In English

‘You came down to earth to save Adam, and not finding him on earth, Lord, You descended into Hades to seek him’. This verse, from the Lamentations on Great Saturday, states, in a very concise yet apt manner, the plan of Divine Providence for the salvation of humankind, in the persons of Adam and Eve. The second person of the Holy Trinity, that is the Son and Word of God became a perfect human being in order to save us. He came down from heaven into the womb of the Virgin Mary, so that He could become the same as us and in order to call us to our heavenly home. In this verse, the hymnographer refers to the aim of ...

We all need to be loved and to have this love demonstrated, in word and deed, because we were created from love and we’re kept alive by it. When we feel loved, we dare to attempt difficult tasks, to continue on our path, to endure trials. If even human love has such power, how much more so has God’s love for us. Because our God, the God of our Fathers, loves us enormously, limitlessly. He showed it by sharing our human existence, our pain and death. As Metropolitan Anthony Bloom put it, Hell is a condition, it’s the deprivation and loss of God. This is apparent from Christ’s cry on the Cross: ‘’My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ ...

Pastoral Letter of Metropolitan Silouan of Byblos, Botrys and dependencies on the 6th Anniversary of the Kidnapping of His Eminence Metropolitan Paul of Alepo April 22, 2013-2019 ______________________________________________________ The “Master of Eloquence and Silence” Between the Silence of Man and the Silence of God “God finished on the seventh day His work, which He had done: and He rested on the seventh day of all His work, which He had made” (Genesis 2:2)   “Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo is on an ecclesiastical mission.” This is an expression that occurred to me in the first days after Monday, April 22, 2013 (the day he was kidnapped), an expression that opened a window through which I have tried to explore the mystery of that great day, a day of God’s work in the history ...

PATRIARCHAL ENCYCLICAL FOR HOLY PASCHA   Prot. No. 257   + B A R T H O L O M E W By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church: May the Grace, Peace and Mercy of Christ Risen in Glory be with you All     Venerable brothers and beloved children in the Lord,   Having run the course of the race of Holy and Great Lent in prayer and fasting, and having reached the salvific passion of Christ God, today we are rendered participants in the joy of His splendid Resurrection. The experience of Resurrection belongs to the core of Orthodox identity. We celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection not only during the feast of Holy Pascha and the ensuing paschal period, but on each Sunday ...

We’re like nettles. From a distance, they look green, fresh, like a plain or a garden, but when you get close to them and touch them, then you see their ugliness and feel their sting. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite

It seems very difficult to become good, but in fact it’s easy, provided you have good experiences when you’re little. As you grow up, you don’t have to make great efforts, because you’ve got goodness within you, you live it. You don’t work at it, you experience it, its your property which, if you’re careful, you’ll have with you for the rest of your life. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

The Grace of the Holy Spirit, true faith in God, united to all good works and the confession of the name of Jesus Christ are the prerequisites for our salvation. Grace is given to those who believe in Christ and live in repentance. » Elder Cleopa Ilie

Don’t impose on your children without discernment. I tie my tomatoes up with pieces of cloth. If I tied them with wire, it would cut into them. It needs care. Children today have a strong engine, but square wheels. This is why they need help to get started. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite

That’s what evil’s like: it darkens the reason and brings to the edge of the cliff those who’ve gone astray from the right path, even if it’s the first time. Evil really is blind and can’t easily see any of the things that are requisite. When wicked people hide away in the holes, the lairs, the caves of evil, it’s impossible for them to cast their gaze upon a ray of light because of the weakness of the eyes of their soul. >Saint John Chrysostom

We should learn to love rather than want other people to love us. We should love everyone and make selfless sacrifices, as great as possible, for all our brothers and sisters in Christ, without expecting praise and love from them. » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

In his Letter to the Philippians, the great Apostle to the Nations, St.Paul urges us to always be joyful. He stresses it repeatedly, that the Christian should always have joy. Along with this, he also tells us the ways a Christian can manage to do so, even in the midst of problems and difficulties. To have a calm spirit, and not give in to melancholy, fear, agony or turmoil. First, he advises us to be friendly and conciliatory towards others. To understand other people and not quick to anger: “Let your gentleness be known to all men” (verse 5). No matter how hard this may seem to us, it can be done if we remember that all the things that bother ...

