ping
Thank-you so much for this. It is the first news I have had of our brothers and sisters in Louisiana. This is a hard time for all of us, but as Christians, we cannot fall into despair. The Fathers and many of our holy monastics have spoken to this throughout the ages. This is a particularly difficult and dangerous time.
"When despondency seizes us, let us not give in to it. Rather, fortified and protected by the light of faith, let us with great courage say to the spirit of evil: "What are you to us, you who are cut off from God, a fugitive from Heaven, and a slave of evil? You dare not do anything to us: Christ, the Son of God, has dominion over us and over all. Leave us, you thing of bane. We are made steadfast by the uprightness of His Cross. Serpent, we trample on your head."
St. Seraphim of Sarov
Orthodox ping.