tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post5567933450268233051..comments2023-12-25T05:12:46.199+01:00Comments on ORA ET LABORA: St Kronid on Blasphemous Thoughts and DespairFelix Culpahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18062279686869827534noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-33292626933125710892019-09-29T21:00:09.048+02:002019-09-29T21:00:09.048+02:00Please pray for me I go under horrible blasphemous...Please pray for me I go under horrible blasphemous thoughts the enemy torments by mind finishing my sentences making me think I have blasphemed. Please remeber me, I want to be free<br />EmmanuelEmma234thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13380469897050241791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-55335406416192744352013-04-09T00:41:01.241+02:002013-04-09T00:41:01.241+02:00I am suffering the evil thoughts aswell, but behol...I am suffering the evil thoughts aswell, but behold, Our Lord and Saviour has over came them, stick to the truth,and our Lord will honour you, as the lord tempts no man, but a true son is chasisied, take heart brotiers and sisters, ur redemption is at hand, as wee do not fight flesh and blood, but the hevenly rulers of wickedness and princibilitys of this world. Amen brothers and sisters, and the God of alj peace be your refugeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-70973556156948340862009-10-18T19:10:55.673+02:002009-10-18T19:10:55.673+02:00I have been haunted by lashemous thoughts, thinkin...I have been haunted by lashemous thoughts, thinking all the while that such thoughts were my own, asking God constantly for forgiveness. I now know what I suspected but could not fully accept, that I was under spiritual attack by my enemy, the enemy of my Lord, and the guilt I felt was unnessesary. Satan loses again! I am free my the love of God, praise Jesus, the lover of my soul !Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-6341648937015826182009-05-30T16:49:10.083+02:002009-05-30T16:49:10.083+02:00Going through the motions of your prayer and work ...Going through the motions of your prayer and work yes can keep you in readiness for the fresh winds of the spirit to revive the soul in these periods of dryness and worse of despair.<br /><br />Here is where classical music can help. As in the work of Rachmaninov and the works he studied, one can touch the feelings and emotions of real sorrow and pain and not be blown away by the force of the emotion. Like in walking a labyrinth,<br />there is a way back, not an edge to fall over but a path of return and the message of Resurrection.<br /><br />It is important for us to demonstrate through the life of the composer Rachmaninov there is real hope. Even when physical and emotional pain were part of the OE sensitivities (See Dabrowski) of Rachmaninov composer and artist (1873-1043) he found expression in both the history of Russia and in his day to day experience of revival and work in America to help those who lost everything through Tolstoy Farm. see also tolstoyfoundation.org. To often Rachmaninov is incorrectly viewed through his sensitivities as a stereotype of Russian depression. Not only is this false for Rachmaninov who instead found hope in Christ and was an over comer, but it should be understood in the modal music of the very dance of the Paschal circle of the coming again full circle around the church. In life these circles of return where we hold on because our center is belief in a good God and Eternal Life. (The minor key should not be interpreted as sadness but a “bright sadness” as Father Alexander Schmemann would discuss Great Lent or hope in coming through struggles and pain and holding out even through ritual and waiting for the return supported by those angelic forces and support of the community of believers praising God.)<br /><br />Western medicine pushes us to take the view of an either or approach and profits highly when medication can be administered at a higher price than prayer. Here balance is important, for aiding the body to recover and using medicine as needed but not in excess or without additional therapies. The redefining of both the history of Rachmaninov (Rachmaninoff) and Leo Tolstoy are a work in progress for examining the realities of mood and relationships. Some historians in marginalizing the influence of these great people have ignored the depth of these emotions explored through art.<br /><br />The music itself can brings us back. The Great Spring, the Great Hope the Great Pascha as in Stravinsky "Rite of Spring" combined the return of nature and its renewal to the cycles we pass through sometimes achieving only a rote connection but with the continued hope the freshness and renewal of the spring will bring back hope even to bodies another year older or weathered. In Soviet literature analysis and Western dichotomies, these works of the composers became disembodied from their spiritual roots. I hope through blogs as yours these roots will find new transplantations and renewal to continue the revival as we await the great second coming.Christmas Monasteryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04488043312648854274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-43526344297426743242009-04-27T23:44:00.000+02:002009-04-27T23:44:00.000+02:00Truly He is Risen!
Thank you for your kind commen...Truly He is Risen!<br /><br />Thank you for your kind comments. <br /><br />A couple of thoughts occurred to me while reading these accounts: <br /><br />1. Both saints kept praying throughout their years of doubt and despair; they kept, so to speak, going through their daily routine. However difficult the onslaught of temptation and despair,they kept attending church and kept praying. <br /><br />This reminds me a bit of a story I recently read about an Anglican clergyman who went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, confessing to him that he no longer believed. The latter replied: "Don't worry about it. Keep performing the sacraments, and your faith will come back to you." At first this struck me as a bit irreverent -- as if faith in God were somehow a secondary issue -- but the more I've thought about it, the more sense it has begun to make. If we live and act as if we have faith in God, that faith will in due time return. If we live and act as if we were healthy and mentally sound then, God willing, our health and sanity will return. The worst thing to do in either case is to give up and hide from our responsibilities before God, our neighbors, and ourselves.<br /><br />2. What was it that finally "cured" Fr Kronid? Not the reproach of the first Elder he approached, but the compassion and Christian love of Fr Micah, who assured him that he was not alone. This expression of genuine compassion and love was itself the true miracle that helped Fr Kronid to get through his crisis. It is this that those who suffer from depression need, and this which we should offer to those who seek our help. Abuse and reproach get one nowhere.Felix Culpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18062279686869827534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-3272013130037728142009-04-27T01:40:00.000+02:002009-04-27T01:40:00.000+02:00Christ is Risen!!
Father bless!
How grateful I a...Christ is Risen!!<br /><br />Father bless!<br /><br />How grateful I am to read these two posts on depression and despair, for they are in my life off and on. Words of great comfort and strengthening to know that even the Saints suffered in this way and with God's help, overcame.Athanasiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13107488973500025470noreply@blogger.com