Orthodox Christians are not immune from the impact of addictions, whether themselves or having a family member suffering addiction. Addiction can range from a form of harmful habital behavoir to a medical condition where the person requires the substance subject to the addiction to survive, or at least that is their perception.

Here are some links that deal with these issues from an Orthodox Christian or similar perspective:

• St. Dimitrie Addictions Program  http://addictions.sthermanseminary.org/
• Healing from Addiction  http://orthodoxcounselor.com/Articles/addiction.htm
• Pornography Addiction  http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pornography_Addiction
• "Sexual Addiction" -- An Orthodox and Scientific View   http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/MorelliHypersexuality.php
• Fr. Meletios Webber on Orthodox Psychotherapy & Addiction - http://youtu.be/Th8rXD3nHAU
• Orthodoxy and Recovery  - http://orthodoxyandrecovery.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/what-does-it-mean-to-be-addicted.html
• The Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Physchology and Religion   -  http://ocampr.org/
• Drug Rehab for Christians - http://www.drugrehabforchristians.com/blog/

Dear Father Adrian Augustus.
 
Greetings of Peace and Love of The Lord Jesus from Asher Younas.
 
For the past so many years we Pakistanis  had been listening about Orthodox Church. But we neither had a Priest nor a lay person, who would show forth a real picture of the Orthodox Church. at last a man came to our land who is young with full of Holy Spirit, fervent in his decisions , aims and has a command on Doctrine of the Orthodox teachings. within no span of time he has impressed the hearts of the Christians faithful to embrace the orthodoxy. even I was very much impressed when I heard that an Iranian family also has joined the orthodox church . from Islamabad to Karachi everywhere people are taking much interest in Orthodox church.
I highly appreciate the strenuous efforts of Fr. Adrian Augustus who came all the way from Australia and enlightened our people with the Original, Natural and more overly Divine church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Pakistan.
His efforts to provide Spiritual help to Pakistani people are marvelous. His name will be written in the history of Orthodox Church in Pakistan with Golden words. The Mission of St. Michael The  Archangel is flourishing very fast with the help of Fr. Adrian Augustus.
as I think, this is the need of the modern era. May be this is the will of the Lord. We waited a lot, but today we can see priests from Orthodox Church with our naked eyes. they have consoled very many hearts of the people and faithful. we are very happy to have them here.
I , also appreciate his assistants and co-worker, Rev,Fr. Joseph Farooq, Rev.Cyril. Rev.Fr, Anthony Shamaoon from Hyderabad ,The administrators Rev.Fr ,David Rehmat Sher, in Karachi.
May they all be Blessed and be used By God for His never Ending Mission in the world.
 
Thank You V.Rev.Fr. Adrain Augustus for Blessing our Land and people with your Blessed foot Prints.              

Thanks and Prayers,

Asher Younas

Dear Father Adrian Augustus.
 
Greetings of Peace and Love of The Lord Jesus from Asher Younas.
 
For the past so many years we Pakistanis  had been listening about Orthodox Church. But we neither had a Priest nor a lay person, who would show forth a real picture of the Orthodox Church. at last a man came to our land who is young with full of Holy Spirit, fervent in his decisions , aims and has a command on Doctrine of the Orthodox teachings. within no span of time he has impressed the hearts of the Christians faithful to embrace the orthodoxy. even I was very much impressed when I heard that an Iranian family also has joined the orthodox church . from Islamabad to Karachi everywhere people are taking much interest in Orthodox church.
I highly appreciate the strenuous efforts of Fr. Adrian Augustus who came all the way from Australia and enlightened our people with the Original, Natural and more overly Divine church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Pakistan.
His efforts to provide Spiritual help to Pakistani people are marvelous. His name will be written in the history of Orthodox Church in Pakistan with Golden words. The Mission of St. Michael The  Archangel is flourishing very fast with the help of Fr. Adrian Augustus.
as I think, this is the need of the modern era. May be this is the will of the Lord. We waited a lot, but today we can see priests from Orthodox Church with our naked eyes. they have consoled very many hearts of the people and faithful. we are very happy to have them here.
I , also appreciate his assistants and co-worker, Rev,Fr. Joseph Farooq, Rev.Cyril. Rev.Fr, Anthony Shamaoon from Hyderabad ,The administrators Rev.Fr ,David Rehmat Sher, in Karachi.
May they all be Blessed and be used By God for His never Ending Mission in the world.
 
