The holy fathers, and particularly the ones who wrote against Manichaeism, tell us that the soul is a part of man, but not "the man," and the body is a part of a man, but not "the man." As St Photios the Great says, "Man is most truly defines as a union of soul and body, united into one form of the beautiful."

Excellent talk on the wholeness of hesychasm, and the importance of a holistic approach to prayer as well as spiritual psychology.

I am aware of the Sufi concept. There was some intercourse between Sufism as it took formal shape, and Orthodox Monasticism. Sufism was an attempt to return to the spiritual from the scholasticism and Aristotelian rationalism with a bit of Platonism that had entered Islam and took a dominate role in the era of the "falsafah" or "faylasufs."

Really deep Father! Thank you for doing this video!

Yes! "wholeness" I had once heard..."the longest journey one can take is connecting their heart to their head". Thankh you again.

Thank you, Vladyka.

Oh Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner.

When one experiences compassion, it resembles what loving parents feel about their own children, at least in one sense of the analogy. First, compassion resembles sympathy. When the children hurt, the parents hurt with them. When children are pleased, the parents share in that, too. Second, compassion extends the limitations of sympathy by seeing hurts and joys of children in a bigger picture of what would be good for them. In that way, compassion does not rob another of learning from mistakes.

Speaking only from my limited personal experience after having lived alongside fellow Latin-rite Catholic priests in rectories, and having witnessed many of them adopting a "don't ask, don't tell" duplicity about their vow of celibacy, I have seen the grave spiritual and psychological harm done to men who are called to ordained ministry but not given the charism of celibacy by the Holy Spirit.

Brilliant.

Also, there is a difference between moral grief and moral outrage. Moral outrage is usually a form of confession, because we hate most in others what we fear most in ourselves. If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, then moralism is the last refuge of the pervert. Morality and moralism are not the same thing. The Paedophilia in the RC is a creation of the system, and often the priests who fall into this are themselves victims of the institution.

Oh I agree. I think it is very appropriate that we all be part of the moral dialogue of our society. That is how we grow and it grows. I just mistrust people who claim to have all the answers because of a document they interpret for the rest of us or some personal revelation, I generally find your discourse moderate and thoughtful which is why I check up on what you have to say, even though I operate with a different set of working assumptions than you do.

This is especially true of those who develop "multiple personalities." So far as we know, "mutiple personalities" is caused only by severe childhood abuse. It does consist it "taking refuge" in a manner that seems to the person to be "hiding" outside the body.

TO: -->Larryinct I like your train of thought about compassion. If I may keep the focus on rearing children and to teach children compassion, parents must determine whether a child's safety requires direct intervention to cut off a threat or curb a threat. In other words, parents teach compassion by deciding when to intervene and how to do it without robbing a child of participation in the intervention, depending on age of the child and other factors. [I will add another comment, labeled # 2].

There is a chapter on this in my book THE SOUL, THE BODY AND DEATH which takes the teaching directly from the holy fathers. A great problem in the early Church was the influx of non-Christian influences following the 3rd century. Several fathers wrote against the teaching of a dualism between soul and body. The idea of a "subtle body" seems to be a confusion with the reality that we are created being and so material in our nature. But then, energy is also created and thus "material."

According to the stories, whether true or not, St John the Russia also was granted by God to translocate. However, this was both body and soul together.

@EndureTemptation Intrinsically, one cannot separate the value from the content. Any separation is artificial. Silver quarters in Canada became worth more than their face value when the price of silver went up, and the coins had to be taken out of circulation because their value become lower than their content. The were still valued at .25 although their content was worth $1.

I happily received the philokalia volumes 1-4 this Christmas. any recommended texts to start with? also are you perhaps privy to the release date of the fifth volume?

@raymondharvey1821

5 жыл бұрын

I heard the 5th will be released in 2020..

Yep. MPD, dissociative disorder, OBE's, emotional numbing, body dysmorphic disorder, fugue states and hysterical amnesia are all related to eachother and ways that people psychologically protect themselves in extreme situations. That does not necessarily mean that they are always pathological, but they should not be assumed to be mystical either.

As Dick Feynman points out, "of course, we do not actually know what energy is." Created energy refers to that which came into presence at the birth of the universe. Uncreated "energy" is a property by which God reveals Himself to man. Of course, for our atheist viewers, this has no meaning. For others, it might.

@Febrile1

5 жыл бұрын

I have a family member who works in the largest Nuclear facility in the world (25yr+). He said the engineers can tell you all about electricity, its properties, production and distribution. They freely admit that they CANNOT tell you what electricity *IS* .

Moral grief is a powerful experience of cleaning the house of conscience. Would you let me know, Vladyka, if the following reflects an accurate definition for moral grief? Moral grief combines a disposing attitude of sorrow for wrong(s) committed, and resolve to not do the same wrong(s) again with God's help.

# 2...to:--> Larryinct [regarding compassion] The key ingredient about teaching compassion in an Orthodox home is acknowledging that children are persons, both connected with others to whom God ordains, and separate as well. Parents need to identify ways for children to learn compassion by keeping both dimensions of person in mind. My point is to teach children how to make decisions pleasing to God by helping them see themselves as connected yet separate. Both dimensions convey responsibility.

