My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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CLEAN TUESDAY: GREAT AND HOLY LENT GREAT CANON OF SAINT ANDREW OF CRETE
Orthros (Matins)
Sessional hymns: Tone Two
Most blessed is the grace of the Holy Fast. For through fasting Moses was glorified, and he received the Law written upon tablets; and through fasting, then, let us quench the burning passions of the flesh, and let us cry to Christ the Savior: Grant conversion to us all and deliver us from Gehenna.
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The season of repentance is at hand: O my soul, show fruits of abstinence. Consider those who repented in the past, and cry aloud to Christ: I have sinned, O save me, Loving Master, as Thou has saved the Publican who sighed with sorrow from his heart, for Thou alone art rich in mercy.
Theotokion
Fervent Advocate of Christians, ever entreat thy Son, O Theotokos, to deliver us from all the malice and cunning of the enemy, and to grant us in His tender mercy the forgiveness of our sins, at thine intercessions, O Mother and Virgin.
Tone Five
As we begin the second day of saving abstinence, we cry to Thee, O Lord: Pierce the hearts of us Thy servants with compunction and accept the prayers we offer Thee in fear. Grant us without stumbling to complete the course of the Fast, and bestow upon us cleansing and great mercy.
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Step 18
On Sensitivity
By Saint John Climacus
Insensitivity is deadened feeling in body and spirit and comes from long sickness and carelessness. Lack of awareness is negligence that has become a habit. It is thought gone numb, an offspring of pre-disposition, a trap for zeal, a noose for courage, an ignorance of compunction, the gateway to despair, the mother of forgetfulness giving birth to loss of fear of God and, in turn, to a deadened spirit, like a daughter bearing her own mother.
The insensitive man is a foolish philosopher, an exegete condemned by his own words, a scholar who contradicts himself, a blind man teaching sight to others. He talks about healing a wound and does not stop making it worse. He complains about what has happened and does not stop eating what is harmful. He prays against it but carries on as before, doing it and being angry with himself. And the wretched man is in no way shamed by his own words. "I'm doing wrong," he cries, and zealously continues to do so. His lips pray against it and his body struggles for it. He talks profoundly about death and acts as if he will never die. He groans over the separation of soul and body, and yet lives in a state of somnolence as if he were eternal. He reads about the judgment and begins to smile, about vainglory and is vainglorious while he is reading. He recites what he has learned about keeping vigil, and at once drops off in sleep. Prayer he extols and runs from it as if from a plague. Blessings he showers on obedience and is the first to disobey. Detachment he praises, and he shamelessly fights over a rag...He looks people in the eye with passion and talks about chastity. Out in the world, he is full of praise for the solitary life and cannot see how much he is disgracing himself. He glorifies almsgivers and despises the poor. In everything, he shows himself up for what he is and does not come to his senses, though I would not say he was incapable of doing so. (Source: The Ladder of Divine Ascent)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George