Daily Dose of Orthodoxy

[One Bad Pig]

From The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus, step 5 (on penitence):


Repentance is the renewal of baptism and is a contract with God for a fresh start in life. Repentance goes shopping for humility and is ever distrustful of bodily comfort. Repentance is critical awareness and a sure watch over oneself. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the refusal to despair. (The penitent stands guilty - but undisgraced.) Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord by the performance of good deeds which are the opposites of the sins. It is the purification of conscience and the voluntary endurance of affliction. The penitent deals out his own punishment, for repentance is the fierce persecution of the stomach and the flogging of the soul into intense awareness. Come, gather round, listen here and I will speak to all of you who have angered the Lord. Crowd around me and see what he has revealed to my soul for your edification. . .

It is impossible for those of us who have fallen into the sink of iniquity ever to be drawn out of it unless we also plumb the depths of the humility shown by the penitent. . . But above all we must fight off the demon of dejection whenever we happen to slip, for he comes right beside us when we are praying and reminds us of our former good standing with God and tries to divert us from our prayer. Do not be surprised if you fall every day and do not surrender. Stand your ground bravely. And you may be sure that your guardian angel will respect your endurance. A fresh, warm wound is easier to heal than those that are old, neglected, and festering, and that need extensive treatment, surgery, bandaging, and cauterization. Long neglect can render many of them incurable. However, all things are possible with God. . .

He who weeps for himself will not be wrapped up in the grief, lapse, or reproach of someone else. . . We ought to be on our guard, in case our conscience has stopped troubling us, not so much because of its being clear but because of its being immersed in sin. A proof of our having been delivered from our failings is the unceasing acknowledgement of our indebtedness. Nothing equals the mercy of God or surpasses it. To despair is therefore to inflict death on oneself. . .

Through repentance you have reached the fifth step. You have, in this way, purified the five senses, and by choosing to accept punishment have thereby avoided the punishment that is involuntary.

[One Bad Pig]

St. John of the Ladder, Step 6, On remembrance of death:

As thought comes before speech, so the remembrance of death and of sin comes before weeping and mourning. . . . To be reminded of death each day is to die each day; to remember one's departure from life is to provoke tears by the hour. Fear of death is a property of nature due to disobedience, but terror of death is a sign of unrepented sins.

Some, because they are puzzled, ask the following question: "If the remembrance of death is so good for us, why has God concealed from us the knowledge of when we will die?" In putting such a question, they fail to realize how marvelously God operates to save us. No one who knew in advance the hour of his death would accept baptism or join a monastery long before it, but instead would pass all his time in sin and would be baptized and do penance only on the day of his demise. Habit would make him a confirmed and quite incorrigible sinner.
When you are lamenting your sins, do not ever admit that cur which suggests that God is soft-hearted toward men. (Such a notion may on occasion be of help to you when you see yourself being dragged down into deep despair.) For the aim of the enemy is to divert you from your mourning and from that fear of God which, however, is free from fear.
The man who wants to be reminded constantly of death and of God's judgment and who at the same time gives in to material cares and distractions is like someone trying at the same time to swim and to clap his hands.

Someone has said that you cannot pass a day devoutly unless you think of it as your last. . . "Remember your last end, and you will never sin." (Ecclus. 7:36)

[One Bad Pig]

St. John of the Ladder, on mourning:

Mourning which is according to God is a melancholy of the soul, a disposition of an anguished heart that passionately seeks what it thirsts for, and when it fails to attain it, pursues it diligently and follows behind it lamenting bitterly.
Alternatively, mourning is a golden spur within a soul that has been stripped of all bonds and ties, set by holy sorrow to keep watch over the heart.
Compunction is an eternal torment of the conscience which brings about the cooling of the fire of the heart through silent confession.
Confession is a forgetfulness of nature, since because of this a man forgot to eat his bread. (Ps. 101:5)

The tears that come after baptism are greater than baptism itself, though it may seem rash to say so. Baptism washes off those evils that were previously within us, whereas the sins committed after baptism are washed away by tears. The baptism received by us as children we have all defiled, but we cleanse it anew with our tears. If God in His love for the human race had not given us tears, those being saved would be few indeed and hard to find. Groans and sadness cry out to the Lord, trembling tears intercede for us, and the tears shed out of all-holy love show that our prayer has been accepted.

Do not imitate those who in burying the dead first lament them - and then go off to get drunk. . . The man who mourns at one time and then goes in for high living and laughter on another occasion is like someone who pelts the dog of sensuality with bread. It looks as if he is driving him off when in fact he is actually encouraging him to stay by him. . . Think of your lying in bed as an image of the lying in your grave; then you will not sleep so much. When you eat at table, remember the food of worms; then you will not live so highly. When you drink water, remember the thirst of the flames; then you will certainly do violence to your nature. . . Let the thought of eternal fire lie down with you in the evening and get up with you in the morning. Then indolence will never overwhelm you when it is time to sing the psalms. . . Regarding our tears, as in everything else about us, the good and just Judge will certainly make allowances for our natural attributes. I have seen small teardrops shed like drops of blood, and I have seen floods of tears poured out with no trouble at all. So I judge toilers by their struggles, rather than their tears; and I suspect that God does so too.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

Diognetus, Epistle to ('The letter of Mathetes')
WRITTEN BY DIOGNETUS

Chapter 1: Occasion of the epistle
Since I see thee, most excellent Diognetus, exceedingly desirous
to learn the mode of worshipping God prevalent among the Christians,
and inquiring very carefully and earnestly concerning them, what God they trust in,
and what form of religion they observe, so as all to look down upon the world itself,
and despise death, while they neither esteem those to be gods that are reckoned such by the Greeks,
nor hold to the superstition of the Jews;
and what is the affection which they cherish among themselves;
and why, in fine, this new kind or practice [of piety] has only now entered into the world,
and not long ago; I cordially welcome this thy desire,
and I implore God, who enables us both to speak and to hear, to grant to me so to speak,
that, above all, I may hear you have been edified, and to you so to hear,
that I who speak may have no cause of regret for having done so.

[One Bad Pig]

More from Step 7 of The Ladder:

I have seen petitioners and shameless beggars melt even the hearts of kings by the artful words they use. But I have also watched another kind of beggar, those poor in virtue, men who have no knack with words, who talk in humble, vague, and halting fashion, who are not ashamed to implore the King of heaven persistently from the depths of a desperate heart and who by their tenacity lay siege to His inviolable nature and His compassion. The man who takes pride in his tears and who secretly condemns those who do not weep is rather like the man who asks the king for a weapon against the enemy - and then uses it to commit suicide. God does not demand or desire that someone should mourn out of sorrow of heart, but rather that out of love for Him he should rejoice with the laughter of the soul. Take away sin and then the sorrowful tears that flow from bodily eyes will be superfluous. Why look for a bandage when you are not cut? Adam did not weep before the fall, and there will be no tears after the resurrection when sin will be abolished, when pain, sorrow, and lamentation will have taken flight. . . As I ponder the true nature of compunction, I find myself amazed by the way in which inward joy and gladness mingle with what we call mourning and grief, like honey in a comb. There must be a lesson here, and it surely is that compunction is properly a gift from God, so that there is a real pleasure in the soul, since God secretly brings consolation to those who in their heart of hearts are repentant.

A man who has heard himself sentenced to death will not worry about the way theaters are run. Similarly, a man who is truly in mourning will never go back to high living, glory, anger, or irritability. Mourning is the kind of sorrow which belongs to the penitent soul whose pains multiply like those of woman in childbirth. The Lord is just and is holy (Ps. 144:17). He leads the inwardly silent man to inward compunction, and every day He brings joy to the one who is inwardly obedient. But he who does not practice compunction or submission with sincerity is deprived of mourning. Drive far away that hound of hell which comes at the time of your deepest mourning and whispers that God is neither merciful nor compassionate. You will find, if you take the trouble, that before you sinned he was assuring you that God is loving, compassionate, and forgiving. Meditation gives birth to perseverance, and perseverance ends in perception, and what is accomplished with perception cannot easily be rooted out.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

This is a great little 2-part story in Russian with English sub-titles about Christ visiting two people...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64mDN...TY99eLbvgNg%3D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR13z...iMq3Kg6XdMI%3D

It is a WONDERFUL story...

