A Theological Critique of Reincarnation in Christian Thought

Abstract

The doctrine of reincarnation, widely present in various Eastern religious and philosophical systems, is incompatible with classical Christian anthropology and soteriology. This paper examines reincarnation in contrast with biblical teaching, patristic theology, and the Christian doctrine of resurrection, arguing that reincarnation undermines the concepts of final judgment, bodily resurrection, and the uniqueness of Christ’s redemptive work.

1. Introduction

Reincarnation posits that the human soul undergoes multiple successive embodiments in different lives, often governed by moral causality (e.g., karma). This cyclical model of existence stands in contrast to the linear understanding of human life in Christian theology, which affirms creation, a single earthly life, death, judgment, and resurrection.

2. Biblical Anthropology and the Uniqueness of Human Life

Christian Scripture consistently presents human life as singular and non-repetitive. A foundational text is:

“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

This verse is frequently cited in patristic and modern theology as a direct rejection of transmigration theories. Human existence is understood as historically grounded and eschatologically directed toward divine judgment, not cyclical repetition.

Furthermore, Genesis presents humanity as created once in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), emphasizing personal identity rooted in a unique act of divine creation.

3. Resurrection Versus Reincarnation

A central distinction between Christianity and reincarnationist systems lies in the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. Christian faith affirms not the escape from bodily existence, but its transformation:

“Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)

The resurrection of Christ is not symbolic liberation from material existence but the inauguration of renewed embodied life. As such, salvation is not achieved through repeated cycles of moral correction across multiple lives, but through participation in the redemptive work of Christ in history.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons emphasizes the continuity of embodied existence in salvation, arguing against Gnostic interpretations that devalue the body (Against Heresies, V).

4. Soteriology and the Finality of Judgment

Reincarnation introduces a gradualist moral framework in which ethical imperfection is resolved through successive lives. In Christian theology, however, salvation is understood as both a divine gift and a decisive encounter within a single life, culminating in final judgment.

The Epistle to the Hebrews reinforces the finality of Christ’s sacrifice:

“He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:26)

The concept of repeated lives risks undermining the urgency and singularity of repentance, replacing definitive judgment with indefinite moral progression.

5. Patristic Refutation of Transmigration

Early Christian writers explicitly rejected reincarnation and related philosophical systems.

• St. Justin Martyr argued that the soul does not pass into other bodies but awaits resurrection (First Apology).
• St. Irenaeus affirmed bodily resurrection as essential to salvation history.
• Tertullian emphasized personal identity continuity in resurrection, rejecting transmigration as incompatible with divine justice.

These Fathers consistently linked human identity, moral responsibility, and divine judgment within a single, unrepeatable life.

6. Psychological Interpretations of “Past-Life Memories”

Modern claims of reincarnation often appeal to reported “past-life memories,” especially in children or under hypnosis. However, contemporary psychology and neuroscience offer alternative explanations, including:

• memory reconstruction
• cryptomnesia (forgotten information resurfacing)
• suggestion under hypnosis
• confabulation under altered states of consciousness

From a Christian theological standpoint, such experiences are not considered evidence of transmigration but subjective phenomena requiring psychological rather than metaphysical interpretation.

7. Conclusion

Reincarnation, while philosophically and spiritually appealing in certain traditions, is incompatible with the core doctrines of Christianity. It conflicts with the biblical teaching of a single earthly life, undermines the finality of judgment, and contradicts the doctrine of bodily resurrection. Christian theology instead presents a unified vision of human existence grounded in creation, redemption in Christ, and resurrection into eternal communion with God.

NASA Blue Beam

Δεύτερον, προωθεί τη φθορά των σημερινών δημοκρατικών μορφών

πολιτικά συστήματα και οδηγεί τις κοινωνίες να αναζητούν εναλλακτικές μεθόδους πολιτικής ιδεολογίας. Φυσικά, η εναλλακτική λύση έχει ήδη προγραμματιστεί. Ονομάζεται νέα παγκόσμια τάξη και δεν θα έχει την ασφάλεια ή τα συμφέροντά σας στην καρδιά. Όπως είπε ο Τζορτζ Μπους: "Διαβάστε τα χείλη μου". Ο φόβος χρησιμοποιήθηκε πάντα από ισχυρή ελίτ για τον έλεγχο και την υποταγή των μαζών. Το παλιό μέτωπο, ο διαχωρισμός και η κατάκτηση παίρνουν το όριο σε όλο τον κόσμο για να εξασφαλίσουν ότι όλοι φοβούνται για την προσωπική τους ασφάλεια και να είναι ύποπτοι για όλους τους άλλους. Αυτό, επίσης, είναι έλεγχος του νου.

