The Fast of Joy – Father Pimen Vlad
10 November 2022
The Entrance of the Theotokos Into the Temple – Father Pimen Vlad
17 November 2022
What is to be done in our society where the ideological war is so acute? How do we counter it? How do we live our lives in the family and in society?
Watch this video for some answers.
Enjoy!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.
Fr. Theologos: Alright, now, as I said, I want to record this because there are relatively many of you here for a visit to our cell, very few compared to… a conference let’s say, and I actually really like the fact that you are few because we here appreciate silence very much and you also have to appreciate silence very much. Although you in the world do not appreciate silence, because you are used to burdening yourselves, to being bombarded with a lot of pleasure centers, with a lot of information, with a lot of things that muddle your mind and disperse your mind.
That’s a big problem, a big problem! You have to relearn to settle down, relearn to cut all these great pleasure centers, to cut the news, to find stillness. Stillness is not found scrolling on Facebook, brethren, or Instagram or TikTok, especially today. But TikTok, I don’t know if you know, in my opinion it is the most powerful weapon at this time on the planet. God forbid that tanks or missiles come (and we are not talking about nuclear weapons) – but ballistic missiles come and destroy a building or destroy… [it’s a] great drama. While TikTok destroys millions, it destroys… yes, everything, and doesn’t just destroy those who die then, but destroys entire generations and their children. Do you understand? It’s much more destructive. And the one on which the rocket falls – of course we don’t want that – God forbid, but that one can go to heaven. Understand? Whereas TikTok is a drug that makes him addicted and throws him into hell. Do you understand?
So in my opinion it is the most powerful weapon on earth at this time, and where do you put that those who made this weapon, the Chinese, know very well what they are doing. I don’t know if you know, that the AI algorithm is different for China, that is, for themselves, than outside [of China]. So if in China how to make money is promoted, how to be successful in business, how to invest and so on (alright, now that’s not spiritual either, but there is still a concern for their people), outside [of China] there is a total destruction, a total throw into a slop of bodily pleasure actually, of limiting the thinking capacity of young people – especially young people – and, in fact, of flattening a society, of razing an entire society and the next generation… Do you understand? Because they look there and fry their minds, they finish their minds. Someone said that when you get there you are already fried, but I think there is indeed a bit of truth in that too, but especially if you stay there you are irretrievably finished. Because of this, brethren, we must cut all these things off and have the awareness that we are at war, in a hybrid war, where the main plane of this war is the informational, ideological plane and not so much the armed plane, so to speak. May the Good God forbid it! So there is the ideological plane, followed by the economic plane — you know what I mean — by prices…
Pilgrim: This takes precedence…
Fr. Theologos: No, the ideological plane takes precedence. That is, it turns you into a colony more or less, it makes you adhere to some ideas, which in the case of TikTok are not even ideas — that is, it is about… I don’t know how to say it, a slop, a molasses, a dark sweetness that actually makes children without power of penetration. So I’ve seen young people who are extraordinarily beautiful, much more beautiful than us — I don’t want to offend anyone — but they’re totally mind-muddled. So they have no capacity for conceiving, nor for attention, nor for anything.
I remember at one point someone from Romania, an influencer on TikTok came, may God forgive me for saying it, I loved him very much and he loved me very much and I love him very much, but he had come from Romania to specifically look for me. And he had come to me like to a guru, like to a great…
Pilgrim: Teacher…
Fr. Theologos: Yes… He was very young, I was very old, so all the reasons for him to respect me. Alright, “So father, I have a very big problem, I have come necessarily to speak to you in private…” the whole story. Okay, and it was evening, it was night, and after talking to people how I talk to you now, I told people, “Folks, please forgive me, this young man has a personal problem, I want to talk to him.” And I went a little further, brethren, that young man indeed had a serious problem, who, as I said, I love very much and it wasn’t even 20 seconds later, 30 seconds, something like that, that as I was talking to him, he was looking at the stars. I say at the stars literally.
