May 2012
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On being stoic
If we do not ask for help from God, we will fall flat on our face. Whereas, when we do ask for divine help, Christ will bind us with a rope to His Grace and will uphold us. The wind may blow fiercely from all directions, but, because we are bound fast, we are not in danger. But when man does not realize that it is Christ Who upholds him, he may unbind himself, in which case he will be buffeted...
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The God of love...
Everything comes down to our relationship with the Triune God – the God of love. All is based on love and freedom. On the unconditional love of God, and the freedom we have to respond to that love with love. Love to all people, whether they are non-Christians and non-believers. Respect for all. Love for all. Witness to this truth of love. This is what our faith is about. This is true Orthodoxy.
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One of the shortest ways
Do not regard the feelings of a person who speaks to you about his neighbor disparagingly, but rather say to him: “Stop, brother! I fall into graver sins every day, so how can I criticize him?” In this way you will achieve two things; you will heal yourself and your neighbor with one plaster. This is one of the shortest ways to the forgiveness of sins; I mean, not to judge....
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Love does not depend on time
Love does not depend on time, and the power of love continues always. There are some who believe that the Lord suffered death for love of man but because they do not attain to this love in their own souls it seems to them that it is an old story of bygone days. But when the soul knows the love of God by the Holy Spirit she feels without a shadow of doubt that the Lord is our Father, the closest,...
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The keys to our salvation
God leaves keys to our salvation everywhere, a day at a time. He yearns for us to keep praying, to find the keys He lovingly leaves for us.
- Father Raphael
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The basis of everything
The basis of everything is to keep our minds on God by offering Him our heart, which He desires. When our mind is on God and the heart distances itself from the body, then man does not live on earth anymore, but in Heaven. He does not worry about death or Paradise because he experiences it from this life. “The kingdom of Heaven is inside us”.
- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos
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On living a chaste Christian life
Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death…
-St. Mark the Ascetic
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The purity of heart
Everything we do, our every objective, must be undertaken for the sake of purity of heart… we must practice the reading of the Scripture, together with all the other virtuous activities… to hold our hearts free of the harm of every dangerous passion and in order to rise step by step to the high point of love.
- From St. John Cassian
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The Lord is the accomplishment...
The Lord is the accomplishment of everything good that I think, feel and do.
- St. John of Kronstadt
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Prayer for the others
Pray for others as you would pray for yourself, for we are one, as the children of the Heavenly Father.
- St. John of Kronstadt
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How often...
How often have I entered the House of God without fear and trembling, stood there in prayer, frivolous and absent-minded, and left it in the same spirit and disposition! And in prayer at home I have been just as cold and indifferent, praying little, lazily, and indolently, inattentively and impiously, and even completely omitting the appointed prayers!
- St Basil The Great
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Christianity is a religion of revelation
Christianity is a religion of revelation. The Divine reveals its glory only to those who have been perfected through virtue. Christianity teaches perfection through virtue and demands that its followers become holy and perfect. It disapproves of and opposes those who are under the influence of the imagination. He who is truly perfect in virtue becomes through Divine help outside the flesh and...
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Try to live like this...
We should try to live in such a way that if the Gospels were lost, they could be re-written by looking at us.
- Met. Anthony of Sourozh
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God is present in each and every created human
We need to see the image of God in every person we meet, because God is present in each and every created human, regardless of what they do. So listening is an important part of our prayer life because as we listen to God and to other human beings we welcome them as we’d welcome Christ. Thus prayer is a conversation with God and through God with our fellow human beings as God empowers us to...
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On pride and humility
Pride does not allow the soul to set out on the path of faith. Here is my advice to the unbeliever: let him say, “Lord, if you exist, then illumine me, and I will serve you with all my heart and soul.” And for this humble thought and readiness to serve God, the Lord will immediately illumine him… And then your soul will sense the Lord; she will sense that the Lord has forgiven her, and loves...
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Whom have we, Lord, like you?
Whom have we, Lord, like you? - The Great One who became small, the Wakeful who slept, The Pure One who was baptized, the Living One who died, The King who abased himself to ensure honor for all. Blessed is your honor! It is right that man should acknowledge your divinity, It is right for heavenly beings to worship your humanity. The heavenly beings were amazed to see how small you became, And...
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Love for God
He who has realized love for God in his heart is tireless in his pursuit of the Lord his God, and bears every hardship, reproach and insult nobly, never thinking the least evil of anyone.
- St. Maximos the Confessor
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Have God before your eyes
Whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.
- St. Antony the Great
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On trials
God has not forgotten the man to whom He sends suffering and trials, but in this way is proving His closeness to him.
- St. John Chrysostom
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Man needs humility...
Man needs humility and the fear of God as much as he needs the air which he breathes.
- Abba Poimen
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Jesus, Adam and the Devil
He who willingly suffers injustice and forgives his neighbor is like Jesus; he who neither commits injustice, nor suffers it, is like Adam; he who commits injustice, or demands interest, or mistreats someone else, is like the Devil.
- An Anonymous Desert Father
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Good works
Every day you provide your bodies with good to keep them from failing. In the same way your good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works. You aren’t to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant to your body, which is going to die.
