“So that we will not forget Him and His eternal Kingdom, God mercifully sends us troubles, distress, sorrows, persecution; these are to awaken us who sleep and show us where our true home is. Let us remember the example of the Holy Apostles, and especially the burning fervor and faith which sustained them in all their trials; let us heed the many exhortations of the Apostle Paul, as well as those of our shepherds today who continue to speak and tell us to prepare, in pain and tribulation, for the Kingdom of eternal glory and joy. Weak as we are, no trial is too great for us if our strength is of Christ. “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39)” – Father Seraphim Rose
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