#◉ earthly passions ( SAVED )

[butmakeitgayblog]

Always, Lexa has loved her. 

In every lifetime. In every iteration of her.

Forged in the fires of hell and phosphorus embers of perdition, Lexa, a demon, walks among them. From the dawn of man crawling from their caves on bended knee, to the concrete skylines of the new world, she watched them flourish, thrive, and crumble. Smelled the smoke of their burning Eden while sipping their sin like the finest opulent wine.

"Kiss me harder," Lexa whimpers against the heat of Clarke's milk and honeyed mouth as hands work their will below.

In every lifetime she is different. A different face. A different name. Golden blonde bleeding to silver, burnt amber to black. A village healer who seeks to comfort. A coven leader who works her incantations in vain. A conjurer, a shawoman, a witch by so many shifting names. From the days when beasts roamed free and she, only a nomad protecting her clan through a veil of ancient mystics, to Clarke Griffin of the new age, the midwife with a strange knack for saving lives already thought lost to this realm.

"Fuck, Lex," Clarke sighs, rolling her hips into the thrust of Lexa's fingers hard enough to rattle the bones.

From the beginning, Lexa has watched her hone her craft, over decades and centuries and long lost millennia. Has watched her conjure and harness death in the smoke of fire-stoked chants, as her beating heart burned at the stake. Has kissed the choked, 'May we meet again' from the blue of her lips, felt the cold of her skin as she drowns on the riverbanks by their righteous hands in the never ending cycle of loving her, and losing her, and patiently waiting for that someday when she is reborn again.

"I've missed you." Lexa feels her tears turn to ash in the chalice of Clarke's kiss; quenching and searching and chasing after so many years without. 

Hell doesn't burn quite so lovingly in the lifetimes when she loves her back, returning Lexa's kisses and aching for her touch with equally wicked smiles. When she breathes her passion and pleasure against the warmth of Lexa's lips and lays her body among the ruins of their blasphemy. Back arched and legs spread as she pants for Lexa to fill her more, to take her rougher. To pour her sinister lust into her. The lifetimes where Lexa gets to hold her, taste and touch her, to feel her wrapped tight and wet around her fingers… Those are lifetimes that bring color to the grey of Lexa's damnation. When power seeps from her like a sieve of midnight fury, tasting of blood and summer sweet dandelions on Lexa's tongue. 

Clarke gasps in pants and sacred salt, hands breaking the circle upon such consecrated ground. "Don't let me forget, baby. Don't let me forget you."

Beyond her earthly bindings, the truth of her remains. The unwavering essence that calls to Lexa from the four corners of the Earth whenever she returns to her. 

Her soul remains true in every lifetime, in every iteration

And always, Lexa has loved her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or, Demon Lexa falling for every reincarnation of Witchy Clarke over the expanse of eternity, but mostly I'm just here for the aesthetics 🎃

[patukkaas]

Could you do a Blue Diamond x Red Diamond (fem reader! or GN!) where red is passionate about life on earth?

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Thank you for the request

Unfortunately you didn't specify if you wanted a oneshot or headcanons so I'll do headcanons.

I have horrible writers block so this turned out so bad and short I'm really sorry.

Blue Diamond x Red Diamond! Reader

Warnings: None

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

▪︎ You were obviously hiding it from the diamonds that you even somewhat liked Pink's colony.

▪︎ But being as close as you were with Blue, you had accidently slipped it while talking to her.

▪︎ She wasn't suprised but neither was she expecting it.

▪︎ You didn't want to go through with the colony.

▪︎ But it wasn't like anybody would listen so you kept it secret.

▪︎ You prayed the other Diamonds would listen to Pink's whining about not wanting to go through with the colony.

▪︎ While Pink was begging to you, Yellow and Blue, Blue kept glancing at you knowing you didn't want to go through with the colony either.

▪︎ But, you had to teach Pink to go through with what she's started and theres nothing else to that.

▪︎ But after Pink's shattering, Blue was devastated and you had to be there to comfort her.

▪︎ But you were, relieved? That earth was saved, even if Pink had gotten shattered in the process. You knew she wanted earth to be saved, her wish would be completed by Rose Quartz.

▪︎ Blue also knew that you weren't as devastated as her. And she knew you were relieved.

▪︎ When the diamonds wanted to blast every gem off earth, you didn't want to participate in the blasting.

▪︎ After it was revealed that Rose Quartz was Pink diamond and Rose Quartz had a 'son', you were extra relieved knowing Earth was alright and Pink Diamond was too, but just in another form.

▪︎ After Pink's son wanted to stay back on earth, needless to say you were honestly proud of him. ▪︎ having studied earth's life and then trying to teach it to blue

▪︎ You knew what son, mother, father and the earthly terms meant so you had no trouble adjusting to him.

▪︎ You knew Steven wasn't Pink Diamond, but Steven had his mother's spirit.

▪︎ And when you, Yellow, Blue and White took in Spinel in "replace" for Steven, you and Blue acted as if you were parents to her, together ofcourse.

▪︎ Not having earthly realitionship statuses, you liked Blue and Blue liked you. And that way it was, and because of Steven and the earth, White and Yellow didn't judge you and Blue for it.

[talonabraxas]

Lord Vishnu ॐ Talon Abraxas

Lord Vishnu represents the aspect of the Supreme Reality that preserves and sustains the universe. Although there are variations in images and pictures of Lord Vishnu, He is generally symbolized by a human body with four arms. In His hands He carries a conch (shankha), a mace (gada), and discus (chakra). He wears a crown, two earrings, a garland (mala) of flowers, and a gem around the neck. He has a blue body and wears yellow clothes. The Lord is shown standing on a thousand-headed snake (named Shesha Nag), and the snake stands with its hoods open over the head of the Lord.

The four arms indicate Lord’s omnipresence and omnipotence. The two front arms signify the lord’s activity in the physical world and the two back arms signify His activity in the spiritual world. The right side of the body represents the creative activities of the mind and the intellect. The left side symbolizes the activities of the heart; that is, love, kindness, and compassion.

A conch in the upper left hand indicates that the Lord communicates with His devotees with love and understanding. When blowing His conch, He reminds his devotes to live in this world with kindness and compassion towards all living beings. A chakra in His upper right hand conveys the idea that the Lord uses this weapon to protect His devotees from evil. The mace denotes energy and a mace in the Lord’s left lower hand signifies that He sustains the manifest world by the energy that He holds in Himself. His front right hand is depicted bestowing grace on His devotees.

The snake denotes the mind and the thousand heads of the snake signify innumerable desires and passions of an individual. Just as a snake destroys its victim by its venom, an uncontrolled mind destroys the world by the venom of its possessiveness. The Lord has controlled all desires, and this is symbolized by showing Him seated on the two coils of the snake. When a sincere devotee of the Lord controls his desires, the Lord fulfills the devotee’s genuine desires and helps him on his path.

