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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPS1lVQisaI)

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Performed by St. Tikhon’s Missionary Choir.

Arranged by the monks at Holy Cross Hermitage in West Virginia.

Chanting style is a Valaam melody with Georgian influenced polyphony.

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Arbroath Abbey

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In spite of church being burnt out, Mosul Archbishop Putrus Moshe defiantly leads the Sunday Liturgy in the Grand Immaculate church in Baghdeda for the first time in two years after this church was liberated from ISIS last week.

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This warms and breaks my heart. God bless Ukraine

An Orthodox priest in a particularly war torn part of Ukraine, did not have the money or a supply of icons. He asked local children to draw pictures of Saints and biblical scenes and uses them as Icons. 

Posted by the Ukrainian ambassador to Austria.

Source

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Why do the devout continue to do evil?

I get asked this a lot, so I figured I'd post an answer (in my own words, but I borrow almost everything from Holy Scripture and the Philokalia). Any devout Orthodox clergy can (and are encouraged to) correct anything inaccurate. I intend mostly to repeat what I've understood from my spiritual readings.

The simple answer:

Almost nobody, or nobody at all, has yet reached a perfectly dispassionate state, where they have completely abandoned their own self-will and entirely submitted themselves to God's Will. But the process of continually striving to become dispassionate is, itself, the process of salvation. Speaking exclusively of the devout, all are saved (having been given the path of the Cross by Christ in order to 'crucify' the passions), and none are saved (because all struggling in this life are still enduring their own crosses to become more dispassionate).

The longer answer:

This life is a battlefield where we struggle for our own restoration to sanity. As St. Paul says, "work out your (own) salvation with fear and trembling". Salvation, theosis, deification, dispassion - these are all synonyms, if you are not deified and dispassionate, you are not, yet, saved.

When a person commits an evil act, he commits it because that underlying passion has not yet been conquered within that person (passion meaning, sinful desire, sinful desire meaning, any desire that is not in cooperation with God's Will). Without the desire, the ideas and images formed in the intellect have no power over a person - they simply form and then are immediately forgotten, being of no interest to one who is dispassionate. God allows falling into sin to happen so that the sinner may abandon hope/confidence in himself (or money, or other people) and put even more hope in God above all other things to free him from slavery to evil desires and even to preserve his life. Put another way, pride is at the root of all evil acts, and humility at the root of all righteous acts. Falling into evil practices gives a person the chance to see his own pride and choose to replace it with humility, and this is why God allows even those we think are righteous to fall into evil.

Every passion is a twisting of a good desire (or really, what you get when some virtue becomes absent - as without light you get darkness, so without virtue you get passion), so our lot in life is, to the best of our ability, to identify our passions and "untwist" them -> transform them into virtues (pride gives way to humility, greed to selflessness, anger is redirected inward against the passions, resentment gives way to compassion, etc). This process is salvation, itself, and the only desire needful to begin is the desire to be closer to God, or at least to desire to desire to be close to God out of our own interest for self preservation. People have all kinds of intentions when entering a religious path:

Some want to appear holy, but that, being a form of pride, ultimately leads to selfish, evil acts because the initial intention is evil. They will go on trying to appear good to men while remaining evil themselves, and will continue to carry out the wills of all the passions still active within themselves.

Others want to use some spiritual power so that they may invoke it to carry out their own intentions. This leads them to the demons, who may grant some of their wishes if only because it provides for them a distraction from the growing need to seek healing from the passions through God.

Still others want to enter into some experience, but God is not the only spiritual force to be experienced, and the initial experience of God is difficult, because He reveals your sins to you so that you fully see the destructiveness of your evil deeds. Although God does not do this to condemn you, but so that you will grow within yourself a hatred against the passions that afflict you, it hurts to recognize the evil you have committed, and so those seeking simply a religious experience in an effort to 'forget' or 'move on' from their former life because of some pain or unhappiness are less likely to find God and more likely to find a demon willing to give them a comfortable illusion of a better life. Living in this illusion will ultimately, also, lead into further evil practices, because the underlying passions will remain untreated.

It is only those seeking out religion in order to see themselves as they really are so that they may sever whatever it is that stands in the way of having constant companionship with God who will be preserved against committing evil. This may start with the initial desire to have a spiritual experience of God, but after that initial experience, the choice is made whether to face your own evil in order to enter into deeper communion with God, or whether you just want a religious experience without the work (which leads to the last experience in the previous bullet-item). But nothing is greater than the desire to be closer to God.

