Modern Orthodox Elders

12/08/2022

It has been an honor to post these quotations from modern Elders of the Orthodox Church for the last few years. However, for a variety of reasons this page will not longer have new material added. I do plan to incorporate more quotes from Elders (shorter of course) in this page which has also been around for a while and which should be for years to come...
https://www.facebook.com/OrthodoxQuotes

An Orthodox Christian quote each day which applies ancient wisdom to modern life.

11/13/2022

St Nikolai Velimirovich on Trails That Come…
What does it mean to take up your cross? It means the willing acceptance, at the hand of Providence, of every means of healing, that is offered, bitter though it may be. Do great catastrophes fall on you? Be obedient to God’s will, as Noah was. Is sacrifice demanded of you? Give yourself into God’s hands with the same faith as Abram had when he went to sacrifice his son. Is your property ruined? Do your children die suddenly? Suffer it all with patience, cleaving to God in your heart, as Job did. Do your friends forsake you, and you find yourself surrounded by enemies? Bear it all without grumbling, and with faith that God’s help is at hand, as the apostles did.
- Quote from His Writings

11/06/2022

An Anonymous Parable About Salvation…
A certain judge, a righteous Muslim, invited to his house an Orthodox Abbot who was ascetising in a monastery nearby. As they were having dinner, he asked the abbot: “You are a wise man. So tell me this. I am a judge, a Muslim, and I obey the laws of my faith. I judge impartially, do not take bribes, feed the poor, pray and fast. I live by the will of Allah. How can I not inherit the Kingdom?”

The abbot replied: “Do you have children, good man?”

“Yes” answered the judge.

“And do you have servants?”

“Of course, I do!”

“Who obeys you more – your children or your servants?”
“My servants. They listen to my every word. They go out of their way to please me. And my children… They are often haughty, obstinate and disobedient.”

The abbot said: “When you die, who will you leave your estate to – your children or servants?”

“My children, of course!” – exclaimed the judge.

“It is the same way with the Kingdom. You may be an ideal servant, but a son will inherit the estate. There is only one way you can become one – Jesus,” concluded the abbot.
- Translated by The Catalogue of Good Deeds

10/30/2022

Martyr Archbishop John of Riga on Accepting Trials…
It is true when they say that a man tolerates least of all his own well-being. Days of happiness, days of success, when everything goes according to one's wishes-how many times have such days woven a fatal net which captures man’s soul What dissoluteness grows in man's heart, like rust on the blade of a battle sword when it lies unused, or like a garden which becomes overgrown if not tended by the gardener's shears. Tell me, O Christian, what preserves you from the haughtiness which so easily penetrates even the strongest hearts, even the hearts of Christ's disciples? Is it not the cross and suffering? What humbles the passionate inclinations of the flesh which so quickly and easily spread in times of well-being and prosperity, like insects in a swamp on a sunny day? What teaches you to shun this uncleanness? Is it not the rod of misfortunes and sorrows? What arouses you from the sleep of self-assurance in which we are so easily lulled to sleep by times of earthly happiness? Or what is more conducive to lazy vegetation than cloudless, carefree days of prosperity? At such times, isn't a storm to be welcomed? What will draw you out of the dangerous state of insensibility? Will not sorrows? Will not illness? What tears us away from our worldly attachments, the love for the world and all that is in it? Is it not necessity and misfortunes? Do not trials teach us to take life more seriously? Do not sorrows teach us to be prepared for death? Wild brambles in the heart cannot be uprooted without the pruning shears of the heavenly Gardener, and the good fruit of truth and righteousness will not grow without the rain of tears and sorrows. True obedience cannot be experienced other than by the drinking of the bitter cup of grief, when one can only say: "Not my will, but Thine be done, Father..." And submission to the will of God is never seen so clearly as in days and hours of storm, when in the midst of threatening and frightful waves the Christian gives himself totally into the hands of Him Whose very hands hold these tempests and waves - When can the steadfastness, courage and strength of a soldier of Christ be better demonstrated than' when trials and obstacles must be turned into Christian deeds, than in the war against evil or in times of danger? All the noble strength of the Christian soul, of the Christian character, shines forth most brightly in times of distress, misfortune, and suffering. All the miracles of God's grace are most evident in times when the waters of grief and misfortune flood our souls and we are forced to recognize our helplessness, our weakness-and surrender all our strength and understanding to Almighty God.

