Today in the Gospel the Lord speaks of a tree and its fruits. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man brings forth evil. And also: judge not, and you shall not be judged; forgive, and you shall be forgiven. These words are not strict rules but a quiet light that helps us look into our own heart rather than at the faults of others. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and with the measure we measure to others, it will be measured to us. Today is the commemoration of Saint Carpus, Bishop of Thyatira. He lived in the third century and suffered for the faith in Christ together with the deacon Papylus and the martyr Agathonice. Little is known of his life, but his very feat, his firm standing in the faith to the end, tells us that a good tree brings forth good fruits. Saint Carpus did not judge his persecutors but meekly accepted a martyr's death, and his heart was a full treasure of love for God. May our hearts too be filled with good treasure, so that our words and deeds may carry peace and forgiveness. May the blessing of the Lord abide with you this day, strengthening you on all your paths.
Friends, we have several important updates in D.O.M.! 🚀 📹 Live streams can now be launched straight from your phone or computer, with no third-party apps or extra connections. ⛪️ We've launched "Church Nearby"! We've gathered addresses of temples and religious institutions of various faiths around the world, organized them, and placed them on a multilingual map. Now anyone can find the nearest temple. In the near future, parish representatives will be able to take control of temple pages, add photos, service schedules, news and other information. 📊 Among the smaller updates — we now show the number of views and reposts on publications. We continue to develop D.O.M.! 🚀
Yesterday D.O.M. launched video. Now any user can post videos and stories, as well as start live streams. For now only on the web, but apps are next. Today we're rolling out a few more updates. This is only the beginning. Thank you for building D.O.M. with us 🚀
Pavlohrad, Dnipro, Kyiv, Kherson, receive our prayers for the dead civilians!
In Sumy, civilians have been killed again. Two of them were only 21 years old. We must not grow accustomed to war. Human death must not become mere background noise. We pray for the dead and the wounded.
Today we opened D.O.M. to everyone. Faith should not depend on your country, language, or denomination. Registration: www.dom.gd D.O.M. is a shared Christian space for people from different traditions. Clergy are already here, ready to communicate with you openly and directly in different languages. And this is truly something special: different denominations. Different countries. Different languages. One space. Most importantly, public testing is now open to everyone. Just join and start using D.O.M. #DOM #Church #Christianity The Lord is with us!
The #Lord, it would seem, has a rather peculiar communications department. He rarely answers at once, never sends detailed instructions, and almost always leaves us free to misunderstand absolutely everything. For the past two thousand years, the Church has tried to improve this interface a little. The results have been mixed. Here, in what we may loosely call my #blog, I shall try to do something about that. I will write about faith, the #Church, doubt, miracles, and the human being — that curious creature who demands proof from God, yet readily believes weather forecasts, horoscopes, and the promises of politicians. I do not know whether I will find any final answers here. But perhaps faith #begins precisely where the need to appear as someone who already has them comes to an end.