Why does the Lord allow there to be poor? For your good, so that may be cleansed from your sins and expiate them, "for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin"; so that you may win suppliants who will pray for you in the persons of those upon whom you bestow your charity, so that the Lord may be merciful to you. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."

Prayers for the Sick

Priest: Let us pray to the Lord.

People: Lord have mercy.

O Lord Almighty, the Healer of our souls and bodies, You Who put down and raise up, Who chastise and heal also; do You now, in Your great mercy, visit our brother (sister) (Name), who is sick. Stretch forth Your hand that is full of healing and health, and get him (her) up from his (her) bed, and cure him (her) of his (her) illness.

Orthodox Christian spirituality differs distinctly from any other "spirituality" of an Eastern or Western type. There can be no confusion among the various spiritualities, because Orthodox Christian spirituality is God-centered, whereas all others are man-created.

The Mystery (Sacrament) of penance is our formal act of reconciliation with God and in the Church when sin has severed us from the Church's life. Because penance is the way to communion with God when that communion has been broken by sin, it is often referred to in Church Tradition as the renewal of baptism, or as the reestablishment of that condition of life with God which was given to men in the basic Mysteries (Sacraments) of inauguration into the Christian life.

"There is nothing more worthwhile than to pray to God and to converse with Him, for prayer unites us with God as His companions. As our bodily eyes are illumined by seeing the light, so in contemplating God our soul is illuminated by Him. Of course the prayer I have in mind is no matter of routine, it is deliberate and earnest. It is not tied down to a fixed timetable; rather it is a state which endures by night and day.

Just as all the feasts of the Lord are not only altogether Christological, but anthropological and soteriological, so it is also with the Transfiguration of Christ. By His Transfiguration Christ showed the deification (theosis) of human nature, but also the glory of those who will be united with Him. Therefore the event of the Transfiguration is a central point in the soteriological teaching of the Church, since it shows what is the purpose of man's existence.