Give 100 percent of yourself to God to receive the same amount and more from Him

 

Give 100 percent of yourself to God to receive the same amount and more from Him

Hieromonk Anastasios (Topouzis) from Koutloumousiou Monastery:

 

Mt. Athos—a garden of the Theotokos—is a very important part of the earth, on which by the grace of God prayer is performed every day under the Protection of the Theotokos. And here the practice that we call hesychasm continues and develops.

But this mysterious life of the Spirit is open not only to those who reside on Holy Mount Athos. As we know, in physics, there are communicating vessels. If we pour water into one vessel, in all the vessels the liquid level will be the same. This is exactly what happens in the Church.

 

Christ does not give us the Spirit according to our capacities. It’s only up to us. Each of us receives exactly as much as he is willing to give. How much do you devote your life to Christ? Do you devote seventy percent to yourself and only thirty percent to Christ? This means that you will receive thirty percent in return and you have lost seventy percent! This percentage shows, tentatively speaking, the degree of genuine monastic life of each of us on Mt. Athos. Because Mt. Athos is not about geography—it is about a state of the heart. You need to give all 100 percent of yourself to God to receive 100 percent of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Only in this case, when we run out everything that this world can give us and we completely exhaust our strength in the podvig of the service of love, will we have the chance to put our hand into God’s pocket and take what we need.

 

I wish all of us, through the prayers of our Most Holy Theotokos and the saints who lived in the hesychast tradition, to attain the state in which we can give ourselves to Christ totally and receive accordingly. Christos Anesti!

 

Prepared by Olga Orlova

Translated from the Russian version by Dmitry Lapa

 

Pravoslavie.ru

 

7/19/2021