Archimandrite Peter, Abbot of Monastery of St John the Baptist, Essex UK Time is something tragic in the life of man because every new year measures how near his life is to its end. Is finally time a friend or an enemy, a blessing or a curse? The way Read more
Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos At the turn of the year, it’s customary to take stock. We look back at what’s happened, the pleasant and the difficult, the beautiful and the ugly, in an effort to consign to oblivion whatever hurt us, and to hold dearly in our heart what has Read more
Protopresbyter Nikolaos Patsalos With the Lord’s feast of Holy Epiphany-Theophany, another beautiful and incomparable liturgical cycle of the year has been completed. The conclusion of the holy twelve days is sealed with the ‘Lights and Effulgence’, as the writer Alexandros Papadiamantis put it. After the experience of the ineffable Read more
Dr. Haralambis Bousias Christ, our Redeemer, eternal love, is our merciful God, but also a tenacious beggar. He knocks at the door of our heart and entreats us to give him something. What does he ask for? He beseeches us: ‘Son, give me your heart’ (Wis. 18, 26). Alas, we Read more
Archimandrite Ananias Koustenis On 7 January, the Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Honourable Forerunner and Baptist, John. It is the oldest feast of our Church for John the Baptist and it came from God. God enlightened the Fathers of the Church and they appointed the day after Epiphany Read more
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, for He was before me.’ I myself did not know Read more
Saint John Chrysostom Which baptism was performed, in His case? Not that of the Jews, nor ours, nor John’s. Why? You yourselves, from your own view of baptism, can see that He wasn’t baptized for any sins, nor because He needed the Holy Spirit; therefore, as we’ve shown, this Read more
Athanassios Stogiannidis The celebration of Holy Theophany certainly has a most important place in the life of the Orthodox Church. This is because the order of service for the feast sets out in a very expressive way the prospects and horizons which are opened up to every human being Read more
Saint John Chrysostom We shall now say something about the present feast. Many people celebrate feast days and know what they’re called, but don’t know why they were established. So everyone knows that the feast today is called Theophany, but don’t know what Theophany is, and whether it is Read more
Ioannis Foundoulis Professor of the Theological School A. U. Th. † It’s often said that the fast on the eve of Theophany has to do with the consumption of great holy water and that therefore drinking it requires a one-day fast. It would be to the point to say Read more
Archimandrite Symeon Krayiopoulos † Today’s Gospel reading (Mark 1, 1-8) is from the beginning of Mark’s Gospel. ‘The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it has been written in the prophets’…, etc. Thereafter the excerpt talks about John the Forerunner. He’s the beginning of Read more
Archimandrite Symeon Krayiopoulos † It should be noted here that the Niptic Fathers, among whom were Saint Gregory Palamas and Saint Nikodimos the Athonite, used this last passage in Saint Basil in order to establish and interpret the cyclical method of the prayer of the heart. 2) Saint Basil Read more