To be a monk is to be alone and to define oneself according to Christ alone.

Fr. Seraphim describes monasticism as a battle against the world—an act of violence and true rebellion.

Is one better than the other? Fr. Seraphim begins tackling some listener questions.

Fr. Seraphim explains what it really means to be free to become who you are.

Fr. Seraphim shares some of the ways in which laypeople can imitate the life and prayer of monastics.

If you go into a pilgrimage with humility and the belief that you understand very little—if anything—then by the end of it, something may be revealed to you beyond your own limitations.

Father Seraphim reflects on why he refrains from going into detail about Celtic saints during the podcast. He also begins to share about the life of Saint Oran.

Father Seraphim reflects on the life of Saint Columba, and talks about spiritual fathers.

The worries of American Christians, as important and contemporary as they may be, are in reality secular concerns.

Fr. Seraphim reflects on his experiences confessing, the role of a spiritual father, and he gives three recommendations to help get the most out of each confession.

Fr. Seraphim continues his discussion from last week on how to get more out of each confession, by recommending three more exercises to help grow closer to both the spiritual father and Christ.

Father Seraphim reflects on some of the content from his past podcasts, and asks for forgiveness because of the brief hiatus he took in posting new material.

Fr. Seraphim was in Paris shortly after the November 13 attacks. He reflects on what our response as Christians should be. How do we hold on to our Christianity? What is our role as peacemakers? He reminds us that we fight for is not of this world.

Fr. Seraphim reads a section, To Pray is to Follow, from the booklet On Prayer. The text can be found at mullmonastery.com.

Fr. Seraphim reads a section, Sin and Prayer, from the booklet On Prayer. "To define myself through my sinfulness is to decide that I am my own creator. I replace God with myself and I become my own creation, not His." The text can be found at mullmonastery.com.

Fr. Seraphim reads a section, Killer Prayer, from the booklet On Prayer. "The basic thing people seem not to understand is that the point of prayer is not happiness." The text can be found at mullmonastery.com.

Fr. Seraphim reads the introduction and the ending of the booklet On Prayer. "True prayer is a state of being. It is the oneness between God and humanity." The full text can be found at mullmonastery.com.

The idea of sacredness and the way it is manifested in space, The whole world is sacred, not because of our memories and experiences but because of God.

Fr. Seraphim reads the final section of the booklet On Prayer. The full text can be found at mullmonastery.com.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea continues his series on fasting with a discussion on how experience follows action. The fruit of fasting can take years to develop.

Fr. Seraphim begins a discussion on fasting and the importance of discernment in the spiritual life.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea concludes his series on fasting.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea continues his series on fasting.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea speaks on the importance of welcoming Christ into our lives.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea narrates the importance of struggle in the relationship with a spiritual father, through his own physical journey from his monastery to the Holy Mountain.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea shares reflections at the conclusion of his recent visit to Mt. Athos.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea talks about his reasons for taking a break from the podcast.

Fr. Seraphim shares about the life of St. Brendan.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea delivers a talk in Atlanta, Georgia, about the importance of humility in extending our view of the world.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea delivers a talk in Atlanta, GA, about the power of our demons in those we meet, including the unborn.

From the States, Fr. Seraphim discusses the Orthodox perspective on the value of death.

Marriage is a sacrament—as important, as able to save you, as monasticism.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea answers the question of whether or not couples should abstain from sexual relations after the years of procreation.

Fr. Seraphim apologizes for his time away and gives an update on the monastery. He also talks about his struggles with faith and what we must remember in those hard times.

Fr. Seraphim speaks about losing hope and temptation and how it is not a sin until we act upon it. He goes into detail about our salvation and the difference between falling into sin and being tempted.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea exhorts his listeners to fight for faith in the living God during this challenging time.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea shares practical insights about developing a relationship with a spiritual father.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea discusses the current blessing of silence and solitude.

This is the prayer of one who is still in the world, but no longer of the world. When despair and anxiety bite they feel like a little death. When your tiredness, your sin or your despondency collapse over you, you need to pray with the prayer of the dead, the prayer of our nothingness silently hoping against hope, silently crying out for Christ, silently waiting for the Resurrected One to be risen from our own tomb: our body and our soul. This is not abandonment, but the exact opposite: this is the prayer which is proper to our fallen nature, the desperate cry for Life of one who is made of nothing, but does not belong to nothing. This is the prayer of one who is still in the world, but no longer of the world - instead, they now belong to Christ

When your heart and your mind are suspended, when there is no life in you, how do you find your way back to Christ, back to Life? How do you pray when you feel dead inside?

'It was through whispering that the serpent drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise, so he who speaks against his neighbor will be like the serpent, for he corrupts the soul of him who listens to him and he does not save his own soul' - Abba Hyperechius of the Desert Fathers. Slander and gossip are the fruits of evil and hatred, and their own fruits are division, brokenness and pain. He who slanders goes against Him Who asked us to be One. He who listens to the one who slanders opens himself to the other one's poison, and both of them are condemned as the spiritual murderers of the neighbor whom they slander.

At times, we are reduced to the empty shell of our being. How do we survive when there is no life in us? Working under obedience can carry us through this desert; it can empty the mind, so that the mind can be filled once again with Life by the Giver of Life.

The Feast of Theophany, when God the Trinity reveals Himself to us.

On Violence and Power.

What would happen if we were all martyred for the Truth of Christ?

To die to the world has nothing to do with self-destruction or the destruction of the world. Quite the opposite, when we die to the world, we begin the process of being born in Christ, which is then reflected back unto the world as a new blessing, a new input of grace, a new change for salvation. To be dead to the world means not to engage with the world in its fallen state, but to engage with its full spiritual potential, with the hidden image of God imprinted on everyone.

This is not about religious regimentation, nor about brainwashing ourselves into believe doctrines that are foreign to our nature, nor about abandoning our will to become the puppets of a master, nor about denying oneself and losing one's identity. Being a Christian is about following the God of Love onto our own cross, mirroring His Cross, so we may discover who-we-are-in-Love and what this world looks like when saved by Love.

Two summers ago (when people still travelled) I met a lady on the ferry who had come to the Isles all the way from North America because 'God told me to visit Scotland'. Apparently, God had told her to visit many places in the world and she was looking forward to wherever He would send her on her next holiday. This lesson is based on a very different story about St Macarius the Great who one day received the thought of leaving his cell to go and pray in the desert. After he waited for FIVE YEARS, fighting in prayer to discern if this is the will of God, he then went into the desert.

Not the virus, not the vaccines, not ecumenism, not any other enemy of choice: the greatest danger to our salvation and the trigger of the destruction of this world is our SIN We are the ones who can destroy ourselves and our world, but we are also the ones through whom the world can be saved. Christ has already opened that door for us. A world without love can have no future, but one drop of Love can redeem ALL.

Prayer is a new creation - St Sophrony says somewhere. By that, he means that prayer will change the one who prays into a new person, a true person, the saints whom God created us to be. If we are afraid of change, we should be terrified of prayer, because prayer is deeply transformative or nothing at all. Prayer kills the evil seeds in us and it feeds the good seeds in us. Like a series of small deaths and resurrections, prayer slowly reshapes our being, until it re-creates us according to the Image of God in us.