So we can speak of the blindness and inability of the nous to see things clearly.  And when our nous is darkened, we do not have a pure and open passage to our neighbor.  Everything is defiled and darkened, with terrible and upsetting consequences for our life.  Just as clouds hide the sun, so evil thoughts bring shadows to the mind and ruin it.  Our nous is darkened and remains unproductive either when we speak words of worldly import or, entertaining such words in our mind, we associate with them, or when our body involves itself with the nous in sensory things. Then we immediately lose our fervor, compunction, intimacy with God and spiritual knowledge. Therefore “so long as we concentrate our attention on the nous, we are enlightened; but when we are not attentive to it we are in darkness” [Hesychios the Priest, The Philokalia, Vol. 1, p. 184].

Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, p. 135.

O Lord, rebuke me not in they wrath, nor chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thine hand has cut me off.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger,

Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

For mine iniquities have gone over my head as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness,

I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long

For my loins are filled with loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh

I am feeble and sore-broken, i have roared by the reason of the disquietness of my heart

Lord all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee

My heart panteth, my strength faileth me, as for the light of mine eyes, it has also gone from me.

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore and my kinsman stand afar off.

They also that seek after my life lay snares for me;

And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, And imagine deceits all the day long.

But I, was a deaf man, that hears not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

Yea, I am as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt answer, O Lord my God.

For I said, Lest they rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.

For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

But mine enemies are lively, and are they strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that good is.

Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me.

Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

When I go back to the question of what I want, I find that all answers fall short in some way unless the answer I give is “God.”  I want God. I don’t want to figure out His will, I don’t want to figure out eternity, I don’t want to add stuff to my life in order to deepen my relationship with God. No. I want God. That’s right, I said I don’t want to deepen my relationship with God. Pursuing a relationship with God and pursuing God Himself are often very different things. Of course, when we go to church in order to deepen on our relationship with God, we do in fact find it deeper for the effort. But the church is not God. We must go to the church, an external behavior, in order to help us draw near to God, an inner reality.

I must be careful in making this point. History has seen religious movements that take what I have just said to mean that the external realities of the Christian faith are discretionary. They might say, “We don’t need to go to church as long as we seek after God,” or, “We don’t need to be baptized as long as we’re born again in our hearts,” or, “Holy Communion is not important because I can commune with God in other ways.”  This is silly. It makes God – forgive me for saying – into nothing but a function of the mind. It’s like a friend who doesn’t call or write for years and then says, “Sorry I haven’t called or written, but I’ve thought about you often.” What can you say? Hearing those words does little to renew the relationship that was destroyed when you realized that your friend was ignoring your calls and letters, it does little to sooth the old pain of rejection. Thinking about God is useless as the sole pathway to knowing God. Many pathways, the church and the disciplines of the church, have been established and used by Christians for hundreds of years. Suddenly, the last two hundred years, we assume that we are good enough that we can skip over them and arrive at the same destination? We can’t.

Do you want God? Use the church to find Him. Don’t forget the church, the way, and don’t forget God, the destination.

-from Christianity and Pleasure by Fr. David R. Smith

I’m reading a book outside of my religious paradigm, and more than half-way through, it dawned on me that I should write some of my reactions down, which I decided to start today.  Don’t you just love run-on sentences?

Here’s the first “note”:

In the Protestant Church, it is true that a pastor is “only as good as his last sermon.” It always made me wonder, as a former protestant, what they do in their off hours (when they’re not giving sermons).  Maybe some counseling here and there – but not much – isn’t that what “Christian counselors” are for? Maybe some administrative duties. But it seems as though there’s nothing for a pastor to do but make his next sermon.  It’s all about teaching, learning, intellectualizing.  I didn’t realize or necessarily have a problem with this when I was a protestant, but during my searching and conversion to Orthodoxy, it was wonderful to not have my value placed on how well I could do intellectually, but in what place my heart was.  (Note that I am not perfect, or even try to be some days.)

However, in the Orthodox Church, the real admiration for a priest comes from who he is as a person. We interact more deeply with a priest (than I ever did with a protestant pastor – and sometimes it wasn’t even for a lack of my trying). We have Confession, where we offer our sins and brokenness to God in the presence of a priest, and he gives encouragement and council.  Granted, there are few who take advantage of this sacrament, but it’s wonderful.  We are aware of holiness because it’s around us all the time – in icons – and in the people around us. We have monastics in our midst, those who strive after God their entire lives. No, they’re not perfect, that’s not exactly the point, but they love God and desire communion with Him. They make little improvements here and there and eventually they will be a little closer to God. And isn’t that what we all want?

