Intense thoughts and carnal temptations...

By Saint Isaac the Syrian

Know that intense thoughts and carnal temptations will fight you, to defile your body and your soul.

To overcome this passion, you must systematically avoid worldly associations. Do not forget that our nature has within it the urge for procreation, which is inflamed by our careless behavior with women.

Another kind of damage is caused to the soul by temptations that come from things that are far away from us, and another, much more serious harm is caused to our soul by thoughts that come to us when the temptation is near us. When the fire is far away, it does not harm us much, but when it is near, then the damage is certain.

Just as oil nourishes the light of a lamp, so carnal desires nourish passions. In order to keep our bodies clean from carnal pollution, we must be very careful about stimuli. For it is not the propensity for procreation that God has placed in man that is harmful, but the deviation. However, man must tame this propensity and direct it to good. For if he leaves himself without a bridle, then he will become worse than wild animals. God made everything “very good”, but man strayed from the right path and left his body free to be satisfied as it wants, and not as the will of God commands.

The natural movements of the body should not lead us astray or hinder us from sobriety. Drink, much food, and careless intercourse with women kindle the flame of evil desires, and the body becomes wild, losing its natural meekness and simplicity.

Many times we think that through exercise and prayer we have reached high standards of virtue. It is then that God permits carnal temptations in order to humble us. Force is needed, because the flesh does not submit easily. The struggle is difficult, but with the Lord's help we will conquer. Our labor and struggle, hard and difficult, will be rewarded by God. Sorrows and sorrows kill the passions of the flesh.

Our bodies, like our souls, are not sinful, but evil desires and carnal defilements defile them. Exercise, suffering of the body, and prayer help in spiritual elevation.

When we despise the sorrows and griefs that God allows for our perfection, it is as if we despise the commandments of God. We must not forget that virtue blooms in us like a flower only through sorrows and physical labor. The more we love rest, the more we give way to passions. For when the body is tormented by labors and sorrows, evil thoughts subside. When a person remembers his sins and repents of them, then God provides for him and increases his virtue. The more someone forces himself, the more God blesses him, granting him the joy of virtue. Every joy that does not come from virtue feeds the passions of the flesh.

“Often our body, fearing temptations, becomes a friend of sin.”

These words were spoken by one of the Holy Fathers of our Church. Therefore, he who desires the Lord to dwell within him must bridle his body, work the commandments of God, and guard his soul from the works of the flesh. The Holy Spirit does not dwell in the body that rests in carnal desires. When the body is weakened by fasting and prayer, then the soul is strengthened. And the body is accustomed to begging the soul for rest, because rest is its food. When the body is not nourished by laziness and much rest, then it gives way and is defeated.

Therefore it comes and begs: “Let me rest a little and come to my senses.”

And this it does until it regains its strength. Then it attacks the soul with greater ferocity. Therefore, we will not consider the insidious entreaties of the body. We will conduct ourselves as God wants. And in the world one can acquire virtue, provided one struggles against the sinful demands of the body.

When the body is exhausted by temptations and asks to be freed, you should say to it: “You desire impurity and a shameful life.” But if it objects to you that it is a great sin to kill one’s body, you should refute it with the argument that I am not killing you (the body), but the evil and wicked desires that nest within you.

You should say to the body: “I kill the unclean life that the Lord detests, and not you who are a gift from God.”

It is better to die than to be separated from our God, who gives us so many gifts, and above all purity of soul and sobriety. What is one to do with life when he is far from God? A thousand times to endure the sufferings of the body, than to give in to his unlawful and sinful desires.

source / churchofagianapa.blogspot.gr

Bees don't remember.

 

They don't remember which flower bloomed the most beautifully.

They don't keep notes about which blossom gave them the most nectar or which one left them hungry.

They fly. They gather. They move on.

They have no time for bitterness. Nor for selfishness.

Nor do they wait for the perfect flower. They work with what is available — and make something worthwhile.

And that's how honey is made.

Not with ideal conditions. But with consistency. Patience. And a simple decision: not to get stuck on what didn't give you. But to move on to the next flower.

Maybe that's a lesson for all of us.

You don't need to remember who didn't treat you well.