A person may, at any time, go back and forth between seeking God, or seeking to appease the passions, until that person achieves a completely dispassionate state. Even the devout may not be fully seeking God at all times - so they fall in order that their fall might instruct them.

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Pray Dangerously.

Ask for humility, knowing that sometimes humility comes in the form of humiliation.

Ask for things that are not good for you to be taken away, knowing you could lose things or people you care about.

Ask for thoughts, feelings, and desires that are not of God to be taken away, knowing you may stop wanting things you’ve wanted before.

Ask for Jesus to show you how your sins wound Him, knowing it may be painful to see.

Ask for your root sins to be revealed to you, knowing you will have to repent.

Ask for God’s will to be done, knowing that yours will not be.

Ask to be a Saint, knowing that you will have to die to self.

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St Basil the Great's recorded words on medicine from the 4th century.

Read full article: http://catalogueofstelisabethconvent.blogspot.com.by/2017/01/the-christian-view-on-medicine.html

#orthodox #orthodoxy #church #orthodoxchurch #easternorthodoxy #orthodoxculture #religion #faith #Christian #Christianity #orthodoxpath #orthodoxwisdom #orthodoxblog #orthodoxlife #orthodoxtheology #orthodoxfacts #christianblog #churchhistory #orthodoxhistory #CatalogOfGoodDeeds #Health #illness

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The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

style: Antiochian Byzantine Chant

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“The Church’s function is not to adapt Christianity to the world, nor even to adapt the world to Christianity; her function is to maintain a counterworld in the world.”

— Nicolás Gómez Dávila

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Salve Regina

Style: 11th Century chant of the Templars

Performers: Ensemble Organum

Latin Text

Salve regina misericordie Vita dulcedo et spes nostra salve. Ad te clamamus exules filii Eve. Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eya ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos convente Et ihesum benedictum fructus ventris tui nobis post hoc exilium ostende. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Maria. Alpha et omega misit de superis gloriosum solamen miseris, cum Gabriel a summa gerarchia paranimphus dicit in armonia: Ave Virgo Maria. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Maria. O pastores pro Deu surgite, quid vidistis de Christo dicite. Reges Tharsis de stella visione sint testes in apparitione: Ave Virgo Maria. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Maria. Fons humilis, aquarum puteus, rosa mundi, splendor sydereus, amigdalus Aaron fructuosa, precantibus esto lux gloriosa: Ave virgo Maria. Salve regina misericordie.

English Estimation

Hail, Queen of mercy. Our life, our consolation, and our hope, hail! To thee we cry, the banished sons of Eve. To thee we sigh, groaning and weeping, in this vale of tears. O thou our advocate, turn on us thy merciful eyes, and Jesus, the blessed fruit of thee womb, show to us after this our exile. O clement, O pius, O gentle Mary. The Alpha and Omega sent from on high a glorious solace to the suffering, when from the highest rank of angels the paranymph* Gabriel harmoniously declared: Hail, Virgin Mary. O clement, O pius, O gentle Mary. O sheppards, rise before your God, relate what you have seen of Christ. Let the kings of Tharsis bear witness that they saw the star appear: Hail, Virgin Mary. O clement, O pius, O gentle Mary. Humble fountain, well giving forth waters, rose of the world, divinge splendour, fertile rod of Aaron, be the glorious light of those that prey thee: Hail, Virgin Mary. O clement, O pius, O gentle Mary.

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Royal Hours for Nativity/Christmas (Full Service)

Performers Nuns at Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Christian Monastery (Convent) in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania

The serivce starts around 20:00, but the explanation preceeding it may be of interest to some

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St Anthony the Great

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Don't live by memories--they kill your future. Don't live by dreams--they kill your present... Life is not yesterday or tomorrow, but that by which you live IN THIS VERY MINUTE.

Monk Symeon the Athonite

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An Explanation of the Traditional Russian Orthodox Three-bar Cross

The symbolism of the “complete” Cross (much of which is contained in the Old Rite Russian prosphora seal and on metal and wood icons) is quite complex. Since the OId Rite tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church is much richer than the New Rite Church in its use of symbolism to teach the faithful, this article  should be of benefit to those unfamiliar with this tradition.

Through the Cross came our Salvation. We are constantly reminded that Christ died for us when we see the Image of the Cross (depicting the crucified Lord), and we are reminded that He rose from the dead when we behold the Image of Christ “Not made by hands” (Slavonic: Нерукутвореному образъ) on the towel (depicting the Lord risen frem the dead).

