The Myrrbearing Women and the Christian Women of Today.Elder Sofian Boaghiu

Elder Sofian Boaghiu of Antim Monastery (now with the Lord) was sentenced by the communists (in 1958) to 15 years of hard labor in the concentration camps for keeping the true Orthodox Christian faith and refusing to become atheist.

    

Elder Sofian Boaghiu.

As you know, the third Sunday after Easter is the Sunday of the Myrrh bearing women, or the Sunday of the faithful women, keepers of Christian family. You should be joyful that you partake of this special honor from our Resurrected Lord. And through our most pure Mother Theotokos and the Holy Myrrh-bearing women, you have a Sunday a year when you are especially honored. May the Lord multiply in you the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit and may the gift of Christian love abide truly in you, in order that you may become maintainers of Christian’ warmth and harmony in your family. For many families today are met with disaster… as you know better than me, so I will not speak about it.

Doubting Thomas… Believing Thomas.?!.Kosmas Damianidis.

Dearly Beloved Brethren,

Nobody knows the time or even the place that our Lord is returning to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the Fathers of our Church do not tell us to try and outsmart God, by predicting the time that He will appear. On the contrary the Fathers concentrate on teaching us to be constantly ready and watchful, by praying, fasting and doing works of love and faith. We are instructed to expect a sudden if not instant entry of our Lord.

In the final chapter of the Book of Revelations, the Apocalypse of St John the Theologian, we are informed that we must fully accept the imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore we are told that our world will suffer terribly before the Second Coming of our Lord and that this world will be destroyed. Nevertheless so let it be, in obedience we should pray "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20) and come quickly.

In John chapter 20 we are told of the pitiful sight of the Apostles who gathered in a small dark house for fear of the Jews after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. They had locked every window and door, and they were in a state of mourning. They must have been deeply depressed, angry, disillusioned, confused and very afraid to say the least.