What if I told you that I encountered God tonight? Would you believe me?
While we believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist the same way the Early Church taught and believed, it is something entirely different to encounter for yourself.
Why does the priest cover his face when holding the Holy Gifts? Why do we bow down into a prostration as the King of Glory enters in?
“Above Him stood the seraphim… with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet.”
— Isaiah 6:2
The priest veiling himself reflects this same reverence.
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai… Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone… and he put a veil over his face.”
— Exodus 34:29, 33
God’s glory was so overwhelming that a veil became necessary.
How does the priest posture himself in prayer?
While we believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist the same way the Early Church taught and believed, it is something entirely different to encounter for yourself.
Why does the priest cover his face when holding the Holy Gifts? Why do we bow down into a prostration as the King of Glory enters in?
“Above Him stood the seraphim… with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet.”
— Isaiah 6:2
The priest veiling himself reflects this same reverence.
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai… Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone… and he put a veil over his face.”
— Exodus 34:29, 33
God’s glory was so overwhelming that a veil became necessary.
How does the priest posture himself in prayer?
The priest prays-
"No one who is bound with the desires and pleasures of the flesh is worthy to approach or draw near or to minister to You, O King of Glory; for to serve You is great and awesome even for the heavenly powers. Nevertheless, because of Your inexpressible and immeasurable love for mankind, You became man… and became our High Priest. Therefore I beseech You… do not turn Your face away from me, nor reject me from among Your children, but make me, Your sinful and unworthy servant, worthy to offer these Gifts to You.”
In the Orthodox Liturgy, we are offering gifts to God, and at the same time, God is offering Himself to us. Both are happening together.
"No one who is bound with the desires and pleasures of the flesh is worthy to approach or draw near or to minister to You, O King of Glory; for to serve You is great and awesome even for the heavenly powers. Nevertheless, because of Your inexpressible and immeasurable love for mankind, You became man… and became our High Priest. Therefore I beseech You… do not turn Your face away from me, nor reject me from among Your children, but make me, Your sinful and unworthy servant, worthy to offer these Gifts to You.”
In the Orthodox Liturgy, we are offering gifts to God, and at the same time, God is offering Himself to us. Both are happening together.
Did you know that prostrations are a part of our worship in the Orthodox Church? We literally fall before Him in reverence as a body of Christ.
Why?
Because this is how human beings respond to God in Scripture:
“Come, let us worship and fall down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
— Psalm 95:6
Abraham fell on his face.
Moses fell on his face.
The Apostles fell on their face.
Even the angels cover themselves before Him.
Great Lent is the season of repentance so we fall to our knees before Him as we prepare.
During Lent, the Church walks with Christ toward His Passion.
After Pascha, prostrations stop completely for a time.
Because the Church lives in the joy of the Resurrection. ♥️
Why?
Because this is how human beings respond to God in Scripture:
“Come, let us worship and fall down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
— Psalm 95:6
Abraham fell on his face.
Moses fell on his face.
The Apostles fell on their face.
Even the angels cover themselves before Him.
Great Lent is the season of repentance so we fall to our knees before Him as we prepare.
During Lent, the Church walks with Christ toward His Passion.
After Pascha, prostrations stop completely for a time.
Because the Church lives in the joy of the Resurrection. ♥️
The liturgical calendar: there is a time for fasting and a time for feasting and we partake in it together. We struggle together. We enjoy together. All for Him.
So much depth to every single thing we do all tied to Scripture and Tradition ordained by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries traceable back to the Cross.
If you are feeling like your modern church is missing something, that's because it IS! Not in a judgmental or superior stance at all - just coming from someone who has now lived close to three liturgical years with the Church. It is amazing and beautiful and everything Christianity is meant to be for the Glory of God!
So much depth to every single thing we do all tied to Scripture and Tradition ordained by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries traceable back to the Cross.
If you are feeling like your modern church is missing something, that's because it IS! Not in a judgmental or superior stance at all - just coming from someone who has now lived close to three liturgical years with the Church. It is amazing and beautiful and everything Christianity is meant to be for the Glory of God!
Please pray for me and my family! We are all sick with the flu! Thank you! ♥️
“But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
Titus 2:1-5
Titus 2:1-5
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
James 1:19-22
James 1:19-22
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.””
I Corinthians 1:27-31
I Corinthians 1:27-31
“Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.”
