GOD'S 'OBSESSION' WITH LUST. DOES GOD EVEN CARE? (THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR BODIES AND THEIR PASSIONS)
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- čas přidán 5. 04. 2021
- Why is God so interested in what we do in the bedroom? Why is the Church so keen that we should learn to control our bodies and their passions? Why can't we just focus on the spiritual side of life and live as spiritual beings? Does God even care what we do with our bodies?
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The video 'GOD'S 'OBSESSION' WITH LUST. DOES GOD EVEN CARE? (THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR BODIES AND THEIR PASSIONS)' was recorded by Fr Seraphim Aldea from Mull Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of All Celtic Saints), on the Isle of Mull, Scotland.
Pray for me a sinner Father. So many times I foolishly allow myself to believe the devil's lies that lust is good, only to give into such evil toys. I'm learning the value of Solomon's words, "a man of God falls seven times but get's up, but when the wicked man falls, he does not" I have had to throw away and get rid of such things so many times in my life only to become like a dog returning to it's vomit. God is teaching me to get up faster and move on. Pray for me a sinner as I do for you.
I'm a 26 year old man, this video was very helpful. It is getting so incredibly difficult to guard myself from lust in this hyper-sexualized society. Just walking around my city, there are girls that appear to be 16 in the face and yet 26 in the body, dressed in very revealing clothing. They are everywhere, it's completely become the norm. It is so frustrating to have to be on guard with my eyes and my thoughts all the time. I feel weird saying this, but it is true.
These are beautiful girls, daughters of God. I don't want to look at them the way I do. I continue to pray and ask God and Our Lady to help guard me from impurity. Thank you father.
Blessings in Christ.
Your comment encourages me! I think most of us young people struggle with it (though few of us admit it.) Being in the city, you would struggle more. It is tempting to go to the opposite extreme and judge these people. You seem to be doing a good job walking the line. I see so many comments on places blaming the women, and then an equal number of comments blaming the men, But your comment shows you recognize that this is a sinful world and that all of us are in a tough situation.
Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, help us to honour you with our eyes and our hearts. Help us not to judge or objectify any of your children. Amen.
Every time you look the other way, hold your breath in the clouds of their perfume, delete their numbers from your phone, sit with your back to them in the cafeteria... you acknowledge their beauty like a gardener who avoids mowing wild orchids on a lawn.
Once St Paisios of Mount Athos was asked why St. Cyril of Jerusalem say that the martyrs of the last times will be “greater than all martyrs”? Paisios, in his answer mentioned - between all other things - this: '' The abstinence and chastity of the young people will be considered as a martyrdom of the moral sense. '' That is because they are going to be constantly bombarded with the opposite spirit - spirit of the world, of the lust....and if they resist (with God's grace) their battle will be considered on the level of martyrdom...... ''It is true, unfortunately, that there is so much filth in this world that no matter what path the soul that desires purity may follow, it will get soiled. The difference is that God will not make the same demands on a Christian who wishes to remain pure today that He made in the past.'' And again: ''- Geronda, it seems that people who want to destroy society, have seized upon its foundation, its roots, our young people, and have destroyed them.
- There is no way that they will succeed. Evil self-destructs. In Russia, after the revolution, they had destroyed everything and look what is happening now, after three generations! God will not allow it. And He will not judge the sins of today’s youth as strictly as He will judge the sins of our generation.''
alopsis.gr/afieroma/af-the-new-generation-elder-paisios-of-mount-athos/
But that said, that does not mean we should not fight. And you are doing well asking Jesus and Panagia for help. I use another quote by St Porphyrios from the book Wounded by Love, p. 135 ''...Don't occupy yourself with rooting out evil. Christ does not wish us to occupy ourselves with the passions, but with the opposite...... You won't become saints by hounding after evil. Ignore evil. Look towards Christ and He will save you. Instead of standing outside the door shooing the evil one away, treat him with disdain. If evil approaches from one direction, then calmly turn in the opposite direction. If evil comes to assault you, turn all your inner strength to good, to Christ. Pray, 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.' He know how and in what way to have mercy on you. ... All things are possible with Christ.... If you give your heart to Him, there will be no room for other things....'' etc. etc. God bless!
The lust is in your heart not ouside. First of all weaken your body by fasting and eat less. Make prostration more often. Prayer also cleans your thoughts. If it is not absolutely necessary don't go out often. Before you go out always pray for the protection of God. May God have mercy on us and on those who are not helpful in the Christian life. It looks like the devil used a woman to get out of Paradise and still using them to lose our salvation.
Do you go to church? Maybe your wife to BE is there. Definitively need to get married but to the right Lady. It is a lifelong decision. Pray for your future wife and ask holy spirit when discerning who is the right person
Thank you for your words. Although I am not an Orthodox Christian your teachings help me to deepen my faith and understanding.
It's important to have an open mind and be willing to listen to many different people and opinions.
Life is getting very hard on me and my husband, please pray for us .
