Book: Elder Theodore of Sanaxar

Little Russian Philokalia, Vol V: St. Theodore of Sanazar
ISBN 0-938635-34-4
This book is easily found in many book stores for a fair price.

excerpt from page 36

Q: If a man living in the world is not to take pleasure in the good things of this age, then why has God produced so many beautiful things on earth?  I can not understand how God, being One, has given us two commandments so totally at variance.  According to one commandment, everything on earth is beautiful.  Everything that He created good He gives for food and our use, and to that end, everything was created exceedingly good.  But, according to the other commandment, He requires of man fasting and continence.  I ask you, Your Reverence, explain this to me and resolve my perplexity.

A:  Why speak and interpret these mysteries hidden from us?  God cannot be unjust, and whatever He says in His omniscience, He says truly.  Our task is to obey the truth without contradiction.   These two commandments were given even in Paradise. — And God commanded Adam saying, Of every tree in paradise thou mayest eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die the death (Gen 2:16–17)

It is apparent that fasting is akin to man's nature. But, if — out of need of fasting — God did not will to create in such abundance all the goods of the earth, then fasting would be involuntary for everyone.  Thus one should think that the abundance of the good things of the earth is not for delight but for the perfection  of fasting,  God did not will an involuntary fast, but wished that we — in the midst of this abundance — not only remain continent but also fast according to our own will out of love for Him, as handed down by the Holy Church.  For obedience to this law He has promised us in reward — health of body and salvation of soul; and, for disobedience — death.  If, at the same time, abundance were not given to the earth, then what kind of consolation could there be for the weak, those sick in body, the aged, and infants?  For their sake, God has no confined us all to want, but has been pleased that our abundance can fulfill the requirement of each.


HEALTH OF BODY
Something in Elder Theodore's counsel that folks will overlook:

". . . He has promised us in reward — health of body and salvation of soul . . ."

 Look into the work of these physicians/surgeons/cardiaologists/internists: Caldwell Esselstyn, John McDougall, Dean Ornish, Michael Greger, Neal Barnard, Colin Campbell, Joel Fuhrman, Michel Klaper, Joel Kahn, Michelle McMacken, Garth Davis, Gemma Newman, Brooke Goldner, Milton Mills, Alan Goldhamer.

Notice how closely, nearly perfectly, the original fasting rules of our Church align with the diet that is more and more being prescribed to prevent many cancers and to CURE 100% some terrible diseases:  type II diabetes, heart attack, stroke.

The original fasting rules mean:

1. "no olive oil" means no any-kind of oil.
2.  moderation means no over-eating, including on feast days.
3.  no "secret eating" includes between meal snacks and nibbling while cooking.
4.  simple fare, (no processed foods)
          This means no fake meats or fake dairy.  Plant-milk is the exception. There is one soy milk brand (Pacific) so minimally processed it has only 3 ingredients: water, soy beans, sea salt.   Most of the plant-milks, though, add vitamins.  See what Dr. John McDougall has to say about supplements — he especially warns how easy it is to overdose on calcium and vitamin D, even prescribed doses are too high.

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Where the diet does not align with Church fasting is the areas of alcohol and delectables.  Most of the doctors say alcohol is ok, and none of them discourage extra-tasty or well-seasoned foods.  Actually, many herbs and spices are beneficial to health.  Our Church does not forbid enjoyment, but there is virtue in limiting the enjoyment to reasonable levels.  What comes to my mind is St. Paul: all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient.  We already know excess alcohol is sinful, but what about an obsession with gourmet foods?  I've known a few men, one in the Church, who ever seek a heightened taste experience, to the point of pretending this is a virtue and even having disdain for ordinary foods or inexpensive wines. 

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Autobiography of Abbess Thaisia

OUT OF PRINT BOOK

     UPDATE    2024Dec28

This book can still be found.  It is selling for $90—$200 on Amazon.

     

 

This is the final update: Complete and uploaded to Shared Library

See folder named, "Lives of Saints and Elders"
https://app.box.com/s/lyxjbk62vb4f3jq5zkmkabrebambexs9

     St. John of Kronstadt asked the Abbess to write her autobiography.   She wrote it as an obedience.

     The main parts of this book were serialized in Platina's Orthodox Word magazine in 1987.  Some of the chapters in my pdf are taken from that serialization.  It saved me time because I already had those magazines scanned.  As far as I know, this is the only English translation.  To see Russian versions, google: Автобиография игумении Таисии

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     When Platina published the autobiography in book form, 1989, they added parts II, III, IV, V.  -- interesting history, funeral orations and some of the abbess' poetry. 

 

     We can thank Platina for making this book available to us in English.  But — even in those earlier years, Platina was showing evidence that they were no longer on the same path as Fr. Seraphim. 

   Platina's post-1982 OW magazines should be differentiated from Fr. Seraphim's OW magazines.  After Fr. Seraphim's repose, Platina's magazines 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 been there... 

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.  I do not have Chrome.

   The file of this OW magazine is 81MB

  attached caveat updated 2024Jul2

   https://app.box.com/s/hdp4z5313x0x8y6j8dqh6b6272mh7zfa

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Example of Platina Rewriting Fr. Seraphim

updated 25 December 2024
This is a re-posting from the RRb which was deleted 5/17/23 by Blogger.  I've revised the post and added new material.  The original RRb post is archived in the Way Back Machine:  
https://web.archive.org/web/20201208012222/http://remnantrocor.blogspot.com/2012/12/example-of-platina-rewriting-fr-seraphim_7.html
combined with an old Starting blog post:  https://web.archive.org/web/20170115170733/http://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2012/12/explanation-of-remnant-rocor-blog-post.html

Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
     First Printing April 1975
     Second Printing August 1975
     Third Printing May 1976
     Fourth Printing (Second Edition) March 1979
     Fifth Printing (Second Edition) February 1983
     Sixth Printing (Third Edition) January 1990
     Seventh Printing (Fourth Edition) December 1996
     Eighth Printing (Fourth Edition) January 1999
     Ninth Printing (Fifth Edition) December 2004

Example of Platina rewriting Fr. Seraphim
Compare editions: Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future

 

1983 edition     vs.     2004 edition

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Explanation of the difference:

1983 edition
... Many of them follow the bishops of the few Orthodox jurisdictions that have taken strong stands against the apostasy of our times: the Catacomb Church of Russia, the ROCOR, the TOC of Greece.  But there are some left in other jurisdictions also, grieving over the ever more evident apostasy of their hierarchs and striving somehow to keep their own Orthodoxy intact; and there are still others outside the...

2004 edition
... Many of them follow the bishops of the few Orthodox churches that have taken strong stands against the apostasy of our times.  But there are some left in other Orthodox churches also, grieving over the ever more evident apostasy of their hierarchs and striving somehow to keep their own Orthodoxy intact; and there are still others outside the...


