This is the blog of an Eastern Orthodox Christian girl from Greece. Welcome to my Orthodox Christian corner! :) Here you can find interesting texts and quotes about Orthodoxy. I made this blog because I would like everyone to discover the Orthodox Christianity. This is the ultimate purpose of this blog: to share my faith! I ask forgiveness if in this blog any of my passions are acting, hindering the Grace of the Holy Spirit because of my sins.
Feel free to send me any prayer requests or anything you want. God bless you all! May the Holy Spirit enlighten you always!
-- PS. I don't own any of the photos I post here. The majority of them are from sites like weheartit.com. Though generally I try to post the sourse of the photos I post, I don't want to break copyright, so if I have used your picture/text without your permission, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to add credit or to delete it. You can e-mail me at anytime here: simplyorthodox(at)yahoo(dot)com (New e-mail address) --
[The photo I use as a background is called "Rose petals" by thefourthofapril (Flickr). The photo I use in tumblr's "Spotlight" belongs to Matthew Venus.]
☦ ICXCNIKA ☦
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Dear visitor of this blog,
I have no financial, or other profits of this humble blog. The only thing I am asking you is to say a small prayer for me to Jesus from your heart for the salvation of my soul. So, please stop for some seconds and pray for me, the sinner. If you are an Orthodox Christian, please light a candle for me. Thank you, may God bless you...
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Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
- Mark 13:31
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunted not itself, is not puffed up.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4
Advice For Those Living in the West
"Do not be afraid because of your Orthodoxy; do not be afraid because, as an Orthodox in the West, you will be often isolated and always in a small minority. Do not make compromises but do not attack other Christians; do not be either defensive or aggressive; simply be yourself."
"Something I found of interest during my initial classes of the Orthodox faith, was to learn that in the history of the Orthodox Christian Church, it wasn’t until the eleventh century when the Bishop of Rome (Western Church) separated himself from the other Bishops of the world (Eastern Church) to form what we now refer to as the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of the East is the Orthodox Church. Then, in the sixteenth century the fragmentation of the Roman Catholic/Western Church began with the Protestant Reformation. Only the Orthodox Church remains as the one, united church for the past two thousand years."
- An Orthodox Christian convert
This is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother; He is whatever is good and beautiful. He is everything. Yet, He is still a friend and He shouts it out, “You’re my friends, don’t you understand that? We’re brothers. I’m not…I don’t hold hell in my hands. I am not threatening you. I love you. I want you to enjoy life together with me.”
The holy fathers were making predictions about the last generation. They said, “What have we ourselves done?”
One of them, the great Abba Ischyrion replied, “We ourselves have fulfilled the commandments of God.”
The others replied, “And those who come after us, what will they do?”
He said, “They will struggle to achieve half our works.”
They said, “And to those who come after them, what will happen?”
He said, “The men of that generation will not accomplish any works at all and temptation will come upon them; and those who will be approved in that day will be greater than either us or our fathers.”
A few hours after the burial of Elder Joseph, you published in your website an article with the title “the funeral of blessed Elder Joseph of Vatopedi” - “Smile from Eternity” describing with few words the event with the help of a few photographs. The photograph of the reposed, smiling not only with his lips but with the full expression of his face, has greatly impressed the world as we see it from the articles and comments in many websites. In fact one could meet people who just reposed with a bright face, or peaceful expression, or with deep restful repose but where is the smile? On one side the spiritual fathers say that the hour of death is frightful for man, on the other side we read in “Gerontika” (Elder Literature) that even the most advanced in the spiritual life through humility they would not lose their courage before they passed on to the other life where there is no more danger. Moreover the elder Joseph suffered from his heart and was greatly tormented by the sickness, so how then did he repose smiling?
The answer is: NO, he did not repose smiling, but SMILED AFTER HIS REPOSE.
From discussions with some fathers of the monastery we bring you the facts of the event.
The two monks who were with him till the last moment, ran to inform Elder Ephraim and the rest of the fathers and did not pay attention to the reposed, who was indeed with his mouth partly open.
They therefore came to prepare him according to the monastic formality. Elder Ephraim ordered not to cover his face. The fathers tried to close his mouth, but it was too late, the mouth would stay open, in fact they tied gauze around to hold his mouth closed, but after they would remove it the mouth would reopen. Some forty five minutes had passed since his repose.
Elder, it will look ugly this way with his mouth open, what should we do?
As he is, do not cover his face!
They stitched the monastic mandya (cloak) as is the custom.
The whole process to put the mandya and stitch it, took some forty five minutes more. They then cut the material around his face, by order, and they found the elder like at last all see him, smiling. Did he hear them and granted them this small favour, so that he may not sadden them? Or did he want to give us an idea of what he saw and the condition in which he is after his departure from the present life?
