Whether you live for five years or a hundred and five is of no consequence. What matters is the health of the soul. Good for those, who, in a case of illness face it with repentance! Whether they live or not, they’ll be ready. The Lord’s waiting. He’s waiting at Jacob’s well for every soul, no matter how sinful it is. He’s waiting to empty into the confessional the murky water of the soul and to fill it with clear water, so that it won’t be thirsty in the life eternal.
The more that people are cleansed of the passions, the greater their capacity for real communion with God and other people. Those who take a romantic and external view of the human person transfer wickedness from the person onto society, which is why they proclaim that any improvement in society will bring with it an improvement in people. But, without denying the importance of social effects on people, we Orthodox prioritize the transformation of the person through repentance and divine grace. It’s a grave error to want to change society without first striving to change ourselves. It is, at the very least, naive to believe that a change in a few social institutions will also bring about a change in people even ...
Your life on earth is a strait-jacket. Everything betrays you: family, friends, acquaintances, riches, sensory pleasures. Even your own body will leave you at some point. All the elements of nature deceive you. So make sure you cleave to God, because He alone is love.
Just as the clouds hide the sun, so wicked thoughts darken and destroy the mind.
People today should avail themselves of the intercession of the Mother of God, which saves us. In every sadness and problem, we shouldn’t forget that there is the ‘help of the sorrowing, the protector, the defender, the consolation of the fearful’, to whom we can turn and find comfort, an immediate solution and answer.
Today’s Gospel reading is a clear and stark indictment of formalism in religion. Saint Luke tells us that Christ cured someone on the Sabbath and this was cause enough for Him to come into conflict with the Judaism of His time, which had transformed the commandments of the Decalogue and the Law into a sterile system of obligations and restrictions. The absurdity of the reactions of the religious establishment was tragic. The leader of the synagogue was indignant that Christ’s miracle was performed on the Sabbath, the day of rest, appointed as such by God. So the message of today’s Gospel touches us and concerns all of us because often, and perhaps unconsciously, we prioritize certain religious or ritual forms ...
In an interview with an Italian TV network, Pope Francis of Rome said recently that the current language of the Lord’s prayer ‘is not a good translation.’… The problem, as he sees it, is that the prayer asks God to ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. But, says Pope Francis, it's not the Lord Who tempts. ‘It is not He that pushes me into temptation and then sees how I fall. A father does not do this. A father quickly helps those who are provoked into Satan's temptation’. A couple of points presents themselves immediately. The first is that it’s ‘not a good translation’. The problem here is that we can’t know, since we don’t have the ...
Some Christians, either through their own fault or that of others, become trapped in the sickness of guilt. Secular people become trapped in a worse sickness: that of pride. If you’re close to Christ, religious guilt disappears with repentance and confession. But the pride of secular people who are estranged from Christ never leaves.
It seems like just yesterday that your mother and I left the hospital with all six and three-quarter pounds of you securely fastened in your car seat, your surprisingly full head of hair covered by the traditional hospital baby cap. As we celebrate 40-days since your birth, years before you’ll be able to read it and perhaps decades before you’ll be able to understand the love with which I write it, here is a letter to you, my newborn daughter. You were born in Canada, a truly blessed country that has offered so much to so many, including both of your sets of grandparents. They came to this country with little, but were able to grow and prosper and build a strong ...
The mother of all good things, the characteristic feature of all the disciples of Christ, and the power that holds all of us together is love. Because, if you’re meek and merciful, this means that you’re a true disciple of Christ.
Let every task by undertaken with due deliberation and the fear of God. As we’re working, we should say the ‘prayer’: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me’; ‘Most Holy Mother of God, save us’.
