In English

In the Gospel reading for the 11th Sunday of Matthew, known as the parable of the thousand talents, we see on the one hand the mercy and loving-kindness of God and on the other the callousness of people. The occasion for this parable was Saint Peter’s question to Christ as to how many times we should forgive those who have wronged us. Should it be seven times? The parable presents a servant who was deeply in debt to a leading man in the region. This leader cancelled his debt. Feeling incredibly happy, the servant was on his way home when he met a fellow-servant who owed him a small amount, certainly in comparison to the debt which had been cancelled. He ...

The answer to the question of whether Europe is Christian or not presupposes that we all mean the same when we talk about Christianity. In fact, the opposite is true, which is why there are conflicting answers to the question. If, as Christianity, we mean cultural heritage and identity, then, yes, Europe, with all its Christian monuments and extensive Christian literature is certainly Christian. If, on the other hand, we mean personal belief in Christ as God and the Redeemer of the world- a faith which becomes active through love of one’s neighbor- and in His Resurrection as guarantee and harbinger of the general resurrection, then not many would respond positively to the question. Christians are people who constantly place themselves ...

‘The grave and death did not hold the Mother of God, our unshakeable hope, unsleeping in prayers and protection’ . Nine days have passed since the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God and the holy hymnographer again reaffirms his faith in the miraculous event when we sing ‘The grave and death did not hold the Mother of God, our unshakeable hope, unsleeping in prayers and protection’. This is why we, too, as faithful children of Our Lady Mother, also hasten to venerate her grace, to express our love and gratitude towards her and to entrust to her maternal love all the petitions and longings of our soul and of our life. We have recourse to her grace in the faith ...

For a short time the Holy Mountain was calm . Then World War I began. The Central Powers had blockaded Greece and hunger was making itself felt on the Holy Mountain, particularly among those living in kellia and sketes. The monasteries were slightly better off because they had their dependencies. Then the committee representing the monks living in kellia elected Fathers Chrysostomos Lavriokelliotis and Averkios, provided them with money and official papers stamped by the police and sent them to Athens to buy wheat for the Holy Mountain. The blockade was tight and wheat was very hard to come by. The Powers allowed only one steam-boat to discharge its cargo for the whole of Greece. Through the Gounaris government, the monks weren’t ...

The rich young man in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 9, 16-26) begins with an important motive: he seeks an answer about eternal life from Him Who is Eternal, real Life. He seeks an answer to salvation from the Savior. ‘Good teacher, what should I do to have eternal life?’ . And the Lord answers him: ‘Keep the commandments’. He had such confidence in himself. Such certainty regarding his moral credit. Such conviction concerning his self-knowledge. But the poor man was being mightily deceived. His attitude to Christ after this demonstrated that he wasn’t in fact observing the commandments of God, as he claimed, but was actually breaking them. He thought he had self-knowledge, but, in reality, didn’t. Because self-knowledge ...

According to the Gospel, his disciples then came, took away his body and buried it (Matth. 14, 13). Those of you who love history, look at how the burial of this righteous man is depicted and gives the lie to those enemies of the holy icons, who are also enemies of the truth. Fix the story in your minds and draw useful conclusions. How they took the saint, bound in heavy chains, from the prison How the executioner, like a wild animal, raised the sword against the holy head. How, after the beheading, the myrrh-exuding head was offered to the raving Herodias. And also how the sacred body was buried by the hands of his disciples, who all stood there, ...

People of the flesh, of the emotions, see the world in the same way as irrational animals do. They can’t understand the wisdom, the power and the goodness of the Creator, which are hidden in His creation. In other words, they see no further than their noses. They don’t know how to worship God ‘in spirit and truth’

So what did he say to Herod? “You’re not allowed to live with her”. He reminded him of the divine law, as if saying to him: “Look and see what the Law orders you to do. If there are two brothers and one of them dies without issue, the widow is not allowed to marry a stranger. The brother of the deceased shall marry her and the child who is born will take the name of the deceased, and thus his name will not be lost in Israel (Deut. 15, 5). That’s what the law says. But you’ve taken the wife of your brother and she already has a child. Don’t transgress against the ordinance put in place by the ...

How wounded our natural love is! How deep the wound of strong passion is that it bears. When the heart is engulfed with powerful passion, it’s capable of every kind of injustice, every kind of transgression, as long as it satisfies its sick love.

Watch our news bulletin in English with Charilaos Tzannis:  Πηγή: www.orthodoxianewsagency.gr

  The feast day of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos, and Ever Virgin Mary, was celebrated...

The memory of St. Joseph the Hesychast was commemorated this year in his birthplace for the first time since his...

  This month’s decision by Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to convert the Chora Church into a mosque is...

  Some 500,000 voters will head to the ballot boxes on Sunday in the small Adriatic country of Montenegro, in...

The oldest Greek-language newspaper in Australia, “Vima tis Ekklisias”, which is published by the Archdiocese of Australia, unveiled an online...

On Thursday morning, August 14/27, 2020, Fore-feast of the Dormition, the Service of the Lamentations was held at the Patriarchate...

If we wish to bear easily every sorrow and temptation, let us keep our eyes trained always on death for the sake of Christ. The commandment we have is to take up our cross and follow Him, ready and willing to die. Because those who desire to die for Christ will have no difficulty at all with painful and sorrowful things. And those who wish to become heirs to Christ must zealously desire His sufferings. So we have to push ourselves to virtue, even if we don’t want to: to love, when we lack love; to meekness when this is missing; to having a caring and merciful heart; to prayer when we don’t have spiritual prayer. When God sees our ...

Friday, August 15th, 2020 – His Grace Bishop Irinej paid a visit to his Episcopal See in New York City,...

Beloved in the Lord, I wish to share with you this letter which I received from His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros...

AHEPA has opened its Emergency Relief Fund to provide assistance to the victims of the wildfires that are devastating California...