Philokalia Ministries

Father David Abernethy
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Philokalia Ministries is the fruit of 30 years spent at the feet of the Fathers of the Church. Led by Father David Abernethy, Philokalia (Philo: Love of the Kalia: Beautiful) Ministries exists to re-form hearts and minds according to the mold of the Desert Fathers through the ascetic life, the example of the early Saints, the way of stillness, prayer, and purity of heart, the practice of the Jesus Prayer, and spiritual reading. Those who are involved in Philokalia Ministries - the podcasts, videos, social media posts, spiritual direction and online groups - are exposed to writings that make up the ancient, shared spiritual heritage of East and West: The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint Augustine, the Philokalia, the Conferences of Saint John Cassian, the Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, and the Evergetinos. In addition to these, more recent authors and writings, which draw deeply from the well of the desert, are read and discussed: Lorenzo Scupoli, Saint Theophan the Recluse, anonymous writings from Mount Athos, the Cloud of Unknowing, Saint John of the Cross, Thomas a Kempis, and many more. Philokalia Ministries is offered to all, free of charge. However, there are real and immediate needs associated with it. You can support Philokalia Ministries with one-time, or recurring monthly donations, which are most appreciated. Your support truly makes this ministry possible. May Almighty God, who created you and fashioned you in His own Divine Image, restore you through His grace and make of you a true icon of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  1. 3D AGO

    The Evergetinos: Book Two - Chapter XLIX, Part IV and XL, Part I

    There is a form of speech that wears the mask of righteousness and yet is born entirely of death. The Fathers tear this mask from our face. Mariam spoke what was true and was struck with leprosy. Truth did not save her. Because truth, when mixed with accusation, becomes poison. This is the terror. You may be right. You may see clearly. You may even discern accurately the fault of another. And still be condemned. Because the issue is not correctness. The issue is the heart. The Fathers do not ask “Was it true?” They ask “Why did you speak?” ⸻ The soul that delights in exposing another is already diseased. And God, in His terrible mercy, sometimes makes visible what is hidden. Mariam’s flesh became white with corruption because her heart had already been corrupted. Her body told the truth that her tongue had concealed. The outward man became a mirror of the inward. This is the judgment of God. Not punishment as we imagine it but revelation. The hidden made visible. The secret made undeniable. ⸻ You think your words are small. A single remark. A passing judgment. A quiet disclosure. But the Fathers say this is not small. This is participation in the fall itself. The serpent did not strike Eve with violence. He spoke. And she listened. Calumny is not merely speech. It is communion with the serpent. ⸻ And yet the Fathers do not leave us in silence. They show a path but it is narrow and almost unbearable. To speak of another’s sin may be necessary. But only under obedience. Only for healing. Only without passion. Only as one who trembles. Anything else is self-deception. Even the desire to justify yourself to prove that you spoke “out of love” is already corruption. Why do you need to be seen as righteous? Why do you need to be understood? This too is vainglory. ⸻ The true man of God hides himself. If he must speak he speaks as an instrument not as a judge. If he sins he condemns himself first. If he wounds another he falls before him and confesses without excuse. If the other does not know he remains silent and weeps before God alone. He does not “clarify.” He does not “explain.” He does not protect his image. Because he has renounced himself. ⸻ The Fathers reveal something we do not want to see. We do not speak to heal. We speak to elevate ourselves. Even our “discernment” is often nothing more than refined pride. We divide the Body of Christ and call it righteousness. We expose our brother and call it truth. We poison love and call it zeal. ⸻ But look at Mariam. Separated from her brother her own body became divided. Her flesh turned against her because her heart had turned against another. Division always returns to the one who creates it. This is the law of the spiritual life. ⸻ Life in Christ is not moral correctness. It is union. Union with God. Union with one another. And this union is so delicate so holy that even a single word spoken wrongly can tear it. ⸻ Therefore the Fathers cry out: Either rebuke with tears and trembling under obedience and love or remain silent. There is no middle ground. Because the tongue reveals the heart. And the heart will be judged. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:26 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 370 00:11:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/the-fire-that-remains 00:13:05 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 370, first paragraph 00:14:20 Jessica McHale: Sounds great! 00:28:01 Una: "It was like something you read in the newspaper," said Brendan Gleeson. Boom! LIke a Flannery O'Connor story (The Misfit). 00:31:58 jonathan: How do you bear the weight of the worlds sadness. I used to justify my detachment, by saying that if i had to 'consume' all the sadness and evil in the world, it would ruin me.  I cannot imagine how anyone could bear psychologically, the weight of the worlds evil. It would break the average man. 00:37:56 Forrest: What sadness do we know from natural means? Compared to unnatural (technological) means? When we detach from concentrated news feeds we are able to recognize the relationships close to us, and enter into THAT sadness, not the global world. 00:40:23 Lee Graham: Reacted to "What sadness do we k…" with ❤️ 00:40:54 Danny Moulton: In some sense sadness at a distance is safe sadness. 00:45:09 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 371, A 01:03:27 John ‘Jack’: Sounds like we are being told to be meek and humble of ❤️ 01:14:42 Jason Fischer: When we are judgmental in a critical or self righteous way, aren't we attempting to play God? 01:19:46 iPad (2): That is wonderful! Thank you Father! 01:19:49 Paul Grazal: Look forward to it. 01:20:08 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing to all 01:20:51 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:20:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:20:58 Jessica McHale: Thank You!!! Many, many, any Prayers! 01:20:59 jonathan: God bless you Fr 01:21:18 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father. 01:21:19 Paul Grazal: good nite

