“Suffer little children to come unto me” (Mt19: 14).Father Thomas Hopko.

           

 

Father Thomas Hopko.

Father Thomas John Hopko (March 28, 1939 – March 18, 2015) was an Eastern Orthodox Christian priest and theologian. He was the Dean of Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary from September 1992 until July 1, 2002 and taught dogmatic theology there from 1968 until 2002. In retirement, he carried the honorary title of Dean Emeritus.

In addition to the intellectual and informational aspects of preparing children for liturgical and Eucharistic worship, there are spiritual and moral aspects as well. This part of the preparation, at least in the beginning with small children, has to do with external behavior. To participate fruitfully in Eucharistic worship a certain external and formal discipline must be observed so that the deeper, internal spiritual experi­ences may take place. This means that children must learn how to stand in church, how to pay attention, how not to bother others, etc. It also means that they must be trained in certain ascetical exercises in preparation for Holy Communion, as they are able, according to their age and maturity. These "ascetical exercises" include such things as praying personally and fasting as one can; dressing in a manner proper to litur­gical celebration with others, particularly adults; confessing one's sins in a formal sacramental manner when the time comes when this is possible and necessary; asking forgiveness for one's sins and faults; making acts of reparation and recon­ciliation, etc. The spiritual life the practitioner first learns the letter of the law before he or she can enter into the glorious liberty of gracious communion with the Lord. This biblical principle certainly applies to the preparation of chil­dren (and adults) for Eucharistic worship.

The Ouija* Board Spelled, “Evil”.The story of Elena Smirnova, a former witch.Priest George Maximov, Elena Smirnova

Priest George Maximov interviews people who converted to Orthodoxy on the​ TV program “My Path to God”. Sometimes the journey to the Light takes people through years of serving dark forces. This is what happened to Elena Smirnova, today’s guest of Father George’s program. She used to practice witchcraft and esoteric arts, and summon evil spirits. Elena will tell us whether those who summon dark forces are masters or slaves of such forces. We will also learn what led her to Christ and what she sees as her mission now.

Father George Maximov.

Priest George Maximov: Hello!. You are watching “My Path To God”, a program about people whose lives were drastically changed after turning to Christ. Sometimes people convert after being infinitely far away from Christianity. The story of the guest of today’s program is a case in point. Before she found God, she used to communicate with evil spirits. "Elena Nikolayevna", could you tell us how it all started?!. Am I correct to assume that you grew up in a non-religious family?...

Elena Smirnova: My family was Orthodox, but we weren’t religious. We would

Elena Smirnova.

go to church once a year on a feast day to light candles. I had some idea about the Church, but it was quite vague. My parents baptized me shortly after I was born. My grandmother helped to arrange it. She invited a priest to our place and he came over and performed the baptism. After that, she cast a spell to protect me from hernia. My parents were just like her. They believed in God and yet they believed in house elves¹ too. My mother used to tell me that a house elf visited her when she was at our summerhouse. My grandmother would tell such stories too. They used to tell me many amazing stories when I was a child. I was into it too. I liked fairy tales. As a child, I kept to myself and liked to daydream. I think I learned how to tell fortunes when I was in the second grade. My mother showed me some simple ways to tell if your wish would come true. These were my first attempts at fortune telling.

I told fortunes to a few girls and understood that this gave me power over people.

The Vision of God.Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos.

Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos.

His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios serves the Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios in the Church of Greece, since 1995. He taught Greek for several semesters and gave lectures on Orthodox ethics to the students of the St. John of Damascus Theological School at the University of Balamand, in northern Lebanon. He has written a multitude of books, the fruit of his pastoral work, among which is Orthodox Psychotherapy. Some of these books have been translated into various language., In this passage, he  explains what is the knowledge of God according to Saint Gregory Palamas.

The knowledge of God According to St. Gregory Palamas is the vision of God. Deification, union and knowledge of God are closely bound together. They cannot be understood apart from one another. Breaking this unity takes man further away from knowledge of God. The basis of Orthodox epistemology is illumination and God’s revelation within the purified heart of man.

We must pray fervently for God to grant us to reach this knowledge of God.

Come, let us ascend into the mountain of the Lord, even to the house of our God, and behold the glory of His transfiguration, glory of the Only-begotten of the Father. Let us receive light from His light, and with uplifted spirits let us forever sing the praises of the consubstantial Trinity.

Love. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos.

Conscience is the first law of God, which He deeply carved in the hearts of the First Created, and conse­quently, each one of us takes it as a "photocopy" from his parents when he is born. Those who have managed to sensitize their conscience through the daily study of themselves, feel themselves estranged from this world; and, as a result, worldly people are dumbfounded by their discerning behaviour. Those, however, who do not examine their conscience, are neither benefited by spiritual study, nor by the advice of the Elders, nor are they even able to keep God's commandments, since they quickly become insensitive.

The world is a teacher to lead us to Christ.Fr.Dumitru Stăniloae.

Fr. Dumitru Staniloae is a Romanian theologian. His many works include commentaries on the Church Fathers, a Romanian translation of the Philokalia, and his masterpiece, in 1978, "The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology". Fr. Dumitru endured several years of imprisonment for his faith at the hands of Communists, after which he began to work for the Romanian Holy Synod and often traveled to international conferences to share his theological vision. He reposed in 1993 at the age of ninety.

On the road of our approach to God stands the world - we must pass through the understanding of it. Every man has a mission connected with the world. Everyone must know it according to the power given to him, in as much as knowledge can't come until the gaining of the virtues; everyone must develop beforehand a moral activity in relationship to the world. A mainly negative attitude toward the world frustrates salvation itself. The world is imposed on everyone as a stone for sharpening his spiritual faculties.