I saw a person who had clearly sinned, but who secretly repented. And the person who I condemned as immoral, God held to be pure, because, through his repentance, God was completely reconciled to him.
Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council.
Mesa Potamos, Cyprus, July 22, 2019 With great joy and feelings of deep emotion, the monastic brotherhood of the Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner of Mesa Potamos, Cyprus announces to the reading public that pre-orders of the book The Romanov Royal Martyrs: What Silence Could Not Conceal are now being accepted. An official video trailer for the book has also been released: This work is the fruit of a long-term study and it would not be bold to say that it has a uniquely significant feature, which accords to it a great honor and distinction: the fact that it is not simply a book written by the personal efforts and abilities of a single author, but rather was produced through the ...
When people try to retain a humble heart and a calm outlook, then all the machinations of the enemy are deactivated. Because where there’s serenity of thought, God Himself finds rest: ‘His abode is in peace’ (Ps. 75, 3). When people welcome anything divine, their heart rejoices. On the other hand, when they admit anything diabolical, their heart is troubled and disturbed.
Those people who are content with the material world and aren’t concerned for the salvation of their soul are like mindless, unhatched birds which are happy in the egg and make no effort to break the shell, to emerge and enjoy the sun- the soaring upwards into the life of Paradise- but prefer to remain where they are, in the shell, and die.
On the occasion of the demise of the late Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, Pemptousia is publishing an extract from the book by Fr. Dimitrios Kavvadias ‘Elders and Women’s Monasticism’, in which, among much else, he refers to the late Elder Nektarios, the founder of the Holy Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki: The sole exception in this book is the mention of the person of Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, who became the founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios. We are not writing a eulogy of the man, but would address a few words related to his life and activities, with the aim of revealing how the Monastery of the wonder-working Saint came to be built. He is now in the twilight of ...
The heart’s an apparently small organ, but there’s room for God to dwell inside. And if God does reside there, then the heart’s filled to overflowing and there’s room for nothing else. Even if the whole world were to be installed there, the heart would be an empty dwelling-place without God.
By Chris Vlahonasios It’s been a pretty chilly winter so far. Heavy rain, strong gusts and long, cold nights. Despite cranking up the heater and doubling up on quilts, the only logical solution to solve our winter-blues is a trip to Greece! Sadly, we all can’t just get up and escape this miserable weather, that’s where VOD binging is the next best option. However, with all the terrible remakes and new shows, with stories that sound more like a political science lecture, even this option seems bleak – however – there IS a real alternative: Byzanfest. What is Byzanfest? It’s the world’s first and only online Orthodox Christian short film festival. An initiative of TRANSFIGURE MEDIA, Byzanfest is dedicated to offering the ...
Hypocrites want to be considered saints and have everyone reverence them for their piety. You see their outward demeanour and think that they serve God in all things, but their hearts are full of jealousy, guile and every kind of wickedness.
The immediate fruit of God’s love is the love of the image of God, that of people and all God’s creatures. Through years of ascetic effort, monastics acquire a ‘merciful heart’, which loves as God does. According to Abba Isaak the Syrian, a merciful heart is ‘a heart burning on behalf of the whole of creation, that is people, birds, animals, demons and every other creature, at the remembrance or sight of which the eyes shed tears and, from so much fellow-suffering and mercy, the heart of the merciful person recoils and is unable to bear or hear of any hurt or any sorrow that has been dealt to creation. This is why such people pray with tears and at ...
You can’t expect to uproot the futility of the world from within you as long as you’re content to live within its vanity. When we become estranged to the world, then our intellect is also detached from it easily and wishes to become close to God.
In our reading from the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul lays before us two basic truths, which are of particular interest for us today. The first, is that we should desire and seek the salvation of our people with all of our hearts. Not only those close to us, but all people. Second, the Holy Apostle tells us that the salvation offered by Christ is open to all, and is within reach for those who turn to Him. St. Paul retained great zeal for the salvation for his own people, the Jewish people. Saul (St. Paul’s Jewish name), from the time he turned to Christ, never stopped facing the scorn of his own nation. Every time he found himself among ...
In our reading from the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul lays before us two basic truths, which are of particular interest for us today. The first, is that we should desire and seek the salvation of our people with all of our hearts. Not only those close to us, but all people. Second, the Holy Apostle tells us that the salvation offered by Christ is open to all, and is within reach for those who turn to Him. St. Paul retained great zeal for the salvation for his own people, the Jewish people. Saul (St. Paul’s Jewish name), from the time he turned to Christ, never stopped facing the scorn of his own nation. Every time he found himself among ...
Through tears of repentance, all the impurities of sin that have piled up in the heart are expelled.
It’s a waste of effort to serve the devil while invoking God‘s mercy.
Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on the gospel of the 3rd Sunday of Matthew (6, 22-33).
Only the heart of a person who is continuously being cleansed by repentance from egotism, selfishness and the passions can really love God and other people. Egotism and love are irreconcilable. It’s often the case that egotism believes it’s loving, but this ‘love’ is merely a patina of love that conceals selfishness and self-interest. Monastics in repentance burn with Divine love. God’s love holds their hearts together, so that they don’t live for themselves alone, but for God. The soul/bride continuously seeks its bridegroom with pain and desire and finds no rest until its united with him. It’s not content to serve God as a servant (out of fear), nor as a hireling (with Paradise as a reward). It wants to ...
If you hate your enemy, you show how senseless you are. Because if your enemy hounds you, you hound yourself as well, inside you. Tell me, isn’t it hounding, the worst and fiercest form of persecution, if your hatred torments you as regards your enemy? If only you knew what a triumph, what a blessing it is to love your enemies and do good to them.
You have a long struggle ahead! You have to cultivate a bold outlook within yourself. Have a look at the things you love. Are you over-fond of them? Are you too attached to them? Renounce them. That’s the answer the Lord expects from you.
Saint Marina was from a village in Pisidia, the daughter and only child of a certain Aidesios, a pagan priest, and lived in the reign of Emperor Claudius II. When she was twelve, her mother died and she was given into the charge of another woman and she asked of God to be granted the faith of the Christians, which was being taught in the village by some of them at that time. When she became fifteen, in 270, she had a desire to die as a martyr for the love of Christ. With one occasion, the governor Olymbrius sent people to arrest her and cast her into prison. After several days had passed, she was fetched from the prison ...
