"Glory to God!" Powerful words! In times of sorrow, when thoughts of doubt, faintheartedness, discontent, and grumbling surround and encircle the heart, one must force oneself to frequently, slowly, and attentively repeat the words: "Glory to God!" Whoever with simplicity of heart believes the advice offered here and, when faced with need, tests it in action, will see the wondrous power of praising God; he will rejoice at the acquisition of such useful, new knowledge, will rejoice at the acquisition of a weapon against mental enemies, so strong and convenient. From the mere sound of these words, uttered amidst an accumulation of dark thoughts of sadness and despondency, from the mere sound of these words, uttered with compulsion, as if with the lips alone, as if only into the air, the princes of the air tremble and flee; all dark thoughts are scattered like dust before a strong wind; heaviness and boredom retreat from the soul; lightness, calm, peace, consolation, joy come to it and settle in it. Glory to God!
"Glory to God!" Triumphant words! Words—a proclamation of victory! Words—rejoicing for all God's faithful servants, fear and defeat for all His enemies, the shattering of their weapons. This weapon is sin; this weapon is the carnal mind, fallen human wisdom. It arose from the fall, has sin as its original cause, is rejected by God, is constantly at enmity with God, is constantly rejected by God. In vain will all the wise men of the earth gather to one wounded by sorrow; in vain will they heal him with the remedies of eloquence and philosophy; in vain is the labor of the sick himself, if he tries to unravel the multi-woven web of sorrow with the efforts of his own mind. Very often, almost always, the mind is completely lost in this multi-woven web! Often it sees itself entangled, imprisoned on all sides! Often deliverance, even consolation, seems already impossible! And many perish under the unbearable weight of fierce sorrow, perish from a mortal wound, a grievous wound, having found no earthly remedy powerful enough to heal this wound. Earthly wisdom presented itself with all its means: all proved powerless, insignificant. Disdain, most beloved brother, the one rejected by God! Lay aside all the weapons of your mind! Accept the weapon offered to you by the violence of Christ's preaching. Human wisdom will smile mockingly, seeing the weapon offered by faith; fallen reason, by its nature of hostility toward God, will not hesitate to present the most clever objections, full of educated skepticism and irony. Pay no attention to them, the ones rejected by God, the enemies of God. In your sorrow, begin to speak from your heart, repeating—without any thought—the words: "Glory to God!" You will see a sign, you will see a miracle: these words will drive away sorrow, call consolation to your heart, accomplish what the mind of the wise and the wisdom of the wise of the earth could not accomplish. This mind, this wisdom, will be put to shame, but you, delivered, healed, believing with a living faith, proven within yourself, will send up "Glory to God!"
"Glory to God!" Many of God's saints loved to repeat these words often; they had tasted the power hidden within them. Saint John Chrysostom, when speaking with spiritual friends and brethren about any circumstances, especially sorrowful ones, always made the words "Glory to God for all things!" the cornerstone, the fundamental dogma of his conversation. According to his habit, preserved by Church history for later posterity, he always began his speech with the words, "Glory to God for all things!" by striking the second finger of his right hand against the outstretched palm of his left.
Brethren! Let us also accustom ourselves to frequent praise of God; let us resort to this weapon in our sorrows; with unceasing praise of God, let us repel and crush our invisible adversaries, especially those who seek to overthrow us with sorrow, cowardice, murmuring, and despair. Let us purify ourselves with tears, prayer, and the reading of Holy Scripture and the writings of the Fathers, so that we may become spectators of God's providence, which sees all, controls all, governs all, directs all according to His inscrutable destinies toward goals known to the one God. Having become spectators of Divine governance, let us, with reverence, unshakable peace of heart, complete submission, and firm faith, marvel at the greatness of the incomprehensible God, and send up glory to Him now and forevermore.
It is worthy and right for creation to continually glorify You, God the Creator, who brought us into being from nothingness, according to Your one, infinite, incomprehensible goodness, who adorned us with the beauty, the glory of Your image and likeness, who led us into the bliss and delight of paradise, for which no end was appointed.
What have we repaid our Benefactor with? What has the dust, animated by Him, brought in gratitude to the Creator?
We have agreed with Your enemy, with the angel who rebelled against God, with the chief of evil. We have heeded the words of blasphemy against the Benefactor: we have dared to suspect our Creator, the all-perfect Goodness, of envy.
Alas, what a darkening! Alas, what a decline of mind! From the heights of divine vision and theology, our race, in our forefather, instantly falls into the abyss of eternal death...
