"God’s grace always assists those who struggle, but this does not mean that a struggler is always in the position of a victor. Sometimes in the arena the wild animals did not touch the righteous ones, but by no means were they all preserved untouched.

What is important is not victory or the position of a victor, but rather the labor of striving towards God and devotion to Him.”

☦️ St John Maximovitch

“It is a fact, brothers and sisters, that the path of the saints in this life is one full of troubles. They either endure the pain of longing for that which is to come, like the one who said, ‘Woe is me that I have such a long pilgrimage’ (Ps. 120:5, LXX) or they are distressed by their longing for the salvation of others, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘I am afraid that when I come to you, God may humble me and cause me to weep and mourn over many who have sinned and not repented of impurity, fornication and licentiousness which they have practiced.”

+ St Athanasius the Great

“Man of God” full movie now available on YouTube
https://youtu.be/i_y6jkKYL_M

☦️ St Nektarios of Aegina on Humility: “Seek God every day, but in your heart; and not outside of it, and on discovering Him stand with fear and trembling, like the Cherubim and Seraphim, as your heart becomes God’s dwelling place. To discover the Lord, humble yourself to the earth before Him, for the Lord rejects the proud and high minded, but loves and visits the humble of heart …."

For our good, let us make a vow that from this hour, from this minute we shall strive to love God above all else. ☦️ St Herman of Alaska

Beware of despair. You do not serve a tyrant, but your service is to a kind Lord, Who, taking nothing from you, he has given you all. And when you did not exist at all, He fashioned you so that you would be in that [state] in which you now are. ☦️ St Isaac the Syrian

“One must examine oneself while reading the Writings of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, who help us use the light of the Gospels without error.

The more a person delves deeply into himself and comes to know himself, the more he comes to recognise his passions, the different ways they act on him and attack him. Then he comes to know his weaknesses; then he can begin to destroy within himself all sinful qualities grafted into his nature by the fall. Then he can acquire the qualities indicated by the Gospels.
And only then will his foundation for the edifice of Prayer be completely firm.”

☦️ Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov

“[I]t has thundered; now is the time to make the sign of the Cross!”
~~Russian Orthodox publication "Tserkovniye vedomosty", 1917, reporting the death of hieromartyr John of Chicago and Tsarskoe Selo (Oct 31)

Defying the bloodthirsty spirit of the time, Holy Hieromartyr John of refused to stop leading public prayers for his people and their land. In doing so, he became the first martyr of the Bolshevik Revolution. To make an example of him, the Bolsheviks publicly shot the beloved archpriest and dragged his body through town.

At the time of his martyrdom, Father John had only recently returned to Russia from America where he had ministered faithfully among poor Slavic immigrants and established numerous parishes and missions in the Chicago area. He also ministered to converts who came seeking the fullness of the Apostolic Faith.

Holy Hieromartyr John of, pray to God for us!

“The world doesn’t need some special wisdom and intelligence—the world needs prayer. The world needs saints…”

— Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church, from his homily for the feast of St. Petka (Paraskeva), Belgrade

https://orthochristian.com/148991.html

Do not pray for the fulfillment of your wishes, for they may not accord with the will of God. But pray as you have been taught, saying: Thy will be done in me. Always entreat Him in this way – that His will be done. For He desires what is good and profitable for you, whereas you do not always ask for this.

☦️ Evagrios the Solitary

“When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love, and praise their Creator."

☦️ St. Basil the Great, from Homily V.

The harsh persecution of St Gabriel the New Confessor of Georgia (Nov 2) began in 1965, when as a young monk, he famously set fire to a banner of Lenin during an International Workers' Day parade in Tbilisi. He was arrested, tried, ruled psychotic, and confined to a mental hospital for seven months. He was even suspended from his priesthood for years, after the Soviet government put pressure on the Georgian Orthodox Church, although his status was later restored.

Holy Saint Gabriel pray to God for us!

Icon by Fr Deacon Paul Drozdowski

As baptism is received in infancy, we have all defiled it, but we cleanse it anew with tears. And if God in His love for mankind had not given us tears, those being saved would be few indeed and hard to find. ☦️ St. John Climacus

All men want peace; but they do not know how to attain it. Paissy the Great, having lost his temper, begged the Lord to deliver him from irritability. The Lord appeared to him and said. 'Paissy, if thou dost not wish to get angry, desire nothing, neither criticize nor hate any man, and thou wilt have no anger.'

Thus every one who renounces his own will before God and other people will always be at peace in his soul; but the man who likes to have his own way will never know peace.

☦️ St Silouan the Athonite

The soul of every faithful Christian is like the daughter of the King. All the beauty of that soul is in Christ and of Christ, Who is within the soul. ☦️ St Nikolai Velimirovich

Restoration work is either underway or fully completed on many damaged Donbass churches. Over 150 churches have officially applied for assistance from the Moscow Patriarchate.

Russian military personnel regularly join local residents and parishioners in the cleanup of debris after enemy shelling.

Video: Church of St Nicholas in Donetsk

“Without a struggle and shedding your blood, don’t expect freedom from the passions. Our earth produces thorns and thistles after the Fall. We have been ordered to clean it, but only with much pain, bloody hands, and many sighs are the thorns and thistles uprooted. So weep, shed streams of tears, and soften the earth of your heart. Once the ground is wet, you can easily uproot the thorns.” ☦️ St. Joseph the Hesychast