Lew☦️

http://www.youtube.com/@harmonyharmonyharmony

It is later than you think! Hasten, therefore, to do the work of God.
☦️Fr. Seraphim Rose

Public Key

npub18zqmath26txwfhc70af8axk7pftjre9x7cf0lxkg92nvj2cpfgts8va790

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsr3qd74m4d9n8ymu0875n7nt0q54epujn0vyhlntyz4fkf9vq559cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsug4dpy

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub18zqmath26txwfhc70af8axk7pftjre9x7cf0lxkg92nvj2cpfgts8va790

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-06-01 23:39:02 GMT

We Americans have a shallow understanding of what "freedom" is. Christ and His Church offer the only path to true freedom and it is most certainly a narrow one.
https://blossom.primal.net/7adb2fa08d6c8250e0e3324d5e7e56d556915fc195c5d3b9853493d75a6e2c5c.jpg

2026-05-31 23:54:47 GMT

- reply

I do it once a year 😬

2026-05-31 23:51:58 GMT

- reply

🤣
The Greek philosophers taught in Apollos temple and stoic bros be like, "nah, I'm not religious"....

2026-05-29 05:49:15 GMT

- reply

War of northern aggression is correct 🤝

2026-05-27 23:51:06 GMT

- reply

What you just presented is the Orthodox view of salvation... Which is what he is getting at in the post.

2026-05-27 19:00:39 GMT

Jonathan Pageau recently on X (I'm not over there, but this was sent to me).
Following a bit of the Protestant polemics against Orthodoxy recently, and I realize just how difficult it is to communicate the mind of the Church across these lines.
A simple example is seeing people confused about whether someone who is not baptised and participating in Orthodox communion can be "saved". Protestant are noticing that there are different answers in their estimation, and so are confused about them. The confusion comes from the belief that being "saved" or not is about "where you go after you die", when for the Orthodox "saved" means being made whole, being healed, being restored to the original purpose God had for us.
For this reason, when Protestants see declarations of how communion in the body of Christ is the only way to salvation, they immediately think this is a declaration that all the non-Orthodox are going to hell after they die. When Protestants then hear the very same person who just told them that salvation is in full participation to the body of Christ go on to intimate we have nothing to say about the eschatological finality of any specific soul, it is like a short circuit that many Protestants cannot compute. This is what I could see when
@OrthodoxEthos
and
@Acts17David
were discussing and it is what I have seen in
@gavinortlund
's videos.
In a similar vein, when a Protestant says he has the "assurance of his own personal salvation", this is confusing to the Orthodox. Orthodox also obviously have assurance of salvation, that assurance is Christ. He shows us what it means to be made whole and makes us participate in that wholeness. But how can I say that I am "saved" if I see that I am still a wretch, still prideful and arrogant and sinful? So the Orthodox, knowing they are are still sinning, though also knowing Christ has made them grow in the virtues will say something like: "I know that I am being saved." That is I can see that I am being healed, being made whole, being reformed to the resemblence of God. But again, this completely confuses the Protestant who just wants to know what will happen when you die. What side of the fence will you end up on?
I am not sure how to get accross these lines, and I feel that unless we can, we will perpetually be talking past each other.

2026-05-27 13:37:14 GMT

👀 Oh boy
https://uncutmountainpress.com/products/the-homilies-of-metropolitan-neophytos-of-morphou-vol-i

2026-05-17 23:03:38 GMT

- reply

I made the HUGE mistake of reading St. Climacus' "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" as an inquirer to Holy Orthodoxy. Don't do that.
#nevent1q…j2kp

