Philokalia Ministries

Here Isaac is not giving us a technique for moral improvement. He is unveiling an icon. Behind his austere language of toil and Scripture and withdrawal stands a single, luminous vision: the human heart being slowly remade into the dwelling place of God. Asceticism is not a set of behaviors aimed at self mastery. It is the patient clearing of space so that the Trinity may come to rest within us. Everything Isaac names flows from this one mystery. He begins with what looks like a chain of practices. Bodily toil guards purity. Scripture sustains the toil. Hope and fear steady the soul. Prayer and withdrawal from men protect the heart. But Isaac is not describing a ladder that climbs upward by human effort. He is describing how the soul is held open until it can be seized by the Spirit. These disciplines do not save. They keep us available for salvation. They prevent the heart from sealing itself against grace. This is why Isaac speaks so soberly about the Scriptures. Until the Comforter has come and taken up His dwelling in the depths of the person we need the written word to keep us from drifting into forgetfulness and fantasy. The Scriptures are not information. They are a form of remembrance. They press the shape of Christ into the memory of the heart so that when our mind is scattered and the passions begin to speak their lies we are not carried away from our true homeland. But Isaac also knows that even Scripture is provisional. There comes a moment when the teaching no longer comes from without but from within. When the Spirit penetrates the noetic powers of the soul the heart itself becomes the book. The same Word who once spoke in letters now speaks in fire. This is not a rejection of Scripture but its fulfillment. The written Gospel gives way to the living Christ engraved upon the heart. Here we touch the heart of Eastern Christian mysticism. Salvation is not merely a verdict. It is a transformation of perception. The center of knowing shifts. The ego no longer stands as the interpreter of reality. The Spirit becomes the teacher. And because this teaching comes from God Himself it is not lost. It does not evaporate under distraction or suffering. It remains as a living memory of communion. Isaac then strikes at something that terrifies the ego. He distinguishes between good thoughts and a good heart. We are accustomed to judging ourselves by the surface weather of the mind. We watch our thoughts rise and fall like waves and imagine that our worth before God is decided by their movement. Isaac says this is an illusion. Thoughts come and go like sea winds. They stir the waters but they do not constitute the depths. The heart is the foundation. It is the place where we truly consent or refuse. A person may be flooded with thoughts and yet remain rooted in God. Another may have refined ideas and yet be inwardly turned toward self. What matters is not the agitation of the surface but the direction of the ground beneath it. This is a devastating word for the controlling ego. We want to manage our thoughts. We want to produce holiness by technique. We want to ensure our standing before God by monitoring every inner movement. Isaac tells us that this entire project is misguided. If judgment were passed on every thought we would be condemned and justified a thousand times a day. That is not how God sees us. God looks at the heart. He looks at where we have placed our deepest trust. And here the abyss opens. To let go of the ego is not to become passive or vague. It is to cease making ourselves the measure of reality. It is to fall into the love of God without conditions. The heart that consents to this fall becomes a foundation of peace even while the mind continues to be stirred by many winds. This is why the saints can live in such freedom. They are no longer organized around self protection. They have entrusted themselves to the Paschal mystery. For Isaac all of this is Christological. The Spirit who teaches the heart is the Spirit poured out by the crucified and risen Lord. The abyss into which we fall is the same abyss into which Christ descended in His self emptying love. To enter this path is to be drawn into the very life of the Trinity. We are no longer managing ourselves toward virtue. We are being re created from within by divine love. This is the beauty of the ascetical mystical tradition of the East. It does not offer self improvement. It offers transfiguration. It does not promise control. It invites surrender. It does not measure us by the turbulence of our thoughts but by the quiet yes of the heart. Isaac shows us a humanity that has learned to rest in God even while the winds still blow. A humanity no longer driven by fear or fantasy but grounded in the living presence of the Spirit. This is what we have become in Christ. And this is what the desert still calls us to be. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:01 Jonathan Grobler: Evening father 00:02:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Good evening 00:02:50 Ryan Ngeve: Good evening Father 00:04:37 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 175, # 19, final paragraph 00:04:49 Adam Paige: Happy feast day of Saint Isaac the Syrian to all ! New movie from the writer & director of “Man of God” (about St Nektarios) coming out this weekend: “Moses the Black” ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_the_Black_(film) 00:05:49 Anna: There was a run on bananas with this last storm 00:06:06 Anna: What movie 00:06:35 Anna: Thanks 00:08:08 Anna: Movie theater for Moses the Black... https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/moses-the-black/ 00:08:19 Anna: It's in theaters 00:09:35 Anna: That doesn't look like it 00:10:11 Jonathan Grobler: Excited for Lent, will hopefully be confirmed this Easter 00:10:41 Jessica McHale: 16th of Feb 00:10:41 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 175, # 19, final paragraph 00:10:53 Angela Bellamy: Is there a resource some place on how Lent is traditionally observed? 00:11:18 Anna: That link is the movie playing on the 30th and so on 00:11:18 Janine: Yes 00:11:22 Anna: https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/moses-the-black/ 00:11:30 Janine: Alexander 00:11:45 Jessica McHale: Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Father Alexander Schmemann 00:14:22 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Great Lent: Journey ..." with 👍 00:19:14 Elizabeth Richards: Amen! 00:30:28 Anthony: As a matter of comfort, seeing sin is not a sign necessarily of being cut off from God; seeing sin is a token of grace.  I think a Greek father said this. 00:32:41 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "As a matter of com..." with ❤️ 00:32:45 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "As a matter of comfo..." with ❤️ 00:35:24 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 176, # 29, first paragraph 00:38:48 susan: thoughts?  Jesus prayer 00:43:42 Jessica McHale: That would be a TERRIFIC course! Much needed for me! 00:44:13 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "That would be a TERR…" with ❤️ 00:47:06 Ben: Reacted to "That would be a TERR..." with 👍 00:47:36 Erick Chastain: how practically does the judgment from the thought not hit one, especially with the high number of them and their potentially upsetting nature? Turning to the prayer might not happen rapidly enough to prevent reacting to some thoughts. 00:47:49 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "That would be a TERR..." with ❤️ 00:50:19 Maureen Cunningham: The St Patrick Prayer 00:50:55 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "The St Patrick Praye..." with 👍🏼 00:52:33 Angela Bellamy: I love the story of Peter walking on water to meet Jesus but is overcome by his circumstance... the Lord reached out and brought him back to Himself, after Peter cried out, and they went back to the boat together.❤️ 00:53:19 Joan Chakonas: I understand my vainglorious nature and have been blessed lately with the understanding that my ideas, which I am initially inclined to love, are usually wrong, and it ‘s a relief to abandon them to God’s guidance, which He always gives 00:53:43 David Swiderski, WI: I wasted years reading on discernment and looking back think the minute I engaged reason to try to discern I could rationalize just about anything. On a retreat a 92 year old priest when I asked for yet another book on discernment smiled and said no no no don't waste your time. Simply weigh by your heart anything "Does this lead me closer to God or away from God" discard that which does not lead you closer and don't dwell upon them. This seem clearer since that point. 00:54:49 Anthony: Become like an atheist.... that's like the examination of conscience in the Pilgrim book. 00:55:37 Elizabeth Richards: You are speaking the gospel! 01:00:03 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "I understand my vain..." with 🙏🏼 01:02:25 Anthony: That's a danger to me. I think it sets up an idol in a sense, and then is very confusing to distinguish my thoughts from God, from dark origin thoughts. 01:02:55 Elizabeth Richards: I heard today we cannot "make" sense- because sense has already been made 🙂 01:03:31 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "I wasted years readi..." with 🙏🏼 01:03:35 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "I wasted years readi…" with 🙏🏼 01:04:15 Angela Bellamy: It seems that the difficulty in letting go of an identity outside of God is that we often built that identity around love — but human love, when it is not healed, can be a brutal thing. When that identity is stripped away, what is revealed is not the absence of love, but its truth: a freedom that is real, attainable, and no longer bound to self-will. Glory to Him. 01:04:51 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I heard today we can..." with 👍🏼 01:08:52 Kimberley A: I believe before the Fall Adam was fully God conscious. After the Fall, he became self conscious. 01:09:18 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I believe before the..." with 😯 01:13:20 Elizabeth Richards: So rich this eve! Thank you Father 01:13:40 Elizabeth Richards: Amen! 01:14:18 Maureen Cunningham: Blessing thank you 01:14:39 Joan Chakonas: Thank God for your guidance 01:14:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your mother! 01:14:45 Joan Chakonas: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 01:14:47 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father 01:15:01 Angela Bellamy: 😁 01:15:03 Janine: Thank you Father! 01:15:05 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 😊 01:15:05 Elizabeth Richards: Plan a conference!! 01:15:08 Nypaver Clan: Thank you! 01:15:08 Jessica McHale: St Issac Feast Day for Melkite today too!  Thank you and Amen! Many prayers. Yes, I am moving to Pittsburg since you said it!

The Evergetinos does not offer us inspiring stories. It offers us a blade. These elders do not behave reasonably. They do not protect their reputations. They do not appeal to due process. They do not defend themselves. They kneel. They ask forgiveness for crimes they did not commit. They accept punishment. They allow their names to be dragged through the dust. And this is exactly where modern religious people begin to choke. We admire Christ until His way threatens our dignity. We praise the Cross until it begins to cost us something that feels personal. We speak of humility until it asks us to surrender our right to be seen as innocent. Then the mind rises up. The lawyer wakes. Natural reason sharpens its pen. We start dissecting the text. Surely this is symbolic. Surely this is exaggerated. Surely there must be limits. But the Gospel has no interest in preserving your image. The divine ethos revealed in Christ is not reasonable. It is cruciform. Look at the Elder who accepts blame for theft. He knows he did not steal. He also knows something far more dangerous. He knows that Christ Himself was accused, beaten and condemned while innocent. So he chooses to stand where Christ stands rather than where the ego demands to stand. He does not argue. He does not clarify. He does not try to control the narrative. He bows. He becomes small. He lets truth be carried by God rather than by his own voice. This is not weakness. It is terrifying strength. In the second account the Deacon accepts public disgrace, penance and exclusion from communion for a crime planted in his cell by envy. He allows his spiritual father and the entire community to think him a thief. Why. Because love of God is worth more than the right to be seen as virtuous. And because hatred of slanderers is more deadly than slander itself. Notice what breaks the demonic power. Not investigation. Not confession extracted by pressure. But the prayer of the one who was falsely accused. Only the slandered man can heal the slanderer. This is the law of the Cross. Wounds heal wounds when they are offered in love. The story of Abba Nikon goes even further. He is beaten, excommunicated and isolated for three years for a crime he did not commit. He stands outside the church every Sunday begging for prayer like a criminal. When his innocence is finally revealed, he does not remain to receive praise. He leaves. He knows that glory is as dangerous as slander. Both feed the ego. Both can poison the soul. This is what divine discernment looks like. Not clever arguments but crucified love. Abba Isaiah gives the rule that offends every modern religious instinct. If you are slandered make a prostration and say forgive me even if you do not know what you did. This is not moral confusion. It is spiritual clarity. It is a refusal to let the heart harden. It is the choice to stand with Christ rather than with self justification. St Maximos explains why this cuts so deeply. The demons cannot always trap us through money or pleasure. So they use slander. They try to provoke hatred. They want you to burn with indignation. They want you to lose love. They want you to step off the Cross and into self defense. To endure slander without hatred is one of the highest ascetical acts. It requires that you look to God alone for vindication. St Ephraim then gives the final warning. Even when the truth comes out do not become proud. Do not feast on your vindication. God delivered you. You did not save yourself. This is why we want to soften these stories. They leave no room for spiritual narcissism. They strip away our moral theater. They expose how deeply attached we are to being right, to being respected, to being seen as good. The Cross does not negotiate with your ego. It kills it. Slander reveals what we truly love. If we love Christ we will accept being misunderstood. If we love ourselves we will fight to be cleared. The Evergetinos does not ask whether this is fair. It asks whether you want to belong to the Crucified. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:41 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 349 number 2 00:03:19 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org/blog 00:04:07 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.youtube.com/@philokaliaministries 00:09:55 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Two possible Philokalia Novice Conference Series 00:11:58 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 349 #2 00:12:46 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: 1. The Inner Grammar of the Eastern Christian Life How the Church actually heals the human person This would be a 10 to 12 week arc that shows how Eastern Christianity is not merely a set of beliefs or practices but a therapeutic and mystical way of being human. Each session takes one essential dimension of the ascetical and sacramental life and shows how it works together with the others. 2. Urban Asceticism: A Prelude to the Way of Hidden Fire These reflections are for those who are trying to live a real spiritual life in the middle of ordinary, complicated, and often exhausting circumstances. Not as an escape from the world but as a way of becoming inwardly still within it. Here we explore the ancient wisdom of the desert fathers and the lived experience of the Church as a way of healing the heart and learning how to dwell with God in hiddenness. This is not a program or a method. It is a way. Two possible Philokalia Novice Conference Series 00:12:56 Janine: Oh those look great! 00:13:18 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 349 #2 00:13:27 Jacqulyn Dudasko: Reacted to "Oh those look great!" with 👍 00:14:33 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.youtube.com/@philokaliaministries 00:16:40 Wayne: Quick question? Is there a difference between gossip and slander? 00:22:19 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 350 #3 00:33:10 Joan Chakonas: Turning the other cheek in all circumstances- these lessons are deep. 00:36:56 Myles Davidson: In translating these stories to modern times, it doesn’t seem prudent to admit to a crime one didn’t do if police are involved. Would you agree these stories are very much situational? 00:38:03 Joan Chakonas: Very valuable.  I can’t think of any other way to convey these understandings to turn the other cheek.  Psychological smack downs versus physical ones. 00:38:58 Angela Bellamy: Recently, reading the Gospels, I was struck by how plainly Christ speaks about what must be endured for His sake. In that light, the saints’ words on slander feel very concrete. The Christian life seems to be about learning to remain faithful even when the flow of life is difficult, trusting that Christ is with us in whatever He allows. 00:45:07 Jonathan Grobler: What an absolute freedom it would be to be free of the ego. The freedom of a fool of Christ.  To no longer care about yourself, but care only about God and others. 00:45:47 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "What an absolute fre..." with ❤️ 00:45:49 Anna: What if you're falsely accused of murder, then you're up to being killed as the punishment, are you to speak up to protect your life or not speak up? From my 13 yr old daughter 00:47:33 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "What an absolute f..." with ❤️ 00:48:22 paul g.: Slander and gossip disturb our own peace/silence. 00:49:46 Lee Graham: Reacted to "What an absolute fre…" with ❤️ 00:49:47 Anna: Wouldn't there sometimes be a need for justice of truth for the sake of the soul? 00:59:44 Larry Ruggiero: Man’s justice is never good for the people, because man’s justice is always lacking. Lacking because it is done without Christ teachings. 01:09:02 Maureen Cunningham: Who is Susannah ? 01:09:37 Forrest: Replying to "Who is Susannah ?" Chapter 13 of Daniel 01:11:43 Anna: Pray Jesus prayers for them 😂 01:13:01 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father for your time this evening. Looking forward to the new lectures you'll be posting on YouTube. 01:13:39 Jessica McHale: What you do, Father, is sent from God. Yes, this is deeply formative. Thank you!!! Many prayers for you! 01:13:44 Kevin Burke: Thank You Father! 01:13:46 Maureen Cunningham: T hank You always a Blessing 01:13:59 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "What you do, Father,..." with 🙏 01:14:33 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you! 01:14:44 Charmaine's iPad: Thank you

St. Isaac the Syrian challenges the notion of wanting less than everything, emphasizing that falling short of the Kingdom leads to exclusion. He calls for a total response to Christ's self-gift, warning against a half-hearted faith as it denies true glory. The conversation delves into the importance of purity and integrity in spiritual leadership, highlighting that effective ministry begins with personal healing. Listeners are encouraged to find strength in silence and simplicity while navigating the subtle temptations that accompany spiritual progress.

