PROOF - Orthodox Christian religion is the ONE !

It's ok, I also feel sorry that Artintel left us, especially if you said he brought a good contribution on this site :(. Maybe that was supposed to happen in this post, I believe everything in this world plays a role even if we don't understand it and if this has happened with this post maybe this was supposed to happened. I'm sorry again too and maybe he will return back soon. Yestarday I saw accidently a catholic forum where they were talking about \"why God gives miracles to the orthodox church if we consider them schismatiches? Wouldn't be more simple if God would have left only us (the catholic church) to receive His grace and in this way to show to the world that we are the ONE religion? It's a very hard test which our Father is giving us to go through, by searching the right ONE religion.\" - these were the questions/doubts of a (I supposed strong catholic since he had a profile on a catholic website). And he received plenty of answers, mainly \"I don't know\", others said \"you know they are doing pretty powerful stuff, you'd be incredible what it may happen in their churches, I was in Russia and I saw some incredible things but I was afraid because I didn't understand them\", another guy was saying \"you know my spiritual father, Fr...., told me once to respect also their Liturgy because our Lord respect it too 'cause he participated once in Italy to an orthodox Liturgy and a big miracle has happened in front of him, the bread which you communicate with they are putiing it in wine and in the moment they were praying the wine turned into blood in front of his eyes and he was stunished and the orthodox priest told him that this was a miracle done by our Lord for him to believe also because this doesn't happen usually\", others were commenting on the Holy Light from Jerusalem during orthodox Easter, and about people getting healthy while praying to orthodox saints and icons and so on, I felt sorry for them talking between them, and one even said that \"these miracles are so big that I was very closed to convert once to them but I was still very afraid and turning back here because I can't understand them\" I felt pity for them because this is the religion in which they got born, in catholic religion, and their fault is little, their bishops faults who made the change in 1054 is; I'm looking at their communication for example \"only with bread\". Our Elders also say that they are doing \"trade\" with sins, because Pope is allowed to SELL!! indulgences to sinner, because he says that if you have too many sins you can take forgiveness by donating money to the Pope (the sum depends on sin) and like this the Pope has the right to erase all your sins, and in our church we know that \"forgiveness\" you can't receive by paying, only God forgives us and our \"paying\" is doing prayer to our God in order to forgive us, I have a canonical book in which holy Saints have established for each sin how many days of not communication you can receive, how many prayers and so on, of course if you have stealed maybe you should pay back what you stealed (if you can, to whom you stealed from) or giving something to poor people, and if you WANT and if you can, you can give a mercy to church also. But if our Patriarch would be able to sell indulgences this would mean that only rich people who have eanough money to pay their sins will be SAVED. In Romania for example we are not supposed to pay anything to church (maybe abroad is different because the life for priest is more expensive there and they have families to feed) but here their are around 20.000 of churches, which are almost full every Sunday but there is no law/obligation to pay anything to the church, but everybody is giving a little gift on Sunday, but nobody is coming in the church with a bowl to pay anything to church, if you want, you go by yourself with your gift at Altar and give it, I remember now from the Bible when our Savior saw rich people put in the temple bowl money and then a very poor lady put \"5 money, if I remember well\" and our Saviour said that this old poor woman's gift is more appreciated by our Father because she is very poor, and it's like she can't afford it. But still, as I've already said, we should feel pity for the other confessions lay people if they born like this, because it is not their fault, and our Elders tells us that for other confession christians \"we do not guarantee their SALVATION\" because they don't have all the canonical laws intact \"it is something like 2 men are going to climb a mountain, one is full, with all the limbs and organs; and the other has no feet, but it is not his fault he bornt like this; who do you think it has more chances to arrive on top? The second one is at the mercy's Lord, and his struggle should be maybe double than the first's one, the first one gets more powerful by purely being full.\" Of course the 2 of them are at the mercy's of Lord but we should understand the difference, like this is, even if here on earth both of them are healthy physically, the orthodox church still gives him also a healthy communion with Lord in plus. So we should feel pity for them and I'm sure maybe those of them who live a clean life, in prayers, fasting and so on, will see the light one day. In Christ!

And to add something in contuining my last post, is that, the danger is not that the other christians decided to keep continuing their faith in this modernized, new way; but the danger is that by trying to convince us (our orthodox bishops) to have an Ecumenical Synod with them and unite all in one religion they are trying to make our religion \"handicapated\" also, and when time will come and the Big Evil will appear in the world to rule it, we will all be handicapeted in face of his evilty, and very easy to be manipulated by him, because we will not be full in our religion anymore as we are now, 'cause our strength now lays in our fullness, as St Seraphim of Sarov was saying that \"the scoup of our life is the receiving of Holy Spirit\", He makes us strong in face of obstacles \"And everything which we do, prayers, Liturgy, fasting, have the scoup of bringing the Holy Spirit inside us\", so if \"prayers, Liturgy etc\" are kept by us as they are now, old like hundreds of years ago they are very powerful and bringing to us full Holy Spirit, as a river which flows large and continuous and smoothly, but if all these masses are done in a modern way, changed in time and so on, they may bring us like a river which got stucked in a place and it left only a single little course which still flow with little water towards us. And in this way, if we are not careful, in time we can loose it all the river for good, 'cause once modernized you will always modernize them.

I don't believe, that there is the danger of uniting the Orthodox with Roman Catholic and Protestant Church. I feel sure that no one envolved in the Ecumenical Dialog has this in mind. That will not happen. True union can only be if the other churches and christian communities deny their errors and come back to the fullness of the orthodox faith. Sofia, I, too, believe, that only the Orthodox Church has this fullness of faith. The eldress of a greek monastery we viseted some time ago (herself a german and raised as protestant), said: \"Here (in the Orthodoxy) I found the christian main values in a much more intensified form. All the others are like diluted wine.\" (Weil ich hier die christlichen Grundwerte in viel intensiverer Form gefunden habe. Alles andere ist wie verdunnter Wein.\") I think, if we speak about the difference between the orthodox and the other christian believers, then we don't have to speak about true and false, but about all this, what the others are lacking in their faith. A devout rom.catholic and even a devout protestant may well go to heaven, but they miss so much. Sometimes I think, that in countries where are hardly orthodox christians and where they have hardly the chance to get to know the orthodox faith, that there the romcath. and the protestant church are a kind of place-keeper (I don't know how to say it better in english). Were there not the protestant church in Germany in wich I was baptized and raised, I hadn't had the chance to meet God and the christian faith. There I made my first steps in the christian faith and God became my hope and the one I longed for. Sure, I also learned false things and I had to be able to do without so much of the fullness of the faith. But, being a christian and a faithful, began then and there, not only when I converted to Orthodoxy. I think, it makes a big difference whether someone breaks with the Orthodox faith willingly and so becomes a schismatic or whether someone has grwon up in a church that almost 1000 years ago cut off, and he today knows no better. In this sense I would consider a romcath or protestant christian my brother or sister in Christ, who is not at all damned to hell by God, not one, who has the false faith but has not yet recogniszed the fullness of the faith. Can you agree with this? Jannis

I'll write you again the answer to this question, as I wrote a page and everything disappeared (I was not Logged on :( ). To write you breefly until tomorrow when hopefully I'll send you the detailed again: No one knows this, if the others will be saved or who from them will be, this only our Lords knows, but I'll senD you some quotes from St Siluan and other Saints who said that \"if this will happen anyway, and someone will get saved from the others, will be only because of Grace of God and as exceptional cases, but, we, as orthodox, can hope for sure salvation.\" I'll send you tomorrow the quotes again and a declaration of a lots of Bishops and priests from Greece regarding this subject. In Christ!