Satan fell first; the bright Angel became a dark demon: lacking a body, he sinned in mind and word. Instead of praising God the Benefactor in blameless joy with the other holy Angels, he embraced blasphemy. He had barely conceived a dark, deadly thought, had barely realized it with a pernicious word, like the most vile poison, when he darkened, changed, and was cast with indescribable speed from the lofty Eden to the earth. The eternal Word testifies to the speed of his fall: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18).
Just as swift was the fall of man, who followed the fallen angel, beginning his fall with the acceptance of a dark, blasphemous thought, followed by the violation of God's commandment. This violation was already preceded by a hidden contempt and rejection of God.
Alas, what blindness! What a terrible sin! What a terrible fall! Compared to this sin, this fall, punishments are insignificant: expulsion from paradise, earning daily bread by the sweat of one's brow, the pain of childbearing, the return to the earth from which the Creator took our bodies.
But what do You do, O immeasurable Goodness? How do You repay us for the reward we gave You for Your first blessings? How do You repay us for disobeying You, for disbelief in You, for accepting the terrible blasphemy against You—against You, Who are Goodness itself, Perfection itself?
You repay with new blessings, greater than the first. With one of Your Divine Persons You accept humanity—You accept, in addition to sin, all our infirmities that have clung to human nature since its fall. You appear to our eyes, covering the unbearable glory of the Divinity with human flesh; being the Word of God, You speak to us the word of God in the sounds of human speech. Your power is the power of God. Your meekness is the meekness of a lamb. Your name is the name of man. This all-holy name moves heaven and earth. How comforting and majestic Your name sounds! When it enters the ear, when it leaves the lips, it enters and goes out like a priceless treasure, a priceless pearl! "Jesus Christ!" You are the Lord of men and man. How wondrously, gracefully You have united Divinity with humanity! How wondrously You act! You are both God and man! You are both Lord and slave! You are both Priest and Victim! You are both Savior and the coming impartial Judge of the universe! And You heal all ailments! And You visit and receive sinners! And You raise the dead! And You command the waters of the sea, the winds of the sky! And the grain grows miraculously in Your hands, yielding a thousandfold harvest—sown, reaped, baked, broken at the same time, in a single instant! And You hunger to deliver us from hunger! And You thirst for our thirst to be removed! And You travel through the land of our exile with Your own toil, to restore to us our lost, tranquil, sweet-filled, heavenly nature! And You poured out Your sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane, so that we would cease to shed our sweat in seeking bread for our belly, and learn to pour it out in prayer for the worthy partaking of the heavenly bread. You took upon Your head the thorns produced for us by the cursed earth; You crowned and wounded Your most holy head with thorns! We were deprived of the paradisiacal Tree of Life and its fruit, which imparted immortality to those who partook of it; You, stretched out upon the tree of the cross, became for us the fruit, granting eternal life to those who partake of It. Both the fruit of life and the tree of life appeared on earth, in the land of our exile. This fruit and this tree are superior to those of Paradise; those imparted immortality, and these impart immortality and divinity. Through Your sufferings, You poured sweetness into our sufferings. We reject earthly pleasures, we choose suffering as our lot, if only to become partakers of Your sweetness! It, as a foretaste of eternal life, is sweeter and more precious than this earthly life! You fell into the sleep of death, which could not hold You in eternal slumber. You—God! You arose and granted us awakening from this sleep, from the cruel sleep of death, You granted a blessed and glorious resurrection! You raised our renewed nature to heaven, seated it at the right hand of the eternal, co-eternal with You, Your Father! You made Your Father our Father too! You opened the way to heaven for us! You prepared mansions for us in heaven. You guide them, accept them, give them peace, and console them all the weary wanderers of the earth who believed in You, who called upon Your holy name, who fulfilled Your holy commandments, who served You in an Orthodox and piously manner,who bore Your cross and drank Your cup courageously, with thanksgiving to You, with glorification to You!
Glory to Thee, Creator of the non-existent! Glory to Thee, Redeemer and Savior of the fallen and lost! Glory to Thee, our God and Lord! Grant us, both on earth and in heaven, to glorify, bless, and praise Thy goodness! Grant us to behold with unveiled faces Thy awesome, unapproachable, magnificent Glory, to behold It eternally, to worship It, and to rejoice in It. Amen.
Source: https://myrophoros.blogspot.com/2026/05/blog-post_13.html?m=0