The Catalog of Good Deeds

The Holy Virgin Martyr Tatiana was born into an illustrious Roman family, and her father was elected consul three times. He was secretly a Christian and raised his daughter to be devoted to God and the Church. When she reached the age of maturity, Tatiana decided to remain a virgin, betrothing herself to Christ. Disdaining earthly riches, she sought instead the imperishable wealth of Heaven. She was made a deaconess in one of the Roman churches and served God in fasting and prayer, tending the sick and helping the needy.

When Rome was ruled by the sixteen-year-old Alexander Severus (222-235), all power was concentrated in the hands of the regent Ulpian, an evil enemy and persecutor of Christians. Christian blood flowed like water. Tatiana was also arrested, and they brought her into the temple of Apollo to force her to offer sacrifice to the idol. The saint began praying, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The idol was smashed into pieces, and part of the temple collapsed and fell down on the pagan priests and many pagans. The demon inhabiting the idol fled screeching from that place. Those present saw its shadow flying through the air.

Then they tore holy virgin’s eyes out with hooks, but she bravely endured everything, praying for her tormentors that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes. And the Lord heard the prayer of His servant. The executioners saw four angels encircle the saint and beat her tormentors. A voice was heard from the heavens speaking to the holy virgin. Eight men believed in Christ and fell on their knees before Saint Tatiana, begging them to forgive them their sin against her. For confessing themselves Christians they were tortured and executed, receiving Baptism by blood.

The next day Saint Tatiana was brought before the wicked judge. Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped her and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous fragrance then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on the ground and beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times. The torturers became exhausted and said that an invisible power was beating them with iron rods. Indeed, the angels warded off the blows directed at her and turned them upon the tormentors, causing nine of them to fall dead. They then threw the saint in prison, where she prayed all night and sang praises to the Lord with the angels.

A new morning began, and they took Saint Tatiana to the tribunal once more. The torturers beheld with astonishment that after such terrible torments she appeared completely healthy and even more radiant and beautiful than before. They began to urge her to offer sacrifice to the goddess Diana. The saint seemed agreeable, and they took her to the heathen temple. Saint Tatiana made the Sign of the Cross and began to pray. Suddenly, there was a crash of deafening thunder, and lightning struck the idol, the sacrificial offerings and the pagan priests.

Once again, the martyr was fiercely tortured. She was hung up and scraped with iron claws, and her breasts were cut off. That night, angels appeared to her in prison and healed her wounds as before. On the following day, they took Saint Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her. The beast did not harm the saint, but meekly licked her feet.

As they were taking the lion back to its cage, it killed one of the torturers. They threw Tatiana into a fire, but the fire did not harm the martyr. The pagans, thinking that she was a sorceress, cut her hair to take away her magical powers, then locked her up in the temple of Zeus.

On the third day, pagan priests came to the temple intending to offer sacrifice to Zeus. They beheld the idol on the floor, shattered to pieces, and the holy martyr Tatiana joyously praising the Lord Jesus Christ. The judge then condemned the valiant sufferer to be beheaded with a sword. Her father was also executed with her, because he had raised her to love Christ.

Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2001/01/12/100155-martyr-tatiana-of-rome-and-those-who-suffered-with-her

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There are two basic images of Christ in the Church, each marking one of the two poles which hold the very limits of the cosmos. The first image is that of the Pantocrator and its derivatives, essentially Christ shown in the guise of a glorious emperor, both the origin and the final judge of the world. The other basic image is that of Christ on the cross and its derivatives, where he is shown humiliated, beaten and crucified outside the great city as a vicious criminal despite his innocence.

The Pantocrator is an image of authority and power, with Christ appearing as the origin and culmination of all order. In the dome, the glorious Christ is the pinnacle of a cosmic hierarchy of angels and saints which gives structure and shape to the created. It is an image that inspires awe, pride and discipline. The Pantocrator, the great judge with the double edged sword coming from his mouth not only has the power to include, but also the power to exclude and marginalize. This is what order always does. Order, in fact any category, any “logos” or identity must both include and exclude.

Yet standing at the other end of the cosmic expanse is the cross, the bridegroom, the burial and other images of Christ’s Passion in which Christ embodies the excluded and marginal space where order breaks down into death — where order, where law, can exclude and kill the innocent. It is an image that inspires compassion, pity and mercy.

