A Real, Ontological, Existential Connection with God
In simple form, this is what Bp. Emilianos received from Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra on simplifying spiritual life by creating a real, existential connection with God.
​
“Two years ago, within three or so months, I came very close to dying three times. It made me realize that by now I should have been dead, and that God’s Mercy has kept me alive only to pass on to everyone around me what I personally received from my Elder [Aimilianos], from my spiritual father.”
​
The essence
​
What we’re trying to teach is how to cultivate a specific kind of prayer, the ‘Jesus Prayer’ (or how it is commonly called ‘the noetic prayer’) that will get you a real, ontological, existential connection with God. If your heart is in pain, you can speak however you wish, but if you speak to God as you would to a friend or a spouse, it won’t lead you to the deep, noetic prayer that connects you with God on a spiritual level. At best, it may help release psychological tension, but it won’t establish a Divine Connection with the True God and it won’t assist you in experiencing Him. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
Our goal is not dispassion, discernment, foresight, or any other specific gift. Our goal is to draw nearer to God and become One with Him. In fact, our goal is not even to do God’s will—our One and Only Goal should be God Himself. When God comes, He brings everything we need along with Him—all of the above—perfectly tailored to benefit us and those around us. And these come not because we sought them, but because we sought Him. If we were to achieve This, we would attain dispassion. It might not be constant—temptations may still come and go—but that’s not what truly matters. What matters is that we know how to activate the Connection. We know how to "flick the switch” for the Light to come, meaning we know where and how to place our nous to Commune with God. That’s what truly counts… Sometimes we think it is impossible to reach the spiritual heights of our Church Fathers and Mothers, but it is not. This is the purpose for which we were created. In fact, if we do not achieve this, we fall short of our calling—we have failed. God did not create us to be nothing nor does He make mistakes. God created us to attain His Image and Likeness, to become gods by Grace. Even those with families and demanding jobs can achieve these spiritual heights. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
The Path: Keep your focus on God (prayer) without thoughts (nepsis, watchfulness)
​
Question: What is the difference between watchfulness and the Jesus Prayer?
Bishop Emilianos: Nepsis [or watchfulness] means denying every thought to present our inner self, vacant and available, to God. However, you cannot leave this space empty—it must be filled with something. We fill it with prayer, specifically the Jesus Prayer in the practice we are discussing. These two work together. They are distinct and yet they work together. We cannot practice nepsis alone and leave the intellect blank. If we do, the devil will quickly occupy it with something “interesting” to deceive us, as he has done since the time of Adam and Eve. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
Of course you have to reject all thoughts and silence your mind to pray, but the focus is prayer. When the focus is prayer and not silence, you can pray even in the midst of a thunderstorm. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
“Once, there was a child who was given advice on how to be a perfect Christian. He was told what he should and shouldn’t do, with examples from history and the Saints. He was incredibly sad though because he could not recall everything he was supposed to do, let alone fulfill it. They told him they would summarize things and this made him happy. He learned the summary by heart and set out to fulfill everything. As the years passed, and despite how hard he tried, he couldn’t succeed in keeping all the rules they gave him. He went to his spiritual father and said: “Father, I can’t fulfill all these things. There are so many [little rules] and I’m so tired, do you have something easier?”
​
His spiritual father told him: “Just be silent; keep your tongue silent, your mind silent and do not allow your attention to wander away from God. Once it wanders and you realize it, bring it back to God. So if you’re in pain, don’t say “I’m in pain’ and think about it, because your attention, your intellect, will move away from God; your attention and your intellect should only focus on God.”
