Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
The written commandments are finite. The unwritten commandments are uncountable.
Sir Moses taught the precepts of natural law. Lord Jesus taught the precepts of spiritual law. We must keep natural law, and advance to spiritual law.
The grace of God comforts our hearts. The grace of God comforts our minds.
A still and humble mind is Comforted. A still and humble heart is Comforted.
Natural and spiritual law teach: eat canonically, sleep canonically, possess (material things and knowledge) canonically, seek non-glory, practice chastity. The transgressors of natural and spiritual law overeat, oversleep, overpossess, seek glory, and practice unchastity.
Wherever you are you must keep the natural and the spiritual law.
Be detached from persons who transgress natural law. Be detached from persons who transgress spiritual law. These detachments are necessary for you to practice lawfulness.
A two-fold interpretation of Ps 46:10 (Ps. 45:11 LXX): 1) “Be still and know that I am God.” 2) “Study and know that I am God.”
You must atone for every transgression of natural law. You must atone for every transgression of spiritual law. You must confess every transgression of natural law. (See Matt. 3:6). You must confess every transgression of spiritual law. (See Matt. 18:18).
We must be freed from psychological slavery to sin. Lord Jesus, through the New Testament priesthood, delivers us from this lawlessness. (See John 8:34-36).
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”, means that we must love all neighbors: friends, enemies, and neutrals. (See Matt. 19:19).
The godly are mindful of their Creator. The ungodly devote their life to sin and the anti-creator.
If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments: Do not overeat. Do not steal. Do not kill. Do not bear false witness. Do not be vain. Do not practice unchastity. If you want to live the angelic life, keep the angelic commandments: Fast. Possess nothing. Obey. Be humble. Be celibate.
Whatever your mode of life: married, cenobite, hesychast, you must keep spiritual law. A married person must: fast, give charity, be humble, pray, keep chastity. A cenobite must: fast, keep vigil, possess nothing, be obedient, pray and psalmodize, and be celibate. A hesychast must: fast, keep vigil, be frugal, practice self-denial, pray and psalmodize, and be celibate.
The ungodly have been in authority far too long. All that we have seen from them is wars and disputes, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity.
Seek the great mercy of the Lord. The great mercy of the Lord is the grace of the Holy Spirit.
We must have all our hope in Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus will grant us the grace-filled life of virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Have you renounced overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and unchastity? Do you live a life of fasting, charity, humility, work, prayer, and chastity?
The final persecution of the Orthodox Christian Church is the persecution of Antichrist. This persecution is the ultimate confrontation between the godly and the ungodly.
Love, and you will be loved. (See Matt. 7:12).
Give always, expecting nothing in return. (See Luke 6:35).
Choose life. Choose right thoughts, right feelings, right words, and right practices. (See Deut. 30:19).
Disputes in the world are mainly over food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance. Can anyone bring an end to all such disputes?
The tempter seeks to accelerate our efforts in virtue, knowledge, and spiritual gifts, in order to lead us to pride and delusion. Virtue, knowledge, and spiritual gifts are cultivated through our daily cyclic typikon. Adding or subtracting to this typikon is regulated by our spiritual father. By keeping the typikon assigned by our spiritual father we progress in virtue, and avoid pride and delusion.
We must pray that God appoints good judges in families to resolve family disputes, good judges in schools to resolve school disputes, good judges in workplaces to resolve workplace disputes, good judges in social groups to resolve social group disputes.
Keep faith and effort and you will increase in virtue, knowledge, and spiritual gifts.
Reject wrong thoughts, think right thoughts. Reject wrong feelings, accept right feelings. Reject wrong words, speak right words. Reject wrong practices, practice right practices.
Always choose a little food, few possessions, non-glory, and non-romance. This is the way of the frugal and continent. This is the way of happiness.
Do not accept wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, or wrong practices. Repent and confess all these wrongs. A deadly wound is every such unrepented and unconfessed wrong. (See Saint Symeon the New Theologian, Discourse 73).
The Lord freely gives us virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts, if we have faith in Him. (See Rom. 8:32).
Always have good thought. Face all problems with good thought, self-denial, humility, patience, and courage.