Just keep collecting what's good.

And make something sweet out of it all.

Some were incorruptible and others were fragrant), all raised their hands, unable to explain them scientifically!

 If someone asks you:

How is it proven that Orthodoxy is the only true faith, answer him that:

 

a) The Holy Light is given miraculously,

Only to the Orthodox

And to no heterodox or non-Orthodox!

 

b) Only the Orthodox Priest

Casts out demons from a demonized person!

To heterodox and non-Orthodox clergy, the demon is indifferent.

 

c) Only the tomb of Christ is empty. No other tomb of a religious leader

Is empty..

The empty tomb of Christ is indeed a proof of the Resurrection

And of our correct Faith.

 

d) Only in Orthodoxy do you encounter countless Holy relics.

All the doctors in the world, who examined Holy relics

(Some were incorruptible and others were fragrant), all raised their hands, unable to explain them scientifically!

 

e) Only in Orthodoxy,

You will encounter countless miracles.

From the Virgin Mary and from countless Saints.

And countless miraculous icons.

 

f) Only the Orthodox Priest, by reading a special prayer, sanctifies the water

And makes it a Sanctification.

In fact, sanctification never spoils the water, no matter how many centuries pass!

 

g) Only Orthodoxy has millions of Witnesses.

Preacher Dimitrios Panagopoulos +

"The Liturgy is like an engagement for us..."

 The Liturgy is like an engagement for us. Just as you wear an engagement ring, which signifies a promise of marriage, so too does the Liturgy signify that I am united with Christ, who promises me that, if I remain faithful, He will certainly bring me into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We live in this paradise on earth.

Here, then, my beloved, this great truth is fulfilled.

Here, when we celebrate the Liturgy, the entire Church of Christ is present.

We are united with Christ and become one body with Him.

Just as, if you take a white cloth and place a very powerful lamp behind it, it becomes a luminous screen, so too are we absorbed by the rays of Christ and made Christ-like.

We become the temple of Christ, we become members of Christ, we become Christ-like, and He is our head. Head, “Christ is the head of the church,” means the source, the origin. When you are thirsty, you go to the fountain to quench your thirst.

Christ is the one who quenches our thirsty hearts. Our members, our flesh, and our bones become the members, flesh, and bones of Christ. We live the life of Christ, and Christ takes on our own life.

Just as the bread we place in the holy bread box is one, just as the bread we place on the holy Table is one, just as Christ is one, so too do we become one with Christ and with one another; we become one Christ.

What, then, happens when we celebrate the Divine Liturgy? We hold a banquet, a supper. We invite as our fellow guests the saints of our Church; we invite our departed father, our grandfather, our great-grandfather, our beloved ones who have passed away; we invite the angels.

And Christ Himself comes and offers us His body and His blood. This means, “Having commemorated all the saints, we offer ourselves, one another, and our entire lives to Christ our God.”

Having brought all the saints here and entrusted ourselves to them, having implored them and made them our helpers, we now give ourselves to Christ.

Elder Emilianos of Simonopetra

I won't tell you how to love.

 I won't tell you how to love.

I'll tell you how I don't love anymore.

I don't love waiting for a response as if it were proof.

I don't love looking at the clock lest you be late in feeling what I feel.

I don't love keeping score: who said "I love you" first, who stayed the longest, who cried the deepest.

I don't love as a transaction: I give you tenderness, you give me attention.

I don't love as a bargain: if you change, I change too.

I don't love as a court: with witnesses, accusations, evidence and convictions.

I don't love out of fear of losing you.

I don't love out of lack, to fill gaps that only I know where they hurt.

I don't love to prove to anyone (neither you nor me) that I'm worth it.

I don't love with conditions.

I don't love by saying "if you love me, I will...".

I don't love by asking for proof of love, because whoever asks for proof has already lost the point.

I don't love because it's the way it should be.

I don't love because I'm afraid of loneliness.

I don't love because everyone loves.

I don't love because I read in a poem what love is like.

And now that I've told you all this,

I'll find you doing exactly the opposite.

You'll find me doing the opposite too.

And I won't say it's wrong.

I'll say: "This is also a path."

