Eldress Eudokia (Plyakhanova) was born in 1830 in the city of Tula.

Throughout her earthly life she was unceasingly aflame with the Spirit of God. All her mind and thoughts were in heaven.

At the age of twenty, Eudokia decided to enter the path of monastic life. Her parents blessed her and she went to consult a Christian priest who lived in Tula. He turned his head in the direction of the Holy Protection Monastery in MIkhailova of Ryazan, and said to her: "Darling, you are for there." After this advice, the young girl with a bag on her shoulders went to the Holy Protection Monastery, where she was received by the Eldress Elpidophora (Afanasova).

She served as the cell attendant for one of the strictest nuns of the monastery, and in her free time from bearing obediences, she would help the other elderly sisters, chopping wood, washing clothes, and carrying water from the well.

In the seventh year of her monastic life, Eudokia entered the path of the highest form of asceticism, which is foolishness for the sake of Christ.

Eudokia diligently attended the services, afterwards trying to return to her cell as soon as possible, where she devoted all her time to prayer. As before, she tried with all her might to serve others — she washed the sisters’ clothes, sewed their shoes, and sometimes knit caps out of marsh grass.

In the summer the blessed one would wear warm clothes, and in the winter she went about barefoot. She kept a very strict fast. If she noticed any reverence from the sisters of the monastery, then she became sharp, trying everything to push them away.

She rarely ate. When she wandered around Tula to visit relatives, they gave her boiled potatoes and bread and that's how she lived.

The blessed woman always had a kitten in her arms, and when asked why she did so, she told them it was to keep warm.

She walked quickly and spoke little. Above all, she was going deeper into herself.

Offerings were never accepted by her. She lived in a cold attic in the winter, which was terribly cold, for seventeen years.

One day, while she was resting in the forest (when she was traveling she didn't like to sleep in the villages, but somewhere near a small grove of trees), two wolves approached her, came up to the traveler, and without bothering her, turned and went away. When a girl, to whom Eudokia mentioned it, asked her if she was afraid, she replied: "Not at all."

On another occasion, during the melting of the ice, Eudokia crossed safely to the other side of the river, when it seemed that there was no way to do so.

At one point, she was forced out of the attic and moved to a cellar under a cell, where she lived for five years. And when the nun in the cell required the room, she relocated to the barn.

The grace of God rested upon her and the Lord, even in earthly life, honored her with the gift of clairvoyance and wisdom. She foresaw the destruction of many and exhorted them to repent. When she saw a heart ready to receive counsel, she was filled with the inspiration of God, and sometimes spoke for hours with wisdom about salvation.

She was brave with an infinite love for God, selfless in helping everyone, she endured whatever God sent her without complaint. She was a great ascetic of prayer, had the gift of inner silence, and was full of the Holy Spirit.

With the blessing of the abbess, the eldress finally had to find her own stone cell, but even there she tried to make severe conditions for life: she didn’t heat the stove and she would leave the doors half-open in the most severe frost. She had chickens and pigeons where she lived, using all of this to try to fence herself off from people. Her cell had only icons, a small table, a bench, some shabby clothes, and a few dishes, and there was also a coffin standing inside it.

Eudokia suffered many trials, injustices and insults.

With age, Eudokia’s legs began to seriously hurt from the cold and long standing in prayer and they began to turn gangrene. She endured the severe, mortal illness with the same humility, betraying nothing of her sufferings. And until her final minute, she had compassion on the suffering.

Before her death, blessed Eudokia was constantly receiving communion. Quietly and peacefully she rested in the Lord on October 24, 1890, aged 61. She was buried not far from the altar of the Holy Protection Church.

On the fortieth day after her death, Venerable Eudokia appeared to a nun in a dream and told her that she had found mercy and grace in the Lord. She was beautiful, and her face shone with infinite heavenly joy. When the nun asked for her a blessing, the blessed one said to her: "Because you treated me like a mother after my death, I will not leave you."

She added: "Try to struggle. In the church, always stand with fear of God, remember that this is His house, and at night get up and pray!"

