e-mail: kontakt@ortodoxkristendom.se
in swedish

icon of Christ

www.orthodoxchristendom.nu

Faith, experience and manifestation

 

After a profound spiritual
experience (here) I converted to the

Orthodox Christianity;
the original church.

Afterward I was engaged as a singer for many years
in the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

 

 



The material
is put together
by Simon,
picture from the hermitage
in the Swedish forest

"I am the light which has come into the world" St. John 12:45
"I am the light of the world" St. John 8:12

I have put together some of the holy texts from the Christian tradition and drawn spiritual pictures to some of the prayers of the church, and written texts about how I understand the message of Christ from the New Testament as it was practised by the desert fathers and by hesychasts* in Asia Minor, most of the countries included in the Balkan region, Egypt, Russia, Athos in Greece, and today even in the rest of the world.
I find this possibility the highest offer from Christianity to mankind - to experience one's inner truth and timeless identity. This identity is the same for all beings. Christ indicates Himself - the light in your heart - as your identity, and mean: be who you were baptized to be, be who you in TRUTH and ETERNITY are, and seek this eternal truth in the depth of yourself. "...God created man in His own image..." Genesis 1:27 "God said: 'Let there be light" Genesis 1:3
Lord Jesus said: "You, then, are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." St Matthew 5:48 This perfection is resting and accessible in each one of us individual christians, and is possible to experience, to identify oneself with and to realize; our true being - CHRIST within man.

* Hesychasm - (from the Greek word hesykia - conscious resting in God) Christian orthodox asceticism using the inner, incessant Jesus prayer, "the prayer of the heart", together with particular breathing exercises, to overcome one's lower, self-centred nature and regain identity with God.

Holy father Sergej
of Radonesh,
the national saint
of Holy Russia
(his life, click here)
  Troparion in swedish;

 

To the list of contents


(To print the whole website, click here)

(For better print quality of specific texts and pictures, click on the pictures or crosses:)

 

 

The Birth of Jesus

Common Greek Christmas icon

Christmas Day, the 25th of December, fall in most of the orthodox countries
according to the Julian church calendar on the 7th of January, 13 days later.

The Nativity of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ

The Troparion

"Thy Nativity, O Christ our God,

hath shown forth upon the world the light of wisdom;

for at it those that worshipped the stars were taught, by a star, to adore Thee,

the Sun of Righteousness,

and to know Thee, the Orient from on high.

O Lord, glory to Thee"

 

The Christmas troparion sung in slavonic and swedish;
The kontakion and velitjajem sung in slavonic;

 

 

 

 

“The Orthodox conception of Church is based on the primary idea, that Jesus Christ founded only one and visible Church. He gave it the power to announce His truth to the end of time (…). According to the Orthodox conviction this one Church is just 'the Orthodox Church'. Because it is the very one, which (…) has preserved the unbroken line from the apostles. This Church is according to apostle Paul 'the body of Christ', which has only one authority Lord Jesus Christ Himself. What makes the Church to one unity is the same, true confession to Him and the uniform, sacramental and spiritual life in Him.”
Translation from the Swedish book "Den ortodoxa kyrkan" (the Orthodox Church) by Christoffer Klasson

 

 

“After some time a part of the Christian organization made an addition to the confession (…), and added some other new precepts and usages in Church without first hearing the whole congregation. Instead the bishop in Rome was appointed Pope, who alone was in authority to decide in important doctrines, which concerned the whole Church. In this way a departure from the apostolic principle of solidarity was made. Gradually the gap was enlarged, to the unavoidable separation between the orthodox eastern and the western part of the catholic Christian organization, which had appointed the Pope. The separation was therefore a fact in 1054.”
Translation from the Swedish book “Grekisk-ortodox tro- och livssyn”, literally "Greek orthodox faith and wiev of life" by Tito Colliander

 

 

“The eastern (the Orthodox) Church doesn’t except any additions or renounces from the given form of the contents of the Christian faith; the truth is one and eternal and indivisible. Accordingly must the Church strive to carefully preserve the truth of Christianity and to express it without deviation.”
Translation from the Swedish book “Grekisk-ortodox tro- och livssyn”, literally "Greek orthodox faith and view of life" by Tito Colliander

 

 

