truisms

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 9:38 am

In a marriage, feelings come and go, and many marriages end tragically because one partner or the other decides that they no longer feel in love. In such a case, feelings become more important than the action of love and commitment. Those who succeed in marriage do so by consistently putting the right actions and commitment ahead of changing feelings. Over time, such couples are often rewarded with a depth of feeling far greater and more enduring than any they knew in their youth.
Fr. Michael Reagan

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 9:41 am

Although there are often feelings associated with human love, love itself is not fundamentally an emotion. Love is action. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son…” Thank heavens that God’s love is not measured by warm and fuzzy feelings toward us, but by genuine compassion and self-sacrifice for our sakes, leading to our redemption and glorification.
Fr. Michael Reagon

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 9:42 am

...emotions really have nothing at all to do with spirituality. A believer can utilize all manner of gimmicks to keep himself emotionally charged up, and at the very same time remain utterly oblivious to the many serious sins in his life that keep him from true communion with God.
Fr. Michael Reagon

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 9:45 am

We must learn to accept the bitter with the sweet in our Orthodox Christian life, and to always follow genuine love as our guide through the turbulence of our present emotions.
Fr. Michael Reagon

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 10:28 am

For those Orthodox who have a knee-jerk reaction to the phrase “original sin,” be at peace. This is not an endorsement of that particular doctrine. Instead it is the common teaching of the Church that, as Dostoevsky’s Father Zossima said, “Each man is responsible for the sins of all men.”

This is only so because we are one humanity. Indeed it is a common teaching that we cannot pray for the world if we are unwilling to take the sins of the world upon ourself. Christ does precisely that. If we are to pray as He prays, then we must pray for all as though we are all. We cannot pray for our enemy as though he were somehow other than ourselves, guilty and condemned while we stand justified and condemning.
Fr Stephen Freeman

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 10:35 am

Who’s to blame? I am.

Ekaterina · Post by **Ekaterina** » Mon 26 February 2007 10:43 am

Although all times are suitable for confession (especially in time of need), according to Job in his Concerning the Mysteries, the most suitable time is in the morning, because at that time, the intellect, of both the Spiritual Father and the penitent, is more clear and collected. That which David says also bears witness to this: "In the morning I slew all the sinners of the land, utterly to destroy out of the city of the Lord all them that work iniquity" (Ps. 100:9), namely, in the morning I killed though confession all those evil thoughts of my heart and destroyed from my soul all the lawless demons and passions. According to Timothy (Canon 18), some should start confessing from ten years old, others from an older age. According to Balsamon, children should confess after six years of age (Responsa ad Interrogationes Marci, Question 48, PG 138, 996C - 997A).

EXOMOLEGETARION - A Manual of Confession by St Nikodemus the Hagiorite