Please respect others…

I just saw something very, very sad that broke my heart. Some people think it’s very funny to laugh at other peoples beliefs and offend them with the worst way. I read by chance a post where two people, hiding behind anonymity were made fun of a lovely Jewish girl, Sara, telling her that she’ll end up in a Concentration camp.

Guess what, it’s not funny at all. It is not offensive only for the girl, but for me as well, no matter if we don’t have the same religion. Imagine how painful is for a Jewish to mention the concentration camps, after all the painful moments and the persecution they have been through…

Everyone has the right to has his religion, or reject it. I personally love and respect all the believers, no matter if they are Christians, Jewish, Muslims, Buddhists, or whatever. All of us have to do the same!

You are all awesome and I love you all guys! <3 <3 <3

On sins

If someone has repented once of a sin, and again does the same sin, this is a sign that he has not been cleansed of the causes of the sin, wherefrom, as from a root, the shoots spring forth again.

- St. Basil the Great

From St. John Cassian

“Let everybody know this. He shall be assigned to the place and to the service to which he gave and devoted himself in this life and he can be sure that in eternity he will have as his lot the service and the companionship which he preferred in this life.”

(Conferences, Conf. One sect. 14; Paulist Press pg. 48)

Hush, for God is here …

Enter this door

As if the floor

Within were gold,

And every wall

of jewels all

of wealth untold;

As if a choir

in robes of fire

were singing here;

Nor shout, nor rush,

But hush…

For God is here.

The mysteries of our Faith

The mysteries of our Faith are unknown and not understandable to those who are not repenting.

(Archpriest Nicholas Deputatov, Awareness of God in the Orthodox Word Magazine, July-August 1976)

Concerning the Spiritual Life

“I often see a strange thing that occurs with religious people, reminding one of a vegetable market. There everybody shouts. One says, take oranges; another says take beets, and so forth, each in order to sell their own stuff. Something similar happens with Christians. Some say if you enter this association you’ll be saved. If you go there you’ll be saved. However, many people are not for here or there but for somewhere else. , . A man of God can help. Help but not strangle. Now, let’s imagine, I go to some army base to tell them various things about monasticism. I won’t tell them lies. I’ll tell them as it is. So what happens? Are all to become monks. That way naturally I cause trouble, because perhaps some of them will undertake monasticism and later will suffer and fail. I have to find the pure one to help him choose.”

-Elder Paisios

Let Me Tell You About God…

When you look at the religious landscape—even among many groups that claim to be Christian—you’ll find any number of fantastic claims regarding personal knowledge of God. St. Cyril of Jerusalem reminds us that what we best know about God is how little we really know:

…of God we speak not all we ought (for that is known to Him only), but so much as the capacity of human nature has received, and so much as our weakness can bear. For we explain not what God is but candidly confess that we have not exact knowledge concerning Him. For in what concerns God to confess our ignorance is the best knowledge.

Christianity is…

Christianity is an ascetic religion. Christianity is a teaching about the gradual extirpation of the passions, about the means and conditions of the gradual acquisition of virtues. And this Podvig, this struggle comes as we begin to separate ourselves from the world.”

Metropolitan Laurus, ‘The Ascetic Podvig of Living in the World’

Youth and Gurus

Many young people today are seeking gurus and are ready to enslave themselves to any likely candidate; but woe to those who take advantage of this climate of the times to proclaim themselves “God-bearing elders” in the ancient tradition—they only deceive themselves and others.

(Introduction to Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky, by Schema-monk Metrophanes; St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA, 1976.)

Why haven’t I heard of the Orthodox Church before?

Beats me! It’s been around since the day of Pentecost. You probably haven’t heard about it because we are a conservative Church that sounds no trumpets in our social programs but rather attempts to lead individuals, each in his or her own circumstances, into communion with God, the very purpose for which the Church exists. Believe it or not, there are perhaps three million of us in North America, and at least 150 million throughout the world.

(Sourse: Some straight answers about the Orthodox Church )

St. Gregory of Sinai said about Holy Spirit

The energy of the Holy Spirit, which we have already mystically received in baptism, is realized in two ways. First – to generalize – this gift is revealed… through arduous and protracted practice of the commandments: to the degree to which we effectively practice the commandments its radiance is increasingly manifested in us. Secondly, it is manifested to those under spiritual guidance through the continuous invocation of the Lord Jesus, repeated with conscious awareness, that is, through mindfulness of God.”

- St. Gregory of Sinai

What is your opinion about Orthodoxy?

I just wanted to ask you if you think that Orthodoxy is unique.

-If you are an Orthodox Christian, please tell us what made you to be a Christian Orthodox..? Is there a reason that you are proud of your decision to become Orthodox?

-If you belong in another Dogma (eg. Catholic, Protestant, etc..) or in another religion, do you think that Orthodoxy is special for a reason? (Eg. miracles, teaching, monasticism, etc..) What is your opinion of Orthodoxy?