Orthodixie

“Guard your mind from evil thoughts concerning your neighbors, knowing that the demons put them there, aiming to blind you to your own sins and prevent you from directing yourself toward God.”

— The Venerable Elias the Egyptian (Feast – November 3rd)

Taken from the Prologue of Ohrid.

Racism is a sin almost nobody confesses. Like pollution, it is a “sin of the world” that is everybody’s responsibility but apparently nobody’s fault. One could hardly imagine a more fitting patron of Christian forgiveness (on the part of those discriminated against) and Christian justice (on the part of reformed racists) than Martin de Porres [Feast on the Roman Catholic calendar: November 3rd].

Source

November 3rd is also a lesser commemoration of the Holy Great Martyr George, the day we remember the translation of his holy relics to Lydda in Palestine.

O George the martyr,
O George the victor:
Through suffering, you conquered,
And through death you have been glorified.
You held all things to be of less value
Than truth, O George.
You gave up earthly power and honor,
And stood beside the Living Christ.

O George the martyr,
O George the victor:
Pierced and broken with horrible tortures,
You were sustained by God’s hand.
All your pains were as nothing —
By the power of God’s mighty hand.
We all bow down before you
And glorify your name.

O Martyr George,
O Victor George:
Have mercy on us now,
By your prayers, protect us
Before the throne of Christ God,
Our Almighty Savior;
And pray that we not fear torture,
And that, by patience, we conquer!

Also taken from the Prologue.

http://youtube.com/v/t2v6kFyvbMk
Okay, y’all. Check it out.

There was a priest who was serving a parish. He was not well liked by the people in this village. He smoked, drank, did drugs, and was constantly with women. The people complained so much about his behavior to the Bishop that the Bishop decided to do something about it. He went to the village, and talked with the people. They were sure they wanted this priest out of their village.

That night the Bishop decided that he would, in fact, remove this priest the very next morning. The Bishop went to sleep, and had a strange dream. The dream goes like this:

The Bishop was on his way to carry out the priests removal, and as he was walking hundreds of people were grabbing him trying to stop him. He didn’t understand it, so he asked these people “why are you trying to stop me?” They answered “Because he is the only person that prays for us.” The Bishop woke up and remembered his dream but didn’t understand it. So he decided he would go talk to the priest first, and find out a little something about him.

He met the priest, and asked if it was true about his smoking, etc. The priest said “Yes, it is all true what the people say about me.” Then the Bishop asked “Well, there must be something good about you.” The priest couldn’t think of anything. So the Bishop insisted that there must be something about him that is positive. The only thing that the priest could think of was that he said his prayer rule every morning, and he prayed for every soul that died in the community.

When the Bishop heard this he understood his dream, and shared it with the priest. The priest changed his way of living from that day forward, and he became a righteous priest.

Our Wednesday night Adult Ed class has been studying PRAYER. The above story was sent to me by a participant.

October 31st, St George All Saints Party. Dressing up as Saints encouraged; super heroes and “benign beings” allowed; boogers & such discouraged.

Hover your cursor over the pics for captions; click pics to enlarge.

Last night the Annual All Saints Party was held at St George, Houston. Dressing up as Saints is encouraged; super heroes and “benign beings” are allowed; boogers & such discouraged.

Hover your cursor over the pics for captions; click pics to enlarge.

Part Two to come …