In English

‘How great and unsearchable is the depth of your compassion, Merciful Lord. You were patient with the Jews who struck you; with the apostle who touched you; with the perplexed who dismissed you. How were you incarnated? How were you crucified, you who are sinless? But instruct us Lord, that, like Thomas, we may cry to you: My Lord and my God, glory to you’.  (Doxastiko, Vespers on Thomas Sunday). We’re perplexed today, also, regarding faith and Christ. On the one hand, rationalism and the achievements of our times and on the other habit, as well as the fact that these days everybody has an opinion about everything, all combine to make us see faith as something ordinary, mundane, one of ...

The present is an outline of the future. The future life will be a continuation of the our present internal state, somewhat modified are regards its degree, however. For the righteousness this means the fulness of eternal glory and for sinners condemnation to eternal punishment. Saint John Kronstadtskij

Fasting is a theological action, and sin has a theological hypostasis. We don’t avoid sin because it will upset our nervous system or because it’s better for our health to do so. A God who needs things like that isn’t the God of the Gospels, but is Zeus or Cronos and all those who, when they became angry, launched bolts of lightning and did wicked things in the world. The true God has another dimension and seriousness. So this young man read books in which a certain psychiatrist told him that if he committed this sin of the flesh he’d suffer a variety of ailments. He went to see an Elder on the Holy Mountain and told him he ...

I have come pay off in good time an outstanding debt. I may be poor, but I want to forcibly draw on your gratitude. I promised to show the unbelief of Thomas, and here I am to do just that. I’m more than willing to pay off the first debt so that I’m not crushed by accumulated interest. Cooperate with me, then, so that I can deposit what’s owed and entreat Thomas, that by laying on my lips the holy hand which touched the Lord’s side, he will inspire my tongue to explain what you desire. Taking courage from the prayers of the apostle and martyr Thomas, I shall declare first his doubt and then his confession which is the ...

Signs of progress of the soul are: a) a rich prayer life; b) absence of pride and a willingness to overlook the failings of our neighbors; c) a desire to leave the body; d) joyful fortitude in sorrows; and e) gratitude and praise to God for everything. Saint Isaac the Syrian

Just as God is patient with you and puts up with you, so you must be patient with your children. You have a duty to advise them, not with friction and anger but calmly and peacefully. If they don’t listen, the responsibility’s all theirs. You must then entreat God to illumine them and guide them in the path of his commandments. Saint Iakovos Tsalikis

John and his brother James were the sons of Zebedee and Salome and came from Bethsaida, a town on the shore of Lake Tiberias. In Aramaic, the name Bethsaida means ‘fishing/fishermen’s place’ and it’s clear that most of the inhabitants of the town were involved in fishing. The two apostles, James and John, also followed this profession, as did their father. Indeed, they were colleagues of Saint Peter, as is clear from Saint Luke’s Gospel: ‘so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon’ . Saint Mark also mentions their profession in his Gospel: ‘He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. ...

It’s very difficult to diagnose pride within yourself. But here are some symptoms: if you’re attacked by demons and tormented by wicked thoughts, this means that you don’t have humility. So, even if you aren’t aware of your pride, humble yourself. Saint Silouan the Athonite

If the flesh attracts something wicked and if the earthly body drags down the nous, even though the latter is making its way upwards, or at least was created in order to do so, let the divine image remove the mud,  and let it force the flesh, which is under the same yoke, to turn upwards. Saint Gregory the Theologian

Once upon a time I thought that if a person saw a saint, they’d immediately be astonished, as I was when I saw a man of God. One example would be Elder Païsios with whom we were in close contact for so many years. People would go to him and would change just at the sight of him, without him saying anything at all to them. Others went, though, and he’d try to convince them and it made no difference at all. In fact quite a lot were scandalized and left, calling him various unpleasant names, claiming he was a wizard or a fakir or that he’d been to India to learn Hindu techniques. Each of them understood the ...

The event of Christ’s Resurrection is the continuation not of the Passion, but of providence, that is, God’s undertaking for the salvation of humankind. Had Christ ended up in the grave and remained there, everything would have been in vain. Our faith would have been in vain, our preaching pointless and everything we do to no avail. If we take away Christ’s Resurrection, everything collapses and, automatically, nothing’s left at all. But if Christ rose, then it follows that all people will be raised in Christ. Saint Paul says that just as we all became mortal through one man, Adam, because we inherit death from the first human person, so, through another person, Christ, we shall all be raised and ...

