Why tremble?.Saint John Chrysostom.

Saint Paul helping Saint John Chrysostom

in interpreting his teaching.

For all those who suffer...
A selected passage from the commentary of Saint John Chrysostom on the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God”.

 Saint Paul seems to me to have mooted this whole topic with a view to those who were in danger; or, rather, not this only, but also what was said a little before this. For the words, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; and those, that the whole creation groaned; and the saying, that we are saved by hope; and the phrase, we with patience wait for; and that, we know not what we should pray for as we ought; are all of them said to these. For he instructs them not to choose just what they may think, themselves, to be useful, but what the Spirit may suggest ; for many things that seem to one's self profitable, do sometimes even cause much harm. Quiet, for instance, and freedom from dangers, and living out of fear, seemed to be advantageous for them.

La spiritualité et l’art de vivre Père Marcel Sarkis.

Père Marcel Sarkis.

Intervention présentée par Père Marcel Sarkis, à la conférence, portant le thème "Jusqu’Au Terme Accompagner La Vie", organisée par l’association JATALV  au Centre de Rencontres Internationales à Monaco.

Père Marcel est recteur de l'Église de tous les saints de la terre Russe en Alpes Maritime, et le fondateur du bulletin “Le Bon Pasteur”, qui vise “apporter un témoignage sur nos Pères et Ancêtres dans la Foi qui ont vécu et qui vivent encore dans une région communément appelée le Moyen-Orient”.

La Spiritualité peut être abordée sous plusieurs angles mais je vais m'en tenir à celui qui me permet de l'associer à la foi en Dieu et essayer avec vous l'art de vivre dans ce sens. Car l'art de vivre dans le christianisme ne consiste pas à s'opposer à la mort ou à la rejeter mais se fonde sur une foi inébranlable en la victoire, par la mort, sur la mort qui devient ainsi une porte à la vie éternelle.

Je ne vous dirais rien de neuf si je vous rappelle que la société est organisée de telle façon que les soucis humains sont prioritaires, à la fois pour l'individu et pour la collectivité. L'homme veut par lui-même produire son bonheur et éloigner le malheur.

Love. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos.

Conscience is the first law of God, which He deeply carved in the hearts of the First Created, and conse­quently, each one of us takes it as a "photocopy" from his parents when he is born. Those who have managed to sensitize their conscience through the daily study of themselves, feel themselves estranged from this world; and, as a result, worldly people are dumbfounded by their discerning behaviour. Those, however, who do not examine their conscience, are neither benefited by spiritual study, nor by the advice of the Elders, nor are they even able to keep God's commandments, since they quickly become insensitive.

Such is the path set before us. Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov.

Father Sophrony’s sister, Maria, in one of her letters, wrote about a certain young relative whose ungrateful attitude towards everyone was causing anxiety in the family, and this was Father Sophrony’s answer.

 I received your last letter not long ago. At the present moment I cannot even find where it is. But I will answer from memory. Of course, the first thing to write about is young peo­ple. I must say that in my lifetime I have very often met the phenomenon you write to me about. In this connexion I tried to remember my own conduct in the past: did I not behave in such a way?. In my childhood I did not understand what diffi­culties and sufferings raising us brought to my (our) parents. My mind acted with its focus rather on myself, on my future, on my needs, and not on how I could show gratitude towards my parents - father and mother - or other people who in one way or another helped me in my childhood and youth. Now I am thinking about those young people whom I have met, for whom I tried to do as much good as possible, to help them arrange their lives; I tried to foresee in my mind the potential difficulties they would have in the future and so on. And the majority of them understood nothing of this; some even thought that I needed something from them, and that was why I did them a good turn.