Pilgrim: He was lost in other problems.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, why? Because the attention span on TikTok is very short. You know that on there the platform is calibrated to promote intense pleasures and even facial recognition algorithms are used to promote what you like, beautiful girls and so on, because they see that you are a man and ask what age you are and you tell and it promotes these girls and quickly, faster and faster. So that every 15 seconds, 30 seconds whatever, you have a new shot of dopamine, that is, you feel a new pleasure. I don’t know if you know, the sensation of pleasure in the brain, of bodily pleasure is caused by a chemical reaction. There are chemicals in there whose levels increase — the most well-known of them, not the most important, is dopamine. Well, and TikTok is so made that it maximizes this rush, this dopamine surge and every X seconds, as fast as possible, to give you more and more, more and more, and then of course the young man is in a constant state of arousal and can no longer pay attention.
And as I said, this young man, although he had come to me from Romania as to a guru, lost his attention while we were talking — maybe I am not worthy — although after that, in the end, I managed to somehow hold his attention and to explain to him and the poor man benefited…
He could not pay attention. And I was thinking afterwards what he would do with his wife, his future wife or his girlfriend whom he does not hold in a position like mine as a superior… How can he give attention to his wife, his friend? Do you understand? And he… And I’m talking about someone with a name for himself, with millions of views on TikTok. Understand?
Pilgrim: Father, a spiritual question, if you will allow us…
Fr. Theologos: Yes.
Pilgrim: We talked to Fr. Nicholas for a bit last night… If you wanted to explain to everyone, the purpose of man’s life on earth.
Fr. Theologos: The purpose of man’s life on earth is to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is what St. Seraphim of Sarov says, I do not say it. The acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit and the correct death. So in the same way we acquire money, says St. Seraphim, in the same way we do our best to acquire money, likewise we should do to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit. And so all the good works we do have no end in themselves, they have no end in themselves, but the goal is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. So if I give alms so that the world can see me, this good deed suddenly turns into a very bad deed, because I no longer do this deed in order to gain the grace of the Holy Spirit through almsgiving, through the love that… but I do it for the purpose of myself.
Yes, so suddenly I no longer want to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, but I want to acquire myself, that is, to promote myself: egotism, which of course results in hell and not heaven. And it’s the same for all the other deeds. That is, man can be proud of absolutely any deed, and in fact, you must know that pride arises from good deeds — real good deeds, that is, they are really good deeds — or imaginary good deeds which I believe to be good or exaggerated deeds. I mean, when I give 5 lei to someone, it is a good deed, but I say that it is the end and the beginning…, so to speak, from Adam until today there has not been anyone more merciful than me because I gave 5 lei to a needy person, you understand?
So beyond the fact that good works may be imaginary or, as I said, exaggerated in their importance, if we pride ourselves or do not do these things for God in order to gain the grace of the Holy Spirit, at that moment we miss our purpose. And this distortion of ourselves, this crookedness of our lives is also reflected within ourselves and on others. Do you understand?
So if I started bragging now, say that I gave 5 lei to someone and I started bragging here… It’s not a good thing if I’m bragging, you understand, I lost and not only that, you will feel that it is very untoward, very distorted that I constantly boast that I gave 5 lei (or even if I gave 5000 lei or 5 million lei, it is still not good). But when I do it for God, in that moment everything adds up. Yes, and peace appears, peace appears. So the purpose of man is not acquiring money and having careers that you will lose at death, brethren.
Pilgrim: This is material life.
Fr. Theologos: Exactly, this is material life, and this will torment you, because the moment you die, brethren, all this will remain, and your eternal torment is the desire of these things beyond. That is, you will stabilize on these desires. Do you understand? If here on earth you want fame, you want money, you want pleasures, when you die, you will not have those, and then this desire that will never be fulfilled will torment you forever.
Pilgrim: So we must struggle to gain the grace of the Holy Spirit or salvation, right? It’s the same thing, right?
Fr. Theologos: That’s right. Yes, it’s the same thing, yes.
Pilgrim: Good. How can we acquire them?
Fr. Theologos: Concretely… concretely, to the point. Yes, I really like, or rather I don’t like it at all that all kinds of pilgrims, all kinds of Romanians come here and these people start: “Father, Orthodoxy… Romanianism….” Well, Orthodoxy… I say,
“Do you pray?”
“Well, no father, I don’t have time… yes, I watch the game, I watch the news….”
“Ok, you don’t pray. Do you go to church?”
“Well, I can’t father, because it’s difficult, it’s far away and it’s hard for me on Sundays to get up and so on.”
“Do you fast?”
“Alas, father, how can I fast because I get dizzy and so on, I can’t find fasting food.”
“Do you confess?”
“Well, no, once a year, father.”
“Well, where is your Orthodoxy?”
Pilgrim: Probably from books.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, Orthodoxy in name, that is, it is in the declarative. No, brethren! So there needs to be a constant, concrete spiritual program in which man begins to pray — number one, most important, let’s say it’s the most important because that’s what you can do first thing. Prayer, brethren! And here I would like to say something — well, watch all the videos that I’ve done about prayer — but one thing that I see and that is a big problem with you, with everyone actually, but mainly with people in the world, is the fact that today you have a lot of very powerful pleasure centers. The cell phone, the net. Brethren, on the net there’s everything, you know very well. The news, football and God knows what passions you have there. Clearly you should cut them out. Now I’m not telling you to cut them out because you’ll swear at me eventually…
Pilgrim: No, but why? Everyone decides in the end.
Fr. Theologos: Good, ok, good, so it would be best to cut them out. If you don’t cut them out, brethren, they’re on the net, they don’t leave, so it’s not like it used to be with the TV. So when you get home, eat and so on, and after that the first thing you do is pray.
You are not going to watch the news, football and so on and at 12:00 at night you pray with your head falling and so on. No! And with your mind on football and what you’ve seen and on the latest news. The first thing you do is pray, do you understand? Because it doesn’t disappear, and so it’s not a problem if you’re going to watch the football in 15 minutes, in half an hour and so on. You don’t have to see it premiere live. It’s not the end of the world.
Use your courage a little! I mean [saying], “No, I’m going to pray now and watch after that!” Because you are not the chief of staff of the Ukrainian army, and if you were, you would find out the news from somewhere else, not from the net, from YouTube.
Pilgrim: Or [find out] other news…
Fr. Theologos: …Other kinds of news. Do you understand? So it’s very important to be very attentive to ourselves, to have a constant schedule and to say “afterwards.” “Afterwards I will answer on WhatsApp,” “Afterwards I will answer that other thing… Now I will pray.” I will correctly use the incensive part [of the soul], my courage, to say, “This is what I’m going to do now!”
Pilgrim: So for an ordinary man, how much prayer do you recommend?
Fr. Theologos: Oh, my God! … yes.
Pilgrim: I ask you like for a prescription, what medicine…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, well, indeed that is very good because Orthodoxy is a branch of medicine you should know, because it is the medical science that aims to heal the soul. Yes, I have said this a million times, I will say it a million more times until it enters the heads and hearts of all Romanians. So just as we take the pills every day, which you prescribe, and so on, so must we take spiritual pills every day. And that’s why we post every day. We were trying to find materials. Going back, how much [prayer]?
This is an issue for the spiritual father [to deal with], you know. Why? Because some have more time, others have less time. But, I always recommend, it would be good to say the Jesus Prayer, so “Lord Jesus…” let’s say 300 “Lord Jesus…” or let’s say 600 “Lord Jesus…” —whoever can. 300 “Lord Jesus…” lasts 10 minutes, 10-15 minutes, that’s it. And 600 takes 20 — 25 — half an hour.
Pilgrim: “Lord Jesus” or the full prayer?
Fr. Theologos: “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” If you prolong it, it is more difficult to hold it. If you say “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, sinner!” you have to be very focused. Whereas “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” … it’s much simpler and much easier to hold. And especially if you have a prayer rope — I have spoken many times on this subject, but we are speaking once again — if you have a prayer rope, something like this, then touch, which, as you know, is the strongest human sense, is used, and with each knot we say one Lord Jesus – “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! …” Then the mind focuses very well. Why? Because the sense of touch, touching focuses the mind very well, because it is the strongest sensation, you know that very well, right? And then, that’s what I say…
Pilgrim: I wonder — do you need [to pray] a fixed number?
Fr. Theologos: Yes, a fixed number is needed and I’ll tell you why.
….And from there on, as the spiritual father says, as he sees in time. That’s why I say it’s a problem for the spiritual father [to handle].
