Ξένες γλώσσες

Today, on this Sunday after the Elevation of the Holy Cross, we are once again reminded of the blessings that our Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross has given us. The Lord was crucified on Golgotha, and it was there that He took upon Himself the iniquity of sin, and all the personal sins of humanity. They were nailed to the Cross with Him, “killing” these sins and destroying them. Or, as the Prayer of 6th Hour says, our Lord Jesus Christ, “by His precious Cross destroyed the record of our sins, triumphing over the source and power of darkness”; Every person who believes in Christ when they are baptized is freed from their sins, and when they come out of ...

Nothing disastrous happens to other people through the passion of envy, which barely saddens or injures them, but it does great harm to the person who feels it.

Watch Daniil Sidorov’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

In careful people, the intellect acts as a watchful guard and sentinel of the inner Jerusalem. From the heights of the spiritual life it sees with its clear eye the opposing forces surrounding and within the soul. In their flesh, people are like lighted candles. The wax is destined to melt and people are doomed to die. The soul is immortal, however, which is why our care and attention should be directed more towards it than to the flesh. ‘For what shall it profit people if they gain the whole world and lose their soul? Or what will they give in exchange for their soul?’ (Matth. 16, 26).

Because spiritual people are humble, they really are stars, moving dizzyingly but quietly, without anyone realizing that they’re really great planets. They hide away, in the far reaches of the heavens, and give people the impression that they’re just little icon lights, hardly glimmering.

Watch Anna Gorpinchenko’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

The greatest act of charity you can perform for people is to pray from them.

The holy land of the Apostolic Church of Antioch is suffering from the horror of war. Yesterday, it was the turn of Lebanon and Iraq, and today it is that of Syria. Thousands of Syrians, including, bishops, priests, monks, nuns, and laymen, all of whom are the indigenous people of this land, have been killed, kidnapped, or forcibly expulsed. All these brutal actions systematically attempt to deprive the faithful of their hope. In a special place in the midst of Syria, there is a touch of divine, unimpeachable hope. It is the war-torn city of Aleppo whose Metropolitan is His Eminence Paul Yazigi. Metropolitan Paul was kidnapped with the Syriac Archbishop of Aleppo, Youhanna Ibrahim. On April 22, 2013, Metropolitan Paul ...

Being judgmental is the great enemy of love. As soon as the thought comes to you to judge somebody else, turn to the Lord straight away and admit: ‘Indeed, Lord, grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my neighbour’.

Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on the feast of the birth of the Theotokos.

Watch Fr John Peck’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

When there are good thoughts in your soul, you feel happy and calm. When peace and joy are in your heart, then the spirit of good, the Holy Spirit, is within you. When you’re overcome with bad thoughts, then you feel out of sorts, upset, and the wicked and cunning spirit of evil is within you.

Sinners are punished for reasons that are important for their character building. Two of these are obvious. First, through punishment, God corrects and brings people to the true path of salvation. Second, by making an example of them, He deters others from committing the same sin.

The lack of simplicity, sincerity and authenticity in relations between people leads to social hypocrisy, meretricious morality and formality and, at the same time, provokes adverse reactions among younger people. The problem is worse when there’s no simplicity even among so-called spiritual people. “When spiritual people don’t live simply, but are all straight-laced, they’re not helping young people”, the late Elder Païsios used to say. And he went on: “When they see straight-laced Christians, hidebound people dressed up in ties, all from the same mould, they don’t see any difference between them and secular people and so they react… They become frustrated when spiritual people themselves and priests try to keep them in check with secular systems… People understand  if you hurt ...

Watch Fr Tom Soroka’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

God allows proud people to be humbled and brought low when they think that they’re secure in their own strength.

Don’t let the devil fool you into thinking that the love and mercy of God will save us. God saves those who strive and make an effort with all their strength to achieve this. Only those who have the pure and clean garment of sanctity will share in and inherit His kingdom.

Watch Fr Ionel Ungureanu’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Prayer is a gift. God grants it where there’s ardour and humility.