We must keep the works of our piety as hidden from the secular church as possible. The secular church will never encourage works of piety, because it rejects them. The works of piety are fasting, vigil, prayer, charity, humility, study, chastity. The secular church does not practice these.
Are you a person of virtues or a person of passions?
We must strive through works of virtue to receive the grace of God. The end of works of virtue is to receive the grace and mercy of Lord Jesus. (See Saint Symeon the New Theologian, Discourse 18).
Resolve all disputes over food, possessions, glory, and romance.
Great peace have they who keep the gospel commandments. (See Ps. 118:165 LXX).
It is a great joy to have a clear conscience.
Be a son or daughter of obedience. Obedience makes you good, wise, and filled with spiritual gifts.
Not everyone can be our friend. Some are friends, some are enemies, and some are neutrals.
To purify and cure the mind and heart are the fundamental aims of Orthodox Christianity. A simple mind can be brought to humility, simplicity, and purity easier. An analytical mind can be brought to humility, simplicity, and purity with much difficulty. To cure a simple mind is easier. To cure an analytical mind is harder.
Let go of self and you will be free, good, wise, and blessed.
Consider the economy of your thoughts, feelings, words, and practices. If you administer this economy well you will advance in virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Every person must have a psychological mentor. For an Orthodox Christian this mentor is the spiritual father. For a non-Orthodox Christian this psychological mentor is any person that can guide them. No person should be without a psychological mentor.
When people choose to be in harmony with the Shekinah, the Holy Spirit, then will they be free, good, wise, and filled with spiritual gifts.
Let go of ego and allow the flow of grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
(Ezek. 14:6): “Convert and turn away from your practices and all your impieties.”
Weep for your overeating. Weep for your overpossessing. Weep for your vanity. Weep for your unchastity. Weep brothers and sisters! Weep!
Seek to be perfect in virtue. (See Matt. 5:48).
Do you know the science of thoughts? Do you know the three kinds of wrong thoughts: Blasphemous thoughts, Shameful thoughts, and Evil thoughts?
Temptation seeks to push us up to the overnatural or down to the undernatural. For example, temptation pushes continence up to overcontinence or down to undercontinence.
You must loose original sin and personal sin through Holy Baptism and Holy Confession. After loosing original sin and personal sin through Holy Baptism, you loose further personal sin through Holy Confession.
Beware of the frontline temptations: overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and lust.
Do not meditate on any unlawful thing.
Practice and more practice will make us perfect in gospel virtue.
Beware of the four desires: Overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and lust.
Remember that the gospel has acceptors, rejectors, and neutrals. Remember these three groups. Acceptors are our friends. Rejectors are our enemies. Neutrals are our neutrals. Seek association with acceptors, for these can help you in the gospel life.
Are you crucified to wealth, glory, and pleasure?
Lord Jesus is the Great Warrior who defeated the dragon, sin, and death.
Wrong is alien to our nature. We were created by our good Creator to be good. Wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices are all alien to our nature.
Are you betrothed to the Lord? From betrothal you must go to marriage to the Lord.
Every child must have a mentor. The mentor is responsible for guiding the child in the life of gospel virtue.
Reject the abominations: overeating, overpossessing, vanity, lying, unchastity.
Make offerings to your Creator. Offer fasting, charity, service, visitation, counsel, humility, prayer, psalmody, study, vigil, meditation, typikon, doxology.
You should never go below logic. You must though seek to go above logic to the domain of faith.
To change persons we need two things: education and power. Persons must receive a good general, religious, and vocational education. Power comes to persons through the faith and sacraments of the Orthodox Christian Church.
Are you free of overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and unchastity?
We have the evolution of many things. The evolution of technology, the evolution of medicine, the evolution of science, the evolution of culture. How much though evolution have we had in the field of ethics? Has ethics evolved to a greater degree?
Feel sorry for wrongdoers, for at some point they will reap what they have sown. (See Gal. 6:7).
The Cross of Lord Jesus atoned for all our sins, freeing us from sin and death. We partake of this atonement through the sacraments of the Orthodox Christian Church. Be devoted to the sacraments, in order to be freed from sin and death.
