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Gospel Reading for the 5th Sunday of Luke From the Kyriakodromion of Monk Agapios, 17th century*. The Lord said, ‘There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered in sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table’. Wanting to make us generous and charitable, to love one another and to instruct the mean and hard-hearted what perils await them and also to teach those who have sorrows and who suffer here what joy and elation they will inherit, the Lord wisely described for us the rich man as being very harsh and inhuman beyond measure and ...

Our Lady isn’t just an ordinary woman, nor, however, is she a goddess. She’s a special person whom God selected to be His mother and, by extension, the mother of the whole world. At Christmas, which we’re gradually approaching, theological discourse quite rightly centres on the Person of Jesus Christ, Who is God and human. The day after Christmas, however, we celebrate the synaxis of the Mother of God, in other words the assembly of the faithful to celebrate the person(s) who, in a sense ‘brought’ us the feast on the previous day, in this case Our Lady who gave us Christ. The relationship between Christ and Mary is unique, since the Mother of God and she alone, is His mother ...

We should feel Christ to be our friend. He is our friend. He Himself confirms this when He says : ‘You’re my friends…’ (Jn. 15, 14). We should look on Him as a friend and approach Him as such. Do we fall? Do we sin? We should run to Him with openness, love and confidence. Not with fear that He’ll punish us, but with the courage given to us by the feeling that He’s our friend.

The Apostle Paul, in this present passage from his Epistle to the Christians of Ephesus in Asia Minor, presents us with the great love of God for humanity: “God is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us “(verse 4). Then, the inspired Apostle describes how God manifested this vast love. This follows of course, because “God is Love,” as the Evangelist John the Theologian teaches us, and the student of love affirms (1 John 4:16). Have we deeply felt in our souls this truth that God, through His divine nature, is all love and only love? That every energy of God comes from love? That God does nothing without love? Have we realized that God ...

All our knowledge is to no purpose if we don’t know Jesus Christ. The soul that’s a distant stranger to God, the Source of Life the Author of all things good, dreams in vain that it’s making progress and moving forward.

It’s certainly difficult to get rid of the mistaken assumptions about interpersonal relationships, our connection to God and also our view of our self when we’ve been fed these from childhood. Because the soul of a child soaks up whatever ‘lessons’ are offered as blotting-paper does ink. It keeps them, absorbs them and lives with them. Of course, as we grow up, we come across other concepts which, if we’re to accept them, require us to wrestle with them, to think hard about them, to be receptive to something new. But how do you make sure that the something new is also what’s right? The outlook that ‘I have to be sure that what I’m doing is right’ is, I think, mistaken. ...

It seemed to me that nothing mattered so much as mortifying the senses, removing myself from the carnal and secular outlook, and, once I’d turned in on myself, that nothing human should touch me. I wanted only to converse with God, to live beyond everyday events, to experience divine revelations, to become a real unblemished mirror of God. I took light from light and, from being in the dark, was illumined, already harvesting in this life the fruits of those hoping for future blessings, leaving behind this earth and keeping company with the angels.

Ver. 15, 16. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, to the Israel of God Do you see the power of the Cross, to what a height it’s raised him? Not only has it put to death all mundane affairs as far as he’s concerned, but has set him far above the old dispensation. What is equal to this power? The Cross has persuaded him , who was prepared to slay and be slain over the issue of circumcision, to simply equate it with uncircumcision, and to seek things strange and marvellous and above the heavens. He calls this way of life a new creation, both on ...

When those who have sinned and seen all the great evil that they themselves have caused and the consequences thereof, they’re penitent. Penitence is an inclination to return to God, from Whom they have become estranged. In this way they seek communion with God, as well as His mercy. In His love for us, God doesn’t want anyone to be lost, but rather desires that all of us should come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved. He not only accepts the repentance of those who willingly repent, once they’ve become aware of their sins, but also calls to repentance those who, through callousness and excess have slid into sin. He does this with the aim of saving them. » Saint Nectarios ...

Religion is a response to a deep longing of ours: the yearning for immortality. It’s a raft which supports us in our fear, enables us to pass through the dread rapids of chaos and to reach the harbour of faith and hope. It redeems us from the absurd, reveals the furthest depths of the truth- the purpose of our presence on earth and the reality that follows our death- and fills the soul to overflowing with zeal for sanctity. I should make it clear that, in talking about religion, I essentially have in mind Christianity, the religion which wasn’t constructed, as a result of our metaphysical awe, but was revealed by God Himself and is unceasingly revealed to the faithful through ...