2026-05-17 22:57:12 GMT

This excerpt goes HARD.
The man who has withdrawn from the world in order to shake off his own burden of sins, should imitate those who sit outside the city amongst the tombs, and should not discontinue his hot and fiery streams of tears and voiceless heartfelt groanings until he, too, sees that Jesus has come to him and rolled away the stone of hardness from his heart,
and loosed Lazarus, that is to say, our mind, from the bands of sin, and ordered His attendant angels:
Loose him (cf John 11:44) from passions, and let him go to blessed dispassion. Otherwise he will have gained nothing.
Those of us who wish to go out of Egypt and to fly from Pharaoh, certainly need some Moses as a mediator with God and from God,
who, standing between action and contemplation, will raise hands of prayer for us to God, so that guided by Him we may cross the sea of sin and rout the Amalek of the passions (Exodus 17).
That is why those who have surrendered themselves to God, deceive themselves if they suppose that they have no need of a director.
Those who came out of Egypt had Moses as their guide, and those who fled from Sodom had an angel.
The former are like those who are healed of the passions of the soul by the care of physicians: these are they who come out of Egypt.
The latter are like those who long to put off the uncleanness of the wretched body. That is why they need a helper, an angel, so to speak, or at least one equal to an angel.
For in proportion to the corruption of our wounds we need a director who is indeed an expert and a physician.
Those who aim at ascending with the body to heaven, need violence indeed and constant suffering especially in the early stages of their renunciation, until our pleasure-loving dispositions and unfeeling hearts attain to love of God and chastity by visible sorrow.
A great toil, very great indeed, with much unseen suffering, especially for those who live carelessly, until by simplicity, deep angerlessness and diligence, we make our mind, which is a greedy kitchen dog addicted to barking, a lover of chastity and watchfulness.
But let us who are weak and passionate have the courage to offer our infirmity and natural weakness to Christ with unhesitating faith, and confess it to Him; and we shall be certain to obtain His help, even beyond our merit, if only we unceasingly go right down to the depth of humility.
☦️Saint John Climacus

2026-05-13 23:47:21 GMT

Few
https://blossom.primal.net/2f70f8b726c68f6ad6a178abf6f4a9f4b74b9f2d7a107d2289cde4d3e09e4b32.mp4

2026-05-13 05:17:04 GMT

- reply

What is man's purpose?

2026-05-13 05:11:33 GMT

- reply

https://blossom.primal.net/af919476118cc48a96a78fc85a68154ec8214d0bc8abcb77443ad375abb7fde4.jpg
https://blossom.primal.net/0bcdddac1d1f52415cf4e24a029955192d11e5dcd0dab5bd8587f1e5630596aa.jpg

2026-05-10 17:27:36 GMT

- reply

Indeed, and to your point, The American "ideal" is clearly based on individualism and America is no doubt a product of the Enlightment--->Reformation.

2026-05-10 16:01:09 GMT

- reply

You could make a strong case that atheism, as we define it today, is a direct byproduct of the reformation.

2026-05-07 14:07:28 GMT

☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/77f378d8f53e8f52a331ca84bc401eddbb0027ffdca25b03b2b64b22a5aea69c.jpg

2026-05-06 01:37:06 GMT

- reply

Go checkout a vespers service at your local parish.

2026-05-06 00:42:40 GMT

- reply

Well worth a read.
https://blossom.primal.net/0bcdddac1d1f52415cf4e24a029955192d11e5dcd0dab5bd8587f1e5630596aa.jpg

2026-05-06 00:24:26 GMT

IYKYK
https://blossom.primal.net/ec651c2c80b5118999c8f04f837b92d6b1d66363667e4abd23863a416421273c.png

2026-04-30 12:26:26 GMT

Stop your blackpilling anon ☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/1414f8725685d956674c5b06b879fe0e46d60e867fe14056e55f6466f261c532.mp4

2026-04-24 00:15:11 GMT

https://blossom.primal.net/45a053a8921a42e4e91088e1a8f57d95982be247d3a7ac67d77c187877391a1f.jpg
https://blossom.primal.net/80b10f974e99f7c870da3a706d4c60637ac976805445b383e202abb259f864ac.jpg

2026-04-23 23:23:12 GMT

- reply

Zapstore and accrescent.