You need a fixed number, do you know why? Not because God is a merchant. God is not a merchant, and if He were, He would be a very bad merchant because He gives grace for nothing, you know. There needs to be a number to ensure constancy. That’s why. Because there will necessarily be war from the enemy – who is a very experienced type of mind – and then, what will he say? “Come on, today you no longer feel like it, you can’t, you don’t have time… [Do it] tomorrow.” But if you say that every day you will do 600 “Lord Jesus…”
Oh dear! … [big noise in the background] Can you ask them to…
Pilgrim: I’ll go…
Fr. Theologos: Tell him we are filming and to wait half an hour. There are always temptations from the enemy… Always, always. It’s brutal brethren, you can’t imagine! I repeated the video about suicide four times. When I film, I always film myself once. I prepare before, I would be ashamed not to, you know, and I record however the Mother of God provides. [But] I did that respective video 4 times.
So the first time, the microphones were not placed well, the second time they did not turn on, the third time rain fell on it, and only the fourth time it worked. The third time everything was so beautiful, suddenly a torrential rain started and I said I’m not leaving here until I film everything and halfway through it all went south, because of the dripping sound on the microphone. It was brutal, bone on bone.
Going back, so it’s about this constancy that is ensured by number, and here’s one thing I want to say; It is good to do [the canon] all at once, but if you want to break it, you can break it. So that’s why the prayer rope has 100 knots because you can break it into 100, that is, you can do now when I have a little time, I’m waiting for something, I do 100 “Lord Jesus…” And this not only reduces my canon which is already a very good thing, but it keeps a certain seriousness of mind, a certain focusing within myself and everything else. And that ensures a dignity during the day, a nobility, a very good balance. Do you understand?
It is very, very good to be careful not to waste time!
Pilgrim: Do you recommend a certain period when the man could be more focused?
Fr. Theologos: That’s exactly what I was thinking now, but I’m glad you asked. What can I say? The Holy Fathers say that at night, but as I said, if we are realistic, today, we see that by night we are full of football, news, Putin, vaccines and all the nonsense..
Pilgrim: You are tired.
Fr. Theologos: You are tired. So because of this brethren, when you arrive, do it to enlighten the mind, to dispense of this spiritual duty, and to be alright with the good and Holy God. Do you understand? Because of this, fathers set vigils, but fathers previously — says St. John Chrysostom — had four hours a day that they could devote to God. Four hours a day, so let’s be serious. Do you understand? Glory to the Lord! Whereas today our mind is addled, ours and especially that of our children. It’s a big problem.
Pilgrim: In addition to this, therefore, Liturgy at the church.
Fr. Theologos: Definitely. Definitely Liturgy, definitely service! Why? Because the services are the immersive framework in which the good God is glorified, in which we have the experience of God. So in the service… first of all, the services are the prayers of the saints, which are obviously better than ours. Two: not only hearing, but also sight and smell through incense and even palpitation through anointing and first of all through Holy Communion are enhanced to the fullest there, they are immersed to the fullest by spiritual reality, by the divine reality that awaits us after death. The services are the preview of Heaven. Services, brethren, are not done for God, God is perfect, He is Almighty.
Pilgrim: They are done for us.
Fr. Theologos: They are done for us. Do you understand? The services are not done for God, nor for the saints, nor for the priests. They are done for us so that we can pray to the fullest. That’s what services are done for. Because of this it is very important to go to services. Do you understand?
Pilgrim: So in a word, we must do the Lord’s will.
Fr. Theologos: In a word, we must do the Lord’s will because the Lord’s will is best for us. God is not the boss and His commandments or His will are not the expression of the boss towards the subordinates, of the tyrant towards the subordinates. God is loving father and doctor, the best doctor. So His so-called commandments, His will, is the expression of the loving doctor and father towards his sick and beloved sons. These are God’s commandments.
Pilgrim: I will ask one more question, then I’ll let my colleagues, maybe they have some. I may have monopolized the discussion.
Fr. Theologos: Glory to the Lord! Thank God you figured that out, you know? No, I was joking, please forgive me.
Pilgrim: For a man in the world, repentance must begin — to let go of bad things, to repent…
Fr. Theologos: That’s right…
Pilgrim: To fulfill the 10 commandments…
Fr. Theologos: No, no, no, don’t take on the 10 commandments. Take on what your conscience chastises you about, because where conscience chastises it means that’s where you can work. God says, “Work here.” Because if it is to take on the commandments, the Lord said, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none;” Do you have two clothes? Yes.
