https://theflowersoforthodoxy.blogspot.com
The Flowers of Orthodoxy
Quotes of Saint Gabriela of Leros Island, Greece, Missionary in England, Africa, India, Holy Land etc. (+1992)
Two things are very important… “Love one another,” and “Fear not, only believe.”
We become a reflection of Heaven by saying: ‘Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven’.
If you have love for all the world, the whole world is beautiful.
If you do not get rid of “No” and “Tomorrow” from your life, you will never get to where the Lord wants you, Who grants you everything. He will give you the bodily strength when you answer “Yes” and “Now”. The prophets, the angels and the saints all said, “Behold here I am… Let it be according to Your word.”
Truth and light are synonymous.When you follow the truth you are in the light, you are with Christ.
True prayer always reaches heaven. The angels carry it to the right place and the answer comes. Its basis is Truth, and “Not My will, but that of the Father Who sent me.”
Say prayer-ropes also just with “Thank you”.
The angels always come. You should have continual conversation with your guardian angel. About everything. Especially in difficulties and when you cannot get across to someone. He always helps.
When it is in God’s programme for you to go somewhere, you will go. That is why I am generally quiet in
life. I have observed that even if a person does not want to, God moves him.Never expect anybody to understand you. Only God.
When one is alone with God, the time passes unimaginably quickly. More quickly than when you have companionship… And yet even within the world one can remain united with God. How? When whatever he is doing he directs his thoughts to Him… when whatever good comes his way he gives Him glory… and whatever testing he meets, he gives Him thanks.
Love means to respect the freedom of the other.
You must not talk about persons who are absent.
Love is always on the cross. Because Christ is on the cross.
If coal is not “beaten”, can it become diamond?
The Lord allows those who love Him to be tested, first, so that their faith in Him may grow stronger, and second, to set an example for those around.
Some people want to go to the Resurrection without passing by way of Gologatha.
The sermon on the mount and the epistle of Saint James. Every day! What a pity that we do not hear them more often…
My wishes: may the grace of our Christ, the love of the omnipotent Father and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit be with you! May your example be the life of the Mother of God, who will lead you at every step with her archangels and angels as your heavenly mother; that you love your mother who brought you into life and brought you up, and may you give love and joy first to her, and then to all who come near you.
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2023/10/mother-gabriela-ascetic-of-love-is.html
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Elder Symeon Kragiopoulos on the Nativity of the Theotokos: "The heavier the burdens we’ve got to lift in this world, the greater God’s blessing will be..."
The heavier the burdens we’ve got to lift in this world, the greater God’s blessing will be, as was the case of saint Anna who, though infertile, brought the Virgin Mary into the world.
Something similar will happen to each one of us, if we don’t despair and if we take this difficult and unbearable burden as special grace from God. Indeed, that’s the way things are. So great will the blessing from God be that man will remain in wonder.
To get to this point, man shouldn’t grumble. On the contrary, let us allow this unbearable cross, this unbearable shame we have to carry be the reason we refuse to grumble. Let it be the reason why we learn to feel gratitude to God. Let it be the reason we cry out to God with all our might, the reason we entrust ourselves to God and indeed expect for His blessing, His grace, His love to come.
Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos (†)
From the book: Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos, “SPIRITUAL MESSAGES” Panorama Thessaloniki, 2017
https://www.orthodoxpath.org/saints-and-elders-counsels/the-nativity-of-theotokos/
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St. Peter of Damascus: . . . if someone wants to be saved, no person and no time, place or occupation can prevent him. He must not, however . . .
Icon of St. Peter of DamascusBriefly, we may say that in the nature of things, if someone wants to be saved, no person and no time, place or occupation can prevent him. He must not, however, act contrary to the objective that he has in view, but must with discrimination refer every thought to the divine purpose. Things do not happen out of necessity: they depend upon the person through whom they happen. We do not sin against our will, but we first assent to an evil thought and so fall into captivity. Then the thought itself carries the captive forcibly and against his wishes into sin.
The same is true of sins that occur through ignorance: they arise from sins consciously committed. For unless a man is drunk with either wine or desire, he is not unaware of what he is doing; but such drunkenness obscures the intellect and so it falls, and dies as a result. Yet that death has not come about inexplicably: it has been unwittingly induced by the drunkenness to which we consciously assented. We will find many instances, especially in our thoughts, where we fall from what is within our control to what is outside it, and from what we are consciously aware of to what is unwitting. But because the first appears unimportant and attractive, we slip unintentionally and unawares into the second. Yet if from the start we had wanted to keep the commandments and to remain as we were when baptized, we would not have fallen into so many sins or have needed the trials and tribulations of repentance.
