Maria (this was Mother Makrina’s name before she became a nun)lost her parents and was orphaned when she was nine years old. When she was twelve years old, she found work at a tobacco factory in Volos.
She used the first money she earned from this job to have a forty-day Liturgy for the souls of her parents. Her spiritual father began the Liturgies
for forty consecutive days, and she would attend the service daily. She would wake up at 3:00 am, and walk for approximately one hour from her
home to the chapel of Saint Apostle the New Martyr.
At the conclusion of the Liturgy, she would immediately leave for her work. During the forty-day period that the Liturgies were being served, she would pray in private in her home as well, for God to rest the souls of her parents.
On the fortieth day, when the final Liturgy was to
beheld, a little before she woke up, in a state
half-way between sleep and vigilance, she found herself in a green pasture with flowering trees,
similar to almond trees when their branches of are in bloom in the spring. She heard a voice telling her that this place belonged to her parents. Deeply moved, she began to call out to them, and they appeared to her, at which time she asked them anxiously if they are in a place of rest. They joyfully replied, “It was nice where we were before, but now we are even better.”
After this, she prepared to go to the final Liturgy.
At the conclusion of the service, as her spiritual father was handing out the antidoron, he asked
her to stay behind for a while because he wanted to speak to her.
Maria waited and shortly thereafter her spiritual father came to ask her how she felt while praying for her parents. Before Maria was able to respond, he told her that he also had seen them the night before just as she had seen them.
Maria then comprehended the immense value of the forty-day Liturgies, and when she later became an abbess, she always recommended to people to perform liturgies for both the deceased, as well
as for health and support of the living during life’s various difficulties.
from the life of Nun Makrina (†1995)
http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2014/03/our-prayers-help-departed-part-2-nun.html
God is kind. He wants us all to be saved. If only a few were to be saved, why then was Christ crucified? The gate into Paradise is not narrow. There is room for all those who bow humbly and are not puffed up with pride, as long as they repent and give the burden of their sins to Christ.
Then there is plenty of room to pass through the gate.Man can be saved with a single humble thought, or with a proud one, lose everything.
St. Paisios
Orthodox Christians believe that God is "the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible". The world is not eternal; only God is eternal. He created the entire world out of nothing: "for he spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood forth" (Ps. 33,9).
Man cannot determine the manner in which the world came into being; for it is not an object of scientific examination, for it transcends man's "rational" ability (his logic). Man is part of created reality, he cannot become an "observer" of the manner in which he himself was created!
The world is not of the same nature with God; "by nature" it is entirely different. The world is not a creation from the essence of God, "light from light" but the fruit of God's volition and freedom; there is an insurmountable chasm separating God's essence from the essence of the created world.
God need not have created the world. The world, however, was pre-eternally in God's "thought". Thus the creation of the world does not mean a change in God's life. The world came into being according to God's plan and at a time which pre-eternally existed in God's will.
Before making visible creation, God created the spiritual world, i.e. the angels: "When the stars were created, all my angels with a loud voice praised me", says God to Job (Job 38,7). Neither angels nor men existed pre-eternally. Angels are spiritual persons. They were created in time and are limited by space; the swiftness, however, of the angelic nature allows them to act everywhere; only God is not limited by space.
Also, the angels, like men, were created mutable, but through God's grace and their own disposition, they became firm and unshakable in virtue and remain faithful in their original mission: to glorify God and to minister unto man's salvation (Isaiah, 6,3; Luke 2,14; Hebr. 1,14).
Man was from the beginning created as body and soul; man's soul did not pre-exist. Holy Scripture states: "And God created man, taking earth from the ground and breathed into his face the spirit of life, and man became a living being" (Gen. 2,7).
Underlining the distinction between the Creator and the creatures, the Orthodox Christian does not make an idol of nature or of himself. He does not hope that in "identifying" with nature, he will broaden his existence; he does not seek out certain apocryphal transcendental powers within nature, believing that by "activating" them he will solve the problems he faces. His hope has reference to God the Creator, for He has created us from the beginning "according to His image" with a purpose to achieve the "according to the Image" (Gen. 1,26); he does not refer to the created world or to his own self. The meaning of life is to be found in achieving the "according to the likeness", our Archetype, which is outside our own essence and not "within us".
