Christian Philosophy Concerning our Temporal Living [Translation]
Aug 16, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min · 11 segments
A talk by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou 🔗 **Original episode:**…
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Zacharias ZacharouHost
Aug 16, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min · 11 segments
A talk by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou 🔗 **Original episode:**…
Zacharias ZacharouHostIn the sayings of the Desert Fathers, we find the following striking account.
A little before his death, while his face shone like the sun, Abba Sisoes entreated God to grant him one more hour of life that he might repent.
To his monks, who were astonished and perplexed when they heard his request, the holy ascetic said, "In truth, I do not think I have even made a beginning." Likewise, throughout his monastic life, St.
Yet, when his disciple, St. Sophrony, asked him if he wished to die, St. Silouan answered, "I have not yet humbled myself enough." St.
Sophrony himself confessed, "I am afraid because every work of mine here is always mingled in some measure with earthly dust, and therefore impure." For this reason, he prayed fervently every day for the hour of his end.
Take me not away in the midst of my days, and when thou art pleased to set an end to my life, make known to me beforehand my death, that my soul may be made ready to meet thee." It is truly a paradox.
These holy servants of God, of course, measure themselves not against their fellow men, nor even against their fellow ascetics, but against the Almighty Jesus himself.
Having come to know on the ontological level his indescribable humility and unending love, they can do nothing but lament over themselves and denounce their own righteousness as filthy rags.
They discern the gulf between the form of fallen man disfigured by sin and the ineffable beauty of the face of Christ.
Held fast by the mighty Spirit of God, they repent, for they can find no words of thanksgiving worthy of Him.
In general, whatever the believer does, however great the struggle he undertakes, it is never enough neither to repent before God for all his wrongdoings and the defilement of his soul, nor to give the Lord due and worthy thanks for all his benefits, both toward himself personally and toward the whole world.
During their life, the great saints reach the utmost bounds of repentance.
Yet even as the curtain of eternity opens before them at the end of their earthly course, they still beg for a little more time to offer God a still more fervent repentance, which shows how precious is the time of this present life.
But what is the Christian understanding of the concept of time? Adam was fashioned to be immortal.
But Adam, had he kept the commandment given him, he would have had no end.
Yet through the sin he committed and the fall that followed, Adam lost eternity.
In the sayings of the Desert Fathers, we find the following striking account.
A little before his death, while his face shone like the sun, Abba Sisoes entreated God to grant him one more hour of life that he might repent.
To his monks, who were astonished and perplexed when they heard his request, the holy ascetic said, "In truth, I do not think I have even made a beginning." Likewise, throughout his monastic life, St.
Yet, when his disciple, St. Sophrony, asked him if he wished to die, St. Silouan answered, "I have not yet humbled myself enough." St.
Sophrony himself confessed, "I am afraid because every work of mine here is always mingled in some measure with earthly dust, and therefore impure." For this reason, he prayed fervently every day for the hour of his end.
Take me not away in the midst of my days, and when thou art pleased to set an end to my life, make known to me beforehand my death, that my soul may be made ready to meet thee." It is truly a paradox.
These holy servants of God, of course, measure themselves not against their fellow men, nor even against their fellow ascetics, but against the Almighty Jesus himself.
Having come to know on the ontological level his indescribable humility and unending love, they can do nothing but lament over themselves and denounce their own righteousness as filthy rags.
They discern the gulf between the form of fallen man disfigured by sin and the ineffable beauty of the face of Christ.
Held fast by the mighty Spirit of God, they repent, for they can find no words of thanksgiving worthy of Him.
In general, whatever the believer does, however great the struggle he undertakes, it is never enough neither to repent before God for all his wrongdoings and the defilement of his soul, nor to give the Lord due and worthy thanks for all his benefits, both toward himself personally and toward the whole world.
During their life, the great saints reach the utmost bounds of repentance.
Yet even as the curtain of eternity opens before them at the end of their earthly course, they still beg for a little more time to offer God a still more fervent repentance, which shows how precious is the time of this present life.
But what is the Christian understanding of the concept of time? Adam was fashioned to be immortal.
But Adam, had he kept the commandment given him, he would have had no end.
Yet through the sin he committed and the fall that followed, Adam lost eternity.
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