Hanna & Rania
May God bless and keep you both. In Him you can do all things and face all things.
Rania, we will pray for you both!☦
May God rekindle the love in your hearts, dear ones. Love grows from pain. May you survive this pain and grow from it.
You are both in my prayers
It's only after 20 years that realised how I've failed my body, how I've abused it and prostituted it. This realisation, along with how I've lived in the past and how I've not allowed God to lead me, has broken my heart. I also wish I had met someone back then who could have warned me about the harm I was doing to my body through my sin of lust. I was in hellish darkness without knowing it. But this darkness, which once paralysed me, has now caused me to have a contrite heart. My body is now completely God's. I am terribly afraid (in a healthy way) to take any false step that could lead back to lust. Lust eroded the very essence of love in my heart and I've realised that I have never even truly known how to love a woman. God is now teaching me how beautiful and powerful love can be. I will have patience with myself Fr. Thank you for sharing this.
Same. God bless you!
Lust has also had a grip on me for 15 years now. I hate myself for being so weak to it and I wonder if I should just leave the world and flee to a monastery at this point.
I wish I had the answer for everyone that struggles with lust. Just know that God has the power to set you free. Lust is useless. It will get you nothing in return. Resist the devil and he will flea.
@@revelation2-9 Keep persevering! I will pray for you! "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." - John 17:15-16
@@Kressa1111 every learned or adapted behavior is very difficult leaving easily
Thank you brother. What a great message: truth and patience (humility). I´m catholic and watch your videos from Colombia, South America. May God bless you and may the mother of God guide you.
Thank you, dear Juan. Thank you for your kindness and for your prayers. May we all be blessed.
Dear Fr. Seraphim, as a lifelong male dancer in the United States, I very much appreciate your discussion with yourself here.
I wish you didn't "dread" talking about this because it is of real concrete concern and needs to be openly discussed without Anxiety or Fear.
I'm so glad you made the decision to go ahead and move forward with this and move the discussion on ahead.
Since relatively NOTHING substantive is every discussed about this seriously, we have what we have: a convoluted uninformed mess. And that is so, so very dangerous. To All.
As philosopher/essayist George Steiner wrote (I'm paraphrasing from memory): "Without placing your wares in the marketplace, barbarians have the opportunity to usurp your space"
May God please watch over our dear children and ourselves as we gently educate and appropriately inform them with as much Intelligence, Compassion and Tact as we can.
It is my personal belief that dancing should be incorporated as an ongoing part of one's overall education.
It teaches regard for the fragility of one's body. Respect for the bodies of others. Healthy/sane (i.e. balanced) relationship between the sexes through more nuanced physical relating.
It stands as an alternative physical practice -- particularly in the West -- to arrive at a constructive and civilizing attitude towards the body as it's being put to use for ennobling ends.
And quite possibly, with these clear relationships to developing Conscience, it could be groundwork laid to commence understanding the body's relationship with and towards God.
When I, a cradle Presbyterian, observed my first Orthodox services from the back of a Russian Orthodox cathedral on Easter weekend in 1986, I was dumbfounded.
Here I saw people STANDING for HOURS. Here I witnessed a very elderly Russian woman dressed to the nines in white fur and diamonds join everyone else and go down to the floor.
My dancing language helped me understand 'something' of what was going on. It certainly supported my immediate reaction:
THIS ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO THESE PEOPLE AND BECAUSE THEIR ENTIRE BODIES ARE COMPLETELY INCORPORATED, THAT MEANING IS PROFOUND.
It was Good Friday, and I begged my friend who had brought me to his place of worship and healing to allow me to stay. I only left after the Paschal meal on Sunday afternoon.
Yes, growing up in the West I was given two polar options of physical approach: make the body into an overwrought object of seductive desire or make it into an equally overwrought violent machine (i.e. for warfare and COMPETITIVE sport). In performing arts, there is the added temptation of becoming an 'living' aesthetic narcotic, sheer mindless entertainment being simply one evidence of that. Even, unchecked involvement in Beauty -- as I don't need to tell you -- can very quickly become a seriously erroneous spiritual trap.
NONE of that ever was or is acceptable to me. Don't ask me how, as my surrounding culture showed no signs of support -- all those notions deeply offended my core sensibility from the start.
All those notions are in affirmative supportive service to the worldly and it's commerce with the added injunction of "Do whatever it takes and by whatever means it takes"
But do I do ANY OLD THING / MY THING, or do I do GOD'S THING? And where is God's wish for my body within the confusion of all that?
My body, I've always known, is not a product to be trotted out and 'sold'. Embracing that stance has been difficult and the maneuvering in this world with it can be 'hair-raisingly' difficult
My guiding, grounding principle has remained: YOU DO NOT HURT YOUR BODY --- WHICH INCLUDES NOT INDULGING IT --- YOU DO NOT HOLD THE AUTHORITY NOR DO YOU OWN THE RIGHT.
As such, I cannot STARVE it -- a sin in my book -- although, differently, I can Fast it deliberately and consciously which often carries with it, the exquisite spiritual element of Joy.