+ St. Peter of Damascus, Book I: A Treasury of Divine Knowledge, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 3)
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Homily on Theophany by St. Luke of Simferopol
The Gospel reading of Theophany provides a word of Christ of great importance. And on this I wish now to turn your attention for a bit.
This great event of the Theophany of the Lord was preceded by the preaching on the banks of the Jordan River by John, the Forerunner of the Lord, the greatest among those born of women. His fiery preaching of repentance, for which he prepared beforehand for twenty years in the desert of Judea, attracted to him a great multitude of people. The fiery word of his preaching set ablaze the hearts of men, whom he baptized in the waters of the Jordan to purify their sins.
But on that great day, to his great astonishment, among the others who were coming to be baptized was Him Who he had never seen, but was Him Whom he revealed would come to baptize him with the Holy Spirit. And having fallen at His feet, he told Him with reverence: "I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?" (Matthew 3:14)
We, hope are truly baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire, could not understand why the sinless Son of God went to His servant John and asked to be baptized by him with the baptism of repentance, in order for Him to be loosened from sins that He did not possess, if Christ had not responded to the question of the Forerunner in this way: "Let it be so, for thus we will fulfill all righteousness." (Matthew 3:15)
O, our Lord! We venerate You and Your Forerunner, and we thank You from the depths of our hearts for teaching us to respect and honor "all righteousness", and to hate any type of injustice, for this comes from the devil. Every righteousness, even the most insignificant righteous act, is blessed by God. You received baptism from John in the Jordan River for the remission of sins, because You wished to fulfill whatever was seen beforehand in the plan of God. The descent into the waters of the Jordan served as a seal of repentance for those who were coming to be baptized. For repentance from one's whole heart in those who received the baptism of John, received from God remission of their sins...
Therefore, the baptism of John was righteous. Our Savior was not speaking only about this righteousness to John, however, in order to silence him and to answer his question, but He was speaking about every righteousness, in other words, regarding the plan of God. With His Divine Word, He sanctified and blessed every truth and simultaneously condemned every injustice.
Think, my beloved, people of the spirit as myself, communicants of the little flock of Christ, how much injustice exists in the word! What a great sin is war, when the faithful, and especially Christian people kill each other! If the murder even of one person is punished by death in many peoples, then, how much will our Lord punish those who have led the murder of tens of millions of people?! Any sin is injustice, and war is the greatest injustice, which we all must despise...
The Baptism of our Lord has for us an exalted meaning as well, for we have the revelation of the Holy Trinity. At the instant when the Lord stood up from the water, from Heaven was heard the voice of God the Father, Which bore witness to the Son, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased." (Matthew 3:17) And the Holy Spirit "in the form of a dove", descended from Heaven upon the head of the Pre-eternal Son of God. This Theophany has great importance, as it is also called besides the Baptism of the Lord. He Himself, the tri-hypostatic God, revealed the divinity of His Second Person, of the incarnate Word of God. God--Father and Holy Spirit as well--were revealed as well to mankind together with the Savior of the race of men...
O, Son of God! O, our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ! To Your works of love, to Your countless wonders, please do another wonder: draw close with Your right hand to my stony heart and turn it to a "heart of flesh". Amen.
-From the Words and Homilies of St. Luke of Simferopol, Vol. II., Published by Orthodox Kypseli
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2021/01/homily-on-theophany-by-st-luke-of.html
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St. Porphyrios: "Unquestionably the higher state is love."
"Which is better? To be meek, humble, peaceful and to be filled with love, or to be irritable, depressed, and to quarrel with everyone? Unquestionably the higher state is love."
-St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
http://apantaortodoxias.blogspot.com/2020/11/which-is-better-to-be-meek-humble.html
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A vision of Elder Ephraim, and a picture of his purported to be weeping
"I just communicated with Gerontissa Thekla from Montreal, and she told me that our holy Elder appeared to someone living in Crete. He lives ascetically, and would go to visit the Elder at St. Anthony's [in Arizona].
He has this picture of our holy Elder with a constant vigil lamp before it. The Elder told him that God is greatly saddened by the Greeks***, because they are not praying.
On November 3rd, the picture began to weep, not just tears, but it became soaked.
The Elder is praying for all of us."
