The Fountain of Wisdom

A Lament for Sin

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:18:17 -0400

St. Basil the Great

Weep over your sin: it is a spiritual ailment; it is death to your immortal soul; it deserves ceaseless, unending weeping and crying; let all tears flow for it, and sighing come forth without ceasing from the depths of your heart.

In profound humility I weep for all my sins, voluntary and involuntary, conscious and unconscious, covert and overt, great and little, committed by word and deed, in thought and intention, day and night, at every hour and minute of my life.

I weep over my pride and my ambition, my self love and my boastfulness; I weep over my fits of anger, irritation, excessive shouting, swearing, quarreling and cursing;

I weep for having criticized, censured, gossiped, slandered, and defamed, for my wrath, enmity, hatred, envy, jealousy, vengeance and rancor;

I weep over my indulgences in lust, impure thoughts and evil inclinations; covetousness, gluttony, drunkenness, and sloth;

I weep for having talked idly, used foul language, blasphemed, derided, joked, ridiculed, mocked, enjoyed empty gaiety, singing, dancing and every pleasure to excess;

I weep over my self indulgence, cupidity, love of money and miserliness, unmercifulness and cruelty;

I weep over my laziness, indolence, negligence, love of comfort, weakness, idleness, absent-mindedness, irresponsibility, inattention, love of sleep, for hours spent in idle pursuits, and for my lack of concentration in prayer and in Church, for not observing fasts and not doing charitable works.

I weep over my lack of faith, my doubting, my perplexity, my coldness, my indifference, my weakness and unfeelingness in what concerns the Holy Orthodox Faith, and over all my foul, cunning and reviling thoughts;

I weep over my exaggerated sorrow and grief, depression and despair, and over sins committed willingly.

I weep, but what tears can I find for a worthy and fitting way to weep for all the actions of my ill fated life; for my immeasurable and profound worthlessness? How can I reveal and expose in all its nakedness each one of my sins, great and small, voluntary and involuntary, conscious and unconscious, overt and covert, every hour and minute of sin? When and where shall I begin my penitential lament that will bear fitting fruit? Perhaps soon I may have to face the last hour of my life; my soul will be painfully sundered from my sinful and vile body; I shall have to stand before terrible demons and radiant angels, who will reveal and torment me with my sins; and I, in fear and trembling, will be unprepared and unable to give them an answer; the sight and sound of wailing demons, their violent and bold desire to drag me into the bottomless pit of Hell will fill my soul with confusion and terror. And then the angels of God will lead my poor soul to stand before God ‘s fearful seat of judgment. How will I answer the Immortal King, or how will I dare, sinner that I am, to look upon My Judge? Woe is me! have no good answer to make, for I have spent all my life in indolence and sin, all my hours and minutes in vain thoughts, desires and yearnings!

And how many times have I taken the Name of God in vain!

How often, lightly and freely, at times even boldly, insolently and shamelessly have I slandered others in anger; offended, irritated, mocked them!

How often have I been proud and vainglorious and boasted of good qualities that I do not possess and of deeds that I have not done!

How many times have I lied, deceived, been cunning or flattered, or been insincere and deceptive; how often have I been angry, intolerant and mean!

How many times have I ridiculed the sins of my brother, caused him grief overtly and covertly, mocked or gloated over his misdeeds, his faults or his misfortunes; how many times have I been hostile to him, in anger, hatred or envy!

How often have I laughed stupidly, mocked and derided, spoke without weighing my words, ignorantly and senselessly, and uttered a numberless quantity of cutting, poisonous, insolent, frivolous, vulgar, coarse, brazen words!

How often, affected by beauty, have I fed my mind, my imagination and my heart with voluptuous sensations, and unnaturally satisfied the lusts of the flesh in fantasy! How often has my tongue uttered shameful, vulgar and blasphemous things about the desires of the flesh!

How often have I yearned for power and been gluttonous, satiating myself on delicacies, on tasty, varied and diverse foods and wines; because of intemperance and lack of self-control how often have I been filled past the point of satiety, lacked sobriety and been drunken, intemperate in food and drink, and broken the Holy Fasts!