“The Orthodoxy lay claim to be global – not exotic or oriental, but simply Christianity. The word 'orthodoxy' has the double meaning 'right faith' and 'right worshipping'. Therefore the claim of the orthodox’ may seem surprisingly high. They consider their Church the Church, which preserves and teaches the true faith in God, worshipping Him in the right way. It’s no less than the Church of Christ on earth.”
Translation from the Swedish version of “The Orthodox Church” by Timothy (Kallistos) Ware

 

 

Teofania

January 19 (6)

The Baptism of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ

Troparion
When in the Jordan Thou wast baptized, O Lord,
the worship of the Trinity was made manifest:
for the voice of the Parent bare witness unto Thee,
calling Thee His beloved Son,
and the Spirit, in the vision of a dove,
confirmed the certainty of the word.
Thou that hast appeared, O Christ our God, and dost enlighten the world,
Glory to Thee.

 

 

The first saint in Sweden

St. Anna of Novgorod

The National saint of Sweden

February 23 (10)

Troparion

"Having shone forth from the West like a star of heavenly radiance,
thou wast vouchsafed to receive the Orthodox Faith;
and having brought forth right glorious fruit for the Russian land therein,
O holy right-believing Princess Anna, thou didst love Christ with all thy heart,
keeping His statutes and laws.
Wherefore, celebrating thy most holy memory today,
through thy supplications we receive remission of sins."

Ingegerd Olofsdotter was born around year 1001; she was daughter to Olof Skötkonung, the first christened Swedish king, who was baptized year 1008. She was married to Grand Duke Jaroslav of Novgorod/Kiev, with whom she gave birth to 10 children. She was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church and given then name St. Anna of Novgorod. St. Anna died year 1050 as Grand Duchess of Kiev. Her day of celebration is the 23rd of February.
There is a small town in Sweden, Eskilstuna, where there is a Swedish Orthodox church called after St. Anna where she is revered as the Swedish national saint.

Further reading:

"Viking Princess, Christian saint", by Rune Edberg, translated by Mrs Theodosia Tomkinson,
published by Sigtuna Museum in Sweden

 

 

3rd Sunday of Great Lent

Adoration of the Holy Cross

 

 

 

 

Russian Easter

 

The resurrection of nature – Life is stronger than death
"Every spring the Russians are witnesses to the resurrection of nature. After half a year of lifeless stillness the life is returning to the Russian country. With victory fanfares the rivers and lakes are breaking the ice, which has kept them captivated for several long months. Grass and flowers can during only one night spring forth on the ground, which has for 1ong been covered with a thick, white mantle; the birds begin to sing, the air is seasoned with scents, and humans and animals are feeling enlivened and as if born again. Life has once again proved to be stronger than death. … Through centuries have in Russia not only a few pious humans, but the nation as a whole prised and thanked God for the Resurrection of Christ. The Easter night’s service is an experience, which has no parallel in the religious life of other countries."
Text translated from the Swedish book "Den Ortodoxa kyrkan", (literally "The Orthodox Church"), by Nicolas Zernov

 

Lent - the time of fasting
"Lent begins in the East on a Sunday night, which is called the Sunday of Forgiveness. After Evensong the priest solemnly asks his parishioners to pardon all his shortcomings and offences, and they in return ask him to forgive them. Then the members of the congregation address a similar request to each other, and the same thing is done afterwards at home. Thus, reconciled with everybody, Christians of the East enter upon the period of fasting and mortification. Lent makes a profound impression upon the life of all Church members; their food is altered, their Church services, music, and vestments are radically changed. The rules of fasting are severe: meat, fish, milk and eggs are forbidden for seven weeks: the services are long and mournful, and include many prostrations. It is a time of purification, and reparation for evils committed in the past.
Eastern Christians choose usually one of the weeks of Lent for what is called in Russian Govenie. There is no corresponding word in English; Govenie means a period of self-examination, prayer and fasting, which ends with confession and communion. A person who starts Govenie I expected to spend his time as in retreat, though he usually remains at home. He attends all the daily services; he fasts rigorously, reads books of spiritual edification, gives alms, and seeks reconciliation with those with whom he has quarrelled. Govenie usually lasts for a week and it involves real bodily privation. The Lenten services take at least five hours a day, and regular attendance means standing or prostrating oneself for the whole of that period. If Holy Week is chosen for Govenie, this involves even longer hours spent in church. The severity of bodily mortification is, however, mitigated by the supreme beauty of the Lenten services, by their unique dramatic quality, and by their musical appeal. Some of the highest achievements of religious poetry and music are found in the hymns of Holy Week, and many of the more lax Christians who only seldom go to church, choose this time, since it is difficult to remain unmoved by the power and beauty of the Lenten worship."