The blue sky in the background of the Lord suggests that He pervades the entire universe. The blue color symbolizes infinity. The blue body of the Lord signifies that He has infinite attributes. He is nameless, formless, and immeasurable. The color yellow is associated with earthly existence and the yellow clothes of the Lord signify that He incarnates Himself on this earth to uphold righteousness and destroy evil and unrighteousness.

A flower garland around the Lord’s neck is a symbol of the devotee’s adoration for the Lord. A gem decorating His neck signifies that the Lord fulfills all genuine desires of His devotees and provides for their needs. The crown is a symbol of the Lord’s supreme power and authority. The two earrings signify the dual nature of creation, such as knowledge and ignorance, happiness and unhappiness, and pleasure and pain.

The worship of Lord Vishnu is very popular among Hindus, especially among the followers of the Vaishnava tradition (Vaishnavism). He is the second member of the Hindu Trinity, with Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva as the other two. Lord Vishnu is also known by other names, such as Vasudeva and Narayana. The following ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are described in Hindu mythology and are popular among Hindus. These incarnations reveal the help rendered by God during various stages of human evolution. As shown below, the first two incarnations are in the animal form, the third one is half-human and half-animal, and the fourth and the subsequent ones are all in human form. These incarnations relate to human evolution from aquatic life to human life, and are consistent with the modern theory of evolution suggested by science:

Matsya (fish)—saves Sage Manu from floods and recovers the Vedas from demons.

Kurma (tortoise)—sustains the earth on his back.

Varaha (boar)—brings the earth back from the bottom of the ocean where it was dragged down by a demon, known as Hiranyaksha; Varaha kills the demon.

Narasimha (man-lion)—kills the demon King Hiranyakashipu, who was planning to kill his own son, a devotee of Lord Vishnu.

Vamana (dwarf)—the first human incarnation of the Lord, kills the demon King Mahabhali, who had deprived the gods of their possessions.

Parasurama (the warrior with an axe)—saves Brahmins from the tyranny of the arrogant Kshatriyas.

Rama—kills Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

Sri Krishna—the most popular incarnation; Krishna’s contributions throughout his life include the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

Buddha—Hindus consider Buddha as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and accept his teachings, but do not directly worship him.

Kalkin (a man on a white horse)—this incarnation is yet to come and will mark the end of all evil in the world.

[littledekuchan]

I'm back with more winx redesigns that have already become my ocs

Below we will have the new designs and a little information about each of them.

Firstly we will start with my little pumpkin Mirta! Mirta in my au is a dark fairy, the fairy of illusions. She is almost in a relationship with the swamp witch Lucy, but Mirta doesn't notice the way Lucy acts around her.

Her groupmates are Ahisa the Passion Fairy, Alice the Snow Fairy, Jenny the Mirror Fairy and Lee-Hona the Singing Fairy.

Mirta is pansexual and this is her short summary

What does she hide under her hats?

Swamp Witch, Lucy! Lucy comes from a long line of potion-making witches and fairies, all starting with her great-great-grandmother Cuca, who is a well teacher in Cloud Tower. Lucy is in love with Mirta, but who said the little clown realized her good intentions?

Lucy's team is Beast Witch Erica and Deep Sea Witch Darya.

Lucy is a trans and lesbian girl.

Those next to Ludy are Erica and Darya, respectively.

Feel the love in the air with Ahisa! Ahisa is a little fairy from Limphea, her power is to make people fall in love/have good feelings because of her plant pheromones, which is why she is the fairy of passion.

Their group is Mirta the dark fairy of illusions, Alice the snow fairy, Jenny the Mirror Fairy and Lee-Hona the Singing Fairy.

Ahisa is often seen by Alphea helping young fairies and dark fairies find love.

Even though she is the passion fairy, Ahisa is aroace.

It's time to be gracious with Galathea, the fairy of grace! Galathea is part of a large business family in the capital region of Melody, the Ming family, her family is popular for having several famous singers and exceptional composers. Galathea loves her family, but doesn't really like being the center of attention.

His group are Miky the fairy of rocks, Francine the fairy of rivers, Ortencia the fairy of mind and Kimmy the dark fairy of thunder.

Galathea is pansexual, at the moment she is not in love with anyone… Except for a fairy who is becoming popular for having recently saved Alphea from the witches, one who has powers related to music.

The dark night fairy, Chimera! Chimera is the youngest of the royal family of Solaria, sister of Stella and Kyral, her power is eclipse fairy.

Chimera, for reasons of preference, went to Beta Academia, away from her sisters and the influence of her parents. She doesn't have a group yet, but she's trying her best to make friends.

She still doesn't know her sexuality, but that's not a concern for her.

The fairy who knows all things because of animals, Roxy! Roxy is the animal fairy, being the first of a new generation of fairies on planet Earth.

It's not very easy for her to make friends, but the Winx are helping her to make friends with her group.

Her group is Kyral, the fairy of falling stars, Clarice, the dark fairy of explosions, Loni, the fairy of electricity, and Cindy, the earthly fairy of frost.

It's quite common to see Roxy away from everyone and talking to the fairy animals, missing her Artu.

Roxy is asexual.

Little joke for Roxy:

And that's it guys, now until in a couple of weeks, take care and stay hydrated, bye!!!

[nobodylikety]

hello nyúl, am here to request a foreigner (spanish) reader who is in Korea for Uni and starts dating school president dahyun but a year into a relationship reader starts missing home and dahyun ends up calling readers parents to help her make all of readers hometown food or foods from there childhood and when reader gets home they are surprised by this gestured by ends up loving it of course, then you can make it even fluffier by dahyun giving YN 2 tickets back to Spain for the summer holiday as a surprise present

Hey! How are you doing? <3

You always send me good ideas and request for fics, thank you very much 🥺🩷 I know I still have some of your requests pending, and I'm slowly working on it! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

There is no place like home

School president! Dahyun x Spanish exchange student! reader 

tags: College AU! fluff.

notes: fem pronouns used!

For someone born and raised in Mojácar, a small city in the province of Almería, embarking on the exciting experience of studying in Korea, particularly in the vibrant and enormous Seoul, was practically a dream.

So shortly after your arrival, the immensity of said culture immersed you in an absolutely unknown world, where the main difficulty had been from the beginning the language barrier (because let's be honest, at the beginning you couldn't pronounce annyeonghaseyo correctly not even to save your life), although soon, between classes and new faces, you caught the attention of Dahyun, the class president.

And well, how could you not catch her attention? You always seemed like a lost puppy hanging around the hallways, speaking a language practically unknown to her, and for god's sake, it surprisingly made you look adorable doing it.

