July 2011
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Thank you...
With this post I just wanted to say something to our Lord.
Thank you for everything! You never abandoned my from my very first moment on the earth till now…
Also I wanted to thank Virgin Mary for her help as well as our Saints.
Please Lord, remember me in Your Kingdom.
I’ll pray for all of us to remember us in our Kingdom. Please pray for me…
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Jesus at the Eurovision: An orthodox Christian...
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What happened when Fr. Seraphim Rose visited an...
”When I visited an Orthodox church, it was only in order to view another ‘tradition’…However, when I entered an Orthodox church for the first time something happened to me that I had not experienced in any Buddhist or other Eastern temple; something in my heart said that this was ‘home’, that all my search was over.”
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Time for Repentance
Our country is going through a major crisis, we all know it and can see it around us. We Greeks once used to place our trust in the Lord our God. We had faith and with this faith we managed to fight and win great battles. Unfortunately the majority now has turned away from God. In the Old Testament we see that when the Israel, God’s people turned away from God they went through many...
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Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Anthony Bloom
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Psalm 122/123
I lift up my eyes to you,to you who sit enthroned in heaven.As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,so our eyes look to the LORD our God,till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us,for we have endured no end of contempt.
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Lord, I'm falling...
Lord, I’m falling, I’m losing ground. The enemy hunts me day and night. He haunts me. I feel that his fiery arrows are coming against me. How weary am I…. Yes I feel it. The touch of your hand holding mine tighter and tighter. Your strength is helping my head rise. Fortify my weak armaments. Thank you Lord I am gaining ground!!!
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An icon of Virgin Mary wipes (Jerusalem 2002)
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St. Antony of Egypt said..
Remember the deeds of the saints so that their example will inspire your soul to virtue and restrain it from vice.”
~ St. Antony of Egypt
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Joseph of Arimathea (31 July)
The holy and righteous Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Christ (Matt. 27:25; John 19:38). His feast day is July 31. He is also commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers—the second Sunday after Pascha.
Along with St. Nicodemus, St. Joseph removed Christ’s body from the Cross, prepared it for burial, and placed it in his own...
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The mouth of the righteous
“The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide.”
~Psalm 37:30-31
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Please reblog: The Bible in 500+ languages (mp3)
Download the whole Bible in mp3: Free Audio Bible
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Metropolitan Nicholaos: Exceeding the bounds of...
Nowadays, some teenagers say: “Come on, Church is only for uneducated old people, not for us!”
Today I’ll post something for the Metropolitan of Mesogaea and Lavraeotica, a former monk from Mount Athos that is renowned for his extensive learning, having worked with NASA and currently the head of the Church’s Bioethics committee.
He studied physics at the University of...
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From the Philokalia
Shut all the gates of your soul, that is the senses, so as to not be lured astay. When the intellect sees that it is not dominated by anything, it prepares itself for immortality, gathering its senses together and forming them into one body.
-The Philokalia
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St. John of Kronstadt said...
“How destructive to the heart is even momentary attachment for anything earthly.”
-St. John of Kronstadt (19th c.)
Anonymous asked: What are the key points of Orthodox Christianity?
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Rublev's Holy Trinity
The Church has many different depictions of the Holy Trinity. But the icon which defines the very essence of Trinity Day is invariably the one which shows the Trinity in the form of three angels. The prototype for this icon was the mysterious appearance of the Holy Trinity in the form of three travelers to Abraham and Sarah under the oak of Mamre. The Church specifically chose this particular...
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Sirach 1:18
“The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom, making peace and perfect health to flourish.”
- Sirach 1:18
Anonymous asked: Why so hang up on denomination? Where Christ is there lays freedom. Traditions don't lead to salvation.
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Christ is at the helm
Some of the sailors on a ship may quarrel and fight each other, but the ship sails on and reaches its destination. The same is true of the Church, because Christ Himself is at the helm.
-Mother Gabriel
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Anonymous asked: what do you think about ionian village?
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The Christianity is...
The Christianity is love, the Christianity is also pain. The Christianity is love resulted from pain. What is this strange commandment brought by Christ, but pain? What actually means, to love your neighbour? To buy him a hamburger? To give him some money? Sometimes this also. But if the pain of your neighbour cannot be relieved neither with a hamburger nor with money, if it is beyond your...
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Youth and Gurus
Many young people today are seeking gurus and are ready to enslave themselves to any likely candidate; but woe to those who take advantage of this climate of the times to proclaim themselves “God-bearing elders” in the ancient tradition—they only deceive themselves and others.
(Introduction to Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky, by Schema-monk Metrophanes; St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina,...
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A quote from "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the...
Orthodox Christians! Hold fast to the grace which you have; never let it become a matter of habit; never measure it by merely human standards or expect it to be logical or comprehensible to those who understand nothing higher than what is human… Let all true Orthodox Christians strengthen themselves for the battle ahead, never forgetting that in Christ the victory is already ours.
(Orthodoxy...
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Mount Athos - CBS (Part 1)
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Saint Macarius of Optina said...
To bear the cross does not mean only visible, external sorrows, but also internal spiritual ones. One must endure darkness, faintheartedness and similar things as well. For God sends this for the destruction of our pride and acquiring of humility.
-St. Macarius of Optina
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Free choice
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
- 1 Corinthians 6:12
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A quote from Met. Kallistos Ware
To me, the most important missionary witness that we have is the Divine Liturgy, the Eucharistic worship of the Orthodox Church. This is the life-giving source from which everything else proceeds. And therefore, to those who show an interest in Orthodoxy, I say, “Come and see. Come to the liturgy.” The first thing is that they should have an experience of Orthodoxy—or for that...
