Orthodox Book Club

First, my apologies for being a couple days late in posting......

This chapter discusses the writings of one of my favorite saints, St. John of Krondstadt. His words resonate with me, because of course, he was a priest and also because he is a contemporary having lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I also relate to him as one can see in his life an understanding of what today's hurried christian is going through.

St. John was a very busy man... busy with doing the work of the Lord... but busy none-the-less. Therefore, especially in his counsels on prayer, we see one who is completely sympathetic to the struggles of today's Orthodox Christian who is struggling to be in the world and not of the world... finding both the time and inclination to connect with God in Prayer.

I was especially struck by his ability,in the words of the author, to "baptize his activities in a strong life of prayer"

He cautions us never to be too busy for prayer ... if we feel rushed in the mornings for prayer, then we should get up early to allow sufficient time. By doing this, we will be more productive, less rushed and stressed and our day will go much better.

I also was struck by his comment that we need to pray with faith and to feel the truth of our prayer in our hearts... that is not to just say the words but let their meaning sink into our hearts. He encourages us to pray slowly, so that we hear the words echo in our hearts. From personal experience, I know this to be absolutely true... when I am in a rut in prayer, I pray the Lord's prayer slowely, quietly and deeply, and the rhythm of prayer returns.

His warning that we pray in a state of humility is crucial... we must never pray expecting spiritual experiences or great sweetness. If when in a state of humility we do experience the profounds sweetness of prayer, rather than being puffed up, we realize that it is a gift from God and it moves us to even greater sense of humility.

Lastly, I appreciated his teachings regarding the interconnection between private prayers at home and communal/liturgical prayer in Church. Our communal prayer is given great power when we are people of prayer and bring our prayerfulness with us to Church. Even when we pray at home, we pray as part of the Church, and praying for others, leads us to peace and joy. Prayer then is the foundation of everything good in life.

There is much meat in the teachings and writings of St. John of Krondstadt, and when we read him we also get a sense of his pastoral sensitivity and concern and understanding for our struggles in our hurried and stressful age. His life is an inspiration to us, a living example of the power of prayer that is humble, heartfelt, and filled with faith and love.
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Discussion Starter:

Your comments on any aspect of St. John's counsels on prayer are welcome. Is there something in his teachings that struck a chord with you? Please share.

Good points Will! I think we have to be careful in speaking about the feelings one experiences when encountering the Holy Spirit- it is probably better to speak of being present to the movement of the Holy Spirit. To quote a Protestant neighbor of mine who I am slowly introducing to Orthodoxy through this same book, In the Protestant tradition, the experience of the Holy Spirit is characterized by a feeling of spiritual frenzy and such things as Holy Laughter, and being slayed by the Spirit. How refreshing it is that the Orthodox Church teaches to be still in the presence of the Holy Spirit and experience the still- small inner voice and intense peace.

Perhaps what struck me at a certain point was on pg 44; the quote by St. Theophan, "By the law of reciprocal action, those who enter energetically..."

I like reminders that God is consistent as law, not an arbitrary super-being. He is unchanging, unceasingly in love with us at all times and to be anything else would be against the very definition of Himself, which is as unwavering as law.

I also liked how in the summary the author mentioned how much emphasis St. Theophan places on the feelings one gets as a gift of the Holy Spirit...in my mind, something that is usually more commonly pinned with Protestant Christian experience.

There is enough to speak about this week on a single chapter, Chapter 3 which recounts some of the teachings and spiritual counsels of St. Theophan the Recluse.

Again it is helpful when studying the teachings of the fathers and mothers of the Church, to have knowledge about the specifics of their life situation. In reading about St. Theophan's life we discover his fidelity to the patristic writings of the Fathers of the Church and his successful struggle to put them into practice.

Thus in writing about communion with God, St. Theophan speaks from experience having a rich prayer life and the fruits that come from acquiring the Holy Spirit.

We see many similarities between St. Theophan and Sts. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Silouan the Athonite. He regards prayer as being the doorway to communion with God, and is quick to point out it is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

He urges us to be faithful and zealous in living the teachings of the Church, but cautions us not to merely go through the motions. As Orthodox, we sometimes can fall into the dangers of being overly concerned with being "Orthodox" of having the most correct icons, most complete liturgy, etc, and yet not be prayerful, not be filled with love.

St. Theophan speaks of stages of achieving communion and progressing in the spiritual life. He also speaks of roadblocks placed by Satan, remind us the quest for communion with God requires that we be prepared to go to battle.

I appreciated that he reminds us that the first step is zeal - a desire to grow in Grace and Holiness and enter into communion with God.

This has to be our primary goal in life, our chief focus. He acknowledges the distractions and struggles we face in life and tells us we need to struggle to keep God foremost in our hearts, and minds. He gives us practical suggestions, praying short prayers, frequently during the day, and very importantly consecrating every act we do during the day to God.

There is so much meat in this chapter, for us to chew on, to pray about and implement in our daily lives. Now I would like to give you a chance to comment on what struck a chord with you in this week's reading.

Your comments, questions and thoughts please!!!

I believe non-monastics acquire the Holy Spirit by frequenting confession and Holy Communion, offering morning and evening prayers, reading spiritual works, attending services, and living the Christian life by providing for the needy and serving family and neighbors in charity.