In English

His most essential characteristics    In our opinion, the most essential characteristics of Elder Porphyrios’s personality were as follows: first of all, the fact that his membership of the Church was of a substantial and not a nominal kind; secondly, his boundless love for Christ and through Him his fellow men, which was accompanied by a saintly humility; thirdly, his experience of mystical joy in Christ; and fourthly, his sense of immortality in Christ. a) Membership of the Church    Elder Porphyrios used to say, like all the saints, that Christ should be in the Church. This means that the faithful should be united with Christ and all of His people, and particularly with His archpriest, who is Christ’s representative. Yet this, being ...

‘Educated people are very difficult, because they have strong inclinations towards individualism. I’d even say this: the educated among us won’t stand for any adverse comment on their behavior, but instead each thinks he or she is always right about everything’ (Saint Sophrony in Essex). Clearly the saint wasn’t against letters and education. This would hardly have been consistent, since he was vastly educated, the author of many books filled with wisdom, and an artist of merit (graduate of the Moscow School of Fine Arts) recognized widely throughout Europe. He does, however, point to a problem of our times, and, perhaps, of every time: that people educated in secular matters, people of the arts and sciences, ‘have strong inclinations towards individualism’, ...

‘Now you must be thinking, from what I’ve told you, that – well, I don’t know – I’m quite something. Well, I’m nothing, although I do try and am just beginning, it seems, to get a taste of the things that I talk about. I try to, I want to, and I actually do feel love for others, although I don’t want to force myself. But very often I experience these things through God’s Grace and do not speak. I’m not allowed to. I say whatever I’m allowed to say but I cannot always speak. Well, life without Christ is not worth living. There’s no doubt about that.’    Elder Porphyrios was born in 1906 in the village of Agios Ioannis ...

In our quiet expectation of the great feast of Christmas, ‘the metropolitan of feasts’, the Gospel readings of this period revolve around the burning question: ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ Man was formed for eternity and his spirit urgently demands it. Even centuries of a blissful life cannot satisfy his thirst for things eternal, immutable and good. For God not only ‘created man for incorruption, and made him to be an image of His own eternity’, but furthermore, He ‘left naught undone until He lifted him up to heaven’ to lay open new ‘paths of life’ to the sons of men. The question of how someone may inherit eternity is the only thing that has importance in his transitory ...

Out of love, Christ added human nature to his divine nature, without sin; not to absorb it, but to present us with the real human being and, through his glorious resurrection, to elevate us to the right hand of his heavenly Father. Elder Moïsis the Athonite

Beware of praise. It’s poison for your soul. Rejoice in being criticized. That’s what helps. Whatever happens say: ‘It’s the least I deserve. If the good God has allowed it, it means I needed it’. Hieromonk Chrysostomos Stavronikitianos

Within the Church, which has the sacraments which save, there’s no despair. We may be great sinners. We confess, the priest reads the prayer, we’re forgiven and we progress towards immortality, without any anxiety, without any fear. Saint Porfyrios Kavsokalyvitis

Every Sunday morning in Orthodox Countries (and elsewhere in the world where the law does not forbid it), the church bells solemnly ring to invite the faithful to come together as one family of God–in the Holy House of their Father.   Everyone goes to the church for this Great Encounter, where hearts are moved by God’s mercy which is always present, even when we fall.   It is also where we forgive those who have hurt us, because if we do not forgive them, then God will not forgive us.  The priests and deacons also prepare, with a special short Service, so that their souls can worthily serve the Mystery of the Eucharist. They also ask forgiveness from everyone around them, ...

What are we to make of Saint Catherine? We know really very little about her. Even her name is a mystery. According to some, she was originally called Damiani (by a happy coincidence the present Archbishop of Sinai and Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Katherine is called Damianos), although Rufinus claims that she was called Dorothea. At some stage, she became known as Katherine, but what this means is anyone’s guess. It has been derived from the Greek Hecate, or from καθαρός (katharos), meaning “pure” (as well as from Armenian and Arabic). Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, 13th Century This confusion is central to one part of our argument. Her name in Greek is Αἰκατερίνα, so it is impossible that it derives ...

In 1919, in the aftermath of World War I, the cream of the intellectuals of the time (among whom were Einstein, Russell, Stefan Zweig and others) signed a manifesto which they called ‘Declaration of the Independence of the Mind*’. Among other things, they wrote: ‘Most of the intellectuals placed their science, their art, their reason, at the service of the governments… They have worked to destroy mutual understanding and mutual love among men… Now, when, from the fierce conflict in which the nations have been gripped, the victors and the vanquished emerge equally stricken, impoverished, and at the bottom of their hearts (though they will not admit it) utterly ashamed of their crisis of folly. …Arise! Let us free the mind ...

Nothing is greater than a clean heart, because such a heart is the throne of God. And what is more glorious than the throne of God? Nothing at all. God says of those who have a clean heart: ‘I will dwell among them and walk with them. I shall be God to them and they a people to me’ (2 Cor. 6, 16). Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis

Saint Amphilochius of Iconium, whose feast we celebrate today, is among the great theologians of the 4th century and, indeed, belongs to the group of Cappadocian Fathers. He was born in Diocaesarea in Cappadocia to wealthy parents and received an excellent education. He was related to Gregory the Theologian and was an advocate by profession. He also had a close spiritual bond with Basil the Great. As bishop of Iconium he showed a flair for pastoral and preaching activities. Of particular importance is his adherence to the Dogma of Nicaea (325) and his contribution to its further development and completion by his participation in the 2nd Ecumenical Synod in Constantinople (381). He proved to be an influential Church writer, often providing ...

Say the prayer and your bad thoughts will flee, everything will flee. You’ll see something wondrous: the devils despoiling the world outside and us calmly saying the prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’. Abbess Makrina, Holy Monastery of the Guide, Portaria.

A deadly sin is one over which you don’t repent. Nobody’s as good and merciful as God. But if people remain unrepentant, not even he will forgive them. Abba Markos

Those who, at some period in their life, have had a routine for prayer, spiritual study and participation in the services of the Church and then somehow, because of some ‘concerns of life’, lost it feel a void. This is why, when they’re asked ‘How’s it going? What are you doing?’ They sadly reply ‘Nothing at all’. It appears that ‘spiritual people’ have different senses from ‘carnal people’, who function on the basis of ‘Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. In the case of the latter, their concept of the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is slight or non-existent, which makes it impossible for them to understand the condition of others who aren’t like them. There has to be a ...

Having faith doesn’t mean only that we believe in God as our Creator. It also means that we recognize his never-failing providence and his concern for our good, even in the most insignificant aspects of our lives. Of course, this is more or less impossible for our nous to understand, benighted as it is in the darkness of the passions. Saint Makarij of Optina

The grace of the Holy Spirit makes people emit rays. But the other people need to have good receivers if they’re to understand this. We should always have our eyes fixed on heaven. Then nothing will shake us. Saint Amfilohios Makris

Whatever passion the demons attack you with, be patient and don’t fall into despair. Face it with meekness and humility and don’t lose your temper. Don’t allow any sense of impatience, envy, complaint or blasphemy to take hold within you. Saint John Kronstadtskij

People who oppress others, or even have designs on their freedom, inevitably destroy their own freedom, as well. Because every such ambition is, in itself, a fall from the divine life of love to which we’ve been called. Saint Sophrony, Essex

There are three things that bring you bad thoughts: sentiments, memory and the constitution of your body. The worst of these are those that come from remembrance. Saint Thalassios the Libyan