Stop Daydreaming; We Have a True Mother - Sermon by Metropolitan Demetrius
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Sermon delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Demetrius of America on the first Friday of Great Lent, March 9/22, 2024, at Saint John of San Francisco Orthodox Monastery, Cobleskill, NY. For more videos visit: / orthodoxtradition
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I have dealt with maladaptive daydreaming (idol dreaming) since 3 due to trauma. Before I became Orthodoxy, I would daydream hours and hours per day. I would jump up and down while listening to music and escape only to fall into a depression afterwards due to this dangerous habit. I'm 34 and have been doing it less and less since becoming Orthodox last year. The imaginative faculty is our sixth sense, but this door needs to be shut and locked. The demons can gain access by crossing "the bridge" that is our imagination and cause us spiritual harm. Blessed is our Theotokos!
Edit: I just want to clarify that using your imagination is not a sin. There are certain thoughts that we all know we shouldn't gravitate towards nor indulge in. We should never let our mind become idle if we can. There are good thoughts and bad thoughts. There are thoughts that we "will" and there are thoughts disguised as suggestions. We must uproot ourselves from the habitual sin that is excessive daydreaming. My first addiction was daydreaming. 2022 was the year I started to put forth effort to change my old ways, to get out into the world, outside my own head. The best way I can describe this past year is like walking out of a prison. I can see the blue sky, I can feel the wind, and I can hear the birds chirping in the distance.
For those of you dealing with maladaptive daydreaming, my advice to you is "let go" of the world's you create within yourself. Leave behind the fantasy....this false-reality you hide behind. Escaping within yourself is futile. You will only prolong and intensify the illness and suffer pangs of guilt and shame and then depression which will evolve into despondency and despair. Christ healed me enough to where I can now struggle and not suffer. I now can fight against these urges, and with Christ, so can you.
Sorry for the long read. God be with you always!
Thank you for sharing this ☦
Random lustfull thoughts trouble me at random times and it annoys me since I don't approve with any of them (they are like a ton of flies chasing you because you got sweets on a plate, to metaphorize how it makes me feel about em) so I begin daydreaming ways of stomping these annoying thoughts that do not leave me enjoy the peace of simple life.
I had this issue since I was a child and I don't know why and I don't want to indulge in them, it's very annoying to have em on repeat on a daily basis. I thank God for the random times of peace where they cease and I can finally look in peace at the world around me without being attacked by these thoughts (I'm an artist as well, so at times I avoid even making visual contact with any people around me if these thoughts are around because it makes me feel like I insulted those around me without my will and it's just straight up disrespectful )
I'm a massive sinner before the Lord
Interesting I had this thought if Imagine a green lion I could make it real.. but discern it was a demonic temptation that I never played with
@Sekrery073 The Jesus prayer is very helpful.
May God continue to protect you. Keep reading scripture, and pray, pray, and pray.
This is the healing. There are millions of Orthodox loving you because we are together in Christ.
Love to you today and always. You are not alone.
What an absolute blessing. May Panagia save us all.
Just what I needed to hear🌹🥹At the right time🌹😌
☦️☦️☦️
AMAZING GRACE ADONAI. THANK YOU MY BELOVED SWEETHEART BEAUTIFUL PRECIOUS DARLING KING . REVELATION 12 bride persecuted by the dragon is seated on the left side of FATHER . SHE IS KNOWN AS THE HOLY SPIRIT. ONLY ONE BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER OF THE FATHER KNOWN AS ZION. FOR THE LORD IS IN THE MIDST OF HER. She is crucified along with Christ. Her hands and feet were nailed, her sole which is in your heart was stabbed , dagger 🗡️ and sworded. They try to murder her. Impossible! NO ONE CAN PLUCK HER FROM THE LORDS HANDS. She was born crippled, had 6 surgery on her hip. She became possessed with coal blackened eyes. Tsunami flood of legions of enemy pounded, beat, sexual abuse, trauma, made her insane. She came here to get the children, never alone. FOR THE LORD IS IN THE MIDST IF ZION. We LOVE ❤️ YOU SO MUCH PRECIOUS DARLING SWEETHEART BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN. COME NOW BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. GIVE UP SIN . REPENT AND TURN FROM SIN. YOU CANT SERVE 2 masters. COME QUICKLY BELOVED ONES . THE MESSIAH IS COMING. WHO CAN STAND ON THE TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD. JUDGEMENT IS HERE . CLARION CALL . COME NOW QUICKLY AS THE LION OF JUDAH IS ROARING. WE LOVE ❤️ THE ANIMALS. HOW MUCH MORE FO WE CARE AND LOVE THE CHILDREN. Come now, you can do it , you’re not a mistake. Give up the things of this world fornication, drugs, porn, alcohol, smokes, adultery, same sex, pride. Etc . These things lead to LAKE OF FIRE 🔥 HELL. Come on paradise is JESUS . He gives eternal life. Plea the blood 🩸 of Jesus on your body, mind , spirit , soul. Stand in the gap be LIGHT INSTEAD OF DARKNESS. THE LORD SAID HE WOULD ASCEND TO HEAVEN. HE SAID HE WOULD PREPARE A PLACE OF MANY MANSIONS. HE SENT THE COMFORTER THE HOLY SPIRIT. THE GOD HEAD TRINITY. TRINITY MEANS 3 . THE FATHER, SON, HOLY GHOST. READ ALL OF PROVERBS , 8:22 she was there from the beginning of time as a constant delight. WISDOM IS FEAR THE LORD. 🙏 AMEN
“Oh bearer of God, the life-giver, enliven me who am deadened by passions..” 🙏☦️
Ohh Queen of heaven and earth 🙏🏼
Grant us your divine intercession and guide us to the holy light ✝️🛐
Master bless,
Thank you Despota, for these edifying, inspiring and encouraging words, which lead to the peace and salvation of our souls, and the glory of God. ☦️ Please pray for the Sacred Hermitage of St. Paisius, the soul of my brother Fr. Hariton, and me.