Ezekiel 44:1-2
Ezekiel 44:1-2
So many people think Orthodoxy is like catholicism but it's not. I find catholicism to have many errors but still closer to the truth of the fullness of the faith of Christianity. I feel not having the Eucharist in your life to be a great tragedy as it is medicine for your soul and truly aids in the war against sin. ♥️
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
John 6:51-56
John 6:51-56
FOR 1500 YEARS, Christians believed it was the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist! The Protestant Reformation changed this, and also introduced countless heresies to Christianity! If you aren't partaking, YOU have been robbed due to watered down Christianity - that's a fact with 2000 years of history to support it!
Sin is like a disease that corrupts human nature, and the Eucharist unites us to the divine life of Christ, which heals that corruption.
“The Eucharist is the medicine of immortality, the antidote that we should not die but live forever in Jesus Christ.”
-St Ignatius of Antioch (around 107 AD)
The Eucharist is called medicinal because it unites us to Christ’s life, heals the damage of sin, and strengthens us in the fight against the passions. The Church doesn’t see sin primarily as a legal problem. It sees it as a sickness.
Christ calls Himself the Physician of souls and bodies. The Church is the hospital. And the sacraments are the treatment.
Confession is like diagnosis and cleansing. You bring the sickness into the light, you repent, and through the priest Christ grants forgiveness and healing. Reread Leviticus to see how the priest interacted with leprosy to see the shadow of this sacrament.
But removing the sickness isn’t the end of treatment.
The Eucharist is the medicine.
That’s why the early Christian bishop Ignatius of Antioch called the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality.”
Confession cleans the wound. The Eucharist heals and strengthens the soul.
And just like real medicine, it has to be received properly. St. Paul even warns that receiving it unworthily can harm rather than heal.
The goal of the Church is restoration and not punishment.
The whole sacramental life exists to heal us and restore us to communion with God.
“The Eucharist is the medicine of immortality, the antidote that we should not die but live forever in Jesus Christ.”
-St Ignatius of Antioch (around 107 AD)
The Eucharist is called medicinal because it unites us to Christ’s life, heals the damage of sin, and strengthens us in the fight against the passions. The Church doesn’t see sin primarily as a legal problem. It sees it as a sickness.
Christ calls Himself the Physician of souls and bodies. The Church is the hospital. And the sacraments are the treatment.
Confession is like diagnosis and cleansing. You bring the sickness into the light, you repent, and through the priest Christ grants forgiveness and healing. Reread Leviticus to see how the priest interacted with leprosy to see the shadow of this sacrament.
But removing the sickness isn’t the end of treatment.
The Eucharist is the medicine.
That’s why the early Christian bishop Ignatius of Antioch called the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality.”
Confession cleans the wound. The Eucharist heals and strengthens the soul.
And just like real medicine, it has to be received properly. St. Paul even warns that receiving it unworthily can harm rather than heal.
The goal of the Church is restoration and not punishment.
The whole sacramental life exists to heal us and restore us to communion with God.
What do you think of the Flynn network today? Do you think it was important to identify who we could trust? Have you heeded the warning or did you fall back into their spell of trusting them now that we are no longer exposing their every psyop?
Do you think Candace Owens telling people not to join the military or Nick Fuentes telling people to vote democrat or Tucker Carlson insinuating our president's goal is to rape women and children is doing positive things for our country?
Any idea why communist leftists and far right wingers are parroting the same talking points about what is happening in Iran?
Forwarded from ☦️ Your Favorite Wretch ☦️
The horseshoe theory, also known as the horseshoe effect, in political science is a claim that the far-left and far-right are more similar to each other in essentials than either is to the political center.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory
One of the strange things about our current political moment is how movements that claim to oppose each other often start to resemble each other the more radical they become.
What begins as a reaction against one ideological framework slowly adopts the same methods: power analysis, moral absolutism, identity-based narratives, and the belief that institutions must be captured or dismantled to achieve victory. The language changes, but the underlying strategy remains remarkably similar.
What begins as a reaction against one ideological framework slowly adopts the same methods: power analysis, moral absolutism, identity-based narratives, and the belief that institutions must be captured or dismantled to achieve victory. The language changes, but the underlying strategy remains remarkably similar.
Once people become emotionally attached to a narrative, three things happen:
1. Confirmation bias – they seek information that reinforces it.
2. Enemy framing – anyone questioning the narrative becomes suspect.
3. Identity fusion – the belief becomes part of personal identity.
At that point, debate stops being about facts and becomes about loyalty to a tribe.
1. Confirmation bias – they seek information that reinforces it.
2. Enemy framing – anyone questioning the narrative becomes suspect.
3. Identity fusion – the belief becomes part of personal identity.
At that point, debate stops being about facts and becomes about loyalty to a tribe.