In English

The Abbot of Vatopaidi monastery, Archimandrite Efrem, spoke on the radio programme “Gisa somewhere else” of SKAI 100,3 FM on Saturday 14th August  2010, on the eve of the feast of the Dormition of our Lady, the Mother of God. Elder Efrem was celebrating the feast at the Vatopaidi Metochi at Porto Lagos. Here is the full text of the interview. Gisa: Geronta, you are in Porto Lagos to celebrate the feast of the Dormition and I was wondering why  women cannot attend? Elder Efrem: Excuse me. This is the monastery’s metochi and women can visit as well. Gisa: Up to there, but what about further up? Elder Efrem: The Holy Mount Athos as you know is inaccessible to women and this is the tradition ...

The Only-Begotten Son and Word of God, who became a human person for us (though He was sinless), voluntarily underwent the crucifixion, death and burial so that our human nature, which the father of evil had caused to be cast out of paradise in olden times, could be elevated. Christ rose, however, and was elevated to His initial glory, and then sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to his disciples and apostles. After the God/Man/Word ascended into heaven, the eye-witnesses and servants of the Lord were in the upper room, as Saint Luke tells us, and after they had received the Holy Spirit they were unwilling to neglect preaching the Word of God in order to wait on tables. So ...

Prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer, occurs only for those who’ve been given the grace of God. It shouldn’t happen with the thought: ‘I must learn it; I have to know how to do it, to achieve it’, because that might lead us into pride and egotism. It needs experience, longing, but also a sound mind, vigilance and caution, if it’s to be pure and pleasing to God. If you have the thought: ‘I’ve really advanced in this’, that’ll spoil everything. What have we got to be proud about? Nothing we have belongs to us. These are delicate matters. Pray without forming images in your mind. Don’t imagine Christ. The Fathers stressed prayer without images. An image is a slippery ...

The image that one nation has for another goes through different levels of the social, cultural, political and-of course-religious life. And this image is not simply formed or imposed by these life-factors, but is also and primarily ex­pressed through them. What I want to say is that the official policy of a State can to a certain extent define and control through propaganda the image of a supposed enemy. This con­trol, however, will never have a long-lasting and deep effect on the mentality of the ordinary people and on the common sense of any people. The life-factor that goes really deep into the ordinary people's heart is faith in God. Religion. Faith is something that touches the deepest feelings of human beings. ...

The feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God is celebrated on August 15 by the Christian world and is the greatest of those established by the Church in honour of the Mother of the Lord. It may be the oldest of all. The first evidence we have for it dates from the 5th century, round about the time when the 3rd Ecumenical Synod was called in Ephesus (451), at which the dogma of the Mother of God was defined and the honour due to her was developed. It appears that it was first held in Jerusalem on 13 August and was transposed soon afterwards to the 15th of the same month. It was a general feast of the ...

Millennial doctrines also came to light from the books of the Apocalyptic literature of Judaism. Such books were Esdras, Enoch, Baruch, Jubilees, the Psalms of Solomon, the Book of Daniel, the Revelation of Peter and so on, which are linked to the expression of later Jewish Messianism. This referred to the expectation among Jews that the Messiah would rule on earth for a thousand years, his residence being in Jerusalem, to which all the peoples of the earth would be subject. In the Old Testament, the predominant term is ‘the Lord’s Anointed’, either related to the person who would sit upon the throne or to the future kingdom of Israel. In Jewish tradition, the expected king is linked to the ...

Slander is condemnation, defamation. Slanderers defame and condemn their neighbours and deprive them of their honour just as murderers deprive them of life. Both groups are equally guilty of homicide.

II) Ontological effects of the Jesus Prayer The act of repeatedly invoking the Name has a double effect: it makes our prayer more unified and at the same time more inward. 1. Unification The repeated Invocation of the Name can bring us, by God’s grace, from dividedness to unity, from dispersion and multiplicity to singleness. ‘To stop the continual jostling of your thoughts,’ says Bishop Theophan, ‘you must bind the mind with one thought, or the thought of One only.’’ To oppose our thoughts, we look upwards to the Lord Jesus and entrust ourselves into his hands invoking his Name; and the grace that acts through his Name overcomes the thoughts which we cannot obliterate by our own strength. This is a positive spiritual ...

