Christmas traditions in Orthodox Christian countries/homes:
ixthis
JoinedPosts by ixthis
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20
Advent 2011
by ixthis inthe virgin now comes to bethlehem to give birth to christ .
who has become an infant in the flesh.. .
christ has voluntarily become poor.. christ has become visible.. let heaven and earth rejoice.
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20
Advent 2011
by ixthis inthe virgin now comes to bethlehem to give birth to christ .
who has become an infant in the flesh.. .
christ has voluntarily become poor.. christ has become visible.. let heaven and earth rejoice.
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20
Advent 2011
by ixthis inthe virgin now comes to bethlehem to give birth to christ .
who has become an infant in the flesh.. .
christ has voluntarily become poor.. christ has become visible.. let heaven and earth rejoice.
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ixthis
The Virgin now comes to Bethlehem to give birth to Christ
Who has become an infant in the flesh.Christ has voluntarily become poor.
Christ has become visible.Let heaven and earth rejoice
God is revealed as a mortal man,
Born without change of a Maiden who has not known a man.
Let us all praise Him in song.
For He has been glorified. -
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ixthis
I share this as prayer, not as literature since this is the way that I pray daily; these words reflect my own experiences and feelings and I often take the words of the Saints, whom accurately speak [in their own words] thoughts I could never articulate the way they do:
"... For what has love not accomplished, and what is it not?
Love is delightfulness, and joy, gentleness, and peace,
immeasurable mercy, an abyss of compassion,
invisible, yet seen, infinite yet comprehended,
impalpable, untouchable, yet capable of being grasped in my mind.
When I have love, I do not look upon it,
I quickly hasten to grasp it, and it flies clean away.
...
I cry out in distress, I am bound tight wishing to grasp it,
and everything is night, and my wretched hands are empty.
I forget everything and I sit and lament,
without hope of thus seeing the love light ever again.
But when I wail much and want to stop,
then love comes mysteriously, and grabs my head,
and mingles with tears, I know not who it is,
and it shines upon my mind with an exceedingly sweet light.
But whenever I know who it is, love quickly flies away,
leaving for me the fire of its divine desire,
which does not allow me to laugh or to look at human beings,
nor to accept the desire for any of the visible things.
By small degrees love lights up, by patience it is kindled,
and becomes a great flame seizing the heavens;
relaxation quenches it, the distraction of domestic matters
and the care of life's anxieties.
Love invites silence ...
...
And so when I attain the flame and become humble,
then love is with me without separation,
it converses with me, enlightens me, love seems me and I see it.
Love is in my heart, it is in heaven,
it explains the Scriptures to me and adds to my knowledge, (Lk 24.27)
it teaches me mysteries, of which I am unable to speak, (1 Cor 14.2)
and love shows to me how it snatched me from the world
and ordered me to have mercy on all those who are in the world.
Amen. -
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ixthis
I spoke to her of you ...
I speak to her of you, Silently, she listens to me.
I told her of my broken heart. I told her of the pain. For the love so longed for. For the loved one never enjoyed.
For the tenderness not felt and lost.
For the embrace reminisce.
So many things, that were never felt, Withdrawn. I told her of an unhappy soul.
That joy and love is lost; somewhere and I was seeking.She never spoke to me, She never answered me.
She is a beautiful silence.Though everything is motionles, and nothing can be heard, Can you hear the silence of the Angels?
They hymn our mother, the Panagia.I left you my sweet angel, in her Great embrace!
Listen to her heartbeat.
It is for you, filled with agony, love and tenderness. I left you in her embrace, the embrace of Panagia, your mother.
Hide there. Hold her close, hold her tightly, hold on to her ...She knows what you need.
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ixthis
There was an old man...
...who each day ate three biscuits.
A brother came to him, and when they sat down to eat the old man set three biscuits before the brother. The old man saw that the brother needed more food and brought him three more biscuits. After they had their fill and got up, the old man condemned the brother and said to him, "It is not right, brother, to serve the flesh." The brother asked pardon and left.
The next time the old man ate, he placed before himself three biscuits, as was his custom. He ate them, and was still hungry although he restrained himself. Again the next day he withstood his hunger. The old man began to weaken and he knew that God had abandoned him. Prostrating himself before God with tears, he begged that he be not abandoned. Then he saw an angel who said to him,
"Because you condemned your brother, this has happened to you. Know therefore that the ability to deny the flesh or to do any good work is not within your power; rather it is the goodness of God which strengthens you."
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ixthis
My children, work diligently at the spiritual fragrance ---I am speaking of prayer--- this holy conversation with Jesus Christ, which abundantly provides His blessings. Yes, children of the Spirit, love prayer with your whole heart so that all of you become a fragrance of grace, and that you smell sweet to those near you and make them say, "Truly, monasticism makes monks give off an angelic fragrance through spiritual grace." So, let the filthy passions be far from you, for they cause a foul smell and make a bad impression.
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ixthis
"I'm too busy NOT to pray".
~ St John Of San Francisco (+1966) Feastday July 3rd
http://www.videosurf.com/video/man-of-god-wonderworker-st-john-maximovitch-1281862345
http://saintjohnwonderworker.org/lifeidx.htm
On this Sunday, we also remember:
the discovery of the Relics of the Newly Revealed Great Martyr Raphael of Thermi, in Lesvos, 3 July, 1959.
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St John and Holy Newly revealed Great Martyr Raphael, together with Ss. Nicholas and Irene, and all other Martyrs, please pray to God for our salvation!
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ixthis
Peter and Paul
the Holy Apostles Feastday
June 29
Peter from Bethsaida of Galilee was cruc?fied upside down.
Paul, the Apostle of the Nations from Tarsus, was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero.
* * *
Sts. Peter and Paul always listen to the prayers of their devotees; time has not diminished their love, and from Heaven - even more than when they were on earth - they do not abandon the interests of the Church nor neglect the least of the inhabitants of the earth.
Ss. Peter and Paul presenting the Church to God
Venetian school, 14th centuryOne of the triumphs of the Devil in our times is to have dulled the faith of good people in this regard. It is necessary to insist that man awake from this deathlike sleep that makes us forget that Our Lord wanted these two saints to continue His work and represent Him visibly on earth.
St. Ambrose extols the continuing, vibrant apostolic mission of the Church, and expresses with profundity and delicacy the roles of Ss. Peter and Paul in the salvation of the elect. The Church, he says, is the ship from which Peter fishes, and for this labor at times he receives an order to use the hook, and at other times, the net. It is a great mystery, for this fishing is entirely supernatural. While the net does not harm the fish, the hook wounds it; the net takes in multitudes, the hook catches a single fish. The good fish does not resist the hook of Peter because it does not kill, but rather converts. Fortunate the gash that permits one to profess the same faith of Peter!
It is for this reason that Jesus told Peter: ""Put out into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch" (Luke 5:1) "Put out into the deep water" - that is, go to the very depths of the hearts of men. 'Put out into the deep water" - go to Christ, the source of living waters of wisdom and knowledge.
Peter continues to fish every day. Our Lord tells him: "Put out into the deep water." But one seems to hear Peter replying: "Master, we have worked all night with no result." Peter suffers when we are hard-hearted. Paul is also fighting for our souls. Didn't he tell us that no one suffers without him also suffering? We should act in a way that does not make the Apostles suffer. -
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ixthis
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
all I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours –
do with it what you will. Give me
only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.
Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve –
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to ask for rest,
to labor and not to seek reward,
except to know, my God,
I do your will.
