From sullied lips, from an abominable heart, from a tongue impure, from a soul defiled, accept my supplication, O my Christ, and disdain me not, neither my words, nor my ways, nor my shamelessness. Grant me to say boldly that which I desire, O my Christ. Or rather, teach me what I ought to do [...]
Archive for August, 2008
Prayer of Saint Simeon the New Theologian before Holy Communion
Posted in Uncategorized on August 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A Conversation between Saint Herman of Alaska and some worldly men
Posted in Uncategorized on August 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Father Herman gave them all one general question: ‘Gentlemen, What do you love above all, and what will each of you wish for your happiness?’ Various answers were offered … Some desired wealth, others glory, some a beautiful wife, and still others a beautiful ship he would captain; and so forth in the same vein. [...]
Fr. Alexander Schmemann on the Need for Orthodox Mission
Posted in Uncategorized on August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
To recover the missionary dimension of the Church is today’s greatest imperative. We have to recover a very basic truth: that the Church is essentially Mission, that the very roots of her life are in the commandment of Christ: “Go Ye therefore and teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19). A Christian community that would lose this [...]
Saint Alfred the Great on Prosperity
Posted in Uncategorized on August 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In the midst of prosperity the mind is elated, and in prosperity a man forgets himself; in hardship he is forced to reflect on himself, even though he be unwilling. In prosperity a man often destroys the good he has done; amidst difficulties he often repairs what he long since did in the way of [...]
Saint Hippolytus of Rome on the Word of God
Posted in Uncategorized on August 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
For the Word of God, being fleshless, put on the holy flesh from the holy virgin, as a bridegroom a garment, having woven it for himself in the sufferings of the Cross, so that having mixed our mortal body with his own power, and having mingled the corruptible into the incorruptible, and the weak with [...]
Fr. Seraphim Rose on Suffering
Posted in Uncategorized on August 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Why do men learn through pain and suffering, and not through pleasure and happiness? Very simply, because pleasure and happiness accustom one to satisfaction with the things given in this world, whereas pain and suffering drive one to seek a more profound happiness beyond the limitations of this world. I am at this moment in [...]
Fr. John Meyendorff on Early Monasticism
Posted in Uncategorized on August 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Monasticism renewed the prophetic ministry of ancient Israel in the Church. It bore witness against a bourgeois and worldly Church that easily welcomed the Greco-Roman masses and accepted the bounties of the ‘most pious emperors.’ Throughout the history of the Orthodox East, the Church was saved from absorption into the Empire by the hermits of [...]