I'll say: "Next time, maybe differently."

I'll say: "Welcome to the experiment. Here we don't give answers, here we live them."

As you said:

to find fellow passengers who are still wondering.

Not teachers. Not therapists.

People who also got a little lost, to find their own map.

And you know what?

Maybe love is nothing we say.

Maybe it's the moment we say "I don't know" and that's enough.

Are you still here?

Great.

This is a start.

The Resurrection of Christ, the Defeat of Death

 The Resurrection of Christ, the Defeat of Death

By Archpriest Fr. George Metallinos, Adjunct Professor at the School of Theology, University of Athens

The greatest event in history: The Resurrection of Christ is the greatest event in history. It is what distinguishes Christianity from any other religion. Other religions have mortal leaders, whereas the head of the Church is the Risen Christ. “The Resurrection of Christ” signifies the deification and resurrection of human nature and the hope of the deification and resurrection of our own being. Since the remedy has been found, there is hope for life.

Through the Resurrection of Christ, life and death take on a new meaning. Life means communion with God. Death is no longer the end of this present life, but man’s separation from Christ. The separation of the soul from the body is not death, but a temporary sleep.

The Resurrection of Christ vindicates His uniqueness and exclusivity as Savior, capable of truly giving life, of infusing His Life—which overcomes death—into our mortal lives. One Christ, one Resurrection, and one possibility of salvation and deification. That is why our hope for overcoming the dead ends that suffocate our lives is directed toward Christ. Toward the Christ of the Saints, the Christ of History.

The distorted “Christ” of heresies or the “relativized” Christ of the religious syncretism of New Age pan-religion constitutes a rejection of the true Christ and of the Salvation offered by Him. The Christ of our Saints is the Christ of History as well, and He excludes any confusion of His person with whatever redemptive substitutes are invented to mislead the masses. For only in this way can delusion sustain the deception, facilitating the domination of antichrist forces (which may have even infiltrated the Church) that, while they spread death, appear as “angels of light” and “ministers of righteousness” .

Through the experience of our Saints, we realize that there are no more tragic existences than those of the “hopeless” —hope of resurrection—viewing biological death as destruction and the end. Unfortunately, science also succumbs to this tragedy, desperately seeking methods to prolong life and spreading the illusion of overcoming natural death. Equally tragic, however, are those —even Christians—who are trapped in the confines of millenarian visions of universal prosperity and immanent eschatology, losing sight of the true meaning of the Resurrection and sacrificing the transcendent to the immanent and the eternal to the transitory.

The Resurrection of Christ, as the resurrection of humanity and of all creation, acquires meaning only within the framework of Patristic soteriology. That is, through the crucifixion and resurrection with Christ. This is how Hellenism has experienced the Resurrection throughout its historical course. Faithful to the Resurrection of Christ, Orthodoxy has been characterized as the “Church of the Resurrection,” because it builds its entire historical presence upon it, instilling in the consciousness of its peoples the hope of the Resurrection, something that is evident in its cultural continuity. Among them, the Greek people learned to dispel the darkness of their bondage in the Light of the Resurrection, as during the Ottoman occupation, when, upon hearing “Christ is Risen,” they could not help but add: “and Greece is risen!” And this for four hundred years….

It is within this symbolic context that the hopeful invitation “Come, receive the Light!” is voiced. It is the invitation to the uncreated Light of the Resurrection, which is received by those who have purified their hearts of evil and passions. Without the “purification” of the heart—that is, repentance—no one can partake of the Resurrected Light. Repentance is the overcoming of sin, the cause of all our death. This is what the monastic saying, which sounds strange to the uninitiated, constantly reminds us: “Well, if you die before you die, you won’t die when you die!” Christ is Risen!!

There are many witnesses to the Savior’s Resurrection.