I don't know what to say, we should love all the people and pray for them but I don't know what to say about salvation, I'll send you tomorrow more quotes and their sources. But I want to add only one now, St Ignatie Briancianinov wrote a letter called \"About the unbeliever's (heretics) SALVATION\" maybe you can find it in English too, it's very good to read, though has like 3 pages, I have it in Romanian on an orthodox website, shortly is written something like: \"this letter was written as a response to a lady who didn't believed in the words \"a lot of people is called but only few are selected\" and that those selctede are indeed the orthodox, and he answered her \"What a pity spectacle seeing christians who don't know what christianism is about. Very rarely we can meet around nowadays christians, real christians. Question: \"Why should not islamic (mahomedans), pagans or herectics should not be SAVED? Around them we can meet lots of good people who don't hurt anyone, to loose all these people would be against Lord's mercy. And heretics are also christians. To consider ourselves only us who can hope at SALVATION and the others lost would be too much pride. St Ignatie Briancianinov answered \"You christians, you don't even know what SALVATION is all about but you're talking about SALVATION. Listen here the christian truth regarding SALVATION. We lost our SALVATION when Adam & Eve have sinned in Heaven (I'll shortly everything now because it's a long letter) .... All human mankind is a sinner mankind with a dead destiny. We are borning ourselves in sins. St Patriarch Jacov in the Old Testament was saying \"I'll go down crying to my son, in hell.\" And this he was saying about himself and about his son Josef, who was a virgin and a wonderful boy. In the Old Testament they were going to hell not only bad people but also all good people, and they all knew that those times. So only so much is what the kindness/goodness of man can do to the SALVATION of tthat man. This showed us that we, as humans, no matter how good we are, we are powerless in face of dark powers if we don't have The Holy Spirit inside us, to help us, which comes from our Father. So the price for Adam&Eve sins and for all our sins was payed by the our Saviour, He took all the sins of human kind onto Him and born us as new people, so the Son of God has let Himself being crucified by us to take us out from the devil's hands because of our sins. And took out from hell those who were cathed there. And He told us No one will get to our Father by not getting threw Me. So how can we say then that only goodness will save us, we saw what is the power of goodness in the life after death, it can do nothing if we are not bornt again threw Holy Spirit which comes from our Father. About heretics I'll tell you that SALVATION doesn't mean only to believe in the existance (devil's also believe) but to accomplish God's commandemnets. Have you seen our Patriarch Avraam from Old Testament what did? Our Lord put at test his belief in Him and ask him to kill his lovely child, and Avraam abide it but God appeared at the right moment, this is believing in God, abiding ALL! His Commandments, belief without deeds is nothing. Like this are doing heretics, they believe but they changed all the rules in their churches. Didn't you heard that times are near and faith will get cold in the world so few will keep the true faith, if you would see how many people from this world are going to hell after death and here and there are some other people who go to heaven. Have you seen any of these herectis how full of proudness they are, what big sins are doing in their homes, killings and heartings and other things and you see them being good, how can they be able to be good if only Holy Spirit gives us strentgh to be good, how can they keep good if they lost the Holy Spirit from their churches. Only earning the Holy Spirit gives us strength to be good in ourdays with so many evelness around. It's long the letter, but in conclusion, it's pretty saying the same things I wrote first: only the mercy of God and His Grace knows who and in what percentage they will be saved. I'll send you others Saints opinion too tomorrow. I'll also send you a vision of a father regarding the judgings of our Lord, I mean we think that our Lord may have made an unfairness, and in the end we discover that our Lord knows everything, I'll send it tomorrow.

Cyprian, about people's perceptions. Often they are formed by stereotypes usually created by the media. As I understand the purpose of Orthodox Monasticism (and please do correct me if I'm in error) a huge part of it is to be apart from the world. Which kinda makes it hard to start some sort of marketing campaign in the world by Monastics themselves to promote Orthodoxy. Its just not what Monastics do, but at the same time that is a monastics greatest strength they don't interact with the world as the rest of us do and thus when they see wrong in the world they are the ones best suited to point it out. Sofia, I wanted to comment on something you said. About how in Romania the people are not supposed to pay anything to church (except for out of love), as I understand it most churches there get funding from the government itself, whereas here in America this is illegal (with some minor exception in certain cases) as there is a separation of church and state. That aside funding here in America is very different. I've had Orthodox churches that I've visited once send me letters all the time telling me I should donate 10% of what I make. Looking at the requirements at a church out here it runs $900 in fees just to start to get married (there are more requirements). Yes I completely agree we should fund our churches but sometimes I think maybe the Roman Catholics had something when they had a council concluded no fee may be charged for any Sacrament. A donation would be a different thing though. Then again this \"law\" lead eventually to papal indulgences. I'd like to hear what other people think of this. Loannis, I would have a propensity to agree with you. I would describe my love for people of other Christian expressions as loving the sinner not the sin. Now if I would go so far to call them a brother or sister in Christ I don't know, because some of them believe in some screwed up things. I'd prefer to not judge that's God's job. Then again, I'd say Monastics are the best equipped to judge the world, but perhaps not people. I'd really like to read what the saints say when you post later Sofia. I must profess I'm not really aware of an authoritative all in one book on Orthodox Saints and their teachings. Now that would be cool. Does one exist in Romanian?

Somsoc, you are right, some of the other christians believe in some screwed up things. But there are also some, who are faithful christians, who I would consider as brother or sister in faith, even if they lack the fullness of our faith and the fulness of all Gods blessings. God is great and His spirit works not only within the boundaries of the Orthodox Church. This does certainly not mean that every group that calls itself \"church\", is a church. There is only one Church - the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. But there is also some light, some grace, some blessing from God to see outside our Church, within other christian communities. I am convinced that in heaven we will be surprised, whom we will see there and I believe, that we will also see other christians there, not only orthodox ones. What will be with people of the other religions? I don't know. That's God decision. I don't know what way God has prepared for them. But for us as orthodox christians, who came to know all the fullnes of the faith there is only one way - the way within our Church, which is the true body of Christ.

