The Iverskaya Icon was the religious center of Moscow. In a small chapel near Red Square, the icon was illuminated by hundreds of candles placed by believers.
The icon sparkled with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, donated by those who had been healed of various ailments, sorrows, hardships, and suffering.
It was the beginning of everything.
No visiting merchant started a business without bowing to the Iverskaya...

When a valve of the heart closes to the receptivity of worldly enjoyments, another valve opens for the reception of spiritual joys.

But how does one acquire this?
First of all, by peace and love towards one’s neighbors: Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth… (1 Cor. 13:4-8).
Then, by patience. Who will be saved?
He that endureth to the end shall be saved (Mt. 10:22).

We must realise something which we forget so often: that our being present before the face of God does not begin at the moment when the priest pronounces the first holy words of the service; this is the place of God, this is His dwelling place; these, in terms of the Old Testament, are the Gates of Heaven.
And when we come to the church, the first thing which we must realise, is that we are in the presence, and that this presence can be perceived and lived with only in the deep silence of our souls.
Not only the silence of words, but the silence of all powers of our being in awe and adoration before God.
It is only if we enter into the service from within this silence that the words of prayer will reach us and blossom out into a new depth of contemplative silence, of serenity, and will have power to transform and transfigure us.
So, it is not (only) a matter of church discipline or of protecting other people’s prayer against our own dissipation; it is a matter of entering ourselves into the mystery of this presence, so that through the liturgy we may gradually be transformed and brought into that depth where one meets God…

The celebration of Pascha is marked by Orthodox Christians so joyfully because during the Paschal days they feel, more than at any other time, the reviving power of Christ's resurrection, the power that has dethroned the prince of darkness, liberated souls from the abyss of hell, opened the doors to paradise, defeated the bonds of death, and poured new life into the souls of believers.
It is significant that during Easter the Paschal joy, to a greater or lesser extent, is felt by so many people—not only those of profound belief, but also those who are cool-spirited and aloof from God. On this day all creation rejoices at the victory of life over death.

With all your strength ask the Lord for humility and brotherly love, for the Lord gives His grace for love of one’s brother.
Test this on yourself: one day ask God for love for your brother, and the next live without love—and then you will see the difference.
The spiritual fruits of love are clear: peace and joy in the soul, and everyone will be dear and close to you, and you will shed abundant tears for your neighbor, for every breath and every creature.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).
And such is our podvig: as man was saved in the first centuries, so in the middle ages, so he will be saved in our time as well.
There’s no difference in how they believed then and how we believe now in the Holy Trinity and the holy truths and dogmas.
As Solomon said: There is no new thing under the sun (Ecc. 1:9).

Burdensome and laborious, brethren, is the journey through the desert of this world for those who seek the Heavenly city; but the promised land flows with milk and honey!
The six days of earthly labor are long and sometimes gloomy, but the seventh day of eternal rest is full of unspeakable joy!
Will we complain about the thorns and thistles that we encounter along the way when we ourselves have sown them throughout the earth and continually nurture them with our sins?
Will we put off ascending to Heaven just because we have to get there by climbing the ladder of the Cross?
And now, in this land of exile and calamity, it’s pleasing to sing a song of victory over death—although we have yet to make this victory fully our own.
How delightful will it be to celebrate the great day of renewal there, in the new promised land, where Heaven and earth and the whole of creation will answer the joyful cry of “Christ is Risen!” with “Indeed He is Risen!”

Let us cultivate within ourselves every kind of love and heartfelt attraction to God, to Christ, to His holy Church.
Let us give ourselves no rest until Christ, His Church, and the saints are dear to us not only in times of trouble, but also when we have no troubles, when we have nothing to implore, and there remains only to rejoice in the Lord and praise Him.
After all, true love is full of sweet bliss and spiritual delights, like the love of the saints and angels for God. This is it how it must be for us in relation to God, that we might not be called Christians only in name, not children of the Church only in name, but that the words of the holy Apostle Paul given at the beginning might be fulfilled in us by very deed: Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God (Eph. 2:19).

Guided by the Gospel and the holy fathers of the true Church, ascend with humility to the spiritual height of Divine love by the means of fulfilling Christ's commandments in deed.

