Archbishop Theofylaktos of Ochrid Address on the Feast of Our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God, when she was taken by her Parents to the Temple All too often the “remembrance of the righteous which is accompanied by encomia” is an opportunity to censure the person praising if Read more
Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos The Church is not opposed to the human body. This is why the Fathers were so careful not to damage their body with their ascetic efforts. They tried to submit it to the Holy Spirit and to God’s commandments, so as not to seek the Read more
What would you do if you had years of free time? Yes, years. Not just a few hours a day, but years! Nothing to do. No need to work. Would you relax, have parties with your friends, or goof off? Or would you spend your time in a different way? Read more
Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos The human person is the temple of the living God. This is an Apostolic teaching of our Church, which means that, just as the grace of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit, resides in a church, the same is true of the human body Read more
Abba Dorotheos Sunday’s Gospel of the Good Samaritan has as its core message ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’. But the story is a reply to a specific question and obviously doesn’t exhaust all facets of the issue. For example, in this particular case, the ‘neighbourly’ thing to Read more
Vasileios Tatakis Gregory of Nyssa has this to say about human nature: ‘But because we are poor in the good, our nature always impels us towards the deficiency, and the appetitive disposition of our nature [i. e. ‘what we desire’] is to seek what is lacking’ (PG, On the Read more
Elder Aimilianos Simonopetritis † None of us would doubt that prayer is, indeed, a fundamental necessity for any soul. It is the tree of life which nourishes people and renders them incorruptible, because it allows them to enter into communion with the eternal and incorruptible God. Just as there Read more
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios In the petition which we address to God, “For this Holy House” (which we heard about in the previous Homily), the following words are also said: “and for those who enter it with faith, reverence, and fear of God, let us pray to the Lord.” Read more
Archimandrite Iakovos Kanakis We’ve reached the point, and it really is dumbfounding, where, in our country [Greece], voices which openly cast doubt on the sanctity of the sacraments, particularly Holy Communion, have found a platform. We now all understand that everything has to pass the test of ‘reason’ and Read more
Saint Paisios the Athonite All the Pharasiotes began their preparations at once, just as Father Arsenios did. First he baptised all the unbaptised children, including the village president’s child, at which time the following event occurred: The child’s parents wanted to give him the grandfather’s name, Christos. Father Arsenios, Read more
You are what you love. But you might not love what you think. Christians desire to shape culture, yet are often unaware of how culture shapes us—unaware of the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were…
Saint Paisios the Athonite While he was always charitable towards others, Father Arsenios was very hard on himself, and, out of his great love, made prostrations and fasted for others, who were unable to do so themselves. As a spiritual Father, he did not usually impose a canon on Read more