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| "It is indispensable for us to force ourselves to keep the commandments of God. And God's help is always with us."
(St. Nikon, +1931)
"It is necessary for a man to personally begin a new life according to the understanding of the Holy Gospel and the Holy Church of Christ --- both in one's outward actions and in one's soul."
(St. Nikon, +1931)
Note: Please do not misinterpret the holy words that follow. St. Anthony of Optina is NOT implying that we do not need to observe the food fasting guidelines of the Church. In fact, if we cannot observe those guidelines, which are - by far - the easiest expressions of fasting, then there is no way that we can observe the more noble and serious forms of fasting as outlines below by the Saint.
"The Holy Church cries out: Fasting is not avoiding food, but putting away all evil, controlling the tongue from idle-talking and gossip, forbearing from anger, and abstaining from lust, falsehood, and flattery. Whoever fasts in this way, his fast is pleasing to God."
(St. Anthony, +1865)
"One must absolutely keep the fasts, on Wednesdays and Fridays and all Great Lent. Absolutely fast."
(St. Anatoly, +1894)
"The essence and power of abstinence is not in refraining from food, but in expelling from the heart every remembrance of evil and other such things. That is true fasting, and what - above all else - the Lord demands."
(St. Leo, +1841)
"Fasting is praiseworthy and necessary in its time and place: It is better to keep a moderate use of food and drink --- avoiding satiety, indicated by slight heaviness; and - on the other hand - avoiding excessive and inappropriate fasting. Moderation, the middle path, makes a person more capable of spiritual activity."
(St. Ambrose, +1891)
"If someone is upset with you (i.e., not at peace with you, but does not express it), be pleasant with him --- as if you don't notice it."
(St. Ambrose, +1891)
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| "Genuine obedience, which brings great benefit to the soul, comes when you act in defiance of yourself. Then the Lord Himself takes you in His arms and blesses your labors."
(St. Nikon, +1931)
"When Christ the Saviour Himself was obedient, it was not for a brief period of time; but unto death. Therefore, if we are always obedient, we will always be happy. But to our sorrow, the cruel passion of self-love has made our will [like] iron --- unbending to obedience. [Thus,] it often seems to us that we are smart, and that we can see things better than others can, etc."
(St. Anthony, +1865)
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| So, after a long break, I'm back posting quotes and such. I hope you enjoy them. They are always thought-provoking to me...
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"Sin leaves its mark, not only on the soul but also on the exterior of a person --- on his outward appearance and behavior."
(St. Nikon, +1931)
"There are wounds that can be healed and will not cause death of the body, and then there are mortal wounds. Likewise with sins. A grave sin destroys the soul, and renders it unfit for spiritual blessings. For example, if you sit a blind man at a place with a wonderful view and ask him: 'Isn't the view just lovely from here?' Of course, he will have to answer that - because he is blind - he can see nothing. So it can be said about a soul that is deadened by sin, which is incapable of eternal blessedness."
(St. Barsanuphius, +1913)
"Strive in all things to live according to the Divine commandments, and remember that the Lord is present and sees the disposition of your heart. While fulfilling an obedience, consider that it has been given by the Lord through a person; and that your salvation depends on your zeal in fulfilling it."
(St. Ambrose, +1891)
<<<<<<<THIS IS A BIT LONG BUT A GOOD READ>>>>>>>>>>
About Laughter
Archbishop John Shakhovskoy
There are two kinds of laughter, light and dark. They can be easily
distinguished from one another by the laughing person's eyes and smile.
You can also distinguish the two within yourself by what kind of spirit
accompanies the laughter. In the absence of a light joy, a subtle
feeling of light-heartedness, the laughter is not light. If what you feel
within your breast is coarse and dry, and you are wearing a crooked smile,
then the laughter is filthy. [That type of laugh] always follows some
type of joke, something that mocks the harmony of the world. Distorting
harmony in the world also distorts one's soul, and that is reflected in
one's twisted facial expression.
Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep. (Luke 6: 25).
Ye shall weep! For you took joy in what you should not, in what merits
torment.
"A serene smile," is the mirror of discovered harmony. The saints smile
without laughing. Laughter, as the fullness of clean joy, is the
condition of the age to come. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall
laugh. Ascetic experience in one's enlightening and transfiguration even
recommends smiling without showing one's teeth (better to have a little
less joy than to have even a fleeting moment of impurity therein!)
"Joking laughter" - the laughter heard in films, theaters, at parties
and soirees, casually ridiculing one's neighbor, laughing at weaknesses
and human dignity for the sake of amusement and to forget sorrow,
pointless laughter, and vain ridicule of others - all these are a spiritual
disease. More precisely, they can be characterized as symptoms of
spiritual disease.
