PERSONAL ENDORSEMENT BY FR. PHOTIOS

One's political choice in this year's United States presidential election is not directly related to the spirituality of the Fathers on this web site. But in some ways, the electoral selection choice this year can be viewed as a spiritual one.

Americans have more freedom of choice than any other people on the face of this earth. We don't have to vote, but we can if we wish. This option is similar to Christ's call to us. He offers us a spiritual opportunity to join Him along the way to salvation. He doesn't coerce or force us in any way. We are free to choose, but that freedom also includes the responsibility to bear the risk of our action or inaction.

Politically, this year we have a clear choice between another eight years (perhaps) of more of the same or opting for change with a new face. The new guy on the political block is Barack Obama. He is not Orthodox and thus falls outside the true Church. He is also not Muslim as erroneously reported by scurrilous folk on the Internet and elsewhere. But he appears to be more than a minimalist kind of neo-Christian. He seems to be a spiritual man in his own way and is conducting an ethical campaign.

He does have a significant spiritual problem, his past support for abortion. However, he has realized that one cannot be president of the United States without moving somewhat to the center of the American electorate. Already, he has modified certain of his previous positions.

Mr. Obama needs to abandon his support of a woman's secular 'right' to kill her offspring, God's children. Pray to our Lord that he does. If he does not and goes along with what he believes is politically expedient, I will be deeply disappointed in him. However, my matushka and I have decided to vote for him in any case. We will pray to the Lord that He exercise His grace on Mr. Obama and that Barack sees the spiritual light and reverses himself on this very grave matter. We all are sinners and thus must not look upon others in a judgmental way. We must look to ourselves first!

This endorsement will be taken down after the election results.

[There have been a number of lies spread about Sen. Obama on the Internet. There is a web site where you can check the accuracy or inaccuracy to be more precise of such claims. Please check snopes.com, "WHO IS BARACK OBAMA?" This site gives an honest investigative result regarding controversial claims on the Net. It is very highly regarded. It would be a good idea to check it out when you receive inflammatory claims about someone or something with an urgent request that you forward the message along the net. Don't do it.

Barack Obama is not a Muslim, so you 12% who think he is sober up and quit the weed. He did not attend a Muslim terrorist school in Indonesia. He did not use the Koran upon being sworn in as a United States senator. He does not refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance.]

HOW TO CONQUER WRATH IN ANOTHER

"A man who is wrathful with us is a sick man; we must apply a plaster to his heart - love; we must treat him kindly, speak to him gently, lovingly.
"And if there is not deeply-rooted malice against us within him, but only a temporary fit of anger, you will see how his heart, or his malice, will melt away through your kindness and love - how good will conquer evil.
"A Christian must always be kind, gracious and wise in order to conquer evil by good."

St. John of Kronstadt

MULTIPLE WITNESSES REPORT THE HOLY VIRGIN APPEARED IN SOUTH OSSETIA

19 August 2008, 14:12
Many residents of Tskhinvali saw the Holy Virgin during the shelling, the local bishop claims

Moscow, August 19, Interfax - Many residents of Tskhinvali saw the Holy Virgin during the most violent battles, Bishop Georgy (Pukhate), head of the Alania Diocese acting in the territory of South Ossetia and not recognized in the Orthodox world.

"She was seen in long garments. She mournfully passed along the streets. She was seen in the evening and at night in places of most violent and cruel battles. Militiamen realized, the Holy Virgin didn't leave the city to save it from total destruction. She came to help us," Bishop Georgy said in his interview published on Tuesday by electronic paper Utro.ru

He confessed that when some residents told him they had seen the Holy Virgin on the first war days, he "yielded to a temptation" and decided that people "were hallucinating from fear and horror."

"But when many residents and policemen from various parts of the city described the same phenomenon, it couldn't be a hallucination," Bishop Georgy said.

The Alanian Diocese was established in South Ossetia in 2005. The Diocese is subordinated to "Synod in Resistance" of the so-called True Orthodox Church of Greece.

