Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
Do you hunger and thirst for the Lord? (See Matt. 5:6).
Trust in the Lord. The Lord knows what is best for you.
The Lord says: “You shall keep My law all the days of your life.”
The Lord sends us tribulations to shake our love of wealth, love of glory, and love of pleasure.
Conform your life to the precepts, to the commandments, to the rule, to the typikon.
In Judaism there is no more priesthood, only teachers. In Sikhism there is no more priesthood, only teachers. In Islam there is no more priesthood, only teachers. In Buddhism there is no more priesthood, only teachers. In Protestant Christianity there is no more priesthood, only teachers. Only in Orthodox Christianity is there priesthood, with the gift to forgive sins, to guide, and to sanctify.
Are you living a life of attachment to wealth, glory, and pleasure? You must live the spiritual life of detachment from wealth, glory, and pleasure.
A worldly person has three loves: love of wealth, love of glory, and love of pleasure. A spiritual person has three loves: love of charity, love of humility, and love of continence.
We must keep the general precepts that apply to all Orthodox Christians. We must also keep the personal precepts which are assigned by our spiritual father. Our penance and progress in the Orthodox Christian life require us to keep general and personal precepts.
Everything depends on the Orthodox Christian priesthood. The priests baptize, give Holy Communion, forgive sins, teach, guide, and sanctify.
Do no injustice in wealth, glory, or comforts. Always respect the wealth, glory, and comforts of your neighbor.
Be normal. Be canonical. Observe faith, fasting, charity, humility, obedience, and chastity.
To be a sage is to practice the cardinal virtues of the Old Testament and the cardinal virtues of the New Testament. To be a sage is to have prudence, self-restraint, justice, Godly courage, love, humility, patience, and self-control.
Respect your body. Respect your soul.
The Lord is good and holy. Those who devote themselves to the Lord become like the Lord, good and holy.
The Orthodox Christian canonical priesthood has been given the gift to bind and loose sins.
You must become a spiritual son or daughter of an Orthodox Christian priest, through Holy Baptism and Holy Confession.
Keep you body secure. Keep your soul secure. Practice security always.
Do not miss opportunities. Everything has a beginning and an end. Seek things before they end.
Every baptized Orthodox Christian has as bodyguard and soulguard his guardian angel.
Beware of the enemy. Always have the Law of Moses and the Law of Lord Jesus before you.
Do not practice the works of the enemy. The works of the enemy are: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, lying, and unchastity.
Every Orthodox Christian vows at Holy Baptism to practice chastity, charity, and obedience. Every Orthodox Christian monastic vows at monastic ordination to practice the higher vows of celibacy, non-possession, and obedience.
Practice virtue cleanly, that is, for your salvation and the glory of God. Do not seek glory for faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, truth-speaking, or chastity. Practice these in a hidden way, without vanity, and without display.
Repent and confess before your life comes to an end. Your opportunity for repentance is in this life. In the other life there is only judgment, retribution, and assignment.
When Lord Jesus uttered the words “It is finished!” (John 19:30), the kingdom of false Gods, unbelief, pride, lawlessness, despair, death, and Hades, came to an end.
Lord Jesus is the spiritual Moses who delivers all who seek refuge in Him, from the spiritual Pharaoh.
Have all your hope and confidence in Lord Jesus.
Our zeal must be directed towards attaining virtue and wisdom, and not towards attaining wealth, glory, or pleasure.
Be an Orthodox Christian theologian not only in words, but also in mind, in heart, and in practice.
No matter how much virtue, knowledge, or spiritual gifts you receive, never cease to be humble, and to rank yourself lowest of all.
True happiness is internal, not external.
At our Orthodox Christian baptism we vowed to practice chastity, charity, and obedience. We made this vow in our covenant with the Lord. Every Orthodox Christian must remember this vow and keep it with diligence.
Remember the three vows of the Orthodox Christian life. The first vow is chastity. The second vow is charity. The third vow is obedience.
(James 4:8): “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Do not covet a foreign thing: foreign food, foreign possessions, foreign glory, foreign romance.
Spiritual first-place is to be last of all and servant of all. (See Mark 9:35).
To follow the spiritual path you require a spiritual mentor.
Our great obstacle is our own will. Our will separates us from God when we choose wrong over right.
Use logic to resist thoughts of vanity, suspicion, unbelief, and judgment of others.
Be logical. Overlogic is cunning, underlogic is folly.
The needs of a regular Christian differ from the needs of a monastic. A regular Christian needs wealth, needs a good reputation, needs bodily comforts. A monastic does not need wealth, does not need a good reputation, does not need bodily comforts. Each life, regular Christian or monastic, has its particular needs.
The world is a slave to overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity. Only Lord Jesus can deliver the world from this slavery. (See John 8:36).
(Matt. 12:30): “He who is not with Me is against Me.”
People who reject the gospel and people who are neutral to the gospel are both opposed to Lord Jesus. (See Matt. 12:30). Only people who accept the gospel are with Lord Jesus.
Be logical in mind. Have logical desire. Have logical anger. Never have illogical desire or illogical anger.
