Noah Official Trailer

The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge
and takes measures to protect his family from the coming
flood.

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel

Actors: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone,
Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Logan Lerman

In Theaters March 28th, 2014

A Heart that is Pleasing to God

"Blessed are the Pure in Heart for They Shall See God" Matthew 5:8

St David of Thessaloniki sat on the branches of an almond tree for three years.


"Agatha, holding Prokhor (later to be St Seraphim of Sarov) in her arms, gingerly stepped over the puddle where it was narrowest. The air was very clear, very still and cool. Drooping branches of silver birch hung motionless; their leaves shone emerald bright. Straight ahead, two perfect rainbows gleamed on a dark blue, fathomless sky. Birds chirped gaily.

From behind one of the trees, there stepped a ragged figure drenched to the bone and, apparently, not minding it. Slight of build, young, pale, unkempt, unshaven, unwashed, and untidy, he looked at Agatha with a wild fixed stare. Her heart gave a great leap. It was Grisha the Fool.

She had always feared him. 'Back at last from your long pilgrimage, Grishá,' she remarked in a flat voice holding Prokhor tighter. But he was in no mood to listen, 'Do not let the fire scorch your flesh, your pale cool flesh,' he shouted. 'Put it down, let it be woman! Once it was yours to hold and tend, it is yours no longer. Let it be! The flame shall rise, as rise it must, rise to its Creator, One in Three and Three in One. The flaming prayer shall rise, and Grace will rain down upon the world of sin. Put it down, put it down, woman!" From Flame in the Snow p.25-26,  by Julia de Beausobre, Templegate Publishers 1996. 


“There are people who are mocked by all, despised by all, who are sometimes abhorred by even the most lost person. Homeless, destitute, wretched in appearance, tormented by hunger and thirst, they wander amidst cold and self-satisfied people. Cold, hunger, eternal mockeries, contempt, and complete loneliness - this is the lot of these people. The world considers them mad, stupid, pathetic people who have neither reason nor shame.

Only the simple soul of the believers among the people regards them with compassion and calls them "little blessed ones," God's people; and the rare, tender and noble heart will feel the greatness of spirit in them and the unearthly beauty of their souls. Such are these ones. These are the Fools-for-Christ." St Bishop Martyr Nikodim of Belgorod in his 'National Ascetics of the 18th and 19th Centuries' (1906-1910) [Russian] as quoted by Abbott Herman of St Herman Serbian Orthodox Monastery, Platina CA 1998 Calendar. 


These blessed ones despise all the glory of man and embracing their suffering, resolutely and with courage, live their lives determined to follow with their actions the teaching of the Church Fathers; "The beginning of freedom from vainglory is the custody of the mouth and love of being dishonored ; the middle stage is a beating back of all acts of vainglory in thought, and the end (if there is an end to an abyss) consists in doing those things in the presence of others  which bring us dishonor, without feeling grief therefrom". St John Climacus in 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent'p.137, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979


"In the rush of fervent and boundless love for their Savior and Lord Jesus, they cast away everything: glory, wealth and worldly happiness; and, having cast away all, they devote themselves exclusively to the concerns of salvation. And the labor of salvation is terribly difficult. Many labors and much patience are needed in order to reach the calm refuge. A great and uninterrupted struggle with one's passions, and with evil and malicious spirits lies before him who seeks salvation.

The ascetic labor of the Fools is one of the forms of this struggle. Here, at the very root and by the most powerful means, the passions are defeated. Pride is trampled upon by disgrace; vainglory by madness; self-love, love of pleasure and predilection for things by complete renunciation of everything and extreme animosity for the flesh, for example: by hunger, cold, thirst, and other means which mortify the passionate flesh. Thus with the Fools, under the appearance of an insane and disorderly life, a persistent, reasonable and orderly struggle with sin goes on. For this they assume the appearance of the mad and foolish, to hide from people this uninterrupted struggle, to hide from people also this flaming love. Jealously guarding their treasure, they allow themselves strange actions and behavior  unintelligible words and ways of speaking. Much of this seems to others sinful, but the heart of the fool is far distant from sin.

