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Today's Document
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Discoholic 🪩
JBB: An Artblog!
Love Begins
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oozey mess
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祝日 / Permanent Vacation
if i look back, i am lost
Kaledo Art
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hello vonnie
Three Goblin Art
Origami Around
Claire Keane
KIROKAZE
AnasAbdin
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@uncreatedlight
'As has been said, the principle and the root of all spiritual activity is to live according to the commandments of the Lord, and the end and fruit of this is to recapture the grace of the Holy Spirit which was given to us in baptism but which is buried under passions. Therefore it behooves us to try with zeal to keep the commandments so that God's grace can again shine brightly in us' [Callistus and Ignatius, taken from the appendix of "The Way of a Pilgrim"]
The Martyrdom of St. Paul إستشهاد القديس بولس الرسول He was sentenced to death in Rome by Caesar Nero, in the same year that St. Peter the Apostle was martyred and because he was a Roman citizen, he was beheaded. His holy relics are found in the Vatican in Rome. حكم عليه نيرون الملك بالموت في نفس السنة التي إستشهد فيها القديس بطرس الرسول، و لأنه كان مواطن روماني قطع رأسه. هامة الرسول بولس المقدسة محفوظة في الفاتيكان. [The icon from Kikos Monastery on the island of Cyprus].
The Martyrdom of St. Peter إستشهاد القديس بطرس الرسول In Rome, he was sentenced to death by Emperor Nero, around the year 67 AD. He asked to be crucified upside down, because he considered himself unworthy of being crucified as Christ, his Lord. His holy remains are found in the Vatican in Rome. في روما، قبض عليه نيرون الملك وأمر بقتله، و كان ذلك حوالى سنة ٦٧ ب.م. فطلب أن يصلبوه و رأسه الى أسفل لأنه إعتبر نفسه غير مستحق أن يصلب كما صلب المسيح، ربّه. توجد رفاته المقدّسة في الفاتيكان في روما. [The icon from Kikos Monastery on the island of Cyprus].
'He who seeks [the Lord] through contemplation without practicing the commandments does not find Him' - [St. Maximus the Confessor]
REFLECTION ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY FAST
Do not ever violate the fast on Wednesday and Friday. This fast is commanded by the Church and is well explained.
If you have ever in your life violated this fast, pray to God that He forgives you and sin no more. The holy and pious men do not consider themselves dispensed from this fast either during a journey, much less even in sickness.
St. Pachomius met some men carrying a corpse and he saw two angels in the funeral procession. He prayed to God to reveal to him the mystery of the presence of the angels at the burial of this man. What good did this man do that the holy angels of God accompanied him in procession to the grave?
According to God’s Providence, both angels approached Pachomius and, in this manner, explained to him: “One of the angels is the angel of Wednesday and the other is the angel of Friday. Seeing how this man always, even until death, fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays so we are honorably accompanying his body. As he, until death, kept the fast, so we are glorifying him.”
What is the time now ? Father Yostos was often asked by the visitors of the monastery of St. Anthony for words of spiritual benefit, and he answered them with his renowned words "What is the time now? ". Father Yostos wanted to attract their attention to the fact that time is passing quickly and very shortly, we will see our Saviour face to face , so we must be ready. His prayers be with us. Amen☦️
‘The All-Knowing saw that we worshipped creatures. He put on a created body to catch us by our habit, to draw us by a created body toward the Creator. Blessed is He Who contrived to draw us to Him. The evil one knew how to harm us; with luminaries he blinded us. With possessions he maimed us, by gold he made us poor. With graven images he made us a heart of stone. Blessed is He who came to soften it.’
St. Ephrem of Syria
Lord, resurrect our dying souls. 📿❤☦
Lord have mercy. ☦📿
'Gathering of the heart in the mind is attention, gathering of the will is vigilance, gathering of the senses is soberness'-[+St. Theophan the Recluse]
The Lord said, ‘If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things?’-[John 3:12 AMP]
https://bible.com/bible/1588/jhn.3.12.AMP
☦️We are to raise our mind and understanding from earthly to heavenly things, and to seek the gift of the Holy Spirit☦️
'Seat yourself, then, concentrate your intellect, and lead it into the respiratory passage through which your breath passes into your heart. Put pressure on your intellect and compel it to descend with your inhaled breath into your heart. Once it has entered there, what follows will be neither dismal nor glum. Just as a man, after being far away from home, on his return is overjoyed at being with his wife and children again, so the intellect, once it is united with the soul, is filled with indescribable delight. Therefore, brother, train your intellect not to leave your heart quickly, for at first it is strongly disinclined to remain constrained and circumscribed in this way. But once it becomes accustomed to remaining there, it can no longer bear to be outside the heart. For the kingdom of heaven is within us (cf Luke 17:21); and when the intellect concentrates its attention in the heart and through pure prayer searches there for the kingdom of heaven, all external things become abominable and hateful to it. If, then, after your first attempts you enter through your intellect into the abode of the heart in the way that I have explained, give thanks and glory to God, and exult in Him. Continually persevere in this practice and it will teach you what you do not know. Moreover, when your intellect is firmly established in your heart, it must not remain there silent and idle; it should constantly repeat and meditate on the prayer, 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me', and should never stop doing this. For this prayer protects the intellect from distraction, renders it impregnable to diabolic attacks, and every day increases its love and desire for God.'-[+Nikephoros the Monk, the Philokalia]
'Man, as far as his body is concerned, is like a lighted candle. A candle must be consumed; thus also the body must die. But the soul is immortal, and so our care also must be more for the soul than for the body: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mk. 8:36)... One should always endure any trial for the sake of God with gratitude. Our life is a single minute in comparison with eternity; and therefore, according to the Apostle, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). Bear it in silence when an enemy offends you, and open your heart to the Lord... Without sorrows there is no salvation. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God awaits those who have patiently endured. And all the glory of the world is nothing in comparison.'-[St. Seraphim of Sarov]
