When your heart and your mind are suspended, when there is no life in you, how do you find your way back to Christ, back to Life? How do you pray when you feel dead inside?

'It was through whispering that the serpent drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise, so he who speaks against his neighbor will be like the serpent, for he corrupts the soul of him who listens to him and he does not save his own soul' - Abba Hyperechius of the Desert Fathers. Slander and gossip are the fruits of evil and hatred, and their own fruits are division, brokenness and pain. He who slanders goes against Him Who asked us to be One. He who listens to the one who slanders opens himself to the other one's poison, and both of them are condemned as the spiritual murderers of the neighbor whom they slander.

The Feast of Theophany, when God the Trinity reveals Himself to us.

What would happen if we were all martyred for the Truth of Christ?

To die to the world has nothing to do with self-destruction or the destruction of the world. Quite the opposite, when we die to the world, we begin the process of being born in Christ, which is then reflected back unto the world as a new blessing, a new input of grace, a new change for salvation. To be dead to the world means not to engage with the world in its fallen state, but to engage with its full spiritual potential, with the hidden image of God imprinted on everyone.

This is not about religious regimentation, nor about brainwashing ourselves into believe doctrines that are foreign to our nature, nor about abandoning our will to become the puppets of a master, nor about denying oneself and losing one's identity. Being a Christian is about following the God of Love onto our own cross, mirroring His Cross, so we may discover who-we-are-in-Love and what this world looks like when saved by Love.

Two summers ago (when people still travelled) I met a lady on the ferry who had come to the Isles all the way from North America because 'God told me to visit Scotland'. Apparently, God had told her to visit many places in the world and she was looking forward to wherever He would send her on her next holiday. This lesson is based on a very different story about St Macarius the Great who one day received the thought of leaving his cell to go and pray in the desert. After he waited for FIVE YEARS, fighting in prayer to discern if this is the will of God, he then went into the desert.

Not the virus, not the vaccines, not ecumenism, not any other enemy of choice: the greatest danger to our salvation and the trigger of the destruction of this world is our SIN We are the ones who can destroy ourselves and our world, but we are also the ones through whom the world can be saved. Christ has already opened that door for us. A world without love can have no future, but one drop of Love can redeem ALL.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea helps answer the question "Will we ever reach the holiness of the Saints?".

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that who we are in Christ is the best version of ourselves.

A lot of people around us suffer from the physiological pressures of this pandemic. Some were suffering before it all started, others have only now found themselves facing this struggle. The point is that there are SO MANY among us who suffer quietly and unknown by anyone. We MUST open our eyes to see them. St Silouan tells us that a loving, prayerful heart naturally feels the pain of the world and willingly crucifies itself in prayer for the world. We must close the judgemental eyes of our minds and open the loving eyes of our hearts, so we may perceive the silent pain in our brothers and sisters. Once we see it, we must do what Christ teaches us to do: lift their cross on our shoulders and carry it for them. At least for an hour. At least for a day. It may not be much, but it will allow them a respite from the lonely hell of a mind in pain.

When we judge our brother we become anti-Christs, because we rob the True Judge - Jesus Christ - of the authority given to Him Alone by the Father. We envy His place on His Throne of Judgement and we sit on His Throne in our mind, making ourselves to be judges, although God did not give us this authority. We are not the Judge, but the ones who will be judged, with the rest of humanity. We must always remember that the Same One Who said: 'do not kill' also said: 'do not Judge'.

Some people thrive and others collapse fought by the same temptations, in the same context, surrounded by the same people. St Paisius the Agiorite (St Paisius of the Holy Mountain) and St John of the Ladder teach us that a joyful disposition of the heart and the determination to see goodness in everyone can make the difference between spiritual life and death. We need to train our thoughts to always 'translate' the situations we face into good examples, into sources of strength, virtue and beauty. Depending on whether we decode this world through a lens of love or one of condemnation, the same temptations can feed the Divine Image in us or the nothingness in us.

What is the Orthodox practice of total fasting? How do you keep it and why would you? What are the spiritual benefits of fasting for a period from all food and water for the love of Christ?

Back in March 2020, when I promised that I'd be recording these videos to keep each other company through the pandemic, I definitely had no idea I would still be doing this a whole year later. One year of the pandemic, one year with the virus, and we are still here, helping each other on our way. I have learnt enormously from you during this past year and I want to thank you all, on behalf of the Monastery, for the love and encouragement you have offered us. May God, Who brought all of us together, continue to bless us every day, every hour of our portion in this world, my dear ones.

We often gather our forces to fight our spiritual enemies at the wrong 'gate' of our being. Most frequently, evil enters our life through the gates of our mind and heart, not that of the body. We need to pay attention and learn the behaviour of the evil one, so we may guard well the fortress of our being. Once we learn to decode his behaviour, we can finally begin to plan a strategy to fight back.