- St. Gregory the Great
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Blessed are those who...
Blessed are those who, when grace is withdrawn, find no consolation in themselves, but only continuing tribulation and thick darkness, yet do not despair; but, strengthened by faith, they endure courageously, convinced that they do indeed see Him who is invisible.
- St. John of Karpathos
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Empty your mind
When you sit down to pray, you ought to empty your mind of all images and during prayer to reflect not, so God may place in your emptied mind His Holy Spirit, filling you with His presence.
- Fr. Roman Braga
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Nothing is hidden from You
Lord, You know my many errors, You know my sores and You behold my wounds; but You also know my faith, You behold my will and You hear my sighs. Nothing is hidden from You oh Lord, my God, my creator and deliverer, not a teardrop nor even part of a drop…
- St. Simeon the New Theologian
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Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical...
On the seventh Sunday of Pascha, we Orthodox Christians commemorate the holy God-bearing Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.
The First Ecumenical Council was held in 325 A. D. in the city of Nicaea. This Council condemned the heresy of Arius, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and was teaching that our Lord was a God’s creature. This heresy provoked much unrest in the Church....
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If your heart overflows with faith
If your heart overflows with faith and love for God, you will find a thousand ways to pass on these feelings to your child.
- St. Irenaeus
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Preserve your faith...
Preserve your faith, fight for individuality of thought, pray more, read the Scriptures, and God will preserve you.
-Fr. Arseny
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The Humility of Christ
Any place may become a place of Resurrection, if the Humility of Christ becomes the way of our life.
- Mother Gabriel
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Whatever we do without prayer...
Whatever we do without prayer and without hope in God turns out afterwards to be harmful and defective.
- St. Mark the Ascetic
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He sees everything...
Who knows, my child, the judgments of God? Everything is known to Him. He sees everything and nothing escapes His notice, but no one knows His will. The works of Satan are nothing next to the power of God. So when the Lord tests us as He knows best, we should show our patience and thankfulness.
- Elder Joseph the Hesychast, an excerpt from his Fiftieth Letter
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Important prayer request
Requesting prayers for my grandmother; she is leaving us to be with my grandfather. Being Orthodox Catholic, I do not view her death as so much a tragedy, but a blessing for her moving on to be with God after a life of achieving so much here on Earth. I would like to ask for prayers for her passing, and for my father, if you could help spread the word to the Orthodox family. She was very active...
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On the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, out of compassion for our weakness, comes to us even when we are impure. And if He finds our intellect truly praying to Him, He enters it and puts to flight the whole array of thoughts and ideas circling within it, and He arouses it to a longing for spiritual prayer.
- Evagrios the Solitary
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When deeds are absent...
… If we are ashamed to imitate our Lord’s sufferings, which He endured for us, and to suffer as He suffered, it is obvious that we shall not become partakers with Him in His glory. If that is true of us we shall be believers in word only, not in deed. When deeds are absent, our faith is dead.
- St. Symeon the New Theologian
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On prayer
Prayer rising in a man’s heart will open up the doors of heaven…
- St. Ephraim the Syrian
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Let us rejoice
Even if we are entirely despised in the eyes of men, let us rejoice that we are honoured in the sight of God.
- Abba John
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Have God always on your mind
When you are alone with God, time passes incredibly quickly — more quickly than when you are with company… Yet while living in the world, you can still be united with God. How? By thinking of Him, whatever you may be doing, by glorifying Him for any good that comes your way, by thanking Him for any trial He may send you.
- Eldress Gavrilia
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The knowledge of Truth
…To attain to knowledge of Truth demands far more effort than it takes to acquire practical and scientific learning. Neither the reading of a vast number of books, nor familiarity with the history of Christianity, nor the study of different theological systems can bring us to our goal, unless we continuously and to our utmost cling to the commandments of Christ.
… Christ is miracle beyond...
Anonymous asked: I'm not sure of the symbolism of gifting of crosses in orthodox religion. Is it bad to re-gift a cross that has been given to me ( blessed or not blessed ) as I have several and don't just want them to sit in a box?
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The Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
To acquire prayer is to acquire eternity. When the body lies dying, the cry ‘Lord Jesus Christ becomes the garment of the soul; when the brain no longer functions and other prayers are difficult to remember, in the light of the divine knowledge that proceeds from the Name of Jesus Christ our spirit will rise into life incorruptible. Tidings of the salvation of the world are to be found in the...
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Christ and Orthodoxy
All truths of Orthodoxy emerge from the one Truth and converge on one Truth, infinite and eternal. That Truth is the God-man Christ. If you experience any truth of Orthodoxy to its limit, you will inevitably discover that its kernel is the God-man Christ. In fact, all truths of Orthodoxy are nothing other than different aspects of the one Truth - the God-man Jesus Christ.
- St. Justin Popovic
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The shortest way to salvation
Here now is the shortest and easiest way to salvation: Be obedient and sober, do not find fault, and keep mind and heart from evil thoughts. Think that all men are good and beloved of the Lord. For such humility the grace of the Holy Spirit will dwell in you, and cause you to exclaim, “How merciful is the Lord!”.
- St. Silouan the Athonite
