Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
First we must study. Then we must seek enlightenment and power. Then we must practice.
Follow the Golden Way, that way of the cardinal virtues of the Old and New Testaments.
The Old Testament Golden Way is: Prudence, Self-restraint, Justice, Godly Courage. The New Testament Golden Way is: Love, Humility, Patience, Self-Control.
The Golden Way is also called the Royal Way and the Middle Way.
We do not choose that attack of wrong thoughts and wrong feelings. The actual attack is not our choice. Our choice is to accept the wrong thoughts and wrong feelings or not to accept them. No one is guilty of being the source of wrong thoughts and wrong feelings. The source is the demons. We are guilty only of accepting the wrong thoughts and wrong feelings and converting them to wrong words and wrong practices.
It seems that success in this life is to increase in wealth, glory, and comforts. This success is outer success. Inner success is to increase in virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts. Outer failure is poverty, non-glory, and non-comfort. Inner failure is vice, folly, and spiritual dysfunction. Outer success with inner success is the first rank. Outer failure with inner success is the second rank. Outer success with inner failure is the third rank. Outer failure with inner failure is the fourth rank.
Do you have any problem? Present it to Lord Jesus and He will solve it.
Never wrong your neighbor in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance. If you do, you must repent, confess, and restitute. If you do not correct yourself, you will reap a sevenfold injustice according to spiritual law. (See Sirach 7:3).
The Lord gives wealth. The Lord gives glory. The Lord gives comforts. The Lord gives virtue. The Lord gives wisdom. The Lord gives spiritual gifts. The Lord gives outer gifts. The Lord gives inner gifts.
Remember the tenth commandment which forbids us to desire or be jealous of the things of our neighbor.
Always rule with softness. A soft ruler achieves much. A harsh ruler makes the people groan.
We must be practical Orthodox Christians: Feeding the hungry, Watering the thirsty, Clothing the naked, Receiving strangers, Visiting the sick, Visiting prisoners, Teaching the gospel. These practices are essential for Orthodox Christians.
Orthodox Christians should be exemplars of the Ten Commandments and the Ten Precepts.
Observe the four psychologies: Family psychology, School psychology, Workplace psychology, and Community psychology. The set authorities must identify and correct any dysfunctions in these psychologies.
A monastic vows to live a life of celibacy, non-possession, and obedience. An Orthodox Christian vows to live a life of chastity, charity, and obedience.
Be aware of the economy of your good thoughts and ideas. Be aware of the economy of your temptations.
God is the Source of your good thoughts and good ideas. The enemy is the source of your wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, and wrong desires.
All the good that comes to us is from the economy of God. All the bad is either to test us, or from our sins, being the reaping of what we have sown.
Do not be a harsh authoritarian leader. Allow the Source to flow. Allow people to practice their talents. Rebuke wrong with logic and gentleness.
Cease to be a controller. Learn to be a mentor.
What has value is goodness and love. Not wealth, glory, and pleasure.
God is goodness. God is love. If we do not have these we are not kin to God.
Are you kin to Christ, or kin to Antichrist?
Practice and teach: Practice goodness and love, and then teach them.
Do not envy the food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance of your neighbor. Do not covet the food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance of your neighbor.
Bodily dysfunction is cured by medication, surgery, and other methods. Psychological dysfunction is cured by the medication of the Orthodox Christian sacraments, the surgery of supernatural grace, and the methods of practical precepts, ascetical precepts, and theological precepts.
In the Old Testament there are laws concerning food, possessions, glory, and romance. In the Old Testament injustice in these four is prohibited. In the New Testament you must be detached from these four. Detachment fulfills New Testament justice and Old Testament justice.
Vanity of the body is defeated by simple dress, simple grooming, and a simple and non-showing manner. Vanity of the soul is defeated by avoiding praise, avoiding first-seats, by ascribing knowledge and virtue to God, and by practicing virtue in a secret and unseen manner.
The spiritual life is only understood by those who choose to live a spiritual life. Those who choose to live a carnal or psychical life do not understand the spiritual life. The spiritual life is faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, truth-speaking, study, work, and chastity.
Orthodox Christian spiritual life is about spiritual separation, spiritual engagement and spiritual marriage. All are called to spiritual engagement and spiritual marriage, but few heed the call.
All begin at spiritual separation, original sin, and personal sin. Through faith, repentance, and the sacraments, they move to spiritual engagement. If they advance in spiritual engagement they move in the other life to spiritual marriage. Separation, engagement, and marriage, are the three stages of Orthodox Christian life.
