I love how this Mother taught us that the goal is to come into the Presence of God. There is something awe inspiring in the sense of the presence of God. I relish this sense of the presence of God, although I cannot turn it on or turn it off like a faucet at will. God gives us the sense of His presence as He see fit.
I had a saintly grandmother like that. She helped raise us until my age of 9. Every morning my grandmother prayed the prayer book for an hour to two hours. We had to be quiet and go softly as grandmother would say to us in Italian (She from Italy and spoke broken and English and mostly Italian (We were learning to speak Italian as children.). Mother spoke fluent Italian. Now grandmother was a devote Roman Catholic who was to become a nun but something happened to cause that not to happen. This was back in the 1950 when I was growing up and the mass was still in Latin and we were under Vatican I. I have much of the Orthodox books and prayer book and albums of the Greek Orthodox chants as well as the Russian Orthodox albums of chants in ancient Slavonic. I love the Orthodox way. I left the Catholic church as a teenager when it changed to the Vatican II and even than it was becoming to liberal theologically and the sense of holiness during the church service no longer seemed to have the same sense of awe and holiness. I still pray and seek God as I read His holy scriptures.
That's amazing, that when she got to the part about George, my mind became gradually more concentrated, my heart felt broken, tears started running down my face on their own, and I felt filled with love of God, Mother Victoria, all the people in the church, the people writing in the comments, really all God's creation, one in His Glorious Light and Love which I found. I sincerely wish His blessing on everyone, through the prayers of the Mother of God. When I first started listening to this lecture, I felt that even though I am no longer a beginner, how could I even take the beginning steps at the moment to have any warmth of heart at all? How could I go back to the time when I was first baptized so many years ago, and first read the story of George, and other writing from St. Symeon, felt the presence of God so strongly? Through this wonderful lecture set up by this grace-filled church, God had mercy on me. And I really needed it, because my little almost 9 year old has been so fearful and troubled by thoughts lately. If someone here reads this who knows Mother Victoria, can they please ask her to pray for a little Orthodox girl who shares her same name? I will have her watch this, as I think it will help her.
@@ratatat12356 think you are taking that out of context..they are not having church there but it is a lecture.. there is a difference between what is allowed during a church service and a time set apart from services.where a professor or other can share.. in St. Paul's time services were segregated and they were conducted after the manner of Jewish worship and the synagogue was run by men only. but even in the Jewish life women were allowed to share their knowledge in a constructive manner. and as long as the elders who are men agree then it is allowed..hope this helps
The quality of the follow up questions demonstrate how far the church has to go. Apparently the monastics are not getting out enough to speak to the churches. May God bless the Abbess for trying to bring something of real value to the lay members.
I'm a new convert, and I agree wholeheartedly! 🙏 I am seeing in my own life, we have time for everything else!!! But we have little time for The Lord and the things of God. Lord help us and have mercy on us.
A monastics first and foremost duty is prayer for the whole world, not evangelism. They are the special forces of the orthodox, not because of their words but for their prayers. Of course there are some called to go forth and preach. But we must not forget that it is Christ who softens and changes hearts and He can use anyone to bring others to Him.
What a saintly spiritual mother. Some of the questions revealed that there were those that had little understanding of the great spiritual nuggets in Mother Victoria's talk.
I'm here in Santa Barbara- I'm an Eastern Catholic, going to Catholic church (as there is not eastern catholic church around here) looking and hearing from Orthodox community. Thanks for video
Mother I'm the one ethiopian orthodox, what I want say when I pry my daily prayer time, my mind goes every where it's super difficult for my thought bathering me a lot, please pray for me my name is fekrtemariyame?????
Ask the Lord to give you the gift of prayer of the heart. Ask your favourite Saints to pray for you and to help you pray. Start small, but be persistent. If you can manage 10 times Jesus prayer only, start with that. Build it up gradually. If you proceed too fast, you will probably suddenly find your prayer collapsing. Just start again. Read a little before you pray: For instance a Psalm, a passage from a prophetic book, from an Epistle, from a Gospel, the daily readings of the lives of the Saints (synaxarium), a little from the 'Paradise of the Monks'', from Saint Isaac the Syrian. Tell your Father-in-confession all things that bother you, disturb you, upset you - both in life and during prayer time. Our Lord will lead you. You brother in Christ, Coptic Orthodox
Why would someone hit the dislike button, are they jealous of the faith in her words, or they are confused atheists they are looking for God, other wise they won't be watching this.
