Drawn Away/Fall Away
“Sensuality and pride…are precisely the qualities that manifested themselves, as we know, in the original sin of the primeval people and erected a barrier between them and God. What happened to the first people also happens to us. The unhealthy direction of our inner life from childhood, which leads to the development of either sensuality or pride within us, defiles the purity of our inner, spiritual vision, and deprives us of the opportunity to see God. We move away from God and find ourselves alone in our egotistical life and with all the ensuing consequences. This is the process of our falling away from God.” (Hieroschemamonk Sergei Chetverikov)
“…we did not create our character. We can work on our character and try to perfect it, but we did not create our character. The word character means “seal,” “engrave,” like when I engrave something; «χαρακτήρας» from «χαράζω». Our character is like a special seal that God has engraved for us. It’s a tool gifted to us for the specific purpose of taking us to Heaven. Therefore, we can’t blame our character. We might say: “My character doesn’t help me and I can’t change, what can I do?’ But by saying this, it’s as if we blame God. We use our character as an excuse to lead us away from God, when in actual fact, God has gifted us this seal, this «χαρακτήρα», because this is exactly what our soul needs to approach the Divine Mysteries and Knowledge of God to which we’re invited. It is not a coincidence that we have a specific character. We can improve it, but we cannot blame our character because it is a gift from God.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“The sweetness of sin treacherously deprives men of their gifts and talents. Unrepentant sinners, given over to an animal-like life and their passions, hardened in their minds and godless, fall away from the Lord and become the property of fallen spirits…Passions lead them to all vices, to the darkening of mental abilities, to the perversion of human feelings. In a mad rush towards sensuality alone, they destroy their health and exhaust their nervous system. They begin to be tormented and pursued by cruel anguish, which arouses envy for everything joyful and pure, and hatred for everything good and moral. Gradually intensifying, this hatred turns into malice, into a need for evil, for enmity towards everything that speaks of God, of everything that reminds one of holiness, of the truth of life—and leads one to transgressions.” (St. Seraphim Chichagov)
“I sometimes feel in my life as though I am groping for God. Those times when all seems dark and you know that God is around somewhere, you just can’t seem to find Him in the darkness. Paul tells his listeners that indeed, God is not far from any one of us. It is sometimes very hard for us to remember that God is always near. I think that even during those times where we drift away from God, He remains near to us. It’s just that our backs are turned, or we’re just not looking for Him at all. And when we are seeking Him but just can’t seem to find Him, it is our lack of vision…we cannot see through our own woundedness. We can be blinded by our pain. But rest assured that God is always near. Sometimes you just gotta grope for Him.” (Gus Lloyd)
“The Gospels tell of the movement from darkness to light, from blindness to sight, from seeking to finding, from captivity to freedom…this movement, this change, is necessary, and now is possible because the Kingdom of Heaven, God’s Reign, is at hand, is drawing near in the Person of Jesus Christ. Christ makes God—and thus His Reign, or Kingdom—present, because He is God Incarnate. Those who have been sitting paralyzed “in darkness… in the region and shadow of death” (Isaiah 9:1, 2; Matt. 4:16) are finally free to move, to be in a truly natural state, because now the Light is shining in the darkness, showing the way—and the darkness cannot overcome It (cf. John 1: 5).” (Dr. Mary S. Ford)
“…we do not blame God for our struggles. We understand that we may be drawn away – either by our “own desires” (James 1:14) or by whatever “gives birth to sin” (vs. 15) – and run the risk of falling into the full-blown sin that “brings forth death” (vs. 15). The worst outcome is to be captured by this world: its assumptions are deadly, no matter how plausible they sound…The love of Christ constrains us to live rightly in this world until death comes, or until the Lord returns. Yet because of its fallen state, the world will always tend to draw us away from communion with the Lord Jesus…When we make Christ central in our hearts and give Him first place in our lives, we step aside from this world’s values.” (Dynamis 2/7/2024, 7/13/2018, 1/18/2017)
“The theologian must be authentic. Phoniness, false piety, feigned humility, or a life of hypocrisy not only draws the judgment of God but in time becomes apparent to all. This can lead others to despair and loss of faith, just as in the case of a clergyman who falls and becomes the subject of a scandal. The clergyman and the theologian who cause scandal are responsible for the souls of those who are scandalized and fall away…Clergy and theologians are the special targets of the evil one. He seeks to destroy us by our own egos, by the false belief that we know better than others, that we would never fall away, when in fact we can deny Christ by our words and our deeds—and many have done so.” (Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou)
“In times of persecution, those who are casual about their faith choose either to fall away or to become strong in their Faith. For those of us who can openly practice our religion, being a believer can be taken for granted. We criticize the priest, we gossip about what people wear, we show up late to Liturgy and leave early. We do not take fasting seriously. We neglect the poor….Yes, we fall away from the Lord our God, but He raises us up again so that we may fervently pray…” (Abouna Justin Rose, OCPM 12/8/2016)
“The word usually rendered “temptation” in the Lord’s is peirasmos, often rendered as “trial”. It refers to a crisis which tests us, pushes us to the limit, a crisis in which we may fail the test and fall away from God. That was how the word is used in Luke 22:31, to describe Satan sifting Peter as thoroughly as wheat is sifted, by overwhelming him by a temptation to despair after his denial of Christ. That is how the word is used Revelation 3:10, to describe an hour of persecution and seduction that was coming upon the whole world…In the Lord’s Prayer, therefore, it seems that peirasmos refers to an hour of trial that comes upon us in the form of persecution. In this petition, we pray that we may withstand the assault.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley)
“Jesus uses the word “beware” multiple times in the Gospels. One of the things He warns us about, as do others throughout the Bible, is falling away from faith after turning to God in crisis and being delivered. It’s easy to be prayerful and committed when we have need, especially great need. And it’s equally easy to fall away after God meets our need and we are well again. God will of course “take us back” when we turn to Him again. The problem does not lie in His love for us. The problem really lies in our weak love for Him.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
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