St. Anthony the Great on the Christians of the Last Days

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us sinners.

Thank God for Orthodox Ethos. Thank God for men like Father Peter, Metropolitan Neophytos, and so many others for upholding the true faith.

I wonder if we underestimate just how psychologically unbearable life is for many today on account of how well off we are materially. I've spent most of my life not just alone but isolated. Gotta wonder how that sort of thing compares with the suffering of previous generations. And the temptations we face today are off the wall nuts. Internet porn alone, i.e., wet dreams on demand is pretty unbelievable when you look at it from a pre-modern perspective. And with AI, it's only getting more immersive and sophisticated. The Christians of old didnt have to deal with that sort of thing at all, much less on a daily basis. Only seems natural that we wouldn't be held to the same high standard. We're both weaker and constantly buffeted with temptation from every direction, and moreover, more and more of us are expected to face the world alone, or with far fewer friends and family and much weaker bonds than previous generations enjoyed. We're easily the most spiritually impoverished and afflicted generation to ever walk the earth (or drive around it in cars, anyway)

Thank you very much Fr. Peter for this, it is difficult to keep Our Lord commandments but His Mercy is even greater.. God and Our Lord Jesus Christ keep blessing you and your dear ones.

May we all have your blessings Father Peter ☦️ Saint Anthony pray to God for us☦️

This is the time for this Holy Message. Amen

Here to prevent people from saying "first"

Thank you Father and God bless

The grace is incredible. I can imagine the older saints being awestruck by the willingness of God to show mercy. They knew grace, but man..

I totally agree. But I would also add the other end of the spectrum, meaning that even a quiet, godly, relatively simple life demands and consumes so much of our time and energy (or maybe just our time alone) that we can't find a way to maintain, let alone increase, practices and prayer rules of more than just prayer and maybe scripture a couple times a day. There was an existential philosopher who said, "you can't become a saint when you work 16 hours a day". If you work a moderately tiring job, there's no way to sleep 3 hours a night in order to spend the other few hours praying and reading and not collapse eventually, ruin your health and/or lose your poorly performed job. And days off aren't much better. You need to catch up on all the things you haven't done all week. Food shopping, laundry, cooking, and chores, eat up your time significantly. And I'm a single person without many people in my life. I can't imagine taking care of children and/or maintaining a relationship while trying to pray more than on workdays. Also, I don't go to the gym, have any other extra curricular hobbies, or attend any special events, and I am dead tired. It's hard to resist a nap here and there. I think society is designed this way. To separate you from God and family and marry you to your job. Your rituals are all the chores and errands you need to do just to function. Add in what this clip is about and it's a miracle if you even make it to the dentist.

Reminds me of how things have changed in the LDS church from my youth to now. When I was young, we were asked to keep a years worth of food storage. My family was certainly amongst those who couldn't keep up. So the church leaders asked we do 6 months. Now it might be down to 3. Speaking of three, our services used to be, 3 hours. Now they're only 2... very peculiar indeed... Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Father, your words and faith heal those who's hearts are open to true change. You lead us to the Lord through your example, thank you

You hit home with this one. Nailed it! I'll be sharing this around.

Joel 2:32 (KJV): And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Genius. Everything I felt this past week is all in this lesson.

Your blessing Father Peter, I just wanted to make a correction that this wasn’t St. Anthony that said this but Abba Issychrion, it’s recorded in the sayings of the desert fathers for anyone who wants to read the original quote.

Lord have mercy

Thank you so much, Father Heers! ☦️🙏🏻

Excellent discernment. I know we are deserving of chastisement but wish there was another path. Compared to the faith of previous generations we are profoundly weak. Jesus come soon!

Lord have mercy on us😢