Πεμπτουσία

Our holy Abbot, Archimandrite Gavriil, had gone to Karyes for the Double Assembly which had been called by the Holy Community, and on his return told us about the appearance of the Holy First-Martyr Stephen, which occurred in the chapel in our representative’s house (konaki). On the previous Sunday, 14 July, the feast of our Holy Father Saint Nikodimos the Athonite, the Monastery’s representative invited the very devout Hieromonk Fr. Nikostratos to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the konaki. He was also the representative of his own Monastery, the venerable Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleïmon. The wonder-working icon of Saint Stephen which is in the chapel of the same name in the konaki of the Monastery of Dionysiou in Karyes, on ...

Thunder and rain are followed by pleasant weather and calm. A soul which has been relieved through sorrow and mourning and has been cooled with tears enjoys a special kind of calmness and peace from which, like the fragrance of perfumes, pure prayer rises and acts.

Just as healthy eyes seek the light, so a fast which is kept with discernment is followed by the desire for prayer.

Those who are conquered by desires and pleasures and spend their lives dwelling ‘in the world’ will quickly fall into the snares of sin. And when sin’s happened once, it’s fire to dry grass, a stone rolling down a hill, a ravine making the torrents flow faster And it prepares the perdition of the sinner in all ways possible.

Christmas, which by God’s Grace we’re celebrating again this year, gives us the opportunity to delve deeper into the mystery of God’s love. His gifts to us are manifold and priceless. The greatest of them, however, is the incarnation of His Only-Begotten Son, without which we would still be hopeless prisoners of the devil and of death. Saint Gregory Palamas says: ‘What depth of riches, wisdom and divine love for humankind! In this way, God, in His wisdom, power and love for us, experiences at first hand the repercussions of our willful misconduct and shapes them into something incomparably better. Because, if the Son of God hadn’t descended from heaven, we would have had no hope of ever ascending to heaven. ...

All the evils you’ll ever come across are offshoots of avarice. Wherever you find them flourishing, whether it’s at home, in the market-place, in the courts, in parliament or at court.

Everybody is made in the image of God. But the ‘likeness’ belongs only to those who, with great love, have subjected their freedom to God. Because when we cease to belong to ourselves, then we’re like Him, Who reconciled us with Himself through love. Nobody can achieve this unless they convince their soul not to be lured by the easy glory of this world. » Saint Diadochus of Photice

When the soul’s in turmoil, it clouds the reason and doesn’t see clearly. When the soul’s calm it illumines the reason which then sees clearly the cause of each thing. The soul’s very profound and only God knows it. Why should we seek darkness? Light a candle and the darkness disperses by itself. If we let Christ reside in our soul, the demons will depart of their own accord. When Christ enters us, then we just experience what’s good; love for the whole world. Evil, sin and hatred disappear by themselves, because they can’t do otherwise, there’s nowhere for them to remain. Don’t be concerned about whether other people love you, but about whether you love Christ and other people. That’s the only way ...

The people who ‘trouble’ God are those who doubt, hesitate, or, even worse, put up resistance to His power and His wisdom. Our soul shouldn’t rebel and say: ‘Why did God do that; why this not that; Couldn’t He have done things differently?’ All of this indicates a mean spirit and contrariness. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

✠ Bartholomew By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the plenitude of the Church Grace, mercy and peace from the newborn Savior Christ in Bethlehem Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, Having once again arrived at the great feast of the Lord’s Nativity, we glorify with hymn and spiritual song the One who emptied Himself for our sake and assumed our flesh so that He might redeem us from captivity to evil and open the gates of paradise to the human race. The Church of Christ rejoices as it liturgically experiences the whole mystery of Divine Economy and receives a foretaste of the glory of the eschatological kingdom, offering a good and godly witness to faith, hope and love in the ...

The term ‘Tradition’ is used in the Church to denote the sum of the truths of the faith which have been preserved orally and passed on to the Church, as a living repository of the experience of its body. In essence, Tradition is the ark in which are preserved and transferred, on the one hand, the accumulated experience of the past and, on the other, the articles of faith which are of saving significance for the body of the faithful and which have been passed on orally over the centuries, incorporated and adjusted to the environment of the truths of the Church. We often find that the notion of Tradition in the Church is defined with some sort of adjective, ...