How do I stop living in fear and anxiety as a Christian?

Nobody became a Christian to become fearful. The whole idea of being a Christian is the antithesis of fear, which is faith in God. The fear of death is demolished, the fear of the devil and his power is demolished. When I lived in the world, I was full of anxiety and fear. Even as a priest I sometimes get overwhelmed, lose my peace, and have to turn back to Christ with even greater diligence.

I'm not there 100 percent of the time. I'm a human being like everybody else. But I need to find peace in the midst of the storm of my life, because if I can't find peace now and the situation becomes ten times more difficult, I won't find it then. I remember someone interviewing a monk on Mount Athos who said, we're not all like St Paisios. He had immense faith and radiated the Holy Spirit.

That's why he was a saint. The rest of us are struggling in the monasteries just to find some peace and keep some peace. That is the understanding: he who endures to the end will be saved. So why get into the future about something that hasn't come to pass when you can't handle day-to-day life right now? As Christ said, today has enough anxieties of its own.

Focus on today. Live at peace with other people, keep your conscience clear, guard your connection with Christ, rely on him to carry the burdens of your life. When I do that, I barely make it one day at a time. Barely.