    1h 7m

  2. MAR 26

    The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VIII, Part II

    “A heart that is broken and humbled, God will not despise.” ⸻ A man begins in need. Not in strength. Not in clarity. Not in light. He begins in the knowledge that he cannot sustain himself. That something is lacking. That without help from above he will collapse inward upon his own poverty. So he prays. Not once, but many times. Not with ease, but with insistence. He multiplies prayers because he feels his need multiplying within him. And in this repetition something begins to happen that he did not plan. His heart is broken. Not by violence, but by truth. For no man can stand long in supplication without being humbled. To beg is already to descend. To entreat is already to abandon self-sufficiency. And so the heart, once scattered and wandering, begins to be gathered. Humility draws it inward. It ceases to roam because it has found its place. The low place. And there, suddenly, everything changes. Mercy encircles him. Not as an idea, not as a consolation imagined, but as a presence that moves within him. A quiet strength. An assurance not born of reasoning. He perceives that help has come. That Another is acting. That he is no longer alone within himself. And this perception gives birth to faith. He understands now what prayer is. Not words cast into the air. Not effort straining toward heaven. But refuge. Shelter. Light. A staff in weakness. A shield in battle. A harbor in the storm. Everything he sought elsewhere is found here, hidden within this turning of the heart toward God. Prayer is no longer something he does. It becomes something he enters. And then, without warning, it becomes joy. The labor ceases. The heaviness lifts. The tongue that once struggled now moves with ease, or falls silent altogether. For the heart itself has begun to pray. It overflows. It glistens with assurance. It burns with a quiet knowledge that cannot be spoken. And from this burning, thanksgiving erupts. Not as duty. Not as obligation. But as astonishment. The soul, seized by the nearness of God, cannot contain itself. It bows, it trembles, it gives thanks. Sometimes in silence. Sometimes with a cry. Sometimes with a whisper that is more flame than sound. This is the prayer that is given. Not achieved. Not mastered. Given. And here the Christian life is revealed for what it truly is. Not discipline alone. Not struggle alone. But joy. A joy that is born only in the humbled heart. A joy that the world does not know. A joy that rises from the knowledge that God Himself has drawn near, and that all things are now held within Him. If you would learn to pray, do not seek words. Descend. Let your heart be broken. Remain there. And you will find that prayer is already waiting for you, not as effort, but as fire, as refuge, as joy that sends up thanksgiving without end. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:18 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 185 paragraph 2 00:13:05 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 185 paragraph 2 00:14:16 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 185 paragraph 2 00:15:57 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 185, 2 00:18:24 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "P. 185, 2" with 👍🏼 00:28:09 Kathryn Rose: Mary as co-redemptrix 00:28:14 Eleana Urrego: Mary is the supplicant omnipotence. 00:31:36 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Mary as co-redemptri..." with ❤️ 00:32:03 Jessica McHale: i think a sign of deepenied relationship with God is that prayer become joyful. It's like checkiing in during the day with a spouse and coming home at night to spouse, waking up to a spouse. I see Issac's point about humbling, but it can be a joyful humbling and sign of great trust and love. 00:36:11 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "Mary as co-redemptri…" with ❤️ 00:43:38 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 186, #4, first paragraph 00:49:09 Kathryn Rose: Joyful /ecstatic prayer is like god praying within us rather then us praying to god 00:49:52 Maureen Cunningham: Treasury of assurance could say a little 00:50:01 Eleana Urrego: Pray is how my heart breaths 00:50:19 Kate: Is this joy something other than psychological joy?  A joy that is not necessarily felt on a psychological level? 00:55:19 John ‘Jack’: I’d recently spoken to a man (an unbeliever) ; who had a believer friend come to his fathers funeral, he said the freind had a joy about him that actually changed him more than anything else ever had before. 00:56:23 John ‘Jack’: Yes 00:56:38 Maureen Cunningham: Pearl of great price 00:56:47 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I’d recently spoken ..." with 😯 00:59:31 David Swiderski, WI: If you look back to the early church it was seeing love and joy that brought people to God. A spiritual director early in my life asked me "how many candles" have you lit for good things that have happened- getting a job, some blessing and how many asking for help for yourself or others. Love is rushing to share all good things with beloved as well as sharing our burdens. 01:00:59 Kathryn Rose: Yurodstvo is a Russian term for "holy foolishness" - becoming foolish for God 01:02:08 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "Yurodstvo is a Russi..." with ❤️ 01:02:47 John ‘Jack’: Was just thinking today how so many of us will question why this “bad thing” happens, yet if we count them against our many blessings (which we often do not) it’s insignificant, just uncomfortable for us, so don’t like it. 01:05:37 Joan Chakonas: From My 51 years in the secular world I can attest to a zero apprehension of life with Christ; it is really hard to describe. But upon my first communion in 2012 it literally radically changed my life.  Overnight I felt the Eucharist and I became a daily communicant.  A completely different life ever since. 01:06:10 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "From My 51 years in …" with ❤️ 01:06:12 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "From My 51 years in ..." with ❤️ 01:12:03 Kathryn Rose: I am learning how to pray different psalters, which I'm finding is a completely different than regular prayer. What is the purpose of psalter? 01:14:57 David Swiderski, WI: It helped me to understand the psalms a simple book Psalm basics for Catholics really helped me by John Bergsma. They are grouped. The book can be understood for kids as well. 01:14:58 John ‘Jack’: That’s the one I use, every day 01:15:24 Anna: Praying Psalter for a single night discussion 01:16:41 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You 01:17:16 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:17:20 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:17:27 Art: Thank you Father! 01:17:34 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you father, may God bless you, your mother and this group. 01:17:47 Anna: Lol 01:17:47 John ‘Jack’: I love a copy please! 01:17:50 Anna: 😂 01:17:51 Andrew Adams: Lol 01:17:56 Paul Grazal: too funny 01:17:58 Eleana Urrego: me 2 please 01:18:05 Anna: Amazon 01:18:18 Anna: What's the book? 01:18:28 Jesssica Imanaka: God Bless you Father and everyone! See you in teh Summer! 01:18:50 Andrew Adams: Should we send addresses if we haven’t already? I didn’t realize we were that far along. 01:18:53 Eleana Urrego: I dont mind please 01:19:34 Paul Grazal: Thank you Father ! 01:19:40 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father! 01:19:45 Eleana Urrego: how can I get a book? 01:19:47 jonathan: God bless you father

