On Trials and Temptations - Elder Ephraim of Arizona
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- Опубликовано: 26 июн 2022
- “Many times a temptation happens which, at first glance, does not seem to conceal anything salvific within it. Yet afterwards, we see that within it is eternal life!”
“God allows temptations so that they might rouse us to remember Him. When we call upon Him, He acts as though He does not hear us so that we multiply our supplications and cry out His holy name, in fear of the various passions. Then, through the pain of the entreaties, our heart is sanctified, and through experience we learn the weakness of our lame nature. And thus we realize in practice that without God's help we are not able to do anything.”
“Is there anyone who has entered paradise by a different path, a path without temptations, whom we can imitate? No. All the saints passed through fire and water, through various temptations and afflictions, and they glorified God with their patience and received crowns of eternal glory!”
The text is from “Counsels from the Holy Mountain” by Elder Ephraim of Arizona. The book can purchased here: stanthonysmonastery.org/produ...
Audiobooks from St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery, including “Counsels from the Holy Mountain” can be found for free here: stanthonysmonastery.org/pages...
Learn more about this great Athonite Elder and Saint of America here: www.stanthonysmonastery.org/a...
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This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ! 
Развлечения
Cannot describe how deeply I needed to hear this. Thank you.
I agree, Glory to God! ☦️
Orthodox teachings from the Saints brings me so much hope. I have been wallowing in dispondency the past few weeks. It is so comforting to know that my temptations are not because i have lost some communion with my Lord. Or to not rely on my emotional state but to walk by faith. I am in my twenties and i am so ungrateful for what God has always done for me. God bless you all and keep you all till you reach eternity. Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner
Lord Jesus Christ Son and Word of God; have mercy upon me a sinner☦️
So good ...
Solid, Orthodox counter intuitive, life giving teaching ...
EXACTLY! Show this video to the “world”, they’ll think we’re CRAZY! Lord have mercy!
A great joy in my life was receiving a blessing from Elder Ephraim. Holy elder, pray and intercede before the throne for us.
Wow, cherish that always! Glory to God!
Glory be to your name, Lord. Protect me from all temptations. Cleanse my mind and heart🙏🙏
Wow ! “Stumbled “ (the Holy Spirit) absolutely mind blowing.. i’m humbled that God would bring me to this message and medicine for my soul..
His message is always an inspiration. God bless you.
These sweet words are true medicine
I needed to hear this today. Thank you for sharing.
Amen, a great word
Very good video and what an amazing book. It has helped me and my wife through the trials we are going through. We are all martyred in one way or another. Sometimes the trials seem unbearable but it is God's will and eventually there will be light.
This helped me SO much!!!!! Brought tears to my eyes. Thank God!
Thank you for taking the time to upload this video
Thank you! I love your channel and give thanks to God for your beautiful voice.
@@OrthodoxWisdom May the Lord be magnified through His unprofitable servant! It is my hope, as much as it is pleasing to God and with a blessing from your spiritual father, that God grant you His strength to persevere in this, for I suspect a great many souls will be comforted through it to the glory of God! Forgive me!
Patience and more patience!
Thank you 🙏
Thank you.
Thank you. More please.
Through Elder Ephraims blessing,God blessed me, Fr Deacon John
Elder Ephraim, please pray for me and my family from heaven. 🙏✝️❤️
Thank you for this video!
"God loves one who is fought against and fights back"
Great, thanks a lot.
Wow, how encouraging and grounding the Elders' words are! Just what I needed to hear, thank you so much. 🙏☦️
i really needed this, thank you
Gets better every time I listen to it !God bless elder!
Thank you for your work. God bless you
These are wonderful listening. Thank you
JESUS, we love and Trust in you 🌹✝️🌹
Incredibly powerful thank you
Thanks for the exaltation from God's word.God bless you.
Didnt make this connection before very calming
All Glory to Jesus Christ
Is there anywhere we can donate money to your project?
Yeah you are providing such a valuable resource. I listen to these while driving and the opportunity to hear this rather than find it and read it is invaluable
I greatly appreciate your desire to support our work. What I would ask is that you make a donation in the name of “The Honeycutt Family” to one of the following places:
1. Support the mission in Cambodia. They need our help right now since many donors are Russian and they are having a difficult time getting money there during the war in Ukraine: orthodoxchristiantheology.com/donate/
2. Support the work of Orthodox Ethos and Uncut Mountain Press. I am part of the team and we would greatly appreciate the support to help with our many projects. Donate here: www.paypal.com/paypalme/FrPeterHeers
3. Donate to your desired missionary-oriented effort. Do something at your parish to help visitors or find ways to reach out in your community. No matter where you live Orthodoxy can be spread further, even if your own town.
@@OrthodoxWisdom God bless you Timothy
Thank you Timothy for this gift.
Kyriaki
If temptations are something we should look forward to why is the verse "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" in the Lord's prayer??
I guess it's a translation moment, "lead us not into temptation" is probably "not let us fall into temptation" by meaning. As said "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." Jac 1:2. Also, we shouldn't look forward to it in sense of wanting it, but enduring them with faith when they come, considering it a necessity and of much use for our soul.
Will he be a Saint soon?