Nothing’s difficult if we want it enough and nothing’s easy if we don’t. We manifest our confession in Christ not only in words but also with deeds. We mustn’t shame the dogmas with offensive works, but in all things we should contribute to the glorification of our Lord.

C. Death- the rupture of the psychosomatic coalescence. a. The notion of death The notion of death, apart from its biological dimension, is also metaphysical. For Orthodox theology and tradition, death is the rupture of the coalescence of body and soul, the loosening of the bond, the separation . But for the empirical sciences, this definition is without significance. The soul is not visible. Any attempt to approach death from the viewpoint of changes to the soul, particularly when we’re referring to what is happening to the body, runs the risk of scholasticism and arbitrariness. This is why it is safer to define death as necrosis of the body, subjection to the laws of nature, by which the soul, because of its own ...

On August 5-6, 2017, His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios presided over Great Vespers and the Divine Liturgy for the Great Feast of the Transfiguration (Metamorphosis) of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. Before the Vespers service, His Eminence chaired a Clergy Synaxis; almost 30 priests from southern Ontario participated. Many items were on the agenda, which were discussed with excellent brotherly relations for the progress of our Metropolis as we soon begin a new Ecclesiastical Year. The celebrating parish of Metamorphosis was standing room only, with many faithful parishioners downstairs in the parish hall watching on large screens, as well as outside during the holy service. During his homily, the Metropolitan spoke about the light and the Uncreated Light of Christ; he ...

The way we live here on this earth, we’re continually subservient to material things. This isn’t true of the angels. This life was given to us so that we can learn about eternal life, how we can become free, how we should progress freely, with a clear conscience and pure thoughts. When we’re free, there’s no more spiritual warfare. Victory’s ours because we’ve abandoned ourselves to God. It’s He Who determines our lives and we accept whatever befalls us as if he were giving us His own hand.

I open a small bottle, plug the top with my thumb, tilt it back, just a bit, until mercy runs down my hand. And I trace a fragrant cross of blessed oil on a brow burning fever. Shut my eyes and whisper Martha-Mary words, “The one You love is sick.” Little boy weeps sleepy, points to the wall. And I take down an icon, the one of God clothed in this broken body. And He and I, we keep an all-night vigil at a child’s bedside. The clock counts this late hour and I measure medicine, pour it into a small cup, sign it with a cross. I place it in his hands, young eyes looking up at me, all bloodshot and ...

Religious convictions concerning the end of the world, the final judgment, the justification of the righteous, the punishment of sinners by the Messiah, and His kingdom, have, for a thousand years, been at the centre of the heresy of millennialism (Chiliasm). This heresy is based on the book of the Revelation and, in particular, on chapter 20, verses 1-10. We shall attempt here to present the manner in which this teaching concerning the thousand-year kingdom of Christ arose and the repercussions it had on Christian communities at different times. We shall mention the Fathers who interpreted the text according to Orthodoxy and how the same passage has been seen erroneously by some contemporary ecclesiastical writers who have created heresies. We ...

Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor. As the Holy Fathers point out, in this way He was telling us that those who wish to experience the mysteries of divine Grace, have to leave behind the cares of the world. The intellect must leave and separate itself from the things of this world and should bend itself to the things above. The Lord shows us how we can become by Grace what He Himself is in His essence.

The Jesus Prayer AIC - Ongoing Formation – July 2006 This talk was an adaptation of The Power of the Name, by Kallistos Ware (1974) with an addition from The Payer of JESUS, by A Monk of the Eastern Church (1967). Introduction No authentic relationship between persons can exist without mutual freedom and spontaneity, and this is true of prayer. There are no fixed rules for those who seek to pray; and there is no mechanical technique, whether physical or mental, which can compel God to manifest his presence. His grace is granted always as a free gift, and cannot be gained automatically by any method or technique. Nevertheless, the Jesus Prayer has become for many Eastern Christians over the centuries the standard path, and ...

Blessed poverty ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ But what benefit will we derive from this great gift of God unless we discover the deeper meaning hidden in the depths of these words? In medical science, for example, there are many expensive and rare remedies that are unused and are of no benefit to those who don’t realize their value until they learn from specialists what the application of each one is. Now what does poverty of the spirit mean? The thing which ensures that we enter the kingdom of heaven. From Holy Scripture we’ve learned to identify two kinds of riches. One is admirable and the other is to be condemned. The riches ...