Последние посты
Orthodox Spirituality
22 сент., 10:41
This is what happens to those who come to work for the Lord: first there is temptation, then sorrows, and next follow labor, despondency, nakedness, suffering, lack of privacy and humiliation. He will prevail who with all his heart dedicates himself to God's guidance and God's will. God requires from us only our consummate determination; it is He Who gives us strength and grants us victory.+Saint Ephraim the SyrianOrthodox Spirituality
20 сент., 14:34
...for to be Christian is to be crucified in this time and in any time since Christ came for the first time. His life is the example and warning to us all. We must be crucified personally,mystically;for through crucifixion is the only path to resurrection,if we would rise with Christ,we must be humbled with him even to the ultimate humiliation, being devoured and spit forth by the uncomprehending world...+Fr. Seraphim RoseOrthodox Spirituality
17 сент., 15:22
переслано из @orthodoxspirituality555
Orthodox Spirituality
17 сент., 15:22
переслано из @orthodoxspirituality555
Orthodox Spirituality
17 сент., 15:22
переслано из @orthodoxspirituality555
Orthodox Spirituality
15 сент., 13:40
переслано из @orthodoxspirituality555
"The only place where modern man does not like to visit.... is himself. He cannot hear the silence, he does not want to hear the voice of conscience. But without knowing yourself you can not know God. Modern man lives in a shadowy world of TV, the media, the internet, but the greatest reality in the world is the human soul. Inside we can open up the kingdom of heaven, in our heart God wants to be born!"-Bishop Panteleimon (Shatov)Orthodox Spirituality
14 сент., 14:53
Orthodox Spirituality
13 сент., 16:03
переслано из @orthodoxspirituality555
Nepsis (sobriety) or watchfulness is a spiritual method which, if seriously practiced over a long period, completely frees us with God's help from impassioned thoughts, words, and evil actions… it enables us to fulfill every divine commandment in the Old and New Testaments and bestows upon us every blessing in the age to come. It is in the true sense, purity of heart… bought only at a great price. Sobriety is a way of embracing every virtue, every commandment. It is the heart's stillness and when free from mental images, it is the guarding of the intellect...producing inner stability.+St. Hesychius of Jerusalem, On Watchfulness and PrayerOrthodox Spirituality
12 сент., 16:44
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For the Christian, the cross gradually become lighter and more joyful, while for the non-believer it becomes heavier and more burdensome. Why is this so? Because where the one carries their cross with faith and devotion to God, the other carries it with grumbling and anger.+St Innocent of AlaskaOrthodox Spirituality
12 сент., 16:44
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If God is slow in answering your request, or if you ask but do not promptly receive anything, do not be upset, for you are not wiser than God.+Isaac the SyrianOrthodox Spirituality
12 сент., 16:43
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"Brother Christians.. defend your right to believe and confess your faith as you learned it in days of old, as you were taught it by the holy apostles, the holy martyrs, the God-wise fathers of the Church, the Christian ascetics. Take care of the holiness of your souls, the freedom of your consciences. Say loudly that you have been accustomed to pray and save yourselves in the churches, that the holy things of the Church are dearer to you than life itself, that without them salvation is impossible. No power can demand from you that which is against your faith.. 'We must obey God rather than men', said the holy apostles. That is what we, too, must say. The apostles joyfully suffered for the faith. Be you also ready for sacrifice.. May your faith be bold and courageous! ..Believe and the enemy will flee from before your face. Stand in defence of your faith and with firm hope say, Let GodOrthodox Spirituality
11 сент., 15:55
“The beginning of blessed patience is to accept dishonour with sorrow and bitterness of soul. The middle stage is to be free from pain in the midst of these things. But perfection, if it is possible, is to regard dishonour as praise.”+ St. John ClimacusOrthodox Spirituality
11 сент., 15:07
Later, Fr. Thaddeus would repeatedly tell his spiritual children about "gratuitous Grace" as a priceless gift from God, through which God guides us in our spiritual life, in the beginning showing us the goal of our life—deification in Christ within the Church—and in times of sorrow and suffering giving us strength and comfort.–Elder Thaddeus of VitovnicaOrthodox Spirituality
8 сент., 19:11
When we catch ourselves trying to solve our personal problems with our minds, we realize the futility of this enterprise and give up the problems to the Personal Absolute. We cease trying to be our own savior, and we commend ourselves to the mercies of our true Savior.+Hieromonk Damascene Christensen1,020Открыть в TelegramOrthodox Spirituality
8 сент., 17:01
Orthodox Spirituality
7 сент., 15:49
The worldly man who wants to become rich in this life thinks "How can I exploit others to make more money?" while the spiritual man who wants a treasure in heaven thinks "How can I sacrifice myself more to benefit others?"1,020Открыть в TelegramOrthodox Spirituality
7 сент., 15:30
~ Pleasure is akin to sea water: it leaves behind a bitter taste, it does not quench thirst, but, on the contrary, intensifies it.~ The more intense the pleasure, the stronger the subsequent sensation of loss. The emotional euphoria experienced by the soul is followed by a fall, resembling the shadow of death. And this is the surest sign that pleasure distances the soul from God—the Source of life.~ Usually, during pleasure, the will is paralyzed. Will and pleasure are antipodes; therefore, the cult of pleasure leads to the slavery of the world. No sin, apart from pride, paralyzes the heart the way debauchery does.~ The thirst for pleasure is the false desire to find happiness in satisfying one's own passions; it is a sweetness, in the depths of which bitterness and illusion are hidden, which, upon disappearing, leave the soul empty.~ The love of pleasure corrupts man's will,Orthodox Spirituality
6 сент., 15:54
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“When we began our Christian life, we were full of enthusiasm. Without it, we would have been like an engine without steam, or a rundown clock, and in the end gotten nowhere. But we had our enthusiasm, we had our spiritual father, we had the writings of the "Fathers, we were helped by the grace of God, and so we made some progress.But slowly, little by little, the difficulties set in, the failures, the compromises, the sins, the temptations, thoughts of stopping, of turning back. Our life, which till then had been like a happy song, became a cross. But it is then, my dear friend, that your martyrdom begins. When your Christian life begins to be difficult, when it seems like an intolerable cross, then you must stand as steady as a rock. That is when you are a martyr. Say to yourself: ‘Let us stand aright’. Stand fast, steady and unmoving. Say, like the prophet, ‘Here I am, O Lord, IOrthodox Spirituality
5 сент., 12:47
Orthodox Spirituality
3 сент., 16:43
переслано из @orthodoxspirituality555
A man becomes entirely human when he comes to self-awareness and independence of mind, when he becomes the complete master and commander of his own ideas and deeds and holds certain ideas not because others have given these to him, but because he himself finds them to be true. A man, when he becomes a Christian, still remains a man, and therefore in his Christianity he must also be rational, only this rationality he should turn to the profit of the Holy Faith. Let him become rationally convinced that the Holy Faith which he confesses is the only faithful path of salvation, and that all other paths which are not in agreement with it lead to perdition. It is no honor to a man to be a blind confessor; he must be a conscious confessor, so that acting in this way, he acts as he should.+St. Theophan the Recluse1,020Открыть в Telegram
