2.8.14. + St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary
Friday, 26 December 2014
The Enlargement of the Heart
"Be ye also enlarged in the Theology of Saint Silouan the Athonite and Elder Sophrony of Essex
A disciple of Elder Sophrony (of blessed memory), who was a disciple of St. Silouan the Athonite. Presently, Fr. Zacharias is a monk in the Monastery founded by Elder Sophrony: The Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Tolleshunt Knights by Maldon, Essex, England."
A talk given on February 15th 2014 at the St. John the Compassionate Orthodox Mission in Toronto
Saturday, 13 December 2014
Hieromonk Sophrony of Saint Panteleïmon (1896-1993)
He was born in Moscow in 1896 and his lay name was Sergei Symeonovich Sakharov. As he himself recalls, his first experience of the vision of the uncreated light occurred in his childhood. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Moscow. At one stage, his religious pursuits took him into non-Christian mysticism. His artistic ambitions led him to Italy, Germany and France. He found, however, that art neither fulfilled nor enlightened him.
The spiritual heart
The heart’s the inner person, it’s the centre of our personality. Where we can encounter God, where we can make our free choice concerning Him, that’s the centre of our personality. And we can’t find our heart by our own efforts. We find our heart, because we have to say that the aim of the Christian life is for our intellect to be united with our heart. Because then we’re healed, we’re whole and we can turn to God with our whole being, fulfilling in a Godly manner the commandment where He asks us to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our being.
Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou), of the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex, in an interview with Pemptousia, speaks of finding the heart, and its importance in Orthodox spiritual life.
Article published by www.pemptousia.com
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