Ξένες γλώσσες

We should put question marks against speculations – Elder, what helps to dismiss speculation? – Everything’s always the way you see it. Always put a question mark against every one of your thoughts, because you usually see everything in a bad light. Do the same for any good thought you might have about somebody else, in case you sin in your assessment. If you put two question marks, that’s better. And if you put three, that’s even better. In this way, you stay calm and gain some benefit, and you also benefit other people. Let me give you an example so you can see what bad thoughts can do. One day a monk came and said to me: ‘Old Haralambos is a magician. ...

We thank Thee, O Christ our God, for that Thou hast given the place of this Monastery to Thy servant, our holy Elder Sophrony, as a refuge, as a comfort, unto sanctification, as an indestructible link with the communion of all Thy Saints and a wondrous antechamber of Thy heavenly Kingdom. We thank Thee in like manner, O holy Father Sophrony, for that, by way of the perpetual refrain of suffering throughout thy whole life and the inconsolable cry of thy repentance, Thou hast possessed for our inheritance the knowledge of the mystery of the ways of salvation. Being drawn toward God without return through self-hatred, Thou didst detach Thyself from every created thing and renounce every passionate attachment to earth. Thou ...

‘So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light’. People are erratic. They can ascend  to union with God, ‘a little lower than the angels’; and they can also descend into total depravity, becoming like the demons and worse than animals. Given that we’ve been endowed with free will, we’re called upon to put into effect the ‘likeness of God’, to become god-like, to be united with God. In this process, that is spiritual maturation, we have to evaluate the priorities in our life and make our way forward on the basis of our choices. We’re free to determine the direction of our life and God respects our freedom. God has to dwell at the center of our ...

There are those upon whom the divine law is written, not with ink and letters, but implanted in their hearts of flesh. These people have had the eyes of their mind enlightened and they reach after a hope which isn’t tangible and visible, but is immaterial and invisible. They’re able to overcome the stumbling-blocks of the evil one, not by their own strength, but through the power which is invincible. But those who have not been honored with God’s word, nor instructed by divine law, are ‘vainly puffed up’ (Col. 2,18) and imagine that by their own will they can be rid of the causes of sin, though sin is condemned only through the mystery contained in the cross. It lies within ...

Just think whom you’re standing before at the time of Holy Communion and who are there with you- the cherubim, the seraphim and all the heavenly powers. Bear in mind who you’re praying and singing with. It’s a sobering thought if you remember that, even though you have a material body, you’re being allowed to hymn the Lord of creation together with the bodiless angels. Saint John Chrysostom

Christ is the miracle that astounds us. He is the sign of God for all generations until the end of times, for in His Person every impasse has found its solution. During His earthly life, ‘He lived the tragedy of the whole mankind, and yet tragedy found no place in Him.’ On the contrary, before His utter humiliation, He granted peace to His disciples. In the Person of Christ was revealed the inapproachable and eternal God, but also the true man, as God had conceived him before the foundation of the world in the bosom of the Holy Trinity in His wondrous and pre-eternal Council. In His Person all things were fulfilled, for He is ‘the way, the truth and the ...

Place the greatest weight in your efforts on prayer, because that’s what keeps us in touch with God. And this contact has to be continuous. Prayer is the oxygen of the soul, it’s a need of the soul and shouldn’t be thought of as a chore. Saint Païsios the Athonite

What are the characteristic features of the authentic Christian experience? We can begin by looking at the end of the first chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, the section regarding the call of the disciples. This passage is of particular interest, because it’s an image of how Christ calls each Christian separately and what, in the end, the grace and love of God offer us in the ark of salvation, the Church. In this particular passage, three calls are made, three invitations to three disciples. One is to the apostle Andrew, the second to Philip and the third to Nathaniel. Initially, all three respond to the call with an abundance of spiritual enthusiasm. Andrew says: ‘We’ve found the Messiah’; Philip ran ...

