Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
1. In the secular church there is pride, self-love, wrath and tyranny. In the Orthodox Christian Church there is humility, spiritual love, meekness and leniency.
2. In the secular church there is tyranny and conflict. In the Orthodox Christian Church there is leniency and peace.
3. In the secular church there is conflict of opinion and conflict of will. In the Orthodox Christian Church there is common opinion and common will.
4. Each person has likes, dislikes and neutralities. In the secular church there is conflict of likes, dislikes, and neutralities. In the Orthodox Christian Church there is respect of likes, dislikes, and neutralities.
5. What has value is fasting, not overeating. Charity, not stealing and overpossessing. Humility, not vanity. Obedience, not disobedience. Chastity, not unchastity.
6. In the secular church pride of opinion and pride of will cause harsh speaking and tyranny. Harsh speaking and tyranny give rise to wrath, hatred, enmity, and rancor. All these vices characterize the secular church.
7. The secular church has pride of opinion, pride of tongue, pride of heart, and pride of will. The Orthodox Christian Church has humility of opinion, humility of tongue, humility of heart, and humility of will.
8. The secular church exalts itself. The Orthodox Christian Church humbles itself.
9. Be a heavenly person like Lord Jesus. Not an earthly person like Adam.
10. The gospel can be summarized as follows: God has come in the flesh, He taught repentance and spiritual law, cured disease and disability, raised the dead, cast out demons, bore the sin of the world on the Cross, died, was buried, descended to Hades to teach and deliver, rose from the dead, commissioned His apostles, ascended to heaven, sent the Holy Spirit, will come again to judge the living and the dead. Will assign all humanity to either Heaven or Hell.
11. A more exact translation of Matt. 5:21-22. “You have heard that it was said to the ancients, You shall not kill, and whoever kills is guilty before the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is wrathful towards his brother without reason is guilty before the judgment. Whoever says to his brother raca, is guilty before the council. Whoever says fool, is guilty before the gehenna of fire.”
12. (Phil. 4:13): “ I can do all things through Christ who empowers me.”
13. This life is the time for repentance and spiritual work. The other life is the time of rest, judgment and retribution.
14. A person who has pride, wrath, and hatred, belongs to the secular church. A person who has humility, meekness, and love, belongs to the Orthodox Christian Church.
15. We are delivered from the passions by the power of Lord Jesus.
16. Our guardian angel is keeping a diary of our good deeds. The demon assigned to us is keeping a diary of our evil deeds.
17. Practice self-denial all your life and you will be always joyful, full of virtue, spiritual knowledge, and spiritual gifts.
18. In Orthodox Christian baptism we die to a life of pride and lawlessness, and are raised to a life of humility and lawfulness.
19. Orthodox Christianity is the therapy of our soul from the disease of sin. If we sin we must repent and confess. Confession is difficult, especially of the hidden things: fornications, vanities, blasphemies. We must with courage and hope confess the deadly wound of sin.
20. We undergo crucifixion through poverty, disease, and oppression in order to crucify pride, lawlessness, and despair. The outer crucifixion has as its aim the inner crucifixion and resurrection. Glory to God who effects our salvation through our two crucifixions!
21. God allows the outer crucifixion of misfortune, poverty, disease, and oppression, to effect the inner crucifixion of the vices of pride, lawlessness, and despair. The crucifixions have as their aim our salvation.
22. Ascribe your sin to yourself, and never cease mourning over it.
23. We must take responsibility for our pride, lawlessness, and despair, and general psychology.
24. We must cultivate good psychology by loving our neighbor, whether they are good or bad. By loving both good and bad our psychology remains sound.
25. Take responsibility for your psychology. Do not become aggressive or be influenced by the aggression of your neighbor.
26. Problematic psychology arises when we have pride of opinion, and the spectrum of our thought is shortened by wrong thoughts.
27. Remember the four virtues for dealing with all psychological problems: self-denial, patience, good thought, and humility.