I have a question for Mother Victoria, if I may: Do the Fathers warn us against fantasies during prayer, or is that meant for our daily lives? As a fiction novelist, I would not want to damage people’s souls. Much love from an Orthodox youth in California.
During prayer we should definitely not have any fantasy. Fantasy is yet another idiom of the fallen nature we inherited from Adam and Eve. Before their fall Adam and Eve had no fantasy at all. Similarily neither the 'New Adam' Jesus Christ had fantasy. However for all of us fantasy seem so natural so that we can't think of ourselves without it. Therefore since we have it we should use it in our daily life in a way that, at least, we are not harmed. You see, demons - as the Fathers of the Church explain - are able to use our own fantasy against us quite often when they see that we do not "guard" it properly.
What are these distractions of which you speak, for maybe all these distractions lead back to the inner lunar blue light within? The One that understands the true meaning of the Solar Light within.
St Gregory the Sinaite said, "Never accept any physical or spiritual appearances, either outside or inside yourself, even if it might be an image of Christ, or an angel, or some Saint, or if light should appear, or imprint itself in the mind...Be attentive, that you may not come to believe something, even if it is something good, and be not captivated by it before consulting those who are experienced and are able to analyze the matter, so that you do not suffer harm...God is not displeased with the person who is attentive to himself, even if he, out of fear of deception, does not accept even that which is from Him, without consulting and testing..." 2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. St Gabriel of Georgia, 1929-1995 During the Antichrist times, the strongest temptation will be anticipation of salvation from the cosmos, from humanoids, extraterrestrials that are actually the demons. One should rarely look up at the sky, as the signs might be deceptive and thus one may be ruined.
Distractions by nature lead away from, not towards. “The light within” or any variation on that, particularly focusing on things like lunar or solar are new age twists (and misunderstandings) of the true nature of reality and of God. God is much more than a light within, and to focus on the idea fragment of a lunar or solar light within, again, is a fragmented misunderstanding of the fuller picture (and, a distraction in and of themselves).
No unity christ is the head of the Body,no pope's or archbishop's or cardinals or metropolitan. The holy Spirit utters what we can't say in our heart's.forget about church fathers, Jesus taught one pray " our father prayer.
This poor woman. These people aren't even asking her about what she talked about for an hour straight and researched sincerely. Most of the Q&A session was devoted to people seeking remedies for their life struggles and not even considering the thoughts she put forth on the ideas of prayer and its object and practice. How uncomfortable to watch after such a wonderful and profitable talk she gave.
She does not feel poor. These teachers come open to receive the questions from people from where ever they are at...her love and compassion and faith is wide and embracing for all.
The holy fathers are against anything that encourages fantastic imagination, like harry potter and lord of the rings novels and movies, especially when they have to do with satanic concepts, like magic, demons, shapeshifting etc etc. Creative imagination is another story. Also should have been mentioned that a prayer, is a conversation with God, when you talk to a person you don't need ''techniques'' you just talk from your heart, when you talk to your wife or you children you don't need to breathe rythmically or take special positions, just talk. And Last but not least, it should have been mentioned that the ''warm heart feeling'' is not always from God, when it happens to experience such events, be it with feelings visions or whatever, be extremely cautious. Keep your prayers steady and slow like you are keep talking to a person and never feel proud of it like ''oh, I had a spiritual revelation'', keep silent and pray to God, if it was from Him, He will lght up your mind and show you what to do gently and it will always aid your prayer.
