Saint Gregory of Sinai

[Olympiada]

Everyone baptized into Christ should pass progressively through all the stages of Christ's own life, for in baptism he receives the power so to progress, and through the commandments he can discover and learn how to accomplish such progression.
—St Gregory of Sinai

So what happens when we are in the Agony and Crucifixion stage of Christ's life and what comes next?

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

You have to be very patient and humble about this. As St Isaac of Syria says our resurrection can only come after our crucifixion. Of course though St Isaac doesn't mean one crucifixion and then one resurrection. He means that our whole life here is a continual dying to oneself and submitting to the trials God allows. Through this with the above named virtues we gradually become new creatures.

But yet this is only a beginning. As St Barsanuphius- Elder of Optina said- if only we understood what blessedness awaited those who do the will of God. The present blessedness is only a taste of what lies in the future!

In christ- Fr Raphael

[Olympiada]

Fr bless

And what happens when you are 40 days in the desert and being tempted by Satan? What about that phase of our spiritual life?

In Christ
Olympiada

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Endure & hope in Christ.

If we want to drink from the oasis however then we must continually try to have compassion for others and to force ourselves to forgive those who have offended us.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Geoffrey Miller]

Fr. Raphael, teach me about this oasis please, and forgive me for having offended you so long ago. Let us re-establish our correspondence.