I saw a quote from actress recently that made me very sad: “I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.” Her words to illustrate so many things that are wrong with our culture today. She mistakenly called a toxic relationship healthy, likely because she shares with most of society the assumption that people will fornicate, and will use pornography when they cannot fornicate. All of this uncleanness muddles people’s minds and makes them unhappy and insecure.
What is Great Lent? (and WHY, and WHAT should you do (and expect) during Great Lent?) (Clean Monday, 02/27/2023)
Video: https://youtu.be/dmJe4u2-1N8
I was asked a question: “What is Great Lent?” I answer this question and the equally important questions that are part of any Christian knowledge: “WHY is Great Lent important, and WHAT should you do in Great Lent?” Topics covered include: Lent is a period of preparation, when it begins, distinctives about Great Lent, more detail about fasting and service,s and prayer in Great Lent, including the prayer of St. Ephrem, and the most important information of all: What is the purpose of Great Lent, and how are we going to go about fulfilling that purpose?
The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete
All these texts are available at http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent/
• O Lord and Master of my life.
• Prayer of St Ephrem explained
http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent/o-lord-and-master-of-my-life-prayer-of-st-ephrem-01.html. It is also in DOC or PDF format.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmJe4u2-1N8
The Christian is called to perfection both in this life and the next. Against him stands the overwhelming power of sin, the devil, and death. We are frail and the battle seems hopeless, but God gives us everything we need to win. We must put on, as St. Paul taught, “the full armor of God.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiktdQYk9Fc
A short meditation on Lazarus Saturday and how we should apply this story to our lives during this time of the pandemic. The promise applies to everything, now, even though its absolute fulfillment will be later.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/wO5Ml8nvh7I
This was the last 5:33 of a video about the schedule of services at St Nicholas for Holy Week and Pascha, during this pandemic: https://youtu.be/Vm3D21487pc
Holy Week and Bright Week Schedule at St Nicholas, 2020
http://www.orthodox.net/announcements/2020-holy-week-bright-week-schedule.html
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO5Ml8nvh7I
Colossians 1:3 redux. Why so little thanksgiving? Because we know more stuff about God than we experience. Repentance, prayer, effort, blood - these things bring about experiencing God, and giving thanks naturally flows. BTW:I am not talking about what we say, but what our state of being is. #doyouhaveaminute
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JiahNPdTFg
On a rainy day at the Monastery, a short meditation on Psalm 37:19 (from the six psalms, read every day during matins) , and a warning to ourselves. Also, the advantages of repetition.
monastery_2017-05-09+they-that-hated-me-unjustly are-multiplied-ps37-19+advantages-of-repetition. mp4
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl9nlCxoVbA
Trinity Sunday. What is salvation? It is the acquiring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was promised to us many times in the Old and New Testaments. Reading from Ezekiel. God takes away our stoney hearts, and gives us hearts of flesh. What it means to have a stoney heart. Reading from the Doxastikon on the Trisagion prayers. The vital importance of doing what we can when we can to take advantage of the grace offered by the Church.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLqL81jmt0
Fr Nicholas explains many of the hymns of the vigil for the Triumph of Orthodox, the 1st Sunday of Great Lent. Our prayer reveals everything we believe and everything about how we should live, think, and act.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/w3JyzGnag6M
AUDIO: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/gl-sun-01_2024+triumph-of-orthodoxy-hymnology.mp3
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3JyzGnag6M
"Having asked that the whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful, and sinless, let us commit ourselves and one another and all of our life unto Christ Our God."
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9c338cqY-4