Tonight in Homily 6 Saint Isaac did not merely instruct us. He set fire before us.

In the first six homilies he has laid the foundations of the spiritual life with uncompromising clarity. No romance. No shortcuts. No sentimentality. If you have no works, do not speak of virtues. If you have not sweat in the arena of repentance, do not theorize about purity. Virtue without bodily toil he calls premature fruit. Stillborn.

And yet what he unfolds in these paragraphs is not severity alone. It is hope so luminous that it borders on holy intoxication.

Affliction suffered for Christ, he says, is more precious than sacrifice. Tears are incense. Sighs during vigil are offerings more fragrant than any liturgical perfume. The righteous cry under the weight of their frailty, and heaven bends low. The angelic orders stand close at hand. They are not distant observers. They are partakers in the sufferings of the saints.

What a vision.

The struggler who feels alone in the cell, alone in illness, alone in interior battle, is surrounded. The angels strengthen. They encourage. They console. There is a communion not only with the saints of the earth but with the hosts of heaven who draw near to the one who cries out in humility.

This is the first movement. Deep contrition. Tears. Vigil. Labor. The long work of purification.

But Isaac does not leave us in mourning.

He telescopes the whole journey.

Rightly directed labors and humility make a man “a god upon the earth.” Faith and mercy speed him toward limpid purity. And then something changes. Fervor begins to burn.

Contrition and fervor cannot dwell together indefinitely. Mourning gives way to fire. Wine has been given for gladness, he says, and fervor for the rejoicing of the soul. The word of God warms the understanding. The one inflamed by hope is ravished by meditations of the age to come.

Isaac dares to speak of spiritual drunkenness.

Not the stupor of the world, but intoxication with hope. The soul so seized by the promise of God that it becomes unconscious of affliction. Not because suffering disappears, but because the heart is fixed elsewhere. The gaze has shifted. The future age presses upon the present. The Beloved draws near.

This is not fantasy. It comes, Isaac says, “in the very beginning of the way” for those who have labored long in purification and who walk with simplicity and faith.

And here he gives us one of the most liberating images of the night.

Those who hasten onward with hope do not examine the perils of the road. They do not stand calculating every gorge and precipice. They do not sit on the doorstep of their house, forever deliberating, forever preparing, forever fearing.

They go.

Only after crossing the sea do they look back and give thanks for dangers they never saw. God protected them from unseen obstacles. He led them over crags and through ravines while they were fixed on Him.

Hope keeps the gaze steady.

Rumination keeps the soul seated at the threshold.

Isaac is not advocating recklessness. He is exposing the paralysis of excessive self-consciousness in the spiritual life. The one who constantly measures, analyzes, anticipates every fall, often never sets out. But the one who loves God, who girds his loins with simplicity, who meets the sea of afflictions without turning his back, finds the promised haven.

This is the arc of the homily.

From sweat to sweetness.

And all of it rests on hope.

Hope that Christ Himself guards the path.

Isaac places before us not merely discipline, but joy. Not merely purification, but intimacy. Not merely endurance, but ravishment in the meditations of the age to come.

The call tonight is clear.

Do not speak of virtue. Live it.

And as we walk, we will discover that we are not walking alone.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:03:11 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 177 bottom of the page

00:03:34 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

00:50:08 Jessica McHale: When I first went to a Greek Orthodox liturfy simply for the experience, a parishoner explained to me that the orthodox east emphaises the Ressurectoin (salvation from it) and the west emphasises the Crucifixion (and salvation from it). It was helpful to understand the diffeent. I am very drawn to a Melkite or Byzantine liturgy for Sundays ( I can do a Novus Ordo during the week but it seems Sundays need more ;)

00:52:18 Jessica McHale: Romano Guardini, Meditations Before Mass: https://sophiainstitute.com/product/meditations-before-mass/?srsltid=AfmBOop770BpNWVqK_3cc04pvR2LfL7ItYtkWe5gpFPXJb3opcfsIg4i

00:55:50 Jesssica Imanaka: My daughter had also commented on the chanting. Listening to you, I just recalled that the chanting was a key dimension of her experience. I think the active participation is also critical for her/us.

00:56:38 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "Romano Guardini, Med..." with ❤️

01:03:12 Anthony: Hope. This is why it can be harmful to focus so much on scandal, demons, possession and exorcists.  That spiritual environment tried to strangle Hope.

01:03:47 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Hope. This is why ..." with 👍

01:03:56 Andrew Adams: Reacted to "Hope. This is why it..." with 👍

01:07:09 Lee Graham: Reacted to "Hope. This is why it…" with 👍

01:10:45 Joan Chakonas: I see the answers to many of my prayers in retrospect.  He is always working  and helping.

01:11:50 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "I see the answers to…" with ❤️

01:12:36 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:12:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:12:41 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you Father!!

01:12:44 Jessica McHale: Thank Isaac and thank you, Father! Amen! Many prayers!

01:12:45 Joan Chakonas: Thank you Father!!!

01:12:46 jonathan: Night Father, God bless

The fathers did not endure silence.

They loved it.

This is the difference between a man who is forcing himself to be quiet and a man who has discovered God.

One clenches his teeth and calls it discipline.

Abba Or never lied, never cursed, never spoke unnecessarily. Not because he was following rules. Because he had seen the damage words do when they are born from ego. He had watched how speech leaks the life out of the soul. How it dissipates grace. How it feeds the illusion that we exist by asserting ourselves.

Every unnecessary word strengthens the false self.

Every unnecessary word delays repentance.

Every unnecessary word postpones intimacy.

The fathers were not minimalists. They were realists.

They had learned that most of what we say does not come from truth but from anxiety. We speak to control. We speak to secure ourselves. We speak to make sure we exist in the minds of others.

We are afraid to disappear.

Silence terrifies the ego because silence exposes that we do not sustain ourselves.

God does.

⸻

St Ephraim says that he who speaks much multiplies quarrels and hatred. This is not moralism. This is anatomy. Words inflame the passions. Words solidify judgment. Words give form to resentment that would otherwise dissolve in the presence of God.

A garden without a fence is trampled.

A soul without silence is plundered.

Every idle conversation opens the gate to distraction. Every irrelevant word invites the demon of listlessness. Antiochos names this with terrifying clarity. Loquacity does not merely waste time. It hands the mind over to the enemy.

Because God is not found in noise.

God is found where nothing of the ego remains to obscure Him.

This is why silence is not empty.

Silence is full.

It is full of Presence.

It is full of Light.

It is full of a Word that cannot be manufactured by human thought.

St Isaac the Syrian says that silence is the mystery of the age to come. Words belong to this age. Silence belongs to eternity. Because in eternity, God is not explained. He is known.

Not through concepts.

Through union.

⸻

When the fathers entered silence, they did not enter absence.

They entered encounter.

They discovered that beneath the constant internal narration of the mind there was Another Voice. A Voice that did not shout. A Voice that did not argue. A Voice that did not flatter or condemn.

A Voice equal to God Himself.

Because it was God Himself.

The Logos.

The Word through whom all things were made.

This Word does not force Himself upon us.

He waits.

He waits for the noise to stop.

He waits for the ego to weaken.

He waits for the endless commentary to exhaust itself.

He waits for the man to become poor enough to listen.

And when He speaks, He does not merely inform.

He creates.

His Word heals what sin has disfigured.

His Word restores what pride has shattered.

His Word brings into existence a new heart.

This is why the fathers guarded silence with ferocity.

They were protecting the place where God is born in the soul.

⸻

Antiochos says that those who possess the Holy Spirit do not speak when they wish but when moved by the Spirit.

This is freedom.

Not the freedom to speak.

The freedom to remain silent.

The ego must speak to survive.

The Spirit does not.

The ego is restless.

The Spirit is still.

The ego needs witnesses.

The Spirit is its own witness.

This is why the saints speak few words. Not because they have nothing to say. But because they see the cost of speech. They know that every word must pass through fire.

They have seen the devastation caused by words spoken without God.

They have seen how words born from self obscure the Word who gives life.

So they wait.

They remain in silence until speech itself becomes obedience.

Until speech is no longer self-expression but revelation.

⸻

We resist this silence because it feels like death.

And it is death.

It is the death of the self that must assert, explain, defend, and secure itself.

It is the death of the self that believes it exists by speaking.

In silence, this self collapses.

And something else begins to appear.

Something quiet.

Something uncreated.

Something that does not depend on being seen or heard.

Christ Himself begins to live where the false self once ruled.

This is why silence is not endured.

It is loved.

Because in silence we discover that we were never sustained by our words.

We were sustained by Him.

And when every unnecessary word falls away, when every inner argument dissolves, when every effort to secure ourselves finally collapses, there remains only this:

God speaking His Word in the depths of the heart.

