by Gigi | Joyfully Homegrown | Jun 11, 2020 | Faith, Wisdom of the Saints
I would argue that the most troubling and obvious issue plaguing Christianity today is the fear of death. Coronavirus has ripped cover off that secret. It’s been exposed and there is no hiding this terrible and shameful fact. We, the people of the resurrection are afraid, nay, terrified of inevitable death. Our treasures have been stored here in our temporal life and we shake our fists when an aged person beyond 80 years old dies. “It isn’t fair,” we cry in anger. It is as though we believe that death is a punishment and that earth is heaven.
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by Gigi | Joyfully Homegrown | May 31, 2020 | Philosophy
“The meaning ascribed in popular usage to the word “selfishness” is not merely wrong: it represents a devastating intellectual “package-deal,” which is responsible, more than any other single factor, for the arrested moral development of mankind.
In popular usage, the word “selfishness” is a synonym of evil; the image it conjures is of a murderous brute who tramples over piles of corpses to achieve his own ends, who cares for no living being and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment.
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by Gigi | Joyfully Homegrown | Apr 23, 2020 | Faith
In this new homogony of American ideas, one that is exceptionally perplexing is America’s newfound position of being selflessly “pro-life.” Let me explain…
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by Gigi | Joyfully Homegrown | Apr 19, 2020 | Faith, Motherhood, Wisdom of the Saints
The big hashtag this lent has been #paschainthedesert, and what a desert it’s been. The multitudes of faithful Christians–especially in America–have been without the sacraments. It’s been a difficult journey and time, but my faith has been renewed and invigorated by priests who have so bravely refused to allow the fear of plague to discontinue the Divine Liturgy and giving of our life-giving sacraments to the faithful.
The Church has been tested with fire (1 Corinthians 3:10-23 & Proverbs 17:3). We are being purified.
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by Gigi | Joyfully Homegrown | Apr 17, 2020 | Faith, Wisdom of the Saints
THE FULL TEXT OF THE ELDER EVTHYMIOS’ LETTER (Translation) Posted from: https://orthodoxethos.com/post/the-coronavirus-crisis-letter-from-the-holy-mountain
Epistle by Priestmonk Euthymius, Kapsala, Mount Athos: 4/14/2020
The critical days that we are traversing and the sacredness of the days of Holy Week command rather silence and prayer. Nevertheless, because some opinions were recently circulated under my name on the internet, I shall mention the following so that the truth may be re-establish and harm be avoided. I have never told people to store food because of an impending war, and I have never prophesied the end of the threat of the virus, as some have irresponsibly and falsely diffused.
Also, without my permission they have posted my discussions with inexact and self-contradictory views of mine concerning the coronavirus, which caused questions. My views are clear in what follows. They are completely personal, without any desire of imposing them on others. To the many unbearable problems which men have, the threat of the virus has now been added too, which has ended up a nightmare. People suffer more from their fear, panic, and involuntary reclusion than they do from the virus.
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