 

"He endured the Crucifictixion,

He hath destroyed death by death"

St John; verses 17-20

 

 

 

Orthodox Easter
"Lent ends abruptly on Easter Eve, the greatest feast of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The midnight service has often been described, for it has no parallel in the experience of other Churches. Matins begins by a procession, which leaves the church, goes round the building and returns singing the triumphant hymn “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tomb bestowing life.” Each worshipper procures beforehand a candle, and as soon as the procession starts the first candle is lit, its bearer then lighting that of his neighbour, and so on until the whole church is a blaze of light and warmth. There is no reading, and everything is sung to what seem almost like dance tunes, and the whole service is full of movements, life and joy. At its close the priest greets each parishioner with the threefold Eastern kiss, and the same greeting is exchanged between the members of the congregation. On their return home the Russian Christians have their Easter meal, with its special dishes served only for that feast.
Easter Sunday is unlike any other day in the year. There is no service in the morning, all ordinary customs and habits are brushed aside, and instead of usual greetings, everyone is welcomed with the words “Christ is risen”, and the Easter kiss is exchanged with everybody that one meets.
Because of the glory bestowed upon human nature by our Lord’s victory over death, Russian Christians do not kneel in church during the period between Easter and Pentecost. Easter is the culminating point of the whole Church’s year; all other Sundays are mere stepping-stones leading up to that unique day, and they are all therefore dedicated to the commemoration of the Resurrection. In fact, the Russian word for Sunday is “Resurrection”."
Text from "The Church of the Eastern Christians" by Nicolas Zernov.

Picture from the book "Kniga o tserkvi" (The book about church), published by Palomnik Moscow -98.

 

“The day of Resurrection!
Let us be illuminated, o ye people!”
“The fest of feasts and the triumph and triumphs – the Holy Easter. The Orthodox churches are filled with worshippers. All are received by the Risen Christ and the Holy Church gives everyone a chance to partake of the great feast of faith.
The entire Earth celebrates and rejoices at the Resurrection of Christ. Everyone who comes to Easter service, seeking the Risen Christ after the manner of the myrrhophores, puts on his best festal garments. Easter the beautiful…
”Now are all things filled with light”. The light of the Holy Easter penetrates the darkness of night and that night itself is called 'radiant'. The light of candles filling the crowded church, the light of quiet paschal joy illuminating the faces of the congregation, the sunshine of the first Easter morning, the glittering vestments of the clergy in the Easter procession…

‘O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?’

Christ is risen,
and life reigneth!

Text from the Moscow Patriarcate Journal

 

 

Troparion

"Christ is risen from the dead

trampling Death by death

and to those in the tombs

He hath granted Life!"

St John; 20:1-24

 

"Voskresenije Tvoje Kriste Spase", "Kristos Voskrese", bird singing, bell ringing and "Angel vopijasje"
in swedish and church slavonic;

 

The Angel cried unto Her Who is full of grace: Rejoice, O Pure Virgin! And again I say: Rejoice! Thy Son is risen from His three days' sojourn in the grave, and hath raised up the dead: Rejoice, O ye people!
Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem! for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; exult now and rejoice O Zion; and Thou O Pure Birth-giver of God, be Thou adorned, in the Resurrection of Him Whom Thou didst bear!

 

 

Ascension into Heaven
40 days after Easter

"And I will send out upon you what was promised by My Father. But you wait here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.'
Then He conducted them out as far as Bethany and, raising His hands, He blessed them. While He blessed them He was parted from them and taken up into heaven. They worshipped Him and went back to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were constantly in the temple, praising God."

St Luke 24:49-53

 

Pentecost
10 days after Ascension into Heaven

 

"If you love Me,
keep My commands,
and I shall ask the Father and He will give you another Helper
to stay with you forever, the Spirit of Truth
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither perceives nor understands Him.
You know Him, for He remains with you and will be within you.
I shall not leave you as orphans; I shall come to you.
In a little while the world no longer see Me; but you will see Me, for I live, and you, too, will live.
In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in you.
He who has my orders and observes them loves Me,
and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father.
I, too, shall love him and show Myself to him.

