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Dimensions of icon with inscription: 184 x 166 cm. The epitaphios is of the narrative type which became usual from the time of the Fall of Constantinople, following the introduction into the service of the short hymns called  encomia. It bears a depiction of the dead Christ lying in the larnax surrounded by the figures of the Epitaphios Threnos (Lamentation for the Dead Christ) and usually has these words inscribed on it. However, in the monastery workshops the litur­gical character of the ornament was not entirely discarded. The two types - liturgical and narrative - were amalgamated, as here, and in many cases the prophets were added on the border. These, together with the Evangelists, who appeared in the corners, symbolise ...

Through the Cross, Christ sanctified His body- the link with the world. He rejected the temptations sent to Him by the world, that is to taste the pleasures, to satisfy His needs unrestrained or to avoid pain and death. If we, in the same way, ward off the temptations of sin and patiently suffer the pain of death, sanctity can spread from His body to all bodies and throughout the world. The Orthodox Church doesn’t say that, through the Cross, Christ left the creation, but that He restored it to paradise- the paradise of virtue for those who, out of love for Him, accept His Cross. So the Cross is Christ’s power which, if we adopt it, can bring the world ...

Anger is the result of turbulence within the heart. When it’s directed by a wise mind and acts in accordance with it, when and how it should, it produces boldness, patience, and restraint. The anger of the wise is directed towards wickedness, injustice, falsehood, deceit, guile and, in general, everything that works towards evil.

Once people distanced themselves from God, inebriated by the mortal pleasure of Luciferian self-deification, and after Cain, motivated by envy and jealousy, murdered his brother Abel, down this day and age and until the end of the age ‘wickedness has accompanied human nature as rust does copper or filth the body’, as Saint Anthony the Great teaches. Human nature remains the same. We may have achieved some remarkable technological advances, but, ‘the darkness of hell is an integral part of the whole of human existence’, since ‘the earthly atmosphere emits the stench of blood. We’re all fed, on a daily basis, with news about murders or the torture of the defeated in internecine warfare. Dark clouds of hatred hide the ...

The symbol of the cross is ubiquitous in society. It is printed on bumper stickers and tattooed on forearms; it is spray painted on concrete walls and stitched onto denim jackets; it adorns the necks of gangsta rappers as well as scantily clad models. Is the cross merely a fashion statement, a cultural icon, a religious trademark, or is it something more? The cross is the third most celebrated subject in the Orthodox Church calender—the first two being the life of our Lord and the life of the Theotokos. The cross is commemorated on the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 September), on the feast day of the Veneration of the Holy Cross (the third Sunday in ...

I haven’t written a public review of "The Passion" because my feelings are so mixed. I am so glad for all the people who are having their faith strengthened and renewed, or even finding faith for the first time. I don’t want to puncture that. A friend at my church saw it once, wanted to see it a second time, then read a negative review ("the characters were flat", etc). She decided not to see it again. That’s sad. When people get disappointed with the film I think it has to do with what Coleridge called the "willing suspension of disbelief." What people are enthralled by is the Lord Jesus Christ. When their enthusiasm begins to dip is when the notice that ...

Kill off your passions, both internal and external and cultivate the good features of your soul, allowing them pride of place there. Prayer is the basic thing.

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In recent years, particularly after the uprising among the Arab peoples, with the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ after 2011, Christians in the Middle East have been subjected to continuous persecution from Islamist organizations in countries in the region. Photo: www.briefingnews.gr About three years ago, on 29 June 2014, the Islamist organization ‘Islamic State’ proclaimed the foundation of the Caliphate in regions of Iraq and Syria. Since then, the hardships endured by the Christian minorities in the Arab world have been very considerable. Particularly since the occupation of areas in Iraq, Islamic State fighters have abducted clergymen and nuns, and have given Christians in the region a 48-hour deadline to leave their homes. At the same time, monstrous crimes have been committed against ...

If ever the stupid thought comes into your head to start counting your good deeds, correct it immediately. You’re better off counting your sins. You’ll see that they number more than the sand on the beach, while your virtues, if you compare them with your sins, are negligible.