onother attempt to say it simply what I mean: regarding other christians I can not say: You are not orthodox, so if you not leave your false way and become orthodox you will go to hell. I would rather instead ask: why do you want to be satisfied with something that is watered, diluted, polluted if you have the chance to scoop out of the fullness of a pure spring?

The Pantocratoros Monastry from Mount Athos, developed an orthodox website who contains lots of useful information about heresies and about orthodox faith, in English, German, Greek, Romanian languages: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/Papism.en.aspx And In the Greek and Romanian languages pages I could find some very miraculous historical presentations about the intervention of our Lord in the protection of the orthodox faith, if you know greek or Romanian maybe it would be useful to traslate the entire stories in english for the others too. I'll short down here little about these stories, the first one is a miracle done by St Spiridon who protected orthodox church from Kerkyra town (church where also lies the relics of St Spiridon) and in which church the catholics wanted to build a catholic altar and to praise their Mass to honour St Spiridon relics from there. So, to short the story witch you can find all exact how it was, in Romanian, at the link of the monastry from greece here: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/7BFC9D60.ro.aspx After the city of Kerkyra was free of turks (by the grace of its Patron, St Spiridon, of whose relics are in this city), freedom which was earned in august 11, 1716; the ruler of those from Kerkyra was Andrei Pizani, a catholic lay person, who was convinced that the city was saved by St Spiridon because he loved the catholic church and because of the prayers of the catholic church from that city. So, he thought that a very good deed to do as a thank you gift to St Spiridon would be to start praying the catholic Liturgi in the church where the relics of St Spiridon were being kept, and this was an orthodox church. He arrived at this conclusion after he talked to his spiritual catholic father Francisc Frangipani, who said to Andrei that this is St Spiridon wish, because the papist thought that St Spiridon helped the city to get rid of the turks and St Spiridon intention is that all the city to come to the catholic religion. So, hearing this, the ruler of Kerkyra city, Andrei Pizani started preparation for building a small Altar (a small catholic prayer place, near the relics of St Spiridon). The orthodox priests and clergy who heard of this, went to Andrei Pizani and told him that in no way St Spiridon, who was always protected true faith and not heresies (St Spiridon took part at the 1st Ecumenical Synod) St Spiridon would never agree a heretic church to do this near his holy relics. But Andrei Pizani didn't listen to him but he told everybody to start bringging all the necesarry building materials for starting building the liitle prayer catholic chapel near the relics of St Spiridon, as a thank you gift. But in the same night, the general had a miraculous dream, he saw St Spiridon coming to him and He looked very upset and told him \"Why do you want to upset me, and why do you spread disorder around my faithful sons? Remember that what you want to do, you'll not be useful for your soul.\" The ruler went next day to his spiritual father and explained his dream but this one talked to the other catholic priests and told him that it is only the devil's plan not to bring the people from that city to the right religion, so he must quickly continue his plans. The general was very happy and did this and brought the materials in the orthodox church where were also the St Spiridon relics in order to begin soon the preparations for the catholic prayer place. But the next night he had a new dream St Spiridon telling him \"Be sure that if you try to upset my faithful church it will not be useful for you.\" He went again to his spiritual catholic father and this told him \"this is deffintely devil's plan, we as christians we should not believe in dreams, so start quickly the building of the catholic prayer place because it will be a very holy thing to do\". Being encouraged by his spiritual catholic father the general went immediately the next day at the relics of St Spiridon to pray for blessing and good work and called for constructors and the mayor to start the preparations for the small prayer catholic place. But when all they were inside discussing the oldest orthodox priest from that church came to them and ask them to stop this heretic thing as the Saint would not like such a thing and it will not be for their use, this was in november 11, 1718, but the general told him to leave him alone because this is not heretic, but it's building a holy place of prayer to our Lord, and this can't be not liked by the Saint, and if he doesn't shut up he will be put in chains and sent to Venice city. But in that night, at around 12 in the night, started a big storm, with thunders and rain, and the person who was protected the house of the general saw a monk with a big light in his hands coming to the door and he asked him \"who are you and where do you want to go at this hour in my master house?\" and the monk told him \"I'm Spiridon\", and when he said this the monk took his hand and throw the man out of his way next to the church, and then the man woke up and see himself in foot and everything ok with him, but in the same moment he heard a big explosion like a bomb and all the house of the general and his apendixes were all in a big fire, and everything from his yard was in fire. They found the general being dead under a big pillon, and they also found the general's spiritual father dead and being thrown out in the hall where all the dirties of the city where thrown there (like a toilet, I don't know the word). Together with them they also died lots of men and women who were serving the general, like 900 of persons. Also, 2 other miracles have happened the same day, the general had put as a gift in the previous day a big catholic candle above the relics of St Spiridon, that candle was found down on the floor but all the other candles from the church were intact. Also in the previous day, the relatives of the general who were living in a big house in Venice, Italy, saw a big fire arrow who destroyed the general's picture from a wall and all they believed that something bad will happen to the general. The next day the catholic clerics from Rome said quickly to the catholic clerics from Kerkyra to remove all the construction materials from the orthodox church and to bring them all to Rome, where they built in the big catholic cathedral from there the praying place for St Spiridon. This was the big miracle which St Spiridon done to protect his beloved Orthodox Church and to make of shame the catholic heresies. I almost translated all the first chapter of the book, I hope it will be of use, who knows Greek or Romanian, can read the entire book of this miracle, who was done to show to the people how terrible are hersies and how beloved is the Orthodox Church. St Marcu Evgheni is saying very straight about catholics that they are heretics, these are His words, and that catholics have not even one valid Mistery (baptize, priesthood, Mass and so on), they have none valid. Also, on the same link you will find like tens of orthodox priests and thousands of orthodox lay persons who were marthirizind in Serbia and Poland and became saints by being killed by the catholics, in very terrible dyieng (between 1850 and 1950), because they didn't agree to babtize themselves and to recognize catholics. Another big miracle who you can find it in Romanian here: http://areopagul.blogspot.com/2009/10/preotii-blestemati-pentru-ca-au-slujit.html this miracle is done in Mount Athos, and is written by father Filthei Zervakos, and happened between 1170 and 1200 when in the Mount Athos came a big group of \"papist\", catolic priests and monks who oblijed lots of orthodox monks to pray together with them and to recognize the catholic church. The ones who didn't want to do this were being killed and now their relics lay in Mount Athos, but the ones who did this, only 3 monks, can also been seen nowadays in a place called \"the cave of the anathemized monks\", because their bodies after being exhumed (unbarried) after 7 years, how the orthodox monks are doing it, where descovered not putrified but smelling bad, and they also look very bad, yellow and BIG, FAT, and terrifying at seeing. The bodies of the marthirized monks who didn't agree to