Πεμπτουσία

If we were to ask some prominent citizen, not to save our life but simply to do us some small favor, would we not fix our gaze and our heart on him? Would we not literally ‘hang upon’ the expression of his face, with great attention, in order to ensure his consent, even with just a nod of his head? We would not tremble in case an inappropriate or gauche word from us would irritate him and change his good intentions towards us. If we were to find ourself in some court or other with a prosecutor against us and we, at the most critical time in the trial, started to cough, to spit, to laugh, to yawn or to fall ...

The body and soul can’t be liberated from the yoke of the passions unless the spirit is first liberated. And the spirit is liberated by divine Grace. How? When it acquires the fear of God and repents.

In the Gospel reading for the 11th Sunday of Matthew, known as the parable of the thousand talents, we see on the one hand the mercy and loving-kindness of God and on the other the callousness of people. The occasion for this parable was Saint Peter’s question to Christ as to how many times we should forgive those who have wronged us. Should it be seven times? The parable presents a servant who was deeply in debt to a leading man in the region. This leader cancelled his debt. Feeling incredibly happy, the servant was on his way home when he met a fellow-servant who owed him a small amount, certainly in comparison to the debt which had been cancelled. He ...

The answer to the question of whether Europe is Christian or not presupposes that we all mean the same when we talk about Christianity. In fact, the opposite is true, which is why there are conflicting answers to the question. If, as Christianity, we mean cultural heritage and identity, then, yes, Europe, with all its Christian monuments and extensive Christian literature is certainly Christian. If, on the other hand, we mean personal belief in Christ as God and the Redeemer of the world- a faith which becomes active through love of one’s neighbor- and in His Resurrection as guarantee and harbinger of the general resurrection, then not many would respond positively to the question. Christians are people who constantly place themselves ...

‘The grave and death did not hold the Mother of God, our unshakeable hope, unsleeping in prayers and protection’ . Nine days have passed since the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God and the holy hymnographer again reaffirms his faith in the miraculous event when we sing ‘The grave and death did not hold the Mother of God, our unshakeable hope, unsleeping in prayers and protection’. This is why we, too, as faithful children of Our Lady Mother, also hasten to venerate her grace, to express our love and gratitude towards her and to entrust to her maternal love all the petitions and longings of our soul and of our life. We have recourse to her grace in the faith ...

For a short time the Holy Mountain was calm . Then World War I began. The Central Powers had blockaded Greece and hunger was making itself felt on the Holy Mountain, particularly among those living in kellia and sketes. The monasteries were slightly better off because they had their dependencies. Then the committee representing the monks living in kellia elected Fathers Chrysostomos Lavriokelliotis and Averkios, provided them with money and official papers stamped by the police and sent them to Athens to buy wheat for the Holy Mountain. The blockade was tight and wheat was very hard to come by. The Powers allowed only one steam-boat to discharge its cargo for the whole of Greece. Through the Gounaris government, the monks weren’t ...

The rich young man in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 9, 16-26) begins with an important motive: he seeks an answer about eternal life from Him Who is Eternal, real Life. He seeks an answer to salvation from the Savior. ‘Good teacher, what should I do to have eternal life?’ . And the Lord answers him: ‘Keep the commandments’. He had such confidence in himself. Such certainty regarding his moral credit. Such conviction concerning his self-knowledge. But the poor man was being mightily deceived. His attitude to Christ after this demonstrated that he wasn’t in fact observing the commandments of God, as he claimed, but was actually breaking them. He thought he had self-knowledge, but, in reality, didn’t. Because self-knowledge ...

According to the Gospel, his disciples then came, took away his body and buried it (Matth. 14, 13). Those of you who love history, look at how the burial of this righteous man is depicted and gives the lie to those enemies of the holy icons, who are also enemies of the truth. Fix the story in your minds and draw useful conclusions. How they took the saint, bound in heavy chains, from the prison How the executioner, like a wild animal, raised the sword against the holy head. How, after the beheading, the myrrh-exuding head was offered to the raving Herodias. And also how the sacred body was buried by the hands of his disciples, who all stood there, ...