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Top 5 Blog Posts of the Week of January 23th


5. Three stories from The Holy Fathers


The following is an excerpt from a letter of Saint Basil the Great to a certain noble patrician: "It is good and profitable to communicate everyday and to partake of the holy Body and Blood of Christ, for He Himself tells us: 'Whoever eats my Body and drinks my Blood has eternal life!' Who, then, doubts that partaking continually of life means nothing other than having manifold life? We, here, have the custom of communicating four times a week; namely, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, or any other day on which the memory of a Saint falls."…READ FULL ARTICLE

4. "Understandest thou what thou readest?" The Role of Spiritual Direction


A very early example of spiritual direction is found in the Book of Acts. Saint Philip is traveling across the desert, from Jerusalem to Gaza. He meets an Ethiopian who is sitting in his chariot and reading the Old Testament Book of Isaiah - a book that contains many of the messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Saint Philip is inspired to say to the Ethiopian: Understandest thou what thou readest? (Acts 8:30). To which the man replies with an important question of his own: How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him... (Acts 8:31)…READ FULL ARTICLE

3. "Why Orthodox Christianity should not change with the times?"


It reached my ears that, as it seems, you consider my sermons very strict and believe that today no one should think this way, no one should be living this way and therefore, no one should be teaching this way. “Times have changed!” How glad I was to hear this. This means that you listen carefully to what I say, and not only do you listen, but you are also willing to abide by it. What more could we hope for, we who preach as we were ordered and as much we were ordered?...READ FULL ARTICLE

2. The Story and Miracles: The Veneration of the Chains of Saint Peter the Apostle


Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great and king of the Jews, grew wroth against the Church of Christ, and slew James, the brother of John the Evangelist. Seeing that this pleased the Jews, he took Peter also into custody and locked him up in prison, intending to keep him there until after the feast of the Passover, so that he could win the favor of the people by presenting him to them as a victim. But the Apostle was saved when he was miraculously set free by an Angel (Acts 12:1-19)…READ FULL ARTICLE

1. Excerpts from "Family Life" by Elder Paisios the Athonite, Part II



In general, the difficulties which exist today in the world force those who desire to live a little spiritual life to be watchful. Just as, may God protect us, in a war the people are in a watchful state, I see the same thing happening now with whomever strives to live spiritually. Look how tough the poor children have it who are close to the Church! But the war, which exists because of the terrible environment in which they live, helps them, in a way, to stay awake…READ FULL ARTICLE


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