The orthodox church was built by the apostles themselves. It is called the "correct thinking" when u translate it to English. Jesus prayed from a book... he used the prayers of David from long ago. The apostles had and used prayers in their worship, which is the prayers these people pray aswell. Of course there are add on's. There are regular conversations with God if u would like, but then there are prayers that are said and repeated daily as a way to empower the reader the same way u are empowered when u read the writings of the bible. If u believe the writings of the new testament but don't believe in the ones of the prayers book. Then that's just neat picking. U be live the apostles in one book but not in the other ?? I am not an orthodox Christian but some people want to do more to serve God. They want to make god the center of their lives and maybe they need more of a ritual to push then closer and stay in track. That should be applauded not judged. And of course I just think it's hard to question the men and women that built the church in the first place, I think they knew a little more than the non denominational belief of just popping up and saying u believe and some how that means u are okay and ignore that Jesus does ask if us to live specific lives. The Christian people of today blend in way to much with the world around them, and God Calls us to separate our selves.
Are you a saint? A monk? A priest? I rather trust Mother Victoria on this one more than an internet commentator. Seems she might have a bit more personal insight into this matter. We, in our ignorance, often shoot ourselves in the foot by interpreting the fathers [and the scriptures] in uninspired ways. Maybe you should have been afforded the opportunity to talk rather than the mother? It seems like you take issue with much of what she says. I hope your non "technique" Technique of speaking slowly in prayer works for you. That, and avoiding all forms of 'fantastic imagination', such as works of mythology and literature. I am sure you are a joy to be around.
@@thoughtbubble7546 The more proper word should have been ''way'', not ''technique''. There is no thing such a ''technique'' in orthodoxy. Fantasy is a weapon of the devil indeed, because it takes the mind away from focusing to what really matters, which is prayer itself. When you imagine all day, don't expect to be focussed on a single moment of night prayer. And even if you you manage to do it momentarily it will not last. I speak from experience since I a heavily fantasy driven person and I still fight with that. Also that works of mythology are based in an ancient idol worshipping world, not all are bad but many related to old pagan religions can be. So the most healthy approach is to be careful what to read and focus only to what benefits you in the God's ways. Like saint Basil said: ''be like the bee''. But deffinately Harry Potter is not one of the good ways of fantasy. Deep down is full of satanism and mysticism, not to mention that the earnings from the books went to satanic organizations. Also check the opion of the Athonite fathers on such matters. They are against all that kind of ''fantasy'' be it harry potter or Lord of the Rings. Hey I don't say that I don't fall to the fantasy scope from time to time, its just that from personal experience that the more you dive into fantasy the further you lose focus on prayer. So I am working on it and I see a huge difference. As for the slow prayer, the thing is to understand what you read and be focussed, for some people slow reading helps for others it doesn't, my perspective is to read a prayer the same way you talk to a familiar person, even using the same tone you would use if God or HyperHoly Godbearer herself was in front of you. So Saying in front of the Icon ''Hail you oh Bride Brideless, with the same feelings and with a realistic greeting tone knowing that she is there hearing you, because she actually does hear you. thats the best for me. Also something wonderful that Father Serafeim Dimoppulos used to say: If you don't learn say goodnight to the mother of God every night, you haven't learned to pray yet. So looking at he holy icons after the night prayer, or the after supper prayer and right before you sleep say Goodnight to them namely is a great way to learn about the ''by heart prayer''. Thats what I have learned from the holy fathers, both from books and from real life expereince.
@@Razamaniac Sounds like you missed the point of my comment. I didn't mean to start a discussion. I don't make it a practice of seeing online commentators who directly contradict monastics with their own narrow interpretations of the fathers and their idiosyncratic views on the spiritual life as authorities. I said "technique" because you are clearly advocating a "technique" you learned somewhere along the way [even if you call it a "way"]. Bottom line, her word is more trustworthy than yours, no matter the footnotes you cherrypick from the fathers. *Edit: I am glad that you feel you are making progress in the spiritual life. I don't plan on barring my children from reading fantasy novels. Especially ones that are Christocentric in nature [If you had read Harry Potter attentively, you would know this. Same with LOTR]. If my children decide to choose monasticism as their path, I will be delighted. I am sure that life will require them to move beyond fantasy novels and efficacious mythologies toward a more profound encounter with God's presence. Until that time, I will read them such books without fear. If that is "Demonic", then lord have mercy on me, and Mother Victoria, and Father Stephen Damick, and on the thousands of Orthodox Priests that have found great inspiration in said works of fiction. Peace.