28. Follow the middle way of simplicity, prudence, and virtue.
29. Who heeds the call to become a member of the Orthodox Christian Church? Who heeds the call of the gospel? Who heeds the call to repent and keep spiritual law?
30. When you speak, always speak from love and logic. Love and logic are never unjust or harsh.
31. An Orthodox Christian must deny himself, take up his cross and follow the Lord’s apostle, that is, his spiritual father.
32. In what order shall we eliminate the four addictions: food addiction, possession (including knowledge) addiction, glory addiction, and romance addiction? Answer: Eliminate first romance addiction, second food addiction, third possession addiction, and fourth glory addiction.
33. Be honorable and do not give in to dishonorable temptation.
34. The secular church has rejected Lord Jesus and His gospel. Instead of Lord Jesus they will accept the false Messiah and his message.
35. Cover the faults of your neighbor. With patience, hope, and prayer, await their correction.
36. The love of God is light to the just and fire to the unjust.
37. The Cross is the death of pride, lawlessness, and despair.
38. Lord Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient till death, death on the Cross. His life and death was a mystery. The mystery of the bearing of the sin of the world and the reconciling of humanity to its Creator.
39. The great mystery of the Cross is the mystery of our return to our Creator. Our atonement towards our Creator and the end of pride, lawlessness, and despair.
40. Abandon pride, lawlessness, and despair. Embrace humility, lawfulness, and hope in Lord Jesus.
41. Raise those who have fallen.
42. Practice no injustice in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance.
43. If you do any injustice you must repent, correct the injustice or give charity, and confess your injustice.
44. We must correct every single injustice we practice. This is natural law. Towards the injustice practiced against us we must show forgiveness, mercy, and love. This is spiritual law.
45. For every injustice we practice we must pay. Either we pay with like injustice and suffering or Lord Jesus pays our debt, and we promise to be just from then on.
46. Seek deliverance from the tyranny of the demons and the passions. Turn to the deliverance of Lord Jesus.
47. We will soon depart to eternity. Therefore do not be attached to food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, or romance.
48. We are all headed for eternity. Seventy years on earth, then eternity. The aim of our life on earth is to prepare for eternity.
49. Have the three attributes: slave, salary worker, and son. Fear Gehenna, work for reward, struggle out of love for God.
50. Are you a son or daughter of Christ? Or are you only a son or daughter of Adam?
51. Be free of self-dependance, be free of self-trust. Depend on Lord Jesus. Trust in Lord Jesus.
52. Seal your heart with the cross. Seal your mind with the cross. Seal your tongue with the cross. Seal you body with the cross.
53. Fight evil thoughts with humility and simplicity.
54. The secular church is in constant competition and jealousy. The Orthodox Christian church is in stillness, altruism, and love.
55. We must resolve every injustice we practice. The injustice was caused by our accepting the provocation of the cunning one.
56. Our whole life we must resist the provocations of the cunning one. If we accept a provocation we must repent and give restitution for it.
57. We will be judged for every injustice we have practiced and not repented for it. Repent therefore continuously.
58. Consider the mystery of pride, lawlessness, and despair. It is the mystery of turning away from God and adhering to self. The Orthodox Christian must turn from self through self-denial, and adhere once again to God.
59. The fundamental fault of humanity is the turning to self: self-love, pride, lawlessness, and despair.
60. Consider group psychology and solitude psychology. From group psychology we learn to give, to share, to lend, and generally to cultivate natural justice. From solitude psychology we learn stillness, humility, self-denial, loving God, prayer, contemplation, and generally we cultivate spiritual justice.
61. In groups we must practice group justice and group psychology. In solitude we must practice solitude justice and solitude psychology.
62. God does not force self-denial. He calls every person to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.
63. God does not force repentance. He calls every person to repentance and the denial of self. Each person has the choice to repent and deny self or to not repent and remain in the fallen self-love. When we repent and deny our fallen self-love we are resurrected to the love of God, the love of neighbor, and spiritual self-love.
64. The fallen person is characterized by non-faith, self-love, pride, lawlessness, and despair. The resurrected person is characterized by faith, love of God and neighbor, humility, lawfulness, and hope.
