addiction Archives - Saint Sophia

The Fifth Friday of Great Lent: St. Mary of Egypt and Moral Progress

04/19/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 11, 2015 The suggestion has been made several times recently that my criticism of moral progress is not supported by the example of the saints. Surely, it is said, the transformations we read about in the lives of the saints are clear examples of moral progress. A noted such example, perhaps the greatest story of repentance and asceticism known in the Church, is that of St. Mary of Egypt. It is worth

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 5

10/10/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) Worst of all is the so-called smartphone which I like to call the dumb phone, which is essentially a portable computer. I was with my family for thanksgiving and everyone came into the house with an iPad under his arm, and they literally had them sitting on the table and would check them every now and then. It’s very rude; it’s very divisive and destructive of community. And you might say,

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 2

09/19/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) The sayings of the desert fathers are really remarkable—some of the oldest Christian literature we have and yet it sounds so contemporary, fresh, modern, and relevant, partly because the whole ethos is just stripped down to the essentials and simplicity of the desert. There is a story from Abba Poemen who is one of the more prominent desert fathers. Apparently a layman from a nearby city had heard about his reputation

Watching the River

07/17/2017

To live in the present moment requires a change in our inner posture. Instead of expanding or shoring up our fortress of “I”–the ego–which culture and often therapy try to help us do, contemplation waits to discover what this “I” consists of. What is this “I” that I take so seriously? To discover the answer, we have to calmly observe our own stream of consciousness and see its compulsive patterns. That’s what happens in the

The Land of Love (Part I)

10/16/2014

If we really dropped illusions for what they can give us or deprive us of, we would be alert. The consequence of not doing this is terrifying and unescapable. We lose our capacity to love. If you wish to love, you must learn to see again. And if you wish to see, you must learn to give up your drug. It’s as simple as that. Give up your dependency. Tear away the tentacles of society

THE MOUNTAIN OF PRAYER (Part II)

09/07/2012

AND AFTER HE HAD DISMISSED THE CROWDS, HE WENT UP ON THE MOUNTAIN BY HIMSELF TO PRAY. —MATTHEW 14:23 It is only in this aloneness, this utter solitude, that dependence and desire will die, and the capacity to love is born. For one no longer sees others as means to satisfy one’s addiction. Only someone who has attempted this knows the terror of the process. It is like inviting yourself to die. It is like

THE MOUNTAIN OF PRAYER (Part I)

09/06/2012

AND AFTER HE HAD DISMISSED THE CROWDS, HE WENT UP ON THE MOUNTAIN BY HIMSELF TO PRAY. —MATTHEW 14:23 Has it ever occurred to you that you can only love when you are alone? What does it mean to love? It means to see a person, a thing, a situation, as it really is and not as you imagine it to be, and to give it the response it deserves. You cannot love what you

Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps

06/18/2012

We are all powerless, not only those physically addicted to a substance. Alcoholics simply have their powerlessness visible for all to see. The rest of us disguise it in different ways and overcompensate for our more hidden and subtle addictions and attachments, especially our addiction to our way of thinking. We all take our own pattern of thinking as normative, logical, and surely true, even when it does not fully compute. We keep doing the

Archive

The Fifth Friday of Great Lent: St. Mary of Egypt and Moral Progress

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 5

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 2

Watching the River

The Land of Love (Part I)

THE MOUNTAIN OF PRAYER (Part II)

THE MOUNTAIN OF PRAYER (Part I)

Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps

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