Slander is explored as a profound spiritual violence that distorts reality and harms both the slandered and the slanderer. The calming response of Gregory the Wonderworker illustrates the power of maintaining inner peace against false accusations. Father David discusses how the guilty often use slander to hide their own faults, while highlighting the tragic consequences for both the victim and the perpetrator. The transformative impact of prayer and humility in the face of slander leaves listeners with practical wisdom for navigating their own challenges.

St. Isaac the Syrian is not offering speculation about the afterlife. He is unveiling the inner logic of existence itself, now and forever. He begins, characteristically, not with heaven, but with humility—because for him humility is not a moral ornament but the measure of reality. You do not know humility, he says, by what you think of yourself when you are alone. You know it only when your self-image is wounded. If accusation disturbs you, if injustice burns you inwardly, then humility has not yet reached the marrow. This is not condemnation but diagnosis. Humility, for Isaac, is not self-accusation performed in safety; it is the quiet endurance of being diminished without revolt. Only such a heart can bear God. From this point, Isaac lifts the veil on Christ’s words about the “many mansions” of the Father’s house. He dismantles our spatial and competitive imagination. Heaven is not a collection of separate dwellings, not a hierarchy of visible comparisons. There is one dwelling, one place, one vision, one light. God is not divided. Beatitude is not parceled out. The diversity lies not in God’s gift but in our capacity to receive it. Isaac reaches for images of profound simplicity. The sun shines equally upon all, yet each person receives its light according to the health of his eyes. A single lamp illumines an entire house, yet its light is experienced differently depending on where one stands. The source is undivided. The radiance is simple. What differs is the vessel. Heaven, then, is not the multiplication of rewards but the full revelation of what the soul has become capable of receiving. This is where Isaac’s teaching becomes both consoling and terrifying. Consoling, because there is no envy in the Kingdom. No one with a lesser measure will see the greater measure of another. There will be no sorrow born of comparison, no awareness of loss, no inner accusation that another has been given more. Each soul will delight fully in what it has been made able to contain. God will not be experienced as deprivation by anyone who is in Him. But it is terrifying because Isaac makes clear that this capacity is not arbitrary. It is formed. It is disciplined. It is shaped through humility, suffering, obedience, and purification of the heart. The same divine light that gives joy to one will reveal limitation to another. The difference is not external but interior. Heaven does not change us at the threshold; it unveils us. Isaac goes further. He insists that the world to come will not operate by a different logic than this one. The structure of reality is already set. Knowledge beyond sense, perception beyond images, understanding beyond words—these already exist in seed form. Ignorance remains for a time, but it is not eternal. There is an appointed moment when ignorance is abolished and the mysteries that are now guarded by silence are revealed. Silence, here, is not absence but reverence. God is not fully disclosed to the undisciplined mind. Finally, Isaac draws a stark boundary. There is no middle realm. A person belongs either wholly to the realm above or wholly to the realm below. Yet even within each realm, there are degrees. This is not contradiction but coherence. Union or separation is absolute; experience within each state is varied. One is either turned toward God or away from Him, but the depth of that turning—or that refusal—determines the quality of one’s existence. What Isaac is pressing upon us is this: life is the slow formation of our capacity for God. Salvation is not merely forgiveness; it is vision. Judgment is not an external sentence; it is the unveiling of what the soul can bear. Humility is not preparation for heaven—it is already participation in its light. And the tragedy of sin is not punishment imposed from without, but the shrinking of the heart’s ability to receive the One who gives Himself entirely. In St. Isaac’s vision, God remains eternally simple, undivided, and radiant. The question that decides everything is not how much God gives, but how much we have allowed ourselves to be healed, emptied, and enlarged to receive Him. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:04:59 susan: Hi I'm trying to transition from liturgy or hours on the phone to the 4 volume books.  Can anone tell me what week we are currently in?  tx 00:05:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Humility Real? - how heart reacts when another wounds us Is our understanding of the Kingdom and its light childish or rooted in mature faith Do we desire the kingdom or look for an in-between state Do we teach others before we are healed? Enemy is subtle - vainglorious to focus on sin or temptation. Should focus on virtue. Resolve and labor tied together Virtue must be practiced otherwise we are like a fledgling without feathers Humility, fervor, tears can be lost through negligence Affliction should ultimately give way to hope. Should not seek ways to avoid the cross Begin with courage.  Don’t divide the soul but trust God absolutely 00:17:12 David Swiderski, WI: https://www.usccb.org/resources/2026cal.pdf 00:18:49 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 172, # 11, first paragraph 00:40:28 Ben: Anna; It seems to me that since Charity isn't something that we lose in heaven, that the glory of each soul will somehow communicate it's self to each other soul in such a way that we will each delight in the glory of the other. 00:41:40 Elizabeth Richards: It is so hard to invest and trust fully when our experience human relationships always disappoint (for me). It was easier when I was younger! 00:42:40 Elizabeth Richards: It I can be hard not to be protective in my relationship with God 00:44:05 Elizabeth Richards: The paradox is that I need Christ's strength & grace to have a vulnerable relationship with Him! 00:47:26 David Swiderski, WI: Youth is a struggle of acquiring- knowledge, career, house, family and growing older sometimes is a struggle of learning to let go until there is nothing of us to cling to but God.. (A saying from my Grandfather)  He also said more concisely we come into this world and leave the same way no teeth, bald and in diapers. 00:50:26 Nypaver Clan: Father, Do you have a good, detailed examination of conscience from the Desert Fathers? 00:50:33 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Replying to "Youth is a struggle ..." Do any of the Saints approach the circuitous routes of  the spiritual life and vocation with a holy sense of humor??? 00:50:58 Maureen Cunningham: Sometimes it feels like That God is treating me the same as my adversary s 01:01:20 Angela Bellamy: Is the joy simultaneous with the sorrow entangled forever? or will the joy win? 01:01:59 Art: Going back to paragraph 12 where Isaac speaks of “each according to the clarity of his eyesight” this reminds me of something from the margin of the Roman missal.  It says, “They will receive grace [at Mass] in the measure of their faith and devotion, visible to God alone.”  So it’s as if at mass we are already experiencing this part of heaven.  There we are all in the same place, one abode, one place, one dwelling, yet each seeing “each according to the clarity of his eyesight” and absent any feelings of envy toward any other. 01:04:43 David Swiderski, WI: https://saintnicholas-oca.org/files/catechetical-resources/Self-Examination-before-Confession-From-Way-of-a-Pilgrim.pdf 01:19:47 Nypaver Clan: Father, you’re awesome!🥰 01:19:54 Tracey Fredman: Reacted to "Father, you’re aweso..." with ❤️ 01:19:55 Elizabeth Richards: N Macedonia! 01:20:01 Angela Bellamy: Wonderful insights from Saint Isaac. Thank you for your class. sign me up! 01:20:02 Janine: I’m in! 01:20:03 Jesssica Imanaka: The Redwoods! 01:20:06 Bob Čihák, AZ: We've got Zoom already 01:20:08 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Wonderful insights f..." with 😆 01:20:08 John ‘Jack’: In 01:20:43 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:20:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your Mother. 01:20:45 Elizabeth Richards: Amen -Thank you Father 01:20:45 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:20:46 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You , 01:21:06 Charmaine's iPad: Thank you 01:21:11 Gwen’s iPhone: Thank you.  

