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A Holy Father on overcoming lust with spiritual remembrance. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. Much of modern advertising and entertainment is directed toward building up and promoting lust. You might wonder, then, how is it possible to overcome this passion?
Archimandrite Sophrony on caring more about God's opinion than the world's. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. It can seem like life is simply a popularity contest: most people strive to be more liked, more noticed, more “successful” than others around them. But Archimandrite Sophrony tells us that we need to be concerned about the only opinion that matters:
For over 6 ½ years I’ve been producing Bible study materials for Orthodox Christian teens, and for almost 2 ½ years I’ve been producing the Get Wisdom podcast. I've created a special episode of Get Wisdom because I need your feedback. I love studying the Bible, and I love sharing Bible study with Orthodox Christian teens and adults. But now, after years of creating these—and other materials—I have a bit of a dilemma: I need to make some choices about what work (both Orthodox and otherwise) I’ll be doing in the future. This is where you come in. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for any money!
St. Benedict of Nursia on depending upon God to overcome temptation. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. Among the things for which we ask in the Lord’s Prayer is, “Lead us not into temptation.” St. Benedict of Nursia tells us we’ll never overcome temptation without God’s help:
St. Symeon the New Theologian on the spiritual danger of being listless. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. Most of us have experienced days where we don’t want to do anything—even get out of bed. Sometimes we truly need physical rest, but other times we’re simply listless or sluggish.
Pardon my delay in writing. I fell from my discipline. But here is a good picture to remind us what Lent is all about. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" (RSV) and the LXX, Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) adds, "and subdue it".
So often, "subdue it" takes on some grand character. We are the bosses of the world. We must dominate it, put it into submission, rule it. All of these, of course, are reasonable interpretations of katakurieo, the verb from which the second to last word comes in the Greek quotation above. I'd like us to consider the term, however, in a slightly different way. Rather than taking the sort of Western, imperial translation, let's break it into its component parts: kata and kurieo. Each of the Gospels in the New Testament have a beautiful title in Greek: "According to <<Evangelist>>" According to John, According to Matthew, According to Luke, According to Mark. In Greek: Kata John. Kata Luke. Kata Matthew, etc. So, we might take "katkurievsate", from "kata-kurieo" to be "According to the Lord". In verb form: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and **according-to-the Lord it**. This surely adds a new dimension to the command. It is no longer "rule", "subdue". After all, the Lord himself doesn't "rule" or "subdue" us according to medieval feudal/lord standards. He loves us and rules us and guides us ultimately by laying down our life for us. And so, without getting overly "green" about this command in Genesis 9:1, let's recall that our vocation is to "rule", "govern" the whole Kosmos entrusted to us by God, which he so loved, by overseeing it by his love and grace.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk on making our eternal life our primary concern. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. As I record this we’re at roughly the half-way point in Great Lent, where some of the disciplines of the season can begin to feel a bit wearying. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk reminds us why we discipline ourselves like this now:
St. Gregory the Dialogist with a prayer for Great Lent. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. Here’s a prayer for Great Lent from St. Gregory the Dialogist:
St. John of Karpathos on true spiritual knowledge and virtue. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. You might have heard there's a difference between theoretical knowledge and applied knowledge. This might be the case in intellectual studies, but it's not the case in the Orthodox Christian life.
Blessed Theophylact on the kingdom of God and our lives. Click here to listen to today's episode of Orthodox Life Tips. Never miss an episode by subscribing via RSS or iTunes. We often hear about the kingdom of God, but what exactly is it? Blessed Theophylact answers: |
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