The difference is in the substitution of the word "churches" for "jurisdictions."  Fr. Seraphim clearly meant "jurisdictions" and he even named the royal path jurisdictions of his day.  (Today we can also add the Old Calendar Bulgarians and the Old Calendar Romanians to Fr. Seraphim's list.)

The word "church," when not used as part of the name of a parish, and especially with a small "c," can mean "parish" or even "parish building" which can be in any jurisdiction, or even be a heterodox congregation.  Platina's alteration in the 2004 edition conveys the implication that jurisdiction does not matter.  It implies that any parish in world orthodoxy can be justified by having traditional characteristics or views, regardless of whether their bishops actually have valid apostolic succession.

The rewriting in the 2004 edition deceives readers into thinking that any parish could belong to the traditional "strong" category regardless of its jurisdiction.  [How often we hear from the traditionally-minded people in world orthodoxy that they are "fighting from within"?]  

Church with a capital "C" is understood by Orthodox to be the jurisdiction.  We refer to the Greek Church, the Serbian Church, Russian Church, and the Ecumenical Council of all the Churches.  Example: How many churches [parishes] are in the Russian Church [jurisdiction]?  

Nobody has any excuse to change any of Fr. Seraphim's words.

• • •

Comparing 1979 with 1975.  Further comparison shows that Fr. Seraphim himself made a change in the Second Edition/Second Printing.

⬆︎First Printing 1975, pp 77–78

(Notice that 1979 is identical to 1983.)  Why this difference here?  I'm safely certain that, in 1975, St. Fr. Seraphim considered the Old Calendar Greeks part of ROCOR.  See Fr. Seraphim's letter #27, where in 1970 he sees the Greeks in Boston and the Greeks in Seattle both as being inside ROCOR.  The Greeks were in ROCOR from 1965 —1986.   He says the reason they were in ROCOR was because there was no other valid Church in North America.  By the canons it is proper, when displaced in a foreign land, to join the local bishop, regardless of his nationality.  It must have been later Fr. Seraphim came to see their separate "Greek-ness" in their own right — their innate rightful Orthodox identity is Greek.  Metropolitan Philaret (now St. Philaret of New York) predicted, "after my death the Greeks will leave us, as they never were a part of us."  When St. Philaret said that the Greeks were never part of us in the first place, he did not mean that their dogma is different from ours — he meant their Mother Church is different from ours.  Back in 1975 this was not so clear, especially not to Americans who have no historic "Mother Church."

Today, though, it is more clear that it's far better for the GOC and the ROCOR to be Sister Churches, than to try to join as one Church.  We have greater strength as individual Churches (jurisdictions) because we can support each other.  And greater strength as Sisters in the whole of the Orthodox world; we are stronger as a team; "two hands are better than one"; more like in a marriage 1+1=3.  This is the reason why I am so distressed that ROCOR has been so swallowed up by the SIR/GOC reunion since the ROCOR-MP union...  The GOC hurts itself by absorbing its Sister Church into oblivion.  The flow ROCOR members and parishes moving over to the GOC has been staunched, but we suffer the aftermath.  Newcomers drawn to the ROCOR have no choice of true Orthodox parishes except GOC.  It hurts all of Orthodoxy..

Read more:
http://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2009/08/0rthodoxy-and-religion-of-future.html
Files uploaded in Joanna's Shared Library:
     - Orthodoxy Religion Future (1979)
     - Letter #27 is in file named: All Letters
     - folder named: RRb Archives 

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True Elders are Hidden

End Times — False Elders

Fr. Seraphim Rose told us that the Optina elders were the last true elders in these end times.  He assured us that there still will be holy people, but that we would not be able to find them.  They help the world by their prayers alone.  I don't remember where it was written — it might have been Fr. Seraphim  — that the prayers of the hidden holy people in the end times will be the only thing that stalls the advent of Antichrist.  One clue to a false elder is that he is not hidden.  There are some pseudo-elders today who don't even try to hide — some have even authored their own books.


EXCERPT ABOUT OPTINA ELDER MOSES

from the book
The Optina Desert and its Era
by Ivan Kontsevich
 page 23 machine translator

     Fr. Archimandrite Moses managed to successfully hide himself from people, which is why during his life many who did not know him closely considered him, although a good, but an ordinary person: only spiritual men, “who judge all things,” according to the word of the Apostle (1 Cor. 2:15), felt the fragrance of Fr. Moses’ virtues and considered him a highly spiritual Elder, who had not spent his life in vain in labors and exploits.
     The words of St. Bishop Niphon were fulfilled in him: “In the last times, those who will truly serve God will safely hide themselves from people and will not perform signs and miracles among them, as at the present time, but they will follow the path of deeds, infused with humility, and in the Kingdom of Heaven, they will be be found greater than the Fathers glorified by signs.” (Varsanuphius the Great, Moscow 1855, p. 654).

https://libking.ru/books/religion-/religion-rel/405311-i-m-kontsevich-optina-pustyn-i-ee-vremya.html

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Photograph of Icon for Fr. Seraphim's glorification

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This icon was written by St. John's Convent in Odessa

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Biography St. Seraphim of Platina

     OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/rptsz/prepodobnyj-serafim-zhizneopisanie-i-sluzhba

Venerable Seraphim: Life and Service
Author: Metropolitan Agathangel. Date of publication: November 20, 2024. Category: ROCOR

Life of Venerable Seraphim, Hieromonk of Platina

          I. The beginning of the journey. Spiritual search
The Venerable Seraphim (born Eugene Dennis Rose) was born on August 13, 1934 in San Diego, southern California, USA, and grew up in a typically American Protestant family.  The ancestors of the future ascetic on the father's side came from the French and Danes, and on the mother's side – from the Norwegians and Swedes.  The Rose Couple had three children, Eugene was the youngest.  His brother and sister were much older than he, and the boy grew up to be everyone's favorite, cheerful and affectionate......

Eugene was a versatile gifted child.  He succeeded in everything he did.  He took his studies seriously and responsibly, read a lot.  However, this did not prevent him from taking part in children's games.  He played baseball, he was a Scout.  Having a good hearing, he learned to play the piano, and later mastered the guitar.  Having a talent for natural sciences, Eugene was also interested in zoology, loved animals, knew astronomy well.

   In high school, Eugene showed extraordinary abilities in languages, taking up Spanish, German and French at once.  After graduating from school, he was already writing poems in German.  Having an analytical mindset, the young man succeeded in mathematics.  His math teacher predicted great success for him and gave him a recommendation for an incentive scholarship to college.

