In English

Today’s Gospel reading is a clear and stark indictment of formalism in religion. Saint Luke tells us that Christ cured someone on the Sabbath and this was cause enough for Him to come into conflict with the Judaism of His time, which had transformed the commandments of the Decalogue and the Law into a sterile system of obligations and restrictions. The absurdity of the reactions of the religious establishment was tragic. The leader of the synagogue was indignant that Christ’s miracle was performed on the Sabbath, the day of rest, appointed as such by God. So the message of today’s Gospel touches us and concerns all of us because often, and perhaps unconsciously, we prioritize certain religious or ritual forms ...

In an interview with an Italian TV network, Pope Francis of Rome said recently that the current language of the Lord’s prayer ‘is not a good translation.’… The problem, as he sees it, is that the prayer asks God to ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. But, says Pope Francis, it's not the Lord Who tempts. ‘It is not He that pushes me into temptation and then sees how I fall. A father does not do this. A father quickly helps those who are provoked into Satan's temptation’. A couple of points presents themselves immediately. The first is that it’s ‘not a good translation’. The problem here is that we can’t know, since we don’t have the ...

Some Christians, either through their own fault or that of others, become trapped in the sickness of guilt. Secular people become trapped in a worse sickness: that of pride. If you’re close to Christ, religious guilt disappears with repentance and confession. But the pride of secular people who are estranged from Christ never leaves.

It seems like just yesterday that your mother and I left the hospital with all six and three-quarter pounds of you securely fastened in your car seat, your surprisingly full head of hair covered by the traditional hospital baby cap. As we celebrate 40-days since your birth, years before you’ll be able to read it and perhaps decades before you’ll be able to understand the love with which I write it, here is a letter to you, my newborn daughter. You were born in Canada, a truly blessed country that has offered so much to so many, including both of your sets of grandparents. They came to this country with little, but were able to grow and prosper and build a strong ...

The mother of all good things, the characteristic feature of all the disciples of Christ, and the power that holds all of us together is love. Because, if you’re meek and merciful, this means that you’re a true disciple of Christ.

Let every task by undertaken with due deliberation and the fear of God. As we’re working, we should say the ‘prayer’: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me’; ‘Most Holy Mother of God, save us’.

Address at the start of proceedings at the 10th Dialogue, organized jointly in Jerusalem by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, on the occasion of the 40 years of dialogue between Orthodoxy and Judaism. Tuesday 5 December 2017 Today, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew opened the proceedings of the 10th Meeting of Dialogue called by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and organized jointly with the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations in the Holy City of Jerusalem. The 10th dialogue is being held on the occasion of the 40 years of dialogue between Orthodoxy and Judaism and has as its theme ‘The Significance of Jerusalem in the Tradition of the Two Religions’. In his address, the Ecumenical Patriarch noted that Jerusalem ‘was, ...

Patience is a virtue, given that it’s the fruit of hope in God. Sorrow leads to patience, patience to a tried and tested character and a tested character to hope. And, in the end, this hope doesn’t disappoint. Patience is the first among the virtues, because it’s the crown of our salvation.

Hymnography is the jewel in the crown of Church Literature in Orthodoxy. A variety of metres, a combination of poetry and prose, all invested with the musical riches of the eight tones, narrate the drama of the human person in our effort to trace the invisible and enter into communion with the Uncreated. Even so, there are some services which really do stand out, where the inspiration of the poet is apparent, from the first troparia of Small Vespers to the doxastiko at Lauds at the end of Matins. The quill flows effortlessly and combines words and music in a pulsation of art and meaning, outside the ordinary yet so close to everyday human reality. One such service is that of Saint ...

Give something, however little, to those in need. Because even a little isn’t without value for those who are deprived of everything, nor for God, provided it’s commensurate you’re your means. Instead of some great donation, offer your willingness. And if you really haven’t got anything, weep. Heartfelt sympathy is a great medicine for those who’ve fallen on hard times. Genuine empathy is a balm in times of trouble.

