In English

The holy New Martyr Ahmed was born in the seventeenth century to a Muslim family in Constantinople. By profession he was a copyist in the Great Archives. In accordance with Ottoman law, since he did not have a wife, he had a slave instead, a Russian woman. Another captive from Russia lived together with her, an old woman, also a slave. Both these women were very pious.   On feast days the old woman would go to church. Taking the blessed bread or antidoron, she would give it to the young woman to eat. The old woman would also bring her holy water to drink. Whenever this occurred and Ahmed was close to her, he would smell a beautiful and indescribable fragrance ...

Every time we stand before the Lord either in prayer or in celebration in Church of an event from the life of Christ, or we are in any other way experiencing the presence of the Lord, two basic things happen, which are attested by the Church and the experience of the Saints: Firstly, we are feeling joy because we are experiencing the Lord’s abundant love towards man. He moves our heart into great gratitude, since we are experiencing- to the measure of our spiritual condition- God’s great gift for us. Secondly, by being presented before the Lord we are also standing in a kind of critical judgment for our actions, which leads to our salvation, particularly if this takes place during ...

When I first went to live with my holy Elder, there in that harsh place in the desert, when I was living close to this man, that’s when I became acquainted with my egotism and saw it in practice.

Paraskevi, who out of sheer humility does not wish to reveal her full name, was among the first spiritual children of Elder Sophrony, during the time of her studies in England. She sent us a copy of two handwritten scripts by the blessed Elder. A good wish card which the blessed Elder sent during Christmas 1967, when Paraskevi was going through some difficult times because of the illness of a close relative The outside of the card The Christmas wish card (handwritten): Archimandrite Sophrony The Old Rectroy,Tolleshent Knight by Maldon, Essex Christmass 1967, + Dear beloved in Christ, Sister Paraskevi. May the Lord’s grace and peace be abundant in you. Let me first wish you Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year! Paraskevi, has it ever happened to do something ...

Nationalism is our form of … idolatry ... ''Patriotism'' is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say that by ''patriotism'' I mean that attitude which puts one’s own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one's own nation, which is the concern with the nation's spiritual as much as with its material welfare ... Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one's country which is not part of one's love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship.” (Erich Fromm) I once asked an Orthodox Cypriot nationalist, “If you had no other choice but to worship at either a Greek Anglican ...

Cake Demonstrating Homosexual Marriage The best place to access the views, questions, prejudices and challenges of the World is, I believe, the office water-cooler.  The next best places would be the Huffington Post and (for Canadians), the CBC.  The water-cooler however retains its pride of place as the site more often visited by the common man who, if he retains his common sense, tends to avoid the Huffington Post and the CBC.  Anyway, it was at the office water-cooler that the common man (in this case, a woman) was expressing the common view on gay marriage, and asking with some anger, “If two guys love each other, why can’t they get married?”  The anger accompanying the question indicated that the ...

God is good and loves us and he asks that we should be charitable and perform works of love.

I was having a conversation recently about the Occupy Movement, where it was described to me as violent and un-American. I have to disagree with my fellow Orthodox Christian's viewpoint. Although I do agree that perhaps the youth of the Occupy Movement could be better organized, and it has attracted some rogue rebels without a cause as with any movement, I do not see how speaking out against injustice could ever be a bad thing? In fact, isn't speaking out against injustice a major principle of Jesus' teachings? From my upbringing in the Orthodox faith, I was always under the impression that speaking out against injustice is the ultimate expression of love towards mankind. First of all, I realize that recently part ...

There was a lot of talk in January about Jefferson Bethke’s “Why I hate religion but love Jesus” spoken word video. Since it was posted on January 14, it’s been viewed over twenty million times on Youtube. A lot of Orthodox (and other Christians) have responsed to it. Not one of those responses – not even the one for which I wrote the script – actually acknowledges that Jefferson Bethke might have a point. Jefferson Bethke In an interview after the release of the video, Mr. Bethke said “If you went through the entire poem and replaced the word religion with either legalism or self-righteousness or hypocrisy, it would have not changed my intention or the heart of that poem whatsoever. ...

