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Hear, O Israel! You shall love God! (Deut 6:4-5)
Post date: 2014-11-04Autor: BCP
To love God means to lose my soul for His sake. There is no other way. By losing my soul and its spiritual powers, which are infected by original sin, I will keep it for eternal life.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Post date: 2014-10-21Autor: BCP
What is it – Christ’s commandments? What the Ten Commandments are, it is clear. They are God’s laws formulated in ten clear commandments of God. And what are Christ’s commandments? Is it the same or is it something different? Nobody speaks about them, nobody emphasizes them. Nobody has taught us about them. Christ’s commandments are partly expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, then in the words of Jesus the night before His death, and in other places of the Scripture too.
The message by Patriarch Elijah on the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God
Post date: 2014-10-14Autor: BCP
In relation to this feast, Jesus says in the Gospel: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Lk 11:28) The first thing is to hear the word of God and the second thing is to keep it. How many obstacles there are in us and around us which prevent us from hearing the word of God, thinking about it and keeping it so that it may become incarnate in us. This word should become incarnate in us just like in the Blessed Virgin – in her the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And how did it happen? She was prepared. She lived by faith, wholly devoted to God.
Victory over sin
Post date: 2014-10-03Autor: BCP
People can overcome sin neither by means of psychology, nor by modern theologies, nor by oriental meditations… The victory depends on our deep communion with Christ. The essential thing is to be in Christ Jesus, our Lord, by faith. It means that in the particular present moment I am in Him not only passively but at that moment I love Him with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength.
Be transformed by the renewal of your mind
Post date: 2014-10-01Autor: BCP
Not only should our soul, our reason, be transformed by the renewal of our mind but our body too should be sanctified. In another place, God’s Word says that our body is the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1Cor 3:16-17)
Practical spiritual advice /4/ - True and false repentance
Post date: 2014-09-10Autor: BCP
If I confess my sins in the light, it means that I confess them in God’s, Jesus’ presence. I cannot confess sins like Judas, for that was not in the light! That was in despair. He returned money into the temple, took a rope and went to hell. If he had fallen on his knees and said: “Lord, forgive me, I have sinned…”, we would now have St Judas. Although he was a traitor, God would have forgiven him. But he believed the devil instead of God. Jesus died for my sins however small or great they are. We must wholly trust in God’s mercy. Not to degrade God’s mercy by saying: “God is merciful, so I can sin.” That’s a deceit. Remember that God is just at the same time. I must not rely on God’s goodness, sinning. I must resist sin.
Practical spiritual advice /3/ - The role of man in the family
Post date: 2014-09-06Autor: BCP
You have families. Man should be as a priest in the family. He has responsibility for his wife and children. Then he will have grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Think of Abraham – he believed and God gave a blessing to all his descendants. Each of you bears responsibility. Family is your diocese, your parish. You are responsible above all for the souls, and not only for yourselves. Husband should be the head of his wife, the head of the family. He has a certain responsibility before God. God also gives man a kind of authority. Man should learn true wisdom. He needs to learn to fight against lies, to manage his family wisely and to protect it. This is not simple.
Practical spiritual advice /2/ - The assurance of forgiveness
Post date: 2014-09-05Autor: BCP
The First Epistle of John reads: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” So there is a condition: to walk in the light as He is in the light. It concerns God’s presence. There is no need of a vision or apparition; I just realize that God sees me and focus my attention on this truth.
Practical spiritual advice /1/ - So what is the truth then?
Post date: 2014-09-02Autor: BCP
What is the greatest commandment of the Old and New Testaments? To love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength. When did you love God in this way? You need the experience. How to get it? First of all, I need to focus my attention on God’s presence, give Him my sins, wholly trust in Him, trust in His omnipotence, and at that moment I am so closely united to God by faith and love that I am ready even to give my life for Him rather than commit a sin.
