“For years in my studies I was satisfied with being ‘above all traditions’ but somehow faithful to them... When I visited an Orthodox church, it was only in order to view another ‘tradition.’ However, when I entered an Orthodox church for the first time (a Russian church in San Francisco) something happened to me that I had not experienced in any Buddhist or other Eastern temple; something in my heart said that this was ‘home,’ that all my search was over. I didn’t really know what this meant, because the service was quite strange to me, and in a foreign language. I began to attend Orthodox services more frequently, gradually learning its language and customs…. With my exposure to Orthodoxy and to Orthodox people, a new idea began to enter my awareness: that Truth was not just an abstract idea, sought and known by the mind, but was something personal — even a Person — sought and loved by the heart. And that is how I met Christ.”
—Fr Seraphim Rose
—Fr Seraphim Rose
Our Patriarch and Father in the Faith, St. Moses the Law-Giver (Sept 4), born a slave, lived 16 centuries before Christ— yet it is correct to call him and the other Prophets Christians. They clearly prophesied about Him.
When St. Moses encountered the burning bush, he received and obeyed the word of God. He followed God’s command and led the Hebrews out of captivity, leading them to Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments. He died before God’s people crossed over the Jordan into the promised land, and Satan and Archangel Michael fought over his body. Taken into heaven, St. Moses returned to earth to consult with Our Lord at the Transfiguration, showing that Christ was greater than he was, and that Christ fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets.
Rare icon: Moses the God-seer in the Tabernacle
When St. Moses encountered the burning bush, he received and obeyed the word of God. He followed God’s command and led the Hebrews out of captivity, leading them to Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments. He died before God’s people crossed over the Jordan into the promised land, and Satan and Archangel Michael fought over his body. Taken into heaven, St. Moses returned to earth to consult with Our Lord at the Transfiguration, showing that Christ was greater than he was, and that Christ fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets.
Rare icon: Moses the God-seer in the Tabernacle
Are these words not even more true today?
“It is necessary for everyone to know Scriptural teachings, and this is especially true for children. Even at their age, they are exposed to all sorts of folly and bad examples from popular entertainments. Our children need remedies for all these things! We are so concerned with our children’s schooling; if only we were equally zealous in bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord!...
When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their fellow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls and reveal the image of God within them. This, then, is our task: to educate both ourselves and our children in godliness.”
☦️ St. John Chrysostom
“It is necessary for everyone to know Scriptural teachings, and this is especially true for children. Even at their age, they are exposed to all sorts of folly and bad examples from popular entertainments. Our children need remedies for all these things! We are so concerned with our children’s schooling; if only we were equally zealous in bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord!...
When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their fellow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls and reveal the image of God within them. This, then, is our task: to educate both ourselves and our children in godliness.”
☦️ St. John Chrysostom
Establish my heart, weak for everything good, upon the immovable rock of Thy commandments O Christ. Without Thee I myself am nothing. Without Thee I can do no good. Without Thee evil in its various forms is alone within me. Without Thee I am the son of perdition. O unspeakably Good One, fill my heart with Thy goodness! But above all, I pray Thee, grant that I may love Thee with all my heart and my neighbour as myself. Grant that I may be neither malicious, proud, presumptuous, nor disobedient, but grant that I may be gentle, humble, tenderly respectful, and obedient. Amen.
The Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross (Sept 14/ Sept 27) celebrates both the finding of the True Cross of our Lord by Empress Helen (mother of St Constantine the Great) on Golgotha in 326, and its recovery from the Persians, who captured the True Cross as a prize of war when they sacked Jerusalem in 614.
The Catholicon (main church) of the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou on Mount Athos houses thirteen reliquaries containing pieces of the True Cross. One of them includes the world's largest piece of the True Cross, a source of countless miracles. It exudes a faint fragrance, unlike any perfume or anything in the natural world.
The Catholicon (main church) of the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou on Mount Athos houses thirteen reliquaries containing pieces of the True Cross. One of them includes the world's largest piece of the True Cross, a source of countless miracles. It exudes a faint fragrance, unlike any perfume or anything in the natural world.
"Let us venerate the Cross of the Lord, offering our tender affection as the cypress, the sweet fragrance of our faith as the cedar, and our sincere love as the pine.; and let us glorify our Deliverer who was nailed upon it. Let us venerate the Cross of the Lord, offering our tender affection as the cypress, the sweet fragrance of our faith as the cedar, and our sincere love as the pine; and let us glorify our Deliverer who was nailed upon it."
The above Lenten Triodion refers to the three kinds of wood from which the Cross was made (Isa. 60:13).
The above Lenten Triodion refers to the three kinds of wood from which the Cross was made (Isa. 60:13).
May the Lord give us the spiritual strength to transform ourselves. We know that time is running out, and the evil spirits know this, too. They do not want a single person to be free from evil thoughts. With that aim, they teach even small children to oppose their parents so that, when these children grow up, they will be easy prey for them…
But it can all take a turn for the good if each one of us begins with himself, if the transformation starts with us. We should try to have good thoughts which will radiate from us. A meek and humble person is always very pleasant to be with, for he emanates peace and warmth. That person may not say a single word, yet we rejoice to be in his presence. So, if we all begin with ourselves, transformation will take place. Goodness will be renewed and established all around us, in our country, and further abroad.
☦️ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, from the book, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives – The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica"
But it can all take a turn for the good if each one of us begins with himself, if the transformation starts with us. We should try to have good thoughts which will radiate from us. A meek and humble person is always very pleasant to be with, for he emanates peace and warmth. That person may not say a single word, yet we rejoice to be in his presence. So, if we all begin with ourselves, transformation will take place. Goodness will be renewed and established all around us, in our country, and further abroad.
☦️ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, from the book, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives – The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica"