Our thoughts, inclinations and desires open a path for us and reflect the whole of our life. If our thoughts are peaceful, full of love, kindness and purity, then we’ll be at peace, because peaceful thoughts make it possible for us to have inner peace which radiates from us. But if we have negative thoughts, then our inner peace is shattered.
To understand what St. Paul is talking about in today’s reading, we have to remember that in his previous Epistle to the Corinthians, the Holy Apostle severely rebuked the Christians of that community for their bad conduct. The result of this was that the Corinthians repented of their mistakes, prompting St. Paul to send a second letter, which offers spiritual consolation and counsel. In the passages we read today, we can admire the deep and sincere concern that the Great Apostle had for his spiritual children. He agonized over their straying from the Gospel, and handled the situation with holy discretion to solve the problems troubling the Church of Corinth. The first thing we can highlight here is St. Paul’s sincere ...
How pusillanimous some Christians are. Although they recognize Christ as the living and all-glorious Lord, they still allow doubt to dwell in their hearts, like a venomous snake that poisons them on a daily basis and buries their life in eternal darkness.
If you fall into sins through weakness, expunge them all immediately through repentance. But, in any case, through rigid vigilance, try to avoid the sins you commit through weakness.
Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on the feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross.
Perfection is also giving alms ungrudgingly, willingly and without disdain. Give wholeheartedly, as though you yourself were the recipient, benefiting as though you were the beneficiary. Then God’s will is perfected. This is how we manage to do God’s will, that which is good, pleasing and perfect, according to Saint Paul: by acting in full and proper knowledge.
When we undertake a task unwillingly, we quickly find ourselves resistant to it and repelled by it. Then our life becomes full of resistance and repulsion towards every little thing. The years go by and we grow old feeling like this.
I received your short letter and I share your pain. I brought to mind the image of how things are and, aware of my own wretchedness, sighed at the possibility of being saved. ‘Alas, Saviour of the world, I am overwhelmed by my iniquities and am unable to see. Hasten, as merciful, and make speed, as compassionate, to our aid, for you can do whatsoever you wish’. My fragrant little petal, things seem to be the way they are as the result of some experience or other. But what is it that we want? This isn’t life, my child. It’s not just a long Lent, but also the whole length of our sojourn here. Let’s at least learn to make a ...
Karyes is the capital of Mount Athos. The community already existed at the beginning of the 10th century, then...
Today, on this Sunday after the Elevation of the Holy Cross, we are once again reminded of the blessings that our Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross has given us. The Lord was crucified on Golgotha, and it was there that He took upon Himself the iniquity of sin, and all the personal sins of humanity. They were nailed to the Cross with Him, “killing” these sins and destroying them. Or, as the Prayer of 6th Hour says, our Lord Jesus Christ, “by His precious Cross destroyed the record of our sins, triumphing over the source and power of darkness”; Every person who believes in Christ when they are baptized is freed from their sins, and when they come out of ...
Nothing disastrous happens to other people through the passion of envy, which barely saddens or injures them, but it does great harm to the person who feels it.
Watch Daniil Sidorov’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
In careful people, the intellect acts as a watchful guard and sentinel of the inner Jerusalem. From the heights of the spiritual life it sees with its clear eye the opposing forces surrounding and within the soul. In their flesh, people are like lighted candles. The wax is destined to melt and people are doomed to die. The soul is immortal, however, which is why our care and attention should be directed more towards it than to the flesh. ‘For what shall it profit people if they gain the whole world and lose their soul? Or what will they give in exchange for their soul?’ (Matth. 16, 26).
Because spiritual people are humble, they really are stars, moving dizzyingly but quietly, without anyone realizing that they’re really great planets. They hide away, in the far reaches of the heavens, and give people the impression that they’re just little icon lights, hardly glimmering.
Watch Anna Gorpinchenko’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
The greatest act of charity you can perform for people is to pray from them.
The holy land of the Apostolic Church of Antioch is suffering from the horror of war. Yesterday, it was the turn of Lebanon and Iraq, and today it is that of Syria. Thousands of Syrians, including, bishops, priests, monks, nuns, and laymen, all of whom are the indigenous people of this land, have been killed, kidnapped, or forcibly expulsed. All these brutal actions systematically attempt to deprive the faithful of their hope. In a special place in the midst of Syria, there is a touch of divine, unimpeachable hope. It is the war-torn city of Aleppo whose Metropolitan is His Eminence Paul Yazigi. Metropolitan Paul was kidnapped with the Syriac Archbishop of Aleppo, Youhanna Ibrahim. On April 22, 2013, Metropolitan Paul ...
Being judgmental is the great enemy of love. As soon as the thought comes to you to judge somebody else, turn to the Lord straight away and admit: ‘Indeed, Lord, grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my neighbour’.
Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on the feast of the birth of the Theotokos.
Watch Fr John Peck’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