Second more shocking reaction:

The most horrible, well, maybe not the MOST, thing is that some people, some protestants see the heart as a bad thing. We need to understand that our temptations and our passions are corrupt, yes, but it is not who we are.  This is not what God meant for us. To be truly free is to be free from the things that enslave us and be in freedom in communion with God.  The nous is commonly translated “heart” and sometimes “intellect” and is the deepest part of a person (see other posts on nous).  This is where we commune with God.

Part of what I had written before was about how the western half of the world separates heart and mind because the concept of nous is very foreign to them… which I’m sure I’ve talked about elsewhere and leave that to your own reflection and infer whatever you will.

The book I was reading mentioned that ‘the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’  which is Jeremiah 17:9, I found out as I searched for it in the ESV.  I went downstairs and got my roommate’s Orthodox Study Bible, hoping to find some sort of study note that would explain that verse.  To my surprise and utter shock, I found that Jeremiah 17:9 (17:5)says this, “the heart is deep beyond all things, and it is the man. Even so who can know him?”  I sat there in utter shock, not even knowing what to say or what I would post here.  I will leave that to your own interpretation, I suppose.  But I will add two things that might help you, if indeed anyone reads this.  The note says, “St. John Chrysostom labors the point that only God  an know men’s hearts, citing Psalm. 7:9; 1 Kings 16:7, 2 Chronicles 6:30, and Matthew 9:3,4.”  Also I should mention that the Orthodox Study Bible is using the first English translation of the Septuagint, translated by St. Athanasius Academy.  I’m not going to comment further on that because it’s complicated and I’m sure if someone wanted to know there are plenty of resources out there that are more reliable than a blog.

Isaiah 2:11-21

¹¹ The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
¹² For the day of the LORD of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
¹³ Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
¹⁴ Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
¹⁵ Upon every high tower,
And upon every fortified wall;
¹⁶ Upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all the beautiful sloops.
¹⁷ The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
¹⁸ But the idols He shall utterly abolish.
¹⁹ They shall go into the holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the earth,
From the terror of the LORD
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
²⁰ In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship,
To the moles and bats,
²¹ To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crags of the rugged rocks,
From the terror of the LORD
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Genesis 2:4-19

⁴ This is the history^[a] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; ⁶ but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
⁷ And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

⁸ The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰ Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is Hiddekel;^[b] it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
¹⁵ Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
¹⁸ And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

Proverbs 3:1-18

¹ My son, do not forget my law,    But let your heart keep my commands;
² For length of days and long life
And peace they will add to you.
³ Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
⁴ And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct^[a] your paths.
⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
⁸ It will be health to your flesh,^[b]
And strength^[c] to your bones.
⁹ Honor the LORD with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
¹⁰ So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
¹¹ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor detest His correction;
¹² For whom the LORD loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
¹³ Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
¹⁴ For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
¹⁶ Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
¹⁷ Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her.

Traditionally, the word “heart is synonymous with the “spirit” of a man and closely related to what is called the “nous.” The three terms may be defined as “the essence of the soul,” or, better, as the place within man where God reveals Himself (Matthew 5:8) and, certainly, where God illumines each one of us (2 Corinthians 4:6).

St. Maximos the Confessor explicitly links “heart” and “nous,” exhorting us to “strive to cleanse the nous (which the Lord calls the ‘heart’) from hatred and dissipation. For these who defile the nous… do not allow it to see Christ, Who dwells in it by the grace of Holy Baptism.”

Isaiah 2:3-11

³ Many people shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
⁴ He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

⁵ O house of Jacob, come and let us walk
In the light of the LORD.
⁶ For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with eastern ways;
They are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they are pleased with the children of foreigners.
⁷ Their land is also full of silver and gold,
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land is also full of horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
⁸ Their land is also full of idols;
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made.
⁹ People bow down,
And each man humbles himself;
Therefore do not forgive them.
¹⁰ Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,
From the terror of the LORD
And the glory of His majesty.
¹¹ The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

Genesis 1:24-2:3

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all^[b] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
²⁹ And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. ³⁰ Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. ¹ Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Proverbs 2:1-22

¹ My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
² So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
³ Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
⁴ If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
⁵ Then you will understand the fear of the LORD,
And find the knowledge of God.
⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
⁸ He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.
¹⁰ When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
¹¹ Discretion will preserve you;
Understanding will keep you,
¹² To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things,
¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness;
¹⁴ Who rejoice in doing evil,
And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked,
And who are devious in their paths;
¹⁶ To deliver you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words,
¹⁷ Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
And forgets the covenant of her God.
¹⁸ For her house leads down to death,
And her paths to the dead;
¹⁹ None who go to her return,
Nor do they regain the paths of life—
²⁰ So you may walk in the way of goodness,
And keep to the paths of righteousness.
²¹ For the upright will dwell in the land,
And the blameless will remain in it;
²² But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,
And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.