Every human person is unique. Every animal is unique. Every sea animal is unique. Every bird is unique. Every insect is unique. Because all living creatures are unique, they are all special.
Do not desire foreign things: another’s food, possessions, glory, or romance.
Allow the power of God to act by your perfect faith and perfect obedience.
Make a firm decision to practice the opposite: Fasting instead of overeating, Charity instead of overpossessing, Humility instead of vanity, Chastity instead of lust.
Have you denied yourself? Deny yourself and be free. (See Matt. 16:24).
Beware of the four desires that stand in the front line: Overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and lust.
Life on earth is suffering. Suffering is caused by overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and lust. To end suffering you must practice the opposite of these. The path of freedom from suffering is fasting, charity, humility, and chastity.
Eat only what you need. Possess only what you need. Seek only the respect you need. Practice only the romance you need.
Do not cling to the alien things: overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and lust. Whoever clings to these alien things will go to the asylum prepared for alien things: Hades.
The unethical life is: overeating, overpossessing, vanity, and unchastity. The ethical life is: fasting, charity, humility, and chastity.
Death to all false Gods! Death to all falsehood! We Orthodox Christians believe in one Trinitarian God. Glory to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages! Amen.
Live the ethical life: Fasting, charity, humility, prayer, study, chastity.
Six are the root causes of all sin and all disputes: Overeating, overpossessing, disobedience, vanity of the body, vanity of the soul, and lust.
You must become a candle that is lighted, giving the light of grace to the world. (See Matt. 5:14).
Settle your spiritual accounts in this life. There is no spiritual accounting in the other life, only judgment, reward, and assignment. (See Matt. 5:25).
It seems that a transgressor can escape from the judgment and jail of man. But no transgressor can escape from the judgment and jail of God.
Do not have as friends the unethical. You will not learn virtue from them. They live the life of overeating, overpossessing, vanity, lying, reviling, and lust.
Our Creator is a Trinitarian Creator, consisting of one Essence and three Persons or Powers: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Humankind is created in the image and likeness of the Trinitarian Creator having nous, word, and spirit, corresponding to Nous, Word, and Spirit of the Creator. The Trinitarian Creator is good, wise, and powerful, and humankind is in the likeness of the Creator when he has faith and obedience to God, partaking of His goodness, wisdom, and power.
In the Orthodox Christian Church we have the evolution of ethics, the evolution of dogmatics, the evolution of Holy Tradition, and the evolution of religious culture. As time went by certain persons broke from the Orthodox Christian evolution and developed other evolutions, namely the Catholic Christian Church, the Monophysite Christian Church, and the Protestant Christian Churches. The evolution of these other churches has brought a decay of ethics, a decay of dogmatics, a decay of Holy Tradition, and a decay of religious culture.
What makes a monk or nun is not the tonsure and the robe, but the virtues of non-possession, obedience, and celibacy. What makes an Orthodox Christian is not only the confession of faith, but also the practice of gospel virtue: fasting, charity, prayer, humility, truth-speaking, obedience, chastity.
Our enemies are those who reject gospel faith and gospel virtue. Our friends are those who accept gospel faith and gospel virtue. Our neutrals are those who are neutral to gospel faith and gospel virtue.
The ungodly reject gospel faith and gospel virtue. The cowardly godly reject gospel faith and gospel virtue. The lovers-of- possessions-godly, reject gospel faith and gospel virtue. The godly accept gospel faith and gospel virtue. (See Matt. 13:4-8).
Orthodox Holy Baptism is death and resurrection from a life of sin, to a life of gospel virtue. Orthodox Holy Confession is the ongoing forgiveness and correction from a life of sin, to a life of gospel virtue.
Continuous practice will make us perfect in gospel virtue.
Christian charity is not only to give goods, but also to give counsel, and to forgive wrongs.
In everything be patient, humble, and obedient, for you must live according to the will of God and not according to your wishes.
Beware of unethical things: overeating, overpossessing, vanity, lying, disobedience, unchastity.
The ethical life is the true and joyful life.
The life of gospel ethics is the true and blessed life.
