Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
Heed the call to spiritual life.
Renounce the carnal life and the psychical life and live the spiritual life.
Lord Jesus calls us to the life of grace.
Lord Jesus calls us to repent of sin and live the life of virtue.
Repent and return to the life of grace.
Repent and live the life of the spiritual law.
Keep the ethical law.
To live the spiritual life does not mean to cease from bodily needs. It means to cease from practicing the overmeasure or the undermeasure of those bodily needs.
The commandments of Lord Jesus are eternal life. To keep them is life, to transgress them is death.
Be yoked to grace. Do not be yoked to sin.
Loose your sins thru the sacrament of Repentance and Holy Confession.
Bear the fruit of virtue.
Minimize your bodily needs. Do not practice the overmeasure of those needs.
Whoever renounces the overmeasure of bodily needs takes up the life of virtue.
Renounce attachment to all bodily needs. Embrace life in the Spirit.
Devote the powers of your soul to God.
Renounce material things and devote your free-will to God.
Seek the betrothal of the Holy Spirit. You are called to the betrothal in this life and to the marriage in the other life.
The just receive the betrothal of the kingdom of heaven in this life. Sinners receive the betrothal of Gehenna in this life.
Our first goal is to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Our second goal is to preserve the grace of the Holy Spirit that we have received. (See St Symeon the New Theologian, Discourse 4).
Loose the yoke of sin that binds you. You do this thru the sacraments of the Orthodox Christian Church.
Justice is to have faith in Lord Jesus and to keep His ethical law.
Keep the ethical law of the Old Testament and the ethical law of the New Testament.
In the Old Testament you loved your neighbor but hated your enemy. In the New Testament you must love your enemy, bless your enemy, do good to your enemy, and pray for your enemy. (Matt. 5:44).
Think good. Speak good. Practice good.
Repent of your evil thoughts, evil words, and evil practices.
Mourn for the spiritual debt you have gathered thru not thinking good, not speaking good, and not practicing good.
Always think good. Always speak good. Always practice good.
Renounce your evil thoughts. Renounce your evil words. Renounce your evil practices.
Never cease to mourn over your evil thoughts, evil words, and evil practices.
Do not think evil. Do not speak evil. Do not practice evil.
When someone does you good thank them and give glory to God. (Matt. 5:16).
(1 Cor. 10:31): “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.
The days of our life should be used to cure our passions and obtain the virtues.
(2 Cor. 1:22): “Who also has sealed us and given us the betrothal of the Spirit in our hearts”.
In the world we encounter tyranny, loss, poverty, disease, and disability.
Care for every person. Help every person. Love every person.
The saints are our closest kin. They pray and care for us always.
(2 Cor. 2:15-16): “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. For the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life”.
Never go outside the law of Lord Jesus in your mind, heart, tongue, or body.
Does you heart keep the Law of Lord Jesus? Does your mind keep the Law of Lord Jesus? Does your tongue keep the Law of Lord Jesus? Does your body keep the Law of Lord Jesus?
Practice humility of heart. Practice humility of mind. Practice humility of tongue. Practice humility of body.
Do not be proud in heart. Do not be proud in mind. Do not be proud in tongue. Do not be proud in body.
The first humility is to rank yourself below every other person. The second humility is to ascribe your knowledge to God. The third humility is to ascribe your achievements to God.
Everywhere the routine of life is the same: you wake, you wash, you pray, you eat breakfast, you go to work, you eat lunch, you continue work, you return home, you eat dinner, you do your after work activities, you pray, you sleep.
The routine of life has not changed from the beginning. Only technology has changed.
Go where you will, but nowhere will you find rest except in obedience to your elders in Christ.
People go from one place to another seeking contentment. Everywhere the routine of life is the same. Everywhere you can practice the spiritual law.
Wherever you are practice humility of heart, humility of mind, humility of tongue, and humility of body.
The passions are the illogical love or the illogical hatred of a person or a material object.
Hate the four addictions with perfect hatred. Hate food addiction. Hate possession (including knowledge) addiction. Hate glory addiction. Hate romance addiction.
Hate overeating with perfect hatred. Hate stealing and overpossessing with perfect hatred. Hate vanity with perfect hatred. Hate disobedience with perfect hatred. Hate unchastity with perfect hatred.
(Jer. 4:14): “Wash your heart of malice, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved”.
Study and practice practical and theoretical wisdom.
Live the practical Orthodox Christian life, and the theoretical Orthodox Christian life.
Test the psychology of a person before you admonish them. To the humble be lenient but to the proud and unrepentant be strict but loving. If the proud will despair from your strict admonition be lenient to them also.
Humility is wisdom. Humility is glory. Humility is truth.
God is not a myth. God is real. The life in God is a mystery.
Seek your deliverance from the Egypt of the passions.
The person who practices the passions cannot also practice the virtues. Virtues and passions are mutually exclusive. (Rom. 6:20).