How often, through selfishness, pride or false modesty, have I refused help and attention to those in need, been uncharitable, miserly, unsympathetic, mercenary and grasped at attention!

How often have I entered the House of God without fear and trembling, stood there in prayer, frivolous and absent-minded, and left it in the same spirit and disposition! And in prayer at home I have been just as cold and indifferent, praying little, lazily, and indolently, inattentively and impiously, and even completely omitting the appointed prayers!

And in general, how slothful I have been, weakened by indolence and inaction; how many hours of each day have I spent in sleep, how often have I enjoyed voluptuous thoughts in bed and defiled my flesh! How many hours have I spent in empty and futile pastimes and pleasures, in frivolous talk and speech, jokes and laughter, games and fun, and how much time have I wasted conclusively in chatter, and gossip, in criticizing others and reproaching them; how many hours have I spent in time-wasting and emptiness! What shall I answer to the Lord God for every hour and every minute of lost time? In truth, I have wasted my entire life in laziness.

How many times have I lost heart and despaired of my salvation and of God’s mercy or through stupid habit, insensitivity, ignorance, insolence, shamelessness, and hardness sinned deliberately, willingly, in my right mind, in full awareness, in all goodwill, in both thought and intention, and in deed, and in this fashion trampled the blood of God ‘s covenant and crucified anew within myself the Son of God and cursed Him!

0 how terrible the punishment that I have drawn upon myself!

How is it that my eyes are not streaming with constant tears?.. If only my tears flowed from the cradle to the grave, at every hour and every minute of my tortured life! Who will now cool my head with water and fill the well of my tears and help me weep over my soul that I have cast into perdition?

My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me? Be it unto me according to Thy will, 0 Lord! If Thou wouldst grant me light, be Thou blessed; if Thou wouldst grant me darkness, be Thou equally blessed. If Thou wouldst destroy me together with my lawlessness, glory to Thy righteous judgment; and if Thou wouldst not destroy me together with my lawlessness, glory to Thy boundless mercy!

Concerning the Fast “Fasting gives birth to prophets and...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:02:00 -0400

Concerning the Fast

“Fasting gives birth to prophets and strengthens the powerful; fasting makes lawgivers wise. Fasting is a good safeguard for the soul, a steadfast companion for the body, a weapon for the valiant, and a gymnasium for the athletes. Fasting repels temptations, anoints unto piety; it is the comrade for watchfulness and the artificer of chastity. In war it fights bravely, in peace it teaches stillness.”

-St. Basil, Homily On Fasting

Photo

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:34:57 -0500

The True Christian Tests Himself Every Day… “The...

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:45:36 -0500

The True Christian Tests Himself Every Day…

“The true Christian tests himself every day. Daily testing to see whether we have become better or worse, is so essential for us that without it we cannot be called Christians. Constantly and persistently we must take ourselves in hand. Do this: from the morning establish thoughts about the Lord firmly in your mind and then during the whole day resist any deviation from these thoughts. Whatever you are doing, with whomever you are speaking, whether you are going somewhere or sitting, let your mind be with the Lord. You will forget yourself, and stray from this path; but again turn to the Lord and rebuke yourself with sorrow. This is the podvig of spiritual attentiveness.”

- Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Divine Love of God “The Divine Love of God for man did...

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 16:45:00 -0500

The Divine Love of God

“The Divine Love of God for man did not come in power and glory, nor did it come fully matured, instead this divine love came swaddled in frailty, clothed in weakness, and as vulnerable and helpless as a new born babe is without his father, so too was Christ the tender babe left defenseless at our hands. In His birth, Christ delivers Himself over to us humans, without a home, without shelter, seen by our eyes and allows us freely to treat Him as we choose. This is the divine image of God which is revealed to us in the incarnation. It is not an image of those men who rule on earth through power and authority, but rather it is an image of a king and God who rules through love”

-Sermon on the Nativity 2012

There is no third option

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:06:41 -0500

simplyorthodox:

A man in this world must solve a problem: to be with Christ, or to be against Him. And every man decides this, whether he wants to or not. He will either be a lover of Christ or a fighter of Christ. There is no third option.

