God's blessings be upon you on your Lenten journey!
There are many distractions, many comforts, and many concerns that assail us in our struggle for theosis, and here at the first Sunday of Great Lent, I confess to you now, that the struggle is here and now. Pray for me, brothers and sisters, that Christ will continue to have mercy on me, and give me the strength and courage to stand in the day of trial. I ask not for myself, but that I won't fail my family, my church, and the others who depend on me to do what I do faithfully. I pray in return that God will bless you on your Lenten journey, that as you struggle to let go of earthly things, that your hands will then be open to receive heavenly things.
On this, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, I'm attaching link to a copy of the Synodikon, the list of commemorations and anathemas that are read to mark the victories of God's holy Church in her battles against persecution and heresy. It's 21 pages, but always worth the read. As you read, think of those who are named as heroes and villains of the Faith, and remember that the story is ongoing, and YOU have your place in it? Will you remain true to the faith to which you were called? Or will you fail and fall? You have a choice, as do I. Let us battle in earnest, that we may win the eternal crown, warring against our own selfish desires to attain the life that Christ so generously offers us.
oodegr.com/English/ekklisia/synodoi/synodicon_of_orthodoxy.htm
On this, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, I'm attaching link to a copy of the Synodikon, the list of commemorations and anathemas that are read to mark the victories of God's holy Church in her battles against persecution and heresy. It's 21 pages, but always worth the read. As you read, think of those who are named as heroes and villains of the Faith, and remember that the story is ongoing, and YOU have your place in it? Will you remain true to the faith to which you were called? Or will you fail and fall? You have a choice, as do I. Let us battle in earnest, that we may win the eternal crown, warring against our own selfish desires to attain the life that Christ so generously offers us.
oodegr.com/English/ekklisia/synodoi/synodicon_of_orthodoxy.htm