I have never to my recollection ever experienced an authentic separation between my mind and my body. The reason I loved dancing from an incredibly young age is that it intimately and chronically confirms that Unitive Truth. Any separation I assumed I experienced, was from an artificial propulsion from deliberate willfulness stepped up and out of control. Or -- in a way, more horribly -- as a manufactured defensive response to an attack from something/someone else. Without knowing anything further, I'll just leave this as a further point of pondering-for-me.
My body is a symbol, a living symbol of my Being: if I ignorantly place my soul's being in danger then my body reveals an undeniable imprint of that act. I may not always have the eyes to actually see it, but I KNOW it deep in my marrow; it lodges there and believe me, when it does, "it hurts" with a conscience-stricken pain like nothing else. What I believe you reference here, within the limits of my experience, requires an ongoing tendered awareness for which I can perceive no end for the time I have to physically live upon this earth. It's not a hateful approach for me, it's a reciprocal approach towards God, recognizing the so-called limits of living my body In Christ, as remembering God in ongoing merciful love continues to recognize me.
It would take at least one incredibly dense volume to discuss all this so I'll leave it at these fragmentary suggestions, "as is".
May God bring you and each of us, Fr. Seraphim, increasing illumination on this most important and -- yes -- most mysterious enigma of our existence here.
Yes, such as we are, we are Fallen and our bodies, as I see it and have seemed to have ever so slightly glimpsed it, certainly reside in that degraded state as well:
we were once, through unimpeded engagement with God's Love, so much more than we now are . . .
It is helpful for me to continually remember that though I live in and through this fleshly "monk's cell", God made the Original and therefore said 'habitat' belongs to Christ and not to me.
[As an aside, the following book was quite interesting to me: www.amazon.com/Human-Body-Ascesis-Exercise/dp/B002PD9V00. It arrived in my life after much pondering on these questions. For such a tiny treatise it opened many doors for me in the specific terms of my own life's orientation and in backhandedly suggesting answers to some of the larger questions which you posit here. I was able to purchase it as a $5.00 used copy rather than the inflated price listed here. While obscure, to those sincerely interested, just be patient -- one will appear.]
This was seriously well written and intelligently devised. Thank you for putting it on here for me to come across! As a non traditional dancer (improv, contact, therapeutic + + + with a BA in Somatic (Body Centered) Psychology, and, at present, someone who is grappling with and learning more about the topic at hand, your words struck a chord! Thanks again and I hope you have a great week!
Dear father Seraphim, my name is Emmanuel, I am 3/4 Greek and 1/4 Syrian . I was born in Alexandria Egypt and have been living in South Africa. I had the opportunity to visit and stay in few monasteries including Vatopedi in Mt Athos where I spent over a year trying to understand Orthodoxy and what it means to be a godfather to two Egyptian boys . I also had the blessings to visit St Sefronios St Sillouanos St John the Baptist monastery in Essex. I stayed in the monastery for two weeks and met f. Nikolas . The confession to him was one and the most Devine experience in my life. Now I must confess that you have completed that experience with the most important explanation for what I was really looking. I don't know how to thank you. I would like to visit you one day . I pray 🙏 for that
Thank you for this message father, it has helped me greatly and many others I'm sure. I pray and wish that women in the church would talk about their struggles with lust as much as men do. It makes it so much harder for those us who do as I sometimes feel as if I'm alone in my struggle.
I think my biggest struggle is to go to confession about my own lust because I'm so intimated and afraid to share these sins with a man, even my priest. I've gone to confession about it only twice and everytime I have it's as if my lips are glued shut. Please pray for me, I pray for you all. God bless you all.
Praying for you! I struggled for so many years and started before I even knew what lust was. God has been so gracious and I have always felt alone so thank you for sharing. Confession is hard for me too, I am not explicit (and thankfully now I have nothing to be explicit about) but I tried to be as honest as possible. Usually I just said it was lust and looking at things I shouldn't and even with those timid confessions I know God forgave me and has been so gracious in leading me out. God Bless you!
Thank you for having the courage to say this. For so long women were expected to be asexual. Then, the women's movement came along and so many rebelled against this unhealthy view (shame) - only to adopt an equally unhealthy one that suggests we can do whatever we want with our bodies (no shame - sex is just an activity with no special meaning). We need help in learning how to truly love and honor our bodies. Fr. Seraphim's teachings here are a wonderful start.