2026-04-22 18:36:46 GMT

Trump has a lot in common with Julian the apostate. 😬

2026-04-15 16:41:11 GMT

#asknostr
New homeowner here, snagged me 4 acres and I would appreciate all of your tool recommendations, must haves, and nice to haves!
☦️Christ is risen!

2026-04-13 23:16:39 GMT

A worthwhile project by the Death To The World folks. This project will offer a refuge to the faithful amidst the immense noise in our day to day.
https://www.meetingofthelord.com/

2026-04-13 12:42:47 GMT

☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/0a507d5a0c895d7ab014650cfb57b3038930ce001c753de03a6632ae29b29d6a.mp4

2026-04-09 20:11:48 GMT

On Holy and Great Thursday, we commemorate four events: the washing of the disciples’ feet, the Mystical Supper, the Lord’s agony in the Garden, and His betrayal. ☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/37be6956490c5f911a99e5b416a41e683b43a78d395169c5bba615938ad3178d.mp4

2026-04-07 11:27:35 GMT

TUESDAY (OF HOLY WEEK)
Now the people, the priests, and the Jewish rulers hear the Lord’s word in the temple for the last time. And His word was all-encompassing: it embraced everything—past, present, and future.
By the question about John, the Lord indicates that He is the true Messiah; by the parable of the two sons, He shows that the Jews will be rejected and that the Gentiles will be called in their place; by the parable of the vineyard workers, He declares that destruction awaits those who are rejected; by the parable of the king’s son’s wedding, He teaches that not all who come to Him will be worthy, and therefore will justly be cast into outer darkness.
Through His answers about the tribute to Caesar and about the greatest commandment, as well as through His words of rebuke, He sets forth the defining characteristics of the life that leads to salvation. Finally, by foretelling the calamities that will befall Jerusalem, He reveals to His disciples the mystery of His Second Coming.
It would be enough simply to hear all this with attention to become convinced that He is the true Savior of the world—Christ—and to submit to His commandments and teaching.
Even to this day, the reading of the Gospel chapters concerning all that took place on this day is a most powerful means of enlivening faith in the Lord. Through them, the Christian, coming to true understanding, can kindle zeal and show that he believes in the Lord not only in word, but also in deed.
☦️ St. Theophan the Recluse - Thoughts for Every Day of the Year
https://blossom.primal.net/4c11473256e1de4c2ad5e4e123043593465dcd93f02265e670305d9955d53b6d.jpg

2026-04-05 16:21:13 GMT

https://blossom.primal.net/1403f6aa20d0a5146f676176883041e4ba4e7fa26517d7170c37678b23c58bdf.jpg

2026-04-02 03:39:43 GMT

https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelofamerica/p/the-south-was-right

2026-03-31 23:57:28 GMT

If you bear your cross with perseverance and seek comfort only from Him, then He, through His mercy, will not abandon you but will touch your heart and will impart to you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. … Then your heart will be kindled with love of God and all people. All these are gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When the Lord decides to honour you with such gifts, do not consider them as rewards for your labors, and do not think that you have attained perfection. Such thoughts come from pride. The comforts and grace of the Holy Spirit are not rewards but gifts of divine mercy.
☦️ St Innocent, Enlightener of Siberia and Alaska (Reposed Mar 31, 1879),"The Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven"
https://blossom.primal.net/67e11dd84e3224e9e8a44ee88f04ee781ff06befc632bed06ce51a42596cb947.jpg

2026-03-29 11:48:16 GMT

It is later than you think ☦️
https://youtu.be/BJB9pTAAtA0

2026-03-27 23:54:38 GMT

https://blossom.primal.net/2de31fff72b678994d87b2236533ea31a3a12a006e6db91ab3e9c7b761a1acfa.jpg