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Love
Love is only on the Cross.
-Mother Gabriel
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kernalan asked: Hey, quick question: is Orthodoxy Sola Scriptura or is the Church also a source of authority as in Catholicism?
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Why haven't I heard of the Orthodox Church before?
Beats me! It’s been around since the day of Pentecost. You probably haven’t heard about it because we are a conservative Church that sounds no trumpets in our social programs but rather attempts to lead individuals, each in his or her own circumstances, into communion with God, the very purpose for which the Church exists. Believe it or not, there are perhaps three million of us in...
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A miracle of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou (28 July)
St. Irene prays in mid-air and cypress trees bow before her
One night a sister of the nunnery noticed St. Irene praying in the outer yard of the convent. Our venerable mother’s feet were not touching the ground but rather she was standing in the air about two yards above the ground! Near her there were two extremely tall cypress trees. So long as our glorious saint was praying the two...
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Psalm 56:4
In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?”
- Psalm 56:4
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Hello, I'm Orthodox. →
weird-wanderer:
Yes, I believe in Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity.
Yes, I pray. In the morning, just after waking up, and in the evening, before going to sleep.
Yes, I attend church. In Russia - on Sundays, in UAE - on Fridays.
I read the Bible, I fast, I fear for my life-after-death, I confess my sins for the priest - yes, yes, yes, I am no less and no more than...
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Spiritual gifts
“Someone asked this question of a discerning man: ‘Why is it that God confers gifts and wonder-working powers on some, even though He knows in advance that they will lapse?’ His answer was that God does this so that other spiritual men may grow cautious, and to show that the human will is free, and to demonstrate that on the day of judgment there will be no excuse for these who lapsed.”
-St....
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From St. John of Karpathos
“It is written: ‘I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall come to all people’ (Lk. 2:10) - not just to some people. Again, it is written: ‘Let all the earth worship You and sing to You’ (Ps. 66:4 LXX) - not just part of the earth. This singing is an expression not of grief but of rejoicing. Since this is so, let us not despair, but pass through this present...
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The incorrupt body of Orthodox Saint John Jacob...
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From St. Maximos the Confessor
“There is a single energy of God and the saints? they are living icons of Christ, being the same as He is, by grace rather than by assimilation.”
(The Philokalia Vol. 2 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 274)
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From St. Makarios of Egypt
“Fasting is good and so are vigils, ascetic practice and voluntary exile. But all these things are but the start, the prelude to citizenship in heaven, so that it is altogether senseless to put one’s trust merely in them? the cardinal rule of the Christian life is not to put one’s trust in acts of righteousness even if one practices all of them, or to imagine that one has done...
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Greek Orthodox Christian Byzantine Music
Simply beautiful…
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The Sign of the Cross
The Elder wrote about [the sign of the Cross] to one of his spiritual daughters: “The experience of the ages shows that the sign of the cross has great power over all a person’s actions during the entire course of his life. Therefore it is necessary to strive to root in children the habit of protecting themselves with the sign of the cross often, especially when receiving food and drink, and...
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Elder Paisios said about devil
[Elder Paisios] said, “the devil doesn’t want people to know that he exists, because it’s easier for him to fight them if they’re unaware of his existence. You don’t protect yourself from an enemy unless you realize he exists. But once you’ve detected him, there’s no reason for him to hide, so he then fights you out in the open.
From the book: The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Paisios
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From St. John Cassian
”… a Christian is quite certain to fall into the same sins which he condemns in another with merciless and inhuman severity, for ‘a stern king will fall into misfortunes,’ and ‘one who stops his ears so as not to hear the weak, shall himself cry, and there shall be none to hear him’ (Prov. 13:17; 21:13).”
(The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second...
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A quote from Proverbs
Hate stirs up strife but love covereth all offenses.
—Proverbs 10:12
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The signs which indicate the second coming of...
The basic signs, as Christ describes them, are that the gospel will be proclaimed in all creation, there will be a great uprising of people in the universe, and many false prophets will appear. The antichrist, with many wonders and signs which he will perform will attempt to lead even the chosen ones astray. Wars, famines, persecutions, earthquakes, and so forth, will prevail.
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A practical tip
AT ALL TIMES in church one should stand as still and quietly as possible and vigorously train children to do the same, but there are times when there should be absolutely no moving about in church, and perhaps it would be helpful to remind people of some of these: during the reading of the Six Psalms (at the beginning of Mattins or about a third of the way through a Vigil Service—when the psalm...
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What does Orthodoxy think about the existence of...
ANSWER:
Of course, all Orthodox agree that there are other “rational beings” in the universe besides us—there are angels and demons, but this, probably, was not your question. Orthodoxy does not have an official position on space aliens. Some have a personal belief that we are the only humans ever created, others allow for a possibility of other humanoids. But Orthodoxy is...
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Rejoice
Rejoice, O height beyond human logic. Rejoice, O depth invisible even to the eyes of Angels. Rejoice, for you are the King’s throne. Rejoice, you bear Him, Who bears the universe. - from the Akathist hymn
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What is your opinion?
This is a song of Jamster (Seraphim), a Christian Orthodox rapper. Do you think that Holy Hip-Hop is something that appropriate for Orthodox Christianity?
Personally, I believe that Orthodox Hymns are absolutely great and full of emotions. Songs like this one are nice because many young people listen this kind of music, so youth is possible to approach our religion because of this. I am not...