   Since childhood, Eugene had a strong religious feeling, and his mother, a Protestant, tried to strengthen it.  She took the children to various Protestant churches, where she sang in choirs.  Eugene attended Bible lessons in the Presbyterian Church.  There he studied the Holy Scriptures so well that he could quote it by heart, which made his father and mother very happy.  In the eighth grade, he was baptized at his own request and confirmed in the Methodist Church.  However, after graduating from school, his religious thirst weakened.

   In 1952, Evgene graduated from high school in San Diego as the top student.  As the best student, he was offered several incentive scholarships, of which he accepted only one.  In the fall of the same year, Evgenne entered college in the city of Pomona in southern California, considered the best college in the state and one of the main centers of liberal arts education in the United States.  In their free time, most college students entertained themselves by organizing dance evenings, picnics on the ocean shore, and they were also very taken in with football. In the student environment, it was prestigious to have a car, but Evgene was not interested in any of this at all.  His main concern was the question of his life's purpose.

   The Protestantism of his childhood did not satisfy him.  Eugene was burdened with this prosaic, commoner framework.  He strove for something more sublime and spiritual, so he began to study Western philosophers (Spinoza, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.   Nietzsche's works especially attracted Eugene, because at that time the young man completely moved away from God.  However, the limitations of Western philosophy did not satisfy him.  Eugene became interested in the English professor's lectures on Zen Buddhism.  At that time, he was attracted by Eastern philosophy, and the young man began to learn Chinese in order to be able to read original Chinese sources.

   In 1956 Eugene graduated from college with honors and entered the Academy of Oriental Studies in San Francisco.  There he soon became close to the intellectual elite and adopted its customs: he went to restaurants with friends, sometimes smoked expensive cigars, became a wine connoisseur, often visited the opera, exhibitions and the theater.  San Francisco was the largest center of the avant-garde at that time.  The morality of Western society was discarded.  He indulged himself in all kinds of obscenities taken from the East.  This "culture of protest" had no moral principles.  However, his life, which consisted of continuous eating of the "forbidden fruit," was still not agreeable with Eugene's noble nature.  Consciously neglecting the commandments of God, the young man began to experience mental torment.  "I was in hell.  I know what it is," he said many years later, summing up his "quests" that were in opposition to the will of God.  Sinful life, leaves existence meaninglessness; so it was despair that prompted Eugene to seek salvation in faith.

   There were many books on philosophy in the Academy library, and Eugene began to study them carefully.  He was decisively influenced by the works of the French metaphysicist René Genon.  French Catholic Genon criticized modern civilization and called for a return to the original forms of religion, traditional spiritual principles.

   Eugene successfully learned the ancient Chinese language, and focused his study on Chinese spiritual literature.  He also studied Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and other religious trends.   Among his acquaintances were several Orthodox, who introduced him to the "Philokalia" and brought him to a service in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral "All Who Sorrow Joy" in San Francisco.

               II. Conversion to Orthodoxy
   So, in the evening, in the Great Friday, Eugene found himself in a Russian Orthodox church.  Later, he described his first encounter with Orthodoxy as follows: "When I was studying, I had only respect for ancient traditions, but I myself preferred to stay out of them.  I went to the Orthodox Church only to get acquainted with another teaching... But as soon as I crossed the threshold of the Russian church in San Francisco, something happened to me that I had not yet experienced in Buddhist or other oriental temples.  My heart whispered to me: "Here's your house."  Finally, I found what I was looking for.  I couldn't explain anything to myself, I didn't understand the service, just as I didn't understand the Russian language.  Since then, I became keenly interested in Orthodox worship and began to learn both customs and language little by little..."

   The impression made by the service did not change Eugene's worldview in an instant: only a seed was sown, which over time brought forth abundant fruit.

   Eugene continued to study Chinese philosophy.  In the fall of 1957, he entered the University of California at Berkeley to receive a master's degree in Oriental Studies.

   In 1961, Eugene defended his master's thesis, receiving a master's degree.  There was a brilliant acedemic career ahead in his future.   But later, when he himself started teaching, rather than being taught, he soon realized that the academic world is built on careerism, material gain and hypocrisy, — not in the business searching for the truth.

   Truth, for Eugene, was above all else in his spiritual search.  Rejecting Protestantism, he delved into the study of Eastern religions and philosophies claiming that God is impersonal.  However, when he started to get acquainted with Orthodoxy, he found the truth in the undistorted image of Christ.  Later, Father Seraphim said this: "When I opened up to Orthodoxy and the Orthodox, I began to realize that truth is not just an abstract idea sought and known by the mind, but something personal, even more, a certain Personality that the heart seeks and loves. That's how I met Christ." [Truth is a Person.]

   At that time, Eugene conceived of writing a philosophical work – a deep study, where from the Christian point of view he tried to critically evaluate modern Western civilization in scientific, cultural, historical and other aspects.  Eugene decided to call his book "The Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God."  He forsook his teaching career, deciding to give himself completely to work on the book.  To support himself, he worked as a janitor, dishwasher.  His mother did not understand his aspirations at all and cited his older brother as an example, who at that time already had his own gas station.

   Eugene's idea remained unfinished.  Of the 14 supposed chapters, only one was completed and printed.  In the original it was called "Nihilism: the source of the revolution of the modern era."  Some materials and fragments of unfinished work were later included in the book "Orthodoxy and Religion of the Future."

   In February 1962, Eugene made the final decision to join the Orthodox Church, and was admitted to Orthodoxy through the Holy Sacrament of Chrismation. [This was not arranged by St. John, but St. John did not object.]  At his first taste of the Body & Blood, he felt an unusual sweetness in his mouth, that remained for a whole week, so he didn't even want to eat.  [It was not until much later that he realized this does not happen for everybody.]

   In 1962, St. Archbishop John (Maximovich) arrived in San Francisco.  With his appearance, the construction of the cathedral resumed, new brotherhoods were founded, and church life revived.  Eugene spent a lot of time in the temple.  Attending all the morning and evening services, he stood at the western wall of the church and prayed diligently.  Soon Bishop John noticed Eugene and offered him to read in the kliros.  The young man quickly mastered the Church Slavonic language and began to read perfectly.

   Thanks to Bishop John, who was the living guardian of the Holy Father's tradition, Eugene wholeheartedly accepted the traditions of the Orthodox Church.

   Archbishop John founded theological courses in San Francisco, which Eugene attended for three years and graduated with honors.  In 1963, with the blessing of Bishop John, he began to write short articles in English for the local magazine "Orthodox Evangelist."  This is how the first author's publications of Eugene appeared.  These were small texts-sermons on various topics: about church holidays, about the lives of saints, about the foundations of spiritual life.  This work helped Eugene to strengthen in matters of faith and develop spiritually.

   Eugene's mother was dissatisfied with her son's new life: he seemed to her a "religious fanatic" who did not align with her hopes to see him prosper in secular life.  Eugene's father, did not share his son's religious views, nevertheless he supported his son on the chosen path, being glad that Eugene had found his vocation.  Eugene was already beginning to think about monasticism at that time.

