Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.co
Our wealth is not here but in heaven. Our glory is not here but in heaven. Our pleasure is not here but in heaven. The Orthodox Christian has true wealth, glory, and pleasure in heaven. The Orthodox Christian is detached from wealth, glory, and pleasure on earth.
Consider if you have wealth. Will you also have wealth in heaven? Consider if you have glory. Will you also have glory in heaven? Consider if you have pleasure. Will you also have pleasure in heaven?
Practice fasting for your salvation. Practice charity for your salvation. Practice prayer and psalmody for your salvation. Practice humility for your salvation. Practice obedience for your salvation. Practice chastity for your salvation. Practice self-control for your salvation.
On Judgment Day we will see the reward for fasting and the reward for overeating. We will see the reward for charity and the reward for overpossessing. We will see the reward for humility and the reward for vanity. The reward for prayer and psalmody and the reward for non-prayer and non-psalmody. The reward for obedience and the reward for disobedience. The reward for chastity and the reward for unchastity. The reward for repentance, Confession, and Communion, and the reward for unrepentance, non-Confession, and non-Communion. The reward for philanthropy and the reward for non-philanthropy. The reward for faith and the reward for unbelief.
For the world material loss is suffering, dishonor is suffering, bodily hardship is suffering. For an Orthodox Christian non-wealth has no real suffering, non-glory has no real suffering, non-pleasure has no real suffering.
Orthodox Christians seek wealth in heaven, glory in heaven, pleasure in heaven. Orthodox Christians do not value as blessedness wealth on earth, glory on earth, pleasure on earth. Orthodox Christians value on earth virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Peter Bouteneff: “All that God does, He does for our salvation.”
The just love all, both the just and sinners. Sinners love sometimes the just, and sometimes the sinners. On some occasions sinners hate the just and all other sinners.
Each person has to be self-responsible. Each person must seek to practice gospel ethics and must take responsibility for their transgression of gospel ethics. It depends on each person whether they will practice or not practice gospel ethics.
Remember that you are a steward of material goods, virtue, and wisdom. None of these are yours, but all of them are God’s. God has given them to you so that you use them for your salvation.
First we must learn and practice natural ethics: good for good, justice for bad, neutrality for neutrality. Second we must learn and practice spiritual ethics: good for good, good and forgiveness for bad, good for neutrality.
Do you see that natural ethics is good for good, bad for bad, and neutrality for neutrality? Do you see that spiritual ethics is good for good, good and forgiveness for bad, and good for neutrality?
As a youth most of us practice natural ethics. When we repent and choose to live a spiritual life then do we practice spiritual ethics.
The world practices natural ethics: good for good, bad and justice for bad, neutrality for neutrality. The Orthodox Christian practices spiritual ethics: good for good, good and forgiveness for bad, good for neutrality.
Our actions towards the bad and neutrals are where the difference between natural ethics and spiritual ethics appears. Natural ethics teaches to return bad to bad and neutrality to the neutral. Spiritual ethics teaches to return good and forgiveness to the bad, and good to the neutrals.
Natural ethics teaches to love the good, hate the bad, and be neutral to the neutral. Spiritual ethics teaches to love the good, love and forgive the bad, and love the neutral.
Natural ethics loves only one group: the good. Spiritual ethics love all three groups: the good, the bad, and the neutral.
Have natural ethics before you. Have spiritual ethics before you. Live a life of natural ethics. Live a life of spiritual ethics. Never transgress natural ethics. Never transgress spiritual ethics. Arise from a life of natural ethics to a life of spiritual ethics. (See 1 Cor. 15:46).
Natural ethics and spiritual ethics appear when we encounter material loss, dishonor, and bodily hardship. For all these natural ethics teaches anger, sorrow, complaint, and revenge. Spiritual ethics teaches forgiveness, charity, humility, meekness, mercy, and patience.
Be ethical in mind. Be ethical in heart. Be ethical in speech. Be ethical in eyes. Be ethical in ears. Be ethical in hands. Be ethical in feet. Be ethical in body.
Unethics brings guilt and sorrow. Repent and confess your unethics, mourn, weep, make a firm decision to abstain henceforth from unethics.
A young person must be taught first natural ethics. When they progress in spirituality can they be taught spiritual ethics. First you must learn the Law of Moses and then the Law of Lord Jesus.
