In English

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 ...

We shall now say something about the present feast. Many people celebrate feast days and know what they’re called, but don’t know why they were established. So everyone knows that the feast today is called Theophany, but don’t know what Theophany is, and whether it is one thing or another. And this is shameful- celebrating an annual feast day and not knowing the reason for its existence. First of all, therefore, it’s necessary to say that there’s not one Theophany, but two: the actual one, which has already occurred; and the second, in the future, which will happen with glory at the end of the world. You’ll hear about both today from Paul, who, in his letter to Titus, speaks thus ...

I once met a “born again Christian” on a plane. He had never heard of the Orthodox Church and was curious. “What is an Orthodox Christian? Are you born again?” he asked. While many Christians inAmericahave never heard of Orthodox Christians, we hear a lot about “born again Christians.” If you, my fellow Orthodox Christians, were asked these questions, how would you answer? My reply to his inquiry was, “Yes, we Orthodox are born again Christians. But in the “true believing way!” Was my answer presumptuous? What is the “true believing way?” To find the answer, we need only to turn to the Gospel according toSt. John(Chap. 3) and look at the conversation between our Lord and Nicodimus. Nicodimus was “a Pharisee ...

 PROLOGUE Silence for the monks is a rule of life. It protects them from uncontrollable and unrestrained talk as well as from impugnation and slander, which result in the death of the soul. It delivers them from wrangle and strife and preserves in them internal peace which is necessary for inwardness. Silence is the fruit of quietude, an internal state which gives birth to spiritual discourse. -When does the monk ought to keep quiet and when does he ought to talk? Abbot Pimen offers a solution to the issue with great discernment: “A brother asked Abbot Pimen saying: ‘which is best: to talk or to keep quiet?’And the Elder tells him: ‘Whoever talks for the sake of God, does well. Whoever keeps quiet ...

Crisis! Crisis of many natures—political, social, family, youth, environmental, economic! Crisis of institutions and values. Wars, refugees, famine, poverty, unemployment, terrorism, and the ongoing ecological destruction of our planet: This is the image of humanity in a global scale. How will we exit this deep crisis that torments our era? In Chinese, the word “crisis” is written with the same ideogram that is used for the word “opportunity.” And in the Greek, the word “crisis” also includes in its meaning, “energy,” which derives from the verb “to judge” and refers to the noetic energy that decides or chooses. Therefore the crisis that we endure could carry a positive effect if we use it as an opportunity for repentance, an opportunity for ...

It’s tremendously important that somebody in the family should pray properly. Prayer attracts God’s Grace, and all the members of the family feel it, even those with hearts of ice. Always pray.

All seven of the Church’s Ecumenical Councils have been concerned with a single question: “Who is Jesus?” Indeed, according to the Gospels, Jesus Himself posed this question several times in various forms: "But who do you say that I am?" (Mark 8:29). "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" (Matthew 22:42). The reason this question is important has to do with certain claims of Jesus, which indicate that the answer touches on the nature of God. When Jesus declares, for instance, that He and the Father are one (John 10:30), when He affirms that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (14:6), when He ...

This is the main prayer of the Divine Liturgy, at which the blessing of the Precious Gifts and their sacramental transformation into the Body and Blood of Christ takes place. In other words, it’s the most sacred point of the service of the Divine Liturgy. It begins with the words ‘It is meet and right to hymn you, to bless you, to give thanks to you, to worship you in every place of your dominion’, which are said by the priest before the altar, in a low or normal voice . After the priest has thanked God for all His blessings towards us (for creating us out of nothing, for raising us up when we fell, for bringing us up ...

People who live in the past might as well be dead. Those who live in the future, through their imagination, are puerile because only God knows the future. The joy of Christ is to be found only in the present. In the eternal present of God.

The eschatological nature of the Church is revealed especially in the sacrament of the Divine Liturgy. The celebration of this sacrament is the central and pre-eminently eschatological action of the Church. It is its Liturgy (= function). It constitutes the perfect community which overcomes the divisions of space and time and manifests the kingdom of God to the world. Participation in the Divine Eucharist is communion with Christ. It is participation in His eternal life (See, Jn. 6, 33-7). It is entry into His kingdom. These things are not presented metaphorically, but are real features which are presented as experiences to the members of the Church. The Christian life is of an empirical nature. And the content of this experience ...

‘Thou hast brought us into being out of nothing’ (The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom). How are we to understand God’s relation to the world he has created? What is meant by this phrase ‘out of nothing’, ex nihilo? Why, indeed did God create at all? The words ‘out of nothing’ signify, first and foremost, that God created the universe by an act of his free will. Nothing compelled him to create; he chose to do so. The world was not created unintentionally or out of necessity; it is not an automatic emanation or overflowing from God, but the consequence of divine choice. If nothing compelled God to create, why then did he choose to do so? In so far as such ...

The fact that the Gospels are written in Greek presents us with heightened responsibilities. Any outstanding scholar abroad who wishes to deal with the New Testament has to learn Greek. All of them, be they German, French, English or American know Greek well. If other people respect the language of the Gospels, how much more should we preserve the Greek language?

“One day a tiny tear appeared on a cocoon. One man was watching the butterfly trying to push her body through the opening. The struggle lasted for hours. Then it looked as though every activity had ceased. It looked as though the butterfly had done all it could and could not move any further. The man took a pair of scissors and opened up the cocoon. The butterfly moved out easily yet her body and her wings looked withered. The man continued watching. He was waiting for her to flap her wings, hoping they would slowly grow, strengthen and become able to lift the butterfly to the air. Yet, the butterfly went through her entire life moving painfully and slowly, harboring a ...

This article is among the first written for the blog. There is something to be said for the blog itself  having "stayed put." The internet is an ephemeral creation. I hope to be providing a stable platform for learning, for questioning, for conversation. With a few emendations, I offer this reprint. That the article is still useful after an entire 6 years is astonishing! In monastic tradition, a monk makes four vows: poverty, chastity, obedience and stability. Most people are familiar with the first three but not with the fourth. In classical monastic practice it meant that a monk stayed put: he did not move from monastery to monastery. It was not a new idea. Before this vow was formalized in ...