Often, while with pretense portraying some passion, they graphically demonstrate all the foulness of sin, and these, so to speak, "negative lessons" benefit both the Fools themselves and those who see them, much more than dry, affirmative admonitions. The actions of the Fools which seem sinful are always directed to one goal - salvation of the soul, both their own and their neighbors . Much greatness of spirit, unbending will and purity of heart is necessary in order to preserve love for Jesus Christ always alive and fresh in this heavy labor of foolishness, under the appearance of insanity, amidst all kinds of animosity and deprivation.

Yet this struggle and love do not remain without response. The Lord often glorifies Fools with extraordinary gifts of grace, and then their sublime faith, their most tender hope and infinitely warm love for Christ the Saviour are revealed for all. But, even when they have been filled with God's gifts after the soul-cleansing struggles of foolishness, the Fools continue to bear their former struggle; and this is essential to them in order to preserve these gifts of grace, essential in order to vanquish the devil who is ceaselessly waging war, to vanquish him by humility and patience.

The Lord, seeing the patience of His servants, grants them continually greater and greater consolations. Indeed, such is the meaning and significance in the Fools' work of salvation. Their ascetic struggle is the path of salvation before the eyes of the whole world, amidst people and under the burden of their pressure. The way is not made easier by anything external, but only by the all-effecting grace of God. This is a path most arduous, but by this path quite a few of those who sought the Lord have come to Him; and on this thorny path shine various stars, both small and great.” St Bishop Martyr Nikodim of Belgorod in his 'National Ascetics of the 18th and 19th Centuries' (1906-1910) [Russian] as quoted by Abbott Herman of St Herman Serbian Orthodox Monastery, Platina CA 1998 Calendar. 

"An Angel on earth, and stranger to all earthly things, thou madest a tree thy dwelling like an eagle's nest, whence, O David, thou didst soar up to Heaven, where thou didst find that Tree which in Eden we lost of old. Remember us all, who keep thy memory". Kontakion to St David of Thessaloniki.

Social Justice and the Poor According to the Church Fathers Part 2 - the Rich

“Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for 
nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. 
Psalm 39:6 NASB

On Riches and Faithful Stewardship
What is the use of riches for the Christian and what is their purpose?
Most certainly we should not despise the rich but in many cases, pity 
them. 

In the writings of the holy Fathers we read;

"Isidore said: 'In this fleeting life the rich do not have the satisfaction

of permanently enjoying their power, their fame, or their money.

Suddenly death carries them off, the abyss swallows them up and

they disappear, condemned to eternal torments.

'Greed makes the rich haughty. It does not happen because of

their riches, but because of their free choice. Evil does not

consist in things, but in the use we make of them.

Those who spend their riches on beneficial objects are 

making good use of good things. The same good things are

being badly used by those who plan to multiply their 

wealth or who only do good to their neighbors for 

reputation's sake." 

Defensor Grammaticus in the Book of Sparkling Sayings, 58

And St Maximos the Confessor plainly states, ""But there are four
kinds of people who put money aside. I have just mentioned three
(for pleasure, conceit and lack of faith).

There are, however, also those who restrict themselves to the 

administration of goods. Only these last are justified in 

accumulating money, on the assumption that their aim is to be

always in the business of helping the needy." St Maximos the 

Confessor, Centuries of Charity, 3:16

"Be very merciful if you care about prayer. For through mercy,
monks (and I can add, the rest of us Christians also) shall 
receive a hundred fold, and the rest in the future life." St John
Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent, p.218:44.

"Gregory said, 'When we are presenting something to the poor that

they need, we are not giving them what would be ours but that to

which they have a right." Defensor Grammaticus in the Book of

Sparkling Sayings.

Of course, it is possible to be poor in material possessions and at the
same time, miserly in spirit as St Basil teaches us, "Many are poor in
terms of possessions and very miserly in spirit, and those people will
not be saved through their poverty but damned by their attitude of 
mind." St Basil the Great, On Psalm 33.

What is the wise disposition? In the Psalms we read,

"Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If
riches increase, do not set your heart upon them." Psalm 62:10

The love of money is a passion, an unnatural movement of the soul
which cannot be satisfied. It corrupts and ruins the soul,

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money,
nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity."
Ecclesiastes 5:10

St John Climacus in 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent' p.121 writes,
"Avarice, or love of money, is the worship of idols, a daughter of
unbelief, an excuse for infirmities, a foreboder of old age, a
harbinger of drought, a herald of famines. The lover of money
sneers at the Gospel and is a willful transgressor. He who has

attained to love scatters his money. But he who says that he 

lives for love and for money has deceived himself." And, "A 

hospitable man and a money lover met one another, and the 

latter called the former undiscerning." Published by Holy

Transfiguration Monastery 1991.

"There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches
being hoarded by their owner to his hurt." Ecc.5:13

Riches are a gift from God, but he who receives this gift must use it
wisely!
"Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches
and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to
receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God."
Ecc.5:19

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of 
his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let 
not a rich man boast of his riches.

The lure and terrifying tempting power of riches is evidenced by
our Lord's words when He said;

"And Jesus said to His disciples, 'Truly I say to you, it is hard for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God.' When the disciples heard this,
they were very astonished and said, 'Then who can be saved?' And
looking at them Jesus said to them, 'With people this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26

Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria comments on this incident 
which appears also in chapter 18 of the Gospel of Luke, St Cyril
writes; "Observe , however that He does not altogether cut away
the hope of the rich, but reserves for them a place and way of 
salvation. For he did not say that it is impossible for a rich man to
enter in, but that he does so with difficulty. When the blessed 
disciples heard these words, they objected saying, And who can 
live? And their plea was for those who had wealth and 
possessions. 

For we know, they say, that no one will ever be persuaded to 
abandon his wealth and riches: Who then can be saved? But 
what does the Lord reply? The things that are impossible with
man are possible with God. He has reserved, therefore for 
those who possess wealth the possibility of being counted 
worthy, if they will, of the kingdom of God; for even though 
they refuse entirely to abandon what they have, yet it is 
possible for them in another way to attain to honor. And the
Savior has Himself showed us how and in what way this can 
happen, saying, 'Make to yourselves friends of the unrighteous
mammon; that when it has failed, they may receive you into 
eternal tabernacles. For there is nothing to prevent the rich, if 
they will, from making the poor partakers and sharers of the 
abundance which they possess. What hinders him who has 
plentiful possessions from being affable of address, and ready
to communicate to others, easily prevailed upon to give, and 
compassionate, and full of that generous pity which is well 
pleasing to God? Not unrewarded, nor unprofitable shall we
find carefulness in this respect; for as it is written, mercy 
boasteth over judgment. From the Commentary on the 
Gospel of St Luke by St Cyril of Alexandria, Translated by
R. Payne Smith, Homily12.2, p.491, Studion Publishers,
Inc. 1983

Who can forget the precious story of a righteous rich man
giving his very best to the Lord? 
"When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, 
named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then 
Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body
and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new
tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large
stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away."
Matthew 27:57-60

Unto all ages, the Holy Orthodox Church has immortalized this
event in its Liturgy. It is reenacted during the afternoon services 
of Great and Holy Friday, when the 'unnailing (apokathelosis)
takes place, and we all chant the hauntingly beautiful lament,
"The Noble Joseph brought down thine pure body, from the cross,
He wrapped it in clean linen and with fragrant spices laid it in a
new tomb"

And then we have this striking passage from the Gospel of St.
Luke, chapter 12;
"And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man
was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying,
‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he
said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I
will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many
years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” But God
said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you;
and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who
stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
St Luke 12:16-21

