Excerpts from "The Orthodox Prayer Life", Matthew the Poor


"As for the menace of nuclear weapons and their threat to destroy the world, we have no path to peace, security, or hope except through people of prayer. By means of the divine power stored like treasure within them, these people can create within us a transcendent vision of a world that evil cannot overcome.We have thus no choice but to enter the inner room of prayer, not to isolate ourselves from the perishing world, thus escaping destruction and saving ourselves, but to attack the destruction that is in the world and redeem it. For when we die to ourselves and to the world, the world lives and is renewed. Through bended knees not only can souls be changed, but also the fate of the whole world.The soul that bears its cross is never attracted alone to Christ; without realizing, it attracts many after it: "Draw me in your footsteps, we will run after thee" (song 1:4) The human soul is by no means isolated from other souls. The arrival of any soul at the kingdom of God is a gain for the world in a mystical way. A trodden way is easy to walk along; and people of prayer are firm landmarks that shine along the way for ever more."


Excerpts on the net


http://www.theooze.com/forums/discussions.cfm?forumid=10&topicid=180359&kw=orthodox%20prayer%20life


http://www.saint-mary.net/servants/geninfo/Matthew%20the%20Poor%20-%20Fasting%20-%20Gethsemane.pdf#search=