Daily Dose of Orthodoxy

[Rdr. Arsenios]

A Newly-Revealed Saint With Incorrupt Relics in Romania

The relic of the monk Joseph is located at Radeni Hermitage in the small city of Targu Neamt in N.E. Romania. On 7 November 2011 his exhumation took place seven years after his repose.

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012...incorrupt.html

Arsenios

[Rdr. Arsenios]

This is just a picture of Metropolitan Hilarion -
I hope his beautiful smile
as this dove hovers around his upraised hands
comes through in the uploaded picture:

Looks like he's in a (winter) swamp/slough somewheres!

MetropolitanHilarion.jpg

[T-Shirt Ninja]

Saw this story on a facebook status:

"Once on Mount Athos there was a monk who lived in Karyes. He drank and got drunk every day and was the cause of scandal to the pilgrims. Eventually he died and this relieved some of the faithful who went on to tell Elder Paisios that they were delighted that this huge problem was finally solved.

Father Paisios answered them that he knew about the death of the monk, after seeing the entire battalion of angels who came to collect his soul. The pilgrims were amazed and some protested and tried to explain to the Elder of whom they were talking about, thinking that the Elder did not understand.

Elder Paisios explained to them: “This particular monk was born in Asia Minor, shortly before the destruction by the Turks when they gathered all the boys. So as not to take him from their parents, they would take him with them to the reaping, and so he wouldn’t cry, they just put raki* into his milk in order for him to sleep. Therefore he grew up as an alcoholic. There he found an elder and said to him that he was an alcoholic. The elder told him to do prostrations and prayers every night and beg the Panagia to help him to reduce by one the glasses he drank.

After a year he managed with struggle and repentance to make the 20 glasses he drank into 19 glasses. The struggle continued over the years and he reached 2-3 glasses, with which he would still get drunk.”

The world for years saw an alcoholic monk who scandalized the pilgrims, but God saw a fighter who fought a long struggle to reduce his passion.

Without knowing what each one is trying to do what he wants to do, what right do we have to judge his effort?

* Raki is a Turkish unsweetened, anise-flavored hard alcoholic drink that is popular in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Serbia, and other Balkan countries as an apéritif."

[One Bad Pig]

Obedience yields communion. When we fast in obedience during Lent, we do not do so for juridical reasons, but because we are thereby in communion with everyone who is fasting with us. Similarly, when as penance we obediently refrain from the Eucharist for a time, we are yet in communion due to our obedience to our spiritual father. - Archimandrite Zacharias of St. John the Baptist Monastery (Essex, England), as recounted by Abbot Sergius of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery (South Canaan, PA)

[Rdr. Arsenios]

"Even the things
between the heavens and the earth

are of less value

than what lies on the boundary
between man's mind and his senses..."

St Gregory Palamas, from Homily 26...

[One Bad Pig]

Humility has no tongue in order to speak against someone for being careless, or someone else for being contemptuous; nor does it have eyes with which to notice another's faults; nor, again, does it have ears to hear that which does not benefit the soul. Neither does it have anything against others, except one's own sins. Instead, it renders one peaceful with all people for the sake of God's commandment, and not merely some friendship. For, if one fasts six days out of seven and is entirely given to great [ascetic] toils and commandments, all of that person's toils outside this way of humility are in vain. - Abba Isaiah of Scetis, from Discourse 8

[Rdr. Arsenios]

Saint Nikolai Velomirovich:

"Don't argue with an atheist,
don't argue with an angry man,
don't argue with a bitter man.

Don't argue with an atheist because man is by nature devout.
Don't argue with an angry man because man is by nature peaceful and calm.
If you argue with an angry man, you argue with the devil.

Don't argue with a bitter man because man is by nature grateful, and thankful to God.
What you should do is by acts of love and mercy pray that God would enlighten the person.
You are not going to convince them by argument and logic."

[Rdr. Arsenios]

"If a man has on one side of him fire,
and on the other side a vessel filled with water,
then if he starts burning from the fire,
he takes water from the vessel and extinguishes the fire.

Like to this are the evil thoughts,
suggested by the enemy of our salvation,
which like a spark can enkindle sinful desires within a man.
It is necessary to put out these sparks with the water,
which is prayer and the yearning of the soul for God."

-- Abba Poemen
_______________________________________________________________________

[Rdr. Arsenios]

It is a fearful thing to hate whom God has loved.
To look upon another – his weaknesses, his sins, his faults, his defects –
is to look upon one who is suffering.

He is suffering from negative passions,
from the same sinful human corruption from which you yourself suffer.

This is very important:
Do not look upon him with the judgmental eyes of comparison,
noting the sins you assume you’d never commit.
Rather, see him as a fellow sufferer,
a fellow human being who is in need of the very healing of which you are in need.

Help him, love him, pray for him,
do unto him as you would have him do unto you.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
_______________________________________________________________________

[One Bad Pig]

Earlier this month, a white dove welcomed the Ecumenical Patriarch to Crete.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

The Ancient Church taught that knowledge of God comes only through the noetic science of the heart. From the standpoint of Orthodox theology, the mind and logic are not the same thing, since logic functions within the brain, while the mind functions within the heart. Thus, the noetic faculty of the heart is the energy of the mind inside the heart. This important distinction results in the Eastern Church seeing herself not as a religious institution, but rather a hospital of the soul, wherein one comes for therapeutic procedures that restore the health of the soul, and allow for the ultimate goal of union with God (theosis). For those who wish further understanding of these ancient Christian teaching, the writings of my favorite modern theologian, Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, are a worthy read.

Abbot Tryphon
All Merciful Savior Monastery

[T-Shirt Ninja]

I love Abbot Tryphon. I think he's a living saint of our time.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

I love Abbot Tryphon. I think he's a living saint of our time.

I get to see him some 6 times a year or so...
And talk with him more often...
He is a wonderful Father...

An evangelical monk...
Almost an oxymoron...

Arsenios

[T-Shirt Ninja]

A new saint was recently declared: Saint Elias of Makeevka.

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012...-saint-of.html

Here's a great story from this saint,

He would console those who grieved over the loss of their loved ones. One woman received a death notice that her husband had been killed in battle. Deep sorrow came to her, so she visited the Elder. After listening to her, he said: "Go to church, pray diligently, take Communion every Sunday - your husband will return." The woman listened and did all that he told her. After a while she got a letter from her husband, who was alive. He had been wounded, was unconscious for a long time, and then he was rescued by local residents.

[Rdr. Arsenios]

From the blog Mystagogy

A Story about the Consequences of Unforgiveness.



By Monk Agapios Landos

There once was a woman who lived in fasting and prayer. Outwardly she appeared pious, but she had much pride and believed she was a saint.

She also had such resentment, that, if she argued with another woman, not only did she not forgive her, but she didn't even want to see her again before her eyes.

At one point she became sick and invited her spiritual father, but she didn't confess completely - this is something often done by superficial Christians who hide their great sins and reveal the small ones.

In the end, when the priest brought forward the Holy Gifts that she may commune, she turned her head to the wall and could not even confront the Sacred Pearl.

At the same time, with Divine concession, she confessed with a loud voice:

"Just as I, out of pride, did not forgive whoever I blamed, but I turned away from them, so now the Lord turns away His face from me and does not want to enter my unworthy soul. I will not see Him in the heavenly kingdom, but I will burn in eternal hell!"

And with those words, she died!



From the book Αμαρτωλών σωτηρία (The Salvation of Sinners). Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Arsenios