Forget everything
Saint Dimitri of Rostov Your complete union with God will be achieved if you cultivate uninterrupted communion with Him through prayer. Forget everything earthly and vain and turn all your desire and enthusiasm towards Him. Seek His mercy constantly, keep His memory always in your mind and lose yourself...
Do not feed your passions by yielding to them
Elder Ephraim of Arizona Do not feed your passions by yielding to them, so that you do not suffer pain and affliction later! Labor now, as much as you can, because otherwise, if the passions are not tended to, in time they become second nature, and then try and...
What exactly was the return of the Prodigal Son? (2)
Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite So come to your senses in this way, because there’s no other way to do so. Get up and take this bold decision, saying to yourself: ‘I’ll arise and go to my father’ (Luke 15, 18). Get up out of this mud you’re wallowing in...
What exactly was the return of the Prodigal Son? (1)
Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite Think about the return of the prodigal son to his father’s house and the reasons behind it, which were three in number. The first was that he reflected sincerely on the wretchedness of his situation; the second was that he compared his misery with the...
The Prodigal Son: Like a dead man even before he died in the body
Saint Nicholas Velimirovich The Prodigal Son lived aimlessly and wasted all the wealth his father gave him. When he’d spent it all, a famine struck the far-off country where he was and he himself began to starve. In this distant country, far removed from God, there’s always a famine,...
Who doesn’t have weaknesses?
Saint John Kronstadtskij Every passion and all aloofness is merely a spiritual ailment. You have to heal the wickedness and spiritual sickness of others with love and goodness, as you would like them to treat you if were suffering from the same illness. Who doesn’t have weaknesses? Who’s never...
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios Righteous Symeon, while holding the Infant Christ, concluded his praise to God with a prophecy: “my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:30-32). Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Symeon...
The 2nd Digital Fellowship with Elder Ephraim
Join the 2nd Digital Fellowship with Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi Mount Athos and the myOCN Community. On, Thursday March 4th, 2021 at 12:30 PM EST/ 07:30 PM Athens time. Please signup to receive updates. Live with Elder Ephraim and myOCN Community Elder Ephraim will talk...
How the relics of Saint Nektarios brought a woman of loose morals to repentance
On 2 September, 1953, the relics of Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis were disentombed in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity which he had founded and built on the island of Aegina. The next day a festal liturgy was celebrated, at the end of which the relics were carried in procession....
“Now You are letting Your Servant Depart in Peace”
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios When the righteous Symeon held the Holy Infant in his arms at the Temple of Jerusalem, he prostrated his soul before Almighty God, glorifying the majesty of His Divinity with these words: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your...
Saint John Chrysostom and Family Life
Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Vatopaidi Monastery The Crisis in Family Life Today The institution of marriage is everywhere in crisis today. Saint John Chrysostom, whose demise 1600 years ago we commemorate this year, is considered to be the creator of the theology of everyday life. In this article,...
Self-Sufficiency and Humility
Ioannis Karavidopoulos, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Hermeneutics, A. U. Th. Today’s Gospel reading presents us with two typical kinds of people: a Pharisee and a publican, both of whom are praying in the temple. They are the exact opposites of the society of the time. One was pious...
