Hi

[Eusebios]

Umut,
Greetings in the name of our Lord, God and savior Jesus Christ!
In response to your request for info on the lives of the saints, check out the interactive calendar on the OCA website.
There are also many OCA parishes in Canada, you can checkhere to find one near you.
Praying for you
His unworthy servant,
eusebios.

 

[Umut]

This is really, really amazing. I cannot believe how much interest you guys are showing, thank you. Thank you ever so much. If the world was made of the few people like you, this place would be a lot more comparable to heaven.

Thanks for all your replies, I do not have much time to keep up with them because I'm working hard to support my family. Our merciful Lord, Jesus Christ has been so loving and kind towards me. When I come from work I do not feel pain or hunger, but I feel joy and comfort in the depths of my heart. When I eat I feel light, that I fast. If I suffer, I do not get mad at God and question him, but I realize that what I'm going through is not comparable to the burden Jesus Christ himself took on himself in order to forgive our sins, because he suffered for us; suffered out of love. Therefore I understand him better and get ever so close with him that I almost wish I could suffer more... When I learn about philosophy and science at school, I do not drift away from my religion, the bonds get ever so strong, and my desire to learn increases.

Today I was about to get a shot (needle from the doctor on demand of the school) and I was hoping that the small medical clinic would have it, or else they would suspend me from school because today was the last day to submit the form that proves that I had the needles, I remember praying as I walked: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, a wretched, unworthy sinner." I wished in order to get the shot without getting involved with paperwork-marathon. It was easy and without hassle. I promised that I would do my best to uphold my fast and try hardest not to sin. When I got home I quickly gave into temptation, I do not know why. I learned a valuable lesson. I cannot fight Satan without God's help, I cannot do it without prayer, without bowing my head down in helplessness, because I am not strong enough to defeat Satan. I asked for help from my Merciful Lord Jesus Christ, and I was provided with the strength and courage to resist temptation and go to work without proper rest. Tears almost came into my eyes, thinking: How unworthy am I of such mercy, yet I am granted this great loving and comfort. From this day forward I realized that I should be a better Christian, and see myself as unworthy and defenseless, therefore that I will allow God to enter my heart and defend it from evil. Now that I read your replies and support, I know I am not alone, and I know I will fast whenever I must and resist temptation to my fullest ability.

Thank you for your support.

It is unbelievable to see that there are brilliant, loving and caring people like you are out there.

P.S. Thank you for your offer of hospitality, if in the next few years I am ever to come to Greece and visit Mt. Athos, the very place that St. Mary set foot upon, I'll definitely visit.

I take my leave.

Thanks once more.

Take care everyone.

Christ be with you all.

 

[MariaRegina]

Dear Umut:

Regarding shots and fasting...

Don't be too hard on yourself. Those shots aren't harmless ... they can leave you feeling sick for a few days and can cause blood sugar disorders due to the preservatives that they contain. Many of the immunizations contain traces of mercury (cannot remember the spelling - Thimersol?) as a preservative and doctors are concerned that these vaccinations may cause autism, etc.

Anyway there is a huge movement here in the USA to avoid vaccinations -- and using religious grounds if necessary -- not doing harm to your body.

So, just try to do your best and realize that you are still growing and so may need extra nutrition. It's better for one to eat food and to break the fast than to sin because one says uncharitable things due to low blood sugar, etc.

Yours in Christ our God,
Elizabeth

P.S. Who is the saint in your avatar?

 

[NewToLife]

Hi Umut, I'm a new convert too so i cant really answer your questions but wanted to say hello anyway.

 

[Umut]

Thanks, Elizabeth. I know it's somewhat okay to break a fast if you need it, but my problem was with breaking a promise. Anyways, I hope I am forgiven...

It's Saint Basil... I wasted 400 blessings trying to get it right... I am not even computer illiterate... but I couldn't make it work. :-(

By the way, Hello! NewToLife... if you have any questions please feel free to post them and you'll get a variety of answers and different opinions from different people. We're all friendly and overall warm people here, so don't forget to be open with your questions and provide detail so that we can provide you with coherent answers.

Take care all,

Christ be with you.

 

[MariaRegina]

Dear Umut:

I could send you some little paper icons which you could set up in a temporary prayer corner when praying. Send me your address via PM and I will promise not to use your address for sending you anything further. In fact, I will delete it from my files after sending you the cards.

Would your mother desecrate the Holy Icons if you displayed them permanently in your room? If this is a possibility, then it would be better to use only blessed paper icons and hide them when you are not in the room, so that your mom cannot hurt them.

Are any of your nearby relatives anti-Christian? Would they kill you if they found out that you converted to Christianity?

I ask this because there are several women in our churches here in Los Angeles who have converted and who must hide their conversion from their husbands and family or they could be killed. If they have children, that will be a serious problem. Please pray for them.

Yours in Christ,
Elizabeth

 

[Umut]

Thank you for your offer. I do work now, so I can possibly afford them. That is not the issue. I would love to have paper icons, but it will not work because I am not in charge of the mail. However!

My mom will be out of the country starting March the 31st OR May the first. You can send me icons then. If it is a bit of a struggle for you to send them or find them; just try to find the Virgin Mary and our Lord Jesus Christ. Anything else you can find or get for me would be delightful. Let us keep in touch and you can send them to me when the time is right.

