Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
Remember the ten precepts: 1) Faith in Lord Jesus. 2) Fasting. 3) Charity. 4) Prayer. 5) Humility. 6) Obedience. 7) Truth-speaking. 8) Study. 9) Work. 10) Chastity.
Have the ten precepts always before you and do not transgress any of them. Always abide in the ten precepts.
Practice the precept of charity always. Give food, drink, books, clothing, refuge, visitation to the sick, and visitation to prisoners. (See Matt. 25:35).
The life of discipline is to live a life of non-wealth, non-glory, and non-pleasure. To give up all disputes over wealth, glory, and pleasure.
We should view the good we receive as the economy of God. We should view the injustice we encounter as due to our sins, as being the reaping of what we have sown. (See Gal. 6:7).
In the past the central part of culture was religion. Religion regulated government, festivals, education, business, and daily life. In the modern times the central part of culture is business and economics. The temple has ceased to be the central focus. Now the central focus is the marketplace.
The path of salvation is difficult. The path of perdition is easy. (See Matt. 7:14).
Beware of non-charity. Always practice charity: Give food, drink, books, clothing, refuge, visitation to the sick, and visitation to prisoners.
Do not ascribe your knowledge to yourself, but to your teachers and to the Teacher of the teachers.
Wrong thoughts, wrong feelings and wrong attitudes, are disabilities which keep us from living a life of high well-being. Overcome these disabilities with the power of faith in Lord Jesus. (See Mark 9:23).
The wealth of this world is vain because it passes. The glory of this world is vain because it passes. The pleasure of this world is vain because it passes. What is not vain is charity, humility, and continence. These do not pass, but remain forever.
Seeking wealth and glory for personal benefit is vanity. Using wealth for charity and seeking non-glory is not vanity.
(Gal. 6:3): “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
The proud are always in disputes over opinions and ways. The proud are stubborn about their opinion and way.
The secular church has love of wealth, love of glory, and love of pleasure. The Orthodox Christian Church has love of virtue, love of wisdom, and love of spiritual gifts.
Do not love wealth, glory, and pleasure. Love charity, humility, and continence.
What you sow you reap: Love for love, hate for hate, neutrality for neutrality. (See Gal. 6:7).
God will cure all your vices, if only you will let Him. (See Matt. 11:28).
Old Israel has become desolate, deprived of grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. (See Matt. 23:38). New Israel has the blessing of grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. (See 1 Cor. 12:4).
You must practice the precepts. No other can practice for you, that you must do.
If you are humble God will give you everything. (See James 4:6).
Recall the mystery of Holy Baptism. At that time you were baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. You were purified by the grace of God, and resurrected from original and personal sin.
The dragon does not know which passion we will accept. He tempts us with unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and lust, to see which passion we will accept.
In the world we encounter many tyrannical persons. Tyranny is one of the three outer problems. The three outer problems are: tyranny, poverty, and disease. These give rise to the three inner problems: pride, wrath, and hatred.
The population of the world has a distribution for each of the primary vices: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity.
Recall the ten precepts: Faith in Lord Jesus, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, truth-speaking, study, work, and chastity. What is the distribution for each of these precepts among Orthodox Christians? What is the proportion among Orthodox Christians of each of these precepts in the three categories low, medium, high?
To live the spiritual life you must renounce food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance, and live the life of fasting, charity, prayer, humility, study, work, obedience, and chastity.
Old Testament justice was symmetry: good for good, bad for bad, neutrality for neutrality. New Testament justice is one-sided symmetry: good for good, good for bad, good for neutrality.
A carnal person speaks a different language to a psychical person and to a spiritual person. These three follow a different way of life from each other. A carnal person rejects the gospel. A psychical person is neutral to the gospel. A spiritual person accepts the gospel.
The precepts and the canons cause a natural division. This division is necessary, and should not be viewed as something to be abolished. (See Matt. 10:34).
Justice is to keep the ten precepts: Faith in Lord Jesus, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, truth-speaking, study, work, and chastity. Every Orthodox Christian is required to keep these ten positive precepts. The nations who keep these precepts will be called just. With regards to the first precept of Faith in Lord Jesus, each nation will be judged according to whether they knew Lord Jesus and His gospel or not.
Beware of the weakness and paralysis induced by lethargy. Lethargy is a heavy temptation in the spiritual life, especially in the hesychastic life.