Dear Jessie, I just wanted to share my experience with you because it sounds so like my own and I hope it will help you. I have had some awful sexual sins on my conscience for nearly 20 years (started as a child). I, too, hid them in every Confession because I was so ashamed and so terrified of how the priest would react. Then in Lent I began getting this itch like I just needed to confess it all so I could start again at Easter. I wrote down everything I wanted to say on a piece of paper because I knew words would fail me. I was shaking with terror as I went in, but I told myself that if Jesus could die for me then I could certainly humiliate myself in front of one old priest to show my love for Jesus! The priest let me read from the paper and when I had finished he said I had been very brave and gave absolution, penance etc. I'm telling you, after the absolution I SOBBED with joy for about 2 hours straight! I've never felt so renewed and full of joy and gratitude for Our Lord's forgiveness! I honestly thought I would carry these sins my whole life and could never be forgiven. What a fool I was. Long story short - Confession will change your life. Pray to the Spirit for strength and do it for love of Him. Lots of love Jessie and good luck! x
I keep hearing people referring to the sin of lust, pornography use and self-abuse as a sin boys commit when they are young. Well, I'm a 41 year old woman, I have repeatedly commit these sins, and still fall even now. It is a habit I developed when I was young, I never thought it was wrong, I did not know Christ. It's a habit that is very hard to overcome. I also struggle the most with this particular sin in confession. I often think it would be so much easier to confess these things if I were a young man, rather than a middle-aged woman, because the priest would "expect it" and also he could relate to it probably. It is VERY hard to say these things out loud in front of a man. We also do not want to scandalize the priest with too many details! I never know quite how to approach it, and I am very embarrassed to ask how I should be confessing these things.
@@JariGrimshaw super late reply, but this comment was super deep. As a catechumen preparing for confession and baptism I've come to find confession as one of the most important sacraments one can do.
Just putting everything I am and do on paper like that was enough to start healing. And begin to feel peace. I can see it all, how its linked to each other, what caused it, how I have biried it, and lied to protect the secret of their existence, and now I am catching it as its happening.
I will be life confessing later this year for absolution. And its both scary and beautiful at the same time.
Thanks for your experience. It honestly touched my heart dearly since I struggle with it too. God bless.
It's one of my greatest challenges; I've always been lustful. Many women aproaches me now with the intent of sexual relationships as soon as the first date. I've been like that forever, and I think I attract people like that,because I probably look like I want that too. But since last year, I've been doing many changes in my life, and both physically and mentally, I've never felt better in my life
But..for many days now, even aftee long days of labour and enjoying sport, loneliness is seeping through the cracks of my character. You words are encouraging Seraphim, like always.
This is such an important message for our youth.
and adults. kyrie elasion. :)
For our elders, too.
For all
To tell you the truth, my dear one, I did not have in mind our young ones. For them, the body can genuinely be an enemy, because they are at a different age in their lives, facing changes and challenges which we (the older ones) no longer have to face. This is mostly about us, the less-young-ones :)
@@mullmonastery Thank you father for your messages. Glory Be to God.
O beloved father Seraphim -
May you dwell in the heart.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be healed.
May you know your wholeness.
May you be happy and at peace.
🙏
❤
Thank you for this very clear and needed message. As a retired RC priest, I would ask that you might speak of what is implied: continual prayer asking for help. I know you know that and speak of it often, but, too often, I find people trying to follow this themselves. We sometimes seem to forget what a necessary weapon prayer is and how little we can do on our own. We know it, but sometimes it needs to be vocalized: ask God to get involved because we can not do it ourselves.
God bless you, Father, for all of your prayerful and thoughtful videos. God is even using them to help this old man, as well as many others! An unexpected vocation for a monk, perhaps, but a very valuable one as well.
God is calling me to be orthodox. I truly want to put god first before worldliness.
That's exactly what I felt from the Orthodox priests in the past, hatred and condamnation which pushed me away from the church. I was baptised in the Orthodox church but I don't know if I still belong there. I know that faith doesn't equal church but I'm sure the church can help a great deal with your spiritual growth.
Lust and gluttony are the same. Longing for something or someone just out of reach. But He's not. He is at Holy Mass each day. He is in our daily prayers. He walks among us. He longs for us too. He hungers for us too. The difference is, in my humble opinion, He loves us unconditionally. He is Mercy. He is Forgiveness. Yes focus on God.
This is such a blessing. I was shamed as a teenager for lust and that continues til this day with guilt even in my marriage.
Thank you father . Being in a state of Grace and away from sin is an experience every human being should have in their lives. The enemy attacks our Nous with images and thoughts about sex, so Nepsis and rejecting these thoughts is crucial.
Atheists are so proud and hedonist, they only live for pleasure and have a distorted view of what living a normal life is. Kyrie Jesu Xriste, eleisum me.
I can't believe this video just arrived on time... Thanks from a Catholic brother 😉👍
thank you for approaching this with such care, its more appreciated then i have words for.. God bless you and guide you!
Fr. Seraphim, this was so uplifting. We all need repentance, but we also need a long-suffering spirit with ourselves just as Christ is long-suffering with us. Thank you so much for your words of wisdom.
I picked up my icons of Jesus The Good Shepherd, St Columba and The Heron, and St Brendan The Navigator from Mull Monastery today and started my icon wall. Thank you Father and God bless you all. I pray for you every day.
Oh my... For the very first time in my life I just understood my relationship to my own body. Thank you sir. 🙏
The way you framed this topic was illuminating and refreshing.