Saint John the Damascan (feast-day 4 December) For now the adoration of demons has ceased; creation has been sanctified by the divine blood; the altars and temples of idols have been overthrown; the knowledge of God, the consubstantial Trinity, has been planted ; the uncreated divinity, the one true God, Creator and Lord of all, is worshipped; virtues are cultivated; the hope of resurrection has been granted through the resurrection of Christ; the demons, who once held us in thrall, now tremble. And what is miraculous, indeed, is that all this has been successfully brought about by His cross and passion and death. Throughout the whole earth, the Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached not through wars or ...

The 3rd Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom Washington, D.C. December 4-6, 2017 (As of 11/28/17)   Monday, December 4, 2017 – Day One 3:00 – 5:00 pm Conference Registration 5:30 pm Buses begin departing Trump Hotel for Metropolitan Club 6:00 – 8:00 pm Welcome Reception Program Welcome: Conference Chairman Mike Manatos Greetings: Archon National Commander Dr. Anthony Limberakis Remarks: US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Remarks: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios  8:15 pm Buses return to Trump Hotel    Tuesday, December 5, 2017 – Day Two 8:00 – 9:30 am Breakfast and Opening Remarks Program: Welcoming Remarks: Conference Chairman Mike Manatos Invocation: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Remarks: Archon National Commander Dr. Anthony Limberakis Remarks: Christian Research Institute President, Hank Hanegraaff Patriarchal Message & Response: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, HE Archbishop Demetrios Benediction: His Grace Bishop Angaelos,  Coptic Orthodox Church, ...

From our first steps in life, the soul must be brought to the performance of every kind of good work, when it’s still pliable, smooth and soft as wax. It responds easily, depending on the forms and shapes presented to it, by those who are its spiritual guides. Then, when reason and discretion have also matured, it’ll find its way without difficulty.

14th Sunday of Saint Luke today, and we’ve now entered the month of Christmas. Jesus enters Jericho and comes across a suffering person whose affliction is blindness. It’s a terrible cross for him not to enjoy the first and greatest of God’s goods: perceptible light. Apart from being blind, the unfortunate man in today’s Gospel reading is also a beggar. But it was begging that enabled him to gain his salvation. As people were walking past him, he sensed the entry of some figure of importance. When he heard of the presence of Christ in the city, he started shouting continuously and persistently: ‘Son of David, have mercy upon me’, to the point where the other people who were there with ...

The Holy Great Martyr Barbara lived and suffered during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-311). Her father, Dioskoros, was a rich pagan, a prominent citizen in Ilioupolis in Syria. After the death of his wife, he devoted himself to the upbringing of his only daughter. Dioskoros seems to have been a dedicated pagan and he built a tower for Barbara, where only her pagan teachers were allowed to see her. But Barbara became convinced that the inanimate idols were merely the work of human hands, and although her father and teachers worshipped them in their own fashion, she realized that the idols could not have made the world she saw when she looked out from her tower. The fame of her beauty (or, to ...

Don’t ask the opinion of people who aren’t on the same path as you, even if they’re very wise.

There was once a family of five living in Athens. The father and mother had three children, two girls and a boy. The boy was 11 years old, the girls 10 and 9. Saitan Harbour, at the Cape of Hania. Photograph: Dimitris Iliopoulos It happened that the ten-year-old girl fell seriously ill. They fetched a doctor, who examined her and said that her condition was incurable. It would take a miracle to make her better. Her nine-year sister heard this and, in her innocence thought that ‘a miracle’ was some kind of medication. She loved her sister very much and slipped out, broke open the piggy-bank and took out all the money. She ran to the nearest pharmacy and said to ...

My brother, another Person rules the universe, not the great people in this world.

All of us have had the experience of unwittingly committing a sin. And, of course, every confessor/spiritual guide often hears, at almost every confession, the assurance or claim on the part of the penitent that a particular sin was unintentional. ‘Honestly, father, that sin occurred without me realizing. It was entirely unintentional. I didn’t want to and hadn’t thought about doing it’. How genuine or, at least, certain can such an assurance be and how true is such a claim? Certainly, a Biblical argument about the unintentional nature of many sins is presented in chapter seven of Saint Paul’s epistle to the Romans. There, the apostle of the Gentiles sets out in general terms the antiphatic (conflicting) nature of the functioning of the ...