It was people’s duty to elevate themselves towards God, train their minds on Him alone and not to seek pleasure in the worldly delights of created beings. Their adherence to the things of this world led to neglect of their duty to God and to themselves. Because of this neglect, they were separated from God and lost a large portion of the divine power which had been their strength. » Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis
Fr Jonah from Taiwan speaks on the virtues that characterize a christian, referring to Apostle Paul’s epistles.
Grace is attracted by warmth and zeal, but is lost through indifference and laxity. The first thing that causes Grace not only to be attracted, but to multiply and be retained, is a perfect sense of unworthiness and sinfulness. This is what begets true humility. Have patience unto death in all things. >Blessed Joseph the Hesychast
By their nature, men have a bigger dose of pride but, if to the smaller dose that women have you add envy, then the devil becomes more intolerable than this poisonous dose of male pride. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite
Honour you neighbour as an image of God, but do so in your soul, invisibly to others and apparent only in your conscience. Let this payment of respect be secret, but sincere. In other words, let it correspond to your real spiritual inclination.
The path of humility is the quickest and surest. So how does it have obstacles? Well, it does have some. First, because we’re people, not angels and second because we have some old, bad habits which are obstacles for us on the path we’re treading.
As regards what’s good and what’s evil, our conscience does tell us, but only partly, not clearly, because it’s darkened by sin. The teaching of Christ, on the other hand tells us fully and clearly what’s good and what’s evil.
If you love yourself, you can’t love God. People who don’t love themselves, because of the excessive riches of their love for God, really do love Him. They never seek their own advancement, only the glory of God. If you love yourself, you seek your own glory, but if you love God, you seek the glory of your Creator. It’s a characteristic of the spiritually sensitive soul that it always seeks the glory of God in all the actions it performs and is content with its own humility. Because glory is due to God for His majesty, whereas for people humility is more fitting, as the means of growing closer to Him. In everything we do, let us always joyfully ...
Pemptousia is in the happy position of announcing to its reading public that henceforth you will be able to find and obtain many of the titles published by the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopaidi and the ‘Maxim the Greek’ Institute in the form of e-books, through iTUNES and AMAZON. At a time when digital media have become part and parcel of our lives, facilitating many of the everyday, and other, functions that occupy us, the e-book has provided readers with access to an enormous number of publications and books. These are books in digital form which are published with the possibility of being read on line, or, if they’ve been downloaded, on an e-book reader, a computer, a cell phone, a ...
Bold people don’t fear death, which is why they strive nobly and with self-denial. Because they keep death in their mind and think about it every day, they’re better prepared spiritually and they strive more courageously. In this way they disdain vain pursuits and, even in this life, live in eternity, with the joy of Paradise.
Watch the second part of Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on Jesus’ temptations.
We need to pray wholeheartedly for God to give us even the slightest portion of the inexhaustible source of His blessings and spiritual aid. The first thing we should ask is faith and the hope that we’ll receive everything from Him Who is all-merciful and true.
On Sunday 4th August in Melbourne, Australia, the winners of Byzanfest 2019 were announced. After extensive consideration by the judging panel and global audience votes, the winning filmmakers are: Best Film: The Throne of St Sava – by Jakov Popov Best Director: Christmas Anti-Fable – by Efthimios Hatzis Best Cinematography: Christmas Anti-fable – by Efthimios Hatzis Best Screenplay: The Lonely Inventor – by Nicholas Shadeen Best Documentary: Under the Archangels’ Wings – by Dinu Cristian Audience Favourite: Icons – by Craig DiRienzo The award ceremony was streamed live on the Byzanfest Facebook page with several of the nominated filmmakers appearing via Skype. It was a profound experience to be able to engage with filmmakers on the other side of the global whilst streaming to a global audience. ...
When you have tears during prayer it’s a visit from God. When there’s fear of God wisdom’s granted.
The 3rd annual edition of Iasi Byzantine Music Festival organized by the Department of Religious Education of the Metropolis of Moldavia and Bucovina will take place from 2nd to 6th of October 2019. For five days, the city will be the host of well-known national and international choral groups, soloists and researchers from Georgia, Greece, Lebanon, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Therefore, the guests of this edition are the Patriarchy Choir of Tbilisi Holy Trinity Cathedral (Tbilisi, Georgia), Nektaria Karantzi, lecturer Evelina Mineva, ”Romeiko” Ensemble (Greece), ”Theotokos” Orthodox Choir ( Lebanon), ”Saint Ephraim” Male Choir (Hungary), ”Kljuch Razumeniya” Ensemble (Russia), Sergii Radkevich (Ukraine), ”Tronos” Psaltic Group of the Romanian Patriarchy Cathedral, ”Righteous Iosif” Choir of Varatic Monastery, ”Byzantion” Academic Choir, Fr. ...
Orthodoxy is asceticism and life, which is why it’s only through asceticism and life that preaching and mission are accomplished. The internal mission of the Church ought to be to cultivate asceticism- personal and general- among our people. Parishes should be converted into ascetic centres, but that can be achieved only by an ascetic priest. We have to strengthen prayer with fasting, to cultivate good order in church, because this is one of the main ways in which Orthodoxy has a regenerative effect on people. But all this depends on our priests and monastics becoming ascetics themselves.
The Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, near Essex, England is the oldest Orthodox monastic community in the country. It was founded in 1958 by Elder Sophrony (Sakharov), the spiritual child of St. Silouan the Athonite who is himself venerated throughout the Orthodox world. Elder Sophrony served as the monastery’s abbot until his holy repose in 1993. The abbatial post was then taken up by Archimandrite Kyrillos, who served in that capacity until earlier this year, when he retired due to the weakness of his age. He has not been able to serve the Liturgy for more than a year now, though he is now working to instruct the new abbot. For its new abbot, the monastery, consisting of both ...
According to Saint Basil the Great, nothing exists without due cause, nothing’s fortuitous, everything has some secret and unexpressed wisdom. Thus, regarding plants and their fruits, apart from their ecological importance as producers of eco-systems they’re also schools for rational souls and colleges of the knowledge of God, which train the intellect and lead it from the visible and tangible to the contemplation of things invisible. Plants form an important element in the worship of the Orthodox Church. During the Divine Liturgy, bread and wine are used, the products of grain and grape. During the service of the Blessing of the Loaves, grain, wine and oil are blessed. Besides, in accordance with liturgical practice the fruits of the earth, such as ...
For God, everything’s possible. He can reveal to us His created majesty and can create the uncreated. But, for us, the most important thing is that He wants to redeem our soul from sin and death and to grant us life eternal. Let us beseech Him for this night and day!
One of the most serious issues affecting society on all levels is the complete breakdown of relationships between people. This can be seen even within the same family, where spouses are estranged because of disagreements, and there is alienation between children and parents. What is the result? Husband and wife end up divorced. Children cut ties with their parents (or vice versa). It can be seen everywhere in our communities: Brothers, friends, associates, and neighbors are cold to one another, accuse one another (or worse) and avoid each other. There are many reasons why relationships end up in this way. The key reason has to do with our own selfishness. When another person does or says something that offends us, we ...