St John 14:15-21

 

"I am a beam of the light of truth"

 

"Solitaire, not involved with the world,
he is constantly communicating with God alone.
Seing he is seen, loving he is beloved,
light, unspeakable gleaming, he has become."
Simeon the new teologian

 

Newly writter prayer about the putity of the soul through the Holy Spirit;
Release O Lord our suffering world, from the deeds of the darkness,
Let the light of truth shine into all mankind, and preserve the purity of our souls through the Holy Spirit.

 

 



The Jesus prayer;
”Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!”

About sanctification

"Blessed art Thou, O Lord;
teach me Thy statutes.
The Choir of the Saints have found the Fountain of Life
and the door to Paradise.
May I also find the right way,
through repentance and conversion,
I have failed in my life;
Call me, O Saviour, and save me."


”God, how wonderful You are in Your saints.”

These are two texts of many of the hymns of the Orthodox Church. The spiritual meaning of these texts indicates that one who is baptized to Christ by free will and consciously should purify himself from worldly habits and let himself become sanctified. Since the Baptism often is performed 40 days after the birth of the child, it is the godparents duty to make sure that this turning to Christ and identifying with Him is done. The christened child ought to learn listening to the inner, through the Baptism active Christ-identity, and in this way practise to realize God’s will in her life. By man being a true expression of God’s holiness, God can once again recognize His Creation through Christ within man, just like He once created man for His Paradise. This is the only way to be able to pronounce with apostle Paul:


“...nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..." Galatians 2:20


“Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...” St. Matthew 6:33 by letting the searching and listening permeate your everyday life, since “...the kingdom of God is within you” St. Luke 17:21, and one cannot imagine a kingdom of God without the presence of God. So if the kingdom of God is within man there must be a God longing to express Himself through the man every day. This God, through Lord Christ, is the true nature and eternal identity of man.
When this process is accomplished, and the Christian has annihilated his original sin of Adam, for the sake of Lord Christ, he is sanctified. Through the sanctified man this is how it can be done in a wonderful way “...in earth as it is in heaven...” St. Matthew 6:10.
This is how Lord Christ can return to earth individually through each one who does not only believe in Him, but let Him be born (the secret of Advent and Christmas) and realized in his life. God has then become everything in the man, and the man has fulfilled the purpose of life - i.e. God's purpose with man. This way God's image - man himself - has carried out God's dream about the rehabilitation of Paradise on earth.

Résumé;
Man was created in God's image, to be Him alike in every matter. He is born with the original sin of Adam, the first Adam’s disobedience to God, which Lord Jesus Christ removed when He let Himself be born into this world, through His teaching, and by giving His life – for us to convert and become an expression of Him and His holiness.
Everyone who is baptized is baptized to identify himself with and be like Him in every way, and in this manner let oneself be sanctified. When this purification is complete the God is, present in His kingdom in the heart of man, totally uncovered and apparent to the world and man has become a radiant image of God, who is the Life, cause and purpose of the world and all beings.
Someone who has made this renouncement and dedication of his life is called a saint in the Orthodox church - a sanctified human being through whom Lord Christ again can be recognized and revered. “Each one of us is called to be a Saint.”*
The church, times of fasting, asceticism and the Jesus Prayer, the prayer of the heart, are all tools to help us reach this gaol.

*Father Damascene, Russian monk, from “The orthodox Word” no. 221, page 277. Se also “The Saints lives in Christ”, page 262.

 

God said:
...Let there be light, and there was light.

Genesis 1:3


Lord Jesus said:
”I am the Light which has come into the world”

St. John 12:45

”I am the Light of the world...”

St. John 8:12

 

Remembrance as a consequence of your christening;
Christ shines as a radiant light deep inside of me”


This light came fully to expression through Lord Jesus from Nazareth at
”The transfiguration on the mount Tabor”

and at the

"Resurrection"

 

 

The Seven Holy Sacraments (The Mysteries)

Baptism to Christ.
Unction with Chrizm (Confirmation).
Communion.
Penitence.
Holy Orders (Priesthood), only for married men or monks.
Matrimony between woman and man.
Unction with oil (Extreme Unction).

