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In recent years, particularly after the uprising among the Arab peoples, with the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ after 2011, Christians in the Middle East have been subjected to continuous persecution from Islamist organizations in countries in the region. Photo: www.briefingnews.gr About three years ago, on 29 June 2014, the Islamist organization ‘Islamic State’ proclaimed the foundation of the Caliphate in regions of Iraq and Syria. Since then, the hardships endured by the Christian minorities in the Arab world have been very considerable. Particularly since the occupation of areas in Iraq, Islamic State fighters have abducted clergymen and nuns, and have given Christians in the region a 48-hour deadline to leave their homes. At the same time, monstrous crimes have been committed against ...

If ever the stupid thought comes into your head to start counting your good deeds, correct it immediately. You’re better off counting your sins. You’ll see that they number more than the sand on the beach, while your virtues, if you compare them with your sins, are negligible.

All of the events of Holy Week represent an attempt by man, in his freedom to love, to share in the sacrificial love of God, that is to say, the mystery of salvation, by following the rigorous spiritual discipline of the Church. This discipline does not consist in the Pharisaic observance of certain commandments, but is rather ‘a mother of sanctity, from which is born the first experience of perception of the mysteries of Christ’. Holy Week, the week of Our Lord’s Passion, which reaches a climax on Easter Sunday, the Sunday of Our Lord’s Resurrection, is celebrated by the Church as a Pascha of suffering and victory, and is sung by its vigilant members as a Paschal ode, as a ...

Forty days had come to a close. I remember them as one, how the weight of sleep had a habit of overtaking the light of day, how the light of a candle overcame the dark of night. A mother always remembers those forty days as if they were but one. And the evening and the morning were one day. Those forty days, they’re a muddled scrawl upon the pages of my memory. Having come to the end of them, I ventured out with a small babe swaddled tight and carried him for the first time beyond the entrance of our home. That was the day I walked a boy-child across the threshold of the narthex, placed him in the arms of ...

On Lazarus Saturday, I realized I couldn’t find my copy of the services for Great Week, so, naturally, I went down to the local supermarket and bought another copy. This ease of access to Church supplies (charcoal, wicks, incense, televised services for the sick and so on) is one of the many advantages of living in an Orthodox country. Another is that the same supermarket, or, indeed, any grocery store, will stock packets of dye for colouring eggs at Easter. In some Orthodox countries, eggs are dyed a variety of colours, but in Greece they’re usually red. There are a large number of explanations for this, none of which is particularly convincing. When you read, for example, that the tradition ...

It’s sin that prevents us from believing, not reason. If you tell atheists to live for six months according to the teachings of the Gospels and they do so, they’ll become believers without realizing it.

I saw Saint Païsios on a good number of occasions between 1979 and 1994, when he departed this life. Except for one time, I never asked him a question, but he always spoke to me and taught me. In 1990, Yorgos and I arrived at the Panagouda . He welcomed us hospitably and took me by the arm, pulling me gently to the side, away from my friend. He looked me in the eye and said: ‘Listen, Andreas. First comes your relationship with God, Whom you should love with all your heart, which means keeping His commandments within you. Then you should love your wife as Christ loved the Church. To love means to repent and to forgive. As a married man, always bear in mind ...

Having completed the forty days that bring profit to our soul, we beseech You, in Your love for us: May we behold the Holy Week of Your Passion that in it we may glorify Your majestic works and ineffable dispensation for us, singing with one mind, ‘Lord glory to You’. Great Lent has come to an end. It’s an event which cannot but move all consciously-striving Christians, whatever the level of their spiritual life. Even those who’ve found the fast difficult and can hardly wait for it to be over, or those who’ve grown weary of the frequent services, have, at least to some extent, experienced the ascetic atmosphere of the Church. In any case, the liturgical and festal order of ...

In collaboration with the website  www.agiazoni.gr, PEMPTOUSIA and OCN will provide live streaming on a daily basis of the Services of Holy and Great Week from the church of Ayia Zoni (the Holy Girdle of the Mother of God), Patisia, Athens, Greece. The “live” services of the Holy Week will be available at: OCN’s facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/MyOCN PEMPTOUSIA’s facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/pemptousiacom AYIA ZONI’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/agiazoni.gr HOLY WEEK LIVE STREAMING SCHEDULE  Palm Sunday 7:30 pm – Bridegroom Service (O Nymfios) Holy Monday 7:30 pm – Bridegroom Service (O Nymfios) Holy Tuesday 7:30 pm –  Bridegroom Service (O Nymfios) Holy Wednesday 7:30 pm – Last Supper with the Sacrament of Holy Unction Holy Thursday 7.00 pm – The Holy Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Reading of the 12 Gospels  and Procession of the Cross with the Crucified Christ Holy Friday Morning 8.00 – 10.00 pm – Great and Holy Hours 10.00 – ...

Despair and disappointment are the worst thing. It’s a satanic trap to make us lose our appetite for the spiritual struggle and bring us to despair.

The demons usually fight against us in a particular way, but this isn’t an absolute because they’re well aware that they can achieve our downfall by other means of attack. They usually fight with some sort of order, but this isn’t permanent. All they need is to see any opportunity at all, be it natural or acquired, or any crack that will give access for them to strike.

Then you can forgive others, as we said above. So you receive the remission of sins in prayer first and this is necessary so that you can go to your spiritual guide for confession and to receive forgiveness from the Church. Then you’ll also receive it from holy communion. In this way the remission of sins is completed: repentance in prayer, confession and holy communion You’ll receive it in prayer because you’re baptized and repent. Don’t we say: ‘I confess one baptism for the remission of sins?’ In confession you receive it from the priest and at holy communion you receive it from Christ, Who is united with you through His Body and Blood. The remission of sins is given with baptism, confession and holy ...

So long as we work for our bread, it doesn’t matter what our job is. Of Adam’s sons, one was a farmer the other a herdsman. All occupations are good, so long as we remain close to God. Saint Paul, in order not to eat bread without having earned it, worked with his hands. He made tents. And the great saints of our Church also worked. Christ Himself also worked in a carpenter’s shop. He was God and Human, but He still worked. Work is always a virtue for people.

The whole series can be read here: The Theology of Gender St. Basil the Great was indeed a great figure in the history of Christianity, a charismatic hierarch with significant contribution in various areas. With concern to our topic, we will examine the pastoral and canonical aspects of his multifarious work. The most important characteristic of his personality is that he had a tremendous education, rare for his time, and was an eloquent speaker. He was a master of oratory and law. His broad education makes his views on issues of law authoritative. Given, however, that St. Basil never wrote in order to satisfy his personal needs or to express abstract theories, but to offer pastoral guidance to his Christian flock ...

Every member of the Church isn’t just a guest, but is also an apostle of the Gospel of Christ.