And this Word is life.

And this Word is light.

And this Word is love.

And this Word is enough.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:03:08 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

00:03:37 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.youtube.com/@philokaliaministries/videos

00:04:06 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 355 number 11

00:10:00 Janine: Father…still sick..but here…thank you for prayers

00:12:40 Mary and Al: Albert

00:47:12 Jessica McHale: Interesting---I discerned contemplative monastic life at two different monasteries. In both experiences, the nuns were too social for me. They spoke during two meals during the day, and most of the talk was politics. Since I was discerning, I imagine they wanted my opinion on political topics to see if I would "fit in" with the community. They let me know that socialization and speaaking was part of commnity life. It just wasn't for me. It is hard to find a "community" tha understands the importance of silence. For me, silence is essential. It's a prayerful existence centered on God.

00:47:37 Maureen Cunningham: If someone is quiet , the mind can be  in constant thought. How  do you combine the silence and. Empty out the mind

00:51:22 Erick Chastain: Clear creek monks didn't know who Trump was not too long ago (after he ran for president)

01:00:49 John ‘Jack’: Silence ultimately brought me back to the Church. 

About 15 years ago my wife asked what I wanted for a birthday gift? After listening to an elderly freind speak so lovingly of her time spent at the Abbey of the Genesee, I decided to ask for a  weekend retreat. She gave it to me, best gift ever.

The first evening I thought I was  going to lose my mind. I’ve grown to love silence!

01:01:21 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Silence ultimately..." with ❤️

01:02:04 Carol Nypaver: Reacted to "Silence ultimately b..." with 👍

01:04:33 John ‘Jack’: That’s where I  was!

01:05:16 John ‘Jack’: Closer to 20 monks now

01:06:13 John ‘Jack’: No it was Kathee when I started.

01:19:28 Danny Moulton (Lakeside, Ohio): My wife and I are approaching our 48th anniversary. I find there are two kinds of silence: that which erodes relationship and that which magnifies gratitude.

01:19:49 Carol Nypaver: Reacted to "My wife and I are ap..." with ❤️

01:21:06 Erick Chastain: I have found it easier to be silent when there is someone in my heart to talk with. To love. To truly pray rather than talk at God.

01:21:47 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I have found it ea..." with ❤️

01:22:58 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing

01:23:42 Joan Chakonas: Thank you Father

01:24:17 Jessica McHale: Thank you!!! Always consoling to hear you and the Desert Fathers! Many, many, many prayers!

01:24:20 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:24:22 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "Thank you!!! Always …" with ❤️

01:24:29 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!

01:24:30 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you!

01:24:39 Sheila Applegate: Night! Thanks!

St. Isaac does not flatter us.

He does not tell us that the ascetic life is noble. He tells us it burns.

He does not tell us it is peaceful. He tells us it wounds.

He does not tell us it feels like fulfillment. He tells us it feels like loss.

Because what stands at the heart of the ascetic life is not discipline.

It is death.

Not the death of the body, but the death of the self that has lived for itself.

And until that self begins to die, the soul remains cold.

The modern man wants illumination without humiliation. He wants consolation without affliction. He wants joy without tears. He wants Christ without crucifixion.

But St. Isaac tells us plainly. The sign that the soul is drawing near to life is not comfort.

It is fire.

Your heart is aflame both day and night.

This fire does not come from effort. It comes from surrender.

It comes when a man has ceased defending himself.

It comes when he has ceased preserving his image.

It comes when he has ceased negotiating with God.

He stands stripped of illusions. He sees his poverty. He sees his weakness. He sees that he has nothing.

And this is where grace begins.

Because God does not fill what is full.

He fills what has been emptied.

The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah

I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite.

The fathers knew this.

Abba Poemen said

The man who understands his sins is greater than the man who raises the dead.

Because the one who raises the dead may still live for himself.

But the one who sees his sins has begun to die.

And it is this death that gives birth to tears.

St. Isaac says that tears join themselves to every work.

Not because the man is trying to weep.

But because he can no longer protect himself from reality.

He sees God.

He sees himself.

He sees the distance between them.

And he weeps.

These tears are not weakness.

They are truth.

They are the breaking of the heart that has lived in false strength.

King David understood this when he said

My sacrifice is a contrite spirit. A humbled and contrite heart you will not spurn.

God does not desire your accomplishments.

He desires your brokenness.

Because brokenness is the door through which He enters.

This is why St. Isaac says that afflictions suffered for the Lord are more precious than every offering.

Because affliction destroys the illusion that you are alive apart from God.

Affliction reveals the truth.

That you are dust.

That you are weak.

That you cannot save yourself.

And the ego cannot survive this revelation.

This is why affliction is feared.

Not because it harms us.

But because it exposes us.

The Apostle Paul understood this mystery when he said

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Affliction carries death into the false self.

So that life may be born in the true self.

And this is where the paradox appears.

Because the man who embraces affliction does not become miserable.

He becomes free.

St. Isaac says that when this fire is born in the soul, the whole world becomes ashes.

Not because the world is hated.

But because it no longer enslaves him.

He no longer needs it to feel alive.

He no longer needs recognition.

He no longer needs control.

He no longer needs to preserve himself.

Because he has found something greater.

He has found Christ.

And Christ becomes his life.

St. Paul says

I count all things as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

This is not poetry.

This is the testimony of a man who has passed through affliction into freedom.

Because when the false life dies, the true life appears.

And this life cannot be taken.

This is the joy that St. Isaac speaks of.

Not emotional happiness.

But the unshakable certainty that Christ has become your life.

This joy is born in tears.

It is born in humiliation.

It is born in affliction.

It is born when the man ceases running from the cross.

Christ did not say

Avoid suffering.

He said

Take up your cross and follow me.

Because the cross is not the end.

It is the door.

On the other side of affliction stands resurrection.

On the other side of humiliation stands freedom.

On the other side of tears stands joy.

This is why St. Isaac warns us.

If the fire grows cold, woe to you.

Because the greatest tragedy is not suffering.

It is returning to sleep.

It is returning to self protection.

It is returning to the illusion that you can live apart from God.

The ascetic life is not about becoming strong.

It is about becoming defenseless before God.

It is about allowing Him to strip away everything false.

It is about allowing Him to destroy what cannot live.

So that what is eternal may appear.

And when this happens, the man no longer fears affliction.

Because he has seen what it produces.

He has seen the fire.

He has tasted the tears.

He has known the joy that cannot be taken.

And he understands at last the words of Christ

Your sorrow will turn into joy.

Not because suffering disappears.

But because Christ has become your life.

And nothing can take Him away.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:00:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 177 paragraph 24

00:07:15 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 177 paragraph 24

00:07:36 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Ascetic life begins where excuses die

00:20:28 Angela Bellamy: The devil does not only tempt with sin — he tempts with carefulness. I remember that from the "Unseen warfare"

00:30:50 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

00:31:58 Ryan Ngeve: Father with his emphasis on tears, does that mean a lack of tears entails the lack of working of the Holy Spirit

00:32:00 Angela Bellamy: Does such a thing that has happened that the unemotional/tenderness tears come... Would "carefulness take it away before time"

00:36:24 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Does such a thing th..." with ❤️

00:39:24 Angela Bellamy: But with certainty one can assume that they are the one who pulled away, not Him? So there can be a drawing near again...?

00:46:03 Holly Hecker: it would appear that consolations at these times could be sort of dangerous - do we want to go back or go forward

00:46:09 David Swiderski, WI: I have noticed when repentance seems distant my mind turns towards pride forgetting being freed from it is not by me but by grace of something. When I turn back to repentance I find myself like Abba moses walking around with a hole in a bag of sand and more open to others struggles

00:50:21 John ‘Jack’: Since reading the fathers, I’ve come to realize that I am only responsible for my own salvation, it seems like our culture has convinced us that we are somehow responsible for others salvation. Since I’ve been focused on this I’ve found my “witness” if you will has become far less burdensome.

00:54:35 Joan Chakonas: My prayers are usually in context of afflictions (my judgmentalism, my ridicule, my thoughts in general from living my day )and asking for Gods help and guidance.  When I am at peace I am not actively petitioning God for abstract things - I am trying to repent all the time and peace is what I get when I get His message.

00:55:09 David Swiderski, WI: Sin is followed by shame, Repentance is followed by boldness- St. John Chrysotom

00:56:10 Joan Chakonas: I just say thank you God over and over when I get to peace.

00:56:26 John ‘Jack’: Perfectly stated, Father thank you.

00:56:53 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "I just say thank you..." with ❤️

01:01:18 Anthony: Preach Father! I saw the Faith in Southern Italy was so different in its tone than what I've seen as an American Catholic.