    1h 3m

  3. MAR 26

    The Evergetinos: Book Two - Chapter XLIX, Part III

    You think sin begins when you speak. The Fathers say it begins when you listen.   The serpent did not force Eve. He spoke. She inclined her ear. And through that small opening, death entered the world.   You fear great sins because they are visible. But calumny is quiet. It asks only for your attention.   A word is offered. You do not resist. You do not rebuke. You do not turn away. You listen.   And in listening, you receive.   The Fathers do not soften this. They do not call it weakness. They call it destruction.   The one who speaks slander kills with his mouth. But the one who listens becomes his accomplice. The poison does not remain in the speaker. It passes into you. You carry it. You knead it into your heart. Soon you will speak it. And then you will call it discernment.   You say, “But it is true.” The Fathers answer: truth on the tongue of a demon is still poison.   The devil does not always lie. He mixes truth with venom. He sweetens the word so that you will swallow it. And once it is within you, it becomes bitterness.   This is why Christ refused even the true words of demons. This is why the Apostles closed their ears. Not because they feared lies. But because they knew how truth can be weaponized.   You do not understand the violence of this sin. You think it is speech. The Fathers say it is murder.   “Better to eat meat and drink wine than to eat the flesh of your brother.”   When you listen to calumny, you consume him. You strip him of dignity in your heart. You become incapable of seeing him as God sees him. And at that moment, you have already judged and condemned him.   Do not deceive yourself. Silence is not innocence if your ears are open.   A soldier may be covered in armor. But a single opening is enough for death.   Your ear is that opening.   You guard your body from impurity. You guard your tongue when it suits you. But your ears remain unguarded, curious, receptive.   You sit near the accuser. You nod. You take it in.   And you call this harmless.   The Fathers call it the fall of Adam repeated.   Close the door.   Do not negotiate. Do not linger. Do not taste the sweetness of another’s shame.   Flee the word before it enters. Cut it off before it forms within you. Refuse even the appearance of listening.   Better to be thought rude than to be found complicit in death.   Because once the word enters, it does not leave easily.   And if you allow it to remain, you will become what you have received.   The serpent no longer needs to speak. You will speak for him. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:02:34 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 368, G 00:17:18 Una: What is the email? 00:17:26 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "What is the email?" with 👍 00:17:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: philokaliaministries@gmail.com 00:21:24 Lee Graham: Please give me the name of Themes in Psychology 00:22:34 Jessica McHale: Replying to "Please give me the..." Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology: Humility, Obedience, Repentence, and Love 00:28:32 Lee Graham: Replying to "Please give me the n…" Thank you 00:34:06 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 368, H 00:55:21 Jason Fischer: When you speak of silence, would that include meditation 00:56:49 Joan Chakonas: Even dark truth expressed in calumny is better left to God to handle.  Nothing good comes  from evil spoken or in fact. 01:01:10 Jonathan Grobler: We're do we draw the line between calumny, and informing the church of someone's grave sin. Paul told us to not to talk about people's venial sins, but if we see someone committing sin that leads to death, to first talk to them in private, and if they do not wish to listen, to then escalate it to the church. 01:18:35 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You always a blessing. The Blog was wonderful. Blessing 01:18:55 Lee Graham: Thank you since I missed last week 01:19:05 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Thank you, Father. Have a good night. 01:19:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:20:06 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you!

    1 hr

  4. MAR 23

    The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VII, Part III and VIII, Part I