Blessed Theophylact in his Explanation to the Holy Gospel
According to St Luke, writes,
"The Lord had said that the life of a man is not lengthened by an
abundance of possessions, and now He offers this parable in 
confirmation of this truth...
See also the pleasures of the rich man: What shall I do? Does not
the pauper say the same thing as well, 'What shall I do? I have 
nothing to eat or to put on.' Think if you will, about the words of
the rich man, What shall I do, because I have no room where to 
gather my crops? At the very least he could take a good rest. If both
the pauper says, 'What shall I do because I have not ?' and the rich
man says, What shall I do because I have not?' then what do we gain
by gathering more and more? We do not gain any rest, and it
is clear from all the cares that come from our further 
efforts that we are piling up for ourselves only a great 
multitude of sins.  

Yet the foolish man says, I will pull down my barns, and build 
greater. And if your land yields even more bountifully in the future,
will you pull these down and build again? But what need is there
to pull down and build? You have available to you as 
storehouses the stomachs of the poor which can hold 
much, and are indestructible and imperishable. They
are in fact heavenly and divine storehouses.for he who
feeds the pauper, feeds God.

See something else that is foolish: my fruits and my goods. The
rich man did not consider that he had received these things from
God. If he had, he would have treated these things as would a 
steward of God. But he imagined that these things were the fruits
of his own labors, which is why he usurped them for himself
calling them my fruits and my goods. 'I am the sole owner', he
thinks, 'and there is no one else entitled to a share. These things
are not God's but mine, and therefore I alone will enjoy them. I
will not now take God in as a partner to enjoy my profit.'

Because he spoke foolishly, let us see what happened.
Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years. He
determines that he will have a long life, as if length of
years was something else he could obtain by working 
his land. But a long life is not a crop you can grow, and
it is not another of your belongings.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night they shall require
thy soul of thee....the thoughts that came into the man's mind are
what God spoke. Thou fool, He calls him a fool because everything
he wanted was foolish, as we have shown. And every man like him
is foolish and acts in vain, for, as David says, 'In vain doth every 
man disquiet himself (Psalm 38:14) Why? Because he stores up
things without knowing for whom he gathers them. .....

Thus he who lays up treasure for himself is called foolish: he never
stops drawing up plans and dies in the midst of them. But if he had
been laying up treasure for the poor and for God, it would not have
been so. 

Let us strive , therefore, to be rich toward God, that is, to
trust in God to have Him as our wealth and the treasury
of wealth, and not to speak of my goods but 'the good 
things of God'. If they are God's then let us not deprive 
God of His own goods. This is what it means to be rich 
toward God: to trust that even if I empty myself and give
everything away, I will not lack the necessities. God is my
treasury of good things, and I open and take from the 
treasury what I need"  
p.146-148, Translated by Fr. Christopher Stade, Chrysostom Press 1997


St Ephraim the Syrian gives us the most profound meaning
of the beloved Gospel of Matthew 21:31-46 (italicized below)
"At the terrible judgment the Lord will say to those at His right
hand: come, O sons of My light, blessed heirs of My kingdom.
Come,ye who for My sake have been impoverished, hungered
and thirsted, who loved not the world nor all that is in it. Come,
ye who for  My sake have left all worldly power and joy,
brothers and friends, parents and children.

Come, ye who have dwelt in deserts, on mountains, in caves
and crevices in the earth together with beasts, and rejoice with
the angels in heaven. Come all ye who have walked the strait 
and narrow path. Come, ye who are blessed of My Father;
inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the
creation of the world.

And to those at His left hand He will say; Go away from Me,
into the fire that lies without. Go away from Me, ye heartless
ones, who have hated both brothers and Christ. Ye were not 
merciful and neither shall ye obtain mercy. Ye did not heed
My noble gospels and My blessed disciples - and neither shall
I heed your lamentation. 

You lived a life of luxury on earth, enjoyed good things in your
life, and here there is nothing more for you to receive - you
have already taken what is yours. Daily I called out to you
through the scriptures, but when you heard, you mocked
those who read them. And now I say to you: I know you not.
Go away from Me, ye accursed souls, into the eternal fire that
is prepared for the devil and his angels.