-Maria
***Note: By no means are the Greeks the only people that might not be praying as they should, but all people throughout the world, young and old, clergy, laity and monastics, should be repenting and praying as we should, entreating the Lord to save the world.
“Elder Ephraim of Philotheou, who lived as an ascetic in Arizona, appeared to a woman in Northern Greece, a long-time spiritual daughter of the elder. At the time of the appearance she was with her daughter-in-law; she was not asleep but actually in a state of alertness. At one point the woman was unresponsive, as if in ecstasy,* and this lasted for about 10 minutes, according to her daughter-in-law who was watching her. She did not realize or comprehend the time duration — i.e., for how long the vision lasted. It was something new for her (the content of the conversation) because she has seen the Elder before, after his repose, both in her sleep as well while she was awake. Due to all this (her shock), she contacted her spiritual father and asked whether this experience was real or a deception by the evil one.
She saw Elder Ephraim and he was very sad and was imploring Christ that the ongoing [direction of] events be averted (all this, of course, is in agreement with what the elder said to many while he was alive).
And he told her:
‘Repentance repentance repentance. Christ is very angry...
We people today should not be in this spiritual state we are in...
Huge tribulations are coming, you can not imagine how bad these will be...
Alas to all of you for what awaits you; you must repent as long as there is time...
You need to kneel and cry, to shed tears of repentance, that Christ soften...
This has to do with what is happening in America as well.
Many people will depart through all that is to come, many people will depart (they will die).
You have no mercy among you. You show no mercy to each other.
You are tough towards each other, you stand ready to eat (consume-destroy) each other ....
Tell all of this to your spiritual father and to others ....’
The woman who saw this was a spiritual daughter of Elder Ephraim and was in communication with him often up until his repose.
- f. I.
*Translator’s note: The Greek term here is χάθηκε. It was not immediately clear to us if this meant literally or spiritually. We received clarification that it was the latter and have made the change. We have also made other minor changes to improve the English translation and correct typos in the Greek version.
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2020/11/picture-of-elder-ephraim-of-arizona.html
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Homily on the Meaning of the Holy Cross, by Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotes
My beloved, what does the Cross teach us? Take a chalk and write, like children do in school, 2+2=4. Thus, the Cross is the "equal sign", but what is it? Do you think that it is simply a piece of wood that we venerate and are saved? You are mistaken, because this is not how it is in reality.
The Cross equals forgiveness.
Because upon the Cross, Christ forgave His murderers. Are there today some here in church who are at odds with each other? Are there women who hate their mothers-in-law? Are there houses where people don't speak with each other? Are there neighbors that don't greet each other? Is there hatred? Well then, the Cross tells us today: "Forgive!" If you don't forgive, then don't approach the Cross, don't venerate it. When, within your heart, you have bitterness, you have this serpent of hatred, you can't approach the Cross. Because the Cross means forgiveness. You must forgive even your greatest enemy.
The Cross equals truth.
Even if they put a knife to your throat, and slaughter you, you should speak the truth. Not in the sense that you go to court and raise your wretched hand upon the Gospel and take a false oath. Not like this. Christ was crucified for the truth. Whoever says lies, whoever goes to court and takes false oaths, he is not worthy to venerate the Cross. The Cross, therefore, equals forgiveness, the Cross equals truth.
The Cross equals humility.
No--even though you might have a very large home, or more money or lands or animals, or if you have children studying in school or if you have a beautiful wife, or whatever else you might do--you should not boast or feel proud. You are not a Christian! Humility! Humble yourself to say: I am nothing, I am a worm, I am nothing in this world. However, when you have pride and you boast and you show off your body and your job and your money, then you are not a Christian.
The Cross equals love.
Is your neighbor hungry? Give him a piece of bread. Is he thirsty? Give him a glass of water. Is he naked? Give him a shirt to wear. Go and console him and wipe away his tears. This is Christianity. Not when you have everything and your neighbor has nothing.
The Cross equals sacrifice.
As Christ sacrificed Himself, thus we must sacrifice ourselves. This is what the Cross means. If you do these things, then you are worthy to be called Christians. But you who dip your hands in blood, you who take false oaths, you who are unjust to the orphan, you cannot approach the Cross. The Cross casts you out.
Read the life of St. Mary of Egypt. On this day, she went to Jerusalem and saw the crowd going into the church and everyone--old, young, women, men--were going to venerate. She herself tried to approach the entrance. But some power pushed her back. She tried and second and a third time, but she was unable. Why? Because she was a sinful woman, and she worked in sin in Alexandria. Only after she repented, then she was able to enter the church and she became a Christian in reality.
