Sunday of Saint John of the Ladder – Father Gavril Galev
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Everything that God created, He created it good and for eternal existence. However, as we can see, not everything seems to be good. And why is that so? It is because we have broken God’s commandment of fasting and prayer, that is, we have separated ourselves from the communion with God, which alone causes everything to be good, and which alone brings everything into harmony.
Without (communion with) God is chaos, without God all is sin and death. And that is why all our struggle, after all this tragedy which has befallen us, is to return to our originality (first-being) , to return to the purpose that the Lord created us for and for which the God-Man Jesus Christ was incarnate and showed us the way. This is achieved only through humble repentance, through a virtuous life, through a life of faith, through faith in all that the Lord has said, as well as obedience and practice of all that the Church has commanded us as a rule, including fasting and prayer.
As you can see, no one could cure this boy mainly for two reasons. First, because of their weak and erroneous faith, which means that they all had an erroneous communion with God. This means that their life was not in accordance with God’s commandments and the life of Christ. And secondly, because they did not have constant prayer and fasting.
That is why the Holy Church, and St. John of the Ladder in his book “The Ladder”, (to whom this fourth week of Lent is dedicated, especially in this period of “change of mind” i.e. repentance), teach us to turn to God and strengthen our faith. This is what we essentially need, especially now that we are living in a materialistic, capitalist world, in which the sole purpose of all that is happening (occurring) is in order for the faith to be taken away from us, for the faith to be taken out of our souls, from our hearts and to be replaced with materialistic desire. And, other things are offered to us in the guise of being more valid, and safer option than the faith in Christ together with fasting and prayer.
Fasting is not only abstinence from eating and drinking, but fasting also means abstaining from all kinds of bad deeds, from all kinds of looking with bad (evil) intentions, from all kinds of listening with bad (evil) intentions, from all kinds of bad talking. Yes, even listening to bad things, abstaining from gossip, slander, following and having interest in some evil things happening in the world. We need to remove ourselves from all of that. We need to reflect on ourselves, on our souls and not get into such situations. Where there is gossip, it is the best not to participate. Where there is slander, the same applies. If we can correct something for the better in some occurrence then it is good to do our best in doing so, but if evil prevails, let us flee from that situation. Let us use TV sets and social networks only for good and only for what is useful for our souls. Let us not allow them to occupy and control our lives.
The prayer. The prayer is perhaps the most important thing. All good things are borne of the prayer. Prayer is communion with God, if we do not pray we are not in communion with God, this means we are in communion with someone else, and that other is the demon, he is the one who hates us and who prepares all the troubles for us. That is why all evils occur, that is why our personal problems and downfalls occur, and that is why the general abuses and sufferings in the world occur, because we have abandoned prayer. When people stop praying, then the demon takes up space in them. By praying, especially with Jesus’ prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner,” we glorify Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, as the Messiah, as the Saviour, and then we confess ourselves as sinners and we pray for our forgiveness, and thus we dwell in His grace and it protects us.
prayer is perhaps the most important thing. All good things are borne of the prayer. Prayer is communion with God, if we do not pray we are not in communion with God, this means we are in communion with someone else, and that other is the demon, he is the one who hates us and who prepares all the troubles for us. That is why all evils occur, that is why our personal problems and downfalls occur, and that is why the general abuses and sufferings in the world occur, because we have abandoned prayer. When people stop praying, then the demon takes up space in them. By praying, especially with Jesus’ prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner,” we glorify Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, as the Messiah, as the Saviour, and then we confess ourselves as sinners and we pray for our forgiveness, and thus we dwell in His grace and it protects us.
If we feel these words (prayer) in the heart, then believe me, our life will be transfigured, it will become holy, and everything else will be harmonious, even problems will be as a game, a toy with which we will win and progress from grace to grace.
The prayer. The prayer is perhaps the most important thing. All good things are borne of the prayer. Prayer is communion with God, if we do not pray we are not in communion with God, this means we are in communion with someone else, and that other is the demon, he is the one who hates us and who prepares all the troubles for us. That is why all evils occur, that is why our personal problems and downfalls occur, and that is why the general abuses and sufferings in the world occur, because we have abandoned prayer. When people stop praying, then the demon takes up space in them. By praying, especially with Jesus’ prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner,” we glorify Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, as the Messiah, as the Saviour, and then we confess ourselves as sinners and we pray for our forgiveness, and thus we dwell in His grace and it protects us.
Father Gavril Galev
Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
03/04/2022
