Happy Birthday

From St. John of Kronstadt (My Life in Christ; Holy Trinity Monastery pg. 12):

"Our requests are necessary expressly to strengthen our faith, through which alone we can be saved. 'By grace are we saved through faith' (Eph. 2:8). 'O woman, great is your faith' (Mt. 15:28). For this reason the Lord made the woman pray earnestly, in order to awaken her faith and to strengthen it."

* * *
Once I asked him, "Father Herman, how can you live on this island, alone in the forest? Do you not get lonely?" He replied, "No, I am not alone, for God is there, just as He is everywhere, and the Holy Angels are there also. How can I be lonely?
With whom is it better and more pleasant to speak -- people or angels? Angels, of course!"

* * *
"The Lord has ordered us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, and to do good to those who persecute us. What danger we are in then, when we hate one another, when we hate our co-members, one with us, sons of God, branches of the true vine, sheep of the spiritual flock gathered by the true Shepherd, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Who offered Himself in sacrifice for us! The Living Word underwent these sufferings for so great a work, and you, man, hate it through jealously and vaniglory, or avarice, or contempt - things for which the enemy has ensnared you, to make you a stranger to God. What defence will you present before Christ?"

St. Pachomius the Great

Eulogy on the Transfiguration

Eulogy on the Transfiguration of the Holy One-equal-to-God's Leading People to the Truth

We all adore Thee! O Saviour! Thou art the Holy One equal to God! Thou art merciful as the Father, the true God Himself! Thy raiment is like the Precious Gem glorified in the Radiance of the Sun and the brightness of the Moon! Thy virtues, lofty and majestic, ever excel those of all the Saints and Sages. The Glad-tidings of Thine! Oh, Thy Teachings of Wonderful Love! These are sounding throughout the world like the Golden Bell! The gracious influences of the Merciful Laws of Thine! These are spread throughout the world, lest all the souls be lost Forever! Being in the dark, these piteous souls are to be lost, Were it not for Thy Great Mercy! For they have already lost their true nature In consequence of all the poisonous evils they received. Thou alone art the Holy One who is equal to God Almighty! Thou art our King and Redeemer! Dwelling in the Divine Light of peerless effluence, visible only to the Saints. Thou reignest over us all from on high! In the form of the sacred streaks of Light, Thy Mercy shines forth Far and near, Rendering all kinds of iniquities to ashes in order to purge All the evil ones from the world! Thus Thou showest to us clearly and distinctly that Thou art the real Protector of Thy people! And by many excellent methods and ways Thou governest All the nations, Keeping Thine own people from going astray! And thus for them Thou preservest Thy merciful Way of Benevolent life!

- Adam, Bishop of Xi'an c. AD 780.

Found at Dunhuang, along the Silk Road in western China, on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert.

Till Tomorrow

Words support

and words can hit

Words resemble walking sticks

Words surrender

Words betray

Words give hope and love away

Words compel

and words deceive

Your words comfort and yet you leave

Words give all

and words still lack

Bitter words behind your back

Words confirm

and yet deny

Slay your soul with vicious knives

Words to cure

Words to lure

Words through clenched teeth – nothing new

Words of love

and words of hate

Words have put you in the grave

Challenge-words

Wrath-rotten voice

Empty word make empty noise

Words of sorrow

and frustration

due to words alienation

Words restrict

and words retrieve

Words of wisdom, words naive

Words create

and words destroy

Mighty words in mighty voice

Words can judge

and words forgive.

Word of God, do you believe?

Can I be what

I want to be?

Still man of words but man of deeds.

You wait and see,

Just wait and see.

I’ll pray for you , you pray for me.

Source: Botolphs Antiothian Orthodox Church

The making of a Saint

The Making of a Saint ...

Tyler Neitzel of Warner Bros "300" introduces the two hour feature documentary The Making of a Saint. This documentary, focuses on the canonization process of Blessed Elder Archimandrite Philotheos Zervakos of Longovarda (1884-1980) within the Greek Orthodox Church. It traces the true story of a Greek-American family and the healing miracles associated with Saint Nektarios and Saint Philotheos.

Find out more about the film at http://www.themakingofasaint.com

A Thousand Winds

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.


- a poem written by Mary Elizabeth Fry

A prayer of St Silouan for the Theotokos

A prayer of St. Silouan the Athonite:

O holy Virgin Mary, tell us, thy children, of thy love on earth for thy Son and God.
Tell us how thy spirit rejoiced in God thy Savior, Tell us of how thou didst look upon His fair countenance, and reflect that this was He Whom all the heavenly hosts wait upon in awe and love.
Tell us what thy soul felt when thou didst bear the wondrous Babe in thine arms.
Tell us of how thou didst rear Him, how, sick at heart, thou and Joseph sought Him three long days in Jerusalem.
Tell us of thine agony when the Lord was delivered up to be crucified, and lay dying on the Cross.
Tell us what joy was thine over the Resurrection.
Tell us how thy soul languished after the Lord’s Ascension.
We long to know of thy life on earth with the Lord but thou wast not minded to commit all these things to writing, and didst veil thy secret heart in silence.

Wash away the defilement

From St. Seraphim of Sarov (Little Russian Philokalia Vol. 1; St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood pg. 94) to me:

"... the people who, in spite of the bonds of sin which fetter them and hinder them (by constraint and by inciting them to new sins), come to Him, our Savior, with perfect repentance for tormenting Him, who despise all the strength of the fetters of sin and force themselves to break their bonds ? such people at last actually appear before the face of God made whiter than snow by His grace. 'Come, says the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them whiter than snow' (Isa. 1:18)."

From St. Symeon the New Theologian (The Discourses; Paulist Press pg. 97):

"Let us repent with all our heart and cast away not only our evil deeds, but also the wicked and unclean thoughts of our hearts and obliterate them in accordance with that which is written: 'Rend your hearts and not your garments' (Joel 2:13). Tell me: What use is it if we distribute our goods to the poor, but fail to make a break with evil and to hate sin? What use is it if, while we do not actively commit bodily sin, we mentally engage in shameful and unclean thoughts and invisibly commit sin and are governed and controlled by restrained passions of soul? I beseech you, let us cast away, together with our wealth, the habit of servitude to the evils we have mentioned. Nor let us stop at this, but let us eagerly wash away their defilement with tears of penitence."