    After speaking in broad and sometimes severe lines about the struggle of the spiritual life, the holy elder begins to lower his voice. He does not abandon the path he has shown. He reveals what makes it possible to walk it. Not strength. Not resolve. Not mastery. But hope and humility. He speaks first of hope, not as an idea, but as a living trust in the providence of God. A man begins to see that his life is not held together by his own vigilance. There are moments he does not see, dangers he cannot anticipate, falls he cannot prevent. And yet he is preserved. A stone is about to fall. A wall begins to give way. Death itself draws near without warning. And still, God restrains it. Or quietly leads the man away. Or even permits the blow, yet removes its power to destroy. The heart that begins to perceive this does not become careless. It becomes peaceful. Hope is born when a man sees that his life is already in the hands of Another. This hope does not belong to the negligent or the indifferent. It is not given to one who abandons effort, but to one who labors and yet ceases to trust in his labor. He still acts, still watches, still struggles, but inwardly he has shifted his ground. He no longer leans upon his own understanding. He leans upon God. And from this, a strange boldness arises. Not presumption. Not testing God. But a quiet fearlessness. The soul begins to move through the world without the same anxious calculation, because it knows that even what it cannot foresee is already known. God becomes his constant concern. And so God becomes his constant care. ⸻ Then the elder turns, even more gently, to humility. He does not begin with virtue. He begins with weakness. “Blessed is the man who knows his own weakness.” Not the man who despises himself. Not the man who speaks harshly of himself. But the one who sees. This knowledge does not come through reflection alone. It is given. A man is allowed to be tempted. He struggles. He plans. He guards himself. He tries to secure peace through effort, discipline, vigilance. And yet he finds no rest. Fear remains. Trembling remains. The heart refuses to be stilled. Then, quietly, something is revealed. Not his failure, but his need. The soul begins to understand that no arrangement of its own can give it the certainty it seeks. All its hedging about, all its carefulness, all its ascetic labor—these are not enough to establish peace. And this is not a condemnation. It is a gift. Because at that moment, the heart turns. It begins to seek another help. A help that is not its own. A help that saves. Humility is born here, not as an achievement, but as a recognition. The man sees the distance between his weakness and God’s strength, and in that seeing, he no longer trusts himself in the same way. He becomes watchful, not out of anxiety, but out of truth. He gathers himself inwardly, not out of fear, but out of clarity. He knows now that without God, he cannot stand. And with God, he does not need to be afraid. ⸻ Thus hope and humility meet. Hope says: God holds my life, even when I do not see how. Humility says: I cannot hold my life on my own. And together they open the path. Not a path of certainty as the world understands it. Not a path of control or self-assurance. But a path of quiet reliance. A man begins to walk it when he entrusts himself—again and again, in small and hidden ways—to the One who has already been carrying him all along. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:14:25 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 183, #6, last paragraph 00:15:15 Janine: That’s a great book! Watchful mind 00:15:31 Bob Čihák, AZ: I'll take one! 00:15:54 Alan Henderson: I came in late, which books is he offering to give? 00:16:28 Art iPhone: The Watchful Mind was one . 00:16:29 Wayne: Already have a copy. 00:18:37 Andrew Adams: I’d be interested in both 00:18:44 Jessica McHale: Would love copies! 00:18:48 Maureen Cunningham: Wonderful a yes from  Ken and I 00:19:03 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 183, #6, last paragraph 00:19:44 Ursula McKenzie: I'd like both! Ursula 00:32:18 Ryan Ngeve: Father how far can one go with his ‘daring’ before it is considered ‘testing the Lord’ 00:35:17 Gwen’s iPhone: I always been the told the ultimate way to tempt God is to commit suicide. 00:37:42 John ‘Jack’: I sometimes wonder if the reason I don’t feel anxious very often is that I’ve created a life for myself wherein I don’t venture into “uncomfortable” or unknown situations.  I’ve expressed this concern to others before and they assure me I don’t “play it safe” in this regard. I just hope they’re being truthful and not just kind.  I dealt with anxiety often in my younger days. 00:37:59 Anna: It's also caused by medications or medical issues that are not related to psychology or satanic. 00:42:34 Maureen Cunningham: What you said a few  Wen. Ago about abuse that a person 00:42:56 Maureen Cunningham: Suffers one thing after another. 00:45:03 Erick Chastain: God seems to use difficult circumstances and anxiety-provoking situations to systematically destroy our self-reliance. Especially when we try to solve the situations as st isaac says, when we try to do so naturally in part. 00:45:25 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "God seems to use d..." with 👍 00:45:26 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "I sometimes wonder i…" with 👍 00:55:36 Ben: Isaac himself lost his sight, didn't he? Did it literally happen to him, I wonder, what the psalm says? 01:10:23 Jesssica Imanaka: Speaking of this surety in religious life, I need to hop off to attend Vespers now! 01:10:29 Ryan Ngeve: Father is it possible for watchfulness to lead to a type of self-absorption? If so, how and how does one overcome it. 01:18:31 John ‘Jack’: Likewise 01:18:32 Julie: Thank you Father 01:18:34 Paul Grazal: wonderful !  getting through loud and clear Father 01:18:41 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You  everyone  Blessing Father so thankful for your teachings 01:18:41 Kevin Burke: Amen! 01:18:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father may God bless you, your mother and this group. 01:19:22 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father! 01:19:24 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:19:32 Francisco Ingham: Thank you father! 01:20:03 Maureen Cunningham: Just tell me how much to send and were 01:20:07 Andrew Adams: Sign me up 01:20:11 Rod Castillo: Please count me in for both books 01:20:11 Jessica McHale: You are such a blessing!!!! Thank you! Many prayers! 01:20:12 Kevin Burke: Watchful mind!

