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When Fr Benedict Resurrected His Dead Benefactor
Archimandrite Benedict Petrakis (+ September 8, 1961) developed a magnificent pastoral activity in the Metropolis of Aitoloakarnania and especially in Agrinio. Many spiritual branches of this region bore fruit through his systematic work and his exceeding love for God and neighbor. When he was young and wanted to study theology, he was helped financially by a pious woman from Patras, Melpomeni Bulbasakos. And when he became a mature preacher in Aitoloakarnania, he received a phone call informing him that his benefactor was near death and he was requested to go and give her final communion. Immediately Benedict got into a taxi and hurried for Melpomeni’s home in Patras. When he…
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The Great River: Christianity and Paganism
From Death to the World #XXVI By Deacon Joseph Magnus Frangipani By the time I arrive in New Delhi, leaping pockets of green slime lining the bus terminals, sailing through smoke of burning bodies, backpacking dog-infested cobblestone streets of Tibetan refugee camps; before happening upon remote caves at the source of the Ganges, and discovering the wonders of the Prayer of the Heart; long before studying black magic in ashrams through Rishikesh and forking roasted vegetables smeared with butter and rose petal; before shooting back and forth across sage deserts of Idaho by astral projection and offering fruit, fire and rice before Krishna, Shiva and the goddess of death I…
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Raising the Mind, Warming the Heart
By Blessed Seraphim Rose of Platina Raising the Mind, Warming the Heart 1. Faith and Reason The writings of the Russian philosopher Ivan Kireyevsky contain some basic ideas which are very apropos for us today. The usual argument between faith and reason, he wrote, is not correct. Reason is such a thing that it must be raised up to a higher level, and this is what the Orthodox Church tries to give. By itself, reason does not offer any more than an understanding of this two-dimensional, corporeal realm, with which most of the critics and scholars of the West are occupying themselves. There is something, however, above this. According to…
