Thursday, March 31, 2011

PHILOKALIA " LOVE OF THE BEAUTIFUL" WHAT CAN BE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN PERFECT LOVE?



"If there are some men you hate and some men you neither love nor hate, and others you love strongly and others again you love but moderately, recognize from this inequality that you are far from perfect love. For perfect love presupposes that you love all men equally."  pg 66

"For him who is perfect in love and has reached the summit of dispassion there is no difference between his own or another's, or between Christians and unbelievers, or between slave and free, or even between male and female. But because he has risen above the tyranny of the passions and has fixed his attention on the single nature of man, he looks on all in the same way and shows the same disposition to all. For in him there is neither Greek nor Jew,  male nor female, bond nor free, but Christ who 'is all, and in all' (Col.3:11; Gal.3:28")  pg 70

"To be spontaneouly disposed to 'to do good to those who hate you' (Matt 5:44) belongs to perfect spiritual love alone."  pg 74

MANY CONFESS, BUT FEW REPENT

"Repentance is a freely-willed, internally cultivated process of contrition and sorrow for having distanced ourselves from God through sin. True repentance has nothing to do with intolerable pain, excessive sorrow and relentless guilty feelings. That would not be sincere repentance, but a secret egotism, a feeling of our ”ego” being trampled on; an anger that is directed at our self, which then wreaks revenge because it is exposing itself and is put to shame—a thing that it cannot tolerate."  


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St. Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland (451)



"His apostolic work was not accomplished without much 'weariness and painfulness,' long journeys through difficult country, and many perils; he says his very life was in danger twelve times. When he came to Ireland, as its enlightener, it was a pagan country; when he ended his earthly life some thirty years later, about 461, the Faith of Christ was established in every corner.
The work of St Patrick and his brethren has been called the most successful single missionary venture in the history of the Church.
It is said of St Patrick that he chanted the entire Psalter every day."

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

LOVE ALL MEN, AT ALL TIMES, IN ALL PLACES


"Perfect love does not split up the single human nature, common to all, according to the  diverse characteristics of individuals; but, fixing attention always on this single nature, it loves all men equally. It loves the good as friends and bad as enemies, helping them, exercising forbearance, patiently accepting whatever they do, not taking the evil into account at all but even suffering on their behalf if the opportunity offers, so that, if possible, they too become friends. If it cannot achieve this, it does not change its own attitude; it continues to show the fruits of love to all men alike. It was on account of this that our Lord and God Jesus Christ, showing His love for us, suffered for the whole of mankind and gave to all men as equal hope of resurrection, although each man determines his own fitness for glory or punishment."

Philokalia vol 2 pg 60

Sunday, March 27, 2011

THE MONOTHELETES CUT OFF THE HAND AND TONGUE OF ST MAXIMOS THE CONFESSOR AND HE DIED IN EXILE IN 662



"The Monotheletes wished to reconcile the supporters of the Council of Chalcedon (451), who ascribed two natures to the incarnate Christ, with the Monophysites, who believed that He has only one nature; and so they proposed as a compromise the theory that Christ has two natures, the one divine and the other human, but only one single will. Against this St. Maximos maintained that human nature without a human will is an unreal abstraction: if Christ does not have a human will as well as a divine will, He is not truly man; and if He is not truly man,  the Christian message of salvation is rendered void. What we see in Christ our Savior is precisely a human will, genuinely free yet held in unwavering obedience to His divine will; and it is by virtue of this voluntary co-operation of manhood with divinity in Christ, which restored by the integrity of human nature, that we are enabled to make our own wills freely obedient to the will of God and so attain salvation. St. Maximos' teaching was confirmed after his death by the Sixth Eucumenical Council, meeting at Constantinople in 680-1."

The Philokalia Vol 2 pg 49-50

Saturday, March 26, 2011

THE HOSPITALITY OF ABRAHAM

"Accepting the task of hospitality, the patriarch used to sit by the entrance of his tent inviting all who passed by, and his table was laden for all comers including the impious and barbarians, without distinction. Hence he was found worthy of that wonderful banquet when he received angels and the Master of all as his guest. We too, then, should actively and eagerly cultivate hospitality, so that we may receive not only angels, but also God Himself.  For 'asmuch', says the Lord, 'as you have done it to one of the least of these My brethren you have done it unto Me' Matt 25:40."

The Philokalia Vol 2 pg 32

Friday, March 25, 2011

I LOOK FOR THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, AND THE LIFE OF THE AGE TO COME


"For two days the soul is relatively free and it can visit its favorite places on the earth, but on the third day it departs for other spaces. In this process it passes through the hordes of evil spirits who block its path and accuse it of various sins—sins that they tempted the person to commit. According to certain revelations, there are twelve such obstacles, the so-called ”tollhouses,” ..."

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

CAN A RICH MAN GET TO HEAVEN?



"Blessed are those who dash the children of Babylon against the rocks" Ps.137:9

The Philokalia teaches us that the children of Babylon are the passions. Like children, we nurture, caress and care for them. We look upon them fondly and fail to understand that they will grow into destroyers of souls. Consequently, we are to dash them against the rocks while they are young and weak. If we allow them to abide with us, they will one day overtake us and steal from us the keys of heaven. The three principle passions are riches, pleasure and praise. Conquer these rulers and kings and you will attain honor among angels and be ushered into the Kingdom of God. Suffer defeat at their hands and the demons like vultures will be circling above your soul ready to consume it at the day of your death.

EXORCISM, BAPTISM, CHRISMATION - THE DEVIL IS EXPUNGED, CHRIST ENTERS IN & WE ARE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT






Every catechumen entering into the Eastern Orthodox Church has an exorcism peformed prior to being baptized and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Why is this necessary? This quote should help explain: "The demons do their work of destroying people with incomparably greater success than the most evil-intentioned men. Man's corruptness consists in the mixture of goodness and evil in him; the fallen spirits' corruptness consists in their total evil, and complete absence of goodness. The fallen spirits' abilities are far superior to those of fallen men, whose intentions are restrained by the very weight and corpulence of their bodies. Demons freely and quickly flow through the universe, and freely do things that are quite impossible for man to do (cf. Job 1:7). People must be satisfied with whatever experience in evil that they have acquired during their short earthly life; their evil intentions are naturally destroyed in that hour when they have to leave this earthly life, and they are called to God's judgment and eternity. On the contrary, demons have been left to abide on earth from the time of their final fall (Gen. 3:14) until the end of the world. Anyone can imagine what experience they have gained in doing evil over such a long period of time, with their abilities and constant evil intent, which is not diluted by good aspirations of any kind."

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)