    1h 2m

  5. MAR 16

    Lenten Retreat: The Dismantling of the Religious Self, Session Four

    Lenten Retreat 2026 Fourth Reflection The Man Who Has Nothing Left But God On the Life That Appears When the Self That Lived Has Died “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20 There comes a moment that the man cannot perceive directly, because the one who would perceive it is no longer there. He has passed through the loss of support. He has passed through the disappearance of certainty. He has passed through the collapse of identity. He has passed through the experience of abandonment in which he could no longer locate himself in relation to God or even in relation to himself. He has stood where nothing remained to sustain the sense that he existed. He did not cross this threshold through effort. He did not achieve it through discipline. He did not arrive there through understanding. He arrived there because everything he used to sustain himself had been taken. And he did not die. This is the first revelation. He did not die. The self he knew has disappeared. The structure that allowed him to experience continuity has dissolved. The identity he inhabited cannot be recovered. And yet he remains. But he does not remain as he was. Before this, he experienced himself as existing from himself. Even in humility. Even in repentance. Even in dependence on God, he remained the one who depended. He remained the center from which his life was lived. Now this center cannot be found. 1 He cannot locate himself as the source of his own existence. He cannot experience himself as self originating. He exists. But not from himself. The Psalmist speaks from within this mystery when he says, “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 62:8 Before this, the man believed he clung to God. He believed his faith held him in relation to God. He believed his perseverance sustained his life. Now he sees that even his clinging was sustained. He sees that he has never lived by his own strength. He sees that he has never possessed life in himself. St. Symeon the New Theologian writes that when grace reveals itself fully, the soul sees that it has always existed by borrowed life. Not poetic life. Actual life. The man now experiences himself as upheld. Not helped. Upheld. This produces a peace that cannot be explained to the man who still lives from himself. Because the man who lives from himself must constantly preserve himself. He must maintain continuity. He must protect identity. 2 He must secure stability. He must ensure that he continues. Fear is inseparable from this condition. Fear of loss. Fear of failure. Fear of death. Fear of disappearance. But the man who no longer lives from himself cannot preserve himself. Because he no longer possesses himself. Christ says, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25 This finding is not recovery. It is discovery. The discovery that life was never his. The discovery that existence belongs to God. St. Isaac the Syrian writes that the man who has come to know his nothingness has come to know the truth of his existence. Nothingness does not mean nonexistence. It means the absence of autonomous existence. The man exists entirely in God. St. Paul says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 Before this, these words were believed. Now they are known. 3 Not as thought. As being. The man no longer moves toward God. He moves in Him. He no longer depends on God as one thing depends on another. He exists as one upheld from within. Christ says, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” John 15:4 This abiding is not effort. It is the end of resistance. The man no longer attempts to ground himself. He no longer attempts to preserve himself. He no longer attempts to exist from himself. These movements have ended. Because the one who performed them has died. St. Silouan the Athonite writes that the soul that has come to know God through the Holy Spirit no longer fears anything. This fearlessness does not arise from strength. It arises from dispossession. Nothing remains to be protected. Nothing remains to be preserved. Nothing remains to be secured. The man exists. 4 But he does not belong to himself. St. Sophrony writes that the human person becomes fully real only when he ceases to exist as an autonomous center. Autonomy is the consequence of separation from God. Communion is the restoration of life. The man who lives in communion no longer experiences himself as isolated existence. He experiences himself as relation. Relation becomes the ground of his being. This does not remove suffering. It removes separation. The man still suffers. He still experiences uncertainty. He still experiences weakness. But these no longer threaten his existence. Because his existence is no longer located where suffering occurs. Christ says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The Kingdom belongs to those who possess nothing. Because possession creates separation. The man who possesses nothing exists without separation. St. John the Baptist expresses this final truth with terrifying clarity. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 This decrease is not moral humility. 5 It is ontological disappearance. The self that lived apart from God has ended. What remains is life. Not his life. God’s life. St. Paul writes, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3 Hidden. Not visible. Not possessed. Hidden. The man no longer experiences himself as possessing life. He experiences life as possessing him. This is resurrection. Not after death. Now. The man who has nothing left but God discovers that he has lost nothing. Because nothing he lost was life. And what remains cannot be lost. Because it is God Himself. And there is no one left to live apart from Him. ⸻ 6 This life does not appear as triumph. It appears as quiet. It appears as simplicity. It appears as the absence of self concern. Because the one who was concerned for himself has died. Christ says, “Do not be anxious about your life.” Matthew 6:25 This command is impossible for the man who lives from himself. Because he must preserve himself. He must anticipate loss. He must guard against death. But the man who no longer lives from himself has nothing to guard. Nothing to preserve. Nothing to secure. His life is no longer his responsibility. It is God’s. St. Peter speaks this truth plainly, “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 Not as comfort. As ontology. The man no longer carries himself. He is carried. 7 St. Silouan writes that when the soul comes to know this life, it desires nothing else. Even suffering cannot remove its peace, because its life is no longer located in what suffers. The body may weaken. The mind may grow silent. The world may collapse. But the life remains. Because it is not created life. It is participation in uncreated life. Christ says, “Because I live, you will live also.” John 14:19 Not because you are strong. Not because you are faithful. Because I live. Archimandrite Sophrony writes that at this stage, man begins to live hypostatically. He exists no longer as an isolated psychological individual, but as a person whose being is rooted in the divine Person of Christ. This life is hidden even from the man himself. He cannot grasp it. He cannot analyze it. He cannot possess it. He can only live it. This is why the saints appear ordinary. They do not experience themselves as extraordinary. They experience themselves as nothing. 8 And precisely in this nothingness, God becomes everything. Abba Macarius said, “The man who has truly come to know himself sees himself as beneath all creation.” Not as metaphor. As reality. Because he no longer lives from himself. God alone lives in him. Archimandrite Zacharias writes that when this life appears, prayer becomes self acting. The heart continues in God without effort. The man no longer generates prayer. Prayer becomes the life of God within him. St. Paul speaks of this mystery, “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 Not we pray. The Spirit prays. The man has become the place where God lives. This is why fear disappears. Not because suffering ends. But because death has already occurred. The man has already lost himself. There is nothing left to lose. Christ says, “He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 11:25 This is not only future. It is present. 9 The man has died. And now lives. This life cannot be destroyed. Because it is not his. It is Christ. St. Ignatius of Antioch, walking toward martyrdom, said, “It is no longer I who live, but there is within me a living water that speaks and says, Come to the Father.” This is the voice of the life that remains. The life that appears when the self that lived has died. This is the final dismantling. The end of autonomy. The end of separation. The end of the illusion of self existence. And the beginning of life. The man who has nothing left but God discovers that God is everything. And that this is enough. And that it has always been enough. And that there is no one left to live apart from Him. 10 --- Text of chat during the group: 00:02:25 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: From the dismantling of the religious ego there emerges first a profound poverty of heart. The man who once relied upon his virtues, his understanding, or his religious identity discovers that none of these can sustain him before God. What comes into being in this poverty is humility—not as an idea about oneself, but as a quiet truthfulness. The soul no longer needs to defend itself, justify itself, or measure its progress. Having seen its own weakness and the mercy of God, the heart become

