A zine to inspire truth seeking and soul searching amidst the modern age of nihilism and despair. What do we mean by: "DEATH TO THE WORLD"?
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"The world is the general name for all passions. When we wish to call the passions by a common name, we call them the world. But when we wish to distinguish them by their special names, we call them passions. The passions are the following: love of riches, desire for possessions, bodily pleasures from which comes sexual passion, love of honor gives rise to envy, lust for power, arrogance and pride
of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothing and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancor and resentment, and physical fear. Where these passions cease to be active, there the world is dead....
Someone has said of the Saints that while alive they were dead; for though living in the flesh, they did not live for the flesh. See for which of these passions you are alive. Then you will know how far you are alive to the world, and how far you are dead to it." --St. Isaac the Syrian, 7th Century
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Saint Gregory Palamas & Orthodox Spirituality
Saint Herman calendar from 2012 honoring the thirtieth year of Father Seraphim’s repose.
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Let all mortal flesh keep silence and stand with fear and trembling, rendering nothing earthly minded. ☠️
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“Most people are so consumed by earthly concerns and possessions that they never get to feel the love of God.“ + Saint Paisios
“Love is when one becomes everything to all men, when he behaves sincerely with those whom he meets and with whom he lives, when he has no desire to impose his own will, but accepts the will of others as his own.”
Saint Sophrony
“When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.”
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
Be dead to this world and alive to the other world…
“Do not cling with your heart to anything, and do not make it the god of your heart; the sole God of our heart must be the Lord-God, Who created it: for our heart is His breath.
Do not cleave with your whole heart unto any person, that is to any flesh, for the sole God of our heart must be the Lord-God, and to Him only must we cleave. For attachment to material things, or to flesh, is a lie, an enticement of Satan and the will of the Devil. Amen.”
— St John of Kronstadt
“He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins.”
Maximus the Confessor
Spiritual Warfare. 🗡️
Every member of Thy holy Flesh endured dishonor for us; Thy head, the thorns; Thy face, the spittings; Thy cheeks, the smitings; Thy mouth, the taste of vinegar mingled with gall; Thine ears, the impious blasphemies; Thy back, the lash; Thy hand, the reed; the whole length of Thy body, the stretching upon the Cross; Thy joints, the nails; and Thy side, the spear. O Thou Who didst endure the Passion for us, and from the passions didst set us free; Who didst condescend to us in Thy love for man, and didst raise us up: O almighty Savior, have mercy on us.
📸: St Sophia in Dripping Springs, TX
☦︎ As we put to death the desires of the flesh, we will see, through prayer that the desires of the spirit will enhance our life and thereby increase our joy. A greater detachment from the empty pleasures this world offers will lead us to be more generous both in our almsgiving to others as well as in our time to God in worship and prayer. ☦︎
One cannot help looking upon the whole modern aberration as a kind of last "fall" of man, an imitation on a worldwide scale of the sin of the first man—the desire to be as God, to know fully. And who can say why God allows this— unless it be simply that in the end, as in the beginning, we confront Him.
There was no "reason" for the fall of the prodigal son— and yet how much joy there was on his return. Perhaps after all God "allowed" the modern age for the joy over the reception of repentant sinners at the end of it.
—Blessed Fr Seraphim (Eugene) Rose, January 18, 1961
Wisdom from St Ephraim of Katounakia.
“Whoever does not allow sleep to overcome him is worthy of praise. More worthy of praise, though, will be the one who has tears.“
“When you have joy in your soul, don’t write it down [that is, don’t give any significance to it]. Have you heard what the prophet David said: ‘and in my prosperity I said, I shall not be moved’ (Ps. 29:7 LXX)? But when you are sorrowful, again, don’t write, because later you will be sorry that you write it. Man’s soul, my boy, is constantly fluctuating. In the morning, rain; in the afternoon, sun.”
“Elder, how are we to achieve salvation?”
“By confession and Holy Communion. All the rest will follow.”
“My child, when you see defects in others, and especially in your elder, this is a sign that your spiritual level has diminished.”
“My child, the reward of hesychia is to regard others as angels.”
“If I say a hundred prayers a day in the hesychia of Katounakia, and you say the prayers, amidst the tumult of the city and your professional and family obligations, then we are equal.”
