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American Orthodox Christian Living Saints

Orthodoxy of the Heart

“The true faith in Christ is in the heart, and it is fruitful, humble, patient, loving, merciful, compassionate, hungering and thirsting for righteousness; it withdraws from worldly lusts and clings to God alone, strives and seeks always for what is heavenly and eternal, struggles against every sin, and constantly seeks and begs help from God for this.”

– St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Categories
Church History Saints Spirituality

Saint Cyril of Alexandria

“He (the Word) underwent a birth and came forth as man from woman. This did not mean that he abandoned what he was, for even when he came in flesh and blood, even so he remained what he was, that is God in nature and truth.”

– Saint Cyril of Alexandria
(Third Letter to Nestorius)

Categories
Saints Scripture

Holy Prophet Isaiah

“…He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not…All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

– Isaiah 53:3,6

Categories
Church History Saints

St. Theophan the Recluse

“…the essence of prayer is the lifting
of the mind and heart to God”

– St. Theophan

Categories
American Orthodox Church History Elder Spirituality

Father Roman Braga

“Well Christ first of all is in you. Christ is not just some nice guy. He is God and God is within you. God is in our conscious, in our heart, in our minds, is not something material you see outside of yourself. You find God in yourself. You descend in your personality. We are eternal, we never die, the body is going to the cemetery but the conscious, the person is continually living. So when you descend into yourself, your conscious is infinite. And this infinity is the temple of the living God.”

– Archimandrite Roman Braga

Categories
Church History Elder Saints Spirituality

Elders of Optina

“Truly wondrous is God in His Saints, Who revealed the Hermitage of Optina as a garden of eldership, / where the God-enlightened Fathers, knowing the secrets of the human heart, became valiant protectors of the people of God; / for they set those burdened by sin on the path of repentance, / enlightening those whose faith was wavering with the light of Christ’s teachings, / and teaching them the wisdom of God, / they felt compassion for the sick and healed them. / Now, in God’s glory, they pray unceasingly for our souls..”

– Kontakion for the Synaxis of the
Venerable Fathers of Optina

Categories
Church History Elder Saints Spirituality

Saint Gabriel the Fool for Christ

“Always remember, God is love. Perform acts of kindness to the best of your ability, as through such acts, you shall save yourself. Embrace modesty, for God showers His mercy upon His humble servants. Repent for your sins and do not delay for ‘tomorrow,’ as this delay is a snare set by the Devil. Love one another, for a person devoid of love cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.”.”

– Saint Gabriel, Fool for Christ

Categories
Church History Saints Spirituality

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

“For God seeks nothing else from us, save a good purpose. Say not, ‘How are my sins blotted out?’ I tell you, from willing, from believing; what is shorter than this? But if your lips declare your willing, but your heart is silent, He knows the
heart who judges you. Cease then henceforth from every wicked thing: refrain thy tongue from light words, thine eye from sin, thy mind from roving after useless matters..”

– Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
(23 Catechetical Lectures)

Categories
Saints Scripture

Holy Prophet Baruch

“…but the person who is greatly distressed, who walks bent over, who is ailing and going blind, and the person who hungers – these will give glory and righteousness to You, O Lord.”
– Baruch 2:18

Categories
Saints Scripture

Holy Prophet Jeremiah

“Thus says the Lord…In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David. A Branch of righteousness: He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called:

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

– Jeremiah 33:15-16

Categories
Church History Saints Spirituality

Saint Gregory “The Theologian” of Nazianzus

“The three one God when contemplated together; each God because consubstantial; one God because of the monarchia.”

– Saint Gregory the Theologian

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Calendar Christian Living Great Feasts

Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday)

“Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!”

Categories
Church History Saints Spirituality

Saint Gregory of Nyssa

“Who gives you the day will give you also the things necessary for the day.”

– Saint Gregory of Nyssa