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Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos Today’s Gospel certainly has nothing to say to those who embrace the modern ‘gospels’ of self-salvation, which derive from the demonic ‘gospel of the serpent’: ‘You can become gods without God’. The words of the reading will be heard with even greater indifference by those who Read more…
Elder Patapios Kavsokalyvitis, Superintendent of the Skete of the Holy Trinity, Mount Athos By fasting, we learn to say ‘No’ to our desire for food and also learn to say ‘No’ to our often self-destructive will. We also learn to say ‘Yes’ to God, which is always redemptive. We’ve Read more…
Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos On the first Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy, that is to say the feast of the restitution of the holy icons, as the Church once again, by the grace of God, vanquished the heresy of the iconoclasts and preserved with exactitude Read more…
Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol The time of the Triodio is the whole of our spiritual life in miniature. If you follow the messages in the hymns every day, it’s enough to show the journey you have to make in the struggle that awaits you. It begins with the basis Read more…
Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis ‘I shall open my mouth and it will be filled with praise and I shall pour out words to the Queen and Mother; I shall be seen radiantly keeping the festival and shall joyfully sing her wonders’ (irmos, ode 1, Akathistos Hymn). As the voice of Read more…
Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos On the eve of our entry into Great Lent, everything in church speaks to us of repentance. The wonderful hymns ‘robe’ the message of repentance in a poetic manner; the Gospel reading gives us the keys to open the gates of repentance; and the Epistle reminds Read more…
Fr. Andreas Agathokleous Amid the turbulence of our life, the deafening noise surrounding us, the long and pointless conversations on the telephone or in person, the stress and uncertainty regarding the state of the world today and tomorrow, the Church offers us the period of time of Great Lent. Read more…
Elder Ephraim in Arizona † Of course, we must keep the fast only as far as we’re able, with discretion, because we’re not all the same. “Unless the good be done well, it is not good”. In other words, unless good is done in a good way, method, time Read more…
Elder Ephraim in Arizona † At this time we’re entering the great spiritual arena of the blessed Great Lent. Holy and Great Lent is a time of compunction, for repentance, for tears, for a change in ourselves, for a new stage in the spiritual life. Like an affectionate mother Read more…
Metropolitan Panteleimon of Antinoes Today, is Cheese-fare Sunday, which sees the closing of the period of Triodion. Tomorrow, with God’s blessing and help, we embark upon the forty day Fast of Great Lent. Great Lent is a time of spiritual struggle for Orthodox Christians. The aim of this struggle Read more…
Protopresbyter Vasileios Kalliakmanis, Professor of the Theological School, A.U.Th. a) The dominant theme in the hymnology of Cheese-fare Sunday is ‘Adam’s Lament’ since ‘on this day we keep the memory of the expulsion of Adam the First-created from the paradise of delight’. In Paradise, Adam, the father of the Read more…
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk I recognize that the struggle against this enemy is difficult; but it’s necessary. Lots of people wage wars and defeat other people, but are yet prisoners and slaves to their passions. There’s no more glorious victory than that over ourselves. And there’s no victory without Read more…