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
What do people do when their hands and faces are dirty? They turn on a tap and allow the water to clean away the stains. We should imitate them. Only, we should open two taps – our eyes, so that an abundance of tears of repentance pour out, which will wash out all the poisons of this futile world which have infected and dirtied our wretched souls.
- St. Anthimos of Chios
…Set the holy life of Christ before the eyes of your soul, and look upon it often and imitate its example. And even though your heart, corrupt as it is, does not wish it, force and convince yourself to imitate the beautiful virtues of Christ.
- St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, “Journey to Heaven”
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Not on yourself, not on how you’re doing, not on what people expect you to do, be or have, not on decisions you or someone else makes you feel you must make, not on what you have to do tomorrow, not on what you did or didn’t do yesterday, not on your feeling of loneliness, or your suspicion of not doing all you can, not on what you should or shouldn’t be feeling, thinking or doing right now, not even on how much or how little time you’re giving to good works, to pious exercise, to praying, to fellowshipping, to reading and studying the word of God.
- From the blog “Cost of Discipleship”
See!
The Lord is our mirror:
open your eyes,
look into it,
learn what your faces are like!
The holy and glorious Virgin-Martyr Saint Paraskevi (also Paraskeva) was arrested during the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. A.D. 138-161) under the penalty of refusing to worship idols and adhering to the state pagan religion. After enduring many tortures, she was eventually released by the emperor, continuing to profess Christ. She was eventually tortured and beheaded by the Roman governor Tarasius in the year 180. The Church commemorates her on July 26.
If you face any problems with your eyes you can pray to Saint Paraskevi in order to heal you. An acquaintance of mine has been healed because of Saint Paraskevi (she had squint).
Also I post an extract from this blog :
“A mystic in our Church today – Vassula Ryden – who is Greek Orthodox has been given her second name after Paraskevi by her mother at birth. Here is an Excerpt from the tlig messages explaining just how that came about: When I was born my eyes were stuck together,
they were shut. I opened my eyes only after three days. My mother filled with
fright that I might be perhaps without eyes asked and prayed to our Saint
Paraskevi (a Greek saint for the eyes) for help and vowed to give me her name
after Vassula. Paraskevi in Greek means: Friday.”
