Archpriest Oleg Stenyayev
We read that the Holy Spirit was on him, meaning he could recognize with the help of the Holy Spirit Who was on him the Virgin, who had given birth. A very interesting detail: the Holy Spirit was on him, since he was an Old Testament man.
Priest Tarasiy Borozenets
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel of warning, a novel showing the hopelessness of the world of adults and the world of children in which there is no Christ.
Fr. James Guirguis
When I read this verse, I have to step back and ask if I have ever prayed like this for a single moment in my whole life.
Hieromonk Kirill (Popov)
While in comfort we often distort the image of God, but the genuine picture begins to change when we feel absolutely helpless and alone.
Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol
Revelation was written to tell us that Christ will prevail.
St. Gabriel of Imereti
Honor this day as a sacred day. On Sunday, we should serve the Lord alone and do the works of God.
It’s only in the Church that the Word of God and His teaching are fully heard; only the Church is the house of the Lord on earth—there the bloodless sacrifice and prayers and hymns are offered.
The main thing in Confession is that the grace of the Holy Spirit is at work there.
Speaking of the Book of Life, I’ll tell you a story from the Holy Mountain that happened in the 1920s and 1930s at New Skete, where there were caves.
The fortitude of man and the strength of his spirit are best manifested in the face of obstacles and resistance.
On this particular day in the great city of Jericho, Zacchaeus curiosity led him to explore the person of Jesus Christ for himself.
Hieroschemamonk Sergei (Chetverikov)
The focus of churchliness is the Lord Jesus Christ. He should also be the focus of family life.
We have to contrast the painful process of inner decay with another, creative process of inner healing through the work of some healthy, positive, creative force on the soul.
We move away from God and find ourselves alone in our egotistical life and with all the ensuing consequences.
A child’s soul, especially one reborn in the Sacrament of Baptism, has a natural ability to know God.
Priest Sergei Chernyak
Delight in the Lord in prayer, in Confession, in Communion, in reading spiritual books, at home, in church, at work, on the street—wherever you are, delight in the Lord.
St. John of Kronstadt
Thus, Christian enlightenment consists in sincere faith in Christ, in self-knowledge, in sincere repentance and separation from evil, and in the constant pursuit of Christian virtue and perfection for the sake of eternal blessedness in and with God.
In sanctifying the waters, the Church returns to the element of water its original purity and holiness.
Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)
By his humility and zeal for the glory of God and the moral purity of his life St. John was vouchsafed to be the Forerunner and Baptist of the very Creator of Heaven and earth.
Hieromonk Pavel (Shcherbachev)
The Holy Trinity was revealed in the Jordan, in order to reveal to every person first of all God’s will for that person himself—how he must live in order to enter into close union with God, in order to acquire grace, which descended upon each of us in the Sacrament of Baptism.