pray together with catholics and to recognize them are smelling of good Myr, and they have the same shape as they were alive and are laying in Mount Athos Monastries, but the others who were terrifying at look were being put in this cave, for all the vizitors who come to Mount Athos and want to see them and hear the stories to know how terrifying is the punishment for praying with heretics. This cave is near the Big Lavra Monastry from Mount Athos, in a place called Vigla, and the place is marked with the name \"Afurismeno\". Another miracle done by our Lord in order to show what is the right religion and in order to light the minds of the catholic to end their heresies and come to where they left, was done in 1625 in the town of Vilno. This miracle you can read it all in Romanian here : http://areopagul.blogspot.com/2009/10/o-minune-care-arata-ca-greco-catolicii.html This miracle shows that indeed greco-catholic and catholic have valid none of the 7 Wonders (Baptize, Mass, Priesthood and so on). In 1625 in the town of Vilno was the black death disease spreading and killing thousands of persons. After the black death ended the catholic and greeko-catholics priests from there wanted to make a Mass in the name of the dead persons. And as it is during Mass, they put red wine in the cup, there were there also ieromonk Rafail Korsak, Valerian Kalnofoiski and some others, and when it came the time for giving communication to the people who came to church all the cup turned into plain water, they saw that there were no at least a bit of wine in the cup they said that maybe the priest didn't put any wine in the cup, but the priest said it put wine enough from the bottle, so they thought maybe the one from which they bought the wine didn't gave them wine so they went after him and the person sware he gave them the best wine as he's afraid of church. They knew then that this was a sign from sky to show them that nothing is happening during their catholic Mass and no Holy Spirit is going down to transform in a miraculous way the wine into the holy Blood of our Saviour, and the bread into the Holy body of our Saviour. The same happened also in the city of Grubesov when Ipatie Pociej with other heretics bishops were having the Mass in St Nicholas church and the wine turned to water, and seeing this they said to pur more wine and more in the cup but no wine was seen, but all wine was turning into water in the cup, and our Lord seeing they didn't understand that He wants them to turn back from their heresies, seeing them pooring/puting and pooring/puting wine in that cup, suddenly the cup broke and all the water felt on the floor and in that moment all were terrifyed and Simeon Ceaika seeing this has yelled from all his lungs \"Our bishops are heretics, don't listen to them anymore.\" And people gathered there seeing what happened they left the church one after the other. The same was in 1596, at the Council from Berestie, at their first Liturgi, the heretics, catholics and greek-catholics announced everybody that they united together and they cursed the Holy Orthodox Church for being heretical and during this first Mass of theirs the wine turned to water, and they were ashamed and understood that this is a bad sign, this our Lord has done in His big Grace only to show that Holy Spirit doesn't go down at any of the heretical Masses, Baptizes etc. The same happened at Rubejov and Berest Litovsk. And because this is a book telling the event from the catholic church from Vilno, I want to add that the witness of this miracle was Elisei Ikovski who was on those times, a monk in the heretical catholic church and now it's protopsalt in the Big Lavra Pecerska from Kiev who converted the next day to the orthodox church, telling us this miracle seen by him in his past church. The miracles done at Grubeşov and in Berestie we found out from other priests and from books which are writing about this moment, if you want to know more about them, please read the book of the so called \"catholic priest\" Skarga, \"In the protection of the Berestie Council\", where you can find this event with the wine turning into water at the page 44, but he is adding that it might have been a mistake with the wine, and in the book \"Virginity verification\", where you can find it on the last page, but also were being told to us by Gavriil Homenetki , who were on those times the helping hand of the staretz from Grubesov. What can be added; there are also the same miraculous events told by our orthodox Saints, events of which they were witnesses, and which you can find in their lives or different books, that during the orthodox Liturgi, Mass, there were many cases when the wine turned into blood and the bread turned miraculous into meat, or they saw angels coming around the holy table or a baby being crucyfied at every St orthodox Liturgi, and the orthodox priests seeing this miraculous things started to pray and ask our Lord for turning them into holy wine and holy bread because they could not communicate the people with them like this, and they miraculous turned back how they were. Because our Lord told us, that at each St Liturgi he is crucyfying Himself for our sins and those who don't believe and don't participate in this biggest orthodox Mass they loose a very important event from the orthodox life, as during it, all the angles from the sky and Saints are praying together with the lay people among them in the church, and we have many orthodox testimony of Saints who were able to see this with their own eyes. So I translated almost all from the Romanian link. There are many such events but it's not so easy to translate them, I'll copy-paste here a little part of St Antony the Great battle with heretics, during 300 year, where heresy appeared in the world and also in the Egypt dessert where St Antony the Great was living, as we know from Pateric, and who was totaly against heretics and heresies. You can find the English version here: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/Ecumenism-Greatantony.en.aspx Or copy-paste it here: 2. Teachers of inaction and hypocrisy. The all-knowing and the humble Before Constantine the Great, during the persecution of the Christians of Alexandria by Maximianus in 311, Anthony the Great at 61 years of age, left for a while the desert, his asceticism and prayer, and came to Alexandria, fearless and undaunted intending with longing to bear witness and encourage those being led to martyrdom. He defiantly ignored the judge's orders for the monks to depart from the city and not be present at the courthouses. He appeared in front of the leader who was in a prominent seat at the courthouse, demonstrating the willingness of the Christians to fight and bear witness for their faith. \"He stood fearless, showing us the Christian zeal; for he too wished for martyrdom as earlier told\". Of course God preserved him and he was not martyred, that he be more beneficial in life, he however did not confine himself to his cell in the desert but \"would usually serve the confessors as one with them in the labour of their services\". When the Orthodox Faith is in danger, the first spiritual priority is for her defense, the struggle, the support of all those who battle, the willingness to shed blood and even die; all other spiritual duties are secondary. All others who act or advise against, simply cover up their excuses for their unwillingness and cowardice and become teachers and professors of inaction and hypocrisy. Of course we are not going to present here how the Great Anthony confronted the great and educated literary men and philosophers of idolatry with indisputable argumentation, himself being illiterate, leaving them speechless and astounded. Perhaps we shall do so another time, for idolatry and paganism again appeared, backed by powerful supporters. The Saint did not know everything the way they did, he did not possess worldly knowledge, but he knew the Bible and the teachings of the Saints and above all he was God learnt and God inspired. Faith is not an issue of great knowledge and learning but humble submission not to the prevailing knowledge but to the truth of the Church, timeless and eternal. If one does not strip oneself of self wisdom and display of self-knowledge and humbly become embodied in the spirit of Christ, of the Church, of the Saints and Church Fathers which opens the spiritual horizons, then one will always wonder and second guess the certainty of Faith and self knowledge of even the simple faithful and he will accuse them as all knowing and selfish, lacking humility. However, humility does not mean one has to accept the prevailing opinion but the knowledge of God and of the Saints because frequently many align with the lie and empower the lie with their majority. If the acceptance of the majority opinion when it disagrees with the truth constituted the acceptance criterion, then not only the Bible would have been acceptable, being supported by the few Apostles nor would the Church had survived in a flood of unfaithful and heretics. 