This is the Church established by Jesus Christ ☦️ Chant name: Χαίρε Άγιον Όρος, πλ Α’ (Rejoice, O God-trodden mountain. Tone Pl. I.)

Are you intentionally misrepresenting things or are you just not paying attention to what’s been discussed and written? It’s hard to take you seriously when you create these strawmen. 1. Catechumens absolutely have a spiritual guide and confessor. Sometimes the priest is both the catechist and the confessor, sometimes they just guide them spiritually and confess them before baptism and have someone else conduct catechism. Catechumens participate the life of the Church in every way except participation in the Mysteries, which presupposes, of course, initiation. (Surely you agree that the non-orthodox are not participating in the Mysteries, right?) 2. Ben does not have a “ministry“. He is not a “teacher“. He is not purporting to be a “teacher of the orthodox faith.” He is conducting interviews, sharing news and takes on non-Orthodox events and ideas. That does not make him a “teacher“ of the Church. Moreover, he was doing this before he became a catechumen, he already had a channel and he’s continuing with the blessing of his spiritual guide. What do you see as problematic here? Is that not up to the spiritual guide to decide if he should continue in *this* or not?

A very powerful show to watch ☦️ youtu.be/g1e7WAdEncM?is=sVk9…

Sad… but not surprising… This is the spirit of the age, the pestilence we are all breathing in daily: an underlying if often undetected disdain for Truth as a Person/as the Body of Christ, an incarnate Reality in time and space, and thus a resignation from it, which was brought about in part due to a reluctance to crucify our fallen rationalism, which of course cannot be the conduit for epignosis (experiential knowledge). This is the milieu in which outright nihilism thrives.

Sad… but not surprising… This is the spirit of the age, the pestilence we are all breathing in daily: an underlying if often undetected disdain for Truth as a Person/as the Body of Christ, an incarnate Reality in time and space, and thus a resignation from it, which was brought about in part due to a reluctance to crucify our fallen rationalism, which of course cannot be the conduit for epignosis (experiential knowledge). This is the milieu in which outright nihilism thrives.

This is helpful for all who would enter into life, on the narrow, winding road of the spiritual life in Christ:

“When said with pain, the prayer gives birth to mourning. Mourning brings tears. Tears in turn give birth to purer prayer.” - St. Joseph the Hesychast

✍🏻 MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 🗓 Live-streaming schedule for the month of JUNE:

Joining the Catechumen to the Church x.com/i/broadcasts/1DGleeLdn…

Its insane how evangelicals believe Satan and his demons can hear our invocations but saints in heaven can't.

“The honest answer is that the Orthodox parish is operating on a different model entirely. Frankly, it’s an ancient one, sometimes inherited from village and immigrant community life, where membership was assumed, belonging was demonstrated by showing up, and no one needed to be sold on attending because the Church was the center of the community. ‘Church’ is simply what the community did and had done for centuries. That model has real virtues. It does not produce the manipulative retention machinery of megachurch culture. But it also leaves people to slip through the cracks in silence, and in an American context where almost no one arrives already embedded in Orthodox community life, it can amount to a pastoral failure. “Catechumens and new converts need to be warned clearly: The Church will not pursue you the way your last church did. That is not a sign that you are unwanted. It is a sign that you are expected to invest beyond what is intellectually, metrically, and individually stimulating to you. You are expected to show up, introduce yourself, stay for coffee, come back next week and the week after. Orthodoxy is ancient. It cares little for what the culture prescribes and precedes it by millennia. Belonging here is something you build, not something you are handed.” open.substack.com/pub/fracto…

Israel is burning down the oldest Christian village in the West Bank AS WE SPEAK

"we talk about theological distinction between Essence and Energy and although we contrast God's Energy with His Essence, it is understood that the Energy is the natural Energy of the Essence. But this natural Energy of God's Essence does not differ from God's Essence" - Fr. John

Wind Farm Threatens Historic Upstate NY Orthodox Monastery themanhattan.press/business/… @Orthodoxy2019 @ocaorg @OrthodoxEthos

‘It was almost like a METAPHYSICAL experience’ — Candace Owens shares PHOTOS from trip to Russia ‘Why are they lying to me?’ ‘If Moscow is at a level 4 travel advisory… what the hell travel advisory is DC?’

‘My takeaway from visiting Russia is that it is OUR SOCIETY that is on the decline, NOT theirs’ — Candace Owens

‘I encourage literally EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD TO VISIT RUSSIA’ — Candace Owens ‘You will be SPIRITUALLY MOVED BY RUSSIA’ ‘Everything that we have been told about Russia is a LIE’