“We think we know a lot, but what we know is very little. Even all those who have striven all their life to bring progress to mankind — learned scientists and highly educated people — all realize in the end that all their knowledge is but a grain of sand on the seashore. All our achievements are insufficient.”
+ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives
//ENTER\\ :: A MIRACLE OF THE THREE HIERARCHS
We stayed with Fr. Ilie Lacatusu (+1983) four years in Periprava at the Danube Delta.
He was greatly distinguished for his internal strength and silence. Rarely did you hear him speak, and when you did he had something important to say.
Frequently he exhorted us to pray when we were in a dangerous situation. This man, I must say, was truly humble. He never wanted to come to the surface, but always tried to remain unnoticed.
I remember a miraculous event that took place at the Danube Delta, in which Fr. Ilie played a significant role. On January 30th they sent us to the channel to cut bladderworts. Do you understand what this means in the middle of winter? Certain death. We were further dismayed by the fact that the guards had four guns with them. Maybe they wanted to execute us, believing that we will refuse to execute the order.
There was an opening there in the water around forty hectares, and the bladderworts were beyond deep. Everyone started telling each other that they will not enter the water. They ordered us to go in and gather two sets.
For whom were we doing this? It was without purpose. How could you enter the water? If you step into the swamp, who will pull you out? At first, we hesitated. Then Fr. Ilie decided to encourage us, saying: “Enter, because they are having bad thoughts. They will shoot us. Enter and the Panagia with the Three Hierarchs will get us out unharmed and sound.”
We entered. The water reached up to our chins. We worked as if we were on dry land. For others the water was up to their necks, while others to their chest, and others to their midsection, whatever it happened to be for each of us. We were in the water for three hours and nicely brought out what they asked from us, tidy and of the same size.
The temperature was -30 below and the ice had a thickness of 20-20 centimeters. Yellow blooming water lilies could be seen under the ice. A great miracle happened that day. That morning it was foggy, the sky was cloudy and the cold pierced your bones. Suddenly the sun came out. There came such a warmth that even the guards were surprised. We took our clothes off to dry them, and it was like we put them on the warmest stove, as the vapors came out. We dressed and returned to the prison.
Thus the Panagia and the Three Hierarchs were with us and helped us on that icy thirtieth day of January. Nobody got sick. If it wasn’t for the prayers of Fr. Ilie, we would all have died.
Printed in Issue 28
“…And when Death came to feed according to his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death. This is the food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one fruit which Death swallowed hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily.”
+St Ephraim the Syrian
+ Blessed Hieromonk Father Seraphim Rose +
“Just as incense is good and fragrant even on its own, but displays its fragrance properly when it comes in contact with fire, so it is with prayer. It is good even on its own, but it becomes even better and more fragrant when it is offered up with a warm and ardent soul, when the soul becomes a censer and is burning with fierce fire. . . First set your heart on fire by your eagerness, and then pray.”
+St. John Chrysostom
These three things God requires of all the Baptized: right faith in the heart, truth on the tongue, temperance in the body.
+Saint Gregory the Theologian
“The Lord loves all people, but He loves those who seek Him even more. To his chosen ones the Lord gives such great grace that for love they forsake the whole earth, the whole world, and their souls burn with desire that all people might be saved and see the glory of the Lord.”
(St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, IX.8)
“To produce something new is always a gamble, and God’s creation of man in His image and after His likeness involved a certain degree of risk. It was not that He risked introducing an element of instability or shock into His Eternal Being but that to give man god-like freedom shut the door against predestination in any form. Man is at full liberty to determine himself negatively in relation to God — even to enter into conflict with Him. As infinite love, the Heavenly Father cannot abandon man whom He created for eternity, in order to impact to him His divine plenitude. He lives with us our human tragedy. We appreciate this risk, so breath-taking in its majesty, when we contemplate the life of Christ on earth.”
Sophrony Sakharov, His Life Is Mine
“Some passions are bodily, other spiritual. Bodily passions have their sources in the body, while spiritual ones come from external things. But love and temperance cut out both the one and the other: Love cuts out spiritual passions, and temperance bodily ones.”
(St. Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love, 1.64)
“Do not be surprised if you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel that guards you will honor your patience.”
St. John Climacus.