But again, and just as from the beginning, the language barrier presented itself as a challenge, so the interactions between you and her were mostly simple greetings and smiles. Because you couldn't speak Korean to save your life, nor could she speak Spanish. However, as the days went by, the spark overcame problems as earthly as a linguistic obstacle, through patience and friendly gestures, dissolving the difficulty of her first encounters.

Because beyond that, you and Dahyun had learned to communicate through gestures, shared laughter, and genuine expressions. The connection grew day by day, turning their friendship into something deeper and more meaningful. And of course, over time you learned one or another Korean expression or sentence, purely through the process of adapting to the environment, but it was no longer crucial. You told each other everything, without saying a word.

And as your friendship intensified, excitedly sharing your Spanish roots with Dahyun, as well as the tenderness of discovering Korean traditions together, the sum of each and every one of those experiences strengthened their connection.

Which wreaked new havoc on you.

So after some time, you felt trapped in a whirlwind of emotions. The attraction grew, and every moment with Dahyun was a rollercoaster of sensations: you felt fascinated by Dahyun's vibrant energy, her infectious joy, and the way she lit up any place with her presence; You felt anticipation for her text messages, or you got giggles and butterflies in your stomach when you looked at each other.

All of that was, according to you, the worst and at the same time the best that could happen to you. You loved being by her side, but you also feared the always possible probability of a one-sided love.

Except it wasn't a one-sided love.

Although you didn't know it yet.

Because the turning point came on a starry night, during one of the now routine night walks through Seoul, when Dahyun, with a special shine in her eyes and her heart beating strongly against her ribs, confessed her feelings for you. It was a moment full of nervousness, because the words were different, they were another language, but the sparkle in your eyes revealed those same passionate feelings and finally, love resonated clearly.

//

But after a year of shared laughter, walks around the city, and mutual support, you began to experience a quiet melancholy. You were nostalgic for your home in Spain, longing for the familiar streets of Mojácar, as well as the aromas of your mamá 's cooking and the comforting meals she prepared in your childhood, remembering how she used to say that 'the cuisine of Mojácar is the best exponent of the gastronomic tradition of the Costa de Almería'.

And for Dahyun, who never took her eyes off you (because deep in her heart, she still associated you with the image of the adorable lost puppy wandering the college hallways, which was what she saw when she met you for the first time), she clearly observed the melancholy in your eyes and didn't need to ask anything about it. Sje just knew it.

And with ingenuity and determination, Dahyun decided to take action. So while she was slowly laying out a plan that she hoped would cheer you up, one day while you two were sharing a quiet walk around campus, Dahyun took your phone with a mischievous smile.

“Would you mind if I took your emergency number? You never know when we might need it,” Dahyun said, playfully.

Without even thinking and with a giggle, you gave her the phone number she had asked for. Anyway, you thought it was always good to have someone other than yourself have your emergency contact, just as a precaution. You never know, right?

And of course, what you didn't know on that occasion was that Dahyun was planning something special. That night after Uni, Dahyun discreetly left to make an international call.

"Hola, es esta la casa de reader? Uhm, soy Dahyun y, uh, su hija y yo hemos estado saliendo por un año y poco más. Llamé porque me gustaría conversar una situación con ustedes" Dahyun explained respectfully, using the Spanish she had learned.

So, after a pleasant conversation (and less difficult than Dahyun expected, given her little knowledge of Spanish), she shared her idea with your parents. Together, they created a plan to transform your dorm room into a piece of Spain. Your parents' help was very useful for Dahyun, being able to recover numerous family recipes, details about your home, and anecdotes that only your true friends could know.

So with information in hand, Dahyun gave free rein to her efforts for the surprise. Since you and Dahyun did not coincide in all classes, since academically you had different interests, consequently you two had different class dismissal times. And that day, after the end of her classes, Dahyun had run to your dorm room while you would still be engrossed in your studies for about two more hours.

You had a kitchen in your small dorm room, but you didn't usually use it, since you had little or practically no time to cook something decent, and therefore, you tended to eat with Dahyun outside or heat up microwave dinners; so at that moment, Dahyun had your entire kitchen to herself and she was ready to get to work.

The first task that Dahyun set himself was to prepare Ajo Colorao, a typical dish in almost the entire province of Almería, including Mojácar, your hometown, and which you had stated more than once that you loved to eat. So in the kitchen, and with the ingredients scattered all over the counter, Dahyun immersed herself in the process. First she prepared Ajo Colorao, a dish that, according to your parents had explained to her during the phone call, is made up of a puree that has the consistency of a salmorejo and where cooked potatoes are combined with desalted cod, chorizo pepper, garlic, tomato and cumin, and that you particularly liked to accompany with bollo de panizo, a typical bread from Almería.

Then, the second masterpiece on her gastronomic list was Patatas in ajopollo, a dish that reminded you of Sunday lunches, characterized by family reunion and togetherness, as well as shared laughter. Dahyun remembered that your parents had told her that the trick for this recipe was to first brown the bread, almonds and garlic in a frying pan with oil at low temperature until it turned golden brown, and then mash everything in a mortar until it was obtained a a soft, but thick mixture. Soon she understood that this pasty mixture was 'ajopollo', and that it accompanied the potatoes.

The aroma that filled the kitchen while Dahyun prepared your favorite dishes evoked the homely memories of your childhood in Mojácar and while now she was cooking the papaviejos —a typical dessert from Almería, preferred by the little ones, and whose ingredients simply consisted of potatoes, milk , flour and sugar—, she reflected on the connection she had built with you since you two had been dating, more than a year ago. Dahyun had the feeling that with each ingredient that fell into the pan it not only seemed to carry with it the very essence of your hometown, but also your happiness. She had noticed how homesick you had been lately, and this surprise was intended to do just that.

Make you happy. 

Because if Dahyun loved something about you dearly, it was your smile.

With that in mind, Dahyun checked the clock, taking note that it was almost time for you to return to your room after classes. And it was just in time, because a few minutes later, she heard the slight struggle while you inserted the key, and then a 'click' when removing the lock. You paused for a moment, noticing a familiar scent hanging in the air.

And then, as you opened the door, the sight of the unfolding in front of you, left you speechless. Dahyun had transformed your modest room into a corner of Mojácar in the heart of Korea.

Dahyun, with a nervous and anticipatory smile, was waiting for you standing next to the table. Her eyes shone with a mixture of excitement and anxiety, while she held an apron that revealed her as the author of this surprise feast.

"Welcome home!" Dahyun exclaimed happily when you entered. Your eyes met and the knowing glow between them conveyed the affection and dedication she had invested in this surprise.

Your heart skipped a beat when you saw the incredible surprise Dahyun had prepared for you. In turn, your face lit up with a mixture of surprise and excitement, and your eyes shone as you recognized every detail that evoked your distant home.

"Dahyun, how...?" You murmured, not finding the right words to express your gratitude.