 “There are many witnesses to the Savior’s Resurrection. The night and the light of the full moon, for it was the sixteenth night and the moon was full. The tombstone that received the Lord beneath its canopy and the carved rock that will stand opposite and will expose the Jews, for he saw the Lord. The stone they rolled in front of the tomb back then, which remains there to this day, bears witness to the Resurrection. The Angels of God who were present also bore witness to the Resurrection of the Only-Begotten. Peter, John, Thomas, and all the other Apostles, some of whom ran to the tomb and saw the burial cloths, with which they had previously wrapped Him, were found inside the tomb after the Resurrection, while others touched His hands and His feet (cf. Luke 24:39) and saw the marks of the nails (cf. John 20:25). But all of them received the saving breath and were empowered to forgive sins through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the women who held His feet when He appeared to them, who experienced the magnitude of the earthquake and saw the radiance of the Angel who was present there, they too are witnesses of the Resurrection. But also the shrouds he was wearing (cf. Luke 24:12), which he left there when he rose, are witnesses to the Resurrection. The soldiers and the silver coins that were given. This place, which one can still see today, and this holy church, which was built through the Christian goodwill of that most worthy Basil and which, as you see it now, has been so wonderfully adorned”

(Saint Cyril of Jerusalem)

 

Christ is risen, and no one lies in the tomb.-Holy Light

 May the Holy Light we have received, its flame, not remain only in the candle, but first and foremost warm the flame of our soul....

May it soften and sweeten our hearts, so that the "ice" surrounding them may melt and we may forgive any transgressions of our fellow human beings....

May the Resurrection of our Lord show us the right path to joy, spiritual awakening, and spiritual gladness.

Let us offer a smile, a sign of love to our fellow human beings, in whatever way we can and without expecting anything in return… Love, a feeling so powerful, the highest form of sacrifice taught to us by the Lord—a smile, even to a stranger passing by on the street, can make someone happy!

It can save and redeem souls.... It is in our hands to make our world a more beautiful place!

I wholeheartedly wish that the Resurrection of the Lord may enlighten all our souls and bring blessings to every step of our life’s journey, so that we may be worthy of the heavenly Kingdom....

Christ is risen, and no one lies in the tomb!!!!

Take heart and pray......

I am the Resurrection and the Life

Saint Justin Popovich

If there is one truth in which all the truths of the Gospel could be summarized, that truth would be the resurrection of Christ. And furthermore, if there is a reality in which all the New Testament realities could be summarized, that reality would be the resurrection of Christ. Only in the Resurrection of Christ are all His miracles, all His truths, all His words, and all the events of the New Testament explained.

Until His resurrection, the Lord taught about eternal life, but with His resurrection He showed that He Himself is indeed eternal life. Until His resurrection, He taught about the resurrection of the dead, but with His resurrection He showed that He Himself is indeed the resurrection of the dead. Until His resurrection, He taught that faith in Him brings one from death to life, but with His resurrection He showed that He Himself had conquered death and thus secured for those who have died the passage from death to resurrection.

Through sin, man became mortal and finite; through the resurrection of the God-man, he becomes immortal and eternal. And this is precisely where the power, the authority, and the omnipotence of Christ’s resurrection lie. And for this reason, without the resurrection of Christ, there would not even be Christianity. Among the miracles, the Lord’s Resurrection is the greatest miracle. All other miracles stem from it and are summed up in it. From it spring faith and love and hope and prayer and piety. This is what no other religion possesses; this is what elevates the Lord above all people and gods. This is what, in a unique and indisputable way, shows and proves that Jesus Christ is the only true God and Lord in all the visible and invisible worlds.

That a person truly believes in the Risen Lord is demonstrated by their struggle against sin and passions, and if he does struggle, he must know that he is struggling for immortality and eternal life. But if he does not struggle, then his faith is in vain! For if a person’s faith is not a struggle for immortality and eternity, then what is it? If faith in Christ does not lead one to immortality and victory over death, then what is the point of our faith? If Christ did not rise from the dead, this means that sin and death have not been conquered. And if these two have not been conquered, then why should anyone believe in Christ? But he who, through faith in the Risen Christ, struggles against every sin of his own, gradually strengthens within himself the sense that the Lord has truly risen, has blunted the sting of death, has conquered death on all fronts of the battle.

