Orthodox Portal

Life giving faith consists in unquestioning belief in Christ as God. Only when Christ is accepted as perfect God and perfect Man does the plentitude of spiritual experience described by the Apostles and Fathers become possible. Christ is now the cornerstone on which we must construct our entire life, both temporal and eternal… Christ, having linked God and man inseparably in Himself, is the one and only solution of the apparently insoluble conflict [of evil in the world]. He is in truth ‘the Savior of the world’ (John 4.42.) He is the measure of all things, human and divine. He is the sole way to the Father. He is the sun which illumines the universe. Only in His light can the way be seen. (His Life is Mine, pg. 50)

“One, and only one has spoken to us clearly and definitely about all that will come to pass at the end of time: the Lord Jesus Christ… For human understanding and logic, however great they may be, are too puny to reach to the world’s beginning and its end. Understanding is useless where vision is needed. We need a seer, who sees as clearly as we see the sun – to see the whole world, from its beginning to end…their has only been one such: the Lord Jesus Christ….” (St. Nikolai of Zicha, Homily on the Last Judgment. Homilies.)

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It can be said with some foundation that almost nowhere is genuine Christianity preached. Christianity so far surpasses the ordinary understanding that the praying heart does not venture to preach the Gospel word. People seek Truth. They love Christ. But in our day, especially, they try to reduce Him to dimensions of their own making, which debases the Gospels to a level of moralistic doctrine.

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The practice of the Jesus Prayer is simple. Stand before the Lord with the attention in the heart, and call to Him: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!’ The essential part of this is not the words, but in faith, contrition, and self-surrender to the Lord. With these feelings one can stand before the Lord even without any words, and it will still be prayer. (The Art of Prayer)

The Name of Jesus as His proper Name is ontologically connected with Him. For us it is the bridge between ourselves and Him. It is the channel through which divine strength comes to us. Proceeding from the All-Holy, it is holy and we are sanctified by invoking it. With this Name and through this Name our prayers acquire a certain objective form or significance: it unites us with God. In it, in this name, God is present as in a vessel full of fragrance….

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