Saint John of Kronstadt Before God made this beautiful world and the people in it, he knew that we would fall and, from the very beginning, had the means of setting us to rights after this fall. And that was to descend to earth himself, the Son of God, Read more…
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi All the temptations, whenever they overcome us, do, indeed, injure us and are obstacles on our path. Their sole aim is to erode love. Satan concocts situations and events which, in essence, don’t really exist but which befuddle the minds of those who are either Read more…
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi Now we proceed with the same faith, which is no longer abstract, however, because the promises have come, the fullness of time has arrived, the incarnation of the Word of God has occurred and the ‘angel of great counsel’ has appeared (Is. 9, 6). Our Read more…
Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi The dismissal hymn for the feast of the Holy Forefathers, says: ‘You [i.e. Christ] justified the forefathers in faith, and through them betrothed Yourself, in advance, to the Church taken from out of the Gentiles’. These words, if you look at them carefully, are full Read more…
Elder Moisis the Athonite † Faith isn’t some vague and abstract theory, a nice ideology or a self-serving religious view. The Orthodox faith is an experience, an ethos, a way of life and being. Faith means the life of Christ becomes my own. Let me set out my thoughts, Read more…
Hierodeacon Rafael Misiaoulis, Theologian Today’s Gospel reading presents two miracles: that of the cure of the woman with the issue of blood, who’d been sick for all of twelve years; and the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus, the head of the synagogue. These miracles are described by the Read more…
Georgios Patronos, Emeritus Professor of Theology, University of Athens The Gospel reading for 2nd Luke comes from the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, in which almost all Jesus’ teaching during his public ministry is gathered together, emphasis is placed on the overall context of the Read more…
Georgios Papademetropoulos The holy martyr Sophia and her three daughters, Elpis (Faith), Pistis (Hope) and Agapi (Love) [Sophia, here is taken to be a woman’s name rather than “Wisdom”, as in the church of Holy Wisdom (Agia Sophia) in Constantinople; similarly, the third daughter is Love, in accordance with Read more…
Saint Theophan the Recluse Almost everyone has doubts, on occasion, concerning God and faith. These can be resolved, however, with opposing thoughts which confirm the truth of divine revelation as regards human beings and the world: the order and harmony of the universe, the miracle of life, all the Read more…
Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos One of the most common charges leveled against the faith is that it isn’t interested in people’s material needs. This is why those who speak publicly about the Church urge it to give to the poor, to perform social work and to hand over its remaining Read more…