Remember that you are called to be married to Lord Jesus. In this life you live the life of engagement to Lord Jesus. In the other life you live the life of marriage to Lord Jesus.
You must separate from the world, from food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Your mind, desire, and anger must be directed to attaining the Lord. You thus become simple-minded, desireless, and angerless. To the world you will seem a fool, a dead person, a failure. The world does not understand that you seek your Lord and Creator and have become engaged to Him.
To become desireless is to cease from the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the arrogance of life. (See 1 John 2:16). The life of the desireless is free, peaceful, and blessed. O blessed desirelessness!
Beware of the effect of wrong thoughts. Wrong thoughts affect the mind, desire, anger, and the functions of the body. Frequently wrong thoughts cause agitation of the body.
Are you a reborn person, living a life of gospel law?
Our first enemies are the demons. Our second enemies are those persons who reject Mosaic Law and Gospel Law. These two types of enemies oppose us in the practice of Mosaic Law and Gospel Law.
The perfect person is simple-minded, desireless, angerless, full of goodness, full of love, full of wisdom, full of virtue, full of spiritual gifts.
A carnal person is complex-minded, desireful, and angerful. A spiritual person is simple-minded, desireless, and angerless.
Always have the Law of Moses and the Law of Lord Jesus before you. Reject every thought, feeling, word, and practice which goes against these two laws.
True repentance is to practice the opposite: Faith instead of unbelief, Fasting instead of overeating, Charity instead of overpossessing, Humility instead of vanity, Truth-speaking instead of lying, Obedience instead of disobedience, Love and forgiveness instead of hatred and rancor, Chastity instead of unchastity.
Are you a slave to unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, lying, disobedience, hatred and rancor, or unchastity? Seek to be delivered.
Every Orthodox Christian ethics teacher must teach the following eight precepts: Faith, fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking, obedience, love and forgiveness, and chastity.
What offering will you make for your salvation? Offer to Lord Jesus: Faith, fasting, charity, humility, truth-speaking, obedience, love and forgiveness, prayer, study, work, and chastity.
Obedience to Lord Jesus is the Way of Life. Lord Jesus grants to obedient sons and daughters every virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gift.
Heed the call of Lord Jesus. Become a member of Lord Jesus. Become one of the chosen ones.
May Lord Jesus guard us all from wrong thoughts, mindless desire, and mindless anger.
The blood of Lord Jesus pays the eternal penalty for all our sins. The penalty for sins is absolved only by Lord Jesus, through the sacraments of the Orthodox Christian Church.
Can there be unity between the just and the unjust? Can the humble unite with the proud? Can the meek unite with the wrathful? Can the merciful unite with the unmerciful? Can the loving unite with the hating? Can the chaste unite with the unchaste? Clearly such unities are impossible. A united world is therefore impossible.
Lord Jesus calls us to renounce unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, lying, and unchastity, and to live a life of grace, faith, fasting, charity, humility, obedience, truth-speaking, prayer, and chastity.
Lord Jesus calls us to turn from the primary vices: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, unchastity. These six vices constitute the non-gospel life. Faith, fasting, charity, humility, obedience, and chastity, constitute the gospel life.
Remember that wealth, glory, and comforts are vanity. Remember to use these for the gospel life: wealth for charity, glory for the promotion of gospel life, comforts for the comforting of the needy. When you pass away you will clearly see that only the gospel life had true value.
The life of ascetical precepts is a life of joy. To partake only of a little, to abstain entirely, to be hidden, are all ascetical precepts. If only the world knew the joy of ascetical precepts!
Mourn for wrong-doers for they will reap what they have sown. (See Gal. 6:7). Rejoice for right-doers for they will reap a hundredfold in this life, and eternal life in the other life. (See Matt. 19:29).
When you are in harmony with Grace, you do not need laws and regulations. (See Gal. 5:22).
Do not be influenced by those who neglect gospel precepts. You must seek to practice gospel precepts everyday.
God teaches man knowledge. (See Ps. 93:10 LXX).
The Cross of Lord Jesus abolished false Gods, unbelief, pride, lawlessness, and despair. Glory and honor to Almighty Lord Jesus!
Recall the four psychologies: Family psychology, school psychology, workplace psychology, and community psychology. When these four psychologies have just judges over them, then all psychological problems are resolved.
The material is vain. The spiritual is what has value. You must use the material for the spiritual life and not for the non-spiritual life.
The goodness and justice of God assigns heresy and vice to eternal punishment because both are blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. (See Matt. 12:31). The Lord awaits the return of sinners from heresy and vice in this life. If they do not return, the Judgment of God assigns them to eternal separation from Him.
