Spiritual Counsel From A Christian Brother Who Is Orthodox In His
Faith
The following are answers to questions
emailed over to our brother in faith Anthony
As far as hoping for things in the
future - The Holy Fathers counsel us to live each day as though it were our last on earth.
In other words, live according to the circumstances that God has provided for us at
this particular time of life. As far as the future - "God's will be done,"
is the safe and true route to follow given by Our Lord Himself. You are weaning
yourself off of unhealthy attachments which prevent you from following God's will or
seeing His will clearly. True hope is to follow each day what God provides and
presents to us - unknown in our current state of fallen blindness. God will provide
for you, as He loves you dearly - set your hope on His will and rest secure that he will
not abandon you. It's always good to ask Him to be near you and for you to draw ever
closer to Him. However, you should allow Him to decide how that is accomplished.
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Question
"I would like to know what is our faith's position relative to witchcraft and
similar ungodly or paranormal activities."
The Lord Bless you,
I assume that you are also Orthodox? Obviously, witchcraft (the invoking of demons to
manipulate nature for ungodly purposes) is forbidden and breaks the first commandment to
have "no other gods before Me." The occult always tempts its followers with a
lust for imagined power. The more one trusts in this imagined power, the less one trusts
in God. Eventually, true spiritual life is sapped away and the soul becomes dead. The
devil always promises everything and delivers nothing. That is why he is called "the
father of lies."
Have you talked with an elder or sought advice from local clergy? I recommend that you
continually pray this short prayer... "Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God Have Mercy
on me a sinner!". Say it over and over - sincerely - that it not become a mere
repetition of words. Humble prayer is a powerful weapon against the Evil One and his
followers. Also, dedicate your home to the service of God. Believe in and ask your
guardian angel to protect you from harm to your soul and body. Consider the life of
Cyprian (a former sorcerer turned bishop and martyr for the faith) as a model in your life
www.ccel.org enter cyprian in the search text box.
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Make room for the reality of God's kingdom. Prepare a guest room in your heart for
the King without the clutter of your fantasies.
Thoughts alone are not sins. Entertaining them becomes sin, if we allow them to linger. If
you repulse them when you are consciously aware of them, you do well. However, they will
continue to appear and haunt you as they do all true strugglers for a virtuous life.
The enemy never sleeps and will always try new and different ways to distract you. Don't
despair, that is what the devil wants. He wants you to grow tired and give up the
fight. Don't fight him on your own, you will lose. Run to our ever merciful
God, then go about your business. Distract yourself with holy things and, even
though the enemy pounds you with thoughts and feelings, ignore them or reconstruct
yourself to a God-pleasing action which will focus your attention on something else.
Our Lord teaches us to not put any trust or confidence in man. Man in his fallen
state is always fickle, usually selfish and very unstable. Man is the "house
built upon sand." Fortunately, God is not that way. Only God will never
abandon us. He is always merciful and loving, and He is the "Rock" and
anchor to hold on to when the winds and waves beat against His house. Your only
safety is inside His house.
You have chosen so far to ignore the problem because of the pain it would cause you to
face it. The effect of this only delayed the pain, but it is necessary to go through
it in order to come out on the other side.
Never accept the thought that God doesn't understand. How can the one who wept over
Jerusalem (those he came to save) and said, "How I would have gathered thee as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but thou wouldest not" - not understand?
Don't
let your thoughts flood your spiritual engine or you'll stall and be more vulnerable to
real attack.
Be a little easier on yourself. God is merciful and full of love - you can be also.
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Not
every thought we have is our own, and we are free to accept it or reject it. It's good
that you can separate yourself from your thoughts and step outside of them in order to
examine them.
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Again, be patient. You want to heal properly and sometimes it just takes time. Treat
your wound gently and don't pick at it. Let the memories and pains of the past fade
in due time; let the medicine of God's grace given to you work within you and look forward
to the good things to come.
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“The Pearl of Great Price" is our Holy Faith and the practice of it.
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You have to be careful when reading spiritual writings written in general to a multitude
of people. We are all on different levels of experience and understanding.
Don’t take an idealized view of every spiritual instruction you read.