Without the Resurrection, there is nothing in heaven or under heaven more absurd than this world, nor greater despair than this life than this one, without immortality. In all the worlds, there is no existence more miserable than that of a human being who does not believe in the resurrection of the dead. That is why, for human existence, the Risen Lord is “all in all” in all worlds: that which is Beautiful, the Good, the True, the Lovable, the Joyful, the Divine, the Wise, the Eternal. This is all our Love, all our Truth, all our Joy, all our Goodness, all our Life, Eternal Life in all eternities and infinities.

The Gospel says: “Be on good terms with your adversary while you are on the road with him.” Matthew 5:25

 

The Gospel says: “Be on good terms with your adversary while you are on the road with him.” Matthew 5:25  That is: “Maintain good relations with your adversary while you are still on the road with him, lest he hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison; Truly I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the last penny.”

- What does this saying of our Lord mean?

Be careful, He says, while you are on the road with your adversary, to maintain a good relationship with him, lest he hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officers, and they throw you into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the last penny of your debt.

Here the translator has a footnote explaining how St. Athanasius interprets this passage. A path, a road—that is this vain life, our temporary existence. How many years… ten, twenty, a hundred—whatever we may live. This vain and deceptive life, which deceives us, misleads us. We think we will be here forever, while we are so very temporary. We are like a drop of water, like a ray of light that passes and disappears. Such is our life here on earth. “For if the soul is separated from the body and departs from this life and this path, it can no longer do good,” says St. Athanasius, if the union of soul and body is severed. This is death. Death is not disappearance; it is simply that this union of soul and body ceases to exist. These two are separated. So when this happens and we leave this vain life and this path, we can no longer work toward the good, toward repentance. In Hades, there is no repentance. After death, you cannot change. So be careful, while you are here with your adversary—that is, with your conscience—for he is the adversary, says Christ—to maintain a good relationship. Listen to your conscience. Do not trample on it, because otherwise this conscience will hand you over to the judge, to the court, and you will go to prison, to eternal hell. And you will not be able to leave unless you pay back every last penny of your debt, and the very last coin. “A ‘kodrantis’ is called,” explains St. Athanasius, “and this is the remnant of memory”—that is, the slightest memory that remains within us. “Conscience is also called an adversary. For it examines us in the secret of our hearts and restrains us from evil.” It is our conscience that secretly examines us in our hearts and tells us, “Do not do this,” and it stops evil if we listen to it.

- And if we don’t listen to it?

In the end, it delivers us to God’s Judgment, and we will give an account; we will be held accountable for the great sins, but also for the small ones and the slightest ones.

There is no such thing as a mortal sin and a non-mortal sin, as some say—that one is grave and mortal, the other is minor. It may be minor, but if you don’t repent even for this small one, and say, “It doesn’t matter,” I’ll just do it… then even the small sin becomes mortal. Therefore, all sins are deadly, and when we repent, they cease to kill us, to be deadly. And so even the smallest sins must be eradicated. That is why repentance is necessary, confession for everything.

What Became of the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate

The following text recounts one of the various traditions regarding the fates of Pilate and the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas after the unjust killing of Christ. It originates from a manuscript of the Holy Monastery of Iviron, a copy of which is kept in the cell of Saint Gobdela the Persian of that same monastery, which was transcribed and published by the Mount Athos monk (+) Hieromonk Averkios in 1895 and 1896 in Varna.

After the Ascension of the Lord, Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, wrote a report as required to the Roman Emperor Tiberius regarding the events that occurred concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tiberius, having been informed of the Lord’s many miracles, His Resurrection from the dead, and that many believed Him to be God, reported these matters to the Roman Senate and threatened the accusers of the Christians with death.

Tiberius’s response to Pilate came in a letter criticizing his unjust decision to condemn Christ, but also dispatching his Commissioner Rahab along with 2,000 men to arrest him and bring him to Rome, along with the High Priests Caiaphas and Annas.

The delegation from Rome arrested Pilate and the High Priests, whom they bound in chains. In chains, they sailed for Rome.

Caiaphas died in Crete. The ship stopped, and they buried the high priest’s putrid body, which was expelled from the grave, since even the earth would not accept him. They buried him seven times, but “the earth cast him out, unburied and black as Cain, for the great evil we committed, which condemned Christ.” A great crowd then gathered and, cursing him, buried him under a huge pile of stones.

