From the ‘Large Gerontiko’
An elder once said that there was this hermit who was living in the deepest desert for many years and had achieved the visionary charisma to such an extent that he was also in company with angels. Then this is what happened:
Two brothers, monks, heard about this hermit and wished to meet him so that they could benefit from his acquaintance. Διαβάστε τη συνέχεια του άρθρου »
English: We received from our Serbian friends, an e-mail with the following text and video attached. We do not know anything about this video, nor are we in any position to explain what is happening. We would like you to draw your own conclusions.
«This is something very unusual I’ve never seen it before! One believer was trying to make a photo of the sunset when he noticed a very unusual light on the left and started recording it. It was an Angel taking the soul of one man – when they went to that building one man had really died! Have a look!»
Ελληνικά: Kάποιοι φίλοι από την Σερβία, μας έστειλαν το παρακάτω βίντεο και κείμενο. Εμείς δεν γνωρίζουμε περισσότερα για αυτό το βίντεο και δεν είμαστε σε θέση να μιλήσουμε για αυτό. Θα θέλαμε να βγάλετε τα δικά σας συμπεράσματα.
«Κάτι πολύ ασυνήθιστο που δεν έχουμε ξαναδεί! Ένας πιστός, προσπαθώντας να αποθανατίσει το ηλιοβασίλεμα, με το κινητό του, πρόσεξε ένα παράξενο φως στα αριστερά και άρχισε να το βιντεοσκοπεί. Ήταν ένας Άγγελος που έπαιρνε την ψυχή ενός ανθρώπου. Όταν πήγαν στο κτίριο, βρήκαν ότι όντως κάποιος είχε πεθάνει! Κοιτάξτε!» read more… Διαβάστε τη συνέχεια του άρθρου »
May an angel of God, my child, follow you and show you the path of God and of your salvation. Amen; so be it. I pray that God gives you health of soul, for this is a special gift of sonship which is bestowed only upon those souls that have been completely devoted to the worship and love of God.
The world attracts the youth like a magnet; worldly things have great power over the newly enlightened soul that just started to find its bearings and see its purpose in life and the duty calling him. «Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.» [1] God has stored up pleausres for eternity, for both He and our soul are eternal. There is no comparison between the pleasures of the world and the pure pleasures of God.
The Ruthwell Cross. From: "The Anglo-Saxons", Ed. by James Campbell, Penguin Books, 1991.
VatopaidiFriend: «The Dream of the Rood (=Cross)» is a wonderful Old English poem written in the 8th century (before the Schism). It tells of how the Cross appeared to a man in a vision and spoke to him. It provides profound Orthodox insight on the Mystery of the Atonement. The translation into modern English is by Mary Rambaran-Olm. Note that today, with the Old (Julian) Calendar, we celebrate the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross (September 14/27).
1 Lo! I will tell of the best of dreams,
what I dreamed in the middle of the night,
after the speech-bearers were in bed.
It seemed to me that I saw a very wondrous tree
5 lifted into the air, enveloped by light,
the brightest of trees. That beacon was all
covered with gold. Gems stood Διαβάστε τη συνέχεια του άρθρου »
I came across this very direct and very insightful bit of information while continuing my reading of Unseen Warfare. It is the very first paragraph of Chapter 16 which is titled “How a warrior of Christ should prepare for battle in the moring:”
As soon as you wake up in the morning, pray for a while saying: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me.’ Then your first work should be to shut yourself in your own heart, as if taking up position in the arena. Having established yourself there, bring yourself to the consciousness and feeling that your enemy and the passionate urge agaisnt which you struggle at the moment is already there, on your left, ready for immediate attack; therefore rouse against them a firm resolve to conquer or die, but never submit. Realise also that on your right there stands, invisibly present, your Commander, our Lord Jesus Christ, with His Holy Mother and a host of holy Angels, with the Archangel Michael at their head, ready to come to your aid. So take heart and be of good cheer.
What a brilliant visual of the warfare we are all involved in and what hearting one as well! I try to say a set of morning prayers each morning (the usual Glory Be… O Heavenly King… Most Holy Trinity… Come let us worship and bow down… etc.) though sadly the days I don’t do it outnumber the days that I do. However, I can definately tell a difference throughout the day from when I do say my morning prayers and when I do not.
The Fathers teach us that prayer is the single most effective weapon against our enemeis–both internal and external. I don’t know about you, but I find it very comforting to know that as I’m praying, as I’m waging a holy war against my passions and the demons who delight in them, I have the mighty Commander, our Champion Defender, and the Heavenly Army fighting with me. Glory be to God!
IC | XC
—-+—-
NI | KA
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the snares and wickedness of the devil—
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the Power of God,
cast into hell satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl the world seeking the ruin of souls.
AMEN.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day and to stand in all things perfect.
Ephesians 6,12-13
Read more… Διαβάστε τη συνέχεια του άρθρου »
In the context of forbidding attitude of the Eastern Fathers toward mental images, it seems necessary to briefly mention elaborate and very imaginative Orthodox iconography.[5] Icons in the Orthodox Tradition are used for prayer, meditation, and contemplation. Yet, even during prayer before icons, which obviously present visual imagery, the use of mental imagery, according to the Orthodox Tradition, is to be avoided. St. Ignatii (Bryanchaninov) writes:
The holy icons are accepted by the Holy Church for the purpose of arousing pious memories and feelings, but not at all for arousing imagination. Standing before an icon of the Savior, stand as if before the Lord Jesus Christ himself, Who is invisibly everywhere present and by His icon is in that place, where the icon is; standing before an icon of the Mother of God, stand as if before the Most-Holy Virgin Herself; but keep your mind without images: there is a great difference between being in the presence of the Lord or standing before the Lord and imagining the Lord. (Works 2004, 1:76) Διαβάστε τη συνέχεια του άρθρου »
In other words, according to St. Ignatii (Bryanchaninov), purposefully creating images in one’s mind, and even accepting those appearing spontaneously, is not only dangerous spiritually, but can also lead to the damage of the soul, or psychological problems, “which,” he says, “has happened to many.” Undoubtedly, here St. Ignatii refers to the spirituality of some Western saints: “Do not play with your salvation, do not. Take up the reading of the New Testament and the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, but not of Teresa and other Western crazies…” (25) But cases of mental disorders facilitated by improper prayer or state of mind are also mentioned in various Orthodox literature, especially paterikons.
Saint Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022), writing in the late tenth to early eleventh centuries, warns against the method of prayer later used by St. Ignatius of Loyola and other Western saints as potentially leading to mental problems:
Read more… Διαβάστε τη συνέχεια του άρθρου »
Just as there can be a properly trained voice, there can be a properly trained soul.[1]
—Fr. Alexander Yelchaninov
Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov
This presentation is based on the research that I undertook for a book titled Imagine That… : Mental Imagery in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Private Devotion, published in paperback in February of 2009 with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco. The work is an analytical comparison of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox attitudes toward mental imagery. In this presentation, I wish to focus specifically on the Orthodox tradition of prayer.
ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙ
Απόψεις για τη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου (και όχι μόνο) 