- St. Justing Popovich

A Place Cannot Save You… “A place cannot save you,...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:13:00 -0500

A Place Cannot Save You…

“A place cannot save you, because there is no place where you can flee from yourself.”

-St. Nikon of Optina

There Is A Time For Everything… “For everything...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:51:00 -0500

There Is A Time For Everything…

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.”

- The Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

In Suffering We Receive Our Crown… “Our friendships...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:29:00 -0500

In Suffering We Receive Our Crown…

“Our friendships and our loves can likewise be the cause of much pain and suffering. In the end, we can say that our whole life is a passion play, a history of extended suffering. However, let us not lose sight of the deeper meaning. Pain, difficulties, misfortunes, and suffering in general are the signs of divine visitation. Those who suffer are the special children of God. And so when our life is untroubled and things seem to be going well, we should stop and ask ourselves if we have not somehow moved away from God, because it is precisely suffering that constitutes our glory, our crown.”

-Elder Aimilianos of Simmona Petra, Mt. Athos

“When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord’s...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:54:00 -0500

“When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord’s command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven (Matt. 18:22). And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another will Himself do very much more. But if, on the other hand, we become too self-assured, let us remember what has been said about the person who keeps the whole spiritual law and yet, having slipped into one passion, that of pride, is guilty of all (James 2:10).”

“As we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not survive...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:22:00 -0500

“As we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not survive ‘till evening and again as we prepare for sleep, let us consider that we shall not awaken.”

- St. Anthony the Great

“To us, however, it often seems that God’s help is slow in...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:10:00 -0500

“To us, however, it often seems that God’s help is slow in coming, and sometimes even arrives too late. But this is not so, for God’s help arrives exactly when it is needed, neither too soon nor too late, but exactly on time.”

- Elder Aimilianos of Simonapetras, Mt. Athos

“I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:57:00 -0500

“I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

- Jeremiah 17:10

The person who loves spiritually...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:26:56 -0500

simplyorthodox:

The person who loves spiritually, feels prayerful, that he can be found within God and his brother. He is saddened when his brother is not advancing well and prays for his progress. Whoever has Christian love never changes.

- Elder Amphilochios Makris

On the importance of the Nativity Fast

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:40:43 -0500

simplyorthodox:

…By our fasting we are reminded that this is not simply the birth of a baby, but God being united with man. It is the moment when the unchangeable is joined with the changeable, eternal life with mortal life, He who holds the universe in His hand and who created all comes in the flesh for our salvation.

- An excerpt from the “Nativity Fast” article

The most blessed of all...

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 23:46:12 -0500

simplyorthodox:

The most blessed of all people are those who exhibited the greatest repentance, with pain and inner contrition, and, in this way, extinguished the proud enemy. They humbled their unruly flesh with asceticism - subdued it to the spirit - and granted the greatest joy to Heaven with their repentance (their return to God).

- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

In remembrance of that tragic day on September 11, 2001, I leave...

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 23:49:00 -0400

In remembrance of that tragic day on September 11, 2001, I leave us all with a quote from St. John of Damascus, that employs as a reminder for us living and a supplication for those departed;

”Where is now our affection for earthly things? Where is now the alluring pomp of transient questing? Where is now our gold, and our silver? Where is now the surging crowd of domestics, and their busy cries? All is dust, all is ashes. Wherefore now we implore Your aid, grant that Your servants now gone to rest where the just that are Yours abide, Life-bestower and Friend of Mankind.”

“If you want to know God, read the Holy Bible. If you want...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:12:00 -0500

“If you want to know God, read the Holy Bible. If you want to know your neighbor, read the Fathers of the Church. If you want to know yourself, read Dostoevsky.”

- Fr. Iakovos of Simona Petra Monastery

“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:58:00 -0500

“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

- Mathew 19:14 and Luke 18:17

An Icon of St....

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:49:00 -0500

An Icon of St. Peter and St. Paul

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If i give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Therefore make Love your aim.”

-1 Corinthians 13