In the world of the spirits are unclean spirits, spirits seen in the
faces of those roaring with laughter... Angelic joy puts a smile on the
face.
Healthy laughter can quietly dissipate the gathering clouds of evil
argumentativeness, enmity, and even murder... Good laughter restores
friendships and the family hearth.
Caustic, sarcastic laughter is not of God. A sarcastic smile, biting
sarcasm, is a mockery of the Gospel salt of wisdom. It is mockery
contained in a twisted smile.
Words of sharp witticism always cut open the soul. Sharpness is
sharpness whether the knife is held by a surgeon or by a brigand; yet it can
be used to diametrically opposite effect. Incision can allow in the
Heavenly Light and the warmth of the Spirit, can be employed in order to
excise rotting tissue and to ablate necrosis. Yet there is a sharpness
that is not beneficial, one that cuts, carelessly cuts up the soul, and
often kills.
Only the saints are incisive, and only the holy is incisive. Unclean
spirits are a mockery of incisiveness, and many people in the world hone
their ability to speak their minds with such wittiness, such [mock]
incisiveness.
The boundary between clean and unclean laughter is "Homeric laughter,"
cackling, roaring laughter... This is the kind of laughter encountered
at opulent banquets.
Who is vigilant, remaining pious in cognizance of the Mystery of his
life, will be vigilant with respect to his entire life, including his
laughter. Before God, he will even watch how he smiles. For him, and with
the help of his invisible protectors, everything will be clean and
bright.
Just like children, the saints illumined the world both with their
weeping and with their smiles. Only children and those who have true love
for Christ possess that purity of life that can be seen with human eyes
- seen even in their facial expression.
For children as yet untainted by the spirit of corruption, everything
is direct and pure. For them, death has not yet revealed itself to mock
their mortality. They still possess the spring of life both as a
beginning and a memory of Heaven. Thus, their vision and laughter is clean
and pure, they speak without dissembling, they find it easy to weep, and
to forget that they had been weeping...
"Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven..." The reason is clear.
The greatest praise for a person is "He has the laughter of a child"...
incorrupt laughter, approaching Heavenly harmony.
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| "We cannot live in such a way that no one grieves or offends us, for the Apostle Luke writes; "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22), and [St. Paul exclaims]: "bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2).
Therefore, let us ask that we may bear sorrows with self-reproach and humility, and not be overcome by evil; but overcome evil with good. ..."
(St. Hilarion, +1873)
"You need not be despondent. Let those be despondent who do not believe in God. For them, sorrow is burdensome, of course, because - besides earthly enjoyment - they have nothing. But believers must not be despondent, for through sorrows they receive the right of sonship --- without which it is impossible to enter the Kingdom of heaven."
(St. Barsanuphrius, +1913)
"Error and delusion in man come from the fact that we do not properly understand the purpose and will of God concerning ourselves. According to His goodness and mercy, the Lord wants to give us eternal blessedness ... in the heavenly Kingdom; but we - in our blindness - seek, and are more desirous of, temporal happiness and well-being on earth. So the Lord, in His goodness and love for the human race, instructs us with various sorrows, sicknesses and other misfortunes."
(St. Ambrose, +1891)
"By necessity, you must endure the insults; for you must endure something for your sins --- if not here, then in the future life. However, in the future life, the sorrows are extremely horrible. May the Lord deliver us from them, through His grace and love for mankind."
(St. Joseph, +1911)
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| "If a person endures sorrows with submission to the will of God, while confessing his sins, through this he will be delivered from the threat of eternal torments. Therefore, it is better to endure troubles here - casting your sorrow upon the Lord and praying to Him with humility - that he deliver us from faintheartedness and despair, which are worse than any other sin."
(St. Ambrose, +1891)
"If someone believes evil about the faith [i.e., heretically], flee from him and have nothing to do with him --- not only if he is a man, but even if he happens to be an angel from heaven. However, do not critique a person's lifestyle; because, 'Do not judge so that you will not be judged,' applies to all matters of the lifestyle, and not to matters of faith."
(St. John Chrysostom, +407)
"A continuously happy life produces extremely unhappy consequences. In nature, we see that there are not always pleasant springs and fruitful summers; and sometimes autumn is rainy and winter, cold and snowy; and there is flooding and wind and storms, and moreover the crops fail and there are famine, troubles, sicknesses and many other misfortunes. All of this is beneficial, so that man might learn through prudence, patience, and humility. For the most part, he forgets himself in times of plenty; but he becomes more attentive to his salvation in times of various sorrows.
(St. Ambrose, +1891)
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