Those who have come to love the Lord are at first unceasingly and greatly disturbed by the thought of detachment, as if burning with divine fire. I speak of separation from their own, undertaken by the lovers of perfection so that they may live a life of hardship and simplicity. But great and praiseworthy as this is, yet it requires great discretion; for not every kind of exile, carried to extremes, is good.

It is not from hatred that we separate ourselves from our own people or places (God forbid!), but to avoid the harm which might come to us from them.

In order to see clearly, each one of us must detach from our daily ‘reality’.

Based on St. John of the Ladder

This photo depicts the Monastery of Vatopaidi with the surrounding wilderness of the Holy Mountain.

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