    1h 50m

  6. MAR 16

    The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily VII, Part II

    “Faith has need of labors also, and confidence in God is the good witness of the conscience born of undergoing hardship for the virtues.” — St. Isaac the Syrian ⸻ There is a sobriety in St. Isaac’s teaching on hope that cuts through every illusion of easy religion. He will not allow hope to become sentiment, nor will he permit it to be reduced to a desperate cry uttered only when life begins to collapse. The man whose heart is buried in earthly concerns, he says, eats “dust with the serpent.” His life is absorbed by distraction, indulgence, and negligence toward God. Yet when affliction comes he suddenly raises his hands and declares: “I shall hope in God.” For Isaac this is not hope at all. It is self-deception. True hope does not arise magically in moments of crisis. It is born slowly through a relationship with God cultivated over time through labor, repentance, and love. The soul that hopes in God has already spent itself for Him. It has struggled to keep His commandments. It has endured hardship for the sake of virtue. Hope therefore becomes the quiet testimony of a conscience that knows it has been walking with God. Faith without such labor is like grasping the wind. One cannot claim confidence in God while living carelessly before Him. Hope grows only in the soil of a life turned toward God with sincerity and effort. Yet Isaac’s realism never becomes harsh. Even as he exposes the foolishness of a man who suddenly invokes God in the midst of self-inflicted trouble, he does not deny the mystery of divine mercy. God remains long-suffering. Even the negligent are often protected by a providence they scarcely notice. A traveler may unknowingly pass through danger — a wild beast, a murderer, a serpent hidden in the road — and yet be preserved by circumstances quietly arranged by God. This preservation is not a reward. It is mercy. In this way Isaac draws the reader into a profoundly relational vision of faith. God is not a mechanism to be activated in moments of distress. Nor is hope a formula that guarantees relief. Rather, hope grows within a living relationship between the human heart and the God who desires that heart. God seeks us patiently. But hope becomes real only when we begin to seek Him in return. Thus Isaac leads the soul away from both presumption and despair. He calls us to a hope that is sober, honest, and deeply human — a hope born not from passivity but from love. The one who labors for God, who sweats in His husbandry, who struggles to keep faith even in weakness, gradually discovers that confidence in God begins to take root within him. Hope then becomes something quiet and strong. Not a cry of desperation. But the steady trust of a heart that has learned, through labor and repentance, to live before God. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:10:07 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 182, #3, first paragraph 00:19:03 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 182, #3, first paragraph 00:40:42 Jessica McHale: When I am very tired, and I pray Vespers or Compline, I sometimes move through the psalms with inattention and just moving through because I am so tired. At those times, is it better to give 2 lines of attention to God or push through all the psalms? I love praying the Hours, but when I am so tired after a long day (for a variety of reasons), it can be a challenge to really be with the Lord when praying. 00:41:27 Wayne: Reacted to "When I am very tired..." with 👍 00:43:47 Nypaver Clan: Page # ? 00:44:08 Jesssica Imanaka: 182 00:44:12 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Page # ?" 182 00:44:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "182" with ❤️ 00:44:30 Myles Davidson: Replying to "Page # ?" About to start last paragraph 00:48:55 John ‘Jack’: I’m often taken how we/one can say “ how can a good God let these bad things happen” yet we spend minimal time in prayer worship. Why would we expect blessings of a relational love of God when we don’t show him love. 00:48:56 Ryan Ngeve: Father, isn’t the very act of toiling for God an act of hope itself? 01:03:31 David Swiderski, WI: I have been trying to follow the Kathisma which I like for Matins but to be honest the vespers with the daily repeat of 18 feels tiresome for some reason. Just wondering why the matins changes each day but the vespers only has the same group over and over. 01:07:00 Jessica McHale: I use a Melkite breviary and the Kathisma for vespers does change. Orthros is very long. It's been great for me to get to know the psalms much more by following the Kathisma. 01:08:59 Myles Davidson: Th 1962 Breviary and previous in the Latin rite work on a weekly cycle 01:10:10 Joan Chakonas: I find consolation in reminding myself, when annoyed by something as mundane as being stuck behind a school bus, that its Gods will that I am stuck behind the school bus at this moment.  My annoyance evaporates and This gift from God is like gold to me.  His will is something I’ve been focusing on this Lent-it is so consoling to keep this in mind . 01:10:57 ROBERT IAROPOLI: Reacted to "I find consolation..." with ❤️ 01:13:08 Jesssica Imanaka: Reacted to "I find consolation i..." with ❤️ 01:13:09 Eleana Urrego: Reacted to "I find consolation i..." with 👍🏼 01:13:26 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "I find consolation i…" with ❤️ 01:13:33 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I find consolation..." with ❤️ 01:13:36 Ben: Reacted to "I find consolation i..." with ❤️ 01:14:37 Ben: Anna: Is it helpful to do penance for all the sins we would have commit but God saved us from? 01:16:44 Fr Martin, Arizona: I still today have seen God rescue people as Isaac says. Trust God. On my way to Pittsburgh my connecting flight arrived late, I still prayed and went to the gate. The plane to Pittsburgh had boarded, closed the door, and the clerk called inside the plane and told them to open the door and let me on. I've never seen that before. I've sometimes been frustrated by being delayed to find out that God had a reason for my delay. Even delays build my faith and trust in God. 01:19:10 David Swiderski, WI: Every day, a farmer relied on his horse to work his fields. One day, the horse ran away. The villagers said, “Such bad luck,” but the farmer replied, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?” Weeks later, the horse returned with a herd of nine more. The villagers cheered his “good luck,” but he gave the same calm reply. Later, the farmer’s son tried to tame one of the new horses, fell, and broke his leg. Again the villagers lamented the “bad luck,” and again the farmer said, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?” A month later, the army came through town, conscripting every able-bodied young man. Seeing the son’s broken leg, they passed him by. The villagers celebrated the farmer’s “good luck,” but he simply repeated, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?” 01:19:28 David Swiderski, WI: My Uncle used to tell me this story when I was young I still remember it fondly 01:20:12 Elizabeth Richards: Reacted to "My Uncle used to tel..." with ❤️ 01:20:24 Julie: Reacted to "Every day, a farmer …" with ❤️ 01:20:32 John ‘Jack’: Reacted to "Every day, a farmer …" with ❤️ 01:20:36 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "My Uncle used to tel..." with ❤️ 01:20:53 Catherine Opie: Yes if I get frustrated or anxious that my plans will not come to fruition I am missing all the gifts God is offering me in the moment. 01:22:58 Maureen Cunningham: Lord’s Blessing to all . Thank You Father 01:23:11 Janine: Thank you Father! 01:23:43 David Swiderski, WI: Thank you Father, may God bless you your mother and this group. 01:23:44 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:23:52 Joan Chakonas: Thank you Father 01:23:53 Elizabeth Richards: Amen- peace to you Father 01:23:54 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father 01:23:56 Jessica McHale: Thank you!!! Many prayers!