01:01:41 Myles Davidson: A word for sorrowful joy seems like a word we lack in English (bittersweet is probably the closest). Is this the Greek word you mean Father? χαρμολύπη (charmolýpi)… pronounced as khar-mo-LEE-pee

01:02:05 Ben: Anna; This conversation reminds me of something Jesus said, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you."

01:02:45 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Anna; This conversat..." with ❤️

01:02:57 David Swiderski, WI: Reacted to "Anna; This conversat..." with ❤️

01:05:51 Angela Bellamy: I'm not really sure why this conversation reminds me of Malachi. 😅

01:06:20 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "I just say thank you..." with ❤️

01:09:25 John ‘Jack’: Heaven is now. ❤️

01:09:47 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "Preach Father! I saw..." with 👍

01:12:07 Ben: Replying to "A word for sorrowful..."

What about "penthos"?

01:19:19 Anthony: In our groups Carol used to mention Olivier Clement, Song of Tears, that God meets us in our private hells. He descends down there with us.

01:20:15 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "In our groups Carol ..." with ❤️

01:20:54 Jesssica Imanaka: and also to have confidence that God is with others in their Hells

01:21:10 Angela Bellamy: I was surprised to read that in Psalms 139. I can't understand what I've been taught in my protestant upbringing anymore.

01:21:18 Anthony: The devils are like wolves, isolating the wounded and weak, wanting to devour them.

01:21:30 Anthony: Reacted to I was surprised to r... with "❤️"

01:23:37 Jessica McHale: it's one of the hardest things I've had to do for priests--to be with them spiritually in the ugliness of sin--but doing it has shown me the mercy God has had one me for all MY sins too. It's hard. But He's walked with me though it all and let me know it too. Some of the things He's shown me I never want to see again--the real spiritual battle we are all in. It's scary.

01:25:28 Jesssica Imanaka: Calvinism

01:26:29 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father.

01:26:43 John ‘Jack’: Always

01:27:25 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:27:34 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your mother and this group.

01:27:50 Jessica McHale: Amen! Many prayers for you all! I love this group! Thank you, Father!

01:28:14 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You Blessing

01:28:21 cameron: Thank you Father!

St. Isaac the Syrian is ruthless here because he is protecting us from despair on one side and fantasy on the other.

Most of us live precisely in the state he describes. We have repented. We have turned away from obvious sins. We pray. We read. We fast. And yet our prayer feels crowded. Memories intrude. Images multiply. The heart is pulled back into itself again and again. This is not a sign that repentance was false. It is the normal condition of an unfledged mind.

Isaac is teaching us not to panic when the mind cannot yet fly.

At this stage virtues are still heavy. They belong to effort. They restrain the mind but they do not yet lift it. We imagine that distraction means failure and that freedom should come quickly. Isaac says no. Freedom has an atmosphere. The mind must slowly learn the air in which it will one day remain. Until then it hops. And hopping is not sin. It is training.

The mistake is trying to force flight. When we strain to escape images we only multiply them. When we analyze distraction we deepen self consciousness. When we demand interior stillness before humility has done its work we turn prayer into a project. Isaac quietly refuses all of this. He tells us to remain faithful to outward obedience without expecting inward vision yet.

What overcomes these tendencies is not technique but endurance in smallness. We continue to pray even when prayer feels poor. We do not chase experiences. We accept that God is served through visible things for a long time. And we allow the Lord to teach us the inner meaning of what we already practice. Slowly virtues become transparent. They stop drawing attention to themselves. They begin to point beyond themselves.

Humility is the hinge. Not self accusation. Not interior commentary. Humility is staying low enough that God can lean toward us. The humble man does not try to send his prayer upward. He speaks it close. Like a word placed directly into the ear of God.

Lord You will enlighten my darkness.

This is what readers of Philokalia Ministries need to hold on to. If your prayer feels earthbound do not abandon it. If your mind is crowded do not fight it violently. If your virtues feel external do not despise them. You are not failing. You are growing feathers.

Flight comes later.

First comes patience.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:06:24 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 176, # 21, second paragraph

00:13:26 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 176, # 21, second paragraph

00:15:11 Angela Bellamy: congratulations Father 😆

00:18:25 Jonathan Grobler: I think it's an amazing technology, it just needs to be used properly

00:31:19 Ryan Ngeve: Father how does watchfulness (nepsis) guard us against such thoughts and memories even when watchfulness seems futile

00:32:18 Jesssica Imanaka: I've heard about a lot of projections that happen in monasteries... Memory can be tricky because sometimes someone else inhabits the role of the prior, forgotten experience as when, for example father issues get projected onto the Abbot.

00:33:05 Anthony: It sounds like ascetic life is like having purgatory now. It is purgation. It is being "helpless.". The difference is that ascetic life is voluntary while a person is in this state of existence.

00:41:56 Angela Bellamy: Father, please forgive the digression, Are there resources from the Fathers that speak about holy, disciplined forms of mortification—clearly distinguished from self-punishment—especially for passions that don’t present themselves clearly in the mind? I’m thinking of struggles that are more hidden, where the passion is known more by its fruit than by an obvious thought, and where simple watchfulness doesn’t immediately reveal the root.

00:45:36 David Swiderski, WI: This makes me think of a quote from Meister Eckhart who I think is misunderstood as a mystic. Even though he is from the west some of his thoughts really align with the desert father-“The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away, but they're not punishing you, they're freeing your soul. If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. If you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.”

00:47:46 Jessica McHale: a lot of people think Ash Wed is a holy day of obligation but it's not

00:50:22 Anthony: Is it appropriate now to talk about the difference between monks and friars? The Franciscan friars I met don't appear to have this intense psychological focus that monks have.

00:50:49 Anna: What book did he say?

00:51:19 Jessica McHale: Replying to "What book did he s..."

Philikalia....vol 1

00:52:42 Ben: Alphonse & Rachel Goetmann - The Prayer of Jesus?

00:53:02 John ‘Jack’: Reminds me of the recorded letter from one of GK Chesterton’s freinds (the priest who inspired Father Brown I believe) said to him “it’s about time you came in off the porch” in regards to Chesteton’s  conversion to the Catholic faith.

00:54:37 Larry Ruggiero: The Way of the Ascetics

00:54:52 David Swiderski, WI: A really good summary of the eight evil thoughts is St. Ephraim in the spiritual psalter #117 Life's Lessons-Eight Evil Thoughts small enough to carry with you.

00:55:00 Larry Ruggiero: By Tito Colliander

01:01:56 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "StEphraimEightEvilThoughts.pdf" with 👍

01:02:03 Nypaver Clan: Father,  Where can one go in the Pittsburgh area for a vow of silence retreat? A place one can go for a weekend just to be “alone with God”?

01:02:06 Jesssica Imanaka: Replying to "A really good summar..."

I recently bought that book at my local Orthodox Monastery!

01:02:57 Maureen Cunningham: Berryville Va Holy Abbey is silent retreat

01:03:09 Anthony: Replying to "Father,  Where can o..." 

 Is there a Madonna House in Pittsburgh?

01:03:33 Maureen Cunningham: It was Saint Benedict order

01:06:31 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Berryville Va Holy A..." with ❤️

01:07:35 Mark South: the last sentence in paragragh 22 - would this be the secrete of watchfulness?

01:12:48 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Two other retreat places come to mind.  Each  one has a separate building where one can be more alone - St. Emma's Benedictine Sisters' Monastery in Greensburg and the Ark and the Dove near North Park in Pgh.

01:13:17 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Two other retreat pl..."

Thank you, Sister!

01:13:29 Anthony: Miss June, same with me!

01:14:36 Jesssica Imanaka: Father, another digression, but would you consider doing a group on one of Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou's books?

01:15:19 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "Father, another digr..." with ❤️

01:15:22 Anna: All of them 😂

01:15:28 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Father, another digr..." with 👍

01:15:45 Jessica McHale: yes!

01:15:50 Elizabeth Richards: This year???

01:15:53 Kate: Yes please!

01:15:58 Jesssica Imanaka: We need time to order those books from Essex.

01:16:47 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your mother and your Dad on his birthday!

01:16:50 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:16:56 John Burmeister: thanks

01:17:08 John ‘Jack’: Thank you Father.

01:17:12 Jesssica Imanaka: Thank you!

01:17:12 Joan Chakonas: The fastest hour of my day, again

01:17:17 Kevin Burke: Replying to "Two other retreat pl…"

01:17:31 Janine: Thank you Father

01:17:34 Elizabeth Richards: Blessing- thank you!

01:17:38 Jessica McHale: thank you!

The Fathers do not treat speech as a social matter. They treat it as a matter of life and death.

Because speech reveals what the heart lives from.