Repentance is the feeling we have that we really are transgressing against God’s commandment. Now this commandment is our cure, but it’s been distorted. When we feel the distortion in our relationship with God, then we begin to pray. This prayer is a quest for God’s mercy, for his existence, because God’s a person; he isn’t an idea. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

How does unceasing prayer lead to humility? Because, if you look into the depths of your soul, you’ll see that there’s nothing good there and that you can’t achieve anything without the help and the grace of God. Then you won’t tire of asking him to have mercy on you and to save you. And you’re deeply humbled, trembling in case you lose the help and grace of God. Then you pray with humility, prayer humbles you further and you progress spiritually. Saint Dimitri of Rostov

Ardent love of Christ is something else. There’s no end to it and it’s never satisfied. It gives life, it gives resilience, it gives health, it gives and gives and gives. And the more it gives, the more we want to love. Human love can eat away at us, can drive us mad. When you love Christ, all other loves fade. Other loves have a saturation point. Love for Christ hasn’t. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis

Prayer can have many forms, as regards it’s extent and expression. It’s shaped according to the instance and the need of the moment. If we need defence and aid, we turn to ‘God who is able to save’ and form our prayer on the basis of the need of the moment. Intercession, supplication, petition,        encounter, confession, thanksgiving, glorification or anything else that’s a pressing need. Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos

The most frequently heard exhortation of the Church which the faithful who attend daily Services hear is, “Let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.”  The Celebrant says this multiple times (as many as ten during Matins and the Divine Liturgy), and some may wonder:  Why is this repeated so much? The answer to this question is simple, in that its repetition shows how important it is for a person to entrust their whole life to our Lord and God Jesus Christ.   This desire to do so is also expressed elsewhere in the Divine Liturgy, in the Prayer just before the Lord’s Prayer:  “We entrust to You, loving Master, our whole life and hope…”  ...

Our religion is love, it’s burning love, it’s excitement, it’s madness, it’s longing for God. It’s all of this, within us. Our soul demands that we make these things our own. For lots of people, though, religion’s a struggle, a worry and an anxiety. This is why we think of many of the ‘religiously-minded’ as being unhappy, because we see the mess they’re in. And it really is like that. Because unless you understand the depth of religion and you actually experience it, then it ends up as an illness, and a terrible one at that. It’s so bad that people lose control of their actions, they become witless and weak, they suffer from worry and stress and behave ...

‘He called them’ In the Gospel reading for the 2nd Sunday of Matthew, Jesus invites the first four disciples to follow him. These were Peter, Andrew and the brothers, James and John. In the Gospels, it appears that Christ called these disciples twice: the first time was by nature of a trial and the second was definitive and occurred during the period after John the Baptist had been killed by Herod. The call described in this Gospel reading is the second, which, as we’ve said was conclusive. The Apostles’ standard of living Who were these fishermen whom the Lord called to be his disciples? They were humble, illiterate and socially insignificant. They didn’t belong to the class of the Scribes and Pharisees. Archbishop ...

Today’s apostolic reading (2nd Sunday of Matthew) speaks about the theme of judgment and conscience. Our God is a God that ‘trieth the hearts and reins’. The day of Judgment will come as a surprise because the Lord will judge the hidden intents of the heart. The judgment will not be the same for all. According to the word of the Lord, those to whom much is given, from them much will be required. And the Apostle confirms: ‘For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.’ In other words, divine grace is an honour but at the same time a cross, ...

It’s painful and unfair that the Church should appear in the eyes of people today, particularly the young, to be a religion that imposesitself on the insecurities, weaknesses and illusions of people. Or even that it takes away the enjoyment of life, creates guilty feelings and encourages antagonism and division. It may be, of course, that this impression is, indeed, given to the outside world by some people who are in a position of responsibility in the Church but are unaware of the spirit of the Holy Fathers who interpreted the Scriptures correctly, because they had the grace of the Holy Spirit. One such Father is Saint Nektarios, who continues the tradition of the Church and teaches ‘right thinking’ (= Orthodoxy). ...

Let’s not believe that we’ll always have inner fervor and that we’ll continuously enjoy inner sweetness. Don’t hope for that. On the contrary, always expect sudden ups and downs. So when you’re under attack from sloth and depression, treat them as being normal in the spiritual life. Saint Theophan the Recluse

For those of us who’ve been fortunate enough to be baptized, good deeds aren’t offered to God in order to receive a reward, but so that we can preserve the purity of holy baptism. Saint Mark the Ascetic

Usually when people feel they’re in a small grouping, they don’t feel comfortable. They’d rather be with a larger entity, even if they’re all rushing over a cliff. Elder Georgios Kapsanis