The Word of Christ does not pass, it is eternal

Motto: “For me, the life of my brethren is more precious than my own life.”

  We cannot acquire the image of Christ within us unless we are truly [united] one, as Christ asked His disciples: Love one another, so that the world may know that you belong to Christ (John 15, 12).
For me, the life of my brethren is more precious than my own. When you will understand this, there will be no more misunderstandings between you. The untying of a problem or a disagreement, does not depend on any organization, or a particular code of conduct, but on the decision to bear everything. Each one of us must have a mother’ heart for others.
We ought to be very sensitive to the needs of others. Then we’ll be one and the blessing of God will abound in us.
We must have Christ’ consciousness, Who bears in Him the whole world; therein lies the universality of the human being. The Word of Christ does not change, and it is eternal.
If we confess in the Creed that Christ is the One True God, the Savior of the world, its Creator through Whom all things were made, how can we reduce our faith to a matter of nationality, place, or time…?

(Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex, in “The Life in the Spirit”

The mule without an owner…

  N. Dramudianos told us a wonderful experience he lived during the war in 1940:
“Our team was ordered to conquer a height and use as a bridgehead. We built barricades over the rocks and after everything was finished, it started snowing. And it snowed continuously for two days and two nights, that in many places the snow reached up to two meters. We became isolated and each one of us had food stock in his haversack for only a day. Because of the cold and hunger, we didn’t care for “tomorrow” so we were left completely without food.
From there on, our “martyrdom” began. We quenched our thirst with snow, but the hunger started to reap us. We spent five days and five nights like this and became like some skeletons. However, we kept our morale high, but the human nature has its limits. Some of us died. The rest of us expected the same “end”, for our “Faith and our Motherland”.

  Then a saving thought of our commander worked the wonder. He took a paper icon of the Theotokos, he was hiding under his vest, and placed it on a mound, called all of us to him and said:
– My brave men, in this critical situation, only a miracle can save us. Let us all kneel and beseech the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God to help us! We all fell on our knees, lifted up our hands and prayed to her fervently!

  We barely stood up, when we heard some bells. We were cut by surprise so we took our guns resuming the shooting position. It’s been a matter a minutes, when suddenly we saw a giant mule approaching us. We flinched; a stray animal to pass over the mountain on a snow reaching over one meter?! This was very uncommon.
Then we realized that the Holy Mother of God had directed him to us. We thanked the mule, as we all started to sing softly but heartily: ‘Our Protector Lady” and other songs dedicated to her. The mule was caring with him a whole intendance of food: bread, cheese, canned food, brandy and much more.
Great and unbelievable pains I suffered during the war, but this certainly will remain unforgettable to me, for it had no logical explanation. So I owned it to the Mother of God.”

From the Book: “The apparitions and miracles of the Virgin”, Holy Monastery of Parakletos