SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – “Why is it, you ask, that one can pray for so many years with a prayer book, and still not have prayer in his heart? I think the reason is that people only spend a little time lifting themselves up to God when they complete their prayer rule, and in other times, they do not remember God. For example, they finish their morning

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Faith in God! “Everything in this life passes away — only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.” +Blessed Father Seraphim Rose Adult/Family: “So we no longer pursue plainness

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Watch! Stand fast on spiritual watch, because you don’t know when the Lord will call you to Himself. In your earthly life be ready at any moment to give Him an account. Beware that the enemy does not catch you in his nets, that he does not deceive you causing you to fall into temptation. Daily examine your conscience, try the purity of

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Sacrifice for Christ    “To be a friend of the Cross, it is not enough to mark the sign of the Cross in the way the Church has appointed.     From an early age, you got used to automatically joining your first three fingers to make the sign of the Cross.     If you truly want to call yourself a friend of

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – The Spiritual Testament of Saint Seraphim of Vyritsa, Russia (+1949) This is a letter which the Saint sent to his spiritual child, a bishop who was in a Soviet prison at the time, as a consolation and counsel that God the Creator addresses to man’s soul. “…Keep these words. Know and remember – always, wherever you may be – that every

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Experiences During the Divine Liturgy “The Divine Liturgy on earth is a real and live enactment of all that which happens in the Liturgy of Glory of the Jerusalem Above.” Fr. Stephanos Anagnostopoulos Experiences During the Divine Liturgy by Protopresbyter Stephanos Anagnostopoulos is a book which explains about the Divine Liturgy and in addition gives many examples of actual experiences of priests and the

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – The Spiritual Struggle “The devil’s always working against us. Every day he neither sleeps nor drinks. Our struggle is against ‘the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’ This is why we [stand] ‘with the belt of truth fastened about our waist… and the sword of the Spirit, which is

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Ecclesiastical New Year, September 1st   “O Word of the Father from before the ages, Who, being in the form of God, broughtest creation into being out of nothing;  Thou Who hast put the times and seasons in Thine own power: Bless the crown of the year with Thy goodness;  give peace unto Thy churches,  victory unto Thy faithful hierarchs, 

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Words of Encouragement for Orthodox Christians Saint Thaddeus the New Hieromartyr expressed during his persecution and imprisonment how it is a great time to be a Christian: “For us, it is now the Christian era. Not sorrow but joy should fill our souls. Now our souls should open for the exploit and sacrifice. Do not be discouraged. Christ is with us after

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – The True Real Life and the False Imaginary Life “We only call the Lord, God, but in reality we have our own gods, because we do not do the Will of God, but the will and thoughts of our flesh, the will of our heart, of our passions; our gods are – our flesh, pleasures, money, dress, etc. What vanities, what foolish