“In the modern world, self-love has become the foundation of all thought. People seek personal happiness and gratification above all else, and this obsession with the self is what leads to the destruction of the soul.”
Fr Seraphim Rose ☦️
Look, I'm still not the kind of priest to say things like "they're putting demons in the robots," but the chainsaw-wielding black drones with eyeball horns are making it harder to argue my case
Do you know what incredible miracles happened during the filming of the series about Elder Paisios of Mount Athos?
They really took place right on the set. The actors from the series Saint Paisios: From Farasa to Heaven still talk about it with tears in their eyes.
One of the actors played a hermit. The scene was filmed in the mountains at an altitude of almost two kilometers. The wind was so strong that people could not stand on their feet; they were being carried away. The director begged, "Hold on for three minutes, let's get the shot." Then the actor said, "Let's do what Elder Paisios himself taught us," and started to pray aloud, "Great is the name of the Holy Trinity." The wind stopped instantly. He raised his hands in prayer, and the scene was successfully captured.
The next day, they filmed a feast near the monastery where Elder Paisios had lived. In the height of summer, the heavens suddenly parted and a downpour fell like a wall of water. The river overflowed its banks, the path was washed away, and people were afraid of slipping. No one believed that the filming could happen. They started to pray. In the morning, when they went outside, the sky was clear without a single cloud. One of the actresses later said, "This was God's hand clearing the sky."
The actor Prokopis, who played the elder Paisios himself, recently admitted that during his lifetime, Saint Paisios loved a specific red-breasted songbird and would feed it directly from his palm. During filming, every time the actor was out of breath, exhausted, and the scene wasn't working out, this red-breasted bird would appear out of nowhere. It sang, and this happened more than five times. Watching it brought peace to the actor's soul, and he felt the help of Elder Paisios the Athonite.
Later, they filmed a scene showing the restoration of the burned monastery. Large boards were needed for the construction scaffolding. However, the river was flooding, making it impossible to transport them. They considered calling a helicopter, but then a monk came out and said, "Let's check the old warehouse; it hasn't been opened for years." They opened it, and inside were the exact boards needed for the shoot, already cut to size. "Elder Paisios brought them," the excited crew believed.Once, the director walked toward the cell of Elder Paisios on Mount Athos to choose a filming location. As he walked along the empty mountain path, he was suddenly surrounded by the fragrance of incense. He stopped, realizing that Elder Paisios was welcoming him.The first season was filmed during the pandemic. The day after they left one city, it went into lockdown. The same thing happened with the second and third cities they visited. The team consisted of 1,500 people, including actors, crew, and technical personnel—yet not a single person got sick! Filming was never interrupted for a day because Elder Paisios was helping them.
And do you know how they found the boy to play the role of young Paisios? The director visited an Orthodox children's camp, looked at one of the children, and asked, "Boy, what is your name?" The boy replied, "Paisios." The director looked into his room, and on the boy's bed lay the Gospel, which the child read every day.
The actor who played the adult Paisios shared, "I felt the presence of Saint Paisios in every single scene. Saint Paisios helped me in a wonderful way." The series is called Saint Paisios: From Farasa to Heaven. Find it and definitely watch it with your whole family. This is the best project ever filmed about Elder Paisios of Mount Athos.
~ Roma Golanov
@tired_peasant@chunguskitten Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople I, 381)
“But Eunomians, who are baptized with only one immersion… all these, when they desire to turn to orthodoxy, we receive as heathen [i.e., requiring full baptism].”
@tired_peasant@chunguskitten …for the Lord said not, ‘Baptize into my death,’ but, ‘Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’”
Every Christian is called to be a theologian—not in the academic sense, but because every Christian is called to know God.
We come to know Him not merely by reading about Him, but by living with Him in prayer, worship, repentance, and love.
A rare, random photo: on the right is Athanasius Kottis, the biological brother of Saint Joseph the Hesychast.
His legs were swollen and covered with wounds. He constantly suffered pain and endured this great trial with steadfastness.
Always smiling and happy, he was an undeniable proof of the inner joy that comes from prayer, as if the wounds and swelling on his legs, which tormented him daily, did not exist.
"I would rather suffer and endure here than in another life," he said.
On the left is the blessed Elder Ephrem in his youth, the abbot of the Mount Athos monastery of the Apostle Andrew (who died in 2023). Elder Ephrem especially loved Father Athanasius and cared for him with respect.
Outside of Christ there is no true Israel. To be His sheep is to belong to His Body, the Church; without Him, the name ‘Israel’ is empty.
Translation: Jews are not Israel, for only Christians are His sheep.