sylver-lily

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“How do I train myself to love Christ with all my heart, soul, and mind?”

A. By crucifying your mind, heart and soul.

- The old man must die. The passions, these must be uprooted. (The negative energy, so to speak.)

B. He must increase, we must decrease.

- The new man must be put on. The virtues must be acquired. (The positive energy, so to speak.)

{Note: The Prayer of Jesus (when practiced daily, in our prayer rule and throughout the day) helps to “accomplish” (=to be gifted) both purification and illumination, it is both at once a “negative” cleansing and a “positive” acquiring. Of course, the Holy Spirit does everything, but we have to “get out of the way,” we have to prepare the way, open the door, allow forHis entry and His working. We have to work together with him, synergy.}

C. Also: By first of all loving truth within your own soul and hating untruth within yourself.

- When one prays continually the Jesus Prayer and is watchful over his soul, he begins to notice how many lies he tells himself to justify his indulging the passions. This must come to an end. One must have the courage to face the idol they have created of themselves and smash it. If we do not hate sin, we are not worthy of Christ. (Someone who works on their inner life, on themselves, and in this way, slowly acquires philotimo, selfless love of Truth, goes two miles when asked to go one, and gives not only his jacket but the shirt off his back.)

D. By strictly following the hierarchy set down by God and never allowing the lower to supplant the higher, as, for example, is apparent in the 10 Commandments. ( #1. First love of God. #5 Honor your father and mother. When the two conflict, love the first more.) The knowledge of this hierarchy and the love of the higher things will be essential in the days of antichrist, when many will fall away because they have not loved the higher things; they will be deceived and drawn away by love of the things of this world, which the antichrist will give in abundance, including health, and security and peace.

E. Last but not at all least: loving the Holy Fathers and their lives and their writings. To be a lover of Truth is to follow the holy fathers and Saints in everything. To imitate them. To read - on a daily basis - their lives and exploits and their wisdom and to immerse oneself in their teachings. (Many Christians today are ignorant of this presupposition and think that they can be ignorant of the Holy Fathers and their teachings and that it is sufficient to blindly follow the clergy or hierarchy, as if they are infallible. Rather, we must know our faith. We must know what we mean when we confess and say the Symbol of Faith. In the days of antichrist, and even those days leading up to the antichrist, this blind following will lead many into delusion.)

via: https://orthodoxethos.com/post/how-do-i-train-myself-to-love-christ-with-all-my-heart-soul-and-mind?fbclid=IwAR1FvmVijxVTrcweXfVbUIFpwoL7VSl5yTFU2U5sYDIem6fRlHFVf4UohDA

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Christ is risen! 🇺🇸 Χριστός Ανέστη! 🇬🇷 

Cristo è risorto! 🇮🇹 Христос Воскресе! 🇷🇺 

Христос Васкрсе! 🇷🇸 Хрыстос Ўваскрос! 

Ha-Mashiah qom! 🇮🇱 Al-Masih Qam! 

Meshiha qam! 🇸🇾 KrIstus tElah Bangkit! 🇮🇩 

Tá Críost éirithe! 🇮🇪 Kristus prisikėlė! 🇱🇹

¡Cristo ha resucitado! 🇪🇸 Pikhirstof aftonf! 🇪🇬 

Christus ist auferstanden! 🇩🇪 Kristo’pastitaha 🇮🇳 

Chrystus Zmartwychwstał! 🇵🇱 Cristo ressuscitou! 🇵🇹 

Hristos a înviat! 🇷🇴 ハリストス復活! 🇯🇵 

Christus is opgestaan! 🇳🇱 Kristus je vzkříšen! 🇨🇿 

Христос възкръсна! 🇧🇬 Krishti u ngjall! 🇦🇱 

Kristus nousi kuolleista! 🇫🇮 Kristus er genopstået! 🇩🇰 

Kristus är uppstånden! 🇸🇪 Christ est ressuscité! 🇫🇷 

Krist’e ağsdga! 🇬🇪 K’ristos haryav imeṙeloc'! 🇦🇲 

Mesih dirildi! 🇹🇷 Xristos Amilsan 🇲🇳 

Masih barkhaste ast! 🇮🇷 Yesu Masih zindaho gaya hai! 🇵🇰 

Jīdū fùhuó-le! 🇨🇳 그리스도 부활하셨네! Kristo Gesso! 🇰🇷 

Phra khris̄t̒ thrng pĕn k̄hụ̂n mā!🇹🇭 

Krəstos tänśʾä ʾəmmutan! 🇪🇹

Krisztus feltámadt! 🇭🇺 

Kristus on surnuist ülestõusnud! 🇪🇪 

[sylver-lily]

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung on a tree. The King of the angels is decked with a crown of thorns. He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery. He who freed Adam in the Jordan is slapped in the face. The Bridegroom of the Church is affixed to the cross with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced by a spear. We worship Thy passion, O Christ. Show us also Thy glorious resurrection. He who clothes Himself with light as with a garment stood naked for trial. He was struck on the cheek by hands that He himself had formed. A people that transgressed the Law Nailed the Lord of Glory to the cross. Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then the sun was darkened, Unable to bear the sight of God outraged, Before Whom all things tremble. Let us worship Him. The disciples denied Him, But the thief cried out: “Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!”