2026-03-25 18:31:27 GMT

Blessed feast of the Annunciation of our Lord! ☦️
"The incarnation of Christ came about according to God's good pleasure and not merely by His permission. It did not happen on account of the fall, as though God was obliged to become man because of the fall. Rather, it was in God's original plan before the creation of the world, and the creation of the world was aimed toward this. The theological explanation is that man's salvation could not be accomplished solely by keeping God's commandments, but was to be achieved by the union of the divine and human natures in the hypostasis of the Word. Through Him humankind would be deified.
...The fall of man did not make God decide on the divine incarnation; it had been planned by God before the fall. The consequences of the fall were the Passion and Cross of Christ. Human beings could not have reached deification without the prototype of the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in Christ."
—Met. Hierotheos (Vlachos)
Feasts of the Mother of God (pp. 172-173)
https://blossom.primal.net/a6dabf462696e0b739c8cdb04fd399de8b5eed4a48e8e114e39a5ec7cac2494e.jpg

2026-03-25 01:27:39 GMT

- reply

The Greek fathers differed from Augustine in some important theological ares (sin, grace, salvation), and some of the difference can be attributed to linguistics/language barrier.
This is not to say St. Augustine is wrong. He was dealing with pelagianism so its understandable as to why he wrote the way he did in dealing with those topics I listed above.

2026-03-25 00:05:45 GMT

- reply

St. Augustine admits a few times throughout his theological writings that he understood very little Greek. This is important to note as his theology, particularly that of original sin, is heavily relied upon in the West.
With that said, St. Augustine is undoubtedly a GREAT father of the Church and the humility he exudes in his book "Confessions" is nothing short of saintly.
#nevent1q…9e07

2026-03-24 01:56:05 GMT

- reply

If you haven't given these a look 👀
https://blossom.primal.net/62607312594629ba5b3092dbcef9662b687d915ce3cc944aa058503a616b7578.jpg
https://blossom.primal.net/b54007f1ff2a56a039bc6931bf140c4ca08d5d82c8b9a56b980fa737faff9852.jpg

2026-03-24 01:32:54 GMT

- reply

Chopped off*

2026-03-24 01:32:23 GMT

- reply

🔥☦️

2026-03-24 01:31:54 GMT

- reply

No sweat, it's referencing how St Maximos paid a price for his faith. He had his tongue cut out and his hand chopped and died in exile.

2026-03-24 01:05:39 GMT

- reply

🤝

2026-03-24 01:05:22 GMT

- reply

🤣 Not one bit 🫂

2026-03-24 00:25:33 GMT

https://whichtheologianareyou.netlify.app/
Nice!
https://blossom.primal.net/f0c6f7ef12044d96b4bd7a6eb895658d8ce5ba5790fe9f4f368762d0806c503d.png
https://blossom.primal.net/092e89c5c99f9601f8cc76dbaa007aec6599a3595759f6f7ce398699151587cc.png

2026-03-23 17:55:51 GMT

- reply

As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." - Romans 9:13
If God hated Esau because he was a vessel made for dishonor, how could it be true that God hates nothing which he has made? For in that case, God hated Esau, even though he had made him as a vessel for dishonor. This knotty problem is solved if we understand that God is the Maker of all creatures. Every creature of God is good. Every man is a creature as man but not as sinner. God is the Creator both of the body and of the soul of man. Neither of these is evil, and God hates neither. He hates nothing which he has made. But the soul is more excellent than the body, and God is more excellent than both soul and body, being the maker and fashioner of both. In man he hates nothing but sin. Sin in man is perversity and lack of order, i.e., a turning away from the Creator, who is more excellent, and a turning to the creatures which are inferior to him. God does not hate Esau the man, but he does hate Esau the sinner. .
-St. Augustine of Hippo☦️