Pilgrim: Yes, I have.
Fr. Theologos: Good, did you give? You didn’t give. 500 beatings. Alright? The Holy Apostle Paul says, “…pray without ceasing…” Do you pray without ceasing? No. Another 500 beatings. So if it’s about taking on the commandments, then it’s…
Pilgrim: Tough work.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, exactly. That’s why God, who is father, He is not a legalist, He is father, He says, “Go this way!”
Pilgrim: He wants the correction of the sinner.
Fr. Theologos: Yes. And not his death. And because of that be very careful to how your conscience chastises you and of course the priest also asks you at confession — because of this the priest is very important at the confession, because he is another conscience — he says: “Did you do that? Did you do this?” And when your conscience chastises you, work on that!
I’ll tell you a case. St. Paul of Thebes went to St. Macarius the Great, and St. Paul said to St. Macarius the Great: “Abba, I do 300 prayers a day. Isn’t that a little?” And St. Macarius says: “Yes, it’s a little.” St. Paul of Thebes pauses a little and says, “But how does Abba know it’s a little?” “Well, here’s the thing: I do 100 a day and I’m not chastised by my conscience that it is a little, but you who do 300 and your conscience chastises you, it means it’s a little, you can do more.” Do you understand?
Let’s be very, very attentive to our conscience. And of course from there, God’s law.
Pilgrim: Father, the steps to repentance…?
Fr. Theologos: Yes. Good question. Steps to repentance. First of all, it’s about attention. Without attention you can do nothing. If we go like a boulder down the valley, nothing will turn out. Because of that we even started our discourse with TikTok and all that group, which are some centers of attention. That is, instead of your attention being on yourself, on your behavior, on BEING, your attention will be on having or on what else is going on in the world — “Have you heard the news? Have you heard that that…?”
Pilgrim: Time wasted on…
Fr. Theologos: …on other things. The entire planetary war revolves around man’s attention, who man listens to. That’s all. Everything. Because you see if it manages to subjugate you ideologically — pseudo-ideologically because these are not even ideologies, they are slops — they’ve finished you. And where do you add that young people are enjoying themselves and if you take their TikTok or you take away all these things, they go into withdrawal. They make a scandal.
So the first thing: attention! And for that we have to have the courage, the strength, the bravery, as I said, to cut out all these things, to say: “I don’t care what’s on TikTok. I will miss out on TikTok, I’m going to miss out on the news, I don’t want to see the news.” Or well, “I will watch in the evening…” in your case I am saying this, “…for five minutes, I will look at some headlines, I will open an article and that’s it.” So it’s not about what’s going on… because brethren, they are all the same, I mean let’s be serious. Understand? And so it doesn’t matter…
Pilgrim: It is a kind of enslavement of the population.
Fr. Theologos: Obviously.
Pilgrim: They just say stupid things. And you no longer have time to think about God, you only think about all the nonsense, with a dispersed mind.
Fr. Theologos: Yes and people said, even one came and told me that he stayed on Instagram for I don’t know how many hours and I said:
“What did you gain from this?”
“Nothing, Father.”
Pilgrim: You just lost…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, yes, yes. Do you understand?
So your greatest asset, your greatest fortune is time, and that goes for everyone. And today the devil is no longer trying to steal your wealth, to make you a bondsman, although there are signs on this subject, but first of all he is trying to steal your time so that you cannot develop spiritually. [Rather] to look at that, look at that other thing and so on. Therefore, be very careful with your time!
And you do not need to go in that direction as soon as a stimulus appears. That includes on the phone or on WhatsApp or so on. I don’t have to necessarily respond to a message as soon as it appears. Yeah, okay, if it’s something important, you have the discernment to say — yes, that’s important — but 90% of the time, not that they are not important, they’re all important, but I can answer later. Do you understand? If I responded to all the messages that came to me, well…
Pilgrim: Half a day…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, what half a day? God forbid! I need half of you to help me, I don’t need half the day… Half of you to help me answer the questions. Do you understand?
