A New Year's Blessing from Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra

The Adoration of the Magi (source)

  
"My brethren, I wish that the new year will be full of joy and happiness. I wish you many years. Many years, that your joy may increase along with your happiness. Many years that will bring to you and to your families the good things of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of the Patriarchs, the Prophets, of the Saints. May all good things come to your village, to your city and to your homes. I know that you are a people beloved by God. Many years, therefore, that we might say, as our Megalynarion says: 'Magnify my soul, Basil, the Great one among the Hierarchs', for he gave us an experience of God that has held fast in our lives. You open the heavens, O Basil, and revealer of heavenly things, and reveal to us that God has descended from there and has come among us."
-Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra (+2019)

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St. Basil the Great (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Porphyrios: A Gift from God to Humanity

St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia (source)

  
St. Porphyrios: A Gift from God to Humanity
"St. Porphyrios is a gift from God to humanity, to an age very tired and burdened.
We still have not come to understand what Porphyrios means. He was greatly ahead of his time, ahead of the perceptions and attitudes of many within the Church.
In St. Porphyrios, you do not find "do" and "don't"***, forcing and angst, extremes and exaggerations. You will not find cheap and shallow explanations.
There is not shame nor threats, nor fear and misery. His teaching is full of Christ, light, joy and freedom.
  
"An Athonite Abbot told me: "My Father, you find one like Porphyrios every 1000 years or so...a great gift from God..."
Another monk, exhausted and crushed by strict and rigid canons, told me: 'With St. Porphyrios, I found rest. I found Christ, freedom, I found myself...Believe me, Father, for two years I do not allow anything within my nous other than the Gospel, the Gerontikon, and the words of St. Porphyrios. And I am happy..."
However, the great Porphyrios was a simple little Elder. A little priest who wouldn't even catch your attention. You would likely pass by him with indifference. You would not see him "selling" holiness.
  
"Because holiness is simplicity, humility, immediacy, it does not ring bells and does not shine windows, it is not sold in the markets, like another honored Athonite Father says.
Elder Porphyrios did not call anyone to him; he did not burden or force anyone. He let you come to him, to want him and to desire him. He did not have any manic "catechism", no angst to show off something; he was free. He did not preach himself, but his life spoke!!!

"He gave to you when you were ready. He opened your eyes to look on Heaven when you were ready to see, with discernment, simply, beautifully. Together with him was your being, your uniqueness, and thus he helped you to breathe deeply, to become beautiful and magnificent, to become that which you always were but had forgotten."
-Quote of Fr. Livios on St. Porphyrios
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***Note: St. Porphyrios did routinely emphasize the need for asceticism (see examples here and here), and did not justify sin. The author however is highlighting how the Saint focused on inspiring the love of Christ within people, and that this would transform the rest, helping to transform their lives.
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

 

St. Ambrose of Optina: "A continuously happy life produces extremely unhappy consequences..."

St. Ambrose of Optina (source)

  
“A continuously happy life produces extremely unhappy consequences. In nature we see that there are not always pleasant springs and fruitful summers, and sometimes autumn is rainy and winter cold and snowy, and there is flooding and wind and storms, and moreover the crops fail and there are famine, troubles, sicknesses and many other misfortunes. All of this is beneficial so that man might learn through prudence, patience and humility. For the most part, in times of plenty he forgets himself, but in times of various sorrows he becomes more attentive to his salvation.”
-St. Ambrose of Optina
 
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Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Nektarios the Wonderworker on Seeking Happiness

St. Nektarios the Wonderworker (source)

  
“How mistaken are those people who seek happiness outside of themselves, in foreign lands and journeys, in riches and glory, in great possessions and pleasures, in diversions and vain things, which have a bitter end! In the same [way,] to construct the tower of happiness outside of ourselves as it is to build a house in a place that is consistently shaken by earthquakes. Happiness is found within ourselves, and blessed is the man who has understood this. Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the throne of God. Thus says Christ of those who have pure hearts: “I will visit them, and will walk in them, and I will be a God to them, and they will be my people.” (II Cor. 6:16) What can be lacking to them? Nothing, nothing at all! For they have the greatest good in their hearts: God Himself!”
— St. Nektarios of Aegina, Path to Happiness, 1
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Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!