8 March 2017. Finding of the Relics of St Matrona the Blessed of Moscow

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The wonder-working power of Matrona of Moscow was directly due to her suffering, to the endurance of her anguish as she bore her salvific and life-giving cross. May the Lord help us all; call upon the Holy Righteous Matrona, ask for her aid in solving your life’s problems. At the same time, ask her to fill your heart and your mind with the power of her example, with the understanding of what it means for you to carry the cross that God imposes on you.

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias

On 8 March 1998, Patriarch Aleksei Ridiger of Moscow and all the Russias authorised the uncovering of the relics of St Matrona Nikonova the Blessed of Moscow. This is the second holy day for this saint (the other is on 2 May, the date of her death). Today, her relics are in the Pokrovsky Stavropegic Convent in Moscow… one can venerate them every day from 07.00 until 20.00… on Sunday, the relics open for veneration at 06.00. Thousands of people daily come to Matrona to venerate her relics. Easily, she’s one of the most “popular” saints in Moscow. The fact that International Women’s Day and this holy day of St Matrona coincide is a coincidence, but a happy one.

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2 June 2016. Saints Aren’t Infallible… They CAN be Wrong

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I wrote this on FB:

However, although he was a saint, St Ioann Maksimovich wasn’t a good bishop or theologian. He was, indeed, holy. He was, indeed, a Fool-in-Christ (thus, his title of “Blessed”, instead of the more-common “Righteous”). However, he wasn’t an administrator (his successor Antony Medvedev had to clear away his mess) or was he an academic theologian. He was, perhaps, a great pastor and a great mystic, but he wasn’t a Defender of the Faith as was Antony Bartoshevich or a hardheaded diocesan leader like Bishop Kip in NEPA. In short, St John isn’t a good source for defined Church dogma… I’d look to people like A I Osipov for that. Again, apples aren’t oranges… sainthood isn’t scholarship or leadership… we should remember that.

I wish that the konvertsy like Holland would stop with the proof-texting nonsense. We aren’t “Evangelicals”… we shouldn’t be aping their Antichristian ways. The Church defines its dogma by its shared consensus… not on this-or-that isolated quote from this-or-that saint or theologian. If a saint said something, it either agrees with the agreed consensus or it doesn’t… if it’s the latter, it’s simply wrongheaded, and that’s that. We don’t believe that saints are infallible. NO ONE IS INFALLIBLE. Therefore, it’s entirely possible for a saint to be wrong on a particular point without impairing their sainthood one bit. For instance, St Mark of Ephesus had tinges of Latin Purgatory in his writing… but since he was a saint in other ways, we overlook this error. In like manner, we overlook St John’s errors in re the tollhouse fantasy. He was simply mistaken on that. Note well that the konvertsy brats can’t seem to get that. It tells you much about them and their stance doesn’t it? Keep alert… the times aren’t good…

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1 December 2011. Pavlo the Don Cossack: A 20th Century “Fool for Christ’s Sake”

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When he was in his 80s and 90s, he’d walk miles to church for Liturgy… think on that if you bitch about driving 20 minutes to church. After he died, the people in charge of his belongings found thousands of dollars sewn into the lining of one of his jackets. Kids, real sanctity isn’t something that you read about in a book… if you look hard enough, you can see it all around you. Remember… sanctity doesn’t drive a Caddy… sanctity doesn’t live in a McMansion… and sanctity NEVER looks “holy”. If it looks “holy”, it ain’t… never forget that. God teaches us through his messengers… do bear in mind that those messengers are never “obvious”… they’re never “official”. I seem to remember something about an uppity carpenter’s son in First Century Palestine, don’t you?

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