The Three Powers of the Soul and Their Curative Exercises

By St. Theophan the Recluse

In the soul we find three powers: the intellect, the will, the heart, or, as the Holy Fathers say, the intellectual, desiring and incensive powers. Each of them is assigned particular curative exercises by the holy ascetics. These related exercises are both receptive and conducive to grace. They need not be contrived according to some theory, but rather chosen from tested ascetic labors particularly suited to a given power:

For the mind

1) Reading and hearing the Word of God, the writings of the Holy Fathers and the lives of the God-pleasers. 2) Studying and impressing upon yourself all the God-given truths in brief statements (the catechesis). 3) Asking questions of those older and more experienced. 4) Mutual informative discourse with friends.

For the will

1) Submission to the whole church rule. 2) Submission to civil order, or to family duty, for they are conduits of God's will. 3) Obedience to God's will as manifested in your fate. 4) Obeying your conscience in the doing of good deeds. 5) Subjecting yourself to the spirit that is zealous to fulfill its vows.

For the heart

1) Attending holy Church services. 2) Prayer, as specified by the Church; home prayer rule. 3) Using holy crosses, icons and other sacred substances and objects. 4) Observing holy customs established and promoted by the Church....
There are three powers: the intellect, the will and the senses. Corresponding exercises are given to them. They act directly to develop the powers, but in a way that does not quell the spirit-to the contrary, it ignites the spirit more and more. The latter serves as a measure and stabilizer to the former, which subjects itself to the latter to the point of speechless submission or even total cessation

To Be continued...

From The Path to Salvation

Karma and Christianity

I'm always amazed when I hear self-proclaimed Christians attribute something happening to being caused by karma. I'm sure that when some say it, they're just using it as a phrase, kind of an, "I deserved that." But there are some Christians I know that truly say they believe in karma. They believe that what goes around, comes around.

Karma is a direct contradiction of Christianity. There is no way you can accept the message of Jesus and also accept the idea of karma. Not only is it not compatible with Christian doctrine, but it's just plain illogical.

I'll start by really explaining what karma is defined as. When you really look at it, karma is just about cause and effect. If you do good things, good things will happen to you. If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. When you apply this to the idea of reincarnation (the origin of the idea of karma), then a person that leads a good life will be reincarnated into a higher state of being, while a person that leads a bad life will be reincarnated into a lower state of being. The way you live your life causes you to either be rewarded or punished.

Whether or not you attribute karma to reincarnation, the idea of "what goes around comes around" is not at all compatible with Christianity. Christianity teaches that we all have done bad things, and we all deserve punishment. We can't atone for our misdeeds by trying to do good deeds. Salvation and eternal life (the reward) is only found through Christ. No person is more or less deserving of the reward.

Christianity believes in grace, not karma. They are two completely contradictory ideas, and you cannot logically believe in both. Karma says you get the reward or punishment that you deserve. Grace says you get the reward even if you deserve the punishment.

So when you're giving your waitress a big tip, do so because you want to be gracious, like Christ, not because you want to rack up some "good karma" in hopes that you'll somehow benefit later down the road.

Christopher Cummings
http://www.christophermcummings.com/2009/04/karma-and-christianity.html

On Judgement by Fire

In April, European airlines and air travel were thrown into chaos by a volcano in Iceland. In July Poland, Romania and Moldova in particular were hit by terrible floods. Now Russia has been struck by a terrible heat wave, drought and forest fires.

All these countries have been hit by ‘natural’ crises, that is, the crises which happen in the fallen and so unnatural world. Now the word ‘crisis’ means judgement in Greek.

Through a volcano, Europeans are judged and taught that they can do nothing on account of a mere volcano and to stop relying on their feeble human ‘technology’ and pray. Through floods Eastern Europeans are judged and taught to stop relying on deforestation in order to pay for Western consumer goods and to pray.

Through fire Russians are judged and taught that they can no longer keep the remains of their worst enemy, the idol of the antichrist-Lenin, preserved in their chemical soup in the centre of Moscow, together with his countless statues and places named after him and his murderous followers, that they must stop aborting their children and so their national future, stop committing suicide by drinking themselves to death, stop bribe-taking and so stealing from each other, stop abusing each another in daily life and learn that Western consumerism does not bring long-term happiness, only short-term convenience.

It is no good Russians blaming science fiction for a terrible heat wave and drought. The good news is that God is in control of the climate. The bad news - for the unrepentant - is that God will not intervene in the climate or in any human affair until all ask Him to do so. When all Russia, and not just the Churched few, goes down on its knees and repents, not only in words but also in deeds, then the heat, the drought and the fires will stop and God’s rain will fall on the earth and refresh it as with the dew of His grace.