   On August 28/September 10, 1963, Archbishop John blessed the establishment of the Brotherhood in honor of the Fr. Herman of Alaska (†1836), the Enlightener of America, and served a prayer service before the beginning of this good deed (Fr. Herman was not yet officially canonized at that time).  With Abp. John's blessing, an Orthodox bookstore was organized to engage in missionary activities through the printed word.

   In March 1964, with the active participation of Eugene, a bookstore "Orthodox Books and Icons" was opened near the San Francisco Cathedral on Geary Blvd., which became a real center of Orthodoxy.  The employees greeted the visitors kindly, always ready to answer questions and give advice on the choice of literature.  People interested in Orthodoxy were sent by the local clergy to the shop; visitors came in and directly "from the street."  By the efforts of the Brotherhood, many Americans converted to Orthodoxy.  Eugene mostly worked in the shop, staying there all day long, sometimes staying overnight.  He gave himself to his new job with all his heart, and the visitors of the shop loved him very much.  Soon Eugene began to keep a chronicle of the Brotherhood.

   In February 1965, the Brotherhood magazine appeared – "The Orthodox Word", in which Eugene began to publish English translations of Orthodox books and expose the apostasy of the modern world.  The name of the magazine was given by St. John.  The first numbers were printed on a small printing press with manual typing.  It took a whole day to type one page of text.  Eugene often stayed up late at night, and sometimes fell asleep near the machine.  Subsequently, we switched to an electric machine bought with the money saved, but the text was typed manually on it too.  But the magazine looked like publications of the past days, which left a special impression on the reader.  Archbishop John did not control the magazine, thus wanting to accustom employees to responsibility for what they print, as well as for the missionaries to be guided by their own conscience, and not by someone's "authoritative" opinion.  In addition, when purchasing a new issue of the magazine, Bishop John always paid for it.  "Vladyka, you are the head of the diocese!  Take it for free," he was offered. "No, it's your job, and I support it,"  Bishop John replied with a smile.

   Upon the repose of St. John in 1966, Eugene was assigned to collect evidence of numerous miracles that took place through the saint's prayerful intercession.  As a result, on the basis of these records, the "Chronical of the Veneration of Blessed John" was compiled.  Eugene deeply honored Bishop John, his holiness was undoubted for him, and long before his official glorification, the future ascetic made an akathist for his abba in English.

   At that time, Eugene was increasingly thinking about leaving the city and going to the desert. In the summer of 1967, a suitable plot of land was purchased on a wooded hill among untouched nature a few miles from the town of Platina in northern California.  In 1969, on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Eugene moved there for permanent residence.

               III. Monasticism
   The printing of "Orthodox Word" and other publications continued in the new desert.  Eugene and his associates led a harsh monastic life, devoid of any comfort.  At first it was especially difficult – they managed to erect only two wooden buildings, hastily knocked together from old boards . In one we slept, had dinner and prayed, in the other they placed a printing house.  It was very cold in winter.  At first, only the printing workshop was heated, then they bought a small stove on which they cooked, but there was little heat from it.  The printing press worked from a small engine, and candles and a kerosene lamp were used for lighting.  Everything had to be brought in by truck, even water, as there was no spring on the territory of the desert-skete.   When the car failed, they had to walk several miles.  Eugene, who had gotten a license before moving to the skete, drove the truck.  However, all these difficulties and hardships helped to keep a strict spiritual life, strengthening in hope for God, not in one's own strength.  The tone was set by the services of each day, which we gathered for three times.  The daily liturgical circle consisted of midnight, matins, hours, dinner, vespers and suppers, read out in a secular way.

   In the early years, almost no one violated the hermit life, which consisted of prayer and work.  Occasionally, someone from acquaintances who knew about the skete appeared.  There were also Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev) and his vicar Bishop Nektary (Kontsevich).  Those who lived in the desert felt spiritual kinship with the Russian ascetics of the XVIII-XX centuries, continuing their traditions dating back to the Ven. Paisius Velichkovsky, who at one time revived the true spirit of Orthodox monasticism in Russia.  Even before leaving for the desert, the brotherhood chose the life and teaching of the Ven. Paisius is his spiritual role model.  The very idea of a skete with a small number of residents stemmed from the experience of the monk, who called such a life "royal way."  Brothers on the advice of the Ven. Paisius introduced the rule of mutual obedience in the skete: instead of obedience to the spirit-bearing elder, they obeyed each other, guided by the teachings of the Holy Fathers and cutting off their will and opinion before their brother.  This helped in the fight against vanity and in maintaining spiritual harmony.

   THE SkETE WAS SETTLED in a picturesque mountainous area in the middle of an untouched forest in a land populated by wild animals.  The villagers soon made friends with forest dwellers – deer and squirrels, who were not afraid of them at all.  They also happened to meet the owner of the local forests – a puma.  Fortunately, these meetings ended safely. Soon after arriving at the skete, Eugene began to cultivate the garden and did not leave this activity until his death.

   On July 27/August 9, 1970, the glorification of the heavenly patron of the Brotherhood took place – Ven. Herman of Alaska.  Eugene composed two services to the saint – in Church Slavonic and English, and brought several boxes with text to the solemn glorification, which took place in the cathedral in San Francisco to distribute to everyone.  A lot of people gathered. The order of glorification was led by the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Philaret.  During this service, Eugene finally decided to become a monk.  Bishop Filaret, on behalf of the Synod of Bishops, presented the Brotherhood with a certificate of appreciation: with its publications in the "Orthodox Word" it did a lot for the early glorification of St. Herman.  In the charter, the further path of the Brotherhood was defined as a combination of hermitage with missionary activity.

   Eugene appealed to the ruling bishop, Archbishop Anthony, with a request for tonsure (hair cut) to monasticism.  On October 14/27, 1970, he was tonsured (cut) into a mantle with the name Seraphim – in honor of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov.  The leaders of his monastic life were Bishop Nektariy (Kontsevich), a student of the last Optina elder Nektarius and Archimandrite Spyridon (Efimov), a close friend of Bishop John (Maximovich), who began to regularly come to the skete to serve the liturgy there.

   In 1973, new residents began to appear in the skete.  Father Seraphim became the spiritual leader of the community. Every evening after the service, he stayed to listen to what bothered each brother.  This custom was also taken from Ven. Paisius of Velichkovsky, who introduced a daily confession of thoughts in his monastery in order to fundamentally suppress evil inclinations.  [revelations of thoughts]  Father Seraphim knew well that there is a lot of benefit from the correct application of this rule, and a lot of harm from the wrong one, so he started this business with fear and trepidation.  He gave simple advice to everyone who confessed: "Be careful with yourself!  Know yourself!"