The table was decorated with details reminiscent of Mojácar, from small flags to photos of local landscapes. Dahyun had learned a lot about your culture and wanted you to feel a piece of home in that moment.

"Do you like it?" Dahyun asked, her eyes shining with hope while pointing to the plates.

You nodded, unable to contain your excitement. You approached the table and looked at each dish in awe, and Dahyun, with her apron on, began to describe each dish excitedly, revealing how she had contacted your parents for authentic recipes and cooking tips.

The table was full of delicacies, from succulent Patatas en ajopollo to the Ajo Colorao that you remembered with nostalgia. There were even papaviejos, your favorite childhood dessert, perfectly golden and sprinkled with sugar.

And as you ate each dish, you felt your eyes filled with tears of gratitude. Every bite reminded you of home, your mother's kitchen, and the family meals you had missed so much. Dahyun, carefully observing your every reaction, was satisfied to see that her surprise was achieving the desired effect.

But just when Dahyun couldn't feel happier and prouder of her small achievement, and after finishing dinner, you got up to hug her tightly.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” you said, your voice filled with emotion. "You're amazing, Dahyun."

Dahyun reciprocated the hug, feeling your heartbeat. “Your happiness is mine,” Dahyun whispered. "And even though we are far from Mojácar, I want you to feel like you have a home here with me."

But the surprise didn't end there! There was more!

Because while Dahyun shared with you a handful of churros, which she had personally gone to buy at a Spanish place in the area, she handed you an envelope containing tickets back to Spain for the summer vacation.

"I want you to have the opportunity to hug your family and enjoy meals from home in person," Dahyun expressed, her eyes shining. She then came up to kiss you gently on the forehead, on the nose, on the cheeks. She practically drew a map of kisses on your face, and you let her do it.

And so, between traditional dishes and affectionate gestures, another chapter of your story with Dahyun was woven, a story that transcended borders and demonstrated that home is not always in a physical place, but in the shared heart.

Dahyun was your home.

And that being the case, there is no place like home.

[hieromonkcharbel]

O Joy of Joys, Queen of Heaven! What a joy Your icon is! Spontaneously the soul cries out before Your holy countenance. And wence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me!. Yes, the Mother of the Lord comes, and comes to live in Her honorable icon in our homes and dwellings, and brings us joy and has mercy on us, O Joy of Joys, O Joy of Joys, our Lady! And the soul sings, “my soul magnifies the Lord”: it sings with Her, in Her own words! And when you see Her most pure face, then on account of joy the soul breaks free from the body; it strains to fly to the heavens, into the endless expanse. And then it becomes clear how and why the Mother of God meets us at the threshold of death. At Her light demons tremble and disperse, at Her light the darkness of our mortal path becomes radiant, at her light death itself becomes a joyful celebration, a desired meeting, the joy of joys, because at its threshold there awaits us the Joy of Joys. Yes, this is so, unless we surround ourselves with a dark cloud of sins, with earthly attachments and lowly passions into which demons can insert themselves at will and hide in order to torment and frighten us, unless we blind our spiritual eyes so as not to see this light.

O Christian, love the Most Pure Virgin, pray to Her always, and She will save you at the hour of death and lead you to bow down before our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. O Joy of Joys, Most Pure One, All-Immaculate One!

“Spiritual Diary”

Sergius Bulgakov

[actualmermaid]

I did this for my ~spicy Christian memepage~ a while back, but I figure Tumblr will also like it

Wikipedia on Sts. Sergius and Bacchus

Blog post from a minister and art historian focusing on their queerness

My commentary (originally posted on Instagram with the meme): "The military saints are not usually very interesting to me, because ACAB, but I find Sts. Sergius and Bacchus super compelling for a couple of reasons. One, they were husbands. Two, it's one of the great "scandals" of Christianity that even the ROMAN OPPRESSORS can have a share in the Kingdom... but the price can be a lot higher than most of us are willing to pay. Even though we don't know their personal conversion stories, Sergius and Bacchus renounced their positions of power and privilege and allowed themselves to be publicly humiliated and tortured to death--just like Jesus, the poor Jewish peasant they revered instead of the beautiful and supposedly powerful gods of their boss, the Emperor. For this, their hagiography states that they were reunited with one another in heaven. Finally, I think their story can serve as both an invitation and a warning to modern-day gay men in societies where gay rights are recognized. Earthly power will not protect you from the savagery of Empire. Respectability (read: being cisgender, conventionally masculine, or otherwise "acceptable" to the mainstream) will also not save you. Not even the blessing of the Church will be enough to shield you from the corrosive hypermasculinity celebrated by fascists. Sergius and Bacchus were dressed in women's clothing and subjected to public ridicule before their martyrdom. Privileged gay men, like them, must be willing to "pull aggro" away from the more vulnerable members of our community, especially poor queer and trans people. Sergius and Bacchus shared in the Passion of Christ, and for this, they have risen beyond all earthly oppression.

.

Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, patrons of gay men, queer couples, and repentant imperialists, pray for us."

[paraskevaaa]

August 1, 2024: The stench of sin

St. Gerasimos of the Jordan with his lion Jordanes.

The stench of sin. All humans sin and all humans have the stench of sin. Those who deal with dark entities have reported for hundreds of years the manifestation of horrid smells accompanying the enemy and his allies. It seems that the good are accompanied by good smells and the evil are accompanied by foul ones in the plane of the soul.

We know that sin, straying from God’s light, is equivalent to death. We were not created to experience physical death, we were created with free will and not blessed with the power to heal our bodies beyond natural laws. Free will and the enemy’s temptations of the flesh culminated in the first sin, and started Adam and Eve’s bodily clock of decay.

God loves and cares for all His creation. We could not wander the Garden with decaying bodies and naïve souls. We were sent to Earth to live as both body and soul, and are given the chance to die daily to the flesh, repent and rebuke sin and the passions, and live for God by serving his children in compassionate love and forgiveness.

Orthodox monastics are monks and nuns who seek refuge from the sickness of the world and the human condition to live for God entirely. It is written that

He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

We will all lose our lives at the end of our time on Earth. The treasures you toil to build up here on Earth will become lost to you and to future generations in time. What about the soul? To comfort the soul with eternal life after death and reunion with the source of all universal power, monastics leave their entire Earthly lives to know, love, and serve God in this life. As a result of this, many monastics become extremely good and pure, and some become holy, of which God is the Most Holy. They become saints for having a heart so completely dedicated to God with no space at all for the passions.

These individuals, such as St. Gerasimos of the Jordan, became so free from Earthly sin that they began to lose the stench of their sins. A stench that we humans cannot sense, because with our bodies grounding our souls to the Earth, we cannot perceive things in our spirit. A stench, however, that animals can pick up on. With every sin we gain a blemish on our souls that takes it further away from its original state… a childlike state of innocence, blamelessness, love, and friendship.

Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

St. Gerasimos encountered a fierce lion in the desert and the lion, sensing he was not like other humans because of the scentlessness and cleanliness of his soul, did not attack Father Gerasimos and instead became obedient to him. Father Gerasimos and his monastery’s brothers named the lion Jordanes and they lived in peace, until Father Gerasimos fell asleep in the Lord and Jordanes followed him to his grave the minute he realized Gerasimos’ death.

As Orthodox Christians, we strive to die daily to the flesh and lead our lives both in Christlikeness and in the spirit of His perfect love. We serve the King of the Universe, and all human hearts already know His law, though they may be lost. We are called to love all people as they are all beloved by God and made in His own image, though God is not an old man with a beard in a flowy white robe. He is woven into the very fabric of the universe, He is the nighttime wind ripping through the leaves of an oak tree, He is the warm heart of a stranger caring for you for seemingly no reason.

If you know a very good and loving person who seems to attract and be loved by animals, you might very well know why. God bless and keep you and your loved ones❤️‍🔥 Glory be to Jesus Christ.

[drconstellation]

The Passion of Jimbriel

Part 3: Resurrection

Part 1: The Entry to Soho

Part 2: Trials and Denials

The story of events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, and the days following, until his ascension to Heaven, are collectively known as the Passion narratives. It comes from the Latin "to suffer," or "to endure."

In Part 1 of this series we looked at the three temptations in the wilderness during the 40 days of fasting, before the entry to Jerusalem on donkey. Then there was the Cleansing of the Temple and the Anointing of Jesus. I matched up the various scenes in S2 that mirrored these parts of the narratives.

In Part 2 we had the Last Supper, before moving to the Garden of Gethsemane and predicting the Three Denials. The burden of other's sin was taken on, the kiss of Judas was received and Jesus was arrested. Then there was a trial, the first of two, before the Three Denials actually happened. Now we are off to the palace to meet the Roman Governor of Judea.

Just a note: Part 3 isn't any easier than Part 2. Now is the time to save it to read for later, if you aren't in a safe place.

The Court of Pontius Pilate

Jesus is taken to Pilate to be judged again, as the priests want this troublemaker executed, but on questioning Jesus Pilate can find no fault with him. Pilate asks Jesus if he is King of the Jews, and Jesus replies "You have said so," which is not really an answer. Pilate is not sure what to do.

AZIRAPHALE: ...So, you don't know who you are? GABRIEL: Oh, yes. AZIRAPHALE: Ah. GABRIEL: I'm me. I just don't know who me is. AZIRAPHALE: I see. GABRIEL: But you know me. You recognized me. AZIRAPHALE: Well, I ah… know someone who looks like you. GABRIEL: That's probably me then. I think that's one of the main ways you can tell.

Pilate can't see any reason to convict Jesus, since he does not lay claim to any earthly kingdom, only a spiritual one, so he sends him off to King Herod.

Herod questions Jesus as well, hoping to observe one the miracles he has heard about. He gets the same non-responses from Jesus, so sends him back to Pilate.

Hey, it's me! King of the Jews! Gabriel! Don't you recognize me?

It's also worth noting Jimbriel's actual pose as he exits the book shop and how he holds his fingers. He holds his pointer and middle fingers out, and curls his ring and little fingers in on both hands (and this is not the only time he does this in the series.) This is a classic "preaching" pose, and he is mimicking an iconic pose of Jesus here.

There is a small question about whether at this point in the narratives whether it is the soldiers of Herod that dress Jesus in the robes of a king to mock him at this point, or its done a little later, after the release of Barabbas, so lets just mention it here, as it seems to happen twice in our story.

It also might be worth taking a small digression about the performer Liberace here, who inspired the ostrich feather coat, and who reigned as a king of entertainers in the post-WWII era. He was famous not only for his over-the-top flamboyance (as well as being queer) but also for his signature candelabra. You know, one of these:

The Release of Barabbas

Pilate was in a bit of pickle now. He really didn't want to condemn Jesus to death, but the priests were still pushing him to condemn Jesus to execution, so he decided he would give the people the choice instead. He offered them the choice of releasing Jesus or a prisoner called Barabbas. Whether they were stirred up by the priests or not they had only one choice.

They chose...

Actually, I think there are two choices for the release of Barabbas here - one is Gabriel, as I will explain below, and the other one -

Release Bwian!

Er, release Barabbas Mr Brown!

Pick a card, Mutt? While you're dressed in robes that are a throw-back to biblical times? What kind of ineffable games are being played here by the Almighty?

The Way of Sorrows

(Also known as: The Stations of the Cross, The Way of the Cross)

Oh, yes, its this bit. And you thought it was just a bit of silliness.

Lead the way, soldier!

Some of the narratives have the Roman soldiers who take him from Pilates court strip him and robe him in either red or purple, give him a crown of thorns and call him "King of the Jews!" again in mockery before he is forced to walk to his place of execution.

Wait, who's execution are we walking towards again?

Crown of Thorns. ✅ Mocking garb.✅

I had already mused in the past that Crowley had dressed like this to mock the Archangels in my big colour meta (under silver,) and I have also bumped into pre-release comments that thought he was doing that as well, so I 'm glad to see I'm not the only one on this train of thought! He's gone a bit over-the-top with his outfit, which is similar to Saraqael's (a hint to the connection there) plus he has a tactical turtle neck on to go with his master spy work he's undertaking (but so does Saraqael!) It also tells us its a level of rank he's quite familiar with.

Oh, hang on. Gabriel didn't get away from doing anything here.

The Three Stations of Gabriel's Cross Bearing: The first in 1827, when Crowley shows it to Aziraphale on a midnight date, the second when Aziraphale comes across it again in the present - and tells Crowley "I think I've found some clues," and the third when we see Gabriel showing it off to Beelzebub.

OK, one more bit of mocking...

The Crucifixion

On arriving at the top of Golgotha, Jesus was stripped of his clothes and nailed to the cross. A sign was placed above his head declaring him the king of the Jews. On either side two other criminals were also crucified that day.

This is the one part of the narratives that did not fit into S2, so it got given to us separately.

In S1 we had the scene at Golgotha in S1E3 Hard Times, where we are shown Aziraphale and Crowley meeting to witness the event. Aziraphale remarks that he is "not consulted on policy decisions," while Crowley relates that he carried out the Third Temptation on Jesus not long before this.

A red cloth draped on the ground symbolizes blood in S1. In S2 we have red tomatoes spilling across the road as Gabriel walks past on his way to the bookshop. They take us back to S1 and tell us its repeating again. I would expect another iteration in S3.

Then we have the two classic poses that were given to us, that are not in any scene from S2. When these were first released a number of ops posted about the similarity to the iconography of the Madonna and Jesus on the Cross.