Για να προχωρήσουμε πιο πέρα ​​σε σχέση με τη νέα τεχνολογία που αποτελεί τη βάση του Έργου NASA Blue Beam, πρέπει να εξετάσουμε αυτή τη δήλωση του ψυχολόγου James V. McConnell που δημοσιεύθηκε σε ένα τεύχος του 1970 της Psychology Today. Είπε: «Έχει έρθει η μέρα που μπορούμε να συνδυάσουμε την αισθητηριακή στέρηση με την ύπνωση φαρμάκων και την έξυπνη χειραγώγηση της ανταμοιβής και της τιμωρίας για να αποκτήσουμε σχεδόν απόλυτο έλεγχο της συμπεριφοράς ενός ατόμου. Θα πρέπει τότε να επιτύχουμε ένα πολύ γρήγορο και πολύ αποτελεσματικό είδος θετικής πλύση εγκεφάλου που θα μας επέτρεπε να κάνουμε δραματικές αλλαγές στη συμπεριφορά και την προσωπικότητα ενός ατόμου.

 What I am reading to you now are the words of the holy Elder Galaktia.

“Oh, oh, light, light, light! The Holy Trinity. Something entirely different. In this light, angels are chanting. Joy, gladness, celebration. It is as if you are in a garden full of flowers. The poor damned souls see the joys of the righteous and become even more distressed. Those who go to hell in the next life see the righteous. But the righteous do not see the damned, so that they will not be saddened. There is no pain there, no sorrow, no sighing. Imagine a mother entering Paradise and seeing that one of her children has been condemned. How could her joy remain complete? You may ask, why does God allow the righteous to see something that causes grief? They see us while we are still alive, yet they see us without sorrow. Why? Because the greater part of their existence is immersed in the glory of God. When they see us doing something wrong, they do not become sad or distressed. They turn it into prayer. That is how we should act as well, Christina. Do you understand? Suppose my child does something that does not agree with the law of God. I feel sorrow. I grieve only for a little while, at the beginning, just enough for my pride to be humbled, realizing that perhaps I was not the best teacher for my child. Then I turn the rest into prayer. And say to the Holy Angel: ‘My holy Angel, take care of my John. I cannot manage it myself.’ Saint Porphyrios used to say this. ‘Do not keep talking to your children,’ he would say, ‘especially from adolescence onward. Do not speak to them excessively. Speak to God about your child.’ And listen to what he said next: ‘When you speak to God about your John, our God will send an angel to enlighten John toward what is good.’ Do you hear how Orthodox pedagogy works? The father, the mother, the priest, the bishop—all working together with the angels. We should bring the angels into our own lives and into the lives of our children. And it is not only about our children and ourselves. We Cypriots have a tendency toward excessive attachment to our children. Do you know that there are people who pray through the night for Greece, for Cyprus, for Russia, and for the Orthodox countries, that they may resist the new age, which is demonic?

We think that because we do not see the Saints, the Virgin Mary, the Angels, or our loved ones who have fallen asleep in the Lord, because we do not see them, we assume that they do not see us either.

A man asks, "How can I cope with the death of my dearest loved one?"

Death is not something that can truly be dealt with; it is something that surpasses every human capability.

Those who reach such spiritual heights as Elder Joseph the Hesychast, to whom the Virgin Mary said, "I will take you on my feast day," and who had not departed on the Feast of the Dormition, became troubled and wondered, "Why am I still here? Why am I still alive, since the Virgin Mary said she would take me? Why has she not taken me yet?" He was saddened because he had not died. We are saddened when we are about to die; he was saddened because he was still living.

For someone to reach such a state, there must first have been a Christian life, a life within the Church, with participation in the sacraments, with much prayer, with love, and with acts of charity.

When someone lives in this way, then he will not be distressed either by his own death or by the death of someone he loves. For the Christian knows that everything does not end here.

Unfortunately, we cannot understand this unless we live it ourselves. We think that because we do not see the Saints, the Virgin Mary, the Angels, and our loved ones who have departed, we assume that they do not see us. But they do see us.

This is a reality that those who live it and those who have lived it throughout these two thousand years know. Yes, they will grieve over the death of a loved one or over their own death, but only up to a certain point. Beyond that, they know that we shall meet again.

And this we know; we do not merely believe it.

We know it in countless ways, including because we have come into contact with people who departed years ago—people whom we may never have even met while they were alive—and yet they know us and communicate with us in many different ways.

This is a two-thousand-year history. Unless someone experiences it personally, they cannot accept it. It goes against reason. It is beyond reason, above reason. Yet upon this knowledge—not merely upon faith—that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a God of the living and not of the dead.

This means that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and each one of our departed loved ones are alive, since God is the God of the living.

Many people have come into contact with the other dimension and know this.

