“Hidden pride usually abides in spiritual people. So, although you’ll see them with an external bearing of humility and devotion, they hide a world of pride inside! You see, the little devil clothes himself in rags.”
Pride; Self Deception
” If we do not renounce the secular spirit and do not adapt to the simple way – in other words if we do not stop being preoccupied with how others see us, or with what they say about us – we will never experience kinship with God and the Saints. But for this to happen we need to move to the spiritual realm. The more we live with simplicity, especially in a group (cenobium), the fewer bumps from our passions and the smoother we become. Otherwise we end up creating a fake person. This is why we must always strive to get rid of the secular carnival and become angels.”
Theosis; Sanctification
“Repentance is a baptism of tears. Through repentance man is rebaptized, reborn. Through his denial the Apostle Peter betrayed Christ in a way but because he wept bitterly he received forgiveness for his fall. In other words his sincere repentance washed him clean again. You see God first created the earth He sees and all creation and then took from the dust of the earth and created man. Man is firstborn of the flesh and that in Baptism he is reborn spiritually through water, a creation of God and through the Uncreated Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit – through water and the Spirit – he becomes a new man.”
Repentance
“When everything is geared to the spiritual life, do you know how much spiritual benefit can be derived, and what spiritual experience can be achieved?…If one does not approach the spiritual life this way, if one does not see God in everything he does, then he will still be far from God even if you place him in the Church.”
Dedication; Theosis
“In the spiritual life things are in reverse: when you’re left holding the short end of the stick you feel good; and when you give it to someone else you feel badly. When you accept an injustice and are prepared to justify your neighbor you accept Christ himself into your heart Who was often wronged and maligned. It is then that Christ cannot be evicted from your heart and fills you with peace and gladness. Try it my children and experience this great joy! Learn to be happy with this spiritual joy not with the worldly one and every day it will be Easter.”
Humility; Sacrifice
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” And now we are seeking to have a type of Christianity without the crucifixion; we want to go straight to the resurrection. We’re trying to form a Christianity and a monasticism made to our measure. We don’t want to be deprived of anything. But if we are to experience the supernatural, we must live supernaturally.”
Sacrifice; Struggle
“The more one sits, the more slack he is; the more one works, the more strengthened he is. Work not only gets rid of the moldiness, it also helps one spiritually.”
Work
“When parents, the co-creators with God, encounter difficulties, after all their efforts to settle their children, they should humbly seek the help of the Great Creator by stretching their hands toward Heaven. Then God is pleased and the parents are pleased to be helped.”
Prayer; Family
“‘What could I have accomplished alone? Without God’s help, I would have done nothing but bosh,’ he says to himself. In other words, he puts everything into proper order because he has spiritual health.”
Humility
“He who receives experiences human joy. But he who gives experiences divine joy. Divine joy comes to us by giving…One must learn to rejoice by giving.”
Generosity; Joy
