Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis ‘When, by your suffering and resurrection, you had renewed the world aged by many sins, you ascended into heaven, riding on clouds. Glory to your glory’ (Ode 1, Ascension). Saint Iosif of Thessaloniki, who wrote the second canon of the great feast of the Ascension of Read more…
Fr. Andreas Agathokleous The notion that the Church has laws for all people and all circumstances appears not to be the case in practice. Moreover, such an idea would negate the uniqueness of the person and would amalgamate all people together, which would contravene God’s plan. When John the Read more…
Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis ‘There’s a danger that, if people pay no attention to little things, this neglect will then extend to greater and more sacred ones, without their realizing. They vindicate themselves by saying that this isn’t important, that that doesn’t matter and they’ll reach the point, God forfend, Read more…
Protopresbyter Mihaïl Efthymiou Before we embark on the presentation of our subject, we need to discuss the time of the construction of the church of the Holy Wisdom [of God]. The church of the Holy Wisdom was built in honor of Christ. The construction started after the 1st Ecumenical Synod Read more…
Welcome to “The Children’s Word,” a weekly ministry of the Orthodox Christian Network. Each week, Presvytera Alexandra Houck writes this little newsletter for young parishioners! You will find age-appropriate articles, stories, and activities in every edition. The newsletter is provided in PDF format so that you can easily download Read more…
Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis ‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent’ (Jn. 17, 3). The Gospel reading for the Sunday of the Fathers is part of the high priestly prayer of the Lord, which he addressed to his Heavenly Read more…
Nikos Nikoloudis At the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, it was not only Greeks pitched against Turks, as is, perhaps, widely believed, but there was also a good number of foreigners involved. Some of these were forced to fight on the side of the Ottomans, such as an attachment Read more…
Fr. Lev Gillet The Sunday which follows the Ascension, the sixth Sunday after Easter, is called the Sunday of the Holy Fathers. We commemorate then the bishops who met at the Synod of Nicaea, the earliest of the seven ecumenical Synods in terms of date. Regardless of each synod Read more…
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios For this particular reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we see the Apostle Paul imparting his spiritual legacy upon the presbyters of Ephesus in an emotional farewell address at the seaside town of Miletus. Our Church, in its wisdom has chosen this passage as Read more…
Fr. Gennadios Manolis, Theologian The Lord’s Ascension is the visible sign of God’s reconciliation with us, but also the glorification of our human nature. This reconciliation and our glorification were achieved through the incarnation of the Son and Word of God, His teachings, His voluntary Passion, His glorious Resurrection, Read more…
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou ‘God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.’[1] The Ascension is the last event in Christ’s earthly life. Of course, Pentecost is the fulfilment of God’s dispensation, which is why is called ‘the last feast’[2]. God the Father was Read more…
(edited by Stelios Koukos) Noetic prayer is also called prayer of the heart. You ask if oral prayer can also be called prayer of the heart. Unless it’s pure, neither noetic or oral prayer can be called ‘of the heart’. It’s prayer of the heart when the heart literally swallows Read more…