Τα είδη της αμαρτίας

 Ένα είδος αμαρτίας που γίνεται, είναι όταν ο αγωνιστής φροντίζει για την αρετή κα επιμένει στην εργασία της μέρα και νύχτα, αλλά δεν τα καταφέρνει και πέφτει σε κάποια αμαρτία. Μπορεί δηλ. από άγνοια, ή από διάφορες αιτίες, αντίθετες στο δρόμο της αρετής, ή από τα κύματα των παθών που ξεσηκώνονται στα μέλη του κάθε τόσο, ή από την πνευματική παράλυση που ενδέχεται να του συμβεί για να δοκιμασθεί η ελεύθερη θέλησή του, να γείρει λίγο η ζυγαριά στον αριστερό ζυγό, οπότε έλκεται από την αδυναμία της σάρκας σε κάποια αμαρτία, και λυπάται και ανησυχεί κα στενάζει με πόνο ψυχής για την ταλαιπωρία του αυτή.
Άλλο είδος αμαρτίας είναι, όταν ο άνθρωπος αποχαυνωθεί και αμελήσει την εργασία της αρετής, και εγκαταλείψει πέρα για πέρα το σωστό δρόμο της, και τρέχει σαν υπάκουος δούλος στην απόλαυση των αμαρτιών, και δείχνει ζήλο πως να εφεύρει καινούργιους τρόπους για την πλήρη απόλαυση της ηδονής. Κάνοντας αυτά, είναι έτοιμος, σαν τον αιχμάλωτο δούλο, να κάνει με ιδιαίτερη φροντίδα το θέλημα του εχθρού του, και να προσφέρει τα μέλη του σώματός του όπλα στις διαταγές του διαβόλου. Και δε θυμάται ο δύστυχος καθόλου τη μετάνοια, ούτε περνάει από το νου του να αφήσει τον καταστρεπτικό δρόμο του και να γυρίσει στην αρετή.
Σο πρώτο είδος της αμαρτίας, που ανέφερα, είναι όταν ο άνθρωπος γλιστρήσει και πέσει, ενώ βαδίζει στο δρόμο της αρετής και της δικαιοσύνης. Αυτό εννοούν οι Πατέρες, όταν λένε ότι, στο δρόμο του Θεού, συναντάμε και πεσίματα, και εναντιώσεις από τον εχθρό, και καταναγκασμούς και τα παρόμοια. Ενώ το δεύτερο είδος της αμαρτίας, που ανέφερα, είναι να πέσει η ψυχή, και να χαθεί και να εγκαταλείψει τελείως τον αγώνα. 
  Άγιος Ισαάκ ο Σύρος
http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_4.html 

Elder Ephraim of Arizona on Sin,Repentance,Mourning,and Tears.

(The elder writes to one of his spiritual daughters in the world)

 

All that you suffered,my daughter,was because of your self-reliance.
Didn't I advise you to have humility and self-reproach?.

What did you trust in?Don't you know that if one boldly leans on a bamboo rod,it will break and pierce his hands?So what did you trust in?Don't you know the saying;"Without Me you can do nothing:"?
Don't you know that many Fathers fell by trusting in themselves?
Humble yourself,blame yourself,weep,my daughter,wash your
wedding garment.Your Bridegroom,Who is more beautiful than
the sons of men,is calling you,is seeking you,and has prepared an abode for you in the heavens.The spiritual bridal chamber is extremely luxurious!

 

Angels are serving;do not be sluggish.Arise;get some water and
wash your wedding gown well,for you do not know when He will come.The time of death is unknown;it comes to us all.We do not know at what time it will come.

Repent.See how the harlot washed the immaculate feet of the
Master.She shed tears more precious than myrrh,and they attracted God's mercy and forgiveness.The she heard,"Your sins are forgiven;go in peace."

 

Repent,my daughter.Fall before the fearsome feet of the Master
with mourning.Weep;cry out,I have sinned,my Jesus.Accept me in repentance and save me.Overlook not my tears,O joy of the angels.
Abhor me not,cast me not away.Thou Who hast bent the heavens by Thine ineffable abasement."With these and many other such words importune Christ,resting assured that you will find His love three times as strong.

Your repentance will give limitless joy to the angels,and exuberantly they will exclaim,"She stopped! She stopped! She stopped!"That is she stopped short of falling.You were caught out of the flow,and now you are ascending again.

http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/elder-ephraim-of-arizona-on.html

Θοῦ Κύριε φυλακήν περί τά χείλη μου...