    1h 5m

  7. MAR 10

    The Evergetinos: Book Two - Chapter XLIX, Part II

    A brother said to an elder, “Father, what is calumny?” The elder said, “Death.” The brother was troubled. “I did not strike anyone.” The elder said, “You struck your brother with your tongue.” Silence fell between them. The elder continued, “A man may fast. He may keep vigil. He may pray the Psalms all night. But if he speaks against his brother, he destroys everything.” The brother asked, “Even if what he says is true?” The elder said, “Truth spoken without love is a knife.” The brother lowered his head. “What then is condemnation?” The elder replied, “When a man sees the sin of his brother and says in his heart, ‘I know what this man is.’” The elder struck the ground with his staff. “Only God knows what a man is.” Silence. The brother spoke again, “Father, sometimes others speak against a brother in my presence. What should I do?” The elder said, “Close the door.” The brother did not understand. The elder explained, “Close the door of your ears.” “If you listen, the fire enters you.” The brother said, “And if I agree with them?” The elder said, “Then you have lit the fire yourself.” The brother trembled. The elder said, “Many think the sin is speaking.” “It begins earlier.” “It begins when the heart enjoys hearing evil.” The brother whispered, “Why is this sin so grave?” The elder said, “Because the man who condemns his brother leaves the place of the sinner and sits in the place of God.” The elder looked at him sharply. “And God does not share His throne.” A long silence passed. The brother said, “What must I do if someone begins to malign another?” The elder replied, “Say this: ‘I am worse than he. I cannot judge anyone.’” “In this way you save your soul.” The brother said, “And if I have already spoken evil?” The elder said, “Go to your brother. Bow to the ground. Say, ‘Forgive me. I have killed you with my tongue.’” The brother lifted his eyes. “Is it truly so serious?” The elder said, “The serpent expelled Eve from Paradise with a whisper.” Silence returned. Then the elder spoke one final word. “If you wish to know whether the grace of God lives in you, watch your mouth.” “The mouth that blesses is alive.” “The mouth that condemns is already dead.”

