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Why We Fast
Read more: Why We FastI was asked last year by an acquaintance in town: “Does your Church observe Lent?” I quickly explained that we did. I was then asked how our Church fasted, and I explained something of the general outlines of Orthodox fasting. They then said to me that they needed their nourishment and instead had taken up […]
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Forgiveness and Paradise – Dostoevsky
Read more: Forgiveness and Paradise – DostoevskyThis small passage from Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, has always been among my favorites within literature. It is the story of the death of Markel, the brother of Zossima, who will later become a great monastic elder. The words of his brother Markel serve as something of a summary of the elder’s theology and among the […]
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The Last Judgment
Read more: The Last JudgmentThis Sunday, as part of the pre-Lenten calendar in the Orthodox Church, is known as the Sunday of the Last Judgment, because the gospel reading is taken from the Parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25. It is a very proper subject for meditation as the Church makes preparation for Great Lent and its […]
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Holy Humility is Complete Trust in God – Elder Porphyrios
Read more: Holy Humility is Complete Trust in God – Elder PorphyriosFrom the Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love. Complete trust in God – that’s what holy humility is. Complete obedience to God, without protest, without reaction, even when some things seem difficult and unreasonable. Abandonment to the hands of God. The words we repeat during the Divine Liturgy say it all: ‘Let us commend our whole […]
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Fasting Without Force
Read more: Fasting Without ForceThe following is taken from Wounded by Love: the Life and Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios You don’t become holy by fighting evil. Let evil be. Look towards Christ and that will save you. What makes a person saintly is love – the adoration of Christ which cannot be expressed, which is beyond expression, which is […]
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Salvation by Grace and Just Showing Up
Read more: Salvation by Grace and Just Showing UpThere has been a tendency in much teaching about the notion of salvation by grace to ground the image in a legal or forensic metaphor. Thus, we are saved by grace in the sense that someone else’s goodwill and kindness (God’s) has now freed us from the consequences of our actions. Thus we speak of […]
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To Hear the Word of God Frequently
Read more: To Hear the Word of God FrequentlyI would not want to give a wrong impression that an Orthodox Christian needs less Scripture. We need more – but it should be used in a right manner. Many so-called Bible studies simply increase information in an already information-overloaded world. We need not so much information as the powerful work of the Word of […]
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The Warfare of Prayer
Read more: The Warfare of PrayerA friend relates the story that when as a young, protestant teenager, she approached her pastor to ask about a prayer life, she was met with little or no answer. She had an instinct that there was more to prayer than she knew – but she was living in a tradition that knew little about […]
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For the Love of God – the Elder Porphyrios
Read more: For the Love of God – the Elder PorphyriosFrom the Elder Porphyrios and the book Wounded by Love. There is one thing, O Christ, that I want, one thing I desire, one thing I ask for, and that is to be with You. Let us Love Christ and let our only hope and care be for Him. Let us love Christ for His […]
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Love and the True Faith
Read more: Love and the True FaithReading more on the life and teaching of St. Silouan of Mt. Athos, I found it interesting that what he thought of as “true faith” was the manifestation of the love of God in us towards all the world. It would have been certainly the case that as an Orthodox monk, St. Silouan would have […]
Sophia, Probably no way to avoid the suffer. We each suffer from sin — even children. The best way, I…