The grief and the tears of the Saints came from their profound feelings of love for God. The Saints experienced the presence of God all the time and this increased their joy accordingly. At the same time, however, they saw to the needs of others, grieving over those who’d sinned and helping them to start their repentance and reformation.
1. After God, man is, without a doubt, the most mysterious and enigmatic entity in all the realms of human thought. At the bottomless depth of human existence there whirl contradictions which defy reconciliation: life and death, virtue and evil, God and devil, and all that exists in and around them. Through all its religions, philosophies, sciences, spiritual and materialistic civilizations, the human race has been trying to solve essentially one problem, one all-encompassing problem: the problem of man. And from all these exertions and struggles it has fashioned for itself one supreme godhead, to be worshipped as the highest value and the foremost criterion. That ultimate godhead is "Man is the measure of everything." That is to say, man is ...
According to the spiritual judgement of our Fathers, all human activity derives from the mind. This is where an image is made of every notion, which then, gradually, proceeds to its practical application. The misuse or abuse of things follows the wrong use of concepts. Repentance in the real sense means the mind’s return to its former position, where the proper order of things is to be found. In our own times, however, repentance is taken more to mean asking forgiveness of God for our transgressions.
The Protaton, the Monastery of Vatopedi and the Cretan School The Holy Mountain has been the great centre of Orthodox art since the fall of Constantinople. But art flourished on Mount Athos much earlier than that, as is shown by some icons and miniatures that have survived the severe vicissitudes through which the Holy Mountain has passed. Of the older iconographic works, there are the remains of the mosaics in the katholikon1 of the Monastery of Vatopedi. They comprise the following: Christ on a throne flanked on either side by the Holy Virgin and Saint John the Baptist, situated above the central door of the narthex, with an inscription of the eleventh century; the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin, on the wall of ...
It may well be that I don’t have good taste and that I don’t understand much about art, but this was my impression and I share it most sincerely with my readers. This beautiful iconostas is a gift from the late Abbot, Antonij Bochkov (a former merchant), who spent his last years as a monk near Moscow, at the Monastery of Nikolo-Ugreshkij . Apart from the iconostas, there’s not much in the empty, spacious chapel of the Pokrov (Protecting Veil) which makes an impression in terms of the feast or ceremony (I don’t, of course, mean the service itself: the scrupulous order of the monks on the Holy Mountain is exemplary and I haven’t seen anything like it either in the churches ...
One thing that can help people suffering from depression is work, interest in life. The garden, plants, flowers, trees, the countryside, a walk outdoors, all bring us out of inertia and create other interests for us. They act as medication. Involvement with art, music and so on is of great benefit. But I would lay the greatest stress on involvement with the Church, study of the Holy Scriptures, attending services. Through the study of the words of God, people are healed without even knowing it.
An excerpt from a homily by St. John Chrysostom (Hom. 4, 3.4: PG 61, 34-36) It became clear through unlearned men that the cross was persuasive; in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Their discourse was not of unimportant matters but of God and true religion, of the Gospel way of life and future judgment, and yet it turned ordinary, uneducated men into philosophers. See how the foolishness of God is wiser than people, and his weakness stronger than people! In what way is it stronger? It made its way throughout the world and overcame everyone; countless people sought to eradicate the very name of Christ, but that name flourished and grew ever mightier. Its enemies lost and perished; the living, who ...
Without the Grace of God, Christians can’t avoid sin, nor can they repent and set themselves straight. They can’t withstand even the smallest temptations. The reason is that we don’t ask God’s help with all our heart, with faith, with reverence, with humility. We don’t constantly ask for it in our prayers.
There are in the Monastery three fragments of wall-paintings, whose origin is unknown. Two of these are from decoration of the Late Comnenan period, while the third belongs to decoration of the Early Palaeologan period. On the two earlier fragments, measuring 50 x 65 and 65 x 65 cm., the Apostles Peter and Paul are shown embracing, and St Mark is depicted1. The scene of the Apostles Peter and Paul embracing, as an autonomous subject which expresses ecumenical peace and the unity of the local Orthodox churches2, was adopted early in Byzantine art, following models known from Early Christian art3. From an artistic point of view, these wall-painting fragments in the Vatopaidi Monastery are marked by the breaking up of the mass of ...