These texts from the Evergetinos unsettle us because they refuse to remain within the boundaries of what feels morally tidy or intellectually manageable. They do not ask us to refine our ethical reasoning. They ask us to relinquish it. Not because truth no longer matters, but because truth in Christ is no longer possessed or deployed by us. It is entered. It is suffered. It is entrusted to God. Abba Alonios’ answer shocks precisely because it violates our instinct for clean distinctions. We want truth to be a weapon that guarantees justice. We want moral clarity to protect us from risk. Yet the elder places before us a situation in which telling the truth would mean cooperating with death. The choice is not between honesty and deceit as abstract values. It is between acting as judge and surrendering judgment to God. The lie he permits is not born of calculation or convenience but of restraint. It is a refusal to become the final arbiter over another human life. Here the Gospel quietly overturns us. Christ does not save the world by insisting on correct procedure. He saves it by entering into its injustice and absorbing it without retaliation. He does not clarify situations from a distance. He descends into them and bears their weight. The elder’s answer does not sanctify falsehood. It exposes our illusion that we are capable of wielding truth without wounding when our hearts are still governed by fear and reactivity. The second account presses even deeper. The Reader does not merely endure slander. He consents to it. He allows truth to be buried in order to spare the Church further scandal and to place his own vindication entirely in the hands of God. This is not passivity. It is not weakness. It is a terrifying freedom. He relinquishes reputation. He relinquishes status. He relinquishes even the right to be understood. He chooses to stand before God alone. Here moral reasoning collapses. By every rational measure the Reader should defend himself. Justice demands it. Yet the Gospel reveals a different justice. One that does not rush to expose wrongdoing but waits for God to uncover what human judgment cannot heal. The Reader’s silence becomes prayer. His loss becomes intercession. His false condemnation becomes the means by which God exposes the deeper sickness of slander and restores the one who sinned. What these texts reveal is that the Christian life cannot be lived from the center of our own discernment alone. The Gospel draws us past the point where we ask what is fair or reasonable and into the mystery of Christ who was condemned while innocent and silent before His accusers. These stories are not moral templates to be imitated mechanically. They are icons. They show us what love looks like when it no longer seeks to justify itself. The Fathers knew how quickly our sense of virtue becomes self protection. How easily truth becomes an extension of our fear. The Gospel dismantles this illusion. It exposes how much of our judgment is driven by the need to control outcomes and secure our innocence. Christ does not ask us to abandon truth. He asks us to abandon ownership of it. To enter this mystery is to accept that fidelity to Christ will sometimes look like loss. That obedience may cost us clarity. That love may require us to stand undefended. Not because injustice is holy but because God alone is capable of judging without destroying. These writings do not give us answers we can apply. They draw us into a posture we must inhabit. One where restraint replaces reaction. Where prayer replaces accusation. Where truth is no longer something we speak over others but a life we entrust to God. The Gospel does not refine our moral instincts. It crucifies them and raises something altogether new. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:00:41 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 343 G paragraph 2 00:06:59 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 343 G paragraph 2 00:07:17 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org/blog 00:08:34 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Philokaliaministries..." with ❤️ 00:08:46 Una’s iPhone: Laughter is the best medicine? 00:10:05 Una’s iPhone: I’m reading St Nicodemos Handbook of Spiritual Counsel 00:10:25 Una’s iPhone: Yes 00:10:38 Una’s iPhone: Guarding the senses 00:10:49 Anna: What's the book we're reading? 00:11:02 Anna: Thanks! 00:15:01 Angela Bellamy: Good evening Father. I've been looking forward to the class. Its lovely to see you doing well. :) 00:34:40 John ‘Jack’: In John 7; 1-10 where the disciples try to talk Jesus into going in to the feast of the tabernacles he tells them his time has not yet come, he then goes in without them in disguise, thus has always seemed to be he lied, or at least misled them, id love to hear your interpretation on that scripture. 00:41:09 John ‘Jack’: They are very good at showing us our own minuteness 00:43:04 Angela Bellamy: Excuse my interjection but Jesus explained that He couldn't go openly because He was being sought after to be murdered. That the people did not accept Him and that it wasn't time for His crucifixion. 00:44:45 John Burmeister: if i saw the murder, im not judgeing the person, im judging the act, 00:45:26 Julie: The importance of praying for discernment 00:45:42 John Burmeister: god will still have his judgement. it maybe gods providence for me to turn him in 00:54:41 Anthony: I don't think I would just take the judgement. I'd suppose having a good reputation is important for not just me, but my family and people who assume I did the grave evil.  For example how many true and false accusations against Catholic priests and others in USA was an excuse for people to leave faith in anger and grief? 00:54:44 Anna: Wow suffering is so powerful 00:55:37 John Burmeister: Replying to "I don't think I woul..." or for money 00:57:32 jonathan: Isaiah 53:7 – “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Mark 15:3–5 – When accused before Pilate, “The chief priests accused him of many things… But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.” 00:57:51 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Isaiah 53:7 – “He wa..." with ❤️ 01:01:54 Anthony: George Pell 01:03:27 Joan Chakonas: A example showing where you turn the other cheek to slander, and God takes care of you ultimately. 01:03:34 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "Isaiah 53:7 – “He wa…" with ❤️ 01:06:55 Rebecca Thérèse: Unfortunately, abusers often manipulate themselves into important positions and a network develops where they look out for each other. Then when an allegation arises against an innocent person they go after them to make it look like they're cracking down on abuse and corruption where really they're just deflecting scrutiny away from themselves. The allegations against Cardinal Pell were easy to disprove but the authorities weren't interested in the truth. 01:08:44 Angela Bellamy: Joseph was slandered and yet the Lord held him dear. Humility invites God into our situation. He is sovereign over all. 01:10:20 Forrest: The bishop in this story continued his evil ways stating that the prayers of the reader must be to afflict the woman. Would the reader have been praying that way? 01:17:44 Janine: Praying for you Father! 01:18:37 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:19:43 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless your excitement and overexpressing the Truth, Father, You're not alone!