Yes
Almost certainly, but hopefully not too soon. Not because he isn’t a Saint, but because we need not be in a rush and set a bad precedent that could lead us in the future to rush to a canonization that might not be as prudent.
@@OrthodoxWisdom Saint Paisios and Saint Porphyrios were canonized 21 and 22 years after their death, perhaps elder Ephraim will be canonized even a little faster, maybe somewhere between 2030 and 2040. 2036 would be nice, 17 years after his death. One year for every monastery he established 🙂
I'm sorry, but I don't want to do these things. What should I do in order to not be sent to hell if I am unable to love God while suffering? Suffering is making me hate God and I don't know what to do about it.
God bless you. Your pain is not in vain and if you struggle to move, even in the smallest way, toward God then He will give you His grace. Do you have a priest or faithful friend to see in person? Often in these times we feel we should be alone, or that’s it’s best not to bother others, but anyone who truly loves God will be happy to try and help you. If you need help locating a priest in your area please let me know and I’ll see if I can help.
Be patient, pray as you are able, and look to the cross to see that God understands this cruel world and He loves you.
@@OrthodoxWisdom, thank you.
I understand, brother. I myself have had a hard life at times, and have endured great suffering, both emotional and physical. Particularly when I was younger, this combined with my perception of the great evil in the world, and the shortcomings of the Church, made me quite extremely bitter. So rest assured I understand your feelings.
All I can say is this: every suffering that doesn't destroy you carries with it the potential to become something that spiritually fortifies you. There is a lesson in all of it. If you suffer something, think of how others have suffered more, and not been diminished by it. A good way to do this is to read biographies of famous historical figures. The book "Team of Rivals" about Abraham Lincoln is excellent in this regard, because it describes how many hardships and trials he had in his life, including the death of many children. Despite that, he was able to accomplish what he did, and keep America together through the civil war. His reward was assassination in the end, but the rest of humanity and certainly America profited from his suffering. The Gulag Archipelago is another great work of enduring trials and transmuting the suffering into something worthy. There are also movies that depict this. The Shawshank Redemption being on of the best. Andy Dufresne in that movie is shining example of bearing sufferiing humbly, while being a beacon of hope and kindness for others to rally to, to ease their suffering.
That's all we can do. Turn the lead into gold. Transcend your suffering by extracting wisdom from it and using the opportunity to do good with it. This to me is how we in our own small way pick up and bear our own crosses, as the Lord Jesus Christ did.
I know it all sounds like abstract, philosophical cope, and it doesn't attenuate the pain in the moment. I can't convince you of it with words, or tell you how to do it, but it can be done. There is a lot we can endure, and a lot we can redeem, in our lives.
Nothing we do in this world lays a more grievous blow upon the evil one than to bear his iniquities in a manner that makes us more like Christ and less like him.
I hope you can find the way to understand this for yourself and overcome. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners. Amen.
@@publius5128, I don't want you to tell me HOW to do it. I want you to tell me WHY to do it. Why would I want to suffer for a God Who is able to stop my pain, but doesn't stop it and doesn't give any explanation for His behavior?
God is bringing us toward union with Him, in accordance with our will.
One question. How can the lack of temptation to do evil cause us to be other lucifers? How could this be if there is no desire to do the things that are evil? If there is no temptation towards it?
He means that those who do not face temptation do evil thoughtlessly. They have no experience of fighting evil because they simply roll over to the passions time after time. Their Luciferianism is saying that they can define right and wrong themselves.
@@alexdiaz155 what?? They wouldn’t do evil if they weren’t tempted to do it.
@@fitsumgarredew9624 yes, human kind is a rebellious against God since birth as a heritage of fallen Adam. You don't know what would you do and who you would be as a person if not for circumstances of your life. Even if we don't act evil, it's always in our heart in form of passions of the soul like pride, lust etc. and with time it will grow if not interrupted by God. It's not a matter of our will only, but our sinful nature as well, that we can't control. So, after the fall of Adam, our earthly realm is configured exactly to humble us constantly one way or another so our soul passions won't grow us into demons. That happens especially to those with good will towards God. If you strive for salvation and sanctification - God will help your soul in many ways, also cleaning it from the passions by different temptation.
@@daggerfighter why does God allow our passions to be interrupted and for us to be humbled, and did not do the same for the fallen angels? Did god not care that they developed into demons? Why does he care so much when it’s us? Why is it we are not left alone like they were?
@@fitsumgarredew9624 Because the time of their choice has passed. Each soul (including angels) has the capacity to solidify itself in good or evil and it's not unlimited. It must "grow" into one of these and then you'r done. For human souls - the time of our life is the time of choice and that's why we are undergoing different trials here so our soul can grow and choose (not everyone's soul though benefit from trials and difficulties, it depends on our free will. For many people it only drives them to more despair and anger towards God and further separation from Him). The more you get on the side with God, the less you are capable to do evil and vice versa. Angels, both evil and good has already sealed their fate, not because God won't help them if they ask, but because they will not ask due to their spiritual state and immense pride grown over thouthands of years of their existance and those with God are solidified in grace and won't fall anymore. Just as an old man won't change his opinion on life, the same way demons won't revert to God anymore, it's the same spiritual process.