The Liturgical Context of the Veneration of the Cross
Georgios Zaravelas, Theologian On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, and, indeed, throughout 4th week, a time within the reverential climate of the fast which is so beneficial to the soul, the Church displays the Precious Cross of the Lord, for the support of the faithful. The appointment of the...
‘The Cross brings peace to our life and sweetness to bitter experiences’
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios HOMILY ON THE SUNDAY OF THE VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS (22/3/2020) The Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross is today! With a spirit of celebration and surrounded by flowers, the Precious Cross of Christ is placed in the center of the Church. All...
Fasting: Same Rules for Everyone (Desert and Big City)
One of the more curious features of living in Greece is that, if you go to a football match on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, one of the messages relayed to the crowd at half-time is always: “The Triodion is open! Bring your family and friends to...
Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki
George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The progression from the first Sunday in Lent, which is dedicated to Orthodoxy, to the second Sunday, which is dedicated to Saint Gregory Palamas is of double significance: on the one hand it extends the...
The Outstanding Traditional Theologian of Orthodoxy: Saint Gregory Palamas
Rafael Ch. Misiaoulis Saint Gregory Palamas occupies a very prominent position in the Church, which is why he’s honoured on the Second Sunday in Lent, immediately after the Sunday of Orthodoxy. In his person we recognize the outstanding teacher of the hesychast life in Christ, a man who continued...
True Fasting
Metropolitan Ioïl (Frangkakos) of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia ‘Indeed, I tell you, they have their reward’. Whatever we gain and achieve in virtue and our moral perfection is an inviolable treasure and, moreover, one that’s personal, inalienable. It’s not ‘about us’, it’s ‘us’, not even the body and senses,...
Some thoughts on Great Lent
Metropolitan Ioïl (Frangkakos) of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia It’s well known that, in this period, we have two fasts. There are seven weeks of strict fasting, preceded by Cheese-fare week, making eight weeks in all. For many, this is a pleasant and desirable time, for others it’s difficult and...
The Memory of the Blessed Mary the Egyptian
Nektarios Thanos “… her many sins have been remitted, because she loved greatly” Luke 7, 47. On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Church honours the memory of a “street-walker”, a woman who led such a dissolute life that the word “prostitute” is more of a euphemism rather than an...
4th Sunday in Lent
Protopresbyter Nikolaos Patsalos After the middle of this period , then, the Church provides appropriate additional help in our ascetic efforts, which differ in accordance with the capacities of each one of us, by presenting the perfect figure of asceticism, Saint John of the Ladder, that great asceticwho really...
Fighting a Cross-Less Christianity
One of the most difficult things for human persons to face is rejection. Think of a time in your life when you felt rejected. Think of the feelings you had – sadness, betrayal, alienation and aloneness, and, for even a moment, a bitter lack of love and confidence in oneself....