HOW DOES CHRIST MANIFEST HIMSELF?

"The child Jesus born within us advances by different ways in those who receive Him in wisdom, in age, and in grace. He is not the same in every person, but is present according to the measure of the person receiving Him. He shows Himself according to each one's capacity.
"He comes either as an infant, or a child advancing in age, or as one fully grown after the example of the cluster. Christ is never seen with the same form upon the vine, but He changes His form with time - now budding, now blossoming, now mature, now ripe and finally as wine.
" Thus the vine holds out a promise with its fruit. It is not yet ripe for wine, but it awaits maturity. Meanwhile it does not lack in any delight, for it gladdens our sense of smell instead of our taste with its expectation of the future; by its fragrance of hope it sweetens the soul's senses.
"A faith firm in a grace we hope for becomes a delight for us who wait in patience."

St. Gregory of Nyssa

DON'T LOSE HOPE

"...if you have not yet received the gift of self-control, know that the Lord is ready to hear you if you entreat Him with prayer and hope.
"Understanding the Lord's will, then, do not be discouraged because of your inability to practice asceticism, but strive all the more to be delivered from the enemy through prayer and patient thanksgiving.
"If thoughts of weakness and distress force you to leave the city of fasting, take refuge in another city (cf. Matt. 10:23) - that is, in prayer and thanksgiving."

St. John of Karpathos

HE WHO HAS THE LOVE OF CHRIST

"He who has love in Christ must observe the commandments of Christ. The binding power of the love of God - who is able to set it forth? The radiance of His beauty - who can voice it to satisfaction? The sublimity to which love leads up is unutterable. Love unites us with God; love covers a multitude of sins, love endures everything, is long-suffering to the last; there is nothing vulgar, nothing conceited, in love; love creates no schism; love does not quarrel; love preserves perfect harmony. In love all the elect of God reached perfection, apart from love nothing is pleasing to God. In love the Master took us to Himself. Because of the love which He felt for us, Jesus Christ Our Lord gave His Blood for us by the will of God, His body for our bodies, and His soul for our souls."

St. Clement of Rome

WHAT IS THE POINT OF FAITH WITHOUT APPROPRIATE DEEDS?

"It is pointless for someone to say that he has Faith in God if he does not have the works which go with Faith. What benefit were their lamps to the foolish virgins who had no oil (Matt. 25:1-13), namely, deeds of love and compassion?
"What good did calling Abraham his father do to that rich man frying in the unquenchable flame for his pitilessness towards Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)?
"What use was his apparent obedience to the invitation to that man who had failed to acquire through good works a garment fitting for the divine wedding and the bridechamber of immortality? He was invited and approached because he clearly believed, and he sat down alongside those holy guests, but when he was convicted and put to shame for being clothed in depraved habits and deeds, he was mercilessly bound hand and foot, and cast into hellfire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 22:11-14)."

St. Gregory Palamas

ST. JAMES THE JUST, FIRST BISHOP AND SON OF ST. JOSEPH, JOURNEYED TO EGYPT WITH HIM, THE BABE LORD AND THE EVER-VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD:

"In the left-hand corner [Editorial comment: of the multiple icons of 16 scenes in the icon of THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST (XVIIth century)] are the wise men riding to worship the Saviour, led by an angel with the star in his hands. Below them, in a kind of pavilion, the Mother of God sits on a golden throne, on Her lap the Divine Child, to Whom the wise men are offering gifts. On the other side of the icon, to the right of the Saviour's manger, the angel appears to the wise men in a dream, warning them not to return to Herod (Matt. ii, 12). Above this scene are the wise men departing by another way. Below the adoration of the wise men, we see the angel appearing to Joseph, ordering him to flee to Egypt (Matt. ii, 13). On the opposite side is the flight into Egypt of the Mother of God with the Child and with Joseph accompanied by his son, the future Apostle and first bishop of Jerusalem, James (emphasis supplied)..."

Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky (tr. by G.E.H. Palmer and E. Kadloubovsky), THE MEANING OF ICONS, p.162.

[Editorial note: This wonderfully spiritual book on Orthodox icons is a marvelous way to study not only Holy Scripture but Holy Tradition.]

A VARIETY OF SPIRITUAL COMMENTS FROM DR. ALEXANDRE KALOMIROS IN HIS REMARKABLE TRUE ORTHODOX WORK, AGAINST FALSE UNION. This classic cannot be spiritually recommended too highly. Every Christian or 'wannabe' should have a copy. He breathes and devoutly threads the 'mind' of the Fathers of the Undivided Church throughout the pages! Fr. Photios+

I have taken his spiritual comments from Chapter Two, XVI., CONTEMPORARY IDOLATRY

"A frightening antinomy characterizes the Europeans: [Editorial note- read this as also including Americans and all people committed to following secularism first, and maybe, just maybe, the Lord, He many times not even a distant second choice.]: it is the antithesis between the inward and outward man. The European appears to be one thing, but is really something else. He lives and moves in the falsehood of compromises. His entire culture is a collection of conventional lies to which he has adapted himself. He is extremely egocentric, but he conducts himself with absolute amd almost exaggerated courtesy.
In the 'underdeveloped' countries where the people still lack the finesse of culture, everyone more or less expresses his inner world with some freedom and simplicity which you cannot find in Europe. Their manners are coarse, but the people are more genuine. In Europe this is considered a lack of culture and spiritual development.
In this way, the constant game of hypocrisy has come to be regarded as culture, where the white-washed tombs are full of stench, and the outside of the cup always cleaned for the sake of the appearance to the people (emphasis supplied).... The sentiments they nurture for people are inferior to the love they have for their dogs....
This is the European. Whatever religion he thinks he might have, deep down his religion is the worship of the idol 'man'. The European has ceased to see the image of God in man: he sees only the image of himself.... This inward will of man to believe in his own divinity, together with the fact of his submission to the demonic powers, is the basis of every (emphasis supplied) form of idolatry."

[Editorial note: You see how this turns around the Truth of Christ. Man thinks he can become God on his own. This is the Evil One's work in 'this world,' Reject him!]

"The ideal of the European is identical with the ideal of Lucifer. Deep down, it is the same contempt for the goodness of God, the same insult against His love, the same revolt and estrangement from His providence, the same ingratitude, the same desolate path which, instead of leading upward as man thinks he is going, leads to the abyss of death."

[Editorial Note: The emphasis on man in this world jeopardises one's salvation. To be blunt, salvation is impossible unless man comes to his spiritual senses and places God first. This requires a dramatic change in direction and a willingness to struggle and suffer. If the world hates us, so what? The world will hate us as they hated our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Relish their hatred but, at the same time, be merciful to those who hate you for what you are. Pray for them. They can always change until their end on this earth. In the meantime, let's all get our spiritual ships in order for His coming again!]

...

THE MEANING OF 'ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC & APOSTOLIC'

"The Church is called One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic; because she is one, and holy, because she belongs to the whole world, and not to any particular locality; because by her all mankind and all the earth, and not any particular nation or country, are sanctified; because her very essence consists in the agreement and unity of the spirit and life of all the members who acknowledge her, throughout the world; lastly, because in the writings and doctrines of the Apostles contained all the fulness of her faith, her hope, and her love."

Blessed Alexei Khomiakov, Doctor of the Church (considered by many so to be), in his classic THE CHURCH IS ONE, One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. THE CHURCH IS ONE

ONE WHO TAKES SCRIPTURE, TRADITION OR WORKS SEPARATELY AND BASES HIS BELIEF IN THE CHURCH ON IT ALONE REJECTS THE CHURCH!

