The Canadian Mission of St. Panteleimon the Healer has been established with the blessing of Vladyka Ioan, Archbishop of the United States and of Vladyka Martin, Bishop of the Midwest, and is a dependency of the Stavropighial Monastery of
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Coleman, Michigan.
RT. REV. ARCHPRIEST CHRISTOPHER ERIKSSON, Ph.D
Rt. Rev. Dr. Eriksson is a British citizen living in Toronto Canada. He grew up in a British-South African musical family in Sussex, England. His mother was an opera singer (Royal Academy of Music in London) and his father a clarinetist.
He was attracted to the spiritual life as a teenager in England and Sweden, but decided first to go into science & medical research after obtaining his PhD from Imperial College in London.
He has been a medical scientist at The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, taught Dental Materials in South Africa and at McGill University, was a Professor of Physics at Vanier College in Montreal, and more recently a teacher of mathematics at an Orthodox Jewish school in Toronto.
To get to know himself better he later studied psychology and received an M.A in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School in Chicago in 1991. He was awarded a certificate in orthodox theology and religious studies in 2002, after which he was ordained an Eastern Orthodox priest. He has been interviewed several times on Canadian TV about The Eastern Orthodox Church and the practice of achieving inner stillness using the Jesus prayer, as well as on successfully adopting a healthy lifestyle to prevent modern chronic illnesses.
His faith ministry centers on uplifting the spirit of residents in nursing homes and long-term healthcare centers in the Toronto area.
He runs a small company called The Art of Healthy Living. This offers a professional service on moving to a healthier lifestyle to help prevent modern chronic illnesses such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. He also currently tutors students in mathematics and science at a local academy just north of Toronto.
He has two married daughters, one in Toronto, Canada and one in Tucson, Arizona and four beautiful grandchildren. He loves listening to classical music, especially Beethoven, and the likes of Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. He has been an author for Academic Press, and has published medical and scientific articles in journals such as Nature, Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, and the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Eriksson can be reached at 905-702-7304.
His E-Mail address is: theartofhealthyliving@rogers.com
The Parish of St. Panteleimon, the Healer
(Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
“Celebrating Faith in a Living God
To Make Healthy Lifestyle Changes Work for You"
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America
Archdiocese of the United States & Canada
www.uaocamerica.org
Newsletter - Summer 2005
Pastor: Rev. Dr. Christopher Eriksson
Mailing Address: R.R 2 Georgetown, Ontario L7G 4S5 Canada
Tel/Fax: (905) 702-7304 - Toll Free (USA & Canada): 1- 888-869-9858
E-Mail: theartofhealthyliving@rogers.com
This church is an outreach of
Our Lady of The Most Blessed Sacrament Monastery in Coleman, Michigan
It acts under the direct authority of Archbishop +Ioan, Prime Bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America, and the Abbot of the Monastery, Bishop +Martin
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LIVING AND BREATHING DAILY THE JESUS PRAYER
TO BRING UNION WITH GOD
(HESYCHIA)
The living words of Saint Theophan The Recluse (1815 to 1894) - one of Eastern Orthodox Christianity’s great modern Saints describe beautifully the process and goal of the hesychasts.
PRAYER
"Prayer is a spiritual barometer for self-observation. Just as a barometer shows us how heavy or light the air is, so prayer shows us how high or low our spirit has gone in its relationship to God."
"A truly spiritual life is not possible without prayer - which is spiritual life in action. Prayer is the raising of our mind and heart to God. One may say that to pray means bringing right feelings and attitudes into actions."
ON MAGNETIZATION TOWARDS GOD
"The aim is to strive towards God, but at first this is done only in intention. It must be made into our actual life - a natural gravitation that is sweet, voluntary and permanent. This is the kind of attitude that shows us we are on the right track; that God accepts us and that we are moving towards Him.
When iron clings to a magnet it is because the power of the magnet draws it. In spiritual matters the same thing is true; it is only clear that God is touching us when we experience this living aspiration, when our spirit turns its back on everything else and is fixed on Him and carried away.
At first this will not happen; the zealous person is still turned wholly to himself. Even though he has "decided" for God, this is only in his mind. The Lord does not yet let Himself be tasted, nor is the man yet capable of it, being impure. Then as his heart begins to be purified and set right, he begins to feel the sweetness of a life pleasing to God, so that he begins to walk in His ways gladly and with love. It becomes his natural element, in which he delights. Then the soul starts to withdraw from everything else as from the cold, and to gravitate towards God, Who warms it.
This principle of gravitation is implanted in the fervent soul by divine grace. By its inspiration and guidance the attraction grows in natural progression, inwardly nourished even without the knowledge of the person concerned. The sign of this birth is that where the spirit in someone previously acted compulsively, it now begins to abide in God's presence willingly and quietly without strain, with feelings of reverence, fear, and joy. Once the spirit was cramped within him, but now it is settled and stays there permanently. Now it is bliss for him to be alone with God, away from others and oblivious to external things. He acquires the Kingdom of God within himself, which is peace and joy in The Holy Spirit. This immersion in God is called "silence of the mind" or "rapture in God"... "
The Orthodox Parish of Saint Panteleimon the Healer in Southern Ontario Canada that is part of Diocese of Canada of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America is pleased to offer practical help to all those who wish to start this practice and discipline described above by Saint Theophan The Recluse. To this end, those interested are invited to contact Archpriest Dr. Christopher Eriksson at the e-mail address: - theartofhealthyliving@rogers.com.
