How does love find you?

How does love find you? How does it choose?

Love travels on its own,

Never stopping for directions,

Taking many different roads.

Love, lands where it wants, not making a sound.

Some are happy when it finds them,

Others are just confused.
If you are befriended by this traveling mystery,

Appreciate its gesture.

Give Thanks to God!

The title is from the words of Saint John Chrysostom as he was dying in exile. It is a song of praise from amidst the most terrible sufferings. A gentle reminder to give Thanks to God for all the good He has done.

Thank you.

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O Immortal King of the ages, Who, by the power of Thy saving providence,

Dost hold up in Thy right hand all the ways of man's life;

We thank Thee for all Thy good things both manifest and hid;

For this earthly life, and for the heavenly joys of Thy Kingdom which is to come.

Extend Thy mercies henceforth upon us who sing unto Thee:

Glory to Thee, O God, unto the ages!

I was born into the world a weak and helpless child;

But Thine angel extended his resplendent wings over my cradle to defend it.

Thenceforth, Thy love hath shone upon all my ways

And marvellously hath guided me unto the Light of eternity.

Gloriously, the plentious gifts of Thy providence were shown from the first day of my life until this time.

I thank Thee, and cry unto Thee, with all them that have come to know Thee:

Glory to Thee Who hast called me forth into life;

Glory to Thee Who revealest unto me the beauty of the universe;

Glory to Thee Who openest unto me both heaven and earth as an eternal book of wisdom;

Glory to Thine eternity in the midst of this temporal world;

Glory to Thee for Thy mercies known and unknown;

Glory to Thee for every step of my life, and for every moment of joy;

Glory to Thee, O God, unto the ages!

Source: http://www.saintjonah.org/services/thanksgiving.htm

Regard your confession of the True Dogma of the Faith

"As much as the saints were so compassionate and lenient toward human weakness, so were they terribly unyielding and unbending in regard to the confession of the true dogmas of the Faith."
- Reflection from the Prologue from Ohrid for 20th January.


Thus, St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia struck Arius with his fist at the First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 325 A.D.]. St. Anthony left his desert to come to Alexandria to publicly unmask Arius. St. Euthymius, being greatly pressured by the Empress Eudocia and the pseudo-Patriarch Theodosius and being unable to debate rationally with them, left the monastery and hid in the desert. All other distinguished monks followed his example. Euthymius remained in the desert until the pseudo-patriarch was ousted and Orthodoxy strengthened. When, in Jerusalem, the greatest agitation surfaced in the name of the emperor against the Fourth Ecumenical Council [Chalcedon, 451 A.D.] and when the entire population was frightened by the heretics, then St. Theodosius the Great already burdened with old age, as a fearless soldier of Christ, came to Jerusalem, entered the Great Church, ascended the stairs, waved his hands and said to the people, "If anyone does not respect the Fourth Ecumenical Council as he does the four evangelists, let him be anathema." (Until this time, only four Ecumenical Councils had been convened). All of those listeners were frightened by those words and none of the heretics dared to say anything contrary to those words.

Climb Sina with the Holy Prayer

From Pharaoh have I fled and enslavement in Egypt
With Moses as my guide, I arrived at Mt. Sina
To climb Sina o my, how I wish this very much
Even to the holy top to recite the holy prayer

The ascent is difficult, o my God, grant me patience!
with endurance and with strength to obtain the holy prayer
Obedience come first with the Scriptures and with cell,
And the holy quiet all these strengthen the holy prayer!

To say the holy prayer, you must remove from the brain,
Far away any thing that is worldly and mundane
In beginning, just recite the holy prayer verbally
and after praying for some time, it will become prayer of the heart

To the words of the holy prayer place all attention
For when you just imagine, you risk being deceived!
The tempter is much exacerbated by the holy prayer
so do not acknowledge him when he attacks you with his darts

From the tree of this prayer are produced fruit that are sweet
Oh what honey that is this, my you cannot imagine it!
The prayer just how it works do not ask me to explain
I cannot express this which is a divine mystery!

When you see the prayer within you begin to operate
Guard it o so well, my friend with all of your consciousness
O my reverend yeronda, my Moses of the heart and mind
Come, give me your blessing so I obtain the holy prayer

The Mother of Christ, and mystery of the whole world
She blesses monks and nuns and gives them the holy prayer!
To climb Sina o my, how I wish this very much
Even to the holy top to recite the holy prayer.

-- author unknown.

Please email me, vdidaskalou8@gmail.com, in private for the mp3 file of this poem/hymn.

Heavenly Father

O Lord, my Heavenly father and my sweetest Christ,
Your holy name I will never forget,
Your holy name I can never deny, Alleluia.

You who decended to us as a tiny infant,

Place in my heart holy fear,

Place holy fear of You in my heart, Alleluia.

And when sleep calls me at the closure of the day,

My deeds remind me, for that day,

My deeds remind me, for that day, Alleluia.

And when that hour calls, the hour of death,

Take me there to the heavens, close to You,

Take me there to the heavens, to be with you, Alleluia.

There high, high in the heavens in the city of the angels,

So we can chant Your hymn, after the archangels,

So we can chant Your hymn, after the archangels, Alleluia.