All that exists was created by God "very good"; "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1,31). The Orthodox Christian therefore evaluates all of material creation positively.
All things are the fruit of God's love, all things are sanctified in the Orthodox Church: not only man's soul, but his body as well, and all of material creation: all things contain within them the "seed" of perfection and are foreordained to life, free from corruption and death.
http://artoklasia.blogspot.ca/2015/04/all-things-are-fruit-of-gods-love.html
LET US ALWAYS REMEMBER DEATH, for from this remembrance is born in us the putting aside of all cares and vanities, the preservation of the mind and unceasing prayer, a healthy attitude toward the body and a loathing of sin, and, if the truth be told, almost every live and active virtue flows forth from it. Therefore, let us, if possible, do this work as uninterruptedly as our breathing is uninterrupted. ( St. Hesychius ) .
The Saviour called the many mansions of the Father the various capacities of the mind of those dwelling in that realm, that is, the distinction and diversity of spiritual gifts which they enjoy according to the capacity of the mind. For, not according to a diversity of places, but according to the degree of gifts does he call the mansions many.
Just as each man enjoys the perceptible sun, depending on the purity and receptivity of his power of sight, and just as illumination from one lamp varies in a house, although the light is not divided into many lights, so in the future age all the righteous will abide indivisibly in one realm, but each, according to his own capacity, is illumined by one noetic Sun, and, according to his worthiness, attracts joy and gladness to himself, even though from one air, from one place, throne, sight and image. And no one sees the measure of his friend, both higher and lower, lest, if he see the superior grace of his friend and his own deprivation, this be a cause of sorrow and grief for him. There, each, according to the grace given to him, is glad inwardly in his measure. Outside them all is one sight and realm and besides these two degrees, I understand just one realm on high and another below, in the midst of them is variety in a diversity of gifts. ( St. Isaac the Syrian ).
Death, for men who understand it, is immortality; while for the simple, who do not understand it, it is death. And one should not fear this death, but ought to fear the perdition of the soul, which is ignorance of God. This is what is terrible for the soul! Life is the uniting and joining of the mind (spirit), soul and body; while death is not the perdition of these joined parts, but the dissolution of their union; God preserves all this even after the dissolution. Just as a man comes forth from his mother's womb, so does a soul come forth naked from the body. Some are pure and bright, some are spotted by falls, and some are black from many transgressions. That is why the wise and Godloving soul, remembering and considering the calamities and extremities that come after death, lives piously lest it be condemned and subjected to them. But the unbelievers, the mindless in soul, do not perceive and they sin, despising what is to come. Just as on issuing forth from the womb thou dost not remember what was in the womb, so on issuing forth from the body thou dost not remember what was in the body. Just as on issuing forth from the womb thou becamest better and greater in body, so on issuing forth from the body pure and undefiled, thou wilt be better and incorrupt, abiding in the heavens.
Mortal men ought to care about themselves, knowing in advance that death awaits them. For blessed immortality is the lot of the holy soul when it is good, and death eternal meets it when it is evil. Remember that thy youth is past and thy powers exhausted, while thine infirmities have grown and already the time of thy departure is near, when thou wilt give an account of all thy deeds; and know that there, neither will brother redeem brother, nor will father deliver son. Always remember thy departure from the body, and do not let eternal condemnation out of thy thoughts; if thou wilt act thus, thou wilt not sin unto the ages. ( St. Anthony the Great )
http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2014/01/eternal-life-st-hesychius-st-isaac.html
Of course, love is higher than everything. If you find that you have no love within you but wish to obtain it, then perform acts of love, even though at the beginning without love. God will see your desire and suffering and will implant love into your heart. "Those who have an unsightly heart should not despair, because with God’s help they can reform it. All you need to do is watch yourself attentively, do not allow an opportunity to be beneficial to your close one slip by, disclose your thoughts to your elders and be benevolent to the utmost. Of course this cannot be done suddenly, but God is very patient. He only terminates the life of a person when He sees that he is ready to cross over into eternity, or, when He sees that there is no hope for improvement in him.
Elder Ambrose of Optina