There are many for whom someone from that other dimension came into this world where we now live, spoke with them, and communicated with them, and so they know.

Either we go there and return, or they come here and then return to where they came from. What remains is knowledge.

And Christians, for two thousand years now, have known that death does not truly exist. Death is not real in the ultimate sense. What changes is the form and manner of our living. Now we live in this way. When we close our eyes here, we will open them somewhere else and live differently.

When the Saints appear and speak to us, it is not our imagination. It is not merely our own thoughts, because they also appear to others and speak to them about things we have asked about, revealing them to others. Therefore, it is a real communication; it is not fantasy.

But if someone has not experienced these things, he cannot accept them, because we have become trapped in rational thinking—in the logic that two plus two equals four.

That logic was overturned by the mystery that one and one and one do not make three, but one God does.

We must experience these things and come to know them.

we have 2 Bulgarian women the one ...

 

He called me on the phone and said, “Please, we have some Bulgarian women whom we bring to work in our orchards. One of them speaks Greek very well, and she also brought her young niece, who was about nineteen or twenty years old. This young woman has prophetic abilities. She can tell you about your past. Various people go to her and give her money so she can tell them the future.”

I said to him, “Why do you want me involved with a witch?”

“No,” he said, “because she believes in the Virgin Mary. They are Orthodox Bulgarians, and they have icons.”

This is something magicians often do to deceive religious people. If they see icons, they think, “Since she has icons, she must be a good person.”

“And I want to bring her to you,” he said.

I replied, “If you bring her, come with your wife. Don’t come alone with two Bulgarian women into the Metropolis.”

I remember it was the period when I had just arrived at the Metropolis, and our present Archimandrite, Father Iakovos, was living with me. At that time, Iakovos was still wearing ordinary clothes. He was not even a reader yet; he had not yet become a deacon. This detail is important.

One afternoon, they came together: the wife of our acquaintance and the two Bulgarian women. One supposedly had the gift of magic and prophecy, while the other acted as translator.

At that time, I had a cross, like the engolpion I wear.

Inside that cross were relics of Saint Neophytos.

I still have the cross, but I keep it stored away.

Of course, I told her nothing about it. She began speaking. I asked her, “Do you really have a gift for foretelling the future? ”

“Yes,” she replied. “Would you like me to tell you something about yourself?”

I said jokingly, “Go ahead and tell me.”

She began telling me about my past:

“When you were young, you lost your father. Then you lost your brother. You suffered greatly. You have a problem in your legs,” which indeed appeared when I was about fifty years old. “Your hands have a slight tremor. It is hereditary.”

As soon as she started getting things right, I thought to myself, “You have made a mistake. A bishop should not allow a witch to tell him these things.”

She also told me something about the future that many people would have liked to hear.

It did not impress me in the slightest.

I said to her, “Stop. I will find out whether you are enlightened by God and His angels or by demons.”

“No,” she replied, “it comes from God and the angels.”

I said, “If it comes from God and the angels, now we will see the difference.”

I raised the cross slightly and quietly said, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” I did not even make the sign of the cross over her. I only moved it slightly.

Then I asked, “Tell me, what do you see inside here? ”

She moved her hand like this. At that moment, I understood. I thought, “She has raised her antenna.”

She moved her hand and suddenly let out a terrible scream.

“Light! Light! Light is coming out of there! I cannot bear it! I have to leave! I am burning!”

I said, “Tell me what this light is.”

“I can’t! ”

She stood up to leave, and the others tried to restrain her. They said, “Sit down.”

I said to her, “If it is from the angels and from Christ, then in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, tell me what it is.”

“I can’t,” she replied. “I am burning.”

While saying “I am burning,” she got up and headed for the door. At that moment, Father Iakovos was coming in carrying lemonade.

You can imagine what happened. She panicked, and the glasses nearly spilled.

She was burning so intensely because of the relics of Saint Neophytos that she rushed outside into the garden of the metropolis, shouting, “I am burning! I am burning! What is that man carrying that makes me burn like this?”

Our friend from Solea remained there with his wife and the other Bulgarian woman. The poor Bulgarian woman who had brought her niece ran after her.

I said to them, “Do you understand now that this is not from God? If it were from God, then the light she sees would have enlightened her.”

If you want you believe

 

 IWhy the Transfiguration Rejects Reincarnation

Retained Identity:
Moses and Elijah appear as their own distinct historical persons, centuries after their earthly lives. They are not shown as different beings or as people living new earthly lives.

Continuity of the Person:
Their personal identity, relationship with God, and unique history remain intact after physical death. The event reveals the continuation of the person beyond this life.

No New Human Birth:
They do not return to the world through another birth or enter a different body. They appear in communion with Christ, showing the reality of life with God.