Our faith and virtue is tested when we encounter material loss, dishonor, and bodily hardship. The faithful and virtuous are self-responsible, thanking God, blaming themselves, forgiving, and not seeking to justify themselves. Blessed are they who practice these things.
Wealth and non-wealth are tests of our virtue. Glory and non-glory are tests of our virtue. Pleasure and non-pleasure are tests of our virtue. The truly virtuous person has transcended attachment to wealth, glory, and pleasure. The truly virtuous person seeks spiritual wealth, spiritual glory, and spiritual pleasure.
What good is material wealth when you have no spiritual wealth? What good is material glory when you have no spiritual glory? What good is material pleasure when you have no spiritual pleasure? Material wealth alone, material glory alone, and material pleasure alone, are all vanity. Without spiritual wealth, spiritual glory, and spiritual pleasure, we have nothing.
We are not here to overeat but to fast and eat canonically. We are not here to steal and overpossess but to practice charity and possess canonically. We are not here to be vain but to be humble. We are not here to lie and revile but to speak truth and bless. We are not here to be disobedient and idle but to be obedient and useful. We are not here to practice unchastity but to practice chastity.
We are here to keep the Law of Moses and the Law of Lord Jesus. We are not here to transgress the Law of Moses and the Law of Lord Jesus.
Do not be idle in virtue, only speaking of virtue and not practicing it.
Do everything you have to do today, and as soon as possible. Do not lose a single moment of day or night.
Orthodox Christians dress in the fashion of their time and use the technology of their time. Orthodox Christian monks and nuns dress in traditional garb and use the technology of the past mainly, but also some modern technology.
Do not lie, revile, or criticize. Rather speak truth, bless, and edify.
We are not here to overeat, to steal, to lie and revile, to be vain, to be idle, or to be unchaste. We are here to fast, to give charity, to speak truth and to bless, to be humble, to work and to be obedient and to pray, to be chaste.
Keep the precepts of the Old Testament. Keep the precepts of the New Testament. Keep all precepts that your spiritual father assigns you. Keeping precepts is the true life, the real life, the blessed life.
Keep the precepts of Moses. Keep the precepts of Lord Jesus. Keep the precepts of your spiritual father. When you keep the precepts then you may also teach them. Blessed is he who keeps and teaches the precepts. (See Matt. 5:19).
To enter into eternal life we must keep the precepts. (See Matt. 19:17). We must repent and confess for every transgression of the precepts. We must seek to live a life of the precepts. A life of precept-keeping is the happy life, and leads to eternal life.
Transgression of the precepts is: overeating, stealing, vanity, lying or reviling or judging, disobedience and idleness, unchastity, and not loving God and neighbor. Keeping of the precepts is: fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking or blessing or non-judging, obedience and work, chastity, and loving God and neighbor.
You know the precepts: do not overeat, do not steal, do not be vain, do not lie or revile or judge, do not kill, do not be idle, do not be unchaste.
We must solve our transgression of the precepts. We must return to the life of the precepts. Our transgression must be resolved today. (See Matt. 18:18).
Does your social group run democratically? Or does is run as a tyranny?
The logical life is: fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking, obedience and work, prayer, and chastity. The illogical life is: overeating, stealing, vanity, lying and reviling, disobedience and idleness, non-prayer, and unchastity.
Are you fasting and eating canonically or are you overeating? Are you practicing charity or are you stealing and overpossessing? Are you being humble or are you being vain? Are you practicing obedience and working or are you being disobedient and idle? Are you truth-speaking, blessing, and edifying, or are you lying, reviling, and judging? Are you practicing prayer and psalmody or are you practicing non-prayer and non-psalmody? Are you loving and serving or are you hating and neglecting? Are you being chaste or are you practicing unchastity?
Do no injustice in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance. If you do not repent and restitute the injustice it will return to you. (See Gal. 6:7).
Gospel precepts are either accepted, rejected, or received with neutrality. The acceptors bear fruit a hundredfold, a sixtyfold, or a thirtyfold. The rejectors bear no fruit. The neutrals bear no fruit, from cowardice, or from love of wealth. (See Matt. 13:1-9).
Gospel precepts are: fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking and blessing, obedience and work, prayer and psalmody, forgiveness and love, study and questioning of the elders, sacraments, and chastity.
