St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
Vainglory and its offspring, hypocrisy, are ruinous at their very root—they deprive a person of all heavenly reward, representing the vain human praise he has chosen and desired as the only reward. The Lord condemned vainglorious hypocrites.
Hieromonk Anthony (Torp)
Amid such outward struggles, Fr. Hilarion immersed himself in the sea of spiritual contemplation and noetic prayer; consequently, a bitter spiritual battle began. Many times hordes of demons appeared to him like battle regiments. Approaching the tower, they would scream, as if laying siege, attacking the tower, but they were unable to achieve their ends. Sometimes the entire multitude would try to frighten the elder, crying out, "Three sides have already been taken; there remains one, but we'll take it."
Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen)
In the three weeks that have led us to this great and solemn first day of the Fast, the Church has set before our spiritual eyes themes of exile. When our ancestors in the faith were led to captivity in Babylon, they wept; they hung up their lyres and said, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither”
New Martyr Priest Sergei Mechev
Rating: 10|Votes: 4
Let us enter, beloved ones, into the cells of our souls, into the temple of our spirit, consecrated unto the Lord at the moment of our Baptism and sanctified by Him at the time of our first Communion. This temple of ours—no one can ever destroy it, except we ourselves. In it there is both priest and penitent.
Archpriest Victor Potapov
Rating: 6,8|Votes: 6
Forgiveness Sunday is a day a day of strict self-examination, a day on which we examine the extent our spiritual maturity: are we capable of following after Christ, of obeying all of His directions? Many of us know well from personal experience that it is far easier to forgive than to ask forgiveness of one whom we have somehow offended, for our pride interferes with our admitting guilt. The Church constantly teaches that it is only through repentance, spiritual struggle, and efforts toward great abstinence that what had been lost through sin may be sought, found and restored.