Ξένες γλώσσες

Uprightness is simplicity, innocence and untarnished purity of the soul. It’s virtue of the highest order, because it’s the fruit of Christian perfection. Upright people are interested day and night in learning about the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect, in order to conform to it. They examine their lives and investigate the depths of their hearts. They will not allow anything in there, they eject any evil desire and cast out every passion.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. It is not only awesome, at times it is frightening to preach the Word of God, because the Lord said "By thy words thou shall be judged." Judged, because if you proclaim God's truth and remain idle and not the doer of what the Lord has commanded, and what you know well enough to proclaim to others - then, how shall you stand before the judgement of God? This does not apply only to the priest, but to every Christian who is called to be a witness, an apostle, one that brings God's word to the people who are in darkness or twilight, who need divine light, and truth ...

While the Samaritan woman was talking to Christ, she basically didn’t understand what he was saying. He was talking on the level of eternal life. She automatically transferred what she heard to the level of this transitory life. There was no meeting point. This point was created through a ‘sign’- a miracle- that Christ revealed to her. He said, ‘Go and fetch your husband and come back here’. She replied that she didn’t have a husband.  Then Jesus said to her, ‘You’re quite right in saying that you don’t have a husband. You’ve had five and the one you have now isn’t your husband. It was true, what you said’. The words of the Lord shifted the Samaritan woman onto another ...

Spiritual vigilance and your struggle against demonic evil will last until the end of your life. This is because Satan is constantly vigilant and never rests. He’s like a wild lion prowling around, seeking to devour anyone who’s escaped him. Anyone he finds asleep is in trouble.

Our ordinary condition, the condition of all mankind, is one of fallenness, of spiritual deception, of perdition. Apprehending—and to the degree that we apprehend, experiencing—that condition, let us cry out from it in prayer, let us cry in spiritual humility, let us cry with wails and sighs, let us cry for clemency! Let us turn away from all spiritual gratifications, let us renounce all lofty states of prayer of which we are unworthy and incapable! It is impossible "to sing the Lord's song in a strange land" (Ps. 136:5), in a heart held captive by passions. Should we hear an invitation to sing, we can know surely that it emanates "from them that have taken us captive" (Ps. 136:3). "By ...

The Word became flesh; that is, the Son of God, co-eternal with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, became human --- having become incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. O, wondrous, awesome and salvific mystery! The One Who had no beginning took on a beginning according to humanity; the One without flesh assumed flesh. God became man --- without ceasing to be God. The Unapproachable One became approachable to all, in the aspect of a servant. Why, and for what reason, was there such a condescension on the part of the Creator toward His transgressing creatures --- toward humanity which, through an act of its own will had fallen away from God, its Creator? It ...

A meditation for those preparing to stand before the Creator and Church community in the awesome Mystery of Holy Confession, thereby being given the renewal of a second baptism. I, a sinful soul, confess to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, all of my evil acts which I have done, said or thought from baptism even unto this present day. I have not kept the vows of my baptism, but have made myself unwanted before the face of God. I have sinned before the Lord by lack of faith and by doubts concerning the Orthodox Faith and the Holy Church; by ungratefulness for all of God's great and unceasing gifts; His long-suffering and His providence for me, a sinner; by lack of ...

Of course, the mystery of divine migration is different from any other migration and herein is certainly where its value lies, its creative contribution. In essence it is an offer in kind of the gift of a new ethos and completely new manner. In truth it is a voluntary migration, a voluntary exodus from the ‘existential security and certainty’ of an internal triune communion, a communion of love, towards the weak and sick, towards the naked and chastised. I would say that this is a complete inversion and, as the same time reversion. An inversion of the everyday, but certainly not of the directly given as transmitted, where the migrant is the persecuted, forced by circumstances to change place and ...

Just as the shadow follows the body, so God’s mercy follows humble reflections

Any encounter with Christ astonishes people. If you’re not astonished, you should ask yourself whether you actually encountered Christ, if you really felt His presence. This astonishment isn’t inexplicable, nor absurd, but rather it’s understandable and rational. It’s something that occurs when the natural meets the supernatural, the relative meets the absolute and the transitory meets the eternal. When people who are overcome with the fear of death meet the Lord of Life, when the creature gazes upon its Creator, the relationship is incommensurate, unexpected surprises occur. And these surprises become all the more moving when the Lord humbles Himself before His creation, in order to serve it. Indeed, the surprises here aren’t restricted to the general nature of things, but ...

When you turn to Christ, pay no attention to what’s going on inside you. Keep your attention focused on the Lord and beg Him for help. There’s no room for malicious thoughts in a mind focused on the Lord.