The purpose of the monastic life is to approach God at a maximum. In this case, such happiness and spiritual delight come to a person that he forgets everything; he forgets his father, mother, daughter, and everything that he used to hold dear.
One should not even compel himself to do this as God supersedes everything.
Everything ceases to exist without God.
But I will make an important remark: a monk should not come to a state where he is indifferent to the world.
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First, we should become worried about our sins, then they should not only worry but torture us like long standing wounds. We should come to hatred towards our sins, but in no way should we come to desperation. Do not give up being discontented with yourself.
This will make us move on and on, do something, and work more and more.
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 Man, from the point of creation, is given a need of thirst. He wants to drink, to eat, he desires comfort and entertainment, he seeks interaction, yearns for creativity, knowledge, new impressions, friendship, and love. He has a need to speak and to be heard. He wants to listen, there is an interest within him. He strives to quench his thirst, in all its various forms, for the entirety of his life. And once he has gained everything, he still has that thirst for the unknown left within, a longing for something he does not know, something he has not yet experienced. He longs, he yearns, he is not satisfied. That is just the way we were created by God; if one does not dream, it means one’s soul is dead. Saints grow indifferent to everything of the world, but it does not mean that their thirst has ceased, it is just that it has changed its course and direction. They hunger and thirst for the heavenly, for the spiritual. Man cannot get to know God in His full measure, it is beyond our ability. But it is still the greater Good. That means there will always be the unknown. That means that movement, dynamics, and life will not cease. That means there will always be a point.
From the film "A Letter from Athos."
https://youtu.be/EXzdMbDsyV4
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Earthly things give us external peace, which is very unstable and unreliable, while God will give us internal peace, the path to which goes through the cross of overcoming and humbling ourselves. It is a precious science of obedience that you yourself, above all others, need. This is the path of your heart to heaven.
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Why don't the relics of saints decay, but send forth grace, myrrh and fragrance?
Because they have accumulated the energy of Divinity throughout their lives and now they give it away.
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The Holy Fathers say that the end of the world will be especially horrorful because humankind will lose the Holy Spirit; it will walk far away from God.
It is horrible to endure deathly tortures without the Holy Spirit.
There will be no Comforter.

For this reason, we should intensify our attention to our spiritual life, intensify our prayer and good deeds - everything that leads to reunion with God. Only in union with Him will humans stand out.

They will not do it by themselves, but through God, with the help of His strength, courage, inspiration and mind.
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A deep understanding of humility is the state of mildness and non-confrontation.
You should grasp the basics of this science - to overcome the situation without breaking it. It will break you. You can only overcome it mildly.
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Our purpose is to practice humility, modesty, and obedience.
In this qualities, a person acquires security while meeting spiritual phenomena. God can easily give us the gifts of the Jesus prayer, or contemplarion, immediately, but He realizes that we will not be able to bear it and that we will simply strain ourselves. This is beyond our measure today, this is why everything happens gradually.
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The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Mt. 11:12).
"To suffer violence" is the foundation of the entire spiritual life.
It would have been too easy if it were this way:
a temptation comes, you look at the icon and the temptation goes away.
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Devotion is when the Holy Spirit dwells in a person.
It does not come from piousness, but from the Holy Spirit.
Piousness without devotion is very dangerous.
It cannot overcome its selfishness and self-opinion. When a person respects, loves and appreciates himself too much, he becomes unbearable.
When a person acquires devotion, he becomes considerate, and love dwells in him. He even does pious deeds differently. He goes to the Liturgy on his tiptoes and treats his neighbor delicately, choosing his words and trying not to offend people even with his glance.
I feel bitter when we neglected devotion for the sake of piousness. We neglect devotion to people, who are the image of God and not simply some living creatures before us, but the ones who suffer the way we do from our damage, sins, and misery.
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Holiness presupposes the fulfillment by God, by His energies.
The state of being holy is the state of deification, when God dwells inside of a person.
In this case, a person acts, thinks and loves through God.
God wishes to give holiness to everyone.
Look, what He says, "You are gods" (Ps. 86:1); gods with no capital letter and not like the gods of the Athenian pantheon. What He means is "gods through Me and in Me."
This is how we should always act - in God.
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Prayer is the energy of life.
As long as water runs and murmurs, it is alive. As soon as it stops, it begins to turn into a bog. The same thing happens inside of us. As long as prayer moves in us, our soul is alive. When it stops for a while, our soul begins to perish. Cherish prayer. Do not say it just because it was given to you as a rule you need to fulfill.
Take it as the energy of your life.
If there is prayer, then there is life!
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The main condition of holiness is a humble heart, which cries without ceasing from the depth of its worthlessness to God, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus..."
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A humble person takes everything calmly.
I will emphasize it at once, calmly does not mean indifferently.
Humility is not indifference.
An indifferent person is not God's person. He is like the one who was given a talent and buried it (see Mt. 25:14-30).
A humble person takes bad circumstances peacefully, and good situations do not make him euphoric, fanciful, or emotionally exultant.
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You cannot only read, ask about and discuss prayer. Only through experience does a person come into the mystery of prayer. It is impossible to explain it, only in part and relatively, framing it in a way. However, you will never fathom it unless you practice it in your everyday life.
A mystery is not understood, but it is experienced. It is out of the format of our earthly stereotypes. It is inexplicable, but very real at the same time. You cannot prove it, you can only live through it.
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As far as God created us to have free will, the only thing He needs to bring us back is our determination to come back, the rest He will do Himself. However, the words "to come back" presuppose going, and going presupposes effort.
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“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Mt. 5:8).
Many consider that purity of heart consists only of purity from sinful thoughts. However, a pile of good thoughts will crowd your heart and mind and simply make a mess out of good things there.
Therefore, purity of heart is its simplicity, easiness and freedom from multitude of unnecessary things.
A pure heart is pure not only from sins, but also from a complex pile of empty thoughts and feelings. Why do the pure in heart see God? Because there are less obstacles between them and God and they look straight at Him. Their mind is not distracted by anything irrelevant and parallel. They look straight at God and only at Him.
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Every external thing that we do at the monastery is secondary.
We should do them but this is not our aim.
The walls, our comfort, tidiness, and even the fulfillment of the Charter are not our aim. Church is not our aim and singing at Church is also not our aim.
Our aim is to win over ourselves though living together and the relationship we have among us. To win over yourself means to overcome your own pride, stubbornness, and argumentativeness. If we do not get and do this, then this monastery might not exist for a long time. It will turn into ruins and only seem to exist. Or, perhaps, it will stand a while, but will be empty.
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