How to Pray the Prayerbook
“Praying does not mean repeating a certain number of words of prayer; praying is reproducing the contents of the prayers within ourselves, so that they flow as if from our own mind and heart.” – St. Theophan the Recluse
prayer
Only one kind of prayer
“Every prayer must come from the heart, and any other prayer is no prayer at all. Prayer-book prayers, your own prayers, and very short prayers, all must issue forth from the heart to God, seen before you. And still more must this be so with the Jesus prayer.” – The Art of Prayer, by Hegumen Chariton of Valaam
The Test of Everything
“Prayer is the test of everything; prayer is also the source of everything; prayer is the driving force of everything; prayer is also the director of everything. If prayer is right, everything is right. For prayer will not allow anything to go wrong.” – St. Theophan the Recluse
The Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, meddling, lust of power and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother, for Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.
Renewing Baptism, praying for the Gift of Tears
“..give thanks to Him, especially those who have received from Him the power to renew their holy baptism through repentance, because without repentance no one can be saved.” – St Peter of Damaskos
Prayer
“First pray for the gift of tears, so that through sorrowing you may tame what is savage in your soul. And having confessed transgressions to the Lord, you will obtain forgiveness from Him.” – St. Evagrios the Solitary
Do not fear the battle
“Our whole soul should have at every moment a clear eye, able to watch and notice the thoughts entering our heart from the evil one and repel them. The heart must be always burning with faith, humility and love. Do not fear the conflict, and do not flee from it; where there is no struggle, there is no virtue.” – St. Symeon the New Theologian
Begin Again
“When praying to God, start as if you had never prayed before.” – St. Theophan the Recluse
Watchfulness and Prayer
“Watch, therefore, at all times praying.” – The Divine Liturgy
Watching and Praying
“Attention must be so united to prayer as the body is to the soul…Attention must go forward and observe the enemies like a scout, and it must engage in combat with sin, and resist the bad thoughts that come to the soul. Prayer must follow attention, banishing and destroying at once all the evil thoughts which attention previously fought, because by itself attention cannot destroy them.” – St. Symeon the New Theologian
St. Symeon: The Gift of Tears
“No one will ever prove from the divine Scriptures that any person was ever cleansed without tears and constant compunction. No one ever became holy or recieved the Holy Spirit, or had the vision of God experienced His dwelling within himself, or ever had Him dwelling in his heart, without previous repentance and compunction and constant tears ever flowing as from a fountain. Such tears flood and wash out the house of the soul: they moisten and refresh the soul that has been possesed and inflamed by the unapproachable fire.” – St. Symeon the New Theologian
The Loss of Sons
I was led to the Faith by a priest who had introduced many others to Orthodoxy as well. I began a series of discussions with a friend who hated Christianity, and over time, he began to soften. I introduced him to my priest, and he completed his conversion. He then began conversations with a younger mutual friend and led him to the Faith along with his wife and several children and became a godparent. They are all Orthodox now. I began another series of conversations, and created a reading society, for a man who likewise had great disdain for Christianity. He considered himself an academic, and I introduced him to the patristic writings of the Orthodox Fathers, the historical writings of Fr. John Romanides, and others. He decided to become a catechumen, and I took him to a priest, and that happened. I spoke with his wife also, and they both converted, received Holy Matrimony, and his children have became cradle Orthodox. In short, generations of people could be written as a geneology of movement into the Faith because of my mentor (and those who led him), and myself in my unworthiness. …
Effort and Talk
“Let us seek to discover the things of heaven through the sweat of our efforts, rather than by mere talk, for at the hour of death it is deeds, not words, that must be displayed.” · St. John Climacus
Godparents: Defined
Godparents are adults who sponsor a child at the time of his/her baptism. They take on the responsibility of helping the child’s parents raise him/her in the Orthodox Faith, ensuring that he/she takes part in the Holy Mysteries and other divine services, knows the Creed and the main prayers and hymns of the Orthodox Tradition, and is familiar with the lives and teachings of Christ and His Saints. – Beliefs & Practices web site
Godparents: origins
“The practice of godparents, witnesses or sponsors of a person who is to be baptized, and who are to instruct the person in the rules of Christian living, has existed from the first century of the Christian era. The first written information about godparents is attributed to the second century. In the first century of Christianity the godparents quite often were deacons, deaconnesses, hermits, virgins and, in general, people who dedicated themselves to serving the Church and who were able to instruct the baptized in true Christian faith and its morals.” – “Orthodox Way,” October 30, 1983