Facing the Winds of Change in Our Society

October 7, 2016 | Uncategorized, Wisdom

ARCHPRIEST PANAYIOTIS PAPAGEORGIOU, PH.D.

​Change seems to be a good thing some times; we may change schools, neighborhoods, towns, or even states; we may change cars, doctors, even political parties. Change can be a welcome renewal at times. When it comes to issues of Faith, moral issues and family values, however, change may not be the best course of action for us.

Let me use an example from everyday life: Redecorating our house, painting it a new color, moving the furniture around, getting a new couch, fixing the yard and redoing the landscaping are all welcome changes that refresh and renew our living space and may re-invigorate our lives in various ways. No one in their right mind, however, will dig into the foundation of the house or meddle with the structural beams of the building just for the sake of change. There are some things you do not touch, for the structure will come down crumbling on your head.

Similarly, the Christian Faith and the spiritual/moral aspects of our life are the foundation and structural supports of our society and humanity itself. It has taken the very humbling of God Himself and his presence on earth for these things to be fully revealed to us. In addition, two thousand years of application and testing of these principles in the lives of Orthodox Christians, has shown their great value for us both on the personal as well as the societal level.

Unfortunately, in our days, certain people, themselves removed from God and immersed in their own passions, confused about the essential things of life, have been meddling with principles that we Orthodox have held precious over the centuries: The doctrines of the Faith (the divinity of Christ and the resurrection) have been under severe scrutiny and outright mockery for decades by the so called “intellectuals” of our time; marriage has been under attack, both as a principle and also as an institution, leading to a tremendous increase in broken families with dire spiritual, moral and psychological consequences for millions of people (both spouses and children); unbridled sexuality and the idolatry of the flesh have been paraded even in our own living-rooms in the guise of entertainment and a norm of life, leading millions to sexual addictions, while virginity and the purity of body and soul have been mocked and ridiculed as backward and up-normal; the family, as a core institution of our society, is being pushed to the brink of destruction by new norms, new types of relationships and new ideas which are offering a false sense of personal freedom with dire consequences for all of us.

The question arises bigger than life: What can we do as Orthodox Christians?

The answer: Resist the winds of change!!! The Orthodox Church has survived the decadence of the Roman society and conquered it, establishing a Christian Empire and an Orthodox Christian culture that lasted over a thousand years, because it refused to go along with the norms of their time. It, then, survived fourteen centuries of subjugation to the muslims and decades of abuse by the communists because it held fast to the Christian principles of life and the Faith in Christ’s divine power and the hope of the resurrection through Him.

This is our call today as American Orthodox Christians: We need to hold fast to the principles of Faith and life as handed down through the centuries to us and resist the winds of change!!!

Source:
http://www.holytransfiguration.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Syndiakonia-October-2014-Final.pdf

The Holiness of the Theotokos

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A Morning Prayer by Elder Sophrony of Essex

September 26, 2016 | Prayer, Uncategorized

​Hesychia and Theology by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, who writes, “If someone reads this prayer in the morning with contrition and attention, the whole day will be blessed.”

Prayer at Daybreak to be said each day on rising from sleep

Eternal King without beginning, You who are before all worlds, my Maker, Who have summoned all things from non-being into this life: bless this day that You, in Your inscrutable goodness, give to me. By the power of Your blessing enable me at all times in this coming day to speak and act for You, to Your glory, in Your fear, according to Your will, with a pure spirit, with humility, patience, love, gentleness, peace, courage, wisdom and prayer, aware everywhere of Your presence.

Yes, Lord, in Your immense mercy, lead me by Your Holy Spirit into every good work and word, and grant me to walk all my life long in Your sight without stumbling, according to Your righteousness that You have revealed to us, that I may not add to my transgressions.

O Lord, great in mercy, spare me who am perishing in wickedness; do not hide Your face from me. And when my corrupt will would lead me down other paths, do not forsake me, my Savior, but force me back to Your holy path.

O You Who are good, to Whom all hearts are open, You know my poverty and my foolishness, my blindness and my uselessness, but the sufferings of my soul are also before You. Wherefore I beseech You: hear me in my affliction and fill me with Your strength from above. Raise me up who am paralyzed with sin, and deliver me who am enslaved to the passions. Heal me from every hidden wound. Purify me from all taint of flesh and spirit. Preserve me from every inward and outward impulse that is unpleasing in Your sight and hurtful to my brother.

I beseech You: establish me in the path of Your commandments and to my last breath do not let me stray from the light of Your ordinances, so that Your commandments may become the sole law of my being in this life and in all eternity.

O God, my God, I plead with You for many and great things: do not disregard me. Do not cast me away from Your presence because of my presumption and boldness, but by the power of Your love lead me in the path of Your will. Grant me to love You as You have commanded, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength: with my whole being.

For You alone are the holy protection and all-powerful defender of my life, and to You I ascribe glory and offer my prayer.

Grant me to know Your truth before I depart this life. Maintain my life in this world until I may offer You true repentance. Do not take me away in the midst of my days, and when You are pleased to bring my life to an end, forewarn me of my death, so that I may prepare my soul to come before You.

Be with me then, O Lord, on my great and sacred day, and grant me the joy of Your salvation. Cleanse me from manifest and secret sins, from all iniquity hidden in me; and give me a right answer before Your dread judgment-seat. Amen.

The will of God

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The Mother of God prays for us

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The Most Holy Mother of God prays for us ceaselessly. She is always visiting us. Whenever we turn to her in our heart, she is there. After the Lord, she is the greatest protection for mankind. How many churches there are in the world that are dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God! How many healing springs where people are cured of their ailments have sprung up in places where the Most Holy Theotokos appeared and blessed those springs to heal both the sick and the healthy! She is constantly, by our side, and all too often we forget her. – Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, of blessed memory

Saint Ephrem the Syrian

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