SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Persecution of the Faithful Throughout Church history the faithful have been persecuted by those outside of the Church, but sometimes by those within the Church. While the former is mostly easier for the faithful to recognize at the time that it is happening, sometimes the latter is only revealed to the entire body of the Church years later. What is important

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Occasions and Spiritual Meditations Proceeding From Them “…one can turn his meditation from every occasion and from every visible creature to things invisible, for example: from the visible world to the invisible; from the visible light to the invisible and eternal Light, that is to God; from visible darkness to the invisible darkness, that is to the devil and sin, from

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week- Spiritual Counsels of the Elders of Optina “We must entrust everything to the will of God, even our being separated from each other. The Lord enlightens us in order that we not become attached to the things of this world, no matter how precious they might seem, in order that we might strive for the heavenly, saving our souls. Strive only to save your soul,

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – A Safeguard for the Soul, by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain Day 1 Concerning the Worth of Salvation   1) My salvation is a matter entirely my own. If I do not have concern for it, who else will? 2) My salvation is a matter concerning my whole soul and body. If I do not make sure of my salvation, who else will make sure

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Do Orthodox Christians celebrate Halloween? “…Where secular people may feel they have the option to divorce the spiritual realm from the physical and do one thing with their bodies while believing another in their minds, we Christian people do not. We know that the actions of our bodies, and the things we do with our lives, affect our hearts and are directly

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Going Deeper Lecture – Part III “…the humble soul is always looking to do good. If you ever read… Elder Paisios’ discourses… You’ve heard the word ‘philotimo’ is there, it’s used very often. Philotimo is a good word to understand and to try to put into practice. What is it? It’s doing good for the sake of God. For no other

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Going Deeper Lecture – Part II “…Look at what St. Paul says in his epistles when he’s talking about the antichrist, and the coming of the antichrist. And he says that ‘Many … will follow him because they have not the love of the truth.’ He doesn’t mean truth in ideas only or even mainly.  Truth in ideas would be… the learning

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Going Deeper “…My goal here is to provoke you… to think deeply about your own spiritual walk; where you need to make some improvements, changes; questions and queries that you have, that will help you get further down the path to salvation, deification in Christ…. My role here is not one of lecturer and you, listener, but one of provoker or

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – On Prayer for Others “…You need to double down on prayer, double down on the whole ascetic life. It’s about quantity and quality of our prayer in our prayer corner. And remember, the Lord says that’s where He sees and rewards. So if your petition is for the sake of the salvation of your children or brother and sister, the reward will be

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – True Love is the Love for the Truth in Christ “Especially in our day when everything is considered relative, even in the ecclesiastical domain, persistence in the tradition of the Saints is the most substantial counteraction against the general decline, even if such a position is ridiculed as lacking love. True love is the love for the truth in Christ.” ‘’I Confess One