13:28 to ignore your thoughts? are you crazy. do you know what your thoughts even are, for you to even ignore? Your thoughts are a gift, what's wrong with you people?
This has to be understood properly. Thoughts have their place, nobody questions that. Our rational faculty is given to us by God. But thoughts also have their limits. There are things that thoughts cannot deal with. On their level, scientists come a cropper dealing with the question of God's existence. By their own definition science deals with REPEATABLE phenomena. Therefore, science does NOT deal with one-offs, like Jesus' Resurrection, the appearance of a ghost, miracles. Science also cannot deal with emotions - though it can study their effects and what cause them. I am sure you will agree with this. There is nothing wrong with thinking per se, but it has its place and its limits. In discursive prayer we use our thoughts, that is fine. In contemplative prayer thoughts have little or no place - they get in the way. However, most of our ideas are not our thinking but inculcated by society, school, peers. A further thing, that most people are not at all aware of, is that many of our thoughts have been put into us by demons, but we think they are ours.
Wow I am so surprised, forgive me for sharing my knowledge if I offend anyone in the process. Respectfully, Mother Victoria needs to be careful when suggesting that something seems harmless. Fantasy for children is not harmless, it is in fact introduced as harmless and unfolds more harm onto a young child as they grow older and more intrigued. I can highlight how important it is to re-direct a child that is interested in fantasy, artwork and reading especially Harry Potter. Anything that involves witchcraft and magic is planting seeds within a child igniting their interest into it which can lead to deep roots of addiction into this field of magic and fantasy. Indeed, it can do a lot more harm spiritually. I would suggest introducing safe arts like, iconography, drawing still life, writing poetry (suitably possibly like a personal message to God or Guardian Angel), acting and script writing could be based on historical events and focus on sharing the lives of the Saints and or miracles. I have studied art, fashion, shoe making and now early childhood education. We need to promote more traditional art and craft into our children's lives and really turn away from the fantasy (unicorns, fairies, witches, warlocks) realm making art spiritual as Orthodox Christians (Angels, saints, prayers, religious songs, iconography, embroidery, tapestry, sewing).
@@younggrasshopper3531 what ? are you talking to me ? i think you have the wrong person.. all i asked was if the fantasy you was speaking about is the same as what the Bible calls strong delusion....i am trying to get an answer on that.. why do you say my heart is hardened ?
why are you judging my heart ? did you get a special revelation ? i am a brand new Orthodox .. my wife and i were baptized on Palm Sunday in 2019...and i have questions of course . this one question about strong delusion. is it the same as Mother Victoria refers to fantasy in prayer ? that's all...
@@phillipbingham487 Ohh I misread your question as a statement “this fantasy you speak of is strong delusion.” I apologize for my error. I didn’t get to that part yet either so I thought you were calling the faith a fantasy. Congrats on your recent joining of Gods Covenant and the Church family 🤗 Merry Christmas!
@@younggrasshopper3531 i thought i asked a wrong question :) your reply sort of took me by surprise LOL..i am queenesther3794@gmail.com please drop me a line :)
I love how this Mother taught us that the goal is to come into the Presence of God. There is something awe inspiring in the sense of the presence of God. I relish this sense of the presence of God, although I cannot turn it on or turn it off like a faucet at will. God gives us the sense of His presence as He see fit.
The story at the end about the boy and his grandmother praying brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful.
I had a saintly grandmother like that. She helped raise us until my age of 9. Every morning my grandmother prayed the prayer book for an hour to two hours. We had to be quiet and go softly as grandmother would say to us in Italian (She from Italy and spoke broken and English and mostly Italian (We were learning to speak Italian as children.). Mother spoke fluent Italian. Now grandmother was a devote Roman Catholic who was to become a nun but something happened to cause that not to happen. This was back in the 1950 when I was growing up and the mass was still in Latin and we were under Vatican I. I have much of the Orthodox books and prayer book and albums of the Greek Orthodox chants as well as the Russian Orthodox albums of chants in ancient Slavonic. I love the Orthodox way. I left the Catholic church as a teenager when it changed to the Vatican II and even than it was becoming to liberal theologically and the sense of holiness during the church service no longer seemed to have the same sense of awe and holiness. I still pray and seek God as I read His holy scriptures.
