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Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media.This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14

     The time difference Hello, dear readers of Pravoslavie.ru. We are continuing our lecture series on the book of Genesis. At our previous meeting we discussed whether science has rejected God. We noted that many great scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Mikhail Lomonosov, Albert Einstein and others believed in God as the Creator and sustainer of this world. I would like to add a few more words to what was said last time. The main axiom supporting the idea that “science has proved there is no God,” is that our planet is billions and billions years old, and as...

What can be said of Christ’s being the “express image of His person”? Are not we all created in the image of God and does not this reference merely speak of Jesus as the perfect man, the one in whom the image of God has not been besmirched or corrupted? I think the text means more than that. Philip Hughes says this: “The Greek word translated ‘the very stamp bearer’ means an engraved character or the impress made by a die or a seal, as for example, on a coin; and the Greek word translated ‘nature’ denotes the very essence...

Saint Patapius was born at Thebes into a pious Christian family. Reaching the age of maturity, he scorned the vanities of the world and so went into the Egyptian desert where he became known for his ascetic deeds. Though he wished to dwell in silence, people began to come to him for advice. He went eventually to Constantinople, where he obtained a cell at the city wall, near the Blachernae church. But here, too, he quickly became known. The sick began to throng about, and he having been vouchsafed the gift of healing, began to help all the needy. After...

December 7, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A new document from the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy released today reiterates that "those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture'" are not to be admitted to seminaries or be ordained Catholic priests. In a new 90-page document titled The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, the Congregation for Clergy wrote that those who live the homosexual lifestyle, support the "gay culture," or have "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" "find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women." "One must in no way overlook the...

"He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature" (Heb. 1:3). Jesus is both God manifest and God in substance. Just as the rays of the sun give light, warmth, life, and growth to the earth, so Jesus Christ is the glorious light of God shining into the hearts of men and women. As "the radiance of God's glory," Jesus expresses God to us. No one can see God in HIs full glory; no one ever will. The radiance of that glory that reaches us from God appears in the Person of Jesus Christ. Just...

“. . . Made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). Christ was fully God and fully man. In his Systematic Theology theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “The Scriptures teach that Christ had a complete human nature. That is, He had a true body and a rational soul. By a true body is meant a material body which in everything essential was like the bodies of ordinary men. . . . It is no less plain that Christ had a rational soul. He thought, reasoned, and felt.” Hodge’s assessment is correct, for Christ was given all the essential attributes of humanity....

(Note: When I paste this document into FreeRepublic, it seems that most of the special formatting is lost, such as bold, italics, underlined words and embedded links. To read the document with the formatting and embedded links go to the link of the document. It is interesting that when I past in the comments, the embedded links remain.) - - - The first two (printed) pages of the following was a letter to my parishioners of Antria, and a copy to Don Idilio: - - - Antria (Magione – PG), Date: December 2016 Dear brothers and sisters, After spending more...

"In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son . . . through whom also He made the world" (Heb. 1:2). Christ is the agent through whom God created the world. John 1:3 testifies, "All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." Jesus has the ability to create something out of nothing (cf. Rom. 4:17), and that sets Him apart from mere creatures. Only God can create like that; we can't. If you could create, you'd live in a different house, drive a different car,...

“Taking the form of a bond-servant” (Philippians 2:7). Christ submitted Himself to the Father’s will. When Christ emptied Himself, He not only gave up His privileges but also became a servant. First, He was a servant by nature. Paul used the Greek word morphe (“form”) again to indicate that Christ’s servanthood was not merely external but His essence. It was not like a cloak that could be put on and taken off. Christ was truly a servant. The only other New Testament use of morphe is in Mark 16:12. There Jesus appears in a resurrection morphe—a form fully expressing the...

December 8, 2016 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Reading 1 Gn 3:9-15, 20 After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree,the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”He answered, “I heard you in the garden;but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself.”Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?You have eaten, then,from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”The...

New prefect speaks as if doctrine is a matter of opinion while Cdl. Müller is mutedVATICAN (ChurchMilitant.com) - The prefect of the newly established super-dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life is critical of those who oppose his liberal interpretation of "Amoris Laetitia" (AL), while sidelining the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) by brushing off doctrinal objections to AL as mere differences of opinion. Cardinal Kevin Farrell in comments he made recently in the liberal U.K paper The Tablet "criticized opponents of the papal exhortation 'Amoris Laetitia' for closing their minds to 'certain nuances that exist in...

Coinciding with publication of new and updated guidelines on priestly formation, Cardinal Beniamino Stella says that seminaries should focus on pastoral discernment and form priests to be "without rigidity, hypocrisy."The Congregation for Clergy is about to issue a new document on basic norms for priestly formation which aim to move away from “rigidity” in the interests of fostering greater pastoral discernment and accompaniment, according to the Congregation’s cardinal prefect. In an interview in tomorrow’s L’Osservatore Romano timed to coincide with its release, Cardinal Beniamino Stella explains that the document is a revision of the “Basic Plan for Priestly Formation” issued...

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, the internationally renowned apologist of the fullness of the Catholic faith, admits that we are already witnessing a bizarre schism among some clergy who profess union with the pope but who have broken their ties with Christ, the Truth, and with Christ, the true Head of the Church. Bishop Schneider made these comments in his recent interview with the French internet TV station TV Libertes. Having responded to the question what might happen if the dubia presented by the four cardinals remains unanswered, Bishop Schneider was asked if the problem of the pope's silence continues isn't there...

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.(Isaiah 17:2)To get an idea of just how apocalyptic our times actually are, consider recent events of heartbreaking and shattering significance , in the Middle East , just since the 2011 Arab Sring , which I wrote about in my book A Sword On The Land: The Muslim World in Bible Prophecy ,Egypt went from being a relatively stable nation...

Pope Francis, who in the past has not shied away from offering his opinion on U.S. politics, said in an interview published Wednesday that “spreading disinformation” is probably “the greatest damage that the media can do” and called it sinful. Pope Francis compared the spreading of fake news to the desire to eat excrement.

Iranian 'Military-Religious Amusement Park' Lets kids practice attacks on Israel .... ISIS declares Trump inauguration day 'BLOODY FRIDAY' .... Italian prime minister resigns in populist revolt .... Obama family travel vacations, cross $85 million mark .... Argentine judge rules woman can marry her own stepdaughter

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.( I John 3:11-15)Love...

Amir gives update on Israel's strike in Syria early Wednesday morning. The strike targeted weapons of mass destruction for Hezbollah

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/massalim/    I. Introduction: Illness, Suffering, and the Work of Perfection The contemporary debate concerning physician-assisted suicide is predicated, from the traditional Christian standpoint, first, on a belief that illness and suffering have no particular value or purpose and, second, that there is no life after death or, if there is, earthly life is not a necessary preparation or determinative for that life. Traditional Christianity, articulated in some detail by H. Tristam Englehardt in his article, “Physician-assisted suicide reconsidered: Dying as a Christian in a post- Christian age,”[1] can also be summarized in the following statement by St....