into the desert

“

Hades is not a place, no, but a state of the soul. It begins here on earth. Just so, paradise begins in the soul of a man here in the earthly life. Here we already have contact with the divine.

— St. John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily On the Sunday of Orthodoxy (via thelasttruerebellion)

Reblogged from Ramblings of an average human.

merys-anatomy:

Beautiful countryside on the southern outskirts of Kiev, where the park “Feofania” and St. Panteleimon Convent.

Reblogged from Simply Orthodox ☦

How Not To Be An Obnoxious Christian

Contemplate: 2 Key Questions

phileena:

Thomas Keating—a Cistercian monk and founder of Contemplative Outreach—says that our
spiritual life is marked by 2 key questions. At the point of initial conversion we ask, “What can I do for God?” And this initial question is what compels many of us into working for change. But, as Keating…

Reblogged from Contemplate

Contemplate: Imbalance and Disillusionment

phileena:

If we stay committed to social, ecological, political and/or economic change for very long at all, most of us will reach a breaking point. Most of us will reach a point where we’ve tasted all we can of the suffering of our planet. Some of us will burn-out. When that happens, it’s a sign that…