Thank you for this video Father. I thank God that He already rescued me from lust at my conversion but your words are incredibly affirming of my own place in this journey. I have a peculiarly long memory and I recall the development of this sin in me since the age of 4 when I had sex with an older child. I remember that deep in my heart I did know I shouldn't, just as Adam and Eve knew. Unlike others I could have avoided... if only I knew then what I know now. God has mercy.
One thing I want to say for the value such an insight may offer others with similar struggles. You said it well that we idolise our ego's "ideal" self. Well I found that this idol I dared not try to be, along with a degree of poor love from male role models, led to me projecting what I wanted to be as a man (the idol) into my already corrupted and chaotic sexuality. I eventually found myself engaged with men I pretended were that idol, literally worshipping it, in ways that only years before would have sickened me. And I did all this in order to explore myself ignoring the fact that my heart and even my flesh knew it was not working. The world always provided enough reason to doubt and question and excuse.
But God was patient. He led me from atheism to Christianity over six long years. And to my surprise, as a man trying to commit to chastity in the absence of perspective, He lifted this burden of all burdens off my shoulders when I finally threw myself at the mercy of Jesus.
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Thank you Colm. Very helpful to me in my recovering. God bless you and Fr Seraphim
@@kimothy1377 I am glad. God's plan for us is 100% fulfilling by design - no matter what our flesh or the devil might propose. God bless you!
Dear Colm, 'if only I knew then what I know now' is not at all a useful way to look at your life. It is irrelevant that you did not know it then. You do know it NOW, so you are now in possession of the strength and freedom which come from knowing the truth. The past does not exist. Its wounds haunt us, that is true, but even those wounds can be turned into burning coals, setting our hearts on fire, moving us forward through repentance. Do not waste any time with regret, dear one, and do not re-visit your past too often (even with the good intention of repenting over it), so that you do not get caught in its trap. Be blessed, dear one, and thank you for the love you've shown towards all of us by sharing this.
@@mullmonastery Thank you Father Aldea. I will heed your words and move beyond the reaches of such a trap with the will of God. You are always in my prayers every time I use my prayer rope and reach the shell. God bless you.
Dear Father Seraphim, pray for my blindness towards my sins so I can be humbled and confess them in preparation for Pascha.
Thank you, Father. I have been battling this sin for years, and I have been feeling hopeless lately. This is exactly the encouragement I needed to hear to keep fighting the good fight. May the Lord bless you and keep you and may His face shine upon you.
Thank you Father, so much for this video, you are in my prayers. I am 68 and no longer bothered by sexuality (food however...). I have come a long way from the lost days of my youth and would just like to say to all here that if you trust and pray, God will help you. Your very life journey will turn you away from lust because it is His will. Blessings, Julie 🙏
Thank you so much Fr Seraphim for your message today. A very important message for our time. Being raised in the Catholic church it was a topic never discussed with young people except to say ' sex is a sin outside marriage' which was not helpful at all and just left us with feelings of guilt, confusion and unanswered questions. I grew up hating myself for my fallen state, never believing I had any hope of redemption because I didn't feel worthy of God's love. I've grown in faith and trust in the Lord in the last few years, thankfully I've developed a new and deeper relationship with God. I'm still a fallen human of course but I pray each day that I improve, with God's graces I'm fighting the good fight. I look at you as a spiritual father and I look forward to each evening getting back from work so I can listen to your messages. God bless you all there in Mull and all my brothers and sisters everywhere.
Really beautifully put, and as a Catholic I appreciate very much your thoughts written here ❤🙏
A failure of the church.
Dear Father!! God bless you!! Thank you for this video!!!
Yes it s very hard,very tough outhere.You read about Saints Who died in order not to be defiled.but we live in a society that has blocked God out.but my solace is that God does know,the One Who is open to us with all His Life and Death,One Who waits for us to come to be healed.
Thats true for me, it is hard to fight against spirits of lust because of the landscape of everything around me, im roman catholic and i want to elevate my soul, pacience is a virtue.
I must to prase You also on serbian:
одличан сте беседник, јако лепо зборите и дајете веома корисне савете. Бог Вас благословио, поздрав из Београда!
Thank you for this Father.
If we only focused on the Spirit and not the body, we would be like the Gnostics. Body and Soul both matter for the foundation of our Salvation.
wow father, your compassion towards me through the screen has touched my soul. thank you for giving me a bit of rest in this harsh world and for validating my struggle. God Bless you.
Fr. Seraphim...you have no idea...how timely this has come. Myself and another mother just shared to one another about our daughters. Please, please continue. Hope can be felt today.
Thank you Brother. Please send us the next video in this series ASAP.
Thank you brother, I needed this today. God Bless.