Orthodox Theological Meaning

Eternal Life:
The Transfiguration reveals that human existence continues beyond death and that the person remains known before God.

Deification (Theosis):
The radiant glory of Christ reveals humanity’s ultimate calling: transformation and union with God’s divine grace.

Resurrection Testimony:
The light of Mount Tabor points to the victory over death through the Resurrection, not a cycle of repeated lives.

Γιατί η Μεταμόρφωση απορρίπτει τη μετενσάρκωση

Διατήρηση της ταυτότητας:
Ο Μωυσής και ο Ηλίας εμφανίζονται ως τα ίδια ιστορικά πρόσωπα, αιώνες μετά την επίγεια ζωή τους. Δεν παρουσιάζονται ως άλλες υπάρξεις ή σε νέες ανθρώπινες ζωές.

Συνέχεια του προσώπου:
Η προσωπικότητα, η σχέση τους με τον Θεό και η μοναδική τους ιστορία παραμένουν μετά τον θάνατο. Η Μεταμόρφωση φανερώνει τη συνέχεια του ανθρώπου ενώπιον του Θεού.

Όχι νέα γέννηση:
Δεν επιστρέφουν στον κόσμο μέσα από άλλη γέννηση ή σε διαφορετικό σώμα. Εμφανίζονται σε κοινωνία με τον Χριστό, δείχνοντας την πραγματικότητα της αιώνιας ζωής.

Ορθόδοξη θεολογική σημασία

Αιώνια ζωή:
Η Μεταμόρφωση φανερώνει ότι ο άνθρωπος συνεχίζει να υπάρχει μετά τον θάνατο και παραμένει γνωστός ενώπιον του Θεού.

Θέωση:
Το φως του Χριστού στο Θαβώρ αποκαλύπτει τον τελικό προορισμό του ανθρώπου: τη μεταμόρφωση και την ένωση με τη θεία χάρη.

Μαρτυρία της Ανάστασης:
Το φως του Θαβώρ δείχνει τη νίκη πάνω στον θάνατο μέσω της Ανάστασης και όχι έναν κύκλο επαναγεννήσεων.

Mother Galaktia writes extensively about these subjects in her book.

 I will now read to you from Mother Galaktia.

"Elder, Mother Galaktia often emphasized that certain sins would bring great suffering upon humanity."

Yes, she spoke about these things often. Like Elder Ephraim of Arizona, whom she regarded as a great saint, she taught that sins against nature, whether committed within or outside marriage, as well as abortion and occult practices, would bring great hardships upon the world.

Modern theological thinking, however, attempts to justify the autonomy of sexual desire and separate it from the purpose God established for it. It refers to acts against nature simply as matters of personal choice.

Imagine how confused society has become.

As Saint Porphyrios told us, in our own time some theologians and clergy would embrace these practices, using clever arguments to claim that God has no place in what happens in the bedroom.

But because this represents a distortion of the Church's mission and of the path of salvation, God Himself will intervene.

These are very serious sins.

Mother Galaktia taught the same things.

I remember married friends who visited her telling me that she had the spiritual gift of recognizing those who had fallen into sins against nature. They said she could perceive the spiritual corruption associated with such sins.

On the other hand, those who lived faithfully within holy marriage and avoided adultery, fornication, and such practices were, according to her, spiritually fragrant.

She would kiss their hands and tell them, "You are pure. You shine."

She also possessed the gift of discerning these matters, much like Saint Ephraim of Katounakia.

Mother Galaktia strongly opposed abortion.

Using her own simple expression, she would say, "Do not use those killing devices to destroy your children," referring to intrauterine devices.

She was also opposed to deliberately avoiding children.

She did not approve of refusing parenthood.

"Are there really clergy who promote sins against nature and even abortions?"

Sadly, yes.

Abortion is presented here as a particularly grave sin, a deliberate act committed against a defenseless unborn child.

Father Georgios Metallinos also spoke strongly about this subject.

Saint Porphyrios once told us, with great sorrow, that an elderly clergyman, widely known in the media and especially influential among young people, would eventually turn his own passions into theology.

Instead of calling people to repentance, he would reinterpret immoral passions through psychological explanations and personal theories.

I love him and pray for his salvation.

May Christ even take years from my own life and grant them to him, so that he may recognize what is beneficial for his soul and sincerely repent.

There are, however, many faithful clergy who do not agree with these modern theological approaches.

The problem is that many are afraid to speak because of ridicule, criticism, or pressure, even from within Church leadership.

Some bishops, the speaker claims, silently tolerate abortion under exceptional circumstances.

If exceptions are invented in matters of sexual morality, then people will eventually attempt to justify even the most serious sins.

