PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

When the monastic heart ceases to be an idea and becomes the place where one must live “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” — Abba Moses For years I have spoken of the monastic heart as something universal. I have insisted that the desert does not belong only to monks, that hesychia is not the possession of those behind monastery walls, and that the summons to purity of heart is nothing other than the Gospel addressed to every human being. The monk

Beyond trusting God to having nothing but God “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.” — Jeremiah 17:7 There is a difference between trusting in the Lord and having the Lord as our trust. The difference is almost imperceptible at first. Yet it may contain the whole spiritual life. We often say that we trust God when what we mean is that we trust Him for something. We trust Him to guide us. To protect us. To heal what is wounded. To resolve what is

Wadi Natrun and the memory of a desire that had never disappeared “As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.” — Psalm 42:1 When I went on pilgrimage to the monasteries of Wadi Natrun in 1997, I carried with me, inevitably, a certain romanticism about the desert. How could one not? These were the places whose names had inhabited my imagination through the sayings and lives of the Fathers. Scetis. The desert of Macarius. The land of Abba Arsenius,

When every path disappears into the One we seek “Life to me is Christ.” — Philippians 1:21 There comes a point in the spiritual life when the question is no longer: Where will this road take me? The question becomes simpler. Whom do I seek? There are seasons when God permits us to think about paths, places, vocations, works, communities, beginnings and endings. These things matter. They are the substance through which obedience is lived. But they are not life. Christ is life.

The unconscious may disclose what is hidden in man. The soul reveals that man himself is hidden in God. “The heart is but a small vessel; and yet dragons and lions are there, and there are poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough, uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There likewise is God, there are the angels, there is life and the Kingdom, there is light and the apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace: all things are there.” — St

To share in the life of Christ is to learn to carry the weakness of another toward Him “They opened the roof and lowered him down to the feet of Christ.” — St. Augustine, On Pastors There is a severity in Augustine’s words because there is a severity in love. “You have failed to strengthen the weak.” The accusation is directed toward shepherds, and rightly so. Those entrusted with the care of souls cannot feed upon the flock while remaining indifferent to its wounds. The shep

The Cross, the loss of the false self, and the Kingdom already breaking into the world “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” — Mark 8:35 There comes a moment in the spiritual life when Christ no longer permits us merely to admire Him. He says: Follow Me. And the road upon which He walks is unmistakable. It is the road of relinquishment. “Let him deny himself and take up his cross.” These words can sound severe until we begin to understand what Ch

The soul does not need to understand the whole road. It needs only to seek the Lord faithfully upon the ground given to it. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways - it is the Lord who speaks.” — Isaiah 55:8 There are paths we would never have chosen because we could never have imagined them. We look back over the years and want to make them intelligible. We search for a straight line. We want to know why God permitted this, why one door closed, why anot

God does not promise that we will remain unbroken, but that He will not abandon us in the breaking. “God rebukes but also encourages, he brings fear and he brings consolation, he strikes and he heals. Do not reject him.” — St. Augustine, On Pastors There is a kind of consolation that merely tries to make suffering disappear. It tells us that things will soon improve, that what has been lost will somehow be restored, that uncertainty will eventually give way to clarity. We off

The freedom that comes when the soul no longer asks where it will be safest, but where it can belong wholly to God “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” — Psalm 37:5 There comes a point in the spiritual life when certainty is no longer a criterion. Not because certainty is undesirable, nor because prudence has ceased to matter. Rather, the soul discovers that there are moments when every road disappears into mist. No choice guarantees security. No deci

The mercy of being prepared for temptation “My son, come to the service of God. Stand fast in fear and in righteousness, and prepare your soul for temptation.” — St. Augustine, On Pastors There is a kindness that comforts us by telling us that the storm will pass. There is another kindness that teaches us how to stand when it does not. Saint Augustine speaks with the severity of one who knows the difference. The negligent shepherd, he tells us, does not necessarily abandon th

When everything passes away and only the promise of God remains “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” — Romans 8:21 There comes a time when we begin to understand that the ache we carry is not merely our own. Something is wrong with the world. We feel it in the body as it grows tired. We see it in those we love as strength diminishes. We experience it in friendships interrupted by death, commun

The terrible mercy of being led into exile “You have eyes to see, but see not; you have ears to hear, but hear not.” — Ezekiel 12:2 There is a blindness that comes not because there is no light, but because we have grown accustomed to not looking. There is a deafness that comes not because God has ceased speaking, but because we have learned how to hear everything except the word that would require us to change. This is the terrible warning in Ezekiel. The people have eyes. T

Fidelity in the Place of Uncertainty “I have already forgiven all, and pray for those who sinned against me.” — St. Nektarios of Aegina There are seasons when God seems to take away the ground beneath our feet. The familiar place disappears. What once gave shape to our life no longer seems able to hold it. The future remains hidden, and every attempt to secure it only increases the unrest of the heart. St. Nektarios knew such a place. He knew what it was to lose position, rep