Towards the gospel are you an acceptor, a neutral, or a rejector? The acceptors are three groups, the neutrals are two groups, and the rejectors are one group.
Turn to Lord Jesus in repentance, faith, and obedience, and all your problems will be resolved.
Turn to Lord Jesus in obedience and you will receive goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Lord Jesus is the Sun of goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. Turn to Him in faith and obedience and He will shine on you and give you goodness, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Are you a living member of the Orthodox Christian Church, practicing gospel virtue, gospel wisdom, and spiritual gifts? Or are you a dead member of the Orthodox Christian Church, practicing vice, folly, and psychological dysfunction?
Live an ethical life based on the gospel: faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, truth-speaking and blessing, chastity, and love. Renounce the unethical life: non-faith, overeating, stealing and overpossessing, non-prayer, vanity, disobedience, lying and reviling, unchastity, hatred.
Speak good words. Practice good practices. When you do these you are living the true life, and can edify your neighbor.
The most important thing is to receive a good religious and secular education. From such an education arises a happy life, an enjoyable occupation, a good income, and a good standard of living.
Do not have prodigality, greed, or pride. Have self-control, charity, and humility.
Those who choose sin to faith and obedience to Lord Jesus, are traitors. They betray life and truth and choose death and falsehood. Keep away from such traitors.
A prodigal, a greedy person, and a proud person are all traitors. Traitors toward God, traitors towards life. Life is the opposite of these: self-control, charity, humility.
Betrayal is the following: unbelief, pride, prodigality, and greed. The sons and daughters of the dragon practice this betrayal.
Do not be a traitor. Choose faith in Lord Jesus to unbelief. Choose humility to pride. Choose meekness to wrath. Choose self-control to prodigality. Choose charity and love to greed, envy, and hatred.
Why should I grieve the Lord by unbelief, pride, prodigality, or greed?
Practice faith, humility, self-control, charity, and love, always.
Are you dead to sin? (See Rom. 6:2, 6:11, 7:4, 6). Are you crucified to sin and betrothed to Lord Jesus? (See Gal. 2:20, 5:24, 6:14).
Sin is a betrayal of God. Repent of this betrayal and confess your betrayal, then live a life of faith, humility, virtue, and wisdom.
Do not be a traitor, betraying God and yourself by sin. Reject unbelief, pride, prodigality, greed, and despair.
Which side will you choose? The side of Lord Jesus or the side of Antichrist? (See Matt. 6:24, 1 Cor. 10:21).
Do not betray yourself by committing sin. Be true to yourself. Respect yourself. Choose faith. Choose lawfulness. Reject sin.
Have you betrayed God and yourself by practicing sin? Have you overeaten, stolen, lied or reviled, become vain, become idle and disobedient, practiced unchastity? Repent and confess your betrayal today, and sin no more.
We are just stewards of God’s goods. Stewards of material goods, stewards of knowledge, stewards of virtue, stewards of spiritual gifts. All goods belong to God. God seeks our salvation, and requires us to be good stewards of all these goods.
You are just a steward of food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Do not be attached to these gifts. Be attached to God. Be a good steward of food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Remember that you must give an account of your stewardship to Lord Jesus.
Be detached from wealth, glory, and pleasure. Be a good steward of wealth. Be a good steward of glory. Be a good steward of knowledge.
Do you understand natural justice? Do you understand spiritual justice?
All the philosophers spoke of the ethical life. The ethical life is the true life. The ethical life is the blessed life. The life of gospel ethics is the happy and holy life.
Be logical, discerning good from evil. Be free of the illogical life: overeating, stealing, vanity, lying and reviling, idleness and disobedience, envy, hatred, unchastity. Practice the logical life: fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking and blessing, work and obedience, rejoicing with others, love, chastity.
Reject every wrong thought, wrong feeling, wrong word, and wrong practice. If you accept any of these you must repent, confess, mourn, compensate, reconcile, and vow non-repeat. Remember that Lord Jesus will judge every wrong thought, wrong feeling, wrong word, and wrong practice that we accept and do not repent of it. Repent and be free of wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices.
Lord Jesus will judge our thoughts, feelings, words, and practices from the day of our birth till the day of our death. To our right thoughts, right feelings, right words, and right practices he will give a reward. To our wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices he will give the appropriate judgment. We must repent and confess and do penance for our wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices. We must do penance in this life, for in the future life there is only judgment, reward, and assignment.
