On judging our neighbor
Even though the Father of Lights has given all judgment to the Son, we fools seize it and judge our neighbor without discernment, without realizing his work and God’s divine providence for him.
- Elder Joseph the Hesychast
Only Repentance…
Once a pilgrim came to him and asked him about “the mysteries of spiritual and heavenly things.” The elder emphasized repentance and humility. Again, the man tried to get him to speak about spiritual states and gifts, but the elder brought the conversation back around to repentance. The pilgrim became almost despondent, since he had heard so much about the holiness and charismatic gifts of the elder, and yet he would talk to him only about repentance.
- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos
Monasticism is a very serious and decisive step
Personally, I think that monasticism is God’s mercy for me. I could not be able to undertake not only the life of a monastic but Christianity on my own. Monasticism is a very serious and decisive step. Only the Lord and His mercy can cover all our infirmities and shortcomings.
- Nun Victoria (Patachyts) from St. Elizabeth’s convent
“From the Little Mountain” takes you through a year at the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in West Virginia. This video is an attempt to portray some of the beauty and struggle of monastic life using quotes from the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church.
An Eastern Orthodox nun
#take back the tag
On monasticism
Monasticism is Christ’s army and Satan’s enemy. The monasteries are the outposts of the Church. Without outposts, the enemy will capture us. Prayer in monasteries reaches God like a bullet. As a foreign army fears the aircraft and hides, so also Satan fear the prayer of the monastics and goes away.
- Father Dimitris Gagastathis
Last thing about the “nun/nuns” tabs
I promise I won’t stop posting massively (in my other blog, but in this one as well) nun posts that show the beauty of ascetism of the ancient Orthodox Church. And I encourage you all to continue, Orthodox and Catholics. Don’t give up!
Many thanks to all of you that continue. God bless you all.
Vlad’s blog has been under attack
… Those blogs that post porn are attacking Vlad simply because he stated how painful and discusting is for all of us to see porn in the “nun” and the “nuns” tab. Anti-Christian blogs are submitting to his amazing blog blasphemous content.
Let’s all of us, Christians or not, post massively real nun photos, that show the beauty and the purity of the monastic life. I don’t know if this will never stop, but let us try anyway..!
God bless you all! And thank you from all my heart for participating in the “take back the tab”!
A message from Anonymous
When did the Jesus prayer come about? And who was the 1st to do it?
Hello! :)
The Jesus prayer is highly connected with the Orthodox Church. The prayer has been widely taught and discussed throughout the history of the Church.
The prayer’s origin is most likely the Egyptian desert, which was settled by the monastic Desert Fathers in the 5th century.
The earliest known mention is in “On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination” of St. Diadochos of Photiki (400-c. 486), a work found in the first volume of the Philokalia. The Jesus Prayer is described in Diadochos’s work in terms very similarto St. John Cassian’s (c. 360-435) description in the Conferences 9 and 10, which gives, as the formula used in Egypt for repetitive prayer, not the Jesus Prayer, but “O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me.” St. Diadochos ties the practice of the Jesus Prayer to the purification of the soul and teaches that repetition of the prayer produces inner peace.
The use of the Jesus Prayer is recommended in the Ladder of Divine Ascent of St. John Climacus (c. 523–606) and in the work of St. Hesychios the Priest (ca. 8th century), “Pros Theodoulon”, found in the first volume of the Philokalia. Ties to a similar prayer practice and theology appear in the 14th century work of an unknown English monk The Cloud of Unknowing. The use of the Jesus Prayer according to the tradition of the Philokalia is the subject of the 19th century anonymous Russian spiritual classic The Way of a Pilgrim. Though the Jesus Prayer has been practiced through the centuries as part of the Eastern tradition, in the 20th century, it also began to be used in some Western churches, including some Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.
I hope that you’ll find these information useful! God bless you!
Fasting and Eschatology
Monks and nuns are already living that future existence in this life, rather than considering themselves bound by our present postlapsarian existence. Monasticism (and, more generally, asceticism in all its forms) asserts that it is possible, to some degree, to live eschatologically even now, within our fallen stage of existence: acts of fasting and celibacy are ways of exercising self-control over our biological bodies to create unity and harmony between body and soul, and are simultaneously a foretaste of the future freedom from biological necessities.
- Valerie A. Karras in “Thinking Through Faith: New Perspective from Orthodox Christian Scholars”
Talanton or Toaca, is a wooden board instrument to call worshipers to prayer in the Orthodox Church. It is used especially at monasteries. Here, you can see a monk with the talanton.
It’s sound is amazing, especially as it becomes faster and faster!!!!
Let’s have love…
Let’s have love, meekness and peace. In that way, we help our brother when he is possessed by evil. Our example radiates mystically, and not only when the person is present, but also when he is not. Let us strive to radiate our good will. Even when we say something about a person whose way of life does not meet with our approval, the person is aware of it and we repel him. Whereas, if we are compassionate and forgive him, then we influence him—just as evil influences him—even if he does not see us.
- Elder Porphyrios
A message from Anonymous
Could you tell me about monasticism in the Orthodox tradition? One of my dear friends is attending an Orthodox seminary right now as is considering monasticism afterwords. I would like to know more so I can understand as best I can.
Hello! Sure I can :)
Well, monasticism is an ancient Christian practice that is continued by Orthodox Christians (Eastern and Oriental), Catholics, Anglicans and maybe in some other denominations. Today monasticism remains an important and vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith, and major monastic centers such as Mount Athos and St. Catherine’s Monastery (Sinai) are seeing a revival both in terms of the numbers of monks coming to take up the life and in terms of the intensity of the life being led.
As far as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the focus of monasticism is on theosis, namely the process of perfection to which every Christian is called. Monks practice hesychasm, the spiritual struggle of purification (κάθαρσις), illumination (θεωρία) and divinization (θέωσις) in prayer, the sacraments and obedience.
When one desiring the monastic life enters a monastery, he or she normally passes through three steps or stages:
- Probationer - Novice, Riasaphor
- Monk of the Lesser Schema - Cross-bearer, Stavrophore
- Monk of the Great Schema - Shema monk
Each of the three degrees represents an increased level of asceticism. In the early days of Christian monasticism, there was only one level—the Great Schema.
The process of becoming a monk or nun is intentionally slow, as the vows taken are considered to entail a life-long commitment to God, and are not to be entered into lightly.
These are only some basics of the Orthodox monasticism. If you want to learn more about it, you can visit the following links:
Orthodox Monasteries and Monasticism
The Angelic Path - An Outline of Orthodox Monasticism
I wholeheartedly wish to your friend all the blessings in his journey to monasticism!
God bless you, thanks for contacting me :)
Only true humility…
Amma Theodora said that neither asceticism, nor vigils, nor any kind of suffering are able to save. Only true humility can do that. There was a hermit who was able to banish the demons. And he asked them: “What makes you go away? Is it fasting?” They replied: “We do not eat or drink.” “Is it vigils?” They said: “We do not sleep.” “Then what power sends you away?” They replied: “Nothing can overcome us except humility alone.” Amma Theodora said: “Do you see how humility is victorious over the demons?
- Amma Theodora, one of the Desert Mothers
