In English

The monastery was founded in 980 by the Iberian noble and distinguished general John Thornic, who essentially enlarged and renamed the old monastery of Clementos granted to him by the emperor Basil II. Of this earlier monastery’s only part of the katholikon seems to have survived, incorporated into the chapel of the Forerunner behind the present katholikon. The katholikon, dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin and built between 980 and 983, contains the tombs of the founders and seems to be the oldest surviving katholikon among the mountain’s twenty ruling monasteries. The wonderful marble pavement is of the 11th century, and the church’s watt-paintings belong to various phases from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The chapel of the Portaitissa, ...

If ‘the death of the saints is precious and the memory of the righteous is blessed’, with how much greater praise should we keep the memory of the ‘saint of the saints’ through whom the whole of sanctity came to them, that is the memory of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God? This is what we do when we celebrate the anniversary of her holy dormition or transferal, in which, even though she is a little lower than the angels, she yet surpasses to an incomparable degree the angels and archangels and all the heavenly powers as regards her proximity to God and the marvels that were performed and written  about from ancient times . Dormition of Theotokos, byzantine icon, 9th ...

If you’re not aware that you’re devoid of the virtues, this is a downward slope towards impiety. Because those who’ve become accustomed to the pleasures of the flesh and who ignore the voice of God will end up refusing to be moved and will prefer the pleasures of the flesh to God. They’ll think these pleasures are more important than God’s will.

‘And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said ...

The Abbot of Vatopaidi monastery, Archimandrite Efrem, spoke on the radio programme “Gisa somewhere else” of SKAI 100,3 FM on Saturday 14th August  2010, on the eve of the feast of the Dormition of our Lady, the Mother of God. Elder Efrem was celebrating the feast at the Vatopaidi Metochi at Porto Lagos. Here is the full text of the interview. Gisa: Geronta, you are in Porto Lagos to celebrate the feast of the Dormition and I was wondering why  women cannot attend? Elder Efrem: Excuse me. This is the monastery’s metochi and women can visit as well. Gisa: Up to there, but what about further up? Elder Efrem: The Holy Mount Athos as you know is inaccessible to women and this is the tradition ...

The Only-Begotten Son and Word of God, who became a human person for us (though He was sinless), voluntarily underwent the crucifixion, death and burial so that our human nature, which the father of evil had caused to be cast out of paradise in olden times, could be elevated. Christ rose, however, and was elevated to His initial glory, and then sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to his disciples and apostles. After the God/Man/Word ascended into heaven, the eye-witnesses and servants of the Lord were in the upper room, as Saint Luke tells us, and after they had received the Holy Spirit they were unwilling to neglect preaching the Word of God in order to wait on tables. So ...

Prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer, occurs only for those who’ve been given the grace of God. It shouldn’t happen with the thought: ‘I must learn it; I have to know how to do it, to achieve it’, because that might lead us into pride and egotism. It needs experience, longing, but also a sound mind, vigilance and caution, if it’s to be pure and pleasing to God. If you have the thought: ‘I’ve really advanced in this’, that’ll spoil everything. What have we got to be proud about? Nothing we have belongs to us. These are delicate matters. Pray without forming images in your mind. Don’t imagine Christ. The Fathers stressed prayer without images. An image is a slippery ...

The image that one nation has for another goes through different levels of the social, cultural, political and-of course-religious life. And this image is not simply formed or imposed by these life-factors, but is also and primarily ex­pressed through them. What I want to say is that the official policy of a State can to a certain extent define and control through propaganda the image of a supposed enemy. This con­trol, however, will never have a long-lasting and deep effect on the mentality of the ordinary people and on the common sense of any people. The life-factor that goes really deep into the ordinary people's heart is faith in God. Religion. Faith is something that touches the deepest feelings of human beings. ...

The feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God is celebrated on August 15 by the Christian world and is the greatest of those established by the Church in honour of the Mother of the Lord. It may be the oldest of all. The first evidence we have for it dates from the 5th century, round about the time when the 3rd Ecumenical Synod was called in Ephesus (451), at which the dogma of the Mother of God was defined and the honour due to her was developed. It appears that it was first held in Jerusalem on 13 August and was transposed soon afterwards to the 15th of the same month. It was a general feast of the ...