“One should not say that it is impossible to reach a virtuous life; but one should say that it is not easy. Nor do those who have reached it find it easy to maintain. Those who are devout and whose intellect enjoys the love of God participate in the life of virtue; the ordinary intellect, however, is worldly and wavering, producing both good and evil thoughts, because it is changeful by nature and directed towards material things. But the intellect that enjoys the love of God punishes the evil which arises spontaneously because of man’s laziness.“ + Saint Anthony The Great
“Without a struggle and shedding your blood, don’t expect freedom from the passions. Our earth produces thorns and thistles after the Fall. We have been ordered to clean it, but only with much pain, bloody hands, and many sighs are the thorns and thistles uprooted. So weep, shed streams of tears, and soften the earth of your heart. Once the ground is wet, you can easily uproot the thorns.”
+ Saint Joseph the Hesychast
“Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God. If we are under an obligation to perform daily all the good actions of which our nature is capable, what do we have left over to give to God in repayment for our past sins?” + St. Nicodemus
“Whoever wants to approach prayer without a guide, and proudly thinks that he can learn from books, and won’t go to an elder, is already halfway into delusion. But the Lord helps the humble, and if there is no experienced guide, and he goes to a confessor, whoever he may be, then the Lord will cover him because of his humility.”
(St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, II.1)
“We breathe God; we are vested with God; we touch God; we consume God in the Mystery. Wherever you turn, wherever you look, God is everywhere: in the heavens, on the earth, in the abysses, in the trees, within the rocks, in your nous, in your heart.” + Saint Joseph the Hesychast
“When a man is given over to the passions, he does not see them in himself and does not fight against them, because he lives in them and by them. But when the grace of God becomes active in him, he begins to discern the passionate and sinful in himself, acknowledge them, and to repent and decide to guard against them. A struggle begins. At first, the struggle begins with deeds, but when released from shameful deeds, then the struggle begins with shameful thoughts and feelings. And here the struggle encounters many steps ... The struggle continues. The passions increasingly are torn out of the heart. It even happens that they are entirely torn out ... The sign that the passions are torn out of the heart
is that the soul begins to feel repulsion and hatred for the passions.”
(St. Theophan the Recluse, How the Spiritual Life Proceeds)
Christmas night. A holy and wise hermit prays, kneeling for hours in the holy cave in Bethlehem. In the cave, that 400 years ago had hosted our newborn Christ. The hermit is none other than the great Church Father, St. Jerome, who recorded what had happened.
That night the saint had left his hermitage, which is close to the Holy Cave, and decided to stay up all night and pray in the Holy Manger.
His heart was full of gratitude for the great gift of God who descended to Earth, becoming man to save us from the slavery of sin, from the tyranny of the devil and the claws of death!
Complete silence prevailed that night in the sacred area ...
Suddenly he hears his name in a soft voice:
-Jerome!
The Saint surprised ... looks around puzzled ... nothing ... nobody was there.
-Jerome! The same voice was heard ...
Yes! It was coming From the Holy Grotto ... and made his heart tremble, shocked.
-Jerome, What gift will you give Me tonight for My feast?
It was Truly the sweet voice of Jesus.
The saint burst into tears:
Oh Lord, You know that for You, i left everything: The Palace of the Emperor, the greatness of Rome, comfort. My heart, my thoughts, everything to You is directed! What can I offer you? I have nothing!
-And Yet, Jerome, there’s something more that you can and should offer Me ... It will please Me more than any other offering, and this I want ...
The Saint thought ... spent a few minutes and then dared to whisper..
-Lord, I cannot think of anything ... Tell me Lord, what else can i offer You that I cannot think of it myself?
A Short time of silence passed and the voice of Christ was heard again:
-Jerome, Your sins I want. Give Me your sins!
- My sins? What will you do with my sins Lord?
-I want your sins so that i can forgive you them,that’s why I came to the world, Jesus answered and a deep silence prevailed.
Shocked, St. Jerome began to shed tears, tears of gratitude, that flooded the Holy Cave all night long.
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He left us the practical advice to remember every Christmas ,that the best gift to offer our Savior is our repentance for our sins. This is the best celebration of the feast ...
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In refusing to think of the good, men began to conceive of things that do not exist. -St Athanasius the Great.
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