The Cross, my beloved, creates presuppositions. We must live corresponding to the teaching of the Cross.
And something else: You should make your Cross properly. Because unfortunately, in our faithless years that we are living through, everything has become fashionable. Fashionable hair, fashionable clothing, fashionable shoes, fashion everywhere. Unfortunately many in Church do it out of fashion. Unfortunately you see scientists, congressmen, ministers, prime ministers, and none are doing their Cross correctly. That which they are doing is not the Cross. It joking and mocking. It is playing with God. Do not play with God. How will they understand that you are a Christian? By your Cross. When you make the sign of the Cross properly, you are doing a whole prayer. Therefore, do your Cross properly.
And when should you do your Cross? When you awake in the morning, do your Cross. Are you going to work? Do your Cross. Are you going to your field? Do your Cross. Are you sowing, returning from your field, entering your home? Do your Cross. Are you sitting at your dinner table? Do your Cross. Are you going to sleep? Do your Cross.
"Though I fall, I make my Cross
And have an Angel by my side."
O woman, are you baking? Make the sign of the Cross in the dough. Wherever you go and whatever you do, make your Cross. The Cross is the "protector of the whole world."
(+) Bishop Augoustinos
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2020/09/homily-on-meaning-of-holy-cross-by.html
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They asked an Abbess:
"What are you doing here, locked up in the Monastery for so many years?"
She replied: "I am praying to God to place you in Paradise."
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2020/09/i-am-praying-to-god-to-place-you-in.html
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"Once, when St. Iakovos of Evia, Greece, was casting out demons from a wretched demoniac, his ears heard: 'Hey Iakovos, you should know! The knees of Mary have withered from praying for all of you.' What are we doing? Are we worthy of these prayers or do we fall and get carried away from our passions and fall into sin? And if we fall, do we go afterwards to kneel under the stole of a spiritual father, that our sins might be washed away? Because, we will have to give an account for our deeds, our desires, our thoughts...so while there is still time, let us repent! Let us change our way of thinking and our way of life, to enter into the space of our Church. She is the ark of our salvation, that we might partake of the Spotless Mysteries, in Confession and Divine Communion, and when we commune, we become even more closely related to our Panagia, because our Panagia hosted within her womb the Son of God and her Son, and when we commune, we host, we give a dwelling-place within us, within our body, to God, like our Panagia."
-Quote from a sermon of Elder Gabriel of St. David's Monastery in Evia on the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-knees-of-mary-have-withered-from.html
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They asked Abba Sisoes, ‘If a brother sins, surely he must do penance for a year?’ He replied, ‘That is a hard saying.’ The visitors said, ‘For six months?’ He replied, ‘That is a great deal.’ They said, ‘For forty days? ‘He said, ‘That is a great deal, too. ‘They said to him, ‘What then? If a brother falls, and the agape is about to be offered, should he simply come to the agape, too? ‘The old man said to them, ‘No, he needs to do penance for a few days. But I trust in God that if such a man does penance with his whole heart, God will receive him, even in three days.’
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Elder Ephraim of St. Andrew's Skete on the Repose of St. Paisios
"Gerontissa (Eldress) Philothei, from the Monastery of Souroti, told me that, as soon as St. Paisios reposed, his face shown, and his whole body began to pour forth fragrance and lightning!!! And he went from being very pale from his afflictions, to becoming totally white!
"A sign of his great humility and the many signs from God that he had in his life.
"St. Paisios had very many revelations, some of which he revealed to people, but he asked them to not make them known until he had died!
"His life was a martyrical one, and his battle with the devil and with the demons was not insignificant!
"To live one's whole life as a monk, this shows that he had a leonine soul, for otherwise he could not have withstood the attacks of the enemy, being totally alone."
-Elder Ephraim of St. Andrew's Skete, Mount Athos
https://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2020/07/elder-ephraim-of-st-andrews-skete-on.html
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WHAT is the Orthodox Church? The Orthodox Church is a body or community of people, who, 1—correctly believe in divine revelation; and 2—who obey a lawful hierarchy instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ himself, through the holy apostles. In order to belong to the Orthodox Church two principal conditions are required: First—to accurately accept, rightly understand and truthfully confess the divine teaching of faith; and secondly— to acknowledge the lawful hierarchy or priesthood, to receive from it the holy mysteries or sacraments, and generally to follow its precepts in matters concerning salvation.Book St Sebastion Preaching in the Orthodox Church
+ St. Sebastian Dabovich
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