And they will enter into eternal torment, but the righteous 
will enter into eternal life."

From 'A Spiritual Psalter' No. 127 p.201-202, excerpted by Bishop

Theophan the Recluse from the works of our Holy Father Ephraim 

the Syrian, Trans. by Br. Isaac E. Lambertsen, 

The St. John of Kronstadt Press, Liberty TN 1997

ISBN 0-912927-40-2

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the 
angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will
separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His
right, and the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who
are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and
you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me
something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I
was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will
answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed
You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when
did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and
clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come
to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to
you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me,
accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for
the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me
nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you
did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see
You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them,
‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of
the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  These will go away
into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospel

of St. Matthew chapter 25:31-46 

Social Justice and the Poor According to the Church Fathers Part I

(Reuters) - The number of U.S. residents living in poverty
edged up to 46.5 million last year, the latest sign that an
economic recovery marked by a stock market boom has
not trickled down to ordinary Americans. Source

"Anyone who will not work, shall not eat" 2 Thess. 3:10

This much quoted verse by St Paul is commonly used to

justify neglect and indifference, a cold, merciless and proud 

contempt towards those living in disadvantaged conditions.

I have to ask myself, how do the Church Fathers view the poor?

This question is important because we as Orthodox Christians

seek to live our lives according to the well-trodden path of holy

Tradition. Socio-political views are one thing but we Orthodox 

must live according to a much higher standard.

How do the doctors of the Church view the poor? What is the
attitude of our ascetics, elders, monastics and saints towards

those at the very bottom of society?

In this and subsequent posts I will be posting quotes from

many authoritative voices from within Orthodoxy;

"Anyone working, you should know, ought to work not so

much for the satisfaction of his own needs by his efforts, as to

fulfill the commandment of the Lord who said: 'I was hungry

and you gave me food' Matt. 25:35

Thinking of oneself only is absolutely forbidden in these words:

'Do not be anxious, saying "What shall we eat?" or "What shall

we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" The Gentiles seek all these

things.' Matt. 6:31. The aim which everyone ought to have in 

working is to help the needy, more than to provide for oneself.

In this way we shall avoid the accusation that we are attached to

our own personal advantage and we shall receive the blessing that

the Lord gives to those who love their brothers and sisters. The 

Lord said: 'As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren,

you did it to me.' Matt. 25:40

So anyone who works day and night to succor the destitute is 

nearing perfection." St. Basil the Great in The Greater Rules 42.

"But there are four kinds of people who put money aside. I have

just mentioned three (for pleasure, conceit and lack of faith). 

There are, however, also those who restrict themselves to the 

administration of goods. Only these last are justified in 

accumulating money, on the assumption that their aim is to be

always in the business of helping the needy." St Maximos the 

Confessor, Centuries of Charity, 3:16

I love the words of the Golden-Mouthed St. John (Chrysostom) 

commenting On the First Letter to the Corinthians when he

wrote;

" It is folly, it is madness, to fill our wardrobes full of

clothes and to regard with indifference a human being,

a being made in the image and likeness of God, who is

naked, trembling with cold and almost unable to stand.

You say: 'But that fellow there is pretending to tremble and not

to have any strength.' So what? If that poor fellow is putting it on,

he is doing it because he is trapped between his own wretchedness

and your cruelty. Yes, you are cruel and guilty of inhumanity. You

would not have opened your heart to his destitution without his 

play-acting. 

If it were not necessity compelling him, why should he behave in 

such a humiliating way just to get a bit of bread? 

The made-up tale of a beggar is evidence of your inhumanity. His

prayers, his begging, his complaints, his tears, his wandering all day

long round the city did not secure for him the smallest amount to

live on. That perhaps is the reason why he thought of acting a part.

But the shame and the blame for his made-up tale falls less on him

than on you. 

He has in fact a right to be pitied, finding himself in such an abyss

of destitution. You, on the other hand, deserve a thousand 

punishments for having brought him to such humiliation." 

