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The genius of Dostoevsky lies in the profound theological insight of his tumbled novels. They can be difficult reads for many people – particularly in our modern setting. He has “too many characters” and they “talk a lot.” His characters are complex: I was a scoundrel, and yet, I loved God…  Good and evil are in a monstrous coexistence within man. So says Dmitri Karamazov. And this statement describes all of Dostoevsky’s characters. Everyone is a mix of good and evil. There are no “good guys” and “bad guys.” And Dostoevsky would argue that this is simply true always. As such, morality is a non-starter. We are not created for the pleasantries of morality. Every effort at “moral” living simply yields hypocrisy. Beauty! ...

This is the victory of the Church. All of us will have our Cross, commensurate with the strength of each one of us, and in accordance with God’s will, but behind the Cross, is sweetness, power, Grace and joy. ‘For through the Cross, joy came into the world’. So let’s not want to come down from the Cross.

Escher's Relativity The Secular Man has been the great threat to the Christian faith over the past two or more centuries. Disguised as the person is only doing the “normal thing,” he lives in a godless world, where others can be tempted to live as though there were no God. I quote Berdyaev, “If God does not exist, then man does not exist.” I would add to that that the God Who Exists must be everywhere present and filling all things, or He is no God and a false god. Let us renounce the “soft atheism” of the secular man and live always and everywhere for God.  Many Orthodox writers have spoken about the nature of the secular world, the defining ...

The world’s a terrifying place for people who don’t know that God’s in charge and has the authority to preserve it for as long as He thinks fit. He can also return it to non-existence whenever He so chooses. But for those who know Him, it’s not terrifying.

The subject of this paper is, “The Holy Memorial Services”, that is, the intercessions of the Church on behalf of our departed brothers and sisters. We shall attempt a review of the tradition regarding memorial services and the practice of the Church from the beginning until the liturgical practice became established. This reference to history, both in the present instance and in any other issue concerning worship, is made not simply for reasons of historical curiosity, but because there is a really important reason for it: it is in this way that we validate the legitimacy of our liturgical practice, in this case intercessions for the departed, which the Church conducts for the repose of their souls and the consolation ...

‘Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1, 29) Yesterday, my beloved friends, the Twelve Days of Christmas came to an end. They last from Christmas to Epiphany, with the exception of the eve of Epiphany. After the Twelve Days, the first feast is that of the synaxis of Saint John the Baptist. Saint John has no need of human praise; Christ Himself praises him, when he says that of all the people ever born, there is not one greater than him (see Matth. 11, 11). He’s greater than Noah, Abraham, Jacob, the patriarchs, than all great people. He was born miraculously to elderly parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, who, in fact, was barren. A child ...

The celebration of Holy Theophany certainly has a most important place in the life of the Orthodox Church. This is because the order of service for the feast sets out in a very expressive way the prospects and horizons which are opened up to every human being through Christ’s coming into the world. ‘Today the things above celebrate with those below and those below converse with those above Today the Lord hastens towards baptism, to raise human nature to the heights’. Essentially, this means the opportunity for each person to taste the joy and the glory of God; the opportunity for people to fill their lives with the life of God. At Christ’s Baptism, the Holy Trinity is revealed: the ...

"P": What are the society’s main activities? Dr. G.S.: We have a regular programme of meetings. We always mark the start of the new year in traditional Greek style with a Vasilopitta Party. This is held in London, currently at the Society of Antiquaries in Piccadilly. This year Archbishop Gregorios cut and blessed the pittas and we listened to some singing by members of the Mosaic Choir. I have already mentioned the AGM which is always held in Oxford. It takes the form of a one-day conference, in the course of which two or three invited speakers address the members. This year the speakers were Fr Douglas Dales, who used to be Chaplain of Marlborough School and who spoke about Anglican pilgrimage ...

Let there be a climate of absolute confidence and sincerity between you . Don’t let anything come between you, because that will suffocate you later. Don’t let bad thoughts make their nest inside you, like snakes. Love conquers all. Let there be care, discretion, delicacy both between yourselves and towards other people. If something comes up between you, don’t tell anybody else. Attention and prayer will set everything to rights and make everything well.

The theology of the person, as this is revealed in the hesychast ascetic tradition, is the most significant counter-argument to post-modern individualism and relativism. The ascetics of introversion and of conscious tranquillity (hesychia) is not a psychological proposition but the authentic and only way of transforming the “repulsive mask” into a person. It has been aptly remarked that what will best characterize the theology of the 21st century is its concern with anthropological questions. If we have not sufficiently investigated anthropological truths in the sphere of theology today, imagine what must be the case in the realms of philosophy, the intellect and the social and human sciences. Today’s post-modern people do not know what a person is. They live, and project, the ...

