done by force?” And the answer is “YES, by force!” We must cut deep down within our soul, to start the procedure of katharsis, purification.

Force and fatigue during ceaseless praying

For the noetic prayer, as I have already mentioned, in the beginning (but also afterwards) we need to apply force. At this point, we need faith. If you believe in it, you will do it. If you believe in God, you will do the Jesus Prayer.

Illumination and how to reach it

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-much-can-we-endure-praying.html

Illumination and how to reach it

When we are in the state of illumination, we pray constantly. In a state of complete illumination, the Jesus Prayer is self-acting. This means it is being said by itself ceaselessly within our heart.

The question is how to get there.

In the beginning we sort of squeeze ourselves, so we get used to pray.

What does a baby do, when it comes out of its mother’s womb? It cries, because it comes out into a new environment. If it doesn’t cry, it will not be able to take a breath. Right? It must cry, to take its first breath. After that, it will be constantly taking new breaths of air. However, if it does not cry, it will suffocate. This is the point, where it needs to be forced (usually a light slap on the buds by the leading physician).

So, this is how it works also with the noetic prayer.

How much can we endure praying

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/illumination-of-our-nouscatanyxis.html

Question from the audience:

How much can we stand praying and attend the church services?

Answer by Fr. Savvas:

Frankly, if we start praying, it means we start breathing!

Hence, when we ask about how long we can stand praying, it is like asking how long we can stand breathing. So, can we stand breathing? And if yes, for how long? Can you stand breathing only for 5 min. a day? Obviously not, because within less than 2 minutes since we stopped breathing, we will have to take a new breath again!

Do you realize what most of us do? It’s totally crazy, but this is exactly what we do: our soul breaths 5 min. in the morning and 5 min. in the evening. What about the rest of the 23 hours and 50 min.? We actually do not breath; we do not pray!

Illumination of our nousCatanyxis - Illumination - Tears

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/antimonastic-spirit.html

Illumination of our nous

Question from the audience:

Is illumination a permanent state or is the Holy Spirit coming back and forth?

Answer by Fr. Savvas:

When we progress to illumination, this state is permanent. It’s there and you live it 24 hours a day. This means we live this state also during our sleep… The Holy spirit prays within us and we feel it also during our sleep! This is a state described in the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) 5:2, “I sleep, but my heart waketh”. How does my heart hold this wake? By praying ceaselessly. Our heart, at this state, never stops praying all day through. This is the state of illumination. It is when a man becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit!

Catanyxis - Illumination - Tears

Question from the audience:

Does illumination have anything to do with catanyxis (a combination of the following for a limited period of time: sense of reverence, contrition and inner rejoicing)? For example, when a faithful prays heartfelt inside the church and is in catanyxis, can we assume he/she is also illumined?

Answer by Fr. Savvas:

It depends. Maybe yes, maybe no. Tears (and catanyxis) is an issue that needs an illumined spiritual father to discern what is going on. There are many kinds of tears.

There are emotional tears, who are shed, because we remember something and got emotional.

There are egoistical tears: Somebody told us something, we could not stand it, we felt wronged (insulted) and we started crying… because of our selfishness, it was our selfishness which was actually affected.

Antimonastic spirit

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-need-for-guidance-by-experienced.html

Antimonastic spirit

Question from the audience:

Many people think that we laypeople should keep a distance from the monasteries [talking about the antimonastic spirit and when it prevailed].

Answer by Fr. Savvas:

Yes, this is totally wrong!

This is what I have been already telling you, the antimonastic spirit in Greece has been established since 1800, just after the Greek liberation from the Ottoman occupation. Until that moment, people used to embrace the monasteries and respect monastic life.

Wherever monastic life did not face hostility, for example in Romania, we can watch mothers leading their own children to the monasteries. Mothers lead their daughters to the monasteries, to become nuns!

People might say “What is this?”

The need for guidance by an experienced spiritual fatherMarried or unmarried spiritual father?

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/11/daily-concerns-and-worries-and.html

The need for guidance by an experienced spiritual father

Whatever we do, we must never do it based on ourselves. We have to ask, we must have a spiritual leader. He is the one who will show us how to make progress in prayer. Not to mention, this spiritual father is the first one to be cured in advance. Beware! He cannot be just anyone.

We must find a spiritual leader, who is (spiritually) cured, one who knows the healing method of the Church by experience and not only by the books. Generally, those who have lived in the monasteries and practiced honest obedience to an Elder know this particular healing method. And I say this not because I lived in a monastery (and still do), but because this healing method is especially and almost exclusively preserved in the monasteries and not out there in the world!