This battle is now way above our heads. We need to humbly wait in the loving palm of Christ.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea explains the hiatus from recording the podcast for 18 months.

There is no fall too deep for Christ's love for us. Never lose hope, my brothers and my sisters.

No good can come from constantly re-assessing our decision to enter a marriage or monastic life. The time for assessing is before we enter the Sacrament; after that, we should allow Christ to freely use the 'tool' of the Sacrament to shape us into the Saints He created us to be.

The devil wants us to forget him. His ultimate success would be to make us believe that he is not even real, that he is just the product of our imagination. Once that happens, the flood-gates of sin are wide open in us and our salvation is in great danger.

Would you tell the demoniacs whom Christ healed that they are 'perfect as they are'? Would you tell Mary Magdalene that the seven demons who fought her made her 'who she was'? Would you stop Christ from forgiving sinners because there is no need for them to be forgiven? If we are 'perfect as we are', then what need do we have of Christ? THIS is why the idea that we do not need to change, that we have to embrace ourselves just as we are and that sin is somehow part of our true selves — this is why this heresy is the door through which the collapse of our entire faith enters. If I am perfect as I am, then I don't need Christ for anything. Even more, this Christ Who tells me that I DO need to change becomes an antiquated and outdated 'invention', without Whom I can very well live my life.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea reminds us that these are unforgivable sins against God's Love and Mercy. Feeling entitled to God's forgiveness, reducing God's Love to an automatic, impersonal tool of forgiveness—this is spiritual abuse of God's Love, this is the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. The other is to lose hope, to think that God's Love is not strong enough to cover our sins, to sink so low in our despair that we believe our sin has defeated God's Love.

This video is part of a Lenten Retreat at St Seraphim's Cathedral in Santa Rosa, California. As we prepare to enter Great Lent, we might ponder on the impossible height to which we are being called—to be perfect with the Father’s perfection—an impossibility that becomes possible in Christ, as we open up to His presence. This paradox and the tension it creates in us keep our spiritual life safe from being reduced to empty piety and religiosity.

We live in an age of new paganism. The distance we allowed between ourselves and Christ has created a spiritual void in the world, which is rapidly being filled with spiritual experiences and rituals that mirror those of the ancient pagan world.

The story of a miracle: how God healed me and then poured a mountain of grace over us was recorded by Fr Seraphim (Aldea) at Mull Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of All Celtic Saints), on the Isle of Mull.

What has light to do with darkness?

Join Fr. Seraphim and the Monasteries of Mull and Iona on a pilgrimage to St Brendan's Island: Eileach an Naoimh—'The Rock of the Saint'.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea introduces us to Inch Kenneth, the 'desert' of St Kenneth.

Fr. Seraphim gives a short update.

Learning About Spirituality from the Celtic Saints (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

On the Blood of Martyrs (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

The One True Christ... and the many false ones (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Jesus Christ: The Only Path to Salvation (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

The Voices You Listen to Shape Your Life (w/ Fr. Seraphim Aldea)

Ars chats with director Juliette Eisner and original study participants in new documentary series.

Finding work as a freelance writer is hard enough even in fields with little competition. However, there are several niches where that competition is off the charts. If you plan to make a living writing about one of those, you’ll need to bring your A-game. Some examples of highly-contested niches include finance and (surprisingly) psychedelics. […]

The post What Are the Most Contested Fields for Freelance Writers? appeared first on Leaving Work Behind.

Fr. Steven takes a break from his commentary on Orthodox unity to speak about the recent Supreme Court decision related to Same Sex Marriage.

It's summertime! Does God speak to us through the wind, waves, and sun? Fr. Steven thinks so, and talks about why all of life is sacred and that our witness weakens because we fail to live the Church outside the Church.

Fr. Steven continues to discuss the Supreme Court ruling on "Same Sex Marriage" in light of our own personhood and what it means to be human.

Are we as Orthodox Christians doing enough to fill the vacuum that the radical ideology of San Bernardino thrives on? Perhaps our own lack of spiritual fortitude is part of the problem.

Is there a way of bringing liberal and fundamentalist Christianity together? Fr. Steven thinks the Orthodox Church is the answer.

Is spiritual life more difficult in our days than of old? Fr. Steven thinks so, and explains how the threat of the erosion of our personhood is something new.

Fr. Steven stirs the pot of current moral difficulties facing all Orthodox Christians

The events in Houston elicited some marvelous human responses. But Fr. Steven wonders why it takes a catastrophe to bring out the best in us.

Can we reconcile the world's celebration of Nativity with our own? Yes! The Lord has the last word.

The Greek nun Irene Myrtidiotissa was visited by the grace of our Christ. But what is grace actually about?