Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary and teacher of seminarians and priests for decades passed away in 2015. Fr. Tom was first a pastor, a man with a generous heart and burning love for Christ who directed many towards our Lord.
Below are 55 maxims that Fr. Tom says are necessary for a sound Christian life.
Memory eternal to Fr. Thomas Hopko.
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- Be always with Christ.
- Pray as you can, not as you want.
- Have a keepable rule of prayer that you do by discipline.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer several times a day.
- Have a short prayer that you constantly repeat when your mind is not occupied with other things.
- Make some prostrations when you pray.
- Eat good foods in moderation.
- Keep the Church’s fasting rules.
- Spend some time in silence every day.
- Do acts of mercy in secret.
- Go to liturgical services regularly
- Go to confession and communion regularly.
- Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings. Cut them off at the start.
- Reveal all your thoughts and feelings regularly to a trusted person.
- Read the scriptures regularly.
- Read good books a little at a time.
- Cultivate communion with the saints.
- Be an ordinary person.
- Be polite with everyone.
- Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
- Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
- Exercise regularly.
- Live a day, and a part of a day, at a time.
- Be totally honest, first of all, with yourself.
- Be faithful in little things.
- Do your work, and then forget it.
- Do the most difficult and painful things first.
- Face reality.
- Be grateful in all things.
- Be cheerfull.
- Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
- Never bring attention to yourself.
- Listen when people talk to you.
- Be awake and be attentive.
- Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
- When we speak, speak simply, clearly, firmly and directly.
- Flee imagination, analysis, figuring things out.
- Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
- Don’t complain, mumble, murmur or whine.
- Don’t compare yourself with anyone.
- Don’t seek or expect praise or pity from anyone.
- We don’t judge anyone for anything.
- Don’t try to convince anyone of anything.
- Don’t defend or justify yourself.
- Be defined and bound by God alone.
- Accept criticism gratefully but test it critically.
- Give advice to others only when asked or obligated to do so.
- Do nothing for anyone that they can and should do for themselves.
- Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
- Be merciful with yourself and with others.
- Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
- Focus exclusively on God and light, not on sin and darkness.
- Endure the trial of yourself and your own faults and sins peacefully, serenely, because you know that God’s mercy is greater than your brokenness.
- When we fall, get up immediately and start over.
- Get help when you need it, without fear and without shame.