“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.
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…
The woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Your Divinity, O Lord, assumes the role of a myrrh-bearer; and lamenting, she brings the myrrh before Your burial. “Woe to me!” she said, “For me, night is an ecstasy of excess, dark and moonless, and full of sinful desire. Receive the sources Read more…
While the sinful woman was offering the myrrh, the disciple was making terms with the lawless; she rejoiced in emptying out that, which was precious; he hastened to sell Him, Who was above all price. She acknowledged the Master, he severed himself from the Master; she was set free, and Read more…
Behold, O my soul! The Master entrusts to you a talent. Receive the gift with fear; lend to Him who gave it; distribute to the poor and gain the Lord as a Friend; that you may stand on His right, when He comes in glory, and hear His blessed voice: Read more…
When You come in Glory with Your heavenly Hosts, and sit upon the throne of Judgment, O Good Shepherd, do not separate me, for You know the ways of those on the right, and that those on the left are perverted. Wherefore, though I be hardened in sin, do not condemn Read more…
Come, you faithful, let us eagerly work for the Master, for He distributes His wealth to His servants; accordingly then, let us increase the talent of grace. Let one, be graced with wisdom through good works; let another, celebrate a service of splendor; let another, faithful to the word communicate Read more…
“When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on his glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He Read more…
Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, Read more…
Fearing a similar sentence to that of the fruitless fig tree, brethren, let us bring forth fruits worthy of repentance to Christ, Who bestows on us the Great Mercy. ~Aposticha, Bridegroom Service, Palm Sunday Evening, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — In the morning, as He was returning to the Read more…
As the Lord was going to His voluntary Passion, He was saying to His Apostles on the way: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up, as it is written of Him.” Come, therefore, and let us accompany Him, with purified minds, and Read more…
I see Your Bridal Chamber adorned, O my Savior, and I have no wedding garment, that I may enter therein; O Giver of Light, make radiant the vesture of my soul, and save me. ~Exaposteilarion, Service of the Bridegroom, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — And again Jesus spoke to Read more…
Behold the Bridegroom comes in the midst of the night; and blessed is the servant, whom He shall find vigilant; and unworthy is he, whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, that you will not overcome by sleep, lest you be given up to death, and be shut Read more…