Struggle to warm up your heart and you’ll see how a warm heart reins in unruly thoughts. You have to practice violence on yourself. Without toil and intellectual effort you won’t acquire anything spiritual. » Saint Theophan the Recluse
Easter! “The Feast of Feasts and the Season of Seasons”! Tonight we celebrate the Resurrection! The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s why our hearts are filled with such an exceptional joy! The faces radiate! The eyes shine! And the lips do not cease repeating the victorious paean: “Christ is Risen”! One may wonder why our souls are filled with so much joy tonight? What is it that motivates the crowds of the faithful, men and women, young and old alike, to come to the Orthodox churches in order to light up their resurrection candle and to proclaim “Christ is Risen”? Even people, who do not go to church very often, feel the need to participate along with all believers ...
In his Easter Homily, Saint John Chrysostom announces that ‘Christ has risen and we can take part in life’*. This means that Christ has risen and we now have true life, or, in other words, Christ has risen and I can live as a free citizen, I’m free from the power of the evil one, I’m free from death, I’m living real life, granted to me by the Lord Who rose from the dead. So the Lord’s resurrection isn’t merely a historical event. It’s something incomparably more sublime and significant than the events recorded by history. Christ’s Resurrection is the source of life, hope and incalculable spiritual power. It may be that no one can express fully this power which is ...
Our Church today celebrates the feast of a martyr. If we try to pay any tribute to the celebrated martyr, we will demean him. This particular Saint is the glory of all martyrs, the boast of the Saints and the prestige of the Heavens and the Church Triumphant. He is the all- mighty George. No Christian exists who has not called upon George’s sweet name, be it a baby or a man on his deathbed. There is no Christian country which does not boast of a church dedicated to his name, even if it is now in ruins. This guiding light of a Saint hides a great mystery not properly deciphered yet. Why do people love him so much? His ...
The times and years of the world are pleasant, but vanish like smoke. They’re like a fleeting dream and our days are like shadows. The evening passes quickly and the morning doesn’t linger… Make haste, then, sinner, to receive forgiveness while the light of day still shines upon you. » Saint Ephraim the Syrian
You can’t concentrate your mind at the time of prayer. What can you do? The Lord sees that your weakness isn’t due so much to your indifference, but more to the conditions of your life. And when he sees that you’re sorry, he forgives you. We can’t expect the same spiritual watchfulness from people who live in the world as we do from those who’ve left the world behind, that is the monastics. There are difficulties. What can we do? That’s life here on earth. Is anybody free of its problems? Just make sure that you’ve got something to do every hour of the day. If your time’s taken up completely, you’ll suffer less from lethargy. At the same time, fight to keep ...
‘You came down to earth to save Adam, and not finding him on earth, Lord, You descended into Hades to seek him’. This verse, from the Lamentations on Great Saturday, states, in a very concise yet apt manner, the plan of Divine Providence for the salvation of humankind, in the persons of Adam and Eve. The second person of the Holy Trinity, that is the Son and Word of God became a perfect human being in order to save us. He came down from heaven into the womb of the Virgin Mary, so that He could become the same as us and in order to call us to our heavenly home. In this verse, the hymnographer refers to the aim of ...
We all need to be loved and to have this love demonstrated, in word and deed, because we were created from love and we’re kept alive by it. When we feel loved, we dare to attempt difficult tasks, to continue on our path, to endure trials. If even human love has such power, how much more so has God’s love for us. Because our God, the God of our Fathers, loves us enormously, limitlessly. He showed it by sharing our human existence, our pain and death. As Metropolitan Anthony Bloom put it, Hell is a condition, it’s the deprivation and loss of God. This is apparent from Christ’s cry on the Cross: ‘’My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ ...
Pastoral Letter of Metropolitan Silouan of Byblos, Botrys and dependencies on the 6th Anniversary of the Kidnapping of His Eminence Metropolitan Paul of Alepo April 22, 2013-2019 ______________________________________________________ The “Master of Eloquence and Silence” Between the Silence of Man and the Silence of God “God finished on the seventh day His work, which He had done: and He rested on the seventh day of all His work, which He had made” (Genesis 2:2) “Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo is on an ecclesiastical mission.” This is an expression that occurred to me in the first days after Monday, April 22, 2013 (the day he was kidnapped), an expression that opened a window through which I have tried to explore the mystery of that great day, a day of God’s work in the history ...
