Saint Mary the Egyptian (5th Sunday in Lent)
Saint Justin Popovich The 5th Sunday in Great Lent, the Sunday which is the week of great vigils, and ascetic struggles, the week of lamentations and sighs, is also the Sunday of the greatest among the women saints, our holy mother Mary the Egyptian. She spent forty-seven years in...
We have you as an example of repentance, Mary the Egyptian
Hierodeacon Rafael Misiaoulis, Theologian On the fifth Sunday in Lent, the Church brings to our attention an exceptional female ascetic: Saint Mary the Egyptian. She’s someone for us to imitate and has a great deal to teach us. Her Life was preserved for us by Saint Zosimas and written...
‘My soul, my soul’, Kontakion in the Great Canon (Gr. Daravanoglou)
With the vocal resonance which is his hallmark, Archon Maestro of the Great Church of Christ, Grigorios Daravanoglou sings ‘My soul, my soul’ the famous kontakion of Great Lent and the Great Canon. It is one of the most moving troparia of the time of Great Lent, a period of...
How the Saints Write
Protopresbyter Vasileios Kalliakmanis a) These days, there are many theologians, clergymen and lay people who compose and publish texts. Some, however, who aren’t aware of the gravity of what they’re writing, follow the secular practice of competitive journalism. With smugness and pride, they count the number of hits their...
Homily on St John of Climacus
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios Today, on this Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate St. John the Sinaite, also known as St. John “Climacus” (Ladder). Although the Saint’s feast day is on March 30th, the Church wants to highlight the narrow path of asceticism and virtue on this particular...
Hymns from the Service of Saint Nikiforos the Leper
Advice from the Holy Mountain is that in these difficult times we should pray to Saint Nikiforos the Leper, a saint who was canonized as recently as 2012. His Life is available on the web, at sites such as, for example https://orthodoxwiki.org/Nicephorus_the_Leper or https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2016/01/04/205506-saint-nikephoros-the-leper. We at Pemptousia have therefore decided to provide a...
Strengthening Provisions
Alexandros Christodoulou, Theologian After those who entered the ancient Church had been baptized, the whole of their life was imbued with the sacred desire for Holy Communion. The places of worship, especially the catacombs, were full of allegorical symbols of the heavenly nourishment of the faithful. Images of the...
4th Sunday in Lent
Protopresbyter Nikolaos Patsalos After the middle of this period , then, the Church provides appropriate additional help in our ascetic efforts, which differ in accordance with the capacities of each one of us, by presenting the perfect figure of asceticism, Saint John of the Ladder, that great asceticwho really...
Saint John of the Ladder
Archimandrite Georgios Alendas Great Lent is a period of repentance, during which our stony hearts must become, through God’s grace, softened in the flesh, and move from being callous to being sensitive, from cold and hard to warm and open to others, particularly God Himself. Great Lent is a...
Visions of Geronda Joseph (Miracles of Saint Joseph the Hesychast)
Gero-Arsenios was always agreeable and gave out blessings very easily. One time, however, he strangely became so strict and unyielding that he upset one of the fathers. Afterwards, when he was asked why he had been so harsh with him, he answered: “Yesterday Geronda came and told me: Be careful,...
‘When you come in power to judge the whole world..’
‘When you come in power to judge the whole world, Word, do not publish my secrets, so that I may praise your great kindness’. (Matins, Ode 9). Source: pemptousia.com ABOUT THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN NETWORK Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) is a 501(c)3 and an official agency of the Assembly of Canonical...
First Discourse on the Annunciation (part 3)
Saint Gregory the Wonder-Worker, Bishop of New Caesarea (ca. 213-270) Just as the pearl comes from two natures, from lightning and water, from the unfathomable parts of the sea, so also our Lord Jesus Christ proceeds, without confusion and without change, from the pure, chaste, undefiled and holy Virgin...