2026-03-23 11:35:02 GMT

- reply

2026-03-23 00:17:56 GMT

👑☦️🇨🇾 Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou on why God will allow for a massive Third World War to take place:
🚀☢️ “When the first Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear program, took place on Friday morning (June 13th, 2025) I sat in my prayer chair & said: My Christ, what You have been telling us all these years, has begun to happen. We knew they would come. Now we are watching them unfold. My Christ, how do You want me to pray? Christ Himself had revealed to the saints we've met that this War must take place. This is because the people of today have been proven unworthy of peace. We want peace in order to enjoy our passions. In other words, a perverted peace, a corrupted peace.
⚡️A peace where our primary concern is for holidays, wealth & having fun. But not for the peace of the heart. It's an outward peace that provides for indulging our passions & malice on all levels: social, personal, political & professional. That's not the kind of peace God wants. This is why, from time to time, He allows earthquakes in some places, volcanic eruptions elsewhere, floods out of nowhere, fires, poverty, economic defaults, wars & other such catastrophic events. God wants to wake us up from the lethargy of this corrupt peace we desire” ☦️🙏🏻🕊️
https://blossom.primal.net/4656dfff48f9e809734f6ef2caf4336101e905bff65a97e206e35b0d68b8c86d.jpg

2026-03-22 16:28:56 GMT

Today we commemorate St. John of the Ladder. I made the mistake of reading his book while an inquirer to the Orthodox faith, pure spiritual meat that I was no where near equipped to handle.
St. John Climacus thought himself unworthy to compose a guide to the monastic life. However, in obedience to his abbot, St. John (4th Sunday of Great Lent) did so, drawing inspiration from the story of Jacob's ladder in the Old Testament (Gen. 28:12). St. John called his work The Ladder, for the book is “a fixed ladder leading from earthly things to the Holy of Holies." The thirty steps of spiritual perfection correspond to the Lord's age at the beginning of His ministry.
In the book, the fourth step of the ladder is obedience— a word so many people misunderstand. It is not “giving up one's will and losing one's freedom. Christian obedience … is the proper exercise of our freedom, freely offered to God and to our neighbor. As St. John Climacus teaches us, this type of obedience - true obedience- is an act of love.”
https://blossom.primal.net/218ef87ee1029c572265b7caaa6da96430f30eba15db2f6d18618b4ed6314768.jpg

2026-03-22 02:58:02 GMT

- reply

Yes, the Theotokos is the example not the exception. If we say "she was unable to sin" then her obedience is nothing remarkable.

2026-03-21 00:23:07 GMT

- reply

https://www.zoepress.us/revelation-the-books

2026-03-20 23:37:23 GMT

"Obviously, the temple of Solomon which had been destroyed is the temple the Antichrist will rebuild, and not in any other city but Jerusalem. Thus, when we see these crucial developments, they will help us to discern the signs of the times[...]Consider the state of television programming—it does nothing but corrupt. The quality of entertainment, the state of our politics, the economy, the system of education—all have been instituted and infected by anti-Christian masterminds. They have accomplished their goals for the most part. The main goal is to beat the nations (as a fisherman beats an octopus on a hard rock to make it soft) to paralyze the nations. Then the Antichrist will come and proclaim, 'I am here to save you. I will save you.' After all those years of propaganda the nations will not be able to react at all, and in their despair they will welcome the idea of a one-world governor. The anti-Christian agenda will have done its work quite well in order to make the nations kneel to this degree..."
—Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios
Homily 46 on Revelation
https://blossom.primal.net/e7d0aed942d4a1b7f2280340654971a2bab7ad823eaad4525d297c43e98ca3e2.jpg

2026-03-20 14:18:26 GMT

- reply

Yes- I think this is why veneration is such a difficult concept with our Protestant brothers and sisters in that what they see as worship is really veneration.
Said another way, when they see the veneration of Holy relics, icons, etc they perceive that as worship. This is a downstream effect of desacralizing the church a la the product of over rationalization ushered in by the enlightenment.