Arsenios

[One Bad Pig]

From Step 8 of The Ladder by John Climacus, on placidity:

As the gradual pouring out of water on a fire puts out the flame completely, so the tears of genuine mourning can extinguish every flame of anger and irascibility. . . Freedom from anger is an endless wish for dishonor, whereas among the vainglorious there is a limitless thirst for praise. Freedom from anger is a triumph over one's nature. It is the ability to be impervious to insults, and comes by hard work and the sweat of one's brow. Meekness is a permanent condition of that soul which remains unaffected by whether or not it is spoken well of, whether or not it is honored or praised. The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing. Anger is an indication of concealed hatred, of grievance nursed. Anger is the wish to harm someone who has provoked you. Irascibility is the untimely flaring up of the heart. Bitterness is a stirring of the soul's capacity for displeasure. Anger is an easily changed movement of one's disposition, a disfigurement of the soul. Just as darkness retreats before light. so all anger and bitterness disappears before the fragrance of humility.

An angry person is like a voluntary epileptic who, through an involuntary tendency, breaks out in convulsions and falls down. Nothing is quite so out of place in a penitent as an unruly spirit, for conversion requires great humility, and anger is an indication of all kinds of presumptuousness.
A sign of utter meekness is to have a heart peacefully and lovingly disposed toward someone who has been offensive, and a sure proof of a hot temper is that a man, even when he is alone, should with word and gesture continue to rage and fulminate against some absent person who has given offense.
If it is true that the Holy Spirit is peace of soul, as He is said to be and as, indeed, He is, and if anger is disturbance of the heart, as it really is and as it is said to be, then there is no greater obstacle to the presence of the Spirit in us than anger.
We know that the fruits of anger are abundant and unacceptable, yet we recognize that one of its involuntary offspring, though unlawful, is nevertheless quite useful. I have seen people delivered from passion by the very fact that they had flared up and then poured out their long-stored grievance and, in addition, they got from their offender either some reparation or some explanation for what had caused the long-standing grievance. On the other hand, I have seen men who appeared to be displaying stolid patience, but who, in reality, were silently harboring resentment within themselves. These, it seems to me, were much more to be pitied than the men prone to explosions of temper, because what they were doing was to keep away the holy white dove with that black gall of theirs. So this is a serpent that has to be handled carefully, for, like the snake of sensuality, it has nature for an ally.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

Are you saved?

Do you have assurance of salvation?

An Orthodox Christian Answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAlCz...e of salvation

Arsenios

[One Bad Pig]

More from The Ladder of St. John Climacus:

Step 9, on malice

Remembrance of wrongs comes as the final point of anger. It is a keeper of sins. It hates a just way of life. It is the ruin of virtues, the poison of the soul, an worm in the mind. It is the shame of prayer, a cutting off of supplication, a turning away from love, a nail piercing the soul. It is a pleasureless feeling cherished in the sweetness of bitterness. It is a never-ending sin, an unsleeping wring, rancor by the hour. . . The man who has put a stop to anger has also wiped out remembrance of wrongs. . . A loving man banishes revenge, but a man brooding on his hatreds stores up troublesome labors for himself. A banquet of love does away with hatred and honest giving brings peace to a soul, but if the table is extravagant then license is brought forth and gluttony comes jumping in through the window of love.

Let your malice and your spite be turned against the devils. Treat your body always as an enemy, for the flesh is an ungrateful and treacherous friend. The more you look after it, the more it hurts you. Malice is an exponent of Scripture which twists the words of the Spirit to suit itself. Let the prayer of Jesus put it to shame, that prayer which cannot be uttered in the company of malice. If after great effort you still fail to root out this thorn, go to your enemy and apologize, if only with empty words whose insincerity may shame you. Then as conscience, like a fire, comes to give you pain, you may find that a sincere love of your enemy may come to life.