Thank You V.Rev.Fr. Adrain Augustus for Blessing our Land and people with your Blessed foot Prints.              

Thanks and Prayers,

Asher Younas

The Sunday Bulletin 24th Sunday After Pentecost Martyrs Galacteon and Episteme 18 November 2012 can be reviewed and downloaded HERE

You can review and download the Sunday Bulletin for the 22nd Sunday After Pentecost -  Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos HERE

Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve – now a crassly commercialised event – probably has its origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain, the end of the summer and the feast of the dying sun. In its original Christianised version it was less a time of fear of the dead than a time of prayer for the departed, linked with All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows, Hallowmas or Hallowtide) on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2. It traditionally included "Souling", the custom of baking and sharing soul cakes in Britain and Ireland. The cakes were usually filled with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or other sweet spices, raisins or currants, and before baking were topped with the mark of a cross to signify that these were alms; they were given in the expectation that those receiving them would offer prayers for the departed. The fear of the dead – as “ghosts” or “spirits” – now associated with Hallowe’en was unknown in the early Church. The old Scottish litany used at Hallowe’en, including “From ghoulies and ghosties. And long-legged beasties. And things that go bump in the night. Good Lord, deliver us!”, is redundant! Let us remember in our prayers (at this time and always) those who have departed this life, ever hopeful in the love of God, and never afraid.

The invitation to the 2012 Diocesan (Over 18) Youth Conference can be downloaed here   

The Sunday Bulletin - The 13th Sunday After Pentecost - Afterfeast of Dormition & Holy Prophet Samuel 2 September 2012 can be downloaded here

The Sunday Bulletin for the 12th Sunday After Pentecost Aposdis (Leavetaking) of Transfiguration 26 August 2012 can be downloaded here:

Source: Rev Mark Rundle Arden School

There is the story about a somewhat absent-minded man who misread a turn and started driving up the
freeway – on the wrong side. Before long his mobile phone rang – it was his wife. On answering it, he
immediately heard her warn him, ‘Look out! I have just been listening to the news, and it said that there is a
maniac driving the wrong way down the freeway that you usually take!’ ‘One maniac?’ he shouted ‘There are
hundreds of them!’
Sometimes the road you take, or the direction you go, matters a lot – not just for yourself, but for others
around you! Wrong turns can cause problems, but so can ill-programmed GPS systems - or misread maps.
Some years ago, I needed to travel down to Taralga, near Goulburn, for a party. Examining the map I had of
the area, I spotted what I thought looked like a great shortcut – through a place called Wombeyan Caves.
Yes, the road looked a little winding, but it seemed like a much quicker option. Many frustrating and very slow
kilometres later, after negotiating some of the wildest dirt roads I had ever driven on, I arrived at my party –
well over an hour late, and resolving never to willingly choose that route again!
Of course, things would have been quite different if I had spoken with someone who had travelled that road
before. Someone who knew exactly where they were going, and who understood the best way to drive it.
And that’s also the case, if we reflect on a different type of road: the ‘road of life’ on which we are all travelling.
Often this ‘road’ can throw up unexpected challenges or the choices we make can even take us in a direction
that may not be best for us. Knowing someone who knows best how to negotiate the challenges of life, keep
you heading in the right direction, and guide you clearly to the end, is invaluable. That person, John 14:6
says, is ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’ – the only One who can bring us to the presence of our Creator.

The Sunday Bulletin for the 9th Sunday After Pentecost - Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God-  5 August 2012 can be downloaded here