On the left, is Aziraphale, posing as mother Mary, in the "Stabat Mater" pose, or "the mother was standing." This is Mary standing at the base of the cross, and she is traditionally shown on the left hand side. She is but a spectator to the scene.

On the right, is Crowley, posing as Jesus nailed to the cross. He is a sacrifice of one, to save many, in his present day costume.

What intrigues me is they chose to have Aziraphale wear his Job minisode costume for this shot. The angels were dressed in white and gold to show their "divine majesty," to fit in with the vivid 1950's style colouring. But it was also where he had to chose very carefully what he said, and he chose to lie to save lives.

A scene from the Job minisode, A Companion to Owls: Sitis and Job on the left - Sitis is Aziraphale-coded and Job is Crowley-coded. on the right are the divinely-glowing angels. Gabriel stands on the demonic-sided left of them, but Aziraphale is on the far left, the most demonic angel there. He was lying, after all, and that's what demons do, isn't it?

While Jesus is often called the Lamb of God, as sheep were considered more respectable to Christian ideals, and Jesus is said to have gone willingly to his death, it is perhaps a better way to consider what happened as the scapegoat ritual - where two goats are chosen, one is burdened with the sins of the group and released into the wilderness to take those sins with them and die, and the other to be sacrificed to God. In the Passion, it was Barabbas that was set free, and Jesus that was sacrificed.

The question then becomes how to view this through the lens of the Good Omens story. If we didn't get a crucifixion scene in S2, when is this occurring in the story? If Crowley is Jesus, who is Barabbas? If Aziraphale is Mary, just witnessing the execution, and not able to intervene...what could be the long term implications of that?

This is where I feel like I've done a Crowley on myself, spreading a field of sharp tacks across that shiny clean aisle in Heaven I was sauntering blithely down and stabbed myself unexpectedly in the foot.

Because the answer to the second question there is Barabbas is Gabriel. (hey, wot, didn't you say Mr Brown was Barabbas??) S2 spent quite a bit of time trying to tell us how similar Crowley was to Gabriel, and the two characters appear to be acting as "foils" to each other this season. Indeed, they have been interchangeable in their roles as Jesus throughout this three-part meta (thinking about another meta to expand on this.) And right at the end Gabriel gets to run away into the interstellar wilderness to ostensibly never be seen again - and Crowley stays to be emotionally slaughtered.

Which still leaves us with the first and third questions.

When did happen? The problem is, as already stated - this scene did not fit into S2, so we were given it separately. I know one could argue that the end of the above scene, and the following moments, could count as the crucifixion, as Aziraphale was bound seemingly helplessly by the manipulations of the Metatron to leave Crowley behind, and in doing so to sacrifice him for a greater good. This goes someway towards leaving Aziraphale as the witnessing Mary, but he is still far too involved for my liking here. And we've already put the label of Judas on him in Part 2 of this meta. He had to betray Crowley to get him to stay behind for his own safety.

The more likely scenario is then it happened in the past. I'm going to quote a passage from @vidavalor's meta "The *Original* Original Sin Theory as they say it best, really:

Aziraphale doesn’t need to see Heaven’s files to find out what happened to Crowley when Crowley fell because he was there. S3 is going to be about preventing the Second Coming and so plot allusions to the crucifixion (which had its own Crowley & Aziraphale scene in S1) will likely abound. Aziraphale was there when Lucifer and The Gang were tossed out of Heaven. To be fair to Aziraphale, there is basically nothing he could have done to prevent this and the best possible situation is that he didn’t even have the chance to. The worst possible situation is that he’s literally Judas and sold Crowley out, out of fear of being tossed out of Heaven himself. I tend to think it’s more that he just didn’t stand up and say anything in support of Crowley to prevent himself from being seen as on the side of the eventual demons. Still, just as Crowley thinks the punishment for Adam and Eve was harsh, Aziraphale thought that asking questions and being curious wasn’t enough to send Lucifer and everyone around him to Hell to be damned for all of eternity but it caused an obvious existential crisis in him that he still struggles to totally resolve.

And that is basically how I see it, too. Heaven (the Jewish priests), through the Metatron, wanted the inquisitive, questioning angel!Crowley gone, possibly because he'd found something he shouldn't have seen. Lucifer and the guys (Rome) didn't care much for angel!Crowley either, as I showed back in this meta, and were happy for him to be the scapegoat that got made an example of for punishment. And Aziraphale, as Mary, kept his mouth shut and just watched, because he wanted to be a good angel and not get thrown out of Heaven himself. Maybe he did know something that could have absolved angel!Crowley, maybe he lied to escape being thrown out himself, but what ever happened, he's been carrying a sense of guilt about it ever since.

As for Crowley, he was not a willing lamb at all. We see him question God about his fall, about testing Earth to the point of destruction and he gives the goats in the Job minisode a soliloquy about their impending doom that seems an obvious reflection of his own experience as a scapegoat.

Now we have the Second Coming in S3. Jesus will be back. So will mention of the crucifixion. There is still plenty of dirt to be dug up and aired on this yet.

Maybe someone did die, after all...of embarrassment!

Burial of Jesus

Joseph of Arimathea was given permission by Pilate to remove Jesus' body from the cross, wrap it in white linen, and place it in a tomb. Even though Jesus was considered a criminal, he should still be buried before sunrise the next day.

I'm going to admit, this is the one bit of the narratives I'm not sure about. Was it the burying of Gabriel's essence in the fly? Or the burying of Gabriel's location under the 25 lazurii miracle?

There also a section called the Harrowing of Hell here, where Jesus was said to have descended to the Underworld, or Hell (because that is what Hell means, after all, the Underworld - that's why it's in the basement of the celestial corporate building!) and liberated those caught in Hell up until that time.

This could be why we get the scenes with Beelzebub stressing over the disappearance of Gabriel and lack an any sign of where he has gone. They look more "harrowed" as the days go on.

Resurrection

After three days, Jesus rose from the dead. This act is seen as a guarantee that all the dead (on the "right side" or those whose names are in the Book of Life) will be also resurrected when the Second Coming occurs. It is also known as The Parousia, which we see mentioned inside the cinema on the wall during the opening sequence in S2.

After three days, some women approached the tomb to finish preparing the body, because they had not been able to earlier due to the sabbath day occurring. As they approached, they found the stone that should have blocked the entrance rolled back, and an angel clad in white sitting there telling them not to be afraid, but to go tell others what had happened.

Well, Gabriel had left the building, but the last thing was they were going to do was tell everyone about it!

SARAQUEL: I don't trust him. Can we begin the memory wipe now? MICHAEL: What, without him here? [nods] Good idea. SARAQUEL: Right. I can't… I can't find his memory anywhere. In fact, I can't find him in the building. He's left Heaven. Should I sound an alert? METATRON: Oh, don't be so wet. No, you're all just going to have to find him. That's all.