​
“At the beginning, the young man thought he wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. After two years of this practice, he realized a strange thing had happened. By practicing the one thing his spiritual father had told him, by keeping his attention focused on God, he had in fact fulfilled all of the other things he once tried but could not do. He remembered the anxiety he had around the long list of things he was initially prescribed, and now, without consciously trying, he read the list and realized everything was done. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we realize that He does everything and we don’t need to struggle to make things happen.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
Elder Aimilianos goes on to explain: “By practicing watchfulness, we essentially fulfill all the commandments—both those of the Old Testament and those of the New Testament. Sometimes we ask: “What is God’s Will? What does God want from us?” but God is not an enigma. He is not something obscure that we can’t find. In fact, He is very clear, and we should know exactly Who He is.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
“Watchfulness is also called ‘purity of the heart,’ because we throw away everything that’s unnecessary in order to prepare our heart for Christ to dwell within it. Purity of the heart is not just the absence of evil thoughts, words and deeds, but it’s the power and the energy of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ dwells in our hearts and makes it His Throne.” This is something created by the Holy Spirit, it’s not something we achieve. When we practice watchfulness, our hearts grow cleaner, allowing the Holy Spirit to open the way for Christ to make our hearts His throne. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
Question: In a recent talk, you mentioned that the first stage of watchfulness is katharsis–meaning purification or cleansing. Are there stages that follow?
Bishop Emilianos: According to Elder Aimilianos’ explanation of Saint Hesychios, the steps are as follows:
1. We begin practicing nepsis (watchfulness).
2. Over time, it becomes a good habit.
3. With the Grace of God, watchfulness grows to be more frequent and consistent.
4. We reach a stage where we can peacefully observe the inner spiritual war within our intellect.
5. This leads to prayer deepening and developing into a sweet, peaceful state of mind.
6. Finally, we arrive at a Christ-like condition—union with Christ.
While katharsis [or purification] may not be a specific step, it develops naturally throughout this process. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
Keeping on the Path in Daily Life
​
“Nepsis (watchfulness) means denying all thoughts, refusing to converse with them, and setting aside distractions, achievements and activities so that we can focus entirely on prayer." This doesn’t mean neglecting our responsibilities. It means that when we pray, we keep our mind peaceful and clear. At the same time, we must fulfill our daily duties attentively and effectively. Blaming watchfulness for a lack of focus at work or negligence in completing our tasks is nothing short of a lack of discernment.
​
Elder Aimilianos continues: “The Jesus Prayer is the deepest tool we have to accompany and sustain our watchfulness. Our mind cannot remain blank; it needs to focus on something—and that something is the Jesus Prayer. To approach God, we need the combination of watchfulness and the Jesus Prayer.” “Practicing watchfulness is like walking the narrow path. What do we mean by narrow path? It’s to narrow our mind to focus on one thing: the Jesus Prayer. Both must be continuous, not once-off; otherwise we won’t get far.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
Elder Aimilianos uses an example and says: “Some monks in the monastery have their duty to make bread. They start making bread and an earthquake suddenly happens. They get scared, they run outside, there is a lot of talk about the earthquake—some say, ‘we should do a Blessing of the Water Service.’ Others say, ‘we should chant a Supplicatory Canon.’ And after one, two, or three hours, they go back to the bakery but it’s too late for the bread. It’s destroyed and they have to start from the beginning. This is what happens with watchfulness. You can’t give it up for a period of time and then go back to it by continuing from where you left it. Going back means that you have to start from scratch. That’s why once we start, we should stay there. This is how it grows and develops, and this is how we also grow spiritually.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
Saint Sophrony gave this advice to a doctor who questioned how he could pray unceasingly when his work required his full attention. Unceasing prayer is not about constant words but keeping your heart open to God all the time by thinking God is there and watching. (from Orthotherapy)
​
​
It’s not wrong to think—God gave us our brain for a reason. What we need to avoid are the thoughts that distract us during prayer.
However, if you want to maintain watchfulness and keep your mind clear to focus on God beyond the time of prayer, then thinking can become an obstacle. That said, when you’re working, studying, or doing any task, thinking is necessary. Whether you’re solving a problem, doing your job, or learning something new, thinking is essential. We need to think to succeed in our work, support our families and take care of our responsibilities.
