Wise men gladly bear sufferings, aware that they have no cause other than their own sin. But when the fool, ignorant of the supreme wisdom of God’s providence, sins and is corrected, he regards either God or men as responsible for the hardships he suffers. ✝️ St. Maximos the Confessor

"Heaven will not receive those who are self-willed. God has a Divine plan for each one of us, and we must submit to His plan. We must accept life as it is given to us, without asking, "Why me?" We must know that nothing ever happens without God's permission." ✝️ Elder Thaddeus

Have mercy, O Lord, on the Orthodox clergy and and all Orthodox Christians, suffering violence and threats from the Ukrainian regime and their schismatic co-conspirators.

We need to live life not only for ourselves. Pray quietly for everyone. Do not reject or humiliate anyone. Our thoughts and words have a powerful impact on the world around us. Pray with tears for everyone, for the sick, the weak, for the sinners. Pray for those who have no one to pray for them. —Elder Nikolay Guryanov

✝️ St. Porphyrios

"We run eagerly to dances and amusements. We listen with pleasure to the foolishness of singers. We enjoy the foul words of actors for hours without getting bored. And yet when God speaks we yawn, we scratch ourselves and feel dizzy."

✝️ St John Chrysostom

Image: "Pâques"- Eduard Panov

Blessed are those who do not like news and are not curious to learn about the affairs of other people. He will soon heal his spiritual wounds and reach into the love of God.

—Hieroschemamonk Jerome (Solomentsov)

The historic St. Nicholas Church in Atka in the Aleutian Islands is likely the westernmost Orthodox church in the U.S. The church began as a large tent constructed by Father Jacob Netsvetov (1802-1864), a native of the Aleutian Islands, now Saint Jacob, Enlightener of the Peoples of Alaska. ☦️ Although St. Nicholas Church hasn’t had a resident priest since 1899, the Orthodox Faith continues to thrive in the area.

When you are about to pray to our Lady the Holy Virgin, be firmly assured, before praying, that you will not depart from her without having received mercy.

To think thus and to have confidence in her is meet and right. She is, the All-Merciful Mother of the All-Merciful God, the Word, and her mercies, incalculably great and innumerable, have been declared from all ages by all Christian Churches; she is, indeed, an abyss of mercies and bounties.

† St. John of Kronstadt

"Words are weapons in this world, but silence is the key to the future life."

☦ St. Simeon Mirotocivi of Serbia

Prayer Upon Entering a Church

I rejoiced with those who told me: in the house of the Lord I shall go. (Ps. 131:1) In the greatness of Your mercy, O Lord, I will enter Your house; I will worship in Your holy Church, O Lord.

In Your righteousness guide me, because of my enemies make Your way straight before me, so that with a clear mind I may glorify You: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen!

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matthew 25:13)

☦️ A Prayer of St. John of Damascus.

I stand before the doors of Your temple and I do not forsake my wicked thoughts. But, O Christ my God, as You justified the tax-collector and had mercy on the woman of Canaan and opened the gates of paradise to the thief, open to me the interior depths
of Your love for mankind and receive me as I come and repent before You. Receive me as You received the sinful woman and the woman with the flow of blood. For the first embraced Your most pure feet and received the forgiveness of her sins and the second just touched the hem of Your garment and received healing. But I who am lost, daring to receive Your whole Body, may I not be burned, but receive me as You received them and enlighten my spiritual senses, burning up my spiritual faults by the prayers of her who gave birth to You without human seed and of the heavenly angelic powers, for You are blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.

Wait for the Holy Spirit. "For nothing is so destitute as a mind philosophizing about God when it is without Him."

+St Diadochos of Photiki

A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

"Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words:" Proverbs 1:20-21

The Orthodox Cathedral of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Those forces that are preparing the appearance of Antichrist will have a leading significance in public life. Antichrist will be a man and not the devil incarnate. … That man wants to be in place of Christ, to occupy His place and possess that which Christ ought to possess. He wants to possess the same attraction and authority over the whole world.

And he will receive that authority before his own destruction and that of the whole world. He will have a helper, a Magus, who, by the power of false miracles, will fulfill his will and kill those that do not recognize the authority of Antichrist.

— from “The Antichrist and the Signs of the End of the World, a Homily on the Last Judgement” ☦️ St John Maximovitch

“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day…”
Psalm 90 describes the intensity of the spiritual warfare the Church wages against the devil and his angels.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.