 

 

"Meditations on the Divine Liturgy"

by
Nikolai Gogol

This book is printed by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York.

Holy Trinity Monastery
P.O. Box 36
Jordanville, NY 13361
Tel: (315) 858 0940

monks@telenet.net

(The Divine Lithurgy is written by Johannes Chrysostomos. He was born in Antioch, Asia Minor, and died the 14th of December year 407. He was first working in Antioch in Syria, but in year 398 he became a patriarch in Constantinople.)

Picture from the book "Kniga o tserkvi" (The book about church), published by Palomnik Moscow -98.

First antiphon;

 

 

 

"You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind"
Deuteronomy 6:5, St Mattew 22:37

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
Leviticus 19:18, St Mattew 22:39

 

 

 

 

Holy fathers
Sergej and German
of Valamo monastery, Karelia
Day of celebration; July 11 (June 28)

"Like shining stars You rose above our Northern dark sky.
With the light of faith and sacred struggle, You lit our country and taught us how to pray appropriate to God,
and to listen only for Him, and to serve Him with work and with hymns.

REJOICE, founders of Valamo monastery
REJOICE, fathers of Christ followers
REJOICE, You who preach conversion and improvement in our lives
REJOICE, You who did rise as examples in the struggle against the temptations
REJOICE, You who guide to the secret of God's Kingdom
REJOICE, You counsellors to the presence of Christ
REJOICE, You blessed fathers Sergej and German"

A part of the akatist

 

 

The Mother of God
"Tenderness"

The icon, which Father Serafim prayed, lived and reposed in front of.

 

"We remain created beings but can still come to unity with God, like Christ in His taking shape as a human throughout the incarnation preserved His divine nature. The created and perishable world is filled with God's creating force, like an uncreated and eternal light; the everywhere present God."

 

Holy father Serafim
of Sarov

Days of celebration; August 1 (19 July)
and January 15 (2)

The Troparion

Thou didst love Christ from thy youth, O blessed one
and longing to work for Him alone
thou didst struggle in the wilderness with constant prayer and labour.
With penitent heart and great love for Christ
thou wast favoured by the Mother of God.
Wherefore we cry to thee:
Save us by thy prayers, O Seraphim our righteous Father.

 

Spiritual Instructions of St. Serafim of Sarov - “The light of Christ”
cklick here to read the text

 

 

 

"I shall not leave you as orphans; I shall come to you. In a little while the world no longer see Me; but you will see Me, for I live, and you, too, will live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in you. He who has my orders and observes them loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I, too, shall love him and show Myself to him."
St John 14:18-21

 


Russian icon

 

The Light of God

through

the Transfiguration of Christ

August 19 (6)

This light belongs to the non-created divine reality, but is for those blessed by God something fully possible to experience and literally see, be a part of,
and even become an expression of.


Troparion;

 

 

”THE RADIANT BEAUTY”

"Spiritual beauty as the criterion of truth of the Orthodox Church in
Pavel Florensky’s
' The Pillar and Ground of the Truth”

The spiritual beauty can only accrue to the ascetic*, the one absolutely pure in heart. Only the ascetic can be transparent so that the radiant beauty of the Trinity God can shine through him.”

 

“Why is the asceticism necessary? It removes the veil of the sin, makes the heart pure: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. It restores the human being to her origin as the image of God, radiant with beauty. It makes community with God, and uniting with the whole creation possible, prepares the coming of the Holy Spirit, that crowns the ascetic with beauty.”
“What characterizes, according to Florensky, the beauty itself? ”Beauty, as a certain manifestation or disclosure of that which is objective, is essentially connected with light, for everything is precisely light. (…) Thus if beauty is precisely manifestation and manifestation is precisely light, then I repeat, beauty is light, and light is beauty. Absolute light is absolutely beautiful. It is Love in its perfection (…).”
Florensky, who worked in the Russian religious environment where the hesychasm was common, names it of course as the light of Tabor. It is the light of the Trinity God, The light of Truth, lit in the world with the birth of Jesus.

The whole liturgy and a great number of hymns testify about this, he points out, and adds that the holy liturgy where created by deeply spiritual people with experience of the light of God. The light is in itself beautiful, yet it makes everything illuminated beautiful. The light of Tabor transforms the body of the saint and makes it radiant.”

