"The policy of the Church was designed by her Divine Founder: 'He that is not against us is for us.' Well, there is no human race on earth wholly against Christ & wholly unprepared to receive Him. The wisdom of the Christian missionaries therefore is to see first in what ways...

"The righteousness of God was revealed in this, that He forgave the sins of men in no other way than by punishing Christ Jesus for them." St. Philaret of Chernigov, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology §199

"This is the very death that guilty mankind deserved, and which Jesus underwent in place of all men... By His own will He took upon Himself the guilt of mankind and voluntarily resolved to endure the punishment for it." St. Philaret of Chernigov

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk: "Without fail, man who had sinned against the eternal God had to be punished eternally, by the strength of the righteousness of God. But the Wisdom of God devised such a means that the righteousness of God received its satisfaction...

I've taken the opportunity to translate a significant work by our friend Peter Pashkov (Scholarius) on the question of Icon Veneration in Christian antiquity. This is a fairly decisive assessment of the question, and I highly recommend giving it a read: arche-athanatos.com/2024/08/21/pet…

"He delivered our nature from the sin of our first parent… a second birth in order that, just as we who are born of Adam are in his image and are the heirs of the curse and corruption, so also being born of Him we may be in His likeness" St. John of Damascus

I badly need prayers please ask the intercession of Righteous King David

The late Vladyka Dmitri of Dallas… used to say (to us converts), “Don’t speak ill of where you came from – it might very well be the place where you first learned Christ.”