On Joining the Orthodox Church

Often one hears from converts after some years of seemingly unfruitful struggles that ‘I didn’t know what I was getting into when I became Orthodox.’ Some sense this when they are first exposed to the Orthodox Faith, and this can cause them to postpone their encounter with Orthodoxy or even run away from it entirely… this is a result of the deep commitment required of those who are serious about the Orthodox Faith – a commitment that is quite different in kind from that of those who merely join a new denomination… but only One Church of Christ which lives the true life in Christ and the unchanged teaching and practice of the Apostles and Fathers of the Church.

- Fr. Seraphim Rose, 20th Century American Convert and Theologian

Your life is a web

If you are vigilant and honest with yourself, you would see that your life is a web, a huge network of such small but significant wicked moments, which comprise a significant part of your existence. If we ignore this, thinking that this is all normal, this means that you have not yet begun to live the Christian life.

- Protopriest Sergei Chetverikov

Do not leave the Church

In Lent, morning worship lasts four, and sometimes more hours. Well, in this time, you can keep concentration?… we begin to think about something, sometimes physical fatigue begins to overcome us…the answer is: do not leave the church… listen carefully hymns and prayers.

- Patriarch Kirill

When we turn to God asking for mercy…

…when we turn to God asking for mercy, we are also asking that our sins, iniquities, and uncleanness be forgiven. But in the words “have mercy” there is also an appeal that He bestow His mercy upon us…by His love to grant us His mercy, grace, and power.

- Patriarch Kirill, 21st Century Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2013 Lenten Homily

Prayer request

A good friend shared a prayer request with me. Please pray that everything will be okay with his family…

“My family is going through a very difficult time at the moment.

My father is seriously ill. He has been suffering for the last four years but is now in hospital and depressed and very sick.

My grandmother came out of hospital two months ago and is now bed bound.

I my mother is struggling to keep the family together and to provide for us all.

I am going back to University this week and will be unable to help my mum and Dad.

Could I ask you to pray for my family and especially my father. He is a good Orthodox Christian who cares for everyone. I really want him to get better soon as I know he is suffering allot.”

You do not just suddenly leap into heaven…

You do not just suddenly leap into heaven, but you enter it with humility. The worst of all sins is when we are overwhelmed by our pride and our own opinion about everything.

- St. Macarius of Optina

God is a fire…

God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil - for the devil is cold - let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbor, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance.

- St. Seraphim of Sarov

On judging our neighbor

Even though the Father of Lights has given all judgment to the Son, we fools seize it and judge our neighbor without discernment, without realizing his work and God’s divine providence for him.

- Elder Joseph the Hesychast

The forgetting of wrongs

The forgetting of wrongs is a sign of true repentance. But he who dwells on them and thinks that he is repenting is like a man who thinks he is running while he is really asleep.

- St. John Climacus

Let’s not stone our fellow-man

Let’s not stone our fellow-man in a so-called “Christian manner.”  The person who – in the presence of others – checks someone for having sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person), is not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.

- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos