When the Word Lives but the Man Remains Unknown “If we seek glory among men, we lose the glory that comes from God.” — Apophthegmata Patrum ⸻ A brother came to Abba Arsenius and said: “Father, something troubles me. The words of the Gospel and the fathers have begun to open to me in a way I had not known before. When I speak of these things with others, they seem helped by them. And yet outwardly nothing has changed. I remain hidden. I have no clear place. Nothing is establis

“Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” — Jesus Christ, Matthew 11:29 What Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou describes is almost unbearable to modern ears. It overturns nearly everything that popular Christianity has come to promise. Today the Gospel is often presented as the path to fulfillment, affirmation, confidence, and the discovery of one’s worth. Faith becomes reassurance. Spiritual life becomes improvement. The believer seeks strength, clarity, and inner s

The Summons That Remains After the Retreat “Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Psalm 95:7–8 As the Lenten retreat series comes to its close, I want to express my gratitude to all who walked this path together. Many of you listened with patience, wrestled with the words, shared your questions, and endured the discomfort that the Gospel often brings when it is allowed to speak plainly. Thank you for your seriousness of heart. Thank you for your willingness t

The Birth of the Hypostatic Person in Christ “He who loses his life for My sake will find it.” — Gospel of Matthew 16:25 Throughout this retreat we have spoken about something unsettling but unavoidable: the dismantling of the religious self. Not the destruction of faith. Not the loss of devotion. But the collapse of the identity we build around them. A man can be deeply religious and yet still live entirely enclosed within himself. He prays. He fasts. He reads the fathers. Y

Autonomy, the Impossible Gospel, and the Birth of the New Man “Who then can be saved?” Matthew 19:25 We live in an age that is intensely focused on autonomy, independence, personal freedom, self-determination, and self-fulfillment. These ideas are not merely cultural values. For many they have become the very center of identity. A person must define himself, protect himself, construct himself, and fulfill himself. Slowly the heart becomes enclosed within its own project. Yet

Why the loss of spiritual fatherhood leaves the soul without form “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.” — Ephesians 3:14–15 ⸻ One of the great tragedies of our age is not merely moral confusion or doctrinal disagreement. It is the disappearance of fatherhood. Not simply biological fatherhood, but the deeper and more demanding reality of spiritual fatherhood — the relationship through which a human bein

On the Delusion of Belonging to God While Still Belonging to Oneself “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46 There comes a point in the spiritual life when the man can no longer recognize himself. Until this point, he has struggled with visible things. With sins. With distractions. With passions that moved through his body and mind. He struggled to restrain them. He struggled to purify himself. He struggled to become faithful. This struggle had structure. It

The Dismantling of the Religious Self Four Lenten Reflections on Delusion, Abandonment, and the Life That Remains in God “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 Second Reflection The Violence We Call Righteousness On the Ego That Survives Inside Virtue “They being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousn

The Dismantling of the Religious Self Four Lenten Reflections on Delusion, Abandonment, and the Life That Remains in God “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 The fathers speak very little about religious success. They speak constantly about religious delusion. Not because religion is false, but because the ego can survive inside it indefinitely. It can pray. It can fast. It can obey. It can