Wealth doesn’t destroy and neither does poverty. What does destroy is bad intentions, which cannot use either of these states properly. Intentions beget more intentions and just as a flame burns more fiercely the more it’s fed with wood, the same is true of intentions. Evil and virtue aren’t the result of nature, but of the intentions. >Saint John Chrysostom

The Raising of Lazarus Excerpt from the book by Aikaterina Tsotsakou-Karveli, ‘Λαογραφικό Ημερολόγιο, Οι δώδεκα μήνες και τα έθιμά τους’ (The Twelve Months and their Customs) published by Pataki. Lazarus Saturday is dedicated to Poor Lazarus, his death and resurrection. It’s a portent of the death and Resurrection of Christ, which will be celebrated the following week. According to Saint John’s Gospel, Lazarus was a friend of Christ and died in Bethany: In the town of Bethany Martha weeps and So does Mary for their brother, Lazarus The faithful friend of their hearts Then after four days, Christ raised him in order to demonstrate the victory over death and to prepare the ground for His own Resurrection. Tradition says that Lazarus was so terrified by the Underworld, ...

There are people who never turn to God and never pray. Suddenly their soul experiences melancholy, their spirit worry and their heart sorrow. Then they realize that in such unhappiness no-one can help them. This is why they turn to God and say with a deep sigh: ‘Lord, have mercy upon me’ And the Lord hears them, although at first they only just sense divine Grace. Later they experience it much more and feel relief. » Venerable Nectarios of Optina

Fr JOnah from Taiwan, speaks on the Gospel of the 5th Sunday of Great Lent (Mark 10, 32-45).

Today the Church is facing another iconoclast controversy: the pressure being exercised upon it by secular society to conform to its values and ideals, so that the Church will also become secularized. The danger to the Church from secularization is enormous. Instead of the Church helping society to become more ecclesiastical, the world is attempting to influence the Church and turn it into the world. So, the Church will retain its forms and norms, but will lose its faith. It will suffer the same fate as Papism, about which Saint Nektarios wrote: ‘Through the dogma of infallibility, the Western Church lost its spiritual freedom, it lost the adornment of this freedom, it was shaken to its foundations, it was deprived of the ...

All Christians want to go to paradise, but they don’t want to work for paradise. It’s not enough just to want salvation. For your wish to be fulfilled you have to struggle, you need iron determination. » Saint Theophan the Recluse

Before you come to Holy Communion, pay attention to what you say: ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors’. Do you forgive? You’ll be forgiven. Approach with boldness. It’s bread, not poison. So look to it. Have you forgiven? Because, if not, you’re lying. And, what’s more, you’re lying to Him from Whom you can’t hide it. You can tell God lies. But you can’t hide from Him. He knows what you’re up to. He sees through you. He examines you inside and out. He searches you inside and out. He judges you inside and out. And He either condemns you or crowns you. » Saint Augustine of Hippo

Fervent love for Christ nourishes more than any material food and gives lots of calories to the soul and body. It often heals incurable diseases, without medicines, and bring repose to the soul. » Venerable Païsios the Athonite

People’s need to confirm their faith in the inaccessible God and His energies leads them to seek miracles, to exaggerate them or even to make them up. In this sense, miracles as miraculous events can be found in all religions. In the New Testament, the various cures effected for the sick, the resurrections of the dead and other expressions of the love of Christ and the Apostles towards those in pain, are called ‘signs’. A miracle provokes astonishment, surprise, whereas a sign demonstrates something, that is, the kingdom of God- already in existence- where the results of decay no longer obtain. The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees to Christ- ‘We want to see a sign from you’ (Matth. 12, 38) – ...