PATRIARCHAL ENCYCLICAL FOR HOLY PASCHA Prot. No. 257 + B A R T H O L O M E W By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church: May the Grace, Peace and Mercy of Christ Risen in Glory be with you All Venerable brothers and beloved children in the Lord, Having run the course of the race of Holy and Great Lent in prayer and fasting, and having reached the salvific passion of Christ God, today we are rendered participants in the joy of His splendid Resurrection. The experience of Resurrection belongs to the core of Orthodox identity. We celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection not only during the feast of Holy Pascha and the ensuing paschal period, but on each Sunday ...
We’re like nettles. From a distance, they look green, fresh, like a plain or a garden, but when you get close to them and touch them, then you see their ugliness and feel their sting. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite
It seems very difficult to become good, but in fact it’s easy, provided you have good experiences when you’re little. As you grow up, you don’t have to make great efforts, because you’ve got goodness within you, you live it. You don’t work at it, you experience it, its your property which, if you’re careful, you’ll have with you for the rest of your life. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
The Grace of the Holy Spirit, true faith in God, united to all good works and the confession of the name of Jesus Christ are the prerequisites for our salvation. Grace is given to those who believe in Christ and live in repentance. » Elder Cleopa Ilie
Don’t impose on your children without discernment. I tie my tomatoes up with pieces of cloth. If I tied them with wire, it would cut into them. It needs care. Children today have a strong engine, but square wheels. This is why they need help to get started. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite
That’s what evil’s like: it darkens the reason and brings to the edge of the cliff those who’ve gone astray from the right path, even if it’s the first time. Evil really is blind and can’t easily see any of the things that are requisite. When wicked people hide away in the holes, the lairs, the caves of evil, it’s impossible for them to cast their gaze upon a ray of light because of the weakness of the eyes of their soul. >Saint John Chrysostom
We should learn to love rather than want other people to love us. We should love everyone and make selfless sacrifices, as great as possible, for all our brothers and sisters in Christ, without expecting praise and love from them. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
In his Letter to the Philippians, the great Apostle to the Nations, St.Paul urges us to always be joyful. He stresses it repeatedly, that the Christian should always have joy. Along with this, he also tells us the ways a Christian can manage to do so, even in the midst of problems and difficulties. To have a calm spirit, and not give in to melancholy, fear, agony or turmoil. First, he advises us to be friendly and conciliatory towards others. To understand other people and not quick to anger: “Let your gentleness be known to all men” (verse 5). No matter how hard this may seem to us, it can be done if we remember that all the things that bother ...
Wealth doesn’t destroy and neither does poverty. What does destroy is bad intentions, which cannot use either of these states properly. Intentions beget more intentions and just as a flame burns more fiercely the more it’s fed with wood, the same is true of intentions. Evil and virtue aren’t the result of nature, but of the intentions. >Saint John Chrysostom
The Raising of Lazarus Excerpt from the book by Aikaterina Tsotsakou-Karveli, ‘Λαογραφικό Ημερολόγιο, Οι δώδεκα μήνες και τα έθιμά τους’ (The Twelve Months and their Customs) published by Pataki. Lazarus Saturday is dedicated to Poor Lazarus, his death and resurrection. It’s a portent of the death and Resurrection of Christ, which will be celebrated the following week. According to Saint John’s Gospel, Lazarus was a friend of Christ and died in Bethany: In the town of Bethany Martha weeps and So does Mary for their brother, Lazarus The faithful friend of their hearts Then after four days, Christ raised him in order to demonstrate the victory over death and to prepare the ground for His own Resurrection. Tradition says that Lazarus was so terrified by the Underworld, ...
There are people who never turn to God and never pray. Suddenly their soul experiences melancholy, their spirit worry and their heart sorrow. Then they realize that in such unhappiness no-one can help them. This is why they turn to God and say with a deep sigh: ‘Lord, have mercy upon me’ And the Lord hears them, although at first they only just sense divine Grace. Later they experience it much more and feel relief. » Venerable Nectarios of Optina