Love and peace. Tim
Amen Amen Amen
Thank you Father 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Amen wow thanks so much again for these teaching so far from normal mainstream church ⛪️ God's love and blessings ❤️ glory to the farther son and holy spirit 🙏
Thank you Father Seraphim for this message, as many of us in the modern world need it greatly. I am 34 and have just in the last year started to tame my lustful passions. It has been tough, but our Lord has strengthened me to quit watching pornography, stopping masterbation, and doing my best to keep my eyes from pulling me into the passions. It is hard to not look at all the beautiful women that I come across that are dressed scantily, but I know it is my heart that is the problem not the women of the world. I pray our Lord will have mercy on a wretched sinner like myself, and help me to view them as they are Gods beloved children who know not what they do in dressing in modern fashion. I pray God will help me find a God fearing orthodox woman to spend the rest of my life with, but in the mean time I will take up my cross and crucify my passions to the best of my ability. Please pray for me for my flesh is weak, but the Spirit of God strengthens me!
Beautiful message brother. God bless you. Especially appreciate your speaking of the importance of our physical body which Christ took on to save, and yes our body will not be tossed out, but will be resurrected and transformed and will enter into the Kingdom of God. The tradition of the Greek Philosophers was always anti-matter and that has crept into some orthodox circles back to the time of the Apostles. But what God created was GOOD.
Thank you for this brother. I also wish that I had met someone at a young age to respect the flesh of my body and not succumb to the passion of Lust. Even today as I have sinned and hurt my soul and body, I can't help but cry in despair and hate myself for sinning against my Lord and God. I want to beat this so badly and I keep falling back into these old habits that I've been struggling with for almost 15 years now. I now wonder if I can even live in this world anymore if I'm so weak and should I go to a monastery for wisdom. I pray for you everyday brother, please pray for me: a Macdonald of Clan Ranald.
May God bless you, dear one. Pray that God uses your repentance to draw you closer to Him. Ask Him to transform your sorrow in love for Him. Ask Him that He gives you the heart to love Him at least as much as you love sin. Start from Christ, dear one. Found your entire life on Him. Build your entire struggle on Him, and He WILL win this battle for you.
@@mullmonastery I understand brother. I just need to figure out what points in my life allow me to fall into this sin. I always listen to my spiritual father by reading the Gospel every day, doing my morning and nightly prayers, reciting the Jesus prayer, and reading about the saints and martyrs. Perhaps I've been too weak and haven't relied on my Lord enough. Thank you for your kindness in responding to me, the sinner. I will continue to pray for you and the entire Mull monastery.
I love You more than I can say.I do care for You.and I loved most Your sincerity and Your vulnerability.I do understand Your pain.I m sorry the world stole our childhoods and our purity.I m hurting
This was a timely message given with such clarity, love & understanding. Thank you Fr Seraphim. 👍
Your videos have helped me and consoled me immensely in my struggles. I have a deeper appreciation of the monastic life and of the Orthodox faith, though I am a Catholic. God clearly speaks wisdom through you.
Father when is the resurrection of the dead...are saints in heaven now...I have always pondered this question because when our lord said to the to the other man Crucified..today you will be with me in heaven...God Bless 🙌🙏
First I put like and then I watch! 😄😇
Father bless, and please pray for me, my name's Alexandar.
There is something about your descriptions of things that really resonates with me. I cant quite describe it. But thank you. Whenever watching your videos on subjects, it really eases my mind.
Thank you for this timely and important talk. Unfortunately we live with the schizophrenic split between spirit and body, where spiritual traditions have largely seen the body as sinful, and Western culture now sees only bodies devoid of spirit.
Lust is a problem, not because of natural desire, but because it turns people into mere objects to be used for the satisfaction of one’s desires.
As a Buddhist monk I came across many years ago put it: never take what isn’t freely given.
More people should see and hear this! What a wonderful talk. May God bless you! The Holy Spirit was speaking through you.
God bless 🙏
amen amen amen!! thank you Fr Seraphim!! a much needed discussion for sure!!
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HELLO, my dear One ❤
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thank you for this immense insight father,your hardship has not been in vain you are helping us so very much
This is so important, especially today. Your approach is the healing method. My spiritual father takes the same approach with me. As you say he has given my soul respite, or room to heal. By doing so God has revealed things to me I never would have known otherwise. My prayer life is growing little by little and thank God. So thank you Father for sharing this with us.
Beautiful teaching, reflection, very necessary & important topic. Thank you Father.
Thank you father this video has been helpful
Thank you so much Father !
Thankyou. Very well said. I look forward to the next instalment. This subject is super important and when it's talked about with humility and honesty there is a Christian light that shines that pushes back the darkness.
I am actually begging for help. I have brought it up to my priest but he said he has never heard of it. I am a habitual sinner. I fall into impurity still but I can say with honestly that when it begins I do not desire or will it. In fact I fear it coming on. What I mean is my body acts as though I have no control of it. The sin occurs because I help it along. I know I am responsible because of years of self abuse. I am being blunt because I am desperate for help. Am I guilty of grave sin as I fear it and pray against it and for days avoid thoughts and occasions even images in art. Then my body literally takes over. Can you give any help or advice. I know nothing impure enters heaven so I live in fear of this sin. I can control anger being judgemental unkind but in this case my body acts on its own. Please help!
