PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

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

A brother said to an Elder, “Father, I look upon our age and I am troubled. Everywhere there is movement and noise. Everyone wishes to be seen, to speak, to display himself, to announce his thoughts and accomplishments. Men seem unable to endure being alone. Why is this so?” The Elder replied, “Because they are afraid.” “Afraid of what, Father?” “Of meeting themselves. And beyond themselves, of meeting God.” The brother remained silent. The Elder continued, “A man can spend a

When the Cross Is No Longer Outside Us “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block…” 1 Corinthians 1:23 ⸻ The Cross has not ceased to be a scandal. We have only learned how to step around it. We know how to venerate it without being pierced by it. We kiss it, we lift it up, we sing of it. But we do not become it. And so it remains outside us. An object. A symbol. A memory. Not our life. The scandal of the Cross is not that Christ suffered. It is that He reveals what love i

Abiding in the Open Side “Let us concentrate ourselves so completely in the divine love, and enter so far into the living fountain of wisdom, through the wounded Side of our Incarnate God, that we may deny ourselves and our self-love, and so be unable to find our way out of that Wound again.” — St. Philip Neri Philip tells us to enter the Wound and lose the way back out. It is not a metaphor meant to stir passing devotion but a command to relocate the whole of our life. Conce