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By: Subdeacon Maximus Gibson
On Monday, February 24, 2020, Fr. Chrysostom Koutloumousianos, Ph.D., visited St. Tikhon’s Seminary and delivered a lecture to the seminary community entitled, “Seeking the True Self: Self-Knowledge and the Inner Kingdom,” followed by a brief question and answer session. Fr. Chrysostom is a hieromonk of Koutloumous Monastery, Mount Athos, and a research fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies.
Speaking in the seminary refectory, Fr. Chrysostom counselled that the more we know ourselves, the more we are able to repent; and the more we repent, the more the grace of God can work in us. “We must have a few minutes each day to visit our own hearts,” said Fr. Chrysostom. “A fixed time to cut off all connections, electronic or noetic, to be in the presence of God, not making our experience our object: to be as silent as God.” Fr. Chrysostom provided some practical advice for achieving these moments of silence, self-understanding, and waiting for the Lord, as well as describing the process of unearthing the inner kingdom through ascetic practice and prayer. The lecture was recorded and is available for listening here: The Spirit of St. Tikhon’s Podcast.
