Πεμπτουσία

In the city of Ankara, in Galatia, there once lived a monk. We don’t know when he lived. We don’t even know his name. The little we do know about him is that he came from the army, lived near the bishop of the city and was so philanthropic and charitable that he’d even go round at night to help those in need. The clothing he wore wasn’t worth a mite and his food was commensurate. When he was given books, he’d sell them straight away and give the proceeds to the poor. Even if he’d kept the books, he wouldn’t have read them, because his constant involvement with charity precluded any ‘poring over codices’. He hurried around everywhere, to prisons, to hospital ...

Ask the angels and the saints to intercede for you, just as you’d ask people who are alive. Stand face to face with them, in the belief that they’re also standing face to face with you.

If one were to attempt to describe the role and purpose of the Church in a single phrase, one might say that: ‘The aim of the Church is to manifest God to people’. In order to achieve this goal, the Church uses theology, which expresses the faith of the Church in two ways: either through words or through images. However, the power of words and images, when attempting to reveal God, are necessarily limited and so, if we’re to understand their content properly, we have to approach them with great care and always to be aware of the requirements this approach implies. A typical example of the use of images, of icons, to express the faith of the Church is ...

In general terms, Saint Païsios set the greatest store in the spiritual struggle on repentance and unceasing prayer. It was through repentance that he received revelations from heaven. He used to say that the life of a monk was one of repentance and prayer. The monks are the Church’s wireless operators and the aim of their life is to get through to God in order to help people, once they’ve first cleansed themselves of the passions, which are like atmospherics interfering with good communications with the Lord. This is why he used to say that we should ask God only for repentance, so that we’d be washed, because repentance is divine soap in prayer. A sigh of repentance in prayer ...

Watch the second part of Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan sermon on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

From holy Scripture we learn that there are two kinds of wealth: one is praiseworthy and the other is blameworthy. The riches of the virtues are laudable whereas those which are material and earthly are to be condemned. This is because the former are held in possession by the soul, whereas the latter are skilled at deceiving our feelings. This is why the Lord forbids us to lay up such treasure, since it’s exposed to moths to feed off and to thieves to attack (Matth. 6, 19). He insists that we should give priority to the superior riches, which the power of decay cannot touch. And when He talks about moths and thieves, He means him who destroys the riches ...

When we went to the island of Samos, we visited the monastery called Harixenou. The abbot was Abba Isidoros, a virtuous man with great love for others and adorned with simplicity and immeasurable obedience. He later became bishop of the town of Sabia and it was he who told us this story. About eight miles from the city, there was a village with a church. The priest there was a wonderful man, who’d been forced into marriage by his parents, against his will. Not only did he avoid falling into the trap of sensual pleasure, even though he was young and was legally married, but he also had his wife living in purity and restraint. Both of them learned the ...

On the 21st of November, the Church celebrates a special Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her going to the Temple of Jerusalem. As we know from Holy Tradition, her parents Sts. Joachim and Anna were elderly and beyond child bearing years. After many prayers, God blessed them with a daughter, after which they dedicated her to God. They named her Mary, and when she was three years old they brought her to the Temple of Jerusalem, the original having been built by King Solomon. The young Mary was received into the temple community by the Priest Zacharias (the father of St. John the Baptist, and a relative). It is in this sacred atmosphere of the Temple that the pure ...

Bad talk’s a great evil. It’s a terrible thing for others to hurl themselves at you and besmirch you. It happens. Out of nowhere. Suddenly. Sometimes it’s a fair judgment by God on us; sometimes it isn’t. In the first instance, when we ourselves are to blame because we’d been guilty of wicked actions and activities, attributing to others reproaches similar to those aimed at us, it’s our duty not to dwell on how much we’ve suffered but to make sure we put things to right, including ourselves. Then the torrent of abuse against use will stop. In the event that they speak badly about us and we can’t remember ever having done so to the detriment of others, it’s natural for us ...

When we look at the icon of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, we’re conscious of the silence of the Holy Scriptures and listen instead to the augmentation of the Gospels by the sacred Tradition of the Church. This presents us with the preparation of the earthly vessel of the Son and Word, the precious bridal-chamber, the heavenly tabernacle, as she’s described in the kontakio of the feast. Saint John the Damascan declares that she ‘was planted’ in the house of God, that her spirit blossomed like a ‘laden olive-tree’, that she became ‘the refuge of all the virtues’, that she preserved her body and soul until she was able to receive Christ. As the dismissal hymn ...

There are many important reasons why we should fast and confess with a contrite heart. We shall all have a great reward for this conscientious struggle of ours.

‘Just as marriage is a haven, so it can also be a shipwreck. Not by its nature, but by the bad use some people have put it to’. These words of Saint John Chrysostom highlight truths which contemporary society doesn’t wish to see. ‘Marriage is a haven’. In a haven, ships are protected from the storms of the seas. In the same way, the couple, the husband and wife, are protected from the storms of life because they’re together. The instability of human relations, fear of loneliness, the lack of comfort when other people, work, financial woes or politics depress us, the stirring up of emotions, especially in an era of sensualism which drives people to seek pleasure but makes it ...

To love your neighbor as yourself was a commandment of the Law of Moses for the Jews. But the critical point, around which there was much discussion, was who should be considered a neighbor. According to Jewish Law, the concept was often confused and limited. Some teachers of the Law even claimed it was illegal to help a gentile woman in labor, because another gentile would be born. To love your neighbor as yourself, means to love them as your own life. As Elder Sophrony, of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptists in Essex, wrote, it means that you should see the whole of mankind as if it were only one life, only one nature, with a great ...

Offer the words of your prayer gently. Don’t let your mind wander all over the place. This is a narrow and rugged path for a mind that’s used to traveling freely all over the world, but it’s the path that leads to concentration. Those who have experienced the great benefits of concentration will always want to lead their mind on the narrow path that leads to it.