​
If you can maintain spiritual awareness while thinking, that’s a different story. But when thinking is needed, like when you’re solving a problem or working, you must allow yourself to think. Thinking is a natural and necessary part of human life—it serves and fulfills us in many ways. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
Elder Aimilianos says: “Sometimes we might have a thought, something like: ‘The Elder is cunning,’ and I respond with: ‘This cannot be the case. This answer to the thought is my thought. Instead of kicking out the thought and rejecting its entry into my heart, I’ve started having a conversation with it.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
This is the beginning of the fall. When I understand that I have fallen into the trap of talking back to my thoughts, it usually leads to wasting time and losing the battle. We will never be more clever than the temper who has millennia of experience. We should simply stop the conversation by ignoring the attack. But like we said before, it’s so tempting to talk back to the thought, and because of that, we struggle to ignore it and move on. The temptation to engage is strong. This is why watchfulness is the secret of our spiritual life. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
It is important to confess recurring thoughts, even if you don’t talk with them. Why? Because their persistence indicates a weakness or an issue that needs addressing, which your spiritual father can help you with. If these thoughts keep returning, there’s a reason, and ignoring them won’t solve the problem. Make your spiritual father aware of them. Sometimes, simply confessing these thoughts can make them disappear. Other times, you might need to make a few changes in your life to prevent them from recurring. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
If we’ve done something wrong, we ask for forgiveness, we forget about the past and we move on. We can’t live drowning in our mistakes; we have to live with God. If we focus on the past and on our mistakes, we can’t focus on God. We can’t focus on two things at the same time. And focusing on what we’re doing wrong is self-centered. We need to focus on God Alone. (from Orthotherapy)
​
​
If we do not leave our past behind and continue to dwell on it—thinking about things that are no longer present and that hold us back—we will never be able to focus on Christ, practice watchfulness, or move forward. Proving this, we have the example of Lot’s wife from the Old Testament. In this story, before God destroyed the city that Lot and his family were in, He told them to leave and not look back. Lot’s wife disobeyed. She looked back as God was destroying the city, and because of her disobedience, she turned into a pillar of salt. We should never look back, not even on our mistakes. We learn and move on. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
We should not fear sinning. What do I mean? We are human–we fall, we acknowledge our fall, we confess it, and we move on. We can confess potential falls, but either way, we move on. No one is perfect, and if we think we’re perfect, we’re deceiving ourselves. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
“Sometimes in confession, we say to our spiritual father: “This person caused me difficulty and did this to me, and I lost my peace.” Our brother may have been wrong, but in focusing on that, we lose the opportunity to prove our patience and to move closer to God. Confession is not about what others have done to us, it’s about our own actions and responses. Regardless of what others do, we must do our best to overcome difficulties and move on.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
So, what’s the solution for our limping society, misguided attractions and character gaps? It is simple: God. God is our spiritual answer to all things non-spiritual, be it psychological (I am not referring to severe clinical cases here), emotional or attractional gaps. The spiritual (not psychological) approach to life is straightforward: focus on God. Focus on God, not on your psychological gaps, acknowledged or not. Focus on God, not your emotional gaps, known or yet to be discovered. Focus on God, not your attractional gaps, whether you are fully responsible for them or not. In essence, it doesn’t really matter whether we know ourselves or not. Even if we discover all our gaps, what truly matters is that we focus on God. Watchfulness, believe it or not, is all that matters in life. Watchfulness will help us cultivate prayer. It will also protect our prayer along the way so we can safely, quickly and permanently connect with God, Who can empower us to face ourselves without any fig leaves, and mend or fill any gaps we might have, whether known or unknown to us. (from Conversations with Christ)
​
​
First we will see God and then we will find the strength to see ourselves. This is how disgusting we are, and we need God’s Grace to be able to accept what we will see in ourselves. And even then, if we don’t have love inside us, we will just deny God’s Will altogether, like Adam and Eve did in Paradise. When they saw that God realized what they did, instead of running back like the prodigal son, they blamed God like the prodigal son’s brother. Neither of them took responsibility because they didn’t want to accept the knowledge of themselves or admit that they disobeyed their Creator. (from The Prodigal Son's Brother)
​
​
We must recognize our spiritual, psychological, and physical limits. If we push ourselves beyond what we can handle, we risk burnout, losing our connection with God, or leading a double life—appearing pious toward our spiritual father while struggling internally. God knows what we can offer and He never asks for what we don’t have. To have an honest and proper Relationship with Him, we must know and respect our limits. In this lies the foundation for spiritual growth, performing miracles and protection against despair—the devil’s most powerful weapon.