Lord Jesus grants us power. Lord Jesus grants us wisdom. Lord Jesus grants us spiritual gifts.
To conquer a vice you must, with the help of God, do the opposite: Fasting instead of overeating, charity instead of overpossessing, humility instead of vanity, obedience instead of disobedience, chastity instead of unchastity.
Always remember the primary temptations: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity. These six temptations are always tempting us.
Follow the Way of Light, not the Way of Darkness.
At Holy Baptism an Orthodox Christian vows chastity, charity, and obedience. At Holy Tonsure an Orthodox Christian monastic vows celibacy, non-possession, and obedience.
The Way of Darkness is: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity. The Way of Light is: Faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, and chastity.
Every gospel teacher must respect the choice of people to accept, reject, or be neutral to the gospel.
Be logical. Obey your parents, obey your teachers, obey your siblings, obey your managers, obey your elder.
Seal your mind with the cross. Seal your heart with the cross. Seal your tongue with the cross. Seal your eyes with the cross. Seal your ears with the cross. Seal your hands with the cross. Seal your feet with the cross. Seal your body with the cross.
Do not be afraid! No one can defeat Almighty Lord Jesus!
Practice the Way of Holiness. Be holy in thought, word, and practice. (See Lev. 19:2).
When the Lord sends you the cross of physical illness or psychological illness or material loss or oppression, know that He is calling you to Him. The Lord does not allow anything to occur which isn’t to your benefit.
The Sacrifice of the Cross is our salvation from unbelief, pride, lawlessness, and despair. We must devote our mind, heart, tongue, and body, to the Way of the Cross.
The world hates non-wealth, non-glory, and non-pleasure. The Orthodox Christian is not shaken by these.
Practice warriors! Practice!
For Holy Baptism to be effective you must repent of personal sin and vow a life of chastity, charity, and obedience.
The Cross of Lord Jesus is the sacrifice that atones for all sin. You must partake of this sacrifice to receive the atonement of your sins.
We must offer our mind and heart to the Lord, as our personal sacrifice to Him.
Will you give your heart to the Lord? (See Prov. 23:26).
We must live as crucified to wealth, glory, and pleasure.
Has the advance of technology improved the ethical practice of humanity?
Warriors, are we crucified to wealth, glory, and pleasure?
Offer yourself, body and soul, to the Lord.
Break the habits of the Way of Darkness. Break your unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity. Practice the Way of Light: faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, and chastity.
Our weakness moves us to turn to God. (See Ps. 6:2).
The dragon tempts us with unbelief, lethargy, sorrow, and fear, to shake our faith and hope in the Lord.
Be clean in mind. Be clean in heart. Be clean in speech. Be clean in eyes. Be clean in ears. Be clean in practice.
Turn from the Way of Darkness: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, unchastity. Turn to the Way of Light: Faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, chastity.
Great joy comes from serving.
We must not judge our neighbor. We must help our neighbor.
Lord Jesus is the physician of our bodily passions and our soul passions.
Read spiritual writings which refresh you and increase your hope in the Lord.
Do you know who was mocked and struck and crucified? It was God in the flesh. This extreme injustice destroyed all falsehood: False Gods, unbelief, pride, lawlessness, despair, death, and Hades.
Cut you will and have all your hope in the Lord. This is the teaching of the monastics.
Every person who returns to the Lord vows to live a life of chastity, charity, and obedience.
The yoke of the Lord is easy. This yoke is to practice chastity, charity, and obedience. (See Matt. 11:30).
Keep the vows of the Orthodox Christian life: Chastity, charity, and obedience.
Practical theology is chastity, charity, and obedience.
For Lord Jesus there are two groups: those who are with Him and those who are against Him. To be neutral to Him is to be against Him. (See Matt. 12:30).
Practice humility and obedience, and you will progress in every virtue, knowledge, and spiritual gift.
Make the heroic decision to repent, confess, and correct yourself.
The passions of soul and body are incurable by science and philosophy. They can only be cured by Lord Jesus, through the New Testament priesthood.
Ascetic practice has as its aim the curing of the passions, and the establishment of virtue, wisdom, spiritual gifts, and salvation.
Return to the Lord. Return to the Way of Light.
Value yourself as zero. Ascribe no good to yourself, but all to God. Do not seek glory for your virtue, knowledge, or spiritual gifts. Give the glory to God.
If we do not work and make offerings for our salvation, we cannot receive pay or mercy from the Lord. The Lord does not pay the idle.
Always see the positive in whatever befalls you. The Lord allows everything for the positive.
To walk or not walk the spiritual path is left to the freewill of each person. In the end though we must each give an account of our life.
If you practice your own will many things will annoy you. If you practice God’s will nothing can annoy you.
The old false Gods have died. Lord Jesus has effected their death. Only the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives! Alleluia!
Grace has come. (See John 1:17). The man or woman of grace becomes simple, good, and wise.
Live a legal life. Practice the Law of Moses and the Law of Lord Jesus.
If you live a legal life you will be happy and peaceful.
