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No one should wish to be saved alone without all others being saved. It is a mistake for someone to pray for himself, that he himself may be saved. We must love others and pray that no soul be lost, that all may enter into the Church. That is what counts. +St. Porphyrios

It is not enough to say prayers: we must become, be prayer, prayer incarnate. All of life, each act, each act, every gesture, even the smile of the human face, must become a hymn of adoration, an offering, a prayer. One should offer not what one has but what one is! + Father Paul Evdokimov

Next week is Pascha. Blessing to all the Western Christians on their Easter!

Nothing created by God is evil. It is not food that is evil but gluttony, not the begetting of children but unchastity, not material things but avarice, not esteem but self-esteem. It is only the misuse of things that is evil, not the things themselves.” + St. Maximos the Confessor

“Many human activities, good in themselves, are not good because of the motive for which they are done. For example, fasting and vigils, prayer and psalmody, acts of charity and hospitality are by nature good, but when performed for the sake of self-esteem they are not good.” + St. Maximos the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love 2.35, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 2)

“You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of one who gives and kindles joy in the heart of one who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other, not even those whom you catch committing an evil deed. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Keep away from the spilling of speech. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around.” — St. Seraphim of Sarov,

They say that church is boring. It’s boring because they don’t understand the services! You have to study the services! Church is boring because they don’t care about it—it doesn’t seem to belong to them, but to someone else. Even if they at would least bring some flowers or greens for decorations, if they took part in all the fuss of decorating the church, then it wouldn’t be boring. - St. Anatoly (Potapov). THE OPTINA ELDERS AND THEIR SAYINGS.

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How easily God forgives! The only thing that must occur is to open the door of your souls to Him. God does not wait for any reward for that which He gives to men. And even if your sins are millions or billions, for God this is counted as nothing. What is the worth of a small amount of sand to the ocean? All the sins of the world are like a virus to the ocean. There is no sin which conquers the mercy on God. Thus, the sins of man are zero. When the child returns to the bosom of the Lord, all things cease before His mercy. -Elder Ephraim of Arizona

How, then, shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us? He is so good that he asks no recompense except our love: that is the only payment he desires. To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome by a kind of dread and numbness at the very possibility of ceasing to love God and of bringing shame upon Christ because of my lack of recollection and my preoccupation with trivialities. St Basil the Great

Absolutely nothing will help us if we are not lenient toward the weaknesses of men and forgive them. For how can we hope that God will forgive us if we do not forgive others? + St. Nikolai Velimirovich The Prologue of Ohrid

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One of our new radio spots which will start being broadcast on Monday