February 2012
248 posts
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Give us this day our daily bread
Give us this day our daily bread - means the bread which is sufficient for our nature and existence. He removes the care for the morrow. The body of Christ is the daily bread, and we pray that we may share in it blamelessly.
-St. Germanus of Constantinople
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Lucky from General Hospital discovers Orthodoxy
It is always so amazing to see people from so many different backgrounds and lifestyles find common grounds in Orthodoxy. How Christ truly came and established His church, our church, for every single person ever created. And when people truly seek Him, with open hearts and humility, He leads them to the Truth. Glory to God for all things!
At Ancient Faith Radio and there is an interview on the...
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The grace of fasting
If then such is the grace of fasting, that it makes us into a dwelling place of God, we must welcome it, brethren, gladly, not grieving at the plainness of the diet, for we know that the Lord, though he is able to nourish lavishly, made a banquet for thousands in the wilderness from bread and water. Also because what is unusual, with enthusiasm becomes acceptable and painless. Fasting is not...
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The Name of Jesus
The Name of Jesus is sweet to utter. It casts our the demons and brings the angels back into the heart, into the mind, and you will bear yourself in meekness before others.
- Fr Gheorghe Calciu
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The Lord will reward you
Do not become harsh and unmerciful. Think that behind him who seeks charity from you, is the Lord Himself… Give charity for your own benefit and for the benefit of those who are really poor. The Lord will reward you…
- Saint John Chrysostom
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A God who is not God
A God who remains generalized and reduced to ideology is no God at all. Only the daily encounter with the living God, with all the messiness it entails, can rise to the name Christian.
- Fr. Stephen Freeman, “Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe”
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A monk does not just study dogmas
An Athonite elder said, “A monk does not just study dogmas; he lives by them. When he reads the Holy Scripture or the patristic writings, he is not doing it to gain knowledge but to learn a language of ineffable words with which God speaks through one’s prayer.”
- from An Athonite Gerontikon
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Here is the clean air of the spirit...
Here in the church there is the one thing needful: Here is a refuge from the vanity and the storms of life. Here is the calm harbor for souls seeking after salvation. Here is incorruptible food and drink for the soul. Here is the light that enlightens all men existing upon earth. Here is the clean air of the spirit. Here is the fountain of living water which flows to life eternal (John 4:14)....
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Everyone wants to go to Heaven...
Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but not everyone has the desire to labor towards this end.
-Saint Theophan
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The atmosphere of heaven
We can keep guard over the whole world by keeping guard over the atmosphere of heaven within us; for if we lose the Kingdom of Heaven, we will save neither ourselves nor others. He who has the Kingdom of God within himself will imperceptibly pass it on to others. People will be attracted to the peace and warmth in us; they will want to hear us, and the atmosphere of heaven will gradually pass on...
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Desperate for God
The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are ‘desperate’ for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way out.
-Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Christians on tumblr!
Are you an Orthodox Christian? Do you want to be added on my list with the Orthodox Christians on tumblr? Then message me!
Please include in your message your name, your age and in which category you want to be added. (1. Eastern Orthodox, 2. Oriental Orthodox, 3. Interested in converting to Orthodoxy, 4. Orthodox enthusiast)
PS. This list is a nice way for all Orthodox to find each other and...
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Gluttony and fasting
Gluttony makes a man gloomy and fearful, but fasting makes him joyful and courageous. And, as gluttony calls forth greater and greater gluttony, so fasting stimulates greater and greater endurance. When a man realizes the grace that comes through fasting, he desires to fast more and more. And the graces that come through fasting are countless….
-Saint Nikolai of Zicha
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Fasting Guidlines during Great Lent
We Orthodox Christians, in obedience to the words of our Divine Savior, and in imitation of the saints, set aside a period of intense fasting and prayer in order to purify our spiritual senses so we may see the Holy Resurrection. Following the traditions handed to us by the saints, we abstain from all meat products, all dairy products, eggs, fish and olive oil the entire period of lent. Those...
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Why do I have to love my enemies?