2026-03-20 03:58:47 GMT

- reply

"You end up in painful Christological heresy when you try to demote her" - Exactly right. I don't see how reformed theology, specifically their soteriology (penal substitutionary atonement) doesn't fall directly into Nestorianism.
St John Maximovitch has an excellent short book on this very topic.
https://blossom.primal.net/1452ce89f03c57b8f6cca8a4b6b85b04794170aaf7ea08c1a9a807c19d5da0f9.jpg

2026-03-19 18:55:13 GMT

The Russian Revolution is such an important piece of modern history that has been propagandized quite well through the bunk education system here in the West.
https://blossom.primal.net/11362d62bff6dcc5e2c79580a0d5e24653c704e305795aff7ff6e69c7f726b9e.jpg

2026-03-19 00:14:46 GMT

- reply

1 Peter 2 and 1 Timothy 2 are worth a look.
The Orthodox Church does not teach separation of Church and state rather it teaches a harmonious union of the two. The "state" governs temporal affairs and the Church handles the safe keeping of Truth (The Gospel of Christ and the Tradition Therein).
Byzantium and Christian Dynastic Russia would be the best examples for further exploration.
A contemporary resource: https://old.mospat.ru/en/documents/social-concepts/v/
This resource may also be helpful:
https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/N6_Scott.htm

2026-03-18 23:33:05 GMT

- reply

https://blossom.primal.net/7af0fac2a088eed31177d15ecca2d30a065ef167670fbfa1aa4060aa391acb35.jpg

2026-03-17 00:59:07 GMT

http://crossfilm.info/holyarchipelagocom
This documentary is now available on YouTube, I've been waiting for this to make its way to the U. S. ☦️

2026-03-16 20:53:22 GMT

https://substack.com/@buckjohnson/note/c-228745543?r=17jlge
👀

2026-03-15 17:17:42 GMT

- reply

I do not have a blessing from my priest to engage in debate but some of my thoughts on this:
Unlike rabbinic Judaism and it's related heresy Islam, Christianity is not a "religion of the book", rather it is centered around a unique, historical event, that is God revealing Himself to the world via the incarnation. The Word of God is Jesus Christ, the 2nd person of the Trinity. Recall what St. John says towards the end of his Gospel, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen".
The Divine Liturgy (which is filled with Scripture) reminds us, everytime it is enacted in the world, of the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of the God-Man Jesus Christ. It is in the Divine Liturgy where God's Energies (Grace) are made accessible through the mysteries (sacraments) to the faithful. It is in the Liturgy where Holy Scripture is best understood. It's worth noting that the Ark of the Covenant held 3 items in it: Stone Tablets with the law written on them, Aarons staff, and a jar of manna. These 3 items find their fulfillment in Christ and His altar, Aarons staff is the cross, manna is the Eucharist, and the stone Tablets are the Holy Gospels.
The Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition are not to be separated. St. Matthews Gospel reminds us, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them".

2026-03-13 20:09:25 GMT

- reply

https://www.amazon.com/Laurus-Eugene-Vodolazkin-ebook/dp/B014C57RDQ
Only book I've read by Eugene but it is remarkable. I do plan on getting through his other works!

2026-03-13 18:01:38 GMT

- reply

☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/5f1f196b62bc4464803acc27f1f6428a6a01e8fea2e324a1897ababb7710cdbb.jpg

2026-03-13 16:46:41 GMT

- reply

🔥
All roads lead to the God-Man Jesus Christ.
Heiromonk Seraphim Rose covers this in detail if yall can find it, an absolute must read/listen.
#nevent1q…y97k

2026-03-12 23:55:37 GMT

Any of y'all read or even heard of this? I'm very intrigued 🤔
https://blossom.primal.net/af940e7b2d582dbd63fed618afbd1eb609236f14775a206e0fdb9a6d55efe968.png
https://blossom.primal.net/9ca602a32bea97e3658f4da6bdf8b3934d5ab818dfe000361742c4ccb3f14184.png

2026-03-10 19:00:30 GMT

- reply

😬

2026-03-10 18:37:34 GMT

- reply

Europa

2026-03-10 16:41:15 GMT

From Michael Warren Davis over at Substack:
*Florensky was a bonafide genius and polymath, his writings are quite difficult to digest for slowbois like me but if this sort of thing interests you, go check him out!
https://blossom.primal.net/d9a73018c31e36a07c53329b619e16a34605912950ae236bbf6b35bb1083daff.jpg
https://blossom.primal.net/015a07c49ecfe2cb0f1013a6ab60d143de3338bf07ba4a7a9e3edbaa5c1b0d27.jpg

2026-03-09 17:33:55 GMT

- reply

No doubt!

