Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos When people aren’t feeling at their best, what they least want to hear is bad news. On the other hand, what they’re always wanting to hear is a good bit of news that’ll give them a boost and the courage to get on with life. Incontrovertible Read more
Metropolitan Ieronymos of Larisa and Tyrnavos The Sunday before Christmas is full of names. Both in the Epistle, but particularly in the Gospel reading, there are long lists presented of people who preceded the Lord Jesus, and who, despite the variety in their ways of life, are all characterized Read more
Listen now The Doxastiko at Lauds on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ in plagal tone four (Των νομικών διδαγμάτων [The Accumulated Teachings of the Law]) by the late Thrasyvoulos Stanitsas, Archon Protopsaltis of the Great Church of Christ, performed by himself and his choir at the lectern. Recorded Read more
Evagoras Mahaira Aglaïa was a prosperous woman who lived in the region around Rome in the time of Diocletian and had Boniface as a slave. Bonifatius was her steward, very good-looking in appearance, generous to the poor and kind-hearted, but with a liking for drink and debauchery. They soon Read more
Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos ‘Don’t, out of vanity or sycophancy, insist on having your own way, quarrelling with and tormenting yourselves and your neighbor, just so that, afterwards, you can hear people saying that nobody can beat you’ (Abba Dorotheos) There are two ways of carrying out a task: with Read more
The holiest shrine on the island of Kerkyra (Corfu) just off the western coast of Greece is the tomb of a fourth-century saint whose body after sixteen centuries is in such a remarkable state of preservation that every year he is carried in solemn triumph through the streets on the Read more
Elder Aimilianos Simonopetritis † God knows when there’s room in your heart. If you haven’t received something yet, it means that your heart’s not big enough for it. Your heart’s packed tightly, as when you force lots of things into a container and press them down so that there’s Read more
Dr. Haralambis Bousias There was a young boy in Thessaloniki who was ill with kidney failure. He had to have hemodialysis all the time and led a life of pain and misery. His parents were devout people who were heart-broken at this. They couldn’t bear to watch their child Read more
Metropolitan Agathangelos of Fanari The scene described in the Gospel reading for the 10th Sunday of Luke is both moving and revealing, as regards the intentions and sincerity of ordinary people and the attitude of our Lord towards them. Among the crowd, there was a woman of skin and Read more
Archimandrite Nikon Koutsidis In the icon of the Holy Monastery of Stavronikita, there is a mosaic icon of Saint Nicholas, the patron of the monastery, which has an eight-centimeter long vertical split on the forehead. This is from a large mollusk which had embedded itself there during the period Read more
Alexandros Christodoulou Saint Nicholas was born at the south-east corner of Asia Minor, in the town of Patara, in the 3rd century (at the time of the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian) of devout and rich parents, who had been childless for many years. From an early age it Read more
Educated people are very difficult, because they have strong inclinations towards individualism. I’d even say this: the educated among us won’t stand for any adverse comment on their behavior, but instead each thinks he or she is always right about everything’ (Saint Sophrony in Essex). Clearly the saint wasn’t against letters Read more