Source: Rev. Mark Rundle Arden School Beecroft

Were you up at 6am on Wednesday morning? If you were, it was probably because (like me and thousands of others) you were watching Sally Pearson win her gold medal at the Olympics, in the 100 metre hurdles. It’s an event that she had been expected to win and, under all sorts of pressure, she fulfilled those expectations – in a time of 12.35 seconds. That’s quick – but not as quick as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price of
Jamaica, who ran the same distance in 10.75 seconds. What’s the difference? Those pesky hurdles, of course – Fraser-Price just had to sprint on the flat surface, while Sally Pearson had ten obstacles to get over on her way to the finish line (which, for me, makes her time even more impressive).
Dealing with hurdles on the athletics track has been the way of life for Sally Pearson for many years now, of course – and she copes with them exceptionally well, as we saw on Wednesday. However, the reality is that there are other hurdles and obstacles in life that aren’t as straightforward as metal structures that someone jumps over in a race - and they present their own challenges by getting in the way and ‘slowing us down’ or distracting us from the things that really matter most in life. One such ‘hurdle’, for instance, can be the wealth we have and enjoy in our society – something not wrong in itself, but the temptation toacquire more and more of it, to the cost of all else, can lead to the greed that God’s Word reminds us is corrosive and personally destructive (1 Timothy 6:9-10).
Ultimately, the Bible says, the thing that matters most – more valuable and longer-lasting than anything inthis world – is a relationship with the God who knows us and made us. Clearing away the obstacles and hurdles that hinder us from enjoying this – ‘the sin that so easily entangles’, as Hebrews 12:1 puts it – is essential and it’s only done with the help of the One who’s made that relationship possible: Jesus.

Source: Orthodox Wiki

Asceticism is the practice of self-denial (i.e., control of one's passions and base impulses) for the sake of the Kingdom. The practice of asceticism - called ascesis - is most often associated exclusively with monasticism, although all the faithful are exhorted to practice lesser forms of ascesis through the Church's regimen of prayer, fasting, and repentance.

The word "ascetic" comes from the Greek root ἀσκητικός, which is turn is from the verb ἀσκέω, meaning "I train." The Apostle Paul likens the Christian life of prayer and repentance to training for various sporting events (1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Tim. 4:7). As such, the methods of ascesis should not be used as ends to themselves, but as means to the end of salvation, the "prize" which the Apostle mentions in First Corinthians.

Source: Rev. Mark Rundle - Arden School Beecroft NSW

While watching the Olympics, have you ever contemplated what the competitors have gone through to make it to London? Hours, days, months and years of intense training, preparing for an event that can last only a matter of seconds! Yet without all that training, and continual practice, they wouldn’t be there in the first place. And for some, that training will have been more challenging than for others.
In 1938, Karoly Takacs of the Hungarian Army was the top pistol shooter in the world. He was expected to win the gold in the 1940 Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo. However, just months before the Olympics, tragedy struck. While training with his army squad, a hand grenade exploded in Takacs’ right hand, and Takacs’ shooting hand was blown off.
After spending a month in the hospital, depressed at both the loss of his hand and the end to his Olympic dream, Takacs did the unthinkable; he picked himself up and decided to learn how to shoot with his left hand.
For months Takacs practiced by himself. No one knew what he was doing, until in 1939 he showed up at the Hungarian National Pistol Shooting Championship. Other shooters were surprised when Takacs said he was there to complete. They were even more surprised when Takacs won!
However, the 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled because of World War II. But Takacs kept training and qualified for the 1948 London Olympics, where he won the gold medal and set a new world record. What’s more, he won the gold medal again four years later at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Karoly Takacs dedicated years of training (and retraining!), often under incredible hardship, to achieving his priority of Olympic success. Yet there are things, more valuable and longer lasting than Olympic gold medals, which no amount of physical training can achieve for us. Paul’s first letter to Timothy, in the Bible, expresses it well: ’For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding
promise for both the present life and the life to come.’ (1Timothy 4:8)

The Sunday Bulletin for the Sunday Bulletin for 8th Sunday After Pentecost Commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils can be downloaded here 

This short video reminds us that we can make a difference in someone's life.

http://www.flickspire.com/m/LifeSecrets/MakeADifference

Below is a circular ukase issued by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York to all the ruling bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The English & Russian versions can be downloaded here:  English   Russian 

A copy of the English version of the Ukase can be viewed below.

LivingThe Australian speaking tour of Khouria Frederica Mathewes-Green has been blessed by Metropolitan Hilarion Kapral, first Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia andArchbishop of Australia and New Zealand.

Sydney Friday 7th of September- Sts.Peter and Paul Cathedral (ROCOR), 3-5 Vernon Street, Strathfield. 7pm-10pm.

Topics: The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that Tunes the Heart to God
The Lost Gospel of Mary: The Theotokos in Three Ancient Texts
First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey Through the Canon of St. Andrew

Tickets:  $25 per Adult and $10 per Student or Concession. Bookings essential  See booking details here

The Sunday Bulletin can be downloaded here