"O sun tremble, O earth groan and o shaking one cry out...

 Holy Thursday evening...

"O sun tremble, O earth groan and o shaking one cry out...

Unshakable Lord, glory to you!"

There is no man without a cross!

Some with a large cross and some with a small cross...

Some with a heavy cross and some with a lighter one...

Some carry it without a care...

Some secretly weep!!!

Some sometimes get tired on the road and rest...

Some carry it on their shoulders...

Some on their backs...

And others hug it...Tightly!!!

Almost romantically...

And some others drag their cross...

Anyway, everyone carries something!

Everyone has something!

The point is not to give up!!!

The point is not to throw down your cross!

May the end find you, the "passing" and your hands still hold the cross, The cross that has been given to you...

That's the point!

And if sometimes you reach the "amen", raise your eyes high...

Great Cross, Great Resurrection of our Inexhaustible Lord!

"Today we will not only remember, but we will be present at the Passion of Christ.

We will be part of the crowd that will surround Christ, the Disciples and the Theotokos.

As we listen to the readings, as we follow the Prayers of the Church, as the images of the Passion follow one another before our eyes, let us ask ourselves the question:

Among this crowd, where am I, who am I?

A Pharisee?

A scribe?

A traitor?

A coward?

Who?"

Metropolitan of Sourozh Anthony Bloom.

 

When you want to pray, get up at night, on an empty stomach.

 When you want to pray, get up at night, on an empty stomach. Then, but then there is nothing better and more beautiful. When the people are sleeping, God hears you... Cry out to God, with all your strength, from the depths of your heart.

Especially pray at night, when the enemy is watching. After 12 o'clock at night, until 3.30, then the devil finds an opportunity to act, when people are sleeping. That is why the shepherd must be vigilant for the flock...

...We should not waste the whole night sleeping, because then Satan does whatever he wants to us. Since I was a little child, I loved to pray. I would go to a quiet place and cry out to God. My heart thirsted for Him. I had also learned the greetings by heart and said them. What joy, exultation and peace I had in my heart! Whatever I asked of our good Virgin Mary, she gave it to me...

Saint Demetrios Gagastathis + 29/ 1

A great monk of Mount Athos, threw off his robe and went out into the world, to live his life.

 Elder Ephraim of the Skete of Saint Andrew

~ A great monk of Mount Athos, threw off his robe and went out into the world, to live his life.

He lived a prodigal life with many carnal sins and finally got married. He had 2 boys and one day went with his family to swim in the sea.

 On the beach, as he was lying under the umbrella, his little boy said to him:

– Dad, what is this cross on your chest? And the red letters on it, what do they say?

The father was shocked by his son’s revelation. He asked them to return to their home and there he locked himself in his room and cried all night…

The next day he confessed and the spiritual father told him:

– Christ, even though you have denied Him repeatedly and consciously, still loves you undiminished! As infinitely as He loved you when you were a monk, He loves you even more now!

These words struck him in the heart. That is why he revealed the whole truth to his wife and they agreed to divorce by mutual consent. He returned to the monastery, while his wife later became a nun, provided she first settled their children.

After 17 years, the son of the monk who had seen the letters on his father’s chest visits Mount Athos and specifically the monastery where his father was a monk, without knowing it.

He goes to the abbot of the monastery and asks to confess. After the confession, he asks the abbot:

– Father, I am looking for my father. He became a monk and for so many years, I do not know where he is. Can you help me?

The abbot understood whose son this child was and tried diligently to hide his tears of emotion and said to him:

– My child, sit here today and I will inform you and I will tell you tomorrow.

The abbot went to the monk – the father of the son, to inform him and said to him:

– My child, your little son came to the monastery and is looking for you. Would you like to see him?

He, obviously moved and at the same time troubled, said to him:

– Elder, I saw my guardian angel and he revealed to me that in 3 days I am leaving for the other world!

Tell my child that he will see me in 3 days! And when I sleep, then you will reveal to him that I was his father! Because I want to set a rule for myself, for all that I did in my life…

The monk’s act is an act of perfect repentance and his refusal not to see his child is supreme love!

The abbot went to the child, convinced him to stay another 3 days in the monastery. At the funeral that took place in 3 days, the son attended and confessed to the abbot:

– Elder, this is the first time I have seen such a funeral! This monk is a holy relic! He is a monk!

And when they buried him, the abbot made the great revelation to his son:

– My child, this monk… was your father!!!

 

 

 

Death was terrified,

 “Death was terrified, seeing a dead man, who did not resemble the other dead at all, who had descended into Hades and was not bound with the chains with which those who were there were bound. “Why did you, gatekeepers of Hades, tremble with fear at the sight of him?” (Cf. Job 38:17). What unusual fear is this that has seized you? Death fled and in its flight was ashamed of its cowardice. The Holy Prophets ran to the Lord…”

(Saint Cyril of Jerusalem)

If you cannot be the prayer,

 

If you cannot be the prayer,

at least do not become the condemnation.

 

If you cannot be the light that guides,

at least do not become the obstacle that hinders.

 

If you cannot offer alms,

at least offer a word of comfort.

 

If you cannot reach apathy,

at least remain in repentance.

 

If you cannot be the love that sacrifices,

at least do not become the hatred that divides.

 

If you cannot shed tears,

at least let your heart be broken.

 

If you cannot gain virtue,

at least do not take pride in your downfall

 

If you cannot be the harbor of the persecuted,

at least do not become the oppressor of the weak.

 

If you cannot forget the wound,

at least do not return the blow.

 

If you cannot embrace your enemy,

at least do not curse him in your thoughts.

 

If you cannot be the source of joy,

at least do not become the medicine of whining.