The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy because the Lord bears witness to nothing other than Himself and the inner principles of His creation (Jn 5:30-32). Whatever God tells us is trustworthy, whatever He promises will come to pass. God’s testimony is so reliable, He grants wisdom even to children, since it confirms them in their faith and belief.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
The truth is that afflictions are not a sign of God’s absence or abandonment but rather of His presence.
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Afflictions are like the kneading of dough in the making of bread. They are the preparations for the mystical marriage, and without them the soul is left uniformed, cold and alone.
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It is affliction alone that can tear us away from our isolated, individual existence and transform us into something much more whole and open.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
In the end, this is not the agony of man trying to find God, but the agony of God trying to find man; it is the pain of God running in love to those that abandoned Him, that were cut off from Him, that forgot about Him, that despised and rejected Him.
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Until the lost shall be found, until the finite be united with the Infinite, God will be in agony
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
The eternity of God stands in stark contrast to the fleeting nature of human existence. Human life is of limited duration, but the mercy of the Lord is from age to age.
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God’s love is eternal because God is eternal, and God is love.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
You can deny God, but you can not hide from him. If you fail to see the glory of God, it is not because God refuses to reveal Himself to you, but because you are unwilling to receive His warmth and light.
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You fail to see because you fail to look. But though you close your eyes to God, His light continues to shine on you.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
That the Lord’s teaching converts souls means that it has the power to transform life itself,
for the soul is the principal of life within us.
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Thus it was by his words alone Christ gave sight to the blind, raised paralytics up from their beds (Matthew 9:5 & John 5:8),
and commanded a dead man to rise from his tomb (Jn 11:39-44).
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In this way, the power of conversion ascribed to the law of God includes the power of raising fallen man from the dead,
restoring him to life, physically and spiritually, for it is the power of God Himself
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
Psalms and the Life of Faith
To bless another person means to speak well of him or to wish or to pray that he might receive something good.
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With respect to God, however, to bless means to praise and glorify Him.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
This is the silent descent of God, His descent from the heavens into our hearts.
+ Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
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Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”
Luke 2:8-14
“The same, true Son of God, Who was timelessly born before the Morning-star, now undergoes a second birth in time. What is the Morning-star?
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It is the light that heralds the dawn.
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Before the appearance of the stars, before the creation of the world, before the beginning of time itself, the Son was begotten timelessly, eternally, everlastingly from the womb of God the Father.”
+ Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
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Just days before the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all things are in hushed preparation for the mystery of the Incarnation. Are we?
You 
The word saints means holy ones and reminds us not only of the saints but also of God’s holy angels. Like the angels the saints reveal the divinity of God
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The power, holiness and love of God are manifested in the splendor of the saints. Every Saint in his or her own way, reveals Christ. Every saint increases and augments the glory of Christ
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It is not possible to understand the glory of Christ apart from the glory of His saints
+ elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
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