Posts Tagged ‘orthodox church’
Saturday, March 17th, 2012 Default XFce picture viewer on Slackware Linux is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). Though GIMP is great for picture editting, it is rather strange why Patrick Volkerding compiled XFCE to use GIMP as a default picture viewer? The downsides of GIMP being default picture viewing program for Slackware's XFCE are the same like Xubuntu's XFCE risterroro, you can't switch easily pictures back and forward with some keyboard keys (left, right arrow keys, backspace or space etc.). Besides that another disadvantage of using GIMP are;
a) picture opening time in GIMP loading is significantly higher if compared to a simple picture viewer program like Gnome's default, eye of the gnome – eog.
b) GIMP is more CPU intensive and puts high load on each picture opening
A default Slackware install comes with two good picture viewing programs substitute for GIMP:
- Gwenview
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- Geeqie
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Both of the programs support picture changing, so if you open a picture you can switch to the other ones in the same directory as the first opened one.
I personally liked more Gwenview because it has more intutive picture switching controls. With it you can switch with keyboard keys space and backspace
To change GIMP's default PNG, JPEG opening I had with mouse right button over a pic and in properties change, Open With: program.
If you're curious about the picture on on all screenshots, this is Church – Saint George (situated in the city center of Dobrich, Bulgaria).
St. Georgi / St. George Church is built in 1842 and is the oldest Orthodox Church in Dobrich.
In the Crimean War (1853-1856) the church was burned down and was restored to its present form in 1864.
gpicview is another cool picture viewing program, I like. Unfortunately on Slackware, there is no prebuild package and the only option is either to convert it with alien from deb package or to download source and compile as usual with ./configure && make && make install .
Downloading and compiling from source went just fine on Slackware Linux 13.37gpicview has more modern looking interface, than gwenview and geeqie. and is great for people who want to be in pace with desktop fashion 🙂
Tags: arrow, arrow keys, Auto, backspace, Button, center, change, city, configure, crimean war 1853, deb package, Desktop, desktop environment, dobrich bulgaria, download, Draft, eye, georgi, GIMP, Gnome, gnu image manipulation, gnu image manipulation program, image manipulation program, keyboard keys, manipulation, nbsp, Open, opening time, option, orthodox church, other ones, package, picture editting, png, program, Risterroro, st george church, substitute, time, XFCE, Xubuntu
Posted in Linux and FreeBSD Desktop, System Administration | No Comments »
Monday, August 11th, 2008 I have to boast with God again I prayed to the God the Father in the name of the Son Jesus Christ to help me takesuccesfully the writen exam for the driver license courses which I’m going through right now. God didn’t failed me again.In the morning before the exam I went to the orthodox Church and prayed and lighted a candle begging God for mercy forgivenesand help on the oncoming exam. I went to the Autoschool (Avtoshkola) which is located downstairs in the building of the polyclinic.I went early there so I spend some time waiting for the driving courses instructor I talked a bit with one of the girls who wason the same exam just before me and passed afterwards with another 18 years guy who was also present for the exam.Just before the beginning of the exam I was pretty nervous just like everybody else in the room. Just before beginning the examI prayed a little prayer again to God to help me. Because I was sure that without blessing and help I won’t be able to pass.The test was a hard one and I wasn’t 100% sure for let’s say at least 10 of all the 60 questions that the exam was constituted of.So I trusted my intuition and God’s help to show me the right answers. On the whole exam I received few smses and phone callsfrom the office because one of the Apache webservers was down. My cellphone vibrated a dozen of times so I got pretty nervous because of that. I ended the exam in the first 30 minutes or so. And waited patiently for the results praying and hoping God has heard my prayer and is goingto help me pass the exam. And Hooray! HalleluYah! The questor announced I have passed the exam with 0 mistakened answers! It’s a miracle and the owe and praise goes to God! Glory To the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit! Now and Forever and Ever! Amen!I’m sure my grandma has prayed for me which is pretty nice old lady and I owe her a lot for giving me good advices and support and help and praying for me in hard times in hard times for me. Also I asked another two friends to pray for my success. Thanksfully now I feel like a big burden came from my heart. It was going to big disappoinmtent if I had failed and have given all that money for that course for nothing. Thaknsfully I didn’t now the next Monday is the driving exam. I hope and trust in God to bless me and grant me to take the exam! :)Glory be to God the Creator of Heaven and of Earth! 