St. Isaac is not describing admirable behaviors. He is naming a different kind of human being. Mercy, humility, and almsgiving are not virtues added to an otherwise intact self. They are the outward signs that the old self has already begun to die. What St. Isaac exposes is not how difficult mercy is, but how incompatible it is with the identity most of us still inhabit. To endure injustice patiently is not an act of moral endurance. It reveals where a person now lives. The one who still derives himself from possession, reputation, or control must be troubled by loss. He cannot help it. Injury threatens his very sense of being. But the one who has been reborn in Christ no longer draws life from what he owns or from what is said about him. His center has shifted. His life is hidden elsewhere. That is why St. Isaac speaks with such severity. If loss disturbs you inwardly or if you feel compelled to tell others what was taken from you, then mercy has not yet reached exactness. The self that requires vindication is still alive. The same truth governs humility. St. Isaac does not describe humility as thinking poorly of oneself or rehearsing faults. He describes it as freedom from the need to be justified at all. The truly humble man does not argue with accusation. He does not rush to clarify himself. He does not try to persuade others that he has been misjudged. He accepts slander as truth not because the accusation is factual but because his identity no longer depends upon recognition in this age. He begs forgiveness not because he is guilty but because Christ has released him from the tyranny of innocence. This is why the examples St. Isaac offers are so severe. They are meant to break our assumptions. These saints did not merely endure misunderstanding. They entered it. They allowed themselves to be named wrongly. They accepted reputations that contradicted their inner purity. Some even clothed themselves in madness so that virtue would remain hidden. They did this not out of self contempt but out of clarity. Praise had become dangerous to them. Visibility threatened to awaken a self they had already buried. This is not spiritual theater. It is the logic of the Incarnation carried through to its end. Christ did not merely endure false accusation. He accepted it as the path of revelation. He did not correct the narrative. He did not defend Himself. He allowed Himself to be named wrongly so that His true identity would be revealed not by explanation but by self offering. Those who live this way are not imitating a moral example. They are sharing His life. The figure of Elisha makes this unmistakable. Power and mercy dwell in the same man. Elisha had the authority to destroy his enemies and St. Isaac insists on this point. Mercy is not weakness. It is strength transfigured. The man who feeds his enemies instead of destroying them does so not because he lacks power but because power no longer rules him. Mercy reveals what kind of being he has become. He acts from God rather than from self preservation. What is at stake here is identity. St. Isaac is asking a question that allows no evasion. From where do you live. From the need to be right. From the need to be seen correctly. From the hope that truth will be acknowledged and justice rendered in this age. Or from the hidden life of Christ where nothing must be defended because everything has already been given away. These paragraphs do not invite balance or moderation. They announce a death and a birth. Either we remain the kind of people who must protect ourselves from injustice or we become the kind of people for whom injustice no longer defines reality. Either we still live as those who need our names preserved or we have become those whose true name is known only to God. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:35:09 Thomas: The Man of God movie on St. Nektarios is really good for this 00:35:45 Mia: Reacted to The Man of God movie... with "👍" 00:39:21 Eleana Urrego: Sounds like we have to expect to be confronted with false accusations? 00:40:30 Jesssica Imanaka: These teachings of Saint Isaac are amongst the hardest for me... not sure which vice gets in my way: maybe pride? 00:41:38 Catherine Opie: So does that mean that if one is being persecuted one can know that one is on the right path? Rather than being lauded ans a "success"? 00:42:53 Fr Martin, Arizona: "Not self-help writings" seems to be a good comment. 00:43:33 Maureen Cunningham: I think the evil one like to shoot the fiery dart. Our Lord spoke  to us we must forgive. 00:43:44 Fr Martin, Arizona: Instead of better self-made persons, rather partakers of the Divine nature. 00:44:44 Thomas: Is anger very closely tied to this, meaning that I might get angry if someone calls me out even if it’s true. Or even with saints putting forth the hard parts of the gospel that I might get angry because I see that I’m not what I think I am. 00:45:55 Fr Martin, Arizona: it seems we can offer thanksgiving for consolation and thanksgiving for purging. 00:47:35 Angela Bellamy: Is humility being the fruit which makes this experience (accusation) less bitter? Is it a gift of the Lord or is it the result of a practiced virtue? 00:52:16 Eleana Urrego: I used to think I was just being paranoid for wanting to stay faithful to the truth, especially while feeling pressured to conform to the dominant agenda at work and in my classes—and facing constant criticism and accusations 😅. But now I realize this is actually an opportunity to grow in sanctity and deepen my convictions, feels more like blessings then. 00:54:48 Ben: 's wife Anna; I understand the principle, but when faced with betrayal from close friends and faithful exemplary Catholics; it's really hard to put this principle into practice.  How can we actually DO this? 00:57:02 Eleana Urrego: Like in the movie he was betrayed by his clergy brothers more painful. 00:57:09 Joan Chakonas: God will help you in the moment to conform to this principle- this I believe and have experienced. 01:02:58 Angela Bellamy: Is it not a beautiful gift to be stripe of attachments so that our focus is on the Lord? It is painful. I ponder our Christ on the cross and I've asked Him so pitifully how could He find the vulnerability to forgive? 01:03:50 Laura: Reacted to "it seems we can offe..." with 👍🏼 01:05:42 Angela Bellamy: Is humility being the fruit which makes this experience (accusation) less bitter? Is it a gift of the Lord or is it the result of a practiced virtue? 01:07:25 Thomas: Is anger very closely tied to this, because I would get angry if somebody would dare question the image I have of myself 01:11:23 Joan Chakonas: Time goes by too fast on these calls 01:11:38 Angela Bellamy: Wonderfully thought provoking and I am thankful to the lesson. Thank you everyone. 01:11:38 jonathan: Reacted to "Time goes by too fas..." with 💯 01:11:38 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Wonderfully thought ..." with ❤️ 01:11:51 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Time goes by too fas..." with 💯 01:12:03 Janine: Thank you Father! 01:12:44 Maureen Cunningham: Blessing thank you  everyone  Farther much meditate on 01:13:07 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:13:10 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:13:38 Anna: What's the book

