Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
Have practical love towards your neighbor: Greet, give, serve, visit.
Wherever you are, cut your will, and you will be happy and joyful.
Do not let the enemy shake you from the middle way of virtue.
The sons and daughters of God are humble, meek, and non-aggressive. The sons and daughters of the dragon are proud, wrathful, and aggressive.
Practice good and teach good. Run your business of good well. Do not meddle in the business of others, in the good or bad that they practice. Encourage good and rebuke bad with discernment.
Let legality in God characterize your life. You will then be free and happy.
All persons are good by nature. Persons become bad when they accept a bad opinion or a bad will. Always seek to have a good opinion and a good will and you will be a perfectly good person.
Be frugal in food, possessions, glory, and romance, and you will always be happy. Do not seek abundance in these, for abundance brings attachment, anxiety, and fear.
Give to those who ask of you, and also give to those who do not ask. Practical Orthodox Christianity is to give to all.
We have natural kin and we have spiritual kin. Our spiritual kin are our true kin.
If you see hostility in a person, know that it is the enemy that is behind it.
You are good-natured, but are you good-opinioned and good-willed? Only good-opinioned and good-willed persons are truly good.
Do you have enmity or rancor towards someone? Break it, by forgiving and doing good.
The Orthodox Christian Church is the logical temple of the Lord. He who is not a member of this logical temple is a member of the false temple.
The bishops and teachers of Orthodox Christianity must seek to build the logical temple of the Lord.
(Zech. 7:10): “Let each person not have rancor in his heart for the malice of his brother.”
(Zech. 8:17): “ And let each person not meditate in his heart the malice of his neighbor.”
Observe the worldly community. Observe the spiritual community. The worldly community gives only if it receives. The spiritual community gives to him who asks, and also seeks to give to him who does not ask.
The Lord has come down to us to save us from sin. Jesus Christ is the Lord God who came to save us.
The Lord says: “Return to Me, and I will return to you.” (See Mal. 3:7).
What is your sin? Unbelief? Overeating? Overpossessing? Vanity? Disobedience? Unchastity? Repent and return to the Lord.
In the face of injustice in food, possessions, glory, and romance, have patience and allow God to restore the injustice.
We cannot control the opinion and will of our neighbor. We can only admonish him to have a good opinion and a good will.
The secular church has pride, wrath, harshness, and aggression. The Orthodox Christian Church has humility, meekness, softness, and kindness.
The will of the Lord is to do good always. In every situation do good, both towards friends, enemies, and neutrals.
Resolve your disputes and do not keep grudges. (See Lev. 19:18).
Wrong words, wrong practices, and wrong expressions of countenance cause disputes, anger, rancor, and enmity. Remember to always resolve these disputes with repentance, forgiveness, and correction.
Power struggles, or what is more commonly called politics, must be just. Power struggles in families must be just, power struggles in schools must be just, power struggles in workplaces must be just, power struggles in communities must be just.
To the world a spiritual person seems a fool: not interested in wealth, glory, or pleasure, non-disputative, overly charitable, forgiving, overly nice. The world views the above as foolish.
Do you have faith zeal, wealth zeal, glory zeal, or comforts zeal?
“Holy things to the holy”, says the liturgy. The Holy Spirit is given to the holy. The unholy cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Therefore a Shekinah world cannot occur, because the Holy Spirit is only given to the holy.
The Cross of Lord Jesus is All-powerful. It cures disease, disability, sin, passions of soul, and passions of body. All-respectful Cross of Lord Jesus!
Without the help of Lord Jesus what can we do? (See John 15:5).
Disputes, disputes, disputes! When will they end?
Not all can be our friends. Some are our friends, some our enemies, and some our neutrals. There is a natural division in psychologies which gives rise to these groups. An Orthodox Christian must love all three groups, knowing that a natural division exists which cannot be healed.
An Orthodox Christian must not be disputative. (See 1 Cor. 11:16).
To change we must be willing to change, and must return to the Lord. The Lord will then grant us change.
To change something in yourself you must be strong-willing and must seek the help of the Lord. Your will, and the help of the Lord, will grant you to change.
We are not here to judge our brethren. We are here to help our brethren return to Lord Jesus. Assisting our brethren to be saved is what is needed.
Our life is part prophecy. (See 1 Cor. 13:9).
When you encounter a dispute take refuge in humility and honesty. You must not seek to be disputative. (See 1 Cor. 11:16).
All creations are good by nature, being the creation of a good God. Evil is the result of accepting a wrong opinion. Even the demons are good by nature, but have become evil from having wrong opinion.
Remember that those who dispute with pride and cunning are moved by the enemy to do so. See the dispute as due to the enemy, and remember to offer thanks (See 1 Thess. 5:18), and to be humble and forgiving, banishing rancor.
Remember that evil is wrong opinion and wrong words and wrong will. All these are due to the enemy. Do not hold rancor against your brethren for these. Rather seek to forgive and correct them.
We should view a foreign thing as fire, which will burn us if we take it. A foreign thing is another person’s food, possessions, glory, or romance.
There is no hope of change for those who are unwilling to change.
Elder Paisios: “Simplify your life.”
Do not occupy yourself with foreign things: the sins and duties of others. Consider your own sins and duties.
For those who are unwilling to change prayer is futile. All they care for is to eat and drink, gather possessions, receive glory, and practice romance.
Let us pray that the Lord break the power of all tyrants. May all the tyrants be humbled!
The Lord allows problems so that we can learn patience, obedience, humility, and hope in the Lord.