😀 Just after I ended the exam it happened that one of the Apaches is down so I ran home as fast as I could to login unto the server and restart the service. Just after I fixed this and replied to few mails waiting for me in my mailbox Papi called and we went out for a coffee it was just on time after the succesfully taken exam. Praise the Lord! 🙂 We went to a coffee in which I haven’t been before and later Nomen and Hellpain a.k.a. (Vlado) joined us. We had a great time talking and drinking stuff. Now I’m working a bit examining what’s happenning on the servers and blogging this message at the same time. Again I should say Blessed, Blessed, Blessed is the Lord Sabbaoth the Earth and Heavens are full of his Glory ! 😀 HalleluYah! I’ll Glorify you God for you’re rightous and mercyful and you did good deed to me ! 🙂 END—–
Tags: apache webservers, driver license, first 30 minutes, glory be to god, glory to the father, god almighty, god didn, god glory, god the father, good advices, holy spirit, intuition, little prayer, old lady, one of the girls, orthodox church, polyclinic, questor, smses, son jesus christ
Posted in Everyday Life | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 6th, 2007 Glory be to the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit! The Lord is very merciful. I’ve thinked a lot about my life.And I’ve realized that I’ve done many mistakes and that I don’t strive to hear his voice. Nor to follow his path formy life. So recently I’m praying for the Lord to guide me and teach me how to hear and understand his voice!As he said in the Holy Bible: “My sheeps hear my voice”. He have to teach me howto hear his voice.Also I’ve prayed few days ago about a sallary increase and Hallelujah! Today When I went to Varna I saw howthe lord heard my prayer I have a sallary increase. But I was increadibly happy because the Lord is hearing my prayers.Currently I think that God is healing my physical sickness. For which Glory be to Him The One Ever Living Lord and Our Lord Jesus Christ. Also I was very happy that a friend (Stoian) with which we discussed the topics of Our Faith the last Yeastern has received Christ as a Saviour. And is also going to the Orthodox Church. He has something I have lost a lot of days before the Fire in me the Lord has fired when I believed. Thanks Lord ! for every mercy and blessing you’re doing towards me.Mostly the last days I start realizing that we are so sinful and our minds are so deluded that we try to explain The Existence of God ( Something I tried to do for a very long time ), without actually seeking God but using our human knowledge and understanding. Let God not give me to do this anymore. Blessed, Blessed, Blessed are you Lord Shabbaoth Glory to your Heavenly Throne! I even smiled today looking at the sky :] God is merciful!!! END—–
Tags: bible, blessing, days before the fire, end, existence of god, Father, few days, Fire, formy, glory be to the father, Hallelujah, heavenly throne, holy bible, holy spirit, human knowledge, knowledge, last days, life, looking at the sky, Lord, lord jesus christ, orthodox church, Path, physical sickness, prayer, prayers, saviour, seeking god, sheeps, sky, sky god, something, Spirit, Throne, time, today, Understanding, voice
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Sunday, June 15th, 2008 At Saturday I had my first driving license. The instructor let me drive on the road for Balchik. Happily the driving went smoothly of course I made a lot of mistakes which is pretty normal for a first time driving. In the afternoon we went out for a walk with Niki. We just went out when Vlado (Hellpain) called, he came back to Dobrich for a day, we met for a coffee after which we stayed for 2 hours in the central park. Today as usual I attended the liturgy at the orthodox Church. Today it’s a big Christian Orthodox holiday, it’s the day in which the Our Lord Jesus Christ send the Holy Spirit to the early Church fathers (the apostles). The apostles heard a great noise and they see the Holy Spirit descending from heaven in a form of burning tongues, each tongue coming above the head of each of the apostles and the rest of the first believers in our