65. Remember the Golden rule: Greet and you will be greeted, Give and it will be given to you, Serve and you will be served, Love and you will be loved.
66. Which company do you want to belong to, the company of good angels and good men, or the company of bad angels and bad men?
67. The sun of righteousness, that is God, shines on all persons equally. How though He is received by each person depends on their free-will.
68. We must go from non-well-being to well-being by the power of Lord Jesus.
69. We pray: Lord have mercy. Lord Jesus Christ have mercy. We are saved only by the power of Lord Jesus, for without the grace and mercy of Lord Jesus we can do nothing. (John 15:5).
70. Do not live only to enjoy food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. Rather live the life of virtue, contemplation, sacraments, and altruism.
71. The demons are trying to separate us from our Creator and His Kingdom: The Orthodox Christian Church.
72. The secular church seeks abundance of food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. The Orthodox Christian Church only seeks the essential food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance.
73. The secular church seeks earthly goods. The Orthodox Christian Church seeks heavenly goods.
74. Be aggressive only towards the passions and demons. Do not be aggressive towards your fellow persons.
75. For our sins to be forgiven we must repent and confess or be baptized, then vow to never again practice such works.
76. The holy make holy. The enlightened enlighten. The pure purify. The just make just. The perverse pervert. The darkened darken. The impure impurify. The unjust make unjust. The unholy make unholy.
77. Struggle against the prepossession of your thoughts, feelings, words, and works. Prepossession of these four needs to be overcome by changing location, changing social group, changing work group.
78. The prepossession of the passions is defeated by obedience to Lord Jesus. The passions and their prepossession are defeated by the power of Lord Jesus.
79. What do you prefer: food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance or God?
80. Be a logical person and break your addiction to food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance.
81. Study and practice: Ethics, Dogmatics, Sacraments, and Church History.
82. Be a logical person, detached from food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance.
83. Have faith, logic, courage, and love. The four attributes of the Orthodox Christian philosopher.
84. Be logical in thoughts, logical in feelings, logical in words, and logical in works.
85. Reject illogical thoughts. Reject illogical feelings. Reject illogical words. Reject illogical works.
86. Do you want to be betrothed to your Creator in this life, and married to your Creator in the other life?
87. Betrothal to your Creator means to obey Him and practice His law. Also, betrothal is to receive the Holy Spirit, and to be energized by the power of the Holy Spirit.
88. Betrothal comes about from heeding the call to repentance. The unrepentant are enemies of God. Unrepentant sinners are enemies of God.
89. Think logically. Speak logically. Practice logical works.
90. We can live the Orthodox Christian life only by the power and grace of Lord Jesus.
91. We can please God only with the power of Lord Jesus. Therefore, we must seek to follow and obey Lord Jesus.
92. We receive the grace of Lord Jesus by repentance, confession, and vowing to live the life of self-denial and obedience to Lord Jesus.
93. This life is the time for repentance and spiritual work. After death comes judgment and reward. Either eternal life, or eternal punishment.
94. Consider the three temptations we suffer: thought temptation, desire temptation, anger temptation. Consider the temptations we suffer from our neighbor: evil thought, evil feeling, evil word, evil desire, evil anger. All these act in our neighbor and are directed at us.
95. Beware of temptation which comes to you. Beware of temptation of thought. Beware of temptation of feeling. Beware of temptation of word. Beware of temptation of the eyes. Beware of temptation of the ears. Beware of temptation of desire. Beware of temptation of anger. Beware of temptation of touch.
96. What is your addiction? Overeating addiction? Stealing or overpossessing addiction? Vanity addiction? Unchastity addiction?
97. Our fundamental work is to obey God. We must obey God and let Him work through us, and lead us to eternal life.
98. Orthodox Christian life is the synergy of us and the grace of God.
99. We will be freed from evil and practice virtue, only by the power of Lord Jesus.
100. It is the grace of God that delivers us from every evil and effects in us every virtue, knowledge, and spiritual gift.