As people, we all fall somewhere between these two poles in our approach to faith and our perception of Christ. Being more on one side or the other has its positive aspects, it can make us stronger or more compassionate, but each side can also hide our vices. In secretly favoring Christ as King, we may feel disgust for those aspects of the world that do not fit, the marginal, the wayward and the peripheral and it may push us to exclusively seeing the danger posed by those who stray from order.

In the opposite manner, by favoring Christ as crucified, in seeing Christ as the innocent victim, we may come to resent authority, oppose order while feeling entitled as we face what appears to us as tyrannical power. This may go to the point of accepting sin, of rejoicing in rebellion and disorder.

Considering this, St. Maximos links these extremes to our passions. The first is a passion from the Right, based in the smug attachment to our own self professed capacity for discipline and order. The other a passion of the Left, the fall into the chaos of our individual whims and desires:

The passions of the flesh may be described as belonging to the left hand, self-conceit as belonging to the right hand.”

It is important, especially in these dark times, to always keep these two images of Christ in view, like a balance with two arms, preventing one from tipping the other and checking the excesses of each. Keeping both images in mind can also act for us as a bulwark against adversity, for most critiques of Christianity are either of one or the other of these extremes. If the Nietzschian critique is that Christianity is a cesspool of resentment, victimhood and slave mentality, the feminist and post-modern critique has been that Christianity is the bastion of Patriarchy and oppression of the weak. But to view Christ, the one who is “all in all” is to view that he is both the master and the slave, both the judge and the condemned innocent.

It is by understanding these two poles, that the excessive polarization of contemporary society can appear to us explicitly as Anti-Christ, for it is through the dividing of what is united without confusion, the radicalization of the Right and the Left hand which reduces them to their pathological states. As Christians we must strive to keep our hearts, to hold on to the center, so that we may continually see in these two icons – Christ Pantocrator and the Cross – how Christ’s outstretched hands reach from the highest Heaven to the depths of Hell.

Source: http://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/judge-victim-two-images-christ/

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A very early example of spiritual direction is found in the Book of Acts. Saint Philip is traveling across the desert, from Jerusalem to Gaza. He meets an Ethiopian who is sitting in his chariot and reading the Old Testament Book of Isaiah - a book that contains many of the messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Saint Philip is inspired to say to the Ethiopian: Understandest thou what thou readest? (Acts 8:30). To which the man replies with an important question of his own: How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him... (Acts 8:31).

Spiritual direction has always had a significant place in Orthodox Christianity. We see references to it over and over again in the Lives of the saints and in the writings of the Holy Fathers of the Church. It exists today wherever pious people have made the commitment to lead truly spiritual lives and to do spiritual work on themselves. Yet it is rarely talked about, especially in North America, where the cultural environment does not easily !end itself to the practice of humbly seeking and following spiritual advice. There is also danger, where some individuals may be only too anxious and impetuous to receive guidance from those who are either not truly qualified or who have some base psychological need to control and have power over others. Spiritual direction, then, like so much of Orthodox spirituality, is found on the "Royal Path," the road of moderation and balance.

What, then, is spiritual direction, who needs it, and (perhaps most important of all) who can be a spiritual director?

What is "Spiritual Life"?

Spiritual life is nothing other than "life in Christ." In the words of a contemporary Orthodox lay theologian, spirituality consists of "the ways which ... lead to sanctity, to sainthood."

A Spiritual life, then, is about salvation, and salvation is about understanding, growth and struggle, among other things. It is hard work, for no one is "born" a saint. By contrast, the average Orthodox layman today seems to think that he is leading an exceptional spiritual life merely because he attends church regularly, receives Holy Communion (sometimes without any proper preparation), and contributes to the support of the Church. This, however, only shows that he is a member of the Church, not that he is leading an active spiritual life.

"By definition, an Orthodox Christian is one who strives to be obedient to the Commandments and, at the same time, obediently tries to fulfill the requirements of an Orthodox way of life, as revealed by Scripture and Tradition. Thus, [regular] attendance at Divine services, frequent reception of the Mysteries, observance of the seasonal fasts, the giving of alms, etc. - all of these, and more, constitute the bare minimum expected of those who follow Jesus Christ. This ... is, however, only the beginning for anyone who wishes to call himself Christian; these are the 'first steps' in spiritual life .... Yet ... they represent the patient, hard work of actually beginning to 'walk' the narrow path to the Kingdom of Heaven.'