Married or unmarried spiritual father?

It is totally wrong to think “I am a married person, and I should and will go for guidance to a married spiritual father, who lives in the world, because he should know better.”

What is it that he should have known better? Do you imply that the unmarried ones have not been raised in a family, and do not know what’s going on there?

Daily concerns and worries and the abundance of material goods pose an obstacle to prayer

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/10/quantity-and-quality-in-prayer.html

Daily concerns and worries and the abundance of material goods pose an obstacle to prayer

Well, you might say “I have so many things to do and to care about; I do not have time (to pray).” So, I suggest you stop them all, and start praying. This is our main job, after all!

Why did our Lord Jesus Christ say [Matthew 6:25] “Take no thought for your life (do not worry about), what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on”? Why did He say [Matthew 13:22] “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”?

The thorns are, in fact, those worries and care-abouts!

And we often say, “Let’s buy us a machine/device to help us out with our job, so we can have more spare time.” We buy the machine and then say, “Now that I have this machine, it is a great opportunity to take care of some more things!” … and we do this, we do that and so on…and we fall into another great trap: the trap of doing MORE things, now that we’ve got the machine, with an ultimate goal to feed our (usually sinful) passions and foremost our selfishness.

Quantity and quality in prayer

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 

 previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/10/anyone-in-orthodoxy-who-becomes-heathy.html

Quantity and quality in prayer

Question from the audience:

Fr. Savva, “evlogeite” (your blessing). People say “We cannot have quality in our prayers, because the Holy Spirit would/should be the only One granting the quality and enabling us for a pure prayer. What we can offer is just quantity, meaning praying as much as we can…

And reading in spiritual books, I found our Holy Church Fathers saying, that we, lay people, which have many activities and mundane worries, can initially start by filling up the gap in-between, by trying, as much as and in any way we can, to say the Jesus-prayer. When eating something or driving somewhere in our car, for example, to say the Jesus-prayer. This is how we can utilize this spare time. But, Father, is this enough, at least in terms of quantity?

Answer by Fr. Savvas:

No, it is not! Because we have so many things to do, and, at the end, there are not even 5 minutes left for prayer! Aren’t they? Am I right?

Anyone in orthodoxy, who becomes heathy again, can heal his neighbor

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-advantage-of-orthodoxy-with-which.html

Anyone in orthodoxy, who becomes heathy again, can heal his neighbor

And, here is a wonderful thing to be found in Orthodoxy: when we go through the process of kátharsis (purification) and, by the Grace of God, become healthy again, we can be doctors also for our fellow human beings! It may sound strange to you, but we can indeed become the spiritual father or mother to others, without necessarily having to wear a rásso (monastic garment). We can “adopt” spiritual children… show them the true Light and help others.

From the moment on we get into the process of purification and illumination, we start practicing and offering a healing method to others around us. This is the beauty of Orthodoxy! Why? Because we actually become bearers of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the One Who, in fact, acts (because of us, and for those around us, who are ready and willing to accept Him) offering the cure. It is not WE who do this to others, not even to ourselves; God does it… the Holy Spirit.

The advantage of Orthodoxy, with which She can conquer the whole world, is its therapeutics, its unique healing method, the only method by which our human soul can be effectively cured.

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/10/living-orthodox-therapeutics-help-our.html

The advantage of Orthodoxy, with which She can conquer the whole world, is its therapeutics, its unique healing method, the only method by which our human soul can be effectively cured.

The purpose of Orthodoxy is not to offer some kind of a new fetish. Until recently, black people, for example, in Africa, who were idolaters, had many fetishes of their own.

So, what is our mission as Orthodox Christians? Is it maybe to substitute the artwork-fetish of the Africans with new ones of “Orthodox” origin? Is this the reason for sending out Orthodox missionaries to the heathens? Is it to change their religion and their fetish?

Living orthodox therapeutics – help our fellow human beings

ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

previous:https://hristospanagia3.blogspot.com/2018/10/westernization-of-civilizations-by.html

Living orthodox therapeutics – help our fellow human beings

This is when orthodox therapeutics has its role and say. This is when we, orthodox Christians, living in a globally established terrorism and brutalization and despair, must have our eyes open and learn properly how to live Orthodoxy and apply its therapeutic method. We must be spiritually healthy internally, in order to be able to offer a helping spiritual hand to our fellow human beings, who live in this inhumane world and constantly reach out for our help.