Why does the Lord command us to love our enemies and to pray for them? Not for their sake, but for ours! For as long as we bear grudges, as long as we dwell on how someone offended us, we will have no peace.
- Blessed Elder Thaddeus
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He never turns His face away
For such is the loving-kindness of God; He never turns His face away from a sincere repentance.
-St. John Chrysostom
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He is my Helper and Protector
He is my Helper and Protector, and has become my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him. My father’s God and I will exalt Him. For gloriously has He been glorified.
- Exodus 15:2, 1; Psalm 117:14
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When you find Christ
When you find Christ, you are satisfied, you desire nothing else, you find peace. You become a different person… Christ is in all your thoughts, in all your actions. You have grace and you can endure everything for Christ.
-Elder Porphyrios
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Let our eyes keep fast
So also let our eyes keep fast. No looking for trivialities, no letting the eyes wander freely, no impudent lying in wait for people to talk to. The same with the hands and feet, to prevent them from doing anything evil. Fasting in this way, as Saint Basil says, is an acceptable fast and, leaving behind all the evil to which our senses are inclined, we may come to the holy day of the...
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An old Greek tradition for the Great Lent!
Kyra Sarakosti (Lady Lent)
An old Greek tradition which would be incorporated to help devout Orthodox Christians keep the strict three day fast has to do with a woman named Kyra Sarakosti (Lady Lent). The women especially back then would keep the three day fast like nuns, eating and drinking absolutely nothing during that time. When the three days were up they would only eat dry foods for the...
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Do you fast?
Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin. Let the eyes fast, by disciplining...
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Let us begin the lenten time with delight
Let us begin the lenten time with delight … let us fast from passions as we fast from food, taking pleasure in the good words of the Spirit, that we may be granted to see the holy passion of Christ our God and his holy Pascha, spiritually rejoicing.
Thy grace has arisen upon us, O Lord, the illumination of our souls has shown forth; behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the...
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Today starts the Great Lent!
Today is clean Monday! :)
I wish to all my Orthodox brothers and sisters to have a blessed Lent! May God give you the strength to fast all the 40 days.
Remember, you are not alone: we are all together in this! I give you my hand, give me your hands to hold and walk together during the Lenten journey!
God bless you!!
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The lenten spring has arrived!
The lenten spring shines forth, the flower of repentance! Let us cleanse ourselves from all evil, crying out to the Giver of Light: Glory to You, O Lover of man!
- From the Matins Hymns for Wednesday of Cheesefare Week (the week before Great Lent Begins)
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No time for judgement
He who sufficiently knows and judges himself has not time to judge others.
-Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow
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Forgiveness Prayer
O Master plenteous in mercy, O Lord Jesus Christ our God: Through the intercessions of our immaculate Lady Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary; through the power of the precious and life-giving Cross; through the mediations of the honorable, heavenly Bodiless Hosts, of the honorable, glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John; of the holy glorious, and all-praised apostles; of the holy, glorious,...
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Behold, this is a time for repentance
…The entire world needs salvation by its Creator and Maker. The entire world needs the presence of the faith and communion of the Saints. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God for all His benefits, as well as for the present period of Holy Lent.
Behold, this is a welcome time; behold, this is a time for repentance.
May we journey through this time of the great fast with contrition and...
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Orthodox Christian Celebration of the Sunday of...
The Sunday of Forgiveness is also known as Cheesefare Sunday. This is the last day that dairy products can be eaten before the Lenten fast. The full fast begins the following day on Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent. On the evening of the Sunday of Forgiveness the Church conducts the first service of Great Lent, the Vespers of Forgiveness, a service that directs us further on the path of...
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Not one prayer...
The Lord mercifully watches over us, and not one prayer nor a single good thought is lost with God.
-Saint Silouan
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Salvation of the soul
To one who is attentive to his own salvation and is sober, every place is a place for saving the soul.