The Fathers do not allow us to soften this teaching. They place truth at the very center of the ascetical life and they do so without apology. A truthful mouth a holy body and a pure heart stand or fall together. Where speech is corrupted everything else soon follows. Falsehood is not a minor fault or a social lubricant. It is death. Truth is not a virtue among others. It is the new man himself breathing through the tongue. They are relentless because they know how easily we excuse ourselves. We lie not only to protect ourselves but to protect relationships. We lie to preserve peace. We lie to avoid discomfort. We lie because we fear that truth will finally sever what little love remains. And yet the Fathers insist that where truth is sacrificed love has already been lost. What we are trying to preserve is not communion but an arrangement held together by fear. The early sayings leave no ambiguity. The mouth is sanctified only by Christ who is the Truth. The liar does not merely misspeak. He places his mouth under another father. Falsehood reshapes the soul. It expels the fear of God because it replaces trust in God with management of outcomes. We begin to believe that relationships survive by control rather than repentance. Abba Isaiah exposes the root. Love of human glory gives birth to falsehood. We lie because we want to be seen as kind prudent wise or peacemaking. Humility cuts this root. The humble man can speak truth because he no longer needs to be admired or effective. He entrusts consequences to God. The tongue trained in the words of God no longer needs to improvise. And then the Evergetinos unsettles us with its hardest stories. A brother lies gently to cover another’s weakness. Another brother lies cleverly to reconcile two elders. The lies work. No one is harmed. Peace is restored. We are tempted to breathe a sigh of relief. Surely love has justified the sacrifice of truth. But the Fathers are not congratulating us. They are showing us something tragic. In both stories the lie is necessary because love has already failed. In the first story murmuring has entered the community. Cold has become judgment. Weakness has become resentment. The brother lies to prevent further harm because the truth would now wound rather than heal. But this is not the triumph of love. It is damage control after love has broken down. In the second story reconciliation does not happen through repentance confession or mutual humility. It happens through misdirection. The elders are not brought face to face with their grievance. They are gently bypassed. Peace is achieved but truth is avoided. The brother’s sagacity saves them from further hardening yet the cost is revealing. Love is so fragile that it cannot bear the truth. The Fathers do not present this as a model to imitate casually. They present it as a warning. When truth must be bent to preserve peace something has already gone wrong in the heart. The need for the lie exposes the absence of repentance. It reveals relationships sustained by pride fear and avoidance rather than by shared humility before God. This is why the earlier sayings are so severe. Truth is the root of good deeds. Without it even love becomes distorted. What we often call love is only the desire to avoid conflict. What we call prudence is often fear of exposure. What we call peace is sometimes nothing more than mutual silence around a wound no one will touch. The Evergetinos does not resolve the tension for us. It leaves us uneasy on purpose. It forces us to see how easily we justify falsehood once communion has been damaged. It also forces us to admit how rarely we do the harder work of repentance that would make truth bearable again. True love does not need lies. But when love has thinned and trust has collapsed lies become tempting because they seem merciful. The Fathers tolerate this in extremis but they never bless it. They keep pointing us back to the beginning. A truthful mouth. A pure heart. A body not divided. Where these are present truth heals rather than destroys. The hard word remains. If truth feels too dangerous to speak the work is not to refine the lie but to repent until love is restored. Anything else may buy peace for a moment but it trains the heart to live without light. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:26 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 341 00:08:48 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 341 00:30:55 Anthony: Then it sounds to me we can't really assent to going to war, inasmuch as we are told we have to go to war because so-and-so did something dastardly....and we are asked to take that in faith. But, people lie 00:36:35 Forrest: Replying to "Then it sounds to me..." I think this interpretation would be too great an extension of the text. What is special about declaration of war, Anthony, that we should withhold our assent? We trust the gospel of the resurrection, which we have not seen. Our Lord praised those who believe without seeing. We can assent to trustworthy declarations. 00:40:35 Joan Chakonas: I regard the harsh realities as set forth by the Fathers the kindest warnings of consequences  because the devil is on us everyday, all of the time.  Animals are gifted instincts- our free will  is aided by the desert fathers.  Every second of our life we make  decisions.  The desert fathers are such a help. 00:41:50 Myles Davidson: I was also thinking of politics while reading this Hypothesis and the staggering levels of deception we are expected to swallow these days. If ones looks closely at many of the pretexts for war in the last few decades, they are based on falsehoods to get the masses on board with a war they would never accept if they knew the real reasons for the desire for those in power to go to war 00:42:49 Forrest: Replying to "I was also thinking ..." Yes, I agree. The text mentioned "glory of men" begets falsehood. 00:44:01 Angela Bellamy: I don't have any confidence in evaluating anything outside of myself when even within myself is so much in the way of deception. It may be folly to take our eyes from Jesus to analyze humanity. 00:46:38 Al Antoni: Ineffable folly 00:51:58 Lee Graham: This is not our home. 00:52:15 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "This is not our home..." with ❤️ 00:53:51 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "This is not our ho..." with ❤️ 00:54:16 Rebecca Thérèse: Reacted to "This is not our home..." with ❤️ 00:54:37 Angela Bellamy: Daniel found himself in a strange place and he restricted his diet in order to remain pure in a foreign land. If we eat with our eyes and our ears, how do we alter our diet in order to maintain purity for the Lord? 01:05:04 Anthony: Ok, so "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" is not about lying per se, but it is about lying for the purpose of harming another?  God is not demanding absolute truth but God demands love in speech? 01:08:40 jonathan: Is it true the church demands absolute truth? That lying, even in the case of saving someone's life, would still be considered a sin? 01:09:20 Kate Rose: Hate the sin, not the sinner 01:12:09 Joan Chakonas: Some questions you just don’t answer.  My life in corporate America. 01:14:46 Myles Davidson: Could it be said, that if telling the truth allows a greater sin (such as murder), then in that respect telling the truth becomes a sin 01:16:12 Forrest: ccc 2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who has the right to know the truth. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord. 01:16:43 Forrest: If they have no right to the truth, then do not answer. 01:17:27 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Could it be said, th..." That there is a hierarchy to sin as you said 01:17:31 jonathan: Reacted to "If they have no righ..." with 💯 01:18:44 Anna: No if lying it's not going to heal the situation as only truth heals. Love is not lying. Love is truth. 01:18:56 Forrest: I never practice therapeutic lying. I don't detract against people who do. 01:19:35 Forrest: Replying to "I never practice the..." And my father had dementia and my step father does. It is tempting. 01:22:18 jonathan: I assume, its similar to moses allowing divorce, even though its against Gods will for man, its a concession, and not necessarily the perfect way. 01:24:00 Al Antoni: St Dionysios of Zakynthos is famous for hiding his brother's murderer (and hence lying), demonstrating immense Christian love and forgiveness. 01:25:29 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "If they have no righ…" with ❤️ 01:25:44 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You always so Blessed 01:26:00 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:26:13 Jessica McHale: Thank you! Many prayers! 01:26:15 Janine: Happy feast day! 01:26:18 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father