I hope Father will answer you. What you say reminds me of chapter 7 (and 8 - the chapters are contrived not by Paul and the questions posed in 7 are answered in 8) Paul's epistle to the Romans. I recommend reading the entire letter because it was written for you.
Also, no impurity can survive in Heaven as there is no place for it, yet no one dies as pure as we will be in Heaven. Maybe the Church holds wisdom or knowledge about how one becomes pure after death but all I know is that God works in mysterious ways of absolute love. Father Aldea said in this video that you won't always succeed but that you just need to keep trying so.let that be a comfort to you.
God bless you.
Do you have any images in your home? Looks like your trying to act God forgiveness and this is a start. But I understand what you are going through. This is the work of the devil. Read the rosary it will help. The demons don't like the rosary. Right now I am looking for a Bishop that does exorcisms. Keep reading your Bible every day. Keep everything in your house that is holy. On wish I got a rosary that is wood and I wear it every day.
I have heard of people getting up and going to the next room as if they are walking away from their sin, or splashing them selves with cold water to fight the temptation. You are not alone in your struggle. I will pray for you.
Listen to Susan Delph. She has something to say to you. By the Blood of Jesus Amen.
Father says to be patient with yourself - this is so necessary. Ask God to free you from this burden and trust that He will - in His time. Often we try to fight such things head-on but sometimes that causes us to only think more about our temptation and get ensnared in it. Trust that God wants to save you and be at peace.
Thank you father for everything! Father ive struggled with lust for so long, like for years i couldnt stop i used to be addicted to it and did it multiple times a day. And now, Thank God! Really really Thank God! I just stopped (it wasnt instantly but it was rather quick, maybe a month or so and i stopped). I still get temptations but try to ignore them and pray to God to help me. Thank you fsther and God bless you!
Thank you! and thank you for the broadcast today on Doxologia! I was happy to hear you speak Romanian because i told my romanian friends a lot about you. And they could finally hear you today ♥️🙏😍
I love your sermons Father they are always full of wisdom and timely. Father keep me in your prayers that i may have a stronger relationship with Christ. May God bless you and your monastery abundantly. Thank you for these wonderful words, i always learn something new.
A great message of hope provided at an excellent time
Father, bless! Thank you once again, Father, for these vital, timely words of truth.
Why we are slaves to sin ,how can we escape from hated things?
Your words are very healing thank you
This channel amd your wise words have been instrumental in the strengthening of my faith, thank you for what you do.
Thank you so much for this video and for the tenderness in which you stress our need to be forgiving and patient with ourselves. God bless you as well.
Thank you. I seem to ask high things from me (and by extension, others), and because of this I fail to even start moving. Because I already have the failure in front and I dread failure.
Having less ambitious goals is tricky , too.
God bless, and His name be praised! He loves us so much, even when we don't realize.
Thank you ❤️
Thank you for dealing with such a sensitive and difficult topic so well! So often (At least in the religious world outside Orthodoxy) We are told not to do these sinful things, but we are not given the why. It gives young people the impression that God decided that we can't do 'fun things' just cause. (I think there are even some study Bibles for teenagers that use that wording.) And that we will go to hell if we do. Obviously, sexual immorality is deadly serious, no doubt about that, but without a why, you have the modern world. The Body is one of those things that people outside Orthodoxy seem to get wrong. The body is treated (at best) as not important to Salvation, and (at worst) as opposed to salvation (Twisting Paul's use of the word flesh.) I don't know how the incarnation fits into that theology, but when it comes to bodily sins, it leaves a groundless prohibition. This also reflects in the attitude towards relics, sacraments, and eikons. Salvation becomes a spiritual matter, where the goal is to get your name entered into a cosmic spreadsheet, so (in a most ironic twist) you can enjoy happiness in heaven marketed in very material terms. What never made sense about that perspective is why are there all these bodily prohibitions? And if the material affects the spiritual, then why the hostility to sacraments, and holy things. If physical things can negatively affect your spirit, why can't physical things positively affect it?
Thank you Dear Father for this message of the seriousness of our bodies, and also for your words of mercy and patience. A million times, thank you!
Awesome message thank you brother .
The father detest sexual immorality and we all know this who believe .
St Paul says “6 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
In the same breath the knowledge of sin is not the knowledge of holiness, neither the knowledge of God.
Beholding is obedience, and not yourself then Holy Spirit will be at work with you.
Thank you for this video their is a desire in me to change but their is so many things to unlearn
Thanks you Father
... especially in the moments I needed Him most for my salvation. Amen.
Thank you Fr. Seraphim Aldea. Please pray for me as I am starting from the bottom. That I will be patient with myself as I struggle to stand up again. May the Almighty loving God be generous and merciful enough to come into my life
Thank you so very much I love you my Brother
This is a subject which I very much appreciate and which I feel many many people besides myself need to hear. This is very important, based on what a number of saints have said, sins of the flesh, lust, is the #1 sin that destroys people's spiritual lives. The devil does not want you to talk about this.