“From the ascetic the veil caused by sin is removed, so that he is able to see the original, undestroyed, perfect creation – which Florensky calls Sofia** - radiant beautiful. Therefore he loves everything created: the human being and her physical body, the animals, nature and cosmos. He finds himself full of burning love for all living beings, and with an intensive compassion to them, he cannot stand any harm or pain being inflicted on anything created.”

“The pure-hearted man has through asceticism restored the image of God from within, and has become a reflection of the radiant beauty of God.”

“With their radiant beauty the great ascetics, saints and starets reveal the “true church”, the mystery of the life of church.

 

* Asceticism – methodical practising to overcome one’s lower self-centred nature to regain identity with God.

** (Teo) Sofia – (God’s) wisdom.

Extract from a research work of Anna Smidhammar, who also has translated the book “Salt of the earth”, of Pavel Florensky, into Swedish.

 

 

Picture from the book "Kniga o tserkvi" (The book about church), published by Palomnik Moscow -98.

"The Orthodox Church tries to give its members a definite view of life. One can sometimes hear people say it’s passive and ignorant of the world; but that is a misunderstanding of the essence and doctrine (teaching) of the Orthodox Church. The Church doesn’t reject this world – it is in a living way engaged with it, and invite it’s members to take part in the subjects for rejoicing. The priests‘ home life, with their often large families, the large and well-tended estates of the Russian monasteries and convents, and the starets’* awake interest in the actual problems of the people looking for their guidance, the official services including all human life and work, and the blessing the Church gives to all kinds of food except for meat – all these things show how well the Church recognize the goodness of all created and gladly participate in all gifts of life upon earth."
Translation from the Swedish “Den ortodoxa kyrkan” (The Orthodox Church) by Nicolas Zernov

* Starets – Spiritually experienced and conscious guide in spiritual matters.

 

Dear sisters and brothers

in Christ

I have participated in meals in congregations and in monasteries where priests or managers have requested blessings in the name of Lord Jesus Christ over food consisting parts of animals of all sorts. When we today are very well informed about the condition in slaughter-houses, chicken factories and pig farms etc. etc. etc. how can one even think that a merciful and loving Creator and Father of all beings would bless this infernal treatment man gives these innocent and suffering animals for no other reason than keeping up mans lower and sinful character. Man's richest, and from God Himself given, nourishment is to find among vegetables in the wonderful nature, where crops does not just contain everything man needs for his physical life, but is also called "food for health".

One could not imagine slaughter-houses, terrible roaring with agony of death, or the smell of blood in God's Paradise! This kingdom of God that we are invited to seek and manifest first of all, to make it come true we pray "...Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." St. Matthew 6:10. How will this ever happen on earth if we don't let God's will be realized in our lives?

The interest for vegetarian food increases today rapidly among young people defending the rights of animals and man to a worthy life, while many Christians still live as meat-eaters of no other reason than their habit.

There should be two different tables for the social gathering in churches and monasteries, one for vegetarian food, that are to be blessed*, and another table for other food.
The congregations and churches, monasteries and convents should exemplary emphasize reverence for the holiness of all beings and the whole creation and set good examples in compassion, mercy, and righteousness in their following and loving of Lord Jesus Christ.

Kind regards in Christ

from your brother

 

* "...the blessing the Church gives to all kinds of food except for meat..."
Translation form the Swedish "Den ortodoxa kyrkan" (The orthodox Church) by Nicolas Zernov

 

 

The gospel of St. Luke 5

33. And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but Thine eat and drink? And He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. (i.e. eversince the first Easter.)

 

 

To read "Junk food for the soul", an article by archbishop Lazar Puhalo, click here

 

 

 

Protection of the Mother of God
everywhere invisibly present

"Let us with hymns (and by a righteous and worthy life) praise the Mother of God and the Mother of Light."

Day of celebration; October 14 (1)

 

 

"Behold the life of innocent Adam in Eden"
Holy Pavel of Obnora in peaceful company with the wild animals in the forest.

 

"Isac the Syrier says, that the human heart must burn with such compassion for the whole creation, that it is ready to break at the sight of suffering of the smallest animal. When the hearts of all human beings are like that God’s creation will be restored.Wild animals approaching holy hermits, licking their hands and showing them their confidence indicates this saying. Isac explains these situations with a fragrance sent forth from such a man, the same divine fragrance as Adam in Paradise sent forth before the Fall of man."

