Monday, March 3, 2008
Moving to Wordpress
Since all the cool kids are ditching Blogger for Wordpress, I decided to join the club. If you feel like it, you can join me at The Impractical Christian.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
My Daily Life in Christ: Only Christ keeps me alive!
When your heart inclines to evil, and the evil one begins to undermine your heart, so that it is completely removed from the rock of faith, then say to yourself inwardly: "I know of my spiritual poverty, my own nothingness without faith. I am so weak, that it is only by Christ's name that I live and obtain peace, that I rejoice and my heart expands, whilst without Him I am spiritually dead, I am troubled, and my heart is oppressed; without the Lord's Cross I should have been long since the victim of the most cruel distress and despair. Only Christ keeps me alive: and the Cross is my peace and my consolation.
From My Life in Christ, by St. John of Kronstadt, page 5.
From My Life in Christ, by St. John of Kronstadt, page 5.
My Daily Life in Christ: Introduction
My Godfather lent me his copy of St. John of Kronstadt's My Life in Christ. Every day until Holy Saturday (April 26) I will post excerpts from this wonderful spiritual work that I found personally helpful. Here is St. John's introduction:
I do not precede my book by any introduction: let it speak for itself. Everything contained in it is but a gracious enlightenment which was bestowed upon my soul by the all-enlightening Holy Ghost during moments of deep self-concentration and of self-examination, especially during prayer. When I had time, I noted down the edifying thoughts and feelings that came to me, and from these notes, continued for many years, this book has now been compiled; the contents are very varied, as will be seen by the readers. Let them judge of them for themselves.
"He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." (1 Corinthians 2:15)
I do not precede my book by any introduction: let it speak for itself. Everything contained in it is but a gracious enlightenment which was bestowed upon my soul by the all-enlightening Holy Ghost during moments of deep self-concentration and of self-examination, especially during prayer. When I had time, I noted down the edifying thoughts and feelings that came to me, and from these notes, continued for many years, this book has now been compiled; the contents are very varied, as will be seen by the readers. Let them judge of them for themselves.
"He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." (1 Corinthians 2:15)
Chesterton Day by Day
IT may be a very limited aim in morality to shoot a 'many-faced and fickle traitor,' but at least it is a better aim than to be a many-faced and fickle traitor, which is a simple summary of a good many modern systems from Mr. d'Annunzio's downwards.
'The Defendant.'
'The Defendant.'
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Long Live Serbia!
While the great Shakespeare was writing his tragedies in ink, the Serbs wrote their tragedies in blood…While Milton was writing ‘Paradise Lost’, the Serbs felt more deeply than anyone else in the world that they had indeed lost Paradise…While Adam Smith was composing his great work ‘The Wealth of the Nations’, the Serbian people possessed only one great wealth - a strong faith and the hope of holiness.
St Nicolas of Zhicha, Serbia in Light and Darkness, a lecture given in Canterbury Cathedral, 1919.
I stand with my Serbian brothers and all right-thinking individuals in opposing the illegal secession of Kosovo. May God protect the Serbian people!Sunday, February 10, 2008
New Martyrs
From the video:
"This is from the opus 31 setting of the Liturgy by Sergei Rakhmaninov. This video is dedicated to the New Russian Martyrs. The image sequence begins with the trial of St Veniamin of Petrograd, then, icons of the martyrs follow, with individual and corporate icons alternating. This is to show that the martyrdom of the New Russian Confessors was both a personal and united podvig (act of courage). To close the sequence of the martyrs, I chose the icon of the Finding of the Relics of Patriarch St Tikhon. This is a thematic bridge between the past events and the present day. The final image is the Mother of God Stand for Christ with the Martyr's Cross. That needs no commentary.
The blood of the New Martyrs is the seedbed of the current revival in Russia. This is my tribute to them."
Holy Royal Martyrs, pray to God for us!
Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, pray to God for us!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Pie in the Sky?
...had prophetic Judaism and its successor, Christianity, made their appearance in the twentieth century, they would perhaps have classified not as religions but as medical sciences akin to psychiatry.... In no way would they have been confused with religions which by various magical practices and beliefs promise escape from an alleged material world of evil or of false appearances to an alleged world of security and happiness.
- Fr. John Romanides
- Fr. John Romanides
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Way of Christian Philosophy according to St. Maximos the Confessor
Do not malign as base and wicked the one whom yesterday you praised and commended as good and virtuous, because your love has turned to hatred.
Do not invoke your brother’s shortcoming to justify the evil hatred that has taken hold of you. Rather, even if you are held by resentment, persist in your praises, and then you will easily return to the same salutary love.
Do not, because of your hidden resentment, adulterate your usual praise of your brother in your conversations with the other brethren, surreptitiously intermingling your words with [references to his] shortcomings and condemnation. Instead, make use of unmixed praise and genuinely pray for him, as if you were praying for yourself, and thus you will quickly be delivered from this destructive hatred.