3. The position of Saint Anthony against the heretics. A prototype for imitation for all today. What we wish to do now is to present the way Saint Anthony confronted the Arian heresy, which threatened the Church internally, being supported by the Emperor, leaders, patriarchs and bishops as happens in this day with the pan-heresies of Papism and Ecumenism, which are far more dangerous because they undermine almost all the dogmas of the faith and transform the divine teaching of the Bible to a common human teaching, they withdraw the God-Man Christ, the Saints and the Fathers and replace them with the infallible pope of Rome and the spread of heresies of the World Council of the so-called Churches. This presentation is very instructive even for those who pretend not to see the danger, for \"serious\" spiritual fathers who lead astray or put in very difficult position, their spiritual children, who see better through the eyes of the Saints and end up doubting the worthiness of their spiritual guidance. Of course the Saints are more trustworthy than any elder and spiritual guide, who does not become angry at heresy and does not fight to expose or expel it. So, Great Anthony, left the desert for the second time and came down to Alexandria. The Orthodox bishop and patriarch was the Great Athanasius, who was under constant persecution and a string of exiles and the orthodox flock were under the heretical Arians as at the present time under the tutelage of ecumenist and pro-ecumenist patriarchs and bishops. Great Anthony as we are taught by his \"Life\" and the topic of faith \"he was most wonderful and reverent\". He had dealings with the schismatic Meletians because from the beginning he was aware of their cunningness and apostasy. But also with the Manicheans and other heretics he was never friendly but only to advise and turn them back to be faithful Orthodox. He believed and taught that friendship and keeping company with them was damaging and could end in loss of soul. He detested the Arian heresy and admonished everybody not to draw near them nor accept their false faith. Once when some fanatical Arians paid him a visit. Having talked with them and understanding that they were unfaithful, he sent them away from the mountain where he led his asceticism, telling them their words were worse than the venom of snakes. This document we could say sets the rule which shows us with clarity, truthfully and without deception, how to conduct dialogues with the heretics and we must regulate our human and social interactions with them. At the same time it shows us that today all the boundaries that were set by the Holy Fathers are being demolished by the Ecumenists, who embrace and kiss the heretics as if they were pious and of the same faith and never consider not to send them away and keep their distance but also not even to admonish them so that they return to Orthodoxy. The dialogues are conducted on an \"equal level\". Leveling of lies, heresies and deceptions with truth. When conversing on \"equal level\", it means that you provide the possibility for lies to prevail over the truth, that you doubt the truth and you seek to find it. However the dialogue of the Saints and of the Fathers, is a dialogue of Christ with the Samaritan woman, of the Apostles with the Jews and Gentiles, of the Fathers with the heretics, an invitation and admonishment for their return to the truth, to be re-included in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; this is the true union and peace. All the rest are false unions, false peace and false dialogues. Because therefore this article demonstrates the way to the true union from the mouth of the great Saint and achieves the \"all must be one\" for which the Ecumenists labour and attempt to accomplish it \"ad verbatim\". In faith he is very admirable and devout. For he never communicated with the schismatic Melitians seeing from the start their cunningness and apostasy; nor did he speak in a friendly way with the Manicheans and other similar heretics, but only to admonish them to turn back to piety, leading and commissioning their friendship and dialogue is harmful and risking loss of one's soul. He similarly despised the Arian heresy and ordered everyone not to approach them nor their evil faith. Finally, when some of the Arians and Manicheans came to question him and realizing their impiety, he sent them away from the mountain, saying that their speech is worse than the poison of the snakes. 4. The dreadful vision of Saint Anthony on the heretics: Dumb beasts around the Holy Altar. It is truly dreadful the vision that Saint Anthony had regarding the presence of the heretics inside Orthodox churches. This vision illustrates and explains graphically the reasons why the Holy Fathers forbid with Synodal canons the entry of the heretics into consecrated places, their participation in services and liturgies, with common prayers and common worshipping. The heretics not accepting the teachings of the Church, Apostles and Saints, are influenced by the demons and their father, the Devil, in the promotion of deluded viewpoints. That is why their teaching is \"rather fruitless and absurd and their thinking is not correct, like that of dumb mules Saint Anthony was therefore shaken and frightened, when God allowed him to see in his vision the Arians surrounding the Holy Altar as mules, kicking and defiling it. Such was his sadness and distress, that he began to cry, as saddened and tearful as also many faithful, in seeing the heretic pope entering and defiling the church of Saint George, at Fanar, the very Saint the Vatican abolished. We are certain that if the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops read and learnt of Saint Anthony's vision, of course assuming as Orthodox they continue to honour and follow the life and teaching of the Saints, they will cease the mutual liturgical hospitalities and visits, the weekly co-prayers and the sending of representatives to the anniversary celebrations. For otherwise they too will be included as conspirators in the frightful vision of Saint Anthony. According to the Great Athanasius narration of the \"Life\", while Great Anthony was sitting, occupied with his handy work, he went into a trance and was breathing heavily while seeing his vision. After some time he turned to the monks present; he continued breathing heavily and to shake. He fell to his knees to pray and remained kneeling for a considerable time. When the Elder got up he was crying. Those present became very frightened and shocked; they then asked him to explain to them. As they insisted greatly and compelled him, he sighed again and said \"My children it would be best for me to die before I see the things that will happen which I saw in my vision. The wrath of God will fall on the Church and she will be handed to people who are mindless beasts. I saw the Holy Altar of the church, at the main skete surrounded on all sides by mules which were kicking and jumping up and down as is natural for such dumb animals. You saw and perceived that I was earlier sighing; I did so because I heard a voice saying, \"My altar will be defiled\". That is what the Elder saw. Exactly two years later the Arians attacked and robbed the churches, taking the sacred vessels by force and handed them over to idolaters to hold. They forced them to attend meetings and in their presence they did whatever they wished on the Holy Altar. Then we all understood, said the Great Athanasius that the kicking of the mules foretold to Saint Anthony was what the Arians do now as animals. After the vision, the Elder felt the need to encourage and console those around him by saying: \"Don't be sad my children; for just as our Lord was outraged, so would He again heal all evil. Soon the Church will recover her beauty and will shine. You will witness those who were exiled return, the pious faith will re-appear and rule everywhere. Suffice that you do not let yourselves be defiled by the Arian heresy, as it is not the teaching of the Apostles but of the demons and their father, the Devil, irrational and fruitless just like the dumb mules\" Epilogue The wrath of God has taken over the Church since many