All of the events of Holy Week represent an attempt by man, in his freedom to love, to share in the sacrificial love of God, that is to say, the mystery of salvation, by following the rigorous spiritual discipline of the Church. This discipline does not consist in the Pharisaic observance of certain commandments, but is rather ‘a mother of sanctity, from which is born the first experience of perception of the mysteries of Christ’. Holy Week, the week of Our Lord’s Passion, which reaches a climax on Easter Sunday, the Sunday of Our Lord’s Resurrection, is celebrated by the Church as a Pascha of suffering and victory, and is sung by its vigilant members as a Paschal ode, as a ...

Forty days had come to a close. I remember them as one, how the weight of sleep had a habit of overtaking the light of day, how the light of a candle overcame the dark of night. A mother always remembers those forty days as if they were but one. And the evening and the morning were one day. Those forty days, they’re a muddled scrawl upon the pages of my memory. Having come to the end of them, I ventured out with a small babe swaddled tight and carried him for the first time beyond the entrance of our home. That was the day I walked a boy-child across the threshold of the narthex, placed him in the arms of ...

On Lazarus Saturday, I realized I couldn’t find my copy of the services for Great Week, so, naturally, I went down to the local supermarket and bought another copy. This ease of access to Church supplies (charcoal, wicks, incense, televised services for the sick and so on) is one of the many advantages of living in an Orthodox country. Another is that the same supermarket, or, indeed, any grocery store, will stock packets of dye for colouring eggs at Easter. In some Orthodox countries, eggs are dyed a variety of colours, but in Greece they’re usually red. There are a large number of explanations for this, none of which is particularly convincing. When you read, for example, that the tradition ...

It’s sin that prevents us from believing, not reason. If you tell atheists to live for six months according to the teachings of the Gospels and they do so, they’ll become believers without realizing it.

I saw Saint Païsios on a good number of occasions between 1979 and 1994, when he departed this life. Except for one time, I never asked him a question, but he always spoke to me and taught me. In 1990, Yorgos and I arrived at the Panagouda . He welcomed us hospitably and took me by the arm, pulling me gently to the side, away from my friend. He looked me in the eye and said: ‘Listen, Andreas. First comes your relationship with God, Whom you should love with all your heart, which means keeping His commandments within you. Then you should love your wife as Christ loved the Church. To love means to repent and to forgive. As a married man, always bear in mind ...

Having completed the forty days that bring profit to our soul, we beseech You, in Your love for us: May we behold the Holy Week of Your Passion that in it we may glorify Your majestic works and ineffable dispensation for us, singing with one mind, ‘Lord glory to You’. Great Lent has come to an end. It’s an event which cannot but move all consciously-striving Christians, whatever the level of their spiritual life. Even those who’ve found the fast difficult and can hardly wait for it to be over, or those who’ve grown weary of the frequent services, have, at least to some extent, experienced the ascetic atmosphere of the Church. In any case, the liturgical and festal order of ...

In collaboration with the website  www.agiazoni.gr, PEMPTOUSIA and OCN will provide live streaming on a daily basis of the Services of Holy and Great Week from the church of Ayia Zoni (the Holy Girdle of the Mother of God), Patisia, Athens, Greece. The “live” services of the Holy Week will be available at: OCN’s facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/MyOCN PEMPTOUSIA’s facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/pemptousiacom AYIA ZONI’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/agiazoni.gr HOLY WEEK LIVE STREAMING SCHEDULE  Palm Sunday 7:30 pm – Bridegroom Service (O Nymfios) Holy Monday 7:30 pm – Bridegroom Service (O Nymfios) Holy Tuesday 7:30 pm –  Bridegroom Service (O Nymfios) Holy Wednesday 7:30 pm – Last Supper with the Sacrament of Holy Unction Holy Thursday 7.00 pm – The Holy Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Reading of the 12 Gospels  and Procession of the Cross with the Crucified Christ Holy Friday Morning 8.00 – 10.00 pm – Great and Holy Hours 10.00 – ...

Despair and disappointment are the worst thing. It’s a satanic trap to make us lose our appetite for the spiritual struggle and bring us to despair.