This was the end of Caiaphas. His tomb in a village near Heraklion survived until the end of the 19th century.

This tradition is very old and is mentioned by several travelers (though it is not historically confirmed).

The ship continued its journey and arrived in Rome. Tiberius did not wish to examine them. He gave an order, and the High Priest Annas was wrapped naked in oxhide and left in the summer sun. From the heat, the skin dried out and tightened around his body, causing it to burst and his internal organs to spill out, thus bringing about a gruesome death.

As for Pilate, he ordered that he be locked up in a tower in chains, with the intention of killing him himself. One day, Tiberius had gone out hunting near the tower where Pilate was being held captive.

Pilate was informed of this by the guard and rushed to a hole in the wall to see Caesar. Then a roe deer approached the tower wall, roughly at the height of the hole from which Pilate was watching.

Caesar Tiberius, fearing he would lose his prey, quickly took aim with his bow, and the arrow entered through the hole in the tower wall, piercing Pilate’s eyes and killing him.

According to Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, vol. II, VII), Pilate was exiled to Vienne in France, where he committed suicide. According to another tradition, he was thrown into the Tiber River, and his corpse caused floods and destruction.

Yet another tradition holds that he fell from a mountain that still bears his name today on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. While another states that he was beheaded during the reign of Tiberius.

Metropolitan Meletios of Athens, in his Ecclesiastical History, states the following: After the Ascension of the Lord, Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, wrote a report as required to the Roman Emperor Tiberius regarding the events that occurred concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tiberius, having been informed of the Lord’s many miracles, His Resurrection from the dead, and that many believed Him to be God, reported these matters to the Roman Senate and threatened the accusers of the Christians with death. After the election of the seven deacons, persecution broke out against the Church in Jerusalem. Then, Mary Magdalene, along with Martha, Lazarus, and Joseph of Arimathea, visited Tiberius in Rome (according to Baronius, in Marseille, France), to whom she recounted the events and the injustices committed by the Jews against Christ and protested his unjust execution. Tiberius was enraged and ordered the high priests (Caiaphas and Annas) and Pilate to be put to death.

As soon as Vitellius assumed control of the province of Syria, he replaced Pilate with Marcellus and sent him to Rome to answer to Tiberius. It took him two years to reach Rome, and in the meantime Tiberius had died; the new emperor, Gaius Caligula, exiled him to Vienna, where he suffered great misfortunes and, in despair, committed suicide.

Vittellius maintains that Caiaphas met the same fate, having committed suicide. Clement of Rome agrees with this. Caiaphas’s father-in-law, Annas, also met a terrible death—a divine judgment. (See Meletios, Metropolitan of Athens, Ecclesiastical History, Volume 1, Vienna, Austria, 1794, pp. 119–126). It is worth mentioning, in closing this note, that Pilate’s wife, Procula, after his terrible death, repented, was baptized a Christian, lived a life of faith and piety, and passed away peacefully. Our Church honors her memory on October 27.

Source: Averkius, a monk of Mount Athos, A Precise History of the Events Occurring at the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Originally written by a certain Jew named Aeneas, a contemporary of the Savior, and translated into Latin by Nicodemus, a Roman, it is preserved in a manuscript on Mount Athos, Varna 1896, pp. 60–63.

© 2021 dogma.gr

Christ became my life.

 I loved Him and I cannot imagine anyone else who can compare with Him. He is for me the only Lord and God.

I almost constantly carry pain in my heart, fearing that I may lose His mercy because of the multitude of my resistances.

However, despite the struggle with Him, despite the numerous attempts to deviate from His cross, I embrace the cross of Christ, and in a way I lift up the cross that was given to me, my cross (see Matt. 19:24).

And I now bless my God who has pleased me to be reborn through the flame of repentance.

(Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) Let Us See God as He Is, Holy Monastery of the Holy Forerunner, Essex, England, 2010, pp. 64-5)

Cross of Love!

 

Cross of Patience!

Cross of Forgiveness!

Cross of Pain!

Cross of Repentance!

Cross that is in our Life from the time we are born until the time of our departure from this world!

Every minute and hour we carry it… sometimes light and sometimes heavy!