A man may fast and remain proud. He may pray and remain full of illusion. He may withdraw outwardly and still remain inhabited by noise. But when he speaks, the truth emerges. The tongue betrays what the heart serves.

Christ says with terrifying simplicity, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34

He does not say the mouth creates. He says the mouth reveals.

Speech is the manifestation of inner condition.

The Evergetinos preserves the fierce sobriety of the Fathers on this point because they knew that speech is not neutral. Speech either dissipates the heart or gathers it into God.

Abba Arsenius fled from men not because he hated them but because he feared what his own mouth might do. He had been formed in the courts of emperors. He knew the seduction of words. He knew how easily speech strengthens the illusion of the self.

He heard a voice saying, “Flee, be silent, pray always.”

Not because silence is virtuous in itself, but because silence exposes the poverty of the heart.

When a man falls silent, he encounters himself.

He encounters the anxiety that drives speech.

The need to affirm himself.

The need to be seen.

The need to exist in the minds of others.

Speech often becomes the way the ego sustains its continuity.

Each word reinforces the illusion that the self is real, stable, necessary.

This is why idle speech is so dangerous. Not because the words themselves are always evil, but because they feed the false center.

St. John Climacus writes that talkativeness is the throne of vainglory, the sign of ignorance, the doorway of slander, and the cooling of compunction.

Every unnecessary word strengthens forgetfulness of God.

Not dramatically. Quietly.

Almost imperceptibly.

The heart that was once gathered becomes scattered.

The attention that was once turned inward toward repentance becomes turned outward toward managing impressions.

A man begins by speaking carelessly.

He ends by living carelessly.

The Evergetinos recounts how the elders guarded their speech with ferocity. Not because they had nothing to say, but because they feared losing the presence of God.

They understood that the more a man speaks, the more he lives outside himself.

And the more he lives outside himself, the more he forgets God.

Abba Poemen said, “If a man remembers that he must give an account of every idle word, he will choose silence.”

Not because silence is safer socially.

Because silence is safer spiritually.

Christ Himself says, “For every idle word men speak, they will give account on the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36

Every idle word.

This is not exaggeration. It is revelation.

Because every idle word strengthens a life lived apart from God.

Speech gives substance to illusion.

It allows the ego to feel real.

To feel present.

To feel established.

This is why men fear silence.

Silence removes reinforcement.

Silence reveals instability.

Silence reveals dependency.

Silence reveals that without constant affirmation, the ego begins to tremble.

The Fathers did not seek silence as technique. They sought silence as truth.

In silence, a man begins to see that he does not yet exist in God.

He exists in the reflection of himself in the minds of others.

Speech sustains that reflection.

Silence destroys it.

This destruction feels like death.

Because something is dying.

The false self that lives from recognition.

The Evergetinos shows us elders who would rather appear foolish than speak unnecessarily. Who would rather remain misunderstood than protect themselves with words.

Because they had discovered something terrible and liberating.

Words cannot save the soul.

Only God can save the soul.

And God is found not in noise, but in poverty.

St. Isaac the Syrian writes that the man who has come to know himself guards his tongue as one standing before fire.

Because he knows how easily the heart can be emptied of grace.

Speech is not evil.

But uncontrolled speech reveals an uncontrolled heart.

The man who speaks constantly has not yet learned to stand before God.

Because the man who stands before God begins to see himself truthfully.

And seeing himself truthfully, he loses the need to speak.

Not because he despises others.

Because he no longer needs to sustain himself.

His life begins to be hidden with Christ in God.

And the tongue, once restless and hungry, becomes quiet.

Not forced into silence.

But stilled by the presence of God.

This is the path the Fathers walked.

They did not seek eloquence.

They sought reality.

And reality begins when the mouth stops protecting the self and the heart begins to stand naked before God.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:02:32 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 354 para 4

00:03:51 Angela Bellamy: I apologize for my mic. I didn't realize it had activated.

00:04:01 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "I apologize for my m..." with 👍

00:10:47 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org

00:12:27 Angela Bellamy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/when-the-desert-fathers-saw-snow

00:12:30 Jessica McHale: City a Desert videos are GREAT!

00:13:29 Angela Bellamy: I love this, Father:He immediately cried out, “Abba, it burns!”

00:13:46 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "He immediately cried..." with 👍

00:14:02 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 354, 4

00:21:15 Anthony: Silly chatter is a problem. But are these monks being legalist or fundamentalist about the teaching of Jesus that we will be judged for every word? Or is their teachings mostly for the "trade" of being a monk?

00:28:58 Angela Bellamy: The bible says much about speech. Not just in James but various places. Some are to not take council with the scornful (the bitter or angry) and not to complain. It says even to not give advice as well as gossip and slander. I have been struggling for the good portion of a year and still I struggle and it is always at niceties, or pleasantries that I get sucked into idle words. I wish they told us how, like a "life hack" or "Ted Talk" 😅

00:38:51 Anna: Jesus prayer 300 knot rope helps me get through conversations with less words.

00:42:04 Anthony: I don't recall Captain Kirk getting, say, syphilis.....

00:42:44 Anthony: Pushing boundaries on TV, but not paying costs.

00:43:52 John ‘Jack’: I’ve often said A I  is only as smart as the most ignorant person on the internet… that’s scary!

00:46:05 Bob Čihák, AZ: I've been saying that AI doesn't stand a chance against Genuine Stupidity. Even stupid people are more creative than computers.

00:48:47 Anthony: Also AI teachings supposedly from the Pope

00:53:49 Angela Bellamy: I am not sure if it has come up yet but I've noticed that when a problem has been resolved inside, if I complain again, I'm again rekindled to having issue. I think this is how I understand it being so important to not speak unnecessarily.

00:55:27 Anna: Can you explain your thoughts on social posting and it being consumerism so not to post.

00:58:07 Forrest: From the wiktionary entry, the Greek word for "Circular" in this passage is στρογγυλὸς, which could be also translated as "pithy" or "terse". Some etymologists think the root came from "droplet", since they are round.

01:04:01 Anna: Thank you Fr Charbel

01:11:23 Jessica McHale: It's been enlightening for me -- expecially about "commercializing" our time with God. Thank you.

01:11:53 Angela Bellamy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

01:12:21 Joan Chakonas: Where did the hour go??  These sessions are so fast.

01:13:04 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:13:18 Angela Bellamy: 🙏

01:13:22 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father!

We speak because we are afraid to be still.

We speak because silence exposes us.

We speak because when the mouth closes the heart begins to make noise and that noise is often unbearable.

The Fathers knew this long before psychology gave it names. They knew that speech is not neutral. It is not just communication. It is an outflow of what is ruling the inner world. Every word carries the weight of the heart behind it. This is why Abba Pambo could stand at death and say that he had not repented of a single word and yet also say that he had not even begun to serve God. He knew what speech costs. He knew how easily a careless phrase can wound another, harden the self or invite the demons into the space between people. He did not trust his own clarity. He waited. He let months pass rather than speak a word that was not born from God.

That kind of restraint feels almost inhuman to us. We live in a world that rewards immediacy. We are trained to answer quickly, react quickly, express quickly, post quickly, correct quickly. But speed is not truth. Speed is often panic wearing a clever face. The monk who waits to speak is not slow. He is standing before God inside himself. He is listening for something that is not his own.

The Elder says that a man can be silent with his lips and loud with his heart. That is the most damning line in this whole section. You can say nothing and still be screaming. You can be quiet and still be condemning everyone around you. You can appear peaceful while your mind is devouring your brothers. Another man can speak all day and yet remain silent because he refuses to let his words become weapons, judgments or self display. Silence is not a style. It is a spiritual state.

Idle talk is not mostly obscene or stupid. It is unnecessary. It is speech that does not serve salvation. It is talk that fills the space so we do not have to face what is happening inside. We speak about bodies and opinions and events and annoyances and plans because these are safer than the truth of our hearts. The moment we speak about what is good we discover how quickly evil slips in. Pride sneaks into holy words. Comparison sneaks into spiritual conversation. The self sneaks into everything.

This is why the Elder answers the brother who wants a word to be saved with something that sounds almost trivial. Do not hasten to speak before you consider what you are going to say. That is not etiquette. That is warfare. To pause before speaking is to interrupt the automatic rule of the ego. It is to refuse to let the tongue be driven by irritation, hunger for recognition or the need to be right. It is to create a small space where God might enter.

Most of what we say is not meant to help anyone. It is meant to regulate ourselves. We speak to soothe anxiety. We speak to discharge frustration. We speak to draw attention. We speak to feel real. We speak to avoid the ache of not being in control. The mouth becomes a narcotic. The more we use it the less we notice how enslaved we are to it.