Worshipping the crucified Lord are two flying angels, with the inscription between them: “Angels of the Lord” (in Slavonic: Ангели Господни). In some depictions of the Cross the Angels are bearing an image of the Holy Trinity, but traditions vary in allowing this; usually the Angels are simply holding towels, indicating their position as messengers who   serve the Lord and who wait on Him.

The top bar of the Cross is the title-board which Pilate ordered to be hung in mockery over Christ’s head. On this board was inscribed: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in Hebrew, Greek and Latin (abbreviated to the Greek initials ‘INBI’, or the Latin initials ‘INRI’ in the Western tradition). This has been replaced with the Christian inscription: “King of Glory” (Slavonic: Царь славы), placed below the knees of the angels. [Note that while the use of the inscription ‘І.Н.Ц.І.’ does not usually appear in the Russian tradition, examples of its occurrence are occasionally found on newer Russian Crosses.] On the title-board is inscribed the initials ‘IC XC’, being the first and last letters of Christ’s name in Greek (Greek: Iisous Khristos; Old Rite Slavonic: Ісоусъ Христосъ; New Rite Slavonic: Іисусъ Христосъ). In addition, just above Christ’s arms we see the inscription: ‘NIKA’, which in Greek means: “He conquers” or “He is victorious.” [Frequently, especially on the Greek and New Rite Russian prosphora seal, we see these last two inscriptions together with the simple two-barred Cross: ‘IC XC NI KA’, meaning: “Jesus Christ is victorious” (i.e., over death and sin). Note that in the proper Orthodox tradition the Saviour does not wear a crown of thorns (as in the Western tradition), nor is He portrayed alive on the Cross, nor in any aspect of suffering, but in a state of humble and peaceful repose, with inclined head. Also note that His feet are nailed with two nails.]

The middle bar is that on which the Lord’s hands were nailed. On either top corner we see the depiction of the sun (left; in Slavonic: солнца) and the moon (right; in Slavonic: луна), for “The sun hid its light, and the moon turned to blood.” (Joel 2:31) The inscription: “Son of God” (Slavonic: Сынъ Божіи) is placed on both sides of Christ’s head, and below His arms we read the inscription: “We bow down before Thy Cross, O Master, and we worship Thy holy Resurrection” (in Slavonic: Кресту Твоему покломняемся Владыко, и святое воскресение Твое славимъ). The halo of Christ is inscribed with the Greek letters 'w ov’, meaning: 'The Being’ or 'He Who is’, to remind us that Christ is the same God Who identified Himself with those words to Moses in the Old Law.

Behind the body of Christ, on either side, are a lance (which pierced Him) and a sponge (which was soaked with gall or vinegar and offered Him to drink) on a pole made of reed or cane. The lance (on the left:) is marked “К” in Slavonic; standing for “копие”, while the sponge (on the right) is marked “Т”, standing for: “трость” (which means: 'reed’ or 'cane’). [On some Crosses one might see instead of “Т” the inscription “Г” which stands for “губка” (sponge) in Slavonic.] On the body of Christ is depicted blood and water flowing forth from His side.

The slanted bottom bar is the foot-brace. In prayers for the Ninth Hour, the Church likens the Cross to a type of balance of righteousness:

“Between two thieves Thy Cross did prove to be a balance of righteousness: wherefore one of them was dragged down to Hades by the weight of his blasphemy [the balance points downward], whereas the other was lightened of his transgressions unto the comprehension of theology [the balance points upward]. O Christ God, glory to Thee.”

The city of Jerusalem is depicted in the background, for Christ was crucified outside the city walls. By the foot of the Cross are the letters: “Г Г” standing for 'Mount Golgotha’ (in Slavonic: Гора Голгофы); this is the hill outside the city gates upon which Christ was crucified. Below the feet of Christ are four Slavonic letters with abbreviation marks: “М.Л.Р.Б.”, meaning: “The place of the skull, where Adam was” (in    Slavonic: Место лобное рай бысть). Hidden in a cave under the earth is 'the skull of Adam’ (for by pious tradition it is said that Christ was crucified at preciseIy the same place where Adam was buried), identified with the letters: “Г А” (in Slavonic: глава Адамла). We are thus reminded that Adam our forefather lost Paradise through the tree from which he wrongIy partook; Christ is the new Adam, bringing us Salvation and Paradise through the tree of the Cross.

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Samples from The Book of Kells Irish illuminated manuscript of the 4 Christian Gospels in Latin (~800 AD).

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A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.

Mt 2:18

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Homilies of Gregory the Theologian,  9th-century Byzantine illuminated manuscript