Faithful clergy often fear being labeled as fanatics, moralists, extremists, or homophobic.

Nevertheless, there are courageous pastors who continue to teach according to the Church's tradition with wisdom and love.

Saint Eumenios had the same position.

If he had taught differently, he would not be the saint we honor today.

There is a difference between sacrificial love for every sinner and uncompromising opposition to sin itself.

Near the end of his life, Saint Eumenios reportedly refused to receive a Romanian monk who wished to visit him concerning homosexuality.

The speaker says the saint perceived that the man was unrepentant and wanted to use the saint's reputation to suggest that holy people approved of such behavior in the name of love.

He even declined the refreshments the visitor had brought.

On another occasion, the speaker says, Saint Eumenios asked a young man to leave the sanctuary because he had engaged in acts the saint considered sinful within his marriage.

According to the speaker, such acts are forbidden even within marriage.

Therefore, we must love the person while hating the sin.

Love the person.

Hate the sin.

Both love and opposition to sin should be sincere and complete.

Mother Galaktia writes extensively about these subjects in her book.

She teaches that acts against nature are grave sins.

The speaker further claims that such acts committed within marriage can have harmful effects on children and urges parents to avoid them.

He concludes by saying that God blessed the natural union between husband and wife, not what he describes as immoral or unnatural acts.

He apologizes for speaking forcefully but explains that serious subjects require a strong voice.

Where correction is needed, he believes correction should be given.

Where love is needed, love should be shown.

He finishes with this message:

We hate the sin.

We love every human being, regardless of who they are.

Stay away from these sins, my brothers and sisters.

There was a priest standing by the side of the road, signaling for him to stop.

 I was once hosting a good young man from Piraeus. I will not mention exactly where he lived.

He drove a large delivery truck with a raised cab that transported food to supermarkets.

He explained to me, "I have to travel at night so the goods can be unloaded, stored, placed on the shelves, and be ready for customers when the supermarket opens in the morning."

So he always drove at night.

One night in February, around midnight, there was intense frost. There was only about half a meter of snow, but the cold had turned the snow on the road into solid ice.

He wanted to drive quickly, but he had to move very slowly because if anything suddenly appeared in front of him and he touched the brakes, the heavy truck would slide across the ice and crash into whatever stood ahead.

He said, "If I hadn't been driving so slowly, I never would have seen him."

There was a priest standing by the side of the road, signaling for him to stop.

"I was stunned," he said.

He stopped the truck and opened the door. The priest could not climb in because the cab was very high. So the driver leaned across from the passenger seat, grabbed him by the arm, and helped him inside.

As soon as the priest sat down, the young man laughed and said, "Father, where are you going at this hour of the night?"

The priest smiled and replied, "I live nearby. I could easily walk, but since I found a car, why not ride instead?"

They began talking.

"The priest was wonderful," the young man said. "He had a great sense of humor and kept making jokes."

After a while, the priest asked, "Do you have a spiritual father? Do you go to confession?"

The young man replied, "Please don't talk to me about priests. I can't stand them. If they were all like you, then I would go to confession."

The priest smiled again and said, "Very well. Then come to me."

The young man asked where he lived.

The priest looked around, opened the glove compartment, found a notepad, and began writing.

He wrote his full name, telephone number, and address, then handed the paper to the driver.

The young man glanced at it, saw the information, put it back into the glove compartment, and continued driving.

After a while, he noticed lights down below on the left.

The priest said, "This is where I live. Stop here and let me get out."

The young man worried that the elderly priest, who appeared to be over eighty years old, might slip on the icy road and break a bone.

He offered to drive him all the way home.

The priest laughed and said, "Don't worry. From here I can go by myself."

The priest got out of the truck.

The driver waited until he crossed in front of the headlights. The priest blessed him, crossed the road, and walked downhill into the darkness.

The young man continued his deliveries.

February passed, then March, April, May, June, July, August, and finally September.

In September he suddenly remembered the priest.

He found the paper in the glove compartment and decided to visit him.

The address led him to a women's monastery near Athens.

He handed the note to one of the nuns and said, "Please let Father know that he invited me to come and make my confession."

The nuns asked him to wait while they informed the priest.

He went into the church to pray and then returned outside, expecting the priest to appear.

Instead, several nuns came out holding the paper.

They asked him, "When did he give you this?"

He answered, "In February."

They asked, "Which February?"

He thought to himself, "What a strange question."

He replied, "This past February."

The nuns immediately burst into tears. They crossed themselves and began crying.

They told him that the priest whose name was written on the paper was Saint Porphyrios.

He had died five years earlier.

The young man had never even heard the name "Porphyrios."

He said, "How could I possibly have known his surname? We talked for an entire hour. I wasn't asleep. You cannot drive a truck like that while dreaming."