Beautiful, beautiful, we Orthodox Christians need more on these talks of our humble Nuns and Monks.
That's amazing, that when she got to the part about George, my mind became gradually more concentrated, my heart felt broken, tears started running down my face on their own, and I felt filled with love of God, Mother Victoria, all the people in the church, the people writing in the comments, really all God's creation, one in His Glorious Light and Love which I found. I sincerely wish His blessing on everyone, through the prayers of the Mother of God. When I first started listening to this lecture, I felt that even though I am no longer a beginner, how could I even take the beginning steps at the moment to have any warmth of heart at all? How could I go back to the time when I was first baptized so many years ago, and first read the story of George, and other writing from St. Symeon, felt the presence of God so strongly? Through this wonderful lecture set up by this grace-filled church, God had mercy on me. And I really needed it, because my little almost 9 year old has been so fearful and troubled by thoughts lately. If someone here reads this who knows Mother Victoria, can they please ask her to pray for a little Orthodox girl who shares her same name? I will have her watch this, as I think it will help her.
God bless you, Mother. Beautiful.
God bless You Mother!
R.I.P. Kevin Allen. May Your Memory be Eternal.
She is special. Would love to hear her Lenten retreat talk
Women aren't suppose to teach in church. This is blatantly against the bible and the teachings of st. Paul
@@ratatat12356 think you are taking that out of context..they are not having church there but it is a lecture.. there is a difference between what is allowed during a church service and a time set apart from services.where a professor or other can share.. in St. Paul's time services were segregated and they were conducted after the manner of Jewish worship and the synagogue was run by men only. but even in the Jewish life women were allowed to share their knowledge in a constructive manner. and as long as the elders who are men agree then it is allowed..hope this helps
✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️
They are thrusting children, son satanico
I wish I could attend her church every day. :)
Beautiful talk, thankyou.
The quality of the follow up questions demonstrate how far the church has to go. Apparently the monastics are not getting out enough to speak to the churches.
May God bless the Abbess for trying to bring something of real value to the lay members.
I'm a new convert, and I agree wholeheartedly! 🙏 I am seeing in my own life, we have time for everything else!!! But we have little time for The Lord and the things of God. Lord help us and have mercy on us.
A monastics first and foremost duty is prayer for the whole world, not evangelism. They are the special forces of the orthodox, not because of their words but for their prayers. Of course there are some called to go forth and preach. But we must not forget that it is Christ who softens and changes hearts and He can use anyone to bring others to Him.
What a saintly spiritual mother. Some of the questions revealed that there were those that had little understanding of the great spiritual nuggets in Mother Victoria's talk.
Thank you
I'm here in Santa Barbara- I'm an Eastern Catholic, going to Catholic church (as there is not eastern catholic church around here) looking and hearing from Orthodox community. Thanks for video
Find a Melkite Greek Catholic one
God bless You mother
Thank you for your direction and prayer, Mother Victoria.
God Bless You Mother Abbess Victoria
It would be wonderful if you would include the Titles of the books she discusses. Thank you.
Thank you for replacing the microphone. Thank you Mother - pray for us.
These people are really lovable. :)
Mother I'm the one ethiopian orthodox, what I want say when I pry my daily prayer time, my mind goes every where it's super difficult for my thought bathering me a lot, please pray for me my name is fekrtemariyame?????
May The Lord have mercy on your trials, Fekrtemariyame.
✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️🔱✝️💐
Ask the Lord to give you the gift of prayer of the heart.
Ask your favourite Saints to pray for you and to help you pray.
Start small, but be persistent. If you can manage 10 times Jesus prayer only, start with that. Build it up gradually. If you proceed too fast, you will probably suddenly find your prayer collapsing. Just start again.
Read a little before you pray: For instance a Psalm, a passage from a prophetic book, from an Epistle, from a Gospel, the daily readings of the lives of the Saints (synaxarium), a little from the 'Paradise of the Monks'', from Saint Isaac the Syrian.
Tell your Father-in-confession all things that bother you, disturb you, upset you - both in life and during prayer time.