Sometimes good Simon helps us and sometimes our Christ himself!

Sometimes it is made with labors with sacrifices with sorrows with worries with illnesses and sometimes with beautiful moments and happy ones!

In the course of our Life, a milestone of Victory and Resurrection!

 

I wonder what our life would be like without the Cross??; A storm, a tempest, a disaster!

 

It was the symbol of death and became a symbol of Life!

It was the cursed wood and it became the Life-Giver!

It was hell and it became Paradise!

It was the wood that our Lord stretched out His immaculate body and on it we were reborn and became His children!

We became the children of His Crucified Love!

A Love that gave Hope, Forgiveness and Life!

 

May our Life be Crucified and Blessed!

Let us not fear anything because we are under His shadow…

a shadow that refreshes us with His Blessing and power!!!

 

“Cross of Christ, save us by your power…”

As for the red eggs eaten at the Resurrection

 

As for the red eggs eaten at the Resurrection, many say many things without reason; but the wise man Paisios of Gaza, resolving certain issues with the Tsar of Russia, says that when the Jews said (Matthew 27:25) “His blood be on us and on our children,” they immediately dyed all the things they had in their homes red, and then the eggs as well. Hence, in remembrance of the miracle, we also dye our eggs red at the Resurrection; and this miracle, he says, is from an ancient tradition.

Footnote of the Pedal (89 canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Page 298).

I saw a mother

 I saw a mother

I saw a mother looking at her child who walked for the first time.

Her face shone, her eyes filled with tears, her arms were filled with gratitude.

I admired her love, I admired her bond with her child…

I saw a mother looking at her child being crucified without being guilty of anything.

His body full of wounds being nailed to a cross. Some cursing him, others mocking him, others gambling on his clothes…

And the face of this mother remained unmoved, her eyes filled with tears, but her mouth did not open, no cry or complaint was heard… her heart was filled with forgiveness when she received her dead child in her arms.

I admired this mother, not because she didn't scream in pain, but because she turned her pain into love... and from mother of the God-Man she became mother of us all...

You were not commanded to blame the lazy

 You were not commanded to blame the lazy, nor to control wickedness, nor to reproach laziness, but to relieve poverty, to heal calamity, to stretch out your hand and lift up those who have fallen.

Saint John Chrysostom

On prayer

Learn to pray to God not only at prayer times, but every hour and every moment, since He is everywhere. From the constant remembrance of God, an inexpressible peace will flood your heart.

Saint Theophanes the Recluse

 

When we ask someone to pray for us and we become complacent and fall asleep, that is, we become lazy, then does he eat so that we can be satisfied? Is that possible? He has the fruit of love, since he prays for us, but we remain hungry. If he begs God to give us bread, that is, His gifts, and we do not stretch out our hand to receive them, his prayer is useless and fruitless for us. Do not deceive yourself.

But if someone well-intentioned asks for your prayer, do not refuse it (evasively?) with the excuse (or pretext?) of your unworthiness; “for the faith of him who asked [for prayer] has often saved the one praying with a broken heart” (Climax 28. 40). When we are asked to pray for the correction of a negligent person, we are ashamed and we are corrected ourselves.

Hieromonk Justin 

Dreams are deceptive

– Elder, I am troubled by some bad dreams...

– When you see a bad dream, never examine what you saw, how you saw it, if you are guilty, how much you are to blame. The evil one, because he could not tempt you during the day, comes at night. Sometimes God also allows us to tempt us in sleep, so that we may see that the old man has not yet died. Other times, the enemy approaches a person in his sleep and presents him with various dreams, so that he may be distressed when he wakes up. Therefore, do not pay any attention to it; make your cross, cross your pillow, put the cross and a couple of icons on the pillow and say the prayer until you fall asleep. The more you pay attention, the more the enemy will come to bother you!!!

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos

I have not met a person 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 complaint.

Some cry in secret.

Some sometimes get tired on the road and rest.

Others carry it on their shoulders.

Others on their backs.

And others hug it. Tightly.

Almost romantically…

And some others drag their cross…

However, 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 passage, and your hands still hold the cross.

The cross that has been given to you.

That is the point.

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

Great cross, great Resurrection