    1h 3m

  8. MAR 10

    Lenten Retreat: The Dismantling of the Religious Self, Session Three

    Third Reflection Lenten Retreat 2026 When God Begins to Take Everything On the Delusion of Belonging to God While Still Belonging to Oneself “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46 There comes a point in the spiritual life when the man can no longer recognize himself. Until this point, he has struggled with visible things. With sins. With distractions. With passions that moved through his body and mind. He struggled to restrain them. He struggled to purify himself. He struggled to become faithful. This struggle had structure. It had direction. It had meaning. He could see what he was fighting. He could measure progress. He could recognize failure and repentance. He lived with the sense that he was moving toward God. Even when he failed, he knew where he stood. Even when he fell, he knew he could rise. His existence had continuity. His identity had stability. He was a man seeking God. He knew himself as such. Then something begins to happen that he cannot understand. God removes not sin, but support. Not temptation, but stability. Not rebellion, but ground. 1 Prayer continues, but something within it has disappeared. The words remain. The effort remains. The intention remains. But life has receded. He speaks to God, but he does not experience being heard. He calls, but nothing answers. He remembers when prayer gave him warmth, when the name of Christ carried sweetness, when he felt himself held in a presence greater than himself. Now that presence cannot be found. He does not know whether it has left or whether he has. St. Isaac the Syrian writes that there is a stage in which God withdraws the perceptible operation of grace so that the soul may be taught that it does not possess Him. This withdrawal is not punishment. It is revelation. Until this point, the man believed he depended on God. Now he sees that he depended on his experience of God. He depended on the stability that experience gave him. He depended on the sense that he knew where he stood. This sense has now been taken. He no longer knows where he stands. He no longer knows what he is. He no longer knows how to locate himself before God. Evagrios says that when grace withdraws, the soul is handed over to knowledge of its own powerlessness. 2 Not intellectual knowledge. Existential knowledge. The man discovers that he cannot produce even the smallest movement toward God by his own strength. He cannot restore what has been taken. He cannot recover the life he once knew. He cannot make himself alive again. This knowledge terrifies him. Because until now, he has lived with the assumption that he existed. That he endured. That he remained himself across time. That his relationship with God was something he inhabited. Now even this has dissolved. He experiences groundlessness. Not emotional instability. Ontological groundlessness. He cannot find the place within himself from which he once lived. St. Macarius the Great says that until the soul passes through abandonment, it cannot be freed from the illusion that it possesses life. This illusion is so subtle that even humility cannot destroy it. The man may believe he is nothing. He may confess his weakness. He may acknowledge his dependence. And still exist as the center of his own life. 3 God removes this center. Not suddenly. But completely. The man cannot stop this process. He cannot preserve himself. He cannot secure himself. Everything he relied on to know himself has been taken. This produces the deepest temptation. Not the temptation to sin. The temptation to restore himself. To rebuild identity. To recover stability. To become again the one he was. Many do this unconsciously. They reconstruct their religious self. They recover certainty. They regain structure. They resume existing as before. And they lose something they do not understand. They lose the possibility of union. Because union requires the disappearance of the one who lives apart from God. St. Paul writes with terrifying clarity, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3 4 Hidden. Not strengthened. Not improved. Hidden. The man can no longer find himself. Because he no longer exists where he once lived. Christ entered this darkness fully. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He entered the experience of abandonment. Not because He had lost the Father. But because He had surrendered every human ground. He stood where man stands when nothing remains. So that man could stand there and live. St. Silouan says, “Keep thy mind in hell and despair not.” Hell is the place where every support has been removed. Where the self cannot preserve itself. Where existence depends entirely on God. The ego cannot survive here. This is its death. The man who remains here without turning back passes beyond himself. But he does not yet know this. He knows only loss. 5 Only absence. Only the disappearance of the one he believed himself to be. This is the threshold of resurrection. But resurrection cannot yet be seen. Only death can be seen. And the man must remain. ⸻ This is the most terrible mercy God gives to those He draws near. Because as long as the man can still find himself, he still lives from himself. As long as he can still locate stability within his own experience, he has not yet been born of God. Christ said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 Remains alone. Even if it is righteous. Even if it is faithful. Even if it believes itself to belong to God. As long as it remains intact, it remains alone. St. Sophrony writes that God allows the soul to descend into this darkness so that it may learn to exist from Him alone and not from any created support, including its own experience of grace. This descent feels like death because it is death. The death of psychological continuity. The death of spiritual self recognition. The death of the one who could say, I am the one who prays. 6 Now prayer continues. But the one who prayed cannot be found. The Jesus Prayer may still be spoken. The lips may still move. The mind may still form the words. But the center from which it once came has been shattered. The man stands before God without himself. This is why the psalmist cries, “I am forgotten like one dead, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.” Psalm 30:12 LXX Forgotten. Broken. Without place. Without continuity. Without self possession. St. Isaac says that when the soul enters this stage, it feels itself suspended between existence and non existence. It cannot return to what it was. It cannot yet see what it will become. It cannot move forward. It cannot move back. It can only remain. This remaining is crucifixion. Christ did not descend from the Cross. 7 He remained. He did not preserve Himself. He entrusted Himself. “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” Luke 23:46 This is the final act of abandonment. Not abandonment by God. Abandonment of oneself into God. Archimandrite Zacharias writes that at this stage, man learns true obedience. Not obedience of action, but obedience of being. He no longer acts from himself. He no longer preserves himself. He exists in radical dependence. This dependence feels like non existence. Because the ego cannot live this way. The ego requires ground. Continuity. Self possession. Identity. God removes all of it. Not to destroy the person. But to reveal the person. Because the person does not exist in himself. The person exists in God. St. Paul writes, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 Not alongside Him. Not with assistance from Him. 8 In Him. When this is seen, the man understands that his previous life, even his spiritual life, was sustained by illusion. He believed he lived. He believed he endured. He believed he remained. Now he sees that he does not possess existence. Existence is given. Moment by moment. Breath by breath. “God withdraws His breath, and they perish and return to their dust.” Psalm 103:29 LXX The man feels this. Not as theology. As reality. He feels that if God does not sustain him, he will cease. Not morally. Ontologically. This is why fear arises. Not fear of punishment. Fear of non being. But if the man remains, something begins to happen that he cannot yet perceive. A new center begins to emerge. 9 Not located within himself. Located in God. Christ begins to live where the ego once lived. This is why St. Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 2:20 Not metaphor. Ontological fact. The old center has died. A new center has been given. St. Silouan writes that when man descends into this hell and remains with faith, the Lord Himself becomes his life. Not as comfort. As existence. The man no longer lives toward God. He lives from God. But before this becomes clear, there is only darkness. Only abandonment. Only the terrible silence of God. St. Sophrony says that this silence is not absence, but the deepest form of presence. God is acting beyond perception, dismantling the final illusion that man possesses himself. The man feels forsaken. But he is being carried. He feels abandoned. 10 But he is being born. This is the third dismantling. Not the destruction of sin. Not the destruction of righteousness. The destruction of the illusion that one belongs to God while still belonging to oneself. God takes everything. Even the man’s experience of belonging to Him. So that the man may finally belong to Him completely. And the man must remain. Without returning. Without rebuilding. Without preserving anything. He must remain in the darkness where Christ Himself stood. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And wait f

    1h 54m
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Philokalia Ministries is the fruit of 30 years spent at the feet of the Fathers of the Church. Led by Father David Abernethy, Philokalia (Philo: Love of the Kalia: Beautiful) Ministries exists to re-form hearts and minds according to the mold of the Desert Fathers through the ascetic life, the example of the early Saints, the way of stillness, prayer, and purity of heart, the practice of the Jesus Prayer, and spiritual reading. Those who are involved in Philokalia Ministries - the podcasts, videos, social media posts, spiritual direction and online groups - are exposed to writings that make up the ancient, shared spiritual heritage of East and West: The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint Augustine, the Philokalia, the Conferences of Saint John Cassian, the Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, and the Evergetinos. In addition to these, more recent authors and writings, which draw deeply from the well of the desert, are read and discussed: Lorenzo Scupoli, Saint Theophan the Recluse, anonymous writings from Mount Athos, the Cloud of Unknowing, Saint John of the Cross, Thomas a Kempis, and many more. Philokalia Ministries is offered to all, free of charge. However, there are real and immediate needs associated with it. You can support Philokalia Ministries with one-time, or recurring monthly donations, which are most appreciated. Your support truly makes this ministry possible. May Almighty God, who created you and fashioned you in His own Divine Image, restore you through His grace and make of you a true icon of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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  • Creator
    Father David Abernethy
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2026
  • Episodes
    839
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Copyright 2013 Fr. David Abernethy. All rights reserved.
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    Philokalia Ministries

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