 

 

 

The instruction
of starets Paisij Velitchkovsky, that monks should not eat meat

(This should include all who are baptized to Christ, who are invited to live the holy life of Paradise through Christ. (Our remark)

St. Paisij Velitchkovsky,
Put together and translated Philokalia into the Slavonic language

Day of celebration; Novmber 28 (15)

Troparion;
O Paisij, the joy of Russia, the boast of Athos and the wonder of Moldavia, by thy divinely inspired teaching, thou dost direct us to the found of wisdom and salvation. And now enjoying in heaven the vision of Christ God, entreat Him to grant us His great mercy, and save our souls.

"Starets Paisij sent his disciples from Secu to Bucharest in order to study the Greek language. To two such disciples...the elder wrote a letter of warning because they were being persuaded, with the blessing of a bishop, to eat meat. The elder wrote to them thus:

'It seems to me that, in accordance with the correct understanding and ordinance of the Holy Orthodox Church, one should not obey even an Angel in this matter. After the Flood the Lord, because of human weakness, permitted the eating of meat, but the order of monastic life corresponds to the life in Paradise, where there was no eating of meat. And although at the beginning of monastic life there was in places a falling away from this order, especially in large cities, nevertheless St. Sabbas the Sanctified confirmed the non-eating of meat; and such become the general order in all lands. Therefore, one cannot say that the non-eating of meat is only a local custom; and this cannot be left to the free choice of everyone, and it is not true that abstaining from meat harms the health. One should not be put under constraint by those who eat meat, but one must please God rather than men; and those who tempt you, when they see your firmness, will themselves praise you.' The Elder referred his disciples to the work of the Elder Basil of Merlopolyany on the monastic tradition of not eating meat,* and reminded them that the brethren of the monastery and the desert-dwellers would be scandalized and grieved if they knew that these brothers had begun to eat meat.**"

 

"* Slavonic text of this work in the Optina Life of Blessed Paisij, pp. 134-157.

** This paragraph is from Chetverikov, vol. II, pp. 45-46."

Text from "Little Russian Philokalia, vol. IV: St Paisij Velitchkovsky", page 145.

“You, then, are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect

St. Matthew 5:48

 

Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..."

1:27 "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."

1:29 "And God said; 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

For further information about the significance of food in one's spiritual life, click here

 

Book recommendation:

"Animals and Man - A state of blessedness"
and
"Animals Sanctified: A Spiritual Journey."

both by Joanne Stefanatos D.V.M.

Order from: St. Paisius Abbey, P.O. Box 130, Forestville, CA 95436

 

"Vildåsnan" - Christian vegetarian organization in Sweden
www.vildasnan.se

 

When did we loose our compassion and respect for animals? Text by Simon Andersson
click here to download pdf-file

 

Stephanie's blog
http://www.everydaysynergy.blogspot.com

 


 


 

 


My prayer
becomes credible
when the words
coming from my mouth
is the same as the life
I live in the presence of God
in relation to human beings,
animals and nature;
the holy creation of God

To live without hurting.
To live with compassion
sympathy and respect
for everything created,

through Christ;
the emanation of God,
our Lord.

Simon


 

Genesis

1:27 "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female ceated He them."

 

Leviticus

19:2 "...Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy."

 

Leviticus

20:7 "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord which sanctify you."

 

Leviticus

20:26 "And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine."

Ephesians

4:24 "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

St. Mattew

5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

 

 

In Christ

dear brothers and sisters

Letter in time of fasting

About God as Love and as devouring fire

and about egocentric sexuality, perversion, and abnormity

Click here
Se also article below

 

 

"The Russian patriarchate breaks the relation
with the Swedish Lutheran church"

"MOSCOW (27th Dec. 2005 Interfax) The Moscow patriarchate has broken the relation with the Swedish Lutheran church, since it decided to adopt a ceremony for blessing homosexual couples.

'We have with great disappointment and sadness received the news that the Swedish Lutheran church does not oppose so-called homosexual marriage, but has even decided to adopt an official blessing ceremony', said the holy synod of the Russian Orthodox church in a pronouncement at its conference in Moscow today.