decades. Papism and Ecumenism triumph. At that time Great Athanasius and the other Holy Fathers understood the danger described in the vision of Great Anthony. We now witness the contamination of the churches and the Holy Altars by joint prayers and liturgies with the \"irrational\" heretics and we assist the contamination and praise it, by joining them ourselves in the kicking of the Holy of Holies\". If one notes the ecumenical joint liturgies and prayers, like the one in Canberra during 7th General Council of the so-called Churches, with the frequent participation of homosexual priests who dare hold the Holy Chalice, as well as women bishops and priestesses, the view surpasses even the vision of the Great Anthony: \"The only hope for our church to regain her beauty is given in the recommendation and advice of the Great Anthony : \" beware you do not contaminate yourselves with the Arians\" We must beware we do not contaminate ourselves by communing with Papism and Ecumenism , and the pro-papist and pro-ecumenist Orthodox. Because so far we have not done so dynamically and resolutely, God for years now, prolongs His wrath, and captivity of the Orthodox by the pan-heresy Of Ecumenism. How much longer will bishops, monks and the laity allow the mindless beasts, the heretics, to kick and contaminate the Sacred and Holies of Orthodoxy? As long as we remain inactive and come up with different pseudo-spiritual excuses, the abomination of desolation will stand on Holy ground. Greek Text

True miracles, false miracles - Orthodox vs Pentecostals, Catholics & so on What true miracles are? Which condition has to have your soul to prrove you have a true miracle and not a false one? What are the Pentecostals miracles? Our orthodox Elders also told us that after checking carefully the catholic apparitions from Fatima, Medjougorne and other such places they diescouvered they are not from our Lord, but somewhere else, because they also experience in Mount Athos, dark evil taking the form of our St Mary but they carefully check each apparition and don't believe everything what they see. Just to add, that in the books I read about these aparitions is written that Fatima etc, the spirit which apears there is mixing good things with lots of heresies under the shape of humility and salvation, they are telling the catholics to pray daily (but the prayers whicg they are telling to do are having heretic things inside according to our orthodox religion or to the prayers which first christians in byzants were duing - catholic Creed contains Filioque heresy for example), also the aparitions are telling to them that if they want salvation they should attend Liturgi 5 first Saturdays one after the others for 5 months, and they should contemplate on the immaculation of our St Mary - totally heretic according to the orthodox view - because why Saturday? when we celebrate Sunday our Father's day? Why 5? 7 is the christian holy number, 7 Misteries, the 7th day is holy, 7 thousands of years will live good and in the 8th this world will be gone and so on. Also, orthodox christians are keeping the same thousands of years believe that only our Saviour (being God himself) was immaculate, but St Mary was a human and she was a Saint, and this is against our old christian believe, also \"contemplation\" for us it's not good, because we have prayings, himns and it's very harmful imaginations to us as christians. Also our orthodox view is that their Liturgi lost Holy Spirit so it's in vain to attend it, but all these apparitions is happening only for kipping them in that heretic way and to not let them see the real truth, but believing tha our Lord give them a sign and it's good what they do, so this spirit is mixing under a good cover (christian) something not good. And so on. Also their \"saints\" who felt the woonds of our Saviour on their body were checked and the opinion is that they are not fruites of Holy Spirit, it's a lot to talk about, take a book and read better :), but to conclude this \"saints\" were having big pains, and sufferings, and screaming sometimes so bad they would terrify the other monks, and had visions, but mostly they suffered real very much, and cryings and didn't found peace, but thinking they are blessed by Holy Spirit, what orthodox are saying about this: When we recite the prayer of Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, the most sweet name of our Lord brings peace to the heart and blooms and bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, virtue, kindness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:23). See our orthodox Saints life experiences and peaceful hearts. Here you can find the text below: http://www.impantokratoros.gr/2D843221.en.aspx Forms of experience of the grace of God What are the experiences of grace that a Christian can receive so that his faith and Christian life not be for him something mental and external, but true spiritual feeling of God, a communion with God, a habitation of God in which the complete man participates. It is foremost an internal information that through faith in God he finds the true meaning of his life. He feels that his faith in Christ is a faith that comforts him internally, that gives meaning to his life, and guides him, that it is a strong light that illumines him. When he perceives the Christian faith within himself this way, he begins to live the grace of God. God is not something external to him. Another experience of the grace of God man receives when he hears in his heart the invitation of God to repent for his dark and sinful deeds, to return to the Christian life, to confess, to enter on the road of God. This voice of God he hears inside him is an early experience of the grace of God. All those years he lived away from God he could not understand anything. He starts to repent: he confesses to the Confessor for the first time in his life. After confession he feels a great peace and joy that he never felt before. And then he says: \"I have been comforted\". This comfort is the visit of the divine grace in a soul that has repented and God wishes to comfortl it. The tears of a repenting Christian when he prays and asks to be forgiven by God or when he confesses are tears of repentance. Those tears are very comforting. They bring lots of peace to the soul of man. Then man feels that these are the gift and experience of divine grace. The deeper man repents and comes to a greater love of God and prays with godly eros, that much those tears of repentance become tears of joy, tears of love and divine eros. Those tears that are higher than the tears of repentance, are also a higher visitation and experience of the grace of God. We approach to commune the Body and Blood of Christ having repented, confessed, with fasting and spiritual preparation. After the Holy Communion what do we feel? Deep peace in our soul, spiritual joy. This too is a visitation of Divine grace and experience of God. There are however other higher experiences of God. The higher experience of God is the vision of the uncreated Light. This Light the disciples of the Lord saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw Christ shine like the sun with heavenly and divine light, which is not material, created light, like the sun and the other created lights. It was the uncreated Light, namely the Light of God, the Light of the Holy Trinity. Those who are completely cleansed from their passions and sin, and pray with true and clean prayer, they are found worthy of this great experience to see the Light of God in this life. This Light is what would be shining in the eternal life. Not only to see it from now but they are also seen from now in this Light. For this Light envelops the Saints. We do not see it but the clean of heart and saints see it. The bright crown that is painted around the faces of the Saints is the Light of the Holy Trinity that has illumined and sanctified them. In the life of Great Basil we read that Great Basil when he was praying in his cell, they could see him shine wholly as well as his cell was illumined by the uncreated Light. We see the same in the lives of many saints. So therefore for someone to be found worthy to see the uncreated Light is one of the highest experience of God, which is not given to every one but to very few, those who have progressed in spiritual life. According to Abba Isaac in every generation almost one man manages to see lucidly the uncreated Light. There are however even to day Christians who are worthy to have this unique experience of God. Of course we should also say that everyone that sees the light does not mean that he sees the