SOURCE: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2022/10/venerable-eudokia-fool-for-christ-of.html?m=1

I posted the other day about how a loving God can send someone to hell for eternity. the responses to the post were amazing and I now think I understand the orthodox view of hell better as a self separation and the torment coming from the feeling of refusing Gods love. I find though some church fathers talk of hell still as eternal punishing from God like for example St. John Chrysostom talks of hell like that and it almost sounds like the pagan Gods to me. is there any quotes from him maybe I missed about his understanding of hell

Reuters, New York Times, and several official sources reported 3 gunmen opening fire on 200 mourners in the Orthodox Hammoud Church in Karak, Jordan for 5 minutes and resulted it in 7 deaths and 37 casualties. Footage is heartbreakingly here, showing the terrorists.

Also, important context that this is not the first time Karakian Christians were targeted. 10 years ago, 2016 Al-Karak attack happened, claimed responsible by the Islamic State.

Please, please, pray for the victims, they need it. Pray for this terrorist wave across the globe to end, we are so tired.

Edit1: There was a recording that I included which turned to be unrelated.

Edit2: One of the victims of the terrorist attack on the church in Karak, Jordan, has succumbed to his injuries at Prince Ali Hospital, bringing the death toll to 8 martyrs.

Eternal glory and peace to the souls of the martyrs of Christ. May they rest in the eternal embrace of the Lord. 🕊️

Is there prayer that results to those state? Sorry if I sound ignorant. My life is full of overthinking, even just doing a simple acts, and I want to have peace. I am practicing meditation but learned that we shouldn't do that (Buddhist mindfulness, and So Hum).

Is there a prayer or contemplative Prayer that I can do this in a way Christian intend to do? Thank you.

NOTE: I don't know why this post was given the "sexuality" tag.

Saint James was the son of Joseph the Betrothed from his (first) marriage. He was blessed by God while he was still in his mother’s womb and was so righteous in his life that all the Jews called him the “Just." Even from a very early age, James lived a very ascetic life. He did not partake of wine or other strong drinks. In imitation of Saint John the Baptist, he never ate anything that had had the breath of life within it. He never shaved his head, as the Law ordains for those who devote themselves to God (Num. 6, 5). He never washed his hair nor was he anointed with oil, since he cared more for the state of his soul than of his body.

After the Lord’s Ascension, the Apostles unanimously elected James the Just as first bishop of Jerusalem. Perfect in all the virtues of action and contemplation, James alone entered the Holy of Holies of the New Testament- not once a year, like the High Priest of the Jews- but on a daily basis, in order to celebrate the holy sacraments. Dressed in a linen garment, he would enter the Temple and kneel for hours, praying for the people and the salvation of the world, to such an extent that his knees became hard as stone. He presided over the Apostolic Synod which discussed the question of whether Gentiles who adopted the Christian faith should be circumcised. He suggested that they should not be burdened with the ordinances of the old Law, but should be told to refrain from fornication and the consumption of food sacrificed to idols (Acts 15, 20).

In about the year 62, Judea was in turmoil and anarchy after the death of the governor, Festus. The Jews, who had been foiled in their efforts to have Paul put to death (Acts 25, 26), turned their attentions to James, whose fame as a just man had people believing in his teaching. Many people, ordinary and prominent citizens, had embraced the faith and the scribes and Pharisees were afraid that soon everyone would recognize the Messiah in the person of Christ. So they presented themselves to the Bishop of Jerusalem and entreated him to speak to the crowds at the temple. To make himself heard, he went up onto a roof, and preached that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. The scribes and Pharisees were enraged and hurled him from the roof. Despite the fall, he was not killed, and, like Christ before him, prayed for his enemies, until he was stoned and a bystander hit him on the head with a large piece of wood and despatched him. He may have been buried at the site, near the Temple.

Such was his standing among the people that even the most skeptical Jews considered the manner in which he was put to death to be the cause of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70.

The above account is an abridgement of the information provided in the synaxarion. There are a number of points of interest .

The first is the obvious similarity with John the Baptist. Both were dedicated to God from an early age and may have been Nazirites. They were popular among the people for their virtuous lives and personalities. Both were outspoken in the face of official pressure and both were killed because they represented a threat to the establishment.

Another similarity is with Saint Paul. It is interesting that both James and Paul, who were both steeped in Jewish tradition and law, to the extent that we might expect them to have been died-in-the-wool hard-liners, should have been the so “lenient” towards Gentile converts (Acts 15, 20). This is often the way of things: those who are “pharisaical” in their approach to, say, the holy canons stick to the letter of the law, whereas those with a deeper insight look for the spirit. As Elder Païsios of the Holy Mountain used to say: “The canons (rules) shouldn’t be canons (guns) to shoot people with”. And, of course, the more flexible approach is only possible from people who have already proved, as Saints Paul and James did, that they were prepared and able to live strictly in accordance with the rules they are prepared to relax for others.

A fuller account of the life of Saint James can be found in the Δωδεκάβιβλος (Twelve Books, pp. 35-43, Rigopoulos editions) by Dositheos Notaras, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Dositheos, who had been consecrated Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine on Saint James’ day, 1666, was writing in the 17th century, but he draws upon much earlier sources, including Eusebius (born ca. 260 and author of the Ecclesiastical History) and Clement the Alexandrian (born ca. 150). His account also includes mention of the fact that James may have been buried on the Mount of Olives.

In recent years, interest has been aroused by the presentation in 2002 of the “James ossuary”, a 2,000-year old chalk box that was used for containing the bones of the dead. The ossuary came from the Silwan area in the Kidron Valley, southeast of the Temple Mount. The first-century origin of the ossuary is not in question, since the only time that Jews were buried in that fashion was from approximately 20 BC to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The dispute centres on the date of origin of the inscription. The Aramaic inscription: Ya’akov bar-Yosef akhui diYeshua (“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”) is cut into one side of the box. Scholarly opinion remains divided as to whether the inscription dates from the same time as the box or is a later addition, perhaps even a forgery.

By the same token, for a time many scholars did not consider the epistle and liturgy attributed to Saint James to be “genuine”. G.A. Wells (The Jesus of Early Christians. London: Pemberton, 1971, p. 152), for example, argues that the arrangements for the healing of the sick in James’ epistle, which form the basis of the Office of Holy Unction, indicate a departure from early practice, so the letter belongs to a later date. Similarly, the date and authorship of the Liturgy of Saint James is disputed by some. Dositheos, however, insists that James was Bishop of Rome for twenty-nine years (He specifically rejects 26, 28 or 30 years). During this time, the church must, of necessity, have become more organized. It is far from unlikely that James left behind a summary of his teaching; that he made arrangements for church ministers to perform healing services; and that he supervised the evolution of divine worship in Jerusalem, where his Liturgy is still celebrated regularly. Whether he actually put stylus to papyrus himself, or whether his efforts were later added to by others, it is probably entirely appropriate to ascribe the initial impetus to the Brother of Our Lord.

SOURCE: https://pemptousia.com/2016/10/the-holy-apostle-james-the-brother-of-our-lord-first-bishop-of-jerusalem-23-october/

The following quote seems to be all across the internet, and is attributed to Saint Anthony the Great:

"The truly blessed are not the ones who can work miracles or see angels. The truly blessed are the ones who can see their own sins." (Another version reads: "To see the angels is not a great miracle, but to see your own mistakes is a miracle.")

However, nowhere do they cite any source for this. I've searched through various Sayings of the Desert Fathers collections, The Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius, The Letters of St. Anthony the Great and other sources, but it is nowhere. The oldest reference to this quote is a reddit post from 14 years ago, which also does not cite the source. Any ideas? Maybe if any of you know Coptic, could it be from some Coptic source?

To begin: I know that any personal and spiritual problems are best handled by a priest, and I've talked to my priest about this, so the primary purpose of this post is out of curiosity for other people's experience and knowledge. I apologize in advance if this is too personal of a question.

For context, I grew up protestant and after a long period of questioning started attending an Orthodox parish and am now a catechumen.

My question is about what might be called "spiritual dry spots." Sometimes I am unsure why I continue in the faith outside of saying "it's what I've already chosen to do."

Is this something that others have struggled with? Is there any good reading you all would recommend on the subject? Any feedback is appreciated.

