Fruits of the Spirit
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth,
Who art everywhere present and fillest all things,
Treasury of blessings and Giver of Life,
come and abide in us,
and cleanse us of all impurity,
and save our souls, O Good One.
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The Orthodox Church in
America
Yep! I'm an OCA baby!
This site has tons of info on Orthodoxy as well as a
convenient way to locate the parish nearest you and a
link to an online bookstore at St. Vladimir's Press.
St. Luke the
Evangelist Orthodox Church
My home parish. This site is constantly being updated.
Orthodox
WorldLinks
Maintained as a public service of Theologic Systems.
It provides links to Orthodox Internet sites and other
key sites of interest to the Orthodox Christian
community worldwide. Right now it is under renovation.
I'm planning on adding some other links here. One's which show why God has place animals in our lives as He did with Adam and Eve. The good effects of pet ownership on the health of the elderly, the training of service animals, therapy animals, for example.
If I can find it on the web I may add some social concern links too. I think the ASPCA has an article on how harming animals is a prelude to harming people.
Jacob's Well has some excellent articles:
Humans and Animals in the Kingdom
and
Orthodoxy and the Environment.
Check out In Communion issue 22 on The Creation (Winter 2001) in the archive. Other issues also have pertinent articles, especially the story on Saint Gerasimos and His Lion, Jordanes (Fall 2000).
The OCA website has a great series called Life in Christ: Pastoral Reflections by Very Rev. John Breck. In it are two "must read" articles.
The first is POKER, R.I.P. (March 2004 #2) is a beautiful reflecion written when Fr. John Breck's dog passed on. In it he also mentions Fr. Lev Gillet's thoughts. The second is Creation: Charged, Tended, Kept (November 2002 #2) by John Oliver III.
You need to go to oca.org, then select Sitemap, then find Life in Christ: A Series of Pastoral Reflections, then choose the article you want to read in the Archive. Wander around a bit while you are there.
I'm sorry to make this difficult but I promise it is worth the trouble. I tried to link directly but it didn't work.
An interesting article titled The Saints and the animals is on a Greek monastery website.
The Glory of God Hidden in His Creatures by Olivier L. Clement
St. Paraskevi Orthodox Shrine Church
You must see this Church. It's dome has the Creation on it... It is sublime. You can request prayers here too. Thank's cousin Alex for finding this place for me.
Interfax-Religion has some encouraging news stories. Please allow for poor translation into English.
11-18-08 - The Lord won't leave dead pets without mercy, an Orthodox priest believes.
12-3-08 - Burnt down priest from the Yaroslavl Region saved three kittens from his burning house.
8-18-09 - A Priest opens pet's corner in his church near St. Petersburg.
9-9-09 - Rector of Kemerovo church sheltered emus.
You should check out On High Alert: Emergency Preparedness for You and Your Pets at The Humane Society of the United States. Also see Pets and Disaster: Be Prepared at the American Red Cross. This is very good advice for any emergency situation from major power outages to natural disasters.
For information on Therapy Animals go to: the Delta Society and Pets and People:Companions in Therapy & Service.
I really like Koko's website. You remember her? She is one of the gorillas who use sign language. Her niece is Binti Jua the gorilla who rescued the injured boy at Brookfield Zoo.
Anyway, you can buy t-shirts designed by Koko and Micheal at Koko.org.
You can purchase Koko's NATURE documentary "A Conversation with Koko" (where poor Micheal tells of seeing his mother killed by the poachers who captured him. I'm in tears simply remembering.). All Ball, who was one of Koko's kittens, is also in it. It is The Best. I have really searched for this tape, but it is hard to find so this is the place to get it. They have it in DVD or VHS. Other tapes too; Reading Rainbow, All Ball, Gorillas. Lots of stuff for kids.
Think Christmas gifts. Also, if you shop Amazon.com through their website they get a 7% donation!!
I love my organic cotton "Stink, Stink, Pink Drink" t-shirt. Thanks Mom!
They have fantastic primate links through their About Gorillas page.
Not only are we responsible for animals but we are responsible for the rest of God's creation too.
Check out these sites:
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club
The Nature Conservancy.
I went to a beautiful place called The Clearing. "It's mission is to provide diverse educational experiences in the folk school traditon in a setting of quiet forests, meadows and water." It was founded by the famous landscape architect, Jens Jensen in 1935. It is in Ellison Bay in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin.
I went to a five-day class and loved it. I met many wonderful people, explored new ideas (The Earth Bible - Hi Bill!), and experienced the world as it was in simpler times. If you are not already interested - the food is awesome! I think you would enjoy it. It is a great place for reflection.
Here is an interesting site for responsible energy production:
Green Mountain
Orthodox Email Greetings are available at:
Iconograms
They have lots of Icons to choose from and you can even customize the colors and fonts of your message.