Wisdom form Mt. Athos, The Writings of Staretz Silouan 1866 - 1938

When the Mother of God stood at the foot of the Cross the depth of her grief was inconceivable, for she loved her Son more than any one can realize. And we know that the greater the love the greater the suffering. By the laws of human nature the Mother of God could not possibly have borne her affliction; but she had submitted herself to the will of God, and the Holy Spirit sustained her and gave her the strength to bear this affliction.

And later, after the Ascension of the Lord, she became a great comfort to all God's people in their distress.
....Perhaps you will say, 'Why is it I have not grace like that?' It is because you have not surrendered yourself to the will of God, but live in your own way.

Wisdom from Mt. Athos, The Writings of Staretz Silouan 1866 - 1938

A Spiritual Future Counsel by St. Ephraim of Katounakia

A fellow monk mentioned to Fr.  Ephraim of Katounakia that many pilgrims come to their monastery, make noise and that he himself was indignant sometimes.

The Elder replied: "Don't be indignant, because your own generation will be saved from it. Nowadays people run to monasteries because their souls are nowhere to be found.

They come to you and rest.

For every resting soul you receive a salary from God. And you may not be doing much prayer, but your little struggle is multiplied by God.

You may see that some come for tourism, but they all get something.

As the fathers say, once you put myrrh in the container, the smell will stay and let nothing in.

So it is with them.

This little thing they will get from here, when the time comes, will be used by God to save them and your salary will be great ...."

Archimandrite Victor (Mamontov)

“In order to come to faith, we must come to ourselves. We live as if far from ourselves. We work, walk, run, work, but we do not remember ourselves ...
But we must return to ourselves, feel silence within ourselves, realize the importance of our spirit ... Where is our silence? Everything rumbles constantly in us.
Therefore, in order to come to spiritual values, it is necessary to create islands of silence, islands of spiritual concentration. "

Archimandrite Victor (Mamontov)

It's what we want to hear.

A monk needed to go into the big city for an errand, accompanied by one of his acquaintance. In the midst of urban uproar the monk claimed to have heard a cricket, though his companion did not believe him. Crossing the road and looking carefully under a tree the monk found the cricket, to the astonishment of his companion.
- "You must have a superhuman hearing!"
- "No. My ears are not different from yours," said the monk. "But everything depends on what you are used to listen with them."
- "No! I would not be able to hear a cricket in this noise!" said the companion.
- "It all depends on what is important to you," reiterated the monk. "Let's make a demonstration." So the monk took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them on the asphalt. And despite of the loud noise of the city, all the people around them turned their heads thinking the scattered coins could have fallen from their pockets.
- "Do you understand now? It all depends on what is important to people... If we watch or listen to the contentious daily news on television, our ears become accustomed only to what is ugly and evil. we become fearful and helpless! Then we will say: "Life is hard, people are evil, we live in an insecure and ugly world, you cannot trust anyone or anything..."

And meanwhile the crickets sing, the leaves rustle, the waters flow.. and we do not hear them.

Psalter and Jesus Prayer

Psalter and Jesus Prayer are living water from one source. The Psalter supports the Jesus Prayer like walls of the temple to its roof. - Schema-Igumen Savva (Ostapenko)

Advice of St. Anthony (Putilov)

In every grief: in illness, and in poverty, in distress, and in all troubles, it is better to think less and talk with Him, and more often with prayer. Though brief, turn to Christ God and His Most Holy Mother, through which the spirit of bitter despondency will run away, and the heart will be filled with hope in God and joy.

Advice of St. Anthony (Putilov)

Advice of the Monk Nikon (Belyaev)

Let us take as our example a saint who is suitable for our position, and we will rely on his example. All the saints suffered because they followed the path of the Savior, who suffered:He was persecuted, desecrated, slandered, and crucified. And all who follow Him inevitably suffer.
"In the world of sorrow you will be." And everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. "As soon as you proceed to the work of the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation." In order to easily endure suffering, one must have a strong, passionate faith in the Lord, not become attached to anything earthly, completely surrender to the will of God.