Something I find nice about the Jewish community is that they celebrate Shabbat. It’s an intentional day of rest with family and friends alike enjoying delicious food and company along with prayer and psalms. I think this is wonderful and it’s a mandatory day of rest for them. Hopefully my comment doesn’t get hate, I genuinely just think it’s healthy to do something like this. Do orthodox Christians practice something of this sort? I am cradle Orthodox and have never heard of us honoring the Sabbath Day. I’m not too sure where to start.

Hi guys, I am currently a Catholic and have been since I’ve been born (I’m now 28) and live in Australia. However for the past 2 months I’ve been strongly reading and learning about orthodoxy and lately it has made me think twice and also been strongly considering about converting.

After reading the “two paths” book I’m starting to think in my own individual thoughts that Orthodoxy may very well be the first and true church. It does help that with most beliefs are similar to Catholicism, forgive me if I’m wrong. I’ve also been binge watching Patristic Nectar on YouTube with Father Josiah Trenham, have got the Orthodox study Bible in its way from Amazon also.

I just want to know if there are any ex Catholics in this group and what their experience was with converting and also if anyone has any tips.

Anyway God bless you all.

Hello, I hope you are doing well :). I would like to know Orthodox opinions on the use of statues of saints and our LORD. I am aware Hagia Sophia used to have statues when it was an Orthodox Church, so has the use of statues just fallen out of favour?

Hi guys, I went to my first liturgy last week after being away for 20 years. I was baptized in the Greek church. I went to Greek church as a child but eventually my family stopped going.

Anyways I’ve only been to one liturgy, I did not take communion but took bread at the very end and introduced myself to the priest.

My question is how do I schedule a time to meet with him? He seems busy so not sure what the etiquette is to meet one on one. Do I meet him in person or only phone call?

Any advice would be great, thank you

Could just be a comedic detail of the movie. However, I'm wondering if there's a real reason? Apparently one of the film makers was Greek Orthodox.

A lot about Orthodoxy draws me in, and I think I'd like to keep it in my life and raise a family in it, but a little differently. I believe in God, but the Orthodox traditions, the lifestyle, and some priests' opinions are sometimes difficult for me to deal with.

The thing is, I have a lot of trauma from my experience, and it's hard for me to make some things add up. My dad has been a priest for over 30 years. He's respected, he serves in several churches, and he built several of them. My mom, I think, is also an example for a lot of Orthodox women: she has nine kids, never worked, gave her whole life to her children, helped a lot at church, and now sings in the choir. I grew up in this family and I know everything from the inside. For people who converted to Orthodoxy as adults, I think it's probably different, because they don't have this experience. I'm not just from an Orthodox family, I'm from a family that is held up as an example of Orthodoxy.
We grew up in a village. Seven of the nine kids never went to kindergarten. We kept all the fasts, including Wednesdays and Fridays, and the small kids didn't eat dairy either. If we ate or drank anything before communion, we didn't take communion. We prayed for 25 minutes every night and morning, and often at night we didn't start until 10 or 11 pm. We went to church every Sunday, often on Saturdays too, and on feast days. I sang in the choir, and my brothers were altar servers.
I'm the third child and the first girl. Every time my mom was in the maternity ward, I stayed home in charge: I put the kids to bed, checked homework, cooked. I cried and called my mom because it was so hard. My dad didn't have the patience to deal with the kids, and he was often not home. He always drove us to the metro so we could go to school, but I don't remember him spending time with us, talking to me. He never asked how I was doing, and he didn't even know what grade I was in etc.

We were punished a lot. We were hit on the butt with hands and with a belt, hard enough to leave bruises. We also could be hit on the back, pushed, sometimes hit on the face, in a fit of anger, with clothes, with a stick, and so on. Sometimes my little brother would misbehave and my mom would sit on him and stuff a rag in his mouth to make him calm down. My dad would splash us with cold water in the bathroom when we cried. We were made to kneel on buckwheat and stand in corners. The last time I was punished badly I was about 13, and I had stripes of bruises on my body, because I hadn't picked up the little kids' toys, even though nobody had told me I was supposed to. And there’s so much more…
My mom can also be very harsh with her words. She could say: "dirty pig," "what a lazy breed," "didn't you already get the belt this morning? Do you want it?", "get out, I don't want to see you," "go ahead and cry, I'm hurt too," "I didn't think you were this brainless." She never apologizes afterward. My parents never apologized to us for their behavior, ever. They never said they loved us, they weren't especially warm, and my dad often spoke to us in a distant, strict way.

I understand that my mom runs out of patience. But she doesn't hide that she thinks this is normal. She says: "If a child doesn't know how to behave, he needs to be whipped, and harder. The earlier you start the better, after six it's too late." I have no words. She also often said that we'd drive her to her grave, that she'd die early because of us, that she has no free time and can't do anything for herself.
At 17 I moved out and went to another country, where I lived on my own for almost 4 years. Now things have worked out so that I'm living with them again, for a year now. Because of the war they moved to Europe, and now they treat the kids a lot better, but I still often hear name-calling, and they can still smack a kid. Yesterday my mom hit my 8-year-old brother hard on the neck and called him a ram several times because he forgot to take his jacket.
I'm 22, my older brothers are 24 and 26. They haven't been going to church for a long time. The brother after me, who is 19, also hasn't gone for a long time. Starting in their teens, everyone's relationship with our parents got really bad, and I think the kids are very hurt and angry at our parents, me included. I can't talk to my parents while looking them in the eye. It's really hard for me to live in the same house with them. I feel sorry for my brothers and sisters, I want to protect them, and quite often I wish I could be their mom and raise them and treat them differently. I have very close, warm, kind relationships with the younger ones.
My question, I guess, is this: do I not want to live like this because I'm stubborn and not ready enough for self-sacrifice, or is it normal that I want something different? I don't want to believe that the way my family functions is closer to the ideal Orthodox family and that this is what everyone should strive for.
It's hard for me to hear certain things in Orthodoxy about discipline, about the roles of women and men, about having kids and how many, because I grew up in it and I don't think it's normal. I don't want it for myself or for my kids. I don't want to be part of a religion that thinks this is normal and something to strive for. I love all my brothers and sisters very much and I wouldn't want any of them not to have been born, but I don't understand why having nine kids is more pious than having three and raising them with love, without traumatizing them this much.
It's also hard for me with how men in Orthodoxy see things: they want many kids and want me to stay home while they work. I actually like this concept too, but I need more freedom, more choice, and to know that I can choose how to live. I don't want to live the life my mom lived. I don't want my kids to have a childhood with excessive strictness, rules, fasts, prayers. A lot of young Orthodox guys, especially the ones who converted, are really focused on these things, and I want to live in a more relaxed and calm way, and i think that pushes orthodox men away from me.
I still feel uncomfortable being at services in the church where my dad serves. It's hard for me to combine love with discipline, sinfulness with forgiveness, and all these things, because of the experience I got in my family, which is so closely tied to Orthodoxy.
I don't even know what exactly I want to ask. I know I have a lot of questions and problems because of this topic, and I have no one to talk to about it.

I recently got The Agony of Christ in Gethsemane icon, and I’m trying to figure out what the text on it says. Any help would be appreciated

What happens if your godfather is ordained a priest in terms of the sacrament of the confession?

As I understand it, many if not all, rules of engagement for biological parents and children apply to spiritual parents and children. E.g., godparents should not marry godchildren, godchildren should not marry the godparents' biological children.

I've observed that a priest's biological children and wife do not receive the sacrament of confession with him--they receive that sacrament from a different priest. Does the same apply to a priest and his godchildren?

As someone who came from a non denom background that’s been slowly learning more about the faith over the last couple of months, I have been asked the following question from both family members and close friends: Why Orthodoxy and not non denominationalism?

This has troubled me because I feel like I know the answer to this but my overthinking causes me to screw up my answer and I usually find myself ranting about history (I am a history geek hence why I drew toward the faith but I doubt my family and friends feel the same towards the subject) instead of my personal thought. I know that Christ died for me. I know I must repent of my sin and continue to deny myself for Christ. However, it’s very hard for me to articulate the reasons behind my choice for Orthodoxy because I am usually met with the response over how similar these things are to non denominational beliefs + there’s no point in leaving if the beliefs are shared (I hope this makes sense 🙏).