Humph. You're being the wet blanket, Metatron.

On one side of The Resurrectionist sign for the pub in Edinburgh we have Jesus standing outside his tomb. He is dressed in red and blue. The red represents his connection to humanity but he is wrapped in the blue of divinity. It looks like we are looking out of the tomb into the world. The entrance is supposed to match the "gate" of Eden that Aziraphale sent Adam and Eve through, so if it looks familiar, that's why.

We something similar when Gabriel regains his memories from the fly. We start out with a red transition, then move towards blue as he regains his angelic divinity, then he is finally back as his lilac royal smugness self on the last.

I did take a very long look at @embracing-the-ineffable's The Ineffable Detective Agency's presents: Gabriel's Memory and the quick transition sections, but didn't come to any firm conclusions, other than the colours. Although this may be why Death appears four times.

Ascension to Heaven

Accounts vary - some say it was the same day, some say after forty days - Jesus ascends to Heaven.

See you later, guys!

You know you can never return, right? Right?

Um, so, what about this little thing called the Second Coming, then?

Wait and see? nngggkk...

Here endeth our journey through the Passion narratives.

[cast-you-dxwn]

Lore drop: Legio Angelica 778

There are seven hundred and seventy seven Legions of Trueborn Angels, beings created and brought up to be Heavens preeminent warriors, the Hosts fearless soldiers who stand in defense of Creation and the throne of The Lord Most High.

They are the most elite amongst all of Heavens militant orders, a single angelic Legionnaire capable of feats of combat unheard of in the mortal worlds most outlandish heroic tales, in fact some of those tales originate from mortal interpretation of a Legionnaires intervention in earthly matters

But with the population of earth increasing, the Faith spreading across the Levant, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and then Europe, more and more of the souls who passed through the gates were of a militant bent, men and women who spent their lives combating evil or at the least angered at the pain it has caused both themselves and those they loved.

In many cases they were not satisfied to enjoy the eternal bliss of Heavens streets, and clamored to join the angels they had long respected and revered in their endless war against the dark. Saint Michael, seeing the value in these souls, but worrying for their safety, approved their service in auxiliary roles, largely as support and logistical staff that would almost never see combat themselves.

But these mortals, people of passion, faith, and fire, wanted for a more active role in The Long War. These petitions were finally heard in 1185, when Baldwin IV, King of the Crusader State of Jerusalem, arrived in Heaven on the heels of many of his knights, cured of his leprosy that had plagued him for his entire mortal life.

Noting the restlessness of the mortal Auxiliaries as well as the extremely advanced technology that Heaven had at its disposal, the former king threw himself at The Praetors feet, bringing to him the proposal that he and many of the other great mortal heros had pieced together. A force made entirely of mortal souls, equipped with the strange and advanced technology of Heavens forges, a secondary order to reinforce the Trueborn Legions as needed, and they would be so often needed so that the Angels could focus their ire upon the more pressing enemies of Heaven.

Michael heard this proposition, and found it suitable, a less dangerous niche that would allow these humans to serve in a capacity that would satisfy them.

So the 778th Legion was formed, with Baldwin as its Legate, the first militant unit of Heaven to be populated by mortal souls.

The 778th are amongst the proudest of Heavens citizens, though they hail from many places and many times, they are united in faith and service, the unerring knowledge that they stand in defense of their fellow Saved and those upon the earth who have not set set foot in front of Saint Peter.

They are clad in the finest and most technologically advanced armor that Heavens Craftspeople can produce, augmenting their strength and reflexes to superhuman levels and powered by the sun fire of faith. They wield the most fearsome weaponry that the Holy Realms forges can produce, hand weapons that may rival the Trueborns own and firearms meant to piece apart creatures great and terrible which would normally make a mockery of mortal-crafted artillery.

They are also the most numerous of all of the militant units, consisting of many tens of thousands and growing in number with every Saved soul who cannot stand to simply bask in Heavens light while others upon earth continue to suffer.

[mcx7demonbros]

Lucifer’s Shoes in His Demon Form (Headcanon)

N.B. I know it has been revealed what Lucifer wears in his demon form. So this headcanon is a departure from canon.

Lucifer wears red shoes.

Here’s why:

Lucifer wears red shoes to counter the Pope.

In the ancient Roman Empire, red was a color associated with leadership & power. As a result, it associated with those of high social status.

The Pope, who is also the Bishop of Rome, and whose office dignity is far surpass any royal or earthly power according to Catholic teachings, adopted red to his garments (probably after the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. when the Roman Church “came out from the catacombs” as the persecution ceased with the Edict), my opinion).

The Pope retained the meaning of leadership but also added the meaning of martyrdom, the Passion of Christ and the submission to Christ and following his footstep (hence red shoes). This is the interpretation and symbolism of the color red within Catholicism.

Over time, the Pope adopted the white color, and red representation on his garment decreased. Though the red shoes is one of the red accessories that remained over centuries.

Pope Pius VII (detail), Sir Thomas Lawrence, Royal Collection, Windsor. In the painting, you can see His Holiness wearing red shoes.

You can go Wikipedia/List of popes and browse through the painting portraits of popes, particularly from 16th - mid 20th century, you will see a lot of red (and white of course).

Now, return to the topic at hand, what color do you see on Lucifer’s demon form? Red and black, like the opposite of the Pope, being red and white.

The Pope is the Vicar of Christ, the Representative of God, and also an absolute monarch himself, answerable to no human power (this is recognized by international law) but only to God himself. While Lucifer is the Diavolo’s right hand, one of the Seven Rulers of Devildom, he answers to no power, save for Diavolo.

As such, to counter the Vicar of Christ, the Devil’s Right Hand wears red shoes, symbolizes for power and dominance along with his high societal status in the Devildom. If there is any meaning about sacrifice and submission, it’s the sacrifice he made for his brothers after the Great Celestial War and the submission to Diavolo’s will. His pair of red shoes signifies he will wall this path of power & dominance but also of sacrifice & submission until the end of time.

[loupsgarou]

Give Us This Day snippet

“… you don’t believe Me about earthly things, then how can I explain to you about heavenly things?” Jesus’ calm voice pulled her out of her inner struggle, prompting Simone to blink a couple of times and glance at her companions to see John writing in a makeshift compact journal and Andrew looking past her as he was listening intently.

She smiled privately and looked down as Jesus continued, “the story of Moses lifting the bronze snake on the pole is a picture of the Son of Man and how He must be lifted up. Everyone who sees that and believes in the Son of Man will have eternal life.” She could hear the passion in His voice and it made her smile despite the goosebumps that rippled across her arms.

“God loves the world as such… by giving up His only Son so that people will believe in Him. He didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn it but rather to save it from spiritual death and separation from God, through His only Son.”

