Our Community Life

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers ... And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts ..." (Acts 2:42-47)

Wheat Field

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Orthodoxy and Secularism

Orthodoxy and Secularism

“There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” (John 6:8-9). After the first autumn harvest, the people across England gathered to celebrate Loaf Mass. It was a time of great jolly for the children and townspeople, but most of all for the wheat farmers. They tilled the soil, planted the seeds, and labored in the fields of grains. Now it was time. Each wheat farmer baked a loaf of bread from their first flour and pr

Buried Anger

Buried Anger

“Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:17). Bishop Anthony Bloom was an old man when he wrote about anger. He was dying. As he prepared for death, he found himself convicted by anger. He searched through his heart for any traces of anger, as earnestly as a surgeon searches for cancer. Why? Why should an old man think about anger? Why should any of us get concerned about anger? Why do the epistles warn us to not let the sun set on

Stillness and Contemplation

Stillness and Contemplation

Words from Matta El Meskeen Practicing Presence with God “Very few people spend any time practicing being with God. Fewer still enjoy the great blessing, by God’s grace, of interior prayer. Interior prayer is, in fact, the fruit of the spiritual life. It is a return of Adam to the beauty of his former spirituality” (55). The Difference between Meditation and Contemplation “Meditation requires delving deep into mental investigation, requiring excessive mental and intelle

Meditation on Divine Scripture

Meditation on Divine Scripture

Words from Matta El Meskeen Meditation fills our hearts with God “Meditation is the key to all graces. It makes him who practices it biblical in every thought, word, and feeling. He also becomes advanced in every gift and full of divine understanding. When he opens his mouth, the words of the Bible flow spontaneously from his lips without embellishments. Divine thoughts proceed from his mouth in amazing succession. They are like waves of light that submerge the hearer’s mi

What is Prayer?

What is Prayer?

Words from Matta El Meskeen Prayer is a Human Response to a Divine Call “Prayer that is spiritual and genuine is both a call and a response: a divine call and a human response. This definition of prayer rests on an important fact: Prayer does not reach its power and efficacy as an actual communion with God until man is fully aware that his soul is created in God’s image. He should feel that it derives its very being from him. In this being, nothing is more vital than this

A Life in Prayer

A Life in Prayer

Words from Matta El Meskeen The Life of Matta El Meskeen (1919-2006) Matta, later tonsured with the name of Fr. Matthew, was a key figure in the revival of Egyptian monasticism in the twentieth century. He was a theologian, and author of 181 books on biblical exegesis, liturgy, and spiritual matters. In 1948, he embarked on a life of solitude, pursuing silence and pray before all else. He writes, “Renunciation of the world and its possessions had been my greatest concern. I t

Penetrating Prayer

Penetrating Prayer

Seize with Violence “If you pray only when you are inclined to, you will cease praying altogether; this is what the flesh desires. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. You will not be able to work out your salvation without forcing yourself…It is necessary continually to force ourselves to truth and goodness; when praying, we must every moment force ourselves to pronounce each word with power, truly from the heart…We must say the words of the prayer in such a way that t

Purity in Heart

Purity in Heart

Union with God “The problem of our life is union with God, and sin completely prevents this; therefore flee from sin as from a terrible enemy, as from the destroyer of the soul, because to be without God is death and not life. Let us therefore understand our destination; let us always remember that our common Master calls us to union with Himself” (20). Necessity of Cultivating a Pure Heart “It is especially necessary for Christians to have a pure heart, so that they may

Meditation in Prayer

Meditation in Prayer

Not satisfied “Thou, O God, hast opened wide to me Thy trust and Thy verity…I have studied the laws regulating the mind of man…I have penetrated in part into the mysteries of nature…I have many books of very varied contents; I have read and re-read them, but still I am not yet satisfied. My spirit still thirsts for further knowledge and my heart is unsatisfied; it hungers, and from all the knowledge thus acquired by the intellect, it cannot gain full happiness. When will it

Lessons from St. John Kronstadst

Lessons from St. John Kronstadst

Comprehension of Spiritual Warfare St. John: “Once ordained a priest and pastor, I soon learned through experience with whom I had entered into combat in my spiritual arena, namely with the powerful, cunning, unsleeping prince of this world, who breathes evil and perdition and the fire of hell, and with the sub-celestial spirits of evil…This battle with the strong and cunning invisible enemy plainly showed me how many infirmities, weaknesses, and sinful passions there were in

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