If your brother is again tempted by the Enemy and persists in speaking ill of you, do not depart from your state of love, but repulse the demon that is troubling your mind. And this will occur if you speak benevolently when you are disparaged and show goodness and kindness when you are plotted against.
This is the way of Christian philosophy, and one who does not follow it will not dwell together with Christ.
Do not invoke your brother’s shortcoming to justify the evil hatred that has taken hold of you. Rather, even if you are held by resentment, persist in your praises, and then you will easily return to the same salutary love.
Do not, because of your hidden resentment, adulterate your usual praise of your brother in your conversations with the other brethren, surreptitiously intermingling your words with [references to his] shortcomings and condemnation. Instead, make use of unmixed praise and genuinely pray for him, as if you were praying for yourself, and thus you will quickly be delivered from this destructive hatred.
If your brother is again tempted by the Enemy and persists in speaking ill of you, do not depart from your state of love, but repulse the demon that is troubling your mind. And this will occur if you speak benevolently when you are disparaged and show goodness and kindness when you are plotted against.
This is the way of Christian philosophy, and one who does not follow it will not dwell together with Christ.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
About the concern for the salvation of our neighbors
"No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor." (I Corinthians 10:24)
This is the principle of the saints of God, both now, at one time, always and forever. This is the principle on which society is built. Upon this principle can be established the most perfect, the most God-pleasing and the most prosperous human society. This is the saving principle for every type of difficulty with which contemporary men struggle, struggle without victory and without hope. The holy soul is concerned with where the homeless will spend the night, how the hungry will be fed, how the naked will be clothed. The soul is concerned and prays to God that their neighbors be saved; that their hearts be filled with love toward God; that their minds be directed toward God; that the wicked turn from the path of wickedness; that those wavering in the Faith be strengthened; that those who are strengthened be sustained; that those who have died see the Face of God; that the living be written in the Book of Life in the Kingdom of Light.
Therefore, be careful brethren, how even in like manner, word for word, can sound the destructive and antisocial principle of the devil. This principle of the devil says: no one should look at their own body to preserve it in purity from sin, but rather everyone should look at the bodies of others in order to ruin and to destroy them. That no one should look at his own soul, how to save it, rather everyone should look at the soul of someone else in order to blacken it, to curse it, to impoverish it and to destroy it. Let no one look at his house, in order to build it, and renew it rather let everyone look at the home of another in order to burn it and demolish it. No one should look at his granaries in order to fill them, rather, one should look at the granaries of others in order to steal from them and to empty them. See, brethren, how this principle can be either a principle of good or a principle of evil; a sharp two-edged sword; an angel or Satan. See how this principle in the satanic spirit and form has taken momentum on all sides today!
O Lord, Holy Spirit, Who has released these holy words in the world through the tongue of the apostle of God as bright rays of the sun to illuminate and not to burn us, help us now to fulfill them in the proper heavenly sense to the glory of the Triune God and for the salvation of our souls.
To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.
--St. Nikolai Velimirovich
This is the principle of the saints of God, both now, at one time, always and forever. This is the principle on which society is built. Upon this principle can be established the most perfect, the most God-pleasing and the most prosperous human society. This is the saving principle for every type of difficulty with which contemporary men struggle, struggle without victory and without hope. The holy soul is concerned with where the homeless will spend the night, how the hungry will be fed, how the naked will be clothed. The soul is concerned and prays to God that their neighbors be saved; that their hearts be filled with love toward God; that their minds be directed toward God; that the wicked turn from the path of wickedness; that those wavering in the Faith be strengthened; that those who are strengthened be sustained; that those who have died see the Face of God; that the living be written in the Book of Life in the Kingdom of Light.
Therefore, be careful brethren, how even in like manner, word for word, can sound the destructive and antisocial principle of the devil. This principle of the devil says: no one should look at their own body to preserve it in purity from sin, but rather everyone should look at the bodies of others in order to ruin and to destroy them. That no one should look at his own soul, how to save it, rather everyone should look at the soul of someone else in order to blacken it, to curse it, to impoverish it and to destroy it. Let no one look at his house, in order to build it, and renew it rather let everyone look at the home of another in order to burn it and demolish it. No one should look at his granaries in order to fill them, rather, one should look at the granaries of others in order to steal from them and to empty them. See, brethren, how this principle can be either a principle of good or a principle of evil; a sharp two-edged sword; an angel or Satan. See how this principle in the satanic spirit and form has taken momentum on all sides today!
O Lord, Holy Spirit, Who has released these holy words in the world through the tongue of the apostle of God as bright rays of the sun to illuminate and not to burn us, help us now to fulfill them in the proper heavenly sense to the glory of the Triune God and for the salvation of our souls.
To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.
--St. Nikolai Velimirovich
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