This is why the Fathers are so severe. They are not moralizing. They are diagnosing a sickness. The soul that cannot keep watch over its words cannot keep watch over its thoughts. The heart that pours itself out through constant speech cannot remain gathered before God. It leaks. It disperses. It becomes weak.

The tragedy is that we confuse expression with honesty. We think that saying what we feel is the same as bringing it to God. It is not. Most of the time it just feeds the feeling. It strengthens the pattern. It builds a little kingdom around the self. We call it authenticity but it is often captivity.

The monk learns slowly and painfully that every word either bends him toward God or bends him toward himself. There is no neutral speech. Either it deepens prayer or it corrodes it. Either it builds communion or it sows division. Either it creates space for grace or it fills the room with ego.

This is why the saint waits. This is why the Elder warns. This is why the Fathers tremble before idle talk. They have seen what words do to the heart. They have watched souls unravel because the mouth was never taught to kneel.

To learn silence is not to become mute. It is to become true. It is to let God have the first and last word inside you. And until that happens every sentence we speak is a small gamble with our soul.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:00:31 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 353

00:01:32 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Hypothesis XLVII page 353 concerning speech and silence

00:06:10 Catherine Opie: Without mosquitoes we would have no frogs or bats

00:11:38 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 353 A Hypothesis 47

00:12:10 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "P. 353 A Hypothesis ..." with 👍🏻

00:13:55 Angela Bellamy: twice this winter we had -40

00:14:02 Catherine Opie: Is that Farenheit

00:14:08 Angela Bellamy: without windchill.

00:14:21 Angela Bellamy: yes. so chilly!

00:14:22 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 353 A Hypothesis 47

00:17:03 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Is that Farenheit"

yes

00:18:35 Una’s iPhone: And some of us get out of joint if we don’t get an immediate reply to a text

00:21:17 Anna: Is anyone else having the volume drop off and return?

00:21:32 Angela Bellamy: not me

00:21:35 Andrew Adams: Replying to "Is anyone else havin..."

It’s fine for me

00:22:32 Bob Čihák, AZ: Replying to "Is anyone else havin..."

A little, until I turned off my VPN.

00:24:40 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 353 B

00:24:57 Jonathan Grobler: Loose lips sink ships, true for the faith also.

00:25:45 Bob Čihák, AZ: This paradox is striking - and TRUE!

00:30:40 Anna: How does one handle conversations where there's something that comes up that conflicts with your Catholic principles to keep without sinful compromising through silence or through words?

00:33:09 Angela Bellamy: I struggle with the subject of idle talk because I seem to receive conflicting guidance. On one hand, I am warned against silence as a kind of self-erasure or avoidance. On the other hand, when I do speak, the condition of my heart is often revealed more clearly, which helps me recognize where repentance is actually needed. From a Christian perspective, I’m unsure how to understand the idea of “self-erasure.” Silence itself does not seem inherently unhealthy to me. Yet I also wonder: how can one maintain silence truthfully when there is still inner sickness at work? Is silence meant to conceal disorder until healing comes, or to accompany repentance as it unfolds?

00:37:23 Anna: With Eastern journaling what's the best way to journal as an Eastern Catholic?

00:39:21 John ‘Jack’: I very often want to “chat” or confide in someone about a situation I find myself going though, but I’ve learned I can’t, as the other party CANNOT  necessarily see things from my personal point of view.   

Many years ago Fr John Eudes Bambager at the Abbey of the Genesee told me “Ultimately it’s just you and God”. That one simple statement brings me more peace than nearly any other council I’ve ever received, it gives me peace.

00:39:42 Anna: Reacted to P. 353 A Hypothesis ... with "👍🏻"

00:39:54 Anna: Reacted to P. 353 A Hypothesis ... with "🎉"

00:46:59 Angela Bellamy: Please forgive me Father, but I will venture to ask you: How should we speak with people who are sick, destitute, or deeply burdened when there is nothing objectively “good” to discuss? In such situations, how do we avoid idle talk on one hand and spiritualized distance on the other, while still remaining truthful and loving in conversation?

00:50:25 Bob Čihák, AZ: Even though St. Ephrem warns us about “idle chatter” throughout Lent, we don’t hear about “idle chatter” the rest of the year. I sometimes facetiously ask others, “So, is idle chatter acceptable the rest of the year?” At least, this question usually brings a few seconds of audible, if not spiritual, silence.

00:51:22 Anthony: St Augustine was a rhetorician. Not everyone is trained that way

00:56:14 Una’s iPhone: Please can you list again the qualities you associate with Eastern writing. I’m a writer

00:56:25 Una’s iPhone: Reacted to "St Augustine was a r…" with 👍

00:56:40 John ‘Jack’: Fr Bamberger past on 1/2020

00:56:48 Una’s iPhone: Reacted to "Please forgive me Fa…" with ❤️

00:58:22 John ‘Jack’: Replying to "Fr Bamberger past on…"

01:03:44 Una’s iPhone: Reacted to "I very often want to…" with ❤️

01:04:34 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "At the age of 94 hav..." with ❤️

01:04:47 Una’s iPhone: I love what we’re covering tonight. Very helpful in everyday life

01:10:02 Una’s iPhone: Can you please repeat the  list of qualities you associate with writing in an Easterly way. I’m a writer

01:13:21 Bob Čihák, AZ: Re: St. Augustine, Professor Pecknold, of Catholic U in DC, gave 2 illuminating talks about him and his "City of God" using Pagan authorities in refuting the Pagan's own fallacies, for the Institute of Catholic Culture recently. I listened to the "after action" podcasts. cf. https://instituteofcatholicculture.org/events/the-city-of-god

01:15:58 Una’s iPhone: Thank you

01:16:04 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you! 😊

01:16:21 Una’s iPhone: From the chattering solitaries

01:16:51 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:16:55 Catherine Opie: God bless Fr. Many thanks for your time today

01:17:04 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father.

Here Isaac is not giving us a technique for moral improvement. He is unveiling an icon.

Behind his austere language of toil and Scripture and withdrawal stands a single, luminous vision: the human heart being slowly remade into the dwelling place of God. Asceticism is not a set of behaviors aimed at self mastery. It is the patient clearing of space so that the Trinity may come to rest within us. Everything Isaac names flows from this one mystery.

He begins with what looks like a chain of practices. Bodily toil guards purity. Scripture sustains the toil. Hope and fear steady the soul. Prayer and withdrawal from men protect the heart. But Isaac is not describing a ladder that climbs upward by human effort. He is describing how the soul is held open until it can be seized by the Spirit. These disciplines do not save. They keep us available for salvation. They prevent the heart from sealing itself against grace.

This is why Isaac speaks so soberly about the Scriptures. Until the Comforter has come and taken up His dwelling in the depths of the person we need the written word to keep us from drifting into forgetfulness and fantasy. The Scriptures are not information. They are a form of remembrance. They press the shape of Christ into the memory of the heart so that when our mind is scattered and the passions begin to speak their lies we are not carried away from our true homeland.

But Isaac also knows that even Scripture is provisional. There comes a moment when the teaching no longer comes from without but from within. When the Spirit penetrates the noetic powers of the soul the heart itself becomes the book. The same Word who once spoke in letters now speaks in fire. This is not a rejection of Scripture but its fulfillment. The written Gospel gives way to the living Christ engraved upon the heart.

Here we touch the heart of Eastern Christian mysticism. Salvation is not merely a verdict. It is a transformation of perception. The center of knowing shifts. The ego no longer stands as the interpreter of reality. The Spirit becomes the teacher. And because this teaching comes from God Himself it is not lost. It does not evaporate under distraction or suffering. It remains as a living memory of communion.

Isaac then strikes at something that terrifies the ego. He distinguishes between good thoughts and a good heart. We are accustomed to judging ourselves by the surface weather of the mind. We watch our thoughts rise and fall like waves and imagine that our worth before God is decided by their movement. Isaac says this is an illusion. Thoughts come and go like sea winds. They stir the waters but they do not constitute the depths.

The heart is the foundation. It is the place where we truly consent or refuse. A person may be flooded with thoughts and yet remain rooted in God. Another may have refined ideas and yet be inwardly turned toward self. What matters is not the agitation of the surface but the direction of the ground beneath it.

This is a devastating word for the controlling ego. We want to manage our thoughts. We want to produce holiness by technique. We want to ensure our standing before God by monitoring every inner movement. Isaac tells us that this entire project is misguided. If judgment were passed on every thought we would be condemned and justified a thousand times a day. That is not how God sees us. God looks at the heart. He looks at where we have placed our deepest trust.

And here the abyss opens.

To let go of the ego is not to become passive or vague. It is to cease making ourselves the measure of reality. It is to fall into the love of God without conditions. The heart that consents to this fall becomes a foundation of peace even while the mind continues to be stirred by many winds. This is why the saints can live in such freedom. They are no longer organized around self protection. They have entrusted themselves to the Paschal mystery.

For Isaac all of this is Christological. The Spirit who teaches the heart is the Spirit poured out by the crucified and risen Lord. The abyss into which we fall is the same abyss into which Christ descended in His self emptying love. To enter this path is to be drawn into the very life of the Trinity. We are no longer managing ourselves toward virtue. We are being re created from within by divine love.

This is the beauty of the ascetical mystical tradition of the East. It does not offer self improvement. It offers transfiguration. It does not promise control. It invites surrender. It does not measure us by the turbulence of our thoughts but by the quiet yes of the heart.

Isaac shows us a humanity that has learned to rest in God even while the winds still blow. A humanity no longer driven by fear or fantasy but grounded in the living presence of the Spirit. This is what we have become in Christ. And this is what the desert still calls us to be.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:01:01 Jonathan Grobler: Evening father

00:02:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Good evening

00:02:50 Ryan Ngeve: Good evening Father

00:04:37 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 175, # 19, final paragraph

00:04:49 Adam Paige: Happy feast day of Saint Isaac the Syrian to all ! New movie from the writer & director of “Man of God” (about St Nektarios) coming out this weekend: “Moses the Black” ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_the_Black_(film)

00:05:49 Anna: There was a run on bananas with this last storm

00:06:06 Anna: What movie

00:06:35 Anna: Thanks

00:08:08 Anna: Movie theater for Moses the Black... https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/moses-the-black/

00:08:19 Anna: It's in theaters

00:09:35 Anna: That doesn't look like it

00:10:11 Jonathan Grobler: Excited for Lent, will hopefully be confirmed this Easter

00:10:41 Jessica McHale: 16th of Feb

00:10:41 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 175, # 19, final paragraph

00:10:53 Angela Bellamy: Is there a resource some place on how Lent is traditionally observed?

00:11:18 Anna: That link is the movie playing on the 30th and so on

00:11:18 Janine: Yes

00:11:22 Anna: https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/moses-the-black/

00:11:30 Janine: Alexander

00:11:45 Jessica McHale: Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Father Alexander Schmemann

00:14:22 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "Great Lent: Journey ..." with 👍

00:19:14 Elizabeth Richards: Amen!

00:30:28 Anthony: As a matter of comfort, seeing sin is not a sign necessarily of being cut off from God; seeing sin is a token of grace.  I think a Greek father said this.

00:32:41 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "As a matter of com..." with ❤️

00:32:45 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "As a matter of comfo..." with ❤️

00:35:24 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 176, # 29, first paragraph

00:38:48 susan: thoughts?  Jesus prayer

00:43:42 Jessica McHale: That would be a TERRIFIC course! Much needed for me!

00:44:13 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "That would be a TERR…" with ❤️

00:47:06 Ben: Reacted to "That would be a TERR..." with 👍

00:47:36 Erick Chastain: how practically does the judgment from the thought not hit one, especially with the high number of them and their potentially upsetting nature? Turning to the prayer might not happen rapidly enough to prevent reacting to some thoughts.

00:47:49 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "That would be a TERR..." with ❤️

00:50:19 Maureen Cunningham: The St Patrick Prayer

00:50:55 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "The St Patrick Praye..." with 👍🏼

00:52:33 Angela Bellamy: I love the story of Peter walking on water to meet Jesus but is overcome by his circumstance... the Lord reached out and brought him back to Himself, after Peter cried out, and they went back to the boat together.❤️

00:53:19 Joan Chakonas: I understand my vainglorious nature and have been blessed lately with the understanding that my ideas, which I am initially inclined to love, are usually wrong, and it ‘s a relief to abandon them to God’s guidance, which He always gives

00:53:43 David Swiderski, WI: I wasted years reading on discernment and looking back think the minute I engaged reason to try to discern I could rationalize just about anything. On a retreat a 92 year old priest when I asked for yet another book on discernment smiled and said no no no don't waste your time. Simply weigh by your heart anything "Does this lead me closer to God or away from God" discard that which does not lead you closer and don't dwell upon them. This seem clearer since that point.

00:54:49 Anthony: Become like an atheist.... that's like the examination of conscience in the Pilgrim book.

00:55:37 Elizabeth Richards: You are speaking the gospel!

01:00:03 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "I understand my vain..." with 🙏🏼

01:02:25 Anthony: That's a danger to me. I think it sets up an idol in a sense, and then is very confusing to distinguish my thoughts from God, from dark origin thoughts.

01:02:55 Elizabeth Richards: I heard today we cannot "make" sense- because sense has already been made 🙂

01:03:31 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "I wasted years readi..." with 🙏🏼

01:03:35 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "I wasted years readi…" with 🙏🏼

01:04:15 Angela Bellamy: It seems that the difficulty in letting go of an identity outside of God is that we often built that identity around love — but human love, when it is not healed, can be a brutal thing. When that identity is stripped away, what is revealed is not the absence of love, but its truth: a freedom that is real, attainable, and no longer bound to self-will. Glory to Him.

01:04:51 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I heard today we can..." with 👍🏼

01:08:52 Kimberley A: I believe before the Fall Adam was fully God conscious. After the Fall, he became self conscious.

01:09:18 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I believe before the..." with 😯

01:13:20 Elizabeth Richards: So rich this eve! Thank you Father

01:13:40 Elizabeth Richards: Amen!

01:14:18 Maureen Cunningham: Blessing thank you

01:14:39 Joan Chakonas: Thank God for your guidance

01:14:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you and your mother!

01:14:45 Joan Chakonas: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

01:14:47 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father

01:15:01 Angela Bellamy: 😁

01:15:03 Janine: Thank you Father!

01:15:05 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 😊

01:15:05 Elizabeth Richards: Plan a conference!!

01:15:08 Nypaver Clan: Thank you!

01:15:08 Jessica McHale: St Issac Feast Day for Melkite today too!  Thank you and Amen! Many prayers. Yes, I am moving to Pittsburg since you said it!

The Evergetinos does not offer us inspiring stories. It offers us a blade. These elders do not behave reasonably. They do not protect their reputations. They do not appeal to due process. They do not defend themselves. They kneel. They ask forgiveness for crimes they did not commit. They accept punishment. They allow their names to be dragged through the dust. And this is exactly where modern religious people begin to choke.

We admire Christ until His way threatens our dignity. We praise the Cross until it begins to cost us something that feels personal. We speak of humility until it asks us to surrender our right to be seen as innocent. Then the mind rises up. The lawyer wakes. Natural reason sharpens its pen. We start dissecting the text. Surely this is symbolic. Surely this is exaggerated. Surely there must be limits.

But the Gospel has no interest in preserving your image. The divine ethos revealed in Christ is not reasonable. It is cruciform.

Look at the Elder who accepts blame for theft. He knows he did not steal. He also knows something far more dangerous. He knows that Christ Himself was accused, beaten and condemned while innocent. So he chooses to stand where Christ stands rather than where the ego demands to stand. He does not argue. He does not clarify. He does not try to control the narrative. He bows. He becomes small. He lets truth be carried by God rather than by his own voice.

This is not weakness. It is terrifying strength.

In the second account the Deacon accepts public disgrace, penance and exclusion from communion for a crime planted in his cell by envy. He allows his spiritual father and the entire community to think him a thief. Why. Because love of God is worth more than the right to be seen as virtuous. And because hatred of slanderers is more deadly than slander itself.

Notice what breaks the demonic power. Not investigation. Not confession extracted by pressure. But the prayer of the one who was falsely accused. Only the slandered man can heal the slanderer. This is the law of the Cross. Wounds heal wounds when they are offered in love.

The story of Abba Nikon goes even further. He is beaten, excommunicated and isolated for three years for a crime he did not commit. He stands outside the church every Sunday begging for prayer like a criminal. When his innocence is finally revealed, he does not remain to receive praise. He leaves. He knows that glory is as dangerous as slander. Both feed the ego. Both can poison the soul.

This is what divine discernment looks like. Not clever arguments but crucified love.

Abba Isaiah gives the rule that offends every modern religious instinct. If you are slandered make a prostration and say forgive me even if you do not know what you did. This is not moral confusion. It is spiritual clarity. It is a refusal to let the heart harden. It is the choice to stand with Christ rather than with self justification.

St Maximos explains why this cuts so deeply. The demons cannot always trap us through money or pleasure. So they use slander. They try to provoke hatred. They want you to burn with indignation. They want you to lose love. They want you to step off the Cross and into self defense. To endure slander without hatred is one of the highest ascetical acts. It requires that you look to God alone for vindication.

