Daily Meditations Archives - Page 264 of 361

ON THE AVOIDANCE OF EXTRAVAGANCE

11/02/2015

It is a known fact that a person who practises the piano too zealously gets cramp in his hands, and a too diligent writer exposes himself to writer’s cramp. Dejected and downcast, the musician or author, just now so full of hope, must break off his work; in idleness he is exposed to many evil influences. From this example you should take warning. Fasting, obedience, self-discipline, watchfulness, prayer all make up the constituent parts necessary

Meditation and Worship (Part I)

10/30/2015

MEDITATION AND PRAYER are often confused, but there is no danger in this confusion if meditation develops into prayer; only when prayer degenerates into meditation. Meditation primarily means thinking, even when God is the object of our thoughts. If as a result we gradually go deeper into a sense of worship and adoration, if the presence of God grows so powerful that we become aware of being with God, and if gradually, out of meditation

WATCHFULNESS IN DIVINE WORSHIP (Part I)

10/29/2015

Looking carefully at the liturgical wealth of our Orthodox Church, we note endless points in which watchfulness is mentioned or commented on: in the daily sacred services (Midnight Office, Orthros, Hours, Vespers, Compline), in the prayers of the Divine Liturgy, in the Great Canon, in the hymnology of the Octoechos, the Triodion and the Menaia. The worship of our Orthodox Church is a profoundly contrite worship, a worship of returning into our true, deeper self.

The Soul (Part II)

10/28/2015

Does the Soul Exist? Since some people do not realize it quite clearly enough, it is necessary to demonstrate briefly that every human being has a rational soul. Some deny this truth, convinced that human beings consist only of their bodies. A good argument is the following. Only the human being manages to think of objects outside its own body and to meditate upon things it does not see. Furthermore, the human being reflects upon

The Nous

10/27/2015

Man, this superior creation of God, the pinnacle of creation is composed of matter and spirit, body and soul. His surpassing from the material to the immaterial, from the perceptive to the non-perceptive world is achieved with the power of the soul, the nous.1 The foundation of the faith of our Orthodox Church is that man constitutes the image of the Triune God. The Triune God is Nous (Father), Word (Son) and Spirit. The Nous

Holy, Glorious Demetrios the Myrrh-gusher of Thessalonica

10/26/2015

The Great Martyr Demetrios the Myrrh-Gusher of Thessalonica was the son of a Roman proconsul in Thessalonica. Three centuries had elapsed and Roman paganism, spiritually shattered and defeated by the multitude of martyrs and confessors of the Savior, intensified its persecutions. The parents of St Demetrius were secretly Christians, and he was baptized and raised in the Christian Faith in a secret church in his father’s home, By the time Demetrios had reached maturity and

Hesychasm, Sweet Repose

10/23/2015

Hesychasm, a contemplative prayer of rest, has its roots in the desert fathers and mothers as well as the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Bishop Kallistos Ware, drawing from John Climacus (AD 525-606) writes: “The hesychast, in the true sense of the word, is not someone who has journeyed outwardly into the desert, but someone who has embarked upon the journey inwards into his own heart; not someone who cuts himself off physically from others, shutting the

7 Holy Youths “Seven Sleepers” of Ephesus

10/22/2015

The Seven Youths of Ephesus: Maximilian, Iamblicus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Exacustodianus (Constantine) and Antoninus, lived in the third century. St Maximilian was the son of the Ephesus city administrator, and the other six youths were sons of illustrious citizens of Ephesus. The youths were friends from childhood, and all were in military service together. When the emperor Decius (249-251) arrived in Ephesus, he commanded all the citizens to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Torture

The Winter of Beauty (Part I)

10/21/2015

For many people today, remote as they are from a Christianity which seems to them just talk and moralizing, life attains a religious intensity only when they experience beauty: a song pulsating to the rhythm of the blood, struck up by an adolescent to his own guitar accompaniment; a mountain in winter, when the world is transformed by snow, and light seems to radiate gently from the earth; a face, seen in such close-up that

Solitude of Heart

10/20/2015

The word solitude can be misleading. It suggests being alone by yourself in an isolated place. When we think about solitaries, our mind easily evokes images of monks or hermits who live in remote places secluded from the noise of the busy world. In fact, the words solitude and solitary are derived from the Latin word solus, which means alone, and during the ages many men and women who wanted to live a spiritual life