​
I will add a final qualification. It’s good to push ourselves, and we must—but we should only push ourselves to just a little less than our limit. Why? If we push too far, we might exhaust ourselves completely and be left without any strength to manage unexpected temptations that arise along the way. Keeping a small reserve of energy helps us face temptations and setbacks. Doing as much as we can—and a little less—will help us grow steadily and overcome sudden challenges without setbacks.
​
Back to the text, Elder Aimilianos continues: “When practicing watchfulness and prayer, we must guard ourselves against tiredness and despair, while being comfortable with the effort we apply when pushing ourselves. If something feels suffocating—making us want to scream or break free—it’s a sign that we are neither comfortable nor happy, and indicates spiritual, psychological, or physical fatigue. When the soul is exhausted, spiritual growth becomes impossible. We step off the path to Eternal Life and risk wasting precious time." As Elder Aimilianos used to say: “A tired person is useless to God.” (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
You have a problem and you don’t have a solution. You pray and a lot of thoughts enter your mind. You need to follow your heart (we’re not referring to emotions here). This means to follow whatever is more peaceful inside you. Whatever is more peaceful inside you is where God wants you to go. So it’s not what makes more sense logically, but whatever direction gives you peace and comfort. That’s what you should do in order to find God’s Will in your life. Even if it’s wrong, because you followed the peace inside you and you have the will to do the right thing, the right thing will eventually present itself. (from The Prodigal Son's Brother)
​
​
If you are searching for God’s Will, it is found within inner peace—nowhere else. While this isn’t our main topic right now, it’s so important that I need to elaborate briefly. If you’re trying to make a decision and lack inner peace, then God is ‘not present’ in that choice for you—unless you’re someone who struggles with anxiety, in which case nothing feels peaceful. But if your gut senses peace in another option, regardless of whether you like it or will need to deny yourself, that’s where God is, and this is what you should do. When you feel this peace and have this “information,” you can take it to your spiritual father and share how God has shown you His Will.
​
This isn’t an easy topic to explain, but I’ll try to illustrate it with an example of what it is to have the peace of God within you. There was a monk on Mount Athos whose duty was to serve in the guest house. One day, three visitors came—one from Canada, one from America and one from the UK. They sat in conversation and the monk explained to them how to achieve inner peace. At the end of the conversation, the monk asked: “Do you understand?” One of them responded: “I do, because the peace you have within you was transferred to us while you spoke.” Now, that’s spiritual peace. It’s not something psychological.
​
If you visit a guru, on the other hand, you might notice an outward calm, but his heart could be like a brick—lacking in love and humility. Whatever "peace"he appears to have cannot be passed on to you. And if he were to draw on the devil’s power to offer you some form of peace, you wouldn’t feel calm; you’d feel anxiety. Why? Because the devil cannot transmit true spiritual peace.
​
To achieve another kind of peace, you could take a Valium, but that’s just your body relaxing. It has nothing to do with the peace of your soul or the Holy Spirit. These are different forms of peace. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 2)
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The Need for a Spiritual Father
​
​
When you exercise such a practice as watchfulness, you need to have a spiritual father who knows about it himself, so when you get stuck, you can talk to him. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
Everyone who wants to practice a spiritual life needs a spiritual father. It’s very simple. And if you’re going to practice prayer and watchfulness, you need to find a spiritual father who knows about these things. If you have a spiritual father who doesn’t know about these things, you won’t receive the right guidance regardless of how much he might want to help you. You need a specialist, not a general practitioner. When we need to address something specifically, we go to the right specialist, not a generalist. It’s not safe. We’re not equipped to deal with these things ourselves. Without the knowledge, it’s very dangerous. People have even lost their minds over these things. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
What’s also important is that at some stage in our lives, we find a spiritual father to whom our heart can totally open and be comfortable with. We won’t wish to hide anything at all from him. This is how the Apostles were with Christ; they were like an open book, they hid nothing. This was because they were not afraid of Him; they knew how much He loved them. They could feel the Holy Spirit inside Him, even though they didn’t yet know what the Holy Spirit was. This relationship between a spiritual father and a spiritual child is what will help us through any problems in our lives. But we need to find the right person. In the Orthodox Church, if someone is not happy with me as their spiritual father, they can find someone else; they’re free.
