Discount on pre-order
https://bookstore.jordanville.org/9780884655077
Preordering helps everyone.
At this discount price you want to stock up to have a stash to give as gifts or even as special hand-outs.
A story of Holy Orthodoxy from Communist Russia
About Fr. Seraphim
Ordinary Wonders
Stories of Unexpected Grace
by Olesia Nikolaeva
chapter: "Another Source"
pages: 17, 18
https://bookstore.jordanville.org/9780884654230
In spite of his constant battle with the passions, Monk Leonid still had one: he was passionate about booklets. He especially loved those that were forbidden, all kinds of forbidden booklets: simply anti-Soviet ones, spiritually beneficial ones, and ones "in support of the New Martyrs."
We were constantly taking him new booklets printed in samizdat.1 In this way, he got his hands on a booklet by Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), the spiritual son of St. John, Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco, about the end of days. It was called something like The Future of Russia and the End of the World. It affected him so much that he sent me to the Lavra to ask for a blessing from the elder Archimandrite Kirill to pass it around. And when the blessing was received, he hired a typist to retype four copies of this book, which he proceeded to hand out as required reading to his many pilgrims and visitors. But he didn't know how to pray for this Hieromonk Seraphim: was he living or reposed?
1. Samizdat is literature produced and distributed without official sanction as its contents would not have been approved by the regime.
No matter how many people he asked, no one could tell him, This depressed Fr. Leonid very much — he really wanted to pray for Hieromonk Seraphim. And so he convinced my husband and his novice, the old nun Pelagia, to drive him to the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius to see Elder Kirill.
They arrived after the service had already begun, and Monk Leonid went to the altar directly to Fr. Kirill.
"Fr. Kirill, this Hieormonk Seraphim — is he living or dead? How do I commemorate him?"
Fr. Kirill became silent, lifted his gaze upward for a moment, grew still, and then crossed himself and said sorrrowfully.:
"May he rest with the saints."
The next day late in the evening, the radio station BBC, to which our radio was tuned, announced that two days ago, the famous Orthodox writer and missionary Hieromonk Seraphim Rose, had died after a long illness. [August
Elder Kirill had learned of this from another source altogether.
Related
https://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2009/08/future-of-russia-and-end-of-world.html
Book: Elder Anatoly of Optina
The best way to learn how to discern false elders is to get to know true elders.
Elder Anatoly (Zertsalov) of Optina born 1824 in Moscow
not to be confused with Elder Anatole (Potapov) the Younger of Optina born 1855 in Kaluga
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Letters of St. Anatoly to Nuns
first published in Russian by the Kozelsk Optina Hermitage of the Entry of the Theotokos,Holy Trinity – St. Sergius Lavra Press, 1910
translated by Holy Nativity Convent, Boston Massachusetts 1991
2nd printing 2003 by Jordanville
The book includes a life of St. Anatoly provided by St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos in 1908, a glossary, an index, black-white portrait-photograph of Elder Anatoly. 300 pages.
More information here.
Order book here:
https://www.holytrinitypublications.com/a-collection-of-letters-to-nuns
A few pages from the book — from the life provided by St. Panteleimon Monastery:
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. . .If someone caused him grief or trouble and he could see that that person had done it from inexperience or without thinking, and sincerely regretted it, he would forgive him and never remember the incident again. However, when under the pretense of devotion to him, someone would take advantage of his trustfulness and candor to do him an injury, and on discovering that Father Anatoly knew of it would ask his forgiveness, Batiushka would forgive him, but would no longer trust him as before. And events would in fact show afterwards that this person had only a superficial attachment to him. . .
This observation sticks out to me. There is a lot of confusion about "forgiveness." It is too similar to the confusion about judgement, and now this shows how the confusion about forgiveness and the confusion about judgment are not only similar, but also connected. We can forgive somebody who does not deserve to be forgiven, even if the offender has not asked for forgiveness. In fact we have to forgive them even if we don't want to, because God commands it. But we can not trust them again. Not if we are going to be truthful. And here, with this little bit of information about the very sober elder Anatoly, now I know I do not have to feel that I have not accomplished complete forgiveness unless I also restore (pretend) trust. This allows me to instead trust my own discernment in a sober way, not in a self-willed way — in fact my own will could dearly want to trust the offender with the same trust I had before his trespass against me. Think of the battered wife who goes back to her abusive husband because she believes him when he promises not to hit her again.... she is just believing what she wants to believe. How sober is that?
Another thing the elder said in this book: truth is what matters.
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Two of my friends are diagnosed with cancer
It helps to know that breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer are all in the class of cancers caused by mutated genes.