Address at the start of proceedings at the 10th Dialogue, organized jointly in Jerusalem by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, on the occasion of the 40 years of dialogue between Orthodoxy and Judaism. Tuesday 5 December 2017 Today, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew opened the proceedings of the 10th Meeting of Dialogue called by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and organized jointly with the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations in the Holy City of Jerusalem. The 10th dialogue is being held on the occasion of the 40 years of dialogue between Orthodoxy and Judaism and has as its theme ‘The Significance of Jerusalem in the Tradition of the Two Religions’. In his address, the Ecumenical Patriarch noted that Jerusalem ‘was, ...
Patience is a virtue, given that it’s the fruit of hope in God. Sorrow leads to patience, patience to a tried and tested character and a tested character to hope. And, in the end, this hope doesn’t disappoint. Patience is the first among the virtues, because it’s the crown of our salvation.
Hymnography is the jewel in the crown of Church Literature in Orthodoxy. A variety of metres, a combination of poetry and prose, all invested with the musical riches of the eight tones, narrate the drama of the human person in our effort to trace the invisible and enter into communion with the Uncreated. Even so, there are some services which really do stand out, where the inspiration of the poet is apparent, from the first troparia of Small Vespers to the doxastiko at Lauds at the end of Matins. The quill flows effortlessly and combines words and music in a pulsation of art and meaning, outside the ordinary yet so close to everyday human reality. One such service is that of Saint ...
Give something, however little, to those in need. Because even a little isn’t without value for those who are deprived of everything, nor for God, provided it’s commensurate you’re your means. Instead of some great donation, offer your willingness. And if you really haven’t got anything, weep. Heartfelt sympathy is a great medicine for those who’ve fallen on hard times. Genuine empathy is a balm in times of trouble.
Saint John the Damascan (feast-day 4 December) For now the adoration of demons has ceased; creation has been sanctified by the divine blood; the altars and temples of idols have been overthrown; the knowledge of God, the consubstantial Trinity, has been planted ; the uncreated divinity, the one true God, Creator and Lord of all, is worshipped; virtues are cultivated; the hope of resurrection has been granted through the resurrection of Christ; the demons, who once held us in thrall, now tremble. And what is miraculous, indeed, is that all this has been successfully brought about by His cross and passion and death. Throughout the whole earth, the Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached not through wars or ...
The 3rd Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom Washington, D.C. December 4-6, 2017 (As of 11/28/17) Monday, December 4, 2017 – Day One 3:00 – 5:00 pm Conference Registration 5:30 pm Buses begin departing Trump Hotel for Metropolitan Club 6:00 – 8:00 pm Welcome Reception Program Welcome: Conference Chairman Mike Manatos Greetings: Archon National Commander Dr. Anthony Limberakis Remarks: US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Remarks: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios 8:15 pm Buses return to Trump Hotel Tuesday, December 5, 2017 – Day Two 8:00 – 9:30 am Breakfast and Opening Remarks Program: Welcoming Remarks: Conference Chairman Mike Manatos Invocation: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Remarks: Archon National Commander Dr. Anthony Limberakis Remarks: Christian Research Institute President, Hank Hanegraaff Patriarchal Message & Response: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, HE Archbishop Demetrios Benediction: His Grace Bishop Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Church, ...
From our first steps in life, the soul must be brought to the performance of every kind of good work, when it’s still pliable, smooth and soft as wax. It responds easily, depending on the forms and shapes presented to it, by those who are its spiritual guides. Then, when reason and discretion have also matured, it’ll find its way without difficulty.
14th Sunday of Saint Luke today, and we’ve now entered the month of Christmas. Jesus enters Jericho and comes across a suffering person whose affliction is blindness. It’s a terrible cross for him not to enjoy the first and greatest of God’s goods: perceptible light. Apart from being blind, the unfortunate man in today’s Gospel reading is also a beggar. But it was begging that enabled him to gain his salvation. As people were walking past him, he sensed the entry of some figure of importance. When he heard of the presence of Christ in the city, he started shouting continuously and persistently: ‘Son of David, have mercy upon me’, to the point where the other people who were there with ...
