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".. grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" 2 Pet 3:18. Basic rules: No links. Stick to the real Orthodoxy; sectarian and heterdox materials are not allowed.
Glory to the one God, Glory to Him Who loves all and bountifully bestows upon all His spiritual and bodily gifts! Glory to Him who is no respecter of persons and Who reveals the mysteries of His love, omnipotence and wisdom unto babes!
St John of Kronstadt
You must fast sensibly; try to conduct the coming fast judiciously, considering your physical strength.
+ St. Ambrose of Optina
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“ Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness. ”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
🎥 The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl is a masterpiece of Russian architecture
☦️🕯THE VENERATION OF THE THEOTOKOS ACCORDING TO THE HOLY BIBLE🕯☦️
The God-bearing Fathers of the church tell us that Christ was called the seed of a woman (Gen 3:15) as He was not born of the seed of a man but of the Holy Spirit and the undefiled blood of the Most Holy Virgin and received a body. On the day of the great judgment (2nd coming) this Queen and Virgin Mary will be sitting to the right of the throne of her Son, in great and indescribable glory, as the psalm indicates by saying Upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir (Ps 45:9).
☦️🕯"The soul enters effortlessly into the understanding of God’s wisdom and His creations when it is quieted from the world and the cares of life. For then it can know its own nature and the treasures hidden within. When the worries of life from outside do not enter the soul, and it remains in its natural state, it does not need to strive for a long time to enter and understand God’s wisdom. Because its separation from the world and its peace naturally move it toward understanding God’s creations. And from this, it ascends toward God, marvels in wonder, and remains close to Him."🕯☦️
♰ Saint Isaac the Syrian ♰
✤✤✤ "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge." ✤✤✤
♰ Psalm 45 ♰
☦️🌟 Words of St John Chrysostom 'Glory to God for all things' is not just an aphorism, it's a perfect and extremely important theological formula. These words, spoken in the time of hardship and sorrow, burn the devil.
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☦️ Adam's skull in the Orthodox Crucifix symbolizes us, the humanity, perished due to our estrangement from God. The Savior opened us the way and commanded to go to salvation.
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🌟☦️🙏 What does Orthodox mean? It means "the real, correct one". This faith is life for the soul, it gives both salvation in the future life, and joy in the present.
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“...the soul is from God, the sin is from the Devil. When the soul surrenders to God and lives according to His laws, gradually its life is transformed into paradise. When, however, the soul is given to sin, this "law" of Satan, its life is gradually transformed into hell.”
St. Justin (Popovich)
This is a very simple truth. Humanity could live quite otherwise to what we see throughout the history to nowadays, if observing this simple rule. However, we can do something. We can do our best observing it ourselves.
St. Paisios of Mount Athos explains why we should use all ascetic practices in a right way.
Man becomes incorporeal through ascetic discipline. Obviously, one aspiring to a higher, spiritual goal must abstain. If one practices abstinence in order to lose weight, he is only caring for the well-being of his body. Then, this abstinence is nothing more than yoga. Unfortunately, the subject of asceticism has been cast aside even by people of the Church.
☦️🙏 There is a historical testimony of the ROMAN CATHOLIC Bishop about quality of the Orthodox, he visited Russia in 12 century.
"The honesty and comradeship among them is such that they, knowing neither theft nor deceit, do not lock their trunks and boxes. We saw neither lock nor key there, and the inhabitants themselves were very much surprised to notice that the bishop's pack-boxes and trunks were locked. They keep their dresses, money, and various jewels in covered vats and barrels, fearing no deceit, because they have not experienced it."
It's from the book, published in a very RC country.
Orthodox Christianity, being a religion of truth and love, is not ineffective in the people who practice it.
🌟 "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." "My glory will I not give to another." These words of the God of glory are fulfilled every time when in my heart I ascribe the glory of
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Faith is a quality inherent in our nature. It begets in us the fear of God; and fear of God instills that keeping of the commandments which constitutes the practice of the virtues.
St Theodoros the Great Ascetic
The Saint reminds us about unpopular today but so important thing that can ifluence all our life. “I always emphasize that young persons should try to live as spiritually as they can before marriage, since preserving their chastity secures their physical and spiritual health.”
St. Paisios of Mount Athos Spiritual Councils IV: Family Life
Protestantism and Orthodoxy
Archpriest Sergiy Baranov
A parish is a large spiritual family. People are wrong to get used to going to church with everything provided for them, not bothering to get involved in the goals, difficulties and responsibilities of the parish and parishioners. It is good for every parishioner’s soul to be more than just a witness of life in his parish. He should also be a participant!
🎥 Parishioners of the Spassky Cathedral in Pyatigorsk.