- Elder Hilarion
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Concerning forgiveness
One may ask, however: Why should I perform this rite when I have no “enemies”? Why should I ask forgiveness from people who have done nothing to me, and whom I hardly know? To ask these questions, is to misunderstand the Orthodox teaching concerning forgiveness. It is true, that open enmity, personal hatred, real animosity may be absent from our life, though if we experience them, it...
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Forgiveness Sunday
Today in Orthodoxy is the Forgiveness Sunday.
So, I ask for your forgiveness. If I ever offended you, hurt you or said something not correct, I apologize.
I wish you wholeheartedly to have a blessed Forgiveness Sunday!
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A beauty beyond words
Christians have a glory and a beauty and a heavenly wealth which is beyond words, and it is won with pains, and sweat, and trials, and many conflicts, and all by the grace of God.
- St. Macarius the Great
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It's sad how easily we forget...
It is so sad when people are reffering to the Orthodox Church as the church that “cannonizes barbarians” and they forget how barbarusly it’s members have been treated during history… How much Orthodoxy has suffered since the beginning. I feel blessed for being a member of Holy Orthodoxy and that I am a sister in Christ with all the people who silently suffered for the...
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Enable us purely to finish Lent...
We were expelled of old, O Lord, from the Garden of Eden, for wrongly eating from the tree. But, O my God and Savior, You once again have restored us through Your Cross and Your Passion. Thereby, O Master, fortify and enable us purely to finish Lent and to worship Your holy resurrection, Pascha our saving Passover, by the prayers of Your Mother.
- Exapostelarion of Sunday of Forgiveness
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How near...!
How near is the Lord unto him who believes!
- St. John of Kronstadt
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Tomorrow is Forgiveness Sunday!
Whoever of you have a chance to visit an Orthodox Church tomorrow, please do it! This Sunday is known as Forgiveness Sunday and it is the last Sunday of pre-preparation for the Great Lent. It focuses on believers asking each other for forgiveness.
Everybody in the Church asks forgiveness from everyone. All people are hugging and asking for forgiveness. You hug people that you may not know, but...
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Please read this: Misunderstandings about Rasputin
Clearly, there are many misunderstandings about Rasputin.
Rasputin is NOT a Saint in Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church never canonized him, as many of you support.
Patriarch of Moscow Alexey said about the rumors/requests of his canonizations: “This is madness! What believer would want to stay in a Church that equally venerates murderers and martyrs, lechers and saints?”
So, please,...
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For those who laugh at Holy Royal Martyrs and...
Read the following:
A Miracle Through The Prayers Of Tsar Nicholas II & Tsarevich Alexis
Miracle Of The Child Martyr Grand Duchess Maria
I personally know people who have faced their miracles. Also, even people from other denominations ask for their intersessions. Glory to God! So please don’t judge before you try to ask for their help. Don’t hurry to judge them.
May they...
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Our heart is a church
There is no need to weep much over the destruction of a church; after all, each of us, according to God’s mercy, has or should have his own church - the heart. Go in there and pray, as much as you have strength and time. If this church is not well made and is abandoned (without inward prayer), then the visible church will be of little benefit.
- Holy New Hieromartyr Barlaam
Photo by...
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Wise words from Abba Benjamin
As he was dying, Abba Benjamin said to his sons, “If you observe the following, you can be saved: ‘Be joyful at all times, pray without ceasing, and gives thanks for all things.’”
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Even though there is only one baptism..
Even though there is only one baptism for the whitening of stains, yet there are two eyes which, when filled with tears, provide a baptismal font for the limbs. For the Creator knew well beforehand that sins multiply in us at all times, and though there is only a single baptism, he fixed in the single body two fonts that give absolution.
- St. Ephraim the Syrian: Hymns on the Ascetic Abraham
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Advice for the first week of Great Lent
In general, it is necessary for the layperson, considering his life circumstances, to go to the services as he sees fit. Everyone has his measure of exercising restraint, and therefore age, health, and workload should all be taken into consideration. It is good during Great Lent to have, at least during the first week, a small, separate rule during midday; for example thirty Jesus prayers and...
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