The world is full of arguments. Arguments over opinions, food, possessions, glory, and romance.
The Lord allows tyranny, poverty, and disease to call us to Himself. He allows the martyrdom of tyranny, poverty, and disease, to call us to salvation.
Life on earth is a martyrdom. A martyrdom of tyranny, poverty, and disease.
An ethics heretic is he who does not keep the commandments of Lord Jesus. A dogma heretic is he who does not keep the Orthodox Christian faith. A tradition heretic is he who does not keep the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Christian Church.
If you do good people will miss you when you go away. If you do wrong no one will miss you when you go away.
Consider your spiritual debt and let every event remind you of it. The aim of our life is to resolve our spiritual debt.
You should be strict with the proud and soft with the humble.
Judges of families should be just. Judges of schools should be just. Judges of workplaces should be just. Judges of communities should be just.
To the judge! To the judge! This should be the call of all groups facing injustice: family injustice, school injustice, workplace injustice, community injustice.
Consider your spiritual debt. Do not be involved in the spiritual debt of others, but rather forgive the spiritual debt they owe you, and seek to resolve your own spiritual debt.
Only a religious psychiatrist and religious psychologist can cure the passions of the soul. A scientific psychiatrist and scientific psychologist cannot cure the passions of the soul.
Do nothing on the spiritual path without counsel (See Sirach 32:19), and without the blessing of your elder (See Deut. 32:7).
Have goodness in your tongue, goodness in your heart, goodness in your mind, goodness in your eyes, goodness in your bodily practice.
Do you have a contract with the enemy, practicing overeating, overpossessing, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity? Break this contract and make a contract with Lord Jesus, practicing fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, and chastity.
Get to work, for no good can come from idleness. From work comes every material and spiritual blessing.
Rank yourself lowest of all and you will have peace and happiness.
Respect and love your wife or husband.
Consecrate your mind to the Lord. Consecrate your heart to the Lord. Consecrate your tongue to the Lord. Consecrate your eyes to the Lord. Consecrate your ears to the Lord. Consecrate your hands to the Lord. Consecrate your feet to the Lord. Consecrate your body to the Lord.
Are you living the spiritual life of faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, and chastity? Or are you living the carnal life of unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, non-prayer, vanity, disobedience, and unchastity?
Have a humble and contrite heart in order to keep the Lord with you. The Lord will lead you from virtue to virtue, from knowledge to knowledge, and spiritual gift to spiritual gift. The Lord will lead you to salvation and eternal life.
The Lord calls us to cease clinging to wrong and to turn towards right. We shall not see right as long as we cling to wrong. (See Rom. 6:20).
The enemy strives to push our nature to the vice of overnatural or to the vice of undernatural. Nature is the middle way. Unnatural is the over way or the under way.
Associate with your kin in the Orthodox faith and make no covenant with heretics. Heretics are of three types: Dogma heretics, Ethics heretics, and Tradition heretics.
You must endure the suffering of tyranny, poverty, physical disease, and psychological disease. This suffering will be rewarded by the Lord. Through this suffering we increase in virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Ethics heretics are those who practice vice: Unbelief, overeating, overpossessing, non-prayer, vanity, disobedience, lying, unchastity.
Do you inner work unceasingly.
Segregate from dogma heretics, ethics heretics, and tradition heretics.
After hearing the Orthodox Christian teaching it remains with you to practice or not. No one can practice for you.
The greatest in the kingdom of heaven is he who is the most humble. (See Matt. 18:4).
Reject every illicit thought, illicit idea, illicit feeling, illicit word, illicit facial expression, and illicit practice.
Live a quality life of faith, fasting, charity, prayer, humility, obedience, truth-speaking, and chastity.
The world needs those who can bind and loose passions. They who loose passions are the true psychiatrists and psychologists.
Lord Jesus established His kingdom on the earth, the Orthodox Christian Church, and gave His kingdom the Shekinah and every blessing.
The measure of your penance should be according to the measure of your transgressions.
There are always factions in life. Each idea produces factions. The gospel has three great factions: gospel acceptors, gospel rejectors, and gospel neutrals.
All heresy is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Dogma heresy is blasphemy. Ethics heresy is blasphemy. Tradition heresy is blasphemy. Do you see why heresy is unacceptable and why it must be avoided and corrected?
Pride is the cause of heresy. Pride causes dogma heresy. Pride causes ethics heresy. Pride causes tradition heresy. Keep away from pride and the heresy it induces. Love humility and Orthodoxy.
Humility of mind gives place to the Pentecost of the mind. Humility of heart gives place to the Pentecost of the heart.
“Holy things to the holy.” How can Pentecost come to the proud and unholy and unbelieving?
Contemplate death and you will see that wealth, glory, and pleasure have little value. What has value is charity, humility, and continence.
Charity is not only to give food, possessions, honor, and service, but also to forgive injustice and wrong in food, possessions, honor, and service.
Remember death and you will be humble, will forgive wrongs, and will seek to practice virtue.
Remember death and practice charity, humility, continence, and forgiveness of wrong.
Pride makes a person useless, for they do not practice charity, humility, and continence.
The path of destruction has four perditions: Unbelief, pride, lawlessness, and despair. The path of salvation has four blessings: Faith, humility, lawfulness, and hope.
Follow the way of blessing: Faith, charity, humility, and continence.
Remember death and follow the way of salvation: Faith, charity, humility, continence.
After death you will see that what has value is faith, charity, humility, continence, and forgiveness.
