[channel] Fr. Joseph in Russia

Icon of St. Seraphim Rose of Platina at Holy Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church in Australia.

St. John Maximovitch's teachings regarding Holy Communion. This is highly recommended! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxM3cU2tMk

"The Greek church has become largely an empty shell that doesn’t represent anything. The patriarch of Constantinople parishes in the US are even worse. Ever try watching any history programs of ecclesiastical teachings filmed by a Greek parish or Goarch? They are all horrible, nearly unwatchable and bereft of the touch of God." - Jim Minter

The Genesis account of the Fourth Day of Crea­tion is very difficult to fit into the usual ideas of the evolution of the universe, because the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers state quite cer­tainly that the sun was created on that Day, after the earth and the plants and the trees were already there. Furthermore, the Fathers say that the sun, the moon and the stars (and all the black holes and what­ever is out there) were all created on the Fourth Day in one instant. God waved His hand and the whole thing came into being, trillions of miles away. Of course, God is bigger than the universe, so why wouldn't He be able to do that? He has no problem. …Nowadays atheist philosophers like to say that the relative size of the earth proves man is but a speck lost in the universe. They say, "The earth is so small, the universe is so big-so obviously the universe is more important than man, and God did not make everything for man." But if you think in terms of what the Fathers say—that the sun was made after the earth had already been there—then it is clear that everything was made for man. -Fr. Seraphim Rose, Genesis Creation, and Early Man, pp. 375-376

In exhorting Christians to attend church for prayer, St. John Chrysostom says: “If someone delivers to subjugated citizens a royal decree, the citizens do not question the life of the messenger, as to whether he is rich or poor or righteous or sinful, but all listen attentively to that which he is reading. If someone has not heard, he asks one who has heard. When you have such great awe of earthly rulers, how much more should you heed us (priests) here, where the Creator of the heavenly powers speaks through us sinners.” Indeed, what is Holy Scripture but a document of the Heavenly King? Why is it that this unique and saving document does not interest us every day and every hour, when the least authority in the country and his trivial orders do interest us? St. Anthony said: “Let everything you do have its justification in Holy Scripture.” But how can you have justification in Holy Scripture if you are not familiar with Holy Scripture? — St. Nikolai Velimirovic, The Prologue of Ohrid, April 24