“We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4)

“‘Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you have heard me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that you did send me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazaros, come out.’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth.”
(John 11:38-44)

The man who truly loves the Lord, who has made a diligent labor to find the approaching Kingdom, who has made a start of seeing the seriousness of his sins, who is truly mindful of the eternal torture and punishment, who sincerely lives in fear of death, cannot love or concern himself with wealth, or possessions, or his family, or earthly honor, or friends, or brothers, or any of the things of this world. But shaking off all his ties with worldly things and having thus departed from every care, and coming to the point of hating his own fleshly body, and having taken off everything, he will follow Christ without worry or doubt. He looks always toward heaven, awaiting help from there, as the saint said, “My soul follows close behind you.” And as the memorable author said: I have not grown tired of following you, nor have I longed for the rest of men, O Lord.

Climacus, John. The Ladder of Divine Ascent

The one who has left the world in order to shake off the weight of his own sins, should be as those who dwell outside the city in the grave-yard. He should not cease his stream of hot and fiery tears and the unvoiced grieving of his heart until he also sees that Jesus has come to him and taken away the hard stone covering his heart and unbound Lazarus, which is to say, our mind, from the bonds of sin, and commanded his serving angels to release him from his lusts that he may go to blessed dispassion. If not, he will have attained nothing.

Climacus, John. The Ladder of Divine Ascent

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek pictured below transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service….only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him. He asked people for change to buy food….NO ONE in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit n the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation……..”We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek”….The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation…..The homeless man sitting in the back stood up…..and started walking down the aisle…..the clapping stopped with ALL eyes on him….he walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders who were in on this and paused for a moment….then he recited “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? ’“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning…many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame…. he then said….Today I see a gathering of people……not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples…when will YOU decide to become disciples? He then dismissed service until next week…….Being a Christian is more than something you claim. It’s something you live by and share with others. 

“The soul’s throat is slit by the fire of the passions of the body.”

+St Mark the Ascetic

“You will not die. Your body will die, but you will go over into a different world, being alive, remembering yourself and recognizing the whole world that surrounds you.”

—St. Theophan the Recluse, 19th Century

This is the world, the world is Passion. It is the passions within that we must destroy. This site could easily be called “Die to the Passions”.

Passions are the uncontrolled desires that come from our bodily needs. They subordinate our soul to our egoistic or self will. They come about because we forget about God and only think of our own needs. The seven passions are: gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, dejection, listlessness and pride. All these passions lead us to sin, but with proper discipline can be offset by virtues.

Saint Peter of Damaskos has taken them a bit further:

“These, then, are the passions which I have found named in the Holy Scriptures. I have set them down in a single list, as I did at the beginning of my discourse with the various books I have used. I have not tried, nor would I have been able, to arrange them all in order; this would have been beyond my powers, for the reason given by St. John Klimakos: ‘If you seek understanding in wicked men, you will not find it.’ For all that the demons produce is disorderly. In common with the godless and the unjust, the demons have but one purpose: to destroy the souls of those who accept their evil counsel. Yet sometimes they actually help men to attain holiness. In such instances they are conquered by the patience and faith of those who put their trust in the Lord, and who through their good actions and resistance to evil thoughts counteract the demons and bring down curses upon them.”

The passions are

In Romans, chapter 6, St. Paul tells us “if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”