People who believe in the Lord fear Hell. People who fear Hell restrain their passions. People who restrain their passions are patient in times of sorrow. People who are patient in times of sorrow are given hope in God. Hope in God separates the mind from any worldly concern. Then the mind will acquire love of God.
“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me” or, more briefly, “Lord have mercy” was given to Christians at the time of the apostles and was appointed for them to say without ceasing, as, indeed, they do. But what this “Lord have mercy” means is something that very few people know today and so they say it in everyday speech, pointlessly, alas, and in vain. They don’t receive the Lord’s mercy, because they don’t know what they’re asking. This is why we should know that when the Son and Word of God had become incarnate, was made a human person, underwent such suffering and was crucified, shedding His most holy blood, He ransomed people from the hands of the devil. Since ...
People who give priority to their internal formation (that of the soul) and use their external training to assist in this quickly become spiritually transformed, provided they work at spiritual matters. Then they have a positive effect on lots of people, because they release people from the anxiety of Hell and bring them to the elation of Paradise. Such people might have fewer academic qualifications, but they can help more, because they’ve got Grace, rather than lots of papers.
Yet, it is not only possible but probable that those Orthodox involved directly or indirectly in abortion are not even aware (!) they are in a state of grievous sin through their involvement. There is a story (possibly apocryphal) of an abortionist who sat for twenty years in the front pew of an Orthodox Church, served on the Church Council and was considered a "pillar" of that community. This was at a time when abortion did not even have the spurious sanction of legality. Therefore, what this man did was not only immoral, but illegal as well. Then there is the (actual) story of the priest who was called by a woman to go and give Communion to her daughter who ...
I was reading the Early Christians Apologists the other day and came across Athenagoras the Athenian, about whom I know almost nothing. I am, apparently, not alone in this, since nobody seems to know much about him except that he was born ca. 133, perhaps in Athens, and died in ca. 190, again probably in Athens. He appears to have been very influential and is now best known for two works which have survived from what was no doubt a much larger corpus: On Christians, addressed to emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus in which he defends Christians against the charge of atheism; and On the resurrection of the dead, from which this extract is taken. He was obviously a philosopher ...
He was born in the time of Constantine the Great and came from Persia. After being instructed in the faith by a Christian called Avaros, he abandoned the religion of his fathers and everything to do with his relatives. He went to the town of Nisibis, which was on the border between the Roman and Persian nations. There he entered a monastery and, once he’d been baptized, he donned the monastic habit and devoted himself to the ascetic struggle in its many forms. But because, with the assistance of an evil demon, the monks in that monastery were envious of him, he left and went to the Monastery of Saint Sergius and Bacchus in the city called Theodosion, where he imitated ...
Martyred in Constantinople on 8 August, 1680. The saint came from Zagora in Magnisia. He worked as a sailor on ships and was distinguished for the purity of his life and the modesty of his morals. He also kept the flame of his love for Christ burning in his heart. Seeing this, the evil enemy raged against him. Thus, when he was no more than seventeen years old, he was arrested, we know not why, by the Turks, who wanted to force him to renounce the faith of his forefathers. They took him to Constantinople where he endured all manner of tortures. But the Saint set no store by either his youth or the attraction of the goods offered to him by ...
Holy God, I devoted my life to You. I bow before Your name and I kneel in devotion before your power. Do what You must so that my people may have peace.
He was born in the time of Constantine the Great and came from Persia. After being instructed in the faith by a Christian called Avaros, he abandoned the religion of his fathers and everything to do with his relatives. He went to the town of Nisibis, which was on the border between the Roman and Persian nations. There he entered a monastery and, once he’d been baptized, he donned the monastic habit and devoted himself to the ascetic struggle in its many forms. But because, with the assistance of an evil demon, the monks in that monastery were envious of him, he left and went to the Monastery of Saint Sergius and Bacchus in the city called Theodosion, where he imitated ...
The Church isn’t what we think it is. They’ve wrenched us away, like infants, from the breast of our mother, the Orthodox Church. They’ve taught us other things. They’ve given us tinned milk to drink. They’ve cut us off from our roots. They’ve separated us from Tradition. They’ve expelled us from our home. They’ve made us aliens in our own land. They’ve made it their business for us to unlearn our native language. Who are they? Those who want to save us through compulsion, the Enlighteners, the Propagandists, the Bavarians and Masons… to this day. And with them, all those we considered the lights of their light, their cultural progress. And so, blindly, without spiritual discretion, we have taken every single ...
The presentation of the opinion of the Orthodox Church about the value of the moral status of the embryo is based on the official statements of the local orthodox churches. Official statements about bioethical issues have been already released by the Orthodox Churches of Russia,Greece and Romania. The official Church texts express the orthodox anthropology which is based on the christological doctrine which consists of all the events of divine economy, such as the Annunciation of the Theotokos (divine conception) and the birth of the Virgin Mary and the Nativity of Jesus Christ, which lead to significant anthropological conclusions. Common guide line of all the Churches is that the embryo is regarded from the standpoint of having both a human beginning and ...
I can foresee no way in which the teachings of the Orthodox Christian tradition could be affected by the discovery of intelligent beings on another planet. Some of my colleagues feel that even a discussion of the consequences of such a possibility is in itself a waste of time for serious theology and borders on the fringes of foolishness. I am tempted to agree with them for several reasons. As I understand the problem, the discovery of intelligent life on another planet would raise questions concerning traditional Roman Catholic and Protestant teachings regarding creation, the fall, man as the image of God, redemption and Biblical inerrancy. First one should point out that in contrast to the traditions deriving from Latin Christianity, Greek Christianity ...
Prayer averts God’s anger from us. It washes away our sins. It repels temptations. It cements our faith.
One of the richest and most beautiful monasteries we visit, is called Vatopedi, established in the 5th century. Golden coins, gilded chalices and spectacular church art is everywhere. But it is also the home of a great treasure not made from gold, but from camel hair – preserved from the earliest times of Christianity. – This is the belt of the Virgin Mary, says the monk Evstathios. According to written sources the belt was preserved in Jerusalem until the year 400. After being in Constantinople for some years, it was given to the monastery of Vatopedi as a gift. – This belt didn’t only perform miracles at one point in history, but to this very day. Every 14th day or so we ...
