Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou Weeping Question: Could we say that in the monastery everything happens purely because God is guiding the hearts of the other people? Answer: Everything will work out for salvation for those who love God (Rom. 8:28), for those who have the desire to repent and weep before Read more…
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou Question: Is pride the cause of jealousy? Archim. Zacharias: There may be many causes, but above all it is lack of trust in God Who gives all things to all men. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Father says to his elder son: ‘Why Read more…
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou Saint Silouan says that he never found an Elder that reached the measure of his father, who was so kind-hearted. He desired a meek Elder, not a fearful one with a mighty hand. Before he met Saint Silouan, Father Sophrony had cried burning tears asking for Read more…
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou Question: If earthly life without the love of Christ is deprived of all good, how much more is this true in the other world? Living without this love will be ‘the gnashing of teeth’ (Matt. 8:12), ‘the worm that dies not’ (Mark 9:44). Archim. Zacharias: One Read more…
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou Question: How is unity acquired in a community? Answer: We must have all the brethren in our heart, no one should be absent, even those that may wrong us. Unfortunately we do not allow ourselves to be transformed by grace, but we always justify ourselves and Read more…
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou Question: Why have they included marriage in the Sacraments of the Church, and not monasticism? Answer: Fr Sophrony said to me once: ‘Imagine that they do not accept monasticism as a sacrament of the Church, and marriage is one of the sacraments!’ Both of them should Read more…
We went from being a communal society to becoming an individualistic society. The art of listening and the art of conversation are soon becoming obsolete with the invention of newer technologies which divide rather than unite. Gradually we are becoming isolated from one another. Who are we, what have become, Read more…
Read part 1 here A.E.: Your book, St. Silouan the Athonite, was the reason that many people came to the Holy Mountain to become monks. And throughout Europe, the book led many heterodox to Orthodoxy. E.S.: It can also help people in Russia, because they have completely lost the ascetic culture. Read more…
The abbot of the Great and Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, Archimandrite Ephraim, spoke with Elder Sophrony of blessed memory at the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England on 20 September 1992. From this meeting, one is struck by Elder Sophrony’s spirituality and ascetic vision, and can Read more…