Simply Orthodox ☦

Concentrate...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:43:31 -0400

If we would concentrate on divine truth as seen in Christ, all need for a stream of words disappears, until finally the mind enters the realm of profound silence.

- Archimandrite Sophrony

Please pray for me!

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:37:50 -0400

Christ is Risen! <3

If you could please keep me in your prayers tonight (or this morning/midday/afternoon - it depends on your country!) it could be really amazing. I know you all have your personal life and problems, but if you could spend some seconds to pray for me it could be so great!

In the past have witnessed how many miracles our prayers can do if we pray united, as one, so even a “Lord help and support this girl behind this blog” could be enough for me, not to mention how big help would be if you could pray a prayer rope/rosary for me. I need enlightment and support in order to face a difficult situation. If you could also ask the intercessions and support of Virgin Mary, St. Archangel Michael, St. Elizabeth the New Martyr, St. Phanourios, St. Xenia, St. Nektarios, Ss Constantine and Helen, Saint Raphael of Lesvos and all the Holy Apostles could be awesome.

Thank you in advance and God bless you!

phil0kalia: Christ is Risen! Imma just keep saying it for the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:07:47 -0400

phil0kalia:

Christ is Risen!

Imma just keep saying it for the next 40 days

(via Facebook)

When I open up your blog, my heart fills with warmth and my mind stops racing and my soul is happy. Thank you. Love, Christiana - a struggling Orthodox Christian in California

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:08:12 -0400

Hello dear Christiana! <3 Christ is Risen!

Thank you so much for your amazingly gentle message! I am happy that you like my blog <3 <3

May God bless you and yours!

Photo

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:05:16 -0400

This is the alpha and the omega

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:36:39 -0400

This is the alpha and the omega. This is the beginning and the end–an indescribable beginning and an incomprehensible end. This is the Christ. This is the king. This is Jesus. This is the general. This is the Lord. This is the one who rose up from the dead. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the power forever. Amen.

- St. Melito of Sardis, On Pascha

On reading the Bible simply as a set of instructions

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:32:33 -0400

The Scripture is nothing other than instruction on how to receive Heavenly Grace. But if we simply read a set of instructions and do not try to, let us say, put a bookcase together or use a computer program, the set of instructions will remain unmastered and will be soon forgotten… And vice versa, those who attend the Sunday Divine Liturgy and then read the Scripture at home will comprehend meaning in it that they would never have comprehended otherwise.

- Priest-Martyr Daniel Sysoyev

Greetings again from your Macedonian Orthodox sister down under! I would like to share that I so happily lite a candle in church for you. For health & wisdom to serve you well, for your sins to be forgiven & your salvation. I don't wish for this message to be taken as me requesting praise or to be rewarded, merely because I want you to know that you are in my thoughts & prayers! If we receive rewards for our alms giving here on earth, the good we do is not then aknowledged in Gods Kingdom! Bless

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:25:36 -0400

Hello my sweet friend,

Thank you SO much that you light a candle for me! Even though I don’t know who are you, I love you very much like a true sister/brother in Christ. Your prayers are like a balsam in my soul, so thank you so much!

Christ is Risen! Христос воскресна!

Have mercy on me!

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:03:00 -0400

When bad thoughts are planted in you, then cry to God: “Lord, my Maker and Creator. You see that my soul is in agony from bad thoughts. Have mercy on me.” Teach yourself to root out thoughts immediately. But when you forget and don’t root them out immediately, then offer repentance. Work on this, so that you get a habit.

- St. Silouan

Whoever has known the love of God...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:48:35 -0400

Whoever has known the love of God loves the whole world and never murmurs against his fate, for the burden of sorrow for the sake of God gains eternal joy.

- St. Silouan the Athonite

No earthly pleasures...

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:44:32 -0400

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

-Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Don't be deceived...

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:42:07 -0400

Don’t be deceived regarding the knowledge of what will be after your death: what you sow here, you will reap there. After leaving here, no one can make progress. Here is the work, there the reward; here the struggle, there the crowns.