He added, "The handwriting on the paper isn't mine."

How could he have known Saint Porphyrios' surname when it was written on the paper? Even among people who know Saint Porphyrios, many do not know his family name.

The handwriting was not his own.

That is why the young man knew that someone who had died five years earlier was still alive, could see him, and could spend an entire hour talking with him.

He did not know how it happened.

But he knew that it happened because he experienced it himself.

That is why I said earlier that the human mind cannot understand everything.

There are many things beyond our understanding.

We accept them because we know them through experience.

That, the speaker concludes, is not merely faith—it is knowledge.

listen to father nikon

 But do not let fasting keep you away from Holy Communion. These things were not established only for monks—they were given for everyone.

Before Holy Communion, the priest reads a prayer asking that the Holy Mysteries may bring spiritual awakening to those who receive them, that their souls may be enlightened, and that the Kingdom of Heaven may be filled with Christians who partake of Christ.

Yet some people choose not to receive Communion because they have not fasted. They say, "I did not fast, so I will not receive." Do you see how the devil disguises himself? He appears reasonable. He even makes this seem like a virtue.

Do not confuse these things. All the saints kept the Church's fasting rules and also received Holy Communion frequently—Saint Gregory Palamas, Saint Nectarios, Saint Paisios, and Elder Ephraim of Arizona.

Some people insist that because they inherited a custom of fasting for several days before Holy Communion, they must always keep it. They say, "This is our tradition."

But what tradition is it? The speaker argues that any tradition that separates a person from Holy Communion is not God's tradition, but one that keeps people away from Christ.

Christ warned, "You leave the commandment of God and hold to the traditions of men."

Many people reply, "That is how my grandmother, my grandfather, or my family taught me."

When Elder Ephraim of Philotheou became widely known after leaving the caves and hermitages of Mount Athos, many people visited his monastery. I remember one occasion when a group of respected monks from Crete came. They were admirable ascetics, but I noticed they looked uneasy.

Someone explained that they thought the monks at the monastery received Holy Communion too often.

Do you understand what had happened?

The Mount Athos people know today is not the same Mount Athos I first knew. Today, frequent Holy Communion is common there because many have come to recognize its importance. Beginning in the nineteen seventies, after Elder Ephraim left the hermitages and revitalized monasteries on Mount Athos, a new spiritual era began.

Previously, many monks received Communion only on major feast days, as though the feast itself made someone worthy.

The Mount Athos of today emphasizes both frequent Holy Communion and the continual prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," taught by Elder Joseph the Hesychast.

It is this spirit that continues to resist secularization, modernism, and everything that distances people from Christ, even when it appears attractive.

That is why those who wish to weaken Mount Athos often criticize Joseph the Hesychast, Elder Ephraim of Arizona, and those who followed their spiritual teaching.

The devil knows what he fears. He does not fear fasting by itself. He fears Holy Communion.

One elderly monk once remarked, "They are good monks, but they receive Communion too often."

Because of this, some even compared those who practiced frequent Communion with controversial figures from the past.

Be careful. Any virtue that ultimately distances you from Christ becomes spiritually dangerous.

The devil possesses many things that resemble virtues. He has no body, so he never commits bodily sins. He never eats, so in one sense he "fasts" continually.

No matter how much we fast or practice self-control, we will never surpass him in these external things alone.

What destroyed him was pride.

Therefore, humility is greater than outward asceticism.

Do what the Church teaches with humility. Sometimes the fasting rules may seem difficult or even puzzling, but the purpose of fasting is to humble our pride, something the devil can never do.

Christ humbled Himself, descended from heaven, became man, and was obedient even unto death on the Cross.

The devil chose pride.

We should imitate Christ's humility rather than merely imitate the devil's outward abstinence.

Holy Communion is both medicine and a weapon.

Christ said, "Without Me you can do nothing."

Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite explains that when we struggle against anger, pride, gluttony, or lust by ourselves, we fight alone. But after receiving Holy Communion and becoming united with Christ, Christ Himself fights these battles within us.

That is why the devil would rather see someone fasting while remaining separated from Christ than united with Him through Holy Communion.

When the priest comes out with the Holy Gifts, he proclaims, "With the fear of God, with faith and love, draw near."

He does not say, "Come only if you have not eaten yogurt."

How foolish it is to turn away from meeting Christ because of such reasoning.

It would be better to eat something for a serious reason and still receive Holy Communion than to fast while staying away from Christ.

This does not mean fasting should be abolished. Fasting is a great virtue when united with Holy Communion.

Saint Paisios once explained this to me.

I asked him how people could receive Communion regularly if they believed they had to fast for several days beforehand. If someone wished to receive every Sunday, such a rule would require fasting almost the entire week.

