Tineri și (lipsa de) valori - p Teologos

An Athonite Cell
Joys from Mount Athos

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto

ages of ages. Amen. Through the prayers of
our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ,

Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.

Someone asked me to speak on the
subject of "Youth before Life's Values."

It’s a vast topic and I’ll be brief.
The core issue here lies in defining

these terms—specifically, what constitutes
a value and, if you wish, who qualifies as

a youth, what is the age of youth. Let’s
take the biological age – it’s debatable.

Let’s take maturity — because today,
people reach it much later.

Why is this so? That's exactly why —
because they lack values. And they lack

values because they no longer have God
in their lives. You need to know that

value hinges on the presence of God.
Without God, there is no value.

For a human being, as a rational creature,
needs a purpose in life, and that purpose

can only be eternal personal perfection.
Eternal personal perfection. And this is

theosis because a man cannot achieve
perfection alone since he does not know

what perfection looks like or who defines
it, and then God reveals this to the

human heart; He shows what perfection is,
the way He is Himself. Therefore, because

man has become distant from God and has
lost sight of true perfection, he lacks

a proper value system, since value is
defined as... or come on, let’s put it

another way. Everything of value—be it a
thing, entity, or idea—exists to aid

a person in fulfilling their purpose.
Well, in a world where one's purpose

is diluted or lost, we find ourselves in a
society devoid of meaning. This is a

topic we have explored on our website, An
Athonite Cell, we have a post addressing

the lack of meaning. Since man no longer
has meaning, it means that value

no longer exists. Conversely, when one
possesses meaning—rooted in a personal God

—their true purpose emerges, and value
inevitably follows. Our values stem from

this meaning, bestowed by God, notably
through His fullest expression in time:

our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnation of
God the Word. And what did Christ say?

Learn from Me because I am gentle and
humble of heart. Therefore, brothers,

the primary virtues, or values, are
gentleness and humility oh the heart—

not a facade, but a true disposition of
the heart. Unfortunately, looking around

us, we see immense pressure, especially on
the youth, from a culture saturated with

films, music, and video games that teach
man to be proud and tough, aggressive,

warrior. I can't even say “warrior”
because it already has a certain idea of

bravery, of manliness, of love for the
nation. Today, because there is no more

love for the nation and nobility has
faded, that is why I do not call them

warriors, but fighters, harassers.
Brothers, it takes a little faith.

I have endured much, and I won’t dwell
on my own story now, but trust me that

I am here, I confess: with gentleness and
humility, man can prevail. For this is the

mysterious nature of the divine-human
hypostasis of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you understand? We must always strive
to be gentle! We won't succeed all the

time, but we should try as much as we
can. Let us endeavor to be gentle and

have faith that it will work out! And you
will see that you will find peace, for the

natural state of the soul is one of
gentleness and tranquility.

The right way to be is through humility.
It is an essential aspect of human

existence. Humility is the knowledge of
Truth, the knowledge of Christ.

That Christ is the truth. When a man
knows Christ, the perfect communal God,

he understands he must be perfectly
communal himself in order to succeed.

That is, he must love all others and unite
with them in his heart, existentially,

of course. This is not mere rhetoric; it's
necessary to truly connect with others.

My words may seem a bit difficult, but
watch our posts where we talk extensively

on this topic. Also read the works of
Saint Sophrony. When we unite with others,

we embrace humility and find value in
helping them draw closer to God,

to perfection that is unity in Him.
And for unity to exist, as I was saying,

humility is essential. By definition,
selfishness is hell. The solitude of hell

reflects the isolation of extreme
selfishness, pushed to its limits.

Thus, these are the two core values that
aid us most: humility and gentleness.

As a concrete expression of humility,
brothers, is confession. We must confess

our sins and seek guidance from those
whom God validates before us. When I say

confession, I primarily refer to our
spiritual advisor, our confessor.

But sometimes we must also consult
others in different aspects of our lives—

our boss in a professional context. Or in
social matters — we have to ask the wife,

the husband — the life partner. So we must
not trust our thoughts blindly or believe

we know everything. We must be willing to
ask questions and listen.

Just as Jesus Christ is the incarnation of
God the Word, obedience is the incarnation

of humility and love. I obey the other
because I love him, because I am humble,

or, I strive to be. If I say, "I love you"
yet refuse to obey you, where is the

evidence of my love? Yet, discernment
is essential here. That is, if we see that

the other — out of inexperience, out of
lack of discernment — is saying

something that is obviously damaging
then, of course, we must kindly tell them

we cannot do that. When it is obvious,
frontal. But not every five minutes —

“yes, I won’t listen to you because you’re
always foolish” not to say a harsher

phrase, that it’s not appropriate.
Not like so, brothers! This is a form of

pride, that is, I think I am the biggest
and the strongest and the other person –

especially if he or she is our equal, our
life partner – I think he or she is

inferior all the time. It’s not like that,
brothers! We need to be humble, with

discernment, to have this flexibility of
humility that we talk about quite often in

our videos because it is very important.
For that, as I was saying, we need to have

this reflexivity in our thinking. We need
to think very deeply. We cannot simply

blurt out the first thought that crosses
our minds and embrace it as truth.

Be serious, brethren, it’s not like that!
We must ask ourselves, “Is this what

God wants? Will this hurt my brother, my
wife, or others?” Do you understand?

We must constantly question and see
how others would react as well.

This is crucial. Another virtue, a value
that draws us closer to God, that unites

all these, is prayer, because we need
enlightenment from God so that we can

move forward, but the subject of prayer
is vast. In short, my friends, you must

pray constantly. Establish a daily prayer
schedule, prioritizing it above the

distractions of news, TikTok, and whatever
social networks good God knows you’re on.

First and foremost, you must pray.
Wherever, at work, at school,

at university, make time for prayer.
That is essential. And pray boldly,

“Lord, help me! Lord, do not forsake me!"
And of course, pray the Jesus Prayer,

“Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!”
Because it is the most powerful prayer.

We discussed this extensively on our
website — chilieathonita.ro. I won’t delve

into details here as I’ve posted numerous
reflections on the Jesus Prayer, roughly

40 minutes worth. You can search there.
Now, very briefly, as I said, beware,

for the enemy will push you away from
prayer, and that's because you don’t

have a value, a virtue which is that of
patience. Brothers, we must pause in our

frantic rush to do everything, to
constantly check our phones for updates,

a rush for which you are not to blame,
it’s true. Anyways, each of us bears his

own guilt, but the root of the issue lies
with a society estranged from Christ,

from eternity, caught in the mundane,
desperately trying to escape the horrors

of inner hell, the terrors of solitude,
and, in this pursuit, feeling compelled

to do, do, do. Brothers, let’s set aside
the book of business for a while and read

the Book of Creation as well. Let’s take a
moment to calm down, to rediscover

each other’s personalities, each other’s
beauty, to rediscover love. Let's sit

a little to calm down, pray, read and
above all, love. To love others.

Thank you kindly! Please forgive me!
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers,

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on us! Amen