It is no good Western Europeans accusing or gloating at Russia’s misfortune. Russian misfortune was taken there from the West. Their misfortune is that they accepted it. Today a ‘natural’ catastrophe is there, tomorrow a’ natural’ catastrophe will be here. Let us all pray to the Lord and so all repent, that He may intervene and help us all to fight against our common human spiritual disease of sin. The fires of nature will only stop in the forest when the fires of repentance begin in the soul. This is the Divine law. Let us heed it.

http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/byfire.htm

Heaven on Earth

By Saint John of Kronstadt




The Divine Liturgy is truly a heavenly service upon earth, during which God Himself, in a particular, immediate, and most close manner, is present and dwells with me, being Himself the invisible Celebrant of the service, offering and being offered. There is nothing upon earth holier, higher, grander, more solemn, more life-giving than the Liturgy. The temple, at this particular time, becomes an earthly heaven; those who officiate represent Christ Himself, the angels, the cherubim, seraphim and Apostles.



The Liturgy is the continually repeated solemnization of God's love to mankind, and of His all-powerful mediation for the salvation of the whole world, and of every member separately: the marriage of the Lamb-the marriage of the King's Son, in which the bride of the Son of God is every faithful soul; and the Giver of the bride-the Holy Spirit. With what prepared, pure, elevated souls it is therefore necessary to assist at the Liturgy, in order not to be amongst the number of those who, having no wedding garment, but a garment defiled by passions, were bound hand and foot, and cast out from the marriage feast into utter darkness. Whilst now, unfortunately, many do not even consider it necessary to attend the Liturgy at all; others only go out of habit, and go away in the same state of mind as they came, without elevated thoughts, without a contrite heart. Some stand in church irreverently, inattentively, without any concentration of mind, without any previous self-preparation at home by means of meditation and abstinence; and many manage to drink and eat more than they should before service. Before the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, the Hebrew people were ordered to prepare and cleanse themselves. In the Divine service, we have not a lesser event than God's descent upon Mouth Sinai, but a greater one: here before us is the very face of God the Lawgiver.



When the Lord appeared to Moses upon Mount Horeb in the bush, Moses was ordered to put off his shoes from his feet, but here is a greater manifestation of God than upon Horeb; there was only the prototype, here is the Typifier Himself. O, how we cling to earthly things! We do not even wish to devote one hour exclusively to God! Even during the Divine, most heavenly Liturgy we allow ourselves to think and dream of earthly things, and fill our souls with images and desires for earthly things, sometimes-alas-even with impure images; when we ought to be praying ardently, to be assiduously meditating upon this great mystery, to be repenting of our sins, longing and praying to be cleansed, sanctified, enlightened, renewed, and strengthened in the Christian life, and in the fulfilment of Christ's commandments; when we ought to be praying for the living and the dead; for the Liturgy is a sacrifice of propitiation, thanksgiving, praise and prayer. Great is the Liturgy! In it remembrance is made, not of the life of any great man, but that of God Incarnate, Who suffered and died for us, Who rose again ascended into heaven, and Who shall come again to judge the whole world!



Both learned and unlearned young men seldom go to church, and in general do not attend to their spiritual education, looking upon it as unnec-essary and giving themselves up to worldly vanity. Attention must be paid to this. It is the fruit of pride, of want of spiritual development. They consider attendance at church and Divine services as the business of the common people and women, forgetting that in the temple, angels officiate with trembling, together with men, and regard this as their highest bliss. Does not coldness towards public worship, towards Divine service, proceed from the fact that some do not understand it, and that others, although they have studied the science of Divine service, have been taught it dryly, without any examples, only according to the understanding? Whilst Divine service, being the high contemplation of the mind, is at the same time-and pre-eminently-the peace, sweetness and blessedness of the heart.



When you are in the temple, remember that you are in the living presence of the Lord God, that you stand before His face, before His eyes, in the living presence of the Mother of God, of the holy angels, and of the first-born of the Church-that is, our forefathers, the prophets, Apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, revered Fathers, the righteous, and all the saints. Always have the remembrance and consciousness of this when you are in the temple, and stand with devotion, taking part willingly and with all your heart in the Divine service.



In the Church we are freed from worldly enchantment and from the intoxication of worldly passions and desires; we become enlightened, sanctified, cleansed in our souls; we draw near to God, we are united with God ("Who, by Thy glorious childbirth, hast united God the Word with men"-Prayer to the Holy Mother of God at Compline). How worthily revered and loved should the temple of God be! How God's saints loved it! By means of its Divine services, the Orthodox Church educates us for the heavenly citizenship, by teaching us every virtue, exemplified by the lives of the Mother of God, and of all the saints, by purifying, sanctifying, and making us godly through the sacraments, and by giving unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (II Peter 1:3). Therefore, it is urgently necessary for us to frequent intelligently, reverently, and willingly the Divine services, especially on feast days and to take part in the sacraments of penitence and Holy Communion. But those who withdraw themselves from the Church and the Divine services become the victims of their passions and are lost.



Those who attend the Divine services of the Orthodox Church, and study the science of Divine service, must bear in mind that the service here on earth is a preparation for all-rejoicing service to God in heaven; that in serving God with the body, it is still more necessary to serve God with the soul and with a pure heart; that in hearing the Divine service, they must learn to serve God as those saints served Him, whose lives and works of faith, hope, and love we hear of during the Divine service; that God should be above all served by deed and truth, and not only by words and the tongue. We are called to serve God by our very being: we are given an upright stature in order that we may continually look upon God, thank and glorify Him; our understanding, heart, will and all feelings are given to us for the same purpose.