I asked where this custom had come from.

He replied that over time, violations had become traditions, while true traditions had come to be treated as violations.

A practice that was never required gradually became accepted as obligatory, while receiving Holy Communion every Sunday—the ancient tradition of the Church—began to be viewed as strange.

We should keep the practices handed down by the saints. We should not abolish fasting.

Christ Himself fasted, and we should fast as well.

But the same Christ also taught that the Pharisee was not justified simply because he fasted.

The problem is reducing fasting to food alone.

Nowhere does the Church define fasting before Holy Communion only in terms of particular foods. Fasting is important, but it should never become an obstacle to receiving Christ.

A priest once told me about a woman with an advanced pregnancy.

Because the baby was drawing calcium from her body to develop its skeleton, her doctor instructed her to eat cheese, yogurt, and drink milk to protect her own health.

She felt troubled because these foods were not fasting foods.

She asked her priest.

He replied, "You are not setting fasting aside out of contempt. You are doing this because your health and your baby's health require it. Eat what the doctor prescribed. You have my blessing to receive Holy Communion."

She left, but later ignored the advice because she wanted to keep fasting.

Her condition became so serious that both she and the baby were in danger.

When the priest learned what had happened, he firmly instructed her that for as long as necessary, she was to eat the foods required for her health and then receive Holy Communion.

Only afterward could she return to the normal fasting discipline.

Some people mocked her for eating cheese, eggs, and yogurt while still going to Communion.

She lowered her head, said nothing, and continued.

Now she was truly fasting—not from food, but from her pride and her own self-will.

That is a kind of fasting the devil can never imitate.

she would have an abortion.

Well, how should we, as parents who have had an abortion, pray?

The first thing is that the parents must repent. Listen carefully to this. The first thing parents who have had an abortion need to do is repent.

Second, they should go to confession, and their spiritual father should give them a rule of prayer or repentance, whether small or great. This responsibility does not belong only to the woman. She did not do it alone.

If this happens—if the couple becomes aware of the gravity of this sin, repents sincerely, and confesses it—then the soul of the child, which is in heaven, begins to receive light.

Our repentance brings light to those who have departed, and even more so to our own children.

Then the mother, because she has a special blessing from the Virgin Mary, should light a candle at every Divine Liturgy for the child or children lost through abortion, especially if the abortion took place when she was spiritually immature.

As I have said before, it is possible to give the child a name. I once had a case involving a very good young woman who confessed to having had an abortion. I told her to give a name to her daughter.

She had an abortion while she was a university student in France. Later, she returned to Cyprus, found a job, met another man, and became pregnant before they were married. The man told her that he would not marry her. He said he had never promised marriage. Sadly, this kind of attitude has become fashionable today.

She became pregnant, and she came to me asking what she should do. I told her to ask him to marry her. He replied that he would acknowledge the baby after birth, give the child his surname, provide financial support, and pay for the child's education, but he would not marry her.

She then said that if this was his decision, she would have an abortion.

The man came to me in tears, saying she was going to kill his baby. I asked him, "Can she kill the baby by herself? Is it not your child as well?"

When we reach such dead ends, we kneel in prayer.

They both knelt, and we prayed that God would enlighten her and help her keep the child.

Less than two weeks later, she came back to my office. At first, when I saw her, I thought she had come to confront me. Then I remembered the baby and looked at her stomach.

She asked, "What are you looking at? To see if my stomach is smaller? The baby is still here."

She said she had come to tell me something that had happened during those days.

She explained that while she was sitting at home crying, she suddenly saw a girl about twelve or thirteen years old, dressed in beautiful pink clothes, standing before her.

The girl said, "Mother, don't you remember me?"

She replied, "Are you my daughter?"

The girl answered, "Yes, I am your daughter. Have you forgotten when you were studying in France? You killed me."

The mother said, "But if you were killed, how are you alive?"

The girl replied, "I am alive in heaven."

Then she pointed to her mother's womb and said, "Please don't do the same thing to my little brother."

The mother asked, "What should I do?"

The girl answered, "Do whatever the bishop tells you."

The woman then came to see me and said she would do whatever I advised because she had not known that souls are alive.

I told her, "Since your little girl appeared to you wearing pink, let us call her Rosa. Whenever you go to church, light this candle for Rosa."

As for the little boy, I told her to keep the child and that we would baptize him after he was born.

I also told her to leave the rest to me.

The young woman wept, but she agreed.

In time, we baptized the baby in one of our villages. The child's father also came and stood quietly at the back, deeply moved.

Later, God allowed the child to develop a serious eye condition that could only be treated in England.

The parents traveled there together with the child I had baptized.