uncreated Light. The devil deceives and shows them other lights, demonic or psychological, to believe that it is the uncreated Light, when it is not. For this every Christian that hears something or has a certain experience, must not accept it as if from God, because he could be deceived by the devil. He must however confess it to his Confessor who will then tell him whether it is from God or if it is a deceit of demons. A lot of caution is needed in such cases. Determination of a pure experience of the grace of God. Let us now look at the conditions which ensure whether different experiences we have are genuine and not false. The first condition is that we should be men of repentance. If we do not repent of our sins and cleanse ourselves of our passions we cannot see God. As the Lord says in His beatitudes, \"Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God\". The more man cleanses himself from his passions, repents and returns to God, that much better he could feel and see God. To attempt to receive experiences of God with artificial ways and methods as is done in the heresies of Hinduism, in Yoga, is false. Those experiences are not from God. Those are experiences that are derived from psychological ways. The Holy Fathers tell us: \"Give blood and receive spirit\". In other words, if you do not give the blood of your heart with your repentance, prayer, fasting, asceticism, you cannot receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. True spiritual experiences are given to those who through humility do not ask for spiritual experiences but ask God for repentance and salvation. To those who are humble and say, \"My God, I am not worthy to receive a visitation of your grace and divine and heavenly solace and spiritual pleasures\". To those however who through pride ask God to give them experiences, He will not give them true and genuine experiences due to their pride. So therefore the second is humility. The third condition to receive true spiritual experience is to be in the Church. Not outside the Church. For outside the Church the devil will deceive us. When a sheep becomes separated from the flock, it will be destroyed by the wolf. Within the flock there is security. The Christian inside the Church is secure. However, when he leaves the Church, he is exposed to his deceits, of other people and of demons. We have many examples of many people who did not obey the Church and in their Spiritual state they fell into deceits. And they believed that they see God or that they are visited by God when in reality the experiences they had were demonic and destructive to them. Also it helps greatly to have a pure and warm prayer. The truth is that at the time of prayer God gives most of the spiritual experiences to man, for this, those who pray with longing, zeal and patience, receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and feeling of the grace of God. As you may know, there is a prayer we say at the Holy Mountain and which you may also be saying: \"Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me the sinner\". This prayer which is characterized as noetic, heartfelt and unremitting when it is said with humility, with longing and persistence, brings in the heart of man the feeling of the grace of God. False experiences of the grace of God. People have false experiences of God when they believe that by themselves, with their own powers, in heresies, in groups, in religious gatherings, outside the Church, they can receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. They gather and some new \"prophet\" acts the leader and they believe they are receiving the grace of God. It happened that I was present at a gathering of Pentecostals in the States in 1966 while I was there. Their \"church\" was a hall of a school. First someone started to play some music with soft and gentle sounds which as it went on it was becoming progressively more intensive, deafening and frantic so that it caused excitement. The music finished and the preacher started. He too started gently and as he continued he would scream louder. At the end he too created an excited atmosphere. And then when all the people suffered from auto suggestion and hysteria, they started to scream and move their hands and give out unintelligible shouts. I felt that the Spirit of God was not there, which is a Spirit of peace and not of disturbance and excitement. The Spirit of God does not come with artificial and psychological ways. Instead I felt sorry for the children that were there with their parents for they could suffer the consequences of this mass neurosis. A young man who became a monk at the Holy Mountain and who first went through the Hindu yoga (you should know that there are approximately 500 Hindu heresies in Greece), described to me what experiences they try to have there. When they wished to see light they would rub their eyes so that they could see little stars. When they again wished to hear unusual sounds they performed some sort of pressuring of the ears so that they wouldcreate sounds. Similar psychological experiences that are produced artificially, some heretics attribute them to the Holy Spirit. Other experiences in heretic gatherings are not only psychological. They could be demonic. The devil manipulates the seeking of such experiences by some people and presents them different signs which are not of God but theirs, diabolical. They cannot understand that they are victims of the devil. They believe these signs are heavenly and from the Holy Spirit. The devil also can give them some prophetic capability as he gives to the \"mediums\". The Lord has however fore-warned us, \"There will rise false christs and false prophets and will give you great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect (Matt 24:24), They won't simply do miracles and wonders, scary signs. Like the Antichrist when he will come he will not do bad things. He would do benefactions, healing of the sick and other impressive things to deceive the people, if possible even the elect, to believe him as saviour and follow him. That is why we must be careful. Every one who can do signs and prophesies is not always from God. Again as the Lord says: \"Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Your name? And in Your name cast out devils? And in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I say unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me you that work iniquity\" (Matt 7:22-23). I knew a young man who was led astray by occult and Pentecostal heresies who confessed that the different experiences they had when they were members of these heresies, were diabolical. A previous Pentecostal man for example confessed that at the Pentecostal gatherings when some \"prophetess\" would prophesy he felt a demonic disturbance and that when he tried to say the prayer, \"Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me the sinner\", the speaking in tongues would start and drown him, impeding him from saying the prayer. Because the devil transforms to an angel of light, we must be careful with experiences. The Apostle John advises us \"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God (1 John 4:1). Not all the spirits are from God. Those who have the Apostle's Paul gift of discernment of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10) can discern the spirits if they are from God or if from the devil. The Confessors of the Church have this gift. That is why when we have such problems we must seek our Confessor and he will determine the source of every experience. Even the monastics can be deceived. We have cases at the Holy Mountain where monks were deceived by such experiences. For example, an angel appeared to a monk - while it was the devil- and told him \"Come to the peak of Athos to show you great miracles\". He guided him there and he almost fell over a cliff, had he not invoked the divine help. He made the mistake to believe the vision as if of God when he shouldn't have. The monastics know when they have a vision they must tell it to their Elder and he will tell them if it is from God or from the demons. Where there is pride therefore deceit is very possible. About Pentecostals. The experiences of the Pentecostals are not from God. For this, not only they are not helped to come to Church but instead they are driven away from the Church. For only the devil is interested in driving people out of the Church. Also their divisions in many heresies and groups is proof they do not comprise the true Church of God. Protestantism consists of thousands of heresies. One of the protestant heresies is Pentecostalism. Only