Quote
May 08, 2012
4 notes
"If salvation is not a real participation in the resurrected life, the glorified and grace-filled Humanity of Christ, then we are left with a man-made religion of “ideas” and concepts, an imaginary “relationship” with God that cannot truly transform and save us."

— Father Michael Shanbour

Tags: Orthodox Antiochian Christian Michael Shanbour Religion salvation Jesus Christ

Quote
May 08, 2012
5 notes
"Now Christians love to live in rich homes, sit at a rich table, dress in rich clothing, ride in rich carriages and horses, though they may see the want and poverty of their neighbors. Hence it is evident that they only love themselves, and not God or their neighbors."

— St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Tags: Orthodox Christian St. Tikhon of Zadonsk love poverty wealth riches self-love

Quote
March 05, 2012
4 notes
"Sit down and recall in solitude the things that have happened; where you started and where you went, in what place you were seized by the spirit of unchastity, dejection or anger and how it all happened. Examine these things closely and commit them to memory, so that you will then be ready to expose the demon when he next approaches you. Try to become conscious of the weak spot in yourself which he hid from you, and you will not follow him again."

— Evagrios The Solitary

Tags: Orthodox Evagrios saint anger dejection demon Philokalia

Quote
February 28, 2012
4 notes
"Because of the workings of the memory whatever has preoccupied our mind before the time for prayer must of necessity intrude on our actual prayers. Therefore in advance of prayer we must strive to dispose ourselves as we would wish to be during prayer. The praying spirit is shaped by its earlier condition. As we prostrate ourselves for prayer our deeds, words, fastings rise up in our imagination. They are as they were before our prayer, and they move us to anger or gloom. We turn back toward desire or worldly affairs. Stupidly - and I am ashamed to say it - we laugh as we recall some clownish act or word, and the mind flits back to the earlier concerns of our talk. So therefore before we pray we must hasten to drive from our heart’s sanctuary anything we would not wish to intrude on our prayers, and all this so that we might do as the apostle bids us: ‘Pray ceaselessly’ (I Thes. 5:17). ‘In every place lift up pure hands, with no anger and no rivalry’ (I Tim. 2:8). But we will not be able to fulfill this injunction unless the mind within us is cleansed of the contagion of sin, is devoted to virtue as its natural good, and feeds continuously on the contemplation of the all-powerful God."

— St. John Cassian

Tags: Orthodox Orthodoxy pray prayer Lent Church spirit anger gloom God

Text
February 13, 2012

Shrub Branch

January 29, 2012

The house was blessed. This involved Father Mark and several people from the church coming over. We started in my room as this is where I have a few icons. Father Mark prayed. Then we began singing a song about when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. Father Mark had a bowl of water and used a branch, that I had taken from outside, to toss water on each side of every room that we entered. 

-I mention this summarized account to provide context for the following-

The branch for the past two weeks has been sitting in the blessed water in my room by the icons. Father Mark suggested that I use the water for a plant…I figured what the heck lets see how this shrub branch does.

Slowly but surely the water has been decreasing and about 2-3 days ago it was all gone. The branch sat there. 

This branch got me thinking of my own life. There’s these moments of being saturated by drawing close to God but then sin becomes a close companion and I’m left sitting in an empty bowl, drying out. 

Today I went to Home Depot, bought some soil and a pot. I also purchased a small indoor rose bush to place by the icons. 

The shrub branch appears to still be kicking…we’ll see in a week or so how it turns out.

Tags: orthodox church antiochean

Video
September 25, 2011
32 notes

Stopping YouTube for at least 3 months.

Tags: Orthodoxy Orthodox Church Catholic Catholicism God Religion discipleship cost of Christian Jesus Christ

Video
August 29, 2011
5 notes

“If there was No Adam and No Eve”

A thoughtful video.

Tags: Adam Eve history genetics dna Orthodox Eastern Evangelistic