Preparing for the after life.. ( Elder Ephraim of Arizona )

 At any moment, every soul can expect the telegram from heaven to break off all relations with earthly things, to seal the time of this '' fair , '' to render an exact account of his spiritual trading, and to seal his eternal fate either in the heights of heaven or the depths of hell.

Elder Ephraim of Arizona

God forgives easily, by just opening Him the door of your soul ( Elder Ephraim of Arizona )

How easily God forgives ! 

This will happen by just opening Him the door of your soul . God does not expect any reward for what he gives people . Even though your sins are millions or billions , for God counts zero . What does a small amount of sand in the ocean worth . All the sins of the world is simply a virus in the ocean .

There is no sin that wins the mercy of God . Thus , the sins of man are zero . When the child returns to the bosom of the Lord , always ends in front of mercy .


Elder Ephraim of Arizona

The greatest temple, in which God delights to dwell, is that which He skillfully crafted with His own hands—our entire being, our soul, as long as it is pure.

The greatest temple, in which God delights to dwell, is that which He skillfully crafted with His own hands, our entire being, our soul, as long as it is pure. Purity of heart consists in the nous being free from evil thoughts, from which evil and passionate feelings originate which cause the body to be passionately excited. For it is then that both soul and body are defiled, and to a certain degree their purity and spotlessness are lost. 

The first evil and passionate thought, but primarily the corresponding passionate fantasy, is the starting point of all forms of sin. No sin occurs in deed if an evil thought does not precede it by means of the imagination. Therefore, in order to attain the greatest good, purity in the full sense of the word, we need to purify our nous from sinful imaginations and thoughts. Only in this way is purity acquired with a firm foundation.

If we want to stop doing evil deeds without paying attention to our inward thoughts, we labor in vain. When we have taken care to purify our soul, the God of glory will dwell in it and it will become His holy and luxurious temple, giving forth the fragrance of the incense of unceasing prayer to Him.

Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Whoever has his soul’s eyes open and sees God is not easily harmed by the enemies.

It is not so easy for the demons to harm a person who keeps the constant remembrance of God in his soul. They can tempt him, but it is difficult for them to harm him. This is because he does not permit them to trip him up, for he is armed with the weapon of the constant remembrance of God. Whoever has his soul’s eyes open and sees God is not easily harmed by the enemies. The very spiritual men of old did not need spiritual books. They did not have such a great need to read many patristic books, because they constantly meditated upon things about God. Whatever they saw immediately gave them an opportunity to meditate upon something, to discover something unknown. All of creation was a university for them. Wherever they turned their eyes, they saw something to meditate upon—sometimes the providence of God, other times His wisdom; sometimes His judgment, other times His teachings, and so on. With the eyes of their soul they saw invisible things. Meditating upon them filled their hearts with spiritual knowledge. 

We people of today—since we do not have the eyes of our soul open—do not have the ability to remain in the spiritual meditation. Even when we do see something, we need religious books to know something about God. The minds of these spiritual men were so strong that they could conceive thoughts and ideas with deep wisdom. Our minds are so weak that they can barely retain anything. The Fathers then were, for the most part, simple people; yet, they acquired full knowledge, because the Holy Spirit helped them understand the Scriptures.

The remembrance of God is an all-powerful weapon, a mighty suit of armor against Satan and the various sins. When the mind ceases to remember God and meditate upon divine things, man is overcome by negligence, indolence, forgetfulness, and then by evil desires!
If you see your mind rushing towards the world, know that your soul lacks divine consolation, which is why it turns to the world for consolation. 

When a person’s soul is warm towards God, he is enlightened and feels compunction, and it is impossible for his mind to incline towards the world at the same time. The soul inclines towards the world when it is not united, in a sense, with God. The mind is an area, a place. If God does not occupy it, then the enemy will occupy it. This place cannot remain empty, having neither God nor evil, sin, temptation, or the activity of Satan. The mind is like a mill that is turning. Whatever is thrown into the funnel, which leads to the nillstones below, will come out as flour of that type. If you throw wheat in, you will get wheat flour. If you throw thorns in, you will get thorn flour—a harmful substance. The mill is always turning; the mind of man is always working—like a mill. Do you want to have good results? Put good material into the mill. Do you want to find compunction, tears, joy, peace, etc.? Put good thoughts into the mill of your mind—for example, thoughts about the soul, about the Judgment, the remembrance of death, and so on—and then you will get corresponding spiritual results! But if a person puts sinful thoughts into the mill of his mind, he will definitely have sin as a result. The material that will be given to the mind depends on the intentions of man. And these intentions will be either commended or censured. We should always strive to have salvific thoughts and beneficial images in our mind, so that we do not leave room for Satan to throw in his garbage—sinful thoughts and fantasies!

Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Adultery of the soul occurs very easily when we allow filthy thoughts with their corresponding fantasies within us to overcome us.

Keep the eyes of your soul wide open; guard your senses, both those of the body (primarily the eyes ) as well as those of the soul (especially by keeping the mind from wandering ). This is necessary because it is through these senses that all the poisonous germs of spiritual diseases creep in. and thus, in time, the careless Christian contracts many diseases and loses the invaluable health of his immortal soul. Adultery of the soul occurs very easily when we allow filthy thoughts with their corresponding fantasies within us to overcome us. My child, be careful with your eyes if you want to conquer the demon of lust. Likewise, it is no less dangerous to look at indecent images, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Elder Ephraim of Arizona

The resurrection of our soul

What is a more beautiful example than that of the Lord Jesus! Didn’t obedience towards His Father lead Him to the Cross and death? Couldn’t He, being of the essence with the Father, have opposed this? But no, He walked with sweat; He fell to His knees with pain beneath the weight of cutting off His will as He ascended Golgotha. But He had to ascend it, reach the top, be lifted up on the glorious—and to the demons, dreadful—Cross, and there on it show perfect and absolute obedience, and receive the unfading crown of eternal glory. This is how the resurrection of our soul is gained, and not by vacillating between obedience and disobedience with self-will. 

The crown is not acquired like that, but by a willingness to sacrifice. All obstacles are surmounted by the strong thought of preferring to die rather than betray the obedience of doing one’s duty.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Be careful with your eyes if you want to conquer the demon of lust.

Keep the eyes of your soul wide open; guard your senses, both those of the body (primarily the eyes ) as well as those of the soul (especially by keeping the mind from wandering ). 

This is necessary because it is through these senses that all the poisonous germs of spiritual diseases creep in. and thus, in time, the careless Christian contracts many diseases and loses the invaluable health of his immortal soul. 

Adultery of the soul occurs very easily when we allow filthy thoughts with their corresponding fantasies within us to overcome us. 

My child, be careful with your eyes if you want to conquer the demon of lust. Likewise, it is no less dangerous to look at indecent images, newspapers, magazines, etc.


Elder Ephraim of Arizona 


Counsels from the Holy Mountain
Chapter Fifteen.
On Prayer and Watchfulness.