The Theotokos as an Example of Holiness
St. Mary, the mother of God the, the pure virgin, all holy virgin, and the pride of our race are all names we give the Theotokos to describe her purity and love for God. When we hear these titles, we expect them to come from someone who grew up in...
The Elevation of the Bread in Honour of the Most Holy Mother of God
Saint Maximos the Greek The Only-Begotten Son and Word of God, who became a human person for us (though He was sinless), voluntarily underwent the crucifixion, death and burial so that our human nature, which the father of evil had caused to be cast out of paradise in olden...
The doctors were always noncommittal
My name’s Garyfallia and I was born with spina bifida, a rare deformity of the spinal membrane which almost always causes paralysis of the legs and/or arms and even learning problems, depending on how high up the spine the deformity is. Thank God I don’t have any paralysis, but from...
Easter before Easter, the Annunciation of the Resurrection
Father Nikolaos Patsalos This year, the 5th Sunday in Lent coincided with the great feast of the Mother of God, her Annunciation. We’d left the middle of Lent the previous Sunday, that of John of the Ladder, and, instead of the 5th being centred on the great desert ascetic,...
First Discourse on the Annunciation (part 3)
Saint Gregory the Wonder-Worker, Bishop of New Caesarea (ca. 213-270) Just as the pearl comes from two natures, from lightning and water, from the unfathomable parts of the sea, so also our Lord Jesus Christ proceeds, without confusion and without change, from the pure, chaste, undefiled and holy Virgin...
First Discourse on the Annunciation (part 2)
Saint Gregory the Wonder-Worker, Bishop of New Caesarea (ca. 213-270) : ‘You alone, All-Holy Virgin, now receive the mysteries unknown to all of these and learn their origin. For where the Holy Spirit is, everything is already well-ordered. Where there is Divine Grace, everything is possible for...
First Discourse on the Annunciation (part 1)
Saint Gregory the Wonder-Worker, Bishop of New Caesarea (ca. 213-270) Today, the ranks of the angels rejoice at the hymns being sung and the light of the presence of Christ shines brightly upon the faithful. Today, is glad spring-time for us, and Christ the Sun of Righteousness shines all...
Lykourgos Angelopoulos – “Spotless Undefiled”
Lykourgos Angelopoulos, Archon Protopsaltis of the Most Holy Archdiocese of Constantinople and founder of the Greek Byzantine Choir (†2014) Listen now From a live recording at a service in the church of Saint Irene, Aiolou St., 30 March 2001. Source: pemptousia.com ABOUT THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN NETWORK Orthodox Christian...
‘Triumphant Leader’ (setting by Georgios Raidestinos), Greek Byzantine Choir
Listen now ‘Triumphant Leader’ (setting by Georgios Raidestinos), tone plagal four. Sung by the Greek Byzantine Choir conducted by Lykourgos Angelopoulos. From the CD Hymne Acathiste (2005). 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 Canonical Bishops...
The Icon of Our Lady of Consolation
As you go up the staircase to the right of the central door of the main church of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopaidi, there’s a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Consolation. It was here that the wonder-working icon of Our Lady, a wall-painting from the 14th century...
