Be the defenders of purity and the sanctity of family life. Teach your children to understand and keep in purity what God has ordained, namely that youth be a period of purity... They receive God’s blessing through the Sacrament of Marriage give birth to blessed children, and God will always protect them because God will never be indebted.”
-- His Eminence Metropolitan Laurențiu, Metropolitan of Transylvania
-- His Eminence Metropolitan Laurențiu, Metropolitan of Transylvania
Saint Athanasius began his second of five exiles on April 16, 339, at Rome. It lasted seven and a half years. St. Gregory Nazianzen, fellow Doctor of the Church, said, "When I praise Athanasius, virtue itself is my theme: for I name every virtue as often as I mention him who was possessed of all virtues. He was the true pillar of the Church. His life and conduct were the rule of bishops, and his doctrine the rule of the Orthodox faith." (Or.21)
On Holy Pascha of 1993 (April 18), three monks of Optina Hermitage-- Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov), Monk Trophim (Tatarinov), and Monk Therapont (Pushkaryov)-- received holy martyrdom at the hands of a Satanist. Many faithful express the hope that these new martyrs for Christ will soon be canonized.
"On Great and Holy Friday, two days before Father Vasily’s death, he experienced a profound spiritual moment during a divine service. He suddenly paused while stepping onto the solea to proclaim stichera and fell silent. At that moment, the choir sang in his stead, 'Heaven at this was amazed, and the sun hid its rays.' Father Vasily remained discreet about the details of this experience.”
“Before the Paschal liturgy, Father Vasily was tasked with preparing the proskomidia. Normally adept at this duty, he found it unusually difficult this time. Urged by the dean to hasten, he responded, 'I’m sorry, I can’t. It’s so hard, as if I were cutting through my own flesh.'"
"On Great and Holy Friday, two days before Father Vasily’s death, he experienced a profound spiritual moment during a divine service. He suddenly paused while stepping onto the solea to proclaim stichera and fell silent. At that moment, the choir sang in his stead, 'Heaven at this was amazed, and the sun hid its rays.' Father Vasily remained discreet about the details of this experience.”
“Before the Paschal liturgy, Father Vasily was tasked with preparing the proskomidia. Normally adept at this duty, he found it unusually difficult this time. Urged by the dean to hasten, he responded, 'I’m sorry, I can’t. It’s so hard, as if I were cutting through my own flesh.'"
In 2005, a chapel in honour of the Resurrection of Christ was erected over the graves of the three monks who had suffered martyrdom. Many pilgrims receive grace through prayers to the new martyrs of Optina, and the monastery brethren are actively gathering evidence for the future canonisation of these slain ascetics.”
From https://obitel-minsk.org/en/optina-new-martyrs-slain-on-pascha
From https://obitel-minsk.org/en/optina-new-martyrs-slain-on-pascha
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!
During this prayer, says Archpriest Theodore Gignadze, you should not be “looking for some spiritual gifts.
Instead, the words ‘have mercy on me’ must be rightly motivated by the realization that you are in hell. It must be motivated by the feeling that you are perishing and are on the brink of spiritual death.” Otherwise, you are deluded.
“So, what is delusion? Delusion is living in a lie.
And what does it mean to live in a lie? It is when you think that you are something...
If, however, you are at the bottom of hell, how can you possibly fall into delusion?”
During this prayer, says Archpriest Theodore Gignadze, you should not be “looking for some spiritual gifts.
Instead, the words ‘have mercy on me’ must be rightly motivated by the realization that you are in hell. It must be motivated by the feeling that you are perishing and are on the brink of spiritual death.” Otherwise, you are deluded.
“So, what is delusion? Delusion is living in a lie.
And what does it mean to live in a lie? It is when you think that you are something...
If, however, you are at the bottom of hell, how can you possibly fall into delusion?”
Lord, grant us tears of
repentance over our lustfulness, as these great saints have done.
“Weep over your sin: it is a spiritual ailment; it is death to your immortal soul…
I weep over my indulgences in lust, impure thoughts and evil inclinations; covetousness, gluttony, drunkenness, and sloth;
I weep for having talked idly, used foul language, blasphemed, derided, joked, ridiculed, mocked, enjoyed empty gaiety, singing, dancing and every pleasure to excess…”
☦️St Basil the Great
repentance over our lustfulness, as these great saints have done.
“Weep over your sin: it is a spiritual ailment; it is death to your immortal soul…
I weep over my indulgences in lust, impure thoughts and evil inclinations; covetousness, gluttony, drunkenness, and sloth;
I weep for having talked idly, used foul language, blasphemed, derided, joked, ridiculed, mocked, enjoyed empty gaiety, singing, dancing and every pleasure to excess…”
☦️St Basil the Great
‘I want to be saved, but I do not know the way to salvation.’ Brother! Through the Holy Scriptures and through our fathers God has shown us the way to salvation, saying: 'Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you' (Deut. 32:7). So if you wish not to go astray on the path of salvation, do nothing without asking the spiritual fathers, and you will not err, thanks to the grace of God Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth' (I Tim. 2:4). Sts. Barsanuphius and John. Directions in Spiritual Work, Text #71. Philokalia, B#23.
“She had left her parents at the age of 12 to go to Alexandria, where she spent the next 17 years in debauchery and the greatest profligacy. Living on charity and linen-weaving, she nevertheless offered her body to any man, not being forced to it by dire necessity as were so many poor women, but as though she were consumed by the fire of desire that nothing was able to appease...When she realized the fullness of her sinfulness through a divine revelation, she prayed and heard a voice from on high: ‘If you cross the Jordan, you will find rest.’ She crossed the river and lived from that time on in the desert for 47 years without encountering another human being or any animal.
Protected by God, who desires nothing but that the sinner should turn to Him and live, she uprooted all the passions from her heart by means of her extraordinary ascesis and was able to turn the fire of carnal desire into a flame of divine love that made it possible for her to endure the implacable desert with joy as though she were not in the flesh...”
—From the Life of St. Mary of Egypt
—From the Life of St. Mary of Egypt