George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Basil the Great experienced the relationship between time and life and presented it in the most penetrating manner in his written works. His teaching on the subject, which had a profound effect on later theology Read more
Saint Theophan the Recluse The first step towards pride is vanity, that is the conviction that I’m somebody. The next step is conceit, that is the feeling not only that I’m somebody, but I’m important as regards God and other people. From vanity and conceit arise a host of Read more
Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos Our secularized age aims at involving us in the pleasures of consumerism. It has even turned religion into a consumer item. This is why the latter has been restricted in its functions to customs, symbols and metaphysics. Society doesn’t understand, and doesn’t want to understand, that Read more
Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Vatopaidi Monastery The theology of the person, as this is revealed in the hesychast ascetic tradition, is the most significant counter-argument to post-modern individualism and relativism. The ascetics of introversion and of conscious tranquillity (hesychia) is not a psychological proposition but the authentic and Read more
Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos Monastics leave the world because they reject its unwholesome spirit. But in leaving the world, they don’t abandon the human person. Proof of this is that people come and find them, they come and attach themselves to them, they come and want some sort of communication, Read more
We can have this “great light” of Christ in our lives too. Nobody wants to sit in darkness! We can have this “great light” of Christ in our lives too. When we read about our Lord in the Bible, and when we try to be like Him, that “great light” Read more
Protopresbyter Haralambos Papadopoulos What does the service of the Blessing of the Waters on the day of the feast of the Theophany really have to say to us people today? What does this ancient Christian feast mean for us? Does it answer any deeper existential question we may have? Read more
For years, émigrés from the former Soviet Union have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of “soft” totalitarianism cropping up in America. Identity politics are intruding into every aspect of life. Progressives are marginalizing…
Pemptousia will commence live broadcasts from the Catholicos (main cathedral) of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi of the Holy All-night Vigil on the eve of the Christmas Feast (based on the Julian calendar). The broadcast will begin on Wednesday, Jan. 6 and continue into Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, commencing at Read more
Georgios Zaravelas In completing the Twelve Days of Christmas, that is the festal cycle of the Epiphany of the Incarnate Son and Word of God, Jesus Christ, we come to the feast of Theophany, at which we recall the Baptism of Christ, at the age of thirty, by Saint Read more
Petros Panayiotopoulos, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Christmas 1914. The trenches. A different kind of cease-fire Today we call it the First World War. Then they called it the Great War. Many European countries were involved in it, in a horrendous conflict without any clear Read more
Archimandrite Nikanor Karayannis ‘The beginning of the Gospel of Christ’… The word ‘beginning’ in today’s Gospel reading is enough in itself to evoke the start of the new year, the threshold of which we reached a few daysago with the feast of Christmas. The Christian notion of time In Read more