St John Chrysostom's Commentary On the First Letter to the Corinthians

"Why do you complain of giving something to the poor? Why do you

display bad temper in the practice of almsgiving? If they see you in

that frame of mind, the poor would prefer to refuse your gift. If you

give with a brusque demeanor you are not being generous but 

lacking gentleness and courtesy. 

If you give gladly, even if you give only a little, it is a big gift. If you

give unwillingly, even if you give a big gift, you turn it into a small

one." St John Chrysostom, On the Letter of Romans.

"If you help a poor person in the name of the Lord, you are making

a gift and at the same time granting a loan. You are making a gift

because you have no expectation to be reimbursed by that poor 

person. You are granting a loan because the Lord will settle the 

account. It is not much that the Lord receives by means

of the poor, but he will pay a great deal on their behalf.

'They who are kind to the poor lend to the Lord'. Prov. 19:17

St John Chrysostom Commentary On the Letter to the Romans,
21:1ff.

The profit that you gain from the poor surpasses all bounds of 

cruelty. You are profiting from misfortune, you are squeezing 

money out of tears, you are persecuting a defenseless being, you

are belaboring someone who is starving. You think the profit you

make out of the poor is just. But 'Woe to those who put bitter for

sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20. St Basil the Great, 

On Psalm 14  

"It is not enough to help the poor. We must help them with 

generosity and without grumbling. And it is not enough to help

them without grumbling. We must help them gladly and happily.

When the poor are helped there ought to be these two conditions:

generosity and joy." St John Chrysostom Commentary On the 

Letter to the Romans, 21:1ff.

On September 28th we celebrated the life and martyrdom of 

Good King Wenceslaus, also known as Martyr Vatslav, King of

the Czechs (929 A.D.) From the Prologue p.340 we read, "The
grandson of St Ludmilla, he lived as king in spiritual striving in
the Faith like the great ascetics, and strengthened the Orthodox
faith among his people. He took care when sitting in judgement
that no innocent man should suffer. In his zeal for the Christian
faith and his love for his neighbour, holy Vatslav bought pagan
children who had been sold as slaves and immediately baptised
them, bringing them up as Christians. He translated St John's
Gospel into Czech and brought the relics of St Vitus and his
grandmother, Ludmilla, to Prague. His brother Boleslav invited
him to stay and killed him at his court. Holy Vatslav suffered in
929. His relics are preserved in Prague." (Prologue) This is the
"Good King Wenceslaus" of the popular Christmas carol.

"Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol that tells a
story of Good King Wenceslas braving harsh winter weather to
give alms to a poor peasant onthe Feast of Stephen (the second
day of Christmas, December 26). During the journey, his page is
about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is
enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for
step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of
the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia or Svatý
Václav in Czech (907–935). Source

Please listen to a wonderful rendition of this beloved Christmas 
carol below;

Tomb of King Wenceslaus in the Cathedral of St Vitus, Prague

A Fascinating Documentary on the Shroud of Turin by the BBC 2008

The site, Dating the Shroud of Turin shows the latest and most
advanced dating technology proves the shroud of Turin dates
from the first century A.D.

The Orthodox View of Salvation

"For God so Loved the World, that He Gave" John 3:16

Judas Betrays Our Lord-Mural in the Church of Panagia Dexia, Thessaloniki, Greece

The Orthodox Christian Faith views all the work of Christ as an outpouring of Grace, and not in legalistic terms. Christ fulfills the law and dies on the cross, as an indictment against Satan and not because God needed to be appeased; "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham" Hebrews 2:14-16. It was not God the Father, who was holding us captive, but the evil one (Death and sin were the instruments of his tyranny). All the manifestations of God in the Old Testament are manifestations of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. YHVH, Who revealed Himself to Moses as the I AM, is the very same Person as Yeshua, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Saviour exposes the deception of the accuser when He said; "He ( Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it". John 8:44. The so called doctrine of atonement is a western view of the cross, and it is not Orthodox. This western heretical view of the atonement is formulated by Anselm of Canterbury ( 1033-1109) in his Cur Deus Homo. Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in The Hands of An Angry God" is a most grievous slander against the love of the Father. He writes,   

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell."