Truly, the temple is heaven upon earth; for where the throne of God is, where terrible Mysteries are celebrated, where the angels serve together with men, where the Almighty is unceasingly glorified, there is truly heaven, and the heaven of heavens. And thus let us enter into the temple of God, and above all, into the Holy of Holies, with fear of God, with a pure heart, laying aside all passions and every worldly care, and let us stand in it with faith and reverence, with understanding attention, with love and peace in our hearts, so that we may come away renewed, as though made heavenly; so that we may live in the holiness natural to heaven, not binding ourselves by worldly desires and pleasures.



In the Church are all our sweetest hopes and expectations, our peace, our joy, together with cleansing and sanctification. It is there that the truth of the future resurrection, of the victory over death, is so often announced. Who that loves life would not love the Church with all his heart! Everything that is best, most exalted, most precious, holy and wise, is found in the Church. In the Church is the ideal of mankind; the Church is heaven upon earth.



Excerpts from My Life in Christ, the Spiritual Diary of Saint John of Kronstadt

The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God

Commemorated on July 23, September 8 and on the Friday of the Bright Week

      

The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God is among the most venerable sacred items of the Russian Church. It is reknown throughout all the Slavic world: they venerate it in Russia, in Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and other places. Christians also of other confessions come for veneration of the wonderworking image of the MostHoly Mother of God, alongside the Orthodox. At the Pochaev Lavra, an ancient rampart of Orthodoxy, the wonderworking icon has resided about 400 years. (The account about the transfer of the icon to the Pochaev monastery is located under 8 September). The miracles, which issued forth from the holy icon, are numerous and are testified to in the monastery books with the inscriptions of the faithful, who with prayer have met with deliverance from unclean spirits, liberation from captivity, and sinners brought to their senses.

      The celebration in honour of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God on 23 July was established in memory of the deliverance Uspenie-Dormition Lavra monastery from a Turkish siege on 20-23 July 1675.

      In the Summer of 1675 during the time of the Zbarazhsk War with the Turks, during the reign of the Polish king Jan Sobesski (1674-1696), regiments composed of Tatars under the command of khan Nurredin via Vishnevets fell upon the Pochaev monastery, surrounding it on three sides. The weak monastery walls, just like some of the stone buildings of the monastery, did not offer much defense against a siege. The hegumen Iosif Dobromirsky urged the brethren and laypeople to turn themselves to Heavenly intercessors: to the MostHoly Mother of God and the Monk Job of Pochaev (Comm. 28 October). The monks and the laypeople prayed fervently, prostrating themselves before the wonderworking image of the Mother of God and the reliquary with the relics of the Monk Job. On the morning of 23 July with the rising of the sun, as the Tatars were holding a final meeting about an assault on the monastery, the hegumen ordered the singing of an akathist to the Mother of God. With the first words, "O Queen of the Heavenly Hosts", suddenly there appeared over the church the MostHoly Mother of God Herself, in "an unfurled gleaming-white omophor", with heavenly angels holding unsheathed swords. The Monk Job was beside the Mother of God, bowing to Her and beseeching the defense of the monastery. The Tatars took the heavenly army for an apparition, and in confusion they began to shoot arrows at the MostHoly Mother of God and the Monk Job, but the arrows fell backwards and wounded those who shot them. Terror seized the enemy. In a flight of panic and without looking, they trampled upon and killed each other. The defenders of the monastery attempted pursuit and took many prisoner. Some of the prisoners afterwards accepted the Christian faith and remained at the monastery thereafter.

      In the year 1721 Pochaev was occupied by Uniates. But even in this difficult time for the Lavra, the monastery chronicle notes 539 miracles from the glorified Orthodox sacred image. During the time of the Uniate rule in the 2nd half of the XVIII Century, for example, the Uniate nobleman count Nicholas Pototski became a benefactor of the Pochaev Lavra through the following miraculous circumstance. Having accused his coachman for overturning the carriage with frenzied horses, the count took out a pistol to shoot him. The coachman, turning towards Pochaev Hill, reached his hands upwards and cried out: "Mother of God, manifest in the Pochaev Icon, save me!" Pototski several times tried to shoot the pistol, which had never let him down, but the weapon misfired. The coachman remained alive. Pototski then immediately set off to the wonderworking icon and decided to devote himself and all his property to the building-up of the monastery. From his wealth was built the Uspenie-Dormition cathedral and buildings for the brethren.

      The return of Pochaev into the bosom of Orthodoxy in 1832 was marked by the miraculous healing of the blind maiden Anna Akimchukova, who had come on pilgrimage to the holy things together with her 70 year old grandmother, from Kremenets-Podol'sk 200 versts away. In memory of this event, the Volynia archbishop and Lavra archimandrite Innokentii (1832-1840) established weekly on Saturdays the reading of the cathedral akathist before the wonderworking icon. During the time of the rule of the Lavra by archimandrite Agathangel, archbishop of Volynia (1866-1876), there was constructed a separate chapel in the galleries of the Holy Trinity church in memory of the victory over the Tatars, which was dedicated on 23 July 1875.

translator Fr. S. Janos.

http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/July/23-01.htm