Orthodox Wisdom

Gathered by eyewitnesses, principally his own brother and sister, we see here the beginnings of a young man who would become a Saint of universal significance: St. John Maximovitch, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco. As a boy, Michael Maximovitch was kind, obedient to his parents, and especially loved reading the lives of the Saints. It’s not difficult to see how his consumption of the lives of the Saints as a boy sparked in him a love for God, and in response God granted him many of the same gifts and virtues as the Saints he came to know as a boy. St. John resposed on July 2nd, 1966 in Seattle, WA while praying before the Kursk Root icon of the Mother of God.This text comes from Issue #55 of The Orthodox Word: https://archive.org/details/100101V17...Holy Hierarch John, pray to God for us!This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“I am deeply troubled,” a woman wrote Fr. Seraphim, “as to how Orthodoxy views what the world would call Western Christians, i.e., Protestants and Roman Catholics. I have read many articles by many Orthodox writers, and a few use words like ‘Papists,’ etc., which I find deeply disturbing and quite offensive. I find them offensive because as a person of a race (the woman writing is black) which has been subjected to much name-calling I despise and do not wish to adopt the habit of name-calling myself. Even ‘heretic’ disturbs me....Where do I stand with my friends and relatives? They do not know about Orthodoxy or they do not understand it. Yet they believe in and worship Christ.... Am I to treat my friends and relatives as if they have no God, no Christ?... Or can I call them Christians, but just ones who do not know the true Church?”Fr. Seraphim Rose gives a pastoral response to a very real issue, still relevant of our day. In his response, Fr. Seraphim holds together in harmony things that are often in tension, showing us the royal path. If we can treat people the God would have us, more would come to Orthodoxy and find the joy we have find in Christ in His Church. This text comes from Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene, published by St. Herman Press in Platina, California (pgs 812-815).This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

Taken as an obedience, Fr. Seraphim Rose was asked to write on “Convert Pitfalls” and how to avoid them. Being a convert himself, and having overcome so many spiritual obstacles, he was well-suited for this task. While his work on this specific text did not progress to completion, these notes of his give us simple and direct guidance to keep us on the narrow path.Fr. Seraphim’s notes, starting at 01:25 :A) Trusting oneself, samost [in Russian].Remedy: sober distrust of oneself, taking counsel of others wiser, guidance from Holy Fathers.B) Academic approach — overly intellectual, uninvolved, uncommitted, abstract, unreal. Bound up with A. also.C) Not keeping the secret of the Kingdom, gossip, publicity. Overemphasis on outward side of mission, success. Danger of creating empty shell, form of mission without substance.Remedy: concentrate on spiritual life, keep out of limelight, stay uninvolved from passionate disputes.D) “Spiritual Experiences.”Symptoms: feverish excitement, always something “tremendous” happening — the blood is boiling. Inflated vocabulary, indicates puffed up instead of humble. Sources in Protestantism, and in one’s own opinions “picked up” in the air.Remedy: sober distrust of oneself, constant grounding in Holy Fathers and Lives of Saints, counsel.E) Discouragement, giving up — “Quenched” syndrome.Cause: overemphasis on outward side, public opinion, etc.Remedy: emphasis on inward, spiritual struggle, lack of concern for outward success, mindfulness of Whom we are followers of (Christ crucified but triumphant).F) A double axe: broadness on one hand, narrowness on the other.This text comes from Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene, published by St. Herman Press in Platina, California (pgs 847-848).This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“It is through more than his literary inheritance that Fr. Seraphim is leading these converts. As the accounts related in this chapter indicate, Fr. Seraphim, being still alive in Christ, is even now personally drawing people into the fullness of the ancient Christian Faith.” –Hieromonk DamasceneI humbly ask all listeners to ask for Fr. Seraphim’s intercession and pray to God that one day soon he may be officially glorified as a Saint of the Holy Orthodox Church. Next year is the 40th anniversary of his repose. If you desire to see him glorifed as a Saint, there are things you can do to help make this happen. Pray for God's guidance. One simple and direct way is to write Bishop Maxim of the Serbian Western Diocese, or even other Serbian or ROCOR Bishops. Their addresses should be on the diocesan websites. Pray above all.These accounts of Fr. Seraphim’s miraculous intercessions, which are merely a few of the many, affirm that truly we can say, “Holy Father Seraphim, pray to God for us!”(NOTE: The timestamps in this description link to the video on YouTube.)00:06 Intro02:07 Healing of Matushka’s Susan’s cancer, which even her doctors admit is a miracle04:23 Help bringing a searching community into the Church, and providing them with a new property08:16 Fr. Seraphim comes in a dream to a despairing young man, who visited Fr. Seraphim in Platina many times, to comfort him and help him find his path in life13:07 A Roman Catholic priest reads Fr. Seraphim’s life and works and converts to Holy Orthodoxy. He commissions one of the most well-known icons of Fr. Seraphim, and two copies of this icon in Russia stream myrrh16:01 Healing of a young woman’s back pain after praying at Fr. Seraphim’s grave21:27 Fr. Seraphim appears in a dream to Protestant man, and through his guidance and the prayers of St. Herman, the man and his family become Orthodox and now he serves as a priest31:21 ConclusionExcerpts from “Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works” by Hieromonk Damascene (St. Herman of Alaska Press). Once the book is available for purchase again, please buy a copy. Until then, here is the PDF: https://www.scribd.com/document/44059...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

This reading contains excerpts from St. Ignatius’ essay “On Miracles and Signs.” The reason for this recording is to raise the awareness and discernment of Orthodox Christians regarding the degree of deception manifested first in the spirit of Antichrist, which is increasingly obvious in the world, and secondly in the Antichrist himself, who will be the fulfillment of “the spiritual direction of man.”Quotes from this essay:“The antichrist will be a logical, equitable, natural result of the common moral and spiritual direction of man.”“The antichrist will show himself to be meek, merciful, filled with love, filled with all virtue. Those who will acclaim him as such, and will submit to him as the highest good, are they who accept the truth of fallen mankind and will not deny it for the truth of the Gospel.”“The antichrist will offer to mankind the most exalted earthly organisation of well being and prosperity. He will offer honour, riches, luxury, enjoyment, physical comfort, and delight.”“Only with the special help of Divine Grace and under its guidance, will the elect of God be able to stand against the enemy of God, to confess the Lord Jesus before him and before men.St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807–1867) served as Bishop in the Caucuses near the Black Sea and is best known as a prolific author of Orthodox Christian ascetical works. Published toward the end of his life, his writings continued to grow in popularity long after his death. Along with his contemporary, St. Theophan the Recluse, St. Ignatius is now considered a foremost authority on Orthodox spirituality. He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988. His writings have previously appeared in English as The Arena and On the Prayer of Jesus, among other works.Read a brief account of his Life: https://orthochristian.com/103425.htmlRead “On Miracles and Signs” by St. Ignatius: http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/st-...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Silouan teaches, “The soul cannot know peace unless she prays for her enemies.Without the grace of God we cannot love our enemies.If you will pray for your enemies, peace will come to you; but when you can love your enemies – know that a great measure of the grace of God dwells in you, though I do not say perfect grace as yet, but sufficient for salvation.”“O Merciful Lord, give Thy graceto all the peoples of the earth,that they may come to know Thee,for without the Holy Spiritman cannot know Thee, and conceive of Thy love.”St. Silouan the Athonite (+1938) has reached the hearts of many around the world, first through his prayer in his cell, and now through his writings and his heavenly intercession. A towering figure full of love, a great ascetic who by God’s grace mastered the passions, his witness is essential for the Orthodox Christian today. He is the spiritual father of St. Sophrony the Athonite.Read more about St. Silouan here: https://pemptousia.com/2018/09/saint-...From “St. Silouan the Athonite” by Archimandrite Sophrony,” St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, pages 376-379, 364. Purchase the book here: https://svspress.com/saint-silouan-th...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

This article traces the life of St. Justin Popović of Ćelije, Serbia in the context of his grace-filled writings, showing the depth of his love and wisdom. St. Justin, spiritual son of St. Nikolai Velimirović, produced various dogmatic works and also a tome on the Lives of Saints. St. Justin writes, “The lives of saints are, as a matter of fact, dogmatics incarnate, because in them all the eternal and holy dogmatic truths come to life in all their life-giving and substantive force.” This same truth was witnessed to not only by St. Justin’s pen, but by his very life. Since St. Justin was both born and reposed on April 7th, the feast of the Annunciation, his feast day was moved to June 1st, the same day as his patron, St. Justin the Philosopher (also called: St. Justin Martyr). O holy Father Justin, pray to God for us!This article was originally published in Russian in 1984, five years after the repose of St. Justin: http://www.pravmir.com/through-the-pa...This channel is dedicated to sharing the prayers, hymns, teachings, and service texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Justin Popović gives the quintessential teaching on the Saints and the meaning of their Lives for us today. He writes, "The Lives of the Saints are in fact the life of the Godman Christ, which is poured out into His followers and is experienced by them in His Church." Everything good and holy in the Saints finds its beginning, middle, and end in Christ. St. Justin also points out that the Lives of the Saints are "applied dogmatics" and are nothing less than the continuation of the Acts of the Apostles. And at a basic, pastoral level, "If you are suffering for your faith in Christ, the Lives of the Saints will console you and encourage you and make you bold and give you wings, and your torments will be changed into joy."O holy Father Justin, pray to God for us!This text is the introduction to the Synaxarion as compiled by St. Justin, a collection of many Lives of Saints organized by day of commemoration. The text of this reading can be found here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjus...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