in the USA there are over 39 different Pentecostals. Many of the Pentecostal heresies have no relationship between them. Here are some titles of some of the Pentecostal groups: \"Congregation of the Church of God of the Mountain\", \"Integrated Congregation of the Church of God\", \"Theater Gar\", \"Sleepless Mission\", \"Church of Mother Horn\", \"Church of Mother Robertson\", \"Jesus and Sleepless Mission\", \"Remainder of the Church of God\", \"Fire born Church of God's sanctity of America\", \"Church of Mogara Cook\", \"National Spiritual Davidic Union Temple Church of God\", \"Church of the Square Bible\". If the Spirit of God existed in these groups, there would have been a union, there would have been one Church and not so many different and opposing groups. Also, some of the demonstrations that take place at their gatherings, such as trembling, dropping to the ground as if dead, screaming unrecognizable sounds, are not from the peaceful Spirit of God. Similar phenomena we find in idolatric religions. There are also many similarities with the spiritualist phenomena. They also cultivate a spirit of pride believing that the whole Church of two thousand years is deceived, while they discovered the truth in 1900. The first one who created the group of Pentecostals is an American. The first Pentecostal in Greece, Michael Gounas, preached, \"After so many centuries in the land of Greece the outset of the visitation of God happened like the day of the Pentecost\". According to him, the visit of Christ started in Greece by him like in the day of the Pentecost! All these years there was nothing. Do you see the satanic egoism and pride? What happens now with the sought after gift by them of \"speaking in tongues\"? In truth, in the New Testament there is reference to \"speaking in tongues\". The holy Apostles on the day of the Pentecost spoke the tongues of the people who had come for pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to teach them the Good News. The gift of the speaking in tongues is a grace given by God to the Apostles for a specific purpose: To proselytize the non Christians to the Christian faith. The holy Apostles when speaking in tongues, did not speak meaningless sounds like demoniacs. They spoke tongues, not any tongues, but the tongues of those who were in Jerusalem and could not speak the Jewish language, so that they could hear of the greatness of God and believe. So the meaningless cries have no relation to the gift of \"speaking in tongues\" which the Pentecostals maintain. The Orthodox Church is the place of the genuine experience of the Grace of God. The Church of Pentecost is our Orthodox Church. And why is she? Because she is the Church of the incarnation and humanism of Christ, of His crucifixional death, His Resurrection and of the Pentecost. When from the complete work of Christ we isolate only one part, we over emphasize it and falsely explain it, this becomes one sided and a heresy. Only the Church that accepts and lives the whole work of Christ including the Pentecost is the true Church of Pentecost. Can there be Resurrection without a Cross? Unless man crucifies himself with fasting, prayer, repentance, humility, asceticism, could he see God? The Cross precedes in the life of Christ and of the Christian and the Resurrection and Pentecost follows. While they want Resurrection and spiritual gifts, without crossing themselves through repentance, asceticism, fast and obedience to the Church. That is why they do not comprise the Church of the Pentecost. At every Divine Liturgy of our Church we have Pentecost. How does the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ? Don't they become through the descent of the Holy Spirit? There is Pentecost! Every Holy Altar of the Orthodox Church is the attic of Pentecost. At every baptism we have Pentecost. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, man becomes a Christian and becomes one with the Body of Christ. Every tonsuring of a Deacon, priest and of course a hierarch is a new Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends and makes a man an operative of God. Every confession of a Christian is again Pentecost. The moment the Christian kneels to his Confessor and with humility tells him his sins with repentance and the Confessor reads him the blessing of forgiveness, he is forgiven by the grace of the Holy Spirit. At every gathering and at every mystery of the Church it is a continuation of Pentecost, because they are performed in the presence of the Holy Spirit. For this almost all activities, the prayers and the mysteries of the Church begin with a prayer: Heavenly King, the Paraklete, the Spirit of truth...... come and dwell in us......\" We ask the Paraklete to come, the comforter, the Holy Spirit. And He comes. Wherever the Orthodox Church meets, the true Church of Christ, there also is the grace of the Holy Spirit. Every Saint of our Church is a spirit-bearing man, full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, a man of Pentecost. The Sunday prayer requests: \"Thy Kingdom come\" meaning: \"May the grace of Thy Holy Spirit come\". The kingdom of God is a grace of the Holy Spirit. So with the \"Our Father\", we seek the Holy Spirit. The prayer, \"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner\", this too is done through the grace of the Holy Spirit. For as the Apostle Paul says: \"no on can say Lord Jesus, if not from the Holy Spirit (1Cor 12:3). No one can invoke Jesus Christ but only through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, only the holy water of the Orthodox remains unspoiled. Those who have holy water at your home, you know that no matter how old it is, it never spoils. This is our faith, the true and Orthodox one. To depart from this faith and follow some American recent \"saviours\" who believe that the Church starts with them? Just imagine what demonic conceit they have! The Church exists for two thousand years and they say that from them, the Pentecostals and other heretics begins the true faith. When in the 14th century the western monk Varlaam fought the Orthodox teaching on the divine energies and the uncreated Light, as they lived it at the Holy Mountain, God brought forth the agiorite hieromonk Gregory Palamas a great theologian and teacher of the Orthodox Faith. As now, if the Pentecostal heresy did not exist we would not have gathered here. We would not have made our faith more profound. We would not have confessed our faith. Thus in the end it goes against the heresies and the devil what they set out to achieve against the Church. The Apostle Paul says: \"For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you\" (1Cor 11:19). There must also exist heresies for the faith to appear in the persevering ones. Now that our holy Church is attacked by atheism, carnal pleasures, the heresies through the radio, television, newspapers and other means, this is the time that the faithful and true Orthodox Christians and fighters and witnesses of the Orthodox faith will appear. In these very critical times, any Orthodox Christian who keeps his Orthodox faith in Christ, will receive great blessing and great reward from Holy God. And this because in this evil and corrupt time he was not led astray by the contemporary idolatry, and the false gods, he did not bent a knee to them but remained steadfast and immovable in our Orthodox Faith. We wish therefore that no Greek Orthodox become a traitor, a Judas and apostate of our holy Orthodox faith. May all those that were led astray by the evil one due to their ignorance, into deceits and heresies be illumined by God and return to our holy Orthodox faith that they may have the hope of salvation. We may all be sinners but when we are within our holy Orthodox Church we have the hope of salvation. On the contrary even if we were \"righteous\" outside the Church we have no hope of salvation. All of us who are within the Church, we shall repent, we shall confess, we shall be forgiven and God shall have mercy on us. Outside the Church who will save us? What Holy Spirit will forgive our sins and which Church will intercede after our death for our souls? Therefore, any Orthodox who dies Orthodox should know he/she has a hope of salvation. However, anyone who departs from the Church, even if he believes he has done good works, has no hope of salvation. For this, our brothers, let us remain in our Orthodox Church faithful and immovable with a holy stubbornness to our end so that we may all have, with the grace of God and the blessing of the Theotokos hope for our salvation. Greek Text

All I can really say is ... that's deep.