There are three ways of attention and prayer, by which the soul can be filled and become spiritually exhausted, or crumble and perish. If these three ways are used appropriately and at the right time, the soul will be filled, whilst if they are used unreasonably and at the wrong time, the soul will perish. Attention therefore should be tied and inseparable to prayer, in the way that the body is tied and inseparable to the soul. Attention should have the lead and mind for enemies as a guard, and fight sin, and resist evil thoughts of the soul. It should be then succeeded by prayer, which will destroy all those evil thoughts which attention fought against earlier since attention alone is not able to do this.

Our Venerable and God-bearing holy Father Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022 A.D.) is one of three Saints of the Orthodox Church to have been given the title of Theologian (the others are Saint John the Apostle and Saint Gregory Nazianzen). Born in Galatia and educated at Constantinople, he became Egoumenos (Abbot) of the Monastery of Saint Mamas. His feast day is celebrated by some on March 12, the date of his repose, while others commemorate his feast on October 12, as in our case, because March 12th falls within Great and Holy Lent.

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Then the Apostle Paul speaks about the sorrows that the Corinthians had to endure. This is very useful for us to hear today, because thereby we see that the first Christians also faced life's hardships, temptations, and sins, that their life was not angelic. However, it is important that they perceived them through a spiritual prism: through repentance, through the labor of self-correction.

The holy Apostle Philip was born in Caesarea of Palestine. He was married and had four daughters who prophesied. Later, he was chosen to be a Deacon by the holy Apostles and was ordained together with the holy Protomartyr (First Christian Martyr), the Archdeacon Stefanos (Stephen). He served the saints (Christian believers) with much fervor and cared for the poor and the widows. After the slaying of Saint Stefanos, there was a persecution against the Church at Jerusalem, and all were scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Twelve Holy Apostles. Then Saint Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ, and the people with one accord gave heed to those things which he spoke (Acts, Ch. 8).

The Orthodox Christian approach to salvation is in stark contrast to the Western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) approach. While there is some guilt associated with sins, guilt is not the problem; nor is punishment the solution. Christ did not come to save us from guilt but from sin and death.

In the biblical account, an Angel appears to Cornelius and proclaims exactly how he has found favor with God: "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God" (Acts 10:4). It was his faithful prayer and love for the poor that placed Cornelius in a position to receive the visitation of God's grace. But this grace had still not come to dwell within him, for he was not yet regenerated in baptism.