Daughters of Charity

(image used as the cover for The habit : a history of the clothing of Catholic nuns, 2003 by Elizabeth Kuhns)

When you are depressed...

When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord’s command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven. And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another will Himself do very much more.

- Saint John Climacus

praying girl helped motivate me into finishing my cherub brooches she is a blessing i managed to get my necklaces <3 shop here <3 

#prophetelias #greekorthodox #church #Yonkers #gotochurch #liveorthodoxy #holyweek @goarch #epitaphio #goodfriday via Instagram http://ift.tt/1I3x5iW

(via sjmattson)

For another time, let’s see how many we are :)

(note: you can add your fb under this pic if someone wants to add you)

The Prologue (via orthodoxthoughts)

The Holy Snakes of Virgin Mary 

The phenomenon of the Holy Snakes of the Virgin Mary has been occurring for centuries during the festivities to the Theotokos between August 5 and August 15 in the village of Markopoulo on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. 

The small black snakes appear at the Eastern Orthodox Church of Panagia of Langouvarda on the site of a monastery, established as a nunnery and dedicated to Our Lady of Langouvarda.

The myth about these snakes is attached to the year the monastery was attacked by pirates in 1705. The Orthodox nuns prayed fervently to the Virgin Mary for protection and were subsequently transformed into the snakes to avoid being taken as prisoners.

The snakes have a small cross on their head and their tongues are also in the shape of a cross. They are known to belong to the Telescopus fallax species, also known as the European Cat Snake, and they appear in and around the courtyard of the church, on the walls and on the bell tower. The snakes show no fear while the services are held and are harmless during the festivities. As soon as the Liturgy concludes on the 15th of August, they become hostile and aggressive and disappear back into the wilderness of the area. The snakes cannot be found until the following year. The inhabitants of the villages consider them to be holy, collecting them and setting them on the silver icon of the Virgin of the Snakes (Panagia Fidoussa). It has been documented by the locals that during World War II and the year of the island’s destructive 1953 earthquake in August, the snakes failed to appear. The locals now use this as a sign that if the snakes do not show just before the 15th of August that something bad is imminent.

What does it mean to be “orthodox” Christian. I am a Christian, too.

Orthodox Christianity is its own branch of Christianity. There was originally one Christian church from Ancient Rome, and a fight happened between priests and clergy in the Byzantine era; around the 1200s or 1300s. The church split in two; one became the Catholic church, and the other the Orthodox church. Hope that helped!

Blessed is the mind...

Strive to render your mind deaf and dumb during prayer. Blessed is the mind which during prayer keeps itself wholly without image or fantasy.

- St. Nilus of Sinai

I got holy water to rub on my tummy. Me and my husband plan to get pregnant. And it work!! We trying for two months. I just got faith in god hands.

maxime the stylite monk has lived in a monastery atop georgia’s 131 foot katskhi pillar for twenty years. maxime, who at 59 needs twenty minutes to make the climb down (third photo), said, “since i was a child i dreamed of settling on the top of this pillar as other hermits did in ancient times.” as a young man, maxime led a life of crime, but decided with his release from prison to start a new life, take his monastic vows and climb the pillar, which he as lived on since 1993. 

though no one knows exactly how or why, the monastery was built sometime between the sixth and eight century. the pillar had sat idly since the 15th century when the ottomans invaded georgia. no one had even been to the top for centuries until an alpinist climbed it and found the skeleton of a monk in 1944.

photos by levan nioradze and amos chapple

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