“If God suffers in the flesh when He is made man, should we not rejoice when we suffer, for we have God to share our sufferings? This shared suffering confers the kingdom on us. For he spoke truly who said, ‘If we suffer with Him, then we shall also be glorified with Him’ (Rom. 8:17).”
–St. Maximos the Confessor (The Philokalia Vol. 2 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 120) source
Praying With My Feet 
thank you. God is with us.
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And did he ever suffer. The account of his trials and persecution are very moving. (The Life of Our Holy Father Maximus the Confessor tr. by Fr. Christopher Birchall, avail at St Nectarios Press). AND, something very interesting that we noticed when we were studying church history in church school, is the similarity in the demonic behavior of the Arians persecuting St. Athanasius, of those persecuting St. Maximus, and of the bolsheviks persecuting Orthodox Christians in Russia.
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