 Ἡ αἰτία γιά ὅλα τά κακά, πού μᾶς τυραννοῦν στή
ζωή, εἶναι τό στόμα· μᾶλλον ὄχι τό στόμα, ἀλλά ἐμεῖς, πού δέν τό χρησιμοποιοῦμε σωστά, ὅπως θέλει ὁ Θεός. 
Ἀπό αὐτό βγαίνουν ἔξω οἱ κατηγορίες καί οἱ συκοφαντίες.
Μήν μοῦ πεῖς· «Δέν εἶναι τίποτα, δέν εἶναι καί με-
γάλη ἁμαρτία νά κατακρίνω ἤ νά συκοφαντῶ κά-
ποιον». Αὐτό ἀκριβῶς εἶναι ἡ πιό μεγάλη ἁμαρτία,
ἐπειδή λές, ὅτι δέν εἶναι τίποτα.
Αγ.Ἰωάννης Χρυσόστομος.
http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_8804.html 

Why the Grace of Baptism is not Preserved

The reason why the grace of Baptism is not preserved is because the order, rules, and laws of an upbringing which is adopted to this end are not kept. The chief causes of this are:




1) Going away from the Church and its grace-giving means. This starves the sprout of Christian life, disconnecting it from its sources, and it wilts as a flower wilts when it is placed in a warm place.




2) Failure to pay heed to one's bodily nature. People think that the body may be developed in every way without harm for the soul, while actually in the bodily members is the seat of the passions, which develop together with its development, become rooted in and take possession of the soul. Penetrating the bodily members, the passions receive in them a place to settle, or they make out of them a certain unapproachable fortress and thereby secure power for themselves for all the time to come.




3) A development of the powers of the soul which is undiscriminating and is not directed towards a single aim. People do not see the aim ahead of them, and so do not see the path to it. From this, despite all the concern for the most contemporary education, people do no more than to puff up in themselves curiosity, self-will, and a thirst for pleasures.




4) Complete forgetfulness of the spirit. Prayer, fear of God, and conscience are seldom taken into consideration. If there is outward good order, the most inward side of life is always taken for granted and therefore always left to take care of itself. During the time of learning, the most important thing is covered over by secondary things, and the one thing needed is overshadowed by a multitude of others.


5) Finally, when one enters into the age of youth without first putting in place good principles and the determination to live in a Christian way. Further, when one does not restrain the attractions of youthful life in a proper order, but gives oneself over to all the thirst for impressions, through amusements, light reading, the heating of the imagination by fantasies, indiscriminate contact with those who are like oneself, and especially with the opposite sex, an exclusive concern for learning and giving oneself over to the world by means of fashionable ideas, rules, and customs, which are never favorable to the life of grace but always arm themselves hostilely against it and strive to smother it.


Each one of these causes, and even one of them, is sufficient to quench in a young person the life of grace. But it happens for the most part that they act together, and one unfailingly draws another in its wake; and they all together so obstruct the spiritual life that sometimes not even the slightest trace of it can be noticed, as if a man has no spirit at all and was created not for communion with God, does not have the powers foreordained for this, and has not received the grace which gives him life.

Excerpt from "The Path To Salvation" By Saint Theophan The Recluse .

Τὸ λάθος ποὺ κάνουν πολλοὶ νομίζοντας ὡς ἀρετὴ τὴν μικροψυχία

ΟΣΙΟΥ ΝΙΚΟΔΗΜΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΟΥ

            "ΑΟΡΑΤΟΣ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΣ"

                                                                         

Σχετικὰ μὲ αὐτό, βρίσκονται σὲ πλάνη πολλοί, ὅσοι νομίζουν γιὰ ἀρετὴ τὴν ὀλιγοψυχία καὶ τὴν
ὑπερβολικὴ λύπη ποὺ τοὺς συνοδεύει ὕστερα ἀπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτία, μὴ γνωρίζοντας ὅτι αὐτὴ προέρχεται ἀπὸ κρυφὴ ὑπερηφάνεια καὶ πρόληψι, ποὺ ἔχουν κάνει θεμέλια πάνω στὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ στὸ θάρρος ποὺ ἔχουν στὸ ἑαυτό τους καὶ στὶς δυνάμεις τους.