When you’re wounded because you’ve fallen into some sin or other through your weakness or, sometimes, to your harm, through your own will, don’t lose heart, don’t be upset about it, but turn straight to God and say: ‘You see, Lord, I did the things I did because of who I am. You can’t have expected anything different from me, who am so ill-disposed and weak, other than that I would fall and collapse’. And then berate yourself for a good while and be sorry with pain in your heart, for making God sad. Without becoming upset, be disappointed with your foul passions, especially against the one which caused you to fall, and say: ‘Lord, I wouldn’t have stayed upright even ...

Ver. 11, 12. See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand. Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. Feel the pain that possesses his blessed soul. Just as those who have fallen into some sorrow, who have lost a true friend, or are undergoing something unexpected, rest neither by night nor day, because of the grief besieging their soul, so the blessed Paul, after a short moral discourse, returns to the subject which had first occupied his mind, saying: ‘See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand’. By this he means that he actually wrote ...

Just as we wish for God to love us, to forgive us, to overlook our errors, to watch over us and protect us with His providence, so we should extend the same to other people. Forgiveness doesn’t require effort, it isn’t difficult. What does it need? It needs humility. By forgiving another person we’ll be given forgiveness for our own countless sins and we’ll have every right to say to God: ‘What people did to me, I forgave with all my heart and love, in accordance with Your Gospel, and Your Word. Now I’m asking You to express Your love for me and to forgive me my own sins. » Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Sin wears away at people every day, so they need a savior on a daily basis. This Savior is Jesus Christ. If you call upon Him in living and unshakable faith, He will save you. » Saint John of Kronstadt

The Apostolic Reading for today is from the letter sent by the Apostle Paul to the Hebrew Christians. In this letter, the Apostle of Christ wants to affirm to the Jewish Christians that Jesus Christ is the Messiah who the Prophets spoke about, and is therefore greater than all the prominent personalities of the Old Testament. He also speaks of Christian worship being higher than the worship of the Israelites, as the sky is from the earth. First, The Apostle Paul presents the Covenant (Tabernacle), which the Jews used for their worship: In the center, there was the Ark of the Covenant covered with gold. Inside this gold plated box was kept the golden pot, which contained the manna that had ...

In every age, not everyone betrays, not everybody deserts. Some remain faithful. Some keep up the struggle. Some don’t exchange their faith in the true God for anything worldly and secular. This, in any case, is why we have martyrs. » Blessed Georgios Kapsanis, Proegumen of Gregoriou Monastery

Whatever’s wrong with people is coincidental. Don’t look down on anybody even if you see how immoral,  prone to drink or blasphemous they are. The image of God is in them, somewhere, too, although, of course, they aren’t aware of it. It’s natural for the enemy to come and besmirch that image. It’s not easy to see the image of God in those who mock you and behave like brutes towards you. You should feel even more sorry for them because their souls have been distorted, to the extent that perhaps they’re beyond correction, which will condemn them to eternal torment. How difficult is this: Love your enemies! » Blessed Gabriel the New Confessor and Fool for Christ, from Georgia

The position of Orthodox Dogmatic teaching is that heaven and hell are not two limited places where the righteous are rewarded and the unrighteous punished after death, nor that hell is a region of concrete instruments of torture. Heaven and hell are states and forms of relationship with our life-giving God. We ought to clarify that there is only one energy of God, just as there is one essence and one will. This creative and recreative energy multiplies through the diversity of created operations. Thus, because of differences in receptivity and faith, as well as variations in people’s conceptual powers, some will perceive God’s single energy as love, others as mercy, punishment, justice or hatred. In essence, there is the one ...

Saint Demetrios suffered in Thessalonica during the reign of Galerius Maximian (c. 306). He belonged to one of the most distinguished families of the province of Macedonia and was widely admired not only because of his noble ancestry and grace of bearing, but also for virtue, wisdom and goodness of heart surpassing that of his elders. The military expertise of Saint Demetrios led Galerius, as Caesar of the Eastern Empire, to appoint him commander of the Roman forces in Thessaly and Proconsul for Hellas. But for all this, Demetrios remained ever aware of the underlying realities of life. Since faith in Christ had touched his heart, all the glory of this world meant nothing to him, and there was nothing he ...

Sacrifice everything for Christ. For Christ, though, not for anything or anyone. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite