On the Blood of the Martyrs

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The video 'On the Blood of the Martyrs' was recorded by Fr Seraphim (Aldea) at Iona Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of the Mother of God and All Saints of Iona), on the Isle of Iona.

[@mullmonastery]

To support our Monasteries on Mull and Iona, join our Online Community here mullmonastery.com/our-online-community/ May God bless us all!

[@christinechancy6468]

Glory to God! ☦️🙏🏼☦️

[@Floridamanfoodforest]

The images behind you Father brought instant tears to my eyes, I’m so moved by orthodoxy, I will be contacting my local Orthodox Church today, growing up In Protestant churches I never ever heard of the even the word orthodoxy until this past year. I will continue to pray and pray and pray 🙏🏼

[@mullmonastery]

My dear one, it makes me so happy to hear that something that comes from the depth of my heart (I have worked towards these icons for ten years now) has touch your heart. Move forward slowly, with faith and always with prayer and I promise you that Christ will never fail to amaze you with how much beauty and joy there is hidden in His Church. Please remember our Monasteries in your prayers too.

[@Floridamanfoodforest]

@@mullmonastery thank you Father I most certainly will

[@kevinbeaumont8750]

Thank you Fr Seraphim, I say amen to your point about the importance of tradition. The holy Catholic Church is based on it, and we also have deep love and respect for our Orthodox cousins. Unless we find our religious bearing in uninterrupted tradition, unfolding revelation cannot be discerned and what is merely a fashion fad might be mistaken for truth. Sadly, I see a lot of posturing in some of our Protestant churches that can so easily become politically correct rather than spiritual truth. God bless you and felicitations for the news of the Metripolitan's coming blessing of your church's altar with its sacred relics. May you feel refreshed soon and thank you for your wisdom❤

[@ritakevorkian2649]

Dear Father i really wish to see you in heaven too. And to thank you for your teachings. Dear father i wish to see you and to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have helped me a lot through your videos. Many times i fall into despondency and depression. Your words were always the light to me in my darkness because i feel like Jesus is speaking to me through you dear father. I wish you were my spiritual father.

[@mullmonastery]

Despondency is always from the devil, my dear one. Always, without exception. Unlike all other feelings (anger, hatred, joy etc) which can be either good or evil, depending on how we use them, despondency is always from the evil one, so always, always run away from it any way you can. Try to have a good, joyous spirit, fight for it, and you will see how much spiritual benefit you and everyone around you will find from this.

[@ritakevorkian2649]

@@mullmonastery thank you Father

[@positivevibeskx1102]

I suffered very often from despondency,but my mother adciced me to confess this in front of the priest before I take communion,I did that , believe me or not it disappeared and God helped me now i try to keep myself busy with small things and that satisfying me , before I always looked for something "meaningful" and big,now I feel good every day.May God help you too!

[@ritakevorkian2649]

@@positivevibeskx1102 thank you so much. Next time when I confess I will try to do as you did. May God help me. Please pray for me...

[@danielrivera4651]

May God help you in your beautiful struggles, Father Seraphim. My girlfriend and I are soon to be received into the Church in the following couple of months ; you have played a role in our coming closer to Christ and His all-encompassing and all-loving divine-human mercy. It would be a tremendous joy to meet you in person in this fallen earth, but if we have to wait it out, if it is our Lord's will that we meet after this world, may it be so, through the prayers of our venerable father among the saints, Columba. May the heavenly joy of our Father abide in you always, through the prayers of the holy martyrs and the glorious apostles. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[@LJones-tx6eg]

Priests of Christ, true Priests of Christ, walk Christs path and suffer much for their devotion and grace. Blessings to you all, peace to you all and may you attain Christs love. understanding and grace. May the blood of Christ redeem you. May Christ lift you up and embrace you.

[@ortodoxiainvencible9556]

Thank you beloved Abbot, thank you very much for thinking of me sinner, who does not even know the English language, but having the subtitles activated I can understand everything! May God and the Most Holy Theotokos bless you!

[@mullmonastery]

I am grateful that there is a way for you to hear us, dear one. Be blessed and please remember us in your prayers.

[@LuckyTurtle83]

Amen, Amen, Amen..thank you. Never miss your amazing sessions. Thank God for you all.🙏🤍🙏 Blessings.

[@mullmonastery]

Please don't let go of us in your prayers, dear one. As we approach the end of Lent we need your support more and more.

[@thanasistama3943]

Like the image you bring up of St. John resting his head on the chest of Jesus and a priest resting his head on the altar!

[@amybastock8370]

The altar looks so beautiful,Father. I received my icon of Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr. She’s absolutely gorgeous. Please take care of yourself. You are a treasure and we don’t want anything to happen to you. Thank you for these videos. They are such a blessing. ❤️☦️

[@kevinmckay6815]

Father thank you for sharing THE faith with all of us. Your priesthood has benefited so many. We all pray for you and your vocation of bringing Christ to ALL. God bless you with a long and fruitful life as you are a beacon leading us to HIM.

[@mullmonastery]

Thank you for your prayers, my dear one. We all need support, we all need prayer, especially as Lent approaches its end and our own strength is weakened. May Christ bless you for your love and may He keep you (and all those you carry in your heart) safe and healthy.

[@jeffreyhoward6319]

The Celtic processional cross is awesome. And those icons radiate such deep reverence and solemnity , and mystery. I am so amazed Fr Seraphim. Thank you for sharing.

[@mullmonastery]

I am overjoyed that you could perceive the depth of our icons, my dear one. I have worked with our iconographer for close to a decade on creating the structure of the iconostasis, and each icon has its own meaning and story. One day, God willing, I shall share more about that with you all.

[@Love_Hope_Faith]

Thankyou Father Seraphim ✝️ Your words made me cry heavy tears May GOD AND OUR HOLY MOTHER THEOTOKOS BLESS you father and keep you well ✝️🕯️🙏📿🕊️❤️

[@lazywarriortv3096]

Thank you Father for the great and eye-opening videos you make for us! I also thank you for all of your prayers for us sinners and for our salvation and enlightenment.

[@robertweber5122]

I was literally teaching my children about the blood of the martyrs this morning. Thank you for this video!

[@mullmonastery]

Glory be to God, dear one! Christ knows all these details of our lives and then He finds ways to help us on our ways. Give my love in Him to your little ones and ask them to pray for us.

[@JonAmadeus]

Glory be to God in the highest, thank you for sharing this with us Father.

[@mullmonastery]

Entirely my joy and my pleasure, dear one. Please remember us in your prayers.

[@jamesbelden8337]

Thank you father for sharing this video with all of us. What a blessing each of your videos have been to me and the beginning of my spiritual journey

[@colmortimer1066]

Every week I watch you and wish I had an Orthodox church near by. I live in the central US and the closest one is about 40 a minute drive away, in a city I am not all that familiar with. It would be great if one of the 10 or so protestant churches within a couple miles of me, or the one Catholic Church in that distance, was Orthodox.

[@amirasaad630]

God bless you father and strengthen you Christ who took flesh so we can touch Him and be with Him is living today in every detail of our beautiful orthodox Tradition . I am Egyptian , our Orthodox Church is built on the blood of martyrs and continue to be . May we learn to die and lose ourselves in Christ so that we may gain Him eternally 🙏🙏✝️✝️

[@mullmonastery]

Egypt is one of the places I long to visit, my dear one. Your icons and the history of your Orthodox Church is so powerful, it is humbling to contemplate what a treasure of spirituality the Church in Egypt has granted to us all. As a monk, I pray God gives me one day the blessing to venerate the relics of the Desert Fathers and the places where they lived. Please remember us all in your prayers.

[@amirasaad630]

@@mullmonasteryyou absolutely have to go dear father - I pray one day you will - as a lay person visiting the cave of saint Anthony the great was out of this world .. I can’t imagine as a monk - I pray for unity of our churches one day 🙏.. many might disagree but i think we have the same faith or I wouldn’t be listening to you

[@mmaakkiinn]

AMHN Pater...Kaln Anastasi ☦️

[@CA06917]

God Bless you and thank you so much.

[@kiriaioulia]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful history of our faith!

[@mullmonastery]

There is so much more, my dear one, so many more details and so much more meaning behind every aspect of our faith. I can only touch the surface in these videos, in the hope (and with the prayer) that this will trigger a calling to people's hearts so they may then search and find out a lot more about the wealth of beauty of Christ's Church.

[@amyfrezgy4198]

Big hugs 🤗 Father, you doing amazing job & nothing comes easy. This is your fruit 🍎 of your labour. I wish I can hug you right now share the love and show you how i feel. Chris is in you & no doubt we feel it. God willing we all will meet one day somewhere. ❤❤❤

[@robindthompson]

Hopefully I will meet you in person next trip to Colorado :)

[@littlelulu5675]

Thank you again

[@brentgarner3143]

Thank you so very much for your videos, I'm very grateful to God, Glory to the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen

[@vincenthogan]

Thank you Father Seraphim.

[@colmcille9669]

I am overjoyed to hear that God is providing you with this satisfying taste of the completion to come in your mission and in His mysterious yet visceral plan for our salvation Father! Thank you for sharing this with us. 🙏☦⛪

[@iknok4942]

God bless you. You have nothing said to be sorry for, and I will pray for your tiredness to go away

[@littlesoul8908]

Very beautiful icons....

[@mullmonastery]

It makes my heart so happy that they speak to you, dear one. I have prayed and worked towards completing our iconostasis for a decade. We are now slowly getting there, by the grace of God.

[@mhpupacios]

Gratefully received , and I learn something meaningful every time I listen to your knowledge and wisdom- thank you 🙏

[@mullmonastery]

Glory be to God, my dear one. Please remember us in your prayers.

[@mhpupacios]

@@mullmonastery ❤️🙏

[@RoadKing-ky2bs]

Father, I always feel your love in all your videos. Your humility is touching, and you are such a good servant of God. Your teachings are always welcomed and appreciated. Even though I was baptized and a practicing Roman Catholic, I do feel that the Catholic Church and Orthodoxy are extremely close, and I feel at home with Orthodoxy just as well. I hope to meet you one day, here or in the afterlife. And yes, I will hug you. Lots of peace, love, and blessing for you.

[@mullmonastery]

It would be a joy to meet you in person, my dear one. If you ever have the opportunity, do come and visit us on Mull and Iona - it would make us very happy to welcome you.

[@ericwilting]

The beauty of the Church, and the love of Christ is shown in such a good way in your communication here. Thank you! I hope to come visiting the monastery some day. Blessings

[@mullmonastery]

May God hear your desire, my dear one, and may one day (soon, God willing) you come and visit us. It would be our joy to meet you in person.

[@ericwilting]

@@mullmonastery Thank you for your response.

[@ruthshivani]

Thanku

[@jeanneelisabeth]

This is wonderful news, Fr. Seraphim. I am sure that we all share your your joy. The video was spectacular. I hope you may be able to rest.❤❤❤

[@mullmonastery]

We are getting so close to the end of Lent, dear one. By Easter, I usually am exhausted by the many services, fasting and the physical work we do. But then, Easter comes and takes it all away - like an explosion of joy which also comes with amazing energy!

[@brentgarner3143]

I'm praying for you and the Monastery 🙏

[@gretagarbo1119]

Big hugs!I do love the Icons.So powerful,so deep,so comforting.So alive.But,death,I feel it,too.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🥹🙏

[@mullmonastery]

God willing, I'll record a video about our iconostasis when it is finished. Each icon has its own story and the iconostasis as a whole has a story and a meaning behind it. It took me and our iconographer a decade to create it.

[@gretagarbo1119]

​@mullmonastery Jesus!Your dedication just blows my mind!As the old painters used to say,one paints oneself in one s paintings.Your Icons are so profound,so plastic!I m enthralled!❤🥰❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@remahunt4277]

This was a most beautiful and interesting sermon my dear Father. May God strengthen you and carry you throughout the rest of your life. I send you love and light which is still available in this dark world through Christ our King and Savior.

[@mullmonastery]

I am so grateful that you found something useful for your soul in this, dear one. I almost did not record it, because I always doubt anyone else would care about something like this. But then, I am here to share with you the truth of my heart, not to tell you what I already know people want to hear. Please keep us in your prayers.

[@remahunt4277]

@@mullmonastery I pray for you and your community each night before sleep for some years now. I will not stop. God love you Father.

[@user-sy2bu9jx9r]

Forgiven 🙏✨🕊

[@susannemyall7699]

Thank you so much🎉🌹🕊

[@youniahawel8608]

God bless you always ❤

[@anguscairnie9972]

Glory to God! I pray your health improves

[@mullmonastery]

Thank you, dear one. By your prayers and God's mercy, I hope to be able to hobble along for a few more years :)

[@tomasidh]

God bless you! Father, there was a video of yours I remember seeing where you spoke spiritual consolation & how when the evil one sees he cannot tempt us with the same allure & sin he tempts us to despair instead - could you direct me to that video if you can? Thank you

[@ruthshivani]

🙏🏽🕯️

[@katkat2340]

I shall save you a seat … in heavens glory . 😇🦋💫

[@mullmonastery]

May God grant you such grace, my dear one. And if you get that grace, save a seat for everyone. As for me, I depend on others to even hope that, by the mercy of God, I may be saved.

[@luka.tatic.98]

💝☦️💯✅

[@JohnStansbury-yx9vy]

Father, l remember when the Monastery Church was obtaining Readers Stands and Icon Stands. I am interested in obtaining an Icon Stand for my church. Would it be possible for you to help me get with the creator of the Icon Stand so I may purchase for our church?

[@Kressa1111]

In Orthodoxy is Mary Magdalene recognized as an Apostle of Jesus Christ?

[@keatonfoster4950]

Father, with the way the world is we are close to a world war, what is an orthodox prospect about joining the army and possibly having to kill someone, I don’t want to hurt anyone but what if this something I am called to do, should I stand my ground with my faith and say thou shalt not kill or be obedient to what they tell me, Father please help.

[@VloggingCastles]

I dont mean to be rude, im very new to orthodoxy only baptized for a few months. But ive never seen icons like that and i find them strange , cany anyone explain why their so differnt? But thankyou for your vidios farther as an orthodx in the puter islands of scotlands myself i appricate it alot and hope to be able to visit the monastry

[@mullmonastery]

My dear one, you are not rude in any way. Thank you for asking and thank you for asking in humility, with respect and trying to learn. If you hold on to this spirit, you will soon grow in your faith. Most people in the West have only been exposed to either Byzantine or Russian iconography, but there are a multitude of other types if icons within the Orthodox Church. Search online for Ethiopian icons, Egyptian icons, Georgian icons, Romanian glass icons etc. The same applies to Orthodox music, clergy vestments and all other aspects of our faith - there is so much richness and diversity to our faith, and it would be devastating to our salvation to lose this. When we end up amputating our faith and trying to make it fit some rules we made up in our minds according to what we like or the little that we know, the end result is that we end up amputating ourselves in a horrid attempt to make us all be 'the same'. If you have the means to travel, go on pilgrimages to any of the old Orthodox countries, dear one, and you will see that within the same country there are several different styles of iconography in use. This will give you peace and will make you free from these rules (which, ultimately, come from not educating ourselves about them). Be blessed and thank you for your question. I genuine appreciate it and the good spirit in which you have asked it.

[@VloggingCastles]

@@mullmonastery thankyou that is good to know. I currently am on the Scottish Islands so it's very hard to travel I hope to visit mull and the monastry I Essex when I get the chance. I qas very blessed to visit Romania at Christmas and see and venerate the holy gifts the monastry their just outside bucharest was amazing. Glory to God and thankyou again for this channel its helped me and many others I've shared your content with

[@malinaluca7579]

Father, is a sin to listen to rock music like Metallica?

[@mullmonastery]

I don't know, my dear one. I have seen people listening to even worse things who were in fact wonderful hearts simply looking for a way out of a world they rightly perceived as devoid of meaning and purpose. On their way to Christ, they look for anything that affirms this newly discovered lack of purpose - music (of any kind) can be one such intermediary step towards Christ.

[@HomoEucharistica]

Quoting Fr Seraphim Rose (who was a big rock fan before converting to Orthodoxy), listening to rock music is not a sin (of course depending the lyrics and context), but that's not very spiritual either. According to him, rock and pop are "music of the flesh", classical music is "music of the soul", and the Orthodox church music is "music of the spirit"... Since St John Chrysostom has said that music is for the soul what food is for the body, music has great influence on our feelings and drives, and it is also "pedagogic tool". If one is able to keep Christ in front of her eyes and strive towards godly things, then listening to rock music is not a sin... But on the other hand, if one has a desire to be with Christ, she does not necessarily want to listen to rock that much anymore.