Our Lord will lead you.
You brother in Christ, Coptic Orthodox
@@sunnyland3952 Thank you brother from your sister in Christ, Ethiopian Orthodox.
@@maylii3452 You're more than welcome. I have often attended an Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Tanastalin!
Why would someone hit the dislike button, are they jealous of the faith in her words, or they are confused atheists they are looking for God, other wise they won't be watching this.
Pray for me. Mother
Such a calm and sweet handmaiden
Prayer book✔😇
The "Prayer book" that's the mixture of Iron and Clay.
early on the she mentioned the name of a prayer book
, does anyone know the name?
I would like to know the name of the prayer book also?
✝️✝️✝️✝️
What is "the prayer book" she speaks of and how do you get one?
Google «Orthodox Prayer Book» and you will find one :)
She didn’t speak about one specific book. There are many and all of them are good, she said.
What's the name of the prayer book and where to get one? Please and thanks
You can search for "Orthodox Prayer Book" or better, go to a nearby church, they should have one for you.
✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️
I have a question for Mother Victoria, if I may:
Do the Fathers warn us against fantasies during prayer, or is that meant for our daily lives? As a fiction novelist, I would not want to damage people’s souls. Much love from an Orthodox youth in California.
During prayer we should definitely not have any fantasy. Fantasy is yet another idiom of the fallen nature we inherited from Adam and Eve. Before their fall Adam and Eve had no fantasy at all. Similarily neither the 'New Adam' Jesus Christ had fantasy. However for all of us fantasy seem so natural so that we can't think of ourselves without it. Therefore since we have it we should use it in our daily life in a way that, at least, we are not harmed. You see, demons - as the Fathers of the Church explain - are able to use our own fantasy against us quite often when they see that we do not "guard" it properly.
What are these distractions of which you speak, for maybe all these distractions lead back to the inner lunar blue light within? The One that understands the true meaning of the Solar Light within.
St Gregory the Sinaite said, "Never accept any physical or spiritual appearances, either outside or inside yourself, even if it might be an image of Christ, or an angel, or some Saint, or if light should appear, or imprint itself in the mind...Be attentive, that you may not come to believe something, even if it is something good, and be not captivated by it before consulting those who are experienced and are able to analyze the matter, so that you do not suffer harm...God is not displeased with the person who is attentive to himself, even if he, out of fear of deception, does not accept even that which is from Him, without consulting and testing..."
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
St Gabriel of Georgia, 1929-1995
During the Antichrist times, the strongest temptation will be anticipation of salvation from the cosmos, from humanoids, extraterrestrials that are actually the demons. One should rarely look up at the sky, as the signs might be deceptive and thus one may be ruined.
Distractions by nature lead away from, not towards. “The light within” or any variation on that, particularly focusing on things like lunar or solar are new age twists (and misunderstandings) of the true nature of reality and of God. God is much more than a light within, and to focus on the idea fragment of a lunar or solar light within, again, is a fragmented misunderstanding of the fuller picture (and, a distraction in and of themselves).
No unity christ is the head of the Body,no pope's or archbishop's or cardinals or metropolitan. The holy Spirit utters what we can't say in our heart's.forget about church fathers, Jesus taught one pray " our father prayer.
This poor woman. These people aren't even asking her about what she talked about for an hour straight and researched sincerely. Most of the Q&A session was devoted to people seeking remedies for their life struggles and not even considering the thoughts she put forth on the ideas of prayer and its object and practice. How uncomfortable to watch after such a wonderful and profitable talk she gave.
She does not feel poor. These teachers come open to receive the questions from people from where ever they are at...her love and compassion and faith is wide and embracing for all.
"The greatest of us come to serve
.. and not to be served."
No wonder there is not much miraculous healing ..people just dont care and they stride for their passions rather than These things
The holy fathers are against anything that encourages fantastic imagination, like harry potter and lord of the rings novels and movies, especially when they have to do with satanic concepts, like magic, demons, shapeshifting etc etc. Creative imagination is another story.
Also should have been mentioned that a prayer, is a conversation with God, when you talk to a person you don't need ''techniques'' you just talk from your heart, when you talk to your wife or you children you don't need to breathe rythmically or take special positions, just talk.
