Κατηγορία

In English

Out of ardent love (Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos)

Κατηγορίες: In English

Christians patiently take up their cross and don’t complain about God. Humbly, with downcast eyes the bear their own cross to the end of their days, following the Lord, Jesus Christ. They do it for Christ and his Gospel, they do it out of fervent love for him, because the whole of their thought has been captured by the teachings of the Gospel. Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos

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On Inequality (Saint Nicholas Velimirovich)

Κατηγορίες: In English

Inequality is wiser and is preferable to equality. Inequality was placed as the very foundation of the created world. We should rejoice over this inequality and not rebel against it, because it was put in place by love, not by hatred; by wisdom, not derangement. Our life isn’t wretched through a shortage of equality, but because of a lack of love and spiritual understanding among us. Add more of the love of God and a better spiritual understanding of life and you’ll see that even twice as much inequality couldn’t vitiate the bliss people would feel. People are unequal because they’re not all needed in the same way: Alexander the Great and Diogenes weren’t equally weak; Peter and Alexios, again, ...

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Honor and Responsibility (Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos)

Κατηγορίες: In English

It’s an open secret that even the smallest amount of praise concerning any real or, more commonly, imagined gifts we may have is almost always the occasion for conceit and vanity. Imagine if we heard someone say to us: ‘You are the light of the world’. There would be no greater temptation for vanity, or the risk of brain damage. Encouragement to vanity or to the struggle? Quoting today’s Gospel reading, Saint John Chrysostom reads the words of Christ to his disciples and asks him: ‘What is this? You’re telling us to live a life at the forefront of attention, so that we’ll be honored?’. He then has Christ reply: ‘Not at all. I don’t mean anything of the sort. I didn’t ...

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On those who have no patience (Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis)

Κατηγορίες: In English

‘Wretched and pitiful are those who have no patience, because it is against them that the ‘Woe’ in Holy Scripture is directed. It says woe to those who have lost patience. So really, woe betide those who have no patience, because such people are tossed hither and thither like a leaf in the wind. They can’t abide being challenged, and they’re faint-hearted in sorrows. They’re quick to quarrel, they rail against patience, and react badly to discipline. They’re dilatory in their prayers and are exhausted at vigils. They scowl during the fasts and are careless about self-restraint. They go about their duties unwillingly and are bad workmen at their jobs. They’re unsurpassed in cunning and are dictatorial in their actions. ...

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A disaster for everyone (Abba Kassianos)

Κατηγορίες: In English

We’re becoming great criminals if for no other reason than we selfishly try to conceal our indifference, so as to appear to be in the right. And we do so at a time when we see our neighbors in danger and could easily provide them with support. Such silence will certainly be a calamity for all concerned. Abba Cassian

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