"Every one that seeks for proof of the truth of the Church, by that very act either shows his doubt, and excludes himself from the Church, or assumes the appearance of one who doubts and at the same time preserves a hope of proving the truth, and arriving at it by his own power of reason: but the powers of reason do not attain to the truth of God, and the weakness of man is made manifest by the weakness of his proofs. The man who takes Scripture only, and founds the Church on it alone, is in reality rejecting the Church, and is hoping to found her afresh by his own powers: the man who takes tradition and works only, and depreciates the importance of Scripture, is likewise in reality rejecting the Church, and constituting himself a judge of the Spirit of God, who spake by the Scripture. For Christian knowledge is a matter, not of intellectual investigation, but of a living faith, which is a gift of grace. Scripture is external, an outward thing, and tradition is external, and works are external: that which is inward in them is the one Spirit of God. From tradition taken alone, or from Scripture or from works, a man can but derive an external and incomplete knowledge, which may indeed in itself contain truth, for it starts from truth, but at the same time must of necessity be erroneous, inasmuch as it is incomplete (all emphases supplied)."

Khomiakov, ibid., Scripture and Tradition.

SCRIPTURE KNOWS NO LIMITS!

"But there are no limits to Scripture; for every writing which the Church acknowledges as hers is (emphasis supplied) Holy Scripture. Such pre-eminently are the Creeds of the General Councils, and especially the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Wherefore, the writing of Holy Scripture has gone on up to our day, and, if God pleases, yet more will be written. But in the Church there has not been, nor ever will be, any contradictions, either in Scripture, or in tradition, or in works; for in all three is Christ, one and unchangeable."

id.

THE CHRISTIAN ALPHABET

"There are two kinds of learned and wise men: some study in schools from books, and a great many of them are less intelligent than the simple and unlettered, since they do not know the Christian alphabet; yet they sharpen the mind, they correct and adorn words, but they do not wish to reform their hearts (emphasis supplied). Others who study in prayer with humility and diligence and are enlightened by the Holy Spirit are wiser than the philosophers of this age; they are devout and holy and beloved of God; although these do not know the alphabet, they well comprehend everything; they speak simply, crudely, but they live beautifully and auspiciously. These, O Christians, emulate."

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk [+1783], cited by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kiev and Galich [+1936] in his WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORTHODOXY AND WESTERN CONFESSIONS? (first published in 1911 in St. Petersburg)

CHRISTIAN MORALITY VERSUS THE "WEST"

"Thus, the Lord commands us to forgive - but Western morality calls for revenge and bloodshed; the Lord demands that we humbly think of ourselves as great sinners - but the West puts self-esteem above all; the Lord calls us to rejoice and be glad when we are persecuted and cast out - but the West seeks the 'restoration of honour'; for the Lord and His Apostles pride is a demonic sin but for the West it is nobility.
The lowest Russian beggar, or even a half-believing native, a recent convert who has yet completely parted with his pagan practices, can tell good from evil better than the moral authorities of the thousand-year old Western culture, a dismal mess of the shreds of Christianity with the delusions of antiquity."

Metropolitan Anthony, ibid.

THE NATURE OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN FAITH

It is "a personal struggle for gradual self-perfection".

Metropolitan Anthony, id.

"Christianity is an ascetic religion, a teaching on gradual liberation from the passions, on the means and conditions of gradual acquisition of virtues, conditions both internal, that is, personal struggle, and external, that is, dogmatic tenets and grace-filled Mysteries, all having one purpose: to heal human sinfulness and lead us to perfection." (emphases suppled)

Metropolitan Anthony, id.

THE FIRST PROTESTANTS

"In this the Latinists are completely wrong. They themselves are rationalists, and yet they accuse others of rationalism; they themselves were Protestants from the first moment of their falling away, and yet they condemn the spontaneous rebellion of their rebellious brothers. On the other hand, while they have every right to return the accusation, the Protestants are unable to do so because they themselves are no more than developers of the Roman teaching. The only difference is that they have adopted it to suit themselves."