The members of the synod consider the decision of the Swedish Lutheran church to be contrary to the apprehension about family and marriage of the Bible 'and the testimony of the holy Scriptures leave us without doubts that homosexuality is comprehended as sinful and delusion', as it is said in the pronouncement.

'The Christian church has always considered the marriage between man and woman as a sacrament, while it is a union that gives rise to new life', as one can read in the declaration.

The attempt to interrupt this tradition 'and present the distortion as a norm' is 'an open resistance to God’s will, offence to the order of the holy Scriptures and the old church’s traditions', as one can read in the declaration.

The acceptance of homosexual marriages is a serious destruction of the system for European spiritual and moral values 'formed with influence by Christianity', says the declaration. 'This kind of modern ideas undermine the moral ground of the Europe civilisation and inflict irreparable harm on its spiritual influence with the world', is there to read in the declaration."

Translation from a Swedish Orthodox magazine “Ortodox tidning”, no 2, 2006, p. 28.

 

Picture from a Swedish Orthodox magazine "Ortodox tidning".

 

 

"The difference between

life and death,

the present and eternity

heaven and earth

come to an end in Christ.

God becomes physical,

man becomes divine.

The opportunity is given man

not just spiritually

but fully physical

to become irradiated,

as a person

to be absorbed in the Light."

Tito Colliander

 

Blessing of the priest, from the orthodox book of prayers


"Christ, the true Light, who enlights and sanctifies every person coming into the world,
let the light of Your face shine on us, so that we can see the unattainable light, and lead our steps so that we can fulfil your statues, through Your most pure and blessed Mother and through all the saint's prayers."


Amen

"In Your light, we see light"

 

List of contents;

 

 

 

 

Pictures from the hermitage,

where we did return frequently from the "the world"
during the period when we lived in the big city
to live in stillness, meditation, reflection and fasting
- govenie

Since then we have moved to our permanent heremitage in the middle of Sweden,
see picture at the bottom of the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"...the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it..."

 

 

 

Our friends in Christ

Natalia, Nikolaj and Andreas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We give thanks to God for everything!

 

St. Mattew 16:28

"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death,
till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom."

 

St. Luke 17:20-21

"And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God
should come, He answered them and said 'The kingdom of God
cometh not with observation,
Neither shall they say, Lo here!, or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom
of God is within you."

 

St. Mark 10:15

"I assure you, whoever fails to recieve the kingdom of God like a little child,
will not enter it at all."

 

 

 

My soul,  my soul arise, why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near...
(Kontakion of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete)

 

"It is later than you think" Serafim Roose

 

 

 

 

A church model.

 

 

 

Day in commemoration of the enlighters of the Karelia land
Greetings in Christ from the new heremitage -07
where we moved for permanently living

 

Trishagion;

 

 

 

The construction is continuing
through the blessing of The Lord
for the enlightenment and happiness of men

Pictures from year 2009

 
   

 

1. Church model for the heremitage.
2. The place for the church, picture montage.
3. Simon and Nikolaj is cutting down wood for the church building.
4, 5, 7. Cottage is being built for govenie; stillness, meditation, inner prayer and reflection.
6. Hilding-Emanuel is helping with hammer and nail.
8. Anna is working in the garden.
9. Nikolaj, Natalia and Andreas on recreation trip in the canoe.
10. Nikolaj is getting down some flowers for tea (quite high above the ground).
11. Natalia in the eremitage. Where the cross is placed, the church will hopefully be built.
12. A new member of the family, Signe-Elina, born on July 12th 2009.
13. November 2009, the cottage for govenie is prepared for silence, meditation and inner prayer.

 

Donations for the building of the church is gratefully accepted, contact through e-mail:

nikolajochnatalia@yahoo.se

 

The Baptism to Christ

Signe-Elina was baptised by father Vladimir from the Russian Orthodox church

the 15th of September 2009

after the Russian Grand Duchess Olga Elena from Pskov

 

Signe-Elina in Godmother's arms
The Baptism
Mother and daughther

 

"All who are baptized to Christ
are dressed in Christ"

 

 

To see pictures from the work with building the church

and the consecration, click here.

To see a film from the consecration, click on part 1 and part 2.

 

Year 2011.

 

 

Humbly we want to announce the decease of Simon

on the 8th of December

 

 

 

Simon's last words:

"Never leave your faith in God,

no matter how despairing the silence can be."