Elder Philotheos Zervakos on becoming children of God through humility and love

What the video says

The spiritual father gives a series of counsels centered on loving God with all one's being, which requires forcing oneself to good works. He urges regular church attendance, constant mental prayer, study of Scripture and the Fathers, and mindfulness of death and judgment.

When one sins, one must not despair but run to a virtuous spiritual father for confession, since Christ came to save sinners. True repentance bears grief, tears, fasting, and prayer; false repentance lacks these. The father warns against seeking help from magicians or mediums instead of God, and prescribes prayer and fasting as weapons against demonic affliction.

He condemns immodesty, blasphemy, card-playing, and slander, and insists that the calendar does not affect the validity of the sacraments. The two chief virtues are humility and love; without them all sin persists. He calls for obedience to spiritual fathers, patience in affliction, readiness for death and the last days, and communion with fear, faith, and love.

Key moments

1. 0:00 First commandment: love God with all soul, heart, mind, and strength; force ourselves to good because good things require labor; thank God for enlightenment.
2. 1:05 Fourth counsel: go regularly to church, pray mentally while walking or working, study the Holy Scriptures and works of the Holy Fathers, be mindful of God, death, judgment, and paradise.
3. 2:08 When you sin, do not despair but run to the spiritual father to confess; the Lord came to save sinners, not the righteous, and receives them with mercy like the prodigal son.
4. 3:12 A true spiritual father must be experienced, have the Holy Spirit, and show love and care for confessors; signs of true repentance are deep contrition, grief, prayers, fasts, vigils, and tears.
5. 14:48 The household's illness is demonic; Christ said this kind departs only by prayer and fasting; use evening prayers, holy water sprinkling, faith, humility, and love against the devil.
6. 24:14 Three necessary and soul-profiting things: great patience, zealous Orthodox faith, and wholehearted love toward God and neighbor, even enemies.
7. 25:17 The calendar does not make sacraments invalid, the Holy Spirit is invoked, not the calendar; Christ taught love and humility, not calendars; follow Christ, not calendars.
8. 35:44 Two chief counsels: acquire humility and love; all sin comes from lacking these; if all had them we would live like angels; ask God with diligence and He will give.