In the love of Christ, and His holy blessed Mother,
Mother Anastasia
Christ Is Risen!
Most Holy Theotokos please send thy servant Saint Xenia of Saint Petersburg to pray for us and protect us and strengthen us by thy holy prayers to Christ our God.
Truly He is Risen!
Father/Master, bless! What is the difference between contemplation and imagination? It seems like a distinction without a difference. God created us with the phantasia as a faculty of soul, which we necessarily must use in life. I understand how this can become warped by pride, as our minds are fallen. But what is the difference between the two, especially practically speaking?
Jesus is the only way
Christ is Risen!
Most exalted of all God's creatures. Most Holy Theotokos save us!
Again TREASURE! GLORY TO GOD!
Christ is Risen!
I needed this
Amen
Amen.
Master, bless! God protect us all. Most Holy Theotokos save us!
This is the hardest part for me to comprehend coming from my western, protestant mind. I just have no maternal concept of Mary. No part of the Bible mentions her as Holy Mother or an intercessor. I can absolutely believe she is and was special to be chosen for such an honor, but I just can't grasp her as an interactive part of my faith. Maybe keep me in your prayers and intercede on my behalf if you happen to be reading this and are Orthodox. I myself am unbaptized but I do feel the calling, I just can't hold it.
Christ is Risen! If you learn the central dogmatic teaching of Theosis, you will learn about the Mother of God as well. If you receive the great grace of baptism, you'll learn not just from books but from experience, which stems from repentance.
Before the formation of the earth, the Lord was. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have always been, even before the formation of the earth. Ergo, God has no mother. The man Jesus had a mother, but not God. Mary was a human vessel.
I confess that which the Orthodox Church confesses.
I love it - all of us are called to become Theotoki - those who have/carry God in them. That's brilliant. Thank you.
Thank you
All my hope do I set in thee, O Mother of God; protect me under thy shelter.
Most Blessed Holy Mother of God, please save us all ❤🙏🙏🙏
Christ is Risen!
☦️☦️☦️
Amen 🕊
Thank you Father ❤
Amen
Amen
Amen ☦️❤️
Hello Father, you said that it is the good will and good pleasure of our Lord to honour His mother. Can you please provide some biblical reference for this because I'm struggling there? Many thanks and God help us during this wonderful time of progress!
Start with Luke 1. Ask yourself why so called "Bible based" christians never call her blessed, aside from when challenged in a debate. Then look into the witness of the Early Church, those taught by the Apostles themselves, imbued with the Holy Spirit, and find what was handed down to them before Scripture was ever written.
Amen🕊️
My favorite thing is declared a sin
All Holy and most pure Theotokos please intercede for me a sinner to your Son and our God to have mercy upon me and save me.
I hear Orthodox Christians say they do not worship Mary, only venerate. Then they will immediately go on to say Mary is a God and she, not Jesus Christ, is our link to God. And that she, not Christ was the ladder Jacob saw. And that the ark represented Mary, and not God.
This doesn't seem right. Christ is the way to God. It sounds like some of this is true. She was obviously special, but then it goes way off the rails.
But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Can anyone help me make more sense of this?
Hello! Thank you for asking politely.
We believe the Mother of God became God-like by grace. This is called theosis, and a full description is beyond my pay grade, and the space here.