5 minutes, Cancer Prevention and Survival
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/diet-and-lifestyle-for-cancer-prevention-and-survival/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwDGkdPv0rU
6 minutes, Best Diet for Cancer Patients
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-best-diet-for-cancer-patients/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJg5N8a_dQM
6 minutes, Fighting Cancer with Food 10 Hallmarks
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fighting-the-ten-hallmarks-of-cancer-with-food/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcAN8BjPjuE
8 minutes, How Not to Die from Cancer
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-cancer/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VX_oZBMSd4
Summary: Cancers caused by mutated genes can be reversed with a no meat/dairy/oil diet. The closer you stick to the diet, the greater your chances of a complete cure. Results show in tests in a little as 2 weeks.
Two Lists of Videos
1. https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/cancer-survival/
2. https://www.youtube.com/@NutritionFactsOrg/search?query=cancer
from Joanna's notepad
Many other people I know, some of them in the Church, are dying now or have already died. One who already died had colon cancer. Every few months another section was surgically removed from her colon. In between surgeries there was chemo and radiation alternating. I told her about this diet, and her resistance was the most stubborn I have ever met. I don't think she even looked at the material I sent her, and then finally she yelled at me: MY BODY NEEDS MEAT!" She died believing that her body needs meat. That is the 2nd worst excuse I've heard.
The 1st worse — the worst — I won't say while the patient is still alive. But, I can say this: the top 2 worst excuses are both lies. (No "body" needs meat). The top worst excuse is likewise a lie. The difference is, with the 1st worst excuse I don't know where the lie is coming from. The 2nd worse excuse I know the lie is coming from her own self, it is something she wants to believe. The undisclosed 1st worst excuse I do not know if the lie is coming from the patient or from the doctor. Either way, both of these two worst excuses are what the patients want to believe. Both refuse to look at any facts that could change their belief. Note how close belief is to religion. The words 'belief' and 'religion' are used alike, considered synonyms.
Another evidence that "belief" is a factor in accepting diet as part of a treatment for disease: About 15 years ago, while Reader Daniel Everiss was still able to get around, not in a wheel chair, I offered to buy him a 10-day program offered by Dr. McDougall, where the doctor takes patients on a cruise and monitors them daily and feeds them all their meals. I begged Daniel to let me give him this gift. It was an all-you-can-eat 10-day cruise for people with type II diabetes. The doctor would bring them back home 10 days later completely cured of diabetes and off all diabetes medications. Daniel argued with me and ran out of exucses really fast, so finally he got down to the real reason, "JOANNA! LISTEN TO ME! I don't believe in it." I continued to press, because he does not need to believe in it, it works even if you don't believe in it. Then he had no answer, so he declared the subject off limits.
See how close dietary treatment is tied up with belief like if it is a religion.
Now, for Orthodox, we understand the truth of Orthodoxy remains true for everyone who ever lived/lives. But the dietary cure many people are still very "Protestant" about it, thinking thier body's needs are unique to them. With some things, yes -- one man's medicine is another man's poison. But for other things, — like arsenic or hemlock — we are all the same in that these are deadly poisons for humans. These tests and studies are being done on humans. So far there is nothing to indicate that one human could need a carnivore diet and another human need a herbivore diet. Every species has it's own natural diet. To put an Orthodox twist into these thoughts, remember in Genesis when God reluctantly gave in to the people demanding meat. And if you still believe in the caveman theory, then do yourself a favor and read Fr. Seraphim's book: Genesis, Creation and Early Man.
This has put me into wondering how to deal with the friends who won't even try the diet. I guess all I can do is allow a distance to grow between us, since I can't pretend with them that they need to eat meat, or that it doea not matter.
~jh
Biden Does Something Good
from Joanna's notepad
contains opinion
Biden has stepped out of his usual modus operandi. For the first time he has done something paternal for our country, instead of his usual relentless sabotage on every aspect of our country's well-being.
Recently, Biden has taken steps to slow down CCP takeover of the USA.
July 5, 2024
US Increases Scrutiny Over Chinese Land Purchases Near Military Bases
State and federal governments are increasingly concerned over real estate purchases made by foreign nationals from adversarial countries.
So what gives? Is it possible to believe that Biden has suddenly shifted from being evil to being good? No. Could I believe that maybe Biden really had some good in him all along, and now it is finally coming out? No. With Biden being a servant of Antichrist, I can only believe that somehow this is self-serving. But how?
Evil people often do turn on each other, distrust each other, lie to each other. We see it in the old westerns where the band of robbers is brought to its demise because of infighting among themselves. Maybe, here, CCP has not been forthcoming enough with their fellow-globalist pal Biden about their US land purchases... I can imagine CCP saying to Biden, "but we didn't think it was important enough to tell you... we meant no ill... we are just trying to insure our own food supply... etc." But now, maybe Biden isn't buying excuses, his suspicions have been aroused, he feels a threat.
