Here Is the Wedding Crucifix Custom of Croatia — a Country with One of the Lowest Divorce Rates in Europe
There is a beautiful marriage tradition in Croatia. When the bride and bridegroom go to the church to be married they carry a Crucifix with them. The priest blesses the Crucifix and instead of saying that they have found the ideal partner with whom to share their lives, he exclaims, “You have found your Cross! It is a Cross to love, to carry with you, a Cross that is not to be thrown off, but rather cherished.”When they interchange the marital vows, the bride puts her right hand on this Crucifix and the groom puts his right hand over hers. Both are bound together and united to the Cross. The priest covers their hands with his stole while they pronounce their promises to love one other in good times and in bad, proclaiming their vows to be faithful according to the rites of the Church. Then they both first kiss the Cross, not each other. If one abandons the other, they abandon Christ on the Cross. They lose Jesus! After the wedding, the newly-weds cross the threshold of their home to enthrone that same Crucifix in a place of honour. It becomes the reference point of their lives and the place of family prayer, for the young couple believes deeply that the family is born of the Cross.
According to St. Alphonsus Liguori, these are the spiritual exercises by which one should begin each day:
1. “When you awake in the morning, your first thought should be to raise your mind to God and offer Him all the actions of that day, asking Him to help you by His grace.”
2. “Then make the other morning Christian acts of thanksgiving, love, petition, and the firm resolve of living during that day as if it were the last day of your life.”
3. “Make an agreement with the Divine Saviour: when you make signs, such as putting your hand on your heart, lifting your eyes heavenward or to the crucifix, it is your intention to make an act of love, an act of desire to see Him loved by all, an act of self-offering,”
4. “After you have made the preceding acts, place your soul in the side of Jesus and under the mantle of Mary, and pray the Eternal Father, for the love of Jesus and Mary, to preserve you during the day.”
5. “Then, before any other action, make at once at least half an hour of mental prayer or meditation; and the principal topic of your meditation should be the sufferings and contempt that our Blessed Lord endured in His Passion.”
6. “There are three devotions which you must treasure above all the others if you want to grow in holiness: devotion to the Passion, to the Most Blessed Sacrament, and to the Blessed Virgin.”
Myself and others have big plans in the 2026 pipeline to boost the Orthodox economy in the United States.
1. Networks for Orthodox businesses.
2. Support for Orthodox political candidates.
3. Centralized hub for apologetics content.
4. Parish-finder map.
5. Fundraisers for cathedrals and other projects.
And overall just more organization for American Orthodoxy. Strong financial infrastructure for our Church is coming, 2026 will be a huge year.
In secular societies, where Christians are told to love their enemies and atheists are busy debating evolution over coffee, people somehow manage to coexist without threatening to burn each other alive.
Wild, right? Integration? Tolerance? Totally possible—until Islam shows up with its ancient manual titled “Submit or Be Destroyed.”
Quran 5:51 says Muslims shouldn’t befriend Jews or Christians. Then, Quran 9:5 casually suggests killing unbelievers unless they convert. Very peaceful.
The Hadith joins in—Sahih Muslim 4294 says Muhammad was commanded to fight people until they declare “There is no god but Allah.” Peace, apparently, starts with a sword.
Muslims living in non-Muslim lands? Only acceptable if they’re working, slowly but surely, to flip the country into a caliphate. Enter Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb—translation: “Ours” and “Soon to be ours.”
And when honesty might delay the plan, there’s Taqiyya—the sacred permission slip to lie to non-Muslims. Smile outside, plot inside. No other religion has a similar blueprint for conquest.
Christians do not demand a global Vatican law. Buddhists aren’t exporting temples by force. But Islam? It has stages: preach, grow, and dominate. And when terror happens, some Muslims whisper “MashaAllah” or “Alhamdulillah” like it’s a game win.
But any response—criticism, satire, even a cartoon—triggers instant outrage and cries of “Islamophobia.” Funny how silence follows slaughter, but fury follows feedback. Integration doesn’t fail because of hate—it fails because Islam isn’t interested. It doesn’t want a seat at the table. It wants the whole table, the house, and your silence.
But hey, let’s keep pretending it’s just a few bad apples and 1,400 years of misunderstandings. Jesus warned, “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Somehow, the world keeps offering the wolf and the hyena a warm welcome, then acts shocked when the flock keeps disappearing.
We are experiencing a population apocalypse.
As @elonmusk said, the population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk than climate change.
We must create bigger families for the sake of our nations,”
says Greek conservative MEP @e_fragkos.
You know about the moral decline of the 1960s
But you’ve probably never heard of the Oxford professor who saw it coming and tried to stop it.
Here are 7 principles she taught that influenced men like C.S. Lewis and Pope John Paul II…(thread)
Fr. Ripperger: “As exorcists, we’ve found that saying the Angelus at 6 am, noon, & 6 pm has the effect of keeping most people immune from diabolical influence. Doing it at 6 am, noon, & 6 pm develops spiritual discipline, & it has cleared out 90% of our caseload.”
The Angelus: