She’ll bring you joy
Abbess Makrina, Holy Monastery of Our Lady the Guide, Portaria When you can’t sleep and various thoughts keep bothering you, say the prayer ‘Rejoice, Virgin Mother of God…’ continuously. Sleep will come and Our Lady will give you great joy. Source: pemptousia.com ABOUT THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN NETWORK...
Open the Windows of the Soul
Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos This year, the Sunday after Theophany coincides with the handing-back of the feast. ‘The Saviour has appeared, Grace and Truth’. The Saviour has appeared, about Whom the prophets spoke in preparation for His coming. The greatest of the prophets, the Honourable Forerunner, who was granted the...
Christ’s Behaviour (Matth. 4, 12-17)
Metropolitan Ioïl (Frangkakos) of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia ‘When he heard that John had been delivered up, he withdrew to Galilee’. The way in which Christ behaved towards people wasn’t always the same. He expressed Himself in a variety of ways. Besides, Christ became incarnate and was made manifest...
The Central Problem of the Lack of Change in the World is the Excess of Good Wishes and the Absence of Good Deeds
Protopresbyter Antonios Christou Dear readers, by God’s grace, here we are at the start of a new year, only a few days after the last one ended. We’ve been here before and have shared thoughts and resolutions for a better year in all aspects of our life. In our...
Our Feasts
Fotis Kondoglou For many people, Christmas, New Year, Epiphany and other feasts aren’t feasts at all, nor days full of joy, but times that bring sorrow and hardship. Hard times for the souls of those who aren’t in a position to celebrate in the way that others are. Apart...
Saint Theodosios, Abbot of Filotheou and Metropolitan of Trebizond
Saint Theodosius, Metropolitan of Trebizond, was born in the village of Koritsa, near the Kastorian hills. His elder brother was Saint Dionysios, the founder of the Monastery of Dionysiou on Mount Athos. At eighteen years of age, Theodosios became a monk at Constantinople. Later, he went to the Monastery of...
Why Christianity mustn’t change (2)
Saint Theophan the Recluse If the saving power of the teaching depended upon on our knowledge and our agreement with it, then it would make sense for people to come up with the idea of rebuilding Christianity according to human weaknesses or the demands of the time and to...
The Significance of the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan
Sophia Kafkopoulou On 6 January, our Church celebrates Theophany, one of the great feasts of the Lord. Jesus’ baptism is the event which formally confirmed the advent of the Messiah. Although the Lord Himself had no need of the remission of sins, He nevertheless came to John ‘to be...
Christ’s Baptism
Metropolitan of Gortyn and Megalopolis, Ieremias Today, my Christian brothers and sisters is the third feast of the Lord. The first is the Nativity, the second the Circumcision and the third is His Baptism. Since we’re already tired by the liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, which is longer...
The Angel of the Wilderness
Georgios N. Manolis, Theologian The life and activity of John the Baptist and Forerunner is an enduring testimony in Christ, culminating in his martyrdom for Him. Just as then, when he was active in the wilderness of the Jordan, so today his voice can be heard in the wilderness...
Holy Theophany: beyond the symbols
Athanassios Stogiannidis The celebration of Holy Theophany certainly has a most important place in the life of the Orthodox Church. This is because the order of service for the feast sets out in a very expressive way the prospects and horizons which are opened up to every human being...
Why Christianity mustn’t change
Saint Theophan the Recluse Why shouldn’t Christianity change with the times? Saint Theophan wrote this on the Sunday after the Nativity, 29 December 1863 and his words are as apposite today as they were then. The times have changed! How happy I was to hear this. This means that...
