when it rains

“The remembrance of death is a daily death.” - Saint John Climacus
"Thirst for Jesus, so that he may inebriate you with His love." - St. Isaac the Syrian

[when it rains @when_it_rainz]

Maintaining peace amidst storms

Wisdom from Eastern Orthodox saints regarding uncertain times:

"I saw all the snares of the devil spread out upon the earth, and I groaned and said, “Who can pass by these?" And I heard a voice saying to me, “humility"
- St. Anthony the Great

“Prayer is food for the soul. Do not starve the soul, it is better to let the body go hungry. Do not judge anyone, forgive everyone. Consider yourself worse than everyone in the world and you will be saved. As much as possible, be more quiet.”
- St. John of Optina (Russia)

“The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are desperate for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is, and show you the way to get out.”
- Fr. Seraphim Rose

[NEPSIS @nepsisblog]

https://t.co/lq5DzD9s05

[Father Christopher @FChristopher77]

THE NEIGHBOR’S DIRTY LAUNDRY

A girl looked out the window every morning.

The neighbor across the way was hanging out her laundry.

And every time, the girl said the same thing:

“Mom, look how dirty those clothes are! She doesn’t even know how to wash… what a shame!”

The mother stayed silent.

Days passed.

The same laundry.

The same judgment.

The same heart filling with superiority.

Until one morning when the girl looked again… and was left speechless.

The laundry was white, clean, almost shining.

“Mom! She finally learned! Who taught her?”

The mother smiled gently and answered:

“I woke up before you and washed our windows.”

That’s all.

One single sentence that can change you forever.

Because in Orthodoxy, that window is not just glass.

It is the heart.

The Fathers of the Church tell us clearly:

we see the world exactly as our heart is.

If the heart is full of pride, jealousy, malice, and discontent, everything we look at comes out dirty.

Even the purest person will appear stained to us.

That is why Christ did not merely say “do not judge.”

He said something far harsher:

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

The beam is the dirty window.

The speck is the neighbor’s laundry.

And we too often forget that judgment is the first sign that we have lost grace.

When you begin to criticize, to gossip, to look down on others, the Holy Spirit withdraws.

You are left with an empty heart and eyes full of mud.

Elder Paisios of Mount Athos used to say:

“If you see the fault of another, it means you have that same fault in yourself.

If you have a pure heart, you see only the image of God in the other.”

That is why the Church gives us the true weapons:

•  confession (cleaning the window from within)

•  Holy Communion (the light that makes the glass transparent)

•  the Jesus Prayer (the continuous wiping away of the dust)

•  humility (the only detergent that actually works)

It is not enough to say “I won’t judge anymore.”

You must wake up every morning and wash the window.

Otherwise you will spend your whole life criticizing laundry that was clean from the beginning.

And when you die, you will not be judged for the laundry of others.

You will be judged for the window you left dirty.

May the Lord grant us pure eyes and a humble heart.

[Father Christopher @FChristopher77]

What do you think about those people who have EVERYTHING, things go WELL for them, they have no TROUBLES and no TEMPTATIONS?

[Siegfire @SiegfireDotcom]

St. Xenia, pray for us. ☦️📿

[TheOrthodoxWay @_theorthodoxway]

"All that is left for me to do in this life is to weep for my sins, and to the degree that God helps me, gather a few spiritual crumbs for my soul."
- St. John Jacob the Chozebite

[TheOrthodoxWay @_theorthodoxway]

"When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord's command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven (cf. Mt. 18:22). And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another will Himself do very much more."
- St. John Climacus

[Angelina Serbska ☦️ @Angelina_Lina8]

If a person takes the trouble to pick up the life of a saint, that saint of God already begins to care for him.

St. Varnosofiy Optinsky

[Angelina Serbska ☦️ @Angelina_Lina8]

If you want to be free of your passions, your medicine is to be simple, humble; to take in, like the good earth, both the rain and the hail along with the rubbish and the spittle. When one accepts external humiliations, he's quickly freed from his old self... Blessed one, when you are given an opportunity for humility, accept it. This is how humility is acquired.

St. Paisios of Mount Athos

[Fr. Borjan Vitanov @prezviteros]

“Sorrow that draws you closer to God is better than happiness that distances you from Him.”

κατὰ Θεόν λύπη (godly sorrow; cf. 2 Cor. 7:10)

[TheOrthodoxWay @_theorthodoxway]

"Blessed be the Child who today has made us, the elderly, children again."
- St. Ephraim the Syrian

[TheOrthodoxWay @_theorthodoxway]

"Christ took His Cross and His blessing and moved away. Darkness and filth remained. Now you decide with whom you will go."
- St. Cleopa Ilie

[Fr. Daniel☦️ @Fragbaza]

A person does not even imagine how one good deed of theirs will respond. It will then follow them truly like a shadow or an Angel, overshadowing them in the places they stay. It will go before you so that you do not stumble, and it will go behind you so that you are not struck in the back.🍂

☦️Archpriest Andrey Tkachev

[Father Spyridon Bailey @Fatherspyridon]

"If you give up on the Living God, the throne is not going to remain empty." - Hieromonk Seraphim  Rose

[Father Christopher @FChristopher77]

The true spiritual shepherd has the courage to pull the sheep from the wolf’s mouth, the patience to carry it on his shoulders, and the love to heal its wounds.