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In Spirit and Truth (Issue 13)
A Homily by Archpriest Micheal Reagan Originally published in Issue 13, 2006 In Spirit and Truth To the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus said that “the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”. From this passage it is clear that there is such a thing as “true worship” which is decided by God and not by man. But what is true worship? Is there such a thing as false worship? If the ancient…
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On Forming the Soul
By Blessed Fr. Seraphim of Platina The soul that comes to Orthodoxy today often finds itself in a disadvantaged or even crippled state. Often one hears from converts after some years of seemingly unfruitful struggles that “I didn’t know what I was getting into when I became Orthodox.” Some sense this when they are first exposed to the Orthodox Faith, and this can cause them to postpone their encounter with Orthodoxy or even run away from it entirely. A similar thing often happens to those baptized in childhood when they reach mature years and must choose whether or not to commit themselves to their childhood faith. From one point of…
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Death to the World (Issue 1)
The last true rebellion is death to the world. To be crucified to the world and the world to us. With the seed of dissatisfaction deeply planted in the heart of today’s society, rebellion has been a small key to unlock the doors of change. But the rebellion that the world has known is not the fullness of true rebellion. Since our times have come to a point where things can’t get much worse, the few remaining lovers of truth must search deeper into themselves and deeper into the truth itself — but to get to this point a revolution must take place. A revolution in the hearts of these…
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Murder // Redemption (Issue 3)
Originally Published in Death to the World Issue #3, 1994 1. The life and death of Abba Poemen, the solitary. One day, I went down to Rouba to visit Abba Poemen the grazer. When I found him, I told him the thoughts which troubled me. When night fell, he left me in a cave. It was winter and that night it got very cold indeed; I was freezing. When the elder came at dawn, he said to me: “What is the matter, child?” I said: “Forgive me, father; I had a very bad night because of the cold.” He said to me: “Indeed child? I did not feel the cold.”…
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Hardest of the Hardcore (Issue 3)
Originally published in Death to the World Issue #3, 1994. There have been people throughout history and across the world who have sustained themselves by God alone, having lived for years with neither food, shelter, nor clothing. We are far from the experience of such ascetics; however, stories of them reach us from time to time. The following account is a true story about an ascetic who lived alone in the forests of Romania until the 1950’s In the summer of 1945, I took my staff and went over the Mountain to Sihastria Monastery. I wanted to confess to Father Cleopas. When I crossed the ridge of the Mountain and…
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To Save the World (Issue 2)
Originally published in Issue 2. Written by John Marler, 1994 “Beauty will save the world” -Fyodor Dostoyevsky Progress with its machines has made the world regress to a place where there is no beauty. If there is no beauty, what will save the world? From the womb we are taught that things detestable are attractive, and therefore the image of true beauty is deformed. Since there is no distinction between what is beautiful and what is deformed, the youth of today are left with chaos. We are told that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if this were true the world would never have a chance to be saved,…
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Accept All Cultures – Embrace None (Issue 2)
Originally published in Issue 2. Written by Monk Martyrius Hope, 1994. In the world today we are taught to love our neighbors. Through this “unconditional” love and acceptance we are to attain a peaceful existence. The only problem is that we are not actually taught to love with our hearts, but we are taught a more contrived form of love, one based solely on outward interaction and acceptance. This is enforced and regulated form of love, is not a path towards true love, but one which only strips the soul dry of all depth and life. The acceptance taught in today’s society does not treat any culture fairly, but reduces…
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The Burning Beast (Issue 1)
Originally published in Death to the World Issue #1, 1994. We recently received the following story about a living martyr named Monk Gabriel, who lives in Georgia, a country near the black sea which not long ago had been under the yoke of Communism. Last year one member of our Brotherhood went to Georgia and met this man, and confirmed the truth of this account. “Thirty five years ago in the year that Stalin died (Stalin died in March and it all happened during a May demonstration), Fr. Gabriel was a very young Hieromonk… “Do you know the central square in Tbilisi? During the Demonstration, the government speakers and the…
