Metropolitan Ieronymos of Larisa and Tyrnavos As we move from the feast of the Ascension to that of Pentecost, we’re essentially progressing from the feast of the glorification of human nature to that of our illumination. Between these feasts, the Church inserts the commemoration of the 1st Ecumenical Synod, Read more
Ascension For forty days after the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus was ‘being seen of His disciples’.[1] He was gladdening the hearts of His disciples with His Presence and initiating them into the mysteries of the Kingdom. Christ appeared to them and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. At the same Read more
Fr. Andreas Agathokleous The feast of the Ascension seems not to present any particular interest, but rather a certain sadness in our hearts that the Lord is departing from us. Nevertheless, the following points emerge from the Gospels and from our lives as Christians: 1. Each of us, in Read more
Saint Peter the Damascan We shouldn’t despair when we’re not as we should be. Of course it’s bad to sin. But why do you disrespect God and, in your ignorance, think him weak? Is he who made this great world for you unable to save your soul? And if Read more
On another occasion, there was a monk from one of the neighboring ‘Wallachian’ [Romanian] kellia who had taken ill and had found some relief from eating little, slightly bitter cucumbers. Winter came and he began to feel the same pains, from the same illness, so he went down to Saint Read more
Is marriage a path to sanctity and holiness? Upon seeing an article with a title containing the word “holiness,” one would think that the article discusses monastery life, or a life devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ and the service of His Church. However, in the Orthodox Church, marital life Read more
Saint John Chrysostom (Epistle for the Sunday of the Blind Man) Acts, 16, 25-40 ‘And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, Read more
As he passed by, Jesus saw a man blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be Read more
Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos ‘The beginning of quietude is to repel the blows of the demons, because they trouble you to the depths of your heart. The end of quietude is not to fear turmoil, but to be indifferent to it’ (Saint John of the Ladder). Turmoil is a common Read more
Saint Nicholas Velimirovich When you go to the Holy Mountain and see the humble monks, you might think that they live a lazy life, without purpose. It may seem like this if you see things from the outside, because not many people are able to understand the terrible, unceasing Read more
Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos The Church isn’t against the human body. This is why the fathers were so careful not to damage their body in the course of their ascetic struggles. They tried to subject it to the Holy Spirit and to God’s commandments, to prevent it engaging in Read more
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou We owe greater honour to the other, as Christ rendered to the Church In the middle of Great Lent, the Church instituted the veneration of the Holy Cross, so that it may increase our inspiration and strengthen us in our struggle to prepare our souls to Read more