I often hear people complaining they don't feel like they manage to change and fight their sins, and sometimes it's easier to give in. But this is what devil wants. God wants us to do at least small steps and have hope in Him.
“We mustn’t despair when we struggle and continuously see nothing but the slightest progress. We all do nearly nothing, some a little more, some a little less. When Christ sees our little effort He gives us an analogous token and so our nearly nothing becomes valuable and we can see a little progress. For this reason we mustn’t despair, but hope in God.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
“We mustn’t despair when we struggle and continuously see nothing but the slightest progress. We all do nearly nothing, some a little more, some a little less. When Christ sees our little effort He gives us an analogous token and so our nearly nothing becomes valuable and we can see a little progress. For this reason we mustn’t despair, but hope in God.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
What is the "dispassion" the Saints talk about ? Does it mean lack of emotions or absence of sins?
“Dispassion doesn’t mean to no longer feel the passions, but to no longer accept them.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
It's a hard task to get rid of passions and not to fall again and again. We have to repent, be watchful and try hard during all our days of life.
“Dispassion doesn’t mean to no longer feel the passions, but to no longer accept them.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
It's a hard task to get rid of passions and not to fall again and again. We have to repent, be watchful and try hard during all our days of life.
The triumphal Arch of St. Constantine was built at the moment when Christianity was finally recognized as a perfectly legitimate religion. It was achieved not by words but by joint action of good people. As the ancient historians say, St. Constantine's army fought under the Christogram in that battle, as modern Orthodox do. The banner is also called labarum.
“Don’t forget these words: God has given you time to build your Eternal Salvation. Do not waste it!”
Saint Sophrony
It's very easy to lose the sight of this essential goal of our life in this world. There are many things we all have to do every day (work , family, etc), all of it should be filled with God's presence.
Saint Sophrony
It's very easy to lose the sight of this essential goal of our life in this world. There are many things we all have to do every day (work , family, etc), all of it should be filled with God's presence.
☦️ Prayer must be imageless ☦️
"Hence we ought to abandon all other things and as intelligent beings cleave to the intelligence, offering with the intelligence intelligible worship to the divine Intelligence. Then we will be found worthy to receive from Him in this present age, in return for human words, the divine words of the Holy Spirit. For it is said of God that He 'gives prayer to him who prays' (1 Sam. 2:9. LXX); and indeed to one who truly prays the prayer of the body God gives the prayer of the intellect; and to one who diligently cultivates the prayer of the intellect, God gives the imageless and formless prayer that comes from the pure fear of Him.
St Peter of Damascus
"Hence we ought to abandon all other things and as intelligent beings cleave to the intelligence, offering with the intelligence intelligible worship to the divine Intelligence. Then we will be found worthy to receive from Him in this present age, in return for human words, the divine words of the Holy Spirit. For it is said of God that He 'gives prayer to him who prays' (1 Sam. 2:9. LXX); and indeed to one who truly prays the prayer of the body God gives the prayer of the intellect; and to one who diligently cultivates the prayer of the intellect, God gives the imageless and formless prayer that comes from the pure fear of Him.
St Peter of Damascus
☦️🕯️“The Church, through the temple and Divine service, acts upon the entire man, educates him wholly; acts upon his sight, hearing, smelling, feeling, taste, imagination, mind, and will, by the splendour of the icons and of the whole temple, by the ringing of bells, by the singing of the choir, by the fragrance of the incense, the kissing of the Gospel, of the cross and the holy icons, by the prosphoras, the singing, and sweet sound of the readings of the Scriptures.”🕯️☦️
♰ St. John of Kronstadt ♰
♰ St. John of Kronstadt ♰
☦️🕯In ancient times, tax collectors would sit along the roads and extract from travelers the money they believed was due to them. They acted with such savage cruelty that the church fathers saw in this a metaphor of the demonic encounters the soul will have after death, which is why even St. John Chrysostom referred to these demons as “persecutors, publicans, and tax-collectors.”🕯☦️
“Your Lord is Love: love Him and in Him all men, as His children in Christ.