[talonabraxas]

Lord Vishnu ॐ Talon Abraxas

Lord Vishnu represents the aspect of the Supreme Reality that preserves and sustains the universe. Although there are variations in images and pictures of Lord Vishnu, He is generally symbolized by a human body with four arms. In His hands He carries a conch (shankha), a mace (gada), and discus (chakra). He wears a crown, two earrings, a garland (mala) of flowers, and a gem around the neck. He has a blue body and wears yellow clothes. The Lord is shown standing on a thousand-headed snake (named Shesha Nag), and the snake stands with its hoods open over the head of the Lord.

The four arms indicate Lord's omnipresence and omnipotence. The two front arms signify the lord's activity in the physical world and the two back arms signify His activity in the spiritual world. The right side of the body represents the creative activities of the mind and the intellect. The left side symbolizes the activities of the heart; that is, love, kindness, and compassion.

A conch in the upper left hand indicates that the Lord communicates with His devotees with love and understanding. When blowing His conch, He reminds his devotes to live in this world with kindness and compassion towards all living beings. A chakra in His upper right hand conveys the idea that the Lord uses this weapon to protect His devotees from evil. The mace denotes energy and a mace in the Lord's left lower hand signifies that He sustains the manifest world by the energy that He holds in Himself. His front right hand is depicted bestowing grace on His devotees.

The snake denotes the mind and the thousand heads of the snake signify innumerable desires and passions of an individual. Just as a snake destroys its victim by its venom, an uncontrolled mind destroys the world by the venom of its possessiveness. The Lord has controlled all desires, and this is symbolized by showing Him seated on the two coils of the snake. When a sincere devotee of the Lord controls his desires, the Lord fulfills the devotee's genuine desires and helps him on his path.

The blue sky in the background of the Lord suggests that He pervades the entire universe. The blue color symbolizes infinity. The blue body of the Lord signifies that He has infinite attributes. He is nameless, formless, and immeasurable. The color yellow is associated with earthly existence and the yellow clothes of the Lord signify that He incarnates Himself on this earth to uphold righteousness and destroy evil and unrighteousness.

A flower garland around the Lord's neck is a symbol of the devotee's adoration for the Lord. A gem decorating His neck signifies that the Lord fulfills all genuine desires of His devotees and provides for their needs. The crown is a symbol of the Lord's supreme power and authority. The two earrings signify the dual nature of creation, such as knowledge and ignorance, happiness and unhappiness, and pleasure and pain.

The worship of Lord Vishnu is very popular among Hindus, especially among the followers of the Vaishnava tradition (Vaishnavism). He is the second member of the Hindu Trinity, with Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva as the other two. Lord Vishnu is also known by other names, such as Vasudeva and Narayana. The following ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are described in Hindu mythology and are popular among Hindus. These incarnations reveal the help rendered by God during various stages of human evolution. As shown below, the first two incarnations are in the animal form, the third one is half-human and half-animal, and the fourth and the subsequent ones are all in human form. These incarnations relate to human evolution from aquatic life to human life, and are consistent with the modern theory of evolution suggested by science:

Matsya (fish)---saves Sage Manu from floods and recovers the Vedas from demons.

Kurma (tortoise)---sustains the earth on his back.

Varaha (boar)---brings the earth back from the bottom of the ocean where it was dragged down by a demon, known as Hiranyaksha; Varaha kills the demon.

Narasimha (man-lion)---kills the demon King Hiranyakashipu, who was planning to kill his own son, a devotee of Lord Vishnu.

Vamana (dwarf)---the first human incarnation of the Lord, kills the demon King Mahabhali, who had deprived the gods of their possessions.

Parasurama (the warrior with an axe)---saves Brahmins from the tyranny of the arrogant Kshatriyas.

Rama---kills Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

Sri Krishna---the most popular incarnation; Krishna's contributions throughout his life include the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

Buddha---Hindus consider Buddha as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and accept his teachings, but do not directly worship him.

Kalkin (a man on a white horse)---this incarnation is yet to come and will mark the end of all evil in the world.

[hiswordsarekisses]

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. Luke 9:23-24

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry Colossians 3:5

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 3:20

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:38

[orthodoxadventure]

Having experienced all the difficulties of earthly life, the Intercessor of the Christian race sees every tear, hears every groan and entreaty directed to Her. Especially near to Her are those who labor in the batlte with the passions and are zealous for a God-pleasing life. But even in worldly cares She is an irreplaceable helper. "Joy of all who sorrow and intercessor for the offended, feeder of the hungry, consolation of travellers, harbor of the storm-tossed, visitation of the sick, protection and intercessor for the infirm, staff of old age, Thou art the Mother of God on high, O Most Pure one" (Sticheron of the Service to the Hodigitria). "The hope and intercession and refuge of Christians," "The Mother of God unceasing in prayers" (Kontakion of the Dormition), "saving the world by Thine unceasing prayer" (Theotokion of the Third Tone). "She day and night doth pray for us, and the scepters of kingdoms are confirmed by Her prayers" (daily Midnight Service).

There is no intellect or words to express the greatness of Her Who was born in the sinful human race but became "more honorable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim." "Seeing the grace of the secret mysteries of God made manifest and clearly fulfilled in the Virgin, I rejoice; and I know not how to understand the strange and secret manner where by the Undefiled has been revealed as alone chosen above all creation, visible and spiritual. Therefore, wishing to praise Her, I am struck dumb with amazement in both mind and speech. Yet still I dare to proclaim and magnify Her: She is indeed the heavenly Tabernacle" (Ikos of the Entry into the Temple). "Every tongue is at a loss to praise Thee as is due; even a spirit from the world above is filled with dizziness, when it seeks to sing Thy praises, O Theotokos. But since Thou art good, accept our faith. Thou knowest well our love inspired by God, for Thou art the Protector of Christians, and we magnify Thee" *Irmos of the 9th Canticle, Service of the Theophany).

-- Saint John Maximovitch, The Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God

[hieromonkcharbel]

Grant us, Master, as we depart for sleep, rest for body and soul. Protect us from the gloom of sinful sleep and from all dark pleasures of the night. Calm the impulses of passion, and quench the fiery darts of evil which are treacherously cast against us. Check the turbulence of our flesh and lull all our earthly and mundane thoughts. Grant us, O God, a watchful mind, prudent reason, a vigilant heart and tranquil sleep, free from all evil dreams. Raise us up at the hour of prayer, strengthen us in your commandments, and keep unshaken within us the remembrance of your judgments. Grant us to glorify you all night long that we may praise and bless and glorify your all honorable and magnificent name, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Most glorious, ever virgin, blessed Theotokos, present our prayers to your Son and our God, and plead with him, that through you he may save our souls.

My hope is the Father, my refuge the Son, my protection, the Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity, glory to you.

My every hope I place in you, Mother of God. Keep me under your protection.