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Let us never despair of our salvation!

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In the Lives of the Saints, we find an example of steadfast repentance and its fruit: A brother, often sinning, immediately ran to the Icon of the Savior and, throwing himself face down on the ground, with bitter tears cried out: “Have mercy on me, Lord, and remove this cunning temptation from me!” But not long after, he sinned again and, without losing hope, again ran to the Icon of the Savior and asked for forgiveness and help to correct himself. But one day, when he was in sobs and tears before the Icon, the devil, seeing that he could not completely gain control over him, appeared to him in his face and said to the honest Icon: “You are not just, Lord, that you receive this sinner who every day promises himself before You, although he still sins!” And a voice was heard to him: “O most cunning loser, are you not satisfied with having encompassed the world, but do you also strive to win the one who has come to the unspeakable mercy? When he comes to sin, you do not chase him away, bu...
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Many things happen for our guidance

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Many of the things that happen to us happen to us for our guidance, or for the extinguishing of past sins, or for the correction of present inattention, or for the avoidance of future sins. He who therefore thinks that the trial has come to him for one of these does not rebel when he is struck, especially if he is conscious of his sin, nor does he blame the one through whom the trial came to him, for either through that or another, he had to drink the cup of divine judgments. But he looks to God and thanks Him who permitted the trial, and blames himself and receives the rebuke with a good heart, behaving like David with Shimei, or like Job with his wife. The fool, however, asks God to have mercy on him; but when mercy comes, he does not receive it, because it did not come as he wanted, but as the Physician of souls thought it would be useful. And therefore he becomes careless and troubled, and sometimes he fights fiercely with demons, at other times he blasphemes God; thus showing him...
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If you want to overcome vainglory, do not love praise.

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If you want to overcome vainglory, do not love praise, nor honors, nor expensive clothes, nor leading places, nor primacy, but, on the contrary, rejoice when you are insulted and dishonored, and rebuke yourself that you are more sinful than all sinners. If you want to overcome pride, do not say about anything you do that it is done by your labors or your powers, but whether you fast, or spend time in vigil, or sleep on the bare ground, or engage in singing psalms, or make many prostrations to the ground, say: "Only with the help of God and with the protection of God is this done, not by my power and not by my effort"
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In the future life God will be all in all

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Regarding the future life, the Lord said that there they do not marry, nor are given in marriage, that is, there will be no place for earthly ties; there will be no place, that is, for the ordinances of earthly life. There will be no sciences, no arts, no governments, and nothing of the like. But what will it be? God will be all in all , and since God is spirit, unites with spirit, and works spiritually, the whole life there will be a continuous series of spiritual movements. From this one thing emerges: since our goal is the future life, and life here is only a preparation for it, to live all our life only for what is suitable only here and has no place in the future life, means going against our purpose and preparing for ourselves a bitter, unspeakably bitter fate for the future. I do not mean that we must now abandon all earthly pursuits, but that, while working as much as is necessary for this life, our chief concern must be preparation for the next, striving, as much as we can, to...
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We meet God when He Himself seeks us

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We meet God when He Himself seeks us. The Savior said: “ Knock, and it shall be opened unto you ” (Matthew 7:7). We will sometimes knock for a long time, because Christ knows that we are not yet ready for the encounter, we are not ready to look the Living God face to face; for to meet God always means to come to judgment; it is the same as to meet an unconditional beauty, an unconditional truth, an unconditional justice. And in the face of this beauty, this justice, and this truth – in the face of divine holiness – we stand without an answer. For this reason, God awaits the time of maturity, of maturation, when we ourselves will be able to pronounce our judgment upon ourselves and when we will be able to receive His unconditional, just, impartial judgment, in which we will not see condemnation, but a call from God to a growth towards the dignity of man in its full sense. Metropolitan Anthony of Souroj
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The Mother of God is also our mother

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Among the exhortations we receive at holy services in connection with the Mother of God, the most common are to commemorate the Mother of God and to magnify the Mother of God. Let us thank God for these gifts of our Church, let us thank God for the fact that the Mother of God is also our mother. Let us thank God for the fact that we have the Mother of God as an intercessor for our good, let us thank God that we have the Mother of God as our helper. Let us not forget: “ what God can do with power, the Mother of God can do with prayer ” and let us trust in her help. Let us follow her example as much as we can, so that we too may share in the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen! Archimandrite Teofil Părăian
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Why do we sometimes feel resistance to God's commandments?

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He who has taken the fulfillment of God’s will as his life’s goal strives to know this all-holy will thoroughly and without fail by searching with the greatest diligence the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament, by reading the writings of the Fathers, by talking and consulting with mature Christians, by fulfilling the evangelical commandments with his external conduct, with his mind and heart. “The law of freedom,” said the Venerable Mark the Ascetic, “is honored by true understanding, understood by the work of the commandments and fulfilled by the mercies of Christ.” When the Christian begins to live in accordance with the good, pleasing and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2), in other words with the commandments of the New Testament, the fall and impotence of human nature is suddenly revealed to him. Weakness does not allow him to fulfill God's commandments in a pure and holy manner, as He requires, and the fall resists - often with the greatest ferocity - the fulfillment...
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