Rating: 6,8|Votes: 409
The Law recently passed in Russia banning the progaganda among minors of non-traditional sexual relations has evoked hysterical responses from liberal media. A boycott of the Winter 2014 Olympics has even been discussed. However, as we can see from the commentary (over 500) left by ordinary Americans under the article, Mutko: Anti-gay law won't infringe on Olympics (Yahoo! News), there are other, very different opinions out there.
Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)
Rating: 8,1|Votes: 8
Why is the truth, it would seem, revealed to some and not to others? Is there a special organ for receiving revelation from God? Yes, though usually we close it and do not let it open up: God’s revelation is given to something called a loving heart. This indicates that no matter how often we might hear the truth, if we have no love, we will not receive it; and to the contrary, though we may not even be searching for the truth, but have love, the truth may find us. But if others have not found the truth it would be madness for us to condemn them, saying “we have found the truth”, because our own possession of truth depends upon our loving heart.
Olga Rozhneva
Rating: 10|Votes: 4
The Optina elders expressed their opinion about lay people visiting the theater, about the passion for reading novels, exhilaration over the canvases of painters, the longing to listen to music for hours or even constantly.
St. Ambrose of Optina
Rating: 8,1|Votes: 9
The Eastern Orthodox Church, from apostolic times until now, observes unchanged and unblemished by innovations both the Gospel and Apostolic teachings, as well as the Tradition of the Holy Fathers and resolutions of the Ecumenical Councils, at which God-bearing men, having gathered from throughout the entire world, in a conciliar manner composed the divine Symbol of the Orthodox Faith [the Creed], and having proclaimed it aloud to the whole universe, in all respects perfect and complete, forbade on pain of terrible punishments any addition to it, any abridging, alteration, or rearrangement of even one iota of it.
Rating: 7,8|Votes: 8
August 12 is the commemoration day of Venerable Anatoly (Potapov), one of the last of the Optina elders. In contrast to the preceding Optina saints, there was no one left to compose the life of this elder after the Revolution. There remained only fragmented memories of pilgrims, notes of spiritual children, and letters of the elder, in which biographical details were often lacking, but in which his image rises up brightly and vividly. We honor the memory of the elder and reminisce with these recollections.