Know firmly that love for God is the highest gift of the Holy Spirit, and a person can only prepare himself, through purity and humility, for the receiving of this great gift, through which mind and heart and body are changed.

In vain is the labor, fruitless is it and harmful, when we seek to discover in ourselves high spiritual gifts prematurely: merciful God gives them in His own time, to the constant, patient, humble fulfillers of the Gospel commandments. Amen.

Humility is the salt of the virtues.
As salt gives taste to food, so humility imparts perfection to the virtues.
Without salt food easily spoils; without humility virtue easily becomes corrupted by pride, vainglory, impatience, and perishes.

They say: Thomas, who had been previously ready to die for Christ, also did not believe.
No, Thomas asked for assurances not because he did not believe, but because he desired an untroubled faith, for he longed for the resurrection and understood its significance.
People say: if we had seen Him we would not have denied Him. This is not true: the majority of those who denied Him had seen Him, and they denied Him because they did not love spiritual values, and the victory over the devil spoke but little to their hearts; they desired external success.

Christ was Risen, and so we too must be resurrected with Christ, in order to ascend with Him. Our Resurrection is two-fold: in body and in spirit. Our bodily Resurrection will take place on the Last Day. We speak of this when we recite the Creed, the Symbol of Faith: "I look for the Resurrection of the dead." To be resurrected spiritually is to depart from our sins, to turn away from the vanities of this world, and to abide in true repentance and faith; to take up the struggle against any sin, to do the will of our Heavenly Father, to live His truth, and to follow Christ, the Son of God, with humility, love, meekness, and patience. This the new creation of which the Holy Apostle speaks when he says, "…if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…." (II Corinthians 5, 17); a new person, renewed through repentance and faith, a true Christian, a living member of Christ and an heir to the Kingdom of God.

Our entire life is a long chain of gifts from our merciful Father!
He created our body, which is better than any mechanism. He breathed into us an immortal soul, adorned us with His image, predestined for eternal happiness.
He endowed us with intelligence and with free will, thanks to which we can grow intellectually and spiritually, become more perfect and be useful to others.
He gave us feelings through which we can enjoy His physical and spiritual gifts and find happiness and joy in life.

"Wherever I look with my inner vision," writes St. John of Kronstadt, "inside of me or on the outside, I see an opportunity to thank God for His many blessings!"

There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of an eye.
Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God's Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration.
"Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?" (Rom. 3:3).
Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, nor our infirmity God's omnipotence.

So, my dear ones, let us now to the Risen Lord, that He might forgive the transgressions, voluntary and involuntary, of our departed fathers, brothers, mothers, and sisters, and might settle them in a place of light, in a place of refreshment with all the righteous whom have pleased Him from all the ages, that our kin would be filled now with us with the joy of His glorious Resurrection, and that to our exclamation: “Christ is Risen!” they might reply:
“In Truth He is Risen!”

Christ is Risen!

Have great care of your children.
We live at a time when much freedom is given to the expression of thought, but little care is taken that thoughts should be founded on truth.
Teach them to love truth.

True affinity with God is accomplished through love.
It is good when we’re irresistibly drawn to the house of God, as to the cozy shelter of our own home; when we feel the draw to be with God and His saints, as relatives and loved ones feel a deep-rooted need to talk or at least be with one another.
All of this is made by habit, as a learned behavior—not immediately; and if it’s not a habit, it can be lost again. If you feel alienated from God and His saints, from His house, you have to steadily and strenuously accustom yourself to communion with Him, as a man who has alienated himself from his home then forces himself to acclimate himself to it again and begins to value and love it more than before.

God the Word, the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, compares our life with the market, and the work of our life on earth He calls trading. He says to us all: Trade till I come (Lk. 19:13), buying up every opportunity, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). In other words, make the most of your time getting heavenly blessings through earthly goods.
Earthly goods are good works done for Christ's sake that confer the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, on us.

Love all God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand.
Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light.
Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.
If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.

True faith is not blind; it does not dismiss tempting questions and whispers. Instead, it looks evil directly in the eye, sees through it, and exposes it.
From this, truly faithful people possess heavenly peace in their hearts and a blessed, unshakeable stillness in their souls.