​
But we can’t just go around in circles and try thirty spiritual fathers and then blame them because we’re not comfortable. Once we find someone we’re comfortable with, someone we can totally open up to, we need to be obedient to him and stay there. By doing this, we help him to help us. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
​
The spiritual life is not something you can read about and simply go ahead and do. It doesn’t happen by fasting, praying, or following rules; it happens when you entrust yourself into God’s Hands and you have the right guide, the right spiritual father, who has been through the spiritual struggle and has the experience to help you grow. It’s like a sport–if you don’t have the right trainer for boxing or gymnastics, you will never achieve anything. You need the right trainer, someone who really knows.
​
​
Saint Ephraim of Katounakia once said: “If you have a Spiritual Father who is a King Spiritually, you yourself are born Spiritually a Prince or a Princess. If not, you need to work extremely hard to become rich Spiritually.” It indicates how blessed we are if we have such a Spiritual Father, and points out how we may need to fix our inner disposition if we seek to find such a Blessing in our lives. (from Conversations with Christ)
​
I completely understand the lack of bright elders in today’s world. I understand that despite our best attempts, we may have never found a Fountain of Light, a Fountain of Life, a Fountain of the Holy Spirit in our surroundings. I know how difficult this search is and how profoundly important it is for our future in Christ.
However, I firmly believe that if we honestly and wholeheartedly seek such a Source of Light, even if we don’t consciously realize it, God will provide us with one. The All-Knowing God has placed us in a specific place and time in the history of humanity, where our thirst can meet someone who might offer us water, allowing us to quench our own Eternal thirst and become Fountains of Living Water, exactly like the seemingly “random” Samaritan woman. There's no such thing as “random ” in the history of humanity, there’s only God. God alone! He manages His creation, He knows His creation before creating it, and He ensures that we are born in the right place, at the right time, in the right environment and under the right circumstances. There is a Master Plan, and our Master skillfully Masters it for us all (His creation), in a Magnificent and Incomprehensible way. (from Conversations with Christ)
​
​
The timing of these important encounters with such people in our lives is guided by the Holy Spirit. It is never a simple matter of coincidence that we met our Elder in the manner we did; it was meant to be. God was preparing us for this meeting before our birth, carefully organizing the specific timing and circumstances. History, both personal and of our environment, obeys this Divine governing of time to generate the unique moment when Christ will ask us: “Give me a drink”. Every small detail of this irreplaceable scenario appears very natural, and indeed it is, as God is the One Who orchestrates the very laws of nature.
​
Personally, I believe that God created me to be a disciple of my Elder. This is how deeply his personal words for me would resonate with my soul. I felt I was created to be his disciple! Who could ever compete with such a God-given connection? I was always free, yet I always wanted to be around him. My choice, no one else’s.(from Conversations with Christ)
My Elders’ words were engraved in me because my soul thirsted for God’s Will. Everything he told me felt like it was already within me, though hidden, simply waiting to be unearthed. I felt, sensed, accepted and realized that his words were for me and from God. My Elders’ guidance basically verified the data already downloaded in my soul. He cleared my path for understanding and adjusted my perspective to allow me to see what to do next, how to be, how to exist. His deep insight discerned what I was created and what I had the potential for, to achieve in this life. He could clearly see God’s ways in me and simply explained them. Recognizing the word of my Creator in his words, and boy I heard him, I absorbed every single letter of his words. I clearly sensed my inner existence finding its fulfillment in his words. (from Conversations with Christ)
​
​
The more profound the love, the deeper the connection. The deeper the connection, the greater the absorption. The greater the absorption, the higher the knowledge. The higher the knowledge, the broader the understanding. The broader the understanding, the clearer we can talk about something. (from Conversations with Christ)
​
​
A Christ and Church-like spiritual father does not pass on his spirit to his Church and to his spiritual children through authoritative force. He makes them feel loved and taken care of. He fosters an atmosphere in which they are comfortable and natural around him. Spiritual children need to know that his living love allows them to feel safe, to feel secure, to be protected, and to be unjudged. When they freely and fully give themselves to him, then and only then is he able to pass on his spirit—to keep, to guide, to protect, to enlighten and to Deify them. This is the role of a spiritual father as the head of our Church. This is the work of a spiritual father as a crucified Christ. This is the characteristic of a spiritual father as a Loving Living Mother of God, a Loving Mother of the Church—not a mother-in-law or a stepmother.