But the tone in the Scriptures is much different, 
"If God is for us, who can be against us?. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom.8:31-32. Christ did not die on the cross to appease an angry God but to destroy the work of our enemy, the devil. Our Lord 'destroyed Death by death'(from the Paschal Canon). The cross is a most eloquent love letter from the One and only God "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" 1st Tim. 2:4.

Read also, "Once Delivered to The Saints" by Fr. Michael Azkoul, ISBN: 0-913026-84-0 p.128 and note 47 , on the bottom of the page. and in page 133,D "His lost honor must be recompensed or punishment must follow, lest he be unjust to Himself". How far removed is this from the Faith once delivered to the saints!

1)St Gregory the Theologian, in Oration 45:22 states; "Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my judgment well worth inquiring into. To Whom was that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean the precious and famous Blood of our God and High priest and Sacrifice. We were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause? If to the Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an illustrious payment for his tyranny, a payment for whose sake it would have been right for him to have left us alone altogether. But if to the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we were being oppressed; and next, On what principle did the Blood of His Only begotten Son delight the Father, Who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being offered by his Father, but changed the sacrifice, putting a ram in the place of the human victim? Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant, and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son, Who also arranged this to the honor of the Father, Whom it is manifest that He obeys in all things? So much we have said of Christ; the greater part of what we might say shall be reverenced with silence. But that brazen serpent [Numbers 21:9] was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of Him that suffered for us, but as a contrast; and it saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to live, but because it was killed, and killed with it the powers that were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for it from us? O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? You are overthrown by the Cross; you are slain by Him who is the Giver of life; you are without breath, dead, without motion, even though you keep the form of a serpent lifted up on high on a pole". As quoted by Felix Culpa in ORA ET LABORA here

2) St Nikolai Velimirovich, from the Akathist To Jesus Conqueror of Death, Translated into English from the original Serbian by St Paisius Monastery, Safford Arizona, 2009, Ikos Three p.18 "Dulled by sin, the people supposed that Thou were fighting against them, so they rejoiced when they raised Thee on the cross, rejoicing as victors over their enemy. But Thy battle was not against man, O Lover of mankind, but against the prince of this world and his myriad of legions who hold mankind in their chains, who play a foolish game with every human body, immorally pouring poison into human souls...Thou didst Thyself descend onto the battlefield; to reveal the weakness of the evil spirits Thou didst choose death as a weapon in the battle against them. Having gained the victory over evil spirits Thou didst destroy sin, having destroyed sin Thou didst trample down death, having trampled down death Thou didst dispel fear, and that prison of slaves, the world, Thou has proclaimed to be the home of freedom, O Jesus my Freedom, Jesus my Courage, Jesus my Light, Jesus my Friend, Jesus my Saviour, Jesus my Conqueror, have mercy on me".

3) St. Ireneus, “Against the Heresies,” Book 3, Chp. 23 "For if man, who had been created by God that he might live, after losing life, through being injured by the serpent that had corrupted him, should not any more return to life, but should be utterly [and for ever] abandoned to death, God would [in that case] have been conquered, and the wickedness of the serpent would have prevailed over the will of God. But inasmuch as God is invincible and long-suffering, He did indeed show Himself to be long-suffering in the matter of the correction of man and the probation of all, as I have already observed; and by means of the second man did He bind the strong man, and spoiled his goods, and abolished death, vivifying that man who had been in a state of death. For at the first Adam became a vessel in his (Satan’s) possession, whom he did also hold under his power, that is, by bringing sin on him iniquitously, and under color of immortality entailing death upon him. For, while promising that they should be as gods, which was in no way possible for him to be, he wrought death in them: wherefore he who had led man captive, was justly captured in his turn by God; but man, who had been led captive, was loosed from the bonds of condemnation". 

