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          After the fall man has come under the yoke not only of sin (dispersed throughout his body) but also of the ‘spiritual changes’ and the many twists which co-exist with us as nasty neighbours. All these incite, delude and entice us so that we are unable to safeguard that which we most desire.           According to our Holy Fathers, it is not possible for man to remain without sin even if he lives for only one day. Therefore, we ought to be most preoccupied with our repentance.  Our Fathers say that the Lord is not upset -so to speak- because man had not been successful and fell. The Lord will not judge him for this.  What upsets divine Grace is ...

On the first Sunday of Great Lent, our Holy Church celebrates the triumph of Orthodoxy, the right belief, which trampled down all the heresies and has since become established for ever. This is why this Sunday is known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Heresies made their appearance from the very beginning of Christianity. Christ’s Apostles themselves warned their contemporaries- and us with them- about the dangers from false teachers. The Holy Apostle Peter, in his 2nd universal epistle writes the following: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their ...

Depending on children’s own experiences as they grow up, they form and adapt their own individual concept of death, until they arrive at a more realistic way of dealing with it at a later stage. The notion of death can be understood through five basic elements: its universality; its finality; the failure of the vital organs; its causality; and life after death. According to research, the age of a child can roughly determine the stage of development they’ve reached and how far they’re mature enough to understand the phenomenon of death in its entirety. To be more precise, until the age of two, children can’t understand death, though they are aware of absence, usually only that of people close to or ...

26. God’s Judgement certainly gives rise to fear in us, and what we’re told about how it will happen terrifies us. Even though the Kingdom of Heaven is the declared aim of our lives, the eternal fire of hell has also been prepared. It’s only natural that people will ask: ‘How can we avoid the fire of hell? And how will we enter the Kingdom?’. Christ said: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food’ (Matth. 25, 35). Learn the way, then. There’s no need for you to resort to any kind of allegory here. ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you ...

We’re all sinners. Just walking on earth, clad in the flesh, every step’s a sin. The world and its people are wallowing in sin and don’t realize it.

The Service of the Akathistos Hymn is sung at Mattins on the Saturday of the fifth week of Lent or in the evening of Friday of that week, attached to the service of Small Compline. It is sung in full on these days, but in parts on the four Fridays of Lent before then, “as a pre-festal and post-festal” feature. This is because there are elements of the Feast of the Annunciation which are not celebrated because of the “mourning” and compunction of Great Lent. If we examine the Service of the Akathistos Hymn for its content, we see that the individual parts of which it consists (the canon of the Mother of God and the 24 verses of the Salutations ...

The antithesis and consequent collision of faith and science is a problem for Western (Franco-Latin) thought and a pseudo-problem for the Orthodox patristic tradition. This is based on the historical data of the East and the West.   Plato and Aristotle Problem or Pseudo-Problem?      The (supposed) dilemma of faith versus science appears in Western Europe in the seventeenth century with the simultaneous development of the positive sciences. At about this same time, the first Orthodox positions on this issue appear. It is important that these developments in the West were happening without the presence of Orthodoxy. In recent centuries, a spiritual estrangement and differentiation between the (rational) West and the Orthodox East has developed. This fact is outlined by the de-orthodoxiation and ...

Nikolobarbara Our greek orthodox people have connected the weather change of winter time with the orthodox church’s almanac, as they do with every season of the year. So, according to the folk tradition, winter officially begins with the so- called “Nikolobarbara”. (4-6th December). In modern greek history, Saint Barbara’s and Saint Nikolaos’ celebrations are connected to the Greek Army, since these are correspondently the celebration dates of the Greek Artillery and the Navy. Meanwhile, the dates of 4th, 5th and 6th December create a “triangle”, which corresponds to the celebrations of Saint Barbara, Saint Savvas and Saint Nikolaos. This triangle was named “Nikolobarbara” by the people. In the Peloponnese, many people associate this “triangle” with death, because of the bad weather ...

God doesn’t always answer our prayers in a way human reason might expect, but in accordance with His will that we be saved. As long as we’re consistent in our supplications and our hope, God will determine the time of His intervention for our salvation.

25 Let’s be aware of the crucial nature of this event, my beloved, and take the utmost care to ensure that God doesn’t reproach and condemn us. He has no need to carry out any form of investigation or check to know us and our deeds. Don’t say that it was night time when you engaged in fornication, or that there was no-one else about when you practiced magic or whatever else. Your own conscience, your own thoughts judge you. As Saint Paul said, when God judges our hidden deeds, our thoughts and conscience will act as witnesses either for the prosecution or the defence (cf. Rom. 2, 15-16). You’ll be forced to tell the truth to the Face of ...