Here St. Isaac does not define virtues as behaviors but as states of being before God. He strips away external markers and leaves the soul alone with truth. What he offers is not a ladder of accomplishments but a geography of the heart. A stranger, he says, is not one who has left a place, but one whose mind has been estranged from all things of life. This is the quiet violence of the Gospel: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (Jn 17:16). Estrangement here is not contempt for creation but freedom from possession. Abba Arsenius fled Rome, but what he truly fled was the tyranny of relevance. To become a stranger is to consent to being unnecessary. It is to let the world continue without you and discover that God remains. The mourner is not a melancholic soul but a hungry one. He lives, Isaac says, in hunger and thirst for the sake of his hope in good things to come. This is the blessed mourning of the Beatitudes, the ache that refuses consolation because it has tasted something eternal. St. John Climacus calls mourning “a sorrow that is glad,” because it is oriented toward the Kingdom. It is grief baptized by hope. Such a soul does not despise joy; it waits for the only joy that cannot be taken away. Then Isaac dares to say what a monk truly is. Not one who has taken vows, not one who wears a habit, but one who remains outside the world and is ever supplicating God to receive future blessings. The monk stands at the edge of time and begs. His posture is eschatological. He lives as though the promises are real. This is why the monk’s wealth is not visible. It is the comfort that comes of mourning and the joy that comes of faith, shining secretly in the mind’s hidden chambers. Christ Himself names this hiddenness when He says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:6). The true treasure does not announce itself. It warms quietly. Mercy, too, is redefined. A merciful man is not one who performs selective kindness but one who has lost the ability to divide the world mentally into worthy and unworthy. This is the mercy of God Himself, who “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt 5:45). St. Isaac elsewhere says that a merciful heart burns for all creation: for humans, animals, demons, even for the enemies of God. Such mercy is not sentimental. It is cruciform. It is the heart stretched until it resembles Christ’s own. And then Isaac turns to chastity, and again he refuses reduction. Virginity is not merely bodily restraint but an interior reverence. One who feels shame before himself even when alone. This is a startling phrase. It speaks of a soul that lives before God even when no one is watching. Shame here is not self-loathing but awe. It is the trembling awareness that one’s thoughts are already prayers, or blasphemies, before the face of God. Therefore Isaac is unsparing: chastity cannot survive without reading and prolonged prayer. Without immersion in the Word, the imagination becomes a wilderness of unguarded images. Without prayer, the heart has no shelter. Abba Evagrius taught that thoughts are not defeated by force but by replacement—by filling the mind with divine fire. The Jesus Prayer, Scripture read slowly, the psalms murmured in weakness, these do not merely resist impurity; they transfigure desire itself. What unites all these sayings is this: St. Isaac is describing a soul that has accepted vulnerability. God has permitted the soul to be susceptible to accidents: not as punishment, but as mercy. Weakness becomes the doorway. Hunger becomes the guide. Shame becomes watchfulness. Mourning becomes wealth. Nothing here is safe, and nothing here is superficial. This is not an ethic for the strong. It is a path for those who have consented to be poor before God. In the end, St. Isaac is teaching us how to stand unarmed in the presence of the Kingdom; estranged from the world, aching for God, clothed in quiet prayer, and guarded not by our strength but by grace that shines unseen in the depths of the heart. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:04:33 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 7 Homily Six 00:04:45 Angela Bellamy: What is the book titled please? 00:04:56 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "What is the book tit..." with 👍 00:08:11 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 7 Homily Six 00:08:21 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php?cPath=75_105&products_id=635 00:11:18 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 170 paragraph 7 Homily Six 00:12:25 Angela Bellamy: We have another advisory as well. 00:14:38 Angela Bellamy: Is the Saturday group suitable for me to join as well? 00:15:31 Jesssica Imanaka: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..." They are sporadic. I didn't think there was a regular Saturday group. 00:16:05 Angela Bellamy: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..." Is it a kind of fellowship meeting or is it usually topic related? 00:16:12 Andrew Adams: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..." The Saturday groups are one-off topics. They have been on more broader topics/themes of Eastern Christin spirituality. 00:16:25 Angela Bellamy: Replying to "Is the Saturday grou..." Wonderful! Thank you. 00:48:59 Myles Davidson: Some of my favourite times during a challenging night vigil where I am very tired and battling sleep and even the Jesus prayer is too much effort, is only having the ability to repeat the name of Jesus over and over. Being too tired for any other thought has a very liberating and tender quality to it 00:49:39 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Some of my favouri..." with ❤️ 00:54:51 David Swiderski, WI: I found arrow prayers have helped me. A spiritual director told me to leave a breadcrumb trail throughout the day so the heart continues to return to God as much as possible. A picture of our mother in one's wallet, a rosary/prayer rope in one's pocket etc.Hourly Prayers of Saint John Chrysostom 00:55:16 Rebecca Thérèse: St John of the Cross says that it's beneficial for the intellect to sleep or be otherwise occupied to assist the communication of God with the soul. Contemplative prayer is the action of God in the soul, it's completely passive - it doesn't depend on our effort except to cooperate with the Holy Spirit by endeavouring to grow in virtue. 00:55:45 Fr Marty: Beautiful explanation. Thank you 00:57:37 Jessica McHale: Praying the Divine Office but also working an 8 hr day and tending to family etc can some times make the Office feel like something just to check off on the list of things to do and not prayer. It's a challenge. I love praying the Office but sometimes it does become one more thing to get done. Maybe it's the few moments within a long evening prayer or morning prayer that I do pray from my heart counts most. 00:57:59 Angela Bellamy: What is the hallmark difference between prayer rule, simple prayer, and contemplative prayer? 00:58:25 Fr Marty: Prayer and theosis is sometimes too wonderful to comprehend 00:59:10 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "I found arrow prayer..." with ❤️ 00:59:16 Angela Bellamy: Is it necessary to know or label the prayer? 00:59:22 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I found arrow pray..." with ❤️ 01:06:14 Una’s iPhone: The Perfect Prayer Book by Father Frey is a Catholic breviary that covers the entire psalter in a week 01:07:40 Kimberley A: Faith is the reality of  the Presence of God deep in my heart. Almost like is an invisible Being who is ever with me and in me. Is this right? 01:07:43 Una’s iPhone: published by Confraternity of the Precious Blood in NY. An old and small book. $10 on Amazon. It’s been a lifesaver for me with my reduced physical energy 01:08:58 Kimberley A: My heart has become a humble "manger". 01:09:51 Joan Chakonas: I listen to the old podcasts (right now Ladder of Divine Ascent) when I can -when I’m driving or doing other solitary activity- and I find I am in communion with God listening to the words you read.  Every reading directs my mind toward things in my mind and life and its all so good. 01:17:06 Joan Chakonas: Agree the live group is epic!! 01:17:13 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Agree the live group..." with 👍 01:17:22 Ben: Reacted to "Agree the live group..." with 👍 01:17:31 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I listen to the ol..." with ❤️ 01:17:40 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Agree the live gro..." with 👍 01:18:07 Ann’s iPad: Reacted to "Agree the live group…" with 👍 01:18:18 Kevin Burke: Thank You Father! Such a blessing to be in this group! 01:18:21 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father. 01:18:32 Janine: The best! Thank you Father! No better way to spend Eve! 01:18:42 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "The best! Thank you …" with ❤️ 01:19:06 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you, happy new year everyone.☺️ 01:19:11 Kimberley A: Blessed 🎊 new year 01:19:20 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father. May God bless you and your mother! 01:19:41 Jessica McHale: I absolutely LOVE your teaching and counsel. Praise God fo leading me to you and these groups this past yesr!  Many prayers!!!! Thank you! 01:19:49 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

