Self-esteem

The Idolatry of Self-esteem

Among the contributors to self-worship, is the possibility of falling into a form of idolatry associated with self-esteem. It is easy to fall into this form of idolatry, since our society has placed a great deal of emphasis on the need for self-esteem. The modern religion of psychoanalysis has promoted self-esteem as though it were the modern equivalent of enlightenment. The priests of this modern, humanistic religion have made millions on the selling of self-esteem, with the end result that we’ve become a society given over almost entirely to image.

Our children have been deprived of childhood, focused as they are, on the acquisition of an archetype image promoted by pop culture. Little girls have been sexualized by a society that has allowed them to be influenced by the music industry. Parents and teachers have been almost powerless in combating the horrid influences that have torn the childhood innocence away from our little ones.

Little boys have not escaped the insidious warping of childhood innocence, immersed, as they’ve been, by a society that has become hyper-sexualized. The whole of society has entered into such a hedonistic state, as to be largely untroubled by the cultural changes that have befallen the twenty-first century. Image has become all important to many people, with plastic surgery, face lifts, and tummy tucks becoming the new normal, with large numbers of people suddenly dissatisfied with their looks, and their bodies.

The need for self-esteem has displaced the role of humility, so valued a hallmark for a well adjusted, good person, and pride enters the heart. This demon of pride can only be driven away by intense prayer and by not doing or saying anything that contributes to the sense of  self importance. That self-esteem which gives rise to pride, seals us to the same fate which cast down the highest of the angels. Let us turn quickly away from pride and not ally with it, lest we surrender our life to others, and your substance to the merciless (cf. Prov. 5:9).

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Tuesday March 13, 2012

Third Week of the Great Lent. Tone six.
Great Lent. By Monastic Charter: Food without Oil

Venerable John Cassian the Roman, abbot (435).
Venerable John, called Barsanuphius, of Nitria in Egypt (5th c.).
Martyr Theoctyrist [Theostyrictus] (8th C).
“Devpeteruv” (1392) Icon of the Mother of God.
The Monk Leo, Cappadocian Monastic.
Venerable Cassian, recluse and faster of the Kiev Caves (12th c.).
St. Oswald, archbishop of York (992) (Celtic & British).
St. Germanus of Dacia Pontica (Dobrogea, Romania) (5th c.) (Romania).
St. Theosterictus the Confessor, abbot of Pelecete Monastery near Prusa (826).
St. Cassian of Mu Lake Hermitage, disciple of St. Alexander of Svir (16th c.).
St. Meletius, archbishop of Kharkov (1840).

We are hoping to retire the mortgage debt of $250,000.00. Having this hanging over our heads, and knowing the bank owns the monastery, is not a good thing. Your prayers are most appreciated, as we need a miracle.

Isaiah 9:9-10:4

⁹All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
¹²The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.

For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

¹³For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
¹⁵The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
¹⁶For the leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks folly.

For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness burns as the fire;
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
The land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
No man shall spare his brother.
²⁰And he shall snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
And not be satisfied;
Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
²¹Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be against Judah.

For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

10 “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
²To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
³What will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
⁴Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners,
And they shall fall among the slain.”

For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

Genesis 7:1-5

The Great Flood

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. ²You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; ³also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” ⁵And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.

Proverbs 8:32-9:11

³²“Now therefore, listen to me, my children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
³⁴Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
³⁵For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the Lord;
³⁶But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.”

The Way of Wisdom

9 Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
²She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
³She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
⁴“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
⁵“Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
⁶Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.

⁷“He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
⁸Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
⁹Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

¹⁰“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
¹¹For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.

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