Joel Osteen: “Whatever God has given you, take care of it the best you can.”
Let your elder test your ideas. Do nothing without consulting you elder. (See 1 Thess. 5:21).
To overcome vanity of the body you must learn to be neutral to your body.
We avoid delusion by consulting our spiritual elders. Whoever does not consult his elders, easily goes astray.
Lord Jesus came to save us from the dragon, sin, death, and Hades. (See Matt. 1:21).
Study and practice the science, philosophy, and theology of thoughts. Study and practice scientific, philosophical, and religious, psychology and psychiatry.
The science of thoughts and habits is what you must consider. Good thoughts and good habits give rise to virtue, wisdom, and happiness. Wrong thoughts and wrong habits give rise to non-virtue, folly, and unhappiness.
Always think good thoughts. The science of good thoughts breaks the habitual mind of wrong thoughts.
If we break the habitual mind of wrong thoughts we can change the wrong words and habitual wrong practices they generate. Correcting the habitual mind, wrong words, and habitual wrong practices is the aim of Orthodox Christian psychology and psychiatry.
Our habitual mind can be changed by a firm decision, discipline, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Without a firm decision, discipline, and the Holy Spirit, we cannot change our habitual mind.
Live a life of positive thought, positive speech, and positive practice. Dwelling on problems does not solve them. Implementing positive solutions does.
Seek to have psychological orthofunction. Always reject psychological dysfunction by keeping the precepts.
We must give account for our own sins, not for the sins of others. Consider your own account and seek to increase your credit by good works and decrease your debit by repentance, confession, and correction.
We must mourn unceasingly for our little faith, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity.
Our soul has three parts: the logical, the desiring, and the excitable part. Temptation to the logical part is illogical thoughts and ideas. Temptation to the desiring part is lawless desires. Temptation to the excitable part is lawless wrath.
Lord Jesus is Lord God of humility. Lord Jesus is King of the humble. Lord Jesus is Savior of the humble.
Watch always. Guard your mind and heart always. (See Mark 13:37).
Do not worship the idols, that is, wrong thoughts.
Watch warriors! Watch! (See Mark 13:37).
Associate with the wheat and not the weeds. The wheat are the children of the kingdom, the weeds are the children of the cunning one. (See Matt. 13:38).
Always be humble, ranking yourself below all other persons. From such ranking arises joy, peace, blessedness, and salvation.
Always think right thoughts. Do not meditate on wrong thoughts, but be quick to reject wrong thoughts. The life of right thoughts is the blessed life.
Suffering and temptation cannot visit us unless it is permitted by the Lord. (See 1 Cor. 10:13).
If you reign over yourself you reign over all things. To be king over self is true kingship.
Who will deliver us from sin, vice, and death? Who else but Lord Jesus! (See Rom. 11:26).
Do not be self-guided in the Orthodox Christian life. Seek the guidance and opinion of your spiritual elder. Seek the discernment of your spiritual father.
Only you can be the treasurer of your connection to Source. Only you can be the steward of your own inner communion with grace. Others can only teach you. It is you who must practice.
Temptations are of two kinds: willful and unwillful. The willful aim at pleasure. The unwillful aim to destroy by pain.
Recall the four desires: food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Temptation seeks to push us into the overmeasure of these four desires. Frugality is to seek the little measure of these desires. Severity is to seek the undermeasure of these desires. Frugality is for the householder, severity is for the renunciant.
Disputes in the world are mainly over food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Can anyone bring an end to these disputes?
To partake of the virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts of God, depends on the choice of logical creations.
To overcome vanity practice your spiritual practices in secret. Fast, give charity, pray, study, and all other precepts you practice, practice in secret.
Strive for a pure mind. Strive for a pure heart.
In the face of every problem practice self-denial and the Lord will effect a solution.
Observe the functions of your body. Do you practice the canonical measure of these functions? Observe the thoughts of your mind. Do you reject wrong thoughts when they appear? Observe the feelings of your heart. Do you reject wrong feelings when they appear?
Keep your mind free of the mental idols, that is, wrong thoughts. Keep your heart free of the heart idols, that is, wrong feelings. Keep your tongue free of the speech idols, that is, wrong speech. Keep your eyes and ears free of the sight idols and sound idols, that is, wrong sights and wrong sounds.
Do you worship the idol of overeating? Do you worship the idol of overpossessing? Do you worship the idol of vanity? Do you worship the idol of disobedience? Do you worship the idol of false witness? Do you worship the idol of lust?
