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We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshiped.
If you were right
then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong
then.
A Canonical Orthodox Church of World
Wide Orthodox
 A Monk's Wisdom!
Monastic Library † Teachings of the Fathers, Monks, and Saints
The following article is excerpted due to lack of space from our own Desert
Priest Monk and Arch Abbot. It displays the anguish that all suffer, it
expresses the pain of one who loves all and yet still sins, none are perfect,
all sin, we must all reconcile ourselves to God, we must all bear our soul
in tears and anguish, repent and do our penance, this is the teaching of
our Lord and the church.
How Many Times
+Joseph Thaddeus, O.S.B., SSJt., Ph.D.
Metropolitan Archbishop, Archabbot, Primate.
Archdiocese of New Mexico
At the Altar in private
prayer:
How many times have I cried,
O'Lord for them?
How many times have my tears
wet the cheeks of my face for the shame I have done that is unknown to man, but
known to you?
How many times have my tears
come forth because I had to deliver the sad news of someone's son or daughter
having gone to their repose for many a varied reason?
How many times have I cried
over the loss of an unborn whose mother I tried to talk from an abortion?
How many times do I
continually find my inward self wrenching in agony over my having to tell a
young man or woman that their mom and dad no longer want to see or hear from
them for a variety of reasons?
How many times do I anguish
before you O’Lord with inward pain in my heart and soul because I couldn't
fulfill a promise to someone who was in need?
How many times have I cried
over a couple who have broken their marriage vows and have been unfaithful to
each other and you, while they yet use words to torture not only on themselves,
but their young and so many others?
How many times do my tears
flow because I have had to tell a couple that I will not marry them because
their desires for a covenant in marriage is not based on Love and truth?
How many times have I
anguished over the pain of others who do not believe in your covenant, but
claim a faith in you, and have defiled the belief of others who hold to a
covenant with you?
How many times O'Lord have I
held someone in my arms as they took their last breath in this life and then
having to carry the sad news to their family, friends and other loved ones?
How many times have I cried
over my foolish actions from the anger I have held within when someone did not
like me, or what I hold true too as the covenant made between you and me
according to my ability and nature of understanding its implicit meaning?
How many times have I cried
out in agony for having taken the pain and shame for others which I refused to
disclose because of my vow and my promise to you when I was ordained... My vow
to you to protect the covenants of the Seals of the Confessional is dear to me
because you have imbued in my spirit the need to be faithful and true in spirit
and truth.
How many times O'Lord have I
cried over the suffering caused not just by myself alone, but others, with us
in spirit and truth who are castigated and shamed with false truths because of
their own seeking self-image?
How many times O'Lord have I
cried over the suffering caused by false priests, clergy and faithful who claim
to be "Christian" (Following the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ)
but who have time and again stolen souls, degraded the faith with lies and
untruths and even robbed your house and your servants?
How many times O'Lord have I
taken care of someone whose suffering disease caused them to say and do things
against my unworthy self and those with me, then to have them go to their final
repose while holding them in my arms because I would not be unfaithful to my
promise to them, even to their end ?
How many times O'Lord have I
had to tell someone their actions and words were wrong and why, but only to
later find them doing the same things against you, us and my unworthy self both
publicly and privately?
How many times have I found
the offenses of others hurting your faith once delivered, those with me and
their loved ones? How many times do I bend myself before thee O'Lord and
ask forgiveness from thee for my unworthy thoughts of anger and pain from
watching the brutality and life threatening actions of others toward many other
people, us and my unworthy self?
How many times O'Lord have I
approached thee in prayer and meditation on behalf of another because they are
slowly dying from something mankind has no cure for?
How many times have I sat with
a mother or father whose son and daughter couldn't or wouldn't take the time to
visit them in their last hour?
How many times O'Lord am I
afflicted with anguish and pain of heart for all these souls who have been
called to the next life, for bad or good and no one was there by their side
during the last moments in this life?
O'Lord, my pain is deep, my
anguish is severe... my heart is hurting and yet I trudge on and try to
persevere out of pain of heart for the Love for thee, knowing that it is my
obligation and duty as your servant to the people and yourself. Yet, I
know that my own shortcomings make me an unworthy one in. the vineyard for I
recognize also that I still fail many others and you.