Motivation for the Lenten period
Post date: 2014-03-15Autor: BCP
In the Lenten period, bear in mind the basic realities: You shall die. You shall stand before the judgment seat of God. Your eternity will either be happy or unhappy. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered and died for your sake to give you eternal happiness after death. Your impurity made Him suffer bloody scourging, your pride made Him suffer humiliation when He was crowned with thorns and covered with spittle. Your devious sinful paths made Him walk the way of the cross. The death of Christ conquered sin and the devil and opened for you the way to eternal glory.
Lent
Post date: 2014-03-15Autor: BCP
Every year at the end of the Great Lent we commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ. The Lenten period is the time of preparation when we need to stop and devote more time to God and our soul. Jesus said about the liberation of man from the evil spirit: “This kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt 17)
Letter to Orthodox bishops, monks and priests (+ video)
Post date: 2013-08-25Autor: BCP
The Apostle Paul says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against powers in the heavenly places. Therefore we must take up the whole armour of God. Out of the six weapons the emphasis is on the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (cf. Eph 6:10f). You have to fight the gates of hell for the salvation of the Russian nation and the Orthodox Church.
An appeal to Russian monasteries
Post date: 2013-07-10Autor: BCP
A true monk, according to St. Basil, is a warrior of Christ. St. Basil fought against the heresy of Arianism which was accepted by the majority of the Eastern bishops. Today not only heresies but even Buddhist and yoga meditations pose a danger of spiritual plague in Western monasteries. The fruit is a curse which has fallen on the Western Church. But the same spirit is pressurizing the Orthodox Church. So it is necessary to resist it bravely. The monks should defend the true bishops against the heretical ones even at the cost of persecution by the heretics.
Perun thrown into the Dnieper (video)
Post date: 2013-05-30Autor: BCP
Perun thrown into the Dnieper
Pastoral letter for the clergy (+ video)
Post date: 2013-04-27Autor: BCP
This year we celebrate the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Kievan Russia by St. Vladimir. In the Lenten period we turn our eyes to the crucified Jesus. We perceive the importance of our own baptism as well as of Christianity in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. This year our Slavonic nations are exposed to strong pressure of demoralization connected with changes in legislation aimed at globalization and reduction of mankind, in other words autogenocide of nations.
Announcement to three presidents (+ video)
Post date: 2013-01-15Autor: BCP
Dear Presidents of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus! The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate hereby announces to You a historic event which took place in the interests of the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian nation which You represent before God in this historic time. On 8 January 2013, these three nations were consecrated to the Most Holy Mother of God in the area of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Consecration of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus to the Most Holy Mother of God (+ video)
Post date: 2013-01-10Autor: BCP
Consecration of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus to the Most Holy Mother of God (Kiev, 8 January 2013, Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos) + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
An Appeal to the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia
Post date: 2012-07-24Autor: BCP
1,000 years ago, Saint Vladimir accepted Christianity in Kievan Rus. The then territory included Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Along with the laws of God he took over the European culture too. The family was stabilized, basic moral standards adopted in human relations, justice established and crimes punished. The nation received the saving faith in Jesus Christ. It found the meaning of life and suffering and gained the hope of eternal life, which is secured by faith in Jesus Christ.The present-day society witnesses establishment of a worldwide globalization ideology that leads to autogenocide of the nations. This ideology through the UN, PACE, EU and various charity funds prepares an ideological coup towards self-destruction of the Ukrainian nation. The means to this end is a change in legislation promoting a homodictatorship and removal of children from parents under artificial pretexts.There is only one solution today: rAn Appeal to the Presidents of Ukraine and Russiaadical separation from the genocidal system of the UN and the EU.
A reform of the papacy
Post date: 2012-03-01Autor: BCP
It is now the Eastern Church alone which has an opportunity to restore the papacy. How can the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate and its seven bishops serve the purpose? It can offer a programme:1) To incite the hierarchy to true repentance and to a fight for the purity of faith and morals against the current heresies, the spirit of Assisi, demoralization and the spirit of the world.2) To urge a true reform of the Church based on the return to the sound roots of conversion, repentance and the following of Christ. To rid the Church of philosophising, psychologising and theorising! To set aside the misleading half-truths and to focus on the most essential things, namely salvation of the soul and readiness for death, judgement and eternity.