#orthodoxia

the hearts of men

“For the love of money is a root of all evils.”

(First Epistle to Timothy 6:10)

Root, he says, of all evils is the love of money, because it neither leaves the living unharmed and undisturbed, nor even the dead; for the frenzy of avarice drives some even to open graves and strip the remains of the dead. Avarice incites sons against their parents and brothers against their brothers; it leads people even to steal what belongs to God—that is, offerings dedicated to Him—and makes them sacrilegious. Remove avarice from the world, and surely there would remain among men neither war, nor enmity, nor even fornication; for it is for money that the wars of kings are waged, for money that most human hostilities erupt, and for money that acts of prostitution occur, since even the prostitute betrays herself in order to gain money.

“Which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith.”

(First Epistle to Timothy 6:10)

Avarice, he says, blinds the mind and does not allow it to see the path of truth, as it turns its noetic eyes toward itself. For how will the lover of money believe in the Gospel, which legislates poverty? Certainly he will not. From this saying it is also inferred that a wicked and corrupt life gives birth to corrupt doctrines and renders people unbelieving…

“And pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

(First Epistle to Timothy 6:10)

The lovers of money, he says, have transfixed themselves with pains and many griefs; for even in this life, how they lament, how they mourn and weep, all merely to gather wealth! And rightly did the Apostle say “pierced themselves through,” because the cares of wealth are like thorns: from whichever side one grasps them, they wound the hands, make them bleed, and cause great pain in the heart. Therefore the Lord also, in the parable of the sower, likened the cares of life to thorns, when He said: “And that which fell among thorns—these are they who have heard, and as they go on their way are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (Luke 8:14).

(St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite, Interpretation of the Fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, Vol. II, First Timothy, Chapter 6, Verse 10, pp. 594–596)

DISCOURSE THIRTY

{Excerpts}

On love, hope, and faith

(On the bond of the virtuous triad of virtues)

He who wishes to speak about love is like one attempting to speak about God Himself. Yet discourse about God is perilous and dangerous for those who are not attentive. Of love, the Angels know how to speak—but even they do so according to the measure of their divine illumination. Love is God; and whoever tries to define God resembles a blind man counting grains of sand in the abyss.

Love, as to its quality, is a likeness to God—as far as this is possible for human beings. As to its activity, it is the intoxication of the soul. As to its properties, it is a fountain of faith, an abyss of patience, a sea of humility.

Love is chiefly the casting away of every hostile and contrary thought, since “love thinks no evil” (1 Cor. 13:5). Love, dispassion, and adoption differ only in name. As energy is one with light, fire, and flame, so you should understand it to be with these.

To the extent that love is lacking, to that extent fear is present. For he who is without fear is either filled with love or is spiritually dead.

Blessed is he who has acquired such longing for God as a mad lover has for his beloved.

Blessed is he who shows as much zeal for virtues as jealous spouses show in guarding their wives.

The true lover continually brings to mind the face of the beloved and embraces it inwardly with delight. Such a one cannot find rest even in sleep, but even there sees the desired face and converses with it. As it happens in bodily love, so it happens also with those who, though in the body, are bodiless (and practice spiritual love).

Love grants the grace of prophecy; love bestows the power of miracles; love is the abyss of divine illumination; love is the fountain of divine fire—the more it gushes forth, the more it inflames the one who thirsts. Love is the stability and firm foundation of the Angels, the eternal progress of all God’s elect.

“And I hasten to learn how Jacob saw you upon the top of the ladder. I ask to understand that ascent. Tell me, what was the manner and the arrangement of its steps? Of the steps of that ascent which your lover set in his mind and heart to undertake?”

And she—though I consider it better to say He—the queen, as if bending down from heaven, spoke into the ears of my soul:

“If, O lover, you are not freed from the heaviness of the body, you will not be able to know the beauty of my face. Let the ladder teach you the spiritual structure of the individual virtues. At the summit of this ladder I am established, as my great initiate (the Apostle Paul) has said:

‘Now abide these three: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love’ (1 Cor. 13:13).”

I love this fucker

Nichest fandom ever btw (not guchiry, where this oc is from)

so i tried drawing that cool thing they do in the comics where eggman is obscured by shadows but you can still see his face, and i used a frame from orthodxia as a reference image for the pose

so when i was doing the background i thought it'd be cool to use stained glass.

+++🙏🏻God Bless🕊️+++

The Prophet Habakkuk

MEMORIAL DAY DECEMBER 15

Commemorating Your Prophet Habakkuk, O Lord, and invoking him, we beseech You: "Save our souls!"