Active spiritual life, then, is much more than "minimalism." It is, in fact, nothing less than a sincere attempt to fulfill the Lord's command, Be ye perfect, even as your Father Who is in Heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48), so that at death we might be presented to God, holy and unblamable and unreproachable in His sight (Col. 1:22). The Church, in all of her grace-filled manifestations (the Sacraments, the Divine services, and even parish life itself), is the proper school for spiritual life, for the Church possesses abundant wisdom and experience, and this is the primary purpose - to lead us to sainthood by showing us how to unite our will to God.

What is Spiritual Direction?

Since the essence of spiritual life consists "in healing our impaired will, uniting it with the will of God and sanctifying it by this union," and since "in order to do the will of God it is necessary to know it,'' spiritual direction is a careful process by which we first learn and then apply the principles of spiritual life, thus coming to know God's will for us with assurance. Some very few saints and righteous ones, finding themselves in circumstances where healthy and genuine spiritual direction was not available, were able to do this for themselves through a very patient, prayerful, and life-long study of sacred texts. Such, for example, was the great Saint Paisius Velichkovsky, the eighteenth-century Russian monastic reformer and teacher. Most of us, however, must imitate the Ethiopian in the Book of Acts - How can I understand unless someone guides me?

Spiritual direction consists not only of learning ancient techniques of prayer, but it requires detailed instruction by the director, as well as guided reading and study and learning inner attention. But it also has an important dimension of asceticism - that is, certain kinds of bodily practices that, in Orthodox spirituality, go hand in hand with prayer and learning. Such practices may include learning how to live a quieter lifestyle, adopting (with the permission of one's director) additional fasting and abstinence exercises, and more frequent attendance at Divine services - all of which are calculated to slightly challenge and tax the body and its natural energies, putting it under additional discipline and control.

In most cases, a spiritual director will take his spiritual child "from strength to strength," beginning with the simplest and easiest "ABC's" of spiritual striving. He will first inquire to know at what level the student is in his spiritual life - and it does not matter how basic or even primitive the student may be - and the director will also want to know in some detail about his state in life - married or single, with children or without, what kind of job, and what the student does for entertainment. Slowly but surely the director will introduce the student to certain hallowed principles and ideas. He will assign reading and will carefully discuss that reading with the student.

The director will expose his spiritual child to various methods of prayer which are time-honored in the Church (for spiritual life is in many ways as much a science as an art). He will also assign a Prayer Rule, very simple at first, and then gradually more complex, and he will carefully supervise the student's progress in prayer. He will also act as confessor to his spiritual son or daughter, for in this great Mystery of Repentance the director is most able to act as a spiritual physician. In this context, a spiritual father strives particularly to show his spiritual children the way to repentance, which means "a change of mind that is accompanied by deep regret over one's past life or over some particular act which one has committed," so that "there is a profound change of orientation, a sudden shift of the center of gravity of one's total being from the material to the spiritual, from the physical world to God, from concern for the body to concern for the soul.''

Not least, a spiritual father will be available as a sympathetic ear and a healthy and objective "sounding-board" when his spiritual sons and daughters are in need of this.

Who Can Be a Spiritual Director?

Just as we are not born saints, so no one is born a spiritual father. And since you cannot give that which you do not have, a spiritual father must himself have been (and still be) under spiritual formation and guidance from another who is wiser and more experienced; he himself must have struggled in the spiritual life and, by God's grace and his own prayerful efforts, have climbed at least some distance up the sacred mount of Golgotha. Parish priests must remain under spiritual direction their whole lives. They must go directly to their bishop for this, or they may know a holy monk or righteous priest to whom they confide and under whom they continue to learn and grow. If a priest's spiritual father dies, he should seek out another. One must keep in mind the axiom, "He who gives himself spiritual guidance has a fool for a spiritual father."

Spiritual direction is not about commanding and obeying, but leading and following. Thus, all Orthodox spiritual father must not be on some kind of "power trip," nor is he wanting to be a "guru" with many disciples. He will never ask a spiritual child to violate his own conscience or the laws of God and the Church in any slightest degree. No true spiritual father runs behind his flock driving them with a prod or whip. He unhesitatingly and even vigorously leads, and his spiritual children follow. It is a bond of mutual love and respect, "a living bond between two living souls, one more experienced than the other, one capable of showing the way because he has already begun to travel it, the other willing to trust and follow .... The spiritual father does not coerce, he does not give orders; rather, be takes the spiritual child by the hand and leads the way, gently but firmly.''

