“The Prayer Team” is a daily devotion written by Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, written every day since February 2015. Fr. Stavros is the Parish Priest at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Tampa, Florida. It began in February 2015 as an opportunity to write more on the subject of prayer and now has branched into other subjects.
Look upon us, O God, and consider our worship; and accept it as you accepted the gifts of Abel, the sacrifices of Noah, the burnt offerings of Abraham, the priestly offices of Moses and Aaron, and the peace offerings of Samuel. — In the course of time Cain brought to Read more
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the Read more
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for Read more
Accept us as we draw near to Your holy altar, according to the multitude of Your mercy, that we may be worthy to offer You this spiritual sacrifice without the shedding of blood, for our sins and for the transgressions of Your people. Grant that, having accepted this sacrifice upon Read more
Lord, our God, You created us and brought us into this life. You have shown us the way to salvation and have bestowed upon us the revelation of heavenly mysteries. You have appointed us to this service by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Grant, therefore, O Lord that we may be Read more
Strengthen us for this service with the power of Your Holy Spirit, and grant speech to our lips that we may invoke the grace of Your Holy Spirit upon the gifts that are about to be offered. And grant that always guarded by Your power we may give glory to Read more
O God, You have visited our lowliness in mercy and compassion. You have set us, Your lowly, sinful and unworthy servants, to serve at Your holy altar before Your holy glory. (Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, p. 12) — And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Read more
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring and offering, and come before Him! Worship the Lord in holy array. I Chronicles 16: 28-29 Saint Basil lived from the year 330 to Read more
Jesus said “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their Read more
Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of Read more
So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. Acts 16:5 The word “community” is actually not found in the Bible. The word “church” is found over 100 hundred times. The word that we translate as “church” is the word “ekklesia.” However, the meaning of this word is Read more
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13 We are about to begin Great and Holy Lent. Clean Monday, or the first day of Great Lent is next Monday, February 27. If we are keeping the Orthodox Tradition correctly, yesterday was Read more