4) St John Chrysostom, 6th Homily on Colossians. '…he means that the devil held possession of it, the bond which God made for Adam, saying, "In the day thou eatest of the tree, thou shalt die.” (Genesis 2:17.) This bond then the devil held in his possession. And Christ did not give it to us, but Himself tore it in two, the action of one who remits joyfully'. Source

5) St. Nicholas Cabasilas. Tr. Carmino J. deCatanzaro. The Life in Christ (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1974.) pp.162-4. Against the Western Concept of Atonement: Turning Man who Believed Himself the Object of Hate“Just as human affection, when it abounds, overpowers those who love and causes them to be beside themselves, so God's love for men emptied God (Phil 2:7).... He seeks love in return and does not withdraw when He is treated with disdain. He is not angry over ill treatment, but even when He has been repulsed He sits by the door (cf. Rev 3:20) and does everything to show us that He loves, even enduring suffering and death to prove it....It was necessary, then, that the greatness of His love should not remain hidden, but that He should give the proof of the greatest love and by loving display the utmost measure of love. So He devised this self-emptying and carried it out, and made the instrument [i.e., Christ's human nature] by which He might be able to endure terrible things and to suffer pain. When he had thus proved by the things which He endured that He indeed loves exceedingly, He turned man, who had fled from the Good One because he had believed himself to be the object of hate, towards Himself....What could be equal to that affection? What has a man ever loved so greatly? What mother ever loved so tenderly (Is. 49:15), what father so loved his children? Who has ever been seized by such a mania of love for anything beautiful whatever, so that because of it he not only willingly allows himself to be wounded by the object of his love without swerving from his affection towards the ungrateful one, but even prizes the very wounds above everything?” Source

6) And St Silouan,( He entitles his poem Ádam’s Lament) at the realization of such a wondrous love, weeps with great sadness! :“The desert cannot pleasure me; nor the high mountains, nor meadow nor forest,nor the singing of birds.I have no pleasure in anything.My soul sorrows with great sorrow:I have grieved God.And were the Lord to set me down in Paradise again, there too, I would sorrow and weep-Oh why did I grieve my beloved God?” From St Silouan, The Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony, p.450

7) St Symeon The New Theologian, Hymns of Divine Love, Trans. by George A. Maloney,p 45-46“And being in the middle of my cell, I see Him who is outside of the world as here present,I see Him and I converse with Him and, dare I then to say it!I love Him and He loves me.I eat, I nourish myself with only this contemplation.And being made one with Him, I am transported above the heavens.That this is true and certain I know. I know that He who remains immovable descends.I know that He who is invisible appears to me.I know that He who is separated from all creation takes me within Himself and hides me in His arms.….And I know that I will not die because I am inside of Life,and that I have the entire Life that completely flows out from within me.He is in my heart.."

"Christ's victory over the grave is now, today as the Feast of Pascha ecstatically proclaims. He is already the 'first fruits' of the Age to Come, the first man of the new creation. The last enemy, death, is already destroyed( 1 Cor.15:26). The creation is already offered and accepted by God the Father as a 'sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor' Eph.5:2, meaning that 'the remission of sins' has been achieved, the regenerated creation has been offered to the Father, and the risen Lord, re-presenting mankind, ascends to the Right Hand of Majesty. Finally, the Holy Spirit is sent by Christ to His people. "The Church is the Age to Come,"St. John Chrysostom said. Nothing any longer impedes the koinonia (communion) between the Creator and the creature, save disbelief". From Once Delivered to The Saints" by Michael Azkoul, St Nectarios Press 2000, p.130

And St. John the Apostle , joins the choir of the redeemed saying;

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain [Rev.5:12]
and has redeemed us to God by His blood [Rev.5:9]
To receive power and riches and wisdom
And strength and honor and glory and blessing. [Rev.5:12]

Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him,
Who sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb
forever, and ever [Rev.5:13]

..Amen! [Rev.5:14]