The Holy Orthodox Church, like a concerned mother, daily, at every divine service, offers up prayers for all her children who have departed for the land of eternity. Thus, at the midnight service troparia and prayers for the departed are read, and they are commemorated at its concluding ektenia. This is so also at compline. At matins and vespers the departed are remembered by name at the Augmented Ektenia, "Have mercy on us, O God ..." They are commemorated three times during the Liturgy: at the Proskomedia, at the ektenia following the Gospel, and after the consecration of the Precious Gifts when "Meet it is in truth . . ." is sung. Furthermore, one day of the week is set aside for prayers for the dead -Saturday, on which it is customary to have a service for the dead, unless it coincides with a feast, if such is to be served on that day.
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The book of Revelation, the last book of the Scripture. Some ask how to understand it, and it's truly important. Run away from podcasts and youtubes on this matter. Most of them are intentionally or unintentionally twisted. Read the Holy Fathers. St. Ephraim the Syrian, Archbishop Andrew of Caesarea and some others. The classic work of Archbishop Andrew is systematic, writings of St. Ephraim are strongly inspired.
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It happens very often that we forget to turn to God for help and wisdom. Or we demand something we think will work, instead of relying on God. Orthodox Saints remind us that this is the wrong way.
“Why do we abandon hope in God and rely on the strength of our own arm, ascribing the gifts of God's providence to the work of our hands?”
St Neilos The Ascetic
☦️🕯Abba Poemen said of Abba John the Dwarf that he had prayed God to take his passions away from him so that he might become free from care. He went and told an old man this: ‘I find myself in peace, without an enemy,’ he said. The old man said to him, ‘Go, beseech God to stir up warfare so that you regain the affliction and humility that you used to have, for it is by warfare that the soul makes progress.’ So he besought God and when warfare came, he no longer prayed that it might be taken away, but said, ‘Lord, give me strength for the fight.’🕯☦️
♰ Sayings and Stories of the Desert Fathers ♰
Our life here is only a moment. And we need to use it wisely. “A true Christian behaves in this life so that it may be a preparation for the future one, and not only a life here below.”
St. John of Kronstadt
St Mark The Ascetic shares very important thought that we should bear in mind.
“A self-indulgent heart becomes a prison and chain for the soul when it leaves this life; whereas an assiduous heart is an open door.”
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“The human soul is the image of God. It finds rest only when it attains perfection.”
+ Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
“When you pray for the repose of the soul of the departed, force yourself to pray with your whole heart, remembering that to do so is your essential duty, and not only that of a priest or ecclesiastic. Represent to yourself how necessary repose is to the departed one, and how greatly he (or she) needs the prayers for him (or her) of the living, being a member of the one body of the Church;”
St. John of Kronstadt
☦️🕯️MEDITATION IN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY 🕯️☦️
Orthodox theology, prayer and meditation are seen as essential in the process of theosis, or deification, which is the transformative process of becoming more like God in one's life. This is not a literal becoming divine but rather a process of growing in spiritual intimacy and likeness to God.
my God's works, accomplished in me by the Holy Gifts, to anything or anybody else and do not ascribe them with my whole heart to Him. He instantly becomes jealous of the glory of His righteous, ever-miraculous, vivifying Mysteries, and in His justice punishes my soul with His Fatherly rod! O then my soul clearly hears the voice of its God: "My glory will I not give to another. As you do not ascribe to Me the glory due to Me, so evident to you in my Mysteries, I strike you inwardly with the rod of My truth so that you may thus know and heartily believe that I never will give My glory to another. I cleanse your sins and make your soul whiter than snow by My blood; I visit your soul with peace and joy; I warm and cherish you as a mother cherishes her child, and I instill within you My meekness and humility; I pour love into your heart; I completely transform and change you – to your own wonder into a new man – and to whom else shall I give the glory of My works? I am eternally unchangeable. 'God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent.'"
St John of Kronstadt
☦️🌟🙏 The Orthodox Church is eternal, being the Body of Christ.
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Let God help us always remember about the Truth and eternity. We never know when our last moment comes, and that is why it is unwise as to delay changings in our life and coming to the Church, so to be careless and negligent in our Christian life.
“The heart can change several times in one moment —to good or evil, to faith or unbelief, to simplicity or cunning, to love or hatred, to benevolence or envy, to generosity or avarice, to chastity or fornication. O, what inconstancy! O, how many dangers! O, how sober and watchful we must be!”
St. John of Kronstadt
We are never fully alone if we let God be part of our life.
“When you are praying alone, and your spirit is dejected, and you are wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, your own Guardian Angel, and all the saints of God.”
St. John of Kronstadt