-HELP! HELP, Priests of the Most High, help..., Orthodox Christians, help!... Liturgies, prayers, Memorials, Trisaya... HELP.., Christians!

 Years ago, a young priest told the following terrible story:

“My mother, who did not want her son to become a priest, died in the third year after my ordination. As her son, I, as a priest, did not pay much attention to her death. I did what was necessary and nothing more.

One afternoon, towards dusk, I was passing outside the Cemetery. So I thought:

“Shall I not light the candle for her?”

I did indeed light it and sat down on a stone. However, I did not have a liturgy with me, so I did not recite the Trisagion for her. As if I was a little dizzy, however, and suddenly I thought that the graves began to open, the dead bodies of people to rise and cry out!.

-HELP! HELP, Priests of the Most High, help..., Orthodox Christians, help!... Liturgies, prayers, Memorials, Trisaya... HELP.., Christians!

I also see my mother, a little frightened:

-HELP, my son, she told me, help! Help, now that you are a priest, help for everyone, help, help.. and she fell on me, tearing with cries of despair, asking for help for her soul.

Then I came to my senses, terrified… It was already evening… I ran away… my robes were torn… and from my terror I did not sleep all night.

The next morning I said to my elder sister:

“Look and see.

For three years I will celebrate Mass every day for my mother, for all the dead, for all those who are written there, in the Cemetery, and for all the names of the deceased that they will give me from here and there.”

I celebrated a thousand and a hundred Masses continuously, without interruption!

A thousand and a hundred Memorials with kollyva, with Trisaya, with everything that was due; every day!

Many times at night I saw souls saying “thank you”, some because they were thirsty, others because they were refreshed, others because they were full, others because they were warmed up in the freezing cold!

“Thank you, I’ve warmed up, my father”, they would say to me, “I was cold, I’ve warmed up, I thank you”. Others thanked me because they saw a little light and others held “loaves of bread in their hands…”.

Very Rev. Stefanos Anagnostopoulos

Book: Experiences during the Divine Liturgy

There are two types of discernment. The physical and the spiritual.

 The word discernment comes from the verb διακρικό = to distinguish, to see well, to interpret, to decide, to judge correctly. According to the Fathers of the Church, it is “the greatest of all virtues” (the greatest of all virtues). Anthony the Great, with his great ascetic experience, said: “Many have melted their bodies in asceticism, but because they did not have discernment, they found themselves far from God.”

There are two types of discernment. The physical and the spiritual.

Physical discernment: This discernment is possessed by few people. It is characterized as wisdom and prudence, knowledge and consideration, the ability to perceive and judge. A person should study everything, be able to correctly compare things, ideas, positions. Usually these abilities increase as maturity progresses, without this being absolute.

Spiritual discernment: It is everything that characterizes physical discernment and, in addition, the gift that the Holy Spirit gives to the person who strives humbly. The degrees of holiness are parallel to the degrees of discernment, since holiness without discernment is not ensured even for a minute.

Saint John of the Ladder says that discernment is “being able at all times, in every place and in every thing to distinguish what the will of God is. This is achieved by those who have a pure heart, a pure body and a pure mouth”.

Essentially, it is the gift that maintains balance in the life of a Christian. That is, discernment as a divine gift, dictates to you when you can do something, when you should speak and when to remain silent. Discernment distinguishes quality. It sees what is worthy or what is not worthy or how much it is worthy. Discernment distances a person from excesses that are dangerous for the spiritual life. Discernment distinguishes the right, chooses the good, judges the best, avoids extremes, walks the middle path. It searches for the best answer to a question that is posed, the appropriate solution. Discernment is necessary for everyone, but especially for those who teach, guide and advise. It does not require either excessive severity or great leniency.

The absence of discrimination gives rise to exaggeration, fanaticism, guilty silence, unjust condemnation, cowardice, slowness of spirit, obsession, a sterile and unfruitful life. In essence, it deprives the human mind and human nature of sobriety.

To acquire this charisma, effort is needed. And this effort is the observance of the commandments of Christ together with asceticism, with a constant experience of repentance and, above all, humility. Discernment comes from knowledge, experience, spiritual cultivation and maturity. It is the result of self-control, self-criticism, study and divine illumination.

The great virtue of discernment is the greatest spiritual power. It gives simplicity, patience, frugality, kindness and a deep sense of proportion. The discerning person can comfort and rest souls.

What is Christ for us...

 What is Christ for us...

Christ is everything for us...

Do you want your wounds to be healed?

Is He the DOCTOR..

May your soul be at peace?

Is He PEACE..

May injustice be punished?

Is He JUSTICE.. 

If you need help..

Is He the POWER..

If you fear death..

Is He the LIFE..

If you seek heaven..

Is He the WAY..

If you hate the darkness..

Is He the LIGHT..

If you are hungry.. He is the FOOD..

Saint Augustine.

Many times God allows various people to embitter us without our fault,...

 Many times God allows various people to embitter us without our fault, in order to forgive some ''veresedia'' (debts sins) that we owed, and thus God gives us the opportunity to forgive ourselves. 

It is God's economy that certain people are there and embitter us...

When a doctor predicts the death of a patient, is the doctor responsible for the death and the patient will die, because the doctor predicts it or because the patient, being sick, has no hope of life and will die? 

Or when someone foresees and predicts, for example, the crime of a person, is the one who foresees responsible or the one who will commit the crime responsible? Of course, the criminal is responsible and not the one who predicts. 

God did exactly the same in the case of Judas. 

 He foretold the betrayal of Judas, because as God he foretold it and Judas was solely responsible for the betrayal of Christ. 

The Prophecy, i.e. of God, depends on the betrayal of Judas and not the betrayal of Judas, on the Prophecy of God. 

The Holy Chrysostom characteristically says: The betrayal of Judas was not prophesied so that Judas would become a traitor, but because he was about to become a traitor, his betrayal was prophesied. 

Demetrios Panagopoulos the Preacher +

 Whoever chooses to pray becomes resilient to the difficulties and challenges of life.

In other words, he is a person who knows how to feel comfortable wherever he finds himself.

Will he find himself in poverty?

In wealth?

Among good people?

Among bad people?

Among those who love him?

Who do not love him?

Who want him?

Who do not want him?

Who hate him?

Who slander him?

It makes no difference to him...

He knows how to adapt wonderfully and live happily.

And the more he prays, the more resilient he becomes, so much so that he does not even feel the hardships he endures...

– Elder Emilian of Simonopetra