I think it's interesting, it says at the very beginning of the article, it was the public that alerted Biden to problem. Exactly what that means is not clear, but probably it was not a specifically republican or democrat person or group. It was the public, and Biden, in his conceit, assumes the public loves him. Biden has to take the alert seriously if he is going to pretend to be American, he can't just brush it off, or else he could lose the respect of the public. But first, I think he was caught off guard, I think he was not forewarned that this land take-over was happening and that someday somebody would notice. Could he have known all along and just be pretending to be surprised? That's a possibility — he could have had a plan, but it turned out that his plan was not strong enough, so Plan B would be to feign shock/surprise.
Somewhere in our more recent Church teachings about Antichrist and end times, I recall it says that all the wealth in the world will be in the hands of a few. We see that happening clearly. Something else said is about the preparations for the advent of Antichrist, which is the times we are in right now. Vl. Agafangel calls our times, "pre-apolcalyptic." The world will prepare for the advent of Antichrist, like setting up dominos. And before Antichrist sets foot on the world stage, all the dominos will be ready to fall into place. The one world government, the one world church, the global money system -- everything will all fall into place at the same time. Antichrist's servants are preparing for this day, which will be the first day of Antichrist's 7-year reign.
Antichrist's servants who are preparing for his advent are not all aware of whom they serve. A few are surely aware that Satan is their god, but most of Antichrist's servants do not realize they are working for Antichrist -- most of them think they are serving themselves. The elite, for example — who are now gathering all the wealth in the world — they think they are gathering up the world's wealth for themselves. But in the end, to their surprise, all the gatherers will hand it all over to Antichrist, willingly.
I think what we have here is Biden suddenly seeing Xi Jinping not so palsy-walsy and more of a rival or adversary. All the evil world leaders all want the one world government, but, they each want to be the ruler of it. Their common goal of globalism only goes so far — who gets to sit at the top is where they stop agreeing with each other and cooperating with each other.
An Interesting Case of Terminal Lucidity
excerpt from Epoch Times article 6/11/24
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/terminal-lucidity-many-patients-experience-an-unexplained-return-of-mental-acuity-in-their-final-days-5648005
Terminal Lucidity:
Many Patients Experience an Unexplained Return of Mental Acuity in Their Final Days
instances have been recorded in medical literature going back to the 19th century.
The case study of Anna Katherina Ehmer is one of the most famous studies of terminal lucidity, a phenomenon that continues to baffle researchers. [Researchers are baffled, but, for us there is nothing mysterious about this. We understand the difference between the brain and the soul.]
Ms. Ehmer, known as Käthe, was a German woman born severely disabled in 1895. At 6 years of age, she was sent to a mental institution where she would live until she died at the age of 26.
“Käthe was among the patients with the most severe mental disabilities who have ever lived in our institution. From birth on, she was seriously retarded. She had never learned to speak a single word. She stared for hours on a particular spot, then she fidgeted for hours without a break. She gorged her food, fouled herself day and at night, uttered an animal-like sound, and slept. In all the time she lived with us, we have never seen that she had taken notice of her environment even for a second,” recounted Dr. Friedrich Happich, who ran the institution.
Käthe suffered from several episodes of meningitis, which were thought to have “destroyed much of the brain tissue required for intelligent reasoning.” She also had tuberculosis, which led to the amputation of her leg and was the eventual cause of her death. She had never spoken a single word.
But, as she lay dying, something unexpected happened. She began singing to herself.
She sang—clearly and in perfect German—a funeral hymn. She sang to herself for a full half hour until she passed away.
‘Come immediately to Käthe, she is dying!’
“When we entered the room together, we did not believe our eyes and ears. Käthe, who had never spoken a single word, being entirely mentally disabled from birth on, sang dying songs to herself. Specifically, she sang over and over again ‘Where does the soul find its home, its peace? Peace, peace, heavenly peace!’ For half an hour she sang. Her face, up to then so stultified, was transfigured and spiritualized. Then, she quietly passed away. Like myself and the nurse who had cared for her, the physician had tears in his eyes.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDA6cIWp1do&t=97s
Duo Transeamus Wo findet die Seele 5 minutes
I was reminded of Fr. Seraphim's favorite classical piece, also German, "Ich Have Genug." Here is an excerpt from Not of This World, p.47.
