Archimandrite Diodor (Didkovsky)
It is reckless to teach children many skills and sciences while neglecting their upbringing in the commandments and teaching of our Lord and Savior.
Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)
In the Church of God everything is done to separate us from the earth and bring us closer to the Creator.
Hieromonk Sebastian (Kuznetsov)
For the Mother of God, entering the Holy of Holies and living there was Her path and ascent from strength to strength towards God, to an even greater purity of heart and an immaculate state.
“They burned my feet with a red-hot iron, tore out my beard, beat me, but I told them: ‘You can torture me as much as you want, but I won’t renounce Christ!’”
Kneeling and tearfully praying before the icon of the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, entreating her protection and intercession, I, who until that moment had been timid and fearful, lacking any boldness, rose from my knees full of strength, light, and the singular desire to serve the supreme Truth, laying my whole being at the feet of Jesus Christ and thenceforth fearing no one.
We don't see because we have eyes. We have eyes because we see.
Alexandra Kalinovskaya
“Metropolitan Philaret was a perfect monk, a pure virgin, and a keeper of the vows of purity… Philaret is so great that he even sees the smallest and knows how to sympathize with him…”
Natalia Vashchina
Already at the time of writing the second letter to Bishop Peter, in November 1922, the question was being decided for him: Should he take a step towards his personal Golgotha, or not? And he firmly decided to follow the Lord. The love of God proved to be higher and stronger than the fear of future suffering and death itself.
Svetlana Rybakova
Praying in front of the icon of the Mother of God, “Quick to Hear”—the one that the Russian hermit had donated to the Netherlands—Fr. Dionysius made a vow: if the Lord would rescue him and give him the opportunity to organize a parish or build a church someday, he would have it dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God, “Quick to Hear”.
Being an angel in the flesh, he lived with his soul wholly longing for God, putting love for the Creator at the forefront of his earthly life.
Hieromonk Pavel (Shcherbachev)
“O Archangels of God, servants of divine glory, leaders of the angels and instructors of men, ask for what is beneficial to us and great mercy, for you are the leaders of the bodiless hosts.”
Elena Detinina
The nature of the angels is full of wondrous and unfading light, holiness and goodness, beauty and wisdom, power and immortality, and an ardent love for the Lord, for each other, and for men.
"It was absolutely impossible to lose heart in the presence of the old metropolitan… There was no hierarchal unctuousness in him at all."
Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov
Fr. Daniel knew no spiritual compromises and didn’t want to know them. Either all or nothing; either you’re an Orthodox Christian or an accomplice of the dark forces trampled by Christ’s Resurrection!
Gevorg Kazaryan
Where there is no hope from men, help comes swiftly from Heaven.
The prisoners were transferred to Kronstadt, gathered onto a barge, and told that every tenth man would be shot. Father Alexis turned out to be the ninth. A young priest stood near him.
Among the Heavenly patrons of the Belarusian land, the founder of the Lavrishevo Monastery, St. Elisha, shines like a bright star from the depths of time. He was a silent man, a man of prayer, a mentor, a healer, a wonderworker, martyr, and defender of his native land.
Hieroschemamonk Iulian (Lazăr)
Let every man think about how not to commit more sins, but if he does, let him confess. This is the greatest work—confession.
Remarkably, the solemn translation of his relics was predicted by the saint himself shortly before his repose, when the elder was singing: “Paul was carried to the grave, and from the grave to the cathedral”.
Steven Skarina
An American of Thai origin, Orthodox catechumen Steven Skarin, sent us this story of his own miracles related to the Georgian saint, Gabriel (Urgebadze).
