Why The Orthodox Are So Bent On Fasting, Abstinence, And Ascesis

Our Great War is a spiritual war.

Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in Fight Club

Santa Claus Siding With Muslims In The Arab-Israeli Conflict

Why do so many Americans, especially from Christian-conservative and right-wing (Republican) political circles, feel the need to convert to Eastern Orthodoxy in droves, and flood into the Eastern Church by the hundreds, when even the greatest Orthodox Saints themselves so shamelessly and unapologetically espouse such clearly anti-American politics on the hotly-debated topics of Gaza and Palestine ? Oh, well... I guess we'll never really know -- will we ?...

5. A Muslim man came to Beit Jala to shoot at the Israeli settlement of Gilo. An old man appeared to him, telling him to leave immediately. The man did so. Moments later a shell exploded on the exact spot where he had been standing. The man later identified the person who spoke to him as St Nicholas.


6. Another elderly Muslim man was deeply worried about his son who had been in an Israeli prison for some years. During the night before the man's birthday, an old man appeared at his bedside, telling him his son would return on the next day. When the man asked the visitor who he was and where he was from, he answered: "I am Nicholas, from Beit Jala. If you need to find me, just ask for me, everyone knows me there." The following day, the son returned. The old man set off for Beit Jala to share the good news with the stranger, and to thank him. Confused by the story, no one in Beit Jala could tell him who had visited him. Then the sacristan took the man into the Church of St. Nicholas, where he immediately recognized the icon of St Nicholas as the person who had visited him.

Source

Perhaps it is in moments such as these that the leaders of the Free World should take a brief pause to reflect, and -in all honesty and sincerity- genuinely ask themselves: What Would Saint Nick Do ?...

On My Wit And Intelligence

It Feels So Nice To Finally Be Appreciated...

Why I Can't Just Give Up On Fasting And Abstinence Only Half-Way Through Advent

( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).

Matthew 10:22 But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

As you can clearly see, I'm deeply involved in the Advent Fast, and I'm taking ascesis very seriously...

Kind Words Of Comfort And Encouragement For Those Who Already Feel Worn Out By All That Fasting And Abstinence, At Only Half-Way Through Advent

Where you are now, you can't even imagine what the bottom will be like...

Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in Fight Club