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And in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is alive!

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O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins perceived Thy divinity, and taking upon herself the duty of a myrrh-bearer, with lamentation she bringeth Thee myrrh-oils before Thine entombment. Woe unto me! saith she, for night is become for me a frenzy of licentiousness, a dark and moonless love of sin. Receive the fountains of my tears, O Thou Who dost gather into clouds the water of the sea. Incline unto me, unto the sighings of my heart, O Thou Who didst bow the Heavens by Thine ineffable condescension. I will kiss Thine immaculate feet, and wipe them again with the tresses of my head; those feet, at whose sound Eve hid herself for fear when she heard Thee walking in Paradise in the cool of the day. Incline unto me, unto Thee walking in Paradise in the cool of the day. As for the multitude of my sins and the abyss of Thy judgments, who can search them out, O Saviour of souls, my Saviour? Do not disdain me, Thy handmaiden, O Thou Who art boundless in mercy.

☩ Troparion of Saint Kassiani the Hymnographer ☩

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From St. John of Kronstadt

“When you read a worldly magazine or newspaper, it is light and agreeable reading, you easily believe in everything in it. But if you take up a religious publication or book to read, especially one relating to church matters, or sometimes when you begin reading prayers ? you feel a weight upon your heart, you are tormented by doubt and unbelief, and experience a sort of darkness and aversion. Many acknowledge this. From what does it proceed? Of course, not from the nature of the books themselves, but from the nature of the readers, from the nature of their hearts, and ?chiefly ? from the Devil, the enemy of mankind, the enemy of everything holy: ‘he takes away the word out of their hearts’ (Lk. 8:12). When we read worldly books, we do not touch him and he does not touch us. But as soon as we take up religious books, as soon as we begin to think of our amendment and salvation, then we go against him; we irritate and torment him, and therefore he attacks us and torments us on his side. What can we do? We must not throw aside the good work, the reading or prayers that are profitable to our souls, but we must patiently endure and in patience save our souls.”

(My Life in Christ; Holy Trinity Monastery pgs. 176-177)

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No sin is unforgivable

Repentance is the renewal of life. This means we must free ourselves from all our negative traits and turn toward absolute good. No sin is unforgivable except the sin of unrepentance.

- Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

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The kind of thoughts we nurture

Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.

- Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

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I need His grace

There is nothing on earth that I need, except that which is most essential. What do I need, what is most essential? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His kingdom within me. On earth, which is the place of my wanderings, my temporary being, there is nothing that is truly mine, everything belongs to God and is temporal, everything serves my needs temporarily.

- Excerpts from the Spiritual Diary of St. John of Kronstadt, “My Life in Christ”

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Young Theotokos… Such an amazing icon! 

Most Holy Theotokos protect us all! <3

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When God wants to have mercy...

When God wants to have mercy on someone, He inspires someone else to pray for him, and He helps in this prayer.

- St. Silouan the Athonite

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Most Holy Theotokos pray for us!

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Here on earth there is nothing that can give us inner peace. For neither riches, nor glory, nor honor, nor position, nor family, nor neighbors can give us unshakable inner peace. There is only one giver of life, peace and joy – God

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica (via bast38)

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‘Eternal Russia’ (‘One Hundred Ages’) - a painting by I. S. Glazunov

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Christ Pantocrator (source)

The two different facial expressions on either side emphasize Christ’s dual nature as both divine and human. Depending on one’s spiritual level, His presence can be experienced as happiness or control. 

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When you look in the mirror you see not just your face but a museum. Although your face, in one sense, is your own, it is composed of a collage of features you have inherited from your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. The lips and eyes that either bother or please you are not yours alone but are also features of your ancestors, long dead perhaps as individuals but still very much alive as fragments in you. Even complex qualities such as your sense of balance, musical abilities, shyness in crowds, or susceptibility to sickness have been lived before. We carry the past around with us all the time, and not just in our bodies. It lives also in our customs, including the way we speak. The past is a set of invisible lenses we wear constantly, and through these we perceive the world and the world perceives us. We stand always on the shoulders of our ancestors, whether or not we look down to acknowledge them. - Author Unknown, Titled: Ancestors

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Nothing is more powerful than meekness. For as fire is extinguished by water, so a mind inflated by anger is subdued by meekness. By meekness we practice and make known our virtue, and also cause the indignation of our brother to cease, and deliver his mind from perturbation. - Saint John Chrysostom • Meekness does not mean spineless, spiritless or compliant. The true definition of meekness includes the idea of self-restraint. It's having the power at our disposal, but not using it. It's the King who could, in fact, destroy his enemies, but chooses to be merciful, chooses to be lenient, chooses restraint. It combines a sense of gentleness and restraint -- not weakness, not indifference, but strength with gentleness.