Peace of soul

One must by every means strive to preserve peace of soul and not be disturbed by offenses from others; for this one must in every way strive to restrain anger and by means of attentiveness to keep the mind and heart from improper feelings. And therefore we must bear offenses from others with equanimity and accustom ourselves to such a disposition of spirit that these offenses seem to concern not us, but others. Such a practice can give quietness to the human heart and make it as dwelling for God Himself. 


- St. Seraphim of Sarov


And this is love


And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it." Divine Truth is contained and found in the commandments of the Gospel. Divine love gives us will, strength, and perseverance for we walk after the [divine] commandments, for we walk after His commandments in them and with them. Our love -- as much towards the Lord Christ as towards men -- consists of living according to the commandments of Christ. For at the end, everything comes back to this double commandment: the commandment of love of God and one's neighbor. This is why the holy Evangelist recalls all the commandments to a single one: This is the commandment, That ... you walk in it [love]. We now know that the entire Gospel of Christ is contained in the single commandment on love: he who lives in love lives in Christ God. Thus, he who fulfills the Gospel of God is deserving of heaven and earth. 

Commentary on the Second Epistle of St. John by St. Archimandrite Justin Popovich.

Desire and love ...

Do not look for status or glory on this earth, but seek only the good opinion of God himself. Desire God alone, that He may desire you, and so guide you into His eternal Kingdom. Listen to me not because I am your chosen pastor, but because as someone who is shortly to die I have no reason to deceive you: as death approaches, the truth is all that matters.

Patience, forgiveness and joy are the three greatest characteristics of divine love. They are characteristics of all real love - if there is such a thing as real love outside divine love. Without these three characteristics, love is not love. If you give the name 'love' to anything else, it is as though you were giving the name 'sheep' to a goat or a pig.

-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Prayer of marital love ...

Saint Chrysanthus counsels Daria:


O virgin, forsake the lie
And do not venerate the idols as gods;
Neither seek, you, truth from the world.
The truth is in the One God,
The One Triune God
Who created the heavenly armies
Of angels and heavenly powers;
Who created the whole universe,
And of the universe, man, the crown.
The only One, immortal and living,
He, out of the earth, creates wrappings
And the clothing of spiritual wealth.
Our soul is spiritual wealth
Wrapped up in the dust of the body.


The soul should be tenderly nurtured
As a bride to make ready for Christ.


Forsake, O virgin, the bodily,
It leads to suffering and sorrow.
God does not look into the vessel of the flesh
But at the flower which grows in it.
O virgin, clothed in death
Today, tomorrow consumed by death:

Adorn your soul with the flower of virtues,
Sow the flower with faith in the Lord,
Enclose it with hope and love,
Water it with the Life-creating Spirit,
Weed it of the weeds of sins,
Let grow the flower of virtues,
Let grow the flower of piety,
Let grow the flower of charity,
Let grow the flower of repentance,
Let grow the flower of patience,
Let grow the flower of abstinence,
Let grow the flower of obedience.
As a hymn of Paradise, your soul is,
Let it smell like a garden in May.
And may God to dwell therein,
For which He created it.

Daria listened to Chrysanthus,
Her soul to Christ she wedded,
Her body to torture she submitted
With Chrysanthus, her spiritual brother.
And God transplanted them to Paradise,
With them, adorned the garden of Paradise.


-- Hymn of Praise, Ss Chrysanthus and Daria - March 19.

Repentance ...

For all the sins of men I repent before You, Most Merciful Lord. Indeed, the seed of all sins flows in my blood! With my effort and Your mercy I choke this wicked crop of weeds day and night, so that no tare may sprout in the field of the Lord, but only pure wheat.

I repent for all those who are worried, who stagger under a burden of worries and do not know that they should put all their worries on You. For feeble man even the most minor worry is unbearable, but for You a mountain of worries is like a snowball thrown into a fiery furnace.

I repent for all the sick, for sickness is the fruit of sin. When the soul is cleansed with repentance, sickness disappears with sin, and You, my Eternal Health, take up Your abode in the soul.

I repent for unbelievers, who through their unbelief amass worries and sicknesses both on themselves and on their friends.

I repent for all those who blaspheme God, who blaspheme against You without knowing that they are blaspheming against the Master, who clothes them and feeds them.

