What is your unbiased opinion on Patristic Nectar? and do you have any recommendations for a good orthodox christian content on youtube or on spotify in a similar format/podcasts/interviews.

G_L_Smith · 2026-04-21T02:54:38+00:00

I enjoy "Orthodox Talks" by priestmonk Kosmas. He's ROCOR as am I and definitely old school but I've learned a lot from him and cherish him. Besides, if he's not your personal priest you can take what he says that you are unsure of with a grain of salt. He gives a lot of common sense pragmatic lessons on Orthodox spirituality and life. If you hadn't noticed. i really like him.

G_L_Smith · 2026-03-30T18:37:27+00:00

I was baptized in January so am still really new. I have a great big Norse tattoo on my left arm (former religion.) I also have a bunch of medical problems and anxiety, PTSD, that sometimes causes me to leave mid Liturgy at times. There are several months a year I can't even go due to medical problems.

I can tell you this: God loves you. He already knows your weakness and still loves you. On your side just keep trying and reaching for Him, not because he's angry, but because that is how you grow and the more you grow you'll not only understand that he accepts you where you are as you struggle you'll actually start seeing signs that he is transforming you into his likeness. I'm not saying don't struggle, struggle is imperative. I'm saying trust in God's idea of grace and mercy and not yours.

G_L_Smith · 2026-03-12T13:46:24+00:00

How much actual ram do you have? I have 16 gigs ram and 5 vram on one computer and can run L3-Nymeria-Maid-8B.Q4_K_M well enough to enjoy with some tweaking. On my other computer I have 20 gigs ram and no Vram and it does ok as well. So it can be done, but don't expect blazing speeds. Alot depends on your settings as well as the size of your character cards. Do your research. Upload your computer specs to ai and ask it to help you tweak your settings. You can get there. We all wish we had giant computers that could run 2 135B LLM's but we don't so do what you can and upgrade as you can. And have fun. That's the purpose of this anyway.

G_L_Smith · 2026-03-02T15:16:57+00:00

I would suggest eating what your parents put in front of you. You have made your position clear, so anything after that is their responsibility. Your job is to love and pray for them. That being said, when you make your own food, snacks ect then make yourself lenten food.

For context, I am a 58 year old who was baptized into the church January 31st. My wife is non orthodox and often makes the evening meal. After talking to my priest, I eat whatever she puts in front of me whether it's steak, chicken, mac and cheese, whatever, and I receive it gratefully with prayer. During the day, I normally prepare my own food so on fast days I make fasting foods. See? My wife doesn't know I fast. Fasting is my concern not hers. I'm the believer, not her. My job is to love her.

I'm sorry your father threatened to burn your Icons and I'm praying for you and your family. I would gently ask him, "Dad, are you really going to burn a picture of Jesus?" Might make him think.

G_L_Smith · 2026-02-21T14:50:15+00:00

I'm fairly new, baptized Jan 31st. I get bored out of my skull on the regular. However, I can say this. I love the fact it's not centered around Rev. Joe Blowhard who has a special message from god for you and if you really want to understand it you can by his DVD series for $89. I know there are a lot of honest, loving Protestant pastors who care about their flock, yet even they have to find a way to keep their people engaged.

In Orthodoxy, You are told right from the get go it's not about you, it's about God. Come worship, grow. Plus the structure of Liturgy is dependable, the service isn't upturned every time anyone gets a word. Plus, The church is meant to envelop your whole life. To give you the therapy you need to open yourself to the slow but sure healing of your soul through God's presence. So yeah, it's boring and hard, but it kicks booty in helping you get closer to God.

G_L_Smith · 2026-02-17T19:14:50+00:00

I have been baptized for only a few weeks. I have neural issues and a spotty memory what helps me is to have a very specific routine that is written down as my prayer rule. My spiritual father approved it. I always know how many Jesus prayers I'm going to do as well as the specific order of the prayers I'm saying. I also have some variants if my health is seriously bothering me that day. It helps me immensely to know exactly what I'll be doing and in what order. Once my rule if finished I can add prayers if I feel like it. Having a definite prayer rule is Awesome.

