Elder Symeon (Krayopoulos) says... (November 1st-5th)

"You're not going to become a Christian simply by saying 'this is bad, and this is innocent, or this is other thing isn't good, and that's why I'm going to leave those things and do what is good." You'll become a Christian when you leave everything--even the good, not just the bad--and you say 'Not what I want but what God wants.' The Lord said, 'I seek not my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.' When divine consolation comes it doesn't feed our self-love, it doesn't puff up man; it doesn't make him boast. It gives man humility and contrition. When you receive divine consolation, you're brought down to earth, you're freed from your own will, you become genuine. Human consolation can be good but it feeds self-love. I know no other way to reach the point where you turn away from the human and seek only the divine except by simply beginning to say in every matter, 'This is human consolation and for the sake of the divine consolation, I don't want it.'"
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"The greatest evil which sin has wrought is not simply that it has thrown man into the condition it has, but that sin makes man think in accordance with the condition in which he finds himself. For example, the drug addict isn't simply someone who takes drugs but one whose heart and mind have already begun to function in accordance with the condition that the drugs create, "That was nice, how wonderful, how sweet this is!

Christ came and told us how things really are. And now, as rational human beings, even though we may be influenced by this whole sickness of sin, provided we preserve some measure of our rationality, our free will, our power of self-determination, we can strain to hear what Christ tells us and say, 'Since Christ says so, I will be obedient.' And then a miracle happens in our souls..."
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"Man doesn't sin by chance, neither does he simply make mistakes or fall by chance; he doesn't sin just because he's human. There are always deeper causes. You make the mistakes that you make, you speak how you speak and you do wrong because more generally you're fallen. Just like the Lord--and every saint--was crucified, it's necessary for you too to be crucified. Then, it won't even occur to you to speak and behave improperly. That which makes you live carelessly and sloppily is exactly this worldly mindset which avoids sacrifice, avoids the cross.

You can't be worldly in the sense of having everything in your life arranged conveniently--lest others upset you, hurt you, do you wrong, or disregard you--and at the same time think you're living spiritually and making progress. It just doesn't work that way. What you're ultimately doing living a caricature, rather than leading a genuine Christian life."
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"On the first Saturday of November, we have the feast of the three Theologians. Saint John the Theologian in his Gospel, in his epistles, and in the Apocalypse encourages us to lead our whole lives in the truth.

Saint Gregory the Theologian tells us that the one who teaches must be pure, must have the light of God, and to say more to those most eager to hear, because they are in some way more fertile earth and their hearts are more ready to receive the word of God.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian had the charisma of obedience. He went to God and by means of his spiritual father, showed absolute trust without knowing what would happen. Our own poverty is due to how we limit ourselves to several externals and what interests us more is to just lead a normal human life. We don't give ourselves up to God so that He as God can give us whatever He wishes."

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"Today our Lord presents to us in the person of the rich man those who lose their souls while presenting in the person of Lazarus those who are servants of God and are saved. Moreover, very many souls will leave this world without having readied themselves for the next life, despite the labors they happened to engage in and despite the difficult situations they have dealt with in life, because they didn't deal with them like the poor man, Lazarus.

Lazarus lives out the entirety of his condition and shows patience. He does not protest. He does not react. He doesn't play the victim. He is not upset with God, nor does he blame other people. He endures; he follows his rule without any trace of bitterness or complaint. Each of us must lay himself down and endure whatever God allows, if he wants to possess what is according to the parable of our Lord the spirit of those who are saved."