2016

Father Kosmas Aitolos was born in 1714 in the Greek village Megalo Dendro (Big Tree) in the region of Aitolia. He studied in Mount Athos, in “Athonias School”, and later he became a monk in Philotheou Monastery.  Because of the lack of education in most of the population, especially in the remote areas of Greece, Father Kosmas was "forced" to live Athos and begin missionary tours in the villages with the aim of educating the poor people. This way he would also be able to help people understand the Scriptures better. In a period of six years he managed to establish 250 schools as well as charities and rural churches. On August 24, 1779 he was executed at Kolkondas, Fier District, ...

Perspicacity is the healthy and unerring assessment of concepts and things so that they can be judged properly in terms of time, manner, place and occasion, and always in terms of edification. Perspicacity is the ability to identify imminent developments before they occur and thus to avoid the harm they might cause. Perspicacity is a kind of foresight through which a healthy intellect forestalls what is about to happen. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which is granted as a prize to those who observe the dictates of their conscience scrupulously and who carefully keep the divine commandments. Perspicacity, in the sense of discrimination, is also the instrument which the Church uses to guide its children in the turmoil ...

‘He has put down the mighty from their thrones and elevated the humble’ (Luke 1, 52). This hymn to the Mother of God is reflected fully in the spiritual personality of Fr. Alexei Medvedkof’. With these words, Fr, Pavel Poukhalsjj began the funeral oration for Fr. Alexei, standing beside his coffin on 4 October, 1957. The deceased had been born in 1867, in a village in the province of Viazma, a member of the family of a young priest who died after the child was born. A life of poverty and deprivation began for little Alexei. Nevertheless, as a child of a clergyman, he attended a Church school and went on to study at a Seminary, where he decided to follow his father’s ...

He was born at Vourla of Smyrna in Asia Minor. First he lived as a monk at the Cell dedicated to Christ’s Birth at the Skete of St Anne. Then he stayed at the Cell of the Archangels, where he looked after Elder Antony and his fellow brother Chrysanthos until the end of their days. He was standing up so much that his feet became rotten. Then he was invited to live with Elder Azaria (+1947) at St John’s the Forerunner Cell. He was also a very good hagiographer. He painted the miraculous icon of St Erine Chrysovalantou at Lykobrysi in Attiki. Fr Chrysanthos (+ 1981) wrote: ‘Nektarios was so compassionate that he would have given the walls of his cell ...