St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church

True Prayer

God is the teacher of prayer; true prayer is the gift of God. To him who prays constantly with contrition of spirit, with the fear of God and with attention, God himself gives gradual progress in prayer. From humble and attentive prayer, spiritual action and spiritual warmth make their appearance and quicken the heart. The quickened heart draws the mind to itself and becomes a temple of grace-given prayer and a treasury of the spiritual gifts which are procured by such prayer as a matter of course. "

- St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

Why do you worry and grieve more than necessary?

"Why do you worry and grieve more than necessary for the various incidents? We are not outside of Divine Providence, so as to be directed by mere chance. Therefore, whatever happens to us happens with God’s knowledge, and so nothing will happen to us beyond our strength!
Let those who do not believe in Divine Providence drown in worry; they are certainly justified. But we, who believe that God is present everywhere and that there is no creature outside His providence, are not justified when we worry more than necessary, for through this action we show a lack of faith and illumination.
'Blessed is the man who hopes in God, for as a lion he will trust in Him.' (Prov.28:1). If God is the One Who permits it, Thy will be done, Lord. 'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?' (Rom.1 1:34). Who is able to search out the will of the Lord! 'If you do not become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven,' (Mt. 18:3) that is through faith and innocence. "

- Elder Ephraim

Thoughts From Elder Thaddeus

"Any work we do here on earth is God’s work. However, we always work with reservation without sincerity. Not only can God not bear that, but no human being can. We know that the Universe belongs to God, that the Earth is God’s planet, and that everything belongs to God no matter what type of work we do. "

"Any kind of work is God’s work. Every task should be performed from the heart; for it is not for people that we are laboring, but for God. God is present everywhere. The whole planet belongs to Him, the entire universe is His. No matter who your boss is, whether he is a good man who manages his company well or not, we must do our work for God. "

"When we work for God, our hearts and minds are open; but when we do not, we say things like, ‘I won’t work for him; he’s a lazy good for nothing, yet he gets paid more than me.’ This is a sign that we are not performing our task from the heart. The Lord says, ‘Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor heart, I will spew thee out of my mouth.’ [Rev. 3:16] We must be either hot or cold. "

"When we [offer our work from our hearts], we can free ourselves from our interior resistance. Every action of ours will then help our neighbor, beginning with our family, wherever we may be. So we must always be sincere. Then we radiate peace, quiet, and love; and we are loved in return. With our thoughts we either attract or repel: enemies, friends, family and neighbors. However, people usually take this lightly; and suffer a lot as a result. "

"We have not committed ourselves to the will of God — we believe that everything is in our hands and that we must decide about everything, that God has other things to do in the world. “Will He think about us?” we often ask. This means that we have very little faith and that we put very little trust in the Lord. God thinks about everything and provides for everyone. Our eyes should be on Him. For He says, 'And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou has sent' (John 17:3). This means that every event and every little detail around us and in us reveals the Lord’s Divine Providence and His consent. Nothing in the entire universe happens without either the will of God or His consent. Everything we see that is good and harmonious is the result of the will of God. As for anything that is in chaos, God knows why it is like that and why He has permitted it. He sets the limits. What we must know is that He is present everywhere. "

"Everything, both good and evil, comes from our thoughts. Our thoughts become reality. Even today, we can see that all of creation - everything that exists on earth and in the cosmos - is nothing but Divine thought made material in time and space. We humans were created in the image of God. Mankind was given a great gift, but we hardly understand that. God’s energy and life is in us, but we do not realize it. Neither do we understand that we greatly influence others with our thoughts. "

"If our thoughts are kind, peaceful and quiet, turned only towards good, then we also influence ourselves and radiate peace all around us --- in our family, in the whole country, everywhere. When we labor in the fields of the Lord, we create harmony. Divine harmony, peace and quiet spread everywhere. However, when we breed negative thoughts - that is a great evil. When there is evil in us, we radiate it among our family members and everywhere we go. So you see, we can be very good or very evil. If that’s the way it is, it is certainly better to choose good! "

Be Humble-minded

"May true and genuine humble-mindedness increase in your soul, through which the fruit of the soul is preserved. Satan tries to make those who struggle forget their goal. He succeeds in doing so if he can make them grow proud so that they think it was by their own progress and forcefulness that they acquired this or that virtue. In this way, the labor remains without a reward---a struggle without hope, work without pay. "

- Elder Ephraim

The Hunter of Souls

"Since we already know very well that the hunter of our souls has set and laid traps everywhere, let us not be drowsy. Whether at a store or in town, in the comfort of one’s family or even in the church of God, we must watch out for the traps that happen to be set under the pretense of piety. Who is able to be delivered from these camouflaged traps and ridicule their masterly craftsman?
Behold---let us use the broad experience of our Holy Monastic Fathers to destroy them. They teach that it is essentially only the exalting virtue of humility that is almighty---a sword of the Spirit that destroys evil at its root and completely disables the traps of the tempter. So let us toil to acquire this most salvific virtue of humility that destroys the devil! "

- Elder Ephraim

I am the One in Charge of Grudges...

"Abba Isaac recounted how a demon approached him disguised as a youth. ‘You are mine’ he said. I asked how he could say that. ‘Because three Sundays running you have received Holy Communion whilst being at daggers-drawn with your neighbor’, he said, and I told him he was lying. But he said, ‘Are you not harboring a grudge against him because of a plate of lentils? I am the one who is in charge of grudges, and, from now on, you are mine.’ When I heard that, I left my cell, went to the brother and prostrated myself before him in order to be reconciled with him. When I returned to my cell I found that my visitor had burned my mat on which I prostrated myself,. because he was so consumed with jealousy for our love. "

- From The Spiritual Meadow of John Moschos

Heartfelt Thanks

"Those who have been found worthy of using things as they ought to be used should in all humility give heartfelt thanks to God, for by His grace they have been freed from what is contrary to nature and from the transgression of the commandments. We, however, who are still subject to the passions and who still misuse things, and who therefore act in a manner that is contrary to nature, should tremble and in all gratitude should give heartfelt thanks to our Benefactor, astonished at His unutterable forbearance, in that though we have disobeyed His commandments, misused His creation and rejected His gifts, He endures our ingratitude and does not cease to confer His blessings on us, awaiting until our last breath for our conversion and repentance. "

- St. Peter of Damascus