NickK
Robin
The idea of this thread is to help build up our spiritual lives.
This forum is a great place for information on the workings of the anti-Christ system, but focusing only on that and neglecting our spiritual lives can only lead to despair and an inclination to use the One Ring to defeat Sauron, so to speak.
So, please post any edifying quotes or whole book passages from the Orthodox Tradition you come across. I'll start:
Elder Pavlos of Sinai* († March 1, 2020)
—How can we become a spiritual person and acquire the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Is there a recipe?
—Of course—it’s the spiritual recipe given to us by Christ. The Apostles, the Fathers of the Church, and the saints followed it. The Church recorded it in the sacred books, in the patericons, in the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, in its daily life. And everyone can act according to it and see its effect on themselves.
The goal of an Orthodox Christian is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. To become a good person is not the goal, and there are very good people outside of Christianity. To become a spirit-bearing person, to receive the Holy Spirit within yourself, is something different. The main thing is to purify yourself from the passions, because the Holy Spirit cannot enter into a heart polluted by them. There is no nationalism in Orthodoxy—there is neither Greek, nor Jew. What’s important is how much you’ve liberated yourself from the passions.
The Holy Spirit seeks a pure heart and takes up abode within it. Such a person lives continually in the presence of the Holy Spirit: He finds inner silence and reconciles himself, first of all, with God, and with himself and others. He who has a pure heart does not divide people into good and bad. What’s important to him is not “real reality,” but “spiritual reality.” He hopes to be saved. He never despairs, does not lose hope in difficult circumstances. Such is a grace-filled, spirit-bearing person. …
This forum is a great place for information on the workings of the anti-Christ system, but focusing only on that and neglecting our spiritual lives can only lead to despair and an inclination to use the One Ring to defeat Sauron, so to speak.
So, please post any edifying quotes or whole book passages from the Orthodox Tradition you come across. I'll start:
Elder Pavlos of Sinai* († March 1, 2020)
—How can we become a spiritual person and acquire the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Is there a recipe?
—Of course—it’s the spiritual recipe given to us by Christ. The Apostles, the Fathers of the Church, and the saints followed it. The Church recorded it in the sacred books, in the patericons, in the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, in its daily life. And everyone can act according to it and see its effect on themselves.
The goal of an Orthodox Christian is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. To become a good person is not the goal, and there are very good people outside of Christianity. To become a spirit-bearing person, to receive the Holy Spirit within yourself, is something different. The main thing is to purify yourself from the passions, because the Holy Spirit cannot enter into a heart polluted by them. There is no nationalism in Orthodoxy—there is neither Greek, nor Jew. What’s important is how much you’ve liberated yourself from the passions.
The Holy Spirit seeks a pure heart and takes up abode within it. Such a person lives continually in the presence of the Holy Spirit: He finds inner silence and reconciles himself, first of all, with God, and with himself and others. He who has a pure heart does not divide people into good and bad. What’s important to him is not “real reality,” but “spiritual reality.” He hopes to be saved. He never despairs, does not lose hope in difficult circumstances. Such is a grace-filled, spirit-bearing person. …