The Angel Of The Lord – 1
Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou The God Of The New Testament In The Old Testament “As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel of...
Miracle on Hope Street
Written by Kristin (Xrisanthi) Giannas. The floors have just been shined, and the little white church dedicated to Archangel Michael in Tarpon Springs is about to get a new front door. As preparations are being made for hundreds of visitors, Stavroula Pololos of Montreal is sitting in one of the...
Saint Ioannis Vatatzis, a compassionate and far-sighted emperor
On 4 November, our Church honours the memory of an outstanding personality of the Middle Ages in Greece, the emperor Ioannis Vatatzis. Ioannis came from a well-known Byzantine family which had given many exceptional members to the political and military life of the Empire. He himself was born in Adrianoupolis....
Mothering From the Womb: Embracing Early Mothering
Presbytera Kelley Lawrence Share the love, joy, pain, healing, and whatever else it may bring It was a colorful, sunny, fall morning at the resort in Florida. The night before, I had enjoyed a dinner and reception for the conference I was in town to attend. It had been an...
Our Relationship with God: 4. The natural and supernatural gifts of Man
Very Rev. Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou) Something similar occurs with our natural gifts: when man puts all his confidence in them, giving them absolute value, then his very gifts obstruct the road that leads to the acquisition of supernatural gifts that are conferred by God in His goodness. In our relationships,...
The Liturgy of the Catechumens
The first part of the Divine Liturgy is called the Liturgy of the Catechumens. In early Christian times, when Christians were baptized at an older age, there were catechumens, that is people who had not yet been baptized, but were taking catechism lessons, in other words they were getting to...
Archbishop Anastasios of Albania talks about peace in the Middle East
Conscious acceptance of religious and cultural pluralism and peaceful co-existence between different communities can come about from two opposing starting-points.* Either from indifference to religious faith or from conscience experience of religion. On the other hand, religious intolerance between co-existing religious communities may develop from: a) seeds of a religious...
Saint David of Evia (Euboea)
Blessed David was born at the beginning of the 16th century in the sea-side village of Gardinitza, opposite the island of Evia. His father was a devout and virtuous priest. When David was no more than three years old, Saint John the Baptist appeared to him one night and took...
The Divine Liturgy – Preparation
The most important part of the Divine Liturgy is the sacrament of the Divine Eucharist. The whole of the Liturgy is celebrated so that this sacrament can be performed. But because the sacrament is a unique and stupendous event, it requires special preparation on the part of the priests and...
One Good Thought: A Good Word is an Oasis
Edna King A bad word makes even good people bad, but a good word turns even bad people into good. +Saint Macarius the Elder Our words have so much power, yet it’s so easy to say them without thinking. Have you ever chosen to say something nice when you...
Types of Liturgy
From the first days after Christ’s Ascension, the Apostles celebrated the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, because they wanted very much to remember Him and to feel that He was close to them. Every day they had an assembly where they sang hymns, recalled events of His life, the miracles,...
The Divine Liturgy and the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist
The Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, which is celebrated within the service which we call the Divine Liturgy, is the most important and perfect event of worship among Christians. For those who’ve been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, the importance and value of this sacrament is beyond...