PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

Great Lent as the Death of the False Self and the Birth of the Heart “The way of God is a daily cross. No one has ascended to heaven by ease or comfort.” — St Isaac the Syrian ⸻ Great Lent is not a season. It is an assault on everything false in us. The Church does not invite us into Lent as the world invites us into self-improvement. She drags us into the desert. She removes the coverings. She strips away the lies we tell ourselves about who we are and how holy we think we a

A Homily on Luke 18:10–14 as the Preparation for Great Lent Begins “Better is one sigh from the depths than a thousand words from the heights.” Beloved in Christ, As we stand at the threshold of Great Lent, the Church gives us a parable that seems simple but is in fact terrifying. Two men go up to the temple to pray. Both speak to God. Both are religious. Both are standing before the Holy. Yet only one leaves justified. Why? Because one stands before God with something in his

On the Cost of Belonging to God “Who are we to say that we belong to God, unless we first prove to Him that our burning desire is to be His?” — St. Sophrony of Essex There is a place in the spiritual life that almost no one wants to reach, yet without which no one truly belongs to God. Archimandrite Zacharias calls it the zero of humility . It is not a metaphor. It is an interior death. It is the point where all our claims, images, strategies, and self-justifications are stri

Why the Evergetinos unsettles us before it heals us “The Lord is revealed in humility. He does not justify Himself, but entrusts Himself to the Father.” — St. Isaac the Syrian One of the most revealing moments in the Evergetinos comes in a story that, at first glance, feels unfinished. A brother steals some items and secretly hides them in the cell of a holy elder. The objects are discovered. The elder is accused. He makes a prostration and says, “Forgive me.” Later, the thie

On the Cross of the Will and the Birth of True Freedom Obedience is not moral submission. It is crucifixion. But it is a crucifixion entered with Christ, not endured alone. The Fathers never spoke of obedience as mere discipline or good behavior. They spoke of it as a descent into death. To obey is to allow one’s will to be laid upon the wood of the Cross and to remain there long enough for God to act. When our frantic striving grows still, the mercy of God begins to move. Ar

Charism, fracture, and the call to repentance in wounded spiritual communities “Where there is no repentance, there is no life.” — St Sophrony of Essex ⸻ Forgiveness Sunday As the Church approaches Great Lent, she places on our lips the words Forgive me . This is not a polite exchange. It is a spiritual crossing. We cannot step into the fast while carrying our enemies with us. We cannot ask God for healing while refusing it to one another. Forgiveness Sunday does not erase wo

The most dangerous thing happening in Western Christianity is not heresy or secularism. It is the quiet loss of the sense that Christianity is an ascetical way of being human. We have forgotten that the Gospel is not first of all something we believe but something that kills us and makes us new. When the ascetical life disappears the ego survives. And when the ego survives it uses religion to protect itself. Faith becomes moralism. Doctrine becomes ideology. The Church become

When repentance reaches the places I still protect “You love truth in the heart.” ⸻ Have mercy on me, O God. Not because I have fallen spectacularly. Not because I have scandalized anyone. But because I have learned how to survive intact. My sin is always before me. Not in the obvious places. Not in the things others would condemn. But in the quiet strategies I use to stay oriented. The way I lean on identity when trust feels too thin. The way I protect meaning when surrender

Standing before God with St. Ephrem ⸻ O Lord and Master of my life, I stand before You divided. My body is here but my heart runs in many directions. I call You Master yet I cling to my own rule. Take from me the spirit that resists You. The heaviness that makes prayer feel like death. The quiet despair that says nothing will change. The hunger to matter. The need to be heard. The words I use to stay hidden from You. Strip these from me. Even if it leaves me poor. Even if I d