How many times O'Lord have I
lost strength and trust in my faith in thee because of the anguish, suffering
and pain I see in this world, but you were there through others more worthy
than my unworthy self to encourage me and remind me that I suffer not from
self-delusion but from weakness?
How many times you have
vanquished demons when they attempted to insight me to unfaithfulness.
How many times O'Lord has the
Evil One crept into my thoughts to tell me all that I do for others is nothing
but a weakness in my self? Or that I am a fool whose beliefs are in
error? How many times I cried in thanksgiving for you held me by the hand
and invigorated me with renewed faith and strength?
How many times have I been
visited by an angel of the Lord who has encouraged and strengthened my unworthy
self with truth that has carried me forward to continue in this life, doing
that which you ordained me to do for your children, the faithless and faithful,
the false clergyman and true servant?
How many times have I found
myself at a loss because many of those who I have tried to help in your name,
have gone further away from you in their spirit and in truth?
How many times O'Lord do I
come to you in a rush to pray for them as I shed tears for having failed
you?
How many times O'Lord have you
lifted my unworthy self up with understanding that there was nothing I could
have done otherwise but what they have done it to themselves, and that I can
only pray for them?
How many times O'Lord have I
had to castigate my unworthy self because of my pride and vanity and worse
sins?
How many times O'Lord have you
lifted me up to correct me in my unworthy self which caught me quickly to bend
my mind and heart to thee in private prayer and meditation to ask for
forgiveness and then to go to those whom I knew I had errantly harmed; seeking
their forgiveness for their anger and pain which I then took upon my own
unworthy self?
How many times have I taken
the error of other false servants unto myself in order to cover them so they
may be corrected in Your truth and been met with a cold and stony heart and an
unforgiving attitude of self-importance and political correctness?
How many times O'Lord have you
been there for me and picked my unworthy self up and dusted me off, only
to tell me to continue on the path in this struggle with the struggle against
self and selfishness, vanity and pride... that they can all be defeated only by
faith in thee through prayer, meditation, confession, seeking forgiveness from
you and those whom I may have harmed unintentionally?
How many times O'Lord have I
and those with me been robbed, stolen from, lied to, found our life and the
lives of others threatened and placed in danger because of another's lie and
horrible actions to destroy us?
How many times you have again,
and again, stepped into my and our lives to strengthen us with your arms of
love and compassion, to wipe away the tears that stream forth from my heart and
soul for the pain caused by others, by those unworthy ones who do lie, cheat
and steal from us and so very many others?
You are my strength and
defense O'Lord. Your Holy Host of Angels, Archangels, Saints, Martyrs and
those in this life strengthen us with understandings both spiritual and
material. You have set our feet upon the path that leads to thee... yet,
I and those with me stumble all to often and know that we are truly unworthy
because we continuously fall down and yet, we grieve!
How many times O'Lord will you
put up with my unworthy self in these many things I do so badly?
How many times will my eyes of
the heart, mind and soul overflow with tears of repentance for the failings and
failure I have committed?
My own life O'lord is but this
one you have allowed me to have... and as my time comes close to my final
repose from this life, I know that I will no longer have to say, "How Many
Times" for it will be the one and only time left for me to pray for
forgiveness and I pray that it not be too late!
O my spiritual children and
friends, how long will it be before you can no longer reflect, meditate and
pray on "How Many Times"... for you!
Early Church
Fathers
The Seven Oecumenical Councils.
Important Links:
Daily Scripture Reading
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Some personal thoughts from the heart of Monk Michael.
Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16
Icons and Statues!
Exodus 20; 4 Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things
that are in the waters under the earth.
EXODUS 25;
18 Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of
the oracle. 19 Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. 20 Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their
wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their
faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered.
Third Book of Kings (or 1st Kings in the King James)
Chapter 6: 21 And the house before the oracle he overlaid with most pure gold,
and fastened on the plates with nails of gold. 22 And there was nothing
in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he
covered also with gold. 23 And he made in the oracle two cherubims of
olive tree, of ten cubits in height. 24 One wing of the cherub was five
cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, in all ten
cubits, from the extremity of one wing to the extremity of the other wing.