So it is very very important to set a limit, to say, “Stop! Now I pray.” You rediscover the beauty of the family, of people, of your wife, of the children, we give time there. Understand? Because if you don’t give your family time, it won’t work out. No matter how much money you give, it won’t work, you should know. Because usually men have this tendency, they have this temptation, “I go, make money…” and so on and “…I give it to the wife and it will be fine.” It’s not going to be fine! The wife needs your time, your attention, your love, that’s what the wife needs. Of course, money is needed, let’s be serious now, but first and foremost is your time.
Pilgrim: Earlier I was talking to someone…, and in what situation does a family remain if we got married Orthodox and then one of us goes to another cult? In what situation does my family remain?
Fr. Theologos: [The family] remains. Holy Apostle Paul speaks on this subject.
Forgive me for a second. So this is the beginning of repentance —watchfulness. After that, the program and from there on with the spiritual father, he will guide you according to the diseases…
The Holy Apostle Paul says — because this was typical in the primary church, because in the primary church someone would come (and we are not talking about Protestants who are heretics, but still they are Christians) we are talking about idolaters, so there it was much more serious and there were proselytes who came from idolaters and went into Christianity, but most of them were married and had the whole family that was idolatrous. Holy Apostle Paul says not to separate. Not to break up! And it’s your family. It is true that it is a great drama and tensions can arise on this subject. Do you know why they appear? Because there is a different way of seeing life, because of that. Another view, yes.
I said that Orthodoxy is the correct medical science aimed at healing the soul. Good, the moment you change the vision of what the healed soul means, obviously you go somewhere else…, you go somewhere else, and that’s where those diseases come from.
Pilgrim: Can they still live together? With her being pentecostal…
Fr. Theologos: They can still live together, but I emphasized that it’s hard, it’s very hard. Do you understand? The Orthodox one should pray for the respective other one. He cannot have the other commemorated at the services on a commemoration list, but let him pray, and then his grace will help the other.
Because Orthodoxy, brethren, is not my [political] party. Like, the other goes and votes with the opposition and we cast him out. No. We have to love everyone. And actually out of our love for the Protestants we must pray for them, and, without hate, if the situation arises, then let’s show them that they are not doing the right thing. And the main way to show someone that they are not doing the right thing is through personal example, not through words. Prayer, personal example and only lastly through words. Because if the personal example is missing and there are only words and God doesn’t want it, you can fire all the guns and it still doesn’t…
Pilgrim: What if they have children after that?
Fr. Theologos: Have them baptized Orthodox! Very important! Baptism is capital, it is capital. Why? Because through baptism the demonic energy that enters the child is cast out.
Pilgrim: Is the marriage still blessed by God?
Fr. Theologos: It is. Economy, it is economy. As the Holy Apostle Paul said in Holy Scripture. In fact, what happens? The problem is not to cause ruptures, to minimize changes. Do you understand? On the other hand, the Holy Apostle Paul says — if the pagan wants to separate, let them separate, he can go. But for the Orthodox in general is it good if they don’t do this. Why do we need to minimize changes? So that we focus on prayer…, to focus on prayer, to focus on our spiritual life.
Because as soon as a change occurs, and especially a change of such magnitude, then our whole life is turned upside down. [To go] to the judge, the divorce, to reconfigure life and so on. Do you understand? It’s a big problem. And this is the same in monasticism. So in monasticism one does not leave the monastery without blessing, well, without revelation from God in fact, and this revelation from God comes through the blessing of those around.
The same goes for marriage — we always minimize change. Do you understand? And this also applies to when we want to part with someone, from a person especially, and when we want to part with a place, that is, “Let’s move from here to there.” For example, because now there is this wave to return from the west back to Romania and it is a generally good wave…
Pilgrim: Yes, they are starting to come.
Fr. Theologos: They’re starting to come, yes. That’s good, but that comes from the fact that those in the west have very high pressures on them. Understand? Not so… We don’t validate that someone come who is doing too good or because he has nothing to do [and says] “I’ll go too,” you know. No. Always minimize changes so that we have as much time as possible for our spiritual perfection: prayer, reading, and everything else.
Pilgrim: Can the Jesus Prayer also be said during work? Or only when you are focused?