Lord and Saviour Jesus. I’m still in doubt should I decide to go or not to the Netherlands. I applied for a room there through http://vivare.nl yesterday. But still haven’t received a confirmation for approval and I haven’t send a deposit for a room. I made research about the Arnhem Business School (ABS) and talked and I’m talking with a friend who went to study in Holland the last year. In the afternoon I watched an old russian movie which is marked as a SCI-FI genre (Kin Dza Dza), I got the title from the top 20 in IMDB. Yeah I can say that the movie was pretty freaky :). Vladi did call me again and said one of the servers in the office had crashed I spoke with of my colleagues with a request to go to the office and restart the box but it seems the box isn’t booting. Tomorrow I’ll catch an early bus for Varna and went to the office to see what’s wrong with the machine (hope it’s not a serious hardware problem). That’s most of it. To be honest although God grants me a lot of his divine grace I still feel a bit of lost and pathless and struggle to fight my lack of faith, and bad habits. I’m praying everyday for a physical healing but I still haven’t completely recovered from my sickness. I have sinned badly in my past and I deserve to have that sickness but still I honestly I’m repenting day after day for my bad life in the past and the near present … Another think I should say is that a friend of mine has died I saw his obituary hanging on a tree 🙁 , His name was Alexander (Sashe) known among us by the nickname (Saketo), he was a drug addict and that killed him I hope he is with God know peace be upon him. END—–
Tags: Apostles, arnhem business school, balchik, Business, central park, colleagues, confirmation, course, deposit, divine grace, driving, Dza, form, freaky, genre, hardware problem, HEAD, Hellpain, holland, holy spirit, IMDB, instructor, Kin, liturgy, lord jesus christ, niki, orthodox church, request, saviour jesus, School, sci fi, time, tomorrow, tongue, tongues, varna, vivare, year
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Sunday, May 1st, 2011 
Today in the Orthodox Church, we commemorate the great miracle of our saviour Christ appearing to st. Apostle Thomas, who failed to believe to the rest of the holy apostles that they have seen our saviour alive.
Thomas wanted said that he won’t belief if he doesn’t touch and see the incorruptable risen body of our saviour Jesus.
Our Lord by his great mercy has appeared once again to the pupils dinnering with them.
Thomas was with the teachers and the door was locked (as the fear of persecution for Christ’s testimonial was among the aposltes).
Suddenly our Saviour entered the room where all the pupils were gathered through the locked door (a Glorious miracle inconceivable for our minds).
As the Lord knew about Thomas weak belief and his disbelief in his prophecised Resurrection in the third day, when Christ entered he has addressed Thomas and told him to come forth and see and touch his wounds and see that a spirit has no bones and flesh, (obviously Thomas erroneously thought that the resurrection from the death would be in spirit and no physical body will be present (this kind of belief today is also wide-spread inside many heretical christian groups)).
The Lord continued on and told Thomas, “Thomas you have seen and believed, now blessed is those who haven’t seen me and believed”!
Here is part of the daily troparion:
Touch my rib with a hand, Thomas, speaks Christ, and come and touch (feel) the scars from the nails.
With faith do test it, and be a believer and not a non-believer. Thomas has touched with a finger to the Master and loudly shouted:
"You are my Lord and my God, most merciful Glory to you!"
This Sunday is also the day marking the end of the bright week of the Resurrection.
Let we all the Orthodox Christians be a believers as Thomas and be blessed in accordance to our saviour’s word, as we haven’t seen the Lord’s Risen glorified body as Thomas and the rest of the holy apostles did.
Tags: accordance, Apostle, apostle thomas, belief today, believer, body, christian, christian groups, disbelief, door, doubting thomas, end, Glorious, hand, holy apostles, incorruptable, kind, Master, mercy, miracle, non believer, orthodox christians, orthodox church, paschal, persecution, pupils, resurrection, Risen, saviour, saviour christ, saviour jesus, scars, testimonial, third day, thomas thomas, Touch, troparion, week
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Thursday, April 21st, 2011 
Today, a day before the suffering of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for our sins remission we do commemorate the day of the Last Supper or (The Supper of Mysteries) in the Orthdox Church.