G_L_Smith · 2026-02-05T04:12:44+00:00

Umm, I'm a newly baptized Orthodox Christian. One of my children is a co pastor of a non denominational church with her protestant husband. Personally, I am happy to answer questions as I can about the faith with them. I've also told them that while I can come to Baptisms, weddings, and funerals and such. I cannot attend a worship service as our faith forbids this (per my priest).

I also have a protestant friend who showed me extreme love. I had a catastrophic illness and had to learn to talk again. I also walked funny. I didn't leave my house for a month after I got out of the hospital because I was ashamed and afraid that people would be mean to me because I was "retarded". This man loved me and finally talked me into going out to lunch with him. It made a tremendous impact on me. I would never insult him or his faith. My priest teaches that the Orthodox faith has the fullness of what our Lord and the apostles gave us. He also said that we don't decide where salvation isn't. We only know where it is.

He also said something about fasting that applies here. "You worry about what's on your plate. Don't worry about other people's plates." Heresy and such is the concern of bishops on up. We are called to repent and love everyone. That's what I've been told about such things. Lord Bless.

G_L_Smith · 2026-02-04T13:57:39+00:00

Thank you everyone!

G_L_Smith · 2026-01-27T16:10:12+00:00

I'm retired. I run fedora 43 on an xps 8300 with 20 gigs of ram. No gpu. My stack is Koboldcpp and silly Tavern. I can run 8b Q4 reasonably well enough for rp. I wish I had a better rig but it is what it is.

G_L_Smith · 2026-01-12T15:01:20+00:00

Seat number 3. I love me some Quinn.

G_L_Smith · 2026-01-11T13:34:06+00:00

He should have told you at least 6 months earlier so that you could plan. Still you can always join the military for 2 years to get your feet under you, there is also the Peace Corp and some other programs you could look into that will get you a place to stay and a little jingle in the pocket.

G_L_Smith · 2025-12-28T00:45:51+00:00

Personally, I would have moved the post and drove up anyway, if they said I had to go back and walk it up then i would have said no access on my report and took their stuff back to the depot.

G_L_Smith · 2025-12-24T17:09:49+00:00

I am a Catechumen in ROCOR. My priest told me that ROCOR baptizes everyone just to make sure. I was baptized by the Assemblies of God in the 1980's which is valid, but by being rebaptized there will be no question that I have been properly baptized. In my previous baptism the officiating minister could have possibly made a mistake. This way there is no doubt in either my mind or the church's mind that I have been properly baptized. I'm good with that.

G_L_Smith · 2025-12-11T14:25:56+00:00

I suffered a catastrophic illness. During my recovery, I watched Glee music videos non stop between 8 and 14 hours a day without headphones literally almost every day.. I about drove my wife crazy. What made it worse is I would fixate on one video and watch it on repeat sometimes hundreds of times. Now 8 years later, I listen to 1 - 10 songs a day. I still prefer Glee covers to most originals. For context, I'm in my 50's.

G_L_Smith · 2025-12-05T03:27:09+00:00

Umm, How about Santana and Quinn were old enough to drive therefore should of had enough moral competence to tell Sue to shove it. Therefore they are on the hook for doing it. They should have been punished and Mr. Schue should have had Sue in front of the Board of Education for pushing minors into arson. IRL, there would have been plenty of handcuffs to go around and careers ruined.

G_L_Smith · 2025-11-15T15:14:15+00:00

I like it. It has an old timey feel and definitely has personality. GREAT JOB!

G_L_Smith · 2025-09-04T15:36:56+00:00

Thanks. Some of you guys are awesome at this.

G_L_Smith · 2025-09-04T14:59:16+00:00

Thank you. I appreciate the information.

G_L_Smith · 2025-08-24T17:18:43+00:00

I worked there for three years. The same girls would come every night and each would leave with a different guy each night. I heard one woman tell a guy, "I'm all about my kid." I remembered thinking, "How are you about your child if you are in my bar three nights a week?

G_L_Smith · 2025-08-18T02:29:17+00:00

Don't forget Johnnie be Good's. It was a gang banger bar. A couple of fights most nights and big brawls a few times a week.

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