Greet your enemy. Bless your enemy. Do good to your enemy. Lend to your enemy. Pray for your enemy. Forgive your enemy. Love your enemy.
(St. Maximos the Confessor, First Century on Theology, Text 15, Philokalia, Vol. 2): “It is humility which tames every demonic power, produces in those who accept it every kind of sanctity, and keeps that sanctity inviolate”.
Orthodox Christian spiritual life is the life of obeying your Elder in Christ.
Hate your passions with perfect hatred.
Hate your addictions with perfect hatred.
Hate lawlessness with perfect hatred.
Each person is in the image and likeness of God. Thru sin and passion the likeness has been lost. By faith in Lord Jesus the likeness to God is restored.
Each person is called to repent and return to the likeness of God.
God does not change. Men and women need to change and return to their Creator.
We do not have the authority to change other persons. We only have the authority to change our person. When we change our person we can inspire other persons to change themselves.
Obey your Creator. Obey your Father in Christ, that is, your Spiritual Father.
Read Church History. See how the bishops of heretical groups separated from the Church. See how the monophysite bishops separated from the Church. See how the bishop of Rome separated from the Church. See how the Western bishops separated from the bishop of Rome. These divisions in East and West have resulted in the fragmentation of Christians. Only the bishops of the Orthodox Church have maintained the canonical succession from the apostles of Lord Jesus.
The powers of the soul have been disabled because of the Fall. Lord Jesus, thru the sacramental life of the Orthodox Christian Church, heals the disabilities of the soul.
Lord Jesus heals the blindness of the soul. Lord Jesus heals the deafness of the soul. Lord Jesus heals the paralysis of the soul. Lord Jesus heals the dysfunctions of the soul. Lord Jesus resurrects the soul. Lord Jesus saves the soul.
Practice love. Practice humility. Practice patience. Practice self-control. Practice prudence. Practice self-restraint. Practice justice. Practice Godly courage.
Fill the hours of your day with spiritual work. Fill the days of your life with spiritual work.
Practice your spiritual practices unceasingly.
You will depart soon from this world, so do not be attached to worldly cares; to food, to possessions (including knowledge), to glory, to romance.
Our body must obey our soul. Our mind must obey our heart. Our heart must obey God.
Life on earth is suffering. Suffering is caused by attachment to the four pursuits of food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. When we become detached from these four pursuits our suffering will cease. The path to detachment from the four pursuits is the path of Orthodox Christianity.
Repent and correct your faults. After death there is no correction of faults.
We must repent and keep spiritual law in this life. After death there is no repentance.
The call of the Orthodox Christian Teacher is a call to Repentance and the keeping of the Spiritual Law.
Repent and be baptized in the name of the Trinitarian Lord. Then keep Spiritual Law. If already baptized in the Orthodox Way, repent and Confess your sins. Then keep Spiritual Law.
The two ways to commence Orthodox Christian life are: Repent and be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Or Repent and Confess to an Orthodox Christian Confessor Priest.
O Lord Jesus! Give us time to repent! Give us time to correct our faults!
Go where you will, but nowhere will you find rest except in obedience to your natural father and mother, and in obedience to your spiritual father and mother.
We must ask Lord Jesus for time to complete our repentance.
From faith in Lord Jesus the heart mellows and you become a spiritual romantic.
Pray to Lord Jesus that He ignites your heart to burn with perfect love of God and perfect love of neighbor.
If we sow goodness we reap goodness. If we sow evil we reap evil.
Human persons are divided in to two groups: the godly and the ungodly. The godly are divided into two groups on the left and three groups on the right. The first godly group on the left are the cowardly godly. The second godly group on the left are the lovers of possessions. The three godly groups on the right are the bearers of virtue a hundredfold, a sixtyfold, and a thirtyfold. So we have on the left the ungodly, the cowardly godly, and the lovers of possessions godly. And on the right the godly bearers of virtue hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold.
The heart ignites with the fire of grace when it is humble and has charity towards every person.
The mind ignites with the fire of grace when it is humble and always guards, prays, and thinks good.
We forget the meaning of our life on earth. We just eat, drink, gather possessions (including knowledge), seek glory, and seek romance. The meaning of our life on earth is that we must prepare for the Sabbath rest of eternal life. We are all invited to the marriage to Lord Jesus in the other life, and here we are invited to the betrothal to Lord Jesus. If we preserve our betrothal we enter after death into the marriage to Lord Jesus.
Our life on earth is the time of our betrothal to Lord Jesus. (2 Cor. 11:2). Our life in heaven is the time of our marriage to Lord Jesus. (Rev. 19:7).
We are called to the betrothal to Lord Jesus. The sign of our betrothal is the grace of Lord Jesus.
The members of Lord Jesus are called to the betrothal first, and the marriage second, of Lord Jesus.
Do not seek the life of attachment to food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Seek the life of virtue.
In the place you are called, there remain and practice virtue.