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How do you overcome pride and your own self-will? Be obedient to your
husband. He is the instrument of your salvation. You may not always agree with him,
but that is exactly what "hammers" pride away. When you obey your husband (and I
don't just mean a blind adherence to what he says, I mean a respect of his ideas for you
and the family) you ARE obeying God. That inner struggle with our own will teaches us to
learn to follow God's will.
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God's will is expressed in the voice of your own conscience. It will tell you if you've
made a bad decision. If you keep your conscience clean with frequent examination and
confession, God will speak clearly to you. It is true that we can bury our conscience and
it becomes dull and we no longer hear it well, but it is still there.
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Frequent "confession" of your daily thoughts, troubles, judgments, etc. is very
helpful the ancient fathers understood how helpful daily confession of thoughts can
be. It relieves the pressure-cooker of anger and resentment. God is always and
everywhere present waiting for our prayerful confession.
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Most arguments involve possessing something; either something material or something
perceived as a "right" which is really a privilege. When you learn to truly give
up what doesn't belong to you in the first place, then peace follows.
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Sometimes you try too hard. Spiritual life should be natural and spontaneous. You are
a bit impatient with yourself and lean towards the dangerous area of scruples. Pride
underlies all of these things and tries to put on an show of outward remorse but is truly
based on emotional turmoil to mask its presence. Be patient with yourself and know that it
really does take time to assimilate and mature spiritually.
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Regarding anger, I have learned to look for any truth that may come to me in the heated
words of another's argument against me. Sometimes God speaks to us through our
enemies. Saint Nicolai Velimirovich wrote that his enemies have taught him more
about himself than his "friends." (He wrote those words while in a Nazi
concentration camp.) There is no doubt that "enemies" can stir up
powerful, negative emotions within our passionate heart. It is good to withdraw to a
quiet place - either physically or within ones thoughts - to examine what was said. Try
not to form an attachment to what has entered the mind without due examination. Too often,
we don't do this and instead we react with pure emotion from a troubled heart. The heart
may indeed be troubled (and angered) but we must try not to spew out emotions of sympathy
with the angry words of another. If we remain angry over something after due examination,
then try to bring it out before someone you trust to help resolve it. This would be
the best remedy.
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Keep praying for God's will to be done in you, and for joyful acceptance.
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When a task needs to be done and you have asked politely that if it had been done,
and then you are ignored...you should calmly and with the Jesus prayer on your lips (see
above) and the words of Our Lord in your thoughts - "when a brother asks for your
coat, give him your cloak also, when he asks you to walk a mile, go with him two
miles”- do the task yourself, CHEERFULLY for God's sake. Nothing will prick another
conscience more than to see you doing the task they should have done. The cheerful part
may be hard, but if it is... it shows that there is something within us to correct. Once
corrected, we can then teach others. "Cast the beam out of your own eye..."
"No greater love has any man but that he lay down his life for his
friends." You are sacrificing what you think you want for what is good for all,
which you should see as good for you, too.
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Of course, the
Orthodox Christian view of the Sabbath - a day that God “rested” from His
creative labors - refers to a foreshadowing of the day that Christ “rested” or
“slept” in the tomb on the Sabbath before His Glorious Resurrection. In other
words, Jesus’ death as a man.
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That God
would “rest” is an awesome concept to a finite human understanding. How
could God sustain the universe in all places and all times if he “rested” or
turned his attention away for a moment – we would cease to exist. As God, He
never “rests” but as man He did. This shows his true humanity, and by
assuming our mortal nature He tasted death. The enemy of mankind, (the result of sin
and turning from God) who is called death – thought that it had found another victim
in Christ. But when death swallowed Life itself , it (“death”)
was conquered and defeated. Death died.
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Remember the parable
of the Sower and his Seed. Hard and stony ground is only made “soft” and
ready for planting by much water and tilling. Sometimes only God Himself can reach a
hardened and stony heart. If such is the case, we supply the tears of our prayers
for others. As you know, God loves us and will hear our tearful prayers – and
when we pray that other hearts may become fertile for Him, he will give opportunity for us
to give His love to others in small but meaningful ways. Remember the apostles were
taught not to worry about what to say, when the time is right – God will provide.
Anthony +
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