#orthodoxy
“You do not know what sin is.
Sin is the moment when you depart from the love of God.
And when repentance takes place, you return to the love of God.
That’s how it is.“~St. John Maximovitch
Post link
The perfection of all spiritual excellencies is for a man not to judge his neighbor. For when the hand of the Lord slew the first-born of Egypt, there was no house wherein there was not one dead person. Then a brother said unto the old man, “What is the meaning of these words?” The old man said unto him, “If we allow ourselves to view closely our own sins we shall not see those of our neighbor. It is folly for a man to forsake his own dead and to lament over that of his neighbor.”
“I confess to Thee, O Savior, the sins I have committed, the wounds of my soul and body, which murderous thoughts, like thieves, have inflicted inwardly upon me.”
—A Stichera from the First Ode of the Great Canon of Repentance by St. Andrew of Crete
Post link
“The Holy of Holies was a forbidden place because it was awaiting the Entry of the Virgin Mary, who became God’s real Temple and gave it greater honor. The Virgin was not honored by that inaccessible place, but the place was honored by the entrance of the Virgin who was to become Christ’s mother.”
—St. Nicholas Cabasilas
Post link
“It was not our fathers that told us, nor our elders that informed us, but we ourselves have seen the miracles that have taken place through thee; we ourselves have experienced the grace that doth pour forth from thee. Our loved ones were healed, they that were dying rose from bed in good health, our every petition was granted through thy prayer. Wherefore, we honor thee as a favorite of God and an intercessor before the Lord.”
Doxasticon from the Aposticha
Great Vespers for St. John of Kronstadt (+Oct 19/Nov 1)
Post link
“About the relics of St. Gervase and St. Protase, St. Ambrose relates how they were revealed to him. One night, two youths and an old man appeared to the wakeful Ambrose. He thought that the last was the Apostle Paul. While the young men kept silent, the old man told Ambrose that they were Christ’s martyrs, that their relics lay in the precise place in which Ambrose was at prayer, and that everything else about them could be learned from a little book that would be found in their grave. The next day, Ambrose recounted his vision, began to dig and indeed found the relics of two men, of whom it was learned from the discovered book that they were Gervase and Protase. In Ambrose’s presence, a blind man, Servirus, touched these holy relics and immediately received his sight.”
—The Prologue from Ochrid (A collection by St. Nikolai Velimirovic)
Post link
“Come, all ye who love God, and beholding the precious Cross uplifted, let us magnify it together and give glory to the one Deliverer and God, crying aloud: O Thou Who wast crucified on the wood of the Cross, disdain not us that pray to Thee!”
From Vespers to Sts. Sophia, Faith, Hope, and Love
Post link
What is this yearning of which St John speaks? It is a constant drawing toward the Source of life; an inward call to dialogue with our Creator; an uncreated energy that pulls our whole being toward the Origin, Cause, and Goal of everything. God is the good and beauty of every creature, the very being of everything that exists, the life of any living being, the reason of any rational living being, and the wisdom of any intelligent living being. During prayer, the living energy infused like a spark in the innermost depth of our heart, the core of our being, the holy of holies within us, is connected to its Source, to God in His Uncreated Energies.
Read more following the link below:
http://www.orthodox-logos.com/2015/01/the-foundation-of-prayer-is-yearning-of.html
Post link
Emilija and I have started a new blog to share our thoughts regarding pressing issues.
Our only focus to read the fathers’ teachings into our not so modern problems; and to encourage more people to read directly the words of the holy fathers of the Church.
“There is no light for a closed eye, nor love for an empty heart.
A heart closed to loving our neighbors is an eye closed to the sun of beauty and good.
How could you be able to see the good within other people if you don’t embrace love? How can you recognize what is beautiful if you rebuff love, the source of any beauty?”
Read more:
http://www.orthodox-logos.com/2014/12/there-is-no-light-for-closed-eye-nor_28.html
Saint Dumitru Monastery, a Romanian Orthodox Monastery in New York by Anthony Falsarella (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Post link
Saint Dumitru Monastery, a Romanian Orthodox Monastery in New York by Anthony Falsarella (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Post link
“The Nine Angelic Orders - A Prayer of St. Basil the Great:
O Existing One, Master, Lord God! Thou art praised by
Angels,
Archangels,
Thrones,
Dominions,
Principalities,
Authorities,
Powers,
and many-eyed Cherubim.
Rounded about Thee stand the Seraphim, one with six wings and the other with six wings. With two they cover their faces, with two they cover their feet, and with two they fly, crying to one another with unceasing voices and ever-resounding praises.”
Post link