Fr. Theologos: No, no, no. During work as well and especially I even ask that you say it. So when you do something by hand and you have a free mind, say it and especially as I think you have some experience [in your work]…
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me… This is what all the monks in the Holy Mountain say. So when we do something physical or when we go to work together somewhere, to peel potatoes: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” … You have time, and we say it by rotation.
And at the wheel, yes, necessarily say it, of course. I always recommend saying it while driving, good thing you reminded me. This helps a lot for illumination and to calm down and all that. Because otherwise you know very well that thoughts come, and God forbid! It does with us as if we are put in the laundry, makes stew out of us.
Pilgrim: We have a Pentecostal community that has been gaining momentum lately, we have to admit. So whatever you tell him that the holy light is coming to Jerusalem, about holy water… “No, it cannot be, it comes from someone else.” If an Orthodox Christian who is a little weaker, so to speak, has not been to church much, and he puts him in a delicate situation, he is asked the following question: “It is not good that you received baptism, because you were not fully aware. If you do not get baptized, you will not be saved.” So he corners him somehow, you know.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, but Protestants do not know or do not want to know Holy Scripture and all the Tradition of the Holy Fathers. So the Protestants appeared around 1500, when a monk who abandoned the cassock – Luther – married a nun who also abandoned the cassock and caused a scandal, he protested — hence the name Protestants. They protested against Catholics. It is true that some of Luther’s reasons for protesting were very valid, especially indulgences and so on. But the solution given by Luther —that is, “I will make my own church”— that is not…
It is the Church of Christ. First of all. Secondly, the Church is neither Luther’s nor the Bible’s. Because for Protestants it is the church of the Bible, meaning if it’s written in the Bible it is good, if it’s not written in the Bible it is not good. Well, it’s not like that. The Church is not of the Bible, because the Bible is also a product of Holy Tradition. The Bible, the New Testament appeared after 300 and something years, it stabilized 300+ years from the events, from the Savior, if you will. So the Bible… the Savior – God – did not come and throw it out of the helicopter: “Here, take it!” So the Bible is the product of several authors who knew each other more or less, written at different time intervals – Well, almost all of them were in the 1st century approximately, and the canon of the New Testament settled in time – it varied brethren – and the last books appeared quite late.
Pilgrim: They say they are from the beginning.
Fr. Theologos: No way! They should read the history of the Church. How had the Church lived until then? And I don’t understand, until Luther there was no Church?!
Pilgrim: And they do not respect the Mother of God either.
Fr. Theologos: Obviously. So they have a lot of nonsense. Do you understand? And with regard to baptism and with regard to being aware, even at 33 years old they are not aware, and no one is actually aware. Because in fact, what do you want? You want salvation, you want eternal life. Who is aware? Who has the experience of heaven? St. Seraphim of Sarov, or, two, three saints, you can count them on your fingers. They are aware.
From there on you say yes, I want to be saved, but you are not aware of what this salvation means. Or you say — I want the grace of the Holy Spirit. Well, since you are not baptized it means that you do not have it, as they say. And if you don’t have it, how are you aware of what it is? Like saying to a blind person, “Do you want to see the green light?” And he says, “I don’t want to because I’m not aware.” That’s the idea kind of. Do you understand? It’s called a recursive trap, catch 22. So it is totally beside the point what they say about not being fully aware, because even at 33 years old you are not aware, and even at 80 years old you are not aware. You are partially aware when you are a saint, you are much more aware the moment you die and go to Heaven. Then you are aware.
Pilgrim: And you can be aware only by the mercy of God.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, and especially because God’s mercy must be very great. Do you understand? They take God’s place and judge… That is another heresy of theirs, predestination. It’s another folly of theirs, because they actually put themselves in God’s place. So on one hand, they are the church of the Bible, and in fact they are not even the church of the Bible, because they are the church of themselves. That is, he is God, and he says, “You are saved, you are not saved…” I mean, brethren, let’s be serious.
Let’s go, it’s meal time! Ask one last question! Or two questions?
Pilgrim: Is seafood eaten in fasts?
Fr. Theologos: It is eaten in fasts of course because seafood is a fasting food. You should know that the difference is… So non-fasting foods are foods with blood. St. James speaks on this subject in the New Testament. St. James who was the first Archbishop of Jerusalem, brethren! So we aren’t playing around. Great, great saint, relative of the Lord. And there he says to abstain from blood, from things strangled. So it is through concession that we eat non-fasting foods that have blood in them.