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Remember that Eugene, at his young age, was already aware that his lifespan would be shortened. Old people face the coming of their death more naturally. A young person is seldom given much time to spiritually prepare for his death. It very well could be that this premature-facing his impending death was an important ingredient in the making of his Orthodox Life. Of course the prayers of St. John were the core of the miracle of Fr. Seraphim, but this also was likely a very important necessary ingredient. •
Related:
https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/johannes-brahms-a-german-requiem-op-45-post-5655414?
Brahms German Requiem op. 45
You need to be subscribed to see this 4-hour concert, and you want to be subscribed. A digital subscription is not expensive. If you are in serious financial distress, let me gift you a subscription: email me at joannahgginbotham@runbox.com using the email address you want me to submit to Epoch Times.
There is no greater value for the money that I know of — not even the Haiti Mission can do more with this little bit of money. So, I am very happy to help you.
One comment on the Brahams requiem of special interest:
Anton Novo June 2024
This work was written when Brahms was only 33. Most composers wait until they’re old to write a requiem, if they ever write one. This is a very small orchestra for this work but it sounds very good nonetheless. Most of the musical drama, such as it is, comes in the sixth part. Brahms orchestrated this to include two harps although they are only used in the second and seventh parts. I don’t see or hear them in this performance. The second part (“Because all flesh…”) is the most recognizable of the whole piece. The concertmaster is the first violinist of the Casal Quartett, an outstanding musician. (I have one friend in Switzerland – she lives near Zurich – whom I am sure was present at this performance although I can’t prove it.)
Autobiography of Abbess Thaisia
2024Jul2
UPDATE
Part V of Abbess Thaisia's Autobiography is uploaded to Shared Library
https://app.box.com/s/q86n9mwffp3tm5doyws9oufrso36bwr6
Her contribution to literature includes some of her poems.
Hello folks! 2024Jun23
To celebrate the feast today of Pentecost, I buckled down to finish making a pdf of the out-of-print book of Abbess Thaisia's Autobiography.
2nd version uploaded 2024Jun24 noon. 1st version had pages mixed up, the first page of chapter 15 came at the end instead of the beginning of the chapter. I fixed it. Please alert me to any other problems you find. There are probably more errors... joannahigginbotham@runbox.com
It took me all day. Some of the pages I scanned myself from the book (original 1989 edition) and some pages I took from scans from Orthodox Word magazines (after 1982) wherein the book was serialized after Fr. Seraphim's death and before it was published. I included a favorite photo of my own at the end.
When Platina published this book, they added parts 2,3,4,5. -- interesting history, funeral orations and some of the abbess' poetry.
This pdf I made is only part 1 — the autobiography that St. John of Kronstadt asked her to write. I included the preface/introduction composed by Platina book, because it is helpful, and by itself nothing harmful. We can thank Platina for making this book available to us in English. But — even in those earlier years when Platina was showing evidences that they were no longer on the same path as Fr. Seraphim.
The OW magazines after Fr. Seraphims death soon started to contain what Fr. Gregory Williams called, "landmines."
Starting with issue #144 (which contains a part of the serialization of Abbess Thaisia's Autobiography), Platina starts introducing false elders. This is just the beginning of their shenanigans. In this issue Platina introduces false elder Sophrony. This NEVER would have happened if Fr. Seraphim had still been alive...
Orthodox Word magazine
Volume Twenty-Five (1989)
Issue #144, Jan.-Feb. 1989, Vol. 25, No. 1: Icon of St. Silhouan by Terhi Norres, 1981
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 Athonite Patericon: The Discovery of Monk Silhouan by Abbot Herman
11 The Life of Our Father Among the Saints, Silhouan the Athonite, from The Monk of Mount Athos by Archimandrite Sophrony, translated by Rosemary Edmonds
25 On Saint Silhouan: an Interview with Archimandrite Sophrony, from Paix, translated by Fr. Nicholas Giroux.
29 Spiritual Counsels: Kindling the Divine Spark — A Reminder to Honorable Nuns, Chapter 10 by St. Theophan the Recluse
31 Ascetic Theology: Guidance Toward Spiritual Life, Part XI, by Sts. Barsanuphius and John, translated by Fr. Seraphim
45 Service to Our Holy and God-bearing Father, Saint Silhouan of Mount Athos, translated from French by Fr. Nicholas Giroux
55 Modern Matericon: Abbess Thaisia, Chapters 19-20
I've collected some evidence against this pseudo-elder and inserted it at the top of the pdf of the issue in question. Box might force you to download the file before they let you see it. I am able to view it in Firefox without downloading it, but not so in Safari.
The file of this OW magazine is 81MB
attached caveat updated 2024Jul2
https://app.box.com/s/hdp4z5313x0x8y6j8dqh6b6272mh7zfa
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