the world

Two Loves

Two loves have built two cities: the City of God and the city of man. – St. Augustine

Don't I know I'm going to die?

Have you realized that the world and worldly cares do not hinder in fulfilling God’s commandments, when there is zeal and attention? That silence and retirement from the world are useless, if laziness and negligence prevail?” – St. Simeon the New Theologian

Worldly thoughts and the cares of life have the same effect on the understanding as a veil draped over the eyes, for the understanding is the eye of the soul. So long as we leave them there, we cannot see. But when they fall away as we remember that we are to die, then we shall clearly see the true light which illumines every man as it comes into the world from on high. – St. Symeon the New Theologian

We have to work, St. John Chrysostom says, but we need not concern or trouble ourselves about many things, as our Lord told Martha (Luke 10:41). For concern with this life prevents that concern with one’s own soul and its state which is the purpose of the man who devotes himself to God and is attentive to himself. It is said in the Law, “Be attentive to yourself” (Deuteronomy 15:9). St. Basil the Great has written about this text with marvelous wisdom. — St. Peter of Damaskos

The Kingdom is our Summer, the World our Winter

“Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). Who therefore does not rejoice at the approaching end of the world, testifies that he is its friend, and by this he is revealed as an enemy of God. But let this be far from the faithful, far from the hearts of those who believe through their faith that there is another life, and who love it in very deed. Let them grieve over the ruin of the world who have planted the roots of their hearts deep in the love of it, who neither look for the life to come, nor are even aware that it is. But we who have learned the joys of our heavenly home must hasten to it as speedily as we may. We should desire to go there with all haste, and to arrive by the shortest way. And with what miseries does not the world urge us forward? What sorrow, what misfortune is there, that does not press upon us? What is this mortal life but a way? And what folly would it be,let you carefully consider, to be weary with the fatigue of the way, and yet not eager to finish the journey!

That the world is to be trodden on, and despised, Our Redeemer then teaches us, by a timely similitude: Behold the fig tree and all the trees: when they now shoot forth, ye see and know that summer is now at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand (vv.29-31). This is as if He were openly to say: as from the fruit on the trees you know that summer is near, so from the ruin of the world you may know that the kingdom of God is likewise near. From which it may be truly gathered that the fruit of the world is ruin. To this end it arises, that it may fall. To this end it germinates,that whatever it has brought forth from seed will be consumed in disaster. But happily is the Kingdom of God compared to summer, because then the clouds of our sadness will pass away, and the days of our life shall be resplendent in the glory of the eternal Sun.” — Pope St. Gregory the Great of Rome

The False Wig, The Crooked Mask

“Think of actors: they wear masks, they dress up. One looks like a philosopher while not being one; another seems to be a king but is no king; another appears to be a doctor and has not the faintest idea how to cure the sick; another pretends to be a slave despite being free; still another plays the part of a teacher yet does not know even how to write. They do not appear as they are, they appear to be something else. The philosopher is a philosopher only because of his abundant but false wig, the soldier is a soldier just because he sports a military uniform. These disguises help to create an illusion, to hide the reality.

The world is a theater too. The human condition, richness, poverty,power, subjection are merely the pretenses of actors.

But when the day is done and the night falls (which, however, we ought to call day: it is night for sinners and day for the just),when the play is over, when we all find ourselves confronted with our own actions and not with our riches or dignity or the honors we have had or the power we have wielded, when we are asked to give an account of our lives and our works of virtue, ignoring both the feats of our opulence and the humility of our need, when we areasked: “Show me your deeds!” then the disguises will fall and we shall see who is truly rich and who is truly poor.” — St. John Chrysostom

The World vs. The Kingdom

… Tell me, who of you that stand here, if he were required, could repeat one Psalm, or any other portion of the divine Scriptures? There is not one. … And it is not this only that is the grievous thing, but that while ye are become so backward with respect to things spiritual, yet in regard of what belongs to Satan ye are more vehement than fire. Thus should any one be minded to ask of you songs of devils and impure effeminate melodies, he will find many that know these perfectly, and repeat them with much pleasure. — St John Chrysostom (author of the Divine Liturgy)

Follow the straight path which has been charted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not allow yourselves to be encircled by sin…Today’s path which is followed by various societies is directed towards sin. The cause of this is the development of civilization – of wrongly conceived civilization – towards which the various leaders are striving by diverse means to direct mankind, trying to create a new way of life, different from that prescribed by the Lord. — Modern Orthodox Saints Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesvos., by Constantine Cavarnos

For if thou wouldest learn how great is the profit of the Scriptures, examine thyself, what thou becomest by hearing Psalms, and what by listening to a song of Satan; and how thou art disposed when staying in a Church, and how when sitting in a theatre; and thou wilt see that great is the difference between this soul and that, although both be one. — St John Chrysostom (author of the Divine Liturgy)

Christ on the War with the World

If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. . . . If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. – Our Lord, in the Gospel According to St. John the Evangelist

These things I have spoken to you that, in me, you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. – Prayer of Our Lord, in the Gospel According to St. John the Evangelist

The world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. As Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. – Prayer of Our Lord, in the Gospel According to St. John the Evangelist

The Brother of God on the War with the World

You adulterers, don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So whoever becomes a friend of the world is the enemy of God. – Epistle of St. James

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. – Epistle of St. James

Warfare: the Enemy, the World, the Passions

“I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him Who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and its lust: but he that does the will of God abides forever.” – St. John the Apostle

Comment: Throughout all stages of our lives, we are called to continual warfare. With the Enemy and against his works, with the World and against its system, attitudes, and values, and with the Passions, because the greatest conquest is the conquest of self. – DD

The Rock on War with the World

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. – Second Epistle of St. Peter

Living in the World vs. Life in the World

For it suits the old man to seek the present world, to love transitory things through desire, to raise the mind in pride, not to have patience, to ponder through pain of spite on the injury of a neighbor, not to give one’s goods to the poor and to seek those of others to multiply one’s own, to esteem no one solely on God’s account, to render enmity to enmity, to rejoice in a neighbor’s affliction. All these are attributes of the old man and plainly derive from the root of corruption. But he who surmounts these things, and at the precepts of the Lord changes his mind to kindness, of him it is rightly said: “The old things are passed away. Behold, all things are made new.” — St. Gregory the Great

Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me: `We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how can we lead the solitary life?’ I replied to them: `Do all the good you can; do not speak evil of anyone; do not steal from anyone; do not lie to anyone; do not be absent from the divine services; be compassionate to the needy; do not offend anyone; do not wreck another man’s domestic happiness, and be content with that your own wives can give you. If you behave in this way, you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven. — St. John Climacus

Investing in Vanity

He who esteems life in this world and judges its values as worth protecting does not know how to discern what is his own from what is alien to himself. Nothing transitory belongs to us. — St. Gregory of Nyssa

Why do you beat the air and run in vain? Every occupation has a purpose, obviously. Tell me then, what is the purpose of all the activity of the world? Answer, I challenge you! It is vanity of vanity: all is vanity. — Abba John the Short

Key Distinction: Us and the World

“But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” – First Epistle of St. Paul to the Church at Corinth

“Behold, says the Lord, I will bring plagues upon the world; the sword, famine, death, and destruction.” – The Prophet Ezra

“Beguiling and deceptive is the life of the world, fruitless its labor, perilous its delight, poor its riches, delusive its honors, inconstant, insignificant; and woe to those who hope in its seeming goods: because of this many die without repentance. Blessed and most blessed are those who depart from the world and its desires.” — Elder Nazarius

The Beloved of the Lord on War with the World

Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it: but he that does the will of God abides forever. – First Epistle of St. John

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