Isaiah 1:19-2:4

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

²¹ How the faithful city has become a harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now murderers.
²² Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
²³ Your princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
²⁴ Therefore the Lord says,
The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,

“ Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries,
And take vengeance on My enemies.
²⁵ I will turn My hand against you,
And thoroughly purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
²⁶ I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her penitents with righteousness.
²⁸ The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
²⁹ For they^[b] shall be ashamed of the terebinth trees
Which you have desired;
And you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens
Which you have chosen.
³⁰ For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades,
And as a garden that has no water.
³¹ The strong shall be as tinder,
And the work of it as a spark;
Both will burn together,
And no one shall quench them.

¹ The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
² Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
Thatthe mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
³ Many people shall come and say,

“ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
⁴ He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Genesis 1:14-23

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Proverbs 1:20-33

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud outside;
She raises her voice in the open squares.
²¹ She cries out in the chief concourses,^[b]
At the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
²² “ How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.
²³ Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
²⁵ Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
²⁷ When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
²⁸ “ Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
²⁹ Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the LORD,
³⁰ They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
³¹ Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
³² For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
³³ But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.”

Isaiah 1:1-20

¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:

“ I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
³ The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s crib;
But Israel does not know,
My people do not consider.”
⁴ Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
⁵ Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
⁷ Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
⁸ So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city.
⁹ Unless the LORD of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
¹¹ “ To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”
Says the LORD.

“ I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
¹² “ When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
¹³ Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
¹⁴ Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶ “ Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
¹⁷ Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;^[a]
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
¹⁸ “ Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD,

“ Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Genesis 1:1-13

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was^[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
⁶ Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” ⁷ Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. ⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. ¹² And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Proverbs 1:1-20

¹ The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
² To know wisdom and instruction,
To perceive the words of understanding,
³ To receive the instruction of wisdom,
Justice, judgment, and equity;
⁴ To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion—
⁵ A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
⁶ To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of your father,
And do not forsake the law of your mother;
⁹ For they will be a graceful ornament on your head,
And chains about your neck.
¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent.
¹¹ If they say, “Come with us,
Let us lie in wait to shed blood;
Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
¹² Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,^[a]
And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
¹³ We shall find all kinds of precious possessions,
We shall fill our houses with spoil;
¹⁴ Cast in your lot among us,
Let us all have one purse”—
¹⁵ My son, do not walk in the way with them,
Keep your foot from their path;
¹⁶ For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
¹⁷ Surely, in vain the net is spread
In the sight of any bird;
¹⁸ But they lie in wait for their own blood,
They lurk secretly for their own lives.
¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain;
It takes away the life of its owners.

²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud outside;
She raises her voice in the open squares.

The reading of Proverbs during the Great Fast encourages you ‘to fear the Lord’ as the first step toward wisdom, which you may learn in Christ. After all, being a child of the household of God, you already are a servant of Holy Wisdom Himself – our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When the words of Proverbs prompt you to “Hear…the instruction of thy father, and reject not the rules of thy mother” (vs. 8), receive this at several levels of understanding. First, recall the godly voices of your grandparents and parents to the extent they reared you in what the Faith teaches. Second, listen to the preaching, teaching, and counsel of your Pastors. And finally, read the words of the Holy Fathers who form the two-thousand year, living stream of Holy Tradition that brings us the riches of Orthodoxy, and heed them. This includes all the Holy Gerondas, the Staretz, the Elders, and the Abbas speaking, writing, and praying for you even today. May God grant you the grace of attentive listening for salvation! Our Mother, the Church, serves a lavish feast of words for life, not to confine, constrict, or inhibit you except from unruly passions and the insidious, worldly, exhortations of “ungodly men” (vss. 10-14).

- from Dynamis

1 Kingdoms 14:16-30

¹⁶ Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there. ¹⁷ Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone from us.” And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there. ¹⁸ And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark^[b] of God here” (for at that time the ark^[c] of God was with the children of Israel). ¹⁹ Now it happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” ²⁰ Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion. ²¹ Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²² Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. ²³ So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.
²⁴ And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food. ²⁵ Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was honey on the ground. ²⁶ And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his countenance brightened. ²⁸ Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food this day.’” And the people were faint.
²⁹ But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰ How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”

1 Corinthhians 6:12-20

¹² All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. ¹³ Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”^{[b] 17} But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
¹⁸ Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body^[c] and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Luke 15:11-32

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring^[b] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

1 Kingdoms 13:19-14:15

¹⁹ Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” ²⁰ But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; ²¹ and the charge for a sharpening was a pim^[d] for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads. ²² So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.
²³ And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

¹ Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father. ² And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. ³ Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
⁴ Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. ⁵ The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah.
⁶ Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.” ⁷ So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”
⁸ Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. ⁹ If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. ¹⁰ But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.”
¹¹ So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.” ¹² Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.”
Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” ¹³ And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. ¹⁴ That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.^{[a] 15} And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

¹ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶ For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹ but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

Luke 20:46-21:4

⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, ⁴⁷ who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

¹ And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, ² and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. ³ So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; ⁴ for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God,^[a] but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”