And Last but not least, it should have been mentioned that the ''warm heart feeling'' is not always from God, when it happens to experience such events, be it with feelings visions or whatever, be extremely cautious. Keep your prayers steady and slow like you are keep talking to a person and never feel proud of it like ''oh, I had a spiritual revelation'', keep silent and pray to God, if it was from Him, He will lght up your mind and show you what to do gently and it will always aid your prayer.
The orthodox church was built by the apostles themselves. It is called the "correct thinking" when u translate it to English. Jesus prayed from a book... he used the prayers of David from long ago. The apostles had and used prayers in their worship, which is the prayers these people pray aswell. Of course there are add on's. There are regular conversations with God if u would like, but then there are prayers that are said and repeated daily as a way to empower the reader the same way u are empowered when u read the writings of the bible. If u believe the writings of the new testament but don't believe in the ones of the prayers book. Then that's just neat picking. U be live the apostles in one book but not in the other ?? I am not an orthodox Christian but some people want to do more to serve God. They want to make god the center of their lives and maybe they need more of a ritual to push then closer and stay in track. That should be applauded not judged. And of course I just think it's hard to question the men and women that built the church in the first place, I think they knew a little more than the non denominational belief of just popping up and saying u believe and some how that means u are okay and ignore that Jesus does ask if us to live specific lives. The Christian people of today blend in way to much with the world around them, and God Calls us to separate our selves.
Are you a saint? A monk? A priest? I rather trust Mother Victoria on this one more than an internet commentator. Seems she might have a bit more personal insight into this matter.
We, in our ignorance, often shoot ourselves in the foot by interpreting the fathers [and the scriptures] in uninspired ways.
Maybe you should have been afforded the opportunity to talk rather than the mother? It seems like you take issue with much of what she says.
I hope your non "technique" Technique of speaking slowly in prayer works for you. That, and avoiding all forms of 'fantastic imagination', such as works of mythology and literature.
I am sure you are a joy to be around.
@@thoughtbubble7546 The more proper word should have been ''way'', not ''technique''. There is no thing such a ''technique'' in orthodoxy. Fantasy is a weapon of the devil indeed, because it takes the mind away from focusing to what really matters, which is prayer itself. When you imagine all day, don't expect to be focussed on a single moment of night prayer. And even if you you manage to do it momentarily it will not last. I speak from experience since I a heavily fantasy driven person and I still fight with that. Also that works of mythology are based in an ancient idol worshipping world, not all are bad but many related to old pagan religions can be. So the most healthy approach is to be careful what to read and focus only to what benefits you in the God's ways. Like saint Basil said: ''be like the bee''. But deffinately Harry Potter is not one of the good ways of fantasy. Deep down is full of satanism and mysticism, not to mention that the earnings from the books went to satanic organizations. Also check the opion of the Athonite fathers on such matters. They are against all that kind of ''fantasy'' be it harry potter or Lord of the Rings. Hey I don't say that I don't fall to the fantasy scope from time to time, its just that from personal experience that the more you dive into fantasy the further you lose focus on prayer. So I am working on it and I see a huge difference. As for the slow prayer, the thing is to understand what you read and be focussed, for some people slow reading helps for others it doesn't, my perspective is to read a prayer the same way you talk to a familiar person, even using the same tone you would use if God or HyperHoly Godbearer herself was in front of you. So Saying in front of the Icon ''Hail you oh Bride Brideless, with the same feelings and with a realistic greeting tone knowing that she is there hearing you, because she actually does hear you. thats the best for me. Also something wonderful that Father Serafeim Dimoppulos used to say: If you don't learn say goodnight to the mother of God every night, you haven't learned to pray yet. So looking at he holy icons after the night prayer, or the after supper prayer and right before you sleep say Goodnight to them namely is a great way to learn about the ''by heart prayer''. Thats what I have learned from the holy fathers, both from books and from real life expereince.
@@thoughtbubble7546 also get a permanent spiritual father and ask his advise, that would have been more proper. You are orthodox right ?