25 The second cherub also was ten cubits: and the measure, and the work
was the same in both the cherubims:
26 That is to say, one cherub was ten cubits high, and in like manner
the other cherub. 27 And he set the cherubims in the midst of the inner
temple: and the cherubims stretched forth their wings, and the wing of the one
touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall: and
the other wings in the midst of the temple touched one another. 28 And he
overlaid the cherubims with gold. 29 And all the walls of the temple round about he carved with divers figures and carvings: and he made in them cherubims and palm trees, and divers representations, as it were standing out, and coming forth from the wall. 30 And the floor of the house he also
overlaid with gold within and without.
31 And in the entrance of the oracle he made little doors of olive tree, and posts of five corners, 32 And two doors of olive tree: and he
carved upon them figures of cherubims, and figures of palm trees, and carvings
very much projecting: and he overlaid them with gold: and he covered both the
cherubims and the palm trees, and the other things with gold. 33 And he
made in the entrance of the temple posts of olive tree foursquare: 34 And
two doors of fir tree, one of each side: and each door was double, and so opened
with folding leaves. 35 And he carved cherubims, and palm trees, and carved work standing very much out: and he overlaid all with golden plates in square work by rule.
Someone help me out with the passages above, anyone, please. Are the Holy
Scriptures, Holy Writ, the Bible, really the holy word of God, the creator
of all that is seen and unseen, the Father of all truth? I mean, don't
all of the verses above, contradict the very first verse which is a commandment
from God not to make any graven image? How can Holy God contradict Himself
like this? Did He or did He not participate in the writing of Holy Scripture?
Or, did man just make it all up and everyone who cannot see this blatant
contradiction is on drugs?
Now, while you are busy spitting at me and preparing your attack on how
the Bible is the Word of God and there are no contradictions; then all
denominations must decide why in the world they make the claim that all
of Catholicism is demonic for it's use of Icons and Statues. Oh, did your
thought process suddenly change? You were about to attack me for seemingly
making a statement that the Bible is not holy and you were about to defend
the above scripture but suddenly it seems that it defends the Orthodox
Catholic teaching and you are trying to re-think your attack on me.
Those three dimensional statues mentioned in the above scriptures and placed
into the house of worship of the Creator, are a direct command from the
Creator Himself are they not? Or is the Holy Word of God a lie? You need
to think hard about this.
The Worship of Icons and Statues!So why do I continue to write in a manner that makes many people angry?
Well, you had better be something, Christianity is under attack, in the
year 2009, Christians around the world are still being imprisoned, tortured
and killed. In countries that have made the claim of being Christian countries,
laws are being passed that makes it illegal to practice the Christian religion,
while the world is busy still trying to stamp out Christ's disciples, those
who make the claim of being a disciple of Christ continue to attack the
Church of Christ and make accusations that they cannot back up and continue
to destroy the church on the planet all in the name of Christ.
Explain to me how all of that makes sense!! So, what is this idea of statue or icon worship? This is something, again,
that makes me very angry. All accusers of the one true church have not
taken the time to discover what actually goes on and have continued to
attack simply because their church says so. You will be held accountable for every word that comes out of
your mouth regardless of who taught it to you because you did not investigate
it. Period. You and you alone will give an account of your words and deeds
before Christ on that day of judgement and you will get no help from the
peanut gallery of people who misled you. You will be responsible for helping to spread the lies about the Church of
Christ because you personally chose to not investigate the truth but follow
blindly a false doctrine simply because it allowed you to be yourself regardless
of truth.
My friend, the church does not worship statues or icons. The Eastern Orthodox/Catholic and those associated use Icons of the saints,
the Western Catholic/Orthodox and those associated use Statues. These are
general statements of course. These things represent the things that or
who are in heaven to put it as simply as possible. This is the same as
the statues named in the scripture at the beginning of the article and
built according to God Almighty. They are reminders, something to look
at and help in reflection and prayer. Do you honestly believe that the
Priests of God did not stand in front of the Cherubim mentioned above when
they were speaking to God? Kissing an Icon is showing respect to the person
that the Icon represents, it is not a requirement to do so but if you learn
to love the saints of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who went on before
us and come to understand the value to Christ in which they had while on
this earth, you will begin to have a whole new understanding.
What about this?: Numbers 21: 8 And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign:
whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. 9 Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.