- St. Barsanuphius the Great, Instructions

orthodoxwayoflife: Pascha 2013 by jimforest

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:38:04 -0400

orthodoxwayoflife:

Pascha 2013 by jimforest

Memory Eternal!

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:48:53 -0400

My dear friend rpeeze informed me that Fr. Michael Rosco passed into eternal life this morning. Please continue to keep Pani Susan, Vlad, and the rest of the family in your prayers to give them strength during this trying time.

Thank you all for praying for Fr. Michael Rosco. Please continue keep him in your prayers, that God will rest his soul where there is no pain, nor sorrow, nor suffering, but life everlasting.

Memory Eternal Father Michael!

The only thing that I have is my Savior

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:18:11 -0400

Will I be saved or not? Am I living in a way that is pleasing to God, or not? Am I acting according to God’s righteousness? I do not know. God alone knows whether He forgives my sins, or not; whether He will call me to be with Him and will write my name in the Book of Life, or not. What can I say, a wretched sinner who has nothing? The only thing that I have is my Savior, my God, my Joy; I have nothing else in this life. God the Angels, the soul - this is the only reality unto the ages of ages. Amen.

- From the book “Reflections of a Humble Heart”

A splinter…

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:15:31 -0400

You wish, or rather, have decided, to remove a splinter from someone? Very well, but do not go after it with a stick instead of a lancet for you will only drive it deeper. Rough speech and harsh gestures are the stick, while even-tempered instruction and patient reprimand are the lancet. ‘Reprove, rebuke, exhort,’ says the Apostle (II Tim. 4:2), not ‘batter’.

- From St. John Climacus, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”

This is my God, Whom I will glorify

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:37:47 -0400

A Helper and a Protector has become salvation to me. This is my God, Whom I will glorify. God of my fathers I will exalt Him for in glory was He glorified. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.

- Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, excerpt

Correct your own sins

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:28:44 -0400

Do not lose your temper with those who sin. Do not have a passion for noticing every sin in your neighbor and judging it, as we usually do. Everyone will give an answer for himself before God. Especially, do not look with evil intention on the sins of those older than you, with whom you have no business. But correct your own sins, your own heart.

- St. John of Kronstadt, “My Life in Christ”

jesus-our-everything: To all the girls, from God “No man can...

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:59:18 -0400

jesus-our-everything:

To all the girls, from God

“No man can ever claim you unless he claims you from Me. I reserved a man for you who has My heart and loves Me even more than he will love you. I won’t give you unless he asks you from Me. Soon you will know him, I have the perfect time. You’re my princess, my daughter. Let no prince claim you unless he asks you from My hand for I AM your Father, the King of kings. You, my princess, are worth loving and deserves a prince.”

This is so beautiful <3

Please pray for Fr. Michael!

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:29:57 -0400

A prayer request send by my friend rpeeze:

On Friday evening, my family was informed that another priest in our diocese, Fr. Michael Rosco was involved in a terrible car accident while he was leaving Johnstown, PA after a diocesan trustee meeting to return home to New Jersey. After swerving and bumping into another car while he was on the southbound side of Rt. 219, Fr. Michael’s car struck the barrier and flipped over. His car landed upside down on the northbound side of Rt. 219.

Fr. Michael is in stable condition, but has been in the ICU since being admitted to a hospital in the Johnstown area.

Some of the more specific details are still hazy, but at the very least Fr. Michael has a concussion (there’s a possibility that he had bleeding in his brain), a punctured lung, and multiple broken vertebrae. This morning he underwent a (successful) surgery to insert rods and screws into his back to stabilize his vertebrae. He is still in a lot of pain. Thankfully he is coherent, though he does not remember much about the accident, and is sometimes too overwhelmed with pain to speak.

His wife (my Godmother) has not left the hospital since driving out there right after hearing of the accident.

I would appreciate if your followers would keep Fr. Michael, Pani Susan, and their son Vlad Rosco in their prayers. Fr. Michael is 63, and is a loving and nurturing priest.