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Our first encounter with Him is through faith. Faith opens the door of the soul, so that Christ can enter. Faith receives Him, subjects our hearts to Him and engenders within us a fervent interest and powerful desire to approach Him. This is the initial requirement for Christ to dwell in our hearts, as Saint Paul says (Eph. 3, 17). But it takes love in order for the Lord to stay with us and make us His temple and altar. Jesus declares “Whoever loves me will keep my word and my father will love them and we shall come to them and make our dwelling in them” (Jn. 14, 23). The word of God helps us as regards the confirmation ...

Our guardian angels stay closer to those who’ve been cleansed by fasting.

1. Rebirth             The third birth of Christ is in the life of people who believe in Him and accept Him as their own, personal God. Because even though Christ became incarnate in order to save everyone, not everyone will be saved.             Of course, the Lord “wants all people to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth”, (I Tim. 2, 4), and is certainly all-powerful. Nevertheless, He respects people’s freedom as well and has no desire to save us against our will.               Thus, in the Revelation, He is presented as a wandering beggar, going from door to door, from soul to soul, knocking for us to open to Him: “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if ...

We have to forgive everyone, as God does. The Gospel tells us that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Because we’re all sinners and we all deserve to be condemned for our sins, however few or many they may be. This is why we must forgive and pray to God that He’ll forgive us sinners likewise, given that we don’t even understand that we sin frequently, nor even what we’re doing and not doing.

Athens Greece, 21 December 2017   2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care “The Living Water”  DMOPC 18 Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolymbari 18-21 June 2018   2018 Conference Theme: The Digital World as a Sphere for the Reiteration of Pentecost and the “living word” of Saint Paul the Apostle    In May 2015, in Athens, Pemptousia (www.pemptousia.gr) in conjunction with the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) in America and Bogoslov in Russia, hosted the 1st International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care “DMOPC15” (www.dmopc15.com). 75 Orthodox speakers from 21 countries all over the world ‘gathered together in that place’. The aim was for them to express their concerns, their witness and their thoughts regarding a dimension of human life which now involves almost everyone: The ...

We shouldn’t say that it’s impossible for people to lead virtuous lives, but only that it isn’t easy. Nor is it easy for people who succeed in this to understand this. Those who take part in the virtuous life are devout and have minds that love God. The ordinary mind is secular and changeable, it has thoughts that are good and bad, because it’s influenced by physical things and is drawn to that which is material. A mind that loves God, however, punishes the wickedness which people, because of their laziness, willingly allow to possess them.

(Excerpts from his Second Homily to Eutropios) Did God desire a harlot? Yes, He did: a harlot. I mean by that our own nature. Did God desire a harlot? If a man desires a harlot, he’s condemned, yet God desired one, in order to make her a virgin. So the desire of a man is perdition for the woman, but that of God works for her salvation. And this mighty and great One desired a harlot. Why? To become her bridegroom. What did He do? He didn’t send one of His servants, He didn’t send an angel to the harlot, nor an archangel nor the cherubim or the seraphim. He Himself came, because He was in love with her… He desired a harlot, so ...

Why do so many young people fear marriage? Because they’re afraid of the responsibilities. It’s not that there aren’t any good young people, but they fear responsibility.

When we hear people blaming God for all the wars, the injustices and all the problems of the world, with questions such as ‘Why does God allow this?’, what they’re doing is crucifying Christ again, instead of crucifying themselves, with all their sins. Yet thanks to the most merciful God we can be set free of the feeling of guilt created by our sins. Herein lies the tragedy of our era: on the one hand, there’s humanity, which holds God responsible for the ills which afflict the world; and, on the other, there are Christians who begin to get to know God and want to make their own decision about whether to blame Him or the human heart.

Although these days it’s claimed that rights and the opportunities for choice are being consolidated, in fact we’re being subjected to harsh coercion and manipulation. Despite the best efforts of many people, the vision of freedom really hasn’t succeeded, and the prevailing reality is one of coercion. In the name of ideas, noble aims, even religions, obligations are being imposed and various forms of violence are being exercised, either by the authorities, who fairly or unfairly invoke their responsibility to do so, or by groups who are seeking authority and invoke their rights to do so, or by those who are opposed to all authority and who invoke the need to come into conflict with it in order to justify ...

Lack of faith is the result of pride. People who are proud claim that they know everything through their mind and science. But knowledge of God is beyond their reach, because He is known only by revelation from the Holy Spirit. The Lord is revealed to humble souls. It’s to these that He assigns His tasks, which are beyond the capacity of the mind to understand. With our physical mind, we can understand only earthly things, and even then only partially, while God and all the things of heaven are known only through the Holy Spirit.

Dealing with Church matters ‘Elder, how should we handle difficult Church matters when they arise?’ ‘Avoid extremes. Issues aren’t resolved through extremes. In the old days, you’d see a grocer adding things gradually to the scales with a scoop, so that he’d get it just right and balance them. In other words, he didn’t heap a lot on all at once, nor did he take a large amount off. The two extremes always afflict the Church and even those who support them are afflicted, because usually the two are at odds with each other. It’s as if one extreme is being held by people possessed, who are spiritually insolent (despising everything) and the other is being grasped by mad people who have ...

What is hidden in our hearts is known only to God and the conscience. So each of us should set ourselves to rights by listening to the voices of both, that is of God and of the conscience.

According to Saint Basil, there are three things which incline us towards doing good, as I’ve mentioned to you before. We may do so because we fear damnation, in which case we’re in the position of a servant. Perhaps we wish to gain a reward, which puts us in the position of a paid employee. Or we do it for the sake of the good itself, and so we’re in the position of a son. A son doesn’t do his father’s will out of fear, nor to get anything for himself out of doing so, but in order to serve him, to honour and please him. And this is how we, too, should be generous in our alms-giving, for the ...

A fundamental demand of Christianity is personal renewal, not as a static event which is accomplished automatically, once and for all, but as a continuous, dynamic progression, with mistakes and corrections. The Christian Gospel wasn’t presented to the world merely as a new teaching, but most of all as a new way of life, as a signpost leading from the corrupt and sinful person to one who’s complete and upright. This is why Saint Paul writes to the Colossians (3, 4-11): ‘When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these ...

Breaking the commandment brought about the fall, which is our separation from God and everything to do with Him. God accepted our repentance, return and submission to Him once He’d repaired our relationship through His own love and holiness. According to the Fathers, the most acceptable form of repentance is hot tears which well up by themselves from the pain of a heart which feels its repellent guilt and its betrayal of God’s paternal love.

Popular culture is going to go crazy for Star Wars in the coming months. Count me among the millions of people who cannot wait for the latest installment of Star Wars entitled, The Force Awakens! George Lucas’ Star Wars films have captured the imagination of generations both young and old. Growing-up as the son of an Orthodox Priest, one of the fondest memories I have as a child is that of my father taking me to see Star Wars: A New Hopeas a young child. My father knew what many good Orthodox parents have always known and that is that great stories about man and the choices he makes can lead us to Truth. %video% Now, I am not saying that Star Wars ...

The passion of self-aggrandisement sprouts in some way in almost all of us. This is why the Lord begins the beatitudes with it. He roots out pride from our character as being the primordial evil by advising us to imitate Him, Who voluntarily became poor and Who is truly blessed. In this way we’ll draw down upon ourselves a share in His blessedness, since, by our voluntary poverty we’ll have become like Him, as far as we can and whoever we are. Have the same outlook within you, says Saint Paul (Philipp. 2, 5 ff.) as Christ had: although He was God, He emptied Himself of His divinity and took the form of a servant.

We conceal a serpent in our hearts, a great heresy, the other side of the coin called Ecumenism, and it’s known as pietism. Its parents are fear and wickedness. Its beloved is faithlessness and its offspring hardness of heart. You see lots of Christians who really believe and go to church, people with the fear of God, but who are hard and heartless. People who’ll judge you harshly, with their own criteria. They’re people who see you as a traitor if your mind strays during the Divine Liturgy. Who’ll have something to say about your appearance. Who’ll give a rule book for the whole of your life, as if you’re a robot, but won’t ever ask you how you’ve got ...