Thank you father for such an important and strong message. All of us are struggling when we are young to understand and love and value our body. Our body is so important and loved by God because is the house of our souls. When God creat us He first made our body than the soul. Of course is important and we should value more.
of course he cares . . Give it all to JESUS ! ! Pick up your cross and deny yourself daily and put on the Full armor of god to resist the fiery arrows of the Enemy !!!
Holy EMBODIMENT -
the EMBODIMENT of Love.
Out of love, I would like to introduce you to the word 'Non-corporeal'. This is the term you are looking for when you say the word 'Discarnate'. All blessings upon you, Father Seraphim.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Pray for us too.
@@mullmonastery You are in my prayers from now and for always. May God's highest blessings reach each of you as deeply as you exist. Amen, my brothers and sisters.
I literally was walking in the street one day and I heard two young men saying that a man that was a virgin over 18 has something wrong with him. I am a cradle Orthodox. I felt personally attacked because I am a 21 year old virgin going on 22. What he is saying is true. Virginity is weird in this culture.
Wow. This is amazing such a hi view of the human body.
Thank you for the video.
Thank you Father
We’ve been raised in a hell of lustful spirits - beautifully said and so correct.
We’ve been raised in a hell of atheism as well, so there is no higher life than this.
Therefore when Christianity says deny the flesh, it’s like saying deny life for no reason, and it’s becoming a `cruel’ philosophy. Why?
Because we say we only have one life, this life, so get the most out of it while we can. It’s the same message as eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and goes all the way back to Ecclesiastes.
That fornication might not be a good thing is a hard message to sell because contraception has castrated the meaning of sex.
Why is it a good fight to fight the spirit of lust? What’s the prize? We may not see the glory of Christ as the apostles did at the transfiguration, but like Buddha, when he went for a walk one day, we should at least see the failings and sufferings of life and yearn for some higher truth than a life of pleasure. I’m sure Buddha would have recognized Christ if he met Him.
May God enlighten us, indeed.
A much needed topic that needs to be addressed in this day and age. We are living in the days of Noah
I was just recently baptized. And this is a topic I am struggling with. Thank you for your words! As difficult as this must be for you, please know it is helping at least one person with their struggle.
Thank you.
Thank you for the care and wisdom with which you address this topic. Can you speak on how to heal from sexual sin and abuse please and how to pray when your soul is broken. Thank you
There is a certain obsession with sin among the Christian community. When I stepped out of that community and simply began to live, this so called “sin” melted away in a certain way. I began to hate myself less, judge people far less and simply love them instead of seeing this thing called “sin” in myself and others and in every prayer and service I attended. I began to feel like I could truly grow closer to the God of life.
The sexual urge is a core part of human existence and if buried and buried for years will only become poisonous to someone’s peace and simplicity of life. I have seen this in the lives of my own Christian brothers and sisters. And in fact those who experienced their sexual life, who learned from it and what it means and is, experience life, what it means to be human, and how to use this powerful experience in a manner that is safe and good.
Forgive me Fr. Serafim. I must say with sincerity I have not experienced lust through the experience of a monastic living on an island, and so with completely differing perspectives, I completely respect your perception of lust and will not dare to say mine is more true. It is simply the experience of another human, another grain of sand. Thank you for your videos father.
Yes, attraction for the opposite sex is humane and it's not sinful in itself, that is true and it's wrong to demonise it (not saying that Fr Serafim did this! He meant smth else)... BUT that is why the holy institution of marriage exists, the holy mystery of marriage... 1st to help the wife and husband work together at their salvation and support eachother on their path to God, by growing their love, and working o their good deeds together and 2nd so that "they shall not burn" (children are then the fruit of their love, children are not the first or only purpose of marriage)
So I think some heterodox Christians have this teaching wrong (it started with the Catholics) and they instill that frustration that you spoke of. But in Orthodoxy it isn't (shouldn't be) like this.
Fr was referring in this video to the sort of sinful life (abuses, adications to pornography and other practices that are only meant to titillate the pleasure, they are not done out of love for the spouse and as a bonding act between the two that is both physical and spiritual). So Father wasn't saying the feeling itself is sinful, but how the world is teaching us to do with it.
Welcome to the world.
Yes it is much easier to live in the fallen world with no regard To Christian morality. It always has been & will always be so, At least until the end. It's literally been designed that way. That's why it's called broad and spacious. You've chosen the easy path, And in a lot of ways I don't blame you. I certainly don't judge you.
Yes, our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Sad to say, for many years now society has taught us to glorify our bodies for the wrong reasons creating addictive needs going in circles with vanity being afraid to look a minute older. We have also forgotten marriage is a Holy Sacrament and giving birth is a joy! These all involve the body in a Holy and healthy way leading us home to Heaven. Thankyou for these important reminders as we journey along together! God bless....Canada
bless bless bless
Thank you, Father. 🙏
God bless you.