{"id":2202,"date":"2016-07-01T11:12:41","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T15:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2016-07-01T11:12:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T15:12:41","slug":"elder-paisios-passions-and-virtues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=2202","title":{"rendered":"Elder Paisios:  Passions and Virtues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Holy Hesychasterion of the Evangelist John the Theologian in Souroti, Greece, has released the fifth volume in a series on the teachings of Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos. \u00a0As in previous volumes, this one is written in the question\/answer format and contains the Elder&#8217;s wisdom along with colorful and practical examples from everyday life.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2204\" src=\"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/passionsAMZ-198x300.gif\" alt=\"passionsAMZ\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/passionsAMZ-198x300.gif 198w, https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/passionsAMZ-768x1162.gif 768w, https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/passionsAMZ-677x1024.gif 677w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is a brief outline as contained in the book&#8217;s Introduction:<br \/>\nPassions Part 1: \u00a0 Self-love \u00a0(the &#8216;Mother of all Passions&#8217;)<br \/>\nPart 2: Pride (the passion which cast man out of Paradise)<br \/>\nPart 3: Judging Others (from pride, which is distorted and full of injustice)<br \/>\nPart 4: Envy, Anger and Sorrow<\/p>\n<p>Virtues: Part 1: Humility (the exalted virtue on which all others depend)<br \/>\nPart 2: Love (for God, our fellow man and all creation)<br \/>\nPart 3: Nobility and philotimo [thankful and selfless love for God and others]<br \/>\nPart 4: \u00a0Simplicity, faith, spiritual joy and discernment<\/p>\n<p>Of the virtues discussed, spiritual joy stands out in that is effects ourselves and others and motivates us to struggle even harder for the Lord:<br \/>\n&#8220;In order to reach the state wherein you cannot contain the joy, nor express it, you need to be vigilant about three things: \u00a0act simply; don&#8217;t overly occupy yourself with others; say the Jesus Prayer. \u00a0If you do these things, the time will come when you will feel so much joy you will tell me &#8216;My Little Grandpa, I have gone crazy&#8230;what is this I&#8217;m feeling?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Because Elder Paisios\u00a0draws on his experiences of living &#8216;in the world&#8217; \u00a0(carpenter, military radio operator) as well as what he learned from his interaction with people &#8216;living in the world&#8217; who came to him for help, his\u00a0words are easy for us to understand and accept. \u00a0His\u00a0style is disarming and practical, not &#8216;preachy&#8217;, intellectual or distant. \u00a0He does not try to make everyone a monk but rather \u00a0a humble, spiritual person who loves God and strives to know and keep His commandments.<\/p>\n<p>If you have benefited from &#8216;With Pain and Love&#8217;, &#8216;Spiritual Struggle&#8217;, &#8216;Spiritual Awakening&#8217; and &#8216;Family Life&#8217;, this volume is necessary spiritual medicine from the Elder. \u00a0The book is available in English on Amazon:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/offer-listing\/B01H95DAGY\/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1_olp?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1467385493&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=paisios+passions\">Passions and Virtues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Holy Hesychasterion of the Evangelist John the Theologian in Souroti, Greece, has released the fifth volume in a series on the teachings of Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos. \u00a0As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-features","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2206,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}