The Heart and God
Saint Theophan the Recluse God is everywhere. And when He finds a heart that isn’t opposed to Him, a humble heart, He enters it and fills it with joy. The joy of the heart which has God within it is so great that it attaches itself to Him and...
Theological and Scientific Theories of Knowledge (2)
George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki This personal nature of the truth is of prime significance for us. The living truth cannot be objectified, because its objectification would be tantamount to its ossification and necrosis. Knowledge of this truth is an...
Saint Maria of Olonets: They Saw her Face Shining in Life and after Death
The suffering hermit lay in bed for about three weeks. Each day, after the Liturgy, a hieromonk came with the Precious Gifts so that she could make her communion. On the fifteenth day, her face was transfigured; it shone with a supernatural light and took on the expression of blessed...
Papa-Fotis, the Fool for Christ: in his Vestments in a House of Ill Repute!
One evening, Papa-Fotis visited one of the houses in town where he sometimes stayed. Before he went to sleep, he told the man of the house: ‘First thing in the morning, you and me have got work to do’. They got up, left Mytilini and went to his little monastery....
Theological and Scientific Theories of Knowledge
George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Orthodox Christian theology has always distinguished between two kinds of knowledge: the secular and the divine. Secular knowledge functions on the level of created matter and is unable to approach the uncreated, that is the...
Christ’s Behavior (Matth. 4, 12-17)
Metropolitan Ioïl (Frangkakos) of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia ‘When he heard that John had been delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee’. Christ’s behavior towards people wasn’t monolithic. He reacted in a variety of ways. In any case, He became incarnate, was made manifest to people and revealed His wisdom...
Sunday after Epiphany
Hieromonk Georgios M. Thanasou Epistle Reading Eph. 4, 7-13: “The Humility of Christ” Today is the first Sunday after the great feast of Theophany. As with all the feasts of the Lord, the Church acclaims the event of God’s Epiphany through its sublime hymns. The Nativity, the Baptism, the...
Saint Porfyrios: ‘Get yourself Home, your Daughter’s Committing Suicide!’
One time, a well-known lawyer told me: ‘I had a case involving a lady of very high standing, an exceptional person, extremely well-educated. But she didn’t go to church, didn’t confess, didn’t believe. I was able on one occasion to persuade her to come with me to see Elder Porfyrios....
How Saint Ieronymos Disarmed a Potential Murderer
The Elder (Saint Ieronymos Simonopetritis) related a story of something that happened to him at that time (about 1928, when he was still Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras): When I was in Thessaloniki the father of one of my spiritual children was moved by action of the...
Translation of the Relics of Saint Efraim the New
Saint Efraim, whose secular name was Konstantinos Morfis, was born in Trikala, on 14 September 1384 in an idyllic place near the River Lithaios. He lost his father at a young age and he and his seven siblings were brought up, with God’s help, by his mother. At the age...
Sermon at the Vigil for Epiphany
Metropolitan Anthony Bloom † The day of the Theophany is the day when the whole world is being renewed and becomes a partaker of the sanctity of God. But at the same time, it is the day when Christ enters on the way to Calvary. He came to John...
The Angel of the Wilderness
Georgios N. Manolis, Theologian The life and activity of John the Baptist and Forerunner is an enduring testimony in Christ, culminating in his martyrdom for Him. Just as then, when he was active in the wilderness of the Jordan, so today his voice can be heard in the wilderness...