The golden rule applies in life. If you help others, they will help you. If you love others, they will love you.
The golden rule is symmetry: Greet and you will be greeted. Give and it will be given to you. Serve and you will be served. Help and you will be helped. Love and you will be loved.
To avoid corruption secular institutions must be governed by democracy. When democracy is lacking in a secular social group we see corruption, abuse, and tyranny. Orthodox Christian social groups are governed by aristocracy, the rule of the excellent. The governors of the Orthodox Christian community are appointed by their worthiness and qualifications in discernment, humility, meekness, and love. The aristocracy of Orthodox Christian social groups avoids the corruption of secular social groups. Secular social groups can only function well as democracies. Orthodox Christian social groups function well as aristocracies, as rule by the excellent, as rule by the saints.
The problem with secular rulers is that they lack humility, meekness, compassion, and love. Secular rulers are often wrathful, proud, stern, and illogical. Secular rulers easily become tyrannical, since they lack humility and love.
Are you an acceptor of the gospel? Or are you a rejector of the gospel? Perhaps you are neutral to the gospel. The gospel message, as with every message, has its acceptors, rejectors, and neutrals.
The gospel message was rejected by the majority of Jews. The gospel message was rejected by the majority of pagans. The gospel message was accepted by a chosen remnant of Jews and pagans.
What are you suffering from? A wrong thought? A wrong feeling? A wrong word? A wrong practice? Seek to be freed from this wrong.
Always think right. Right-thinking makes you joyful and happy. Right-thinking makes life a continuous festival.
Each human person is special. Each animal is special. Each bird is special. Each insect is special. Each sea creature is special. All of creation is special. View every human person as special, unique, and beloved of his Creator. When you view all persons as special, as deserving of honor, respect, service, and love, all persons will be dear to you.
In order to be paid we must work. For our work we will be paid in this life, and in the other life. Good work is paid in this life with blessing, and in the other life with eternal life. Idleness and bad work is paid in this life with guilt and sorrow, and in the other life with eternal torment.
A high quality education, democracy, and social capitalism are the only way forward. A high quality secular and religious education make citizens good and wise. Democracy eliminates tyranny and bullying and unjust power distributions. Social capitalism makes for a competitive, good quality, just, and benevolent economy.
Guard yourself from a wrong thought, a wrong feeling, a wrong facial expression, a wrong glance, a wrong word, a wrong sight, a wrong hearing, a wrong practice.
Do you want to remain a member of the secular church or do you want to become a member of the Orthodox Christian Church?
Do not be prodigal but self-controlled. Do not be greedy but charitable. Do not be proud but humble.
Lord Jesus is our king. You must heed the call of the King Lord Jesus and allow Him to reign over your heart, mind, tongue, and body. All glory and honor to the King Lord Jesus!
The unbelievers have been waiting for the decay of Orthodox Christianity, but it has not decayed in over 2000 years. Orthodox Christianity will remain till the end, nothing can abolish it. (See Matt. 16:18).
The true athlete is he who guards his mind and heart always.
As we wash, feed, clothe, exercise, and care for our body, so must we do for our soul. Wash it by repentance and confession, feed it with spiritual words and holy communion, clothe it with grace, exercise the virtues and attain wisdom, care for it by the sacraments and good works.
The extremes are born of pride. Avoid overpractice and underpractice. Practice the middle way of virtue.
Live the philosophical and theological life. In your daily routine practice gospel virtue and gospel wisdom. Avoid non-virtue and folly. Practice the middle way of the philosophical and theological life.
The dragon and his angels are trying to destroy us through unbelief, pride, lawlessness, and despair. We must protect ourselves from this destruction by practicing faith, humility, spiritual law, hope, and prayer.
Are you an acceptor of the gospel? Are you neutral to the gospel? Are you a rejector of the gospel? Remember that for every message there are acceptors, neutrals, and rejectors.
Give place to the kingdom of God, that is, to the Holy Spirit. Give place by your faith, obedience, humility, and simplicity.
How can the Shekinah, the Holy Spirit, come to unbelievers? Only a believer receives the Holy Spirit.
An Orthodox Christian must defeat pleasure and anger with continence, greed with charity, and pride with humility.
The wise are continent in mind, continent in speech, and continent in body.
Be continent in mind. A continent mind is blessedness.
