St Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church

∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼

No matter how much we may study, it is not possible to come to know God unless we live according to His commandments, for God is not known by science, but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and learned men came to the belief that God exists, but they did not know God. It is one thing to believe that God exists and another to know Him. If someone has come to know God by the Holy Spirit, his soul will burn with love for God day and night, and his soul cannot be bound to any earthly thing.
– St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, VIII.3

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If from one burning lamp someone lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously. In the same way, through the Apostles ordaining their successors, and these successors ordaining others, and so on, the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their shepherds and teachers.
– St. Gregory Palamas, “On how the Holy Spirit was manifested and shared out at Pentecost”

∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼

How mistaken are those people who seek happiness outside of themselves, in foreign lands and journeys, in riches and glory, in great possessions and pleasures, in diversions and vain things, which have a bitter end! It is the same thing to construct the tower of happiness outside of ourselves as it is to build a house in a place that is consistently shaken by earthquakes.

Happiness is found within ourselves, and blessed is the man who has understood this. Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the throne of God. Thus says Christ of those who have pure hearts: “I will visit them, and will walk in them, and I will be a God to them, and they will be my people.” (II Cor. 6:16)

What can be lacking to them? Nothing, nothing at all! For they have the greatest good in their hearts: God Himself!

– St. Nektarios of Aegina, Path to Happiness, 1

∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼

” …the spiritual world cannot be investigated using the same methods as the material world. Those methods are completely unsuitable for investigating the spiritual world… There are phenomena that science will never be able to explain because it does not use the appropriate methods…

Can scientific study tell us how the great prophet Isaiah foretold the most important events in Christ’s life 700 years before His birth? Can it explain the saints’ gift of clairvoyance and tell us through which natural methods they acquired this grace and how they were able, as soon as they saw someone, to understand their heart and read their mind? Without waiting for a question from their visitor, they would give them an answer to what was troubling them. Let them explain to us how the saints foretold great historical events that later took place exactly the way they had prophesied… Continue reading →