   Father Seraphim taught the new brotherhood that the acceptance of Christ, the connection with Christ, takes place gradually.  First you need to become a good person, this is the first step to God.  The next step is to become a good Christian, then you need to become a good Orthodox Christian, and the last step is to become a good monk.  Father Seraphim appreciated Dickens' work for the author's ability to vividly and vividly describe virtue and vice.  He often gave Dickens' books to the new brotherhood so that young people would pass the first step to God – to learn to clearly distinguish between good and evil.

   Those who wanted to test themselves in the monastic field first voluntarily served in the skete, so that only after the time set for the test, they could get a podryasnik and a novice's skullcap.  The greatest attention was paid to internal work.  At the meal, the Holy Father's spiritual teachings were always read; in addition, each brother was assigned special spiritual literature for reading.  It happened that fourteen people lived in the monastery at the same time, each with its own worries and needs.  Father Seraphim was faced with the task of interpreting to young people the meaning of life in the skete, which was so different from the worldly one.  It was necessary for them to become close to the Holy Father's doctrine of self-denial, so Father Seraphim began to select and translate into English excerpts from the main works of the Holy Fathers.  So he compiled a selection from the "Guide to Spiritual Life in Answers to Questions of the Disciples" of the Monks Barsanuphius)and John.  He saw that the Holy Fathers of the past dealt with the same issues as modern zealots of Orthodoxy and indicated practical ways to eradicate passions and accumbration of virtue. Father Seraphim read his translations to the brothers at a meal.

   Excessive feat in the monastery was not allowed so that the novices would not become arrogant and fell into charm, but the usual monastic discipline in the absence of any "conveniences" was a good test of the strength of the novice's spirit.  There were cases when novices left the monastery several times and then returned.  Father Seraphim was worried about them.  In dealing with young novices, Father Seraphim avoided the role of a "godly elder" in every possible way, trying to accustom them to trust and openness in relations with their spiritual father.  He tried to instill in them love for the Holy Fathers and their teachings, and to teach them not to trust their own judgments.

   Chickens, cats, dogs lived in the skete, and the deer from the neighborhood became almost tamed. Father Seraphim especially loved dogs.  He said that all these animals are needed to "remind us of Paradise".

   The monastery gradually grew.  Monastic buildings were given the names of great Russian monasteries.  For example, the cell of Seraphim's father was called "Optina."  In 1974, they erected a chapel in memory of the Holy Royal Martyrs – Tsar Nicholas II and his family.  In the vicinity, they cleared the space for future "sketes," each of which was named after one of the saints: St. Prophet Eliah, St. John the Baptist, St. John The Theologian, Ven. Seraphim of Sarovsky and others.  Initially, it was just cleared glades where you could perform services.  In some places, the foundations of future chapels or cells were laid.  Each skete was marked with an icon fortified on a tree, a wooden cross or an analoi, and litia was performed there on the saint's day of memory.  The names were given to the surrounding mountains and hills: Paisieva Gora, Pokrovskaya Gora, Athos...

   The Lord's and Virgin's feasts were celebrated in poverty, simplicity and with great joy.  Some local customs have also been formed.  For example, the all-night vigil for the Transfiguration was served on the top of the mountain in the open air, and then, in the light of the stars, Father Seraphim shared with the brotherhood his reflections on the transformed Kingdom of Heaven, for which you need to prepare yourself.

   Father Seraphim was already the first to come to church at 5 a.m.  Despite all the circumstances, he firmly stood on the fact that every day it was necessary to perform a full cycle of worship and did not miss a single service.  He tried to ensure that no one from the brotherhood was deprived of service because of everyday work and worries.  If we talk about church singing, Father Seraphim liked Russian church chants the most, especially the ancient banner chants.  The Platinum Fathers strove to ensure that everyone living in the monastery reads and sang on the clergy, and not stood alone in the corner, so that the church prayer was really joint.  And outside of church services, Father Seraphim kept the memory of God, constantly praying Jesus.  It didn't matter whether he worked, went where or rested.  Following the legend of the Optina desert, he adhered to the rule of "five hundred" (prayers), usually performing it at night in his cell.

   Father Seraphim was an ascetic with all his being.  He ate a little, two or three times a day with the brotherhood, resolutely refusing any "convenience"; at the same time, he brought himself up in moderation, so that his feat would be feasible and did not interfere with his daily work.  Father Seraphim's bed was typically monastic: narrow and hard – two knocked down boards, without a mattress.  His cell is a room made of boards, without any insulation.  He heated a small stove with firewood for no more than an hour before going on vacation, and in winter the temperature in the cel dropped below zero by the morning.  In the asceticism of Father Seraphim, one feature was especially surprising: he was not idle for a minute, but he was always busy with some God-pleasing business; he was always afraid that he would not have time to do enough.  He repeated more than once: "You are already late. So run to do the works of God!"

   Father Seraphim probably foresaw his imminent death.  Having turned to doctors in 1980 about kidney stone disease, he learned that he had only one kidney since childhood, and understood that he "lives on borrowed time" by the grace of the Mother of God, who saved him from death in 1961.  Then he was diagnosed with a severe [rare] gastrointestinal disease, but a prayer to the Mother of God brought him back to life.  He never complained of fatigue, did not talk about his death, but mainly took care to publish as much spiritual literature as possible.  Working hard in his modest cell, knocking on the keys of the typewriter by candlelight, Father Seraphim prepared and published an unprecedented number of Orthodox works for our time.  As soon as he had a free minute, he went to the cell, sat down at the table and started working, sometimes interrupting to think about something.  Out of monastic humility, Father Seraphim never signed his works.  It happened that at the meal he translated some patristic work directly from the sheet of the brothers.  The translation would be recorded on a tape recorder and then carefully checked.  Whole books were translated this way: "Instructions to Monks" by St. Theodore the Studite, "The Life of the Elder Anatoly of Optina", "Spiritual Instructions" by Abba Dorotheus, chapters from "Commentary on the New Testament" by Archbishop Averky (Taushev) and others.

   In addition to the "Orthodox Word," published every two months, a full church calendar in English has been published regularly since 1972.  Most of the circulation of the "Orthodox Word" was distributed free of charge – in libraries, distributed to monks and other low-income people.  Since 1965, the lives of Russian new martyrs began to be published in almost every issue.  Father Seraphim said: "The testimonies of martyrs are the most precious gift of Russia to the West."  In 1968, the whole issue of the "Orthodox Word" was dedicated to the martyr Tsar Nicholas II, and there was also an article by Father Seraphim about him.  When making the lives of the new martyrs, they were guided by information from direct eyewitnesses – friends, relatives and spiritual children of those who were tortured by the Soviet power.  Only about 80 people left them their testimonies.  [Today evil presides.  Platina holds the copyrights and will not allow people to have Fr. Seraphim's magazines for any price.]