My mom does open my mails unfortunately because she's become anxious to end my interest in Orthodoxy.

May I ask you... if one has sinned and does not feel that he is worthy of forgiveness, and is afraid to pray because he feels disgusted with him/herself, what does he/she do? How does he/she start praying again?

P.S. Are you fasting?

 

[MariaRegina]

Thank you for your offer. I do work now, so I can possibly afford them. That is not the issue. I would love to have paper icons, but it will not work because I am not in charge of the mail. However!

My mom will be out of the country starting March the 31st OR May the first. You can send me icons then. If it is a bit of a struggle for you to send them or find them; just try to find the Virgin Mary and our Lord Jesus Christ. Anything else you can find or get for me would be delightful. Let us keep in touch and you can send them to me when the time is right.

My mom does open my mails unfortunately because she's become anxious to end my interest in Orthodoxy.

May I ask you... if one has sinned and does not feel that he is worthy of forgiveness, and is afraid to pray because he feels disgusted with him/herself, what does he/she do? How does he/she start praying again?

P.S. Are you fasting?

I have a suggestion.

Just give us the name and address of your priest - or Church and we can send the Icon prints to you care of your priest. This way you can go to your Orthodox Church and pick them up. You must destroy the envelope to protect your priest.

Yes I am observing the fast, with modifications: I do use yogurt occasionally, or I get severe muscle cramps.

Yours in Christ our God,
Elizabeth

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

I have a suggestion.

Just give us the name and address of your priest - or Church and we can send the Icon prints to you care of your priest. This way you can go to your Orthodox Church and pick them up. You must destroy the envelope to protect your priest.

Yes I am observing the fast, with modifications: I do use yogurt occasionally, or I get severe muscle cramps.

Yours in Christ our God,
Elizabeth

You could send them to me? I could give them to Umut.

 

[MariaRegina]

Dear Umut:

Another issue -- does your mom know your user name here at CF? Does she read your CF mail? If so, you possibly could ask a CF administrator here to change your user name to something she won't recognize and then disable the automatic thread emails from being sent to you. I recently disabled my email function because my mail server was rejecting them as spam. It's bad because I don't know if someone has responded to me, but I try to check in regularly.

I have sometimes used the computer at my university to send PMs or to type posts while at the college. Public libraries won't allow this.

Yours in Christ our God,
Elizabeth

 

[MariaRegina]

You could send them to me? I could give them to Umut.

Do you two know each other?

 

[Umut]

I hope not...

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

Do you two know each other?

Yes, we go to the same school.

 

[MariaRegina]

Yes, we go to the same school.

What a small world! Okay, then Andreas could you please send me your address by PM if this is agreeable to you -- then I'll send you some paper prints of Icons. Be sure to get them blessed.

In Christ,
Elizabeth
.

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

What a small world! Okay, then Andreas could you please send me your address by PM if this is agreeable to you -- then I'll send you some paper prints of Icons. Be sure to get them blessed.

In Christ,
Elizabeth
.

Done.

 

[MariaRegina]

May I ask you... if one has sinned and does not feel that he is worthy of forgiveness, and is afraid to pray because he feels disgusted with him/herself, what does he/she do? How does he/she start praying again?

Dear Umut:

I did not see this question until now.

We are all sinners in need of forgiveness. None of us is deserving of God's mercy but God loves us and wants us to come to Him in repentance.

When you feel disgusted with yourself, that is the devil tempting you to hate yourself. Say the Jesus Prayer especially at those times and whenever you can think about it, until the prayer become part of your every breath.

I had to take two awful exams on Thursday. One was in Hearing Science and the other was in Speech Science. During both exams, near the end of the exam, I just blanked out and could not get my facts straight. So, I prayed the Trisagion and the Jesus Prayer for a couple of minutes. I prayed, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner and help me to know the answers to these questions which I did study." When I looked at my test, the answers came to me very suddenly and I was able to complete each answer on my test. Several wrong answers stood out as wrong -- I changed those and gave thanks to Christ Who is the source of our wisdom.

Trust in God and please talk to your priest who can help you. Oftentimes praying the Jesus Prayer while making prostrations is a good way to overcome temptations.

Hope this helps.

Remember that the devil wants you to be discouraged... at those moments, take a walk outside and sing the Trisagion hymn. Our God is a God of Wonders!

Yours in Christ our God,
Elizabeth

 

[Umut]

Thank you so much Elizabeth. I have read the Teachings of the Desert and Holy Fathers on the prayer of the interior. When you mentioned breath; you were right. The Fathers urge you to take the prayer in with your breath, and hold it there, let it dwell in your heart, so that the good name of our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ may dwell in your heart and fight off temptations. His name is your sword. How merciful and sweet is he to defend us against Satan. Thank you for your enlightenment. What you said about Satan trying to make you hate yourself is true, as it is the same as what Andreas told me. I will try hard to recite the Jesus Prayer so that he may dwell in the depths of my heart and banish Satan.

If you have not read The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way (two books in one) please do read it. It is about a Russian Pilgrim in 19th century Russia in search of the prayer of the interior. It is a book that will change your life forever.

Christ be with you.