Despair! A terrible word, a word that denotes catastrophe and calamity. From every kind of hardship. There’s nothing worse than despair. When people are in despair, they don’t go anywhere to be cured, but leave the untreated wound to fester, to eat away at the heart and to gnaw at the soul.
In confession, as in the whole of his everyday behaviour, Fr. Symeon was all love. Love overflowed from within him. He radiated love, not with words, nor with actions, but with his mere gaze, his smile, with a single word. He was formal, but not a slave to formalities. I remember one incident in particular. He’d given me the number of his personal telephone, the one in his room. I would usually phone him between 11-12 in the evening, which was the best time for him because, as he explained: ‘Now it’s the afternoon for me’. We’d speak without restraints of time, but he would still be up in the morning for his rule. One evening, around midnight, the son ...
From Arethas, Bishop of Caesarea: ‘Letter to the Emir of Damascus’ Arethas, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (850-932) was born in Patras, in the Peloponnese and from 902 onwards was Bishop of Caesarea. He was a student of Fotios the Great and was distinguished for his great scholarship and his extensive interest in Classical and ecclesiastical philosophy. Together with Fotios, he was one of the foremost representatives and prime movers of the general revival of interest in arts and letters which occurred in the second half of the 9th and early 10th century . He was outstanding as an interpreter of the Scriptures, but also as a commentator on Plato, Loukianos (Lucian) and Efsevios (Eusebius). He also wrote scholia on ...
Our starting point is always wrong. Instead of starting with ourselves, we always want to change other people first, and ourselves last of all. If we would all just start with ourselves there’d be peace all around us.
A collaboration between N. Papakostas, Th. Papayiannis and N. Desekopoulos. The Revelation of Saint John according to Nikos Papakostas is being successfully presented in Greece and abroad for the fourth year in succession with glowing reviews from all the media. The work, as staged in the Theatre Saint Michel in Brussels, was broadcast by ERT WORLD throughout the world, while the performance in the cathedral of the Holy Cross and the Archangel Michel, in London, was transmitted by HELLENIC TV to an audience of Greeks abroad. The Revelation of Saint John is a work that touches all people, which moves between prophecy and vision, anxiety and transcendence, and has acquired a new and different form through its poetic rendition and musical setting ...
Over the last month or so, we at Pemptousia have run a series of articles in which prominent members of the Church (Abbot Efraim of Vatopaidi, Metrop
It wasn’t an easy matter for someone to become a disciple to an Elder such as Elder Iosif the Hesychast. Many tried, but couldn’t manage and left in the end. This is why the Elder didn’t initially want to accept Fr. Sofronios. But once he’d accepted him, by divine information as we’ve already mentioned, he was demanding with his disciple. And this, of course, was not for self-serving reasons, because he was always concerned about the spiritual benefit and progress of his disciple. He trained him with strictness and love, with penances and admonishments. He made the necessary incisions to cleanse his heart of the passions, so that he could begin to experience the Grace of God and sanctification. Our Elder ...
In the ranks of the Old Testament prophets, a special position is occupied by the Prophet Elijah, whose sacred memory the Church honours and celebrates today. In the New Testament, the name of the Prophet Elijah is frequently mentioned by Christ Himself. Zacharias, the father of the Forerunner, said that John would come “in the spirit and power of Elijah”, that is, that he would have the features and the zeal of the Prophet Elijah, that he would be the Prophet Elijah himself, whose return the people were awaiting. When Jesus bore witness to John the Baptist and praised him highly, He said that he was Elijah: “If you want, accept that he is Elijah who was to come”. The most ...
You’ll gain great profit from humble prayer, from blessed heartache, which at once re-opens the gates of divine mercy. Send your hot tears as intercession, together with the groaning of your heart and prove, in this way, your sorrow and your shame for your great fault.
The understanding that, in cases of dire medical necessity, the life of the mother must receive primary consideration is valid Orthodox thought. However, recognition of the value of the life of the woman must be coupled with the understanding that the child is not expendable, but rather, that everything must be done to protect his life as well. Only in the last extreme of dire necessity is it condoned to forfeit his life when all other avenues of medical endeavor fail. In the words of Fr. Stanley Harakas:38 When the life of the mother is in jeopardy due to her pregnancy, then an exception to the prohibition on abortion may be allowed...Any decision of this sort should be made by the ...
Independence of mind is the will of the rational soul, which turns immediately to whatever it is it wants. We should urge it to be always ready to turn only to what’s good so that with good thoughts we can expunge the memory of evil.
As well as the liturgy and other services, Fr. Symeon also held ‘silent’ assemblies. No-one spoke. Or rather, no-one heard because everybody was speaking mystically to God, using a prayer-rope and saying the Jesus Prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me’. The church of Saint Athanasios was completely full. Everyone seated, heads bowed, holding a prayer-rope and seeking God’s mercy. These assemblies also lasted an hour. Fr. Symeon laid great stress on sermons. He considered it as importance as a service, as indeed it is. The Word of God must first be received through the hearing, as the proclamation of the Gospel, so that people will believe and then receive Him as Holy Communion. The Elder spoke ...
Even though the blessed Elder Iosif was a great hesychast, he considered obedience to be the most important virtue for a monk. This is why he trained his disciple to gain the spirit and the fruits of true obedience, even though to some it may appear that his manner of doing so was harsh. He himself used to exclaim and urged his disciples: ‘Oh, blessed obedience- and again obedience. Without doubt the scepter belongs to you. Elder Arsenios and I have shed lots of blood in our ascetic life in order to taste the good things of heaven. Just with the observance of obedience, you’ll enjoy the same Grace as us. Cleave to obedience with all your soul. There’s no ...
When Julian the Apostate came to power as emperor (361), he scorned both the good that had been achieved by Saint Constantine the Great and everything he had gained from his own Christian upbringing. He upset public order with his tyranny and railed against God, doing his level best, with all means at his disposal to bring back the worship of idols. He sent officers faithful to his own aims into various provinces in order to force people to comply. With this in mind, Capitalinus, his deputy in Thrace, moved to Dorostolos (today’s Silistra, in Bulgaria), the capital of Skythia. Once he was established in his court, he directed threats against not only Christians but also those who were reluctant ...
When we keep Christ’s commandments, we’re not offering anything to Him. Because He has no need of anything and is the Giver of all good things. In fact, we’re simply benefitting ourselves by making eternal life and the enjoyment of its ineffable bounties available to us.