@@Razamaniac Sounds like you missed the point of my comment. I didn't mean to start a discussion. I don't make it a practice of seeing online commentators who directly contradict monastics with their own narrow interpretations of the fathers and their idiosyncratic views on the spiritual life as authorities. I said "technique" because you are clearly advocating a "technique" you learned somewhere along the way [even if you call it a "way"].
Bottom line, her word is more trustworthy than yours, no matter the footnotes you cherrypick from the fathers.
*Edit: I am glad that you feel you are making progress in the spiritual life. I don't plan on barring my children from reading fantasy novels. Especially ones that are Christocentric in nature [If you had read Harry Potter attentively, you would know this. Same with LOTR]. If my children decide to choose monasticism as their path, I will be delighted. I am sure that life will require them to move beyond fantasy novels and efficacious mythologies toward a more profound encounter with God's presence. Until that time, I will read them such books without fear. If that is "Demonic", then lord have mercy on me, and Mother Victoria, and Father Stephen Damick, and on the thousands of Orthodox Priests that have found great inspiration in said works of fiction.
Peace.
13:28 to ignore your thoughts? are you crazy. do you know what your thoughts even are, for you to even ignore? Your thoughts are a gift, what's wrong with you people?
This has to be understood properly. Thoughts have their place, nobody questions that. Our rational faculty is given to us by God. But thoughts also have their limits. There are things that thoughts cannot deal with. On their level, scientists come a cropper dealing with the question of God's existence. By their own definition science deals with REPEATABLE phenomena. Therefore, science does NOT deal with one-offs, like Jesus' Resurrection, the appearance of a ghost, miracles. Science also cannot deal with emotions - though it can study their effects and what cause them. I am sure you will agree with this.
There is nothing wrong with thinking per se, but it has its place and its limits. In discursive prayer we use our thoughts, that is fine.
In contemplative prayer thoughts have little or no place - they get in the way.
However, most of our ideas are not our thinking but inculcated by society, school, peers.
A further thing, that most people are not at all aware of, is that many of our thoughts have been put into us by demons, but we think they are ours.
Wow I am so surprised, forgive me for sharing my knowledge if I offend anyone in the process. Respectfully, Mother Victoria needs to be careful when suggesting that something seems harmless. Fantasy for children is not harmless, it is in fact introduced as harmless and unfolds more harm onto a young child as they grow older and more intrigued. I can highlight how important it is to re-direct a child that is interested in fantasy, artwork and reading especially Harry Potter. Anything that involves witchcraft and magic is planting seeds within a child igniting their interest into it which can lead to deep roots of addiction into this field of magic and fantasy. Indeed, it can do a lot more harm spiritually. I would suggest introducing safe arts like, iconography, drawing still life, writing poetry (suitably possibly like a personal message to God or Guardian Angel), acting and script writing could be based on historical events and focus on sharing the lives of the Saints and or miracles. I have studied art, fashion, shoe making and now early childhood education. We need to promote more traditional art and craft into our children's lives and really turn away from the fantasy (unicorns, fairies, witches, warlocks) realm making art spiritual as Orthodox Christians (Angels, saints, prayers, religious songs, iconography, embroidery, tapestry, sewing).
is this fantasy you speak of strong delusion
Your heart is hardened. I’m sorry for whatever hurt you are feeling
@@younggrasshopper3531 what ? are you talking to me ? i think you have the wrong person.. all i asked was if the fantasy you was speaking about is the same as what the Bible calls strong delusion....i am trying to get an answer on that.. why do you say my heart is hardened ?
why are you judging my heart ? did you get a special revelation ? i am a brand new Orthodox .. my wife and i were baptized on Palm Sunday in 2019...and i have questions of course . this one question about strong delusion. is it the same as Mother Victoria refers to fantasy in prayer ? that's all...
@@phillipbingham487 Ohh I misread your question as a statement “this fantasy you speak of is strong delusion.” I apologize for my error. I didn’t get to that part yet either so I thought you were calling the faith a fantasy.
Congrats on your recent joining of Gods Covenant and the Church family 🤗 Merry Christmas!
@@younggrasshopper3531 i thought i asked a wrong question :) your reply sort of took me by surprise LOL..i am queenesther3794@gmail.com please drop me a line :)