 Γιατὶ αὐτοί, ὑπολογίζοντας τὸν ἑαυτό τους ὅτι εἶναι κάτι, κατὰ κάποιον τρόπο, ξεθάρρεψαν πολύ, καὶ βλέποντας μὲ τὴν δοκιμὴ τῆς πτώσεως, ὅτι δὲν ἔχουν καμμία δύναμι, ταράζονται καὶ ἀποροῦν, σὰν γιὰ κανένα πρᾶγμα καινούργιο καὶ   ὀλιγοψυχοῦν βλέποντας πεσμένο στὴ γῆ ἐκεῖνο στὸ ὁποῖο βασίσθηκαν (δηλαδὴ τὸν ἑαυτόν τους), πάνω στὸν ὁποῖο εἶχαν ἀποθέσει τὸ θάρρος καὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα τους.

Αὐτὸ ὅμως δὲν γίνεται καὶ στὸν ταπεινό, ὁ ὁποῖος μόνο στὸ Θεὸ ἔχει τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ τὸ θάρρος του, χωρὶς νὰ ἔχῃ καμία ἐλπίδα στὸν ἑαυτό του.

 Γι᾿ αὐτό, ὅταν πέσῃ σὲ κάθε εἴδουςσφάλμα, ἂν καὶ αἰσθάνεται πόνο καὶ λύπη, μὲ ὅλο τοῦτο δὲν ταράσσεται, οὔτε ἀπορεῖ. Γιατὶ ξέρει ὅτι αὐτὸ
τοῦ συνέβη ἀπὸ τὴν ἀθλιότητα καὶ τὴν ἀδυναμία τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ του, ἡ ὁποία γνωρίζεται πολὺ καλὰ μὲ τὸ φῶςτῆς ἀλήθειας.

St. John of Kronstadt - On the Church

 

Our negligence, carelessness, and laziness concerning our salvation is amazing; for how many means, faculties, and conveniences are granted to us for it by the all-compassionate and greatly merciful Lord! First: our natural thirst for salvation, peace, and blessedness in the soul; the light of the understanding and the yearning of our will for all that is true, good, beautiful, pure, exalted; the abundance of grace given to us for salvation, which flows like rivers within the Church and fills the souls thirsting for salvation; the nearness and readiness of the Lord to save us at every time and every moment - "the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom. 8:26); the assistance and co-operation of our guardian angels for our salvation; the daily Divine Service in the Church; and the saving Mysteries, prayers, and intercession of the Mother of God and all the Saints. 

It is amazing how in the face of all this we can still perish, and not all be saved. Certainly there are many things that impede our salvation: temptations from our too-passionate flesh, from the adulterous and sinful world, from the devil who has everywhere laid snares for our destruction; the corruption of our nature, our sinful conception and birth in sin; and the inclinations and habits of sin. However, far greater are the means for salvation than the means to perdition. "For greater is He that is in you (Christ), than he that is in the world (the devil)" (I John 4:4), and all the Saints overcame all obstacles and were saved. But what do we do? We drowse and sleep! Shameful, sinful, painful, woeful! Sin gains power over us in that it has buried itself deeply in us and has taken its seat in us, in our hearts, in our passionate flesh, and has made itself a fortress out of our own passions, out of our self-love, concupiscence, love of honor, pride, love of possessions, incontinence, self-conceit, little faith, unbelief, free-thinking, hypocrisy, partiality, and laziness; and by these passions, as with mighty weapons, it shoots us down and takes us into captivity, cutting us off, alienating us from Christ, our true Life. 

Wherefore he who desires salvation must dig, delve into his heart, and lay his foundation upon the rock, that is, upon Christ the Saviour, upon strong, unshakable faith in Him, upon hope on Him, and upon no one and nothing else-upon strong love for Him and his neighbor.

St. John of Kronstadt

Νά μᾶς χρωστάει ὁ Θεός!

 

Κάνε ὀφειλέτη σου τό Θεό καί τότε νά ζητήσεις.

Δάνεισε πρῶτα ἐσύ καί ἔπειτα νά ζητήσεις ἀπό τό Θεό,
γιά νά πάρεις μέ τόκο.
Δέν εἰσακούεται κανένας, ὅταν ἁπλῶς σηκώσει τά
χέρια του. Ἐσύ ἅπλωσε τά χέρια σου ὄχι στόν οὐρανό,
ἀλλά στά χέρια τῶν φτωχῶν.
Ἡ προσευχή χωρίς ἐλεημοσύνη εἶναι ἄκαρπη.

http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_2.html