According to our Church tradition today is the day on which the saviour has established the Church mystery of the Sacrements! (Eucharist)
Here are the exact passages from (Matthew 26:26-28), where by the word of the Lord the Eucharist was established:
“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'” (Mt. 26:26-28)
The feast is celebrated with a morning Holy Liturgy among all Eastern Orthodox Churches around the world.
It’s common that many layman do confess and take the sacraments on this date.
Before sacraments are received we the layman confess our unworthiness for Christ and beg for him to make us worthy to receive the communion with the prayer:
I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first (see 1 Tim 1:15).
I believe also that this is truly Thine own most pure Body, and that this is truly Thine own most precious Blood. Therefore I pray Thee: Have mercy upon me and forgive me my transgressions, committed in word and deed, whether consciously or unconsciously.
And make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Thy most pure Mysteries, for the remission of sins and unto life everlasting.
Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant. For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: “Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”
May the communion of Thy Holy Mysteries be neither to my judgment, nor to my condemnation, 0 Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.
This prayer is actually said everytime before we do take the sacraments through the year, so it’s one of the most-important prayers in our Orthodox Church life.
The Holy Communion establishment is also an act of remembrance a of the Lord’s suffering for the remission of our sins according to his commandment.
One major difference between Orthodoxy and Protestanism concerning Eucharist is that we orthodox believe that by taking the sacraments, we do receive the Most-holy flesh and blood of Christ and through his blood and flesh, the damage sin has created in our hearts, minds and souls (which is forgiven by God in the the mystery of the confessment) is being recovered completjely.
Tags: Auto, blood of the covenant, body, bread, camest, church tradition, commandment, communicant, covenant, cup, Draft, Drink, eastern orthodox churches, establishment, feast, forgiveness of sins, holy liturgy, holy thursday, Kingdom, last supper, layman, maundy thursday, mystery, mystical supper, Orthdox, orthodox church, pray, precious blood, remembrance, sacraments, saviour jesus christ, son of god, son of the living god, suffering, Thine, Thou, Thursday, today is the day, word and deed, word of the lord, year
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Sunday, April 17th, 2011 
I’m just coming back from the Bulgareevo (a small village cituated nearby Kavarna).
Bylgareevo is a middle size bulgarian village situated near the sea and is not famous with anything significant.
The village has two Orthodox Church temples and a serving Priest (an Archimandrite, father Metodii).
Father Metodii is one of this priests that is a person to remember as he is a truly devoted to Christ monk. Since about two years of time he has reconstructed his local village house and the yard nearby the house into something which hopefully in the short future will become a fully monk inhabited spiritual fortress (A Monastery).
Father Metodii lives and believes part of his service to God constitutes in rising this small monastery and gathering together Bulgarian believers in order to further rise up the Bulgarian faith in Christ and to become a center for spiritual pilgrimage.
The monastery already has a monastery bell, a monks cells and the small chapel (parakles/paraklis) prepared to be as a place for monks pilgrimage.
Father Metodii’s efforts to make the monastery an attractive place for future candidate novice Monks and Monks are truly genuine!
All he has done by so far is a good example for all us the Christians to follow. Most of the expenses related to the Monastery building are being paid by the Father himself as he has donated all his possession to the Church.
As part of this efforts to rise up the place as a place for spiritual pilgrimage by God grace Bylgareevo’s monastery has been granted the honour to contain a particle of the Holy Live giving Cross Tree on which our Lord Jesus Christ has been crucified.. By God’s mercy the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the local national museum has donated two particles of the Holy Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was Crucified and suffered for our sins.