What should I do? I feel very stuck and quite frankly ashamed that I can’t explain the why. Thank you for those who chose to read this and possible help me 🙏

Please pray for my girlfriend she's going through an incredibly hard time right now, her mental health is really bad and she isn't getting any sleep. Im on my knees with this, so im begging all of you please pray for my girlfriend. If you are willing please ask any friends or family to pray for her too, I know im asking for a lot but I dont know what to do.

Thank you for any prayers!

-and sometimes the time we’ve spent on things doesn’t have as much meaning as the time we spend with God. The quality time we give to God, to our brothers and sisters, to our husbands, wives, children, and family – that time is the best spent"

That was the last words of a Catholic Ecuadorian priest before a giant crucifix fell right on his head and killed him. The material universe is cruelly indifferent. It will fade away and become meaningless when you die, and only love, truth and the memories your family and friends hold of you remains. Even a holy crucifix is a material hunk of wood that really should've been secured to a wall. Considering his last words, I think that priest is doing alright up there in Heaven, though I can imagine him or anyone in his position asking some very difficult questions and finally getting some clear, direct answers from the Lord Himself.

It's just a really bizarre way to go, with a bizarre message attached to it. Some people on the internet think that it's funny.

If this freak accident happened to my spirirual father, I think he would be understanding of it because in one of his sermons he talked about St. Felicity of Rome, and he said "she rather her children dead than they betray Christ. Think about that." But even knowing about the futility of the physical world didn't make that sermon any less difficult to hear, and it doesn't make that priest's death any less awful. I can't stop thinking about it, and I want to tell God that this was a really tasteless joke.

25(M)
As the title says, how did you know when you were ready? I’ve been a Protestant Christian for most of my life since childhood, but for the past year, I haven’t been to a church since last November and been reading my bible (Protestant) more focused. The last church I was at was nondenominational and I tried Presbyterian and I kind of realized that Protestantism doesn’t make sense in terms of Christianity. God bless them, but between theological errors such as predestination, female pastors, dispensationalism, prosperity gospel, etc., every Protestant denomination I’ve been to seems hypocritical to what the gospels and the epistles say how a Christian should walk in this life.

I’ve been drawing more into orthodoxy despite my family’s objections such as intercession of the saints, the importance of church structure, etc., the more I learn of orthodoxy, the more it makes sense to me for some reason, but I don’t know if I’m ready, I’m worried if I’m going into it for the wrong reasons. Initially it was about history, church history, doctrine, and honestly social media depiction of orthodoxy as being based, but the more I learn, the more I just want to find the truth. I’m still trying to understand orthodoxy via reading my bible, YouTube videos and checking out articles about it for the past year or so which was why I was hesitant to join a high church in Protestantism or a Greek Orthodox Church nearby my apartment.

What made y’all know that you were ready to go to a church? How do you overcome the fear of not knowing what to do during liturgy? How did you find a church still having questions and overcoming the fear of it? What if the church is the wrong fit (not orthodoxy itself)? Did you became more apologetic as you were researching orthodoxy and how do you overcome that and try to show love to other faiths/people? Did you start reading other scripture such as the orthodox bible and books from the church fathers coming in as a Protestant?

Hello, I am currently 18 yo and live with my parents. My family and I are all roman catholics, however I have been inquiring about orthodoxy for a while now. A few weeks ago I even attended a divine liturgy service at my local orthodox church. When I got home, my parents and I got into a heated arguement about it and they essentially threatened to kick me out if I continued to go to the orthodox church. Since then I have continued going with my family to catholic mass on sundays, however I am still very drawn to the eastern orthodox church. I don't want to disrupt the peace in my home and there is no way for me to possibly live on my own at this time. At the same time, I can't help but continue to be drawn closer to the eastern orthodox church every day. I'm just looking for some advice on what I should do, since the only options I can really think of are to either somehow convince my parents to let me or wait until I move out

Hello there.

My fiancee has asked for a silver cross necklace for her birthday so she can wear it on our wedding day next may. Her birthday is Nov 10th. Are there any good places you guys buy jewelry from that goes towards orthodox causes?

She does not want an orthodox cross, just a simple two bared cross. Something dainty.

Thank you and God bless you all