Through their shared suffering and concern for their son, they grew closer to one another.

I advised them to attend the Divine Liturgy regularly, pray, and go to confession before receiving Holy Communion.

I told them that, because of their sins, the child was suffering.

They confessed to a good priest at a monastery, returned home, and eventually set a wedding date.

I had the joy of celebrating their marriage.

These are the beautiful things of our faith.

This is the story that the good woman who heard this message was referring to when she spoke about it.

 Ή γερόντισσα Γαλακτία "" μέχρι τά βαθειά γεράματα, σκορπούσε, έδιδε "τοίς πένησι". Ήταν γερόντισσα πιά, χειρουργημένη καί στά δύο πόδια, αλλά έστηνε μία μεγάλη κατσαρόλα φαγητό γιά νά μήν στερηθούν οί μοναχικοί γέροντες τής γειτονιάς. Γι'αυτό, λίγο πρίν τό τέλος, τήν επισκέφθηκαν ανάμεσα σέ άλλους, οί επτά Αρχάγγελοι πού μεταφέρουν τίς προσευχές τών Αγίων από τή γή στόν ουρανό. Τής συστήθηκαν μέ τά ονόματα τους, πού δέν τά λησμόνησε, αλλά τά ενέταξε στήν καρδιακή μνήμη της : Μιχαήλ,  Γαβριήλ,  Ραφαήλ, Ουριήλ, Ραμαήλ, Φαναήλ, Θαναήλ.

 Ό Ουριήλ τής είπε ότι φυλάει τήν άβυσσο. Σήκωσαν ψηλά τίς ρομφαίες καί τίς έκαναν "ρεκάπιτο, όπως είπε, γιά νά περάσει. Τήν οδήγησαν σέ ένα πάγχρυσο

παλάτι. " Είναι ό τόπος τής κατοικίας σου", τής είπαν. Στή μέση ξεχείλιζε ένα ολόχρυσο δοχείο πού ανέβληζε κρυστάλλινο νερό. Ρώτησε: "Τί είναι αυτό;" "Είναι τό δοχείο τής καρδιάς σου", απάντησαν " καί ξεχειλίζει ή αγνότητά σου, ή σιωπή σου, ή ταπεινοφροσύνη σου καί οί ελεημονιές σου"!!!

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🇬🇷 Ελληνικά

Οι οδηγίες του Αγίου Κοσμά του Αιτωλού για τις ημέρες που ζούμε

71. «Όταν ακούσετε ότι ο πόλεμος πιάστηκε από κάτω, τότε κοντά θα είναι».

72. «Αν ο πόλεμος πιαστεί από κάτω, λίγα θα πάθετε· αν πιαστεί από πάνω, θα καταστραφείτε».

73. «Οι βράχοι και οι λάκκοι θα είναι γεμάτοι από κόσμο».

74. «Ξαφνικά είτε το βόδι στο χωράφι είτε το άλογο στο αλώνι θα αγριέψει».

75. «Λυπηρό είναι να σας το πω· σήμερα, αύριο θα αντιμετωπίζουμε δοκιμασίες, μεγάλες στενοχώριες, όπου θα χρειάζεται να δώσουμε χιλιάδες φλουριά και να μη βρίσκουμε λίγο ψωμί».

76. «Μετά τον πόλεμο, οι άνθρωποι θα τρέχουν δρόμο μισής ώρας για να βρουν έναν άνθρωπο και να τον κάνουν αδελφό».

🇬🇧 English

The Instructions of Saint Cosmas the Aetolian for the days we live in

71. “When you hear that the war has been seized from below, then it will be near.”

72. “If the war is seized from below, you will suffer little; if it is seized from above, you will be destroyed.”

73. “The rocks and pits will be full of people.”

74. “Suddenly either the ox in the field or the horse in the threshing floor will become angry.”

75. “It is sad to tell you; today, tomorrow we will face trials and great hardships, where we will have to give thousands of florins and not find even a little bread.”

76. “After the war, people will walk half an hour’s distance to find a person and make him a brother.”

🇷🇺 Русский

Наставления святого Космы Этолийского о днях, в которые мы живём

71. «Когда вы услышите, что война схвачена снизу, тогда она будет близко».

72. «Если война будет схвачена снизу, вы мало пострадаете; если она будет схвачена сверху — вы будете уничтожены».

73. «Скалы и ямы будут наполнены людьми».

74. «Внезапно либо бык в поле, либо конь на гумне станет свирепым».

75. «Печально говорить вам: сегодня, завтра мы столкнёмся с испытаниями и большими трудностями, когда нам придётся отдавать тысячи флоринов и не находить даже немного хлеба».

76. «После войны люди будут идти полчаса, чтобы найти человека и назвать его братом».