2026-03-04 13:02:27 GMT

- reply

Well worth a go.

2026-03-04 12:41:02 GMT

- reply

Edwards just released a companion manual for Crowbar, a worldbuilder if you will 👀👀
#nevent1q…83hz
https://blossom.primal.net/e7dec9eb54086158df12dab5d68853572ddb6faded4185055e79feb126865cac.jpg

2026-03-01 20:08:58 GMT

The first Sunday of Great Lent brings us the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
St. John of Damascus: On the Holy Images
St. John grew up at the court of Damascus where he succeeded his father as the caliph’s chief councillor. He was educated as a Christian by a slave who was an Orthodox monk. A talented writer, he wielded his pen so successfully in battle against the iconoclasts that they slandered him before the Caliph, whereupon he was dismissed and his right hand cut off. It was miraculously restored after fervent prayer before an icon of the Mother of God. St. John then retired to the monastery of St. Sabbas near Jerusalem, where he continued to produce an inspired stream of commentaries, hymns and apologetical writings, including the Octoechos (the Church’s service book of eight tones) and An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the dogmatic writings of the Early Church Fathers. He died in 749 as a revered Father of the Church.
(On the Divine Images: extracts)
Things which have already taken place are remembered by means of images, whether for the purpose of inspiring wonder, or honor, or shame, or to encourage those who look upon them to practice good and avoid evil. These images are of two kinds: either they are words written in books, as when God had the law engraved on tablets and desired the lives of holy men to be recorded, or else they are material images, such as the jar of manna, or Aaron’s staff, which were to be kept in the ark as a memorial. So when we record events and good deeds of the past, we use images ….
In former times God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter; who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. How could God be born out of things which have no existence in themselves? God’s body is God because it is joined to His person by a union which shall never pass away. The divine nature remains the same; the flesh created in time is quickened by a reason endowed soul. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with His grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me. Was not the thrice-happy and thrice blessed wood of the Cross matter? What of the life bearing rock, the holy and life-giving tomb, the fountain of our resurrection, was it not matter? Is not the ink in the most holy Gospel-book matter? Is not the life-giving altar made of matter? From it we receive the bread of life! Are not gold and silver matter? From them we make crosses, patens, chalices! And over and above all these things, is not the Body and Blood of our Lord matter? Either do away with the honor and veneration these things deserve, or accept the tradition of the Church and the veneration of images…
…Just as words edify the ear, so also the image stimulates the eye. What the book is to the literate, the image is to the illiterate. Just as words speak to the ear, so the image speaks to the sight; it brings us understanding. For this reason God ordered the ark to be constructed of wood which would not decay, and to be gilded outside and in, and for the tablets to be placed inside, with Aaron’s staff and the golden urn containing the manna, in order to provide a remembrance of the past, and an image of the future.
Who can say that these were not images, heralds sounding from far off? …Obviously they were not adored for their own sake, but through them the people were led to remember the wonders of old and to worship God, the worker of wonders. They were images serving as memorials; they were not divine, but led to the remembrance of divine power.
Some would say: Make an image of Christ and of His Mother, the Theotokos, and let that be enough. What foolishness! Your own impious words prove that you utterly despise the saints. If you make an image of Christ, and not of the saints, it is evident that you do not forbid images, but refuse to honor the saints. You make images of Christ as one who is glorified, yet you deprive the saints of their rightful glory, and call truth falsehood. The Lord says, I will glorify those who glorify Me (1 Sam. 2:30)….The Scripture calls the saints gods, when it says, God has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods He holds judgment (Ps. 82:1). St. Gregory interprets these words to mean that God takes His place in the assembly of the saints, determining the glory due to each. The saints during their earthly lives were filled with the Holy Spirit, and when they fulfill their course, His grace continues to abide with their spirits and with their bodies in the tombs, and also with their likenesses and holy images, not by the nature of these things, but by grace and power.
If you speak of pagan abuses, these abuses do not make our veneration of images loathsome. Blame the pagans, who made images into gods! Just because the pagans used them in a foul way, that is no reason to object to our pious practice. Sorcerers and magicians use incantations and the Church prays over catechumens; the former conjure up demons while the Church calls upon God to exorcise the demons. Pagans make images of demons which they address as gods, but we make images of God incarnate, and of His servants and friends, and with them we drive away the demonic hosts….If the Scripture says, The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands (Ps. 135:15), it is not forbidden to bow before inanimate things, or the handiwork of men, but only before those images which are the devil’s work.
The holy Basil says: “Both painters of words and painters of pictures illustrate valor in battle; the former by the art of rhetoric; the latter by clever use of the brush, and both encourage everyone to be brave. A spoken account edifies the ear, while a silent picture induces imitation.”
What more conspicuous proof do we need that images are the books of the illiterate, the never silent heralds of the honor due the saints, teaching without use of words those who gaze upon them, and sanctifying the sense of sight? Suppose I have few books, or little leisure for reading, but walk into the spiritual hospital–that is to say, a church–with my soul choking from the prickles of thorny thoughts, and thus afflicted I see before me the brilliance of the icon. I am refreshed as if in a verdant meadow, and thus my soul is led to glorify God…
(St. John of Damascus, On the Divine Images, SVS Press, 1980; 107 pp.)

2026-02-27 16:03:08 GMT

Feminism, like everything else we have been force fed, is an attempt to invert God's divine order and His Gospel. Many are not ready to hear this and they will have to cry harder.
Orthodox Christianity being represented on a major platform brings me joy. ☦️
https://youtu.be/avY3bV5yxMM

2026-02-27 14:09:01 GMT

- reply

🤝
https://blossom.primal.net/62721d62bc59b4893938e587a085643f32ca159a17f3c641e136a52369117f0d.jpg

2026-02-26 00:14:40 GMT

#DeathToTheWorld
☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/aeab6676a8d44c3086b7f429debf996954e0fe097e447ea997101df4d482d25c.mp4

2026-02-25 02:43:16 GMT

'Whenever in your path you find unchanging peace, beware: you are very far from the divine paths trodden by the weary feet of the saints. For as long as you are journeying in the way to the city of the Kingdom and are drawing nigh to the city of God, this will be a sign for you: the strength of the temptations that you encounter. And the nearer you draw nigh and progress, the more temptations will multiply against you.'
☦️St. Isaac the Syrian

2026-02-23 16:31:43 GMT

A most blessed Great Lent to all my brothers and sisters!
☦️🙏
https://blossom.primal.net/414cb48034d1eaa01e0a23d8d39c9acf82a63e02767a5d44aa0d9c3aee67326e.jpg

2026-02-21 13:44:03 GMT

☦️
https://blossom.primal.net/f8be5953f62492259bb2d22ed4dc8f6e12adadfd897c72d6fc4a5b51011805e9.jpg
https://blossom.primal.net/2715283dee3b89a73064d8e92213fde5719e1af5af32d6345429f005d1fae56f.jpg

2026-02-20 18:57:12 GMT

https://blossom.primal.net/2ef5b1b531f5c2d136f3e59f94a595443db0e1129752a333934b2424ece8167d.jpg https://blossom.primal.net/b371ed64cf7fcd3c89a5bbcfd0c4b23ee4fe8d1fb1d958b32c57fd497a47f585.jpg

2026-02-17 21:26:52 GMT

- reply