   IN 1976, the Brotherhood published the book "Blessed Paisius of Velichkovsky" in English, which included his life, teachings, a review of his influence on the subsequent development of monasticism and a full church service to the saint with a canon written by Father Seraphim.  In 1978, a series of books about the cases of Russian ascetics of the XIX century began to be published.  In addition to a large number of individual lives of saints and various articles, Father Seraphim translated and compiled the following works: "Northern Thebaid," "Vita Patrum," the first part of the book of St. Ignatius Bryanchaninov "The Way to Salvation," "The Sin of Adam" by the Monk Simeon the New Theologian, the work of Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky "Dogmatic Theology," "The Apocalypse" by Archbishop Averkiy (Taushev), most of the work "Catacomb Saints of Russia."  [Some out-of-print books are available through private lending libraries. joannahigginbotham@runbox.com]

   In 1976, Father Seraphim's book, which caused a wide response, "Orthodoxy and Religion of the Future," was published.  Being personally familiar with Eastern paganism and seeing its growing popularity even among the Orthodox, Father Seraphim wrote this book, in which he, based on the teachings of the holy fathers, revealed the spiritual seduction of these religions and, based on their own sources, showed that their false spirituality is an attempt to undermine the unity and fullness of Christ's truth.  [Fr. Seraphim also revealed the specific names of the true canonical Churches, which Platina censored from later editions.  joannahigginbotham@runbox.com]

   At the time when Father Seraphim was working on the book, most of the ideas and teachings he considered had not yet manifested themselves in full force, but he forestood that soon these ideas and teachings would pass from the side road to the "main track."  The leading role here is played by the ecumenical movement, which gradually included all Orthodox Churches.  Father Seraphim from the point of view of Orthodoxy and patristic heritage considered all non-Christian cults, as well as the appearance of UFOs and modern "miracles" (invoking spirits, healing, clairvoyance and other misconceptions), showing that all these phenomena are associated with demonic forces and lead a person to destruction.

    Father Seraphim wrote his other book, "The Soul After Death" (1980), in response to attacks against the Orthodox doctrine of the state of the soul after physical death.  At that time, all over the world, people were fond of parapsychological studies of the human soul and its experiences after the death of the body.  There were many books describing the "posthumous experiences" of people who clinically died and then came to life. Father Seraphim denounced modern parapsychology, stating and commenting on the patristic doctrine of the state of the soul after bodily death.  The books "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future" and "Soul After Death" are the most popular in the Orthodox world, as they present for the first time in modern Orthodox literature a large-scale critical analysis from Christian positions of various religious and pseudo-religious, spiritual and pseudo-spiritual currents of our time. 

   Father Seraphim also wrote several articles about the ancient saints of the West, primarily Orthodox Gaul, who have been almost forgotten by modern Christians.  He translated the Lives of the Fathers of St. Gregory of Tours from Latin into English, providing the book with the necessary commentary.  Until the last days of his life, Father Seraphim fulfilled the precepts of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, making his contribution to the great cause of glorifying the Orthodox saints of the West.

               IV. Pastoral age
   In October 1976, Bishop Nektari arrived at the monastery.  He conveyed the will of Metropolitan Filaret, who believed that Father Seraphim needed to be ordained a priest so that he could serve the liturgy and fully meet the spiritual needs of pilgrims visiting the skete.  December 20/January 2, on the day of the memory of St. John of Kronstadt, a monk Seraphim in San Francisco, was ordained a hierodeacon.  On April 11/24, 1977, Bishop Nektarius ordained him a hieromonk.

   When the new burden of the priesthood fell on Fr. Seraphim’s shoulders, the Lord relieved him of the burden of some worldly cares: water was discovered in the monastery and a well was dug, which made life noticeably easier.  The monastery’s missionary work became even more extensive. P arishes with house churches were established in various places, which were under his care.  Father Seraphim began to make missionary journeys to meet the needs of his extensive flock, although this was not easy for him: by nature, he was not sociable.  A solitary thinker, philosopher and writer, he did not want to leave the monastery, since this would force him to abandon writing.  However, he accepted this new life with humility, trying to give his whole soul to people.  He soon found joy in his new calling. He sympathized with the people he served and did not spare himself for the sake of others.

   Father Seraphim tried to give people a spiritual direction, kept extensive correspondence with his spiritual children, with students and those who wanted to decide on their life path and join Orthodoxy.  He advised people not to rush to make decisions of spiritual importance, to hope more in God, not to stop fighting their passions and not to fall into despair when faced with difficulties or temptations.  His teachings reached the essence by small means.  Father Seraphim listened extraordinarily patiently to people, their aspirations, and expressed his views and judgments very restrainedly, spoke humbly and only what was necessary.  He taught people humility and daily struggle with sin and self-love.  Enriched with his own experience of suffering, search and spiritual struggle, Father Seraphim knew when a person needed to be denounced, when to comforted, in whom it was necessary to plant the seed of Christian humility and hope.  The friendly and gentle circumventance, so different from the harshness of his printed word, attracted people to him.  They knew that he felt their pain, because he experienced it himself.

   In 1979, several women who visited the monastery for spiritual needs made the final decision to devote themselves to monastic life.  They managed to buy a plot of land 12 miles from the monastery.  A convent dedicated to Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, glorified a year earlier, was founded there.  And Father Seraphim became the spiritual director of the sisters.  He taught them humility, love, forgiveness, openness.  In their monastery, the sisters also performed a full circle of worship.

   In 1982, on the feast of the Transfiguration, Father Seraphim preached in the open air, under the starry sky.  In this, as it turned out, his last sermon, he told the listeners about the purpose of our earthly path and the future life.  One of the sisters of the skete of St. Ksenia later wrote: "During the All-Night monks, nuns from the skete and guests moved in a procession through the forest with candles and singing festive poems.  The monks went to the Transfiguration skete on the top of Mount St. Herman, and the nuns to the skete of St. Ilia.  The singing was met at the foot of the large cross, which was placed over the gorge.  The sky was starry and clear.  Father Seraphim, dressed in white clothes, gave us a sign to put out the candles.  For a few moments he stood silently, looking into the dark gorge and the starry sky, and then said something like this: "Looking at the greatness of God's creation, we see only the vague outlines of His Heavenly Kingdom, for which we are all created.  We must always remember that our home is in Heaven; we must free ourselves from all the vain and petty passions and worries that bind us to the earth, to the fallen earthly world, which prevent us from remembering our destiny.  How lightly we forget about the meaning of our existence... We live in the end of time.  More and more noticeable are the signs of the antichrist – this whole world is preparing for his reign.  Christians will undergo unheard-of trials of faith and love for Christ.  We will have to hide in a desert like the one we see in front of us.  Of course, in the end they will find us there too.  You need to hide not to save your earthly life, but to buy time and strengthen souls before the last battle.  We need to start right now.  And even when we struggle with petty passions, let's not forget that our true home is not here on earth, but in Heaven.  Therefore, we will work for the sake of our Heavenly House, as the Monk Herman said: "To the stars! To the stars!. '  He finished the sermon and, forgetting about us, continued to look into the starry expanses.  We saw how the mystery of a man was revealed, who had long prepared his soul for eternity and was about to join it."