St Ephraim then gives the final warning. Even when the truth comes out do not become proud. Do not feast on your vindication. God delivered you. You did not save yourself.

This is why we want to soften these stories. They leave no room for spiritual narcissism. They strip away our moral theater. They expose how deeply attached we are to being right, to being respected, to being seen as good.

The Cross does not negotiate with your ego. It kills it.

Slander reveals what we truly love. If we love Christ we will accept being misunderstood. If we love ourselves we will fight to be cleared.

The Evergetinos does not ask whether this is fair. It asks whether you want to belong to the Crucified.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:01:41 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 349 number 2

00:03:19 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Philokaliaministries.org/blog

00:04:07 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.youtube.com/@philokaliaministries

00:09:55 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Two possible Philokalia Novice Conference Series

00:11:58 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 349 #2

00:12:46 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: 1. The Inner Grammar of the Eastern Christian Life

This would be a 10 to 12 week arc that shows how Eastern Christianity is not merely a set of beliefs or practices but a therapeutic and mystical way of being human.

Each session takes one essential dimension of the ascetical and sacramental life and shows how it works together with the others.

2. Urban Asceticism: A Prelude to the Way of Hidden Fire

These reflections are for those who are trying to live a real spiritual life in the middle of ordinary, complicated, and often exhausting circumstances.

Not as an escape from the world

Here we explore the ancient wisdom of the desert fathers and the lived experience of the Church as a way of healing the heart and learning how to dwell with God in hiddenness.

This is not a program or a method.

It is a way.

Two possible Philokalia Novice Conference Series

00:12:56 Janine: Oh those look great!

00:13:18 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 349 #2

00:13:27 Jacqulyn Dudasko: Reacted to "Oh those look great!" with 👍

00:16:40 Wayne: Quick question? Is there a difference between gossip and slander?

00:22:19 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 350 #3

00:33:10 Joan Chakonas: Turning the other cheek in all circumstances- these lessons are deep.

00:36:56 Myles Davidson: In translating these stories to modern times, it doesn’t seem prudent to admit to a crime one didn’t do if police are involved. Would you agree these stories are very much situational?

00:38:03 Joan Chakonas: Very valuable.  I can’t think of any other way to convey these understandings to turn the other cheek.  Psychological smack downs versus physical ones.

00:38:58 Angela Bellamy: Recently, reading the Gospels, I was struck by how plainly Christ speaks about what must be endured for His sake. In that light, the saints’ words on slander feel very concrete. The Christian life seems to be about learning to remain faithful even when the flow of life is difficult, trusting that Christ is with us in whatever He allows.

00:45:07 Jonathan Grobler: What an absolute freedom it would be to be free of the ego. The freedom of a fool of Christ. 

To no longer care about yourself, but care only about God and others.

00:45:47 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "What an absolute fre..." with ❤️

00:45:49 Anna: What if you're falsely accused of murder, then you're up to being killed as the punishment, are you to speak up to protect your life or not speak up? From my 13 yr old daughter

00:47:33 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "What an absolute f..." with ❤️

00:48:22 paul g.: Slander and gossip disturb our own peace/silence.

00:49:46 Lee Graham: Reacted to "What an absolute fre…" with ❤️

00:49:47 Anna: Wouldn't there sometimes be a need for justice of truth for the sake of the soul?

00:59:44 Larry Ruggiero: Man’s justice is never good for the people, because man’s justice is always lacking. Lacking because it is done without Christ teachings.

01:09:02 Maureen Cunningham: Who is Susannah ?

01:09:37 Forrest: Replying to "Who is Susannah ?"

Chapter 13 of Daniel

01:11:43 Anna: Pray Jesus prayers for them 😂

01:13:01 Angela Bellamy: Thank you Father for your time this evening. Looking forward to the new lectures you'll be posting on YouTube.

01:13:39 Jessica McHale: What you do, Father, is sent from God. Yes, this is deeply formative. Thank you!!! Many prayers for you!

01:13:44 Kevin Burke: Thank You Father!

01:13:46 Maureen Cunningham: T hank You always a Blessing

01:13:59 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "What you do, Father,..." with 🙏

01:14:33 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you!

01:14:44 Charmaine's iPad: Thank you

St. Isaac the Syrian does not allow us the comfortable fiction that we can want less than everything and still be safe. His words strip away a thousand modern compromises. To say I only wish to escape Gehenna but not to enter the Kingdom is for him a form of madness. There are not three places. There are two. To fall short of the Kingdom is already to enter the place of loss. Hell is not merely fire but exclusion. It is the outer darkness of having turned away from the Face that was offered. The tragedy is not that we were punished but that we did not desire enough.

This is why the spiritual life cannot be treated as damage control. We are not here merely to avoid catastrophe. We are here to be transfigured. Christ did not come so that we might barely survive eternity but so that we might shine as the sun in the Kingdom of the Father. Every half hearted approach to faith is therefore a refusal of glory. It is not humility. It is fear disguised as prudence. Isaac calls us to a hunger that dares to want everything God wants to give.

From this flows his severe counsel about silence and withdrawal. He is not condemning love of neighbor. He is defending the integrity of the heart. If a man seeks to heal others while losing his own clarity then his charity has become a form of self betrayal. A clouded mind cannot give light. A weakened conscience cannot give strength. To remain in constant exposure when one is not yet stable is not heroism. It is negligence. Isaac insists that the first obedience is to guard the sanctuary of the heart. When the heart is healthy it teaches without words. When it is sick even holy words become hollow.

Here he shows something deeply uncomfortable for our age. Being seen is not the same as being holy. Being useful is not the same as being whole. One can be busy for God while drifting away from Him. To be far from men in order to be with God is not selfishness when it preserves the soul. In time such a life benefits others more than any speech because it radiates truth rather than merely talking about it.

This leads to Isaac’s terrifying diagnosis of how corruption begins. The devil does not start with fornication. He starts with vainglory. He offers the sweetness of being admired for virtue. It seems harmless. It even feels spiritual. Yet the moment the mind steps out of its refuge to taste this praise the door is opened. What begins as spiritual self regard becomes sensual fantasy. What was once clear becomes confused. The fall is not sudden. It is incremental and therefore more deadly. One indulgence prepares the next. The first passion creates the conditions for the second.

The remedy is not endless argument with thoughts. Isaac is blunt. To wrestle with passions once they have filled the imagination is already to be weakened. Images and idols are stamped upon the mind. The heart loses its simplicity. The truer strategy is to outrun them by remembrance of virtue and God. When the soul turns immediately toward what is pure and beautiful the invading thoughts find no place to lodge. They depart without leaving a trace.

Everything in these pages converges on one demand. We must want God more than our safety more than our reputation more than our consolations and more than our sins. The Kingdom is not won by those who merely avoid falling but by those who run. To hold anything back is already to drift toward the outer darkness. To give everything is to begin even now to shine.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:02:12 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Humility Real? - how heart react when another wounds us

00:02:42 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 173

00:04:04 Una’s iPhone: It’s the feast of St Agnes today, my name day

00:04:24 Una’s iPhone: Una is Agnes in Irish

00:05:06 Una’s iPhone: Those early virgins would have lived at home

00:05:24 Una’s iPhone: Like hermits of a sort

00:08:26 Anna: GA

00:08:28 Anna: Ice

00:14:38 read.ai meeting notes: noah added read.ai meeting notes to the meeting.

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00:33:18 Ryan Ngeve: Father if we ought to hide our virtues from others for the sake of humility, how then are we to teach others through our example

00:50:13 Jonathan Grobler: Once heard someone say, in the lines off, a true reflection of the health of a parish, is how long the confession line is.

00:51:04 Ben: Anna says; As a mother, I feel this exhortation to my bones.  I have these little people to teach, who have much greater purity of heart than I.

00:54:57 Jesssica Imanaka: I love the suggestion that families in a parish should meet to discuss the asceticism of parenthood and to help and support each other in that.

00:56:43 Eleana Urrego: Mother Teresa said is not doing a lot of things, but to do the small things with love.

00:57:08 Bob Čihák, AZ: Here's most of what I know about St. Charbel: https://www.ncregister.com/features/devotion-to-st-sharbel-grows-in-us

00:58:20 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Here's most of what ..." with 👍🏼

01:00:25 Jesssica Imanaka: Desert mothers reading group!

01:01:05 Ryan Ngeve: Reacted to "Here's most of what …" with ❤️

01:01:13 shang yang: Reacted to "Here's most of what ..." with 👍🏼

01:02:17 Jessica McHale: I would pack up and move out of Boston if there were a parish anywhere that did this.

01:03:57 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 174, # 16, last paragraph

01:06:52 Ambrose Little: Best movie ever

01:07:06 Eleana Urrego: what is the name?