Seafood, because it doesn’t have blood, is fasting-friendly. It’s true that they are very tasty and so it would be good to have them on a feast or sometime… but they are fasting-friendly.
Pilgrim: Someone said that only on the Holy Mountain they are allowed, not…
Fr. Theologos: Brother, so I have relationships throughout the entire Greek-speaking and English-speaking Church and all Tradition. No such thing. Give me a patristic quote. Now I relied on Holy Scripture, the New Testament. These are all kinds of appearances that, thanks to communism, everyone makes, as I said, his own church. But [in this case] it’s not the church of the Bible, it’s the church of Mrs. Flower, and Mrs. I don’t know which, and so on. It’s not true, it’s not so. The Holy Fathers are needed, and the Holy Fathers say what I say. So it’s not just in the Holy Mountain. How [could it]?
Pilgrim: I also have a question. What advice do you give us to attract more youth or children to church? It is already a problem…
Fr. Theologos: I know, that’s where I started the discussion. …
Pilgrim: Stop the TikTok.
Fr. Theologos: Yes, stop the TikTok…
Pilgrim: And have the family application so that you can see what the child is looking at and turn off the phone.
Fr. Theologos: No. Personal example. You have to sit with him, you sit with him and give him your love, you give him your love. Yes, ok you need to cut off TikTok, for sure, but what do you put in its place? Personal example. You have to be a personal example and you have to give him time. You can’t fight with… so this science of bodily pleasure – speaking of dopamine and so on – they know it to the millimeter. No one can fight that. This is a very powerful form of drug. I would argue that it is the most powerful weapon on this earth. You will not be able to fight this without the good God on your side and you as a person.
Only the complexity and beauty of personal, interpersonal love is above the screen. Otherwise he is the slave of the screen. He no longer worships God, he worships the screen. He does this thing continuously.
Pilgrim: The more often we take children to Holy Communion…
Fr. Theologos: That’s right and especially, sit with him and listen to him. You have to listen to your children, but when I say listen to your children, I’m not saying you have to do what they want. No, they must do your will, because you have life experience, but you must necessarily hear what needs he has. “What needs do you have? What can I help you with?” Don’t say “What do you want?” Because if you say to him, “What do you want?” you rile him up for his wants. “What do you need?” Alright? So that he sees that you support him, that you are with him. If you’re not with him, you’ve lost him, because ok, you cut off his TikTok, but first of all you can’t cut out his cell phone. I know I’m saying something terrible today, you should be able to cut out his cell, but you can’t.
Pilgrim: Give it to him after 18 years…
Fr. Theologos: May the good God make it so! Steve Jobs did that.
Pilgrim: Last question, so faith and salvation must be lived…
Fr. Theologos: Yes, so Orthodoxy is experience, it is therapeutic experience. And as I said, personal example, because just with words, it does not work… One last thing and after that I really have to go.
There was and still is a great, great theologian in Romania, one of the most brilliant minds, I will not say who because he is still alive. And he was on a train and was going from Bucharest to somewhere in Transylvania, it doesn’t matter where. For hours… He was not on the express [train] but on a [slower] one.
And brethren, he does not only have a super-brilliant mind, but he was, and is, a traveling Encyclopedia with a capital “E”. At some point, as he was sitting alone in the compartment, a Protestant enters and, not knowing who is in front of him, he begins to emit his drivel… Brethren, this theologian crushed him, chopped him up. He trashed him, from the Holy Fathers, from history, from philology, from biblical archaeology… The other couldn’t even take a breath anymore. For hours, and hours and hours… he was like a fish on dry land, no sound came out.
After I don’t know how many hours of tirade and so on (because there was nothing the Protestant could say), the Protestant wants to get off, and when he gets off, he turns to this great theologian – because he has indeed written many books – he turns and says, “You should know that I’m still right!” Do you understand, brethren? If there is no personal example, if there is no prayer, you can fire a cannon. It does not work.
Pilgrim: Do we risk losing our children who go abroad to prestigious schools?
Fr. Theologos: Yes, you risk losing them. If they go, they need Orthodoxy, they need the Church, they need the therapy! Alright. Please forgive me!
Pilgrims: Thank you very much!
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