When you meet people, force yourself to honor them more than they deserve. Greet them warmly. Praise them. When they leave, say all sorts of nice things about them. In this way, you’ll make them better than they are. Let this pattern of behavior be permanent. In other words, always be approachable and always pay respect to others.

The problems that the Church faces today are seemingly self-imposed. Often times, the Church has allowed its narrative to be controlled by the prevailing culture which represents direct opposition to the Gospel message; this has effected how the institutional Church regards and treats Her clergy. Individuals who do not have a Christ-centered mindset populate our congregations and their leadership; this has affected how the local church regards and treats its clergy. Worst of all, the clergy themselves have allowed their own understanding of pastoral ministry be shaped by the false understanding culture and the congregations. In spite of the fact that the Pauline model of church life teaches something entirely different than what is being practiced today in contemporary Christianity. ...

The Journey to the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 Good morning Prayer Team! The Prayer Team begin on February 23, 2015. That year, February 23 was Clean Monday, the first day of Lent. I began the prayer team with the hope that thirty people would join and with the intention of writing only during Lent of 2015. By God’s grace, and with your prayers and encouragement, the Prayer Team is now two years old, reaches thousands of people and has resulted in two books so far. The original intention of the prayer team was to get people to pray. That is still the intention. ...

Our Holy Orthodox Church, in its infinite wisdom, readies the faithful to celebrate Pascha, that is, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, through a period of preparation known as Great Lent. Even before Great Lent begins tomorrow (Clean Monday) the Triodion commenced on February 5th this year – the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee. Through successive Gospel Readings, including that of the Prodigal Son, the Church carefully guides us towards the “narrow gate” leading to eternal life. Now, as the “arena of virtues” opens, Orthodox Christians are called to compete. We are called to examine our life. We are called to more actively cultivate virtues. We are called to strengthen our relationship with our Creator. The Church gives us many opportunities throughout the ...

Monastics leave the world because they reject its diseased spirit. By departing from the world, however, they don’t abandon the human person. Proof of this is that people come and find them, they stick to them, they want to connect with them. They relax when they’re with them.

Feast of St. John Cassian the Roman is on February 29, and for non-leap years on February 28. St. Cassian (360-435) was a monk, known for his mystical writings. He visited many Fathers in desert and wrote about their life and teachings. Because of his disagreement with St. Augustine’s teachings and Roman Church’s accusation for semi-pelagianism (although he also disagreed with Pelagius’ teachings), he was dismissed by Western Church. “If we had to beg a Lord, not to save our lives, but simply make us a little "kindness" – wouldn’t we fix Him our eyes and our hearts? Wouldn’t we literally "cream" from the front of his staff, with strong attention to receive his consent even with a nod? Wouldn’t we ...

We have become accustomed to thinking about ourselves and our dignity in terms of people after the fall, basing this on separation, self-alienation, individualization, self-reliance, fragmentation and narcissism. But the divine love revealed in the Only-Begotten Son and in His wholeness, finds its fulfilment and perfection in the Other, it increases infinitely through Him, since He’s consubstantial, or rather, one and the same as regards the Love of the Father, because He was begotten from it and emerged into the world through it. 5. In this fatherhood and childship there lies the joyous and eternal mystery of our human existence. Given that this relationship is an integral part of the mystery of the Divine Existence, it’s natural that we should seek ...

It’s well known that, in this period, we have two fasts. There are seven weeks of strict fasting, preceded by Cheese-fare week, making eight weeks in all. For many, this is a pleasant and desirable time, for others it’s difficult and for others again it’s not at all pleasant. We’ll try to offer a few thoughts on this period, as the fathers of the Church have described it. Let’s first recall Saint John the Damascan, who makes a general observation concerning holy Lent. He says to all of us: ‘Do not weaken the fast; for it contains the imitation of the way of life of Christ’. This is an important observation. Christ doesn’t weaken, that is, take the power away from ...

24. ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him’ (Matth. 25, 31), the Gospel says. Look and see before what a multitude we’ll be judged. The whole of humanity will be there. Just think how numerous the race of the Romans is, how the barbarian nations are made up of so many tribes and how many of all of them have died in the last hundred years. Reckon up how many of these tribes have been buried over the last thousand years. Count how many people have lived on the earth from Adam until now. Infinite hosts, and yet, a very few compared to the numbers of angels, who are certainly very many ...

Science has made great strides and has remarkable achievements to its name. But let’s not get carried away. It doesn’t explain natural phenomena; it simply describes them. It can’t get into their very essence. This is why our knowledge is superficial.