Saint John the Valaam It’s good that you practice the Jesus prayer. The holy fathers call this prayer the queen of the virtues, because it attracts other virtues to the soul. But the more sublime the prayer, the more effort it requires. Source: pemptousia.com
Fr. Christodoulos Papaïoannou On 28 February 2023, an appalling head-on collision occurred between two trains south of the Tempe Valley in Greece. The crash involved a passenger train and a freight train and killed at least 57 people, while many others were injured, some of them seriously. This funeral oration is by Fr. Christodoulos and is Read more…
Protopresbyter Antonios Christou Dear readers, Great Lent is a time of strenuous, spiritual struggle with ourselves (less sleep, less nutrition, less ease and preoccupation with things we like doing, greater participation in the services and prayers, and so on). I don’t know, however, whether we truly realize the extent Read more…
Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis It’s a constant exhortation on the part of the Church, all the year round, but particularly during Lent. Indeed, the prayer of Saint Efraim the Syrian is a powerful reminder which we repeat on a daily basis: ‘And not to judge my brother’. And how could Read more…
Fr. John Meyendorff In its opposition to Barlaamite nominalism, Palamite thought is a solemn affirmation of divine immanence in history and in man. God does not reveal Himself to the world only “through creatures” but directly, in Jesus Christ. We have all, all of us, known the Son by Read more…
Sotiris Stylianou The Gospel reading read in churches on the first Sunday in Lent, on 5 March 2023, is John 1, 44-52. Jesus is in Judea, where three of his later disciples and Philip, another later disciple, have just met him. Jesus tells Philip to accompany him on his Read more…
Elder Patapios Kavsokalyvitis, Superintendent of the Skete of the Holy Trinity, Mount Athos By fasting, we learn to say ‘No’ to our desire for food and also learn to say ‘No’ to our often self-destructive will. We also learn to say ‘Yes’ to God, which is always redemptive. We’ve Read more…
Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol The time of the Triodio is the whole of our spiritual life in miniature. If you follow the messages in the hymns every day, it’s enough to show the journey you have to make in the struggle that awaits you. It begins with the basis Read more…
Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos On the eve of our entry into Great Lent, everything in church speaks to us of repentance. The wonderful hymns ‘robe’ the message of repentance in a poetic manner; the Gospel reading gives us the keys to open the gates of repentance; and the Epistle reminds Read more…
Fr. Andreas Agathokleous Amid the turbulence of our life, the deafening noise surrounding us, the long and pointless conversations on the telephone or in person, the stress and uncertainty regarding the state of the world today and tomorrow, the Church offers us the period of time of Great Lent. Read more…