What is it that separates us from God and our neighbour? Money and material enjoyment, that is, the clay, the dregs, decay. Because we don’t have living Christian faith or trust in God. We don’t know or we forget that real faith means love for God and our neighbor.

Today, we have the pleasure to host an interview with Dr Graham Speake, FSA, Honorary Secretary and founder of the Friends of Mount Athos. His Orthodox name is Gregory Palamas. He was baptized at Vatopedi by Abbot Ephraim in 1999, and his spiritual father is Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware). Dr Speake is the author of 'Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise' (Yale University Press, 2002) for which he was awarded the Criticos Prize. He is also a retired publisher. "Pemptousia": Please tell us something about the Friends of Mount Athos society. When was it founded?  How is it administered?  Dr Graham Speake: The society was officially founded in 1990, but in fact it goes back a little before that and it owes its origin to the correspondence columns of ...

As the ‘metropolis’ of feasts’, Christmas is celebrated at the monasteries on the Holy Mountain with a vigil, during the course of which the monks sing hymns of exceptional poetic and musical beauty. At the Divine Liturgy, ‘As many as have been baptized in Christ’ is sung in tone one. The hymn draws our attention to the practice of the ancient church of conducting the baptism of the catechumens at this time, a custom mentioned by Saint John Chrysostom and also by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechism. You can also hear Athonite singing every day on Pemptousia Web Radio in the «Αγιορείτικα μελωδήματα» program. ‘As many as have been baptized in Christ’ %osoi% ‘Christ is born, glorify Him’ and the first ode ...

People who don’t contain their anger are like wild, untamed animals which can’t be controlled. No storm whipped up by the wind and crashing onto the rocks is as violent as the rage of a choleric person. People who are easily incensed are also inflexible, ruthless and unfeeling. Their hearts are boiling with rage and the flame is kept alive by fury.

Which baptism was performed, in His case? Not that of the Jews, nor ours, nor John’s. Why? You yourselves, from your own view of baptism, can see that He wasn’t baptized for any sins, nor because He needed the Holy Spirit; therefore, as we’ve shown, this baptism was alien both to the one and to the other. It’s clear, then, that He came to the Jordan, not for forgiveness of sins and nor to receive the gifts of the Spirit. But, just in case some of those present thought that He came for repentance, as others did, John specifically precluded this. When he spoke to the others he said: “Bear fruits worthy of repentance”; but listen to what he said to ...

An exceptionally fine rendition of the Doxastiko of the Praises for the feast of Theophany, ‘The Waters of the Jordan’, by Leonidas Asteris, Archon Protopsaltis of the holy, patriarchal church of Saint George, in Fanari, Constantinople. %audio%

Fr. Raphael: Monasticism is like living something from the age that shall come, in which, as the Savior says: “They neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the Angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). We are not like the angels, yet life has a tendency towards that, and when you receive the call , you don’t know what hit you, because in this nature you don’t have any confirmation. So then, of course, you need someone to validate or invalidate your call. Because if you don’t , you will suddenly find – or you will start to think: I’ll go to madhouse with my calls! So, the Spiritual Father can validate or invalidate this thing ...

What is the Blessing of the Waters, and what’s the difference between the Great and the Small? The Great as compared to the Small? The Blessing of the Waters belongs to the category of ‘sacramental rites’. We call services ‘sacramental’ when Divine Grace is imparted through them, invisibly, through perceptible gestures and signs. Such services were not instituted by Christ, however, nor are they necessary to salvation, as are the sacraments themselves. As regards the number seven, there is no mention of this in the Church Fathers. They consider any and every form of ritual which is performed by canonical celebrants for the sanctification and salvation of the faithful to be a Sacrament. Every holy action and ritual in the Church is ...

Do you want to have good done to you? Do good to somebody else. Do you want to have mercy shown to you? Show mercy to your neighbor. Do you want to be praised? Praise somebody else. Do you want to be loved? Love. Do you want to get to the top? Make way for somebody else. Do you hate being cursed? Don’t curse other people. Do you hate being envied? Don’t envy others. Do you hate it when people deceive you? Don’t deceive other people. If you remember that, you won’t need any other instruction.

Education is a widely discussed issue in our days. The problem is that we have very much distorted views on this important subject. We hear various things that are at least unorthodox. By this we do not mean humanists, that is, those who have a humanist education based mostly on the intellect and rationality, but rather we mean those Christians who identify man-centered education with Christian education. The identification and equality of these two wisdoms, these two types of knowledge is a heretical position and has been denounced by all holy Fathers. The subject is very serious. In this speech we intend to elaborate on the great subject of education in God. Before proceeding to a precise analysis of education in ...