Depend on the mercy of Lord Jesus. Have all your hope in Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus is our help in every need.
How can anyone enter the Kingdom of Lord Jesus, that is, eternal life, when they reject Lord Jesus? Only those who heed the call of Lord Jesus and become the elect of God, will enter the eternal Kingdom of Lord Jesus.
To receive we must give. In natural things this is the case. In spiritual things we must also make offerings, to receive the mercy and gifts of God.
Preach Orthodox Christianity by radiating humility, meekness, mercy, joy, and love.
Tune into the frequency of Grace. Go with the flow of Grace.
If we believe in Lord Jesus let us radiate His grace, His virtue, His wisdom, His spiritual gifts.
There is no greater joy in a community teacher than to see the community progressing in virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Sons and daughters of obedience! Obey your elders in Christ!
Lord Jesus calls us to practice the opposite: Faith instead of unbelief, fasting instead of overeating, charity instead of overpossessing, prayer instead of non-prayer, humility instead of vanity, obedience instead of disobedience, truth-speaking instead of lying, love instead of hate and rancor, chastity instead of unchastity.
We must take responsibility for our psychological dysfunctions, and seek the help of the Lord to correct them.
Time and money constraints are the two great hurdles to every work. If we can find time and money, we can do every work we envision.
Keep the commandments. Abstain from wrong, practice right.
View everything as the economy of God. View the good as a gift of God. View the wrong as permitted by God due to our sins.
There is a cosmic war going on between the members of Lord Jesus, and the members of antichrist.
Have no fear. Trust in the economy of the Lord. He will lead you to salvation. He will guard you from all dangers.
Go with the flow of grace. Let go and be free and happy. Do not seek your way, seek the Way of the Lord.
People who go with the flow of grace have inner peace, inner joy, and inner happiness. People who go against the flow of grace have inner agitation, inner sorrow, and inner unhappiness.
Repentance has four steps: 1) Regret for your practice of injustice and the practical restitution of that injustice. 2) Forgiveness of the injustice practiced against you. 3) Confession of all your sins to an Orthodox Confessor Priest. 4) A firm decision to sin no more, and to henceforth practice the opposite virtues to your sins, and the rule of penance given to you by your Orthodox Confessor Priest.
Every Orthodox Christian Teacher seeks to ensure the canonical physical and psychological functioning of the community of faith.
We must study the science, philosophy, and theology of the mind. The dysfunctions of the mind and the canonical functioning of the mind, require a union of science, philosophy, and theology.
Youth are corrupted by corrupt youth, corrupt movies, corrupt theatre, corrupt musicians, corrupt television, corrupt literature, and all corrupt media. We must protect our youth as best we can from all corrupt influence.
All glory and praise for good works belongs to God. (See Matt. 5:16).
The mercy of God cannot help us if we are unwilling to correct ourselves. God can help only the willing.
Study and practice scientific, philosophical, and theological psychiatry and psychology.
Identify your addiction, hate it, use your willpower to stop it, and ask the help of the Lord to become free from your addiction.
We must repent of every wrong thought, wrong feeling, wrong word, and wrong practice. To not repent of these is blasphemy against God. No logic justifies us clinging to these. Every wrong must be repented of and corrected.
Self-love does not allow a person to live the gospel life of love of God and love of neighbor. Self-love does not allow a person to radiate humility, meekness, mercy, joy, and love. Self-love does not allow a person to live a life of faith and devotion to God.
If we let go of self-love we will be free. Free, and filled with humility, meekness, mercy, joy, and love of God and neighbor.
When the judges of families, the judges of schools, the judges of workplaces, and the judges of communities are unjust, then we have inequities and psychological dysfunctions. Justice in judges is essential.
Do good to your enemies. Love your enemies.
The sons and daughters of Adam remain outside the kingdom of God because of original and personal sin. The sons and daughters of the new Adam, Lord Jesus, enter the kingdom of God, because through Lord Jesus they are forgiven of original and personal sin.
We must seek forgiveness of original and personal sin. Original sin and personal sin keep us separated from God.
We must repent of personal sin. We must repent, confess, and mourn for personal sin. Sorrow for personal sin is necessary.
Holy Baptism washes us of original and personal sin. Ongoing repentance and Holy Confession washes us of personal sin.
Remember that personal sin is washed by repentance and Holy Confession.
Repent of all wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices.
We must repent and correct our every wrong thought, wrong feeling, wrong word, and wrong practice.
To accept wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, and wrong practices, and to not repent of them is blasphemy against God.
To transgress the gospel precepts and to not repent, is blasphemy against God.