Millennial doctrines also came to light from the books of the Apocalyptic literature of Judaism. Such books were Esdras, Enoch, Baruch, Jubilees, the Psalms of Solomon, the Book of Daniel, the Revelation of Peter and so on, which are linked to the expression of later Jewish Messianism. This referred to the expectation among Jews that the Messiah would rule on earth for a thousand years, his residence being in Jerusalem, to which all the peoples of the earth would be subject. In the Old Testament, the predominant term is ‘the Lord’s Anointed’, either related to the person who would sit upon the throne or to the future kingdom of Israel. In Jewish tradition, the expected king is linked to the ...

Slander is condemnation, defamation. Slanderers defame and condemn their neighbours and deprive them of their honour just as murderers deprive them of life. Both groups are equally guilty of homicide.

II) Ontological effects of the Jesus Prayer The act of repeatedly invoking the Name has a double effect: it makes our prayer more unified and at the same time more inward. 1. Unification The repeated Invocation of the Name can bring us, by God’s grace, from dividedness to unity, from dispersion and multiplicity to singleness. ‘To stop the continual jostling of your thoughts,’ says Bishop Theophan, ‘you must bind the mind with one thought, or the thought of One only.’’ To oppose our thoughts, we look upwards to the Lord Jesus and entrust ourselves into his hands invoking his Name; and the grace that acts through his Name overcomes the thoughts which we cannot obliterate by our own strength. This is a positive spiritual ...

Nothing’s difficult if we want it enough and nothing’s easy if we don’t. We manifest our confession in Christ not only in words but also with deeds. We mustn’t shame the dogmas with offensive works, but in all things we should contribute to the glorification of our Lord.

C. Death- the rupture of the psychosomatic coalescence. a. The notion of death The notion of death, apart from its biological dimension, is also metaphysical. For Orthodox theology and tradition, death is the rupture of the coalescence of body and soul, the loosening of the bond, the separation . But for the empirical sciences, this definition is without significance. The soul is not visible. Any attempt to approach death from the viewpoint of changes to the soul, particularly when we’re referring to what is happening to the body, runs the risk of scholasticism and arbitrariness. This is why it is safer to define death as necrosis of the body, subjection to the laws of nature, by which the soul, because of its own ...

On August 5-6, 2017, His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios presided over Great Vespers and the Divine Liturgy for the Great Feast of the Transfiguration (Metamorphosis) of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. Before the Vespers service, His Eminence chaired a Clergy Synaxis; almost 30 priests from southern Ontario participated. Many items were on the agenda, which were discussed with excellent brotherly relations for the progress of our Metropolis as we soon begin a new Ecclesiastical Year. The celebrating parish of Metamorphosis was standing room only, with many faithful parishioners downstairs in the parish hall watching on large screens, as well as outside during the holy service. During his homily, the Metropolitan spoke about the light and the Uncreated Light of Christ; he ...

The way we live here on this earth, we’re continually subservient to material things. This isn’t true of the angels. This life was given to us so that we can learn about eternal life, how we can become free, how we should progress freely, with a clear conscience and pure thoughts. When we’re free, there’s no more spiritual warfare. Victory’s ours because we’ve abandoned ourselves to God. It’s He Who determines our lives and we accept whatever befalls us as if he were giving us His own hand.

I open a small bottle, plug the top with my thumb, tilt it back, just a bit, until mercy runs down my hand. And I trace a fragrant cross of blessed oil on a brow burning fever. Shut my eyes and whisper Martha-Mary words, “The one You love is sick.” Little boy weeps sleepy, points to the wall. And I take down an icon, the one of God clothed in this broken body. And He and I, we keep an all-night vigil at a child’s bedside. The clock counts this late hour and I measure medicine, pour it into a small cup, sign it with a cross. I place it in his hands, young eyes looking up at me, all bloodshot and ...