October 2011
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Mental Imagery in Roman Catholic and Eastern...
This presentation is based on the research that I undertook for a book titled Imagine That… : Mental Imagery in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Private Devotion, published in paperback in February of 2009 with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco. The work is an analytical comparison of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox attitudes toward mental imagery. In...
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Sweet is death to me…
“Sweet is death to me, O unbelievers! Sweet it is to me. I desire to sunder the link between my mortal and immortal nature. With my own blood I will confirm the Holy Church, which is founded upon the Precious Blood of the Son and Word of God, whom I preach. May that which was foreordained for me by the Providence of God be fulfilled, for He has called me to His light from the depths of...
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The Jesus Prayer is Not a Form of Eastern...
A Gerondas from the Holy Mountain Athos enumerated the following points about the difference of the Jesus prayer from Yoga.
1. The Jesus prayer express faith in God through His Son Jesus as part of a trinitarian God. It emphasizes that salvation is attained through God which is why we ask for His mercy. Salvation cannot be attained by our own efforts. 2. We are not attempting to find some...
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Sisoes the Great and the Contemplation of Death as...
Sisoes, the great ascetic, before the tomb of Alexander, King of the Greeks, who was once covered in glory. Astonished, he mourns for the vicissitudes of time and the transience of glory, and tearfully declaims thus:
“The mere sight of you, tomb, dismays me and causes my heart to shed tears, as I contemplate the debt we, all men, owe. How can I possibly stand it? Oh, death! Who can evade you?”...
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To the Greek Evangelicals who tried to prosylitize...
Keep in mind that I am Christian Orthodox and I will always be Christian Orthodox. I respect you. Please respect me. Please don’t try to prosylitize people by pretending that you are Orthodox. It’s not correct, not at all.
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Words
It is good to help enquirers with words; but it is better to co-operate with them through prayer and the practice of virtue. For he who through these offers himself to God, helps his neighbor through helping himself.
-Saint Kosmas Aitolos
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The life of the Saints
The life of the Saints witnesses the truth that in the holy Church of Christ, man with the holy mysteries and the holy virtues is transfigured into a “god by grace,” into a godman by grace.
-Fr Justin Popvitch +1979
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The Flowers of St. John the Theologian (Miracle)
Every year, the people of the small village of Marmaketos in Crete (50 inhabitants), gather local wild flowers to decorate the Epitaphio of Christ on Holy Friday. On Holy Saturday, they gather the flowers and hang them throughout the church on string, where they dry out. On May 8th, the feast of St. John the Theologian, during the reading of the Gospel in the Divine Liturgy, these dead flowers...
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Prayers for the departed
…Just think how many even nominal Christians do not pray for the departed or just simply forget to do so. How terrible if a reposed soul was simply forgotten about & no one prayed for him! If prayer is an aspect of our love for others then the prayer of the Faithful must be a source of great consolation for those reposed who would otherwise be completely forgotten.
-Fr. Raphael
...
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Our life without Christ
“Everything seems dark and difficult to a person without Christ.”
-Father Amphilochios
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andreisarb: Halloween = All Saints' Day! OK?!?!
andreisarb:
If it is Halloween, it is All Saints’ Day / All Hallows’ Day! And this looks like
and
not like
So…
…but…
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Papa-Foti's Vision of St. Luke the New Martyr
Years ago Papa-Foti related the following vision in his customary humble manner: “One summer night I was sitting in the lower church to do my canon with my prayer rope. Suddenly in the darkness the church was filled with light which was coming from the Altar. I looked towards there but it was too bright. I thought perhaps it was a car of someone whose headlights were shining inside the...
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Come my dove ...
‘Come by yourself, my dove, in the shelter of the rock, near the wall’ (2:14).
What is the ascent to perfection which these words indicate? No longer must we look to things that attract and excite us. We must take as our guide our own longing for what is better. He says, ‘Come by yourself’ — not out of sadness or necessity, but by yourself, confirming your desire...
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Holy Trinity Icon of the Written Stone Monastery
The Icon shows the “New Testament” Trinity, that is, Jesus Christ holding the Cross seated opposite the Father as an old man, and between Them the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove. An Austro-Hungarian military map of 1788 labels a the site as “Trinity Rock”, suggesting the icon was already painted onto the cliff-side by that date. In 1822, the icon was restored by a local painted, Moise Buru...
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Ramblings of an average human.: The liturgy! →
James’ first Orthodox Liturgy!
jamesfromta:
It was amazing!