My Lady and my Mistress, my Comfortress,

Whenever my heart requests you to be there, you reach out to me my Queen,

Whenever I call on you, my Queen you are there, Alleluia.

Help us, oh purest one, we are praying Mother!

Protect us Mistress, protect us day and night,

Protect us Mistress, protect us day and night, Alleluia.

Spotless One, Maria, thank you Queen of All,

You are the bearer of humanities salvation,

You are the bearer of humanities salvation, Alleluia.

We plead with you, give us in that hour,

The glory of God so we can rest and receive our gifts of virtue,

The glory of God so we can rest and receive our gifts of virtue, Alleluia.

~ Vasiliki, Melbourne, 10th October 2009.

St Nilus the Ascetic on Prayer:

- "Do not avoid poverty and sorrow, because they make prayer seem lighter. ..."

- "Prayer is the ascent of the mind towards God. It is a spiritual labour that befits the human mind more than any other preoccupation."

- "Prayer is born from meekness and the lack of anger that brings to the soul joy and pleasure; it protects man from sorrow and depression."

Marriage Not Abolished by the Commendation of Virginity

The Banquet of Virgins, Discourse II - Theophila, Chapter I.


Then Theopila spoke:-

"Since Marcella has excellently begun this discussion without sufficiently completing it, it is necessary that I should endeavour to put a finish to it. Now, the fact that man has advanced by degrees to virginity, God urging him on from time to time, seems to me to have been admirably proved; but I cannot say the same as to the assertion that from henceforth they should no longer beget children. For I think I have perceived clearly from the Scriptures that, after He had brought in virginity, the Word did not altogether abolish the generation of children; for although the moon may be greater than the stars, the light of the other stars is not destroyed by the moonlight."

Let us begin with Genesis, that we may give its place of antiquity and supremacy to this scripture. Now the sentence and ordinance of God respecting the begetting of children (Gen i. 28) is confessedly being fulfilled to this day, the Creator still fashioning man. For this is quite manifest, that God, like a painter, is at this very time working at the world, as the Lord also taught, “My Father worketh hitherto.” (even until now. John v. 17) But when the rivers shall cease to flow and fall into the reservoir of the sea, and the light shall be perfectly separated from the darkness,—for the separation is still going on,—and the dry land shall henceforth cease to bring forth its fruits with creeping things and four-footed beasts, and the predestined number of men shall be fulfilled; then from henceforth shall men abstain from the generation of children. But at present man must cooperate in the forming of the image of God, while the world exists and is still being formed; for it is said, “Increase and multiply.” (Gen i. 28) And we must not be offended at the ordinance of the Creator, from which, moreover, we ourselves have our being. For the casting of seed into the furrows of the matrix is the beginning of the generation of men, so that bone taken from bone, and flesh from flesh, by an invisible power, are fashioned into another man. And in this way we must consider that the saying is fulfilled, “This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” (Gen ii. 23)

Fault finding ...

"There is no greater love than that a man lays down his life for his neighbor. When you hear someone complaining and you struggle with yourself and do not answer him back with complaints; when you are hurt and bear it patiently, not looking for revenge; then you are laying down your life for your neighbor." —Abba Poemen

"You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil." —St Seraphim of Sarov

"Love never hates anyone, never reproves anyone, never condemns anyone, never grieves anyone, never abhors anyone, neither faithful nor infidel nor stranger nor sinner nor fornicator, nor anyone impure, but instead it is precisely sinners, and weak and negligent souls that it loves more, and feels pain for them and grieves and laments, and it feels sympathy for the wicked and sinners, more than for the good, imitating Christ Who called sinners, and ate and drank with them. For this reason, showing what real love is, He taught saying, `Become good and merciful like your Father in Heaven,' and as He rains on bad and good and makes the sun to rise on just and unjust alike, so also is the one who has real love, and has compassion, and prays for all." — Abba Ammonas
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Where there is pride there cannot be grace, and if we lose grace we also lose both love of God and assurance in prayer. The soul is then tormented by evil thoughts and does not understand that she must humble herself and love her enemies, for there is no other way to please God.

What shall I render unto Thee, O Lord, for that Thou hast poured such great mercy on my soul? Grant, I beg Thee, that I may see my iniquities, and ever weep before Thee, for Thou art filled with love for humble souls, and dost give them the grace of the Holy Spirit.

O merciful God, forgive me. Thou seest how my soul is drawn to Thee, her Creator. Thou hast wounded my soul with Thy love, and she thirsts for Thee, and wearies without end, and day and night, insatiable, reaches toward Thee, and has no wish to look upon this world, though I do love it, but above all I love Thee, my Creator, and my soul longs after Thee.

O my Creator, why have I, Thy little creature, grieved Thee so often? Yet Thou hast not remembered my sins.

Glory be to the Lord God that He gave us His Only-begotten Son for the sake of our salvation. Glory be to the Only-begotten Son that He deigned to be born of the Most Holy Virgin, and suffered for our salvation, and gave us His Most Pure Body and Blood to eternal life, and sent His Holy Spirit on the earth.

O Lord, grant me tears to shed for myself, and for the whole universe, that the nations may know Thee and live eternally with Thee, O Lord, vouchsafe us the gift of Thy humble Holy Spirit, that we may apprehend Thy glory.