- From ‘The Inevitability of Suffering’

10/30/2022

Elder St Porphyrios on Pentecost…
A little further on we read, and fear came upon every soul. This ‘fear’
was not exactly fear. It was something else, something alien, something
incomprehensible, something.. .something we cannot say what. It was
awe, it was a sense of being filled, it was grace. It was being filled with divine grace. At Pentecost the people suddenly found themselves in
such a state of assimilation to God that they were overcome with con-
fusion. So when the divine grace overshadowed them it made them all
mad — in a good sense — it enthused them, filled them with God. This
has made a great impression on me. It was what I sometimes call a
‘state’. It was enthusiasm. A state of spiritual madness.

And breaking bread in their various homes, they shared food in great
joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and having goodwill towards all
the people. And every day the Lord added to the Church those who were
being saved. The ‘breaking of bread’ was Holy Communion. And the number of those who were being saved increased continually, since people saw all
the Christians in a state of ‘great joy and simplicity of heart’ and ‘praising God’. The ‘great joy and simplicity of heart’ is like the fear came upon every soul . It is an enthusiasm and again a madness.
- Wounded by Love

10/23/2022

Mother Michaela on the Home...
When we put loving effort into making our home a place not only for our family but for Christ Himself, it becomes a little temple, a “home-church.” We have our special place for praying, we cense the icons, we light our oil lamps, we use Holy Water from the church, we anoint ourselves with holy oil, we read the Gospels, we say our daily prayers, we strive to live according to Christ s teaching, and we forgive one another at the close of each and every day. All of this cultivates an atmosphere of preparation for the Holy Spirit to come and abide in our hearts and in our home.

Our precious Mother, our Panagia, shows us the way. We turn to her and find rest. Just as she is our sure refuge, and shelter, and place of retreat, just so is our home an abode of refuge from the world when we sanctify it by doing all we can to invite the presence of the Lord into our midst. The Theotokos helps us greatly in this, because she invites us into her warm embrace, into the home of her own heart!

- Monthly Letter 08/22

10/16/2022

Elder St Porphyrios on Tongues…
“Whereas Peter the apostle was speaking his own tongue, the lan-
guage was instantaneously transformed in the mind of the hearers. In
an ineffable way the Holy Spirit made them understand his words in
their language, mystically, imperceptibly. These miraculous things
happen through the action of the Holy Spirit…‘house’ would be heard by the person who spoke French as ‘maison. It was a kind of gift of clear sight; they heard their own language. The sound struck their ears but in their minds, through divine illumina-
tion, the words were heard in their own tongue. The Church Fathers don’t reveal this interpretation of Pentecost very clearly, they aren't afraid of distorting the mystery. The same is true of the Revelation of Saint John. The uninitiated are unable to comprehend the meaning of the mystery of God.”
- Wounded by Love

10/09/2022

Elder Anthimos on Repentance Part 2
Repentance is very easy. It lies within man’s intention. St Mary of Egypt could not enter the church in Jerusalem, because some invisible power pushed her away. As soon as she recognized her offenses, she repented. She fell on her knees; she cried and chose the Lady Theotokos as the intercessor and guarantor of her repentance. Then she got up and entered into the church, venerated the Precious Cross, and then embarked on a life of repentance and ceaseless asceticism. We people must realize and become aware that we are only dust and ashes. A moment comes when the soul is separated from the material body, and this fear of perceived death startles people and leads them to repentance. Confession follows after this. The All-Good God did not appoint Angels to accept the errors of men. He appointed people who suffer the same things, bishops and priests, who are successors of the Apostles. The Apostles of Christ received all authority as He told them, 'As the Father sent me, I also send you' (John 20:21). Once He breathed on them, He continued, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosesoever sins you remit, they are remitted to them. Whosesoever sins you retain, are retained' (John 20:21-23).The Holy Apostles passed on this authority of remitting sins to their successors, and they subsequently passed it down to Orthodox priests who are Father Confessors, and they will pass it down to the close of the ages.

