Mother of our Peace,
Mother of our Joy,
Mother of our Hope and our Love.
Mother of Him who exists,He who embodies everything.
Mother Unblemished,the height of your purity cannot be imagined by our unclean soul.
Mother Most Blessed,your goodness cannot be grasped by the mind of man.
Mother of all Christians,your icons are in every town and every village and bear witness to the quick help you offer us.
Be for me, the sinful and most miserable, a quick aid and protector in pains, sorrows, and temptations!
St. John of Kronstadt

How does the forgiving of sins occur?
Through the Sacrament of Confession. The Christian burdened with sins goes to the priest with deep repentance in his soul and with a sincere desire to change and reveals to him in a detailed, frank, and full confession the secrets of his heart and conscience. The priest, convinced of the sincere repentance of the Christian and afer the suitable introductory prayers, reads to him the sacramental prayer: "May our Lord and God jesus Christ, according to the grace and kindness of His love for man, forgive you, child (name), all your transgressions, and I, the unworthy priest, through the power given to me by Him, forgive you and free you of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirtit. Amen."
In that moment, whatever the priest is forgiving on earth is also being forgiven in heaven!

Blessed feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord August 14/1 to those who are celebrating.
Troparion, Tone 1
O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance!
Grant victory to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries,
and by virtue of Thy cross, preserve Thy habitation.

“Today, more than ever before, the Fatherland and the Church need people who live not for themselves, but for the people and the Church.” - St. Nectarios of Aegina

God has made every man a small church that he can take with him anywhere. - St. Paisios the Athonite

What do you care what they say about you? If you listen to other people's speeches, you will have to put the donkey on your shoulders. - St. Ambrose of Optina

Blessed feast of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze) 11/2/25

"My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready" (Ps. 56:8)
My brethren, blessed is he who can say these words to His Lord.
Blessed is the one whose heart is completely ready to follow the will of God!
What does the readiness of the human heart mean?
To follow the will of God with joy and not to have an inner conflict in relation to his own thoughts and desires.
- St. Nikolai Velimirovich

For the devil, the prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" is like the action of a nuclear bomb, destroying absolutely everything at a great distance. If we keep the name of Christ in our minds, the bomb of prayer destroys everything the devil has built in our hearts. - Geronda Ephraim of Arizona

Let us not despair; it is not so dangerous to fall as to lie down once fallen; it is not so terrible to be wounded as to be wounded and not to desire healing...
St. John Chrysostom

***Great opportunity to commemorate names for 40-day liturgy on Mt. Athos. The monks at St. John the Theologian Skete Mt. Athos will pray for the names for 40 days during the Divine Liturgy for the Nativity Fast starting November 28th to January 6th (Mt. Athos is on the Julian Calendar). A donation of $25 for each name will be given to the monks. Deadline to submit names is November 24th

Here is the link to submit the names.
https://www.orthodoxgladness.com/prayer-request

One must also rest a little, so that with one's mind unclouded one can converse with God and divert one's mind from what is misleading. - St. Gregory the Theologian

"Don't leave the church before the Liturgy is over, because you will lose the grace you receive. " - St. Barsanuphius of Optina