Idoloclast Idol-Smasher | Jesus NIKA Fist w/ Sledgehammer on Red Background | Smash Your Passions | Orthodox Christian Cotton Canvas Tote BagAvoid making idols either of things or of practices. + St. Macarius of Optina The passions are uprooted by keeping the commandments. + St. Maximus the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love, 2. 31 You cannot pass a day tranquilly unless you mortify the passions. + St John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 26: On Discernment He who has conquered the passions has conquered nature, but he who is conquered by the passions is a slave, even if he

living the lives God intended for us to live so that we may join them

but does not constrain

help me with our holy Lady

and in sins did my mother bear me

They are the natural results of a chosen lifestyle

I was conceived in iniquities

and at the time of death it reveals the truth to us

what preparation can we make then

”' “The salvation of our souls” means “the kingdom” and the “peace from on high” signifies the righteousness of God

accept these sufferings as sufferings for the Name of Christ

another wrath and anger for yielding quickly to it is loving it

He who does not love his brother abides in death