Kingdom of Heaven Archives - Page 7 of 11

Self-Emptying: We Love by Letting Go

06/02/2020

We cannot love God unless we love God’s world. Christians [should] have always known this, because an incarnate God is a world-loving God; but now it takes on new meaning and depth as we realize the radical interrelationship and interdependence of all forms of life. . . . In sum, we are not called to love God or the world. Rather, we are called to love God in the world. We love God by loving the world. We love God through and with the world. But this turns out

The Spiritual Fruit of Pascha: On the Apodosis of Pascha

05/27/2020

Source: ROCOR And so for us, too, the eternal bliss with Christ in His Kingdom has not yet commenced—this is merely our hope—but not because the Kingdom of Heaven is not yet ready, but because we are incapable of eternal bliss: we need another podvig under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. ARCHBISHOP SIMON (VINOGRADOV, +1933) OF PEKING AND CHINA: | 28 MAY 2014 Today is the Apodosis of Pascha, that is, the last day of this

Second Thursday of Pascha. Holy Mountain: A Universal Presence and a Heavenward Orientation (Part 1)

04/30/2020

By Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaias and Lavreotikis The spiritual influence of Mount Athos is indisputable and certainly stems from the fact that many men have attained holiness through their secret ascetic struggles there. In recent years many pilgrims have found peace of mind and repose on the Mountain, together with spiritual guidance and support. The higher one rises, scientists tell us, the weaker the force of gravity becomes, the less one feels the pull of

The Fourth Thursday of Great Lent. The Ascetic Life (4th Sunday of Great Lent)

03/26/2020

Bishop Agathangelos of Fanari For the secular people of today, focusing on an ascetic saint represents a problem. How can the ascetic figure of Saint John, the author of the Ladder, speak to us, when he acquired and preserved the Grace of God through tears, prayers, and spiritual asceticism? In Orthodox teaching, the ascetic life is nothing other than the transcendence of selfishness, the attempt, in Grace, to apply God’s commandments, to live the life

I’ll Be Small for Christmas

12/17/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 18, 2017 Children today are raised with dreams of greatness. Cultural affirmations of our limitless potential, well-intentioned, have not produced a generation of over-achievers, but have indeed brought forth hordes of great dreams. This is nothing new in American culture. We are the world’s longest sustained pep-talk. Ronald Reagan loved to quote the 1945 Johnny Mercer hit: You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 7

10/24/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) St. Paul says you are the dwelling place of God. Is this how we normally understand ourselves? To be dwelling places inhabited by God? This is a very powerful assertion; do we take it seriously and understand what it means and what our lives mean in the context of such a statement? Do we live consistently with such a statement? It’s a wonderful thing to be able to begin the day

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

A HOMILY ON THE DORMITION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

08/13/2019

We have peace when we are with the Lord and His Most Holy Mother; she is always here to help whenever we call upon her. In her we have unshakable support, which remains the same for all ages and which will not change. We cannot find this support anywhere else on earth, not even among our family members, let alone in things like riches, earthly power, and honor. We can be left without all these

Patience (Part V): Patience Provides Space for Daily Repentance and Transformation

07/11/2019

Abba Antony said: Having therefore made a beginning, and set out already on the way to virtue, let us press forward to what lies ahead. And let none turn back as Lot’s wife did, especially since the Lord said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the Kingdom of heaven.” Now “turning back” is nothing except feeling regret and once more thinking about things of the world.

RENEWAL WEDNESDAY. CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! HUMAN NATURE IS HEALED

05/01/2019

CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! One has to distinguish most carefully between the healing of nature and the healing of the will. Nature is healed and restored with a certain compulsion, by the mighty power of God’s omnipotent and invincible grace. One may even say, by some “violence of grace.” The wholeness is in a way forced upon human nature. For in Christ all human nature (the “seed of Adam”) is fully and completely cured

Archive

Self-Emptying: We Love by Letting Go

The Spiritual Fruit of Pascha: On the Apodosis of Pascha

Second Thursday of Pascha. Holy Mountain: A Universal Presence and a Heavenward Orientation (Part 1)

The Fourth Thursday of Great Lent. The Ascetic Life (4th Sunday of Great Lent)

I’ll Be Small for Christmas

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 7

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

A HOMILY ON THE DORMITION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

Patience (Part V): Patience Provides Space for Daily Repentance and Transformation

RENEWAL WEDNESDAY. CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! HUMAN NATURE IS HEALED

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