Is God contradicting Himself again? Or are the Israelites using an object to gaze upon for healing because of their faith? You have no choice but to believe in the faith expressed by anyone looking upon the brazen object because the scripture says they will be healed by doing so. To deny this is a complete disregard for scripture. You are in severe error when you state that the church is demonic for using Icons and Statues and any accusations that you make against the church puts you in serious jeopardy. This is scriptural and you need to take a look around your own denomination and ask the question, why not have a representation of holy things instead of why do they have them.
All who claim Christ had better stop the non-sense and prideful thinking
in their particular denomination or group. We should be getting to the
real issues and not continuing with these disgusting garbage attacks on
each other.
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you,
let him be anathema.
Anathema:
- to be formally set apart;
- banished, exiled, excommunicated;
- denounced, sometimes accursed
The Orthodox / Catholic Church gives us the truth, it is impossible to
know all that was taught simply by reading the Bible, here is an example;
1 Corinthians 2: 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ. 2 For I judged
not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human
wisdom, but in shewing of the Spirit and power; 5 That your faith might
not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world that come to nought; 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of
this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the
Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath
prepared for them that love him. 10 But to us God hath revealed them, by
this Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Now Paul preached for a year and a half in Corinth, tell me in your own
words what he spent a year and a half talking about. This letter to the
Corinthians is a letter of rebuke written back to them after he left because
many were leaving the teaching and following after false doctrines. Where
in this or the following letter to the Corinthians does it contain a year
and a half of teaching? You must research, stop the attacks and begin to heal the church, do it now before it is too late.
We cannot know from one blink of the eye to the next what is in store for
us, in one blink a blood clot can move to the brain or heart, a truck can
run us down, a train can derail, one blink of the eye, we cannot know between
the blinks of our own eye what is in our future for the next blink. Start
now and never stop the healing process, study, study, study.
Pride is a demon that is the most subtle and also the most destructive
of all, pride will never allow someone to see the truth, every word that
the prideful reads will be interpreted in the light of their own thought
regardless of the intent of the writer, the words will become the readers
words and not the words of the writer and in this way the reader can then
become the sayer of the words to suit their own pleasure. This is the case
of the Christian Church today. So many people believe that a person or
a thing, an object, can be possessed with evil or a demon and will call for an exorcism or a spiritualist to cast out this evil essence
or spirit from the object or person; they believe that a dead man can be
conjured up, or a demon impersonating the dead one you are calling;
But, speak to this very same person of an angel of God possessing some
thing or a person, or a saint who can hear when you speak and will respond
to you, or speak to them about praying before an icon, and that very same
person will call you demonic and say that you are from the devil himself.
How can it be that only evil possesses matter or a human but nothing from
the heavens can do this? Oh, they will readily say that Jesus Christ can
come into their heart, but nothing else is possible unless it is from hell.
Much of what people call the church today has lost the teachings of the
fathers and patriarchs.
Please research what is written here for the sake of your own soul and
seek the truth without hesitation and without stopping, you will never
be perfect as neither will I as long as we are in the flesh, but it is
our duty, all who claim the Christ, to never cease to seek the face of
God through Jesus His Christ.
If you choose not to accept this as fact even though scripture plainly
tells you so, you are looking for your own damnation. Do not allow another
time frame to go by without accepting the truth.
St. John 14:
6 Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. 7 If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also:
and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him. 8 Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father,
and it is enough for us. 9 Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father? 10 Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The
words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth
in me, he doth the works.
This is the teaching of the church, you must believe this in order to be
a Christian, I don't know how much plainer Jesus Christ can say it, I hope
that this will help you in your understanding, there is much work to be
done while we are yet still here and we as Christians need to be doing
it together as one mind.
May the Lord Bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face to shine
upon you and be gracious unto you, may the Lord make His face to look upon
you and bring you peace: today, tomorrow and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Important Links:
Daily Scripture Reading
Write to us if you want to know more at;
monkmichael@newwarriorministries.com
or to the Metropolitan Archbishop Joseph Thaddeus who will take the time to help you for the sake of your soul, reach him at; thaddeus@apostle1.com
or Bishop Gregori of the St. John Maximovitch Theological Institute at: abouna@orthodox.com
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