Be self-responsible. Observe the idols, that is, the wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices that you hold, and seek to correct them and replace them with right thoughts, right feelings, right words, and right practices.
Practice a good daily routine, filled with rightness, joy, and wisdom. Always view your daily routine with freshness and with the eagerness to increase in virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
The achievements of the renunciant differ from the achievements of the householder. The householder seeks wealth, glory, children, and a good name. The renunciant seeks non-wealth, non-glory, virginity, and obscurity.
To be a complete psychologist and psychiatrist you must study scientific, philosophical, and theological psychology and psychiatry.
What cures the mind and heart is the grace of God. A spiritual psychologist and psychiatrist must therefore be a steward of grace, curing the dysfunctions of the mind and heart.
Let go of self and you will be free. Free to love God and neighbor. Free to be useful to God and neighbor. Free to enjoy a life of spiritual consciousness and blessedness.
You must be detached from every person in order to correct your idols, that is, your wrong thoughts and wrong habits.
Face all problems with logic and positivity. Move forward by surrendering to your inner Source.
When you encounter darkness you seek to turn on a light, you do not struggle against the darkness. Similarly, when you encounter a wrong thought or wrong habit you must seek the light of right thoughts and right habits. You must seek light, in order to overcome the darkness.
Evil is chiefly attachment: attachment to food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Good is detachment from food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance, and inner attachment to Source.
Allow Lord Jesus to heal the wounds of your soul and body.
Remember the six primary vices: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity. These six vices are always tempting us, seeking to wound us.
Run your spiritual business well. Lay up spiritual treasures through your spiritual business. Be a prudent spiritual businessman.
Practice and speak of the ten precepts: 1) Faith in Lord Jesus 2) Fasting 3) Charity 4) Prayer 5) Humility 6) Obedience 7) Truth-speaking 8) Study 9) Work
10) Chastity.
Let us return to Lord Jesus. Let us return to the precepts. Let us return to purity and simplicity.
Recall the economy of your thoughts. Recall the economy of good thoughts. Recall the economy of wrong thoughts. Accept the economy of good thoughts. Reject the economy of wrong thoughts. Remember that you must give an account of these economies.
Run the business of your thoughts well. Accept good thoughts, reject wrong thoughts.
Allow the economy of the Lord to guide you and lead you from virtue to virtue, from knowledge to knowledge, from spiritual gift to spiritual gift.
Always bring joy to your neighbor who is sad. Lift your neighbor up from the state of sadness.
God desires all persons to be good and holy. They become bad and unholy by giving in to temptations of badness and unholiness. The good and holy reject temptation. The bad and unholy accept temptation.
Six temptations attack us in the frontline: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity. Always reject these temptations.
See the power of softness. See the goodness of being soft in attitude, soft in words, soft and gentle in style, soft in practice. Softness resolves disputes, comforts your neighbor, and achieves success easily. Softness defeats temptation and harshness. Softness is strength.
To practice justice always is essential for prayer. Prayer can only be accepted if we also practice justice. To sadden our neighbor makes our prayer unacceptable.
Be soft-minded, rejecting high-mindedness. Be soft-hearted, rejecting hate and harshness.
According to Saint Symeon the New Theologian (Discourse 5), the self-determination of man was the ability to determine the will of the mind. After the fall we cannot determine the will of the mind, our mind-will cannot remain devoted to the Lord. It is only when the mind receives grace that it again can be devoted to the Lord.
The Golden Rule holds in nature and in ethics. In nature the Golden Rule is symmetry and cause and effect. In ethics the Golden Rule is what you sow you reap.
Every Orthodox Christian ethics campaign is based on the Ten Commandments and the Ten Precepts: 1) Faith in Lord Jesus 2) Fasting 3) Charity 4) Prayer 5) Humility 6) Obedience 7) Truth-speaking 8) Study 9) Work 10) Chastity.
It is a sin to not love the Lord. It is a sin to not love and forgive our neighbor.
Towards the Lord there are three groups: Believers, Unbelievers, and Neutrals. All humanity belongs to one of these three groups.
Are you a believer? Are you an unbeliever? Or are you a neutral?
On Judgment day we will know who were the believers in Lord Jesus, who were the unbelievers in Lord Jesus, and who were the neutrals to Lord Jesus.
