“A ship does not go far without water; and there is no progress whatsoever in the guarding of the intellect without watchfulness, humility and the Jesus Prayer.” - St Hesychios The Priest
"Watchfulness is a continual fixing and halting of thought at the entrance to the heart... If we are conscientious in this, we can gain much experience and knowledge of spiritual warfare."

Humility means understanding that I am no better than others to judge, and recognizing that I cannot do anything without God.
Jesus prayer repetition leads to inner stillness. Even earlier John Cassian recommended this type of prayer. - "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

☦️ A carved icon of the Holy Trinity for blind people.

🙏☦️ Beautiful icon of the Savior, and the Kazan icon in the altar.

“Destroy within you the devil's rule over you; destroy all his influence over you; acquire spiritual freedom. The foundation for your struggle is the grace of holy baptism; your weapon is the prayer of Jesus.”
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
And how to do that? It can be achieved through constant prayer, watchfulness over ourselves, repentance and the Church life. Our Church has all we need to get saved.

The fact that God sends Angels to help faithful in different ways we know from the Scripture. But it doesn’t change the fact that we should strive for righteousness ourselves. St. Anastasius of Sinai citing St Basil the Greate explains:
“Every Christian is given an angel from God to guard him all his life (unless, through evil deeds, he drives him away). But as smoke drives away bees and an evil smell drives away doves, so is the guardian angel of our life driven away by our sins: drunkenness, adultery, anger and so forth. The angel of every faithful man leads him to every good deed, while the demons labor to scandalize the faithful ones and deprive them of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

🙏 Sermons is a very good source of grains of spiritual knowledge. But it's better to add daily reading of the Orthodox literature, especially the Lives of the Saints.

🌟 Orthodox seminary students from Africa at the Cross Procession in Moscow. Photo of Fr. George Maximov.

🌟 The Lord demands patience. He waits for you to demonstrate your faith. It's not enough to pray if someone speaks like a parrot. They need to work toward what they pray for and then be able to wait.
St. Joseph the Hesychast

"I ask you to try something. If someone grieves you, or dishonors you, or takes something of yours, then pray like this: "Lord, we are all your creatures. Pity your servants, and turn them to repentance," and then you will perceptibly bear grace in your soul. Induce your heart to love your enemies, and the Lord, seeing your good will, shall help you in all things, and will Himself show you experience. But whoever thinks evil of his enemies does not have love for God and has not known God."
(St. Silouan the Athonite)

☦ Those Christians who begin to eat, drink, and partake of other blessings without prayer and God's blessing are behaving poorly. They probably do not know where all good comes from, and not knowing the Giver, they do not thank Him. Thus they become like pagans who do not know the true God and Creator of all good things...
St Tikhon, Bishop of Zadonsk

☦️🕯️"Having read Holy Scripture very carefully, you should also read the holy Fathers who interpret the Scriptures. You will receive no less delight from reading the Fathers than from Scripture itself."🕯️☦️

♰ St. Ambrose of Optina ♰

☦️🕯️EXCERPTS FROM MARY'S ROLE IN SALVATION HISTORY 🕯️☦️

Orthodox Christians view Mary, the Theotokos, as having a central and unique role in salvation history. She is honored as the Mother of God because She bore Jesus Christ, God incarnate, thus becoming the "God-bearer" whose obedience allowed the divine Son to enter human history. This obedience is crucial—Mary is seen as the "Second Eve," whose willing acceptance of God's will reversed the disobedience of the first Eve and opened the way to salvation for humanity.

Mary’s role in salvation history is unique and indispensable: She is the God-bearer whose obedience brought forth the Savior, the model of faith and holiness for the Church, and the powerful intercessor who prays for the salvation and sanctification of all believers. Her life and glorification anticipate the ultimate salvation offered to all humanity through Christ

🌟🙏 Southern Russia. The Metropolitan, visiting one of the parishes.

“When you pass beside a hospital make the Sign the Cross three times. Once for the patients, once for their relatives, and once for yourself because you aren’t there.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
And not only in that case. But also beside the Church , ambulance, etc. This is what one spiritual man also taught me. This is our small prayer contribution, confession of faith and remembrance of God's providence

🌟🙏☦️ Our churches are built such a way that they would reflect the magnificence of One True God, the Holy Trinity.

Many Christians suffered for Christ and faith. Many were killed, many were imprisoned. But they stayed firm and not broken down.
“With You, Lord, I will flee, that I may gain in You life in every place. The prison with You is no prison, for in You, man goes up into Heaven: the grave with You is no grave, for You are the Resurrection!” - Saint Ephrem the Syrian

“If the Lord has left us ignorant of the ordering of many things in this world, then it means it is not necessary for us to know: we cannot compass all creation with our minds. But the Creator Himself of Heaven and Earth and every created thing gives us to know Him in the Holy Spirit.” - Saint Silouan the Athonite
There are things like exploring the world which science does , and it's no problem. But when people start to create fantastic theories about what cannot be proved or checked and only based on fantasies, it is waste of time, it only prevents us from the most learning - about God and salvation.

“Do not refuse a request to Pray for the Soul of another, even when you yourself lack the Gift of Prayer. For often the very faith of the person making the request will evoke the saving contrition of the one who is to offer the Prayer.”
- Saint John Climacus
And the reposed should also be in this prayer list. This is our small sacrifice of time and soul and body efforts. And this is how we know we are never alone in the Church, no matter what part of world we live in.

☦️ Salvation does not require wearing ascetic irons. Salvation requires purification of mind and understanding of the Will of God, which desires our salvation.
Archpriest Andrew Tkachev, a sermon on necessity to have the will for salvation