“Everything in the Church must be heavenly.”“In truth the church is an earthly heaven, where God’s altar is, where the awesome Mysteries are celebrated, where the Angels minister with men, where there is uninterrupted glorification of the Almighty - there heaven truly is, and the heaven of heavens.” –St. John of Krodstadt“In church, everything is different:  there one’s particular world is not earthly, but heavenly; there one’s rules, customs, one’s regulations and customs are prescribed by the church order.  And he who loves the church, for whom it is the way to heavenly sanctity, such a one must know all this, and, if he does not know it, he must strive to learn it.”“And so, see the characteristic sign of our times: the true Church of Christ with her preaching of the spiritual life must needs be abolished, and exchanged for a certain false likeness, one with exclusively worldly working principles, aims and tasks.But isn’t such a mentality the very clearest sign of the approach of that dread time, of which the Saviour and Lord spoke: “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)? Already many have no faith in God, no faith in Christ and no faith in the Church; and in the place devoid of faith, they set up other idols, among which the proponents of the new “false Church” have the idol of “organization” and that of “administration.”  But why, and what for, if the most important thing, faith, is not there, if it is unknown?“Organization” and “administration,” without real faith, without a genuine spiritual life, are but a body without a soul, a dead, lifeless corpse!”Archbishop Averky was a righteous shepherd of the 20th century who served as Abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery and Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY. He was spiritual son of the great 20th century theologian and holy hierarch, Archbishop Theophan of Poltava, Russia, who himself was a disciple of St. Theophan the Recluse, and therefore is a living link in America to the Faith of Pre-Revolutionary Russia. Archbishop Averky was so esteemed that before his repose, St. John Maximovitch told Fr. Seraphim Rose that if he had any theological questions to ask Archbishop Averky. The honorable Archbishop reposed in 1976 and his relics lie in a small chapel for veneration at Holy Trinity Monastery.Full text: https://orthodoxethos.com/post/standi...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

St. Hilarion of Verey (+1929), New Martyr under the Soviet yoke, was an Archbishop, bold confessor, and shining star of the Russian, before and after the 1917 revolution. This text was written in 1914. Read his life here: https://www.orthodox.net/russiannm/hi... “I have only wanted to show what moral ugliness socialism is, what an abyss of falsehood lies within it, and, therefore, how mistaken is any attempt to reconcile socialism and the divine Christian Faith.  Such attempts are being made not only by Christians who have lost their faith, who have “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:23); certain among the socialists, or better to say, workers seduced by socialism, are also naively convinced that it is possible to combine socialism and Christianity.”“If one could conceive the full satanic evil of socialism, which is expressed in the socialists’ own words, one’s heart would die of horror.” –St. HilarionNOTE: It is false to think that just because the Church stands against socialism and communism that it therefore supports capitalism and democracy. Often we are presented with this dichotomy, but both, either explicitly or implicitly, aim for a utopia on earth apart from God. Neither socialism nor capitalism are natural to Orthodoxy for they do not have the eschatological stance we see in the Saints of God.St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “When royal authority falls, and the people everywhere institute self-government (republics, democracies), then there will be room for the Antichrist to act. It will not be hard for Satan to prepare voices in favor of renouncing Christ, as experience showed during the French Revolution. There will be no one to pronounce the authoritative veto. And so when such regimes, suitable for disclosing the Antichrist’s aspirations, are instituted everywhere, then the Antichrist will appear.”In his journal, dated February 3, 1961, Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) wrote: “Christ is the only exit from this world; all other exits – sexual rapture, political utopia, economic independence – are but blind alleys in which rot the corpses of the many that have tried them.”Holy New Martyr Hilarion, pray to God for us!00:00 Introduction and words from Fr. Seraphim Rose, Archbishop Averky, and St. Theophan the Recluse04:15 “Christianity and Socialism” by St. HilarionText of “Christianity and Socialism” from Orthodox Life, May-June 1998: http://orthodoxlifemagazines.blogspot...This channel is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!