She is the mystical ark of the covenant, whom God came down upon, whom no man could touch, who contained the God whom nothing can contain. The manna, the tablets, and the staff of Aaron which budded were all images of the saving dispensation of Christ: the Bread of Life, the Law giver and fulfiller, and the life the sprang from the dead wood of the cross. (I am butchering that last analogy, but I think you can still get it)
These things were all also fulfilled in her life. If you read the Gospel of St. James (written by one of his disciples, so apocrypha, but universally accepted by The Early Church) you will see that she was allowed to live IN the Holy of Holies. (Zachariah was killed between the courtyard and the altar because of this) She was taught the law by the archangel Gabriel, and fed by him with manna from heaven. Saint Joseph the Betrothed was selected to be her protector when she turned 13 (virgins had to leave the temple, for fear of defiling it), because his staff, placed on the altar with others, budded and produced fruit.
She is the ladder of Jacob, which reaches from Earth to heaven, by which God Himself came down.
[Fathers, correct me if I am wrong on this:] The egg from which Christ took on His human nature, and His physical body, CAME FROM HER!!! It's a mystery exactly how His conception occured, but we confess that Christ took His humanity from His Mother. That means that SHE was the link between Christ and man.
Luke 11:28 is translated wrong, and completely destroys the meaning of what Christ actually said. What He said was: "Yea, indeed! Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!" This was an affirmation of her holiness, not a denial.
At the cross, Christ gave His Mother to the Church, through the Apostle John. I can't even begin to describe how many other types she fulfills, and how important she is.
All I can do is recommend for you to read the Apostolic Father's, and see the way those taught directly by the disciples believed. And examine whether your church is really a house built on rock, against which the gates of Hades will not prevail, or a house built on sand, which conforms to the spirit of the world, which is the spirit of antichrist.
May God grant us all discernment, faith, and repentance!
@@seraphimwieber3893 Thanks for your earnest response. I am already an inquirer doing classes at my local Orthodox church. I left my protestant church because I can see antichrist ideology creeping in, and realized I could no longer submit to the discipline or authority of the leadership with what I was hearing and seeing.
I have been considering these things for a while. I'm not ready to say that our ladder from Earth to heaven is not Christ, but I'm listening and I understand the logic you're using to say it's Mary. I also appreciate valuing what the early church would have been reading and looking at and writing even if it's not in the Bible. I still have a lot I need to read and study to get a better picture.
@@BMC867 Glory to God!
God himself called Israel his first born son. And he was also like a mother . All these types reflect the heresy of calling no.man.on earth as father or worship of Mary as God's mother.
But paul said..... 1 Corinthians 4:15
15 "For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel". All throughout his epistles he calls the Christians he is writing to his children. And Mary is the mother of God. She bore jesus. She is the mother of our salvation.
@@crackbabystemcell6887 again the God of jesus in the torah is their father and mother in those terms.
@@frederickanderson1860 mary was jesus earthly mother. The bridge where God took flesh, via the holy spirit. And Jesus is God. Mary is the mother of God.
@@crackbabystemcell6887 mother of Jesus God's only unique son. Always a distinction between the son and his true father. Actually jesus was born by the holy spirit. We have to be born again of the same spirit. Consider Adam he had no earthly father or mother ,so how does one read this, if taken literally, and Eve was not formed by his rib,its wrong translation of the Hebrew. From his side she was taken.
God as the source of all reality is going to contain within himself all types so this isn't surprising.
I love the icons and the orthodox churches the serenity and you guys have some pretty cool outfits but you know none of it’s biblical really I mean Mary she was a good woman, but that’s it. She was a sinner. Yeah the Bible says all I’ve seen comes short, the glory God, and when Jesus was talking with his disciples and Some of the people surrounding him and they came to Jesus and they said hey Jesus, you’re a mother and your brother-in-law said they want to talk to you and Jesus pointed to his disciples and it says this is my brother and my mother do the will of God of my father of my father so yeah, so yeah but this venerating Mary she was just a girl and she was a good girl. I’m sure it was a good girl. Is she saved that would think so I don’t know I would imagine so, but yeah, so the talk and all this nonsense venerating or basically worse being very putting on the same level with God almost it’s in set blasphemy insane she was a perpetual virgin. She was a virgin with Jesus, but after that, she had at least six more kids to think she was a perpetual virgin and this is the assumption up into heaven and, ridiculous it’s pagan The nonsense called her. The mother of God God is a spirit is a mother mother of the she was the mother of the manifestation of God, the son of God, the flash, but actually, I believe that God there was no regular you know way of producing a child I mean, I don’t even believe Mary with any part of him. She was like just basically carried the office of God the son, the body God in the flesh the amount of just carried it was like an oven, but don’t think Jesus had DNA part of Mary’s DNA in at all anyway I don’t know for sure what I think but elevator to some kind of position is insane. It’s not biblical at all whatsoever. Jesus told her when he’s gonna turn Water to woman, why is a woman what I to do with my hours is not yet come.😊
Search, and you will discover the historical Church. Fear God, and don't make theological assumptions that could endanger your salvation.