I think Shakespeare had a wonderful insight into human nature when he said (in hamlet?) "Me thinks the lady protest to loudly" That is, those who condemn the most are often the most guilty. And Lord Acton also found truth when he said "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." All institutions and leaders including religious ones must be judged according to these aphorisms.

@stevenfrasier5718

4 жыл бұрын

Their punishment will be more severe.

I was not aware that there was actually a name for the practice of souls, detachment from the body other that the secular practice of "out of body" experiences, (OBE's). I wanted to add, individuals who have been traumatized and abused have reported leaving their body "spontaneously". in order to detach from the offending experience. Apparently, a survival mechanism. Thankh you

Thank you! Can you expand more on the body not being tempted but rather being called to become sanctified Temple of The Holy Spirit? Thank God the warnings against gnostic beliefs of the body being evil needing out of body experiences. It seems we should heed the warning of the Living Fathers of The Body of Christ & not go into yoga. Can hesychasm be practiced by nonascetics? If yes, how does one find a good spiritual father on this that is not taken over by toll house doctrines?

St Paul the Simple. A great saint indeed. And we must remember that the Copts are the ACTUAL Egyptians. Some of the saints appear to have been teleported body and soul to another place. The same occurs in the life of St John the Russian. I especially like the stories from the Tavenna Min women's monastery.

As an Orthodox Christian I think that the material body is a perfect Holispiritual (Archangelic) creature offered to us by His Grace in order to serve our personality to get experiences and learn and uplift our psycho- noetical awareness so as to be able to express more and more of our hidden divine essence and nature. So, while we should respect and take care of the body, we, the Prodigal Sons, must consider it not as our selves but as a means to return to our God- the Father. We should not consider it as something equal to our soul. The soul must be purified and enlightened and able to "see" the uncreated Thaborite Light.

Taking a slightly alternative view to trauma preceding feelings and ideas of detachment, I suggest that trauma need not cause a disorder in personality. MPD might well come from sustained early childhood trauma. However, trauma such as receiving news of a sudden and unexpected death of a loved one can cause loss of consciousness, reaction formation, persistent inattentiveness likened to being someplace other than in consensual events, and thoughts that seem to come from an autonomous source.

By the way, I regard the late Pope Shenuda to be a saint also.

@allsaintsmonastery Interesting. Nevertheless, value, be it .25 or $1, is associated with just one physical coin. We may think of value and silver as separate things, however it is not very useful if general understanding is ought after. In some instances of our life, professional life in particular, breaking down of things is necessitated in order to work with them. The problem is when this professional insularity becomes general in all aspects of human life.

I have some questions about practicing the Jesus prayer. Can I write them here?

I do not understand how man can have any power to keep his soul in his body. For we have no power to take it out side the body either, so why would we have try to keep it in?

Lorenzo's speech in Act V may well illustrate dualism, as the Bard recited nostrums about dualism acquired by his self-made education as an Anglican Christian in Elizabethan England. On the other hand, the context for this remark pertains to beauty shared with his love, and to the transformation of Nature by supernal Beauty. If the context holds as to mercy in the play, then the remark about the body may well mean that Lorenzo was uninterested in anything sensible that might ignite his passions.

God is in Nunawading

It should be said that Barlaam was not a scholastic in the same sense that Aquinas and Bonaventura were. Barlaams scholasticism was of a specific kind, similar to the later nominalist school.

interesting. I'll have to listen to this several times. Just noticed by his right hand - appears to be a copy of "In God's Name" a book by David Yallop - "An investigation into the murder of Pope John Paul I".

Thanks, can a layman practice Hesychasm?

@soifrane

8 жыл бұрын

+MrOphachew You may read "The way of a pilgrim". Don't bother with "The pilgrim continues his way"

There is an interesting concept I picked up from Sufism. It is that all the world including the body is a gift from God. To reject this world, it pleasures, wonders and splendor is to reject God's gift.but in accepting this gift we must also be also respect its awesome power. Those who allow this gift to master them, lose their connection with their true master God. It seems to me that this philosophy has some resemblance to yours.

Celibacy (when it is actually practised) creates psychological, even psychiatric problems, when it is observed by compulsion. A lot of men and women do enter monasticism because they have neurotic problems with sex. This is not healthy, but they have not been placed in situations of temptation as unmarried parish priests are. It is really inhuman. It stems from Augustine's notion that marriage is a "venial" sin, and Aug. has great authority in the West.

Further to my reply: I have observed over my 70 years that relgion can and is far too often used as a cloak for real wickedness and abuse. The Orthodox Church is certainly not immune to this. We, too, have had our share of Gnostic infiltrations, complete with the notions of "white marriage" and hatred and fear even of marital sexual relations.

@infamoussero Perhaps you are talking to the wrong religion. I doubt if any CEOs would dine with an Orthodox bishop. I believe they are all occupied with Roman Catholic hierarchs, but that is their business, not ours.