​
“I thirst!” I believe Christ still thirsts for such people. Our Church thirsts for such spiritual fathers and our spiritual children thirst on their daily cross for someone to quench their thirst, if not excite them like wine would. We must stop offering the taste of authoritative vinegar to those around us. (from Conversations with Christ)
​
​
And here’s something else: We must become an open book. Not just before God, but also before our spiritual father. We must stop hiding. Here we return to our previous point about the need of a spiritual father.
What does it mean to have a spiritual father? It means having someone who will guide our spirit into Union with the Holy Spirit. But for that to happen, there must be a relationship, the way the Apostles were with Christ. If we are afraid of our spiritual father, if we feel he doesn’t love or understand us, it won’t work.
We must be an open book for the eyes of God and of our spiritual father. So open, that if our soul were a manuscript, we would lay out every single page, magnify every single letter, indicate every single comma and point to every single full stop, so that he could see clearly and understand what happens inside us, even if we ourselves are not fully conscious of it. While we might not be able to explain ourselves perfectly, we honestly try. If we over accuse ourselves, he will understand. If we unconsciously hide behind our anxiety, he will understand. If we do not have the will power to give up our ego, he will understand. Just be an open book, no matter what this book might read. This is how we entrust our soul to our spiritual father, and through him we place our existence in God’s Hands. That’s what it means to have a spiritual father.
​
When the Apostles were with Christ they were at peace. Christ gave them His Peace, Who was the Holy Spirit. If we don’t feel at peace with our spiritual father, something is wrong. And there are usually two reasons: either our ego is blocking us from opening up, or he is simply not the right person for us. Either way, we need to sort it out.
​
In the Church we are free to keep searching for an understanding spiritual father. It is the Holy Spirit Who will lead us to him, and then, when we find him, “something” inside us will let us know. We will get a feeling as if God is informing our heart: “Now you are in good hands. Let go of your fears. Let go of your anxiety which forces you to act in control. Let go of everything. Entrust yourself, and I will take good care of you. You are in a safe place, exactly where you are meant to be”. The Holy Spirit will gently develop this feeling inside you, and it will be the proof that He Himself is working your salvation through your spiritual father. You just found what you were looking for.
​
Follow Christ in the person of your spiritual father. That’s what it means to be an Apostle. This is the proof that you have a spiritual relationship with your spiritual father and therefore you did find the right person to guide you to God. At the end of the day, a genuine spiritual father is someone who is empty of himself and whose only aim is to connect you not with himself but with God alone. Nothing more, nothing less and nothing else…
As we’ve said before, when a spiritual father has a deep Orthodox spirit, he will never want us to become dependent on him. His goal is to give us enough knowledge, enough guidance, that even when he’s not around, we know how to act. We know how to live in a way that reflects Christ.
​
If we cannot live without our spiritual father’s constant presence, then something is wrong. If he did not raise us spiritually discerning adults, if we cannot stand on our own spiritually, if we do not know how to solve spiritual problems in his absence, then his presence has been ineffective. If our spiritual father hasn’t taught us how to hear God’s voice within us, he then hasn’t fulfilled his role. We will remain spiritual infants, and when he passes away, we will be spiritually like ‘lost in the night’. (from the upcoming Walking on the Waves Vol 3)
​
​
In Conclusion
Nepsis (watchfulness) is for everyone. If our hearts are thirsty, it doesn’t matter what we look like, what our job is, if we’re single, married or have twenty kids. The only thing that matters is our desire to draw closer to God. We can’t judge a book by its cover, it’s not fair. It’s God’s Will for us to draw closer to Him, and it’s a foretaste of what is going to happen in the next life. All of this is given through watchfulness. That’s how important watchfulness is. (from Walking on the Waves, Vol 1)
​
Elder Aimilianos, my father”s example was always: “And his own soul he throws away for joyous bleats.” (from Conversations with Christ)
​
​
Would you like more?
​
​
(Source for article: Pt. 1 here, and Pt. 2 here)
​
Elder Aimilianos with the young Fr. Eustratios, now Bp. Emilianos