Now the holy crucifixion cross remains particles are being kept in the Monastery’s small chapel for pilgrimage. Thus the opportunity for a pilgrimage journey to Bylgareevo on this day of great spiritual joy Palm Sunday was a huge blessing for me and the few more brothers and sisters with whom we traveled to Bulgareevo
Below I present you with a picture on which you can see Father Metodii (Methodius) holding in hands the small particle of the Crist’s Crucifixion cross tree (embedded in the center of the wood cross on the picture).
The name of the village Bulgareevo is also really interesting as it’s a direct direvative from the word Bylgariq (which translates as Bulgaria).
Along with the two particles of the Holy life giving Cross where the saviour Jesus Christ was crucified, father Metodii has collected some great saint relics, just to name a few of the relics which are in the newly built monastery in Bulgareevo; holy relics of saint Panteleimon, holy Relics of Saint John of Rila etc.
Now going back to Palm Sunday‘s feast essense, Palm Sunday is among the 12 Church feasts in the Orthodox Churches, we use to call (The Lord’s feasts [Gospodski Praznici]), and thus is one of the 12 feasts which are most spiritually richful for Bulgaria as an Orthodox Nation and for all other national Orthodox Churches around the world.
Palm Sunday is always celebrated on the Last Sunday before the beginning of “the passionate week”, the week in which we who believe in Christ’s name remember the great trials and suffering our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has carried for the salvation of all Christians.
Palm Sunday is the feast in which we as we read in the Gospel readings in the Church, commemorate Christ’s entrance in Jerusalem on a small donkey.
Here is a small chunk of the Gospel reading for the day:
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!"
In this scripture text as we read above the people were glorifying God and Christ as the son of the God in accordance to the Old testament scriptures in which it was prophecised that the Saviour of Mankind (The Messiah) would walk in through the entrance doors of Jerusalem riding a donkey.
People who were present observing the Lord’s entrance were witnessing the fulfilment of the old testament psalms prophecies by glorifying the Lord.
This were the same people which just a week later were screaming “crucify” him …
On Palm Sunday it is a Church tradition in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church that willow branches are being blessed by the priest and then distributed among layman as a blessing and a remembrance of the Palms which were layed upon the Lord’s entrance in Jerusalem.
Later on we took the willow branches in our homes and place it in our home icon-stands (the place with the icons we use for a prayer to God).
The use of willow branches in our Church has been established through the years as a Palm Trees substitute as the Palm tree does not grow in the Bulgarian lands
In Bulgaria Palm Sunday is known as Tsvetnitsa. People with flower-related names, (for example Tzviatko, Margarita, Lilia, Violeta, Yavor, Zdravko, Zjumbjul, Nevena, Temenuzhka, etc.) has a name day on that date.
It’s a pity that many bulgarian people who are baptized in our Bulgarian Orthodox Church, fails to understand the symbolic meaning of the willow branches and doesn’t really understand the essence of the Church feast but just go to Church to light up a candle “to have a good fortune and health”., usually mostly missing the spiritual importance for us the Christians of this feast.. but I hope things would get better with time and more Bulgarians who lost their roots during communism will come back to their ancient faith the Orthodoxy.
I recommend to all Orthodox Christian believers from Bulgaria, Romania and Russia who has the oportunity to visit Bulgaria as a tourist destination or on any other occasion to visit Bylgareevo and do a pilgrimage journey to Bylgareevo newly constructed monastery containing the holy relicts.
You will receive the great spiritual blessing of venerating the particle of the cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ’s most holy body was hanging on!
The cross on which the redemption of mankind was achieved by God’s son 2010 years ago!
The cross on which we have received a forgiveness of our sins!
I thank the Lord for having this good blessed day and I pray that we all who believe in his name come to the understanding to know his as he knows us!
Tags: attractive place, Bulgarievo, candidate, center, christians, crucifixion, donkey, feast, fortress, future, gathering, holy cross, honour, house, journey, Kavarna, local village, lord jesus christ, Monastery, monk, Monks, novice, novice monks, orthodox church, palm sunday, particle, particles, patriarch of jerusalem, person, pilgrimage journey, place, priests, saviour, something, spiritual, spiritual joy, spiritual pilgrimage, temples, testament, time, village
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Sunday, April 10th, 2011 
The Fifith week and the fifth Sunday of Lent is preparation for the Holy Week (right before Eastern).
