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Friday, September 22, 2017

11 Poems About Autumn


Ode To Autumn

By John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

What Great Fish Swallowed Jonah?


Both the Hebrew and the Greek versions of the Book of Jonah do not specifically say Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but that he was swallowed by a ketos, which in Greek means "great or large aquatic animal". This could mean either a whale, a shark, a sea monster, or even some sea creature specifically created by God to serve His purpose. Whole animals as large or larger than a man have been found in the stomachs of the sperm whale, the whale shark and the white shark. St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite explains in his Synaxaristes the possibilities of what the ketos described in the Book of Jonah could be:

Monday, September 18, 2017

Marilyn Manson Warns Against Black Magic


Marilyn Manson was featured on "Celebrity Ghost Stories" a few days prior to Halloween in 2010. He tells an interesting story of an occult ritual which he participated in when he was in High School and lived in Canton, Ohio. He concludes his story with a warning to those who venture to do something similar.

Friday, September 8, 2017

The Saint Who Bound A Demon and Rode It Like a Horse

St. John of Novgorod (Feast Day - September 7)

By St. Dimitri of Rostov

Once, at midnight, as [Archbishop John of Novgorod] stood as usual in his cell at prayer, a demon appeared, hoping to frighten him by his presence. He entered the washbasin which was in the Saint's cell and began to stir up the water. The Saint, realizing that this was the work of a demon, approached the vessel, signed it with a Cross, and with an oath forbade the demon in the washbasin to depart for many hours. Unable to bear the burning he suffered through the power of the Cross, the demon began to cry out like a man, "O woe is me! For I am being burned and am unable to endure; release me quickly, O Saint of God!"