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Archive for October, 2005

The Danger of Being Normal

One of our great enemies is Normalcy. The temptation to try to fit our Faith into the matrix of a presumably “normal life”, can be an unwitting profession that death and a death-dominated existence is the normal human condition. In short, our notions of normalcy can be a denial of our Faith.

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Teachings

These teachings I received from others. Through these teachings and others, I found Christ.
Person, Operation, & Nature
It is common to refer any number of vices to “human nature”. In fact, the problem with this kind of thinking is the failure to distinguish between person, operation, and nature. Nature is that which is common [...]

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Inner Counsels

When asking for blessings, say “we”, but when confessing sin and unworthiness, say “I”.If you have anything to teach others, teach rather yourself. Then, when you have learned all that you have to teach, and are ready to teach others, become the student of the Fathers and teach nothing until they have nothing to teach [...]

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O mighty Churches of Greece and Antioch, what has made you stumble?. Where is your nimbus of pieties? The holy icons are replaced with stained glass, so that we cannot see Heaven nor light candles for the light of saints, being confronted with the ordinary light of Earth. We cannot make prostrations, nor kiss the [...]

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Petitions

Deliver the kidnapped, the enslaved, and the wrongly imprisoned.
Rescue the missing and the lost.
Deliver the innocent and the suffering.
Provide for the poor and protect the helpless and the weak.
Comfort the solitary, the broken, and abandoned.
Heal the sick and dying.
Expose the murderer and the rapist and the kidnapper and the exploiter.
On all men have mercy, and [...]

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Confessions

I stand in the light of Saints as the sole shadow. I stand in the shadow of Saints as having no shadow at all. In either case, I stand when I should be prostrate. Have mercy on me the sinner.
My guilt is that I write prayers rather than pray them, that I read the prayers [...]

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