I repent for all the slayers of men, who take the life of another to preserve their own. Forgive them, Most Merciful Lord, for they know not what they do. For they do not know that there are not two lives in the universe, but one, and that there are not two men in the universe, but one. Ah, how dead are those who cut the heart in half!

I repent for all those who bear false witness, for in reality they are homicides and suicides.

For all my brothers who are thieves and who are hoarders of unneeded wealth I weep and sigh, for they have buried their soul and have nothing with which to go forth before You.

For all the arrogant and the boastful I weep and sigh, for before You they are like beggars with empty pockets.

For all drunkards and gluttons I weep and sigh, for they have become servants of their servants.

For all adulterers I repent, for they have betrayed the trust of the Holy Spirit, who chose them to form new life through them. Instead, they turned serving life into destroying life.

For all gossipers I repent, for they have turned Your most precious gift, the gift of speech, into cheap sand.

For all those who destroy their neighbor's hearth and home and their neighbor's peace I repent and sigh, for they bring a curse on themselves and their people.

For all lying tongues, for all suspicious eyes, for all raging hearts, for all insatiable stomachs, for all darkened minds, for all ill will, for all unseemly thoughts, for all murderous emotions--I repent, weep and sigh.

For all the history of mankind from Adam to me, a sinner, I repent; for all history is in my blood. For I am in Adam and Adam is in me.

For all the worlds, large and small, that do not tremble before Your awesome presence, I weep and cry out: 

O Master Most Merciful, have mercy on me and save me!"

Prophecy of Kosmas Aetolian

The following photograph was taken of the Patriarch, 15 August 2010 just prior to descending 64 stairs to the Church of Panagia in Soumela (of Pontus). In the following picture, we see a local Pontian man playing the "kementze" which is the traditional organ of the Pontians. This fulfills a prophecy made by St Kosmas the Aetolian many hundreds of years ago - which warns that the Greek people do not have long ... they should store their wheat for the great hunger.

Η συγκεκριμένη προφητεία δημοσιοποιήθηκε για πρώτη φορά το 1998 στην εκπομπή "Ελλήνων Μυστήρια" και έχει ως εξής:

"Θα έρθει καιρός που στα μέρη της Καλλίστης και του Μελά θα δείτε τον Πατριάρχη να κατεβαίνει τα 64 σκαλιά της Παναγιάς και να ακούει κεμεντζέ. 

Τότε ολίγον καιρό έχετε. 

Βάλτε στην άκρη ένα σακούλι στάρι να μη χαθείτε από την πείνα."

The Old Church of the Assumption in Bucharest

In honour of the Dormition this August 15, I offer you an old photo from a Church that was destroyed by the Communists in 1983. The Church was dedicated to the Assumption and was located in Bucharest. This photo was taken in December, 1977 from archives found in a certain Hermitage in that area. 

Messengers of God

"When the stars were made, 

all my Angels praised Me with a loud voice"

said the Lord to Job (Job 38.7)

We have all heard about Angels ... from the very beginning of man they have been there. God placed a Cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the entrance of Paradise (Gen 3:24); Jacob saw Angels in his vision (Gen 23:12); Genesis 32:1-2; Psalms 148:2; Psalms 90:11; the Prophet Isiah saw Seraphim surrounding the Throne of God; the Prophet Ezekial saw Cherubim in his vision of the House of God. The New Testament also contains many references to angelic beings, example Luke 1:11, 12 and 19.

Seven of the high-ranking Angels have been revealed to us:

Michael, 

"Who is Like God" (Dan 10.13)

  

Gabriel, 

"Man of God" (Luke 1.19 and 26)

* * *

Raphael,

 "The Help of God" (Tobit 3.17 and 12.12-15)

Uriel, 

"The Fire of God" (III Esdras 4.1 and 5.20)

Salathiel, 

"Prayer of God" (III Esdras 5.16)

* * *

* * *

Jegudiel, 

"Praise of God"

Barachiel, 

"Blessing of God"

* * *

*

"Grace be unto you and peace from Him, 

which is, and which was, and which is to come, 

and from the seven spirits which are before His Throne"

writes Apostle John the Theologian in Apoc. 1.4.