Advice of the Monk Nikon (Belyaev)

Be like a child.

You live easier like a little child. The Lord is so loving that you cannot even imagine. Although we are sinners, still go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Just do not be discouraged. Be like a child. - Elder Athenogenes (in the schema Agapiy. 1881-1979)

We have a lot to endure.

Remember that the robber on the cross was still hanged for hours and suffered severely for his sins, even though he had already received grace. We have a lot to endure. - Elder NIkon (Vorobiev) (1894-1963)

So empty are our souls!

An elder once said:

"We are all to blame ... for we have abolished God ... In the place of the Church we have put in the galleries, we have replaced marriage with notarial deeds ...manna with television ... children with dogs ... spiritual with psychical, liturgy with recreation, prayer with yoga, fasting with diet and Christ with gold ... So empty are our souls ... "

I gave up my mind and received God.

When once the famous writer Kazantzakis had a meeting with an ascetic whom he wanted to "tempt", he asked him: "Unfortunately, you have lost your mind!" ..
And the ascetic's response made him speechless:
"I gave up my mind and received God. I gave a penny and bought Paradise" ...

We have very little faith in the Lord....

“We have very little faith in the Lord, very little trust. If we trusted the Lord as much as we trust a friend when we ask him to do something for us, neither we as individuals nor our whole country would suffer so much.” Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica,

Everything becomes easier when we smile.

Once a woman had big problems. When her neighbors saw how sweet she was, they were surprised. Father Thaddeus taught her to face the difficulties of life with a smile.
Father Thaddeus of Vitovnica said: “Everything becomes easier when we face life with a smile. When they bomb us and we fight to smile and that is how poison will come out of our body. "

After the angel counts the steps we take to reach the church...

Elder Nektarios is a monk who lives in a cell near Karyes. He is over 80 years old. He has a brother Christopher with him, a peer. They have a tractor with a carriage to go up to Karyes to make their supplies.

Every Sunday morning (04:00 am) they go to Protatos, the main church of Mount Athos for service, because they are both simple monks.

I met them, say Elder Anastasis, on a Sunday morning on foot.

-What's happening Elder? Did the tractor break down ? "

And I received the following answer ...

-Tractor? With the tractor in the church? Never! After the angel counts the steps we take to reach the church for the service...

What can I answer now ....

An enlightened monk used to say ...

Once an enlightened Monk used to say
Be careful not to moan.
Grumble tires those who live near you and displeases God, ungratefulness.
You start your day with prayer and a smile! Remember that the elders did.
In the mirrors and on their facades they wrote "Good morning" and "Glory to God"!
They knew how to live!
Didn't they also have suffering, sickness and poverty then?
And yet they were going through it all with mental leverage!
They were poor, but decent, lords.
They always had it in their mouths and in their hearts
"God has it!"
They knew how to pray,
to endure
and succeed!
They were saying!
"And I wish I could not be sad.
When we are distressed it is like telling God
"I do not agree.
You're not doing it well. "

"Christianity did not come and travel with other religions or coexist peacefully with them, and learn to get along. It came to dissolve false beliefs once and for all." - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios

To Honor our Lady the way our elder wanted.

To Honor our Lady the way our Elder wanted.

When we are faced with an image of the Virgin Mary, She Herself wanted to give us this grace and to perform miracles. The Virgin Mary Herself through these sacred images wanted to comfort the world.
So first when we kneel in front of an icon of our Lady is to thank Her for coming to our place or staying in our place for so many centuries. Then first, thank Her for Her miracles, for Her divine visits, for Her divine love, for Her motherly love for us sinners. And then we start making our demands. Of course we will first ask Her to take away our flaws, our mistakes and then ask Her for protection for the whole world. Then for our family and last for ourselves. Then we remember all the sick who asked us to pray. We pray for the peace of the whole world.

Hieromonk Gregory

A nun was told....

A nun was told: "Give Your Life to God. He'll handle it better than you."

An Elder said: "God inside, happiness outside".

The elders said that the work of a monk should burn passions, like a fire tree. - Evergetinos