Blessed Alexei Khomiakov, ON THE WESTERN CONFESSIONS OF FAITH

AUTHORITY IS FOREIGN TO THE TRUE CHURCH!

"No - the Church is not an authority, just as God is not an authority and Christ is not an authority, since authority is something external (emphasis supplied) to us. The Church is not an authority, I say, but the truth - and at the same time the inner life of the Christian, since God, Christ, the Church, live in him with a life more real than the heart which is beating in his breast or the blood flowing in his veins. But they are alive in him only insofar as he himself is living by the ecumenical life of love and unity, i.e., by the life of the Church. Such is the blindness of the Western sects that, up to now, not one of them has understood how radically the ground on which they stand differs from that on which the original Church has been standing from earliest times, and on which she will stand eternally."

Khomiakov, ibid.

THE CHURCH CANNOT BE FOUND IN RATIONALISM

"Such is the teaching of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, and I say boldly that no one will find in it the seeds of rationalism.... Whoever seeks beyond (emphasis supplied) hope and faith for any guarantee of the spirit of love is already a rationalist. For him the Church, too, is unthinkable, since he is already, in his whole spirit, plunged in doubt."

Khomiakov, id.

WHO IS THE TRUE ISRAEL AND DOES IT INCLUDE THOSE WHO HAVE ABANDONED THE FAITH?

"We must never forget that the Fathers of the Church considered themselves to be the true spiritual children of Abraham, that the Church considered itself to be the New Israel... (and when we speak of Israel we mean the true (emphasis supplied) Israel, the spiritual sons of Abraham, those who have the faith given by God to His chosen people, not those who have abandoned this faith. The real sons of Abraham are the Church of Christ, and not those carnal descendants, the Jewish race)."

Blessed Dr. Alexandre Kalomiros, RIVER OF FIRE, in VI & VII, respectively, 1980. THE RIVER OF FIRE

HOW DID THE DEVIL SLANDER GOD?

"He used 'theology'. He first introduced a slight alteration in theology which, once it was accepted, he managed to increase more and more to the degree that Christianity became completely unrecognizable. This is what we call 'Western theology'."

RIVER OF FIRE, ibid., II.

WHAT IS WESTERN THEOLOGY'S PRIMARY CHARACTERISTIC?

"Did you ever try to pinpoint what is the principal characteristic of Western theology? Well, its principal characteristic is that it considers God as the real cause of all evil (emphasis supplied)."

RIVER OF FIRE, id.

RAISED FROM THE DEAD BY PRAYER

Raised From The Dead By A Cardiologist's Prayer
According to the Friday, February 1, 2008 air date on WSVN, Channel 7, Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale, FL, healed man, eye witnesses/physical evidence
Click also on the video link and view doctor's explanation.
Is this God's work? Comments? [inserted on July 19, 2008]

[Editorial Comment: Christ many times operates through strangers/unbelievers. Please see St. John of Kronstadt below "REMEMBER THE LORD IS WITHIN STRANGERS!" This spiritual occurrence could well be the Lord's wondrous doing because, after all

"only God could stop decomposition and reunite the soul and body of a man four days dead. Announcing to His disciples the death of Lazarus, the Saviour says, 'And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye believe' (John xi, 15). As on Mount Tabor He showed His glory to His disciples in His Transfiguration, lest they be tempted when they saw Him crucified, so here also, on His way to voluntary death, He shows Himself a 'Vanquisher of death', raising a man four days in the grave, to strengthen thereby faith in His Divine omnipotence and give a pledge to His disciples of His future Resurrection, and to all people - of the general resurrection of the dead. 'Since the first fruits of general resurrection is the Resurrection of Christ, by raising Lazarus the Lord gave an assurance of His own Resurrection'. Therefore, this miracle was performed not only for the disciples, but also for the people, as testifying to the future fate of all mankind and proof of the general resurrection of the dead. And to prevent any doubts in those who were not present and could not witness the miracle, it is reproduced in all details in the Gospels and in the icon."

Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, THE MEANING OF ICONS, THE RAISING OF LAZARUS icon, Russsian, XVIth century, p. 176.

PERHAPS IN THIS FLORIDA CASE THE LORD IS REMINDING US OF HIS POWER, HIS COMING AGAIN AND THE GENERAL RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD!]

SHOULD A TRUE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN ENGAGE IN 'DISCUSSIONS' ON SO-CALLED ORTHODOX CHAT-ROOMS?

Suggestion:
No. What is to be gained by such dialogue? Everything has been revealed by Christ, and the Fathers are our custodians of His Ship, whose Rudder guides us spiritually and protects us from life's dangerous shoals and fast currents. Read the Scriptures and the Fathers along with the accepted Orthodox Councils. Then adapt your life accordingly. That's all you need.
Go to Orthodoxy's true sources and drink from Its inexhaustible spiritual well! Then you will have no time to engage in such vacuous discussions that many times permeate the Net's chat-rooms.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN CHRIST?

A recent survey found that 29% of Orthodox Christians do not believe in God. Unbelievable! But if so, they aren't Christians, are they? If you are one of these, repent now and start anew down the Royal Path to deification in His energies! It is not too late, but it will be if you die before repentance.

THE 'MIND' OF THE FATHERS KNOWS NO CONFLICT

"What was it that above all struck me in the works of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church? It was their harmony, their wondrous, magnificent harmony. Eighteen centuries, through their lips, testified to a single unanimous teaching, a Divine teaching!"

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) [cited Orthodox Christian Information Center]

'SCIENTIFIC' THEOLOGIANS OF THIS WORLD TRANSMIT UNBELIEF NOT THE TRUE FAITH!

"Todays theologians have become scientists, like the doctors, chemists and engineers, because by presenting themselves as such they will be honored by the world. And they go to Europe, the place of spiritual darkness, to receive a degree. They stuff their heads with a multitude of ungrounded and vain philosophies, and come to our land to transmit their unbelief instead of the Faith.... They do not enter into the Heavenly Kingdom, and hinder others from entering, as our Lord has said. Their punishment is that they do not see any of the wondrous things that are seen by believers, and hence they lack contrition and are cold. They are separated from God and His Kingdom, because they love the glory of men, instead of the glory of God (Semeion Mega, A Great Sign, 1962, pp. 16-17)."

Blessed Photios Kontoglou, cited by Constantine Cavarnos in his MEETINGS WITH KONTOGLOU

ARE WE SPIRITUALLY SHALLOW?

A recent survey result suggested American 'religion' is "3000 miles long and three inches deep". How sad, but true! Obviously, due in large part to heretical ecumenism. Let's not follow the crowd awaiting the antichrist. Dive into your Orthodoxy and discover its immeasurable depth!

SPIRITUAL DELUSION RESULTING IN BLASPHEMY

"As an example of a book written in the state of delusion called opinion, we cite the following: 'When Francis was caught up to heaven,' says a writer of his life, 'God the Father, on seeing him, was for a moment in doubt as to whom to give the preference, to His Son by nature or by His son by grace - Francis.'

What can be more frightful or madder than this blasphemy, what can be sadder than this delusion!"

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) commenting on a writer of a book on the life of Francis of Assisi in THE ARENA, (translated from the Russian by Archimandrite Lazarus), Holy Trinity Monastery, 1997, p. 40.

A CRITICAL READ - INFALLIBILITY!

INFALLIBILITY AND VALID COUNCILS - "Not only are ecclesiastical councils, or even the whole Church, infallible when they think and judge in accordance with the divine law which declares or reveals the divine will, but every member even of the Church is likewise infallible when he thinks and judges in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. Nevertheless, this infallibility is mainly an attribute of the divine law, of the Holy Spirit, by coming into agreement with which a man comes into communion with His thought and judgment and becomes infallible. Again, wherever there is infallibility, there also is validity. Hence it is to be concluded that those Councils are valid and command respect in the Church whose decrees when judged by the infallible law of the Holy Scriptures and of tradition are found to be consonant and similar and to vary therefrom neither in the direction of an excess nor by way of a deficiency in the least manner whatsoever. Their dogmas bear an obligatory character, and are obligatory upon all the Church. Accordingly, these Councils are called infallible and God-inspired."

