He who places his hope on thee, O Virgin all-glorious, will prosper in all he does.

Inscription on Byzantine coin during reign of Romanus III



Thursday, February 05, 2009

I'm Beginning To Like Him

From Kyril, the new Patriarch of Moscow:

A believer can’t look and feel gloomy,

“A bishop mustn’t smile,” that’s a deeply erroneous idea of a model Christian. Believer’s outlook is characterized with tranquility and wisdom and faith gives him inner joy,”

Christianity is “eternal joy, it is not a false hundred-dollar smile, but everlasting joy about the Lord and peace of God.” “A believer in Christ has no reason to sprinkle ashes on the head,”

Cloths in black-grey-brown color grade characteristic for some believers, gloomy faces without a hint of smile “have nothing to do with Orthodoxy, with sightlines, with dignity and modesty,” being in fact “a travesty of Church, a vicious taste,”

When we preach folk, museum, costumed Orthodoxy, we make signals to the society and people that our faith is supposed to bear no relation to recent life. While the place of Orthodoxy is in the streamline of life and in the inner abode of our feelings,”

Try to tell me that something special isn't going on over there.

Source

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