I loved every single moment of it, seriously I would have been happy for it to have lasted all day. Everyone was so lovely and people who I had never met before were really kind and guided me through what to do as the liturgy is nothing like anything I had ever been to before.
It has awoken in me this absolute fire that I need...
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St. Basil the Great: "Love Can Not Be Taught"
Love for God can not be taught. No one taught us to enjoy the light nor to want life, nor anyone else taught us to love our parents or those who raised us. Similarly or rather much more, knowledge of divine love does not come from outside. But in the same time when man was composed, a seminal reason was deposited in us, which has by itself the causes of appropriating love…. Only the good...
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From St. Philotheos of Sinai
“Let us cut sin out of our heart, and we will find within us the kingdom of heaven.”
(The Philokalia Vol. 3 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 30)
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The Parable of the rich man and Lazarus
Metropolitan Anthony Sourozh
As every of Christ’s parables of the judgement today’s parable has got a very simple aspect and at the same time should be reflected on a deeper level.
The simple aspect is this: you have had on earth all that was good, Lazarus has had nothing; he therefore receives in eternity all the goods which he has lacked on earth and you are deprived of it. But this is not...
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5th Sunday of Luke - Gospel Reading: Luke 16:19-31...
The Lord said, “There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried;...
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Simple but Profound Miracles of our Living...
1. Did you know that when monks die in the monastery of St. Savas in Jerusalem, their bodies do not freeze or dry-out or smell and they do not bury them in the soil but put them in a room? 2. Did you know that on the head (the bone) of the fish «Goulianos» which lives in Lake Gennisaret is depicted the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River?
3. Did you know that when celebrating the Holy Martyr...
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The Orthodox Church has preserved intact and...
One very interesting question, never asked, is this: ‘If scholars are willing to assemble an eclectic text out of Scripture fragments from various sources — often of unknown doctrinal origin or authority — why haven’t they ever considered the living archeological evidence of Scripture segments that have been repeated faithfully for ages in the Orthodox Liturgy?’ Why haven’t serious...
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The love of Christ
There are times, when the love of Christ touches us, that we feel eternity. This cannot be understood rationally. God acts in a manner proper to Himself, which is beyond reason. We must not be too logical in our Christian life.
Archimandrite Sophrony, +1993
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Saint Seraphim of Sarov (In Russian)
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Gift in return
And somehow like this, life continues… With our falls, our disappointment, our selfishness, our “human thinking”… And then you are wondering why life is difficult… Why not? For, you walk away day by day from your Father. Because you walk away from the One who promised endless life. From the one who came to earth and was crucified for you… Do you listen? Yes, I...
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We mustn't despair
We mustn’t despair when we struggle and continuously see nothing but the slightest progress. We all do nearly nothing, some a little more, some a little less. When Christ sees our little effort He gives us an analogous token, and so our nearly nothing becomes valuable and we can see a little progress. For this reason we mustn’t despair, but hope in God.
-Elder Paisios the Athonite
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Ramblings of an average human.: Why Orthodoxy?... →
I reblog a small excerpt from James. His journey is touching, and it’s trully a miracle!
jamesfromta:
The Orthodox Church is amazing and it is such a shame so many Christians do not know or understand her. The Orthodox Church states, not with pride but with humility, that she is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, with doctrines unchanged since 33AD and therefore contains the...
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Saint Theophan said...
When you are at prayer, recite your prayer or psalm from memory, and embrace each word, not just with thought, but with feeling. If during this your own prayerful cries arise from some word of the psalm or prayer, do not cut them off, but let them come.
-Saint Theophan
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View from the Kingdom of God: People that have... →
andreisarb:
These are the people who registered, until today, 28th of October 2011, for the Orthodox Missionary Blog, with their respective status.
Me (Andrei-Liviu Sârb) - Yahoo mail address provided simplyorthodox - Yahoo mail address provided sergekakorin - Yahoo mail address PENDING Anastasia - Yahoo mail address PENDING Vintilă (a colleague of mine at the Faculty) - Yahoo mail address...
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Orthodoxy transforms and heals
…In fact, the [Orthodox] Christian religion transforms people and heals them. The most important precondition, however, for someone to recognize and discern the truth is humility. Egotism darkens a person’s mind, it confuses him, it leads him astray, to heresy. It is important for a person to understand the truth.
-Fr. Symeon Kees
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Overcoming Depression
Let me tell you about a girl who came to me. She was suffering from dreadful depression. Drugs had no effect. She had given up everything — her work, her home, her interests. I told her about the love of Christ which takes the soul captive because the grace of God fills the soul and changes it. I explained to her that the force which takes over the soul and transforms the power of the...