I apologize. I assumed your priests were celibate like the RCC. Mea culpa. I would be interested to know how this split in doctrine occurred between you and the RCC. I think sometimes celibacy is used as a coping mechanism for people who hate their own sexuality because it takes some perverse form. If those people are then put in power of vulnerable people like children or even adult parishioners, you have created trouble.

Our Orthodox faith is a treasure for human spirit and for the relation with Jesus. I respect Catholic brothers, but we are the traditional Church for 2000 years. Orthodox pride world wide: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Hellas, Bulgaria, Cypruss etc. God Bless from Romania

Sir im a coptic orhtodox. Unworthy ofcourse , I have a question for you father. In our church, You know the ammoutn of saints we had around the first 5 centuries before introduction of islam...we had saints that were able to travel , Such As SAINT PAUL THE HERMIT! what's this terminology in our orthodox church in english? The ability to travel other palces.

@pilgrimressurection

Жыл бұрын

Bilocation

@pilgrimressurection

Жыл бұрын

Translocation

I supposed one might explore that question. In short, though, Christ could not have been only "half human." He had a fully human body, thus also a fully human soul and will. He was God, so he had also a fully divine will. The will of the human being is expressed in the soul, not the body. Christ was both God and man, uncomingled and complete.

Hamlet: "Madam, how like you this play?" Queen: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Those who speak solemnly and effusively, lose credibility. "Protest" in this sentence refers to excessive affirmation. The sense that we might take from this oft-quoted ironic exchange in Hamlet (III, 2), as far the Church goes, is to speak less and love more with actions. No doubt the Church should speak, I just wonder if the Church should speak about every news item in a secular age.

D

I can walk you through the steps I use, if you're interested. Just shoot me a message and I'll reply. I think you can do that inside youtube.

There are no sinners. Hesychasm can be practiced with any variation because it does not have any rules. I don't use the Jesus prayer because when God called me to hesychasm he gave me another phrase to use. Latin, no less, meaning God help me. That simple. Without the weight of guilt that the traditional church tries to impose on its followers. No BS when it comes to connecting with God.

@digitalsublime

5 жыл бұрын

The mercy of God is necessary because we live in error, hamartia, and only God can forgive us and take the weight of the Heart. So I wouldn't go with the Church criticism to justify your personal preference. Be well

Roman Catholicism did not "magically" pick the number 7 for the Sacraments.

Perhaps you qualify as a moon or a proto-planet.

God called me to Hesychasm, although I did not know what it was at the time. I was 17. It has been a very moving mystical experience. I highly recommend it

O

Or maybe some things work for some people and other things work for others. Except politicking and squabbling, which I daresay doesn't work for anyone. Catholics and Orthodox are forever calling each other "gnostics", which works because there were so many kinds of gnostics, they weren't absolutists, and their influence, like that of the Plotinus, Platonist and formulator of hesychasm, is inestimable

There absolutely is such a thing as out of body experiences. The soul can leave the body for short periods but there still a connection, like an umbilical cord, attached to the body. Once the connection is cut then the body will die. It's never really a matter of all or nothing. Thousands have reported leaving their bodies during surgery and seeing the OR from above. This is a very real experience. There are many other examples. Even the saints don't know everything.

@johnr1485

4 жыл бұрын

Maybe the silver cord mentioned in Ecclesiate?

E-mail me at synaxis at orthodox canada dot org

@joeylerouso The Church is not a rib, but a bride, and fully the bride of Christ. The Orthodox Church does feast together with prostitutes who pose as the bride but are not. The Orthodox Church alone is the Bride and Body of Christ; all others are prostitutes posing as a bride.

There is nothing to study. And, true hesychasm is nondenominational. It doesn't matter what your views are, we are all unique and individuals. Hesychasm is a personal experience of meditation that doesn't involve thought at all so it doesn't matter who you are or where you stand.

This is not true. Hesychasm is not an organized religion. It is a practice of meditation. To claim it is opposed to anything, is an attempt to humanize it and that is not fair to those that practice it.

Actually the physical body is not resurrected. As Paul said that we would be resurrected with incorruptible spiritual bodies. Not the corrupted body. The spiritual body takes on an incorruptible new body.

@allsaintsmonastery

6 жыл бұрын

The Holy Fathers would consider your statement a heresy. Actually, so would Apostle Paul. The graves will open and the bodies will arise to be transfigured. The notion that the physical body will not rise is a Gnostic heresy that has been condemned by the Fathers. Moreover, if one will take the time to read the Holy Fathers, one will find that "out of body experiences" are impossible. Some of them went to lengths to explain that Paul's experience was noetic and took place in his body. You teaching is more like classical Gnosticism and some contemporary Sectarians, but is certainly not Orthodox.

See a doctor. I say that sincerely, because "out of body experiences" are common in bi-polar disorder and scizophrenia. They are never real.

Puhalo is not an Orthodox bishop. His comments represent personal thoughts on different subjects as a well educated western libertine secular man masquerading as an Eastern church clergyman.