Watch Correna Panagiotou’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Watch Claude Lopez-Ginisty’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
When, on your journey towards God, you encounter obstacles, that is, doubt, disbelief, an unpleasant feeling towards someone, or, indeed, any other passion, don’t let it trouble you. Just remember that all of this is smoke from the enemy, which is dispersed by a wave of the hand of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Cast off all enmity, get rid of malice from inside yourself, reject carnal love, acquire spiritual love. Flee far from evil and do good.
The words that come to us from St. Paul, in today’s reading from the Letter to the Romans, serve as a guide for our daily lives. He encourages us to make good use of the gifts that God has given us, and shows us how to offer our love effectively, for the benefit of both ourselves and others. It is often the case that we are faced with the temptation to envy others for their gifts, and complain to God, asking Him why He did not bless us in the same way. The Holy Apostle points out that the gifts we have differ, “according to the grace that is given to us” (verse 6). God gives us what we can handle. ...
Watch Fr. Nicolae Dascalu’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Prepare yourself, my brother, prepare yourself to welcome the heavenly Bridegroom, the most glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, ‘He is coming in the middle of the night and blessed is the servant whom He will find watchful. And unworthy the one He finds heedless’ Wake up, prepare the lamp of your heart. ‘Arise, why are you slumbering? The end approaches and soon you will be troubled’. The Lord is coming, with Whom you will live and rejoice eternally. Take care that your lamp does not go out. Take care that your soul does not fall asleep because of idleness and sloth. Prepare yourself to welcome within you the Lord of Glory. He has come and is knocking at the door ...
Watch live the Enthronement of the new Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain Nikitas.
The moral law is a law of moral freedom. It has nothing to do with violence and coercion. Moral freedom wants voluntary adherents. It doesn’t pressurize anybody or press-gang them into anything.
Watch Fr. Demetrios Harper’s speech at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care DMOPC18 which took place from 18th-21st June 2018 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, organized under the High Auspices of His All Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
I saw a person who had clearly sinned, but who secretly repented. And the person who I condemned as immoral, God held to be pure, because, through his repentance, God was completely reconciled to him.
Watch Fr Jonah’s from Taiwan on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council.
Mesa Potamos, Cyprus, July 22, 2019 With great joy and feelings of deep emotion, the monastic brotherhood of the Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner of Mesa Potamos, Cyprus announces to the reading public that pre-orders of the book The Romanov Royal Martyrs: What Silence Could Not Conceal are now being accepted. An official video trailer for the book has also been released: This work is the fruit of a long-term study and it would not be bold to say that it has a uniquely significant feature, which accords to it a great honor and distinction: the fact that it is not simply a book written by the personal efforts and abilities of a single author, but rather was produced through the ...
When people try to retain a humble heart and a calm outlook, then all the machinations of the enemy are deactivated. Because where there’s serenity of thought, God Himself finds rest: ‘His abode is in peace’ (Ps. 75, 3). When people welcome anything divine, their heart rejoices. On the other hand, when they admit anything diabolical, their heart is troubled and disturbed.
Those people who are content with the material world and aren’t concerned for the salvation of their soul are like mindless, unhatched birds which are happy in the egg and make no effort to break the shell, to emerge and enjoy the sun- the soaring upwards into the life of Paradise- but prefer to remain where they are, in the shell, and die.
On the occasion of the demise of the late Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, Pemptousia is publishing an extract from the book by Fr. Dimitrios Kavvadias ‘Elders and Women’s Monasticism’, in which, among much else, he refers to the late Elder Nektarios, the founder of the Holy Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki: The sole exception in this book is the mention of the person of Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, who became the founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios. We are not writing a eulogy of the man, but would address a few words related to his life and activities, with the aim of revealing how the Monastery of the wonder-working Saint came to be built. He is now in the twilight of ...
The heart’s an apparently small organ, but there’s room for God to dwell inside. And if God does reside there, then the heart’s filled to overflowing and there’s room for nothing else. Even if the whole world were to be installed there, the heart would be an empty dwelling-place without God.
By Chris Vlahonasios It’s been a pretty chilly winter so far. Heavy rain, strong gusts and long, cold nights. Despite cranking up the heater and doubling up on quilts, the only logical solution to solve our winter-blues is a trip to Greece! Sadly, we all can’t just get up and escape this miserable weather, that’s where VOD binging is the next best option. However, with all the terrible remakes and new shows, with stories that sound more like a political science lecture, even this option seems bleak – however – there IS a real alternative: Byzanfest. What is Byzanfest? It’s the world’s first and only online Orthodox Christian short film festival. An initiative of TRANSFIGURE MEDIA, Byzanfest is dedicated to offering the ...
Hypocrites want to be considered saints and have everyone reverence them for their piety. You see their outward demeanour and think that they serve God in all things, but their hearts are full of jealousy, guile and every kind of wickedness.
The immediate fruit of God’s love is the love of the image of God, that of people and all God’s creatures. Through years of ascetic effort, monastics acquire a ‘merciful heart’, which loves as God does. According to Abba Isaak the Syrian, a merciful heart is ‘a heart burning on behalf of the whole of creation, that is people, birds, animals, demons and every other creature, at the remembrance or sight of which the eyes shed tears and, from so much fellow-suffering and mercy, the heart of the merciful person recoils and is unable to bear or hear of any hurt or any sorrow that has been dealt to creation. This is why such people pray with tears and at ...
