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This article keeps coming to mind as I celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on these Lenten Wednesdays and Fridays. There is nothing to compare to them in the Christian liturgical world. It’s hard to thinking of fasting in the midst of such a feast. Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use the word “mystery” (for example), popular speech never uses it in the manner of the Church. I cannot remember using the word “fullness,” or even “fulfilled,” in normal speech. More contemporary words have come to replace these expressions. This doesn’t mean that an English speaker has no idea of what the words mean ...

Don’t ask other people to honor you. If you seek honor, it leaves you. If you avoid honor it follows you and becomes an advocate for your humility. Saint Isaac the Syrian

How beautifully our peoples in the Balkans decorate eggs, especially when they’re for Easter. For increasing the joy of Easter. To make guests happier. Sometimes these dyed eggs are real works of art. But if these dyed eggs are kept too long, they go off and stink horribly. In the end they dry out completely. Then the colored shell contains nothing but death. Even worse is Christ’s image of the hypocrites, who are ‘like whitewashed sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness’ (Matth. 23, 27). ‘Take heed that you do not give alms before others, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in ...

The Holy Cross holds a unique place, both in the Christian faith and in the worship of the Orthodox Church.  It is the symbol of love and sacrifice, as well as foreshadowing the Resurrection.  It has influenced Christian art, architecture, painting, poetry, and music, more than anything else. From an early age, majestic churches were built in the shape of a cross, with a cross erected at the top of each one.  The iconostasis and everything used in common worship are decorated with the cross.  Ornate crosses of blessing are placed on the Holy Table (the Altar), for the celebrant Bishop or Priest to bless the people.  The cross is worn by newly baptized Christians to protect them (from visible and ...

The Holy Fathers wisely dedicated the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent to the honouring and veneration of the Precious Cross. We’ve already passed three weeks of fasting and struggle, and the precious Cross comes in the middle of Holy Lent to reinforce the faithful so that we can continue along the path that will lead to the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. An instrument which, in antiquity, represented the most horrendous of deaths was transformed by Jesus Christ into ‘a weapon against the devil’. Just as, before Christ’s coming, we were cut off from God because of the ancestral sin, so, after his resurrection, our relationship with God was restored. Our attitude is defined by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in ...

Your body was in church, but your soul was outside. Your mouth was praying, but your mind was counting interest payments, agreements, transactions, fields, holdings, gatherings with friends.  All of this because the devil is cunning. He knows that we gain a great deal at the hour of prayer and this is why he attacks with increased vehemence. Saint John Chrysostom

We miserable wretches, monks and lay people, are in the last times, but the struggle is the struggle. We won’t give in even for a moment. Fight to the end. Then the Lord, who crowns us and establishes us eternally, at the last moment will not give us the false and vain things of this life but will enable us to reign with him in his kingdom. Eternally. Elder Amvrosios Lazaris

After the fall of the First-Created, sin and the passions of wickedness, whatever they may be, wage war against us and may prevail, depending on whether we’re aware of this war and fight back or whether we’re delighted by them,  and encourage and nourish them. But never at any time can there have been such social acceptance and legitimization of sin as in our own days.

‘Communion of deification’ means a society of people that prepares and produces gods, gods by grace. This was, in any case, God’s pre-eternal plan for us, as is clear from the fact that we were made ‘in His likeness’. We were to become like Him and share in the grace of the Triune God. The implementation of this plan, however, requires our consent and co-operation. God endowed us with freedom and does not impose anything on us by force. This is why God’s aim for us is served only through our willing cooperation. Since we became distorted through our apostasy from God, we need to strive, by God’s grace, to find our true self again and to proceed with His ...

It’s difficult to trample down the passions, which become like our natural members. Saint Paul says: ‘Put to death your members which are on earth’. When you’re constantly vigilant, when you pray and practice self-control all the time, then, with God’s help, you’ll manage to trample them down and root them out. Saint John Kronstadtskij

People who live in the past are like the dead. Those who live in the future are naïve, because the future is God’s business. The joy of Christ is to be found only in the present. In God’s eternal present. Abbess Gavriilia Papayianni

The humble soul is deeply at rest, whereas the proud one is its own torment. Proud people don’t know God’s love and are far from Him. They’re proud that they’re rich, or scholarly or famous, but they don’t realize the tragedy of their poverty and loss, since they haven’t come to know God. On the other hand, if you fight against pride, the Lord helps you to overcome the passion. Saint Silouan the Athonite

For us who firmly and resolutely believe in God’s providence, even the worst misfortune is nothing but a movement of the hand of Him, our Lord, Who never tires of drawing us to His path to eternity. And never tires of showing us the path. Saint Makarij of Optina

When, in an obvious manner, we follow the commandments, we receive a commensurate reward from the Lord and benefit spiritually in accordance with the aim of the intention. Saint Mark the Ascetic

Temptations are allowed in order to make apparent the hidden passions so that these may be attacked and the soul can be healed. They, too, are an indication of God’s mercy. So, confidently place yourself in God’s hands and ask His help, and He’ll strengthen you in your struggle. Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis

Those who don’t want to attend to their prayers don’t want to be with God. People who pray for the whole world perform the greatest act of charity for themselves and for humanity. Dimitrios Panagopoulos

I’ve seen hundreds of people weep bitter tears over the fruits of sin. I’ve never seen anyone cry because they’ve followed the path of experience of the saints. On the contrary, whereas in the eyes of the world they seemed  unfortunate, their heart was in fact full of heavenly joy and inexpressible bliss. We often wish people had even a fraction of this, so that they could finally understand where the happiness they seek is to be found. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

Anger is a natural property of the mind. Without anger, we can’t achieve purification, that is, unless we’re angry at all the wicked thoughts which the devil sows within us. If you want to reach natural anger (that is anger which is directed at the devil and the passions), cut off your will until the state of your mind becomes as it was when God created it. Saint Isaiah the Anchorite