Finally, the Lord’s Resurrection inaugurated and renewed the reconciliation of the imperishable with the perishable; it allowed the entry of uncreated divine grace into the earthen vessel, as of yore in paradise, so that, after his Resurrection, the Lord could enter the place where his disciples were gathered ‘behind closed doors’. They were talking about what had happened in Jerusalem; that the Lord had risen; and that he’d been revealed to them at Emmaus ‘at the breaking of the bread’. They thought they were seeing a ghost, but he calmed them and said: ‘Look at my hands and feet to confirm to yourself that it’s really me. Feel and be convinced, because a ‘ghost’, a ‘spirit’ doesn’t have flesh and ...

Creation suffers the Passion of its Creator. The sun hides its rays. The earth quakes and the veil of the temple is rent in two ‘from top to bottom’ (Matth.. 27, 51). The Savior is put to death and Joseph from Arimathea, a secret disciple of Christ, presents himself to Pilate to request the dead body of his teacher: ‘Give me this stranger’, he cried, ‘who, from infancy has sojourned as a stranger. Give me this stranger whom his own race hated and put to death as a stranger’. Christ’s secret disciple reveals the secret name of his teacher, the name that accompanied him throughout his life, from infancy to his death on the cross: ‘Stranger’. When he was born in Bethlehem, his ...

In the magnificent service on Great Friday, we sang the compelling and wonderful doxastiko from the ninth hour ‘Today he who hung the earth on the waters hangs upon the cross’, which ends ‘we venerate your Passion, Christ. Show us your glorious Resurrection’. Thereafter, in the doxastiko of Vespers on Great Saturday, the day ‘on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all his labors, through the dispensation of death’, we saw that the Lord rested in the body, because this is the blessed Sabbath, the great day of the Lord’s rest. And today, the maker of heaven and earth ‘returns to where he had been…’ and shows us his glorious Resurrection. So the holy day of Easter has arrived this ...

We people aren’t only bodies. We also have a soul. Even when the body ceases to exist, the soul continues to live. But without the body, it’s as if it’s naked. When it’s separated from the body, it feels stripped. And, until the second coming, it’ll feel poorer, which is why, until the second coming, every soul ‘awaits the resurrection of the dead and life in the age to come’. The all-praised apostle, Paul, says that our body is the home of the soul here on earth. When we leave this life, God will give our soul another home in heaven, a home which won’t be built by human hand. This is what we expect. This will be our great reward. ...

Christ has risen! What message could be stronger or more telling than that? What’s worse for human existence than death? And if ‘Jesus the Nazarene’ doesn’t redeem us from death, what are we supposed to do with his teaching, however attractive it might be? Two thousand years ago, in Jerusalem, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ turned human history upside down, changed the lives of millions of people and gave us hope for life, both here and in the future. And yet it can’t be proved. It transcends reason, it makes nonsense of computations, it confound feelings. It’s an event that’s believed in, not proved. This isn’t of course, to say that those who believe in it do so because they’re gullible or just because others ...

Today the Lord has descended into the vaults of Hades. Saint Peter says that he did so to preach to the spirits in prison . He descended into the cheerless, somber realms of death, where there is never a smile, in order to seek out the whole of humanity, from Adam and Eve to those who had died at that hour. He descended into Hell and illumined it; through his presence, hell became paradise and the sleeping spirits of the righteous, weary of waiting in expectation and longing for him, desiring redemption, life and light and joy, leapt and exulted. As much as the devil and his kingdom were embittered by the presence among them of the Victor of Life, so much ...

a) …Today, beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ was handed over. On the coming evening, the Jews took him and led him away. But don’t be dejected on hearing that Jesus was handed over; or rather, do be dejected and weep bitterly, but not over Jesus who was betrayed, but over the traitor, Judas. For the former, who was handed over, saved the whole world; whereas the latter, the traitor, lost his own soul. He who was betrayed sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven; he who betrayed him is now in hades, awaiting condign punishment. So do weep and moan for his sake; mourn for his sake, since even our Master shed tears for him. Seeing him, ...

In their works, the hymnographers of the Orthodox Church express their approach and perception of events, as presented by Orthodox tradition, in a particular way. With the Gospel and hymnographical texts as our guide, we shall approach the role of the disciples in the preparation of the Last Supper, insofar as this is possible. The hymnological texts as a source for the interpretation of the events of the Passion All the Evangelists mention the preparation of the Last Supper before the Jewish Passover. It was a formal and important process, as we shall see below, and one which was probably performed every year by Christ and his disciples. This Passover would be different, however, because our salvation would be accomplished. This is ...