First version: An undignified Trinity Once upon all the time, there’s God. And from some time there’s human beings. But the reports coming from Earth about the state of humankind are increasingly distressing. The human race is going from bad to worse, despite all God’s efforts, through the various representatives whom He’s sent from time to time to bring it back to its senses. In the face of this anomalous situation, the Holy Trinity meets. It decides to hear the views of people themselves on the subject and to discuss suggestions on how to get round the predicament. In a few days, the representative of humankind arrived, an outstanding personality, a wise Counsellor of the Emperor, who enjoyed great prestige among ordinary people. ...

If Christians have the true faith but no works of faith to show for it, then their faith is in vain and useless.

The last hour of daylight and we’re taking the children for a walk, catching the final rays of light before the sun sets behind the horizon. And she tells me about a woman she met, a fellow pilgrim at the monastery. How she grew up in communist Russia, lost her parents at an early age. Atheism all around her except the quiet presence of her grandmother. And the interior life of this babushka radiated on her exterior gentle hope. Always with Christ, always hidden. Always entered into the closet of her heart, door shut and living the spiritual life in secret. And the Heavenly Father rewarded those around her, opened their hearts. Her quiet ways spoke grace clear, filled the empty ...

Anyone who has not been comatose for the last several weeks has heard of the “Occupy Movement”, which began with the call to “occupy Wall Street” and then spread to other cities in the U.S. and Canada. I suspect that whether or not one’s city has had their main street or social venue “occupied” depends largely upon the relative size of the city. My own neighboring city of Vancouver has been occupied. The town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, I think, has not. In my area, the Occupy Movement has fizzled somewhat; the movement has moved on (as movements are wont to do). I suspect it had a bit to do with the cold weather that comes in a Canadian winter, and ...

The most famous Christmas cookies in Greece are the traditional melomakarona and kourabiedes. Here we present the recipes for the most tasty way of cooking them, as a treat for friends and relatives. Happy cooking! Melomakarona (Christmas honey cookies) Ingredients: 1½ cups of oil 1½ cups of cooking fat 1 cup of sugar ¾ cup of orange juice ¼ cup of cognac 2 teaspoons of orange zest 2 teaspoons of baking powder 1 teaspoon of baking soda 8 cups of all purpose flour For the syrup: 2 cups of honey 2 cups of sugar 2 cups of water For the garnish 1½ cups of finely chopped walnuts, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon of ground cloves Method: Blend or mix the first six ingredients on high speed for four minutes. Sieve the flour, baking powder and soda into a mixing bowl. ...

Don’t you dare despise people because they’re sinners and don’t be unrelenting, because all you’ll do is deepen their wounds. Better to correct them with advice aimed at stopping the harm, or keeping it within reasonable limits.

Elder Germanos was born in the village of Avgorou in the Famagusta region of Cyprus in 1906, to God-fearing parents, Nikolaos and Margarita Hatzigeorgis. When, as a child, he read the life of Saint Ioannis the Hut-Dweller, he was moved to take the decision to follow the monastic way of life.  At the age of 16 he entered the Monastery of Stavrovouni. He displayed exemplary zeal and remarkable obedience as a novice monk. He was  given the blessing of the habit at the age of 24 and his name was changed from Georgios to Monk Germanos. He was ordained deacon the following year, tonsured as a Great Schema monk at the age of 29 and ordained hieromonk when he was 38 ...

‘When Abraham was called, by faith…’ As is the case every year, the Epistle reading for the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ focuses on faith. It consists of two excerpts from chapter 11 of Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews (verses 9-10 and 32-40) in which the Apostle highlights the reality of trust in God. What is the relationship between the faith of Abraham, Sarah, the Judges and the Prophets of Israel and the imminent event of the Nativity? Why has the Church set it as the Epistle reading for this Sunday? We shall have to seek the answer to this in the fact of the Nativity and its significance for our world and for us as people. This event marks a break in human ...