Some labor and struggle hard to earn forgiveness, but better than these is the man who forgets the wrongs done to him. Forgive quickly and you will be abundantly forgiven. To forget wrongs is to prove oneself truly repentant, but to brood on them and at the same time to imagine one is practicing repentance is to act like the man who is convinced he is running when in fact he is fast asleep.

[One Bad Pig]

[T]he truth is always hateful on this account, because he who sins wishes to have free scope for sinning, and thinks that he cannot in any other way more securely enjoy the pleasure of his evil doings, than if there is no one whom his faults may displease. Therefore they endeavor entirely to exterminate and take them away as witnesses of their crimes and wickedness, and think them burdensome to themselves, as though their life were reproved. For why should any be unseasonably good, who, when the public morals are corrupted, should censure them by living well? Why should not all be equally wicked, rapacious, unchaste, adulterers, perjured, covetous, and fraudulent? Why should they not rather be taken out of the way, in whose presence they are ashamed to lead an evil life, who, though not by words, for they are silent, but by their very course of life, so unlike their own, assail and strike the forehead of sinners? for whoever disagrees with them appears to reprove them. - Lactantius, The Divine Institutes 5.9

[One Bad Pig]

[N]o one can be without fault as long as he is burdened with a covering of flesh, the infirmity of which is subject to the dominion of sin in a threefold manner - in deeds, in words, and thoughts. By these steps justice advances to the greatest height. The first step of virtue is to abstain from evil works; the second, to abstain also from evil words; the third, to abstain even from the thoughts of evil things. He who ascends the first step is sufficiently just; he who ascends the second is now of perfect virtue, since he offends neither in deeds nor in conversation; he who ascends the third appears truly to have attained the likeness of God. - Lactantius, Divine Institutes 6.13

[Rdr. Arsenios]

This is a new book that summarizes in its title the essence of Orthodox Theology:

"Empirical Dogmatics" by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

Available from St. Nectarios Press:

(ED1) EMPIRICAL DOGMATICS, According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, Volume 1: Dogma-Ethics-Revelation by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos. The first of several volumes distilling the theological teachings of Fr. John Romanides, based on lectures and talks given in Greece and recorded. Extracts from these talks form the basis of these books with commentary by Met. Hierotheos. This introductory volume contains biographical material, Fr. John’s teaching on the relationship between dogma and ethics, the experience and bearers of revelation (prophets, apostles, fathers, etc.), and the living monuments of revelation (Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition). This theological treasure, beautifully translated from the Greek, is a priceless addition to Orthodox theology. 345pp. Paper e$33.00 Order

http://www.orthodoxpress.org/catalog/new.htm

Arsenios

[Rdr. Arsenios]

“Ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing else,
neither for divine lights, nor miracles, nor prophecies, nor spiritual gifts—
nothing but repentance.

"Repentance will bring you humility,
humility will bring you the Grace of God,
and God will have in His Grace everything you need for your salvation,
or anything you might need to help another soul."
(Elder Paisios of Mount Athos)

[Rdr. Arsenios]

In general terms, Western civilization is dominated by the human mind,
and “knowing” seems to take precedence over “being.”
In the East, experience is valued over thought,
and the “nous” of man—
described by Saint Makarios as the “eye of the heart”
and identified by St Diadochos as the “innermost aspect of the heart”
—is considered the most important element
by which a person communicates with God
and, indeed, with the rest of the universe.
In the West, a mystery is a problem to be solved,
as can be seen daily on television.
In the East, a mystery is an area where the human mind cannot go,
and where the heart alone makes sense,
not by “knowing” but by “being.”


Archimandrite Meletios Webber from Pemptousia
The Mind, the Heart and the Way of Salvation‏

[Rdr. Arsenios]

Alexander Solzhynitsin is a hard man not to love - He died in 2008 at 89, and this lovely video is a tribute to his life -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=SIpcW4xzdIw

For those of you who have not read the 4 vol Gulag Archipelago, simply read Cancer Ward and you will fall in love with this writer and sufferer...

He is the singular force most responsible for the fall of Communist Russia - He pricked the conscience of Russia - And she laid down her arms...

Arsenios