Sacredness and Political Correctness
Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos ‘… and how from infancy you have known the sacred letters, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’. One of the most beautiful phrases used by Saint Paul for the word of God is the ‘sacred letters’. The notion...
Infant Baptism: Orthodox Answers to Protestant Claims
Protopresbyter Vasileios Georgopoulos, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Although Professor Georgopoulos refers specifically to Greek Protestants, the latter belong to world-wide Protestant denominations and so the article is of general interest. On what grounds do the Protestants reject infant baptism? They themselves claim that...
The times are thirsting…
Elder Gavriil Tsafos † Our times, our world need monasteries. We need saintly and dedicated monks and nuns. Our times are thirsting for beauty. Thirsting for Christ. 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...
Complacency and Humility
Ioannis Karavidopoulos, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Hermeneutics, A. U. Th. two characteristic types of people are presented in the Gospel reading, both of them praying in the temple. They were at opposite poles of society as it was...
Saint Haralambos, a Model of Humility
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios As of today, we enter the period of the Triodio, a time of more intense prayer, during which the Church, through its Scriptural readings and devout hymns strengthens us for our spiritual struggles and for the acquisition of the virtues of humility, obedience, love and...
The Tax-collector and the Pharisee and the Lenten Triodion
Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou There is more to Lent than fasting, and there is more to fasting than food. This principle lies at the heart of the Lenten Triodion, the main hymnbook of Lent. Lent is without doubt the richest and most distinctive season of the ecclesiastical year. The Lenten...
The Greatest Failure of Modernism
Archimandrite Theofilos Lemontzis, D. Th. George Orwell’s dictum, expressed in his novel Animal Farm, that ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’ is both proverbial and perennially true. In this allegorical and political novella, the animals on a farm decide to revolt against their boss, a...
Thrash the enemy
Saint Theophan the Recluse When you turn to the Lord, don’t look at what’s happening within you. Keep your attention fixed on Him and beg for help. If a mind is paying full attention to the Lord, there’s no room for nasty thoughts. Source: pemptousia.com ABOUT THE...
The Feast of Christ’s Reception as Fulfillment of the Ritual of Mosaic Law
Theodore Rokas The recent feast, the Reception of the Lord, is the feast which is celebrated exactly forty days after that of His Nativity. The name of the feast in Greek comes from a verb meaning ‘to go out and meet or welcome someone’ [Hence the depiction of Symeon...
The Importance of the Sacred Canons of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law in the Life of the Church
Vasilios Grillas, Theologian In Christian terminology, the word ‘canon’ is technical and has three meanings: a) it decides the authentic and genuine books of Holy Scripture (The Canon of Scripture); b) it determines the order in which Church hymns are sung (The Resurrection Canon, for example); and c) it...
The Old Testament, Ancient Greek Culture and Christianity
Ippokratis Tavlarios, Theologian In recent years we’ve seen a resurgence of neo-pagan propaganda against Christianity. This polemic derides the historical progress of the Church and presents it as an organ of barbarity. Christianity is accused of having violently extinguished ancient Greek culture. Another charge levelled against it is that...
The Reception of the Lord: the feast of freedom
George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki In one of the hymns at the Vespers of the Reception of the Lord, the words ‘Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace’ which were addressed to God by the righteous Symeon when...