In normal parish life, the pastor is automatically both the confessor and spiritual father of all those in his parish. The parish priest has, as it were, the "cure of souls," to use the old-fashioned but quite accurate phrase. In his excellent Instructions to Seminarians (written in 1765), the Russian bishop and saint, Tikhon of Zadonsk, exhorts those who are to be priests and spiritual fathers: "Remember that you are called to this vocation by God for the benefit of others .... A learned priest will be more capable of weeding out evil manners and vices. Learning avails nothing without a good life. What is the use of teaching others what you do not practice? ... Watch over yourself and be mindful of the task to which you are called...”

Although the parish priest already gives some general spiritual direction in his sermons, he is also available to give direction and guidance one-on-one, which is where the most productive spiritual growth often takes place. Similarly, in all monastic or seminary situations, one or two experienced directors are appointed to fulfill the role of director for all of the monks, nuns, or seminary students in each place.

It should be said that spiritual direction is not necessarily limited to males, although in our day this has become the common arrangement. There are occasionally very experienced and wise women -usually but not always nuns - who are able to function as spiritual mothers. In the old Orthodox countries there were (and still are) true eldresses (the female equivalent of an elder or staretz); the lives of some of these righteous women have come down to us and are available in English. But, because of our immaturity and spiritual bankruptcy in the West today, we should not be looking for either elders or eldresses. Simply to find a sorer, what simple but good, kind, and yet strict spiritual father is already a great accomplishment in this time of overwhelming spiritual fake~.

We must also note that there are special circumstances under which a parishioner might, with the blessing of his pastor, seek spiritual direction from a priest (or monastic) other than his own parish priest. For example, a parishioner who feels strongly called to monastic life may already have developed a relationship with a spiritual father (or mother) in the monastery he is considering joining. Very occasionally there may be a serious personality clash with a pastor, requiring that a penitent seek guidance elsewhere. But in honest cases of this kind, the spiritually alert parish priest will himself have no difficulty releasing his parishioner to look for another spiritual father.

Finally, "Who Needs It?"

In a word, everyone needs spiritual direction. Since spiritual growth is not about minimalism but about sanctification and holiness, and since none of us is born a saint, no serious Orthodox Christian would seek to excuse himself from some kind of spiritual direction, however basic or slow-going it might be. All of us are called to virtue, to union with Christ, and none of us can do it alone. To think otherwise is to be guilty of what the wisest Church Fathers called "self-delusion" (in Russian, prelest; in Greek, plani, which is the most serious of all spiritual diseases,

The Church teaches that there are six categories of Sints: Apostles, Martyrs, Prophets, Hierarchs (bishop or teacher-saints), Monastic saints, and the Righteous. None of us will ever be Apostles; few will be Prophets or Hierarchs; a few will be monastics, but most of us are summoned to the rank of Righteous saints - priests and lay people - who are called to achieve sanctity while living in the world.

About the Righteous, Saint Symeon the New Theologian writes, "It is possible for all, not only for monks, but for those in the world ... to entreat God, and thus acquire all the virtues. Now that what I say is true is confirmed by John Chrysostorn.. He says: "It is possible for him, too, who has a wife, and children, and ... is great and famous in worldly things, to attain to perfect virtue..."

But, once again, this cannot be done alone, in isolation, without guidance and direction from a spiritual father, whose importance must not be underestimated. (But, in these difficult days, neither should his importance be overestimated or exaggerated by ascribing to him some kind of fake "eldership" wherein we give our free will over completely into the hands of a man or woman who may be as passionate as we are, and therefore very likely to cause us great spiritual harm.) Receiving healthy spiritual instruction is part of the armory of spiritual warfare, and it is the spiritual father who can help us to "pay enough regard to the state of [our] soul, whether it is in good health, whether its life is vigorous ... [and whether] its eternal life, its eternal happiness, is ensured...''

Source: http://www.roca.org/OA/142/142p.htm

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A sermon by St. Theophan the Recluse

It reached my ears that, as it seems, you consider my sermons very strict and believe that today no one should think this way, no one should be living this way and therefore, no one should be teaching this way. “Times have changed!” How glad I was to hear this. This means that you listen carefully to what I say, and not only do you listen, but you are also willing to abide by it. What more could we hope for, we who preach as we were ordered and as much we were ordered?

