carry out their words

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A few brothers who had lay  persons approached Abba Felix and begged him to say a word to them.  But the old man kept silent.  After they had asked for a long time he said to them “you wish to hear a word,” they said “yes Abba”. Then the old man said to them “there are no such words nowadays.   When the brothers used to consult their elders, and when they did what was asked of them, God would show them how to speak.  However now, because they ask without doing that which they hear , God has withdrawn the grace of His Word from the elders, and they do not find anything to say, because there is no longer anyone who carries out their words.”   Hearing this the brothers groaned, saying “Pray for us Abba”

Metropolitan Nafpaktos Hierotheos

A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain

sunflower garden 2019

bumblebee on sunflower resting

tell me a word

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A word spoken from the heart of the hermit as from the Holy Spirit, in the language of the desert, is considered real and authentic; and the one who requests it, receives it as the fruit of Grace without elaborating on it in his mind. This “word” from the spiritual father is absolutely necessary for the one who asks. The “word” comes from a soul which is the friend of God, Wounded by the love of God, and is spoken in accordance with the measure of the “thirst” of the one who asks.

Metropolitan Nafpaktos Hierotheos

A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain

the altar of the heart {anaphora}

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The heart is the tabernacle where the soul encounters the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The greatest potential of every human being is to fulfill our calling to be the royal priesthood, who become the meeting place of the created and uncreated worlds, lifting up the gifts of creation each moment from the later of the heart as the priest does in the anaphora of the Divine Liturgy.

Stephen Muse : Treasure in Earthen Vessels

“Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all and for all.”

all can be saved

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An afternoon in the sunflower field
my husband planted for me

Bending low to the ground in love, You have breathed into the dust and raised us up as living flesh, imprinted with Your Divine Image and the potential to become persons in Your likeness. It is a potential, not a guarantee… Achieving the likeness of God is a gift given in response to a long and arduous struggle in faith to obey in body, mind, and soul, the noetic illumination that Christ invisibly communicates to our hearts. Lest we despair of the difficulties faced along this way, St. John Climacus offers a consoling word. “Not everyone can achieve dispassion. But all can be saved and can be reconciled to God.”

Stephen Muse : Treasure in Earthen Vessels

a faith that satisfies

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An experience of God is, first of all, an inner assurance that through faith in God, the Christian finds the true meaning of his life. He feels that his faith in Christ is a faith that satisfies him internally, that give meaning to his live and guides him – that is a strong light which is enlightens him. When he thus feels the Christian faith inside him, he has started to live the Grace of God, God is not something external for him.

Archimandrite George

Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint Gregorios of Mount Athos
Experiences of the Grace of God

free to love

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blooming onion 2019

The basis for real and deep love is free will. It is not possible for someone to love another person if forced to do so by some need or compulsion.

The Struggle in Christ In the Apostasy of our Times

The Holy Monastery of Saint Gregorios : Mount Athos

our task :: our work :: and God’s Grace

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sunflowers of the garden 2019

For the soul to repent it must first be awake. It is in this awakening that the miracle of repentance occurs. This is where human will plays a role. The awakening however is not something that rests solely with the man or the woman. The individual alone is not able to bring it about. God intervenes. Then Divine Grace comes. Without Grace a person can not repent. The love of God does everything. He may use something — an illness, or something else — it depends — in order to bring a person to repentance. Accordingly, repentance is achieved through divine grace. We simply make a move towards God and from then on Grace supervenes.

Saint Porphyrios

the humble person

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theotokos and flowers on my kitchen window sill

The humble person believes that all things depend on Christ and that Christ gives His grace and in that way he makes progress. The person who possesses holy humility lives even now in the earthly uncreated Church. He always has the joy of Christ even in the most displeasing circumstances. We see this in the lives of the saints. What was Saint Paul? He was a man like us. But what happened? He became and instrument of God, a chosen vessel. His words bear witness to this. ‘It is not I who live but Christ lives in me… for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” He was consumed by burning love for Christ. His humility raised him up to that state. To burn for God…. that is everything.

Saint Porphyrios : Wounded by Love

water the flowers

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sunflowers in the garden 2019

God has placed a power in man’s soul. But it is up to him how he channels it —- for good or for evil. If we imagine the good as a garden full of flowers, trees and plants and the evil as weeds and thorns and the power as water, then what can happen is as follows. When the water is directed towards the flower garden, then all the plants grow, blossom and bear fruit and at the same time the weeds and thorns, because they are not being watered, wither and die. And the opposite, of course, can also happen….


It is not necessary therefore to concern yourselves with the weeds. Don’t occupy yourself with rooting out evil. Christ does not wish us to occupy ourselves with he passions, but with the opposite. Channel the water, that isu, all the strength of your soul to the flowers, and you will enjoy their beauty, their fragrance and their freshness.

Saint Porphyrios

Giant Auburn Sunflower 2019