The Monastery’s new Holy Gate Correcting Others is like Hitting ThemWhen focusing on the sins of others, we set for ourselves the mission of correcting them. We see ourselves as just the right person to help this poor, unfortunate person by pointing out their sins, and telling them how they
Category: The Morning Offering
All-Merciful Saviour Monastery, the Heart of the Forest Taking Stock of YourselfIt is much more personally comfortable to notice the failings and the sins of others, but if we do not take stock of ourselves, we will do great harm to our soul. Judging others opens wide the gates for
Syria, the Arab Spring, and RussiaA year ago, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia joined his Syrian counterpart, Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch, whom His Holiness has known for forty years, in a street procession that took place in Damascus. During this same visit, Patriarch Kirill made an appearance with
Dockton Village, just north of the monastery True and Lasting Freedom True and lasting freedom is the internal freedom that comes in having a relationship with Christ. It has nothing to do with external or physical freedom. Many who suffered imprisonment in the gulags of the Soviet Union were freer
The Bitterness of Fleeting Joy We all have certain things in our lives that we feel passionate about. When I was a young man, long distance running was my passion, and nothing gave me more joy than the run. Every day was organized around running. I’d even plan vacations around
Young Coptic Sunday School teachers, from Saint Mary’s Coptic Church in Seattle, made a pilgrimage to the monastery Dead to the World, but Alive in Christ We cannot give Christ to others unless we have welcomed Him into the central place in our own heart. We must know and love
Living our Lives in Imitation of Christ If we desire to please God, we only need to live our lives in imitation of Christ, Who both taught, and lived, humility. In our steadfastness in faith, modesty of attire, and simplicity in words and conversation, we imitate Christ. In our works
Elder Pavlos of Sinai The Elder Pavlos of Sinai, who spent Saturday afternoon with us, recounted something about my own late spiritual father, Archimandrite Dimitry of Santa Rosa, that I’d forgotten. Father Dimitry, who had escaped from Communist Russia, having suffered beatings and imprisonment, never spoke against them, nor ever
Have We Robbed God? “Will a man rob God ? Yet you have robbed Me ! But you say: ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me.” (Malachi 3:8 – 9) With love in Christ, Abbot
God Never Abandons Us Even though we seem overpowered by temptations, God never abandons us. God knows how our weakness makes us vulnerable, yet never allows us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist. We sometimes feel as though we were beasts of burden, carrying loads that weigh us