There is something terrifyingly honest in these stories because they do not allow us to hide behind good intentions or spiritual reputation. They expose how thin the veil is between holiness and destruction when the heart is not fully purified of anger and envy. Florentius is not portrayed as weak or negligent. He is guileless. He prays. He fasts. He entrusts his life to God so completely that even a wild bear becomes obedient to the rhythm of his prayer. Creation itself recognizes innocence when the human heart is simple. The bear does not argue. It does not rebel. It returns at the sixth hour. It submits to fasting schedules. It becomes a brother. And then men who pray and chant psalms murder it out of envy. The Evergetinos does not soften this. Envy is not a small flaw. It is demonic participation. The Devil enters precisely where comparison takes root. Their teacher does not work miracles. Another is becoming known. Something inside them twists. They do not attack Florentius directly. They kill what he loves. That is how envy works. It strikes sideways. It wounds through the innocent. What follows should frighten anyone who thinks holiness gives permission to anger. Florentius prays for justice. He does not strike with his hands. He strikes with words. And heaven responds. The punishment is immediate. Public. Irreversible. And the most horrifying part is not the leprosy of the guilty monks but the lifelong repentance of the holy one whose prayer was answered. Florentius spends the rest of his life calling himself a murderer. That should stop us cold. God answers his prayer and Florentius is undone by it. He learns too late that the tongue can kill just as surely as a knife. Gregory is mercilessly clear. Revilers do not inherit the Kingdom. Not murderers. Not adulterers. Revilers. Those who curse. Those who wound with speech. Those who let anger become a prayer. Then the Fathers press the knife deeper. Makarios meets the same pagan twice. Once he is cursed and beaten almost to death. Once he blesses and converts a soul. The difference is not the pagan. The difference is the word. The disciple speaks truth without love and becomes an occasion of violence. The elder speaks love without flattery and becomes an occasion of resurrection. One word produces blood. Another produces monks. An evil word makes even a good man evil. A good word makes even an evil man good. This is not poetry. It is spiritual law. We want crosses without insults. We want asceticism without humiliation. We want holiness that never contradicts our self image. The Fathers laugh at this illusion. We behold the Cross and read about Christ’s sufferings and cannot endure a single insult without defending ourselves internally. Not even outwardly. In the heart. That is where the battle is lost. Abba Isaiah is ruthless because he knows how fast anger multiplies. Do not argue. Do not justify. Make a prostration before your heart rehearses its case. Silence is not weakness here. It is warfare. If the insult is true repent. If it is false endure. Either way the soul is saved if the tongue is restrained. The bear was obedient. The monks were not. The pagan ran in vain until he was greeted with mercy. Florentius learned that holiness without restraint of speech can still become an instrument of death. And the Fathers leave us with no escape. Words are not neutral. They either heal or rot the body of Christ. This teaching burns because it strips us of our favorite refuge. We excuse anger as clarity. We baptize sharp speech as righteousness. We call curses discernment. The Evergetinos exposes this lie mercilessly. One word can unleash hell. One word can open the Kingdom. The question is not whether we pray. The question is whether our words crucify or resurrect. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 336 Hypothesis XLIII 00:05:29 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org/blog 00:09:36 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 336 Hypothesis XLIII 00:09:55 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: http://Philokaliaministries.org/blog 00:11:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 336 Hypothesis XLIII Volume II 00:12:32 Angela Bellamy: What is the name of the book please? 00:12:45 Jessica McHale: Same here in Boston 00:13:06 Jerimy Spencer: Aloha Father, from a ‘chilly’ 78° O'ahu 😅 00:13:24 Jerimy Spencer: lol 00:14:26 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.ctosonline.org/patristic/EvCT.html 00:15:13 Angela Bellamy: I bought the Philokalia but the pages don't line up with your YouTube teaching. 00:23:13 Jerimy Spencer: Like the lion that helped dig and bury St Mary of Egypt ♥️☦️ 00:24:34 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Like the lion that..." with 👍 00:37:27 Jessica McHale: In all honestly, should we just endure verbal abuse? 00:39:46 Joan Chakonas: The ability to forgive /avoid cursing others goes along with not despairing of God forgiving us of our own accursed actions 00:40:47 Jerimy Spencer: Two thoughts, I’ve often thought that when someone murders, they murder something of their humanity, they assault the image of God within themselves… And you’ve reminded me of the redemption of the Ransom character’s imagination from C.S. Lewis’ Space trilogy, where he begins to see reality as the two humans who kidnapped him from afar, at first thinks they are oddly shaped, sees them as alien and ultimately as villain. 01:03:23 Joan Chakonas: I think it’s hard to be good because insults or affronts come upon us suddenly  and it takes us by surprise 01:05:26 Joan Chakonas: It takes a lot of prayer and practice and grace eventually arrests our quick responses 01:07:12 John Burmeister: Im 61 and have been angry with people and said some stuff that i should probably have not said over these years. you make we wonder, that a lot of these people i did not know, we really will not know if we caused harm until after our death. 01:07:57 Jessica McHale: It's easier to take the insults of strangers, but when the insults are from family and you have no one--you're alone--it's hard not to become despondent or even engage in self-pity. We can identlfy with Christ in it--to be in the Garden of Gethsemance with Him, but it is a challenge. The worst part is not even the insults, it's knowing that if this person/people were living as a Christian their lives would be so much more peaceful and whole. The insults wouldn't even occur. That's the hard part to come to terms with. Praying and putting it in God's hands is best I guess. 01:12:04 Angela Bellamy: https://www.orthodoxroad.com/bless-my-enemies-o-lord/ 01:27:16 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "https://www.orthod..." with ❤️ 01:27:29 Ann’s iPad: Reacted to "https://www.orthodox…" with ❤️ 01:28:32 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father, this teaching is a great blessing in my life. 01:28:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:28:45 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you! 01:28:49 Janine: Thank you Father 01:28:50 Bob Čihák, AZ: Thank you and bless you, Father. 01:28:53 Charmaine's iPad: Thank you 01:28:56 Andrew Adams: Merry Christmas everyone! 01:29:00 Jessica McHale: Bless you, Father--a thousand times! Merry Chistmas! Looking frward to Wednesday! Many prayers