               V. Rest
  After the Transfiguration, Father Seraphim fell ill and could no longer attend services.  He had been ill before, but he never complained, and it was difficult to determine how ill he was.  The pain did not stop for several days.  It became clear that he needed to be hospitalized.  A very rare and dangerous stomach disease was suspected.  Two operations were performed, but to no avail: Father Seraphim’s condition was hopeless.  He lay in excruciating pain.  One of the brethren or friends kept vigil by his bedside all the time.  The sick man was given the anointing of oil, he was often given communion, but his condition was getting worse.  Father Seraphim could not speak.  After several days, various organs began to fail, and on August 20/September 2, 1982, he died.  He was 48 years old.

   The body of Father Seraphim, dressed in monastic and priestly robes, was placed in a simple wooden coffin before burial in the monastery church.  The Psalter was read day and night.  In the three days that passed from the moment of death to burial, the body did not harden, there were no signs of decay, despite the hot weather.  The skin remained warm, soft and light.  The ascetic's face was smoothed out, shone with calmness and joy and was so beautiful that, contrary to the custom of covering the face of the deceased hieromonk, this was not done. F ather Seraphim lay alive and looked younger than before his death.

   On the day of the funeral, the monastery church was overcrowded.  The funeral was performed by Archbishop Anthony and Bishop Nektariy.  So many people gathered that many had to listen to the service in the church yard.  Bishop Nektariy, seeing Mother Brigid, the abbess of the monastery of Blessed Ksenia, completely crushed by grief, comforted her with the words: "Pray not for Father Seraphim, but to Father Seraphim!"  When the coffin of the ascetic was lowered into the grave and covered with earth, the general sadness was replaced by joy, – without conspiring, everyone sang "Christ has risen from the dead."  A memorial service was held daily for forty days.  On the fortieth day, Bishop Nektary arrived with several priests.  After serving the liturgy and memorial service on the grave, he delivered a sermon to the audience, which he ended with the words: "Father Seraphim was righteous, maybe even a saint." The priest who was translating the sermon into English stumbled, not daring to repeat the last word, and asked for clarification.  Then Vladyka repeated loudly: "Yes! Saint!"  From the grave, everyone gathered after Vladyka went to the temple.  On the threshold of the temple, Bishop Nektary stopped with an incense in his hand and sang the greatness at the top of his voice: "We please you, Venerable Father Seraphim, and honor your holy memory, mentor of the monks and interlocutor of the Angels!."  Monks, priests and pilgrims picked up, and the sadness of separation from Father Seraphim was replaced by bright joy.


GLORIFICATION of St, Seraphim DOWNLOAD FOLDER:
https://app.box.com/s/wzs43z4541zdpwbl5m07g0m2av5qzye7

folder contains:
   Official Biography St. Seraphim Platina original Russian.pdf
   Icon#1 folder of a phone-photo in various formats
   Icon#2 included w/ Bio original.jpg
   Icon#2 included w/ Bio photoshopped.jpg
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/rptsz/prepodobnyj-serafim-zhizneopisanie-i-sluzhba
   Service St. Seraphim Platina.pdf
https://sinod.ruschurchabroad.org/bib_sl%20serafimRouz.pdf
   Synod Meeting 204 Oct 25-26 os.pdf
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/rptsz/2024-16
   Synod Meeting 2024 Nov 6 os.pdf
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/novosti/rptsz/2024-21
   Video of Homily St. Michael's Day.pdf
http://internetsobor.org/index.php/stati/avtorskaya-kolonka/mitropolit-agafangel-ieromonakh-serafim-i-angelskie-sily
   РПЦЗ Иеромонах Серафим и Ангельские силы.mp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvd2r9AnWhE

Please, if you are reading this and can help with translating the Service +/or the Homily, then take this as a sign from heaven that you are being asked to help.  Even if you just give us a summary of the Homily in your own words... If you can put the Church Savonic into Russian alphabet, so I can put it through a machine translator...  Whatever you can do is more than we have now, which is nothing.  Please? or do you know somebody you can ask?
joannahigginbotham@runbox.com

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Optina Elders Leo and Theodore

.Book Review

Keep it simple, and God will not forsake you.
Life and teachings of St. Leo of Optina and St. Theodore of Neamts  
  by Serge Jumati

.

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© Gozalov Books, The Hague, 2022
Publisher Marijcke Tooneman
Telephone: +31703521565
E-mail: gozalovbooks@planet.nl
Website: www.hetsmallepad.nl
Russian edition:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9789079889556

ISBN 9789079889655; 978-90-79889-65-5
English translation of Russian book "Преподобный Лев Оптинсий by Serge Jumati
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9789079889556

Editors: Convent of the Mother of God Portaitssa (caution: MP)
Trazegnies, Belgium, portaitissa@skynet.be;
Gouri Gozalov
Proofreading: Nikoli Bot
Illustrations: NataliKomarovskaya

                                      TABLE OF CONTENTS

           Publisher's Foreward, p. 4  
Ch.  1  Reviving of the Optina Monastery, p. 5  
Ch.  2  Quenchless Spiritual Thirst, p. 11  
Ch.  3  New father superior of the Beloberezhsky monastery, p. 16  
Ch.  4  Schemamonk Theodore, mentor and teacher of father Leo, p. 19  
Ch.  5  Conflicts in the Balaam monastery, p. 26  
Ch.  6  A school of monasticism in the Svirsky monastery, p. 34  
Ch.  7  Spiritual mentor of Optina monastery, p. 42  
Ch.  8  The history of the skete, p. 44 
Ch.  9  Working days in the skete, p. 55  
Ch. 10  Ill-feelings of some laity and Optina monks towards father Leo, p. 64  
Ch. 11  Life and Teaching of Father Leo, p. 77  
Ch. 12  Memories of father Leo by his spiritual children, p. 87  
Ch. 13  The last days of father Leo, p. 96  

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.   Amazon has a preview of pages 4–13 from the kindle version
https://www.amazon.com/simple-forsake-teachings-Optina-Theodore/dp/9079889652?asin=B0BFWRBSFN
  Aside from the two charcoal drawings shown in the Amazon preview, there are two more drawings in the book.  In the paperback the drawings are very small.  It is nice to see the kindle version drawings which can be magnified to show the details.