THE RUDDER, pp.xv-xvi.

INVALID COUNCILS - "But those Councils, on the other hand, whose decrees when judged by the criterion of the Holy Scriptures and of tradition are found to depart from and to differ from Scripture and of tradition are not conceived in Holy Spirit, but in a Satanical spirit, regardless of whether they have been convoked by or composed of bishops or patriarchs or popes, or whether they have been sanctioned by imperial edicts." ibid., p. xvi.

WHAT COUNCILS THEN ARE VALID? - "When judged by this infallible principle the seven holy Ecumenical Councils are found to have been in all respects God-inspired and infallible and valid. Their dogmas, moreover, are recognized in the Church and in her theology as a criterion for later conciliar decrees, which in the course of the life of the Church naturally arise and are invested with the same validity and have the same authority as the dogmas and doctrines embodied in the Holy Scriptures." id.

[For a somewhat fuller discussion, see CONCILIARITY, CANONICAL HIERARCHY & INFALLIBILITY]

TRUE CHRISTIANS DON'T FOLLOW THE MARKETPLACE

"Thus, as briefly as possible I have set forth for you our love of wisdom, which is dogmatical and not dialectical, in the manner of the fishermen and not of Aristotle, spiritually and not cleverly woven, according to the rules of the Church and not of the marketplace."

St. Gregory the Theologian (of Nazianzus)

SPIRITUAL STANDING OF THE RUDDER (PEDALION) SECOND ONLY TO THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

"This Handbook, in effect, is next after the Holy Scriptures a holy Scripture, and next after the Old and New Testaments a Testament... This book, it may be said, is replete with the everlasting bounds set by our Fathers, and the laws which endure forever and which are above all external and imperial laws of the Digests, of the Institutes, of the Codes, and of the Novels for the latter were issued by mere emperors, whereas the former were laid down by Councils, ecumenical and regional, through the Holy Spirit, and emperors ratified them. This book is truly, as we have entitled it, the Rudder of the Catholic Church, which when thereby steered, conveys the sailors and passengers in it, those in holy orders, I mean, as well as laymen, safely to the unruffled haven of the Kingdom above."

The Rudder, p. Li

PATRIARCH JEREMIAH IN HIS THIRD ANSWER TO THE SPIRITUALLY-DELUDED LUTHERAN SCHOLARS OF TUBINGEN

"Therefore, we request that from henceforth you do not cause us more grief, nor write to us on the same subject if you should wish to treat these luminaries and theologians of the Church in a different manner. You honor and exalt them in words, but you reject them in deeds. For you try to prove our weapons which are their holy and divine discourses as unsuitable. And it is with these documents that we would have to write and contradict you. Thus, as for you, please release us from these cares. Therefore, going about your own ways, write no longer concerning dogmas; but if you do, write only for friendship's sake. Farewell."

Jeremiah, Patriarch of Constantinople
Issued in the year 1581, June 6

Protonotarios Theodosios

George Mastrantonis, AUGSBURG AND CONSTANTINOPLE, p. 306. [Nevertheless, the somewhat full of themselves Lutherans just had to write again...]

AMISH GRACE & MARTYRDOM

"He said, 'I'm angry at God and I need to punish some Christian girls to get even with Him.'... He then turned to the girls: 'I'm going to make you pay for my daughter.' One of two thirteen-year-olds in the room quickly assumed leadership of the younger girls, doing everything she could to help them. Realizing he planned to kill them, she said, 'Shoot me first,' hoping to save the others and fulfilling her duty to watch over the little ones in her care." [She died there that day as well as four others.]