In the Gospel readings on the fifth Sunday it’s being told how God on his way for Jerusalem revealed for a time to his deciples (The Holy Apostles), that his way is the way of the cross, the suffering and death and that the high-priest and the jewish scripture interpreters will betray him, will violate him spit at him, beat him and crucify him and most importantly that he will be Risen on the third day.
The pupils has been terified walking with him on the way to Jerusalem and haven’t really understood the Lord’s prophetic words.
The mother of John and Jacob for example asked the Lord that her sons be allowed to sit on his right and on left side of the Lord’s throne, without knowing like the rest of the desciples that the Lord’s way of unbelievable suffering, which the desciples comprehends a bit later.
The cross’s road of suffering is a predetermined path not only for Christ’s desciples but for the whole Orthodox Church in general and for all the believers inChrist’s name.
God does alone has carried out suffering for the human sin and sinfulness and bears it together with man entering and changing human’s history and completing his redemption for us on the cross.
On this land a man without a revelation of God, never could understand that God is love, that God is good, even if they are already talking about two thousand years all the saints and Fathers of our Church.
God is love and sacrifice himself for man, so our suffering is noble by his feat, carried out for good, because the truth because of the transfiguration of man. His sacrifice is the noblest sacrifice of this world.
But in essense as many ordinary people say in the suffering there is nothing good and noble. The sufferings however after Christ’s sacrifice in his “house-building” plan to transfigurate the man’s personality does prooved miraculous for many Christians throughout the centuries.
A very light example of such a transfiguration of the human’s personality (soul) can be clearly seen in the example of saint Mary of Egypt’s living whose memory do celebrate in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church today (in the Fifth Sunday of the great Lent).
St. Mary of Egypt has lead a very unusual way of living, which is really striking to be comprehend even for us the modern Christians.
Her living is a God’s omen for all generations of Christians and is in clearly distinctive with ours.
As we can read in short in her living, from a very rich and prosperous prostitute touched by Christ’s love after entering an Orthodox temple by the Mercy and the great prayers of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) she has decided to loose all earthly preasures and all the old unrightous way of living and start living a saint hermit life in the desert, she has fought the devil’s temptations and the consequences of sin and God’s wrath for the sinful way of live she has lead for so monay ears before she has turned to Christ in humility in about 25 years alone in the desert!
That’s clearly a God’s great miracle and faith simulator we should thanks God for ..
Her living is a very bright example that we should not despair ourselves about our salvation, and that God takes care for everyone who puts his faith in him and decides consciously to let behind his sinful way of living and evil and starts fighting with it.
God grants us our earthly living and waits throughout our whole earthly live for us to turn back from our sins and change for good.
St. Mary of Egypt is a great example for us who belief in Christ today about how much a repentance could work out in our lives.
From one of the greatest city sinners she has turned into a saint by repenting for her previous sinful life for 25 years.
After the end of her great trial period in the desert, seeing her great repentance God has granted us all the gifts of healing and miraculness of the Holy Spirit.
I would not stop into details of the great saint’s living I’ll just say it’s worthy to check her living in http://orthodoxwiki.org/Sunday_of_St._Mary_of_Egypt and be seriously astonished!
Let us take st. Mary of Egypt for a leading example in our lives and hope that God will have mercy on us and grant us her humbleness and repentance for our great sins we stand in daily ..
Save us Oh Lord by the prayers Saint Mary of Egypt!
Tags: betray, bit, church god, death, deciples, desciples, essense, feast, god is love, gospel readings, Great, high priest, holy apostles, holy week, inChrist, jewish scripture, Lent, Lord, love, mother, ordinary people, orthodox church, personality, preparation, prophetic words, pupils, redemption, revelation, right, Risen, sacrifice, scripture, sinfulness, suffering, sufferings, third day, time, transfiguration, transfiguration of man, Venerable, way of the cross
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