People are attracted to Orthodoxy because it's true.

Стихи и «Аллилуйя» после апостола. Фрагмент Божественной Литургии в Николаевском Малицком монастыре.

•AΞΙΟΝ ΕΣΤΙN•

How intensely beautiful are the services of the Orthodox Church. It truly feels like you are exiting earth and having a peek into heaven. The beautiful chants, symbolism, grand prayers, reverence and love of God are so evident in everything that is done within the Church. Rightly so, since God is love, and the origin of all beauty, and author of all things, we should glorify him beautifully and serene way.

"The man should remember that his wife is the one God entrusted into his hands.

His wife is a soul that God gave him, to return to Him. He loves his wife as Christ loves the church.

He protects her, takes care of her, gives her security, especially when she is sad, when she is sick.

We know, after all, how sensitive the female soul is, so, as the Apostle Peter says, "as a patient starters the female honor awarded".

The woman's soul is hurt, it becomes small-minded, it changes very easily, it suddenly despairs.

For this reason, a man must stand full of love and tenderness, so that he can become her treasure.

- Elder Aimilian Simonopetritis 🇬🇷 🇬🇷

ON THE FASTING

What good is it to abstain from food and defile yourself with fornication? You do not eat meat, but yet you torment your brother's flesh. What profit is there in not reveling in wine and reveling in riches? What profit is there in not eating bread and becoming intoxicated with anger? What profit is there in wearing yourself out with fasting, and at the same time speaking evil against your neighbor? What profit is there in abstaining from food and stealing other people's goods? What need is there to dry up the body and not feed the hungry? What benefit is there in tormenting one's members and not showing mercy to widows and orphans? What benefit is there in spending time in contemplation and brokenness and at the same time not giving patronage to orphans afflicted by misfortune...?
Are you fasting? Then avoid adultery, avoid fornication, avoid slander, avoid lying, backbiting, enmity, blasphemy, and all vanity. Are you fasting? Then avoid covetousness, embezzlement, strife, and soul-destroying envy. Are you fasting? Avoid anger, fornication, jealousy, swearing, and all injustice. Are you fasting? Avoid carnality, the mother of all ungodliness, which removes us from God Himself - carnality that brings us down to the abyss of destruction. If you fast for the sake of God, avoid every work that God hates, and He will accept your repentance with favor.

- St. John Chrysostom

How great are people who praise other people's virtues, and refrain from speaking evil about anyone. They are the people who warm up the room, bring joy to their surroundings, put others at ease and comfort. Who wouldn't want to be around a person who constantly speaks about good and beautiful things, and constantly praises the virtues of others? All this without seeing or speaking about anyone's faults. We should aim to be this person, and we should start today. Go and speak about something good and beautiful, go and praise your Mother, Father, Sibling, and Spouse, then go and praise them to someone else. See how this changes you, and how it changes those around you. You can start a small avalanche of goodness and warmth in your immediate proximity. So why not? :)

Saint Syncletica of Alexandria

Syncletica was a native of Alexandria, the beautiful daughter of wealthy parents. From an early age she thought only of pleasing God. Loving the purity of virginity, she declined to enter into marriage and spent her time in fasting and prayer. After the death of her parents, she distributed her inheritance to the poor and, having accepted monasticism together with her blind sister, she withdrew into one of the crypts belonging to her kin. Word of her ascetic deeds spread quickly throughout the vicinity, and many pious women and girls came to live under her guidance. Saint Syncletica zealously instructed her sisters through both word and action. Her counsels are considered a true spiritual pearl, for she did not attain the heights of wisdom through books, but through suffering, contemplation, and communication with the Divine. In the 80th year of life, she was struck by a grievous illness but bore her ordeal with true Christian endurance and reposed in the Lord in the year 350.

“It is natural to marry, but it must be more than natural; it must be a yoke, borne by two people under the Church.”
- Saint Basil the Great

Within these words of the saint, one can hear the echo of the great Saint Paul " Submit yourselves to one another in the fear of God", as he explains, wives should submit themselves to their husbands, and husbands should love their wives, she should reverence her husband, and he should nourish and cherish his wife, and this should be done with vigour so that both benefit from the obedience required, and thereby gain humility, which helps them enter the kingdom of heaven. For the great Apostle and Saint Peter says "Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”. See the wonderful uniformity and simplicity of the Gospel, how it shows us the one true way of life and the path to the one greatest and most wonderful place, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Troparion of St. Paul

O Blessed and Holy Paul the Apostle,
Enlightener of the Nations;
Your preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
Has Brought salvation to the ends of the earth.
Never cease to intercede for us your children,
That within us the Love of God may abide,
Bringing great joy to our neighbours,
And for us the salvation of our souls.

"Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil."
- Ephesians 4:26

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."
- Ephesians 4:31

Forgive eachother, sacrafice for eachother, be patient with eachother, so that your harmony may bring blessings to you, your family and neighbourhood, and bring you closer to salvation.

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life"

Philippians 2:14

The soul that loves God has its rest in God and in God alone. In all the paths that men walk in in the world, they do not attain peace until they draw nigh to hope in God.
(St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 56, 89)

When you throw a nail into a fire, it gets hot and starts to glow like fire. In the same way you, when you listen to divine teachings and live accordingly, will become like God.
(St. Symeon of Daibabe, Sayings, 26)

Every sin that is left without repentance is a sin unto death, for which if even a saint shall pray, he shall not be heard.
(St. Mark the Ascetic, Homilies, 2.41)

Being with the Lord is not only the reward, it is also the responsibility for our lives and actions, he rewards openly, but we can also condemn ourselves grievously. We can live according to his will and have the greatest mansion in His kingdom, or we can be lukewarm and find ourselves in the pit. The choice belongs to everyone, the gate is narrow but rewarding.

The joys of family life 😇

"Let us therefore "pray without ceasing," according to the expression of the blessed Paul: but let us be careful to do so aright. The love of self is displeasing to God, and He rejects empty haughtiness and a proud look, puffed up often on account of that which is by no means excellent. And even if a man be good and sober, let him not on this account suffer himself to fall away into shameful pride: but rather let him remember Christ, Who says to the holy apostles, "When you have done all those things, those namely which have been commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do.''

St. Cyril of Alexandria
Homily on the Publican and the Pharisee

(1/2) Marriage is beautiful,

As husbands, we should show our wives gratitude every time they do anything good for us. They are not our Mothers, but they are our wives, and every good they do for us is of their own free will.

No good thing a wife does for a husband should not be met with praise and thanksgiving.

Furthermore, we should pray to the Lord frequently thanking him for our wives, for all the good they do to us, and the opportunity to grow in virtue that we receive through them, whether it is by patience or sacrifice.

Praise your wife's virtues openly, alone or in the company of others. Never ever complain about her to anyone. Praising her virtues will motivate her to grow them, as we all like being appreciated, it might just be the boost she needs to grow. No man should ever feel entitled to being served by his wife, we are to love them and appreciate them.

Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.
You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.

- Psalm 65