01:07:32 Ambrose Little: A Christmas Story

01:07:40 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "A Christmas Story" with 👍🏼

01:16:17 Angela Bellamy: If a person wanted to be a saint and then found every time that they prayed they would be taken by imagination to the Great works they would do in God's name, interrupting the prayer to God but focusing on themselves in this fantasy... Ashamed then, the person decides they do not want to be a saint but only a servant of God, and then the fantasy begins to dissolve? Is this accurate to what you are saying?

01:19:17 Angela Bellamy: Praise and glory to God

01:22:34 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father, may God bless you and your mother. Stay warm!

01:22:34 Bob Čihák, AZ: Thank you, Father, and all participants.

01:22:35 Jessica McHale: Many prayers!!!!

01:22:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:22:41 Catherine Opie: Always

01:22:42 Janine: God bless Father…

01:22:42 Art: Thank you Father.

01:22:44 Elizabeth Richards: 🙏🏼

01:22:48 Angela Bellamy: Prayers Father. Thank you

01:23:00 Christopher Berry: Thank you, Father!

01:23:03 Art: Don’t shoot your eye out!

01:23:18 Catherine Opie: 🙏🏻

01:23:20 Rod Castillo: Thank you Father

This section of the Evergetinos exposes slander not as a minor moral failure or social misstep but as a profoundly spiritual violence. The Desert Fathers present it as a force that wounds the heart, fractures the mind, and distorts reality itself, not only for the one who is slandered but especially for the one who speaks the lie and for all who consent to it by listening.

In the lives of the two Gregories and Abba Makarios, slander arises from a familiar source: the refusal of sinners to endure the silent rebuke of holiness. The purity of Gregory the Wonderworker becomes unbearable to those who live dissolutely. Rather than repent, they must obscure the light that judges them simply by existing. Slander becomes their counterfeit leveling of the field. If the saint can be dragged down into accusation, then their own corruption can remain hidden and unchallenged.

What is striking is not merely the cruelty of the accusation but the saintly response. Gregory does not defend himself, does not appeal to his reputation, does not expose the plot, does not demand justice. He refuses to enter the logic of the lie. He acts as though the accusation has no power over his inner world. By paying the woman calmly, he breaks the spell of outrage and self-justification that slander seeks to provoke. His silence is not passivity but clarity. He preserves the integrity of the heart by refusing to let the false word become an interior dialogue.

The consequence is immediate and terrifying. The slander does not remain a neutral utterance. It reveals its true nature as communion with darkness. The demonization of the prostitute is not presented as an arbitrary punishment but as a manifestation of what slander already does invisibly. The lie fragments the person. The mind loses its harmony. Perception collapses. The woman becomes externally what slander makes one internally: disintegrated, driven, no longer master of oneself. Only the prayer of the one she accused restores her, revealing that the saint bears not resentment but intercession.

The same pattern unfolds in the life of Gregory of Akragas. Years of imprisonment and suffocation are endured without bitterness. His patience becomes a slow purification that exposes truth without violence. When vindication finally comes, it is accompanied by healing, not triumph. The slanderer is restored, while the architects of the lie are left speechless and darkened, their inability to speak symbolizing the final sterility of falsehood. Slander ultimately consumes the voice of the one who practices it.

Abba Makarios brings the teaching to its most intimate and terrifying form. He does not merely accept public humiliation. He inwardly consents to the burden placed upon him. He works to support the child he did not father. He rewrites the narrative within himself, not as injustice but as a providential call to greater humility and labor. In doing so, he is purified of even the desire to be seen rightly. When the truth finally emerges, he flees from honor as from fire, knowing that praise can undo what slander, paradoxically, had refined.

Across these accounts, the Fathers reveal a severe mercy at work. God allows slander to touch the righteous not because He delights in injustice but because it becomes a furnace in which self-love is burned away. The saint emerges freer, simpler, more transparent. At the same time, slander unmasks itself. It darkens the intellect. It warps perception. It draws others into a shared unreality where suspicion replaces truth and noise replaces discernment. Left unrepented, it leads not to mastery but to loss of speech, loss of sight, loss of coherence.

The Evergetinos does not leave the reader neutral. These stories are a warning and an invitation. To endure slander without retaliation is to enter the Cross where Christ Himself was accused, mocked, and condemned in silence. To participate in slander, even subtly, is to consent to a fragmentation of the heart that eventually spreads outward, shaping families, communities, and entire cultures.

The Desert Fathers are uncompromising because they are physicians of the soul. They show that words are never merely words. They either heal or deform. And they insist that God, in His mercy, will expose the lie, whether through repentance and healing or through the terrible unveiling of what darkness does when it is allowed to speak unchecked.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:01:05 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 346 Letter B

00:07:13 Anna: Maybe my husband could be considered for sainthood

00:08:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Reacted to "Maybe my husband cou..." with 😂

00:08:36 Anna: Actually seriously for my husband

00:09:00 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 346 Letter B

00:10:20 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-things-hung-around-the-neck

00:11:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 346 Letter B

00:12:04 Jessica McHale: Did you take the photo on this blog page? It's a great photo! Love it!

00:12:59 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-things-hung-around-the-neck

00:13:13 Jessica McHale: Yes

00:13:42 Angela Bellamy: Reacted to "https://www.philokal..." with ❤️

00:14:01 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 346 B

00:14:38 Forrest: Replying to "Actually seriously f..."

Anna, there is a cause for Ruth Pakulak. Her husband is a well-known catholic essayist. It is just an example. I don't know very much about it.

00:15:51 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-things-hung-around-the-neck

00:30:23 Jessica McHale: I think the hardest part of this story is to learn to remember to call on God when slandered or if lies are told about us. Right in the moment, it's so hard to stop and turn to God.

00:33:26 Joan Chakonas: Giving her the money- how little money matters, the peace of the conversation interrupted matters

00:35:00 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 347 C

00:43:28 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "😂"

00:43:31 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "😂"

00:44:16 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "👍"

00:44:23 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "❤️"

00:44:30 John Burmeister: is God the only one that can put a generation punishment/curse on someone, or can Satan also?

00:44:35 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "🎉"

00:44:38 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "👏"

00:44:44 Anna: Reacted to Maybe my husband cou... with "😎"

00:45:24 Angela Bellamy: I think the difficulty I have is not in seeing the value or virtue of a pious disposition, one who has the workings of God within them contain a great glory; but what is the value to hear of the awful and abusive effects that seem supernatural upon those who have sinned against them by slander, what should we glean from such a response when we see the effects with our own eyes of the people who slander us today. Surely they are so broken already inside that they felt to do such a thing. hurt people hurt people. Does this kind of create an "us" versus "them" atmosphere, when in reality we are all "us", we are all them? I'd guard against hope in vindication with such tales... What are your thoughts, Father?

00:46:56 Maureen Cunningham: I think judgement of another  many times open the door

00:49:37 Anna: Yes

00:52:21 Angela Bellamy: Replying to "I think the difficul..."

It seems by what you share that when we pity the one who slanders us, it is God's strength in us that helps us overcome the immediate offense?

00:55:50 Anna: Reacted to https://www.philokal... with "❤️"

00:59:22 Anna: What do you mean a virtue needs to be purified by God?

01:06:44 Angela Bellamy: When humility is replaced with pride, or vanity, then it also replaces the grace of God. Pride and vanity are very deceitful and must be guard against at all costs. It terrifying in a way.

01:13:41 Joan Chakonas: I am very gullible- extremely.  I just believe what I hear initially.  A moron in many ways

01:14:00 Catherine Opie: Replying to "I am very gullible- ..."

You are not alone in that.

01:15:29 Jonathan Grobler: We often see this in the real world though, a simple a a a accusation, is enough to turn the mob against someone.

Especially when it comes to sexual accusations. 

People are scandalized that scripture demands witnesses before someone can be prosecuted.

01:16:56 Catherine Opie: That is so profound that he would flee from praise and vindication or even a return of his reputation to avoid hubris.

01:20:23 Angela Bellamy: Praise and glory to God, what a wonderful class. Thank you, Father.

01:20:30 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "Praise and glory to ..." with ❤️

01:20:35 Jessica McHale: Amen'

01:20:43 Joan Chakonas: The fastest hour of my day

01:21:12 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Praise and glory t..." with ❤️

01:21:28 Catherine Opie: Reacted to "The fastest hour of ..." with 😅

01:21:36 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "The fastest hour o..." with 😅

01:21:37 Janine: Thank you Father….

01:21:51 Angela Bellamy: Too accustomed to stillness?

01:21:51 Catherine Opie: Just what I need to hear as usual. Thank you. God bless.

01:22:34 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:22:35 Jessica McHale: thank you!