____________________________

QUOTE from page 77
Elder Leo "forbade his disciples not only to take up the elevated mental prayer, but even to speak about it out of fear that they could become of unsound mind."

     An important thing to keep in mind when reading about the Optina Elders: none of them acquired "prayer of the heart" on their own.  Having an accomplished guide is necessary.  St. Seraphim Rose warns us that there are no guides given to us in our times.  He tells us the Optina elders were the last true elders.  (Almost) any "elder" who comes after Optina days, like in the last 100 years or so, is probably a false elder.  To be on the safe side, do not trust any neo-elders.  The Optina elders already have given us more than we could master in a lifetime — there is no need to go searching for new elders, no reason to give in to "ears itching" for more and more sensational new news.

     False elders can be identified by when you notice a violation of truths we know.  Sometimes you can be read about a certain neo-elder for a long time before you notice something that just does not seem right.  A top clue is when you find out a neo-elder defends the new calendar; then you know he is a false elder.  A prime example is pseudo-elder Ephraim Moraitis who might pretend to be old calendarist at heart, but he abides in the EP.   But there are others who will even go so far as to criticize old calendarists.

    Another "elder," Sophrony Sakharov, supposedly received divine grace before he was even Orthodox.  We know such spiritual fruit is not produced outside the Church.  As Fr. Seraphim taught us in his book Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, Sophrony got his "grace" from demons.  And he brought it into the Church.

     Porphyrios, (book: Wounded By Love), is recognized as a false elder by what he said, "I see through the calamity to appear some very important person of God, who will rally and unite the world for good"   This very important person of God is the Antichrist, so this announcement makes Porphyrios a forerunner of Antichrist.
https://orthochristian.com/58060.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20171101050423/https://orthochristian.com/58060.html

     False elder Paisios is denounced by the GOC.  This is found on their website (Hotca) under the heading: Awareness.  The Greek page is ok, but the English translation link is broken today (2024Dec11).  It's archived here: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20220627152440/http://www.hotca.org/orthodoxy/orthodox-awareness/331-the-reading-is-from-the-false-prophecy-of-paisios 

     If this link is also not working...  email me and tell me to search my computer for "The Reading is from the (False) Prophecy of Paisios."  Also this article can be found in the August 6, 2009 edition of the newspaper «Ελεύθερη Ώρα» (Free Time), the article titled, “Grapsas, Paisios and the Prophecy!”

          Consider too that "Orthodox" cult leaders will use the Jesus prayer to keep their victims in a hypnotic-like state, brainwashed.  Cult members are not allowed to think — any thoughts contrary to the leader are bad thoughts to be pushed out by the Jesus Prayer.  Ephraim Moraitis used this method on good people.  He was destructive to many souls.  Remember Scott Nevins?  The excuses for this are just that: excuses.  Every monastery has critics, but Ephraim has far too many.  And why are they so afraid to come forward?  Etna also has too many. (Beware!)  These people can't all be disobedient, self-willed, whacked out or whatever labels the cult uses to black-ball nonconfirmists who would dare to speak against them.
 
     My spiritual father (Archpriest Gregory in Tennessee, †2016) knew well the danger of practicing the Jesus Prayer.  He did not go so far as to forbid anyone from praying it, but he said he was not qualified to be a guide for that practice, nor for the "revealing of thoughts."  He advised, though, that each prayer be said with seriously and with careful attention. This alone usually prevents trouble, because few people can really hold strict attention for more than 5 or 6 prayers.  After that it starts to get automatic, which is NOT an indication that the prayer "moved into the heart."  And when it gets automatic, it also gets "sing-song," like a tune that you can't get out of your head.  Again, this is not an indication of progress, but rather an indication that you are going in the wrong direction.

   Guidance in these modern times:  St. Seraphim Rose suggests the writings of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov and St. Theophan the Recluse.

 

God Bless the USA Bible

.

God Bless the U.S.A. Bible
GodBlessTheUSABible.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hCvMkPjqw&t=12s
Original video is supposed to be on Trump's "Truth Social," but I could not find that link.
my transcript of video is pasted at the bottom of this post


Thanksgiving Proclamation of George Washington
October 3, 1789 

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor — and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be — That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks — for His kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation — for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war — for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted — for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions — to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually — to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed — to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord — To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us — and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

G Washington
source: world-orthodox blog page https://frted.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/ refers to broken link 
https://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/thanksgiving/transcript.html which can be recovered using archive.org
For the sake of preserving this document, I am including it in this post, at the end.  Please download it.


Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day
Abraham Lincoln
October 3, 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.  To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.  In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.  Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.  Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.  They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people.  I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.   And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln
source:   http://www.classicallibrary.org/lincoln/thanksgiving.htm
  

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Presient Donald Trump:
    I'm proud to be partnering with my very good friend Lee Greenwood, (who doesn't love his song God Bless the USA?) in connection with promoting the God Bless the USA Bible. This Bible is the King James version and also includes our founding Father documents.  Yes, the Constitution, which I'm fighting for every single day, very hard to keep Americans protected. 
     Also, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance are all part of this God Bless the USA Bible. 
     And it's just very important and very important to me.  I want to have a lot of people have it.  You have to have it for your heart, for your soul.  Many of you have never read them and don't know the liberties and rights you have as Americans and how you are being threatened to lose those rights.
     It's happening all the time.  It's a very sad thing that's going on in our country, but we're going to get it turned around.  Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back and we have to bring them back fast.  I think it's one of the biggest problems we have.
     That's why our country is going haywire.  We've lost religion in our country.  All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many.  It's my favorite book.  It's a lot of people's favorite book.  This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America and to make America great again is our religion.  Religion is so important.
     It's so missing, but it's going to come back and it's going to come back strong, just like our country is going to come back strong.  In the end, we do not answer to bureaucrats in Washington.  We answer to God in heaven. Christians are under siege.  We must protect content that is pro-God.  We love God and we have to protect anything that is pro-God.
     We must defend God in the public square and not allow the media or the left wing groups to silence, censor or discriminate against us.  We have to bring Christianity back into our lives and back into what will be again, a great nation.  Our founding fathers did a tremendous thing when they built America on Judeo-Christian values.  Now that foundation is under attack, perhaps as never before.
     What can we do?  Stand up, speak out, and pray that God will bless America again?  I'm proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible.  We must make America pray again,  Pray, get educated, get motivated, and stand with me and the legions of Americans asking God to bless our great nation, to bring our great nation back and to make America great again.
     I'm proud to partner with Lee in this offering is a very special man, both as a talent, but maybe even more so as a human being.  He's very, very special.  And I think you all should get a copy of God Bless the USA Bible now and help spread our Christian values with others.  
     There you have it.
     Let's make America pray again.
     God bless you and God bless the USA.