This monastery appears to have already been in existence in 1018, but after many misfortunes it was restored by the Paleologue emperors in the 14th century. In the 16th century it was destroyed by pirates and rebuilt by the Wallachian prince Petros. The katholikon, dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, was built between 1548 and 1563 and frescoed in 1716,1750 and 1763. Of particular interest is the arsenal complex, which was completed in 1534. It is essentially a miniature monastery, with a tower, fortification wall with cannon ports, fortified entrance, courtyard, and storied ranges incorporating a church and refectory. It was soon destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. Source: Monk Chariton, Images of Athos, 3rd edition, Mount Athos, 2007
It’s a great thing for people to be in communion with God, with Christ. Elder Sophrony, who is himself among the choir of modern saints, says that Christ is a specific person. Christ is the person Whom the saints physically touched.
The world is full of pain, fear and suffering. These feelings, without any exceptions, are experienced by all humans. It’s what causes our heart to ache, our mind to go hay-wire, and our emotions to become distorted. People often wonder: How have we had to handle all these problems? Why God allows these tragedies to happen? Some times the questions are complicated and the answers very simple. Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, famous for his spiritual teachings, provides encouragement and support to those who are suffering afflictions. The struggle to sanctify the soul ..Life of course, is no summer camp; it has joys but also sorrows. The Resurrection is always proceeded by the Crucifixion. The blows of life’s trials are essential for ...
It’s been noted by theological scholarship on more than one occasion that, in Orthodoxy, dogma and ethos, theory and practice, faith and life are indissolubly bound together. Every invitation to spiritual struggle has a powerful dogmatic foundation and vice versa: the spiritual life of the Church of love and humility is what produces, in a sense, the dogmatic conscience of each member individually and of the Church as a whole. Elder Aimilianos follows this rule closely, being himself a part of the Patristic tradition in the Holy Spirit. This is clear from a large part of his teaching. But there’s one point where this bond between dogma and ethos is clearer and more detailed, one might say. This is the beginning ...
When the bell rings and everybody tries to avoid saying their prayers (a parody of a prayer, but one which just may be, for some, the last thread connecting their lives with God and therefore the only little window through which they can get into Paradise), let’s remember those reading the following text. “Say the prayer” (From an article by a school pupil against school prayer) The perfection of the “Lord’s Prayer” To Vima newspaper: Νέες Εποχές (New Eras), p. 53, 26/8/2001 * A text that, with communicative-linguistic criteria, could be called “perfect” People’s need to communicate with God (whichever god they believe in), their need for prayer, is one of the oldest known to humanity and is present in the languages of most peoples. In ...
Had the Lord not suffered and died for our sins, who of us would know that sin is such a deadly poison? Had he not risen, who among us would have discovered what a terrible thing sin is or would have any hope? In that case, repentance would have been of no benefit, and forgiveness impossible. Repentance is linked to the Passion and forgiveness to the Resurrection, through God’s grace. With repentance, the old self (of sin), dies and is taken to the grave. With forgiveness, the new self is born into a new life.
In our logical thought there’s an insurmountable imperfection: the arguments we employ and the principles on the basis of which we reach conclusions never prove to be sufficient in practice. In the insignificant routine of our existence even such logic, with its inadequate conclusions can be quite useful in some ways. But in the search for eternal truth we step beyond the bounds of all that which we can see and rationally discern. And we need to remember that.
The present article constitutes a brief reference to the life and work of Sergei Bulgakov, on attaining seventy three years since his death. Fr. Sergei Bulgakov Sergei Bulgakov was born on 16 July 1871 in the town of Livny, south of Moscow. Although he was raised in a religious ambience, he, in the beginning of his spiritual course, espoused Marxism and more so under the form of the so called ‘Legal Marxism’movement. Bulgakov’s first publication is entitled “The Significance of the Market in the Capitalist Production System” (1897). Discussing the possibility of the development of capitalism in Russia as a transition stage towards a socialist economy, Bulgakov accepts the necessity of the capitalist evolution, mainly on the issue of agricultural production. However, this stance contradicts ...
The memory of All the Saints who shone on the Holy Mountain is celebrated on the second Sunday of Matthew. The establishment of the common feast began with the composition of the service and encomium by Saint Nikodimos the Athonite. Tone one Let us honor in hymns and songs the Fathers of Athos, Angels in the body, Confessors, Saints, Hierarchs and Martyrs, and let us imitate their virtues, the whole company of the monks on the Mountain, crying aloud with one voice: Glory to Him Who crowned you, Glory to Him Who sanctified you, Glory to Him Who appointed you our protectors in dangers. %audio%