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Video: A Miracle of the Virgin Mary From the 1940...
This video is in Greek, but please watch it. Look this old man, that he cries when he talks about Virgin Mary… So touching…
In this video, Nikolaos Gatsiaros speaks of a vision he and his fellow soldiers had of the Panagia in the 1940 Greek-Italian War, which still moves him after all these years. He describes how they were walking right into the hands of the enemy, whom they could...
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Greece never dies! (patriotic Greek song)
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St. Anthony the Great said...
God’s Providence controls the universe. It is present everywhere. Providence is the sovereign Logos of God, imprinting form on the unformed materiality of the world, making and fashioning all things. Matter could not have acquired an articulated structure were it not for the directing power of the Logos Who is the Image, Intellect, Wisdom, and Providence of God.
(Philokalia, Vol. 1:156;...
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The Holy Protection of the Theotokos: Miracles...
The Church of Greece has moved the celebration of Agia Skepi to the 28th of October (“Oxi Day”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohi_Day) in commemoration of the great help and protection of the Theotokos to the Greek nation throughout its history, and especially during World War II: “The role of faith in Virgin Mary in Epirus is also outstanding during the Second World War. Her...
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How can you not pray...
How can you not pray for the afflicted, the sick, the poor?
- Fr. Dimitrios Gagastathis
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Father Seraphim Rose said...
“Everything in this life passes away — only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.”
― Seraphim Rose
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You are a portrait
“You are a portrait, O man, a portrait painted by your Lord God. Yours is a good artist and painter. Do not deface the good picture, which reflects not deceit, but truth; which expresses not guile, but grace.”
-St. Ambrose of Milan
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What about the "Filioque" controversy?
James and Daniel wrote two really nice responces at the post of Badwolfcomplex as far as the Filioque is concerned.
Please read carefully these two posts. What’s your opinion? Do you agree or disagree with these two posts? If not why?
Thank you all and I hope that I didn’t offend and hurt anyone. If I did, please let me know. It’s not my purpose to offend but to discuss only....
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Victories in contemporary Greek history is an...
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Tomorrow is an important day for Greece and...
Tomorrow is a big day for Greece!
We celebrate:
-On 28 October 1940, after Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum demanding the occupation of Greek territory, Italian forces invaded Greece. It’s called the “Ochi Day” or “No Day”.
-The Protection of the Mother of God. In recent years, the Feast of the Protection has become associated with...
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Simple but Profound Miracles of our Living...
1. Did you know that the flowers and basil from the Holy Cross that we get from the priest on the feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross can catch yeast, and because it makes the dough rise wonderfully, we can make bread [prosforo] for the Divine Liturgy?
2. Did you know that holy water that is blessed in church by the Orthodox priest for the Holy Feast of Theophany or any other feast, as...
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True wealth
“True wealth, for me, is to see you in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
-Father Amphilochios
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About monasticism
Monasticism is Christ’s army and Satan’s enemy. The monasteries are the outposts of the Church. Without outposts, the enemy will capture us. Prayer in monasteries reaches God like a bullet. As a foreign army fears the aircraft and hides, so also Satan fear the prayer of the monastics and goes away.
-Father Dimitrios Gagastathis
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St. Demetrios the Myrrh-Streamer: A miracle
I found the following story incredibly moving. It also discusses the great miracle of the Myrrh from St. Demetrios:
“There lived once an ascetic on the Mount of Solomon who, hearing of the reports of the holy myrrh [of St. Demetrios], had doubts, saying in his mind that there were many other great martyrs who suffered more than St. Demetrios, yet they were not honored by God in such a...
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Father Seraphim Rose said about Nietzsche and God
“…Nietzsche, in calling himself Antichrist, proved thereby his intense hunger for Christ.”
― Seraphim Rose, Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age
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Christ knocks at your door
Christ often comes and knocks at your door and you invite him to sit in the living room of your soul. Then, absorbed in your own business you forget the Great Visitor. He waits for you to appear and when you are too long in returning, he gets up and leaves. At other times, you are so busy that you answer him from the window. You don’t even have time to open the door.
-Father Amphilochios
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About love
To love is easy and sweet. Oh! if we could only see the heart of a man who bears the evangelic yoke of Christ, you would see in it a paradise of joy and gladness, you would see there the Kingdom of God, even though on the surface he was worried and surrounded by grief and tribulations, as a rose is surrounded by thorns. There can be nought but comfort and true joy in a heart in which reigns the...
