The Ladder of Divine Ascent Part 3: Prayer Rops

[peekaboots01]

This is beautiful. The Rosary works the same way.

[bitterice]

Very clear and helpful.

God bless you !

[constantina303]

Thank you so much for your very clear explanation of the prayer rope. Thank you!

[neildingman]

I've been reading Temple Grandin's book "Animals in Translation." She has autism and thinks only in pictures mentally. How would someone with this ability be able to pray the Jesus Prayer mentally?

[allsaintsmonastery]

@neildingman By doing something that normally we would avoid: picturing Jesus Christ with his hand outstretched to her.

[Jenawahrheit]

@lokaksema, remember the lamp of the desert - one must possess humility before the throne. The final palace is perilous without humilty and peace.

[CerberusvonOz]

Thelei na perpatisei & sto nero o ermos.

Ante loipon,ta psaria exoun kai oikogeneies!!!

[drthess]

@CerberusvonOz μεγαλο το διλημμα...μπεγλερι στα σκυλάδικα ή κομποσχοινι?

[CerberusvonOz]

Mpegleri sto xeri & komposkoini sto podi!!!

[giosia03]

I've seen this clip over 20 times."... the prayer rope is sometimes used if they swing enough knots they will walk on water....there is no magic in the church.." He cracks me up! God bless!

[michiganois]

Thanks for the reverence, insights and refreshing humor, Father. +Christ IS Risen!+

[FalujahDan]

Is there any way to join the monastery?

[zOmAlGaNg23]

read the quran man! i think that you admired his sayings only and you liked it with narrowmindedness, read the fatwas of muslims, and you will get sweeter and more better than this.

[SilentPrayingmanTis]

Thank you very very much. This is all knew to me and i have ben debating on what to buy first for the past few months and waht all this stuff is realy for. lol im definetly going to get the 100 instead of the 50 beads and I think my first icon will be the Lader of divin decent to get me started. Again thank you very much this has ben so helpfull. God bless.

[christiangirma]

Surprised, I was not thinking orther people than ethiopian orthodox use this. Orthodoxes is very conservant to the early tradition of the chuch. God bless all orthodoxes.

[lokaksema]

After a life of fasting and struggle, most Holy Fathers referred to themselves as the worst sinners of all. Self-imposed humility? I don't think so. Perhaps it's just their understanding of how little they actually achieved.

So, at the end of the day, you can only hope for forgiveness. So, perhaps, Martin Luther was right. Good deeds and morality not as act of struggle but as act of gratitude. My debts have been erased, so it's my duty to forgive, too.

[allsaintsmonastery]

Apostle Paul stakes out the claim to be the chief of sinners, so perhaps his example is simply being followed. Self-imposed humility may be quite important to some in order to keep from falling into pride. Much of that is rhetorical and part of the individual's struggle. Everything is accomplished by Grace, but there is something missing in your understanding, and that is the struggle with one's own internal suffering. That is beyond your capacity to judge. Not everyone has equal suffering.

[Jenawahrheit]

@lokaksema What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.

[allsaintsmonastery]

Thank you to Iokaksema for the suggestion to talk about spiritual struggle in relation to divine grace. This will entail examining Apostle Paul's use of the word "energy" in his epistle (27 times), and the concept of synergy and as Paul says, "working out our salvation with fear and trembling." We will take up this suggestion shortly and try to discuss it in as full a manner as possible in a series of broadcast, as we only have 8-9 minutes each time.

[allsaintsmonastery]

If one is a Gnostic and makes a radical dualism between soul and body, then their might be some confusion. However, the holy father refuted such dualism. In the Orthodox Church we have a principle called "synergism," in which we work together with the Holy Spirit and divine grace, rather than being puppets of it. The struggle against inner human suffering is an active struggle. To believe that you are "born again" and thereafter have no need to struggle is not an Orthodox Christian idea.

[elbajio88]

Thank you Vladika. Your videos have meant a lot to me, and to my wife. You are a great help.

[IsusHristos3]

Thank You father!

[theoned90]

Thank you very much Vladika.