The massacre at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, October 2006, see the book Amish Grace by Kraybill, Nolt, Weaver-Zercher, John Wiley & Sons, 2007, pp. 25-27.

AVOID PRIDE

"But I will confess that I am somehow suspicious of the Greeks. They have no lack of zeal or freedom (the two great reproaches brought against them by the Latins); but they cannot get rid of a dangerous inheritance from Antiquity. They are Christians, but they are, perhaps, unconsciously too proud of their having been useful to the Church; Christianity belongs too much to their national history, and their hearts are not completely free from a certain un-Christian aristocratic feeling which makes them look down on other Christian nations, though Orthodox, as their inferiors. This feeling is akin to the one that has given rise to the Latin usurpation. Though being checked by a deeper understanding of the true doctrine, it cannot go the whole lengths it has gone in the West, yet it is not completely conquered; and it gives the Greeks that unbending stubbornness and that unamiable disposition which you have noticed and experienced."

Eighth Letter to William Palmer from Alexei Khomiakov

REMEMBER THE LORD IS WITHIN STRANGERS!

"Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When your neighbour comes to you, always have great respect for him, because the Lord is in him, and often expresses His will through him. 'It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Phil. 2:13). Therefore, do not grudge anything to your brother, but do unto him as unto the Lord; especially as you do not know in whom the Lord will come and visit you; be impartial to all, be kind to all, sincere and hospitable. Remember that sometimes God speaks even through unbelievers, or disposes their hearts towards us, as it happened in Egypt when the Lord gave Joseph favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. (Gen. 39:21)."

St. John Kronstadt

'CORRECTNESS' IS NOT THE ESSENCE OF ORTHODOXY

"The significance of the Catacomb Church does not lie in its 'correctness'; it lies in its preservation of the true spirit of Orthodoxy, the spirit of freedom in Christ."
Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) in the Introduction to RUSSIA's CATACOMB SAINTS by I.M. Andreyev, St. Herman of Alaska Press, 1982, 650 pages
[still out of print it is believed]

DEFINITION OF HUMILITY

"Humility is constant forgetfulness of one's achievements."

St. John Climacus

GOD SENDS US SUFFERING AS A SPIRITUAL MEDICINE, NOT A PUNISHMENT!

"The suffering and misfortune that the Lord allows to fall on the righteous is not the work of evil but a medicine, both for the righteous themselves and for those around them who understand that their suffering is sent from God for their good.
The suffering that comes from the attacks of evil spirits on man, or as a consequence of sin, is evil. But the suffering that God allows to fall on men, in order to cleanse them completely from sin, pluck them out from under the devil's tyranny and bring them close to Himself - this purifying suffering neither comes from evil nor is in itself evil, but is from God and for the good of men.
'It is good for me that Thou hast afflicted me; that I might learn Thine ordinances' (Ps. 118:71), says the discerning King David."

Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich

GOD'S FIELD IS INDESTRUCTIBLE!

"Today the tares are very many and the ears of wheat very few, but the field is God's field, and in spite of the variety of tares, the wheat remains the same from generation to generation, from seed to seed, the same as that first wheat which the Holy Spirit planted in that same divine field on the day of Pentecost."

Dr. Alexandre Kalomiros, AGAINST FALSE UNION, p. 23.

COMPROMISE WITH HERETICS?

"The Fathers did not enter into discussions with heretics. They confessed the truth and refuted their claims without courteousness and compliments. They never arrived at mutual understandings with heretical 'churches'. Their dialogue was always public and had a view to the salvation and edification of souls. The Orthodox Church did not converse with 'churches' of the heretics. It was not a discussion of the Church with churches, but a dialogue between the Church and souls who had lost their way. The Church does not discuss, for she does not seek. She simply gives - because she has everything."

Dr. Alexandre Kalomiros, AGAINST FALSE UNION, p. 6.

"Christ does not ask for debaters, but for confessors. The truth which He taught us is not the kind that is debatable."

Kalomiros, ibid.