There are many situations in our struggle for holiness that require us to try harder. Some such situations might include getting out of bed to pray—assuming that you went to bed at a reasonable hour the night before and have slept adequately.  Not getting out of bed to pray just because one doesn’t want to is a classic situation that might call for one to try harder. Another situation that might…
In a recent post on the struggles of Abbess Thaisia I wrote of a young nun’s struggle to find peace in her calling when there seemed to be no love in those around her. The following comment was left on that post, and I would like to respond to it now. Here’s the comment: I am struggling with much of the same issue in your excerpt posted from Thaisia in regards to discouragement…
I am rereading a book that I read on my way to becoming Orthodox almost twenty years ago. The book is Abbess Thaisia: An Autobiography. It is published by St. Herman Brotherhood Press. When the Charismatic Protestant community that I was a part of first discovered Holy Orthodoxy, our only contact with the the Orthodox Church was through the books published by the St. Herman Brotherhood—who at that time published books mainly…
Immediately after the Apostle Peter recognizes Jesus as the Christ (something revealed to him from heaven), Peter rebukes Jesus for saying that He must be rejected and killed, (something inspired in Peter by satan). Even the Apostle Peter, even immediately after a heavenly revelation, could not accept that the way we enter into the Father’s Glory, the way we experience the Resurrection, is through suffering and death. Jesus, however, assures us that…