Your Lord is a fire: do not let your heart be cold, but burn with faith and love.
Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith.
Your Lord is a God of mercy and bountifulness: be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbours.
If you will be such, you will find Salvation yourself with everlasting glory.”
- Saint John of Kronstadt
Your Lord is a fire: do not let your heart be cold, but burn with faith and love.
Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith.
Your Lord is a God of mercy and bountifulness: be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbours.
If you will be such, you will find Salvation yourself with everlasting glory.”
- Saint John of Kronstadt
🌟 Holy glorious Apostle Luke, "the beloved physician" (Col 4:14), his writings reflect a profound understanding of healing, both physical and spiritual, portraying Christ as the Divine Physician who heals the whole person — body and soul. St. Luke’s identity as a physician contributes to the distinctive character of his Gospel, which emphasizes the healing ministry of Christ, healing organic illness and casting out demons (spiritual healing).
Metropolitan Vasily (photo) has medical education.
Metropolitan Vasily (photo) has medical education.
🌟☦️ Glory of the Mother of God exceeds our ability to understand. She is mentioned moderately in the NT due to Her humility. But the Holy Spirit foretold much about Her through the Prophets.
☦️ For someone who desires spiritual rebirth, the first step towards the light is to curtail the passions, that is to say, to guard the heart; for it is impossible otherwise to curtail the passions. The next stage is to devote oneself to psalmody; for when the passions have been curtailed and laid to rest through the heart's resistance against them, longing for intimate union with God inflames the intellect.
St Symeon the New Theologian
St Symeon the New Theologian
☦️🌟🙏 Today we celebrate a great feast for us, for Russians, because it is not universally celebrated or known. The feast lies in a certain mystery, and today the Church proclaims this mystery to us, lifts a veil into the invisible world, and says, "Do you see what's happening there?" There, the Mother of God constantly prays to Her Son for the salvation of the human race and for those who believe in the Son of God, because all the feasts of the Mother of God relate to Her earthly life. Conception, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, Annunciation, Dormition... These are feasts that relate to Her actual earthly life, everything She lived. And the Protection of the Mother of God is a feast of Her posthumous glory. And this is because Andrei of Constantinople saw Her praying in the church and informed people of this. He
saw Her spread Her Omophorion and pray to Her Son that the Lord Jesus Christ would receive every person who prays to him and calls upon Her, the Mother of Jesus Christ, for help. It was a wondrous vision, but the question arises: aren't there many miraculous visions in life? Should we make a holiday out of every miraculous vision? There have been thousands of miraculous visions in the life of the Church, and there will be thousands more. Should we turn every vision into a holiday? No. So why did they turn this vision into a holiday? Because in this vision, the Church discerned a certain general principle of life.
It turns out that this isolated incident revealed a general principle of heavenly life and our earthly existence. That is, the prayers of the Mother of God are a constant protection and unceasing defense, an intercession for the human race before God. And on this feast, we unite all the instances when the Mother of God saves either an individual or entire nations. How many cities, how many individuals have received salvation, enlightenment, raising from sickbeds, rescue in war, deliverance from prison through the prayers of the Mother of God! All this is the Feast of the Protection. These millions of instances, past and future, are contained Here, on this Feast of the Protection, when the Mother of God prays to Her Son for all people, especially for those who believe in the One She bore.
Archpriest Andrew Tkachev
It turns out that this isolated incident revealed a general principle of heavenly life and our earthly existence. That is, the prayers of the Mother of God are a constant protection and unceasing defense, an intercession for the human race before God. And on this feast, we unite all the instances when the Mother of God saves either an individual or entire nations. How many cities, how many individuals have received salvation, enlightenment, raising from sickbeds, rescue in war, deliverance from prison through the prayers of the Mother of God! All this is the Feast of the Protection. These millions of instances, past and future, are contained Here, on this Feast of the Protection, when the Mother of God prays to Her Son for all people, especially for those who believe in the One She bore.
Archpriest Andrew Tkachev