Abba Sisoes the Great, On What to do When One Falls into Sin

Icon of St Sisoes the Great teaching those who went into the desert seeking his advice Source

"A certain brother asked Abba Sisoes:
'Counsel me, Father, for I have fallen to sin. What am I to do?'

The Elder said to him:
'When you fall, get up again.'
With bitterness the sinning brother continued:
'Ah! Father, I got up, yet I fell to the same sin again.'
The Elder, so as not to discourage the brother, answered:
'Then get up again and again.'

The young man asked with a certain despondency:
'How long can I do that, Father?'

The Elder, giving him courage, said to the brother:
'Until the end of your life, whether you be found in the commendable attempt at lifting yourself up from sin or falling again to it.  For wherever it is that a man is found at the last moment of his life on earth, whether it be in things good or evil, there he will be judged, going forth either to punishment or to reward."
St Sisoes the Great in The Evergetinos volume 1, p.6, Edited by Archbishop Chrysostomos and Hieromonk Patapios, Center for Traditionalists Orthodox Studies, 2008

Levan Vasadze on the Preservation of Christian Values in the Orthodox Country of Georgia (Caucasus)

"Levan Vasadze was bestowed with the title of Raindi (Knight) in 2013 by HRH Prince Nugzar of the Royal House of Georgia. Levan has been a business executive for many years"Source

"The theme of World Congress of Families X is "Civilization at a Crossroads: The Natural Family as The Bulwark of Humane Values." The theme is inspired from the great English journalist G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton explains the connection between family and freedom, "The ideal for which [family and marriage] stands in the state is liberty. It stands for liberty for the very simple reason... [that] it is the only...institution that is at once necessary and voluntary. It is the only check on the state that is bound to renew itself as eternally as the state, and more naturally than the state.... This is the only way in which truth can ever find refuge from public persecution, and the good man survive the bad government."

Levan Vasadze, Chairman of the Georgian Committee for WCF X commented, "We Georgians are honored and humbled by this great opportunity and privilege to host World Congress of Families X. As one of the oldest Christian nations on earth, we think this will be a refreshing opportunity for me and my fellow Georgians to meet Westerners (unlike those sent to Tbilisi by George Soros) who affirm human rights for all persons from conception to natural death but also defend the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness found in the Natural Family as the fundamental and only sustainable unit of society."Source

Mr Levan Vasadze is an Orthodox Christian and a family man. He is a firm advocate for the family and for traditional Orthodox Christian values. It is evident by this interview that he is a well read and traveled businessman.  But above all he is aware, as an Orthodox Christian, of the importance of the family unit in society as it has been understood and lived for centuries in the history of the world, a man with his wife and children upholding what is good, honorable and praise-worthy.

The traditional family unit is under attack. Abortion, hedonism, and the elimination of all distinctions of gender are at the core of the activists agenda, with all of these things being pursued in the name of freedom.

Western civilization is quickly descending into chaos and anarchy.  There is no moral compass. The devastation caused by abortion, drugs, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, hedonism, and divorce, is beyond measure.

The Psalmist King David once wrote, "If the foundations be destroyed,  what will the righteous do?" Psalm 11:3. We must return to the foundations. We must heed the Word of the Lord by His Prophet Jeremiah, when he bids us,  "Thus says the Lord,'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16 NASB

Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin

Laurus is available from Amazon

Vodolazkin's historical novel is set in 15th century Russia. "It is a time of plague and pestilence, and a young healer, skilled in the arts of herbs and remedies,  finds himself overcome with grief and guilt when he fails to save the one he holds closest to his heart. Leaving behind his village, his possessions and his name, he sets out on a quest for redemption, penniless and alone." from the front inside-flap

This novel, like Tikhon's Everyday  Saints, vividly portraits life in Holy Russia. Arseny is a fictional character, but the events of his life, his very person, were the spiritual everyday reality in medieval Rus. I just began to read Laurus and I am hooked.

This work is getting great reviews. It is already a best seller in Russia, having won some prestigious awards. Ken Kalfus, writing for The New Yorker, comments;

"A new novel by the Russian medievalist Eugene Vodolazkin, “Laurus,” recreates this fervent landscape and suggests why the era, its holy men, and the forests and fields of Muscovy retain such a grip on the Russian imagination. Vodolazkin’s hero-mystic Arseny is a protagonist extrapolated from the little that is known about the lives and deeds of the famous holy men. Born in 1440, he’s raised by his herbalist grandfather Christofer near the grounds of the Kirillov Monastery, about three hundred miles north of Moscow. He becomes a renowned medicine man, faith healer, and prophet who “pelted demons with stones and conversed with angels.” He makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He takes on new names, depending on how he will next serve God. The people venerate his humble spirituality. In “Laurus,” Vodolazkin aims directly at the heart of the Russian religious experience and perhaps even at that maddeningly elusive concept that is cherished to the point of cliché: the Russian soul."

Striving for Knowledge of God by Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex

Striving for Knowledge of God: Correspondence with David Balfour

"The letters Archimandrite Sophrony wrote to David Balfour are a treasury of wisdom, distilled from Fr. Sophrony’s reading of the Fathers of the Church, from his conversations with St. Silouan, and from his own experience. Most of the letters in this collection were written to someone new to the Orthodox Church and to Orthodox monasticism. Also included are later letters with further theological and spiritual insights. Thus these letters provide a rich source of teaching about Christian faith and life.

Archimandrite Sophrony was born in Russia on 22nd September, 1896. He trained as an artist at the Moscow School of Fine Art. After the October Revolution he settled in France, where he continued to work as an artist. For a brief period he read Theology at the St Sergius’ Institute but in the Autumn of 1925 left to become a monk at the Monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos in Northern Greece. In 1930 he was ordained Deacon by Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. About this time he met Staretz Silouan, who became his spiritual guide. After the Staretz’ death in 1938, Fr. Sophrony spent seven years living as a hermit in the ‘desert’ of Athos. He became a priest in 1941 and soon after was elected spiritual confessor for several of the monastic communities on the Athonite peninsula. On returning to France in 1947 he edited and published the writings Silouan had entrusted to him, adding an introduction. Because of serious illness he was unable to return to the Holy Mountain.

In the Spring of 1959, helped by friends, he moved to England with small group of men and women. For many years he received people from all walks of life for spiritual direction. He died on 11th July 1993 at Tolleshunt Knights in the community which he had founded and inspired till the end of his days."
This book is available from St Tikhon's Bookstore.