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Quote 313
Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou (till 25.04)
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Quote 313 - Форум
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Quote 313
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| readeralexey | Дата: Суббота, 29.03.2025, 12:37 | Сообщение # 1 |
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| Let us avoid the devil's traps and look only to ourselves. Where did we sadden God? Did we please Him? Only then will we make progress without straying from our goal. Humility is essential; therefore let us become last of all. Whoever achieves this will go forward.
Gerondissa Makrina (Vassopoulou)
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| sodrozdova | Дата: Понедельник, 31.03.2025, 14:56 | Сообщение # 2 |
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| I agree with this quote. Recently, I have been going through some difficult situations in my life, and there have been many moments to train my humility. It is not easy, but through this, I believe we can find peace in our hearts.
I strongly believe that we need to be patient with those we don't like. These days, I have realized that everyone wants to go to heaven, and we need to be their helpers, not those who hate them and lead them to temptation.
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| sophianesterenok | Дата: Среда, 02.04.2025, 23:17 | Сообщение # 3 |
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| I think the "devil's traps" that stop us from making progress are not just being proud or judgmental towards others, but also the distractions that cloud our judgement and overshadow the important things (either pleasing or saddening God). An example of these would be focusing too much on the external expression of faith or mindlessly consuming "religious" content. These may lead to hypocrisy and false humility, some of the worst forms of pride. We must be careful to avoid such traps in "looking to ourselves" and trying to be last of all.
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| lisaswan001 | Дата: Воскресенье, 06.04.2025, 19:50 | Сообщение # 4 |
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| Gerondissa Makrina urges us to avoid the traps that the devil leaves everywhere for man. With these words she reminds us that evil forces do exist and that they are powerful, they rule this fallen world and want to destroy man. Sometimes we forget about this and start falling into the very «traps» of which Gerondissa Makrina writes. And in this struggle with evil, it is very important to look at yourself, inside yourself, listen to your conscience. It is necessary to be careful and vigilant to keep ourselves from sin and to sacrifice to God the best that is in us. And only then we will move forward. Gerondissa Makrina says that without humility this advancement is impossible. She refers us to the Gospel of Matthew and Christ's words «But many who are first will be last, and the last first» [Matthew 19:30]. We must not strive for superiority. We should humble ourselves and want to be last then we will be first with the Lord.
I agree with the author of the quote. Humility is the most important virtue. After all, God resists the prideful, but gives grace to the humble. Without humility all our deeds are meaningless. And we must sanctify our heart and soul with true humility, so that the Lord may bless us with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
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Сообщение отредактировал lisaswan001 - Воскресенье, 06.04.2025, 19:52 |
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| lolosipovanika | Дата: Воскресенье, 20.04.2025, 22:11 | Сообщение # 5 |
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| I am writing this essay at Easter, and I think that it somehow helps me with understanding the essence of this quote. What I mean is that it is so selfish to look only to ourselves, when our God sacrificed Himself for our salvation. Everybody is not ideal, and being humble isn't an easy thing, but this is a must. The great example of a human who committed a lot of sins and was trapped in the devil's traps, but managed to escape them and became pure and humble is Saint Mary of Egypt. She showed that no one should give up and think there is no escape from the prison of sins.
To conclude, I really hope that I and the other people will achieve with humbleness what Saint Mary of Egypt and other saints once did and reach Paradise.
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Сообщение отредактировал lolosipovanika - Воскресенье, 20.04.2025, 22:58 |
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| veronikachernykh15 | Дата: Четверг, 24.04.2025, 13:50 | Сообщение # 6 |
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| Indeed, for an Orthodox Christian, the path can be very narrow. We need to be very careful and attentive to ourselves and be strict with ourselves, and then maybe we will not stumble.
However, as a young person, it can be difficult for me to evaluate every action or thought through the lens of whether it moves us closer to God or further away from Him.
The Holy Scriptures teach us that humility is the highest virtue, and Christ has set an example of how much we should humble ourselves. Christ has set an example for every Christian how much we should belittle ourselves, and only then will the devil not get to us. We know that God himself, Jesus Christ, washed the feet of his disciples and did not allow them to give up on it. Thus showing what our humility should be like. "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one anotheŕs feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you". (John.13:14-15).
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Сообщение отредактировал veronikachernykh15 - Понедельник, 28.04.2025, 17:15 |
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| windelola | Дата: Воскресенье, 27.04.2025, 00:59 | Сообщение # 7 |
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| When we hear that we should "look only to ourselves", most of us start thinking of humility/self-restraint/abnegation more than about something else. Which, I agree with Sofia, Цитата sophianesterenokЦитата ;5751 () may lead to hypocrisy and false humility, some of the worst forms of pride
-- why should we be thinking that being the last is something that we imagine as being the last? Why making it our goal to be the first in being the last while we do not exactly know where and when we are actually being good or bad? Maybe let these evaluations go and just try to behave like humans in small things?
Who's afraid of doing something bad, does it and blames himself for it, and so continues. He can move who learns from mistakes and doesn't dwell on the past, who isn't afraid and just sticks to trying to be the best version of himself every time. Constant self-evaluation and re-questioning about every thought that one had had before he has done something else is freezing, sticky and simply unhealthy, unless one doesn't confess to a priest every day. At monasteries, they have to, every day, -- they let things go, they leave themselves space to pray and be happy.
I do agree with the point though. I just don't like when the word "achieving" in such quotes is understood literally. As if there's a golden cup for the last place and everyone doesn't move because they want each other to go ahead. It should be natural. Someone has to be the first and there's nothing bad in it actually, unless we are jealous and blame them for it, using this "being the last" point to just not move -- out of some comfort zone. Which I have no sympathy for, being childishly proud and learning to live as such.
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Сообщение отредактировал windelola - Среда, 04.06.2025, 17:58 |
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| sophianesterenok | Дата: Четверг, 29.05.2025, 14:47 | Сообщение # 8 |
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| I wanted to add something regarding the image of "a golden cup for the last place" in a race where everybody tries to stay as still as possible.
It is a line from a (likely Catholic) prayer I saw online, which was called "Litany of Humility". It concludes: "Let others become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should".
Perhaps it is not theologically perfect, but I think it illustrates the way we mustn't try to be "less holy" than everyone else, but to want holiness for everyone and serve others in their progress, since we all share a common goal.
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Сообщение отредактировал sophianesterenok - Четверг, 29.05.2025, 14:50 |
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| lori9520 | Дата: Четверг, 05.06.2025, 02:28 | Сообщение # 9 |
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| Here it's said that if a person has decided to begin his spiritual growth, he must turn only to himself and ask only himself. He shouldn't look for justifications for himself outside or reasons for circumstances and other people. Building relationships with God, asking him for humility and through self-analysis and awareness of his own sinfulness and the mercy of God, the soul of man goes along the narrow path.
Some time ago, I was listening to a priest who was speaking about this path. He said that due to the impact of sin on the soul, the peculiarities of our psyche, emotionality, the image of God that to one degree or another emerges in our consciousness is usually false and has nothing to do with the personality of God. Spiritual growth will begin only when a person is completely disappointed in himself, comes to true humility, when he no longer has the awareness that he is good compared to someone else. At this moment, all unnecessary ideas about God must fall away, although He, by virtue of His love, can answer us in the form that we can contain in ourselves about Him. At a critical moment, He will be waiting for us on the edge of hell, the real one, to console us and ask our consent to be healed.
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