Despite all this, in no way can I agree with your opinion. I even consider it my duty to comment on it and to correct it, since – even though it perhaps goes against your desire and conviction – it comes from something sinful, as though Christianity could alter its doctrines, its canons, its sanctifying ceremonies to answer to the spirit of each age and adjust itself to the changing tastes of the sons of this century, as though it could add or subtract something.

Yet, it is not so. Christianity must remain eternally unchanging, in no way being dependent on or guided by the spirit of each age. Instead, Christianity is meant to govern and direct the spirit of the age for anyone who obeys its teachings. To convince you of this, I will put forward some thoughts for you to consider.

Some said that my teaching is strict. First of all, my teaching is not my own, nor it should be. In this sacred office nobody should, nor even can, preach his own teaching. If I or someone else ever dare to do so, you can put us outside the Church.

We preach the teachings of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of the holy Apostles, and the Holy Church, which is guided by the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we make sure to do everything possible to keep these teachings whole and inviolate in your minds and hearts. Every thought we present and every word we use, we do so very carefully, so as not to overshadow this brilliant and divine teaching in any way. Nobody can act differently.

...a single raising of your mind to God, and a single humble genuflexion to His glory and in His honor has infinitely more value than all the treasures of the world... --St Nicodemos and Theophan the Recluse (Unseen Warfare: Chapter 20)

Such a law that calls for each man’s preaching in the Church to be "God-sent," was established at the creation of the world, and should thus remain valid until the end of the world. The Prophet Moses, after the delivery of the commandments from God Himself to the people of Israel, concluded: “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you.” (Deut. 4:2)

This law of constancy is so unalterable that the Lord and Savior Himself, when He was teaching the people on the mountain, said: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Math. 5:17-18)

Then He gave the same validity to his teaching, before interpreting the commandments in the spirit of the gospel, by adding: “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Math. 5:19)

This means that anyone who wrongly interprets the commandments of God and lessens their validity, will be an outcast in the future life. This is what He said at the beginning of His preaching. He assured the same thing to Saint John the Theologian, the beholder of ineffable revelations, to whom He described the final judgement of the world and the Church, indicating in the Apocalypse (Book of Revelations): “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” (Apoc. 22:18-19)

From the time of His first appearance in the world until the Second Coming, Christ has given the Holy Apostles and their successors the following law: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Math. 28:19-20)

That means “for you to teach, not what anyone else could possibly imagine, but what I ordered, and this to the end of the world.” And He adds: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Math. 28:20)

The Apostles received this law and sacrificed their lives in order to keep it. And to those who wanted to keep them from preaching what it was they preached under the threat of punishment and death, they replied: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)

This clear law was delivered by the apostles to their successors, was accepted by them, and has timeless effect in the Church of God. Because of this law, the Church is the pillar and the ground of truth. Can you see then what an inviolable steadfastness it has? After that, who would be so bold as to stubbornly disturb or move anything in Christian doctrine and law?

Next listen to what is said of the Prophet Ezekiel who for seven days was in the ecstasy of prayer and after seven days heard the word of the Lord: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth” (Ezek. 3:17), and he declared to the people: Here is the law for you! If you see a wicked person committing iniquity and you do not tell him: leave your iniquity and change your way, “that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” (Ezek. 3:18) Conversely, “if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” (Ezek. 3:19-21)

What a strict law! And though it sounds in the consciences of all pastors during their election and consecration, when a heavy yoke is put on them, namely the instruction of the flock of Christ that He entrusted to them, big or small, not only to guide it but also to preserve it. How could anyone be so bold, to pervert everything in the law of Christ, when this involves the destruction of both pastors and flock?

If the saving power of this teaching depended on our opinion of it and our consent to it, it would make sense for someone to imagine rebuilding Christianity according to human weaknesses or the claims of the age and adapt it according to the sinful desires of his heart. But the saving power of Christian law does not at all depend on us, but on the will of God, by the fact that God Himself established precisely the exact path of salvation. Beyond this there is no other way, nor could it exist. Therefore, anyone who teaches in any other way, is deviating from the true path and is destroying himself and you. What logic is there in that?

