For the best self-attestation of the Good is its defenselessness in the face of the power of evil. The best attestation of Truth is silence in the face of much-talkative falsehood. The supreme manifestation of Beauty consists in the unadornment by vain adornment. The power of God triumphs by means of itself, not by means [...]
Archive for April, 2009
Fr. Sergius Bulgakov on Power in Powerlessness
Posted in Uncategorized on April 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A Monk is Taught by Saint Poemen the Great to Show Mercy Towards His Brother
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A brother questioned Abba Poemen saying, ‘If I see a brother whom I have heard is a sinner, I do not want to take him into my cell, but when I see a good brother I am happy to be with him.’ The old man said, ‘If you do a little good to the good [...]
A Paschal Homily: by Saint John Chrysostom
Posted in Uncategorized on April 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
If any man be devout and loveth God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any man be a wise servant,
Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.
If any have laboured long in fasting,
Let him how receive his recompense.
If any have wrought from the first hour,
Let him today receive his just reward.
If [...]
He Was Alone So That We Might Not Be Alone: by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev
Posted in Uncategorized on April 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
During the last days of His earthly life Jesus Christ was left alone to face those who hated Him, endure sufferings and death. He drank to the bottom the cup of suffering that was prepared for Him and underwent the most horrible thing that a person could experience: a profound loneliness and feeling of being [...]
Saint John Cassian on Lacking Compassion for Others
Posted in Uncategorized on April 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When someone has no compassion for another’s transgressions, but pronounces a severe judgment on them, it is an obvious sign of a soul not yet purified of evil passions.
* This excerpt was taken from the book “Mother Maria Skobtsova: Essential Writings”
Elder Sophronius Sakharov on the Cosmic Significance of Sin
Posted in Uncategorized on April 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Sin is committed first of all in the secret depths of the human spirit but its consequences distort the whole individual. A sin will reflect on a man’s psychological and physical condition, on his outward appearance, on his personal destiny. Sin will, inevitably, pass beyond the boundaries of the sinner’s own life to burden all [...]
Fr. Justin Popovich on Truth
Posted in Uncategorized on April 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In Christianity truth is not a philosophical concept nor is it a theory, a teaching, or a system, but rather, it is the living theanthropic hypostasis—the historical Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Before Christ men could only conjecture about the Truth since they did not possess it. With Christ as the incarnate divine Logos the eternally [...]
Saint Paisius Velichkovsky on Mercy
Posted in Uncategorized on April 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The follow excerpt is taken from a letter written by St. Paisius Velichkovsky to Schema-abbess Martha Protasieva, when the latter was going through a difficult spiritual struggle.
I write to your worthiness and beg and counsel you not to grieve overmuch or despair concerning the former trial and infirmity of your soul, but, with undoubting hope [...]
