#Theophan

[missnekonyan]

In honor of Theophan’s birthday, I’ve decided to post this doodle of her from the Ride the Cyclone AU I have with @vivaresmala~ He’s in the role of Jane Doe, depicted here in her outfit for The New Birthday Song!

The Furby head idea was from this post. But instead of a generic Furby, his head is from his own Furby - Taffy.

[theophan-o]

The Angel

by a renowned Ukrainian artist, Alla Horska (Алла О. Горська, 1929-1970).

It's my absolutely beloved painting by Alla Horska!

[orthodoxadventure]

Remember that you are a Christian, redeemed by the blood of Christ, cleansed with the water of Baptism. You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit; you have sat at the table of the Lord and are nourished by His Body and Blood. And you have flouted all this for the sake of sin that destroys you! Ascend in thought upon Golgotha, and understand what your sins have cost. Will you really still wound the head of the Lord with the thorns of your sins? Will you still nail Him to the Cross, pierce His side and mock His long-suffering? Or perhaps you do not see that by sinning you participate in tormenting the Saviour, and thereby share a part in the tormentor's lot. But if you abandon sin and repent you will partake of the power of His death. Choose one or the other: either crucify Him, then perish eternally -- or crucify yourself, and inherit eternal life with Him.

-- Saint Theophan the Recluse: Path to Salvation; A Manual of Spiritual Transformation

[grandpasessions]

Such a method of study will save the child from distraction even in the midst of what is allowed; it will train him to master the senses, and through them-the imagination. He will not jump from one thing to another without need; nor, consequently, will he dream and be distracted by images and thereby give no rest to his soul, muddying it with the ebb and flow of his loose fantasies. One who is unable to master the senses and imagination will inevitably be distracted and inconstant, being overcome by curiosity, which will chase him from one subject to another until he is exhausted, and all this without fruit.

The Path to Salvation Theophan the Recluse

[conformi]

Dimitris Papaioannou, Primal Matter, 2012 VS School of Marcantonio Raimondi (after Michelangelo), Rape of Ganymede, early 16th century

[dramoor]

"God arranges for us to meet certain people so that we could pass on the good given to us by God and enrich each other's souls."

~St. Theophan the Recluse

(Icon via orthochristian.com)

[polo-yaoman]

What a mess !

[nofatclips]

Dédale by Autrenoir from their self titled EP - Video by Grégoire Orio from @ashumanpattern - Text from La barque, le soir by Tarjei Vesaas

[space-diablo]

Him.

[tinyshe]

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (March 12)

St. Theophanes was born around the year 759 in Samothrace, Greece.

He was orphaned while still a young child but was left a large inheritance.

At age twelve, Theophanes' guardian coerced him to marry, however, he and his wife vowed themselves to celibacy.

They lived together for several years, but eventually, Theophanes' wife joined a religious community and he became a hermit.

Theophanes' wisdom and holiness were quickly noticed by others. He decided to use his great wealth to form two monasteries out of the men who sought his counsel.

Theophanes became abbot of one of these monasteries and gained a greater reputation for his virtues.

While he lived in the monastery, Theophanes worked to write a history of the Christian world, starting at the end of the Diocletian persecution to the early ninth century.

It is for this work that he gained the nickname "Chronicler."

During the time Theophanes lived, the iconoclast heresy was causing problems in the Church.

The emperor of Constantinople, who encouraged the destruction of icons, tried to gain Theophanes support through subterfuge and coercion. But he remained faithful to Rome.

Eventually, this fidelity got Theophanes arrested and imprisoned.

He died in prison around the year 818.

[missnekonyan]

As promised, here's another picture from the Lokal AU~ I made this on a whim last week after thinking about coconut drinks because they seemed refreshing. I ended up imagining an OC drinking it, and it made me think about having a warung as the location for the piece - it escalated from there!

I didn't draw that specific scenario, as you can see. I couldn't figure out the composition well enough. So, I reworked my idea and used an online 3D room maker to help figure out the perspective. I focused on my NRC quintet and kept the background characters abstract to simplify things. I wanted to get it done before the 17th~

[theophan-o]

Bursztyn. Amber

Gold from the Baltic Sea

[orthodoxadventure]

Turn to God and place yourself, defiled and weighed down by many sins, before the face of Him, the omnipresent, omniscient, all-gracious and long-suffering! Will you still offend the eye of God with your loathsome, sinful appearance? Will you yet turn your ignoble back to Him Who bestows all things from all sides? Will you yet close your ears to the fatherly voice that mercifully calls to you? Will you yet turn away the hand stretched out to receive you? Bring this absurdity to your senses and hasten to awaken and strengthen within yourself godly pity and sorrow.

-- Saint Theophan the Recluse: Path to Salvation; A Manual of Spiritual Transformation

[grandpasessions]

How can one avoid this wound? Do not go on the path which leads to being wounded. Here is how this path is described in one work on psychology: it has three turning points.

1) At first there is awakened in the youth some kind of painful feeling (what it is about and where it comes from, he does not know), which expresses itself in the special feeling that he is alone. This is a feeling of loneliness. From this feeling there is immediately produced another feeling-a certain pity, tenderness, and attention to oneself.

Before this he lived as if not noticing himself. But now he turns to himself, examines himself, and constantly finds that he is not bad, that he is not worse than others, he is a person of some value. He begins to sense his own handsomeness, the pleasantness of the form of his body-in other words, to be pleased with himself.

This is the limit of the first movement of temptation towards himself. From this time on the youth turns to the outward world.

2) This entrance into the outward world is animated by the conviction that he must be pleasing to others. With this conviction he boldly and as it were victoriously goes out into the arena of activity and, perhaps for the first rime, makes for himself a law to be neat, clean, orderly, even elegant. He begins to wander, or to seek companions, seemingly without any definite aim, but in accordance with a secret inclination of his heart, which is seeking something.

At the same time, he tries to show how smart he is, how pleasant he is in contact with others, how kind and attentive he can be, and, in general, everything by which he hopes to be liked by others. At the same time he gives free reign to the primary organ of contact with other souls-the eyes.

3) In such a state a youth is like gun powder placed next to a spark, and soon he finds something to ignite his disease. By a glance of the eyes or by a voice which is especially pleasant, as if struck by an arrow or wounded by a shot, he stands in the beginning as if in ecstasy or turned to stone.

Coming to himself from this state and recovering, he finds that his attention and his heart are directed to a certain object and are drawn to it with an unconquerable power. From this time his heart begins to be eaten up by languor. The youth becomes bored, he is immersed in himself, he is occupied with something important, he seeks as if he has lost something, and everything he does is done for the certain person and as if the person is present.

He is like someone who is lost; thoughts of food and sleep don't even occur to him, his usual activities are forgotten, and he comes into a disordered state. Nothing is dear to him. He is afflicted with a fierce illness which gnaws at his heart, hinders his breathing, dries up the very fountains of life. Such is the gradual course of being wounded!

The Path to Salvation St. Theophan the Recluse

[art-life-music]