Saint Peter the Damascan We shouldn’t despair when we’re not as we ought to be. Of course, it’s bad if you sin. But why do you slight God and, in your ignorance, consider Him powerless? Is He Who made this wonderful world for you perhaps unable to save your Read more
Saint Nicholas Velimirovich Don’t be afraid to be alone. People are alone if they don’t know God, even if they have dealings with a large number of other people. Even in a densely-populated society, people like this would say- and, in fact, some actually do say- ‘I’m bored. I Read more
Saint Nicholas Velimirovich ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land’ (Lev.25, 18). Why is it that all nations are afraid? What do nations fear on earth? What do people fear on earth? One nation fears another; one nation trembles Read more
Saint Theophan the Recluse You complain about the volatility of your inner state- sometimes it’s good, at others it’s bad. It can’t be otherwise. ‘I’ve undergone unpleasant spiritual states in a variety of forms and continue to do so’. All we can do is bear them with patience and Read more
Saint Theophan the Recluse What can we do when the mind wanders here and there and we can’t gather it in prayer? If we’re alone, at home, we can delay the start of prayers, or, if we’ve already started, take a short break. If, after a little while, the Read more
Elder Ieronymos, Aegina Don’t get angry. They’ll mock you and you’ll suffer. Don’t be afraid. If they offer you pepper, give sugar in return. Think: ‘I don’t have pepper, I have sugar and that’s what I’ll give. Sweeten other people with your sugar, that is with your kind words. Read more
Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos When the pagan Avtolykos once asked Saint Theofilos of Antioch to show him the god he believed in, the latter replied: ‘Show me a person and I’ll show you my God’. The saint’s answer reminds us that in the history of human civilization, theology and anthropology Read more
Saint John Chrysostom We should leave church as if we’re coming from the holiest inner sanctum, as if we’re descending from the very heavens. Teach those who don’t go to church that you sang with the seraphim, that you belong to the heavenly estate, that you encountered Christ and Read more
Elder Moisis the Athonite † Sanctity isn’t isolation and it isn’t loneliness. Sanctity’s a beautiful and sacred relationship. A relationship with God, the source of sanctity, who sanctifies people and makes them images of meekness, divine persons. There’s no sanctity other than that bestowed by God himself on his Read more
Protopresbyter Mihaïl Efthymiou Before we embark on the presentation of our subject, we need to discuss the time of the construction of the church of the Holy Wisdom [of God]. The church of the Holy Wisdom was built in honor of Christ. The construction started after the 1st Ecumenical Synod Read more