Man’s disposition, as we mentioned, is the power of the soul which dominates the body, and of the body which follows the soul. For this reason, if they transgress, both the soul and body will be condemned in eternal hell.
- Elder Anthimos of St Anne’s

10/09/2022

"So many spiritually blind men were learning and still learn from Leo Tolstoy, as they avidly read his works and fall into his net, alienating themselves from God, falling into despair and ending their own lives. These are the fruit of the devil’s talent sewn by the enemies of God."
(St John of Krondstadt on the great writer who apostatized)

10/08/2022

“Christians are strangers to everything in this world, but at the same time, they lovingly pray for everything around them—for the city and country where they live.”
(Early Church Epistle to Diogenes)

10/02/2022

Fr Alexey Young on Developing a Christian Conscience (Part 3)…
7. We should often, if not daily, examine our souls and repent of the sins we find there. St. Mark the Ascetic writes: “The conscience is nature’s book. He who applies what he reads there experiences God’s help.” …And then, as Blessed Theophan the Recluse counsels:
“Repent, and turn to the Lord, admit your sins, weep for them with heartfelt contrition, and confess them before your spiritual father.” St. Hesychios the Priest tells us that according to St. Basil the Great, “a great help towards not sinning and not committing daily the same faults is for us to review in our conscience at the end of each day what we have done wrong and what we have done right. Job did this with regard to both himself and to his children [cf. Job 1:5], These daily reckonings illumine a man’s hour-by-hour behaviour.”
8. Struggle mightily to avoid judging others. God alone has the right to judge, for as St. Tikhon of Zadonsk says:
“Do not judge others, for you cannot know what is inside the other man. Do not condemn, for he may still rise whilst you may fall. Be-ware of even talking about others, lest you start judging them. Enquiring into other people’s sin is a curiosity hateful to God and man…because, by judging, man usurps the powers of the only judge, Christ …. Above all, when judging another we cannot know whether perchance he has not already repented and been forgiven by God.”
- Orthodox America Vol 1 Issue 6

09/25/2022

Elder Anthimos on Repentance Part 1
"Repentance”Repentance is the renewal of Baptism. For this reason, a person makes promises at Baptism, or a godparent promises for him, so also at repentance, once he admits his faults, he also promises not to commit them again. God's infinite compassion gave us this Mystery of Repentance and canceling our wicked faults, so that we can be saved and can partake of unending blessedness. Our repentance cleanses us and makes us sinless again. It whitens the defiled robe of our soul and puts the robe of incorruption on us. It is a new covenant with God, and for this reason he says: 'He*who is baptized and believes shall be saved, while he who disbelieves shall be condemned' (Matt. 16:16). Then, he who transgresses in something and repents is cleansed from his filth, his faults are forgiven and he is saved.

There is no greater example than St Mary of Egypt (April 1). She transgressed greatly, her flesh became a vessel of pleasure, she led a multitude of pleasure-loving men to perdition, but with repentance she ascended the whole ladder of virtues. She surpassed in virtue even those Angels. While in the body, St Mary walked on the surface of the river Jordan like an incorporeal being. She reached measures of holiness, the Angels were afraid, the demons trembled, and people marveled and still marvel. For this reason we have her as an example of practical repentance. No matter how much we transgress, we repent and are justified with God’s grace. We offer repentance, God the grace. He renews us, He cleanses us, He saves us, according to His infinite mercy. This was also the purpose of His incarnation. He told it to us: 'I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance' (Matt. 8:13).”
- 'Elder Anthimos of St Anne’s'