9/18/2019
Nun Natalia (Kaverzneva)
It is the same effect when we encounter injustice against us—it destroys the roots of passions in us, tearing us away from our attachment to earthly things.
He turned towards the tree-lined walkway leading to the church, rushed down the space between the gates and the entrance of the church, ran up the stairs towards the front door, grabbed the door handle, pulled... and it didn’t open.
“Kept the land unharmed” is not a figure of speech. His contemporaries remembered at least one such case down to the last detail. It concerns the invasion of Moscow by Khan Kazy-Girey in 1591.
Ryassafore Nun Natalia (Kaverzneva)
The young lady heeded this advice and began to pray with simplicity and zeal. She would even fall asleep with an akathist to the saint.
“Complete devastation”—was what the people felt before the Second Militia—which was guided by a divine call and blessed by the Most Holy Mother of God, bringing hope for deliverance.
It seems that we greatly underestimate the importance of being good natured and cheerful as we offer help—be it to our loved ones, our co-workers, or our brothers and sisters in Christ.
A circle of friends and kindred souls isn’t a consolation that can be taken for granted but great mercy of God.
St. Gurius’s coffin was filled with fragrant myrrh resembling pure water; moreover the saint’s relics were afloat at the surface of this liquid.
Patriarch Nikon went down in history as the Russian Patriarch who instigated the Old Believer schism by reforming—in fact, correcting—the Church service books.
R.Nun Natalia (Kaverzneva)
But a domineering and cruel woman! How many people were killed indiscriminately without any particular personal culpability, how many completely innocent people perished in the most terrifying manner! What happened to this soul, and how did she convert to Christ?
Self-criticism posits unattainable goals—here and now—and then torments us with sadness. Repentance is productive; it teaches action that brings good fruits.
We are walking through Great Lent. And its first Sunday is dedicated to the dogma of the veneration of icons. As if it were the most important thing in Great Lent, as if it were the main theme and the first discovery we make after the first week of a very strict fast. Why? What is the connection between these phenomena?
The more patiently Batiushka returned him to the need for repentance, the more distraughtly he would dodge the answer. Finally, covered with sweat and crimson from shame, he said: “I,” and fell silent, gathering his courage.
