Our next Reading will be
Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica by Ana Smiljanic
Starting February 8, 2022.
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm (EST)
Join online at https://meet.google.com/fct-uhjo-jwq
We will be ordering the books and have them at the Church soon. If you prefer, you may purchase the book at:
Ancient Faith – https://store.ancientfaith.com/our-thoughts-determine-our-lives/
SVS Press – https://svspress.com/our-thoughts-determine-our-lives-the-life-and-teachings-of-elder-thaddeus-of-vitovnica/
Saint Herman Press – https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/product-p/otdol.htm
by Ana Smiljanic and Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
“Love little things, and strive for that which is modest and simple. The Lord watches over us, and He is pleased that you long for His peace. Until the soul is ready, He will only sometimes allow us to see that He is present everywhere and fills all things. At these moments the soul feels such joy!… But then the Lord conceals Himself from us again, in order that we might long for Him and seek Him with our hearts!” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica was one of the most renowned spiritual guides of Serbia in the twentieth century. As a novice he lived in obedience to Elder Ambrose of Miljkovo Monastery, a disciple of the Optina Elders. From him Fr. Thaddeus learned the Prayer of the Heart and the selfless love that came to characterize his whole ministry to the suffering Serbian people.
Born in 1914, Elder Thaddeus lived through all the suffering endured by Serbia in the twentieth century. Over the course of two World Wars, during the Communist takeover, and through the nato bombings of 1999, he co-suffered with his people. He taught, counseled, and prayed for all who came to him in pain and sorrow. His words of love and hope provided spiritual balm for people from all classes of society.
In 2002 Elder Thaddeus reposed, leaving behind a large collection of his teachings, preserved by his faithful spiritual children. His life, teachings, and spiritual conversations are here presented for the first time in English.
Past Readings
Ordinary Wonders: Stories of Unexpected Grace by Olesia Nikolaeva
The Deceitful Onion Bulb. A Blessing to Smuggle. The Conjuror of Rain. In this collection of stories as whimsical as their titles, award-winning author Olesia Nikolaeva poignantly recounts life for Christian believers in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In a manner reminiscent of the bestselling Everyday Saints these tales reveal a common theme – the subtle, sometimes imperceptible movement of Divine Providence at work in the lives of saints and sinners alike. Her writings bring us to what the ancient Celts called “thin places” where the boundaries of heaven and earth meet and the sacred and the secular can no longer be distinguished.
About the Author: Olesia Nikolaeva is an award-winning author, poet, and essayist. She has been writing since her early youth and was first published at the age of seventeen. Bishop Tikhon (Shevkhunov), author of the 2011 bestseller Everyday Saints, called her “a trailblazer in Russian Orthodox prose.”
Join online at https://meet.google.com/fct-uhjo-jwq
In Liew of an Introduction
The Conjuror of Rain
The New Nicodemus
Confusion
Two or Three Days
Flowers for the Shroud
Monk Leonid
Another Source
How I Battled the Gypsies
Non-Komsomol Gingerbread
At Blessed Xenia’s
The Hunger Striker
“A Little Piece of Wood”
The Gypsy
Martyr Tryphon
Criss-Cross
The Queens’s Pendants
Embrace
About Love
“You Do Not Know What You Ask” (Mk 10:38)
Wishes Come True
More Than Enough or Nothing Extra
Come and See
Bring Back my Husband
The Apple of My Eye
The Thrill Seeker
An Experiment
Quid Pro Quo
Temptation
Confession to the Prison Guard
One Wave after the Other
The Sound of Trumpets
Our “Boys” and “the Germans”
Five Months of Love
Mysteries Beyond the Grave
Augustine
The Lord Gave and the Lord Took Away
Halvah
The Deceitful Onion Bulb
How I Lost My Voice
Money for Sabaoth
Kalliping
Good Material for a Television Series
A Blessing to Smuggle
Payback
The Delusional One
How the Vatican Shod Our Bishops
The Little Cloud
Sokratis
The Late Husband of Mother Seraphima
The Angel
Heavenly Fire
Corfu (Part 1)
Corfu (Part 2)
Corfu (Part 3)
Corfu (conclusion)
The Blessed Surgeon by Archdeacon Vasiliy Marushchak
University and Early Work
1917: First Ordeals
The Trial of the Doctors
First Arrest
Imprisonment and Exile (Part 1)
Return to Freedom
Return from Second Exile. Temptations
Third Exile and War
Ministry at the Tambov See
Ministry at the Crimean See (Part 1)
Cases and Miracles
The Archbishop’s Repose
The Glorification of the Archbishop and the Uncovering of his Relics
The Archbishop by Tihon Hieromonk
Beginning to Pray by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom
Ascetics in the World
The Holy Angels by Mother Alexandra
Pearl of Great Price by Sergei Hackel
Wounded by Love by St Porphyrios
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