Notice how strict judgment was mentioned when something similar happened to the nation of Israel during the difficult years of their captivity. Some prophets out of pity for the suffering and sick talked to the people, not as the Lord had ordered, but as their heart dictated. Concerning them the Lord gave the following commands to Ezekiel: “And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own minds. Prophesy against them and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls.” (Ezek. 13:17-18)This means: Woe to those who order any kind of special treatment and suggest such leniency, so no one feels the slightest displeasure, either from those on top or those at the bottom, not caring whether this is for their salvation or destruction, whether it is pleasing to God, or repulsive. Woe to them, because “thus says the Lord God...your pillows and veils,” namely your candied and comforting teaching, “upon which there you are perverting souls, I will tear from your arms and I will let their souls that you are perverting, go away...” (Ezek. 13:20-21) from this teaching of yours and I will destroy you corrupters.

This is the benefit of this special treatment and leniency, such as you want to hear from preachers! When you put all this deep in your heart, it is not right for you to want us to make any concessions in Christian doctrine, having the wrong desire to be pleased by us. On the contrary, you are obliged to persistently demand from us to remain true to doctrine, as strictly and firmly as possible.

Have you ever heard of the indulgences of the Pope of Rome? Here is what they are: special treatment and leniency, which he gives defying the law of Christ. And what is the result? From all of this, the West is corrupt in faith and in their way of life, and is now getting lost in its disbelief and in the unrestrained life with its indulgences.

The Pope changed many doctrines, spoiled all the sacraments, nullified the canons concerning the regulation of the Church and the correction of morals. Everything has begun going contrary to the will of the Lord, and has become worse and worse.

Then came along Luther, a smart man, but stubborn. He said, “The Pope changed everything as he wanted, why shouldn't I do the same?” He started to modify and re-modify everything in his own way, and in this way established the new Lutheran faith, which only slightly resembles what the Lord had commanded and the Holy Apostles delivered to us.After Luther came the philosophers. And they in turn said, “Luther has established himself a new faith, supposedly based on the Gospel, though in reality based on his own way of thinking. Why, then, don't we also compose doctrines based on our own way of thinking, completely ignoring the Gospel?” They then started rationalizing, and speculating about God, the world, and man, each in his own way. And they mixed up so many doctrines, that one gets dizzy just counting them.

Now the Westerners have the following views: Believe what you think best, live as you like, satisfy whatever captivates your soul. This is why they do not recognize any law or restriction and they do not abide by God's word. Their road is wide, all obstacles displaced. Their way is broad, all the obstacles taken out. But the broad road leads to perdition, according to what the Lord says. This is where leniency in teaching has led!Lord, save us from this broad way! But it is better to love each difficulty that the Lord has appointed for our salvation. Let us love Christian doctrines and let us compel our mind with them, pushing it not to think otherwise. Let us love Christian morals and let us compel our will in them, forcing it to lift the light yoke of the Lord humbly and patiently. Let us love all Christian rituals and services which guide us, correct us, and sanctify us. Let us compel our heart with them, encouraging it to convey its desires from the earthly and perishable, to the heavenly and imperishable.

Let us confine ourselves as though in a cage. Or better, let us drag ourselves, as if we were passing through a narrow passage. Let it be narrow, so no one can deviate neither to the right left, nor the left. Yet undoubtedly, through this narrow way we will obtain the kingdom of the heavens in return. For as you know, this kingdom is the kingdom of the Lord. The Lord laid this narrow way and said, “Follow exactly this route and you will obtain the kingdom of heaven.”Could anyone then doubt whether the traveler will get to his destination? And what mind would one have who starts wanting all kinds of annulment of the commandments, when by doing this he would immediately lose his way and be lost?

Once you have fully understood this assertion, do not worry if something in our teaching seems to be strict. The only thing you should strive for is to carefully make sure if it is from the Lord. And after you have made sure it is from the Lord, accept it with all your heart, no matter how strict or obliging it may be. And not only avoid wanting special treatment and leniency with doctrine and the ethics, but even flee from all these, as though fleeing from the fire of Gehenna. Those who cannot escape from this are those who think up such things and with them lure those who are spiritually weak to follow them. Amen.

Source: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com.by/2014/08/st-theophan-recluse-on-why-orthodox.html

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St. Martyr Tatiana of Rome, and Those who Suffered with Her

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