Feast Day: August 7th
& October 11th – Synaxis of the Elders of Optina Monastery
The Life of Saint Anthony: When anything unpleasant happened to him, he remained meek and calm. He offered thanks to God because his sickness gave him more time for reading Spiritual books for the benefit of his Soul….
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Prayers
Saint Anthony Pray to God for us.
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“No matter what bitterness has befallen you, no matter what unpleasantness has happened to you, say, “I shall endure this for Jesus Christ!” and it will be easier for you. For the Name of Jesus Christ is powerful. Through it all unpleasantness is calmed, and demons disappear. Your disappointments will also be calmed and you pusillanimity will be quitted.”
“Can you place your hope in the world? Whom has it not deceived? To whom has it not lied? It promises much, but gives very little. Only those who hope in the Lord, according to the words of the Prophet David, do not sin, i.e., they are not deceived in their hope!”
“Of course, it would be easier to get to Paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the Kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!”
“Pray fervently to the Lord God and your cold heart will be warmed by His sweetest Name, for Our God is Fire. Calling upon His Name destroys impure thoughts and also warms our hearts to fullfil His Commandments.”
“Learn to reproach yourself mentally for everything and do not condemn others, because the more humble, the more profitable; and God loves the humble ones, pouring out His Grace on them. Whatever grief has befallen you, whatever trouble happened to you, then say, ‘I suffer it for Jesus Christ.’ Just say it, and it will be easier for you. For the Name of Jesus Christ is strong. Under Him all troubles subside, the demons disappear. And your vexation subsides, and your anxiety calms down when you repeat in His sweetest Name: Lord, grant me to see my own sins, O Lord, grant me patience, generosity and humility.”
“When you rise from sleep, your first thought should be of God, your first word should be a Prayer to God – Your Father and Creator.”
“The Holy Church cries out: fasting is not avoiding food, but putting away all evil, controlling the tongue from idle talking and gossip, forbearing from anger, and abstaining from lust, falsehood, and flattery. Whoever fasts in this way, his fast is pleasing to God.”
“Moreover, the Holy Fathers noticed that when a person prepares to partake of the Holy Mysteries or expects to celebrate a Feast, the devil tries to cause the person to be annoyed and confuse his Soul so that the day is not spent in joy about the Lord, but in the sadness of the demonic. The reasons for his attack on us are different, but the most important is the condemnation of our neighbours, which is a sin, and except for fornication and except for another temptation, it defiles not the body in fact, but our very Soul.”
“A humble man lives on Earth as in the Kingdom of Heaven, always cheerful, and calm, and pleased with all.”
“You should be afraid not of cholera, but of serious sins, for the scythe of death mows a person down like grass even without cholera. Therefore, place all your hope in the Lord God, without Whose Will even the birds do not die, much less a person.”
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